Baby Carter at 35 weeks

How your baby's growing:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

http://www.babycenter.com/

Preparing for Parenthood- week 4

Last Tuesday Chris and I went to our 4th and final Preparing for Parenthood class. It was all about Newborn Care and we had a great time at this class! It felt much more relaxed and the only video we watched was of how to sponge bathe your baby. Chris learned how to swaddle a baby and change a diaper. He was even the first one up to volunteer to do a "mystery exercise" that the instructor had planned. I was very proud of him! Once he was up in front of the class the instructor pulled out the "empathy belly". It is a 30 pound pregnancy simulator for daddy's to wear so they can "understand" what it feels like for Moms-to-Be to lug around the extra weight. Wow... I bet Chris wishes he hadn't stood up so fast;-) I think Chris was surprised by the sheer weight of the contraption and now he has a better idea of how your center of gravity shifts during pregnancy.

We made some friends in our class that are due about 2 weeks after we are with a little boy, Brandy and Chris. She is able to work from home and hopefully we will get our little ones together for some play dates, also known as "sanity time", after our little ones make their big debut! She was kind enough to take some pictures of Chris wearing the pregnancy belly and email them to share with you all. Thanks Brandy!!

As you can see, Chris was far from thrilled about carrying around his "baby" but he was such a good sport! His expression is priceless and we all had a good laugh!!!

34 Weeks Dr's Appointment

Yesterday Chris and I went to our 34 week appointment to have a check up and find out what to expect with all of this preterm labor business. Yesterday was 34 weeks and we hit a crucial milestone in her development, so that is great! At the beginning of the visit we recapped our hospital visit and the Doctor, not my normal Dr.- Dr. J, said that if I had her tomorrow she would be just fine. She may have to spend a few days in the NICU and may be a bit small but babies born at this time generally do very well. He also gave us very little hope of reaching 40 weeks and said we could "hopefully squeak out a few more weeks!" With me contracting the way that I am, it could be tomorrow or it could be a few weeks from now so get ready all!!!=)

Of course, none of us get to make a decision about when she comes but as long as she is healthy, that is all that matters to us! He said that even if I started having very regular, more intense contractions today that they probably wouldn't do much to stop things. He said it was better, however, if she could bake a bit longer though and we agree!!! That is what we want!! They really have no idea why this is happening to us, which isn't a great comfort... I would like to know why my 40 weeks has turned into 30-some-odd weeks.... but oh well! Once again, I'm not the one making the decisions, so I am going to roll with it and just get ready for her arrival!!!

When we left the hospital they put me on a medicine to stop the contractions, but it had some ugly side effects. I had a headache, was super jittery, my heart rate was sky high, and worst of all- I COULD.NOT.BREATHE! I had already told Chris that I was not taking the medicine again unless I was at the hospital so I could get some oxygen... I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest! After telling the Dr. this he said not to take it anymore, it was probably doing more harm than good! This was music to my ears! If I had any more serious bouts with contractions I would have a) dealt with it and taken the medicine or b) gone straight to the hospital, but I seriously couldn't take the medicine anymore and I am glad that I don't have to!

Overall, Dr. J. said that the baby was measuring just fine and said we would do an ultrasound at the next appointment, 36 weeks, to check on her position again. If she is still breech we will schedule a c-section. If we go in to labor-labor again and go to the hospital we will do an ultrasound then and decide where to go from there. She is still flipping around in there and mostly goes from breech(head up) to transverse(side-to-side) and this little one loves to move!

So there is really nothing we can do at this point but prepare! I am a planner and all of my little "lists" that everyone laughs at me for are proving very useful! My mother is coming to town later this afternoon and we are going to do some packing and finish up a few things. I still need to go pick up a few "having a baby" essentials so I'm glad I won't have to go shopping alone, since the contractions really slow me down sometimes;-) Hopefully by the time that Mom leaves on Sunday I will have everything done that I needed to get done... and that will be such a relief!!!

When I was laying in the hospital on Friday night and they couldn't stop the contractions I thought, "what if this is it?? I am not ready and we only get one shot at bringing her into this world and making all of those first precious memories!!" (I was also thinking, Dear Lord just please help her to be ok;-)- just so there is no confusion!!!) So I am going to try to get everything as ready as possible! Most importantly, I need to get the camera ready!!!;-) You know this poor child is going to have a ton of pictures taken of her during her first few days and I cannot wait to share with everyone!

But, hopefully not for another 3-6 weeks:-)

Baby Carter at 34 Weeks

How your baby's growing:Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

www.babycenter.com

Oh My! Preterm Labor...

I wasn't feeling normal all day on Friday and I had noticed that the baby had not been moving around like she normally does. She had been still since around 7 on Thursday night and even when I drank a caffeinated drink and had a few cookies she still didn't perk up. This is very unlike her as she usually responds to sweet things and becomes more active. When you are 33 weeks pregnant you should feel at least 4 movements in an hour and what I was feeling wasn't the normal kicks, jabs, rolls, or bumps. I felt very light "swishes", movements that I normally, probably wouldn't have felt if I wasn't laying around waiting to feel them!

At 4:50 I had my first contraction of the night. It felt like a normal braxton hicks, slightly uncomfortable but not painful. I didn't think much of it, since I have these occasionally, but then I had one about 10 minutes later and it was a bit stronger and lasted a bit longer. I decided I should start timing them, just in case. My Dr. had previously told me weeks ago that this early in my pregnancy I shouldn't have more than 4 contractions in an hour. She also said they consider you to be in labor if your contractions are less than 5 minutes apart and last for a minute or more. Well my contractions quickly picked up and in 30 minutes I had already had 7 contractions coming about 4 minutes apart. They were also getting stronger with each one and I was feeling unusual pressure down below with each contraction. Scared me to death! This went on for about an hour. So with the contractions, compounded with not feeling the baby all day and not really feeling normal myself I decided to call the Dr immediately.

Since I'm only 33 weeks and she needs to bake for at least another 4 weeks my Dr. (who was on call thank goodness!) told me to get to the hospital immediately to be monitored and checked out and not to drive myself. Of course Chris was at work still and was having a seriously busy afternoon getting several loans out. Needless to say, this wasn't exactly convenient for him but I think he understood what was going on and tried to get home as quickly as possible.

With Friday night traffic we didn't get to the hospital until 7 and honestly, my contractions had let up somewhat and I seriously considered going home. SO glad I didn't!!! Once we got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitors(one for my contractions and one for Caroline's heart rate) and left us for observation for an hour. After I was still again, relaxing, and taking a few deep breaths I realized that I was having the stronger contractions again. It was really interesting watching the monitor and comparing it to the contractions that I was feeling. My cervix was still closed but was "shorter" than it should have been.

They only let me sit for about 45 minutes and then the nurse came in and said I was having "perfect contractions" but they are just way too early. She went to call the Dr. to get my orders and quickly came back with a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions. They warned me that my heart rate may go up and that I would probably feel very jittery. They were right! They thought that one dose should knock the contractions out, but said I could have up to 3 in the next 3 hours. For the first 15 minutes, it really worked. Then I started having regular contractions again so they brought in the second dose. It also worked for the first few minutes and then I started having regular peaks on the monitor again... only some of these were uncomfortable. It was around midnight by now and the nurses were getting a bit frustrated and spoke to the Dr again before they gave me the final dose. They agreed that I should get the final shot followed immediately by an oral dose of the Terbutaline to really put an end to the contractions. The nurses also said that the Dr was going to call in Terbutaline for me to take at home every 4 hours, even at night, for the next 24 hours and then as needed. This STILL didn't knock the contractions out and at this point they started discussing the remaining options with us. The first, and least invasive, was to start an I.V. for fluids and see if that helped. Otherwise, they would have to move on to the Magnesium Sulfate and I had heard enough about "the mag" that I knew I wanted to avoid that if at all possible. The Mag would also involve a minimum 24 hour hospital stay and I was already too exhausted!

Of course I would have done it if it was what was best for the baby, but I was really hoping it wouldn't come to that! It was already 3 in the morning and I was slightly miserable by this time so I was up for anything to make it stop and hopefully get home sooner rather than later. Hospital beds aren't comfortable and the medicine that they had given me earlier made me feel like I had to get up and run a marathon and I should ask for oxygen all at the same time! Crazy feeling! Chris was really uncomfortable too, but he did a great job of bringing me water and helping me attempt to get comfortable!

After getting hooked up to the I.V. and letting it run for a few hours my contractions were down under the 6 in one hour mark, which is when they would finally let me go home! It was already just after 5 am and I knew that if I could just get home I would be so much more comfortable and I had noticed that me continuously changing positions was bringing on contractions, adding to the problem. We were discharged at around 5:15 with a prescription for more anti-contraction medicine and orders for me to be on "bedrest" until my scheduled Dr's appointment on Tuesday.

I am still having random contractions today, but as long as I am not having "pressure" and they aren't forming a pattern, I am fine. Also, I think Caroline being breech is a blessing in disguise because if her little head was already at the exit, every contraction I have had would have pressed on my cervix and I would have dilated further. If that was the case I would be living at the hospital right now.. AHH! I would really hate that! So, good job Caroline! Keep it up;-) At this point we are so glad to be back home, watching football!!, and hoping that this premature labor biz was a one time issue and that we won't have any problems with this in the future! The nurses said they have women come in sometimes with preterm labor that end up having to be induced in the end... but hopefully we won't go THAT long!;-)

I will try to make sure that I update after my Dr's appointment and if we have any other surprises in the mean time! Have a good weekend and ROLL TIDE!!!!

Preparing for Parenthood- Week 3

On Tuesday night we went to our third "Parenthood" class and this was the one that Chris was dreading the most, C-Sections among other things. He did really well and actually was the only Daddy-to-be asking questions! He still isn't sure how he feels about being in the operating room if it comes to that. This is fine with me since my mom(the nurse) will go in with me if he decides he cannot. Then he can come in after they stitch me up and be with me and the baby in recovery. They showed c-section preparation and then an animated video of what takes place during a c-section. We also toured the "birthing suites" at our hospital. Since some good friends of ours had their daughter at the same hospital a few years ago we remembered that they were very nice. It was nice to walk around and see where we will check in.

Tonight I had our breastfeeding class which I let Chris skip. He really didn't want to go(wonder why?!?;-)) and he had 4-5 deals closing down at work today and needed to make sure they got out. It all worked out fine and I learned a lot! At the teachers recommendation I also changed my opinion on allowing visitors immediately and look forward to some alone time with just my little bitty family after Baby C is born- just for a few hours after recovery.

I was talking to my mother tonight on the way home from my class and I really like some of the great perks to having a c-section. We all know that I'm a planner, so I think it's great that I will be able to get up, shower, get ready and then have my baby safely in my arms a few hours later verses begin completely surprised with when I go into labor. This makes me happy! I also like that I can control visitors more and that it won't be a shock to anyone else when we call and tell them that Caroline is here- this could prove to be stressful since I hate excluding people and will need to focus on what's best for myself, Chris and most of all our newborn.=)

Little Miss C is still breech but I am just going to let whatever is meant to happen, happen! No more worrying about it- this is pointless. I am just going to put it in God's hands and He knows what is best for our specific situation! I go to the Dr on Tuesday... I'll keep you posted!=)

Next week is our final week of preparing for parenthood. We will talk about caring for a newborn and Chris will learn how to change a diaper! Not that he probably wants to(ha!), but I'm sure Daddy will do his part too!=) He really is getting very excited about everything and I couldn't imagine going through this exciting time in my life with anyone but him.(cheesy- I know!)