False Alarm: Potential TMI

Being a first time mom brings up a lot of questions about labor. It's funny because I've been apart of deliveries as a doula, been to my doula classes, read a ton of books, but still not quite sure what to look for or expect. As Clay said last night, I know just enough to be dangerous. So, this leads me to our night last night.

I took a bath yesturday afternoon to just relax and unwind. At around 4:00pm I was out of the bath and putsing around the house again. ARound 6:00pm I walked out to get the mail. I stood outside for about 15 minutes talking to the neighbors. Have I mentioned I love where we live! We have great a great neigborhood! Anyways, so I was standing there and I felt a "wet" sensation, followed by a cramping in my upper right abdomen. When I went inside I checked to see what was going on. My thought, it could have just been bath water..?! However, I walked around the house, felt a little cramping, and had one contraction. At least the way others have explained them. You could see my entire stomach get hard, but the baby wasn't moving around. So, that led me to finish packing my bags, (which have been packed for the most part for a week or so) installing the car seat in Clays car, and left for a labor check. With all that said, I wasn't having regular contractions, and I wasn't 100% sure my water broke. My doula, Natalie, recommended that I go to the hospital to make sure. If my water broke and I wasn't having contractions that could present a problem. So, off we went.

A little before 8:00pm I was put in the triage room, hooked up to the moniors, and waited. It wasn't until almost 9:00pm that they swabbed me to see if it was my water. When the first test came back negative they ordered another test. An hour later, the other test arrived. This test just took longer, but was extreamly painful!! The nurses comment was, "well we have bloody show." NO KIDDING! With pain like that I wouldn't expect much less. Soon after she checked me and I was "a fingertip dialated." However, no sign that my water broke.

At this point Clay and I were just ready to go home! All I wanted was someone to tell me yes or no. I didn't expect to be there for hours. My contraction monitor was showing no sign of contractions, and the babys heart rate was all over the place. He was fine, but they want the baby active on the monitor most of the time. So, they had me lay there until they had better readings. UGH! Finally, around 11:30 I unpluged the monitors and headed to the restroom. My monitors were falling off, and I was ready to just go home. Clay went to tell them my monitors fell off, and the nurse, who was drinking her coffee and chatting away, looked at him and began appologizing for the wait. At this point, I think they just forgot about us! So, we were out of there at 11:45.

For now, no labor, but since the nurse poked and proded I have had continous bloody show. I have an appt. with my Dr. at 11:30 so I will give an update after that.

"The Rules"

I've had a few people ask me about what is going to take place when I have the baby. Do I want visitors at the hospital? When will we call? How will they know? I do have some of the answers but in all honesty the only way we are going to know how we feel about all of this is to find out when we reach that point.

This is what I do know:
We plan to deliver at St. Agnes. The only way we would end up at Clovis Community is if my Dr. was on call at Clovis. Otherwise, I will be a St. Agnes. I plan to labor as long as I can at home and then go to the hospital. My guess is there will be very little phone calls made durring this time. This will be the last few hours of "alone" time for Clay and I, so I am going to take full advantage of it. During the labor no one besides Clay and my doula, Natalie, will be in the room with me. So, hanging out at the hospital would probably be boring! They have a "waiting room" downstairs in the main lobby. We'll be on the 6th floor, and there isn't a waiting room up there.

These are the visitors rules:
*Visitng hours are from 10am-8pm
*There is a naptime between 1-3pm. IF I have to share a room and the other mom requests this time then no visitors will be allowed during this time.
*All visitors have to be over the age of 12: They will not let children in.
*You check in on the 6th floor. They will give you a little badge.
*They will only allow 3 people at a time in the room, so PLEASE CALL US!

As for when will everyone find out. When you get that phone call. You may not hear from us, but we have a few people to call who will then start spreading the word.

So boring blog, but figured I'd answer the questions, and post "the rules."

Only 3 more weeks until this lil guy is supposed to be here!!

"Doulaing" at home

This week I was fortunate enough to be a part of a home birth. Since my doula training home births have peeked my curiosity, but not something I've ever been a huge supporter of. However, there was an opportunity for me to doula a home birth. After a lot of consideration I realized that since I was still a doula in training and volunteering my time I could do it. I wasn't "scared" of them, I just didn't know what I thought. My biggest concern was always, "what if!"

Well, this is what I learned. Home births, if done responsibly, can be amazing and extremely relaxing. Here's the story; water broke at 7:00 am but contractions weren't anything big. So, I arrive at 1:30ish and contractions still aren't anything serious. The midwife and I talked different labor techniques over (by the way I learned more about labor and delivery during this birth then any other) and the general idea was that if labor didn't pick up by 7:00 pm she would have to go to the hospital. Reason, hospitals only really give you 24 hours after your water breaks before they consider a c-section. So, we wanted to make sure she had enough time in the hospital to get things moving. At around 3:30 pm mom drank a castor oil cocktail! (3oz castor oil, oj concentrate, & ice) At around 5:00 contractions picked up. Meanwhile, she was able to walk around the house, play with her kids, cuddle with her husband, take walks, and eat light snacks. All of these things you can not do in a hospital. (Especially the cuddle with the hubby part)

The birth took place in her bath tub. There was very little medical intervention. The midwife only checked her once to make sure she was progressing before she entered the water. So, when the time came and she felt like pushing she was encouraged to push. Unlike in a hospital she pushed in a way that felt natural to her. No one was telling her how long to hold the push, or what to do. She just let it happen. The head came out, and she waited for another contraction before she pulled the body out and lifted the baby to her chest.

The baby didn't even really cry. It made a healthy noise, but she was as content as could be. Midwife injected mom with some patosin to make her blot clot and then made sure mom and baby were fine.

During this, I noticed how relaxed mom stayed, and how content baby was when born. It was extremely different. I am still not a home birth advocate, but I will say, I now understand why people like to have their babies at home. I'm much more open minded and secure about being a doula at future home births.

Just thought I'd share..

NST Update

Since I have gestational diabetes I have to take a few extra precautions with the baby. Besides the boring diet, I will now be going in for Amnionic Fluid checks once a week and non stress testes twice a week. Yesturday was the first for both. The Amnionic fluid test is really an ultrasound. They look and make sure the baby is in the right position, there is enough fluid for him, and they check his heart rate. Apparently these are all concerns when you have GD. It was actually cool seeing an ultrasound at 36 weeks. He's big so it's not like you get a pic of whole body, but he was in the right position. His head is right on my cervix (nice and cozy for me!) and they are guessing he is about 7.5 pounds. This can be almost a pound off, so I'm trying not to think about the weight too much. (This could mean a 9.5 pound baby in a month!) After the ultrasound I went up to labor and delivery. They hook me up to the fetal heart monitor and I just sat and listened to his heart beat for half an hour. Everything looks good, just waiting for him to be ready!

Sunday Comic

Sundays are usually Church and errand days. We didn't go to church yesturday, but we did make it to Costco, Best Buy, Office Max, and then IHOP for lunch. We are home for maybe 2 minutes and Clay infoms me that there is a hole in my pants. I'm thinking a snag, a small hole....OH NO! This wasn't a hole it was a tear from the middle of my back side to my thigh! We have no idea when this "hole" appeared! Besides the belly, the waddle, and the sheer awkwardness, I gave Fresno something else to look at...my butt! I do want to mention these pants were not tight on me, so it's not like I split my pants!! If that was the case I'd probably in tears. What makes me want to cry is that these were my favorite maternity pants. They were comfy, and fit right. Oh, well...just thought I'd share some Sunday humor.

The last few days

I sit at home with a box of Kleenex trying to fight the cold I seemed to bring home from Seattle. It's awful! For 8.5 months I have avoided getting sick in any way. Now, I can't seem to be away from the tissue box for more then a few minutes. Having a cold is so extreamly different when you are pregnant! Sleeping was already uncomfortable, but trying to find comfort with a stuffy nose, and a hacky cough is just strange. Everytime I cough I feel like my stomach is going to pop! Strange feeling!

Aside from the complainig, things are good! The room is somewhat organized. Well, it's almost there. It's really just finding a spot for everything and figuring out what else is a bring baby home necessity. His bag is packed, and mine is almost packed! I just have to finish up the ipod music, and a few other little things. We deffinately need to invest in some rechargable battaries for all the baby stuff! It's been fun getting everything ready. I can't wait to meet him!

Baby showers are all over...I'll post pictures soon! Thank you to everyone who was able to come! They were all amazing and fun!