Croupity Croup Croup!!

AKA: Crappity Crap Crap!!

Last week I woke up expecting a happy almost three year old who has gone to sleep with ZERO problems AND sleeps 13+ hours a night since he was 9 months old. Seriously, in the last 2 years London has only woken up 3 times in the middle of the night. He is the worlds BEST sleeper. He asks to go to bed every night and if he doesn't have a nap he clings to he baby gate begging to go to bed at about 6:45pm. I HAVE BEEN BLESSED!

CHECK!!! (No London's sleeping habits have nothing to do with this post, I was just bragging by telling you how awesome he sleeps.)

Next I woke up to a 3 month old BARKING at me. It sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. He didn't really have a runny nose, but he was definitely congested.  A quick check of his temperature confirmed my fears, and after a not so brief but very entertaining stop at the circus (yes, I said circus...and yes we already had tickets for the day time show, a little fever is nothing some Pedia Care acetaminophen can't fix) we headed to the Dr's office. It was Friday so I figured we better hit up the Dr or else brave the weekend with a sick baby.

20 minutes and a negative RSV test later, his diagnosis was Croup. Dr S told me rom the moment she walked in the room and heard Holden barking, that she had no doubt it was croup, but she wanted to make sure there was no RSV involved.

We were send home on  acetaminophen and a prescription for steroids. Have any of you ever seen a 3 month old with roid rages? Well I have it and it SUCKS!!

To understand this you need a little back story. My oldest sister has some health problems. Mainly asthma mixed with a fun concoction of every other problem you can imagine. Every so often she gets sent to the hospital where they pump her FULL of steroids and send her home. She spends the rest of the night cleaning her house. I'm talking DEEP cleaning her house. I would happily eat off her floors with in the week after her release from the hospital.

Anyway, so when my mom mentioned the day after Holden's diagnosis that she couldn't get me on the phone (London had killed it playing Angry Birds) my sisters response was "Of course not! She is sleeping...Holden was up all night cleaning his crib with a toothbrush." And in many ways she was correct.

Holden never slept, and ate nonstop! My nipples were raw for the next few days. Poor kiddo, felt better on the steroids but they made him so irritable. He would be asleep in his bed and just fussing. You could tell that it wasn't his "pain" cry that was making him fuss, he was just mad...and asleep.

Anyway...this is a really long story!

Within about 2 days Holden was 50 times better. I stopped his meds and his attitude improved as well.

Holden is 3 months old.. and he has been sick every 2-3 weeks since birth. Either this kid has the worlds worst immune system OR he has a big brother who is bringing everything home from preschool with him. I'm going with the latter. Hopefully this will be our last visit to the Doctor until the end of Feb and his 4 month appointment.

I'm kinda getting used to this face, so I can't have him getting sick again!

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I was in no way compensated for the P.S. plug! Its a cool opportunity for my readers and if any of you win, I EXPECT you to take me on the trip with you. My kids may or may not be invited to join us based on what kind of day I have had ;)

Holden 2 Months!

Since his Dr appointments are running a few weeks behind at this point so are my posts.

Holden had his official 2 month Dr appointment on Monday...He was 11 weeks old.

Holden is getting so stinking big. I know everyone says that and I will probably start every post off like that for the next year or so, but IT'S TRUE!

He is really starting to sleep well at night. He goes down at around 9:30pm and sleeps until about 3:30am. That is 6 hours people!!! Now if only I could teach myself to go to bed at 9:30 so I could really enjoy those 6 hours. He then eats and crawls into bed with me (bad habit I know) until around 8:30am. It is glorious and I'm hoping he follows in his brother footsteps and stays such a good sleeper.

He is really starting to coo at us these days. He LOVES it when you talk to him. He talks back and mimics my sounds. I've already got him saying "hey" well at least it's a noise that SOUNDS like "hey" but that's a step in the right direction! HAHA!

He hates being put down, but unlike his brother he is happy with ANYONE holding him. London only wanted me to hold him starting at about 6 weeks old. Holden wouldn't care if it was the bum on the street corner as long as he is being held. Over the holidays when our families were in town, I swear I went full days with out hearing him cry because people just kept passing him from one person to another. He was a happy camper.

He now weighs: 14lbs (Birth: 7lbs 2oz and 6 weeks: 11lbs 3oz)
And is 23.5 inches long (Birth: 18.5 and 6 weeks: 21in)

Here is his 2 month picture! (And London's too, just for fun!)

Holden

London

One Month Old!

Actually Holden is 6 weeks old but he didn't get to his one month well baby check up until  yesterday.

"Well baby" check up right? WRONG!!!!

For the last few days Holden has been going through a phase where he never wants to be put down. He is also exceptionally cranky every night from about 4-8pm. I really didn't think too much about it because I remember when London did this. I even wrote about it HERE. I just assumed that Holden was going through the same phase.

Yesterday while at the Doctor, I mentioned his new found crankiness and that he still had a snotty nose left over from his cold. She looked him over and when it came time to check his ears we found the culprit. He has an ear infection. Poor guy! 

So we left his "well baby" check up with his very first script for antibiotics. FABULOUS!! 

Besides that his one month, actually six week stats are 21 inches long (up from 18.5 at birth) and 11lbs 3oz (up from 7lbs 2oz) at birth. Both of which are in the 50th percentile for his age. Wooohoo! for being average :) 

I better get to bed, little man is still waking up every 3 hours to eat, I'm really hoping that changes as he starts feeling better. What I wouldn't give for 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. 

Here is a picture of Holden at one month old, and just for fun here is a picture of London at the same age. So far they look NOTHING alike. 

Holden

London

And a picture of the boys from today 

PS. How cute is my new Christmas Design? You can get a custom holiday design too. We are also running a 20% off blog design packages right now INCLUDING gift certificates. Go check it out.
Ending shameless plug now. :)

The one about breastfeeding.

When I was pregnant with London, I decided very early on that I was going to breastfeed. It has tons of added health benefits for both the mother and child. Not to mention it sure beats the heck out of expensive formula. Why wouldn't I do it? London was a CHAMP! He was the freaking Muhammad Ali of breastfeeding. The best of the very best. He latched right away and never had any problems. Which was awesome considering I had NO IDEA what the hell I was supposed to be doing. He refused to take a bottle, so it wasn't until he was 8 months when my milk started to dry up because he was sleeping 13 hours each night that he ever even tasted a drop of formula. I felt like super mom. I swore to all my friends how EASY breastfeeding was, and I will be honest I could not understand the women who stopped breastfeeding because it was too hard, or whatever "excuse" they had.

Yeah, um, Karma is a bitch.

Holden is was the freaking Celebrity Boxing of the breastfeeding world. TRAIN WRECK!! He wouldn't latch for the first 36 hours after he was born, and this time I actually knew what I was doing. I had a seriously crazy lactation consultant who I swear looked and sounded just like the old lady from the Poltergist movies.

She had me milking my own breast (by hand) into a spoon, so that we could suck it up into a syringe to feed him after he had gone 12 hours without latching.

Talk about a whole new level of comfort in your marriage. In less than 12 hours Mike witnessed me pushing a human out of my lady parts for the second time AND milking myself like I was an old timey farmer.

anyway...I'm starting to ramble.

For the first 3 weeks Holden was HORRIBLE at breastfeeding. He was a biter. Thank goodness he wasn't one of those babies that are born with teeth. I decided to keep going and endure the pain. The painful latch usually only lasts about a week, but as we entered week four I was still cursing every time. I was at a loss and can not tell you how many times I wanted to quit.

All of those free formula samples were sitting in the pantry just staring at me. At 3 weeks I had a phone conversation with a different lactation consultant and she told me it sounded like he has a small mouth and tongue. We tried the nipple shield, but yeah, that was a big old FALIURE! He wouldn't latch at all. So after a few hours of screaming I gave up and just endured the pain once again.

Luckily by the end of week 4 he had gotten much much better. It was like over night he magically figured it out. It's all smooth sailing now, but this time couldn't have been more different than the last.

A friend of mine posted this on her blog today and can I please just tell you how true it really is. I'm not posting this to prevent anyone from breastfeeding. I'm not going to bore you all with how important it is and why it is so awesome. Trust me you will get all of that in the hospital. But, I'm also not going to sit here and preach to you that you are a failure if you don't breastfeed. Just like almost everything else in life, it is NOT for everyone and it's completely your decision.

Suck It! The REAL way to prep for breastfeeding!

Forget that old advice about "gently rubbing your nipples with a towel." If you really want to feel ready to nurse, here's what to do.

Day 1
Gently rub your nipples with sandpaper.

Day 2
At bedtime set your alarm clock to go off every two hours. Each time it rings, spend 20 minutes sitting in a rocking chair with your nipples clamped by a pair of chip clips.

Day 3
Draw branching lines all over your chest with a blue-green marker, then stand in front of your bathroom mirror and sing "I Feel Pretty."

Day 4 
Open your already-crowded freezer and make room for five dozen plastic milk bags.

Day 5
Fit the hose of a vacuum cleaner over one breast and set on "medium pile." Turn off vacuum when nipple is three inches long. Switch breasts.

Day 6
Obtain "DO NOT CROSS" tape from your local police station, then wrap firmly around your chest. When your spouse asks about it, say, "Get used to it."

Day 7
Tape a water balloon to each breast and squeeze into a maternity bra. Repeatedly hook and unhook the nursing flaps with one hand while using the other to balance a sack of squirming puppies.

Day 8
Dine in the fanciest, snootiest restaurant you can afford, making sure to arrive with a big wet spot directly over each nipple.

Day 9
Record your mother proclaiming, "Just give the baby some cereal like God intended, and she'll sleep right through the night." Play in an endless loop at 1 a.m., 3 a.m., and 5 a.m.

Day 10
Slather your breasts with peanut butter, top with birdseed and stand very still in your backyard.

Day 11
Go someplace public -- a museum, a courthouse, the steps of your office building -- and stuff a lifelike baby doll under your shirt. Use the doll's arm to suddenly hike the shirt up past your collar bone. Lower shirt. Feign nonchalant smile.

Day 12
Suckle a wolverine.

Congratulations! You are now ready to nurse a baby. Maybe

Life with Holden

Things have been going really well over the last two weeks. Wow, I can hardly believe it has been two weeks already. Man, that sleep deprivation really makes time fly!


In this post I am going to list alot of stats that I'm sure none of you care about. It's mainly for me, so it will probably be boring or the rest of you. I love the fact that I can look back at posts from when London was little and see how Holden compares. :) I'll add a few cute pictures at the bottom for anyone who makes it through all of this. 


Over the first week we went to ALOT of Dr's appointments. Poor Baby Holden was jaundice and had to go back 5 times in the first 7 days of life to have blood drawn to check his Bilirubin levels checked. Poor guys his heals look like pin cushions. I felt so bad for him.


Fun fact for all of you, my husband thought we were talking about some guy named Billy Rubin every time I would talk about Holden's levels. HAHA!


Holden's levels stayed elevated for the first few days but never got high enough for him to have to sit under the special light or blanket. It was 10 (whatever the unit of measurement is I have no idea) on day 2, 14 the next day, and by day 6 it was 18. Thankfully by day 8 it was down to 14. 


See I told you this was going to be boring. Don't say I didn't warn you!


Thankfully the little guy has been steadily gaining weight. He started out at 7lbs 2oz at birth and was down to 6lbs10oz when we left the hospital. By day 8 though he had gained a fair amount and was weighing in at 7lbs 6 oz. His Dr was very impressed with this so apparently we are doing something right. 


Breastfeeding is a little more difficult this time than it was with London. Holden is a really good eater, but something is just off. London was a natural so I'm not quite sure what to do to fix our little problem. Here it is almost 2 weeks since he was born and it still hurts to nurse him. He seems to be latching well, but I think he is biting me. I can promise we will not be making it to a my initial goal of 6 months if he keeps that up. My poor nipples are bruised and it's painful every time he nurses. Nothing unbearable, just not comfortable AT ALL. I still cuss every time he latches hahaha! Hopefully I can find a LLL meeting to attend soon, or possibly call the lactation consultant back and see if she has any suggestions. Something has got to give. 


Holden has established a pretty good schedule for himself. I've got my fingers crossed that he keeps it up. Right now, he sleeps most of the day, waking for about 30 mins here and there. Then around 6pm he wakes up for about two and a half hours. He is very content and just chills on the couch next to us in his boppy. About 8:30 is his bed time, so I nurse him and put him in bed..on his back. London was a tummy sleeper so I'm happy Holden seems to be content on his back or side. Through out the night he only wakes about every 4 hours, just long enough to eat and get his diaper changed. He is a really good baby (THUS FAR!! Quick, knock on wood!)


London is actually adjusting very well to being a big brother. He hasn't really been acting out YET,  however he doesn't really acknowledge him very much either. He asks about him alot but doesn't want to hold him or even help feed, diaper, bathe, or entertain him. He is however enjoying all of Holden's stuff. His swing and carseat make for some really fun times as far as London is concerned. :)  Right now he just sleeps alot, which I guess is pretty boring for a 2 year old. 


Oh the best part, London is obsessed with Holden's umbilical stump. It still has not fallen off yet, and it really bothers London that he has an "ouchie." I keep telling him that it doesn't hurt, but he doesn't believe me. So every time I change Holden's diaper, London runs over and says "Is it gone yet?" and then freaks out when I put alcohol on it. "Don't touch it Mommy!!" HAHA! It's actually pretty cute :)


Ok that is enough documenting for today. Here are a few pictures for those of you who actually read all of that!

First thing in the AM

One of the only times we've got London to "hold" him. 

Smiling

Nap Time! 

Holden's Birth Story

Phew, I finally have a minute to sit down and write Holden's mini birth story.

Let's see, where to start?

Wednesday October 19th, I turned 37 weeks. FULL TERM!! Wooohoo! It would have been AMAZING had I not been experiencing contractions every 4-6 mins for 3 days. I was MISERABLE! I was so sore that it hurt every time the baby would kick. At 10am I had my 37 week appointment with MY Dr. Did I mention that I LOVE her? I was dilated to 4cm and 100% effaced and waters bulging even more. She told me, "If you dilate anymore I'm pretty sure this baby is just going to fall out. Let's just put you out of your misery!" She then stripped my membranes. It was by far the most painful thing that had ever happened to me! I shouted a few cuss words and she responded with "yeah, I get that alot" HAHAHA!!

Wednesday night, I was contracting every 4 mins (again) and they were getting more and more painful. So I decided to call the Dr and see if I could go into the hospital. The on-call Dr was HORRIBLE!! She was rude, rude, RUDE! This is how the conversation went with her...

Me: I'm contracting every 4 mins and have been for the last 3 hours straight, they are becoming more intense and I'm having trouble walking and talking through them.
Her: Well your only 37 weeks.
Me: Yes, I know but I'm in a lot of pain and I'm not sure what to do.
Her: Well how is this any different than what you have been having for the last few months?
Me: Umm, they are ALOT more painful and intense.
Her: **Sigh** Well, I'm not sure what the point of you going to the hospital is. If you are in labor...ok. But if you're not, I'm just going to send you home.
Me: Ummmm, OK? My last baby came really fast, so I'm a little worried about that too.
Her: *Rolls eyes* (Yes, I could HEAR her roll her eyes) Ok well you can go to the hospital, but I'm not going to come in. I'll have a nurse check you when you get there.

WTF?!?!

I was SOOOOOOOO mad. Seriously, contractions every 4 mins is not reason enough to go to the hospital? After I hung up I may have called the Dr a few choice words that I am not proud of, but at that point I was PISSED!!

When I got there, I had dilated a little more since my appointment so they gave me some pain medication, and kept me for the night. I quickly passed out.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, My Dr was on call the next morning. She came in at 7am, and said she thought I was leaking fluid, dilated to 5+cm, and that we were gonna have this baby TODAY! My contractions had slowed down a bit so she had me get up and walk for an hour, then broke my water.

I'm not going to lie, I expected for Baby Holden to FLY out like London did after breaking my water, but he didn't. Nothing really happened actually. We laid around in bed for about an hour with contractions every 4 mins (just as they had been for days). Then my nurse came in and told me they were going to start pitocin. I have heard horrible things about pitocin, so I promptly asked for the epidural.

About an hour later I got my epidural and it was glorious. I felt nothing, and when I say nothing I mean NOTHING. I just laid around for the next 3 hours watching TV and eating ice chips. About that time, I started to feel some pressure. The Dr checked me and it was time to push! She told me to hang tight while they got the birth cart and supplies, but yeah my body had a different plan. I NEEDED to push.

2 contractions and 7 mins of pushing later, Holden Alexander was born (and peeing on the Dr).

 Mike was grossed out by cutting the cord. I thought it was hysterical. 

Holden was crying when London got there, so he wasn't quite sure what to think of him at first. 

 But he eventually warmed up. 

 Me and my boys...Horrible picture of me, but cute of the boys so I had to put it up. 

 Our first family photo!

 Daddy and his boys :)

Brothers :)

Holden Alexander is here!!

Holden Alexander arrived today at 3:53pm. Weighing in at 7lbs 2oz and 18.5in long. I will update in a few days with his birth story and more pictures, but for now I'm going to love on my new little man! He is absolutely perfect!

Holden is a Quitter

Ugh, so I have had contractions at least every 6 mins for the last 36 hours. I really thought last night was going to be THE NIGHT. They were painful, very painful, and really looked like they were going somewhere, but as you can tell from the title of this blog post, they did not.

I'm still pregnant. MUCH to my dismay.

I'm at my wits end, and so so so sore from contracting so much over the last few days.

I'm exhausted since I didn't sleep much the last few days. At least if I had a newborn I would be able to cuddle with him in the middle of the night, instead of tossing and turning in pain, accompanied by the occasional trip to the bathroom to puke.

I went into the Dr yesterday just to get checked out when the contractions were every 4 mins. I had dilated another cm (4 now) and about 90% effaced. I didn't see my Dr and since I was only 36w6d she couldn't do anything to help me out of the contraction marathon.

My 37 week appointment with MY Dr (not the on call) is tomorrow.  I'm still contracting this morning but they are not nearly as regular as they were yesterday.

During contraction-fest yesterday, we decided to go walk around the Zoo to help get things going. My sister-in-law went with me to take care of London and I moaned and waddled my way around the zoo, stopping for the occasional photo.

36 Weeks and Eviction Notice.

Here I am still pregnant! *Puke* *Burp* *Contraction* *Groan* *Waddle*

I did it! I made it to 36 weeks. Not quite full term, but close e-damn-nough.

Since I have not updated in a while allow me to elaborate why on this great day I am so stinking disgruntled. 

PRETERM LABOR!! I HATE YOU!!

Some of you who have been following me for a while may remember that when I was 35 weeks with London, I started this nightly crontraction-puke fest. It usually lasted for about 3-5 hours each night and instead of sending me into definite labor, it usually tapered off a few hours later. Ultimately it was a big freaking waste of my time and energy. Well guess what?

IT'S BACK!!!!!

Thankfully this time I have been armed with Phenergan to help the nausea and helps me sleep through a fair amount of it. Not all of it though. I have been up EVERY.SINGLE. NIGHT. for 10 freaking days dealing with this crap. I'm exhausted and have gotten to where I dread and each and every night because I know what's coming. 4-5 hours of pure labor...that leads NO WHERE! 

People always ask me about the great natural birth vs medicated birth debate. My answer is always the same...unless there is a cash reward at the end, I want a freaking epidural. My reasoning is that I've dealt with labor in 3-5 hour increments for the last 2 weeks, and it sucks... like really bad, and I didn't even have to push a baby out of my lady bits in the end. I went through enough just to GET pregnant with this baby, I deserve a freaking epidural.

So today at my Dr's appointment I got some encouraging news. I'm 3-4 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and have bulging waters. Baby is extremely LOW and in position.WOOHOOO!  She said the three most magical words to me "Any Day Now". It was pure music to my ears.

My Dr pulled me off all meds (actually last week she did that) and off all modified bedrest. She said "let's get this baby out!" She doesn't like the fact that my waters are bulging. She said that if I am still pregnant in 2 weeks (which she highly doubts) that she is going to break my water at the hospital, where she can control it and I will be guaranteed that before mentioned magical epidural.

So we officially have an EVICTION DATE: October 27, 2011 @ 7:30am

The end is near my friends...very near. I'd be lying if I said I didn't do a happy dance while leaving the Dr's office today. It was quickly followed by a panic attack when I realized I would have a newborn in 2 weeks or less. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions. But, I'm ready. Oh so ready! Bring on the baby!!!

Here are a few belly pics (OMG, these could possibly be my last)

35 weeks

36 week (Holy smokes I look tired!)

I'm Next!!

Back in February, when I first found out that IVF #2 had worked, I also found out that 4 of my friends were also expecting. All of them were due within 6 weeks of my due date. It was great having friends to enjoy this pregnancy with. Oddly enough, 2 or them were also pregnant with  me last time. It was fun swapping random texts complaining about swollen ankles, bed rest, and irritable uterus'. One even even ended up on bed rest with me. Copy Cat HAHAHAHA!!!

 As September rolled around, my friends started having their babies.

I sat by, watching each one of them welcome their perfect babies into the world, just waiting for my turn. Well guess what....IT'S FINALLY MY TURN!! 

Yesterday my last friend who was due before me delivered her perfect little girl. Congrats Erin!

I'M NEXT!!!

I will be 35 weeks in a few days, so baby Holden definitely has a little more cooking to do, but we are getting so CLOSE!! The next birth announcement in my little IRL world will be MY OWN!! **Well not totally true, one of my close friends here has a scheduled c-section on Wednesday, but it's scheduled so I'm not really sitting around waiting on her to go into labor**

EEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!

For those of you who are due after me...I will try to hurry this up so that it will be your turn next :)

34 Weeks and a Giveaway!

Today was my 34 week appointment and more than likely my last ultrasound. Everything went amazingly well and I even got a 4d peak at baby Holden. He appears to look a lot like Mr. London and has a head full of hair. Which if the old wives tale is correct, would explain why I have had so much heartburn this pregnancy. London had very little hair when he was born and I only experienced heartburn with him twice my entire pregnancy.

Here are a few pictures of the little guy. He really didn't cooperate well with the picture taking portion of the 4d ultrasound. He kept his hand up over his face for most of it but I caught a couple peaks at his cute little lips and nose. Oh and there is NO DOUBT that he is a boy, he was quite proud of showing that off. Typical man. :)

A few other things I learned at this appointment.

-I've not made anymore progress since 24 weeks, still hanging out around 1-3 cm dilated depending on which Dr checks me.
-Holden has not "dropped yet" although my suspects that when he does I will probably go into labor pretty quickly afterwards, if not immediately (based on my cervix).
- Holden is already weighing in at a healthy and chubby 6lbs.
-He is also head down (which I pretty much knew) so as of right now it looks like I won't be needing that much feared c-section.
-Next week I get to come off all my medications and restrictions! WOOHOOO!!

So now....ON TO THE GIVEAWAY!


I've decided to do a little guessing game for my readers. I'm 34 weeks today, so lets take some guesses on when baby Holden will actually make his arrival. I'm giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card to the person who comes closest. Below is a Rafflecopter giveaway form with 3 questions. Guess the date he will arrive, his weight, and then the time he will be born. The giveaway winner will be determined by whoever is CLOSEST to his actual birth date, and then I will be using his weight and time as a tie breaker in case we have multiple correct guesses. :)

A few things you may want to know before guessing...

-My actual due date is November 9, 2011.
-London was born at 37w4d (17 days early) at 3:17am and weighed 6lbs13oz (water broke spontaneously)
-I will be stopping all medications to prevent preterm labor next week (First week of October)
-Holden is currently estimated (via ultrasound) to weigh 6lbs (34 weeks)
-I weighed a whopping 10lbs9oz when I was born and Mike weighed 5lbs when he was born.

Go start guessing!

Anyone who guesses that I will go past 40 weeks will be automatically disqualified. HAHA! Just Kidding!


If you have any trouble with entering via the Rafflecopter form below, just leave your guess in a comment and I will add you manually. Please make sure to leave me an email address so I can contact you :)

33 Weeks

Nothing terribly exciting to report here. I'm still pregnant, yay!!. I still have cankles, boo!! And  now I officially  can't sleep anymore. I know I know, I should feel very blessed that I haven't experienced any problems sleeping up until now but man this sucks. I guess it's my body's way of getting me ready for baby, but I really don't want to practice the sleepless nights without a newborn to cuddle.

I'm getting less and less mobile these days too. Getting up and down from the couch is next to impossible. So is leaning over to pick up one of the million Thomas the Trains that litter my floor. As you can imagine, my house is a mess because of this. I'm starting to think investing in some sort of 'Go Go Gadget Arm" wouldn't be such a bad idea right now.

Well this has been a quick whinny update from me! I have an ultrasound next Tuesday to check baby Holden's weight and position, so I will be sure to update again then. :)

Until then, here I am at 33 weeks. 

32 weeks and Cankles

I've made it to my next goal of 32 weeks. My Dr even cheered when she walked into the room at yesterdays Dr appointment. 32 weeks is quite the accomplishment when we first started with a shortened cervix at 20 weeks.

Now with all of that said, I have an announcement to make...

I have cankles!!

WTF?!?!?!

How did this happen to me? I have calves and I have ankles. I DO NOT have cankles. 

I'm not quite sure if it is from swelling (hopefully) or if it's from pregnancy weight gain (18 lbs thus far). Either way I don't care, I just know that jeans have now become my new BFF. I've got to hide those big boys some how. 

In another glamorous pregnancy news, my feet have grown a full shoe size. I've gone from an already large size 10 to a small row boat in just a few months. I swear I can't even wear my flip flops anymore. Did I mention my feet are swollen/fat too? What am I supposed to wear now? 

Thankfully these nice Chinese ladies agreed to make me some new shoes, because I'm pretty sure my days of shopping off the rack are OVER!

Credit

At my 32 week appointment the other day my Dr  made a plan to pull me off all my meds at 35 weeks. WOOOHOOO!!! I love having a plan. It gives me something to look forward to, ya know besides having a baby hahaha! 

And here is a crappy cell phone pic of my 32 week belly!

30 weeks!

"30 weeks! OMG, 30 weeks!" Yep, that is what my body is screaming right about now. Over the last few days my body has realized that we are officially in the home stretch of this pregnancy. WE HAVE AN ACTUAL COUNTDOWN PEOPLE!!!!


Fact: My baby will be born sometime in the next 10 weeks. Hopefully only 7 weeks from now though. If my preterm labor is as painful as it was with London the weeks leading up to his birth, I completely plan on serving a eviction notice at 37 weeks. 


Nesting has also hit full force. Last weekend, I NEEDED to wash all of the newborn clothes, including carseat, swing, and all other accessories. Oh how I love the smell of Dreft! Yes I am well aware I could just use one of the free and clear detergents, but where is the fun in that?  Dreft makes everything SMELL like a baby is on the way :) 

During this process London found a new place to play/eat fruit snacks while watching Dora. 

I also FINALLY got Mike to clean out the guest room so we could convert it into baby Holden's room. I was a little crazy over the weekend. I'll admit it. But in my defense, I couldn't help it. I just HAD to get things done. Just to give you an idea of how crazy I was, here is my lovely husbands facebook status from Sunday night...


"Note to Man: When your pregnant wife asks you to clear out the guest room to make room for the new baby, DO IT. I cleaned it out but said I didn't feel like moving the guest bed. Wrong answer buddy, WRONG answer. For a brief moment after giving her that answer I'm pretty sure her countenance turned into that of the little girl from The Ring. Needless to say, it got done. Mama / Ringu always wins."


Normally I would probably be hurt by his comparison but on that particular day, he probably wan't too far off. Hey at least he didn't compare me to the girl from The Exorcist right? It definitely could have been worse :)


Holden's room is up but not decorated or organized. I promise to post some pictures of that when I get it done. Given how strong this nesting urge is, it shouldn't be too long before I'm finished. 


Well, I need to go wake London up from his nap or he is never going to bed tonight. Before I go here is a quick belly picture for all of you. 

Freedom!!! (Well kinda)

Today I went to he Dr for my 26 week checkup. Yay for 26 weeks!!

Everything looked good and cutie Holden is weighing in at 2lbs5oz as of today. He was so stinking cute and practicing sucking the entire time. It was so cute watching his little lips go. He also stuck his tongue out and yawned. IT WAS FREAKING ADORABLE STUFF PEOPLE! (Yes that deserved all caps)


My cervix is holding steady at 2.5cms which for 26 weeks is pretty average. YAY for average!

I actually got to see MY Dr today, and she solved the great dilation mystery (when I went from 3 cm dilated to closed in one week). She said that my cervix is really high but when she felt my cervix she was able to feel around and get some fingers in there (EEEWWW!!!!) She is assuming that the other Dr just couldn't get in far enough to feel around and probably just touch the outside (again EWWW!!!). Anyway, she said I am around 2.5-3 cm dilated and if I ever go back to the hospital and see a different Dr, just tell them "I don't know" when asked if I'm dilated. HAHAHA!!! I love her!

She also eased up on my bedrest a little bit. She told me that if I was a secretary that she would allow me to go back to work this week. She still wants me to take it easy, no shopping, cleaning, or gardening (obviously she doesn't know me that well. I wouldn't even do that if I could. I wish I had a picture of our flower beds right now to prove it). I am allowed on my feet for up to 2 hours now though, and for every 45 mins I'm up she wants me down for 45 mins. So if I do 2 hours of stuff in the morning she wants me to lay down for 2 hours when I get home. Fair enough!! This I can handle.

Some other fun things have been going on with London but they warrant there own post in a day or two.

A Trip to Labor & Delivery

Well, I officially had my first trip to the hospital this weekend. Lets start by saying that EVERYTHING is fine. Baby Holden is still swimming around and kicking Mommy in he bladder every chance he gets. And I'm, well I'm still doing alot of this.

(Only, you can remove the beer cans and replace them with bottles of water. And replace the cigarette butts with snickers wrappers)

OK back to my trip to L&D.

Saturday morning, I slept late because Mike was kind enough to get up with London. I was feeling great when I got up. I woke up dragged my butt and blanket to the couch (cause that's how I do it!!!) and laid back down. A few hours later still in the same place on the couch, I noticed a contraction. I brushed it off thinking hoping that it was just one of those annoying Braxton Hicks contractions. They never went away even after chugging numerous bottles of water and laying on my left side.. They became more and more regular and finally got to be about 5 minutes apart. Much to my dismay, I knew it was time to call the Dr. Her response, after 30 minutes of NOT CALLING ME BACK....head to labor and delivery.

Mike and I dropped London off with a friend and headed in around 5pm. I really didn't think they were going to keep me. I mean really, REALLY didn't think they would keep me. Well guess what? They did!

They hooked me up to an IV and monitors and watched me for a good 2 hours. They first put the monitors too high on my stomach so it wasn't reading any real contractions. However I was DEFINITELY having them. I kept making the nurse touch my stomach to prove to her I was actually having them. She agreed that it was contractions and said that sometimes the monitors don't pick up very well when your really early. My Dr came in, gave me some procardia and  pain meds, and I was drooling on myself about 5 minutes later. They kept me overnight, but thankfully let me go first thing in the morning.

Thankfully the procardia worked and I now have a big bottle of it sitting in my medicine cabinet for me to enjoy every 6 hours.

Another fun fact, apparently my cervix is now closed, firm, and thick. WTF?? A few weeks ago, I was 3cms dilated. I know that every person measures dilation a little differently, but there is a HUGE difference between 3cms and ZERO cms. Someone made a mistake, but I'm not sure who it was yet.

I had my follow up Drs appointment today which basically just pissed me off! I'm not going to write a huge book about why, even though I could. I will say this though, the Dr (a different one in the practice than my usual Dr) did NOT do a cervical length check and did not know that I have been on bedrest since 20 weeks. I had to fill her in on my situation. Even though my usual Dr has been doing cervical length checks every 10 days due to my shortening cervix, this Dr decided that she didn't need to check it. Ummmm...WHATEVER! UGH!!

Next appointment is in 1 week, with my usual Dr so hopefully I will have some answers and measurements then.

24 Weeks and Food!

Well I did it! I reached our first goal in this pregnancy. Does anyone else find it really depressing that a mere 24 weeks, when your child only has a 50% chance of surviving outside the womb, is considered a milestone? Sadly for so many women, like myself, we celebrate 24 weeks. Noone wants a 24 weeker...NOONE!! There are a few women out there who wish they could have made it to 24 weeks so their baby(ies) could have had a fighting chance at life beyond the womb. I promise you those same women would have given anything to have nice plump full term 40 weekers instead.

But here we are at 24 weeks celebrating none the less. What am I going to do to celebrate today? Probably the same thing I do everyday...EAT!!

OMG, I am so hungry these days. For the last 2 weeks I have been eating nonstop. And I don't mean healthy eating, I mean eating CRAP.  I will admit to no fewer than 3 trips to Mcdonalds over the last few weeks where my order consisted of a Bigmac and large fries. I however will not admit on my public blog that after eating everything in bag, and I'm talking EVERY SINGLE FRY, that I was still hungry.  I have also been craving chicken fingers and fried okra from Church's chicken. So I may have made a few trips there too. DON'T JUDGE ME!!! :)

I really need to start eating better, not just for the sake of my weight in a few months, but mainly for Baby Holden.  Anyone have some good recipes they want to share? They don't have to be low fat or low carb or anything. Just something that is delicious and contains a veggie or two that is not fried. Big points if Mike will eat it too :)

On a different note, I won a few giveaways recently. WOOHOOO!! I guess bedrest is paying off.

I won a set of these super cute wooden blocks from Katie Bug Custom Creations. How stinking cute are these?! They would make a great engagement/wedding present. Go check out her etsy shop!

Oh and just so you know the winners of my most recent giveaways were...

What to Expect Book:
Heather S
(has not responded to the email I sent so email me or I'm gonna have to pick a new winner)

And the winner of the $20 paypal cash:
PCOSChick (claimed)

Congrats to the winners!

3 cms dilated at 23 weeks

Um, yes you read that correctly. I am officially 3 cms dilated at 23 weeks. Here is the best part that everyone seems shocked about, my Dr is not concerned at all.

Yesterday was my first pelvic exam of this pregnancy. This is my second baby, so I was expecting to be dilated to 1cm or something around there, but I was NOT expecting to hear 3cm. My Dr on the other hand was not shocked at all. She looked back over my medical records and saw that at 27 weeks I was dilated to 3 with London, and said she pretty much expected this. I walked around at 3 cms for 10 weeks before London was born. She said this might just be what my body does. It still felt firm and closed behind those 3 cms so at least that was encouraging. She said she is more concerned with my cervical length rather than dilation this pregnancy.

The good news is that my cervix is still measuring around 3cm in length too. So at least that is holding steady.

She told me to keep up the good work, and sent me home to continue modified bedrest. She even moved my appointments to once every 2 weeks instead of once every 10 days.

Next Appointment will be my gestational diabetes test. Bleh!! I really hope it goes well, because right now I am CRAVING snickers. And not just occasionally, I'm talking like ALL THE TIME! I have a nightly snickers bar. As much as I would LOVE to say that I'm exaggerating, sadly I am not.

I still have not gained any weight, however I know with those eating habits the pounds are COMING!!!

23 Weeks

P17 DENIED!!

Yep, I just got the word from my Dr's office. Aetna DENIED my prescription for the P17 shots. My favorite part is that they denied it because I'm a whopping 22 weeks. If my Dr had written the script at 20 weeks when they originally noticed my cervical shortening (and because of my history with preterm labor) then the big guys with out a medical degree who decide what is REALLY best for my unborn child (AKA: My insurance company), would have approved it. However since they waited a week to make sure I really needed the shots, they are now considered experimental. Ummmm, OK sure!

My Dr and I have decided that we are going to try the compounded P17 shots. These are basically pharmacy made generics instead of the big expensive name brand. (There is more too it than that, but that is the gist of it.)

We will have to pay out of pocket for those, but only $15 per week. I think we can handle that.

I'm rather mad at my insurance about denying it.

Mad enough to eat a Big Mac and large fry, oh wait... never mind, I ate that before I got the call. Humm, no one to blame for that one.

I am however thrilled to have the option of the compounded P17. I am really really hopeful that this will keep the preterm labor away and keep me out of the hospital until 37 weeks. I guess only time will tell though.

Compounded P17 starts TONIGHT!!

If anyone from Aetna happens to be reading this, you better watch your back. This tattooed gangsta is pretty pissed about you denying his Mama's prescription.

20 weeks and Bedrest

20 weeks started off fun enough. I feel great (well except for that whole back and pelvic pain). My belly has really popped recently. I feel like I finally look PREGNANT to just random people now. No more wondering if I'm just a heavy beer drinker, I actually look pregnant!

Crappy cell phone picture because I can't get up to get my camera cord (more on that later). 

  And I also finished my first arts and crafts project for Baby Holden. They turned out GREAT. Again, another crappy cell phone picture. You get the idea!

Today was my official 20 week appointment. I had the big ultrasound and Holden looked GREAT!! He was measuring right on target and weighs in at 12 oz. (71st percentile). I may be biased but he is already a handsome little guy.

Adorable little chicken legs. :)

 He actually cooperated long enough for a cute profile picture, something his crazy brother never would do. 

And his cute little Skeletor face looking right at you. Arms up around his head, and little legs crossed at the ankle. You can see he is obviously still a boy too ;) 

After all the ultrasound fun was done, I went back to meet with the Dr. That is when I found out that my cervix is already starting to shorten (efface). Since I went into preterm labor with London and had some cervical shortening then, my Dr decided at 16 weeks to do a baseline check so we would have a comparison number later on in pregnancy should we run into any trouble.  At 16 weeks my cervical length was 5.6 cm long.  This was great! Nice and long, just the way we wanted it to be. Well today at 20 weeks, my cervix was a short 2.5cm long. :( UGH!!! This tells us that my body is doing something to prepare for labor and as all of you know it's way way WAY to soon for that.

My Dr has ordered me onto bedrest and scheduled me to come back next Wednesday to have it checked again. If it is shorter we will have to start talking about putting in a cervical cerclage (aka: a stitch in my cervix). Thankfully I have not had any other signs of labor, no contractions or even cramping. Right now, it's just the silent shortening of the cervix that has landed me on bedrest.  I guess now I will have more time to update my blog.

I'm not exactly freaking out yet. I'm gonna give it till next week before I start doing that. For now I am just following the Dr's orders and hoping for the best. I'm also doing a ton or research on cerclages and cervical length. Dr Google knows everything right? :)