Pictures!

Please click on any of the photos below for a full view. For whatever reason Blogger is cutting off my pics and I cannot get it to post a full pic. :( I've tried posting via numerous methods.

Birth Story (Late Post)

So to start at the very beginning ...

I first had 'false' labor on August 1st, my contractions were regular and about medium intensity. They got to where they were 3 minutes apart regularly and lasted for hours. I went into the birth center and stayed for a few hours with no progress before eventually being sent home. The entire time due to my back labor they were trying to make me get into positions to 'turn the baby' despite my telling them I'd had no issues with my first back labor and it didn't really bother me. After being sent home and dealing with contractions half the night they eventually stalled out and I went back to work and life the next morning. The following Saturday August 8th I started into contractions again, roughly 30 minutes apart. They came this way for at least a few hours a day every day after that, often times closer together but I was getting them daily at the least.

Finally on Thursday August 20th around 8pm I started into contractions 30 minutes apart, I made sure to focus on getting enough food due to my hypoglycemia and they got closer together as time progressed. I was able to sleep between contractions that night as they were still 30 to 60 minutes apart. I monitored them the next day and they just kept getting closer together and stronger, finally at around 5pm on Friday August 21st I called my Dr and headed into the birth center with strong contractions 8 minutes apart. I'd made some progress since my OB appointment on Thursday morning so they had me stay.

I labored at the birth center all night, once again with the nurses trying to get me to do everything in my power to 'turn the baby' even though every time I followed their advice my cervix got more difficult to find and things just seemed to be harder. My contractions rapidly got closer together and hovered around 3 minutes apart, I wasn't really able to sleep through them or even between them and was still making no progress. Finally Saturday morning we asked my OB to come in and break my water to get things moving. She did so and while the contractions picked up in intensity they were still doing very little for me. Eventually my OB manually dilated me to a 6, which hurt like MAD. After that I was in serious transition contractions and after 40+ hours in noticeable labor was just having trouble dealing with it.

Eventually I broke down and asked for some Pain Meds to take the edge off because I just couldn't deal with the contractions. I'd made some progress but I'm not sure how much by that time as they didn't really tell me. They inserted an IV and gave me Stadol which took the edge off of the pain but didn't take it away. My OB came back in, I think she knew I was losing my energy/drive by that point because she manually dilated me to a 10 so that I could start pushing, even though I objected and cried/fought her. The next period of time (what I'm told was 2 hours or so) is just a blur in my mind. I kept passing out due to exhaustion and the Stadol and had no clue what was happening half the time. I'd come to with the OB and my nurse trying to coach me through pushing, I was holding my legs up and pushing but had no clue. Finally I forced myself through the haze enough to push and managed to push my little guy out, apparently he came out at an angle, he wasn't facing front or back by that time but was crooked. I have to wonder if that wasn't due to all the nurses trying to make me make him turn when he didn't want to. And I think that my difficulty progressing was due to that.

After Tim was out they had me delivering the placenta. The OB was pulling gently on the cord while I pushed it out, apparently most of it came out but a lobe stayed inside. My OB ended up actually having to reach fully inside of me and pull out the remaining parts of the placenta. I was crying, screaming, and physically fighting her despite my aware mind trying not to fight her. It just hurt so bad that I wasn't thinking straight, I swear I probably gave the poor woman bruises. Due to the trauma of them having to manually remove the separated placental lobe my uterus didn't contract down properly and they ended up having to give me an emergency IV of Pitocin so it ended up being a good thing I had the IV in from the Stadol.

So after it all despite the issues it turned out fairly well considering. And I've decided if I have back labor again I tell the nurses and even Drs to shove it and let me have back labor. I like it that way thank you very much! ;)

Further Updates

Well, I'm just about 38 weeks. Sean's prediction is that Tim will come 2 weeks early so if he's right we'll have a baby tomorrow. lol

Either way at my appointment this morning I was 2 centimeters dilated, which is a progression of roughly 1/2 cm in a week. I have been getting sporadic contractions since last Saturday, it's wonderful (sarcasm). Luckily Tuesday was my last day of work and I'm now on Maternity leave until late October. It's nice to not have to worry about contracting and/or going into labor at work. Now I can actually nest rather than being too worn out to think by the time I get home.

Anyway, I'll keep the blog updated a little better now I hope. Just in case anyone's watching it.

Some progression, needs to wait though.

Well, I'm 34 weeks pregnant, Tim is average sized except he apparently has short legs according to the last ultrasound. Anyway, at my last appointment my Dr said I am "soft" and dilated to a 1 already. I'm not overly concerned but I need to make it to at least 36 weeks or I can't give birth in the birth center at all. So now I'm on self-imposed modified bed rest and Sean is refusing to let me do basically anything in the house. Just wanted to share and keep people updated a tad if anyone's watching the blog.

Purchasing for Tim

I'm not even sure how many people have visited this site or if anyone follows it. I just wanted to mention the fact that since we're coming closer to the due date, and I've hit the serious nesting phase, that we've started purchasing for Tim. So far all we've purchased is the co-sleeper, because I really want to be able to get at least the layout of the bedroom set up.

Please, feel free to continue purchasing from our registry if you like. I will remove anything we receive or that we purchase ourselves. Thank you all,
-Amber

Hair Poll

There is a poll on the left side of the screen for whether or not Tim will be born with Hair and what color. Please vote for your opinion and reply to this post with what your vote was so I can keep track of the votes. This will allow me to determine the winners.

In case any of you like to use old wives tales to determine hair presence or thickness ... I have had heartburn with Tim but it has been only occasional and much less than I had with Darrion.

Also to note, for those of you who think that blonde is crazy, my family has a history of all babies being born blonde. Darrion was born blonde as well.

Due Date Poll

There is a Poll on the left side of the screen for whether or not little Tim will be coming on his due date. Please reply to this post after voting to specify what your vote was. This will allow me to keep track of who wins each contest. Possible prizes for winning will be determined at a later date. Thank you for playing.

Shower Games - Polls

I will add a post for each Poll, after you vote please comment on the corresponding post and state which answer you selected. This is the only way for me to keep track so we can see who 'won' the poll contests. I don't know yet what rewards may be provided for winning.