Sweet Sweet Baby.

Many of those who read my blog have brought it to my attention that I have not posted in entirely too long. Don't be mistaken... I am well aware of this fact but simply have been a tad bit busy with a new baby, tons of visitors, traveling, and going back to work. My blogs may be few and far between but I promise to continue to post. 

So lets see, what has happened since my last posting? Oh my goodness, a ton! Hannah is now 4 weeks and 5 days old. Time is going by entirely too fast with her. Her day is not the most exciting. She wakes every3 hours (give or take a bit) for a feeding diaper change and an hour or so of "play time" which typically consists of staring at the ceiling or her dad and me. It was difficult to get her on a schedule with family in town for the first 3 weeks of her life and then traveling to my parents house last weekend. Now that we have been home alone for a few days we have been able to get things into somewhat of a normal schedule.

The beginning of the week was tough on all three of us because Hannah was completely out of sorts. She did nothing but cry and eat. She hardly ever slept and when she did her naps were no more than 45 minutes long. Tim and I were both so frustrated with why she was so upset and totally confused as to what happened to our completely content baby. It didn't take long to realize Hannah was experiencing some discomfort with her left eye. She began developing a nasty crust over her eye on a regular basis and was constantly rubbing it. I had pretty much figured out the girl had a blocked tear duct so I tried home remedies. We applied warm compresses all day long and even went to the extreme to take the crazy advice of putting breast milk in her eye to try to heal any infection going on. By Wednesday I gave up hope on the natural treatment and had completely become frustrated with the constant screaming my child was doing so I called her doctor. They had me bring her right in, massaged (aka pushed as hard as they could) around her eye to release the infection which was absolutely repulsive and gave me a prescription for a cream to apply three times a day. I experienced the mamma syndrome that so many moms tell you about but you can never truly understand until you experience it. It literally broke my heart to see her doctor push on my babies eye and make her cry to hard. Every time we applied her meds or massaged her eye at home Tim and I both cringed at the thought of possibly putting her through discomfort or pain. We have learned that if you do the treatment while she is eating or sleeping she doesn't seem to get quite as upset so its not as bad anymore but boy was it painful to watch my innocent sweet sweet baby hurt so bad. Today her eye is looking so much better and she seems to be in a much better mood. I think she is catching up on some sleep from the past few days because the girl seems to be sleeping all day today.  I am thrilled to be getting my happy, very content child back.

So much has changed in just a 4 week period of time for Hannah. The doctor called her a little cow. At 3 days old Hannah weighed 5lbs 12oz. At her appointment this past Wednesday (4 weeks 3 days old) Hannah weighed 8lbs 4oz with her clothes on. My peanut is filling out. She is still itty bitty but boy has she grown. She is almost completely out of her newborn diapers and into size 1. She has outgrown almost all of her preemie clothes and now fits into some newborn clothes. She is still pretty skinny so some newborn pieces are a bit big but her length makes it nearly impossible to fit her into the preemie things. She still cannot fit any newborn socks or shoes but we will get there eventually. I do not want to rush it... I love her petite-ness and want to hang on to these days as long as they will allow me. 

I am still so amazed by how perfect my child is. I know that sounds so self consumed and ridiculous but I cant help it. I know every mom says that about her baby but its not just me. Everyone keeps telling us how she looks like a baby doll and is easily mistaken for being fake because she is so perfect. I cannot help but stare at her and get wrapped up in every little detail of her. Tim and I are both just amazed at what we have been blessed with. She makes us proud in ways we never thought we would be. I just love that sweet sweet baby. 

Hannahs long but joyous entrance

So how it all happened... Saturday evening on the way home from the ordination service at the district center I started to notice my contractions were becoming more regular and a bit stronger but after nearly 3 weeks of  false labor I was ignoring them and telling myself it was just more false labor. We came home around 8:45pm to find that our well pump had sprung a leak and had soaked a good area of our basement. My mind was a bit preoccupied with that to even concentrate on the contractions. About 11:30 after things with the water mess had called down I decided to tell Tim we better start timing these contractions because they were growing stronger and much more regular but still really not painful. After timing them for over an hour at about 5-6 minutes apart lasting 1 to 1.5 minutes long Tim convinced me to call the after hours line at the hospital and see what they said. I was a bit hesitant because I didn't want to hear "Its just false labor... wait it out". Much to my surprise the on call doctor told me to head to the hospital to be checked out. We packed up and off we went. Keep in mind it is now 2am and Tim and I are both tired from a long weekend with district assembly and everything going on. When we got here I was 2 centimeters and 80% effaced (exactly what I was at my last OB appointment on Thursday). They wanted to monitor the contractions for awhile and thought maybe I would progress since I was contracting so regularly. After two hours of monitoring I had made little to no progress but my contractions were down to 4 minutes apart so the triage doctor did not want to send me home just yet. They sent me walking the hospital for nearly two more hours and then checked me again. At that point I had dilated to 3 centimeters which really didn't seem like much to me. I still was in no pain just simply uncomfortable. I was totally frustrated with being cooped up in this little triage room with an extremely uncomfortable bed and no place for Tim to even try to get remotely comfortable. Suddenly my blood pressure sky rocketed which basically got me an automatic admission to the hospital. After monitoring me for a bit and watching my contractions grow closer together, now 3 minutes apart lasting almost 2 minutes long and my blood pressuring maintaining around 170/85 they decided to send me to Labor and delivery to break my water and get things moving with this baby. I was not sure if I was happy or scared at that point. I wanted to be done but the reality of things really sunk in then. By the time they transported me to Labor and delivery I was 4 centimeter dilated. My doctor broke my water at 10:30am and within in 30 minutes everything started to move along as planned. My blood pressure dropped back down to what is normal for me at 110/60 within minutes of having my water break. My contractions picked up to about every other minute and became more intense but honestly I cannot say they hurt really bad. They were much more uncomfortable than before. Honestly, I remember thinking this labor thing is a piece of cake and I can handle this any day. Tim and I had a discussion about how easy it was and how I would be totally fine with having another baby in no time despite the fact that neither of us really want that. At about 3:30pm I decided to retract that statement because these contractions were actually starting to hurt. They were not unbearable but they hurt. Around 4pm they finally checked me again and said I was nearing 9 centimeters but not quite there yet.  I was not only starting to really hurt and feel like I needed to push but the ac in my room had gone out hours before and I was sweating excessively. Tim was at my beck and call feeding me ice chips, water, and packing on the ice cold wash clothes to try to cool me down and keep me calm. About 15 minutes later I told Tim he had to call the doctor back because there was no way I couldn't push with every contraction. They came rushing back to see that I was a full 10 centimeters dilated and it was time to get this baby out. During the last stages of labor, she decided to roll over and instead of having her face toward my back she was looking up toward my stomach which is not ideal for delivery. I had to push for a substantial period of time just to get her to corkscrew back into the right position before I could actually deliver her. I pushed for about an hour total and finally she came.  Tim did great the entire time. He managed to support and encourage me the entire time and never passed out. The worst of the whole ordeal was the delivery. I can still say labor was pretty easy right up until the end. I am now fairly sore but not in nearly as much pain as others have warned me I would be.
At one point I thought Tim, the doctors, and nurses were just being nice when they told me I have a pain tolerance unlike most but after some observation I am thinking they may be right. The doctor who delivered Hannah said I was the first in the last 60 births he has delivered to go completely natural. When they asked if I wanted drugs I refused almost every last one would make a comment like they didn't think I would last without them. Tim saw a girl out in the hall who was not nearly as close to delivery crying and moaning in pain while I was in my labor and delivery room breathing through each contraction fairly calmly. The other thing that really has confirmed my pain tolerance is the fact that they wrote me a script for Vicodin to help with pain after delivery. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? VICODIN?!?! Yeah, I will just stick with the 600mg Motrin every 6 hours or so. Not to brag but I am not a wimp... I can handle some discomfort. Nobody promised having babies would be pain free before during or after. Pain or not my perfect little girl makes it all worth while.

Hello Hannah!

Right now I am sitting in my recovery room at the hospital with my perfect family.  Our daughter was born last evening, June 12, 2011 at 5:13pm weighing in at 6lbs 7oz. 19 inches long. We named her Hannah June (Hannah is simply a biblical name that we both really liked and June is Tim's Grammy's name). Nothing makes me happier than to see my husband resting with our beautiful little Hannah.Tim is such a wonderful dad! I have no doubt when it comes to how he cares for our little girl that it is not the best she can receive. He not only is great with her but also with me. When I was in labor Tim cared for me better than anyone could have. He was so incredibly patient and gentle with me. I have no question as to why I love this man so much. He makes me so incredibly happy. I will post all the details later but for now I want to go enjoy some time with my perfect family.

38 weeks

As of today I am 10 days away from my due date. I went to the doctor yesterday after a very long night on Wednesday night of being extremely uncomfortable and experiencing sharp shooting round ligament pains. When I got the to doctor things had kind of slacked off some but I was still pretty uncomfortable. I found out that I am now 2 cm dilated, still 80% effaced, and a -2 labor station. "It's just a matter of time" is what my doctor told me over and over again. He assured me that baby girl is in a head down position and he doesn't believe shes going to be a big baby. He actually guessed she would be pretty close to 7lbs. I am hoping hes pretty accurate. He had me schedule an appointment for next Thursday but then told me that he would be shocked if I made it to that appointment. Again, I hope he is right. He told me I really should try to stay close to home and not be going out alone a whole heck of a lot until she is born. With still working that makes things difficult but I am trying to do most work from home.

Tim and I have been walking the railroad tracks that have been converted into biking/walking/ horseback riding paths known as rails to trails a lot lately. We walked for pretty close to probably a mile out yesterday and a mile back. I had contractions the entire time we were walking, a few of which were fairly strong but after getting home and sitting for a bit they backed off again. This whole process is starting to wear on me. I am so ready to just be done. I think Tim would agree with me. I notice hes not sleeping well and he tells me its because he is so ready to hear me wake him and tell him its time to head to the hospital that he simply cannot sleep. Hopefully he tires out and sleeps well tonight.

We have district assembly this weekend which means busy busy busy for me. Tonight I have NYI convention, tomorrow is district convention followed by Merge in the evening, Sunday we have regular Sunday school at church and then off to the district center for the district service immediately followed by Danny and Donnies graduation party and then back to the district center for more assembly festivities. My hope is all this activity will put me into true labor. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

38 weeks 1 day

37 weeks

As of today I am 37 weeks 4 days pregnant and I have officially reached the point of wanting to be done. I am hoping she is coming soon... at least within the next week or so.

Two nights ago I began having contractions that were fairly uncomfortable. I don't want to say they hurt terribly but they kept me up and definitely were not pleasant. They actually were getting me to a point where I was very nauseous. Throughout the day yesterday I had mild contractions but continued with my day. Last evening just about the time youth group was supposed to start I got this shooting pain in my back. It went from a dull ache to a intense pain. I literally felt like someone tied a string around all my back muscles and was pulling them toward the front of my stomach as hard as they could. This then moved down to my lower abdomen and began to really bother me. I began to time the intense times of these pains and they were about 9 minutes apart. By the time church was over I was so ready to get home and lay down. I got home and continued to time the contractions. They got to the point they were about 7 minutes apart and lasting about 2 and a half minutes long. They eased up after about an hour and a half so I took advantage of the intensity decrease and went to bed. I had a few contractions throughout the night that woke me up but managed to catch a little sleep. I woke up pretty early (about 6:30) and decided that I guess that meant I was done sleeping. I have been getting up really early every day lately. I am typically up around 7:15 every morning which is sickening to me on my day off but guess good preparation for a child.

I had an appointment today and found out some news. I actually tested positive to the Group B Strep test I had last week. Group B strep is a bacteria that one in four women carry and often don't know about until tested for it during pregnancy. It often does no harm to the woman but can cause serious illness in babies if not detected and treated properly. I was so disappointed when I heard him say it came back positive. It scares me a bit because I don't want to expose my baby girl to anything that might harm her. I will be put on an IV antibiotic when I go into labor. I am not thrilled about this especially with all my antibiotic allergies but we will see how it goes. To be honest I am more upset about the fact that she will be put on antibiotics immediately after birth. The last thing I want is for her to be over exposed to antibiotics like I was as a child. Many doctors have told me some of my allergies are a result of over exposer so young. I sure hope she has a stronger immune system than I do. I found out that I am now a full centimeter dilated, 70% effaced, and at a  -3 labor station. I have progressed 1/2 centimeter since last Thursday which is not much but its progress and am 10% more effaced than last week. I have had continued contractions today but nothing too strong. My back still aches but again nothing like last night. I am hoping things continue to move along and maybe a little bit more by my appointment next Thursday.

36 weeks 4 days

So as of today I am 36 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I will be full term on Monday! I went to the doctor this morning and had to have a routine bacteria test done. Hopefully that will come back negative. If the test comes back positive they will put me on an antibiotic once I go into labor and treat the baby as well. Seeing that I have so many antibiotic allergies that may be a difficult task or one that won't be too enjoyable for me so lets just hope its negative.  While at the doctor I did find out that I am officially getting closer to delivery (which I could have told you) yet have nothing concrete to report as far as how close. I am 60% effaced and 1/2 centimeter dilated. My doctor seemed a bit surprised by this but said it's all in good timing and nothing to really worry about. She said I am farther along than expected but she still couldn't tell me if I would deliver earlier than my due date or right on time. As far as stomach measurements things have slowed down a bit. I am measuring exactly 36 centimeters which is on track for a normal pregnancy but smaller than excepted based on my passed measurements. So basically, we are playing the waiting game for the next three weeks.

While I was at the office I had a contraction that the doctor observed. She was shocked with my reaction to it because I didn't even flinch. I am not super woman and have an extremely high pain tolerance it just didn't hurt. I have been having contractions like that for a few days now so maybe I am just blowing them off as being normal. Don't get me wrong, they are uncomfortable because of the pressure and the muscle aches they cause but they do not hurt. I did have a few contractions on Tuesday that I can honestly say hurt. I was extremely uncomfortable with them but keep telling myself they will only get worse so that I am not being naive. They were just a small taste of what is to come.

I am ready to be done being pregnant. I want to get back to normal. I want to join my teens in a rousing game of whipped cream whiffle ball on Sunday and not have to sit back and just watch. I would love to go on a bike ride with my hubby. I want to sleep without pain. I want to bend over and not feel out of breath instantly.  But I don't want any of those things so bad that I cannot wait for her to be ready to come. Though my patience is wearing thin, I am willing to wait it out until the timing is right. I will have all of those things back very soon along with a wonderful baby and happy family.

36 weeks 2 days 

These are a few of my favorite things.

This weather today is making me one very happy person. Today is forcing me to make a list of a few of my favorite things (kinda like the song) all of which I have been able to enjoy today. So here I go:

1. grocery shopping with my hubby

2. movie nights with my hubby (we haven't done this yet but its soon to come) 

3. having my doors and windows open 

4. eating yummy strawberries (although, they would be better if they were freshly picked from Henley's farm) 

5. beach walk scented Yankee candle 

6. the smell of fresh cut grass 

7. a somewhat clean house 

8. being in a crafty mood 

9. sitting on my porch enjoying the sunset 

10. watching my dogs unsuccessfully but whole heartedly attempt to catch butterflies.

So as of today I am 35 weeks and 4 days into this pregnancy. I have just over 4 weeks left and cannot wait to be done. My acid reflux/ heartburn has truly been giving me a fit and the braxton hicks are becoming more frequent but overall I still feel pretty good most of the time. Baby girl is moving around a ton but I have noticed the past few days her movements have become less drastic. Instead of full on punches and kicks she is just pushing outward. I have noticed that I am slowing down and not feeling as full of energy as I have the past few weeks. It didn't seem to phase me to walk a ton or even lightly jog from one place to the next but now I do not feel that I have the same drive or motivation to move quickly or go long distances. I suppose this is typical. Everyone tells me it looks like she has dropped and I am starting to agree. I am noticing little things that I had been warned would happen as she started to drop and now after looking at the past few weeks pictures I see what they see.  Last weekend Tim graduated from LU with his Masters in Professional Counseling. We drove down to Lynchburgh, VA for all of the festivities of the weekend and for the first time this pregnancy really caught up to me. The long car ride made my legs ache, the walking made my feet swell, and my stomach muscles began to really hurt from all the movement and braxton hicks that I had been having. Though the weekend was tough on me I would not trade it for anything. It was so good to see my husband graduate and I am beyond proud of his accomplishments. I have my next appointment on the 26th; one week from today. I will update afterwards and let everyone know what is said as we get closer to the big day.

I have not updated pictures in a long time so I will update with what I have for the past few weeks. 

Week 32

week 34

week 34- no feet at all.

35 weeks