I had another doc appointment yesterday. There was no change in my progress. I'm still 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was really hoping that she would tell me that I was 4 cm dilated and wouldn't make it until next week. hee hee
I go again next week on Thursday and then I will go again the following Tuesday (on my due date). The doc told me that if I haven't delivered by then that we will pick a date to schedule induction. Personally, I want to wait it out as long as possible without having to be induced. I've heard that the contractions are much worse when the mom is induced. But, I guess if I DO have to get induced then I will get to select the day and the doctor that I want to do the delivery. That's the only plus side to it in my mind.
According to the baby websites that I visit, Sophia probably weighs 7 pounds at this point. I'm anxious to see how big she really is when she's born.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
We took the hospital tour
Last night Will and I took the official hosptial tour. Our hospital, Virginia Beach General is about 20 minutes from our house.
The tour lasted an hour. We saw the labor and delivery room and then got to see a private and a semi-private recovery room. We learned that each month the hospital delivers about 350 babies - so that's about 10 babies per day. I didn't realize there were so many other pregnant women around. :)
There was a newborn (literally only a few hours old) in the nursery and she was precious.
Will installed the infant car seat in my Explorer yesterday so I'd say we can have this baby any day now! And, boy I'm ready!
Her movements have slowed down a bit, but she hasn't let me forget that she's in there. 15 days to go!
The tour lasted an hour. We saw the labor and delivery room and then got to see a private and a semi-private recovery room. We learned that each month the hospital delivers about 350 babies - so that's about 10 babies per day. I didn't realize there were so many other pregnant women around. :)
There was a newborn (literally only a few hours old) in the nursery and she was precious.
Will installed the infant car seat in my Explorer yesterday so I'd say we can have this baby any day now! And, boy I'm ready!
Her movements have slowed down a bit, but she hasn't let me forget that she's in there. 15 days to go!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Kankles - nobody mentioned those
I've been waking up several times every night for the past 5 days with a numb right hand and it's been driving me crazy. At most I'm getting 4-5 hours of decent sleep each night.
The first two night I woke up in the morning with a numb right hand and thought that I must have slept on it in a way that would make it fall asleep. No big deal, right? It would go away. Later that morning I was doing some writing and I noticed that my entire arm below the elbow was numb. I shook out my hand and continued on with my day.
That night I woke up around 3:00 with a numb hand and lower arm. It took me about an hour to get comfortable enough to fall asleep again. It was now affecting my sleep. What on earth was going on with me? It was still numb when I woke up in the morning. And throughout the day I was noticing that it was especially numb when I clenched things like kitchen cooking utensils, etc. I knew I had a doctor appointment on Thursday and made a note (or otherwise I would have forgotten with my baby brain (hehehe)) to ask Dr. Waterbury if he knew what was going on with my hand.
That night I propped myself up in bed using 4 pillows from the spare bedroom and practically slept sitting up in bed. Trust me this is not very comfortable at all. Woke up throughout the night because of my hand. At my appointment I explained my situation to the doctor and he told me I must have pinched a nerve! Great!!! How on earth did I pinch a nerve? What have I been able to do lately that would have pinched a nerve? It hardly seemed likely. I don't really have a general practicioner doctor - I never needed one.
Over the next 3 days (Fri, Sat and Sun) I continued to sleep propped up to keep my hand below my heart to let the blood flow to it more freely. On Saturday I noticed that my ankles had finally started to swell which is a normal sign of late pregnancy. I had actually started thinking that I got off really lucky in that department. Anyway, as Saturday wore on and my knees started to blend into my feet and I no longer had definable ankles, I realized that I needed to get off of my feet and prop my legs up to relieve the pressure. This DOES work, but it takes and while and I'm not the type of person who can just sit around with her feet propped up for long periods of time!
The final straw happened this morning when I woke up at 6:00 AM and couldn't fall back asleep after being up from 3-4 AM. Will looked hand numbness up in one of the pregnancy books I have and right there described as a symptom of MONTH 6 was a FAQ about Right Hand and Arm Numbness !!! Ok, so now I know that it's related to my wrists swelling up -- just like my ankles and feet. I now know that I need to sleep with my hand above my heart so the extra fluid swelling my hand will drain. I should have my feet raised when I sleep so that the fluid drains out of them. My question is - why didn't my doctor know about this pregnancy symptom and why didn't he correlate swelling with numbness???
We took a 4 mile walk on the Boardwalk today with Sadie and I was soooo swollen by the time we finished. My ankles and feet turned into kankleet (ok, I made that one up). Even my wrists and hands were puffy and swollen. It probably didn't help that it was noon and 78 degrees outside. So I just spent the last hour taking a nap with my feet in the air and my hand propped up on my belly and I'm happy to report that most of the swelling has gone down. Unfortunately as I've been sitting here typing, most of it has come back!
Now I'm scared that the last 2 weeks of pregnancy are going to render me on my own type of rest prescription.
The first two night I woke up in the morning with a numb right hand and thought that I must have slept on it in a way that would make it fall asleep. No big deal, right? It would go away. Later that morning I was doing some writing and I noticed that my entire arm below the elbow was numb. I shook out my hand and continued on with my day.
That night I woke up around 3:00 with a numb hand and lower arm. It took me about an hour to get comfortable enough to fall asleep again. It was now affecting my sleep. What on earth was going on with me? It was still numb when I woke up in the morning. And throughout the day I was noticing that it was especially numb when I clenched things like kitchen cooking utensils, etc. I knew I had a doctor appointment on Thursday and made a note (or otherwise I would have forgotten with my baby brain (hehehe)) to ask Dr. Waterbury if he knew what was going on with my hand.
That night I propped myself up in bed using 4 pillows from the spare bedroom and practically slept sitting up in bed. Trust me this is not very comfortable at all. Woke up throughout the night because of my hand. At my appointment I explained my situation to the doctor and he told me I must have pinched a nerve! Great!!! How on earth did I pinch a nerve? What have I been able to do lately that would have pinched a nerve? It hardly seemed likely. I don't really have a general practicioner doctor - I never needed one.
Over the next 3 days (Fri, Sat and Sun) I continued to sleep propped up to keep my hand below my heart to let the blood flow to it more freely. On Saturday I noticed that my ankles had finally started to swell which is a normal sign of late pregnancy. I had actually started thinking that I got off really lucky in that department. Anyway, as Saturday wore on and my knees started to blend into my feet and I no longer had definable ankles, I realized that I needed to get off of my feet and prop my legs up to relieve the pressure. This DOES work, but it takes and while and I'm not the type of person who can just sit around with her feet propped up for long periods of time!
The final straw happened this morning when I woke up at 6:00 AM and couldn't fall back asleep after being up from 3-4 AM. Will looked hand numbness up in one of the pregnancy books I have and right there described as a symptom of MONTH 6 was a FAQ about Right Hand and Arm Numbness !!! Ok, so now I know that it's related to my wrists swelling up -- just like my ankles and feet. I now know that I need to sleep with my hand above my heart so the extra fluid swelling my hand will drain. I should have my feet raised when I sleep so that the fluid drains out of them. My question is - why didn't my doctor know about this pregnancy symptom and why didn't he correlate swelling with numbness???
We took a 4 mile walk on the Boardwalk today with Sadie and I was soooo swollen by the time we finished. My ankles and feet turned into kankleet (ok, I made that one up). Even my wrists and hands were puffy and swollen. It probably didn't help that it was noon and 78 degrees outside. So I just spent the last hour taking a nap with my feet in the air and my hand propped up on my belly and I'm happy to report that most of the swelling has gone down. Unfortunately as I've been sitting here typing, most of it has come back!
Now I'm scared that the last 2 weeks of pregnancy are going to render me on my own type of rest prescription.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
March/April Baby Showers Bring May Babies...?
Just wanted to post a few pictures from the 2 baby showers that were thrown for Sophia and me. One in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia Beach. Will and I received practically everything necessary to have, bring home, and parent a newborn. We were very excited to get started. And, I just love the smell of baby things.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
37 weeks photo
The cat has a nice sleeping area when I'm sitting on my side.
Baby has dropped. Can you tell?
Stretched to the max if you ask me!
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Full Term Now
I'm finally full term today. 37 weeks - only 3 weeks left until my official due date. This is what the baby looks like inside. She obviously doesn't have much room to move around anymore.
She's gaining a 1/2 ounce of weight every day and will continue to do so until she's born. All the bones in her body have hardened except her skull. She probably weighs somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 pounds.
So, now the waiting game begins. But first we have a small checklist of must-dos before she arrives:
1) Install the car seats in both of our cars and have them checked at the fire station.
2) Put the finishing touches on the nursery. Still have a few things to put away and hang.
3) Need to finish packing our bags. EEK!
4) I need to buy a nursing bra.
5) Need to put together my email list so everyone will know when baby Sophia is born.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Technically labor has started!
At my 36 week appointment today I learned that the baby has officially dropped (which I kind of suspected anyway). I also learned that I am 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced. Just to give you a reference....a mom needs to be 10 cm dilated and 100% effaced in order to start the active "pushing" phase of labor.
The doc told me that I can stay 1 cm and 60% effaced for quite a while. I'll find out more next Thursday at my next appointment.
I preregistered at the hospital today and took a mini-tour. The private birthing rooms are really nice and have a rocking chair, dresses, private bathroom, radio, cable tv, internet hook-ups, and a bed for mom. Once the baby is born, it will stay in the private room with me unless it needs to be in the infant/nursery room for something specific.
I walked past the nursery on the tour and got to see 2 newborns. One was a tiny boy and one was a hefty girl. Both were absolutely adorable. All of a sudden it hit me. That is what is kicking me and growing inside me! It's amazing. Instantly my eyes started welling up. I can't wait to take Will there this weekend to see his reaction. Viewing the nursery made it all seem so real.
The doc told me that I can stay 1 cm and 60% effaced for quite a while. I'll find out more next Thursday at my next appointment.
I preregistered at the hospital today and took a mini-tour. The private birthing rooms are really nice and have a rocking chair, dresses, private bathroom, radio, cable tv, internet hook-ups, and a bed for mom. Once the baby is born, it will stay in the private room with me unless it needs to be in the infant/nursery room for something specific.
I walked past the nursery on the tour and got to see 2 newborns. One was a tiny boy and one was a hefty girl. Both were absolutely adorable. All of a sudden it hit me. That is what is kicking me and growing inside me! It's amazing. Instantly my eyes started welling up. I can't wait to take Will there this weekend to see his reaction. Viewing the nursery made it all seem so real.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
We've decided on a name for Baby Alexander
Unless something major happens and we change our minds when we meet our little girl in the hospital.....we've decided on Sophia Amber Alexander.
Let the countdown begin....
OK. I'm officially 9 months pregnant. 36 weeks yesterday! Considering the average pregnancy lasts 10 months (or 40 weeks)....I'm officially in the last month and technically I could have this little baby girl soon! I cannot wait to meet her. My official due date is May 9th. Each grandma thinks I'm going to be a bit late. Grancy (Will's mom) thinks I'll deliver on May 12th. My mom thinks I'll deliver on the 13th, 14th or 15th.
The baby probably weighs 6 pounds right now! Yikes!!!
I've got OB appointments scheduled for the next 3 Thursdays in a row. Tomorrow the doctor will tell me if I've started to dilate at all or if I'm in the beginning stages of pending labor.
It's definitely time to pack the hospital bag, the camera bag and the diaper bag - just in case.
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