It's a baby . . . July 2nd, 2012

Yep, I sure do suck at non-infertility blogging.  The pregnancy was a bit of a whirlwind.  I had my share of 'morning' sickness, but nothing as bad as with RoBet.  I had aches and pains, but nothing as bad as with RoBet.  I had a difficult delivery that was shorter than, but every bit as complicated as with RoBet.  Due to both the baby and my intolerance of the epidural and Pitocin (medicine to make contractions stronger and more effective) together, I had the epidural turned off on me midway into my labor.  There were two problems with this.  First, I was mentally not at all prepared for a med free labor and had done no preparation for it (breathing techniques, meditation, soothing music playlist, etc.).  Second, I was into some very strong contractions by the time they turned it off. So I went from barely feeling or not feeling them to 'holy shit I'm gonna' mother effing die' pain.  The pain of labor, or so I am told, is much more bearable when it comes on gradually.  I guess there was a third reason - normally your cervix opens gradually over time, at a slow and steady rate.  Not necessarily all the same speed, but a centimeter or two and hour or so.  I shot from 5 cm to 10 cm in about 15 minutes.  It really, really sucked.  I was thrashing and cursing like a wild woman.  I punched the side of the bed and may or may not have bitten a pillow.  I was thinking I had 5 hours of labor to go when they turned the epidural off, and agreed to the c-section after about 5 or 10 minutes of the pain.  The nurse had them prep the room for surgery, came and shaved my belly, and the people were there to wheel me to the   OR when I told the nurse I felt like I had to poop (which is what it feels like when baby starts coming down into the birth canal).  She and I both didn't think much off it since she had checked me only about 15 minutes, or possibly less, earlier, but she figured a final check before I headed for surgery wouldn't hurt.  I was completely dilated, effaced, and baby's head was moving down to a 0 station (meaning fully engaged in the birth canal).  Station is like this, -3 is floating, not engaged at all.  -2 is in place but not engaged.  -1 is engaged.  0 is full engaged (no going back now).  +1 is on the way down.  +2 is head is crowning and +3 means your baby is laying on the table.  My doc was 'on her way' and all of a sudden the room was full of people.  There had been merconium in my second gush of amneiotic fluid, meaning baby had pooped in it and possibly swallowed some (which can be very dangerous) so we had a NICU team in the room.  There were multiple nurses and crews of some sort running around getting the delivery tools set up.  I said I felt like I needed to push.  Nurse said, "go ahead honey, it might make you feel better to do a pBractice push.". I had my legs on the table as the stirrups were not in place yet and just gave a half assed push.  Doc was walking in right at that moment and said, "let's not do that anymore until we're ready.  You're at +2 now.". Mind you it took an hour and a half of pushing and a vaccume assist to get RoBet to a +2.  Doc and my nurse got everything ready, and I started pushing.  I pushed through about 3-4 contractions (hubby thinks it was fewer and he may be right) and out slid the baby.  From the time the epidural was turned off until baby came out was about 35-40 minutes.  Those were the most painful and frightening minutes of my life.  I seriously wanted to pass out to escape the pain.  As doc was unwrapping the cord, which was wrapped around baby's neck twice which explained why it wasn't tolerating things very well, she slid baby onto my belly and before anyone could say anything regarding the sex, I said, "penis, that's a penis".  Yep, we had our baby, and it was (well, still is) a boy!  This labor and delivery was much more dramatic than my last (at least from my perspective, since I didn't know I was on the cusp of a csection last time), and a ton more frightening, but it's over and I have my sweet baby napping on me as I type this.  Totally worth it all.

Lots of movement - February 7th, 2012

Just thought I'd poke my head into my own blog and let you know that all is well so far.  This kiddo is moving all around in there and still making me sick.  Today s/he decided that bananas were off limits.  I am 19 weeks pregnant today - almost half way there!  My anatomy ultrasound is scheduled for next week on the 15th.  We are not going to find out the baby's sex, but we are still excited to see her/him and ensure that growth is on track and all of the pieces and parts are there and where they should be.  We have no reason to believe that anything is wrong, but there's always that nagging fear in the back of my mind.  There's not much else to report on at this time.  Just trying to keep my food down and get over this nasty case of bronchitis that I developed a week and a half ago.  Bleh.  I'm tired of being a snot factory, and this cough sucks!  Oh what I wouldn't do for a nightly dose of NyQuil to help me rest!  heh.  Small price to pay for a healthy kiddo I guess.  =)  Well, hope you are all well out there in teh interwebz.  Good night!

What I Have

I am so thankful for what I have.  I have a delightful, healthy, sweet, and precious 20 month old little girl.  I have a hard working husband who loves me and works with me to allow me to stay at home with my child.  I have another, so far, healthy child on the way.  I have a safe and comfortable home in a nice neighborhood.  I have 6 healthy pets that I love despite their 'personal issues'.  I also have thoughtful, helpful, caring parents and a helpful sister and adorable nieces.  I have wonderful friends, both near and far, who I appreciate very much even if I don't see them as often as I'd like.  I have so much, and I am so thankful.

Still alive - still pregnant - January 8th, 2012

Sorry I've been MIA again.  This seems to happen whenever I actually hit the 'definitely pregnant' phase.  Apparently I'm a good infertility blogger, but not much good at any other type of blogging.  I had a second ultrasound at 11 weeks, and the little one was in there bouncing all over the place and starting to look very much like a micro-person.  I've felt some movement a few times, but nothing consistently.  It's still very early, so it's not unusual not to feel movement regularly.  I think that for a 'normal' person, feeling movement consistently starts around 18 - 22 weeks or so.  And the larger you are, the later it happens - and I'm a big girl, so I'm not worried about it.  We went to a delicious restaurant called "The Melting Pot" with several of our friends last night.  It is a fondue restaurant and very expensive and time consuming, so it was a real treat to go and spend that time with everyone.  It's my favorite restaurant - I just love it so much!  Apparently this baby loves it too, because by the time I got home (it's about a 45 minute drive home), kiddo was bouncing off the walls in there.  Must have been the last course, which is everything sweet dipped in chocolate.  Yum yum yum!  I am going to have to put together fondue meals at home, because I think this will be my constant craving this pregnancy.  heh.  And though the chocolate is good, it's actually not the part I'm craving.  I want the apples in cheese, the seafood cooked in broth and dipped in all sorts of sauces, the mushroom caps with 'green goddess' sauce, and the broccoli with yellow curry and yogurt sauce.  So, that will be my plan to get some recipes and put that together sometime very soon.  =)  OK, back to pregnancy . . .

I will be 15 weeks along on Tuesday, so making definite progress.  That's when my next OB appointment is too, so it will be nice to hear the heartbeat and know that everything is right on track.  We are definitely going 'team green' again this time, which means we aren't finding out the baby's sex until it is born.  That drives a lot of people batty, but we love that surprise when we meet the kiddo.  It was really fun doing that with RoBet - it was a wonderful bonus at the end of a long and difficult labor. 

There's not much else to report right now.  I got a new game for Christmas, The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim, and I've been playing that way too much during RoBet's naps and after her bedtime.  My brother in law got me sick right after Christmas, and that really sucks while pregnant even more than when not pregnant.  You cannot believe what a world of difference DayQuil/NyQuil and other similar product make until you cannot have them!  Mostly better now, though still congested and have a little cough.  Bleh. 

Well, I hope everyone had a great holiday and is settling back into 'real life'.  Hopefully I'll update again in less than a month, but I'm not placing any bets on it.  =)