Baby Story #2

When I titled the last post about my little visit to the hospital "Baby Story #1", I must've known that there were to be more "scares" before the BIG DAY.

Add this to the list of stories.

Thursday night, I got sick. Not sick enough to call the doctor, just sick enough to not sleep and to be REALLY ANNOYED. Then Friday morning I got really sick. Sick enough to call the doctor. I wasn't keeping any food or liquids down, and was feeling terrible. The nurse said it sounded like I had food poisoning, suggested some meds to take, and told me to call back by 1pm if my symptoms weren't better.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Friday was Addy's birthday?

So, I took Addy to school, went home and took the medicine and slept in between vomiting spells. I had to get cookies to take to school, so ran to Target at the last minute possible. Threw up at Target. Made it to school. Threw up at school. Made it to her class. Threw up in her class. It was really, truly, AWFUL. Has anybody every thrown up at 9 mos pregnant? You can't squat or sit, as you normally would... your belly doesn't allow for that. All you can do is stand. You're welcome for the visual.

Anyway, I called the doctor back, and they told me to come in immediately. I did so, and of course, after one look at me, they sent me across the street to the hospital. I was SO sick. (I'll just mention, too, that they "checked" me in the office, and I'd gone from 2cm on Wed to "almost" 4 on Friday. Yay!)

I went over to the hospital, and got hooked up to a monitor and IV. The severe dehydration was causing me to have contractions that were, no joke, 1-2 minutes apart. And they HURT. I was sure I was going into labor.

At 4:15 I looked at my phone to check the time, and realized that 3 years ago to the very minute, I was delivering Addison, probably no more than 5 doors down the hall. Very surreal. And very emotional. I cried and cried, wishing that I were at home with my baby, and sad that the ONE thing I didn't want to happen was probably going to happen: my babies would share a birthday.

After I had received a bag of IV fluids, the contractions just about stopped completely. I stayed under supervision for a while longer, they made sure the contractions were subsiding, that I wasn't dilating any more, and gave me my discharge papers.

And then, just like that, I was going home.

Addison has her OWN birthday. And we even made it to her party the next day. (more on that soon) Hallelujah!

My Fat Feet

If I don't pop this baby out soon, I may just pop.

Baby Story #1

Well, well, well... I certainly have had an exciting(?) 48 hours, to say the least. All day yesterday we held our dance team auditions at the studio. I got there at 8am, and was scheduled to be there til at least 9pm. I was swollen, big, and surprisingly in good spirits! There was one little incident when my back started hurting so bad, I was reduced to tears, but sweet Ginger saved the day :)

SO. Around 6:30, I kinda thought my water had broken. I changed my pants and underwear (so sorry for tmi) and was still pretty sure that I was leaking.

So, I called my doctor, and of course they wanted me to go to the hospital. The amnio test came back negative, BUT, when they were monitoring me and the baby, I had about 3 really hard contractions within 5 minutes (it really felt like one huge five minute long contraction) and during that contraction, the baby's heart rate dropped from 140 to 75. So, of course, they wanted to keep me there to stay under watch for a while. I continued to have contractions about every 20 minutes, but none of them were "hard", they were pretty mild. About 2 hours passed, and no joke, just as the doctor came in to send me home, the exact same thing happened again. Super hard, long contraction, baby's heart rate dropped real low again. So, they decided to admit me and keep me under watch all night. I had a couple more random episodes, still maintaining the mild contractions every 15-20 minutes. But, by the time the doctor came to check on me this morning, I hadn't had a big scary contraction in about 5 hours, so they let me go home.

So here I am, blogging, with no baby in my arms. Boo hoo. :-( I am still having contractions every 20 minutes, pretty much on the dot. But unless they get crazy painful again, I wait this out. Til Monday, the 24th at the latest. AAHH!

Friends with Magical Powers

I don't know how else to explain this. I have friends who know magic*. Holly Rios is one of those friends. She made my pimples, double chin and swelling disappear in these maternity pics. I don't know how she did it, but I'll forever be grateful.

I love you, Holly!

Oh, yeah, the pics are here.

(Gloria, I now remember where the dang ant bite on my tummy came from! Sitting in the grass for these pics! HA!)

*Magic=photoshop. :-)

Easter Afternoon

((This is part two... see below for Easter part one))

Well... after a 45 minute nap (She takes 2 hours, on average. I wanted someone to shoot me!), we were UP and ready for more FUN!

I would like to apologize in advance... this is a photo-heavy post. And the pictures all seemingly look the same, except not... each one is beautiful in it's own way :) (I'm a proud mommy and couldn't pick my favorite!!)




So, after our mini-photo session in the backyard, we headed over to Auntie's house for more Easter fun!


Egg Hunt Time! Their backyard is awesome, and I estimate there were 500 eggs to find. Slight exaggeration, but not as big as you'd think.

Annalie didn't miss out on the action. She grabbed and loved her new blanket.

Family shots!


Told ya it was a photo heavy post!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday :-) And can't wait to see my blogger friend's pics soon!

My New Favorite Picture

Mommy, Baby, Addison and Barbie.

Apparently...

Today one of my student's grandfathers commented on how "HUGE" I am. Apparently his daughter, my student's mother, just had a baby boy: 9lbs.

And apparently, I am bigger than she was when she delivered.

And apparently, I am just as big as some people he's known who have carried twins full term.

And apparently, my baby will EASILY be 9lbs (he's probably already close).

That's all I have to say about that.

amazingness

I have tried and tried to capture these videos and FINALLY found success tonight! This baby boy kicks, punches, squirms. etc. way more than I remember Addison moving. His movements are so strong that I can see them through my shirt ALL THE TIME. That never happened with Addison. Her kicks were more a shift in position, say, to lodging her leg in between two of my ribs and then staying there for a couple of weeks, resulting in interior bruising that hurt like the dickens. No pain here, just crazy amazing visuals to go with the crazy amazing feeling of your baby kicking you from the womb.

I'll admit, these aren't great, and if you don't know what you're looking for, you'll miss it. He's kicking pretty much constantly during both of these videos, but the main kick or punch you can see in the first video is around :11 or :12

I have my hand on my belly at the start of this one, a.) because I wanted to illustrate that my belly is not QUITE as huge as it looks from the angle of the camera. My hand looks huge, too, and we all know I don't have huge hands. I also had my had there, because b.) the main place he was kicking at that point wad under my middle finger. He has a good kick at :13, then on the total opposite side of my tummy around :23.


Enjoy! Or be creeped out! Whichever way you want to take it!

Edited to add: hmmm.... the movement doesn't show up so great in the tiny video here on the blog :( Looks way better when I watch it on my computer. Oh, well...

Pajama Party!

Oh. My. Gosh. The cutest experience ever.

We had a PJ party at the studio for our 4-6 grade team tonight. I brought Addison along, and she had a BLAST! She seriously thought it was SO COOL to be at a party with the big girls. They were all so sweet with her- played with her, included her- she was in heaven!

Part of the PJ party was to bring pajamas for a local organization called the PJ Program. They decorated bags and the new jammies are going to children in local shelters. Addison and I picked out jammies for a boy, and she decorated a bag with the rest of the girls. Here she is with the girls, posing with their pjs and decorated bags. You might need to click on the picture to see the full extent of Addy's giddiness :-)

Two shots of Addy and Mommy

Eating pizza and watching a movie

My belly. Only half way there. Am I going to be twice as big at the end of this??

Edited to add: One of the girls asked me when I was due, I told her the end of the school year. Her eyes got really big and said quietly, "you're huge!". Don't mistake this for a rude comment. She seriously is one of THE sweetest dancers I work with. She just really meant it and didn't know that these kinds of comments are usually kept to ourselves. :)

Our Peanut

Today I had an appointment with my OB. And dang it, I'm not farther along than I thought. In fact, I'm only measuring 12 weeks, 2 days. It's a good thing I got to see the cutest little 6 cm baby EVER at this appointment, otherwise I'd probably be a lot grouchier about the fact that I still have 6 entire months before I meet this little bugger. The baby was kicking, squirming and wiggling around- it's so crazy to see a living baby on the screen, one who isn't even big enough to cause a bump!!

Reasons I Swear I'm 5 Months Pregnant

1. I'm hot all the time. If you're in Austin, you know we had a cold front blow through. As I type, the ceiling fan is on high, and a mini-fan is 3 feet away from me, blowing on high, directly on me. My husband is under 3 blankets. No joke.

2. I feel baby move. I swear I do. It's not gas. I'm very familiar with that feeling.

3. Nausea has subsided. Headaches have kicked in. Bad, splitting headaches.

4. I have energy again! (Well, sorta. But to be fair, I can't remember the last time I had ENERGY. I think it was circa 1993.) I actually cook and clean again. (Well, sorta. But to be fair...)

5. I get REALLY hungry at night. Like, I need to whip up some chicken and rice, with a side of fruit and a roll, hungry. And then maybe top it off with some jello. Maybe. mmm, Thanksgiving leftovers are gonna be AWESOME this year.

6. TMI

Reasons I CAN'T be 5 months pregnant.

1. I don't have a belly, really. Still in regular jeans, etc. I mean, I have a muffin top to go OVER the jeans, but no baby belly. Just the previously mentioned roundness.

2. Well, I'm not 5 months pregnant. We know this to be a fact.

That's all. Goodnight.

Did You Know?

The baby who is starting to poke it's way through what used to be my semi-flat tummy and making it's appearance through the ever-fun "baby bump" is the size of a peach.

On a semi-related note, I had a dream a few nights ago about our baby. It was the most detailed dream I think I've EVER had. We had a girl, Mike missed the birth, as it was a very quick labor and delivery- I only pushed two times. (I told you it was detailed!) She came 3 weeks early, weighed 6lbs 8 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She had LOTS of dark hair, and it was very curly. We did name her, but I won't tell what the name was quite yet, because if this baby IS a girl, the dream name will indeed be her name. And for whatever reason I'm not ready to share. Oh, and when I woke up, I looked down at my still small tummy and was SO SAD. It's going to be so long until I get to meet this baby, I don't want to wait to have the feeling I felt so vividly in my dream!!

While pregnant with Addison, I had girl dreams, too. I wonder if this means anything?? We'll just have to wait and see, I guess...

Did You Know?

The baby that I am growing inside of my body is the size of a large lime.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Remember a few posts ago? "...if I were you, I would go ahead and prepare myself for an onslaught of bitchiness here at Sarah's Stories for at least the next month" ring a bell? You've been warned.

I have pimples. And not to sound bratty, but I don't get pimples. Like, ever. That is, unless I'm pregnant. And then my skin looks like that of a 13 year old girl. Not just a few pimples. I just counted, and I have 19, NINETEEN, freakin' pimples. What in the world? Why can't I be one of the women who glows while pregnant? Instead I shine... oily pimply shine.

It's not just the acne. I'm on a roll... if you don't like my whining you might as well check out now...

I'm not showing yet. No, no, I am in the lovely in-between stage of pregnancy where I just look and feel FAT. Waistline is rounding out, but not in a cute baby belly way, more in a "she sure is gaining some weight, she'd better watch herself or soon she'll be HUGE!" way.

I thought my nausea was subsiding. I really, really did. Until today. Not even my prescribed Zofran helped. I wanted to BARF everywhere. I almost wish I had, I might have felt better.

Gas. I'll leave it at that.

I can't get through the day without a nap. It feels like I'm dragging twice my body weight on 1 hour of sleep every day.

I don't think I'm moody yet, but Mike will probably disagree on that point.

Oh, goodness... you do know I'm happy about this, right? I feel the need to clarify. I realize I sound irritated more than anything else. Which isn't true. I'm blessed more than anything else.

This Is Crazy

Is it normal to have cravings this early in pregnancy? Is it even possible? Because it not, there is something seriously crazy going on with my body.

Um, I HAVE TO HAVE pickles. Yes, yes, I know... totally textbook craving. But this is SERIOUS. I have already gone through a half a jar in about 10 minutes, and the craving is not satisfied. It's taking everything I have to not go downstairs and finish the entire jar, juice and all.

With Addison I had a few cravings. Macaroni and cheese and cereal come to mind. But these didn't kick in until at least 5 months, and they were never as consuming as this stupid pickle craving!

Gotta go. I figure it's not chocolate or ice cream, so finishing the whole jar isn't that bad. Right?

Update: 30 minutes later... the jar is empty.And yes, I realize it looks like a jar of urine, sorry about that. But I do want to point out that it is my dear husband holding the empty jar, which means that he is not only aware of the fact that I just consumed an entire jar of pickles, but is on board with me sharing this disgusting fact with our friends and family. He really is the best.