Just Another Day

So today was my due date.  It's 9pm and no sign of baby.

A lot of people don't understand why I am okay with this.  They wonder why my doctor won't induce me.  But the thing is; she will, she actually offered to induce me two weeks ago.  I said no.

This seems odd to many people; that I would say no.  But I have a few reasons.  First of all, I am not very uncomfortable.  I know what it is like to be uncomfortable in the ninth month of pregnancy.  With Jac, I was swollen to the gills, not used to losing sleep and in general just pretty anxious about the whole thing.  But I really am not that uncomfortable with this third baby.  I am very mobile, no swelling to speak of, eating well - I don't sleep anyway, so this is truly one of those babies that its just easier to have her in than out. 

There are other reasons I am okay with going overdue.  One, I really want the spontaneous labor, the 2am contractions, the frantic drive to the hospital - all the drama.  It seems so clinical and controlled to be picking dates and times and methods of induction. I read a book this week that said, should labor and delivery be something that is done to your body or something your body does?  But even if spontaneous labor wasn't enough of an incentive for me not to want to be induced I truly believe that if I am on a Pit drip I will cave and get an epidural.  I haven't really talked about this with many people because a lot of women either think you are truly nuts or they just think you want to be Supermom if you want to deliver naturally.  That isn't it at all.  I may be nuts, but Supermom is not on my radar.  I can go through the reasons that I want to labor naturally or to put a finer point on it, with as few interventions as possible, but I will save that for another day.  The point is, it is my body, my baby and my labor.  If I want to labor out in the woods, it is my decision.  And I know that with one intervention you are pretty much setting yourself up for more.  The Pit drip automatically leads to more aggressive labor than most women's bodies would do naturally making it more difficult to turn down the epidural.  So that is a big reason for me to not want the iduction.

The other reason, which has less backing than just my gut instinct is that I think baby has her own timeline and she will be happier, healthier and just ready when she is ready. 

That all being said.  I am now scheduled to be induced next Tuesday.  So say your prayers that this baby makes an appearance before then, and barring that; that this induction goes as well as it possibly can with as few interventions as possible. 

Oh - one last thing for all you statistics geeks out there.  A baby is considered full term anywhere between 38 and 42 weeks.  Ninety-five percent of women will deliver their babies within this time frame and the other five percent will deliver early or late.  This is a normal curve.  The 40 week mark is simply the average, the mid point.  So now, after realizing that I am simply at the midpoint (I have no idea why I didn't realize this during my first two pregnancies.) of the normal curve for delivery I don't feel so overdue.  Overdue really shouldn't be used at all to describe going bast your due date.  Due date is really a bad term also, it implies that an uncomfortable, fat, hormonal woman who may or may not have had eight hours of uninterrupted sleep in months is somehow defective if her body has not gone into labor by this date.  Enough said about that.

Nesting in Full Swing

I really am feeling quite good at this point.  I do have some aches and pains, but considering my size and the fact that I am 5 days away from my due date I am very mobile.  I keep telling people that a month ago I didn't feel well at all.  Between the belly button pain and the medication I wasn't too happy.  Don't get me wrong I have a myriad of lovely pregnancy symptoms, but all in all it has been a really good week or two. 

I have a lot of energy, I am sleeping well and I have a lot of motivation!  I truly believe that the motivation comes from the nesting instinct.  I have had A LOT of Braxton Hicks, so I feel like I am within at least a 5 day window!  Surely this will happen soon. 

Here is one of the projects that I have had a lot of help from everyone.  The room.  We decided to keep our guest room intact for the most part and just add lot of baby furniture.  Eveyone has helped out with the room - Jeff's parents, my sister, the kiddos.  My mom made the bedding, which I am so pleased with. 

Okay baby, we are officially ready for you.  Come on out.

The Waiting Game

It is just a matter of time.  Baby Girl Carey will be coming out to join us very soon and everyone wants to know when!  We have had some contractions that wouldn't go away (8 hours).  We have had a full moon and the lowest barometric pressure in history (yikes).  Coming off of my medication I was very active, with Halloween, a birthday celebration, pumpkin patches, trying to make my house less of a pit among other things.  None of these have helped a seemingly very anxious girl to come out. 

Last week, I was dilated to a 2 and my doctor had me crawling backwards off the table (envision something out of the exorcist) and sweating bullets when she "checked" me.  This week, she was a little kinder although far from gentle when she said I was a "good 3". 

All signs say that labor and delivery are imminent.  My legs could snap off at the hips like a Barbie doll they are so loose.  Baby has rotated to a nice position so she won't be delivered sunny side up.  My energy levels are high, indicating nesting is starting to happen (I did buy a fire extinguisher last week).  My milk is coming in.  It would appear that, yes, in the next couple of weeks I should deliver a baby.  Exactly. 

I am not a patient person.  I have a tendency to want to control the situation, just a tad.  So today is yard work day.  A surefire method to throw me into labor.  I am going to protect my belly button which is still sore since little girl's bum rests up against it all day long.  I am not going to lift anything heavy or do any twisting, I can already hear all you naysayers.  After the yard work, I may go on a long brisk walk. 

My doctor offered to schedule an induction next week, she was not pushy or anything and said it was totally up to me  (but come on, I am only 38 weeks!).  If anyone has the option of turning down Pitocin I recommend it.  It is an evil, evil drug that makes even the most anethetized birth excruciating and exhausting.  So "no", I will wait it out and baby will come when baby wants to come.  (Or at least I will try 101 natural ways to kickstart this labor before resorting to drugs.)

37 Week Doctor Appointment

Well, I made it 37 weeks.  That is awesome.  Now baby doesn't have to worry about being poked and prodded so much when she comes out, she is officially full term and they can just throw her up on my chest instead of whisking her away like poor Mia.  Her activity level just keeps increasing every day, I hope that means that when she is delivered that she won't be so sleepy.  If she is more alert there is a chance I might be successful this time with the breastfeeding.

Everything is good with the doctor.  I asked a few more burning questions, made sure I knew who the oncall doctor was this weekend and found out that I am dilated to a 2 now.  Baby is down and no longer "floaty".

I feel huge and cumbersome and am definitely ready for baby to come.  I would prefer, however, to not share my birthday!  Jeff and I discussed it last night and we would like to wait until next week! (Not sure we have that much control over the whole thing.)

36 Week Doctor Appointment

I am officially off of the medication.  Yay!  It really wasn't too bad, I wasn't having any more headaches.  But I didn't like setting an alarm to take it in the middle of the night.  I guess I have at least a few more nights to eat and sleep as much as I want to.  That may not last for long.

I am one centimeter dilated but not a lot of other action.  With Mia when she sent me home at week 36 I was a 2 or a 3, so a little further along.  I did gain weight this last week, which I hadn't been doing.  Good for baby.  My belly is pretty textbook size at 36 cm.  I am right where I should be! 

The only problem is that I don't have a lot of incentive to bake her much longer.  My belly button hurts!  I am like a turtle on my back trying to get out of bed or up from a chair.  I am not swollen, thank goodness, but I do have enormous difficulty in getting anything off the floor, shaving my legs or tying my shoes.  I would love to be able to pick up Jac and Mia, but that is a thing of the past for now.  I guess the incentive to keep her in there is if I go one more week, she is considered full term and there will be a lot less tests at delivery and while in the hospital.  She may also be more alert than my sleepy little Mia was for the first weeks. 

Good news, we have a name, including a middle name!  We will share it with you in it's finality when the big day arrives.  Bad news, if the ultrasound at 19 weeks was wrong and we are having a boy, we don't have a name.  Jeff and I have talked a little at least, but are pretty far apart still when it comes to boy names.  We also have the crib put together, the car seat cover washed and I have diapers and bottles.  There are still plenty of things to do to be completely prepared, but the necessities are taken care of.

I don't know if I am nesting or if I just have gotten completely disgusted with our house.  Regardless, every day that the baby stays in is one more day I can put things in order.  Some toilets need cleaning and some floors need mopping, along with a lot more! 

The last thing to think about is that Friday is a full moon.  Jac was born close to a new moon (as was Jeff) but my water broke due to a big storm that came through.  Mia was born smack on a full moon (as was I).  So Thursday, Friday and Saturday are all good guesses.  Or I could have a November baby, who knows?

The Final Countdown

So, Jeff and I had an interesting weekend.  I guess it shouldn't be considered that interesting considering we have done it two times before.  I was having contractions on Friday evening that just wouldn't go away regardless of what I did.  So around 10pm we decided to call the doctor and she said to go ahead and head to the hospital. 

Long story short, everything is fine.  Baby is fine and they were able to stop the contractions with medication.  I am on medication until next week when I will be 36 weeks.  36 weeks is not exactly full term but you have a very high percentage of babies who don't have any lung issues at 36 weeks.  Mia was born 24 hours after I stopped the medication at 36 weeks. 

I was a bit emotional about all of it.  Part of that is just, hello I am pregnant, and part is the medication makes me feel weird and gives me a headache.  I don't get headaches and don't deal well with them.  Also, even though I was taking the medicine yesterday I was contracting again in the evening, and I thought, great, I am going to have to labor with this viscious headache.  How would that work? 

But headache has gotten better and I have had a wonderful day of telling a lot of people what I won't be able to do over the next two weeks.  You can really clear your calendar when you need to, it's amazing.  I have also had so many people offer help and provide help, it is very humbling.  I know that it is a pay it forward event, because there is no way to repay all of my wonderful friends and family individually. 

So get ready folks, we are probably going to have an October baby.  Which day do you think it will be?  I am 36 weeks on Tuesday and that is when my next doctor's appointment is.  I will stop the meds that day assuming all is well.  It could be that day, but I doubt it.  But perhaps by the weekend we could have another bouncing baby!

I Don't Want to Grow Up

Sometime this spring and summer I have realized that Mia isn't going to be a "baby" much longer.  I realize she isn't a baby in the real sense, she is almost four.  However, kids let go of their babyness in different ways  and at different times.  Mia, being the youngest has held on to hers and I love it.  Her status as youngest has an expiration date on it, as does her status as a three year old.  Anything goes as a three year old, you can still pretty much get away with anything.  But at four, expectations change, as they should.  She will also be a big sister this fall, that means a lot of growing up will occur in the next few months.

Some of Mia's baby traits that I love and wish she could have longer are her lisp.  I am sorry, but I love her lisp.  Mia has been talking since before she was one, but she mispronounces lots of words and she has a lisp.  Love it.  Mia likes to add a "y" to the end of a lot of things, "whoasy", "pursey", "lobstery", "Jacy", etc.  She also sucks her thumb.  I believe she will be doing this for quite awhile much to her dentist's dismay.  She said the other day that she would stop sucking her thumb when she was 13, hmm.  Mia has kept her rolly polliness a little longer than Jac did, but I see her stretching out.  She is losing her toddler belly and sometimes when I dress her in the morning it feels like there is nothing to her. 

Mia has always been my independent little girl, but with a lazy streak.  She wants privacy now when she pottys and pretty much always takes care of cleaning herself.  She has always sat on the little potty and the big potty was reserved for Jac.  I think it is easier for boys to use the big potty standing up, but for girls it is a lot to climb onto every time.  Well, the other day she threw a fit because Jac was using the big potty and she didn't want to have to wait for it.  Normally, they sit across from each other and chat when they are doing their business, but on this day she wanted nothing to do with it.

Her laziness comes when she wants to be carried everywhere.  I remember being her age and wanting to be carried, I used to pretend to be asleep.  Obviously you can't ask a sleep child to walk home by themselves!  She hasn't quite figured out that trick yet, but she asks nonstop to be carried or for "someone" to do something for her.  "I need someone to go get my blanket upstairs."  This is where I look around the room and realize that the only "someone" here is me! 

She has little things she does that remind me of babyhood.  When you pick her up, she will often keep her legs straight out waiting to be wrapped around your waist.  Have I mentioned her blanket?  She keeps her blankie within ten feet at all times.  If it is forgotten, she will often ask "Did you bring my blanket?"  Although Mia is my outgoing child she is very clingy in new situations.  She will grab my hand with both of hers to insure that I am coming with her into the lion's den.  She is a mess in a dress, the child seriously can't help but being filthy by the end of the day.  She tells an awful "knock-knock" joke.

It makes me a bit sad to think of her being ousted as the baby.  I am glad we gave her four years to be in that position.  Just like with Jac when I was pregnant with Mia, it is so hard to imagine three children while I only have two.  I know it will take adjustments on all of our parts and I plan to focus a lot of my energy on how Mia is adjusting and feeling about the new baby. 

It's A Girl

At least that is what the ultrasound tech thinks!  Yay for baby girls!  Everybody is happy that it is a girl, no disappointment from Jac or Mia.  Although everytime someone asked which they would prefer they would switch up their answers, so I am not very sure they had an opinion. 

Everything is good with baby, she is growing right on track (so is the her mama).  All of the organs, limbs, facial features, etc are where they are supposed to be and appear to be functioning properly.  I have really started to feel her kick a lot, which takes a lot of stress off a pregnancy I think.  If you can feel that baby moving inside, you pretty much know all is well. 

I experienced my first 3D ultrasound.  It wasn't that great, I have to admit.  Pretty much looks like the pictures you see of 3D ultrasound, sort of tan with a funky baby in there.  Not too different from the standard ultrasound which is black and white with a funky baby in there.  But it was cool to at lease see it.  You definitely couldn't take a mug shot with that think, no way you would be able to pick your baby out of a lineup from a picture on there. 

Here's to all the pregnant mommies out there, may your babies be healthy! 

Random Stuff on a Thursday

I am 15 weeks and a couple of days, which is kind of crazy.  With my track record I could be approaching the halfway mark in a few weeks.  I can only expect the rest of the summer to fly by and be looking at October with some disbelief.  I am truly a grown-up.  I am going to be the mother of three, how in the world did that happen? 

Jeff and I took the kids today to my doctor's appointment so that they could hear the baby's heartbeat.  I was just a little nervous.  (What if they couldn't find a heartbeat?)  I know, I know, everything is fine.  But I think all moms go through the first trimester pretty well aware that they feel awful, therefore a baby must be brewing.  But then you hit the ooooh, I feel great period!  Lots of energy, appetite decrease a little, no more nausea, less tummy trouble and other than the big boobs and increasing belly you really don't know what is going on in there anymore.  I haven't felt the baby move yet, which is normal.  Most people feel the baby around week 18 if they have had kids before, it can be a lot later than that if it is your first pregnancy.  But I felt Mia at week 14, so this last week I have really been trying to concentrate on it.  But nothing really, every once in awhile I feel like there is a little hamster in there twirling, but it could be gas.  Anyway, Nurse Hilde (love her German accent) found the heartbeat immediately, 155ish beats per minute.  The doctor surprised me with another blood test.  The kids got see their mom be brave!  I hate giving blood.  But all was good, they got a lollipop and were very good.  In three weeks, I will have the big ultrasound and hopefully see a perfectly healthy baby in there! 

I said this would be random and all I have talked about is baby.  So here is some more news.  For those of you interested; the fawn has been around the house again.  Not in our yard, thankfully.  But it was in my neighbors yard for a day and then in my other neighbors yard yesterday.  Right out in the open, just curled up in the grass.  We had a heat induced thunderstorm yesterday evening.  Around 5:30 it started to blow and get dark, sprinkled at first and then it was a pretty crazy storm in a matter of ten minutes or so.  I didn't see it, but my neighbor said that the fawn moved under the trees when in started raining.  And then came the cavalry, mama came running up the valley to collect baby before it got nasty.  She nursed for a couple of minutes in the rain and then scooted baby off to the woods for a little more shelter.  I did go out and look for baby after the rain cleared, I mean, it really rained!  So it was nice to hear that mama was doing her job so well!

Last but not least.  I don't think it is entirely fair to invite a pregnant woman to a wedding.  It could be worse, it could be my wedding and I could be prego - I guess that would be the worst case scenario.  Or, I could be in the wedding party, more likely and definitely more uncomfortable than just having to go out and shop for a maternity dress that is appropriate for a wedding.  The one I was going to wear, made me look like a stuffed sausage, really not good.  If I was brave I would post the picture I made Jeff take of me, but I am a total chicken.  I will post a picture of the two of us all decked out on Saturday.  Even though I feel huge, I am sure I will have a lot of fun, and am glad we are going.  It is just really hard to feel attractive when you are a couple of sizes out of everything you own!

Baby Update, Finishing First Trimester

A few more details on the new baby are in order.  I am in my 13th week and will be out of this trimester tomorrow.  This is a good landmark because it generally means you have made it through the risky part.  Of course a pregnancy can still end badly at this point, most of the time once you make it to this point you can celebrate! 

I received good news yesterday which makes me even more comfortable with my babies health.  When you get to a certain age, insurance companies will start paying for more testing.  The idea here is to be prepared for any issues that may be present at birth.  Chromosomal issues start popping up more frequently as your eggs age and by the time you are 35 your odds are 1 in 350 in having a Down's Syndrome baby.  Down's babies have a lot of heart issues or can be still born, so you want to monitor those pregnancies differently than you would a baby without issues. 

So yesterday I went in for a "First Look" ultrasound, this test needs to be done in a specific window during the end of the first trimester.  During the ultrasound the tech reassured me that she saw no markers for any chromosomal issues (Down's and Trisomy).  She also was able to see all four limbs, two hands, two feet, umbilical cord attached properly, functioning tummy, heart rate of 171, both kidneys, and a lovely spinal cord.  She also was able to show us that baby likes to suck her thumb, very cute.  The tech would not bet on gender but she did say it looked like we had about a 70% chance of having a girl.  There you have folks, more than likely, although definitely don't go buying anything, we are having another girl. 

I also had a finger prick for a test that looks at my hormone levels, also indicators, if out of certain ranges, of chromosomal issues.  I will have those results in 5 to 7 days.  All in all, it was a great day.  I was very reassured.  Jeff was with me and it was lovely to be able to gaze at our (maybe) daughter for 20 minutes or so.  I wish I had a scanner and I would upload some of the pictures she gave us. 

My due date remains November 17th, baby is growing nicely, but is about 2 days behind an exact gestational age of 12 weeks 5 days, not enough to change due date.  Baby was actually 3 days behind at the last screening, so she has actually gained a little ground.  Based on my tendency to have pretty large babies, I have no doubt that she will continue to gain ground. 

So there you have it!  Next steps I have a regualar doctor's appointment in a few weeks and then in about six to eight weeks I will have the "anomoly" screening to make sure all the organs, appendages look good and they will be able to give a firmer indication of gender.  For now, we are still coming up with girl AND boy baby names. 

How are babies made?

I knew that would get your attention.

Well, we haven't had that question just yet, but I know that it is around the corner.  Yesterday on the way home from dance class a lively discussion ensued.  I love listening to Jac and Mia's reasoning skills and try not to stamp out all creativity unless there are some severely wrong concepts being thrown around.

It all started with a fading sunset.  Mia has been discussing the difference between sunrise and sunset.  We were heading west and Mia said, "aha the sunset". 

"Is that the other side of the Earth?"  Jac asked.  I think what he meant was, since it is getting dark here the sun must be on the other side of the earth.  However, I had to tell him that the light we could see receding was definitely not the other side of the earth.  I told him it was probably a couple of hours away.

"We would have to fly a plane to the other side of the earth."  Mia reasoned.  (Exactly sister.)

"You could get there by boat or by plane.  You  know Jac, you have been in a plane when you were really small."  I said.

"Yeah, me too."  Mia said.

"No, you haven't been on a plane.  Well, you were in my belly so I guess you have sort of taken a flight."  I continued.

"Mommy, did we fly in a plane to Texas?"  Jac asked.  Our Texas roots run deep.

"Well, we flew in a plane from Texas to Missouri to look for houses before we moved here."  I explained.

"So the three were born here and we flew to get Jac in Texas."  From the three year old, Huh?  How did she come up with that?

"Well, you are right, Mommy, Daddy and Mia were born in Missouri, but we didn't fly to Texas to get Jac.  We lived in Texas and Jac was born there and then we moved to Missouri and you were born here." 

Oh my goodness. 

Then I thought of another conversation regarding babies in bellies that we had last summer.  Jac was asking if I came out of Daddy's belly and he came out of my belly and then with a strange look in his eye, Mia must have come out his belly......  Like Russian dolls.  And what an interesting world we would live in if that is truly how it worked.

Mia isms - Before She is All Growed Up!

My little Mia is growing up.  I know it happens, everyone warned me.  I didn't realize that just like each passing year of my life gets faster so too does each year of my children's lives get faster.  Did that make sense?  Time is like a snowball.

So before my baby is no longer a baby I really need to capture her little quirks.  She will be three and a half on March 7th and certainly all children are unique but this one is so packed full of personality, sometimes it scares me.  I know that Jac lost a lot of his lisp and baby expressions right around four.  So her big girl voice could be just around the corner with a whole slew of big girl expressions.

Here is a list, no particular order of my faves.

• zizzers  (scissors)
• wipe (white, so when used in a sentence in combination with the fact that she can barely pronounce an "L" you get - "I need a widdle wip stuff out of the wipe one.")
• Lots of pronouns still, for instance, "Somebody needs to carry me inside."  I will look around like there is a crowd of people gathered around her, nope, just me and her getting out of the car.
• Anytime an explanation is required she starts with the word "well", except she pronounces it "whale" or "wale".  "Mia, did you wash your hands?"  "Wale, and then a long drawn out explanation about why the hands did not get washed."
• She hates to be on the edge of anything and will freak out, but she also doesn't want to be crowded in the middle.  She did explain the other night that there can only be two people in the bed and not three when I tried to lay down with her and Jac.
• Bezzurt (dessert)
• She doesn't like to wear gloves because it is hard to suck your thumb through the gloves. 
• The other day she said, "I'm almost growed up. I'm gonna get a new house."  And then, "When I am growed up like as tall as mommy. I'm gonna be a mommy or a da - -- I'm gonna be a mommy."
• Jac is thinking he wants a space theme for his birthday party, for some reason Mia is always compelled to come up with her birthday theme at the same time as Jac even though she has three months to wait.  Last year, Jac wanted Diego and Mia wanted Dora, funny thing is my kids really aren't into Diego and Dora.  So after Jac said he wanted the space them, Mia said "and I want a car birthday party".  Did I hear you correctly little girl? Cars?  So much for the princess party I was planning.
• Speaking of space, for anything that is large or too hard to count or really long, "as big as outer space" is a term used frequently.
• In some areas, like buttering her own toast, pouring her own drink and helping  me cook, she is fiercely independent.  However, she doesn't like to dress herself and will play the baby card frequently when something is asked of her.  I truly don't know where she gets that.
• I love it when she says, "Mommy...." pause pause pause "Mommy....." pause pause pause "Mommy....." pause pause pause "Mommy....".  Actually, I don't love it.  It drives me batty, I don't know if she is waiting for me to respond or if she is trying to think of what to say.
• And of course the lisp.  All "S"s sound like "TH"s, so cute.  "Mommy, stho you need to help me with sthomeping upsthairs."