She's here!

Charlotte Noelle came on her own terms! Contractions started around noon on Tuesday, and my water broke around 3 pm. Labor went well and she was born at 12:28 am on Wednesday, January 7th. At birth she was 7lbs 7oz and 19.5 inches long. We're home now and doing well.

Baby Time!

Tomorrow is the big day. Wednesday, January 7th at 7 am we will check in to the hospital for an induction so my Perinatologist can be the one to deliver again. By the afternoon, baby Charlotte should be here! I can't believe it's here already and I cannot wait to meet our little girl. I am getting nervous about getting my tubes tied, though. Hoping that won't add too much pain to my recovery. Today is just getting a few last-minute things done around the house... you know, like staring at and reorganizing all the cloth diapers and looking at all the baby clothes imagining what they will look like on her. All the important stuff. Wish us a quick, painless (ha!) labor and delivery!

Still Pregnant!

Imagine that... but I didn't really expect to go right into labor or anything. We're just braving the weather here and getting ready for Christmas. I have a few things to wrap for Dorothy and some baking to do for others. For Christmas morning I am going to start making a tradition of having the living room filled up with balloons for kiddos to play with. I can't wait to see Dorothy's face when she get up in the morning. She has been so cute with the tree, she talks about all the ornaments and the first thing she asks for in the morning is lights. Christmas is even more fun now that she's starting to understand it more. We've been watching Polar Express a lot lately and she loves the part where Santa comes out. She's so cute about it. Other than waiting for baby, not much is going on. I'm just anxious for the big day to arrive and trying to decide if I have the guts to go natural or not.

Stitch....

My cerclage is coming out today instead of Thursday due to the snow/ice they are predicting for Wed/Thurs. We are also expecting a snow storm on Sun/Mon. We're headed into town tonight to stay with the in-laws and most likely staying until the snows pass so we can be closer to the hospital and have someone right there to take care of Dorothy if I go into labor. I'm not really expecting labor right away since Dorothy took her sweet time after my stitch was out, but you never know. I've had a feeling that Charlotte is going to be a bit earlier, although that could just be wishful thinking. I'd like her to be here before New Year's, but I'm sure she'll come when she's ready. Better for her to bake as long as possible! I'll update if anything exciting starts happening:)

Yeehaw!

Well, I am officially off of bedrest today. Cerclage will remain in until 4 weeks from tomorrow, which happens to be Dec. 18th, which also happens to be our anniversary. I am dreading removal because it hurt so bad last time. Hopefully he'll numb it a bit first! I'm still on meds for the contractions and I'll be getting weekly progesterone shots for a few more weeks, but we're getting there! I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left until this stitch comes out. That means only 3 weeks left until the end of the term. Better get working on that writing paper, eh?

The countdown....

Notice the ticker over on the side there? It says 60 days to go. That's until I hit my due date, which I most likely won't. This baby is coming soon!!

But my real countdown is until I get off of bedrest, which is on Sunday when I turn 32 weeks. I could wait until my appointment on Wednesday, but he said as long as everything had stayed stable, I could get up at 32 weeks. I'll just keep taking it easy as I need to, but life will be more back to normal! Not too long now.

More Good News!

My appointment went well this morning... cervix is still looking good. In fact, it's getting above 2.5 cm and is now at 2.7/2.8! He said if my cervix is still looking this good in 2 weeks (my last measurement) then I can be off bedrest at that point. Then I'll be like a normal pregnant woman, aside from the stitch still being there and having to take contraction meds. But still. Close to normal is an improvement.

And for your viewing pleasure (Dorothy is the munchkin on the far right):

28 weeks!!

You'd think being on bedrest that I would post more often. I really intend to, but time slips away from me between homework and Dorothy and everything else. Over the weekend I reached 28 weeks, which was the major milestone we have been shooting for. It feels good to know that baby Charlotte has such a good chance of survival now:)

I had a bit of an eventful week. Last Monday/Tuesday David came down with a cold/fever. By Tuesday afternoon, I had a fever as well... but being that my stomach is so sensitive when I'm pregnant, I wasn't keeping anything down. One of my church friends came to take me to L & D for the night so they could monitor my contractions and hydrate me. We got there around midnight and I was discharged by 7 am, but it was a LONG night. It took me most of the week for my stomach to be back to normal (as normal as before, anyway). I will be getting my flu shot at my appointment this week to avoid Influenza this year. Now I'm just dealing with mild cold symptoms, which are totally nothing in comparison to what I was dealing with. Luckily Dorothy avoided getting sick. She and David will be getting flu shots as well... we can't have the flu this year. I'll be either pregnant or dealing with a newborn for the whole of flu season.

I have also made a *few* more things lately. Purple K asked me to post pictures of the wool diaper covers I've made. I used up all the wool I got from her, and I think they turned out pretty good. There are a few different styles of them.

3 newborn soakers, 1 small soaker, 2 medium soakers, and newborn longies:


1 small soaker and 2 medium soakers:


The rest of the stuff is just random things that I wanted to make....

Strawberry Shortcake set of a prefold diaper, hat, and pants:


4 large fitted diapers:



And a bunch of cloth wipes:


Diapers are about the most exciting thing around here for me, so sorry to bore you with them! I'm actually going to start selling a few things... wetbags, nursing covers, wipes, wool covers, and baby legwarmers. I have a friend that has a website and she wants to have my stuff available on there. As far as time, diapers take a while to make so I don't know yet if I will want to sell those, but I'm sure that if I wanted to I could.

That's all for now! Off to do some more homework... oh, how interesting History is.....

25 weeks!

I am so pleased that we have made it another week. This week Dorothy will start her daycare 3 days a week, and that should cut down on the stress of wondering where my help is coming from for the day. Monday is also when my online classes start, so I'm looking forward to the term flying by. 2 weeks after the end of the term is when we should be getting induced as long as baby stays put and bakes that long.

My cervix shortened only a tiny bit. In the past few weeks it has gone from 2.7cm to 2.5cm to 2.25cm. As long as we're moving in mm, then it's not so bad. My cervix is open to the stitch above it, and basically all of my length is below. So little stitch is doing his job very well. I'm trying to stay off my feet unless I am getting something to eat or taking a shower. Obviously sometimes I need to get up for this or that with Dorothy, but for the most part I am doing a pretty good job of staying down.

I made my first pocket diaper this week. A pocket diaper is waterproof, and it is made so that you can stuff the absorbent material inside the pocket. It turned out pretty well, and I hope to make some more after my sewing machine gets back from the shop. I was sad the other day when it pooped out on me, but hopefully a good cleaning and tuneup will fix the problem. Here are some of the embellished prefolds I did before my machine freaked out on me....

Knew it was coming....

At my appointment on Tuesday, my Perinatologist broke the news to me that I would be on bedrest. My cervix was about 2.8 cm long, which is marginal. The bedrest is modified, which basically means I can actually sit up to eat and get up for 15 minutes to cook. But other than that and , I'm down. And truly, what can you cook in 15 minutes besides toast or instant oatmeal? Baby is still growing well and now kicks me on a regular basis.

As far as my big girl (if you ask me, she's still my baby), she starts daycare for 3 days a week in October since it's really hard to find enough people to come over and help. My financial aid should cover most of the cost, and we found a home daycare mother/daughter team that is state certified and 3 minutes from our apartment. I think she'll do really well. And, if all goes well and baby # 2 comes safely, she'll start going there in April while I go to classes. I am taking online classes for the next 2 terms since I can't leave the house now, and won't want to when the baby is a newborn. I don't really prefer online classes, but they are the best option right now. Fall term begins on the 29th. David got me a new laptop today so I can have one for classes and while I'm on bedrest. It's nice to have one that doesn't flash or turn off every 5 minutes!

That's about all that's new with me. I'll have a lot of studying to do and a lot of TV to watch for the next few months:)

Still going strong

I'm now 22 weeks and holding steady. I've been on anti-contraction meds that seem to be keeping things calmer, and so far my cervical length remains long enough. Though last ultrasound the difference between without pressure and with was almost a full centimeter and you could see it funneling above the stitch a bit. But so far so good. I have another appointment on Tuesday.





We had a great time at the beach. Dorothy was sitting behind me on the way over there and all of a sudden I hear this little, "goin' peach." She loves the beach, and she still talks about playing in the sand. She helped daddy build sand castles and took walks with Grandpa. Then David and I got a night to ourselves. I didn't want to come home!

As soon as I get the pictures from Dorothy's birthday party on the computer, I'll put them on here. That's right... our baby turned 2 yesterday. It has gone by so fast!

I know, I know...

It's been way too long since I posted any updates. I can't believe I am coming up on 20 weeks already. It feels great and scary at the same time. Still no bedrest, just "take it easy as often as you can," though he knows I have a 2-year-old at home. I'll be taking the anti-contraction meds I took last time since I have had increasing tightening/contractions. I'm really happy with how well things are going so far, and happy to have a somewhat normal summer. Normally I would be taking Dorothy out a lot more and going out to do things, but even still we have done a few things. David is on vacation next week, and this weekend we are headed to the beach with my parents. Dorothy loved the sand when we went for the day (and hated being taken away from the waves). Hopefully the weather will cooperate for us. We went from heat wave to rain, so who knows what we'll get. It's Oregon, after all.

By the way, baby number 2 is a girl!

Cerclage is in!

I didn't intend to keep everyone waiting for an update. As it happened, our laptop is on its way out and I was away from home on bedrest for a week after the surgery. Then when I got home it has been pretty busy. I really meant to write sooner.

Surgery went alright and he was able to find the scar tissue from last time and put this stitch above it, giving me more length underneath... always a positive. And since I was earlier this time, my cervix was still long and closed. Two weeks really makes a difference. I have to say that the recovery has been harder than last time, and it was no picnic before. I did stay overnight since I had such a rough day after the last time around what with nausea and pain. I was still feeling really bad when I went home, but by that point it was either feel bad there or feel bad at my mom's house, so I decided to leave. I have had quite a few contractions, mostly when I get up and do things, and every single time I pee. He told me I could get up after a week and then I may have a month or two before full bedrest starts and just to be careful not to do too much lifting of Dorothy (yeah right, when I am home alone with a toddler). Vacuuming the other day made me contract the whole next day, so I've decided to pass that chore off until the baby comes, or at least until I am off bedrest and trying to bring on labor:) Nothing feels quite right down there yet, so I'm looking forward to feeling more normal again.

That sums it up for now. Baby's doing well and we're really hoping to go full term again this time!

Lockdown!

Baby number 2 goes into lockdown tomorrow around noon! We got some sweet ultrasound pics this morning, which I'll have to have David post sometime later this week. Our laptop is pretty much dead, so I won't be on much until we figure out a new laptop situation. I will be overnight in the hospital and hopefully going home on Wednesday morning/afternoon. Things are going good and Dorothy is sweet as can be, as always.

Quick check-in

I'll write more when I'm feeling up to it, but I wanted to let you all know that we're all still fine. I saw my Perinatologist last week, and my cerclage is scheduled for next Tuesday at 11w2d. I don't know if the bedrest will start at that point, but I have a feeling that it will. We moved to our own apartment (only a mile and a hlaf from where we lived with my brother) since I am no longer watching my nieces. Still dealing with morning sickness and now nursing a cold that seems to want to settle in my chest... hoping I can kick that by my surgery date. I really don't know if they'll do the surgery if I'm sick, and my doctor is leaving town after that date, and won't be back until I am well over 13 weeks, which puts it too late to put the stitch in. My water was leaking by 15w with Kaily. So hard to believe we lost her 3 years ago now...

More good news!

I had another ultrasound yesterday, followed by a midwife appointment in the afternoon. The baby measured 7w2d and heartbeat was strong at 144 bpm. I'm still having digestive issues, and the midwife thought it might be due to the progesterone I'm taking. I should be getting off of that around 10 weeks, so hopefully that will bring some relief. Until then, I'll have to take the occasional suppository, eat my fiber one cereal, and drink more. Drinking anything is hard right now, but I find that the fruity herbal teas are mild enough on my stomach if I sip them. Broth is also something that has been settling alright, as well as popcicles. I'll be glad to be out of the first trimester... my body is not treating me well, but a baby at the end makes all of it worthwhile.

Didn't want to leave you hanging...

We have a heartbeat of 115 bpm. Itty baby measured 5w6d, which is within a few days of when I thought I ovulated. By my calculations I was 6w 1-2d. I'll go in for a more accurate look on the hospital ultrasound next Monday, and have my first OB appointment next Tuesday. Hopefully bean decides to stick good this time.

Thanks for checking on me, KMW!

Hi!

*wave*
Did everyone have a good day in the sun? We have had record-breaking heat the past two days, and normally I would be out in the sun... but yesterday I was so nauseated I didn't want to do anything but sit on the couch and today I had psych class from 9-5:50. The moments I did step outside, though, were lovely. Nothing like the sun to put a bounce in my step. I'm looking forward to the summer regardless of what news comes on Monday. Still nauseated, still slightly spotting, and still trying to be hopeful.

Class was interesting today. We learned about the development of the human brain from conception through the first year, and it was really fascinating. The DVD had examples of a preemie's brain development and how it differs from a full-term baby's development, as well as a lot of other interesting factoids that I'm too tired to write about. But really, the human brain is amazing, and learning how complex just that one aspect of development is, it's a wonder that we understand anything about how people develop as a whole. There are so many kinds of development that I've never really thought about before. Being in school is great! I can't get enough of it.

The highlight of my day was definitely my little girl. Dorothy was so excited to see me when I came home after being gone all day. She sat on my lap while I ate my nachos and got so enthralled with watching me eat them that she started picking the chips up one at a time and saying, "Open de mouf! Mmmm, nummy! Gee-go (there you go)!" She was putting them in my mouth one after the other as fast as she could, and by the time I was halfway done eating them, we were both covered in refried beans and guacamole. I was laughing so hard I could hardly chew. I live for moments like this. Her little personality is so lively and at 20 months she's talking in more and more sentences. She throws in some nonsense words as filler, but she's really learning how to put words together to get across what she wants to say. She LOVES her alphabet... books about it, songs, having me write it out, or even just saying random letters. If she sees writing on anything, she says "A-bee-seeb (abc's)!" Her favorite letter varies from week to week. This week it seems to be H, but Q and W are always high on the list as well. I'll have to take some more pictures pretty soon!

Monday is far away.

I'm still feeling awful (read: nauseated in spite of zofran), so much so that I'm more than overwhelmed with all the things I have to keep up with. Seems like a positive sign, but I've also been having spotting for 3 days now. I had some spotting with Dorothy, but it was spread out and sporadic. This spotting seems to be getting more regular, and I have to wait until my next ultrasound on Monday to know whether the baby has a heartbeat or not. I have class from 9-5:50 tomorrow and I'm dreading the fact that I might start miscarrying in the middle of it. After everything we've been through in the last few months, I am far from optimistic about this pregnancy. I don't know if the spotting could be from the cyst bursting, or if it is just normal pregnancy stuff. Unfortunately, I am having a bit of cramping now. If I had a backbone, I would ask for a few more days off to relax and see if it helped. But I keep going trying to keep my patience up when I don't have any. All I want to know at this point is whether or not the baby is ok and then go from there. 3 days is an eternity when you're waiting for an answer....

Time for an update

Whew... we had quite the weekend. I woke up at about 6:30 am on Mother's Day, promptly went to the restroom and noticed that the longer I was in there, the more intense my pain was becoming. I have had ovarian cysts before, and it felt very similar, so I laid back down to see if it would pass. It didn't. The pain kept getting worse, and I told David, "I think we need to go to the hospital." As I was trying to get ready to go, I was going upstairs to get something and began to pass out on the stairs, breaking the handrail on the way up. I eventually regained enough thought to crawl to the top of the stairs and lay down, fighting the urge to throw up. Once I caught my voice, I told David to call 911 instead. I thought for sure it was a tubal pregnancy and that the baby or me was in serious trouble. They got there fairly fast, and started an IV right away since my BP was only 80/50. They gave me some IV anti-nausea medication and took me to the ER.

The pain and nausea and light-headed feeling continued all day, even with the meds. to help it. Every time I urinated, the pain got worse, not like a bladder infection, but like the muscles in my uterus/surrounding area were spasming. They ran a few tests and said it looked like the pain was coming from a cyst that was leaking some sort of fluid, but they wanted to keep me overnight to make sure it wasn't a tubal or appendicitis. So we spent Mother's Day and the next day in the hospital getting not-so-great treatment. My first nurse, when my pain and discomfort was the worst, would say, "well, your vitals look fine," when I would call her and tell her how horrible I was feeling, instead of actually asking if there was something she could do to help. She actually stopped the IV almost as soon as I arrived at the hospital, even though the IV had gotten my BP up to normal. She restarted it when I told her I was feeling lightheaded again, even though I was laying flat on my back. One nurse thought I was 5 months pregnant, one thought I had just delivered, one said my pain could be implantation-related and tried to offer me ibuprofen, when it's a no-no during pregnancy. The ER doc said that they couldn't confirm I was actually pregnant since the fetus wasn't visible yet, even though my HCG had risen substantially and there was a gestational sac in the uterus. Maybe they meant they didn't know if I had a viable pregnancy, but to be told that you might not be pregnant when you're so scared for the baby is very upsetting. The nurse I had for Monday was awful. Not only was there a huge language barrier (they should really require that the nurses at least understand everything you're saying), but she rarely checked on me, thought I was there for contractions, and refused to take out my IV that was obviously irritating my vein. How hard would it be to start a new one if needed?! Then the kicker came during check-out when the Dr. came in and said, "I see you're here because you're having some discomfort." Some discomfort, I thought! Stubbing your toe causes some discomfort, this was more than discomfort... it is the worst pain I have ever been in!! He hardly explained a thing, told us the HCG had dropped from the morning to the evening, and never confirmed what the pain had been caused from or how long I could expect it to last.

In all, I felt like the majority of the people just brushed me off. By the time the charge nurse got there, I was so upset I was bawling, and I just spilled out how I felt and what had gone on. She gave me a sheet to fill out and told me to write everything down, and called my OB right away. She personally stopped by on her way home from her hair appointment to talk to us about things. She said I was definitely pregnant, and that the HCG drop could have been from the cyst bursting. She also confirmed that she thought the cyst was the cause of the pain, and to expect residual pain for up to a week. I was so thankful that she stopped by, it really helped me out and answered some questions.

I had a follow-up ultrasound yesterday, and they saw a yolk sac in the gestational sac, and the sac had grown as well. My HCG had gone from 5700 Sunday morning to 4900 Sunday evening to 13000 Tuesday morning. So all signs look good right now. And, as expected, my morning sickness hit yesterday afternoon. Now I'm fighting all-day nausea and taking it as another good sign, even though I feel like death warmed over. So that's why I've been absent for a few days. I'll have another blood draw and ultrasound on Monday to see where things are at. Keep praying!!