Monday, June 29, 2009

So Nice, I'd do it twice

I'm much too excited to sleep right now. So I am going to give all the details about Fletcher's birth now, otherwise it could be weeks before I have the time.

I had been having contractions all last week, intermittently throughout the day. So when I woke up with a few on Saturday, I didn't think it was a big deal. Atom complained about my long razor-sharp toenails and told me to "get thee to a pedicure!" Happily I obliged and had all my claws grinded to reasonable lengths and painted a lovely shade of green. When I got home, I put my pretty little feet up and started reading. Just as I started to relax, I started feeling contractions regularly and these were a bit more intense than any I had before. So around 5 o'clock I had Atom start timing my contractions.

After an hour and a half of contractions that were five minutes apart, we decided to call the doc and see what he wanted us to do. He told us to come on down to the hospital and find out if we're in labor. So we packed up the Xterra and headed over to Fair Oaks Hospital. We left everything in the car to bring up later when I would be put in a labor and delivery room. Well, I never made it there. They examined me when I first arrived and I was still at 1 centimeter! They had me walk around the maternity ward for over an hour to see if we could get things moving. So at 9 o'clock they checked again, and I was still at 1 centimeter. The doc told me not to be discouraged and that I'd still probably have a baby within 24 hours, but I should go home and get some rest. They even gave me two Ambien to help me sleep. I was seeing double and slurring my speech half-way home, but managed to eat some dinner and then tried a warm bath. The warm bath wasn't helping and I figured I'd just try to sleep. I think I was sleeping in between contractions, but by 3 am they were too strong to sleep through. So back to the hospital we went.

We were put back in the triage room and they checked my progress. I was STILL at 1 centimeter. Dr Hodges decided that they were going to admit me and give me something to take the edge off and give me a few hours. Whatever they gave me helped me relax and I got some really great rest. Unfortunately, my contractions slowed down. So at 6 am, they decided to go ahead and break my water and just go for it. Well that got my contractions moving again and holy mackerel they were intense. I got my epidural soon after and then I was sitting pretty and pain free. I was really nervous about having a needle put into my spine, but let me tell you it was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. It didn't hurt at all! Once the epidural kicked in, they hit me up with some Pitocin to get my cervix a-movin'. The doc came back a few hours later and I was finally progressed to 4 centimeters. He said I would probably dilate at the rate of one centimeter per hour and that was just about right. At 5 o'clock I was at 9 centimeters and opening more with each contraction. So we decided it was time to push this baby out!

After some brief explaining of how to push, the nurse told us to expect to push for one to two hours as a first time mom. Apparently I took this as a challenge to break some records! After 20 minutes of pushing, baby was already crowning! It only took me a total of about 40 minutes to push baby out. I felt like a super star. It was absolutely painless and I had minimal tearing (only one little suture - whew). So at 5:44 pm, Fletcher made his way into our life.

Giving birth was an amazing and empowering experience. I had no idea what to expect from this experience, but I can honestly say that I would do it all over again. It was so easy, it must be nature's way of tricking me into having another. Fletcher is truly a blessing in our life and we can't wait to share our blessing with all of you.

He's Here!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

The Stork Is Coming!

Jennifer went into labor early this morning. Everything is going well. She is really enjoying the epidural. We're at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. Give us a quick call, send us a text message or check my Facebook page for status updates. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated.

Note from Jenn: Hi ya'll. I'm doing great, just relaxing with my epidural. Last check at 11 am I was finally to 4 cm and the next check is at 1 pm. Wish us luck...think BAGELS!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Week 38 Update

We just got back from our 38 week appointment. I've gone from zero to one centimeters. The doc was able to poke the kid in the head! I was hoping for bigger numbers, but apparently the biggest hill to get over is from zero to one. Some women walk around dilated for weeks before they go into labor, other women go from one centimeter to labor in a few days. So what does this tell us? Absolutely nothing. Here's a handy chart to give you a nice visual (and probably make you not want to eat a bagel ever again):

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

All I wanted was a towel rack

A few months ago, Atom finally decided to repaint our upstairs bathroom. It was purple. I like purple, but the room that it was in was a deep tera cotta. So I was never very fond of the color combo. We found a nice bright citrus orange and decided to brighten it up. It was a pretty long process because we had to cover up a pretty deep purple with a light orange, but after a few weekends of painting and touching up it was all done and it was beautiful. "Was" you ask? Well...let me explain.

There is no hand towel rack near the sink. In fact, the only towel rack was behind the door on the opposite wall. So we bought a round towel rack to put up near the sink. Today Atom asked me where I'd like it hung, so I put it up and he made the marks on the wall. I left him to install the towel rack so I could start vacuuming. Next thing I know, I hear screaming. I turned off the vacuum and Atom was screaming my name. The first thing that came to mind is that he hurt himself, but after I bolted up the stairs I found him getting sprayed in the face with a powerful stream of water. While he was drilling a hole, he accidentally hit a water pipe.

There was some initial panic on my part, but then I had to think fast. While Atom held a bucket up to the jet stream of water, I ran over to our neighbor's house. He came over and showed me where the main water line cut off valve was. Unfortunately, it wasn't the main water valve that Atom hit. He actually drilled a hole into the emergency water sprinkler pipe. The water was coming out with such force, it sprayed across the bathroom and into the shower. It was just a tiny hole as you can see:


We had to call 911 to get the fire department to come out and turn off the sprinkler valve. That also included setting off the fire alarm in the entire building, which is incredibly loud and ear piercing. Luckily I had just put the dog on the porch, otherwise we would have had a freaked out doggie howling and cowering in the closet. Here is the aftermath:

You can even see the root of all evil, aka the towel rack in this picture:


This just happens to be the bathroom in the guest bedroom. One of the reasons we decided to paint it, was because we have guests coming and we wanted it to look nice. Thank goodness we have three bathrooms in the house. So after all the commotion, this baby still refuses to make a move and get out. Hopefully we didn't scare him from coming out :)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Large and in charge

We went to our 36 week appointment this past Monday, and just as I suspected Baby Shock measured ahead of schedule again. The doctor felt around my belly and says to us, "That's a big baby in there." Thanks Doc. So today we went in for an ultrasound to try and determine just how big our little boy is. There is not much room in there, that is for sure. I did get a glimpse of that cute chubby baby face, but the pictures they gave me make him look like Skeletor. After some measurements, it looks like baby boy is already 7 1/2 pounds! I'm currently 36 1/2 weeks and he measured in at the size of 37 weeks and 6 days.  He's supposed to be around 6 pounds, according to all the books I've read. Supposedly at this point in pregnancy, baby should be gaining 1/2 a pound a week. Doing the math I have 3 1/2 weeks left, which means I may have to push out a 9 pound baby. All I can say at this point is thank goodness for modern medicine. 

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Final Four

It's hard to believe we are down to the final four weeks. I'm pretty sure the baby has dropped, considering my acid reflux has reduced drastically and I can breathe a little easier. I have been experiencing a very wide range of emotions lately. One minute I'm laughing hysterically about things that are not that hilarious and the next I'm in tears because someone looked at me the wrong way.  I think the time has come that everyone warned me about..."just wait, you'll want him out of there," "the last few months are a nightmare," etc.  I can honestly say I want this baby to make his way out. All anxiety about giving birth has been filed away back in the recesses of my now fragile mind, and all my brain keeps saying is "when is this kid going to get the hint?" Of course I am excited to meet this little guy and that is another major reason I'd like him to make his way into this world. Mom and Dad are getting a little antsy to see all the cute little fingers and toes. It is still not 100% real to us yet, but once we hear that first cry in the hospital I'm sure it will hit us like a ton of bricks.  The next doctor's appointment is tomorrow. Wish us luck! I'm hoping to see some small sign of progress that this ball is rolling.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Shower #2

Grace and Cheryl so graciously decided to throw me a shower for the few wonderful friends I have that don't work with me. They did a wonderful job and we had fun playing all kinds of crazy games....and the food! Oh baby, there were tons of yummy things to munch on. I got some great recipes of the dishes that everyone made. We are so thankful for all the loving and generous people in our life who wanted to help make sure Baby Shock was well taken care of after his grand entrance. We can't wait to meet him and introduce him to everyone so he can thank ya'll personally for all the great gifts.