Our Unexpected Blessing…

One of the challenges we’ve faced with Stacallen deals with health.  First she had some jaundice.  She was just fine when she left the hospital less than 36 hours after birth, but within the next few days she did develop some jaundice.  So we had to put her under the lights at home and in order for the insurance company to cover the cost of the lights, we had to take her back to the dr’s office every day for blood draws.  What a pain that was!  How are mom and baby supposed to rest (and stay away from sick people) if we have to wake up first thing every morning to go to the dr’s office to draw blood?  Of course, it was no fun seeing her get poked each day either.  She certainly didn’t like it.

Then, there were the sniffles.  Our son had been battling a runny nose from before Stacallen’s birth.  Then he started coughing.  Then he ran a fever for about 3 days.  Of course, he always wanted to hug and kiss his sister and lay next to her when she was in bed.  We tried to keep him away, but how do you tell a 2-yr-old that he can’t love his new baby sister?  I tried explaining that he can’t cough near her, that he needs to wash his hands before he comes by her.  I think it did help some, but she still caught a bit of the congestion.  Thankfully, she hasn’t gotten a fever, but she did start coughing.  So, we took her back to the dr and got some antibiotics because one of her ears was just beginning to look infected.  Thank goodness we took her in when we did so that we could catch the infection early.

The medicine seems to be working.  Stacallen’s sleeping better at night.  The congestion had started to interrupt her sleep and make it tough for her to get back to sleep at night.  Also, she seems to be coughing less, so that’s good.  She does still have a bit of congestion, but hopefully that will all go away as we finish up the antibiotics.

I do not like seeing any of my kids sick and under the weather.  I wasn’t sure if we would be able to give Stacallen anything to help, but I’m glad there is something to help her get over the congestion she has.  Hopefully whatever antibodies I have in my milk help too.

Sooooo, my daughter makes 4 weeks tomorrow and, obviously, I haven’t even been around posting updates.  Things can get quite hectic in the days and weeks following the birth of a child.  PLUS life was busy before baby was born and doesn’t seem to have slowed down much at all.  I really wanted to just hole up in the house with baby and the rest of my family in the first week or so, but turns out, that’s just not how things worked out.

We had a couple of commitments already planned in the weeks after baby was born.  Then there was wrapping up the last details of the sale of our house.  In addition to that there were daily blood tests for baby which required daily visits to the doctor’s office to monitor her jaundice.  Apparently, the insurance company now requires a daily blood draw in order to cover the blue light machine they sent home with us.   I sure hope they change that back to the way it was because having to take your newborn to the dr’s office EVERY day to draw blood is just not a fun thing and really doesn’t seem the least bit necessary for the dr’s to make their decisions about whether or not the baby still needs the blue light machine.

Anyway - I’m sure there were other things going on as well, but we were out doing something or running some errand just about every day in the first few weeks following baby’s birth.  My husband was off of work for two weeks and as much as I wanted to just relax, we had so much to get done that we both wanted to tackle as much of it as we could while he was home and available to help 24/7.  That way, I would have less to try to do on my own with all the kids once he went back to work.

So now, here we are.  Baby makes 4 weeks tomorrow and she’s probably been out of the house more than all our other kids put together in their first month.  Now it’s December and the holiday season is upon us.  We have soooo much Christmas shopping to do.  It’s a bit more challenging with a newborn, but you just have to accept that it will take longer than usual.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that my husband has been on jury duty this week?  This means he has to drive to town each day and he gets out of jury duty later than he would get out of work which means he’s home later than usual.  On top of all this, the weather recently has been nuts.  There has been so much wind and rain that some schools were closed the last few days.  The ground in our yard is saturated with water and yesterday we were without power for about 17 hours.

Yes, things have certainly been hectic…..and…..there’s more, but I’ll save that for next time.

Technorati Tags: newborn, baby, life, family, kids, children

As you probably guessed by now, I had my baby!  I know I owe you all the details and pictures and everything, but things have been absolutely crazy.  Between finishing up the sale of our house and moving and having to go back to the dr’s office for check ups, I haven’t gotten much rest.

BUT - both baby and I are doing fine, and, for now, here is the “short story” - just the stats.

It finally happened!  Our “surprise” baby arrived safely on November 9th at 6:14 am.  Baby weighed 7lbs 5.8oz and was 20 inches long.  My previous heaviest was my son at 6lbs 8.3oz, so this baby was quite a bit heavier than my others.  In fact, this baby’s birth weight is over a pound more than all the older sister’s birth weights.

Oh yes, and of course, the answer to the question everyone was asking…..It’s a girl!

She’s beautiful and we’re both doing well even though we haven’t been getting as much rest as I’d like.

Will share my birth story and pictures soon.

Technorati Tags: labor, birth, birthing, pregnancy, pregnant, maternity

So today I had my ob check. I scheduled this appointment 2 weeks ago, hoping to deliver on the 7th and get a decent idea of where I was at toward the end of the day today. That’s exactly what I got.

Two appointments ago (on a Monday) I was at 1cm, my cervix was still long, and baby was still high. The following week on Thursday (last week Thursday) there was no change at all. Today, 5 days after that last check I have a baby who is at -1 station and a cervix which is 3cm dilated and 70% effaced. I’m so happy about the effacement because I know with a cervix that is softening, the dilation usually goes pretty well for me.

So, I really do think tomorrow, the 7th is my day. If you’ve just started reading this blog, I’ve been visualizing the 7th as my delivery day for months now. I’ve had mild contractions, ones I consider Braxton Hicks, all day. Some are strong enough for me to notice, but none of them are all that uncomfortable or difficult to deal with. I hope to have these types of contractions dilate me another 3cm throughout the day tomorrow. I can hope right? Then the ideal situation would be for the “real stuff” to start after my husband is done with work and the traffic has died down so that we can go to the hospital and have this baby tomorrow evening without having to drive through major traffic with me in labor.
My son, 2-years old, has been telling baby that he/she can come out tomorrow. We’ll see what happens. I’ll be sure to post another update as soon as possible.

Technorati Tags: pregnancy, prenatal, labor, delivery, baby, maternity

It’s the end of the day on Monday, November 5th.  Today was my due date if you calculate using ovulation date.  I wasn’t really expecting to go today because I’m still looking at Wednesday as the day.  However, I am a bit uncomfortable today.  Not really crampy, but just “different” discomfort.

It’s strange, this is my 5th child and I don’t know if I’m reading too much into the way I feel because it’s just about time, or if it really is the start of “something” and I’m in denial because it’s not really that intense AND it’s not the 7th yet!

As with my previous labors where I went into labor on my own, I’ll probably look back and be able to see the “signs” but probably won’t really be sure until the INTENSE stuff starts up.  Always in hindsight I’m able to recognize some of the subtle changes, but with the amount of discomfort and Braxton Hicks I’ve had over the past month or so it’s tough to tell if anything is “really” happening.  It was the same way with my last two pregnancies.  Even as I sit here and type, my tummy is quite hard and I feel some twinge in my lower back, but it’s completely bearable and I really can’t say it’s any different from what I’ve felt up to this point.

So, I guess only time will tell if this is the start, or if this is just more of my body “getting ready.”  My husband has had to work at night yesterday and today.  So before he left today, about an hour ago, he asked that I wait for him to come home.  I told him I’d do my best.  However, all 3 times I’ve gone into labor on my own, I’ve always went to sleep at night only to wake up in labor some time in the morning.  I’m hoping that if that happens again it’s one more night away….not yet, not tonight.

Technorati Tags: pregnancy, pregnant, prenatal, maternity, labor, birthing, baby

Gosh, tomorrow is my due date according to the date I ovulated. However, since I’ve been visualizing the 7th as my delivery date for months now, I don’t think I’ll go tomorrow. Still, my visualized due date is just 3 days away! It feels so surreal. Somehow, the thought of just 3 days seemed sooooo close just a few days ago. Now that I’m actually 3 days away from the 7th, it just doesn’t seem like I’ll be having a baby that soon. I suppose it’s because I don’t feel any different. It’s also probably because I know that, just a few days ago, I was no closer to giving birth as far as dilation and effacement as I was over a week ago. It just doesn’t seem like baby will be coming that soon.

Thankfully, our house is just about done as far as the move. I even talked to the cleaning people today and got that set up. I just still need to get that CARSEAT! *sigh* Hopefully Monday or Tuesday I’ll be able to take care of that and the countdown will REALLY be on since everything will be in place and we’ll simply be waiting on baby to arrive.

Right now there’s a bit of a storm going on. Last night at about 12:30am we woke up to major thunder and lightning and lots of rain! Whew! I know some women give birth during stormy weather, but I don’t feel that happening just yet. The rain is still coming though. Well, that’s about it for now. Will check in again later.

Ah…so I mentioned in my other post that we did a belly cast. Since then, I have not shown the photos here. LOL - as you can see from my last few posts, things have been hectic, but, as promised, here are the pictures I have to date. We do still plan on smoothing the belly cast out a bit and painting it, but that will have to wait until later. Especially because I’m not sure about how I want it to look yet.

Technorati Tags: baby, belly, pregnant, pregnancy, maternity, prenatal