Cate Arrived

Here is the story of the arrival of our perfect little Cate. I was having three appointments every week to keep an eye out for this pregnancy and everything was dandy every time I went. When I went to my OBGYN at 35 weeks she measured how big the baby was and was about to let me leave but then realized I had a history of preterm labor. She decided to check my cervix and before doing so, she said that as long as I'm not a 5 that I should be okay. Then she started laughing and said, " you're at a 4.5! ...I'm not going to send you to the hospital yet, but once you start having contractions you NEED to get to the hospital! Just don't sneeze or else you might have her. "

 I go home and go about my business and at my 36 week appointment, she checked my cervix again and I was at a 6 and 80% effaced. She then sent me to the hospital to get an amniocentesis to see if Cate's lungs were mature enough to induce me. My doctor didn't want me walking around when I was advancedly dilated. So in the process of getting the amino, the Dr. Was having a hard time finding a pocket of amniotic fluid. He almost admitted me to the hospital right then and there, but thankfully he found some. It took 2 days to get the results back. But while we were waiting for the results I had another ultrasound and it told us that I had very little amniotic fluid. I was at a 5. I'm not sure what that number is out of but apparently it's really low. 

They called my OBGYN and she said I needed to go to the hospital immediately. She warned me that the hospital was super busy and it might be awhile before we get a room but that we needed to go now. Cate's lungs were mature and with the new info about the fluid, she decided to induce me.

We got to the hospital about 1:30 in the afternoon. Didn't get back to OB triage until about 3:30 and didn't get into a room until 6 pm. Then we had to wait for the charge nurse to come and start the pitocin and that didn't happen until 7:45 pm. So when my Doctor told me it was busy, she wasn't kidding.  I thought we were going to have a baby that night but apparently my cervix had other ideas (which is okay because I have a problem and wanted her to be born on an even date...haha). My nurses came in every half hour to up my pitocin. I wasn't hurting so I didn't get an epidural until about 3 am when I started to get uncomfortable. But the best part is that I hadn't progressed. At all!! I was still a 6 and 80% effaced.

By 6 am the nurses checked me again and still no change!! I told her I was getting frustrated and she agreed. :-) My nurses were awesome and they genuinely cared about me and wanted to meet Catherine. Unfortunately their shift ended at 7 and they knew they wouldn't be meeting her and they were disappointed, which made me feel special. 😄

My nurses Casey and Leeza ran around the LD floor trying to find the Doctor to break my water so things could get moving along. My pitocin level was at 24 which is the highest you can go I guess and my cervix didn't cooperate. At 7:30 am my Doctor came in. Once again, my cervix was checked and I was complete! FINALLY!! She still had to break my water though.

For some reason Dr. Best left the room and the nurses told me to have a practice push. While in the process of this, they told me to stop pushing because she almost came out. I only pushed two more times after that and she was here. What a beautiful baby! Daddy hesitantly cut the umbilical cord but was glad he did it. She was born at 7:53 am, 6 lbs and 19 inches long on April 14.

Getting ready for baby

My parents got here this week. They wanted to make sure they didn't miss the debut of little "miss" since last time they did with Adelaide (being 5 weeks early). They have only been here a couple days but Adelaide LOVES to play with them. She follows Grandma around everywhere. They have already made 2 or 3 Easter crafts and have played non-stop with Princesses. Right now, Grandma and Auntie have taken her to an Easter Egg Hunt. She is loved and spoiled by everyone and I can't say that I complain. :-)

If you remember, I have three Dr. Appointments a week and yesterday I had two. My normal ob/gyn visit was a little funny. I'm 35 weeks pregnant and typically they don't start checking your cervix until 36 weeks. And that was the Doctors plan until she looked at my chart and noticed I had a history of pre-term labor (I had to get a new Dr. Because mine went on maternity leave). "We will go ahead and check you today. As long as you're not dilated to a 5 you should be fine," she says. While she's checking me she laughs and says, "you pretty much are. You're at 4.5... I won't send you to the hospital yet. I just want you to be prepared!!" I wasn't really scared because I was half expecting it. But I'm also not excited quite yet because who knows how long I'll stay at a 4.5. I might not advance for another few weeks... Who knows!!

My specialist appointments this week have been great. One thing they look for in babies on the ultrasound is if they are practicing the breathing exercise. And she is practicing constantly, which is wonderful. My NST ( non-stress test) went well. She wasn't stressing out when I had contractions, so everything looks normal and healthy. I've been told some babies devlop faster and my body might stay in the habit of going into labor sooner than others. Everyone is different and every pregnancy, so I guess we will find out within the month when she will actually be here. I am hoping that my water will just break again and I'll go to the hospital. I've had some painful contractions but never consistent.

Pregnancy update

I went to the specialist again today to get another ultrasound. Everything looks great! She is already 2.9 lbs and I think she has daddy's nose. :-)

I have mixed feelings about getting 3D pictures. It's creepy and adorable at the same time. :-)

I don't think I wrote this on the blog (I didn't tell anyone really). But at week 18 I got my blood drawn and had a Quad test done. This looks out for four different problems. The only one I can remember is the one that came back positive, Down's syndrome. The Doctor's office called and said that I was high risk and it doesn't mean that the baby will have it. I immediately started crying. I had to wait almost 2 weeks before I could go to the specialist to check it out. So as you could imagine, it was torture for me. I knew we would keep the baby and I would love her just the same, but it was still hard. Geoffrey made it easier by telling me "we prayed for a baby and we were blessed with one." And he was exactly right.

It ended up that everything was fine with the baby. The blood work not only told us if we were high risk for any of the four problems but told us what my protein levels were. I had two that were super high. They want the levels to be around 1.0, but mine were 2.14 and 2.84 which is extremely high! This told us that she has restriction to grow/might not have enough blood flow for her.

Because of my high protein levels I now have to start going to the specialist twice a week every week until she is born. One day will be for an ultrasound and the other day they will perform a stress test. I am not going to complain because I get to see her sweet face every week, how many people get to say that (and I'm sure my insurance is loving me right now).  :-)

Varicose Veins

Everyone has been asking me how the pregnancy is going and my legs. I decided I would write a short post on my unfortunate "pregnancy symptom." Everyone has their cursed symptom in pregnancy. Some have awful morning sickness, heartburn, back aches, swollen feet, sciatica, etc. Mine happens to be varicose veins. 

Varicose veins are where the walls of your veins become "lax" for a lack of better word (not tight). When this occurs, the blood can't flow back up your leg (goes backward) and the blood pools there. That is where the "bulges and twisted" look comes from. It's very disgusting in my opinion. 

I had them with my first pregnancy but they went away after a few months I delivered my daughter. I heard that they come back with each pregnancy and tends to get worse! Let me tell you... they are worse and getting worse every day. I started to get some in my upper thigh where my leg and midsection meet. I try to lay and prop my feet up as much as possible but it's hard when I have a two year old and I have to clean my house, do the laundry and make meals. I don't know how people are forced to be put on bed rest while pregnant. I would go insane if I laid around all day. 

Just a couple weeks ago they got super intense. I cry every morning when I have to get out of bed. It is the most excruciating pain I have every felt. I have compression socks but they don't do much good anymore. 

I asked my OB/GYN if there was anything I could do for the varicose veins and she said unfortunately not. That is, as long as I'm pregnant. I could get surgery to remove them but typically women don't have that done until after they are done having all their children. She then proceeded to ask how many kids we wanted and I said 5. The Dr. said she would suggest that I have it done after this baby since it gets progressively worse each pregnancy and since we want that many kids. Otherwise she would tell me to wait if I only wanted 3. 

That information made me excited. Honestly, I have thought of being done after this baby just because I'm not sure I can handle these unruly veins any longer. Geoff has looked into how the whole procedure would work and some insurances pay for it all (which would be wonderful)! I'm just concerned that if the varicose veins go away after the pregnancy they won't pay for it. 

Some people have asked what they look like. I made Geoff take pictures this morning and he almost cried with disgust. So if you get queasy easily I would suggest not looking at the following pictures if you haven't already. I don't like looking at them either. I usually put my socks on as soon as I can. 

Another bad part is shaving. I get squirmy every time I think about it. It's gross I know but I only shave once a week for church now. I usually wear pants but for some reason you see me and my legs are hairy, that is the reasoning behind it.  

Potty Training

Yay for Adelaide!! She is a big girl who wears big girl panties! 

We started two weeks ago and she has only had maybe six accidents total. I am so proud of her. At first she only did well with going pee pee in the toilet. She would wait until nap time for us to put her diaper on to go poo poo. 

She has all different kinds of panties (Princess, Anna and Elsa, Olaf, Minnie Mouse and Bubble Guppies), I'd tell her that they would be sad if she got them wet or dirty. That helped A LOT! She didn't want to disappoint her friends and make them sad. 

She now has transitioned from diaper to panties at nap time and has been dry every time. The only time she still has problems is if she is playing with friends and having too much fun that she forgets she has to potty. The other day we were at a playground with a friend and she had an accident. I had extra panties but no pants. I was a little embarrassed that she was only playing in a t-shirt and undies but she wanted to keep playing. 

She obviously wanted her privacy.