4th midwife appointment and pregnancy related craziness

At my 4th midwife appointment I met Linda.  She was a very nice midwife (I'm starting to think that's a prerequisite!).  She answered all of my questions fully and I really liked her. 

She said that if my heart burn continues to get worse, I can take two prevacids each day.  In the mean time, I'll continue with the one and she said to take Tums in addition. 

She told me that there's not much I can do about my aches and pains; they're just part of pregnancy.  Which I embrace and am glad about!  I'd gladly go through much more if Daughter needed me to!  I'd just like it if I handled pregnancy a bit more like those women with all the energy and level-headed.

She recommended I wear my wrist braces during the day to cut down on my hand tingling.  I can't bring myself to do it.  I'm so hot!  All the time!  Wearing wrist braces at night is hard enough... it's like sleeping with gloves on.

I asked her about the tingling in my legs and she said that Daughter was probably pushing on my sciatic nerve. 

Anyway, after going into the Fargo office yesterday morning, lunch with my mom, and then my appointment, I had to drive across the border to Moorhead for a quilt shop to find borders for my quilts.  Yes, quilts, I'm making "cousin" quilts for Daughter and our niece due in November :)

Anyway... I was thinking of doing lilac because that will match with both nurseries. 

Now I've changed my mind.  While there is lilac in the quilt, and it's a beautiful fabric, I just don't feel the "YES!!" that I should.  My mom (and quilting sous chef) agrees and thinks we need to find something brighter.  She's going to look at some other quilt stores.

Then I had to run to Target to fill a Rx.  Then I went over to Arby's because I was hungry, needed to put my feet up, and I had a coupon!

So I didn't get home until after 5.  That's a really long day for me... last night I had a crying melt down and Mat was once again amazing.  He asked what was wrong and the only thing I could think of was "it's so hot!".  I realized how ridiculous this sounded and started laugh/sobbing- a phenomenon related to pregnancy.  It's happened a few times now.  Very weird.  Anyway, he held me until I calmed down, OKd me turning down the thermostat, and told me that he would install a ceiling fan in our bedroom.

Surprise baby shower and tactical beverage holder

Last night at Bible study they had a surprise baby shower for Daughter and another little girl who is due to come out in July.  They are so sweet!  They are such a nice group of gals.  I'm so blessed to know them and be able to meet with them to study the Bible :)

Now we're taking a summer break from the Bible study.  We just finished the lessons in Pew Sisters, a really good small group study.  It sparked some very interesting conversations.

Today was a hectic day for work, but I'm feeling pretty good anyway.  So I made Mat something he's been wanting for a while, a beverage holder for the tractor.  We had plenty of denim that I found at a garage sale, so I was just going to make it out of that.  But Mat wanted me to use some of the Crye Multi Cam that we picked up at a fabric outlet.  So, I did. 

Tactical Beverage Holder

With some left over Velcro, it seems to work pretty good!  He's very excited to hang it from the light bar... so we just went outside to do it. 

It makes me happy when I can do little things for my family to make them so happy :)

34 weeks! And crazy amounts of rain

I'm 34 weeks!  Woot!  6 weeks until due date... Daughter is now about 4 3/4 lbs.  At this point, she's just fattening up to prepare her for life outside the womb.  She'll be gaining about 1/2 lb each week!

34 weeks!

34 weeks!

There have been some bad storms rolling through eastern ND lately.  We're getting "swaddling practice" from tucking Mookie in really tight to calm him during the storms.  I would guess that we got about 8 inches of rain since Thursday.  We don't have a rain gage up yet, but the radio said that a neighboring town got about that much. 

 

This is a shot of the neighboring field.  The tree line on the left is half on our property.  We own lakeside property!

 This is a shot of a ditch with about 5 feet of water flowing through it.

Same ditch, with the standing water in the fields showing behind.

When we moved to ND we expected some spring flooding, so we made sure to get a "higher" house and prepare ourselves for road closures.  This flooding is every bit as bad as it was this spring!  Talking to some people at church today, nobody ever remembers it raining this much.  Lots of crops are lost.  

On the bright side, my garden is doing pretty well.  The weeds are growing like weeds!  It's hard to get out there to weed with so little energy... at least a few of my plants are doing great :)

Birthing center tour

We went on a tour of our birthing center this week.  I'm so glad we did!  We learned so much!

While driving to Fargo for appointments and delivery wasn't our first plan, between the amazing midwives they have there and the wonderful birthing center (with a level III NICU!) it's totally worth it.  Now we just have to hope (or time out, I guess, another plus to embryo adoption!) so that we aren't delivering our next child during a snow storm or spring flooding. 

Anyway, I got a lot of questions answered.  The average stay after a vaginal delivery is 48 hours, but if baby and I are doing well and breast feeding successfully, they'll consider letting us go at 24 hours.  If we do have to go for an emergency C Section, it's right down the hall and one of my labor nurses will come with me so that I'll know someone on the team. 

My ankles are starting to swell pretty badly again.  They had slowed for a while... I guess I just have to keep my feet up more!

Daughter was moving a ton yesterday and hurting me quite a bit.  I think she may have been getting into a head down position... Let's hope she has and won't have to hurt me so much now!  She seems much calmer today and the position sort of feels like head down...

Baby shower! And Father's day

Daughter and I had a baby shower on Saturday!  It was so much fun and lovingly put on for me by my aunts. 

Here are some pics :)

My mom (right) and her sisters who put on the shower.  Thanks so much to all of my aunts!

cutest little favors! 

Me with the cake.  It had lemon filling!  Yum yum yum. 

Daughter and I with both grandma's :)

Preggo sisters!  My sister is 20 weeks and I'm 33 weeks :)

We got so many wonderful gifts!  Thank you everybody!  A special thanks to my aunt who hosted, and all of my aunts who threw the shower.  Even my cousin, who couldn't make it, made a game and had her mom run it.  I am so blessed!

I have another shower in two weeks up in our neck of the woods for the family up here.  It will be so much less stressful to not have to drive in the cities!  I don't know how I lived there for so long... so many people!  I'm definitely a country girl now.

Father's day was pretty awesome.  I woke Mat up with breakfast and by reading "Hop on Pop" to he and Daughter.  We took his parents out to brunch.  They seem pretty excited about the first girl born into the family :)

We had slight car issues on the way home so we ended up turning off the AC about 1/2 way.  But Mat was amazing and proved once again that he is an amazing father by taking care of everything and getting me a popsicle so I didn't overheat :)

3rd midwife appointment

I had my 3rd midwife appointment on Friday.  It went well!  I saw another of the five midwives (this time I saw Denise, last time I saw Terry, and my primary midwife is Jen).  I'm making the rounds through all 5 in the practice so I know who is in the delivery room with me.

Denise answered all of my questions as though it's perfectly normal to arrive at every midwife appointment with a list of questions and a notebook to write the answers in.  I have a new list for every appointment... honestly, the midwives have been so much more receptive and eager to answer than either of my family OBs were (hence the switch).

Answers include...

I'm to go to the birthing center when my contractions are 3-4 minutes apart, a warm bath doesn't stop them, and I have to stop talking when they hit. 

Daughter's position appears to be in "vertex" or head down position.  She was pretty positive she felt the bottom at the top of my belly but she couldn't feel the head very well.

During labor and delivery, I'm able to use whatever position feels good.  That's great!  A couple of weeks ago the birthing class video included a birth in which the the mother was told she'd have to switch positions right before the baby came because the midwife didn't think she could catch the baby.  The baby ended up coming mere seconds after the midwife told her this, so she didn't switch, but that could easily stress me out.  The mother was kneeling on the bed and leaning on the head of the hospital bed which was raised.

Walking and yoga are great exercises.  I'm walking about 1/2 mile a day and still doing some gardening (my weeds are doing great!), and she said that was great for this late in pregnancy.

I asked if I could see the same midwife group with a future pregnancy if I were pregnant with twins.  She said yes!  And that if they were both vertex (head down, I learned that new word appointment, too!) they support vaginal delivery.  Wow!  That's awesome!  Back in the twin cities, where we used to live, there wasn't a midwife group I could find to see me with my twin pregnancy.

If Daughter is in the wrong position they try to turn her.  But Denise stressed that I raelly shouldn't worry, as the odds are very slim that would happen.

She also recommended a maternity support belt for my back aches.  But going by how hot I am all the time, putting on another layer could just roast me.  Maybe if they get worse...

She then recommended ice on my wrists for 20 minutes before bed to help with my pregnancy carpal tunnel.  I've been doing that for the past few days now and it's nice.  I generally have to use the wrist braces part of the night, but it's not as hot as wearing them all night.

Pregnancy: the good, the bad, and the ugly

I really do generally enjoy being pregnant.  It's something I was starting to think would never happen.  It's amazing to know that a little life is being made inside of me through God's grace!

That said, there's a lot of uncomfortableness.

The Good:

Feeling Daughter move.  Amazing!  Miraculous!
Knowing that God has finally made me a mother to a living child. 
Feeling Daughter respond to my voice or Mat's voice.
Knowing that I'm giving Daughter the best start. 
Having Mat already stepping up and taking such good care of Daughter and I.  I don't know what I would do without him!
This time to bond with Daughter.  Not many adoptive parents get this time for bonding!

The Bad:

Back aches
Inability to get comfortable
So hot!  All the time!
Leg cramps
Pregnancy carpal tunnel.  Didn't know about that one... but wrist braces at night (which make me hotter) help.
Exhaustion! 
Insomnia
swollen extremities

The Ugly:

Stretch marks.  
Size!  I've already gained 40 lbs and I still have 8 weeks to go!  But they tell me it's healthy.
Waddling.  Everywhere.  I do still try to walk lot, but it goes pretty slow and it's more waddle than walk.
The painful movements.  It actually happens a lot- I just switch positions and Daughter does too.
The emotional extremes.  I can laugh or cry at the drop of a hat.   I put my socks on inside out the other day and, fortunately, found it hilarious rather than crying. Seriously-I laughed way to much for a sane person.

All in all, the good far outweighs the bad (and the even the ugly).  I'm enjoying my pregnancy and I want Daughter to stay in there the proper amount of time!  :)

32 week pics! And quilting, stomach bug, and breastfeeding course...

A full weekend! 

Saturday my mom came out and helped me finish up the blocks for Daughter's quilt.

Here they are!  Well, some of them, anyway.

Sunday I ended up getting a stomach bug in the afternoon.  It's surprising because I've been pretty healthy so far in my pregnancy.  Luckily, it's on it's way out.  I'm feeling much better.

32 weeks!

32 weeks with Mookie!

32 weeks! :)

Last week we went to Fargo for a breastfeeding course.  Very informative!  So glad we went.  I really want to breast feed daughter and having as much knowledge going in is the best way :)  They had a book there which we could look through called medications and mother's milk which we registered for.  I'm planning on breast feeding for at least a year and it will be so much easier to just look up medications rather than call with every illness.  Such a comprehensive book!  Mat was already looking up different allergy meds I could take during rag weed season after the class.  He's such a sweetie :)

Ouch!

Normally I wake up around 5 to eat-I have breakfast with Mat, and go back to sleep.  Daughter is always very active in the mornings.  This morning on my way back to bed, she hurt me!  Ouch!  OK, so I crawled (or the waddling equivalent of crawling, anyway) back into bed.  She kept doing it!  Ouch!  Mat came to snuggle for a bit and he could feel Daughter moving without even touching my tummy. 

I was lying on my left so I flipped over to my right side.  Pretty much the only two positions I'm sleeping in these days.  Anyway, I'm tummy to tummy with Mat and Daughter is still just kicking away!  Less painfully, but wow! 

So, I really wasn't able to go back to sleep after that.  Now she seems to have calmed down a bit.  Lets hope that tomorrow morning she doesn't have the same plans!

31 week pics :)

31 weeks!

31 weeks!

31 weeks with Mookie :)

Woot!  Daughter is about 3 1/3 lbs and 16 inches :)  

I am crazy emotional.  There are no slight emotions for me, these days.  If I find something funny (Mat makes me laugh all the time!) I laugh hysterically until I've swallowed too much air and feel like my chest will explode!  Then, of course, I start crying.  All of my emotions are extremes!  

Mat is wonderful at dealing with it, though.  I think God designed us so well as a couple!  I am able to handle (for the most part, and with Mat's help) all of the physical and emotional strains of pregnancy, and Mat is able to deal with a less-than-rational wife who needs help just getting into/out of a hammock!  I think that I deal better with the limitations of pregnancy than Mat would (ie no shooting, no beer, physically exerting myself to do the smallest tasks), and Mat deals better with an often irrational partner and babying me (and in turn babying Daughter) than I would.