She is here

Whew. The baby finally came out. :) I was actually starting to wonder, being 5 days overdue and a full 3 weeks later than my last kid.

My daughter was born on Tuesday, February 17th at 7:45 am after 5 easy hours of labor. She weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and was 20.25 inches long, and had a 13.75 inch head and 14 inch chest (big!). She's got 10 fingers and 10 toes and is absolutely perfect. The birth was wonderful. I really couldn't have asked for better. Despite being by far my largest baby, I didn't tear (!!!) and felt in complete control pretty much the entire time. Keith was able to catch his daughter, and I reached down and grabbed her as she completely emerged. It was awesome.

Now, at 5 days old, we are dealing with weight loss, jaundice, and a lack of pooping. This is something I've seen before and is very frustrating. We have a midwife visit later today so we'll see how it is going. Otherwise, things are going quite well. The older kids absolutely ADORE her. My body is healing very quickly, thanks to the easy birth. She's even sleeping a fair amount (though that might be because of the jaundice). If we could just get the milk flowing and get her weight up.

Officially Overdue

I can't believe it. My due date was yesterday. I'm still pregnant.

Granted, this is normal for most women. The average pregnancy is longer than 40 weeks. But MY pregnancies have all been weeks shorter. I've always known it was possible I could go longer, but considering my other two kids were 12 and 16 days early and were healthy and of good size (7,4 and 8,6), I really didn't think this pregnancy would go so much longer.

So here I am, weeks more pregnant than I've ever been, measuring much larger than I've ever been, wondering when this kid is coming out. I wonder what will be different since this baby has cooked so much longer. Will I notice less vernix and lanugo? My other kids were covered in it. My son had a pretty good case of jaundice too. Could we avoid that this time? Will this baby be more awake and alert because of the extra weeks? I hope so. Could breastfeeding be easier? That would be so cool. And of course, I AM wondering how much BIGGER this kid is going to be. Still curious whether it is a boy or girl too.

Today is Friday the 13th. I don't really have a problem if baby chooses to come today, though I think Keith is a little freaked by it. The kids both have colds right now and I'm getting one too. And I've got a new cold sore brewing. But I don't really want to wait until we are all healthy for this baby to come out. That might not happen until May.

So baby, please please please come out!

Ouch

I think I may have a broken rib. I can't believe this little critter inside me could be so mean to his/her mama. I guess quarters are getting very tight in there. This pain has been present for 1-2 weeks, but it is just getting worse and worse. I still have a cough too, which makes it so much worse. Certain postures and a cough or sneeze just make it feel like a knife in my side. Guess there isn't much that can be done, except wait for relief from the pressure once the baby is out. Speaking of which...I started seeing some mucus last night, but it was only very minor. It could be anytime. If this baby picks a timeframe similar to when my other two arrived, he/she will be born between Tuesday and Saturday of next week. I'm nesting like crazy, and in 2 days I will be free of all commitments. I can't wait to meet this new person.

Where have I been?

Where on earth have I been? Wow. I can't believe my last update was in September. That is pretty sad. The truth is, life has just been very busy. I was forced to reduce computer time, and my blog is one of the things that had to take the back-burner. I'm not quite ready to say, "I'm back," but at least I'm here for today.

For the fall I was teaching two classes at the local university, and that kept me very very busy. I was also teaching childbirth classes (for which I have my certification exam TOMORROW), attending doula births, raising 2 kids, and of course, gestating a third. In mid-November I was in a car accident that tore things up a bit. I have "minor" injuries I guess, though it is now almost 2 months later and I'm still seeing the chiropractor, acupuncturist, and massage therapist. The accident was caused my an insurance-less fuck who plowed at 35 mph into a stopped car (and that stopped car then plowed into me). Three people, including myself, were taken to the hospital. I was sent straight to L&D because of frequent contractions (at 27 weeks), but things settled down with rest and hydration. And we had another ultrasound, but resisted finding out the gender again. The at-fault driver's car was totaled. My car wasn't too far from totaled. And come to find out he had no insurance, no driver's license, no car registration, AND he had 2 kids in the car who were not his kids and who were not in proper child restraints. How can people be so clueless?

Anyway, that accident has left me with even less time for blogging because of the HOURS of weekly appointments. Things are considerably better now. Then in December I got REALLY sick. It has been about 5 weeks now and I'm still sick. The holidays were non-existent because I could barely drag my ass out of bed. Finally now, things are starting to look up. I'm nearly 35 weeks pregnant - exactly 3 weeks away from when my son was born. The house is almost ready for baby. We even had a house cleaner come visit yesterday. I just bought a new nursing bra, which makes me sooo excited. And my birthday is in just a few days.

It is hard to imagine I'm going to have another newborn soon. My oldest is really excited about it. It has been a completely new journey to have her so aware of her new sibling this time. I'm very excited to meet this little person. I would sure like it if he/she would lay off my SI joints.

It is confirmed...I'm carrying a mini Homer Simpson

The "big" ultrasound was yesterday. For each of my kids, I've left the 20-week ultrasound feeling like the baby looked like something specific on the ultrasound screen. With my first, she looked like a turtle...it was something about the placenta resting against her back. With my second he looked like a duck. This baby looked strikingly like Homer Simpson. There was a particular shot when they measure the distance between the eyes that really brought out the Homer image with eyes bugging out and big round forehead. Anyway, I'm hoping the kid is a bit cuter in 4 months.

We don't have the official report yet, but everything looked good from my eyes. Baby was extremely uncooperative for most of the measurements. Even if we had wanted to know the gender, they would not have been able to tell. I guess that is the way it is supposed to be. We truly weren't meant to know. I still have this feeling about a boy, and my daughter is convinced it is a boy...but we'll see. We're definitely coming up with girl names too, just in case.

Otherwise, things are going well. I'm STILL gagging and vomitting on certain food items and when I brush my teeth. Almost 21 weeks...sheesh. Between the sickness and the uncooperative behavior for doppler and ultrasound, I'm still thinking this baby might be a handful when he/she emerges on the outside. Contractions are getting more regular. I've always had lots of "practice" contractions very early on, so this is nothing new for me. It is exciting though.

Last week I attended my last doula birth for probably the rest of the winter and spring, and it just got me soooo excited to be in labor again. Birth went very well, though it was long. But mom got exactly what she was hoping for - it was about as close to a homebirth in a hospital that you could hope for. And the neat thing, at least from a doula perspective, was to really see how as the baby's position changed from posterior to anterior, it really changed the contractions. Had this mother had an epidural, I feel certain she may have needed a cesarean. This baby liked to be posterior, and only turned with extended time on hands and knees (which an epidural would have prevented). Anyway, it was a beautiful experience.

Otherwise life is very busy. I'm teaching two university classes this fall, plus doing a bit of research work. I was offered a teaching position for winter term too, which I had to turn down because of the baby. And I now have one lined up for spring, as well as 2 research proposals to work on and a proposal to work on some e-courses for quite a bit of money. Though getting the PhD was a major pain in the arse, I'm sooo happy to have it now. Pay is more than quadruple what I was making before (which obviously wasn't much), and I feel this invisible measure of respect coming from the other faculty. Pretty sweet.

Boy or Girl?

We've decided not to find out this time. I kinda can't believe it. I was so sure I wanted to know with both of my previous pregnancies, and though we told the ultrasound technician not to waste time hunting for it, we were relieved when baby made it really easy to guess their gender. But this time, the ultrasound instructions will be to steer clear of the goods! And we are totally comfortable with that plan.

I still think it is a boy though. I've just felt that way from a few weeks in. We didn't try for a boy or girl this time, so it really could be either. But I just feel boyish. Plus I've been sicker than sick (still puking about every other day...at 18 weeks!), and though I wasn't THIS sick with my son, I was certainly sicker with him than I was with my daughter. Each pregnancy has just gotten sicker and harder. We have plans for a 4th after this, but for the first time I'm actually dreading the whole pregnancy part of it. I just don't enjoy pregnancy very much. I like the idea of it, but my pregnancies have been very hard on me. Guess I'll never grow up to be a surrogate.

Baby is safe

It took a while, but baby is making him/herself known now. I've been pretty certain I'm feeling movement, and then today we FINALLY found the heartbeat on a doppler. Whew! Coming up on 16 weeks and all is well.

When it hits the fan

A week ago, we were on top of the world. We'd just sold our house for a very sweet price. We'd just bought a new house for a very sweet price. We were moving in just a few weeks, and were VERY excited about it. Then Thursday hit.

On Thursday we had our inspection. Nothing really scary came up, but definitely a few annoying things. However, the buyer obviously saw something that terrified him because he went running. His reason? He said he didn't think any bank would give him a loan. Not sure where he got that, cause there was nothing that serious in the inspection. Regardless, he's gone. Our new house deal is gone. And we are back on the market. NOT. HAPPY.

And, on that same day, we had an appointment with our midwives. At 14 weeks, they were unable to find a heartbeat. I'm trying not to be too worried about it since I'm still pretty sick and we had that ultrasound just 2 weeks ago. Plus I think I'm starting to feel movement. But still, I'd think there would be a loud heartbeat by 14 weeks. Next appointment isn't until 18 weeks, but I may go back next week just to check unless I start getting some majorly reassuring kicks this week.

Bleh. I'd like some good news now.

Confirmation of life

Those first few months of pregnancy are rough, when you are sick and feel bloated, but haven't heard a heartbeat or felt the baby move yet. There's just no confirmation you feel like ass for a reason. These months have been dragging on since I've been feeling so badly, more than any of my pregnancies before. I was pretty nervous going into our ultrasound last week, just hoping to see a healthy fetus. I knew being sick was probably a good sign, but there's nothing like seeing your baby flip you off to know things are going well.

All's well with this one (nicknamed P3). At 12 weeks exactly, we went in for an Ultrascreen (combination ultrasound and blood test that looks for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 13 and 18). We hadn't heard the heartbeat yet, so this was our first glimpse of life. And that little bugger was wiggling! Everything looked really healthy. The baby had a great heartbeat and was extremely active. We got to watch some hiccups for a while. And our test results were fabulous too - chance of Down's or Tri 13/18 is less than 1 in 8000 and 1 in 10000, respectively. And best of all, baby was measuring perfectly. I love to see that when it happens, because I always set my due dates according to my ovulation date. My ovulation date is the most accurate, and I know this (and my midwife trusts this). Had we used my date of last menstural period, my due date would be nearly a week off. So hooray for knowing your body!

This baby is gonna be trouble

I've never been this sick before. I blaim that for my extended absense in blogworld, and it probably isn't over yet. I'm still sick, though having occasional moments of normalness that tell me perhaps the end is near (in a month maybe). It is bad enough to make me wonder why I wanted to get pregnant again, and to seriously question our plan to have one more baby after this one. I'm sure I'll see things differently when I feel better, but damn...this sucks.

Pregnancy seems to be going well. Just over 11 weeks now. Haven't heard or seen the baby yet, but we have an Ultrascreen (includes an ultrasound) scheduled for next Thursday. Heartburn started about a month ago, but is treatable with papaya so far. Tired as hell, but that doesn't surprise me. My belly is growing quickly and I can easily find my fundus nearly halfway to my umbilicus. Guess third babies push your body out quickly.

Our 3 year-old (birthday tomorrow!) is SUPER excited about the baby. I'm really looking forward to having her conscious and present throughout this pregnancy and birth.

Blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Morning sickness sucks. I know I remember morning sickness once it is over, but I don't remember who crappy I feel really. This stinks. :( All day bleh.

In other much more exciting news, we made a bid on a house today. :) :) :) It is a contingent offer, so even if it is accepted, we still have to sell our place. But it is a great house!

#3

Notice tickers on the left. :)

D-O-N-E!!

This morning I turned my final revisions into the graduate school for my dissertation. It almost required a degree just to turn it in and meet all the requirements (10x13 inch manila envelope with metal clasp with 2 flyleafs, 3 extra title pages, 1 extra signed abstract, taped title page on front, receipt for archiving fee, etc etc). My revisions were pretty simple - took about 3 days. As of this afternoon, my online transcript says "Doctor of Philosophy degree requirements met on May 8, 2008." DONE DONE DONE DONE!!!

In other news, I've attended two births in the last two weeks too. Birth stories coming soon. One was a 92-hour marathon birth (I was only present for the last 25 hours). The other was an induction with hx of embolism complications that ended well with 4 hours of pushing. Both were good. Can't believe I fit them in there with all the defense stuff going on.

So now I'm taking a little time off from school. Gonna work on relaxing and reclaiming my sanity and health, develop my childbirth classes a bit, go see a movie, and go meet some new babies...

FREEDOM!!!!!!

Merck is evil

Merck, makers of the infamous Vioxx, as well as a suite of pediatric and adult vaccines, has not only been marketing drugs they knew were dangerous, they've also been covering up death in drug trials and hiring prominent physicians to sign their name on research that Merck was doing in-house (to make it look legit, so it could prove the safety of their drugs). JAMA has been so kind as to allow free access to these two important articles. You can read about ghostwriting here and death cover-ups here.

Sadly, I am not surprised. I would bet all the drug companies are into this practice. It makes me sick though.

For vaccines, Merck makes Varicella, MMR, one of the HepBs, one of the Hibs (which was recently recalled for other problems), the Hib/HepB combo, one of the HepAs, and one of the Pneumococcals. Wonder much foulplay was involved in the studies proving the "safety" of these vaccines...

Insomnia

I haven't felt this AWAKE in a long time, and it is 1:30 in the morning. And darnit if I wasn't reeeeeally tired earlier today. I have a baby that is going to wake up soon and I can't get to sleep! Ack! This stinks.

Perspective on living with depression

Two posts in blogland have spoken to me recently on a very deep, emotional level. They were written by a husband and wife pair. Heather's contribution is about living with depression and her adventures with medication and wonderful things it has done for her. Jon's contribution is about living with someone who is depressed.

These are good. And yes, there is a personal reason I bring this up...which will probably be explained further in a future post.

Ick confirmation

Sometimes you just don't want to be right. I guess this is a lesson for me though - I should trust my instincts with my kids and illnesses, because I've been spot-on just about everytime.

Ava has croup. She's actually been much better today, but still has a touch-and-go fever and gives a good example of the cough on occasion. I expect tonight to be torture again. Because last night was the first night (so we caught it early) and croup usually peaks on night 3 or 4, we are opting to start the low-dose steriods tonight in the hopes it won't get much worse. Oh, and she's got the start of an ear infection too, but we're gonna let that run its course. Thank goodness at least her lungs were clear.

Alder has a ruptured eardrum on the left side. I was pretty sure he had an ear infection over the last week, and yesterday I saw the crusty drainage coming out of his ear. He still has the fever though, so we know the infection is still raging. We're gonna start antiobiotics since it has literally been weeks we've been battling this stuff. This will be the first antibiotics we've ever given to either kid.

Please send healthy vibes over to our corner of the world. I'm tired of this crap.

The sickness never ends

I guess it is the season, but man, this season is off to a rough start. Both kids have been sick for pretty much the entire month of December. There have been a few (maybe 3?) days of relative health, but other than that, there have been fevers, coughs, sneezes, and snot everywhere. I can't think of when they DIDN'T have a fever right now. It has been a week at least I think? Now it looks like Alder has at least one if not two ear infections, and Ava appears to have croup. Last night was TERRIBLE. We're headed to see the doctor at 1:30. Hopefully they can at least pass me some wisdom on how to juggle 2 sick kids.

Depressed

Sometimes that is all you need to say.

Sick babies

We are weathering our first double-kid cold in the house. This is actually Alder's very first bug - not too bad making it all the way to 6.5 months! Anyway, it has proven to be fairly mild for both of them. There were slight fevers (under 100) and lots of snot, but it kept flowing so no bulb suctioning was necessary. Yesterday was the worst day. Today is looking slightly better. They both even slept okay. I kinda like this...a nice, gentle warm-up to what I'm sure (with the addition of daycare starting Thursday) will be a killer cold season.