Birth Story Part 1

Wow... its been three months!! I'm a bad blogger! Sorry to anyone who actually tries to follow this thing :)As you can imagine there isn't a lot of time to blog now that I have a 3 month old, but I am going to try to get back into it again. I'll only be able to do it while she is napping and in between loads of laundry and working from home. That's right... I get to work from home 2 days a week! I have the greatest boss (thanks dad!) that wants me to be able to spend as much time as I can with Ella so I work in the office on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and home on Tuesday and Thursday. Its perfect!!

Ok so where did I leave off?? That's right... contractions 5 mins apart and lots of pain. So as you can imagine that was it! Brett got home about 12:45 PM or so, showered and grabbed a sandwich to eat on the way to the hospital. He loaded up our car and was shocked by how much stuff I insisted on bringing. Hey, I had no idea what to expect so I just packed everything I could even imagine we might need! lol

We got to my Dr's office about 1:30 and I got checked by some Dr I had never met. Remember my Dr was in California at a triathlon. Bummer!! So they checked me and I was at a 3. They said, we are sending you upstairs to be admitted! YAY!!! I was so thrilled... I had told Brett that if I wasn't at least at a 3 I was going to punch the Dr in stomach! lol A nurse walked Brett and I up to labor and delivery and they started the process of checking me in. Let me tell you, they need to figure out another way check in women in labor. Why are you making me fill forms out and sign like 100 things like I am buying a house?! I AM IN LABOR!! Its hard enough to remember to breathe and now you want me to read and sign all this stuff? Yeah Right!

I have to thank my L&D nurse friend Lauren ... she told me to bring chocolate for the nurses because they LOVE that. So we had a basket of ghirardelli chocolate for them. Boy was that a hit! Every nurse and Dr hit up the chocolate...and I am convinced it made them want to come to my room to check on me more often :)Thanks for that advice Lauren!




Anyway, we called all our family but told them to stay at home for a little while until I was totally checked in. Of course that didn't last long...my Mom was about to pass out excited so we went ahead and told everyone to head up to the hospital. Brett went down to move the truck and start bringing in all of our gear that we brought.

After they got all the monitors hooked up and my IV in (OUCH!) they checked me again and I was at a 4. The nurse told me that there were like 5 other women in labor at that time so if I wanted an epidural I should go ahead and say so cause it would be a while before the anesthesiologist would be able to get to me. So I said well I am ok now, but if its gonna take him awhile to get to me put me on the list. 45 mins later I was in some really good pain and the nurse checked me again... I was at a 5. Ok where is that dude with the pain meds?! I really want my epidural now!!!

Finally about an hour after I asked for it the first time he came in and gave me the epidural. Its not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. Seriously not that bad. I sat on the bed and hunched over and stayed as still as I could. He put the numbing stuff on my back and then it was over! After the needle goes in it feels like a glass of ice water is being poured down your butt and your legs. I actually asked him if something had spilled cause it sure felt like it! He said it was just the meds flowing through my body. Weird!!




WOW...talk about amazing! I felt so great now! No pain, just enjoying being in labor and the thought that I was going to be holding my baby girl sometime that day! We hung out, chatted with family and just relished in the moment. I was shaking quite a bit and the nurse said it was just a side effect of the epi, but it was weird. I was shaking uncontrollably. Not in any pain though. But then it came... one of the things I was worried about. Nausea! Crap, I don't want to be in labor and throwing up! But I couldn't help it... I needed a barf bag. Dang it! I threw up once during this time. I think it was because of the ice chips. I had been munching down on them and I even drank the water once the ice melted. That was what did me in I think. I need to back off the ice and water!

About an hour and a half went by and I started feeling cramps and contractions again. Not super strong but I told the nurse so she could get the doc in there to give me some more meds. They call it a "bolster". So 20 or so mins later he came in and gave me some more magical meds but nothing changed. Actually it got worse. I was now in some serious serious pain now. So I told the nurse and the doc came in really fast and gave me another bolster. This time it numbed my left leg but I was still feeling each and every contraction. And I was at an 8 at this point. And for those of you who don't know the phases of labor I was in the "transition phase". This is the phase you go through right before you get to a 10 and start to push. Contractions are back to back and you really don't have time to relax between the contractions. Brett was awesome, he wouldnt leave my side. He held my hand almost every contraction and let me squeeze as hard as I needed to. But on top of all this pain I was feeling nauseated again. I threw up 2 more times during this painful period. Can you imagine being in insane pain AND throwing up... not fun!!







At this point there were a ton of people in my room. I was in so much pain and crying at almost every contraction. (I don't remember this that much but I was told I was crying) My husband was AMAZING during the whole labor, but I remember thinking that I just could not take all the people in my room. They were all talking and being loud and I just wanted to concentrate and try to survive the contractions. Brett could see it in my face that I was annoyed and asked me if I wanted everyone to leave. YES PLEASE!!!! So he kicked everyone out except my Mom. That was a nice break, but I was still dying in pain. At this point the left leg numbness was even gone and I could feel everything. I mean EVERYTHING! I bet this went on for ohhh an hour or two. My Dad and Brett's parents & sister came in and out a few times.... they couldn't stand to sit in the waiting room for that long. So as long as they stayed quiet I didn't mind them being in there. My best friends Andrea and Lauren came in for a little while too. Everyone took turns being at my side holding my hand and feeding me ice chips. I had a really great support system that I will forever be grateful for.






The nurse checked me and I was at a 9, and I assumed that it was too late for any more magical numbing medicine. Apparently I was wrong... in walks the anesthesiologist. He says that the catheter in my back has probably moved which is why the meds weren't working. He wanted to take it out and REDO the whole epidural right then. Really?? I am at a 9 and having contractions like every 30 seconds!! How am I going to stay still for that long to take it out and put a new one back in?? Ok lets do this! So everyone left and they raised the bed all the way up so I was like chest level with the Dr laying on my side. I had a death grip on my nurses hand and squeezing like hell. She was wonderful at keeping me focused and breathing. It seemed like it took like 5 times longer than it did the first time. I even asked him "Is everything ok??" he said "Yes, why?" "Because its taking you FOREVER!!". lol I actually started feeling like I was going to throw up while he was doing the epi, but I never threw up. I don't even want to think about how bad it would have been if I had thrown up during that moment.

Finally he finished and I could feel it working almost immediately. There is that ice water being poured down my butt again. Thank the lord! I told Brett that he could go get the family and friends and let them all back in now. I could still feel the contractions but not too much. It was totally doable! Somewhere in there my photographer showed up... yes that's right I had a birthing photographer. I didn't want to miss any photo opps so the same lady that did my maternity pics was there. I think she actually showed up when I was at like an 8 before the 2nd epidural but I didn't notice that she was there. Now that I was feeling better she started snapping some pics. She snapped some when I was in serious pain too, but I had no idea until later! lol



The nurse checked me again and said I was 100% effaced and almost at a 10, but Ella was still kinda high. So he had me sit up a little more to see if gravity could help us out. I would say about 30-45 mins later she checked me and I was at a 10 but Ella still needed to move down a little more. She said when I felt like I needed to push to call her.





Well Ella has been napping for about an hour now, so she should be waking up soon. I am going to go shower before she wakes up. Stayed tuned for Part 2 where I talk about the "ring of fire" and getting to meet my precious baby girl!!

I think this might be it!!

Alright things are definitley getting more intense!Contractions are averging about 5 mins apart and they reaaally hurt! I called Brett and he is on his way home from work. I called my nurse and she said to come on in and let them check me. If I am dilated more then they will go ahead and admit me :)

Contractions are so intense I cant think about anything but breathing through them. They have also started to go into my lower back. Ella has been pretty quiet today. She has moved a little but not like usual... thats another good sign.

I'll keep updating as I can!!

Update....

So yesterday I had my last Dr appt!!! He checked me and said I was just a little over a 1. WHAT?? I have been at a 1 for like 2 weeks! lol He also said I was 90% effaced and -1 station. For those of you who arent sure what station is it goes like this:
-4 = she is still floating around
0 = she is fully down into the boney pelvis
+4 = crowing and she is about to come out

So EVERYTHING is right except I am not dilating! He said my cervix is "favorable". Meaning all we need is some good contractions to dilate me. He said he was going to stir things up to see if he could get things going. Basically the same thing my Dr. did last week. On my way home I had some MAJOR cramps, but once I got home they pretty much went away. I had a normal day of irregular not intense contractions.

Late last night and this morning I woke up several times to some cramps but I was half asleep and just thought it was what I call "poo-poo cramps". Then about 8 this morning I got up to try to go poo and realized they were not poo-poo cramps, but contractions. And boy are they real ones! I have been charting them since about 8 this morning, and they are averaging about 7 mins apart. Some are closer some are farther...but 7 mins is the average. They are more intense than ANY other contraction I have ever had. I have to stop what I am doing and breathe through them.

Could this be it??? I dont know... but I am going to shower and get ready just in case it is :) Check back, I will try to keep yall updated on if things progress, or slow down!

Due date...comes and probably goes...

Well today is my official due date. July 19th...I don't think its going to be Ella's birthday. I keep telling her its her birthday and to get out, but she isn't listening. Maybe I should start telling her I DON'T want her to come, and she'll do the opposite :)

Just a little update on my progression... Last Tuesday after my Dr stripped my membranes I had a lot of cramping and a lot of contractions. I also went walking around walmart for 2 hours to help get things going (its too hot to walk outside). That night some of the contractions were pretty intense so I thought it was going to work. Then I lost my mucus plug the next day on Wednesday (sorry, its gross I know) so I really thought that it would happen by the end of the weekend.

Well, the contractions became more infrequent and less intense. Then Thursday evening I thought maybe I was leaking water because of some symptoms I was having. So I called the Dr and they told me to come in so they could test it. So Friday morning I went to see the on call Dr (since mine is still out of town). He ran the tests and said it was negative, that I wasn't leaking water. He also checked me and guess what?? I was still only dilated to a 1!! WHAT?? After all the progress I felt like I was making and nothing has changed since Tuesday? He told me not to be disappointed cause she would come whenever she was ready, and I could go from a 1 to a 10 in hours.

So I decided to remain as positive as I could. And that's where I am now! I am staying positive! We made it through the weekend without much to report. Still had a bunch of random contractions, some intense some not so much.

Today I am having a lot more contractions than usual, and most of them are on the intense side :) Hopefully that means that something is happening and tomorrow at my Dr appt he will tell me that I am dilated a little more. Right now I am sitting here watching my stomach roll around... she is just going wild in there :)

Oh and some more exciting news...today was my last day at work!! I went in for a few hours this morning to get some things done and now I am at home doing some work stuff from home. Its nice to be able to work from home, now that I am giant and its 100 million degrees outside. Gotta love Texas! Anyhow, that's about all I have to report for now! Check back soon, hopefully I will have good news tomorrow :)

Cutest nursery ever, for the cutest baby ever!

Well since Ella is still chillin' and not ready to come out yet I thought I'd post some pics of her nursery since its the cutest nursery EVER!!

When we found out she was a girl, I started prowling the Internet for cute, non-baby looking bedding. I am not a fru-fru pink girl...as most of you know I love purple. So naturally I decided to go with purple as the room color. I didn't want anything cartoony looking if that makes any sense, I wanted something more...well modern. You know what I found out?? Its NOT an easy thing to find! Its like the world expects you to do pink if you are having a girl! Didn't you hear me? I don't want pink! lol There was just not a lot of options when it came to finding modern looking purple bedding.

Then I found it... it was perfect! But it was also pretty expensive! So I started searching and found a lady that sells this designer on ebay for a discount, and the package included more than I had originally planned on buying for less than the basic package! SCORE!! So after going back and forth on whether or not to buy bedding online without laying my hands on it (to make sure the quality was good) I finally just clicked the "buy" button and hoped for the best!

A week later it came in the mail, and it was perfect!! Even cuter then it was online! YAY!! So now we needed to paint. Of course we just bought this brand new house, and the walls were already painted a neutral color...were we going to be brave enough to paint the walls purple?? My hubby was a little scared since we don't have a lot of painting experience that it was going to end in disaster.

So we went to home depot and chose our colors... purple and green. My in laws were at our house that day so we decided to get started with them there....





After we did the little accent walls in green we realized, hey we are pretty good painters! My inlaws left, except my sister in law and we decided that we should just go ahead and do the purple wall too.








I had been saying I wanted to hire a muralist to come over and paint the flowers from the bedding on the walls that we didnt paint. My mom said she had just the person to do it, and that would be her present to Ella. So we called up Beth, my moms friend that she used to work with...and man that was the best decision ever! Beth was amazing! She spent 2 days straight painting up a storm and the outcome is just simply amazing! Ella will have the cutest nursery in the world, and it will last for years to come, since its not a baby-ish theme.







Of course we have added several things since these pics were taken... my glider, area rug, and some stuff on the walls. But you get the idea, although pics do it NO justice! I got her furniture from JC Penny's and it was on sale. Score again! Its a conversion crib, so it turns into a toddler bed, and then a full size bed. So it should last a long time!

I am so in love with her room, and I go sit in there and just rock in the chair sometimes :) I cant wait for her to be here so she can see her awesome room!

Oh I forgot my photographer took some pics of her room when she did our maternity pics (I'll post those soon too). Here are the ones she did...

Will it work?!

Ok, so the dr appointment today went pretty good. I am dilated to a solid 1 and 80% effaced. She stripped my membranes and we are hoping that it pushes me into labor. So come on regular contractions!!!! If nothing happens then I have an appointment next Tues with another doctor from the practice and I am scheduled to be induced next Friday the 23rd at 6:00 am. I reaaally don't want to have to be induced so please pray that labor starts on its own before then!

So far nothing much going on, a little bit of cramping. That's about it :)

Check back soon for any updates!!

Tick Tock, Tick Tock....

Ok Ella, its time to come out!! I am exactly one week from my due date, and boy am I ready! Its not that I am miserable like a lot of women at this stage in pregnancy, its that I am just ready to meet her and have my body back! Well whatever my new body will be, not the old one :( I am ready to be able to get up out of chairs and the bed with minimal effort. I am ready to be able to see my feet, and for my feet to not be the size of Africa! I am ready to not have to make 100 trips to the bathroom everyday (and night), and more and anything else I AM READY TO MEET MY DAUGHTER!!!

Luckily I am still sleeping like a rock, and not having many problems. I have A LOT of braxton hicks contractions.... A LOT. And some are getting pretty intense... I am wondering of those are real ones?! Sometime the bh contractions are so frequent and consistent I can time them and they can be anywhere from 5-8 mins apart for several hours, but then they just go away.

Last Wednesday at my appointment my Dr said I was "very very effaced, and dilated about 1/2 a cm". Ok thats not a lot, but hey its definitely good progress! She said Ella had moved down a lot and she could touch her head when she was checking me. Too cool! I told her to tap her on the head and tell her to get out :) So she said that if at this week's appointment (which is tomorrow at 11am) if I am dilated to at least a 2 then she will scrape my membranes and try to push me into labor before she goes out of town. Because as luck would have it my Dr. is going to be out of town from July 15th-July 22nd! Of COURSE I just know Ella is going to come while she is gone and I am going to have to deal with some Dr. that I don't know and has no idea what I want and expect from labor and delivery.

So anyhow, we are hoping that by scraping my membranes it will be enough to start the contractions and get this show on the road!! For those of you who aren't sure what that means it was explained to me like this...Once you start dilating every time you touch the cervix it releases oxytocin which is what dilated you and makes you contract essentially putting you into labor. So by going in and scraping the outside of the cervix it will release a lot of oxytocin, and for some women it triggers labor. For some women it doesn't do anything and it still takes weeks to go into labor. Lets pray I am NOT one of those women!

My Dr. said that if I don't have Ella this week then I will see one of her partners in the practice next week and they can schedule me to be induced next Friday when my Dr comes back in town. I really don't want to be induced so please send your thought and prayers to me that it happens on its own!

This weekend my Grandparents made the 18 hour flight from Iran to witness the birth of their first Great Grandchild! I only get to see them every few years and they haven't been here since our wedding. So yesterday we went and hung out with them, my dad, aunt & uncle, and cousins which is always a good time! I recently bought a new awesome Nikon 5000 camera and brought it with me to take some pics of me and my belly with my Grandparents. Once I download the pics I'll post some :)

So now I am at work, hopefully today will be my last day here!! And hopefully my next post will be to tell you that scraping the membranes worked and I am having some real contractions!!

Ella,
Your Mommy and Daddy are so very very excited to meet you! We already love you more than you will ever know. You also have a TON of family members and friends that are dying to meet you... I am pretty sure that both of your Grandma's are sleeping with one hand on the phone waiting for me to call them and tell then you are on your way to see us! So come on out, there is a lot more room out here than in my tummy and its a lot more fun out here too!! Oh and one more thing... please be nice to me in delivery because I am a little nervous about that part! HA!

I love you so very much,
Your Mommy

Baby bump and what does she look like?

So I figured that I would post some pics of my growing bump so you can see how big I have gotten over time. When the first picture was taken I remember thinking "Wow, I am starting to get big!". HAHA,that is hilarious when I look back!What week do you think I popped?! Also we moved inthe middle of all this so there are some weeks that went undocumented.

15 weeks
16 weeks
17 weeks
18 weeks
19 weeks
20 weeks
21 weeks
26 weeks (new house)
28 weeks
30 weeks (in Ella's new room!)

I have gotten really bad about taking pics, mostly cause I am huge and dont feel so cute anymore! I'll try to get better eventhough I am 37 weeks and almost done!!

We decided to get a 3/4 D songogram done at 28 weeks. It was amazing! We went to a place called Stork Vision and they were so great! The room was set up likea living room, couches for all the family to sit and be comfortable and a flat screen TV so everyone could see our baby perfectly. My parents, Bretts parents, Ashlie and Lauren all came with us. I drank toooons of water the week before in hopes it would increase the fluid around Ella so we got a really good view of her. It worked! We got some of the most amazing pictures!



And here is a video of her moving around in there too!

Showers Galore!

Since Ella is going to be here in a matter of weeks I thought I'd post some about the showers that were thrown for us!

The first shower was a family and family friends shower thrown by my Mom, Mother-in-law Jo-Jo and Sister-in-law Ashlie. They did an amazing job! We had it at our new house since it was kind of a central location for everyone. We had lots of travelers coming from Brett's home town. My Aunt helped by making the punch and bringing her beautiful crystal, and Kirby helped by making the cutest cake for a baby shower EVER! HA!

We had a great turn out, almost 30 people! The boys went down to our community dock and fished the day away while we enjoyed food, games, presents, and good times! It was the first "girly" shower I have ever had since we only did couples showers when we got married. So I really enjoyed having all the important women in my life together at one time! Thanks guys for an amazing shower, it was beautiful and I will always cherish it! I love yall! Here are some pics from that shower.






The second shower was our friends/couples shower thrown by my besties Andrea and Lauren. They also did an amazing job! We decided that since I had a girly shower already we would have a fun one where the boys could come too. So we had it at Andrea's house since she has an awesome pool and turned it into an all day party where we swam and had a cookout. While the girls were inside playing games and opening presents the boys were out by the pool drinking beer and having fun. When the girls were done, we joined them outside for swimming and volleyball. Everyone got a kick out of me in my bikini. Fun times, fun times! I refused to wear a maternity suits cause they are just not too cute and I looked like I was wearing a tent! So I opted for a regular ole' 2 piece.

The night ended around 10 pm and I was exhausted! It was such a fun shower, and I think the most fun I have ever had at a baby shower! Thanks guys, I love you! Here are some pics of that shower.







The last shower was a small shower at my office. I work at a proprietary school so we didn't want to disrupt the students so we held it in between day and evening classes. Ashlie ( sis-in-law who works for me) put this shower together. We had some food and yummy cake and opened presents. Since we were at work we tried not to spend too much time on the shower since we were on the clock and all! HA! After opening presents all my co-workers gave me awesome advise and told funny stories about forgetting their kids in weird places or walking out of the house and leaving their infant in the car seat all strapped up and ready to go! Lol! Thanks guys... it made me feel a lot better knowing all of you made mistakes and had bumps along the way in raising your kiddos! Thank you Ashlie and my co-working family for an awesome shower! Here are some pics from this shower.








Well there you have it... 3 showers down and all we need now is a baby to use all the fun stuff on! I am so grateful to have so many people in my life that love me, and more importantly already love Ella so much! We are truly blessed!! Thanks to everyone that had a hand in making all our showers so awesome, you are much appreciated!

Next post, belly pictures from beginning to end! You get to see how much I have really grown over the last 9 months!