Sunday, September 9, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Siblings
I can't seem to find time to write (surprise!), but here are some shots of our cute kids together, and a bonus of each of them. Enjoy!
(Okay, I am posting from my phone and can't figure out how to caption these, so here is the run down:
1. Baby James...can't you just hear him saying, "Oy vey...what have I gotten myself into?"
2. Becca ready to go on an "animal hunt" with Grandma. And, BTW, "hunting" means finding animals and looking at them through your "telescope." Please don't tell her that people kill animals for fun. Diego would be traumatized.
3. Looks like she is trying to nurse him...not sure if that is it, or I'd they are just cuddling.
4. Bonus picture of my brothers meeting me for the first time. They look happy to see me. Don't be fooled; it didn't last long.
5. The first time they met - so sweet to hold both of my babies. Hopefully I will convert and post the video soon.
6. Dad and kiddos on our first family outing - to Target, of course.
No promises that these captions are in order; you can probably match them up.)
(Okay, I am posting from my phone and can't figure out how to caption these, so here is the run down:
1. Baby James...can't you just hear him saying, "Oy vey...what have I gotten myself into?"
2. Becca ready to go on an "animal hunt" with Grandma. And, BTW, "hunting" means finding animals and looking at them through your "telescope." Please don't tell her that people kill animals for fun. Diego would be traumatized.
3. Looks like she is trying to nurse him...not sure if that is it, or I'd they are just cuddling.
4. Bonus picture of my brothers meeting me for the first time. They look happy to see me. Don't be fooled; it didn't last long.
5. The first time they met - so sweet to hold both of my babies. Hopefully I will convert and post the video soon.
6. Dad and kiddos on our first family outing - to Target, of course.
No promises that these captions are in order; you can probably match them up.)
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Baby James is Here!
Sweet Baby James was born this morning at 8:26, weighing in at 7 pounds and 19.25 inches long. He is doing great, as is Mommy.
Friday, August 24, 2012
38 Weeks, 5 Days
A picture of the ginormo belly. Apparently, if you stay pregnant long enough, even your maternity shirts start to get small. And I am pretty sure this is what it looks like right before your stomach explodes. Geez, my skin is tight. 
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
An Open Letter to My Uterus
Dear Uterus,
You have been amazing. You have done a great job sheltering and nurturing this little boy for nearly 10 months now. You have performed admirably, and I am very proud of you and your buddy, the cervix of steel. Even while the rest of my body has tried to work against this pregnancy, with blood pressures rising and all, you have held strong and created a safe home for this booger. While so many women with prior pre-term births constantly have to worry about contractions and whether this or that twinge is the beginning of early labor, you haven't tensed at all. You are one calm, cool and collected uterus, you are.
But here's the deal: you're about to get sliced open. Like, the doctor is going to cut you. Open. And pull a baby out of you. And it won't be pretty for either of us. (But then again, what way of extracting a human out of another is actually pretty?) It will do, and the designated butcher is quite a good surgeon who will be very gentle with you and the other layers of me that have to be cut through in order to get to you (7 layers in all, I believe), but still...you gonna get cut. On Monday. That's five days from now. Sliced.
But you have an out! We are 38 weeks, 2 days pregnant now. That's a lovely time to have a baby. I know 39 weeks is better; I've seen my March of Dimes graphics and everything. I know Baby James' big old brain could use another few days cooking inside before he meets the big, wide world. So I'm cool waiting another few days.
But if you don't start doing SOMETHING soon, there's going to be no way for you to avoid the big c-s. I mean, something! You've been so mellow this entire pregnancy that I have never even felt a single contraction. Some uteri are gettin' all busy by now, at least with those Braxton-Hicks contractions. But you, no, you are one cool cucumber. Or maybe more like a very mellow hollowed out watermelon at this point. I mean, I know I'm generally in the business of asking uteri NOT to contract so as to keep their precious contents safe, but, really, it's about time for you to pep up. So c'mon, give me a squeeze or two, just to let me know there's a CHANCE you might decide to pop this baby out on your own before Monday. Seriously, if you and Ms. Cervix of Steel show us a little action, we might be able to put off the surgery in hopes that you will end things on your own terms. But right now, you're giving me nothing. So we are set to be sliced.
And if that's how we have to go, that's fine. But I'm just saying that I *think* you'd probably prefer to avoid the scalpel. I mean, I could be wrong, but who wants to be sliced open at 7:30 in the morning? I mean, really. Still, I can't complain about you. Even with Becca's clusterf*&^ of a pregnancy, you performed admirably. So we're cool. Buuuut...I want you to go into this process fully informed.
Ball's in your court, uterus. Quite literally. How you gonna play it?
Sincerely,
Nancy
You have been amazing. You have done a great job sheltering and nurturing this little boy for nearly 10 months now. You have performed admirably, and I am very proud of you and your buddy, the cervix of steel. Even while the rest of my body has tried to work against this pregnancy, with blood pressures rising and all, you have held strong and created a safe home for this booger. While so many women with prior pre-term births constantly have to worry about contractions and whether this or that twinge is the beginning of early labor, you haven't tensed at all. You are one calm, cool and collected uterus, you are.
But here's the deal: you're about to get sliced open. Like, the doctor is going to cut you. Open. And pull a baby out of you. And it won't be pretty for either of us. (But then again, what way of extracting a human out of another is actually pretty?) It will do, and the designated butcher is quite a good surgeon who will be very gentle with you and the other layers of me that have to be cut through in order to get to you (7 layers in all, I believe), but still...you gonna get cut. On Monday. That's five days from now. Sliced.
But you have an out! We are 38 weeks, 2 days pregnant now. That's a lovely time to have a baby. I know 39 weeks is better; I've seen my March of Dimes graphics and everything. I know Baby James' big old brain could use another few days cooking inside before he meets the big, wide world. So I'm cool waiting another few days.
But if you don't start doing SOMETHING soon, there's going to be no way for you to avoid the big c-s. I mean, something! You've been so mellow this entire pregnancy that I have never even felt a single contraction. Some uteri are gettin' all busy by now, at least with those Braxton-Hicks contractions. But you, no, you are one cool cucumber. Or maybe more like a very mellow hollowed out watermelon at this point. I mean, I know I'm generally in the business of asking uteri NOT to contract so as to keep their precious contents safe, but, really, it's about time for you to pep up. So c'mon, give me a squeeze or two, just to let me know there's a CHANCE you might decide to pop this baby out on your own before Monday. Seriously, if you and Ms. Cervix of Steel show us a little action, we might be able to put off the surgery in hopes that you will end things on your own terms. But right now, you're giving me nothing. So we are set to be sliced.
And if that's how we have to go, that's fine. But I'm just saying that I *think* you'd probably prefer to avoid the scalpel. I mean, I could be wrong, but who wants to be sliced open at 7:30 in the morning? I mean, really. Still, I can't complain about you. Even with Becca's clusterf*&^ of a pregnancy, you performed admirably. So we're cool. Buuuut...I want you to go into this process fully informed.
Ball's in your court, uterus. Quite literally. How you gonna play it?
Sincerely,
Nancy
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
First Visit to L&D
I had an appointment on Monday, and after looking at my blood pressure numbers from the weekend, Dr. Sizemore decided that it was time to send me over to labor and delivery for some more extensive monitoring. I was officially admitted to Williamson Medical Center for the first time since I broke my pinky finger in 1990. :)
They hooked me up to the monitors (tracking contractions - none - and Baby James' heartrate - perfect) and took my blood pressure every 10-30 minutes for a few hours. At first, when I was lying flat in the bed, my numbers were ridiculously low. Like making me look like a hypochondriac low. One of the readings was 116/66. WTF? Then I sat up in bed - not even all the way, something like 45 degrees - and the numbers bumped back up where they had been, somewhere around 140/mid-80's. I at least felt validated then, like I wasn't totally crazy. :)
They checked my pee for protein, still negative. They ran bloodwork again, still fine. At the moment, we are dealing with a diagnosis of gestational hypertension (similar to pre-e, but without the protein indicating that my kidneys are failing). It may yet end up being pre-e again, but who knows. There's not that much longer in the pregnancy for pre-e to develop!
After seeing my blood pressure level out, even though it was still up, they decided that I could go home, but I have to be stricter about my bedrest. I'm still only on "modified" bed rest, meaning that I can get up to go to the bathroom, to shower, to move from the bed to the couch to the kitchen table (sitting in a chair, not lying on the table, silly), but I really don't need to be taking care of Becca on my own, and it was time to officially go on maternity leave and stop trying to work from home.
So that's where we are now. Sitting around. But that's okay. Church has been great with my leave time, so with the vacation time I've saved up, I should still be able to spend James' first 3 months in the world at home with him, which is good. We have decided to go ahead and bump up his delivery to 39 weeks, assuming he doesn't decide to come before then and that I stay stable enough that we don't have to take him before them, just so that I don't use up another week of my leave waiting for the possibility of going into labor and attempting a VBAC, especially since there is no indication that I would even go into labor before my due date. (Cervix of steel, I've got. One complication we don't worry about. :) ) So I'm a little sad to probably have to let go of the possibility of a VBAC, but it wasn't like my life depended on it or anything. In fact, my life may depend on not holding out for one. It did last time around! :) It would have been nice to possibly have that experience and labor not be something else that prematurity took away from us, but, wow, we've gotten to experience SO much more normalcy in this pregnancy that I can certainly deal with not having to deal with contractions, etc. I hear they aren't much fun, anyway. :)
They hooked me up to the monitors (tracking contractions - none - and Baby James' heartrate - perfect) and took my blood pressure every 10-30 minutes for a few hours. At first, when I was lying flat in the bed, my numbers were ridiculously low. Like making me look like a hypochondriac low. One of the readings was 116/66. WTF? Then I sat up in bed - not even all the way, something like 45 degrees - and the numbers bumped back up where they had been, somewhere around 140/mid-80's. I at least felt validated then, like I wasn't totally crazy. :)
They checked my pee for protein, still negative. They ran bloodwork again, still fine. At the moment, we are dealing with a diagnosis of gestational hypertension (similar to pre-e, but without the protein indicating that my kidneys are failing). It may yet end up being pre-e again, but who knows. There's not that much longer in the pregnancy for pre-e to develop!
After seeing my blood pressure level out, even though it was still up, they decided that I could go home, but I have to be stricter about my bedrest. I'm still only on "modified" bed rest, meaning that I can get up to go to the bathroom, to shower, to move from the bed to the couch to the kitchen table (sitting in a chair, not lying on the table, silly), but I really don't need to be taking care of Becca on my own, and it was time to officially go on maternity leave and stop trying to work from home.
So that's where we are now. Sitting around. But that's okay. Church has been great with my leave time, so with the vacation time I've saved up, I should still be able to spend James' first 3 months in the world at home with him, which is good. We have decided to go ahead and bump up his delivery to 39 weeks, assuming he doesn't decide to come before then and that I stay stable enough that we don't have to take him before them, just so that I don't use up another week of my leave waiting for the possibility of going into labor and attempting a VBAC, especially since there is no indication that I would even go into labor before my due date. (Cervix of steel, I've got. One complication we don't worry about. :) ) So I'm a little sad to probably have to let go of the possibility of a VBAC, but it wasn't like my life depended on it or anything. In fact, my life may depend on not holding out for one. It did last time around! :) It would have been nice to possibly have that experience and labor not be something else that prematurity took away from us, but, wow, we've gotten to experience SO much more normalcy in this pregnancy that I can certainly deal with not having to deal with contractions, etc. I hear they aren't much fun, anyway. :)
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