A Baby Story Continued...

Ok where was I? Oh yes, the loveliness of the epidural.

It wasn't all that bad. Compared to the contraction pain, the procedure was a cake walk. Especially when you have a nurse (as I did) that holds you so still that everything went VERY smoothly.

According to the Hubby, I went from the girl from the exorcist to the woman he married in a matter of minutes. I apparently don't do well with pain. Sometime afterwards I was able to take a nap only waking to the nurse who came in to check my blood pressure (apparently they can monitor the baby from a control panel at the nurses' station). So after what seemed like 10 minutes (really about 7 hours), the doctor comes in to tell me that the baby seemed to be uncomfortable and that I should turn to my left side to see if that helped. It did but ultimately, the doctor wasn't too thrilled at the level of the baby's heart so he recommended that I get an emergency c-section. At first I thought about the stories that some of my nurse friends told me about some doctors rushing you into the OR because they have lives they want to get back to but them I remembered that my doctor was required to be at the hospital all night and the next morning because that is how my clinic doctors work. So after that thought was shooed away, I told him that whatever it took to make sure my baby was healthy was ok by me.

So off to the OR I went with my hubby in tow. So up went the blanket and on with the c-section...




After hearing that the baby was fine and that the reason she was "uncomfortable" was that the cord was not only around her neck it was tight around her left arm as well. No wonder she hated when I wasn't on my left side. So once I knew she was fine and I heard her cry (the loveliest sound I ever heard), that's when the pain started. Somehow, a nerve in my uterus got pinched and sent a shooting pain down my left arm that I had to keep it up so it won't hurt as much. I thought I was having a heart attack! The hubby was freaking out but you wouldn't have known it since he kept his cool and distracted me from looking at the heart monitor by showing me our daughter and pointing out how beautiful she was. I can't say it didn't work but it's hard for me to stop panicking once I started. My doc was very verbal though. He told me to hold on for a few minutes while he finishes "closing me up" and the anesthesiologist pumped me with happy juice again. Being that the baby was out I was not too worried about the amount of drugs I was getting at the time because I knew if the pain didn't stop, the panic attack that was brewing would have been even worse. Eventually the pain stopped and before I knew it I was being wheeled into the recovery room to be greeted by the 14 family members that were in the waiting room for as long as I was in the hospital. I was still a bit loopy but not nauseous nor dizzy as I was told I might feel. But oh was I thirsty! I couldn't drink anything but I was able to suck on ice chips which I monopolized on. I think I went through a jug and a half of that. Might as well of given me a glass of water. LOL!

After I got my bearings, I was able to hold my daughter for the first time. And was able to see her face up close and fell in love right there!

C'mon Can you blame me? Look at that face!!

Just Born...


2 days later...

A Baby Story

Ok at the risk of confirming that my only 4 readers have put me in the dead blog pile... I decided to forgo a nap to update the happenings of the last 4 weeks...

First and foremost, SJP finally made a grand entrance into the world on April 26th 2009. Did I call that or what?!?!

My Childbirth experience was possibly not the most unique of them all but it certainly was memorable. During my 39th week appointment, I begged asked my doctor to give me a "get out of work" note on the grounds of massive exhaustion and swollen tootsies. Unfortunately, those are not deemed medical enough to actually merit a note. Fortunately, high blood pressure does. Not 2 minutes after my doctor was giving me his ethic schpiel (sp?) does the nurse announce that my pressure is sky high and demands I lay on my left side. Needless, to say I left the office not only with coveted note in hand but less a few vials of blood and plus an empty jug with instruction on how to go about peeing in it for 24 hours.

After calling the office, my sister (to make plans to make a much needed Babies R Us run the next day) and my hubby to let him know the happenings of the day... I realized that the instructions my doctor gave me and the directions provided by the lab were somewhat different. Instead of beginning my 24 hours that day into the next, I had to wait until the next morning to begin the process which meant that I would have to bring the jug with me on the shopping trip. NOT FUN! Of course I could have cancelled but like I said it was much needed and I had to take advantage that my sister was off and she had the car. =)

Anyway, back to the story at hand...

Well remember when I said that I thought she'd be as impatient to get out as I was... well that was helped along by my ENTIRE family who kept "coaching" her to come on the Sunday after my mom gets back from her trip to the Equator and before my sis goes to the same destination so they can all be there for the birth. I was a definite naysayer but lo and behold my water broke at 8 AM on April 26th.

After being rushed to the hospital by my sister and my brother in law (the hubby and I are what you call vehicularly challenged), I was in more pain than I ever felt in my life. Not to mention the fact that I was completely panicking before well that's what I do when I'm in pain. My plan of being drugged from the gate was overruled by the doctor who told me it was a bit too early since I was only about 3 cm and they prefer to wait until I'm at least 4 cm which shouldn't be too long. I complied but was not happy at all since I not only was in labor but I had what they call BACK labor in which the pain is centralized in your back area which was horrible because there was no way to get comfortable which made me very CRABBY!

The hubby was awesome though... He rubbed my back during contractions often at the risk of me pinching, biting or causing some type of pain. Hey! At least I didn't scream how much I hated him or anything. That was saved for the resident who had to stick countless things in my hoohaa but did it as painfully as possible (or at least I thought at the time). After a particularly loud encounter she relayed to me that she is going to throw the 4 cm rule to the wind and order the epidural. Was it something I said?

Oops Baby Waking up... To be continued... soon I promise.

Before the epidural...


After the epidural...

The Final Countdown!!

So here I am in my office trying to look productive while struggling to keep my eyes open. You see here at my company, you are required to work until you give birth. Barbaric much? Well not really since once upon a time maternity leave was nonexistent but it's definitely getting harder to waddle in every morning. I can't complain too much about my pregnancy since it hasn't been really bad at all but I'm just ready to be home and lounge about until SJP decides to make an appearance... ya know?

Ah well, only time will tell. I have a doc's appt tomorrow so hopefully he'll sign on the dotted line so I can be a lazy ass for a bit. ;-)

Speaking of lazy assiness... that's what I certainly wasn't this weekend! We finally got the nursery completed and it came out awesomely if I don't say so myself... here are some before and after pics for your viewing pleasure...

Sneak Peek

Call it intuition or just call it impatience, I just feel that SJP will make an appearance before her scheduled April 30th date. I'm officially @ 37 weeks and I swear this kid will be out and about any day now.

Although I cry at the drop of a hat, I have to admit that my pregnancy has not been a bad one. It's been so good my hubby may even consider letting me do it all over again. ;-) Now that I only have 3 weeks I feel like there is so much to do and not enough time to do it.

Remember the nursery... yeah not done. I have the crib but haven't put the crib set on yet. I'm hoping that the Hello Kitty one arrives soon due to a freakish Amazon.com order that was confirmed and then canceled for no reason (at least not one that they provided). It was a gift from my mom which she was very disappointed didn't arrive. I should be receiving it within the next week or so. The border and decals are still in their original packaging and I'm getting more and more exhausted by the day.

I have washed, folded and put away most of the wonderful clothes that we received at our baby shower (pics coming soon) which only made me realize that the dresser that his mom gave us is not nearly big enough to hold all of her little clothes. Unfortunately, the dresser drawers are really shallow so even rolled up, her onesies fill up 2 of the 4 drawers and that is not even all of it. Good thing she has her own closet where we can hang up all of the cute outfits she received.

Her Bassinet is assembled and clothed (plain crib sheet) but is still currently filled with the "to be hung up" clothes that are in need of hangers which we need to buy soon. We have everything we ultimately need (stroller,car seat, humidifier,Baby Champ, Diapers, Bath Tub etc.) but have no where to put them so they are all in the nursery.

Exhaustion is mostly affecting the cleanliness of our new home in a very bad way and hubby is doing as much as he can to keep it under control. I'm trying not to go too nutz with designing and sending out the thank you cards for my shower and ultimately the baby announcements. My feet decide that now is the time to begin the whole SWELLING thing and hubby really believes that I'm going to let him confine me to a bed (or couch) with my mental to do list!

All this and still having to work for well... work. I'm going totally nutzo... Then I see this face
and I know it's ALL worth it! =)

Cribs, Viruses and Baby Announcements

For the record I had the following to-do list in a draft post that never got published...

1. Pick out the pictures we want for the overpriced album the photographer insisted we wanted (now I'm not so sure).
- Icksnayed the whole overpriced photo album since I'd rather just scan the pics and make a digital scrap book (whenever I get the chance that is).

2. Pick out the pallette and theme for the nursery.
- We decided on Lavender and Hello Kitty... pics to come soon =) Word of advice to anyone who cares, take the painter's tape off the wall BEFORE it dries. We learned this the hard way. Hubs still cringes at the fact that I made him go back and touch up all the areas the where tape took the paint off the wall with an artist's brush.

3. Assemble the lovely wood chest my new mommy-in-law and aunt in-law sent us as a gift.
- This was an adventure but it has been done... I love my husband but it seems that there are some things we can't do together. Assembling things is one of them. I swear if I wasn't pregnant he would have thrown the screwdriver at me countless times! ;-)

4. Get out the Thank You Cards for the fam who came to the wedding shindig
- After several trips to Staples for ready made thank you cards. I decided to print them out myself so my last Staples run was for special card stock and ink. Hubby loved the cards but hated that it took me about 4 hours to get them printed. It was all worth it though. They got raving reviews! =)

5. Call the Crib Store Lady to find out the ETA of my Baby Dream Crib
- The Crib has arrived and is ready for pickup. Hubby will have a new project =) This time I think I'll just supervise (Like most men, he scans the instructions and wings it the rest of the way).

6. Do the Baby Announcement Template so all I will have to do is paste a pic of my lovely SJP and send out.
- This is not done but soon will be. Mr. Sandman apparently likes to visit me earlier and earlier these days.

7. Make another checklist of things we need to do before I pop.
- This includes, pre-registering with the hospital, making me an overnight bag, putting the finishing touches on the baby's room, assembling the bassinet/co-sleeper, cleaning up the mess I call my bedroom closet.


So much to do and now I hear that there's some sort of computer virus that will be set to go off on April 1st. What it does ... no one friggin knows but everyone is in a huff over it and me being an IT person have to deal with people coming to me a billion times today asking what's a firewall and how do they get one. Erg! Yes I'm friggin google! So in closing, update your antivirus definitions, turn on at least the Windows Firewall and don't go on sites you don't know on April 1st.

Ciao!

I suck... ok let's move on.

Yes so I haven't blogged in FOREVER neither here nor on my other blog. Why you ask? Well besides the fact that SJP (Previously McNubbin) has been draining the little bits of brain cells I have left, I also am officially a MRS!!! Despite the fact that the hubby (previously the BF) and I felt like we were an old married couple for quite a while now... There is something about signing your single life away in blood legally. It was a City Hall Shindig but being that NYC wants to rival Vegas as a marriage hotspot... We got hitched at the newly renovated NYC Marriage Bureau. Although a bit on the cheesy side, it was a major step up from the old yellowing office look where the only place to take pictures was the Flag by the window.

Being that I am out to HERE, of course comments of shotgun wedding echoed the halls (or maybe it was just my imagination) but I was a blushing bride none the less. I had the perfect maternity dress that at times (usually when someone stood in front of me) I hardly looked preggos! So here my dedicated readers (the ones that haven't given up on me) I would like to apologize for being a blog slacker but just know it was for good reason.

On the Baby Front: I had my 29th week appointment and everything is going smooth. Blood is great and I even passed the dreaded Glucose test on the first try. So color me happy!

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Also in other News... a Great contest is going on at Soft Landing. Be sure to check it out!

I officially love my OB!!

In these hard times, every little bit counts. As most preggo ladies do, I take daily prenatal vitamins to bridge the gap between the vitamin rich meals and the empty calorie ones that we all love so much.

Fortunately, I have insurance that covers most costs but $30 for a bottle of vitamins can really add up. This was the topic of conversation at my first prenatal appointment. With all the financial hoopla that is occurring, I questioned if the prescription stuff was any better than their over the counter equivalents and the doc said although they are pretty much the same, the beauty of the one he gave me is that I only have to take one pill a day as opposed to 2 or 3 that some vitamins require. This sold me because A - I'm lucky to remember to take it once a day and 2 - the price difference wouldn't be too much if I have to take double the dose. So I sucked it up and called it a necessary evil and figured this will be the least of the expenses that comes with a bundle of joy.

Then a few weeks ago, my pharmacy informs me that I would need my doctor to call in another prescription since I was on my last refill. No problem, I call my doc, he says he'll take care of it. I pick up my prescription today and I notice that the wrapped package was a bit bigger than usual and the prescription was $10 more. This struck me as odd but figured it may just have changed from a bottle to a blister pack or something and the price difference was due to the beginning of the year and my deductible. Being that I was late to work, I paid for it and just stuck it in my bag and forgot about it.

Once I got settled, I opened the package and realized that there was a 3-MONTH supply. My doctor apparently heard my cries of poverty and wrote the prescription for 90 vitamins instead of the 30 pack which increases the co-pay but getting 2 extra bottles for $20 more. Awesome Awesome Awesome...

Can you tell how happy I am?!? Who says money can't bring happiness! =)