Reese Elizabeth's Birth Story

Reese Elizabeth Blair
December 2, 2010
7 Pounds, 19 Inches Long

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I was originally due December 15, but all along had sort of hoped I could have the baby in the 38-39 week timeframe. Kate's delivery at 39 1/2 weeks was very rough and came very close to ending in a c-section. I figured since I made it that far with Kate's pregnancy, I'd no doubt make it to my induction scheduled for December 13. I also wanted to see what it was like to go into labor - to have the excitement of wondering if this is really it, alerting friends and family, and all that fun stuff.

I'd had very frequent Braxton Hicks contractions all along in this pregnancy, but I did notice them starting to ramp up in late November. I really had my heart set on a December baby, but also thought there's no way I'd go THAT early to go before 38 weeks in November! Nonetheless, once we hit December 1 (and 38 weeks), I decided to start trying some of the natural induction methods to see if I could coax the baby out before the induction date. I've always heard they won't work unless your body is ready to go into labor anyway, but I thought it couldn't hurt to start trying to get my body ready!

I'd had several friends tell me they'd both heard and used successfully the Wii Hula Hoop to get themselves to go into labor! So the last night of November, I did about 10 minutes. It sure sent me into an immediate contraction! Once I stopped, however, it stopped as well. My regular Braxton Hicks contractions continued the rest of the night and overnight.

Wednesday, December 1st

On December 1st I worked my normal work day, and around 4 pm I noticed my contractions were intensifying a little bit. I didn't time them, but I guessed they were about 6-7 minutes apart. Jeff came home about 7, and I told him that I'm not saying this is "it" but he'd better work on his hospital bag. The contractions were getting stronger but not painful. Shortly after that I went for a walk with my friend Kathy while Jeff gave Kate a bath. I had a few painful contractions where I had to stop and wait them out during the walk. I made sure to get home in time to put Kate down with Jeff, just in case it would be our last night as a family of 3. (It's a good thing I did!)

I sat down to finish my work for the day, and the contractions continued but didn't get any stronger. At this point I called my parents and sister once again not to say this is "it" but just FYI, and stay tuned. After I finished my work, I did several more rounds of Wii hula hooping before going to bed. The wii told me i was obese, thanks a lot! At 11:00 pm they were 4 minutes apart and felt crampy. I fell asleep alright but was up in the middle of the night for several hours, wide awake. The contractions were there, but not keeping me up.

Thursday, December 2

When I got up in the morning, the contractions picked up again but they were not as strong or as frequent as the night before. I did another 10 minutes of Wii hula hoop to see if it would increase the intensity of my contractions. I threw my hospital bags in the car, knowing it was completely wishful thinking, but I wanted to have them just in case. I headed out door for work, and couldn't decide whether to call the doctor because the contractions weren't as strong anymore. (At my appointment on Tuesday he had told me to call if I had regular contractions for 1 hour. At this point we were about 13 hours past that! I just didn't feel like I was in labor - I wasn't really in any pain to speak of.) At 7:30 or 8 am I talked to my mom, who encouraged me to call and tell him what's going on. On the 45 minute drive to my first work site, I timed my contractions at 5 minutes apart and decided I should call Dr Rovner at 9:50. I left a message on the nurses line, and they called less than 5 minutes later telling me I should come in to be checked. I asked them if I could wait a few hours to finish my work day and they said no, I better come right in. I was really surprised by this - once again I certainly didn't feel it was urgent!

I saw Dr. Rovner at 10:30 am at his office. At my appointment just two days prior, I was 2 cm dilated. He checked me and said I was at 3 cm but easily stretchable to 4. He said, "I think it's early..." (I thought he was going to tell me to go home and wait it out) but then said, "but I think it's time for you to head over to the hospital." My mind sort of went blank, and I exclaimed, "For WHAT??" He started laughing and said, "You did realize this pregnancy was going to result in a baby, right?" I laughed and said, "Well yes, but I wasn't expecting this, I didn't think I was in labor!" He said it was early in the process, but especially since it's a second baby, there was no point in sending me home. I drove myself over to the hospital in complete shock that it was my baby's birthday! I called my parents to alert them, but couldn't get a hold of Jeff. He called me back as I was pulling into the parking lot. I told him we were having a baby, and he said, "Uhhh, really?" Ha! It was one of the worst days of the year for him to miss work, go figure!

I went up to Labor & Delivery, and they put me in Room 2. For a second I was disappointed, I was hoping to be in Room 5 again where Kate was born, but then I realized it was sort of a fun coincidence that Kate was born in Room 5 on May 5th, and this baby would be born in Room 2 on December 2nd! My nurse's name was Heng and she got me started on the admission and IV process. She seemed a little surprised I was only at 3 cm, and I was afraid they'd send me home. Once they got me hooked up to the monitors, my contractions were coming 3-4 minutes apart, and she assured me that I was in labor and that I wasn't going anywhere. My doctor said he'd let me labor naturally for a while and see how it goes. Jeff arrived at 11 am, stayed a few minutes, and went home to eat and pick up some last minute items. He called me on his way home and said, "So, this is really happening, they're not going to send you home?" Haha - I think he was in as much shock as I was! My mom and dad arrived at 1:15 pm. My friend Kristin came at 2 and took some pictures. My Mom took a few pictures as well and some video.

My contractions were still regular, but I wasn't really progressing so we started pitocin at around 2, started out at level 2. We increased to 4, then to 6 by 3:15 or so. I labored almost the rest of the time at a 6. I was surprised at what a low dose it took to get things going. I think we went up to the 20's with Kate!

Dr Rovner came in at 4:10, checked me and I was at 5 cm and 60% effaced He said he had to deliver a baby, and then would be back to check me. He came back at 4:37, looked at my contractions, and asked if they were painful yet. At that point they were starting to get pretty crampy, so I said yes. He said, "You know what they say, if you want an omlette you've got to break some eggs!" He checked me and I was at 6 cm. He ordered my epidural so I wouldn't have to have any real post-water-breaking contractions. :) I love him. The baby had remained pretty active all day. I was making a mental note to enjoy the movement, because it wouldn't be there much longer!

The epidural was old hat. I wasn't scared this time because I remembered how easy it was last time! The anesthesiologist was great, and talked to us the whole time. Cracked a few jokes that made us laugh. After the epidural was in, Dr Rovner came in and broke my water. It was very different from Kate's - when my water was broken with her, water just came GUSHING out, I could hear it and everything! This time, I'd never have known it was broken. But it was pretty crazy to hear & feel the "pop" inside of you when your water breaks! At this point (around 5:30 pm) he guessed we might have a baby sometime around 8 pm. The baby was still very high and not wanting to descend. (Just like Kate!)

My parents went to grab dinner at 6, and Jeff's parents arrived shortly after. Doctor Rovner came back at 7 and checked me - I was 7 cm and 100% effaced. Baby hadn't budged, still at -2 station. I just knew there was no way the baby would be here by 8. I also got a new nurse at the shift change at 7 pm. She said the last 3 days in a row, her patient had her baby before 8:00, and that we were going to go for 4 in a row. I told her there was no way that was happening! He had me do a couple practice pushes to see what would happen to the cervix. He said it was stretching really well with my pushes. After he left, my epidural started to fail on my left side. I was feeling a decent amount of pain and kept pressing my epi booster button. They had me flip to my left side to help the epidural drip travel a bit more on that side.

Shortly after that, I was having intense pain, still mainly on my left side. I really had to concentrate and breathe through each contraction. I didn't know why my epidural wasn't working, but I wasn't happy! I got really quiet and just tried to focus on making it through. I had my nurse call the anesthesiologist to come back and check on what was wrong.

Dr Rovner came back and kicked everyone out at about 7:30 pm to check me. Someone joked to him, "The next time we see you, we'll have a baby, right?" I said, "HA! Don't we wish!" I was sure I'd still be at 7 or 8 cm. I told him we were waiting for the anesthesiologist to come fix my epidural and he said, "That's not going to happen, we're going to break down this bed and have a baby!" I was SO shocked! I couldn't believe it. The pain had actually faded by that point as well, so I guess the pain I had was transition and I never knew it! It felt nothing like transition with Kate. Interesting how different your experience can be! Jeff went out to the waiting room to tell everyone that I was about to push!

They got the room all set up for pushing, and I requested a mirror. They propped my legs up in the stirrups and I was surprised to see the baby's head already crowning, and we hadn't even started! I think my first push was a little after 7:45. I pushed once and saw the head starting to come out - then he told me I was starting to tear along my old episiotomy scar, so he wanted to cut just a little episiotomy to make it easier to repair. (I turned my head for that part!) I pushed again and watched the head come out - I immediately started crying. I couldn't believe I was so close to meeting my baby. He had me stop while they suctioned the mouth out, and the cord was wrapped loosely around the baby's neck. I pushed one more time and the baby was out! He held the bottom up for me to exclaim, "It's a girl!!!" I started bawling. Another sweet little girl, a dream come true. They put Reese up on my chest as they rubbed and cleaned her off. She was so little and so sweet. Through the tears I said, "Hi little Reese, I'm your Mommy and I love you so much!"

They took her over to the warmer and continued cleaning and monitoring her. I was nervous about this part as well because of the complications Kate had. I really wanted to be able to keep the baby with us. She was doing just great. Her APGARS were 8 and 9. I was anxious to see her weight, but they took forever to get around to it! I couldn't believe my tiny little peanut, weighing in at only 7 pounds! No wonder delivery was so easy! She was perfect. I enjoyed watching Jeff during this time, he was just beaming with pride. They brought her back to me and said she was doing just fine and would be staying with us! Jeff went out to the waiting room to tell the family she was here. I heard an exclamation come from the crowd - it was fun to hear their reaction. We let all our friends and family in to come meet little Reese. It was a fun time of celebration as I sat back and enjoyed the moment. My nurse brought me a celebration "cocktail" of orange juice, cranberry juice, apple juice, and Sprite. She said she brings it to all her new moms. It was wonderful!

When she was about an hour and a half old, we asked everyone to leave so I could breastfeed for the first time. (Another thing I didn't get to do with Kate until hours and hours later.) She did so well, and it was a wonderful experience. I was so relaxed and at ease having been through this all before, and I knew what I was doing this time. It was great.

Overall it was such an amazing experience! I got everything I wanted and had hoped for in this birth experience. Everything went so smoothly and all the complications I feared from Kate's delivery were non-existent this time. Reese is beautiful and perfect, I couldn't love her any more.

Reese Elizabeth Blair

I am so proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Reese Elizabeth Blair!

She was born on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 7:52 pm. She weighed 7 pounds and was 19 inches long. We are all doing great and couldn't be happier to have another sweet daughter.



I will work on writing down her birth story and getting it posted!

38 Weeks!

I know it's been a while since I posted, sorry! Everything is going well - I'm just SO ready to have this baby! I had a checkup today, and I'm now 2 cm dilated and 30% effaced. My doctor gave me a 50/50 shot of going into labor on my own before my induction. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! That would be GREAT. Now that it's (essentially) December, I'm trying every trick in the book to jumpstart labor! Tonight I ate some pineapple and did the Wii Hula Hoop for about half an hour. Let me tell you - that thing is crazy! You basically have one long contraction the whole time you're hooping! I think that's going to end up being a key weapon in my arsenal. :) Either way, it won't be long, only 13 days to go!

33 Week Appointment & Ultrasound

Everything is great!!

The baby looks great, is measuring in the 32nd percentile (!! small!!) at 4.5 pounds. Estimating 7.5-8 pounds at birth. Man, would I take that! I've heard this before though, they were estimating about that same thing before Kate was born. Heart rate was 126 bpm. SO low! I can't get over it! Kate's was ALWAYS in the 170's. The best news is that my fluid levels looked great, so yay!

The baby is adorable, and definitely has his/her big sister's chubby cheeks.

They also noted that this baby has a ton of thick hair! YAY!

The only "iffy" thing about the appointment was that my blood pressure was a little higher than it has been the whole pregnancy, so he said that the weekly visits usually start in 2 weeks, but he's going to start them now just to keep an eye on it. So, I can't believe it! 6 weeks to go!

It's Time to Vote!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Fall is always a busy time, and this time around it's even busier getting ready for a new baby! I will be 33 weeks tomorrow, and we even have an induction scheduled for December 13! I created another ExpectNet guessing game, so you can guess the gender and arrival time of the baby! See the link to your left. I'll also post here. Can't wait to see everyone's guesses!

Potty Training Days 3 & 4

Well, we did it!!! The potty training "course" I used was a 3-day course, so we finished up yesterday! Here's a recap of Day 3:

7:15 am - Woke up ALMOST dry! Had a BIG pee on the potty as soon as she got up! Put on first panties of the day.
~10:30 am - Picked her up from her class at church. Her panties were slightly damp. Her teachers said she they had taken her to the potty a couple times, but she wasn't able to go.
11:15 am - Big pee on potty!
12:05 pm - Big pee on potty!
3:30 pm - Woke up from her nap DRY! Wouldn't pee on toilet.
3:37 pm - Big pee on potty!
7:02 pm - Big pee on potty!

So, we only went through 2 pairs of panties! And I don't really count the incident at church as an accident - it was only a couple drops in her panties, not a full blown accident. So she was ALMOST accident-free for Day 3. I'd say we made probably 10-15 false alarm potty trips. So amazing. I can't believe we did it!

Day 4:

We used today as a day to try to segway back into the real world. She goes back to daycare tomorrow, so I wanted today to feel like every day for the rest of her life will be! Instead of having her run around in a shirt and panties, we put bottoms back on today. In addition, we went to visit Kate's friend Jaelyn who is also potty training! It was so much fun to have them together, alternating trips to the potty. :) I didn't take any notes on the day, mainly because I didn't need to! Kate is a rock star. She has this down pat, and has been accident free again today! Not even an "incident!" Clean panties all day long. She tells me when she needs to go, and we go!

I am SO proud of my big girl, and I can't believe we did it! She is potty trained!

In baby news, today I have 100 days left! Yikes!! Time is flying!

Potty Training Day 2

Ahhh, bedtime. This is so much work constantly being on top of your toddler all day! You just breathe a sigh of relief at bedtime. The baby doesn't like me being so busy - I've had a lot of BH contractions the last 2 days!

We made progress today! A couple accidents, but a couple other huge successes as well. Here was our day.

7:30 am - Woke up with a wet pull-up. Wouldn't pee on potty, then we put on first panties of the day.
10:00 am - Accident on master bedroom floor. Wouldn't pee on potty afterwards.
10:15 am - Big pee on potty!
10:38 am - Big pee on potty!
11:06 am - Pee on potty!
11:46 am - Big pee on potty!
1:00 pm - Naptime. Put her down in a pullup.
3:15 pm - Woke up from nap a little wet, and poop in pullup.
4:18 pm - Pee in Potty!
4:57 pm - Small POOP in the potty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (First poop in potty!!!!!)
5:53 pm - Small drop of pee in panties, wouldn't pee on toilet.
7:01 pm - Drop of pee in panties, BIG pee in potty!
7:20 pm - Poop and small pee in panties. Yuck. Changed her into pullup for the night.
7:52 pm - Bedtime

So, I would consider today to have had 2 accidents - this morning, and then the poop in her panties this evening. I was REALLY optimistic until we ended on a low, that accident. I know I shouldn't be down about it because it's only Day 2, and this is really to be expected. I am still just THRILLED that she pooped in the potty at all!! What a big girl! She certainly didn't like it, but she did it. I consider that second accident my fault. With this potty training method, you are supposed to be with them at ALL times. By their side at every waking moment. I was so tired this evening that I was sitting on the couch when I realized I hadn't "heard" from her in about 2 minutes. Well, that was long enough for her to sneak off and poop in her panties. If I had been there, I could have caught it and re-directed her to the potty. So, my fault. I guess that's why I'm down about it too, it probably could have been prevented. Lesson learned! But we only went through 4 pairs of panties today, compared to yesterday's what, 9? That is already huge progress! And we had 2 accidents compared to 7 successful potty attempts, so that is great. AND, I feel like we probably made only about 15-20 "false alarm" potty attempts compared to yesterday's ~30. Things are clicking. She's getting it!

I'm a little nervous about going to church tomorrow. For now the plan is to take her in a pair of panties, bring a couple changes of clothes, and hope for the best! Just last week her "class" graduated up a room, so they should be used to working with potty training kids in there. I have a pullup packed for her if all else fails.

One other interesting side effect of this potty training business is that it has made Kate VERY emotional. I'm sure it's just because there are so many changes happening, and I'm sure this is stressful for her to go through, but wow. Mostly she is very very needy of my affection, love, and touch. She is REALLY not that kind of girl - sure she loves to give occasional hugs and kisses, but she is in almost constant need of my affection. It's actually pretty sweet. In between trips to the potty she just wants me to hold her. However, on the other end of the emotions, if things don't go JUST right or a toy doesn't open the right way or if I tell her "no" about anything, she loses it in an ABSOLUTE tantrum. So this is an interesting change to observe in my usually calm, cool, and collected girl.

Here is bonus picture of Kate from today. First day of Sooner Football!! :)

Potty Training Day 1

I've never felt in a huge rush to get Kate potty trained or anything, but I've had lots of people tell me they thought she was ready lately. That combined with the fact that I was going to be home all weekend with no plans (Friday through Monday) I figured what better time to at least give it a try?? So, we buckled down and gave it our best shot.

This is going to be boring, but I know I'm going to want this recorded somewhere, so here it is.

~9:30 am - First Panties
10:20 am - Accident - pee on my dress shoes and nursery floor
10:35 am - Partial accident in booster seat, coloring. Finished by TINY pee in toilet!!!! (Her first time ever!!)
10:40 am - Tiny dot of pee on her panties, she told me she had to go. A FULL pee in the potty!!
10:45 am - Tiny dot of pee on panties, she caught herself, and had a tiny pee in toilet.
12:00 - 12:15 pm - A cluster of 3 huge accidents on the floor! I got so discouraged. 1 successful small pee in the potty in between accidents.
12:21 pm - Small pee in potty
12:35 pm - BIG pee in potty!!
1:00 pm - Nap Time
3:20 pm - Woke up from nap DRY!
3:25 pm - BIG pee in potty!! No accident or even drops in panties!
5:32 pm - Small drop of pee in panties, wouldn't pee on potty.
6:50 pm - BIG pee on potty!!
7:40 pm - Put her to bed
7:50 pm - Called for me that she wanted to go pee. Set her on the toilet, and she went!! After that, straight back to bed with no fuss.

So she had no accidents from naptime on!! (I don't really count drops in the panties as an accident as long as she is catching herself and stopping it!) We went through 9 pairs of panties today. And in between all of these events, we made at LEAST 30 "false alarm" trips. We're going with the route where I'm having her tell me when she has to go, so everytime she says, we go. (Like every time she had to toot, etc.) So it seems she is still (obviously) trying to figure out all the signals her body is giving her, and what feeling means what!

So I have no idea what true success is, but I think this is pretty good for Day 1! We're definitely going to keep it up tomorrow! She is SO proud every time she goes, it's so cute.

23 Week Update

Now that I'm halfway to 24... But oh well, I'm home now from a trip to Minnesota so I have time to post!

My appointment was good, pretty low-key and quick! First of all, I gained 7 pounds in the last 4 weeks! :faints: Looks like I'm making up for the 15 I lost. Oh well! I asked my doctor if he could tell what position the baby was in by feeling my belly and he said that in general he can, and he'd check. Not that it'd make a difference - it can and will change 10 seconds after he does it. (which I knew!) But I was just curious (and I admit, partially worried) that the baby was breech and facing inside because seriously ALL of my "kicks" were very low and to the inside. I couldn't feel hardly anything with my hand on the outside of my belly, and all my interior organs were getting beat up constantly!

He palpated around, and said that he couldn't even feel the baby without really digging in and hurting me, it was buried so deep inside! So he didn't even want to speculate on position.

They also sent me off to my 1 hr glucose test. I was a little worried about that this time, because of the sugar "scare" we'd had at my last appointment.

Well, I got a call (while shopping at the Mall of America hehe ) on Friday that I had passed! Woohoo!

Also, I think the baby has flipped or flopped or something! All those low, interior bumps and kicks are about 90% gone, and I am feeling a TON through my belly up by my ribs now! Almost constant! So much fun. :) All my friends got to feel the baby over the weekend, so that was fun.

My only complaint is the reflux. With Kate, I only had it occasionally, and especially after certain foods. This time, it's constant all day every day. Thank God for Zantac and Gaviscon!

I think that's about it - can't believe I'll be 24 weeks in a few days!

Sick

Apparently 20 weeks is the magic mark for me in pregnancy - when I get sick. Over the last weekend I could tell I was either coming down with something, or trying to fight something off. By Sunday morning at church I could tell I had lost. I went to the doctor on Monday and sure enough I had an upper respiratory infection and bronchitis. They put me on a Z-pack and gave me some cough syrup for the overnights. It's been somewhat slow - I'm exhausted and still coughing a lot, but overall feeling better. Braxton Hicks contractions have also kicked in. When I get on a big coughing fit, they'll start up for a little bit. My whole abdomen is so sore from coughing so much!

Last week, I took Kate to the doctor because one of her eyes looked infected. Unfortunately, she has incredibly waxy ears with wax that is nearly impossible to remove when dry. They had to irrigate her ears to even get a look in them. :( It was way worse than when they tried to draw blood. This was the most panicked I'd ever seen her. It took 3 of us to hold her down. So sad. So anyway, it turned out taht she had her FIRST ear infection, and the eye infection was secondary to the ear issues.

So the blessing in disguise of that situation was that she's been on antibiotics this whole time I've been sick, so thankfully she has been protected from the bronchitis! I'm very thankful for that!

The baby is doing great. I am feeling more and more kicks every day. It is so special and I'm definitely stopping to make sure I enjoy every minute of it.

The Heart Problems Return!

This morning during church, I had another one of my heart/breathing "episodes" that I had so often when I was pregnant with Kate. I had to go to a cardiologist (back then), have an EKG, sonogram of my heart, and wear a heart monitor for 24 hours (and a nice $2K medical bill) all to tell me my heart was working normally.

But it's still so annoying/scary! My heart starts RACING and I feel like I can't catch my breath. Each episode lasts 5-10 minutes. From what I could tell with my journal from Kate, it started at around 25 weeks. So I got a little earlier start this time!

I will say this is one thing I was REALLY hoping would stay away this time. Really not pleasant.

19 Week Appointment

For once I had a routine appointment! It was about time for one of those.

My weight is up 3 pounds since last month (finally!), so that makes me -12 for the pregnancy now.

When they tested me for sugar & protein, I was pegged at the worst color on the sugar test. So they ran a quick bloodsugar test on me. While we were waiting for the nurse with the bloodsugar kit to come in, my doctor asked me what I ate for breakfast. I sheepishly answered, "Crunch Berries." He said, "Really... Seriously? That's what my kids would eat!" I told him, "Hey, at least I'm eating!!" He said, "that's true!" (All this in a good-natured, joking tone of course!) He likes to tease me. So my bloodsugar came back 136. They said that was high but fine, as long as it was under 150. They just told me not to eat a breakfast like that before one of my appointments, especially next month before my glucose screen.

I asked him how likely I was to have Polyhydramnios again with this pregnancy. He said I have a 5-10% higher chance of getting it again. He said starting around 28 weeks they'll be watching me for signs. Basically he said I'll just get more ultrasounds than the normal patient.

Other than that, all is well! They handed me my bottle of orange Glucola to bring and drink for my next appointment and glucose test in a month! Can't believe I'm about halfway done...

I'm feeling quite a few of the baby's kicks now. I can't remember if I documented this "back then" but I started feeling them around 13.5 weeks. It's finally getting to be consistent enough that I'm feeling baby multiple times daily. Definitely the best part of pregnancy, I love it!

I've been busy over here working on Kate's Big Girl Room. We are going to move her in September, so in the mean time I've been planning and accessorizing. The biggest project is going to be painting my childhood dressers white. Not really looking forward to that! But I can't wait until the room is finished, it's going to be great! The pink, girly nursery I never got to do. :)

15 Week Appointment and Ultrasound

I had a routine appointment (or so I thought) this morning. Started off with my weight - I've lost another 1.5 pounds, making it somewhere close to 14 for the pregnancy. (According to my scale at home, I've stayed the same!) They "scolded" me and told me it was going in the wrong direction, but all in a playful tone. They just want me to make sure I'm eating when I can. I feel like I've been REALLY bad in the food department the last couple weeks, so I can't believe I was still losing. I'm going to try to keep it in check though, so I don't have a 10 lb weight gain next time! Lord knows I had enough extra going into this pregnancy that there's room for some loss there!

I told my doctor that I've been VERY sore this time around, much more so than with Kate. My uterus is very tender especially when I twist wrong, when Bailey walks across me, or if Kate bumps into me or somthing. I've even been borderline crampy for about a week. Dr was a little concerned about that, so he did a pelvic exam and said everything looked/felt normal, but he wanted to get me in for an ultrasound just to make sure everything was looking good.

So off I went! The baby is SOOO cute!! Last time it was still pretty much a blob but this time, there was my fully-formed little baby, squirming, punching, kicking, and everything. So magical. She spent lots of time looking at everything. Cervix was long and closed, great! Baby is perfectly healthy and measuring just as it should. Heart, bladder, brain all look good. At the end, she said.. "So, are you finding out the gender?" My heart stopped... THIS was my chance!! But I broke down and said, "No... I want to know, but my husband doesn't." She said, "Then I'm not telling you a thing." I said, "So, you mean you can actually tell right now at 15 weeks??" She said, "I have a pretty darn good guess!" So I joked "Well if it's only a guess, then you can tell me because it's only a guess!" She said, "I'm pretty good at what I do." And left it at that. Hmph. Deep down I really do want another surprise, but for some reason this time around it's just so hard to follow through!

It makes me suspect girl though because I was looking. And I mean LOOKING. She never told me to look away, so she snuck a peek at the goods sometime during that whole process and I sure had my eyes peeled. I really feel like I could pick out boy parts if I had to! I suppose you never know how sneaky those u/s techs can be though! Probably just wishful thinking though.

So, I survived not finding out. They said they're not sure if they'll do a 20 week u/s because they just got all the growth & measurments they need out of this one, but "we'll see." My dr tends to hand out ultrasounds pretty readily if you want them, so I have a feeling I'll be back for more! I also want them to keep an eye on fluid level since I had polyhydramnios last time, so I'll remind them of that at my next appt.

Without further ado, here's weatherbaby 2! Oh yeah - heart rate 137. WAY lower than last time!





I love this one - how the baby is just reclined with it's legs propped up.



Otherwise I'm doing pretty well, other than some headaches. I did this in the second trimester with Kate too, so I suppose I should have suspected it! They are so annoying! Tylenol and/or Coke usually helps, but it's still annoying to have to take Tylenol, I'd rather not expose the baby to any medication, even though it's safe.

I also wanted to make note of my cravings this time around. First and foremost it's peaches - make that FRESH peaches. Soooo yummy! They can't really even be grocery store peaches - every other Thursday I drive by a farmers market stand on my route for work. I pick up a bag of peaches fresh from East Texas each time I drive by, and immediately fall into heaven. They are so soft, sweet, and juicy, I just can't get enough. SO good.

Second is Subway. I eat it at least twice a week for lunch! I've always sort of liked Subway, but this time I just HAVE to have it.

My last, and most bizarre, is fake butter. For some reason real butter doesn't taste "buttery" enough to me, so I keep a stash of of "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" on hand for butter emergencies. :) So weird!

Recap Up to This Point

I've heard that famously first pregnancies get all the glory and attention, and then no one cares every pregnancy after that. Haha! But a sweet friend asked me if I was going to blog about this time around, so I'll do it! So that way, this baby will have a good record about his/her pregnancy as well.

I found out I was pregnant on Saturday, April 3, 2010. We were in Chicago visiting my sister and her family. I knew that we'd be visiting them during the time I'd be able to find out, so I packed a few pregnancy tests. It was THE faintest line in the world... I seriously didn't know if it was there or not, but deep down I knew it was. It was even fainter than Kate's first test line!



I kept it to myself for the day, but told Jeff that I THINK I may have gotten a positive. We decided to try again the next morning with a digital test because there would be no mistaking that! So Easter Sunday morning, we got up and tested. We brought Kate into the room and waited while the hourglass on the test blinked FOREVER, then finally said, "PREGNANT" YAY!!!!


We told Kate she was going to be a big sister! She, of course, had no opinion other than reacting to our excitement, being 23 months old. :)

We sent Kate upstairs to breakfast wearing her "Big Sister" shirt. (Yes, that I had packed in advance, "just in case.") (I had a feeling about this month!)



Andrea and Steve totally didn't see it at first, and we had to specifically point it out to get them to notice. :) They were shocked and excited!

I had been on Metformin again for about a month, getting my body ready to try to get pregnant again. We were thinking it may take a few months to get my body fully cooperating again. The first month was a dud with no ovulation, but I had a clear ovulation the second month! We weren't expecting it to happen so quickly, but are absolutely thrilled that it did, since we had to try so long to get Kate.

The first few weeks of pregnancy, let's see, where to begin... As soon as we were home from Chicago, my doctor brought me in for some blood tests. My levels came back pretty low, but still a positive result. We tested every 48 for about the next week or so. My levels were doubling appropriately, but then I got a call that my progesterone levels were dangerously low, and falling. (As in, not high enough to sustain a pregnancy.) They called in a prescription for me, and told me to go wait AT the pharmacy for it to be ready, and take my first dose as soon as it was ready! Through the following week or so, (I think we're at week 5 or 6 at this point?) they continued to test my progesterone levels, getting bad results each time. They doubled my dosage, and the following week they finally started to rise. Not to wonderful levels, but acceptable. They want your progesterone to be a MINIMUM of 15 during pregnancy, and at my lowest I was at 3.9. I leveled off at 14.9, though my most recent level taken was 12.1.

They scheduled an ultrasound for 6 weeks, to take a look and see how things were going in there. I knew that at Kate's 6w4d ultrasound, we had seen not only her, but her heartbeat. I didn't expect to see a heartbeat (though it was possible) but I certainly expected to see the baby, aka the fetal pole as it is termed at this stage. We saw hardly anything. We could see the gestational sac as well as the yolk sac, but no fetal pole, and certainly no heartbeat.



I was scared to death. They told me that it was not great but ok - I could just not be as far along as I calculated. Well I knew that wasn't a possibility - because of my charting, testing, and tracking, I know with 100% certainty which day I ovulated. They also said the fetal pole could be hiding behind the yolk sac. They wanted to wait 10 days and repeat the ultrasound. They said that would be more than enough time to be able to see on ultrasound whether or not the baby was growing.

Several days later, I started spotting. I tried not to think about it too much, since I had spotted with Kate too and she was perfectly fine. All I knew was that as long as you're not seeing red blood, everything was ok.

The next morning I woke up to red blood. I was sure I was losing the baby. Of course it was a Saturday morning so I couldn't call in to my doctor. Thankfully the bleeding stopped that morning and never came back. When I spoke to the doctor on Monday they were very understanding reassuring, and told me they would bring me in for an ultrasound if I wanted, but told me it would still be best to wait until that Friday for my original scheduled ultrasound. I was feeling ok about it at that point, so I agreed.

Friday morning we went in for the ultrasound. I immediately knew the baby was at least growing as soon as I saw the screen.



There was CLEARLY a baby there! Then the tech found the heartbeat (137 bpm), and I started crying. I was trying to be positive the whole week, but I had really tried to prepare myself for the possibility the heartbeat may not be there. But it was. Praise the Lord.

So that about wraps up the drama - from about week 7 or 8, things have been pretty smooth. God taught me a lot about patience and trust in that time. So much is completely out of our control, and our children belong to the Lord anyway, so I just prayed that this one would be given to us as well.

I had another ultrasound at 9w2d to make sure everything was still going well, and it was!



Measuring right on schedule with my December 15 due date. His or her heart was beating away at 170 bpm.

This pregnancy is somewhat different than Kate's already. I think in general, I'm sicker. With Kate I had nausea come and go sporadically. This time, there are several time periods during the day when I feel awful, and it peaks at its worst from 4-8 pm. I haven't hardly eaten dinner in about 7 weeks!

Here is my first belly picture taken at 10 weeks.



With Kate's pregnancy, I looked like that at about 14-16 weeks. Haha.

I had my 11 week appointment today. Everything is going well! I had lost 4 pounds since my last appointment 2 weeks ago (totaling almost 15 pounds for the pregnancy so far) so my doctor told me to EAT! Whenever and whatever I want. :) That's always fun to hear. Too bad I'm feeling too sick to actually follow through! We also heard the baby's heartbeat through my tummy on the doppler for the first time. My doctor said the baby was playing hide and seek with him - it took him a few minutes to find it, but he finally pinned him/her down and got it. :) He said he could hear the baby swimming around in there to get away! I'm always amazed and how aware and able-bodied they are in there at such an early age.

So I think that about wraps up the first trimester! I still have a few weeks to go before I officially begin the second trimester. I have started the weaning process on the Metformin (YAY!!!!!!!!!) so I really should be feeling better soon. Plus I have about a week left of Prometrium, my progesterone supplement. That is also known to make you feel sick. So I should feel like a new woman in the next few weeks. I can't wait!

We are so thankful for this baby and this pregnancy.

Kate is Going to be a Big Sister!

The big news in our family is that we are expecting another baby!! I am due December 15th, the day after my birthday! It has been a rocky pregnancy, to say the least, but all is well now, and the baby appears to be healthy and thriving! We are very excited to see who this precious little person is going to be. Here is the latest ultrasound a little over a week ago at 9 weeks, 2 days.

Should Have Known Better

I should have known better than to brag about Kate's health. She woke up Sunday morning with herself, her bed, and all of her stuffed animals just covered in vomit. Lovely. The poor thing must have thrown up in the middle of the night, but never said ANYTHING until the morning! Of course we were in Oklahoma too, so not even home for her to be sick! Later that day, the bug worked its way through her stomach and gave her more problems. She still isn't fully recovered in terms of appetite, but at least she hasn't thrown up anymore. But now she seems to be developing something else. Her nose has been running like a faucet today, and now she's been having a coughing fit ever since I put her to bed. I see a long night of little sleep ahead.

2 Years

I'm a week late, but our little Kate has turned 2! I really don't know where the time went. She is such a big girl!



She is such an amazing little girl. Her vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds, and it is so much fun to watch her figure out language and communication. It is also very nice to be able to talk and reason with her, and have her give me her own input back! She is giving us good 3 if not 4 - 5 word sentences. I am thankful for every day we have with her.

She is also on a good stretch of health! (Knock on wood!) Right before we went to Chicago for Easter she came down with a little cold, but that means she's been healthy now for about 6 weeks! That's just about the longest I can remember! Maybe the whole tonsil thing is finally paying off. At her 2 year checkup, she weighed 34.25 lbs (99th percentile), and is 35.75 inches(95th percentile) tall. So she continues to grow steadily! She's wearing size 3T and even 4T in some stores.

She is still a great sleeper, going to bed by 7:30 (or 7:00 on night's she's crabby... ha!) and sleeping until 7-7:30 am! I appreciate that very much. :) I need to be better about updating the blog. I'm sure there are so many cute things she does that I never write down and forget about.

Thank you, God, for blessing us with our precious little daughter. Happy Birthday Kate!!

Meow Meow Poo Poo

More pretend play! It is SO adorable to watch Kate act out her experiences through her point of view. Yesterday I got a sample of the new Pampers Cruisers diapers in the mail from P&G. Kate wanted them as soon as she saw them, so I handed them down to her. She ran over to her favorite lovey of all time, her kitty Meow Meow. She said, "Meow Meow poo poo!" and took him over to a pad on the floor. She laid him down, and proceeded to act out a diaper change! When she took the imaginary diaper off Meow Meow, she even said "Eeeeeewwwww!! Icky poo poo!!" Ha! She opened up a diaper and laid it down on top of MM, but couldn't quite understand how to strap it on. Then she picked him up and said "All done!"

Among other news, Kate is sick again. Not sure what it is this time, but so far she's running a low grade fever and coughing. I think we're going to wait this one out and see if we can make it through without a trip to the Pediatrician, but we'll see.

Here's a quick pic of Kate. We took her to the Dallas Arboretum last weekend for my mom's birthday. We had a great time and saw some beautiful flowers!

Pretend Play

I feel like I've said this at every stage (except 18 months) but I must say, I think 21 months is my favorite! Kate is SO much fun right now. She can understand just about everything I tell her, and her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds as well, so she is able to communicate quite a bit with me. My favorite thing has been the beginning of pretend play. We first saw it with her buddies or her kitty Meow Meow. She teaches Meow Meow how to do things like climb stairs, jump off edges, and then praises him when he has done a good job. :) The most fun to watch her play is in the bath. She has 4 bath toys that are her favorite. She usually portrays herself as the dolphin, me as the turtle, and Jeff as the pelican. I think the crab is anonymous. :) She takes these toys through different courses of events. She makes "me" (the turtle) carry the dolphin around, saying "Are you ready?" "Ready." "Here we go!" And then they travel around the bath tub. Every once in a while the dolphin falls, and Kate says, "Are you ok? Ok?"

Sometimes she will put Jeff and me (the turtle and pelican) up on a shelf. Then she (dolphin) will kiss us both, then say "bye bye!" and swim off for a while. The sweetest was when she brought the dolphin up to the turtle, made them kiss, then said, "Awww, Mommy, I wat choo." (I wat choo is how she says I love you.)

Today I took Kate to a park here in town. So during her bath I watched her re-create all the fun activities she did at the park, there in the bath tub with her dolphin. Slides, climbing the sides, running across bridges, etc. Anyway, all that to say just how much fun she is, and how amazing it is to see the world through her eyes, and her interpretation of the things going on around her!

Kate and Her Auntie

As Kate grows closer to two, she is starting to look SO much like my sister Andrea, don't you think?

Record Snowfall

God is once again giving me a taste of the Minnesota winter I've been missing so much this year. It has been snowing all day here in Dallas. Not just any snow, those big, soft sticky snowflakes that stick to everything they fall on. I captured Kate's sentiment about the snow, which happens to match mine perfectly as well.



Thank you, Lord, for the snow.

Kate's First Haircut

(This is also my 300th blog entry!)

Over the last week or so it has occurred to me that it was about time for Kate's first haircut. The back of her hair was just much longer than the sides, and it needed to be evened up.



So I made the appointment and we went this afternoon! Kate was so good. Originally we put her in a yellow car chair, and she was NOT a happy camper. We didn't know what was wrong, and the lady cutting her hair said we'd probably have to cut her hair in my lap. I took her out and she said "down" so I put her down. She ran right over to a red car chair, and wanted up! After that, she was fine. Whatever!!

"Before" Picture





The first snip!



Adorable little hairdo!





I did fine with it too - I wasn't emotional at all! I think it's because it's not like she was losing anything babyish - she's already such a big girl in every other aspect it's just par for the course. It's really not a drastic change either, so that probably helps. All I know is that I need to go learn how to cut hair, I couldn't believe how much a child's cut costs!!

Update

Just a few random things there and there to update! First of all, Kate is sick again. On Friday morning she woke up with her nose running like a faucet, and running a low grade temp around 100.5 . Since then, her temperature has come back down but her nose is still bad. I think this is the first time she's ever had just a plain cold, something without a fever! I also think this is the first time that she's gotten "sick" that (so far) we haven't had to take her to the doctor for. When she wakes up from overnight or her nap, however, she does sound a slight bit croupy, but maybe it's just all the gunk in her system because she sounds better after an hour or so.

All of her immunology bloodwork has come back, and everything is normal. Her immune system is functioning correctly. She is, however, a strep carrier. All that means basically is that whenever she does get sick, it may or may not be strep, but she's going to test positive for it every time. So the doctor has to make a judgment call on whether or not to treat her with antibiotics based on all her other symptoms, rather than the results of the test.

She is growing mentally in leaps and bounds lately. It's amazing and so much fun to see her develop verbally. Jeff is now "Daddy" instead of "Dada" which is cute, but a little sad too! I'm still Mama. :) She also has a cute but annoying habit of wanting to tell and how me EVERYTHING. She will say, "Mama, mama, mama, MAMA, MAMA!!!! MAMA!!!!!!!!" Until I say, "What, Kate?" And she will reply with, "hi!" or "bow?" or "bye bye!" or "Bailey!" or "Backpack!" and so on. She will not give up until I say, "Yes, Kate, Bailey." I know it's very cute, but it just goes on and on and on and on!!

She loves repeating words. I ask her to try lots of words, and she makes an attempt at repeating everything. I love it! She is internalizing a lot more than I give her credit for, too... I'm constantly amazed at how much of what I say to her she is understanding.

Normally every night we read her favorite book, "Goodnight Moon" at bedtime. During the month of December we read a Christmas book, "Angel Angel." Well, Goodnight Moon is lost right now, so we're still reading Angel Angel. Basically, it follows the same premise as "Brown Bear Brown Bear," but insert Nativity figures. Her favorite part is where Baby Jesus enters the book. Everytime we get to that page, she points to Jesus, her eyes light up, and she turns to look at me with the BIGGEST smile on her face! It's so sweet. :)

One week from today Jeff and I will be sitting on the balcony off our room on our cruise ship, somewhere in the Caribbean. :) We are so excited to take a vacation! We will miss Kate but we know the Grandparents will enjoy some special one-on-one time with her.