Wyatt Larry Has Arrived!!!

Wyatt Larry was born on June 7, 2010 at 10:43 am. 37 weeks gestation. He weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 inches long.

We checked into labor and delivery early Monday morning. It took a long time to get us back because anesthesia was backed up. Then it took forever to start the surgery because they had a heck of a time getting my spinal block in. I remember they had a really hard time also when I had my c-section with Bryan. Guess my back just stinks for that kind of stuff. Once I was all set up they went and got Ethan and sat him by my head. Wyatt was born about 15 minutes later. They lowered the sheet so that we could see and to my surprise Ethan jumped right up and started taking pictures. I thought it was funny since he said he didn't want to see anything on the other side of the screen up until that moment. He got some great pictures of Wyatt as he emerged butt first of course. Ethan followed Wyatt over to the bassinet and trimmed his cord. It took a little over an hour to sew me back up. I got pretty nauseous and almost threw up while they were working on me. Me and anesthesia just don't get a long well. They gave me more meds to settle my stomach down again and then I was fine. I got to watch Wyatt while Ethan held him. He was very alert and looking around. Wyatt was sucking his fingers and rooting around. He came out more then ready to nurse.

Wyatt did have some funny looking legs when he was first born. I would post a picture but they almost scare me. LOL His feet had been up by his face for months now. And they wanted to stay that way after he was born. LOL After a few hours he was fine. The pediatricians stopped by this morning to check on his hips and they were doing much better this morning. The clicking in his hips was gone and he is pretty good about getting his legs to stay down now. They said it was pretty normal and he should be just fine.

Other then his hips Wyatt has not had any problems. He latches on pretty well. Wyatt nursed fantastically the first day. Now I am having trouble keeping him awake so that he is not just snacking all day and all night. That made for a long first night. LOL He is pooping like a pro and I am so glad the nurses are cleaning those ones up. LOL

I am doing pretty well already. I have gotten up and been out walking. They let me eat right away as long as I promised to take it slow. No problems with eating or drinking. They unhooked me from all the dodads and monitors now. My catheter is out and I am getting up to use the bathroom pretty well on my own. It is amazing to not have to pee every 30 minutes or so! LOL I am getting ready to go take a shower and can not wait. I remember how fantastic that felt after Bryan was born. I am hoping to get to go home tomorrow afternoon. But I won't push it either. If I need to stay until Thursday afternoon I will. But I would really love to get us home and get back into my own bed.

Here are a few pictures of Wyatt from his first day in the world!

37 Weeks

Today is my last full day of this pregnancy. I am 37 weeks pregnant and this baby is coming out Monday morning. I am more excited then I have been about anything in a very long time. I went back and forth on how I wanted to spend my last day. I could go into uber nesting mode and make this place spotless. And myself exhausted so that I might actually get some sleep. Or I could lounge around all day and do nothing but gestate and pig out while I still had a good excuse to do so. I picked some where in the middle. I did some light housekeeping. A little laundry and I picked up the house a bit. I cleand out my car so that it was ready for the ride home in a few days. I told Ethan he had to bring my Explorer cause there was no way I was going to try and get in and out of his Jetta after having surgery. That car is just way to low to the ground. I was up early this morning. I have had a strange need to be up early since I went on maternity leave. I can't explain it. But I wake up anywhere between 6 am - 9 am and acan't go back to sleep to save my life. This has become a very strange phenomenom since I have always been a sleep until noon kinda girl. But lately I have enjoyed the peace of the early morning when every one else is still in bed or upstairs. I laid back down and took a nap for 2 hours in the afternoon. It felt good to just lay down and rest. When you are this pregnant you don't sleep through the night and you just can't get much rest. And it doesn't get any better with a newborn around. LOL I put my feet up, played on the computer, watched my Netflix movie and lifted my shirt to watch one last good show that Wyatt put on after lunch. They boys worked hard outside all day so I pretty much had the house to myself to just relax and enjoy. I think that is the first time I have watched a horror movie in the middle of the day in a very long time. After the boys came in I went out and got us some supper. We munched on chinese food and watched tv. Bryan got to play WoW for a while and got himself to 80! WOOHOO for him! Ethan randomly mentioned cake at one point and I went into full blown cake and milk pregnancy craving. Luckily for me my dear sweet husband obliged and headed to the grocery store for one last pregnancy craving run.It was very nummy. And now I don't have to worry if there is milk in the house while I am in the hospital.

I was given special antimicrobial soap to wash with the night before and the morning of the surgery. They don't know if it really helps to avoid infection or not. But heck it is worth a shot. I was surprised to see that it was cherry red in color. I don't really know what I was expecting. But I guess RED was not it. LOL It smelled mildly medicine like with a hint of perfume to it. I did not think it would be that hard to wash that area. I haven't seen hide nor hair of that side of my belly in months. And I guess I haven't spent much time trying to wash it either. LOL Luckily for me I have my previous c-section scar to guide me. I just washed the general area around my scar and halfway up my belly. Nobody told me exactly where to wash with this stuff. The pamphlet says the area of surgery. So I am guessing around my scar is as good of a spot as any down there. I have to repeat the process again in the morning. I plan on getting up at 5:30 am so that I can fit a shower in again before Bryan gets up at 6 am. Maybe if I am lucky my hair will have driend from this shower by the time I take my shower in the morning. LOL That is a down side of having long and thick har.

It is a very bitter sweet night tonight. I am looking forward to being done with pregnancy. 9 months is a very long time to be pregnant. And as they grow it wears on a person's body. Everything aches, you are tired all the time, nothing in your body works right anymor, my allergies have gone haywire, my pelvis is in so much pain it hurts to even walk, I have had morning sickness, restless leg syndrome, carpal tunnel and had the poo scared out of me more then anyone needs in the last few weeks. It has been a crazy ride and I am ready for it to be over. But of course I will miss all the good things. I love feeling him move inside of my belly. When he is not two stepping on my bladder anyway. I enjoy listening to his heartbeat and movements on my doppler. It is fun to watch my belly wiggle around while he puts on a show. I enjoy rubbing my belly and having Ethan lotion it up for me. There is a closeness that I share with this baby that no one else gets to experience. I will miss all of that. But I am so looking forward to him being here. I want to see him and hold him in my arms. I look forward to sharing this experience with Ethan. I can't wait to put him in his crib for the first time. There is this whole room full of baby stuff that I can't wait to use. I want my child here safe and sound and healthy. It has been a very long road and I can't wait to move on to the next step.

I am a lot calmer then I thought I would be. Maybe that will change in the morning. I don't know. This is my second time so maybe that brings some calmness. I am not nervous about the surgery. I am a little worried about pain management afterward. But I know there are plenty of pain medications. I just need to speak up this time and not try to play the hero. Breastfeeding does make me nervous. It did NOT go well with Bryan at all and we were both miserable. Bryan and I both were much happier once I started pumping breastmilk and bottle feeding him. I truly want to make the effort this time to breastfeed. And luckily I have a longer maternity leave this time to work on it. Not to mention a supportive husband. Support was something I was SERIOUSLY lacking last time. And I know that I can pump breastmilk because I did it with Bryan. So there is always that to fall back onto. I won't formula feed this time around at all. Unless there is some medical reason that we have to. Fingers crossed we will not have any issues and Wyatt will latch on like a champ.

We are ready to go. I just need to eat a little something tonight. I can't eat after midnight. And it will be a bit before I can eat anything in the hospital. Thankfully for me the rules have changed. I was not allowed to eat solid food until the day I went home with Bryan. There is only so much jello and tea one person can stand. Now the rule is I just have to fart. Once I can pass gas they will allow me to eat solid food again. So I will be doing my best to fart with out blowing my stitches out. LOL Pleasant thought isn't it? I don't care cause I want real food! LOL

Hopefully everything will go well and we will have our baby in our arms in no time.

Last OB Appointment

I had my very last OB appointment today. It went well. Which was a relief after last night of course. We got there super early. I told Ethan that just doesn't pay off. And of course they proved me wrong. We got in a while half hour early. Ooops!

First was the ultrasound. He scored well again today. My fluid levels have increased since Tuesday from a 4.6 to a 7.2 level. Anything about 5 is good and this 7ish level is the best it has been since 32 weeks. I had the same ultrasound tech that I have had for the last few scans. He joked about how I have become an old pro at the whole process. I joked that it is bad when I am starting to be able to not only spot the fluid pockets but even notice when he found a good sized one. LOL He estimated Wyatt's current weight at 6 pounds 15 ounces. Pretty good size for 37 weeks. He showed us that Wyatt has hair. The tech thinks that not only does he have hair but it looks like it might even be wavy! Bryan had a lot of hair but it was straight. I had a ton of hair and I have wavy hair now. Ethan says he had wavy hair as a baby. So I guess we will see just how hairy this baby is when he comes out. I make hairy babies. HE HE HE

We met with a different doctor then my regular OB. He was very nice and had an interesting German accent. It was neat to hear an actual German pronounce our last name. I was tempted to ask him how to properly pronounce my maiden name too. But I didn't want to be a goober. He went over everything with us about prepping for the c-section. I signed the consent form today so that it was one less thing to worry about on Monday. He checked my cervix and it is closed up nice and tight. I am not at all dilated. I am not at all effaced. Now if I was not scheduled for a c-section on Monday I would have to admit that I would be pretty upset by that fact. You can bet I would have started the eviction process this weekend so that this kid might actually exit the building before July! But this kid is coming out Monday morning whether he likes it or not. The doctor said that it is good that I have made no progress what so ever. That way if I were to start labor in any way over the weekend I would hopefully have a little extra time to get to the hospital. Depending on what day it was we might even be able to keep our c-section schedule. I hope nothing exciting happens this weekend and he just relaxes in there until Monday morning.

So that was it! No more appointments. I won't see that office again until my 6 week postpartum appointment. It was weird to walk out after my appointment and walk right past the appointment desk. It was a bitter sweet moment. But a good feeling also. Our check in time is 7:30 am on Monday. That is perfect because I don't have to get up to early. Maybe a half hour early so I can shower with the special soap again. Then get Bryan up and out the door for school. Ethan can have a chance to have some breakfast if he is hungry before we leave for the hospital. I will be sure to update as soon as we can. Hopefully this weekend is relaxing and uneventful. And fingers crossed that Monday goes well for us.

Spent the evening in Labor & Delivery

We spent the evening in labor and delivery Thursday night. Baby and I are both fine. We just had a little scare. A combination of things made me uneasy and Ethan and I thought it was best to go in and be monitored. Better safe then sorry. We are both glad we went in and are thankful everything ended up being ok.

So here is why we went in. I spent all day not feeling well. I was overly hot. There was nothing I could do to cool myself down. I went to the library and had the AC cranked in my car and was still sweating. I was feeling very fatigued and hot and was totally unable to sleep because of the discomfort when I tried to take a nap. I took my temp and it was 99.0 which isn't very high. But I felt much hotter then that and my face was flushed. There is feeling hot because it is summer. There is feeling hot because you are pregnant in the summer. Then there was what I was feeling. I was just way to hot and worried about fever and infection. Because we don't know what is causing my low fluid levels my OB told me to come in any time I was running a fever. Just in case there is a small leak that we have not seen. Then there would be a risk of infection and we wouldn't want to mess around with that.

Plus I have been having all that pelvic pain. My OB confirmed that it is just from SPD and is nothing to worry about. Thankfully my discomfort will be short lived since my c-section is on Monday. But to be on the safe side and because of the fever feeling I thought I better ask.

Third and the biggest reason I went in was because of lack of movement from the baby. Usually in the evenings after eating dinner he is pretty active. Breakfast and supper make him the most wild. He was fine this morning but had gradually gotten quieter as the day went on. After supper he didn't start moving. I did a kick count and he had only moved twice in 2 hours. And they were not his usual strong kicks either. They were more like nudges. This child doesn't nudge ... ever.

So between the pain and my not feeling well all day and finally the change in movement from the baby we decided to go in. Those were the warning signs my OB had told me to come in for. So we dropped Bryan off at my in laws house and headed to the hospital.

They got me right into a room and I got changed. The nurse came in and asked what brought me in tonight. And I started sobbing. Not sniffle sniffle tear I am a little worried cry. Nope I did the ugly cry. I started sobbing and apologizing for sobbing. She was SUPER nice to me and told me not to be sorry. Pregnancy hormones are hard enough to deal with but then you add in worrying about baby and it is all very over whelming. She calmed me down pretty quickly and I was able to tell her what was going on. By the time Ethan came in I was just sniffling. And him being there calmed me enough to stop crying.

The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and a blood pressure cuff. Of course as soon as I was hooked up to the monitors this little stinker decided to prove me wrong and put on one heck of a show. He was all over the place. A doctor came in to take more info from me. He started palpating around my pelvis to find out where the pain was. He was about to give up when he hit the spot. I almost smacked his hand. I was like no ... no ... no ... OUCH! People came in to take blood and I gave a urine sample. A different doctor brought in an ultrasound machine to check on fluid levels. They were of course very low.

Luckily for us my OB just happen to be working over nights in labor and delivery this week. He came in to let us know what was going on. He said the baby looked great on the NST. Like I said he put on a show. He looked good on the ultrasound despite the lack of fluid as usual. My OB said yes the pain was from SPD but I am lucky cause it will be short lived pain. All my blood work and urine samples came back ok. There was one left they were waiting on. But he said I should be able to go home as soon as it came back. He did not think there was any reason to deliver tonight. We would just continue with our plan of last appointment on Friday and c-section Monday if I was comfortable with that. At that point I was fine. Baby looked good and I didn't seem to have an infection. So I was happy to go home and rest instead.

I can not tell you how happy I was that he was there and came in to talk to us. I really love my OB and he definitely puts me at ease. He said he was happy that I came in even though everything was fine. I did exactly what he told me to do if I was concerned. And thankfully there was a good outcome. Ethan and I both agreed that we are happy that we went in for nothing. Verses not going in and something being wrong with me or the baby. I would rather feel dumb and over protective then have any regrets. And my OB agreed with that.

So it was a long wild ride. It took forever to get that last lab back so that I could go home. But I am so happy that everything is ok. I will go to my last appointment Friday afternoon. Then I am going to try and take it easy all weekend. Rest, relax and prepare for Wyatt's arrival on Monday. Let's hope that is the last of the drama for this pregnancy and little Mr. Wyatt.

Nothing new

Nothing new to report today. Nothing exciting happened at my check. And I am NOT complaining! LOL My fluid levels did go down from 5.3 on Friday to 4.8 today. But that is not the lowest it has been. It is still close to normal. And Wyatt seems to continue to do fine in there. I saw a midwife today since my OB is working overnights in labor and delivery all week. I am glad he felt comfortable enough to let me see a midwife. And she is super nice so I don't mind seeing her at all. She said as long as I wasn't having contractions then she didn't need to check me. Which is good too. Who needs all those people up their hoo ha? So everything seems to continue to be fine.

I scheduled my next appointment for Friday afternoon. It will be my LAST appointment before Wyatt arrives on Monday. HOLY CRAP! That was really exciting and scary and just plain wild all at the same time. Friday we will do another BPP. They also want to do one last growth scan on Friday. Just going to check and see how much he has grown in 2 weeks and give us a guess as to how big he will be on Monday. Sometimes they are WAY off and sometimes they are dead on. So I guess we will see what happens. As long as he appears to have grown since the last one all is good. They will give me the low down on what I need to do to prepare over the weekend for my c-section. My OB and I kind of went over it at my 34 week appointment when we scheduled the first c-section. Jeez ... I just realized I am on my third scheduled c-section. First one was for June 21st, then May 31st and now June 7th. Let's hope everything goes well for the rest of the week and we can just stick with that last one.



36 weeks pregnant

FINALLY GOOD NEWS!!!

We have finally got some good news at today's check. Baby is still doing well on NST. He slept through the first 10 minutes. Then the nurse turned on the radio and he instantly started bouncing around in there. I guess he likes Taylor Swift. Or hates her ... either way that is twice now her music has got him moving around.

I went for the ultrasound next. The tech said there seemed to be an improvement from 3.2 on Wednesday to a 3.7 today. Then he jumped up and yelled "Wait a minute ... WAIT A MINUTE!" Scared the crap out of me but he looked happy so I wasn't to worried. He showed me a very nice pocket of fluid that he found once he convinced Wyatt to move around a little bit. This pocket measured at a 5.3 level. He said that was REALLY good and sent me on my way to see my doctor.

I met with my doctor and I told him the tech and told me he found a good pocket. So my doctor pulled up the results on the computer. He jumped back in his chair and cheered! HA HA HA That is the most excited I think I have ever seen him and he is a very up man. He said that anything between 5 - 25 is considered "normal" and a 5.3 puts us back in the normal range! He thought last week when we were pretty much at a 0 that it would take a miracle to get my fluid levels back up to an acceptable level. Well I guess we got our miracle. Thank God!

So we have a new game plan now. I go back on Tuesday and Friday next week to be monitored. He wants to continue to make sure that baby is doing well. He wants to check to see that the fluid level is either increasing or at the very least holding steady. Fingers crossed that it does. Because we don't know what caused this, why it is reversing or if it will happen again he still wants to do a c-section earlier then first planned. But he thinks it is safe to let baby stay put until 37 weeks so that he can make it to full term. We scheduled the c-section for June 7th at 7:30am!

The only bad news was that I did test positive for group B strep. Bummer! But all that means is they will give me antibiotics at the time of the c-section. It is rare for it to get to baby during a c-section but we are not taking ANY chances with this baby's health.

So woohoo!!!! Thank you to every one for the prayers, well wishes and finger crossing. It worked and we got the miracle we were looking for. Thank you!

Wednesday Update

Everything is pretty much the same. The NST went mostly well. They had trouble keeping track of him again. The first lady did a great job. The last two have struggled a bit. I have a squirmy child that just doesn't want to be spied on. He had good accelerations but afterward he decelerated a few times. My doctor is going to just keep an eye on that. He is happy that at least he accelerated first. So for now it is just watch and see.

The BPP went pretty much the same. He has gained a little bit of fluid. On Monday he was at a 2 and today his fluid level was at a 3.2 which is better. It is still way to low but it is an improvement. If we can get it up above a 6 my doctor might put let him stay inside a little bit longer. But he is not holding out hope for that.

I go back on Friday and Monday. They are booked all week for c-sections so I will have to be added on some where. My doctor is trying to get a hold of the OB I had during my last pregnancy to see if he would be willing to come in on the holiday to assist with the c-section. He said with it being a holiday on Monday they number of people around will be lower then normal. He would feel better if he could get just one more doctor in with him since this will be a preterm birth. Better safe then sorry he says. So there is a chance Wyatt will be delivered Monday afternoon. It all depends on how things go over the next few days. Of course if at any point he is not doing well they will do a c-section and get him out right away.

After my appointments I went and had lunch and then headed to my work's main office. I needed to speak to some one in HR. I dropped off my paperwork to approve my maternity leave. I let her know what was going on and had her adjust the dates of my maternity leave. She told me if I need any extra time beyond the 12 weeks I am taking to just let her know. If baby is not ready for me to return to work or if I am not ready to leave him mid August then we can work out a couple more weeks of personal leave. I have more then enough sick time and PTO to cover 12 weeks and a couple extra if I need them. So I will still get paid all summer and my insurance premiums are covered too. I made sure she knew I wanted to use sick time and PTO for my leave. So that will kick in this pay period. I am so glad I got that all taken care of. She was super nice and understanding of what is going on right now. It was a HUGE relief to get that all squared away. Now I can relax a lot more and just worry about baking this baby longer.