Day 3 - Homeward Bound!

Dr. Tadvick let me go home on Wednesday after two nights in the hospital. I felt up to it by that point and I was getting around pretty good, better than I would have thought.

Mom and Gladys came and dressed Riley for going home:

After we got all dressed and the wheelchair came for us, we headed out to meet Jody, who had gone on to get the car...we managed to get her in the car seat without too much trouble (I do think there is a learning curve though!)....

When we got home, Zoe was happily awaiting our arrival. She seems to like Riley alot and was maybe a little overzealous in greeting her:

After we got home, I kind of felt like getting out for a bit, so I went to the pharmacy to pick up my pain pills...I also had decided I didn't need a bassinet, but for some reason, I got home and decided there was no way I could put her in her crib in her room by herself...so I was very graciously loaned a great bassinet from some of our good friends.

Day 2

Most new mommies that have vaginal deliveries get to go home on day 2, just 24 short hours after giving birth...not me. Dr. Tadvick elected to keep me for two nights for two reasons: I had all those tears and I had a big baby that they wanted to keep an eye on...night 1, Jody spent the night. I felt kind of bad for him. Those chairs that make into beds look like some kind of torture device...you wouldn't believe how early he got up and took off for home to take care of our four legged kiddos....



I got my catheter out mid morning and still had an IV for antibiotics. Around 11:00 they put in the last bag of antibiotics and said in about 30 minutes I could be rid of the IV and could shower "connection" free and go for a walk if I wanted. I waited til about 12 and by that time I had to pee and was thinking I would be able to get the IV out and go to the bathroom all at once. I paged for help and the nurses aid had to be the least helpful person I dealt with during my stay. She wouldn't take the IV out, said it wasn't empty, even though it clearly was...she did help me get out of bed and wheeled the IV to the bathroom and then she literally went "here are some mesh panties and here is a pad." And walked out. I was like are you effing kidding me? I'm standing in the bathroom, IV attached, hospital gown held up on my shoulders only, holding this huge pad...anyway, I told Jody I needed help and he got my real nurse. She was not happy with the treatment the aide gave me...there was NO WAY I could have stepped into those panties on my own...I was doing good just to stand and not fall on my face at that point!



My dad brought my Mama Jo to meet Riley:

I just love this picture! She turned 90 years old two days before Riley was born...it's so wonderful to get to share Riley with her.

After they left, I had several friends visit and then I decided I was up for showering and putting on a gown I had brought with me. I was totally over the hospital gown thing. So I dressed in my gown, put on my house shoes, and Jody and I took a walk. I actually passed Dr. Tadvick...I think he was impressed, because he said he didn't even need to ask how I was doing!

I spent the night by myself, which was fine. I told Jody there wasn't much point in him being miserable as long as the nurses would give me a hand with the baby. And they did.

Riley's Here - Day 1

During the last week of my pregnancy, I had two goals…not to have the baby until at least Monday, June 30 since my doctor was out of town the entire week before and to make it to work for even 5 minutes on June 30, as we accrue our leave on the last day of each month. The good news is, my doctor came back on call at 7 am the day I went into labor…the bad news is I didn’t make it by the bank, so I missed out on an additional 18 hours of paid time off for maternity leave.

I got up for about the fifth time Sunday night at 4:30 am to go the bathroom and as I got out of bed I noticed I felt a bit more wet down there than usual…I honestly figured I had wet myself a little (the joys of late third trimester pregnancy)…when I sat down on the potty, I had a small gush of fluid that I was pretty sure I had not initiated. I woke Jody up by telling him I “thought” my water had broken, but I wasn’t 100% sure, because I wasn’t, and it just all seemed so surreal. I was also not having contractions. I called L&D and they told me to come in and they’d check me out…so I gathered up the rest of my stuff and got dressed. I was walking through the living room when I got my first contraction, which made it abundantly clear that my water had broken, as I had about three HUGE gushes right there. I am so glad it didn’t happen at work, because there would have been no disguising it. I guess Jody was expecting me to flood his truck, because he had about 10 towels in the seat for me to sit on. I can’t say I was thrilled with his choice to take the truck because I was starting to have more regular contractions by this point and getting into his truck was no easy feat, but I wasn't exactly in the best shape to argue.

We got to L&D about 5:30 and the nurse had me change and said we’d get the monitors hooked up, go over some questions, and make sure I was really in labor…I sent Jody to get me some water (that I couldn’t drink) because he was just a bundle of nerves and I couldn’t handle it at that moment. The nurse did the test strip to check for amniotic fluid and it came back negative…I KNEW my water had broken. However, the L&D nurses said they see so few women that actually have their water break, I guess they wanted to make sure. Then she did an internal and decided she needed a second opinion, so she got her charge nurse for a second opinion. Second opinions seemed to be the theme of the day, by the way. Apparently, I have a bit of an unusual cervix and the outer part of my cervix was more dilated than the inner, but they decided I was dilated to a 2.5 around 6:45 am. They also took an internal sample to put on the test strip and it still didn’t 100% confirm that amniotic fluid was present. At that point, they decided to call the doctor on call as my ob/gyn wasn’t officially back on call until 7 am and it was about 6:45 by this point…the on call doc ok’d a definitive test where they swab you for a minute, then put the swab in a solution, and then they have results in about 10 minutes…and it came back that my water had broken. They put my iv in and started the fluids and pitocin and we did even more paperwork.

Dr. Tadvick came by about 9 and my weird cervix was now dilated to a 2.5 and 3…I’m not sure what he did, but it hurt like hell and then he said, now you’re a 3 all the way around. And then the contractions picked up. He went ahead and let me have my epidural (thank goodness for that) and then I had some company, which was nice…the nurse checked me again about 11:30 and I was a 5 and then she checked me again about an hour later and just looked shocked because I was already a 10…Dr. T came by and told her to start me pushing in about 1:00. At this point, I realized I was really going to have a baby…it seems like it should have been abundantly clear to me before this, but it became very real when they said I would start pushing shortly. I pushed with the nurse for about an hour and a half before she (and her second opinion) decided the baby was facing the ceiling and wasn’t turning…so they called Dr. T to come by to try to turn her. He got her turned, said for them to have me push some more and he’d be back shortly…by this time I had pushed for over two hours and was just about worn out as was my epidural – I was starting to feel things on the left side, namely my left hip…the nurses and my doctor had a pow wow by the door and then all of a sudden, there were nursery nurses and three L&D nurses in there and he was explaining to me how the forceps delivery would work…by this point, I just wanted to be done, holding my baby. He had told me I had to listen to him very carefully with the forceps delivery and as soon as he said to stop pushing, I had to stop pushing…the next part is a bit of a blur, but he delivered her head, but her shoulders were stuck and I had three nurses jump on top of me, holding my legs, pushing my belly, and telling me to push as hard as I could…

Riley Paige was born at 3:22 pm on Monday, June 30, 2008, weighing 9 lbs 4 oz and measuring 21.75".

Since she was had been stuck for so long, was a forceps delivery, and her shoulders got stuck, Jody wasn't even given the option to cut her cord, the got to work on her immediately and Dr. Tadvick got to work on me...I had third degree tears, so it took a bit to get me stitched up good, but Jody got to hold Riley the whole time, so I got to look at her. Unfortunately, I didn't get to hold her for a bit becuase I was shaking so hard, which is apparently a side effect of the epidural. After holding Riley for a while, the nurses needed to take her back to the nursery for newborn stuff and I needed some food.

My L&D nurse Nancy was just the best. She knew I was starving and brought me this huge sandwich tray. It was like the best thing I've had in ages. Seriously. Then Nancy brought Riley back to me and we had our first breastfeeding session/lesson. I really owe that woman a big thank you. Her husband works at the bank, so I may try to arrange for him to be given a thank you card for her with a picture of Riley.

The rest of the evening was busy, I think I was going on adrenaline. We had lots of visitors that afternoon and evening.

And here's another birthday picture of Riley, after being cleaned up a bit:

Is it possible that its really been two weeks since my last post? That's just nuts.

First things first, still pregnant. My official due date according to Dr. T is July 4...I don't think she's coming out any before then without some coaxing.

I did go Tuesday for my appointment with the peri to see just how big of baby we're talking about...as of 6/24, he was estimated that she was 8 lbs 1 oz...and predicted a birth weight of 8 lbs 8 oz if I had her around my due date. Since Dr. T has said we won't go any further than a week past my due date, that means (according to the peri), she could be around 9 lbs by that point in time. OUCH! Guess that's what epidurals are for, right?

The peri didn't do an internal, so I have no idea if I have progressed at all, but I sure don't feel any different...I'm having even fewer Braxton Hicks contractions these days. I'm still working, but I can tell it takes a pretty big toll on me...thinking Tuesday (my next appt) should shed more light on the subject and then I might set a stop date at work...of course my boss is being super cool and told me to just work half days if I want, which would be ideal for me because I'm not sure I'm ready to just sit at the house, twiddling my thumbs, waiting on Riley to show up...but I'm not sure I'm up to working as much as I currently work either. Plus if I work even just a little every day, I won't have to use any of my leave, which would be nice.

A Real Update - Yes, I Am Still Pregnant

Sorry, just had to get the first one off my chest...and probably clarify it to say that the ladies I work with who have had babies in the past 5 years or so seem to remember not to say stuff like that...most of them ask me questions rather than tell me how it is....

Anyway, Dr. T thinks I'm gestating a huge baby. The first time he mentioned much about it was at my June 3 appointment...he measured and palpated my belly and said, oh, she'll be 8 lbs, no bigger than 9 lbs, and seemed content...he also did an internal (hey doc, are my tonsils good too?) and there were no changes at all, no surprise. He wanted to confirm that she was head down, so I also got the quickest u/s you can ever imagine. I think it might have lasted about 30-45 seconds, but she is head down.

At my June 10 appointment, Dr. T measured my belly, wrinkled his forehead, and then measured again about 3 times...then asked how tall I am...then he palpated my belly for about 10 minutes before saying he was getting concerned with how big she's getting. He didn't talk estimated birth weight, but I'm assuming it's more than 9 lbs if he wasn't too concerned with up to 9 lbs the week before. I see Dr. T this Tuesday and then he has me scheduled with a perinatalogist for a growth scan the following Tuesday. He says the peri is generally spot on for estimating birth weight and has alot of faith in his ability - said he's never been off by more than 1 lb, which is pretty dang good. And I don't want to try to birth an 11 lb baby vaginally. That just makes me hurt thinking about it!

Yep, Still Pregnant

I swear I should just print out a weekly flyer for people that says:
Yes, I am still pregnant.
Yes, we are sure there is only one in there.
Yes, I'm positive, I've had four sonograms - one in the last two weeks. There is not another one hiding in there.
Yes, I'm sure she's a girl. See answer above.
No, I'm probably not going to have her today. Or tomorrow. Or even the next day.
No, I'm not miserable.
Ask me Tuesday after I go to the doctor and I'll let you know more.

I'm not sure what makes people lose that filter between their brain and their mouth when it comes to pregnant women...I KNOW most people don't mean a thing by it, but here's the thing...I work in a bank with tons of women. And everyday all these women make comments all day long...and by time I hear 8 hours of "oh my gosh you're huge" or "there is no way you'll make it to your due date" or "you must be miserable" or, well you get the idea I'm sure. It absolutely wears you out...like I said, I know none of them mean anything mean, it's just after hearing it all day long from everyone you come across, between that and the pregnancy hormones, it just wears you down!

Sorry for the rant, just sometimes, you have to get it out there!

What's Been Going On....

I had my most recent doctor's appoint on Friday and all with the baby is great...Riley was a silly baby, kicking the doppler every time Kendra tried to get her heartbeat...it was pretty amusing! I also got the results of my renal ultrasound I had on Thursday. It's a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that the monster stone I had at the end of March is gone. Dr. T seemed very impressed I managed to pass it. The bad news is that I have a new stone laying in wait in my kidney. More good news is that it's half the size of the moster stone. I was the first appt of the day and Dr. T had plenty of time to talk to me. Basically, at this point, we just stay status quo on the stones, since I'm not hurting all the time. He seems to think once I have the baby the stones will go away. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Anyway, I go every other week now, so I guess I'll be seeing alot of Kendra and Dr. T (and I imagine they'll be seeing alot more of me too!)

Saturday, me, Jenni (and Evan), Trish, and David went to the Kiwanis pancake day before heading to Red Bud for the March of Dimes walk. Then I mom and I went to lunch...and then I met Nikki, Trish, Shasta and her sister at the movies and watched Baby Mama. It was pretty funny, actually. I was afraid it was one of those that showed all the funny parts in the commercial....

Today has been pretty laid back. I'm super tired today. Jody snored his ass off last night and hogged the bed. I have got to make up the front bedroom because I have a feeling one of us might be sleeping in the there from time to time before the baby is born.

Can't Believe I Haven't Posted This Yet....

I had this done in Southlake at Window In The Womb when I was about 24.5 weeks pregnant...now I'm 30.5 weeks, so I've kind of been slacking. It was a cool experience, I totally enjoyed it. Riley wasn't the most cooperative, she kept her hands in front of her face the whole time!

Time Is Flying By....

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post...and there I was thinking I was doing better!

Things have been good. Baby girl is doing great, her movements are getting a little more weird/uncomfortable feeling. Kind of like I need to get out of her way, but there's not really any place for me to go! I've had two more kidney stone episodes, for a total of three since I got home from the hospital. The first two after the hospital stay were easily managed...the third, I happened to be in Fredericksburg for Sara's bachelorette party...I had a great time Friday night and Saturday until about 3 pm when I felt that nasty ache in my back....

Ash and I went back to the house and I took two of my remaining eight pain pills (!)...I fully expected to sleep for four hours and wake up feeling better. It didn't happen. With my limited pills, I chose to not take more until I went to bed around 11 that night...I was up a bunch that night, good thing the house was set up perfectly for our situation. Ash and I got up early Sunday and came home...I'm having a renal sonogram in the morning, so no food or drink after midnight tonight...isn't that one of the Gremlin rules?

I suppose if the kidney stones are the worst of it, I'll be ok, b/c the baby is doing great...they don't bother her a bit...but I do know if the pain gets out of hand, it can trigger preterm labor, so there's some incentive to take my pain meds, even though I hate to!

I Passed!

I passed the GD test, happy about that!
Paid for my epidural deposit, happy about that too....
Next on my list is picking a pediatrician. I think I have it narrowed down to a group, so hopefully my first or second choice in the group will have an opening.
It's just all going so fast now...I can't believe in about 12 weeks, she'll be here!

The GD Test

GD stands for gestational diabetes...personally, I think it stands for something else that isn't very nice to say. Whatever the case, I had my one hour glucose tolerance test today (Wednesday)...basically, there isn't any preparation for the test. You show up, drink a not too large amount of some disgusting "glucola", and then wait for an hour to have your blood drawn. I chose to go upstairs and watch the epidural video, which wasn't painful to watch at all. Then I went back downstairs and watched people freak out over the weather...it rained really hard for about 10 minutes. They were all freaking out about tornadoes. There weren't any. After my hour was up, I got my blood drawn again and went home....

On a yuck note, I think I had another kidney stone last night...I woke up around 1 am in pain, not like the first round, but just really uncomfortable. I did not want to go to the hospital so I took two lortab and figured if I could sleep it off, it would be ok. Dr. T had me do more lab work, so we'll see how that comes back.

As if having a kidney stone wasn't enough punishment for a pregnant woman, I was apparently infected with a nice cold/upper respiratory infection. I blame the lady who took my blood at the hospital...she looked like she was sick (ie. she looked like crap, big time and she managed to bruise me, big time)...so I managed to work until about 3 on Tuesday before I gave it up...stayed home Wednesday, called the doctor, and he said to take Tylenol, drink lots of fluids and rest. And to try Actifed. Turns out Actifed aggravated my traumatized kidney. So no Actified, Sudaphed, or Benadryll. I do find it odd that I can have Demerol in the hospital and Hydrocodone at home for pain, but no Claritin D.

I did go to work for about two hours Thursday...there were a few things I had to do...since I'm training the new guy, who I should mention is great and a real trooper, I needed to go in and check a few things and show him how to do a couple of things. And I stayed home Friday. I'm feeling better, but I still have a nasty cough and I have to blow my nose pretty regularly. I'm hoping this week is better than the past week! Please.....

On a more pleasant note, the baby is doing great, she is so active. I will say I have enjoyed hanging out in bed, watching my belly move from her gyrations.

LIke a Rolling (Kidney) Stone.....

So Sunday, I had a bit of an adventure, but not the good kind.

I woke up about 6am and rolled over to get out of bed and noticed by back hurt...my thought was that I slept wrong and pregnancy tends to make your body more unforgiving. I started moving around and realized it felt like a kidney issue (I've had two kidney infections in the past)...the pain increased and I threw up. About that time, Jody wanders in to my bathroom and asks if I'm ok and I tell him, no, get dressed, we're going to the ER.

Long story short, I was the proud owner of a large kidney stone...I have never felt pain like that and from what I understand, it's supposedley worse than childbirth (I'll keep my fingers crossed on that one)...everytime they needed to do something, I would throw up, not that there was anything left to throw up...they needed to put a catheter in, I'd throw up...they needed to take blood, I'd throw up...they finally got an iv in and gave me a shot of demerol...and I was OUT. When I finally woke up, the pain was gone, but I was still sleepy. They kept me a while after the demerol wore off and then sent me home with pain meds. It was not an experience I ever care to repeat. So DRINK YOUR WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Such a Nerd

So last night, I took advantage of jody being out of the house to set season passes on our tivos. Is it sad that I'm pretty enthused about dancing with the stars and heroes both being on tonight? And the bachelor?

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless

I Know, It's Like Some Kind of Miracle.

Two nights in a row. Wow.

Update on the wrist...it is not broken, but the bone is bruised and there is significant swelling. What this means, is that basically any time my wrist is brushed up against, I see stars and four letter words just gush out of my mouth...it's really a little embarrassing.

Not much else to report. Cheryl and I went to the mall after work to buy some sexy lingerie for a good friend of ours that we're doing a lingerie shower for Saturday. Should be some good pics from that party...We didn't really buy sexy lingerie, it was more tasteful and pretty. Of course Cheryl took her husband the night before and he picked out some "screw me til I'm blind" (his words, not mine) stuff. We passed.

Work is work. Still need that vacation. Wasn't really there much of the day since I was at the doc for 4 hours...oh, and I actually won a drawing...we had a promotion roll out this morning at the Paramount and everyone was entered in the drawing for some movie tickets. Cheryl was the first name out of the tumbler, the girl sitting behind her was the second, and I was third and sitting directly to her right. Then Bob was the fourth name and he was sitting directly behind me. How weird is that?

Off to watch Survivor.

Holy Cow

I can't believe it's been like all summer since I posted...I just don't know where the time goes.

Things are good...pretty much all I've done is work. Jody too. I realized the other day I've only taken 5 days of vacation in total this year and I'm feeling a bit overdue. It all became pretty evident on Tuesday when I almost melted down on no less than five occasions. And I tumped a big filing cabinet over...but it's ok, I managed to catch it with my wrist. Filing cabinet is fine, wrist is questionable. After talking to Sara (4th year med student and former ER nurse practitioner), she says it sounds like I probably chipped a bone. Great. If it still hurts on Monday, I'm to go get xrays. The way it feels tonight, I may go get xrays tomorrow. '

So I have 11 days of vacation left to take before the end of the year. And I have to say, spending a week or two away from that place is sounding really good right now.


Oh, I am so happy that fall tv is starting (isn't that sad?)...is it wrong that I'm kind of crushing on Gordon Ramsey?

What else new and exciting has happened? Let's see.

I hostessed a Premier Designs jewelry party for my friend Shawn...and we set a record...$1,589 in jewelry sold...and I got 30% of that in free jewelry. Works for me.

Zoe got a new jacket so she won't be cold this winter:

We (or rather I) repainted most of the interior of the house...I did the laundry room, kitchen, living room, dining room, entry, hall, front bath, and master bedroom. And then I decided I hadn't had enough painting and I started helping my mom paint my grandmother's house, which was all done in oil based paint so it all has to be kilzed before we can use latex. I am the best daughter. On the other hand, mom kind of got high on the Kilz, which was pretty funny, because she had no idea. So if you run into Mel, you must ask her if she's huffed any good paint lately.

We also got some new furniture. We had to have a new mattress. I LOVE our new mattress. It's a Sealy Posturpedic with a super fluffy extreme euro pillowtop. It's kind of hard to get me out of bed these days.

What else...my cousin Jeff is going to be on a tv show. I'm hesitant to mention this and I'm pretty sure I won't say anything to 98% of my co-workers, but Jeff is going to be a contestant on the new Lifetime reality show "America's Psychic Challenge." You can't make this stuff up. It's supposed to premier on October 12, which is also Jeffie's birthday.

Guess that's about it...have I mentioned how happy I am about fall tv? :)

Look forward to my next quarterly installment sometime around the end of the year....

Wow....

I have been so busy the past month, I haven't had time to turn around...and in the few brief moments, I have had, sitting at the computer for any additional time has not been high on the priority list. It's just astounding how much we've had to do at work lately. Before I had a stroke, I decided to take a couple of days off around Memorial Day...so I've had a chance to catch my breath...Thursday, I spent most of the day running errands, like taking my dogs to the vet, dropping off dry cleaning, going to the grocery store...those kinds of things. Happy to say all the dogs are healthy...actually a little too healthy. Maggie, the German Shep/Rottie cross, is now 124 lbs! I could have fainted. I had no idea she weighed that much. I really thought she was no more than 110. Anyways, Maggie is now officially dieting with me! As is Taylor the Corgi. Taylor only needs to lose about 5 - 7 lbs, whereas Maggie and I both need to lose about 35 lbs. Bet she loses it before I do!!
We also went to see Spiderman 3...I really liked it, well everything except Kirsten Dunst singing - that was kind of bad. Then today, we saw Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds End. That is a really good movie too. Much better than the second one, which was ok, but just seemed to be lacking something.

Freestyle Dressage

This horse and rider and neat-o. Enjoy.

Old But Funny

I love JT and Andy in this one....

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter...and as legend has it, it's a good thing I didn't plant my flowerbeds before easter this year, with all the SNOW and all....
With that being said, it's no wonder people are sick CONSTANTLY this time of the year...I think it was 85 or so on Tuesday or Wednesday, and then yesterday, I don't know that it ever got over 30. It was COLD. And snowing. Not just the little dry flakes that us Texans are used to, but big fat flakes. So weird.

LAWL is going good. I've been on plan for 2 weeks and lost 6 lbs, which is fine by me. I've even managed to have Mexican food the past two Friday nights with no bad consequences. I just made sure to drink extra water the next day.

Better get dressed, going to my grandmother's for lunch....