Last Prenatal Appointment EVER!

This morning I went in for my 41 week appointment. I went to a different clinic than normal because my doctor is at the Plymouth clinic on Saturdays. When I got there I got weighed, blood pressure taken and the usual round of family history questions. * Up two pounds, perfect bp as usual and no, my family history has not changed from three days ago*. Then they hooked me up to the non-stress test machine which went just fine until I started blacking out. I called for the nurse and was immediately surrounded by a bunch of medical people. Turns out the combination of no breakfast, lying on my back with a 7-9 pound kid resting on top of me, and the fact that the air conditioner was broken made a nasty combination. After some apple juice, turning on my side, and a strategically placed ice pack I was good to go.

Next my doctor checked me. After a couple of days of plenty of painful contractions, I fully expected her to tell me all about the awesome progress I had made. Instead she proceeded to inform me I had made zero progress and my cervix was still high. Same thing going on as the last three weeks, absolutely nothing. Disheartened by this news, she then advised me that my fluid level of 7.9 from the biophysical on Monday was not where she would like to see it, and that I was only in the 5th percentile for women of my gestational age. She said she wanted to induce TONIGHT. Whoa! I was not expecting this. She sent me on my way with the promise that she would call me as soon as she heard from the hospital about whether or not they would allow an induction before 41 weeks.

About 15 minutes later the doctor called and said that hospital policy was that they would not induce before 41 weeks unless it is a medical emergency. The best she was able to do was get me in for Cervadil on Friday night and induce in the morning on Saturday. I agreed to this, trusting her recommendation.

So here it is, Thursday night. Matt is going to work a full day tomorrow and then come home. My Mother-In-Law is coming over around five and will be watching Brianna until Sunday when my Mom will take her. The house is clean, there is food in the cupboards and everything is ready for Ben.

Lovies, Catherine

40+4 Reflections

I am quickly coming to terms with the fact that my June bug will most likely be a July baby. This has definitely been the longest week of my life, but not the worst by far. Since my pre-term labor issues at 35 weeks, I have been preparing for Ben to make his appearance. I now realize that God had a different plan. What I ended up with was two extra weeks (maybe three?) off of work to spend with my amazing daughter.

Were all of the days amazing and fun? No; some days I could barely move and had to spend the entire day on the couch with Bri playing next to me. However, most were spent playing "kitchen", reading books, taking walks, playing at the park, swimming, talking about the world around us, and spending lots of time snuggling. I wouldn't give this time back for the world! At this point the only thing I regret is the time I have spent whining about being overdue, (sorry to all of those who have had to listen to it) At the max, Bri only has one more week of being an only child, and I plan to enjoy every minute of it!

Playing in the Pool

Lunch at the Mall

Walking to the Park

I leave you now, completely at peace with whatever happens. <3

Catherine

Eviction Notice

EVICTION NOTICE
Date: June 23, 2012
Pending Eviction Date: June 30th, 2012


To: Mr. Benjamin Gregory Chenoweth


... To the above tenant in possession of below described premises:

I am issuing a 7 day notice for EVICTION. You will have 7 days in which you can either gather your belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, you will be physically removed from the property.

You are being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

If after 10 days from this day you don't comply with this notice it will result in immediate and forceful removal.

Thank you for your cooperation

Love,
Mommy

· ·

39 Weeks 5 days

My week with Brianna has been great. She has been such a good girl and has taken very good naps for me. The week has consisted of a mixture of me being too tired to even get off the couch, and random bursts of energy where I get to play with Bri and get some cleaning done. Yesterday Bri followed me around the whole house and helped me vaccuum. She kept handing me the attachments an then finding a corner of the room where she felt "safe" from the vaccuum and watching me.

The best day of the week yesterday was yesterday. Bri and I went to Northtown mall and had lunch and walked around. We found a great pair of sandals for her at Famous Footwear for $5.00! Super happy about that.

After a particulary nasty round of BH contractions last night, that kept me up till 2:15pm,  I woke up with the WORST lower back pain this morning. I am having a hard time moving around the house and I am a zombie from only few hours of sleep, so my sweet Mama was nice enough to come bail me out this morning and take Brianna for a few hours. She got outside to play and I got a few-hour nap. I still feel like crud, but it was a lifesaver- Thanks Mom!

2 days and counting till my due date! If every text message or call asking if he was here yet got me one minute closer to him actually being here, I think I'd have had him days ago! That would be awesome, wouldn't it? My hope, as I have said all along is for June 22nd but as thats tomorrow and I'm not even remotely in labor right now, my hopes are waning. Oh well! Maybe he will be as independent as his sister. :)

Going to go take another nap now and attempt to get out of this funk before my hubby comes home.

<3
Catherine

First day of leave

First day at home with Bri went well. She was a really good girl and it was great to spend some quality time with her. I couldn't play as much as she would have liked because I was exhausted, but we still had a good time.

Last Day of Work

39 weeks tomorrow and today is my last day of work! It's crazy to think that I won't be back here until mid-late August. Although the break will be nice, I am not delusional enough to think that nine weeks at home with two kids is going to be easier than work. I am really going to miss my friends, the atmosphere here and the endless supply of coffee.

However, as it is getting to the point where I can no longer ride in a car without wincing over every bump in the road, and my hand is permanantly stuck to the top of my belly pushing Ben's little butt down so that I can breathe, I definitely think it's time. At this point I have no idea if he plans to come early or late, but I definitely need a few days to sleep in and spend some time with my baby girl before she isn't an only child anymore.

Fathers Day is this weekend! Although I won't be able to celebrate it with my own Dad, I am looking forward to spending some time with my Father-In-Law and Matt's family. They are being super accomodating and have moved the celebration closer to home so that we won't be too far from the hospital, just in case. <3

Second to last Dr. Appt. is this afternoon, looking forward to seeing if any progress has been made!

Lovies,
Catherine

38 + 2 Update

38 weeks 2 days today! It is my last week of work and so far is going very well. I am getting a lot of "Your still here!?!'s" but that is to be expected. Everyone is very nice and not demanding. My biggest fear is my water breaking at work. I brought along extra pants, but if it happens like it does in the movies- that won't help much. Fortunately my Amy is standing by to help if needed. If my water breaks, I will probably just head home and wait for Matt to get there.  If I go straight to the hospital, I am on their clock and I'd really rather not be.

Doc appt today at 3:45, not expecting anything exciting. 12 days and counting! The picture is from 37 weeks 6 days. Excuse my grim look, I was concentrating on making sure the camera wasnt blurry- to no avail! ;-)

<3 Catherine

*Whew* There's a bullet dodged

Had my ultrasound this morning. It couldn't have gone smoother! The tech said right away that Ben was in head-down position and was actually so low that she wasn't able to see his face. She did get a couple of adorable foot pictures though. So all of the drama from last week is over. Everything looks good and (for the moment) he is exactly where he should be. 18 days until my due date!

Because of the PTO I have had to use, I have also moved my leave date for work back to June 18th, so my last day will be the 15th. As this is only 8 days left of work, I don't think it will be too bad. :)

As for the other goings-on in our life- Brianna is starting to communicate using mostly two-word phrases and is practicing new words every day. A few days ago I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she said very clearly, "Daddy Eggs" which is something that Matt makes for us on Saturdays and Sundays, and apparently she appreciates! It was adorable. Saturday, Bri and I spent a few hours garage sale-ing while Matt and Uncle Kevin golfed. We went to a ton of sales but only ended up spending 50 cents on a very cool ball & mallet toy that Bri LOVES. She hasnt stopped playing with it since.

This weekend we are looking forward to celebrating Matt's 28th birthday! He has no idea what is planned, just that something is. Unlike past years, this one will be very chill for both family & friends, juuust in case something crazy happens.. like unexpected labor.

And the Drama Continues ;)

Friday after work I had my 37 week appointment. I showed up all upset because I thought they had my due date wrong. Fortunately I was just exhibiting major preggo brain and was reading my chart wrong. By the time the doctor got in the room, I had calmed down and was actually pretty excited to find out if anything had progressed. Now that I am officially full term (doctors words), any impending signs of labor are only exciting and no longer scary.

The first thing the doctor did was measure my belly, 37 centimeters exactly- perfect! Then the doctor pulled out the doppler and tried to find baby's heartbeat- nothing. She said that the doppler was probably broken and went to grab another. He was kicking the crap out of me at that point, I wasn't the least bit worried that he was okay, just confused. She tried the new doppler with no luck at first. She moved higher and higher and finally found the heartbeat at the top left of my belly. She said she didn't like that. I didn't understand until she did the internal exam and couldnt even tell how dialated I was because baby had totally flipped and she couldnt even feel his head anymore (when the week before he was crazy low). Thats right- my little stinker flipped breech.

I left totally dazed with instructions to return on Tuesday at 7am for an ultrasound to confirm the breech position. If he is still breech at that point, I will be going to see a chiropractor at 4:30pm who will perform a technique to try and turn him. If that fails an external version will be scheduled later in the week. At point if he still doesnt flip, an ultrasound will be scheduled for the week of June 11th.

Fortunately, I don't think anything is going to come of this but another great chance to see my son. I have seen and felt lots of movement that leads me to believe he has alread flipped to head-down and was just teasing us. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I have done lots of research on External Cephallic Version and what to expect in case of a Cesarean section, so I feel completely prepared for whatever is next.

Who knows! Maybe I will get that Hollywood experience of my water breaking and everything going as originally planned anyway. :)

Lovies!
Catherine