a little Fuller was born

It all started Monday at my doctors office, I went in for my 39 week appointment feeling like I was in labor.  Apparently I was just out of room.  I could not take it any more! After speaking with my doctor about the different options we decided to induce on Wednesday if he was not born Monday or Tuesday.  I was so excited I could hardly contain myself.  I immediately went home and started to get ready for his birth.  Monday and Tuesday drug on like there was no tomorrow, and after not being able to sleep Tuesday night 5:00am on Wednesday morning finally arrived.  I nervously and frantically packed the car and Jason and I headed to the hospital. 

                                                             (Last belly picture before birth)

They got the pitocin going around 7:00am.  The contractions slowly started but could barley be felt.  At 10:05am my doctor paid me a visit and broke my water.  Almost immediately my contractions went from a 1 on the pain scale to an 8.  I only lasted till 12:30 before I was demanding an epidural.  Once the epidural was administered it was smooth sailing.  I didn't feel a thing and was dilating right on schedule.  Cohen was positions "sunny side up" (the wrong way) so they kept moving me back and forth to different positions to try to get him to move.  The unfortunate part is you cant tell if he is in the correct position until the pushing begins -(sometimes even in this position they can still be delivered as long as they will fit through the birth canal).  Finally after what felt like an eternity we were ready to begin delivering Cohen.  At about 7:00pm they turned off my epidural so I could feel when I was pushing, the epidural medicine normally takes a while to wear off and they said they could turn it back on if needed.  So at 7:30 everyone left the room but my mom and Jason and we were ready to meet Cohen.  I pushed for over an hour and was begging for my epidural to be turned back on- it felt as if I was being murdered.  I have never felt so much pain in my life. The nurse went to look for the doctor but the other patient was delivering at the same time.  Once the doctor finally got in the room another 20min it was apparent that he did not turn and could not fit through the birth canal and I was rushed off for an emergency c-section.  I was like one of those screaming ladies you see on TV and movies.  Once in the operating room it only took a few minutes for the anesthesiologist to give me medicine to dull the  pain and the procedure began.  Cohen Jack Fuller was born at 9:20pm on Wednesday November 23, 2011. He weighed in at 7.8lbs 20 inches long.

Week 38

I think this is the hardest part of pregnancy so far.  I feel like I am just waiting and waiting for something to happen.  I no longer sleep very well not only because I get up to go to the bathroom every hour but every time I feel a pain in my abdomen I think oh labor is starting, then I wait a few minutes and nothing more happens.  The doctor says my due date is 11/28/2011 but according to my last menstrual cycle and the night of conception (so I think) my due date should really be 11/18/2011.  Whats funny is not one thing except for that first sonogram has lined up with the 11/28 due date, even the Chinese gender predictor says girl if born on 11/28. So with 11/18 quickly approaching (3 days) I cant help but think I am going to have this baby soon.  When I first found out I was pregnant I thought I would deliver on 11/17 so I am curious how close I will actually be. 
On the positive side, I am officially on maternity leave.  I do not think I could have worked another day, it was so exhausting and painful.  Yesterday I only left the house to go to the doctor and spent the rest of the day on the couch watching TV, cleaning and cooking dinner. Today I have close to the same plans, except I do have to go run a few errands. 
As I approach motherhood I realize I can not imagine a baby inside of me, I try to think about what he will look like but all I see is a cartoon character or a drawing of a baby, I can not seem to imagine that there is a full term human baby inside of me.  I also keep freaking myself out that something is going to be wrong with Cohen or delivery. I know these are normal fears but I cant seem to shake them. 

My belly has not grown that much over the last few weeks, as I think he has maxed out the allotted space but I swear my face keeps getting bigger and bigger.  My nose especially seems to be growing larger.  I really hope this goes away at delivery. I have gained a total of 28lbs though out this pregnancy which is better than I thought I would do.  I was scarred I was going to gain 40-50lbs. So 28 is not too bad  considering.  I bet I could have kept it around 20 if I didn't cave into my dessert temptation every night!


Hopefully by the time I blog next it will be the birth story and a good one at that.

36 Weeks and Counting

One more day and I am officially considered full term! Finally, these last few weeks have drug on and I thought I would never get here. Over the last few days my Braxton hick’s contractions have gotten more regular and intense.  I keep wondering is this the real thing? Everything I read and everyone I talk to says you will know.  I am starting to wonder if I will really know.  Take for example yesterday.. I woke up feeling strange and crampy.  I went about my day, got dressed went to work, came home made dinner, went to the store (I figured if this was the beginning of labor it would last a while).  Right before sitting down to eat dinner, my back started aching (I have not had any back pain thus far) and my "cramping" got so bad I had to sit down.  Jason pulled out the timer and I had 2 back to back contractions that were 5 minutes apart lasting around 30 sec each, I was nervous and could not stop thinking should I call my doctor, should I grab my bag and head to the hospital?  Instead I went and took a hot bath and the contractions stopped. I guess my body is preparing me for the real deal, but how will I know.  I really do not want to wait so long that I end up with a baby in my pants (Best episode ever of "I didn’t know I was Pregnant".)

Last week at my doctor’s visit I brought up the discussion of maternity leave again, and she told me to make it one more week then we will evaluate my swelling and pain and most likely we will start maternity leave early. Since I could not get a doctor’s appointment on Friday I have to wait till Monday but I am hoping Tuesday will be my last day of work till the New Year.

Here are my belly pics from week 36.  I am not sure there is any more room to grow.  I might tip over! 

Week 34

Almost there! Tomorrow I am officially 35 weeks.  It seems like it has taken forever to get to this point and now I am just counting down the days until Cohen's arrival.  Jason and I went to a childbirth class this last weekend, which was really informative on helping us prepare for his birth.  I have to say that I am nervous! Am I going to go to the hospital at the right time?  When will I know if my contractions are real?  What if my labor is 30hours? I still do not quite understand how it is physically possible to birth a baby. 

 My belly is starting to get really big and in the way.  A few weeks ago I burnt myself while ironing and I keep turning on the gas stove with my stomach. One good thing is that my belly button has not turned into an outie yet and unless he grows a lot over the next few weeks I think I get to keep an innie!  It has started to get extremely uncomfortable to do everyday tasks.  Cohen has dropped and is now in position with his head down.  He has been kicking or elbowing a lot lately but I have not been able to catch it on video.  I am hoping to see a whole foot or hand. 

Week 32

Saturday, I had my final baby shower.  Alyssa, Debbie, Sara and Elisa all hosted it at Alyssa's house.  It was great!  Elisa made the food which was of course delicious....I am wishing I had left overs right now! Chicken nuggets. Yummmmmm.  The theme was giraffe (my nursery theme) which was really cute, and went with the invitations that Debbie made.  It really meant a lot to me that my mom was able to come.  She flew in at 8:30am and I took her back to the airport at 2:30pm. It was a short trip but we had a lot of fun.

After working on the nursery for a a few days I finally covered the glider, ottoman and made a pillow.  After covering the ottoman I wanted to throw my sewing machine at the wall.  I had to sew then take it apart several times to get it to fit correctly.  There is one corner that is not perfect, but it is the best it is going to get. Now all I have to do is organize everything and put things on the wall.   I am really stressed out about organizing the nursery.  Every time I walk in there I look around and wish I could hire someone to fold the clothes and organize them.  I keep waiting for the nesting instinct to hit me, so I will want to do these things. 

Jason always knows how to entertain me.  I was sitting in the nursery working on the skirt for the glider when in came Bugsy in the walker Alyssa and Debbie got us. 

Finally, here are by baby bump pictures for this week. It is getting so big!! It looks like I have a basketball in my stomach. I do not quite understand how it is going to stretch any further. 

Week 32 baby scare

 It all started on Monday night while in San Antonio for work.  I got sick on the way to dinner, at dinner and after dinner. After a few hours of toughing it out I decided to call my doctor because I started to have stomach pains (not like normal cramps) they were every few minutes and lasted only a few minutes each.  The on call doctor told me it was best to go to the hospital to get checked out.  Turns out I had food poisoning or a stomach bug which caused dehydration which in turn caused contractions.  They hooked me up to several machines and monitored my contractions and Cohen for the night.  They gave me some medicine to make me stop throwing up which in turn caused me to become agitated and restless (I could not sit still (at one point I tried to leave- apparently this is a side effect).  So they gave me a pain killer to help counteract the medicine, which caused me to become sick again.  Finally after hours of being in pain and uncomfortable the pain meds kicked in and I finally fell asleep.  The doctor came in at about 7:30 and said everything was ok and as long as Cohen's heart rate was normal and I could keep down food I could go.  I was finally released at 9:30am.  After being in the labor and maternity area of the hospital for the night I think I am more scared about child birth than I was before.  At about 3:30am a lady came in ready to give birth.  She was too late for drugs and had to go all natural..... I heard things NO ONE should ever have to hear.  I do not understand how anyone forgets the pain of labor, I can not get her screaming out of my head! 

Week 30 and The Nursery

The Nursery

One of the most exciting days this last week was Tuesday when my custom bedding (ordered from Etsy) arrived.  It is perfect.  I love the colors and she did a fabulous job on the construction.  I still have a lot of work to do on the nursery but I have all of the main pieces in place.  I ordered extra fabric that matched the bedding and I am going to attempt (or pay someone) to recover the chair and ottoman, make a pillow, and a valance.  I will post pictures of the progress over the next few weeks.  Other than that I need to get the pictures framed and hung on the wall, then the nursery should be complete.  

Only 10 more weeks! I am counting down the days.  Since the beginning of this pregnancy I had a feeling I would not go 40 weeks but deliver somewhere around the 37-38 week mark.  My hope was he would decide to make an entrance on 11-11-2011, but the closer I get I keep fearing that he is going to stay in for 40+ weeks, and not come till December.  I know there is nothing I can do to change when he is going to come but I do not know if I (or Jason) can handle being pregnant for over 40 weeks. 
Changes in the last few weeks:

1. For 2 nights now my sleep schedule has been rudely interrupted by having to go to the bathroom EVERY HOUR.  I could stand the 3-4 times a night, but 6-8...it is starting to get ridiculous. 
2. I have noticed Cohen is not moving around as much as we was before.  This keeps scarring me and I am moments away from calling the doctor but then I drink some caffeine and do a kick count, check the heartbeat and everything is in line for what the doctor told me to watch for.  I guess he is just running out of room and likes to sleep.  My next Dr appointment is this Friday so I am going to bring it up and see if they will do a sonogram to put my mind as ease.  For some reason they do not like to give out sonograms, I do not understand why, so it might be difficult to coax them into one. 
3. It is getting harder and harder to walk or should I say waddle around.  It is extremely depressing when I cant go shopping for more than 2 hours.  Not only are my feet pounding but I get winded just walking around.  I cant wait for my body to go back to normal.