Halloween or Bust

We finally had a good interaction with my regular OB. We got to experience a different side of her that we hadn't seen before - so we are both more comfortable with her ability and advice. Dean's deadline is Monday at 6AM at which time we have an appointment at the hospital with the Dr. to begin the inducing process. I still want to do this as natural as possible and the Dr. was very understanding of this.

So please pray that he and I begin this on our own before Monday morning; Otherwise we are getting a medical push and he's being evicted :)

Pictures were taken October 29, 2010 - 40 weeks 4 days pregnant:

A New Outlook - complete with reassuring news

What a great day!
I met with Dr. Campbell, High Risk OB. His office is in the new women’s hospital and everything was just terrific – building was clean, tidy a nice relaxing office atmosphere. Starting at 9:00 I waited all of 15 minutes to be called back, talked to the nurse, went in for the ultrasound and then met him and was done and gleeful by 10:10. Previously this was a 2-3 hour process and not nearly the quality or time was spent with me nor were questions being answered.

Dr. Campbell was wonderful – nice sense of humor, great smile – I think he actually loves his job! He agreed with us that 42 weeks was the cutoff point. He is not concerned about waiting a couple more days – Monday or Tuesday. In short he discussed all of the options with us and wanted us to make the decision of what to do. We told him about the communication problems we’ve been having and how this is the most information we’ve been given in weeks. He opened the door for us to be able to ask him to deliver and he was most willing. EXCEPT he’s out of town this weekend Friday – Sunday afternoon. So pray for today or after Sunday. However I also have the Drs that are on call for him should we want to go with them over the current Dr.

Dean and I are still checking out just fine. I’m swollen, but that is expected. He is reactive, has fluids and again everything looked fine on the ultrasound. They measured him –and as I’ve said all along and the Dr. said “he’s a whopper” drum roll please…. 9lbs 6oz (give or take a standard deviation of 10-15% more or less); 10% deviation would be between 8lbs 6oz - 10lbs 6oz and 15% deviation would be between 8lbs 2oz – 11lbs. Dr. said the ultrasounds have gotten much more accurate but the estimate is usually high. He said that although bigger babies due statistically result in a higher rate of c-sections; I’m tall and have a good build to have Dean vaginally!! So he was not concerned about the weight.

Current plan is to have Dean come out!! Should he not be willing to do this on his own by Monday at 3:15 PM ET (just in case he’s on a different time zone) I have an appointment with Dr. Campbell to begin pushing things along with a prostaglanden tape. Prostaglanden is what naturally gets the whole process started. Hopefully that will move things along within 24 hours and I’ll be in the hospital pushing in no time. If not then we’ll be looking at adding pitocin (synthetic oxytocin).

Thursday's False Alarm

Thursday afternoon:
Well around 1:00ish in the afternoon I went for a walk and even before I left for the walk was wondering if I was leaking fluid. So we walked 15 minutes. Still nothing substantial was coming out. Didn't increase when I coughed or laughed. But did seem to flow fairly consistent. Had a little extra discharge but nothing of strong odor or color. The leaking fluid did not have a strong odor and did not seem to be urine. However I drink a lot of water so my urine isnt strong anyways - here's me at work smelling everything in the bathroom! LOL I even laughed to myself at the time.

so 4:15 rolls around and Dr. Karon's office calls to schedule an appointment for next week - wanting to induce on Monday. Of course I have an appointment with Dr. Campbell at 3:15 on Monday so I'm really confused as to what is going on. He made it sound like the prostaglands would be put in, I'd be sent home; come back Tuesday 6AM to be induced at hospital. So I wait for Kristen (front desk gal) to call me back. She was none to pleased; neither was I - what is up with this office!

While I was waiting for Dr. K's office to call back, I called Dr. Campbell's office too and spoke to the wonderful nurse that checked us in that morning. She remembered me and was super sweet understood that I wanted to wait just another hour to see what was going on. She recommended laying down for 30 minutes and then getting up to see what happened - never did that. She said I could wait a little while and then just go to the hospital because they could test me to see if it was fluid or not - so there was no rush to get anywhere by a certain time.

So Kristen calls back and goes with the original plan I set with Dr. Campbell. Then I ask her about the POTENTIAL that i'm leaking and that we all know I had plenty of fluid at 10 AM that morning and you and I know you have at least a 12-24 hour window of time before the concern about infection kicks in. So now I'm transferred to the nurse who tells me I should go to their office like PRONTO. I mean she acted like I was in ACTIVE LABOR and it was an emergency. I'm thinking why? so I can wait 2 hours to be sent home again? I'm like no no I really don't know that this is fluid - it doesn't have all the classic signs and I'm not having any contractions. I'll keep an eye on my temp; go home and get dry clothes on so I can monitor what is happening.

So with 2 nurses encouraging me to error on the side of caution and go to the hospital - we did. And after trying not to get excited and feeling strange the entire way there - like is this it; It doesn't feel like "it"? Eah maybe not...then 4 hours later since I wasn't leaking what I was hopping I was leaking; we went home. We did meet 3 nurses who LOVE natural patients - even fight over getting them KC and Lauri were our team and are on shift both Monday and Tuesday :) so we told them we'd see them soon! Lauri even knew and had worked with patients that have done Hypnobabies and knew to wait until my eyes were open to talk to me :) big smiles about that!!!

Overall I was disappointed - big whop and no baby and I'm incontinent!! Booo!

The other great thing that occured - Dr. Karon did come and see me. She was dressed as Barbie for Halloween! LOL we had a wonderful visit with her. She was most patient, kind, answered all our questions. I didn't feel like a number and she spent adequate time talking and visiting with us. Asked how it went with Dr. Campbell and if we liked him. AND then said that she sent me over to him so we could talk research and stats - asked if we did that and I said yes we did and I really appreciated it and thanked her. We also talked about inducing and she said that since I'm soft and effaced I'm really a great candidate to be induced and that baby is only going to get bigger - I think she was really really trying to help me do better with my natural delivery. I told her that should we have to induce since we don't know how my body is going to react I wanted to talk to her about my options. She said that she'd start it really slow and only give enough to get things started. I shared with both her and Dr. Campbell that some people seem to do find on the Pitocin and others have crazy peaks upon peaks of contractions that are or would be unbearable - beyond normal birthing. Both agreed and said that everyone reacts differently.

I told Amy, my cousin, I'm no hero here and if the Pitocin gets some crazy stuff going on I'd like to be able to knock the edge off. She agreed (as expected I know) but said that we could have the epidural hooked up and then I get to control how much I want; or even if I don't want any. Dr. Karon also said that the anesthesiologists are phenomenal and know what they are doing - so not to worry. Then she'd tell me when to stop so I could really feel everything at the very end to push effectively. I finally felt that we had a real conversation and that both of us were understanding one another. She agreed that it would be great if Dean came over the weekend but we all feel going too much longer could have some real complications.

Not only that he's measuring 9.6lbs - I know that there is the margin of error; baby fat squishes and size alone is no reason to induce. However she said his head is measuring pretty big even for a 9.6 baby - she said that is something to be aware of. Dr. Karon and Dr. Campbell both "sized me up" with their eyes and said he'd fit - ha ha ha.

We really considered inducing Thursday, but I told Andrew it doesn't make any sense to do it for convenience sake (just because we are here) and throw the entire plan out the window. Besides I wasn't excited about sleeping at the hospital with the monitors on and then not really to get things started until the next morning...

So Dean follow the light and swim downwards before 6am Monday - otherwise I'm giving you a big push.

No doubt my baby likes me.

After the Storm

First of all my Momma wrote me: "Good morning. I woke up thinking about baby true. He was so cute. Loves to be cuddled and held. Ah….. ".

I had a dream the night before last that I was nursing him and he had milk everywhere - we were both so peaceful and happy! Most of the night and this morning my right hip (in my sciatic nerve/joint area and then radiating) hurts - it is a constant pain so hopefully the expanding feeling I'm having is a great thing! Already had some stronger contractions this morning too! Sure hope the left side hurts later otherwise I'll be lopsided!

We had a nice cold front move through yesterday that brought some areas some pretty nasty weather even tornadoes! One is unconfirmed in Scott Co - where we live. Dean didn't get the memo that the barometer was all over the place. From the local weather:

"The cause of this was a low pressure in Minnesota that is now the strongest non-tropical low pressure to ever occur in the US with a barometric pressure that fell to 28.23″. This is lower than 1993 Storm of the Century or the Blizzard of 1978 in Ohio (28.28″) or the Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald storm in 1975 on the big lake they call Gitchegoomee." Earlier in the day the weather man blogged "The parent low up in Minnesota has dropped to 957mb…28.26″ on your home barometer…if it went that low! That’s equivalent to a mid size category 3 hurricane!"
Some amateur video of possible tornadoes from the storm:


http://www.lex18.com/player/?video_id=10426&categories=10

http://www.lex18.com/player/?video_id=10431&categories=10

No News is...well No News

Dean and I are doing fine. Dr. is really pushing to induce, which of course we need a medical reason to do so; and she's not providing one. Dean will be coming in his own time; on his birthday!

I had an appointment yesterday and everyone checked out just fine. They monitored my contractions (4-5 little ones; I didn't even feel them in a hour), his heart rate and reactivity. She also pulled another preclampsia blood panel just to make sure nothing shows up on that test. No change since last week I'm 80% effaced, 1cm dialiated, -1 station, soft, midposition. 10/27 UPDATE: Test results were normal.

I'll be seeing a high risk specialist, per her recommendation on Thursday morning to get his opinion on "post dates" and "possible complications" associated with that. I'll make the best of it and see what this Dr. has to say...

Hunter's Moon - Tonight would be fine with me Dean!

Although there isn't any valid research that shows more babies are born on a full moon - my dad has his bets on tonight and tomorrow for Dean's birth. This is of course just fine with me! More babies are, however, born on Tuesdays and in 2003 Wednesdays there were 15.4 percent more births than on the average day. Sunday is the slowest day, with 35.1 fewer births than average. The fact that far fewer babies were born on the weekend may be influenced partly by scheduled labor induction and c-sections, according to the CDC. But vaginal births also occur less often on the weekend. [babycenter.com]

Tonight at 9:36PM, the Hunter’s Moon (aka blood moon or sanguine moon) is the full moon after the Harvest Moon (September 2010), which is the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox.

The Hunter’s Moon always occurs in autumn. In the northern hemisphere, it usually falls in October, although it can come as late as early November. However, here is the real difference: the location of the moonrise on your horizon. After tonight – the night of the full Hunter’s Moon – you can watch the moon rise noticeably farther north along the eastern horizon for several nights in succession.

It’s this northward movement of the moon along the eastern horizon at moonrise – for several days in a row, around the time of full moon – that gives the Hunter’s Moon its magic. [http://earthsky.org/tonight]

From the Farmer's Almanac:

Many moons ago, Native Americans named this bright moon for obvious reasons. The leaves are falling from trees, the deer are fattened, and it’s time to begin storing up meat for the long winter ahead. Because the fields were traditionally reaped in late September or early October, hunters could easily see fox and other animals that come out to glean from the fallen grains.

Probably because of the threat of winter looming close, the Hunter’s Moon is generally accorded with special honor, historically serving as an important feast day in both Western Europe and among many Native American tribes. [Farmer's Almanac]

Dean Passed His Tests!

Yesterday afternoon Dean and I were monitored for 15 minutes and we got to see him via ultrasound to make sure he was doing well - He scored a 10 out of 10!! So there is nothing to be concerned about.

Ultrasound Test - Biophysical Profile
The profile has five components. The first is a non-stress test, which measures changes in the heart rate when the fetus moves. This was pretty neat - they strapped two bands to my belly one near the top with a transducer to monitor my contractions (I had one little one). And another lower band that monitored his heart - I had to hold this one at an angle to hear his heartbeat. Then the nurse handed me a little button that I was to push whenever I felt him move! All three of these cords (2 belly transducers and the button) fed into this box and Andrew and I could hear his heartbeat and when he moved around (like static). Dean moved around a lot - I think it was because he could hear himself and they say that makes babies excited.

The other four components are observations made during an ultrasound, which measures the baby's body movements, breathing movements, muscle tone, and the amount of amniotic fluid in the sac around the baby. Each component is assigned two points, resulting in a score ranging from 0 to 10, with scores from 8-10 considered normal, 6 considered borderline, and below 6 considered problematic. Dean scored a 10 and did everything pretty quickly. And as you can see below Lascinda (the ultrasound tech) had some fun getting us some great shots of Baby Dean.

Baby Dean 10-20-10 Ultrasound

Dean's "Old Apartment"

There have been many requests, especially from Ohio and Colorado, for baby belly pictures. Here by popular demand...Dean's "old apartment". FYI: I hear he is getting evicted soon. I hope he likes his new pad.

DAQ Baby Boom Halloween Event

Three of my other coworkers are expecting over the next few months as well. The folks at DAQ decided to host the Baby Boom Halloween Event. Erin visited with us on her lunch break and was able to meet the people that I work with. The pictures below were taken by one of my co-workers, John Trout. As you will see, there were many decorations, spooky snacks, and good company.

The Baby's Room

Farmer Erin

Last year in the hay field...back when I could wear jeans!!

Rainbow

It has been very dry in Georgetown lately. We had a brief rain shower last week, followed by double rainbow.