Vitamin C- A No Go!

OK- I'm not going to do the vitamin C thing--- I posted that I was going to take that on my pregnant mom's chat room and a gal felt like researching and the side effects aren't that fun if you take too much- and she couldn't find anything online about it helping to thin things out-- I'd like to know the research my Chiropractor has on that-- Oh well---- I'll just not do it, fine by me. She'll just come out when she's good darn and ready.

Funny though- she was so anxious to come out early and now she's to shy to come out when the timing is right. Good thing I'm still working to help keep my mind off of it-- well, sort of.

Yeah- at home again....

WOW, so, it's me again, at home. I'm not dilating, everything else is changing but I'm just not dilating so they sent me home. I was able to get some sleep today which is good but we just thought we'd be bringing home a baby.

Anyway, I had an appointment with the Chiropractor today and I'm SOO glad I did, first off, she drew some accupressure points on my feet and ankles that I can rub to help things along naturally, told me to get some vitamin C vitamins and take 500 mg every 2 hours which can help thin out the cervix, I figured- that's easy enough and of course I'll give it try, it's natural and can't hurt anything, I mean if anything it will help protect me against Taylor's cough he all of a suddent came down with. Then she wanted to feel how loose my hips were and all of the groin pain I've been having she was able to help with! She said my ligament on the right side was wound up VERY tight and very spastic so she released it for me, she said that could be why things aren't really changing because the muscles were so thight, she told me not to be surprised that once things start to go again that they might come on very fast and strong. So that was a good appointment too. The best part, I walked out of her office without a waddle for the first time in weeks! I feel so much better now!

Well, the contractions are still coming, not worth timing now, so we'll see how the rest of the night goes... guess I know now that I won't post anything until we know for sure... I always get ahead of myself. So, stay tuned.

Hospital

We are heading to the hospital......

Still awake....

Well-- this has been an interesting evening. I have slept about 1 hour. I've been contracting ALL NIGHT LONG- I'm just waiting for them to get stronger. I don't really know what is going on, I guess they do say that this first stage of labor can take quite awhile so I'm trying to be patient and I've been up walking around and doing the stairs in between trying to get some rest, I called down to the hospital and they said to call and come down as soon as I start not being able to talk through the contractions anymore.

So- I'm on hour 7 right now of laboring at home, is this normal?

Here we go again.....

Good Dr Appointment!

Well- all of these contractions have actually done something now! Ok- I thought I was 75% effaced before but I misread what they wrote, I guess I was only 25% effaced as of last week-- well- in 1 weeks time I went from 25% to now 75%! I'm still only 1 cm dilated but he said that is very common with first time mom's that they thin out before they dilate. The BIGGEST thing is that I am sitting at +1 station- he said no wonder why you are uncomfortable, her head is right there! He said he has delivered thousands of babies and he doesn't see that very often that you are at +1 before you are in active labor. I was very happy to hear that something is actually going on down there now! Finally! He pushed back my membranes- which was painful- but it was pain that was for a good cause so I didn't mind. He said its like releasing some of the gummy stuff that keeps you from dilating- he thought that might help things along.

Taylor was able to come to the appointment and he asked him if he could make an educated guess what he thought for possibly a timeline- we were surprised when he said he could see it happening within 48 hours! Since I had been contracting all day long and I made some real progress over the last week he said it should be any day now. Although he can't say for sure because if he could write a perscription that says that he'd be the best doctor in the world- but he said he would be very surprised if I made it to my appointment next week, but I do know that it COULD happen- we just aren't going to think about that right now though. THINK POSITIVE! SO-- now we are just hoping the contractions keep on coming- they have been so far, and we went out to eat at Taco John's- thought that the spicy food couldn't hurt any! :) So- maybe the next time I post I'll be letting you know we are on our way.... keep your fingers crossed for us!

38 Weeks

Well, Still pregnant.

If you read down at my previous posts you'll see that we thought we might have had the Christmas Eve baby. I woke up at 5am on Monday morning with some much stronger contractions then I had ever had before. They started right off the bat at 3 minutes apart. I had remembered in my classes that they said that you'll probably labor at home for awhile and during that time they said to try to get some rest in between contractions and make sure you eat some small meals and drink plenty of fluid. So, it being that it was 5am and we didn't make it to bed until midnight the night before we got out Taylor's laptop and went to the contraction master online where you just have to hit space bar to keep track of your contractions and we laid in bed trying to get in a little bit more rest. Shortly they turned from 3 minutes apart to 5-8 minutes apart by hour 2. But then they started getting stronger and laying in bed was just not comfortable anymore so I got up and went into the nursery to rock in the rocking chair. Then they stretched out to 5-10 minutes apart and then by 8:30 they seemed to be stopping. I thought maybe they were just taking a little break so I took the opportunity to jump in the shower because I wanted to be clean when we went to the hospital and by the time I got out I didn't have anymore.

So, since then they have just been off and on but not very strong, mostly just similar to the pre-term ones I was having. I know its not my due date but for those of you who had pregnancies where you never contracted until you went into labor, or for some people had a doctor's appointment and they told you you were contracting and you didn't even know it, well, I just don't think you understand how frustrating it can be to contract all the time. I mean, I've been doing this now for 8 weeks. I know Heidi went through this too so I know she knows where I'm coming from- but it is frustrating. It's not very comfortable when you contract and it gives you a false sense of hope. And don't get me wrong, I know I should cherish these last few days of pregnancy, and I am, I'm just saying that these contraction things are just getting really annoying. So- I guess we'll just keep playing the waiting game and hopefully she'll come out soon. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow evening so I'll let you know how that goes.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

38 Week Belly Shots.....

Maybe I spoke too soon....

OK-- so maybe I spoke too soon.... 3 hours of contracting, my back was KILLLING me so I thought maybe I'll take a warm shower to help get it to relax a bit and I thought if I am going to go in today I at least want to be clean... well, the warm shower calmed everything down and I haven't had one for about 15-20 minutes now, now I'm just hungry.

Oh the waiting game of pregnancy... ho hum.. well, I'll go and eat some cereal, maybe they'll be back in a little bit.... all for now

Christmas Baby?

OK-- I'm writing this in between contractions right now, kind of gets my mind off of the pain and helps me focus on something different for a few minutes.

I woke up at 5am with some contractions- I thought to myself, these are probably just the same contractions I've been having that haven't done anything, so I just tried to go back to sleep. But then a big one hit me at 6am, my lower back started killing me and my right leg started to have cramps in it and these contractions were getting a LOT stronger then what I typically had.

So- anyway, it is now 8:15am- I'm sitting in the nursery in the rocking chair because laying down was making things worse. They were every 3 minutes there for almost an hour, then I was able to kind of take a little tiny cat nap and now they are ranging between 5-10 minutes apart. There is a neat little thing online called a contraction master, it takes all the dummy work out of keeping track of your contractions, its a big clock and you just go to the website and when you have a contraction you hit the space bar and when its over you hit space bar again, it will then log for you the time the contraction started, how long it was, and the time between that one and the one before it. www.contractionmaster.com Coolest thing ever.

Anyway... I'll try to keep you updated, but for now, I'm just saying- I don't think anyone is going to win the Guess the Due Date and I think she just might be our Christmas Angel. Christmas was Grams' favorite holiday, maybe she is watching over us right now and knows that we all could use a little Angel with us this time of the year.

Christmas might be celebrated in the hosptial room this year. By the way- I go to Fairview Red Wing Hospital. We like visitors.

Doctor's Appointment

No Changes

She said maybe a little bit more thinned out but that was it.

I was upset with my appointment yesterday, I felt like my nurse didn't know what she was doing and my doctor was in a hurry and didn't give me much time and attention. She told me I had a +1 amount of protein in my urine and gained 5 pounds in a week! My blood pressure was good- 108/64. But didn't tell me what that all meant, she just left me hanging. She said if between now and next Wednesday I don't feel good or start swelling up pretty badly I need to call in and that was it. OK- what do you mean not feeling good... what kind of not feeling good, because I have been SO exhausted this week, my stomach feels a bit uneasy, I get hot flashes, I feel very gassy and crampy- are these the type of not feeling good signs I'm suppose to be watching for, or are these normal?

And my groin hurts SO bad lately sometimes I can't even walk another step, it feels like a cramp in my groin and there isn't anything I can do to make it go away.

I really broke down last night- I think I've been trying to be so strong and tell myself I can do this and last night it just came pouring out, pregnancy is not an easy thing. These last few weeks are VERY hard to deal with- you are expected to go about working like normal, take care of your house and family like normal and feel fine- well- its not like that, my body aches every minute of the day, I feel like a zombie who hasn't slept in years and every little thing I do is 100 times harder to do then normal. I think the last few weeks are suppose to suck so you have enough energy and power to push that baby out when its time.

This weeks Bets

So far this week- we do have 1 bet:

Friday, December 21, 2007

Kate Ries- weight: 7 lbs 15.5 oz

Let the Bets Begin.....

Alrighty,

We are on the countdown now! As my mom said yesterday- seeing the days until Baby Pagel arrives in the teens it almost took her breath away! SO- I figured to help make these last couple weeks a little more interesting "Let The Bets Begin"

I have printed off a December and January Calendar and if you either comment on this post or send me an email you can place your bet on what day we will all get to meet her and what you think she'll weigh. Then at the beginning of the week I'll post who thinks what for the week and hopefully we'll have a winner! Your prize if you win- The privilege of having your name in her baby book as the winner of the bet! :) Weight will be the tie breaker if we have a few people on for one day.

As for weight- I'll give you a little hint- I was 7 lbs 12 oz and Taylor was a hefty 9 lbs 5 oz.

Good Luck to All! :)

37 Weeks

OK- so I thought maybe this weekend was going the be THE weekend... but it wasn't. Maybe sometime this week?? HUMM... if she wants to experience her first Christmas this year she'll have to come this week, or maybe she's hanging out to be the first baby of the New Year. I don't go to the doctor until Wednesday so now I have to sit and wait until I can figure out if I have progressed or not.

Friday- since I offically made it to the SAFE SAFE zone I thought I would start back in slowly on my work out routine. My legs were starting to feel weak after being told for over a month to not do anything, so I started walking on the treadmill again, 1/2 mile each day and then some simple leg lifts of sorts to build that muscle up again so I can push this baby out. Well- I had a TON of contractions Friday night after I went for my walk and by the time I went to bed I had 2 that were MUCH stronger and more painful ones then I had ever experienced, I thought- OH MAN- here we go... and then that was it.

Saturday- I didn't have as many contractions but a lot of pinching and pains in my cervix area. So it just makes me curious to see if I have now dilated more or not.

Sunday- just normal sporadic contractions and that's pretty much it. So I guess I'll be going to work tomorrow. :( I'm SO looking forward to have 6 weeks off, I really hope she comes sooner then later- if I have her during Taylor's Christmas break from school then 1) he doesn't have to take any PTO and 2) he gets to be home with me longer as he has off from December 24-January 1- that would be so nice to have him home for 2 weeks with me instead of just a week or a few days (we aren't sure how many he is going to take up front, but he is taking off week 7 to stay home with her on his own).

Here I am at 37 weeks- I think I can really tell that I dropped- and they say that towards the end you could not look as big as the baby gets lower into your pelvis, I think I look smaller now then I did at 35 weeks. What do you think?

37 Weeks



Just to compare the side view- here was me at 35 weeks....


I'll let you all know on Wednesday night what happens at the doctor. Until then- have a nice week!

36 Weeks

Well- I'm still pregnant- which is a good thing, who would have thought that I would have successfully made it to the safe zone a month ago when I was dealing with all that pre-term contraction stuff. But we made it, so things are good! She must have known that I stand strongly about breastfeeding and she just needed to be able to latch on well and figure out that sucking thing before she comes out!

I hope my blood pressure stays this way for the rest of my life-- I'm almost 37 weeks pregnant- and you'll never guess what my blood pressure was- 94/56!! Can you believe it!!!

I had my weekly appointment last night- dilation is about the same- maybe 1cm now- effacement is the same but she has really moved down into my pelvis- she is sitting at 0 station which means she is engaged!!! :) I had NO idea what the whole station thing was until last week so for those of you who don't quite understand it I have added some info I found on the net about it.

The concept of "station" denotes the degree of engagement of the fetal head as it navigates the maternal pelvis. Station is the relationship of the presentng part to an imaginary line drawn between the ischial spines of the pelvis. The ischial spines are two bony prominences that demarcate the middle of the pelvis.

Although we assess station during the last weeks of prenatal care (or in the case of preterm labor), its most frequent application is in labor. Progress in labor is assessed by means of several parameters, namely cervical consistency (soft to firm), cervical effacement (shortening), cervical position (posterior, anterior, or mid), cervical dilatation (0 to 10 cm) and station (-4 which is just coming into the pelvis to +4 station which is on the perineum or ready to be born). When the top of the fetal head arrives at the level of the ischial spines, the baby is said to be at 0 station or "engaged.”

Primigravidas (women having their first baby) typically engage before labor and may enter labor at -1, 0 or even +1 station.

Multigravidas (women having their second or greater baby) often engage during labor.

http://parenting.ivillage.com/pregnancy/plabor/0,,midwife_8nbb,00.html

So- I'm still holding strong- I'll be 37 weeks on Friday which means technically she'll be full term, so now, only time will tell.

Taylor was thrown a baby shower this last week at school, again, the whole Math Department was to have a meeting Friday afternoon and when he arrived their meeting was a surprise shower for him! They had yummy bars and gifts for him, he said it was a lot of fun! The best thing was our Rainforest Jumperoo! I was PUMPED to see that, that thing is so neat! The lady who picked it out for us has a little one and she said that is her favorite toy and is just the neatest thing! I made Taylor set it up already because I wanted to see it! Don't worry- it folds up nicely and can be stored away in a closet easily! :)

35 Weeks

Well, it has been a very busy 35 weeks so far.

To start off, Taylor's Grandma Pagel passed away suddenly on Thursday evening, she was 89 and lived a long and happy life. Her wake was on Sunday and funeral was Monday, she was best known for her wonderful, freshly homemade cookies that she always seemed to have on hand whenever we'd go and visit. We will all truly miss her.

Saturday, as you all know was the first big snow fall of the season! We couldn't help but play in it a little bit. Joey LOVES the snow- he was just a little tiny puppy last year so I'm sure he doesn't really remember it- but he has a blast in it right now. His favorite toy to play fetch with is one of his food bowls- which now can't really hold food- so its his toy, whenever he gets it in his mouth he just runs laps around the yard- it's pretty comical!




Sunday, I offically became a member of Spring Garden Church. Taylor and I have been going back and forth with who's church we'd offically be members of and he was so determined to go to his because he wants to keep his parents tradition going, they would drop off the kids at Sunday School and go over to Grandma's house for cookies and coffee until it was time to go to church so Taylor wants us to do the same. We also have some friends who attend that either just had babies or are going to soon that will be the same age as our baby and we thought it would be fun to have them grow up in the church together. So I am now offically a member!

Monday, I had a doctor's appointment and things are changing! Slowly- that is, which is good. He said everything is looking great! Blood pressure is excellent- 110/74 today, no signs of swelling, heart rate was good- she was moving ALL OVER the place at my appointment- when he was feeling to make sure she was still head down he ended up grabbing her foot and it must have tickled or something because she went crazy after that- we had to sit there and watch my stomach move all over the place before he could check her heart rate.

I am now 0.5 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and station -3. He said all of which is normal for this point in the game. He told me that if I went into pre-term again this week and things weren't changing drastically they would probably stop me for one more week, he said as long as I can make it through one more week they will be happy. She is growing perfectly, I measured 35cm so I'm on the right track. Now, the question is, will she be here before Christmas or will she be the New Year baby-- guess we'll have to see what she decides!

I've offically started nesting- last night I got all the rest of her clothes washed and hung in her closet, I put the mattress pad on, re-did a few things, hung up a few things on the wall, rearranged the changing table and rearranged some drawers. I'm ready whenever she is!

35 week Belly shots: