the best things in life aren’t things

So my last blog I had written RIGHT before my contractions started to get crazy…

Greg got home, I was running around the house (as best I could) finishing cleaning, packing, and getting something to eat.  

The contractions were SO HARD to keep track of.  I called the doctor’s office to see if I could have my appointment moved up or if I should just go to the hospital.   They wanted me to come in, because I didn’t sound like I was in real labor.  About 5 minutes into the car ride it started to REALLY hurt.  I was trying to work through my breathing, but it was pretty difficult.  By the time we got to the MOG exit Greg had called the doctors office again to tell them that we were going straight to the hospital.  I am going to be transparent with you- I must have a very low pain tolerance.  I was breathing, but not correctly because I was losing feeling in my hands.  I was also slamming my hand against the window or the car door (when I didn’t have a death grip on it)  I also had a death grip on Greg’s hand.  I haven’t asked him if that hurt yet.  Luckily he wasn’t panicking, I sure was. 

I realized I had to go to the bathroom SO BADLY, so we stopped at my parents house on the way to the hospital to drop off the dogs and for me to pee.  HAHA TMI (Sorry Dad- but I was in SUCH a hurry I walked in on him peeing…. no our bathroom doors don’t have locks)

Anyway….  I went and sat there for a while because I couldn’t get up.  My mom and Aunt Julie came in, gave me a pep talk and we were out the door.  But first… someone had the idea to take a picture.  YAY

And off we went, the short 5 minute drive to the hospital that felt like 5 hours.  Greg pulled up, went to get me a wheelchair and came back and said… there’s not one in the elevator!  (He hasn’t listening when the tour lady said you had to push a button on the wall to call for help.  I sat in the car and waited for about 15 mintues for them to find a wheelchair.  Somehow I must have had a break in pain because I took this picture of this lady and her ugly capri pants and cowboy boots….  eeeeeeeeeew

I digress…. Anyway, I also took a picture of the clock it said 2:25.  Literally, my contractions were never stopping, they would just start.. in 5 seconds be EXTREMELY painful and wear off slowly for about 25 seconds…. 5 seconds of relief and BAM-MAJOR pain.  

They wheeled me in,  I had my eyes closed, I was sooooo uncomfortable.  They took my to L&D room 4.  It was a huge room, and they peeled my clothes off and put me in a gown.  This is where ALL modesty goes out the window I guess.  They were trying to ask me questions but I think I was ignoring them, and ‘trying’ to breathe.  I think the first thing I said was EPIDURAL and they tried to start and IV.  Notice I said tried…..

One vein they went completely through, and about 3 collapsed.  They were going back and forth between both arms, different people trying to find a vein, finally I looked and Greg and said… Get someone who knows how to do this please…  and they did.  But between breathing, Greg answering questions, me saying "epidural, epidural, please now, epidural" instead of hout like I was supposed to it was chaos.  It took about 30 minutes before they got the IV in.  Immediately they must have known I was crazy so the head nurse said give her TWO SHOTS of fentenal.  (I spelled that wrong…. and I need to google it!)  It immediately ‘took the edge off.’  I could feel the contractions, but my eyes weren’t rolling back into my head.   It took a little while to finish all the admittance questions, but I had to get a full bag of fluid before the epidural anyway. 

The midwife- Pam- came in to check me.  I was 3.5- 4 cm dialated.  They said…. "I guess we won’t send you home " (not the time for humor)  This cute little man came in for the epidural (YES!) and started asking the same questions (grrrrrr) but I didn’t mind as much at this point.  I told him I didn’t want to see the needle, he said I wouldn’t.  Literally- it was painless.  I guess that was the fentenal.  I was so relaxed and relieved to get the epidural.  I think this was when we started calling parents and updating them.  Both sets of parents came up about 5:30 and visited for a while.  They went to dinner and Pam came in to check me, I was at 6 cm and when she broke my water I was at 7.  Time to wait a little more…. la di da…. no pain… nothing. This is a picture of me after the epidural

We started calling even more people, friends, grandparents etc.  We were just waiting around now to push.  About 7pm I was 10 but she wanted to let the pressure of the babies head move it down the birth canal instead of me pushing (fine with me!)  About 8:30 I felt the pressure and Pam suited up to catch the baby.  HAHA

Greg is making a movie from the pictures we took during the delivery.  It was awesome.  He had the camera set up behind my head so we were in focus and everything else was blurry in the background.  I pushed about 5 times and at one point her heart rate dropped a bit so they put me on oxygen between pushes.  Each contraction I would push 3 times for 10 seconds.  I kept asking if I was doing it right because I literally couldn’t tell.  Out it came at 9:06 PM.  Pam wanted Greg to tell me what the baby was….  He looked and said… "I don’t know you tell me!"  He didn’t know how swollen babies privates are they are born.   I said…. IT’S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Okay I am crying now looking at this picture, look at how happy Greg is……

 This was my GOOD JOB kiss:

More to come………….

I think Biscuit will be here before the weekend!!

Last night we bought the Maternity Acupressure book online that tells you different places to apply pressure.  Sounds silly, and I didn’t think it would work.  It may not have been what started my contractions, but it was worth a try!

About 1 AM I woke up and we started timing my contractions.  They were about 30 seconds long every 5 minutes.  They didn’t hurt *that* bad…. so I went back to sleep!  When I woke up I didn’t feel any more contractions, so I thought they fizzled out.  But when I finally got out of bed about 10:30 I can tell they are still going.  Timing them is REALLY hard to me.  My stomach stays hard for longer than it hurts.  Do you only time it when it hurts, or as long as your stomach is "contracting?" 

okay OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW it’s 11:35 and that was one.

I can definitely feel them starting, but it is hard to tell when they stop!

OMG…. is this really happening?  This baby has no name!! hahahaha

I need to clean my room!

And pack my bag!

I have an appt at 3:50, did I say that already?  I can’t WAIT to see what they will say!  

I promise to try to update.. I don’t know if the hospital has internet!  My sis will be the one updating… if there is anything to say!

Wish me luck!

I was having blogging issues over the weekend… I couldn’t get my page to load- so I started a Blogspot account.  It is a little fancier… and I am not quite ready to switch over yet.  But, if you can’t access the blog for a few days, try www.copponex.blogspot.com

We had a fun weekend.  Sarah came over last week to help finish up the porch.  They got a good bit painted, but it is still not completely done.  I am so proud of Greg and his dad, they did a great job.

Chelsie came over Friday night and that was so nice.  It is great to have company come over, so it’s not just Greg and I, waiting for me to go into labor!! haha  Chelsie said "I’m going to laugh you into labor!!"  Well… you can see how that turned out… but she definitely did make me laugh a lot.  You can not be in a bad mood around Sarah and Chelsie.  GAH I just love them to peices.

Saturday we woke up early (SATURDAY HAS A MORNING?!) and Greg made the girls a Waffle House breakfast.  We got ready for the day and made our offerings for the feast… baked Macaroni & Cheese and Corn Cassarole (both recipies doubled!)

Headed over to Mom & Dad’s and visited with the fam.  I ate WAY  WAY to much, I got very uncomfortable…  I went to lay down and everyone followed me!! hahahaha  The baby put on a show for everyone (Christian’s face was priceless when it kicked her)  We left there and went to the Copponex’s for dinner (more food?!)  The whole ride there, I was feeling "funny" about every ten minutes.  When I got to their house, I laid down and whatever it was stopped.  I was still pretty uncomfortable, and kinda out of it.  Went home, took a bath and hit the hay around 10.

Sunday… we didn’t wake up until 12!  Like… 12 noon.  I couldn’t believe it.  I slept so well, it was great.  We cleaned the house, and watched some football.  We were both getting so bored, so we went to Lowe’s and got our tree!  I will post pictures tonight.  It is so beautiful!  Greg is an excellent tree picker.  We also bought a cabinet for the babies room, so now… once he finished painting the other rocking chair the room is done… and there will be more pictures!!! HAHAHAHA

I am having a lot of Braxton hicks contractions.  Greg can’t keep his hands off my belly.  If I had a dime for everytime he said "When is it coming"  "How are you feeling" or "Where are you going" I would be a rich woman.  He is so excited he can hardly stand it.  I am going back and forth, with just getting it over with, and not feeling as big as a house, and with how BAD it will HURT.  And it hurts…  i just have no idea….

waahhhhhhhh

I totally forgot to blog about my dr. appointment last week.  The reason I know I didn’t blog is because everyone has been asking me!! hahaha

I left work a little after the shower thrown by my coworkers.  I was a little annoyed because it took me an hour to see the midwife.  The lady in front of me was having complications… (how dare she?!) haha  So… I had to ask for a pelvic exam (?!) and I had not effaced or dialted anymore.  Disappointing, but typical. 

I had gained some weight, but that was probably due to my swelling!  I have started to swell A LOT and it doesn’t go down after putting my feet up/ or in the morning after sleeping. 

My next appointment is tomorrow at 2:30.  No high expectations… but I will be 38 weeks.  Everybody is starting to give me that nervous look when they pass me in the hallway… like they are thinking  ::::: please don’t let your water break on my shoes :::::

Last night I dreamed I had the baby (it was a boy) and totally forgot to feed it.  For about…. three days.  Just forgot.  Never fed it in the hospital, forgot when I got home….Just totally forgot.

Haha and when I remembered I attempted to BF but…. well….  haha I won’t go into detail but I was doing it ALL WRONG.

For some reason the day after giving birth I decided to go to the DMV.  I sat next to a 12 year old kid who said "Why?" all the time and told me to get used to it because my kid would do it to.  NOT MY KID!  hahahaha

And Greg and I took the baby golfing.  At first I left it in the car (windows rolled down of course- like that makes it better) but Greg wanted to use the baby carrier and he was getting mad because he couldn’t swing his club with the baby hanging off of him.  (Baby was still screaming at this point because it hadn’t eaten yet…)

What a weird dream. 

O Holy Night….  look at the ticker. 

The baby is in the last block and is looking like a little butterball turkey. 

Who thinks it is coming before Thanksgiving?!!

We are back from our ultrasound.  Greg is sitting on the bed with me telling me how much I was snoring last night…. (HAHA)

The ultrasound was fine, pretty uneventful.  When the baby is this big, it is to hard to get a picture.  It doesn’t help that Baby’s face is all the way behind my pubic bone…

 Measuring well, right on track.  They are thinking it weighs *about* 5 lbs 11 oz.  They can be off by as much as two pounds!  How reassuring…   She said it would be VERY unlikely for the baby to rotate this late, so that’s good.

 Not much else to report.  The porch is ALMOST done!  It looks awesome!  We stopped at Babies R Us and got a sheet saver.  I decided I wanted to switch out the sheet in the crib and that was a nightmare.  I had to completely take off the bumper, pull the mattress out and put it on that way.  Can’t see myself doing that in the middle of the night.  So a sheet saver it is!  We also stopped at Circuit City… they are closing all of their ATL stores… very sad.  We are looking at getting another camera.  There is nothing wrong with the one we have, except the fact I can’t find it!!  But I would like a better quality camera.  I am really a point and shoot person, so all the buttons are not really my thing.  I am trying to find a user friendly one

We were debating names.  Could it be we are back to the drawing board?  Who knows….  I know what names I like but Greg is being fickle on me…   He is starting to want it to be the III….  i said that was fine as long as he goes by Brady.    And no we like the name Macy.  "Like the department store" which is exactly what I thought at first, and it was the first thing my sister said (Maybe we are from the same mother )

We’ll see…we have about 25 days give or take a few….

My feet hurt.  Haha.  They look absolutely ridiculous, very swollen and puffy.  My dear sweet husband washed my feet for me tonight.  It was heaven.  I mean… I can’t reach my feet anymore so it was very nice…

Let’s see.  Friday night after work I went straight to Tanners for some dinner.  YUMMY.  We came home, it was only… 6:30 or so (POURING RAIN) and started making caramel apples (SO FUN!)  They tasted so good too.   I was SO EXHAUSTED by the time we finished.  It is weird, I can feel my pulse in my feet.

 Went upstairs and took a bath (aaahhhhhh) and crawled (almost literally) to bed.

The plan was to wake up early, but that didn’t happen.  I met Greg at Einstein and had a yummy breakfast (good experience this time!)  Greg was very proud that he had installed the car seat in the car   It is funny driving around with an empty car seat. 

I came home, we put together the finishing touched to the party.  I HAVE NO CAMERA…. I need to find it before the baby comes!! EEEE!! No camera means no pics- sorry I will have to wait until someone loads them to Facebook.

I brag on my mother and father in law all the time.  Seriously, I am sure people get sick of hearing it.  They are just awesome, so amazing…  I can’t imagine life without them.  They were such a help with the wedding shower for Steph today.  I literally couldn’t have done it without them.  And Glen was helping Greg with the porch ALL DAY while we had the shower.  

My favorite part of he shower was the cake (DESIREE!!! ) and making the toilet paper dresses… HAHA  they were so fun!  I recommend that game I thought it was so creative.

Anyway.  Greg is going to pick up pizza (haha)  That salt won’t help my feet….  I can’t wait to do what I have planned for tomorrow.  NOTHING.  Well an ultrasound at 3 but that’s it!

I will post pictures if they give us any!

Okay, I can breathe easy now!

I went to the doctor a day early, I just wanted to MAKE SURE I wasn’t dilated.  That was what I was most worried about. 

So…  I literally walked in and was weighed (lost a pound-which is good) blood pressure was 114/84 maybe?  Pulse was good.  She asked about baby movement and there has been a lot. 

They did a test to see if I was positive for strep, if I was, they would be giving me antibiotics when I go into labor, because the baby can get the virus.  I won’t know the result for a few hours. 

She checked my fundal height (which if you remember has always been a problem)  I was at 34!  Which is awesome, I was only 31 last week.  She didn’t cancel my ultrasound (yay!) but she said she felt VERY good about the 34 measurement.  She said, although I am small, being 2 cm +/- is accepable.

I described to her what I was feeling.  She assured me other women feel like this too, and as long as I don’t feel the pain intensifying or becoming regular, it should be okay. 

She did an exam and I was NOT dilated (!!!)  I am 50% effaced and the cervix is soft (haha)

She tried to see if the head was down but it is SO FAR into my pelvis she couldn’t even feel it.  It is head down, she could tell by feeling the rest of the body, but her comment was: "I want to deliver this baby, this will be a great delivery, you have a great pelvis"  (So now I have had two people tell me I have a great pelvis…HAHA)

…..thanks?

Anyway.  right now Biscuit is rocking and rolling….  streching and pushing, giving soft punches letting me know it’s doing okay in there. 

Thanks to my mom for going with me, that was really nice!  I would NOT like to go alone, I can’t remember everything they say and I can’t remember to ask all the questions. 

I feel much better.  And now I can’t wait to see Baby C on Sunday!!!

Did you know you have to be 18 to buy Halls Cough Drops?  I did not know that. 

It’s Wednesday! Hump day.  Thank goodness…  Just that much closer to my Dr. appt.  I am pretty anxious about going, and even more anxious about the ultrasound on Sunday!  I am hoping that after I see the midwife I will feel better knowing, I am NOT in pre labor and that what I am feeling is normal. 

Last night Greg helped me finish packing my bag.  He was so sweet.  He was making me laugh which was not helping the pain in my stomach.  Have I said yet last night was the same as the night before?  Basically the advice nurse said they were Braxton Hicks contractions (that can be painful, and more streching because the baby is growing a lot right now.)  It is stressful with the combination of being only 36 weeks(Baby C would be premature) and measuring 31 weeks and feeling "different."

I am REALLY hoping that tonight I am not having that strange pain because I have SO MUCH cleaning to do at the house!!!!!