He's here

Benjamin Louis is here! 8 lbs 4 oz via csection (ugh). He's cutE and smooshy and an eating machine! I'm doing pretty well, going home today. Will get a picture up.

It's time

Friday Night Leftovers - 39 weeks edition

* I went to the MD Wednesday and demanded P come with me. Which is good since we had some discussions. If I don't go into labor by May 14th, a C-section is scheduled for that morning. My regular OB is not available that day, but we didn't want to be #4 on May 17th, so we took that slot. If I do go into labor prior to this, I will be attempting a VBAC. Send vibes my way please. * My skin is so incredibly itchy. Everywhere. It keeps me up at night. Weird places like my ankles and wrists itch too. Ugh. Going to lather up with Cetaphil tonight. Feels like my skin is on fire. * Had some nausea today and felt crummy. Couldn't nap during the day, so went through a bunch of baby stuff and now have five additional bags of V's stuff for Goodwill and one large bin for the resale shop. She can be hard on staining clothes. * My husband has been working a lot again. 9:00 pm working. With a sick, pregnant wife, Ugh. When he is home he does bath and stories. Miss that when he isn't here. So does V. Him too of course. * Been spending lots of time on Zillow looking at bigger houses. Wow. Some nice places out there. Some have a pool. I've always wanted a pool. Has anyone has/have a pool? Wondering how the maintenance and all that was. For more Friday Night Leftovers: www.sippycupsarenotforstarbucks.blogspot.com.

38 weeks

Yesterday I had my 37/38 week OB appointment. After V's birth I had switched to another OB in the practice, because I thought the one I had for her did not manage me well at the end and let me go too long. Well, I saw him yesterday, as my current OB was unavailable. He was the one that we saw when P and I had the first ultrasound and big shock of me being pregnant at 8 weeks. So he knows me. After V was born and my FSH was really high, he agreed that I couldn't have more kids and really didn't recommend much in the way of birth control. He was surprised to see me again to say the least. Did a quick ultrasound, no cervical check, baby head down and firmly wedged in my pelvis. Heartbeat good, possibly high 6 lbs in weight. He also said if I didn't go into Labor in the next two weeks, I pretty much bought myself a C section. So try and get myself into Labor. I ate some pineapple today and feel strange. I had V with me during the appointment and everyone kept calling her my mini-me. I am totally 100% terrified of Labor/Delivery after the very bad experience I had with V. It makes me sick to think about it and I know I have to deal with it. The uncertainty of what is going to happen is really scary for me. On a side note: I have access to my medical records. The OB I saw yesterday reviewed my records during the 2nd hospitalization I had recently. He said some not very nice things about me that make me paranoid about him being on call when I give birth. Great. It also hurt my feelings. I had a good cry about it.

Names

What do you think of these names? Our last name sounds like "Johnson". The trendy names ending in "n" don't really work.

Grant
Trent
Nathaniel
Frederick
William
Edward
Stuart
Eddard
Calder
Peter

Friday Night Leftovers - sick edition

* I've been meaning to write. But I've been ill. Really ill. I was unable to get off the couch after my last stint in the hospital, then I ended up in triage later one evening getting hydration. It was hell this time. The nurses were unkind, my husband was tired, I had dry heaves, had to have three attempts at IV placement. My sole goal since then is to stay hydrated and out of the hospital. Oh yes, I'm written off work because I've also lost 10 lbs due to anorexia, dehydration, nausea, dizziness, fatigue.
* I'm supposed to eat or drink anything I want.
* P's work is stressing me out. He has a big project due April 23rd. He works until 8 or 9 each evening and says this is his last weekend to work. My mom came down over Easter so he could work on Good Friday and Easter Saturday.
* I've been sleeping in the chair an extra two hours per day. Not so well at night.
* After all the warm weather it became pretty cold here.
* I miss work and socialization. I'm kind of depressed, actually.
* The baby is fine by the way. I should have said that first. Just mama having a hard time.

For more Friday Night Leftovers visit Danifred - www.sippycupsarenotforstarbucks.blogspot.com.

I'm home

Last Tuesday and Wednesday I felt like hell. Slight headache and dizziness between my eyes, complete anorexia, stomach pains, fatigue, crying fits. Thursday I dragged myself in to work, feeling terrible. Oh, and P was in Indiana all week. My mom decided to come down and help me because P was scheduled to have a guy's weekend he had planned (not good timing) and knew I needed help and didn't want me to be alone. Friday/Saturday I was fine. Saturday we ran all over the country shopping and walked to the playground with V. Sunday am at church I got that little headache and dizziness behind my eyes. Lots of nausea. By 1:30 pm, My head hurt so badly, and I was nauseous enough that I had a pillow over my head on the couch.

I took a Zofran and a Tylenol with no avail. By this time P was finally home. My entire head was on fire, I couldn't open my eyes, the side of my face was numb and tingly, and I never felt like this before, ever. I thought I may have been having some sort of stroke. I finally called OB triage about 7:00 pm and of COURSE they told me to come in. My mother was there pushing V in the swing and I hastily threw some things in a bag. Thank goodness we didn't have to make arrangements for me.

When I got there the OB triage midwife was very nice. Thankfully the baby was fine and looked "beautiful" on the monitor. I was contracting every 3-4 minutes, had ketones in my urine, and they felt I was dehydrated. They started an IV and the attending OB came in and expressed concern since I have not had anything like this before, ever. They wanted to perform a Head MRI, of which I am unable due to the large amount of metal in my skull/mouth from dental surgery. So they took me to CT and heavily shielded the baby. I informed the two techs I couldn't lay on my back. Of course they didn't listen and I kept yelling at them as I went into the scan that I had to vomit. Of which I did all over. The nurse from Triage brought down Zofran and we tried again. Same thing. Another nurse visit and more Zofran. Same thing. Finally a bolus of Benadryl knocked me out. I ended up sending P home by this time - 1:30 am.

Back in the room, they moved me to a regular room and started giving me Compazine, prednisone, and Fiorocet. My blood pressure was really low - 69/49 ish. My head was still killing me and so they started Fioracet (sp?) for migraines. Neurology came and saw me and people were in and out of the room all night. The scan showed nothing unusual except a thickened optic nerve.

To shorten the story, I was kept for the next two days. Fioracet lowered my headache from an 8/10 to a 3ish/10. P worked the next two days and my mother has no sense of direction and was taking care of things around the house, so I was on my own up at the hospital. I was too ill to get lonely. Opthamology came and saw me and basically thought my vision was okay. They aren't sure of the significance of the optic nerve nor can really decide what was wrong. So they are calling it a migraine. Neurology thought maybe it was a small brain bleed that sealed itsself up.

I haven't been able to work all week. There is still nausea and light headaches and fatigue. My husband is super busy at work and we are struggling at this challenging time. He wants to work all weekend and I understand the pressure he is under. I feel crummy still though. Typing this has tired me out.

The important thing is that the baby looks great and I am doing a bit better.