It's been almost 2 years now since I've updated this blog... how strange since it was my main outlet during my pregnancy with Annelise. My life has changed so much since the last time I was logged in.
I've been using a Blogger account over the last few months, thinking updating this old journal would be silly since I've neglected it for so long... but I miss ole' Livejournal. Here is my other blog for more info on everything that's been going on with me and mine lately:
http://zodapops.blogspot.com
I guess I can give a quick update, but I'm really hoping to just sort of jump back into this.
Let's see... Annelise was born 1 day before my estimated due date, September 24, 2010. She was 7lbs 4oz and so perfectly beautiful in every way. It still amazes me each day how perfect she is. I had to be induced at 39 weeks due to high blood pressure (I'm sure my BP was mentioned on here somewhere). I wrote down her birth story in my journal while I was staying in the hospital, so I'll just copy it down under a cut for those interested...
Journal Entry from Sept. 26, 2010 - Annelise's Birth Story
"Well, my girlie was born September 24, 2010 at 10:41am. She was 7lbs 4oz and 20 1/2 inches long.
We went to the appointment Thursday and Dr. Bailey checked me and my blood pressure was still high - higher than before actually. So he talked to me some more about induction and told me they were going to go ahead and send me to the hospital to get things started immediately since it would probably be a long process. Could take up to 3 days!
So Jay and I went home really quick to get our hospital bags and made arrangements for Jeff (Jay's dad) to keep Charlie. Then we headed over to the hospital. After getting registered, we went to Labor and Delivery to get settled in. We are in Room 8. Our nurse's name is Paige and she is so sweet.
So they got me into a gown and Jay took some photos of me lol. We were both excited and so happy. We kept cooing over how bad we wanted her out and how we hoped she came fast! We were under the impression that we'd have a baby in our arms by nightfall - WRONG.
After being int he room 30 minutes or so, they brought the Cervadial around 11:00am. Cervadial is a weird string looking thing that they insert into the vagina and put against the cervix to soften it. The nurse checked my cervix first before she put it in. Let me tell you, internal exacms at the hospital are not painless and quick like the ones my doctor did in in his office. She jammed her fingers up inside me and I thought I was going to cry. It hurt even worse when she put the Cervadial in. Jay held my hand and kept telling me how much he loved me.
So, it began. With the Cervadial, they told me it had to stay in for 12 hours unless we got some real progress before then. Well, not much happened with the first one, so at 11:00 that night, they inserted another one. Jay and I tried walking around the hospital and everything but it didn't do much. So in went the second one after another painful internal exam. Oh. My. God... contractions had started a little so maybe that's why this exam and insertion was agony. Jay stayed right there with me and I screamed, cried, and begged for her to stop. He started crying and put his face to mine - like he was trying to kiss away my pain. It hurt so bad.
After the second insertion, some serious contractions started up.
I was hooked up to this monitor that showed a number for the intensity of my contractions. It would go from an 8 or 9 to a 40-63. The high 30s were agonizing. Jay would hold my hand and watch the monitor for hours. He'd squeeze my hand tight and tell me when the numbers would start to rise. He'd support me and get me through each one and tell me when they'd start going back down. He was amazing.
Sometime after midnight they brought me some Demerol and Ambien to help ease the pain enough for me to sleep. Well, the Demerol helped a little but only for like an hour and a half. Not enough for the sleeping pill to knock me out. So the rest of the night was an extremely long lbur of painful contractions, nurse visits, and me dozing for three minutes in between contractions. The nurses told me to breathe through them because I couldn't have anymore pain meds and no epidrual until I was at least 4 cm dilated. I was miserable.
Finally, sometime early that morning, the nurse told me they were going to give me the epidural. I was only 3 cm but she said she could probably stretch me to 4. Thank God. So they called the anesthesiologist. A little while later, he cam in and started talking to me about it and setting up. Took forever. I was so ready to feel nothing it was ridiculous. I was having back labor so every contraction felt like it was twisting my spine.
He had me curl up into a little ball on my side and we waited for my contraction to be over. He wiped some stuff on my back and gave me a little shot to numb the area. He kept telling me it might hurt but I don't remember feeling anything but a tiny stick from the local. Once it was in and taped up, he waited to see how it took. Not good at all. I could still feel my legs and some of my tummy. It also did nothing at all for my back labor.
He asked if I'd like for him to redo it since they were about to start the Pitocin and that would amp up the contractions more. Uh, hells yes please. He took it out and redid it a little higher. Hello bliss. No pain, no contractions, nothing. Much needed relief after the night I'd had.
After they started the Pitocin, things went pretty fast. The exams were limited because my water broke during the night (during one of the exams) and they didn't want to risk infection, but the ones that were done I couldn't feel.
It felt awesome to be able to watch those numbers on the contraction monitor go up and up and up - not feeling a thing. Jay was relieved too.
After a while, they checked me and I was at 9cm! They called Dr. Bailey and started getting everything ready for me to give birth. I started getting really excited when they brought in the baby warmer and bassinet. It was really happening!
About 10:30, Dr. Bailey arrived. The nurse already helped me into the stirrups and was letting me push a little. He tried to get me to push a few times but I couldn't feel anything so I'm guessing it didn't do much. After about 5 minutes of attempted pushing, Annelise's heart-rate dropped from the 140s to 74. He told me we had to get her out now. He took out forceps - which was terrifying - and told me I'd probably feel some pain from my hip bones separating. Jay told me, "Don't look Baby. I'm not looking. Don't look and try not to think about it." The visual of the doctor down there jamming huge salad tongs into my body and yanking... that will linger. He ended up having to cut me to get her out faster. I heard my skin snipping like fabric... so gross. He grabbed the forceps and pulled so hard I was pulled down a ways on the bed. I felt a whoosh from my body and Jay's voice pulled me out of my daze, "She's out Baby!" Then I heard a suction sound (them cleaning out her lungs) and the most beautiful sound in the world followed... crying.
I saw my baby girl. They put her on the warmer beside me and checked her out. That came out of me? She was beautiful and bawling her little heart out. She didn't look all weird and alien like a lot of newborns do. She was very clean and her skin was plump and pink. Gorgeous.
They cleaned her up and layed her on my chest for just a moment or two so I could see her. Then handed her to Jay so he could walk her down to the nursery to finish her examination. I was alone... But the nurse chatted with me while Dr. Bailey stitched me up. I ended up with a 3rd degree laceration - through muscle and everything. I'd be feeling it later.
After a little while, Jay came back with videos of the family seeing Annelise in the nursery windows. Everyone was so excited and kept commenting on how perfect she was. I wanted her back so bad it hurt.
After he finished cleaning me up down below, they turned off my epidural and started me on an IV that would make my uterus contract back. When the epidural started leaving my body, I got the shakes pretty bad. I was finally able to eat something solid though! And drink something other than clear liquids. All I was given during the past 24 hours was broth... it didn't exactly satisfy. Jay brought me some french fries lol
Once they got Annelise ready, they brought her back and I was able to hold her! She was so snuggly. She only had one thing on her mind though - nursing. She instantly started rooting around on my chest, so I asked if they'd get me a nurse to help me feed her. The nurses weren't much help, but luckily Annelise latched on almost instantly. I was so worried about breastfeeding the whole time I was pregnant. I'd read countless articles. I was so proud it went so smoothly. The nurses told me they'd better not see her with a bottle come time to leave, because she was doing so well. They had me start writing down when she eats, poops, and pees. The only issue we had was it took her a while to pee, but she eventually did.
Everybody came to see her, including Jay's mom - my first time meeting her. Jay and I have gotten so much closer now. He has helped me so much since being in here and he's an amazing father already. I've fallen in love with him all over again. I love my family and am so blessed."
![]()
Here is Annelise now. She's an amazingly smart and healthy 20 month old toddler. Blonde hair, blue eyes. That's also her best friend, Pigglet, who she goes NOWHERE without. Jay bought it for her while we were in the hospital. He's even accidentally gotten into the bathtub with her because I'm so used to seeing her hold him, I don't think twice about it.
![]()
And now for the kicker - I'm 32 weeks pregnant. We found out we were expecting again when Annelise was around 14 months old or so. Not a planned pregnancy, but a happy accident nonetheless. I've had some difficulties with this pregnancy - Pregnancy Induced Hypertension sending my blood pressure too high at times, weekly Fetal Non-Stress Tests because the baby is measuring almost 2 weeks behind, and I'm already on weekly OB office visits (since week 30) for monitoring. Happily, my BP has been stable lately, so maybe everything will turn out just fine. The Bean (as we call the baby since they can't tell us the gender after 3 ultrasounds) seems to be doing fine, even being as small as he is... each NST comes out just fine.
I was updating my other blog with weekly bump shots, so I'll be doing that here now I suppose.
Here we are at week 32. Get used to seeing these lounge pants because they get worn ALOT these days.
![]()
I've been using a Blogger account over the last few months, thinking updating this old journal would be silly since I've neglected it for so long... but I miss ole' Livejournal. Here is my other blog for more info on everything that's been going on with me and mine lately:
http://zodapops.blogspot.com
I guess I can give a quick update, but I'm really hoping to just sort of jump back into this.
Let's see... Annelise was born 1 day before my estimated due date, September 24, 2010. She was 7lbs 4oz and so perfectly beautiful in every way. It still amazes me each day how perfect she is. I had to be induced at 39 weeks due to high blood pressure (I'm sure my BP was mentioned on here somewhere). I wrote down her birth story in my journal while I was staying in the hospital, so I'll just copy it down under a cut for those interested...
Journal Entry from Sept. 26, 2010 - Annelise's Birth Story
"Well, my girlie was born September 24, 2010 at 10:41am. She was 7lbs 4oz and 20 1/2 inches long.
We went to the appointment Thursday and Dr. Bailey checked me and my blood pressure was still high - higher than before actually. So he talked to me some more about induction and told me they were going to go ahead and send me to the hospital to get things started immediately since it would probably be a long process. Could take up to 3 days!
So Jay and I went home really quick to get our hospital bags and made arrangements for Jeff (Jay's dad) to keep Charlie. Then we headed over to the hospital. After getting registered, we went to Labor and Delivery to get settled in. We are in Room 8. Our nurse's name is Paige and she is so sweet.
So they got me into a gown and Jay took some photos of me lol. We were both excited and so happy. We kept cooing over how bad we wanted her out and how we hoped she came fast! We were under the impression that we'd have a baby in our arms by nightfall - WRONG.
After being int he room 30 minutes or so, they brought the Cervadial around 11:00am. Cervadial is a weird string looking thing that they insert into the vagina and put against the cervix to soften it. The nurse checked my cervix first before she put it in. Let me tell you, internal exacms at the hospital are not painless and quick like the ones my doctor did in in his office. She jammed her fingers up inside me and I thought I was going to cry. It hurt even worse when she put the Cervadial in. Jay held my hand and kept telling me how much he loved me.
So, it began. With the Cervadial, they told me it had to stay in for 12 hours unless we got some real progress before then. Well, not much happened with the first one, so at 11:00 that night, they inserted another one. Jay and I tried walking around the hospital and everything but it didn't do much. So in went the second one after another painful internal exam. Oh. My. God... contractions had started a little so maybe that's why this exam and insertion was agony. Jay stayed right there with me and I screamed, cried, and begged for her to stop. He started crying and put his face to mine - like he was trying to kiss away my pain. It hurt so bad.
After the second insertion, some serious contractions started up.
I was hooked up to this monitor that showed a number for the intensity of my contractions. It would go from an 8 or 9 to a 40-63. The high 30s were agonizing. Jay would hold my hand and watch the monitor for hours. He'd squeeze my hand tight and tell me when the numbers would start to rise. He'd support me and get me through each one and tell me when they'd start going back down. He was amazing.
Sometime after midnight they brought me some Demerol and Ambien to help ease the pain enough for me to sleep. Well, the Demerol helped a little but only for like an hour and a half. Not enough for the sleeping pill to knock me out. So the rest of the night was an extremely long lbur of painful contractions, nurse visits, and me dozing for three minutes in between contractions. The nurses told me to breathe through them because I couldn't have anymore pain meds and no epidrual until I was at least 4 cm dilated. I was miserable.
Finally, sometime early that morning, the nurse told me they were going to give me the epidural. I was only 3 cm but she said she could probably stretch me to 4. Thank God. So they called the anesthesiologist. A little while later, he cam in and started talking to me about it and setting up. Took forever. I was so ready to feel nothing it was ridiculous. I was having back labor so every contraction felt like it was twisting my spine.
He had me curl up into a little ball on my side and we waited for my contraction to be over. He wiped some stuff on my back and gave me a little shot to numb the area. He kept telling me it might hurt but I don't remember feeling anything but a tiny stick from the local. Once it was in and taped up, he waited to see how it took. Not good at all. I could still feel my legs and some of my tummy. It also did nothing at all for my back labor.
He asked if I'd like for him to redo it since they were about to start the Pitocin and that would amp up the contractions more. Uh, hells yes please. He took it out and redid it a little higher. Hello bliss. No pain, no contractions, nothing. Much needed relief after the night I'd had.
After they started the Pitocin, things went pretty fast. The exams were limited because my water broke during the night (during one of the exams) and they didn't want to risk infection, but the ones that were done I couldn't feel.
It felt awesome to be able to watch those numbers on the contraction monitor go up and up and up - not feeling a thing. Jay was relieved too.
After a while, they checked me and I was at 9cm! They called Dr. Bailey and started getting everything ready for me to give birth. I started getting really excited when they brought in the baby warmer and bassinet. It was really happening!
About 10:30, Dr. Bailey arrived. The nurse already helped me into the stirrups and was letting me push a little. He tried to get me to push a few times but I couldn't feel anything so I'm guessing it didn't do much. After about 5 minutes of attempted pushing, Annelise's heart-rate dropped from the 140s to 74. He told me we had to get her out now. He took out forceps - which was terrifying - and told me I'd probably feel some pain from my hip bones separating. Jay told me, "Don't look Baby. I'm not looking. Don't look and try not to think about it." The visual of the doctor down there jamming huge salad tongs into my body and yanking... that will linger. He ended up having to cut me to get her out faster. I heard my skin snipping like fabric... so gross. He grabbed the forceps and pulled so hard I was pulled down a ways on the bed. I felt a whoosh from my body and Jay's voice pulled me out of my daze, "She's out Baby!" Then I heard a suction sound (them cleaning out her lungs) and the most beautiful sound in the world followed... crying.
I saw my baby girl. They put her on the warmer beside me and checked her out. That came out of me? She was beautiful and bawling her little heart out. She didn't look all weird and alien like a lot of newborns do. She was very clean and her skin was plump and pink. Gorgeous.
They cleaned her up and layed her on my chest for just a moment or two so I could see her. Then handed her to Jay so he could walk her down to the nursery to finish her examination. I was alone... But the nurse chatted with me while Dr. Bailey stitched me up. I ended up with a 3rd degree laceration - through muscle and everything. I'd be feeling it later.
After a little while, Jay came back with videos of the family seeing Annelise in the nursery windows. Everyone was so excited and kept commenting on how perfect she was. I wanted her back so bad it hurt.
After he finished cleaning me up down below, they turned off my epidural and started me on an IV that would make my uterus contract back. When the epidural started leaving my body, I got the shakes pretty bad. I was finally able to eat something solid though! And drink something other than clear liquids. All I was given during the past 24 hours was broth... it didn't exactly satisfy. Jay brought me some french fries lol
Once they got Annelise ready, they brought her back and I was able to hold her! She was so snuggly. She only had one thing on her mind though - nursing. She instantly started rooting around on my chest, so I asked if they'd get me a nurse to help me feed her. The nurses weren't much help, but luckily Annelise latched on almost instantly. I was so worried about breastfeeding the whole time I was pregnant. I'd read countless articles. I was so proud it went so smoothly. The nurses told me they'd better not see her with a bottle come time to leave, because she was doing so well. They had me start writing down when she eats, poops, and pees. The only issue we had was it took her a while to pee, but she eventually did.
Everybody came to see her, including Jay's mom - my first time meeting her. Jay and I have gotten so much closer now. He has helped me so much since being in here and he's an amazing father already. I've fallen in love with him all over again. I love my family and am so blessed."
Here is Annelise now. She's an amazingly smart and healthy 20 month old toddler. Blonde hair, blue eyes. That's also her best friend, Pigglet, who she goes NOWHERE without. Jay bought it for her while we were in the hospital. He's even accidentally gotten into the bathtub with her because I'm so used to seeing her hold him, I don't think twice about it.
And now for the kicker - I'm 32 weeks pregnant. We found out we were expecting again when Annelise was around 14 months old or so. Not a planned pregnancy, but a happy accident nonetheless. I've had some difficulties with this pregnancy - Pregnancy Induced Hypertension sending my blood pressure too high at times, weekly Fetal Non-Stress Tests because the baby is measuring almost 2 weeks behind, and I'm already on weekly OB office visits (since week 30) for monitoring. Happily, my BP has been stable lately, so maybe everything will turn out just fine. The Bean (as we call the baby since they can't tell us the gender after 3 ultrasounds) seems to be doing fine, even being as small as he is... each NST comes out just fine.
I was updating my other blog with weekly bump shots, so I'll be doing that here now I suppose.
Here we are at week 32. Get used to seeing these lounge pants because they get worn ALOT these days.
I think that's about it for now. I'll just take it over from this point. My first update being that I had my weekly NST this afternoon and The Bean still appears to be doing great. They had to give me some orange juice to get him to move around enough to be monitored, but he eventually woke up and behaved.