Announcing Baby Seth!

Seth was born at 1:35am on March 2nd, 2009. His whole birth was another answer to prayer, God came through in every way for this baby! I had false labor the week prior and on Sunday felt many of the same type of contractions. At 2pm I had the "bloody show" which usually indicates that labor is hours to days away. At that point contractions started getting stronger, but they weren't very consistent. By 9pm, the contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. I figured I was in enough pain that we needed to call the doctor to see if I had dialated to 4cm so I could get the epidural. The doctor was skeptical but said we could head over to the hospital. When I got there I told the receptionists that I thought I was in labor. They exchanged glances and asked if I was a first time mom. I said yes and they exchange more glances and said they would check me out. When the nurse checked me out she exclaimed that I was almost fully dialated. I was shocked. I was at 8cm and they admitted me right away. From the birth DVDs that we watched I knew that "transition" was from 7-10cm and was a very short time, about an hour out of your life as they put it. The pain at that point was a 7 out of 10 and was tolerable so I figured why get an epidural if I was almost done anyway. I soaked in the hot tub for an hour, used the birthing ball, and quickly dialated. I started pushing shortly after 1am and they had to call the doctor and oncall doc right away because the baby was coming so fast. The doctor arrived just in time and Seth was born after about 25 mins of pushing. He was a healthy baby with a good set of lungs. I am so thankful that the birth experience was not the horror I was expecting and I have greatly enjoyed the past two weeks with our new baby boy. I'll keep everyone updated as I have time, but just wanted to share his birth story while it was still fresh in my mind.

Anxiously awaiting baby!

One week and four days left to my due date, and I'm sincerely hoping baby will be here early. I just got over a week of the nastiest flu ever and am ready to take the next step into motherhood! Baby teased us on Sunday as I was having many contractions, but it was false labor. What a bummer! I'm currently still only a fingertip dialated and 60% effaced. I forgot to ask the doc what head station baby is in, as a week ago he was a -2, but I can tell he's a lot lower now. I have a very hard time moving around now as he is so low, and it is beginning to get uncomfortable to even sit in a chair, or on a couch...or just about anything.

There are bets flying on when this baby will arrive - Luke's work even has a pool going on now. My bet is still that I'll give birth on Fri, and Luke was betting on today so we'll see what happens. I so want a February baby!

I normally wouldn't mind a week off to enjoy the last few moments of "alone time" I'll get in many years, but with how uncomfortable I am, there is not much I can do that would be productive. I'm ready to be done with all of this so I can shower baby with kisses and change poopy diapers. If baby is still incubating this weekend I hope to finally finish cleaning house, but I'd rather have a messy house and a happy baby in my arms, then a clean house and still be waiting...and waiting... Lord willing, my next post will be a birth announcement!

Oh, the stress of it all..

I heard news that one of my other belly buddies (Alicia) just gave birth last night. That means two people out of the three that had a due date within a week of me has already given birth! My pregnancy ticker says 24 days, or 3 weeks and 2 days remaining to my due date. My official predicition is Feb 27th, as that is the last day my office is open, and my coworker gave birth on the first day the office was open so I just thought it would be fitting. Anyway, I'm starting to feel the stress of it all. There is so much to do, and Luke has been really great - but at the same time really stressing about getting everything done before baby is born. We still need to do a few loads of baby laundry, put everything away in the nursery (there are just mounds of clean baby clothes everywhere), pack our hospital bags, and we still are trying to finish up the video and photos from the wedding we did a month and a half ago. On top of all that, it sounds like some people have hurt feelings over our birth plan/preferences. The whole point of telling people was to eliminate stress, not create it!!! *breathe* Yes, I know I need to chill, I just thank God I have a three day weekend starting in about an hour. I would so love to come back on Tues, with 20 days left to go and nothing on our plates. Here's hoping...

Yes, I am HUGE

Okay, I've begun to notice a pattern here. I wake up, Luke comments "wow, you are big!" or "you are huge!". I go to work, every new customer I see says "You must be due any day now!" or "Has your water broken yet, you look like you're ready to give birth." Thanks guys. You know, it's really not that annoying, I'm just happy people realize it's a BABY and I'm not just obese. I think the waddle limp I have going on due to baby bearing down and sitting on my sciatic nerve helps people differentiate. What would annoy me is post baby, getting a comment asking how far along I am before I shed the baby weight. I guess I'll just have to hide out at home until I can fit back into my prepregnancy clothes... At this point I don't even tell people my due date, I just say "anytime now" because I really don't think I'll go the extra 3.5 weeks to my due date. It would be hard to imagine I could get much bigger then I am now, my skin already feels like it's stretched past it's capacity. Now imagine if I were carrying twins...you see, mom, why that wouldn't be a good idea???

One more down!

Baby has officially "dropped". I noticed this on one of my early morning bathroom runs, I looked down and thought "where did baby go?" He has moved about 3-4" lower then he was, so that means he's locked and ready to go! They say for first time moms, baby drops about 2-4 weeks before delivery, so that would mean baby will be coming sometime between 38-40 weeks likely. The following may be TMI, but I thought would be cool to document - here is the progress I've made towards labor from the common signs:

1) Nesting - check! I started nesting a week or so ago, cleaning and preparing the baby's room with a frenzy.
2)Baby Dropping - check!
3)Cramping/pelvic pressure - not so much, only a few times when I lay on my right side
4)Dialation/effacement - I'll find out on Thurs!
5)Lose mucus plug - check!
6)Bloody show - not yet
7)Contractions - on and off, but not with regular consistency and they rarely hurt
8)Water Breaking - not yet

So, I still have a ways to go, which is okay by me seeing as how I feel we have 1-2 weeks left of things that HAVE to be done before baby is born - such as packing our bags, doing a final thourough clean, and finishing up the wedding pictures/video for our pastor's daughter. So, I'll keep you updated!

Baby is almost here!

It's so hard to believe, but baby Seth could be in our arms in as short as 3 weeks from now! His official due date is less than 6 weeks away, and the time has just gone so fast. Some people say towards the end of pregnancy things slow down, but the opposite is true for me...though I do feel like I've been pregnant forever, at the same time I wonder how I will be able to cope with the upcoming events - labor and delivery, nursing, and taking care of a newborn. I have been blessed to have three baby showers - one from my family, one from my work, and one from my church. I got so many wonderful things to fill up the baby's nursery it is incredible. I'm now officially "nesting" and gathering up all of the things that he still needs, and hope to purchase them by nights end...then this weekend I will spend some time washing baby clothes and such and packing our hospital bags. I would rather be over prepared, then to not have anything ready when the time comes. As I read in a blog a week ago, I could go anytime now, though babies usually stay in their comfy home until around the due date. We had a friend that just gave birth at 33 weeks, and I'm at 34 weeks, so the reality does hit that it could be sooner than we expect. I'm really looking forward to the epidural after watching some of the birthing videos...I honestly can't see how people would go (or even want to go) 100% natural. No, thanks! I did a recent survey on yahoo answers posing the question what their pain level was with an epi, and all but two said a zero.

Updates on me - physically baby does feel like a huge watermelon, which is how big he is this week. He's weighing in around 5lbs, possibly more. I'm surprisingly comfortable, and haven't been overly tired however. Luke has commented more than once recently when looking at my prepregnancy photos that I was so super skinny before getting pregnant. Not that I'm fat now, but pregnancy does tend to make you look like a huge whale...large belly, face fattens up, and now I can't remove one of my rings...the great thing, though, is that within a few weeks of birth I should have my body back.

Updates on baby - He's definitely got a personality, he loves music, especially Pillar. His favorite song is "reckless youth" and if I'm ever concerned that he's not moving around like he should I'll put it on and in a matter of moments he'll start bouncing around, even if he was asleep. I can also feel more body parts, it was cool the other day we could feel his leg, where the knee was and everything. He's still transverse and mighty comfy that way, I'm just hoping he'll turn into the proper position in the next two weeks. If he doesn't, I will possibly have to have a c-section. We'll see, though.

That's pretty much what is new, at this point it's a nesting and waiting game...I have 24 days left of work (less if he comes early) and then he should be here!

45 days left!

The time sure has flown by, and before I know it, little Seth will be here! I have been blessed to have three showers, thrown by friends, family and coworkers. I had the last of these on Sunday, and now baby's nursery is almost complete.