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Disclaimer: I am not as good a writer as my wife. My Incredible Wife First of all I would like to talk about my amazing wife. When she puts her mind to it she can do anything she wants. When she came to me towards the end of the pregnancy and told me she wanted to do the Bradley method, I was nervous. The method meant more responsibility on my shoulders and I had to basically be a coach slash Drill Sargent in the delivery room. Well I LOVE control, but all the horror stories I have heard all my life about that room made me scared. I sure you all know the story off when and how we started the training for Bradley so I won't go into it, but my wife was determined. She began to read and train, and tell me to read and help her train and she never looked back. The most amazing thing about the pregnancy part was the fact that even with all the criticism, her conviction that she could accomplish the natural childbirth never wavered. I can not even count the times we tried to ex...
Warning: this will be a VERY long entry! I apologize for that but I am keeping this blog for myself more than anyone else so I want to be able to remember every detail from the delivery of my first baby so I can remember what to expect for the second one! If it helps someone else out too, then great! Also I didn't leave a single detail out, so if you don't want to be aware of what happens during childbirth (I know "they" say pregnant woman shouldn't hear about it) then don't read this!
So after blogging, Zach walked in and I busted out crying. We decided to break the rules and go to Jacksonville for the weekend...I mean it's only an hour and a half away! After he left again I started looking up some cheap hotels and woosh...felt a bunch of leakage. I stood up to go to the bathroom and it was a TON more. Ran in there and took off my pants and it went through my undies (completely soaked) and my jeans. It was clear so I was pretty sure it was my water breaking! I called Zach and he came back home and smelled it and said it's odorless. I called the dr. just to check and while waiting for the call back I felt a lot more contracting. Nothing where I'm doubled over in pain but enough where it does hurt. OF COURSE Stacy is gone...and something I didn't think about when she left was that I may NEED her. When the dr. called me back she said I needed to go to the hospital. That is NOT my plan lady!!! I told her Stacy said I can stay home as long as it's cle...
I had such a nice relaxing day yesterday and decided to continue the trend and go to bed early. I took 2 more primrose oil capsule things then we did the acupressure again and I was in the bed by 10! I woke up several times during the night but unlike usual, where I feel miserable, I just felt at peace. Very nice night and some awesome sleep! Got up at 7 and got ready for the dr appointment! Had about 5 contractions on the way to the doctor, about a 20 min drive, but again nothing serious. I didn't even want to mention it to Stacy but of course Zach wanted me to! I've gained 2 more pounds (putting the total at 36...yikes)! When we got in the room I didn't plan on telling Stacy anything about the "tricks" we've tried but she was sooo cool about it that I couldn't help myself haha She did another internal check and she said I'm still only 1 cm dilated, -1 station (which disappointment me but she said that's still awesome), and 90% effaced. How ...
This morning I had my first weekly exam. After the interesting stuff I went through on Monday after Walmart, I was pretty curious to see what Stacy would say! Since Monday night I have still continued to have more wetness (a word? probably not) down there and (I'm graphic, deal with it as I want to be able to remember this kind of stuff for next time!) when I go to the bathroom it feels different when I wipe. It's like when I wipe the toilet paper kinda slips "up" there more than it naturally should...it's like "opps!" haha. I've also been feeling more contractions, nothing regular but sometimes they will be pretty intense. Those started on Saturday when we went to BabiesRUs but I do still feel them off and on, at least a couple times a day. I weighed myself and I shouldn't have haha! I gained 3 lbs in ONE WEEK. Crazy! I've now officially gained 34 pounds total, yikes. I can gain one more pound and still be considered where I should be we...
Zach's dreams have finally come true...I am totally, completely, seriously nesting. I've been feeling the itch since last week but didn't start because I just had this feeling that once I got going I'd have a hard time stopping! And yup I can't stop. It's been tough for me to actually sit down and blog because I'm dying to get back to it...and there honestly isn't much left for me to do! My nesting is NOT the clean freak nesting...it's the organize like a mad woman nesting. So far I have reorganized: the pantry, the cleaning supply cabinet, the guest bathroom (twice), the entertainment center, the big storage drawers under our washer and dryer, the garage, all the stuff in Clover's room, and the storage cabinets in the office area. I've washed every single baby item that is washable. We've opened every big baby item so we could store the boxes (in order to save the item for the next baby assuming it's still usable after Clover...
When I walked into the dr. yesterday the first thing Stacy said to me was. "as of tomorrow you're full term!" I hadn't even realized that! Isn't that amazing to think that is Clover came today she or he would be healthy and not considered early? Today is a pretty significant day. I'm due exactly one month from today (less if you count the days but by the date it's one month away!). I'm 36 weeks pregnant and starting my 9th month of pregnancy. It's truly hard to believe that it has been 9 months. Everyone I have talked to says pregnancy feels like it lasts forever but honestly the time had flown by for me! It seems like just yesterday we found out we were pregnant and now we will be parents at any time! Here are the latest pictures of me: I've been experiencing lots more changes with my body: Pain: My lower back has been hurting A LOT more than usual. Especially whenever I go from laying to standing, it's horrible. I also have a lot o...
Tonight was night one (of two) of the Prepared Childbirth Class. This is the class. The one with all the intimate details of delivery! We did watch the video showing birth and it wasn't as graphic as I thought it would be...but it doesn't look very pleasant either! Here are some things I learned during this class: We can video tape! Just not the actual delivery but everything else! The staff won't tell anyone anything which is good (we don't want someone finding out the sex until WE tell them!) During labor I need to shift how I am laying and urinate often because sitting in one position too long or holding in my pee will make the process longer We need to make sure to pack plenty of snacks for Zach and to bring a focal point (which is like a picture of the ultrasound or something positive for me to focus on) I can stay home until my water breaks or until my contractions become 3-5 minutes apart During early labor (when contractions are 5-30 min apart) I ne...
I realized the other day that throughout my pregnancy I haven't really had that many "pregnancy symptoms" or at least if I have had them I haven't noticed. Well, those days are over. I'm in the third trimester now and am being hit like crazy with a million different things to deal with here! First here are some updated belly pics. I'm going to try to take these more often because I think there are much more drastic changes in the size of the belly now! I'm 30 weeks and 2 days in these. Here are some of the changes I've been noticing lately: Baby's Movement: Before it was just kicking, and sometimes I'd feel a tough one to the ribs or something but now it's not really kicking it's JABBING. At pretty much any given moment if you felt my tummy you'd be able to find at least one really tight spot where Clover is pressing a foot or hand or something really hard against the wall. I can also feel hiccups (in the lower belly sinc...
