Quick Update: Doc just broke my water

I am sitting in the hospital bed having a contraction right now. I can't believe Caroline will be here soon. We have WIFI here, so I thought I would update everyone. The doctor broke my water at 11:10 am. It's 11:49 now and I am definitely feeling every contraction now. Contractions are coming more often and are more intense. I will try to keep you updated when I can. It will probably be a while.

39 Weeks 4 Days Today

On Friday (7/24), I went to the doctor’s office to be checked. I didn’t have an appt., but had been having some contractions and followed the advice of a friend and went to be checked. I was 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced (I was 1 cm, 60% effaced 2 1/2 weeks before this.) . He said he wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t make it to my appt. on Wed. (today). He went so far as to tell me who was on call last weekend should anything happen. I told him he was just trying to get my hopes up. He says he thinks my body is at least getting ready since I am having all the symptoms that I am. I am very excited that my body is doing something and not just sitting there!!! I think the doc said that he felt Caroline’s head too, which is a great sign! The reason I said, “I think” is because I remember him saying something about her head, but I was just in such a fog that I don’t remember what he specifically said. I’m pretty sure that’s what it was though. When the doc was leaving, he said, “IF, I see you on Weds., we will be talking about having a baby!” I said, “The next day because that’s the day you are on call, right?” He said, “Right!” So, that brings everyone up to date on where I was when I went into my appt. today.

So, I had my appt. today. I could tell that it had already been a crazy day for the doc and the nurse told me that it had started with someone coming into the office that was in labor. So, anyway, he didn’t come in to see me until about 45-50 minutes after my appt. was scheduled. He checked me and I was 2 ½ cm, 80% effaced and -2 station. I am so, so glad that I am progressing! That is such a blessing! I really didn’t want to be one of those moms that goes way over their due date and still doesn’t do anything on their own. No worries there! So, the doc said, “How do you feel about having a baby tomorrow?” David and I both said, at the same time, “Sounds good to us!”. So, he called labor and delivery and set me up to come in and deliver tomorrow. I am supposed to call around 6 am and see if they have room and if they do, come in about 7 am. If they don’t have room, they will keep in touch with me throughout the day and will bring me in when they can. So, it looks like Caroline will be coming to see us tomorrow!!! I really can’t believe it is here. I am really having a baby. ME? Really? WOW!

David and I will try to update everyone via Facebook tomorrow. We are supposed to be able to access the WIFI at the hospital, so we should be able to update, but if we can’t, we’ll get the word out somehow. I guess that’s it for now. I really can’t believe this is happening!!!

Maternity Portraits

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006943&id=176300502&l=f816c2d446

Above is the link to my maternity portraits. I really think they turned out amazingly!!!! We LOVE them! My friend, Angela Murray, took them. You can go to the link below if you want to view them in higher quality pictures.

http://kariseen.smugmug.com/gallery/8865895_AZNmA#595534058_PmGSi-L-LB

I just wanted to say that Angela & her husband, Nathan, are so very talented! They did photography for many years before their babies were born and are starting to get back in the game now. If you are interested in their photography, you can got to the website below for contact information. Thanks!

http://kariseen.smugmug.com/

38 Week Appointment

Well, we learned yesterday that Caroline will not be coming by induction this week. I had my weekly appt. yesterday morning. It started with an ultrasound and although we had to wait for her to wake up to show us her “practice breathing”, everything else went great. (Don’t be alarmed about her “breathing”. Babies don’t do it like we do!) As we were talking with the U/S tech about what we were seeing, she reminded us that we have to take every measurement with a grain of salt. The measurements can be very off at this stage of development with a baby. Given that, here are the stats:

7lbs. 4 oz.
86th percentile head (it has been 98th)
22nd percentile abdomen (previous U/S’s: 16th & <2%)
I think the ratio of head to abdomen was like 1.08% which is just .03% out of the normal range.

We enjoyed getting to see our little Caroline again! It’s always great to see her! After the U/S was over, they had to page my doc and we had to wait on him. He was actually on call yesterday and not in office. They had to set up a special appt. for me due to U/S scheduling and all. We learned yesterday that it really wasn’t Caroline’s head that Dr. VanZant was considering the induction for. It was her abdomen. You see, her abdomen measured very small at her last U/S (<2%). But, he said that all her measurements looked good today and he wasn’t worried at all about her growth. He used the term, “intrauterine growth restriction”. This basically means that if he felt she wasn’t getting the nutrition she needed being in my uterus, then he would have recommended we induce this week. She does NOT have “intrauterine growth restriction”, he only used this term to tell me what it would have been had he decided to induce. So, they don’t induce until the 39th week unless something is wrong and since everything is looking great, we won’t be inducing this week. As far as her head goes, I voiced to him that my concern was that I wanted the absolute best shot possible to have her vaginally and asked him what he felt about that. He said that he feels that I will have no problem. That was great news to me! So, as of now, he is treating me as a “normal pregnancy”. If this means he will allow me to go to 41 weeks or not, I have no idea. That’s one of those questions I didn’t think to ask in the moment. We’ll just have to see at my appt. next week. It is scheduled for July 29th at 10am.

Dr. VanZant’s reasoning for not inducing me this week makes perfect sense to me. The thing that bothers me is that I asked him specifically 2 weeks ago if she would definitely be here in my 38th week and he said, “Yes, if you don’t have her before then.” Now, he is saying that she won’t be here. I am just very annoyed that he gave me such a definitive answer and now has changed. I just wish he had said that he wasn’t sure! I would have still been thinking that I had no idea when she would come, but now I am just disappointed that I have to continue to wait! The plus is that now I am ready and I definitely wasn’t ready when he told me that 2 weeks ago!!! This week seemed like it really would have been the perfect week for everyone. I am just trying to remember that my God’s timing is perfect and if He wants her to come this week, she will. If not, she won’t. It’s as simple as that, although my emotions don’t think it is simple at all! ;)

Below is the best picture we were able to get yesterday. She's a cutie!

Caroline's Nursery & 38 Week Photo

Here is the link to Caroline's Nursery Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006923&id=176300502&l=ba548c4ea8

And here I am at 38 Weeks!

37 Week Appointment

We got to see Caroline again yesterday!!! She is doing well. Her heartbeat was low at the beginning of the ultrasound, but they said that can happen right after you lay down on your back. Her heartbeat went up and was in the normal range shortly. They didn't measure her growth this time because they say that there are never significant enough changes from week to week. I will be having another ultrasound next week to check her growth out.

The doctor said that everything was looking good. I am moving along just fine. He didn't check me this week, which I was very thankful for because I don't want him to send me into labor quite yet. He said he will be checking me again next week to see if I have progressed any further. Once he sees the ultrasound results and checks me and all that, we will talk about when he will induce. My next appointment is Monday at 8:15 am. We will see what's going on then!

36 Week Belly Shot

I was just reminded that I haven't put a recent belly shot up. Here it is! I really love being pregnant!

36 Week Appointment...freaking out!!!!!!!

I had my 36 Week Appt. this morning and I am

1 cm dilated & 60% effaced. Yikes!

I truly can't believe it!!!!! I know I could stay this way for weeks, but I am still freaking out! I am so not ready for Caroline to be here. I am REALLY going to miss feeling her in my tummy too. I'm so sad that's almost over!

I also had another ultrasound today to check on Caroline's growth and her BIG head. Her head is still in the 98th percentile and because of this, if she doesn't come before hand, we will have her in my 38th week. They want to be sure they can get her BIG head out! That's just TWO weeks away! WOW, I really can't believe it!

She is looking good. Her abdomen is measuring small, but the doc said that everything is fine. We shouldn't be worrying about it because she is still growing at the rate she should be. They said she is about 5 lbs. 14 oz. now. Her femur bone is measuring in the 92nd percentile, so it looks like she’ll be tall, but we didn’t doubt that for a minute!

I do have the Group B Strep, so I will have to have the antibiotics in the hospital, but it's no big deal.

I guess that's it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll add it.

Have I told you that I am freaking out!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Below are some pictures we got at our ultrasound today.

Here is Caroline's little foot. It is not very clear here, but it was SO clear when we saw it on the screen. It was so amazing!!!

Here is Caroline! She wouldn't take her hand out of her face so we could get a good shot, but this shot is much better than we would have gotten last time. She is so cute!!!

Caroline is puckering up for a kiss in this pictures, but it's a little hard to tell. It was fun to see her puckering her lips during the ultrasound.


Another profile. This one isn't as good as the other, but still cute! ;)

We saw her little parts again too! She is definitely a girl!!!!!!