Happy Birthday!

2:00am, February 21, 2010
I woke up with some pretty steady contractions. Not too painful but enough to know we were talking business. I woke your dad up to tell him that it would probably be best to get over to the hospital since it was so far from home. I was counting my contractions to be 7 minutes apart. He is a bit of a stickler for using public bathrooms and knew we would be at the hospital for a while so decided to wait and see, if anything would happen. My contractions moved to 5 minutes apart and I requested we skip the bathroom wait and get going.

Five Centimeters
By the time we got to triage at Mary Birch I was already measuring 5 cm dilation although the contractions were 5 minutes apart they were not very strong but they admitted me into labor and delivery room. By this time gigi and papa, aunty Danielle and aunty Andrea had arrived and we didn't know how long the wait would be. I was excited, not at all nervous and hoping for the best. I was still coughing hard all the time with my bronchitis and could barely breathe and the conjunctivitis was so bad at this point that I had green ooze coming out of my eyes. I was hungry from only eatings soup having been sick and tired having not been able to sleep due to the big belly so I was weak, but knew that this was one of the most important days of my life so was going to give it my all.

Nine Centimeters
Between 6am-11am I had dilated to 9 cm, but my water had not broken so Dr. Chortkoff broke it for me. I was certain I would deliver you by noon and was excited at the prospect of eating as all I had been sipping on was vitamin water and jello. Other than the hunger things were going just as I had hoped they would, I had the epidural at 5cm and had only pressed the release button a few times as I wanted to feel what was going on. I was feeling courageous and ready to go but alas I wouldn't dilate further even though the contractions were closer together and allot more painful.

By 3pm they gave me some Pitocin to help the dilation. At this point I was starting to swell closed and they wanted to avoid a c-section, our nurse Virgina was certain I'd have the baby by 5pm. We hoped so because she had to knock off work soon and we didn't want a different nurse. She had been with us all day and was the most amazing nurse and caretaker anyone could have dreamed for. She kept checking me, asking if I felt the need to push and I didn't. We waited.

From 3am papa had sat in the waiting room, gigi had been running around getting your dad food and me juice and ice. Aunty Andrea and aunty "D" were with us the entire day. I could not have done it without all the love and support. Your daddy was constantly on the phone uploading updates to Facebook and emailing friends and family.

It was about 5pm and suddenly I felt the need to push sort of like a bowel movement. I let everyone know and there was allot of rushing about. I was so relieved to have my actual doctor on call to deliver our baby, most people never get to have the doctor they have been visiting with for 10 months, I knew without a doubt I was in great hands.

Puuuush
I thought due to my core strength I would birth you in a few pushes, but I was wrong. I think had I not had such chronic bronchitis I would have had a much easier time. I pushed for about an hour and a half and the entire time I had a wet clothe over my eyes because they were so painful and the two spotlights above me didn't help. I wish I had seen more of what was going on around me. Dad held a leg and whispered words of encouragement and at 6:28pm February 21, 2010 you, our beautiful, perfect baby girl was born. 7lb 11 ounce and 19 inches long :-)

38 weeks

02/11/2010
On Friday it was time to see Dr. Chortkoff again. She checked me and confirmed that I am 3cm dilated, 80%effaced and lost my mucus plug. She said if we wanted to go into the hospital they would book me in, but since my contractions are not consistent, that would mean inducing me. I have my whole life with daughter I see no rush to hurry her birth 2 weeks before she is "officially" due. If I got past my due date - which Dr. Says is highly unlikely then I will consider induction.

The worst part about this week was the awful timing of the onslaught of germs! I caught the bronchitis bug, its going around something horrid. I don't mind losing my voice (neither does my husband :-P ) and don't even care about the runny nose, but the cough hurts so badly, I feel like I'm squeezing my child so hard and of course feeling like I have been run over by a bus has its challenges. I compare it to when I did triathlon. I've watched my habits, my eating, my weight, trained hard to be able to finish strong, not first or fast, but to have a good race with stamina and endurance...I'm all psyched up and then...To wake up race day sick! I am so close to the end, any minute I could have this baby and the fear of having to push and endure a long labor with this awful germ is heart breaking, not to mention not being able to care for or cuddle my baby for fear of getting her sick! I keep praying I am going to wake up all better.

02/12/2010
Getting up at 5:30am and getting ready looking half way presentable for the office has become too much of a challenge. Its difficult to walk in the morning and every time I would get out my chair to go to the fax machine I would feel as if I was about to drop her. Although I have not been tired, I am definitely awkward and sore, and dealing with the additional liquids etc in the office place is just too much to bare, so I requested from my boss at the brokerage firm if I could make Friday my last day. He was extremely understanding and had no problems. I will miss being in the office, the work, the challenges and the girls, but I also know that resting a week to two before I give birth will stand me in good stead. I am unsure what is happening with my design job, I am hoping to be able to still get projects that I can help with and work from home, but I know thats allot to ask since its really tough to communicate with that particular job as a telecommuting designer.

02/14/2010
This was my beloved's and my last Valentines as a couple. Its not a sad thing at all, we are excited to share future holidays no matter how cheesy with Franki. My hunny always makes it a fun evening so I know our little girl will just love the love and excitement. This year he bought some lobster and steaks at the grocery store, prepared and cooked them up for us. It was a real treat in spite of the fact that I was probably the lamest valentine in the history of mankind being 9 months pregnant and as sick as a dog.

Progression pics

I realized that you really have to search for my bump progression pics so I have created a post that shows the comparison without searching :-)

37 weeks

I am officially "full term" That means anytime from here on out if I go into labor they won't stop it. What a eventful week in my pregnancy!

Friday 02/05/10 I had my scheduled appointment to see Dr. Chortkoff. I was looking forward to hearing my "stats" so was very eager to get over to Carmel valley. When I got there I saw Jennifer the wonderful nurse practitioner as usual she took my blood pressure and weight. When she asked how I was I mentioned, I was doing fine but that Franki's movements seemed to have slowed down a bit. I didn't think about it that much because I assumed that since she had so little room to move that was the probable cause. WRONG! Even though she has limited room her kick counts should not decrease! Immediately they put me on the monitor..I laid there for about 45 minutes and although they weren't worried they weren't happy either so sent me down to triage. Triage was happy to take me ad monitored me on their fancier machines for about an hour...consensus was that baby and mom are both fine and fluid is good.

Monday (02/08/10) I started bleeding profusely - like a gush of blood at about 10pm. I wasn't worried though because I heard this can happen and expected it to stop. Well I changed my little paper roll ups (I don't own pads) about 5 times through the night...although it slowed down it didn't stop. Tuesday morning it was time to call Jennifer again. As soon as she heard this she said - its back down to triage for you...Again they wonderful nurses there took me in like a stray cat and made me feel very comfortable. This time they tested my cervix as well as mine and Franki's heart rate and my contractions. The doctor on call wanted hem to monitor me for a while because my contractions were constant, but they ended up discharging me because they weren't consistent. They said to watch the blood flow and to call if it persists.

My stats:
Dilated: 3cm
Cervix: 80% effaced
Group B strep test Negative

Wednesday 02/10/10 I raced upstairs to get to the bathroom because shocker - I needed to pee. When I went to wipe, a really large lump (size of a quarter) of what appeared to be a blood clot was on the tissue, that scared me, but I thought with all the bleeding it may be normal. Without sounding gross I squeezed and poked it to realize it was really hard, could this be my mucus plug!? As soon as I was out the bathroom I jumped into the shower where I discover yet another piece of the same alien looking stuff, this time a bit smaller like that of a dime. Again I poked and squeezed it. Perplexed I told my hubby about it and he called our mom to see what she thought. We all agreed it had to be the mucus plug. We still don't know for sure. I googled it of course - and there are very few pictures on what this curious membrane should look like.

I have been working hard all week - 6:15am - 11:45am at one place and then at 12:15pm - 6:00pm at another place. Needless to say its the schedule that has tuckered me out not being pregnant. I decided with all the goings on this week - its time to pack the bag and my love put Franki's seat into the car. We are ready.

Today is the last day of my 37th week. I feel almost no contractions, just the occasional back ache. My sleep has been good its just the 6 bathroom breaks a night that get me up. I have another appointment today and will ask about my plug and if I have dilated any further.

I wonder if we will be having a valentines baby?