She's here! (sorry so late!)

Okay so it has definitely been awhile!  So sorry about the delay - I'm sure those of you out there who follow my blog were wondering what happened!  Well anyway, our precious little girl, Kaylee Joy, arrived just 3 days late, on December 5th, 2013!  She was born after just a 12 hour labor (which I thought wasn't too bad for a first time mom), & amazingly I was able to stick with the all natural, unmedicated birth we were hoping for!  She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. & measured 19 1/2 inches long, & was so cute I was amazed.  I believe the first thing I said when they set her on me was "wow, she's real!!"  It was just so amazing.  The first thing she did was pee on me, lol, & I seriously didn't care at all.  She is so beautiful, & as she is 6 weeks old today (which is so crazy to me!) I swear she gets cuter every day.  Not going to lie, life as a mom is difficult, & harder than I ever thought it would be, but at the end of the day so worth it.  She is smiling a lot now & it seriously melts my heart!

And now for the birth story!  As far as the labor part, I'll tell you there is NOTHING like that kind of pain.  We took a 12 week Bradley course in preparation for the birth, & while I'm glad we did (I never would've done all-natural w/out it), I still think that nothing can really prepare you.  Not to scare anyone (sorry!) but it's more pain than I EVER would've thought my body could handle.  It's crazy how just when you think you can't handle any more pain, somehow you do.  My labor started at night (around 11pm) on December 4th, & w/in an hour my contractions were immediately less than 5 minutes apart.  We went to the hospital around 3 or 3:30am, & when we checked in I was at 4cm dilated & we were admitted.  I spent a good amount of time in the shower in my room during labor because it helped with the back labor (oh, which is terrible!).  The best thing that helped with that was that we had brought tennis balls & my hubby would dig them into my back which felt so awesome!  Counter-pressure is your friend during labor.  Well once I got to 7cm I started telling my DH that I didn't think I could do it (natural birth), over & over.  Then by 9cm I started BEGGING for an epidural.  I won't go into the whole story but it was really emotional for my husband & my parents (but especially my husband) since they knew I had worked so hard for a natural birth, but in the end it was my decision.  

I told the nurse I wanted an epidural & they started getting me set up for it (gave me some fluid through an IV).  By the time the anethesiologist made it to my room though, I was already at 10cm & couldn't even sit up straight & stay still enough for them to be able to do it, so thankfully (yes, I say thankfully) time had kind of run out & I was forced to do what I had really wanted to do.  Looking back I'm definitely glad it ended up that way.  Then after just 45 minutes of pushing, she was born!  At the end I had to push her out pretty quickly (after being urged by my OB) because little one (LO)'s heart rate was dropping.  When she came out we found out why - the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice & around her shoulder once!  She was a little purple when she came out, & they rubbed her a lot to "pink her up" initially.  I didn't even know about the cord being wrapped around her til later.  She was so beautiful I could hardly believe it!  

I ended up hemorrhaging after she was born, but not so badly that I needed a blood transfusion or anything, although my OB did have to do some things to stop the bleeding.  One thing that I thought was really awesome about the birth was that my own OB was the one who delivered Kaylee!  I never expected that, since I have Kaiser & the physicians rotate, so you pretty much get whoever is on call.  My OB was not in L&D that day, but when she knew I had been admitted she re-arranged her appointments at the clinic so that she could come & be there to deliver my baby!  I thought that was seriously amazing of her!  We received really amazing care during & following the labor & delivery, the nursing staff as well were truly incredible.  I'm grateful we had such a good experience!

There is more to share, as I had some complications after coming home, but I will do that later.  Just wanted to finally say yes, she is here!! :)

Belly Acrobatics

I love looking down at my belly & watching it dance around! heehee, it makes me giddy!  That is the one thing I do love about pregnancy...feeling our little girl move has been so awesome ever since it started around 16 or 17 weeks.  Right now I can tell she is getting a little more cramped in there, but it's pretty cool now that she's big enough to actually see the movements from the outside!

Just 5 more weeks to go now!  I can hardly believe it!  I have 3 weeks left at work now, & I'm so looking forward to being done & having some time at home before she comes.  

Hello again!

Wow, it has been so long since I've posted!!  I figured I better get on here & update.  So I'm now in my 3rd trimester, plugging along!  I'm 32 1/2 weeks now, so I have less than 8 weeks to go, which is amazing!!  Oh & I forgot to mention, we are having a girl!! :)  We would have been thrilled with either, but it's just so exciting to know!  I seriously cannot wait to meet her at this point!  We paid to have a 3D ultrasound at 17 weeks to find out the sex, & that was a really fun experience.  My mom, my hubby's mom, & my 7 year old sister-in-law came to the appointment with us, & that was really fun. :)  We've all taken bets too, on various things, including what the sex of the baby would be.  We have 4 categories that everyone bet on, including sex, the date the baby would be born, the weight, & the height.  Our family members & close friends all got in on it, we wrote down everyone's guesses, & everyone put in ten bucks.  Whoever is closest in each category will get a "point", & whoever gets the most points will win all the money (it's a $140 pot at this point), so it should be pretty fun to see what happens!

I've realized that pregnancy takes a really long time, lol.  Maybe for some people it flies by, but for me it feels like it has been forever, lol.  Maybe if I wasn't dealing with a lot of pain it wouldn't feel that way, but either way I'm sure I would be so anxious to meet our baby!!  I'm totally fine with it taking this long, knowing that the best things in life do take time, & that it's taking time to help our beautiful little girl grow until she is ready to meet the world!  Both the hubby & I are getting so anxious to meet her. :) 

As far as the pain stuff, I started having horrible pain in the middle of my back on the right side, right around 23 weeks.  It actually started on the first day of a vacation that we took to Mexico this summer!  It was an amazing vacation, & I'm so glad we had the chance to do that, but I AM sad that the pain interfered with things so much.  While we were there I took a lot of Tylenol, got a massage, & had to lay down a lot, but as long as I wasn't sitting straight up for long periods of time it was manageable.  There were a couple times where I was literally in tears though because it hurt so bad.  My sweet hubby massaged my back for me ALL the time, because I've seriously never had back pain like that in my life...I kept having these huge knots right by my spine that wouldn't go away, & the pain would burn & radiate around to my side.  The pain has stayed with me ever since, & a few weeks back it changed from back pain to rib pain in the same place on my right side.  So now the pain is coming from the inside, & my right rib constantly feels like it is burning.  It hurts in the front & on the side especially, & strangely what feels good is to dig my fingers into my ribs & massage between them.  My doctor said it sounds like I have costochondritis, which is inflamed cartilage in my rib.  She said that can happen a lot, especially with a first pregnancy, because the uterus is causing the ribs to expand (and they don't go back).  I'm hoping that means that maybe I won't have this pain in future pregnancies?  One can hope. :)  But there's really nothing they can do for it.  Sitting or standing in an upright position is what makes it hurt (so it hurts all day at work), but thankfully I do get relief when I go home & can lay down, oh man that is the best!  So overall I haven't really been "enjoying" pregnancy the way that some people do, just because it has been pretty rough on my body, but all I can say is it is so SO worth it, regardless!  

Other than that, I have some pretty awesome personal news as well!  Just earlier this week I passed the first huge state licensure exam for becoming a licensed therapist!!  I still have one more to take before I'll be officially licensed, but the first one was the "big one" (4 hour, intensive exam on a LOT of material), & I'm SO relieved to have it out of the way!!  I don't think I could even possibly explain what this feels like.  I've known these tests were coming since I graduated with my master's degree over 3 years ago, & it has been hanging over my head or in the back of my mind since then (I hate that they make us wait so long to take them!) as I gathered my hours (we have to get 3000 hours of experience in the state of CA to get licensed) & then waited for my hours to be approved.  I always imagined myself being at this point where my tests would be finished & I would finally be fully licensed, but it always felt like so far away, & now it is finally here!  I should note that it was extremely stressful once I started back at work this fall, working full time (40 hours a week), & was still studying every night after work for a couple hours.  My mental exhaustion was overwhelming, & it was just so difficult sometimes to have to stay focused for so many hours of the day, as well as just being exhausted in general from pregnancy.  I had my moments where I was definitely exasperated & close to breaking down.  It was hard, but I really wanted to get these exams out of the way before the baby comes, so it was worth it.  I still have to study for my 2nd test, which I'm hoping I'll be able to finish before baby comes as well, but it's way less material that I need to study for this one, so I already feel tons better about that.  Also, the 2nd test is only 2 hours rather than 4, so in general I feel much less stressed about that one.  Having that first one out of the way is seriously a dream come true, & I think if I can finish the 2nd one on time I'll be the happiest person alive! 

All in all, things are going great, just under 8 weeks to go before we meet our little girl, & I'm so excited for everything that is to come!  I've been doing a lot of things to prepare for her arrival - my hubby & I took a CPR class, we are signing up for life insurance (makes me feel old!), & taking Bradley birthing classes.  I can hardly believe we've been able to successfully fit so many things in our lives!  I'm so proud of us.  We work so hard for what we have, & we try to be as prepared as possible.  My baby shower is this weekend & I am so SO excited!!  Now that my first exam is out of the way I feel like I can really relax & enjoy it! :)  Anyway sorry this was so long, I guess I had a lot to catch up on!

13 weeks & all is well...hello 2nd trimester! :)

Okay, so I will keep this short since I'm tired, hehe.  But I wanted to post that we had our 13 week appointment today & all is well!!!  Can't tell you how amazing this feels, to finally be past the 1st trimester & know that everything is okay.  I feel like a part of me could never fully relax until this happened, & it's so amazing because after our appointment today, I have literally felt all of my worry slowly melting away.  I feel like I'm finally able to relax into it, & to just be purely happy & excited w/out worry getting in the way.  I'm so SO happy!  Getting past this point just makes me feel more & more excited for baby to come! :)  

We started telling everyone (other than our family & closest friends who already knew) 2 weeks ago at 11 weeks, & part of me was a little nervous about that, but after today we went fully "public" & announced on facebook!  Feels so great to have it finally out there & to see everyone share in our excitement!  The secret is out, & it feels great! :)

So Happy!!

So we finally had our first OB appointment & ultrasound today...oh I've been so anxious for this day!!  Seems like it has taken so long to come!  First of all, I love my OB, she is super nice & just amazing.  My hubby came with me, & pretty much first thing the OB did the ultrasound, & we got to see baby!!  We also got to see its little heartbeat!! Oh that was so awesome! :)  I was a little sad we didn't get to hear it (she said that machine didn't do that), but it was still awesome to see it, & she said it looked like a strong 160 bpm to her. :)  Also, baby is measuring pretty much right on track...by my chart I thought it was 7 weeks 2 days, & she measured it at 7 weeks 1 day, so pretty much right there, with an official due date of December 2nd! :)  We got the little ultrasound picture!! Omg, I'm through the moon. :)  So happy. 

Nausea :(

Omg, this is sooo hard! :(  I had REALLY hoped to be one of those people who never had morning sickness or nausea, but I guess that was a high hope.  For the last week almost, I've started having full-on nausea, all throughout the day, though it's worst in the morning & at night.  And oh my goodness, it's really hard to deal with.  I've come close to crying the last couple mornings/evenings just because it makes me feel so miserable.  I've been trying all the things that I've read can help, like ginger ale, ginger tea, sucking on hard candies, eating saltines/club crackers, & yesterday I bought sea bands, which I think are helping a little.  Even with all that, you still feel it.  I never realized how hard this must be for pregnant women before.  Thankfully I'm not throwing up, but having general nausea all the time still feels awful.  The other hard thing is being crazy hungry yet having aversions to like, everything.  So you're extremely hungry but all food sounds disgusting, lol.  That has been kinda tough too.  

I feel bad for complaining, but I think nausea in particular is just something that's really hard for me to handle - I don't tolerate it very well.  I've had some rather scary experiencing throwing up while having the flu before, & so I think any time I even feel like throwing up, I'm terrified of it.  I did actually try to throw up a few times recently cuz I was feeling so bad, but it didn't work.  

I'm just really praying that this will calm down or I find some better remedies that will work.  For now just doing my best to get through my work days.  First ultrasound is on Tuesday, I can't wait!! :) 

5 weeks

Welp, I will be 5 weeks tomorrow!  It feels great to get to this point!!  I think that now I might finally stop temping, lol.  It has been so fun to tell our families & a few closest friends this week who have been part of this journey with us, it has been amazing!  Other than that we won't be telling anyone else til 12 weeks most likely.  The first ultrasound is scheduled for April 16th, I'm SO excited for that, can't wait!  Although I did struggle w/ a lot of fears/worries when I first found out, lately I've just had a sense of peace, which has been really helpful.  I'm doing my best to just relax & enjoy life, & this experience. :)  I probably won't be posting that much anymore, but will try to give updates here & there.  But I still love reading everyone else's blogs! :)