Adjustments

This week is my first week alone at night. Russ is working night shift (5pm-5am) until Friday morning. After having him home for 2 weeks, it was a rough Tuesday morning. Adjusting to having to wake up with Alex multiple times a night, then waking up in the morning with Olivia isn't hard, its just tiring. It's especially difficult when Olivia wants breakfast and Alex is hungry at the same time. I basically just tell Olivia she has to be patient because the baby can't feed herself and she needs to eat first.

I've been taking a nap when Olivia goes down at noon and Russ wakes up to take care of Alex. Its nice, but it makes me feel like a slug for the rest of the day. It doesn't help that I haven't been out of the house for 2 weeks. I'm SO happy I get to drive tomorrow! I might just have to go across the highway for a Target trip. :D

In baby news, Alex is doing very well. She's just like her big sister was when she was a newborn. Very laid back. She did catch Olivia's cold, so she's got a stuffed up nose and is sneezing. Poor thing. Since we don't go back to the pedi until she's a month, I've been weighing her at home on my scale. She was 6lbs 10oz last Tuesday, last night she was 7lbs even. I'm glad she's finally starting to gain weight back. They told us that sometimes c-section babies drop a lot of weight after birth because they have more fluid in their bodies than babies delivered vaginally. So, when they're born, they get weighed, and then pee a whole lot and lose all that water weight.
I also noticed she's losing some of her hair. I was kind of hoping she wouldn't, I love her wild hair.

As for Olivia, she's doing better in the tantrum department. I'm not quite sure what that was all about, but I'm glad its on the decline. I seriously was ready to pull my hair out. I do have to tell her constantly not to scream or dance/run/jump around the baby because she's SO clumsy... I could see her falling on top of Alex. But, she loves giving her kisses and hugs. So precious.

AHHHHHHH!

I seriously have been on my last nerve with Olivia. I know she's 2. I know her life has just changed because of the new baby. I know. I know. I know.

But, seriously? I cannot take the crying, whining, tantrum throwing little monster that has inhabited my normally care-free little girl.

She cries more than the baby. I'm not kidding you that she's 90% crabby and 10% happy. If you tell her 'no', she cries. If you correct her on how to hold the baby's bottle, she cries. If you catch her doing something she's not suppose to, like, eating a Toblerone under the dining room table, she screams at you and then proceeds to cry.

Oh. My. God.

Thank goodness for modern medicine and a pill called Prozac. I started back on it 2 days ago and I'm just waiting for it to kick in. I have been a big ball of anxiety and nerves since I hit the 3rd trimester. I had PPD last time with Olivia and I really did not want to go through that crap again.

Does anyone know if Target takes toddlers as returns?

I kid. I kid. :)

Alexandria's Birth Story

My story begins around 36 weeks. I had a follow up ultrasound to see if baby had flipped over in to vertex position. No such luck. Baby was in frank breech. With this new information, my doctor gave me my options and I chose to schedule a c-section. I figured if she flipped in the meantime, that's great. If not, then we had a time and date.

1/13/2011

I was told not to drink/eat anything after midnight, so I drank some juice and had some toast before heading to bed. BAD idea. Baby was doing all kinds of dancing around in there for HOURS. I was so anxious as it was, but now I had this very active baby kicking and poking me. I ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep.

8:00am
Woke up, took a shower, shaved my legs because I figured I wouldn't be able to for awhile. Got dressed. Got Olivia up and gave her breakfast. Spent my last hour with her as a family of 3.

10:00
Got to the hospital and checked into registration. Thankfully, I had pre-registered a month ago, so I didn't have to fill out any paperwork. Got my hospital band on and waited for the nurse to take me back to Pre-Op.

10:15
Walked back to Pre-Op. Got undressed and laid down on the very uncomfortable beds they have down there. The nurse tells me she's going to get someone down there to scan me to make sure of baby's position before doing anything invasive. Meanwhile, she took my vitals and baby's vitals. Just sat around talking and answering 100 questions.

11:00
Finally, someone came down and scanned me. It seemed like baby was in transverse position. They used one of those hand held u/s things, so my doctor wanted to come down and scan me herself with a full size ultrasound to see how this baby was laying. If she was transverse and back down towards my cervix, I would have to get a vertical insicion. While we were waiting for my doctor, they started the IV. A young nurse tried on my right arm and kept poking around in there. I got very light-headed, and was about nearly passed out. They even used smelling salts on me to get me to come back. The older nurse took my left arm and just did the IV while I was half passed out. After about 5 minutes, I felt a lot better and IV fluids were started.

11:30
My doctor comes down for the ultrasound. Baby is complete breech. *sitting Indian-style, head up* She plans on the normal bikini line cut and gets ready in the OR for me.

11:40
Doctors doing my spinal come talk to me and ask questions. I sign the consent forms. Nurse shaves my belly and uses some wet/cold antiseptic to clean the area.

12:10
I walk into the OR. Get on the table. The nurse gets me into position for my spinal and she holds my hand the whole time. Asking me about Olivia and how excited she is to be a big sister. The spinal is done, didn't hurt at all. My bum goes numb and I'm quickly put into position on the table. They're moving my legs around, but I can't really feel what they're doing. The doctor kept poking me asking if I could feel this or that. I could feel, but I couldn't. Very strange feeling. The drape was put up and Russ was brought back in. I heard the doctor say she was starting. I felt a lot of josling around and pressure but nothing painful.

12:39
Alexandria Kay was born!
7lbs 5oz
20.25 inches long
3 minutes before her big sister was born!

The next 20-30 minutes were me being stitched back together, cleaning the baby up, and Russ leaving me to go into recovery. Alex stayed with me the whole time, but I didn't get to hold her until I was wheeled back into recovery.
I couldn't hold her for about 3 hours afterwards because I was shaking so badly from the spinal. It happened with the epidural with Olivia as well. I was also a bit out of it because they had me on some pain medications through my IV. I think we were in recovery for about 3 hours.

Pretty simple birth story. Being that I've done it both naturally and c-section, I would definitely choose to go natural again if we were having more children. The c-section was nice because it was fast and scheduled. But, recovery has been very painful. I feel bruised all over my abdominal area, inside and out. Every day gets easier, but those first 2-3 days were terrible. I'm also much more restricted this time. I can't pick my little girl up for 2 weeks. :(

In the end, we got Alex here the safest way. Apparently, her cord was around her neck and trying a version might have put her in distress.

38 and some Weeks

I've been a terrible blogger.

I can't say that I don't have an excuse though. Being 9 months pregnant and having a 2 year old running around the entire time she's awake is E.X.H.A.U.S.T.I.N.G. Just watching her makes me yawn. Throw in some horrible acid reflux at night, with a huge belly, and pregnancy insomnia. Yeah, totally not sleeping over here. But, the days are numbered and I'll finally be un-pregnant once again soon.

Here's the rundown on what's been going on:

• Since my last update, I've had another growth ultrasound at 33 weeks. Baby was measuring in the 53rd %tile weighing in around 4lbs 10oz...... also.... breech.
  
• My OB had me do a follow up positioning u/s at 36 weeks.....baby is still breech.
  
• Baby is still breech today
• C-section scheduled for 1/13...6 days away.
  
• Baby is stubborn.
  

Yeah, not my ideal birth, but it is what it is. This kid is not moving for anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure baby has been in the same position for quite some time. Poor thing is probably going to come out with it's legs up by his/her ears. *Baby is in frank breech position*

That's what's been going on. Russ has taking next week off and he's off the following week to help me out while I recover. I'm *hoping* recovery won't be insanely bad. I've heard good and bad stories about c-sections. But, let me tell you, I had one hell of a recovery from a vaginal birth with Olivia. I'm looking forward to not feeling like everything between my legs is going to fall out from under me. Terrible. Terrible. Blech. Guess I'll be one of the few to experience both sides. I'll be sure to report back on which I prefer.

Other than that, life has been the same. I'm ready to have my mental status back. Pregnancy hormones are NOT my friends and I can't wait until they vacate my body. I'd love to not snip or snap at everything around me. Really looking forward to being able to bend forward, move from side to side in bed without having to take a 1 minute break between, etc, etc, etc. :)

This will probably be my only post until Baby is born. Look for it coming next week sometime! :)

BTW, here is a current belly picture:

38 Weeks (Tuesday evening)