Saturday, October 22, 2011

Long road to a healthy baby

So I finally had some time so im updating the blog about what has happened with my pregnancy the last number of months.

So it all started back during our vacation to California back in August. It was our last night there before heading back to Utah. We went to bed proabably 11:30 or so after falling asleep watching a movie with my aunt and uncle. That night I was having a very very weird dream, and in my dream I was pushing really hard, I was pushing so hard that I woke myself up. It was about 2:30 am. When I woke up my stomach was literally rock hard and all scrunched up. I couldn't even control it. I laid there and I watched my stomach be relaxed and then it would contract as hard as it could. It was so painful each time it contracted and I started crying. I woke up Scott and told him there was something wrong. He got out of bed and sat next to me as I kept having contractions. We started timing them and they were coming every 2 minutes or so, and lasting for at least 45 seconds a piece. The pain was seriously crippling so we called my OB office back in Utah, and got the after hours nurse. I told her how far along I was (I was 25 weeks at this point) and I explained the contractions. She told me about Braxton Hicks but after she realized that these were down right painful, not just uncomfortable, she said she would call the after hours doctor and he will call me back.

About 15 minutes later the doctor called and told me that I needed to start drinking something. He said my husband needed to go get as many bottles of powerade or water that he could and I needed to try and take a warm bath to soothe my contractions. He told me that if they have not stopped within an hour that I needed to go the hospital. So we ran a bath (and in the meantime I started having stomach issues if you know what I mean :()Scott ran out to a gas station and got me 3 GIANT bottles of Gatorade. I laid in the bath for almost an hour I would say, and Scott sat right by me, pretty much forcing gatorade down my throat. I continued to have contractions the entire bath time, and they were getting more and more painful. After being in the bath for an hour, I got out and went back to bed...for 5 minutes, until I felt like I was gonna puke. I ran back to the bathroom and threw up so hard it even came out my nose. I just cried and cried, and it was then we decided it was time to go the Hospital.

Since we had no idea where a hospital in Murrieta California was, we had to google it. We found a womans emergency center 10 or so minutes away. As soon as we got there, a man rushed up to me with a wheelchair and moved me straight up to Labor and Delivery. Scott checked us in, and I was hooked up to all these monitors to check the baby's heartbeat and measure my contractions. With each contraction I would have the nurse coached me on my breathing (I found it more annoying than helpful). They then told me that I was way too early to go into labor so they were going to try and give me a shot of this stuff called Tributaline (sp?) and it's supposed to stop contractions. They also told me I was severely dehydrated and so they hooked me up to a liter of fluid through IV. The shot made me very jittery but it did help the contractions calm down. I was glad to also hear that the baby was doing fine, her heartbeat was good and there was nothing to be worried about with her. I was finally comfortable enough to fal asleep.

When I woke up it was about 8:30 and I was having some contractions again. They said they had hooked me up to another full liter of fluid cause of how bad my dehydration was. I didnt even need to pee yet! They said that my contractions had almost stopped but that they were going to give me one more shot to tide me over for the day. I will never forget the main nurse coming in and sitting down next to me saying "you were pretty badly dehydrated dear. Its a good thing you came to us when you did, cause we were able to stop this baby from being born. But next time, you might not be so lucky." It literally slapped me in the face. I was literally going into pre-term labor and it was all my fault. I hadn't been taking care of my body well enough and now this baby could have been born and may not have lived, all because of me. The rest of the day I rested. Periodically I would have a contraction, but they were never few and far between. It was especially scary cause after the visit, I didn't feel the baby move for almost a full 24 hours. I think its because it was very stressful on her and she was resting too.


I thought that would be the end of the baby drama, but it was not. A few weeks later back in Utah I was at work, and I was having a VERY hard time concentrating on my work. It felt like it was I was not totally there. I was seeing little black spots in my vision everywhere I looked. I was having a hard time controling my hands and fingers and at one point, I couldn't even grip my phone and dropped it on my desk. I decided to go outside and take a break to call Scott. I tried calling him and he didn't answer. It was then that I looked down at my feet and they were totally swollen, so swollen that they were puffing right out of my flats (my feet had hadly been puffy at this point) I then looked at my left hand and it was spotty and blue! I started freaking out so I went inside and went to my supervisor. She followed me into another room and I started crying that something was wrong. She had just been pregnant a few months ago so she could sympathize. She then called 911 and within minutes the EMT's were hooking me up to oxygen, and pushing me on the ambulance on a stretcher. Honestly it was one of the MOST embarrassing moments of my life. Never in my life would I have wanted any of my co-workers to have seen that. Scott met me at the hospital in Provo, and I brought into the emergency room. We were there FOREVER because a man had died of a heart attack on the floor, and everyone was dealing witht that of course.

After a couple hours, they told me that they were concerned about pre-eclampsia with the symptoms I was having. They moved me up to Labor and Delivery where they tested me for the pre-eclampsia and it was negative. But guess what? I was dehydrated AGAIN!!! They had been monitoring my contractions again and told me that was having "uterine irritability" due to my lack of hydration. So I got another IV of course.


The the night before my baby shower, I was helping my friend Kristy who was throwing it, set up. I had been pretty active, going up and down stairs, moving stuff, lifting stuff. We ran over to the dollar store and while in there I started having bad contractions. I had to find a shelf to sit down on. I finally went to Kristy and I was gripping my stomach. I told her I was having contractions and she gave me her car keys and told me to go get in the car. I went out there and laid the seat back. Once we got back to the condo complex, I went straight into the club house and laid down on the couch. Kristy timed my contractions and they were about every 3 minutes or so. We got some water and I laid there until they finally went away. So scary!!!!


Well the last visit to the hospital was about a month ago. I was at work...again and I started having really really bad back pain, and contractions. I was in so much pain that I was hunched over. My supervisor noticed again, and this time she said it was time for me to go to the hospital again. I called Scott and he was going to meet me there. This time I did not have to take an ambulance thank goodness! My supervisor drove me down there and dropped me off at Labor and Delivery to meet Scott. Once up there I was given an internal exam (horrible!!!) and tested for an iron-deficiancy, and it came back that I was! Sure enough im a bit Anemic (which my mother was too) and I needed more Iron. I was also, you guessed it...dehydrated. What does a girl have to do to freaking not be dehydrated???? I was already drinking way more than usual.

Oh well. Well I have not had any trips back to the hospital lately, which is good casue I would prefer not to go back until she is ready to come out!!! My doctor said its apparent that I can't be doing a lot of strenous activities, since that seems to trigger it. He said I pretty much need to relax and sit and lay as much as possible. Fine by me! haha

Well that is what has happened. Pretty annoying I must say, but through it all little boo has been very healthy, so that is all I can hope for I guess. Its almost over!!!!! I hope everything stays calm until the big day. Cross your fingers!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

My Best Friends Wedding

Yesterday my best friend Ashley got married in the San Diego temple. I was supposed to be there, and I was supposed to be her Maid of Honor. Unfortunatly though, due to some complIcations I have had with my pregancy (that I still haven't written about) I was not able to travel down there for it.

I was very excited in the beggining about being able to be part of her wedding, but after our California hospital visit and 2 more trips to Labor and Delivery, Scott and I talked it over, and he especially felt it would be a bad idea for me to go so close to my delivery date without him being able to go with me. I was so sad when I finally accepted I would not be able to go. I had been waiting for this special day of hers for years and there was nothing more I wanted then to be there for her on the best day of her life.

But after getting an internal exam 2 weeks ago (which are ridiculously uncomfortable by the way) and them seeing I was already dialated, and that fact that I get contractions (NOT braxton hicks) almost everytime I do anything strenuous, It was a good thing I did not go. When I told Ashley that I was not going to be able to go it broke my heart. We both just cried and cried, it really was the saddest thing ever. I wanted to be at that wedding more than anything! When was my best friend ever going to get married again???? NEVER! and I was going to miss it! But in an attmept to help her feel more like I was there for her, I wrote her special note for her to read ONLY on her wedding day.

There were several nights that I lost sleep over it, and I have cried...A LOT. BUT! Her and her new husband are going to be moving here next month! She is going to be living in the same town as me again, and honestly I am beyond excited. I promised Ashley that I will take her on a temple date since I didnt get to go through her endowement session with her and she will still be very new at it, so it will be a nice experience to help her :)

The night before her wedding I was having a really hard time sleeping, and I ended up waking up at about 5:30 am and I couldn't go back to sleep. It was really really hard for me to come to terms with the fact that my best friend was going to go through the most important day of her life, I wasn't even going to be there for her. But I had to keep reminding myself that Im having a baby. I am totally responsible for this little persons life and I need to take this seriously and not over strain myself. I know Ashley would have loved for me to be there, but I also know that Ashley would have also wanted me to take care of this baby and make sure she comes out as healthy as possible.

I am so happy for Ashley. She is such an amzing person, such an amazing friend, and totally deserved this amazing day. Right now they are off enjoying their Honeymoon in Costa Rica (LUCKY GIRL!) and will be moving here in a number of weeks, just in time for baby A to show up!(if she is not early) This is not the end, this is only the beggining of some very exciting times in our lives.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ASHLEY AND JAKE KLEIMAN!!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

California Part 2...finally!

If you read my previous post, you know that I really don't want to do this. But alas, I have A LOT to update about. Might as well get the ball rolling! So lets pick up where we left off with the vaca!

Our next day there we spent at the happiest place on earth, DISNEYLAND of course!!! I loved going to Disneyland. Something about that place just brings out the kid in everyone. Even though there were limited rides that I could go on, it was still awesome! I was able to at least go on all the kids rides and Pirates of the Carribean and Haunted Mansion, and those are the ones I cared about most anyway.


Sad to say while we were in the Haunted Mansion it was totally dark and I tripped over some little kid that stopped right in front of me, and I pulled my big toenail all the way back. It started bleeding and I could not enjoy that ride cause my toe was just throbbing. So we headed over to the First Aid station and they cleaned it up and gave me a free wheelchair!



I was gonna end up getting a wheelchair anyway because I can only walk for so long before my back is killing me, I just didnt plan on being in it so soon. But that was fine with me, I was tired of walking anyway, and Scott was more than happy to push me around so he could walk at his own pace and "didnt have to wait for his waddling wife". So it actually worked out great!





We spent all day hopping around back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure, stopping in the evening to have dinner at this great mexican restraunt in Downtown Disney. We stayed for the fireworks show at the end of the night, and by 10:30 pm we were so exhausted from walking around all day (cough cough!) ummm being pushed around is hard work too! We left the wonderful world of Disney and headed to the Hotel we got down the road. I loved that day, it was even worth ruining my toenail.







The next day we slept in a bit and then headed down to Newport Beach. We wanted one last chance to spend by the ocean before we headed home. I had been to Newport Beach back when I was a senior in high school for a family vacation and I really enjoyed it then. We didn't get in our swimsuits that day because it was pretty overcast and I it was just a little colder, It wasnt really a good day for swimming, but we did just sit together and watch the waves, and we took a lovely stroll down the beach for almost an hour. After we left the beach we headed back to my Aunt and Uncles house and watch The Swan Princess with my cousins. Classic right? That evening after my aunt made these AMAZING pork tacos and we watched a movie with Colby and Denise (although I dont remember what we watched cause I was out in 5 minutes!




That night we had a BIG scare with the baby, that I will write a seperate post. But it ended up setting our departure date back a day, so after a day full of resting and sleeping, and feeding the family tortise Mohammed (my uncle the FBI agent named him haha) we all got a chance to go swimming at the pool and hot tub. It was nice for me to be able to relax and try to calm down after a very long night. We loved staying with my Aunt and Uncle. We love them so much!





Well that was the last day in Cali. It was too wonderful, even with the unexpected ending. We then headed back to Utah, stopping in Las Vegas one more time so that Scott could tour the "Pawn Stars" pawn shop. (It was a dream fulfilled for him). It was nice to finally get home and sleep in our bed, but we will always cherish this trip to California as our first vacation.



WOHOO! Im done!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Seriously?

So...I don't just suck at blogging anymore. I apparently loathe it. Yes. I'll say it. I think I have finally figured out why I don't update like I used to. Because I hate it. Ok ok, I dont HATE blogging, but I have NO desire to anymore. It dawned on me today while I was driving home from work. I had just gotten off work a hour late (cause I had SO much work to do) and I thought to myself "you have some free time tonight, you should update the blog" especially since I never even out up the other half of our vacaction back in August! and then I said to myself "ugh. I don't want to do that. I just spent then entire day working at the computer, I don't want to go home and do it too."

So there you go folks, mystery solved. Yes I am quite busy and that has some to do with it, but for the most part, I realized that I spend EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. sitting at my desk, typing, looking things up, uploading things, wanting to smack my head against my desk until my brains fall out. Dramatic? yes. Over-exaggerating? hardly. I love my job, but its hard work, and it makes me a little crazy. I have nasty deadlines, an incredible work load, and am the case manager over almost 500, very unfortunate, sometimes very needy clients. I hardly have a moment to take a pee break at work most days. I sometimes will literally stand and do the pee dance next to my desk till a clients off the phone.

So the last thing I wanna do when I get home is sit in front of another computer. I do everything from my phone now when Im home. Can you blame me?

I will try harder though. I need to, this is like my little diary of our lives and I wanna keep it up. I just need to keep "maternity leave" in the back of my mind.


"six more weeks, six more weeks, six more weeks...." say it with me.