BIRTH STORY:

My little sweetheart was born on Saturday March 22nd at 12:15PM. It wasn't easy getting him here but I stuck to my guns as hard as it was and delivered him vaginally and drug free. I was having contractions 7min apart on the 21st around 8PM and so I called my sister to let her know but it was too late for her to drop her kids off at her friends house so she said if I didn't have the baby by 9Am the next day she would come up.

The contractions were giving me a killer migrane, like the mother of all migranes... so I called the health link here and that was around 2am and I was having contractions 5minutes apart at that time and they told me to go to the hospital. I wasn't going to go till about 2min apart. By the time we got to the hospital they were 2-3min apart.

I went to triage and she checked me, and believe it or not I was still only 2cm and 90% effaced. She was going to send us home but I told her I lived 35min away. So she told me to walk the walls and she would recheck me in 2 hours. that was at like 3AM.

At 4:30AM she re-checked me and I was 3-4cm so they admitted me and the contractions picked up. I tried the shower but the hospital was having problems with their hot water and so it was going hot and cold so it frustrated me. At 8AM they checked me and I was 8cm. We all thought WOW SHES REALLY PROGRESSING!

I was so out of it with the pain, they kept asking me if I wanted something, that was frustrating... I did it naturally though. So 3 hours later they checked again and I was still 8cm and the baby's head was pushed against a weird spot on my cervix so they said they would put me on syntocinon... man I was bawling and they sat down with me and asked me why I was so upset. I told them "I wanted to do this birth drug free and I know if you put me on syntocinon (pitocin in the states) i'll need an epideral" and the doctor was like "well birth plans are just stuff to go off of they aren't locked in stone" She said "its either this or you fight through this pain for the next 4 hours and end up having a c-section with an epideral anyway" so I ordered the epideral to start me on synto so I could at least deliver vaginally.

I got to a point where I couldn't stop pushing and they kept telling me not too.. my body was making me push I did all I could to stop it! So she re-checked me incase and lucky me the baby turned and I was a full 10CM dilated so I didn't need the epideral or synto anymore. They told me to start pushing with my next contraction. Its so weird how you just DON'T want to push when your allowed to haha.

I had him pushed out in 45min the doctor said I was a really good pusher. Cameron came out like superman so his hand was on his forehead and he ripped me all the way down to my bum, I had 3rd degree tears. So I ended up having a spinal done to freeze me so they could stitch me up. There was a lot of fat around my spine so I ended up getting the needle 3 times, omg talk about pain. I didn't even get to see Cameron's face for like an hour.

Not much else I can say. He is perfect, doesn't cry lots, he is such a smart baby and a good nurser, its hard with my boobs but we are getting it. He doesn't puke like at all, and he doesn't cry when I change him (my gf bought me a wipes warmer so his baby wipes are warm, they are AWESOME I suggest every mom to get them), he is such a good burper and he is so attentive, he loves looking deep in my eyes. I love that it just melts my heart.

Anyway my husband is having daddy time so I thought I would use this time to update you all. Thank you for being so supportive and wonderful throughout my pregnancy. Its going to be a journey and I will do my best to update as often as possible.

Good luck to all you pregos out there and congrats when your time comes! xoxo

Mar 21 2008

Ok well its the day of the full moon, and I went to wipe after I peed and there was blood... I freaked out and went to Labor & Delivery and they hooked me up to the machines again. Cameron is just ticky-boo, and it turns out i'm in early labor :D yaay! something is finally happening.

The doctor stretched my cervix from 2cm to 2 1/2 I think. MAN did that hurt, ouchies. So she said this weekend I should have the baby. I won't be on probably all weekend so next time I will be on will most likely be to post baby pictures.

I'm off to Chapters today to buy some childrens books, I ordered a bunch of Dr. Suess classic stories online yesterday - they are surprisingly cheap. I got like 7 for free due to the membership due-hicky.

Anyway thought I would share the good news. I'M GONNA HAVE A BABY!!!

Mar 19 2008

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm so frustrated. I'm STILL 2cm, but at least i'm like 90% effaced (so we figure), doctor said she can't see me making it to next wednesday so I guess thats something, but babies have their own calendars. I'm going to end up with an April baby, that sucks.

-sigh- I don't know. I'm way past discouraged. My sister went home today, sad to see her go SO GLAD to see her kids go. You should see my house :( I did a mad clean sweep before my sister got here, then she came up which was unplanned and now I need to do uber nesting to get it straight... not that i'll ever have this baby or anything.

UGH!

Mar 17 2008

So I went for a long walk today with my sister, mom and my sisters kids, as soon as we started down the street I got a bad contraction and I kept getting them all the way to the park and when we walked around the park. My sister kept me walking she was timing them too. They were 2min apart lasting about 30-45 seconds and that kept up for about 30minutes straight. I was bawling my eyes out and the contractions were bad enough that they stopped me in my tracks.

So i've been having pains and/or contractions steadily for the last 6 hours or so. My sister and mom are convinced that its early labor, early labor can last about 8hours-24hours depending on the woman. I don't think its early labor. I'm disappointed, everyone seems to be popping their babies out and I always feel like there is something wrong with my body and maybe I have a lazy baby.

I look at the countdown on my page and see 5days and get almost depressed because I doubt i'll have him for another week or two. I know they induce at 41 weeks because the placenta proves to be unreliable as it doesn't do its job up to par at that point so they like to get the baby out.

I went to L&D last night and learned that, I was concerned about Cameron's lack of movement so they hooked me up to a machine and monitored his heart-rate and I was given this switch thing and I was to push a button everytime I felt or heard movement. She told me what the movement sounded like when he moved, it was sort of static and scratchy... so we ended up getting 12 movements in 10minutes. Then my doctor came to see me and told me shes pleased with how the baby is and she doesn't have a worry. I see her again on Wednesday.

My sister doesn't think i'll make it to that apt. but I do. Like I said my son doesn't want to come out. This is really depressing :(

As always, i'll keep you posted. Good luck to those of you who give birth and are being induced soon.

Mar 15 2008

Well i'm losing my mucus plug, so thats a good sign. Its going to go slow though. I'm also have contractions more regularly and yesterday I felt his head move between my pelvis or wherever he is. Everyone is still thinking he will be here soon. I think another 2 weeks. I won't be surprised thats for sure. He won't be here before easter. My mom already picked out his first easter basket and apparently its really cute, so thats unfortunate that he won't be here.

I'll keep you posted as always.

Mar 14 2008

Well i've been thinking this whole family thing would really benefit me, but its not. Its raised my BP and raised my stress level. I'm on the verge of tears everyday. I thought having my mom here would help but that seems to make matters worse. My sister completely pulled a 180 on me and shes a complete bitch now. I was out yesterday for 3 hours, I went to meet my gfs baby and she got a call that her best friend was killed so of course I stayed to comfort her. My sister bitched about that. I'm so tired of having her and her bratty kids here. Everyday its a new hurdle to get through it.

I used to be so excited for Cameron, now I just hope he stays in there, his world needs to be simple, and right now I can't deal with a newborn ontop of all of this. My husband is mad at how my family is treating me, but what can you do, I should have expected this. I knew from day one that this would be chaos. Everyone is expecting me to have him soon, like on their schedule.. I realize they have their own lives to get back too but don't put pressure on me to make him come.

I just want them to be excited for me, for this to be my time and its turned out to be moreso a regular visit, my mom visiting with the hell kids and my sister, her favorite daughter, getting all the attention. Whatever.

Please let my misery end?

Mar 12 2008

Alright well the castor oil didn't work which is really unfortunate because it was so gross. I was hoping it would be worth it but it wasn't. He just isn't ready. As we all know nothing will work until our bodies are ready, so all those age old "natural ways to induce" only work if your body is ready.

I went to my doctors today and she rimmed my cervix which really hurt me, but it is supposed to bring on contractions so lets hope. I'm 2cm dilated now and 80% effaced, i'm progressing, slowly but surely.

He is just so comfortable I guess. It sucks because he is taking to kicking my liver or something which really hurts. I find its really sensative and painful by my pelvis where his head is. At least his head is down farther, I just want him to break my water already this waiting is nuts.

My sister is here as you all know and she has like total Nanny 911 kids and so my BP was high, but I knew it would be. They are drawing all over my nice table cloth with felt marker, her little one has tantrums and she folds...oy vey. Its so stressful, I just don't know how I can handle this, plus her 8 week old puppy that she brought here who piddles all over my nice area rug we bought for Cameron so he could lay on it with tummy time, with a newborn ta boot.

Its just life I guess. I just want it to be hubby and me and baby. Thats not going to happen though. My mom and dad will be here tomorrow so hopefully the kids won't be so bad. At least she followed through on punishment today - they didn't go to bed last night and so we told them no park, no movies, no video games today. It made them worse because they were bored but they went to bed really good tonight because now they know we mean business. I don't think my sister has ever done that, so I think its one of those situations where she is doing it to show that she does do disapline.

I know my sister doesn't because her son always throws around controllers (nintendo wii for example) and has fits and she just tunes him out, her tactic is to swear and scream at them over and over and over again and then finally she folds and gives them what they want.

Cameron will NEVER be like that...not saying he won't naturally want to pull fits, he just won't beable to get away with it, and I won't fold, thats why you use reasonable threats - you can't threaten things that you can't/won't do. Anyway thats my babble jabble for now. More to come as I progress. Hopefully pictures to come soon. :)

Good luck ladies!

Mar 10 2008

Okay, so I did what I never thought I would: I drank castor oil. Oh my lord... that shit is so gross...gross...GROSS! Its REALLY thick, and oh man its hard for me to describe it without gagging. They say to mix it with pepsi or some pop, oh man don't do that... the oil floats to the top and stays there so you have a huge thick layer of oil ontop and pepsi underneath. They said online and in my girlfriends birthing book from a midwive/doctor to take 2oz of castor oil.

If you choose to drink it straight up which I did with my second dose (I originally only took like 2 teaspoons), they say to have some hot apple juice to get rid of the bitter taste. I would rather buckleys cough syrup to what I did. I don't think I will ever do this again with my other pregnancies. I want him so bad. I'm feeling contractions and stuff. So far it hasn't kicked in.

My sister is on her way tonight so she will be here for the next week or two.. should be interesting... not looking forward to having a house full but I want my sister here so bad so Its worth it.

I could have a baby tonight girls! Anyway i'm not getting my hopes too high, but yeah i'm nervous for if it works lol. It takes about 2-6 hours for it to work. They say hot showers work too i'm waiting for my friend to leave so I can go have a hot shower.

Oh and they say to rub some oil on your tummy too with a hot towel, so I did that... this stuff is like that sticky sap you find on trees I swear, trying to spread it around your tummy, its definately not slippery like oil.

I'll keep you all posted!

Mar 09 2008

Well things aren't as comfortable as I would like. I can't sleep very much, I have good nights and bad nights. I find i'm over heating a lot lately, I'm not sure if thats due to the blood increase or whatever but I can be in bed, fan blowing on me, heat turned off and no covers and i'm still rolling around the bed constantly trying to get to cold spots lol. I love being pregnant, but I'm so done with it now. I'm sore, tired, my back hurts, i'm anxious. I want to beable to bend over or just sit upright without it hurting. I tried the sex thing as mentioned in my last post and that didn't work at all. I mean talk about uncomfortable to the extreme! No thank you.

We are all ready for Cameron 100% now. I just finished the last of the wash yesterday, washed his basinette sheet and crib sheet, I got an early baby gift (a fuzzy blanket oh so soft!) so I washed that and put that in the basinette. We had to rearrange our bedroom lol, I went to put the basinette beside my bed and i'm like.. hey, this is really cramped and awkward we need to move things around. So we did that yesterday.

I went to a store called Bo Bebe (super expensive, got to be selective with what you buy there), and got my breast feeding pillow. It cost me $70 but so worth it. Its so comfy, and just like my mom said a lot of stuff you pay quality for. I wouldn't buy toys or anything there but I'm ok with the breast pillow. Like I said "selective".

Everyone keeps asking me how I feel lately. I'm so sick of this "anyday" crap, at least when we were like 32, 33, 34..etc. weeks we could say "Yeah 8 more weeks" or "Yeah 7 more weeks till he's out", now its like "anyday" I just hate the unsurity of it. At least before I had some sort of thing to go off of. Its funny though before 37 weeks we say "4 more weeks", but once we hit that "anyday" point we just stop counting to 40 weeks and say anyday. At least I do.

I got a huge parcel from my cousin yesterday, name brand clothes like elite clothes, bunniesbythebay.com stuff and baby gap, oh my you should see the wonderful outfits Cameron has. Although, I have to admit its a little frustrating - I have 2 overflowing drawers of 3mth/3-6mth clothes and one really packed drawer of newborn. I really hope I don't get anymore outfits for my baby shower, and if I do I hope the people were clever enough to buy bigger sizes when the baby doesn't grow as fast (such as 6mth?). I have enough outfits that Cameron can wear every single one of them and I don't have to do wash before he grows out haha. I have so many, at least I think. My mom was telling me that I don't know what i'm talking about because i've never been a mom before. She said "You have to realize that when your baby is born the diapers don't fit so snugly so you end up getting poop leakage and pee leakage so everytime you change the diaper your changing your baby it seems" if thats the case then we might beable to put cameron in the same outfit more then once. We will see.

NO MORE OUTFITS! haha I really do not need anymore.

Mar 06 2008

I had my doctors appointment yesterday. I'm progressing very well, she is surprised. I am 1cm dilated and my cervix is open - and i'm still 70% effaced but thats ok. His head is down and he is engaged in my cervix, she said she felt his heat haha cute.

I'm having sex tonight lol I want this baby out! hahaha. My girlfriend said she was in the exact same situation and she had sex and like hours later she was in labor. Male semen contains the same hormone they use when they induce you in the hospital - so male stuff is a natural way to induce yourself.

I also plan on going for a really long walk tonight and eating something super spicey - spicey foods is also supposed to be a way to naturally induce yourself. I'm not looking forward to the pain, but he is on his way anyday now. That stork is bringing me a bouncing baby boy! I really want to hold him. I was sitting up in bed last night while hubby was in the shower and I was daydreaming about having him in my arms at the hospital and just looking at him and it made me tear up. It doesn't feel quite real, it still feels like its all a dream and i'm sure it will even when I have him.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Feb 26 2008

I had my doc appointment today. I am 70% effaced, and 1cm dilated on the inside, cervix still isn't opened, ever since she did the exam i've been having mini contractions. She said there is no way i'll hold till 40 weeks, so the time frame is about 2 weeks they figure.

Cameron is 6.5lbs-7lbs, and if I did by some freak weird thing hold to 40 weeks she figures he would be 9lbs!! WOW! I really hope I don't hold that long, but based on my contractions I don't think I will.

I've been having some small stitches of pain in my groin and cervix area so i'm assuming its thinning more and doing its job down there. I was also swabbed for Group B Strep today and she swabbed me for Strep Throat. My blood pressure was a little high so I go for blood work tomorrow - grr...joy oh joy, we all know how much I hate needles :(

Is anyone getting really nervous about the birthing? I am. I packed my bag tonight finally, I have had Cameron's bag packed since I was 32 weeks but my bag i've just waited on. It really still feels so surreal, and when I think about pushing a baby out I freak myself out - maybe thats why my blood pressure was so high. I've been hearing some crazy horror stories too -eep!

I go back to the doc on Friday to redo my blood pressure - maybe I will find out the results of the swabs too. Then I go again on March 5.

Everytime I go pee and wipe I wonder if I would have lost my mucus plug. I think I will be grossed out and excited at the same time - that means i'm even closer. I can't even wait to hold my son. I really wouldn't mind having him this weekend - haha!

Everything else seems great with babes, i'm measuring good and baby's heartbeat is 140bmp today so thats great, hes still super active which makes mommy happy :)

As for my "cold" the doctor didn't really say much, just to get a nasal spray to help with the runny nose so the mucus doesn't irriate my throat and make me cough more, she said I could take Tylenol 3 with codine and Benedryl - DM or something. I am however really trying to do this pregnancy drug free and hopefully my body will deal with this cold all on its own.

Anyway thats all for now - I hope everything is well for everyone else. We're almost there ladies!

Feb 25 2008

Sorry I haven't updated - i've been really sick. I have this vicious cough, my poor little guy and his world is getting shook right up which has raised some concern for me, so I have another doc appointment tomorrow - they will likely do the group b strep swab and a vaginal to see if my cervix is effacing and all that fun jazz.

My last doc appointment was fine, baby was measuring perfectly - except that nit-twit of a trainee nurse doesn't know how to measure the size of the uterus and she can never find the top and always pokes really hard. Ugh. I'd tell her not to size me but how do you tell someone that? I guess i'm just not that rude. Baby's heartbeat was 148 last visit, so back in his normal range which is surprising considering miss medusa poker.

My girlfriend had her baby - she had a baby girl - i'm so excited for her. I can't wait for her birth story. She looked fantastic for being in labor for over 45 hours (yes, she did it naturally as well), only way to go! And she had a healthy active baby because of it.

Anyway I didn't really have much to say just that I hope everything is going well for everyone, and baby and I are just fine. Only another few days and i'm 37 weeks. I can barely make out the faint line that says "finish" haha.

Feb 02 2008

Wow things have been crazy still, trying to get a car for my husband, doctors appointments, prenatal classes, going out for my moms night things lol... ok well i'll post a bit about whats been going on and of course educate you on the prenatal class. :)

Well this last week i've been doing a lot of cleaning, I haven't been feeling so well i'm not sure if its due to lack of rest (due to freakish nightmares!), or if my morning sickness has come back... My friend Dani had her baby on Friday and it has made me even more itchy to be a mom. This lady in our prenatal class (she was 35weeks) had her baby too, ugh! Her baby was 6lbs 1oz and 5 weeks early! Thats crazyness. I try not to be jealous.
Last night I had a huge sushi craving, I felt so bad and guilty afterwards... it wasn't the raw stuff though I don't like the raw tuna or any of that stuff. It was just the rice rolls with cooked meat and stuff in it but I am told cross contamination is a risk.

However! I was reading online and apparently the stuff I ate is supposed to be fine, just not in overly abundant quantities. Its my first time since being pregnant and judging by my guilt level and level of worry on Cameron i'm assuming it will be my last until he's born. I hate all these stupid stipulations! Cross contamination is EVERYWHERE, unless your like a germ-a-phobe and walk around with a can of lisol spray sanitising everything your going to get some bacteria transfer. The way I see it, i'm just about 34 weeks and he's pretty well cooked, hes just getting fatter and bigger and his heart and lungs are developing more at this point.

Well anyway thats enough of that. My prenatal class was really great! I learned a lot about breast feeding. I also got some reasurring news that regardless of the size of your chest - We are meant to breast feed - so my teacher said if I have really large boobs to create a sling out of like a recieving blanket and tuck it under your breast and tie it so it boosts it up. I'm not sure how well describing what I learned will work but I will try.

How to get baby to latch right, you put your hand in a U shape (so thumb and pointer finger making a U shape) and you have that at the bottom of your nipple. Your pointer finger should be about an inch above the nipple, and your thumb should have a pretty decent gap between the areaola and itself. Your nipple should be at the ROOF of your baby's mouth, so the bulk of the suck should be your areaola. I would say make sure to get all your dark brown areaola in the baby's mouth but thats not the case, some women have large ones and some have small ones and for the large ones its really difficult to get that in the baby's mouth. So baby's jaw should be slightly to the side, top jaw should be slightly above the nipple.

You should also tease the baby with your nipple to get him/her to open their mouth wide, let them lick the nipple to get a taste and they will get the hang of it. Hold your baby's head at the back but don't restrict them from moving because if their airways get blocked you want your baby to beable to pull back and breath again, the rest of the baby (less the torso) should be tucked under your arm, so a breast feeding pillow definately helps because its hard to hold dead weight (as baby sleeps they get heavy) under your arm in whats called a "football hold" position.

If you find your other breast is leaking, put your forearm of that side (example: right boob, right forearm) and apply pressure to turn it off. I know that sounds funny but our breasts are kind of like valvues.

A cute way to know when your doing breast feeding properly is your baby will stretch his/her legs out and curl their toes when they breast feed good :)

**IMPORTANT: Breast nipple cream is only meant for CRACKED nipples, NOT tender. You shoud NOT put anything on your breasts or scrub your nipples down with soap and water. Just gently wash. The bumps around your areaola release a special oil that keep your nipples lubricated and protected, if you scrub you will wash away that protection and your nipples will no longer be protected.**

Breast feeding should NOT hurt after 3 DEEP breaths. If you inhale deep and exhale 3x and you still feel pain the baby is latched wrong.
How to get baby to unlatch? Stick a finger in the baby's mouth (DO NOT PULL BABY OFF NIPPLE) use the finger approach and gently make a hook and pull the baby away from the breast gently to release suction.

Remember that your breasts will be tender for TWO WEEKS, they need to toughen up just like gums do when a baby teeths.

Remember breast-fed babies are more intelligent then formula fed babies, as well as the breast milk helps your baby build up a strong immune system so if they find a toy on the floor and put it in their mouth a breast fed baby is most likely going to beable to fight off any germs whereas formula fed get sick more often.

If you are pumping make sure you pump an ounce only out of each breast. The teacher suggested having baby nurse on one boob while you pump an ounce/two out of the other so they are even. You definately don't want to pre-pump a bunch of bottles as that tells your body to produce more milk then your baby normally feeds and you will overflow or have to always pump.

You should eat lots of vegetables and fruit during pregnancy and whatever you eat during your pregnancy you can still eat afterwords (the best example here is brocolli, everyone says this gives a baby gas, well if you eat it during your pregnancy the baby is already used to the brocolli components right? so baby will be just fine) Another good example is spicy food, if you usually eat spicy food and you find it won't effect you then it won't effect your baby either. I've been eating spicy food throughout my whole pregnancy and so therefore I will beable to still eat the same amount of spice and baby will be fine.

Peanut butter - if you, your husband or anyone in both of your IMMEDIATE FAMILY (sisters, grandparents, parents) have allergies to peanut butter they say not to give your child peanut butter until the age of THREE; If you, your husband and both familes have no allergies then you can give your baby peanut butter at age ONE.

Remember the baby is 50% your mans too. So if your man has an allergy to bananas or something and you just had a banana and your baby starts to fuss then it could be the banana. Your child may share some of the Dad's allergies or allergies in IMMEDIATE dad's family.

Hunger Cues:
- Mouthing, Rooting
- Fussiness, Back arching
- Clenched hands & fists
- Turns head to you/caregiver
- And makes feeding smacking sounds

Did you know?
-Your babys stomach for the first 3 days is the size of a marble.
-Your babys stomach on day THREE is the size of a large cherry.
-Your babys stomach on day TEN is the size of a walnut/ping pong ball.

Keep that in mind so you don't overfeed. When you first breast feed your baby can only really fit 2tsp per feed. Thats 4-10ml, so not very much. You should feed your baby every 3-4 hours because of the size of their stomach they don't retain food for long periods of time. Just remember the size.

If your baby has really large poops after feeding and has some small white seedy stuff in the poop then you know you breast fed your baby long enough. There are three stages.
Colostream: (has)
-Readily available as soon as baby is delivered.
-antibodies
-laxative (makes em' poop fast)
-yellow
-its low volume so your baby only really needs 4-10ml

Foremilk:
- Foremilk comes in 3-4 days after delivery
- 87.5% water as its base component
- Sugar
- Antibodies
- Needs to stay on 10min to get to hindmilk (see below)
- Feed for 15min per breast, try to make sure baby doesn't dose off
- Feed one boob, burb, change, feed other boob and put to bed. No need to burp twice.

Hindmilk:
- Cream based
- Feed for 10-15min (don't push any longer then 15min)
- Explosive poop/curds
- Seedy Poop
- This is the "good stuff"
- 10-14 days to come in

Recommended Breast Pumps: Medella, Amita, Avent. All the rest according to my teacher just aren't up to snuff and she does not recommend them.

Anyway I hope you find this information useful, I found the class very rewarding, I had no idea how large the stomach was and found it very exciting to be so educated. :)
I hope all your pregnancies are going well! I can't wait to give birth. I really hope i'm lucky and get to pop at like 38 weeks that would be the best! lol

Jan 25 2008

Things have been pretty busy around here this week. My husband got into a horrible car accident on Monday night so that was scary, but don't worry he is fine. We found out that the guy he hit, his wife has the same due date as me - creepy eh? Well don't worry it was just the "dad to be's" in the car and nobody was seriously hurt. My husband has a sprained foot, and the other guy has a sprained wrist. It seemed to be a pretty shady week for us up until yesterday. I mean we went from car dealership to car dealership looking at pre-owned cars that had low KM and were relatively affordable and NOTHING, then I went into a car wash with my brand new car (2 weeks old) and the driverside mirror gets beat off. So i'm arguing with the dealership as they are trying to charge me $400 for this part and i'm like "No I just bought this car from you like 2 weeks ago this is horse shit" and they are saying the car wash people are responsible. I actually had a good laugh with my girlfriend. She just finished telling me about a guy she saw on funniest home videos that had a paper or something on his windshield and didn't notice till he was in the wash and he thought he could beat the machines so he opened the door and went to reach for the paper and his wife yanked him back in and moments later his door was pulled off; Apparently that cost him $3500. The irony of it all I guess.

So as you can see we've been busy with that. Its all good now though we recieved the quote on what our insurance company will pay us for my husbands totalled car and its a good number so we aren't stressed anymore. We're just trying to find the right car now.

I had prenatal classes last night, which made me have a freak out when I got home, she went over so much stuff in detail I just started crying and said "I don't want to go into labor" lol, its going to suck for me doing it naturally but thats what this teacher is all about she is teaching us pain techniques and stuff but i'm just scared. I don't know what a contaction feels like, or if I'm going to be a mean person in labor, I don't want to be mean, or swear... it was just a freak out.

We did practice positions for labor and my husband and I found this amazing position to open the pelvis up because thats the key to make it bigger so the baby comes faster and oh my goodness my pelvis area was so tender I could barely walk. Its not used to being stretched wide like that I guess...so the end result is, GREAT birthing position, not so much for practice.

I'll tell you what it is and you should try it with your husbands/boyfriends. Your husband/boyfriend sits on a chair with no arms and he scoots forward, you straddle him and sit on him (face to face) and drop your bum in the opening between his knees and go as low as you feel comfortable. Wrap your arms around his neck and you can nuzzle your head in his neck and this way he can reach and rub your lower back. He swings his legs from side to side to rock you or he can rock you the other way by leaning forward and backwards whatever works for you and him. Its such an amazing position, its comfortable, its comforting because your lover is rocking you back and forth like a baby (I know that sounds stupid but trust me its so sweet), and he can whisper encouraging things in your ear and just comfort you, as well as because you are snuggled to him he can rub your lower back and run his hands up and down your back to help. This position opens your pelvis up SOO GOOD, and you just breath through your contractions while he rocks you back and forth. Make sure your bum is dropped down between his knees (his legs have to be open obviously). Anyway I hope I explained that properly, I really encourage you guys to try this position out.

I had a doctors appointment on Monday, baby's head is down, heartbeat is 160bps, he is active and kicking lots, I can actually feel his foot and knees through my skin sometimes. He likes it when I lay in the bath and spray my tummy with the hand-held nozzel with warm water. I'm telling everyone that i'm going to pop at 38-39 weeks so I can say I only have 5 weeks to 6 weeks to go. Worst case scenerio if I do hold him in to full term by the time i'm 38-39 weeks I can still say "I only have a week or two left" and it still won't feel that long. Right now saying "8 weeks" feels so long so I like my method. It keeps me encouraged too.

Ok well thats all for now I guess, I hope everyone else is doing good.

Jan 20 2008

Its crazy to think that we are 8 months pregnant isn't it? I really can't wait. I'm packing my overnight bag soon, I got my diaper bag all prepared and stuff so baby is good to go. I've joined a moms group too so I've made friends with all sorts of moms my age of course their children aren't all around Camerons' age but my one friend has a 3mth old daughter, so the two of them will only be like 4-5mths apart!

So I changed my mind about the cloth diapers, I am going with disposables. I did more research and yeah, I mean it saves you money for sure to buy cloth diapers and wash them myself, but for a diaper service I just feel its not worth it. So anyway thats my choice. I tried to be pro-environment.

Things I'll be thankful for when my baby is here: (not necessarily in order of preference...just off the top of my head when I think of it)
- Seeing my feet again
- Sleeping on my back
- SUSHI!!
- Social drinking: Margaritas, Bellinis
- Not having to worry if the cheesecake was left out too long
- Being able to get off the couch by myself without feeling like a steam roller
- Losing all this baby fat - going straight to TAEBO baby, hardcore exercise!!!
- Having something to do during the daytime
- Well of course my baby boy! Being a first time mommy.

Ha ha well i'm sure there is more. I love being pregnant but my gosh 9months is so long! It lasts so long.

I have a doctors appointment on Monday, can't wait to hear my baby's heartbeat. I had to cancel my last appointment was supposed to see the doc almost 2 weeks ago - yikes! So I am anxious to see how my little tyke is doing :)
Tuesday I do a moms thing - trying to keep busy...
Wednesday I have a moms night out - I really like my nights out
Thursday I have prenatal classes
Friday I see my other doctor, my maternity doctor and I think I see an old high school friend. And just think by then its almost february.

Just think, next month we can say "I'm having a baby next month" that almost gives me chills. We're going to have our babies soon! Well anyway I should go I don't have much to say just wanted to drop a line.
Hope everyone else is doing good in their pregnancies!

Well I have been keeping busy these last few days and I hope my schedule just keeps getting crazier and crazier because that means it will feel like Cameron is here anyday now. I had my prenatal class on Thursday. They are every Thursday for the next 6 weeks. I'll be 35 weeks by the time they are done. I thought I would share a bit of information I learned to help all you "mommy-2-be's" that can't afford to take classes or just don't have the time. There is so much to learn from these classes so I will do my best to share as much as I can. Heregoes the teaching process. Everything you read below is what I learned in my class.

Terms you may hear when your in labor:

Perineum - referring to your lower vagina or anus
Lightening - Hard to breath
Station - Location of baby in the pelvis (so if your at - station your not quite there yet, + station is where they may get you to start pushing)

It is very important to do your Kegal Exercises because before you get pregnant when you sneeze you may not pee yourself a bit, but as i'm sure a lot of you have noticed that not when you cough or laugh hard or sneeze you pee a bit. Thats because the Kegal Muscle has a lot of weight on it, its holding baby, placenta and all the other stuff. So if you don't work at it during and after pregnancy you will always pee yourself when you sneeze or something (how embarrassing!). If you don't know what a Kegal muscle is you can learn when you go pee to stop the flow of your pee, thats your Kegal muscles. However don't practice this way as you may get a bladder infection. They say you should do about 20 a day, holding 10 secs. Its also the tightening of your sex muscles, if you ladies tighten up down there when you have sex thats your Kegals, so you can do it anytime. Walking, cooking, anytime. You need to keep those tight.

Also a lot of you may or may not know this but those weird dreams, and the fact that you wake up many hours during the night, thats your body preparing you to cope with less and less sleep for the baby. I found this facinating. I may be dumb but I didn't know my body was that smart to prepare me for sleepless nights with a baby. Too cool.

Alright now the fun stuff this next part is something you all would want to know..

Stages of Labor:

Stage 1
-Phase 1: 0-3cm dilated (this is the "Getting into It" Phase) in this phase you will be "easily distracted" so you may want to let your hubby's know that if there is a change and all of a sudden your really easily distracted then you have entered Phase 1. This Phase usually lasts on AVERAGE, don't bank on these times but ballpark around is around 7-8hours. So this isn't when you want to rush to the hospital. When you get a contraction you can still talk and walk around and laugh. Its not unbearable at this part.
-Phase 2: 4-7cm dilated (this is the "Serious Hardwork" Phase) in this phase your contractions are 4-5min apart lasting about 45sec, no longer are you able to walk or talk during a contaction, you stop, work your way through your contraction and then continue. At this stage many women do not want to go through with the labor, they decide they aren't ready to give birth. This stage usually lasts about 2-4hours, again these times may not be applicable to you so if yours lasts longer don't be surprised. These are just average times. Phase 2 is when you need to get to the hospital.
-Phase 3: 8-10cm dilated (this is the "Powerful & Weird" Phase) In this phase you may decide you don't want the baby, mom may cry, and of course this is the hardest phase of all. Contractions are 2min apart lasting 90 sec. This stage can last anywhere from 30min-2hours (or again perhaps longer).

Stage 2 "Pushing Baby Out" Not much to say here, its straight forward.
Stage 3 "Delivering The Placenta" If you have a vaginal delivery, about 20 minutes after the baby is born you will have to push the placenta out. This takes about 30min-1hour. If you have a c-section they will take all the stuff out for you.

Stage 4 "Recovery" This is where they will freeze your vagina and stitch it up (if you tore), this lasts a couple of hours and because you are frozen down there you may not be allowed to get up so a catheder will be placed in your bladder so you can urinate. In the recovery stage if you had a vaginal birth you will stay in the hospital for 24 hours, for a c-section it will be 3-4 days for recovery stage.

When to go to the hospital
After 37 Weeks
1. Call hospital ahead of time when your contractions are 3-5min apart to give them a heads up that you are on your way. Your contactions should have been 3-5min apart for about an hour. Don't just rush to the hospital once they are 3-5min apart, and the contactions should last 45-60sec.

2. Group "B" Strep - If you are positive for this go to he hospital (this is a vaginal or anal swab that your doctor will do)

3. If your water breaks & there are no contractions - Go to the hospital - Once your water is broken your baby is exposed to the world, they will need to put you on IV vitamins to make sure your baby does not get an infection. At this point you will need to be induced.

4. If mom is no longer comfortable at home, you just want to get out you can't be at home anymore you need to go to the hospital, that is a sign of labor.

Before 37 Weeks:

This is "preterm labor" and do NOT wait if you are having contractions, IMMEDIATELY go to the hospital, because if its before 37 weeks you shouldn't be having the baby yet so they need to stop the contactions before its too late. If you don't have a ride, call 911.

Anytime:
-If you have active genital herpes
-Any kind of vaginal bleeding (if you have any vaginal bleeding this is not normal, anytime during your pregnancy if this happens go immediately to the hospital.)
-Or if your baby hasn't moved for about an hour. You should feel your baby move at least 10 times an hour. If you are worried you haven't felt movement, eat something sweet and go lay on your back and wait for the kicks. Time them. If there is no movement go to the hospital.

Labor Signs - Possibly in labor IF:
-You have vague nagging back ache (this is different from that what you would feel during your pregnancy, it is more painful and it is a different kind of back ache)
- If you have soft bowel movments, you may be in labor
- Intermittent or continuous cramps (similar to menstral cramps)
- Burst of energy - "Nesting"

Labor Signs - Preliminary:
-'Show' (blood tinged mucus discharge, it will be a thin stream of blood)
-'Bag of waters' (if you just went to the bathroom, you haven't sneezed or anything and your panties are slowly getting wet)
- Continuing non-progressing (contractions are few and far between and they come and go. you are not in labor if your contractions aren't steady. That is why you need to wait an hour if your contractions start 3-5min apart to ensure they haven't switched to non-progressing)

Other signs to report:
-Abdominal pain
-Foul smelling discharge
-Burning urination
-Illness causing fever
-Persistant negitive feelings

Also some of you may be interested to know that if you are considering taking drugs to assist during pregnancy your pressure points that release good endorphins will no longer be effective as the drugs block that part to the brain. So if you have a headache and your partner is trying to get rid of it by massaging a good pressure point, it will do you know good. Something to think about.

Lesson Over.

I will try and post what I learn all the time so you guys can take notes. I learned a lot. So did my husband. He even commented that in Phase 1 of Stages of labor when i'm only 0-3cm dilated he would have been panicing. So I really hope this information was as helpful to you guys as it is to us. And yes i've finally posted nursery pictures!! i'll put a few up on the main page but the rest will be in my photo album.

Jan 01 2008

I decided I wanted to keep one picture of Cameron always on the top of my page! I hope everyone's christmas and new years was ok. My christmas wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. We got stuck in a camper trailer thats parked in my sisters yard, she had a shortage of beds and figured we would want the privacy, of course she didn't take into consideration that i'm pregnant and would have to use the facilities a few times in the night, plumbing is down in the camper due to winter so yeah that was fun. I just loved the part where I had to get dressed to take a pee. Oh well. Plus there were a bunch of drunks and loud kids, bah, it just wasn't ideal. Then christmas itself was so rushed no pictures were able to be taken. there must have been close to a hundred presents under that tree (4 families combined) way to many people. Next year should be better, more calm, since my parents are buying a house in that same city christmas won't have to be consolodated into my sisters house.

I got lots of wonderful presents though i'm so grateful, my husband spoiled me rotten lol. Everyone was so happy to see pictures of Cameron in 4D, they all commented on how big I am and were scaring me quite frankly telling me i'm going to rip and all that... gee thanks, tell the 7month pregnant lady that shes going to rip when she goes into labor, thats a great thing to think about during christmas, ugh, well if I do - I do.

New years wasn't great, due to freezing in the camper at christmas I caught a chill I guess and now i'm sick; And guess what? I can't take anything! They say tylenol is safe during pregnancy but I refuse to take ANY drugs during pregnancy. Oh well its not so bad, my husband is being so wonderful making me chicken noodle soup, running around to stores buying me apple juice and fruit platter things and massaging me and rubbing my head, hes so wonderful. I feel a bit better today. I was so upset though I wanted to stay awake for the new years countdown as we usually do, and I always kiss my husband on the lips when the TV says "HAPPY NEW YEARS!" I was watching the clock like a hawk and I guess I got distracted because when I looked again it was 12:01AM grr I missed the whole countdown. Then I called my family, of course I cried lol I cry over spilled milk these days it seems. Its embarrassing to watch movies with other people because they look at me and for no reason i'm soaked with tears haha aww oh well the pregnancy hormones eh?

I'm excited I start my prenatal classes on Thursday. I have to bring 2 pillows, a blanket, pen and paper and my maternity book so should be interesting, I hope I learn a lot. According to the doctors i'm 29 weeks this thursday but it won't show up as that on i-am-pregnant, it won't show up as me being 29 weeks until saturday evening.

Cameron sure has taking a liking to kicking me often, I joke that he is in a triathalon in there lol. Sometimes when he kicks me really hard I jump and yelp which can be embarrassing when i'm around other people. That happened a couple times during christmas and everyone was like "What what what?" and i'm like "baby kicked sorry, it was a hard one" I yelp with rib kicks too. I've gotten those more recently lately - little bugger lol. Last night was REALLY COOL, we were watching Spiderman 3, and I had my hand on my tummy since he was already in kicking phase and he pushed up really hard against my hand and actually lifted my stomach, it was too cool. It actually made me jump a bit. Hes really stretching and pushing around a lot in there. I'm sure if I looked I could see movement on my belly, but its usually when I lay on my side on the couch or something so I'm usually not in a good position to see anything.

Seeing pictures of peoples babies is making me more and more anxious. Due to my weight gain I have a sciatic nerve thing which basically makes my leg cramp up and my lower back hurt. I can't wait until I have my body back so I can use my AB Lounge Chair and tighten my stomach and actually start moving around without it being a big ordeal. I feel so useless lol. If I drop something hubby has to pick it up otherwise it takes me 10 minutes haha.

I want the baby, and I want my body back. The other day I went to take a shower and my nipples and boobs were COVERED in crusty dried out fluid, it was kinda neat because it looked almost crystalized. At first it scared me, but I guess that day was a heavy day for leaking fluid. My nipples were heavily crusted too. Its funny though my shirt didn't get wet!

Anyway thats all I have to update for now I think. I hope everyone's new years and christmas was good, or at least less of a pain then mine was lol. Please post comments, I look forward to talking to everyone!

Dec 22 2007

Meet Cameron Spencer in 4D (yes the sex is 100% guaranteed a boy, we saw his penis and scrotum):

Dec 21 2007

I so hate i-am-pregnant for the fact that you post and it doesn't stick, grr now I have to type it all over again...

I had my Dr's appointment today, everything is fantastic with the baby his heart-rate 140bmp and I measure 27cm which the doctor said was perfect. He is a very active baby too, we put the headphones on my tummy to play classical music (to make him a smart boy!) and he was just kicking away just dancing in there it was so cute, he kicked so hard the headphones almost came off lol.

I had so many questions for the doctor, apparently if you get muscle spazz'ms when you walk and you aren't able to put your whole weight on one leg or the other because you get a stabbing pain in your buttox thats because the baby's head is pushing up against nerves and what not, so thats normal.

As well as diarreah and soft stools are normal in pregnancy, some people get constipation, others get...well you get it. I was worried because diarreah and soft stools is also a sign of labor when the baby's head is pushing down on stuff your body clears the bowels to make delivery easier (I was worried so I did a ton of reading), so the doctor said he doesn't think I have anything to worry about but if I start getting braxton hick contractions (which he described as tight almost cramping in your uterus area and then it loosens up and it does that like every so often) if I get those i'm to go to the hospital.

The best christmas present I recieved was my diabetes came back great. I do NOT have gestational diabetes or diabetes of any kind. For pregnancy he said they usually like the results to be 7.8 or lower, mine was 5.2 so he was surprised, apparently my keytones and insulin is doing the job just fine.

I haven't really decided if I like him or not yet. He seems really rushing and hes a younger doctor. I'm not sure if he was aggitated because I had so many questions written on a piece of paper and he wasn't sure how long I was going to keep him from his other patients, but screw him, I booked an appointment I have every right to ask him those questions! So anyway, he seems like a dink to me lol but i'm going to give it a few more visits. That was only my second time meeting him, thank God he won't be my family doctor. Once this baby is born I go back to her and I love her shes so wicked!!

It works differently here in Canada. If your family doctor is also an obsetrician then she/he can delivery your baby and see you through your entire pregnancy. My doctor however, does not have her licence to deliver babies, but she is a woman so I don't care, anyone can deliver a baby but she's my family doctor. So meanwhile i'm sent to see special prenatal doctors throughout the rest of my pregnancy. I guess thats the life of a pregnant woman eh?

I am told in the states you guys have a gynecologist or something. Anyway thats how it works here.

I'll leave this post as it is because I don't really have much else to say. I'm so happy with the results and i'm happy my baby is healthy. I see him tomorrow on 4D I can't wait!!

Merry Christmas Everyone! This will probably be my last post until the 27th.
Ciao for now!

Dec 20 2007

I'm so excited for Christmas and time with