October 19, 2011 (37 weeks)...

...there's no belly pic this time, I have something better.
How about the cutest little guy you've ever seen?

Let's start from the beginning, shall we? (this will probably be a long post)

On Tuesday I had a regular OB appointment @ 10:30am. My BP was high again (136/94), then I got an ultrasound done to measure my amniotic fluid, check on baby's "practice breathing", and to measure his size. Then my Dr says "hmm". I'm thinking, "oh great, last time he said that, I ended up on bedrest!" I asked him why he said that and he just tells me that he needs to do a few more measurements...I had a feeling something was up.
When he got done he told me that the baby's growth had slowed down and was not equivalent to his gestation. Baby L was measuring in the 10th percentile, meaning that 90% of other babies at that gestation were bigger than him. No bueno. That, along with my continued high BPs and headaches did not make him feel comfortable with sending me home after that appointment. The Dr called my IM to tell her what was going on and off to L&D I went.

In L&D my dr had them run my labs and had radiology do another ultrasound just to make sure that his measurements were correct. The labs came back with slightly elevated liver enzymes and the ultrasound confirmed my dr's initial findings. I was told that it looked like they caught pre-eclampsia early and that I needed to deliver the baby before it got any worse for the both of us. Needless to say, I was in a little bit of shock. I certainly didn't go into my dr's appointment thinking that I'd be having the baby! I notified my IPs and they both left work and hit the road! I also called Kevin to let him know that he needed to get his butt to the hospital because I was alone and kinda scared.

The Dr checked my cervix, and of course I was barely dilated to 1cm (duh! my body wasn't ready to have the baby yet! ☺), so at 2:30p he gave me cytotec (a vaginal pill) to start softening my cervix. Kevin arrived, and then they moved me to a room around 5:50p. I was given another cytotec at 6:30pm because my cervix still hadn't softened and they couldn't start the actual induction (with pitocin) until I had dilated to at least 2cm.
So what's a girl to do that's waitin' around to dilate?
Call her BFF to come do her hair, of course! ☺ Don't hate.
So my friend, Elice, came by to flat iron my hair for me...not even 2 minutes into it, a loud alarm starts going off and we realize that it's the smoke alarm above my bed! It's blaring and beeping and within about 20 seconds there were 10 people running in the room...the doctor, nurses, housekeeping...once they realized what was going on, the Dr jumped up on my bed and put some tape over the sensor to stop the alarm! All I could do was die laughing. The looks on everyone's faces were priceless...it was a bit embarrassing, but definitely memorable! And do you think it stopped me from getting the rest of my hair straightened? Nope! ☺ I just moved to a chair that wasn't directly under the smoke alarm ☺
I was not about to be lookin' like a hot mess....I know, "no one cares what you look like, you're in labor, blah, blah" But I CARE! Nothing else had gone as planned during this pregnancy, so I was determined that at least this part was gonna go my way!

Here's my hott mess hair before

Me & Elice after she fixed my afro, lol

So anywho...after that whole ordeal my IPs arrived around 8pm and my cervix was still trying to keep Baby L in, so the Dr gave me another cytotec at 10:30pm. That one finally did the trick! I started feeling some cramping at about 2:00am or so and had the nurse check me. I was dilated enough to start the pitocin (2cm)! The nurse gave me some nubain for pain and boy did that work! It actually had me kinda out of it for a while, so some of my memories are a little groggy, lol. Once the pitocin started (about 2:30) the contractions really began! They were dull at first, but then started to pick up. About an hour later I was at 4cm and the contractions were coming steady, but weren't unbearable. The nurse asked if I wanted an epidural and I figured I might as well get it then while I wasn't in too much pain.

The anesthesiologist came in and I could only have 1 person in the room with me while he did the epidural, so Kevin stayed while my IPs stepped out. The Dr prepped my back and was about to insert the needle and then I hear Kevin say "uh, nurse, I'm not feeling well"...he was holding my hand, but then all of a sudden he slowly went down to one knee and he says "can you call M&M in here for Krystal?" So here I am hunched over the side of the bed, having contractions, while my husband is now fully lying on the floor at the foot of my bed and the nurses are propping his head with pillows. So much for that epidural, lol. We had to wait for him to be okay before the Dr would finish my epi! It was quite a production, lol.

(But according to Kevin, he didn't "technically" pass out...he just "transferred his energy to me" LMAO) Yea. We'll go with that.

Kevin, me, & my IPs before induction

I did finally get the epi done and was a happy camper for a little while, at least. I started feeling some pressure at about 6:00am and asked the nurse to check me and I was 7cm! The pressure was staying pretty constant, so the nurse checked me again around 6:30am and I was fully dilated! The Dr came in, set up the bed, and I started pushing! Baby L was born shortly thereafter at 6:47am!

I honestly can't even describe the feelings or emotions in the room. It was just so amazing. All these months I've imagined what it might be like to see my IPs become parents and even my imagination couldn't have pictured such a moment. It was euphoric; almost like an out of body experience. All I cared about at that moment was making sure the baby was okay. With him being 3 weeks early I just wanted to hear that cry for reassurance.

 It seemed like forever, even though it was only a few seconds, but we heard him let out a cry and it was the best sound you could have heard.
Then everyone else began to cry. (tears of joy, of course)

I ♥ my IPs faces in this pic. So much love for their son already.

Even with being early, Baby L was doing well from the start. He never had to visit the NICU and was able to stay in the room with his mommy & daddy through the entire hospital stay! I was able to pump colostrum for him and his mommy was able to induce lactation so that she can breastfeed. So awesome!

10.19.2011; 6:47am
4lbs 9oz; 17.5in

Smiling already ♥☺

As for me, I'm feeling good. Maybe the labor gods were on my side, because I couldn't have asked for an easier labor or recovery. Besides having a headache and sore boobs, I'm virtually pain free. ☺It feels weird not to be pregnant anymore, I just realized that I can now sleep on my stomach again! And I'm definitely not looking forward to doing P90X again...sigh....but I know I have to get back in shape. I am, however, ready for a margarita!! ☺

The guys being silly

I got to go home on Friday and Baby L and his parents went home yesterday (on his mommy's birthday! ♥) He passed all of his testing and is feeding very well; he won't be small for very long! Baby L has beat the odds from the beginning. He truly is a miracle!
Although this pregnancy didn't go quite as expected, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to help create a family for M&M and in the process, I believe that we all became family too. My family and I have so much love for them and I know that our relationship doesn't stop just because the baby was born, it will continue to grow and get even better.

Proud parents w/ Baby L, grandparents, me & hubby

I'll leave you with a few more of my favorite pics from our special day. Thank you all for following along with me during this journey, through all of the ups and downs. A lot of times your comments are what got me through some tough days while I was on bedrest. I'm forever thankful for all of the friendships that have been formed by way of this blog. I didn't know when I started this journal just how much all of you would become a part of my everyday life and how invested I'd become in your journeys as well. THANK YOU! ♥♥♥

My girls love how soft his skin is, lol

Catchin' some z's with Daddy

Proud Papa being goofy behind us

36 weeks!!!!!!

Shhhh! Listen...do y'all hear that? It's me singing "Hallelujah"! Nevermind that my pitch is off and voice is cracking, just sing along with me! 'CAUSE I'M OFF OF BEDREST!!! 64 Days of bedrest...that's 1,536 hours...or 92,160 minutes...or...well, you get it. Now, I know I'm not the World record holder for amount of time on bedrest, but that's a pretty long damn time and not that I actually have anything else better to do than to lie around, but it's just nice to know that if I wanted to I could go to the store or visit a friend, ya know?
Well, I did actually get to do something today. It was "Muffins with Mom" day at Kailey's school, so this morning Kourtlyn and I got to have muffins and juice with Kailey, yay! ☺♥

Here we are (My puffy face and all)...and nevermind that evil lookin' kid in the background, lol.

 Since my post last week we've had some "excitement"...well, I wouldn't really call it excitement because to me that means fun, and this was by no means fun! On Sunday I woke up with a really puffy face and hands, along with a headache, I could barely bend my fingers to make a fist. So I called my Dr. to see if I needed to do anything and he told me to go straight to L&D. That caught me off guard, to say the least. His exact words were "go to L&D, you are showing signs of pre-eclampsia." Scary. Kevin & the girls were still asleep, so I called my mom and she came to pick me up. In L&D my BP was elevated (not good), so they drew labs and checked for protein in my urine (sorry if TMI). All the labs came back normal, thank goodness, my BP was still a little high, but they let me go home.  (Well, they let me go home with a 24hr urine collection bucket, yay)
I followed up with my Dr the next day (at this point I was feeling like $#!+) and my BP was still high. So after the longest appointment ever, which consisted of about 90% WAITING (appt was @ 9:45am, left ofc @ 1:30pm), I was wheeled back down to L&D to have my BP monitored and labs drawn again! Everything came back normal again and my BP was finally back down. On the flip side, I was still feeling like caca because apparently I had contracted a stomach virus from my dear ol' hubby!
Yay.
So after 3 days of feeling like I was having crack withdrawals, I'm finally feeling normal. Well, as normal as an 8 1/2 month pregnant person can feel. (And btw, no, I have no experience going thru drug withdrawals, but I've seen it on TV ((lol)) and I'm tellin' ya, that's what I looked like, no joke)
My Dr wants to see me twice a week now though, just to keep an eye on my BP, so I have another appointment tomorrow.

So here we are at 36 weeks!! I can't believe we're so close now!!! Now I'm gettin' nervous! :\

35 weeks!

Day 57 of bedrest, but I'm almost to the promise land! Yay! ☺
My appointment on Monday went well...it was actually pretty boring (which we like). Baby is about 4lbs 12oz, HR was 163 and everything is lookin' good. I don't go back until the 18th (1 day short of 37 wks).
**The best news** → NO MORE BEDREST @ 36 WEEKS!! Only 1 more week left, yaaaaaaayyyy!!!
I think my daughters are especially happy about this simply because they have decided that they want to dress me up for Halloween and drag me out to Trick or Treat with them...and guess what their bright costume "theme" idea is...Bumblebees. Yea. 2 seriously cute bumblebees and one immensely overgrown "Queen Bee". Joy. I can't promise that I'll share pictures of that.

Anywho...
Here's the scoop on the baby this week:
From now on, baby's growth is mostly in the plumping up department -- though he won't get much longer, he'll put on a pound or more of baby fat before birth. His hearing is totally developed (tip: baby responds best to higher pitches), and his testes have probably completed their descent.

I'm starting to get kinda nervous now...eeek! I can't believe it's almost time! As huge as I feel and as much as I hate wobbling to get where I'm going, I'm sure I'll actually miss being pregnant once it's all said and done.
I don't really have anything else to report, so I'll leave ya with my 35 week belly pic. TTYL!

The Blob

Well people....I've hit that point. You know, the point in pregnancy where you feel like a big ol' blob...my hands are swollen, feet are swollen, face is ....well, you get my point. Every friggin' thing is enlarged...I mean seriously, how many cup sizes can one girl's boobs go up? (Sorry if it's TMI for ya, but I'm tryna keep it real ☺) And it seems like this all just happened over night, ugh! I'm totally uncomfortable and feel like a damn whale!
Listen, I know I'm whinning and yes, I knew what I was getting into, but I'm allowed to whine sometimes and guess what? You get to listen to it! Everything can't be butterflies and rainbows all the time.☺ I'm a few days shy of 35 weeks (yay!), but I wish I could just fast forward to 39! Don't get me wrong, I'm totally not ready for this little guy to come just yet, but I am ready to feel like a normal person again. I'm sure I'll actually miss being pregnant once Baby L is born, but right now, not so much.

Anywho, I guess I just wanted to vent a little...all better now, lol. ☺ Only about 31 days until the big arrival!! I better cherish it, since it will more than likely be the last time I'm preggo. :(