The First 3 Weeks!

Well, tomorrow Eden will officially be 3 weeks old. I can't believe that much time has passed already. As promised before I will try to touch on our adventures with jaundice as I update everyone about our new lives and how we're adjusting as a family.



In the first 3 weeks we have done the following:

- gone to the ER because Eden wasn't peeing or pooping like she was supposed to

- been admitted to the hospital and Eden was put under the bililights for jaundice - Mommy and Daddy had to sleep in the twin hospital bed together

- had a post partum appointment for Mommy and Eden. Both were reported as doing well.

- Eden has made 2 trips to Daddy's work for various outtings

- gone to the mall

- gone out to eat twice. (Eden slept through both meals!)

- gone to a St. Patrick's Day party at a friends house. Yummy corned beef, mashed potatoes, and cabbage

- had Eden's 2 week well baby appointment. The doctor actually used the word "Perfect" to describe how she's doing so far! Mommy and Daddy were proud parents!

- had sleepless nights with ffew hours of sleep at a time

- had sleepful nights of 4 hours of sleep at a time

- been on many walks as a family



I think that about sums up what we've done so far in a checklist format. Next week we will venture out further and go to GA to celebrate Easter with our extended families. We are excited to be able to show Eden off and spend time with family before Lane has to go back to work.

Labor and Delivery - EDEN IS HERE!

Well, the night of March 3rd came and Lane and I watched American Idol together. While we were watching I was having contractions - at the time I believed them to be Braxton Hicks because they weren't getting close together or getting more intense - they actually eventually went away completely. Eden and I then went in to take a bath and have a heart to heart...Braxton Hicks this late in the game are wrong and should not happen. Lane and I then went to bed without any thought of an impending labor being upon us.

At 3:15am I woke up thinking I had wet the bed. I had heard that this wasn't uncommon in pregnancy and so I sheepishly got out of bed and was trying to sneak into the bathroom without being noticed - I was slightly embarrassed. Half way to the bathroom Lane must have rolled over onto the wet spot and promptly asked me if my water had broken. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind at that point, I still thought I just peed all over myself. The more I thought about it and the more I couldn't get it to stop I was coming to the realization that it was indeed my water that had broken and our journey was about to begin.

Once we got to the hospital I only measured 1cm dilated, which was no change from my 2 previous appointments. I was a little discouraged at this point because I knew that there was a long way to go and I had only 18 hours to get to where we were going since my water had broken. We were placed in a Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum (LDRP) room once it was confirmed by the doctors that my water had broken.

Once in my room and after several cervical checks, only to find that I was at 2 cm and a couple hours into my labor process the doctor put me on a pitocin drip. The drip increased my contractions in intensity and in duration and in frequency. All that being said, I didn't get a chance for much rest between contractions. My contractions were lasting about a minute and they were coming every 1-3 minutes. So when they came every minute, I got no rest between contractions and my body didn't relax - therefore preventing much progression. As I approached 4 cm all I could ask for was my epidural. I had a couple doses of an IV medication to take the edge off the contractions, but that didn't even TOUCH the contractions, it only made me tired and loopy. Once I had the epidural, I was a different person. I was willing to talk to people and I was willing to get hugs from people who were there to visit me (my mom and dad and a close friend of mine and Lane's). At one point with the medication, it made Eden's heart rate go up more than the doctors wanted it to and they were talking very seriously about a c-section for me. At one point the talk about it was so serious that the OR was prepped and they were coming in to have me sign the forms for everything. I just told myself to lay there and relax as best I could and take deep breaths. It seemed to work because when they came to get me, they were pleased with her heart rate and they called off the section - thank goodness! As the epidural set in I was able to relax and before you knew it, it was time to push!

Pushing was not terrible and not painful (thank you epidural!). I would say that it was very tiring! I pushed for 2 hours and even had the help of the suction. The suction helped with positioning of Eden in addition to helping us make progress through the birth canal together. She was facing sideways and so she was having a hard time getting through the birth canal - so again, another section was threatened, but I don't feel that it was as serious this time. Between contractions Eden's heart rate was now going down and they were getting slightly worried about this. Changing positions for me - on my side, on my back, on my other side and with oxygen - seemed to do the trick and we eventually pushed so hard that there was a baby in the doctor's arms and Lane and I couldn't help but cry together over the joy of seeing and hearing our sweet little Eden in out in the real world!

Since I've written a novel in this post, I will save our journey's through jaundice for another post because that is an adventure that is worth sharing. We had our own little glow worm for a little while and she was precious! Until that post, have good days and sleep some for us! :)

Weeks 38 and 39 appointments

Hey there Friends and Family...

Sorry to leave you hanging last week without an update from my appointment. It wasn't my most favorite appointment so I'll just hit the high points and leave out the details. When I got to the doctor's office my chart was still lost (it had been "lost" since the week before and hadn't been seen since the 8th of February) and so that stressed me out a little bit. On top of that, I was weighed and took note of the fact that I had gained 4 pounds in a week...on top of 5 pounds the previous week. I almost lost it - so then they took my blood pressure, which we can all assume was going to be higher than normal under the circumstances. It was, no fear, when taken manually everything was normal and the doctor wasn't worried about it. Eden and I both measured fine and I was 1cm, 25% effaced.

As the week went on I went to Bible Study that night and we talked about worry and how we should trust God with our worries. The lesson on worry was specific to physical health and let's just say that it was exactly what I needed a Bible Study to be on because of my appointment earlier that day! Still on Wednesday last week, my worries weren't completely gone and I had emotional break downs most of the day. I guess I felt as though Eden was going to live inside of me and grow up there forever! I knew this wouldn't be the case, but I couldn't help but feel as if this was the truth. Lane reassured me that night that it didn't matter what other pregnant women were going through, that was them and Eden and I are different from everyone else and we would do things the way that was right for us. Miraculously, I woke up on Thursday feeling like a TOTALLY different person and was smiling all day and full of energy! What a change!

The weekend went on uneventfully as did Monday. Today I went to the doctor again and had a pretty good visit. I really like my doctor and feel that he doesn't take any short cuts or treat me like I'm stupid. He always answers all of my questions without hesitation and with confidence. My blood pressure was high again when they took it on the automatic machine that they have, but the doctor wasn't worried about it and he said that he would take it again after we had a chance to just sit and talk that way I could relax a little bit. He re-took it and it was fine when he took it manually so I was much better at that point - no longer freaking out! We got to listen to Eden's heart rate again today and while he was listening she decided she was uncomfortable and she moved around a lot. It was funny because you could hear the swooshing and then you could hear her heart rate increase and get much louder! The doctor told us that she was excited about something! After we listened to her heart he measured my tummy and everything was right on. He then did my cervical exam and said that I was still only 1cm, but 50% effaced so I've made some progress - YAY!

My doctor will not be the doctor that I see next week becacuse his children are on spring break and he will be taking the week off in order to have some family time. I'm hoping that the doctor I see will be a good one - I've been reassured by my doctor that he is a great doctor and they were going to have a chat about what's going to take place at my next appointment. As I understand it I will have my appointment on Monday with the "different" doctor and he will sweep my membranes during my cervical exam and then he will set me up with a non-stress test the following Tuesday (not the next day, but the week after) in order to see if I need to be induced then or later. My "regular" doctor told me today that if everything goes according to plan, that we will probably induce me the end of that same week that I have my non-stress test.

Essentially, within the next 2 weeks we will have a baby! Keep your eyes and ears posted as we will keep everyone updated as new news arrives!