New blog for Antonio....

Ok so I finally had some downtime over a couple days to create a new blog for Antonio. Here is the address: http://antonio-thomas.blogspot.com/; you may have to actually copy and paste the address. Please bookmark as you have with this one!

He is finally here! (possibly "to much info" included)

As most of you know Baby R, better known now as Antonio made his arrival 13 days ago. He is so amazing! The birth went well, a bit different than we wanted but all went well. Of course my last work day prior to my maternity leave was that Friday, the day it all began. We were not ready; we thought we had a week or at least the weekend to finish getting ready. Oh well.

Thursday night we went to bed as usual and I felt normal. However, I woke up in the middle of the night (around 3 am)needing to use the bathroom (nothing unusual about that either) and I noticed an unusually full bladder. I got back into bed and felt a bit of cramping but didn't think much about it, just thought maybe I moved funny. Sure enough I had to get up again about 5 am to pee again and again a very full bladder and now noticed mucusy, bloody discharge as well. I thought it was a bit odd but in my very sleepy state didn't think much about it. Then got back into bed and felt more cramping but a bit stronger so my mind started wondering. Then about 10- 15 min later another. My alarm was due to go off at 6 so it was only about a half hour until 6. So I laid there wondering what was going on. I wondered "is this what I think it is?". I concluded the mucusy discharge was my mucus plug. My alarm went off and Albert woke up. I told him what was happening and was instantly awake. I told him it was just the beginning and it could still be a long while before anything really happens.

I called into work and told them not to expect me since I concluded I was having actual contractions. I started noting the time and pain level between 1 and 10 of each contraction. They were pretty irregular. I knew not to even think about going in until they were 5 min apart for an hour. I wasn't even close so I sent Albert to work knowing he was only about 10 min away if I needed him. Well he was only gone for about 2.5 hours before I called him to come get me and take me in. We went in and got admitted to the triage about noon. Sure enough I was in labor and dilated 5 cm! Wow! They got a room ready for me and had the epidural waiting for me! : ) Once I got that life was good; I really didn't feel contractions after that. I had called my parents prior to calling Albert so they were already in route and met us at the hospital.

The doctor came in and checked me and yes, 5 cm! I couldn't believe it! A few hours later he came in again, only 6 cm. Then he came in about 6 and checked 7 cm but the contractions were good and strong so he thought that by the end of the night Baby R wold greet us. Well he had a different idea. About 10 the dr came in and I was only 8 cm, then he came in about midnight and I was 8.5 and he said he'd give me an hour or so to see if I would progress. The dr. came in about 2 and sure enough I was still only about 8.5 cm. I was not dilating like I should. So he wondered if I'd be up to having a c-section. At that point I just wanted him out so I said sure. I asked how soon baby would be out and he thought about an hour. WOW!!! So off I went to get prepped in the OR and about an hour later out he came. It was amazing, Albert got to see them actually pull him out of me and he was able to cut the cord. Shortly after weighing/measuring and cleaning him up Albert brought him over to me.....what an amazing moment!

They then took me to the recovery room with Albert and baby Anotnio where the gave me drugs to help with the VERY, VERY strong pain. At the time I swore I was dying, I was in so much pain. Finally the pain started subsiding and they took me to my new room where my mom was resting and waiting for us to arrive. Albert introduced her to her new grandson where of course a few happy tears were shed. : ) I had lost a lot of blood during the operation which made me anemic. Of course that then made/has made recovery a lot slower. We stayed at the hospital for 4 days because of it.

Monday morning the nurse noticed Antonio was still breathing a bit fast and had a pediatrician check him out. She felt it would be a good idea to take him downstairs to the NICU which of course freaked an already emotional me out. Albert went down with Antonio to the NICU which was hard. Turns out his breathing is fine but they found a little infection and gave him antibiotics to get rid of it. However, because they did they had to keep him for 48 hours. That made it so we were discharged the day before Antonio could be. Tuesday was a hard day. We were discharged around 3 but went down and stayed with him until about 9. It was the hardest thing I've had to do, leaving my new baby at the hospital. The next morning Albert went to get him and bring him home. I was to weak to go. About noon they got home and it was a very happy reunion.

My mom stayed with us for about a week to help with EVERYTHING thankfully. Without her we would have had a lot of trouble adjusting. I am still in some pain and have trouble getting around. I still cannot pick Antonio up and carry him around, which is so frustrating. Basically, I can't do anything that would use my stomach muscles, let me tell you...we use those muscles to do just about everything! It's been rough. I know I will feel better once I can pick him up and carry him around. I can't drive for awhile either so Antonio and I are pretty much tied to the couch; I am getting a bit of cabin fever too! : ( I will be starting a new blog for Antonio and once I do I will send out an email and put a link here too. So check back in a few days! Until then we could use some "get well" vibes sent our way.

3 cm!

So today I had a Dr. appt today and all seemed well. He asked if I wanted him to "check me out" and I said sure. He told me that first time mom's typically don't dilate until at least a week before since they typically deliver late. He didn't want me to get my hopes up. So come to find out I am 3cm! He was very impressed with the "progress". Here comes the "to much information" part. While he was down there he said he was trying to "stretch" my cervix and as he is doing this he tells me that it can trigger labor. Great... He said he would be surprised if I make it to my next appointment, which is next Thursday the 16th. SO.......any day now!!

Any day now.....

As most of you know I am officially full term now; in fact only 11 more days! Most first time moms go past their due date but my cousin was almost 2 weeks early so you never know! Albert and I are getting very excited to meet our baby boy. We are anxious to see him, whose eyes will he have? Whose nose and mouth? Will he have hair? Will he have a big head? Ok, so I am more curious about that than Albert for obvious reasons. : ) I have been lucky enough to have TWO baby showers where our baby boy got very spoiled. Everyone who attended were very generous. This baby will be the best dressed boy in town! We have been very lucky; THANK YOU!

A couple weeks ago I took a group b strep test to see if I had it. It is a bacteria that 1 in 3 women in general have but is benign to them. However, it can pose serious and potentially life threatening consequences to baby during birth. If tests came back positive they give mom antibiotics through IV during labor for baby. Luckily my test came back negative so no need to worry about it. Just one more test I "passed"! Hooray!

Last weekend, 4th of July, it was very warm here and to be honest, I was miserable! It was in the high 80's and no AC. Ugh. One day I just laid on the couch in shorts and my sleep bra and slept; if a human being could actually wilt, I did. It was rough. Now we are back to cool weather and I am so happy. The forecast looks to be more "normal" (mid 70's) through my due date which is so good to see! I start my maternity leave on the 13th and am so glad I decided to start it early. I was planning to work up to labor but in the past 2-3 weeks I have become very, very uncomfortable and tired. I've just been feeling so lazy and extremely sick of being pregnant. I just can't get comfortable doing anything except for sitting in my new rocker chair and putting my feet up but even then I am not 100% comfortable. Getting into bed and getting comfortable has even become a struggle. I seriously feel like I am 90 yrs old. It is sad and embarrassing. :( Luckily Albert has been very understanding and helpful.

Enough complaining for now. I will try to do one more post before baby R is born, depending on when he decides to show up. I plan to also blog once he has arrived and I may create a whole new blog for that. I will let you know know if I do! Please keep Albert, baby R and I in your thoughts and prayers that we make it through labor, delivery and the first few days of his arrival ok! Stay tuned, the next couple weeks should be exciting!

6 more weeks!

This morning was our last ultrasound before baby! Of course the u/s tech doesn't say anything regarding the reason we are there but it was so amazing to see Baby R! His head was down and ready for the "slip n slide". The tech did say that once baby's head is down it pretty much doesn't move until delivery. Amazing. We got to hear the heartbeat again which is always so amazing! Baby R had a foot right up at his head so there wasn't much of an opportunity for a good pic. It is amazing how flexible they are! The tech tried to move him so she could try to get a 3-D one for us but of course our wonderfully baby boy wouldn't move the foot! : ( She did get us a side view of the face and it is just so precious! I just cannot wait to meet him! They say 37-40 weeks is full term so anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks from now! Crazy.