Leslie Lee’s Weblog

Well! Big news since my last entry!

SHE HAS ARRIVED!

So Tuesday my doctor says I’ll probably get pretty close if not all the way to my due date because of how high the baby is positioned. Wednesday morning, I get up kind of late, I pour myself a bowl of Golden Grahams, I check my email. Johnny5 sent me a very nice offer to host a baby celebration of sorts with all the guys (not a shower) this Saturday, and I was typing our acceptance response. Before I could send, I got up and went to the bathroom, and something kind of weird happened – there was this pop. It kind of surprised me, but I just figured it was a weird pregnant fart. I went to let Cash outside, I was walking back down the hall to the computer room, and all this liquid started to run down my leg! OMG. I called John, who was at work, I called my mom, I called my sister (who by the way, totally didn’t even believe me!) then I finally called labor and delivery, who told me to come in.

Okay, on a sort of side note, I’m gonna tell you this because nobody told me…I always just figured that when your water breaks, it just breaks, like gush and it’s over. Ummmm, no. It gushes, then it gushes some more, and more and more and there’s no warning whatsoever. Like you think, oh that was it, and then it happens again, and again and again. So it happened that first time in the hall, then it happened again in the bathroom, then it happened outside on the way to the car, and then in the main lobby of the hospital, in the hallway outside the room, and so on. So, be prepared! (I wasn’t!)

So, long story short, I was in labor for 20 hours before I started pushing for another 2 hours (which would make my labor 22 – yes, twenty-two – hours long) Was it fun? Ummm, for the most part, it wasn’t that bad. The worst parts : needles. I’m a really “hard stick”, as they say. It’s not easy to find my veins, and I know that, especially when I’m all pregnant and swollen, so I let them know it’s not easy to draw my blood. Well, okay. It took my nurse 3 times to find a stupid vein that worked, and that’s not just sticking a needle in three times, that’s sticking it in, wiggling it around, pulling it in and out, ugh, it was MISERABLE! Finally she gets it, sends it to the lab, and an hour later comes back and says the lab said it wasn’t usable because it had clotted. WTF?!? So she had to do it again, this time she tried a number of times, couldn’t get it. She called another nurse in, then another. By this time there are 3 nurses sticking me with needles – a total of 11 times! And that doesn’t even include the two times they tried to get the IV in! That bruise is HUGE! It SUCKED!! My left arm looks like that of a heroin addict, it’s sick! Then later came the epidural. Holy SHIT. I’m not gonna tell you how bad the pain was, but I will tell you that they had to do it twice. The first time he hit a blood vessel, so it had to be removed and done over. When I heard that I actually debated whether or not I really wanted an epidural at all. John was like, uh, if you can’t even handle the epidural, then you’ll probably need it! (well, not in so many words at the time, but he says that now)

The rest of the labor went pretty well, I mean it would have been better if it was really quick, but it’s over now, so…the entire process was 22 hours, and John and I now have a beautiful baby girl. Olivia Paige was born on March 27 at 8:13am. She weighed 6lbs, 15oz. She is 20 inches from head to toe. The nurses all say that had she gone full term she would have been a ten pounder – holy moly!

We are all exhausted, but doing very well. We have had our first night at home, and although it wasn’t too bad, let’s just say that tonight (night #2) is going much better. But those details are for another time, it’s getting late…

I can’t believe that my journey through pregnancy is over. I can’t believe that I am a mother. I can’t believe that I did it. Not to get all mushy or cheesy, but it has truly been thee most amazing thing that I have, and ever will do in my entire life. I just can’t believe that I did it.

Welp, officially I am off bedrest. I am 36 weeks, 3 days. I had a doctor’s appointment today, and she told me to walk, walk, walk! The gravity will help the baby’s head drop, which hasn’t happened quite yet, I mean she’s head down, just still pretty high up there. I have an ultrasound appointment on Thursday, the concern is about how big I am. There are 2 things that could be happening – either there is a lot of amniotic fluid in there, which isn’t good because then the baby’s head is less likely to drop because she has all that room in there, and then labor won’t go as fast as I’d like. Or this kid is gigantic. I think that either way, it kinda sucks. I was hoping that she will just be on the big side, and then I can be induced, but that’s not the case either. So I don’t know which one I’m hoping for – excess fluid, or a big baby….

But either way, I guess it’s not so bad. I mean, technically I only have three and half more weeks til my due date, which isn’t thatlong. But it seems like FOREVER! What’s bugging me the most is my clothes. I feel like a stuft pig, nothing fits anymore. The band on my jeans are too tight, my tshirts are too short, even my double D bras are uncomfortably restrictive!

Only a few more days until I’m 36 weeks, which means baby is free and clear to be welcomed into the world. Yay! This week has been a little bit easier, I’ve gotten used to be home, and have finally started to embrace my new schedule of sleeping in and staying up late. It is still hard staying home all day, and have to admit that I have been sneaking out a bit. Target has a really great deal on popcorn and an Icee – only $1.30! It’s not that easy to get out anymore though, just because I have nothing to wear! My t-shirts have gotten shorter and the belly panel on my jeans have gotten tighter. Nothing is comfortable anymore except my very unattractive sweats and braless tank tops – def not appropriate for the public. But oh well, I’m dealing.

Last weekend I had thee best shower ever. I had a really good time. It was nice to see so many people that I don’t get to see regularly, it was just too bad that there were so many people that I didn’t get a chance to really catch up with everybody. But Kelli, Lisa & Vicki did such a great job with the whole party, the games were great! I had so much fun playing Baby Scategories – that was a blast! It was great how everybody really got into it! 

It was exhausting though! I think that it made me realize that this whole bedrest thing is actually for my own good. I did a lot on Saturday, and didn’t take it easy at all, and after the shower it really took a toll on my body. On the way home I was having contractions about every ten minutes or so, and I was kind of freaking out a little. I decided that instead of panicking and calling Labor & Delivery, I would just get home, relax, eat something and see what happened after that. Once I did that everything calmed down, the contractions settled and I felt much better. Since then I’ve been trying to take it easy, key word being trying.

I have a dr’s appointment tomorrow, and I have this feeling that I might be a little more dilated than last time. I’ve been having a lot of contractions, probably an average of 2 or 3 an hour, but not too  consistently. (I’m supposed to call in if I have more than 4 an hour) And my belly has definitely gotten lower, and things just feel different. I dunno, it’s  just a feeling…but I’m hoping that this girl comes sooner than later!

Bedrest is not as it seems. I thought it would be a vacation. Psht, yeah right! I can’t do anything. No laundry, no cleaning, no picking up. No shopping, no driving, no fun! It’s actually kind of depressing. At the beginning of this sucky vacay was the worst, I would wake up super early, and had nothing to do. I tried to do stuff, but it was so physically draining that it would make me even more miserable and pathetic feeling.

Poor John has really been feeling the brunt of it. You would think that I wouldn’t have a problem bossing him around, but it’s not coming as easily as I thought. It would be sooooo much easier if he was a mind reader. I think that that’s the advice I’m going to give my daughter when she’s looking for a spouse, as long as he’s nice, smart and can read minds… anyways, so it’s like stupid easy things that I hated doing before, but now wish that I could, like carrying the laundry out to the garage. I ask him to do it, and I’m like ready to go, the water has started, the soap is in, I just need the basket out there, and it takes him 10 minutes. I get frustrated, I make a bigger deal out of it than it seems, and I end up looking like a crazy.

As the week has gone by, it has gotten better. I think John feels bad about all my unnecessary psycho tears, so he has been doing a lot around the house without me having to nag. I’ve also learned to sleep in a little more, which has decreased my need for an afternoon nap, although I do still take one, usually out of boredom though.

I’ve been watching ER a lot lately (there are 2 eps on TNT from 10-noon every day) but I think I’m going to have to stop watching that show. It’s depressing and makes me paranoid. There’s a lot of baby gone wrong stories, and now I’m all stressed that there are all these things wrong with me. Her kick count has gone down in the last week, which concerns me a little, but I’ve read that it’s because there’s not as much room in there as before. I don’t know how much bigger she can get, my belly is so tight I don’t think that it can be stretched any more.

I’m going to the doctor’s office once a week now, and last time I went I’m still at 2cm which is good. She says that I can stay at 2 forever, but I’m hoping not. Tomorrow I’m 35 weeks, which means we’re only one week from being “full term”, technically 40 weeks is full term, but 36 is good enough in hospital terms. So I could possibly be pregnant for another 5 weeks. Gasp. I know, it would be better if I was, but I don’t want to be! I am soooo over this! My back hurts, my groin hurts, sleeping is the worst, every night turning over gets harder and harder. John and I now have separate blankets on the bed and I have stolen all the pillows, he has been reduced to a small throw pillow from the couch.

Anyhoot, so yeah, in conclusion, this whole bedrest isn’t what I expected. I know I’ll get through it one day at a time. Five more weeks to go…

Welp…officially, I’m on not-so-strict bedrest. I am in preterm labor, I’m still 2cm dilated, but my contractions aren’t regular or too often. At our doctors appointment yesterday, she explained that if the baby were to come now, (I will be 34 weeks on Sunday) most likely she would be alright, but she would be considered a preemie and would probably have trouble feeding & keeping herself warm, so she’d have to spend extra time in the nursery – which is one of my biggest fears, having to leave the hospital without my baby. So to be safe Dr. gave me the paperwork to “keep off my feet”, which means no more work. She went on to further explain that this does not mean stay home from work, and paint rooms and/or clean the house. Which made me glad that John was there to hear that.

From reading my past blog entries you would think that I would be super ecstatic getting off work early, but actually I’m not. I wasn’t really expecting this, so I’m not really too prepared to leave just yet. And I only had 2 weeks left at work…So I am planning to go in on Monday, partly because I haven’t even let work know yet, aw jees, I don’t think that that will be a very fun meeting! And then maybe spending a couple days (but not full days) finishing up a couple things for the art show, and for my departure. I feel so bad at how disappointed the children are going to be…oh well, I’m sure I’ll get over it.

So the next two weeks are the most crucial, baby-wise. As long as I can keep her in until 36 weeks she’s not considered preterm, actually it was a little humorous, the doctor refered to that as being “legal”. So that’s only a little over 2 weeks.

Thank goodness this little thing is so active, she literally doesn’t stop moving for more than 45 minutes. But if she wasn’t moving this much, I think I’d be freaking out a lot more. The way I figure it, as long as she’s moving around in there, she’s doing alright. So I don’t worry too much. And she’s definitely getting bigger in there, just yesterday pokey things started shooting out from my belly. It must be her elbow, it’s like as sharp and about the same size as my knuckle when I bend my index finger. It’s weird! It doesn’t hurt or anything, it’s just strange.

My belly button is starting to pop as well, I think it’s from all her kicking. Sometimes I think that she thinks it’s a target, because that’s all she goes for. BaM BaM BaM! Right behind the belly button! It’s irritating, so sometimes I’ll poke her back, then she really kicks back, hard! It’s so weird to think, “oh, I can’t wait til baby is here!”, but then if I really think about it, she is right there, all the time. I just can’t see her, but she’s here. Weird.

So, anyways, that’s what’s going on. Not necessarily a crisis, just a minor bump in the road that we’ll all get over. I’m sure baby will be fine, maybe a little early, but lets not hope for her arrival too soon. I bought this cute little outfit, it’s pink and has a sash across the chest, like a Miss America sash, and it says Little Miss April,across it and it came with a little matching tutu thing, it is seriously adorable! Well, I’ll be pissed if she’s born in March, cuz then she can’t wear it! So, that’s good enough reason for me to hold off on her birth until April…

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In other baby news, today is the day of my “Asian” baby shower. My sister and cousin are throwing it for me, it’s going to be with all my mom’s side of the family & a few of John’s family. I’m actually really looking forward to it, especially all the food that Jodi & Kimi made, they’re both total foodies, and made a ton of good stuff! I really think that that’s the only reason they decided to throw the shower, just to have an excuse for all this food! This is their first time being hostesses of something like this, and they’re really fun girls, so I’m looking forward to all the things they’ve planned.

Next weekend is my “Friend” shower, and then party season is all over, and it will be time to get serious about getting the house ready. Getting everything new put away is hard work! Baby’s room was all nice and neat until last weeks work shower, now it’s all in shambles with boxes and blankets and toys. I did get all the new clothes washed and hung and folded, so atleast that’s done. And John helped me prepare for upcoming events by (finally!) cleaning out the garage. When we got new carpet we totally cleaned everything out, and he made me purge all my junk – which, by the way, I did a really good job with, especially for being a total junk/craft whore – and so if I could let go of it, he would get rid of it. Well, it’s all been piled up in the garage for a while now, so bad that we couldn’t even walk through the garage without stepping on something. I only had a little space in front of the washer and dryer to do laundry. I’ve been nagging him to get this cleared out before the baby shower, because we’re going to need a place to put some of the bigger items that we won’t need right away. Yesterday. He waited right til the last minute, and it got done yesterday. Actually, I was pretty impressed that he could get that all done in just a few hours. So now we’re all ready to go.

His next project? The front courtyard. Clear and cement.

Last night was definitely interesting.

Yesterday morning when I got out of the shower I noticed that my ankles were a little swollen, my right a little more than my left, but no big deal. I went about my business all day, then around one-ish I noticed that my foot was sort of “cupcaking” out of my shoe, not cute. But I didn’t think too much of it. After school I went to Old Navy, while I was in the dressing room I noticed that my foot was really fat, like there were 2 creases between my ankle and foot, reallynot cute. I just thought, ew gross, but proceeded to go take my time at Target.

Lisa came over later in the afternoon, and I showed her my foot, she thought I should call the advice nurse, but instead I showed her all the new baby stuff and we hung out. Then John came home, he also suggested that I call the advice nurse about the swelling, but instead we called Red Robin and ordered food, because hello. I can’t cook with a swollen foot! While we were sitting there waiting to go pick up the food, I decided to actually listen to them, and I called the advice nurse. The concern was that only one side is swollen, so it could possibly be a blood clot, which pregnant women are more susceptible to, or it could just be regular ole preggo swelling. Next thing you know, the nurse is connecting me to Labor & Delivery and they’re telling me that they can’t really diagnose what’s going on over the phone, so I should come in. Aw, man!

So we ditched our food, Lisa & my visit got cut short, and John and I headed over to Kaiser. I was thinking the whole way, this is so stupid, they’re just gonna tell me that it’s normal swelling, and I’ll feel like an idiot an go home. But atleast we were going to find out exactly where to go, and what to expect. The hospital is so new that they don’t do any tours yet, so I didn’t know much about what to expect when the time actually came to have the baby…

But anyways, so we get to the hospital, we go up to the 3rd floor, and the check-in lady gives me a bracelet. Wow, I’ve never had a hospital bracelet before! Then we get taken into an observation room. On the way we see some lady standing in a doorway, in a hospital gown, moaning and groaning. John and I just look at each other, oh my gawd.

We get taken into the room, the nurse tells me to change into the gown (yes, the same one the moaning groaning lady was in) and make myself comfy on the bed. And the bed was definitely comfy. I was expecting that hard rubbery thing covered in paper that it’s in the doctors office, but no, it was a real bed. I change, get comfy and the nurse comes back in. She was really nice, and really young. She hooked up two monitors to my stomach, one to monitor baby’s heart rate and the other to monitor contractions and movement.

We arrived at the hospital around 7, got into our room at about 20 after. The intern doctor lady came in and checked out my legs/feet and said she’d go check with the head doctor and come back…she was in and out, measuring my calves, prodding my feet, etc. Finally around 9 (after I missed Wheel of Fortune and American Idol) the doctor came in, they had been monitoring the baby’s activity, and were more concerned about how many contractions I was having than how swollen my feet were. I’ve been having the Braxton Hicks contractions sort of a lot lately, but I figured that was just normal, I’ve been reading about them, and it says that to have them is normal. They’re not painful or anything, my stomach just gets super tight for about 20 or so seconds. Although, it has been happening a little more often in the last couple days…so the “big” doctor comes in and examines me, well it turns out that my cervix is 2.5cm dilated. Which is not good. It’s too early for baby to be born (I’m 33 weeks) so, I’m instructed to sit there in bed, drink as much water as possible (because it could be due to dehydration) and she’ll be back in to check in 2 hours, if things progress, and I get to 3-4cm then I’ll have to stay in the hospital overnight. Crap, I did not want to stay overnight! I’m starving (remember, we were going to have Red Robin for dinner, but never made it) and I just wanted to go home. So man did I chug that water! 3 pitchers of water, 150 trips to the bathroom,  and a shift change later, the new doctor came in and thank goodness there was no progression, and I was discharged at one o’clock in the morning.

What a late night! We stopped at Jack in the Box, and was up well past 2am. So I stayed home from work today. My contractions are still happening, but only 2 or 3 an hour, which is way down from last nights 5-7 an hour. This afternoon I have to go get an ultrasound of my leg done, just to make sure that I don’t have a blood clot. And I have another doctors appointment with my regular doctor tomorrow to check to make sure my cervix isn’t any more dilated. If it is, I’ll be put on daily meds to stop preterm labor, and probably be put on some sort of bed rest.

Anyways, so I’m not totally panicked, a little concerned, but not freaking out – which is very unlike me. The good thing about this whole thing is that now John and I know a little more about what to expect when the time comes, which is really good. I’m not very good with dealing with new places and new experiences, I’m a little neurotic that way, I like to know exactly what’s going to happen. So, although I understand that this course of nature can’t be planned out exactly, atleast I’m a little comforted to know a little more about where it’s going to happen. Oh and by the way, John and dealt with last nights unexpectedness very pleasantly, which really surprised me. I know, it shouldn’t, but it did. We didn’t argue or fight, he didn’t annoy me in the least! I think that that was the most unexpected thing of the whole experience! It feels good to know, that we can get through somewhat of a crisis as a team! (Who would have thought it would take 13 years to figure this out??)

I have an appointment with my regular dr on Friday, I’m sure she’ll check my cervix again, so look for an update. Hopefully things have gone back to normal – as in no dilation. And things will be smooth sailing for another 6 weeks, that would be perf!

So I woke up this morning in a very good mood, and that Stevie Wonder song stuck in my head. I love, love, LOVE how the sun is coming up earlier these days! It really makes waking up less of a chore. This weekend was pretty good, we didn’t do too much, I kind of wish we had knocked a couple more things of the “Before Baby” list, but oh well. Saturday we went out to breakfast, ran boring errands and did like 50 thousand loads of laundry. We rented Death at a Funeral, it was pretty funny. This was my pick, and usually I am theee WORST movie picker, but I have finally broken my streak, and this movie wasn’t awful. It wasn’t the funniest movie ever, but it had us both laughing, so…I’d recommend it.

Last Friday I had a really nice baby shower here at work. It was actually very heartwarming (aawww) to know that I’m actually appreciated and thought of. I know, cheesy, but it was really nice of everyone. So, this is kicking off a month long marathon of baby showers to come. Actually it’s kicking off just a month long marathon of being super busy with baby stuff. The upcoming weekends are being taken by baby showers, Mondays we have our childbirth class, Tuesdays I’m taking prenatal yoga, and Thursdays we are taking an infant care class, where hopefully we will actually learn something. And all these classes go until after 9pm, oy. Not to mention getting prepared to leave work, who knew that would be so much work?? But after Easter, it’s all just going to be a waiting game, all the excitement will be done and over with until baby arrives. I can’t believe it!

Last week I had a dr.’s appointment, and I’m proud to say that I passed my glucose test! That’s the test to check your risk of gestational diabetes, I was actually kind of worried because of all the sweets I have been eating. Seriously, I have never been a dessert kind of person, but I simply cannot get enough! Like ice cream, I mean, yeah, before I liked ice cream, but I never really wantedice cream. But now, oh my gawd, I think about it, and how if I can just get through dinner, I can make myself an ice cream cone. Right now in our freezer, there are 5 different flavors of ice cream. Mint chocolate chip, strawberry cheesecake, and holy crap! Girl Scout cookie flavors – Thin Mint, Tagalong (the peanut butter patties) and Somoa (the chewy coconut carmel ones), of course I had to buy all 3! I haven’t tried the Tagalong flavor yet, but the Thin Mint is really good, and the Somoa is sooooo good I can’t even put it into words. And I never before realized how a sugar cone can increase the enjoyment of ice cream ten fold. Aahhhhh, it’s heaven! But I do limit myself to only one ice cream cone a day, but I will admit that I think about that one cone all day!

Anyways so I was glad to find out that I am not at risk for the diabetes, which also means that my risk of having a 15lb baby is decreased. Thank the Lawd! But the bad thing that I learned at the dr.’s is that I have hit my weight gain limit. Yes, that sucks. I’ll admit it, I have gained just under 30lbs. But I swear, atleast 10lbs of that is in my boobs, I don’t think that should count! And this baby has to weigh atleast 5 and a half pounds by now, I mean I’m huge! And just in fluids, that’s, what? 7lbs? So, really, I’ve only gained….8lbs. That’s not bad! Well, anyways, oh well. What really makes it suck is that although I’m eating a lot less per meal, because there’s just not a lot of room for food to go. But I have developed this instant starving hunger pain. And I’m not talking, hmmm, I think I’m hungry…I’m talking the devil takes over and if I don’t eat NOW my head is going to start spinning, and if you’re near me I might just rip out your eye balls and eat them. Since I’ve been pregnant, John and I have gotten in the early bird special routine. We’ll eat dinner around 4 o’clock, I get home from work and I’m starving, so I make dinner, we eat, and I’m good for the rest of the night. Well, no longer. Like yesterday, we ate “dinner” around 4:30 over at my moms, and then snacked on Wheat Thins and cheese in the evening, and I was pretty full. We got home, I did some stuff in the baby’s room, and got into bed about 11. All of a sudden this painful wave of hunger came over me, and I absolutely NEEDED a tuna sandwich. Poor John, so I made him get out of bed and make it for me. And there we were, sitting in bed, watching the news eating tuna sandwiches. Oh, but that wasn’t the end of it! I woke up at 2:45 hungry again, my stomach was growling (no, it wasn’t indigestion from the tuna) & the baby was kicking like crazy, so I got my big butt out of bed and had a bowl of Golden Grams cereal, it was delicious. I went back to bed, both of us (baby & I) happy. This morning, getting ready for work, there I am again, with a hungry tummy ache, so I had my low sugar oatmeal, and now I’m munching on almonds and pretzels to keep the growling away. Now, how in the world am I supposed to not gain any more weight with this happening?? I’ve still got 7 weeks to go!