What a difference a year makes

July 17 2009: I got my period, which officially meant we were not pregnant. It was a Friday and that night, Joe and I spent a lot of time reflecting and truly reconnecting with one another about what we wanted in life. The pain that had consumed us for so long, we almost seemed to come to terms with that night. We decided we would move forward with one more IUI, but then a break was needed. I definitely was losing who I was. I had become so sad.

Our new gluten free diet was working well. We felt really good and clear headed.

On that Saturday, we spent a glorious day together at Water Country. No cell phones...no worries...no stress. We just had each other. We spent the rest of that month having a blast together. We focused on each other and the food we put into our bodies. On July 31st, we had what would be our final IUI, which as we all know produced the son we were meant to have.

As I began this blog entry, Joe came down into the office to tell me how amazingly lucky we are to have such a wonderful son. Joe and I are truly so connected, as I had literally just begun this entry.

This year, July 17, 2010: Our son is napping in his swing and we are reflecting on what a wonderful blessing he is in our lives. A year can bring so much change. We were meant to go through what we went through to have him. It brought Joe and I closer and stronger as a couple. And lets face it, there is only one Maddox and I would not trade him for ANYTHING. He was meant for us, so conception date July 31, 2009 was when we were meant to conceive.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Birth plan?

Our little man has arrived! April 14th, 2010 at 8:52 AM. Maddox weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 19.5 inches long.

Maddox's arrival was not necessarily unexpected on April 14th. We were scheduled for induction on April 14th and admitted to the hospital on the evening of April 13th. An induction was planned based on my blood pressure issues over the remaining 6 weeks of the pregnancy.

Hubs and I had attended many childbirth prep classes and had determined that we really wanted to try and have a natural childbirth. We also had decided though that we would not develop a birth plan, as we felt it can sometimes lead to disappointment should the birth not going according to "plan". Once it was determined that we would be going in for induction, I became doubtful of our desire for a natural childbirth.

So, that evening, I was hooked up to the monitors and settled in to "rest" before the induction in the morning. Dr H would be coming in that morning to break my waters and the Pitocin would begin. That evening was not restful though. I was frustrated because I was not having any contractions (mind you, I had contractions the entire last 6 weeks of the pregnancy) and I was "nearly 1 cm" dilated upon arrival. I was fearful that the birth would be an all day event and extremely nervous that it would end up as a C-section. Not to mention the fact that I was starving and could no longer eat any food- except for those yummy ice chips.

I barely slept. Joe slept peacefully in a reclining rocking chair next to me. I literally had to use the bathroom on the hour, every hour, and needed the nurse's assistance because of the monitors and the IV fluids. At 6:15AM, I started having extreme menstrual cramps. I looked at the monitor, but did not notice anything in terms of contractions. Suddenly my water broke! I started yelling for Joe to wake up. I called the nurse, who came down and confirmed that my water in fact had broken. She checked my dilation, which was now considered between a 1-2 cm.

Side note--SO weird when your water breaks. It was a lot of water!

The nurse needed to call Dr. H for new direction in terms of what he wanted to happen, now that my water had broken on its' own. Dr. H decided that they would move forward with the pitocin a little bit earlier than initially planned. During this time, I was having stronger contractions. At 7:00, with the shift change, they began the administration of the pitocin and checked dilation again...still 1-2 cm. The contractions started getting even stronger. I was trying to tell Joe just how bad they were. For some reason, the monitor literally was not picking up anything as a contraction. He and the nurse probably thought I was crazy. I was asked to rate the pain on a scale of 1-10--I said a 5. Truly, it was like a 20, but looking at the monitor I knew I would seem crazy if I said that. By the way, that contraction belt had to have been broken!

Joe asked if there was any pain relief that I would have. Too early for the epidural and they could not administer IV pain relief because Maddox had fallen asleep.

I had to use the restroom again. Joe told me that he heard a nurse say the night before, that when you have to go to the bathroom, that means it is almost time to push. I snapped at him that it WAS NOT almost time to push, since I was 1-2 cm dilated. The nurse helped me to the bathroom, where I has nothing but the urge to PUSH. I was screaming, like you would not even believe! The nurse asked me not to push and to return to the bed for her to check me. She said, maybe if you are a 3, Dr H will approve the epidural. So, she checked me and said she needed a second opinion and left the room. I cried to Joe that I couldn't do it. The pain was so intense. The two nurses returned and did a check again--looked at each other, then looked at me and said "Yeah, you are 10 cm dilated. DON'T PUSH". In 30 minutes, I had dilated to a full 10 cm!

They immediately started prepping the room and called Dr. H, who had not yet arrived at the hospital. There would be no time for an epidural and Maddox was still sleeping in his little womb. We were going to get our natural birth! I had to breathe through the intense contractions and not push. Dr H arrived at 7:45AM, checked me and instructed the nurse to push with me initially and to call him once the head had descended more. I cried, you're not leaving the hospital right?? He was not...Thank God!

We pushed with the nurse for about 45 minutes and then with the last cycle of pushes, his head was ready and I was instructed to STOP. Let me just say, that is not the easiest thing to do. Everything happened so quickly. They didn't even have enough nurses in the delivery room. It was just Dr H., Sarah our nurse, Joe and I. Once Dr H came in, I still could not push because they needed to replace the iodine cleaning solution with saline because I have an iodine allergy.

We pushed 2 or 3 cycles of pushes with Dr H and then Maddox was here at 8:52 AM. I was in active labor they tell me for 2.5 hours and we pushed for approximately 50 minutes. My writing of this story does not do it justice. I need to say too, that my husband was the ultimate labor coach. I could not have done it without him.

As many of you know, there are pictures that I clearly took right after the birth. I cannot begin to tell you the state of mind I was in right then. I barely remember anything at that point. Neither Joe nor I, remember how I got the camera, since it was in Joe's pocket, but I started taking pictures right away and shocked Dr. H. I even started instructing him to pose. I will surely get teased about that at his office at my 6 week follow up.

It's a Beautiful Day!

The sun is shining and the Easter bunny is coming...doesn't get much better than that! I am looking forward to sitting outside on our swing, reading a book.

Maddox is running out of room in my belly. His body parts appear to be sticking out of my body! We have another ultrasound on Monday. We were so spoiled with ultrasounds during this pregnancy. When and if we get pregnant again, I wonder if we will be able to have as many, especially if we conceive naturally. We are so excited to see him again and cannot wait to hear his estimated weight!! 2 weeks ago he was 6.5 pounds. On average, they can 1/2 pound per week here at the end, so I guess we will see!!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a Happy Easter!

Totally not baby related

...but everyone should check out Zac Brown Band's song, "Free". Even Hubs likes it and he is not a country fan. Granted, everyone should be warned, I do have a mild obsession with Zac Brown Band.

With the message of the song, when was the time that you felt the MOST free in your life? For me, it was when we moved to Virginia. It was a very 'freeing' experience...a new adventure. For Hubs, it was the same, but specifically when we were driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

"No we don't have a lot of money, but all we need is love" :-)

Blah

Just feeling a little down today... Perhaps I am going stir crazy, perhaps it is the fact that I am getting more uncomfortable, or just the fact that the only people I have seen in weeks are my hubby, my aunt, and doctors/nurses.

I am expecting the UPS man on Monday, maybe he will come and have lunch with me for a while...at least I just made myself laugh.

Everything is all ready now. Bag is packed, emergency bottles cleaned/sterilized, and hubby even cleaned my car, so Maddox can come home in a clean car.

And that's all I have to say today my friends...

Week 36

Today marks the start of Week 36! Craziness my friends. To think, we found out in Week 3, saw our little sac of a baby in Week 5, saw his heartbeat for the first time in Week 6 and now here we are. Last weeks ultrasound showed he was now 6.5 pounds. IF I go full term he will probably be a little chunker...We love it!!!

Still on bed rest, but my blood pressure is the lowest it has probably ever been. I have always had a blood pressure of 120/70 and my last 3 doctors appointments have been 110/70! Bed rest works. I am still having contractions, some pretty big ones and the cervix is thinning out. Mucus plug is gradually being lost, which can happen in a lot of cases. Most times people do not just lose it all it once and apparently, some people never even realize that they have lost it.

I already took guesses on FB as to when people think little Maddox will arrive. Most people picked dates within Week 39, which just may be a safe bet.

Recall Alert- baby sling

I researched slings extensively before I made my decision. This sling was very affordable, but almost all reviews on this product were horrible and thankfully, a recall has been made.

http://www.parenting.com/gear-gallery/Gear/Baby-Gear-Recalls?cid=tw