She's Here!!

There's so much to say and soon I will but for now:

Rylee Nicole came wed night the 7th a little after 11pm VBAC!!! She was teeny tiny weighing 7lbs 3oz and was 19 inches long. She is totally perfect and I'm overwhelmed with love and gratitude to God. Thanks for all your prayers!

Pregnancy Update.... Long Overdue and Total Randomness!!

I have neglected my blog sooo much and I am disappointed that I have had no real desire to blog more, especially about this pregnancy. 

But, it is what it is. 

I am about 38 weeks pregnant and ready to go!  I keep trying to remind myself that at the most I have 3 weeks left.  3 weeks because my dr (and I) really do not want to go that far past my due date before just scheduling a repeat c-sec. 

My ultimate goal is to have a VBAC.  And, yes, I am pretty scared!  Hahaha!  Some days, I want her out so badly just to hold and see in person that I am half tempted to just schedule a repeat for any time now.  Of course then I think about how I want more children and how continuous c-secs are not safe.  My dr only recommends 3 btw, which would leave me with only 1 more child.  Biologically, of course.

Recovering from a c-sec is miserable, too.  At least it was for me.  I've heard that scheduled ones are not nearly as bad as unplanned/emergency ones, but still. 

I would actually take one if they offered a tummy tuck to go with it... don't you think that should be standard with c-secs?  I mean you are already having major surgery and are already cut in exactly the right places.... I vote yes!

So what am I doing to try to go into labor naturally? 

What am I not doing?

I'm taking 2500 mg of evening primrose oil and 1000 mg of red raspberry leaf (which I know does not help induce labor but only helps to strengthen your uterine muscles).  We have been doing the closed door method also... isn't that such a polite term?  I read it the other day.  I've also been doing lots of ni*ple stimulation.  And I started walking last night... yes.... how awful I am just now starting to really go out and walk, but the hot, sticky weather isn't so appealing to me.  The walk definitely did something... I am pretty sore down there.  And I actually don't know where down there is- my bladder?  my uterine muscles?  I don't know.  I just know it hurts a lot more "down there" when I walk.  So definitely more walking is in store for me.  I am not at all lacking in the Braxton Hicks contraction area as I have them about every 10 minutes and have been for several weeks.  For months I have been having them farther apart.  Luckily, most of them don't hurt. 

I seem to ovulate late because each of my 3 babies have been exactly 10 days smaller than their due date according to my last menstrual period.  Now I can't imagine that I ovulate that late in the month, but somehow they are all off.  When the dr measures my stomach though I am always 1-3 weeks bigger and with K being 9 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches I know she was not lacking in size.  With Kassidy, they changed my date.  With Paisley, I think they changed the date and with Rylee I was thrilled when he didn't change the date.  Who wants to go to their first ultrasound at 8 weeks and be told they are only about 6?  Not I! 

My point being that with Kassidy I had her exactly in between the 2 dates.  I also took evening primrose oil and did lots of ni*ple stimulation the night before I went into labor.  I've always thought that I had a serious hand in putting myself into labor, but now I am not quite sure since I seem to be doing even more this time around and am getting nowhere.

My dr was supposed to start sweeping my membranes last week, but I was not dilated at all.  :(  Total bummer, but I go again this Thursday and hopefully we will get that done then!

I definitely need to write down more here as a place to keep these memories since I can't seem to remember anything! 

Sharing the Kicks

Our little frog, aka Rylee, aka the baby in my tummy, is quite a mover and kicker.  I am not at all surprised as Kassidy was also.

 

I pretty much have this girl's schedule down.  I'm thinking she might, unfortunately, not be the amazing morning child that Kassidy is. 

 

She might be more like me... anything but a morning person.  :/

 

We will see. 

 

I first felt Rylee move around 14 weeks.

 

At our 22 week appointment, Mike barely felt her move in my belly.

 

The past 3 weeks have consisted of me constantly grabbing Mike's hand to try and feel her, with no success and to the point of Mike thinking I was crazy for thinking he could feel her kicks.... they could only be felt from inside.

 

Untilllll.... two nights ago, at 25 weeks.  He felt her kick a couple times and tonight he felt her give a few really great ones!!

 

She is a crazy mover!!

 

One minute she is bouncing on my bladder.  The next she is kicking my ribs.  After that she kicks some right in the middle of my belly.  And of course, there are those that can be felt on complete opposite ends.  I have no idea what she is doing in there!

 

Wouldn't it be cool if we had clear bellies?  Ok, maybe only during pregnancy.  And maybe only the ability to see our growing babies.  Not everything else.  :) 

 

 

When did your husband first feel your baby?

Pregnancy Update! All Around Wk 21

Oh, week 21, how my heart is so grateful that I am here. 

 

Every single day, I think, "Well, if something terrible goes wrong with my body and we catch it in time, we are a little bit closer to being able to have a live baby." 

 

We still have a few more weeks before she could even possibly make it out in this world. 

 

(knock on wood) I think my body really handles pregnancy wondefully.  Sickness is so much better than so many women have it. 

 

My issues every pregnancy:

-sharp ligament pains pretty much throughout the whole pregnancy

-my sinuses go insane

-first trimester complete exhaustion where I choose sleep over anything

-first trimester extremely tender breasts where I set up a baracade with my arms 99% of the time

-this pregnancy my tailbone and back have been hurting quite bad

 

Overall, though, I feel great and love being pregnant (besides the constant worry). 

 

I am not sure that I will ever feel "out of the danger zone" since we were pretty far out of it last time and we still lost our baby Paisley.

 

I truly, truly, truly cherish every single movement inside.  It means that she is still here and alive!  And, yes, she is definitely a she! 

 

Oh, my husband, the girl maker! 

 

Here are some pics:

 

17 weeks

 

 These top 2 are from March 5th (18 weeks).  This girl seriously likes those legs stretched out!!

 This is two weeks later... and Still stretched out!  She really is taking advantage of the room right now.  Soon, there will be none!  I am calling her my little froggy.  :)

 She even had her legs stretched out and crossed at the feet.  (They are not crossed in this pic)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dr at our 20 week super in-depth ultrasound basically did a complete anatomy lesson.  He listed almost every single organ and said it all looked great!  We are so blessed and so thankful!