Happy and Content

I want to write a post and share some thoughts today.......

For most of my pregnancy I had thought I would be in having baby with an induction on
Thursday June 7. With a history of 3 babies over 10#'s I was just planning on having baby 1 weeks early.
Plus my oldest son was to graduate high school on June 13......but he has to take a summer class so he will not walk in the ceremony. I was disappointed but its not the end of the world. It has taken the pressure off being on a time schedule, to give birth, heal and make it to the ceremony....with lots of walking.

Pregnancy at 38 weeks

I'm am now very happy and content to have baby tucked safely inside for the next week.
Wednesday June 13 at the least unless baby comes early on his/her own.
Baby passed the stress test last week and is not overly big. Baby is moving around great.
With a whooping cough epidemic here in our area and state, I don't want to take my new baby out and about more than I have to.  So having baby safely inside makes me happy. I'm just really savoring my last week being the family that we are RIGHT now!

Whooping cough (pertussis) facts slide show.

My schedule for the next week is very busy.

I have 2 more baseball games to go to. (the weather has been cold, overcast and rainy)

2 end of season trophy parties.
End of home school co-op and party.
A flute concert to attend.
Noah turns 10 on June 11!

June 15 we have end of year Catholic Little Flowers/Blue Knights during the morning and family awards dinner that night.

My kiddos have school until Monday June 18th.

My older 2 boys have finals and such and can't miss any school.

My husbands parents arrive June 7th and my folks will get here June 9th. Neither are staying at our house.

But I only have 2 more days to get the house ready. My nesting thing had flown away for this pregnancy.lol I keep praying to GOD to give me the motivation and energy to get the house picked up and clean. My microwave is really bad!

My mom will most likely stay at our house a few days before and after baby arrives to help get the kiddos off to school and cook meals. So we have to get the moterhome aka spare room cleaned up and aired out as well.

Baby at 20week ultrasound.

I can tell this baby is a real cutie!

(the black lines on the screen are contractions being picked up)

Does baby look like a boy or a girl to you?

Our family has put together a pool to guess!

I will post about it soon!

In the mean time, do you have a guess?

Peace+

Georgiann

Pregnancy update: 38 weeks

Yesterday I went for my usual once a week Thursday visit to my OB. A day that I look forward to so very much! Over all things went very well, baby is doing great.
Words every expectant parent wants to hear!

I only gained 1 pound since last week......my blood sugars have been high every now and again. So Dr. E wanted to hook me up to a stress test monitor to check for contractions and baby's heart rate. I was hooked up to the machine for about 30 minutes or so.
 All was/is well. Baby is still in good birthing position and is not overly BIG at this point as far as Dr. E could tell. Baby tolerated the stress test with flying colors!

With all that in mind........since I still am only 50% effaced and 1 1/2 cen. dilated. ( I was 1 last week...I think Dr.E just gave me the 1/2 cen this week to make me feel like something was going on!!!!!) lol
 I'm not due for another 2 weeks. (June 14) so an induction this time is not due to a large baby getting bigger by the day. It would be due to the need to control things because of my use of blood thinners.
I need to stop taking them 24hrs before labor.

So the verdict from Dr.E is that I will come back next Thursday (June 7) for my regular check to see if my cervix is more favorable for an induction.
If so, he will schedule the induction for THE FOLLOWING WEEK!

Dr. E will be out of town Friday June 8 after work until Monday night June 11 and then has Tuesday June 12 off. So Wednesday June 13 is a possibility to be induced if I don't go into labor before then on my own. I will know more next Thursday!

I will be working hard from now until the finsh line to keep my blood sugar under control hence growing a smaller baby than I have in the past!

Peace and Love +
Georgiann

Pregnancy update: 37 weeks

I have good news!

After a long week of sitting with better posture on my birthing ball, wearing my belly band and

being on all fours with my rump in the air some of the time......

our dear sweet baby has decided to get into the head down birthing position!

I felt him/her flip down at 6am the morning of my appointment yesterday while I was laying in bed!

I read a lot of helpful info. on Spinning Babies. com to get this baby to turn!

With Hubby and Olivia there, Dr. E gave me an ultrasound and guesstimates this baby at about 7 lbs. as of now,

 so at full turn maybe 8 1/2 lbs???

Dr.E still plans to induce me (the date has not been picked yet)  because of my being on blood thinners. I will need to stop taking them a day or 2 before I have baby. If we wait for labor to start on its own

(thou that is still MY hope) I most likely will have blood thinner in my system.

I have stopped taking my progesterone as of last night.

So it is my hope to go into labor early on my own?

I love for baby to pick their own birthday.....and all the drama that goes with the words:

ITS TIME !!!!!

Dr. E says, I am 50% effaced and 1cm dilated.

That doesn't really mean to much, because, I know one can walk around for a month at 3cm an be waiting for labor to start! But it is exciting to know things are happening!

I have been getting a lot of braxtons this past week!

I have only gained 1 lb this since my last visit!

For the past month I did not gain any!

That makes only 21 lbs total for this pregnancy!

My blood pressure is awesome 115/75

My diabets is under contol and we are growing a smaller baby!

I have been drinking about 4 cups of Red Raspberry Leaf tea a day!

My to do list before baby arrives:

Have the girls help me clean out my car.

Clean out the fridge.

Wash up the baby swing and make a spot in the living room for it.

Set up the play pen/bassinet in the living room.

Get my camcorder ready....check batteries and film.

Wash my bedding and vacuum my room.

Double check what I packed in my baby bag since its been 2 months since I packed it!!! LOL

Get a pedicure and a massage (with my gift card)

Since we do not know weather we will be having a girl or a boy I am ready for either.

I will have to do some washing when I get home from the hospital with baby, because much of the clothes still have the tags on.

I will be making some returns on the things I won't be needing!

Peace+

Georgiann

Transverse and Whooping Cough Epidemic

Pregnancy update: 36 weeks:

 I had my weekly OB appointment yesterday.
My weight has stayed the same a 20# gain for the whole pregnancy thus far.
My blood pressure was 115/56.
My diabetes is under control with the help of diet and the glyburide pill in the morning.
I will be on 400mg of progesterone until the end of this week (I will be 37wks)
Baby's heart rate was great. ( Dr. E never tells me what it is)

I also saw my Hemo Dr. last week and we made a game plan for the bloodthinners I take.
Stop taking them (1 injection a day of Lovenox) 24-48hrs before labor and then resume the day after delivery.....taking then 2 injections daily for 6-8weeks. No coumidian this time. I hated going in the the clinic every 2 or 3 days to get my PTIR checked! Such a hassle!

I thought my OB was going to give me an ultrasound yesterday to gauge this baby's weight.....for what its worth. I know they can be way off with their estimate in either direction. Dr E said, next week I would get the ultrasound.

I told him I thought this baby was transverse so he felt around on my belly and sure enough his/her head is on MY left side and feet and butt on the right side! Dr. E said he might have to do an aversion, manually turning the baby. eeeekkkkk!

He never mentioned the C word (c-section). I think Dr. E thinks baby will turn. I do pray, that will be the case. I don't fancy being cut open or needles in my back, so please pray my baby gets into the proper position soon!

I will be trying some exercises at home to help promote baby to get in the birthing position.

Also......

Yesterday, I asked my OB about the whooping cough vaccine.
Here in Washington State there is an epidemic.
Dr. E said, it would be best to get the vaccine right away so I can build amuntites before baby gets here.
So yesterday I received the T-DaP booster. Hubby will get his next week.
All grandparents, friends and relatives will need to get their T-Dap booster at least a week before seeing/holding our baby.

You can go here to see and listen to a 7wk old baby struggle to breath with whooping cough.

Here is a short clip on what you need to know about whooping cough aka pertussis





Symptoms of pertussis vary depending on age.

Infants:

Infants with pertussis may have trouble feeding and breathing and may turn bluish. Many infants are unable to even cough. The disease is most serious in infants, especially those not fully protected or too young to get the vaccine.

Babies and young kids:

Babies older than six months and kids with pertussis can have severe coughing spells that make it hard to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. At this age, the cough is often followed by a "whooping" sound, which is how the disease got its common name. Kids may also vomit after a long coughing spell. Whooping cough can cause pneumonia, seizures, brain damage, and death.

Babies with whooping cough are often hospitalized.


Older kids and adults:
With older kids and adults, the disease can be quite mild or can cause several weeks of exhausting coughing. Babies usually get whooping cough from caregivers or family members who don't realize they have the disease, like older brothers and sisters, parents, and grandparents. Research shows that it's most common for moms to pass on the disease to babies.


How to protect infants and young kids:

Anyone with a persistent cough, especially if it includes fits of coughing or causes vomiting, should seek medical care. There is a vaccine to prevent pertussis in older kids and adults called Tdap. All pre-teens, teens, and adults should get the vaccine, especially those in contact with babies. The vaccine can help stop the spread of the disease to babies.

Anyone with a cough should avoid being around infants. Not all coughs are whooping cough, but without testing, it's better to avoid the possible spread. If it's not possible to avoid being around infants, cough into a tissue, then wash your hands thoroughly, or wear a surgical mask to prevent the spread of bacteria.


Peace+
Georgiann

Mother's Day Planting and Jackie's Birthday!

My wonderful Hubby and the girls bought me a few plants from the high school horticulture plant sale to add to the garden...

2 tomato plants, a pepper, cilantro and a sunflower.

I bought a bunch of plants last week but have not had the energy to weed....I mean dig out grass covered garden beds to make room for my plants.

I bought broccoli, cauliflower,cabbage and a few zucchini.

With only about 3-4 weeks until baby arrives, I have not wanted to stoop over the garden beds.

My back just hurts thinking about that!

I just got over the flu that lasted about a week and struggled to keep my blood sugar stable.

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Happy 7th Birthday Jackie!

My sweet girl is 7 today!

We sang and had icecream and cookies last night. Jackie also recieved her presents a day early because Noah has a baseball game tonight so we will be home late!

For dinner tonight Jackie and the kids will have popcorn shrimp and mac and cheese per Jackies request!

Here's a funny story....

Jackie got some new Easter shoes.

I let her get these little 2 inch high heeled sandles (wedge).

I really did not want her to get them.....you know not wanting her to grow up to fast.

Well, Saturday night after Mass she was getting out of the car, with shoes in hand.

She said, mom we can give these shoes to Goodwill or to Olivia because they hurt my feet!

I said, welcome to womanhood and high heels!

We both laughed!

She now does not want to get anymore highheels!

Peace and Love,

Mom