Tuesday, March 12, 2013

March 1, 2013

My love,

I'm currently laying in a hospital bed in labor. I will update with your birth story later, but your dad and I are just so excited to meet you!

Love,
Me

Monday, February 25, 2013

February 25, 2013

My love,

You're late, you're late, for a very important date! By about four days at this point. You were due on 2/21, and here we are on 2/25 with no signs of labor. I know that you're happy and healthy in there, and that makes it a bit easier, but not by much. I also know it's common for first time moms to go over their due dates, but silly me thought I would be exempt. Haha!

I've been through so many emotions on this topic over the last couple of weeks. I started my maternity leave two weeks before my due date so I could relax before you got here and everything went crazy. Now I find myself trying to escape boredom. We have an induction scheduled for 3/3 if you're not already here, but I'd really prefer to not have to go that route as inductions tend to carry a higher risk of ending in a C-section.

I told your father that as long as you're okay, I don't mind being pregnant another week, but the truth is that every day that goes by, I have a stronger and stronger need to hold you. A stronger need to see and kiss your pretty face and tickle your little feet. Once you're here, life will never be the same. It's going to be loud, crazy, sleep-deprived, scary and expensive; I know all of this. But I have this feeling that it's going to be wonderful also.

I can't help it. I'm so anxious to meet you. Don't make us wait too long, okay?

Love,
Me

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

February 12, 2013

My love,

Well, you were a pretty good baby for the majority of your time in utero, but you had a few surprises in store for us here at the end. You were head down and in perfect position at 36 weeks - right on track. Then, by 37 weeks, you had flipped yourself to a sideways position, or what's called transverse. My doctor suspected you might be this way after doing a routine cervical check, so she ordered an ultrasound. A couple of days later, your wonky position was confirmed. The cool thing, though, is that because of this ultrasound, we got to see your pretty little face. We didn't get a picture, but from what I remember, you have a chubby face, my dad's nose and my lips. We'll see how accurate it was soon. :)

So, the transverse thing turned out to be a bigger complication than we initially thought. My doctor called me the Wednesday after the ultrasound saying that she was referring me to an OB to discuss our options for the safest delivery. The OB we saw told us that we could either 1) Schedule a C-section right off the bat, 2) Try an ECV (external cephalic version, or manually turning you from the outside), or 3) Wait and see, hoping you would turn on your own before labor, but risk a dangerous cord prolapse. We opted for door number 2 and scheduled it for Saturday morning. The scary thing about the ECV is that it carries a small risk of a pinched cord or other complications leading to an emergency C-section. Basically, your dad and I had to mentally prepare ourselves that you could be born that weekend, at 38+2.

We showed up to the hospital and were surprised to find that the procedure would be done in a labor and delivery room. Suddenly things got real. First thing, they had to do an ultrasound to confirm you were still transverse. This ultrasound showed that sometime in the previous 36 hours, you had righted yourself and were, in fact, head down again. No need for the version! Your father was relieved, but I was actually interested to see how it was going to go. At any rate, they kept me hooked up to the monitors for a couple of hours while I had a few contractions, and they sent us home. Overall, an interesting day.

So far, you've stayed head down, but I'm still not dilating. I have no idea what this means for when you'll be born, but I certainly feel like a jack-in-the-box. Not to mention, people have already started asking when you'll be here. I've decided to ignore them. You'll come when you're ready. Just promise me you won't make me wait too long?

Love,
Me

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

January 30, 2013

My love,

I'll be 37 weeks pregnant tomorrow and it's so surreal. There were days I never thought we'd get here, and it feels like only yesterday that we were nervously waiting for our 7-week ultrasound when we saw your little heartbeat for the first time. But now, I'm sitting in the beautiful nursery we've built for you and I know you'll be here soon. I honestly can't wait to meet you! It overwhelms me sometimes when I think about it, so I try to let it come to me in small chunks throughout the day.

Before I got pregnant with you, I swore to myself I was going to do everything right. I was going to do prenatal yoga and water aerobics. I was going to cut all processed food, sugar, artificial sugar, caffeine and alcohol (the last two I really did cut.) In reality, I'm way too uncoordinated for yoga now and can barely cross my legs, let alone do downward facing dog. After buying a maternity swimsuit at a deep discount, I've been to the pool exactly once, and honestly didn't find it all that soothing. And while my diet has been about 75% angel throughout my pregnancy, I've had a few sweet tooth days and I do love mac 'n cheese.

I guess my point is that you should strive to be the best you can be, but don't insist on perfection. It's humanly impossible to achieve perfection consistently. Anyone who tries to tell you different, is either selling you something or wants you to believe they won the Tour de France seven times in a row without doping.

In other news, I had a check up today and while your heartbeat and measurements are good, the doctor can't confirm that you're head down at this point. This means we get another ultrasound on Friday. I'm so excited to see you again and I know it will get me through the next few weeks until I get to see you in person. I'll check back in after that appointment.

Well, I should be toddling off to bed; my feet and ankles are the size of ham hocks, so I should probably get them elevated. Here's a great picture from our maternity shoot with Aunt Sabrina on Saturday.


Love,
Me