Week Two

Alexandra is now 2 weeks old! We took newborn photos on Wednesday and Alexandra was awake for the entire process. She did a really good job despite being moved into so many positions. I can't wait to see the results! I took this photo today and love it so it is just a bonus photo in addition to all the others in this blog update!

About Alexandra: She is becoming more alert during the day. On Friday, she was awake most of the day and well into the night. She finally got to sleep at around 2:15 AM and slept for almost 5 hours! Interestingly, she did this sleeping in her crib rather than in our room in her cradle. Let's hope she is learning to sleep longer periods at a time and hope that shift happens to start a little earlier....how about midnight to 5 AM Alexandra? Mommy and daddy would like more sleep!

She is a good eater, taking both pumped breast milk and formula at this point. She also has a really strong grip and will frequently hold one of our fingers in her little hand! During the day, her favorite place to nap is whatever lap is available. She seems so peaceful and content. Another nickname that I have given her is "Wiggles" - sometimes she is moving around so much it makes it hard to change her diaper or hold her.   

Mommy & Daddy: Daddy went back to work on Thursday so mommy has now had to do night duty all by herself. It is getting easier, although Alexandra keeps her awake for several hours at a time - she is not ready to sleep when we want her too! Dave is loving his new role as daddy!

I am still recovering from the c-section, but feeling better all the time. I still have to wear maternity bottoms, but am back in regular tops. I have now lost 27.5 pounds since delivery day, which puts me 13 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight!! The swelling in my feet is gone and I am so excited to have my ankles back to normal. Remember the cough that I had since January? GONE! It was definitely caused by my little girl! The one thing that seems to be hanging around is the numbness in my right hand that is making it hard to write thank you notes for all the wonderful gifts Alexandra has received in the last couple of weeks.

What's New: Alexandra loves to sleep on her side, although not all the time. She is raising her head more and more. Not for very long periods of time, but she is definitely using her neck muscles to hold her head up without help. And she sometimes holds her own bottle!

Visitors: Alexandra met her Grandpa Stacy this week when he came for a visit from Phoenix. Here is a photo of three generations of Myers!

Alexandra also met our neighbor Kevin, his girlfriend and our neighbor Lora's mom who stopped by for a quick hello. This coming week, Alexandra will celebrate her first Easter and we will have lots of family over for dinner, including Grandma Sara who can't wait to meet her granddaughter!!

Photos:
Here is Alexandra on Day 14 - she is definitely changing from week to week!

 Another three generations photo:

And some of my favorite photos from week two:

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Week One

Now that Alexandra is here this blog will be mostly her growth and development, as well as our adventures in parenthood. I can't believe a week has already passed! She has been exposed to so many new things, new people and even looks different than she did a week ago.

About Alexandra: We had our first doctor's appointment yesterday and Alexandra is doing well. She has almost gained back to her birth weight. She was 8 pounds 2 ounces...just 2 ounces from her birth weight. When we left the hospital on Tuesday she was at 7 pounds 13 ounces. She has also gained a 1/4 of an inch.

We have a few nicknames for our little girl. She is "The Thinker" because she always has her hands at her chin like the famous statue of the same name. She is also "The Escape Artist" because she does not like swaddling and manages to get her hands out every time. Here is our little thinker:

She is a good sleeper, although does a better job during the day with longer stretches. We have only had one night where she kept us up for 4 hours. She is waking twice in the night for food and diaper changes. She is also a good eater.

All of the newborn size clothes we had for her are too small and she was never able to wear them. Fortunately, we did not wash most of them and were able to make exchanges. As far as those we did wash, I am going to give them to a friend who is expecting a little girl in the hopes that they fit her daughter. If not, I will ask her to pay it forward and donate to someone in need.

Mommy & Daddy: We are learning a lot about parenthood and are continually amazed by her! Our washing machine is getting a good workout. It is a good thing we just bought a brand new one before her arrival! Here is our very first family photo taken on Tuesday when we brought her home:

I am recovering from major surgery while learning to be a parent. That is quite the challenge and has limited some of the activities that I might otherwise find easy. I have lost all but 1.5 pounds of my pregnancy weight in just this first week! I am not surprised considering how big of a baby she is - I often find myself amazed that she fit inside me!

What's New: Since this is her first week of life, everything is new! What we are amazed by is the fact that she is already rolling on to her side and even trying to lift her head.

Visitors: Alexandra met her Great Aunt Lorel (aka Grantie) and Great Uncle David on Tuesday night. Lorel was a wonderful help our first night home as we adjusted to life with baby. Alexandra had met Grandma Janet at the hospital, but got to spend more time with her when Janet came to stay with us for a few days. It is so nice having family around to help us out! Thanks a million!

Alexandra also met our neighbors Rick and Tina who stopped by for a quick hello. She will meet even more new people this coming week. Grandpa Stacy is coming from Phoenix and excited to meet his granddaughter!

Photos: I will try to do a weekly comparison photo initially and then a monthly later on. Here is the first one. The left was taken on her birthday and the right one on day 7.

 Some other fun photos of Alexandra from her first week of life:

Alexandra's Birth Story

Because I am older, my OB scheduled an induction for 8:00 AM on 3-15-13, my estimated due date. We arrived at the hospital and had some tests run including a bio physical profile that guessed her weight to be 7 lbs. I was 0 cm and barely effaced. At 11:15, I took my first dose of cytotec. At 12:45 I started experiencing contractions. By 3:00, I was getting contractions 2-3 minutes apart. At 3:15 a cervical check was done and I was still 0 cm, barely effaced and there was no engagement. I was frustrated!

At 8:30, I was given a dose of Procardia to reduce my contractions so that they could try a second dose of cytotec. At 10:45 PM, the second dose was given and I finally was 1/2 cm dilated and 30% effaced. By 2:30 AM, I was 1 cm and 50% effaced. I was given a dose of pain meds to try to relax. At 4:30, I lost the mucus plug and was about 2 cm. The contractions started coming on strong and I felt them mostly in my back. I was trying so hard to hold out on an epidural until I was more dilated, but gave in at 5:00. The epidural stopped the pain and from then on, all I could feel were contractions and not even all of them. I was 80% effaced by that time.

By 7:15, I was 5 cm and 80% effaced. My girl started experiencing some mild decelerations with many contractions and so a Fetal Scalp Electrode was inserted to monitor her better. By 7:45 my water had broken and an amnio infusion was done because there were regular fetal heart rate drops with each contraction. By 10:00 I was 7 cm. At 11:20, I was approaching 8 cm and nearly 100% effaced so we started Pitocin at noon. Soon after, I developed a slight temperature. At 12:30, there was such a deceleration during one contraction that I was given oxygen and my husband swears OR was prepped for a birth right then. We decided then to stop the Pitocin. I was still at 8 cm. There was still no change by 3:00 and so a decision was made to do a C-section as they thought there was pressure being put on the umbilical cord and I was still not fully dilated.

At 3:56 PM, Alexandra Suzanne was born! It turns out that the cord was wrapped around her shoulder. Dave got to hold her before I even got to see her. All I could hear were here first screams and I got tears in my eyes. I had to ask Dave twice how big she was because I could not believe it when they said 8 lbs 4 ozs. Big baby! My mom even got to hold her before I did while I was in recovery. The first time I saw her, they held her to my face. It was hard to focus because we were cheek to cheek. Her cheek was so soft and I kept saying, "I'm your mommy."

Notes: Dilation refers to how open the cervix is from closed (0 cm) to open and ready for birth (10 cm). Effacement refers to hold thin the cervix is and is from 0% to 100%. Engagement refers to baby's position from high (+4) to low (-4). The ideal is as low as can be!

And without further delay, meet our lucky charm, Alexandra Suzanne Myers!

 

Here are some other photos from her birth day:  

Week 40

At 40 weeks, Alexandra has reached her estimated due date and we are headed to the hospital in the morning to induce! Please keep good thoughts that it is a quick labor and there are no complications!

How am I feeling? Mentally, I am excited, nervous and sad, all at the same time. I am actually sad that today is my last day of pregnancy because it has been an enjoyable experience. Every time someone sends me a good luck message I tear up. I am excited to meet my daughter and hold her in my arms. And I am nervous about it being a long delivery. 

Physically, I have had some insomnia this week, but otherwise feel good. Dave and I have taken several long walks around the neighborhood and I feel like I have more energy now than I did earlier in the pregnancy....strange! I will be very happy if this numbness in my fingers goes away right after birth. I have noticed that my cough is much better this week and think Alexandra might have dropped lower. I have been having a lot of contractions, but they always go away...so I think they are still just Braxton Hicks!

Movement: I hope Alexandra decides to wiggle a lot tonight because I am sad I won't feel those wiggles anymore once she is here. She has been moving a lot this last week and I try to take it in and enjoy it every time!

Updates: Since I was not dilated at all on Monday and only 25% effaced, I am hoping that there has been some action or else it is going to be a LONG couple of days getting Miss A into this world. At my last non stress test on Tuesday, the ultrasound tech did seem to think she was starting to engage and get lower.

Prepping for Baby: My breast pump arrived and I have sterilized all the parts. The car seat is in the car. We have most of her clothes washed. We are all ready to bring home our little girl!

Quote of the Week: Everyone is eagerly anticipating Alexandra's arrival and I had to share a quote from an email that I received this week...."Who will be first to make an appearance?????? Alexandra or the new pope?????" Thanks Barbara for making me laugh! Obviously the Pope made an appearance first. 

How We Spent our Last Day as a Family of Two: Dave and I went to the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino Hills. It was hot out today - 93 degrees at one point. Both Dave and I like WWII aircraft and since we wanted to do something together as a couple, it seemed like a fine plan. Here are some fun photos!

Weekly Bump Photos:

The next blog update will be an introduction of my daughter! Wow. It is hard to believe that we have arrived at this point in our journey. I can't wait to see what she looks like!

Induction Scheduled

I had an OB appointment this morning and have not made any progress. I am 0 cm dilated, 25% effaced and Alexandra is still high (not engaged). Based on this and the fact that I am almost 42 years old, we set a date to induce - Friday March 15th at 8 AM. I will be exactly 40 weeks that day.

I have mixed emotions right now. I am excited to finally have an end in sight. I joked with my mom that it feels a little like waiting for Christmas to arrive, only I don't know what day Christmas is going to be. Well, now I do. However, I am a little overwhelmed as I really would have liked for labor to start on its own. Both my mom and my grandma had short labors (4 hours approximately) and I am nervous that mine will be long (24+ hours). There are still a few days in which it could get started so that is what I am hoping for!

As my mom said, the upside of waiting until Friday is that I have four more days of feeling Alexandra's wiggles inside me and that is cool! I will really miss those. So now I will rest and relax for the next few days and try to do some things that won't be so easy after she arrives - starting with a prenatal massage tomorrow!

Week 39

After 39 weeks, more than 250 days and 9 months, we are down to just one week until Alexandra's due date. It is likely she will be here before then! Don't forget to enter a guess on her due date. The link is to the right side of this blog entry!

About Baby: At 39 weeks, Alexandra is ready for the real world. There is not much change from last week, except more brain development.

How am I feeling? Pretty good considering how far along I am. It is definitely getting more uncomfortable to sleep, although during the day I feel pretty good. I notice more shortness of breath when I first lie down in bed and when I get into a car. The numbness is most prevalent at night and in the morning, but it has become a constant companion - my fingertips and thumbs especially! I have lots of Braxton Hicks practice contractions at night and really need the real ones to start showing up so we can get something going! Insomnia is also affecting me. For the last three nights, I have laid awake for at least an hour in the 4-5 AM range. I eventually go back to sleep. Now that I am taking Zantac twice a day, the cough does seem better (although it is still bothering me from time to time).

Movement: Alexandra likes those pink and white animal cookies! We were at Toastmasters on Monday night and she had been very quiet. I ate 5 of those cookies (they are pretty small after all) and all of a sudden she was moving around like crazy. Too funny! Whenever I try to lie on my right side at night she gets all squirmy as if trying to reposition herself, but is perfectly calm when I lie on my left hand side. I think the relaxation of being on maternity leave has helped me to feel her more. For the last couple of nights, I have laid awake in the early morning just feeling her wiggle.

Updates: At Monday's non-stress test, I learned that Alexandra is now in the ideal position with not only her head down, but she is facing my spine. I had a follow up with the respiratory doctor and he definitely thinks the cough will go away once my little girl has arrived. At my OB appointment on Thursday I found out that I am not dilated at all. There was a little softening or effacement, but he did not say how much. I now have an appointment for Monday afternoon. If there is still no progress, we will discuss induction. So Miss Alexandra, this is your eviction notice. You have until Monday (March 11th) to show up on your own, or else you may be forcibly evicted from your current home!

Food: I am still loving oranges, almond M & Ms, baked potatoes and quesadillas! I also eat lots of salads and chicken. My grandmother would be proud because anything chocolate sounds (and tastes) good right now! I would not call it a food aversion necessarily, but the things that just don't sound good anymore are eggs and hamburgers. My biggest challenge seems to be finishing a meal. Because Alexandra is taking up so much room, I seem to get full easily and then am hungry again a short while later.

Prepping for Baby: My insurance provides a free breast pump with prescription from my doctor and so I am going to order the Ameda Purely Yours electric double pump. It retails around $160-$200 so that is great news!

I have submitted paperwork for the disability insurance that I have been paying premiums for...it will give me a nice paycheck for two months!

We have bought some items to put in the freezer so that we won't have to cook the first few days. They are mostly microwave meals, but I may still try to put together some other items.

We are making a few last minute purchases but are ready for Alexandra to arrive! The house is clean. The important stuff (car seat, cradle, newborn clothes) is ready to go.

Bump Photos:

And for a little fun since this may be the last bump photos....let's have a look back!

Single Digits

Today my ticker says that there are just 9 days until my due date. It is hard to believe that this nine month journey is almost over. It seems so long ago that it was July and we started out well into the triple digits. The first trimester was slow, but since then time has gone quickly. Now here we are at single digits!

There are lots of women on the online discussion boards that I frequent who are complaining that they are so over being pregnant. They are tired and uncomfortable. Sure I am tired of heartburn, numbness in my hands, this seemingly pregnancy related cough, an extra small bladder (or so it seems) and not being able to shave my legs easily. But, I actually have enjoyed being pregnant. It has been a far better experience than I originally imagined. Pregnancy has eased my allergies, been great for my hair and skin, and thankfully I have felt reasonably good the whole 9 months! While I am excited that soon I will get to see what Alexandra looks like and hold her in my arms, I am going to enjoy these last few days of being pregnant because I will never have them again. We are one and done and happy about that.

This morning I had trouble sleeping and just lay there feeling Alexandra's wiggles. That is something that I am so thankful to have experienced and will definitely miss. From hiccups to kicks, it has been a truly once in a lifetime experience that I am sad not all people can experience. Every now and then it still seems surreal that those movements come from a little human. I wish I could have the equivalent of a tape recorder to remember how it felt and replay the feeling every now and then.

Taking weekly photos and watching how this bump has grown has also been a joy.  It is so nice that women now are encouraged to emphasize their bumps in stylish clothes rather than the way it used to be - hiding under flowy, loose fitting dresses. I have loved most of my maternity clothes and am happily passing them on to a friend who hopefully will get as much use out of them as I did. I will have maternity photos to enjoy long after Alexandra is here. We have procrastinated on ordering the actual photos, but here is a proof of my favorite photo!

As the days count down, I look forward to starting a new chapter of my life with my daughter and becoming a family of three. Some days I still can't believed how blessed I am.

Fun Photos

Dave and I took some fun photos in the backyard today! This could very well be our last weekend as a family of two!

Week 38

It is officially March and I am having a baby this month!

I am a day behind on this post which means only 13 days until Alexandra's due date! Friday was my last day of work until June. It was very surreal to leave my classroom knowing someone else will be teaching my students for the next three months! I am looking forward to having a few days of me time starting with a prenatal massage today and a pedicure on Monday! I started an online pool for people to guess her arrival date and time. Here is the link: ExpectNet!

About Baby: At 38 weeks, Alexandra is almost ready to make her grand entrance into the world. Most of what is happening amounts to last minute details like shedding skin protective substances (vernix and lanugo), adding fat and fine tuning brain cells. Many resources that I read talk about baby dropping, but she is still high. My mom said I never dropped before the day of my birth, so we will see what happens with Alexandra.

How am I feeling? Okay. I have been really tired by the end of the work day. In the evening, I have been feeling lots of Braxton Hicks contractions - the practice ones. They don't hurt, but they do make it hard to breathe. I have been feeling some pain in my lower back that I think is related to Alexandra being "sunny side up." This means her spine is to my spine so she is pressing on it. Hopefully she will turn around before birth to make it much easier to get the shoulders through. Thankfully she is head down and has been that way for several weeks! The numbness in my hands continues to bother me. It is worse on my right side than my left. In fact as I type this my right hand is numb all the way to the elbow! The coughing is still bothering me, although it is better since starting the Zantac twice a day. Perhaps the doctor was right and it is acid reflux.

Movement: Alexandra has been a squirmy baby this week, which is a good thing. I can't really do kick counts but as long as I feel her move a lot, I know she is fine. On Monday at the non-stress test she was moving so much that it kept messing with the monitor. As I said in my previous post (Baby Shower #3), it might have had something to do with the red velvet cupcake mommy had at lunch.

Updates: I had an OB appointment on Thursday and was down a pound so am at a net gain of 15 pounds right now....and it is almost all baby and related items!! I have not made any progress in terms of dilation or effacement so he thinks it will be at least a week before I meet her.

Food: I had a major craving for Mexican food from a local restaurant called Los Primos on Tuesday. I had rolled tacos which tasted so good. I have not had that overwhelming of a craving for anything in a long time. I made sure to take some Mylanta with my lunch to divert the heartburn.I am starting to think about foods that I have not had in 9 months, but that I will soon be able to eat again - like a rare roast beef deli sandwich and bacon!

Prepping for Baby: On Thursday we had our second child birth class. While it was interesting and we learned some things, neither of us thought it was worth the full price they normally charge. Due to the instructor being sick and cutting the class time in half, we only paid $20 instead of the usual $75. The instructor was very nice, but she got off on tangents a lot.

I would like to spend some time this week making some meals that we can freeze and then easily cook in the days right after delivery. This would include some crock pot recipes.

This Coming Week: I have non stress tests Tuesday and Friday, an OB appointment Thursday and a prenatal massage planned for today.

Bump Photos: Here is a comparison of Week 32 and Week 38 wearing the same clothes. There is definitely a difference that 6 weeks has made! I now really feel like I swallowed a basketball!

32 Weeks                                                                                          38 Weeks