Due Day-December 21st

Well, today is our official due date.....and no baby yet! We went to our Dr. appointment yesterday and I was dilated to a two. Which is progress because the previous week I was at a one. I have to admit, I was wishing I would be a little further along that that, but I'll take what I can get. We talked about scheduling an induction for 41 weeks. Although it's the farthest thing from what I want, we went ahead a scheduled one for the 29th of December at 7am. The reason I scheduled it is because I don't want to get to 42 weeks and them say I have to have a c-section. They cautioned us that an induction could take as long as 3 days to complete. If he hasn't arrived by the 29th, Raj and I will need to talk about what kind of medication we will let them use to induce us. It's not a conversation I ever wanted to have, but will have to decide on it.

Yesterday, I lost my mucus plug. Or at least what I believe was my mucus plug, I was in the shower, cleaning, and there it was...kind of a yellow whitish glob of mucus. I've been having contractions on and off for days now. Some days more painful than others. Saturday night, I thought for sure I was going into labor. The pains lasted for 4 hours and were about every 10 minutes, but once I went to bed, they stopped completely. The back pain was the worst of it. I do not care for that!

I feel like I am ready for him to be born, physically and emotionally. The only thing I'm struggling with is my ability to get the stuff done around the house that I feel needs to be done before his arrival. Raj and I have a long talk last night about him helping me get stuff done. I know it won't be up to my standard, because I have a pretty high standard, but it will be acceptable and I am grateful for his help, and that he is able to be off with me during this time.

It feels good to be off work. I've been off a week now. I don't really think I could have worked during this week. I've been pretty exhausted and spent most of my days in the recliner. Except for Friday, my sisters and mom went to the mall and had pedicures. That was really fun!I had my toes painted blue for a baby boy and the stylist painted a beautiful snowflake with a gem and all on my big toe. Maybe it will help me during labor to have something to look at down there!

Here's hoping he decides on his own to make his big appearance. I sure hope it's soon!

Maternity Leave

Today is my official last day of work...I am so excited to have some time off. The last few weeks have been pretty hard to go to work, just cause I've been so tired, and uncomfortable. It feels good to be leaving, but very strange. I found out from our HR department and from the State, that I have a lot longer than I originally thought I was going to have off. Through the Federal program FMLA I can have 12 weeks of leave. This leave protects my job as well as my benefits no matter if I'm in paid status or not. Then Washington has a seperate program called FLA which covers you for an additional 12 weeks. This program protects your job and will protect your benefits if you are in paid status. If you aren't in paid status then you will have to pay for your health care premiums. I have not fully made my decision if I will take all of the leave...it depends a lot on weather Raj is working full time or not, but it's nice to know that if I want the extra time, I can have it. So I will either be back at the end of February or at the end of April....or perhaps I won't even come back...that's still an option too depending on how things go.

Back Labor???

I've been experiencing quite a lot of back pain. It started around 37 weeks. One night it was so bad, I thought this must be labor and was thinking we might be making a trip to the hospital. The pain went shooting down as far as my knees. I finally went to bed and did some pelvic rocks and it seemed to help. I don't know if he was perhaps lying on a nerve or if it was back labor, but what ever it was, was very painful!

Cradle.....

Grandma and Papa Crawford finished the cradle for baby! It turned out so awesome! Thank you, Thank you!!!!

We have now finished most of the babies room. We put up shelves in the closet and have everything loaded in. We have not bought the crib, but figure we have time to buy that since he won't be in that for a while. Finally feeling like we are ready for him to come!

Week 36...

I am officially 9 months pregnant. One more week and I will be considered full term. They qualifiy full term anywhere between 37 and 40 weeks. What a long time coming this has been. Right when I feel that the baby is finally okay-meaning if he were to be born now he would survive-I start to wonder if I'm ready for him to be born! Kind of a sureal feeling. I am very anxious to meet our son. But still very nervous about the whole process of giving birth and how I will be affected by it. Our bradley classes have done an awesome job on educating us on what to expect for labor and delivery, but I still wonder how I will be affected by it. I'm wondering if my water will break before I start having contractions...if it will break at work...if I will be able to handle the contractions...how quickly I will give birth....lots and lots of questions. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Strep B

I was tested last week for Strep B. The results came back yesterday, and I tested positive for it. I was a bit bummed by the diagnosis, but I can't do anything about it, so I'm moving on from it. Basically what it will mean is when I go to deliver I will be given a dose of antibiotics within 4 hours of me delivering and then another one probably after I deliver. If the baby is showing signs of the bacteria, then they will be given a dose of antibitics as well. The antibiotic dose worries me because I didn't want to have to have an IV in during deliver, and I will now have to have one. I need to talk to my Dr. about laboring in the tub to make sure this is still okay. Also I am concerned that if baby is given antibiotics, their gut will be compromised by the loss of good bacteria which could upset their tummy. Because I am allergic to penncillin, and this is typically what they give women for the bacteria, the lab is still working on a sensitivity test to determine what antibiotic will work best for me. Also with this diagnosis, I will have to stay in the hospital longer than we had originally anticipated just so they can watch the baby for signs of the bacteria.

Not so fun stuff....

So the past few weeks, I have been having problems with hemorrhoids. I have never had these before and I never want to have them again! Yuck. What a pain! I had them so bad, I took off 2 days from work so I could rest. My Dr. said I could use an over the counter creme like Preperation H for up to 3 days...but I ended up using it for almost a week. They want you to limit the amount of time you use it because it can thin the skin down there and you don't want it to be thin when delivering. Also she suggested I use pads with which hazel in them, which have really helped. Another remedy I found was to ice the area, or actually rub ice on them....this really helped!