April 26 2013 (April 2013)

April 2013:

40 weeks. Dang. I was really hoping that I wouldn't actually get to 40 weeks... At my 40-week appointment, my doctor and I came to the decision that we would try to strip my membranes, which sounds a lot more painful than it actually is. It was more uncomfortable than anything. My doctor let me know that 50% of women will go into labor within the first three days afterward. The rest of the day after having that happen, I had stronger contractions than I had ever had before, but they weren't getting progressively stronger or anything, so it wasn't time for his arrival.

Because his arrival didn't happen that week, I had to schedule an ultrasound to check him out (a BPP). The purpose of this ultrasound was to make sure that everything with my little one was going well. They checked out his heart, lungs, umbilical cord, placenta, etc. Everything looked good! Phew. No reason for an emergency induction or C-section.

Once again, we tried stripping my membranes. I really wanted to try to have my baby as naturally as possible. As had happened before, I got stronger contractions afterward, but nothing progressive. It sucked. We were so ready for his arrival, but baby had a mind of his own. He was making it clearer and clearer that no matter how prepared you were, you can never plan the arrival of a baby... Sorta.

Because of everything that had happened so far, my doctor and I decided that it would be a good idea to schedule an induction. Even if it turned out that I didn't need it, we wanted it on the books just in case. We scheduled it for when I would be exactly 41 weeks.

Then came the waiting game.. Would he be here before my induction?

With love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (March 2013)

March 2013:

32 & 36 weeks. My measurements for how big my belly is and my weight are all good! My doc even made a comment about how she is happy with my weight gain, but that she would have been okay if I had even gained double :D

This month has been filled with lots of random stuff going on... I did maternity pictures, and the lady that did them is absolutely fantastic so I know that the pictures are going to be amazing!

My LO has been moving like crazy. You can literally watch my abdomen and see him flipping and turning. Sometimes he'll even push out with his elbow or knee (not really sure what body party it is) and you can see it! Its so crazy yet cool to watch. He gets hiccups too.. When he gets them, my whole abdomen jumps each time he hiccups :D

I have been having contractions A LOT. Mid-March was when they started happening quite a bit more than the sporadic ones here and there. They were happening pretty consistently every ten minutes one night so I called the OBGYN to see what he had to say (the on-call OBGYN always happens to be the male doctor at my hospital lol). He said that as long as they weren't getting more intense to just relax and try to get some sleep. He also added that when I am more active during the day, that can lead to more contractions when I finally do start to relax.

My mom and I's convo...

Mom: "Lets hope the contractions are actually doing something."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Mom: "Lets hope that when you go see your doctor that you're actually dialated or something..."

Me: "Mom, I really don't want to get my hopes up."

Lol. Turns out that at my 36 week check-up, I was dialated to almost 2 cm! So the contractions were actually doing something lol Also, at my check-up, my doc said that he is head-down, which is always good! Lets just hope that he stays that way.



Just for those of you that don't know much about dialating and such, a mama-to-be can sit at 2 cm for WEEKS. It doesn't necessarily mean that I am going to go into labor anytime soon, it just means that my body is preparing for when the time comes.



Fetal Development at 36 weeks



Also, they say that if you have contractions and dialation (like what I have), there is a chance of a shorter labor because your body will be ready to go the day that you do go into labor. One lady even said that her labor was only 2 hours long! How awesome would that be? ... BUT like I said before, I don't want to get my hopes up. I would much rather arrive at the hospital thinking that I am going to have a terrible labor that lasts 24+ hours! If you go in prepared for the worst, it typically makes everything seem not as bad lol

Once again, my contractions became consistent. They started around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, but we didn't start counting until 3:30. From that point until we stopped counting two hours later, I was getting a contraction every 4-5 minutes and the contraction itself was going on from anywhere to 30 seconds to a minute. All of us started getting nervous the longer these contrations went on, so we got everything together and ready to go just in case I needed to go to the hospital... AND, once again, I found myself calling the OB, and like he said last time, if they weren't getting more intense then it probably wasn't active labor. That night I had a couple of more intense ones, but nothing that I couldn't sleep through. My doc told me that if you could sleep through them then you aren't in active labor yet.

And you know what? I'm okay with that! This little guy is still considered premature until I hit 37 weeks (which will be the beginning of April), so I would much rather keep this 'bun in the oven' for a while longer than have him come to early :)

Appointments from 36 weeks on are every week! So if I thought I was going to get to know my OBGYN and nurse better because of having appointments every 2 weeks, now I am definitely going to get to know them!

More to come....

With love,

Kjerstin L.

Bloggers

I never realized how much closer I feel to people after I read their blog...
Seriously. I found one friend of mine (AO) who has been blogging since last year's blog and one (AC) who just started theirs... The one who has been blogging since last year, I went all the way to the beginning of her posts so that I could them all.
Now I can't help but feel this connection to her. Is this odd? I don't think so. When you read someone's blog you tend to read some of their deepest thoughts and really get to know how they feel about certain situations.
That's why I started reading SL's way back in the day, because I knew that if I didn't read his blog, I would have no idea what was really going on in his head.
I can hardly believe that it took me this long to figure out that AO was a blogger lol She even follows me for goodness sake! Now that I have, I have even more blogs to keep up with. Oh well, this should be fun ;)

"My blog is a collection of answers people don’t want to hear to questions they didn’t ask."

Love,
Kjerstin L.

April 26 2013 (February 2013)

February 2013:

28 weeks. Officially in my third trimester! I just keep gaining weight lol(: It seems like it is never going to stop, but you know what? That means this little guy is gaining weight too. This means that he is getting the nutrition that he needs to grow.

Glucose testing! Gosh was I worried. My aunt had gestational diabetes when she was pregnant with all her kids, so that meant that there was a higher chance of me having it. Essentially, glucose testing is a test for diabetes, but some women only get diabetic when they are pregnant. Weird, huh? That's what "gestational diabetes" is, it just means that while you are pregnant, you have diabetes lol

I'm sure most of you have no idea what glucose testing is, so let me fill you in on the process:

I show up at the hospital with an empty stomach.

My doctor draws my blood before the test.

I drink the "glucose drink":

After an hour, my doctor draws my blood again.

After all of these steps, my doctor will test my blood sugar to see if my body is able to convert the sugar correctly.  And.... I passed! No gestational diabetes for this girl!

My appointments from this point on are every 2 weeks, whereas before they were every month. Definitely getting to know my doctor and nurse a bit better! They are awesome! They both have been extremely helpful and understanding through everything.

Also, I set up maternity pictures!! I'm so excited! The lady who is doing them takes really awesome pictures, so I'm excited to do them :)

More to come....

With love,
Kjerstin L.

Thank You!

This post goes out to all the people out there that have helped me throughout my pregnancy and to those that will in the future:

Thank you for....

• Any gifts or items that you have or will give me to help with my pregnancy
• "      "      "   "        "     "     "       "   "     "   for my little one
• Being supportive through this
• Having my back when people try to talk crap
       some people are such haters ;)
• Loving me, even when I am on my emotional rollercoaster
• Spending time with me
• Just being there

I know that this post is definitely not enough of a Thank You to all of you, but I am sure that this is not the only thanks that you will get!  I guarantee you this: if there is anyway that I can successfully thank you enough, I will be sure to try and do that.

"The greatest gift that you can give to others
is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance."

Love,

Kjerstin L.