Birth and Boobies

Hi everyone, I know it's been a while since my last update about going in for a C-section, but I've been busy with the new little guy to say the least.  The C-section itself was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  They did a spinal block instead of an epidural and honestly I was more scared of this than the surgery itself.  I had an amazing set of nurses and anesthesiologists and they made it a really great experience.  It was very surreal not being able to feel my legs, but you just kind of block it out and focus on the outcome.  Plus I had people talking to me constantly and Rob was able to come in after about 20min.  When they finally pulled Liam out, he kind of just gurgled from all the fluid, but when I finally heard his first cry, everything that I had been through these past four years to bring him into the world was totally and completely worth every heartbreaking moment.  He's perfect in every way.  He has my nose and chin and Rob's eyes and mouth.  It's amazing that he looks like a perfect combination of both of us.  He weighed a healthy 9lb 5oz and was 20.5in long. 

The recovery from the surgery was anything but fun.  It was extremely painful and there were times I was in so much pain I was shaking and crying uncontrollably.  We were in the hospital from Wed to Sat afternoon before being released and by Sunday I had finally weaned myself off of the pain meds.  I'm still having problems with my bowels, mostly weird pulling and stretching that is painful when I go, but I've been told it's normal, so I'm trying to just deal with it.  What I wasn't aware of was that I would still bleed even though I had a c-section.  It makes sense, but no one ever told me about it.  Kind of weird having this visitor around that I haven't seen since last Nov.  Can't say that I've missed her!

While in the hospital I tried my best to BF.  By Friday Liam had lost almost a whole pound and they were adamant that I start supplementing, so we started him on Si.milac formula.  I started pumping on Sunday and by Monday my milk had finally come in.  I was told b/c of being Hypothyroid my supply would be compromised and may never get very high which wasn't comforting to hear, but I understood there wasn't much I could do to change it.  They rechecked my Thyroid levels in the hospital and everything came back normal, so I'm ok there.  I've been trying to pump 10-15 min, double pump, up to 8 times a day.  So far since Monday I'm up from just drops to about 8oz in a day.  This isn't much at all, but I'm trying my absolute best to do whatever I can to help inc my supply.  I drinking Mother's Milk Tea every morning, eating oatmeal every morning, and taking Fenugreek 2 times per day (I may up it to 3 to see if it helps).  I asked the OB about any prescriptions that could help and they said they don't offer or approve of anything (even though I know there are some available that "might" help).  I'm frustrated and upset about not being able to do this one thing for Liam, but it goes back to my body never living up to my expectations.  I'm trying to let him BF some too during the day before and after I pump to maybe help inc my supply too.  I really do enjoy it, but it's also been nice to let Rob bond with him over feedings.  I'm also able to help with all the laundry and keeping the house in order more since I'm not BF him constantly.  Yes I do miss it, but I think this is what is going to work best for us at least for now.  I'm not sure how long I'll be able to do this, because eventually his needs will certainly outgrow my supply, but I'm going to give him every single drop I can produce in the hopes that he's getting some benefit from it even if it's small.  Any advice from those of you that pump would be appreciated!  Hugs everyone and I'll try and post a pic soon.

Scheduled C-Section

Well we are going to meet our little boy tomorrow morning.  I'm scheduled for a c-section due to his size and my high BP issues.  My last appt went well, it was really long.  We got one last look at him and even got a few more 3D pics.  Based on measurements he's well over 9lbs and in the 95% and higher for weight, head/abdomen circumference, and femur length.  He's going to be big and long!  My BP was still too high even though I've been resting constantly for the past 2 weeks straight.  When I was checked my cervix has shortened some, but other than that no more progress.  If we were going to induce he said we'd probably wait a while longer and even then there's no guarantee I'd progress.  He also said of course the longer we wait the bigger he's going to get.  I don't want any emergency situations occuring.  I honestly feel good about our decision to go forward with a c-section.  Yes I'm scared, yes I'm sad that I couldn't go through with a vag delivery.  But honestly, I'm happy that my vag isn't going to be in shreds after delivering this guy.  I know my recovery is going to be alot more difficult, but I'm going to have lots of help, so it will all work out in the end.  Will update when I can. 

Not What I Expected

So my appointment on Monday at 37wk showed that I didn't progress much from the previous week.  I'm at 0 station and about 1/2-1cm dilated, the OB kind of gave me that.  My BP was higher than normal for me but the nurse just brushed it off.  So yesterday at about 4pm I started having contractions, like the braxton hicks but this time accompanied with some cramping.  Only problem was they came every 4-6 minutes.  I monitored up until 8pm, same thing for 4 hours straight.  So I decided to go into triage, to get checked.  No change from Monday, was having some "minor" contractions but they basically told me not to come back unless they are bad enough that I can't walk/talk while having one.  Okay, got it.  However, while they were monitoring me my BP was pretty high, highest they got was 142/95.  Not good.  So they did bloodwork, that came back normal.  So they released me but made me do a 24hr urine collection, which I'll finish tomorrow morning.  If the results are bad, then I could be induced early.  Today I've been on self-imposed bedrest.  My last day at the lab was yesterday before the contractions started, so I'm glad I made that decision.

As far as the house, we just got through all the inspections.  Unfortunately we didn't pass our WDO and there's stuff that was found on the home inspection, but I should have been prepared for it.  Hopefully some things well be able to fix ourselves and the others well just have to pay to get done.  I don't think I realized that we would have to basically PAY to sell our home, but in this economy that's the norm I guess.  We are basically, once all is said and done, starting out completely broke in ATL.  We're going to have to rely on our parents because in all honesty with the repairs and closing costs totalling close to $15000 (this includes what we still owe on our mortgage), we will basically have nothing left.  I'm scared beyond measure.  I'm upset that we weren't able to get more for our home, but I understand that we are beyond lucky to even be under contract right now.  I know that we'll make it somehow.  No matter what I will provide for this child and Rob will too.  It's going to be a new chapter in our lives and I guess starting out completely "fresh" in a way, will force us to make alot of changes.  We certainly won't be buying a home anytime soon.  Like probably not for another 5 years or more, it's just not worth it right now.  We should be finished paying off our IVF loans and car loan within 4 years, and I think once that happens it will certainly be alot better than it is.  Plus since I'll be making almost double what I made as a grad student, at least we'll be pulling in more that we ever have with 2 salaries. 

I'm just taking it one day at a time and praying along the way.  I know things will be okay, but it still doesn't mean I haven't lost sleep or cried about everything that has been going on.  It's just alot to take in all at once right now.

Progress

Had my 36wk appt today and we got another U/S. Baby is measuring 38-39weeks based on head/body/legs and est wt is 7lb12oz and I'm only 36w2d, just a little freaked out by how big he is, but happy he's healthy and doing well. I'm starting to retain alot of fluid, gaining alot of weight really quickly which hasn't happened at all during this preg until now. My BP and urine test were fine, but I'm worried about it still. OB said we need to just start "thinking" about what we might want to do if he doesn't come before 38 weeks or so. I want a vag delivery, but not sure if I want to deal with the possibility of alot of tearing. OB says his main concern is him getting stuck b/c of his shoulders. I was checked today and I'm already 80% effaced and he's completely engaged, not dilated yet, but he said it should be coming soon since he's so far down. I think I'm going to wait until my next appt on Mon see how I'm progressing and probably wait until 38wk before even considering induction or scheduling a c-section. I just want him to get here safely. Not really sure what to do at this point.  I'm already starting to have alot of Braxton hicks, nothing painful though. 

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.  Just for a figure Rob was a c-section and weighed well over 10lbs at 39weeks.  Sometimes even the est of wt is actually lower than the "real" figure, but he could weigh less too.

Contract

Well we got word this morning that the buyer agreed to our terms.  We are under contract.  She now has 15 days to get her estimates on the second driveway.  We have to get our WDO done and then the waiting begins again.  Checking things off of the list and hoping the rest falls into place.  So far so good!

Out of My Hands

Well the weekend went much better than I expected it to go.  My mom and MIL were very civil to each other.  My family shower was very low-key, we had some good food and good conversation.  I got alot of duplicate things, all of which came from Targe.t or BRU.  I'll discuss what a joy it was returning everything later.  That night the 3 of us went through all of the clothes and sorted things, it was a really nice time, and I'm surprised they did so well.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that we'll all be doing holidays together, but it's at least a start. 

Somehow even though people new what we were registered for, I still got tons of duplicate items.  I don't know if it just didn't get taken off my registry or if there is a delay from when the item is bought to when it's off the registry.  All I know is that it was NOT an easy return process at either stores.  Targe.t was the worst by far.  You have to login with your user name and password to get a specific barcode (not just the registry barcode but something different).  This is where the issue first started.  I've been having problems with the online registry site for weeks.  I logged into the kiosk like normal and it said it couldn't find my email.  Then it said my password was incorrect.  The guy helping said well you can use your ID but there's a $70 limit, we probably had well over $300 of returns unfortunately.  I ended up having to get on my phone go to the website reset my password for the 3rd time and hope it worked.  After about 30 minutes it finally did.  We returned the 4 monitors (yes 4 of the same kind) and clothes that we already had, and were luckily able to get enough money to buy our crib, matress, and other necessities.  We then went to BRU and did the same thing.  Returning stuff there was a little bit easier, but of course they gave me issues about not having receipts.  Unfortunately I think this is something people often forget when giving gifts, it helps tremendously if you have them.  My parents were able to pay for the difference on our carseat/stroller, so we got that as well.  We are officially set with pretty much everything we will need!  Now I just have to get the carseat installed by the police/fire dept, wash all the clothes that he might fit in, and pack my bags. 

Well we got another offer on the house, much more reasonable this time.  But of course there's a catch.  The lady wants to build a driveway from the front of our house to the back of the house.  So the sale of the house is contigent on this being possible.  Unfortunately I just don't think there's enough clearance on either side of the house for a driveway.  It would be a really good thing if it worked out especially since she doesn't want to close until late September, but this stupid driveway is probably going to mess up the sale.  Oh well.  2 offers in only a month is really good, but I'm worried that these might be the only ones we get.  The lady had until tomorrow to accept or reject our counter offer and then start the process to get the necessary permits.  I'm hoping that by the end of the week she'll know if putting a driveway in is even possible.  If it isn't then there's no reason to get contractors involved to get estimates and we can go ahead and move on.

So lots going on yet again, but I feel like we're getting closer to a resolution with the house. 

Waiting for the Calm

Things have been crazy again these past few weeks.  I successfully defended my dissertation, so I'm officially Dr. Melissa P., PhD!  It was really really stressful, but I got through it and everything seems to be in order with my paperwork for graduation.  I won't be walking in the ceremony, honestly I just don't want to sit through a 3-5 hour graduation ceremony and plus it costs like $250 to borrow a "robe" for the ceremony, not something I'm really willing to spend money on right now.  I know it's only going to happen once, but there's so many more important things to deal with right now, I'm just letting it go.

Selling a home in this economy is pure HELL!!  Add on being PG during this process and it's a total nightmare.  We've had the house on the market for exactly one month and we've had two couples look at the house 2 times each and then one other couple from out of town come and look at it.  This past Saturday we got our first offer.  I was hoping it would be reasonable, but for some reason the couple who decided to put the offer in thought we were total idiots and gave us an offer of $40,000 LESS than our asking price (which mind you is the price we bought the house for 4 years ago).  We are fully aware that we are not going to make any money off the sale of the house.  At this point all we are trying to do is break even and get enough to cover our mortgage and be able to walk away.  However, we have a limit that if we don't receive an offer for a certain amount the house will go into Short-Sale because we just don't have the extra money lying around to cover the leftover mortgage and the closing costs.  Our realtor evidently didn't understand all of this even though we explained it to her countless times, that we have a certain amount we need to get for the home or it will go into short sale.  We told her what was left on the mortgage so she knew what to expect.  Somehow she wasn't "aware" of how dire the situation was and basically argued with me yesterday that we didn't tell her everything, which is completely absurd.  She also said that we weren't going to get anywhere near asking, which is news to us, since she never told us this either.  At some point if things don't turn around and she realizes she's working for us, not against us, she's going to be fired.  She's the realtor who sold us the house, and we probably should have gotten someone different, but we liked her.  We put in a counter offer last night for under our asking price, but I'm not expecting them to agree to it, especially after their first offer.  Rob is trying to look into getting money out of his retirement, so that we could at least have some "extra" money to put towards the closing, so we can prevent a short-sale.  Honestly the penalties for taking money out early seem to be less than the damage a short-sale will do to our credit.  Basically we wouldn't be able to buy a home or car for at least 5 years, maybe longer if we have to resort to a short-sale. So for now we are just waiting to see what happens.

Everything is still going really well with the pregnancy.  I have had a few episodes of major swelling, but it's mostly I think due to the heat.  One time last weekend we went and saw a movie and during the movie my hands and feet got really swollen.  It scared me bad enough that I went to a pharmacy near by to get my BP checked out.  It was a little higher than normal for me, but still within the normal range.  I'm still getting good movements, mostly in the morning when I'm waking up, when I'm hungry (or he's hungry) and late at night before bed.  He moves here and there during the day too, but not as much as those times.  There have been a few times where he was more active one day and then the next day he wasn't and I got really scared, but I'm just trying to take it day by day at this point.  I go in for my 34-week check tomorrow.  Anxious to see if I'm still measuring ahead like I have been, I'm pretty sure I am just don't know by how much.  Can't believe that in two more weeks I'll get to start going weekly.  I think once that happens I'll be getting more anxious and excited for the delivery.

I have my family baby shower on Saturday and both my parents and MIL and a family friend are coming to spend the night on Saturday.  My parent's and his still don't get along at all, so it will be interesting to see if they can act civil towards one another.  I'm sure I'll have an interesting post about all of that!