Induction Day

It's finally Wednesday.  I'm being induced at 6pm this evening.  It's crazy to think that in about 12-14 hrs I will have a brand new baby to hold.  I'm really hoping this delivery goes as smoothly as Carleigh's did.  We have everything I can possibly think of packed and ready.  When Carleigh woke up this morning, I told her that her baby sister was going to come tonight.  Her first response was, "YAY!!!!"  So at least she's excited for right now.  She even repeated to me what I've been telling her for a couple of weeks now, "the baby needs a lot of attention."

Heath & I have already told both sides of the family not to bombard us with text messages and phone calls for the first couple of days.  We want time for all of us to bond with the baby and we also need to make sure Carleigh is bonding well too.  When I had Carleigh, I had my phone going off every 20 minutes.  It was very annoying and such a distraction.  It was stressful too.  I mostly had an issue with my mom.  I remember one day, she called me when Heath had ran home real quick to take a shower and take care of the cats.  Carleigh was fussing a lot.  I was trying to get her fed, burped, changed, etc... When my mom called, Carleigh had made a mess of her diaper and threw up.  And, of course, Carleigh was crying a lot because that's what babies do.  My mom's response to my stress case at the moment?  Laughter.  Yes.  She laughed because I had no help and was trying to take care of my baby as quickly as possible.  It was so rude and I'll never forget it.  So I don't want to deal with that again.  My mom swears up and down that she understands not to call/text us for updates.  We will see how long that lasts.  We told everyone we will update them when we have the time to do so.  If anyone finds that rude, tough cookies.

I'm hoping to be released from the hospital after 24 hrs, but that's probably wishful thinking.  I don't like staying in hospitals.  My home is so much more calmer and relaxing.  We won't have to deal with visits from family until June.  We already openly expressed we didn't want people here a week or two after the baby was born.  That was so much stress last time too.  Our neighbor across the street said she'd drop off some dinner on Sunday night.  That's super nice of her to do.  One less thing for us to do that evening.  So really, only our neighbors will see the baby almost right away.  But they don't hang around our house and bug us all day.

I'll try to update again when I have some free time after we arrive home.

Maternity Leave

I am finally on maternity leave!  My last day at work was yesterday.  My doctor scheduled my induction for March 19 at 6pm.  I had my last prenatal check up with him this afternoon.  I was only 3 cm dilated today.  My doctor believes that I will have the baby delivered before midnight on the 19th.  That is if the baby wants to stay put until then.  Who knows for sure when she's going to make her grand entrance into the world.  I'm having some contractions right now, but they aren't that bad.

It's just nice to finally be out of that stress case of an office.  It has been nothing but one thing after another there since September.  Too many changes all at once.  The extra days of rest before the baby comes will be greatly appreciated.  I don't know how some women work right up until their water breaks.  I didn't do it with Carleigh and I knew I wasn't doing it this time around either.  I understand that some people don't get short-term disability benefits through their employer.  I'm so thankful that I do so I can take that extra time off before I pop.

Carleigh's last day at preschool is on Friday.  She will be home with me until she starts kindergarten.  I plan to give her worksheets and art projects to do while home.  I have all of her kindergarten paperwork ready to go since registration starts next week.  It's so crazy to think I'll be sending one kid off to kindergarten this summer.  Since our schools here are year-round, I'm going to pick the schedule that gives her the summer break around her birthday.  For kindergarten, it's not really a big deal since she's only doing half days.  And you can't even consider it a half day since it's only 2 1/2 hrs a day.  The full day kindergarten is "tuition based", even for public school, so you have to pay extra.  Forget that.  I'm not trying to brag about my kid, but she's really smart and she gets bored with preschool work sometimes.  So I know she will get bored with kindergarten if she went all day.  I plan on throwing some first grade lessons/worksheets in with some of her kindergarten work to see how she handles it.  On her educational websites, she likes to play math games directed at first graders and she does pretty well at it.  So the math worksheets will be some of my go-to's.

Nothing else exciting is going on here.  We're all just waiting for the baby to come and enjoying the warmer weather.  My next blog update will probably happen after we bring the baby home from the hospital.  I'm sure there will be a time in between feedings and nap times that I'll be able to update the blog.

Bed Rest

On Monday, I was put on bed rest after taking yet another trip to triage.  My bed rest was only for a week.  Unfortunately I will have to go back to work on Tuesday.  I was getting some sharp pains in my left side and contractions while at work, but by time I was in triage and hooked up to the machines, all contractions and pains had stopped.  I wonder why?  Couldn't possibly be the stress from work.  I also had another cough attack and bloody nose while in triage that afternoon.  So the laborist/doctor wrote me out for a week on behalf of my doctor.  Her main concern, I believe, was to help me get over my illness and to make sure I can relax until I am considered full-term.  Since I've been home, I haven't had too many issues with contractions.  I get them, but nothing like while at work.  They aren't as frequent at home.  There would be no surprise if I end up in triage later next week again.  I really hope I am wrong though.  I wanted my doctor to take me out of work completely when I was in his office Wednesday, but he wouldn't.  Guess I'll make another case to him if I do end up in triage again after getting back to work.

The doctor did mention I could be induced at 39 weeks if I would like to be.  I will let that all depend on how I'm dilating.  If I feel like it's progressing quickly, I'll figure out what day would be best.  I'd like to pick March 20, because that's the day Carleigh guessed her baby sister would be born.  I want to let her win our little household contest.  I picked the 17th and Heath picked the 22nd.  So if the baby doesn't arrive before 39 weeks and I'm 'OK' to be induced, then I'd love to have all of it done on the 20th.  It would make Carleigh happy.

My bed rest week has included watching a little bit of Netflix, but mostly playing GTA: Online.  I've turned into such a gamer since being at home every day.  I don't feel bad.  I should get all my play time in while I can before the baby is born.  I won't have much free time to play once baby A is here.  Carleigh will be out of preschool and home with me all day too at that point.  So no time for anything really.  Just taking care of the baby and helping Carleigh with some kindergarten prep.

I hope the next time I update this blog, it won't have anything to do with another trip to triage.  I'm kind of tired of being there.  I'd like to not go back to the hospital until it's time to deliver the baby.

Another Trip to Triage

On Friday morning, around 4:20am, I woke up with a really nasty cough.  It felt like someone was strangling me in my sleep and I woke up coughing trying to catch my breath.  The cough was so bad, I also got a bloody nose to accompany it.  It was such a nightmare.  I've had this cough off and on since January, but it was never that bad.  I finally decided it was a good idea to go to the doctor to get it checked out.  The walk-in clinic didn't open until 8am, so I went to work for an hour and then headed over there.  Since I am pregnant, they said they didn't feel comfortable treating me since they didn't have the equipment there to monitor the baby.  I was told to go to the ER.  Once I got over to the ER, they sent me upstairs to Labor & Delivery so I could be monitored in the triage room.  I was really only planning on being away from work for a little over an hour, but that hour turned into four hours.  I didn't get back to work until 12:30pm.

In triage, they hooked me up to monitor contractions.  I wasn't getting any of those, at least not as bad as they were on Wednesday.  I was given an IV to get fluids into me and some medication for my cold.  The nurse did a test to see if I had the flu.  They sprayed water up my nose and then let the fluids drip out into a cup.  It felt weird, but I was able to smell and breathe better once it was over.  I was also given some Robitussin to help with the coughing.  Once that was all taken care of, I was able to be discharged and go back to work.  I put myself on bed rest for the weekend just to try and kick this cold as fast as I could.

Yesterday afternoon, I took a two hour nap and that seemed to help a little bit.  I woke up feeling better than I had the past few days.  I took myself off of bed rest to start cleaning the house, but then I started getting contractions/cramping again.  So now I am relaxing again and gave up on having a clean house.  Heath said he would take care of the cleaning for me.  This house is just a straight up mess and needs a really good cleaning.  Obviously cleaning, and not even vigorously, is enough to make me have to go sit down.  How sad is that?

My next appointment with my doctor is Wednesday, and once again, I am hoping he will put me on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy.  This past week was so crappy.  Spending two days in triage was not fun at all.  I'm hoping this week will be much better.  My main goal right now is to get these contractions to stop so I don't have to make yet another trip to triage today.  At least it's 75 degrees today and I can enjoy some lovely fresh air while sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing.

A Trip to Triage

This morning I had to leave work after being there only an hour.  I started to get frequent contractions.  They were a few minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds.  Once I got to the hospital, they sent me into triage and told me to pee in a cup and put on my gown.  They hooked me up to track my contractions and blood pressure.  Heath showed up maybe five minutes after I got there.  The contractions kept coming.  The nurse and doctor told me it was probably a UTI.  Getting a UTI is very common in pregnancy.  The doctor (who delivered Carleigh) checked for dilation and found that I was only one centimeter dilated.  So I'm starting to open up down there, but nothing to be alarmed about.  I could stay that way for the next couple of weeks.  Once the doctor confirmed that I had a UTI, they gave me a lot more water to drink and some cranberry juice.  I was also given a shot to stop the contractions.  That thing hurt so bad.  It felt like the needle was still in my arm after the nurse took it out.  The shot did work and the contractions stopped.  I was released around 11:20am.  They sent me off with a prescription for the UTI.  It was so exhausting being in there.  It's quiet in triage and nothing to do in there.  Thank goodness for smartphones.

Heath & I went out to lunch after I was discharged.  We got some fattening Carl's Jr.  It was delicious and I am not regretting it at all.  After my prescription was filled, I headed home to relax for the rest of the day.  I sent a text to my manager and let her know I'd like to stay home to rest all day tomorrow.  Since I got approved for that, that's exactly what I am going to do.  While home tomorrow, I'm going to work on the baby's room a little bit more and try to get things ready.  Today was a sign that the real thing is right around the corner.  At least to me.  The nurse said she wanted to see me again in four weeks, which would put me at 39 weeks.  I'd really love it if baby A would stay in that long too.

It's Almost Time

It's almost that time.  Baby A will be here before we know it.  When I was at my 34 week check up, I showed my doctor my contraction counter.  Since I've been getting a lot of contractions, I wanted to show him and ask him when I needed to go to labor and delivery.  He said if I get more than six Braxton Hicks contractions per hour, no matter how long they last or how apart they are, that I need to go in.  He told me at this point, he will not give me anything to stop labor since I'm almost full-term.  He told me he didn't want to scare me, but I could go at anytime now.  I'm not ready for that.  I'm ready merchandise-wise, but not ready to have the baby yet.  I'd like her to come in March.  She's due March 25, so the earliest I would like her to come is March 11.  That would put me at 38 weeks.  Fingers crossed she will stay until 39/40 weeks though.

Last week, I had to take my cat, Baby, to the vet.  Last Friday night, she started to have a problem with her mouth.  I thought it was her jaw.  She started to drool a lot and could not close her mouth.  On Saturday morning, it was still happening so I called the vet.  They were able to squeeze us in that afternoon to get her checked out.  Turns out, she had an abscessed tooth and two other teeth that were really loose.  They did surgery on her and cleaned her teeth.  It set us back almost $500, but hey... that's my kitty we're talking about.  She was totally worth it.  When we brought her home, she was still coming out of her pain killer coma thingy.  She couldn't walk at all.  It was so horrible, yet funny at the same time.  I felt so bad for her, but she's better now.  We were sent home with some medication, of course.  She's a tough cat.  I'm glad we caught this issue in time before it lead to something worse.  Baby is 13 years old and I've had her since she was a kitten.  She really is my baby... in fur form.

This weekend, we paid off our water softener.  That's extra money in our pocket every month.  As soon as Wells Fargo let's us start paying on the GTO again, that will be paid off soon too.  Heath made such a huge payment on his car that the bank sent him a letter telling him not to pay it until May.  I understand they didn't want us to keep paying and paying no interest.  Heath told me he wants to pay $1,500 in May just to piss them off again.  I think these banks should just STFU and take our money.  At least we're paying our bills.  I cannot wait until the car is paid off though.  We will have two cars paid off.  It's been such a long time since we've been free of car loans.

The weather's been getting a lot nicer here, especially this weekend.  It's going to be in the high 70s, low 80s all weekend and into next week.  We have our windows open in the house and enjoying the fresh air.  I got my car washed today after letting it stay dirty for a couple of months.  Since I've been since last month and again last week, I wanted all of the germs wiped out of my car too.  I'm still trying to get over my cold from last weekend.  My nose is kind of stuffy still, but I can smell some things again which is nice.

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day.  Heath grilled us some steaks.  We do not go out to dinner on Valentine's Day.  It's so crazy out there.  We bought Carleigh some Crunch bars and Spongebob gummies in the shape of Krabby Patties.  Heath got me a ton of my favorite chocolates.  And I got Heath his favorite chocolates.  It was a fun Valentine's Day.  We all had fun, especially Carleigh since she got to exchange Valentine's with her school friend's.

Happy New Year

I realize we're 19 days into the New Year, but I haven't found the time to blog recently.  I wanted to update this last weekend, but I had a cold and didn't want to type in between my nasty coughs every three minutes.

Not too much has been going on here.  We've been shopping around for a new dining room set, but haven't found anything we liked yet.  We plan on waiting until President's Day weekend to purchase one.  Maybe then there will be better sales.

Carleigh switched classrooms at school because of a bully.  It's really sad that kid's her age bully other children already.  This boy calls her names and punches her.  The teacher's in her classroom didn't seem to do much of anything about it.  This had been an ongoing issue for a couple of months.  When we called the director to talk to her about the issue, she gave us the option to have the two separated or to change classrooms.  We tried the separation thing for a couple of days, but then that same boy decided to punch Carleigh in the stomach and call her names again.  So we called the director again and requested a room change.  Carleigh's first day in her new room was on Friday and she came home so happy.  Her new teacher said that Carleigh was well-behaved and well-mannered and she loved having her in her classroom.  Carleigh did all of her worksheets and had a blast with their art projects.  In her other room, the teacher's had a hard time getting her to complete her work or even start it for that matter.  I think it was because of that boy bugging her all the time.  I'm glad she's happy in her new classroom.  She gets to leave preschool once I go on maternity leave.  From there, we will just do some homeschool stuff until kindergarten starts in the fall.

Speaking of maternity leave, I plan on leaving when I am at the 36 week mark.  That will be the last week of February.  I'll be starting week 31 this week.  It's crazy how fast time flies by when you're pregnant.  I've had some Braxton Hicks contractions every now and again, but nothing that warrants a trip to the hospital.  Hopefully it stays that way until my 38th week of pregnancy, although I'd like the baby to stay put until my 40th week.  We shall see what happens.  Carleigh was born when I was 38 weeks.

It's been in the 70's in Las Vegas the past few days.  Heath was out in the backyard clearing out the rest of the rocks today.  We want to build our own fire pit back there and then get the dirt delivered to plant the grass.  Doing the backyard ourselves is nice, but it's really hard work and takes a long time.  We didn't want to spend $2,000 to have a company come in and do it when we could save money by doing it ourselves.  It will be so nice once it's all completed.  I'll purchase some really nice outdoor furniture and spend all of my free time in the backyard.

I have tomorrow and Tuesday off from work.  Carleigh is out of school tomorrow, too.  So we are planning on getting some lunch from Subway then taking it to the park for a little picnic.  After that, Carleigh can plan on the playground until she wears herself out for the day.