Just Because I don't know what else to do right now

So for baby girl #2 (still no name yet), I just really wanted to experience going into labor on my own... this morning (well, actually at this point I suppose it was yesterday morning, since it is now 5:30 am the next day) I woke up suspecting I was leaking amniotic fluid. I will spare the details, but pretty much it was all watery and I don't know what else it could have been. I woke up at 6:15 and didn't really know what to do, so I woke Jeff up at 6:30. He didn't really know what to do or say so I called my mom (it was 3:30 her time)... anyway, I ended up waiting until 7 am then calling the doctor. He said to go ahead and come into the hospital anywhere from 9 to noon. My sister and mom wanted to fly out for the birth, which we weren't expecting to happen so soon, so I got a friend to watch Cheyenne and tried to get into the hospital as soon as possible to find out if it was really broken and if I was going to be having the baby. My mom and sister started to look up flights and get ready to go.

I got to the hospital and checked in and at this point I still hadn't had any contractions. I did notice the night before at the football game that the baby's head felt extreme pressure on my bones, and it was more difficult to walk. Anyway, so I get my little gown on and lay down in the bed. I told the first nurse to come in my story with all the specific details and she was certain it was the amniotic fluid. I started to get nervous and excited because I thought, "holy cow" I am going to have this baby today! Anyway, the next nurse came in to check me and she tested the fluid with a strip and it turned yellow instead of blue, meaning it was not amniotic fluid. Then she checked and I was still only dilated to a 2 and a "little thick" (I was 60% effaced before, so I am assuming that is what she meant). Anyway, she could feel the baby's head and that it was still intact in the water sac, so she said she was confident it was not my water leaking. I called my mom and sister and talked to them for a little bit, then the nurse came back in and said Dr. Sepesi said that he feels comfortable with my exam, so if you want to go home you can, or we can just go ahead and induce you now. It was so tempting to get induced right then, since my bags were all packed, I was already hooked up and in my gown and I was getting excited, but I decided that I wanted to try to wait for my mom and sister to get here and just give the baby a little more time to make sure she was "fully cooked." They checked me out of the hospital so I called my mom who was almost to the airport in Seattle and she decided not to come. My sister was also planning on trying to change her flight to come and my dad had just gotten there to visit her, so she decided to stick to her original plan of coming on Monday.

I was sooo tired when I got home. I felt really bad because our friends had taken Cheyenne to Atlanta for the day with them and we pretty much got a whole day of babysitting. I was exhausted mentally and physically when I got home so I went to bed and took a 2 hour nap. It was the best nap ever! Thankfully, as you can see, I am not getting much sleep tonight! About an hour or so after I woke up, I started to feel really crampy in my back and uterus area. Not painful contractions that would come and go, just a constant crampy uncomfortable feeling. Then probably around 5 ish I started getting contractions that were uncomfortable and hurt but didn't take my breath away or anything. I didn't ever time them or anything because I knew they weren't very regular... I was probably getting about 1-4 an hour. They started getting more painful as the night went on, to where I couldn't concentrate on what I was saying when I started to have one, and I would start to sweat and need to go outside. By about 11 ish, they started getting extremely painful. Finally at 3:45 am I decided I would start timing them since I couldn't sleep anyway. Here is what I have had so far:

Began: Duration: Time Between:

3:45 am 95 seconds

3:59 am 90 seconds 14 minutes

4:10 am 45 seconds 11 minutes

4:34 am 95 seconds 24 minutes

4:49 am 45 seconds 15 minutes

5:07 am 45 seconds 18 minutes

5:18 am 60 seconds 11 minutes

5:27 am 70 seconds 9 minutes

5:40 am 85 seconds 13 minutes

5:55 am 90 seconds 15 minutes

6:05 am 105 seconds 10 minutes

6:17 am 90 seconds 12 minutes

They are obviously pretty irregular at this point, this is so frustrating. Another problem is that the pain isn't really going away in between contractions. Sometimes it does, but most of the time I am all crampy and uncomfortable. Also, sometimes it will feel like a contraction is coming on and then stops. I have felt the baby move, but it is little soft movements instead of the usual violent and extreme that have been happening daily for the last few months. My biggest concern is how long can this go on?? I don't know if I can handle more days with these. I have been looking on the internet and reading about contractions and they it seems that when you are having contractions this irregularly and far apart that they shouldn't be so long or intense. Everywhere is saying they get to be 90 seconds at the end of labor and strongest at the end of labor. I think I am just seriously a giant wimp when it comes to pain, because these are just about as painful as I remember having with Cheyenne. I don't see how they could get anymore painful, I could just have less rest in between I suppose... if you even can call this rest... well, I am just seriously uncomfortable and everyone else in my life is asleep right now, so I didn't know what else to do besides a blog post.

I am hoping this will turn into me having the baby just because I don't want to go through this for much longer!! These random contractions have now been going on for like 12 hours. I hope that wasn't my water that was leaking this morning because I have the Strep B thing and if it was the water, that is probably important for me to be on antibiotics... the nurse said she was confident though, so maybe it was just the mucous plug or something... either way at least this shows I am progressing right??? One step closer to not having to be induced, although right now, being induced was much less painful, because I only had to deal with the contractions for a few hours before I got the drugs!!

I seriously feel so wired right now, I am soo tired, but I can't lay down, my mind is racing and I keep having to bounce my legs... on top of it all, the Primary Program is tomorrow and I am supposed to do the sharing time lesson, which I had all planned, but haven't finished preparing, because of the distraction of the contractions... I feel slightly stressed out... maybe I should be doing that instead of this.

Little Pumpkin Baby Shower

Some good friends in my ward threw me a baby shower last night. It was so much fun! I am so mad because I totally forgot my camera and then luckily my friend Wendi had hers, but we forgot to take any pictures during the shower and I didn't even get a picture with Robyn, Beth and Wendi, who threw me the shower! Oh well, it was so much fun, the decorations were adorable, and the food was delicious. I got so many adorable gifts and lots of wipes (which was awesome because I hate buying them!). I am mostly excited because I got a baby book for the new baby and I have been meaning to buy one, but haven't yet, so I spent an hour today filling it all in with the information that has already happened. I was so excited to get a baby shower, because it is my second girl, so I didn't think I would get one. Plus, there are like 20 people a year that have babies in our ward, so it was so nice of people to come! That is one thing I love about the church is that you have automatic friends no matter where you go!

The four pregnant people at the shower... they are all due within a week of each other in March I think.

The adorable pumpkin cake that Robyn and her assistant made.

Some of the cute decorations

Me by the food table:)

Thanks everyone!!

In a perfect world I would go into labor naturally and have the baby on October 30... then it would be after Jeff's football game and my mom and sister would be here, she would have a birthday before Halloween (which I think would be much more fun than a couple days after), and I wouldn't have to be induced!

More than anything I hope she is healthy!!

Pumpkin Patch and Cotton Fields

We got a coupon thing off the internet for $10 worth of pumpkins for $5. So I bought that earlier in the week. We decided to go to the patch Sunday after church. Our church is about 20 minutes away from our house and the pumpkin patch is about 10 minutes farther. We had a great time walking around, but we only stayed about 15 minutes because it was upper 80's outside and we all were getting very hot. I had no idea how many pumpkins $10 would buy so we picked out two, which only added up to about $8.00 so then we got four tiny little squash pumpkins to put on our mantle. It was a good family activity. You can tell it is so hot out because Cheyenne's little cheeks are bright pink!

On the way home we drove by some cotton fields. Jeff thought that was pretty cool since you think of cotton fields in the South, but we didn't really know there were any around us. We pulled over to get a picture and Jeff picked one. It was really cool, it was like little cotton balls, but they had seeds in them. It is just amazing to think that is what the majority of our clothes are made out of!

New Doctor

Warning: this is a long rambling, venting post, so don't feel obligated to read it!!

So I am 37 weeks today! Just 3 weeks left until my due date. Craziness. The second pregnancy definitely goes by much faster than the first, although I still feel like I have been pregnant much longer than I have.

Yesterday, I had a routine weekly Dr. appt. I had already been considering switching Doctors from about 12 weeks on, but didn't for many reasons. I didn't want to be one of those high maintenance, hard-to-please and picky people. I thought a Dr. is a Dr. doesn't really matter who it is. I also thought it would be a huge hassle and I didn't want to have to pay another $35 copay, haha, yes I know, I am cheap, but I didn't think it was worth $35. I was worried how switching would work with my insurance company. My main problem was that I felt no connection with the Dr's but I figured I would as I got further along and would see them more.

So I have been having weekly appointments for a while now. My Dr's office has 3 Doctors and you rotate seeing them each time. Which, is the main reason why I probably didn't feel like I knew them very well. So I have no idea how long ago this happened, but one of the Doctors quit and now they only have 2 Drs and apparently more patients than they can handle. Another main reason I had wanted to switch was because the wait was ridiculously long. I would get to my appointment early. Then I would wait about 15-45 minutes in the waiting room and another 15-60 minutes in the office!! I always had Cheyenne with me, which made it even more challenging. Their office is run down and has no kids area and doesn't really feel the cleanest.

Anyway, so the last 3 appointments I haven't even met with one of the Doctors!!! This appointment I had asked specifically to see one of the actual Doctors because I had to talk to them about getting induced and possible dates (I am planning on going over my due date), because I have relatives who need to plan days off work, etc. Anyway, after waiting 15 minutes in the waiting room and 50 minutes in the patient room, I was already beyond annoyed. Then some lady walks in who I have never even seen before. She was a Doctor who was helping them out until they found another Doctor. I understand that was probably necessary, but don't you think the Doctors should make an effort to see the patients they haven't seen for at least a month and are about to deliver their baby at any moment???

I was asking this other Dr. about induction questions and she was just like, no just pick another date. I was so annoyed. I understand that Dr.'s don't like to induce on weekends, but I want to speak to the Dr. that will actually be doing it and have her explain to me why and take the time to talk to me about it instead of saying, "no, just pick another date, " like I hadn't already thought of picking another date.

Anyway, then to top it all off, I got the Strep B test last time and I tested positive for it. I didn't have that last time with Cheyenne and it totally freaked me out. We have some friends who were in the same hospital with us delivering their baby at the same time as us and their baby got Strep and had to be in the hospital for an extra week or two. Plus, I never have anything that they test for, it was stressful to have them tell me I had that, when I was totally not expecting it, and wasn't used to actually having what they do all the tests for! Anyway, so that made me really nervous about the delivery.

When I left the appointment, they scheduled my next appointment with the Nurse Practitioner!!! I love the Nurse Practitioner, she is actually my favorite, as I have seen her more than anyone else, but that does me no good since she won't be there at the birth. I got to the car and I just felt so stressed out. I had the worst feeling about the birth and delivery. It was the worst feeling ever, because I am 37 weeks pregnant, at this point I am really not going to know anyone who delivers my baby...I just started to cry and no one was answering their phone. I probably scared Jeff to death when he got a crying message on his phone asking him to please call me back if he gets a minute!

Finally my sister answered her phone. She told me to just call the new Dr. right away while the experience was fresh in my mind, so that I wouldn't change my mind. I had heard great things about Dr. Sepsei (I have no idea how to spell it). Pretty much every single person at my church goes to him (and there are many pregnant people and people who have recently had babies). My neighbor goes to church with him and I have just heard lots of great things. I figured, if I am not going to know the person, I would at least feel more comfortable with someone who comes highly recommended, whereas the previous office I was at, no one even had heard of them. So I gained control of my emotions and called the new Dr. They were a little hesitant wondering why I would want to switch at 37 weeks, but I told them how I never even get to see my Dr's and I had heard great things about them, etc. They said they would talk to Dr. Sepsei and call me back and let me know.

I was really glad I called right then because about 30 minutes after I called them, I started thinking, "I totally over reacted, it is not that big of a deal, I should just stay, blah blah blah." Dr. Sepsei's office called me back about an hour and a half later and asked if I could come in right then. I was about 15 minutes away on the complete opposite side of town, but I said yes. On the drive over there I was really nervous and wondering if I had done the right thing. I went right in there and the second I walked in I was so glad I did!! It was like an entirely different atmosphere! Not that it is that important, but the other office, was completely run down and kind of gross looking, this one was very well taken care of, it had gorgeous furniture and decorations. It even had a little kids area with an underwater scene painted on the wall, pillows and toys and a movie playing. That was a huge lifesaver, because Cheyenne had already sat through one dr's appointment, storytime at the library, walked around the mall and was now very hungry and very tired and I was out of snacks! But, she was so happy to be in that little room. The receptionist was so nice and understanding.

I met with the Doctor and right off in one appointment, felt completely comfortable with him and all my uncomfortable feelings went away. The whole time I just couldn't stop thinking, "why didn't I do this so long ago???" When I first went in for the appointment with the new Dr. I had to sign a medical release form, so they could get my medical records from the other office. I got 3 calls from the other office while I was in my appointment. After the appointment was over, I thought it was ironic, because who called me?? The nurse practioner!!! Of course! The Doctors don't even know who I am!! I called her back and she was so sad I was leaving, but completely understood. I told her if she could deliver babies I would have stayed. I am just soo soo happy and feel so good about my decision.

The new Dr. said I came at a good time because he usually delivers 20-35 babies a month and this month he had already delivered all of his October babies but 7. So he said he would be very well rested. He is going out of town this weekend but will be in town the rest of the month. I just feel so much relief! Sorry about this long rambling post, but I just wanted to write this down so I would remember and also so that if anyone else ever considers switching Doctors- do it!! Right away!!

Pumping Iron

The Coolest thing I have ever seen...

So when Mugs was visiting (see post below), she pulled out her stroller at the zoo... I asked, "oh? Is that one of those Phil and Ted strollers?" (for those who don't know they are really really really expensive, but so nice because they are like a single stroller but they carry two kids)... anyway, she said it was just her regular single stroller and they bought the Phil and Ted extra seat for $40-$50 and her husband welded the seat to the bottom of the stroller!!! I am sooo excited about this idea and I am hoping I can find someone with a welder and some welding talent to help me pull this off!!! That would mean I would only have to spend $40-$50 for a Phil and Ted-like double stroller, when they cost over $500 new!!! Isn't that amazing?? I am soo hoping I can pull it off!! Oh and she has used it for a long time because her baby is now over 1 year old, and it has been totally safe and awesome:)

Blast from the Past

A friend from high school, Megan (Mugs) Moore, is staying in a hotel in South Carolina while her husband has a two month job assignment there. We ran track together at Sehome. We discovered she is only 2 hours from here, so she drove up on Thursday to bring her kids for a little play day. She has a 3 year old named Eden and a 1 year old named Will. Eden and Cheyenne got along together very well and had so much fun. Eden was so sweet to Cheyenne and even brought her a little bracelet for a friendship gift. It was so sweet. We played at our house for a while, then went to Chic-Fil-A for lunch and played on their play place. Then we went to Bear Hollow Zoo, which is a free zoo here in Athens. It was beautiful, comfortable weather and was a great day. The zoo has some bears, alligators, opossums, eagles, bobcats, woodchuck, turtles, turkey, deer, a woodchuck and owls. When we got to one of the the owl cages, the fence was torn open and there was a sign saying that it had been stolen! They don't know who did it, but were thinking it could have been a sorority or fraternity rush thing, someone who didn't agree with birds being in captivity, or there was a Harry Potter convention... haha, that is really what they said. Anyway, it was a fun day and it is always great to meet up with old friends!