William (Will) Allen Stanley has arrived - 2.18.09

Well - where to start...Monday's appointment - yep we thought for sure we would be talking induction next week and Chris's guesstimate arrival of 2.24 was looking pretty good. Going to bed on Monday night I was in the bathroom every twenty minutes and Chris left for his "second bed" as I was snorning and keeping him up. I skipped the gym on Tuesday morning and just didn't feel right - I was REALLY uncomfortable most of the day. By about 4:00 I got completely sick to my stomach and told the guys at the office I think that I should go home because I just didn't feel right - I told them that I would rather be in pain than sick and I was just "uh - sick" feeling. I stopped at CVS to pick up a few things on my way home and as I was standing there at the cash register - yep - my water broke - shoes pooled and I was of course being checked out by the world's slowest cashier. He just didn't understand that I could care less to use my CVS card!!! I sloshed to the car - thankful I had a towel in the back of my car - I grabbed that, hopped in the drivers seat and flew home.

By the time I got there Chris had all my bags on the back porch - ready to go. I told him I was taking a shower and that he needed to throw out the shoes and throw my clothes in the washing machine. After getting cleaned up, in comfy clothes and in the car, we headed to the hospital and of course hit rush hour traffic on I-40 with traffic for a hurricanes game (versus the Bruins - Boston won!). We called the emergency card number they gave us on the way to the hospital and got Dr. Richardson (pregnant herself) who was on call said she would see us there after we checked in. After getting into my room the nurse that checked me in helped me understand that the cramps I was having WERE contractions and that my water would continue to "break" until I had the baby - something NO ONE had told me - throught out the rest of the night everytime this nice "water" would come out my word to let Chris know it was still happening - "icky".

When I checked in - 5:50 p.m. - I was 1 centimeter dialated...they started me on pitocin at 8:00. After Chris FIRED one of our nurses - not a story that I even care to remember - we got Lindsey who uppped my dosage and between her, Chris and Dr. Richardson convinced me that I was still far enough away from labor that taking a shot of IV drugs would be out of mine and the baby's system long before delivery and would help with some of the painful contractions. After a few hours of contractions and getting checked again I was up to about 4 centimeters and in A LOT of pain - again my cheering squad of Chris, Lindsay and Dr. R all said that I should get my epidural. That went in at 1:15 a.m and within 10 seconds of it being in I was in heaven - the guy that did that - I think I'm going to see if we can name him a saint! After a wonderful nap and lots of "pressure" from the baby...Lindsay and Dr. R came in and told me that they were concerned about the baby...every time I had a contraction his heartbeat would dip and they were sending me to get a c-section. Dr R (who is 40 weeks pregnant herself) was going to do the procedure and after getting Chris into scrubs and me prepped at 3:44 a.m. Mr. William Allen Stanley was brought into this world. Chris watched them pull him from me and as soon as I had seen him and kissed is cheek - he was whisked away to be cleaned up and I was PUT OUT!





I woke up in another room - getting prepped with my pain meds and cleaned up - I finally got to see Chris and Will in our room what felt like days later. Due to the high dosages of medicine they had given me most of Wednesday was a blurr - I could barely keep my eyes open and Will was finally named when Chris could keep my attention in between a few of my naps.

Since then we have realized that we have been blessed with a happy, beautiful baby that everyone who comes in the room says "is just beautiful!" He's nursing great - breastfeeding though as Chris says "you almost have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out!" is going well and I should be checked out by tomorrow - Saturday.

Week 40 - Waiting game

So week 40 doctors appointment this morning - all good - blood pressure normal, nothing really happening. After my pelvic bones being so sore last week I thought for sure I would get some sort of report this week that things were progressing - but nope...everything is still closed up with nothing imminent happening.

The baby seemed to SLLOOOOWWW DOOOWWWWNNNN quite a bit last week so the doctor - due to the fact that I'm at week 40 and the decreased movement - put me on the monitor for a few minutes after my exam. Baby of course was calm, no movement, they hooked up two disc's to my belly and gave me a button to push when I felt the baby move...so we sat there and waited, and waited, and waited....not even some belly shakes by one of my other doctors could get the baby going.

No big deal though both of them said - all the readings looked great - baby's heartbeat was doing just what it should and the monitor even showed me having contractions - I didn't feel them but they were happening.

We have our week 41 appointment set - doctor wants to do an ultra sound to check on things but it sounds like if I make it through this week, then they will be inducing me next week. In the meantime...I'm to continue doing what I'm doing...swimming is still fine and the doctor assured both Chris and I that if my water broke WHILE in the water - I would know it when I got out and not to worry. This morning one of my contractions actually "stopped me dead in my tracks" in the pool - it got so tight across my belly, no pain, just tight - I had to stop swimming. Usually I can swim right through those...I told Chris that if I do make it through this week, I think Friday will be my last pool session. I feel great other than that - just big and round.

I had what I would call my FIRST contraction on Saturday morning around 9:00 - it about put me on my butt on the bathroom floor - caught me so off guard - lasted about 45 seconds, I just did some deep breathing and then it was gone...haven't had one since...

Chris is betting on the 24th for the baby's arrival...we shall see.

Here's part of the monitor scan - baby's heartbeat is right around 130 mark where it's been for quite some time...the dips the doctor said are normal and they adjust as they should when I have my contractions. The little "notes" that are circled are the few times I felt the baby move while hooked up to the machine...

Remembering Papa

So....February 21st my family will be gathering to celebrate and honor my grandfather with the naming of the Saint Anselm College Stoutenburgh Gym floor. From that day forward it will be known as the Al Grenert Court - how AWESOME!!!

For obvious reasons - we won't be able to be there but in spirit...my uncle sent me an advanced copy of the program which for the past 30 minutes I've had so much fun going through, reading all about Papa and all his players, names I've heard my entire life reminding me of stories that I can just about tell in my sleep!

...I'm thinking... how fun it would be that maybe, just maybe I can have the baby on the same day that the majority of my family is together celebrating Papa who would be so excited to be welcoming his third great-grand child into the world.....if the stars align right, maybe it will happen (sorry Em, that would over shoot your 2/19 birth date!)

(you should be able to double click on the image below for a larger version that is readable without a magnifying glass!)

February 10th ~ The last supper....

We hit 39 weeks tomorrow - yesterday's doctors appointment was somewhat eventful. They took my blood pressure twice and it was high (we figured out that it was probably due to me hiking up the stairs to get to the office!) - after laying down for a few minutes and having it rechecked, all was well and it was actually lower than it has been my entire pregnancy - something like 112/70 - almost to my pre-pregnancy range. Belly is measuring right on track and baby's heart beat was strong at 131 bpm. The doctor I saw yesterday is actually being induced herself on Friday and other than reminding me if my water broke or I started having contractions five minutes apart for 2 hours I should call, there is nothing new to report. Whoo-hoo - big help!

In anticipation of the baby's soon-to-be arrival - we finished off the nursery this weekend - got the glider chair & ottoman in and thankfully it's so comfortable and feels broken in already! I think everything that can be washed has been - at least once and I'm going to do one more run to the store this weekend and make sure we are stocked up! The cat who had taken a liking to the changing pad discovered he could make it into the crib and we came back from running some errands and found him lounging there enjoying the soft sheets and the mobile. Needless to say we have now closed off that room and he just sits outside the door waiting to go in. We both think that once the permanent resident of that room comes home, he will retreat to the third floor and claim the couch as his!

We also have started thinking of things that we might not get to do for a while and are trying to have some fun while I can still move....our good friends joined us for a "night on the town" at Sullivans on Saturday for THE LAST SUPPER (not really but it was fun to title this post that!) Thankfully I fit in the booth! We enjoyed great food and great company and hope to actually introduce the baby to our favorite steak house early in it's life. Our birth class instructor actually made it a point to remind all of us that when they are really little they are actually easier to take out than you would think! We shall see!

Only other tid-bits of comic relief to add are the great pieces of advice I'm getting from our 7 year old neighbor who is putting quite a lot of thought into labor and bringing the baby home. Last week she was completely appalled that the baby would not be sleeping WITH US and this week it turned to "am I scared about having the baby because it's going to hurt" and when she was feeling the baby hiccup on Sunday night - the head was off to the left side of my belly - she informed me that "its not in the right position to come out - the head needs to be BETWEEN my legs" - all this coming from a 7 year old - way too funny!

I'm going to print these posts and keep them all with the baby book as this has provided me such a great "journal" of all the things we have gone through the past 39 weeks. I've been telling people that if you want 9 months to fly by - get pregnant. It's amazing - I can't believe it's almost time to welcome this kicking little creature into the house! We have been taking weekly belly shots and documenting the entire pregnancy in the "belly book" that we got at the start of this journey - if you know anyone that is pregnant I would highly recommend that as a congrats gift - it's been so much fun to write down what's been going on and making sure we take pictures. We laughed this weekend when we looked back and when we thought my belly had POPPED and gotten big and comparing it to what it looks like now - gosh we were a bad judge of BIG back then!

So other than my tailbone aching all the time now...my lower back feeling the result of the extra weight I'm carrying around and the constant heartburn due to the fact that the baby's feet are now part of my stomach - all is good - REALLY! I really feel that I've had an easy pregnancy...yes I've been swollen but nothing extreme and I know there are people who are just plain sick for the entire nine months or have complete aversions to foods. I feel like I've been lucky - healthy and all my "symptoms" are completely normal....I'm craving creamy foods still - cheese makes me drool! - and thankfully we timed this so I didn't have to endure the Carolina summer sun or humidity - that I think was key - completely not planned but key! Even though I'm chubby, slow and clumsy, and despite counting putting my socks on as 1/2 a workout, I love my maternity clothes and don't want to burn them....I can say I'm excited to have buttons and snaps back on my pants (I'm worried I'll forget to zip up my fly when I actually have one!) and when I look at all my shoes - I am going to love being able to wear heels, fit into them and not feel like I'm going to topple over....I'm also so looking forward to introducing the baby to all my running routes...can't wait to get my BOB stroller out on the trails! The warm weather this week has got me anxious to get back outside and exercise - as nice as the pool has been it will not be taking the place of running in my life - however, I do want to continue swimming at least one day a week - it's just so relaxing. Ok...pregnancy deep thoughts are done for the day....one last thing to say - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD (soon to be Grand-Dad)! Right now it doesn't look like the baby is going to arrive today so I'm going to have to find you another birthday present...shucks, that would have been an easy present - I wouldn't have even had to wrap or mail it!

What's supposedly going on in there this week...

So...according to my weekly email....

Your baby has really plumped up. It weighs about 6.8 pounds and is over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). It has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold its hand for the first time! It's organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? If it's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If it's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time it's 9 months old.

The firm grasp - yep - I feel like I can attest to that because the baby, as I think I have said before, is using my bladder as a hand strengthening toy! It will be interesting to see what color eyes it ends up having....mine are blue (Grenert trait!) and Chris's are a hazel...not a true brown....we've already had lots of the the "I hope it gets X from you..." conversations - I'm praying it gets it height genes from Chris and other members of our extended family who are all above the five foot two range that I fall into! We are betting on blonde hair for the "toddler version" as we were both blonde as babies...when we did the 3D ultrasound we could clearly see lots of hair so it should be interesting to see what it comes out with!

Week 38 ~ 2.2.09 Doctors Appointment

We hit 38 weeks this week...belly is measuring right on track - baby's heart beat was about 130 bpm today...and again - doctor says - "most likely no baby this week" after my exam. Creature is kicking like crazy and thanks to the combination of Hooters hot wings and baby's feet being IN MY STOMACH I am dealing with a AWFUL case of heartburn today - uhhh!!

Here I was all excited to have met the last doctor in the practice so we would at least recognize the face that would greet us when we went into have the baby...oh no, since two of the doctors in my practice are having babies themselves - right at the same time as me - our practice has brought in FIVE additional "resources" from other local groups to help cover hospital rounds - meaning I might still have some random doctor deliver the baby - not thrilling but what can I do!?! They did give us the dates that these other doctors would be on-call so for all you out there betting on our delivery date...we are now shooting for any day BUT February 18, 24, March 3, 11, 18 and the 24 (I didn't like any of those dates anyway!!!)