Caylee Is Here!

Our little girl has arrived!  And on her own schedule, may I add lol.  My last post was all about how we still had 8 days until my scheduled C-section.  Three days later--on Thursday August 16th--we headed to see Dr. F for what was supposed to be our last OB check up before the big day.  I was excited to hear that the doc was going to take me off of bed rest, thinking that now we could go pick out Caylee's curtains and a lamp, and that Bryan could move the pack and play into our bedroom.  Basically, I was looking forward to doing a bit of last minute nesting to make sure all was in order for Caylee.  Dr. F mentioned that we could go see a movie, joking that it was the last chance for such an outing that we'd get for some time.  Then she checked my cervix.  

"Well, so y'all are going to head to the hospital and we'll probably be doing the C-section this evening."

Bryan thought she was making a joke.  I immediately asked if I was dilated--and she replied that I was at 4 cm.  My response: holy crap!  She asked if I had been having contractions, and I replied that I'd been a bit crampy off and on, but nothing consistent, regular, or nearly as painful as the preterm contractions that put me on bed rest in the first place.  Initially, she was going to send me for monitoring with a possible C-section, but then decided to go ahead and send me to Labor and Delivery and scheduled the C-section for 5 pm that day!

Bryan and I immediately started on all the phone calls we had to make on the way to the car.  We did swing in Dr. W's office to share the news, and then we were on our way--back to the house lol.  Since Caylee wasn't arriving imminently, we made the executive decision to go get our bags and take a last minute picture or two before heading to the hospital.  

We finally checked in about 11am, and settled in to wait.  Bryan's mom was the first to arrive, and they ran down to the cafeteria to grab lunch.  Her arrival was followed by my mom and dad--along with Joy the Giraffe, a huge stuffed giraffe my parents just HAD to get Caylee lol.  Family slowly filtered in between then and 5 pm: Bryan's Papa and Mimi, my Nannie and Papa, Bryan's dad, and my brother and his girlfriend all made it!

They wheeled me back and hooked me up to my epidural--best thing ever, by the way!  Dr. F, Renee, Bridgette, and all the other nurses were fantastic.  Dr. F started the procedure--talk about the weirdest sensation ever!  I couldn't feel what she was doing, but I could feel her doing something!  My legs only existed as a vague warm sensation, and all the cutting and gutting felt like pressure.  When she pulled my muscles apart, it was even more pressure combined with jerking.  Then there was a huge tugging sensation and Dr. F pulled Caylee out!

She was born at 6:04 pm, August 16th, 2012, and weighed 8 pounds and 2 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  It sounded like there was a bookie in the room, the way the doc and nurses were calling out guesses about her weight!  Everyone but one nurse thought she was at least 9 pounds lol.  I did pretty good through all of it, though I did need the nausea medication--there was a moment where I really thought I was going to hurl thanks my rapidly changing fluid levels.  I ended up with 15 staples--I asked Dr. F how many she was putting in and she laughed.  Apparently she's never been asked that before, but she still counted for me.

They put Caylee on my chest for a minute and boy was she mad!  She has good lungs, that's for sure.  I didn't get to hold her nearly as long as I wanted--her O2 levels were a bit low, so she had to go to the nursery and be under her astronaut (oxygen) helmet for a while.  She got a great APGAR (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) score of between an 8 and 9 out of 10.  Bryan went with her when they wheeled her to the nursery and got to show her off for a minute to the family.  Dr. F went ahead and cut my tubes and finished sewing me up, and then I was wheeled back to my prep room.

A bit later, they transferred me to the Postpartum ward and we settled into the room where we stayed until Sunday.  It was a big private room and even had an extra bed!  Everyone but my parents and Austin and Fanny headed out around 9:30 pm.  Mom, Dad, Austin and Fanny waited with us until they brought Caylee back, which wasn't until close to 11 pm.  I have to admit to being pretty lousy company---I just wanted to see and hold my baby!

Once it was just the three of us, Bryan and I decided to room in with Caylee.  We had originally thought we would let her stay in the nursery so we could sleep, but when it came down to it, we couldn't bear to let them take her away again when we had finally gotten her back.

The next few days were filled with holding Caylee, feeding and changing her, and sharing her with all of the family and friends that came up to see her.  Oh, and watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel!  Bryan stayed with us Friday night, and then Mom stayed Saturday night.  Saturday evening, Bryan and Dad ran errands and got the house set up for our homecoming.  I didn't get feeling back in my right leg until over 24 hours later, when they removed my epidural at 5am Saturday morning and my system had a couple of hours to clear out the medication.  Saturday night, Bryan stayed with us again, and we had a wonderful Sunday morning, just the three of us getting ready to go home.  Mom and Dad came up to help us get out the door, and we ended up being discharged at 1 pm instead of 6 pm!

We've been home with our little Caylee-bear for one week today.  Last week, Vic and Bryanne-Michelle came in to meet their niece and help out around the house.  We had Caylee's newborn photo session last Tuesday, and she got to meet her Aunt Julie and cousin Lucy on Friday.  Bryan has to go back to work this week to wrap things up before his paternity leave, so yesterday Mama Lynn and my parents came over and stayed for dinner.  Then Mama Lynn is staying until Tuesday and Mom and Dad will be here Wednesday through Friday!  I can't find the words to express my gratitude at all the help we've received, as well as all the yummy casseroles that friends and family have made for us!

Caylee is doing wonderfully!  She eats every 4ish hours, and man can she put away her bottle!  Between feedings, she only fusses when she needs to be changed, and the rest of the time either sleeps or stares at the big new world in which she finds herself.  She has Bryan's forehead, ears and chin, and overall head shape.  I think she also has his hair, as it's starting to curl and she has a ton of it!  I hope she has his skin.  She has my nose and cheeks, and we'll see whose eyes she has as they pick a color.  And she smiles a LOT, just like I did as a baby.  Yes, I know some of it is gas, and that she won't exhibit the "social smile" for another month or so, but she smiles even when she's not gassy at all.  She's just one happy, chill little girl!  Bryan and I think she's pretty much perfect, of course, and have fallen completely in love with her.

We are so happy to finally have our little girl safely home in our arms!

Only 8 More Days!!!

In only 8 days, Caylee will make her arrival!  In only 8 days, Bryan and I will become parents!  And then, 3 days after that, we'll bring our little girl home and start our lives as a family of three people and two dogs!

Last week we had our last ultrasound, and everything still looks wonderful...except Caylee is definitely running out of room.  Her face in her ultrasound picture was all squished lol.  She measured in at 7.5 lbs at only 36 weeks and 4 days!  Basically, at that point, she was the same size as an average baby at 38 weeks.  My only thought was, well, at least she's slowed down a bit!  At the last ultrasound she was 3 weeks ahead of average and now she's only ahead by a week and a half!  

That said, by the time she's 38 weeks and a couple of days, there is a good chance that Caylee will weigh in somewhere between 8.5 and 9.5 pounds.  This means there is also a good chance she could get stuck coming out.  Add to that her head size and you get a scenario where we can't use a vacuum or forceps to help her if she does get stuck.  Personally, I'm not at all fond of the idea of going through 10+ hours of labor only to have to have a C-Section anyway!  So, we're cutting out all that middle concern and skipping straight to the end!  After talking all of this over with the maternal/fetal specialist and my OBGyn, we went ahead and scheduled a C-Section for August 21st!

And, double-plus bonus, my doctor is going to go ahead and clip my tubes while she's in there!  For a whole variety of reasons, Bryan and I are completely happy with just one little one, and this means I don't have to go back on birth control after the pregnancy.  One less pill a day to take once I'm back on all of my RA meds!

While I continue to enjoy every moment of my pregnancy, Bryan and I sure can't wait to hold our little girl!

Bed Rest

I was so close to making it through this pregnancy without going on bed rest!

At least it's only modified bed rest, meaning I can be in my recliner instead of only in bed, and I can get up to shower and eat!  So, what happened you ask?

Well, it seems our little Caylee is quite a big girl!  Which isn't really a surprise, seeing as I weighed in at 9 lbs 1 ounce and my brother was 9 lbs 5 ounces.  That said, I also have a slightly higher than normal amount of amniotic fluid, the combination of which makes my uterus think that it has finished it's work.  Wrong!  Lol.  Anyway, two and a half weeks ago, I was running around with my cousin Brooke.  We had gone to Babies R Us and had just gotten to Kohl's.  We were having a great time!  And then I had to pee.  

Not to get into overshare territory, but when I was done, I discovered I had some bright red spotting.  I had been feeling crampy off and on all day, but chalked it up to Braxton Hicks contractions.  That said, the spotting had me calling my OBGyn, who immediately had me go to the Perinatal Assessment Center at the hospital.  Brooke was a trooper and called Bryan for me as I drove us to the hospital.  Bryan met us there, and they put me and the baby on the monitors.  Caylee was perfect--strong heartbeat and lots of kicks.  I, on the other hand, was having preterm contractions.  ACTUAL contractions complete with acceleration, not the practice kind.  I guess at least I know what they feel like!

  Fortunately, it was not preterm labor...my cervix hadn't changed at all, nor did it change between my discharge from the hospital and my already-scheduled OBGyn appointment the next day.  Also, by our appointment, the contractions had pretty much stopped.  However, my doctor doesn't want to take any chances (which I very much appreciate!) and has me on bed rest at least through this coming Thursday.  I've been having some Braxton Hicks off and on, but nothing near as painful, consistent, or all over as the preterm contractions, thank goodness!

Bed rest is definitely not high on my list of favorite things ever.  That said, I've been so thankful for my mom and my hubby!  Mom came down every day the first week I was on bed rest and helped me finish getting everything ready for Caylee, including cleaning my house and cooking for Bryan and me.  Bryan has been keeping up with the housework, running errands, cooking, and basically picking up my slack.  And he's been super supportive the whole time!  And then there's Sherry and Blair who came by for lunch, and Julie and Ethan and Lucy who came over for dinner, and all of our other friends who have called and swung by to check on me!  Y'all are awesome!

I've also been thankful the Olympics happened to coincide with my period of enforced idleness!  The Games, especially beach and indoor volleyball and gymnastics, have given me something to focus on.  I've also been working on a couple of knitting projects.  Basically, at this point, it's a waiting game until Caylee gets here!

Here are the knitting projects helping to maintain my sanity:

Lucy's Blanket!

Caylee's Coming Home Hat!

7ish Weeks To Go!

I cannot believe that we only have about 7 weeks until Caylee makes her arrival!

I think, however, that she can more than believe it--she seems to be getting frustrated with the rapidly decreasing amount of space available to her.  How can I tell?  Well, she sure is kicking and moving up a storm AND she loves playing "shove the squishy things" with my internal organs.

While she's busy rearranging mommy's insides, Bryan and I are busy rearranging and preparing everything in the house for her arrival.  On June 16th, my mom and Vic threw me a wonderful baby shower for my side of the family and a few of my closest friends.  Mom treated me and Vic to a nail salon visit the day before, and before that Vic went to Target with me to help me pick out a pretty dress!  We easily had 25-30 people come...and it's a good thing we all like each other because it made my house very cozy very quickly!  It was an absolute blast!  Everyone was overwhelming generous in their gifts to Caylee--she is going to be one of the most well-outfitted kiddos ever!  I didn't take many pictures, but I know others did.  For now, I only have one of the picture collages that my mom made!  This collage has my Aunt Candy, cousins Brooke and Jenna Kay, my Nanny and Gan Gan and mama, and Kel, Vic, and Bryanne-Michelle--sister-in-law and best friends, all of whom were bridesmaids at our wedding!   Oh, and I'm in there too!

So, I've been doing lots of baby laundry and folding and sorting lots of tiny little baby clothes.  It's so much fun!!!  I also made a grocery store discovery:  Kroger's Baby Detergent has the same ingredients as Dreft for 1/3 of the cost!  As of right now, all of the clean clothes are living in Caylee's pack n play, waiting for me to put them in their dresser drawers.  

That organizational task is next week's big job, since her furniture arrived last weekend and, thanks to Bryan and Uncle Ethan, has been placed and assembled in her nursery!  Here's a picture of the beautiful crib Caylee's Grandpa and Grandma bought her!

 And while I didn't get to do much hands-on helping, I did take lots of pictures of Caylee's daddy assembling her crib!

The finished product is beautiful...all that's missing is Caylee!  She has a group of friends waiting on her, including her monkeys, giraffe, Aggie sock monkey, and her incredible Totoro, made for her by our amazing friend Ruth! 

The nursery is coming together nicely.  Now, to get the rest of that done, and the rest of the house ready too!

Pergola Project

Well, things here are going pretty good!  My shoulder is on the mend, and I actually am cleared to drive again!  I started therapy this week, so if all continues smoothly, my shoulder should be fully recovered by the time Caylee makes her debut.  I can't believe I'm already 30 weeks!  Or that we only have about another 8 to go before she's here!  I'll have to do a separate post about preparations, and one about my amazing baby shower that my mom and Victoria threw for me!  So many people came, and everyone truly showered Caylee with gifts.  She is going to be one well-loved little girl, that's for sure!

Anyway, on to the topic of this post--our new porch and pergola!  When we moved into our house, back in December 2008, we were very excited to have a covered porch.  However, we both realized that eventually we would want to expand it later...it might have been covered, but it was also a bit small.  So, we started saving our pennies, and this Spring decided to go ahead and find a contractor to tackle the project.

Alan with C&G Construction, along with his amazing work crews, got our project done in about a week!  We are so very pleased and excited about our new porch and pergola!  Here's the progression:

Hooray pergola and porch!  And the dogs, of course, believe we did it all for them lol.

Don't Do Stupid Things OR Why Standing On Chairs Is Bad

Let me start off by saying that Caylee is just fine.  With that *ahem* reassuring comment, I will now share my moment of brilliant stupidity from last week.

Last Monday, Bryan came home from work and then left again to go to the gym for his Monday run.  I planned out when I would start dinner to coincide with his return, and then took the pups outside.  It was a very pleasant evening, compared the the scorchers we had had/are having, and the sea breeze was blowing very nicely.  The only thing missing was the sound of my bamboo wind chimes, which I had taken down the week before.  I decided that I was going to hang them back up.  Bryan had been gone all of about 2 minutes at this point.  Did I think about waiting until he got home?  No.  Why?  I'm a capable and self-sufficient woman, after all.  Did I go back inside and get the step ladder?  No.  It didn't even cross my mind.  After all, I had stood on our outdoor chairs many times before without incident.

You see where this is heading, don't you?  I wish I had lol.

So, I climbed up on one of the chairs on the back porch, wind chime in hand.  Just as I was stretching up to hang the wind chime back on it's hook...well...

Yep.  The damn chair ripped on me.  I was going down.  The only thoughts in my head were "Don't land on the baby" and "Get off the concrete".  Somehow, I managed to accomplish both directives.  Someone was definitely watching out for me.  I managed to kick free of the chair/death trap, get both feet on the concrete long enough to direct my fall towards the grass, avoid the post that holds the porch up AND the pointed picket fence around the flower bed, and managed to twist so that Caylee did not get squished.  So, how did I land, you ask?

I executed an amazing pile drive maneuver to the ground using...my right shoulder.  And man did it hurt!  As I hit, I heard an unpleasant crunching sound.  I laid on the ground for a minute, and then fished my phone (miraculously unbroken) out of my pocket and called Bryan.

He hadn't yet made it to the gym...meaning all of this took place within 5 minutes of his leaving the house.  He probably broke some traffic laws to get back to me, but get back quickly he did.  He scooped me up and got me to the ER, where they took me straight back on account of Caylee.  They found her heartbeat immediately, which was good and strong, and proceeded to diagnose me with a mild fracture of the humerus.  Then, they sent us upstairs to antepartum, where monitors for Caylee and uterine activity were put on my belly.  Bryan and I were so relieved when we heard that her heartbeat was going strong, and that I wasn't having any contractions.  Luckily, my OB was the doctor on call, and after evaluating the data, she had them monitor us for another hour and then send us home.

We followed up with my new orthopedic surgeon, who confirmed the break and put me in a stylish immobilization sling...that is also hot as hell.  Fortunately, I don't need surgery, which, thanks to RA damage, would be necessary if I had landed on any other right-sided joint.

Our follow up with my OB went well, and this Friday we have our third trimester ultrasound with my maternal/fetal specialist.  I have no doubt that Caylee is fine--her heart rate at the OB's was awesome, and she's been kicking around more strongly every day--but I can't wait to see her and hear for sure that she's wonderful.

So anyway, that was my moment of brilliant stupidity.  Bryan has been very helpful, even offering to tie me in my lazy boy until Caylee gets here lol.  The sad thing is, once he sits me down in it and puts my feet up, I can't operate the lever anyway, so no rope would actually be necessary!  I don't blame him for giving me a hard time--I totally have it coming.

In conclusion, here are the lessons I have learned:

When you are pregnant, doing stupid things will get you hurt and made fun of...and you will completely deserve it.

Asking for help is not a bad thing.

Chairs are plotting, devious bastards.

Wind chimes bounce surprisingly well.

I, however, do not bounce well at all these days.

And also, that I have amazing family and friends who were all willing to drop everything to come help if I needed it.  Thanks y'all!

Caylee Projects!

Time is going by waaay to quickly!! I mean, heck, it's already June and baby girl will be here in August!  So, having realized that, I've been working to get some baby projects done before Caylee's arrival.  While the RA has not let me complete NEAR as many projects for Caylee, here are some that I have been able to finish!  Or at least start!

This will be Caylee's first beanie!  And yes, I made the pom pom myself!

This will be a fun hat for her when she's a little older...the pattern ended up being much bigger than I had anticipated.  This was my first knit-in-the-round project, and I modified the heck out of the pattern as I went, which might have had something to do with the size and some of the awkwardness in the pattern and bind off.

These are signs I made for our maternity photo shoot.  Whoop!!!  Though Class of 2034 sounds impossible lol.

And this is my current work in progress...the Owlie Sleep Sack!  I love that I found a yarn that looks like owl feathers and I love the way the owl cables turned out.  I'm hoping to make a matching hat, but we'll see if I have time, or more accurately, timely joint cooperation!

I know I've been averaging a post a month, but these next months are going to be soo busy, I'm betting there will be quite a few more than that!  Hope everyone is doing well!