did you guess right?!

Jamie is going to have a little sister!!

We had our ultrasound this morning and it all went well. She (still weird to say that, I actually wrote "it" first) measured pretty much bang on average for everything they looked at. Sweet little thing weighs 13 ounces right now. We're halfway through the pregnancy but definitely not halfway through the growth, crazy to think about. Jamie was 6lb 13oz when he was born. So potentially 6 or more lbs to put on (for her) (and a lot more for me-on average, I should now be putting on a pound a week!)

We are all pleased, if not a little bit in shock. Over the last week or so, I've thought she was going to be a girl. Most of my friends are having boys this time round (when they had girls the first time) and everyone, apart from one, is having the opposite of what they had first. And so the pattern continues.

I can now ask Jamie where is his baby sister and he will point to my belly and give it a kiss. So cute!

Here are the photos from the ultrasound:

She is sitting breach at the moment (head up) and she had her hand up near her face most of the time and was waving or sucking her finger/thumb. You can see her waving fairly clearly in this last one.

We haven't picked out any names yet, Paul wanted to wait until we knew the sex so we'd only have one to contend with. Don't get any big ideas though because like last time, the name will remain a secret until she's born.

Some good news is that the fibroid is measuring 8cm at it's largest point which is 4 cm smaller than it was at this point with Jamie (it also didn't grow after this point). We have another ultrasound scheduled for 32 weeks and we will be meeting with the ob/gyn in February to talk about the fibroid and see what he says about the birth. But for now we will all get used to the idea of a she and are thankful that everything looks healthy and normal.

Oh yes and here's a belly pic taken yesterday (21 weeks). You can see me at 19 weeks with Jamie here. As you can see I'm already much bigger than I was around this point last time.

Some photos

Here is a photo of Jamie in 'the' t-shirt. This was taken right before bed tonight and he was very tired, but it ended up being quite a funny shot, which is what we used to announce the pregnancy on Facebook:

We entitled it: We have some news. Some are more happy than others.

Jamie actually doesn't really understand what's going on. He went to the ultrasound and we explained about the baby in mommy's tummy, but who's going to understand that about a black and white moving image. We'll try to explain more as time goes on, particularly after we find out the sex.

Here is a photo of my bump from this morning, which is much bigger at 15 weeks than last time.

The birth

I thought I'd post a little (well probably a lot) about the birth of little Jamie. It was an intense couple of days, but I know people are probably wondering what happened and why I had to have a caesarean. This will probably be a lot more detail than some people want to know about, so I thought I'd warn you in advance. My friend Jill did this and which she said she found very therapuetic and I am sure I'll find the same.

I had my sweep Monday morning and as I posted, I had progressed over the weekend, probably thanks in part to that awful Norovirus, which well and truly got my guts moving, just like they say spicy food should do. Nothing much happened during Monday, but Tuesday morning I woke up and I realized that I had started contractions. They started about 10-20 minutes apart and not very painful. Throughout the day they became closer and more painful. Paul had gone to work, and he wasn't sure when he should come home and I said to wait a bit, but after about an hour his boss said "What the f* are you still doing here, go home" and so he did. I mostly hung out with my mom during the day and watched tv when I could to try to distract myself. I was also using a TENS machine throughout the day for pain relief, which basically sends through little electrical pulses through electrode pads on my back between contractions, and when I start having a contraction, I push a little boost button which causes the pulse to become continuous until I depress when the contraction is over. In retrospect, I'm not really sure it did much, other than signal to everyone else when the contraction started and ended. I think it did give me something to focus on, but perhaps it caused me to focus too much on each contraction. I didn't really sleep much during the day as I was afraid I'd slow down the process. In retrospect, I think that was a mistake. I spent a lot of the day pacing the house, trying to get them moving along. Here's a photo of me with my TENS and a gingernut:

Most of the late afternoon and evening my contractions were 6-8 minutes apart, lasting for about 90 seconds. The hospital don't really want you coming onto the ward until your 3-4 minutes apart, lasting 90 seconds and are painful. We called to update them a few times and they encouraged us to stay home as long as possible. Around midnight that night, they were getting closer to 4-5 minutes apart and quite painful, and I was sick once with the pain, so I decided it was time to go in. My mom, Paul and I went in. We had our own room and the midwife asked us a few questions, took my blood pressure and disappeared for a long time. She said she was going to assign me a midwife (she was the head midwife on duty), but we're not really sure what happened with that. She came back a while later and asked me how things were going. Contractions had sped up and were more painful, she did an internal and said I was only at 2 cm. She said I wasn't that far along, so I could either go home or go to the maternity ward (where you're in a room with 3 others) and see if I progressed there. At this point it was 4:30am, and I was so exhausted (as were Paul and mom), that we decided to go home, hoping the contractions would go crazy on the way home and we could turn around and come back. Not the case...

When we got home we all were so wiped that we slept for a bit. My contractions did slow and for the rest of the day they became very erratic. In the afternoon, they were still erratic but more and more painful. I had my induction still scheduled for that night, so I called the hospital and asked if I should still come in and they said yes because they could progress the labor (why not the night before, I don't know!). Anyway, I was asked to come in the hospital at 8pm. When we got to the hospital, I was put in the ward with others being induced. They took my BP and hooked me up to a monitor to see how the baby was doing. Within a couple of minutes, I was surrounded by 3 midwives and a doctor, I assume someone pulled some sort of alarm, but had no idea why. Apparently the baby's heart rate dropped. They started talking to me about having to break my waters to see if the baby recovered or they'd have to an emergency caesarean. They rushed me into a labor room and the doctor broke my waters. Luckily he recovered and I continued with contractions, and I at that point I was at 3cm. I had to stay monitored throughout the night. The contractions became stronger and I used 'gas and air' or nitrous oxygen for pain relief. You bastcally just beathe into this tube when you feel the contraction coming on. It worked pretty well. However, occasionally I took too much on and threw up, but it was worth it. Halfway through the night, I was really getting exhausted (it had and decided to have an epidural. Man, that was worth it! I could still slightly feel them on one side (I found out later the epidural came out on one side). Unfortunately, my contractions slowed a bit, though I still progressed to 6cm.

Throughout the night, the baby's heart rate would drop after each contraction for 10s. That can happen as the baby's head descends down the pelvis. However, later in the night, it started dropping for longer, for 60-90s. The doctor said they needed to check the baby's blood oxygen levels, which they do by taking a blood sample for the top of the baby's head with a scope thing  (he still has the scratches on his head, poor Jamie). They did this twice in 90 minutes and his stats were dropping, and as I was only at 8cm and progressing about a cm an hour, I wouldn't be ready in enough time and the levels would go too low. They tested one final time, but the machine wasn't working, so they decided they should progress with the c-section anyway. They said it could be the cord around his neck.

They prepped me, and had to give me a spinal since the epidural had come out on one side. Paul scrubbed in and was able to stay by my head. The baby came out pretty quick, they took him and gave him a once over, his Apgar was 9 at delivery and 10 one minute later. They gave him to Paul and put him on my pillow too while they stitched me up. Apparently I lost quite a lot of blood (1.4 liters), not sure why, but we both made it through fine. The cord wasn't wrapped around his neck, so they don't know why his heart rate was dropping, but as rough as I felt after, I don't regret the decision as we don't know what might have happened had we waited. And I have my perfect little Jamie, so everything is good.

They recovery wasn't easy, especially the first day, but I'm getting stronger everyday. Paul and my parents have been an extraordinary help. And we all have Courtney to thank for the hundreds of photos she's taken. They left this morning and we'll miss them a lot. I've had a lot of emotional ups and downs these past few days, but after having Norovirus, 46 hours of labor and a major operation, we're doing pretty well and I'm looking forward to motherhood.

Here's our first ever photo together (not that pretty!):

t- 4 days

...until the due date anyway. We'll see when he actually makes his appearance...

It's been a busy week off work. Busier for my mom than me I think, but I'm feeling more ready. She's been working hard on the nursery and it's really coming together. I'm not going to post any photos until it's finished, which should be in the next couple of days. It's super cute though!!  We've also been cleaning and shopping, trying to get all the last minute things sorted. It's so nice having her around! Now that my hospital bag is finally packed and my own bedroom has had a thorough clean, I feel better about him making an early arrival. He's going to be in our bedroom for a few months, so it's not vital that the nursery is finished on time. 

Personally I'm getting more tired during the day. I have the energy to do about one project a day and then am taking it easy the rest of the time. I even took a nap yesterday. We haven't really seen any signs that he's coming yet. He was 2/5ths engaged at my midwife appointment last Wednesday (they measure in 1/5ths for some reason), so he's moving down. I'm also starting to swell more in my hands. My ankles started a few weeks ago and my hands started over the weekend. Dad arrives Saturday, and I'd like them to have as much time together as possible, so it would be nice if he came soon, but it's not really up to me. The midwife suggested drinking raspberry tea, eating spicy food and fresh pineapple(!), as well as some 'other' activities;). And now we'll be doing all we can to get this little guy out so he can hang with grandparents for as long as possible. 

And last night we took a photo of the bump at 39 weeks. Sorry for the poor lighting and the white on white background.  I'll try to take a better one later this week: 

doctors, midwives, hospitals

Well it's been a week of appointments for me. 5 in 4 days.  These include an ultrasound, consultant appointment, 2 midwife appointments and a hospital appointment. Most were routine appointments, but the abundance is due to us trying to change to a local hospital, and because I'm now at 36 weeks, everything has to happen quickly.  Let's start at the beginning:

1. 12:30pm, February 15th - 36 week ultrasound (actual time 12:55pm)
   This was (most likely) my final ultrasound to track Baby W's growth. He's looking good. Unfortunately he was feeling a little camera shy and we couldn't get a good shot of his face, so we'll just have to wait for the real thing in a month's time.  He's still tracking on the average trajectory (hooray!) and is currently estimated to be 5lb 14oz, which if he continues to put on the average 0.5lb per week, would make him around 8lbs around his birth--which sounds reasonable, right?! He's also still head down, which is good, and let's hope that fibroid is keeping him that way. The fibroid is still showing no growth since 20 weeks, so we're in good shape.
2. 2:00pm, Februarly 15th - consultant appointment (actual time 3:15pm)
   This was a follow up appointment about the fibroid to discuss what measures, if any, will have to be taken during the birth because of the fibroid's existance.  The consultant said, as the fibroid is external and high on my uterus, it shouldn't affect me trying for a vaginal birth (as opposed to a cesearian)-good!.  She suggested that during the delivery, they use 'active management' during the third stage of labor (which is the delivery of the placenta). There is a small risk of extra bleeding so what they'll do is give me a shot which help my uterus to contract faster to quicker delivery of the placenta. I was probably going to elect to have this shot anyway (who wants to wait around for up to an hour more for the placenta come out?!).
3. 2:30pm, February 15th - old midwife appointment (actual time 4:00pm)
   This was effectively my last appointment with my old midwife, Mara.  We did all the normal bits-blood pressure (120/80 - normal), bump size (34 centimeters -normal), baby's heartrate (131 - normal), baby's position (head down-as seen in scan) and he's not started to engage (drop into pelvis) yet-I think this can start anytime soon, and urine (slightly elevated nitrate levels, so she sent off to test for urinary tract infection, but didn't think it was likely as I had no other symptoms. We also discussed our birth plan, which is basically a list of what we'd like to see happen during the birth. I think I'll save the details for another post closer to the due date, particularly as things might have to change when we switch hospitals.
4. 2:50pm, Feburary 17th - new midwife appointment (actual time 2:40pm!)
   So this was my first appointment with a midwife in Bromley. She informed me that I have to rebook with the hospital in Bromley and luckily when she phoned they had just had a cancellation, as there were no other appointments in the next month! No idea what would have happened if they didn't--a waiting list I guess? Anyway, that appointment is tomorrow and I'll have to give a full medical history, etc again as I did in my first midwife appoitnment 8 months ago. *sigh* such a waste of time. They may also go through their referral system for a final decision on whether doctors need to be involved with the delivery (normally midwives do all normal deliveries-and doctors are just on call in case of problems). She did all the normal tests again, everything, including urine levels were normal today.
5. 8:30 am, February 18th - hospital registration appointment
   This is tomorrow, so stay posted!

1 month to go!

That's right I'm 36 weeks today! Crazy to think how different life will be in a month's time. I haven't yet reached that point of 'get this baby out of me' - I think mainly because I have so much left to do. I also have two more weeks at work left, a big part of me is wondering why I'm not finishing sooner, but I know I'll be glad to have those two more weeks next year at the end of my maternity leave. Anyway, I thought I'd first share a photo, which my family has been asking for. So this is me a few days ago:

I've generally found pregnany quite enjoyable. It's amazing to think there's a little boy growing inside. He's been making his presence known as well. Kicking and stretching out all over the place.  I think I've been having more (non-painful) braxton hicks contraction this week. We learned on our course that you have contractions from about 20 weeks onwards and when your belly feels compact and hard, that's most likely a contraction-well a practice contraction anyway. Pregnancy hasn't all been fun, of course, there's been some weird and not-so-wonderful aspects which I think are probably related to pregnancy. I've probably shared some before, but here's a little list (particularly for the many friends I've just found out are expecting this summer!):

• excessive trips to the bathroom to pee (first and third trimester)
• leg cramps-side and back of calves (all 3 trimesters)
• occasional sciatic nerve pain in lower back (first and third)
• sneezing (first)
• occasional lower abdominal cramping (all 3-only very painful once)
• decreased fitness, shortness of breath-especially going up stairs (increasing over pregnancy)
• difficulty rolling over in bed or getting off the floor/deep sofa (third)
• groin/pelvic pain-making crossing legs or standing up after sitting a long time painful (since running through airport at Christmas)
• dry eyes/contacts feeling irritated (6th month only)
• itchy rash on lower legs (for last week)
• shortness of breath when talking quickly! (new this week-particularly when I'm first on the phone to someone or kicking off a meeting)
• wine (particulary red) tastes cheap, and still no cravings (all 3)

To be honest, none of those are particularly bad and I don't seem to mind-especially wen you compare it to all the fun things about being pregnant-I'll try to post about that another day. 

A fun weekend ahead with a baby shower tomorrow and our last ever Valentine's day as a childless couple! And, Monday is our last ultrasound and consultant appointment (about the fibroid), and I also have my first midwife appointment at my new GP in Bromley, so expect more news next week!

antenatal course #2 and midwife appt

Sorry blogging has been a little more quiet lately. Wish I could say the new house was taking up all our time, but I don't feel like we've gotten much done here either. Busy with who knows what, but we haven't been in our house long enough to get anything substantial done. The end of February is looking less busy (so far...) so hopefully we'll make some progress then.

One thing that has taken up our time is another antenatal class which was all day Saturday. Another very helpful session. We talked mainly about the birth and some postnatal care. We covered things pain relief options (which will be necessary), ceseareans (which hopefully won't be), and birthing positions (I'll spare the details). In terms of pain relief, we covered four main options:
1.TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machines-specifically for childbirth, which you can buy or rent. The send electric pulses which can block pain gateways to the brain and also help to release endophins. They are drug free of course and have no side effects for baby.
2. Drug similar to demoral-which is IV based drug, effecting whole body rather than a localized numbness and can sometimes slow labor. It can also cause nausea and sleepiness. I probably won't elect to use this drug.
3. Gas and Air-which is a mixture of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and oxygen. I don't think they use this in the US, but it's commonly used in the UK. Good thing about it is that it only takes 20sec to kick in and 20 sec to leave system, so if I don't like it, I don't have to use it.
4. Epideral-low or high dose. Directly into spine which numbs lower part of your body. There are lots of potiential side effects, plus you have to be tied to monitors constantly, which limits mobility. But you feel a lot less pain.

I want to keep an open approach to the birth. I don't want to go in with a set idea of I definitely want or don't want certain things.  Paul and I are going to write up a 'birth wish list' at some point this month which will outline how we want to approach the birth. 

This morning I also had another midwife appointment.  Everything seems to be in order. My blood tests from last month were back and all was good. My iron levels were high which is good. Blood pressure (118/64) was normal and so was urine test. We heard Baby W's heart beat which was strong. His position is head down, which is perfect and let's hope he stays that way for the last 6 weeks. My bump measured 34 cm which is perfectly average for being 34 weeks. Our next appointments are on Feb 15th and include my final ultrasound, a follow up appt with consultant for the fibroid and another midwife appt which is where we're meant to write up our birth plan with her. I say 'meant to' because I'm in the process of most likely changing to a local midwife so I can go to a local hospital rather than have to drive an hour+ to the hospital closest to our old flat. I've got an appt at my GP on Thursday who will refer me to the local midwife services and then we'll see how the first appt with her goes before I make a final decision.

We finally bought our nursery furniture today and just making final decisions on bedding. I won't reveal anything though until it's all put together. Maybe you can bribe my mom to give you hints as she's helping plan everything and we'll do together when she comes over early next month.  Can't wait!!

The secret to maternity pants

And by pants I mean trousers for all you UK readers.

So from about month 5 or 6 I've been wearing full on maternity clothes, and found that I really hated most pants because they were really saggy once you start moving around. Maternity pants have basically two types of stretchy bands at the waist-ones that go under the bump and ones that go over. Neither fit very well. I've even tried different sizes. I always feel like I want a belt, but unfortunately there's nowhere to put one. But after Christmas I had an idea. I started using my stretchy band that I used in the in between stage when I just couldn't quite button up my regular pants. I put this on over the stretchy band on the maternity pants and it works like a charm. If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a look here: http://www.motherhood.com/Shop_MotherhoodMaternity/Tummy_Sleeve.asp. (Looking at that link I'm realizing I'm not the first person to think of this.  Guess I overlooked that feature when I first got this thing--oh well nevermind.) I'm so pleased not have to walk 10 steps and hike up my pants. I'm sure it wasn't an attractive look.

mid wife appt #5

This post is slightly overdue, but we since we aren't in our home yet we haven't had regular internet access and we were out a lot last week furniture browsing.  I had another mid wife appt last Monday.  This time in the office. I know now why they do home visits. Their offices were not very nice or welcoming.  I ended up having to wait 5 minutes in the freezing cold waiting for someone to arrive to open the office. I was the first appointment of the day at 10am! It was all normal stuff. Blood pressure (normal), urine test (normal), bump measurement was 32 cm (12.5 inchces), a 6 cm growth in 4 weeks. We also did some routine blood tests, which I think were for hemoglobin levels. I'll get the results next month (unless there's a problem).

My mom has been asking me how long I'm likely to be in the hospital after baby comes so I finally asked. Apparently you can be discharged as soon as 8 hours after giving birth if both mom and baby are ok. Seems quick, doesn't it!?  I've got my antenatal classes in two weeks, so I'll find out more then.

I've got another ultrasound on Friday so stay tuned for photos. Need to also post the photo fromt the last one, but I don't have access to a scanner, so you'll just have to wait a bit longer. Sorry!

mid-wife appt #4

Mara came to see me, this time with a student, for my 26 week appointment. Everything seems to be progressing well. She took BP (120/80) and urine and both were fine. She measure the bump which came in at 26 cm (10.2 inches), which is right on track. The cm should roughly match up with number of weeks, so I'm perfect I guess. I don't have to do the glucose screening for diabetes since there is no history. And I've scheduled a swine flu vaccine for next week. We also listed to Baby W's heartrate and he sounded good and active. He's in the head down position and to my right, as usual avoiding the fibroid. We also talked about what to do once we move and for now I'm going to stay with my midwife and designated hospital. This means no more home visits and we have to drive ourselves to the hospital (or get an ambulance if necessary), which should all be fine. Hopefully it won't be rush hour when the time comes! I will also check out services near our new house once we move and make a final decision then. I got my government forms which entitle me to £190 ($310) just for being pregnant(!) and also forms for my employer so they can claim my maternity pay.

Generally, I've been feeling pretty good. No more cramping and the baby is getting a lot more active. He makes likes to make my tummy look all wonky, especially when I'm laying down. We've got another ultrasound next Friday, so I'll get to see his sweet little face and get some more snaps. We're also attempting to move house that day-though not confirmed so it could be a very busy day!

Dear everyone,

If you aren't on facebook, you may not be aware that my brother has been making requests on your behalf.  This is a message I received earlier this week:

Kyle Hamacher says:

Dear Stacy,

We all want an updated picture of the bump.

Love,
Everyone

Well everyone, here you go:

I'm 25 weeks today. And my bump is certainly coming along. Baby W has been kicking up a storm lately. He's still got room to move around quite a lot and I think he's been taking advantage. Don't worry though, he's not keeping me up at night yet! 

Well I must keep this short as I've got 15 people coming over for Thanksgiving dinner in 30 minutes!

19 weeks

My bump is finally starting to look a little more like a proper bump under my clothes. 

Everything seems to be going fairly well. Nothing much to report. Paul and I have signed up for a NCT (National Childbirth Trust) antenatal course at the end of January after a recommendation from a friend.  With the course we get a year's membership to NCT, which will get us various discounts to various things and invites to 'nearly new' parties and coffees with other moms. 

My final thought goes to my family back home who've just lost my dad's brother-Uncle Pete- to cancer  He put family above everything else, making a point to find out how all his neices and nephews were doing, and never missing a birthday card.  He will be sorely missed.

Midwife appt #2

Yesterday Mara came to visit again.  It was a fairly quick visit.  Everything seems to be going well. She took my blood pressure (97/63) and did a urine test (normal), then we listened to the baby's heart rate (158) and we even heard a little kick!  She then went through the antenatal classes available.  She recommended Paul and I to the labour and birth workshop in February and a breastfeeding workshop in January. These are both one-off classes.  There are some other optional ones I can do if I'm interested (obstetric physiotherapy, expectant parents class, a talk by an anathesiologist, and tour of the birthing centre). 

I'm not sure what I expected from this whole midwife experience, but it feels a lot more impersonal that I thought it would be. If I didn't read What to Expect or the other pregnancy websites, I wouldn't really have a clue as to what's going on with the baby. It's more like going through a checklist than really asking me what's going on and how I'm feeling.  It's a good thing I have such supportive friends and family:)! 

My bump is growing a bit and the baby is sitting definitely sitting on the left side--I feel very lopsided.

Our next appointment is at 20 weeks and it's another ultrasound--probably our last one, so it'll be the only chance to find out the sex. Must decide!

15 weeks--can't i look pregnant yet?

So my sister has been begging for a belly photo, and I meant to take one each week, but of course I always think about it when I'm by myself or have just gotten back from a run or cycling and look really horrible, so this is my first one. It may look like a bit of a bump, but that's not the baby as its still sitting very low, but I suppose it must be pushing around all my insides up cause my clothes are getting tighter, but I just feel pudgey. It will be nice to soon look properly pregnant and then people will stop having to wonder if I'm just putting on a little weight or if I'm actually pregnant and will just ask;).

So here you go Kimmy: