2 Month Appointment Update

Lila had her 2 month well baby check up on Tuesday. She had to get 4 shots, poor girl. She did really well! Only cried for a bit and then fell asleep. I did give her baby tylenol beforehand so I think that might have helped.

Lila is now 11 lb 4 oz and 23 in long. She's still pretty average in size and growing well.

We saw the pediatrician that I don't like as much. She is fine, just not as pro-breastfeeding and more rigid than Dr Peck. She encouraged us to try to move Lila out of the basinette in our bedroom into her crib. I'm so not ready for that. She also said to start a bedtime routine and try to put her down sleepy but not asleep and to try not to nurse her to sleep.

I still think 2 months is a little young to be able to self soothe to sleep, but we are going to try it a little. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get a baby to sleep, whatever it takes!

I know we need to work on her to go down on her own for naps in preparation for childcare. Speaking of that I have two promising leads! One near home and one near work. As much as I'd like her to be near me during the day, I think closer to home will be better. That way Neil and I can share drop off/pick up duties, we can still take her if I'm home sick, and I can run errands before I pick her up. The place is also right next to our peditrician, the hospital and Kroger! Im going to check it out on Monday.

So Lila is 8 weeks, almost 2 months old! We are home visiting the grandparents for Easter. I'll be sure to post pics of Lila's Easter outfit this weekend!

Lila's First Dr. Appointment

Because Lila lost more than 10% of her weight in the hospital and needed to be supplemented, the pediatrician wanted to see her today, at 5 days old. On Saturday, she weighed 7 lb. 2 oz, down from her birth weight of 7 lb. 15 oz. I supplemented her with formula for a couple feedings, but since I'm committed to giving her breast milk for as long as I can, I was able to start pumping with a breast pump and feeding her that way. I'm so happy to report that it is working!!! Our baby girl is back up to 7 lb. 8.5 oz! The pediatrician was very happy and impressed that I am already producing so much milk (about 2.5 oz in 15-20 mins of pumping).

She also had a general well baby check and everything looks great. She is very healthy and happy! Mom went with me to the appointment because Neil is back at work today, and we were so happy to get Lila there and have everything work out. It gave me a lot more confidence as a mom, because I felt prepared and at ease to get her on time to the appointment. Of course I couldn't have done it with out my mama - she fed and entertained Lila while I got a shower, pumped, ate breakfast and packed the diaper bag. We got out the door and Lila was awesome the whole time. She was perfect in the car! Her first car ride home from the hospital, she was not happy. She did great this time in the car and only cried at the office when the doctor pushed on her belly and when she had to get naked. I couldn't believe how good she was. She also pooped at the office, narrowly missing the doc, which I'm thankful for! Luckily I remembered to pack wipes and a diaper. Success!


In the car on the way there!

So after the successful appointment, mom and I got Chick-fil-A, I fed Lila and pumped again and now mom is running off to get some newborn clothes and some other needed items. So, I'm home alone with the baby for the first time. She's sleeping now, so it's pretty easy, but I think I can do this mom thing after all.

Tonight we may attempt her first sponge bath! We go back to the pedi on March 9, when she'll be two weeks unless she has any problems. I may also go in to see the lactation consultants again if I have any problems with her latching on correctly and feeding. I'm just thankful I was able to rent the pump and produce enough milk to feed her and get her weight back up.

Well, I better go check on Lila. I'm so proud of her for having such a great appointment today!

Baby by the Weekend

Looks like there is an actual end in sight and we will have a baby by this weekend! I had an appointment today. My blood pressure is fine, Lila's heartbeat was 135. I'm dilated to 1cm and have effaced and softened more. The doctor swept my membranes (which was pretty darn uncomfortable) which might help send me into labor soon. But if the baby doesn't come by Friday morning, I'll go to an appt. at 9am and will be induced later that day. Depending on where my cervix is that morning I'll either be induced with Cervidil first or go straight to having my water broken and/or Pitocin.

My doctor seemed impressed that I've kept it together so far and was happy that I was able to wait until Friday to schedule the induction. That gets us to almost 42 weeks. So we are looking at a likely birthday of Feb. 25 or 26 or at the latest the 27th. So much later than I thought, but my daughter is already teaching me how unpredictable motherhood can be!

I'm so excited to finally meet our baby girl! I am still holding out hope that I go into labor before Friday, but trying to be optimistic if I do have to go through with the induction. I'm just happy to move on from being pregnant to being mommy. I'm so ready. I am scared and anxious about labor but I'm hopeful that everything will go just fine.

I'm going to spend the rest of the week getting last minute things ready. I want to double check my hospital bags, stock the house with some food for when we come home and do some last minute tidying up and cleaning.

I'm thrilled about meeting Lila. I can't wait to see her face and hold her for the first time. I especially can't wait to see my baby girl with her daddy! I'm so happy get this next stage of our lives started and finally become a family of 3!

I plan on posting one last pregnant photo before I check into the hospital, but otherwise you should be seeing pictures of our baby girl here in a few days!

Appointment Update: 40 weeks and 2 days

Neil joined me for what was hopefully my last appointment today! Bullet points will make it easier to sum up:

- My blood pressure was 120/88. Yay!

- I'm still not dilated and only about 20% effaced. Boo! But baby is still nice and low.

- Dr. Narandren recommended against inducing this week because my body is still unfavorable and it could be a 2-3 day ordeal that could lead to lots of interventions and possibly a c-section. I trust her and appreciate not being pushed into induction.

- She is still optimistic that I will go into labor on my own soon, but wants me to schedule an appointment for next Monday or Tuesday if I'm still pregnant over the weekend.

- At that appointment she will talk about scheduling an induction for Wednesday or Thursday of next week if that's what we want. Sounds like not very many people go to 42 weeks at this practice. I will definitely consider induction next week if it comes to that.

- We got an ultrasound while we were at the appointment to check and see how Lila was doing as far as fluid, placenta, movement, etc. She's doing great! Her heartbeat sounded good, she was moving around a lot, she was practicing breathing, placenta is still working and there is plenty of fluid. We even got to see her in 3D/4D again, and she's still cute even though she is super smashed in there. We could even see her little fingernails! She needs to come out so mommy can give her a manicure. Those things are getting long! It was great seeing her again and it's wonderful to know that she is still doing fine in there.

- So, we wait. And I feel okay with it right now, really! I want to have a good birth experience and my chances of that are better if I'm allowed to go into labor naturally. I know tons of people are induced and have great experiences, and I might still get induced next week. But it's obviously not a good choice right now since my baby is fine and my body is clearly not ready yet. It's hard to wait, but I've had such a good, healthy pregnancy I don't want to ruin that by making a rash decision about my labor/delivery.

- Symptom-wise, physically... I'm still feeling really good. I'm sleeping well, I'm still moving okay, my heartburn is better, I've adjusted to the numb carpal tunnel hands and I think I can make it through the wait just fine. Mentally..I'm just a little bored and anxious of course. But being an optimistic/look on the bright side type of person, I'm really just fine! The doctor even commented about how good I looked/seemed for being 40+ weeks. I told her I feel better now than I felt 2 weeks ago! Thank you bedrest.

- My mom is coming up to visit tomorrow and will head back home Friday as long as I don't go into labor while she's here! I'm so excited to have her come and stay. It's going to be 60 degrees tomorrow so we plan on getting outside to enjoy the weather. She's going to help me pick up our glider and maybe do some stuff around the house as well. We might also be doing a Hobby Lobby run and working some on Elizabeth's baby shower tasks.

So, bottom line, we are still playing the waiting game and letting Miss Lila call the shots. I sure hope she comes on her own soon. Maybe she wants to wait for warmer weather or wants to be born on her Uncle James' birthday on Monday. Who knows! We'll find out soon and at the latest we will meet our baby girl around this time next week. Can't wait to meet her and become a mommy! I'm so excited!

Appointment Update: 39 weeks and 4 days

I'm so relieved! I had a really good appointment today. After one super high false high BP reading, I had three consecutive normal ones! All of them were right around 120/80. Dr. Narendran was very happy with that and attributed it to me being on bedrest this past week. I have very little swelling in my ankles as well. I guess I really did just need to rest and stay home. I'm so happy because she said she would not be inducing me and thinks I will go into labor naturally in the next few days. I made an appointment with her for next Wednesday the 16th, but hopefully I won't need it. And if so, that's okay too. Of course it's no fun to go past my due date, but I will if that's what has to happen! I mean, I've been pregnant since May - what's a few more days?

I'm still not dilated and I forgot to ask about effacement. I was concerned about still not being dilated at all, but the doc was not. She explained that she feels better about someone like me whose baby is really low and is not dilated at all, than a woman who is 3cm and has a baby that is still up high. She explained that since my baby has already dropped that my labor may be a little easier and quicker since Lila won't have to travel too far. Basically once I actually start dilating Lila is going to come right out of there! Hopefully that means less pushing for me! She also assured me that plenty of people who are not dilated at all in the morning can go into labor later that day.

Dr. Narendran also said that she doesn't expect me to go much past my due date since I'm so certain about my conception day and that the baby is already so low. She is the on call doctor Monday night through Tuesday. I'd love for her to deliver Lila! My other favorite doctor in the practice, Dr. Lee is on call the next day. So, we'll see what happens!

Symptom wise, I'm fine for the most part. I'm feeling a lot of pressure and crampiness still. I slept pretty well last night and only got up once. I don't have a lot of energy, but I am trying to conserve what I do have for labor! I'm in a much better mood now too. I was very worried about my BP and the possibility of getting induced. I'm just really relieved and happy that everything is okay. Lila is still moving a lot but the poor thing has to be so cramped. I'm guessing she is a pretty long baby, so she is basically folded in half in there. I'm going to go out on a limb and try to predict her birth length and weight. Keep in mind we have not had a medical ultrasound since week 18 when the baby was like 9 oz! All I'm going on is that she's been measuring on track and the doctor said today she's not too little or too big from what she can tell. My guess: 8 lbs 8 oz. and 22 inches long. Neil thinks she's a 9-pounder, but I think he's nuts.

Anyway, my plan for this weekend is to spend lots of time with Neil, get out and walk (maybe even outside since it's warming up), finish writing thank you cards and probably make a stop by the brand new Chick-fil-A by our house. We actually went already on opening day, but just got a milkshake. Neil absolutely loves Chick-fil-A so we have to eat lunch there the first weekend its open! I hope everyone has a great weekend! Maybe next time I post I'll have some fun baby news!

A Friday evening at Labor and Delivery, but still no baby.

Let's just say my appointment kind of sucked yesterday. It all started with me SPILLING my freaking urine sample on myself in the bathroom! Oh yes I did. Darn carpal tunnel. I cannot grip anything. I gained another pound, and then they tell me my BP is super high: something like 150/90. My norm is well under 120/80. Lila's HR is fine, 150s.

Then Dr. Lee comes in. She's my favorite doctor. She's concerned about the high BP reading and tests me again. Still high. She is also concerned about my swollen ankles/legs. I told her I didn't even work that day and they are usually much more swollen on my more active days. She says I need to stop working and writes me a nice little note not to work for the remainder of my pregnancy. She checks my cervix and I’m still firm and closed.

Then she tells me to go to the hospital that night for some more tests and observation at labor and delivery. I was really not expecting that. She says that they will probably release me but she wants to play it safe.

So after I went home and Neil got off of work, we packed last minute things and put our hospital bags in the car just in case they kept us. Then we went to Red Lobster!

So we got to L&D after dinner and they just did a whole bunch of tests in the triage room. I even had to wear a hospital gown! They monitored Lila’s heart rate and checked for contractions. Lila did great. She passed the non stress test really fast and they said she looked really good. I had quite a few contractions that showed up on the monitor, but they were 12-15 minutes apart and not painful at all. I had a few toward the end that were a little stronger, but nothing hurt at all and I never really would’ve known those were actually contractions.

Anyway, they checked my urine, drew blood, and took my BP like 5 times. It ranged from still pretty high: 140/85 to normal: 124/78. After about an hour and a half the doctor on call discharged us because everything looked fine. The nurse was convinced they’d be talking induction next week at my appointment.

I really don’t want to be induced unless my cervix is ready for it. I know that induction births tend to be longer and have more interventions than natural ones, and I really don’t want to go there! A lot of inductions for first time moms turn into emergency c-sections too. Please no! Of course if my BP is really high next week and Lila is not doing well I’ll do it, but I’d really like to avoid getting induced.

So, I’m pretty nervous. All I can do at this point is hope that I go into labor naturally in the next week or at least make progress before my next appointment. That way if they do talk induction at least my cervix will be favorable for it.

So, that’s the update. Modified bed rest, no more work, and operation avoid induction. I’m hoping to try to walk some at the gym if we don’t have too much snow this weekend/week. That’s not necessarily bed rest friendly, but I know it will be good for me to walk.

So, Lila you can come out anytime, little lady!!

Appt. Update

Pretty good appointment today. I've been having lower back pain and cramping so I kind of thought things were happening down there, so I wanted to get checked. I was hoping they'd tell me I was dilated at least 1 cm, just for fun, but nope. Nothing is going on in there. The doc said it'll it least be another week until she comes at his estimation, but I'll probably be pretty close to my due date. Funny, the doctor also said I looked too happy to be having the baby any time soon. I guess I should look more miserable or something!

Blood pressure - The nurse said 160/80. The doc was skeptical, and retook it 5 minutes later. It was 124/78.
Weight - Didn't gain any. Amazing! There is a first time for everything, but of course I was just there last week.
Fundal height - He didn't say exactly, but said I was right on track. I'm guessing 37 cm then.
Cervical check - Nada. No dilation or effacement.
Lila's heart rate - 150.
Lila's position - Head down and descending. The doc even said he felt her head and that she's pretty low.
Other - They told me my Group B Strep test came back negative. Yay!
Next appointment - Next Thurs. Feb 3. (38 wks and 3 days).

Now back to watching Gray's Anatomy Season 2 with my feet up!

Appointment Update - 36 weeks

I made it to and from my appointment today even with the snow. I hardly ever have a long wait, but today I was there an hour! I guess I should get used to longer appointments now.

Blood pressure - 122/78
Weight - Up 3 more lbs.
Fundal height - 36 cm, exactly where I need to be
Cervical check - Nothing happening yet. Everything is still closed up. Definitely not a comfortable check, but not painful really.
Lila's heart rate - 160, a bit higher than normal
Lila's position - Head down.
Other - Was swabbed for Group B Strep. This was awkward, but not painful!
Next appointment - January 27th with Dr. Wolf.

Everything looks good! I'm not surprised about not progressing yet, I'm fully prepared for her to hold on until well into February, and that's fine with me!

Quick Appointment Update

Not much to report from my appointment today - it was pretty quick, just like I like it!

Blood pressure - 122/80

Weight - Didn't look. Don't want to know. :)

Fundal height - 34 cm, exactly on track

Cervical check - Didn't do one this time

Lila's heart rate - 140s

Lila's position - Head down but hasn't "dropped" yet

Next appointment - January 20th, at 36 weeks. Will have a cervical check to see if I'm dilated at all and I will have my Group B Strep test.

After my appointment on Jan. 20, I'll be going in every week until D-Day!

Appointment and Life Update

I had my 30 week appointment today and everything is just fine! I'm measuring on schedule (didn't get the exact fundal height - will do that next time), Lila's heart rate was 155, BP was a bit high but not bad, weight gain is okay (though higher than I'd like) and my cervix is still closed up with no signs of anything labor related happening. So everything is going well!

I have my next appointment the morning of Dec 23. I can't believe I'm already on the every 2 week schedule. We are getting so much closer to baby and all the crazy changes that will bring!

Speaking of changes, we've got some big ones happening in the Miller family. Neil got a job! His start date is Dec 20. We've been a one income family for awhile now, and even though Neil is still finishing up his MBA he desperately wanted to get back to the workforce - especially with a baby on the way. I'm really happy for him and proud of him, but it's honestly kind of bittersweet for me. I have loved having him home! He's stayed pretty busy of course, so he wasn't really "home" all the time, but I've gotten spoiled with the flexibility of having a spouse not working full time. I was excited for the possibility of both of us being home with Lila on my maternity leave. Now it's looking like we may be lucky with a week or so of time off for Neil. I'm going to be able to take extra time off now that we have more income coming in, but I'm kind of sad he won't be here to help me as much as I thought. I'm scared of doing it on my own, but I'm hoping I'll have help!

But overall, I'm happy about it. I know he will be happier and more fulfilled being back to work, and that is the most important thing, really. We never expected to have one of us stay home with baby permanently, and we're just super thankful for the "Christmas miracle" of starting a new job right before the holiday and before Lila arrives. Now she might get to go to college!! Har har. I've been joking that she doesn't need a college fund because she is going to trade school to be an electrician and make the big bucks!

So that's the news - Neil's going to work, just in time for me to have 4 months off. We will be making a lot of adjustments in the next few months and I hope Neil is okay working with little sleep!!

Failed the GD test: 26 week appointment

Well, I had my 26 week appointment this morning. It was okay. Well, actually it started off okay and then got crappy. Hence my foul mood today! Everything went well at the appointment until I failed my glucose tolerance test. FAILED by 2 points!

Let's back up. The 1-hour glucose test is a screening test for gestational diabetes (GD). Failing doesn't mean I definitely have "the sugar" but it means I have to do a much longer more intense test than I did today. Before my appointment, I woke up early, drank a super sugary drink they gave me at my last appointment and then an hour later had my blood sugar tested at the doctor's office. I was 2 points over the cutoff, so I have to go get a 3-hour test (scheduled for next Tuesday) that is basically the same thing I did today except I have to not eat for like 12 hours and they are drawing vials of blood instead of just pricking my finger. Needless to say, I'm not happy about that. I also have to drink more of that wretched drink and I have to be at the hospital for 4 hours. Yes I'm complaining.

I just really hope I pass the longer test and don't have GD. I can't imagine I do since I've never had any issues like that before, but you never know what pregnancy can do to you. Apparently it's temporary and you don't have to be overweight or eating a sugary diet to get it. What makes me feel hopeful is that 85% of women who fail the first test go on to pass the longer test. And since I was only a couple of points over the cutoff I'm pretty sure I'll be okay. I'm just concerned, annoyed and upset that anything is wrong. This is really the first negative thing in my pregnancy so far, and it sucks!

Other appointment updates:

Blood Pressure: 118/70

Pregnancy Weight: Up 4 lbs since last appt. We are into a 20+ weight gain now. Oh joy! Doctor's not worried about it so I'm trying not to be :)

Baby’s Heartbeat: 156. She was squirming around so much it was hard for the nurse to get a reading!

Weeks my belly is measuring at: 26 weeks, right on schedule. This was the first time the doc measured me.

Next appointment: Nov. 16 for glucose test, Dec. 9 for my 30-week checkup. After that appointment I will start every 2-week appointments. That means if everything goes to plan I'll have appointments at 32, 34 and 36 weeks. Then I'll start weekly appointments for 37 weeks and on until birth!

Questions I asked:

1. Flu shot for me and Neil? Yes and YES. (I was already going to get one, just needed to convince him a little bit)
2. Pertussis shot? I will get it after birth, baby will get it later on.
3. Kick counts? Since baby is so active it's not necessary unless there is a decrease in movement.

So yeah, I'm in kind of a funk. I know it's pretty common to fail this test, but I don't like failing anything and above all I just want to make sure the baby is okay. If it turns out I do have GD, I'll be happy to have had the test to make sure I'm taking care of myself and the little one as much as I can. I know it will be okay in the end, it's just a bit frustrating and worrying now.

Anyone else failed their test or know anyone who has? I need encouragement!