He's finally here

Owen William Burke was born December 16, 2009 at 7:38 pm. Finally! We went to the hospital at 6 am and finally around 9 am the doctor came in and tried to break my water, but it didn't work, it was up too high or something. So they started me on Pitocin to start contractions. My parents came to the hospital shortly after that and so all morning we pretty much just sat around in the hospital room and watched TV and talked. I could feel that I was contracting, but they didn't hurt at all. I walked around for awhile because I was bored, and it was pretty much a boring morning, just waiting and waiting.

Then, at about 1 pm my doctor came back and since the medicine was making me contract regularly, my water bag came into a position that my doctor could break it, so she did. There was A LOT of fluid, even my doctor was surprised. After that, my contractions started to hurt right away, but not so much that I couldn't take it, but enough that I had to breathe through them and squeeze the bed a little. Eventually I got up to go to the bathroom and decided to get in the whirlpool tub for a while. My contractions were getting stonger and stronger each time. I went into it thinking "How bad could the pain really get?" but holy cow, it was unbearable. I called for the nurse to come get me out of the tub and because I was still getting the Pitocin, my contractions were coming almost nonstop because my body was naturally contracting too. I told her that I was ready for an epidural and prayed that it wouldn't take long for the doctor to come give it to me. He came pretty quickly, but it seemed to take FOREVER for him to get everything set up and get the catheter in my back and then tape everything up and then FINALLY the drugs were being pumped into me :) While he was putting it in though, I had to be hunched over with my back curled and stay still while he put it in my spine all the while I'm having the worst pain of my life.

After that, though, it was smooth sailing. I had to switch positions a few times to get the epidural to affect both sides of my body evenly, but that was a small price to pay for the comfort I got. I even fell asleep a little bit. Meanwhile, the nurses checked me a few times and I was progressing just fine. By the time the doctor got back at about 7 pm I was ready to push. And since I had the AWESOME epidural, I didn't feel any pain while I pushed. It was the best part of the whole day because he was finally coming out and I didn't have to feel it :) Afterward we figured I probably pushed for about 25 minutes or so. Between contractions we all just kind of sat there and talked like nothing was going on. It was nothing like what I've seen on TV, but that's all thanks to the drugs.

So then, finally, at 7:38 pm, Owen was born. Ryan cut the cord and then the nurses took him. He was crying and making noise, but it was more of a whimper than an all out screaming cry, and it ended up that he had quite a bit of fluid in his lungs and he was a little pale. The nurses had to work on him for quite awhile, and even had to call in some help. They were really good though, and stayed calm with us, but they were concerned about him. Eventually they were satisfied that they got some of the fluid out of him and went over and weighed him. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long. I was a little over 9 lbs at birth and Ryan was 6 lbs and some. Then we finally got to hold him and take pictures.







We got to go home on Friday and my mom came and stayed with us until today (Tuesday). We got pretty lucky because Owen is a really good baby. He only cries when he's hungry, gassy, or really needs a diaper change. Otherwise, he mostly sleeps or just hangs out and looks around. Our dogs are still getting used to him. They don't really pay too much attention to him, but our lab, Ragnar, sometimes barks at him when he cries.

It was awesome to have my mom come and stay with us. She cooked and cleaned and did laundry and helped a lot with Owen. I wish she could stay forever and do all that stuff! :) I'm nursing Owen, and he's doing good with it. Better each day, too. Ryan and I took him for his newborn check up yesterday, and he's a little jaundice, but not enough that we have to do anything but keep him well fed so that he cleans out his system.

Now we just have to hope that the weather cooperates enough that we can get home for Christmas, and the rest of our family can too. We want to show him off to everyone!

39 weeks

Ryan and I are a little disappointed that Owen didn't come out on his own this weekend. On Friday we went to Carlos O'Kelly's to eat spicy food, Saturday I walked around Wal-Mart for over an hour, and Sunday my friend Molly came up to give me a massage (and hit some labor inducing pressure points), but none of it worked. I guess he's just not ready to come out, but that's too bad because he's coming tomorrow whether he wants to or not! I've been having contractions every day that are regularly spaced and starting to get painful, but they always stop before anything happens.

I went to my last day of student teaching yesterday. I had originally planned to go today too, but since it's the last week anyway, which is usually an observation week, there really isn't a whole lot for me to do, and I decided to take today to relax. Or try to anyway. So far, I'm not too anxious, but I have a feeling that last night was my last good night of sleep for a LOOOOOOONG time! I'm afraid I won't sleep at all tonight, and Ryan probably won't be able to either. It's weird to think that today is the last day that it's just Ryan and me. He has the day off today, too, but we don't have any plans. I guess we'll just do any last minute stuff and run some errands.

We are getting really excited! Look for some pictures in the next few days!!

38 weeks

I got to go to the doctor today since they were closed yesterday for the blizzard. She told me that since my platelet count was out of whack during my pregnancy (even though they are fine now) that I could be induced at 39 weeks if my cervix was "favorable". So she checked me and I was 3 cm and then she did what's called stripping the membranes, which is where my doctor seperates the amniotic sac from my cervix. It's supposed to release hormones and help labor get started. It really sucked and now I'm really crampy, but after she did that she said I was up to 4 cm dilated! We also scheduled an induction for Wednesday, December 16, but my doctor thinks I'll go into labor on my own before that! So yea! I'm just glad he'll be here well before Christmas.

I have to be at the hospital on the 16th by 6 am, which is nice and early, but the lady said that that means I'm the first of the list of three women getting induced that day, and if the floor gets busy with women having natural labors, that I'll be the last of the three to get bumped from the list. So I'm pretty much guaranteed to have Owen by/on the 16th. We'll see how it goes. I'm getting pretty excited/nervous/anxious now though, but I can't wait to meet him!

Blizzard

Well, it hasn't even snowed that much yet this year, and now there's a full blown blizzard out. YUCK! It's nice that we got out of school early yesterday and no school today, though :) The bad part is that I think the whole state has shut down and my doctor's appointment got cancelled. I haven't heard anything from them, I just know because the I saw that the office is closed on KWWL. So I don't know when I'll be able to go in again, which sucks because now that I'm so close to the end, I just want to know what is going on - like am I dilated more?

I was getting pretty worried last night because I has having contractions all day from noon on, and they were coming about every 15 minutes, but they never became painful, so I just went to bed and nothing came of it, thankfully. One, I don't want to go out in this weather, and two, no one else would be able to make it here. So I guess we'll see how today goes. I talked to my student teaching supervisor last week and he said that he wasn't going to make me come back if I missed 7 days (I'm only supposed to get 6) so officially I could have him today since there's no school and only 7 school days left until I'm done. So now I'm ready :D except that today's no good because of the weather. So I'm really hoping for tomorrow. The snow is supposed to stop today, but the wind is going to be really bad and that's what makes it a blizzard. I just really want him to be born before Christmas, and the more time the better.

Today is my dog Ragnar's fourth birthday - so it would have been kind of cool to have Owen today so they could have the same birthday ;)

37 weeks

I had my appointment with my OB today and blood work yesterday. Lots of good news! My platelets are up to 178 which is good because they are supposed to be above 150 and they are going up. Last time I went they were 160, I think. Also, at my OB appt today she told me that I'm 2.5 cm dilated! Yea! I'm getting closer! She said that next week she may do an ultrasound to double check where his head is. I don't think he's really dropped at all yet, he still seems pretty high. I've been having more and more of those random contractions, which I didn't even realize until last week that that's what they were. I kept thinking he was just sitting in a funny position for a little while, but nope, those were Braxton Hicks. And he's still as active as ever, which I don't mind too much because it's reassuring, but sometimes I wish he'd calm down a little!

My countdown is now in the teens! 19 days until my due date! My mom is coming this weekend to "help me nest". I haven't gotten the urge to nest yet, which doesn't surprise me (or my mom, probably), so she's coming to do some major cleaning one last time before Owen gets here. Sounds pretty boring to me, but I appreciate the help, that's for sure! I shouldn't even say "help" because if anything, she'll be doing all the work, as usual.

So anyway, now I just need to get through the next couple of weeks of school and hope that the weather is cooperative for when he's ready to come out. We live about 10-15 minutes from the hospital in good conditions and light traffic, but from Elkader it would take about 1 hr 15 in good conditions and Ryan's family from Muscatine at least 2 hours.

We put our tree up this past Monday for the first time in about four years. It looks pretty good, but there's nothing under it. I hope Owen comes before Christmas so we can get a family picture in front of our tree!

I decided to take another bare belly picture, but first, this is a reminder of when I was 32 weeks and 4 days:


And this is me today, 37 weeks and 2 days:


I'm definitely bigger, but I think it's more of an all over roundness. I expected that my belly would be OUT farther, which it is, but not as much as I thought it would be.

Appointment

So I had my appointment today. No ultrasound. I had a different doctor and he said that I'm measuring big, so now I'm a little confused. My doctor does have a pretty thick accent, though, so maybe I misunderstood her or she misspoke and meant that I was big, not small. I don't know.

He also checked me, which I'm going to have to get used to, but that really sucked. I'm not dilated but my cervix is thinning out. So there's pretty much nothing exciting going on yet, which I figured since he's still up pretty high. I'm "patiently" awaiting the day when he drops. And I'm starting to think I should just break down and go to the chiropractor because my back hurts, but it's only when I'm sitting down and it's always in the same spot, so I'm probably out of whack in that area. I'm just sick of going to all these appointments! And it's only going to get worse since I have to go to the OB every week now and the blood doctor every week too.

I'm excited for yummy Thanksgiving food! I've gained 30 pounds, which is still within the recommended weight gain but we'll see after tomorrow! :) This year my birthday is on Black Friday, and I've never gone shopping on it and you can bet I'm not going to start this year! I can't stand up for more than like 20 minutes without wanting to cry from misery. So yeah, I can't stand or sit without being uncomfortable. Gotta love it!

Postponed

My doctor appointment got postponed because my doctor had three women in labor and was at the hospital. I'm going Wednesday morning, but it's with a different doctor so who knows if he'll do an ultrasound when my doctor would have. So I guess we just have to wait and see.

36 Weeks

Holy cow! Only one more month! I'm officially in the 20's in my countdown - 29 days from today. I'm hoping he actually comes a little early - a couple of days at least, if not a week. I've saved those 6 days and I want to use them! :) I like being pregnant, actually, and if it weren't for my back and the fact that he's up in my ribs, I couldn't complain, but I can't sit for very long without my back killing me and I can't stand for very long either. He's still up pretty high, so he's kicking my ribs and making it a little harder to breathe. I wish he'd drop.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and my doctor said she might do an ultrasound because I'm a little small, which isn't necessarily a good thing, but if she does one, at least I'll get to see the little guy! She didn't seem too concerned about it, and he's a really active baby, so hopefully he's alright in there. I've been getting my blood work done too, and my platelets are back up to where they are supposed to be, so hopefully I won't have to go to that doctor anymore.

We are going to Ryan's family's for Thanksgiving this week, and since we haven't done a baby shower with them yet, we'll get some more stuff and then we can go shopping for the essentials we didn't get and then set everything up and finalized! I think Ryan will want to get out the Christmas stuff next weekend too, since he already wanted to do that about a month ago. We haven't decorated for Christmas since the first year we lived in Cedar Falls, if you can believe that. I guess we have more of a reason to this year! :)

Well, Ryan's at the Vikings game in Minneapolis today, so I better turn the game on and see if I can see him :) I'll try to update tomorrow about the doctor's appointment, and maybe I'll put up another belly picture. If we do an ultrasound I could probably scan a new baby picture in here too ;)

34 weeks

Not much new going on. I had a doctors appointment today and everything looks good. They are just going to monitor my platelet count - I have to get blood work every other week. She also said that I'm measuring a little small, which she said I have been throughout, so when I go back in two weeks if I'm still measuring off, they might do another ultrasound.

My doctor also made the comment that in another two weeks, whenever the baby wants to come would be ok. I'm thinking he better wait until at least December 11th, because I am only allowed 6 absenses this semester from student teaching, and I'm (trying to) save them all for the end, just in case. I'm done student teaching December 18, graduation is the 19th, and he's due on the 21st. I do really hope he comes by the 21st though, so that we can hopefully make it to Elkader for Christmas. We'll see I guess. If I didn't have student teaching, and he would be healthy, I'd say he could come now. I'm sick of being pregnant. I just can't get comfortable and Ryan isn't very empathetic. He's been working quite a bit lately since I'm not making any money student teaching, so he's busy and thinks he deserves massages too :) Yeah, right! (Ok, so maybe I'm not very empathetic, either.)

Owen's room

I had my second shower this last Saturday and got lots of good stuff. I didn't take any pictures at the shower, so I don't have any to post yet, but hopefully I'll get some that others took in a few days.

Ryan went to Target and picked up our crib today, so we put it together tonight and tried to get his room ready as much as we could. Here are some pictures of it SO FAR:





We still plan on trying to put our glider in the room too, but we'll see how much room that takes up. We are going to leave it out for a while because I like to sit in it in the living room :D We still have one more shower from Ryan's family, and then after that we can finish everything up. We are getting really anxious, and we still have 7 weeks to go.

We got our stroller and car seat at the shower on Saturday and I put that together last night. I love it!



Everything is still going pretty good. I've started feeling a little more uncomfortable, though. He's already up in my ribs, kicking and poking them, and it makes breathing a little harder. My back is starting to hurt more too and sometimes my belly feels SO heavy. I'm getting ready to be done, but I shouldn't complain too much since I've had a really good pregnancy til now.

Anyway, that's all for now until I get some good Halloween baby shower pictures.

32 weeks

My mom suggested that I put up some updated belly bump pictures. So here they are - bare belly this time :D I am currently 32 weeks and 4 days pregnant.





The second one from the front makes me look really huge! I've been looking at it and my belly looks kind of lopsided or weird shaped or something. He must be postitioned weird.

One of my good friends, Megan, had her baby today! They had a girl, Layla Ann, so now they have a 2 year old boy and a baby girl. Congrats Bobby and Megan!

Tomorrow's the next baby shower! I'm so excited!

My mom's been busy

I took some pictures of the stuff my mom made for the baby's room. I forgot to add that she made an Iowa fleece tie blanket too! I don't have a picture of the curtain she made yet because she took it home to finish hemming the bottom, but I'll get it this weekend.


Wall hanging


Bumper pad


Baby blanket - both sides
She also made a crib sheet out of the same Vikings material.


Iowa fleece blanket

Cedar Falls Baby Shower

We had our first baby shower in Cedar Falls last Saturday. I thought that I would have pictures, but I didn't really take any and the ones that were taken were of us opening presents and didn't turn out very good. We got a lot of really good stuff - including LOTS of Vikings stuff! My mom has been very busy making stuff for his room too. She made a wall hanging, a curtain, a crib sheet, bumper pad, and a blanket! They all turned out really good too. I'll have to take some good pictures of them and post them.

The shower really wasn't a traditional shower - it was boy/girl, at a bar, and pretty much just cake, presents and beer (I just enjoyed the cake and presents, obviously). It was fun, but there were quite a few people that couldn't make it due to sickness and other family things. Ryan and I just went through all of our presents again last night and tried to organize and find room for stuff. That's going to be the biggest challenge! I can't wait to get everything in his room ready - especially the crib - so we can get organized and "ready" for him to come.

This weekend is my Halloween baby shower in Elkader with my side of the family and friends from Elkader. I can't wait! I bet I'll have some better pictures to post of that shower, especially since its a costume party!

I had a doctor appointment today too - 32 weeks and counting! I got vaccinated for H1N1 too, and now my arm is a little achy. Beats getting sick, though! The doctor said she thinks his head is down, and hopefully it stays that way. My blood pressure and weight are fine and his heartbeat sounded good, too. My blood platelet count is still low and I have to go in for MORE blood work next week to make sure that it is because of pregnancy and not something else, but the nurse said it's not uncommon for pregnant women to have lower than normal platelet counts. I guess we'll see!

I hate writing papers!

I finished my 8 weeks at Peet Jr. High for student teaching - YEA! But now I have to write a ginormous paper (to use technical terms) and I absolutely HATE writing papers. It's boring, I overthink everything about them, and it takes me forever. Not to mention the fact that I can't concentrate at home because of TV, internet, dogs and husband, and going to campus is a pain because I don't have a parking permit and they keep the labs about 55 degrees. BOO! I put myself on a schedule so that I will be done sometime tomorrow, and I've been following it, but that means I have to write all day today and all day tomorrow, because that's how long it will take me to write the sections I've scheduled for the next two days. BORING! I try to keep thinking about how nice it will be to have it done before my baby shower on Saturday and I can relax on Sunday before I start my next 8 weeks at Hudson High School (for which I will not have to write a paper, thank God!).

I did get a voicemail from my nurse to tell me I do not have diabetes, but she did not mention anything about the low platelets. I'll just wait until Tuesday when I have my next appointment to find out about that. And, thank goodness, my iron vitamins are working wonders on my fatigue. I can actually make it through the day without wanting to cry because I need a nap so bad! Yea!

Only 60 more days until my due date!! Ryan said last week that he wanted to put the Christmas tree up to get him in the Christmas/baby spirit. But thankfully he said we would wait until after Thanksgiving. :D He's pretty excited to meet this little guy!

31 weeks

I haven't heard anything from my doctor about the diabetes test, and when I was done I had asked for a print out of my results, and as far as I could tell, my glucose levels were fine and I don't have gestational diabetes. My platelets were still low, but I don't know that you can really do too much about that but keep it monintored.

This coming Saturday is my first baby shower! Since Ryan and I both work at the same sports bar, and have a lot of friends that either work there or are regulars there, we decided we wanted to have a boy/girl baby shower at the bar. It's pretty much just an excuse for all our friends to get together for cake and alcohol, and to bring us presents ;D Even though I can't partake in the alcohol part of it, I think it will still be a good time :) I'm pretty excited for it, and I'll be sure to post pictures from it.

Otherwise, there really isn't anything exciting going on. My mom came down on Saturday and helped me clean out junk from the baby's room, which is really nice to have done. Next weekend we are going to shampoo the carpet in there and then it will be ready for baby stuff! Thanks, Mom!

Quick update

I went to the doctor yesterday and my nurse told me I am anemic, my blood sugar was high, and my platelets were low. So she put me on iron pills and I'm going to the hospital tomorrow to take the diagnostic test for gestational diabetes. They will also recheck my platelets, which are important for clotting. Low platelets could mean preeclampsia (high blood pressure) and can be bad for delivery/c-section because you need platelets to clot your blood. My blood pressure is fine, though, and my platelets were just under the cut off, so I'm thinking I'll be ok there.

So anyway, I assume it'll take a couple of days to get the results from the diabetes test, so I'll let you know when I find out. Even if I do have gestational diabetes, most women can control it just by changing their diet (which I don't really want to do :D I love chocolate!)

Doctors

Well, I got the call from my nurse last Friday - I failed both of my blood tests :( Turns out I am anemic and my blood sugar was elevated, which means I have to go back for another test to see if I have gestational diabetes. The anemia thing isn't so bad, she'll probably just put me on iron vitamins, and actually I'm happy because I have been extra tired lately, but I thought it was just third trimester fatigue. So hopefully I'll get a little bit more energy. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow (Monday), so I'll know more about everything then.

The high blood sugar was a little bit more of a shock, since they check my urine for sugar every time I go, and have only mentioned high sugar once, and that was right after I had eaten pancakes with maple sugar on them. But anyway, from what I hear the diabetes test takes four hours because I have to drink something and then they check my blood every hour for four hours. Not looking forward to that. But like I said, I don't know anything yet, I just got a voicemail from my nurse on Friday and I'll see her tomorrow. So I'll let you know.

I also finally got my flu shot, which I was a little nervous about because people always talk about how much it hurts and that their arm hurts all night and blah, blah, blah, but it was nothing! A tiny prick and now I feel just fine. I tried getting the shot a couple of weeks ago for free at UNI, but they ran out of them the first day they were offered! I was kind of mad that I went all the way there and then got nothing. I got it at Target Pharmacy though, and it was only $12 after insurance, so it wasn't that bad.

Anyway, I'll know more tomorrow about everthing, so I'll try to post again then.

28 weeks

Well, I figured since Ryan and I finally bought a new camera, this would be the perfect time to start my baby blog to keep people updated. I am now 28 weeks (the first week of my 7th month and last trimester!), and so far everything has been going great. We found out about two months ago that we are expecting a boy and are very excited to have a future Vikings football player in our family. :) We decided even before we knew what we were having that if it was a boy, his name would be Owen William Burke. Ryan's favorite boy name was Owen, which just happens to be my dad's real first name, so it works out pretty well. William is Ryan's middle name.

The doctor says everything has been looking good and everything is right on schedule, and hopefully he stays on schedule because I am doing my student teaching right now and won't be done until 3 days before my due date, which is December 21, 2009. He'll be the perfect Christmas present. On Tuesday I went in and had blood drawn to check for anemia and high glucose, and I haven't heard anything from the nurse about my results so far, and she said no news is good news. I've had a really easy pregnancy so far - no morning sickness, my back is fine most of the time, and no swollen feet (yet - knock on wood). The worst part for me is 2-3 leg cramps a night and having to pee all the time. I've always gotten night leg cramps, but they were always more random and no where NEAR as painful. They aren't just in my calves either. Sometimes they are along the outside of my lower leg, which is really weird and are harder to get rid of, and in the arches of my foot. The other day at school I had cramps near the balls of my feet and had to walk around on my tiptoes during class. I wonder what my students thought.

Student teaching, by the way, is going great. Right now I am at Peet Junior High in Cedar Falls, doing 9th grade Spanish (the high school here is only big enough to accommodate grades 10-12). I'll be done at Peet on October 16th, and then I start at Hudson High School on October 26th, teaching 9th and 10th grade Spanish. I like it so far, but can't wait to get my OWN classroom.

Ok, well, I was able to take a few pictures with my webcam of my growing belly, so I'll post those. My head is cut off because I had to take them myself, and it was kind of hard. Our new camera has video on it, so the video is just a real quick shot of Owen giving me a pretty big kick. 22 weeks 

25 weeks 

28 weeks