my high maintenance girls

With Presley, our first visit to L&D triage was at 31 weeks. I had to get Terbutaline to make the contractions stop. Then, we spent the night at 36 weeks for preterm labor, only to be sent home the next day for no progression. And I had Presley the next week.

With new little miss, I first went to triage at 29 weeks for some painful contractions. I only had some uterine irritability when I got hooked up to the monitor, no contractions. So they sent me home. I went back last Sunday night at 34w5d because of painful contractions. This time I had to get Terbutaline to make them stop. Let me just say, that stuff is AWFUL! It makes your heart rate jump up, gives you the shakes, and just generally, sucks!

And then tonight, I was at work and around 9 pm, started having contractions. About 10 in 50 min., so every 5 min. They were getting increasingly more uncomfortable, so I decided to get checked out. I was still only dilated to a 1 cm, which was what I was last Sunday. My blood pressure was a bit higher than it has been. But that doesn’t surprise me with how swollen I’ve been in the last week and the headaches that I’ve been having. I had high blood pressure with Presley as well. I never progressed any, so they sent me home tonight. I’m still having painful contractions. Sometimes they’re every 4 min apart and I have to blow through the pain! Yikes! But I’m not dilating at all with them and that weirds me out!

I’m not ready for her to come yet. I still have to finish her nursery and buy some more Christmas presents with my good paychecks. Ha! But I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t ready to breathe again! (:

It’s a GIRL!

I know this is old news but I still wanted to put it on the blog to remember! When we had our 20 week ultrasound 2 days before our 6th wedding anniversary, we decided to just have the ultrasound tech print out a picture of the gender and put it in an envelope. Then we went to dinner on our anniversary night and opened the envelope after dessert.  Then a few weeks later we went to dinner with my parents and his mom and step dad. Then came back to our house and cut the cake to see that it had a PINK middle!

Everyone was really surprised that it was a girl. Presley and Kole were disappointed, to say the least. Kole almost cried that it wasn’t a boy. Ha! I really didn’t expect the two girls to act like that. I thought they would be happy to have another girl on their side.

Aren’t these shirts so cute? I’m so excited to be having a girl! (Not that I wouldn’t have loved to have a baby boy…maybe someday!) I can’t wait to dress my girls alike. And see them playing together. I hope they become best friends for life. :)

When we went to the ultrasound appointment this week, we asked the tech to look again and make sure that she was really a she. “definitely a girl” was what she said when she scanned me!

21 weeks

• How far along?  20 weeks and 6 days
• Total weight gain:  +11 lbs
• Maternity clothes? a few! the dress above is small maternity dress and it’s a little bit big. but it was free and in black, my favorite color, so I love it! (:
• Stretch marks? none
• Sleep: insomnia has been setting in lately and it stinks!
• Best moment this week: well, I’m looking forward to telling everyone the gender and seeing/hearing their reactions
• Miss Anything? being able to eat a lot of seafood! I don’t crave it, but we go out to eat I constantly think “am I eating too much mercury?”
• Movement: oh yes! the baby is such a night owl!
• Food cravings: nothing in particular
• Food aversions: this isn’t really an aversion, but if I wait too long to eat when I’m hungry I get super nauseous. like, dry heave nauseous…it’s lovely!
• Gender: We know! We know! (; The big reveal for everybody else is Friday!
• Labor Signs: none thank goodness
• Symptoms: still round ligament pains, and general cramping. and also killer heartburn.
• Belly Button in or out? in
• Wedding rings on or off? on
• Looking forward to: telling everyone whether it’s a baby girl or baby boy!

19 weeks

• How far along?  19 weeks today!
• Total weight gain:  +6 lbs as of 16 weeks, not sure now
• Maternity clothes? I’m rocking the bella band with my regular pants and a few maternity tops
• Stretch marks? none, yet! My stomach is getting itchy so they might be coming.
• Sleep: ok
• Best moment this week: cookout with my family, and fun kid-free shopping with Karri!
• Miss Anything? not having heartburn
• Movement: yes! (: not really strong yet, but I notice them more frequently.
• Food cravings: nothing in particular
• Food aversions: pretty much anything raw when I’m cooking. Raw chicken and uncooked ground beef grosses me out. I’m ok to eat it though once it’s cooked. It’s weird
• Gender: ???? We find out this week! (: Presley thinks it’s a boy and so does everyone else, so we’ll see!
• Labor Signs: none thank goodness
• Symptoms: round ligament pains, and general cramping. Dr. D says the cramping is worse with the second baby! Your uterus stretches faster the second time around….fun!
• Belly Button in or out? in
• Wedding rings on or off? on
• Looking forward to: finding out the gender this week! My anatomy ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday morning. We have decided to have the u/s tech just write down the gender for us and we will open it at our anniversary dinner on Saturday night. We found out alone with Presley (we were the only two in the delivery room) and we want to find out alone with this one too!

17 weeks

So this is my first post relating to the second Petty! I’m just going to clump this week’s update with the beginning info just to save time for myself.

We found out on Easter morning, April 8th. This was a HUGE surprise as we had been trying for the better part of a year. My OB had even gone as far as to refer us to a reproductive endocrinologist, who is a specialist in fertility. Pregnancy the first go around came pretty easily and although I knew at that time how lucky we were, I especially know now. My heart goes out to couples who have infertility for years. It’s very heart-breaking month after month to see a negative sign especially when everyone is asking over and over for a new baby! So anyways, we had made the appointment for mid—May; that was the first they could see us. The weekend of Easter I thought to myself “I probably should test soon because we have that trip to Disney planned and I should just know. I know it’s going to be negative, but I’ll test anyway.” Boy was I wrong! I figured that I was going to miscarry (positive thinker over here, huh?) because we had been trying for so long and Jeremiah’s on so many medications for his RA and fibromyalgia. I just knew that something was going to be wrong. So far Dr. D, my OB, has said that everything’s been right on track. And needless to say we canceled that appt with the specialist! Praise God!

We had our first ultrasound on Thursday, April 12th and the baby measured 7 weeks and 2 days and received the due date of November 27th. Almost everything with this pregnancy has been different than with Presley. Some people think that means a different gender; boy this time, but I think that every pregnancy is just different, period. We told our families around 12 weeks and announced it to the rest of the world, via facebook of course, at 16.5 weeks. My scrubs were starting to get a little tight to keep holding in the secret! Ha!

Below is how my family found out. I was taking the picture and said “everyone say Presley’s going to be a big sister”! Jaden and Kole repeated half of it then said “wait, what”! My dad didn’t hear what I said at all and Kameron was lost as to what was even going on! Typical Miller family stuff! (: We told Jeremiah’s mom and then dad and step-mom by having Presley wear a big sister shirt around them. She still doesn’t fully understand what it all means. Most of the time she’ll say yes, if someone asks her does she want a baby brother or sister. But she will be 3.5 by the time the baby gets here and I think she’ll be the greatest big sister. She’s already very into being a good helper.

• How far along?  technically 16 weeks and 5 days
• Total weight gain:  6 lbs so far
• Maternity clothes? some that I had left over from P, but mainly just my regular clothes
• Stretch marks? none 
• Sleep: it’s ok, getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom gets pretty old!
• Best moment this week: Presley’s 3rd birthday party!
• Miss Anything? being able to suck in my fat! Ha! (; Oh and not gagging while brushing my teeth!
• Movement: yes! I first felt him/her at 10 weeks. It’s very random though, no pattern of movement yet.
• Food cravings: at the beginning it was pickles, nothing at the moment
• Food aversions: oh! These were horrible at first. I would want something to eat, make it, then sit down to eat and be so nauseated at the sight/smell of it, I would have to fix something else. SO annoying!
• Gender: ???? I hope girl again because I would like to reuse ALL of the clothes/shoes/bows that I’ve spent a small fortune on and I would really like for P to have a sister!
• Labor Signs: none thank goodness
• Symptoms: horrible round ligament pains at times, being crazy sensitive to smells, gagging randomly, general abdominal cramping (aren’t you jealous!!!)
• Belly Button in or out? in
• Wedding rings on or off? on
• Looking forward to: finding out the gender so soon and having a more rounded baby belly

BIG news!

Presley’s going to be a

my due date is November 27th and we couldn’t be more excited!

More pregnancy details to come after Presley’s 3rd birthday party tomorrow!

Full Term!

21 days left! Can you believe it? Because I can't! It seems like it was just October when we found out! Ah, time flew by so quickly. Well, here is the 37 week belly pic. It doesn't seem like I've grown outward any. Since Sweet Pea has been head down for the last few weeks, I think I've "dropped". Because it's a little easier to breathe and I have to pee every 5 minutes it seems like!

Expectations

Here is a poem that the birthing class instructor gave us last night. Next week will be our last class and couples who have gone through the class and subsequently have had babies, will come back and share their stories. I think it would be really cool to hear all of their different experiences with birth. So hopefully we'll make it to that class!

Anyway here is the sweet poem called "Expectations"

It is important to me
that I spend a part of
the next few hours here
alone with you
in the darkness.
You and I will never
be this close again.
By morning you will be
a tiny person
all your own.
No longer the kicking,
demanding bulge
in my body that
I have grown to love so well.
I pray God will safely
guide you on your journey
and I ask him for the strength
to help you all I can.
Again you signal your
impatience to be free.
Time to wake your daddy.
-anonymous


Oh my goodness, I cried when I first read it and I'm tearing up now! The end of pregnancy is so bittersweet! I thought a few weeks ago I was so ready for it to be over and for us to be able to hold our "outside" baby. But now I realize I'll never get this time back with my precious baby, where it's just the two of us. And s/he is safe inside my womb. Even though your husband or partner can support you 100%, they can't really know what's going on inside. A mother and her child are forever linked in a way that no other two people on earth are. And it makes me sad that in just a short time, it will be over. (I can see now how postpartum depression starts, good grief!) Anyway, I'm still excited for the birth and to be able to see Sweet Pea face to face. I'm just a little less gong-ho about it happening today!

So of course, that probably means that it will all happen today!! ;)

Sweet Pea's test run!

Well, we spent the night in labor and delivery on Tuesday night. I went to work as usual and things were going as usual and then BAM! 10 pm hit and so did the contractions. Very painful ones at that! Dr. D, my OB, had said to come to the L&D Triage area if I ever have more than 5 contractions in one hour. After the 4th contraction in 20 minutes, I decided to call Jeremiah and have him meet me in Triage.

I got downstairs at 11 and Jeremiah made it there by 11:15. They hooked me up to the monitors and I was having contractions pretty much one right after the other. I was dilated to 2.5 cm, which is only half a centimeter bigger than I previously was. The nurse started an IV, got some blood for labs, and a urine specimen. They gave me a shot of pain medicine around 1:30 am to see if I was in "true" labor or not. The theory was if these contractions were not true, then the pain medication would help me relax and hopefully make the contractions stop. Well, they didn't stop, although it was weird that some were really painful and some of them I couldn't even feel. The nurse came in about 2 hours after the pain medicine and said I was only dilated to 3 cm. (Not much progress!) So she called Dr. D and she wanted to observe me overnight since I had made a little bit of progress, though not much!

We got to an L&D room about 4 am and it was a welcome change! I got a real bed (not just a stretcher) and Jeremiah got to sit/sleep on a couch (not just an upright chair!). We both dozed on and off for the next few hours and Dr. D came in to see me at 6:50 am. She said I was still around 3 cm, but wanted to keep me at least until lunch time to see if the contractions I was still having would make me progress any more. We walked around the L&D floor for an hour and a half straight, but nothing else happened! So when Dr. D came in at 12, she decided to send us home. I was very frustrated, but could understand why she couldn't help me along with any medicine. I was only 36 weeks and 1 day, so it would be better if Sweet Pea cooked a little longer.

I haven't been that disappointed in a long while! We came so close to seeing Sweet Pea that day! And I'll admit it, I'm selfish. I'm ready to have an outside baby! I'm tired of being tired and uncomfortable 24/7 and I'm ready to hold and love on Sweet Pea. Not to mention to FINALLY find out if we have a Mr or Miss! But Dr. D did give us some hope! She said she didn't think it was going to happen on Wednesday, but that she definitely thought it would be within the next few days! So I guess we'll wait and see!

Food cravings :)

Yum! I'm sitting here drooling just thinking of yummy food! Lately I've been craving all things breakfast related. Omelets, pancakes, waffles, toast, french toast, chocolate milk, apple juice, Sunny D...pretty much anything. I have woken up at 3 am one day CRAVING a bacon and cheese omelet...so what do you do besides get out of bed and go make one? Ha ha! It was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten, or so I thought at that moment! I've also been drinking apple juice by the gallon lately. Mmmm...good stuff!

And my latest food addiction as of last night is Steak n Shake. Not just anything though. A steakburger with cheese and all the toppings and chili cheese fries. Soooo unhealthy for you, but sooooo incredibly delicious! Oh my gosh! I had it a few weeks ago after one of our birthing classes and last night we stopped by there and I had the overwhelming desire for these items after I saw them on the menu. Seriously I could eat it right now. I'm salivating! Ok I gotta go get my mind on something else! =)

Good news and bad news

Well, there isn't really any bad news except for me, for the fact that I haven't had a baby yet! ;) But in the good news department my doctor's appointment on Friday went well. They did another ultrasound, which showed Sweet Pea is doing fine! I also have PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension), or high blood pressure caused by being pregnant. The doctor won't really do anything for this except watch it and if I develop protein in my urine, then they become more concerned. When Dr. D noticed how swollen my legs were, I just chuckled and said they're always like that. But only my feet/ankles used to swell, and now it's my whole leg up to my thigh. They are such a lovely sight!!

Last week in the birthing class, we toured the labor & delivery floor of the hospital. Which was extremely helpful because now we know where to go at (possibly) 4 in the morning and (hopefully) not get lost!

Random note- Sweet Pea gets the hiccups at least once a day now. The event is quite adorable! It's so funny to feel my belly move like it has the, well, hiccups!

BABY SHOWER #2

Sweet Pea's second shower was awesome!! The theme was "baby fiesta" mixed a little with "sweet pea"! It was very unique! My friend Karri hosted it at her house and did such a fantastic job! My friend Zarah also helped out, especially with the desserts! We had the greatest food: shrimp enchiladas, tacos, homemade salsa, taco dip, and fajitas. Yum =) In the dessert department (my favorite!) we had fruit salsa, cream cheese mints, and these cupcakes that were to die for! There were four different kind of icings (raspberry, peanut butter, key lime and chocolate buttercream) and I was in heaven! There were little sweet peas on top of the cupcakes...so incredibly cute!

We played some crazy, fun games! In the first one, two people were blindfolded and had to change a baby doll's diaper. Whoever did it the fastest won. It was pretty funny! The other game we played was who could drink apple juice from a bottle the fastest. It was much harder than I thought it would be! I don't know how those little babies do it!! Wouldn't ya know, my mom won that one!! She's becoming a pro at all these baby shower games!

It was such a fantastic party and I appreciate that Karri took time out of her very busy schedule to give us this shower! Thanks again to everyone who brought food and who came and celebrated Sweet Pea's impending arrival. It made me feel very loved!

Updates! (looooong)

I can't believe it's been a week since I've blogged! I'm so incredibly sorry! There has been a ton of things happening in Sweet Pea land. I have a few updates for everyone. This post is long, so hang in there!

First, I am going to the doctor every week now. This past Friday, Dr. D checked me and said I was 2 cm dilated and about 50% thinned out. (The thinning out part can be very subjective to whoever is checking it. Because the previous OB said I was 70%.) Anyway, I also got an ultrasound that day. They checked on Sweet Pea's weight, which was around 5 lbs 4 oz. They also measured head circumference and the length of leg and arm bones, all of which were fine. The last thing they did was check to see if Sweet Pea was "practice breathing", which s/he was! It was so cute to see his/her chest moving up and down in there! This is a good sign that if Sweet Pea did come early, hopefully s/he would be able to breathe and do just fine in the outside world!

Second, the furniture, ahhh, the stupid furniture!! Will not, I repeat NOT be here until the middle of June. Granted I know that it's already June 2nd, but still, this stuff has been ordered since March! I get so upset when I think about it, I want to cry. We don't even have a dresser that we can put Sweet Pea's clothes in. I can't finish decorating until we get the furniture in and we see how it all fits. Ahhhh, so incredibly frustrating, but there is nothing I can do about it. Sweet Pea will probably be here before the furniture is! BUT at least the walls in the nursery are finished. We did paint touch ups on Sunday afternoon and it's ready to have everything else put in now.

Third, I think Sweet Pea will be here within the next two weeks. Why do I think that you ask? Mother's intuition! ;) No, not really, I don't think that I have that yet! I just hope we make it to 36 weeks. That is my goal! But I have been nesting quite a bit lately. I washed all of the new blankets, towels, outfits, etc. today. And packed Sweet Pea's diaper bag for the hospital. We also put the car seat in the car tonight. It looks so weird in there! It just symbolizes that we are one step closer to bringing a baby home!

Latest news

Sorry I'm a bad blogger! I know I haven't updated in almost a week! So, here is the latest news.

I went to the doctor's office this past Friday for a routine checkup. But I saw a different OB, because mine was out of town. This doctor wanted to check my cervix to see if I was dilated any since I had that scare with contractions 2 weeks ago. He told me that I was 1 cm dilated already and about 70% effaced. Which means that my cervix is opened to 1 cm and on a scale of 0-100%, 70% thinned out. These are normally occurrences for the beginning of labor, just normally not at 33 weeks. The doctor said that these things did not necessarily mean that I will go into labor in the next few weeks but I certainly could if I didn't take it easy and not do strenuous activities. So, I'll be going back to the doctor this Friday so they can check me again to see if everything is the same.

Sweet Pea would be ok being born right now. S/he just wouldn't be able to come home with us right away. Probably a 1 or 2 week NICU stay would be necessary in order for Sweet Pea to gain weight and get bigger. So we definitely want him/her to cook a little longer!! I would be the crazy mom you have to call security on to get her to leave the hospital after visiting hours!! I can't imagine being discharged from the hospital and not taking my baby with me!

So, please pray that whenever labor does come, that Sweet Pea and I will both get through it healthy and sound.

Hiccups :)

Sweet Pea got the hiccups this morning at 4 am for the first time! I thought it was just s/he moving a lot, but then I noticed it was a rhythmic bumping in my side and I knew it was hiccups. It was so incredibly cute! It really makes s/he seem like a human. Sometimes I feel like I have an alien in there trying to escape instead of a baby!

Only 49 days left!

These are the latest pictures I've taken (at 33 weeks). The bottom one is from my view point. I can't see my feet anymore!! Ha ha! I guess that it's a good thing...it means this baby is growing and subsequently so is my belly! =) I don't mind, really, even though I do complain to Jeremiah a ton. We get a precious present at the end of the tunnel. And believe me, it's been a long journey for me AND Jeremiah. I get to deal physically with pregnancy and he gets to deal with the rest of ME!! He is such a wonderful man for putting up with all of my aliments, complaints, mood swings, etc. He handles it all with a smile, well, most days! ;) THANKS HONEY! I LOVE YOU!

Sweet Pea's first trip to Labor and Delivery

Let's hope it's the last one before the big visit in July!! Well, here is the story:

Yesterday I got up a 9:30 and ate breakfast. Around 10:30 I noticed that I hadn't felt Sweet Pea move yet, which is very uncharacteristic of our morning. No matter what time I eat breakfast I always feel him/her sometime afterward. Well, this had me a little concerned so I laid down on the bed with no distractions around me and tried to poke him/her a little bit. Still nothing. I got up and took a shower, moved around a lot. Still nothing. So then I really got concerned and ate lunch and laid back down on my left side and poked/prodded again. STILL nothing and it was 12:30. So I got into panic mode and went to the hospital. I called Jeremiah and told him, but I really didn't think (well, hoped) it would turn into something big so I told him to stay at work and I just update him frequently.

I got to L&D around 1:00 and they immediately hooked me up to monitors and placed one thing on my belly to monitor the baby's heart rate and another to monitor for contractions. I was thinking "I'm not having contractions, but okay". The nurse asked me did I feel my stomach tightening up at all, and I said no, I don't feel anything. When she turned up the baby's heart rate so I could hear it, it was the sweetest sound in the whole world! It was the greatest feeling to know that our precious little baby was okay! The nurse came in and asked me again was I sure I wasn't feeling my stomach getting tight, again I said no. She said well, you are having contractions. I was seriously stunned. How in the world could I not feel any of them?

I got really scared when the nurse came in and said she needed to call my OB b/c of the contractions, so I called Jeremiah and he came to the hospital. She gave me a dose of Terbutaline at 2:00 to stop the contractions. The medicine worked almost immediately. Each contraction was 2 min. apart from the last one, so they were pretty regular. But thank the Lord that my cervix was not dilated at all, so I wasn't really considered to be in preterm labor. I just had preterm contractions, which could have been due to me being dehydrated. I'm supposed to be drinking one glass of fluid for every hour I'm awake. Yikes! That's a lot of drinks!

They monitored me for about 2 more hours, then sent me home. I asked why Sweet Pea didn't move in 3 hours, which is not normal for him/her. The nurse didn't know why, but I definitely think s/he was telling me "something's wrong in here and you need to go have it checked out!!" Smart little thing already! =)

not being able to sleep = not fun

I've been up since 3 am and I am still not tired enough to go back to sleep. Granted I have to be up in 3 hours or so to get ready for church, so I might just want to stay up. But then I'll be literally not able to keep my eyes open by the end of the service.

AND it's not even poor Sweet Pea's fault. S/he hasn't woken me up out of a dead sleep in a few days. Some nights are just like this...I wake up for no apparent reason, then can't fall back asleep. Not fun for anyone, but especially not fun for a pregnant lady who is exhausted enough during the day without being sleep deprived.

Anywho, just rambling. Sweet Pea is kicking me now, probably saying "can we please get off the internet and go back to sleep?"!!

Oh my! =)

The breakdown of the 25-35 pounds gained during pregnancy:

-Baby: 7 to 8 pounds
-Larger breasts: 1 to 3 pounds
-Larger uterus: 2 pounds
-Placenta: 1 1/2 pounds
-Amniotic fluid: 2 pounds
-Increased blood volume: 3 to 4 pounds
-Increased fluid volume: 2 to 3 pounds
-Fat stores: 6 to 8 pounds

Goodness! I can see now why I'm so tired all of the time!! Look at what I'm carrying around! Ha ha!

Here is a picture from yesterday at 31 weeks. My belly keeps looking rounder and rounder each time I see it! Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't even recognize myself. Seriously!

Randomness

So this is a gift that my awesome friend Shelbie got for us! Isn't it sweet? The basket has just about everything a baby would need. It was so thoughtful of her and we really appreciate it (as does Sweet Pea)! It was just so darn cute that I had to take a picture of it and post it! =) THANKS SHELBIE!

And here is the latest picture of the Petty family taken yesterday, with Sweet Pea being 30 weeks and 3 days. Our nephew, Kameron was the photographer and he did an excellent job if I do say so myself.

Everything is going good! I'm still feeling great, well besides being kicked in the ribs a lot and not being able to sleep due to the one person dance-off in my belly! Seriously I wake up at least once a night to Sweet Pea dancing away in there. Again, at first it's quite cute and comical, but after an hour of entertainment, I'm ready to go to sleep! One of the latest things Mr/Ms Petty has been doing is following me to whichever side I'm on sleeping on. Example- I'm laying on my left side, s/he will come over to that side of my belly and start kicking over there. So I'll move over to my right side to not squish Sweet Pea. But NOOOOO...that little booger just comes over to my right side and starts kicking over there!!! I guess this kid is already giving me a run for my money!