Thursday, August 29, 2013

Contractions are Liars

So... now that I have told most of my family I will now tell every one else what is going on. Yesterday we were sent to the hospital because I had about a good 24 hours of solid contractions. Most of them stayed about seven minutes apart and WOWZA, did they make me sore. To make a long story short, I got in touch with my doctor's office and the nurse sent me over to the hospital to be checked out. After they convinced me I needed an IV, and then blew the veins in one arm they realized that I was not dehydrated so that wasn't the problem (even though I told them I drink over a gallon of water a day) and that my cervix was still totally closed, Reeves was not under any stress and they sent me home. Pretty lame huh? Contractions are liars.

We also learned yesterday that we still do not have a real due date because the first ultrasound tech was an idiot. (Sorry... I am holding nothing back) She puts me at being two weeks behind what we are pretty sure is my due date. I even told my midwife yesterday, "Listen here, I can tell you the exact date this kid was conceived and my last MP, your tech is a moron." and then they looked it up based on the date I gave them and were like... yeah... you are probably right, makes more sense. So... we should be at 37 weeks right now, which makes him technically full term, which makes me anxious and impatient. I am thinking about taking up running if it will help speed up this process because honestly the last thing I want to do is spend another sleepless night worrying about these stupid contractions and checking my kid's heartbeat every thirty minutes and doing a thousand kick counts because I am afraid he is going to stress out. And, also because lets face it, at this point no sleeping position is comfortable especially when you add in the faker contractions. Also, we are still assuming these faker contractions are a chain reaction from my back muscles stretching and it's only going to get worse because my belly has started to drop. This is going to be a long last few weeks.

Also... yesterday was a good first drill. I got to watch my husband in what I thought would be panic mode but no, I was more panicked then Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected. Of course. :(

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Wife. Mom. Student. and no hunting... this will be a long fall/winter.

What a day y'all!!! So last night I could not sleep, I tossed and turned and drank sleepy time tea and took a hot shower and finally at about 5am I finally decided to take my little sleep aid and didn't wake back up till 11 am. The contractions last night were awful and I kept watching the clock to time them thinking the whole time, "Holy crap, if this turns out to be something real I am going to freak out. I am not ready for this yet, even though I really wanted to be done with this pregnancy thing.", but as always they tapered off right about the time I thought about waking up Baby Daddy. feeewww... deep breath. Don't get me wrong, I am so ready to be back in control of my body but... I haven't quite got all my pre-baby shopping, cooking, or cleaning done yet. Actually the cleaning thing will never be "done", nope not in this house.

So then at 11am I got up, took my shower and checked my canvas (online classes). Wow!, Let me just say that this semester is going to suck. I counted up all of the papers I have to write this semester between my five classes and the grand total came out too... 12! They are either 5 or 10 pages and most are single spaced. Kill me now please! How on earth am I going to get all that writing done with a brand new bambino? Ehh...this will be interesting. Also, I have an exam in 3 out of the 5 classes on my due date. My biggest nightmare may be coming true if he waits that long. By the way, my biggest nightmare is having an exam due while I am in labor. I know, I know, they would probably make an exception but really, I don't want them to have too. I don't want special treatment because I am having a baby from my professors, especially after the reactions I got last semester when I registered for these classes.

Now the best part of my day... I met a midwife that totally gets me and is obsessed with The Business of Being Born just like I am. Oh how I hope she is the one on call that day! So I found this documentary on Netflix a few weeks back and started watching it and now I'm not only obsessed but a hippie. Just kidding on the hippie part but seriously, expecting moms and those just interested in learning something new about labor and delivery in our country you should click on the link I provided. The documentary is such an eye opener. Anyways, this midwife gave me all kinds of great information and basically validated my feelings and thoughts. I am refusing all drugs at this point because I have already had the unpleasant experience of Stadol and the other drugs that the hospital offers here Nubain and Fentanyl are pretty much the same thing with Fentanyl being the lesser of the three evils. Something about putting a synthetic opioid agonist-antagonist analgesic in my body just sounds like a bad idea for me and munchkin. I mean, we have a lot of work to do that day and getting wasted off that shtuff seems like it would not be the best thing ever. Also, she did inform me that I can stay home up till the third phase and they will not hassle me to come in, I do not have to labor in a bed, the midwives would rather me labor how I feel comfortable and they have all the cool stuff I was hoping for, the bath, the ball, etc. Granted nothing goes wrong and we are forced into a C section in which we really do not want. I use to be all pro c section, lets just get this shit over with, but then I realized everything that goes into a C section and no way Jose! I think I will let God and my body take care of this one.

Hunting season is just right around the corner and I am beginning to feel sad that I am going to have to miss out. Baby Daddy received his new decoys today, (Because he only had 45 and the pros have spreads of up to a thousand so we need to have more decoys!) and for a second I thought, "Yes! just a couple more months and dove season starts the 1st!!! This is going to be the best season yet and I should probably count my ammunition stock pile and get Baby Daddy to clean my shot gun and where did I put that jacket I got last year?" Then I looked down and I saw this frazzled vision of myself. Bags under the eyes, a pile of homework, a fussy baby, dirty house... buzz kill, no hunting this season. Just kidding, by the time we get there I will probably be pushing Baby Daddy and Ti out the door so Reeves and I can have a morning alone. Also Baby Daddy ordered me an Uncle Si tea glass with his decoys. Winning. I have the best husband ever!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

It's my crack, I am addicted.

There are two things I am all about... saving money and clothes. Obviously these two things don't go hand in hand when you like the kinds of clothes that I like. I usually stick to eBay, buying and selling but after moving into our new house all of a sudden eBay had some weird issue with my new address and it has been hell. I have pretty much given up on it. So then I started trolling the internet looking for a new way to fill my addiction. Yesterday I found it. Twice is what it is called and you have to check it out. For example look at this...
I own this sweater. Do you see how much they want for it? $19.95 when the original price was... yep you read it... $98.00. :( Anyways... I also have my ulterior motives I will admit. Every time someone uses my link to Twice < (that's the link by the way) and purchases something, I get $10. This is important! Why is this important? Because I am a saver and because my husband says I can't spend a whole bunch of money on clothes and because after this kid is born I am going to want fluffy fall sweaters. Just saying. So... go look, sign up, invite your friends and build your own credit, buy some stuff maybe, and imagine how cool it would have been if you would have come up with this genius idea yourself. I do. Man... I could have been a stylish, rich individual if I would have thought this one up. Just sayin'.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

I am either becoming a Mom or a Hippie.

Warning: STOP! Before you go any further, this blog is about giving birth. If you don't want to think about that, don't read this.



I've done a lot of worrying and stressing and ranting about being pregnant and the future birth. I will admit, sometimes I am a glass is half empty person, especially when I am uncomfortable or scared. For instance, if you ever read the blog entries on my scoli page you will see this pattern. Before surgery I was scared and mad and felt cheated out of this life that I thought I should be living. Then it happened, I had the surgery and all of a sudden this wave of clarity and relief came over me and I was suddenly this strong person that was determined and focused.

  SO... birth, what a scary thing for someone who has never given it before. It has been particularly hard to get excited about it with all these strange little issues I have had going on with my back and monitoring our son to make sure he is not going to walk down his mother's scoli or camptodactyly path. ( see bottom of post for campto explanation) Lately though I am finding a new sense of peace with all of it the more that I educate myself. I can not have an epidural because my spine is fused so I am going to have to do this all natural or I am going to have a C-section under general anesthesia, in other words, I will be out and will not remember any of it. These are my only two options. At first I thought, "Well shit! Knock me out lets make this as pain free as possible." Then I started watching all these documentaries and doing research on pain management and the drugs they can give women in labor and then it dawned on me... my body was meant for this and a c section is not the easy way out and even if it were it's also not the right choice unless we need some type of intervention. I found this documentary called, "The Business of Being Born" that I am now obsessed with. If you get the chance to watch this, you can watch it on Netflix or here: http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/watch-now/, do it. Educate yourself.

I never realized how maternity care and labor and delivery had become this traumatic experience for American women. We have so much media and doctors that are completely disconnected from this entire process. For instance, they ask interns in this film how often they learn about or see a natural birth and all of them said rarely or never. Women have been doing this for how many years and yet it seems like we no longer know how to do it the normal way. It is all so commercialized now. Hospitals are looking to fill beds and then empty them so they can be filled again. This is how they make money. This thing called designer birth has become so acceptable. Women can schedule their child's birth and then they make you believe that you have a certain amount of time to get this done.  For example:
(Thank you http://www.growingslower.com/ for this infographic)

 
If you are wondering who Ina May Gaskin is here is a link to Wikipedia to give you a little more information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_May_Gaskin

So anyways, after doing all this research I have come to this conclusion that the last thing I want is a C-section and the last thing I want is to be induced. I am going to try my very hardest not to ask for pain killers and hopefully if I do my husband will remind me of this but the more I think it through I feel like a natural birth is going to be the best option for my son and I. Also, there is this one thing that I have been really tossing back and forth because it makes absolutely no sense to me. Why is it that throughout pregnancy they restrict you from taking and doing all these things and then you get to the very end and they give you all these options for pain killers? It doesn't make any sense to me that they are ok with loading you up with a cocktail of drugs then but you better not take that allergy pill the day before. What?!

Maybe some of my granola is left over from my teenage days. I went through this whole hippie phase in my teenage years where I wore tie dye, bell bottoms, and my grandmother's mushroom cuff bracelet. I listened to Jimi and CCR, and basically any music I could get my paws on that came out of the Vietnam Era. I dreamed about what Woodstock or riding on Further must have been like. Seriously, if I could find them I would post pictures of what my room looked like. I had a disco ball, and peace frog posters, blow up furniture and more freaking black lights and door beads then I knew what to do with. When I first started looking into natural birth and delivering with a midwife the first thing that would flash through my mind when I thought of that was my 13 year old self in purple lens glasses and braids. But really... the farther you get into it you realize that it's really not a hippie thing, it's more of a woman thing. An empowering woman thing that should be embraced instead of feared. I hope other first time mothers will start to look into this and educate themselves on these things. 

( Remind me of how I feel right now when I actually get there. Just kidding. Kind of.)




 (For all those wondering camptodactyly is another birth defect I was born with. Basically I can not straighten my fingers because there is skin that did not stretch allowing me too. Imagine a baby keeping their hands clenched in a fist while they are in the womb and their hands developing in that position. It's very creepy sounding but I have developed ways to live with it. I type at 77 words per minute using my one good hand, my right hand, and my index finger on my left hand.)

Saturday, August 10, 2013

How my boy got his name.

So I have noticed that when I tell people my son's name I have either gotten a strange reaction or people think it's an amazing idea. I have actually caught a lot of slack over it because people believe it was my idea, like I was being vain or controlling so let me back up and tell you this first, I did not choose my son's first name. You see I thought I was being smart... I was convinced from the beginning that we were having a girl and I've been carrying around my list of secret baby girl names for awhile. Then I told my husband what they were and he hated them. So I had this idea, I told him that if we had a girl I should get to pick her first name and he could pick the middle, if we had a boy he could pick the first and I would pick the middle. Then came our 20 week ultrasound and I knew that day that I was going to be wrong. He had already had his name picked out but hadn't told me what it was going to be for sure. So after we confirmed just how wrong I was we went to lunch with the grandmas and aunts and he tells us that my son's first name will be Reeves, my maiden name. At first we were all a little shocked and I was thinking, " Oh man, people are going to think that this was my idea." I'll be honest, we Reeves are pretty proud of our last name and there is something about our attitudes and way of thinking that often lead to comments such as, "You are such a Reeves." Then he explained why he had chosen that name for our son. You know the country singer Dierks Bentley? His first name is his mother's maiden name and apparently he was given that name because his grandfather had all girls and this was his parents way of carrying on his grandfather's last name. My father, also had all girls and my husband adores my father so this was his little way of carrying on my father's last name. After he explained it I fell in love with my husband a little more. He could have easily made our son a junior but like always, he was thinking of everyone else, and not to mention my kiddo has a pretty unique name. Then came choosing his middle name, Nathaniel. Why did I pick this name? Well mainly because there isn't a whole lot that goes well with Reeves. I searched and searched, trying to fit every family name I could come up with on both sides before I finally decided that he would have a name that was all his own.

I felt the need to write this blog because I was having a conversation by text with an old friend I hadn't spoken to in quite some time when they asked what his name was going to be and when I told them they replied, "that's just like you, how does your husband feel about that?"

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Contractions are a... word that starts with B.

So, last night was a little weird. I started having contractions at a little before 20 weeks and I'm not talking Braxton Hicks, I am talking pre-term. I ended up having to quit my job and became a hermit who sits at home and bosses her poor husband around. Seriously, he is tired of my projects and unpacking, and hanging pictures. (We also moved into our new house soon after this whole thing happened) Anyways, the contractions haven't stopped but they are only intense when I overdue it. So last night when they became super intense and then very regular I was a little bit worried. They started out happening every ten minutes, then every seven, then every five for about two hours and then suddenly they went back to every ten minutes and then every thirty and then one every few hours. They have continued sporadically throughout the day but when I called the Dr. office they pretty much told me to chill out. Apparently they have a bunch of whiny first time mothers like me.

Contractions are so not fun. I love how in movies they make it seem like nothing. "Oh!, I just had a contraction, my water broke simultaneously, and five minutes later after some light screaming, Poof!, we have a baby." No... that's b.s.! Contractions make me want to punch someone or something. Not that I am trying to scare anyone, I am just being honest.