My Labor and Delivery Story

Hey All! 

I want to add a disclaimer to this blog post. If you are pregnant now for the first time, or if you plan on becoming pregnant and pushing a huge bowling ball out of your hoo-ha in the near future, this blog post MAY be a little scary for you. Only because what I thought would be a normal labor and delivery ended up scarring me as if I was the token white girl in the beginning scene of a horror movie. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

My baby was supposed to be due on July 27th and boy was I ready for her to come! I was swollen and large and just generally uncomfortable. I had lost feeling in my hands due to pregnancy induced carpal tunnel, (which I still have and am pissed about the loss of sensation in my fingers) I had heartburn that made it nearly impossible to sleep, my feet had finally swollen up to the HUGE proportions which meant I could only wear flip flops and even that was tough sometimes. I was just OVER it. The pregnancy had been so easy up until the last month and I was eager to be done with it and to meet our baby. I assumed that because my pregnancy had been uneventful that my labor and delivery would follow along the same route. 

Boy, was I wrong! 

Fast forward to July 30th. I was now 40 weeks and 3 days into this pregnancy. This little baby was 3 days overdue and Mom was ready to just get it all over with. Baby S was clearly happy and content in my belly, not willing to drop or show any signs of wanting to come out on her own. My parents were in town waiting for this baby to be born and yet she was quite happy leaving everyone waiting on her. It was the day of my 40 week check up appointment and I was so eager to go that I told my husband to get my bags in the car "just in case" my doctor decided to admit me for induction. 

At the Doctor's appointment I was diagnosed with Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. Which meant my blood pressure was high. I think it was something like 160/90. I could be totally wrong about that second number though LOL. They also did a non stress test on the baby which just meant they hooked a machine up to my belly and had me click a button every time the baby moved. This test was just to determine whether or not Baby S was still moving around normally and not showing signs of distress. Baby S was doing fine in there, but Mom was definitely showing physical signs of minor distress. I was still only effaced to 50%, dilated to just 1 but that blood pressure was something my doctor did not want to mess around with. After all, I had no prior issues with my blood pressure so he wanted to go ahead and admit me to start inducing the baby. 

Around 6pm on July 30th we finally got into a hospital room and began to get acquainted with the room that, little did we know, would harbor us during the worst pain of my life! The night nurse came around 7:30 to administer the medication, called Cervidil, which is a gel capsule they insert behind your cervix to begin to "ripen" it for delivery. Ripen just means to get it soft and ready for delivery. After the Cervidil was administered, the contractions began happening about an hour later. I thought I could breathe through them and hang tight. After all, those first contractions weren't so bad right? 

From about 7pm-1am the contractions continued to get more and more frequent, yet I was still showing that it I was only dilated to 1cm. I was SO uncomfortable and trying to find ways to breathe through it, but it turns out, I'm really a HUGE baby.  

So there I was 1cm dilated with contractions coming on pretty regularly and I'm already begging for an epidural. My husband leaves the room because apparantly the only people allowed are doctors, nurses and patients and I am prepped for my epidural. It's a weird, painful feeling the epidural. The needle is inserted into your back between your spinal vertebraes and you have to hold absolutely still. Like, breathing isn't really allowed. You have to do this weird arch-your-back-like-a-cat thing and hold onto to the nurse while the anestheologist yells at you not to move. DUDE....I'm trying here but the needle literally feels like it is not only going through the spine and also feels like it is being pushed out the front of me as well. It SUPER hurt and it wasn't fast at all. But it did start to take effect immeadiately. My left leg began to feel like it weighed a TON but oddly enough I could still lift it up slightly. Which was the point, I suppose. However, the epidural made me extremely itchy all over. The nurse gave me a shot of benadryl but that didn't help the itching at all! I should have known when the itching stopped that there was something wrong with the epidural, but more on that later. 

With my contractions ongoing but not being able to feel it, I was able to get some minor rest in. The itching did keep me semi-awake so deep REM sleep alluded me. ( To this day, I don't think I've gotten REM sleep since before the baby was born. ) At around 7am I began to feel like I had to vomit like nobodies business. I yelled at my husband to find me something, ANYTHING, to throw up in or there was going to be a mess to clean up on the floor! As I was vomiting in a trash can, the nurses switched shifts and my new nurse, Emmy, came in to me vomiting. What a nice first impression I must have made on her. ("Hi there Emmy nice to meet you, don't mind my vomiting.") Emmy decided that due to my vomiting she was going to check to see how far dilated I was. Turns out, the vomiting had broken part of my water and I was also dilated to 10cm! She administered my Pitocin to help speed up contractions and informed me we were going to begin pushing. 

Now mind you, I still CANNOT feel the contractions due to the epidrual. Which means my body can't tell me WHEN to push. I have to rely on the nurse to tell me when and how long to push. So now, I've been in labor since 7pm the previous night and at around noon or 1pm ( I can't give you a specific time because honestly it was so awful I had no idea what time any of this was!) I was told to begin heavy pushing. Heavy pushing is exhausting and at some point during this heavy active labor my epidural began to wear off. I began to tire and feel hopeless, because not only can I NOT feel the contractions, but the labor seems endless. The baby's vitals are fine but she does not appear to be descending fast down the birth canal. Every push seems to take a little part of my strength and resolve away and I honestly felt like I wasn't going to be able to do it.  I mean, obviously I had to finish what I started but I didn't know how I was going to do it. I honestly was thinking that I couldn't finish it and that feeling was weird. I knew this baby had to be born but the pain was so bad and uncomfortable I just wanted to quit. 

40 mins to Baby S arrival: Doctor Grossman shows up. My doctor is probably the calmest guy around, nothing rattles him. I am literally sobbing and sweating and basically feeling like I was dying and he didn't seem phased at all. I can now feel everything happening "down below" and it feels like fire. That whole "Ring of Fire" saying...yeah when you have no epidural anymore, it feels like someone is taking a fire hot knife to you down there and there slowly ripping you apart. Graphic? Well I'm not sugar coating it here, this birth went from normal to traumatic rather quickly. And when I say "traumatic" that's the doctor's descriptive word that was used, not mine. 

Back to delivery: there seem to be more and more people in the room after the doctor arrives. There is a bunch of nurses there for the baby, there is my nurse Emmy and the doctor, my husband, my mother and my aunt and I have no idea who else. I could care less at this point who sees what down there because all I want in the world is to get the baby out as soon as possible so the pain can subside. My husband Joel has gone silent hours before. My screaming in agony must have freaked him out because the only thing he focuses on is a rotation of ice cold rags on my head. One rag on the forehead of the distressed, laboring wife and the other in the bucket of ice. Replace and repeat cycle, saying nothing at all and looking nowhere but at my screaming head. Poor guy, in his own way, it must have been traumatic to him as well. 

My mom has had to sit on the side because I told her I can’t handle it if she starts crying. Which naturally, seeing this extremely hard labor her daughter is experiencing, she is crying.  My aunt has taken her place on my other leg because every push requires my legs to be held up so I can bear down.

I’m still sobbing, saying I can’t do it, the nurse is yelling at me that I HAVE to do it. She's also telling me to be quiet during the pushing cause apparantly grunting is not allowed. I definitely am not in the mood to be told what to do anymore so at this point I kind of hate her.  ( no offense Emmy)

I give my consent to give the dreaded episiotomy (which I no longer care about I just want this child out of me RIGHT NOW) The pain is now unbearable. I don't think I can do it! I began to think dying might be preferable to this Ring of Fire pain. Seriously... I remember thinking that dying might be preferable to what I was enduring at that moment. 

After a few more attempts at pushing, Doctor Grossman asks if I want the vacuum to assist with delivery. I say "I have NO IDEA ask my mom" because I cannot be expected to make a decision. I don't even know my own name at the moment. If you ask me any sort of question, I no longer am Amy anymore, I'm merely a woman driven by instinctual labor. I'm very cavewoman-esque in my mind, there are no coherent lines of reason, no thoughts. All there is, is a drive to continue to deliver my child into this world.  

To answer the doctor's question,my mom asks if he would do it for his daughter, he says yes. So vacuum assist is given the go ahead.

However that vacuum this is done, its done while I’m pushing this giant 13” head out of a tiny little hole. I feel all 13” of her head. It’s the most intense pain I've ever felt. It’s incredible pressure, and fiery pain in your lady parts and I HATE Eve for eating that forbidden fruit off the tree in the Garden of Eden. 

Once Baby S's HUGE DOME is out, I'm still left with the task of delivery the rest of her long ass body. I can’t imagine how I am going to do the rest of her body because I’m literally screaming as loud as I can and saying “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!”

After the worst pain of my life, Baby is out but there is something wrong. There is no crying, baby is not THROWN onto my chest like in all the videos. The NICU nurses rush her to the warmer and no one is saying anything. I’m still in incredible pain because Doctor is working on delivering placenta and sewing episiotomy  up and Emmy is basically jumping on my stomach to get my uterus to contract and get blood clots out. (UM….fundal massage is equally as awful as delivery pain wise!) But I still know something is wrong with my baby because my mom and aunt are quiet and not saying a word.

Turns out Savannah was born with the cord wrapped around her neck, she was completely white and not pink, she wasn't crying and she was “depressed”. Her Apgar scores were 3/5 meaning she was listless and not flailing like a baby should be. She was brought to me to see and she was the cutest baby but it was clear that she was in need of medical attention so she was whisked away. I forced Joel to go with her, I didn't want her without one of us and since my legs were still wide open and lady parts were being worked on, she needed him. She was taken to the NICU while I was being worked on.

Savannah Rose Shock was born at 8lbs 10oz, 21” long at 3:10 on July 31^st 2014. I labored for 23 hours to bring her into the world. The doctor said afterwards I probably should have a c section with any future children due to the fact my body was way too small for this child to have been born. Her birth is deemed a  “traumatic birth” for both mother and baby.

I don’t get to see my baby for almost 6 hours after she is born. I don’t get to hold her until 9:00pm in the NICU. She has IV’s in her arms to provide hydration and is on two different antibiotics. Her sugar levels are super low, her white blood cell count is also low, and she’s being bottle fed formula. It’s a mother’s worst fear to see her newborn baby, the baby she has carried with love for 9 months, hooked up to all those machines and guarded by a NICU nurse.

However, she’s still the cutest baby I've ever seen. The love I feel for her rivals no other. No one can ever explain the love of a child, it’s just something you have to “go through”. And yet I feel other emotions, like guilt and sadness, as if maybe if I had a c section much earlier my baby would be much healthier. I know it’s not my fault but as a mother it’s my job to protect her from the start and my child’s first moments in this world were scary. I felt like I failed her already and I swore I would do everything in my power to get out of the NICU and get her home ASAP so I could make it up to this sweet innocent baby.

I end up staying a full 48 hours in the postpartum rooms because I had a slight infection the first night as well. I had the chills and the sweats the first night postpartum and was given an antibiotic. I was never told what I had but the antibiotic fixed it right away.

The baby and I are released finally on August 2^nd to go home.

Baby Savannah is doing fine now. She's now just shy of a month old and she is almost 10lbs already! She eats like a horse, poops like one too, and is a bit stingy with smiles but she's the best baby I could ask for. Being a mother is the hardest job in the world, one that you can't fully understand the degree of difficulty until you become a mother yourself. I was a nanny, I know how demanding children can be. But until you become a mother, until you are solely responsible for another human being's survival and welfare, you cannot understand how difficult is really is. 

Here's our girl!

1 day old and in NICU

All hooked up. No new mom wants to see their baby like this. It makes me feel like I did something wrong and I did this to our baby. I know now it wasn't my fault, but the guilt remains there just the same.

Milk Coma!

Her favorite place to fall asleep

She's adorable so the story is totally worth it. 

Hope I didn't scar you all. It is what it is, but I think next time around (if there is a next time) I'll plan a c-section. 

Up next time on the blog: all about postpartum recovery! Whoopee! 

XOXO,

Amy

The Latest and Greatest

Hey guys! 

I know it's been awhile but I go through periods like that where I just don't really feel like blogging. Mainly I didn't want to just complain about the same shit over and over. 

I've really been ballooning out. It's like every day I wake up and I'm bigger than I was the day before. It's a bit depressing. As most of you know I have prided myself (falsely) on remaining fairly small throughout the duration of my pregnancy. And it was true. I loved hearing it from people. Needless to say, I don't hear that often anymore. I'm gigantic and uncomfortable. See below

 

This is how I feel 100% of the day. Large and not in charge. Know whose in charge? My baby girl, she's the one calling the shots around here. 

Let's take a snapshot of where we stand: 

How far along am I: 35 weeks

How many days left till Due Date: 4 weeks and 5 days

How big is baby: almost 6lbs in there, the size of a coconut

My latest and most awful symptom is this pregnancy induced carpal tunnel. It started last week with numbing and loss of sensation in my hands. Mostly my left hand and mostly the thumb, forefinger and middle finger. I have found zero help in any different position. With pillow or without pillows, drinking lots of water or drinking minimum water, cutting back my salt, using an ice pack before bed, stretching....NOTHING WORKS. NOTHING. 

I went to the chiropractor for it today. It's not an expense we necessarily needed but I can't keep it up. I am LUCKY to get 4 hours of sleep and that includes waking up every hour to shake out my hands and wake them up. I told her all of my symptoms. She told me I have a large amount of swelling, particularly on my left side. She worked out vertebrates 5-8 in my neck and worked extensively on my left hand. I still have numbness, even as I write this, but it felt amazing just being there. I love the chiropractor's office: it's a combination of adjustment and massage. (I may need to go get a massage actually soon too!) She showed me how to try and help with the swelling on my hand by pushing back the fluid up toward my heart and out my wrist. She showed me how to stretch out my shoulders using a door frame. She told me I need to wear my wrist brace at night, but seeing as it's the one from Target, it's unlikely it's high enough quality to really do much. But I'm going to give it a shot.

 I mean, this whole thing is literally giving me anxiety about sleeping. How awful is that? When bedtime comes, this exhausted mama-to-be is SCARED to go to bed! Imagine that you guys, imagine you are scared to lie down because the loss of feeling in your hands wakes you up and then it takes hours for the feeling to come back...if it comes back 100% at all. It's terrifying. Repeat that feeling every hour.

I told my doctor/OB-GYN about all of this and he only had one real answer to give me: 

"Having a baby is the only way this is going to go away, I'm afraid" 

Gee, thanks Doc. So I'm just supposed to suffer with lack of sleep? 

I thought I would be proactive. I figured I'd find a knowledgeable chiropractor to help me and see if there is anything that she can do. I'll have to see after tonight. But I'm seeing her again in a week. I'll keep y'all posted. 

My last day of work is June 27th which is this Friday. I'm happy and relieved. I don't know or have a clue what my disability pay will be, but I am really crossing my fingers it's equivalent to what I made at my job. This job was minor pay that I took because we needed something after my last job ended. It was a job we were and are grateful for. But it's not a job that matches my education or abilities or intelligence. If the disability pay can come within 50 or so bucks of my weekly pay, we will be OK until I find something more corporate. Cause Lord knows we don't want to stress about finances when we have a baby coming in WEEKS. That's stressful enough!

On a happy note here are some images of the baby showers I've been so grateful to have thrown for me and our baby:

These were delicious. I ate like 4.

This sums up my beautiful best friend and I relationship. She's the godmother to our baby girl and she is the most amazing person I know. I couldn't have asked for a better host.

DIAPER CAKE!

 

And here are some photos of my Los Angeles Shower with my peeps from down here: 

 

I have some beautiful friends and I am so blessed and grateful to have all of these women in my life. I felt so much love and emotion from both of my showers and the ladies who showed up made me feel like a million bucks. A huge thank you to EVERYONE who helped plan it and was there that day. I truly do feel like it takes a village to raise a child and all of you women are in my village!

So after Friday...we wait....and we wait....and we blog...and we wait. 

Last thing, I NOW understand why women don't get scared of labor after a certain point. After a certain point, you lose all anxiety for actual labor. You just want control of your body again! I'm there. Shoot me up with an epidural and I'm ready! 

Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me hear them! 

XOXO

Feeling Large

I feel large, like LARGE LINDA large. Like every day I wake up bigger and bigger. Today at work, I literally felt my center of gravity had changed. The other day, someone ran into my belly! I wasn't even that close to him! 

Small things are a struggle. Getting out of bed, rolling from one side to the other, getting off the couch. Getting up in my truck is getting to be hard. Do you think I could pull the steering wheel OFF the car? Cause that's sometimes how it feels when I am lumbering in there.
 
And the worst of it? I've got another 9 weeks! Can't she just get heavier internally and my belly not have to get bigger? Remember the post where I said that I was LOVING people telling me how small my baby bump was? 

Ha. Ha. Ha.  Oh how short lived that was. 

I have to rethink my closet soon. I went shopping at the Topanga Westfield Mall this weekend and  went to Motherhood Maternity. They have a ton of cute clothes, but I am so ambivalent about buying clothes for a "temporary" time in my life. Especially with only 9 weeks to go. Before you can say "you will still wear them after the baby is born for awhile" my response is YES YES I KNOW. I still don't want to spend my money on something that I foresee not wearing by the end of the year. I can't justify it. I may not be skinny minny on a regular pre-baby day, but I am certainly not going to be hanging onto this weight. I'm sorry but I just won't accept that. 

I'm hoping that breastfeeding and eating a modified Atkins diet POST baby will help drop it. I certainly have plans to at least get out of the house for a walk at least 4x a week. (Notice how I don't say everyday? I'm not setting myself for failure here) I've heard from the rumor mill that some of you people have volunteered to come help, baby sit, stay with us....I'm going to be setting up a schedule here. No joke. When one person leaves the compound, I will bring in another! This mom-to-be is not afraid to say I am going to need help. With your help, maybe I can work on myself a bit. By feeling good about ourselves, we show our children and those around us how to feel good about themselves. 

I don't want to bring my daughter into the world to a mom who has body issues. Most of us have some issues or another, we probably always will. But for the most part we are happy with the person standing in front of us in the mirror. That equals a happy person, a happy mom. So if a 30 min walk with my iPod alone will help me get there, I'm not going to feel guilty for taking it. And I thank all of you ahead of time for allowing me to have that. 

Another note, I'm starting to feel REALLY unprepared for labor/post labor. Like panic attack-my-bag-still-isn't-packed-should-it-be-freaked out! (But seriously, is it bad that at 31 weeks my bag isn't packed yet?) 

I've got the first of my baby showers next weekend. I'm figuring out disability and how that works. I still do not have my nursery together. We haven't taken our childbirth class yet (June 28th) so I sometimes have fits of panic thinking about the physical aspect of HAVING said baby. Then there is the post-partum recovery...which if you have read any subjects on Thebump.com, there is PLENTY to be scared of. Apparently you need gadgets and gizmos aplenty just to go to the bathroom for weeks after the birth. Sounds lovely....

So yeah, I should probably waddle around for some exercise now. Waddle being the preemptive word. Word of the day: waddle. 

Go forth and waddle my friends,

Amy

Have you smiled and laughed today?

Nothing in depth or thought provoking today, just a little something to make you laugh.

This is how I feel when I think about my Labor and Delivery of baby Savannah in approximately 10 weeks

At my parents last weekend: 

Me: I'm going to have a slice of apple pie

Mom: That's a lot of sugar at 9:30pm at night. Why not have fruit?

Me (below) 

Me at night laying down:

I feel like my pregnancy should be an indicator about how my baby is going to be. (EASY) However, the internet seems to feel like this:

 

And lastly, some mornings you just feel like this Boston terrier on a Roomba.

Hope this gave you a little giggle today! 

XOXO,

Amy

Hospital Tour ?!

Hello!

A month or two ago I registered Joel and myself for a Maternity Hospital tour at our hospital. Seeing as we are first time parents, not sure what to expect, I figured it wouldn't hurt for us to know what to do when the labor starts, where to go, who to ask for, etc.

All hospital tours at our hospital of choice, Providence Holy Cross Mission Hills, are on Tuesday nights at 7pm. I knew that by scheduling this, my husband may or may not be able to make it due to the differing schedules of each TV/Movie set he works on. Sometimes he's off after 6 hours, sometimes 8 hours, sometimes not until 12 hours. I knew I could have to go alone, but I hoped I wouldn't have to.

I was SO lucky. Joel got off work at the same time I did, allowing us plenty of time to meet at home and head to the hospital together.

A little bit about our hospital....it's the shit. I'm not gonna lie, we are lucky that we have the opportunity to be near such an amazing hospital, particularity for labor and delivery unit. 

According to all the stuff our presenter told us, our hospital of choice is pretty legit! Check this out: 

"Our Women’s Pavilion, which opened in summer 2011, offers patients new state-of-the-art labor and delivery suites along with two dedicated Cesarean Operating Rooms. The Women’s Pavilion also includes a 12-bed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for premature and high-risk babies. Our CCS Designated Community Levell II NICU provides family centered care for your newborn allowing privacy for precious family bonding. And for high-risk moms who must be hospitalized well before delivering, Providence Holy Cross has developed an antepartum care program to meet their special needs.

Providence Holy Cross maternity care in the San Fernando Valley is recognized as being in the top five percent nationally by national health care ratings organization, HealthGrades, and has been reported as providing the best maternity services by the Daily News. In 2007, Providence Holy Cross was one of only 59 hospitals nationally to receive a "Baby-Friendly" Hospital Designation by Baby-Friendly USA, under a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund to promote breast-feeding. Our medical staff is dedicated to helping you along your journey of motherhood, providing a healthy start for your baby, and supporting your family."

HA HA however they have 11 out of 25 post partum rooms actually remodeled...so I told Joel that I WANT A NEW ROOM DAMMIT! If I have to push a bowling ball out of my lady parts, then I want the BEST ROOM POSSIBLE for my recovery. So I'm crossing my fingers all the other pregnant moms don't go into labor at the same time as me. Cause those room are SO nice! Like, don't mind if I bring my comforters and pillows cause I WILL make myself comfortable. Heck...I don't know when I will get that much help with the baby again, I'm going to take advantage of it! 

What I really like about the hospital is it has some of the same core values that are important to me during the whole birthing process. Some of the key things I really liked was  

1.) Minimal separation of mother and baby

2.) Rooming in for mothers and infants 24 hours a day

3.) Skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth

4.) Staff trained in breastfeeding support

5.) Education of families on bonding with baby

As sarcastic and laid back as I seem, I really do have some things I'd like to see happen with my whole birthing process. I don't want to call it a "plan" cause we all know what happens when we try to make plans....God Laughs at them! 

Here are a few things I'd like to hopefully see happen when labor starts:

1.) Get to hospital and not be turned away 

2.) Get a sweet ass newly remodeled room

3.) Bring ipod player to set up a good playlist 

4.) Remember to bring comforters and pillows cause the furniture there is old and used by many new parents 

5.) Push Baby out in record time (that's more of a wish than a plan)

6.) Get a SWEET ASS newly remodeled post partum room and not one of the 14 old janky ones. (NOTE TO HUSBAND....MAKE THIS HAPPEN)

6.) Have skin to skin contact immediately after baby is born

7.) No one takes my photo until I make myself presentable...but feel free to take pictures of the new baby! 

8.) Utilize the nurses and lactation consultants and master that breastfeeding thing!

9.) Go home with minimal tearing 

10.) Utilize anyone and everyone who offers to help. I'm so serious...let's build this village. 

 Until then, I'm just plugging away on the daily grind. I went to visit some horse friends yesterday and got told how small my bump is for being so far along. And that made my day! Seriously..thank you!

How about you? Did your "birth plan" go exactly as planned?

 

The Post 2nd Trimester Blues

Lately I’ve been REALLY feeling pregnant. I'm 27 weeks now.

My belly feels heavier, my arms feel like huge fat Michelin Man arms stuck on my body, my ass has dropped from its original position on my lower torso. Seriously… one night I turned to Joel and said, 

“Excuse me, why is my ass down here? Seriously babe, I’m going to have to resume doing squats or actual exercise cause this is ridiculous”

(Like the good husband he is, he pretended not to know what I was talking about)

And yet, most of my days are spent relatively happy with myself and my pregnancy. I see a TON of pics of other moms-to-be at 27 weeks and they are much bigger than I am in the belly. And since my doc and the ultrasound tech all say that the baby is perfectly on schedule and weighs about 2.2lbs, I know that all is well in there! So the urge to work out…it’s minimal due to my inflated sense of self-esteem. Then again, that’s been a problem I’ve had my whole life. In my earlier 20’s I always WANTED to be thinner, however when I looked in the mirror most days, my thoughts were more often than not:

“I look good!” (Shut up, I was or am vain. I like to think of it as my confidence was just high) 

But lately, I’ve been feeling pregnant. And I’ve been having so many different issues that I never had before. Let’s go into them one by one shall we?

   1.) Acid Reflux: Which I like to call “The Nasty Taste in My Mouth”. It’s seriously so bad, some nights I can’t sleep. Nothing really helps. I’ve tried brushing my teeth and using Listerine. I’ve tried Altoids by the bed, drinking a ton of water, baking soda and water gargle. That last one is the best so far, but it’s only a temporary fix. It’s the worst at night, or anytime I lay on my back. I’m really looking forward to another 3 months of this <-- NOTE SARCASM

   2.) Tons of Dental Issues: Seriously? My mouth lost all immunity to protect itself. I’m hoping my baby girl is the healthiest kid around, because my mouth sure can’t protect itself. I had to have a root canal on February 4^th, temporary crown February 27^th, a filling fell out around mid-March, I went in to get a temporary filling on March 10^th only to have it fall out 7 days later, and today I went it again to get that same filling taken care of. Turns out, I need a root canal on that tooth as well. I said “Let’s just patch it up with a filling again and when it starts hurting, I’ll get that root canal done.” So that’s what’s been done thus far. She said she can see about 3 cavities that need to be taken care of and that root canal. Awesome…cause dental work is SO cheap! 

   3.)Charley Horses: Ever had one? Ever heard of this? By Wikipedia definition it states: “A charley horse is a popular North American colloquial term for painful spasms or cramps in the leg muscles, typically lasting anywhere from a few seconds to about a day” 

   What I call it: “a feeling as if a horse kicked you right in the leg and stomped around on it until you wake up screaming and rubbing your leg as if it’s being chopped off” I may be a little dramatic in this, but it hurts like a mother f**ker. Sorry for the language kids, but the pain is REAL. The struggle is REAL. I hear the cause during pregnancy is not having enough potassium or not drinking enough water. I chug water like I’m in the desert after a long walk so that’s not it. Therefore, I must need to resume my Curious George ways and eat dem’ bananas. Also, they say when you are stretching in bed, to turn your toes upward instead of outward to help prevent these muscle spasms. I haven’t had another Charley Horse since I started doing these three things. If you ever have this problem, please take note that this is what helps me, let it be a lesson I have learned on your behalf!

     On another note, we got our crib from Babies R Us this past Saturday and got it put together the same day. We really love it! It’s one of those crib and changer combinations sets. 

   Slowly but surely the nursery is coming together. Honestly, we both agree it’s going to be the most decorated and nicest room in the house. It’s the room we definitely have put the most effort into. Just goes to show you that we already love our little Savannah more than ourselves, so much so that we are making sure her room is nicer than our rooms. Cause that’s what parents do right, they make sure their child has a better life than they had? Or at least that what parents try to do anyhow?

 

     We may not stay at our current house forever, probably just until our lease ends, but while we are there, this house will be filled with love and joy and Savannah can spend her first 1.5 years in a huge home with horses in the back and dogs running amuck. I can’t think of anything better for her. It’s all I ever wanted.

XOXO