BTW

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm on FaceBook quite a bit so if you wanna see more of what's going on more frequently, find me over there. My nickname there is madee25

Yes, I am alive

I just don't seem to really be into blogging anymore. But if there's anyone out there that still checks up on me, I'm doing well. I'm still working part time at Home Depot. It turns out Josh won't be going to the Horn of Africa. Instead, he will be assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln stationed in Everett, WA. He will be detaching from Goodfellow in Dec and we will be visiting family. Then in Jan, he will be going to school for 2 months. We are supposed to report in WA March 16.

Sarah will be 9 months old next week. I can't believe how big she's getting. She's now crawling and pulling herself up and can even "walk" if I'm holding onto her hands.

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since my last post!

Wow, I really do need to post more.

Sarah is now 3 months old. She is getting much better at sleeping through the night. She normally sleeps at least 5 or 6 hours. There've even been nights like last night where she slept 8 hours! Developmentally, she seems to be right on track. She's smiling and giggling along with her babling. She likes to try to sit up and can sit pretty well when supported. She also likes to try standing. When we went in for her 2 month appointment,she was 14 lbs and about 23 inches. The PA thought her soft spot might be too small so she wanted to see her again at 3 months. She is now 15 pounds!!! She's also been a little sick :( She has a bit of a runny nose, but it's all clear, and a bit of a cough from the post nasal drip. She had a bit of a fever and she pulls on her ears some, so I think she might be teething.

About a month ago, we found out that Josh was selected for orders to the Horn of Africa. Unfortunately, it seems like the Navy is out of money so they can't give him written orders yet. So we're not sure when he'll be leaving or how long he'll be gone. It could be anywhere from 8 to 14 months. And that may not include any training which will probably be at least 3 months before he goes. It's going to suck for him to be gone for a year or more. But the good news is that I won't have to move for a while longer and he'll be getting extra pay and all his pay will be tax free while in a combat zone. I'm also glad that he'll be in Africa, where he'll be fighting pirates and doing humanitarian missions, as opposed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Here's a video of Sarah watching her mobile. I've attached some pics but you can find more here.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that Sarah is already almost 7 weeks! She is growing very well. At her one month appointment, she was right at 11 lbs and 22 3/4 inches. That put her in the 90th %tile for weight and 70th for length!! The thing I'm loving the most is that she is starting to smile. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get photographic evidence. She's also getting better at sleeping at night. She now almost always will sleep for 3 or 4 hours in a row. She's even slept for 6 straight hours a couple nights!!

We finally started going back to church now that she's old enough for me to leave in the nursery. We also left her with a friend so that we could go to dinner and a movie to celebrate Josh's birthday. It was kinda sad leaving her the first time, but I was okay. We also found a child care center so that I can go back to work. I really wish we could afford for me to stay home with her, but that's not possible right now. I've got an interview with the State School today. I would be working with the mentally retarded. I also have an interview tomorrow with Home Depot. I've heard they're paying $10/hr for cashiers. So I'll be leaving her in childcare for the first time today.

Well, I need to get some lunch before my interview so I'll leave you with some pictures. These are a little while ago; I haven't gotten ones off my camera since she was one month.

I'm still here

I'm still around, just haven't been online too much. I'm sorry I haven't been commenting too much on blogs. When I checked last week, I had around 30 posts in Google Reader that I hadn't read. There's probably a lot more now. I've just been spending more time trying to sleep and relax lately.

Things are going pretty good. Like all new moms, it's been hard getting sleep. Sarah has decided that she likes to sleep during the day and stay up most of the night. Josh is awesome in helping me when I need it. He even does stuff without me having to ask! My mom came to visit for about a week. But then she got sick so she wasn't able to help take care of Sarah too much. Josh also got a bit of whatever she had.

Sarah's starting to wake up now, so I'll quickly add some new pics, but then I've gotta run:

The story and pics

My labor and delivery were pretty uneventful. Around 6:45 on Tuesday night my water broke--not gushing, just a little squirt. I wasn't totally sure if that's what is was so we waited around the house until I got another squirt a little before 8. When the nurse examined me around 8:30, I was 3-4 cm, but she still felt the water sack so they took a swab to test it. Sure enough it was amniotic fluid so they put me in a labor/delivery/recovery room and started an IV. My contractions weren't incredibly painful, but I went ahead and took the Staydol (sp?). The plan was to give me pitocin around 5am if I wasn't laboring on my own. Around 1:30, my contractions were getting a lot worse and when she checked again, I was at 5cm so by 2:30 I had my epidural. A little before 6, I was 9cm and fully effaced. When they checked me again at 8, I was fully dilated and started pushing at about 8:20. By 8:45, Sarah was born and was being cleaned. I was a little upset that the doc cut the cord without giving Josh the option, but Josh was grabbing the camera to start taking pictures. There was some issue getting my placenta delivered, but I wasn't really paying attention because I was watching the nurse with my daughter. I think I also tore a little and they had to put in one stitch. Overall, it lasted about 14 hours

Without further ado, here are pictures for your viewing pleasure:

She's here!

Sarah made her appearance this morning at 8:43 Central Time! She was 7lbs 15 1/2oz and 18 1/4 in. The winner of the online poll game was Elana!

I'll update with pictures and the full birth story later :)

At the Hospital

This is Josh typing for Monica. Her water broke at about 7pm, and we went to the hospital around 8:30pm. We moved to the labor/delivery recovery room at about 10:30. Right now Monica is on some drugs and is going to have Sarah either tonight or tomorrow morning. She's going to be getting petosin(sp) at 5:00am if she isn't in full on labor yet.

I must just say that for a woman in labor at the hospital, I am amazed how the first thing she wanted me to do was update her facebook page and this blog. Take care everyone.

Josh

(Monica's hubby)

39 week appt

Still only 2-3 cm dilated and 80-90% effaced. Doc says if baby's not here by next week we're going to have to do something to get this labor jump started. So it shouldn't be much longer now. But we'll see.

More false labor

I'd been having more cramps and pains most of the evening last night. Then around midnight or 1am, I started having more regular contractions. Though sometimes I'm not sure if it's really contractions I'm feeling or just Sarah moving around. I just know it's uncomfortable and a little painful. So I took some Tylenol PM and drank plenty of water. I also decided to try a warm bath. That seemed to alleviate some of the pain, but it still kept coming every 5-8 mins. But it didn't really seem to be intensifying too much, so I didn't think it was real labor. Finally around 2am, I took a warm shower and went back to bed. The Tylenol must have really kicked in because the cramping/contractions lessened and I went to sleep. I now have a headache and am having a bit of cramping. I am so ready for her to get here!

Single digits, baby!

Nine days till my due date. Ack!!

I think it'll be earlier than that though....

38 week appt

Another fairly boring appt. BP was up to 130/80. Weight was up about 4 more pounds. So I'm now about 5 or 6 pounds above my prepregnancy weight. I'm still only 2-3 cm dilated, but am now 90% effaced. I asked him about the 50% that the nurse said the other night. He said he wasn't going to argue about 30%. Next appointment is next Monday assuming she doesn't come this week. Josh's mom is here now and is really hoping Sarah makes her appearance before she leaves on Saturday. My mom is coming the 28th and is hoping she waits till then to come. So my guess is she'll come next week while no one is here. Oh, I forgot to ask the doc, but I had some mucus that was kinda jelly-like; is that part of the mucus plug, maybe??

Nursery before/after

It's done! Well, almost anyway, probably about 90-95%. I've still gotta put up some wallpaper trim and the ceiling fan. I also still need to put clothes and toys away and finish straightening the bookshelf.

Here are the before shots (I'd already painted since I knew it was to be a nursery someday, but we'd pretty much been using it for storage):



Here are the after shots (1-wall next to door, 2-left wall, 3-right wall, 4-walking in the door):

False Alarm

Well, the contractions got within about 6 minutes so we went to the hospital. They had me pee in a cup and hooked me up to the monitors. I was pretty dehydrated so they gave me water and some Tylenol for the pain. I was only 2-3 cm dilated, at -2 station, and only 50% effaced. So now I'm thinking I musta heard Dr S wrong when I thought he said 80% on Monday. They monitored me for a couple hours and checked my cervix again. No change so they sent me home. I'm kinda disappointed, but am glad I'll get to sleep in my own comfy bed instead of being up all night. It's now 1:30 in the morning so I'm going to take some Benadryl and go to sleep.

Baby Shower and Contractions

I had my baby shower today. It was actually a dual shower for another Navy wife and me. Her due date is the day after mine, but she's having a planned C-sect on the 19th due to placenta previa. Hopefully I'll get some pics soon and can post them. It was a really nice shower. We only played a couple games--the one where everyone wears a clothespin, but you lose it if you say the word "baby" and one where we had to remember as many items on a tray as possible. So it wasn't a bunch of silly games that made everyone feel stupid. But the coolest part was all the moms gave words of wisdom/advice about what to really expect.

Shortly after getting home from the shower, I started feeling bad. Then I realized that contractions were starting to come about every 25 minutes. That was about 3 or 4 hours ago. Now they're down to around 15 minutes apart. Dr S told me to come in when they're 5 mins apart. So we're keeping track of the time and waiting to see. And Sarah has decided to start kicking harder. I'm thinking she doesn't like her home squeezing her.

new belly pic

on sidebar. Don't I look pregnant now?!

A week to 10 days!

That's what Dr S is predicting! I had my 37 week appt yesterday. It began with the same general routine--BP is up just a little to 124/80, weight up a pound or two, urine's good, baby's HB good (not sure the exact number), fundus right at 37. (Oh funny thing about the fundus measurement. After we got home, I was talking to Josh's dad about the appointment and Josh made some comment about 37 inches. Then he was like, wait a minute, that's 3 feet. That can't be right. That would mean she could walk in the shallow end of a swimming pool. So I had to tell him it was cm, not in!)

Then Dr S did the vaginal swab for the Group B strep test. He didn't do a rectal one for which I'm thankful! Then came the pelvic exam. Not comfortable, but not too bad. He estimates that I'm about 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. That's why he's predicting that I'll go into labor in about a week to 10 days!

He also gave me the option of inducing about a week early, if I go that long. He's going to be out of town just before my due date. So I have the choice of either inducing early to make sure he's the one that delivers or just wait for Mother Nature and allow one of his partners to deliver. I told him I'd rather just wait. But again, he's not expecting me to have to wait that long anyway.

I can't believe I've got such a short time left. I've still gotta get the nursery put together. I've gotten all the crap out--well, most of it, there's still some stuff on a couple shelves but that can wait. Now I've just gotta get the crib and changing table put together. I think Josh is supposed to help me with it tonight. It's just been so hard with me feeling bad and him with only one arm. We're going to have to wait on the ceiling fan that needs to be installed and the border I'm planning on using for trim. I don't want to be on the ladder that much and Josh needs both hands.

I think we've also got grandparents' visits planned. Josh's mom will be coming the 20th through the 28th. Though now that Sarah may be coming earlier, Josh's mom will probably try to get here earlier too (we're just a 5-6 hour drive). My mom will be flying in on the 28th and staying for about a week. Dad's not coming b/c he hates to fly (he's claustrophobic and a smoker), and the drive from FL is just too long (he's got a bad back). She wanted to be here for the birth, but didn't want to take the chance of coming early and then having to leave before the big day. Unfortunately, we can't really change her ticket without it costing a hundred bucks or so. Josh's dad and stepmom are going to wait until the end of Feb and come out for a long weekend.

Full-term

I can't believe I'm 37 weeks! I am so ready to meet little Sarah, but there is still so much left to do before her arrival.

I have been completely exhausted the last week or so. I've been sleeping in until 9:30 or 10, but then by 1 or so I'm ready for a nap. I then force myself to stay up until 9 or 10, though there've been a couple nights where I haven't actually gone to bed until almost 1. Then I wake up several times a night. I guess it's just my body's way of getting used to not getting much sleep at night.

I've also been throwing up again. Not every day like I was, but every 2 or three days at least. I've been feeling really achy and sore (and sometimes dizzy) whenever I try to do very much. So I haven't gotten anywhere near as much done on the nursery as I've wanted. It's funny though. Josh seems to have gotten the "nesting instinct" as he's started some spring cleaning around the house, just not the nursery.

I don't want this to sound like a complaining post. Believe me, I know just how blessed I am to be having a healthy pregnancy. I truly am happy and excited about becoming a mom.

There's still time

If you haven't already done so, there's still time to play:



Also, if you guessed "boy" you should still be able to change your guess if you want to.