Levi's Birth Story!

It's hard to believe our little love is already a week and a half old! So far Levi has been the sweetest, most chill baby, sleeping and eating wonderfully, and generally only crying during diaper changes. He is spoiling us so, and I hope he keeps it up!

I woke up last Wednesday morning (3/23) with some back pain around 3:30 am. At first I thought it was just GI issues - As mentioned in previous posts, constipation was a huge problem this pregnancy - but I realized after an hour or so of half-sleeping that the pain seemed to come and go and was a lot like the back pains I had with Samuel. I started timing, and sure enough, the pain was coming at regular 11-13 minute intervals. I never really went back to sleep after that, but tried to rest as much as possible. Samuel had stayed the night with Carole and Jimmy at their hotel, so I was able to lounge around and watch Fixer Upper at my leisure. :) I told Eric I thought I was in labor when he woke up. I'm not sure he believed me... He kept asking if my contractions REALLY hurt or not. Haha.

Anyway, Eric and his parents took Samuel to his preschool Easter egg hunt and then came back and ate lunch with me. My contractions weren't really any worse or closer together, and I had a check up at 2 anyway, so I decided to just wait it out instead of going to the hospital. I made Eric go to the appointment with me since I didn't feel very confident driving knowing I was almost certainly in labor. It turned out to be a good thing. After a non stress test that showed several contractions, the doctor checked me and I was dilated 5-6. So she told me to go grab my stuff and check in to the hospital. It was all pretty chill and very surreal. I wasn't in a ton of pain or anything, just a little freaked out - we were about to have a baby!

We got to hug Samuel before we left and collect all our things. We got to the hospital a little before 4 and had to wait a bit because delivery was full - it was a full moon after all! Haha. They checked me again in triage and said I was around 6 cm and then had us chill out until a room was ready. Once we walked over and got settled, my nurse, Jill (who also goes to church with us), had me walk around for a while since my contractions were still 10ish minutes apart and I hadn't progressed much in the previous two hours. So we walked the halls until 545 then came back to the room to go ahead and get my epidural. I wasn't in a ton of pain, but I knew I'd want one eventually and anesthesia was around, so I decided to go for it. I also had all the blood work and IV placement done beforehand (the IV actually took 2 tries and I ended up with a funny water lump in one of my hands. It didn't hurt or anything, it was just really cold and jiggly for an hour or so until my body reabsorbed the water. Haha.)

Anyway, Eric's friend Sehah was on call and placed my Epi for me while Jill monitored the rest of my vitals etc. He was awesome and it was fun to have people we knew around. Thankfully, they both stuck around to chat with us for a few minutes afterward, because about 5 minutes later I started feeling realllly clammy and weak and I told them I knew I was about to pass out. They took my word for it and pushed some medicine to raise my BP. Sure enough, right after that, my next BP reading came up as 80/40. I never completely lost consciousness thanks to their quick action and willingness to listen to me, but that could have been really terrible!

The next few hours were pretty chill. We hung around and watched some HGTV and Big Bang Theory. Jill left and our new nurse, Danielle, came on. Dr. Speaks came in and broke my water around 8:30 and there was some meconium stainage, so they let me know the NICU team would have to be present for the birth. I knew meconium was pretty common in overdue babies, so I wasn't overly concerned. Levi's heart rate stayed kind of low, so I also kept having to turn from side to side to keep it up where they wanted it. I kind of contributed that to the fact that my contractions started coming one of top of the other, though. I was contracting way more than not, and at one point they actually talked about giving me some medicine to slow them down (they didn't though). I dilated about a cm an hour from that point out, and around 11 pm was just about to 10. I had forgotten this, but it happened with Samuel too - I got to about 9 7/8 and just had one tiny spot that didn't want to dilate.Weird. I had the shivers some on and off, but not nearly as badly as I did with Samuel. I think I just wasn't quite as nervous since I'd done this before.

Anyway, around 11:30 the nurse came in and said I was about ready to push. I was SOOO tired at that point, I really wasn't sure I had it in me to push for a long period of time. I did two "practice" pushes with her and then Dr. Speaks came back in around 11:45/11:50 for the real deal. I decided to suck it up and give it my all. I don't remember if I pushed 2 or 3 times after that, but I was apparently REALLY effective because she was like, "Stop! Hold off for a contraction or two. Let me go put my booties on and then we can push him out!"

And of course I thought, "Sweet!"

My body thought differently.

No sooner had she turned to go get her booties on, but my next contraction started and it decided he needed to come out whether I was pushing or not. The nurse yelled for the doctor to turn around and she said, "He's coming!!" to which I replied, "I KNOW!" Haha. And Levi literally shot into her hands unassisted at 11:54 pm. It was crazy.

Then things got a little sad/dramatic. The NICU team rushed in. Poor baby was barely breathing. They sucked a LOT of meconium out of his lungs and he still was struggling. After several minutes, they wrapped him up, let me hold him for a second, and then whisked him off to the NICU. I cried holding him - it was so sad to see him struggling like that, and to not get to love on him and really spend time with him like I wanted to. But I could tell he was going to get it together, so I sent him down and held Eric's hand and tried to focus on the good.

Unfortunately, with Levi's rushed entrance into the world, the doctor had no time to direct him coming out, I so I got a "signifcant" third degree tear on my right side. The next hour to hour and a half was spent stitching me up, and counting how many tissues of blood I soaked through. I lost a lot, but not a crazy amount, thank goodness. My placenta also had to be sent to the lab, because it was stained which apparently indicated it detached a little early during labor, causing the low heart rate, meconium, etc.

They kept me around for an extra hour to monitor me. Eric was able to run down to the NICU during that time and spend a little time with Levi. He couldn't hold him or anything, but he got some pictures, found out his birth weight/length - 8 lbs. 6.8 oz and 20.5" long. He also got to stroke his head and hold his hand and assure me that he was fighting his hardest.

I finally got into a wheelchair around 2:30 am. I felt for a moment like I was going to pass out again, but got it together. I think it was probably all the blood loss. We swung by the NICU and I was able to hold his hand for a moment before I was wheeled off to the mother/baby room. I was pretty out of it at that point, and I knew it was probably a blessing in a way that I didn't have a baby in there with me. I needed sleep. I remember telling the nurse at least 3 times, though, that I needed a breast pump so I could send milk to my baby in the NICU. I'm pretty sure she thought I was nuts. Haha.

I did sleep for an hour or so, but of course the hospital isn't the best place for sleeping. The baby next door kept crying and then I would cry because I wanted MY baby with me or at least to know how he was doing. The NICU called around 4 am and told me they would have to keep him several more hours because he still wasn't breathing like they wanted. He wasn't on oxygen, but he needed to be monitored - his respiration rate was near 90, almost double what it should have been.

Anyway, around 7 am my new nurse came to meet me. It was funny, I heard the old nurse in the hall telling her that I "seemed a little high strung, but I wasn't mean or anything." Haha. Glad to know that's how I came across? Anyway, my new nurse, Jenni, told me I could go down to the NICU once I got up twice assisted and peed. My epidural finally to seemed to have worn off, so I had her help me get up and try to pee. No go. I tried again about an hour later. Still no luck. I'd been chugging water through my entire labor, and I felt like I was about to burst, so I started worrying something might be wrong.

The CNA went back and checked my chart, and, sure enough, I hadn't been cathed before I left L&D. That meant that my bladder had been full for 9+ hours at that point. I knew there was probably no chance of me being able to pee at that point and I was miserable, so I finally asked for a catheter. Jenni and another nurse came in, and drained pee out of me for 20 minutes. Literally. It was insane. Even they were kind of shocked at how much there was! After 1300 ccs (which is a ton!), they got a second bowl and continued to drain for 7-8 more minutes, so there was probably close to 2000 ccs?? They both kept saying "Oh my goodness, your belly is literally half the size it was when we started draining!" And when I had a contraction shortly after, there was a big ball on my right side, and they said it was because my bladder had been so distended it pushed my uterus to the side.

So that was fun.

Dr. Gobern came in to check in with me a little later. I told him about my tilted uterus and he checked and said it had made its way back in place. Whew. He also said to watch out though, because sometimes a distended bladder could cause a lot of bleeding.

Annnnd he was right. 20 minutes later I got up thinking maybe if I walked a little it would help me
pee for real so I could go see my baby already. I was walking around the room when it suddenly felt like I was having another baby (okay, not really, but it was a very VERY weird feeling!). Annnd out came a blood clot somewhere between golf ball and baseball size. Gross. I ran to the bathroom and made Eric get up and help me. That sucker was disgusting. We called the nurse and had her come look. We knew there was a reason for it, but she said she was going to have to monitor me extra closely.

Somewhere in there another phlebotomist came and took some blood, too.

By 9:30, Eric's parents had dropped Samuel off at school and then come up to the hospital, so they and Eric got to go to the NICU and visit Levi. I, on the other hand, was still stuck.

Jenni had to come check my stitches out, and mentioned she thought I had another blood clot that needed to come out. She tried to get it out, but it wouldn't budge. So she had me walk around a bit. Still nothing. I was able to see what she was talking about, so I briefly messed with it (I know, bad idea), and it was to no avail. She brought some other nurses in to look too. Finally, after a LOT of poking and prodding, it was decided that it was my stitches coming together funny with some extra stuff that had attached to it when the first clot came out. So then my stitches were extra angry at me too after all that messing around.

You can imagine that, at that point, I just about swore off having more children. I was pretty miserable, and still hadn't seen my baby yet.

By some miracle I went to the bathroom and managed to pee. It was not on purposet, but I didn't care. It was pee, which meant I could leave. We called for a wheelchair so I could go to the NICU. It took forever for them to bring me one. For.ev.er. Like an hour. I'm sure I did seem high strung, because I called and bugged the mess out of those people. I needed to see my baby.

Finally, a little before 11, Eric wheeled me over to the NICU. Levi was doing much better with respirations down in the 60s, so I was able to hold him and nurse him. He took to it like a champ! And it made all the bad stuff seem almost worth it. Almost. haha.

We stayed for a little while, then went back to the room for lunch and an attempt at rest. I needed to nurse him again at 2, so we ate some tacos from the cafeteria and I attempted to pee again (unsuccessfully - I was getting pretty stressed out about it!). I caught up on texts and emails, then attempted to walk to the NICU. I made it about half way there before deciding to sit in the wheelchair the rest of the way. It was progress though!

Levi was doing great at our second visit. I nursed him again, and the NICU nurse said he would just need his glucose taken one more time, and if that was good, he could come to the room with us. To say I was overjoyed would be an understatement! I actually walked the whole way back to my room. I knew I had to pee or get cathed again soon, so I made another attempt and finally managed to go. Intentionally. Whew! Then I took a quick shower and got some clean clothes on. I felt a little more human anyway!

Dr. Oliver came by at some point and looked at my "blood clot" stitches and confirmed it was just some weird swelling. That wasn't super pleasant either, but I was glad to know it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

Finally around 430/5, Levi got to come to the room with us. I was so thrilled to finally get to hold him as much as I wanted, to talk to him and get to know his sweet little personality! He still occasionally coughed stuff up, which was scary to me, but the nurses weren't particularly concerned, so I tried not to worry either.

Carole and Jimmy brought Samuel over around 530 so the brothers could finally meet. I was so happy to see my big boy, and to see how excited he was to meet Levi. He was a little overly interested in all the buttons, etc., in the hospital room, and reallly wanted to climb on my lap, so they only stayed about 30 minutes. But it was good to have our whole little family together for a few minutes.

We actually all slept pretty well that night. Levi was (and is) a champion eater/sleeper. He barely cried at all. They did have to come prick his foot again to take his glucose level every time he ate for a while. That was sad. But other than that things were going pretty smoothly. I kept making myself go pee (though I was afraid  to drink too much after my previous experience!), and all seemed well.

Dr. Speaks came back in the next morning to check on my stitches and to follow up on how everything went. She emphasized that my tear was really deep and that the only reason it was 3rd degree instead of 4th was because of location. I was thankful it wasn't in a worse location though! She said she wanted to refer me to PT for building the muscle back up, and also informed me that I'd lost a lot of blood. I'd expected that since I'd seen her and the nurse counting bloody tissues in the delivery room multiple times. She said I didn't have a hemorrhage, but was pretty close. My hemoglobin went from 13+ at my pre-delivery blood work to 9 and change the next morning. So I was instructed to eat a lot of iron rich foods and to take it easy/not lift anything heavier than the baby for a week or two. She said I was recovering well enough that she felt OK with discharging me though, which honestly surprised me a little considering all be issues I'd had!

Eric's mom came to visit for a little while before things got too crazy. We knew once Levi hit 36 hours, people would be all up in our business again, but we at least had a couple of hours where we could just hang out and cuddle our little guy.

Around 11 people started coming in to do all the routine 36 hour tests. Levi had his hearing checked and bilirubin run etc etc. The pediatrician came by to check on him and said after his circumcision, he should be able to go home too. That sounded pretty great to us! The lady who came in to do the bili check said his initial screen looked a little high, so they were going to do another heel prick to check, but she wasn't really worried. Poor baby got stuck again though. :( We started getting things together and preparing to leave when we got the lovely news that Levi's bilirubin was in fact high. He had jaundice, and we weren't going anywhere. There was a whole lot of back and forth over the next few hours, and a lot of different stories about what would happen from various doctors, nurses, CNAs and even lactation consultants. Within an few hours, though, we had bili lights hooked up in our room, and poor little Levi had a mask put on and was laid under them in just a diaper for the next 16 hours.

That was all kinds of miserable. Poor baby was soooo mad about the whole situation. It was cold, he couldn't see anything, and he just cried and cried. We could take him out for 20/30 mins every two hours to feed him. I admittedly kept him out a little longer a few times because I felt so so sad for him. After coming into the world, he'd spent the majority of his time in the NICU/getting pricked/now being blinded and laid out in the cold. I was not a happy mommy.

Carole and Jimmy brought Samuel up to the waiting room that night and we took turns walking over to have dinner with him. He was a mess and ridiculously wild and tired, and of course he didn't understand why he couldn't see the baby. I was thankful we got to spend some time with him though.

Anyway, we made it through that awful night with a little sleep anyway. They came in again at 7ish to prick poor baby's heel again to see if his bili levels had gone down. We waited for a several hours and kept getting calls from the nurses and pediatrician asking if we knew anything, because the lab hadn't contacted either of them (having a baby on a holiday weekend is a MESS, by the way. Staff is limited and no one communicates efficiently).

Finally around 10ish, the nurse came in and said we should get ready to go and took him for his circumcision. Ok! Finally!

Or not. I got a phone call about 20 minutes later from he pediatrician that they weren't supposed to take him.. His numbers hadn't gone down much, and they wanted him to spend another 24 hours on the lights. They were going to let us go home because of the holiday/the fact that he was already off the lights for a while/we had been there long enough, but they were sending lights home with us and someone would be contacting us shortly about getting them delivered.

I hung up from that phone call and started BAWLING. I felt like I'd been handling everything pretty well, but another night under those things at home just seemed like torture. The nurse came in and probably thought I had some mad case of depression. I finally squawked out why I was so upset, and she made me feel much better by explaining that the home version of the lights was just a little blanket wrapped around his stomach. I can't begin to tell you the relief I felt!

Levi finally came back to us and we got discharge papers. It may have been one of the happiest moments of my life!

It took forever to get someone/a wheelchair to get us out of there, but we finally rolled out around 2 pm. We had some carseat woes that turned out to be an easy fix, but delayed us another 30 minutes. But finally, we made it home around 2:30, just in time to get or bili blanket delivered. Levi had that wrapped around him until Sunday evening, but compared to the hospital lights, it was really no big deal at all. We could swaddle him and hold him and I could even feed him with the blanket on. It was sooo much easier of an experience.

We went back to the pediatrician Monday afternoon for one last heel prick and a weight check. Baby boy was 8 lbs even when we left the hospital Saturday, and already up to 8+6oz Monday, so he was definitely eating well. We got a call a few hours later that his bili numbers hadn't gone up, so he was cleared to be done with the treatment. And our normal life began.

I can't really complain too much, because ultimately, everything turned out we'll. Our little man is now almost 3 weeks (it took me hat long to write this! Haha), and is thriving, growing, and melting our hearts every day.

Hopefully if we have more children, though, things will go a little bit smoother. Levi is with every bit of it though! We are so in love with this sweet boy!!


(Other random stuff I forgot: the nurse at one point came in with some medicine to keep my blood from clotting. I asked why, and she said because of my history with PE. I was like "whaaaaaa?!?" Turns out they almost gave meds to the wrong person!)

I just had a baby!

So I'm sitting in this room watching property brothers. Levi was born about an hour and a half ago, but had to be taken to the NiCU for observation because he had meconium in his lungs. Eric is checking on him now. I did get to hold him for a few minutes. He's so sweet! He looks a lot like Samuel did, but with bigger lips. His little breathing was so sad though. They said he's doing better now, so hopefully he can come with us in a few hours.

After a pretty easy labor (with the exception of almost passing out with my epidural), I pushed 4 or 5 times and this guy literally fell out of me! Dr Speaks turned to go get herself some booties from the hall, and had to turn back around because my contraction just pushed him out! There was barely time to catch! Haha. I have what sounds like a pretty nasty third degree tear thanks to the speed of his arrival, but overall I can't believe how smooth everything went labor wise! It was right at 20 hours from the time I felt my first contraction til he was out, so pretty much half of Samuel's labor. Glad to know I'm a baby having machine. ;)

Anyway, I will write his whole birth story later, especially once he's with us and we know his weight and length and such (he looked huge to me!). But we are now parents of 2! Eek!

40+1. Officially overdue.

Well, apparently my theory about our family's prompt babies has failed (unless Levi decides to get crazy in the next few hours - my due date could be off a day). Lame. I'm really not super uncomfortable or anything - in fact, I actually ran Saturday for a while in hopes of getting labor going - but I'm kind of mentally done. The in laws have been here 2 days and I keep getting messages and calls asking about the baby. It just stinks that I have absolutely no control over labor. Like, at all. I am going to eat a pineapple today since that is supposed to help. Haha. And I ate spicy food all day yesterday, which my stomach thanked me for by keeping me up with reflux half the night.

Anyway, I go back to the doctor Wednesday and I think I may go ahead and aim for induction later this week if nothing is happening. I've never been big on the idea, but this kid is already huge and I literally have people sitting around waiting on him to get here sooooo yeah. We will see what the doctor says, though. I'm praying he just comes on his own! Get out here, Levi! We are all ready to meet you!!

39 + 4

Well, unless something crazy happens in the next 4 hours, it seems as if Levi will have hung around longer than Samuel did. Granted, I think Samuel's due date was a little off and I was actually 40 weeks, not 39+5. Still, this is the most pregnant I've ever technically been!

Everything still looks good. I was still measuring small at my appointment today - not surprising since I've done so the whole time with both boys. But, since they have to be cautious and all, I had a non stress test and an extra ultrasound, which was awesome because baby boy was totally showing off his sweet face the whole time!

As expected, the only explanation was that I somehow magically "hide my babies" - not that I feel like they are hidden at all!! I'm still pretty stinkin huge. Haha. Levi is actually measuring really big. His head measured 41 weeks and the rest of him was just over 40. There can definitely be some discrepancies with weight prediction, but right now the estimate is 8.5 pounds. Yikes! My fluid was extra high too, which is a good thing overall, but in no way explains the small measurements. Whatever, I will take it!

Anyway, so now I just get to wait until labor starts. I'll go back next Wednesday if nothing happens before then. Hopefully I won't be needing that appointment! I'm 2.5 cm and 60%, a small jump from my 1.5 cm last week... So something is happening anyway? Oh, and this is gross, but I want to remember in case I have another kid - I totally lost my mucus plug Tuesday. And it. Was. Disgusting. But, hopefully that means something is happening too. :)

Oh, and my weight gain is exactly what it was with Samuel when I checked in to the hospital - 36 pounds. Apparently my body just does that.

I'm  also doing the 1 am/4am pee breaks most nights, which was true with my first pregnancy too.

I'm still suffering from the occasional bout of reflux. And exercising every day, though pretty much only walking now - trying to do 2-3 miles a day. It's been gorgeous this week, so I've been making good use of the stroller. I'm totally up for the elliptical or stairs if I go to the gym, there just hasn't been any need when it's 70 and sunny. :) I'm also still doing squats at home/some arm weights. I figured it was time to quit with the back work though since my lower back is working enough! Haha.

I guess that's all for now. Hopefully  my next post will be "meet Levi!!"

36+6

Man, have I been bad about blogging this time! Mainly because things are going smoothly and there's nothing to report thus far. Hoping it stays that way until he decides to make his appearance!

Levi is still growing and wiggly.

I got checked on Tuesday and I'm dilated 1 cm and 25% effaced. I've gained about 33 lbs, so about on track to gain what I did the first time. I'm kind of an Amazon woman, so it's expected I'll gain 35-40, which I'm fine with.

My heartburn still comes and goes with no rhyme or reason, as does the constiption. Fun fun.

I officially quit running after last Wednesday. I actually got a good pace going (low 9s) for a little bit and cardio wise felt amazing, but my lower back and hips just hurt, and I decided I have no desire to go into labor feeling like that. So at 35+3, I called it.

I'm still tearing it up on the elliptical, stairs, bike, and weights though. And walking. No slacking for this chick!

What else? I got all our newborn clothes washed and put away, made a few freezer meals (I'll keep making them the next few weeks), found a replacement for our playmat and ordered a lamp for baby boy's room. Everything seems to be coming together...

Now the question is am I prepared mentally? For labor, for life with 2 kids, for not sleeping, etc etc. it's a little scary! And Samuel has been super clingy/acting out the last few weeks... It could be turning 3, but I think it's more related to knowing his world is about to be rocked. He's so sweet when we talk about Levi though, and very very excited to have a little brother! He talks to him and rubs my belly all the time. <3

Anyway, I guess that's about it for now! I'm going to the OB the next two Tuesday's and then the Thursday before my due date, but really it's all just a waiting game at this point! I feel like I'll be really ready after next weekend (Eric and I are planning a date night and I need to finish my stock up shopping). Pretty much everything else seems ready though. Just got to stock up on sleep!

Can't wait to meet this little guy!!

34 + 4

Since there's been very little of consequence to mention, I thought I'd wait until after my appointment today to post anything.

I'm now 2 for 2 with measuring small in my last trimester. So that's a win! Haha. Because measuring 30 weeks at almost 35 is obviously not normal, I got an extra ultrasound today and got to see Levi's fat little cheeks and long bony legs. He was sleeping the whole time on his side with his hand against his face. Adorbs. They guessed he was about 5 1/2 pounds - so right about average - except his head was measuring closer to 37 weeks. Yikes! The little cyst on his brain was gone. Yay! His head was down - also yay! And, unlike with Samuel, my fluid was actually on the high side, which could explain the couple of extra pounds I've gained. They really saw no obvious reason for my being small except that's just how I carry. Sweet! I'll have a follow up appointment Monday, so hopefully that doctor will agree. :)

Anyway, I've gained right around 30 lbs. I'm working out a ton more than I was with Samuel at this point, but running less. I might quit soon if this muscle doesn't quit bugging me. I haven't thrown in the towel yet though. Haha.

I've been waking up more to pee at night. 2-3 times usually. So that's annoying. And I'm pretty tired. But I'm also dealing with. 3 year old all day who wants to be picked up and chased, etc etc sooooo I don't think there's anything too weird about that! Lol.

There's plenty more to write, but big brother just woke up crying Sooo I guess I'm done. :)

31 Weeks!

Still haven't made it to the actual computer and posting from my phone again. Haha. We will see how this works!

Only 9 weeks left! Which is still 2 months, so we've got a while. But it's getting closer! Two friends from our Church group had their baby boys this week, so it's starting to seem a little more real!!

At 31 weeks, baby boy should be the size of a coconut - 16-17 inches long and about 3-3.5 pounds. He rolls around a ton, and likes to put his feet under my right rib. He is most active at night right after we put Samuel to bed. Whether that's because I've just eaten dinner or because he somehow knows his big brother is not around is anyone's guess. :)

Pregnancy wise things have been going well! My heartburn has died down the last couple of weeks, though I'm sure it will be rearing its ugly head again soon. Outside of the rib kicks, I've been feeling pretty spiffy for a pregnant girl. I had an OB appointment Tuesday and they finally gave me some meds for my bronchitis/sinus infection, so, while not 100%, I'm feeling much better on that front. Hopefully I can finally have a calm, sickness free few weeks of actually enjoying my pregnancy! Hopefully. :)

Let's see, what else? I was measuring right on track at my appointment and have gained a whopping 25 pounds. More than I would like, but I feel like I eat pretty reasonably and I workout every day, so it's probably just what my body does. And I reminded myself that I measured small with Samuel, so my weight gain for my size is right on track if that makes sense (I measured 30 weeks/gained 25 lbs at 35 weeks with S, and ended up having a bunch of extra ultrasounds and threatened induction. So weight gain for size is the same, and that's a good thing).

I keep saying I'm going to quit running, but I haven't. I've only been doing 2 days/week of actual running, through, and the farthest I've gone recently without stopping is 2.5 miles. So I've substantially cut back. I'm trying to focus on time and intensity more than miles. I've been doing the stair master a lot, cycling, the elliptical and weight lifting. I figure if I can still get in 20-25 hours a month of the lower impact stuff, I'll be doing pretty good! So far, so good. ;)

I'm still sleeping pretty well. I wake up at 330ish pretty much every night to pee. And after my crazy dreams (I have multiple nutty dreams every night), but I've kind of learned to ignore those and go back to sleep. Haha.

Anyway, we are continuing to truck along! I'm starting to get a little excited/nervous, and I'm sure I will much more as the weeks go on. For now, I just want to enjoy these sweet baby kicks! <3

29 Weeks (and The Glucose Test from Hades)

It's been a busy few weeks with Christmas, New Years, family visiting, and Samuel and I coming down with an icky case of bronchitis. Things might be calming down now?

We're well into the third trimester now, which is exciting! My heartburn and constipation have remained steady, and I've gotten the occasional leg cramp, but other than that things seem to be going well. :-)

I had blood work done at my appointment 2 weeks ago along with my glucose test and getting the flu shot and tDap. It was pretty much the worst thing ever. Not because I can't handle a few needles and an orange soda, either.

It really all started off fine. Other than the fact that I gained an inordinate amount of weight (7 pounds in a month. Yikes. Blaming that on a baby growth spurt!), all of my other stats looked good and baby was measuring right on par. I chugged my sweet drink and got my two shots like a champ. No one likes those things, but they're really not so bad. I waited around for my hour to let the drink digest and actually enjoyed getting to sit peacefully and read a bit of Jane Austen without a kid or cat crawling into my lap.

Then it came time for the blood work. The normal phlebotomist was RIGHT THERE, which was the kicker for this whole ordeal, but she had some type of girl in training helping her (I have no clue what her title was - she came in to see me last time with the nurse practitioner, so maybe she's training for that?) so she could process her lab stuff, and so she let her draw my blood since, as the training girl said, "I have big juicy veins." Thanks.

So she sticks me, and it hurts worse that normal but I"m like whatever. Then she takes it out and sticks me again. And starts trying to draw blood. Then she says to the normal lady, "I'm not getting anything. Is this normal?" Meanwhile I'm closing my eyes and clenching my jaw and trying not to punch her in the face with my free hand...

The normal lady turns around and says, "Whoa! Give me that! It's gonna blow!"

THAT makes me feel good.

(Eric explained to me later that she meant the needle went all the way through my vein, and blood was in fact leaking out both sides. Yikes.)

So she gets the needle out and puts a tourniquet on my arm - once again, making me feel GREAT here, people - and then puts some ice, etc. on it.

5 minutes later, they seem to be okay with everything, but then they're like, "Oh, we didn't get any blood, so we are going to have to do your other arm."

The normal lady sticks me and I barely feel it, thank goodness. All the while my right arm still feels like it's about to fall off. She gets what she needs and I start getting ready to go, and then I realize that I feel funny. Like, really funny. And, sure enough, I passed out. Well, pretty much. I was still conscious the whole time I think, but I couldn't see or hear anything really...

Anyway, I came to and got some water (I hadn't had any for more than an hour because of the glucose test) and they let me sit there for a while until my strength came back. 15 minutes later I was essentially back to normal, so I was able to go home and have some lunch and rest before running my errands and such the rest of the day.

What REALLY killed me was that, while I was regaining my composure, the training girl had the nerve to say, "that's why we don't usually like people to get the flu shot on the same day they do blook work." Um, seriously???

So, yeah,  she's not on my list of favorite people. Haha.

The good news is, I don't have diabetes, no where close to it. I am slightly anemic, and do still have a nice bruise on my arm 2 weeks later. Once I get my pictures uploaded, I'll add that to the post. It was about as bad if not worse than when I had my blood taken during labor last time and then had the blood pressure cuff put over it.

Anyway, that story was longer than I meant it to be.

A few other quick notes:
We pretty much have what we need for baby I think. We got a new monitor for Christmas, along with a new diaper back and a baby carrier. There's a few small things we still need to get and a LOT that needs to be set up, but at least we are pretty good stuff wise. :-)

Baby should be around 15-16" long now and 2.5-3 pounds!

I've gained a ridiculous 22-23 pounds. I still think a lot of it is muscle. Even though I'm carrying higher, I'm not particularly bigger than last time.

I think I'm about done running, though I may change my mind. The muscle I pulled during the 5K keeps getting irritated any time I try, or at least it did last week and the week before. Lesson learned about running too fast.

I've done a lot of cycling and stair-mastering and elliptical-ing though, along with weight lifting, so I think I should be able to maintain a pretty good fitness level without it. It's probably better for my bladder anyway.

We still haven't found a name we love, though there is a name that I think we are going to end up with. I don't see Eric enough these days to really talk about it. We still have a couple of months though. :-)

I've been sleeping pretty well, but it is getting harder to turn over at night, etc. I'm starting to look forward to laying on my belly again!

I haven't had any major cravings or aversions lately, just drinking a lot of milk to balance out my heartburn. Haha. I am hungry a LOT, so I'm trying really hard to eat more fruits and veggies when my stomach is growling now that Christmas is over. No more 7 pound gains! (To be fair, I remember a month where I gained 6-7 with Samuel too about the same time, so it really was probably just a growth spurt).

Anyway, this might be my longest post ever! Samuel is about to get up from nap, so I better sign off. :-) Just a few more weeks!!