Weeks 33-37!

Baby size: 38 weeks! Baby is the size of a leek. Literally all I ct is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (which I've never seen) when someone screams "there's a leek in the boat!" I Love me some puns! ;)

How I feel about being pregnant: Exhausted. I can't wait to meet my little guy! Seriously, kid, you can come out annnny time you like. ;)

What I miss about pre-pregnancy life: Sleeping comfortably. And on my tummy. I can't wait to sleep on my stomach again! Or just sleep. Baby thinks 2-5 am is prime play time, no matter how often I tell him otherwise. Silly boy. 

Symptoms: Still heartburn and a lack of sleep. Oh and I finally had to take my wedding ring off. :( I'm REALLY going to miss it. I saw this picture the other day of someone who had to have hers cut off and it was so terrifying I decided to just give in. I'm pretty sure my finger isn't even swollen, but it was THAT disturbing. 

Food Cravings:  Hmmm I actually haven't been craving much lately. With cute little feet constantly pressed into my stomach, it makes it hard to WANT to eat anything. Though if you mention a cupcake and don't actually give me one, I will probably give you a really dirty look. Haha. I even told Makaelah the other day "You don't go around talking about cupcakes in front of a pregnant woman if you don't have one. That's dangerous." She just looked at me like I'm nuts. Which seems fair. LOL

What I'm most excited about: Getting to meet my sweet baby soon! He's going to be the cutest thing ever. :-D

Something I've done to prepare for baby: Baby Shower #2! Aunt MarMar and Aunt Krystin threw a "Little Man" themed shower for us, and it was AMAZING. We played lots of crazy games, and it was tons of fun. Thank you, beautiful ladies! 

We also ordered his bed (with attached changing table)! YAY somewhere to sleep and change diapers! ;) 

{Obviously I wrote this post WEEKS ago. I was all "oh I'll add some pics tomorrow, then post it. False. This is so not my strong suit.}

Special moment: Any time Shane talks about our baby and/or our family. He is so sweet, and he's going to make such a wonderful father! <3

Thanksgiving Week! 

Monday we had dinner with our friends that live locally (aka within a 1 mile radius). I did the majority of the cooking (though props to Travis on his delicious carrots and sweet potato casserole). Let me tell you, Thanksgiving dinner is EXHAUSTING when you're 8 months pregnant. OMG. The turkey turned out really awesome though, and I wanted to marry the mashed potatoes, so all in all I'd say it was a good day. ;) [I'll probably post on my other blog with the recipes I used]

Wednesday night we had a "bonfire" with s'mores, and hung out with some awesome people! :) 

Thursday we had lunch with my family, and I made ENTIRELY too much sweet potato casserole. :-P It was wonderful to see everyone and to be home and with family this year for Thanksgiving. 

We also went to hang out with the Thompsons, since my ability to participate in Christmas this year is rather questionable. We had lots of fun, and all got our butts kicked in Yahtzee by an 8 year old. :-P

Funny moment: The other day, Makaelah came over and Kaden was kicking up a storm, so I asked her to tell him to stop kicking me. She looks at me all slowly and says "He's KICKING you?!" with these super wide eyes. Then she came up and screamed "Stop kicking her, Kaden!!" a few times. It was SO freaking adorable and hilarious. 

How baby's growing (from BabyCenter): 

Trip to the ER/Labor & Delivery:

So, yesterday {which was like December 1st or 2nd -_-} I woke up a few times with back pain but it went away so I didn't worry too much. Then around 4 o'clock the pain concentrated in my left mid-back and just wouldn't stop. I was crying off and on and absolutely miserable. Nothing helped. Shane finally called my midwife and she said it was probably my ligaments stretching from him moving and shifting and told him to put a pack of frozen veggies on my back {He was SUPER proud of himself because he had actually suggested that about 30 minutes before}. After an hour or so it wasn't getting better, and if anything it was getting way worse. I was having horrible contractions from it, too. Shane got freaked out and decided to take me to the ER. I will say that the only good thing about being a pregnant woman in the ER is you don't have to wait. They took me immediately to L&D. They hooked up all the stupid monitors and stuff (which is one of the reasons I won't be doing actual labor in a hospital). Then she said I was super dehydrated so they hooked up an IV of fluids. I agreed to pain meds b/c my back pain was completely out of control. I was worried it would take a while to kick in, but it literally was half-way in and I couldn't talk. My test results came back positive for a UTI, so they added antibiotics to my IV. I was out most of the rest of the night. People kept waking me up to ask me questions and such, which I wasn't super great at answering. Then she came in and said I needed a shot to stop the contractions. "It might burn a little." PUH-LEASE! That thing felt like freaking lava being injected into my arm. OMG. Then she came back not too long after and put another one in the other arm. Ugh. Luckily it worked, though. He definitely needs to cook a little longer. I'm sure he'd be fine now, but I'd much rather he go as close to term as possible. Poor Shane stayed up with me until we got home at almost 2:30, then had to wake up for work at 4:45. He's such a sweet husband. Even though he was super freaked out seeing me in so much pain, he did a really good job staying calm and taking care of business. I'm proud! I'm also grateful for my parents coming to visit and for feeding him. I just have to take it easy and drink lots of water for now. Hopefully we don't have to deal with anything like this again until he's really ready to come out. For now, I'm just glad my little guy is safe. <3

        And as I waited to upload pictures until the next day, I can include the follow-up 5 day stay in hell, I mean, the hospital: 
The pain came back with a vengeance the next night. We went back to the ER, and this time people decided to listen to the fact that I said it was my kidney, not back labor. I thought before that kidney stones were the worst pain in the world. THEN I got to experience kidney stones  with massive contractions. Even the doctor felt bad for me. "Kidney stones hurt worse than childbirth and you're facing both right now..." Deeeelightful. I was in absolute agony and they withheld the drugs until I could get all the forms signed. Pretty sure my name was "Tiffany dkjfoawiflwkejf" on half of them. -_- 
        It was basically 4 days of the doctor saying way more was wrong than actually was and threatening to do horrible tests and deliver the baby. Blargh. None of which, thankfully, actually happened. 
        One night I had the world's WORST nurse. Seriously. We nicknamed her "Shuffles" b/c she literally never picked her feet up. Naturally I had her the night that my pain was the absolute worst and she took forever to get my medicine. I was starting to wonder if Shane or Lisa would snap first, and Marlen wasn't far behind. They sent Lisa for a walk so there was no blood-shed. She finally got my meds in, but they took forever to work b/c she had taken so long to get them to me. I finally passed out, only to wake up at 1:30 in the morning with my right hand 4x the size it should be. I was completely freaked out and she was just standing there. Finally, Shane was like "is it possible the fluids are going into her hand instead of the vein. Shouldn't you take it out?" So she did, and unfortunately he had to leave for work. She then tried to redo my IV in my left hand and blew 2 veins. I looked over and my hand was already swollen and a giant bruise. On top of all this, the pain was back and I couldn't get medicine b/c I had no IV. She went to get another woman who "never misses". False. She missed twice. They brought in a third nurse who thankfully knew what she was doing and got the IV. She probably thought I was losing it b/c I was sobbing by that point. Because what I really need when I'm facing horrific pain is people repeatedly poking me with needles. Ugh.

        There was a lot of other horrible stuff that made me super thankful I will be at a birthing center when I have Kaden and not a hospital. (Not that all my nurses were horrible. I had one SUPER sweet one and a couple that were nice enough.) There is absolutely no way I could have a baby in that environment. Not that I think there's anything wrong with a woman choosing a hospital birth. I just personally would hate it. My midwife was super sympathetic, as was her nurse when I looked completely horrified at the idea of getting my blood drawn b/c I was still covered in needle marks and bruises. 

       Also, after 4 days of being pumped full of fluids, I looked like an overstuffed sausage. Omg. I've never felt so gross in my life. I had also gained way to much weight despite not being able to eat the whole time I was in the hospital. After about a week it finally went away. 

       I'm feeling better now. At least as far as all this is concerned. Just getting everything ready and waiting for my little man to make his appearance. Soon, hopefully. I want to see him! And preferably not deliver an 11 lb baby. We shall see! 

Sorry this was so long. I saved way too much for this post. 

My Birth Story :)

       I would like to preface this with the fact that I have non-standard views on childbirth and parenting. My husband calls me a hippy mom at least once a week. Basically I'm all about natural birth, extended breast feeding, cloth diapering, babywearing, and apparently co-sleeping (this was not my original plan b/c it kind of freaks me out, but my little guy definitely prefers sleeping with his mama). Basically I'm just saying this because I want to emphasize that these are MY personal choices, but I don't expect everyone to have the same views. As long as you're not abusing/neglecting your children, you do you. Also, I should add that I'm no fan of pain. My pain threshold is actually pretty low. Apparently promising me a baby changes everything...
        Wednesday I had an appointment with my midwife scheduled for 3:00. After weeks of prodromal labor and pain, I was completely ready to get this show on the road. Her policy is not to allow you to go over 41 weeks without doing something to help labor, because risks start to increase as you get too far over. She gave me Cervadil at my appointment, which is used to soften the cervix and can lead to contractions if you're ready. I had been having a lot of pressure and cramping the night before, so I started having contractions while they were monitoring Kaden for 2 hours after I got the medicine. When the observation finished, she told me to go get something to eat, try to sleep, and call if things picked up. My parents had come to the appointment and they took us to dinner (at this truly awful Mexican buffet...Ranchero King Buffet, I think? I do NOT recommend it, but I digress...). I was having some pain and pressure there, but nothing too serious. On the way home, I was absolutely miserable. I was totally miserable in the car for the last few weeks, though, so I figured he was just moving in a bad way. When we got home I was still really uncomfortable, so I asked Shane to go buy some water and Powerade while I took a shower so I'd be able to hydrate if things kept up. Well, the shower didn't help. When I got out it literally felt like someone was putting a white-hot sword into my cervix. I couldn't get comfortable no matter what I did. They didn't feel like contractions as they'd been described to me, so I was kind of freaking out. It got to the point where the only thing helping was bearing down, and I was seriously starting to think he was going to be born in my bathroom. I tried sitting on my exercise ball and when I stood up, my water started leaking. At that point, Shane went to call my midwife. She prefers you labor at home until you're around 5cm, which makes sense, but I felt like my contractions weren't letting up at all so I couldn't time them correctly. She told Shane to put me in the tub and time my contractions for an hour and call her back, then we'd probably be headed in. The contractions got insane at that point. I'm pretty sure my neighbors think Shane was murdering me, and Roscoe was super freaked out. Shane timed them for a little while then said he was going to call Kathy (my midwife) back. Apparently my contractions were only 2 minutes apart (they're typically supposed to be 5-7 minutes apart when you head in). He left that part out so I wouldn't be more freaked out, but I was complaining that I wasn't getting enough time in between them. Somehow I managed to miss all the reasonably-far-apart contractions. However, that basically put me into Transition (aka the WORST part of labor) in the car. That was a pretty awful 30ish minutes. Shane did a really good job of driving fast enough for me not to freak out more but close enough to the speed limit not to get pulled over. *high five* We finally got to the birth center at what I THINK was around 11:00. I had zero interest in time by that point. My doula (birth coach) came down to meet us and immediately told me I needed to calm down and relax. To which I basically thought "WTF I don't think that's possible". lol However, once I listened to her and relaxed my shoulders and refocused my breathing, I was at least able to make it upstairs (not that I actually climbed stairs... I would have just delivered in the parking lot if that was the case. Haha). She took me to the exam room and my midwife came in to check how far along I was. She said my water hadn't broken but she could do it. They put down a more absorbent pad and she reached in and popped it with what I'm pretty sure was just her fingers. Usually they use this weird crochet hook thing, but apparently mine were just already about to burst. Then she said I was 9cm, and we were all like "whaaaa?!" Then I had to walk down the hall, which felt like a million miles, while my midwife went to fill the tub. Shane helped me get undressed and in the tub. This is where I lost track of most of what was happening outside of the tub. My contractions were coming with no break and I was having a hard time keeping it together. Shane kept asking if it was okay for Lisa to come in but I couldn't get a break to answer and apparently I shushed him. Lisa finds that hilarious. lol Finally I said they could bring everyone in. Both my parents, Marlen and Krystin were there. My dad had never gotten to see any children/grandchildren born b/c we were all c-sections, so he was really excited. I started pushing pretty soon after that (probably close to midnight). My body just completely took over and I pushed when I felt like it and had time to rest and breathe in between. He was sunny-side up, so I started getting back labor. Since I was so annoyed with everyone talking about back labor while I was in the hospital, as soon as she said the words "back labor", everyone jumped in and told her not to. She just rubbed my back and tracked the baby's movement down my lower spine. I felt like he was NEVER going to get all the way down. At this point I had moved into a sitting/squatting position to try to relieve the back pressure. She had to keep reminding me to push down instead of using my throat. It was hard not to scream, but I eventually got into a rhythm and started concentrating on breathing. She had me flip back over so she could check the baby's heart rate, then she went to work with the other girl that had just had her baby. I got super focused on pushing and apparently got really quiet. She came back in right as I started crowning and said "Oh goodness! We're having the baby!" and everyone started freaking out. I personally could have told them I was crowning, but no one asked me. lol. Anna ran out to get my midwife. She came in (apparently with her hair all a mess b/c she'd been napping) and sat next to the tub and just waited. Everyone was gathered around watching him come out and I was getting jealous because I couldn't see over my belly. Kathy grabbed a mirror and let me see. I was in awe and simultaneously completely convinced he would never come out. It looked like there was barely anything coming out and I knew his head was huge. She put the mirror away and about 30 seconds later his head literally exploded out. It scared me and apparently I jumped back. Kathy leaned in and told me I had to keep pushing (thankfully this is the only time she told me to push, the rest was up to me and my body). My stomach was killing me from all the pushing, so it hurt, but I kept pushing. It was, by far, the strangest sensation I've ever experienced. It felt like a ton of fluid gushing out, rather than a baby. It might have just been because he was so squishy. I have no idea. It was weird, but amazing. Then she laid him on my chest and I started crying. [As she pulled him up, my first thought was literally "Thank God for malleable head bones" ... he looked like an alien, but there's no way I would have gotten his 14.5 inch head out any other way] I was so exhausted and relieved. He grabbed Shane's finger as soon as he came out. Luckily, my dad caught it on camera. It was such a priceless moment. He let out this tiny little cry, then proceeded to just lay there all chill and kind of freaked Kathy out. She picked him up and started rubbing him with a rag to make him mad. He was SO calm, though. I think the fact that his birth in general was so calm helped him. She finally got him to cry a little and he started getting redder instead of purple. He was super gooey and covered in vernix, but he looked absolutely perfect to me. Once the cord stopped pulsing, they clamped it and Shane was able to cut it. They handed him to Shane while I got out of the tub. I didn't notice the water until I stood up, and I thought "dear God what happened?!" lol. I can't imagine the mess that would have made on a bed. Krystin, Marlen, and Lisa helped me out of the tub. I was shaking uncontrollably from all the exertion and adrenaline. I went to the bed and laid down to deliver the placenta and such. I'm not going to lie, that felt incredible. Such a relief. I got a small shot of pictocin in my hip to help prevent hemorrhaging. I didn't notice that much. Then she checked for tearing. That was always the thing about childbirth that I feared most, because I imagined that you could feel it happen. Turns out I did tear and I definitely didn't feel anything. She said I would need 2 stitches, and sent my doula to get the stuff. Shane came over with the baby and they put him on my chest to calm me down and regulate both of our body temperature. She gave me a shot to numb the area and spent the most terrifying 30ish minutes of my life stitching me up. I have no idea what all she had to do but she kept saying "just one more, and I'll be done" and then kept stitching. I feel bad now because I was not an easy patient at that time, but someone having a needle in such a sensitive area is kind of horrifying. She was like "You know, when we were learning to do this, they had us use chicken breasts. They definitely should have had us practice on a moving target." Whoops! She finally finished stitching and got everything covered up. I turned on my side so he could breast feed. He latched like a pro and stayed there for a good hour and a half. My birth team was pretty exhausted by this point, so they told us to get some sleep and went to try to nap themselves. Shane, Krystin, Marlen, and Kaden all passed out. I laid there and watched Kaden sleep because he was SO precious (plus I had to check his breathing every 2 minutes, because I'm neurotic like that). He slept like a champ and never cried. Another lady gave birth around 4:30. She sounded like a banshee, but she beasted that kid out in like 5 minutes. Crazy!
       All in all, it was the perfect experience. I'm so glad I chose a birth center. My midwife was amazing, as was my doula. My midwife actually came in to talk to me the next morning and said "I knew your husband was a big baby and that y'all were concerned, but I did NOT expect him to be that big! I'm really glad you got him out without any trouble." Thank God for child bearing hips! I'm not sure it would have been any easier if he was smaller, honestly. Not that I have any frame of reference, as I will probably never have a normal size baby. Haha. However, after all the time I spent fighting with my body, it feels really awesome to know I can grow and birth a human being. And a perfect little human being he is! <3 

According to Marlen, this was before I started pushing. I had nooo concept of time.

His head!! This is my favorite shot!

As soon as he came out! 

Daddy holding him for the first time!

Shane cutting the cord. <3

Grabbing Daddy's finger for the first time! <3 <3

Our first family picture

Daddy and Kaden sleeping <3

Aunt MarMar and Aunt Krys sleeping

Daddy changing his first poopy diaper!

Idk why this is upside down, but he's so cute!

His expression cracks me up. He LOVES the boobies. Nomnomnom!