So I haven't posted much about what's going on with me lately so I thought I would do that. I just started working at Odyssey Learning Center, with kids that have autism and other developmental disabilities. I had orientation last Thursday and started training this Monday. For training I've been pretty much thrown into a classroom with all the kids, the teacher and the other educational aides. The first day I just observed, the second day I shadowed one of the aides and on the third day I got to work one on one with the kids while someone shadowed me.
On my first day I got slapped a couple of times (pretty hard) by one of the kids. On the second day one of the kids dug his sharp fingernails into my hand. On the third day and fourth day there was a lot more slapping. So looks like this is going to be the norm everyday, but I don't mind it's part of the job. The kids are such characters and the staff is really nice; I think I'm really going to enjoy it.
Alexis has been trying to speak, the last couple of weeks, mostly she's just mumbling random noises. I had been speaking mostly to Alexis in English with a little bit of Spanish but for the past two weeks I've started to strictly speak to her in Spanish, now that she's starting to speak I really want to concentrate on Spanish with her. When I started speaking strictly Spanish with her she stopped "talking" to me as much as she did when I was speaking English with her. Today she started to talk to me like she used to, which makes me happy because that means she's getting comfortable with the Spanish version of me lol.
I just thought I would update on what has been going on lately with me, and Alexis :)
Friday, September 30, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Growing Up
It's been a while since I've posted anything on here and I've really been meaning to I'm just too busy taking care of Alexis or just too tired. But at the moment she is sound asleep, taking a little nap so I thought I would update.
Alexis is 4 months now and she is getting bigger and bigger by the day. She's still pretty tiny compared to other babies her age but in my eyes she's grown soooo much. About a month ago she weighed in at 9 lbs. We have her pediatrician's appointment on Tuesday thank gosh! I feel like it's been forever since we last saw her pediatrician. I just have sooo many questions for Dr. Brown so I'm glad we finally get too see her again. The one thing I'm not excited about is that Alexis gets her next round of shots at this visit and I know how heartbreaking it was when she got them the first time around.
I started a routine with Alexis 2 weeks ago and it's working out marvelously. It's not a super rigid routine but it's consistent. I'll feed her, play with her and talk with her, then she'll play on her play mat for like 40 minutes and then we'll have some tummy time and she'll nap and we pretty much do this throughout the day every time she wakes up. In between all that we'll go out and take a walk to the mailbox. Also at around 10pm I give her a bath with all her bedtime stuff and feed her and change her and she usually goes to sleep, wakes up at 11:30 for another feeding and then she's out from midnight till 6 in the morning and then she eats and gets changed again and goes back to sleep for another 3 hours before getting up around 9 to start her day. Sometimes this routine isn't completely solid because we'll have to go out and run errands and things like that but when we have a normal day when we don't go out it works really well. Daddy and I are both extremely excited that she is sleeping through the night, because that means we are too :)
Alexis has started to drool a lot, which started about a month ago; we think she is teething. I haven't seen any hint of a tooth yet but all the drooling tells me that it may be coming soon. We bought her some teething toys to chew on but she doesn't care for them that much, I think it's because they're cold; I'm sure once her teeth come in she'll appreciate them.
The best part of her getting bigger and older is that now she has started to smile, laugh, and attempt to talk that she hardly ever cries anymore. She makes the cutest noises. I can't wait for her to actually speak. I'm hoping her first word will be momma or dada but you never know.
Tummy time isn't working out so great with Alexis. She doesn't really enjoy being on her tummy and we've been trying to have her do tummy time everyday so that she can learn to roll over. She hasn't done it yet. One thing she does love to do is crawl on her back, she uses her legs to push herself on her back. I'll put her on her play mat while I'm in the kitchen cooking or cleaning and periodically look over at her in the living room to make sure she's ok and I'll find that she went from being right below her toys to almost on the carpet! She has some strong legs. Now we just need to get her to use her arms and legs to roll over.
Her hair is getting longer, but we haven't cut it. I think it looks really good, it's not unattractive long or in her face long so when it gets to that point I think is when we'll have her first hair cut.
We haven't gotten her ears pierced yet. But I think within the next month or two is when we're going to get it done. I can't wait to find some cute little studs for her.
Non Alexis related. I found a second job working at a school with kids that have Autism. I had to get a physical and do a background check and a ton of other things. I've done pretty much everything so I'm just waiting to find out when orientation and training starts. I'm really excited to start working in an environment that will give me some fulfillment in helping others. What's awesome about it is that it's Monday-Friday from 8:45- 2:45, and I get time off during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it isn't paid time off but it's nice to have it. I can still work at BJ's some nights with this schedule too. Derek works from 4-1 so our schedules line up perfectly so we don't have to take Alexis to daycare. so the days that Derek doesn't work nights I'll be working at BJ's and also during the days on the weekends. Once Derek goes back to school we might have to have her in day care for 3 hours maybe twice a week but at that point she'll be 6 months and it still won't be for too long. I'm glad we found something that would work for the both of us.
I'm just so happy to have Alexis. I love her more than anything and I can't wait for her to keep growing. I really love all this mommy/parenting stuff.,
Alexis is 4 months now and she is getting bigger and bigger by the day. She's still pretty tiny compared to other babies her age but in my eyes she's grown soooo much. About a month ago she weighed in at 9 lbs. We have her pediatrician's appointment on Tuesday thank gosh! I feel like it's been forever since we last saw her pediatrician. I just have sooo many questions for Dr. Brown so I'm glad we finally get too see her again. The one thing I'm not excited about is that Alexis gets her next round of shots at this visit and I know how heartbreaking it was when she got them the first time around.
I started a routine with Alexis 2 weeks ago and it's working out marvelously. It's not a super rigid routine but it's consistent. I'll feed her, play with her and talk with her, then she'll play on her play mat for like 40 minutes and then we'll have some tummy time and she'll nap and we pretty much do this throughout the day every time she wakes up. In between all that we'll go out and take a walk to the mailbox. Also at around 10pm I give her a bath with all her bedtime stuff and feed her and change her and she usually goes to sleep, wakes up at 11:30 for another feeding and then she's out from midnight till 6 in the morning and then she eats and gets changed again and goes back to sleep for another 3 hours before getting up around 9 to start her day. Sometimes this routine isn't completely solid because we'll have to go out and run errands and things like that but when we have a normal day when we don't go out it works really well. Daddy and I are both extremely excited that she is sleeping through the night, because that means we are too :)
Alexis has started to drool a lot, which started about a month ago; we think she is teething. I haven't seen any hint of a tooth yet but all the drooling tells me that it may be coming soon. We bought her some teething toys to chew on but she doesn't care for them that much, I think it's because they're cold; I'm sure once her teeth come in she'll appreciate them.
The best part of her getting bigger and older is that now she has started to smile, laugh, and attempt to talk that she hardly ever cries anymore. She makes the cutest noises. I can't wait for her to actually speak. I'm hoping her first word will be momma or dada but you never know.
Tummy time isn't working out so great with Alexis. She doesn't really enjoy being on her tummy and we've been trying to have her do tummy time everyday so that she can learn to roll over. She hasn't done it yet. One thing she does love to do is crawl on her back, she uses her legs to push herself on her back. I'll put her on her play mat while I'm in the kitchen cooking or cleaning and periodically look over at her in the living room to make sure she's ok and I'll find that she went from being right below her toys to almost on the carpet! She has some strong legs. Now we just need to get her to use her arms and legs to roll over.
Her hair is getting longer, but we haven't cut it. I think it looks really good, it's not unattractive long or in her face long so when it gets to that point I think is when we'll have her first hair cut.
We haven't gotten her ears pierced yet. But I think within the next month or two is when we're going to get it done. I can't wait to find some cute little studs for her.
Non Alexis related. I found a second job working at a school with kids that have Autism. I had to get a physical and do a background check and a ton of other things. I've done pretty much everything so I'm just waiting to find out when orientation and training starts. I'm really excited to start working in an environment that will give me some fulfillment in helping others. What's awesome about it is that it's Monday-Friday from 8:45- 2:45, and I get time off during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it isn't paid time off but it's nice to have it. I can still work at BJ's some nights with this schedule too. Derek works from 4-1 so our schedules line up perfectly so we don't have to take Alexis to daycare. so the days that Derek doesn't work nights I'll be working at BJ's and also during the days on the weekends. Once Derek goes back to school we might have to have her in day care for 3 hours maybe twice a week but at that point she'll be 6 months and it still won't be for too long. I'm glad we found something that would work for the both of us.
I'm just so happy to have Alexis. I love her more than anything and I can't wait for her to keep growing. I really love all this mommy/parenting stuff.,
Monday, August 1, 2011
New Job. New Apartment. New City.
There have been a ton of new stuff going on and it's been pretty hectic up until now.
A couple of weeks ago, while we were still living in Chico, I applied to some jobs in the Sacramento area and one of the places I applied to was BJ's in Folsom and they hired me. I applied as a server but they told me I didn't have enough experience (which I think is ridiculous) so they hired me on as a host.
So 2 weeks ago Derek and I came down to Sacramento, we found an apartment close to my work and close to the community college he's going to be attending. Even though his school is in Folsom and so is my job we decided to live in Orangevale because the rent is a lot cheaper. I really like the apartment complex.
Last week we went down to Southern California to pick up our stuff from storage and to see my family. We were only down there for a day which sadly meant I didn't get to spend as much time with my family as I wanted. It was great to see Alexis spend time with her grandparents and her uncles :)
BJ's is my favorite restaurant and I really like working there, the people are really nice and I miss working at a restaurant but going back to being a host after being a server is very disappointing. So I'm trying to look for another job. I was trying to find a career style job but there aren't any openings right now in my field so I'm hoping to find a server job while I try to find a career style job.
Orangevale is a nice area but I still don't particularly like Sacramento, being this close to San Francisco makes me nostalgic, living in Orangevale definietly does not compare. We probably won't be staying here for more than a year and a half at the most. We're planning on moving back to Southern California, Orange County or maybe Santa Barbara.
Alexis will be 12 weeks next Saturday. It's so crazy to think about how quickly she's been growing and how she's changed over these last couple of weeks. Every day she gets more and more beautiful and every day I see more and more of myself in her. Going through our stuff we had in storage I found pictures of me as a baby and she looks just like me it's crazy, except she of course is even more beautiful. Having a little miniature you is such a great experience. I can't wait for her to get older I have so many amazing plans for her :)
So many pregnant women have been coming into work lately and it makes me want to be pregnant again. I miss my belly bump. I loved being pregnant. But Derek and I need to get some things together before we decide to have a second one.
A couple of weeks ago, while we were still living in Chico, I applied to some jobs in the Sacramento area and one of the places I applied to was BJ's in Folsom and they hired me. I applied as a server but they told me I didn't have enough experience (which I think is ridiculous) so they hired me on as a host.
So 2 weeks ago Derek and I came down to Sacramento, we found an apartment close to my work and close to the community college he's going to be attending. Even though his school is in Folsom and so is my job we decided to live in Orangevale because the rent is a lot cheaper. I really like the apartment complex.
Last week we went down to Southern California to pick up our stuff from storage and to see my family. We were only down there for a day which sadly meant I didn't get to spend as much time with my family as I wanted. It was great to see Alexis spend time with her grandparents and her uncles :)
BJ's is my favorite restaurant and I really like working there, the people are really nice and I miss working at a restaurant but going back to being a host after being a server is very disappointing. So I'm trying to look for another job. I was trying to find a career style job but there aren't any openings right now in my field so I'm hoping to find a server job while I try to find a career style job.
Orangevale is a nice area but I still don't particularly like Sacramento, being this close to San Francisco makes me nostalgic, living in Orangevale definietly does not compare. We probably won't be staying here for more than a year and a half at the most. We're planning on moving back to Southern California, Orange County or maybe Santa Barbara.
Alexis will be 12 weeks next Saturday. It's so crazy to think about how quickly she's been growing and how she's changed over these last couple of weeks. Every day she gets more and more beautiful and every day I see more and more of myself in her. Going through our stuff we had in storage I found pictures of me as a baby and she looks just like me it's crazy, except she of course is even more beautiful. Having a little miniature you is such a great experience. I can't wait for her to get older I have so many amazing plans for her :)
So many pregnant women have been coming into work lately and it makes me want to be pregnant again. I miss my belly bump. I loved being pregnant. But Derek and I need to get some things together before we decide to have a second one.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Alexis Update
I promised myself I would keep up on the blog especially now that Alexis is here but of course I underestimated how unimportant everything else seems to be when I have her to spend time with. So on that note, here is an update.
Alexis is 6 weeks and 5 days old. I can't believe we are so close to being at the 2 month mark. She was doing really well the first 3 weeks but after that she started being really fussy so I'm pretty sure she has colic and I also have a suspicion that she has reflux. My poor baby doesn't go a day without spitting up her milk and she goes hours on end crying inconsolably. I feel so bad for her because there is really nothing I can do. I thought about calling her pediatrician and taking her in but it's seems to be very common and I figured we would wait till her next appointment and then if need be we can get a prescription for the reflux. Apparently they only recommend taking medications if she's not gaining weight so we'll see if she's keeping up on her weight gain at her next appointment; I think she looks bigger but I've been off the last two times I tried to guess her weight.
We had Alexis' newborn shoot at around her 2 week mark. We had originally planned to do it with her just being a couple of days old but because of the preeclampsia and the unexpected c-section we weren't able to do that. I loved the pictures I just wish I had more newborn outfits for her shoot and some headbands but we were so all over the place we didn't get a chance to go out and get them for her. Here are some of the pictures:
We had our first day trip with Alexis on the 22nd. My 24th birthday was on the 21st so we went to San Francisco the next day to celebrate. She loves car rides and this one was no exception, it was a longer car ride than she is used to but she loved it. I got to try out my Moby Wrap and she liked it for the most part but I think the colic and reflux makes it hard for her since she's always in pain. I'm hoping once the colic and reflux go away she'll be able to really enjoy being in the Moby.
When we were in San Francisco we got so many compliments on our precious little Alexis. The best part was when I was catching up with my old roommate, we were just sitting outside a restaurant chatting and this lady came over and told me her little girl wanted to come see the baby, the little girl reached over and touched Alexis' feet and she just stood there smiling staring at her curiously, it was precious. I love little kids :)
We're going to be blessing Alexis at church this Sunday. I'm really excited about that :)
Well I can't think of anything else I should update on at the moment. Oh ya except one random thought, Alexis is getting darker! I only say this because she was so white when she was first born and didn't seem to have gotten any color from me but now she looks like she's getting darker and her skin looks so tan! Well anyway enought of that. I will definitely be better about updating on here.
Alexis is 6 weeks and 5 days old. I can't believe we are so close to being at the 2 month mark. She was doing really well the first 3 weeks but after that she started being really fussy so I'm pretty sure she has colic and I also have a suspicion that she has reflux. My poor baby doesn't go a day without spitting up her milk and she goes hours on end crying inconsolably. I feel so bad for her because there is really nothing I can do. I thought about calling her pediatrician and taking her in but it's seems to be very common and I figured we would wait till her next appointment and then if need be we can get a prescription for the reflux. Apparently they only recommend taking medications if she's not gaining weight so we'll see if she's keeping up on her weight gain at her next appointment; I think she looks bigger but I've been off the last two times I tried to guess her weight.
We had Alexis' newborn shoot at around her 2 week mark. We had originally planned to do it with her just being a couple of days old but because of the preeclampsia and the unexpected c-section we weren't able to do that. I loved the pictures I just wish I had more newborn outfits for her shoot and some headbands but we were so all over the place we didn't get a chance to go out and get them for her. Here are some of the pictures:
We had our first day trip with Alexis on the 22nd. My 24th birthday was on the 21st so we went to San Francisco the next day to celebrate. She loves car rides and this one was no exception, it was a longer car ride than she is used to but she loved it. I got to try out my Moby Wrap and she liked it for the most part but I think the colic and reflux makes it hard for her since she's always in pain. I'm hoping once the colic and reflux go away she'll be able to really enjoy being in the Moby.
When we were in San Francisco we got so many compliments on our precious little Alexis. The best part was when I was catching up with my old roommate, we were just sitting outside a restaurant chatting and this lady came over and told me her little girl wanted to come see the baby, the little girl reached over and touched Alexis' feet and she just stood there smiling staring at her curiously, it was precious. I love little kids :)
We're going to be blessing Alexis at church this Sunday. I'm really excited about that :)
Well I can't think of anything else I should update on at the moment. Oh ya except one random thought, Alexis is getting darker! I only say this because she was so white when she was first born and didn't seem to have gotten any color from me but now she looks like she's getting darker and her skin looks so tan! Well anyway enought of that. I will definitely be better about updating on here.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Alexis' Birth Story.
It's been almost two months since I've posed anything on here. After Alexis was born I kept meaning to get on here and write about the birth story, but going online is always the last thing on my mind these days. So I finally have a little bit of down time today so I thought I should write about it. This is going to be long so bear with me.
On May 12th I woke up at around 2am feeling sick to my stomach. At this point I'm 37 weeks and my due date wasn't until June 8th. So I woke up with a sharp pain in my upper abdomen and excruciating mid and upper back pain. I attempted to just lay there and just breathe through it but it didn't work I ended up vomiting. I took a shot shower and just stood there trying to will the pain away and finally after 3 hours it subsided. I had a doctors appointment with my OB-GYN that day and I told her what I was feeling and she told me it was just really bad heartburn. I've had really bad heartburn during this pregnancy and trust me that is not what this felt like. However, since she is a doctor I listened to her and that day I didn't eat anything spicy, I drank lots of water, and when I went to bed I made sure to prop my upper body on some pillows.
May 13th I woke up at the same time as the night before, around 2am. The pain was much worse this time and I could not believe it, just like I thought it definitely was not heartburn. I tried not to vomit but I couldn't help it; I wasn't even throwing up food it was just water and then water and bile and then just bile, nasty sour bile, ugh! I didn't know what to do I felt like my body was just breaking down on me. I decided to take a hot shower and it worked, for the 40 minutes I was in the shower, then the second I got out the pain was back and so was the need to vomit. I couldn't even sleep, the pain would not allow it. That day the pain lasted for 8 hours. I called my doctor that morning but she was busy, they told me she would call me back, but she never did. For some reason the pain only came in the early morning, go figure.
On May 14th without fail at 2am the pain was back and stronger then ever. I woke Derek up crying and told him I couldn't take it and I didn't know what to do. Derek sadly didn't believe that it was anything too serious so he told me to just take it easy and hope that it would go away. That morning was the same old routine, me taking several hot showers and vomiting off and on. Morning finally came and I called my doctor's office, since it was Saturday the emergency on-call doctor was there, he is not my doctor. I told him all my symptoms and what my doctor had told me and he said the same thing she had told me, "it must be heartburn". Are you kidding me!?!? He recommended that I buy some Pepcid and take it easy on what I was eating and that if it still didn't work I could call Monday and make an appointment for a sonogram to check for gallstones. Then he said that if the pain got really bad and I couldn't deal with it I should go to the emergency room. The second I got off the phone with him I had Derek take me to the emergency room. Not that I don't trust doctors but seriously the pain I was feeling was not heartburn and it really pissed me off that they kept trying to tell me it was. I was genuinely worried.
We get to the emergency room and they send us to Labor and Delivery since I'm 37 and a half weeks pregnant. The nurses get me hooked up to monitor the baby's heart rate and another to monitor my contractions. I wasn't having any contractions and the baby's heart rate was normal. They had me do a sonogram to check for gallstones and they had me give a urine sample to check for protein in my urine. They took us back to the room and hooked me back up to the monitors while they waiting for the results. The nurses started talking about getting me some Pepcid( I guess they were still on this whole heartburn trip). Then one of my nurses told me they were going to hook me up to an IV and that the Dr. Mazen( the emergency on call doctor I had spoken with earlier) was going to be coming in to tell me my options. Well at this point I knew something serious was going on.
Dr. Mazen comes in and tells me very bluntly "there is something very wrong with you" and then proceeds to tell me that I have protein in my urine, my kidneys were swollen, and my platelet levels were extremely low. He told me I had a disease known as HELLP syndrome, which is a step past pre-eclampsia. Apparently the disease makes it so that your body starts to reject the pregnancy and it's pretty much telling you to get the baby out or it will breakdown your body. HELLP syndrome attacks people randomly and it happens in only 0.6% of all pregnancies, lucky me. He told us "looks like we're having your baby today"; he let us know that since I wasn't having contractions and I was 37 weeks along he didn't think I could have the baby naturally through a vaginal birth, he recommended doing a c-section. I definitely did not want to do a c-section, for many different reasons, he said that we could try to induce labor but he was afraid that the likelihood that I would have a quick labor was not very likely; what he said after that scared me. He said that if we induced labor and allowed me to labor into the next day that my condition would most likely get much worse and there was a high possibility that I could die. I asked him if it was possible to induce me and give me a small window of time too see if I could do it naturally and then if that failed we could go through with the c-section, he agreed to give me 4 hours to try and labor. After Dr. Mazen and the nurses left the room I broke down. I kept calm in front of them because I didn't want them to see how afraid I was but I was freaking out inside. I was crying because I was upset that my body had betrayed me, that my baby was going to be three and a half weeks early, and that I wasn't ready for this. Derek tried to comfort me and I let the moment pass, I knew that I needed to prepare myself for what was next.
They put me into a labor room and got my IV started on some magnesium that is supposed to help with the pain. The nurses were waiting on the pitocin to get me started. Derek called his mom and let her know what was happening and they were on their way to the hospital. I called my parents and let them know and told them I would call them after she was born. I started to feel contractions but they were very mild. My mother-in-law and younger sister-in-law showed up with some food for Derek. An hour and a half had passed since Dr. Mazen had said I could have 4 hours to labor, and the pitocin still hadn't come in and my contractions were getting more painful. Derek's mom and his sister had stepped out of the room for a second and Derek told me that he was afraid something might happen to me if we tried to labor. It was hard for me to see him that way because I could tell he was fighting back tears, I knew he was afraid that me and the baby could die. We talked about it and made the decision to just go through with the c-section. A couple of minutes after making the decision the nurse comes in with the pitocin, I let her know that I wanted to do the c-section instead and she let the doctor know.
Not having gotten any sleep for the last 3 days, I was exhausted and I started to doze off while we waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in. Finally at around 6:30 he came in and let me know what the procedure was going to be. Dr. Mazen also came in and let me know that we would get started at 7pm. It seemed like forever when 7 finally rolled around. Derek had to wait to go into the surgery room until after they had given me the spinal tap. I think the worst part of the whole thing was the spinal tap, it was extremely painful and once they laid me down on the table my whole body was shaking, and it wasn't even that cold in there. They finally let Derek come in and they started the c-section. All I could feel was extreme pressure on my stomach as the doctors were pushing the baby out. I can't really describe the feeling any better, it was definitely an interesting experience.
Finally Alexis Claire Hodges was born. I could feel her come out but I couldn't hear her yet, they whisked Derek away and I finally heard her cry. Even though I couldn't see her I was overcome with joy and I started crying, it seemed like forever before Derek finally bought her over to me. When I saw her beautiful little face I instantly fell in love with her. I held her and kissed her little face. I couldn't stop crying. They had Derek take her while they stapled me back up(weirdest feeling in the word). They took us into a recovery room while they weighed and measured Alexis and while they were getting my room ready. Alexis weighed in at 4 lbs 6 oz and 17 inches and 3/4.
I was in the hospital for 5 days total. I thought my stay in the hospital was going to give me a chance to rest before going home, but it was not like that at all. I had to have my blood pressure and vitals checked every 2 hours and in between that I had to feed Alexis and pump and take my painkillers and so one and so forth. Derek's family came to visit and Derek's good friend Eric came by, it was nice to have visitors. All in all it wasn't bad but I definitely did not enjoy having to wear a catheter, not being able to shower for 2 days, and having staples pulled out of my stomach.
Alexis is a month old today and it feels almost surreal that I've been a mother for a month now. It took a couple of days to get use to it but it's definitely worth it. She's beautiful with her big almond shaped eyes, her cute little nose and her crazy head of hair. She weighs 6 lbs and 2.5 ounces now and getting bigger everyday. I will post some pictures up soon once we get her newborn pictures back from the photographer.
This is super long. I just wanted to share and document her birth story. Even though it didn't happen the way I thought it would I'm just so glad that she got here safe and sound and she's healthy.
On May 12th I woke up at around 2am feeling sick to my stomach. At this point I'm 37 weeks and my due date wasn't until June 8th. So I woke up with a sharp pain in my upper abdomen and excruciating mid and upper back pain. I attempted to just lay there and just breathe through it but it didn't work I ended up vomiting. I took a shot shower and just stood there trying to will the pain away and finally after 3 hours it subsided. I had a doctors appointment with my OB-GYN that day and I told her what I was feeling and she told me it was just really bad heartburn. I've had really bad heartburn during this pregnancy and trust me that is not what this felt like. However, since she is a doctor I listened to her and that day I didn't eat anything spicy, I drank lots of water, and when I went to bed I made sure to prop my upper body on some pillows.
May 13th I woke up at the same time as the night before, around 2am. The pain was much worse this time and I could not believe it, just like I thought it definitely was not heartburn. I tried not to vomit but I couldn't help it; I wasn't even throwing up food it was just water and then water and bile and then just bile, nasty sour bile, ugh! I didn't know what to do I felt like my body was just breaking down on me. I decided to take a hot shower and it worked, for the 40 minutes I was in the shower, then the second I got out the pain was back and so was the need to vomit. I couldn't even sleep, the pain would not allow it. That day the pain lasted for 8 hours. I called my doctor that morning but she was busy, they told me she would call me back, but she never did. For some reason the pain only came in the early morning, go figure.
On May 14th without fail at 2am the pain was back and stronger then ever. I woke Derek up crying and told him I couldn't take it and I didn't know what to do. Derek sadly didn't believe that it was anything too serious so he told me to just take it easy and hope that it would go away. That morning was the same old routine, me taking several hot showers and vomiting off and on. Morning finally came and I called my doctor's office, since it was Saturday the emergency on-call doctor was there, he is not my doctor. I told him all my symptoms and what my doctor had told me and he said the same thing she had told me, "it must be heartburn". Are you kidding me!?!? He recommended that I buy some Pepcid and take it easy on what I was eating and that if it still didn't work I could call Monday and make an appointment for a sonogram to check for gallstones. Then he said that if the pain got really bad and I couldn't deal with it I should go to the emergency room. The second I got off the phone with him I had Derek take me to the emergency room. Not that I don't trust doctors but seriously the pain I was feeling was not heartburn and it really pissed me off that they kept trying to tell me it was. I was genuinely worried.
We get to the emergency room and they send us to Labor and Delivery since I'm 37 and a half weeks pregnant. The nurses get me hooked up to monitor the baby's heart rate and another to monitor my contractions. I wasn't having any contractions and the baby's heart rate was normal. They had me do a sonogram to check for gallstones and they had me give a urine sample to check for protein in my urine. They took us back to the room and hooked me back up to the monitors while they waiting for the results. The nurses started talking about getting me some Pepcid( I guess they were still on this whole heartburn trip). Then one of my nurses told me they were going to hook me up to an IV and that the Dr. Mazen( the emergency on call doctor I had spoken with earlier) was going to be coming in to tell me my options. Well at this point I knew something serious was going on.
Dr. Mazen comes in and tells me very bluntly "there is something very wrong with you" and then proceeds to tell me that I have protein in my urine, my kidneys were swollen, and my platelet levels were extremely low. He told me I had a disease known as HELLP syndrome, which is a step past pre-eclampsia. Apparently the disease makes it so that your body starts to reject the pregnancy and it's pretty much telling you to get the baby out or it will breakdown your body. HELLP syndrome attacks people randomly and it happens in only 0.6% of all pregnancies, lucky me. He told us "looks like we're having your baby today"; he let us know that since I wasn't having contractions and I was 37 weeks along he didn't think I could have the baby naturally through a vaginal birth, he recommended doing a c-section. I definitely did not want to do a c-section, for many different reasons, he said that we could try to induce labor but he was afraid that the likelihood that I would have a quick labor was not very likely; what he said after that scared me. He said that if we induced labor and allowed me to labor into the next day that my condition would most likely get much worse and there was a high possibility that I could die. I asked him if it was possible to induce me and give me a small window of time too see if I could do it naturally and then if that failed we could go through with the c-section, he agreed to give me 4 hours to try and labor. After Dr. Mazen and the nurses left the room I broke down. I kept calm in front of them because I didn't want them to see how afraid I was but I was freaking out inside. I was crying because I was upset that my body had betrayed me, that my baby was going to be three and a half weeks early, and that I wasn't ready for this. Derek tried to comfort me and I let the moment pass, I knew that I needed to prepare myself for what was next.
They put me into a labor room and got my IV started on some magnesium that is supposed to help with the pain. The nurses were waiting on the pitocin to get me started. Derek called his mom and let her know what was happening and they were on their way to the hospital. I called my parents and let them know and told them I would call them after she was born. I started to feel contractions but they were very mild. My mother-in-law and younger sister-in-law showed up with some food for Derek. An hour and a half had passed since Dr. Mazen had said I could have 4 hours to labor, and the pitocin still hadn't come in and my contractions were getting more painful. Derek's mom and his sister had stepped out of the room for a second and Derek told me that he was afraid something might happen to me if we tried to labor. It was hard for me to see him that way because I could tell he was fighting back tears, I knew he was afraid that me and the baby could die. We talked about it and made the decision to just go through with the c-section. A couple of minutes after making the decision the nurse comes in with the pitocin, I let her know that I wanted to do the c-section instead and she let the doctor know.
Not having gotten any sleep for the last 3 days, I was exhausted and I started to doze off while we waiting for the anesthesiologist to come in. Finally at around 6:30 he came in and let me know what the procedure was going to be. Dr. Mazen also came in and let me know that we would get started at 7pm. It seemed like forever when 7 finally rolled around. Derek had to wait to go into the surgery room until after they had given me the spinal tap. I think the worst part of the whole thing was the spinal tap, it was extremely painful and once they laid me down on the table my whole body was shaking, and it wasn't even that cold in there. They finally let Derek come in and they started the c-section. All I could feel was extreme pressure on my stomach as the doctors were pushing the baby out. I can't really describe the feeling any better, it was definitely an interesting experience.
Finally Alexis Claire Hodges was born. I could feel her come out but I couldn't hear her yet, they whisked Derek away and I finally heard her cry. Even though I couldn't see her I was overcome with joy and I started crying, it seemed like forever before Derek finally bought her over to me. When I saw her beautiful little face I instantly fell in love with her. I held her and kissed her little face. I couldn't stop crying. They had Derek take her while they stapled me back up(weirdest feeling in the word). They took us into a recovery room while they weighed and measured Alexis and while they were getting my room ready. Alexis weighed in at 4 lbs 6 oz and 17 inches and 3/4.
I was in the hospital for 5 days total. I thought my stay in the hospital was going to give me a chance to rest before going home, but it was not like that at all. I had to have my blood pressure and vitals checked every 2 hours and in between that I had to feed Alexis and pump and take my painkillers and so one and so forth. Derek's family came to visit and Derek's good friend Eric came by, it was nice to have visitors. All in all it wasn't bad but I definitely did not enjoy having to wear a catheter, not being able to shower for 2 days, and having staples pulled out of my stomach.
Alexis is a month old today and it feels almost surreal that I've been a mother for a month now. It took a couple of days to get use to it but it's definitely worth it. She's beautiful with her big almond shaped eyes, her cute little nose and her crazy head of hair. She weighs 6 lbs and 2.5 ounces now and getting bigger everyday. I will post some pictures up soon once we get her newborn pictures back from the photographer.
This is super long. I just wanted to share and document her birth story. Even though it didn't happen the way I thought it would I'm just so glad that she got here safe and sound and she's healthy.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Are we really at 34 weeks!?!?
I just hit 34 weeks yesterday. There are 41 days left till my due date. Time is going by so quickly, I never thought 34 weeks would come. I feel huge now compared to how I felt the last couple of weeks. Baby is moving around like crazy and I can definitely see her different body parts poking at my belly.
I've started feeling a lot of the not so fun pregnancy symptoms now that I've reached week 34. My back pain is getting pretty unbearable. I have cankles!!!! I couldn't believe it when I saw them so that's kind of depressed me a little but I guess it comes with the territory. I've also started to feel a lot of different cramps and tightening in my stomach, borderline BH contractions.
I'm going to be starting my series of classes next month. I'm taking a lamaze and birthing class and I'm really excited about them because I know they will help me feel less nervous about the whole thing. I'm definitely looking forward to learning hands on and not just from my pregnancy books. Derek and I went to a breastfeeding class today and that was really informational and we really enjoyed it.
I still feel really unprepared but that's only because we haven't gotten all of the little things we need yet. We have a bathtub and several outfits and a ton of diaper boxes. We have the bassinet but haven't set it up yet, we're waiting till about week 36. I'll be flying home this weekend for two baby showers, one that my friends are throwing me and one that my mom is throwing me for my family. My dad is going to be buying us the car seat; I'm excited to get that and get it all set up and ready to go. I think once I get back home from the baby showers and really get into the last weeks I'll feel more prepared and hopefully not as nervous. I just want to make sure everything is ready for our little girl.
Here is a picture of me from last week at 33 weeks. [I look huge!]
I've started feeling a lot of the not so fun pregnancy symptoms now that I've reached week 34. My back pain is getting pretty unbearable. I have cankles!!!! I couldn't believe it when I saw them so that's kind of depressed me a little but I guess it comes with the territory. I've also started to feel a lot of different cramps and tightening in my stomach, borderline BH contractions.
I'm going to be starting my series of classes next month. I'm taking a lamaze and birthing class and I'm really excited about them because I know they will help me feel less nervous about the whole thing. I'm definitely looking forward to learning hands on and not just from my pregnancy books. Derek and I went to a breastfeeding class today and that was really informational and we really enjoyed it.
I still feel really unprepared but that's only because we haven't gotten all of the little things we need yet. We have a bathtub and several outfits and a ton of diaper boxes. We have the bassinet but haven't set it up yet, we're waiting till about week 36. I'll be flying home this weekend for two baby showers, one that my friends are throwing me and one that my mom is throwing me for my family. My dad is going to be buying us the car seat; I'm excited to get that and get it all set up and ready to go. I think once I get back home from the baby showers and really get into the last weeks I'll feel more prepared and hopefully not as nervous. I just want to make sure everything is ready for our little girl.
Here is a picture of me from last week at 33 weeks. [I look huge!]
Friday, April 1, 2011
Things I Miss From Pre- Pregnancy.
Being on The Bump all the time I always read post about what all these pregnant women miss about pre-pregnancy. It got me thinking about the things that I miss about not being pregnant. So I thought I should share.
Having Clear Skin
I have never been the type of person that breaks out or has a lot of pimples. But OMG being pregnant has just messed up my face :( I seem to get a new zit everyday and they seem to be all on my forehead or on my cheeks. I don't want to sound vain because it's all worth it in the end but it's made worse by the fact that I don't wear make up, every once in a while I wear some mascara and eyeliner or a really light blush but for the most part I'm anti-make up and don't want to turn to it now. That saying really is true, you know you're having a baby girl because she steals your beauty.
Shaving Twice A Week
It is unbelievable how many times a week I have to shave now. It is no lie that pre-natal vitamins make hair and nails grow like crazy! Before becoming pregnant I could shave twice a week and be ok now it's like every other day, sometimes more. What's worse is hair growing where it didn't really grow before. Not to over share but my belly is really hairy and it's ridiculous I'm thinking of waxing it soon because I just can't stand looking at it. Having to clip my nails every other day too is really annoying and tedious. Can't wait for the hairiness to go away!
Not Feeling Swollen
This last week I've started to notice my feet and ankles swelling and it so uncomfortable not to mention kind of gross looking. My shoes fit me so tight now and I'm afraid I'm going to break out of them any day now. Plus I just think my feet look gross now. I want a pedicure so bad!
Eating Whatever I Want
Granted I guess I could eat whatever I want but not without consequences. One of the things I was looking forward to eating the most while being pregnant was pizza. I like pizza but I'm not obsessed with it but for once I was really hoping to really crave it and was excited to eat lots of it. Well come to find out that eating pizza makes me throw up :( I was pretty pissed about this, since I was so looking forward to pigging out on it. It's made worse that Derek loves pizza and every time he wants to eat it I have to get something else. Also lasagna, I can't stomach that very well either and it's pretty annoying. I've also had to cut out some of the spicy foods I love, because the heartburn is too unbearable.
Wearing Victoria Secret Underwear
This may sound like a funny one, but I really miss my pre-pregnancy underwear. All of my underwear is from VS and I love love love them. I tried to stick it out as far as I could but come 7 months I had to give in to buying some bikini cut maternity underwear from Maternity Motherhood. Thankfully they're not as granny panty as I thought they would be but they're not the cute underwear I was used to.
My Butt
To start with I have a big butt and big hips which I'm pretty happy with but since becoming pregnant it feels like my hips have widened even more and my butt has gotten bigger (not in the good way). I already felt I had child-bearing hips to begin with so the horror of them getting bigger and my butt going with it is very disappointing. The bright side I guess is that I have to date only gained 2 pounds so getting a personal trainer after baby is born and really hitting the gym and getting into shape won't be as hard. I hope.
Not Having Extreme Stretch Marks
I had some stretch marks before getting pregnant but nothing crazy and definitely not in some spots I have them now. They are gross and I'm afraid they won't go away. I've been using Bio-Oil since the beginning to make sure I didn't get any but it seems like my body doesn't really care. I think the reason they are so extreme though is because I didn't gain any weight at all till just a week or so ago so my body has literally taken fat from other parts of my body for my belly and the stretch marks in that case were inevitable. It's pretty weird, my waist is thinner because of all the fat that got pulled to my stomach. I just want everything to be normal again.
Being Heartburn Free
I had never experienced heartburn in my life before becoming pregnant. Derek seemed to always get heartburn after every meal but I never really knew what that felt like and boy do I hate the feeling. My doctor prescribed me Zantac but it doesn't always completely go away and I really really hate the feeling. It's not just heartburn either it's all the burping and other bodily functions. I was also never one to burp much but now it happens all the time and I hate it; I feel like a nasty gassy old man lol. Not fun.
Well I can't think of anything else at the moment but this is a pretty good list to start with. At the end of the day I don't really care because I know it's all worth it for my precious little girl, but I can't deny it would be nice to not have to deal with these side effects. End of the rant for me.
Having Clear Skin
I have never been the type of person that breaks out or has a lot of pimples. But OMG being pregnant has just messed up my face :( I seem to get a new zit everyday and they seem to be all on my forehead or on my cheeks. I don't want to sound vain because it's all worth it in the end but it's made worse by the fact that I don't wear make up, every once in a while I wear some mascara and eyeliner or a really light blush but for the most part I'm anti-make up and don't want to turn to it now. That saying really is true, you know you're having a baby girl because she steals your beauty.
Shaving Twice A Week
It is unbelievable how many times a week I have to shave now. It is no lie that pre-natal vitamins make hair and nails grow like crazy! Before becoming pregnant I could shave twice a week and be ok now it's like every other day, sometimes more. What's worse is hair growing where it didn't really grow before. Not to over share but my belly is really hairy and it's ridiculous I'm thinking of waxing it soon because I just can't stand looking at it. Having to clip my nails every other day too is really annoying and tedious. Can't wait for the hairiness to go away!
Not Feeling Swollen
This last week I've started to notice my feet and ankles swelling and it so uncomfortable not to mention kind of gross looking. My shoes fit me so tight now and I'm afraid I'm going to break out of them any day now. Plus I just think my feet look gross now. I want a pedicure so bad!
Eating Whatever I Want
Granted I guess I could eat whatever I want but not without consequences. One of the things I was looking forward to eating the most while being pregnant was pizza. I like pizza but I'm not obsessed with it but for once I was really hoping to really crave it and was excited to eat lots of it. Well come to find out that eating pizza makes me throw up :( I was pretty pissed about this, since I was so looking forward to pigging out on it. It's made worse that Derek loves pizza and every time he wants to eat it I have to get something else. Also lasagna, I can't stomach that very well either and it's pretty annoying. I've also had to cut out some of the spicy foods I love, because the heartburn is too unbearable.
Wearing Victoria Secret Underwear
This may sound like a funny one, but I really miss my pre-pregnancy underwear. All of my underwear is from VS and I love love love them. I tried to stick it out as far as I could but come 7 months I had to give in to buying some bikini cut maternity underwear from Maternity Motherhood. Thankfully they're not as granny panty as I thought they would be but they're not the cute underwear I was used to.
My Butt
To start with I have a big butt and big hips which I'm pretty happy with but since becoming pregnant it feels like my hips have widened even more and my butt has gotten bigger (not in the good way). I already felt I had child-bearing hips to begin with so the horror of them getting bigger and my butt going with it is very disappointing. The bright side I guess is that I have to date only gained 2 pounds so getting a personal trainer after baby is born and really hitting the gym and getting into shape won't be as hard. I hope.
Not Having Extreme Stretch Marks
I had some stretch marks before getting pregnant but nothing crazy and definitely not in some spots I have them now. They are gross and I'm afraid they won't go away. I've been using Bio-Oil since the beginning to make sure I didn't get any but it seems like my body doesn't really care. I think the reason they are so extreme though is because I didn't gain any weight at all till just a week or so ago so my body has literally taken fat from other parts of my body for my belly and the stretch marks in that case were inevitable. It's pretty weird, my waist is thinner because of all the fat that got pulled to my stomach. I just want everything to be normal again.
Being Heartburn Free
I had never experienced heartburn in my life before becoming pregnant. Derek seemed to always get heartburn after every meal but I never really knew what that felt like and boy do I hate the feeling. My doctor prescribed me Zantac but it doesn't always completely go away and I really really hate the feeling. It's not just heartburn either it's all the burping and other bodily functions. I was also never one to burp much but now it happens all the time and I hate it; I feel like a nasty gassy old man lol. Not fun.
Well I can't think of anything else at the moment but this is a pretty good list to start with. At the end of the day I don't really care because I know it's all worth it for my precious little girl, but I can't deny it would be nice to not have to deal with these side effects. End of the rant for me.
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