The Kid- Labor and Delivery

So I am really late with this posting, but here goes:

So we decided to stay after the nurse gave me the ambien. They wanted to give me two, but my hubby intervened and so they only gave me one. I had to have an IV of fluids because I was so dehydrated. The nurse wanted to monitor me with an EFM, but agreed to monitor me intermittently. 

So once I had the ambien, I was out. Not all the way out, but I don't remember the rest of the night either. The hubs said I slept, woke up, had conversations with my mom, and listened to music, but I don't remember anything from about 4am to about 3 pm.

Apparently, there was some miscommunication between the midwife on call, and my midwife. So my midwife thought I had gone home and she didn't come in early. When she finally did come in, my labor had actually stalled and I wasn't progressing much.

The midwife broke my water, and I felt like I had wet the bed. There was lots of meconium in the fluid so there was some concern for the kid. My contractions got stronger, finally, but I was still not progressing. I kept leaking fluid and because there was so much meconium, the midwife asked if she could give me pitocin to see if she could get my labor back on track. I agreed because I knew the kid needed to make an appearance, but I still did not want an Epidural. The midwife gave me the pitocin through my iv on the lowest drip she could.

I don't remember a lot about the part of the labor. I remember moving about with the IV and talking to the hubby about the possibility of an epidural. I remember going pee ALOT. Probably because I was given so much fluid through my IV. I remember sitting on the bed for about an hour listening to Clubbed to Death on my Zune and being in a meditative type zone. I remember seeing my mom, but I don't remember talking to her for the half hour that I talked to her. I remember seeing my MIL and telling her NOT to take my picture. I remember the midwife turning up the pitocin a couple notches over the course of the day. I remember hitting the wall and still not progressing. I remember not being able to take the pain. I remember finally asking for the Epidural because I couldn't progress and I needed to.

The anesthesiologist came in. He told me to curl up tight into a ball, which sounds totally ridiculous when you have a yoga ball where your stomach is. I couldn't curl tight enough, so the hubs had to help me curl. The anesthesiologist told me to hold veeeeery still, and I remember the poke and a sickening pop. I remember the hubby's face going pale white when he heard the pop. I remember telling everyone I was going to take a nap. 

The midwife came in again to check me. I could still feel contractions, but only in half my body. I felt when the midwife checked me and she told me to keep pushing the button for my epidural. I did, but I could still feel my right side. They poked my left foot and I couldn't feel it, so they poked my right foot and I about kicked the midwife.

She decided to call the anesthesiologist back up. It took him a while, but when he finally checked the catheter in my back he found that he had pushed it in a little too far. So the block was only hitting half the nerves it needed to, which was why I could still feel all the pain in my right side. Once, he fixed the catheter, and I was finally blocked on both sides, I took another nap.

The midwife came back and checked me again. She said it was getting close to time to push, but I would probably be pushing for a while, since it was my first kid. I followed the midwife's instructions and started to crown fairly quickly. They prepped the room and me, and I pushed for about 45 minutes. I don't remember feeling a whole lot, other than some stretching.

The midwife said that his head was sideways and he wasn't fully posterior, which was probably why I didn't progress as fast. I was pushing out a lot of meconium, so they called the pediatric nurses to have them on standby.

The kid came out in another couple pushes The midwife said that his head was not the biggest part of him, it was his shoulders. She said she looked at the hubby when the kid got stuck and realized she should have expected the kid to be wide in the chest too.

Once the kid was finally out, the nurses checked him and found he was in good health. His apgar score was high. He didn't have any meconium in his lungs, which was one of the concerns. He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs ad 12 oz and a very long 20 inches. The nurses determined he was 40 weeks and 6 days, which was why there was so much meconium. Although he was healthy, it was a good time for him to be delivered.

I delivered the placenta, but I had a whole lot of bleeding after. Turned out that it had split in half, so I still had a piece in me. I had to be scraped out and given some blood clot medication. I got cleaned up, and they wheeled me into the post delivery room. The hospital plays a lullaby every time a baby is born, so I heard the kid's as I was being wheeled to my new room.

I got into bed and we settled down for the night. I ate, and stared at the baby a while. I thought he looked like an alien, but at least he didn't have any weird bumps or a funny shaped head. I have to admit I was glad to have him out, but he was totally worth the 26 hours of labor.

The Kid- Week 41 and the beginning of Labor

So this week was VERRRRRRRY uncomfortable. I was past my adjusted due date and coming up to my original due date.

I had to work the whole week although I admit I probably didn't do as much as I should have because I was so uncomfortable. I was also more than a little frustrated with the inane questions that people at work were asking. "Are you ready for the baby to come?", "I bet you are uncomfortable, huh?", "so how much weight have you gained?", "are you tired?". Every time someone asked me these questions I just wanted to turn around and say "what the hell do you think?, DUH!!!". But I was nice, and I didn't snap. I thought that was good.

I didn't sleep very well the whole week, but I especially didn't sleep well on Wednesday night. I had to be up at 3 am on Thursday morning because I had to leave work early for my antepartum testing and my midwife appointment. Thursday was my original due date. I had still been having contractions, but didn't think that they were getting any stronger. At the antepartum testing, the tech said that everything looked okay, but I was getting a little low on amniotic fluid. She said that since I was past my due date, I would need to schedule another appointment for Monday because they would want to see me soon. The hubby and I grabbed a snack in the hospital cafeteria then went across the street to see my midwife. She examined me and said that I was still dilated to a three and that I was about 90% effaced. She said that she was not on call until the next day, but that I would probably have my baby that weekend. I just laughed. I was feeling the contractions a lot harder after the exam and I was bleeding. My midwife had warned me about that so I wasn't to worried. We went to dinner and came home...

...Then the contractions hit. My midwife had told me that I would KNOW when labor contractions finally came and she was totally right. Right around 6 PM I had the really strong contractions hit. These made all the other contractions feel like tickles... They hurt. A LOT. I tried to relax because I knew it would be a long night, but I couldn't really sleep. I took a shower, I laid in bed, I sat on my exercise ball, and I sat on the toilet. nothing was really comfortable. The hubby was a total champ. He rubbed my back, and held my hand, and watched tv with me. He did nap a little, but I did not.

At 3 am I decided to call the midwife. We had been timing contractions and they were about four minutes apart for about two hours. The midwife on call told me that I could come in to the hospital and she would check me or I could stay home until my midwife came in at 8 am. We waited a bit, but went to the hospital at about 330 am.

The nurse on the maternity floor checked me in and got me into a gown. I gave the nurse my birth plan and she was totally down with it. She checked me and I was still at a 3. She told me I could walk the halls and see if I could dilate. If I did, they would keep me. If not, they would send me home. We called our roommate who was just getting off of work to see if he would watch the dogs and pets. He came to the hospital and hung out with us for a while. I wrote my boss an email to let her know I would not be in on Friday because I was in labor. I was checked again and I had progressed to a 3.5. I was really tired by this point because I hadn't slept since Wednesday night. So the nurse called the midwife on call (still not my midwife), who offered me some Ambien... and that's when the fun really began...

Next up: the Labor

The Kid- Week 39 and 40

So... I know these updates are really late, but it was tough catching up on everything. And once the kid actually made his appearance, it became even tougher... So I am doing what I can because I really don't want to forget!

Week 39- I was still getting ready to leave work at this time. Trying to get all my projects done and at least some stuff ready for handoff. Stuff kept moving around and I did not make as much progress as I would like. Especially because I was not sure when my large project would be launching. It kept getting moved and at this time was scheduled to launch right around my due date.

I was still dilated to a 2 but was starting to thin out a bit so my midwife was pleased. I continued to have pretty strong and regular contractions but wasn't making anymore progress. I was told the kid was posterior and so I was given exercises to try to get him to flip from "sunny side up" to "butt side up". I was still spilling trace amounts of sugar but was told it was no longer a huge concern. I had massive cravings for sweets and especially ice cream. These were like "get outta my way, I'm going to run you over in my car because you are in my way" kind of cravings. It was sort of scary to be honest. My feet also swelled up overnight this week. I was wearing my shoes fine one day and couldn't get them on the next. I could barely get my flip flops on because the straps were too tight. And I got sausage toes- Bad.

I also gained 6 pounds this week. My midwife said it was probably a lot of water retention, but she was also expecting me to have a big weight gain sometime because I had not gained a lot of weight so far. I was also told that I needed to have an Antipartum test scheduled in case I did not deliver by my due date. I became convinced that the Kid was NEVER coming out and that I would be pregnant for-ev-er. My midwife and loving husband tried to convince me this wasn't true, but I stopped listening to them. Ha.

The day before my due date we went to Ikea and finished buying stuff for the kid. It was fun to waddle around the store and I realized that I probably would not be back without a kid ever again. It was a weird realization to think that your life is about to irrevocably change. It was an especially weird revelation to have in the middle of Ikea...

Week 40- My adjusted due date was April 17. A day which came and went without a peep from the Kid. My original due date was April 22. A day which did come with peeps from the Kid and which fell during week 41.

This week was a bit easier because I was just finishing up stuff at work and I was less stressed about having everything ready for the Kid's arrival. My mommy ran her first 5k on the weekend and I was totally proud of her. I have plans to join her next year for the half marathon or the bike tour. It will be cool.

I didn't have as many contractions this week as I had in weeks past. I was still dilated to a 2 and was still thinning, but not making a whole lot of progress. The Kid was still posterior and I continued to try to flip him over. I did have some bleeding this week, but nothing terribly concerning. I also missed work one day because I was soooo tired. I got a more stuff washed for the kidlet and packed my bag for the hospital. I was totally excited and nervous, but was really just impatient for him to show up...

Next time: Week 41 and the Delivery. Plus everything I never knew about the postpartum phase...

The Kid- Week 35-38

So this post is going to cover the last few weeks. It's only a tiny bit late since I delivered a month ago... wow.


Week 35- As always, there was a lot of work going on this week too. I have a couple of large projects at work so I have been trying to get everything wrapped up, or at least packaged together, before I leave to have the kid. I was hoping that one of my projects would be completed, but the time line kept getting moved by other people. When a time line was finally established, it came right in the middle of my 40th week. This started stressing me out, and my contractions were really strong this week. I finally calmed down a bit, but I was STILL stressed out about it. Ah well.

We also went to our friend's neighborhood birthday party. There are several peeps in their neighborhood that have birthdays in March, so they all generally celebrate together. Scott and Joi, our friends, have been married for 20 years and have three kids. They are the sweetest people and often invite us to their neighborhood shindigs. Scott was my hubby's Big Brother through Big Brother Big Sisters and has kept in touch all these years. When the hubs and I started dating he introduced them to me and Joi and I hit it off right away. She has many of the same granola tendencies that I do, so she is my natural living guru and has been a huge help with information about natural birth and breastfeeding.

We also FINALLY got the kid's room mostly cleaned out and I finally got all the clothes and stuff put away. Now we just have to finish running everything through the wash to get it ready.

Week 36- This week had a lot more work stuff going on, but was also a lot more frustrating. I can't really jot it down, but I was feeling pretty frustrated with a couple of my co-workers. The contractions were stronger this week and it seriously felt like the kid was separating my ribs. He was head down, but posterior. He really liked to put his knees or feet under my top ribs and push them apart. It really hurt, but there isn't a whole lot I could do about it. It's really funny to me that he will stop kicking whenever the hubby puts his hand on my tummy. He calms right down if D tries to feel him kick. I told the hubs I just need him to follow me around and keep his hand on my tummy all day!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution started this week. It is one of my favorite things. I am pretty passionate about food, and would love it if the hubby cared more about what we consume. He hates most of my food, so we eat out. A LOT. Like, every day... This show got us thinking about eating at home more.

My midwife also questioned what I was eating this week because I was spilling sugar in my urine. (eeew, right?). I don't actually eat a lot of sweets because many of them contain wheat. But I do consume a lot of fruit, so my midwife told me to lay off it a bit. I was also eating marshmallow cream, and so she told me to knock that off as well. I know, I know, but it was reaaaaaaaaallly really good. :)

Week 37- This was one of those weeks where I spent more time in meetings, than I did actually working on my projects. But that's the way it goes when you have to prepare other people to take over all of your stuff when you are gone. Silly, but true.

I had another midwife appointment and was finally starting to dilate. I was dilated to a one, and was still having crazy strong contractions. I was also still spilling sugar and I got lectured on my diet again. At least my midwife understands that I eat some things deliberately (like Trix cereal) because I can't eat other things (like doughnuts). My mom was convinced that I was going to have the kid this week because of the change in barometric pressure. I just told her she was crazy, just like the HUGE spring storm we got.

I finally stripped all the cloth diapers we got from the baby shower and washed a lot of the little baby clothes. Felt like I was getting closer and closer to having the kidlet, but still no appearances.

Week 38- I woke up one night during this week with crazy pain in my side. I knew it was not contractions, but it felt like something was terribly wrong with my guts. I was doubled over and crying in the bathroom and the hubs and I decided to go to the Emergency Room. Now, here is a tip for you if you are pregnant and visit the emergency room. They will think you are in labor. No matter what else you say, the hospital staff will think you are having contractions and will think you are in labor. I walked into the ER and told them my side hurt. They asked how far along I was and then took me up to Labor and Delivery. When I got there I told them my side hurt. They asked how far apart my contractions were. I told them I was not having contractions, but my side hurt. They hooked me up to the Electronic Fetal Monitor and the nurse came in and said "we don't show you are having really strong contractions, so we don't think you are ready to have this baby." I said "I know I am not having contractions. MY SIDE HURTS!!!". They finally got it that I knew I was not in labor, I was in PAIN. They called my midwife who guessed that it was gallstones. She sent me on my merry way with some Percocet. About three hours later I called my boss and left a 'drunken' message on her answering machine to tell her I would not be into work. She got a kick out of that, and I don't really remember much of the rest of that day.

On other notes, I was dilated to a 2 this week and continued to have contractions (except for the night of the ER visit). I cut out a lot of the sweet stuff I was consuming and only spilled a trace amount of sugar. My midwife told me that we wouldn't worry about it anyway because I was so close to my due date that they wouldn't do anything but watch my food intake. I was very excited that I was getting closer, but totally wanted to deliver early because I was so uncomfortable.

Next time: Week 39, 40, WEEK 41, and Delivery!!!

The Kid- Week 31-34

So this update is a little bit late, but not nearly as late as my last updates were. Considering that I am currently in week 39 right now, I feel I am making awesome progress. I might even get my updates done by the time the kid arrives (HA!). I really do want to have some record of what's going on with me, but it seems like I am on the computer all day at work, and so I don't want to be on the computer all night too. I hope to be better about it, and actually get things posted, but I guess I will have to wait and see. 

So Week 31 was a really, really busy work week. I know I say that a lot, but I really did have to pour a lot of my energy into this work week. My mom also threw a baby shower for my cousin. She is about a month ahead of me and was also due with a boy. It's her third baby, but my mom wanted to throw her a small "social" shower. It was pretty fun. I was recruited to help with food, decorations, and all that. I also crocheted her a blanket that I mentioned here. It was really cute and I learned a new stitch. YAY ME!

I also had a three hour glucose tolerance test because my sugar levels were a tiny bit concerning to my midwife. You would think that the medical profession would be kind enough to figure out another way to test a pregnant woman's blood sugar than by starving her for four hours. My wonderful MIL sat with me through the test and kept me company. I was in normal range for the first two blood draws, high for the third, and normal for the fourth. I was told to watch my sugar, but I should be fine. I must say that blood draws are horrible for me. I have only one good vein and a VERY specific way to get to it, but most of the lab techs don't listen to me. So when they were at 4 tries for the first draw, I was ready to go home. I finally got someone to listen to me for the last draws though. 

Week 32 was all about more work. I started having contractions this week too. They were not that strong or long lasting, but I wasn't quite sure how to handle them. I ended up working on my breathing a lot but I was a bit freaked out. My midwife said that they were braxton-hicks contractions and totally normal. She was thinking I would deliver early for a bit, but then decided that I would probably go all the way to my due date. I needed to start putting the kids room together, but I was still really tired. I was hoping to get the room done before the baby shower, so that I would have space to put everything, but that did not end up happening. Alas. 

Week 33 was still all about the contractions. They weren't regular and they were not terribly painful, but they were annoying. I figured out that they were much stronger if I was exhausted or had tried to do too much in a day. This week was also my nephew's birthday. I will have to explain about my nephew and his circumstance one day, but I will just say that he is my little brother's kid and was born when my brother was 15. 'Nuff said, right? Anyway, my mom doesn't get to see her grandbaby as much as she would like, but she was pretty excited about the birthday party. My mom gets the place for the party, the decorations, the cake, the party favors, pretty much everything but the food. The hubs and I helped my mom get ready for the party but Jessica (my nephew's mom) didn't show up until 20 minutes before the party was supposed to start. The entire party was just a mess. The hubs and I were both furious, but held our tongues. We are both in agreement that at least we won't be raising our kid the way that she is raising hers... Sad, but true. 

I still had grand plans to finish the kid's room this week, but scrapped them because I had no energy. The hubs kept telling me to take it easy and rest, but of course I don't listen and end up kicking myself later. Waaaaa. 

Week 34 was a really busy week, too. Work wasn't terribly busy or taxing, but I was working on preparing for the baby shower. I had pretty wicked contractions this week, so I ended up resting a lot. I finally started gaining weight, but I was tired. My mom organized my shower, and my aunt was nice enough to host, so I was really looking forward to hanging out with some friends. My mom let me pick the menu for the shower so I had safe, gluten free, healthy food. Chicken salad lettuce wraps (and sammies for the gluten eaters), veggies, fruit, and punch. We also only played ONE baby shower game. It was a memory game and was a huge hit. Everyone said they liked it much better than the "poo in a diaper" game or the "baby food" game. I opened presents and and I actually loved everything I received. I got a whole lot of the gerber prefold cloth diapers and no disposables. I know they aren't the best cloth diaper, but I am confident they will work until I can build up a good cloth diaper stash. I was surprised that so many people showed up and that I got so much stuff. I felt loved and realized that the kid will probably be quite spoiled!

In upcoming editions: Weeks 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, and beyond??? My thoughts on Jamie Oliver, more work, more contractions, my separated ribs (JK), my hospital visit where NO ONE LISTENED and more midwife visits and sugar drama...

The Kid-Week 25-30

So... I would hate to forget all the great stuff that happened in the weeks leading up to the birth. Although my pregnant brain isn't quite what it used to be, I wanted to try to remember some of the details about the pregnancy. 

Week 25 was the first week in January, and I was totally busy at work. Honestly, that's about all I can remember about that week. 

Week 26 was still busy at work. I was also sick that week and ended up at home in bed one day. It wasn't terrible, but I was totally ill. 

Week 27 was the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We get that day off from work, so I had a nice lazy day and didn't do anything. The rest of that week, however, was spent doing major work stuff including our team's year planning session. We have goals that we have to set and so that can be totally time consuming and mentally exhausting. Because we had team members in from all parts of the world, we also did a lot of extra team building activities. I bailed on a few of them because I was so tired, but I did make it to a few of them. We did a party at color me mine one night and I totally made a kick butt alien for the kid's room :)

Week 28 was another huge week at work. This was the week of a huge training summit. Because I write curriculum for my company, we had a meeting with many of the users of the curriculum to determine how we could update the material. We had people in from all over the world and we spent a lot of time entertaining them after the meetings to try and build some rapport. It was fun, but totally exhausting. I had some pain that week and was kinda freaking out, but then I realized that it was probably just because I was trying to do WAY too much. 

Week 29 was the first week of February and the week of my (actual) birthday. I spent a lot of time relaxing that week because I was so exhausted from the two weeks before. I ended up taking my birthday off and my grandma took me to IKEA to get a changing table. I wasn't going to put one in the kid's room, but she insisted. I really like the clean lines and the fact that it matches the crib. She also got me an AWESOME pea coat that I can wear next winter. My mommy sent me balloons and some other stuff and I got my favorite zooanthids for the fish tank from the hubby. 

I do have to say that I normally celebrate my birthday for most of the month of February. But this year, I was really tired.  I slept a lot of the month away because I was sleepy. HA. 

Week 30 continued my birthday month. I ended up going to dinner with my mom for my birthday, and I did not watch the superbowl. I did, however, watch quite a bit of the olympics online. It was nice because I didn't have to watch too many commercials and I could watch highlights of the events rather than the whole thing. I spent more time sleeping in week 30, too. 

Next up will be the recordings and thoughts from week 31 to week 35. Hopefully, I can remember to write all this stuff down. I want to look back someday and remember this time, because I have a feeling I will forget it all in the post newborn days of exhaustion...

I have been trying...

Over the past two months I have been trying to refashion or make a lot more for my Wardrobe Refashion pledge. Unfortunately, I haven't really been getting anywhere :( Work, home, and the whole pregnancy thing has been draining my energy reserves. Who knew that baby baking was such hard work? 

On the plus side, I haven't purchased anything new, so I do feel somewhat accomplished. I did manage to finish a baby blanket for my cousin's baby shower, but I forgot to take a picture. It was a basic shell stitch in Banana Berry Yarn from Red Heart. It self striped into a lovely rainbow of green, blue, and yellow. You should just take my word for it, but it was super cute!

On the baby front, I have been super exhausted. I had a couple of HUGE things I was involved in at work, and they contributed to my huge loss of time at the end of January. February was my birthday month, but I was too tired to celebrate the whole month like I normally do. I am not really sleeping well right now, because I can't get comfortable. I try to take little cat naps whenever I can, but it's not really enough. Everyone just keeps telling me that my body is preparing for the lack of sleep over the next eighteen years... Yeah.... Because THAT makes me feel better :) I have been having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions, and boy are they a pain- literally. I know it's preparation, but I wish it would hold off for a bit!

I also recently discovered that I can't drive anymore. Because I am so short, I generally have to sit fairly close to the steering wheel. If you add a ginormous belly into the mix, then I am right up against the steering wheel. I can't adjust the steering wheel because then I can't see over it, and I can't move back because then I can't reach the clutch or the brakes- both bad. So the lovely, wonderful, super-fantastic hubby has been driving me everywhere I need to go. This has included multiple stores, a baby shower, a birthday party, IKEA, work, and all my midwife appointments. He is great. 

The baby's room has been painted. My stepdad stripped all the wallpaper, textured the walls, and painted them. It's great to have a painter in the family. Now we just need to finish the room and, you know, make it habitable for the kid. The baby shower is this weekend, so I am hoping we can get it all set up by next weekend. That one totally depends on the hubby. 

I really need to recap the last couple of weeks  in more detail, but my pregnancy brain isn't really going to work with that. Ha. I guess I will try to get back to this later....

2010... What a year it will be!

Inspired by all the recent postings about New Year's Resolutions, I decided to document some goals myself. I don't particularly like New Year's resolutions, they rarely stick. On the other hand, I can see why people always make New Years Resolutions, it's a fresh start.

I want my goals to be obtainable. I also want my goals to enrich the quality of my life. Losing 50 pounds might help me feel better, but will it really help me make my life better? I decided to take a look at a few topics to see what I wanted to do this year:

• Health
• Finances
• Community/ Activity
• Relationships/ Home
  

We are going to have a new baby in the house this year, so I didn't want to get completely crazy with my goals. I can, however, think about the things I know I want to do.

Health
I have a baby due in April and I want to be able to keep up with him! I want to begin preparation for a marathon, I want to run a 5 k, I want to do a sprint triathlon. I set my goal here as mileage because I think this will help me keep better track. This year I will:

1. Run 75 miles
   
2. Bike 150 miles
3. Swim 75 miles

Finances
The hubby and I don't currently own the house we rent, but we would like to. So this year I will:

1. Work with the hubby to save for a down payment on the house

Community/ Activities
I want to be more involved in my community this year. I want to invest my time in things I want to do. This year I will:

1. Head the fourth quarter charity event at work for Children's Miracle Network
2. Start a (casual) yoga practice
   

Relationships/ Home
This is probably one of the most important areas for me. I really would like to have more people to interact with. I want to be a better wife. I definitely want to be a good mother. This year I will:

1. Be a better wifey to my hubby
2. Be a good mom and not scar the kid for life
   
3. Take better care of the chores in my home
   
4. Be more than a Face book friend
   

I don't want to stop looking at my goals for the year. I also don't want to be sad or annoyed if I find myself slipping away from these goals. I want to be happy that I have goals and that I have the opportunity to improve my life. Not everyone gets the chance to set goals or work towards them.

I also must remember that I have to make the choice each day to follow my goals. I need to decide if I want to walk towards the life I want, or if I want to stay where I am. Today, I choose to take my first step towards that life.

Wardrobe Refashion: A few things finished

I had a few WIPs that I finished up this week. I was so excited to have something to post, even if all of the items were totally easy!

I crocheted this baby blanket out of stash yarn my MIL had. I didn't know that we were having a baby boy when I started, but I love the stripes for either sex anyway. The green yarn is a 'shimmer' type of yarn that has the tiniest bit of sparkle, and the white is really more of an off white color. I still have enough yarn left over to knit a baby cap on my handy knitting loom and enough to try my hand at some baby booties.

I made the blanket by doing a simple double crochet. 72 stitches wide and 5 rows per stripe. So simple, I heart double crochet. Simple to do, but looks totally hard.

I also finished two pouch-style baby slings from some fabulous fabric I got at Jo Anns. The fabric is a sweatshirt type material and is fleece lined. I used this page to get some general direction. More specifically, I used the video on that page as a guideline. Easy Peasy.


Because I couldn't decide on a single sling type that I really liked, I decided to make a few different styles, so there will be a few more slings posted in the future :)

I also made something NOT for the baby :)

This scarf was made for my brother's girlfriend. Again, a double crochet and super easy. It's made from some leftover Homestyle yarn from Lion Brand. The yarn was in my grandma's stash and she didn't know what to do with it, so she gave it to me. It was kind of hard to work with, but it turned out cute.

And a close up detail of the stitches...

That's all I have for now. I hope to get a few more things done this week so I have another post. Viva Refashion!!!

The Kid- Introducing....

Ethan Jefferson B.

Our Bouncing Baby Boy!

I am sure I am up for "Worst Mother of the Year" for posting my baby's boy bits on the internet, but I wanted to share how I felt when we first saw this pic. (As a side note: Anyone know the rules about pics like this? Hoping this doesn't count as kiddie porn!)

As part of the big ultrasound we had, we did ask to find out the sex of the kid. I was convinced it was a girl, but we are having a baby boy! I am thrilled and much more comfortable with trucks and blue than I am with dolls and pink. I would have been happy either way, I am just excited that I finally get to be a mom! YAY!

As I mentioned in my last post, the ultrasound tech and the two docs were not able to see two parts of the kid. They were not able to get a clear picture of the heart, nor were they able to see the lip. They recommended that I come in a few weeks later for an additional ultrasound. Because I was the last appointment of the day, they were not able to schedule me then so I was asked to call back the next day. On the way home, the hubby and I discussed the reasons behind the ultrasound. I did some research on why those two areas were important to see and then decided to talk to my midwife. The hubby agreed that the second ultrasound didn't seem particularly necessary. The midwife confirmed that the ultrasound was just a reassurance, but was not required. Since everything else looked okay, she was okay with us skipping the follow up appointment.

Week 20-24 covered the week after Thanksgiving until the new year. The holidays were quite busy and I learned an important lesson about resting while pregnant. I was still quite tired when trying to accomplish too many tasks. I was also still having morning sickness. Everything else has been great aside from one thing.

I was at a weight of 180 pounds before I got pregnant. I was working on losing some of my weight, but not making much progress. I also started eating Gluten Free right before I got pregnant as well. The problem is that from the beginning of my pregnancy until week 24 I have only gained 2 pounds- TOTAL. My midwife took measurements and the ultrasound showed that I am right on track as far as growth, but we are not sure why I have not gained weight. Right now, it seems the kid is living off the stores I already had and is absorbing most of what I eat. I am consuming about 4000 calories a day, but have yet to gain any weight. My next appointment will include a glucose test to see if there are any problems there, but my midwife feels that I am pretty healthy and I must be doing okay because the kid is still growing. It has still been a puzzle, but if the kid is happy then I am happy! :)

I am settling into this pregnancy now with a bit more confidence and faith. I am not so scared anymore about it, especially since I started feeling movement. I am looking forward to meeting our little boy and can't wait until he gets here!

The Kid- 19 Weeks

So... At 19 weeks (the week of Thanksgiving) we went for the "Big" ultrasound, the one that tells you the sex of the baby and verifies if everything is 'normal'. I was undecided about whether to have the ultrasound or not, because I don't really see the need to make sure the kid is 'normal'. A lot of what I read said that many people get these ultrasounds and if something seems wrong, they terminate. The hubs and I discussed this and both agreed that termination was not an option, even if something was wrong. However, we were both insanely curious to see the sex of the baby, so we decided to go through with the ultrasound. One of the first pictures we got was the "Thumbs Up". It was the cutest thing to see the kid giving us the okay. I felt a huge relief when I could see the kid moving around, and I must say s/he does not really like the ultrasound. S/he was dodging everywhere!

The next pic that we got was the arm. There was also lots of other pictures in between and measurements and cool things that you could see. The ultrasound tech was very patient and explained what she was taking pictures of the whole time. Even when the kid was dodging her, she just kept moving around.

The next pic that the ultrasound tech gave us was a picture of the feet. So cute and tiny. I was glad to get that picture.

Although the tech spent quite a bit of time with us, she was not able to get a clear picture of all four chambers of the heart, nor was she able to see the lip. Once she had all the pictures she wanted, she gave us a few and then went to discuss with the doctor. We had two docs that came back (I think one was in residency) and they tried to get the last two pictures that they wanted. They were not able to either, the kid was totally being stubborn and would NOT turn over for them! They asked to schedule us for another appointment and we determined we would talk to the midwife about it. We couldn't decide if there was a real need to have a second ultrasound to see those two things.

We also received one more picture that showed the sex, but we decided that we wouldn't tell anyone else until Christmas. It was fun to keep the secret from everyone! All in all, the ultrasound was very interesting and fun to see and we were both glad that we decided to have the ultrasound done.

Next time: the sex of the baby, the decision about a follow up ultrasound, and weeks 20-24!

I am a Refashionista!

So I finally took the plunge!



I have been following Wardrobe Refashion for at least a year now. I am always in awe of the people who can take an object of clothing and completely change it into something new.

Now I know how to crochet and sew at a beginner level. My great-grandmother and my aunt taught me how to crochet when I was young but both of them are lefties. This makes following patterns a bit difficult because I am right-handed, and I crochet a bit backwards. My grandma bought me a sewing machine about ten years ago, but I am just barely becoming proficient at stitching straight seams :) My lovely Mother-In-Law has the biggest stash of fabric on the planet, and she totally feeds my crafty inclinations. Not to mention it is really nice when I can visit her stash to 'shop' for fabric I need for a project.

After a (very) long time of lurking and following WR, I finally sucked it up and decided to pledge for two months. I HATE shopping because I am very short (4'11") and usually pretty round (about a size 12). The difficulty in finding clothes to fit pregnant me has only become worse. I also have a hard time buying things for the little one and my pregnant self when I know that baby clothing and maternity clothing has such a short shelf life. Although I LOVE some of the things I see in the shops, I can't justify spending money on items that will only be worn a short amount of time. I hate buying stuff that is shoddily made, so my goal will be to make some of my own stuff. This might be made more difficult by the fact that I can't follow a pattern to save my life, I hate pinning, and I don't particularly care to sew anything more complicated than straight seams. Although I have high hopes for my sewing ability, I am also a realist. So we will see how this whole pledge thing goes. :)

And in order to make it OFFICIAL...

I, Crystal, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed Crystal!