Our Little Blessing at 34 Weeks!!

First of all I want to Thank you ALL for your comments! They meant so much to me!! I have been having contractions mostly everyday, but nothing worse than what I had before. They told me to monitor them, and if they would get more painful or keep on for a few hours to call. A few have been pretty hard, but they don't continue on as they did before! It's nothing like I had when I was in the Hospital! I went in a week ago today! So we have made it to 34 1/2 weeks!!!

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Wednesday January 26, 2011
Our Little Blessing at 34 Weeks and 2 Days!

How far along? 34 Weeks

Baby's size and stats? Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. Yeah!! Info taken from pregnancy.com

Gain? Still probably up 23 pounds. I have a Doctor appointment coming up before my next weekly update so I will have a correct weight every week now.

Maternity clothes? All maternity. I really don't care that I am wearing the same things over and over. I just thought to myself I will not be wearing these clothes for much longer! I am loving that after so many years I can finally wear maternity clothes!! I will miss my belly so much once its gone, so I want to enjoy every minute!

Sleep? I have been trying to drink a LOT more water, so I have noticed I pee a few more times at night. Some nights she keeps me up with her movements and hiccups! So precious!! It's times like that I so want to hold her and snuggle her!

Foods I am loving? Salads, veggies and dip, cheese and crackers!

Foods I am hating? Same: Plain Chicken, turkey, ham. Also, salty meals didn't appeal to me to much.

Best moment this week? Organizing clothes I got handed down from Kevin's Sis-n-Law! There were so many cute clothes, and in the sizes that she will wear right away! I have felt the urge to organize and prepare! I am so glad, because it had left me for a long time!!

Movement? This morning her movements were painful, she is getting stronger!! Grow Savannah, Grow!

Symptoms? 1. Some minor swelling in my ankles, legs and now my hands.
2. Some contractions mostly every day.
3. Headache

4. Feeling faint and nauseated some days.

5. Easily get out of breath.

Gender? A GIRL...Our Sweet Savannah

What I'm looking forward to? Both my showers in the next weeks and a half!!

Milestones: I really feel 34 weeks is huge!!!

Weekly Pics & Belly Shots!!!!

Today I feel so blessed that I am pregnant!! 34 weeks!! Unbelievable!!!

Contractions and more!!!

I will start at the beginning as to how we ended up at the Hospital for 24 hours.

On Sunday I noticed that I was bleeding again, and I was thinking it was probably from my polyp that had grown near the opening of my cervix since my pregnancy. The bleeding stayed till Monday morning. It had started kind of heavy on Sunday afternoon then went to spotting by later that evening and into Monday morning. After Monday it had all cleared up, so that kind of reassured me that it was the polyp. I did not call my Dr. I don't think this had too much to do with how we ended up at the hospital.

I have had a few contractions in the past, but was never really worried about them. I think half the time I wasn't even sure if it was a contraction, I just thought it was the baby balling up inside. Well I was slightly wrong. LOL! I've never been pregnant before, so I had no idea what a contraction really felt like! Which I am guessing most of those were Braxton Hicks.

So on Wednesday I was at work. I started to feel pretty awful, faint and nauseated. So I laid down for about a half hour, all the while I was getting cramping and contractions but not really paying attention to them. They were not that painful. Once I got up, I realized I had started spotting again, and the contractions started to get harder and more frequent, and the cramping increased in strength.

That made me decide to call my Doctor. They advised me to go to the Hospital right away and check into Labor and Delivery for them to monitor me. I was basically expecting for them to tell me that they are just Braxton Hicks, and the bleeding was from the polyp. We checked in right around 1:15pm on Wednesday January the 19th. My hubby asked me before we left if we should pack a bag and I thought no that's not necessary. I shoulda packed one!

So once we got into our room, I changed and they hooked me up to the monitors. One was to monitor Savannah, and the other was to monitor the contractions. Savannah was doing excellent! I was so happy to hear that! The contractions were not that great! They were about 2-3 minutes apart, and I could basically feel every one of them. They never stayed strong enough for me to need pain medication though. The Doctor on call came in (I loved her) and we went over a few things, so she checked my cervix, and checked to make sure the polyp was causing the bleeding. My cervix was closed, and yes the bleeding was coming from the polyp, which measured around 2 centimeters. So that was good news for us. They wanted to keep monitoring me and the baby for a while longer. We were all expecting that we could go home later that night.

Well, the contractions and cramping just keep being persistent. So the Doctor comes in and says we will be staying the night. They wanted me to take a pill to stop the contractions, as well as a shot for the baby's lungs. I was very hesitant about that one. They said that at 34 weeks they would not even try to stop the labor, or give the shot for baby's lung development. I was 33 weeks and 2 days! UGH! So close. Another thing was that my Hospital will not deliver until 35 weeks, unless it's an emergency of course. Due to the fact that they would need to send the baby to larger Hospital right away, then the Mommy is left behind. I then started to think, wow, could we really have Savannah now!

I then asked the Doctor if she was still breech. She brought in an ultrasound machine, and we were able to see Savannah. She was doing so great, lots of fluid around her and even practicing her breathing! The Doctor was very impressed with that. It turns out that she is transverse (sideways). So if I would go, it would be a c-section. All the while fear is creeping in to this mommy to be!

So hubby went home and packed up a little bag for us.

My contractions were staying about the same.

The worst part of the whole stay was when they put in the IV. Talk about pain!!! It was horrid. That is the one thing that I am already dreading when I go back in!! (Even worse was taking it out.)

Around midnight I took another dose of the pill to stop the contractions. I was able to get about 2 hours of sleep after that. I woke up to very bad back pain, cramping, contractions and an AWFUL headache. The back pain was so awful, it started at the bottom and crept its way up. The contractions were the strongest at this point. I still did not need any pain medication for them, they were manageable. The Doctor came in to check the cervix (she had done that a few times earlier in the stay too that I did not mention), the cervix was still closed. My awful headache was caused by the pills that were supposed to stop the contractions. I then got about 2 more hours of sleep, after the back pain dyed down a little.

In the morning I refused to take another dose of the pill to stop the contractions. The headache was just too awful, and I kept thinking I am sooo close to 34 weeks.

Then it was shift change for the nurses, and let me tell you I got quite the mean nurse! It's so amazing how a good nurse can make everything seem calm, then as soon as a mean one comes everything seems so awful! I was not very happy with her! I pray that I will not have her when I am having Savannah!

My contractions then started to go away in the morning!!! And my cervix was still closed! All was looking good! We were then released around 1pm on Thursday! We were given instructions on what to watch for, and when to come back in. We got home and we were so exhausted! The beds were sooo uncomfortable, you would think they would make them a lot more comfortable with all that we need to go through when we are there!

My contractions were still gone!

I got a lot of rest since I got home, and was contraction free until about 2 hours ago. I have been feeling some contractions again. So lets hope they do not get worse! We want to make it to at least 35 weeks, so Savannah will be a lot more ready to enter this world, and so we could deliver at the Hospital where we are comfortable at!

If you have any questions please ask! I would love to answer them for you! I would also love to hear any stories similar to mine, and how your story ended up!

I really want to do a post soon on the fear I have about Labor and mostly delivery!!