2 weeks

2 weeks! Wow!

Last night was a little rough, but overall, Chelsea is a great sleeper and all around great baby!

Congratulations to the winners of the Guess the Baby Stats game!
Date: Denise with 11/19 (correct=11/20)
Time: Raj with 10:57 am (correct=10:54)
Weight and Length: I was right on with 8lbs 7oz, 20.5 inches. Side note- this is especially interesting because, while I was in labor, every midwife asked me how big I thought she was. They said that a lot of women on their second or more pregnancy have a good feeling of size. I was like, nope, no clue. Guess I had some subconscious sense of her size, go figure:-)

Thanks to all of you who played!
Denise and Raj, your prizes are in your inbox:-D

Friday @ 454am

All is well with Chelsea and Andrea.  We are all pretty tired, but Chelsea has been a pretty relaxed kid so far, and she is taking to breastfeeding like a champ. 

Because Andrea was in labor so long after her water broke it looks like we will be spending another night in the hospital so Chelsea can be monitored. 

We just weighed Chelsea and apparently she has list 1.96% of her body weights.  I guess as long as it isn't more than 5% in the first day we are good.  So far she has pooped four times and peed at least once. 

Andrea didn't need any stitches, and will hopefully recover quickly. 

Welcome chelsea

20.5 inches long
Head 36cm
8lb 7oz
10:54am 11/20/14
Chest 34cm
Waist 34cm

Baby is out

Baby is here.  10:54

1030am

We might have a baby making its way soon.  Andrea said she is feeling the pressure. 

1003am

We are going to try restarting the pitocin but only at a level of 1 so we can see how Chelsea responds. 

912am

Currently Andrea's uterus is being pumped full of saline and it appear like it might be helping.  Contractions appear to be happening more frequently and for longer. The question is are they stronger.   Right now Andrea has her eyes closed and hopefully she gets some rest, since she has been up for over 28hrs.  She normally get 8-9hrs of sleep a night so this is definitely taking a toll. 

826am

A quick recap since there have been a lot of people in and out of the room.  So we briefly discoursed the part that would lead to a c-section. 

For those of you asking, the amino infusion is putting saline into the uterus to provide some buoyancy. 

We are going to try the infusion, then bump the pitocin up and hopefully get the stronger contractions to push the baby down. 

The david take on things is that stuff isn't progressing well.  Chelsea is still up high, she doesn't like to be on her side, and she doesn't like pitocin, and Andrea isn't having strong contractions.  I feel like we haven't seen anything that is moving the ball down the field. 

805am

Amino infusion will be happening to hopefully help move things along. 

713am

The nurse change is happening and her fever is down a little,but we aren't going to see the midwife/ doctor until probably 9 or 10 am because of the shift change. 

Andrea is looking pretty beat,but she hasn't really slept. 

646am

Looks like contractions are at around 5 minutes, it seems like the are getting further not closer.  We are still waiting to talk to the midwife about the fever. And the nurse shift change happens in 10 minutes and the doc/ midwife change happens in an hour and 10 min.

633am

Andrea has a bit of a fever. 

534am

Pitocin is now up to 3. 

505am

O2 is back on, this time with a humidifier.  Chelsea's heart rate is still dropping during contractions. 

432am

The decel appears to have stopped.  Andrea is going to have a Popsicle.  The O2 is coming off for now. 

Pitocin is at 2. 

401am

Chelsea's heart rate seems to be settling out, but it is still dropping when Andrea has a contraction.  They will give her 30 minutes and then re assess and see if they can turn the pitocin back on. 

337pm

Internal heart rate and contraction monitors put in.  Pitocin was cut off.  Rotating. 

There are way too many medical staff in here for my comfort level at this point. 

319am

Pitocin down to 5.

314am

Chelsea's heart rate keeps bouncing around,and Andrea's bp is low even after pushing fluids.  The nurse just checked her and thinks she is 6-7cm.  The nurse is going to the mid wife check her.

249am

Baby is having some decels and so we are repositioning and Andrea and will get some O2.

223am

Apparently there is some pressure on Chelsea's head or she is doing something with the cord. The are going to increase fluids to try and give her some more room and if nothing has changed they are going to have the midwife check her out again. According to the nurse it is nothing to worry about because the stress on Chelsea only happens during contractions.  Andrea might just not have a normal contraction cycle. 

2am

Rotated to the other side and we are going to up the pitocin to 12.  Andrea is getting a couple of close contracts but then they space out. It seems like Andrea is able to get a little rest. 

1250am

Andrea is at 5 cm, and the pitocin is at 10.

Rolling to her side now, hoping to sleep. And she took two of the three pillows I had, glad I didn't give them them away.  And the nurse that was covering for a break remembers us and the surro parents (IFs) from last time.  Apparently they were a "crack up."

1158pm

Mom and sis have gone to find a sleep places else where,lights are down low and not it is sleepy sleep time. 

And pitocin was pushed to 8.

1135pm

Epidural is in, and Andrea is having some heart burn.  They are going to put the catheter in in a few and then it is sleepy time. 

1055pm

The pitocin has been bumped to 6, and the epidural has been requested and should be here in 10 minutes-ish. 

1020pm pitocin at 4

The pitocin is set at 4.  Contractions are increasing and Andrea is predicting she is going to want the epidural in 35 minutes when the shift change happens. 

1004pm

Andrea's sister and mother arrived.  Pitocin is running and now it is time to rest.

Now that Andrea is tied to an IV peeing just became a process.  Turn off, un-plug, disconnect, waddle-waddle, push-push. 

933pm pitocin

Starting pitocin.  And we met with the new midwife.

850pm more walking

More walking.  No real change,it doesn't seem like they are as frequent or as strong as they were on the first walk.  It might be time to start the pitocin.

The doctors just did the staff change so we might see a doctor or midwife soon, who knows. 

On the upside I am now well over my 10k steps today.

8pm walking

We have been walking for the last 30+ minutes.  Time for a pee break and we will have the baby heart rate checked.  We might walk more afterwards.

714pm, no checky checky

Apparently since her water broke they don't check her dilation often because of risk of infection.  So we won't be getting the good progress updates.  Bummer. 

7pm IV in

The IV is in after a few failed attempts and a blown vain.  Now we going to answer a few questions and then we are going to try walking.  The contractions are painful and they are pretty weak at this point. 

The couch is small and uncomfortable.  At least they brought me some pillows and a blanket. 

639pm.

Meals have been eaten, Andrea had chicken and salad, and I had a frozen burger. They are trying to get the IV in and then we might try some walking to help things along.  So far this isn't like either of the other pregnancies,at least not that I can remember. 

We're getting a room

We are getting moved to a room.  It is smaller than the last room Andrea delivered in. Nothing interesting is happening yet.  Filling out forms and stuff, hooking up everything.  We are just trying to get settle and eat something. 

545 pm 3cm

I was going to post a pick, but in the concrete basement and the blogger app are against me.  Anyways, Andrea is at 3cm and not feeling much pain at all.  We are in triage still, and will hopefully have a room in the next hour or so....hopefully. 

At the hospital 457pm

Andrea's sister called me at 330 saying that Andreas water broke.  So now we are at the hospital.

39 weeks

Had an OB appointment, today. BP and everything looks good. 1.5 cm dilated, she didn't mention effacement. She swept my membranes. Ouch! We'll see if it does anything. Next appointment scheduled for Monday, the 24th.

Time stamp test

This is a test to see if a time stamp appears when we post.

37 weeks and guessing time

I know lots of people like to guess when baby will come, etc. So, here is your chance- a little friendly contest:-)

3 chances to win:
1) date (time will be tie-breaker)
2) time
3) weight (length will be the breaker)

Guesses must be made as a comment on THIS post by midnight Saturday, Nov 8th. If she comes before that, your guess must be made before any announcement of labor starting is made.

Background info:
Haley-
Went into labor late on 38w3d
Born very early on 38w5d
30 hours of labor
3:43 am
8lbs 3oz, 20 1/4 inches
No dilation or cervix change at appointment 2 days prior to labor

Mr. GB-
Induced 39w2d afternoon
Born the following morning wowed
22 hours of labor
10:57 am
7lbs 10 oz, 20 1/2 inches
1 wk prior to induction was first slightly elevated BP. 1 cm, 0% effaced at that appointment.

Today's appointment:
BP-130/82
Urine dip- nothing
Head down
Cervix: 1 cm, 0% effaced, up high
No contractions
Dr. guesses weight at 7-7.5 lbs right now
My official EDD is 11/25 based on first day of last period. 11/30 based on the ovulation test.
Happy guessing!

Test test test

This is a pre-check. 

35 weeks

First, I am sooooooooooooooooo sorry for being such a very bad blogger:o(
I will be 35 weeks, this Tuesday and things have been very boring pregnancy-wise and busy otherwise. Chelsea is doing well and all of my prenatal appointments and tests have been normal, as expected.

Chelsea's room is almost done and I promise, I will post pictures of that when we are finished.

Yesterday, we had a small shower for Little Miss. We did a Minnie Mouse theme and it was perfect!

24 weeks (a little late)

I will actually be 25 weeks tomorrow. Sorry for my tardiness. It has been a bit hectic around here. David is getting ready to have shoulder surgery tomorrow, so he is trying to get a bunch of stuff done at home and work before he loses his shoulder for 1-6 weeks.

I had a regular OB appointment this past Friday. Everything looks good. I have gained 6 pounds. BP is on the low side at 112/72. That is actually expected, at this point, but makes bending over and standing quickly a little tricky;o) Uterus was measuring right at 24 weeks and Chelsea's heartbeat was in the 160s. Next appointment, in 4 weeks, I will have to do the glucose test again. Dr. originally wanted me to just go straight to the 3 hours, but I convinced her to let me try the 1 hour again. . . Phewf! I know that I will be vary careful about what I eat for dinner the night before and breakfast that morning.

I have definitely been feeling more movement and David has felt her a few times. Haley hasn't been able to feel her yet because she is too impatient and her hand is so tiny;o)

Heartburn has definitely kicked it into high gear. I am taking the Zantac 1-2 times per day (usually twice), and a couple of times I have had to take a dose of Tums, too. This time, I have also had what the Dr. calls warts, but are not like any warts I have ever seen. They are VERY hard to see, small bumps and basically just hurt in varying levels of severity. The worst ones (and their favorite place) are in the first crease of my thumb and first two fingers and parts of my fingers I use the most. ANNOYING and they seem to be cyclical, possibly. I tried OTC meds and I think that was more annoying and other ones pop up anyways. The up to pee 1-3 times during the night has started. So far, I have been able to get back to sleep pretty easily, so that is good. Other than those three things, I have been feeling pretty good.

24 weeks is considered the land of viability, meaning baby has a 50% chance of survival, if born at this point. For some reason, that number is not very reassuring. At 32-34 weeks, I will feel a little better about our odds and I would prefer we make it to 38:o) So, here's to 13 more weeks of nothing much to report.

24 weeks with my mini me:o)

Saturday we went to the beach. It was cool and gorgeously overcast. We flew a kite and played in the sand.

flying the kite

trying to float the boat

throwing sand balls into the ocean

Yay kite!

bad picture of the tunnel

What's in a name?

I have had a lot of fun poked at me over my crazy criteria for choosing baby names. Yes, I know it may be a bit extreme, but I only have to pick 2-4 names in my life, so why not be picky? We and this baby will be dealing with this name for the rest of our lives; it is IMPORTANT. I also want to say that I love some of these things in names others pick, just not for my kid;o)

So, I thought I would share our process and my crazy criteria;o)

First, the criteria:
1) Has to be relatively gender specific.
I know that there is probably no name that is 100% gender specific, but I want a name where someone will look at it on a resume or roll list and not have a question.

2) I prefer girl names that end in vowel sounds and boy names that end in consonant sounds. I think there is just something about the way they sound to me.

3) I don't want anything too popular, but not uber unique. Think, somewhere between 20-1000;o) Having to pick a nickname or go by a last initial is really annoying and gets confusing.

4) Only one pronunciation. I want people to look at the name and know how to say it. This comes from personal experience and is a major annoyance of mine. I would say that my name (which is not that unusual) is correctly pronounced by a stranger about 25% of the time. And I have had several teachers throughout my school career not be able to keep it straight. I don't want my kid to have to deal with this frustration.

5) No automatic nicknames. I plan to name my kids what I am going to call them. This also comes from personal experiences. From not knowing what to call someone to being asked if I go by Anne, Andi, etc. My most specific annoyance is with my poor husband's experience. I cannot tell you how many times my husband has introduced himself to someone new and the conversation goes something like this:
"Hi, my name is David." . . .
"So, Dave, what do you do for a living?"
I want to yell, "Did he tell you his name was Dave!?!?!?!?!?!"
Grrrrrrrrrr. I know it doesn't bug him as much as me, but no, no, no!

6) No biblical names. The bible is just not a part of our lives.

7) I prefer 2 syllable names. They just roll off the tongue right. Not too short, not too long.

8) Personal Associations. I think these always play a roll and are very personal depending on the name.

After a couple of months of casually talking about names, poor David was getting pretty annoyed with all of my criteria, so, in true David style, he enlisted the help of Excel and macros. He narrowed the top 1000 boy names down to about 500+ and the top 1000 girl names down to 300+. We both got a copy of the lists and went through and crossed out names we didn't like or had slipped passed the computer, circled names we loved and left a few others. We then compared/combined our lists and were left with a handful of boy names and a handful of girl names. We then narrowed to 2 girl names and 1 boy name- Kylee, Chelsea and Travis.

The middle names were actually a little easier. We tried to pick something that had sentimental value in both families- sounds harder than the criteria above, but it has been fairly simple. We chose Robert and Marie.

Combining all of that info, we have a name for our little girl:

Chelsea Marie

The Big Reveal

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this week and went for a gender ultrasound!
We are impatient and can never wait to find out the gender, so we made it a party:-) My parents accompanied the three of us and it is always fun to get a view of the baby!
Without further ado:

Arms in front of face

Back

Alien Face

 The Gender

So, what do you think?











No peeking!











Make a guess!











Are you an ultrasound expert?












Do you have your guess?










No cheating!










I'll add my side note here for some entertainment, whilst you ponder: I am pretty sure I have been feeling the first flutters over the past couple of days:o) Can't wait for them to become more consistent. Also, in the last two ultrasounds I've had, baby has been pretty calm and cooperative; hopefully that is a glimpse at life on the outside (Haley was pretty much the same:o))
Also, we did the first trimester genetic screening blood test and Nuchal Translucency scan a couple of weeks ago and our result was "screen negative." We will do the second trimester blood test next week to finish up the quad screening. Next OB appointment is Friday, the 13th;o)














Last chance!

















































It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

Haley has been wanting a little sister, since we started this whole discussion many months ago:o) I guess she wins. Everyone always assumes we were hoping for a boy. We have had several discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of both and decided there were just as many pros and cons on both sides of the coin. Like any expectant parents, the baby's health is priority number 1! We are thrilled to know, work on finalizing a name, and have confirmation at our anatomy scan next month.






12 weeks

That was fast!;-) I had my 12 wks appointment yesterday. The NP told me that in an effort to standardize things, they have decided to go with first day of last menstrual period (LMP) unless ultrasound shows that to be a week or more off. Day of ovulation would be 6 days off, and u/s were 1 and 2 days off, so we go with LMP which makes my EDD (Estimated Delivery Date) 11/25 and me at 12 wks today. The exact EDD doesn't really play a huge role, but there it is! I always figure it as give or take 2 weeks and just call it late November. Baby will come when he or she wants to and that's what I want, too. We got to hear the heartbeat yesterday, which is always reassuring for me:-) Next appointment is NT u/s next Mon then 16 wks appt 6/13.

11 weeks and GTT fun

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!

At my last appointment, the Dr. ran a slew of labs- two urine samples and 8 vials of blood! One of the tests I had to do was a one hour, non-fasting, glucose tolerance test (GTT). Because of my weight and family history of Type 2 Diabetes, I have had the pleasure of doing this test twice in every pregnancy and I have always passed, until this time, test number 5. Ugh! After I told my surro sisters what I had eaten for breakfast and lunch before the test, they put me in time out;o) Oops! I now know that baked potatoes are very high in carbs and apparently take awhile to burn off. As my consolation prize, I earned myself a 3 hour fasting GTT.
I did that last Monday, since I was visiting my sister in AZ for the week in between. The time actually passed pretty quickly. That extra concentrated glucose drink was pretty nasty, but I got it down with 30 seconds to spare. I got a total of 4 pokes and was on my way. My results are as follows, with the max allowed values in parentheses: fasting- 93 (94), 1 hr- 139 (179), 2 hr- 119 (154), 3 hr- 107 (139). That fasting one was on the cusp, but I passed the others very comfortably:o)
All of my other blood work came back normal.
I have my 12 week appointment tomorrow where I get the full physical exam and hear the heartbeat via Doppler.
I have had the least early pregnancy symptoms of any pregnancy, so far, so I really need to hear that heartbeat.
I will be thankful for this wind to leave the weather forecast, as it has driven my allergies wild:o( The good news is that my normal remedies are allowed during pregnancy, the bad news is it makes me sleepy. So I get to choose- sleepy or sneezing my brains out. Blech!

The Big Announcement

David and I decided that we felt comfortable going "public" with this pregnancy after today's appointment. And it went well! Haley is going to be a big sister around Thanksgiving!!!
By measurement, which was very difficult to get, we are going with 9 weeks, which is inline with my ovulation info.
Today was the marathon appointment. 3 hours! At Kaiser:o( Appointment itself was pretty quick, but everything else takes FORever! And, we managed to pick the first day of a new pilot program for prenatal patients, which meant more paperwork that everyone doesn't quite understand yet. Then, we had to wait about half an hour to meet with the prenatal clerk, who was less than friendly. Boo! Where we filled out more paperwork and scheduled a couple of appointments. Then, we had to go to the lab, where I got to do the 1 hour Glucose Tolerance Test and get 8 vials of blood drawn and pee in 2 different cups! But it was all worth it to know that everything seems to be going well:o) The picture we got is pretty bad, but the Dr. had a really hard time getting head and body at the same time so she could measure, so this is what we got;o)

6 weeks

I scheduled my first ultrasound for April 8th. I would be 6w2d so we should be able to see a heartbeat. It was a nerve wrecking couple of weeks, but I made it and this is what we saw:

 And she was able to find a heartbeat of 138 bpm which is great for this age.
She wants to see me again in 2 weeks for the traditional first prenatal appointment.

The tummy growling hunger multiple times per day has started, but doesn't seem to be accompanied by nausea as it has been in the past. I have also had a little bit of heartburn.

The M word

No one talks about it casually, but many women have had, at least one, Miscarriage. I know several ladies who have had them. 20-25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage in the first trimester. Once I had cleared the infertility hurdle that seemed to plague my family, I thought I was home free. I guess not.

January 3rd came and David and I went to our appointment to get a glance at our baby, but . . . there. . .was. . . no. . . baby. Not just no heartbeat, NO baby, no yolk sac, just an empty, fairly large sac. My husband lovingly nicknamed it "egg whites." My Dr. explained the situation, the options and the plan moving forward.

First, she wanted me to go for Quantitative Beta HCG tests 48 hrs apart. If the numbers were the same or decreased, we would know that the pregnancy wasn't viable and probably on its way out.
Second, we would come back in one week for a repeat ultrasound to make sure there was nothing in there.
Third, we had a choice to make. 3 options: a) wait it out and hope nature takes its course, b) use a drug called Misoprostol, which would help induce the miscarriage, c) have a D&C where the Dr. would go in and scrape/suck the stuff out of my uterus.

Let me tell you, that was THE longest week of my life. My Dr. had also told me what to do/expect, if it happened naturally during that week. I felt like a ticking time bomb. At any moment I could go into labor and start bleeding heavily. All while trying to care for my almost 3 year old. That week was probably the worst part of the whole thing. 

Luckily, I had my surro sisters to lean on. Between the two groups I am in of close to 150 surrogates, MANY of them had been through something similar in either a surro or bio pregnancy.

So, I went for the blood tests and they were inconclusive- the numbers were high, in the 60,000s and increased in the 48 hours. Not as much as we would have liked, but not small enough to rule out viability.
I did my informal research by polling my surro sisters. I decided a) was not an option for me. I am alone with a 3 year old 9+ hours/day and, although my husband could be home in half an hour, the ticking time bomb aspect was terrifying to me. And there was a chance it wouldn't happen or wouldn't all come out and I would need the D&C anyways. I wasn't cool with b) either. The majority of people who had used it said it was awful. So I decided to go with the D&C. It sounded the most controllable and dependable and everyone said it was pretty easy. 

By Monday (the appt was Friday), I emailed my Dr. to tell her I had decided on the D&C and did I really have to wait all the way til Fri. She said I had to wait the full week. Boo!

I survived the week and Friday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for the appt, my Dr. called and said she had an opening to do the D&C that day, right after lunch and she could save that spot for me, if that's what I wanted. I said, "yes, please!" That was a long day, but it was finally over and we could move on.

Dr. did a good job cleaning out my uterus and I had very little bleeding (it lasted 2 weeks, but I would go 24 hours with nothing several times. Kinda annoying, but not so bad.

My Dr. told me I needed to have one period after the D&C before Trying to Conceive (TTC) and I asked her if I had to wait until 9 weeks again for the ultra sound because I knew I was going to be much more worried the next time. She said I could go in anytime, but I should wait until at least 6 weeks. I could do that, I just needed a goal:o)

Back to the beginning

My husband and I knew that we were ready to have a second baby as soon as was medically advised after I had the surro babe. My OB told us 6-7 months, so, at 6 months (November), we were ready to go.

Through my surro experience, I had learned that I could get a positive Home Pregnancy Test (HPT) at 9-10 days past ovulation (dpo), so I started peeing early, not really knowing when I had ovulated. I finally got a faint positive on December 6th, the day we were leaving to visit my sister in AZ. I kept peeing while there and kept getting slightly darker positives. 

I scheduled my first OB appointment for Jan 3. Kaiser won't see me until, at least 7 weeks and they prefer 8+ weeks. I think my Dr. was off for the holidays, so I would be almost 9 weeks (using first day of last period) at that appointment. We were excited, told all of our close friends, and family and were preparing for an August baby.

All that time, I just had a weird feeling, like something wasn't right. But I had a 2 for 2 record of cycles trying to babies made, so I had no reason to doubt my body's abilities. Until January 3rd. . .