Week 38...Rylie's Birth Story

On the way home from work Monday night (6-21-2010), two weeks before my due date, I stopped by the store to pick up a few things.  I was feeling a little bad, which wasn't unusual at this point, but it was more noticeably bad, so I decided to take my blood pressure at the pharmacy. It was 143 over 106.  Of course I thought that couldn't be right. So I took it again. Sure enough, similar reading.  I called Brian and told him I was going to call my OB's office and talk to the on call doctor, just to be safe.  With my scheduled appointment the next day, I didn't want to be a pest, but I wanted to be safe and not worry about it all night long.

The doctor said I should go ahead and go up to the hospital labor and delivery department just to be hooked up to the monitors to have myself and Rylie monitored for a little while so we could make sure everything was okay.  Once we got there my blood pressure was still just as high so they took some blood and watched me for a while.  Soon the nurse came back in and said she talked to the doctor and they were going to go ahead and admit me so they could induce me the next morning.  Wow. What a rush of feelings that came over me all of a sudden, excitement, nerves, joy.  We were going to have a baby!

They put me on a slow petocin drip to help soften my cervix that night, and the plan was to up the petocin the next morning to start labor.  What sucked about the ordeal is that they also had to give me a magnesium drip. Due to some preeclampsia symptoms, my platelet count was low. The magnesium is the only way to increase my platelet count, which was a must since that is what causes your blood to clot correctly.  Two horrible things about magnesium intravenously...it causes flu like symptoms and it also works against the petocin. So in addition to the labor pains, I was also puking and felt really bad.

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010.  My mom, sister, and Brian's parents all show up at the hospital about 7:00am.  They were just as excited as we were to finally meet Ms. Rylie.  At 8:00am my doctor broke my water and upped my petocin.  Contractions really started getting more frequent and harder throughout the day and by that evening I was only dilated to a 6.  At 5:00pm I decided to get an epidural.  That was nice! However, by 8:00pm that evening, I still wasn't dilated past a 6 and Rylie hadn't moved down into the birth canal like the doctor was wanting.  And since the magnesium was working against the petocin, she wasn't sure how long it would take for me to have her vaginally. She recommended a c-section.

So, at 9:23pm on June 22, 2010, at 8 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long, the most beautiful girl in the world was born!  Welcome home Rylie Sophia Nutt.

Holding daddy's hand already! 

Gramma Moss

Pops and Nana Nutt

Aunt Tay Tay (Tracie)

Our new little family....

Week 37...Dilated to a 2!

I had my weekly appointment this afternoon and was excited to find out that I have started to dilate. I am already at a 2.  I know this is low on the scale, but at least my cervix is getting ready to deliver.  I couldn't be happier.  What I'm not as happy about is the fact that my doctor is a bit worried about my swelling and blood pressure that keeps creeping higher with every appointment.  Additionally, she said there was a slight bit of protein in my urine this time.  Uh-oh.  Not good signs.  She said I'm not to the point where she is "worried", but she doesn't want to get to that point either.  I asked her if she thought I was going to go all the way to my due date. She said no. Music to my ears!!  She said that even if my body was wanting to go all the way to July 4th, she wasn't going to let me go that long.  Yippee!

She wanted to put me on bed rest for the next 4 days. I ended up talking her out of tomorrow and Friday, as I still have much to show my assistant before I go out on maternity leave. So since I pretty much sit behind a desk all day, she said i could go to work if I try to keep my feet up and my butt down.  I agreed.  She insisted that I definitely stay as horizontal and relaxed as possible on Saturday and Sunday. Then she wants to see me on Tuesday to do an ultrasound and check Rylie's size and see how much fluid she's swimming around in.  She said she will most likely make her decision on Tuesday as to when she wants me to have this child.  So this means that I could pretty much have her at anytime.  Between me starting to dilate (which I know could creep along slowly for a while) and go into labor naturally, and the fact that my doctor wants me to deliver early, I literally could have this child next week.  It could be any time. Any time!

My bag is packed. Rylie's bag is packed.  We are ready to go when it's time.  And I will leave you with that, as the smile on my face right now couldn't get any larger!  We'll see you soon, baby girl!

Week 36... Checking Cervix and Shopping Meltdowns

My doctor is starting to see me weekly now and I love it. Just makes me more aware that we are getting closer to delivery.  She checked my cervix, which was a very uncomfortable experience....okay, it was downright painful. I don't know why I was expecting it not to be, for some reason I thought it would equate to the uncomfortableness of a normal annual exam. I was wrong.  Too much stuff going on down there I guess, and just add a physicians prodding and walla...owwwwwwwwe!

The message was clear from the doctor, Rylie isn't ready yet.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I know I'm 4 weeks from my due date and all, but I'm just so anxious to meet her, I hope she comes early.

She said she'd check me again in another week and we'll see how I look then.  I'm up to 203 pounds. I've gained a total of 48 pounds so far. Yes, I passed the 200 mark. I told myself I wasn't going to do that.  And if I would have laid off the Taco Bueno and the Ben & Jerry's a few times I probably would have met my goal. But there is NO better excuse in the book for eating whatever you want, whenever you want, than pregnancy. Why not enjoy it all I want, right?  I know once I have Rylie, I'll start running again and the weight will come off.  (Note to self...make sure you start running again after Rylie is born!)

I had a shopping meltdown this week. It wasn't pretty! I've been purposely avoiding any types of department stores or clothing stores that I enjoy shopping at because I WILL and HAVE self inflicted some pain by actually trying on non-maternity clothes while pregnant.  Self inflicted emotional mutilation is pretty pathetic, and I know this, so I've been trying to avoid putting myself in the environment all together. Unfortunately, AND fortunately, I have a twin sister who likes to shop as much as I do. SHE, however, is not packing on an additional 48 lb's, with a massive amount of swelling in her legs and feet. She bought a new pair of shoes.  SHE BOUGHT A NEW PAIR OF SHOES!!!!  And she showed them to me. Mistake.  These aren't your basic boring shoes, they were a hot pair of high heeled wedge sandals with braided straps that cross the foot and wrap the ankle.  Do you think they'd still be available after I deliver and lose this swelling?...absolutely not.  Hello.  So off I go to Macy's.  Alone, vulnerable, and 8 months pregnant.  Mistake. These spiral cut hams that I'm calling feet right now aren't in any position to try on shoes and I've been hearing story after story from women who say their feet grew and entire half size following the birth of their baby. A permanent half size. WHAT???   You mean ALL my current shoes are now going to be too small?  WHAT??? You mean I may have to consider buying these new shoes in a half size larger as opposed to my wonderfully true size 8?  WHAT???  And I couldn't try them on.  I probably couldn't shove these hams into Micheal Jordans sneakers right now.  Poor little piggy's.  So what's a girl to do?  If I buy them too big and my feet don't change size, I'm stuck with hot shoes that don't fit right. but if I buy them normal size and my feet do grow, I'm stuck with shoes that are too small.  I'm telling you, it's true what they say, you DO lose some ability for normal, rational brain function when you are pregnant. I agonized over this half size shoe decision.  Seriously, it was painful.  So I did the only thing i thought to do. I texted all my girlfriends who have had kids within the last couple of years and took a poll.  Thank goodness for modern technology.  Right there in Macy's as I was agonizing over my decision, the results came in immediately.  Thank you girls!!!  My decision was made so much easier.  The majority ruled and I ended up buying............................. size 8.   :)   And I cant wait to wear them!

Week 35...Swelling and Pressure

Okay....I think I'm caught up on blogging now.  (next I just need to get caught up on sending out thank you cards for all our wonderful shower gifts we've received!)  I know I just posted the last three weeks worth of posts at one time. But the good thing is I kept up with the writing part each week, it was mostly the pictures that I was waiting to upload before I posted.  I just need to keep up weekly on all of it so I wont be so behind. Especially now that it's getting so much closer to my due date, I want to make sure I stay current.  I cant believe there is less than 5 weeks left.  And less if she comes early, which is my hope.  Selfish reasons of course, I really want to meet her as I just love her so darn much already.  And, then there's just the plain comfort issue of carrying a baby.  I've gained 45 pounds so far!  ouch!!  With less than 5 weeks to go, I'm sure I'm going to pass the "50 pound weight gain" that I DIDN'T want to happen. Oh well, I'm pretty much all belly and boobs so hopefully I'll be able to lose it quickly.

The swelling, or edema as my doctor calls it, in my legs and feet is becoming funny to me.  I can make little shapes in my legs when I press down with different shaped objects, and the shape just stays indented for a little while. Freak Show Stacie is the name of my swelling game. Might as well get a laugh out of it, right?  The good thing is that my doctor says its a perfectly normal amount of swelling and I'm absolutely fine. So really I don't have too much to complain about.  That is, unless I want to start complaining about the pressure in my lower abdomen. Rylie is running out of room, I'm afraid, and it's starting to hurt.  I feel like I have to pee ALL the time.  She'll stretch out and I can feel her both in my ribs and my pelvis at the same time.  Okay, enough complaining!!  It's actually really cool and I just love it when she moves around.  She's been moving around so much lately that sometimes I think she's going to just bust out my belly button and say "HI!", or something to that affect.

We've done our pre-registration at the hospital, and we have decided on a pediatrician that came highly recommended by friends.  We actually have a pre-natal appointment with the baby doctor tomorrow morning, just to meet with him and tour the office. I'm really looking forward to it.  I'm hoping we'll like him as much as others do.

One thing we haven't done, which we need to, is pack the hospital bag.  Since the delivery isn't going to be "scheduled", who knows when my water will break and I'll start having contractions.  Again, I'm hoping she'll come early, so it could be any week!  WOW!!!!!!!  IT COULD BE ANY WEEK!!  YIPEE!