Change

Admittedly I stole this from babycenter.com but it couldn't be more true today as I sit here missing my little Jack.

Things that Change when you have a Baby

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.
2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.
3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.
4. You respect your body ... finally.
5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.
6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.
7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.
8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.
9. Your heart breaks much more easily.
10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.
11. Every day is a surprise.
12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)
13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.
14. You become a morning person.
15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

And my addition at 16 . . Keeping up with my blog becomes even more of a challenge.

Stay tuned for a big 3 month update in the next couple days.

Meet Jack

Introducing our precious baby boy, Jack Joseph, born Saturday October 3rd, 2009 at 3:16am.

Jack Joseph
Born October 3rd, 2009 3:16am
7 pounds 8.7 ounces
21 inches

We've spent the past 19 days getting to know our precious baby boy and could not be more over joyed with his arrival. The past nearly three weeks have been the best days of my life and I could now not imagine Joe and I's life without him. I look at him and can't even begin to put into words the love I feel for him.

I realize this post is very long over due but finally below is our birth story.

I had planned to work up to my due date, September 24th, but decided to cut it short and started my maternity leave September 23. I'm extremely glad I worked as long as I did as Jack decided to make quite the fashionably late appearance 8 days after his due date. I was fully prepared to go past my due date but never did I imagine he'd end up being an October baby.

Those 8 over due days were the longest most anxious days of my entire life. I would torture myself with afternoons filled with never ending episodes of A Baby Story, Birth Day, Bringing Home Baby and Deliver Me.

40 Weeks

At my 40 week and 1 day appt an induction was scheduled for October 3rd 6 AM. Thankfully we never made it to that scheduled induction. Friday October 2nd, around midnight, I began having regular mild contractions that were about ten minutes apart. Around 2 am I decided to try getting some sleep and was able to sleep off and on throughout the night. My sweet husband spent the night watching over me just waiting for something to happen . . he later admitted routinely checking the couch I was sleeping on to check for some sort of sign that my water had broke.

Friday afternoon at 1:30PM we had our last doctor appointment. At this point contractions were still mild but timeable at about 7 minutes apart. Thankfully they had been doing their job as the doctor proclaimed I was now 3 centimeters dilated. After checking availability at the hospital she sent us over to labor and delivery. We hadn't eaten lunch yet so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat first and then made our way to the hospital.

Waiting to be admitted

I was checked and admitted at 3:25 PM Friday Afternoon, 4cm. I met the doctors that were on call, was hooked up to the monitors and set up in my delivery room. I was still able to get up, walk around and use the bathroom at this point with a good amount of ease. At 5:30PM they broke my water. At this point contractions began getting much stronger. They were still bearable but stronger. It was interesting watching the monitors as each contraction came and went. By 7 PM my nurse offered me an epidural as the contractions were much stronger at this point and the anesthesiologist was in the room next door administering another epidural. 7:30 PM my epidural was started. I was checked again at 8PM and was still 4 cm dilated. Joe and I tried getting some sleep at this point and dozed off and on for the next couple hours.

At 2:30 AM my amazing nurse, Mindy, checked in on us and determined I was finally 10 cm dilated and could feel the head very low. She asked if I was ready to do a few practice pushes. This was the point where everything hit me like a ton of bricks. The reality of having a baby, being a mother, the outcome of the last nine months . . it finally hit me I'm going to be someones Mom. And with that my answer to "Do you want to do some practice pushes?" became "No, that's ok." My anxious, sleep deprived husband looked at me in disbelief. After 8 days of anxious over due waiting I was now apparently in no hurry. Mindy agreed to give me a little more time and said she'd be back in half an hour at which point we'd need to start pushing. I agreed. While I wasn't in any pain I could feel the pressure of each increasingly intense contraction and though I felt like I could push I didn't feel like I had to push . . yet.

As Mindy left the room Joe gave me a lecture about how it was time to finally meet our son. I remember some guilting was involved, as well as mention of my ten years deceased Great Grandmother. He really knows which buttons to push when he needs to. And with that Mindy was back in our room at 2:45AM and I was actually pushing. Joe with one leg, Mindy with the other. At 3AM they called the doctors in and we continued pushing. Joe was amazing through the entire thing. Very supportive and encouraging through each push. I was blessed to have him by my side.

7 Pounds 8.7 Ounces

At 3:16 AM Jack Joseph entered the world grabbing and tugging at the umbilical cord wrapped around his tiny shoulders. Having him placed on my chest the second after he was born was the single most amazing experience of my life. My exact words were "He's beautiful. I know everyone says that but seriously he really is beautiful!" He weighed in at 7 pounds 8.7 ounces and 21 inches long (a far cry from the 9 pound baby we were continually warned about). Perfect.

Meeting Jack

Following delivery there were a few complications. While I managed to fair pretty good without any external tearing thanks to the wonderful doctors perennial massaging, I unfortunately had some extensive internal tearing that needed to be addressed. They tried repairing everything in the deliver room but weren't making much headway and needed better lighting and equipment. So just as Joe was arriving back from giving family in the nearby waiting room the news of Jack's arrival I was being wheeled out to the operating room. Admittedly at the time I didn't think much of it. My doctors were very convincing to me that my tearing was not a big deal and I'd be fixed up in no time. Looking back it was actually pretty scary for Joe but I'm thankful my doctors were able to keep me as calm and relaxed as they did since I obviously had no idea how bad it was.

I was back in my room by 5:30am and we finally were able to call family back to introduce Jack.


I had a wonderful experience delivering at Penn State Hershey Medical. I had amazing nurses and doctors (with the exception of one first year resident who simply lacked confidence in herself) who contributed to a really positive birth experience for me and my husband.

I hope to update more about our first days home with Jack soon.

37 week observations

We're full term today! I'm still amazed at just how fast this year has gone by. It seems like just yesterday we were breaking the news to family and friends.

For the majority of my pregnancy I have felt wonderful and I do still feel relatively good. But over the past 2-3 weeks thing have gotten increasingly more difficult. I can't walk as far or as long as I used to. I now have to force myself to take breaks which I'm really not used to. My abdomen is in a constant state of tightness. Over the past 2 days I've started having some mild painless but uncomfortable cramping accompanied with what I think are some Braxton Hicks contractions.

Some observations . . .
-Going to the bathroom is not only often but is quite a chore. Getting down there to wipe completely is a feat in itself. Seriously God should have rethought perhaps growing my arms a couple inches as my belly increased in sized.

-Sleeping is no longer straight through the night and anything but comfortable for more than a little while before needing to re-adjust my position (I'll admit I'm probably pretty fortunate that my good nights of sleep lasted as long as they did).

-Strangers now stare instead of just glancing at me and my protruding belly. This could just be my own paranoia but it seems as though I'm my own little mobile freak show. I could/should start charging admission. :)

-Jeans are no longer my friend. I know people cringe at the thought of being pregnant in the summer but honestly its been a god send to me. I've been able to live in yoga capris, long tanks, comfy cotton skirts and flip flops. I wore jeans the past couple of days (after a little bit of a hiatus from them) with the more comfortable weather but regretted it by the end of the day as they started to dig badly into the bottom of my belly. I think they're past their expiration date and/or he's dropped considerably.

And with 37 weeks comes a completed nursery! Here are some pics of the little guys new room all completed (minus his name letters that will be hung this weekend). I must say he's already a pretty lucky little boy. :)

A Beautiful Shower

I'm quite behind on posts so I'm just getting a chance to update on my amazing shower two weeks ago.

I feel so blessed to have such amazing family and friends in my life. They all went above and beyond to make the day special for me. The decorations were beautiful and perfect, the food was good, the atmosphere was great, the games were fun and I think the guests enjoyed themselves as much as I did. I still can't believe the amount of gifts we received and feel so thankful for everything.

The most touching moments for me were the photobook my Mom and Mother in Law put together with pictures of Joe and I as babies and growing up and the copy of my favorite children's book my parents bought me with a note about how much they enjoyed reading it to me as a child. I will cherish both of these things.

I was so caught up in the day that I didn't get many pictures taken but here are a couple a friend of mine shared with me until I get some more.

Beautiful diaper cake and table.
I loved the hand painted little wooden toys - Charlene did a great job!
They're now on Baby Doran's shelves in his nursery. :)

Adorable clothes line

YUMMY favors!
Matt did a great job helping Christina with these. ;)
We're lucky I didn't stuff all of these in my bag to take home.

Thank you so much to Charlene and Christina for everything they did to help my family make it a memorable day :)

DVT, FVL, Lovenox, Heparin . . .

I've been meaning to do this post for quite some time but never seemed to have the time. With my pregnancy nearing the final weeks I thought now would be the best time to try to get it out there. My hope isn't to bore those of you who already know my story but to get everything documented and hopefully help just one person who finds themselves in my situation by telling my story and journey.

In mid-June of 08 I began seeing what I thought to be a few tiny pimples develop on my abdomen. Two weeks later those same pimples had developed into quite a disturbing looking rash. Sunday, June 28, 2008 we decided it was time for a trip to the ER just in case I had been bitten by something. After a lengthy wait I was checked out by the ER doctor. I explained the only symptoms I had were the rash and a little cramping in my right leg. Honestly I've had leg cramps my entire life but for whatever reason felt the need to mention this to her. She examined my rash and determined it was nothing more than dermatitis and prescribed me a topical cream. She then went on to say she was more concerned that I had cramping in my leg and wanted to have a doppler performed on my leg to check for blood clots.

Monday June 29 I visited the cardiovascular dept and a deep vein thrombosis (DVT or blood clot) was found in my lower right leg. I was sent back down to the ER to see the same doctor that treated me the previous day. I was taken off my birth control pill immediately and prescribed lovenox injections as well as coumadin (the lovenox was to protect me until the coumadin reached the appropriate level in my system). I was set up with a follow up appt with my family doctor to discuss a long term course of treatment and monitoring.

I self administered 3 doses of lovenox until my appointment with my family doctor. He felt the risks/inconvenience of taking blood thinners outweighed the benefits. His long term plan was to follow up with another doppler in 3 weeks to see if the blood clot had grown or moved and to start a low dose of aspirin daily. (I will admit I did not take the aspirin daily) The thought was that since my DVT was below my knee I wasn't at risk for a pulmonary embolism (blood clot traveling to the lungs). I was leary but the thought of regular weekly blood testing to check my INR levels on coumadin wasn't appealing either. I decided to follow his plan for the time being but also requested a second opinion. I was referred to a hematologist and scheduled an appointment . . next available appointment when calling at the end of July was for late August - this appointment will go on to be rescheduled two more times before I meet with the doctor in early September.

A week later was my yearly gynecological check up. I explained to my mid-wife that I had been taken off of my birth control pill because of the discover of my blood clot. She was concerned and said she felt there was a need for me to be tested for any possible clotting disorders, especially if I had planned on trying to conceive. My test results came back positive for a thrombophilia know as Factor V (five) Leiden - FVL. I was found to be heterozygous, meaning I have one mutated gene making my blood more susceptible to clotting.

Three weeks later my DVT hadn't moved, grown or changed at all. My rash that caused the discover of my DVT still hadn't cleared up either. In fact it had at this point grown to a diameter of about 8 inches across my stomach. I met with my family doctor once again and we talked about the possibility of Lyme. Test results came back positive. After a month of anti-biotics my rash had cleared up and I was "cured" of Lyme disease.

Early September I finally met with the hematologist. He not only agreed with my family doctor's plan to stay off coumadin but when the discussion turned to any future plans to get pregnant his opinion was disheartening to say the least. He initially felt that since I hadn't had any past pregnancy losses no treatment for my disorder was necessary during pregnancy. This went against everything I'd read online concerning women with FVL and who had a history of clotting as I did. I did not feel comfortable at all going into a pregnancy knowing I have this disorder and knowing about all the dangerous things that could happen to me and the baby - all things that could be prevented with proper treatment. I didn't want us to have to suffer a loss just to make it clear to him treatment was necessary. I communicated this to him and he agreed it was important that I was comfortable with any treatment plan we set forth and said we'd discuss specifics when the time came.

Fast forward to January 17, 2009. We receive our first positive pregnancy test. :) We get an ultrasound at week 6 and week 7 to check for heartbeat. Once everything is confirmed as ok we have our appt with the hematologist to discuss when to start lovenox. I started 40mg of lovenox once a day at week 6. At 22 weeks my dosage was increased to 60 mg once a day to account for weight gain.

Lovenox

At week 35 I then switched to 1.5 mL heparin twice daily. The switch to heparin is in preparation for labor/delivery. The heparin can reversed easily while the lovenox cannot be. Heparin also remains in the system for 12 hours as opposed to the 24 hour coverage with lovenox.

Heparin

After delivery I will switch back to 40mg of Lovenox once daily for 6 weeks post pardum.

Initially the injections caused some major bruising (dark and the size of a quarter) but they became tolerable and with practice I was able to determine what caused bruising and what did not. Taking the injection slowly and being sure to pinch the skin helped cut down on bad bruising for me. Tiny bruises the size of a pencil erasure (and smaller) became common a few times a week however. I never used ice to numb the area as some people recommend. It just seemed too time consuming. I have gotten very used to giving myself the injections in my abdomen. It just became another part of my morning routine . . like brushing my teeth. With the recent switch to heparin I can tell a definite difference in the medication. Not only was the lovenox already conveniently measured out into pre-filled syringes but it also didn't cause me to bleed afterwards at all. The heparin on the other hand is not pre-filled. I have to measure out the dosage and the injections usually cause me to bleed slightly at the injection site following the injection. I've had to either do my shot before a shower or just cover with a band aid to prevent bleeding on my clothing.

With 3 weeks to go I feel very fortunate to have had a great doctor who understood the potential issues with my disorder and who then closely monitoring me throughout my pregnancy.

33 Weeks

Today is 33 weeks. I'm still continuing to feel relatively great. I do have a few gripes (including heartburn that is only satisfied by milkshakes, major increase in bathroom trips - up to 4 times a night now and rib discomfort) but nothing major or debilitating.

We had a growth ultrasound last week. I had asked my doctor for it in order to check for clots and check on growth . . and I selfishly also wanted to see our little guy and maybe get an updated picture of him. No go on the picture but we did get to confirm he's still a little 'guy' and is very active and looking great in there.

The nursery is still coming along good. I'm waiting on some things we ordered to get here for the walls and will have updated pics to add then. Until then here is a pic of a little project I put together this past weekend. I really like how it came out. It was a good addition to the built ins.

And finally an updated belly pic.

33 weeks

Nursery . . A Sneak Peak

The whole room isn't near completed yet but this corner is all ready for its close up :)

The pictures of the frames on the wall really do not do them justice. They look so much cuter in person. We plan to add his foot prints and birth announcement in the two smaller frames.

I'm so pleased with how everything looks together. I'm especially proud of how the curtains came out.

It's coming along nicely. Hopefully this weekend leads to more progress on the other side of the room.