Cadie is here!

I'm saving the whole story for when I get the pictures to go with it. I was incredibly lucky to have a local photographer offer to photograph the birth for free so she could use it to build her portfolio for birth photography. So, when I get to look at the pictures I'll write up the whole story and have a great post for anyone who wants to read it.

But she's here! She was born 2-25-12 at 10:30pm here at home in the water. 8lbs 15oz, 19 3/4 inches long. The exact same as Victor except a quarter inch in length! It was intense and crazy and overwhelming and completely amazing. The instant she was out she was screaming her lungs out and eyes wide open and trying to pick her head up and look at everything. She's been nursing like a champ first thing and my milk came in last night, a scant 24 hours or so after birth. I feel so much better now than I did after Victor's birth, the difference is really amazing.

I'm looking forward to writing it all down soon!

Midwife appt

It went really well. They listened on the doppler for awhile and heard good variability in her heart tones, plus she was moving around like crazy the whole time so we know she's doing just fine. I will have an ultrasound and non-stress test done on Friday just as a precaution.

The other day Dorothy (one of the midwives) had mentioned that they could stretch and sweep my membranes today if I wanted to see if it helped move things along. I had to think about that. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that going into labor on my own is a BIG part of this experience for me. If they had swept my membranes and I went into labor I'd totally feel like I cheated myself by taking matters into my own hands. As long as baby and I are both healthy and doing well, then I am ok waiting for her to be ready. We're taking it one day at a time. And still hoping she comes sooner rather than later of course :-)

41 Weeks

"When are you gonna pop that baby out?!"

- Dude, if I knew that, I'd be out buying lottery tickets because it would mean I could tell the future. And btw, I'm not gonna "pop" anything out of anywhere. yikes.

"Why don't you just drop that baby out already?"

- Hmmm... yes, because I'm staying pregnant surely through force of will because I love it so much. And I'm pretty sure that at the birth one of the big goals is going to be to NOT drop the baby.

"Oh you poor thing, you must be so miserable!"

- Actually I feel pretty good and I'm quite excited at the prospect of giving birth to a healthy baby Very Soon! Do I just look that bad? So in other words, you just told me I look like crap... thanks.

Yes, I am 41 weeks pregnant and am starting to feel like I've been pregnant FOREVER. I may be a little crabby at times :) But I keep reminding myself that every baby comes out eventually... If I hadn't been induced with Victor I likely would have been pregnant this long with him as well. I'm ready. I'm soooo ready.

Midwife Appointment

Baby and I still look great :-) Cadie has great heart tones and Angy could hear the blood flow through the placenta and swishing fluid. Plus with the way Cadie is still switching back and forth between left, center and right sides, we figure she's got plenty of fluid in there, which also means that my placenta is still functioning just as it should be. My BP is great, still nice and low. We are nice and healthy and normal.

A very cool note here: at 37 weeks my GBS test came back positive. Here is a link for GBS for those who aren't sure what I'm talking about:
I was annoyed about it because I didn't want to end up with antibiotics, even though they could do it right here at home, it's annoying and unnecessary. I was leaning toward some more homeopathic remedies, or just nothing at all depending on how my labor went. Anyways, I had them redo the swab last week and it came back negative this time! Ha! I highly recommend to anyone that they take probiotics, particularly in the weeks before they typically do this test (36 weeks). If it does come back positive, have them retest in a week or 2 because it can change pretty quickly. So now I don't have to worry about it. YES!

My contractions have picked up a bit over the past couple days. I can now feel them a bit more through my hips and back and some low pressure during each one. They are still pretty irregular anywhere from 6 minutes apart up to 30 minutes apart. One of these days they'll start to get regular and closer together and more intense and then we'll be in business! I'm thinking maybe this weekend.... I'm also at 2cms now, woo hoo! I know it has nothing to do with when I go into labor, but it's good to have progress. Only 8 left! Every little bit helps :-)

40 week Belly

Yesterday at 40 Weeks! I told her if she comes out she'll have more room to play, but so far I don't think she cares.



Victor and his little sister!! He was so excited to get in the picture <3


I have a midwife appt tomorrow around 10. I don't expect anything super exciting to happen, but I may have her check me. I've been having some more contractions that are a bit more intense than my usual braxton hicks, but nothing that ever gets timeable. I'd like to pass on the check since I know it really has nothing to do with when I go into labor... but I can't help it, I want to know!

Yes, still pregnant

:-) Still 3 days till my ESTIMATED due date. Granted, it's fantasticly accurate since I was tracking my cycle and know exactly when I ovulated/ got pregnant, but that doesn't mean that my body's natural gestation length is exactly 40 weeks.

From: http://voices.yahoo.com/the-lie-edd-why-due-date-isnt-you-1958162.html

"The 40 week due date is based upon Naegele's Rule. This theory was originated by Harmanni Boerhaave, a botanist who in 1744 came up with a method of calculating the EDD based upon evidence in the Bible that human gestation lasts approximately 10 lunar months. The formula was publicized around 1812 by German obstetrician Franz Naegele and since has become the accepted norm for calculating the due date. There is one glaring flaw in Naegele's rule. Strictly speaking, a lunar (or synodic - from new moon to new moon) month is actually 29.53 days, which makes 10 lunar months roughly 295 days, a full 15 days longer than the 280 days gestation we've been lead to believe is average. In fact, if left alone, 50-80% of mothers will gestate beyond 40 weeks."

I have been saying from the very beginning that I expect to go at least 41 weeks and now I'm teasing everyone saying I'm shooting for Leap Day :-) A wonderful benefit to this is that at nearly 40 weeks pregnant I'm not feeling super anxious or particularly impatient for her to get here yet. I mean, I am DYING to hold her, and I want to finally see her and smell her.... But I'm ok with being pregnant and carrying her this way as long as she needs (as long as everything is fine, of course). I have no desire to rush her out of her comfy home until she is well and truly ready and I firmly believe and trust that my body knows when that is.

At my last midwife appt they checked me again and no change from 2 weeks ago. But last night I actually had some contractions that were a bit more intense than my usual braxton hicks and were super consistent at 10-12 minutes apart for a couple hours. That's the first time they got regular and timeable. I know my body is working and it feels wonderful! I'm so excited to go into labor. While part of me wishes I knew when it would happen, most of me is excited for the surprise <3

So, in conclusion, visit this site: http://www.haveyouhadthatbabyyet.com/

38 Weeks

At this point I feel like there's not much change in belly size. Big is big, ya know? And she's definitely big. At my appt yesterday they were palpating my belly and checking out lil miss and they both said they think she's around 8lbs at the moment. Victor was 8lbs 15oz after peeing and 20 inches long, I pretty much assume she'll be somewhere around there too, but you never know for sure of course :-) My appt on the whole was pretty standard. I'm still nice and healthy, good BP, no swelling, no weight gain this week either (woo hoo!) and generally kind of boring. They keep reassuring me that boring is good :-) Position wise, she's always head down, but moves back and forth between my right side, left side and posterior, anterior... I know positioning during birth is very important, but she moves around so much still that it almost seems silly to worry about her position until I'm actually in early labor. If someone has better information/advice on this, please let me know!

My mom will be here in 5 days! Hopefully we can get everything finished organizing-wise with the house in the next few days so that she actually has a place to sleep. Plus you know, getting the house organized in general just sounds pretty freaking awesome. I've been slowly cooking things here and there for the freezer. Yesterday I made a huge batch of pancakes and froze those. I cooked a chicken, shredded it all and now have 2 bags of frozen shredded chicken in my freezer for meals. I already had some Beef Barley stew frozen... it's still not much but it's a start. Since I figure I still have a couple weeks, we've got some time to get things ready... Hey, at this point we might get our taxes back before she gets here!