SHE Finally Arrived!

I have been putting off writing because I have been so crazy busy, but I finally have a calm moment more than a month later!

On January 9th (yes, my due date!), I was cleaning our bathroom when I dropped the cleaning wipes and as I grabbed them in mid-air, I felt a strange "pop". I called Matt then called the labour and delivery department at the hospital. They said to come in and get checked, so I did. They checked and the test swab only came back a bit blue, so that meant there wasn't much amniotic fluid if any and they sent me home. We got home around 1:30pm after picking up Ceili and lunch. We all ate our lunch and went for a nap. At around 3pm I woke up to a HUGE gush, more like a waterfall of amniotic fluid and screamed for Matt to get me some towels! We dropped Ceili back off at my parents house and went back to the hospital (with towels between my legs in the car!)

We got there around 3:30pm and I was already 5cm dilated when they checked me. At 6:15pm I was fully dilated but the doctor wasn't there yet, so the nurses were telling me not to push. That's about the hardest thing in the world to stop doing when your body tells you to! He finally arrived, threw his coat on the floor, put on his gloves and after about 4 pushes, the baby was out.

Abbey Florence Rose was born at 6:28pm weighing 9lbs 1oz and 20 1/4" long. We were very surprised she was a girl, but we are so happy! I couldn;t believe I had such a big baby in my belly!

Things have been good so far. She sleeps pretty well, only wakes once a night to feed and is a very sweet little thing. Her big sister Ceili just loves her and is proud that she was right that it was a girl baby :) I am so happy with my two girls, I finally feel like our family is complete!

I can't thank my doctor enough. He allowed me to follow my birth plan and even ran a red light and got a ticket to be at Abbey's birth. I just saw him today for my check-up and he said he was so proud of how well I did. I also thank him for putting me on bed rest because I believe without that, I wouldn't be sitting here snuggling this beautiful baby girl right now.

Still Waiting

Since I last posted, I lost my mucus plug but nothing else is happening. Some people are probably thinking I'm crazy for stressing about it, but I feel like the baby is so squished in there right now and probably needs out! Plus, I will do anything not to be induced. I don't care if people judge me, it's my body and my baby afterall.

I called an acupuncturist today and she is coming over in about 45 minutes to give me a treatment to try and get something started. She is a lady my best friend recommended and she has a pretty good success rate. She said it should be even more successful on the first treatment since I have lost my mucus plug and my body sounds like it's ready. If not, I will do additional treatments as well as have my membranes stripped again at my next doctor's visit.

We're ready for this baby! We have the crib and bedroom set up, all of the clothes washed, the playpen's even set up in our room. We're just waiting! Matt has said he's getting anxious to meet this little person who has been growing inside me for 9 months :)

On a sad note, one of the ladies in my expecting group online lost her sweet little boy yesterday. When she was pregnant they knew he has trisomy 18 and his intestines had grown into the umbilical cord, but they thought they would have more time with him. He was born and an hour later he took his last breath and passed away. I'm so sad for her, I can't imagine how that must feel. I am really counting my blessings today and am so thankful to have a healthy toddler and that I am growing a healthy little baby as well. We really are lucky.

Didn't Work :(

Well, it doesn't seem like anything's happening after the doctor stripped my membranes. I had such hope, but I haven't had much more than some spotting and more braxton hicks contractions! I guess I'm just going to have to wait some more. I'm feeling a bit impatient because I really, really don't want to be induced. I have heard so many scary things about the medication they give to induce you because it makes labour so crazy painful. I'm sure the doctor will threaten me with induction at my next visit if nothing has happened, so I'm hoping that we have the baby before then!

And...once again I am up in the early morning hours unable to sleep! It seems that I get a few days of really good sleep and then all of a sudden my body says "you don't need anymore sleep". It's getting pretty frustrating, I just want to sleep when I'm tired.

I guess that's enough ranting and complaining for today. I am going to try to go back to bed and sleep now.

39 Week Doctor's Appointment

I just got home from my weekly doctor appointment. I'm 39 weeks today and he said this week my cervix is 2cm dilated and cervix is still soft. He said the baby is engaged now :) He swept my membranes and said he thinks that he will be seeing me very soon to have the baby. Here's hoping! The sweeping hurt really badly, but Iam hoping that it works since I have been so uncomfortable with all of these braxton hicks contractions in the past few days. I have spent about 4 days being uncomfortable because my belly keeps tightening up and it's happening about 4 times an hour!

I have been feeling good otherwise. I have started sleeping a bit better even through the braxton hicks. Last night was an exception, but Matt didn't sleep well either. For the past few days I have been sleeping so hard that I wake up with a puddle of drool on my pillow! lol.

I think Ceili and I are going to take a walk right away and hopefully that will help things along too. Wish me luck!

9th Month!

Feeling: Very good. Having some sleepless nights and pelvic pain, but that's to be expected.
Cravings: McDonald's burgers, ribs, chocolate, sticky toffee pudding, chocolate ice cream and chips. Basically everything that is unhealthy!
Aversions: Not too much at all.
Belly status: Growing like crazy. My hubby says he can see my belly coming around the corner before he can see me! lol
Any movement?: I swear I can feel every movement of a finger at this point! Not so many kicks, feels more like rolls and stretches now because I don't think there's much room left!

Photo is me at 37 weeks :)

Made it to Christmas!

I was so worried that I would have something crazy happen like my water break on Christmas Eve and no be able to spend it with my family, but I made it! I am so happy and we have had such a wonderful Christmas so far.

Yesterday we spent the day sledding and went to the house that goes all-out decorating for Christmas in the evening then came home and had some hot chocolate. We all had a good sleep, I'm amazed that Ceili slept until around 7am! This morning she was so excited to see that Santa had come and eaten his cookies, drank his root beer (she insisted that he wanted root beer!) and left us a ton of gifts! It made me so happy to see the joy on her face. I honestly could have received nothing for gifts and still would have been just as happy watch Ceili open gifts and have fun. Tonight we're going to Matt's sister's house to have dinner and open gifts and tomorrow we're going to my parent's house for the same with my brother and his family.

I figure if the baby can wait until after tomorrow, I will be happy! I just have a funny feeling that this baby will be coming early as I have had a few signs so far. I would like to make it to 40 weeks, but at the same time I really want to meet this little one!! I'm so anxious to find out if it is a boy or girl too!

I'm pretty happy that I have only gained around 15 lbs so far and have felt much better than I did near the end with our daughter. I think that has to do with the fact that I didn't gain as much weight. The only complaint I have had is my pelvis and lower back hurt, but the doctor says that's due to the baby's head resting on my pelvic bone right now because it hasn't engaged. I have my next appointment on Tuesday, so I will be looking forward to seeing how much I am dilated since I was 1cm last week!

So Sleepy!

This is getting crazy. I am so tired and just can`t sleep properly! I go to bed at night and wake up a few hours later. Then I am awake until around 5am. When I wake up in the morning, I am so exhausted that I feel like a zombie!! I am hoping I snap out of this pretty quick as it`s now been 3 days and I feel like I'm running out of fuel.

In other news, I am getting things crossed off of my to-do list for before the baby comes! We have cleaned up our basement quite a bit so that my when my sister comes she has a place to sleep. We donated a bunch of stuff to the thrift store today and it's starting to look pretty good downstairs! I have also finished my birth plan (finally) and am working on packing my bag for the hospital today. Our home renos are complete as well. Things are coming together!

I also finished my Christmas shopping today, I know there's only a week left until Christmas. I think this was my slowest shopping year ever, but that might be because I'm 8 months pregnant. I'm excited for Christmas this year mostly because Ceili is so excited :) She is in awe of Santa and keeps looking at the gifts under the tree excitedly. Kids make Christmas magic! Next Wednesday night my best friend and her family are coming over to have dinner and exchange gifts for Christmas. I'm looking forward to that because her kids and Ceili get along so well and it's always a fun time.

Oh, I hear the little one up from her nap so I'd better run.