Announcing the Arrival of . . .

Julia Anne!!!! Yes, it's a girl!!! I can still hardly believe it. She arrived last night after an unbelievably short labor (approx. 2 hours) and about 4 or 5 pushes. She was 6 1/2 lbs. exactly and about 18.5" long. She's beautiful! Thank you all so much for your prayers . . . I will try and post the longer version of the birth story pretty soon. :)

37 Weeks

I had my 37 week appt. yesterday . . . good news and bad news! The good news is, I'm now in safe territory for a homebirth. The not-so-good news is that my b/p jumped this week, to 130/90. :( So please, please keep praying that I won't have it skyrocketing during labor. I'm definitely hoping to see it come back down before my next appt. or before I go into labor, whichever comes first. I don't recall the numbers, but I know that at my last one or two appts. before Sam was born, that my b/p had also increased. I just don't want a repeat of last time, and I'd definitely rather not have to transfer to a hospital. Sherry will definitely be keeping a very close eye on it during the whole labor, and I feel comfortable knowing that she is not one to take risks, and if I need to be in a hospital, she will transfer me. However, I'm just disappointed to have it go up at all . . . it had been staying so consistent, and to have it jump that much in a week kind of floored me. I'm working on upping the protein/fiber intake again, as well as drinking as much water as I can. The problem is, that lately the baby has really been pressing on my bladder, which makes me have to go all the time anyway . . . add a bunch of extra water, and it makes for uncomfortable days!!

Other than the b/p, everything looked great at my checkup. Baby has moved over a bit and is taking up more room in the center of my tummy, rather than being off to the side as it has been. It was funny; last week I was measuring at around 33 weeks due to baby's position, but now that it changed position, I'm measuring 36 weeks! Besides the bladder pressure, I've also had more heartburn again, due to the baby's bottom being squished up under my ribs. :) We went over a little childbirth refresher stuff with Sherry, and talked about pushing positions, etc. She sent us home with a couple birth videos, which I watched last night and today. It helped get me geared up for the birth in some ways, although a little more nervous at the thought of going through all that again, too!
One of the videos had footage of Brazilian women giving birth in a squatting position, which is really aided by gravity. It was interesting to watch, although definitely very graphic . . . and I decided after watching it that a lot of us American women are pretty wimpy about pain compared to the Brazilians! Or maybe I should not say wimpy, but they just handle it differently. They're just sitting there, hardly making any sound or even grimacing . . . whereas in the videos of American women, they often make a LOT of noise and scrunch their faces up tremendously! It will be interesting to see how I handle labor this time around. With Sam, I didn't make a whole lot of noise (not that I'm all stoic or anything--I just handled things better with grunting or something). I guess everyone handles pain in very different ways. For some women, it must be relieving to let out a yell. :)

Baby's heartbeat was in the high 160s this time; it sure has jumped around a lot! I'm definitely hoping to go into labor soon, but I'm trying not to get too impatient, knowing it could still be a while.

I've had fun reading all the guesses on my question of the week from last time. If anyone else wants to guess, go for it!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: How did you feel upon seeing your baby for the first time?

ETA: I'm finally getting around to putting a picture up . . . it was taken this evening, so I'm at 37 weeks, 3 days. I had to tape down my belly button because it has really popped a LOT now! I figured I'd better take a picture, because you never know . . . I may have the baby in a day or two. (She said hopefully . . . :)) I had a "false alarm" on Weds. and really thought that would be the day, but though I started out with contractions in the morning, they stopped within a few hours. So we are still waiting! I'm really hoping my water breaks--it was nice to have that happen with my first labor, because that way I knew it was the real thing! I also wanted to mention that I took my blood pressure at Walmart tonight, on the free b/p thingy by the pharmacy. I don't know how accurate it is, but my result was 143/87. Since the second number is the main one to be concerned about, I was very happy to see that it was down a bit since Monday. Looks like my dietary changes and water intake is helping. :)

The big question: How much longer??

Here I am at 36 weeks. I've been counting down for weeks now, but I guess now I'm REALLY counting down! I feel so ready to have the baby, but I know it could be anywhere from a few days to 4 weeks or more from now.

Sherry came yesterday for the home visit, and everything went well. My b/p was lower (118/82); thanks for all your prayers! Keep 'em coming! :) Baby's position is still great. Sherry could feel the head really well, as could I when she was pushing on it! Jim missed this appointment, but my mom was here, along with Sam, so it was neat to have them both get to be in on it. Baby's heartbeat was in the mid-high 130s. My results from the Group B strep test were negative, praise the Lord! My weight was up another couple pounds, so about 34 lbs. total.

Lately I've been daydreaming about my regular summer clothes . . . I can't wait to fit back into them! I hope it won't take too long to fit back into my regular capris. :)

ETA: I just thought of a good question of the week! I'd love to hear your guesses as to 3 things: Date I will have the baby, baby's gender, and baby's weight/length. I can't promise a prize to the person with the closest guess, but it will be fun to see if anyone does come close. Guess away!!

35 week update

Here's a photo taken yesterday--getting bigger and bigger!!
I had my 35 week appt. yesterday and all went well. I do have one prayer request--my b/p is up a bit, at 110/86--not a really bad number, but still higher than it has been all along. Please pray that it will stay low and I won't have the hypertension issues in labor like I did with Sam. I had some really bad swelling in my ankles Sunday, as well. After putting my feet up for several hours and drinking plenty of water, the swelling went down and hasn't returned. I'm working specifically on drinking lots, eating more protein and fiber, and trying to rest a little more--which is challenging when I want to clean, clean, clean to get everything ship-shape before baby arrives! I've gained 32 lbs. so far--hoping I don't pack on too many more in the next few weeks, but Sherry says the weight gain is just fine. Baby's heartrate was in the 140s. From what Sherry could tell, the baby hasn't yet dropped, but that's quite normal for a second baby--sometimes they don't drop till you go into labor. I had thought that it might have dropped some, since I was getting a bit more pressure down toward my pelvis, but apparently not.

I don't know if I'll be right about this or not, but I do have the feeling that I won't go full-term with this baby. While a lot of this pregnancy has felt somewhat different than my first, the last few weeks have seemed almost identical to how I felt before Sam was born. It all makes me feel that the baby will be ready early, just like he was. But we'll see!

A friend of mine just had her baby boy last week, and he was born on her due date, but only weighed 5 lb. 12 oz. Looking at him, it was so hard to believe that Sam was that tiny (almost) when he was born--just 2 ounces heavier! He's grown into such a big boy now! He did the cutest thing last week . . . We always have a family Bible time before bedtime, and after that he gives me hugs and kisses, then Jim puts him to bed. One night we asked him if he wanted to hug the baby, so he hugged my tummy, then of his own accord said, "Love you, baby!" That just melted my heart! Now, if only he will still feel as loving when the baby is actually here . . . :)


QUESTION OF THE WEEK: For those of you who have more than one child, how did the older child(ren) adapt to having a new baby around? Did you do anything specific to prepare them for the change of having a new sibling?

My Favorite Baby Accessories

I thought it would be fun to do a post here on my favorite baby "stuff" and I would love to hear input from others on their favorite things, too. Contrary to what most of the baby magazines and TV commercials will tell you, you really don't need tons and tons of paraphernalia . . . that's why I didn't title this "My Favorite Baby Necessities," because most things are just accessories that are nice to have. Also, everyone is going to have different things that they love and use all the time. But anyway, here is a list of things that I have especially enjoyed using (and look forward to using again soon).

1. Boppy pillow--This has to be one of my top favorite things! My friend Mindee gave me hers when she was done with it, and I even bought another one later so I could have 2--one for in the car and one for in the house. This was so handy for nursing Sam, from the time he was tiny to when he was probably about 6 months old. It saved my back and was so comfy to use. It also is nice for propping a baby up when he's learning to sit.

2. Breast pump--I have an Avent Isis (manual, not electric) and it was really useful. I preferred not to use formula at all (personal preference; not criticizing anyone who does!), so it was nice to be able to pump bottles full of milk for when we were out sometimes, although I also didn't mind nursing him under a blanket out in public--till he got big enough to always try pulling the blanket off!

3. Snugli carrier--Another hand-me-down from Mindee, the Snugli front carrier was worth its weight in gold! It was such a nice way to transport Sam when he was small, and I wanted to go for a walk but not bother with the stroller, etc. I even used it sometimes in the house, when I was vacuuming or something. Jim also enjoyed using it--I think he probably used it as much as I did. Later on we got another one that could be a front or back pack, and we used that one quite a bit, as well. Sam took many naps in the Snugli--I think any kind of carrier like that (or a sling) is great because it helps baby feel so secure and close to mommy or daddy.

4. Portable swing--Since we lived in a tiny trailer, having a portable swing (rather than a full size one) was very helpful. The first one we had stopped working for some reason (not the batteries) when Sam got to about 10 lbs. I read reviews on that swing on Amazon and found that that was a common complaint with that particular model. I even wrote Graco a letter about it (complaining in a nice way) but unfortunately never got any response. We were able to borrow a Fisher Price swing after that, which worked really well. I'm definitely going to invest in another Fisher Price one for this baby!

5. Bouncy seat--This was also passed on to us, and Sam really liked it. I kept it at my mom's (no room in the trailer for both swing and bouncy seat), and it was very useful up there since I did laundry at her house several times a week.

6. Baby tub--Ours didn't have any bells and whistles such as some of them come with now (my cousin just got 2 of them at her baby shower which came complete with a shower handle, and one also was a "spa!"), but it works just great for bathing a little one. We would set the baby tub across the kitchen sink and use the sink sprayer for rinsing; it especially worked well for rinsing a soapy head.

7. Pack & Play--We were given a barely-used pack & play, and we didn't actually use it all that much with Sam. But with baby #2, I'm planning to use it as the baby's bed (placed next to our bed) for the first few weeks or months. The kids will eventually share a room, but we figure it will be less disturbing to Sam if we have the baby in our room to start with, for those all-too-frequent nighttime feedings! The pack & play we have has one of those "bassinet" thingys that attaches to the top, so the baby is higher up and easier to get in and out.

8. Onesies--AKA bodysuits :) I just love these for all ages--Sam still uses them even now. I don't think they make them a whole lot bigger than 24 mos. though . . . I especially love the Pampers brand (I think) that makes the newborn size with the umbilical cutout. So handy!!

9. Booster seat--This is for when the baby can sit up and start eating solid foods. We got a really nice one from Babies R Us for about $25 and it has been well worth it. It's handy for traveling, takes up little space in the house since it just straps onto a dining chair, and works well for babies from about 7 mos. or so, up to toddlers. Sam is still using his!

10. Stroller(s)--We have three so far: the Graco one that goes with the carseat/carrier, a jogging stroller that was given to us, and a small cheapie umbrella stroller that we got at Walmart. We've used and continue to use them all, although the Graco one doesn't see as much use since we got the jogger. We'll probably use it some again for the next baby, though, as it's very handy to put the carseat/carrier in when you're out and about. The umbrella stroller is great for outlet store shopping, or going in and out of stores that have small doorways and aisles, and the jogger is awesome for when you live on a dirt road, as we do.

I guess that's basically my "top ten" list. So, I'd love to hear others' favorite baby things, too! Share away!!

Oh, and pregnancy-wise, I don't have anything new to report--next appt. is on the 10th, so I'll try to update again after that.