Hospital Visit

As I talked about in my last post, I went to the hospital for my ultrasound today, and it was a... MESS!!

During this pregnancy I have been trying really hard not to complain although I have wanted to several times about the heat or how I live at the doctor's office. But I have friends who can't get pregnant or have been on bed rest for several months or who have had miscarriages so who am I to complain when I'm pregnant with a healthy baby girl? BUT there just might be a hint of complaining in this post...

I go to the hospital and they have absolutely no record of me. Apparently my doctor's office didn't send over anything. (I guess they forgot?) The receptionist makes phone calls to several depts. to check, but nothing. If it was something for just me, I would have said forget it and just left, but since it was for the baby, I wasn't leaving without an ultrasound. I had been listening to a sermon from Matt Chandler (our pastor) from a few weeks ago. He was talking about how you aren't the point, and how when things don't go your way, it's a lot easier to deal with if you realize it's not all about you. I kept thinking of this and it kept me positive... for a little while.

Since it's Sat. I had to page the on-call doctor. I tried to do that but they told me I had to have the nursing staff call for the doctor to be paged (apparently I didn't have the power). When we finally got doctor's orders, they didn't know if they should send me to radiology or labor and delivery. They chose the latter. (I am summarizing about an hour of back and forth in this paragraph.)

I finally get to labor and delivery. The first lady said she didn't know why they didn't send me up there in the first place since I'm pregnant. Also she had no idea why I was there and I had to explain. Then the lady doing my ultrasound came down and didn't understand why I wasn't in radiology (and also had no idea why I was having an ultrasound). Because I was in labor and delivery, I was "admitted" to the hospital. I got a bracelet and they even brought me lunch. I was confused by that, but she told me I might as well eat it because it will be part of my bill.

So... after 3.5 hours and a bill I can only imagine, I left. The good news is they said the baby looks great. My fluid is the same. They said she was very reactive and weighs 5 lbs 9 oz. My first reaction was frustration because I feel like I have been getting these tests done twice a week for several weeks now (which involves me driving 30 mins each way to McKinney), and then the circus today, for nothing. Everything has always been fine. The cynical side of me wonders if it's just the doctors trying to get more money.

But then I ask myself - what I would rather have? Did I want them to tell me something was wrong with her? Absolutely not! So why am I upset that it was good news?

Today was definitely a test of my patience and attitude. For the most part, I would say I failed the test, but after calming down (and therapy blogging :) I am very grateful my little girl is ok and I will finally be able to meet her in a couple of weeks!

Pregnancy Update - 37 Weeks

Ok ok so I won't technically be 37 weeks until tomorrow, but whose counting? :) I was born three weeks early, so I've had this feeling that Avery will come that early as well. Not sure if it was really a "feeling" or more of me hoping because I can't wait to meet her. So today I went to the doctor for my first exam to see if I'm dilated, etc. I was secretly wishing I was, but I wasn't at all. I know she will come soon enough, and God knows the perfect time, but I feel like a little kid who can't wait until Christmas to open her presents!

I have felt like she has been moving less than normal lately. It started when I got my ultrasound on Monday. The tech has to see certain movements during the ultrasound and Avery wasn't moving much at all, so we were in there forever trying to get her to move. Until that day, there had never been a problem. I almost called the doctor's office on Tuesday because I had hardly felt her move at all, but every time I went to call she would move a little and I thought I was overreacting. When I saw the doctor today, I mentioned this to her, and she wanted to do another ultrasound to be safe. She said whenever something happens, that's the #1 thing people notice - decreased fetal movement.

After the ultrasound, they said the baby looked fine, but my fluid had decreased. They said it was still in normal range, but was lower than it was on Monday, so she wanted to do another ultrasound in a few days. Since that falls on the weekend, I have to go to the hospital to get one on Saturday. She said it's not a huge cause for concern unless it keeps dropping. She told me to drink water until my eyeballs are full, and then drink more! I admit this is something I could be doing better. I have never been a good drinker. I'm just not ever that thirsty, and when I do drink, I drink really slow. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of water. Rustin has been "helping" me though by constantly reminding me to drink :)

I will post again when I find out something. If everything is fine, I really want to go to Wichita Falls next week. The doctor said it was ok since it's only 2.5 hours away and I would be able to get to the hospital in that time should I start going into labor. Rustin is not too keen on the idea though and is accusing me of having a plan to make sure she's born in WF!

Are You Rich?

Don’t worry – this post isn’t necessarily about my cat, but I am going to talk about her because she has just made me think about a few things lately and realize how blessed I am. Since my mom volunteers at the Humane Society, she unfortunately knows firsthand the amount of cats that get euthanized every month. The numbers are staggering, and that's just for Wichita Falls (and doesn't include dogs). This also doesn't include all the stray, starving cats or cats in homes that are abused. My cat's mom was found with her litter of kittens on the street. They were fostered by a sweet woman until they could go up for adoption, and that's when we got Carrie. I obviously don’t have the stats on this, but I’m guessing the percentage of cats in good homes compared to the number of cats born worldwide is very very low. She is so incredibly lucky, but she can never comprehend that because, well, she’s a cat.

Unfortunately most of the time I, like my cat, don’t realize how blessed I am. Rather, I usually look at those who have more than me and feel inferior. When I drive past the mansions in Highland Park, I always look longingly at them and wonder what it would be like to live there. Living in Dallas and being surrounded by so much flashy wealth, it's hard not to think you don't measure up.

But then I thought about my cat, and compared her "luck" to mine. I thought of all the people living in third world countries who are starving. Their children die of diarrhea because they can't get medicine that we can go to Walgreens and get for $2. I also think of all the people who are abused or sold into human trafficking. Even in the US, there are so many people who are living in poverty. Just like my cat, my mind can't comprehend the amount of suffering that goes on around the world and how incredibly blessed I am to have what I have.

A friend of mine posted this link: http://globalrichlist.com/index.php. You can type in your income and it shows you where you rank compared to the rest of the world. I'm sure when you read the title of my post, you thought "no, I'm not rich." But when you compare yourself to the rest of the world, it’s pretty crazy to see how rich you really are. Hopefully I can remember this next time I start comparing myself to others and feeling like I don’t measure up.

Contractions

Today was a little crazy. I needed to get from Dallas to my OB appointment in McKinney and could have either taken 75 or the Tollway. I decided on the Tollway because there's usually less traffic - boy was I wrong! Apparently BOTH sides were shut down due to overturned vehicles. I called my doctor's office to let them know I'd be late (I was surrounded by cars and concrete and not moving at all!) and the girl said she would have to transfer me to scheduling because there's "no grace period" with a procedure (which was just my NST).  I wasn't seeing a doctor or anything, so I wouldn't be messing up anyone's schedule. And I can't say how many times I've gone into their office and waited 30 minutes or more, yet they couldn't allow me one day to be late? Luckily the girl in scheduling was really nice and told me to just come in when I could.

I was still fuming about being stuck in traffic (did I mention I hate traffic??) and about what the receptionist said. Then I finally got through the madness and passed the wreck. It looked like the cars had gotten into a head-on collision. The front half of both cars were completely smashed and I could see where the airbags deployed. Then it made me realize I could have easily been in a wreck like that, and I felt bad that I was annoyed about meaningless things.

So I finally get to the doctor (an hour late) and they hooked me up for the NST. When the nurse came back in she asked if I was having contractions and I told her no. Then she showed me the sheet and told me I had two! I guess I thought it was just the baby pushing on me. The doctor wanted me to stay on the machine longer to get a better reading. When the nurse came back in again, she said I was just coming off a contraction. I didn't even know! But now that she told me that, I can tell a little better what it feels like. I started to get really worried I was going into labor! But she said they are irregular and it's just my body getting ready. I'm worried that I'll go into labor and not know it, but I'm guessing they'll get pretty intense when that time comes.

Although I seriously can't wait for her to come, I started getting really scared when I thought she was coming NOW. I'm only at 36 weeks and was worried about her being premature. Stay in there at least one more week, Avery!!

The Nursery

The nursery is finally finished! I'm not very good at decorating, so I usually just choose to do nothing. My parents helped me paint her room a while back, but I've been indecisive about how I wanted to decorate it past that. But then I realized she will be here soon and I needed to get moving! So here it is...

I did her letters myself (as I'm sure you can tell). They had super cute ones on Etsy that you could get hand painted to match your bedding, but I hated to spend that much on something I could make. Her bedding is Hayley from Pottery Barn Kids. I fell in love with it right when I saw it - which was before we even knew if we were having a girl or not. I thought people would think it was sort of weird with the owls, but little did I know owls are apparently big right now. So much for trying to be unique, but it has made it a lot easier to find accessories.

I ordered this painting off Etsy, and the artist put my nursery on her blog: elizabethlaurenart.blogspot.com/2011/08/little-blue-bird-nursery.html. I have had the sconces for a really long time, and just had Rustin spray paint them the cream color.

I bought this in Canton and had originally planned on hanging the letters from their ribbons on the rope, but it didn't look good, so I figured I would just hang pictures of her family!

 So I got the owl decals from Target. I was so proud of myself for saving money - they were only $13 as compared to $200 for decals from Pottery Barn Kids. They came with a tree and I hung that up and not even 12 hours later, it fell off the wall. I tried to restick it to no avail. But I still had all these decals that were sticking just fine that I didn't want to waste, so I sort of randomly put them up by the closet!

Then on the other wall is her dresser. DeEdra with PhotoEmotion photography in Wichita Falls (the same person who did our wedding) is going to do her newborn pictures, and I plan to put them in the frames. I am thinking of putting this birth announcement in the middle frame: http://www.etsy.com/listing/76230763/owl-birth-announcement-pottery-barn?ref=sr_list_1&ga_search_query=hayley+birth+announcement&ga_view_type=list&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade.

I love going in her room and just rocking on the glider! I can't wait for her to get her to see it!

Pregnancy Update - 35 Weeks

Ah! I haven't blogged in a while! I'm sure that is very disheartening to all two of you who actually read this :) Anyway a lot has been going on. I went home to Wichita Falls a couple of weeks ago for my last visit before Avery gets here. (I am too nervous to travel out of town again before my due date.) While I was there, my best friend's mom passed away unexpectedly after back surgery. A few days after that happened, we found out that Rustin's great grandmother passed away. It's been tough seeing two people I love so much go through so much pain and feeling powerless to do anything about it, but it's times like these I am reminded that Jesus is the great Comforter and Healer.

I have been going to the doctor for several weeks now for my ultrasounds and NSTs. Each time I go they say she looks great and everything is progressing normally. Today when I went for my ultrasound, she said baby's head is really low and she doesn't see me making it to 40 weeks. I see my doctor next Thurs. (8/28) and she will do an exam and be able to tell more accurately when I might deliver. I want her to get here so bad, but more than that I want her to stay put as long as she needs to so she can finish growing!

Hopefully we will be prepared...Rustin and I have been attending classes at the hospital. We went to Infant Care/CPR, are currently in the middle of four sessions of Prepared Childbirth, and I'm going to a breastfeeding one this Wed. Last week Rustin was out of town so my mom came with me to class and they gave us a tour of the hospital - which is Centennial Medical Center in Frisco. The rooms were super nice and they told us that a day or so after moms deliver, they get a celebration lunch of steak and lobster! I'm excited about that!

I am feeling ok, just really tired. I feel like it's trite to really complain about anything because I have several friends on bedrest or who have had complications, so I am just grateful that baby and mom are healthy, and hoping we stay that way!