38.5 weeks - check-in

We had another non-stress test (NST) today and it showed continued contractions every 4-5 minutes (no shock there) but it also confirmed that I am not only good at identifying contractions, but I am pretty good at judging their strength.  It also showed baby is a stud and not only is playing on his own, but he does really well during contractions, actually having accelerations at the same time, showing he is very healthy.  I asked if I could talk to Dr. Paek (the other doctor I have a seen a few times) about this continued labor and the stress on my body.  They were able to arrange it (which was great considering how crazy busy the office was today).  Charles and I spoke to her and she recommended we not check my cervix because the act of checking it can actually stir the pot and make things worse (and not necessarily in a productive have-a-baby way, just in a discomfort way).  She agreed that I should go up 1 mg on my prednisone since I started flaring again yesterday. 

Hopefully that will help.  She was also reassuring that this kind of protracted early labor can happen and just keep doing what we are doing.  The baby is doing great so there is no concern about keeping this process going.  She also let us know she is on call all weekend, which is great because if I do go into labor anytime until my own doctor (Dr. Kline) is back, I will have Dr. Paek, who I at least know and like, even if she isn’t as familiar with me (or me with her).  I haven’t met anyone else in the practice, so I wasn’t excited to deliver with a total stranger. 

At this point, I am hopeful baby will hang on until Monday to get things going.  My plan for now is to lay pretty low (activity definitely encourages the contractions), and hopefully get rest and stay as comfortable as possible.  If contractions really pick up and it seems like labor is starting, I will probably move around to get it going because if it gets too intense, prolonging it will just drain me.  Monday my appointment is early morning, so we can work out a plan with Kline, but my preference will be to be very active on Monday to hopefully get labor going instead of having any intervention on Tuesday or Wednesday with the planned induction. 

I am getting a little tired of this process, but I am still thankful that we won’t have to do a really hard induction and I am super grateful for the wonderful support of family and friends and especially Charles and our Doula. 

Here’s a picture of me yesterday.  Still not looking huge, but when the baby turns his head towards my back he sticks out considerably more than when he is laying sideways (yes in these pictures he is the “bigger” position).

38 weeks - early labor

Well it has been quite a busy week.  After contractions starting last Wednesday, they continued all weekend, especially picking up at night and if I was standing or moving.   They were mild and mostly ignorable.  However, I felt a little trapped since moving exacerbated the contractions and they kept me from sleeping as well.  Charles did a great job picking up the slack, but I was still able to go shopping and help cook as long as I sat down and rested when contractions started.

Because I was still functional we got all our grocery shopping done and I was able to make 8 nights of meatloaf and also we made all the Christmas lasagna. 
Then, Monday morning I woke up with a dull pain in my cervix after a pretty bad night of sleep (but wasn’t sure whether it was from contractions or not).  I went to my doctor’s appointment, which started with my non-stress test (baby heart rate and contraction monitoring).  After an uneventful first 8 minutes, I started not only getting contractions every few minutes, but they actually hurt (unlike most of the previous week where they were tight and uncomfy but no real cervix pain).  During the 25 minutes NST, I had 6 contractions and then continued to contract throughout my ultrasound and waiting to see the doctor (not my doctor, she is out of town).  The doctor decided to check my cervix and found it open about a centimeter, 1.5 cm long and the baby’s head completely dropped down against the cervix.  I hadn’t been checked in about a month, but at that point, the cervix was 4 cm long and completely closed, so either over the month, or the previous days, there was definitely progress.  Since labor is really defined as a changing cervix, and she had only one data point in a month though, she said to go home and call if my water broke or if it seemed like I was in intense labor.  Basically, this pre-labor can go on for days, so we went home. 
Since it was Christmas Eve and we were excited to spend time with my family, we deiced to have me rest since the contractions seemed a lot less intense and frequent (although still fairly incessant) while reclining or laying compared to sitting up or especially standing/walking.  This worked for Christmas Eve and Christmas and allowed us to have a great holiday and have fun with the family.  We really didn’t want a Christmas baby, so he obliged and my labor stayed in this phase.  In addition, I actually got a little bit of break last night from about 8pm – midnight) with almost no contractions.
Last night I had a lot of trouble falling asleep with some pain and bladder discomfort (bathrooming every 15 minutes or so, great fun!).  Then at 4 am I woke up feeling like I was having much more intense contractions.  I followed the Doula’s list of pre-labor rule outs by taking a nice hot showering and eating and drinking water.  Things continued.  After doing some timing they seemed to start about 4 minutes apart and then progressed to about every three minutes.  I was texting with the doula throughout the early morning and she decided at about 7am that she should come check on me.  Normally, in addition to looking at timing, you can judge intensity by whether the mom can talk through contractions.  However, with my talkative personality and high pain tolerance, this is a tricky metric for me.  After timing contractions for about 45 minutes, we discussed what to do next.  She said they were inconsistent in frequency – from 2 – 4 minutes apart and they were lasting between 1 and 2 minutes.  I felt over this time that they hadn’t gotten more intense, if anything they seemed very consistent and some were even better now that resting.  She said although that contractions don’t have to come like clockwork, the duration and intensity is usually more consistent as well as progressively worse if the labor is starting in full.  I was also getting a little sleepy at this point so we decided she should go home and I should try to rest and bit and we’d communicate during the day. 
I actually was able to take about an hour and half nap.  The adrenaline from the morning had made my arthritis better than it has been in weeks, so I was actually really comfy in bed and after about 5 hours of the more intense contractions my brain was willing to ignore them in favor of sleep.  When I woke up I noticed they were still coming fast and furious though.  Luckily Charles got a nap and then was also able to head to the gym during all of this (although tethered to his phone in case things changed). 
So, now we are waiting to see what happens next.  Definitely this is pretty intense so I hope that things progress at some point, but I don’t want to be stuck at the hospital with them tempted to augment labor to fit their timeline.  There is no reason to not stay comfy and happy in the comfort of my la-z-boy couch for a while longer.  My doula will come back whenever, but mostly we are looking for my water to break or the contractions to stop me more in my tracks.  I am going to periodically time my contractions and let her know throughout the day.  However, I am really bad at paying attention to pain (after over a decade of learning to tune out unnecessary information from arthritis), so it takes a lot of focus to be good at timing them.
Our only major decision now is whether Charles should make our stew for the week and more cookies while we’re here.  For now, I am going to enjoy listening to Taylor Swift and relaxing!  I feel really ready to meet our son and I welcome him whenever he is ready.  So far I am proud of myself for dealing with this prolonged early labor and I think I was right that I am pretty tough and will do well in labor (although I am sure it will hurt a lot more before it is done!)


Dear Baby McClintock –
     We can’t wait to meet you.  Your Dad and I have been looking forward to having kids since shortly after we first fell in love.  I knew when I met your daddy that he would be an amazing dad and that bringing children into this world with him would be the peak experience in my life.  We waited a little bit, but decided it was time and now here you are, literally, knocking at the door ready to join us.  I wasn’t always sure I had the maternal instinct but it has been fun watching myself change through the pregnancy.  I loved watching you grow on the ultrasound and felt such pride as you developed into a healthy baby and showed all your superpowers (flexibility, nearly constant practice breathing, and strong kicks).  I am so happy I was able to create a healthy and safe place for you to grow until you are ready to join us!
     I can’t wait to hold you in my arms and gaze into your eyes.  More importantly, I can’t wait to meet you and get to know who you are and what makes you happy!  Watching my nephew, Luke, I have enjoyed seeing him become his own individual and have strong opinions and ideas.  I am so excited to know what you think and what you want.  I also can’t wait for your daddy and me to show you all we love about life and the world.  You will love how much your dad is able to find fun in every moment and excitement in every new experience (and he has taught me as well).  He makes every experience more fun and I can’t wait for you to experience that.  We have so much passion for the world and everything in it and I can’t wait to see that bloom in you as well.  I consider myself wonderful at seeing and celebrating the many good things in life, even on a bad day, and I can’t wait to show you!   We may be silly sometimes (we will burst into random Disney sing-offs or have a lively and fun competition over a game) and hope you learn from us to never take life or yourself to seriously. 
     I want you to come when you are ready, but I want you to know your daddy and I couldn’t be more excited and more ready!  We love you.

37 Weeks - TERM!

The baby is now considered a term baby (no longer pre-term).  He is welcome to come at any time he wants and he will be fully developed and healthy.  Of course, the longer he stays in the bigger he will get, but there is no longer any fear of him being pre-mature.  Also, since nature is better at getting babies out than doctors, my doctor is encouraging him to come before the induction if he is ready.  She is asking me to stay active (as much as I can), to encourage contractions and get my body and baby ready for labor. 

Tuesday’s doctor appointment was great.  Baby has been such a stud lately going above and beyond during the non-stress tests.  I also had one measured (but not felt) “real” contraction while I was there. My health has been very volatile the last few weeks and it only seems to continue to get more so.  Last night things took a definite turn for the worse.  I noticed feeling moody (something that never happens to me), and this surge in hormones was shortly followed by massive hip flares, general arthritis flare, and contractions.  I contracted quite a bit for a few hours, but it didn’t feel like it was progressing so I just went to bed and tried to ignore it.  I have had much fewer contractions today, but my hips are still very bad.  I think the physical and hormonal changes of the last few weeks, preparing for labor, are going to present a constant challenge for my hips.  I will keep in touch with my amazing nurse Megan and my doctor to try to keep things under control.  Generally there is a team of nurses at my clinic, but Megan has adopted me and it is SOOO nice to have one person who really knows my story (it’s a long one) and can help me troubleshoot.  I’m trying to stay positive about the next two weeks, but day like today make it seem like it is going to be a long haul.  Hopefully the terrible weather we are having is contributing some and if it clears up, I will get some more relief.

We had another good productive week.  We have the full living room set finished now (pottery barn finally sent us 4 pieces without noticeable errors).  The bassinet is now assembled and in the bedroom.  The Diaper genie and laundry hamper, side table, and nursing chair are all in the nursery.  My dad has spent many hours over helping install our new pull out shelves in the pantry which look amazing.  We also dusted/vacuumed the house and finished the Christmas shopping.  Only a few things remain:  install car seat, assemble bouncer, and cooking a few meals for the freezer for the first week or two.

I feel really peaceful and relaxed about going into labor, and honestly at this point I am looking forward to the relief.  It is strange how little anxiety I have about labor, since I think normally people are more stressed, but I feel really well prepared and like I have a great team to support me.

I have been thinking a lot about all the wishes I have for our baby and all the things I am looking forward to sharing with him.  I will be doing another post shortly with a “letter to our baby.”

Tonight Charles and I went to our last Elysian Apocalypse event.  It was really fun to go to all 12 this year.  We weren’t sure if this last one would work, but my body cooperated and we had a really nice time.  We got a nice picture with our favorite Elysian manager, Lucretia, and everyone touching my pregnant belly!

Here are some pictures of our living room, pantry, bedroom, and baby room.

36 weeks

Another week closer!  It has been a relatively stable week since about Wednesday afternoon.  I am definitely “sicker” both in arthritis and stomach stuff since maybe 4 weeks ago, but I am not having the super low lows anymore, it has sort of reached a new normal.  This means I can eat and sleep again, even though I have to get used to a certain amount of stomach discomfort and arthritis symptoms.  Overall, seems like an okay balance between drugs (now at 9 mg prednisone) and disease management.  My blood sugars also have stabilized, showing that overall things are happier in my body.  Dr. Kline is happy with it and so am I. 

Baby is looking great.  They estimate his weight at 6 lbs and 4 oz (57th percentile).  His head is 9 cm across and 33 cm around and his femur is 6.7 cm.  He is looking cute and doing well.  He is quite squished in there but still enjoying being very active.  He played around during the ultrasound and got 5 heartbeat accelerations in the 20 minute NST (non-stress test) when he only needed 2.  I am not having any contractions and am doing well.  My weight is back where it was after dropping two pounds last week (with all the stomach issues), so that is good.  I have been eating a ton more this last week and still didn’t gain past where I was.

We had a busy weekend of fun and productivity and we are rapidly getting closer and closer to being ready for baby.  The bassinet and breast pump came this week as well as the mattress pads, breast milk bags, steaming bags, etc.  Pretty much we now have everything we need.  I might buy another sheet or two, but I wanted to see how the color I bought looks before I place more.  I only need a few more things to feel ready – a new hamper for our bedroom, a lamp for baby room for nursing, and some squishy floor mats for changing table and kitchen.  Projects left are to vacuum and dust bedroom and do the new pantry shelves (I already cleaned it out the last two days).  We’ll see how much of all this we get done.  It doesn’t feel like way too much, but we also have important tasks like making cookies (we got some good sugar cookie and gingerbread dough from Wildflour), and making Christmas Lasagna and Danish!   

We finished our hypnobirthing class yesterday which was great.  Not only did I learn a lot but they really are big on practicing relaxation and I find it is good time for Charles and I to spend together thinking and preparing for not just the labor, but our future.  It has been nice.  I am noticing improvements already in how quickly I can get into a relaxed state (and I was already pretty good before from dealing with pain over the last 10 years).  I learned a lot of tricks and I really think it will be an asset to me in labor.  We did a big fear release visualization yesterday, and I thought it was great. I feel almost no fear now approaching the labor, even knowing it will likely be augmented by medication. 

Charles and I are continuing the great baby name hunt.  We are running short on time.  We finally went and bought two baby books and have been enjoying the process of batting names back and forth.  All the reading did was reinforce the list we already had, but I feel like we have 6 or so good names to choose from and I think any of them would work well.  We’ll work to hopefully choose one by next weekend. 

I am really looking forward to “Christmas.”  I put it in quotes because Charles and I aren’t getting seriously into the gift part of Christmas this year (heck our baby and house purchases are doing our part to keep amazon in business without Christmas gifts too!).  Also, with us both being so busy and me getting more and more tired, Charles has allowed me to Christmas shop for him when we are out together.  If he points out an expensive honey he wants, I just buy it with him rather than having to drive back later.  What I AM excited about is getting to spend time with my Mom, Dad, Kevin, Tara, Luke and Andrew.  The three days with them is what I am so looking forward to.  I had a firm talk with baby that he has to wait at least until the 28th so I get my recharging family time (and ideally until the 31st so my doctor is in town)!  On a sadder note, it is a real bummer to not get to see Charles’ family this year, especially after having to cancel the summer trip.  Thank god we saw everyone at Gina’s wedding, but it still seems like it has been too long.  You all will be in our hearts and minds even though we won’t be there with you!  Next time you see us though, we’ll have a pretty fantastic plus 1!

35 weeks

We had another appointment with the doctor yesterday.  Our baby is doing great.  He passed his tests with flying colors and didn’t even need any prompting as he was wide awake and very active!  Yesterday’s appointment was a big one because we had several health things to discuss (diabetes management, arthritis/stomach management) as well as my birth plan.  My doula, Deana, came along with me and Charles to the appointment.  We had a very good discussion about the plan for the birth as well as our wishes and hopes for the birth.

Here are the basics.  We are planning to meet with Dr. Kline on December 31st (a Monday) and make a plan.  The tentative plan now is that she would start my induction on the 3rd (Thursday) and I would come in to get things going initially on the 2nd (Wednesday).  However, this may change depending on how ready my body is for labor.  If I am really ready, we’ll go, if not even close, we may give my body a few more days to prepare (but not more than 4).  The induction method plan right now is to use a foley catheter to manually open my cervix and then follow up with Pitocin if needed (sometimes the manual opening triggers your own hormones to start labor, which would of course be awesome).  The nice thing about the foley is that it is non chemical AND I can go home with it in and wait to come back to the hospital until contractions start or the catheter falls out (meaning it did all it will do).  I am elated with the option to not have to stay in the hospital for that whole day (inductions can be lengthy processes).  If the foley doesn’t work, then we would use cytotec, which is far less preferred but will get the job done.  Once it is administered, I must stay in the hospital. I am also going to have the option to snack in labor until I get pitcoin or epidural or until the active phase of labor (>4 cm), which is great so I don’t starve if the beginning part of the induction takes a long time.  I will need fairly continual monitoring if I end up on Pitocin (and intermittent otherwise), but they have wireless ones that work when you are walking around or work if you are in the tub or shower.

We also got a tour of the birth center and it is a lovely place, complete with a fridge in every room and a microwave in the hall which will be perfect since hospital food is not going to be fun with my food intolerances.  They also have tea and jello and stuff for both mom and dad.  Each room has a nice day bed for the dad with sheets and blankets.  The room feels nice and warm rather than sterile, which I like.  Each room also has a shower/tub and a birth ball and all the hookups for baby warming.  It looks like a really nice place and I am really excited we chose it!  They do almost everything in the room, including most interventions like oxygen or suction if necessary after birth.  They would only take the baby out of room if he needs additional help beyond the first stage of intervention and then Charles can go along.  Otherwise, baby stays in room with me the entire hospital stay.  They bathe, measure, inject, and otherwise prod baby in the room with the parents, which is great and something that is important to me.  Here is an online tour if you are interested.

We discussed with the doctor our desire to have as natural labor as possible but also that we can’t foresee what will happen and we want a healthy baby.  We want to be flexible but also want the option to talk through things and make as reasoned decisions as possible.  Our doctor is totally on board.  She has been such a good listener and communicator the whole pregnancy and I can’t imagine labor will be any different.  I am going to finalize my birth plan in writing and then the doctor and nurse will review and write an addendum so that the hospital knows the doctor is on board with it and won’t ignore it if I come in at a weird time when no one is there (I love that my doctor and nurse suggested this and are so supportive of this, not all doctors and nurses are).

Healthwise, it was a pretty up and down week. Well the first half of the last week (wed-sat) was definitely up but the last half has been down.  Luckily no contractions to report, but my stomach symptoms are back with a vengeance and my arthritis is only okay. I swear my body knew how important our Gingerbread Rock Christmas party was to us and made it so I survived that.  About 20 minutes after the last guest left I crumbled into a billion pieces.  I am increasing my prednisone another 1 mg to see if that helps (started today).  I can’t wait for some relief.  Last night was especially bad with me waking up after being asleep for an hour and feeling extremely sick.  Charles was still up because I had gone to bed early and took amazing care of me, making me ginger tea to settle my stomach and keeping me company.  Have I mentioned how awesome he is?  I have been a trooper (if I must say so myself) and continued to eat my full amount of calories despite wanting to do anything but, with such an upset stomach.  I really am committed to keeping this baby healthy and I am willing to do whatever it takes, even if in the short term, I suffer a bit.  For now, I am just going to take it easy and luckily I don’t have to worry too much about work. 

On the fun news, Gingerbread Rock was a huge success and we had a blast seeing all of our friends, playing rock band, and seeing everyone decorate their gingerbread houses.  Charles and I haven’t made one yet, but hopefully we get to it this weekend.  We also go our new coffee tables and end tables (although we have to send one of each back because of defects).  The room looks so professional and so nice and is very functional (I’ll post a pic once the last table is here and the look is complete).  Charles finished the dresser in the baby room too so that is coming together.  We also had our first hypnobirthing class Monday.  All in all, it has been a busy week, but less busy in the last few days.  Charles and I were almost beside ourselves because we finished our doula meeting around 5 or so yesterday and we had the whole night with nothing to do.  We aren’t used to that.  I was tempted to go be productive, but knowing we needed a break, on top of feeling sick, made it easy to just chill on the couch. 

Tomorrow we meet with our pediatrician to test her out, which should be interesting.  Then Saturday we have the winter beer festival.  I am hoping to go along, but I will need to feel a lot better than I do now to go.  This weekend I hope to put together more of the baby stuff, fill the drawers and start settling into the room.  Since I keep getting more tired and sick I feel a need to put some time into getting things ready now in case I feel even worse later.  If I don’t feel worse, then Charles and I can just enjoy being done.