Ari Jacob
Ari is fast asleep in his pack and play and eli is working at the jazz club. I figure this is a good time to share Ari’s birth story with you. I apologize for the delay in writing this. Although, I’ve been thinking about the story and writing it in my head over and over. My hope is that I do the story justice as I am not the best writer.
As I wrote in previous posts, I’d been dealing with pre-term and early labor contractions. Heading into Ari’s birth week, I was 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced. I had contractions that Monday, Nov 2nd but like all the other times the contractions subsided and Tuesday came and went with nothing. I figured, like a watch pot never boils, a watch uterus never contracts. About mid week that week, Eli and I decided that he would go onto Dallas for his pilot recurrent training. Eli left for Dallas that Wednesday morning. Thursday evening, we decided that he would come home after class on Friday instead of staying until Sunday to do his flight simulator test. We both felt uneasy with him being gone.
Since the first trip to the hospital, I had stopped communting into SF for work. Looking back on this now, I am so thankful I did that. Although at the time, I felt horribly guilty for not going into the offie. On Friday, the 6th around noon, I started having the worst sciadica pain in both of my legs. It was so bad, I could barely concentrate on work. I moved from the kitchen into my bedroom so that I could lay in bed and to put some heat on it to see if it would help. The pain was unbearable, it put me in to tears and I had no idea I was having contractions at the same time. I finally called my MIL to come over and help me. We also called my Doula, J to come over as well. By this time, I started to feel the contractions and was timing them. Still nervous this would be a repeat of the last two times, I didn’t believe that this was real. J suggested that I get into my bathtub, where I might be more comfortable. This time it was about 215-230pm.
Around 3pm, we decided that we needed to get me to the hospital. J and I had talk about how bad my sciadica was hurting and even though my goal was to have this baby without interventions, this was a good case for an epidural. I reluctantly agreed with her.
The car ride to the hospital was the worst car ride ever! At this point, I am in full labor. It is raining and we hit Friday early rush hour traffic. What would normally be a 15-20 min ride to the hospital was 45 minutes. I will never look at my MIL’s back seat the same again. I was literally hanging over the back seat in her station wagon, trying to breathe and feeling ever single pot hole on the 80 west freeway! We finally get to the hospital, I skip triage and they put my in an L&D room. I am now 5cm dialted and 100% effaced. We call Eli, who is at DFW to let him know what is happening. He is about to board the plane back to SFO. Meanwhile, I luck out in getting a room with a bathtub. After monitoring me and the baby for 20 minutes, my MIL and J get me back in the bathtub. I labor there for most of the time as I could not bear to be on my feet, which sucked because I knew if I could get up and walk, sway, move, I could get the baby off of whatever nerve it was on to help stop the sciadica. So instead, I had my MIL beat on my legs and back to help me cope while I held J’s hand during my contractions. While in the tub, everything starts to blur together. My friend U arrives, midwife comes in and checks me, I hear that I am almost 9cm dialated. They get me out of the tub as I was feeling like I needed to push. I am on the bed, I hear that I am 10cm dialated and it is time to push. My MIL, J, U hold my legs and help me to push. I swear pushing was a lot harder then I thought it would be. I couldn’t get the hang of it. I kept my eyes closed the entire time and I remembering hearing my midwife saying to me that my bag of waters never broke. I was pushing out the bag first and inside you could see the baby’s head. Once the bag, was out, my midwife broke it and I pushed Ari’s head out. Once his head and shoulders were out, my midwife had me put my hands out to grab my baby. It was so surreal. I pulled him out and onto my chest. I remember looking to see if there was a penis or vagina. Almost immediately all three woman yelled, it’s a boy right as my eyes saw it for myself.
Ari and I laid there for an hour waiting for Eli to land. At 750pm, I called Eli.He answered as the plane was taxing on the runway, I shared with him that we had a beautiful, healthy, baby boy. It was the most emotional conversation, I had ever had with my husband. I will never forget it.
I have to give props to the hospital. They allowed us to stay in the L&D room until Eli arrived, which was 9pm. Even after he arrived, we still were in the L&D room as I had wanted E to give Ari his first bath. Once E was there, we popped the bottle of champagne, ate, celebrated the birth of our healthy little boy.
It’s been 2 weeks since Ari’s birth and things are going well. He had his well baby check up on Friday, the 20th and Ari is past is his birth weight and is up to 6lbs and 10oz. Sleep comes and goes but overall Eli and I could not be happier. We still stare in amazement that we created this little being.
2 weeks old
One day old
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Welcome!!!
November 6th at 6:55pm, our son Ari Jacob was born. Our lives could not be more complete. I have some pics up on FB and will post some here soon. I will work on the birth story as well.
Love to you all. I am so happy!!!
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3rd visit will be the charm?
Last night we made a trip to the hospital on the urging of my midwife.
About 520pm, I thought my bag of waters were leaking although I really couldn’t tell besides that my underwear was soaked. I called my doula, she is a family friend, we talked about everything and we decided to hang at home for a bit. About an hour later contractions started. They were still irregualar and mild. I was going from hot to cold, threw up and other stuff. All of these are signs of real labor. My doula and I were talking and we realized that I hadn’t received the results of my group b strep test. If you are group b strep carrier, you will be given antibiotics during the birth to protect the baby. Apparently, group b strep can cause awful things to the little baby. So, we decided I would call my midwife and let her know what was going on. This was about 9pm. Of course, the midwife said to head to triage because I needed to be check to see if my water is leaking. 2 and half hours later, it was determined that my water did not break and my contractions were still too mild and irregular to be considered real labor. I did have the nurse check me and I am now 85% effaced and 2 cm dilated. So at least there’s been progress since Tuesday when I went to my weekly check up and I lost my plug last thursday. We went to bed to try to get some sleep. My contractions picked up in regularity and intensity. There was one point when I woke eli up to rub my back because it was hurting so bad. Then out of no where the contractions stopped. It’s been pretty quiet today. We took a long walk since it was so nice out. I am working on staying present and not getting too frustrated with the start/stop. Eventually, I will make it to active labor and meet my little munchkin!!!
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weekly checkups
I’ve started the weekly checkups with my midwife. It is crazy to believe that we are heading down the home stretch. My due date is 30 days from today. I have to say I am ready to meet this little bundle of joy. I am 35 weeks and 3 days. I am 60% effaced and almost 2 cm dilated. Last week I was 40% and barely dilated. I’ve also gained 34 lbs! Hilarous! I think I am going to hit 150lbs before this pregnancy is over with especially since eli is out running errands and promised to bring me back some ice cream. Yah, I am hitting 150 for sure! 
Overall, I am feeling pretty good. I think the anxiousness has faded away. I am back to going into the office. Staying at home, though it is really nice, was making my anxiousness worse. The commute makes me so tired so we will see how long I can keep it up. It is also good to know that i’ve made some progress. We shall see when this little one decides it is time to make its appearance!
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stir crazy pregnant woman rant
I am annoyed. I am annoyed that I’ve been stuck at home this past week with false labor contractions. Last Friday I was in the hospital for what they think was early labor contractions. I was given two shots of tuberline to stop the contractions and put on modified bed rest over the weekend. I am only 40% effaced and barely dialeted and everyone is telling me to rest. Which I totally understand because I don’t have a ton of energy right now and I have a commute into S*F that is starting to take a toll on me but I am soooo bored!! Plus add in anxious and ready to pop this child out. I don’t know if I can make it another 5 weeks.
I love my co-workers to death and they have been so cool about me working from home, but if I have to explain how I am feeling one more time or whether or not I am in pain, I am going to explode. I feel like I have to justify my decision in staying off my feet and working from home. I am sure it is not meant that way but it sure feels like it.
I see my midwife on Tuesday of next week so it will be interesting to see if anything has changed from this week.
This limbo land feels like the first trimester when all you wanted to do was get to 13 weeks so you knew everyhing was okay.
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Is it really October?
I am sitting here on the couch watching the rain come down and the trees blow in the nasty wind. I am supposed to be working but instead find myself rubbing my bowling ball of a belly and looking out the window. For some reason, I am really enjoying lately hunkering down in my home and away from the outside world. This is especially true when Eli is home. I wonder if this is part of the nesting stuff. I haven’t really gone crazy with cleaning or organizing. I did hire someone to come in a do a deep cleaning of the house and will have that person come when we are in the hospital. I just can”t bend and move like I used to!!
I stayed home to work today because the weather was so awful and I commute by public transportation and walk 20 minutes to work. My co-worker called me and pretty much told me to stay home and don’t even bother trying to come in. Which I am really grateful for because before I stepped into the shower, I told Eli that getting to work today is going to suck. I’ve started working from home one day a week because the commute is taking such a toll on me. It is crazy how one day I will feel so good and have so much energy and then the next day I will feel like total crap. I think I am getting to the point that I am ready to have this baby. I’ve got 6 weeks to go!!
Our 3 year anniversary is next week. I think once we hit that it is really going to feel like we are in the home stretch. Eli is trying to cut down his travel days so he is only gone for 3 nights, 4 days instead of 5-10 nights/days like its been in the past. I really hope I do not go into labor when he is gone. Everytime he is home, I relax a bit as if to say, okay little one if you want to come early, come now!! Daddy is home and can take care of the both of us. I really don’t want the baby to come early but if it did, I’d rather have Eli here at home.
That is really about all on this front. Just getting ready for baby. Next week I start seeing my midwife every week so I am sure things will start to get interesting. Hopefully!
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Overdue
I cannot believe that August is drawing to a close and September begins next week! Where did the summer go? I am 27 weeks tomorrow and the baby preparations have begun! Eli is convinced that I will deliver early so he wants to get everything done by end of October. Which is fine by me!! The crib and crib mattress arrived. We are working on cleaning out the second bedroom. We are keeping the furniture that is in there since it is our only other bedroom. When we have guests, we will give them our room and we will sleep in the nursery. The dresser is big and long enough that I can get a changer topper to put and it will suffice as diaper change table. This definitely helps us save some money. We just need to move the desk out of the room and replace it with the crib. I am starting to look at paint colors. The nursery colors are brown, blue and white. Here is the bedding that I picked out. I am not going overboard with the turtles like in the picture and our furniture is cherry wood. I just ordered the bedding and blanket and rug. I think it is too cute. I figure if the baby turns out to be a girl, I can in some girl colors as accents.
My girlfriends in Chicago threw me a shower. It was a perfect weekend! I’ve been hungry for some girl time for awhile now. A friend of mine, who lives in NY surprised me and another friend of mine who just had a baby girl in June. The theme of the shower was “Midge is having a mini me” My friends call me Midge because I am so short. The shower was held at a favorite restaurant of mine called Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. It is a tapas place that has fantastic sangria! Instead of going there for dinner like I’ve normally done, we went there for brunch. OMG the food was so good! My friends spoiled baby Robbins! I feel so blessed and thankful. After the shower, all of us headed to the pool to relax and lay out. Saturday night, my two best friends and I went out to dinner. We got to dinner at 9pm and shut down the restaurant at 1am. I can’t believe I hung that long–usually I am in bed by 10pm. It was so fun. Great conversations and reminiscing about our 20’s and the hoochy clothes we used to wear. We made a pack that for our 40th birthdays we will climb ma*chu p*iccho. Hard to believe that is only 6 years away! eek! After the weekend, Eli and I took a mini holiday. It was so nice to getaway and hang out with my hubby. Our plan was to head to the beach but the weather in Chicago caused Eli to be delayed from his trip by 3 hours. One of AA ’s flight to Dallas was cancelled, which caused all sort of havoc, there was a ground stop which caused more havoc. After Eli arrived at ohare, we immediately went to the departure board and made a list of the places we could get to that night. We immediately ran to the ticket counter so we could check to see what the loads looked like on the plane and if there were any seats available. Our only two options were Austin and Tucson. We chose Tucson. We stayed at the Westin La Paloma. We used our starwood points for a free room. The resort was great. 3 pools, a swim up bar and an Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon-what more could one ask for! It was so hot and I spent most of the time in the pool. Which was awesome! We also splurged on massages. Pregnancy massages are the bomb!! I’ve had two so far and definitely think I will go for another one when I get closer to the due date. So worth the money! Coming back to reality was hard even though I was only on vacation for two days. Now it is back to the to-do lists and work.
Here are some pics from the Chicago weekend.
My SIL and me-We are due two months apart
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6 months?!?!?
Here is a 6 month belly pic for your viewing pleasure. This was taken after a long day at the Oakland A’s game. This kid must be growning like a weed because my hunger has picked up 10-fold. I am dying to see how much I weigh at this next appointment. I’ve already hit uncharted territory for me in the weight department. Hard to believe in one short month, I will be entering the 3rd trimester. This pregnancy is flying by!
23 weeks and 1 day
6 month belly
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22 weeks
oh my, where has the time gone. I will be 22 weeks on Friday. Craziness!!
Let’s see where should I begin. Let’s start with the down syndrome testing. So when I last posted I was worried about the numbers and how low they were. I did go in and get a second blood screening done and sure enough, the numbers skyrocketed back up into the 3K and 6K for all of the those chromosome disorders. Which makes me wonder if the first test was indeed 1180 instead 180. Who knows.
I did decide to switch to a midwife. Her name is sho-lee and she came highly recommended by my doula. I love this woman! Her first words to me where, my philosophy is relaxation. I swear I could have kissed her right there!! Eli really likes her as well. Which is great. I am feeling really confident about going into labor and delivery. I’ve got a great team around me to help with my goal of going natural. I am okay if things happen and I change my mind but knowing that I have a team to support me truly makes the difference in my mind.
Eli felt the baby kick for the first time last week. We were on the couch and the baby was moving quite a bit. So I grabbed his hand and laid on my belly. After about 5 or so minutes, he felt the tiniest kick. His face lite up! It was great. The nugget is a mover and shaker now. I am feeling the hiccups now too, which is hysterical to feel.
My Mary Kay business is keeping me busy. I am really surprised how much I am enjoying it. I swear, my prize is to have this replace my full-time income. The more I do with this the more I am like the hell with my current job.
I am starting to get some anxiety about how fast this summer is going. I think it is because I am so busy with my regular job and the MK and eli being gone so much that the days are flying by. I really want us to get away for a few days before this baby comes. He got his August schedule and he has no weekends off. I think I am going to have to say the hell with saving my PTO days for the maternity leave and have us go on a little leave for ourselves. We deserve it!
Our digital camera broke so I have so very few pictures now. I did take a preggar pic on my phone camera. Hopefully I will make enough $$$ from MK this month to replace our broken digital. Any suggestions on a good one that can take video??
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Whopper of a Monday
Today’s been a day. This morning our hot water heater gave out. We knew this was coming. We purchased a home warranty policy for this very occasion. We thought it would happen last year but the old girl held out, until today. All I have to say is thank goodness for home warranty policies. They rock! The old gal was from 1972! Hard to believe she lasted so long. We have brand new heater and it is even has its own seat belt. In earthquake country you have to make sure everything is nailed down. Too bad our house isn’t. But that is another story for another time.
Second thing that happened didn’t really happen to me or Eli but rather I had the fine opportunity to witness to chicks argue loudly on BART this morning. During the rush hour commute, standing next to where I am sitting and I am trying to take my morning snooze before 8 grueling hours of work. Highly, highly annoying! Finally the two biotches sat down and seemed to settle whatever dispute they had going on between the two of them. Part of me wonders if it was just for show since they had a quite the audience. But who knows.
The third thing still has me rattled but I am doing everything I can to remain positive. I got a call from my doctor this afternoon telling me that the results from the 1st trimester screening for down’s came back really low. 1/180. We were orginally told that the results were 1/1180 and we thought we were in the clear and all is good. I was even poo-pooing this second round of testing that I have to do because everything was okay. Since the number is so low, my doctor is urging us to meet with a genetic counselor and to get the second round of blood tests done. So, tomorrow I am getting my arse up bright and early to lap corp to get this second round of testing done and making an appointment with a genetic counselor and a possible amino. The thought of having anything less then a happy, healthy baby scares the shit out of me. Hopefully the numbers will come back higher this time around and all will be good again.
I am feeling the baby move more and more each day. It seems to happen at the same time every day although today I felt some thumps during the work day and as I was sitting down to eat my dinner, which is new. Normally, I can feel the little one move in the morning when I am sitting in my car or on BART. I wonder if it is the motion or the way I am sitting. It truly is the most amazing feeling in the world.
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