3 months!

C turned 3 months on Monday - how time flies!

I've been a terrible blogger, but I'm trying to stay at least a little present on twitter.

C is doing great. He continues to be 50% percentile on weight, 70% on length and 97% on head. He's almost 14 pounds, based on the oh-so-scientific-home-scale-with-and-without-baby method. He has a long torso, so he's in 6 month tops and one-piece pajamas, but still ok in many 0-3 pants. He's in cloth diapers (www.ittibittiusa.com or www.ittibitti.com.au for their main website) during the day and size 2 (soon to be size 3) disposables at night.

He's really vocal - trying out lots of sounds. Ah-goo and oo-ee are current favorites. And on Monday he giggled at DH for the first time (and at me the day after).

Sleep has been rough, though not unusually rough for babies this age from what I've read. I've gotten at least 5-6 hours of sleep every night since he was born, just not all in one stretch.

He was quite gassy from 5 weeks to about 8 weeks - enough that it would wake him up and he'd scream until he burped/tooted. Thankfully that's almost gone entirely at this point now that his digestive system is more developed.

We ended up hiring a night doula to help us 2-3 nights a week. She'd arrive at 10pm and leave at 6am, and helped us from 5 weeks to 12 weeks. I'd pump right before she arrived (if he wasn't awake), and could usually sleep through the night until about 5am when I'd feed him (she'd do a bottle for night feeds). For the last week she was helping us, I'd sleep until 6am when she'd bring him to me in bed.

Weeks 6-8 he was starting to sleep in his crib from 7pm to sometime between midnight and 2am, and would then feed every two hours, but I'd have to bring him to bed because I couldn't successfully settle him in bed. I never thought we'd co-sleep but it worked out reasonably well. Lighter sleep was still better than no sleep...

Then he had his 2 month shots, and his sleep patterns went to hell. He started waking around 10-11, and could sometimes be resettled in his crib until 12-2. (He's also had green poops since the shots, oddly.)

We planned on sleep training early, and based on our reading (my reading, really), 3 months seemed like a reasonable time to start given he wasn't having any issues other than not wanting to fall asleep in his crib. (We'd pick him up to calm him before resettling and he'd go right to sleep on our shoulder.)

So Monday, we started sleep training - happy 3 month birthday! We're mostly following Ferber. First day was rough - he cried through all of his nap attempts. And at bedtime he cried for 56 minutes, but then slept until 11pm and then resettled to about 1:30am when I fed him. Took awhile to get him down again, but he was down around 3am and then woke up at 6:15. Yay! And naps on Tuesday were all successful except for one, and he took 34 minutes to go to sleep at bedtime, and didn't wake until 1:15am (then slept 3am-5:50am). Wednesday every nap was successful, and all but one didn't require me to go back into the room to reassure him - one nap he even got back to sleep all on his own. And he slept from 6:50pm-1:50am, fed at 2am, and then slept another 3 hours, then another hour. So we're definitely making progress!  I sleep so much better without him next to me - I'd get all sorts of weird kinks in my arm and shoulder. But I miss the baby snuggles - I figure once he's really good at falling asleep in his crib, an occasional nap together won't cause problems.

My recovery has been great. I was back at my pre-pregnancy weight 4 weeks after delivery (though not the same shape...) and I continue to pull more non-maternity pants out of storage and move them back into my closet. No stretch marks (thanks, Mom!) I had postpartum bleeding for 8 weeks, and was one of the unlucky 25% of nursing mothers to have a 6 week bleed - kinda scary, actually, since I was suddenly having fresh blood and cramps. When I called my ob on a Sunday to ask, he said 'oh yes, it's one of the most common reasons I get called postpartum'. Would have been nice to have some warning that it was possible...  My fingers are still painful, though they're slowly improving, as are my ankles/knees. It's weird - there are patches that are numb to the touch, but pressure/strain can be very painful. But I'm seeing slow improvement, and my ob did tell me it could take months to go away entirely. We had se.x for the first time about 7 weeks postpartum, and it wasn't entirely comfortable, but was ok. (My se.x drive came back a few weeks earlier than that, which helpful.) It's gotten better since, though not quite back to normal (and TMI - I have a teeny bit of bleeding each time, I think from where I had a minor tear/stitches). Breastfeeding continues to go well - I'm so thankful knowing how common it is to have problems.

The placenta encapsulation was such a lifesaver. When I stopped the pills after taking them 3x a day for 2 weeks, both I and DH noticed a difference. So I kept taking 1 pill a day for a week or two, and then did it again here and there when I noticed myself being extra moody. I have a few left, and haven't taken any in about a month.

I'm back to my pre-pregnancy ability to hike - kind of surprised I didn't have to work back up to hilly hikes, but it's been fine. I've tried a bunch of baby carriers, and currently prefer the Baby K'tan, now that I can use the hug hold instead of the kangaroo hold.

I realized a few days ago he's halfway to starting to eat (or at least mess with) real food - crazy!

DH is taking a week of paternity leave every month, which is great. He went back to work 2.5 weeks after C was born, which was earlier than we would have liked, but January was a busy month for him. He's off this week while we sleep train - not a coincidence. :)

I regularly get comments about how much he looks like me, which I find entertaining. We did choose a donor who resembled me. But apart from those sorts of comments, I really don't think about his donor conception very much. Early on, my mom brought it up a bunch (to the point where I was going to have to say something to her soon) but then she started comparing him to me. She hasn't literally forgotten, but for all practical purposes she's forgotten. :)

I'm completely in love with C - he's gorgeous, and so cheerful when he's well rested.  He's very intent - really focused on things and absorbs them, and stubborn and smart. Around 2 months he started social smiling, and very early on would grin at us to make us smile. So fun! And now the giggles are great.

I'm so lucky.

Almost 3 weeks in

We're doing really well. At his 2 week pediatrician appointment he weighed 8 lbs 4 oz (vs birth weight of 8 lbs 5 oz) so we were given the all clear to no longer wake him up every 3 hours at night to feed. Of course he's only taken advantage of that once so far, but it's still nice not to set an alarm. It's pretty amazing - in a week he went from 7 lbs 8 oz to 8 lbs 4 oz! He's now in some 0-3 clothes, and some newborn clothes no longer fit. He's still gorgeous. :)

We're co-sleeping, which wasn't the original plan. I have the Arms Reach Co-sleeper bassinet, which attaches to the side of the bed, but he sleeps much better (meaning, he sleeps) when he's snuggled next to one of us. I'm hoping to start using the bassinet for naps so he gets used to it - he often snoozes on his boppy newborn pillow which isn't so different.

He's often really fussy in the mornings - from 7am to 11am or so, which can be very frustrating. Usually it's DH who's dealing with it because I sleep another hour or two after I hand off the baby in the morning (DH is getting 5-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep now that we're cosleeping and the baby more or less goes straight to sleep after a nighttime feeding).

Breastfeeding is going well (and he's clearly eating plenty, given his weight gain). Recently he's been doing more snacking during the day - one side for maybe 15 minutes and then back to sleep, which means he's feeding more frequently and my nippl.es are feeling it. But overall things are smooth and easy, which I'm really thankful for as I have many online and offline friends who have struggled or are struggling with breastfeeding.

I'm still bleeding, but not all that much, and I'm still sore, but less than before. I think my stitches are still there (they're the kind that dissolve) but I'm afraid to look with a mirror. Sitting too long is definitely still uncomfortable. My legs aren't swollen anymore (though my right knee is still very painful), but my ankles and feet aren't quite back to normal though I (mostly) fit in regular shoes. My hands are still a problem - I'm taking ibuprofen regularly which helps with the pain and hopefully is helping them recover by reducing the inflammation.

I didn't mention in my birth story post that we had the placenta encapsulated. I'd heard about it (and was grossed out), but it was my ob who suggested we seriously consider it. He'd had a patient who had a really rough time after her first child was born, but did placenta encapsulation for her second and things went extremely smoothly. (Basically the placenta gets dehydrated according to traditional Chinese medicine practices and then ground up and put in little pill capsules, and for the first two weeks you swallow 2 pills three times a day, and then after 2 weeks use as needed.) We got the pills back the Sunday after he was born - and the before/after was stunning. The first few days home I had major emotional meltdowns, was in tears frequently, and every time I slept I had nightmares. Once I started on the pills, that all went away.  So definitely something I would recommend investigating. (After the birth we had the placenta put in a double-bagged Ziploc, and then in a cooler on ice - the next morning the preparer came to pick it up. It cost $325 including pickup/delivery.)

10 days after he was born I was down to only 3 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, and 8 pounds above my pre-IVF weight. (I'd gained about 30 pounds by the end of my pregnancy, but a bunch of it was water weight from all the swelling in the last 3 weeks.) That's where I've stayed since, which I don't mind since I'm not allowed to do any meaningful exercise due to my recovery. DH and I went for a short, mostly flat hike last week, but that's the extent of my activity.

We've had visitors probably every other day, which has been good. My family has been awesome - cooking/cleaning/leaving leftovers.

DH goes back to work tomorrow, which we both find intimidating. I have friends coming each day for a short visit so I can hopefully nap, and my mom will come all day on Wednesday. Right now we're not hiring any help, but we'll see how this week goes. I'm hoping to get out and about a little this week using one of the baby wraps or carriers we have (I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than him, so moving the car seat into the stroller is probably not a good idea.) I have 4 friends who've all had their first babies in the past 6 weeks and we're hoping to get together in person soon.

Overall it's great. He's perfect and we feel like we're doing a pretty good job of taking care of him and keeping ourselves going.

He's here!

Baby C was born Tuesday, December 18, at 9:54pm about 48 hours after we started the induction process. He weighed 8lbs 5oz, 20.75 inches long. He's perfect and even the doctors and nurses admitted he's an incredibly cute baby.

The birth story (lots of detail to help me remember! And written over a few sessions, so possibly a bit repetitive):

Sunday night we arrived at the hospital at 7pm to be induced. Got our bags unloaded and settled into the room. Our hospital usually has patients stay in the same private room for labor, delivery and recovery, unless things get really busy.

Around 8pm, I went on monitors (for me and baby), and around 8:40pm the nurse inserted Cervidil to ripen my cervix. (I'd been 70% effaced and about 1cm dilated for roughly 2 weeks.) The nurse was nice but not super competent - she botched a blood draw and ended up calling a lab tech to come do it, and the Cervidil insertion was extremely uncomfortable. At 9:30 I felt crampy, and at 11:30 I was feeling contractions - not super strong, but by 2am they were about 5 minutes apart. I wasn't really able to sleep much - the hospital environment isn't conducive to it, and at 2am the contractions were distracting enough that I gave up trying. At 6am we started doing laps around the hallways and the contractions continued to get stronger.

At 7am Monday I got an awesome new nurse, and at 7:30am my doctor visited and check my progress. Of which there was none - still 70% effaced, and about a cm dilated. Ugh. He decided to leave the Cervidil in until noon when he would return to check me again.

We did laps all morning, I took a shower, and rested (but didn't sleep). I noticed a rash on the inside of my thighs - maybe from the Cervidil? or the lubricant the nurse used to insert it? The shower helped clear away whatever was causing it, but it was sensitive for about a day. I also had some vaginal pain, which may have been a internal version of the external rash. Never figured it out.

I wasn't hungry, but had some fruit and drank a protein juice drink and had a cookie. I'd baked cookies all weekend and we doled out plates of cookies throughout out stay which the nurses loved.

More laps, more time in room. Baby was doing great on monitors the whole time. My doctor showed up around 2:30 instead of noon, which was annoying. He checked me again, and I was 1.5cm dilated, and my cervix was still posterior. Ugh.

The doctor inserted a foley balloon, which threads through the cervix and has balloons on either side of the cervix that are inflated with saline to encourage the cervix to open (mimicking the pressure of the baby's head). It was very uncomfortable going in, and started stronger contractions.

I was monitored for 20 minutes in the room afterwards, and then allowed to walk around again. Contractions were definitely stronger (I called them a 5 on the 0-10 scale) and I got a little teary because they were coming fast. I took a 20 minute shower which felt great.

My fabulous nurse left (sob) at the end of her shift at 4:30.

My contractions were easier to handle after the shower. I was sitting on the side of the bed for a vitals check with the new nurse, and all of a sudden was sitting in a puddle. I thought my water had broken! But when the nurse checked it with a pH strip, it wasn't amniotic fluid. Turns out I had sprung a leak in one of the balloons! (Quite unusual.)

My doula arrived around 7pm - my contractions had gotten strong enough with the foley balloon that I knew I'd need her help during the night.

My doctor came back at 7:30pm and removed the foley (no discomfort), confirmed it had been the source of the leak, and broke the amniotic sac (also no discomfort).

My doula suggested trying some new positions - she'd brought a birthing ball, so I sat on the ball and leaned on the side of the bed. The first contraction was... dramatic. While I'd felt some water leak after my doctor broke the sac, it was nothing like this - I gushed hot fluid all over the ball and the floor. It was really funny, and I got a big case of the giggles. I had bloody show at this point (never saw a mucus plug at any point, though).

Contractions started getting stronger, and more sudden. I leaked fluid here and there all night long.

9pm-10pm I tried a lot of different positions. Contractions were now a 6 out of 10 in intensity. They weren't painful, just intense and uncomfortable.

Midnight check by a new nurse showed I was still 3cm, and maybe a little more effaced. Monitoring overnight was terrible (baby and I were doing fine - the wireless monitors kept getting out of position and the nurse wouldn't notice). We got good at fixing and resetting the monitor ourselves.

Got a new nurse at 7:30am who was also great - took me a bit to get used to her style, but she was awesome. She checked my progress as my doctor was in surgery, and I was STILL 3cm and about 90% effaced. I was so worn out after a hard 12 hours of contractions that I decided it was time to get an epidural. Amazingly the anesthesiologist was right outside (probably the nurse had anticipated me) and I got an epidural about 10 minutes after deciding to. It felt weird going in. After it took effect, it was amazing - I could feel a contraction but they didn't hurt. And it was a very precise epidural - I was numb from the bottom of my breasts to the bottom of the belly. My thighs were sorta numb, but I could move my legs (and by the time I was pushing my legs weren't numb at all).  It was apparently a pretty low dose epidural, and I had a button to top it off which I could use every 10 minutes.

I got about 90 minutes of napping before they started the Pitocin. I started feeling pressure against my cervix, but not the contractions. I got itchy and had some shakes. By early afternoon I was 7cm dilated and 90% effaced and around 3pm was 9cm and 100% effaced. The nurse guessed it would be at least two hours for the baby to descend.

I napped a little more - eyelids felt heavy. We increased the epidural strength a little in the early evening.

New nurse at 7:30pm. I didn't have great chemistry with her (this was consistently true of the night nurses - some were more competent than others, but none were great). At this point I was fully dilated and she told me I could push a little but that it would take awhile for the baby to descend - he was still at about -1 station. About 15 minutes later, she went to call my doctor as she was seeing his head everytime I pushed. Finally something went more quickly than expected!

The doctor arrived which started two hours of pushing. He did a lot of perineal massage during pushes which I hadn't anticipated and was often uncomfortable. The took out the cathether that I'd had in all day post-epidural. I popped capillaries in my eyes, and left finger bruises in my legs while pushing. Initially my doctor thought it would be pretty fast, and the pediatrician arrived maybe an hour in, and my husband got gown and gloves (he wanted to 'catch the baby').  I pushed hard for pretty much the whole two hours. And when his head finally came out, it wasn't particularly noticeable - I think because he'd been so close for so long. (I did want to kill the nurse earlier when she talked about the ring of fire about 15 minutes into pushing... I think I said 'this is NOT the ring of fire' and later said 'THIS is the ring of fire', though honestly it was all hard and no single part stands out in my memory. At some point in the pushing I was given an oxygen mask - I assume because the baby was getting a little stressed.

My husband did deliver the baby - after the head came out, the doctor instructed him on how to move the baby so the shoulders popped out one at a time, and then the body. I had sort of expected the body to be an easy push after the head, but it was still a big effort.

My husband put the baby on my mid-section, and I reached down to get him. We waited for the cord to stop pulsing before the cord got cut (which my husband had no interest in doing). And then we had about 20 minutes of the three of us meeting each other. We let the baby root around on my chest to find my breast, which was pretty amazing. He was really alert, and I have a fantastic photo my doula took of me and the baby looking at each other.

While we were bonding, the doctor and nurses were massaging my abdomen pretty hard. I got a few stitches for a first degree tear. And after about 25 minutes, my doctor realized my placenta wasn't detaching. So the pediatrician took the baby to get cleaned up, and my doctor started working on me. Initially it was heavy massage and some gentle tugs on the cord, but pretty soon I got a dose of fentanyl, and lots of doctors and nurses started showing up. The fentanyl made me pretty out of it, though I was still feeling really uncomfortable, and I was (in my head) annoyed at how many nurses seemed to be in the room. (My husband says it was something like 3 doctors and 4 nurses.) I eventually got another dose of fentanyl, and after about 90 minutes, my placenta was finally out (in two pieces). Apparently it was pretty messy, and I lost a bunch of blood. My poor husband was really freaked out - he was sitting on the daybed with the baby watching them work on me.

They wanted to put my catheter back in afterwards but I really wanted to avoid it  so the nurse said if I could get to the bathroom and pee and not pass out, they could skip the pacifier. Well I got to the bathroom with their help, couldn't make my body pee, but didn't pass out, so they let me be.

As I mentioned, the hospital usually keeps patients in one room, but my room was so messy after the placenta extraction that they wanted to move me. However there were 5 babies born that night, and they didn't end up having a different room for me. Someone came to clean up but didn't do a very complete job...

I was woozy and managed to sleep a bit. Bringing me up to something like 6-7 hours total sleep since arriving at the hospital on Sunday night.

In the morning, all the grandparents showed up to meet the baby. I breastfed throughout the day, and ohmygod was it painful. The nurses and lactation consultants who checked the baby used words like piranha and barracuda. I called him Shark Boy. (A week later I had an appointment with a lactation consultant who helped me improve the latch, so I'm no longer in tears every time I breastfeed.)

Wednesday night he was weighed, and was down to 7 lbs 12 oz which was an entirely normal 7% weight loss. The night nurse, however, was telling me I should pump and supplement, which was crazy. And my doctor stopped by to say hello and confirmed she was crazy.

The hospitalist pediatrician, who was amazing (we checked to see if she also had office hours for patients, but alas she's only in the hospital), said he was doing fine, but when we checked his bilirubin levels they were elevated.  We'd also checked for infection since my waters had been broken more than 24 hours before I gave birth - all good there.

We went home on Thursday night, after Baby C spent the afternoon under bili lights for the elevated bilirubin levels. That was really hard, because he was under the lights in goggles, which he hated, and just a diaper, and we couldn't really comfort him. I could only breastfeed him 30 minutes every 3 hours. And he was so upset by the goggles he'd scoot his way up in the bassinet until he could rub his head and dislodge the goggles, which would then smush his nose. We'd fix it, reset him, and it would start over.

Friday we had a pediatrician appointment to recheck bilirubin levels. His weight was up to 7 lbs 15 oz, and thankfully his bilirubin ended up being stable (which is great since the risk is based on level vs. hours since birth, so he was becoming lower risk as time passed. She asked us to schedule another appointment on Sunday to get him weighed and to make sure the jaundice hadn't gotten worse.

Sunday the jaundice was fine - but his weight was down to 7 lbs 2 oz. Which wasn't good. Apart from the weight, he was doing well - no personality shifts, breastfeeding regularly (although my milk had only come in about 2 hours before the appointment), having wet and dirty diapers. So the doctor told us to supplement 0.5oz with every breastfeeding session, and to have another appointment on Monday to see if he'd gained.

We supplemented two feedings with formula, and I started pumping after breastfeeding so we could supplement with breastmilk after that. Monday he'd gained more than 2 ounces! So we were able to stop supplementing. And Wednesday, when I had the lactation consult, he'd gained another 3 ounces, so our next appointment isn't until his regular 2 week appointment.

I'm not pumping now, since I'm trying to let my nipples recover, but will probably start up again in a week or so since I want my husband to be able to bottlefeed expressed milk starting at 4 weeks.

So we're home and settling into our new life as a family of 3! My husband has been great with the baby - even in the hospital he was really good at soothing and handling the baby. I didn't change a diaper until day 4 or 5!

A few observations about the hospital experience:

• The day nurses were universally better than the night nurses.
• Birth is a lot gooey-er than I expected.
• Bring your own toilet paper and Kleenex to the hospital - single-ply is not your friend.
• Sleeping in the hospital is nearly impossible.
• Nursing in the hospital is really uncomfortable - hospital beds aren't good ergonomically, and you don't really want to be sitting in a hard chair right after giving birth. I wish I'd brought my nursing pillow.

Thanks to everyone for their support along the way - it's been a long journey - more than 5 and a half years since we started trying to have a child, and it's amazing and surreal that he's finally here.

38 weeks plus

Neglected to post on Saturday, when I actually hit 38 weeks...

So a few exciting things happened since my 37 week post.

I had an ob appointment last Wednesday for monitoring. The non-stress test went fine, as always, but my blood pressure was elevated (something like 118/86). And my feet are really puffy. They really want the lower number to stay below 90, and my doctor was worried I might be developing preeclampsia. So he asked me to go in on Saturday morning for another round of monitoring, and we'd make a decision about inducing earlier at that point.

Saturday morning went in and my blood pressure was normal. Like, pre-pregnancy normal. And the baby passed the non-stress test with flying colors (as always - he's a super wiggler). So no reason to speed up the induction, but my doctor asked me to come in Monday morning for another round.

Went in this morning, and NST was fine and blood pressure is fine (not as low as Saturday, but normal for pregnancy).  Still about 70% effaced, maybe slightly more dilated than last Wednesday, and soft cervix.

Last Wednesday my doctor was pretty sure we'd end up inducing by now, and now he thinks we may make it to this weekend as originally planned. I go back in on Wednesday for my regular appointment, and if all still looks good, we'd likely induce Sunday night.

The uncertainty has been challenging, particularly for my husband who's trying to get work stuff wrapped up before paternity leave, but despite not having a solid date, it's all for good reasons - baby is doing well and I'm doing well. And if we can keep him in until 39w (which we'll hit on Saturday), his risk outcomes are the same as for a 40w baby.

That said, since the version, I am dramatically less comfortable. The puffy feet mean I can only wear flip-flops or my Mephisto sandals (and I really wanted to not be the pregnant woman in flip flops...), and the baby's movements, which have always been vigorous, sometimes take my breath away. We took a (probably too long) walk on Sunday morning, and I'm super sore from it - ankles and shins are hurting (damn flip flops). On the plus side, I had a fantastic prenatal massage this morning which hopefully helped work some of it out. My massage therapist thinks my body is ready, and guesses I'll go into labor pre-induction (hope she's right!)

Had another acupuncture appointment today to try to get labor started. I ended up queasy afterward, which is not a usual acupuncture reaction for me. Hoping it's an early labor signal.

One thing that's really been annoying me is that when we've told family about the pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), the reaction is 'eat less/no salt'. Not only does that not affect PIH, it implicitly blames me for it, which I resent. I am eating extra protein, and trying to stay well hydrated (snagged the giant mug from the hospital when we had our version - I try to drink 3 of them a day), but it's a placenta/immune system thing, not a salt thing. Grr.

The nursery is all set up except for a bookcase that's arriving this week and will go under the window. Photos, as promised!

I made caramels to bring to the nurses at the hospital (if we have advance warning, I'll bake cookies instead and keep the caramels for us. :) All our Christmas presents (that have arrived, at least) are wrapped and under the tree. (My husband and I aren't exchanging presents this year, but we're still doing big presents (as opposed to stocking presents) for immediate family.)

Less than a week to go, and could be any day now! A friend of mine had a baby 10 days ago and I met him last Friday when he was a week old. Crazy that I'll be there so soon!

37 weeks!

What a huge milestone! Officially full term. And only 2 weeks to go until we're at least being induced - crazy!

Today was the last day I had something scheduled that I really wanted to get done before the baby comes. I've been telling my little guy that he's welcome to come anytime starting tomorrow (Dec. 2).

**pregnancy complaints coming up**

I'm remarkably less comfortable now that he's head down. I mean, I'm completely relieved that he turned in Thursday's version, but now when he moves it's his whole body moving around, and it's often uncomfortable. And my feet/ankles are consistently swollen (and uncomfortable at night), and my hands continue to be quite painful. But my energy level continues to be good despite getting pretty poor sleep (I can't remember the last time I felt like I had a good night's sleep... I joked today that I'm about to go from good quantity/bad quality to bad quantity/good quality sleep.

I've gained about 30 pounds at this point - I'm sure some of it is water looking at my lower legs/ankles/feet, but otherwise it's all in my belly/chest. People are saying I look much bigger all of a sudden, though I don't have that self image. I do feel more awkward, and it's harder to do things.

**pregnancy complaints over**

The nursery furniture is set up, and the wall decal and mobile are up. (I promise I'll post pictures soon!) Now I'm doing loads of laundry with tiny clothes - incredible and emotional. Hospital bag is in progress.

Our lives are going to completely change so soon! We can't wait!

Breech update

I mentioned in my 32 weeks post that my baby was still frank breech (head up, feet up by his face).

At 33 weeks I started doing everything I could do get him turned. Acupuncture, moxibustion (both with my acupuncturist and at home, twice a day), inversions, watsu, chiropractor (Webster technique).  The Spinning Babies website has lots of helpful information about these techniques if you want to learn more - that's where I learned about the inversions.

I felt like the baby was trying to turn but just couldn't get into position. He's super super wiggly - as in when the doctor told me to do kick counts and make sure I get 10 kicks in an hour twice a day, I told him I usually get 10 kicks in about 90 seconds, every hour of the day.

Moxibustion would make him wiggle, inversions would help him slide up in my torso, watsu made him incredibly, violently, active for hours afterwards (and was super relaxing and therapeutic for me - if you have a watsu practitioner nearby I highly recommend it in late pregnancy), and the Webster technique felt like it was giving him more room. But he didn't turn.

So yesterday, at 36 weeks, 5 days, I went to the hospital for my doctor to do a version (official term is 'external cephalic version' or ECV). This involves the doctor manually turning the baby from the outside of the belly - sorta like squashing a watermelon seed under your finger and having it squirt out the other side (this was the image that popped in my head during the version!)

I was at the hospital for about 3 hours, with prep (they prep you for an emergency c-section because there's a tiny chance the version can either stress the baby or cause the placenta to detach), pre-monitoring (non-stress test) and post-monitoring (non-stress test).  The version itself took about 90 seconds. It was intensely uncomfortable but bearable. (My husband helped me through it, and I realized I need to cut my nails before I give birth, as he was ok with me squeezing his hand, but not digging in with my nails. Hee!) After 90 seconds, my doctor said, ok, we're done, and I couldn't tell if it had worked so had to ask.

Such a relief! If he stayed breech I would have had a scheduled c-section as very few doctors in the US do vaginal breech births (my doctor used to but stopped after a particularly tricky/risky delivery). So now I just need him to stay head-down (it's unusual but possible for him to flip back), and I can work on going into labor naturally prior to being induced on December 15 at 39 weeks.

After we got home, our nursery furniture was all delivered, and we hung our mobile and started putting up the wall decal. I'll post a photo once it's done.

Tomorrow I'm 37 weeks and considered full-term! Crazy!

Trailblazing

On Saturday we went to a tea hosted by my RE for his new parents and pregnant patients. He does this twice a year, and it's a nice chance to see him and the staff who helped us get here, and meet other IFers who've had success.

He went around the room to chat with each couple, so we got a few minutes with him. He called us his trailblazers.

Last year, after our terrible SIRM cycle in Las Vegas, we decided to move on to donor eggs, and wanted to come back to our local RE, who had done our first 4 IVFs. However, at the time he didn't offer CGH testing of embryos (tests all 23 chromosomes), just FISH PGD (tests 9 chromosomes), and his shared risk plan required transferring 2 embryos. I contacted him and explained we were ready to do donor eggs, and that we really wanted to work with him, but only if he could offer us CGH testing, and would do single embryo transfers. He agreed (although it meant we couldn't do any version of the shared risk plans), so we were the first patients to get CGH via his clinic.

He shared with us on Saturday that now CGH is standard, single embryo transfers are standard, and frozen transfers are standard, and that he considers us the reason they moved that direction.

Feels good to have helped, indirectly, all those patients who came after us.

And since we expect to start working with him again at the end of 2013, we were happy to hear he's now doing the endometrial scratch that's proven to dramatically increase implantation rates.

In other news, we had our newborn care class yesterday, which was relatively useful and interesting. Nothing earthshaking, but good information. Both my husband and I have read a lot of books, so the class stuff tends to be largely repetitive.

Breastfeeding class is Thursday, and I haven't done much reading on it yet, so hopefully will be a more valuable class.

I've also realized that I've entered the swollen ankles/feet part of this pregnancy. Even in the mornings my ankles are a little swollen, and by the end of the day, ankles are visibly swollen and feet are puffy.

And I'm horrified to admit that my belly button may be starting to turn into an outie. I had a navel piercing way back when (removed when I had my laparoscopy in August 2009), so one side is kind of pinned down, but when the baby was pushing my belly yesterday, the other side definitely bulged a bit. Eeek!

33 weeks and 2 days today. Tomorrow we can say we have five and a half weeks to go. Yikes!