38 Week Appt

I didn't gain any weight, strange since I ate about 5 lbs of chocolate last week! I do still mow and walk 2-3 miles a day though. Thank goodness, or I would be putting on the weight! Anyway, so he's still breech and is now in the footling position, which could be dangerous. If my water were to break the cord could come out and cut the blood/oxygen off to the baby.



Yea, something else to worry about. I am still about the same, 1 cm and 60% effaced. We talked about how we felt about an external version, trying to turn the baby from the outside. Dr Long and I both don't really like that idea. It could be very dangerous. He said it was my choice of what I wanted to do, but he would like to wait until I'm at least 39 weeks to do anything. So I told him I'd schedule my 39 week appt, and we would decided a plan of action then.

I have SO much on my mind. Last night I just couldn't take it anymore and broke down to Kevin. I'm so worried. I don't want a c-section, but I don't think he is going to turn either. I'm worried about my water breaking and the cord coming out and cutting off oxygen to Lindon. I don't want to go into labor either because I don't want his foot coming out. I don't sleep at all anymore. My hips hurt me SO bad, the heartburn is horrible, and I have vaginal pressure so bad that it hurts to even lift my legs.

I'm really not a complainer. I hate to complain because I know other people have it way worse than I do. I just need to get this off my chest I guess. I'm really regretting not scheduling something for next week. It's not the waiting that is bothering me. It's the worrying. I don't want something to happen and have to rush to the hospital and be scared that something bad is going to happen.

This boy sure is giving me problems, and he's not even here yet! I just want him here the safest way possible and for him and I to be healthy. I'm really not looking for sympathy. I just needed to get it off my chest.

Cute Website!

I found this cute website where you can make a lot of cute things!

Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com


Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

We're ready!

Today Lindon's bedding came in the mail. So his room is now complete! I'm so excited about how the bedding turned out. I now feel completely ready for him to be here. It's an exciting and scary feeling. :)

37 Week Appointment

Friday was my 37 week appointment. Lindon is still breech. I've been doing a couple of positions and stretches that are suppose to make him flip, but they haven't worked. He'll go from breech to transverse (sideways), but then he'll just go back breech. It's so painful when he makes big movements like that. After he goes from breech to transverse and back my stomach is so sore for days.

Anyway, I gained 5 lbs. All that is fluid though because I'm SO swollen! My feet, legs, hands, and face get so puffy and uncomfortable. I know I need to take it easy, rest, and put my feet up, but I'm in that nesting stage BAD! All I want to do is clean and organize this house. I also know it's just fluid because I've been walking 2-3 miles a day, and I can't really eat a lot because there's no room for the food. :)

At my 36 week appointment I wasn't dilated or effaced at all, and I didn't think I would be at my 37 week appointment because he's breech and not engaged in my pelvis. So there's no pressure on my cervix to help it dilate. I was 1 cm dilated and 60% efface much to my surprise! I would be more excited about the progress if he wasn't breech. I REALLY don't want a c-section.

People keep telling me that it's not bad, but I just don't want to have one. It would ruin all my plans. I want it to be just Kev and I in the delivery room with Claire coming in right after the delivery to see her baby brother. I am committed to breastfeeding this time, and I don't want to be in too much pain to breastfeed. I also don't want to have to recover from major abdominal surgery just to have to turn around and recover from my gallbladder surgery. In my prayers last night, instead of praying for Lindon to turn, I told Heavenly Father than I was fine with whatever would be the safest and best for Lindon and me, whether that be vaginal or c-section. I just want to have a healthy baby and be healthy myself. I have complete trust in Heavenly Father and what his plan might be for us at this time. I also trust my awesome doctor and what he thinks is best for us. I'll just have to grin and bear it, whatever "it" might turn out to be! :)









Here are some pictures of Miss Claire Bear riding her new bike that Kev and I got her for her birthday. She has't yet mastered the pedaling, but she LOVES to give it a go! :) What can I say... she's the bomb-digity!!

Claire's 3rd Birthday

Claire turned 3 on August 14. Can you believe that?!?! There is no way I'm old enough to have a 3 year old! ;) I can't believe how much she has grown up in the last year. She loves talking on the phone to anybody who will listen. Every morning she wakes up and asks where her daddy is and has to call him at work. She loves watching movies, listening to music, and dancing. She LOVES to run and workout with Mommy. Just the other day we went walking, and she jogged a whole mile, nonstop! She is an awesome runner. She is the sweetest little girl, very sympathetic. When I get upset she tells me to close my eyes, breathe, and relax. It's so funny! I can't believe how excited she is to be a big sister. She asks everyday if he's coming out.

We had her party on August 8 because Kev's parents wouldn't have been able to come if we had had it on her birthday. She got so many presents! She is so spoiled. :) I'm thankful that Claire has so many people in her life that love her so much. She had a blast at her Tinker Bell party!







We went to her 3 year check up Thursday at Dr Worley's office. She weighs 31 1/2 pounds and is 36 1/2 inches. She did SO good. She usually freaks out at the doctor's office as soon as she sits on the examining table. The day before, though, I talked her through everything the doctor was going to do and told her that she was 3 now so she didn't have to scared and cry. She didn't cry one bit! I'm so proud of her.

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to put her in my care. I am so lucky to be her mommy. I am blessed every day to have her here with me. I love her so much!

36 Week Dr's Appt

Today was my appointment, and I was excited to see if I was dilated at all. I didn't gain any weight, my blood pressure was good, and there was no protein in my urine. I had to get some cultures done, the Group B Strep and some STD's. The STD's will be negative I already know. :) The Group B Strep test however is another story. I was positive with Claire. I'm hoping it's negative so that I don't have to worry about getting the antibiotics when in labor with Lindon. Oh well if I am though.

So I was checked today. I was thinking I would be about 2cm dilated and 40% effaced because I've had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions and pressure down low. I voiced my concern to Dr Long about me thinking that Lindon was breech so he felt on my belly for awhile. After he was done he told me that he also thought he was breech. He said when he checked me he could tell better though. So I am not dilated and only thinned out a tad, not even enough to say I'm effaced at all. Dr Long said that he was breech though. He said we'll monitor if he turns or not in the next couple weeks. If at my 38 weeks appt he thinks he's still breech he will order an ultrasound. If that shows he is breech then we'll schedule a c-section probably. I hope he turns though. I REALLY don't want a c-section!

I guess I'll just take it a day at a time to see if he turns. Claire and I were in the Dr's for 2 hours and got bored. So here are some pictures from the visit.

Baby Showers

WOODVILLE BABY SHOWER

My Woodville baby shower was on July 25. My mom did an awesome job. Besides my mom and sisters, there were only 3 people there though. A lot of people were on vacation and some were sick. I don't know where everyone else was. We had a really good time. We just sat around, talked, and ate lots of yummy food and cake. I got lots of great gifts.












VIDOR/MID-COUNTY BABY SHOWER

My other shower was on August 7 at a friend's house, Sarah Jeter. It was great that she let me take over her house for an hour. We were having Bunko there anyway that night so we thought it would be a good idea to just combine them. It was lots of fun. My friend Abby made some really cute baseball cake balls and lots of people came. I'm so thankful to have such great friends!

Mandy (the Host) and Me









So we only have a few things that we still need to get, big things. Like a double stroller, changing table, etc. Kev and I are going today to Target to get the rest of what we need. The more we are ready for the baby, the more I get nervous! :) I'm so ready to see my little man though. I can't wait to see what he looks like and what his personality is. It seems so surreal sometimes that it's almost time to have him here, and that I'm actually going to have another baby. I've wanted him for so long before I got pregnant. I can't wait!

Emergency Room

A couple months ago I was diagnosed with gallstones. I had a doctor's appointment with my surgeon, Dr Schmidt, who told me to eat bland, low-fat, no fried foods until after my surgery. He also told me that if I did have a bad attack I needed to go to the ER and would be admitted for a couple days to get antibiotics to reduce the inflammation of my gallbladder, and that would save us some time. That way he wouldn't have to operate while I'm pregnant.

Well, I've been doing pretty good about the diet and haven't had any bad attacks since being diagnosed. Tuesday night, however, I told Kevin that I wanted a hamburger. I was craving one so bad, and I figured since it's been a while since I had one it would be okay. He's learned to not argue with me while pregnant. He did ask if I thought that was a good idea, but I told him to pretty much be quiet because I was getting it! I should have listened...as usual.

At about 1:30am I woke up in SO much pain! I felt like I was having a heart attack. I was also having bad cold sweats and feeling very nauseous. I went to the restroom to throw up and started feeling like I was going to pass out so I called Kevin to wake him up. He rushed in there and saved me from almost passing out with my head in the toilet. (That would have been GROSS! Thanks Kev!) The pain got way worse, and it made my back start to spasm really bad. Then I started not being able to breathe. After passing out about 30 times I told Kevin that I needed to go to the ER. (Which is weird for me to say. I don't like making a big deal out of things.) I thought since I couldn't breathe and was sobbing in pain though, that it would be a good idea to go.

We packed Claire up and made it in the car at about 2:30am or so. On the way Kevin called his mom to meet us at the hospital to get Claire. He also called my parents, who got in their car and drove up. I continued to pass out about 10 more times on the way to the hospital. Kevin kept pushing me to wake me up. I would hit him after he did though because while I was passed out I was able to get some relief from the pain. (Sorry about hitting you Kev) Kevin decided to go to The Medical Center in Port Arthur because that's where both my doctors could go (OB/GYN and Surgeon). We did pass two other hospitals on the way. It was a safe decision just in case I would have had to have surgery it could have been my doctor doing it. On a funny note: Claire asked Kevin a couple times if it was time for Baby Lindon to come. She was hoping it was!

So we got there in record time. I immediately went over to a chair and got on my knees, arched my back and laid my head in the seat of the chair. That's the only position that made the spasms slack off a bit. Claire was so sweet. She was rubbing my back while Kevin was checking me in. She's so sympathetic! It seemed like forever before someone said we could go back. By the way, Kevin told the receptionist that we thought it was a gallbladder attack and that I had gallstones.

So Danita took Claire home, and Kevin and I went back into a little room where a lady on a computer asked me a bunch of questions like how far along are you, what was going on, etc. We told her the same thing we told the reception. I was then wheeled into an ER room. It seemed like FOREVER until yet another girl came in and asked the SAME EXACT QUESTIONS AS THE LAST GIRL! Is it SO hard to look at my chart! I mean the first girl put all this info into the computer for crying out loud, and they want more people to ask a person who is in SEVERE pain the same questions... Anyway, so the second chick who had a note pad and wrote down the same answers to the same questions left, and we wait forever again! By the way, I hadn't felt the baby move this entire time, which we pointed out to everyone we saw! When the RN came in, which seemed like hours later, he told me to lay down and he was going to check my stomach. Kevin finally told him to check the baby so he went and got a doppler. He was able to get Lindon's heart rate so that put us at ease a little bit. The RN told us that he was going to get some blood and put an IV in to give me some fluids and pain medicine. Thank goodness! So an hour or so later the doctor came in and pretty much did nothing and left. A lab tech came in right after and took my blood. Then the nurse soon followed with the IV and pain medicine. He gave me some fluids, Zofran for the nausea, and some Demerol. The Zofran was amazing! It did not knock me out, but it took away the nausea completely. It took about 10-15 minutes for the Demerol to take affect. It was weird because I could feel every bit of the pain, I just didn't care as much. I give it two thumbs up though!

I was NOT impressed about the lack of care for the baby though. You would think since they gave me a narcotic that they would hook my up to some monitors to monitor Lindon's reaction to the medicine. They didn't however. In fact they only took my vitals once the entire night, which we thought was bogus since I had passed out about 50 times. Anyway, so after about an hour on the Demerol it started wearing off so they gave me some more. Then about an hour or so after the second dose it started wearing off. We told the new nurse (shift change has happened), and we never heard anything back from her. She just said they were waiting for a call back from my OB/GYN, Dr Long. After about 30 minutes my mom went out and found the nurse, who said I couldn't have any more medicine. After that new I decided to try to get some sleep since that would be my only relief from the pain. I was told that an hour later the doctor finally came in with the blood work results and to talk to me. (I was asleep) Kev said the doc was about to wake me up, but before he could Kev asked about the results. The doctor said, "Well, they came back ok." Then he said, "Well, actually they showed maybe a bacterial infection and some levels of stuff were elevated, probably from the gallbladder attack." I woke up and he asked me what I wanted, to be admitted or go home. So I said, "What are you going to do for me if I stay??" He said they would be able to do better pain management, which I thought was funny since they just told me I couldn't have any more pain medicine...RETARDED! Needless to say, I decided to come home.

So after 6 1/2 hours in the ER, 8 hours in HORRIBLE pain (my attacks usually last about an hour), and $150 later I am back home. I was just telling some friends the other day how lucky I was because I'm 8 months pregnant and still have SO much energy. I am still able to mow my lawn with a push mower, edge, and weed eat. I am able to take care of Claire and my house with no issues, and still able to go places pretty comfortably! Well this attack has completely wiped my energy! Just sitting here typing I was tired. I don't feel like doing anything...AT ALL. I hate that feeling. I love cleaning my house, playing with Claire, walking to get the mail, and working out. I hope I get that energy back when my body recovers a bit.

34 Week Appointment & Family Reunion

Last Thursday was my 34 week appointment. I told the nurse that my right kidney has been bothering me, and that I was worried about it because during my gallbladder ultrasound the tech told me that I had fluid in my right kidney. She just told me that...well she really didn't tell me anything. She just said she would test my urine. That test came back negative, so no infection. Why does my kidney still hurt though? Anyway, so then I talked to Dr Long. He said that the surgeon, Dr Schmidt, had called him and said he was going to do surgery soon after the baby was born. He said the next week in fact, but I think I'm going to wait until around November. That way Kevin can build up some vacation time, and I can get the breastfeeding down with Lindon before I have to stop nursing for a couple days because of the anaesthesia. I also talked to him about not inducing, but I think I'm going to after all. These gallbladder attacks are SO PAINFUL! My next appointment is in two weeks, and I will be getting checked. I'm really curious as to if I am dilated or effaced because I have a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions all the time that get pretty painful sometimes. Maybe he'll just come on his own a couple weeks early...Wouldn't that be AWESOME!

Saturday was the Odom Reunion. We got there about 11:30am and stayed til about 1pm. Claire stayed behind to stay the night with her Gammy and Paw Paw so that Kev and I could go shopping for her birthday party that is Saturday. I hope she loves the presents we got her. I now understand why my mom was so stressed at holidays and birthdays. You want your kids to be happy, and you worry that they won't like the gifts. I so get that now. I used to tell my mom to not worry about it, and that if we didn't like the gift that we could just bring it back. Boy was I naive. I am SO worried about Claire's reaction. She wants one of those big princess cars that she can drive, but they are too expensive. We just can't afford one right now. So I hope she's not heartbroken. We got her a princess bike. Kevin is really excited to teach her how to ride it. We also got her a little helmet and shoulder and knee pads. She's going to look precious! I can't wait to see her in them. I'm kinda sad though because her cousins that live in Lufkin can't come. She LOVES her cousin Taylor, and I know she'll be sad that she's not there. My nephew, Hunter, has 2 T-ball games that day though so I understand why they can't come.

Reunion Pics: It was SO hot!!




I had my Woodville baby shower last Saturday. It was fun. We all just sat around talking. Not many people were there because a lot of people were on vacation and some were sick. I appreciate all the gifts though. I also appreciate my mom throwing it for me. She's one of my best friends! I'll have pictures up of the shower when I get them off my mom's camera. I also have another shower that my close friends are throwing me. I have the greatest friends ever! I really appreciate everything they do. I love how close we are, and that we would do anything for each other. It's awesome! After this shower I guess I will feel more ready. Because right now I don't feel ready at all! Kevin tells me all the time how many weeks I have left, and I tell him to be quiet because it freaks me out. I still feel like we have so many things to get done. We really don't though. We have all the big stuff from when Claire was born, we have preregistered at the hospital, we have paid our amount that we needed to pay up front, and I have my breastfeeding class scheduled. I don't know what else we would need. I mean we still need small stuff like diapers, wipes, burp clothes, and I really want a Graco double stroller. Other than that we are ready when I stop and think about it. Well, I guess ready or not here we come in a few weeks!