And then there were three September 7, 2009

Today official marks Julianna’s 1 week birthday.  Wow, I’m not sure where to start… so much has happened in such a compact span of time.

This time last week, Juan and I were in the labor & delivery room and I was hooked up to an IV of the Pitocin.  Generally speaking the birthing process was not as hard as I thought it would be… In typical Robyn-fashion, I’d built up the experience in my mind to be something much larger than it was in reality.

We ended up deciding to take the pain medication & epidural during labor.  I know this is a controversial decision and I really agonized about it, but this decision ended up being a life-saver for me during the pushing phase of labor.   Typically once you start pushing, the baby is delivered within an hour… I ended up pushing for three hours and I believe having reserved my energy early in the labor process probably helped avoid a c-section.

Back to the story – The doctor came in the room to check out the progress of things around 5:00 pm.  My mom & grandfather were in the room visiting.  It was clear that the doctor was expecting to come in take a quick peek and come back in a couple hours…  Surprise!  I was fully dilated & 100% effaced.  Time to start pushing!  Everyone in the room was shocked by this news, Juan and me most of all.  He instantly got on the phone so his mom could get to the hospital ASAP.

Juan was so amazing.  He was by my side the entire time encouraging & supporting me.  I’m so blessed to have such an amazing man in my life.  Going through this experience has strengthened our relationship in ways that I could have never imagined.   I already really loved my husband, but the arrival of our child has demonstrated the depth of his loving & caring nature. (Side note:  On top of dealing with the arrival of  the baby, he has also been gracefully juggling a close relative in the hospital.

That the third hour of pushing was mentally and physically the hardest part of the process.  After the first two hours of pushing, I felt like we had not made any progress in terms of the birth.  I was just waiting for the doctor to call it quits and order a c-section.  At this point, Juan and I brought in reinforcements – my mother.  She joined my cheering section and helped out by pushing on my back while I was pushing during contractions.

At 7:57pm, Julianna Marie Mendez was born weighing 7 lbs 14 oz at 20 1/4 inches long.  There was some concern that her shoulder may have been injured during delivery so she was almost immediately taken to the NICU for an examination… Fortunately, everything was ok and she within 5 mins was released back to the labor & delivery room so I could finally see & hold her.

It was amazing… Love at first sight.  I think this could only happen with your children and maybe your grandchildren.  (The super moms/grandmas are pretty gaga about Julianna also.)  Sitting here now, I’m getting a little misty thinking about how much I love this little girl and our family.

Check out photos of Julianna’s first week

Week 36.5 Update: The countdown is on! August 27, 2009

Operation Julie Drop is scheduled to commence on Monday, Aug 31, assuming that I don’t go into labor anytime between now and then. 

This news came yesterday following an ultrasound & visit with the doctor.  I became a little suspicious that something was up when the ultrasound technician took the results to her supervisor… then came back with him in tow to redo the ultrasound measurements. 

The ultrasound told us that Baby Julie is still a chunky money with an estimated wieght of over 8 lbs.  Additionally we learned that I’m a little low on amniotic fluid.   The doctor was very concerned about the low fluid levels & a minor increase in blood pressure.  Before she even did the pelvic exam, she casually asked whether I wanted to be induced today or tomorrow.

According to my mother, who accompanied me on this trip, my less-then-eloquent response was, “TOMORROW?  Tomorrow is like Tomorrow!”  In my mind, today completely out of the question… Juan was at work and I had been up since before 6am and was in serious need of a shower before I committed to go into the hospital for a couple days.  After the doctor’s exam confirmed that I was not actually leaking amniotic fluid, she was willing to compromise with me on Monday.

There are several reasons why Monday is great…

1.  It’s not tomorrow
2. Julianna will have officially reached 37 weeks, which is apparently considered full term and the potential for problematic health risks is significantly decreased
3. It gives me the weekend to take care of all the stuff that I need to take care of before she actually arrives… important stuff like cleaning out my closet, getting a hair cut & mani/pedi. 
4. She’ll have an August birthday, which will give us the freedom down the road to decide whether or not she should start school or wait an additional year. 
5. It’s NOT Tomorrow!  At least not yet! 

One more note, I’ve officially stopped working.  My last day was yesterday.  I figured that if I saved up 4.5 weeks of vacation for little Julie that it was ok for me to take 2 days off work to enjoy on my own before her grand arrival.  I realized this morning that I have not taken a day (or half day) off since December when I wasn’t at a doctor’s visit.  Crazy, huh?

Week 36 Update: Prep for Operation Julie Drop August 22, 2009

This week I started having serious Braxton-Hicks contractions, which is my body’s way of working out in prep for the actual birth experience… or “Operation Julie Drop” as my husband would say.

On Thursday afternoon I found myself in the middle of a pretty stressful situation.  In the middle of a call to discuss the stressful situation, I started having contractions.  In 20 mins, I had 3 contractions, the second of which was pretty painful.  In my head I’m thinking, “OMG, Am I about to go into labor right now?”

Thankfully, Juan was sleeping in the next room… I IMed a co-worker that something was going on and hobbled my big self into the bedroom to wake him up.  As I was talking to him, I had another contraction.  We immediately called the nurse at my doctor’s office, who said I was done working for the day and needed to take a hot bath and rest with my feet up until tomorrow.

Things generally settled down.  Juan went to work and My mom brought over some diabetic friendly dinner.  Around 9:00, I had another round of 3 contractions within 9 mins of each other… I’m starting to seriously get concerned that I’m about to go into labor.

The less-than-rational side of me begins to worry that I have not packed a bag for the hospital.  If I really am going to have this baby in the next couple hours, I need to have all my stuff packed.  Then I realize that I have no idea what I should be packing… this is not a business trip so my standard items are probably not the most appropriate for the situation.  I seriously doubt my patent leather pumps will help motivate me to push harder because of their overwhelming cuteness factor.

I call my friend Lindsey (who is another one of my super moms) and she gives me the run down of all the items that I need to include in my bag.  She then starts asking me why I’m calling her so late asking about packing bags for the hospital.  Lindsey’s dad works with Juan so she already knew he was at work.  I fess up to what is going on and she reassures me that everything is ok… and that if my water breaks overnight she’ll come pick me up and take me to the hospital.  (That’s real friendship!) 

Out of this conversation about packing, Lindsey also mentions how important nursing PJs are in the hospital.  I don’t have any nursing PJ’s and seriously doubt that they have any PJs that I could just pick up at the store in my size.  (Read my post about the nightmare of finding plus size maternity clothes.) 

Now I’m thinking, “OMG, I don’t have nursing PJs.  In fact none of my clothes are clean, I need to start the laundry washing RIGHT NOW before the labor gets so bad that I can’t get them in the dry before I have to leave to the hospital.”   

I called my mom and she assured me that the world would not come to an end if I didn’t have a bag packed for the hospital and that I needed to obey the nurse and get my happy self back in bed and relax rather than rush around my house trying to figure out what articles of clothing would be an appropriate substitute for nursing PJs.  She also promised that she would personally help Juan pack my bag, if it was necessary.  As always, she was right.  I got back in bed.

Fortunately, I did not go into labor that night and have made it to Saturday morning with only minor normal contractions.  My hospital bag is now packed with clean clothes and I’ve got some overpriced nursing PJ’s on order for the moment when Operation Julie Drop does commence. 

It’s hard to believe that we are already at this point in the process!  It seems like yesterday that I was complaining about first trimester exhaustion and now I’m about to have a baby.  I’m so excited that Julianna is almost here! 

Baby Shower Extravaganza August 14, 2009

Last weekend was Julianna’s baby shower extravaganza comprised of twoshowers in two days.  It was a fun-filled whirlwind of cake, gifts, cake, onesies, cake and happy memories with my friends & family (eating cake.) 

 

Tammy, Myself and Amber

On Saturday, Amber & Tammy hosted my friends & co-workers at Tam’s house.  They really went overboard.  (Check out the picts of the cake!)  It was so much fun!   There were only a handful of people that attended, which was nice because I felt like I got to spend a little bit of quality time with everyone.

The best activity of the day by far was the onesie making arts & crafts project.  Each one of the guests was given a onesie and their choice of fabric with iron-on stuff on the back.  They were asked to cut out the fabric to make a couture custom onesie for Baby Julianna. 

 

Me & the Cooks! Gloria, Olga, Me & Mary

On Sunday, I attended the Mendez family shower.  All I can say is wow… This was definitely the mother of all baby showers.  The food was so amazing.  Juan’s mom, Olga,  made her famous carne guisada.  (My favorite!)  There were the yummy Mexican cinnamon cookies, oh and more CAKE!

There were so many people… correction… so many women!  There was a person in every seat with people overflowing into the kitchen and sitting on the floor.  With that many people in attendence you can only image the pile a gifts.  We filled my mom’s Cadillac to the roof with all the presents. 

Mom in the car full of shower gifts

Thinking back on the Mendez shower, I’m awestruck by the tremendous outpouring of generosity and love.  It was very clear that everyone in the room loved Olga (Juan’s mother), loved Juan & I, and were genuinely excited about the arrival of our first baby.  I feel blessed to have married into such an amazing group of people. 

Although, it was not part of the Baby Shower Extravaganza weekend, I would be remiss not to mention the Hutchison/Carlton shower a couple weeks ago with my side of the family and all my mother’s friends.  We had this shower at my grandfather’s house in La Porte.  There is something magical about that place.  I’m not sure if it’s the location or the history that I have in that location, but I always feel like that house is an extension of home regardless of where I happen to be calling home at that moment. 

Aunt Pam, me and Aunty Helen

My Aunty Helen really went all out for this party.  She made the cutest little thank you tins with chocolate covered peanuts, which I enjoyed 1 peanut a day for a week and a half.  The food was terrific, especially the cake and the icing dipped cookies.   

Ever since my gestational diabetes diagnosis, I’ve not been able to eat any refined sugar or sweets.  Access to cake even in very small quantities has been a special treat.  I showed pretty strong self control until the day of the Mendez shower when I indulged by eating a piece of cake with dinner (in addition to the cake I had at the shower.)  I’m salivating right now just thinking about eating cake… That’s my body hinting that I should close this post to go think about something other than cake. 

Robyn Post-Shower

Week 34.5 Update August 12, 2009

I tend to posts these updates following each doctor’s appointment since that’s when I learn something or have something new to talk about outside of being tired all the time or feeling like a beached whale.  I figured that the world has lost interest in those 2 redundant subjects… I know my husband is tired of listening to me talk about them. 

The best news of the day was that the baby’s growth rates have normalized.  She is still reading large, but not as alarming so as last week.  The doctor says that we may be able to avoid a C-section if things continue at this rate.  (WHOO HOO!)  The change is growth rate is directly connected to diabetes management.  The combination of the increased medication & nightly walking seem to have done the trick!   My fasting blood sugar is still a little high some mornings, but generally speaking my readings are finally within normal ranges 95% of the time.

The other interesting side effect of the diabetes management is weight loss.  As of yesterday, I weigh 2 lbs more than I did before I got pregnant.  The PA in my OB/GYN office thinks that once I deliver that will probably lose between 15-25 lbs!  It seems so strange to me that you could lose weight during pregnancy, but I’m not complaining!  I really needed to lose some weight and the plan is to continue some of the healthy eating once the baby gets here to continue the downward trend. 

My next doctor’s appointment & ultrasound are Aug 26th.  The doc says that if we can make it the next appointment without a rise in blood pressure, then she’ll probably opt to induce rather than place me on bed rest if my blood pressure was to suddenly sky rocket.  As she said this I’m sitting there thinking, “OMG!  There is no way that I’m going to be ready to have this baby in 2 weeks! I still need to get room set up & the kitchen cleared and…(you get my point.)” 

Managing my diabetes has completely consumed all my thinking so the doctor’s casual statement about potential induction in 2 weeks shocked me into the realization that the pregnancy part of this story is seriously almost over.  I need to get by butt in gear because the end of pregnancy means the start of motherhood and this mother is not even remotely ready.  (I know, I know… “You are never really ready. blah blah blah”… but this kid doesn’t have a place to sleep right now because there is so much stuff in her room.)

Thankfully the moms are coming to rescue to help me get my act together this weekend.  I really need the help!

Week 33 Update: She’s Huge! August 3, 2009

According to this morning’s ultrasound, Julianna is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule and is in the >90 percentile for birth weight at 33 weeks, which is doctor-speak for “Your baby is really huge.”  She already weighs over 6 lbs 7 oz give or take 10%.  Both the Mendez & Hutchison families don’t like to do anything small, so it would not surprise me if my not-so-little chunky monkey is born weighing in the double digits. 

The weight issue is a direct result of the gestational diabetes, which is quickly becoming a four letter word in my house.  Although, I’ve been anal retentive about every speck of food that goes into my mouth, my fasting blood sugar continues to remain on the high side.  The doctor increased my medication again today and cut back my diet to only meat, cheese, nuts and veggies.  I’ve never wanted a piece of cake or a starbucks frappechino so badly in my entire life!  Next weekend is going to be a huge challenge because I’m being thrown 2 baby showers:  one on Saturday & another on Sunday.   

The good news is that my huge baby appears to be happy & healthy.  The doctor suspects that unless something major happens I’ll probably end up having a c-section around week 39 (around Sept 11.)  She’d prefer to let the baby cook until the last minute and be really large, rather than induce early to have a smaller baby and potentially increase the risk of developmental issues.  I appreciate this philosophy.         

Additionally, my blood pressure is staying within normal ranges.  This reduces the chance of preclampsia, early labor & a whole slew of issues that I’d prefer not to think about.  (As if the stupid diabetes wasn’t enough!)  If my blood pressure stays ok, then I will probably avoid bed rest all together. 

Over the weekend she shifted positions and rather than laying horizontally across my belly, she’s now laying head down & feet up.  I told Juan last night that I thought she’d moved positions and sure enough today’s ultrasound confirmed it.  The dead giveaway was when her kicks and punches moved from my sides to my ribs & bladder. 

There are pros & cons to this adjustment.  Sitting has become much less comfortable and her new game of hanging upside down from my rib cage is less than pleasant.  The good news is that the nightly barrage of kicks & punches was significantly reduced, which made laying down on my side much easier.

Not-so-sweet Success!!! July 18, 2009

This morning marks the first day since my gestational diabetes diagnosis that my morning blood sugars have stayed within acceptable ranges!  My fasting blood sugar level was in the mid 90′s and following breakfast it only went into the mid 110′s.  

Trying to manage my diabetes has been a huge undertaking, which up until today has felt like a huge failure… I really don’t do well with failure, especially when I’ve been trying so hard.

I credit today’s success to the mini-breakdown I had yesterday when my blood sugar spiked to 199 following my diabetic friendly breakfast.  As a result of the ridiculously high numbers, I got on the phone with my doctor’s nurse who made some adjustments to my diet plan.  I’m hopeful that these adjustments are going to keep me off insulin shots and out of the hospital. 

Coincidentally, I also got a call yesterday from the nurse that my insurance company has assigned to me because I’ve officially been designated “high risk.”  It’s amusing to me that the insurance company doesn’t care about you until the realize that there is some potential that they might end up paying out some major bucks for your health care.  Prior to this experience, I’ve always had a trouble getting my insurance company to return phone calls… Now, I get personal calls once a week from a nurse to see how I’m doing and to answer any questions about diabetes or the pregnancy.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the additional resource.  I just think that it’s crappy that they don’t care about you until you become a potential expense for them.  I shouldn’t be surprised by this, insurance is a business. 

On a side note, I think my favorite part about blogging is naming my posts.  I know it’s uncool to laugh at your own jokes or puns, but I love the diabetes humor in today’s title.

Managing my inner zombie July 12, 2009

Well, I’m officially starting day 2 of managing my gestational diabetes.  I can tell that this is going to take some major practice to figure out but I’m excited that I’m already feeling less lethargic.  My OB/GYN said that dealing with diabetes is like running a wierd science experiment on your body. 

“How will my blood sugar level respond to this type of food or that type of food?”

I’ve been very focused on trying to stay within the recommendations so that my blood sugar remains more constant throughout the day.  Lunch didn’t work so well… I ate tuna with mayo, pickles and 6 crackers, all of which were completely within the guidelines for lunch and ended up on the couch with blood sugar levels through the roof.   After being so thoughtful about lunch, I was really discouraged that my body responded so poorly.

Fortunately, dinner was success.  I ate an Itailian sausage with stone ground mustard, asparagus with an apple & yogurt for dessert.  My blood sugar levels remained consistant throughout the entire evening and I seemed to avoid the large spike immediately following the meal. 

It’s really interesting to see how the drastic spikes in both directions impact how I feel.  It’s very obvious that when I drop too low or too high, I turn into a lethargic semi-comatose zombie.  I originally had associated this general exhaustion with the overall pregnancy.  I kept wondering how other pregnant women were able to function in the real world, because I was just barely functioning at an acceptable level and it was driving my husband nuts.

On days that I was working, literally, I would wake up, grab a quick breakfast, work for a couple hours, sleep through lunch eating something small, work until mid-afternoon and then try to sneak in another nap if my schedule permitted, finish out the day and then crash out on the couch for the rest of the evening. 

I’m realizing now that the majority of that zombie-like state was probably related to the diabetes, not necessarily the pregnancy.  It’s too bad that we didn’t figure this out a couple weeks ago because I think life could have been much easier.  At least we know now and I can manage it and function like a semi-normal human being again!

Icing on the cake that I can’t eat July 10, 2009

Between medical tests, work and new babies this week has been insane, but icing on the cake (which I’m not longer allowed to eat) was definitely the gestational diabetes diagnosis that came on Thursday morning.

I shouldn’t have been surprised by this diagnosis given my wieght and family history (father, aunt, uncle, grandfather… need I go on?)  but the reality is that it really caught me off guard.  The worst part of this situation is that my insurance company has made the process of getting my supplies nearly impossible.  I’ve literally spent 2 days trying to get the testing meter that I need to monitor my glucose levels and still have come up empty handed.

This all started yesterday morning when I got the dreaded call from the PA at my OB/GYN’s office that I was undeniably diabetic.  She reached me about 5 mins before an important client call and so I had to fake my way through an hour long call while mentally freaking out.    Once I had a free moment, I began frantically searching Google to figure out which pharmacy that I should instruct the doctor’s office to call to prescribe me all the crap that I was going to need to purchase to manage this…  Once that was done, I began frantically Googling gestational diabetes to ascertain exactly what was going on with my body.

Of course, I read all this terrible stuff about the medication that I was being prescribed (specifically that it wasn’t approved for pregnant women), which really freaked me out.  I also read about how awful this is for your baby and your body and by the time that Juan got home in the evening I’d worked myself into a panic about the whole situation, which I cleverly hid because I knew that he would go with me to the pharmacist and ask all the questions that were swirling around in my head.  (I know this is complete insanity, but for some reason yesterday it made a lot of sense!)

This panic exploded after dinner when he politely asked after dinner if I would drop him off at home so he could finish watching the Astros game while I went to the pharmacy to get my supplies.  The waterworks in the car were not pretty and although I reassured him that it was contained before the 2 of us walked into CVS, I ended up breaking down into sobs once more as soon as the pharmacist spoke to me.   Fortunately, she was very sweet and helpful… unfortunately, my insurance was not cooperating so we walked out of the store 45 mins later without any of my supplies.

Today, I spoke with the doctor’s office who calmed all my fears about the medication and got registered for the special gestational diabetes diet class at the hospital.  Then, I ended up getting passed from dept to dept within my insurance company trying to get approved for this special program that I thought would allow me get the diabetes supplies I needed.  This painful process sporadically sucked up 3+ hours out of my work day (that I’m going to have to make up over the weekend) and resulted in a nurse telling me at 5:45 this evening that all I really needed to do was to order the supplies from a medical supply store vs. a pharmacy and that program approval wasn’t actually a requirement for coverage.   As if that wasn’t annoying enough, since it was after business hours on a Friday all the approved medical supply vendors were going to be closed until Monday…   GRRRR!!!!!  Why couldn’t one of the 20 other people that I spoke with today had said that?!?!

On a happy note, I found a sample gestational diabetic diet online and was amazed at how much better I felt today after following it.   My energy level was higher today than it has been in weeks, which was good because I needed all that energy to deal with the insurance company!

I also want to add that I’m married to a really great guy.  He puts up with all my irrational, illogical nonsense and still tucks me in with a smile and kiss each night.  I’m so lucky to have him.

Week 29 Update July 6, 2009

 

Thomas Robert Hutchison

This update comes on a big day for my family.  My nephew, Thomas Robert Hutchison, was born in Augusta this morning at 8:29 am.  He weighs 8lbs 5oz and is 20.5 inches long!   I’m a beaming proud aunt and thrilled for my brother & sister-in-law. 

While Amanda was having her c-section, I was sitting in the waiting room of my OB/GYN.  The focus of today’s doctor visit was completing a 3 hr glucose test to see if I’ve developed gestational diabetes.  This extra long test is reserved for those special people who fail the preliminary screening.   

This test requires you to fast for 12 hrs, then draw blood, drink the nasty sugar drink, and then draw blood once every hour for the next 3 hours.  Fortunately, the woman who was taking blood was on her A-game today and was able to hit a blood vessel on the first try each time.  Last time they needed to draw blood it took 5 tear-filled attempts to find a vein.  Needless to say, I was not a happy camper that visit.  

That less-than-stellar experience definitely made me anxious about this trip where I knew they were going to be drawing blood on multiple occasions… In my mind, I’m thinking 5 attempts times 4 pulls equals at least 20 opportunities to get stuck like a pin cushion…  Are there 20 potential places on my body that they can stick?  Fortunately, this nightmare did not play out in reality!

Although the potential diabetes diagnosis was looming, the general tone of today’s appointment was cautiously optomistic.   My blood pressure seems to defying odds and staying in the normal range.   I’ve actually lost weight (2 lbs) since my last appointment a month ago, but the doctor didn’t seem very concerned about it.   It’s nuts that I’ve gained less than 8 lbs during this entire pregnancy because I swear that I look & feel like beached whale.  The sad thing is that I’m only getting bigger and there are still 2.5 months to go.

I’m continuing to deal with the pain associated with SPD (symphysis pubis dysfunction).  This issue is the prematurely loosening up of the ligaments that hold the bones of your pelvis together.  This happens as your body’s response to hormones that are preping you for delivery, but most women don’t deal with until the end of the 3rd trimester vs. the middle of the 2nd trimester.  I must confess that it’s not overly shocking that I’m overly hormonal… it’s been a consistent theme of my life ever since puberty.   

SPD makes basic tasks like walking, putting on your pants or rolling over in bed completely miserable.  The good news is that I was able to get a maternity belt from a friend and have been able to get back to a somewhat more normal life… at least with the belt I’m physically able to waddle through Target without breaking down into tears.    It’s the little things!

All in all, the pregnancy is going well.  I’m definately ready for this to be over.  I know that it’s really too early to feel that way, but I don’t care.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I’m ready for the baby to be here… I’m just ready to not be pregnant.  Too bad, those things seem to be tied pretty intimately to one another.