5 weeks out

Well here we are...5 weeks past our little angel's arrival and we are doing great. I am now officially a Stay At Home Mommy and today is the first day that we are home, just the two of us. Mikey has gone back to work and we are doing good. I thought I would finally get around to blogging about her getting here and a brief run down of the last 5 weeks...

August 20th we went in for inducement...complications started soon and after that I knew that my "plan" was out the window...cluster contractions make a gal consider and then give in to getting an epidural. The little angel didn't progress in a usual manner and she was not tolerating the cluster contractions very well and so we had to do a c-section around lunch on August 21...not my favorite part of the story by any means but she made it here safe and healthy and good and that's all that counts.








Two days later, we came home from the hospital amazed that we had a tiny little baby to care for. We've been amazed ever since. :-)


(this is my oldest niece Brooke holding her with her little sister Lauren sitting next to her...she was excited to get to pet her new cousin...hehe)


Things were going well, or so we thought. My milk didn't come in like I had hoped and Ruby-Jean wasn't putting on weight like the doctor wanted. When she was 18 days old, the doctor admitted us to the hospital for her being dehydrated and failure to thrive...words a new mother never wants to hear. We were only there overnight and poor little thing had an IV with fluids.


That was the boost she needed to get back on the right track. We've been supplementing her milk supply and she is growing by leaps and bounds.

She was born 6lbs. 5oz...she got down to 5lbs. 8oz but is now up to right at the 8lb mark. She is getting soooo big! Still in newborn diapers and clothes that is still baggy on her and everyone "oohs" & "ahhs" and says "look how tiny!". But we know the truth...she's HUGE!











We are still working with herbs and such to try to get my milk in it's fullest sense but will supplement for as long as we need in our own hippie nature. We love visitors and can't wait to show her off to all our friends and family.

Hugs and kisses to all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Bryan, TX

Last Post before Delivery

Well here we go...we have a plan...I was trying to avoid inducement but evidently it's something I can't seem to avoid...so might as well embrace it right? Not freak out bout it at all...LOL

Just with a wide variety of issues...age, blood pressure slowly going up in the past few weeks, no progression with dilation or effacement over the past 3 weeks...everything seems fine with Ruby-Jean...she's measuring fine and her heart rate is great and she's still moving around just great and all...grr arr...alien belly! She's been a delight to be pregnant with. I haven't been miserable, I've had relatively no swelling, I avoid the heat like the plague and I don't overdo it. It's been such a wonderful and awesome pregnancy. Yes, I've had a few pains here and there...there was the time around my Bryan shower where I may have overdid it cleaning the house and she then parked on sciatic nerve to remind me to sit my happy but down more and relax...plus it hurts like Hell to get up in the middle of the night to go pee cos either my hip is stuck in pain or she's squishing my full bladder so much that I don't know how to walk...but those are my only complaints. Oh and I waddle slowly...but I don't hate that. I don't know if I've been blinded by wanting to be pregnant for so long or if this truly has been such an easy pregnancy...Either way...it's been awesome. I'm not quite ready for it to end but I want her here...healthy and good.

So here we go...We are planned to go into the hospital Saturday night and do a cytotec assisted induction. Do the cytotec Saturday night to help get my cervix all softened and ready to go for labor. Then Sunday morning we will actually do the actual induction. So by Monday morning at the latest, she'll make her entrance into the world. And then there will be 3 of us. We'll see how well the other children accept her...I already have child gates...people ask me why...I say to keep the dogs away from her...lol...duh...I don't expect her to come out crawling or even scooting...but I want to keep the hellions at bay so she can have some time playing on the floor at some point without licks and noses in her face. :)

OK...and since my last day of work is tomorrow I went ahead and took my last belly shot here at the mirror in the bathroom at work...last one in this dress that I've been taking them mostly in the last few months...last one before she can star in her own...here is the progression since mid June of the Ruby-Jean bump.





Guess that's it for today's post...Next one should have a new adorable face to add to things. :)

Baby Shower #1 in Seguin

Well we had the first baby shower this past weekend and I survived it quite well...with minimal crying face...but that was expected...I am hormonal after all. :)

We had a really great time and I'm very glad that so many people turned out for it. Little Ruby-Jean got tons of awesome outfits and some great loot. She has no idea how loved she already is...even though I tell her multiple times a day. :)

Here are a few pics mom took at the shower on her new phone...

Let there be CAKE!

Me and a few friends from high school

All of RJC's loot!

Quilt Mom made for RJC

Blanket cousin Tabi made for RJC

Me and Miss Noella...cos at least Nikky knew that BYOB for a Baby shower meant to bring a baby...lol

And now a few from today since I was instructed to post more pictures...

Here is a side view from today (June 22, 2011) in the dress I wore to the shower...

And cos I can...Here is what happens when Mommy goes to the potty on a
Bring Your Sookie To Work Day...lol

I think that's it for today. Maybe I'll try to do a side view every Wednesday for an update...may even try to do a video if I can catch her rolling and kicking...she gets camera shy every time I get the video going...

Start of 3rd Trimester

Well, we are finally to the start of the third trimester. This has actually moved along rather fast and yet not fast enough...lol Things have been going really rather smoothly. We had a little issue where the doctor was concerned about a tiny bright spot on her heart in an ultrasound but after further checking and secondary ultrasound...she's as perfect as she can be. Plus we got a beautiful 3D shot of her little face. :) Can't argue with that...

People keep asking for shots of my belly...I know I'm showing but I just feel a bit fatter...but here you go anyways...


Here are some Happy Feet...


And one of her bout to suck her thumb...she was too cute on that day...


Guess that's it for now... :)

Momma and RJC signing off for now...

CD90 - Well looky there...

Well, I've been chomping at the bit to do this blog for...I don't know...7 weeks now...but I've held off and held off...mostly we wanted to make sure we got through the 1st trimester, then Mike got sick and then I got sick and then we had the horrible week last week where I had to put down my baby Flash...had him since he was just a wee little thing...but I digress...

We are PREGNANT! Just bout to 13 weeks...Wednesday is our Happy Bun-Bun (Chinese year of the bunny and all) days...that's when we turn a week older. We are still too early on to know what we got working in there but we have our individual suspicions. Here is a pic in case you wanna see...or can even make out the little alien in there...
But YAY! I can finally announce it to the world since we feel reasonably safe at this point. Who knows what life will throw our way...but we are happy and excited and nauseous and hormonal and moody and all that good stuff.

Here is the first good pic we got of the little Bun-Bun taken back right around week 11...
I seem to like this shot best cos it's front on and it's waving...lol...We are set to be due towards the end of August...so yay for the horrible hot summer that I'm about to think is pure Hell...but I'll enjoy every moment I think...I hope...lol

So there we go...finally can include all the FaceBook friends and family into the circle that know. I'm sure it'll make all my crazy status updates make more sense now. :) Have an awesome day!

CD?? - A new start

Well so I screwed things up when I went off the pill early this past month but I just had to...just had to...really had no choice. Result is that we have no idea where we stand in the fact of where in a cycle I am. Went in to the Dr yesterday morning and we talked and he did his scan...cyst is gone so yay...even though he had a really difficult time locating Ethel...she's a shy girl...either that or she just likes to roam...or both really. Lining in my uterus was only 7mm so he didn't think I was getting to a point to start bleeding even...Hell I feel like I've spotted enough in the past two weeks to constitute a period almost...ugh

We talked about the stress that has been involved with the past IUI process...the money is most of the stress for me. Even if it's a loan that's a gift to me...it's still money...and nothing stresses me out more than money. I want to try these big guns he's proposed but that's adding another 450-500 bucks to the mix bringing the monthly tally up to a grand. I know it's not about the money...it's bout the chance to get pregnant...it doesn't matter how I look at it though...I see the money out as gambling cos there is nothing for sure in this process...and that's a huge stress on me. So I asked him if we could go back to the simpler method that would alleviate the major money stress for me and the cheaper method worked before, just didn't stick for whatever reason we want to blame it on. He's luckily agreed to do that with me.

I am back on Femara. He said now was as good a time to start as any since we have no idea where to put me on a cycle chart. (BTW - in case I hadn't mentioned it previously, I went off the birth control pills early because of the humongously negative effect it had on my moods and overall psyche. It got bad and I got smart and stopped them and the Dr is OK with this...just puts me in a weird chart place now...) I started the Femara last night which I normally would do on Day 3 so we could call this Day 4...since I haven't started I see myself as on Day 31...ugh...I know what days to take the femara and I know what days to start testing for ovulation...I guess that's all that counts.

Gonna go back to no advil, backing down on caffeine, watching my relaxation techniques...all the things I've done in the past but I'm gonna try not to stress...I'm only paying for co-pays (which I don't even know if he'll have me come in for measuring or not...) and the Femara...so that's as low as I can get my money out to get and I'm really OK with that.

On a non-me related issue...I know I'm amazed too...lol...all my good thoughts are going out to a friend who needs em right now. Still keeping my fingers crossed for her...she may have a rough road ahead of her but I'll be here for her either way it goes. Least I will do my best to do so. (See it still had something to do with me...hehe)

Guess that's it for today...

CD18 - WTF? I think I'm getting cheated

So...I'm on the pill this month...trying to reabsorb my cyst...regain some semblance of a life again as well...so starting a couple of days ago...I start spotting...only 11 pills into this pack. And yes it's very minor but seriously? I get to the point where I'm just getting home last night and I'm full on cramping...but nothing big or major on the bleeding front...It's stressing me out...so I call the Dr this morning...ask if it's normal. She makes sure I haven't skipped a pill...makes sure I'm taking at the same time everyday...yes and yes...OK...hold on for a bit...she comes back and says yep...all normal...I'm like seriously? I was promised at least another week and a half of a "break" for this month. Now things are getting a little heavier and I don't know WTF to think. I know there is nothing I can do about it. It is what it is...I'm just tired of my body not working the way it's expected to.

And as far as the cyst goes...I don't know...I still am getting my little pangs of pain over there...and now today they are pretty strong from Lucy too...I'm very close to throwing my hands up in the air...waving them like I just don't care and say yank it all out...I'm sick and tired of it all. Slap me into some hormone therapy and get me on some good anti-depressants and I'll live out the rest of my life in oblivion...can we make this work?

I've gotten no closer to finding the gray area between being under strict Dr care and meds and procedures to make this work & just giving up completely. Mike says we can get my PCOS under control. I just not seeing it. I'm tired...maybe that's clouding my judgment. I don't know...right now I just feel cheated of my month of no cares and no worries...ugh...FML

CD5 - Answers at least...

Well been meaning to get to this for the past couple of days but kind of glad I was lazy and waited cos at least now I have more answers. So Month #1 off...had a great month. No expectations, good test to show everything was clear and unblocked...was able to relax and enjoy life. Was able to breathe...it was really good. Then boom I start...now for once I actually had no hormone medication and I had a 28 day textbook length cycle...no expectations...so why was I too down to come to work on Tuesday? Stupid hormones. I think it's just that and that alone. Can't control it...but guess I'm going to have to figure a way to work it out...can't keep taking a day off just cos I'm bleeding. I'm 32...I've been bleeding for MANY years now...it's not a "take a day off from work" excuse. Ugh...

So we went back to the doctor yesterday afternoon. While we were waiting Mikey and I decided that truly, we were barely able to catch our breath in one month after 17 or so months straight of crazy...So we wanted another month off. Explain that to Dr and he's cool with that and decides not to even bother with a scan since we wouldn't be doing anything this month regardless. I mentioned what I noticed this month and that I felt a lot of pain round the time that I ovulate and thought maybe I had...that made him want to check. So he does a scan and sure enough...my left ovary worked to produce a follicle without the help of meds...problem is...that without the meds, it didn't finish the job and it never released. So I have a 25mm "cyst" in that ovary. Couldn't do anything fertility wise this month anyway with it in the way. So I'm going for a month of the pill to make it get reabsorbed...fun times...go back to him on the 21st of September to make sure it's gone and go from there.

So long story short...my body wants to work without meds, but I don't think it can complete a freaking job without the meds...So that's kind of disheartening in itself. Mike is tired of the doctor process...so am I. Neither of us want to have to do this till we die...that's just what it feels like. I'm going with this month break, then see what we can do...maybe do the big guns next cycle and if that don't work...then I don't know...just give up?

I really wish I could be a bystander in all this...not know what I know. They always say knowledge is power...but in this case, knowledge is my prison. I know TOO MUCH bout what every tweak means and what every part of my body seems to do. Hell, I just learned that all these random pains I've had over the years when I've moved funny and felt like I had a twisted gut for a brief intense pain...that was just the cysts in my ovaries from the follicles that never got the message to release. Haven't had that in a long while...cos I've been on the hormone medication for so long so I've had follicles releasing and not hanging around to reabsorb on their own. Stupid Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome...really wish I never met you. I really try not to regret anything in life...everything is something to learn from, to grow from...but F-U PCOS...I wish I never had met you...you SUCK!

OK...I'll try to get outta my pity party and enjoy the next couple of weeks...with the help of the pill, I have NO expectations so maybe when I start again I won't end up home "sick" cos I can't face the world cos my body failed yet again...I think that's it for today...

CD11 - trying to get over being sick

So I'm not even supposed to care what day of this "cycle" I'm on...I'm not supposed to care...but I can't help it...I simply know. I had my HSG yesterday...wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. It was uncomfy when they were inserting the tube and such but that's completely normal. Supposedly he inflated a balloon as a stopper in my uterus...didn't feel it. I guess I was smart to take the Darvocet about an hour before I went in. I rock. Procedure took no time at all really and was like I said...other than the initial bit, painless. I really could have come back in to work...but seeing as I was dealing with the Throat issue/Viral infection...I just went home to rest anyways...and you never know when the cramping was gonna hit like after the saline procedure...it never hit by the way.

So results of the procedure...everything is great and clear. Fallopian tubes are twisty and turny like they are supposed to be but they are free and clear there is nothing in the uterus that is showing up as an abnormality. Great! Things look awesome...now why the Hell is crap not working...lol...as I said yesterday to a few friends in a text update...Audrey's Mystery Science Theater continues...

My Dr will be so pleased that everything looks perfect again. He loves when everything looks perfect...I do too...just not so much when stuff still doesn't work. But who knows...

That's the update on that in case anybody was out there wondering. Still battling this stupid viral infection that's making me feel like I have Strep throat...again...if I just had tested positive for that, I could have had a damn shot and I'd be feeling much better by now. Instead I get to wait it out...5-10 days if I'm lucky...ugh...broke down and made Mikey make me some mashed taters cos they slide down so easily. Hard to work on the healthy diet when I can't get the healthy stuff down without major pain. But I had two days resting at home and now back at work and dealing OK. Between the scientific minds of myself, Mike and Azure...I'm sick cos my body was in some sort of shock not being fed the fake hormones it's been used to. I'm willing to buy this, but damn it's no fun. I had a good healthy streak working. Nothing but infertility and migraines...I didn't miss actual sickness...not at all...it was nice being so healthy, even if I spend a large portion of time in the Dr's office regardless...ugh

I guess that's enough for today...gonna get home in a bit and relax some more...trying not to overdo it on the actual talking part and working on warm drinks...they go down easier...oh and more mashed potatoes please! Man I missed that! mmm..mmm...mmmmmmmm

oh and on another note...I'm ignoring any little noises I'm getting from Lucy and Ethel right now...which means I'm getting some talking but doing my best to put my fingers in my ears and sing loudly "LALALALALALALAlALALALALALALALALALALA"

CD4 - It's official...I'm off for the next month...

OK...so this morning was not any fun. Got to the Dr office just in time for my 9:30 appt...whew...great...now...just let me sit here for the next HOUR and finally get called back...ugh...so I thought I'd be back to work by now...but no...just starting. So he realizes I'm not a happy camper and need to talk some things out but we do the scan first. Everything looks fine. If I hear him say something looks perfect one more time...I swear...it's not perfect...if it was...there would other things we are looking at and measuring and we wouldn't be sad and depressed and looking at taking a break. Sorry...Anger still here...I'm afraid I took it out a bit on the nurse when she was doing her usual duties...I'm sorry from afar.

So we talk...and he can tell...I need a break. I hate to take the time off...but it's just something we have to do. Somehow I'm supposed to put all this outta my mind for the month. Yeah...that'll happen. He said take a vacation, take some time off and go somewhere...I'm sorry...what part of financially exhausted do you not get? I'm asking how much stuff will cost next month is so I can save up...sure...let me just go book a cruise with all my free cash. ugh...sorry...I know he means well...and I'm just taking it the wrong way. Cos I do that. Ugh.

Next Wednesday I go in to have another exploratory procedure to see again if there is anything causing things not to work. It's called Hysterosalpingogram (HSG). Basically it's like my last one but it's done in the radiology department at the hospital cos they are forcing a radioactive dye thru everything and they have to take x-rays to see that everything is moving right...I don't know. I have a call in to see how much I'm gonna need to have with me Wednesday morning. Wondering if Mike's gonna have to miss out on this fun or if he'll get to be a part of it. hmmm...

Got the name of the shots I'll have to be doing next month...and a couple of numbers of pharmacies to call to see how much more that's gonna be. That should enable more follicles and therefor supposedly a higher chance of conception...so they say...

I guess that's it for now. Just need to let loose this month and relax...so...looking for cheap and easy ways to do so...have to work hard at not letting this crap run my life...least for the next 30 days or so...sigh...