SHE'S HERE!!!

Ok... I don't have a nickname for our little bundle yet... so.. "Peanut" is here!!!



I have to laugh... The morning after my last post my contractions started (again)... well, you can see the results. LOL!!

THE STORY:
I went to my regular 37 week visit at my midwives office. I was contracting and feeling less chipper than my regular self. Did all the usual check-up stuff. When the midwife checked to see how dilated I was her face changed. Her eyes bugged out a bit and she said "Oh, BOY!! You're 7cm with a bulging bag". So off we went to the hospital (only a couple of minutes up the road from the office).

They were expecting me and rushed me to my L&D room. Got there around 11:45am. 30 min later I got my epidural (yay!!! I did not have one for the last 2 pregnancies and have some long term damage from things going so fast). I was hoping the epidural would slow down my labor (it did by about 30 minutes).

The midwife had 4 other ladies in labor at the time. It was a very busy day. Apparently the weather was playing into the day's events. It had been sunny and a BEAUTIFUL day until after Peanut was born. Within 20 min of her birth this is what it looked like outside:



The midwife came in a little before 1 and asked when I wanted her to break my water... I said.. whenever you have some time and want to deliver this babe (I don't stay pregnant for very long after my water breaks. With Tinkerbell - she was born about 30 min later).

That epidural was AMAZING!!!! I didn't feel much. I got to watch the monitor tell me I was having contractions. They started coming so fast one couldn't end completely before the next one would be going full force. Then her heart rate dropped to about 100BPM (should be in the 140's). They put an oxygen mask on me and turned me onto my right side. Well.... they did tell me that the epidural works by gravity... My right side went totally numb while my left side started to wake up. Then I started to FEEL the pain during transition. I rotated back to my back - slightly tipped to my left trying to convince the meds to move over (YES, I pushed the button for more drugs ha ha). It didn't have really a chance to do it's thing before the nurse came in to confirm that Peanut was "right there".

Wall buttons get pushed... midwife and nurses come rushing in. Everyone is moving in such a swift and smooth pattern it looked rehersed. For the first time ever (Peanut is my 5th child) I got to SEE one of my babies get born. I also was given the opportunity to help pull her out. WOW was NOT expecting that one.

I can honestly say that this was the easiest and literally most FUN birth I've ever experienced. I never knew that it could be so awesome... and controlled. I'm use to TONS of pain and my brain being Liquified GOO from all the chemicals and pain surging through my system. Rather than being in chaos I was in AWE.

Here's Peanut being held by daddy right after birth:



I got to enjoy some time with just the youngest 2 girls:



Here is the family... READY to visit the new baby:



Our Greeting when we got home:

37 weeks 2 days - What's different this time?

I'm still PG. YAY and wierd. I've never gone a day over 37 weeks. For the first time I am actually worried about having a big baby. I was told that Tinkerbell would have been between 9 1/2 and 10lbs. if she had been born at 40 weeks. She was about 7 1/2 lbs at 37 weeks. Most babies are just a little over 6lbs. at 37 weeks.

So.... I got to thinking... what's different this time. Well.. biggest thing is we're in a different house. The old house made us sick. By the time we moved out I had daily problems: dizziness, muscle weakness, memory loss, all joints hurt, headaches, lack of oomph. Basically... I was falling into walls, I would be climbing up the stairs and my legs would give out and down I would fall, I had to write EVERYTHING down or I couldn't remember what I was supposed to do, I was popping pain meds like they were nothing, I just sat around and didn't want to do anything or go anywhere. It was VERY scary. I was wondering what was wrong with me.

Then we moved to the "new house". This house was infected with drugs and had to go through a HUGE and expensive process to be de-drugged before we could move in. We ran out of $ before we could get everything fixed / replaced. The process eats through metal so all metal items (hinges, door knobs, faucets, light fixtures etc..) need to be replaced. We got about 1/2 way. We're living with the yucky looking metal stuff where we couldn't afford to tare it out.

Anyway... within about 2 months of moving here I started to feel a little better. Less symptoms. It took about 9 months in total for me to be completely rid of all the bad symptoms and be "human" again. Hubby and his brother and brother's wife were over at the old house a few weeks ago. They ripped out the old furnace and air ducts as well as the old water heater (it leaked). The furnace was at least 18 years old and NEEDED to be replaced. They found about 1 1/2 - 2 inches of dust and junk in the air duct returns. They also found a mason jar with some green chrystals in it (mouse poison?). They also found a completely melted golf ball in a lower portion of the furnace (on the burners) - this section was sealed and we could not get to it until they were ripping it out. I had the air ducts "cleaned" out about a year after moving there. I felt like I got the flu and it never went away after moving in there. The "cleaning" made me feel a bit better but I never felt 100% better. We lived there a total of about 11 years.

When we first were in the old house we had to remove a few DeCon bait traps (green poison) from the air returns in the front room. We vacuumed out TONS of green mouse poos from the air ducts as well. LOTS of crayons etc... The house had been lived in for many years by some pretty big families despite it's small size. It was built in 1911 and has seen MANY people over the years.

So... we were breathing in the fumes from Mouse poos, DeCon, a melted golf ball, who knows what was in the mason jar, the enormous buildup of stuff in the ducts... on top of that was the carpet that WE put into the basement that laid directly under the leaky tub and absorbed all the dripping water from 11 years of baths/showers. It was nearly completely black with mold.

All of that I was exposed to while pregnant with all of our current 4 children. The twins were born premature at 29 weeks. Power Ranger was born premature at 35 weeks and also has a genetic disorder. Also, with him I was driving around a Jeep Cherokee that we "inherited" from hubby's brother who used drugs and allowed friends to do drugs in the vehicle with him. Despite all my cleaning when we first got it there was NO way to clean out the a/c system. Drugs like to stick to plastic (we found out a lot when getting this house de-drugged). Tinkerbell was the last born over there but we were using more (expensive to operate) space heaters and less of the house furnace. Hubby was "experimenting". Tinker was born "full term" the day I turned 37 weeks. She is the only child without any issues or problems right from the beginning. We were also no longer driving the Jeep when I got PG with her.

Needless to day... the old house is being made "better" so no one else has to live the lives we did. We're going forward as we can afford to. Trying to sell it but make sure it's healthy when it is sold.

So what's different and "allowing" me to go well into full term status with this pregnancy? Well... EVERYTHING!!! Granted I do have more stress this time with finances and my dad's cancer and vehicle transmission problems. Apparently my body can cope with that kind of stress. I'm so glad to be able to breathe clean air without fumes etc.... Now I'm VERY curious as to WHO this little girl will be. She already has a much better start in life than the other kids did. (just with air quality alone)

Now... If I could just hurry up and shake this dang cold I've been fighting. It moved down into my lungs and I've been coughing up a storm. Everyone else in the family seems to have had it and shaken it in about 3-4 days. I have been worried about having her while fighting this illness. I don't want to be coughing on my new baby.

Baby update 5/12

Still preg. YAY!!! Latest update has me progressing. 4 1/2cm and 80% effaced. Who really knows when this little girl will be here. History tells me that it won't be too much longer. I will be "full term" and 37 weeks on Saturday. I'm hoping to make it that far. At that point I won't have to worry about her lungs and general state of health. "Tinkerbell" was born at 37 weeks and she was a healthy 7 1/2 pounds.

I've always wanted to be the type of woman who "glowed" while preg. Who just be-boped through life and never had any issues with being PG. Well.... my body had other plans. I've always had pretty eventful pregnancies that I would rather forget. I LOVE the babies.... I just greatly dislike the process to "bake" them.

We are definately in the final weeks (poss. days). I'm excited and relieved to be at the end of the rainbow.

Right now.... I REALLY miss my mom. This is the first PG that I have not had her here. I didn't know how much I relied on her strength, humor, love etc... She's taking care of my dad who definately needs her far more than I do. Having her around always brought a peace and a strength that I desperately need at this time. We would stay up late working on wordsearch puzzles.... I would give her a perm and cut her hair... LOTS of giggling could be heard until all strange hours of the morning. She is such a neat woman. I have been truely blessed to have been her daughter. Sometimes I just need a hug from her. It's been nearly a year since we've seen each other. It's so hard being 600 miles apart.