A very Mouseketacular shower!

Last weekend, my mom hosted our baby boy's shower. I am 32 weeks now and still holding on -with medication and having irregular contractions-, but hoping for the best.

Since our baby boy will be the first boy in our family in a long time since we are three sisters and then I had our daughter, I knew it would be a big event. The theme was Baby Mickey and everything in blue: the first time there was so much blue in our house!  We had lots of fun and we are very grateful to everyone who came to celebrate with us this special moment in our lives.

Here are some of the pictures:

Bassinet for our baby boy filled with everything Mickey :)

Beautiful and delicious cake!

Chocolate and vanilla lollipops.

The Price is Right baby shower game. Guests had to guess the total amount plus tax.

Baby Mickey painted by my sister.

Guests enjoying some of the games. 

Baby shower trivia and Word Puzzle.

Matching pairs of tiny socks.

Half of the gifts. Thank you to everyone who came.

E's birth story

With this whole issue of preterm labor, I realized that I haven't shared my daughter's birth story. I thought it would be a great idea to remember that day in May 2011 when we welcomed her with open arms into the World! So here it is: 

My labor story is long since I was in pain, having contractions (in the early stages of labor for over two weeks). On my 37th week checkup, I was 1cm dilated so we knew that the contractions I had been having were doing something. The next week I had progressed to 3cm and 80% effaced. At that point the Dr. told me you are in labor so you should go into active labor anytime now. Guess what? I didn't! I kept having on and off contractions, but no more progress. I went to my 39th week checkup and still no change, but contractions had been getting stronger at times. (Also, I had been to the hospital a couple of times for decreased movement and contractions getting closer, but they sent me home). That day the Dr. told me that I would be able to go into labor within 24-48 hours, but that didn't happen either. Full term rolled by and still no baby! I should mention that I went in on Sunday (39wks6d) for decreased movement and everything looked good except for the fact that I was having contractions every 2-4 mins and they still sent me home as I was not progressing.

On Monday, when I turned 40 weeks, I started having really strong headaches, my lower back aches were getting stronger and I was feeling really nauseous. The Dr. called me checking up on my visit to the hospital the day before. I told him everything and told me to go to the office the next day. On Tuesday went to the office and was still 3-4 cm and 80% effaced. He was baffled as to why I hadn't gone into labor yet. We talked about induction and c-section and the risks since I was overdue. Well, Tuesday and Wednesday I still felt sick (headaches, nausea and pain plus on and off contractions). On Thursday, while Egy was on a conference call for a project due on his class, my parents and I decided to go for a walk to see if more walking (yeah, I basically had walked all of Manhattan already, even taking subways!) would do the trick. We sat at a Dunkin Donuts and then I realized that I hadn't felt baby E move all day. So I called the office and told me to go in to the hospital because I needed to be monitored. 

At the hospital, they hooked me up and they noticed that her heartbeat was very high (over 170) and wouldn't calm down. In addition, her heat beat stopped at times that even the nurses looked worried. They were doing a sonogram to test for fluid levels (which were normal) and measuring. When it got to finding her breathing score, they were there a while. I could see something in their faces. After a while and many glasses of water later, her heat beat went back to normal. Then one of the nurses came and said that I was going to be discharged. My mom, worried, went to the nurses and said that she wanted to talk to my doctor (his partner was the doctor on call, who kept saying that supposedly my body was not ready). After saying that they had spoken to the doctor (the other one) when they had not (I had called the office and  no one was there and the nurse later confirmed that they had not called yet) and some more time passed, they finally got hold of my doctor. He said that I should be admitted for induction. The nurse went to me to ask me what I wanted to do. I of course said that I wanted to have the baby at that moment as I couldn't handle anymore of the pain and I was worried about the baby's condition.

So that's when the real labor story began! At 8:30pm they started pitocin. At that point I could handle contractions without pain meds. (I even worked on a paper due the week after). At 12am, I was checked and was basically the same. Soon after, I started having cramping like if I needed to use the bathroom so they checked again at 3:00am and I was at 4cm. After 3am, contractions were back to back and pain was awful because I felt everything on my back, nothing on my abdomen. I suffer from sacroilial joint sclerosis (condition in the coccyx) which made the pain worse. At that time I asked for an epidural which I had in by 4:15am. The nurse said that we should get some sleep so that's what we did. At 5:30am the nurse comes in and says that they will put me an oxygen mask. I knew that something was not right with baby's heart beat because that's what O2 is for. She said that hb was decreasing after contractions. Right at that moment I felt a big gush and I asked if my water had broken (thought for a moment that I peed myself b/c the foley had come out) She checked, it was my water and a resident came saying that I was 9-10 and 100% effaced. Her next sentence: "We better call Dr. Gardner now". 

They were impressed that I had progressed that fast in a little over an hour. My doctor came around 6am. Checked me and asked if I felt anything and I said no. The baby was +2 station, so basically coming out and about to crown. He had to take me off the epidural so I could feel contractions and the need to push. I started feeling some of them and at certain points need to push. The worse part was the shakes; I could barely concentrate because of how bad I was shaking after the epidural. So I would say I started pushing at about 6:30am (didn't take that many pushes) and our baby made her debut at 7:13am!! The labor part was not that bad at all...much better than I expected!

29 weeks and on bed rest...

As some of you may know, I am finally back home after some tense days at Labor & Delivery (L&D) for preterm labor. If you know my previous birth story with daughter E, you wouldn't think that I would be one having preterm labor symptoms. She was born past her due date at 40 weeks 4 days after an induced labor.

You may now be asking how did I notice and honestly, I think it was my mommy instincts kicking in as I did not have any real pain. It started mid afternoon on Monday while I was at work when I felt how my belly would tighten and loosen without a real pattern or any pain. I thought I was having Braxton Hicks contractions so at first didn't think anything of them. However, after half an hour I had quite a few and even though I was sitting down with my legs up and drinking as much water as I could - as dehydration can cause contractions -, they didn't seem to go away. After an hour of my belly tightening, I decided to call my OB GYN office and was told to head to L&D as I had more than 6 in an hour.

On the drive to the hospital, I kept feeling them which made me nervous. As soon as I got to the hospital, I was put on the monitor to check on the baby's heartbeat and contractions. In the period of an hour, the monitor picked some contractions but not many and I didn't feel any real pain so I thought everything would be fine. The nurse checked me for dilation and everything seemed fine. However, the doctor gave orders to keep me overnight in observation just in case. At 4am, the doctor came to check up on me -she had been called in to attend an emergency delivery-, and she said that my contractions had stopped so maybe it was due to dehydration and that if I was at 0 dilation, I would be discharged. Little did I know what was coming next.

The doctor proceeded to check me and I knew something was wrong when I saw her face completely change. She then asked me if I had a baby before and how long ago. I also told her that I was being monitored every 2 weeks for incompetent cervix after a procedure I had done and she said that was a cause for concern. She then told me that I was 1cm dilated and the cervix was thinner than she'd like for 28 weeks gestational period. She told me that I would be admitted and be given steroid shots for the baby's lungs and medicine to stop contractions and labor. Hearing those words made me really nervous, especially since in the Observation area of L&D I had to be alone. Obviously, I called my husband at 4am to tell him what was happening.

After being admitted to the hospital, they gave me Procardia twice a day to stop contractions plus an IV line to keep me hydrated. Even though I was given medicine, I still kept feeling some menstrual-like cramping sporadically which meant that I could not go home. At one point, the cramping got constant plus dull lower backache which led to 3 dosis of Brethine injections to stop contractions. On Friday, my doctor came to check me and told me that if I remained the same, I would be able to go home on bed rest and still taking the Procardia. However, if I had dilated some more, they would keep me in the hospital until I gave birth. Thankfully, the checkup revealed that labor had not progressed so I was discharged. We are all relieved as it means that baby boy can keep "cooking" longer.

Preterm labor is labor that happens at any time before 37 weeks gestation and it can happen to anyone. It is important to keep in mind symptoms of preterm labor and contact your doctor if you experience any of the signs. These are: contractions every 10 minutes or less, change in vaginal discharge, pelvic pressure, dull backache, menstrual-like cramping and abdominal cramps. For more information, visit Signs of Preterm Labor, March of Dimes.  For any mommy-to-be preterm labor can be scary, but there are drugs that can be given to stop labor and help baby mature his or her lungs. For more information, visit Drugs for use in preterm labor.

My family and I want to thank everyone who has been praying and thinking of us so that baby boy can be born as close to full term as possible. 

Many thanks!

-themomthelawyerthehousewife