Kasey's Pregnancy & Delivary Summary

Wanted to put together a summary of pregnancy and delivery for Kasey Leigh.

First Trimester
I definitely had more morning sickness with this pregnancy. I only got sick once, and that was because of taking vitamins right before bed. I've taken vitamins before bed for a long right before bed, but for some reason in the first trimester this didn't work so well. I had to start taking vitamins at dinner time with food, and I actually stopped taking Omega 3 for a while. I lost 3 pounds during this trimester just like I did with Landon.

Second Trimester
Not sure if it's because of having more to do (Landon), being older, or just a different pregnancy but I've definitely been more tired during this pregnancy. It's probably a combination of the above. During the second trimester I kept expecting to get lots of energy but it didn't really happen. Most weekends I would take a nap when Landon did which could be over 2 hours. I still didn't have an issue sleeping at night after that. There were several nights that I would wake up at 3am and wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. I would try relaxing, drink warm milk but it didn't seem to work. It probably also was that I would wake up and my head would start thinking about all of the things I needed to do which didn't help much for trying to go back to sleep. My total weight gain for the first two trimesters was about 8 pounds (or 11 if you count the 3 I had lost).

Third Trimester
For some reason I felt like I actually got some more energy in the 3rd trimester. If I did take a nap I would have a harder time going to sleep at night. I definitely got slower and had more aches and pains when I got to around 30 weeks. I continued doing aerobics 3 times a week pretty much up to her birth. I worked out on Wednesday Nov 26th and Kasey was born that Friday. On Monday Nov 24th I had gained 21 pounds during the pregnancy. I worked in the office Monday but decided to work from home Tues and Wed just in case. Wednesday I tried to close as many things as possible in case I went into labor over the long holiday weekend. On Tuesday Nov 25th I decided to read Landon's birth story. It was interesting because it described things that I started experiencing like contractions when I would get up in the middle of the night. I knew it was near, but wasn't sure how near.

Kasey's Birth Story
Thanksgiving we had dinner at Greg's parent's house with his sister. After a great dinner we all went to Nanny's (Greg's grandmother) house where several cousins and Aunts and Uncles were. We had a good visit with everyone, and I was feeling good. As we were leaving I joked with Cindy that the night was young and I felt like I could still go somewhere else. I should have known this was the extra energy before labor starts.

That night I woke up with some contractions, but went back to bed. Then at 5:52am I woke up with pretty strong contractions. I decided to watch the clock some. After a few I told Greg they were about 10 minutes apart. They started getting closer together pretty fast. Greg decided to get up and take a shower just in case this was it. I wanted to eat something in case I was in early labor. My mom made me one of our holiday favorites lime green salad. I had some of that because it has cottage cheese in it (good protein).

About 8am we called the grandparents to put them on notice that we thought we were in labor. Grandma planned to take care of Landon and Grammy was going with us to the hospital. I took a shower and started getting ready. Contractions were getting stronger, and they had been 4-6 minutes apart since about 6:30am. We called Jeanean about 8:30am to tell her we thought we were in labor. She recommended getting in the shower to help get through contractions, and she said she would call back in 2 hours. A little before 9am we called the Grandmothers to come up to the house. Landon got up a little before 9. He wasn't sure what to do. By this time I was on the floor in the living room. I'd sit down, and then lean over the birthing ball (or big exercise ball that Grammy let us borrow) during contractions. He came in to give me a hug. I'd have a contraction and everyone would wait quietly until it was over then we'd go back to talking or telling Landon everything was ok. Grandma, Cindy and Grammy were all at the house at this time. Landon had 2 waffles and then left with Aunt Cindy and Grandma. We told him we'd see him that afternoon sometime. After he left, I decided to try the shower like Jeanean recommended. It did seem to help with the contractions (they were easier), but they got closer together (about 2 minutes). After getting out of the shower contractions were getting pretty intense, but I was torn if it was to early to go to the hospital. We talked to Jeanean about 10:30am, and she was going to call back in an hour. I got up to go to the bathroom and started shaking. I told Greg it was time to go to the hospital.

Jeanean called as we were driving out of the garage and we told her we were going in. Greg, Grammy and I got to the hospital about noon. When I got there I was 6cm dialated, 90% effaced, but she was still pretty high up. My water had not broken. They monitored Kasey and contractions for about 30 minutes. I was sitting up in the bed, and was pretty comfortable there. Kasey was fine and contractions were about 4-6 minutes apart. Even after they stopped monitoring I stayed sitting up in the bed because it was pretty comfortable. Earlier I would have a small contraction then a bigger one a couple minutes later. In the hospital it seemed that these were combining into pretty intense contractions. I would feel contractions across my back and then in the front. After going to the bathroom, I tried sitting on the birthing ball but this seemed to make the contractions stronger. I tried doing side lying position that I practiced the most and then rotating from side to side every 6 or so contractions. About 3 I asked Jeanean to check again. I was having urge to push. I was 8cm, 90% effaced, and Kasey had dropped quite a bit. Jeanean asked if I wanted her to break the bag of water. Because I had the urge to push and was only at 8cm, I said yes. Greg was surprised that I let her do this. Jeanean said things would move fast now. I got on my hands and knees and rocked back and forth to labor for a little while. Contractions were really intense and Kasey didn't seem to like that position so I went back to laying on my side and switching. I think she checked at this point and I was at 9cm. I still had the urge to push, but Jeanean said that if I pushed before the cervix was ready it would swell.

I worked through some contractions on one side and then basically said I'm pushing now and can't stop it. Jeanean checked and Kasey's head was right there. Jeanean basically sat on the bed because there wasn't time to get everything in place for pushing. I pushed Kasey out in a couple minutes (litterally). As with Landon it took longer to deliver the placenta than the baby. Kasey had a compound presentation which means that her hand was next to her face when she came out. She was born at 3:28pm. Luckily I didn't have any tears, which I was surprised about with the compound presentation. I also didn't bleed much so I didn't have to have Pitocin afterwards like I did with Landon. We were very happy to see Kasey. She was actually pretty quiet, but very alert and looking around. Kasey weighed 8 lb, 1 oz, 20 in long, and 13 1/2 in head, 13 in chest. Kasey's APGARs were 9 and 9 - she said they didn't give 10s.

Landon/pregnancy updates

Landon went back to the doctor today to check on his ear infections. He still has some infection in both ears but they are better. We got another medicine to clear it up for good. We'll go back in a month to check and make sure everything is cleared up.

Landon is getting better at leaving his blanket upstairs. When Landon was sick he lost a couple pounds down to 29 pounds. Today he was back up to 31.1 pounds and about 37 1/2 inches in height. Landon has been eating a lot since he's been feeling better. He'll sometimes eat all of his meal and want some of mine. This morning he had a breakfast burrito, and then ate about 3/4 of one of mine.

One of Landon's new things is boot socks. To keep warm at night he likes to wear the longer socks and pull them up to his knees. He knows this is funny. Sometimes he wants to do it during the day under pants as well. He calls them boot socks when they are pulled up.

I had an appointment on Monday. Kasey's heartbeat was good in the 130s. No dilation or effacement, but that doesn't really mean anything especially with the second one. So any day now, but could also be a little while. If she doesn't come by this weekend, they'll do sonogram and fetal monitoring to make sure everything is still ok.

Here are a couple pictures from November. First one is from November 7th when Landon was helping Greg to tighten screws on our dining room chairs. The second one is the from November 8th when Landon first started feeling sick. I had big pregnancy belly, sick guy in my lap and dog next to me. Thank goodness Grammy came over to help out that day. The third & fourth ones are from today Landon playing with his kitchen. Landon got a school report that said his favorite activity was cooking. He enjoys doing it at home as well.

Putting up Christmas Tree

Since we probably won't have much time soon, we decided to put up our Christmas tree. Landon was very excited about this. He said he didn't want to put up the tree he wanted to decorate. We had egg nog which we always did when decorating the tree while I was growing up. Landon seemed to like it. He enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree, and liked seeing the stockings. He kept telling us who's stocking was who's.

Here are a couple pictures from putting up the tree.

Landon sick, first ear infection

Greg took Landon back to the doctor on Tuesday Nov 11th because his fever seemed to stay pretty high (103ish), he wasn't getting any better, and there was a little bit of pink in his diaper (this is really why they wanted him to come in). Well he had his first ear infection in both ears (apparently pretty bad). Of course he didn't start saying his ears hurt until after that doctor visit. He got some antibiotics for the ear infection and we kept giving him Motrin and Tylenol for his fever.

On Thursday we noticed that something was coming out of his right ear. By this time Greg was sick as well, and decided to go to the doctor since it's so short until Kasey comes. So Greg is on about 5 things for cough, mucus, etc. Greg also took Landon in again on Friday because of the stuff coming out of his ear. He really seems to be feeling better, but his ear infections aren't getting better. His right ear drum had burst which was another first for him. Now we have stronger (bad tasting) antibiotics (he says it's weird and really doesn't like it. We also have to clean his ear a couple times a day and put drops in once a day. Today his ear seemed to start getting better, and so we'll see. He'll have to go back to the doctor in a week or so to make sure his ears are getting better. Hopefully Landon will be able to go back to school this week. His fever seems to be gone, and he's almost back to normal. We'll have lots of fun things to get back into like eating right (it's been get him to eat anything he'll eat), can't have blankie all the time (now he has it pretty much all day), and back to cleaning up toys and having a normal routine at night.

And on top of that my parents are sick as well. Hopefully everyone is well by end of this coming week and Kasey holds on until then.

I'm doing pretty good. Tired, but feeling good. I went to work out on Saturday which felt really good because I had not gone but once last week with the guys being sick and us not sleeping much with Landon sick. We'll see how this week goes with work. Hopefully it will start slowing down a little bit, but it hasn't so far.

Amy Stoker's shower

Amy is one of my sorority sisters that recently moved to DFW area. Amy and I are due about 3 weeks apart. I was able to go to her baby shower which was fun. She's having a second little boy, and it was fun to see little boy clothes and gifts. Here is a picture of Amy and I, and another one of Amy, Tracy and I.

Kasey update, Landon sick

All is still going well. I had an appointment on Friday Nov 7. It looks like she has started dropping. Jeanean had to move the monitor down about an inch and a half to get her heart beat. This doesn't really mean anything except that she's moving in the right direction.

Her heartbeat was in 130's/140's which is good.

We have everything washed, Kasey's bed set up in our room, the changing table downstairs with her clothes in it. We basically need to pack and finish cleaning up some stuff around the house. Needless to say I feel much better about being ready.

Landon has some kind of virus. For 3 days he's had fever, not eating or drinking much, and mainly feels like sleeping or just sitting around. Greg will probably call doctor again tomorrow just to see if there is anything else we should do to help him feel better or get him to eat. We we talked to the nurse this weekend she said there wasn't much we could do, but his fever wasn't high at that time. We'll see. Poor guy! Landon had strep throat once before, but this is really one of the first times he's been really sick.

Note that I added a Halloween entry you can check out (Oct 31).

Landon's new furniture

On Oct 23rd Landon's new furniture was delivered for his new room. He likes his bed. It's a bunk bed which of course means he wants to go to the top all of the time. We have the stairs blocked off so he can't go up, but someday he'll enjoy it. We still have to do some decoration in the room.

Here are some pictures. The pictures are of the furniture and when Landon got home from school to see his furniture for the first time. I also included some pictures of Kasey's room after Greg painted it Green.