Give a little bit....

It's that time of the year again. You know, when its not even Thanksgiving yet and Christmas is everywhere? And of course I'm ready to explode with Christmas cheer everywhere because I am its #1 fan :)

Falalalala..lala..la..la

 
Now onto the point of my post. I've done quite a bit of thinking recently and I told my husband that in lieu of my Christmas gift this year, I want him to take the funds he would have spent and donate it to a charity of my choice.

Now let me clarify. I'm not trying to achieve saint-hood or win most humanitarian of the year award so I hope none of you rolled your eyes at me just now. I highly enjoy receiving gifts as I do giving them.

I'm simply trying to fulfill a very real life goal of mine; to just be a decent human being. I feel like this can be achieved by being a good example to my son and genuinely wanting to help people in need any way I can.

 I don't make a lot of money but our basic needs are met. I am currently living in a 1 bedroom apartment (which is slowly starting to feel a lot smaller) and supporting my DH through his last semester of completing his master's in teaching. This being said, I want for nothing and because of this I feel I have plenty to give.

 
I have such a big issue with gifts and certain sides of our families around this time. I'm just sick and tired of losing enjoyment from my beloved holiday over worrying about how many gifts I have to buy this year. Call this an ulterior motive if you will, but I want the real magic of this holiday back.

 
Well thankfully my DH thought this was a fantastic idea and decided to follow in my footsteps (love him!). Come Christmas morning he'll be getting a card from me filled with mushy love sonnets about how I adore his very essence. Maybe even a naughty picture or two ;)
However, I don’t want to stop just there, I want to do more. So as part of my donation present I also plan to not turn down ANY requests for donations from here till at the very least end of the year. Whatever I have I will give. For example, today McDonalds asked if I wanted to give a dollar donation and I said “of course!”

 
I normally don't turn down these requests but I'll admit I have said no a few times.
So Santa's, pet shelters, charity drives, girl scouts, etc. beware! I'm coming for you! J

 
Please feel free to share with me your Christmas plans, favorite charities or other ways my soul can continue on giving.

 
Humbly quaking on,
~JD

 

5 months and lumpy!

How in the world are their mom's out there who find the time (and energy) to exercise? Are you all some sort of advance human species put on this planet to mock me? LOL

I lost all the baby weight so that is a plus. Anyone out there in cyber land have any good workout regiments? I need to get back on track before the holidays makes this worse.

Ok, tiny rant over.

So life with my tiny, precious, ever-changing little man is more wonderful than I have words for, I truly love being a mom. Being a working mom makes me appreciate every single second I get with him but I love the fact that my son gets to spend so much time with his Daddy. My DH is an excellent father. He has step up to the plate in ways that truly break down these stereotypical gender roles placed by our society. Even though Henry lights up when he sees me, the way he looks and plays with DH is entirely different than what we have.

As an incredibly squishy little thing, I can't complain. Henry's temperament is just set to sweet. New environments, noises and people do not upset him. He loves children and senior citizens with wrinkly faces (laughs up a storm!)

My mom tells me he reminds her of me in personality when I was his age. The looks department is a different story. If I didn't have him inside of me for 9 months I would ask for a DNA test.

Isn't he adorable? Not like I'm bias or anything :)
I hope he keeps those big blue eyes...totally not Mommy's eyes.

Sleeping for the most part is going well, he can sleep through the night but has been congested these past few nights and I believe he is teething so multiple waking’s are currently happening.

Milestones so far...

·         I have seen him roll over from belly to back 3x in one day. Hasn't happened again.

·         I know he can roll from back to belly since I found him on his belly one morning in the crib.

·         Can sit up WITH assistance

·         And earned his PhD last week! :P

Honestly he is on a normal track and I don't worry about every little thing he is or isn't doing. Our pediatrician says he looks great and I'm good with that.

He just started rice cereal recently; the pediatrician recommended it for practice as she wants us to start solids at 6 months. He did great and absolutely LOVED it! Today we move onto oatmeal and then barley. I've decided to give him his first solid on Thanksgiving. He will be enjoying sweet potatoes a-la Mommy style with the rest of us. Can't wait to start pureeing!

Nomm Nomm Nomm :)

 

Deliciously Quaking On,
~JD

Goodbye Summer!

Hello All!

My summer "vacation" has finally come to an end since this last week I officially returned back to work. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do since I could not bear to be parted from my baby boy. The only solace I take with me is that his Daddy will be taking care of him part time (3 days a week) until January. Since we are both off on weekends this means that he will only be with my sister's nanny 2 times a week. My mom is a single mother and always worked constantly while we were growing up that it is important to me that Henry have as much time as possible with us as his caregivers.

Well aside from that, my little man is 3 months old today! the time has seriously just flown by. Their isn't a day that doesn't go by I don't thank God for this little guy. I hope to one day give him a little brother or sister but if he is meant to be my only one I am perfectly ok with that. DH and I are in no hurry to try again soon, we will more than likely re-visit that subject when he is 1 or 2 years old.
Motherhood is definitely what I expected and more. I am tired constantly but somehow have learned to live my life with very little sleep. I was always a naturally lazy person and motherhood has definitely changed my energy levels around. I'm always pushing my body to keep moving.

Henry is a wonderful, sweet and happy baby boy. Cries only when he wants something. Never went through a colicky phase (thank God!) and for the most part is a good sleeper. He will sleep long stretches at night, waking only once maybe twice for a feeding. He has on occasion had an 8-10hr stretch but nothing consistent at this point. As far as milestones go he has not rolled over or given a good "real" laugh yet but he smiles/coos often, clasps his hands together and is starting to want to reach for objects. He also does really well keeping himself sitting up in his infant support chair (not the bumbo). We like the chair the best for building his neck muscles since he hates tummy time so much.

 

At his 2 month appointment he weighed in at 13lbs 12oz and was 24 inches. I'm sure he is closer to 15lbs by now, lol.

 

Thanks for checking in on us!

(I apologize for any misspelling/grammar issues, its past my bedtime)

 

Quacking tiredly/happily on,

~JD

 

 





My little guy is here!

It's been almost two months since I've posted! I apologize, after the baby shower I became a bit lazy and now I just haven't had a moment to myself to update my blog, lol

My Birth Story

At 39 weeks 4 days I set a date to have an induction done for June 3. My regular OBGYN did not want me past 40 weeks due to Lil Ducky's size, my gestational diabetes and his SUA issues. Since I was not dilated and my cervix was still very closed and high he did warn me my C-section rate was a 60-70% chance.
I had an ultrasound appointment the next day with the high risk office where it was determine that he was measuring over 9lbs. My high risk OBGYN did not feel that an induction was appropriate and could potentially put the baby and I at higher risk for complications. Both my doctor's felt it was in our better interest to have a scheduled C-section. After much talking and debating I decided to go ahead with the C-section. I grieved the loss of losing my natural birth plan and moved forward, excited to finally be meeting my little guy. 
C-sections are incredibly strange and I will tell you that if it wasn't for having my DH there my anxiety levels would have gone through the roof! I was laid out on the table as if I was on a cross and I just remember feeling shoved around for a bit by the doctor's while they made small talk over God knows what. I just stayed talking with DH the whole time. 
Suddenly I felt a huge amount of pressure like someone had sat on my chest and then I heard my baby boy! I can't begin to describe how amazing it was to hear him.
They cleaned him up  and gave him to DH. He was so quiet just staring at up at us and I remember just being in complete awe of this little stranger. 

My sweet boy Henry. He weighed 9lbs 4oz. <3

Here is my little guy at one week old.

We are all doing very well. Henry is such a good baby and I am enjoying every minute of being a new mommy! I enjoyed every moment of my pregnancy, even the last month that I was so uncomfortable & irritable all the time, lol. My journey has ended but OUR journey as a family has just begun.
Thank you everyone for the support you have lend me along the way. I will continue to keep my blog updated and I look forward to some of my favorite bloggers getting their chance to fulfill the dream of motherhood as well. 

Very Happily Quaking On,
 ~JD

Tick Tock..

Hello Cyber land!
I wanted to pop in and give a quick update. 35 weeks and 4 days today. I can't believe how little time I have left. No words can express how anxious and excited I am to meet this little guy. I'm not completely set-up by any means so he can take his time getting here but I am ready to meet him :)
We had our baby shower on Sunday. It was nothing short of overwhelming to say the least (in a good way).
We were so blessed to have so many friends and family show up (it was co-ed) and my living room is proof of the generosity from all our guests. This kid has more stuff than I do!
I can't wait to finish sorting & cleaning all his stuff. I think I'm finally nesting (about time!) and I just can't focus anymore at work. I have two more weeks left before I leave and I'm counting down the seconds, lol.
Lil Ducky is doing well. He was 6lbs at my 34 weeks and 5 day ultrasound, putting him in the 73 percentile. He is going to be a big boy and it’s not coming from me. I can thank his 6ft father for that, lol.
I still have a Lamaze class coming up this weekend and a meet and greet with Ducky's future pediatrician. After that it’s all just a waiting game...

Thank you ladies for all the support I've received throughout this journey. Every one of you is a mother of the heart and I hope that I can lend that same support back to you to get you to this point in your journey when the time comes. When it comes down to issues of infertility nothing keeps someone going like an uplifting community who understand every fustrating feeling. You all are just incredible women.

Quaking on,

~JD

32 weeks and he has a face!

I turned 32 weeks on Saturday! Woohoo!
This means I'm 8 weeks away from my due date and 6 weeks away from my last day at work (cannot freakin wait!). This month I'm working 3 weekends in a row (on top of my normal M-F) and the last weeked is my baby shower. I'm going to be exhaused but I'm hoping that will only make the time go by faster, lol (glass half full kind of outlook).
Last thursday I had a growth ultrasound. Baby boy is contiunally doing fantastic and is 4lbs 3oz. He is only a couple days ahead now so I'm hoping he gains weight nice and slow as I fear having a big baby will make my doctor push a c-section. So far even with GD and SUA the C word has not been mentioned as I'm assuming baby boy is doing great and so am I.
Since changing my nutrition around I have lost 4lbs which means I've only gain 6lbs during this pregancy, unbelieveable as I feel enourmous. Starting as a bigger girl at 220 lbs (I tend to not look it since I have very large breasts) my goal was simply not to gain more than 25lbs. So happy to have that working out so far.
The technician was also able to get a 3D picture too! It's terrible and blurry but for a moment I saw his face! his beautiful, blurry little face :)

He looks like he is resting peacefully in there. At the begining of the ultrasound the first thing out of the techincians mouth was "ahh look, he has lots of hair!" She showed me all these little tiny squiggly lines coming off of his head, so cute! And for all those curious, no I did not have a huge hearburn issue. At best it hit 2-3 times and thats it. So the myth has been debunked!


I'm pretty confident he is going to have my hair (at least the quantity). DH was a pretty bald headed baby but I was born a wolf. Here is a picture of me barely 3 weeks old. I was a full term, way past my due baby and my mom had my ears pieced at only a few days old (just in case anybody thinks I don't look like a newborn here, lol)

Hehe...I wish I had this kind of volume now!

I'll have to post a picture of my DH so you guys can try to figure out what my little guy is going to look like!

Quaking on

~JD

Gestational Diabetes (GD)

So as I mentioned in my last post I have GD and therefore I have to make some changes to my lifestyle.
This past Monday I had a growth ultrasound. Baby boy is already 3lbs 1 oz., measuring a week ahead and growing beautifully! He was very shy per usual and we didn't get any good shots of his profile. My ultrasound place has 3D capability but I have a feeling we won't be getting any good shots of those since he loves hiding his face, oh well...I've always been a big fan of surprises anyway. You won't be hiding your face from me soon enough little man! lol

Afterwards we meet with the nutritionist. I love this lady and I kid you not she looks and sounds just like Lisa Lampanelli! And her name is Lisa! Ha! Ok moving on.
Seems like I failed my 3hr intervals by only 1-2 points above their standards (Doh!) So I'm very borderline.
She didn't want to put me on any medications because she feels that a diet change should be enough to control my GD for the remainder of the pregnancy. I am being monitored for 2 weeks to make sure this new diet really is helping me control my sugars.

Ok so here is a little GD 101.
Gestational Diabetes is a type of diabetes developed only during pregnancy. This is a disease of metabolism which causes your blood sugar to be too high. Your body, when functioning properly breaks down the food you eat and converts it into a simple sugar known as glucose which is your body's main source of energy.
With GD, your placenta can interrupt your own insulin production. This is why any woman; heavy, thin, healthy etc. can form GD. You are at a higher risk if you don't eat well or are a heavier set woman but plenty of thin healthy women can get this too. Just luck of the draw in the end.
Monitoring and controlling GD will help future complications such as a larger than normal baby (which increases your chances of an early birth & C-section), developing Jaundice and developing Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) among others. Even though your GD will leave after you give birth you can be at risk to develop type II diabetes which is why monitoring your blood sugars will continue about 6 weeks post-partum.
(This is all information given to me in my "Managing Gestational Diabetes" booklet. It's an easy read and very informative.)

Currently I check my blood sugars with my glucometer 4 times a day. I check once in the morning when I wake up and 2hrs after breakfast, lunch and dinner. During the morning my numbers should be between 70-95 and after meals they should be between 70-120. I have had no problems with my after meal numbers but I couldn't figure out why my numbers where above 95 in the morning. Finally I realized my after dinner snacks might be to blame. Once I cut those out my numbers were starting to fall within the right range. 3 meals and 3 (now 2) snacks a day seem a lot to me, but I'm handling it well. My appetite hasn't been very strong during this pregnancy so sometimes I have to force myself to eat.
I'm still learning & testing my boundaries on food consumption but there are 3 rules everyone should follow.

1. Protein at every meal. This helps to avoid that crashing feeling one gets after a meal because of eating too many carbs.

2. If a food has more than 6% of fiber, it actually helps you subtract from the number of carbs you’re having in your meal.

3. No simple sugars, no fruit juices and fruit should not be had in the morning or after dinner.

I won't lie, I already live without indulging in wine every now and again so being told I can't enjoy some sour patch gummies now too seems cruel but....I know I would do anything for this kid so it’s not a big sacrifice. He will be here soon and I needed to eat more veggies in my life anyways :)

For addtional information you can visit National Institue of Child Health & Development (NICHD)

Quaking on more healthy,
~JD

Birth Boards are strange...

So I was thinking about the birth board I belong to today and to be quite frank I really just hang around for the entertainment value. I mean I've picked up a few tips here & there but most of the time it just feels like women attacking other women for different opinions, stupid subjects, etc. I remember I posted something back in December about my baby being a boy, and what a boy! The picture I have just makes his "package" look big and I made a joke about hubby being happy that he is well hung. That's all it literally was, a joke! But no....I had random women very disgusted about what I said, almost made me out to sound like a perv and "why would I be a happy about him being well hunged?"
Ahhhhhhh.....I don't get people.
I miss the ladies from the TTC groups; they always had a wealth of relative information to share and really kept you in high spirits, then again who would want to be part of TTC group that was anything but helpful & supportive? It's already stressful in the real world trying to make your dreams happen, why add virtual stress to that too.
Rant over.

Quaking on,
~JD

Almost to the home stretch!

It's been awhile in the blogging world for me and it's been nice to catch up on some on my favorite blogs. With spring just right around the corner there is new hope in the air and the possibilities of new beginnings feel even stronger than ever. I want to take a moment to give a shout out to all the ladies embarking on new pathways that will allow you to get a step closer to motherhood! You’re always in my thoughts and prayers.

Come Saturday I will be 28 weeks and officially be in the third trimester! Just when I was complaining it was all going so slowly, I blinked and the clock fast forward quickly.
So here is a quick update on things so far.

First the bad..
I failed both my 1hr and 3hr Glucose test so I am now diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes...great...(eye roll). For someone who doesn't drink soda, doesn't really like chocolate/sweets and can eat her weight in carrots, this just doesn't seem fair. I want to do a separate post on this after my meeting with the nutritionist on Monday for anybody looking for more information. I have found some great recipes for GD that I can't wait to try out this week. It's going to be the healthiest 3 months of my life, lol.

Now onto the good...
Work wise-I actually got a raise! I call it my "Cost of Baby's Living Allowance Adjustment" since that's were all my new funds are going to go. I feel really empowered right now and in admiration for all the movement done towards women's rights. A young pregnant women actually flourishing and getting new offices/raises just a few months short of going on maternity leave? Shocking! 

Baby wise-Baby boy has become quite an active little fellow. I don't worry about kick counts because I feel him practically all day long. He is quiet during the morning, gets busy in the afternoon till the evening (very active in the evening). I don't know how active he is when I sleep since he has never woken me up during the night. Surprisingly I am still sleeping fine too! We will see how long that lasts, lol.

DH and I ordered the crib last night and it felt great since we have barely anything for him yet. Our baby shower is on April 28th which is only about 5 weeks away from my due date. Stressful much? Uh yeah!
My mom has racked up many reward points on her credit card so she gave us $200 in Babies "R" Us gift cards. We had to choose a different crib because the one we liked does not have the option to ship to the store which would have given us free shipping. They would have to ship it to us, which would have cost $129.00 for JUST shipping......Ridiculous!
So we went with this one instead...

We currently live in a one bedroom apartment so we wanted something that wouldn't consume too much space and would give us the changing table as well. Our bedroom is quite huge and this will fit perfectly. We also have a separate small closet apart from our his & her closets that will be more storage for the baby. Aside from that, our attic will also help us store anything else needed.

  I'll be seeing baby boy on Monday as well, can't wait to see how big he has gotten!

Quacking on,
 ~JD

My Wish..

Dearest baby boy,

Growing up a little Latin girl in New York City gave me very little (if any) exposure to country music. It wasn’t until I went to college in upstate New York, made some friends, met your father and met his family that my love & appreciation for country music began to flourish. Now I’m not a HUGE country fan (and for the record, your father is NOT a fan, lol) but I no longer have a negative reaction to the sound of a “twang” and if I wasn’t a happily married woman, I’d make Brad Paisley participate in a shotgun wedding in a heartbeat J

Any who, I’m explaining this now because I have a song I hold dear to me. A popular little diddy I imagine but like I said, I came into this music a little late. I think of you now every time I hear it. I hope one day, if you decide to get married and you decide you want a mother/son dance. I hope this can be ours <3

My Wish-Rascal Flatts

Never a moments rest.......SUA?

Oh the new things I learn everyday...

Part 2 of my anatomy scan went pretty smoothly. Baby boy is very stubborn but will give in to the technician after awhile. This time she was able to get some excellent photos of the spine but getting the photos of specific sections of the heart were still difficult because of the position he was in. 

The high risk doctor switch out with her towards the end just to see if he could have better luck with it. He did manage to get some pictures and let us know that even though he thinks it looks fine (baby has 4 chambers and everything) they want to schedule me for a fetal echo-cardiogram because he didn't get everything he needed. During the scan he also mentioned to us that our son has an abnormality with his umbilical cord. Normal umbilical cords have 3 vessels, 1 vein and 2 arteries. My son's umbilical cord has 1 vein and 1 large artery. This condition is called Single Umbilical Artery (SUA)

Naturally this threw us off guard since how many first time parents know what the hell that is?!
The high risk doctor didn't seem overly concern with this new information. Ducky has been measuring good in every aspect and the echo-cardiogram will rule out any abnormalities in the heart. He explained normal function of delivery of oxygen and nutrients could still be handled by just 1 artery. I wish I would have asked more questions but in the end he is not my regular OBGYN and I figured the best route to take would be to discuss what (if any) new plan we would have to make in light of having SUA.

I've tried not googling but I can't lie, I have a little. Most of the information out there is relatively positive but of course you always find horror stories here and there. So far I have found out that it is a rare condition, about 1% are diagnosed (1 in 100 births).

*Small vent=I'm really tired of this 1% bullshit. I was told by our R.E. we had a 1% chance of conceiving naturally without the use of fertility treatments. Can I just say...grrrrrrr? Yeah that is about as eloquently as I have the energy to put it right now, lol.

Anyways, I also found out that the reasons for it are relatively unknown and the likelihood of it repeating in another pregnancy is highly unlikely. Seems that many women have had healthy pregnancies despite of SUA however they are monitored much more closely once the diagnosis has been made. Some women have had to have early inductions if the baby is showing signs of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) since the baby will have a better time growing outside of the womb. Most doctors will not allow SUA babies to go past the 40 week mark. There also seems to be more concerns if a baby has other abnormalities besides SUA (heart defects, one kidney, markers for down syndrome, etc). So far baby boy is looking good, measuring in at a whopping 12 ounces! Just have to keep my faith strong and hope for the best possible outcome.

I'm 20 weeks today, officially half way there. Lets keep going at this my baby boy, mama's determine to make it another 20 weeks! Can't wait to meet you :)

Quaking on,
~JD

My Christmas Story...Part 2 (Finale)

Ok we continue on with the show….

Once we were at the ER I was put through a series of tests and such. They placed an I.V. in me, took about 4 vials of blood, sent me for an ultrasound and checked out the PH of my “leakage”.

Well when all was said and done a very tired and out of it looking doctor discussed our results with us. All blood work is fine, I’m not leaking amniotic fluid but the results of my ultrasound stated that my amniotic fluid came back on the low side. I needed to follow-up with my OBGYN asap. We left the hospital around 3:30am.

I spent all Sunday in bed with a gallon of water by my side in hopes by some miracle I could replenish fluid that I had somehow lost. Although I tried not to despair it was impossible not to. I was miserable and very tired. I tried to find some information on this but since the possibilities on why I was low varied from source to source, I stop googling since it was not helping me calm down. My mother spent the day with me feeding me and keeping me company. I couldn’t believe how good it felt to have her there. We have very different personalities and we tend to bicker more as we get older but when it is needed she is there in an open, loving way only. My DH is wonderful but he couldn’t provide me with the comfort I needed. I think he was having a hard time processing this as well.

Monday morning rolls around and I have an appointment with an OBGYN at my new clinic (not the doctor I had an upcoming appointment with) to see what I should do. His name was Dr. Gerber (I found this slightly amusing) and he was really wonderful. He laid down what my options would be if I had lost all my fluid and so forth but he also said that sometimes he doesn’t completely trust the results of the ER because A) They are being transcribe sometimes from a different state altogether and B) The ultrasound technician is not specialized in OB. I prayed he was right.

He checked out my cervix, it was completely closed. He also rechecked the PH of my vaginal fluids, no amniotic fluids found. Amazingly he scheduled me at a high risk pregnancy office for an ultrasound same day (mind you it was New Year’s Eve). The results of the ultrasound would determine our options.

As soon as I settled into the coolest chair I’ve ever been in, the first thing the technician stated to us was “looks to me like baby has plenty of fluids”……THANK YOU LORD!

Honestly the rest of the ultrasound was a blur; I didn’t even realize she had decided to do my anatomy scan that day as well. They didn’t get all the pictures they needed so I have to go back but to me that is just another chance to see my little Ducky. The only thing she could tell me about what happened in the ER is that the shape of my uterus might have caused them to miscalculate the amount of fluid in the amniotic pockets. DH and I couldn’t have been happier that everything was OK, although DH is ready to burn down the ER…..he was very pissed at this whole experience, I can’t blame him though. I’m also happy to say that I love my new practice and have decided to keep good ole Dr. Gerber!

So now for the part you have all been waiting for. My DH gave me two boxes to open Christmas morning. One contained a cookie cutter in the shape of an E. I got very happy at first thinking I knew what it already was but then I figured DH wouldn’t make it so easy.  We already have names chosen for both a boy and a girl and both names have the letter E in it. When I opened the second box the rest of the letters came pouring out along with a onesie. I couldn’t help but start shouting….it’s a BOY! OMG it’s a BOY! :)

 "Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering 'it will be happier'...." -Alfred Tennyson

Quaking on into the New Year,

             ~JD

My Christmas Story....Part 1

I don't even know where to begin. Last time I posted I was happily awaiting Christmas morning to find out Ducky's sex. I do have that information for everyone but will tell you at the end of my story. This post will be more or less a vent to what turned into a Christmas nightmare.
First off let me start by saying that the baby and I are fine. Tired & shaken but fine.

Christmas Eve was great. Good times were had with my family here at home. I didn't return to my house till about 1:30am and since it was technically Christmas morning by then I begged and pleaded with DH to let me open the gift. He complied and I had a very wonderful Christmas morning as I learned what I was carrying inside :) Now...more on that later (patience, patience)

Christmas morning we drive to Vermont to see DH's family. Drive went smoothly and the rest of the day was good as well. That was pretty much the best part of my vacation, after that things just kind of went nuts.
My DH and I became sick the following day, it was pretty bad. No fun winter activities to be had for us. My temperature went as high as 101.7 and it took a little over 24 hrs. to finally break it and keep it at a much more reasonable temperature. Those 2-3 days were a bit of a blur for me. I just remember couch, T.V., Tylenol, sleep and fluids. We stayed an extra day than planned because we were just too weak to drive home.

Flash forward to Saturday morning, Dec 29th. DH and I are good to go home. We were still weak but doing much better. Our trip that usually takes us 5.5-6hrs ended up taking 8hrs thanks to the horribly snowy driving conditions that never let up.
This day turned out very strange for me. Since the previous night I was having some abdominal pains I couldn’t explain. They didn’t go away Saturday either. The pain wasn’t too bad when I was sitting but the few times I got out of the car and walk around it felt like I had done 500 sit-ups in a row and I kept  having a lot of pressure down there. What also concerned me that day as well is the fluid I was leaking. I didn't have a full bladder when we first stop the car so I could not figure out why with every step I took I would gush some fluid out uncontrollably. Even sitting in the car after using the bathroom it keep coming out. It stayed this way for all 8 hours of the trip and so on. It didn't have a smell to it, just light yellow in color. Being a FTM I was freaked and ended up calling my new OB practice (who I hadn't met yet) to speak with an on call doctor. He told me I would need to have an ultrasound to check on everything but at this time of night I could only get one at the ER.
With this doctor’s recommendation, my DH without a moment’s hesitation whisked me away to the ER. At most we were only home an hour before we were driving again.
We went in at 9:30pm and that's when the real "fun" started.......
                                              To Be Continued