Test

I am testing this post to see if it works. First time from my new phone! :-)

The Story

At 38 weeks, Carey and I went to the doctor for our 38 week check up. When we got to the doctor, my blood pressure was a little bit too high, I had swollen ankles, my protein was a little too high, and I had seen "stars" the day before so they sent us over to labor and delivery for observation. That was on Tuesday, September 6 and we were released that night at 9:00 pm. We were very curious while we were there if we were going to have our little girl soon! I worked Wednesday but had another doctor's appointment Thursday so they could recheck all the pre-eclampsia signs so I did not work that day. Everything turned out to be better than on Tuesday, so that was a wonderful praise! I worked Friday and was told to rest all weekend. The doctor told me on Thursday that they would most likely put me on bed rest the next week to be on the safe side. :/ We really did not want to waste a week of my maternity leave sitting around and waiting on baby to arrive so we were a little unsure how we were going to handle what we were told on Monday at our next doctor's appointment.

Monday morning, Carey did not have to be in to work until later so I got up with him. As soon as I got up I started having contractions, but they felt like some very intense cramps. They were not very strong, but they were different than anything I had felt before. I asked Carey to see if he could get off work and come be with me because I had a feeling that we would be having a baby soon. He got to work and told his manager what was going on so they sent him home to be with me. We talked on the phone and I told him that the pain was getting stronger and that he needed to call our families and let them know it was time to head to North Carolina. I called my doctor just to make sure that these pains were normal and she said they were the beginning of labor, but to see if I could make it until my doctor's appointment at 10:40. The pain continued to get worse and it took some concentration to get through them, but they were not horrible. Definitely managable. We got to the doctor's office for our appointment and were getting excited thinking that this could be it! We definitely were not excited after my doctor checked me and I was only about 1 centimeter dilated. :/ UGH! She sent us away for about an hour and then we came back for her to check me again. I was then only 1 1/2 centimeters this time. Unfortunately, she said since we wanted to have a natural birth with little intervention, she recommended we go home until the contractions got to the point that they were unbareable. A little discouraged, we headed home. I definitely was not excited to think that the pain was going to get worse. :/ We got home about 2:00 that afternoon and just waited. I laid on the couch and just waited for the pain to get worse. And it did. The pain continually got worse and it was getting harder and harder to relax through it. Carey was a wonderful coach being encouraging and supportive. I was crying for some pain medication pretty early on and Carey was being strong for me. The pain got to the point of being completely unbareable for me so we called the doctor around 5:30ish and headed to labor and delivery. The car ride to the hospital was probably the worst part of the whole experience. The 45 minute drive was a constant contraction of pain with the motion of the car. We finally arrived at the hospital and got checked into triage until they got us a room. My nurse's name was Betsy and she was amazing. As soon as she found out that I wanted to be as natural as possible, she was SO helpful! She helped Carey coach me through each contraction and really was supportive. When I arrived at the hospital I was only about 3 centimeters dilated. I could not believe that this was going to so much more painful and I had 7 more centimeters to go! I was having a real hard time relaxing and my blood pressure was staying high. A few hours later they decided to check me again to see how much more I had dilated since I seemed to be in so much pain and I was having plenty of contractions. I was only 3 1/2!! Oh the frustration! We then discussed and I decided to have an epidural to help me relax so my body could do what it needed to. So at 10:30 that night, I got an epidural. Right before the epidural arrived, my water broke on its own. It was such a weird feeling! The only thing that then became difficult was that contractions get stronger after your water breaks. :/ As soon as I got the epidural it put me in a completely different mood. It also helped my high blood pressure go down and become somewhat normal, but Claira-lynn did not like that at all. They had to give me oxygen to help get more to her because she was having a hard time with the adjustment. I got to sleep a little bit, then I started feeling the contractions again. After multiple tries to fix the issue, they decided to take the epidural out and replace it with another one because the first one did not take correctly. So they did. I do not remember what time this took place but it was sometime in the middle of the night. Once they replaced it, the epidural took how it was supposed to and I was more comfortable. While I was sleeping, Betsy came in and told me that she was going to give me some pitosin (sp?) because the epidural had relaxed my body so much, that my contractions virtually stopped. Which was not good. As soon as I got the pitosin, things started to move a little more quickly. I finally got to the point where I felt the urge to push so they started checking to make sure I was dilating. They checked me when I felt like I needed to push and I was 9 cm. I REALLY felt the urge to push very soon after and I was 10 cm! Betsy called Dr. Watson and she started getting everything ready to start pushing. Betsy started coaching me through some pushes with my contractions, but Claira-lynn was not enjoying the pushing process too much. To help her out they gave me the oxygen mask again and I could only push every other contraction instead of with every one. That was VERY difficult. Having the urge to push and not being able to was a little painful. :/ Around this time was shift change for our nurse. Sadly, Betsy, who was with us the entire time, was not there for the birth of our sweet baby. BUT we ended up with Rachel, who was our nurse on our visit the week before. :) So Rachel got there and it was the home stretch. We started really pushing around 7:00 (after we had been pushing and skipping a contraction since about 6:25.). 25 minutes later, Claira-lynn was out! The cord was wrapped around her neck when she came out, but they quickly fixed that. When they lifted her up to see me, she was a little blue and was not making any noise. I was a little nervous but her big, beautiful eyes were looking all over the place. Carey was asked to cut the cord quickly and they moved her quickly over to the "french fry warmer" and stuck a tube down her to suck out whatever she inhaled on her way out. As soon as they did, we heard our sweet little girl's BIG girl cry. As soon as they got her crying, they brought her over to me for some skin to skin mommy time. :) They did all of the necessary things after that. She weighed 7 pounds exactly and was 20 inches long born at 7And:25 am on September 13, 2011. After that, our life with Claira-lynn began. :)

Weekend Excitment

Well it has been an eventful weekend at the Wilson household! Thursday afternoon, Claira-lynn and I had a little incident. She got swiped by someone running by and it made me lose my balance, but thankfully did not knock me over. It hurt really bad, but I called the Dr's office and they said if my water hadn't broken yet or I had no bleeding, then I was fine. Whew! Thought everything was fine and was very relieved until I went to the bathroom later. I saw some blood so I called the Dr back again and she said we needed to come to Labor and Delivery at Rex for observation. (It was after hours.) I picked Carey up from helping some of our friends move, they prayed over us, and we were on our way to the hospital not know what was in store. On the way there we were trying to mentally prepare ourselves if this meant we would meet our sweet girl much earlier than planned. While driving to the hospital, I started having contractions. It wasn't a huge surprise because I have been having Braxton Hicks for a while now, but these felt a little different. We arrived at the hospital and were sitting in the waiting room in LD waiting for the nurse to come get us, and my contractions started getting stronger and much closer together. Carey was wonderful and practiced helping me relax by putting into practice some techniques we have learned in our Bradley classes. They really weren't painful but I think it was difficult because they were stronger and it was way too early for them to be that strong! We still have 8 weeks to go! The nurse came in to get us and was super sweet. She took us into Triage and got me changed and hooked up to a monitor. Claira-lynn's heartbeat looked great and sounded great! Whew! That is what I had been waiting to hear. So we thought we would be out of there and on our way home in a few hours. Little did we know that Mommy's body was not cooperating with this plan. I was having a crazy amount of contractions and they did not like that. They pumped me with a liter of fluid and took blood to send off to the lab. The fluid did not help my contractions calm down any so they decided to give me the shot to stop them before they did what they are meant to. :/ After more fluid, we were told we were going to have to stay for observation overnight. Joy. I had an ultrasound to check on my placenta and to see that my cervix was not dilated and that Claira-lynn was ok in there. So, I have officially had my first hospital stay overnight. When they moved us into a delivery room, it was a little scary seeing all of the equipment in there that I was not ready to use yet. The room was wonderful and I cannot wait to be there in a few short months, but I did not like seeing it this early. We finally were allowed to go home 24 hours after the time of collision. And boy was it a relief! Dr's orders were to rest and take it easy so that is exactly what I have been trying to do all weekend, but it is so hard! I am getting quite bored. BUT I know it is best for me and Claira-lynn if I do. We have a Dr's appointment on Tuesday so we will see what is said at that appointment. I am hoping we will still get to go on our vacation, but I am ready to do what I need to for my health and Claira-lynn's.

On a better note, the nurse that we had most of the night, Amber, who was wonderful, asked if we were taking any birthing classes. So I told her that we were taking the Bradley classes. She got a big smile and said that every woman who comes through there with that method loves it. That was so encouraging for me. There is not a lot of support for doing things all natural and there are many reasons. But there are also many reasons for why I am choosing to have our child this way and Carey and I could not be more excited for this journey. We have read about and heard in our classes how much the women who do this love it, but to hear it from a nurse that sees these women through the labor was so comforting.

We are so excited and anticipating the arrival of our precious princess, but this was just a little too soon. :)

(this was typed late and in a sleepy state, so I apologize if it is a little rambly)

30 weeks

Here's a picture from 30 weeks and 4 days!

We started our Bradley Childbirth classes this past week and are super excited to be coached and learn as much as we can to prepare to do what we feel is best for our child. Claira-lynn has started waking me up most nights now in some shape or form. But I am enjoying feeling her move A LOT more to help me know she is doing well in there! Carey can see her and feel her more now as well. We have also been able to tell what piece of her body we are seeing move since she is bigger now. We are learning a lot right now and continue to prepare for our little girl's arrival!

I am also super excited for our trip in a few weeks and cannot wait for it to be here!

Update!

Well, time is officially flying! I cannot believe that we will be 29 weeks on Monday and 7 months along! Not too much longer and, Lord willing, Claira-lynn will be here! So much has been going on and we have been quite busy, hence the lack of blogging. We also haven't taken a tummy shot in about 5 weeks! We will have to get one this week to update.

First thing, Carey started his new job at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center about a month ago! Yay! We are still getting used to his new schedule, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 4 am until he is finished. It is super nice to have him home more during the week though. It will be a great blessing when Claira-lynn arrives because a parent will be able to be home with her full time except for Monday. On those days she will be with our friend in the building until Carey gets home. Carey really seems to enjoy his new job as well. He loves the people he works with and enjoys how well the employees are treated by management and the company itself. It really has been a blessing in so many ways and we are so thankful the Lord provided it for us at the right time.

My second year of teaching and first in the public school system finished with a bang! This year had a stressful start, but once I got the hang of things and got my priorities straight I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Zebulon Elementary. And as far as I know, I will be returning there in the fall and I am so excited! I am also teaching summer school for them during the month of July which we start on Tuesday. It will definitely be a new experience, but I am looking forward to the adventure. :)

Carey and I are super excited for August to get here because we will be taking our final trip to visit family before Claira-lynn's due date, if she cooperates. We are so ready to see our family and spend some time with them before we have another addition.

Now for what most of you probably want to know, Claira-lynn update:

We will be 29 weeks in 2 days, so she is growing! We are now at the point that we see the doctor every two weeks. We saw him this past Thursday and he said everything looked perfect. Her heart rate was 155 (which scared me because it has always been in the 160s), my belly is measuring at 30 cm which he said was perfect, and my blood pressure was still looking good. I was glad that my blood pressure was normal because I had my first full day back to work that day and was a little worried it was up. ;) I had my glucose and iron test a few weeks ago and I passed with flying colors! :) Claira-lynn has gotten to the point where I feel the majority of her movements due to her growing body. I have been able to feel when she has the hiccups which made me laugh because it felt funny. She is still moving all over the place, but I can tell when she is moving her head around which is weird. For the first time the other day I could feel her kicking me up at the top of my belly which has not been the case so far this pregnancy. Back pain and leg pain has started to be a normal thing now and on Thursday at work, my feet got a little swollen. :/ Then Carey brought me my Reefs and the world was right again with my feet. :) At night, I get really bad leg cramps that at times prevent from having comfortable sleep, but Carey takes great care of me and definitely has a servant attitude when it comes to me and his princess. Claira-lynn has already started preparing me for those late nights and waking me up in the middle of the night because she does not like it when I move if she is comfortable and she lets me know it! Braxton Hicks have been happening for a few weeks now which is definitely a different feeling. My doctor said just to keep track of how many I have an hour and told me at how many I needed to call them. Thoughts of labor are beginning to be in my mind and it scares me a little bit. I have decided to take the all natural route and not use any medication after being convicted about it. I know things do not always go as planned, but that is the plan.

I am so ready for our sweet little princess to be here so I can hold her and love on her! After our miscarriage last year, she is such a gift from God and a blessing to have had her this far.

I think I have updated on what I have missed. Hopefully, I will be more disciplined about keeping up with this! lol Sorry I don't have any pictures to post today! :/

19 Weeks! and HER name :)

This post is almost a week late, but I know that some people are ready to see the picture! I am definitely starting to feel Claira-lynn move a whole lot more now. I absolutely love feeling her move inside of me. Not only does it let me know she is in there, but it is just an amazing feeling. I have started getting some energy back, which is helpful. I feel close to normal, minus the belly and the constant bathroom trips. :/

Now, many people have asked how we came up with the name Claira-lynn, so here is your explanation. Carey really wanted to keep the hyphenated name with our daughter because he likes my name. Our son will be named after family, so we wanted our daughter to have the same privelage. I was named after my grandparents for my first name and my middle.

Bobbi-sue Grey = Bob + Sue (my mother's parents) Grey (my dad's mom's middle name)

Claira-lynn Grey = Claire + Lynn (both our mother's middle names) Grey (mine and Grandma's middle name)

We love the name and love that we can honor our mothers by giving a piece of their name to our daughter. Many people have many different opinions about the name and that is fine, just please be respectful. :)

THE Doctor's Appointment

Well, by this point most people know what we are having, but Carey edited the video that we took that day and I know our mother's are anxious to see it! :) So here it is! The pictures before it are some of the pictures that didn't make it into the video. ;) Enjoy!

17 weeks Today!

Well, today I am 17 weeks pregnant! Only approximately 161 days to go! I am starting to feel like myself again, just bigger. :/ My belly is definitely growing, which is a good thing, just can be frustrating. We are now only 10 days from hopefully finding out what our sweet little Bean is. :) I am getting super excited and it cannot get here fast enough! Well, that's all I really have to say today! Here are your pictures! :)

Comparison! You can definitely tell my belly is growing! Trying to keep the weight gain only to the belly though!

New Furniture!

Wow! God has definitely blessed us through so many other people during this pregnancy. So far we have had a healthy baby and pregnancy, we were given a crib, and now we have been given beautiful furniture that would not have been within our current means to buy new. It has been amazing to see how He has taken care of us this far in the pregnancy.

For the first time since Christmas, Carey had a Saturday off! We were able to spend the day together with breakfast and then a wonderful morning/afternoon out. We ventured to the State Farmer's Market to get some tomatoes, greens, and sweet potatoes. We then drove to Earth Fare to get our groceries for the week and decided to stop by Home Goods to look for a broom and a saute pan. We didn't buy the pan, but we did get Carey a broom! :)

Carey with his new broom. :)

Here is a video of us moving Bean's new furniture in! Enjoy!

Baby Bean's Crib

Carey and I assembled Bean's crib yesterday! :) We were given this crib about a month ago from some dear friends of ours. :) Pictures are on Facebook, but for our family, and anyone else who wants to watch, here is the video we promised! :)

15 Weeks And A Weekend Trip

Well, today I am 15 weeks pregnant! Only 175 days to go! I know it sounds like a lot, but that 1st trimester went by so fast I assume the rest of it will too. This week Bean will get up to the size of an orange! (4 in, 2.5 oz) All four limbs are now functional and are moving like crazy! To my sadness though, I cannot feel it yet. :( I have started to get my energy back a little bit, but I have had a nasty cold for the past few weeks so have still been sleeping. The nausea went away, minus yesterday when I ate something for dinner that Bean did not like and decided to tell me that quite meanly. Which we are going to have to have a talk about in Sept. because I enjoyed that dinner very much! Tonight after dinner I am feeling a little nauseated as well, so who knows. My baby bump is starting to show, but still feels/looks bigger to me than it does to anyone else. lol Your picture is posted below. :)

This weekend Carey and I had the privilege to travel to Macon to visit with family and friends. We were very excited as we have not been back in 2 years. It was wonderful to see so many familiar places and faces. :) We were able to relax and enjoy time visiting with his parents. We had a great time and definitely will not let it be another 2 years before we visit again! ;)

Tonight we went to Target to get some groceries and decided to check out the electronics section. Carey's birthday present from his parents was a video camera, but the one we looked at this weekend was out of stock. :( So we decided just to check at Target to see what they offered, and much to our surprise, there was a camera and on sale! :) You know we can't beat a good sale! :) We are super excited and feel very blessed to be able to record our child growing up and share all those moments with family. :) Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

I had a rough night last night with coming in late and then getting sick, so I couldn't sleep at all. Needless to say, it was a rough night and this morning was quite difficult. So my sweet husband decided to bring me home some beautiful flowers. :) He loves me. :)

12 Weeks!

Today we are 12 weeks! Woo-hoo! Everything really still feels the same. LOL I am pretty excited that we have reached the "glorious" second trimester! I am hoping that it is as wonderful as everyone says it is. I'm ready to feel somewhat "normal" again, but also get to where we can actually feel Bean moving around. I am so looking forward to that day! We have another Dr's appointment next Monday afternoon to check and make sure everything is still doing well. We will be at 13 weeks then. Hopefully we'll get another picture! :)

In other news, I am traveling to Florida this weekend for Caitlin's wedding! YAY! The only downside is I will be taking this trip solo as Carey as class all weekend. I know. Sad. :( I'm excited to see everyone though, BUT I am not looking forward to the train ride that I will be taking to get there. I have taken the train to Florida in the Fall, but I was not pregnant. I am hoping that the lovely sensitivities that have been gladly showing their pretty faces this first trimester will give me a break this coming weekend so I can just enjoy the ride and then my time with family and friends! Here's hoping!

Here are some belly pictures for those of you who want to see! The first one is from 7 weeks, just to document. The second one is from today, 12 weeks. I feel much bigger than I look and that I am gaining unnecessary weight, but I guess that goes with the territory. lol We'll see, hopefully I can keep the weight gain down!

11 Weeks Today!

So I know I haven't posted like I said I would or like I want to, but truth is, I mostly see the back of my eyelids lately.

When telling people you are pregnant, all they tell you is how excited they are for you. Which is compoletely fine and I am very excited as well, but they don't tell you how difficult the first trimester can be. I am unbelievably exhausted the majority of the day 7 days a week. I get up tired and hungry, work with children all day and am hungry, come home and either have dinner then take a nap or take a nap, have dinner, and then go to bed. Poor Carey. All he gets to do is watch me sleep. Although, he is getting a lot of his school work done. :) There are few times when I have spurts of energy, but they don't last very long. My body is starting to really feel the fact that a baby is growing inside of me. I am starting to feel the stretching and it is such a weird feeling! I am sick off and on, but when it is on, it is rough. Not that I am complaining too much because with Baby #1 I was not sick at all. So the sickness, although terrible, is welcomed. Some days. My hormones have completely gone haywire!! Poor Carey has to deal with my drastic mood swings. And let me tell you, that man can take them like a champ! :) He has been very sweet in all that he does to take care of me. He really is my Superman. :)

I am beginning to get a little bump, which is super fun! The only downside became evident in Sunday School on Sunday morning. I needed something out of my purse and bent down to get it and it was extremely uncomfortable to do so. Carey now does a lot of the picking things up for me. :) We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to see pictures of our Bean so early this time. Being high risk, I have gone in to check on Bean every 3 weeks starting at 6 1/2 weeks. It has been very beneficial to my worrying side. I am constantly worrying about whether or not Bean is still around and healthy. I know that with the miscarriage last year, worrying is completely normal, but it is maddening! I am just so ready to hold that sweet baby in my arms and see Carey pour his love on our baby too.

We have been very blessed with such wonderful friends who are just as excited about Bean as we are. We got a surprise yesterday when we visited some friends of ours and it is sitting in our living room ready to be assembled. They gave us the 4 in 1 convertable crib that I have had my eye on. It was such a blessing! I definitely cried. We are just so blessed in so many ways and that was just one more added to the list. We are very blessed to have them for such great friends and that love us like we are family.

Well, there is a lot more going through my head right now, but I seem to be rambling along as it is, so I better stop. Hopefully I will keep up with my weekly posts for those of you who actually read this. :)

Baby should get up to the size of a lime this week.

Only 2 weeks left in the first trimester!!!! :) I've read and been told that the second trimester is like a walk in the park. Bring it on! :)

2 + 1 = 3

On January 11, 2011 (snow day), Carey and I found out that we were pregnant again! It was a very anticipated moment, but nervewracking all at once. After our experience with our last pregnancy, we were both a little nervous. I was a very scared that we would have another miscarriage and it took talking to a wonderful friend to remind me that God is the giver of life and I needed to celebrate the life that was in me. No matter how long it was around. After that conversation, I began to become very excited and could hardly keep it a secret! Carey and I wanted to tell everyone, but wanted to wait until we saw that baby was growing this time. Today was that day. I have been having a lot of nausea, which I have never been excited about before, but I enjoyed it everytime because it was a good sign. :)

It's positive!

This morning when I woke up, my mind was racing with what could happen today. When we arrived at the doctor's office my nerves went crazy! My mind was racing! I just wanted to rush the ultrasound room and get it over with. We met with the prenatal nurse first who was super sweet and very encouraging. She gave us a lot of information and told us our due date, which is September 19. She told me a lot of things that I cannot eat, which wasn't fun, but I will sacrifice those foods for Baby! We finally got into the ultrasound room and my heart was racing! I had my hands over my eyes and just didn't want to look. I still see the image of our baby last year and I did not want to see that again. As soon as she was in, I heard this noise and didn't know what to think. I asked if it was my heartbeat because it sounded so normal and strong. The ultrasound tech said, "Nope. That's your baby's." The tears started streaming as I listened to Baby's heart beating. I then looked on the screen and saw this little heart fluttering. It was truly a blessing to hear and see. She continued to measure just about everything and was taking pictures for the doctor to analyze. She then printed a picture for us to have and I asked if we could hear the heartbeat again. She not only let us hear the heartbeat and watch it flutter, but she took a picture of the heartbeat waves for us. Carey and I are so excited and relieved to have heard the heartbeat. Our doctor wants to see me back in 3 weeks to check Baby again just to make sure he's still growing. It is such a relief to me that they are taking so many precautions this time because of my miscarriage.

Baby Bean at 6 1/2 weeks

Baby's heartbeat

6 1/2 weeks (I know my family wants to see!)

Pardon how rough I look. It has been a long day.

There are a few things I have learned so far:
- being tired is an understatement
- morning sickness is not limited to the morning :/
- the smell of chicken and I do not get along

I know there will be many more, but this is what I remember right now. :)