Coming soon to a blog near you...

We're home! What an unexpected adventure these past few days have been. Truly amazing in many ways, obviously culminating in the birth of our precious, precious son Ryan Jamison.



I hope to have time over the next few days to post the birth story and what a story it was- it may not have been the birth I planned, but it was exactly what I needed. In the end, my one and only birth plan was realized, "get this baby out of me happy and healthy."

And now, we are so complete. Our family is perfect.



More to come. Until then, I'm spending time with our son. And Loving every minute of it.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

We are so pleased to announce the birth of our son, Ryan Jamison, at 9:56 PM.

Ryan weighs 6 lbs 9 oz and measures 18 1/2 inches long!

Both mom and baby are doing great. Can't wait to share pictures sometime tomorrow morning!

Thanks again to everyone for the love and support!

XOXO,

Mommy and Daddy!

E-P-I-D-U-R-A-L Spells RELIEF!!!!

Holy cow. What a difference an epidural can make. After waiting SO long for something to happen, it feels like there is so much to report since the last post. Mona, our amazing labor nurse, was able to cut teaching her classes short for today so that she could rush over here to the hospital and take over Jess's care. Since that time, she has cracked the whip and made things happen.

Jess FINALLY got her epidural and OMG!!!!! Talk about an IMMEDIATE difference. Almost instantaneously, Jessica began laughing and, dare I say, enjoying the labor process again for the first time since the insertion of the catheter this morning. According to Jess, it is extremely important for me to let everyone know that she has always been able to handle the discomfort of the contractions. In her eyes, the epidural was primarily needed to help lower blood pressure and ease the discomfort of the catheter!

No less than 10 minutes after the epidural was started, Dr. T made his afternoon arrival. Upon checking her, he noted that she is dilated to approximately 5 cm and therefore he was able to remove the balloons that were used to start the induction process. Unbeknownst to Jessica at the time, he also broke her water while he was "down there." Because of the epidural, she didn't feel a thing :-) According to Dr. T, we still have quite a ways to go before delivery. He is estimating a 9:00 pm delivery AT THE EARLIEST and more likely closer to midnight or even 2:00 AM.

At this time, Jessica is feeling better than she has ALL day. She is able to laugh and joke with everyone which has made such a HUGE difference for me and the grandparents who are all keeping close vigil over her.

Thanks again for everyone's care and concern. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends. More updates to come as things continue to progress!

Epidurals: Myth or Reality???

At this point, we were hoping that we would have more information to share. Jess continues to do extremely well weathering the increased contractions. The biggest complaint at this time is discomfort with the catheter. According to Jess, "I would be sitting up smiling if I wasn't so ticked off with this stupid catheter." Still waiting for Dr. T to make an afternoon appearance and give us some more direction on the next step in this process.

In other news, Jess is STILL waiting to get an epidural. At this point, the contractions are consistently about 3 minutes apart and she is beginning to question whether or not this supposedly mythical epidural truly exists. Keep your fingers crossed that our nurses can work their magic and make an epidural appear in the very near future. Otherwise, turn on your local news station and sit back to watch the fireworks that have taken place at Memorial Hospital when a maniac pregnant woman runs rampant around the Labor and Delivery ward in search of drugs, Drugs, and more DRUGS!!!!

Hurry Up...And Wait

Got done meeting with Dr. T this morning. He checked Jess and found that the induction has been working, but not as quickly as he had hoped. He estimates that she is currently about 3 - 4 cm dilated. As such, he is going to give her pitocin to hopefully help speed up the process. He is also starting her on Magnesium Sulfate to help with her blood pressure. Fingers crossed that this works.

As anyone who knows Jess or has talked to her about the pregnancy should be well aware, she is anxiously awaiting the seemingly elusive epidural. Not sure when this will take place, but I can promise that anyone within a 10-mile radius of the hospital will know from the screams of joy emanating from this luxurious hospital room when it has happened.

Food just arrived so our princess is at least getting to eat before the long day ahead of her. I am sure that Buttered Toast and Frosted Flakes has never tasted so good!

Thanks for the continued thoughts and prayers. Jess says "Hi" to everyone and is eagerly looking forward to introducing our precious little one as soon as she can.

Sleeping Beauty

Unmedicated Contractions

It's A...

After many many months of waiting, we are so proud to announce that...WE MADE IT THROUGH THE FIRST NIGHT OF LABOR AND CONTRACTIONS :-)

Sorry for the lack of updates since last night. Honestly, not much has happened since the last post. As expected, Jessica's true desire to move to East St. Louis has come out in full force as she has become quite adept at finding any and all drugs that are available to her at this time. With the assistance of Ambien, Jess was able to get some pretty good sleep throughout the night. The contractions have continued to be regular and increase in intensity. Some of them are strong enough to take her breathe away but thankfully those seem to still be relatively few and far between. In addition, two doses of Stadol (around 3 and 5 AM) helped to keep the pain of the contractions manageable. Jess is beginning to feel them more which makes her somewhat excited because the next step in pain management appears to be the long-awaited, much anticipated EPIDURAL!!!!

We cannot believe that TODAY is going to be the day that our child is born. What a blessing! Jess continues to be in great spirits and has been so strong throughout the process. Everyone would be SO proud of her if only they had the opportunity to see this side of Jessica that I am lucky enough to see.

Still waiting for the doctor to come in this morning and give us the game plan for today. As soon as we know something, we'll let you know!

Hotel De Memorial

Push...Push...Breathe! Push...Push...Breathe! I think that's how it's supposed to go...or at least something like that. I think I am getting much better at this whole SUPPORT PERSON role!

What a day this has been. We arrived at our vacation spot around 6:15 PM and quickly got acquainted with all of the ammenities and lavish living quarters that we will be enjoying for the next several days (aka Hotel De Memorial). Jessica has been such a trooper throughout this whole process. From the moments that she was first hooked up to the monitors, Jessica has been experiencing regular contractions. She didn't even realize she had been having them for some time. They were less than 5 mins apart when she arrived.

Dr. T came in and started the induction process about 2 hours ago (9pm CST). Jess elected the balloon induction method (versus cervadil). Although induction was not necessarily part of her birth plan, her high blood pressure took precedence over her Type A personality.

Since that time, the contractions have steadily increased in frequency and intensity (no pit has been used- contractions are all natural). Jessica continues to be in great spirits and is motivated by the outpouring of love and support from all of our great family and friends. Please continue to share your love and prayers throughout this process as we know it will only get more and more difficult over the next hours.

At this time, we are not expecting Bubs to walk the red carpet until at least sometime tomorrow. If Jess has any say in this, though, Bubs will be moonwalking his/her way to the nursery ASAP!

That's all for now! Stay tuned for future updates as the contractions and pushing and breathing and screaming commence.

The Nursery

Here are the long-awaited-much-anticipated pics of the completed nursery! Here is the video along with a few pics that give more detail.

My family is AWESOME!

Bed rest this past week was actually tolerable b/c I have the best family and friends! Not a day went by that we weren't made dinner, that someone didn't stop by and spend HOURS talking with me as I was laid up on the couch, and we even got GIFTS!

Seriously, those visits made all the difference in how I felt about being confined to a couch.

I'm over the anger of bed rest, now it's more guilt. Unless I'm on vacation, I generally don't like being at home while everyone else is at work. Makes me feel like such a slacker. If bed rest included doing laundry or dishes, I could handle that. At least I would be contributing something to society if that were the case.

I stopped by the office for a few hours yesterday morning to sign checks and offload some tasks onto Jill. I honestly planned on staying for an hour MAX. Two and a half hours later, I walked out the door. My feet began to swell while I was in my office and they hadn't returned to normal by the end of the day. That little episode made me realize that there is something to this bed rest that is good for me.

I have several books I plan on reading, including 2 baby books, 1 political book (Newt Gingrich's To Save America), and also The Blind Side. I really enjoy reading political books, but to be honest, I'll have to see if my BP can handle it. I take politics and the direction of our country very seriously. If I start getting too wound up over things, I'll have to put the book aside for another day. I already avoid the news right now b/c the stupidity and arrogance that is running rampant in DC is at all time high and intolerable levels. Totally unbelievable what is being done under the guise of securing votes "helping people."

See, my BP is up from having typed that. Ugh.

Anyway, my mom has been a life saver this past week. She made dinner TWICE and also went to the grocery store to pick up items I had emailed her. Although this helps me, it actually helps out Hubs more b/c he would have to do these things if she didn't do them for us. And, she just does them. You don't ask, you don't wish, she just does 'em. LOVE HER!

Not sure what the plan for this weekend is, although I hope to get some swimming time in. Dr T said spending time in the pool is great for reducing swelling, especially if I walk around in the pool and keep the circulation going.

The rest of the time, you know where Bubs and I will be.

Until then, my friends, XOXO...

Update on the Update

Lab work came back perfect. Dr T said the only abnormal was a titer he drew which showed a high level of wild'n'craziness (see why I love this guy??). I told him that's our little secret ;) You know, HIPAA and all.

BP yesterday was good.

Swelling is almost gone! I have ankle bones, you can see veins...I'm no longer mistaking my toes for baby sausages. And, as always, I FEEL GOOD.

BP this morning, not so good (144/88). BP at T's office today, not so good.

Verdict: Bed rest indefinitely.

I tried to get him to agree to a modified bed rest (work in the morning, rest in the afternoon). His response, "I'm not playing around with this."

I'm really trying to just accept this and make the most of it. I'm still able to do SOME work from home (thank God I have wonderful coworkers who pick up right where I left off) and I feel as though I'm about to go crazy making lists. We all know how I feel about lists. Even if I won't be able to accomplish anything on said lists, I can still make 'em!

To sit lay around and pout about the situation isn't helpful (and probably does more harm to my BP). Instead, I'm going to do what I can with work, and then spend time continuing to prepare for Bubs. I do have several baby books I need to read/re-read, so I guess that's a start.

T said I need to use this time to learn how to relax and accept that which is out of my control. He said these new found skills will come in handy post-delivery. Something tells me that, as always, he's right.

Until then, XOXO...

Update

You won't find this update on Facebook because...well because I didn't want to post it there.

I feel good. Sure, I have the usual aches and pains that accompany being nearly 36 weeks pregnant, but in general, I feel good.

My heart, on the other hand, isn't handling the excess fluid very well. Over the past week or so, my swelling has been maximized which has lead to a sudden increase in my blood pressure. Until about 2 weeks ago, my BP was averaging 120/70...PERFECT! Totally perfect. Even though I had been dealing with swelling in some form or fashion since the 18th week, my BP remained excellent until just recently. Average BP yesterday was 150/102. Thats really high. And, was a big increase over my BP during my OB visit just a few days earlier.

The bottom number of a BP is the pressure your heart exerts when it's between beats... that number should be lower (70-80)...so the fact that my heart isn't really resting between beats is a slight problem.

I called my BP readings into Dr. T and he said I needed to come in for a visit. His Medical Assistant also told me over the phone that he would be putting me on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. This drew a huge laugh from me, which quickly subsided when Angela informed me that she wasn't kidding.

BED REST FOR FIVE WEEKS?

SERIOUSLY?!

Of course, I started crying (for only the 3rd time during pregnancy).

Looking back, the tears weren't really about being on bed rest. I'll do whatever I have to do to ensure Bub's safety and health.

As much as I hate to admit it, the tears were about control. I know how I want this delivery to happen and after hearing that bed rest is my likely future for the next month, my mind immediately jumped to induction and then c-section...two things I DO NOT want. Every night for weeks, I've been sitting on the yoga ball to open up my hips and begin the cervical dilation. I rock and roll on the ball, patiently swaying to and fro, mentally picturing things "opening up" down there.

Five weeks of bed rest will ruin the progress I've made up to this point. Lying down, abdomen wide open allowing the baby to shift into whatever position it wants to (instead of being encouraged to stay in the head down, face down position).....it's counterproductive to what I know needs to happen for labor and delivery.

I wasn't too concerned that our hospital bag isn't packed yet. I didn't think twice about the fact that our house could use a good cleaning. I hadn't offloaded anything to anyone at work.

Those are minor things, though. I wasn't too upset about those. I was getting disappointed thinking that this isn't AT ALL how I wanted things to go at this point. Of course I wasn't delusional enough to think I could honestly control every aspect of the labor and delivery; I just didn't expect to have to be thinking about things this early (five weeks seems like a ways off to me still).

Needless to say, I'm doing WHATEVER I can to get a handle on this swelling. I'm drinking enough water to practically fill an olympic sized pool. I'm lying on my Left side, even though it's uncomfortable on my hips :) I'm eating salad, salad and more salad (no sodium!). I'm visualizing the fluid filtering through my kidneys and leaving my body. Like I said, WHATEVER I can to get this fluid out of body.

Assuming I "passed" the lab tests they drew yesterday and I can control the swelling, I should be able to make it several more weeks and then get back on track for the delivery I want.

Baby is doing great. Strong heartbeat (144 at the office yesterday), moving TONS....sticking it's little bootie out at us numerous times/day...Bubs is doing wonderfully.

I'll have my BP read this afternoon and have a follow up appt with T tomorrow. I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, would you please say a prayer that Bubs continues to do well and that my body gets its act in gear? :)

Until then, XOXO...