She's a porker!

Ok, so I know Natalie (sometimes referred to as Ali) is not actually a porker. She is still in the 10-25th percentile for weight. But when I compare her nursing habits and weight gain to that of Molly's, it is night and day! With Molly, by her 5 day appointment she had lost 1lb 3oz! And it took her a whole month to get back up to birth weight.

At Natalie's 5 day appointment she had lost 7 ounces and by 11 days old she was already 2 ounces above her birth weight! At her 2 week appointment she weighed 6lb 14.5oz and was 19 5/8inches long.

She is nursing like a champ. We don't have yeast/thrush, at least not yet, hopefully not ever! She eats every 2-3 hours. During the day I have to wake her up but at night she lets me know she's hungry.

The difference is amazing! I'm liking it much better this time around!

Natalie Leonard Duncan

Ok, I know 2 weeks have already past and I'm just now getting to posting about our labor/delivery! But, as you can imagine, I've had other things on my mind. :-D

So, Friday evening (the 20th) I was super crappy. Exhausted and somewhat nauseous. We went to dinner with my parents and my dad even commented to my sister later that night how awful I looked! That night I went to bed around 8:30pm trying to get a good nights sleep but that just wasn't in the cards. I ended up throwing up around 11pm and then not really sleeping much after that. I started having some contractions that would be probably about 30 minutes apart if I had been timing them. Finally, around 5am I woke Todd up. Contractions were anywhere between 8 to 15 minutes apart. I ended up throwing up again, passing out, then throwing up again around 5:30am. We went ahead and called my parents to come on over and calling the midwife on call to see if we should head to the hospital. She told us to stay at home until the contractions were closer. Since my parents had plans to go to Winston-Salem to watch my niece and nephew's basketball games, they took Molly with them. It was really nice not to have to worry about her while having contractions.

Once the contractions got to about 5-8 minutes apart we headed to the hospital. We were the only ones on the ward the whole time and that was fabulous! Of course the nurse checked me and I was about 4cm, and she talked about sending me back home! The nurse let me walk for an hour around the ward before she checked me again. Still about 4cm but since the ward was empty she let me relax in the tub for another hour to see if that would help things along. Luckily, at the end of that second hour the midwife called and said she was in the neighborhood and asked if I wanted her to come and break my water. After discussing it with Todd, we decided that yes, we would like her to break my water.

Ok, I know this has already gotten super long so I'll try to speed things up. I was 5cm when my midwife broke my water and 4 hours later I had a baby! I pushed for probably 15-20 minutes and she was out. No epidural and only 1 stitch! And let me tell you, if you have heard that pitocin contractions are worse than non-pitocin contractions......SO TRUE! Labor was much easier this time around.

But in the end I was holding the most beautiful (I can say that cause she looked just like Molly!) baby girl! 6 pounds, 11 ounces. 18 1/2 inches long. Perfectly petite.

Baby Avery

Well, baby Avery finally decided to make her appearance three days after her due date! I was due on a Wednesday, and I went into labor late Friday night/early Saturday morning. I went to the doctor on that Friday afternoon and was still only 2 cm but was about 80% effaced. I still was not really having any contractions at that point though, and I actually commented to Tom that I felt like I was closer to going into labor a month before. Patience is not my best virtue, and I was ready to meet my little girl! I could not sleep that Friday night because I was having a lot of pressure in my back and it made my legs ache. Still no contractions though. Around 3 or 4am I started having what I thought might be contractions about 7 minutes apart. But they weren't very strong and I couldn't decide whether they were actually contractions or not. Then they stopped completely after about 30 minutes. I went back to sleep for about 2 hours, and at some point during that time I dreamed that I had the baby. Well, at about 6:20am I woke up with really strong, no doubt about it contractions that were 3-4 minutes apart. My doctor had told me to call when I had contractions 10 minutes apart for a whole hour, but we apparently skipped that part of labor. So I called the doctor and headed to the hospital. And we did make it to the hospital in time, despite the 45 minute drive to get there! I was about 5-6 cm by the time I got there and got an epidural around 11am. By 1:30, I was still only about 8cm and had not progressed much in the couple of hours before, so we thought we were settling in for a while. At about 3:15 the nurse came in because the baby's heartbeat got really faint on the monitor due to the baby having moved down. The nurse tried to locate it better in a couple of places but couldn't get a good read. So she said she would check me and then call the doctor in. But when she pulled the blankets down, Avery's head was already out. No wonder she couldn't find the heartbeat! Before the doctor could even get in the room from down the hall, Avery just wiggled herself the rest of the way out--no pushing required. I guess I had a really good epidural! It was actually quite perfect though, and I felt like it was pretty natural (other than the epidural) because there were no bright lights, no mirrors, no stirrups and nobody yelling at me to push. When the doctor came in a few seconds later, I was already holding little Avery! So I guess I am good at having babies, but my doctor was about 7 months pregnant at the time I delivered and I'm pretty sure she hates me right now because I had such an easy delivery :)

I am trying breast feeding again. The first week and a half was pretty dicey, with tons of pain. I had a cracked nipple on one side and had to stop nursing on that side and started pumping. Then I got a blister from pumping. And then I was just in a no win situation for about three days until all of that healed, so I loaded up on ibuprofen and shed a lot of tears. Things are finally going a little more smoothly now, so hopefully the worst is over and it will be smooth sailing from here out. The good part is that Avery really likes to sleep at night. So she hasn't really been waking up much during the night. I am still waking her up a couple of times a night right now until she gets some good weight gain, but sometimes she is only interested in sleeping. Not a problem for me :)

--Amanda

Past Due

I am officially past my due date now and not even a hint of a contraction (or any other sign that this baby is coming soon). Will induce next week if the baby is still not here. Wish me luck getting through the next few days. This is not fun!

--Amanda

Breech baby no more!

So at my 34 week appointment we found out baby girl, or 'little sister' as Molly calls her, was still breech. I was bummed about the news because another friend who is pregnant had to schedule a version and c-section because her daughter was still breech (but luckily her baby turned in time). Anyway, for almost 2 weeks I had to lie on my back with pillows under my hips making my hips about 18in high with my head still on the ground for 15 minutes, 2-3 times a day. It sure was a pain but it worked! At my next midwife appointment she had turned head down and we got to see her on ultrasound to confirm.

So that's a big relief. Our new focus is that she was facing to the side and not to the back. She still have plenty of time to face the back but the midwife recommended that I don't lie on my back or even recline at all. I'm going to start swimming as well because that is suppose to help convince her to get in position as well.

I can't believe I'm at the point where I now have weekly doctor's appointments! I have my GBS test on Thursday so hopefully I will get a break and that will be negative. Otherwise I'll just keep plugging along!

The 'betes...

I should have posted about this a while ago but you probably all know that I have gestational diabetes. It definitely came as a surprise because I didn't have it with Molly. But at my midwife appt before the glucose test, I had sugar that had spilled into my urine so I guess there was a slight hint. Then I failed the 1 hr test on a Friday, got the phone call about that on the following Monday and had to go in Tuesday for the 3 hr test, failed that and got the phone call on Wednesday. I had a nutritionist call me on that Thursday and met with her on Friday. So it all happened pretty fast.

After the meeting with the nutritionist (who pretty much sucked, by the way) I was set with a new meal plan and glucose monitor. I don't have to completely eliminate carbs but have to majorly limit and control them. That not only includes breads, grains, and sugar but also fruits and even milk! and I've upped my protein. I have to prick my finger and check my blood sugar four times a day! That part sucks and I have to write down all of my scores and make notes of what I ate if my numbers are high. The midwife makes a copy of my numbers at every appointment.

All that being true and sucking, I really have come to view it as a blessing in disguise. I am so much more aware of what I am putting into my body and eating so much healthier. With Molly I gained about 50 pounds. So far, at almost 36 weeks pregnant, I have gained seven, yes 7, pounds total. With the food knowledge, I think I will really be able to get in even better shape after this baby comes than I was before!

I am also in the gym at least 3 times a week. With Molly I stopped working out at about 2 months along.

So that's the health saga here. Only about a month left to go. As soon as this baby, well, the placenta, pops out, the 'betes should be gone. I will have to test for a period of time afterward just to make sure it didn't turn into true diabetes but I have full confidence that we'll be back to normal. My midwife already told me that I will be given a grace period right after the baby is born where I don't have to test so to think about what I want to eat during that time.

Almost Ready for Hadley's Baby Sister!

Well, I was trying to get motivated to do some of the million things I need to do this afternoon while Hadley is napping, but I could not get motivated to do a single one! So I decided to write a post instead. I am now 36 weeks with Hadley's baby sister, and was already 50% effaced when in the Dr.'s office a few days ago. The doctor said that was normal for this point in a second pregnancy, but it seems like a lot, since I was about 0% effaced and 0% dilated at 38 weeks when I had Hadley. Ultrasounds have all been normal so far and the baby is head down now, but she will probably only be a little bigger than Hadley was---about 6 or 6.5 lbs.

We brought up all the little baby gear from the basement a few weeks ago to put in the nursery. I can't wait to hold this little baby soon! However, as we were bringing up all the gear, I realized that the amount of gear you need for a small baby directly correlates with the amount of work it is! I don't remember being overwhelmed last time because I just had no idea what I was getting myself into. This time I know how much work it will be on how little sleep, and it is a little overwhelming. Oh well, thank goodness for caffeine! Still can't wait to meet this new little girl!

Melissa and Greer--would love to hear about things you are doing differently this time that are working/not working. Congrats to Melissa! Look forward to seeing the post-birth post, but I know it will probably be a while with two little munchkins to take care of!

--Amanda