Glucose Test

I passed!!!!

I don't think I have ever been so happy as I was yesterday when one of my midwives told me that I do NOT have Gestational Diabetes. I was in tears as she went over the results, explaining that not only do I not GD, but my numbers were nowhere close to the magical diabetes number. I am thrilled. Not only does this mean that I am healthy, baby girl is healthy, and I don't have to prick my fingers every day and get on a super controlled diet, but it also means that as long as things continue to go well in this pregnancy I can deliver this baby in the birthing center like I have been hoping to do.

I have been so worried about going through another induction that I have actually had nightmares about it. I am on cloud nine.

I know inductions aren't always bad, but my experience was bad. My hospital experience was terrible with Danny, I try to be positive when I look back at it, but at the end of the day there is no denying that poor choices were made in order to accommodate the hospital staff, not what was best for my baby and me. We are in a different area now, the hospital here is very good, especially the labor and delivery staff, but I am still very happy that I might actually get the experience I am looking for.

I have been on cloud nine since yesterday morning over my news. My husband even brought home a piece of birthday cake for me to enjoy later today in celebration :)

I had psyched myself up at the beginning of this pregnancy to not get GD, but as I progressed the midwives kept trying to convince me that I might just be prone to it, and to not beat myself up if I get it again, even after following a pretty strict diet. Well the last few weeks I have been pretty sure I was going to fail the test, I even went as far as to look up the high risk doctor the midwives would have sent me to, do find out what hours they are open.

I am doing  happy dance, please join me :)

Hats

My friend, Melissa, is a very talented crochet-er (that probably isn't a word). Per my request, she custom made three adorable hats for baby girl to wear this fall/winter. This made me super excited because not only did Danny not wear a hat as a newborn more than once or twice (it was springtime in Yuma), but also, girl stuff is just so cute!!

All I had to do was show Melissa a picture of what I had in mind, and she made them, without a pattern. She is SO SO SO talented. Even my husband, who looks at a building and says "I could have build that," said that it takes real talent to do what she did.

Aren't they adorable???

Smitty's Itty Bitties

So to shamelessly plug my friends business, you can find more information about her adorable hats on her facebook page at Smitty's Itty Bitties.

Chiropractor

Thank God for the Chiropractor!!

I just have to say it. I wouldn't be walking right now if I hadn't finally decided to see a Chiropractor around ten weeks ago. I am in much less pain (back pain) than I was while pregnant with Danny, and I am so thankful for that.

The best part, I was just reading on a facebook group that many women have gone to their Chiropractor around their due date and it has helped induce labor, naturally! I don't know what the likeliness of that is, but since I'm pretty sure I failed my glucose test yesterday, I will do anything to avoid an induction and labor naturally.

Here is to hope :)

Danny's Birth Story

In honor of my 25th birthday (Happy Birthday to Me!), I am going to post my sons birth story. I wrote it when he was several months old, but didn't finish it until he was ten months old.

Looking back at this story, I realize that I was bullied into a lot of things by my doctors and the hospital, although it isn't really reflected in the story, but it brought back a lot of memories. It is no wonder that I am hoping for a birth center birth with my baby girl.

So without further ado, here is the story of how my sweet Danny Boy was born.

Daniel Thomas Bray Rice

April 16^th, 2010

7 lbs. 5 ozs. 20 inches long.

Exactly one month before you were born, on March 16^th, 2010, I was told by my doctor that I had tested positive for Gestational Diabetes back in January!! He had overlooked my test results, even though I had asked him about the results several times. It made a lot of sense that I had GD because I had been having really bad dizzy spells, I had swelled up a lot, and my vision was really suffering. My diabetes was treated with diet only, it was a really emotional time, the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I suddenly had to change my diet completely, and I was terrified that there would be something wrong with my baby since I had this terrible disease without treating it for so long. My doctor decided that he would induce me on my due date because of the GD, but I fought to do it sooner. I wanted to do it when he was on call at the hospital, I wanted him to see me through the mess he made, but I also wanted the baby out of me ASAP. I felt like my body was hurting the baby, and the sooner he/she came out the better off he/she would be. We decided to induce on April 15^th, 2010, I was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

Thursday, April 15^th we woke up early to get ready to go to the hospital and start my induction so we could have “the baby”. We didn't know if you would be a boy or a girl so we called you “the baby” or “otter” while I was pregnant. I couldn't sleep the whole night before we went to the hospital, I was very nervous, but also excited at the same time. I was afraid of what labor would be like, but so excited to find out if I would have a son or a daughter, to see what you would look like and to hold you for the first time.

We woke up around 5 am so we could take showers, pack our bags, and eat breakfast. We got everything ready to and left for the hospital. We were so excited, but right when we left the base I realized we forgot to bring the laptop, we knew it could be a day or two before you would make your big entrance and we really wanted to have the computer with us. We turned around and went back to our house to get the computer. We got to the hospital a little late, around 7:45 am, luckily the nurses were running late getting our room ready so we actually got there at the perfect time. They made me go back to the room for a little while without Daddy which made me very upset. I didn't want to be in the hospital at all without him because I was so nervous. My nurse, Jenny was very nice and let Daddy come to our room right away because I told her how much I wanted him there. I got changed into my funny looking hospital gown and sat in the bed waiting for the doctors and nurses to come in. The nurses came in and started taking my temperature and all my vital signs. They hooked me up to machines to monitor contractions, your heartbeat, and my blood pressure. I was surprised that there wasn't a doctor around to check me out before everything got started, but by the end of the day I realized that the nurses do most of the work, and the doctors are there in case there is a problem. Once I was on the monitor I was happy to hear that I was already having sporadic contractions, even though I couldn't feel them I was happy to know that my body was starting to get ready for labor on it's own, and we weren't taking you too early. After a little while the nurses came in to give me an IV, I needed to have antibiotics constantly in my system because I tested positive for Group B Strep, which could have made you sick when you were coming out if I didn't have the antibiotics. Jenny had a hard time getting the IV in, she was a new nurse so she asked for help. A different nurse came in, she was really mean and hurt me...I had a really big bruise on my arm from her failed attempt at giving me an IV. Next the vein specialist came in from the Maternity ER and she gave me an IV with no trouble. My arm still hurt from the second try at the IV, but I was happy to have that part over with.

It was about 8:30 am and I was finally given medicine to start labor. I got a pill to swallow that was supposed to give me contractions. I was happy to hear your heartbeat all day long. My favorite time of the month while I was pregnant with you was when I would go to the doctor and we would listen to your heartbeat. There is something so special about knowing that your baby is alive and growing inside you. I knew, at this time, that I would really miss hearing your heartbeat and feeling you kick and move after you were born. You started moving around a lot like you did every morning around that time, I loved feeling you wiggle and kick. There is something so sweet about pregnancy and motherhood, you are so excited to meet your sweet baby for the first time, but you also love having the baby inside you and knowing he or she is safe. I really enjoyed our last hours together where it was just you and me.

Throughout the day the nurses would check to see if I was dilated, and I wasn't, they would give me more medicine to induce contractions, and they would make me walk around the hospital to try to get you ready to come out. I looked like a giant in my robe walking around the hospital, but your Daddy always said I looked beautiful. Daddy always went walking with me, we would get so bored walking around in circles at the hospital. The nurses also let me sit on a medicine ball instead of walking...I thought that was fun and I could be on the computer and Facebook with my friends. All day everyone kept calling Daddy and I to see if you were here yet...our friends and family were so excited. Momo and Grandpop called, all of your Aunts called, and our friends too. Mommy's cousin Kathryn is a Labor and Delivery nurse and she was calling and texting me all day to give me advice and find out how we were doing. It was so nice to know that we had so many people praying for us and excited to hear if you were here. Daddy and Mommy's friend Mickey sent us flowers the first day we were at the hospital, they made the room smell so nice.

Once it was nighttime our nice nurse, Jenny, had to go home and we got a mean nurse who didn't take very good care of me. I kept getting medicine to get labor going and it never seemed to work. We walked around the hospital every hour for about 30 minutes to try to get labor going. I started feeling contractions around 10pm, they didn't hurt too bad but they were uncomfortable, it was hard to walk around this time because of the contractions and pressure on my belly, you were feeling very heavy! This continued most of the night, and around 1:30 am Daddy went to sleep and I stayed up watching TV because I couldn't sleep. A little while after Daddy went to sleep the doctor came in to see how I was doing, I woke Daddy up because I was nervous that it would hurt when he checked me, it did but I survived. Daddy helped me get through the hard stuff, and the nighttime doctor was very nice. I was really excited to see you and very tired but I couldn't fall asleep. A little while after Daddy fell asleep my contractions started to hurt really bad, the nurse came in to check to see how dilated I was and I was only at a 1 so they didn't give me any more medicine for the rest of the night. I still had contractions all night that hurt but I just thought about how each contraction brought you closer to being born so it would make them easier to get through. I must have fallen asleep around 3:00 am and slept for a few hours.

The next morning the new morning nurse woke me up and told me she needed to check to see how dilated I was. I was still only about 1 cm dilated. I wasn't making much progress and I was very frustrated. I thought that I was being put in a lot of pain from the contractions and it was all for nothing. My nice morning nurse unhooked all my monitors and the IV so I could take a shower without all the wires being in the way. I took a nice long shower and I kept thinking that it might be the last relaxing shower I would take for a long time. I also kept thinking that I really really hope my baby will be born today. I could not wait to meet my sweet baby, to know if you would be a boy or a girl, to see who you would look like and to give you a kiss. I had been waiting my whole life for you and I didn't want to wait any longer.

After my shower we had a slow morning. We ate breakfast and talked to the doctors and nurses about what we should do to get this baby to come out. The doctors decided to give me pitocin to give me more contractions. The pitocin worked and around 12:30 p.m Doctor Grogan, from my doctors office, came in to check my progress. I was 2 centimeters dilated but it seemed like things were finally progressing so he broke my water. I immediately began to have extremely intense and painful contractions. The contractions were coming right after each other so I was not getting a break. The nurses called the anesthesiologist to come give me an epidural but he was in the operating room with another Mommy so we had to wait. It was very hard to go through that pain without any medicine to help me. I took it one contraction at a time, took deep breaths and closed my eyes during the hardest parts and before I knew it an hour had gone by and the anesthesiologist was ready to give me some medicine. I was afraid of the big needle he had to use and I was upset because the doctor was mean and wouldn't let Daddy stay with me. The procedure to insert the epidural turned out to be pretty easy and not scary at all. I didn't feel any pain other then the contractions that I was feeling. Once the doctor was finished Daddy was allowed to come back in to be with me and I was soon feeling very good. Thanks to the medicine I was able to get some sleep before it was time to deliver my sweet baby. I woke up from my nap around 4 p.m and felt like it was time to push. Doctor Burkett, a doctor I had never met before, came in and checked my progress, I was finally 10 centimeters! I was so happy to hear this because I was ready to have you. The nurses didn't want me to start pushing yet, they wanted to see if you would come down on your own a bit. I was upset about this because I really wanted to push. I felt ready and I wanted you to be born before it was too late to call everyone in Maryland to announce your big arrival. Around 6 p.m I told the nurse that I was ready to push and she still didn't want me to. Daddy and I think it was because the nurses were getting ready to go home and they didn't want to get stuck in a delivery. Finally around 7 p.m we got new nurses. The new nurse, Paula, was very sweet and said it was time to have a baby! Because Dr. Grogan and Dr. Burkett had gone home we were lucky enough to have Marsha Keechler, a Midwife from Mommy's doctor office help deliver you. She was a very nice woman who did everything she could to make sure you arrived safely and to make sure I didn't get hurt. I started pushing sometime after 7:30. It was a lot of work to push baby out but it wasn't too painful because I had a great reaction to the epidural. While I was pushing the Detroit Red Wings hockey game was on TV. The Wings were losing the game but once I started pushing they came back and ended up winning 7-4. You must have been good luck for Daddy's favorite hockey team. While I was pushing Marsha said that she was very upset that the nurses wouldn't let me push earlier. She said that she had never seen any Mommy sit around at 10 centimeters dilated for as long as I had. She told me that because you were ready to come out for so long but weren't able to that you might have a cone head, but that it would go away in 24 hours. I had never seen a baby with a cone head before so I was a little scared. While Mommy was pushing Marsha also said that you were a little big for Mommy to get out so she did some extra work to help you along, she was so great that she didn't need to use any special tools to help deliver you.

At 8:21 p.m on April 16^th, 2010 in Yuma Arizona, my beautiful son Daniel Thomas Bray Rice was born. That was the happiest moment of my life. When you were born Marsha had to unwrap the umbilical cord from around your neck, it was wrapped around twice which was very scary, but you were in perfect health. Marsha held you up so Daddy could see you, he looked at you and then told me that you were a boy. I was so happy that my Danny Boy was finally here. The nurses took you over to the table to clean you up and make sure you were healthy while Marsha made sure that Mommy was doing well. The nurses cleaned you up and weighed you, you weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz and you were 20 ½ inches long. Once you were cleaned up the nurses gave you to Daddy, he was the first one in our family to hold you. He was so happy to hold his little boy, I will never forget the look on his face, he was looking at you as if you were the most amazing thing in the whole world, and you were. Daddy brought you over to me, and he showed me how handsome my little Danny Boy was. I asked him if I could hold you and he handed you to me. The first time I held my sweet Danny boy you were bright eyed and bushy tailed. You were looking around at everything in the room. You even sucked on my finger. You were the sweetest baby I had ever seen in my life. Daddy and I were so happy to have our first child, we were now our own family.

Once things calmed down in the delivery room, about 20 minutes after you were born Mommy and Daddy decided it was time to call our family and friends who were back in Maryland to tell them our exciting news. First we called Uncle Joe, your Godfather, then we called everyone else. Although it was a long, 36 hour induction, it was all worth it because I got to hold my sweet little Danny boy.

Carseats

Technically, I think it is car seats, but I have been writing it as carseats for so long that I refuse to stop.

Anyway, carseats are on my mind these days. Not only am I trying to decide if I should have the kids in separate rows in the car, to keep them both in the center seat, or to let them sit side by side, but I just purchased a new infant carseat today.

When I was looking into infant carseats for Danny it was a no brainer. The Chicco Keyfit 22 was the #1 safety rated infant carseat, and Chicco has far fewer recalls than all the other carseat brands. By a lot.

The carseat served us well, it was easy to use, easy to install, and not too heavy. Danny always seemed very comfortable in it, and despite the fact that many reviews said their baby was always super sweaty in it, I got Danny through a very humid Maryland summer without ever seeing it as an issue.

It wasn't even a question as to what carseat we would buy for our new baby girl, it would be a Chicco Keyfit. It seems like Chicco is phasing out the Keyfit 22 and will only be selling the Keyfit 30. I haven't read this anywhere, but all the stores seem to be out of stock of the 22, and the ones who have it seem to be jacking up the price. My guess it is because more and more people are keeping their children rear facing longer (yay).

With Danny I wanted neutral colors, so he got a green carseat. Now that we are having a girl I would have liked to get something girly, but without buying the whole travel system, and wanting the 22 instead of the 30, so girlfriend will be riding in style in this seat for at least her first year.

I am rather excited for it to come in the mail. I bought it from mystrollers.com, and thanks to a little internet digging I got a 15% off coupon, which ended up with a price tag of $144.49 shipped. That hurt a little, since it was on Amazon about two months ago for $119, but now Amazon has it for over $200. I will take what I got.

Now I have to start thinking about how fun it will be to carry this carseat, with a newborn in it, while wrangling Danny to where ever we are trying to go.

2nd baby

I wouldn't have done this for a million dollars while I was pregnant with Danny, but it goes to show how much your life and priorities change with having kids.

Danny did a number on my skin, my entire belly was covered with bright red stretch marks, like of looks like a tiger attacked me, they are now much faded, and now that I have a big belly they actually look better, less saggy. I was so self conscious about them while I was pregnant with Danny that I would ever show my tummy again, but here we are. I may never see them as a badge of honor, like many mothers do, but I see my "ruined body" as a very small price to pay for the gift of motherhood. My body was never perfect before kids, and it certainly is not the most important thing in my world, so here you go, pictures of my and Danny's photo shoot this morning.

Belly shot-6/22/2012

It all started with me realizing that I am probably a week or two away from having an outie, which I HATE! I wanted to take a picture to see what it looked like from the front (hubby is asleep in our room with the good mirror). I considered putting a piece of duct tape over it when it popped during my last pregnancy, hopefully this time around I can get over it.

*Notice the "hole" as Danny calls it, not a terrible remembrance of my adorable belly piercing from when I was 17.

Danny's perfect tummy.

 Danny, of course, wanted me to take the same picture of him that I took of myself. I'm happy to say he has my skin. As dead sexy as his dad is, I wouldn't know how to take care of a "white" kid, like my husband.

Hello, feet.

I don't get the cute basket ball belly that some women get, it comes from around :). It took forever to get this picture because Danny kept hugging my belly and saying his sisters name.

Block feet?

I wish I knew what my husband's feet looked like as a kid. He was stocky, like Danny, so I'm assuming Danny gets his feet from him. We both have pretty boney feet now. Danny's feet are really hard to fit in shoes because they are so chubby. Adorable, but chubby.

My little love.

Ever since I graduated I really feel like I am living the dream. I LOVE being home with Danny, I love teaching him things, and spending enough time with him every day where it doesn't seem like I am missing anything. The only thing that could make things better would be to win the lottery, but I will be perfectly happy if that never happens :).

Mom Guilt!!

We all know that I suffer from Mom Guilt, I have written about it before. Well, it seems silly to me that in learning from my mistakes, or just evolving as a person that I am still beating myself up over decisions that I made with Danny, that I know better or have decided to change with this baby girl.

I am cloth diapering the new baby, I haven't completed my stash, but it is getting there. I am VERY, VERY excited about this. The diapers are so cute, and I love the idea of not having chemicals all over my baby's butt, as well as saving money. It dawned on me recently that I could cloth wipe, too. After talking to my mom squad, I decided to give it a go. I plan to buy some official cloth wipes, but I also plan on using the cheap wash cloths that Target sells in the baby section. I bought a few packs today. I can't get over how excited I am about diapers/poop right now. The life of a mom. . .

I kind of felt like a heel, though. When I was buying the wash cloths and realized how happy I am about this decision, I couldn't help but think "why didn't I do this with Danny?"

I mean, logistically I couldn't have done it with Danny. We were moving around, didn't have a lot of extra space until he was ten months old, and he was taken care of by babysitters until just a month ago when I graduated. Babysitters are not going to cloth diaper. I know that I couldn't have done it with him, but part of me feels guilty. It is like I feel so good about making this new move for my daughter, like I am doing something so much better for her, but then I feel bad about the fact that Danny didn't get that.

I just keep trying to remind myself that while  all of the children that come after Danny will enjoy my wisdom and knowledge that I gained through Danny, Danny is the only child who will ever have been given undivided attention from me. He has been my whole world, with no one else coming close to it. None of my other kids will get that.

Life is a trade off I suppose.