Unexpected Twists: The Tale of a Tumbling Tot

Expect the unexpected. That's what they say, whoever "they" are. But that's certainly what I learned to do this pregnancy.

In the beginning, Simon's pregnancy had been the easiest one since my first. I had learned how to manage the nausea of the first trimester with small frequent snacks and ginger capsules. I became aware of the erratic mood swings and tearfully and frequently apologized to my poor family for them. I was getting in a daily walk as we picked up Akiko from school, so I felt much more fit. Things were looking great and I was so hopeful and excited that this pregnancy would be a breeze.

My pregnancies had all been so different. I had experienced every discomfort, apart from major issues, in different ones. While I had mild insomnia, mild sciatica, and mild restless legs while pregnant with Simon, his was the most comfortable I'd ever been.

Then I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. My first major issue during a pregnancy. One that could affect both myself and my baby for the rest of our lives.

I'm not going to lie. It was hard. Everything I put into my mouth was going to affect the baby somehow. I had to carefully consider every crumb that I was about to ingest and ask myself, Is it worth it?

In the end, as we all know by now, I was able to manage the diabetes with diet and no insulin injections. My baby was not going to be gargantuan and he is very low risk for being overweight or developing diabetes as a youth. Those were my biggest worries and the things I stressed most about.

Then, two weeks before due date, we find that little Simon, who had been heads down for weeks, had decided to flip over. Over the course of the next week, he would flip twice more: once back to heads down and once again back to breech.

We were supposed to go into the hospital to have the external version and be induced on Saturday, but it being a holiday (Cinco de Mayo) and a super moon, everyone else decided to have their babies that day as well. They couldn't fit us in. My doctor told me she ended up doing five c-sections that day in addition to delivering quite a few more. That's a lot of babies in one day.

They asked us to come in early the next day, so we did. While I was getting prepped and signing all sorts of documents and waiting for the doctors, our church was starting. I sent Joseph over there for a few minutes so he could take the sacrament, since our building is only a couple blocks from the hospital. When the staff found out, they all thought it was so neat.

Anyway, long story short (too late) the external version worked. It was done very quickly. I was having Braxton-Hicks (unproductive) contractions, so they gave me a shot to stop those so they could do the procedure. It was uncomfortable, but since it was done so fast, overall it wasn't so bad, like ripping a bandage off or drinking nasty medicine.

They put a belly binder around me, which was supposed to keep the baby in place, and started the induction. After about five hours, the doctor came to check on me and break my water. My contractions were about 4 minutes apart, but weren't much stronger than the BHs I'd had. I wasn't looking forward to getting my water broken. I'd experienced that with Moses' induction and it was extremely... well, painful is the only way to describe it, because my cervix wasn't open at all yet.

Of course, the doctor needed to check the baby first. He'd flipped, again. This time he was totally heads up, rather than sideways or diagonal like we'd seen him before. At that point, we had a decision to make. No one wanted us to go home and wait for labor to start on its own, so that wasn't an option and was deemed too dangerous with a topsy-turvy baby.

These were our options:

A) Stop induction. Wait for contractions to die down. Try version again. Get induced again. Hope baby doesn't flip again. If he does, go in for emergency c-section.

B) Have an elective c-section, since that was probably going to be the most likely scenario anyway.

I know I've said before that a c-sec was the very last thing I ever wanted to do. I wanted Simon to come out the way babies are supposed to come out of their mamas, just like his siblings had. Simon obviously had other plans.

Joseph and I deliberated and prayed. I called my sis-in-law, Chelsie, to ask her how her experience was with her c-sec with her twins and what to expect. We had made our decision. Not the decision we were hoping to face, but the best decision for the circumstances at hand. I cried, but I knew it was the right choice.

The doctors got everything scheduled and started their preparations. We made phone calls to our parents and Joseph went home to pick up Kristen and the boys. Akiko had been hanging out at the hospital for a few hours and insisted on staying till the baby was born (no matter what or when).

Then, after a long, long day at the hospital, little Simon Jack was welcomed into the world via very capable hands in the operating room. The cord was wrapped around his neck at least three times- from all the flipping (in fact, he was heads down again when they pulled him out). I mostly stared at Joseph during the procedure, who was with me behind the sheet hanging between me and my belly, and didn't feel much (that came later). And, for the fourth time, hearing the first cries of our newborn baby brought us to tears.

Because I had done so well managing my diabetes, I gained the least amount of weight this time and Simon ended up being my smallest baby. I still can't get over how small he is. His "going home" outfit is going to drown him. However, since he weighed less than 8 lbs. his chances of complications from my diabetes is very slim. His blood sugar levels were perfect and I was given the green light to go back on a regular diet right away after they'd checked my sugar levels.

Now, here I sit in the hospital, sore from my surgery, having to rely completely on everyone around me because I'm pretty much confined to a bed, and missing my family like crazy. It is nice to get a break from the chaos, but I miss it at the same time.

I'm glad we made the decision we did, even though it was hard to face. It was the best one under the circumstances. Simon is a model newborn and I'm slowly getting stronger and less sore. Best case scenario is that I can go home tomorrow, but we'll be home Thursday for sure.

What a wild ride this has been.

We start our gamers young in this family.

PS: The kids are crazy in love with baby Simon. As are the rest of us.

Introducing...

Simon Jack

May 6, 2012

6 lbs. 5 oz.

19.5"

More and better pictures coming soon!

Seriously?!?!

So, since we were sent home from the hospital last Wednesday, I had to go in for the standard check-up this afternoon. I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't have to. I was hoping that those contractions I was having at regular intervals last night would turn into something significant. They didn't. They just made me uncomfortable every few minutes for about five hours and then quit on me.

Anyway, the doctor wanted to do a stress test on me, something I've never done before. It's just where they hook you up to the monitors and listen to the heartbeat and check for contractions for about 20-30 minutes. They also had me push a button every time the baby moved, in order to monitor his "kick count." Of course, during the test, the baby decided it was nap time and hardly moved at all. However, once Joseph got me laughing really hard (which was funny because my laughing registered as really jumpy contractions), it woke the baby up enough that we finally got the results the doctor wanted to see.

My doctor also wanted to check the baby with the ultrasound machine again to make sure he's positioned where he's supposed to be.

He breech. Again!

This time his head is on my left side. Last week his head was on my right side.

Ugh!

This time the news isn't stressing me out like it did last week. I'm not sure why. Well, actually I'm sure it has to do with the assurance I've gotten from my personal prayers and the blessings Joseph has given me.

So, tomorrow we're going into the hospital again. If he hasn't flipped heads down on his own, we'll do the external cephalic version (not an aversion, like I thought it was called before). After that, we're definitely going to induce.

I just want to mention how grateful I am for all the thoughts and prayers that have been said on our behalf. I feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful and faithful family and friends who are hoping for the best for us.

For now, I ask you to pray that I don't go into labor tonight and that this baby will turn back to where he's supposed to be.

Next post will definitely be the one that introduces our new little baby. I can't believe what a little stinker he's being right now though.

Last Baby Update... Hopefully

Well, I guess we'll start with the good news again.

I was scheduled to go into the hospital this afternoon to check on the baby. When I had spoken with my doctor on Monday, she said that I should probably plan on staying there and having the baby. Because of all the possible scenarios, it was more likely that I would either need to be induced or have a c-section.

I was stressed. I was hoping my sister would be here to help with the kids by the time the baby came, but she wasn't flying in till the next morning. My friends totally stepped up, though, and we made plans so that the kids would be taken care of while I was at the hospital.

We received the best news ever though: the baby had flipped back to heads down and that last ultrasound I had turned out to be a huge error and the baby is weighing in at a bit over 7 lbs. We got to go home and now we just get to wait till the baby makes his appearance on his own. It was not the news I was expecting, but it was the best news we could have received. I'm so relieved. I've been super stressed since Friday.

So, the bad news is that I'm still pregnant and the kids, who were expecting a new brother by now, have to wait for a while longer before they can meet him.

When we picked the kids up from our friend's house, Akiko got in the car, saw me, smiled, saw the empty car seat, and her face fell. She asked where the baby was. I told her. She started bawling. Not the reaction I was expecting.

I found out later that she had had kind of a bad day. We did explain to her that it's better if the baby comes on his own than if they were to induce me or cut me open. I think she felt better about that.

So, now we wait. Next time you hear from me, we'll have a baby to introduce to you. Till then...

Roller Coaster Update

Joseph has been working on the roller coaster a couple hours every weekend for the last couple months, except for those couple weeks when it rained. He's made a lot of progress on it, but it's not nearly done yet. It is ridable though.

Moses took the first test run:

I love how Moses is looking at me the whole time and smiling for the camera. What a goofy goober!

Then it was Akiko's turn:

She's obviously less than pleased that she didn't go first. She was also hoping that she'd be able to help more than Joseph would allow her. But she really is excited about the coaster.

Joseph has actually designed the base of the coaster so that our bike stroller will latch onto it, so the kids actually have seats and harnesses, you know, for safety reasons.

Our friendly neighborhood missionaries came out to help Joseph as part of their service. They said it was the most fun service project they've done.

I bet Joseph's brother Jake, who is currently serving his mission in the Philippines, wishes he had service projects like this.

With the test runs, Joseph has been able to find the flaws and has been working on redesigning a little here and there so that it will be sturdy and safe for the kids to play on, especially if their friends come over.

I'll keep updating on the roller coaster when there is something new to report on, but it is exciting that it's come along as far as it has.

Re: The Baby - Good News and Bad News

Let's start with the good news:

I saw the nutritionist this morning. It is the last appointment before the baby comes. She was very proud of me. I was able to manage my gestational diabetes. That means no insulin for this lady.

Even though I had some very high glucose levels every once in a while, my overall average kept the baby's and my weights in check. I've only gained 29 lbs. so far. That's so much better than the nearly 50 lbs. I've gained with the other pregnancies. And with all the walking to school to pick up Akiko that I've had to do the entire pregnancy, I do feel much more fit this time around than any other pregnancy.

She seems optimistic that my insulin will start regulating itself pretty soon after birth. Ideally, I'll keep with the diet in order to prevent developing Type 2 diabetes in the future. Honestly, it's something I do plan on doing for the most part, but I am looking forward to eating normal sugar and more carbs again. I don't plan on overdoing it, but cutting back on them as much and as drastically as I had to was really hard. I'm not stupid enough to gorge myself as soon as I've got the go ahead.

So, while it was stressful to deal with, and I'm not out of the woods yet, it was very pleasant news to get.

Now the bad news:

It's not horrible news, but it's not the kind of news you want to get when you're in the home stretch.

So, near the end of a pregnancy, a woman's belly usually measures, in centimeters, the same as how many weeks along she is. So, for a woman who is 36 weeks along, her belly will measure at least 36 cm large.

Last week, at 37 weeks, I measured 36 cm. Still normal. This morning, at 38 weeks, I measured at 32 cm. Weird, right?

I wasn't seeing my normal doctor today. She's out of town. So her colleague, whom I have never seen before, was a little alarmed. She wanted me to go get another formal ultrasound. I told her I didn't really want to do that. I had been through that before with my first baby, whom I had also carried small, and it ended up being an unnecessary expense and nothing to worry about.

She said that that decision was up to me and she was okay with that, but asked if I wouldn't mind letting her check things out with the smaller, in-office ultrasound machine. I gave her my consent.

My doctor had checked me out with the smaller machine two weeks ago, to check the size of the baby and make sure he wasn't getting too big. After taking measurements, the machine stated that he was 6 lbs. 4 oz. and right on schedule. He was heads down. We just had to wait a few more weeks for him to arrive.

This morning, the machine stated that he was 5 lbs. 3 oz. We also found out that he decided to flip around and he is now sitting breach.

Now the weight loss thing we can't really explain and those little machines aren't terribly accurate when you're in the last trimester. There's a margin of error of plus or minus about a pound.

The doctor measured his head, abdomen, and femur. The head and the femur were consistent with the last measurement, but his abdomen seems to have shrunk. No idea why. She checked the placenta and amniotic fluid and everything was normal.

So basically, since my baby has apparently lost weight and is breach, this means two things:

When the babies are measuring small for gestational age, they like to induce early because the doctors are better able to monitor the baby's nutrition, for lack of a better word, better on the outside than on the inside. Inducing a little early I don't have a huge problem with.

It's still really weird that the baby seems to have lost an entire pound. I'm hoping that it was just a really huge margin of error on the machine's part. 

With the baby being breach (butt down rather than head down), they're much more likely to schedule a c-section for me, which the doctor stated would be a shame since all my other births hadn't been. I think the fact that the baby has shifted position is the reason my belly suddenly shrank.

There is an exercise I can do to try and get him to flip back to heads down. If that doesn't work, I'm going to have my doctor do an aversion (sp?), which is where she presses on my belly and tries to manually coax the baby back into position. If that fails, c-section it is. Ugh.

The colleague is going to consult with my doctor first thing Monday morning, so I'm going to have to wait until then before I know what's going to happen.

So, the news that the baby is suddenly small is weird. An early induction is something I can handle. I'm extremely relieved that, at the very least, he is not a giganto diabetes baby.

The news that he's breach makes me nervous. I do not want a c-section. I'm not opposed to them at all and I've given my consent to one if there's an emergency, but I'd really rather push this little guy out the way he's supposed to come out.

So, here's to hoping that we can get him flipped back to where he should be and that, depending on what my doctor says, we'll either induce early or just let labor start on its own. I am really disliking all this uncertainty right at the very end of the pregnancy though.

Spring Break 2012: Part Two

So, the day after we went to Knott's Berry Farm, Joseph's Auntie Helen took us to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Joseph's sister, Kailee, and her little baby Sophia had flown in from Maui the night before and were staying in our suite with us, so they also joined us at the aquarium.

There's not a whole lot to say, so I'll just start with the pictures and comment as needed.

Asher and Sophia were mesmerized by the giant tanks right away.

I just thought it was cute how my kids were lined up to watch the fish.

Kailee and Sophia enjoying their time there.

A giant eel swims by to say "hi" to my boys.

Now the sea bass and my kids wouldn't cooperate with each other for picture, so I had to take a picture of a random girl about Moses' size so you can see how big these 500 lb. sea bass were. It was huge!!

This display just made me hungry.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the black fin shark is about 4 ft. long. This was the biggest diamond ray I had ever seen!! It was ginormous!! At least 5.5 ft. in diameter and she weighed about 500 lbs.!! So beautiful.

 Auntie Helen took us to feed the lorikeets. They were friendly birds. The girl that worked there said that the lorikeets only land on people that they know aren't going to freak out. She told us they never land on her because they know she would freak out. They landed on Joseph, Kailee, Helen, and me right as we walked in.

I didn't even have any nectar and they loved me!

Chill little Sophia shows my kids how it's done.

We're just all glad none of us got pooped on.

Asher loved feeding the lorikeets.

By far, Akiko's favorite thing to do at aquariums is petting the animals at the touch pools. She would spend all day there if I'd let her. She loved the rays and they loved her back and kept swimming to her to let her touch them. When there was a group of teenagers freaking out about how "gross" and "slimy" the rays felt, she kept telling them that they were so soft and nice. She kept giving those kids looks like they were being a bunch of pansies. She totally showed them up.

She was practically in the pool with the rays.

I haven't seen seastars and anemones this brightly colored since we went snorkeling off of Boracay.

Petting the anemones turned into a family affair. Akiko also spent a lot of time at this exhibit and talked the ear off of the lady in charge of the exhibit.

Moses posing on the rocks.

Akiko, still soaked from petting the rays, poses on the rocks, too.

I could not believe how big these crabs were. They could have eaten little Sophia if they wanted to, I suppose.

After we were done at the aquarium, we went back to our hotel and Kailee and I took the kids down to the pool. They were a little upset that we weren't going to the beach, but neither Joseph or I had the energy for such an outing. Luckily, the time at the pool was sufficient.

After we got cleaned up, Grandpa and Helen took us out for a fabulous Mexican dinner. I ate way too much. I forgot to check my glucose levels after the meal, but I'm sure I was over.  It was soooo good!

Grandpa Jack with his newest great-granddaughter.

Moses and Akiko with Auntie Helen and Grandpa Jack. Asher was asleep and just out of the shot to the left of Akiko.

We drove home the next day. The kids were fantastic on the drive home and we made better time going north than we did heading south. I wish we could have stayed longer and spend more time with the family, but I'm glad we are close enough that a drive to Long Beach isn't terribly daunting.

Akiko had so much fun and didn't want to leave. She pretty much refused to get back in the car when we were loading up. I had to bribe her with the promise of a new baby brother and that I was really going to need her help. She reluctantly agreed to get in the car.