Almost 5 months

It's hard to believe my little man is about to turn 5 months. So much has happened. During the first 2 months, I had a severe allergic reaction from the percoset and epidural. My skin was bright red everywhere and it itched like hell. I had to get both topical and oral steroids. It was absolutely painful.

Through it all, Lucas was great. I guess we got lucky. He's a such a great baby. And I am so glad I read "Babywise." I really think that helped. By week 11, he was sleeping through the night.

The first ten weeks were rough. Feedings every three hours. Lack of sleep. It was so hard. There were times where I would go three days without showering. There were times where I wouldn't clean for a week. It became a total balancing act. And what's crazy is, Lucas wasn't demanding. By about a month and a half, we had him sleeping in his own room. And now when he wakes up, he doesn't immediately cry. He plays and coos by himself. Talk about being independent and confident!

We just recently started feeding him solids, because my mom was up my butt. She has bugged me from day one. "When we brought you home from the hospital, I gave you rice powder and it knocked you right out." I just keep rolling my eyes. Anyway, I finally gave in about 3 weeks ago. And let me just tell you, feeding someone food who has no idea how to use their mouth is just crazy. It's so messy. I think the trick is to just fill the spoon no more than half way. The less you give them, the cleaner it is.

I have a feeling by the time I get the hang of being a parent, he'll be 18 and ready for college.

Lucas Xavier is here!

On Friday, 12/28/07 at midnight, my water broke as I was getting ready to climb into bed. At first, I wasn't sure if it was amniotic fluid so while I sat on the toilet, I made my husband google ruptured membranes and amniotic fluid. After about 30 minutes, we called our doctor and he said come to the hospital.

We arrived at around 1:30am. The nurse tried to check my cervix. But just like a few days earlier, like my doctor had said, she too couldn't get to it without making it painful for me. She could feel his head and my cervix was too far behind his head. By this point, I was having contractions. Unfortunately, it was all back labor. The nurse said, the baby was probably sunny side up since it was all in my back. It hurt, but it was tolerable since it didn't last too long.

At around 3:30am, the nurse asked if I wanted Stadol to take the edge off and so I could get some rest. I agreed. It took 3 seconds for it to kick in. Boy was that a trip. Literally. I have never done acid or shrooms, but I have a feeling I know now. I was seriously tripping out of my mind. I saw thousands of rats in purple band uniforms and gold shoes marching throughout my mind. And I saw a whole lot of other crazy things.

My mom and brother arrived at around 4:00am. And my husband took them somewhere, leaving me alone. An hour or so after they left me, the drug wore off. I literally saw these insane images disappear pixel by pixel. The room was dark and I got scared. So I started calling my husband's name repeatedly. After several attempts, a nurse came in. I asked her if the drug was supposed to wear off. She said yes. So then I was back to dealing with the pain by myself.

At around 6:00am, the nurse tried to check my cervix again. No luck! So I just kept dealing with the back labor, which was getting more intense.

At around 7:30am, my doctor and a new nurse named Teresa came in and again, she had trouble reaching my cervix. She suggested getting an epidural. I knew I wanted one, but felt lame that I had to get one just so they could find out how far I was dilated.

At around 9:00am, the anesthesiologist came. I remained as still as possible. I was so scared. It felt weird. But on a scale of 1 to 10, it was probably a 2 or 3.

As soon as it kicked in, they finally checked my cervix. I was 5 cm dilated. The nurse then said she wanted to give me pitocin, because my contractions went from 5 minutes apart to 8. I agreed. Within 30 minutes, I had gone from 5 to 8 cm dilated. And soon, it was time to push.

At 10:30am, I began pushing. The nurse had one leg and my mom held my other leg. They coached me through every push. The epidural worked so good, I didn't feel a thing. So I was totally calm during the whole pushing. In fact, I chatted with the doctor and nurse about Brittany Spears and her little sister getting pregnant. I concentrated with every push and every time, it seemed I was getting closer. The baby's head was crowning and he said 2 inches of black hair. The nurse grabbed my hand so I could feel. It freaked me out. It was so soft.

After almost an hour and 25 minutes of pushing, the heart rate dropped from 130 to 61. The doctor said we should use a vacuum and get him out. We agreed. So at the count of three, I pushed and out he came at 12:00pm--exactly 12 hours after my water broke. Thankfully, we agreed to the vacuum. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and his skin was pale. They quickly ran him over and cut the cord and he began crying.

Lucas Xavier was born on 12/29/07 at noon. He weighed 6lbs and 6 oz and was 20 inches long.

He is so amazing and my husband has turned into super dad. He has practically changed every diaper and is helping me breastfeed.

What most surprises me about this experience is how little pain I felt. I have always been so afraid of childbirth. And on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the pain I felt as a 3. My recovery has been great. I haven't taken any pain relief after the first day. In fact, I have no pain and can move around freely. I can't believe I waited so long to have children.

PUPPP

Merry Christmas to me! This Christmas, I got PUPPP, a rare skin rash that happens in less than 1% of pregnant women. Yippie!

It actually started on my stomach a few days ago. It didn't itch that much and seemed to be contained, so I didn't worry too much. When I woke up on Christmas day, the rash had spread everywhere--my legs, arms and face. It itched so freaking bad. I also noticed my legs were slightly blue colored. It was weird.

When I woke up this morning, everything still seemed so red and itchy. So I called my doctor and he asked me to come in and see him. We (KC and my sister) were at the hospital where they ran several blood tests on me. They wanted to make sure it wasn't a liver problem. I told the doctor I had read about PUPPP, and I thought that's what it was at first. After several hours, he concluded it must be PUPPP. Especially since I hadn't eaten anything unusual and because I had been using any new moisturizer or soap.

I took some Benedryl and cortisone cream and that seems to be helping.

What's interesting is the nurse told me if my legs were still blue and I was still itching, they might have to induce me next week. I'll talk to my doctor about that tomorrow.

Pupp?

For the last few days, I've had a rash on my tummy. It's little red bumps that are spread out across. At first I thought it was a new soap I was using, so I switched to my old kind. But it's still there.

I just did a google search and pulled up something kind PUPP. I have never heard of it. But the article I found said less than 1% of women get this. And it tends to happen in the last trimester.

Hmm. Maybe I should call the doctor. I don't want to, but maybe I should.

36 weeks and 2 days

Ahhh! Time is flying. And soon, he will make his grand appearance. I packed his things this weekend for the hospital. And I have some of my stuff packed. I have off in Thursday and Friday, so I'll try and finish it up then.

I'm totally nesting and I think I've gone a little bonkers. I've cleaned all of his clothes for the 1st 12 months. Thankfully, I stopped there. And I've been doing laundry and cleaning the house up.

The last few days have been great. I haven't felt much pressure on my vee-jay-jay. Prior to that, it really hurt for about a week. I had difficulty walking and moving. I felt a lot of pressure and it wasn't just uncomfortable, it was painful, too.

We are still trying to decide on a first name for him. We keep going back and forth. And now that I just saw the top names for 2007 posted on babycenter.com, I am knocking off two contenders: Caden and Logan. While I thought both were kind of cool, I hate that they're in the top 10. So it looks like it's really down to just two names now and I feel like we're really leaning toward one. I know KC has slipped earlier about the names we like and so far no one has liked the name we're leaning toward, I don't really care. After all, he's our son and we can name him whatever we want. This name we're leaning toward was actually the first one we liked, so it's funny we've come full circle. And honestly, it's the one where I feel like it's the right name. The other names made me feel nothing. So I'm trusting our instincts on this one.

Amniotic fluid vs. Discharge

So I thought I might be leaking amniotic fluid last night.

I took a shower and an hour later, my underwear was kinda wet. So I called my doctor. He was concerned and asked me to come to the birthing center. He said if I was leaking, I might have to deliver the baby that night. So of course KC and I were freaking out, b/c a) we weren't ready and b) we haven't even started packing an overnight bag.

We got there a little after midnight. And no one was there, so everything went fast. This nurse did some tests and let me say, I am such a wussie. They were simple ones. A swab here. A pap smear-like one there. Cervix checking. And all three hurt like hell. Mind you, the nurse went fast and hard on all three tests. But both KC and I could help, but wonder, how the hell am I going to get through child birth if I was jumping off the table with these tests. I was kinda scared before. But now I am definitely am.

The nurse came back and said I wasn't leaking amniotic fluid. Thankfully. She said sometimes when you're pregnant, your body temperature rises so much it literally melts your discharge. So while it was clear, it wasn't amniotic fluid. I totally overreacted. Oops!

Good news is the baby's heart beat is great and we actually saw a contraction on the monitor. I didn't feel a thing when it happened. The nurse reassured me, I would soon enough.

Mama's Having Some Fun

Tomorrow I hit 35 weeks. Thankfully, I have not lost my sense of humor.