False Labor - Boy is this getting tiresome!

Another day and still no baby. Although s/he is not due until the 20th (or the 12th as the doctor thinks), it's getting frustrating going through the labor aches and pains only to have this little one inside of me stick out it's tongue and say "Ha ha! Fooled you again!"

After the version on Wednesday it seemed as if the contractions were just getting stronger the next day. We knew this was going to happen so we just monitored them and didn't do anything about it. On Saturday afternoon the contractions came back - this time a little stronger and it had both Milenko and I monitoring the clock just in case it was the real thing. However, today was the worst of what I thought were contractions.

At about 3pm I called Milenko home from work, called in the calvalry to watch the kids and cried a whole lot due to the pain I was going through. Milenko and I got to the doctor's office around 4:45p and got hooked up to the monitors for watching the baby's heartbeat and contractions. After about 10 minutes of monitoring, all the little blips on the paper printout were nothing but the baby's heartrate raising from 140 range into the high 180 range. Dr. Klien (Lou) said those were just heart rate increases, not contractions. To our complete surprise, we haven't a clue what's so painful then.

The contraction-like pain is still happening but without the intense pain like this afternoon. Lou checked my cervix and I'm completely closed. The baby's position is still perfect (head down) and everything looks good for a normal delivery. Still, don't ask me what this pain is other than false labor (also known as Braxton-Hicks).

We're back at home with a bottle of Ambien (sleep medicine) so I can ignore these pains tonight and actually get a little sleep. Other than that, we're still in wait and see mode. SIGH!!

BABY CHECK UP? NO, A HOSPITAL VISIT

Wednesday afternoon at 4pm I loaded up the kids in the SUV and headed down to Dr. Klein's office in Walnut Creek. We were going to meet Milenko at the doctor's office and have our 36 week check up. We got to see the doctor about 5pm and with both girls in tow, we got a treat to the ultrasound machine to look at Baby #3. It was neat to see the baby's face - at least the part that we could see. However, after a few minutes of the doctor scanning back and forth across my belly, he told us that Baby #3 was breech. Gulp! What horrible news. All I could think of was my cousin Julie going through a version and how painful it was - needless to say, unsuccessfully. Well we were told it was either a version or a C-section. We opted for the popular version that is only 50% successful most of the time. Dr. Klein (Lou) got on the phone with the hospital and scheduled the first available version - right away.


We headed across the street to John Muir and up to labor and delivery. We were told we had until 7pm and that I couldn't eat or drink anything before the version. We took the kids down to the cafeteria and fed Milenko and the girls. We were hoping that Milenko's mom would meet us at the hospital to watch the kids because they couldn't be there for the version. Instead, Milenko ended up taking the girls home where Milenko's mom was waiting and Jasna took Milenko back to the hospital. While he was taking the girls back home I was getting an IV put in. The first IV didn't take (and was so painful) but the 2nd one did with another nurses help. After getting the IV situated and my tummy on all the monitors to check the baby and my contractions, the nurse gave me a shot of trebutaline to stop my contractions for the version. As both Lou and Dr. Cole showed up to do the version, I went into some kind of funky world where everything was uncomfortable, the room was getting dark, I couldn't stop sweating and I was loosing my hearing in my right ear. The doctors immediately turned me on my side and got my head down lower than my legs. My blood pressure was dropping and I was passing out. After a few minutes I was able to get my senses back together and the doctors were able to start looking at the baby again and finding the best way to turn him/her. The baby's head was under my right rib, the feet were under my left rib and the butt was right in the middle. When they finally started to do the version, Milenko hadn't shown up yet making it a little more scary for me. While one doctor pushed like mad on the right side, the other did the same on the left side. I believe the people across the street heard me hollar - it was so painful. The doctors were able to turn the baby only 1/2 way. Due to all the stress that the baby and I were going through they decided to wait and see if the baby would settle into the right place - head first. Milenko showed up just as they stopped their pushing and proding of my tummy. They left me alone for about 45 minutes while the baby settled. At the end of the wait the baby starting doing some acrobats inside of me. Although it felt like jumping jacks to me, I didn't realize that the baby was actually turning itself. When Lou came back in to do another ultrasound and check the baby we got the best news ever. The acrobats that the baby was doing was turning itself downwards into the correct position! YEAH! We avoided a C-section for the time being. At 9pm we finally were given the okay to go home.

Contractions happened all night long but the doctors told us that would happen do to the distress that my body had just gone through. Every hour I was up and about with contractions but they're not the contractions that mean labor. Phew! Let's just hope my body will hold this munchkin in a few more weeks. If not, we're okay to go. It would just be nice to have a few more weeks to get ready for everything. :-)

Kitchen Remodel - 2005

Here are pictures of our kitchen remodel. Milenko spent almost all summer with his Dad putting this kitchen together. We bought the shelving materials all from Home Depot (not recommended - cheaply made and cut to wrong specifications) and the appliances were bought at cost through Sears and through a distributor. Milenko did all the lighting fixtures and we had a really good recommendation for a guy who gave us a great deal on the countertops. They're cut with an ogee style and really look great. We had Carpeteria do our floors. The floors are Mannington (just like Pergo) and I highly recommend the floor. DO NOT USE CARPETERIA EVER to install though. They did a horrible job!

CLICK ON ANY OF THE PICTURES BELOW FOR A FULL SCREEN SHOT OF THE PICTURE.

Kitchen Full

Kitchen Stove/Oven

(L) Kitchen Pantry (R) Kitchen Pantry Open

Sink Area

Lazy Susan in corner

Shelves next to microwave

(L) Refrigerator (R) Pantry Open next to refrigerator


Ogee style Granite countertops

Lighting fixtures


Moulding on top of refrigerator

Moulding combined with existing moulding
Like the color difference in the panel compared to the moulding and shelving??
That's Home Depot for you!

Tummy Time

Bella and Lexie have shown a certain loving characteristic towards the new baby inside of Mommy. Bella is always coming up to the baby and patting it, peeking into the belly button to see the baby or just plain kissing Mommy's tummy. Here are some super cute pictures of the kids in the last week giving Mommy's baby some extra love, giving the baby a massage and rubbing in lotion for the baby to smell good. Of course the girls had to put lotion on their tummies so their babies would smell good too. hee hee!

Lexie Turned 2!

Lexie just celebrated her 2 year birthday on the 5th (last Wednesday). For her actual birthday our family went out to Pizza and had ice cream to celebrate. We took the ice cream home and had hot fudge sundays. Boy was that sure a mess!

On Saturday we had a get-together at Chuck E. Cheese Pizza. Her cousins Nicholas & Christian along with Alyssa, Donna & Matt came to celebrate. Grammy Charlotte, Baka, Deda & Teta Jasna were also there to "chase" the kids around the amusement center. After about 2 hours of playing their hardest we went home, opened presents and quickly went to bed. It was a tough day of running all over the place, sliding down the slides, throwing the wooden balls in the skee shoot, riding the merry-go-round and just being a kid.

Today we went over to Auntie Donna's house to have a little birthday celebration with Alyssa and Donna. We celebrated by having McDonald's for lunch (and even shared lunch with Thunder, their dog). We had cake and ice cream and the girls just had a great time. Donna was happy because we finally got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Lexie and make her birthday complete. Thanks Donna! (I'll post those picture when Donna gets a chance to download them from her camera.)

Baby News!

OUR SCARY STORY FROM LAST NIGHT:
Well it's getting down to the last part of the pregnancy. We only have about 6 weeks to go but that could change at any time. Last night we had a pretty intense scare. Around 6:45p the contractions started coming pretty strong. By 8pm the contractions were constant and every 6-9 mintues so we called the on-call doctor to ask what we should do. The doctor wasn't available so we had to wait for the return call. At 9pm we called a second time and we did talk with a doctor. The contractions eased up a little and were happening sporadically every 8-14 mintues. The doctor told us that if we didn't have 6-8 contractions an hour that we were fine to stay at home and wait them out. We did and a little after 2am the contractions stopped.
Today I went into the doctor's office and had a check up. I haven't dilated (which is a very good thing) but the contractions still concerned the doctor. He did a Fetal Fibronectin Test (to help predict preterm delivery within the next 2 weeks) and a urine test to see if I had a bladder infection. I should find out the results tomorrow. Good news is that I've had less than a dozen contractions today and they haven't been as horrible as yesterdays. If I get another bout of contractions like last night the doctor will put me on Terbutilene (a drug that helps stop contractions so you don't go into labor). I need to keep this baby inside for at least another 10 days. After that, if I go into labor or have heavy contractions, the doctors will do nothing to stop labor - it's safe.
Good news is that I have low blood pressure (hard to have with a 3 and 2 year old). Today I was 130/50. I'm also not gaining weight by the loads. So far I've gained 16 pounds during this pregnancy. (I had already gained 35 pounds with Bella by this time when I was pregnant with her.)