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| Andrew models our baby booby nursing beanie made by lisa hughes! |
Today is July something, ummmm, 16th? 17th? not really sure - oh, HA, it's actually on my computer - the 16th! andrew left for drill at ft jackson friday morning, and will be home this evening. i am EXHAUSTED. and SO grumpy and irritable and bitchy and snappy and a general pleasure to be around. sara catherine had been sleeping through the night from about 12 weeks until LAST sunday, 7/9 - i 100% believe that her being swaddled is the reason she had slept so well and almost never woke up in the night after she went to seepies in her crib. and i had finally been able to start sleeping in the master bedroom again with my sweet man, with the monitor on. but recently i had noticed she's been flipping over to either side every now and then, and i started worrying what might happen if she somehow flipped herself over in her swaddle and ended up on her stomach, with her face in the mattress. she would have no way to push herself up to breathe because her arms were swaddled and she couldn't have made a noise that would alert anyone because of her positioning. the thought literally took MY breath away. so i did what i've been doing for almost 19 weeks now, which is posting on facebook for advice. overwhelmingly, the advice was to take her out of the swaddle immediately. one of my friends emailed me and said the exact scenario i just described had happened to a friend of hers. i cried thinking about that poor family, and how easily it could happen to ANYONE. so, we decided to go ahead and try one of the sleep sacks we fortunately had on hand, thanks to our AWESOME friends and family. sc was not impressed. every night since then, sc takes an extra couple of hours to fall asleep because, in the swaddle, she fell asleep within 15 - 30 minutes of us rocking her and singing "you are my sunshine." in the sleep sack, with her arms exposed, she still flails every now and then, or automatically noms on her hands, and it keeps her awake. when she's finally asleep, she still flails her little feet in the sack like it's a mermaid tail, which she did in the swaddle, but now it wakes her. so she wakes once or twice a night and only sleeps until 4:45am mostly, and till 6am a couple of times. i have slept in the guest bedroom (connected to the nursery with a bathroom) every night, and that bed hurts my back, wahhh, and i just don't sleep well, in addition to waking for about an hour of rocking sc back to sleep each time she wakes. SO. plus, i've been PMSing for what seems like a month, which is joyous for all.
anyway, below are the last pregnancy updates i can find and i hope to write about the delivery and get into the post partum depression stuff after that. that'll most likely sound like a lot of whining, and will be a little painful for me to recount, but if anyone benefits from what i went through, it will be worth it to me. enjoy the updates, and have a wonderful week!! :)
PREGNANCY UPDATES 28.5 WEEKS THRU 35 WEEKS
Jan 12 2012
Hi, everyone! This is my status update from last night:
so, had my 29 week OB appt, and the baby is doing just fine, heartbeat is awesome and we'll do all her measurements in 2 weeks now that my appts are twice monthly, plus i've gained 15 lbs IN TOTO, which is slightly less than average, but i have a feeling i'll be picking up that slack here directly. i'm still having some severe bladder pain issues, got new meds - macrobid, and pyridium, which is supposed to anesthetize my bladder to alleviate some of the pain. it's not working yet (i KNOW-UH, but i want it to work NOW-uh) but BONUS!!! my tee-tee is highlighter orange. bad news is my BP is the highest mine has ever been (that i know of), 147/77, which isn't horrible, but my average is around 105/60 or so. and my heart rate was 110. blehhh. which makes me feel like A$$. but i have no other symptoms of pre-eclampsia, so again, we will pay close attention to my bladder and blood pressure issues. i think i've been pretending i'm not as stressed as i am. so. i have to take it easy emotionally and physically. so, peel me some grapes, bitches! sike. prayers appreciated. 0:)
I guess i've been paying so much attention to my bladder issues that i wasn't focusing on my blood pressure/heart rate, so i was really shocked when they told me what it was yesterday. so was the doctor, especially about my heart rate being 110. unfortunately, whether a byproduct of pregnancy irritation or just a coincidence, work has gotten extremely stressful in the last few months. since i came in this morning, even, i can feel my heart rate rising, and it makes me feel weak and dizzy. i've told Rabbi that after i deliver, i plan to be a stay-at-home-mom, and not come back to work. andrew and i KNOW it's going to be rough financially, but we both want me home with our Butterbean.
anyway, due to this new BP issue, i'm going to talk to Rabbi about finding someone new sooner than later, and maybe cut back to 3 days a week. we'll see. the last thing i want is to be put on mandatory bed-rest.
okay, i'm going to wrap this up because it's all grumpy - i HATE that my emails are becoming so complain-y - believe me, andrew puts up with this ALL. THE TIME. poor thing. :)
just hoping the bladder meds will kick in soon. :)
have a great week y'all - m
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| Andrew tries on the sympathy belly at our childbirth class |
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jan 31, 2012
hi, everyone! just a quick note to let y'all know how everything's going in the myrtle beeotch!
so, i am 32.5 weeks along and butterbean is doing great! next OB appt is monday, 2/6, and i'll give an update then, too.
as you can see in the picture, butterbean has almost doubled in size, or at least my tummy has, in the past 6 weeks. i have only gained 18 - 20 lbs so far, and apparently, Bb will gain 1/3 to 1/2 of her birth weight in the next few weeks. :^0 no idea how i'm going to accommodate that. ACK. i can already barely tie my shoes, and that's already my excuse for not shaving my legs (since the wedding).
we have a ton of stuff still to do, but andrew is working his sweet patootie off getting everything done. since i get winded so easily because of my heart rate and blood pressure shtuff, i can clean or straighten for about 10 minutes and then i seriously need to rest for about 30 minutes. so andrew is having to do ALL the work, not just the heavy lifting stuff. and i feel bad and guilty, though he's trying to do all that AND make me feel okay about it, AND work a full-time job AND be a reservist AND make me a nutritious dinner. poor guy. :/ he's going to run out of steam at some point.
since i started having my bp issues, my doctor said there's no need at this point for mandatory bedrest, but the less stress, the better. so, we found a great new secretary for the Temple and i've been training her for about 2 weeks. my last full day is friday. things that used to just sort of irritate me at work were really affecting my blood pressure, maybe because of the hormones? anyway, andrew and i have decided that i will stay at home with the baby for at least a year. it'll be tight for us, but it's what we both want and what we both think is best for the baby. so it made sense for me to stop working now. i am still going to help the new secretary for a few hours each week for a few months, and get paid for it, as she needs me.
the temple has a goodbye lunch planned for me on thursday at 1:30, and apparently they're givng me some baby gifts, whee!!! :) isn't that sweet?
this weekend, two of my friends are coming to visit - christie and lori - who also came to the wedding. they've been such good supports to me while andrew was gone and for pregnancy questions. and, christie is a little over 6 months pregnant, so andrew may never get over the estrogen-fest. we're going to just relax and eat and talk and go get pedicures & such. so, it should be fun! :)
as you can see in the picture above, ruby is still a darling precious angel, and she and andrew have quite the love affair going on, which makes me soooo happy. :)
so, i am 32.5 weeks along and butterbean is doing great! next OB appt is monday, 2/6, and i'll give an update then, too.
as you can see in the picture, butterbean has almost doubled in size, or at least my tummy has, in the past 6 weeks. i have only gained 18 - 20 lbs so far, and apparently, Bb will gain 1/3 to 1/2 of her birth weight in the next few weeks. :^0 no idea how i'm going to accommodate that. ACK. i can already barely tie my shoes, and that's already my excuse for not shaving my legs (since the wedding).
we have a ton of stuff still to do, but andrew is working his sweet patootie off getting everything done. since i get winded so easily because of my heart rate and blood pressure shtuff, i can clean or straighten for about 10 minutes and then i seriously need to rest for about 30 minutes. so andrew is having to do ALL the work, not just the heavy lifting stuff. and i feel bad and guilty, though he's trying to do all that AND make me feel okay about it, AND work a full-time job AND be a reservist AND make me a nutritious dinner. poor guy. :/ he's going to run out of steam at some point.
since i started having my bp issues, my doctor said there's no need at this point for mandatory bedrest, but the less stress, the better. so, we found a great new secretary for the Temple and i've been training her for about 2 weeks. my last full day is friday. things that used to just sort of irritate me at work were really affecting my blood pressure, maybe because of the hormones? anyway, andrew and i have decided that i will stay at home with the baby for at least a year. it'll be tight for us, but it's what we both want and what we both think is best for the baby. so it made sense for me to stop working now. i am still going to help the new secretary for a few hours each week for a few months, and get paid for it, as she needs me.
the temple has a goodbye lunch planned for me on thursday at 1:30, and apparently they're givng me some baby gifts, whee!!! :) isn't that sweet?
this weekend, two of my friends are coming to visit - christie and lori - who also came to the wedding. they've been such good supports to me while andrew was gone and for pregnancy questions. and, christie is a little over 6 months pregnant, so andrew may never get over the estrogen-fest. we're going to just relax and eat and talk and go get pedicures & such. so, it should be fun! :)
as you can see in the picture above, ruby is still a darling precious angel, and she and andrew have quite the love affair going on, which makes me soooo happy. :)
okay, andrew's upstairs cleaning again to get ready for the girls' visit, so i need to eat something and go help. hope everyone is well -
love,
miranda
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love,
miranda
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Date: Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 1:03 PM
Subject: 34 weeks this coming friday! :)
okay, so that's what's going on - andrew will be at drill this coming weekend, during which time i will NOT be going into any kind of crazy pre-term labor, but will be slowly and relaxingly separating butterbean's clothing into stages. :) so, have an awesome rest-of-the-week and weekend, and i'll talk to y'all soon! :)
love,
miranda :)
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Subject: 34 weeks this coming friday! :)
hi, all! it's been tougher for me to email because i was training the new girl for 2 weeks, so no computer to use at work, basically, and my sweet little computer seems to be on its last legs at the computer shop. andrew left his laptop home for me to use, so wah-lah! i'm able to email!
i am feeling okay these days - the bladder pain is obnoxious but i know there's no infection to worry about for butterbean, so i'm psychologically better about that. same with the heart rate stuff - basically, due to the 40-50% extra blood flow, my heart rate is described as *dynamic* - and the heart monitor showed i am having PVCs and PACs at varying times, but nothing to indicate potential pre-eclampsia, which would be harmful to the baby and me. there is definite tachycardia, which makes me feel exhausted, faint and dizzy - and several times over the 24 hours, my heart rate went from 65 or so to 160 within minutes. no wonder i feel like a$$ sometimes!
apparently the baby is putting on about 1/2 ounce a day, and i can TELL. to get off the couch now, i have to rock back and forth and "get started" first. it's very graceful. :) i do the baby's kick counts morning and night - though with her growing bigger and having less room, there are fewer kicks and more squirmies and stretchies. we want to feel 10 good movements within 1-2 hours, and butterbean usually gives me 15 in 5-10 minutes! while i am still at only 18 pounds' weight gain, the doctor says that butterbean is growing nicely, and her heart rate is always between 145 and 150, which is normal.
we had company over the past weekend - my friends lori and christie (<--7 months pregnant!), who also came to the wedding, drove down friday and left sunday morning. i CANNOT EVEN TELL YOU how much cleaning and organizing andrew did just to get the house ready for my friends, and then he cooked for us, made us snacks, entertained us and kept us laughing -- even now, i'm choking up a little at how much he made the weekend so wonderful for my friends and me. not that i was surprised about it, because i KNOW how awesome andrew is, but now my friends know i ain't making it up! :) i am so very blessed to be andrew's wife, and i thank God every day for planning for us to be together, and having our paths meet at the right time in our lives. *sniffle*
anyway! monday was my first day as a stay at home pregnant lady, and i think i'm gonna get used to it! :) i am getting lots of errands done, and resting in-between, and still exhausted since i'm technically 8.5 months pregnant. i'm also helping the new girl at work through email or phone calls (they're paying me for 4 hours/week). ruby has no complaints about my being home except that she thinks we should go to the dog park TWICE a day now, and daddy should also stay home. :) daddy and ruby continue to fall more and more in love every day. ruby giving him doggie hugs when he comes home from work, with her head tucked into his chest, is one of my favorite parts of any day. :)
i am feeling okay these days - the bladder pain is obnoxious but i know there's no infection to worry about for butterbean, so i'm psychologically better about that. same with the heart rate stuff - basically, due to the 40-50% extra blood flow, my heart rate is described as *dynamic* - and the heart monitor showed i am having PVCs and PACs at varying times, but nothing to indicate potential pre-eclampsia, which would be harmful to the baby and me. there is definite tachycardia, which makes me feel exhausted, faint and dizzy - and several times over the 24 hours, my heart rate went from 65 or so to 160 within minutes. no wonder i feel like a$$ sometimes!
apparently the baby is putting on about 1/2 ounce a day, and i can TELL. to get off the couch now, i have to rock back and forth and "get started" first. it's very graceful. :) i do the baby's kick counts morning and night - though with her growing bigger and having less room, there are fewer kicks and more squirmies and stretchies. we want to feel 10 good movements within 1-2 hours, and butterbean usually gives me 15 in 5-10 minutes! while i am still at only 18 pounds' weight gain, the doctor says that butterbean is growing nicely, and her heart rate is always between 145 and 150, which is normal.
we had company over the past weekend - my friends lori and christie (<--7 months pregnant!), who also came to the wedding, drove down friday and left sunday morning. i CANNOT EVEN TELL YOU how much cleaning and organizing andrew did just to get the house ready for my friends, and then he cooked for us, made us snacks, entertained us and kept us laughing -- even now, i'm choking up a little at how much he made the weekend so wonderful for my friends and me. not that i was surprised about it, because i KNOW how awesome andrew is, but now my friends know i ain't making it up! :) i am so very blessed to be andrew's wife, and i thank God every day for planning for us to be together, and having our paths meet at the right time in our lives. *sniffle*
anyway! monday was my first day as a stay at home pregnant lady, and i think i'm gonna get used to it! :) i am getting lots of errands done, and resting in-between, and still exhausted since i'm technically 8.5 months pregnant. i'm also helping the new girl at work through email or phone calls (they're paying me for 4 hours/week). ruby has no complaints about my being home except that she thinks we should go to the dog park TWICE a day now, and daddy should also stay home. :) daddy and ruby continue to fall more and more in love every day. ruby giving him doggie hugs when he comes home from work, with her head tucked into his chest, is one of my favorite parts of any day. :)
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| daddy and ruby shnuggle |
okay, so that's what's going on - andrew will be at drill this coming weekend, during which time i will NOT be going into any kind of crazy pre-term labor, but will be slowly and relaxingly separating butterbean's clothing into stages. :) so, have an awesome rest-of-the-week and weekend, and i'll talk to y'all soon! :)
love,
miranda :)
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Subject: 35 weeks tomorrow!
------------------------From: Miranda Helterman <mhelterman@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 4:35 PM
hi, everyone!
i had an OB appointment today and want to catch everyone up on the latest. if you've been following my ever-more-fascinating facebook updates, you've seen that i have some kind of injury to my right pelvic/groin area (feel free to stop and visualize...you're welcome). i don't remember doing anything to it, and it started out as an annoyance, and turned into debilitating pain. andrew has had to help me get up and down the stairs, and sometimes just up from the couch and over to the bathroom. the pain is bad enough that it makes me gasp, then cry, then curse HORRIBLE words, even worse than my usual. as you can imagine, this puts even more stress on andrew to do everything around the house, baby-related or not, on top of his full-time job, and his JAG duties. and he is STILL being positive and darling and precious, and the best man ever in the history of ever. *sniffle* SO. i moved my OB appt to today, and my doctor thinks i have a pinched nerve. they did an ultrasound around my kidneys and appendix, neither of which can you really see well in this fashion, but i can't have anything stronger than that right now anyway. Butterbean is still breech, with her darling little bottom sitting near my cervix, so she's not really putting pressure on anything that would cause this type of pain. there's not much to do for a pinched nerve except rest and avoid pressure and stress in that area, and i don't want narcotics. UNTIL DELIVERY. poor ruby will not be able to go to the dog park anymore, as i can barely even walk her the short distance to go potty right now. :(
i had an OB appointment today and want to catch everyone up on the latest. if you've been following my ever-more-fascinating facebook updates, you've seen that i have some kind of injury to my right pelvic/groin area (feel free to stop and visualize...you're welcome). i don't remember doing anything to it, and it started out as an annoyance, and turned into debilitating pain. andrew has had to help me get up and down the stairs, and sometimes just up from the couch and over to the bathroom. the pain is bad enough that it makes me gasp, then cry, then curse HORRIBLE words, even worse than my usual. as you can imagine, this puts even more stress on andrew to do everything around the house, baby-related or not, on top of his full-time job, and his JAG duties. and he is STILL being positive and darling and precious, and the best man ever in the history of ever. *sniffle* SO. i moved my OB appt to today, and my doctor thinks i have a pinched nerve. they did an ultrasound around my kidneys and appendix, neither of which can you really see well in this fashion, but i can't have anything stronger than that right now anyway. Butterbean is still breech, with her darling little bottom sitting near my cervix, so she's not really putting pressure on anything that would cause this type of pain. there's not much to do for a pinched nerve except rest and avoid pressure and stress in that area, and i don't want narcotics. UNTIL DELIVERY. poor ruby will not be able to go to the dog park anymore, as i can barely even walk her the short distance to go potty right now. :(
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| ruby makes good use of mommy's big ol' tumtum |
Butterbean is in the exact same position she's been in for several weeks now, which is frank breech. there are variations (do NOT google images of it like i just did, if you want to sleep tonight), but basically her booty is down and her head and feet are up. her heart rate was 144, which is super, and she's measuring around 18 inches and, the most exciting part to me, 5 pounds and 9 ounces! as a twinkle, i weighed 5 lb 1 oz at birth, and look how awesome *i* am! :)
anyway, i'm very glad about her development. so, here's the other news - at her current size, and being 5 weeks away from the due date, if she does not start to turn into a head-down position in the next 2 weeks, we will schedule a c-section for 39 weeks, or around march 15th. setting it a week earlier than her due date helps potentially avoid complications, for BOTH of us, if i do go into labor and she tries to come out breech anyway. of course, she could do a somersault tonight and be in the right position, and then we'd just do the *other* kind of delivery. if a c-section is necessary, we're in the hospital 2 days and then there's an at-home 6-week recovery period. i will be trying to nurse, also, so everyone sign on up for the fun to be had in myrtle beeotch!! seriously, we're gonna need help. :)
other than that, for V-day, i visited andrew at work - i wore a DRESS, y'all!! and make-up!!! - and hobbled around the courthouse meeting andrew's colleagues. i also got to meet my favorite judge, who gives harsh sentences to animal abusers. yay!! we had a nice lunch, during which andrew ran outside to make sure a loose chihuahua that ran into traffic was okay, and it was. how many people are married to their hero? i'm so blessed.
okely dokely - i hope all of y'all are doing wonderfully well, and i will keep y'all updated!! :)
love,
miranda
anyway, i'm very glad about her development. so, here's the other news - at her current size, and being 5 weeks away from the due date, if she does not start to turn into a head-down position in the next 2 weeks, we will schedule a c-section for 39 weeks, or around march 15th. setting it a week earlier than her due date helps potentially avoid complications, for BOTH of us, if i do go into labor and she tries to come out breech anyway. of course, she could do a somersault tonight and be in the right position, and then we'd just do the *other* kind of delivery. if a c-section is necessary, we're in the hospital 2 days and then there's an at-home 6-week recovery period. i will be trying to nurse, also, so everyone sign on up for the fun to be had in myrtle beeotch!! seriously, we're gonna need help. :)
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| butterbean smiling on the left and just bein cute on the right |
other than that, for V-day, i visited andrew at work - i wore a DRESS, y'all!! and make-up!!! - and hobbled around the courthouse meeting andrew's colleagues. i also got to meet my favorite judge, who gives harsh sentences to animal abusers. yay!! we had a nice lunch, during which andrew ran outside to make sure a loose chihuahua that ran into traffic was okay, and it was. how many people are married to their hero? i'm so blessed.
okely dokely - i hope all of y'all are doing wonderfully well, and i will keep y'all updated!! :)
love,
miranda
----------From: Andrew Ritner
Date: Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 4:37 PM
To: Miranda Helterman
Who the hell is Frank Breech?
--
J. Andrew Ritner, Esq.
J. Andrew Ritner, Esq.
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| gratuitous bluetick coonhound pic. YOOK AT DAT TOOF! |
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