that one time when I had a baby PART ONE

Hi friends. It's been a long, long time. Blogging kind of ran away from me, but I really want to try to be better. Again. I can do this friends, I really can.....and starting now I'm making a new plan. I'm not going to try and go back. Go look at Instagram and that will tell my life. We'll start from now and see how life treats me. Maybe blogging isn't my thing anymore....but I would really like it to be a thing still in my life. So we'll try again.


Let's start with the whole having a baby thing. I love reading birth stories. I think they're fun. So here's mine. It won't be crazy gory, but it won't be G rated either. You've been warned.


In order to tell you my birth story we have to go back a few weeks to March 14, 2016. I was 34 weeks and 4 days. The past several days I had been EXTREMELY itchy. I had had this itch in February, but it only last a couple of days and I attributed it to being too hot at times. (My office was SO hot while I was pregnant. I had to get a little desk fan!) In February I mentioned the itchiness to my midwife and she said "and you probably read about ICP on the internet" I affirmed that I had and she asked if the itchiness was on my hands and feet and I said no. She said to watch it, and if it came back to come in immediately....don't wait!


So, back to March 14th. I had been itchy all weekend. The night before I could barely sleep I was so itchy. My soles of my hands and feet itched, a classic sign of ICP. I decided to go in that very day to see my midwife even though I had my 36 week appointment the next week. I went in and told Stacie (my midwife) what I was feeling. She put me on the monitor to check on baby (he was doing GREAT!) and then ordered a full blood work panel to check for ICP. There are two parts to this test, one would have results (that would either show, you might have ICP or you don't have ICP) the next day and the other would take several days depending on the lab.


The next day Stacie called me to tell me that the first test showed I could have ICP and that we'd have to wait for the second test to come back. So I sat and waited. That Friday, the 18th my dear friend Becky came into town so we could play and she could throw a baby shower with my sister BreeAnn. Shortly after I got home, just as I was saying hi to her Stacie called me. My levels of bile were very high and she confirmed that I had ICP. She wanted me to go to a specialist ASAP so that he could give permission for an induction. See, with ICP there isn't really an danger to mom (except for the insane itchiness) but it causes several risks for the baby. They always recommend an induction by 37 weeks. We had to move quickly. I was SO GLAD Becky was around. We went out and got a mani/pedi which turned into my pre-baby mani/pedi and we went shopping and ate yummy food. We had a grand time and it was nice to have the distraction.


I met with the specialist on Monday and he confirmed the ICP diagnosis, they did an ultrasound of baby and he looked fantastic! I had an appointment later that day with Stacie and we talked induction. We set the date to start induction on the evening of Tuesday the 29th. The day after our 3-year anniversary. I would come in later that week for monitoring and then again the day before my induction. I was starting to come to terms with everything, but basically had a week to get my life in order before my sweet baby made his appearance.


This is getting long....stay tuned for part two. :D

January 2016

January was a fun and busy month for us. I'm sure that seems to be the case every month, but it really was how January felt. Busy, but fun.


I finally committed to getting some curtains up in our living room. I was so sick of the hideous vertical blinds that we had that I took them down (all by myself!) and then sewed and installed these curtains. I'm happy with how they turned out!

Before

After

Baby Ambrose is a growing and at this point I could barely see my toes!

We got locked out of our mailbox (oh that was a FUN fiasco) and this was the stacks of mail we had waiting for us after a week of not being able to get our mail.

 26 weeks pregnant!!

Lindy's birthday is in January and this year she wanted a pool party. We made fun beach cupcakes and had a BLAST with family and friends.

I can't believe she's 6!!!

blue frosting is the best. :D

Everyone loves a baby! It was so funny, she was set down on the floor and instantly EVERYONE was crowded around her. It was the funniest thing.

We had a military ball for Allan's brigade this month and I got all dolled up....

Just to end up in the ER right before dinner was served. :( It ended up being a gallbladder attack. Honestly the worst thing ever.

 We were in the ER for a LONG time and this is my wonderful husband trying to get comfortable.

 and this is the wonderful souvenir I got to go home with - the nurse was not gentle in putting in my IV.

We had a lot of very foggy mornings in January....

 

 I decided it was time to put in the pack'n'play (that will have the bassinet added to it shortly) so I could get used to having it beside me before the baby is born. This meant I lost my nightstand, so I got some floating shelves and installed them ALL BY MYSELF. So proud.