In This Together…

It was so nice out that we popped the kids on our backs and headed to the park and the DQ:

My little peanut, he is an old pro at back carries already

Us with daddy carrying Connor, who is nearing 2.5y/o:

Things are going well with these two. Connor adores his brother. When Graeme is sleeping, Connor tries to wake him up :p, when Graeme is crying, Connor yells “OKAY BAYYBEEE!” We are working on that! He likes holding him…for two seconds before he’ll exclaim “Heavy!” and give him back. Connor will hold Graeme’s soother in his mouth to stop his crying.

He has even already picked on him. Graeme has a very small amount of hair on the back of his head. I was burping him and Connor came up and looked at his head and started laughing and pointing: “Little bit hair. Back there!”

I love my boys

~Jaci

See the link in the upper left corner!

Graeme’s birth story has been added. Click in the menu at the top of the page or go here: http://www.themccaskellkulishfamily.com/graemes-ld/

I’ll be adding pictures as I edit them.

~Jaci

That’s what I thought this morning at 4 AM when Jaci told me it was time to start measuring the length of her contractions as she tapped me on my forehead to wake me up. I thought I was dreaming it because I felt the same sort of sensation earlier this morning. Turns out she was reaching over to grab my hand to squeeze it when her contractions first started at 3 AM.

I awoke and reached for my cell phone thinking that it had a stop watch on it; turns out it doesn’t. So I went out to the living room to grab my laptop and use the website www.contractionmaster.com (as Jaci suggested) which has  a ’start’ and ’stop’ button to easily time them. They were intense and pretty consistent.

While we waited Jaci stayed up and worked on my laptop while I tried to sleep some more.
“Should I post something to Facebook?” she asked.
“Yeah; what’s that line from Juno?’ I said.
“Thundercats something  go?’ she said.
“Yeah, check IMDB.’ I said.
“Thundercars are go!’ she said.
“That’s it.” I said.

After that, our monitrice arrived around 6 AM and check Jaci and the baby out. Things were slowing down and both Jaci and the baby were doing fine, so our monitrice told us to get some rest and call her when things start up again. Connor woke us around 9 AM. We arranged for our friend Sarah to take watch him for the day, so he went with her to Grand Forks for a friends birthday party.

After all of that we’re waiting  patiently in high spirits now. We were a little nervous and discouraged that things slowed down, but after reading in the Birth Partner that this stage (Early Labor) could take anywhere from a few to twenty-four hours and that things were in our favor we relaxed and our spirits brightened. Jaci and Summer went to go walking and shopping and I am getting ready to meet with Richard for lunch.

After all of the stress and anxiety of this pregnancy due to our previous experience, it’s been relieving and exciting to see Jaci start and experience labor naturally. If I could I would give her a natural birth, but I cannot. All I can do is give her all my loving support and encouragement during this journey and at it’s destination.

Our destination is another beautiful bundle of joy and happiness to add to our already beautiful bundle of joy and happiness. As much as I worry about how Connor will adjust to his new sibling, I am also very excited to see him become a ‘big brother’. To watch him play is a priceless joy worth every bit of turmoil associated with parenthood. I can only imagine it being even more precious once he has a sibling to teach how to build with Legos, swing a lightsaber, or drive cars around.

As for this new beautiful bundle of joy and happiness, I am excited to have a little one to hold in my arms and rock to sleep again. Everyone says it, ‘they grow up too fast’, but you never believe it until you experience it yourself. Connor is only 2 years old I can’t believe how much he has developed. Some of my favorite memories of Connor are of him swaddled in a blanket rocking with me in the rocking chair or wrapped up in the Moby wrap next to my chest while I bounced on the exercise ball and I can’t wait to have those memories again with this little one. can All I can say is, Baby, I can’t wait to meet you

P.S. Jaci beat me to Facebook/Twitter with this title so I figured I’d beat her to the blog with it

Had my 39 week appointment today. I was good, stuck to my guns, and wouldn’t let her do a cervix check, so I don’t know if all the contractions I’m feeling are amounting to anything. Uterus is measuring at 40 weeks now and baby’s heart rate was 148.

The doctor saw the size of my stomach and got the worried look on her face, but in all honesty, this baby is bigger than Connor, I know that already. I’m not scared of a big baby. She said she had an opening in her OR on Monday and wanted to know if I wanted to schedule, I said “No.” At this point, (in her mind, as a medical professional) I’m past the point of no return. In order for me to have a successful VBAC, I needed to go into labor prior to this baby getting as big as Connor. Now there is no reason to be anxious, as (again, in her mind) I’m on the road to a repeat c-section. So using that logic, I simply said “I’d rather just wait for this baby to tell me it is ready. Knowing my family history on both sides, we go two weeks late. I’m okay with that. If we are medically healthy and there is no reason for a c-section before 42 weeks, then I’d rather just wait for the baby to tell me it is ready to go. If at that point I get into labor and really can’t get the baby out, I’ll be just fine with having a c-section, but I’m not okay with scheduling one.”

She did say this was fine, but she wants me to have an NST (non-stress test) at my next appointment. I got lucky, she is gone Wednesday and Thursday next week, so I could schedule it either on Tuesday or Friday.

I chose Friday That puts me closer to 41 weeks and gives me a few days to still get into labor before going through another stressful appointment.

In all, I’m okay with how the appointment went. It was pretty close to how I was expecting it to go.

Now, please keep us in your thoughts, I need to get into labor! Walking, sex, EPO, RRL tea, etc, here I come!

~Jaci

That’s right, 38 weeks today!

This is copied and pasted and contains information about my cervix. You have been warned!

I am up to weekly doctor appointments now. My last two she has checked my cervix and both times they fricking HURT. I hate cervix checks.

This last time I was somewhat effaced (she didn’t give a number) and a fingertip dilated and she decided to “stir things up down there.” Let me tell you, I nearly kicked her. She did not even ask or warn me that she was going to do it. I was PISSED. I’m still so at odds about the whole situation, it is the one thing that has happened that has really bothered me. I probably would have said yes had she asked or mentioned it, but honestly, where do doctors come off thinking that just because they are elbow-deep in your hoo-haa it means they have free-reign to do whatever they want?!

She also uttered the words “You really do have a small pelvis, don’t you?” I hate that sentence. I think it means she’s been reading my file again I should have said “You want to check me squatting? I guarantee that will give you more room in pelvis to do whatever you need to do.”

The one good thing that did come out of the appointment was that I am GBS negative, so no need to go in early for IV antibiotics. When I mentioned “No IV!” to the doctor she hesitated and then remembered that I’d only need a heplock.

Anyway, so after that I contacted my Doula who gave me some tips and the names of Webster-certified chiropractors in the area and I set up an appointment the next day. Her name is Jennifer and she is wonderful. The new patient appointment lasted about an hour and she got a brief history of me and my initial c-section along with other chiropractic care that I had. Then she massaged my lower back to get my pelvis aligned better and adjusted my lower back, middle back, and neck.

Then that night as I sat on my computer I could feel the baby doing very large movements, squirming a lot, and finally he/she moved down into my pelvis. Then yesterday I went out and ran a bunch of errands and ever since then I’ve been able to feel baby’s head firmly planted on my cervix. It is actually quite uncomfortable, like an itch you can’t scratch.

I just hope this pressure is causing some dilation. I’ve been taking EPO orally and topically too, so hopefully that is helping effacement. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see!

I have to admit, there are certain little things here and there that make me a little uncertain, but I’m going into this so well-informed that I know no matter what happens, I will be able to look back and know that I did what needed to be done. I’m still feeling very positive that I will get my VBAC.

I want to get the new baby one of these rattles: http://www.etsy.com/shop/EenieBeanieThreads?section_id=5574400

No wonder I’m so uncomfortable.

Here I am at 39 weeks and 3 days from when I was preggo with Connor:

and the one from my last post, at a little over 31 weeks:

That belly is the same damn size! Greh!

~Jaci