FBC Children's Choir - Solid Rock Cafe!

On May 22nd, the First Baptist Church Children's Choir performed their annual musical. This year, the theme was "Solid Rock Cafe," and it was really great! I happen to have a few children at my house (they just keep showing up!), so there were a couple of Alexanders down in the front row. :)

We were able to get a few decent pictures, but there were lots of people in front of us and the church was really dark. Not the best set-up for photography. Nathan also took a few short videos with his camera.

Attitude.

We already knew they had that talent. 

 A rare moment when both boys were actually singing, and not trying to take off their shirts or waving to all the family members sitting in the audience.

 The whole crew after the show.

The preschool choir and Ms. Michelle, our children's ministry coordinator.

 And, finally, for your viewing pleasure...

A really bad day

Let me preface this post by saying that I am extremely happy and grateful that we have a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and she is much loved by her parents. :) She is totally worth it.

I started feeling a little strange after we came home from the hospital, but I wasn't sure if any of the things that were bothering me were causes for concern or just normal postpartum issues. (It's sad that I have four children and I still wasn't sure.) I was suspicious of my blood pressure, since it had been elevated the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy, but I was reassured at my last OB visit (and at the hospital) that everything was fine. On Monday night (the 16th), I finally broke down and took a blood pressure reading. The first set of numbers I got was 160/105. My pulse was in the 40's. Oh. My. God. I tried so hard not to freak out, but all I got was a bunch of shaky, weepy tears.

It was late in the evening and my OB wasn't in the office, so I ended up on the phone with the on-call nurse at the hospital where I delivered. She felt pretty strongly that I should come in and be monitored. In fact, she was so worried that she called back two more times over the next couple of hours to check on me and see if I was coming in.

During the series of phone calls and hysterical break-downs (on my part), Nathan and I were trying to get the kids fed, changed, and put to bed for the night. I was sitting on the couch, simultaneously reading bedtime stories and fielding phone calls from the nurse, when Nathan comes storming through the house at top speed. Apparently, he had discovered that our entire backyard was full of water (and it hadn't rained in months). Yep. The main water line to our house had ruptured, and we had a massive flood going on. My poor husband marches back outside, armed with a plastic cup and rubber boots, to turn off the water and start digging. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out what to do about whether or not I should go to the hospital.

We decided to go. I was afraid to go to sleep! My pulse was so low, I seriously thought my heart was going to stop beating, and it scared me more than I've ever been in my life. My parents came over to get the kids, and we headed into Austin. They put us in Labor & Delivery, since I had just given birth less than a week before, and I was so grateful. We obviously had to take Anna with us, and I didn't want to sit in a disgusting emergency room and expose her to God-only-knows-what for several hours when she wasn't even a week old.

To make an extremely long story incredibly short: we were there for almost 24 hours before they allowed us to go home, and we met with my OB, two internists, a perinatologist, and a cardiologist before we could leave. I had at least 40 BP readings, a urinalysis, two series of blood tests, a CT scan of my head, an EKG, and an echocardiogram done. My blood pressure remained elevated the entire time I was there, so the decision was finally made to give me some medication to try to bring it down. It worked, and I immediately felt better (and my pulse came back up to normal).

Final determination? Well, the cardiologist really feels that this is pregnancy-induced hypertension, which is still hanging on due to all the extra fluid and blood volume in my body post-delivery. All the tests came back completely clear and normal, and I don't have a history of high blood pressure, so it doesn't seem that this is something I'll have for the rest of my life. I am taking a small daily dose of BP medication, which is keeping me in the normal ranges, and I am feeling much, much better.

You know how they say things happen in threes? Well, we already had two. The third wasn't far behind. Tuesday afternoon, while I'm sitting helpless in a hospital bed, we got a phone call from Nathan's parents about Nicholas. He was acting strangely, having small, incoherent fits, and he'd had a gushing nosebleed. I freaked out completely when I heard that, because the day before, he'd told us that he hit his head. I was thinking the worst, of course. My in-laws were going to bring him up to see the doctor a few hours later, and I couldn't even go and see him. I was seriously upset. That did wonders for my blood pressure, let me tell you.

A few hours later, we found out that Nicky was okay. There were just so many things that happened all at once, it seemed like something horrible was going on. It was just a series of strange coincidences. Anyway, he is completely fine, so no worries here.

Also, Nathan fixed the water line, and we had water the very next day.

My follow-up visit with the cardiologist this week went really well. He wants to see me back in two months, at which point they will do another echocardiogram, and we'll talk about how to wean from the medication. I can't wait! I'm hoping that it will be an easy transition, and I'll never have to worry with this again. The only small concern that I have is that this will be something that crops up later, if we have more children. The doctors did tell me that, as a result of this, I may be more prone to having BP issues during pregnancy. I now know what to watch for, so maybe it won't be such a dramatic issue. I also know that there's nothing wrong with my heart or my brain, so it's something that can be fixed with a little medication.

We've had some stressful times around here since Miss Anna was born, but I think it's all better now. She is worth it, as I said before, and I wouldn't trade her for anything!

Anna's Birth Story - Part Three (the finale)

Home again, home again...

It was so nice to be back home, where I could lounge on the couch when I wanted to, dig around in my refrigerator if I got hungry, and shower in my own bathroom. Wonderful. Added bonus: no nurses barging in to bother me (us) at 3:00 in the morning. Oh, and no needles.

Thursday afternoon, Anna woke up and started fussing because she wanted to eat. We had just been giving her bottles in the hospital, while I was using a pump to try and stimulate milk production. I noticed that it seemed like my milk was coming in, so I decided to try and nurse Anna, just to see if that time would be different. I had a lot of hesitation because it had been a negative experience (for us both) up to that point, but I really wanted it to work out.

Anna latched on after a little fussing and confusion, and the next thing I knew, she was nursing like a champ! I was so happy, I started to cry! Since the day we came home from the hospital, she has been 100% breastfed. No formula! Yay!

As for all the other typical newborn stuff, she's great! She's an excellent sleeper, and she's so laid-back. We have had very few issues with our sweet little girl.

So, was it worth it? The sleepless nights, horrible back/hip/leg pain, the headaches, the blood pressure problems, the incessant heartburn, the anxiety and stress...???

ABSOLUTELY!

Anna's Birth Story - Part Two

I got to hold Anna for quite a while before the nurses took her to take vitals, footprints, etc. It was great. She was so sweet! Once they did take her, they discovered that her body temperature was low. After a little cleaning and some routine stuff, they handed her back to me for some skin-to-skin contact and an attempt at breastfeeding. They were hoping that would help to bring her temperature up to normal. She did a great job at latching and nursing!

They finally took her to the nursery close to 11:30 so she could get a bath, and I was left alone in the labor and delivery room. The nurse came back eventually to help me change into a clean gown and all that fun stuff, and she told me that we were just waiting for a postpartum room to open up so they could move me. Then she left me alone again. Nathan was with Anna in the nursery, and I finally called him to find out what was taking so long. Apparently, Anna's blood sugar was extremely low, and her body temperature still hadn't normalized, so they couldn't even bathe her because they didn't want to make her cold. The nurses wanted to give her some formula to try to get her blood sugar up, and I reluctantly agreed, although I wasn't really happy that she was getting a bottle.

Finally, after another hour or two of waiting, my nurse came back to tell me that they were ready to move me to a room. She asked if I wanted to go by the nursery to see Anna, and of course I did!

She's Daddy's little girl already.

It was great to see my baby, but I wasn't really prepared to see the nurses sticking huge needles into my daughter's hands to try to draw some blood for testing. I think I felt the stick more than Anna did! It was too hard for me to watch them digging around in my baby's hand for a good vein and trying multiple times to get enough blood, so I asked to go back to my room. My parents were on their way up to see us and bringing the kids with them, so I waited for them while Nathan stayed in the nursery.

The kids arrived, and were immediately disappointed that their new baby sister was not in the room with me. I asked Nathan if he thought they would be able to see her through the nursery window (she was kind of in the back), and he said he would take them down there to see. So, I was left alone again. With no baby.

Eventually, they brought Anna to my room, all cleaned up and perfectly fine. The kids really enjoyed getting a chance to hold her. In fact, they were fighting over who was going to get to be next, and they all demanded second turns.

It was a little chaotic in my super-small hospital room, but we were happy that the kids were so excited to meet their sister.

A sad attempt at a first family photo.

We'll have to try this again.

That night, after visits from my family, Nathan's family, and the kids, we tried to settle down and get some rest. No such luck. Anna was wide awake and very upset with me the entire night. I kept feeding her, in hopes that she would eventually fall asleep, but she never did. No one slept at all. Early the next morning, our favorite nurse came in and saw how distraught and exhausted I was and how upset Anna was. She said, "She is SO hungry!" Immediately, I felt like the world's worst parent. I had been trying to feed her all night long, but I guess she just wasn't getting enough to make her happy. Caroline (our nurse) suggested we go ahead and give her a bottle, just to see if it made a difference. Instantly, Anna was happy and sleeping. I burst into tears. Bad Mommy!

We continued to give Anna formula while we were at the hospital, since my milk hadn't come in yet and she was obviously wanting to eat like a pig. I was very discouraged, thinking that I would not get to nurse her at all. Whenever I tried, she would scream hysterically. She was so frustrated with me that she didn't even want to try.

We were finally able to go home Thursday morning, and it was a great feeling to be out of the hospital. Nathan and I were both looking forward to a shower and sleeping in our own bed. 

Homeward bound!

Part three, the last chapter...coming soon!

Anna's Birth Story - Part One

*Caution: do not read if you are a huge weenie and hate hearing details about childbirth or anything associated with childbirth. You've been warned.*

Tuesday morning, Zoe woke us up at about 6:00. My 38-week OB appointment was scheduled for 10:00, so I decided to go take a shower and start getting ready so we could get breakfast going and the kids wrangled a little more quickly once the boys got up. I felt fine, just the usual aches and pains that I'd been experiencing for weeks already.

Out of the shower, I was feeling a little achy, but it wasn't anything consistent (or anything that I could actually time), so I brushed it off. Closer to 7:00, I was starting to have pain. Nathan was feeding the kids, and I decided to throw some things in my suitcase, in case we ended up going to the hospital. I still hadn't had any significant contractions that I could actually time, and nothing was consistent. I was a little nervous, so I asked if we could head over to the Alexanders' house earlier than planned (the kids were staying there for the day) and go ahead in to Austin.

I was definitely feeling much more pain during the drive, so I told Nathan I'd feel more comfortable if we headed to Labor & Delivery instead of my OB's office, just so they could check me out. Once we got to his parents' house, Nathan hopped out of the car, got the kids unloaded quickly, and we sped to Austin. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't too bad, and we got to the hospital in about 40 minutes or so. Our official check-in time: 9:10 AM. Dilation: 6 cm. and completely effaced. I was definitely in labor.

The nurse could not get my IV started, which was actually a big deal. Earlier in the pregnancy, I tested positive for Group B Strep, so they had to hurry up and try to get some antibiotics in my system so that Anna wouldn't be affected by the bacteria. Since my previous labor with Zoe was so rapid, they were concerned that there wouldn't be enough time for me to receive as much medication as was recommended. Finally, the nurse was successful (I almost punched her), so we could get things going.

During all this, there was a flurry of excitement, and so much happened in a very short period of time. People were constantly coming in and out of my room to ask a million questions, copy my insurance card, bring in supplies for the delivery, etc. Looking back, it's not really funny as much as it is completely ridiculous. I've never seen such a nightmare of paperwork and policy at such an inappropriate time in my life!

What was I doing during all that? Well, my contractions were basically one on top of the other, so intense that I was shaking uncontrollably with each wave. It was like being boiled alive and not being able to escape. I was trying so hard to maintain control, to hold on to my rational thoughts and realize that it would be over soon and that I could make it, but I couldn't even think clearly after a while. I wasn't getting a break after each contraction, and it made it impossible to brace myself for the next one. Everything was moving so fast, and I was in a panic. I kept waiting for the nurse to check me to see if I'd made any more progress, and how much, in the hopes that it would reinforce my strength and I'd be able to have the unmedicated birth that I wanted. No one checked me again.

I finally caved in a moment of intense pain and asked for an epidural. It took forever (it seemed like it, anyway) for the anesthesiologist to show up and administer it. I was doubled over and crying before he finally got finished. Timestamp: 10:20 AM.

They had me roll over on my side in the bed (it allows the meds to evenly distribute and take the pain away), and they were getting ready to turn on the pump and get the drugs flowing. At that moment, I had a monster contraction, heard a "pop," and my water broke. I felt everything inside me move down drastically, and the pressure was super intense. When the nurse had me lift up off the bed so she could change the padding underneath me, I told her that I was feeling lots of pressure, so she decided to check for progress. She felt Anna's head. The next thing I heard was, "Uh, we have a delivery. STAT." People started moving really quickly.

Dr. P came through the doors in about two minutes flat (no joke), and immediately started getting ready to deliver. I kept hearing, "Don't push! Don't push!" and I was saying, "I'm trying not to!" Nathan told me later that he was standing there, looking at Anna's hair. It was that close. Finally, after an eternity (it was only a minute or two), I got to push! 

One push...stop. Dr. P moved Anna around a little bit to deliver her head.
Two pushes...stop. Dr. P pulled on Anna to deliver her shoulders.
Okay, half a push...she's out and crying!

Timestamp: 10:31 AM.

Anna Beth Alexander

8 lbs., 20.5 inches long

Eyes: dark blue

Hair: RED!

To be continued...

Thirty-eight weeks

How far along? Thirty-eight weeks - 5/6/11

How big is baby? 

 A leek.

Next appointment: May 10. 

Symptoms: The past two weeks haven't been particularly kind to me, but I guess that's to be expected when you're this close to the finish line. The most bothersome symptom has been elevated blood pressure, which I've never had in my life. It is not pleasant. Downright scary, in fact. My OB couldn't find any other signs that there could be a problem with the pregnancy or the baby that would lead him to induce early delivery, so I'm just going to wait it out and try to rest as much as possible. Yeah, right. "Rest." 

Reflections on this week: Yeah, this week was bad. An overtired Mommy that isn't feeling well, a not-so-great doctor's appointment, and one little girl with a stomach virus. I'm just waiting for the hammer to drop on the rest of the family now. That's just what we need!

What I'm looking forward to: Baby day! Just anxiously waiting...

More about baby: Baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)