My 36 weeker 2nd Year Birthday Party

It's seems like yesterday when he was an embryo and deliver him 8 months after. Keeping all the memories I have of him was the joy I have being a stay at home mom. I sacrifice all my time to watch him 24/7. No baby sitter and no family member to help in days when you feel like you can't get up but sleep. It's not a choice anymore but an obligation because I have this child that is so precious I can't complain. Having the thought of his smile, saying mommy or mama with his sweet voice, and joy he bring with his attitude and playfulness, I am lucky that I have a son. I once did struggle with fertility and I always remind myself to appreciate all that I have. No matter how things are difficult at times but I just have to think that I am destined to be where I am now, happy as a mother.

He was two by September. We spent it in a party place called Pump it UP. Just want to spend it with close friends and the boy was having fun. He spent two party since both our family live coast to coast which are far apart from each other.

Anyway, Here's the video from the two event: Click the photo below!!

What to give? Food choices

In the recent months, Yanis's growth is stable but it seems his choices of food is getting bad. I am not a healthy buff with the kind of food his eating as long as his eating something. I guess my problem is, I wanted my son to eat more in quantity not quality. He look to be satisfied with less and there's no difference about how less or big his intake were. It never change his mood and physical activity. All I see, his very active and he knows what he want only that, the bad part is his very selective.

I asked a few moms that I know who has children that are a a few months older than Yanis and the way they are eating is like the same with Yanis but they are more heavier. My son is quite the slender, never get to that chubby cheek stage. His too thin.

I know I have to do something to let him get back to increase his weight. 1-3 years old they need Fat in their development and if my boy lacks those he might have lost that opportunity. I hated that fact and wish with him it's not the case.

One thing for sure, I miss to give him his supplement. The doctor didn't really recommend it unless we wanted to. I should start giving him his polyvisol vitamins again which he didn't really make fun of. He hated the smell and absolutely disliked the taste.

I think his up this month for a check up or I believe I have to call the doctor's office to make an appointment. With all the international travels and local travels we did, somehow it challenged his taste buds, and my mind just can't concentrate which event would come first. It's all twisted in vain.

Anyway, what I am looking for if there's someone out there who can suggest their meals for their picky eaters. Aside from fruits and vegetables, what other choices would you recommend or that work for your children. I wish to know some answers and greatly appreciates if there is one.

20th Month Update

Wow I can't believe it how days have gone fast. 6 months of no update here. But I will tell you, everything is good with Yanis. His such a blessing to us and his presence complete our whole existence.

So for his update, his growing a bit small on average of his age which typically happens with a preemie. But they said they could have a growth spurt that occur in their lifetime which right now I am not seeing yet. His growth is slow and weight is less. His still less than 20 lbs. Even if his thin and small, his pretty much so healthy. The eating habit is quite bad as of this time. Well, it did change when we flew internationally that brought his taste buds into a different state. His interested to eat anything but the portion isn't that great. I have to keep on searching what kind of food he really like. What's happening right now is, if he like one food today he won't budge with it after a few days. So it's quite a challenge at this point. He drink 24oz of milk though plus juice and smoothie. I made sure I give him my own cocktail of smoothie so he can get all the necessary vitamins he can't get from food. Fruit, Vegetable and protein in one cocktail so it's the best way for him to get it and he seemed to enjoy it.

As for height and thickness, I think his 28 inches ( gush I have to check his paperwork LOL ) and skinny.  His not malnourished. I don't agree because he has no problem with health. His very active, play all his toys with passion, talking and laughing, dancing and singing and very interactive. I am happy of my boy and I wish him to be a good boy when he grow up. That's what I am hoping for.

My Little Boy's First Birthday Party

As promised I am going to write all the things I can recall on Yanis' First Birthday party. This is a very late post but it's worth to tell since every child's first birthday is the most significant of all.

Every parents goal is to make that 12th month possible with no underlying problems of health. It's very critical to a child's life especially ours because he is a preemie. I always remember what the doctor had told us at the hospital and specifically informed us that our baby is special in a way late preterm babies should not be treated ordinarily. So every month from that time on we try to document in photos and videos our baby's development. As of this day, with God's grace Yanis only did one hospital visit when he was 4 days old and at the 11 month he did got a flu and cough from our vacation when we were out of the country. We as a parent did a good job I should say. I am proud of that and I will continue to work on something for my baby so he could be a good person when he grow up.

So when I planned about what theme I like for his birthday. I randomly searched famous Disney movies and I had eyed on minion. I told the husband and he said well it's an option so I was kind of hesitant to do that in the end. We later decided Little Baby Bum theme. They are just very recent and not many know their existence but it's the only nursery companies that Yanis loved. He started listening to LLB( in short ) very early on maybe 6 months or less. That time, the song captured his attention and he smiled every time it was played on or I would sing was the Five Little Speckled Frog and then at a later part he loved Hickory Dickory Dock where the mouse ran up the clock. In the kitchen I always played him the companies nursery songs and he loved it.

Now I have the theme planned, I need a vendor in the Philippines that I can work on so I could put up a backdrop that I need to the party. I searched LLB song lists and what captured me was to get the Row row your boat part 1 scheme where cupcakes, pretzels and lollipops where in the background. It will be a perfect backdrop and I used that concept in making the invitations and I used a few characters from their abundance of lists.

I worked for days to get everything in place and send it to all my family and friends via social media. I did all the prep 2 months in advance. I think I did good in this one and the prints were really eye catching ( I made a dozen for those older crowd that don't use the internet ). The distance was hard and the only way to get the invitation on schedule was through social media which most of the people I know used it very well and always up to date with what's new. It was very effective in the sense and I got all the response I needed in time.

The venue was difficult because I had only few place to choose from. There were a lot of venues out there but getting the right people to talked to was hard when dealing internationally. Hotel places are good but it's way out of my budget though I found a good one but I wasn't able to get the time I want so I choose a venue where everyone knows it. The place is very convenient and the food is good. A friend of mine helped me reserved it and transacted all down payments via money transfer electronically.

I searched Cebu artists and party coordinator in Facebook and also friends recommendation helped to to booked the party decor, cake, hosts, photographer and videographer so easily using FB. The small details like the party favor, piñata, and tokens where all done in Cebu with the help of my sister in law. To sum it up, I did it all without using my husbands energy. But with good help from a few people it was possible.

I got this idea from the Happy Birthday Song - Little Baby Bum. My cake artists did a good job. 

The cake dessert buffet was amazing. Don't you think so! I didn't conceptualize this. The cake decorator did all this. What I just asked to get the cake right and she did and she made cupcakes, lollipops and other sweet treats. The cake was moist and delicious.

Ain't that nice? It's perfect love the combination. Though I wish the rainbow color scheme was used. But still they did a good job working on the characters and designs that I told them to do.

I asked for this and it was cool.

At the entrance, look at the mouse and clock!

Centerpieces, the itsy bitsy spider!

I made the favor tag but bought the bag through amazon.

My own design personalized mug. I did the photo session too.

It was the same company I used to print the refrigerator magnets. It was perfect.

13th Month Update

Oh my golly! I haven't posted anything for so long. I am MIA for couple of months now. Being a mom is a wonderful blessing. No doubt about it, completed my whole being. Sometimes I wish that I could have a help here to watch my son. The problem with that is, I am hesitant to have a stranger in my house and really the trust issue is my ordeal. I am not willing to take that risk yet. Also, financially we are just depending on the husband, I wanted to used that money for a baby sitter to something else.

This past months Yanis' growth and development is doing good. We had his appointment early October and everything is good. There are some issues that I am working on with him but his okay. Nothing about delay. I was expecting too much from the little guy and comparing him to others that achieved earlier progress physically.

His not walking yet, just recently doing his 4 steps which is quite an achievement for him. I was glad I caught it on camera. The physical training his doing now can take so much of my time and I barely spend a time to do much for myself. He needed attention and play time. His a very active little man. I have to watched him closely. I may doing it more than he should but on that aspect the husband wanted me to do it regularly. So I do agree watching him closely can prevent and avoid any mishaps or accident so I did it. But I tell you, it's a lot of work and taking so much of my energy.

He did get sick though when we went to the Philippines. He got the bug first and I got his and my hubby got mine. We were all sick for more than a week. I was the one who got the worst bug but eventually I got rid of it by constantly drinking lots of fluid and medicine. Yanis was having the bug and he was teething too. Poor little fella. His first 2 teeth though came to appear after the trip and it was rapidly sprouting lol. Now he got 5 and I believe 2 is going to come out soon. His appetite would change every time and his nose would leak too. I don't know why his nose would leak but it happened. Coincidence maybe, but surely I saw it. The weird thing is his first 2 teeth was one at the bottom and upper. Strange but I asked the doctor about it and she said infant teeth just appear every where there's no text book to say which one would go first.

His babbling a lot and he speak a lot of words. It's very pleasant to the ear how this little guy voice range can fill up the room lol. Of course not the whining and twisting but when his talking on his own words. I just loved his voice.

Music is his thing as well. He likes to dance to an upbeat song. During our travel, we have noticed how he reacted to the different sounds and his feeling every rythm by moving his lower body and moving his arms in the air when he likes a song. He also snapped his thumb and point finger following me when I like to jam to a song. Though you can't really tell what his doing but if you look at closely, this trying to copy what you are doing. My boy is like a sponge.

This will be it for now. I will try to do more update in a few days. And also will share photos from his first birthday party.. Promise!

2015 Pumpkin Patch - this is just today's whereabout. Went out to a farm and he was having a blast with the hays.

11 month Update

Here it goes another month had passed and it's almost a year since I delivered my miracle baby. His 11 months now and time flies indeed. Yanis is doing great. His a smart boy. I am lucky and blessed to have him in my life. No greater feeling than to be a mother of an angel. Despite the sleepless nights, no matter how tiring my days could be, seeing him with his smile and laughter can take all of it. There's nothing to compare the joy he brings to my life.

His so mobile during photo session. I took this photo with so many tries since he cant sit still. I am glad I got at least a few good ones. The thing with him, every new thing he finds it amusing and likes to touch and feel it. You can't have him seat and relax. His very active little boy.

He doesn't have any full grown teeth yet. His bottom tooth is still peaking. I thought by this time it will come out but it didn't. I still love the toothless gummy smile. I don't worry so much. The doctor told me not to worry about it.

He does still cruise by the furniture and walls. His afraid getting off balance. I tried to check on him so he can practice walking alone but instead he will just sit. His not confident yet. Well, due to the fact he had fall a few times and it scared him. I hope one of these days he will try and do it. I know it will be fast when it happen. I am not sure if I can get in time for photos lol..

Update 10th Month

Yanis' has grown and very active. Before he reached his 10th month, he was able to stand on his own by grabbing anything that can support his weight. His crawling and finally can sit on his own. His been crawling since 5 months but starting on the 9th month, his been exploring all over the floor. Though he has very limited space at home, whatever we've got he managed to progress on his own. 

He did his first trip outside CA last month. He did pretty good in the plane. We booked a night flight and he was able to sleep on my lap. I mostly did take care of his needs. It still quite getting used to. I need to be organized next time for his next long flight international which will going to happen soon. We did follow what other mothers did tell me to give him food during take off and landing. Landing is hard to follow but I can tell that he naturally sense he need to suck his thumb during that time. His not into pacifier and all. He just did what comes to him naturally which he suck his thumb for comfort and somehow really worked for him. Next time, I won't stressed about it if his sleeping. If his awake I will make sure he will have something to chew so he could equalize his ears. But the opposite did happen when we came to CA. Daytime flight was not his thing. He want to explore what he can see so he was anxious in his seat to walk around. He make some squeak sound and I am sure the person next to me had a terrible experience with us. But at least Yanis is not a screaming baby. The stress of making Yanis feel comfortable was a task with that flight. I was stressed out. I just hope the next trip will be easy for him and us. 

Right now, his into cruising around the furniture. I tried to hold him and let him stand on his own and pull back my hands but his smart enough to not let go. He will sit down right away when he noticed I am trying to test his skills. Hubby is not pressing the issue of him walking soon. For me, I just don't want Yanis to delay anything if I can help it. What other's are saying, let the baby do his own thing. He can walk by his own when his ready. So far, he loves to walk around the furniture and crawling. He love to explore tiny spaces. 

As for food, like his dad his very picky. He loves bread and cheese. His not into cereal and oatmeal anymore. But I mixed it in with other vegetable and fruits so he can have the carbs that needed for his weight. His still very tiny. In the 15 pounds range. Despite his under weight, he will eat when he really like the food. He wants to taste the food on our plate. We give him something what we can and have him taste all differently. He already got so much taste and now his starting to be picky. I hope one day he will not be as picky. It will be easier for me in the kitchen. Anyway, he solely into formula now. I stopped breast pumping the first of July. I decided to stop due to the fact I don't have enough milk to waste my time of the day and energy to just pump 10ml each time. It was an easy weaning and my breast did somehow have pain in a couple of days. The only remedy I took was ice pack and tylenol and the pain was gone after a week. It didn't last long. 

What Yanis' love to do during the day is listening and watching his favorite nursery songs. He loves to dance when the music is good. Just like his parents his musically inclined. He will be so happy with music and it calmed him down when his too cranky. I don't know what it is, Yanis likes Nylon or any strappy material, paper, tissue, remote control, laptop, ipod and cellphone. Toy's can't make him quiet if his not in the mood but if you give him what I enumerated he will be glad to just observe the things his holding. He doesn't have any teeth yet but I can see the gum is swollen and maybe in a week or two it will come out. His biting things when it irritated him. There were times too that we give him infant tylenol for his discomfort. For words, he can say dada, dadi, mom, mama , baba so clearly and just bubble with sounds I wish I know what it is his saying. lol..  His very talkative. 

I think this is all for now.. will update as soon as I can. 

5 months after Birth

Sounds very fast but it is. Time is ticking quick. I need to write down the things that happened since my last post.

So Baby Yanis is growing. His still a peanut. Length of 24 inch, weight 13 lbs and eats averaging 19 oz. Not a very drastic growth and weight but his following his own curve so I don't have much concern. As long as his eating and healthy, I don't think I have to worry.

For motor skills development, his spot on. Before he turned 4 months, he was able to roll over from back to tummy and a few weeks after that before reaching his 5th month he was able to roll over from tummy to back. His able to sit with assistance, reaching toes with his hands, smile a lot when you sing to him, talks back in his own language, sings to you when his focus or when his sleepy, giggle abundantly right before he sleep when tickle, tasting and biting fingers exploring his food senses, and can reach toys with less wobbly. His a very smart baby. He imitates what I will teach him to do. I really am very happy of his progress.

I wish he will continue to grow more and hope he can catch up on others. His mental development that I was so concerned about is so no longer my worry because I saw his very intelligent. I just wish for more better report the next time he will be at the doctor's office. But I guess if the doctor is happy, maybe I should take that and not to worry anymore. Sometimes, I just can't help it.

As for me, my weight is lesser than my pre-pregnancy weight which is really good. I am not doing any exercise at all and most of the time, I am home alone during the day with the baby. Hubby does come home at lunch so it's comforting when his around. Generally, I take care most of Yanis' feeding, changing diaper and bathing. I can sleep for 5 hours now provided my insomnia will not going to visit me. Yanis' bedtime usually falls between 9-10pm and only wake up at 1-3am to feed. Hubby does take care of that so that's where I get most of my straight hours of bedtime. I am still a little tired during feeding because he still eats between 2.5hrs to 3hrs with 60ml-90ml. I wish he can take more so less feeding but it's okay. As long as his eating, I should not complain. He takes 3-4 naps a day which I can spend a little time of myself but I wish he can take 2 and long hours so I could have more time to do something for myself. One day, I know he will change. For now, I am better and I am content.
  

The second week of my Preemie ( 36 weeker )

I know I posted today simultaneously. I forgot to post the first week video last week. Even so, I hope you could be entertained by this.

The second week was a breeze for us with my husband. Though we didn't get much sleep because we constantly check Yanis body temp, we did get down to regulate this temperature. He was doing good and the progress we saw in him was fantastic.

Here's the recap:

The first week of my Preemie ( 36 weeker )

This was a project that my husband wanted. A 30 days video of our son. Majority of the speeches, comments, interaction over video was done by my husband. With so little time and no help from family, it's hard for me to edit and post something. Now that baby Yanis is getting longer sleep, I have some time now to create and hopefully posts his progress week by week. I still have a lot of editing until I can get to the present happening but in the mean time, I hope you will take time to check out this video.

The day Everything seems Possible - Labor and Delivery 9/17/14

Sorry for not updating for months. Being a new mom is a lot of work. Not to mention I don't have anybody to support my physical needs except my dear husband who's trying his best as much as he can. We already down to our routine now and so I have time for myself. Time is not that many I tell you, but even just a few minutes from here and there it make up for something.

So I already posted on what happen the day I have my son. I just finally made a video. I've got plenty of clips and with such little time on my hand, editing and arranging is a bit of a handy task. I just choose those that are pretty much necessary, significant and memorable.

Hope you enjoy!

Baby's Current Update

Today marked my baby's 24th day since birth. His doing well now and I believe his weight gain achieved his doctor's recommendation. I fed him breast milk as possible whenever and whatever I can produce. The last time we checked on him, his gaining 2 oz a day which that time he gained 11 oz that doubled his 1 oz recommended gain. From 4.69 lbs his weight on the last check up he was 5.24 lbs. We were thrilled on his progress.

It's not easy to fed a newborn. We would like to have an on schedule feeding but at times you can't really attained that. When we were in NICU he was supposed to fed every 3 hours and our schedule was 1:30am, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30 and so forth but it changed when we got home. His still sleeping when the 3 hour hit and it boiled down to 3 1/2 hour. Then at times he wants to be fed at 2 1/2. It's hard to predict his feeding habits and the amount of milk he will drink. On day of discharge, a nurse fed him at 50ml which was over what he was supposed to. He was supposed to have not more than 45ml. When we got home I stuck to 35-40ml and he progressed a week after to 45ml. It did change somehow on a daily basis and now I estimated him to be at 60-80ml per feeding.

My milk production doesn't meet up the 60ml minimum per pump. I can however produce 30 minimum to 60ml provided I do it early morning during the hours of 2:00 am to 6:00 am with a 4 hour sleep at least. I could not have that very much sleep because it depends on the hubby if he can stay up that long and how patient he is. Other times he will try but frustrations sink in and I could since the baby is stressed. I don't talk to the hubby on what I am seeing and feeling on how the baby is reacting to him so that he won't feel bad and I always make him feel his effort is being appreciated. The offer alone is enough that I won't ever try to make him feel bad towards sharing his responsibility to the baby. His a hands on dad but he doesn't really have much patience on how fussy the baby is. I do somehow already learned from my baby's experience to be calm otherwise I can't make him feel at ease when his fussiness stroked in.

His body temperature is doing very good. He can already regulate and his lowest is at 97.6 and highest at 98.8 averaging to 98.1 on a daily basis. I don't take his temperature in most feeding. When I feel his cold or hot then it's the time I do it. When I talked to his doctor the last time, she said not to overly do it because it will stressed us out. So I did what I was told and it calmed me down. I am really happy on what the baby is doing.

So far this is about it, nothing much to tell except that occasionally we tried to bring him to restaurants and when we read something about when the best to take the newborn out it says about 6-8 weeks. Just a precaution for us with him that went through a lot already in the past 2 weeks, I better let him stay at home first and take it from there when his getting much older.

Emergency to the Rescue

Baby Yanis was discharged on Sept 19 at 11 am at the hospital. We were so excited to be with him finally in the comfort of our home. It's hard to see him poked so many times to check his blood tests and his cry is very difficult for me to hear. I can't do nothing about it, the hospital works that way.

First night was okay. Feeding him is a challenge for me. His still very sleepy when I fed him. I tried every possible way the lactation people taught me in the hospital but at times I can't fed him enough. So during the middle of the night, he will wake up and his cry is very loud. I would also assume that due to his circumcision every time he peed or poo, it irritates his tiny little thing down there. So hard to him his cry but you can't do nothing to soothe it and just hope he would stop crying. But once his cleaned and give him reassurance, his a fine baby. 

The second night was tough. Middle of the night, he was awake every hour. I tried to fed him whatever I can but the little one was always awake. I didn't get much sleep. I was also in pain due to my stitches and hemorrhoid problem so dealing with trying to heal myself with a crying baby is a little overwhelming. 

At 11am we have an appointment in Mountain View for his follow up. Hubby checked his body temp. It was a little colder and so he did skin to skin with him. His temperature became stable then. We got to the facility a little late and the lobby was freaking cold. We waited until our name was called. Then came the nurse and we went to the exam room. We got his temperature it went down to 95.5. It's very alarming. The doctor came in and see if we can regulate his body temp with a warm blanket, nothing happened. His cold. The doctor ordered to go to NICU at the hospital. She also saw the yellowing of Yanis skin probably due to Jaundice. So there we head straight to the hospital in emergency. Quite a panic to have our baby in that situation. 

We got to the hospital and greeted by the supervisor in charge for the day. They then take care of him, put all necessary measuring devices and swaddle him with warm blankets. It's very difficult to see him that way to be there in that corner with all those wires. He was then put in an isolette to monitor his body temp and regulating it. Poor little baby. 

He was in the isolette for 3 days and had 2 days light therapy for his Jaundice. I breast feed him as possible as I can get and bottle fed him too. I haven't sleep so good while I was there. I didn't care much about my recovery because the number one goal was to keep baby stable. I though honestly had a mental and physical breakdown the night of Sunday where the emergency took place. Due to the situation with no idea how the day goes, I didn't bring any of my medication for my pain. I suffered all day while walking the hallway of the NICU. It was so painful I almost fainted but tried to be strong for the sake of the baby. But past 9pm I mentally got to my limit and cried so hard. It was devastating for me to be in the situation where the pain is unbearable and here I have a baby who needs extra care. 

There's a happy ending to every bad things. His jaundice went down and his temp is regular with the help of the isolette and later on he managed to be out on the crib. We were discharge friday morning and went home safe. 

We did have a follow up yesterday to see a pediatrician. His temperature is good. His weight now is 4.69 which is still below his birth weight. The doctor recommend Neosure 22 so he could have more calories and that he can gain weight. Feeding time change to every 2 hours. Breast every 10 minutes each and 10 for bottle feed. We can't make it to 2 hours so we adjusted it to 2.5. It seemed worked fine with me and the baby. He poo and peed every time therefore his doing good. We will see the pedia again next week on Friday and see how far along he can gain weight.  

Induced Labor and Delivery Experience

My primary Obgyn schedule an induced labor on Sept 16. She said I will get a call from the hospital any time of the day within the 24 hour period. Husband and I waited all day and anxious when to get the call. Later part of the day at 3pm, I called the office because I didn’t hear anything from the hospital. Dr. W told me to do so and I did. I Apart from that I emailed her too. I got a response from her and the nurse and said that they were delayed. The doctor said in her email she's in the hospital and she made sure she will get me there as soon as possible when a room is available.

Past 11pm, nothing! I said goodnight to my husband and slept. Until 12:30am Sept 17, the labor and delivery manager called and told me to be around an hour or so in the hospital. Husband and I get all our stuff together, showered and head straight. I checked in at the front desk fill out a little form and Dr. W was there. She gave me a big hug and to the nurses "this is my special patient".  That was a reassuring comment.

I was assigned to room 11. How can I forget! So right away, the head nurse checked on me. Asked question and did the internal examination. I was at 1cm dilated. Wow I was surprised. I was even thinking that my cervix is still pretty much closed. I was not expecting any of it. I did observe a few times on nights I did my walk with the husband that the braxton hicks were getting intense.  So that 1cm then comes from that feeling.

At 2:30am started Cervidil, this helps softens and ripening of the cervix. In labor and delivery this allows the baby to pass through. I had lots of contraction within 12 hours. The nurse removed it at 2:30pm. I was in pain. I also tried to walk with it but it’s so painful. But I tried so that I can prepare my body in delivery. I walked the hallway with the husband and saw the labor and delivery manager from the Child Birth Class. She gave me a hug and told me that I am in good hands. After a chitchat with her, I walked. Every step is like climbing a mountain with grasping every breath and contraction pain is not easy.

3:30pm to 5:30pm Pitocin was administered. The difference of effect now is the longevity of the contraction and the interval of each when it happen. I tried my best to stay relax and calm even if the contraction is getting worst. There’s no way to deal with it but it is how it is. It's better than Cervidil where it's through IV. 

Past 5:30pm I was bleeding with a pool of blood. I didn’t see it actually. I was about to go pee and suddenly I felt the water leaked from my behind. I told the husband to check whether it’s the bag of water. To our surprise it was blood. As what he described it was a lot. The nurse called the on call doctor. She came and checked. She wasn’t surprised and so she raptured the bag of water. Then see how far along I was. Barely at 3cm but the cervix was thinning like a rubber band. Basically, just in the 2’s. I was already in pain. I didn’t know at that point how to take all the maximum pain if labor is going to be very slow for me. 

Came 6pm, the contraction is getting more and more painful. Also every contraction followed the amniotic fluid gushed out. I kept on pressing my left thumb and index finger to divert my attention on the pain. But as the minutes go by, it is getting hard and extremely painful. Couple of times I asked the husband if I can hold his hand when the contraction hit me. A couple of times it helped but later on it doesn't do the trick. The pain is just so excruciating. I told the husband to get myself an Epidural shot. He asked me twice or thrice I don’t exactly remember if I am sure on my plan and I told him I can’t take it anymore. The nurse also asked as to what stage am I on pain and I told her on the 8 and 9 scale. So she requested the doctor to come in and I got it before 7pm. Then the relief came to the rescue. Temporarily no more pain, the lower body was numb especially both my feet.

I tried to sleep but I just can’t. The intense monitoring of baby’s heart rate was alarming. The nurse kept on switching me from right to left. We tried every position to keep up his heart at bay. Every contraction, he will have a big deep. It was very concerning. I am so lucky that the nurse on the shift was so attentive in every detail. She closely watched the readings and asked the doctor’s opinion right away.

Since I got the epidural, I can't go to the bathroom. So she did put a catheter. Later on, the baby's heart is still dropping. She asked the doctor about it and the doctor said to have a heart monitor down there. I have 2 tubes hooked up now. After 30 minutes, still the heart rate is not doing any progress at all. Still keep on dropping in every contraction. The doctor decided to have an amniotic fluid back to my uterus. It's another tube passing my vagina. Those hours I was lying all my heavenly goodness out in the open. Also, she put an oxygen that I could breathe to help not only me but the baby inside the womb. 

By the time her night shift is over, she internal exam me by inserting her fingers to my cervix. To her amaze, she didn’t feel the wall on the cervix but the head of the baby from 3cm to 10cm full dilated just like that. She asked for a second opinion from another doctor and also a different nurse, did their internal exam and yes cervix was in full dilation. 30 minutes before the nurse checked, I asked her for another shot of epidural because I was in pain. I haven’t heard anything from her since then. After the internal exam with a different nurse and they all left, when she came back she arranged the table in front of me. She opened the blue kit full of delivery tools. Dr. J came in later and when she checked on me I asked her why I’m trembling. Hands were shaking like uncontrollably and the abdominal pain is over the top. She said it is the sign of labor and the body is ready for delivery.

The delivery was fast. There were a couple of nurses in front and right of me. Hubby was on my right holding my hand. When the push time came, all of them counted on the first push by 10 sec. I made progress because the baby is getting in the right position. Now, they wanted me to do the second push but making it to 15 sec. I was having trouble in the first push with my oxygen on my nose. They took it out and made real hard push counting to 15. I don’t know how I was able to push that long but I did and the baby is crowning. The third push for 10 sec was already a breeze and baby easily came out. I have not heard him cry right away. He was placed under a warmer. Nurses stimulated him and so the cry came. It’s nice to hear the first cry. He was laid on my chest after a few minutes and we were looking at each other and in silence we both said “we did it”.

Day 8 Since Giving Birth

Just an update, I already gave birth to a baby boy via induced labor on Sept 17. It was a successful vaginal delivery. Baby weighs 4.76 at birth and now his weight is at 4.69. He lost 3% of that weight when we were discharge on Sept 19. But later came back in an emergency due to hypothermia and the evidence of Jaundice on Sunday. He was readmitted in NICU. Stayed there for 5 days and was discharge yesterday. Problem with baby is regulating his body temperature. It was hard at first for us since we don't know how bad it could get to him. Now we are aware of what's going on, we are very extra careful. Hubby bought 2 portable heaters and it did work pretty good maintaining his temp in the 98's. We are crossing our fingers that the NICU will be his last visit. Will update soon and post some pics too.

35 weeks Pregnant

Yes yes yes! Another week has passed. It's always been a celebration of mine every time Tuesday passes by. Today I am 35 weeks and 1 day. I wake up with a heavy heartburn. Last night's blood sugar level was high. I've reached to 154 which I believe was my highest in the record. I went out grab a club bacon ranch sandwhich from Jack in the Box and I ate only half of the bread and my sugar level was in sky rocket. It might have something to do with the food or probably because I was already starving when I ate. After an hour I retested and it went to 136 which was still high and I did some in house jogging in the hopes that by morning my sugar will be stabilize. So I wake up and my sugar is at 91. Not that bad, but not good in my range. I have to be less than 90. It means I will raise up my insulin dosage tonight to 7u. As the weeks getting closer to the big day, my sugar level is acting up too.

Anyway, to sum for the week. Baby's ultrasound last week was okay. Yanis is still below the 3 percentile which I was hoping he could a little catch up some bit. But his interval growth follows what he has been doing for months which was not very surprising for the doctors. This somehow could mean that my induction will be push through on the 16th. I wasn't hoping for the 36 week but otherwise I would love to be on the 37th week so I could get full term and at least baby could grow more and I could spend time with him on my belly. Yet, when I talked to Dr. W yesterday, the date is set and everything. Hubby isn't thrilled to have a Virgo baby. He wants a Libra. Maybe we could persuade one doctor to move to a 37 by our next appointment this thursday but I wonder how powerful we could convince our plea. 

Somehow, my taste buds are not really good. My first trimester symptom came back. Good at least, I don't have nausea. The after taste is just awful. But I still eat what I want in moderation. Though, sugary food isn't possible yet. I tried to avoid it as possible. The least I could get is drinking soda and tea. I tried eating cheesecake too but somehow it elevated my sugar level and it increased my insulin dosage so I have to really watch on food. The hormones are just getting my way of eating the food I want but I know one day this will be over. Just to have more patience about it. 

Energy is up and down. There could be one day I am okay and at times I am feeling tired. The only times I noticed getting tired is when my sugar level goes up. I could be tired, thirsty and will be peeing more. Having gestational diabetes is a challenge to undertake. 

As for baby, Yanis is very responsive. Every time I asked him for a kick, though he might not response right away if his not awake but eventually he will get to me with a kick or movement. I really am satisfied with his favor and I have no doubt he will be fine during labor. The concern of IUGR babies is that during labor they don't like it. Dr. W is trying to tell me in advance the possibility of having C Section in case baby is having difficulty. I am hoping not to get one and I am convincing baby Yanis to really be strong for me on the big day. I hope we could both achieve our goal.

So this is it.. this might be my last post for now or not. Will wait and see what happen next. 

34 weeks Pregnant

Today is the day, a milestone that I don't even know in the past I will ever achieved. But it reveals that miracle do happens. I had my NST appointment today with my primary OB and she's happy and always said that she never thought I could still be pregnant. She never has a patient who's baby is an IUGR surpassed the 34 week but my baby proved them that they are wrong. Baby Yanis is the miracle in the making.

 

Now we are looking at 36 induced. She set me up for Sept 16. For now it's tentative, but it will changed depending on my current status at Maternal Fetal Medicine. My Dr just don't want in the last minute that they can't booked me in for a date in case something happen. But I feel Yanis can go on after 36 weeks. Let's wait and see what my baby will do. So far everything is fine. His active and growing strong with a heavy kick.

33 weeks and 1 day

There are many things to be grateful for and this week is one of them. First is that I thought I could already be in the hospital from Friday's ultrasound. Baby Yanis stomach had past 2 weeks behind. It's going 3 and the Dr. W was so worried. I was almost admitted to the hospital to get the 2nd Betamethasone shot. It require hospitalization until the baby is born. She was even saying I could have the baby a week after. It turned our eyes big that afternoon but instead she called Dr. D discussed the situation and then I was rushed to do NST. Baby passed nothing significant to require we need to be hospitalized. We were so relieved and went home.

Monday I did my Nst for the week with my OB Dr W. Baby passed again on the test. Then, she told me that we will looking at 36 week delivery now instead of 37 week. It was not the news I want again. Why would they keep on moving that. If baby is fine regardless of measurement, nothing could be done if baby is okay inside my womb. I wasn't really happy about it but in the end I take it in. I asked her that it's better for me to work on my maternity leave now since everything I am going through is always at the circumstance. I will never know when I could have my baby delivered because every test and result is different with these doctors. 

Have no energy to wear makeup and all, but to keep my pregnancy photo journal going at 33 weeks and 1 day.

So yesterday I talked to my boss and his very understanding. I will start to stay at home starting Sept 1. That would give me a little time to myself and baby and just relax to prepare for my delivery on the 3rd week. I also suffered from contraction yesterday from overdoing the laundry with Yanis clothes. I didn't know how much clothes he has now. I did it all so I could be ready when his here. 

Also to update on GD, my fasting got worst. I went to see an endo did my exam and administer insulin shot by myself starting Friday night. I started with 2u then on the 3rd day it went up to 3u since on the second day it went up above my original fasting reading when I was diagnosed. Since then, blood sugar in the morning is good. Didn't change my diet and all. Still the same and it didn't change my blood sugar reading good throughout the day at all. I can even eat ice cream sugarless without disturbing my readings. Hehehe.. I know I should not but if it won't affect my sugar why would I suffer myself from deprivation.

I am getting close to 3 weeks now. Soon I could hold my baby and hoping his going to be healthy and could catch up his weight with no problem. That's all I've been praying! 

32 Weeks and 4 days

I have a late updating my status for the week. On Monday, I did an NST with Dr. W. She was so happy to see me at the same time her words where not that encouraging because she said 'Happy to see you, you're still pregnant'. What do they expect me to have the baby early? I am not really so enthusiast on that praise but on the positive side of course it's a good thing to hear that I've reached to this point having still my baby in the cozy womb.

Then I did another NST with her on Thursday which baby is showing really good with the result. Baby is active and kicking and there's no lower number this time. Though I've seen the lows 109 it wasn't that low compare the other times when the machine got to an error or read 70 which scared the hell out of me. Anyway, so we did passed on that. I was relief.

 

Later on that afternoon, I saw my nutritionist and reviewed my glucose chart which somehow lead me to an end result of having to take an insulin. She said all of my daytime numbers are pretty good and I am eating pretty well. The problem was the fasting number. It goes as high as 106 which was above the reading I got when I was diagnosed at 24 weeks of 95. That's a high number and it needs attention. So she referred me to an Endocrinologist the following day.

So Friday which was yesterday, I saw the Endo Dr and she was pretty nice. Did the exam on my skin and all and she said that I am looking good and uterus is the size as normal. She mentioned about the doctor's concerned on the diagnosis of baby being small she said that Asian are really small and their charts are based on white so most likely we would fall into the small or lower chart. She told me not to worry about it and we just have to make sure that the baby is healthy.

She went with the process on how to inject the insulin and give me advice not to lower my carb intake or change my food eating style now since it really work for me. Just have to maintain it and watch how we could progress with insulin on the fasting reading. After I went home, grab some snacks and went to Walgreens to get my prescription.

Later on that day I went to the the Growth Scan with MFM. The result was hadlock is lower than 3 percentile which was not we wanted but in comparison to his growth the last 2 weeks it's his normal range. Weight is a little off but his growing. Placenta resistance is normal and Dr. W a doctor which we just met said to administer steriod which we were not really happy about but before that drastic move she called Dr. D our supposed to be doctor that day and said no. Baby's growth is normal with his status. Had a NSt done again to make sure baby is normal and doing okay. He was okay. So we were let go and no hospitalization needed. Damn doctors, that scared the hell out of us!

So this is my week, a lot of appointments and monitoring but baby is fine. We are both fine!

31 Weeks Pregnant

Today I am 31 weeks and 2 days to be exact. I am the happiest in the world no matter what. I reached to this point. The baby is still in my womb. My prayers are answered and I am continuing to pray until I can get to full term.

I just arrived home from NST exam this afternoon. Eating my afternoon snack. Having gestational diabetes you have to timed your food intake and sometimes even if I am not hungry I just eat. My weight today is 138.6. I gained 1 pound since last week. I guess eating fats work. The portion of food I ate is still the same but I ate more rice for the past 2 weeks. I think that's what makes it. But there was so many spikes I had for the past 2 weeks. I wonder if my nutritionist will going to be happy with that. I will miss an appointment with her tomorrow since it conflicted with my ultrasound so I moved it to next week. I hope by then I can control my sugar level and no spike if possible.

Anyway, the NST exam was good. There was a moment when baby's heartbeat went below 80. I was scared at first but doctor W said it's fine. He passed the test. And asked if I am counting his kicks which I am. Dr. W was so happy to see me and she even said surprised that I am still pregnant. 31 and 32 weeks is a big difference and she is so happy that I am still pregnant and will be her OB until the baby is born. Wow, amazing to hear it! Even she I didn't expect that she's already anticipating I could have the baby soon. Miracle of prayers work. I believe in my faith and God is listening to every bit of it and I am so glad His there for me when I needed him.

All I can say about the past week is that, I feel that my belly is growing and definitely I am gaining weight too. It shows on the belly now and my face is getting rounder too. Baby is growing at his own pace and still behind but definitely his fine.

Food is still a challenge with diabetes and I am having some sweet moments with soda if I want to that won't even hurt my sugar level. At least I could have some. I don't drink it every day only when I am already wanting to get some sweets in my taste. I still have some after taste after I eat. Heartburn is still bad and I found a sugarless Tums for it. The past 4 days I slept better at night. I think this is just what happen for the week. I am happy and satisfied. I am praying for good BPP tomorrow.