Mr. Euan Finley O'Neil

Euan Finley O'Neil graced our presence on 5/16/11 at 2019 weighing in at 7lb 3oz and measuring a nice 19.5in. 

I will share the details of how he arrived shortly.  Until then..... a cute photo!

The latest on BP, puking and the Bitoski!

The first few days of bedrest haven't been too bad (but I haven't been here much).  The hardest part is when Fiona wants me to come play or pick her up....breaks my heart.  I'll hit the highlights of the past few days which have consisted of daily trips to the doc and I'll try not to ramble just because I have nothing else to do.  :) 

Face pic (sideways). 
You can make out the nose & lips. 

Bitoski.  S/he looks great!  Measuring at 38 weeks 1 day (I was 36 & 5 yesterday).  Blood flow and everything else looked great.  Yay!!!  



Blood pressure.  BP is still pretty high at times.  Peaked at 160/102 at the doc yesterday.  It does improve a bit when I am laying down (hence the bedrest). 

Pee.  We are now finding protein in my urine (first time was yesterday).  I finished doing a 24 hour urine collection to check the total protein. 

St. Joe's Labor & Delivery.  I spent a few hours both Thursday and Friday at St. Joe's watching the baby, my BP and having bloodwork done (which continues to look good).  I think I need to refuse to go back there until I am in labor, it's depressing to leave there pregnant. 

Headache = annoyance.  Essentially since the BP has been up I have been having a headache on & off going in waves of severity.  In attempting to take oral tylenol I entertained the nursing staff at St. Joe's.  Of course it ended up in my emesis basin within a few minutes.  I did explain liquids were no good but figured I should make an effort.  

Puking.  Seems slightly less annoying.  Probably because I can get up to do it.  Thankfully it has been tolerable. 



My cervix.  I have to thank it for doing a nice job of staying shut and protecting the baby up until now.  But now could you please thin out and open up?  It is currently pretty thick and barely open.  Boo.  

The plan.  Continue on bedrest.  We were darn close to having a baby yesterday but my cervix is so unfavorable now an induction would likely lead to a C-section.  No one wants that, especially me, for a handful of good reasons.  I go back to see the doctor on Monday.  

Until then I will keep the couch warm, watch my little lady play and be thankful I get the opportunity to have another baby. 

BEDREST

Yup.  Bedrest.  Didn't expect that one.  I will apologize now if this post sounds angry, frustrated and even a bit bitter.  That is where I am at. 

Yesterday morning I felt rotten in general.  Same old nausea and puking but it was something else too that I couldn't put my finger on.  Along with it I had a bit of a headache.  I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon where we noticed my blood pressure (BP) was high.  Figures.  Normally it runs on the low side and when I get my dressing changes done (which have been every 2 days for a while now; my BP has been good).  My doc sent me for blood work and I was to come back today to see those results and how my BP was.  She did say that bedrest was an option along with induction depending on my blood work.  Of course I thought to myself, won't be bad enough for induction just bad enough for bedrest.  I was right.  

I headed back to the doctor early this afternoon.  Blood work didn't look too bad but my BP was still too high.  Bedrest it is.  Ultrasound to make sure the Bitoski is doing well and a visit with the doc on Friday afternoon.  

So much for going to work tomorrow or doing anything else for that matter.  I am just frustrated as I was stupidly hoping the rest of the pregnancy would be status quo - puking and PICC line problems.  Apparently I was wrong.  Now I have to lay here.  Boo.  Suggestions on things to do would be swell (reading much more than a paragraph or two makes me yak and I prefer the TV not be on too much with Fiona around). 

In other news - having more pukes lately (shocking) but the PICC line is beginning to heal thanks to a diligent Pam. 

I am praying for a healthy baby sooner than later and a bit of patience for me (and those who have to deal with me). 

Being prepared.

It isn't a secret that I am a planner and I enjoy organization.  Since I've had Fiona I've had to let that go a bit which I think hasn't been entirely a bad thing.  But overall I still strive for freakish organization if possible.  So of course I am well organized for the Bitoski to arrive. 

The Fiona factor.  Last pregnancy we could just up and leave for the hospital.  This time we have to consider Fiona.  So I did.  My parents live less than 10 minutes away so they will be called when the time comes (if they aren't already here).  I have a list of other family and friends (names and phone numbers) to call in case for some crazy reason my parents run away.  I think I am overly paranoid about Fiona because of her food allergies (soy & eggs - which doesn't sound like a big deal but start reading labels and you'd be surprised).  So needless to say I'd rather be over prepared.  I have a 4 page typed document about her normal routines and food that is in the freezer and in the fridge that is Fiona safe (yup I now update it every day just so I can sleep better at night).  I think to myself, my parents are here all the time, they know all of this....but like I said, they might just flee the state and then someone would need all this information.  And in my mind I will sleep better at night by having this done.   

The nursery is set.  Clothes are washed and organized by size.  Closet is set up.  Diapers are washed and stuffed.  Crib is ready with nice clean sheets.  It is as ready as it can be! 

Our go bag is packed.  There are a few things that can't be put in there right this minute (laptop, camera) but those 6 things are on a typed list on top of the bag (along with where to find them).  Gosh, I sound like a freak!  My thought on my freaky organization is this - if I can easily tell someone where to find something that makes everything less stressful.  I would rather not be running around and trying to pack a bag and find who knows what when labor day actually comes.  I'd rather spend a few extra minutes with Fiona or empty the dishwasher (I do remember Ryan gathering the computer last time I was in labor and I told him I thought we should empty the dishwasher instead).  I don't think the dishwasher ever got emptied before we left! 

So we are all prepared and ready.  Apparently all I need now is to work on my patience.....and have the baby.   

Happy Mother's Day!

I want to wish all the Mom's (and Mother's to be) a very happy Mother's Day.  When I think about Mother's Day a few things come to mind. 

Being a Mom.  It has brought endless joy to my life and there isn't a single thing I wouldn't do for Fiona or this baby.  While pregnancy has not been easy I wouldn't trade my children for the world.  Being a Mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me. 


Mother's Day 2010


My Mom.  When I hear the word Mom the first person I think of is my mom who is the most selfless woman I know.  I've said it before but if I could even begin to be half the Mom to my children she has been to me, my kids will be truly blessed.  I know I would not be who I am or where I am today without her.  I also would not be getting through this pregnancy without her love, help and support. 

A Mother's love.  When I was pregnant with Fiona people told me how much I would love the baby.  It is a concept you think you understand but I don't really think you can until the baby comes.  Then you have the ability to experience the love and bond that comes with parenthood.  The first time I really realized this was when I heard a story about an infant abduction on the news when Fiona was about a week or two old.  Those stories were touching to me before she was born but after she was here and heard the story I nearly had a panic attack at the thought of losing her.  The feeling of love is indescribable.  To all the future parents out there I won't attempt to explain it.  I'll let you all experience it.  I look forward to being a Mom for a second time and having that experience all over again.  

Happy Mother's Day to all those fantastic Mom's out in the world.   

Less pukey, more rashy

Let's start with the good news.  For the past week I haven't been vomiting myself silly!  Yay!!!  Not to say I haven't vomited but it has been more tolerable and I only feel like I have a mild case of the flu instead of the having been hit by a mack truck.  I'll take it for sure.  I am absolutely keeping my fingers crossed this keeps up until the baby arrives.


On the other hand my PICC line has decided that since I am puking less it should take center stage.  Last week my skin started to blister and ooze again so we went back to every 2 day dressing changes while putting steroid cream on.  A tad bit of background - not sure if I mentioned but I got the line sutured in back in February when my skin got angry originally and blistered up.  I would say about 6 weeks ago one of the sutures got pulled out (my line got caught on a door handle and no it didn't feel good).  So it has been hanging on by one which has been ok.  On Saturday the other suture came out.  With both sutures out there wasn't much holding my line in.  Needless to say having my "lifeline" not secured isn't really an option and my skin is so blistered and irritated resuturing was the only good option.  So today I went back to St. Joe's to get the line sutured in.  



After my visit to St. Joe's



Every time I go there not in labor I am a little bitter and crabby about it all.  Next time.  Anyway after about 2 hours and some sweet talking the docs that the line is working fine I convinced them to suture it back in and let me go home. 



After Pam came....much better! 



The aftermath was messy but thankfully Pam came over tonight to fix it up.  Thankfully the line itself continues to work well.  It only needs to work for a few more weeks.  Oh, and the docs and nurses in radiology have a 3 to 1 vote that the baby is a girl.  We'll just have to wait and see! 

The Bitoski

I often call the baby "The Bitoski."  This likely makes no sense to anyone, so I will explain.  

Somehow Ryan ended up being called Mr O. (now I think my Dad may have started it but my memory could be wrong).  Once that started Ryan began calling me Mrs. O.  Apparently, one day I was bored with Mr. O. and decided to call him Mr. Oski instead.  No reason, just felt like it.  Imagine that.....it stuck and Oski gets thrown around here with other terms of endearment.  

So, when I was pregnant with Fiona, we had made up a lovely song that we sang to the "Baby In There."  Since the gender is unknown we began singing the song to this baby.  There is the BIT part.  Of course it just made sense in our warped minds to combine the BIT & Oski hence "The Bitoski."  As weird as it sounds, we like it.        

Somehow I think s/he will prefer his or her name better than The Bitoski!