He's Here!

R and I are thrilled to announce that Za.cha.ry arrived as scheduled this morning via a C-section that went very well. So far, his temperament is proving to be very much like his dad's - he is mellow, quiet, and rarely makes a fuss.

Mr. Z had been measuring in the 80th percentile range for abdominal girth, so I was a bit concerned that the gestational diabetes was making him pack on more weight than usual even though my numbers have been fairly easily controlled. He wound up weighing in at less than Miss A did on this date (both were delivered at exactly 38w0d): 7 lb. 7 oz. compared with her 7 lb. 12 oz.

Apgars were 9/9. However, his initial blood glucose level was described as "borderline" at 49. They want it to be at least 40. A repeat test was down to 46. When they tested for a third time, after our first nursing session, he was holding steady at 46, so they said there was no need to test again unless we wind up having difficulty feeding him. The second and third nursing sessions we did went well, so hopefully re-testing won't be necessary.

I'm a bit more mellow and calm myself this time around. With Miss A, I didn't sleep at all that first night because I was worried that she might stop breathing (not because of a specific medical issue, just paranoia on my part). This time, caring for an infant in the hospital while R's parents watch our active toddler feels like a vacation, and I plan to try to get some sleep tonight. I do still check frequently to make sure he's breathing, because he's so much quieter than I remember Miss A being, but I don't feel quite so terrified about it.

We're still in a state of disbelief that we now have two children. Two!, when for so long it seemed like having even one was a pipe dream.

Pictures to come, probably in the next few days...

Counting Down the Hours with Mixed Feelings

Kiddo is still incubating. We are down to the final hours - as I type this, his arrival should be about 49 hours away at the most. We are scheduled to be in the OR for another C-section at 9 a.m. PT on Saturday.

Last time, with Miss A, I was so excited about the idea we would hopefully finally have a baby that I wasn't really focused on anything else, and I couldn't wait for her to get here.

While I'm certainly eager to meet this little guy, this time around there are other feelings rising more to the surface. I know how high-strung I was during Miss A's pregnancy, but in reality, while there were certainly a lot of scary moments and uncertainty in the first trimester of both of these pregnancies, I have loved just about every moment of being pregnant.

I'm not sure that we will try for a third. If I was 10 years younger, the answer would be "probably", but since I'm not (I turned 40 a couple of weeks ago), we're at the "probably not" stage. Actually, R would tell you that we're at the "definitely not!" stage, but I haven't reached the point of absolute certainty about it yet.

And so, given those things, I am feeling a bit melancholy about this pregnancy coming to an end.

We're also reaching an end of an era in being a family of three. We have so much fun with Miss A, and she gets so much attention from both of us. In the evening, we both encourage her in eating her dinner, we both help her brush her teeth and give her a bath.

Now we will have to divide and conquer. I know it will be an adjustment for her to not have the full attention of both of us. It will be an adjustment for us, too. But I know we'll all figure it out.

I'm also a bit nervous about this kiddo being a boy. That's ironic, because when we were expecting Miss A, my mindset was all about a boy, and finding out that she was a girl threw me for a loop. But now I'm used to having a girl, and a very girly-girl one at that, which is something I am definitely not.

Even at 2 years and 4 months, even with most of her toys being things like blocks, Legos, and toys with gears, with very few pink toys and only one doll (which it didn't even occur to me to buy for her until she was nearly 2), and a playroom that has very little pink in it, she loves pink, tea parties, fancy dresses, and pretty shoes. She has even recently insisted on wearing her Christmas dress (with its crushed velvet top and poufy taffeta skirt) to day care and to my birthday dinner. The day care teachers said she absolutely loved wearing her dress and insisted on keeping it on all day rather than changing into the other clothes we had sent with her, even though it is 110 degrees where we live.

So I have learned to embrace the girly-ness, and I even enjoy tea parties now.

But it will also be good for there to be a bit more testosterone in our world. Aside from one male dog in our household, R is surrounded by females - my mom, me, Miss A, one female dog, and two female cats. It's amazing that the guy is still sane... :-)

My next post will hopefully be a birth announcement. Stay tuned!

The Countdown Begins

It's still kind of hard to believe, but we are less than 4 weeks away from delivery. If Kiddo does not arrive on his own before then, he is scheduled to arrive on July 26. That is 38w0d, which is exactly the point at which Miss A arrived, of her own choosing.

With Miss A, I was sure we would have to go all the way to our scheduled day, which was 38w4d. She surprised us by coming 4 days early. With this Kiddo, I have a feeling he may be earlier than 38w0d. But then again, based on our history, that will probably mean he goes all the way to the 26th.

At the NST on Friday, I was having contractions. They were very mild, but I could feel them, and there were more of them than what I had with Miss A at that point in her pregnancy (1 contraction during the NST that I could not even feel). I've had more contractions here and there since then that I can definitely feel, but nothing on a regular basis. So that's part of what's making me think he may arrive early.

Also, he started to move down a couple of weeks ago and has pretty much stayed there. That's making me have to visit the restroom frequently, but I can certainly live with that. I really can't complain much about pregnancy at all - amazingly, my swelling (I'm 34w3d) is practically non-existent, which is even less than I had with Miss A.

The biggest challenge I'm having at the moment is that we live someplace where it gets ridiculously hot during the summers. I'm used to it, and it usually doesn't bother me at all, but being pregnant, the heat makes me light-headed and gives me tunnel vision if I'm not careful. So I'm trying to stay under ceiling fans all the time and avoid going outside during the warmest part of the day. At Miss A's annual cardiology appointment yesterday (it went fine), it started to get warm inside the exam room, and I had to go stand in the hallway where it was cooler for a little while. Hopefully my body will revert back to being able to handle the heat after delivery.

I am definitely a bit more relaxed - or maybe just too busy to be as obsessively stressed - this time around, but I still have my moments of nervousness. And I still repeat in my head the same silent prayer/request I constantly used with Miss A: Please, dear God, let this end well.