Welcome Georgia!

Georgia was born on her due date, August 13, at 5:46pm! She was so much bigger than I ever expected- considering I really thought she'd be tiny. She was a whopping 8 pounds and 11 ounces! 19.68 inches long. And even more surprising, she was born with a head full of dark brown hair! Chase was practically bald with some strawberry blonde peach fuzz. And Madison and Aaron were also fairly bald with light colored hair. We're just amazed how different she looks than her brothers and sister.

We got quite the shock when she was about 10 hours old: after hours of her not nursing and not wanting to take a bottle, the nurse discovered our sweet baby girl has a cleft palate. We were shocked and I was devastated. I knew in my heart immediately that it was due to my seizure medication and blamed myself. Within the first 24 hours of her life, we met with the pediatric plastic surgeon, occupational therapists, pediatricians, lactation consultants, and the coordinator for the Craniofacial Clinic at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD).

Breastfeeding became a far away dream... attainable at some point but not right now because she doesn't suck properly. We went to formula for the time being (with a special bottle for children with cleft palates), and I began pumping. My ultimate goal is to pump exclusively and switch her totally to breastmilk as soon as I can. So far pumping is going well, I see an increase every day and am excited at the thought of having enough for full time.

We had Georgia's first appointment at the CFC this past Tuesday and we met with the surgeon, lactation consultant, social worker, and speech pathologist. We got a lot of new and helpful information and are so happy we've got a team of great people to help us get our little girl to where she needs to be.

We had issues feeding for awhile but seem to have found the trick. One of the stipulations of her being able to have surgery is appropriate weight gain and we were positive this past week she wasn't gaining at all. Her discharge weight from the hospital was 8lb 6oz (down 5oz), then at her weight check the following day she was 8lb 2oz. At her weight check yesterday, she was still 8lb 2oz and the pediatrician said most likely she had a loss but is gaining it back. I hope so!

She currently has no hearing either but we are optimistic it is due to fluid in her ears (very common for children with cleft palates) and it will be fixed with ear tubes. Hopefully her surgery for those will be soon- I hate that we can't soothe her.

Here are some pictures of my sweetie:

Ready to go see the doctor!

My baby boy, Chase, and his little sister <3

Daddy and Georgia the night she was born

Ready to go home!

Napping on Mommy

Mommy and Georgia

Sweet girl in her pretty dress

Prenatal Visit: 38 weeks!

No change since last week unfortunately. No dilation or effacement, cervix is still really high.
Baby's heart rate was good (150s), and I assume she's measuring on track. I forgot to ask the doctor, oops.
My blood pressure was good (102/70) and no protein in my urine.

I asked about a possible induction next week because of Joey's leave schedule. His leave is scheduled for 8/6-8/18, and the whole point of that leave is to HELP with the baby. At this rate, she's going to end up coming after his leave is over and I'm going to be stuck with 4 kids and no help at all.
The doctor basically said that
a) They don't schedule any elective inductions prior to 39 weeks, so at the very earliest we're looking at 8/6.
b) They won't induce if you're not dilated or effaced because it highly increases your risk of emergency c-section, infection, etc.

So basically she said if I go to my 39 week appointment on Tuesday and I am dilated to about 2-3cm and like 70% effaced, we can talk about scheduling an induction for later in the week. If I go in and there's still no progress I have no choice but to still wait it out.

She said hopefully I'll just go into labor on my own prior to Tuesday but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Prenatal Visit: 37 weeks!

37 week check up today... and it was a bust! I was so hoping to go in and have made some progress but no such luck this week.

I'm still not dilated or effaced; cervix is still high and posterior. On the plus side, the baby is still head down and the doctor can easily feel her head so at least I know she's ready to go in that aspect of things.

Her heart rate was great (140s), and this week she measured exactly 37 weeks despite being 2 weeks ahead last week. I was a little disappointed to hear that because I was really hoping for an extra ultrasound! Oh well, guess I have to wait until she shows up to see what her little face looks like!

My weight gain is still good but I gained a bit more this week (2 lbs!), doctor was okay with that though since I lost a few pounds a few weeks ago. Blood pressure was good- 118/76- which was a relief because on Monday evening I had an awful headache and blurred vision. I went to the drug store to check my blood pressure and it was 138/90- a really high number for someone like me who runs ~100/60 usually! I called the on call doctor and she assured me that while that number was higher than usual it was really borderline and had me take more Tylenol to see if it helped. I ended up falling asleep and when I woke up the headache was gone.

Group B Strep test was negative! (As was HIV test, but I knew that would be)

Next appointment on Tuesday- really hoping for progress next week now!

Prenatal Visit: 36 weeks!

36 weeks! I cannot believe it, only 4 more weeks until my due date!

Today's appointment went well! It was my first cervical exam (yuck)... had my Group B strep testing done too, so I will get results for it next week. Hopefully it's negative.

My weight is still really good, I've hardly gained anything (in addition to losing some here and there). Blood pressure was good (112/90), no protein in my urine.

Baby's heart rate was good- 140s. Fundal height is measuring 2 weeks ahead all of a sudden! My doctor said that if she's still measuring 2 weeks ahead next week we will do an ultrasound so they can get an estimate on her weight and go from there. I'm not sure what the options are if she's really that much larger though.

Internal exam went about as well as you could expect one to go. It was painful to say the least. Doctor could hardly even check because my cervix is so high up still. She thinks I'm not dilated though. Baby is head down (woohoo)!

Weekly visits from here on out! I'll update again next week!

Prenatal Visits: 32 & 34 weeks!

Sorry for lack of updates for these two appointments! Honestly they were both very uneventful- just your typical belly measurement, heart rate check, and ask questions kind of appointments.

Everything is going well still, although sleeping has become very uncomfortable!

Prenatal Visit: 30 weeks

30 week appointment today! I seriously cannot believe I'm 30 weeks along already!

Appointment went well! My blood pressure has been normal the whole pregnancy but it's been elevated for what's typical of me. I've been running about 120s/80 and today it was finally back to my normal! 106/60! So yay for good blood pressure (and of course for no protein in my urine!)

I lost another pound this week. Doctor doesn't seem to believe me that I'm not skipping meals, but I'm really not! I explained again that the baby is up so high that I can't eat a normal amount of food in one sitting anymore or I can't breathe. She told me she'd like me to start eating something small every hour to at least maintain my weight, I don't necessarily need to gain anything. I don't think that's going to work either but we'll see!

Baby's heart rate was good: 145ish. She's measuring a week ahead still. Doctor wasn't able to determine her position but she said she will probably be able to next visit.

Until next time!

My first trip to L&D!

I was hoping to go the whole pregnancy without having to go to L&D but no such luck!

I woke up yesterday (Sunday 5/26) morning at about 4am and tried to roll over in bed because my Braxton Hicks were really painful- the entire room started to spin and I passed out. I didn't know what to do, so I left a note for my sister and brother in law (we're staying with them until our new house is ready), saying that I had to go to the hospital and that Chase was still asleep. I (stupidly) drove myself to the hospital because I didn't want to wake anyone up and inconvenience them. I, of course, waited for the dizziness to pass before I drove!

Long story short: I am anemic and my potassium was way low. My contractions were picking up on the monitor but thankfully they weren't in a "labor pattern" according to the doctor. I had to drink 2 awful potassium supplements (never, ever do that if you can help it!) and then got hooked up to a potassium drip for 3 hours while it replenished mine.

Apparently that can make you pass out AND have contractions. Who knew!

Thankfully baby and I are both okay! :) Joey is still out of town so I had to relay this all to him via texting and the phone. Poor guy was worried sick.