42 weeks - Ariel's birth!

56 hours of labor, beginning 2am Sunday morning 23rd. Ariel Grace was born at 10:11am on Tuesday morning June 25th after pushing maybe 20-30 minutes. 7 lbs 10 oz, 21.5 inches long, perfectly round head, full head of dark brown hair, and cutest little face and long/lean body. Thanks to all of my support people - sisters, doula, friends, photographer and midwives, we made it through having a natural unmedicated water birth! The biggest thanks to God for supplying me with a great team, the strength I needed to get through the final hours, and the most beautiful baby girl a mom could dream of!

41 weeks and waiting...

Made it to 41 weeks... Ariel is so comfy she does not want to join the real world! Appt on Tue showed that she had 15.3 cm of amniotic fluid (still a good amount), she had many accelerations on the EFM strip for the nonstress test - she was wiggling around the whole time, and cervix was soft and 1 cm dilated, but not much effaced (not shortened much), and Ariel was still not engaged. During the ultrasound she was very cute and stuck out her tongue repeatedly and had her little fist with thumb pointed out at her mouth. Our plan was to wait for spontaneous labor since she was doing so well and was no indication for induction. Next appt was 3 days later (Fri) to repeat the same exams, except the AFI (amniotic fluid amount) since there was so much on Tue. Again the nonstress test went very well and I was 1 cm dilated, 60% effaced this time. The midwife verified somewhat vigorously that my cervix was 1 cm completely through and there would be potential for certain induction methods (stripping membranes, catheter balloon, artificial rupture of membranes...) if needed in the future. There was no reason to suggest induction yet, so next appt was scheduled for Mon (but hoping labor will come on the wknd!). After appt had some painful cramping and lower back pain for a couple hours that finally subsided. Besides losing bits of mucus plug throughout the past week or so and a few short episodes of cramping/back pain, softer stools, and tiredness, not much else new this past week. Stretch marks are painful at times... She is probably not a very large baby, by the time she is born probably 7lbs, maybe more if she takes a while longer... She is still quite active and Amanda has enjoyed feeling all of her crazy movements this past week.
Hopefully she will come soon! If my water breaks then everything should move quickly... but so far she is not engaged and there is too much water in the way for her head to get very low... so we will see how the weekend goes. Decide Monday whether or not we want to do induction or keep waiting. Tue will be 42 weeks, so will not be able to deliver at the birth center after Tue. We toured a couple hospitals just in case and they both seem like they will be sufficient alternatives if needed, and still may consider home birth but not as likely. Ariel Grace is taking after the women on my side... we tend to be late for everything.. ahh.

40 weeks! Due today :)

Due date today! About 160-161 pounds now... She's still growing despite lack of room! As you can probably see better in these pics, the stretch marks surround my belly button on the front face of my belly. Weird that she grew straight out and not much to the sides (where there is more room).
No definite labor signs yet... I may have passed a tiny amount of mucus plug on Sunday and have mild occasional period-like crampiness, some softer stools. So it seems like the the time is getting nearer, but still unsure if it will even be this week! Big sis is here to help me, yay! Me, big & lil sis & a sister from the church took a long walk yesterday and had a good time, but today I am very tired and sore! So will be trying to relax the next few days until Ariel comes. If she is not here by Thursday, we will have an appt with the Midwife and see if there are any cervical changes and make a plan for what we will do if it is likely she will not come until after 42 weeks. Our doula came over on Sunday and talked with Hieu and I about any concerns and checked the bags we have packed - everything is ready! ....Stay tuned for baby pics soon!

39 weeks!

Made it to 39 weeks praise the Lord! I should have my finals done by the 9th (Sunday) and then can finally relax and allow labor to begin lol. Ariel is being so patient, she's not much like her parents so far haha. Many more stretch marks although the pics don't do them justice. I am somewhere around 158-159 pounds, far surpassing my original goal of 153... But that's okay I will worry about getting back into shape in a couple months. My face seems to have some swelling in it when I wake up in the mornings lately, I will mention it to my midwife on Friday and try to reduce my sodium intake. My blood pressure has been normal/low the whole pregnancy so I don't think that is an issue.

Big sis will be here this weekend to stay for a few weeks-month to help with baby and household stuff and I'm also hoping my younger sis and brother will be able to help out a bit too. Hieu will come to help on his days off too. Hopefully I will not be too stressed/tired/overwhelmed with the new baby and my two online classes... thankfully they don't start until June 24th so I will likely have a small break to rest before baby and have a few days to adjust to new baby before classes start. My dad and Hieu's parents are excited to meet Ariel and will come visit soon after she is born. My dad will come on his days off and he is hoping for good timing of the birth so he can be here on the same day. My mom won't be able to make it to visit until end of July likely... but that may be nice to have a new person to help a bit after my older sister leaves.

Ariel still gets hiccups everyday and wiggles around after I eat and when I sit/lay down to rest. So far Ariel enjoys taking walks, food, singing, praying, and sleeping, can't wait to learn more about her as she develops more... We have been enjoying the warm (low 70s - feels extremely hot to me) weather this past week and have been taking small walks to the parks in our neighborhood.

I am thankful for all of the sisters here who have put up with me the past 9 months and have been great companions and very encouraging. It has been such a blessing to have the support of my family, friends, saints, and Hieu. God continues to supply my every need even when I make mistakes. He doesn't want me to change or try to be perfect, but love, enjoy, and pursue Him daily!

38 weeks!!

38 weeks - Ariel is preparing her descent! She is still pretty high in my pelvis according to the midwife (today), not engaged yet. My cervix is a little softer but no other changes yet - good news! I should be able to get through finals... We discussed postpartum care at midwife appt and will be doing newborn care tonight at childbirth class. I will need to rest mostly in bed the first week after she is born - needing others to take care of me ;) doing laundry/cooking/cleaning etc. First 3 weeks will be similar but adding small activity as able. 6 weeks is the postpartum period to heal, so may take that long to be able to care for myself completely and be routinely active. Baby blues in the first 3-6 wks is very common (80% of moms?). Postpartum mood disorders are fairly common (1/8 of moms will develop depression) and need to look out for them, especially day 3 when milk comes in & anytime in the next 6 months after delivery! Peak onset is 3 months for depression, anxiety, etc. The best thing to help/prevent is having a lot of emotional & practical support to care for self and baby from not only partner, but also friends & family.
Anyway... 157 pounds this week (yes basically reaching 30 lb gain now). Ariel continues to kick and move about at various times throughout the day. Uterus is measuring 38 cm - perfect. Her head is remaining down & she is basically facing the right way but rotates around still. New stretch marks on upper belly now, on both sides but right side is more prominent once again (she likes her back/butt on the right I think is why).
2 weeks left :)

37 weeks - full-term

37 weeks! Full-term period (37-42 wks) has begun and Ariel could be done baking any time... The bottom pic I added so you can see my stretch marks better... eek. I also noticed the dark line is appearing now above my belly button for the last week or so, although you can't tell from the pictures. Weekly midwife appointments are going well so far, my "iron" (hematocrit 32) and vitamin b12 were low last week, so I am trying extra hard now to take my iron/vit c supplements twice per day (it is hard because they upset my stomach and have to avoid dairy for a couple hours) and am now taking vitamin b12 1000mg/day that dissolve under the tongue and also eating beef for the next few weeks, hopefully they will get me to a normal level by the birth! It will be difficult for Ariel and I if we are both anemic after the delivery. Childbirth classes are going okay... I think they could be more informative and include more from the reading. It seems like too much of our time is spent chatting about useless stuff, or maybe it is just that a lot of the info is not new to me? Some of it is helpful though and I'm glad we are taking the class so we are on the same page with everything and making preparations. Every week I realize there are still little things I need to buy and hopefully I am ready now!
Very tired lately, likely from being anemic and 156.5 pounds... I get out of breath and dizzy very easy so have slowed down a lot in my activity level. Thankfully only a couple more weeks of school left plus one online test... my professors will let me turn in things late if needed. So nice to be in the nursing field!
Follow-up: Midwife appt today (Friday 25th) went well. Ariel is growing appropriately from what we can tell from the outside - 37cm to top of uterus is perfect for 37 weeks. Her heart sounds good. My cervix is softening but has not yet effaced (thinned out) noticeably and is still closed (not dilated). So hopefully she won't be here in the next week or two and just be on time!

36 weeks!

36 weeks! Midwife appt on Thursday, meeting the doula on Friday!
Notice the new stretch marks especially on bottom left.