One week overdue

Now I have gone one week past my due date. If I do not have this kid by tomorrow, I will go in on Wednesday morning (Dec 30) to be induced. I really do not want to be induced by drugs so I am hoping our child stops being stubborn and comes out on his own. The problem is the Tiller side of the family is known for being quite stubborn and I am afraid he is taking after me!

I cannot believe we are really about to have a child within a couple days at the most. We are totally ready though, I cannot wait to meet him. I had another ultrasound the other day to make sure he was still doing well and we were able to see his beautiful face pretty clear. It looked kind of scrunched though since his head has moved down into my pelvis. Also we found out that the estimated weight is 8lb 7oz!!! I really hope that is an over estimate because having an 8lb baby naturally is going to hurt. He seems to be doing great inside of me, good movements, heart rate normal, breathing normal, I guess that is why he doesn't want to come out.

Well my next post should be pictures of us and our new addition, stay tuned!

Less than 3 weeks left!

I can't believe the big day is almost here. I am officially full term now and this boy could come any day! Everyone has been saying oh this is so exciting, aren't you excited, and my answer has been a hesitant yes. I am really excited about having a child, but the process I am about to go through with no drugs has gotten me a little scared. I know many women before me have survived, lived to tell about it, and even had more than one child this way, so I should be okay. I just hope it goes smoothly.

Last Sunday while taking my blood pressure I started talking with my midwife about the delivery part and my blood pressure read high. She made me change the subject and redo the test and then it was fine.

I am definitely getting to that uncomfortable stage. I am waddling when walking and all that pressure from sitting to standing takes me a minute to get used to. Laying in bed is not easy and rolling over from one side to the other takes at least a minute or two and it is slightly painful. I am not sure if I am still sore from getting up and down off of a low beach chair or just all my muscles and ligaments are getting so relaxed that my lower abdomen and hips area just hurt when used.

I registered at the hospital the other day and paid almost all the cost up front for delivery. The package includes a day at the hospital, the basic drugs and vitamins they give, and delivery, which costs $1500EC (about $560US). As long as nothing goes wrong or they do not need to do anything else besides the basics, it is really cheap. But even if I have to have more things done it will still cost way under the amount it would at home.

Latest Ultrasound - definitely a BOY!

Craig and I went to get an ultrasound this past weekend at the hospital. Our doctor wanted to see if he had flipped from breech to head down. He is head down as of right now, hopefully he stays that way. We also know for sure now that he is in fact a boy since we saw his little testicles! I will now know not to believe the crazy wives tales on gender.

With the measurements of the head, abdomen, and femur, I was calculated a due date of December 18, which is not far off from the original December 21. Also he is an estimated weight of 5.7lbs right now. The doctor told me today that he thinks he will end up to be around 7 1/2 to 7 3/4lbs, which sounds like a good size to me. I definitely don't want him to get much bigger since I am doing this naturally!

We saw a really good picture of his face, with his little hands by his head. Craig thought it looked like he had chubby cheeks, but I was not able to tell.

I cannot believe I only have five more weeks to go! I am starting to get a lot more excited, but also very nervous for the labor part itself, I hope I make it! Craig thinks I am tough, but I am not so sure about that.

The baby movements are more rolling and just pushing out on my belly and less of hard kicks or punches. From the looks of the ultrasound he has some room in there, but it is getting to be tight quarters. One of my friends here mentioned that I went from being a little pregnant to looking really pregnant (thanks). I am going to have Craig take another picture today for all to see.

I am still not sleeping that well, rolling from one side to the next is getting tougher. I cannot sleep on my right side too long or my leg goes to sleep and my left side is not as comfortable. I cannot wait until I can sleep on my stomach again.

From here on out I am just meeting with my midwife and will only include the OB if problems arise.

Baby Shower

I had my first and only baby shower yesterday. Thanks to everyone who threw it for me, I had a great time. I got to be in an air conditioned apartment, which was awesome, surrounded by great friends and ate great food. We played games, which I did not win, and after one of the games I am really anxious for my next ultrasound for gender confirmation. One of the games was figuring out old wives tales on gender. According to most of them, I should be having a girl. Hopefully they are indeed incorrect, and I will find out for sure this coming Saturday when I go in for another ultrasound. I really hope the ultrasound at 20 weeks was in fact correct since I am really happy with the boy name we have picked and all the blue clothing that was given to us.

Since Craig and I have already purchased almost everything we needed for the baby's arrival, at the shower I received two of the most important baby items we did not have, diapers and baby wipes. This was a great gift, I do not think you can have too many of these items. I also received some cute books, small toys, some onesies, and a really really cute fireman themed outfit with bib. I almost cried when I saw this because it is just too precious and our little guy can take after his father. One more big item we got was a baby swing. This was really unexpected, I was going to buy the swing from my friend, but graciously she gave it to us for a present. I definitely need to go by the store and get some thank you notes!

I think I have begun to nest. Today I decided to wash everything in Dreft, started packing my bag for the hospital, and stowed all the diapers and wipes in their place. Now if only Craig would finish building the crib, we would be set.

Months without Drinking!

As many know, I like to drink beer. But since becoming pregnant I have had to refrain from drinking alcoholic beverages. I know some say that some alcohol is okay, but with all the things that can go wrong with a baby, I do not want to introduce anything that might affect the baby. I wouldn't say I was a big drinker, but every weekend at least I did partake in several alcoholic beverages. Giving that up has actually been easier than I thought. I think if I was at home in the land of plenty and the land of huge beer selections, I am sure I would be having a tougher time at this. But since here in Grenada there is only about 5 choices of beer, none of which compare to my favorite wheat beers, it hasn't been so bad not drinking.

Some days though I really could go for a frosty one, but I stick to my water instead (definitely doesn't have the same affect). Not drinking does have some good sides though. I haven't had any hangovers, my liver likes me a lot more, it is safer driving, and less money spent on beer. My husband does seem to be making up for my lack of drinking sometimes though! I have not asked him to stop drinking, he can have his fun, but I did tell him that once we get around my due date, he cannot drink or can only have 2 max since he will be the one driving to the hospital. I think that's pretty fair.

I can't imagine if you were actually allowed to drink while pregnant, how many more bathroom breaks you would need. I feel like I am going all the time right now, the baby seems to be pressing on my bladder, possibly even jumping up and down on it. And then to add the effect of alcohol, I don't think you would ever leave the bathroom!

I cannot believe I only have nine more weeks to go, nine more weeks of no drinking. I have made it this far, I am sure I can get past the home stretch.

What a Relief

I went to the private hospital on Saturday to undergo the three hour long glucose tolerance test. I had to fast for at least eight hours and then drink an entire glass of sugar water when I got there. This test requires more glucose than the screening, so instead of drinking 50 grams, I had 75 grams. The blood guy said they perform the test by drawing blood every half hour for 2 1/2 hours, meaning five sticks in my arms. I really only have one good vein that you can easily see, and you can only stick that so many times. So now I am still slightly bruised from all the blood draws.

I got my results right away but I was not sure what they meant. They seemed high to me and I was afraid I had developed gestational diabetes. But luckily, I took my results into the OB today and he said it was good news and my results were normal! So I guess I am just growing big in the belly area, but at least it is not because the baby is too big. I am still going to try to cut down on the sweets since they are not good for us anyway.

Baby Tidwell seems to be doing acrobats in my belly sometimes. Last night you could feel him move from one side to the other, Craig was able to feel him too. It is funny, some days he moves all day, and the next not so much. He must just wear himself out some days. Craig believes he is already acting a lot like him (I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing!)

I can't believe I only have 10 weeks to go, but it still feels so far away. I am actually really liking being pregnant and not sure if I want to give that up any time soon. I only wish there was an invention that would allow me to sleep on my stomach, I really hate sleeping on my side. It seems like almost every hour or two I have to flip sides because my arm has gone to sleep or my shoulder is aching.

Meeting with OB

I met with my OB today. I had to get directions from two different people to make sure I knew where his office was. There are no signs and the outside just looks like a large building or house. There was absolutely no one waiting to see him and I was able to walk right in for my appointment. Dr. Lendore, my OB, is a very nice person and really seems to know what he is talking about, so that is really reassuring. He was also the OB to one of my friends down here so I know what to expect. The dr. filled out a large fold out card with my information on it and details of today's visit. I now have to carry around this large fold out card with all my medical records from here attached to it to every dr. I see. I guess since I am seeing both him and a midwife I am in control of my records instead of being just at the dr.s office. But I do find it sort of strange.

I heard the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler, he said it sounded strong. He was kicking around while the dr. was feeling my stomach. He has changed positions since I was last seen, now he seems to be on my right side with arms and legs out to the left. When he measured my belly I am measuring larger than I should corresponding to how many weeks I am. I had a glucose screening test too early he said and I need to redo it to make sure I do not have gestational diabetes. My midwife had thought my level was fine, but I guess you cannot be too safe. So now I have to drink that sugar water again and wait an hour to see if my level is okay. If not then I must do the three hour test and possibly go on a diet, ugh! Hopefully it does not come to that. I am really hoping there is something in the genes because my mom said with my brother, her first child, she went through similar things that I am, showing late, and then one day, pop, a belly. I do not have any other signs of gestational diabetes, so I really hope I do not have it.

I am also going to get a test to check for antibodies in my blood. I am O negative and Craig is O positive so there is a chance the baby will be O positive as well. We won't know until he is born, but I guess they can screen before hand to see if there are antibodies present to see if I need the rhogam shot.

He decided my due date is December 21, so that is what I am now going with. So close to Christmas, sorry baby!

On a side note, my mother booked her ticket to come down here from January 1 to January 16! I am so glad she gets a little over 2 weeks to spend with us and the new addition (as long as he does not come too late).

Grenlec to the Rescue

Last night around midnight we had a lightening strike pretty close to our house. The power was knocked out only in our little neighborhood because we could see lights on in houses just up the hill. Having no power while you are trying to sleep really sucks. We no longer had fans to cool us off and to keep off the pesky mosquitoes. I sprayed myself heavily with bug spray, which really didn't help, and found something to fan myself with because I was starting to sweat. Of course we didn't have a breeze either, I was miserable. After about 30 minutes with no power, we actually saw a Grenlec truck come check the lines by our house. This was pretty amazing to us to actually see the electric company work so fast. They ended up fixing it pretty fast, probably an hour or so without electricity. I am really glad they got the power on fairly quick, especially since it was the middle of the night and on a weekend.

While we were waiting for the power to come back on and I couldn't go back to sleep I tried to play my PSP, but the mosquitoes were attracted to the light and would not leave me alone. I really hate when they buzz by your ear. Craig also stayed up a little to play his handheld game, but was actually able to go to sleep in the hotness. At one point I decided to lay on the tile floor to get cool. It actually helped and now I know why dogs love it so much. It was pretty uncomfortable, but at least I was cooling off.

I wonder if my little guy ever gets hot inside of me when I am burning up, or his he just so happy in all that fluid and could care less that he is making me uncomfortably warm. I hope he takes after his father and can take the heat pretty well. I have been told I radiate a lot of heat, especially at night while laying in bed. I am like an oven. Why am I living on a tropical island again? I cannot wait until it starts cooling off again!

Meeting the Midwife

I met with my midwife yesterday at the hospital. She is a very nice, very talkative, British lady. One of my friends here also used her, so at least I know someone with some experience. She measured my belly and I measured at 26, and I am 25 weeks this week so it is pretty close. I heard his heartbeat on the doppler and everything sounded great. She was also just able to feel around my belly and tell me which way he was laying. Right now his head is down in the lower left area, butt up, and then limbs across to my right side, which is where I am feeling most of the kicks. Last night he was kicking pretty good and Craig finally got to see it on the outside, it was awesome.

She examined me in the delivery room which is actually a lot nicer than I expected, but of course probably doesn't look as good as the ones at home. I am meeting with an OB here in a few weeks since he is the one that backs up the midwife in case of any complications. So I will have both a midwife and OB for delivery which makes me feel pretty good about having the baby in a foreign country. The good thing about the private hospital is that it isn't really crowded. Almost everyone here gives birth at the public hospital and sometimes they do not even have enough beds for every lady. Some friends told me of a story that a lady they knew gave birth at the public hospital in the hallway while sitting in a chair, and she had no problem with it! Luckily, at the private hospital, they do have beds.

While I was at my appointment I also got the glucose screening test. I had to drink a whole glass of sugar water, really sweet, and not that great, but I found out I am in the clear, no gestational diabetes. So that is great news.

Everything is going pretty good. The only thing about being pregnant right now that is bothering me is I am always really hot. Shavon, my midwife, who has been here a long time said she thinks this is the hottest August she can remember. I know it is not near as hot here as it is in Texas, but we do not have a/c at the house and a ceiling fan and stand up fan can only do so much to cool you off. I am ready for it to start getting cooler again here. Once hurricane season is done it should be nice. When there are storms out in the Atlantic, the storms take all of our wind and it is just dead calm and hot.

I love FREE stuff!

Almost all of our baby supplies have been handed down to me by other mothers on the island, meaning I have barely paid for anything baby related! How great it is to have such wonderful friends around with so many babies. I just hope the ultrasound was correct in that it really is a boy, since we do have a lot more things that are blue than pink. We have several play stations, 2 bath tubs, a pack 'n play, car seat, and stroller already waiting for his arrival. I also think our little guy will be set on clothing for the first 6 months of his life as long as he isn't too big of a chunker.

Our crib will be basically free as well. Craig and our friend CJ broke down a fence in a neighbors yard to reuse the wood. Craig has cut all of it up and now he just needs to assemble it. Craig has been really busy working on other projects as well as fixing one of our cars and has had no time to work on the crib. But he really needs to start soon or he is going to run out of time!

I cannot give a review on this product since I just bought it today, but it seems like a great idea and invention. I saw this pack 'n play slipcover called CoverPlay last night on the tv show 'Shark Tank' and decided to buy one. It is just a machine washable cover that goes over a play yard, making spills and any disasters easy to clean. I can't wait to use it and try it out, seems like such a great idea.

On a side note, the baby has been moving around a lot, some days more than others. Now I am able to see it on the outside. It is so weird like an alien is just swimming around in there hitting the sides trying to escape. It is fun to watch though, but it takes a lot of patience. I always call Craig when it is happening and when he starts to watch nothing happens. Hopefully soon he will be able to see what I have seen.

Dental problems

I have noticed a little bit of blood occasionally after brushing, but as I have read that is a common thing during pregnancy due to hormones. Last week I had a really sensitive spot while brushing so I decided to make a dentist appointment. The dentist I went to was great and I am really glad I was referred to her through the first dentist I saw while here since that one was booked until September. So today I found out I really need to be diligent about flossing (which I hate doing). So I had a teeth cleaning today which kind of hurt. The dentist said my gums are swollen and tender especially when she was digging around with that curved pick utensil. I had to stop her a couple times because it was painful. At first, the dentist was doing both the suctioning of saliva and water, but once the tech took over I kept feeling like I was going to drown! She did not suction as good as the dentist.

I also got a lesson on flossing correctly, which I knew how to do, but never do. And I bought this little brush called the interdental brush. It basically looks like a pipe cleaner that you use between teeth with spaces. My front teeth have developed gaps near the gums from both recession of the gums and when I had braces I do not think I brushed around them properly. So now I need to work into my night routine brushing softer, flossing, and using the interdental brush. Hopefully I can keep this extra plaque under control.

I had to make another appointment for Friday to have a cavity filled. I have sealant on most of my molars, but my bottom right ones need replacing. She said she was going to try to fill the cavity without using any anesthetic since I am pregnant. She said there are no known adverse effects to using the anesthetic while pregnant, but if we didn't have to use it then that would be better. I really hope it doesn't hurt. Right now the open cavity is not bothering me so it should not be sensitive while filling it.

On a totally different subject, Craig was able to feel our baby kick. Even though it was dark in the room, I could totally see his face light up and he was really excited.

Food cravings/aversions

I really haven't had any extreme cravings which is nice since I probably wouldn't be able to find what I was craving here anyways. But I have been drinking a lot of milk lately, which should make my grandmother proud. I have probably been more picky of what I don't want to eat than what I crave. Craig had a hard time with me the other night for dinner because nothing he thought of making sounded good to me so I ended up making Velveeta shells and cheese and he ate something else. A lot of the time I do not feel like cooking, but then I do not want what Craig is going to make either. I just need to start cooking for myself and stop frustrating my very loving and understanding husband (at least I hope he is very understanding!).

The one thing I cannot eat right now is chicken. That is a tough food to give up in Grenada because that is one of the staple meats around here. I just can't bring myself to eating it, it really grosses me out right now. The problem is I am finding that there is only so much you can do with ground beef. If anyone has some great and easy recipes, please feel free to share them with me. I have never been much of a cook, I only like the eating part, so the easier the dish the better.

I hope my picky eating does not get any worse as I get farther into my pregnancy because I think I will run out of food to eat.

My First Blog Ever!

Ok, so this is my first attempt of putting my thoughts into this blog. I am not sure how well I am going to do at this so bare with me. I am hoping this will be a great way to let everyone know what is going on with us instead of trying to keep up with phone calls and emails.

I have a due date range. The first doctor I saw calculated 40 weeks to be December 22. Babycenter.com and I calculated it as December 20. The ultrasound lady first calculated 40 weeks at December 27. And finally, my last ultrasound measurements put the due date at December 29. I really have no idea when this baby is coming so we are just saying at the end of the year. So I am either in week 21 or 22 depending on which due date you look at. I have been feeling him move around for at least a week or so. It may have been longer, but since this is my first time I wasn't really sure if what I was feeling was him moving. Two nights ago I felt a kick on the outside of my stomach, right at my bellybutton. Craig tried to feel it, but of course the baby did not perform for him. Craig said I was making it up.

I am definitely showing now and am starting to actually feel pregnant. I love it when I feel pressure on my bladder like I really have to use the restroom, attempt to use the restroom, and barely anything comes out! I am sure this will get a lot worse once I get even bigger. I will start having Craig take pictures of my growing belly, so those are soon to follow.

I have had a conversation with another friend that has a child, and let me know if you are a mother too and this question bothered you. Everyone keeps asking, "How are you feeling?" I am getting tired of the question because I always answer "fine" instead of going into detail of how it really is. So it is an annoying question because you can't go into the details everytime someone asks you. I know my friends are being thoughtful, but I wish it would be put to rest. What I really want to say is that I am constipated (hard to believe after eating Grenadian food), my back hurts, I am really really really really HOT, I cannot sleep in a comfortable position and toss and turn at night, and I am starting to get heartburn.

I am really liking the maternity clothes though, they are quite comfortable (thanks Colleen). I am also really glad I bought the BellaBand. It is a tube top looking thing that you wear over your pre-pregnancy pants. So I can still wear all my other bottoms without buttoning them or zipping them up and the bella band keeps my pants up and on.

Since we are pretty confident in the ultrasound lady's assessment that it is indeed a boy we have already picked out a name. BUT, we are not divulging this information until the day he arrives! Sorry everyone, we think its a great name, but as most parents probably know, everyone has an opinion on the name so we thought we would follow in my brother and sister-in-laws example of not telling!

Well, I think I have rambled on enough for my first time. It seems to be a lot easier than I expected.