Thursday, February 5, 2015

First week with Ruby

Hey All,

So far so good in the Harvey household. So, today Ruby is one week old. It has in one way gone so fast and in another way seemed like the longest week of my life. Nobody tells you about the stressful parts of being a first time mom. When we first came home from the hospital all of our families were here. Ruby got quite the homecoming. :) The hospital gave us a chart to document how many times Ruby has pooped and peed. Well, Ben and I noticed that after about 24 hours of being home, Ruby wasn't doing either. We called the hospital and told me to pump and feed ER what I pump an see if she pees or poops. It was very stressful. Well, it worked and she had a wet diaper followed by a dirty diaper. Ben and I both laughed and said we have never been so excited to see a dirty diaper. I have a feeling my milk just hadn't come yet. Boy has it now though. I feel like is all this girl does is eat. I might as well walk around without a shirt. Haha. Not joking. Since that scary moment, things have gone really well. I say that it is stressful because all of a sudden you are given this miracle and it is your job to keep her alive. You question everything your doing along with every little thing she is doing. For example, she jolted as if she was startled and I questione if that was normal. Little things like that.

However, here comes the amazing part. I'm so obsessed with this little girl. I look at her in awe and just stare all day long. Now I'm not really an emotional person. I would say I'm sensitive, but not overly emotional. This girl combined with crazy hormones have made me one big sap. I seriously will look at her and just get tears in my eyes. I will be looking at her and praying for her and just start crying because im so amazed by Gods creation. I'm tearing up as I write this and hold her in my arms. Then there is Ben. He has been SO amazing. I didn't think I could love him more, but throw a kid into the equation and you can. Watching him hold her or hearing him gently ask me if he can hold her for a bit. Haha I think I am a baby hog. This little girl has changed him as well. We are forever changed.

Since I have to write these posts from my phone I haven't figured out how to upload pictures. If you are my facebook friend there has been no shortage there. Oh yeah, we had a home health nurse come check up on Ruby on Monday and she said that Ruby looked great and had even gained 4 oz. already! We have her one week wellness visit tomorrow and I'm excited to see how she is doing.

Please continue to pray for our new family. Pray for rest and that we wouldn't be so anxious with little things and just enjoy her.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Ruby Ann Harvey

But you spell your name with an e. Ha ha. The name Ann comes from my mom and grandmas middle names being Ann without and e. I know, kind of confusing. Anyways, as you all know, Ruby made her grand entrance on Thursday, January 29, 2015. I thought I would share her birth story with you.

Starting on Monday after my doctors appointment...yeah the one where I found out zero progress had been made since the week before. Anyway, I got home and started to feel a little crampy, but didn't look into it too far. That evening when Ben got home I started to have some very mild contractions. I didn't realize it at the time. Ben kept asking if that's what they were and I just laughed saying your guess is as good as mine. We went to bed that night and I would wake up about every hour with a contraction. Again, I still didn't quite know that they were contractions. The same thing happened on Tuesday, but they were very spread out. Same thing on Tuesday night, but with a little more intensity and a little closer together. Wednesday morning they were more sporadic, so I told Ben to go ahead and head to school. He got home and the contractions started to pick up again starting in my lower back and moving to the front they were getting a lot more intense to the point where I couldn't talk through them and I had to use some breathing techniques. The night went on and they were about 6-8 minutes apart so Ben called the hospital and they told us to wait until either my water broke or they were 3-5 minutes apart. Ohhhh they were painful. At about 4:00 we took off because they were coming every 3-5 minutes. We didn't head straight to the hospital though, we went to Ben's school because he had to get sub plans and materials set out. He is lucky I too am a teacher and understand that you can't just say I won't be there. So, Ben went in and I stayed in the car and dealt with the contractions. Finally, we get to the hospital and first got checked out by a nurse named Monica. She was great! I was skeptical thinkin maybe they would send us home or my cervix would still be closed. Well, I was wrong bi was dilated to a 4. We got checked in to our labor room and got introduced to our new labor nurse, Ashley. She was awesome! They hooked me up to some fluids and  the fetal heart rate maching along with a machine that said when I was having a contraction, which was pretty much constant. I could no longer talk, just breathe in and out. They checked my cervix again and I wS at a 7. Yahoo! I asked fo an epidural. I know there are many anti epidural people out there, but can I just say that it was a God send for me and in the end, still got Ruby. Well, as soon as I got the epidural I had instant relief. I just giggled because I couldn't believe it. My doctor was in a different town but would be at the hospital by 11:30. By about 11:00 I was at 10 cm. and we basically just waited around for my doctor to get there. She got there and I started pushing. The nurse would tell me when I was having a contraction and then I would push. We did this for about an hour before Ruby came. It was kind of awkward in between contractions. We would all just kind of wait. So, what does Anne do? Breaks into song of course. Yep, I started singing Push it.  Push it real good. Then, the labor nurse Ashley starts singing oh baby baby ba baby baby. It was hilarious and fun. At 12:44 Ruby came into the world. It was the most amazing feeling when she came and they sat her on my tummy. I heard her cry and Ben and I also were in tears. Ben then cut the cord. I will spare some of the other details from delivery for your own good. :) I will share more about life with Ruby in the next post.

Thank you soooo much for praying for Ben and I. It was such an amazing day and I wouldn't change a thing about it. 2 days of home labor and 8ish hrs in hospital to get out perfect daughter, Ruby.

Monday, January 26, 2015

February Baby?

Hey Everyone,

Well, I just got back from my 40 week appointment. 40 weeks people. That is a long time to be pregnant. Well, not long enough according to Ms. Ruby. Turns out she is not ready yet as I'm still only a fingertip dilated and my cervix is still high and not softened. I just had to kind of laugh as I was lying there. I will say that I often read these pregnancy blogs and pregnancy message boards of other people who are due around the same time as me. They keep talking about how miserable they feel physically. I'm incredibly blessed in the way I feel. Besides wanting to meet my dear daughter so badly, I feel great.

What happens next? Well, I will have another appointment a week from today and if she hasn't decided to come on her own I will go in on Tuesday evening to start the induction process. On Tuesday night they will insert something near my cervix to try and soften it. Then the next day they will start me on Pitocin. Hopefully none of that has to happen and she comes on her own. Ben and I are just so excited to meet her! I think Moose is ready too. He follows me around everywhere and will often just stare at my stomach. As for me, I'm going to head over to Pinterest to find a DIY project to keep myself busy. :)

Please pray for Ben and I this week that we would just be patient and truly cherish our time together before Ruby comes. We hear that life isn't quite the same after kids. ;)

Friday, January 23, 2015

The end of pregnancy.

Last night as I was trying to settle my brain after watching Parenthood, I started thinking of some funny ways that have told me that the end of pregnancy has GOT to be near. I will list 10 for you.

1. When you drop something, you spend more time thinking about how important it is for you to pick it up or if it is better to just stay in the comfortable upright position.

2. When family members call you, you answer making fake labor sounds and then start laughing and say, "not yet."

3. You wake up to go to the bathroom 4+ times a night.

4. When getting out of bed, you have a system. Mine includes swinging my legs over first and propping myself up. I'm thankful our bathroom is two steps away.

5. When getting up at night you wonder if when you stand up your water is going to break.

6. When walking in the grocery store, perfect strangers look down at your stomach then your face. Come on people, I'm not in college, my eyes are up here. ;)

7. You sit on the couch with your husband with your shirt up watching your belly move like a belly dancer.

8. When going somewhere, you always think about what if I go into labor. Will we be close enough to the hospital? Will there need to be a clean up on aisle 5?

9. Your house is cleaner than it has ever been.

10. People tell you when their sisters husbands mothers grandparents birthday is, so that would be a great day to have the baby.

Monday, January 19, 2015

39 Weeks Y'all

Hey Everyone,

One week has passed since my last appointment and since my last doctors appointment. Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. I was a little bummed after my last appointment, I'm not going to lie. Even though I was bummed out, I was overjoyed feeling Ruby move around inside knowing that she was healthy. I continued to teach throughout the week. I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but I have had my long term sub in my room for the last couple of weeks shadowing me and just getting to know the kids better. As you may or may not know, I have a very unique class that requires a lot of attention and energy. Without going too far in detail, I have a few kiddos who struggle with change. They get bent out of shape if I change our schedule throughout the day, so I have known with a nervous knot in my stomach that changing their teacher in the middle of the year is going to be extremely difficult for them. With that said, I decided with the support of my Principal that last Friday would be my last day with the kids. This way I was able to really prepare them and let them know the exact date I wouldn't be their teacher. Am I still super nervous? Absolutely! If the dynamic of my class would have been different, I would have taught up to the moment of me being in labor. Anyway, with all of that, Friday was my last day teaching. It was a bitter sweet kind of day.

Onto my 39 week appointment. My nurse came to get me in the lobby with this sympathetic look like, I'm sorry your still pregnant. I just smile and say Yep, still pregnant and huge. We go through the familiar motions of weight check, blood pressure, pulse, and temp. We joke around a little bit, she leaves and a little while later my doctor comes in. She smiles and says, "still pregnant. "  She measured me and said the baby is still measuring right on track. Check the heartbeat and that is strong. Then comes my favorite part....checking my cervix. Please note the sarcastic tone in my voice. As I lay there uncomfortably waiting for my doc to say if I have dilated anymore her answer today was, Yep there is your cervix and still only 1 cm. AKA no progression since last week. Wah Wah. I prayed before going in that I would be grateful for whatever she told me. I have to say, I am grateful. I'm thankful for a strong and healthy hear beat. I'm thankful for a baby that will be strong enough to survive when she is born. I'm thankful for a knowledgeable doctor who I respect. I'm thankful to know that Gods timing is always best. The Doctor did tell me that things can change over night and I could go into labor at any time. So, Ben and I will continue to wait with excitement!

I will say, it has been SO fun talking to other mommas and hearing their birth stories. Or even hearing place bets on when they think I will have her. Lauren, I'm still not too happy with you for thinking I will go over, but that's ok. I love you anyway! We had the day off today for MLK day and tomorrow we have a Professional Development day and then starting on Wednesday I will be done working and my new job title will be "Mom in Waiting!"

Side note: Ben and I's 10 year old computer died over the weekend. I think we will be getting a new laptop eventually, but for now I will be blogging from my phone. Sorry! Thanks for reading anyway. I will write again next week unless sweet Ruby decides to grace us with her presence before that. Let's all hope and pray for the latter shall we? ;)

Monday, January 12, 2015

38 Weeks and....NOTHING

Just got back from my 38 week appointment. Despite what I feel like has happened over the last week, nothing has changed. Still 1 cm. dilated. I know Ruby is trying to be all healthy in the new year and all, but doesn't she know that her mommy and daddy are excited to meet her?

On Friday when I was leaving school I gave all of my co-workers hugs and said I was planning on having a baby over the weekend. I did this pretty sarcastically, but truly hoped that maybe, just maybe Ruby would decide to come a little bit early. I was starting to feel a little more uncomfortable last week where walking was becoming much more of a waddle because of the pressure. I was waking up more frequently in the night and every time I would roll over, my hips would crack and often cause some pain. Oh, and the kankles. I've had kankles for the last 4 days and I'm not going to lie, it is kind of freaky. I push down on my ankle/foot area and it just kinda stays. I asked my doctor about it today and she assured me that it is unfortunately quite normal, especially towards the end of pregnancy.

 I know that there are women who are unable to have their own babies and it breaks my heart and I pray for those women daily. I don't ever want to be a woman who complains about pregnancy. I know that there are so many who would do anything to have these "uncomfortable symptoms." Please know that is not lost on me. God has a plan for each person and though we may not understand it at the time, we need to trust and know that he is GOOD in all things.

Also, on Saturday night Ben and I were walking around Menards, because what better things could we be doing? I had some pretty consistent Braxton Hicks contractions. They were so consistent that they made me stop in my tracks and they made me wonder if they were going to turn into the real thing. Well, it only lasted for about 10 minutes and there was no pain. The one thing I'm learning is that pregnancy is so different for everyone. I read on "pregnancy message boards" and talk to co-workers all the time about what their pregnancies were like. So, I will take each new/old pregnancy symptom as they come and count them as a blessing. So, with that said...I have another appointment a week from today and will hope for some more progress. Here is a picture that I took today at 38 weeks. Hopefully there won't be a 39 week picture and instead a picture of Ruby Ann Harvey! Please pray for Ben and I that God will continue to prepare us for parenthood. That we would be parents were our primary focus would always be God. Also pray for me that I would remain patient and know that God's timing is always best. That I would finish my time with my students well and that I would not "check out" with them.Thank you thank you thank you!

Monday, January 5, 2015

37 Weeks

Well, technically tomorrow I will be 37 weeks, but today I had my 37 week appointment. Today was also the first day of being back at school. I had some students who were surprised to see me, they thought I for sure was having my baby over Christmas. Some of my students said I could be like Santa. I felt pretty good going into today, although my 5:00 alarm turned into a 6:00 alarm. I will have you know that I usually leave for work by 6:30. The great thing about growing my hair out is that I can simply throw it up and put on some nice clothes and call it a day. Anyway, my day went pretty well. It was good to see my kiddos smiling faces and they were pretty well behaved after being out of their routine for a week and a half.

Ben and I spent yesterday getting some things done in our nursery. It is still not 100% complete, but Ruby will have everything that she absolutely needs when she is born. That reminds me, my mom is going to be making some curtains for our window, which you will see in the picture. Ruby's crib is the crib that Ben and his brothers all used growing up and some of our nieces and nephews have used as well.

Let's get to today's appointment shall we? Well, my appointment was scheduled for 4:00. I teach about 20 minutes from the hospital I will be delivering at. I got my kiddos on the bus at 3:30 and headed out to start my car, so I could zoom to my appointment. Ben had bought me seat warmer pad thing for my car where you just plug it in and turn it on and it heats up. Well, I can tell you that if you forget to unplug it and turn it off even, it will kill your car battery. UGH! I went to start my car and it would not turn over. I knew immediately what I had done. #pregnancybrain. I called Ben in a panic. I really wanted to go to the Doctor today just to see if I have progressed and see how Ruby was doing. I think he picked up on my disappointment and told me he would be on his way to jump start my car. What a man! He was there in 20 minutes. While he was on the way I was able to re-schedule my appointment for 5:00. Praise God things were going to be ok and we would be able to check in on Ruby. I really enjoy not only my doc, but the nurse as well. Well, the Doctor checked me and I'm a finger tip dilated, which is progress from last week. She says that right now Ruby has a bony butt. Sometimes she can't tell if it is her butt up towards my chest or the head, but then when she checks my cervix she is certain that the head is down. I just go along and say, "ok, whatever you say doc." Ruby has a healthy heartbeat and is measuring right on track. So, there you have it. It was kind of un-eventful, but I look forward to giving another update in a week. If Ruby was born tomorrow she would be considered full term. Now, I want her to be as healthy as she possibly could be, but I would definitely be ok if she came earlier than 40 weeks.

Here are some pics of the nursery so far. Thanks for following! Please be praying that Ruby would come on God's timing. Pray that God would continue to prepare Ben and I to be parents. God is so good and we know that Ben and I wouldn't be where we are today without His master plan.