Not all sunshine and roses

This face. Oh my GOSH this face.

She was exactly three weeks early, because I was lucky enough to get the first pregnancy that EVERYONE wants. (Heavy sarcasm intended.) 

When we found out that I was pregnant, we also found out that my body wasn't producing enough progesterone to support the baby. So onto daily supplements and biweekly blood tests it was! My body finally kicked in around the 20 week mark, just in time to find out that her placenta was covering the cervix. Also thankfully temporary, that went away around week 26. Then around 32 weeks, I was put on preeclampsia watch.


For those who don't know, preeclampsia is a condition in pregnancy that is often heralded by high levels of protein in the urine and high blood pressure. If left untreated, it can cause seizures, blood clots, unstable high blood pressure, and bad liver problems. It's dangerous for both the mother and the baby. The cure? Delivery.

I had suddenly swollen feet in September, a possible symptom of preeclampsia. For a while, everything seemed fine — that was my only symptom, so I would possibly be OK. But on Friday, October 16, I went in for my appointment to off-the-charts protein levels and high blood pressure. I was promptly ordered to the hospital so they could monitor my blood pressure. My doctor said they would probably send me home that night with orders to collect urine over 24 hours and then bring it back to check the protein levels. If they were above a certain level, I'd be leaving with a baby.

I got to the hospital around 11:30 AM that morning. They did some blood work to check on my liver, hooked me up to several monitors, and had me do another urine test. I was somewhat bored, since ALL I had with me was my purse and...that was it. I was supposed to go to work! Life was supposed to be normal!

The on-call doctor came in around 3:30 and said that they were diagnosing me with preeclampsia on the spot. The protein levels from my doctor's appointment and then the sample in the hospital were high enough that they didn't need to send me home with a bucket, and I needed to deliver as soon as possible. They were currently debating whether I would be allowed to go home overnight and come back in the morning to be induced, or if they were going to keep me and start inducing me right away. At 4, I was informed that I was staying and would be delivering by Monday.

Things moved really quickly after that. I was hooked up to an IV with magnesium sulfate to try to keep the preeclampsia from progressing before the baby was born. Shane went home to pack a bag for the hospital (we had three more weeks! It was going to happen that weekend!) and buy a car seat (see the three weeks early comment).

And...starting around midnight, I was inconsistently feeling contractions. I was also starting to get kind of loopy and feel remarkably crappy. This was entirely due to the magnesium sulfate, but my options were the magnesium sulfate...or...the magnesium sulfate. My water broke with a vengeance around 6 AM on Saturday the 17th, when I started feeling EVERY contraction (2-3 minutes apart). Things...get fuzzy after that. With feeling awful from the magnesium and different attempts at pain management, plus the fact that I didn't actually SLEEP all night with the contractions, I was sleeping between contractions and gradually moving up the "scale" of pain management options, from laughing gas to (finally) the epidural. That took us to around...4? I think? I was pretty out of it.

I only pushed for half an hour. I'm told that's remarkable for my first baby. I dunno, it felt like forever. Other things did happen before that, but it feels like I woke up at 4 and started pushing not long after. (Obviously that wasn't the case, since she was born at 8:08 PM.) After she was born, they had to manually remove a bunch of clots from my uterus. (According to Shane, some of the clots were larger than the placenta.) That process? SO much more painful than actually giving birth.

But then they brought Kathryn over to me, and all was right with the world as far as I was concerned. Sure, my blood pressure didn't stabilize until morning, and I was on the magnesium sulfate for 24 hours after she was born so I continued to feel like death warmed over, but she was here and healthy! Completely healthy, actually, and while she was down to 4 pounds 15 ounces when we left the hospital on Tuesday, she was back to her birth weight six days after we got home.

The whole situation barely had a nodding semblance with "ideal" (it gets the semblance because she remained healthy throughout the pregnancy, the problems were all on MY end), but this little girl?

Completely, totally worth every second.

~~~

All images taken by James Green Photography.

Introducing Kathryn Zelie!

Born October 17, 2015, at 8:08 PM. 5 pounds, 8 ounces, 19.5 inches. Isn't she adorable? Details to come later.

Update 3/11/16: she was not 15 ounces. This is what I get for posting while heavily drugged.

AMT: Ice cream and my question

Yes, I'm two days late, but we moved on Saturday and I'm currently recovering from mild fever-like symptoms that came after taking the gestational diabetes test. Plus the link-up is still active. So there.

1. What's your favorite grocery store splurge?

I'm going to go with fresh seafood. We normally buy the frozen cheap white fish fillets for use on our meatless Fridays, but once in a while my husband will surprise me and get fresh shrimp, or salmon, or lobster tails. (I refuse to actually kill something in my kitchen. Even something that is basically a giant bug.) 

For example: homemade restaurant-style shrimp scampi with penne and lobster tail. He made this as a surprise to celebrate the fact we've been married for six months. 

2. How's your penmanship?

...It could be worse? Actually it used to be a lot worse than it is. When I was 15 or so, my mom picked up a couple of calligraphy books from Hobby Lobby since they were on sale and I was supposed to be studying calligraphy in my upcoming school year. I immediately was hooked with the gorgeous lettering and fancy pens, so I talked her into getting me a fountain pen and I taught myself. I don't do it much anymore, but I still remember a couple of the styles and my handwriting has been better ever since.

3. Do you have a "Summer Bucket List?"

Not really. Maybe go swimming? And have a housewarming party (or several because family).

4. What's the best thing on the radio right now?

I don't listen to the radio. I'm not a fan of most pop music, so I don't pay attention to it. I like this song, though. It came out in March, but I don't really care.

So. Catchy. I love the fact it has Tom Hanks in the video. Although I'm not really fond of the fact that Justin Bieber is in the crowd scene at the end.

5. Ice cream or frozen yogurt?

I like both, but my absolute favorite is vanilla ice cream with fresh peaches and chocolate sauce. Mmmm.

6. Have you had that baby NOW?

I sincerely hope not, since I'm not due until early November. I have another ultrasound next week though, and the screening for gestational diabetes and anemia was this morning.

~~~

So, my question is just this: should I keep doing this? This is the last link-up for the summer over at Catholic All Year (you should go read the other posts btw), but I'm really enjoying the whole "ask random questions and get a bunch of people to answer them" thing. Should I keep answering random questions every week? I don't want to steal Kendra's link-up, but I don't want the fun to end! Also it helps me blog regularly when my life is mostly pregnancy and my dreams aren't weird enough to make good blog posts.

7QT - The "Moving Tomorrow" Edition

Yeah. Tomorrow.

~~~

So we were on vacation last week. Saturday-Tuesday we were in Illinois, visiting my family, and Wednesday-Sunday we...well, apartment-hunted, went to Maine for an afternoon, signed a lease, and created a baby registry. So totally relaxing, right?

Anyway, the "look at apartment, sign lease, move a week later" is why I haven't been posting. We've been packing madly and my lunch hours have been spent transferring silly, unnecessary services like electricity and Internet.

Since moving is pretty much the only thing I can think about right now, here are seven quick takes on what happens when you move seven days after signing a piece of paper saying you can have a place.

We totally look like this.

1. It's a good thing we have friends who are willing to help. 

Because otherwise this would literally be impossible. I think my doctor would freak out if I was moving couches and the bed and dressers and a kitchen hutch. 

2. This undertaking is not for the faint of heart. 

We did not decide that we were going to be moving tomorrow until...Monday or Tuesday. Of this week. This means that nothing was packed, etc. No boxes. NOTHING ready to go as of Monday. 

3. Comcast is terrible. 

Everyone knows this, but I just thought I would mention it. It took me 45 minutes to get them to disconnect at our current apartment, and find out that we can hook it up at the new place once we move in. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. It could have been ten. 

4. It's a good thing I work next to a warehouse.

About twenty feet away from my office is the shipping for the publishing house. I've been taking empty boxes all week, and yesterday was able to sweet-talk some of the sisters into bringing boxes straight to my office. 

5. Grocery stores are another great source for free moving boxes. 

I have never in my life paid for a box when I've moved. And I never intend to. Even if I don't live near the Daughters of St. Paul, grocery stores are always getting rid of boxes. Banana boxes are really great for extended storage. My parents always put the Christmas decorations in them. They're sized well for anything (except books) to have a decent amount, yet still be easy to lift. (Mostly.)

6. Not moving Labor Day weekend is great. 

Partially because we can get friends to help — last year when I moved that weekend, literally all of my friends were out of town and couldn't help. And it made it much easier to get a truck — last year when I attempted to reserve a truck online a MONTH before, all of the trucks were already taken. At every U-Haul nearby. 

Maybe we'll get one with a dinosaur.

7. My husband is wonderful. 

He's had to do 95% of the packing by himself. I can't lift anything much heavier than a stack of board games, but he's moved all of our books, boxed up most of the stuff, and continues to do so without complaining. Meanwhile, I go to work (teacher = off for the summer), come home, eat dinner, can help with about three things, and then have to go to bed so I can actually go to work the next day. 

~~~

If you want to see more quick takes, head over to This Ain't the Lyceum!

Getting lost when cows plan the roads

Time for Answer Me This!

1. At what temperature do you keep the thermostat set? Summer, winter, day, night? 

Um, we can't. Our heat is included in our rent, so we don't control the thermostat. We spent the winter wearing shorts and tshirts because it was so warm. And this is Massachusetts, we don't really need air conditioning. (I think we've had all of two days in the two YEARS I've lived here that air conditioning would have been necessary.)

2. What is your favorite frozen beverage? 

Mmmm. Strawberry or peach daquiris. (Yes they're froofy girly drinks, now shut up and hand me one.) Or a mudslide. (Lots of chocolate + rum (depends on the recipe, everything I've seen is rum) + whipped cream.) And my husband introduced me to lemon margaritas, which taste like lemonade with a kick, right before I got pregnant. So I won't actually drink any of this stuff. Kendra, I know that you will have some wine while pregnant, but call me super paranoid. I was classified as high-risk within three days of telling my doctor I was pregnant, so...super careful is how I take life. Unless they tell me to stay out of the lazy river, which is goofy.

3. Where do you keep your keys? 

In my purse. If they aren't there, then I can't find them ever. I seriously lost my keys and wallet in college several times because I didn't use a purse on campus or even the same bag every time I left my room. And I'm a scatterbrain, so things get lost super fast.

4. Have you ever really been lost? 

Do I really have to answer this? It's extremely embarrassing.

Fine. So I was in Milwaukee, WI with my dad. He was dropping me off at a college friend's in Chicago to carpool back to school after a meeting with a Catholic men's group. The meeting was several hours long in a church hall, so he gave me directions back to the main road. I intended to just drive ONLY ON THAT ROAD until I came across a McDonald's or Starbucks or somewhere with Internet to chill. So that went fine. Then I had to get back.

In Milwaukee, the streets look like this:

Of course I got lost. I literally drove around for almost an hour before I called my dad. (No smartphone or GPS.) They lived in Milwaukee for four years before I was born, so he should be able to get me back to the main road! I was right, but I have never been allowed to live down the fact that I called my father — who didn't know exactly where I was — to find out how to get back.

Then I moved to Boston as an adult, where the streets look like this:

Because 18th century cows totally knew the most about logical road placement.

That's my actual neighborhood, by the way. The grocery store was a quarter of a mile from my apartment, and somehow on my way home I ended up a mile and a half away from either place and no clue how I got there. I had to call a friend to figure out how to get home. I haven't lived that down yet either.

5. What is the last movie you saw in the theaters?

Inside Out. It was fine, but I was disappointed in the movie. The emotions were all very flat, Riley seemed to have no handle on rational thinking, and the funniest bit was the cat's emotions at the end. It just seemed to be a lackluster effort from Pixar, who seemed to coast on the way they created the inside of the mind instead of making an effort to flesh out characters.

You can find more over at Catholic All Year!