4 Weeks Old!

I can't believe how fast the weeks have flown by. Oliver is such a doll! He sleeps mostly unless he's nursing. He's SUCH a mama's boy too! Allan finds it funny when he's holding him and Oliver's crying.... the second he passes him off to me... Oliver becomes silent. It's great! The downside to that however.... is if he's lying in the swing or in the pack n' play and wants mommy....eventually he will cry hard enough to where he holds his breath and his face turns red until I pick him up.... at which time all is silent again. LOL You'd never think a little 4w old baby can have such a bad temper and be so spoiled huh???!! :-P On the up side, he's sleeping 4-5hr blocks at night! He did have a growth spurt last week that lasted 2 days..... that was hard nursing him every 2hrs around the clock, but alas we survived it!

He's still just under 8lbs. I'll update this post once I measure his length and head circumference.

Here are some pics taken by my friend Steve. Gosh he's so cute!!! (You can click to enlarge)

Oliver Scott Hampton is here!!!

Ok so I'm a little late posting this. :P I haven't had a whole lot of extra time to do this as of late....I wonder why. Here's my birth story. Enjoy!

Oliver Scott Hampton
Born: April 12, 2009 at 5:39pm
Stats: 7lbs 3oz 19" long, Apgar 8/9

The fun started Saturday morning April 11, 2009 at 7:11am when I got up to use the bathroom only to have a gush of amniotic fluid. I was exactly 35 weeks pregnant. I called my doula Oana and my dr. We packed up a bunch of stuff for myself, the kids and Allan, got in the car and arrived at the hospital around 11:30am. I hadn't been tested for group B strep yet, so I received antibiotics every 4hrs. The 2nd dose was administered too fast and my body did not handle it too well. I passed out and my blood pressure dropped. They stopped the flow and then slowed it down and all was well. That was very scary considering I've never passed out in my life.

I wasn't really having many contractions. They slowly started but weren't very consistent and didn't do much in the way of my cervix. We tried multiple things such as walking around, squatting on the ball, different positions to help bring the baby down and put pressure on the cervix. My doula was wonderful and helped me so much with pain management.





At 3am the next day Easter morning, I was checked.....only 1cm at 50% effaced and -2 station. We decided the best course of action would be to start pitocin since it was coming around to 24hrs that my water had broke. I started at 2mU/min and was upped 1mU/min every 15-20min until my contractions were 2-3min apart . After about 5-6hrs, I was checked again and didn't have a whole lot of progress.... 4cm at 75% effaced and -1 station. We got a little more aggressive with the pitocin and upped it 2mU/min every 15min.

It was about 3pm when I was checked again and there was a lot more progress to report! 7-8cm at 90% effaced and 0 station. So, we continued with the pitocin.

Somewhere around 4pm, I felt so completely exhausted and the contractions had been 2min apart at 50secs long and extremely intense...... I decided to get an epidural. I knew that once I got to the pushing stage, whenever that would be, I wouldn't have the energy to do it. So I decided resting before the pushing would be best.

I felt every contraction after that (which later helped tremendously with pushing), but the epidural definitely helped to take the edge off. An hour later, I was checked and was complete!! I found out quickly how difficult it can be to push with no feeling down below. I could still feel him descending though and that was amazing. It was so encouraging. The whole time I couldn't believe I'd even come to that point. I'm sure my adrenaline was racing giving me the energy I needed. After only 20 minutes of pushing, Oliver Scott Hampton was born on April 12, 2009 at 5:39pm via vaginal birth after 2 c-sections! He was an awesome 7lbs 3oz 19” long with an apgar score of 8/9. Shockingly for being born at 35 weeks, he was in perfect health with no problems! I had a 2nd degree tear on the inside of the labia (thankfully not on the perenium) and got stitches. Anastasia was there for the whole labor and delivery. She thought it was the coolest thing. I cried when she came over to me immediately after the birth and said "Mom, I'm so proud of you!". What a grown up thing to say!! She was just as exhausted as I was after all that!



The experience of it was surreal! I've had 2 prior c-sections so this was something I've never had before. It was miraculous in every sense of the word. My dr never gave up on me and for that I am eternally grateful. All other drs would have cut me open again. I think it's a shame that more drs aren't as confident in a woman's ability to birth as my dr is. Thank you Dr. Tate for the wonderful prenatal care and beautiful delivery. You are one of a kind and we love you and your staff dearly! :hearts Thank you also to Oana Hogrefe for being my doula! She helped so much to make my experience enjoyable.

33 Weeks & 8 Full Months!

Just about 4-5w left to go give or take! I cannot believe how fast everything has gone. I feel big as a house too! At my 32w appt, Oliver was vertex! He's been ever since. :) He dropped somewhere between 31w and 32w. It's become quite a challenge walking around. I'm officially in the "I'm so done with being pregnant!" stage. I am still only up 9lbs from pre-pregnancy weight and my BP is perfect. My next appointment is April 6th.

Don't forget to vote on the stats poll off to the right because I am closing it in just 2w. I can't wait to see who wins!

31 Weeks

So we have about 6-7w left give or take! (praying I make it to 38w) I'm starting to get anxious and a bit nervous. We're going to have a newborn around here! :-o Kinda crazy.

I'm not feeling too bad these days. My belly is beginning to feel a bit overstretched. I'm having the normal pelvic pressure, braxton hicks and sore hips. This is where being pregnant is fun! :-P Not too much longer! My next dr appointment is on Wednesday. I am curious to see what position Oliver is in. I am going to guess vertex posterior (head down, facing the front). I'll share the update when I do my 32w post. :-)

30 Weeks!!

I decided to skip posting about 29w since there wasn't a whole lot to post about. I did however have my 28w appointment at 28.5w. At the time, he was breech AGAIN! I think he flipped again sometime over the last 3-4 days. Let's hope he stays in the right position. I also had ketones, sugars and protein in my urine. I believe and so does the dr, that I was not getting enough water at all. Nothing else makes sense..... my glucose levels have been great and my b/p has been on the low end of normal. I have been drinking a ton since then, so we'll see how I do at my next appointment on the 18th. My b/p has been on the lower side (115/63 last I checked it) so there's no concern for pre-eclamsia. I am at 7-8lbs up from my pre-pg weight! Not bad huh?! Kind of hard to gain weight on this diet!

My belly seems to have grown it's own zip code. I love it though! I haven't come to the point where I'm tired of being preggo yet, though I know it's coming. I think I am sad that it's coming to an end and yet thrilled to finally meet Oliver. :-) We pretty much have everything ready except maybe a few items. It's exciting to see everything coming together.

28 Weeks & 7 Full Months!

30 weeks is right around the corner! I am now in my 8th month. The braxton hicks haven't been too bad over the last few days (or maybe I've learned to ignore them?). My next OB appointment is Wednesday! I am excited. I am probably one of those weird women that enjoy going to the drs (well at least this dr I do). I believe after this one I move to bi-weekly appointments until 36w. I will edit this post with an update on Wednesday. :-)

I had the photo shoot done yesterday at Piedmont Park. It was a beautiful day! I can't wait to see how the pics turned out. I will definitely post those when they come in.

Happy Valentine's Day! 27 Weeks & 3rd Trimester!!

WOW!! Time has DEFINITELY flown by! I have about 11-12 weeks to go give or take (if I make it to 38 weeks). I started getting Braxton Hicks contractions about 3-4 days ago, fun stuff! I had an OB appointment 24.5 weeks and all is well! Fundal height was exactly 24.5w, I only gained a few lbs and guess what..... HE'S FINALLY VERTEX (head down)!!! YAY! He's been breach this whole pregnancy and though I wasn't concerned, it was nice that he found his way to the right position. So, naturally I've been feeling most the kicking in my ribs. Hehe! He's such an active baby. I don't remember the other two kids as active as him. I will have my hands full! My next OB appointment is on the 25th (28.5w weeks) at which time my appointments will switch to every 2 weeks!!

I met with my doula on Tuesday evening. She's so sweet and I am so excited to be having her for the labor and delivery! I have to schedule my next appointment with her for early March to finalize all the details about my birth plan. She'll also get to meet Allan and the kids then too. :-)

I'm kinda of sad that I won't be having a baby shower, but I honestly need very little at this point, so a shower would be more of a baby celebration. I thought about having a Welcome Baby party after he was born. Who knows.

Next Saturday I am going to a photo shoot! I can't wait! I'll be sure to post pics of that when I get them.

24 Weeks & Pics from the cruise!

Ok I am a little late with this 24w update. :-P All is well! I had my dr appt today. Fundal height is exactly 24.5w, which I am, BP was 110/74, up 5lbs since my 20w appt (makes for 5lbs total from pre-pg weight) and Oliver is FINALLY head down (which I already knew a few days ago)!!! He's been breach my entire pg until just 3-4 days ago when I noticed most of the kicking was high instead the usual low and the shape of my belly changed. It wasn't sticking out as far. Glad he found his way!

On the 22nd to the 26th we were on the AOMIN cruise from Miami to Key West and Cozumel. We had a great time! Prior to the cruise we went to the conference/debate and that was very educational. Below are some pics. We are so grateful for the family and friends who watched the children while we were away! :-)

22 Weeks and 6th Months!!

6 months?! What?! My goodness does time fly! Only 5 more weeks until the 3rd trimester and approximately 16 weeks until labor day. I am really hoping to make it to 38 weeks so this may just be high hopes talking. :-P I have kept an eye on my weight and so far am only up 1lb since my 20w appointment. He said he wanted me to gain about 1lb a week so I am behind that goal. :-)

I am deal with a nasty headache today ever since last night. Gotta love pregnancy hormones! I've also been rather irritable. On another note, I am pretty much set for cloth diapers up until about 12-18mos! I can't wait to put him in them. Be ready for more frequent posting once he's here. :-)