Monday, March 5, 2007
Sunday, March 4, 2007
my SEMI-NEW body
A true lullaby
I am so excited to inform you that for the first time ever, I sang to my daughter and she fell asleep. I am happy about this because as a parent you always want to sing your child to sleep atleast once. And I got to finally go through that, Isabel is now 5 1/2 months old so I'm glad it happened while she was still young.
Thank you for reading my blog daily.
Thank you for reading my blog daily.
My Blimp and being a CHEAPO!
I love my daughter, I love her more than the air I breathe. I have even held my breath at times when I wanted her to breathe my precious air. I would die for her IN A HEARTS BEAT! But shes a CHUNK-A-MUNK!
At her four month doctors appointment she weighed in at 17lbs 5.6oz and was 25'' tall. She is thriving like you wouldn't believe but shes a beautiful bundle of love.
Because I am not working at the moment I am considered Low-Income. I love being called low-income when we really arent because Then what Joe and I pay to the government, we get back and something then some. I am on a government funded program for Women and Infants called WIC. Its amazing, before being on it I would have to pay for ALL of Isabels formula, about 10cans or a little less at about $20 a can!! Now we get WIC and they give us 9 cans a month! Thats almost $200 a month I am saving just on formula ALONE. I also get cereal, cheese, about 6 gallons of milk a month, eggs, juices, baby cereals. Literally I would say I save around $ 350 a month!! I just applied for financial aid for college so that should be around $2,000 or so a semester which I DONT have to pay back and because MY dad is a disabled military veteran I will be getting anywheres from $429-800 a month check from the government for 45months! this pays for all my schooling. I am looking at making about $1200 a month just by being low income and being a student plus the $2000 or so I will get from financial aid every 3-4months!
YAY!
At her four month doctors appointment she weighed in at 17lbs 5.6oz and was 25'' tall. She is thriving like you wouldn't believe but shes a beautiful bundle of love.
Because I am not working at the moment I am considered Low-Income. I love being called low-income when we really arent because Then what Joe and I pay to the government, we get back and something then some. I am on a government funded program for Women and Infants called WIC. Its amazing, before being on it I would have to pay for ALL of Isabels formula, about 10cans or a little less at about $20 a can!! Now we get WIC and they give us 9 cans a month! Thats almost $200 a month I am saving just on formula ALONE. I also get cereal, cheese, about 6 gallons of milk a month, eggs, juices, baby cereals. Literally I would say I save around $ 350 a month!! I just applied for financial aid for college so that should be around $2,000 or so a semester which I DONT have to pay back and because MY dad is a disabled military veteran I will be getting anywheres from $429-800 a month check from the government for 45months! this pays for all my schooling. I am looking at making about $1200 a month just by being low income and being a student plus the $2000 or so I will get from financial aid every 3-4months!
YAY!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
What do Cheerios and Hospitals have in common??
It was the morning of September 25th, 2006. I had woken up around 5:30am to find I had the urge to go to the bathroom. As soon as I get done using the bathroom I have what I feel are small hunger pains, so...I go into the kitchen and grab myself a bowl of cheerios. While eating the cheerios I start to notice that my pains are not leaving me. I become a little 'under the weather', I feel heated, a little dizzy, and crampy. I figure if I take a shower then it will all go away...maybe it was just my crazy night of sleep. You know exactly what I mean by that if you have been pregnant before. Yup, I DIDN'T sleep! stomach was so big I had no choice but to sleep on my side and when I did it felt as though the baby slide to my side so all the weight shifted to one side of my body.
Anyways, As I am starting to shave my legs I get 'crampy'. Now keep in mind I am a first time mom so I had no idea what I was feeling at the moment. As I continue to shave I start to realize that my 'cramps' are actually begining to HURT! OUCH! But being me, If I was in labor I sure as hell didn't want to go to the hospital to have a baby with one leg shaved and the other not. Especially since I was pregnant which means it had been about 2-3weeks since my hairy legs were last shaven, ICK! Its not that I didnt want to shave, I just couldn't see my legs or even bend over to touch them. Somehow I found a way though.
The 'cramping' pains so get un-bearable that I decide to get out of the shower. As soon as I finished shaving the pains got so harsh that I needed to grab the bar that holds the curtain up for support. I get out of the shower, towel dry my body and scrunch my hair dry to make curls so I could have pretty pictures while I was in labor, you know how people like to take pictures of you while your in pain and then I put fresh new clothes on. (FYI- I just ended up putting my hair in a bun so the whole pretty curls thing didn't last too long, I was too sweaty! eww.)
As soon as I am about to call my Boyfriend Joe so we could get to the hospital he comes walking through the door. Keep in mind that its now around 6:30am, he went on an early morning jog.
He came walking through the door as if it was any other day and noticed that I was stumbling in pain. He realized what was happening to me and decided that it was time to go to the hospital.
On our drive to the hospital, a very bumpy drive, I was in HORRIBLE pain, I kept arching my back to help take my mind off the pain as well as ease it a bit...boy how mind over matter works because I KNOW my back arching technique didn't do a damn thing.
Anyways, we get to the hospital around 7:00-7:30amish. I walk into the ER and tell the tenant that 'I think I am in Labor'. She looks at me like, You? How do you not know if your in labor?. I just shrugged it off since I have never been through childbirth.
I get placed into a wheelchair and taken up to Labor and Delivery floor, or L+D. I get placed into a Semi-private room that was about an 8x12 or so. When I got there another lady who was also in labor was being monitored. They put you in this room to be monitored on how far apart your contracts or ctx's are and how far you have dialated...you need to dialate 10cm in order to start pushing your baby out. Well I was monitored at about a ctx every 1min or less. Which was very fast! They checked my cervix to see how far I was dialated and I was 6-7cm ALREADY! Usually this takes HOURS. However, I guess I slept through 3/4 of my labor so YAY! This is around 8am. I am in so much pain that when the lady comes in to see how I was doing I asked for a C-Section because I thought if this was how the ctx felt then I dont want to feel a baby come out. I am SO glad they said NO.
I was then wheeled out of the Semi-Private room and then into my own room which is where I would delivery my baby. As I was Wheeled out I looked at the lady next to me and she gave me the NASTIEST look, it was as if she was yelling at me because I got to go to a better room while she was still in the other room. The Semi-Private room is where they determine if you are having your baby or if they will send you back home. So I think they other lady was upset because she was in so much pain as well but she wasn't quit as progressed as I was.
I get into my new private room which comes with cable and a nice bathroom, which I never used since I was given a catheder.
I was administered an epidural at around 8:30am and from then on I was PAIN FREE. I progressed to 10cm over the next 8 hours and then around 3:30pm they let me start pushing since thats when I finished dialating. I pushed for one hour and at 4:31pm a healthy 7lbs 19 1/2'' baby girl was born.
I walked away with 1st degree tears, which I accidently ripped open at 4weeks but DID NOT need more stitches for since they were pretty much healed and superficial anyways. The recommended healing time for stitches is normally 6weeks.
My daughter, Isabel Michelle, was born at 36weeks and 4 days gestation in utero, typical full term is 40weeks. She was considered a preemie although she was born 3 days shy of full term.
She came down with Jaundice which is a premature liver in newborns and she also had thrush at 2weeks old which is a yeasty bacteria that affects little baby mouths due to the moisture.
She was cured of Jaundice on her own, no treatment necessary, and was required to have meds to help get rid of her thrush, she was perfect from then on. She remains a healthy baby and I can't wait to see what her life's accomplishments are in the future.
I love you my baby girl!