Countdown – We’ve Arrived!
Today is the day.
Today…
- Chance will no longer be an only child.
- I’ll find out how it feels to love more than one kid with all my heart.
- I will be very aware someone important to me is missing.
- My sister, Renee, and her husband, Jason, is coming into town.
- I’ll cry because my heart will never be the same.
- All my organs will shift around inside of me.
- I will cry over feelings words could never express.
- I will most likely not get to eat.
- My weight will drop at least 15 pounds.
- The world, as I know it, will be changed forever.
Post-Partum Plans
So here’s the schedule… for all this may affect:
- 9am – Drop Chance off at school (he’s gonna hang out with his friend after school)
- 11am – Check into St. Vincent’s Hospital
- 1pm – C-Section (unless an emergency surpasses us)
- 3pm – Baby in arms??? There’s always an hour (at least) of recovery for C-Sections before we can be with the baby.
We’d like to ask everyone who wants to visit to come by St. Vincent’s from Friday through Sunday. You can come up to the Maternity floor and ask for us, but please just give us Thursday to settle in and bond with Paxton.
We’d also like to ask to be left alone the first week we’re home so we can get the family situated. Feel free to call or email, but please don’t feel offended if we don’t pick up, return your call or email.
Thank you SO much!!!
Partial Bedrest
Good news: I’m glad to know I’m not crazy about feeling “not-so-hot”.
Bad news: I’ve been sentenced to partial bedrest… whatever that means.
Today was the third day in a row that I wasn’t feeling “quite right” so I called the OB advice nurse. After asking me all the normal questions and then some, she decided to have me come into the office immediately (not the hospital) to have a quick check by the doctor.
Once I saw the doctor on call, she decided I was more effaced than I needed to be at this point AND contracting a bit strong for her liking. So off to the hospital I went (which was 2 blocks away).
I checked in and was immediately put on monitors. I am DEFINITELY contracting… which is not the greatest thing since I had a C-Section scar from Chance. Imagine putting pressure on a balloon that has tape over an open gash for an extended amount of time. RIGHT!
They tried to stop the contractions by making me drink a lot of water… which only made me have to pee a lot. Then, then gave me an IV (which sent blood dripping down my arm… I wish I took a picture)… which only made me pee even MORE. Then, I got a lot of juice. More bathroom breaks.
Nothing worked… in fact, my “irritable” uterus (as they called it) only acted out more.
Brian and Chance came to visit around 6pm. First thing out of Chance’s mouth is: “I wanna get outta here!” Yeah… me too, Chancey! After 30 minutes or so, I sent the boys away to go get some dinner. Chance was like, “Come on, Mommy… let’s go! But leave THAT here!” – referring to my IV plug. I was jealous they were going to get to eat… but I sent them off anyway.
8:30pm rolls around. Mind you, I went to the doctors office at 3:20pm… I’m starving at this point. The doctor there tells me he’d like to keep me overnight to monitor my contractions.
My first question: “Can I eat?”
He says: “Yes.”
So I tell him I’d prefer to go home and call if I feel any more contractions. He gives me the “I’m-not-sure-I-like-that-idea” look but as soon as I told him I live less than 10 minutes away, he reluctantly says “ok”… but only if I agreed to be on partial bedrest.
That means, I can go out and have dinner or walk from point A to point B in my house… but I need to be sitting or laying down for at least 75% of the day. That means NO SHOPPING or VACUUMING THE CAR or CLEANING THE HOUSE.
Good thing I went to Costco EARLIER that day instead of putting it off
I didn’t tell him I was leading worship at the MOMS leadership retreat tomorrow or leading worship on Sunday morning. I just smiled.
No worries… I promise to take it easy and just pay attention to my belly. It’s not too difficult… it’s the largest part of my body right now.
I’m wiped out. Time for bed!!!
Overnight Miracle & the Beginning of Labor?
Thanks for all your prayers.
Chance is feeling WAY better. Other than him being a little bit warm this morning (only 99 degrees), his fever is totally gone.
He’s still a bit whiney, but that’s to be expected since he’s not 100% yet. It’s amazing he’s recovered so quickly.
I, on the other hand, feel like poopy.
I’m wondering if I’m in labor. My belly is tight, I’ve got pressure down under (ew), I keep breaking out into a cold OR hot sweat every few minutes and I’m just not feeling “quite right”. Brian’s keeping a close eye on me… whatever that means.
With Chance, I went through prodromal labor the month prior to his birth. I can’t exactly remember what that felt like since all I can remember is the 38 hours of ACTUAL labor after being induced a week late in the hospital, including transition. I do vaguely remember the couple weeks prior being “kinda uncomfortable” in comparison. Kinda like now.
After dinner, we came home and I packed our hospital bag right away (just in case)… so now we’re ready for anything. I even cleaned our toilets.
Why not?
To Do List
I currently have FOUR things left to do on THIS list… but of course, now I have another list to add onto:
- Have all of November’s Worship Sets (LiveWorship Presentations & Cue Sheets) completed by the first week of November. DONE!
- Finalize the worship team schedule for November/December. DONE!
- Put the crib together in Chance’s room (well… Brian needs to do this). DONE!
- Purchase a shoe rack for the entryway closet. DONE!
- Prep a months worth of freezable meals for after Paxton’s birth. DONE! Well… half done but I keep adding to it, so might as well say “Done”.
- Mail my “Thank You” Cards that have been sitting by my front door for longer than I’d like to admit. DONE!
- Make room in our room for the cradle. DONE!
- Write a devotional for December’s Church Newsletter (this will be a nice break from the other things).
- Figure out music for Christmas Eve Service and chart it out.
- Get Brian out for a golf day or spa day before Paxton arrives. DONE! Weekend with the boys last weekend counts!
- Prep the email announcement for the hospital – make it easier for Brian to send out DONE!
- Find my birth plan from Chance’s delivery and create an updated one for Paxton’s. DONE!
- Vacuum out my car (Brian again) DONE! I just decided to do it.
Weekly Doctor’s Update
Other than feeling more nauseated than I had in a couple months, I had a great OB appointment this morning.
I gained ONE pound since last weeks appointment, which was a SERIOUS shock to me since I ate like a horse this past week. Then, I found out my OB won’t be working on the 7th (when we had originally planned the C-Section), so we set it for THE DAY BEFORE instead. YAY!
So, Paxton will be here on November 6th in the afternoon.
ROLL CALL!!!
It’s that time again…
I know you’re out there. I can see it in my stats – but I’d love to know WHO’s out there… so let’s do a roll call PREGGO style:
Your name
Where you live
Weight of Paxton at birth
Length of Paxton at birth
That’s right. I’ll even throw in a gift card to Jamba Juice or Starbucks for the winner. I’ll even give you some help: At my last appointment (last Monday), I had gained 33 pounds from my original weight and measured 35 across my abdomen. It should make it easier that I’m scheduled for a C-Section on November 7th.
So, in case you haven’t done this before… it would look like this:
Jenni Clayville
Portland, Oregon
Weight: 8.5lbs
Length: 21 inches
I’m not betting… those were Chance’s measurements. Here’s an old picture from the hospital of him during his hearing test just for fun.
Thanks for playing… and now…
Weekly Appointments
Today was the first of the weekly baby appointments.
If you’ve birthed babies, you know this is when the REAL countdown begins. There’s just something about going from a monthly prenatal appointment to the weekly ones. It means in 4 to 6 weeks, a baby is going to be in your arms.
WORD!
They told me to hop on the scale and let them know what I weighed. The only problem was it was a regular floor scale, so I couldn’t look down past my belly to see the numbers. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!? What a cruel joke to preggos.
Good news is I’ve only gained 32 pounds so far in Paxton’s pregnancy. I was at 47 pounds at this point with Chance (I gained a total of 54 pounds with Chance – ridiculous… I know).
I’m in crazy nesting mode right now.
I’m cleaning out closets, drawers, and baskets to organize our world better. I just finished working through my bedside table and cleared out over half of its contents. There were unused checks in there from when we lived in our very first house as a married couple, 7 years ago, from a bank account that is no longer open. I can’t believe I didn’t catch that before.
Here’s my list of to do’s for the next two weeks:
- Clean out and reorganize bedside table. DONE!!!
- Purchase adjustable hanging closet rod (the boys are sharing a room) DONE!
- Purchase organizing baskets for changing table DONE!
- Reorganize Chance’s room to fit Paxton’s stuff DONE!
- Clear out empty storage bins in Chance’s closet DONE!
- Wash Paxton’s newborn clothes and put in drawer DONE!
- Pick up bassinet and extra crib mattress from Jenn DONE! actually got a cradle from Lindsey instead.
- Unpack bottles and binkies
- Pack hospital bag DONE!
- Hem drapes in Chance’s room (they’re too long) DONE!
- Wash Paxton’s carseat cover and set it up in the car DONE!
- Pack the diaper bag DONE!
- Hang the last few wall hangings in the house. DONE!
- Reorganize laundry room shelves for most efficient storage DONE!
I’m really trying to be creative with our space. This house is a LOT smaller than the house we brought Chance home to (3500 square feet then, 1800 square feet now). It’s kind of like starting over in how I “did” stuff before.
Oh well… none of this matters. I have a roast in the crockpot for dinner tonight AND I’ve begun the weekly appointment schedule. All is well.
What I Live For
I woke up happy today. Maybe it was because I had a great night with my girlfriends, Alli & Holly, at Papa Haydn’s last night. Or maybe it was because I had my baby doctor appointment at the butt-crack of dawn this morning. I’m not sure… but I thought I’d write a short post of what I live for…
This picture sums up the bulk of it. Not in any specific order:
Brian behind me, my family, Worship (it’s the second desktop item from the top pictured on my desktop), our new baby, Paxton, who is still in my belly and my MacBook Pro.
That’s all I have time for right now. I must go pick up Chancey Pants from Preschool now, then head over for my weekly sushi lunch date with Holly. These are also some of my favorite things
Glucose Test Result Are In
My original glucose test was a bit high. The highest score they like to see is 140, and my blood draw showed a 150. Hence, the 4 hour in-depth test last Thursday. Believe me… gestational diabetes is not one of the things I wanted to have the last 8 weeks of this pregnancy.
They told me results would most likely be available on Monday. It’s Thursday a week later, so I decided to call in.
They FINALLY called back to tell me everything is fine. It’s more than fine. In RED are the highest they want to see scores at. In BLUE are the numbers from my blood draw. Here were my numbers:
- Fasting Max #: 95
- My Fasting # : 82
- Hour 1 Max #: 180
- My Hour 1 #: 129
- Hour 2 Max #: 155
- My Hour 2 #: 109
- Hour 3 Max #: 140
- My Hour 3 #: 68
Floating Thoughts
I’m tired, but I’m feeling the need to post something… so FLOATING THOUGHTS it is:
- At 8 weeks till due date, I’m DEFINITELY feeling contractions. However, I usually only contract after dinner time-ish and I mostly contract on the RIGHT side of my belly. So weird.
- I still haven’t received the results from my 4 hour long glucose test yet. Makes me a bit nervous.
- When Chance says the word “KEEP”, it actually comes out as “PEEK”. i.e. “Mommy, I like to peek jumping!”
- Daniel Valeri is in Portland visiting for a couple of day. Of course he’s staying with us, and I couldn’t be more happy to see him
- Chance finally started eating salad this week. He’s been avoiding it, telling me “I don’t want salad!” till now. The secret – add Annie’s Cowgirl Ranch Dressing and croutons. My all time favorite is Annie’s Shiitake & Sesame Vinaigrette. I could not be more happy about this.
- I just realized… Chance has NEVER thrown up. Ever. As an infant, he barely even spit up. That’s awesome. I’m thinking #2 MAY be a puker.
- My throat is really sore, and I can feel my sinuses getting more congested. Thanks Chance & Brian! Ugh!
- My housekeeper is coming this morning to clean my house. YAY! We hired her the moment I realized it took me longer to get up and down to clean the floors and tubs than it did for me to actually clean them. HA!
- My sister, Renee, just had a birthday and turned 28… AND my Mom just had a birthday too… and I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you how old she is
- MY 30th Birthday is 7 days away. WHOA!!!
- My husband is so sweet and giving me a back rub right now. HOWEVER… he just said my back feels like frog eggs. (1) How does he know what frog eggs feel like? (2) I hate him.
- I think I have a rib out. Ouch.
- I got my Pocket PC and MacBook Pro to sync up via Missing Sync. Saved me the cost of an iPhone (and AT&T) I didn’t really want.
- I DO want the new Sprint Instinct though. Though I am pro-Mac/Apple Products, I am NOT pro-iPhone.
- Just thought I’d update you on the runner-up names for Paxton Joel (not in any specific order): Lincoln, Cade, Ryland and Josiah.
32 weeks…
OR… 55 days left.
It just depends on if you look at the glass half full or half empty.
Babies are pretty much safe after this week, right? Or is it 35?
I guess you never stop being nervous once you’ve lost a few.
Floating Thoughts
Lots of stuff just floating around… so of course… the best way to remedy that is to write a “Floating Thoughts” blogpost. So… here goes:
- I can’t believe Chance is 3 years old. Where did the time go?
- Today, my calendar says I’m 29 weeks and 5 days pregnant (if you count November 15th being my due date)… but I’m REALLY 30 weeks and 6 days pregnant (since I have a scheduled C-Section on the 7th).
- My hair won’t hold color as well as it usually does. My hair stylist says it may be because I’m pregnant.
- Speaking of pregnant – today was my glucose test appointment. I get the results in a couple of days, but I weigh 146 lbs (that’s 26 lbs more than “normal” but 8 lbs less than the same time last time being preggo with Chance) and my belly measures bigger than last time too. So, I weigh less, but the baby is bigger. GREAT!
- We took Chance along to thank our Doctor, Tim Stewart, for taking him out of mommy’s tummy 3 years ago. Cute.
- Matt and I ordered my new MacBook Pro today in our service planning meeting. I am SOOO excited for my new laptop!!! No longer will I be confined to our home office.
- My back pretty much hurts all the time, non-stop, but I only have 10 more weeks so I try not to complain.
- My awesome husband got pedicures together AND he took me shopping for new preggo clothes (though I made sure I could still wear them after I had the baby too) this past weekend. He actually WENT shopping with me, which hasn’t happened in FOREVER. I feel like a new woman… sort of.
- I just scheduled our newborn photo shoot with Kimberly for November. She is SOOO good. I am so excited, I’m pretty unsure of what to do with myself.
- I really miss my friends and team members at Sunset Pres.
- Pre-school starts in 8 days for Chance… but tomorrow is our first meeting with his teacher.
- Brian and I are finally narrowing down our list of baby names, though we can’t seem to agree strongly on any of them.
- I really can’t believe how long the waiting line is to adopt overseas right now. I’m a bit upset because children need to be home and times a wastin’.
- We still haven’t started a baby journal for baby #2. We started one for Chance the first month we found out we were pregnant.
- I know most people don’t like their in-laws, but I think mine are ridiculously AWESOME! I love that I can sit down with either of them and talk, from the heart, for hours, totally being my authentic self and know they love me unconditionally as their own. I want to be THAT kind of in-law to my daughter-in-laws one day. Is that weird?
- Here’s a list of things I can’t wait to do once I have this baby:
- Go hiking
- Play the guitar without the “slope”
- Go snowboarding
- Work out & run
- Go camping
- Wakeboard
- Breathe a deep breath again
- Here’s a picture of me at 29 weeks and 5 days (and yes, that’s one of the cute new shirts I got this weekend – it’s organic cotton, if you care):
And there you go.
Adoption
I read Heather Whittaker’s blog quite religiously. I think she’s an amazing mother and wonder where she gets all her creative juices. She wrote this post recently which persuaded me to follow through with what she was encouraging us to do.
So here goes:
As most of you know… though we’re pregnant with our second son right now, it wasn’t always this “easy” of a journey for us.
Brian and I were married back in May of 2001. After years of trying to get pregnant, being diagnosed as “infertile” and trying our luck out with infertility treatments (and failing), we finally decided to adopt. In all honesty, it never really mattered to us whether our children came from my womb or not… we just always wanted a big family.
I remember when Brian and I were in pre-marital training, he had said he wanted something like 5 kids. I said 3. But now, I think we’re at 4. God only knows.
ANYHOO!!!
We were well on our way to adopting. We had decided we were going to Kenya and had all our paperwork, finances and dates set up. Now, I have to include this part. Adoption is ridiculously expensive. We didn’t have the financial means to do it, though we had the heart, home and everything else. But then, God provided another family to enter our lives.
A family heard about Brian and me through the grapevine and offered us an interest-free PERSONAL loan to adopt our first child. She was an adopted child herself, and when her mother passed away – leaving her with a chunk of change, she and her husband decided to use the money in a way that would make her mother proud. This made the adoption process almost obstacle free. I’m not sure we could have been more ready.
This was in November 2004.
December 2004 – we found out we were pregnant.
This is when we began to debate whether or not to continue with the adoption. We had lost babies before – we weren’t really banking of this one keeping… though we were hoping with all our might that it would. PLUS, it had seemed God had orchestrated everything else to go so smoothly with the adoption… we didn’t really know what He wanted us to do now. We told our immediate family members and a few close friends, asking for prayer.
At four months into our pregnancy, we decided (with a broken heart) to put the adoption on hold. God had opened the doors to adoption for us before and we knew He would again.
Fast forward to now.
Chance Hayden is going to be THREE on September 1st. Our second son is due November 7th. They are going to be 3 years apart. I get really, REALLY sick with my pregnancies and have decided that due to health reasons, this will be our last pregnancy (unless God has a VERY different plan).
We’re not done raising children. The waiting list for China is over TWO years – maybe THREE. Kenya is no longer really an option for us. Ideally, we’d like to keep our kids 2-3 years apart… which means we need to start our adoption process now. We LITERALLY have to start over – choosing an agency, finding funds, finding a country, etc.
You probably think we’re crazy, weird, out-of-our minds. You’re probably right. However, we’re just getting started.
Did you know: if every family in the United States adopted ONE child, there would not be any orphanages?
God calls us to care for the widows and orphans. Since I don’t really do anything else God tells me to do, I thought I’d do this one.
I could go on and on about this… but I’m not sure what y’all would like to know, so I’ll open it up.
Jenni on Skype: jclayville 
