Happy Birthday Atticus!

So here's the story of our last couple days before meeting Atticus...... Last Thursday, I got a call from the doctor's office. Even though the doctor I saw on Tuesday wasn't concerned about my AFI values, when my doctor saw the results, he wanted me to come in for some follow up testing. So I talked to his nurse and arranged to come in Friday morning when the office opened to have some labs collected, then I was going to go to work afterwards. I was looking forward to sleeping in in the morning. Throughout the night, I was having some contractions, however it didn't seem any different than any other night during that week. I had a hard time falling back asleep after about 2:30. I got up in the morning and took a shower to get ready for work, then was going to rest on the couch until I had to leave for the doctor's office. I started having some contractions while I was in the shower, but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary from what I had previously experienced. Ron came home from work, I talked to him for a little bit, then went to lay down on the couch to wait until I should leave to go to the doctor's office. By the time I should have been leaving, I was having what felt like pretty strong contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. This was about the time that I realized that I didn't think I'd be going to work at all....except maybe to go to Labor and Delivery. Ron had only been asleep for about an hour, so I didn't want to wake him up until I was sure what was going on. At about 9:00, my contractions were between 4-6 minutes apart... they all took my breath away. I was starting to get really scared. When I had one that dropped me to my knees, I went to tell Ron that I thought we might have to be going to the hospital soon. Poor guy had only been asleep about 2-2 1/2 hours by this time. I laid down on the bed with him to see if I could relax and feel any better. Surprisingly, by about 9:45, it felt like the contractions had stopped. So I got up and went and walked around the block a couple of times to see if they came back or not. I started having a couple more, not as painful or as frequent. When I came back in the house, they started back up pretty strong. By the time Ron woke up, after only about 4 or 5 hours of sleep, the contractions were again 4-6 minutes apart and felt pretty strong. I told him I think we need to go to the hospital. So we left.
By the time we got to the hospital, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart. We got to L&D and they put us in a room. When the nurse did an exam, she said I was dilated to 5cm and was 100% effaced. She said we wouldn't be going home that day....we'd be having a baby. Within 30 minutes she had gotten an anesthesiologist to start an epidural....it was wonderful! I was now barely able to notice that I was having contractions that were measuring twice as strong as the ones I was having that were previously taking my breath away. At about 3pm, I was measuring 7-8cm....everyone thought Atticus would be here by dinner time. Except for Dr. Jasper who said he thought we'd have a baby by 8, but definitely by midnight. Ron says he jinxed us with that comment!!!
At 10:30pm, the nurse came in and said we were going to start pushing with the next contractions. Finally after 3 hours of pushing (it is way past midnight) Atticus made his entrance! Atticus Fitzgerald Olsen
was born Saturday, November 17, 2007
at 1:31 am
He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz
and measured 20.5 inches long
Ron and I are totally in love with our son. He is absolutely amazing, or as Ron would say, he is AWESOME!!!!!

8 days left....Can you believe it?

Wow! I can't believe that it's just over a week until our due date! It has really gone fast. We had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Again, nothing exciting. Atticus was pretty quiet, but once again passed the NST with flying colors. Our AFI was elevated again, 22.9 yesterday. Unfortunately Dr. Durkee was on call and was at the hospital delivering a baby, so we couldn't see him. They were either rescheduling his patients to see him on Wednesday or we could wait to see a different doctor. I wanted to wait, so that I could ask about the AFI. The doctor we saw, wasn't concerned about the levels because he felt it was only slightly elevated. It put my mind at ease. I am sure that Dr. Durkee will see the results too, so if he is concerned, I am sure the office will call. Since we didn't see him, I also didn't have an internal exam....so I don't know if anything has progressed since 2 weeks ago. Our next appointment is next Tuesday....

Last night was my most uncomfortable night so far. I woke up every hour having contractions. Unfortunately they never got stronger or closer together. It was frustrating and I am pretty tired today. Ron is convinced that Atticus won't be born until Nov. 24th....I am convinced that I will go insane if I go past our due date!!! I am trying so hard to enjoy these last few days where I don't have to share Atticus with anyone else. It's hard when I am so uncomfortable most of the time. At the same time, I am so anxious to finally meet my little man. And I am so excited to watch Ron meet his son! Hurry up, Atticus....any day now!!!

What a long week!

We had our 38 week doctor's appointment last Thursday. Atticus was not very cooperative during the ultrasound...well, he was sleeping, so who can really blame him! The tech did the measurements for the AFI. Our index was 20.5 which both the tech and Dr. Durkee said is borderline high. However, Dr. Durkee said at this point he is NOT worried about it, if it were a half point higher, he would investigate it, but not yet. So I have been trying not to worry about it...if the doctor isn't worried, I shouldn't be either. The girl that did our AFI was just learning, and to me one of her lines looked crooked, which would make it longer, possibly giving a higher reading (the other reason that I have not been letting myself worry about it...). The tech wanted to do a biophysical profile on him, also....basically just make sure it looks like he is doing what he should be doing....so we had to wake him up so we could watch him breathe... That was interesting to me, because I didn't realize that he doesn't practice his breathing when he is sleeping, only when he is awake. We got him to wake up and were able to watch him breathe...that is pretty cool. However, the little stinker is still laying face up ("sunny side up"). That is definitely going to need to change before we go into labor!! After laying on my back for longer than usual for the ultrasound, it was time for the NST. I was so excited about sitting in the big comfy chair and relaxing....unfortunately, Atticus had his foot shoved into my rib and my back was aching, so I was pretty darn uncomfortable during most of it. Atticus was also still pretty sleepy in the beginning, so he didn't move alot when we first were hooked up to the monitors....unfortunately this meant that we had to be hooked up for longer. I only had a couple small contractions while I was being monitored, too...what a change from last week! In the end, we got all the measurements we needed and he passed the NST with flying colors! Our next appointment is Monday afternoon. I am anxious to see what our AFI is this week.

This past Thursday morning my Grandma Hughes died. She had a massive stroke the previous Friday and was not doing well. I am happy that she is no longer suffering, but am sad because she never got to meet her great-grandson. For the last few months, even when she has been very confused, she has always been able to tell me how excited she is about Atticus. She would tell me she was so excited because she had waited 10 years to meet him! I know it would have been a long time after he was born before she would have actually been able to meet him, because I wouldn't be able to take him to the nursing home, but I would have loved to tell her about him and hang up pictures that she could have looked at.

I am still working, full time. I plan to work until the day Atticus is born. I don't want to use my time off before he gets here, I would rather save it for after he's born. It is getting harder and harder everyday to keep working. After about 5 hours at work, I am very uncomfortable, I have a heating pad I keep on my back which helps with the aches and pains. There is not much else I can do though. By the end of the day, my feet hurt, the muscles in my lower abdomen are incredibly achey, and the skin on my tummy actually hurts! It feels so good to get home and relax on the couch! It's amazing what the human body can do! I have loved being pregnant, for the most part, but I am VERY ready to meet this little guy in person!