Posts About pregnancy

meredith’s birth story, part three

August 15, 2011

Part one Part two I was stalled out at 6 cm and my doctor was telling me she needed to do something to help me along. I wanted to keep things natural, but I had been having terrible back labor for over ten hours after a full day of work, no sleep, and nothing to eat. There was only so much I could take. She listed several different things that we could try, including breaking my water, putting in an internal monitor to measure contractions, and giving me Pitocin. But first I knew that if I was going to have any of those interventions I needed to get an epidural. If I could have pushed anytime soon, I know that…
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meredith’s birth story, part two

August 12, 2011

Part one The first thing I had to do once we got to my hospital room was change into a gown, and the next step was for the nurse to check my progress. For that I had to lie flat on my back which was probably the most uncomfortable position I could imagine. At that point she told me that I was 3-4 cm dilated. I was really disappointed that I wasn’t farther along. My contractions were already extremely painful and frequent, and I had been having them all day. I discussed with David and Kelly the option of returning home for awhile, but we were 45 minutes away and I couldn’t fathom going through that car ride twice more,…
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meredith’s birth story, part one

August 8, 2011

Four days prior to giving birth Meredith’s due date was approaching, and I was becoming increasingly swollen and tired. I planned to work up until I went into labor, but my resolve was weakening. On Monday, July 18 I saw my doctor. She checked me and declared me to be 1.5 cm dilated, and my cervix was soft. She stripped my membranes, but said that they weren’t very well attached to the wall of my uterus so she wasn’t sure that it would have the desired effect of sending me into labor. I certainly didn’t feel like I was going into labor anytime soon. I started taking herbs and doing natural remedies to get things started, because one of my…
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my maternity musts

July 5, 2011

I am by no means a pregnancy expert, and I know everyone and every pregnancy is different, but since I have now experienced over nine months of it I figured I’d share a few things that have gotten me through. Supportive shoes For work I wear the same Crocs that I always did and they work fine, although they’re getting a little tight now. The above Teva sandals are what I wear for practically everything else. They are cushiony and supportive, and are good for everything from wearing around the house to walking the streets of Charleston. I don’t have much swelling in my feet, but if I did I’d probably need some sandals with less straps than these. A…
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thirty-six weeks

June 24, 2011

Picture actually taken around 34 weeks by my friend Cio Alvarado. More maternity pictures here! Symptoms: I step outside and I feel like I swell to twice my size. In reality, I think my hands are slightly swollen all the time, my feet and legs swell when it’s hot, and same with my face. The carpal tunnel syndrome persists, and I have constant pain and numbness in both hands but especially the right one. Working with needles probably isn’t the best thing for me to be doing right now, considering I stabbed myself in the finger with one at work yesterday. (It was clean!) My ribs still cause me pain almost all the time, and now I have previously-unknown pieces…
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