A Gunner in a Day

      Monday afternoon I was sitting in a hospital bed hooked to monitors for my weekly non-stress test in the inner bowels of our base OB clinic. I usually had them on Tuesdays, but just happened to be scheduled a day early this time, at 37 wks + 1 day. After reviewing my blood sugars, monitoring fetal heart rate, and checking amniotic fluid, the OB asked if I had any questions. I casually mentioned that I had been dealing with itchy hands, legs, and feet for the past week and a half and that it particularly bugged me at night. The OB said "My antennaes aren't going up, but I think I'll have some labs drawn on you. You are scheduled to be induced in 2 weeks, but if your liver function is raised, we might have you come in earlier because there unfortunately would be a higher risk of fetal death. In cases like this, we try to keep the baby in as long as possible, but typically take them at 37 wks, which was you yesterday. Come back Thursday and we'll talk about your results."
     On the way home from picking up the husband, I was in the middle of explaining to him that I might have Gunner as early as Thursday, when my phone rang. It was the OB saying "I got your results back, and it looks like your liver function levels are elevated, and by that I mean three times what they should be. Your liver is in cholestasis. Please report to labor and delivery when you can and we will go ahead and induce you tonight. If we wait, both you and baby could be in big trouble."
     We went home and gathered what I had prepared for the hospital, and I did my best to let everyone know what was going on. At labor and delivery, we went straight back to my birthing room where they inserted a foley balloon to manually dilate my cervix to a 4 or 5. That was pretty intense. After 6 hours of definite, but bearable contractions, the balloon finally fell out and they let me contract on my own for awhile.There was a shift change and I finally met the OB who would be catching little Gunner. Her name is Dr. McBee and she has the largest hands I have ever seen on a woman.  Kyle and I took turns trying to explain my pain tolerance to the nurses when they wondered why I was just sitting there and thought it must not be working. Every shift change we would have to explain to a new set of nurses that I feel pain, but don't externalize it, which is why I look like a person sitting in bed watching TV instead of a person in labor.  My contractions looked significant on the screen, but I kept rating them at a 3 out of 10. I am horrible at rating pain and hate when I have to do it. I almost always say 3 because it was my jersey number in little league. They decided that meant the contractions weren't strong enough, so they started the pitocin.  Unfortunately, the adding of pitocin tended to make Gunner's heart decelerate during contractions, so we had a very very long journey of switching it on and off throughout the night and the next day. I kept contracting, but stayed stalled at 5 cm, which was incredibly tiring and frustrating. They asked if I wanted an epidural, which had been suggested to me as a means of relaxing me and hopefully keeping me conscious for the rest of the delivery. I said sure, since my passing out would be bad for the baby. After a mostly failed epidural (which messed with my heart in a really weird way and was intended to keep me from passing out as I have a habit of doing, but really just made me feel pins and needles on one side of my body) and manually breaking my water, I tried to tell the nurse that I felt light-headed and sick, but since my vitals looked normal at the time, she left. I laid in bed and watched TV. Suddenly it felt like I was laying on a slab of ice and slowly sinking down into it. The nurses came running in and yelling and suddenly I was laying on my side with an oxygen mask. Apparently my blood pressure and heart rate plummeted and they saw it on their monitors in the nurses station. 
   I was now forbidden to lay anyway but on my left side connected to Oxygen, a blood pressure cuff that went off every 10 mins, an IV, an epidural, a catheter, and ciculation boots. I laid there breathing the oxygen for hours waiting for what I had heard was the most painful part, transition. The pain had changed locations, so I thought it might be starting, but wasn't sure. Over time the pain became very intense and full of pressure. A few hours later,after 24 hrs of labor, Dr. McBee came in to check me and said I was complete and transition was over. She asked if I wanted to try and push or if I wanted a break. I thought that was such a silly question, and I said "Let's do it now." Here came the hard part. 
I waited for a good contraction and did my first 3 10 second pushes, then immediately requested something to throw up in. After I lost my all-liquid diet from the past 24 hours, I was good to go. Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events was playing on the TV and I tried to explain to my OB what it was about between pushes. I'm not sure how well I did because pushing 3 times during each contraction has to be the hardest, most exhausting thing I have ever done. I have also never sweat so much. Dr. McBee said that I was a good pusher and was making progress, but that Gunner's heart was dipping more drastically after contractions and that she wanted to get him out by vacuum as an emergency measure when I got him low enough. That was absolutely terrifying. I did not want that to happen. I remember thinking "I need to get him out on my own. I'm going to get him out on my own." Kyle later said he knew that was what I was thinking and that's why it wasn't much longer after that. This was definitely the painful part. I knew I was getting close when Dr. McBee started to quickly put her smock on while asking Kyle if he was going to cut the cord. I was able to get him out without the use of vacuum after only 40 mins of pushing altogether. Dr. McBee started to pull him out, but had to stop because Gunner's cord was wrapped around his neck, which explained all the heart decelerations. She quickly apologized to Kyle, and cut it herself because it was pulling on Gunner's neck. (Kyle was able to cut it later when they clamped it, though.)The baby came out squeaking and making little puppy noises. They flopped Gunner on my chest while they worked on him and I was so indescribably happy. I barely heard Dr. McBee say that I had a second degree tear and she started to sew me up. I was so enthralled by my son that I didn't care about the pain at all. He measured in at 7.95 lbs and 19.5 inches at 3 wks early, born at 9:22 pm March 18th.
      After all this, Gunner and I were closely monitored for blood sugar and bilirubin for him, and blood pressure, Oxygen levels, and plummeting heart rate for me. It was a strange sensation to feel so wonderful and so awful at the same time. Kyle was feeling sick so I sent him home to sleep instead of having to use the hospitals fold out bed. Gunner and I had to stick it out alone the next couple of nights while Kyle had to stay home and recover from his own malady, but he was feeling much, much better the day we were finally discharged. Within 20 minutes, Gunner went from high risk to low risk, and I finally passed an EKG, so they let us go home. Now I am typing this in our living room while Kyle and Tesla the dog are asleep on the couch and Gunner is napping in his swing, milk drunk. We are all so happy to be safe, sound, and finally together.

Hormones are killing my brain

   Tesla and I are pooped. She is upstairs passed out on our bed and I am propped up on the couch. We've been dog-sitting a pair of dachshunds for over a week and they went home today. It's nice to have a place to sit on the couch again. Yesterday, Kyle and I drove to Essex ( East of London) to Lakeside Mall, which is right next to where the Thames heads into the city. They had a Build-a-Bear, a Disney Store, a Forever 21, and a Cinnabon! (Though, in my current state, I couldn't even think of eating one, which was very very sad..)  We ate at Wagamama for lunch, and then went to IKEA, B&Q, and Toys R us/ Babies R us. It was fun and I made it through the whole day without feeling too sick! 
   Most of you have seen the pictures and know that our ultrasound went well! But if you haven't, here is the better of the two:

   The baby should look completely different than this by now, but in the picture you can see the umbilical cord, the head (on the right) and the little arm and leg sticking out. The heartbeat was 180 bpm, which is fast but that might be attributed to the fact that I was SUPER nervous before the tech finally zoomed in on the heartbeat. I also had an ultrasound tech friend look at it and she said everything looks good! Since the ultrasound, everything has been going well.  I'm starting to feel a bit thicker around the middle, which is a good sign. The baby should be about the size of a kumquat by now. :)
   Kyle made Honor Guard! He got this awesome medal that he gets to wear on his blues, and I think he will get his specific details soon. He also was able to fix the Jeep this past weekend! It runs SO much better now. 
Not much is happening out of the ordinary this week. I have been craving soul food like nobody's business, so Kyle is taking me to Pinkerton's (A steakhouse at the Liberty club on base) on Thursday. I am so excited! :) We love you all and hope things are going well stateside!

Blessed

     The Jeep is still out of commission, but luckily, a family at church has offered to let us borrow their minivan until we get it fixed, so we no longer have to pay for a rental car. So grateful.  It has already helped out a lot. My nausea hasn't been as bad, this pregnancy, but it is still definitely annoying. I was able to go to a BBQ at our friends house, go to church, out with another friend the next day, and then to my OB class, without any real problem. I felt bad for all the other pregnant ladies looking sick as dogs. There is no happy medium with morning sickness... Either you are miserably sick, or you're worried out of your mind because you aren't sick ENOUGH. I've been falling into the 2nd category but am praying that I'm just lucky for the time being. I was invited to go to a museum in Cambridge today, but decided to try and take it easy at home. We'll be at a friend's house tomorrow for dinner (I'm making a chocolate trifle), and then Kyle's football tournament on Saturday, so I thought a day of rest would be good idea. 
    Our ultrasound is just 3 days away! I am extremely nervous and excited. It is in radiology, so I have a feeling that the tech won't say much... but I am really hoping that they will at least turn the screen my way, so I can see. Kyle will be there, as well, so hopefully he will be able to watch the whole time and help me beg the tech for a picture or two. If it is a healthy ultrasound and we see a strong heartbeat (or two), we will announce shortly afterward to the rest of our friends and family. Praying that it will be a good visit!
     The days are starting to get noticeably shorter here, which is making me anxious for Christmas! We won't be home for Thanksgiving, which pains me to think about, but Kyle's shop splits up Christmas time off so that we will either be home for Christmas or New Years. I will most-likely fly over early to spend time in Arkansas, meet up with Kyle, and then head to Georgia, before flying out of Atlanta. It is a tentative plan, but I thought I'd put it out there in case other people were planning. If September and October could go ahead and get themselves over with, that would be great.. for my sake, and my little bean! 
   Oh! Also, Kyle tests for Honor Guard this next week, so prayers would be hugely appreciated for that! He gets graded on his uniform, flag folding, facing movements, drill movements with a rifle, and reciting the honor guard creed. I'll let you all know how it goes! I love you!!!

Things that happened yesterday

    I am now, apparently, the new secretary of the Lakenheath Players theatre group.... without having met a single member. I started getting messages from someone about my theatre experience, asking how many shows I had been in, etc. I told them I wasn't sure but that it was over 45, and they immediately sent me an official document asking me to be secretary. (Evidently she made herself President, and her husband Vice President) I told her I needed to think it over and talk to my husband about it before giving an answer. (Not to mention the fact that once I'm over being too morning sick to go to rehearsal, I'll be too huge to be in shows.) I woke up to an announcement on Lakenheath's FB page saying "Congratulations to Lolli Mitchell on becoming the new Theatre group secretary!"  I'm not really sure how I keep getting myself into these situations. I think I'll try to go to the next meeting and make my decision after that. If I can find a serious theatre group, it would be great. My problem is that I keep being "recruited" by groups who either want me to do entire shows by myself and out of my own pocket, or think that karaoke is somehow the same as theatre. No thanks.
    I haven't announced the arrival of the jelly bean on Facebook yet, and probably won't until I've had at LEAST a healthy ultrasound, but I did allude to my awesome morning sickness in my status today, because of what happened afterwards! I woke up at 3 AM feeling all sorts of awful, and went downstairs, with Tesla close behind, to get some ginger ale. We went outside to the patio and ended up sitting out there for a good 45 minutes, watching a meteor shower. It was a great distraction from how I was feeling! Tesla didn't think it was that interesting. She went back to sleep in the grass. If every bout of morning sickness could be followed by some sort of celestial display, it would make this pregnancy thing a lot easier.

The Jelly Bean

    Now that everyone has FINALLY been notified, I can talk about the only thing this Mitchell household has been thinking about for the past month: a new member of our family will be showing up sometime around April 6th! My first ultrasound is on the 26th so lots and lots of prayers would be hugely appreciated and I'll try to keep everyone updated on what is going on. So far my only problem is that the absolutely WORST part of being pregnant in England= the food. All the food I want to eat is in the states! I'm tempted to take a military flight to Little Rock just so I can go to cracker barrel. It's going to be a rough 7 1/2 months...
    Kyle is working hard and starting to put together his packet for an OCS board coming up. We are friends with a Captain in NAV on base who is helping Kyle through the process. He only has a couple of months to get ready, so any prayers regarding getting approved by the board would also be hugely sought after! The process is largely dependent on timing, so we are praying that this will work out.
    I've been trying to take it easy as much as I can, but we did go to Audley End on Saturday. We toured through the house, walked through the grounds, saw the horses and fed the ducks. Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Lady Grantham on Downton Abbey was also there, for a concert. After Audley End, we stopped at a Welcome Break and ate at the KFC there. Two interesting things about English KFCs: 1. They serve french fries, and 2. They don't have mashed potatoes, but DO offer a tub of gravy as a side. Weird.
   

Oh woe is Lolli

I am a spoiled brat that God is attempting to make stronger. I know this because my family got to be together without me for the first time this past week, and it hurt. It hurt a lot. I had never even considered the possibility of that happening. I've ALWAYS been there... and I have ALWAYS taken it for granted. However, the positive side is that challenges like this teach us to never take things like seeing family for granted again. The negative side is that I MISS THEM. I told my BFFFRMI (Best friend forever for real, mean it) Mary, that they were in Searcy without me, and she said "Is it okay if I drive down and see them? Because your family is legit." I agree. They are, in fact, legit. Anyway, my reasoning for writing this is to say that though I complain, I am glad that they got to spend time together and I realize that this was a lesson that I would inevitably have to learn. .. but I was still sad. In fact, it made me paint this:

Not a great picture, but hopefully it still captures the turmoil I was feeling at the time.

Today, I went on a girls from church date to Oxburgh Hall (which we will have to go back to because the inside was occupied), a pub for lunch, and a few antique shops. I bought a very large glass bottle that I will, at some point, find a good use for.

An aerial photo of Oxburgh hall. It has a moat!!

Tomorrow will be exciting because Kyle is competing in the Liberty olympics! He is competing in the 100m relay, and Ultimate frisbee. I'll try and take some action shots while I play cheerleader. :)
 We love you all!

Time is going by entirely too fast

   Poor Tesla was stung by a bee today. She sported a cartoonish fat lip for a good five minutes before looking normal again, and continues to try and catch bees in her mouth every chance she gets. I took a page out of "Marmie knows how to fix everything 101" and rubbed a baking soda paste on her mouth, which made her look a little rabid, so I tried to keep her indoors after that.  A woman who was shopping with her son yelled at me to get the stinger out, or Tesla would die... I tried to tell her that not many dogs are THAT allergic to one bee sting, and that it was a bumble bee.. its stinger has no barbs, so it gets to keep it after it stings you.(Thank you, Harding biology dept) She then left me alone and went back to yelling at her son. He and I shared a sympathetic look. 
    Two weeks ago, Kyle and I went to Great Yarmouth for our anniversary, and the first day was AWESOME. We walked on the pier, shopped,  rode rides, saw a movie, had dinner, took a carriage ride, and played in one of the many arcades on the promenade. The next day was not as awesome, however. I woke up at 4AM with THE PLAGUE, which I had apparently gotten from the two girls I babysat on Friday. I hung out on the bathroom floor for 2 hours, pondering my mortality and trying to give Kyle more time to sleep before I woke him up and asked him to go to the drug store. Super fun times. I won't get into all of the wonderful details of my anniversary stomach bug, but it definitely made me grateful for modern medicine. When we got home, Tesla instantly became worried that I was dying and would not let me out of her sight. She cuddled with me for 8 hours straight, until I started to act a little more alive. Hopefully soon, Kyle and I can go out to eat or something to make up for me being dead on our actual anniversary. :-/
     We are celebrating Kyle's first year in the Air Force this week, which is hard to believe. It has been a busy year and we are incredibly thankful for the opportunity and adventure! We hope and pray that everyone back home is happy and healthy. :)