Welcome to the world Kipton James Starke

June 10, 2011
7:31 am
8lbs 13 oz

20 1/2 inches

The final week

The week before the baby came I actually felt pretty great considering I was 9 months pregnant. Sunday, June 5 I did not sleep very well at all that night. The next day at school was rough. Tuesday, despite being 95 degrees, working in a building without air conditioning, kids with no motivation to be at school (2 days left) and my classroom on the 2nd floor, I actually felt great. That night I got my burst of energy. I was up until 11:00 cleaning baby equipment, getting the rest of the baby stuff put together, and doing laundry. I thought for sure it was going happen in the following 24 hours, but it didn't. I went to school for the last day with kids and it was again 90+ degrees! This day I did not feel very good. If it weren't for the fact that we went to the air conditioned bowling alley in the afternoon I probably would have had to go home after lunch. Thursday I tried to spend as much quality time with Macayla as possible. We read tons of books, went shopping, went out to lunch and watched a movie. That night my mom came so she could be with Macayla on Friday. Jason was very busy Thursday night finishing things up in the soon to be finished basement. He was doing his own nesting. Even though we had to be up at 3:45 Friday morning, we did not make it to bed until 11! The pics are from the night before going to the hospital.

Still trucking along...

Macayla: We can tell that Macayla senses that something is about to change. She is has been very clingy to me lately, which is unusual for her. Naps and bedtime have become very challenging. During nap time she just wants to play. When it is bedtime she doesn't want us to leave. Hopefully she will snap out of this phase before baby comes! As far as potty training goes, she stay dry in her pullup for most of the day. At home she wants to be very independent. We will ask her if she needs to go and when she does she will start running to the bathroom. If we get up she stops in her tracks, points her finger at us and says "NO!". She wants to go into the bathroom, pull down her pullup, go potty, and wipe all by herself. When she is done she will come find us.

Jason: Jason's travel has minimized and will remain day trips until well after the baby is born. Although he has been home, much of his time has been in the basement finishing up all the odds and ends. We ordered the carpet today and should have furniture ordered by the end of the weekend. For not having very much experience, Jason has done an AWESOME job with the basement. We are very proud of his work.

Me: Although with the humidity yesterday I became "puffy" by the end of the day, the water retention that was so terrible with Macayla is almost non-existent with this pregnancy. I am pretty slow moving, but for the most part I am feeling pretty good. I was just telling Jason the other night that I remembered being miserable by this point with Macayla and wouldn't even say I am feeling "bad" at this point with this pregnancy. Although I have been contracting a lot more lately and it is getting uncomfortable, I have not been "keeping track" of them. I figure that when I can't walk I will know it is the real deal!

Baby: Continues to grow. I can tell based on the movement that the baby is getting crammed in there and probably isn't too comfortable either. He has dropped and been in the "down" position for a couple of weeks. He will be making his arrival shortly after 7:00am on Friday, June 10 via c-section unless I go into labor earlier.

36 weeks and counting...

In the past week I have really started to slow down. I still have better days than others but my movement getting from place to place is much much slower. My irritability has increased and patience level has decreased. I am getting a lot of practice removing myself from situations and counting to 30 :). With Macayla I had TERRIBLE swelling at the end of my pregnancy...knock on wood...so far I haven't had very much swelling/water retention.

This weekend my parents came to help me get more ready for the arrival of this little guy. We cooked several meals that could be portioned out and froze. We have 11 meals all set and ready to go for Jason, Macayla and I in the freezer. In addition I got a robe and pjs for the hospital, bought a non-pink crib sheet, curtains for the baby's room, a rug for the baby's room and newborn diapers. I still have plenty to get done before the baby comes, but none of which HAS to be done prior to the baby.

Taking things day by day....

Another trip to the hospital...

Two weeks ago I ended up in the hospital again. Within the previous few days I had been "contracting" more often and stronger. I didn't think too much of it since I had gotten such strong Braxton Hicks with Macayla. The evening I ended up in the hospital the pains were feeling different and much lower so I decided to start keeping track. Over the course of 90 minutes I was consistently having contractions 5 minutes apart. They were not extremely intense but definitely uncomfortable. I took a bath to see if it would help and it didn't. They weren't getting stronger but were consistently 5 minutes apart. With Macayla they would be 5 minutes, 2 minutes, back up to 7 minutes and down to 3 minutes apart...so I was concerned that they were so consistent (usually a big indicator between braxton hicks and the real thing). Jason finally convinced me to call the hospital. I explained the situation and that I had been in 10 days prior...they told me I needed to head in to get checked out. At this point it was 9:45 pm. We called my friend to come over to be with Macayla and by 10:30 we were heading to the hospital.
While at the hospital my contractions continued to be 5 minutes apart. Long story short...the doctor on call made the decision to give me the "shot" again to stop the contractions. 34 weeks is still to early if all can be helped. We ended up getting home about 1:45am. I DID go to work the next day....struggled with only 4 hours of sleep.

You know you are very pregnant when...

• You have a hard time tying your shoe


• You try to fit through smaller spaces than you can actually fit through (i.e. behind the desk of a student and end up bumping them in the head with your belly)


• It takes all your strength and effort to turn over in bed


• You can't cross your legs anymore because your belly is so low and in the way


• It takes 5x times longer to walk anywhere compared to most people


• You lose your breath walking up a flight of stairs due to very limited lung capacity because all of your organs are smushed


• It is normal to get up 3-4 times during the night to go to the bathroom


• You either have tons of energy to get stuff done (nesting) or no energy at all (almost 9 months prego)


• Students are entertained by your dancing belly as you are trying to teach

33+ along...32 week picture

If I would have written this post a week ago I would have told you that things have been going great....I have been feeling awesome compared to what I remembered at this point with Macayla...I am still moving at a decent pace.... but then this week happened....

If you look at my pregnancy calendar that I have been keeping notes on you would see that I wrote on Monday that I had an awesome day as far as how I felt. Tuesday night after dinner I felt very nauseous and had terrible heart burn...these two things may or may not be related to what happened the next day.

Before I continue I have to note that Jason left for Iowa on Sunday straight from Minocqua and was planning on being gone until Friday for work.

Wednesday morning I woke up with a scare, I was bleeding. Within a few minutes of my alarm going off, I had called my neighbor Cathy, my friend Heather and the hospital. Cathy was over within a few minutes and I explained to her what was going on. She was able to comfort me as I was obviously in tears while I waited for Heather to pick me up to take me to the hospital. Although I was very nervous about what was going on and not sure what would cause me to bleed, within 20-30 minutes of being awake I was feeling the baby move.

As we were about to leave for the hospital, the plaster guy showed up at the front door (before 7am), I looked at him and told him..."Just so you know, I am heading to the hospital". He pretty much was speechless, not sure what to say. Heather got me to the hospital, while Cathy took Macayla next door.

To make a long story short I will just bullet point it:

• Jason had turned his phone off during the night b/c he forgot his charger at the previous hotel


• The hospital staff did not act as if this was a huge emergency


• Finally got a hold of Jason, but couldn't really tell him much b/c the doctor hadn't been in to see me yet


• My doctor was actually at the hospital for deliveries and a c-section that day


• Doctor told me that several things could have caused the bleeding


• Within 45 minutes of being at the hospital contractions started...not strong but contractions...bleeding had stopped


• They told me that it was unlikely that the baby would come b/c there were several things that could be done to stop contractions


• Jason and I decided that he shouldn't get in the car and speed to GB, but understood that things could change and he could miss the baby being born


• Step 1 to stop contractions: Drink lots of water and juice....this didn't work, contractions continued and started getting a little stronger


• Step 2 to stop contractions: IV fluids, About the time I was hooked up to my second bag of fluids I started getting a pain in my back. Heather tried to massage it but it didn't do anything but irritate it more. It started out dull but with in 20-30 minutes the pain in my back was severe. It was realized that I was having back labor, on top of stronger contractions, when the pain in my back would intensify and then release over and over again. I could barely walk when the pain was peaking.


• Step 3 to stop contractions: muscle relaxer shot. About 5 minutes after the shot, my mom arrived at the hospital. The nurse had me lay on my side with a heated blanket. Within 30 minutes the contractions had subsided! :)


• The doctor came in around 1:15 and told me that since the contractions had been stopped for awhile that I was free to go home.


• I had to take it easy the next couple of days, but no bed rest...I actually went to work the next day.

My mom spent Wednesday night with Macayla and I so I didn't have to worry about taking care of Macayla. Thursday at work I sat as much as I could and drank as much water as possible. I did okay, but definitely hit a wall by the end of the school day. Thursday night Heather came over (which actually we had planned on Sunday) and was able to help me with some things around the house. As she helped me around the house, I definitely started nesting. I got a spurt of energy and wanted to get EVERYTHING off my to-do list. Although we got a lot accomplished, I forced myself to stop when she went home around 8:00, and put my feet up. I feel back to the way I had felt the week before.

**Hopefully what happened on Wednesday was a fluke and Baby Boy Starke won't be arriving for 6 more weeks.