Monday, March 19, 2012

Aria is 3 months?!

Wow.  I cannot believe that Aria is 3 months!  She is so big!  I think she is probably over 13 pound!  Thankfully, I am getting stronger, so she doesn't really feel much heavier to me.   lol  We went down to Houston for spring break, and Travis got a job!!  I am so happy because it is a job that he is really excited about, the salary is great, and it is in Houston.  So we are still close to Austin, but we are really close to our family!

New things Aria can do:
1. She likes to grab things and figure stuff out for her hands.  I like to sign her the ABC's, and she looks at my hands and moves her fingers around.  
2. She can make some very interesting babbling noises.  Especially when she is hungry.  We were on our way home from North by Northwest, and she was hungry in the car.  I swear she was cussing us out in baby language!
3. She loves me and wants me and misses me!  The other night she was upset with Travis and was happy when I got there!  She always smiles at me, so I will smile back at her.

On a weird side note, the top and side of my left thumb have been numb for the past day and a half.  I don't know why, but if it isn't better soon, I am going to have to go to a doctor because there is no reason why a part of your body should be numb unless it just fell asleep.

Uhm so weight loss.... not so much.  I am probably gaining muscles and losing fat, but my weight isn't changing :(     My dad weight trained me, and my arms are soooo sore.  But it is awesome.  I need to do more challenging weight training.  Like training with weights that I can only rep 5-8 times rather than 15+ times.

okies Aria is awake!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Change in Pace

Updates!!

1. Aria is 2 months and a week old!
2. She sleeps through the night about 2/3 of the time.  And I don't mean that 5 hour B.S. definition of sleeping through the night.  I mean like 7-9 hours through the night.   WOOHOO.  I feel awesome.
3. She is a little colic-y from about 5 or 7 till bed time, but it isn't too bad.  She just has some painful gas.  I completely eliminated dairy out of my diet, and it has helped her a little and me a lot!  I feel a lot less sluggish.
4. HAHA so she is in the 25% for height, 50% for weight, and 90% for head circumference.  Note: I had a huge head as a child.  They took me to a head doctor to make sure that I didn't have hydrocephalus, and Travis was the same way.  So head size is definitely genetic.
5. She can bare all of her weight on her legs! But she can't balance to stand on her own.
6. She could do a mini push-up a month ago.
7. She smiles a lot and has little conversations.  She will gew and gah at the baby in the mirror and then squeal when it doesn't respond.  She also is learning other sounds like boo.  She is trying really hard with boo.
8. She has already had her first cold.  She didn't like it very much.
9.  She looks like we took Travis's baby picture and put on my baby picture's nose and mouth.  Oh yes, Travis was a chubby bunny.  It took him a while to learn how to sit because he was so fat he just rolled over. Who would have thought?

So I might change the shift of this thing.  I have several goals that I want to accomplish by my birthday in June.   They are all fitness related, but I don't really have anything else that I care about besides Aria and Travis.  I mean dancing and singing, yes, and dancing is on the list:
1. Be back down to 115  (136 right now... It is going to take a while)
2. Run 10 miles (Not quite a half marathon, but I have already run 8 miles.  So I might bump that to a half marathon)
3. Run a 6:45 minute mile (I haven't even tested that yet.  I know that running on an 8 minute mile pace is exhausting for me.  It is still taking a while for my lower abs to regain their strength, and believe it or not, you really need decent lower abs to run, or walk, at a fast pace.)
4. Do 50 guy push-ups.  (Yeah! Not going to be too hard... bouncing Aria all the time has given me more arm strength)
5. Get all of my splits back.  I didn't lose my left and right, but I did lose my middle splits.
6. Be awesome at dance.  (Yes, that is the goal.)
7. Get a 6-pack.  A visible one!

So I've got a lot to do.  I do a lot of exercising.  The past couple days it has been:
Sunday: run 8 miles
Monday: run 3 miles and do various strength exercises
Tuesday: random strength stuff
Wednesday: Run 3 miles, 30 minutes pilates, 1 hour dance

Yeah we will see what I do today, but if you haven't guess, the new motif of this blog will be to write about accomplishing my goals.  I will still update some about Aria.  I am sure I will probably talk about her in every post because obviously my number one goal is to be a good mom for Aria.  But I think that making yourself happy is also a large part of being a good mom.  And because all of my goals are related to fitness,  they are attainable with Aria, and they set a good example for her in maintaining a healthy lifestyle!

That is all for this post because Aria is waking up from her nap and being waaaay too cute.

<3 Cara

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Where did my life go?

So, we are trying to make a routine for ourselves.  It is really hard.  We go to bed at like 11 p.m. and wake up at like noon, and we will end up only having slept for 7 and a half hours.  Feedings in the middle of the night take a lot of time.  She has been having a lot of gas pains, so we have to stay up with her while she is having them.  

I am really thankful that I have Travis here for a while.  I don't know if I could really do it alone at this point.  I probably just wouldn't eat.  It isn't complicated.  It is just draining.   I know it will get better; we are just waiting for that to happen.

Because of lack of sleep, seesawing hormones, and having no time for myself, I definitely have the baby blues.  I wouldn't say I have postpartum depression or anything, but I am a little crazy.  I was really happy in the hospital, but about two days after I got home, I started getting weepy, feeling anxious and overwhelmed, and feeling upset.  I really want it to go away, and I know it will go away within the month.  It just makes the whole experience a lot less enjoyable.  In the morning, once I am awake, I feel a lot happier, and I enjoy her. However, once I get tired, I sometimes feel really upset.  I won't go through everything I'm feeling, but it just is such a sharp contrast to how I felt those first couple days.  It upsets me.

I don't know what I expected to feel.  50-80% of women get the baby blues, and it resolves itself within the first few weeks.  I just wish I could feel happy all the time.  She is sweet and cute, and I know I love her.  I just don't feel it.  Particularly between the hours of 10pm and 7am....

It doesn't help that I have now become an obsessive neat freak.  Everything has to look great whenever I go to sleep. Yesterday, when she was sleeping, instead of sleeping or relaxing, I decided that I needed to organize my dresser and clean out my closet.

Yes, I might be losing my mind.  If you find it, please give it back to me.   I could really use it.

~Cara

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The baby is BORN!!!

Aria Kay McGarrah
Born 12/16/11 at 8:54 p.m.
Weight: 6lbs. 12 oz.
Length: 19 inches

I was set to go to my 39 week doctors appointment which is right next to the hospital.  The night before, we watched the Republican debate and went to bed early, so we could wake up at 9 for our appointment.  I woke up at 1 am and couldn't go back to sleep until 3am.   At 9, I naturally woke up to go to the bathroom, and I felt a bunch of trickling down my leg on the walk to the bathroom.  My water broke!  I decided that I would take a shower and get everything ready so that I could go to my appointment and make sure that it was amniotic fluid.  We got there, and the doctor sent me over to the hospital.

We went over to the hospital, and they put me on a pitocin drip.  I was apparently having contractions, but I wasn't feeling them.  So the nurses slowly moved up my pitocin dosage until I started having regular contractions.   When I came into the hospital, I was 4 cm and 90% effaced, and by the time I started to feel them, I was 5.5 cm and fully effaced.   The doctor suggested that I get an epidural at that point, but I decided to wait until I was in more pain so that the epidural wouldn't freak me out as much.  Oh, and putting in the IV was kinda painful.  We had a little trouble getting it taped down.

So, Travis's parents came by, we called people, and the contractions got worse and worse.  Finally, I decided that I needed an epidural.  I was about 8-9 (out of 10) cm dilated at that point, and I got it.  The epidural hurt a little bit, but my contractions were bad enough to make the pain from the epidural seem minimal.  After I got the epidural, I felt pretty good.  Right after that, the doctor came in and said I was 9 cm and going to be ready to push pretty soon.

Every time I had a contraction, I felt like my butt cheek was spasm-ing.  And a few people came in until I got checked again.  She didn't really have to check me because they could see Aria's head.  So, it was time to push, and they were actually afraid to put my feet in the stirrups until everything was ready because Aria was already starting to crown.  I only pushed for 15 minutes or less, and she was here!

They stitched me up because I did tear a tiny bit, but I really didn't feel anything.  Apparently, I have a high pain tolerance because before I got my epidural, my contractions were really strong and only a minute apart.  I really just was so afraid of the epidural that I dealt with a lot before I caved.  Everything was really very easy.  The worst part was getting the IV.

When they put Aria on me, the first thing I felt was honestly shock and fear.  I had no idea what to do, and I felt really helpless.  Then they took her away and did her APGAR score.  When they brought her back, I slowly started to feel a connection, and after an hour of having her in my arms, I didn't want to let her go.  She fed very easily.  We took pictures, and she actually opened her eyes and smiled!  It freaked out the doctors!  They were amazed by her and said how beautiful she was.

So that was the birth of my sweet baby girl.  Now, we are doing well.  We are getting a fair amount of sleep, and she is feeding well.  It kind of hurts sometimes... but it isn't too bad.   I stopped taking my hydrocodon so that I wouldn't be making her sleepy all the time.  So my stitches hurt.  In fact, we went out to do some errand running today, and it started to hurt the stitches.  I had to nurse her twice while we were sitting in the parking lot.  It wasn't too bad, but I am pretty sure that 3 random people may have seen my boob today....  Oh well.  I think going through birth and having a bunch of people stare at your special places makes you a LOT less modest.  Especially when you boobs are used as a functional thing and not a sexual one.  I think my perspective on boobs in general has changed dramatically.  

Any way, I guess I will end this post.  I will try to update everything as I go along.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

39 weeks.

Yeah... woohoo.  39 Weeks.  I'm still pregnant.  I'm still contracting.  Nothing good enough to go to the hospital.  Tomorrow is really 39 weeks, but I thought I would go ahead and post while I wait for Travis to finish eating.  We are going to HEB.  I keep on shopping for like 4 days at a time because I don't know when she is going to come.   Probably never.  I am just going to be pregnant forever.  
Travis still doesn't have a job, and we thought that he would by now which is stressful.  And he didn't do amazing this semester.... *bikes*.   So maybe stress will force Aria out because I think the toxic hormones in my body would make a baby WANT to come out.   But who knows.  I might have to just be induced.

Monday, December 12, 2011

I'm still pregnant?

Yeah.  I guess I have a lot to update about this week.

On December 2nd, I went into my OB's office and found out that I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  After getting checked, we went to San Antonio, and on the way home, I started having really bad contractions.   They finally stopped.
A large portion of that week I had little false contractions, and they hurt.  We kept on thinking in was going to be it, and nothing happened.
So on December 9th, we had another doctors appointment.  The doctor was like- you're still here?  Yes, I am regrettably still here.  So she proceeded to measure how long my uterus is, and she had to push like almost into my boobs.  The doctor was like, wow that baby has nowhere left to go.  So then, she proceeded to check my cervix, and I was 3.5 cm dilated.  Generally, you are admitted to the hospital around 3 cm, so it was kind of annoying that I was still floating around this area.  The doctor also said that my cervix was really soft, so while she was up there, she decided to stretch it out and strip my membranes.
Stripping your membranes is when the doctor goes in past your cervix and detaches the amniotic sac from the inside of your cervix and uterus.  If your body is ready (which mine was because my cervix is so soft) stripping membranes causes 2/3 women have their baby within 72 hours.  After she did this, she told me she thought I was going to be one of the 2 women.  She seemed to think that this would work.

Well I am here to tell you that she was wrong.  That happened Friday at noon, and it is now Monday night.  I had some really bad contractions on Friday night, but they were only in 30-40 minute bursts.  Yesterday and today, I really haven't had many contractions.  I just feel horrible.  I am very sore in my back and in my abdomen.  Also, I am really sleepy all the time.  I think that I am just going to give up until Friday.  They can induce you at 39 weeks or later.   I know that her due date isn't until the 22nd or the 25th, but she should really be out by now.  In fact, I didn't even have to bother doing another ultrasound because I am pretty sure my doctor thought that I wouldn't be at the next appointment.   Maybe they will strip my membranes again, and she will come out.  Friday would be a good day because Travis's mom will be done with her work by then and can come down to Austin.

I guess that it just feels like I am wasting my life right now.  She is developed... my body is ready for her to be out... and I really am in too much discomfort to enjoy things very much.  I get occasional bursts of energy, but they are generally at night when I should be winding down for bed.  I can't enjoy just hanging around the house and watching movies with Travis.  I need to finish decorating for Christmas, but I physically can barely get off the couch.  I kind of did that one to myself though because on Saturday and Friday we walked a LOT to try to get her to come. So walking feels like I am 200+ pounds with the leg strength of a beagle.

I'll try to remember to update on Friday or if I happen to go into labor before that.  I am thinking that it is not very likely though.   Oh well.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Hanging out in the meter lab

So I am hanging out in the engineering building because Travis is working on his project, and I finally gave up sitting at home by myself.  The chair is definitely not super comfortable after more than 10 minutes in here but oh well!  I had hopes that I might run into some of our mutual friends while I was up here, but apparently, every engineer in the world comes up to the meter lab at the end of the semester.  lol.

Uhm. I guess on Thursday it will be 38 weeks.  I have another appointment on Friday.  I am kind of hoping that we won't make it till Friday, but for some reason, I have been doing really well today.  I haven't had any contractions or anything of that nature.  So I might make it to Friday.  I think that once Travis gets through his two finals, I am going to start taking measures into my own hands.  Basically, in one week, I am just going to go ahead and send myself into labor... or at least do everything possible to make it happen.  I'm thinking : walk to Starbucks, get a cinnamon dolce latte, and continue to walk around central park as I drink it.  Then, sit on my bouncy ball and bounce for an hour.  Then, we will go get something spicy.  I guess Mexican food because I am not very good with stuff like Indian food.

Haha.  I have it alllll planned out.  Haha.  She should be born on 12/12/11 so that her first birthday is 12/12/12!  Ya!  That's why she hasn't come yet.   Or maybe I just feel super great today because I am about to go into labor.  They do say that that can happen the day before.

Okay, I am definitely running out of things to talk about, but I am kind of bored.   So I don't really have much else to do except type on here.....

So I decided to get on pinterest....  that was a BAD idea.  I am so freaking hungry now, and all that is around are computers and people.  Tempting.    Actually, I finally got a craving for Kirby Queso.  Maybe I can go to torchies.  I feel bad because we just got food to cook, but I don't think I can last another 20 minutes here, 10 minutes home, and 30 minutes to cook.  Omg... that is a whole HOUR.

MEH