Thread: Amber's (AmberC727) Lodge (prenatal)!!

Welcome to your lodge, Amber!

I can't believe Oct. mamas are hitting 36 weeks . . . wow.

We look forward to your story

Welcome!!

First Oct mama with a lodge! Yikes! Welcome to your lodge!

Not the first, but definitely one of my favs. Welcome!

Nope...not the first October mama with a lodge...Kris and maybe a couple other's beat me to it .

Thanks Kris! You're so sweet!

I can't believe I'm 36 weeks already. I've been reading these lodges since the beginning of this pregnancy wondering if I would EVER get to 36 weeks...it seemed like time was dragging so slowly. And here I am...WOO-HOO!

I'm going to do a formal introduction later on today, I just wanted to stop by because I'm so stinkin' excited to have a lodge and say hello. Now...I've got to go lay down with my handy-dandy rice sock. This kid is causing chaos already this morning!

Welcome to your lodge. I can't wait to hear your story!

Alicia

Welcome!!

I'm Amber, I'm 25 years old, and I'm married to Mike who is 36. The two of us met online in April 2005 and were married on July 27, 2006. We eloped in NYC...it was wonderful.

(I am a very visual person, so I'll be posting lots of pictures in this lodge most likely).

This is us on our wedding day:


We have one dog, he's a 3 year old Shih Tzu named Avery. He's actually my dog, I had him before I met Mike, and Mike doesn't really claim him, LOL. He's a very calm, laid back dog...he rarely barks (only when someone comes to the door) and he's very good with kids. I think he's going to ignore the baby all together.

Here's Avery:


I am a Registered Nurse, and have worked primarily in pediatric oncology, and most recently, in labor and delivery. When I was in nursing school, I thought that labor and delivery was the place for me, but I didn't want to start out there...I wanted to get some experience under my belt first. The offer came along for me to work in peds oncology at the UNC Children's Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC. I worked there for a couple of years, met a lot of wonderful children who changed my life forever, including one six year old I will never forget. I got quite close to her and her family, and vowed to myself if she did not beat her leukemia, I had to change jobs and do something else. She passed away in July 2004. I started in labor & delivery in December of that same year. It didn't take me long to learn however that there was something not quite right...but I didn't figure it out until I got pregnant with this baby. I realized that I had lied to a lot of women, but not because I meant to...it's just because it's what I had been taught! In nursing school, and when I was trained in L&D, there was a lot of things that were put into my head that were "no big deal" including epidurals, inductions and c-sections. I don't know how many times I've told women that "epidurals are completely safe". Why it took me getting pregnant with my first baby to realize all this? I have no idea. Anyway...I now know that working in L&D in a hospital setting is NOT the right place for me. If I ever work as a nurse again, it'll be in a birth center with midwives. More on that at a later time.

My husband Mike works for an engineering company...he's their IT guy...the only one they have, so it's a very stable job (thank God!). We're blessed because it is a very family oriented company, and there are a lot of nice people working there, so he's in a really good position.

Now...onto this pregnancy...

This is our first child, and we thought right up until our 18 week ultrasound that we were having a girl because we had been dreaming about a girl for 8 months. It was the same little girl in both of our dreams...so it came as quite a shock when the ultrasound tech typed, "BOY" on the screen. I was speechless for about a minute. Not that it mattered what the sex was...we just thought it was a girl. Well...that was God playing with us I guess, LOL. We've named him Evan Gabriel. Evan means "God is Good" and Gabriel means "God is my strength". Mike's father was given the honor of choosing the middle name, but we maintained veto power, which we did have to use in the beginning. The first two choices for middle names were Kenya and Quebec...but we told him our child couldn't be named after geography...so thankfully on the third try, he did better!

This pregnancy has been mostly un-eventful. For some reason, I had the most horrible sciatic nerve pain in the first trimester, when I was 6-7 weeks along. It completely stumped my doctor, who wrote me a prescription for muscle relaxers...which I never filled. I sought help from a chiropractor and a physical therapist. The pain was so bad, I couldn't walk, and had to quit my job as a L&D nurse because of it. I came home from work in tears, and couldn't even walk to the bathroom by myself. I haven't had that problem since though, thank God! My weight gain this pregnancy has been very good (22 pounds as of 34 weeks) and my blood pressure has been fine (though I do have white coat syndrome it appears).

Currently, I am measuring about 4 weeks ahead, though this only started as of about 34 weeks. My fluid levels and everything are fine...so I'm not quite sure why I'm measuring so big. The midwife didn't seem concerned.

Here's Evan at 34 weeks...check out his cheeks!


Speaking of my midwife...I'm delivering in a free-standing birth center with a team of midwives. One of the midwives there delivered me when I was born, so hopefully she will have the honor of delivering little Evan too! I have a picture of her holding me after I was born, I'll have to get it scanned in so I can post it.

Mike and I took the Bradley series, and we're ready to meet this little guy! At the delivery, we're going to have two of my sisters there, and that's it. My mom wants to be there, but she would cause entirely too much stress and frustration for me...so she's going to stay home. She's not happy about that, but this is my delivery, not hers...so too bad.

I think that's about all I can think of to share with you as far as an introduction goes. You can see...I like to talk, LOL...and post pictures. I'm looking forward to sharing my journey with you ladies!

Thanks for the intro and I LOVE the pictures. You and your husband make a beautiful couple, I'm sure your son will be just as lovely. I, too, went into nursing thinking that L&D was for me, and it wasn't until after I worked in a hospital for my maternity rotation that I realized I'd never make it. I've thought about other options, but honestly I make a good med/surg nurse and so I'll probably stay there after I get my license. Hopefully you'll find your niche in nursing, or discover that SAHM is right for you! We're all different.

I look forward to following your birth journey, thanks for sharing.

I am getting so frustrated with my mother that I'm getting to the point where I don't know how to handle her anymore. Here's the brief history:

I am the oldest of 5 kids, all of us born naturally, in birth centers, with midwives. All of us were breastfed except for #5. After #5 was born, my mother got her tubes tied, and went into a serious case of PPD, and she mentioned it to her doctor (don't know why she went to the doctor with this instead of the MW) and he medicated her with Valium and who knows what else. This started the ball rolling...she started back drinking, and before too long...started doing various types of drugs (pot, cocaine, prescription pain pills, etc). My little sister Hannah (#5) was only about 2 months old or so when this started...hence why she wasn't breastfed very long. I was 12, and it became my job to help make bottles, change diapers, and all my siblings and I pitched in to do the housework and cooking. It was family drama for a while, and finally my dad told her she had to decide which life she wanted, alcohol and drugs, or her family, including her new baby and four older children. She chose the alcohol and drugs. She left...and never came back.

Needless to say, I had some resentment toward her for quite a while, but through prayer, I was finally able to forgive her for what she had done, though I believe you can forgive someone, but that doesn't mean you have to spend time with them. Every time I try to let my mother back into my life, she tries to take over, make everything about her, and I end up getting hurt again. I've found that cutting ties with her is the only way to maintain my sanity, and forgiveness.

Well...now I'm pregnant with her first grandchild...and since I'm getting closer to my due date, she's trying to weasel her way back in...and take control of everything. She came to my baby shower this past Sunday, and had to be the center of attention the whole time. Shouldn't the pregnant mama be the center? I thought so...but no...it was my mother. By the time it was all over with, she was mad at all of my sisters and I, and she was crying uncontrollably, and none of us knew why. She's mad that I won't let her be there for the delivery (can you imagine all that stress?). I called her on Monday to try to talk about all of this, and we had a good 45 minute conversation, and she seemed ok with everything. She was however very angry when I finally told her I had to go because I needed to eat dinner, and my hubby and I had to go to church for a class. See...it's all about her. She called me today while I was napping, left a message, and before I had time to call her back, she called again and fussed at me saying that she knew I was uncomfortable but I didn't need to take it out on everyone...and why didn't I call her back...and she's sorry I don't want to talk to her...blah blah blah.

I can only imagine this situation is going to get worse before Evan is born, and I need to figure out how to deal with it. Perhaps just not answering when she calls is the best idea, because I really can't talk to her! It's a good thing that she lives 2 hours away, and doesn't know where the birth center is! I think she's going to try to stress me out as much as she can, and I can't let that happen. I need to keep my mind positive, and my body relaxed...I'm not going to let her impact this labor!

That's probably the most drama that is going on in my life right now...family dynamics sure do get interesting when you add kids to the mix huh?