An (unintentional) Hospital Practice Run

Allow me to set the scene (ahem)...

I'm waiting in line at my local Target Pharmacy to pick up my medication refill. Thinking man, it sucks they've had to up my meds...oh well, we all knew it would happen...but WOW-my back is really hurting all of the sudden. Maybe it's time to switch lead at work to something that fits a bit better...

Refill in hand, I begin to browse through kitchen clearance (a favorite of mine) when my back spasms in a way that is NOT my normal back pain. 

Driving home, back is a bit better....I decide I'll get a pedicure and use the lovely massage chair...owner tells me it will be a 5 minute wait, and my response is "Perfect! I'll use the bathroom and be right back!"

Pee, go to wipe, and cue freak out: I'm bleeding. And not the "touch of brown" or whatever, BRIGHT RED BLOOD, from my vagina (I checked). shit, Shit, SHIT!

I flush, rush out of the bathroom, tell the lady (who now has a chair and water ready for me) that I can't stay, pointing to my belly and saying "baby problems". I hop in the car and head to my house, calling my OB's office on the way. 

**ring ring ring**we're sorry, all of our operators are busy currently assisting other callers, please wait and we will answer your call in the order it was received**ring ring ring** FOR SIX MINUTES! By the time someone answers, I'm a mess...they connect me with the nurse after I answer a few questions, and she tells me to go straight to the L&D unit. I grab my bag (which I'd packed the day before), pet the dog, and walk out the door. 

Once there, things went smoothly (mostly). I was checked in promptly, but the nurse was helping in an emergent c-section. Still feeling little girl kick, I was OK with waiting for a few minutes, though I was still a mess. By the time I got into the room, the bleeding had all but stopped. Still, 25 weeks is way too early to go into labor, and way too late to have vaginal bleeding, so I still got the whole shebang-especially considering my high risk factors. I got labs, another sono, and constant monitoring for three hours before it was determined that I could go home so long as I promised to come back if the bleeding returned. 

The bad news: It was a SUPER stressful ordeal.

The good news: I got a practice run of the hospital, and I learned a few things. Also, I know my cervix, placenta, labs, and baby are all looking good. I've had no bleeding since, and have spent the day chilling with the pup (which he is loving) and watching Dr. Who.

This weekend I'll be doing a post on packing the hospital bag, but here are a few random things I learned from yesterday's experience:
#1- You may want to think about buying a longer phone charger. I'm single and my mom lives 3 hours away, so I wanted to keep her up to date and let her know if and when she needed to get up here. Naturally when I arrived at the hospital, my cell phone battery was a whopping 9%. I plugged it in, but all of the outlets were behind the bed, making it so I couldn't charge and use simultaneously. They make long (6 to 10 ft) charger cords. I now have one purchased.

#2- Bring your own pillow. Yes, this seems pretty basic, but I know the hospital I'm delivering at advertises "premium linen". Malarkey...it's the same sheets and pillows I put on the exam table where I work.

#3- Prepare yourself and your info, and even then...prepare to be patient. I recommend you look at my post over prepping your papers, as this well help tremendously with check-in and initial triage. Even with all that done, I still felt like everything was taking an eternity, though it was kind of reassuring to hear little girl on the continuous monitor (which she kicked the crap out of).

I hope this helps! Happy Tuesday! 25 weeks today!!

Book Review:Natural Hospital Birth

I was super excited to read this book. My doula recommended it to me knowing that I am a high-risk mother who wants to birth in the hospital, but also wants a natural child birth if at all possible.

 Ms. Gabriel is a very experienced doula, as well as a medical anthropologist, so she obviously knows a thing or two about birthing babies! She pulls from her experiences both here in the US as well as her time in Russia when discussing ways to prepare yourself and your health team for a natural birth.

There are a few GREAT things about this book:
First, it discusses the importance of writing a birth plan tailored to you, far beyond the "check the box" templates you will find on many baby websites. She also discusses the importance of being respectful but firm with medical professionals, who in the US are mostly experienced in births with medical interventions.
Next, she introduces several tools to help you work with medical staff, and tricks to help avoid medical interventions.
Finally, she does a great job breaking down things you can do in each stage of labor in order to make the whole thing less scary and painful. Aka: early labor at home, drink a glass of wine, and sleep (yes, please!).
She does all of this while admitting and encouraging moms to remember that not everything can always go to plan, and sometimes medical interventions are, in fact, necessary (especially in high-risk situations).

Now, I did struggle with a few things in this book:
As a reminder: I am a medical professional. And that is where most of my issues with this book come from.
She paints most medical professionals in a bad light. Either they are too stubborn (doing things based on when it is convenient for them), or they are simply naive to the wonderful world of natural child birth.
Also, there are certain times when medical intervention is, in fact, necessary for good outcomes. These seem to be breezed over to the point where some are completely disregarded. I thought this gave a false sense of security to mothers who might not be a medically savvy as myself that when professionals recommend interventions, they are doing it for the reasons listed above. There are a couple of times when she is very praising of medical professionals, but it felt very "them vs. us" even though she repeatedly states the importance of birth being a TEAM process.

Overall, I thought it was a good book, but could definitely have been less biased. I was hoping for something more research based, and this was not that. If you are pretty confident you are interested in a natural birth, I highly recommend it, but if you are on the fence, I would wait until you've done some research on both sides before picking this bad boy up.

Happy Reading! 

Saving Bucks on Baby: Consignment Sales

Single Mum=Single Mum Finances

So...to save some cash, I've hit a few consignment sales (two today!).

While baby girl's nursery is mostly ready, there are still several small things I was hoping to get for a steal:

First off: baby socks! Why on earth are socks made of 5 inches of fabric a dollar per pair?

Secondly: I plan on cloth diapering, but I was wanting a diaper pail just for odor control.

Lastly: Nursing Camis: Why, WHY, WHY are these 30-40 dollars each?

So...I hit two sales today in two different cities around the metro, and came back with all of this:

I highly, highly recommend consignment sales (or shops) for baby stuff. I have now been to sales from two different companies, as well as two local shops.

Two large chain consignment sales are (use the links to find scheduled sales in your area)
Just Between Friends (jbfsale.com)
Kids Closet Connection (kidscloset.biz)

Today I got:
1 Diaper Champ-$8
1 Bundle Me car seat insulator-$12
1 Shopping Cart Cover-$9
1 Santa Dress (I couldn't resist!)-$3
1 Tub Toy Holder (the turtle)-$4
1 Car Seat Protector-$5
Assorted Child Locks-$2
2- Hooded Towels-$1
40 pairs of socks + 4 pairs of tights-$15
3-Nursing Camis-$15 ($5 each)
1- Maternity Jeans-$12
1-cloth diaper (never used)-$5
Total: $91
By my best guess (via internet research) that stuff would have cost: $330
So my total savings (approximately): 330-91=$239. Woot Woot!!

I also have a cloth diaper stash of 23 diapers for approximately $130 thanks to consignment sales and shops.

Glider Slipcover (with picture tutorial)

As part of my single mom=single income budget, I have decided to get as much for this baby (safely) secondhand as possible.

With that being said, I have AMAZING friends. One friend gave me her Pottery Barn Crib (for free!) because she doesn't want to move it. Another friend gave me this amazing find (she found it at a garage sale, and also refused to let me pay for it!)

Awesome, right?
Even better? All of the cushions are completely removable, and rectangular = EASY SLIPCOVERING!!
Now, I am not a seamstress. In fact, Home Economics was not my strongest class, despite my overall craftiness. So, I wanted to do minimal, easy sewing.
All of the tutorials I found on Pinterest required significantly more skills than I possess in the world of sewing, or they were actually recovering tutorials. I did not want to replace the fabric on the glider, just cover it.

So...

Here is a brief tutorial for you guys, and after an hour or two, you will get something like this:

I am going with a jungle/safari theme for baby girl's nursery. I still haven't decided what to do with the arm rests, I forsee some pockets to hold small things/mommy stuff.

First: select your fabric. I recommend something with a pattern (to hide stains), but not a super linear pattern (that's too much effort lining up things for this lady!). I also recommend getting fabric from the home decor section, as it will hold up longer.
I chose this fabric to go with my chosen nursery theme. I found it at JoAnn's fabric for 50% off, plus a 10% off with a student discount. I purchased a yard and a half of the fabric for just over 20 dollars (woot!).

Next, measure your fabric for cushion #1:
Now, some people would tell you to actually MEASURE said fabric. Despite being a self-proclaimed Type-A lady, I am not one of those people. I prefer the "lay the cushion on the fabric, wrap the fabric around, and cut" method.

After you've cut your fabric, you should hem your edges. I chose to only hem the edges that would stay exposed in the final product (at the zipper) as the sides would be sewn together.

Next, pin your edges so that your cushion will fit snugly. Once again, I did this by actually putting my cushion in the fabric (which should be inside out), pinning, and removing the cushion before sewing.
Another note: since I didn't want to sew my cushion inside the slipcover completely, I left the back side open, but had one side of the fabric a little longer, so I could tuck it in "envelope style". This eliminates the need for zippers/velcro, and allows the fabric a little room to move, so you don't burst your seams.

You will notice the edges are uneven here, that's because this 

cushion has an angle and is not equally thick throughout.

Pull out your cushion, sew your edges, trim your excess fabric (if desired), flip your slipcover right-side-out, and admire your handiwork:

Like I said before, I left one end significantly longer so the "tail" could be tucked in like an envelope. This will make insertion/removal of the cushion much easier, and also allows a little wiggle room in terms of the cushion changing shape under your weight. Tuck that "tail" in, place on your glider, and BAM! One cushion down!

Repeat the previous steps for the other cushions, and you're finished!

Great work!

Hospital Prep for the Type-A Lady: Part 1 (Templates Included)

Baby is almost to 24 weeks gestation!! Yay! With viability just around the corner, it is time for this mum to get started prepping. 

As I've said before, I'm pretty "Type-A". I am a person who feels more calm when I am in more control. The unknown makes me nervous (so, you can imagine this whole pregnancy thing has me going a little crazy!). I also know that some people are less inclined to be organized, or don't know where to start when it comes to prepping for a hospital visit. As both a single lady who has done hours of research on hospital prep, as well as a medical provider myself, I'm going to attempt to make this hospital prep something everyone can do:

I'm going to make this a 3-part series:

Prepping Papers (how to make sure your hospital check-in and home care are both well covered)

Prepping Bags (what to take TO the hospital)

Prepping Plan (how to make a birth plan that works for both you and your healthcare providers)

Today we are going to talk about prepping papers: AKA: What you can do in advance to make sure that both your hospital check in and your home care (if people are staying at your house/caring for your things) run smoothly. 

First of: Your medical information

This is one of the easiest things you can do that can make the biggest difference in your check-in at the hospital/birthing center. Provide your medical information. By having this all typed up, it allows you to focus on your labor, and not answering questions about your history. It also reduces the chance of you forgetting something important (aka: medication allergy) due to pain/distraction. 

As a former ER nurse who has checked in hundreds of patients, here is the info I find most helpful on a medical information sheet: 

• Your name
• Your date of birth
• Your primary care provider
• Your Obstetrician 
• Your Perinatologist (if applicable)
• Your insurance provider (don't worry, as a laboring woman if you forget your insurance card hospitals in the US with Emergency Room services are still required to care for you). 
• Your emergency contact 
• Your medical history (Hypertension, High Cholesterol, Asthma, Gestational Diabetes, Preeclampsia, and bleeding disorders are all appropriate things to list).  
• Your surgical history (joint surgeries, abdominal surgeries, anything beyond basic stitches goes here)
• Your current medications (include name, dose, and frequency)
• Medication Allergies: (include name and reaction) NOTE: nausea/vomiting is not technically an allergy, however it can still be listed as an intolerance-just be sure to list the reaction. Listing something as an allergy when it is really an intolerance can have terrible, terrible consequences. It takes a tool from the medical professionals trying to help you. Yes, nausea and vomiting are ZERO fun, but medication can be given to counteract that. Sometimes the drugs that work the best are the meanest. *I now step down from my nurse soapbox*
• Your last menstrual period
• Your estimated due date

If you'd like, I've also made a template for a basic medical information sheet here. Italics or asterisks should be replaced with appropriate names and numbers. 

Next up: Your Home Plan

My family all lives out of town, and will be staying at my house while I am in the hospital. They will also be in charge of taking care of my fur baby, Brody:

Brody is an 8-year-old Border Collie/Boxer mix. He is the most stable man in my life ;-)

Needless to say, taking care of him is very important to me, so I like to leave detailed instructions. I have sent this out to all of "my people": Immediate family and best friend.  

So...I also think a short document of house and childcare do's and don'ts is within reason. On my home plan, (template here) I have included: 

• Important phone numbers (hospital, OB, perinatologist, doula, emergency contacts, work, daycare)
• Alarm code 
• Hospital bag info
• Spare key info
• WiFi Password 
• Food and other random info (aka: where to find linens)
• Honey-do list (take advantage of this time to have other people tidy the house before you return home. This will also allow my siblings/dad to do something useful without being in the delivery suite.)

Whew-you've done a couple of things that will make your life easier! Great job!

Now...where to put these lovely new documents, you ask? 

I have a pretty sweet folder I have been keeping all of my info in, and I highly recommend you spend the $5 to purchase one for yourself. As I will be travelling several hours to attend one of my baby showers, and earlier in my pregnancy was out of state twice, I wanted a place to keep all of my papers (especially since medical documents are notoriously slow to get). In this folder, I have several sections, including: 

• Check-In Info (this is where your Medical Information Sheet should go, as long as a copy of your birth plan. 
• Doula Info
• Medical Records (sono reports, perinatologist consultations)
• Hospital Bills

Now you can just toss your folder in with your hospital bags, and you will be good to go!

I hope you guys found this helpful, and maybe for those other Type-A ladies out there, this can give you something productive to do to help you relax!

My Doula Decision

I think the first true test of being single mom for me is going to be...the actual labor!

I will be honest, it is so easy to feel jealousy toward those women who have a supportive partner throughout their pregnancy. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances of conception, I have no such partner. This certainly makes some things more difficult (as I am discovering). Some things I anticipated (aka: lifting the GIANT bag of dog food). However, I never realized what a battle lotion application could be.

Due to the new-found difficulty of some things, I've decided to spend some extra cash and contract services. I have a company scheduled to mow my lawn and remove snow throughout the winter, I pay a doggie daycare to watch the pup when I need to get certain things done, and I have paid a woman to be my go-to labor support.

Yep, I have a doula.

I am possibly the last person on earth I thought would contract with a doula service. I am a well educated medical professional, and the perception I had was that doulas are all touchy-feely, medical intervention avoiding people generally on the opposite side of my comfort spectrum. While that may be exactly what some people want and need throughout labor, I am not one of those people. However, I do need someone to take me to the hospital, hold my hand, and help me focus throughout the labor. As much as I pride myself in being a strong single woman, I do not feel I should go through the labor of my daughter alone.

So, about a month ago, I began my search for a doula. Here are some recommendations for those currently searching or considering a doula for their labor:
1)Does your insurance cover (at least partially) doula services?
2)Is the doula certified? Is this an important factor for you?
3) What is it you are wanting from your doula (for me, I wanted to know someone would be with me the whole way through. Some agencies only covered 12 hours of labor, which was not adequate for me)?
4)What is your personality/feelings toward doulas (I will admit, I was not super fond of the idea of a doula at first, largely because I am terribly blunt, and was afraid I would hurt someone's feelings, and I didn't want the stress of that on top of labor)?
5)What services do they offer? How many prenatal consultations/planning sessions are included? Do they offer postpartum services?
6)What is their back-up system? Are they part of an agency? Can they guarantee SOMEONE will be with you in labor?
7)Do they help with home-birth labor? Are they familiar with your hospital/birthing center?
8)What is their cost?
**I feel that most importantly, it is imperitave you find someone with whom your personality matches well. You need to have a connection with this person. After all, they are going to help you through one of the most important events of your life**

So, after interviewing with several doula agencies (I live in a large metropolitan area), I have selected a wonderful woman who is very naturally-inclined, but comfortable with modern medicine. In the ideal world, I will have a spontaneous labor that progresses quickly and I will require no meds (the recovery time is so fast!), but being high-risk I recognize that I may have to be induced early, and may even need a c-section. My doula (Jamie) has done a fantastic job reminding me that my birth plan is about me, and my preferences, and while my type-A self would love nothing more than to write a 14-page plan, just knowing my basic preferences on things is probably ideal for my situation.

I will have continued updates on my relationship with my doula, but for now I am just so excited to have found my "doula match"!

Mom, Mommy, Mum

**hmm...I haven't had a period in awhile...oh well, my partner has a vasectomy...it's probably just that I've gotten off birth control and my hormones are a bit confused**

two days later

**I guess I'll take the test, just to set my mind at ease**

Cue panic, excitement, crying, realizing I'm late for work (all in about two minutes)

Those who know me know that I love and want kids.

Those who truly know me know that I am something of a control freak/super planner, who wanted kids after grad school, a new job, and a house. 

I'm now over halfway on my journey to motherhood (22 weeks pregnant), and accept that I will be a single mother. Is it what I always dreamed? No. But I'm going to try my best to make it even better. 

This is my "diary", to fill with all my adventures and some inspiration. I also hope that some of the things I've learned and am still learning will help some other folks out. So, moms, mommies, and mums (and even dads), welcome to my blog. Here we will chat about single parenting finances, cloth diapering, crafts (yes, I do love crafts), support, and general single mom awesomeness and hurdles. 

Life is an adventure, so as I partake on the greatest trek of all, I invite you to join me. There will be victories, and there will be failures (though hopefully not too many). Most importantly, there will be love and laughter. Here we go...