Just wanted to let everyone know that my site is on Alltop® which has some of the bests blogs listed to date.  Before I even began blogging, I use to go to Alltop® to read some of my favorite mom bloggers.  I was inspired to write my own blog through those blogs.  When I started my blog, I knew I wanted to be a part of Alltop® because of the quality sites they had on there and now I am a part of that elite group. If you would like to find me on Alltop® please go to: http://moms.alltop.com/.  I am listed towards the bottom because I am new.  Now trying to figure out how to get to the top so that I am more visible.  Anyone have any tips?

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to let you know that I am still recovering. It’s now day 11. I am feeling a lot better, although completely sleep deprived.  Probably in a week or so, I will start posting reviews for a lot of cool things I got to try out, so please stay tuned!

Hi everyone!  I finally delivered my baby girl Ella Hanul.  She came on her due date.  I delivered without any drugs.  Right now, I am going through a brutal recovery process because I lost so much blood.  Once I come back to my normal physical state, I will post more in detail.  Thank you for your continued support and can’t wait to share with you my birthing story!

Today is my due date July 23rd, 2009.  I didn’t think I would make it this far and here I am.  I have been reading endless message boards with lots of women who have met their due dates or are 2 weeks overdue.  I was starting to think that this baby would never want to come out.  Yesterday,  I woke up in the morning and had bloody show.  If it was about 4 weeks ago, I probably would have been on high alert and worried.  However, being that my due date was the next day, I started to get excited because it’s usually a sign that labor will happen soon.  Still being a little reserved, I didn’t get my hopes up because this pregnancy has been anything but textbook.

I focused on my daughter the entire day because she is fighting her UTI (urinary tract infection) and on top of it, a virus.  The poor thing has been going through a lot this past week.  Throughout the day, I had bloody show.  I didn’t have any contractions, so I thought it was another sign that labor would not happen for another couple days or maybe even weeks.

At 1 am, I was awakened by major pelvic pain that went on for about a minute.  I could hardly breath and it was excruciating pain.  At that point, I did think that something was starting to change, but I made myself go to bed.  The first contraction was followed by another one, 30 minutes later.  The contractions then started to get closer and stronger.  It’s 12:37 pm right now and my contractions are about 10 minutes apart.  The last time I went into L & D, my midwife told me to come in when the contractions were 10 minutes apart because I had already been dilated a good 3 cm.

My husband didn’t go to work, but he keeps asking me if my contractions are real or fake.  Common? Are you serious?  First, I don’t think I would have the capability to fake such a contraction, unless I was trying to act out a character in a movie.  Anyhow, I gave him a piece of my mind, and I think he knows I mean business.  Right now, it’s a waiting game.  Let’s see if today is the day!

I just had a big social media makeover with the team over at Shesconnected.com.  They have been so great at giving my site the long awaited Facelift.  They also have been non-stop in getting my site up because of the baby. She is suppose to make her entrance any day.  Through my site, I wanted to thank all those people who have contributed to making my site, such a special one.  It truely represents ME!

I have a lot of product reviews that are waiting to be posted, but I wanted to wait for my site to be up and running, and that I can comfortably maneuver my way through it.  Plus, waiting for the baby has truely tested my patience.  I literally text my husband at work, telling him I wanted to cry, I wanted to laugh like a crazy person, and that I wanted to chop off my back.  It truely has been a rollercoaster, especially when all the cramps and back pain kicked into full gear.  I am a tough cookie, but all the physical things us pregnant women go through, we deserve a merit of honor.  Maybe I’ll create one!

I will stop rambling on and on.  I look forward to hearing your feedback about my new site.  Thanks for all your ongoing support!

My weekend was mostly spent at home resting as well as trips to Labor & Delivery. On Saturday, it seemed as though my water broke, but I wasn’t one hundred percent because it was more like a leakage rather than a gush. With my first, I definitely knew my water broke because it was a super gush, like a huge waterfall.

On Saturday, everytime I stood up from using the restroom, I would have a leakage. I wasn’t sure if it was urine or if it was amniotic fluid. I monitored it for an hour and it kept consistently happening, so I decided to call my midwife. I called and waited for about another hour and did not hear back. So i decided to go into L & D to make sure everything was fine and it was not a ruptured sac.

I went in that evening and they did a test on me. The strip test came out to be positive, but the other two tests came out negative. They said in order for it be a positive that my sac ruptured was if 2 out of the 3 tests came out positive. I only had one positive, which meant it was negative. They did an ultrasound on me to see the fluid level. The first time around, it came out 7, which is borderline low, and the second time it came out 9, which is really good. They had me walk around for about 15 minutes with a pad, to test the leakage on the pad. After that was done, they sent me back home and told me to come back within 24 hours.

Today, which is Sunday, we went back to L & D to check on fluid level, as well as do another test to make sure there was no amniotic leakage. The fluid level was at a nine, and the test came out negative. So everything checked out fine. I am super relieved and expect to deliver soon. I just hope that I don’t have to go back to L & D until I actually deliver . They say that this Tuesday is a full moon, so I guess we will see!

I woke up at 2:09 am this morning with menstrual-like aches. I dismissed it and went and refilled my water bottle to drink more water. I laid back down on the bed and changed positions. The feeling did not go away. Around 3:40 am, those menstrual-like aches were then followed by this surge of energy that went through my body, and then I would feel weak, nauseous, and short of breath. It felt like an onset of a flu. The odd thing is that they came in intervals like contractions, every 5-6 minutes. But the feelings that I were feeling were not at all contractions, just major discomfort.

I went and laid back down at 4:05 am and nothing went away. After that, I just got paranoid, and started laying to the side to see if I could feel the baby moving. I counted how many times the baby moved, and if the baby only moved a little, I got a little freaked out. I tried changing positions, drinking more water, going to the bathroom, checking to see if I leaked amniotic fluid, and everything and anything I could think of. I woke up at 6:01 am and went online and googled all sorts of labor tags and came across other mothers who went through this when they were in labor, as well as false labor.

After my false alarm last week, I just wanted to make sure I had all the grounds covered before I went rushing to L & D or made a call to my midwife on call. Right now, I feel nauseous and completely drained, like the wind was blown out of me. This pregnancy is so different from my first, I don’t know what to expect anymore. I just made a call to the midwife and am now anxiously waiting for her to call back.

After last weekend’s false alarm, we were just all praying that the baby would stay put in my stomach until it reached it’s full term date, which is today. The baby is now 37 weeks and as of now, she is still in my tummy!

I have not done much in the last week, so that I wouldn’t provoke any unnecessary contractions. My husband has been taking our daughter to pre-school every morning, and my mother and I have been picking her up late afternoon.

I went to my midwife’s appointment on Tuesday and every looked great. The baby’s heart beat was right on target and she also measured really nicely too. After last weekend’s semi-scare, my midwife believes that I will be going into Real Labor soon. I guess we will see if I end up with a Fourth of July baby!

My last cervix check up, I was a good 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and -2 station. That was last Saturday. The midwife did not do another check at this appointment, probably not to irritate anything. I still feel cramping and tightening, here and there, so hopefully that means I am continually thinning out and dilating.

Friday around 3:35pm: Got a severe cramp in the lower abdomen to which I could make no movement. I was stuck in one position that I could not get out of. The pain was so severe, I could not breath and could hardly talk on the phone with my friend. I called my husband to tell him that I was in a lot of pain, and thought he should come home from work. I then called my midwife and without hesitation she told me to call 911. So I called 911.

Friday at 3:50pm: Ambulance arrives and they put me on a stretcher. I am still having major abdominal issues and contractions. The paramedics ask me a whole bunch of questions and they check me to make sure the baby’s head is not crowning.

Friday at 4:10pm: We arrive at UCLA Medical Center and they take me up to Labor & Delivery. The staff at Labor & Delivery and my midwife are waiting for me to make my arrival. They take me to the delivery room, and put two belts on me. One belt is for the baby’s heartbeat, and the other belt is for my contractions. The baby is healthy and my contractions are crazy. You could literally see on the monitor that I was having constant strong contractions. Then the midwife checked to see my cervix and it was only at 2cm. Because my contractions were crazy, they made me do a UTI test, take a urine sample, and they checked me on the ultrasound. All the results came back negative. They checked me again before they were going to discharge me, and I was still at a 2 cm, but my contractions did not subside. They gave me a dose of vicodin after I ate dinner. The midwife came back to check on me again, and the cervix stayed the same, but there was bloody show. She told me to come back if I constantly bled.

Around 10:30pm: I was discharged and went back home. The contractions subsided and I went to bed. Everytime I woke up to use the restroom, I checked to see if there was bloody show and there was everytime, so I told my husband that we should go back to be safe.

Saturday 5am: We went back to Labor & Delivery. I told my midwife about the bloody show and a resident came in to check me. She checked my cervix and I was a good 3cm at 50% effaced. She also checked the baby on the ultrasound and everything checked out good, except one pocket of fluid was low. They sent me back home and said to come back on Sunday to get a Non-Stress Test done.

Sunday 9am: Back at Labor & Delivery for NST Test. Everything checked out fine. The fluid was a little low, but they said everything was okay and to go back to my regular midwife visit on Tuesday.

Today: Midwife appointment.

Two more days until 37 weeks, which makes me full term. Hang in there baby!!!

These last couple of days have been so never-ending and tiring. I believe that I may have gotten in 3 hours of sleep total within the last 72 hours. I look like a walking zombie and my daughter wakes up every ten minutes crying for air. The antibiotics that she is taking is very strong, so she is dealing with that and everything else.

The good thing is that my husband is back from his trip and he will be home until next week, so hopefully, I will get some rest. The hardest thing is that my daughter does not go to anyone but me. So if anyone wants to help, she will not have it. I feel like she has become a permanent attachment to my leg. So not only do I have a heavy growing stomach, I now have a 35lb attachment to my leg.

Hopefully this week will go by quickly and my daughter is able to get back to normal. I’ll tell you, being a mother is definitely rewarding, but it comes with lots and lots of hard work.