I love my baby!!

Wow. Has it really only been a week and a day since we left for the hospital? It seriously feels like it has been a month. So much has happened, and all of it has been so eventful and emotional. I want to type out the full birth story, but since it lasted four days (oh my goodness!) I have to find more time first. Basically after four days, I was only dialated four centimeters and had a c-section on Monday afternoon. Not at all as bad as I had worked it up in my mind to be. Magdalena came out screaming and perfect. Since delivery, my diabetes has gone away, the itching has stopped and I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight (yay!) It has been quite the experience to get used to being a Mommy, recovering from surgery, being stuck in the hospital for exactly a week and trying to get breastfeeding down (who knew it was this challenging?) But, oh wow, it is sooo worth it!!! She is beautiful and perfect and I cry daily over what a blessing my family is. Mark has stepped up and is such an amazing father. He has had to do so much since it has been really hard for me physically since her birth. I'll post the complete birth story soon. I am sooo happy right now!!!

Baby Magdalena is here!!!

Morgan here! :)

Magdalena Ruth was born today (8/27/07)!!! She was born at 1:21pm and was 7lbs, 15oz and 19 inches long. She is a perfect, beautiful, and good baby! She has her mommy's nose and dark, curly hair. Mark, Laura, and baby Maggie should be home on Thursday- Laura will post her birth story and lots more pictures!







ps I started a new tag for Laura!

Update to the Update

Well, today has been a popular day to have a baby!! We have called the OB department three times today (at their suggestion) and every time, they have no room for us. BUT, the last time we called, they said to come in at 8:00 pm, and they would get things started and we would stay the night there. So, that's the plan :) I am actually excited to stay the night, just in case anything happens. Okay, gotta go eat dinner before I go!

Small Update

When we called the OB department at 7:00 am, they were full, so we have been bumped up to noon. So, looks like we won't be home until late...if we're home at all tonight!! It feels like a good day to go into labor, I'm all crampy and having contractions and whatnot. We're going to kill some time by going to Italian Cottage for a very yummy breakfast and then going to the library (our new favorite thing) to check out some new books. I am soooo freakin' excited and barely nervous at all! Thanks to everyone for their continued thoughts and prayers :)

The Final Countdown/My 100th Post!

Well, what a coincidence. This might be the final post before I have my baby, and it's the 100th blog! Yay! So, I am going into the hospital tomorrow at 8:00 am to start the induction process. Basically, they are going to insert cervadil, which is designed to "ripen" your cervix and make it ready for Pitocin, the hardcore "kick your butt" induction drug. But, if your body is ready, lots of times the cervadil is enough to get labor going. That's what I would love to happen. I have heard lots of stories about Pitocin, and basically it makes the contractions really strong and close together, and everyone says it is much harder to have a drug free childbirth. As of my last appointment I am a "soft"1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced. So, at least I'm not going in there without anything happening on my own. I will be there for at least 12 hours tomorrow, letting the cervadil do its job. If I am not very dilated, they will send me home and do it all again on Friday. There is a chance I will go home again on Friday night, as well. If it gets to Saturday and I am not dilated enough to start Pitocin...I will get a C-Section. So no matter what, I will be a Mommy by Saturday night (well, unless I am laboring through Saturday night). Basically, with my diabetes, the baby measuring big, a liver problem and now dangerously high blood pressure (where did that come from?!) they don't want me to be pregnant too much longer. Magdalena looks absolutely perfect (Thank you, Jesus!), so they haven't had to react too quickly. But, I guess enough is enough. It is really coming to an end. One phase of my life is ending and another is about to begin. I can't even imagine how much I am going to love this little girl. It is an overwhelming feeling to know that I really could have a baby by tomorrow night, if my body reacts to the Cervadil in the way I hope it will. I'm not really scared...just anxious and there are just so many unanswered questions. Will I have her tomorrow? Will anything at all even happen tomorrow? Will I be sleeping at home for the next couple of nights, or will I be in the hospital? How high is my pain tolerance when it really comes down to childbirth? What day will she be born? Will it hurt when I get my IV? Will this darn itching stop as soon as I have the baby? And on and on and on.... I am so excited, though!!!! I cannot wait to meet my daughter! Thank you all for being interested in little ole me and my family. I will update as soon as I can, especially if I come home tomorrow night. If there is no new blog by 11:00 pm tomorrow, you can safely assume I am in the hospital and the cervadil worked enough to do something. After I have the baby, I have to stay in the hospital for at least 48 hours because of everything. I will probably have Morgan update this blog to give you guys all the stats. Okay, I am going to go to bed early to try to get some sleep! Yay!!!

This Is Being Written at 3:53 AM

...And I am STILL awake. I basically don't sleep anymore. Sigh. Today was a hard day, I literally felt like I was going crazy due to my lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation and overall yucky feelings will do weird things to you. I mean it's not a big deal if you don't sleep, right? Yeah, right. I was incoherently babbling this morning before I finally got in about 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Mark forced me to stay home from church because he was so worried about me and at the time he was leaving to go, I had slept exactly one hour that night and about 8 over the last three days. And then, I had a scheduled Non Stress Test that I remembered about this afternoon and we were there for soooo long. Hours and hours. Until late into the night. Why? Because, for some reason, my blood pressure had suddenly sky rocketed and they wouldn't let me leave with it so high. I didn't have any other bad symptoms, so they weren't treating it like a emergency yet, but they were obviously concerned. I honestly thought I would have to at least stay the night and Mark and I were making plans to call family and friends to let them know what was up. I had to give a urine sample and get more blood drawn. And I had to eat dinner there, which was funny to me. It was actually pretty good, and I ended up sharing it with Mark when the nurses weren't looking, because he was starving. Finally, they got a hold of one of the midwives and she had me lay on my side, used a different blood pressure cuff and took my blood pressure again. It worked. And they finally let me go. Duh...was it really that simple?! One thing that kinda annoys me is that my midwives do not seem to communicate to each other or even have the same opinions on things. I have told Cheryl over and over again that I am having major sleep issues and that I itch like CRAZY. Today, Marie chastised me for not taking my blood sugar enough times since I had woken up (hello..I finally fell asleep at like 9:00 am and slept for a few hours before my appointment!) and she looked at my legs, shook her finger at me and said "you've scratched your legs all up!" I almost screamed. And then she said "you're due Sept. 6th, right?" And I said yes, but Cheryl is inducing me on Friday. And she looked shocked and said "Why would she do that?!" and I was like "Ummm...the baby is measuring big and..." I mean, shouldn't she be able to tell me? Anyways, I have definitely gotten used to going to the hospital and all my doctor's appointments. I have somewhere to go or some test to run every day and it has just become what I do now. I HATE the sleep thing, but I am chugging along and trying to be productive, but failing miserably. No matter how tired I am, I just can't sleep for very long. I have been falling asleep in the weirdest places, like childbirth class, in the car, at the computer, at restaurants...anywhere, really. It's almost kinda funny. Oh yeah, I also found out I have a bladder infection. Yay. Oops, I still haven't posted that "what I love about being pregnant" post. Five more days. Just five more days. And now...off to bed, for what will hopefully turn into some sleep.

Ten Day Countdown...and a Singed Kitty

Ten days until my induction begins. Wow. How is it that I am only ten days away from being a a Mom? I feel like I am already such a different person and Magdalena isn't even here yet. The Lord has shown me so much about myself and my life over this pregnancy. The main things I've learned? With Christ, I am stronger than I ever imagined possible. Nothing, NOTHING, compares to what Jesus did for me. No physical pain, no emotional torment, no loneliness I go through will ever rival what Jesus went through. And did He ever complain? No, not once. And because of His sacrifice, I can live in total freedom. I need to live this out every day. I never thought I would be able to get through morning sickness. Or the Gestational Diabetes diet. Or the Insulin shots...or anything that has popped up. But, Jesus has guided me through everything and I feel more powerful and free than I ever imagined possible. Yay!!! And soon, I will get the reward I have been waiting nine long months for; my sweet baby girl!
On a much lighter note, there was a near crisis in the van Veen household today. So, lately air fresheners have been really bothering me and making me cough and choke. Mark gets a little self conscious after, uh...using the bathroom and has been insisting on lighting candles to elevate any bad smells. Then he forgets about the candles, which lead to me telling him I didn't think the candle in the bathroom was a good idea. Well, despite my warnings, he lit a candle and left in the open window, which for some reason doesn't have a screen right now. About an hour ago, I hear Chiyo meowing a little and heard her jump into the window from the outside. Then, we heard the candle crash to the ground and Mark jumped up to see if everything was okay. Well, Chiyo was nowhere to be found, but the smell of singed hair filled the house. Mark went outside to find her, and when he finally caught up with her, he said he could smell burned hair from like five feet away. He checked her out, and she was perfectly fine...except for her cute white belly hair that been burned in about a six inch long area. Thank goodness she is a long haired kitty and it didn't even get close to burning her skin. She seemed a little dazed, but came inside and settled right down. Poor kitty! My guess is that she will never try to get into the house through window again...and I think Mark learned a thing or two about unattended open flames ;)

Furbabies pretending to be real Babies

Seriously...Can I get any bigger?!! If I look tired, it's because I'm in the middle of an hour and a half long walk through Bidwell Park. Hey...it worked for Jenna :)







We have two Boppies; Gidget has claimed this one as her own. It fits her perfectly, funny enough!










I have no good excuse for this..we REALLY wanted to try out the new Baby Bjorn. Unfortunately Gidgey isn't built exactly like a baby. In my opinion Mark looks SOOOOO adorable with a baby bjorn. I can't wait until he has the world's cutest baby to tote around in it!







Chiyo thinks the new travel system is perfect for her...we have had to chase her out over and over again!











I tried and tried and could NOT get these pictures lined up any better! Ugh, Morgan, I think you need to show me how to make the captions line up the pictures!

Things Keep Getting More and More Interesting!!

Well, I met with Cheryl, my favorite midwife, today. Basically she confirmed that little Magdalena (and yes, Tara, we will call her Maggie sometimes :) looks absolutely great, but she is BIG! She was 7 pounds, 9 oz. a few days ago, which is a weight most babies are born at. Sooo...if they let me go to my due date, they don't think I could deliver her vaginally because she would be really, really big. So, Cheryl decided that if I don't go into labor on my own during the next two weeks, she will start induction...On the 24th!!!! That is only two weeks away. It could be a slow induction process that takes a few days, since they don't want to just start me on Pitocin, which is pretty harsh. She gave me strict orders to do anything and everything to get labor started on my own over the next two weeks, including taking primrose oil, walking a lot and in her words "as much lovemaking as I could handle". Let me tell you, Mark was disappointed about that last one. LOL. So, I would absolutely love to avoid being induced if possible. I know God is capable of anything and He is in control. I am believing that I will go into labor on my own as soon as she is totally ready and healthy. Is it more than possible with the Lord. So, please pray for me and Magdalena and Mark. Thanks, everyone, for reading this, and caring about my family. I can't wait to share my birth story and pictures of my little girl in a couple of weeks (hopefully sooner!)

I feel like a completely different person!

I just re-read my last post and I honestly can't believe I felt like that a week ago. I feel soooo much better about all of those things. I am so used to the insulin injections now that are basically a non-issue in my life. Half of the time they don't hurt AT ALL and the other half of the time it only feels like a little pinch. I don't even think about it, I just do it. And then it's over for the day. Besides that, it has certainly been an exciting week in my life. I have to go to the hospital once a week for non-stress tests now (they hook me up to a machine that monitors baby's movements and heart rate and also monitors any contractions I have.) I LOVE the non-stress tests! You just lie down in bed, wear a couple of monitors around your belly, and listen to your baby's heartbeat. It is very relaxing and the nurses are amazing! They are so sweet and caring, and always give me snacks. I am so excited to be delivering at this hospital, the nurses are the best. Last Tuesday, I was having contractions every five minutes, so they decided to give me an internal exam and I was already 50% effaced and a fingertip dilated. W00-Hoo, something's happening! I know it doesn't mean much, but I am glad that my body is getting ready for this baby to come out! I went to an Encounter with church this weekend and it was AMAZING!!! I have so much to say about it that I want to write a separate post (if I can even put it in words). God just really showed me my true identity as a lover of Christ and as a mother of multitudes of spiritual children. I really learned what my sin does to God, and He showed me how valuable and loved I am. I received freedom from so much that was holding me back and I am so excited about every aspect of my future! But, like I said, it deserves its own post. Going to the Encounter (while being 9 months pregnant) was one of the most physically challenging things I have ever done and I pushed myself every day, but it was SO worth it!! God totally rewarded me for my hard work and perseverance. All the burdens I had are gone. Thank you Jesus! Also, yesterday was really interesting because Baby did not do so well with the non-stress tests and I spent a/2 of the day in and out of the hospital and they almost kept me over night. But, little Magdalena woke up and started moving like a champ. So, I got to go home, but I had to some back today for another hour of monitoring and an ultrasound to do a bio-physical profile (they take all sorts of measurements and check out things like the health of the placenta and level of amniotic fluid). Basically, the test is divided into four parts with two points possible for each part. Well, she scored 8/8 for the test and looks basically perfect! She is still big for her due date (but I knew that already) and her estimated weight today was 7 1/2 pounds! That's a whole lotta baby already! But, she is so perfect and I am so excited to meet her!!! I am so in love with her already and I know she is an amazing little person. Since today is August 7th, and the latest the midwives will let me go is my due date, I can know 100% that I will be a mommy by this time next month. YAY!!!! 35 1/2 Weeks...about 6:30 AM at the Encounter

Me and Baby's Daddy (AKA my amazing husband, Mark)