I have a hypothetical situation for you. You go to a business, let's say somewhere simple, like Walmart. You go to the one everyone talks about that supposedly has EVERYTHING. You plan on spending your money in their store, but you can't find something you are looking for. Let's say mothballs (those are always hidden). So you ask a worker, and you are given a dirty look and an attitude because you couldnt find it yourself. Well, the next time you need mothballs, you decide to check out a different Walmart that no one you know has been to yet. It's a bit smaller, but surprisingly their stock seems to fit your personal life needs. You hesitantly ask a worker where mothballs are, expecting the same dirty look and attitude, but are given a friendly smile and are even led at a nice even pace straight to their location, with a casual conversation to pass the time along the way. Once at the mothballs, you are asked if you need any more assistance, and told to have a great day, and just ask if there is ever anything else you might need.
It amazes me just how different two locations of the same business can be, especially when one is more popular and well-known. I recently had an experience much like this hypothetical one, yet my experience was between two hospitals, and instead of mothballs my "something" is pregnancy. These two locations, although both belong to the same company, treated me so utterly different that I was amazed they were connected at all.
When I was pregnant with my first son I went to the more popular hospital, which was Scott and White in Temple. They are one of the largest hospitals I have ever seen, and apparently they have everything and can treat anything at this location. I didn't have all of my OB appointments with my personal OB. At least half of them were handed off to RNs. When I was nearing the end of my term, I was told that if I thought I was going into labor I should call the on-call nurse for advice on when to come in. I don't recall being given much better instructions than that, such as how I might know I was even in labor in the first place. I got the majority of my information from my What to Expect When You're Expecting book. In my 38th week, I woke up one morning to a bit of spotting. I saw my doctor that afternoon and was told that labor was still at LEAST a week away. That evening, I began having frequent, painful contractions. I called the on-call nurse and told her how I was feeling. She bluntly replied "You aren't in real labor yet. Lay down, go to sleep, the contractions will subside." I was a bit put off by her indifference to a first-time mother's concern, but nonetheless I attempted to follow her advice. An hour later I called her again, informing her that I could not sleep because the contractions were getting much more painful. She had a bit more attitude this time, and her response consisted of "If you can still talk through a contraction, you aren't in labor. Call back when it's THAT painful." This time I was very upset. I was in more pain than I had ever felt in my entire life, and she was treating me like a child. After yet another hour of intense, sanity-breaking contractions, I called up with an attitude of my own, and before she could say anything, I told her I was coming in anyways; it was too much pain and I wanted to be sure as to whether or not I was in labor. She laughed and said that sure, I could come in, but she was positive that I wasn't yet in labor. When I arrived at the hospital, she was the one to check me in and along with another nurse, give me my exam to see if I was dilating. And that's all they were even willing to see me for at that time, too. Just a small exam room, and a quick internal exam. When she realized that I was the one she had spoken to on the phone, you could read the look on her face. It was clear that she thought she was about to prove herself right. Well guess what, cocky self-absorbed nurse? I WAS, in fact, in labor! I had my son first thing the following morning. The part I hated the most was that once she discovered that I was in real labor, she tried to play it off by smiling and saying "You're in labor, hon!" ...Yeah. No kidding. At that point I was a bit more concerned with the actuality of labor, but the nurses made a huge deal over the scars on my legs, saying things like "Oh my God, are you okay?" and "What happened to your legs?!" Needless to say, being self-conscious when I had labor and delivery to worry about was NOT a fun addition to my emotional roller coaster that day.
When I discovered I was pregnant with my second son, you best believe I was NOT looking forward to going back to those nurses at that hospital. So I decided to take this pregnancy over to Scott and White Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center instead. It's a much smaller location, and in Waco instead of Temple. I know my way around Waco much better to begin with, so already I was a bit more at ease simply with the drive up there. Only one of my OB appointments ended up being with someone other than my personal OB, and that was because my appointment was scheduled last minute and my doctor was already full up that week. When I got into my 9th month, I was told that should I find myself experiencing certain symptoms of labor (and were told which symptoms to look out for) that I should come into the Labor and Delivery building to be checked out. Not once did they say to "call the on-call nurse for advice on when to come in". They simply said that if I felt I needed to or wanted to, to just come right on in. Well, I'm in my 40th week now. Last night I was having contractions and even though they weren't painful, they were very frequent. So this morning I had my husband take me in to get checked. I was expecting to be laughed at for knowing I wan't in actual labor. I was expecting to be told to just go home. I was expecting more nurses to make a big deal out of my scars, and I was expecting to be treated like a child (after all, this was my SECOND pregnancy. I should know the feeling of real labor at this point, right?). NONE of that happened. I was given nothing but smiles and everyone was very friendly. Any questions I had were answered without dirty looks or attitude, and instead of laughing at me for coming in and ending up not being in labor, instead I was commended for following my instincts and coming in when I was concerned. My doctor and the nurse both told me that they would rather me come in multiple times without being in labor than not come in at all and have to have an emergency birth at home. To top things off, instead of a quick and simple internal exam, I was even hooked up to monitors for my son's heart rate and my contractions, and got to hear his heart beating. I was monitored for about a half hour to an hour, and then given an internal exam. I left the office knowing not only the results of my internal exam, but also that my son was perfectly healthy, and after observing my contractions on a monitor I was better informed as to what kind of feelings accompany a true contraction (yes, this is my second pregnancy, but that doesnt mean I remember every last feeling from the first one).
In the end, the smaller location turns out to fit me perfectly. I can't believe that the more popular and well-known (not to mention recommended) place treated me so badly, and such a smaller place was so good to me. I still haven't had my second son, but I will in the next few days. And I am no longer worried about how things will go or what they will say, because I know this is a good place to be.
I also can't believe that in Temple, they treated me so poorly and acted as if I wasn't in labor at all when it turns out that I was, in fact, in labor... and yet in Waco, they treated me wonderfully and assumed first that I WAS in labor, even if it turned out that I wasnt (which it did). I think that is a much better system. Just thinking about these differences still blows my mind. The one thing I know for sure is that from now on, I'm staying at the hospital in Waco. They may be smaller, but they are tailored to my personal needs, and those of my family. Though I don't care for the size of the building. It's the size of their hearts. The nurses in Temple need to remember that they CHOSE to work in human care, and should take a step back and start CARING about their patients.
Monday, April 25, 2011
False Labor!
Alright! I'm back from the hospital and all is well. I didn't get much sleep last night (as you well know) but I managed at least a good solid hour before my husband's alarm went off at 6:00 AM. When he groggily reached for the snooze button, I let him know how I was feeling and that I would still like to go to the hospital just for good measure. I think I knew that I wasn't really having a baby, but during the night I had attempted to feel the baby move around and wasn't able to, due to the contractions I was having. He said that was fine, and for me to get up and get ready to go. So while he snatched a few more minutes of sleep, I got up and started the car, and called the after-hours nurse to let them know that I would be coming in, just for a quick check-up. I was a bit shocked to discover that no one actually answers the phone, you just leave a callback number and the nurse will call you back within 10 minutes to see what you needed. And the nurse never called me. So the nurse at the Women and Children's Center had NO idea that I would be arriving, which turns out not to have mattered at all because by then it was already 7:00 AM and the building was beginning to come to life for the day.
First things first, before being seen at all, I needed to preregister. I had tried to do it online (as the paper I was originally given at my very first doctors appointment assured me I could do) but the preregistration page was offline and hadn't been fixed in the last 9 months. It wasn't a big deal though. I simply filled out a piece of paperwork, handed over my license and insurance card, and answered a myriad of questions regarding allergies, medications, and any sort of medical issues I may have had during the pregnancy.
I was then led back into a Labor/Delivery/Recovery room and connected to two monitors: one for the baby's heartrate and one for contractions. I also had my heartrate and bloodpressure checked every half hour for what felt like forever, but I believe it was really only an hour. I was VERY happy to hear and see my baby's heartbeat, and he even began to start moving around again, so I felt him as well. I had been so worried at first that my blood pressure was a bit high the first time they took it, and had to take it again a few minutes later just to make sure I was okay! Haha. According to the monitor, I WAS having contractions, but most of them were still practice "Braxton Hicks" contractions. The only real contractions I was having were the ones that were painful, and those were scattered randomly throughout the practice ones. Because of the random and distant pattern to the real contractions, what I was having was considered False Labor. Still, I was told that it is ALWAYS better to come in and get checked out just to be safe than to stay at home and have something go wrong (like having a baby in the living room or something).
The doctor soon came in and did an internal exam, assuring me that everything was fine and the baby was as strong and healthy as ever. He said that although I didn't seem to have progressed since my last checkup, he still wanted me to come in for my weekly appointment tomorrow afternoon, and he will keep my induction scheduled for Friday morning. I did however learn one new piece of information: my baby is at station -2. That was the only thing I didn't know until today, is his station. Based on that, he's really not ready to come out today after all (which is a good thing, because today is Monday. House comes on today, and I really hate missing an episode of House!). I was given a discharge paper and instructions for when to next come in (same as last time, if I'm bleeding, if my water breaks, or if I'm having painful contractions 5-7 minutes apart for an hour or two). If I don't have the baby by Thursday night, then Friday morning at midnight I am to stop eating and drinking, and at 6:00 AM I am to show up at Labor and Delivery to be induced. I don't see it as much of an induction really, as I do a speeding up process. I'm already dilating and effacing, so at this point the baby IS ready to come out. He's just taking his time and mommy is running out of patience! :)
So I went back to the lobby and gathered my hubby and son. I am SO proud of little David for being so well-behaved in the waiting room for so long! The hubby had time to consider going back to work after missing so much of the morning already, and also knowing that we still had a long drive back home, so he decided to go ahead and use his floating holiday and stay home today. We picked up a McDonald's breakfast and hit the road, and finally we are back home and I can relax, knowing that one way or another I will be having this baby within a few days and there is nothing to worry about.
I am EXHAUSTED after getting almost no sleep, so I might go ahead and rest for a while. I just wanted you to know that I am doing just fine, and the baby is perfectly fine and healthy as well. Hopefully the next time I post about the baby, it will be the joyous news that he has finally arrived! Although if I have to go in Friday morning, I may end up posting about how I'm feeling during an induction (or about my anxiety just before an induction!) but we will just have to wait and see. Here's hoping that the next time I think I'm in labor, I really am!
First things first, before being seen at all, I needed to preregister. I had tried to do it online (as the paper I was originally given at my very first doctors appointment assured me I could do) but the preregistration page was offline and hadn't been fixed in the last 9 months. It wasn't a big deal though. I simply filled out a piece of paperwork, handed over my license and insurance card, and answered a myriad of questions regarding allergies, medications, and any sort of medical issues I may have had during the pregnancy.
I was then led back into a Labor/Delivery/Recovery room and connected to two monitors: one for the baby's heartrate and one for contractions. I also had my heartrate and bloodpressure checked every half hour for what felt like forever, but I believe it was really only an hour. I was VERY happy to hear and see my baby's heartbeat, and he even began to start moving around again, so I felt him as well. I had been so worried at first that my blood pressure was a bit high the first time they took it, and had to take it again a few minutes later just to make sure I was okay! Haha. According to the monitor, I WAS having contractions, but most of them were still practice "Braxton Hicks" contractions. The only real contractions I was having were the ones that were painful, and those were scattered randomly throughout the practice ones. Because of the random and distant pattern to the real contractions, what I was having was considered False Labor. Still, I was told that it is ALWAYS better to come in and get checked out just to be safe than to stay at home and have something go wrong (like having a baby in the living room or something).
The doctor soon came in and did an internal exam, assuring me that everything was fine and the baby was as strong and healthy as ever. He said that although I didn't seem to have progressed since my last checkup, he still wanted me to come in for my weekly appointment tomorrow afternoon, and he will keep my induction scheduled for Friday morning. I did however learn one new piece of information: my baby is at station -2. That was the only thing I didn't know until today, is his station. Based on that, he's really not ready to come out today after all (which is a good thing, because today is Monday. House comes on today, and I really hate missing an episode of House!). I was given a discharge paper and instructions for when to next come in (same as last time, if I'm bleeding, if my water breaks, or if I'm having painful contractions 5-7 minutes apart for an hour or two). If I don't have the baby by Thursday night, then Friday morning at midnight I am to stop eating and drinking, and at 6:00 AM I am to show up at Labor and Delivery to be induced. I don't see it as much of an induction really, as I do a speeding up process. I'm already dilating and effacing, so at this point the baby IS ready to come out. He's just taking his time and mommy is running out of patience! :)
So I went back to the lobby and gathered my hubby and son. I am SO proud of little David for being so well-behaved in the waiting room for so long! The hubby had time to consider going back to work after missing so much of the morning already, and also knowing that we still had a long drive back home, so he decided to go ahead and use his floating holiday and stay home today. We picked up a McDonald's breakfast and hit the road, and finally we are back home and I can relax, knowing that one way or another I will be having this baby within a few days and there is nothing to worry about.
I am EXHAUSTED after getting almost no sleep, so I might go ahead and rest for a while. I just wanted you to know that I am doing just fine, and the baby is perfectly fine and healthy as well. Hopefully the next time I post about the baby, it will be the joyous news that he has finally arrived! Although if I have to go in Friday morning, I may end up posting about how I'm feeling during an induction (or about my anxiety just before an induction!) but we will just have to wait and see. Here's hoping that the next time I think I'm in labor, I really am!
True Labor, or just False Labor?
Good morning? I know it's only 12:40 AM here where I am, at this minute, but I can't sleep and I can't tell if I'm going into labor or not. I told my hubby how I was feeling, but he has work in the morning and needed to get some sleep just in case I'm not in labor. So I told him to go to sleep, and we'll see how I feel in the morning.
Problem is, that was just an hour ago. I can't sleep. Ever since about 8:00 PM this evening, I have been having contractions. (Having one now: 12:42 AM.) At first I wasn't sure that they even WERE contractions; they felt a lot as if the baby was simply stretching out. But I began to notice them coming more frequently--between 4 to 15 minutes apart. I still can't really tell if they are all contractions. What if a lot of it IS the baby stretching out, and my contractions are actually much farther apart? What makes this so hard on me is that with my first son, it was easy to tell. How is it that my SECOND time around, after already having experience with this, it's so much harder and more confusing than the first time? With my first son, I had some spotting in the morning, and by that evening I was having contractions that were intensifying and becoming excruciatingly painful as they grew more frequent. (Having another contraction: 12:46 AM.) These contractions feel more like an uncomfortable tightening of my stomach, usually the top and middle of my stomach but I don't feel it as much in the lower section. Sometimes it also feels like cramps, sometimes they are painful, but usually just very uncomfortable (the tightening can be pretty painful in itself, though).
I spent an hour this evening looking online at mommy-to-be forums, seeing how other pregnant women felt and how it was for other people when they went into labor with their children, and what symptoms they had, and how they knew to go into the hospital, etc. (Having another contraction: 12:50 AM. This one is painful...) Unfortunately, every pregnancy is so different that even though I found a plethora of women with my exact symptoms, some of them went to the hospital only to discover that they were barely dilated more than a fingernail, while others discovered that they were dilated 7 cm already, and had the baby within hours! I even searched the differences between true labor and false labor, and what the differences are in contractions between real ones and the practice "Braxton Hicks" ones. Also disappointed to find that, once again, pregnancies are so different that the differences in the contractions are only guidelines, and it's very possible that even without being completely painful, it IS possible that I could be in labor. (Another contraction: 12:56 AM. Also painful, not quite as much as the last.) It's all very inconclusive, and thus very confusing.
I just checked the frequency of the contractions I've had since starting this post, and noticed that they are between 4-6 minutes apart. However, the majority of them aren't really painful. I am so confused and worried that I'm not going to realize I'm in labor before it's too late. Part of me wants to just take a drive to the hospital right now and get checked out, just to see my progress. Even if I'm not dilated any more than I was at my last appointment, I would at least KNOW. But at the same time, I don't want to drag my hubby and my 2 year old out of bed at 1:00 AM (Contraction: 1:01 AM) and make a 30 minute drive all the way to town just to find out that I'm not really in labor. Having my mind at ease and being considerate of the family at the same time is not an easy combination. :( And I'm not sure that at this point in a pregnancy, having everyone else happy is really a top priority, since they aren't the ones about to push out a baby. (Contraction: 1:05 AM.)
Well, thanks for listening to me and hearing out my worries and concerns. I'll keep you posted (haha, little blog joke) as to my progress, and I'll let you know tomorrow if it was true or false labor. I think what I've decided to do is go back to bed for now and at least attempt to get some sleep. If during the night the contractions stay constant, get any more frequent or any more painful, or I just can't take it any more, I'll wake my family up anyways. But I'm going to try to sleep, and when my husband gets up for work at 6:00 AM (if I still feel this way) I will ask him to call his boss and let him know that he will be taking me to the hospital. At that point, I will call the on-call nurse and let them know how I've been feeling and that I will be coming in, and I will get my progress checked to see if I'm in labor or not. Worst case scenario: I'm not having the baby yet, and I have to drive my hubby to work (since we'd already be in town) and drive back to pick him up that afternoon. Best case scenario: I'm actually in labor and the nurse tells me I got there with plenty of time to spare, and I get a comfy bed and an epidural. (Contraction: 1:10 AM.) Either way, my next doctor's appointment isn't scheduled until Tuesday afternoon, and the way I feel right now... I doubt I could wait until then to get checked. I just want to know what's going on in my body, ya know?
Looking forward to the morning, and finding out for sure. Thanks again for listening, everyone. It means a lot to have someone I can talk to (especially in the middle of the night).
Good night :)
Problem is, that was just an hour ago. I can't sleep. Ever since about 8:00 PM this evening, I have been having contractions. (Having one now: 12:42 AM.) At first I wasn't sure that they even WERE contractions; they felt a lot as if the baby was simply stretching out. But I began to notice them coming more frequently--between 4 to 15 minutes apart. I still can't really tell if they are all contractions. What if a lot of it IS the baby stretching out, and my contractions are actually much farther apart? What makes this so hard on me is that with my first son, it was easy to tell. How is it that my SECOND time around, after already having experience with this, it's so much harder and more confusing than the first time? With my first son, I had some spotting in the morning, and by that evening I was having contractions that were intensifying and becoming excruciatingly painful as they grew more frequent. (Having another contraction: 12:46 AM.) These contractions feel more like an uncomfortable tightening of my stomach, usually the top and middle of my stomach but I don't feel it as much in the lower section. Sometimes it also feels like cramps, sometimes they are painful, but usually just very uncomfortable (the tightening can be pretty painful in itself, though).
I spent an hour this evening looking online at mommy-to-be forums, seeing how other pregnant women felt and how it was for other people when they went into labor with their children, and what symptoms they had, and how they knew to go into the hospital, etc. (Having another contraction: 12:50 AM. This one is painful...) Unfortunately, every pregnancy is so different that even though I found a plethora of women with my exact symptoms, some of them went to the hospital only to discover that they were barely dilated more than a fingernail, while others discovered that they were dilated 7 cm already, and had the baby within hours! I even searched the differences between true labor and false labor, and what the differences are in contractions between real ones and the practice "Braxton Hicks" ones. Also disappointed to find that, once again, pregnancies are so different that the differences in the contractions are only guidelines, and it's very possible that even without being completely painful, it IS possible that I could be in labor. (Another contraction: 12:56 AM. Also painful, not quite as much as the last.) It's all very inconclusive, and thus very confusing.
I just checked the frequency of the contractions I've had since starting this post, and noticed that they are between 4-6 minutes apart. However, the majority of them aren't really painful. I am so confused and worried that I'm not going to realize I'm in labor before it's too late. Part of me wants to just take a drive to the hospital right now and get checked out, just to see my progress. Even if I'm not dilated any more than I was at my last appointment, I would at least KNOW. But at the same time, I don't want to drag my hubby and my 2 year old out of bed at 1:00 AM (Contraction: 1:01 AM) and make a 30 minute drive all the way to town just to find out that I'm not really in labor. Having my mind at ease and being considerate of the family at the same time is not an easy combination. :( And I'm not sure that at this point in a pregnancy, having everyone else happy is really a top priority, since they aren't the ones about to push out a baby. (Contraction: 1:05 AM.)
Well, thanks for listening to me and hearing out my worries and concerns. I'll keep you posted (haha, little blog joke) as to my progress, and I'll let you know tomorrow if it was true or false labor. I think what I've decided to do is go back to bed for now and at least attempt to get some sleep. If during the night the contractions stay constant, get any more frequent or any more painful, or I just can't take it any more, I'll wake my family up anyways. But I'm going to try to sleep, and when my husband gets up for work at 6:00 AM (if I still feel this way) I will ask him to call his boss and let him know that he will be taking me to the hospital. At that point, I will call the on-call nurse and let them know how I've been feeling and that I will be coming in, and I will get my progress checked to see if I'm in labor or not. Worst case scenario: I'm not having the baby yet, and I have to drive my hubby to work (since we'd already be in town) and drive back to pick him up that afternoon. Best case scenario: I'm actually in labor and the nurse tells me I got there with plenty of time to spare, and I get a comfy bed and an epidural. (Contraction: 1:10 AM.) Either way, my next doctor's appointment isn't scheduled until Tuesday afternoon, and the way I feel right now... I doubt I could wait until then to get checked. I just want to know what's going on in my body, ya know?
Looking forward to the morning, and finding out for sure. Thanks again for listening, everyone. It means a lot to have someone I can talk to (especially in the middle of the night).
Good night :)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Garden Update 4
Another week has come and gone, and it's time for the next update! This week is exciting, because I have made some neat discoveries and survived a battle against yet another hardship.
A quick recap from last week: My biggest problem was the weeds, which were taking over the garden. My second issue was my son, who couldnt take one step into the garden without walking all over my veggies. Well this week, the weeds are still my biggest problem. They are so tall, it's hard for my sprinklers to get the water over them. There wasnt much I could do about it this week though. This late in my pregnancy, the only sleep I can really get is in the early hours of the morning, just as the sun comes up. By the time I've had enough sleep to survive the day, my son is already awake and I can't sneak out to the garden to weed in peace. The only time I have to really get any work done out here is on the weekends or when my husband is home. I considered taking the lawn mower down the center aisles to chop down those pesky weeds, but then I thought about how careful I would have to be not to mow down my veggies, and on top of that, the weeds would just be harder to pull up and would grow back thicker. So all I managed to get done this week was that I finished completely weeding one entire aisle (only 6 to go!).
It's going to be slow goings on the rest of the aisles, since I will be having my baby this week (Friday at the absolute latest) which means that next week's update may not show any weeding progress at all! Luckily, the plants dont need my constant supervision in order for them to grow :)
My second issue this week was my llama and goat. Somehow, they managed to push down a section of fence by their barn and they strolled on into my garden! I caught it soon enough that I didn't notice any immediate damage, however upon later inspection during that evening's watering, I was disappointed to discover that they had actually stomped over a cantelope and 3 squash, and ate down all the corn and the tops of the sunflowers on the far end of the garden. My husband fixed the fence (actually, he made it much better) and I gave my destroyed veggies a good long pep talk (they know now that they are strong enough to survive this, and they can grow back). My sunflowers took the motivational speech well, and are already full of new leaves in the centers with hardly a sign that they were llama lunch. My corn is harder to tell, since it's all curled up in a roll on the inside of the stalk, but I do believe they are growing back as well. Not that I'm TOO concerned... I do have full rows of each, after all. The last 10 feet being eaten really wouldnt put much of a dent in what we'll harvest this year... but dont tell that to the plants! Unfortunately, the stomped down plants are dying. Nothing I can do about a broken stem. :(
Well, let's go ahead and get into our pictures!
Row 1:
Cantelope:
Cucumber:
Watermelon:
Pumpkin (These are my biggest 2 pumpkins. Unfortunately over the last 2 weeks, I lost at least 3 if not 4 of my 11 pumpkin plants. Another week should show me how many I still have living.):
Row 2:
Potatoes:
Carrots (Interesting discovery this week: I had to thin out the carrots a bit, and when I pulled one out of the ground, I was excited to see that there is only one tap root that goes straight down (a mini carrot, hehe). I also--out of curiosity-- nibbled a bit on the root, and was shocked to discover that even as barely an inch long, not even orange yet, roots... it already tastes like carrot!):
Row 3:
Tomatoes (Look at the top of the plant. See the yellow flowers? Those will soon become tiny tomatoes.):
Row 4:
Onions (They are developing little bulbs on the tops of a lot of them!):
Row 5:
Peppers (Notice the little white flower. That will become a tiny pepper.):
Banana Peppers (They are growing very slowly, and unfortunately the tray in which the pots were on took an unfortunate spill this morning, but I managed to scoop them all back up. Starting them on their transfer to the outdoors this week so they will grow faster.):
Row 6:
Squash (They have gotten HUGE this week. And a neat surprise? I took a closer look underneath the giant leaves and discovered a big orange flower coming out!):
Salad Bowl Mix Lettuce (I also had to thin out the lettuce a bit this week--both types-- and so I took the baby lettuce I had to pull up, washed it off, and cut off the bottoms and TaDa! My husband and I had baby-lettuce salads straight from the garden.):
Caesar Mix Lettuce:
Eggplant (The eggplant has been growing very slowly, and so this week I will begin it's transfer to the outdoors so they will grow faster.):
Row 7:
Corn (It's getting big enough to show a picture of the row rather than just one plant):
Row 8:
Sunflower:
Over by the vineyard, my lemon tree has shot up yet another few inches in just seven short days. It has now grown taller than all the pieces of green tape that were holding the original trunk to a metal stake, which was how I was keeping track of it's height progress. So I took a round 3 tier hoop stake thing (like I have on my tomatoes) and put one around the lemon tree, so now I can keep track of it's growth by where it is in relation to the hoops.
In the vineyard, the blueberry bushes dont seem to look too different, other than having some new leaves on them (which you can't see in the pictures, lol):
The blueberries themselves, however, are all darkening up. I'm going to have to look online this week to see when exactly you know a blueberry is ready to be picked.
The grapes are still growing well, this one is my favorite because I remember when it was nothing but a stick, and now you can hardly see the stick at all:
Look closer at it, and you can see it is even starting to grow little vines on it, that it will soon stretch out to grab the wire surrounding it:
And of course, indoors, I have my strawberries. Both strawberry baskets have three or four tiny sprouts. They are growing very slowly. I think they may need more sunlight than they are getting at the back porch window, so I plan to move them to the kitchen window (once I figure out how they are going to hang...)
And a new addition this week: I have finally planted seeds for my herb garden! I have planted Oregano, Mint, Catnip, Chives, Italian Parsley, Lemon Basil, Sweet Basil, and Spicy Basil. They are going to be started indoors. Last year I had some herbs and grew them inside on the back porch for months before moving them outside. I think I might be able to do that again this year, but with a better place to put them once outside. I ended up losing them last year, due to not enough space, too many weeds, and not enough attention from me. I am going to take much better care of these ones so that I can actually benefit from them this year :)
Well, that's what I've got going on this week. As I said earlier, I will be having my baby sometime in the next 6 days (by next Friday at the latest) so I'm not sure how much progress will actually get made when it comes to weeding, but I hope to at least get started on the next row. I need to skip over to the aisle between the sunflowers and corn, since that is a major weed infestation and that is where I put the sprinklers when watering that side of the garden. No matter what actually gets done, I know my veggies will continue to grow happily (as long as no other issues arise this week) and I look forward to seeing how things have progressed next week. :)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The Wait Is Almost Over
It's almost time. I'm at the end of my pregnancy, one way or another. I am 39 weeks along, and no longer remember what it feels like not being pregnant. Of course, that isn't just because of this pregnancy. That is also because I was pregnant with my first son, breastfed for a year (under most of the same restrictions of a pregnancy--no alcohol, careful of the pain medications I take and when I take them), and then not 2 months after breastfeeding was finally over did I find myself pregnant again with this child. I am very glad to be having another baby, and so close in age to my first (not to mention another boy!) but being pregnant in general is only a joyous feeling for so long before it drags out into the longest, most inconvenient and uncomfortable time of your life.
Knowing that it's almost over, I'm sure you can imagine how long these past weeks have felt for me. Soon I can start getting back my pre-pregnancy body, I can stop feeling as if Alien is trying to bust out of my stomach, and I can stop freaking out about when I'm going to go into labor and how I'll know for sure that it's time to go to the hospital. But the last month is the worst, because you KNOW it's almost over, and you get SO impatient.
Two weeks ago, I went to a doctors appointment and was told that I was dilated to between 1 to 2 cm, but my cervix was still thick and long. My doctor said that I would not be going past my due date, and most likely would have the baby long before that day arrived anyways. I almost felt as if my body had betrayed me, because I hadn't felt any pain with my contractions and was given no sign at all that dilation was beginning. It felt to me as if I wasn't in control, and I was beginning to fear that if I didn't even know I was dilating, I wouldn't know when I was in labor. A meaningless fear of course, since when labor truly sets in, you know it's time. But later that week, I began to get pain with my contractions, and started noticing all the signs of pre-labor: Cramps, lower back pain, a warm feeling in my abdomen, "nesting" syndrome with periods of extreme fatigue, etc. I literally felt as if the baby was going to come any day, and each day I grew anxious and frustrated that labor hadn't yet set in.
One week ago, I went to another doctors appointment and was told that I was still only dilated to between 1 to 2 cm, and although my cervix was showing some signs of effacement, it was still not even 25%. Very little progress after a week with all those pre-labor symptoms... I just couldn't believe that I still wasn't ready to have the baby. The doctor once again said that I wouldn't pass my due date of April 30th, and that there was a good chance I may go into labor over the next week. The symptoms continued, and this time I felt as if I just KNEW that I was going to have the baby that week. And yet, the days crept by with the only changes being more pain during contractions, and a feeling of pressure on my cervix that I hoped was the baby trying to come out.
Two days ago, I had yet another doctors appointment and this time progress showed. I was dilated to between 2 and 3 cm, and my cervix was at least 50% effaced. My doctor said that since I was almost 39 weeks along and my cervix was so favorable, I should be looking for the signs of labor any day now. However, just in case I still hadn't had the baby by next Friday, April 29th, I was scheduled to come in that morning at 6am to be induced and get things moving. Although I was told it is highly unlikely that I would reach that far. I have been so anxious and so frustrated and impatient these last weeks, and constantly being told that it's only a little farther, any day now... I know I should be excited with the knowledge that either way, I AM having this baby by next Friday. But after all this waiting, I'm just too tired to get worked up about it any more. I think right now I feel more... resigned. The only real energy I can seem to muster towards excitement at all is when I have a contraction... although they aren't anywhere near close enough to consider being in labor, they are painful enough to remind me of what I have left to look forward to. Labor and delivery.
Well, I'm not even ABOUT to go into that one right now. I dont want to imagine how my labor is going to be, I just want to hurry up and get into it so I can get it over with and stop this waiting game. No matter what, I have only to wait (at the most) a week. The wait is almost over.
Knowing that it's almost over, I'm sure you can imagine how long these past weeks have felt for me. Soon I can start getting back my pre-pregnancy body, I can stop feeling as if Alien is trying to bust out of my stomach, and I can stop freaking out about when I'm going to go into labor and how I'll know for sure that it's time to go to the hospital. But the last month is the worst, because you KNOW it's almost over, and you get SO impatient.
Two weeks ago, I went to a doctors appointment and was told that I was dilated to between 1 to 2 cm, but my cervix was still thick and long. My doctor said that I would not be going past my due date, and most likely would have the baby long before that day arrived anyways. I almost felt as if my body had betrayed me, because I hadn't felt any pain with my contractions and was given no sign at all that dilation was beginning. It felt to me as if I wasn't in control, and I was beginning to fear that if I didn't even know I was dilating, I wouldn't know when I was in labor. A meaningless fear of course, since when labor truly sets in, you know it's time. But later that week, I began to get pain with my contractions, and started noticing all the signs of pre-labor: Cramps, lower back pain, a warm feeling in my abdomen, "nesting" syndrome with periods of extreme fatigue, etc. I literally felt as if the baby was going to come any day, and each day I grew anxious and frustrated that labor hadn't yet set in.
One week ago, I went to another doctors appointment and was told that I was still only dilated to between 1 to 2 cm, and although my cervix was showing some signs of effacement, it was still not even 25%. Very little progress after a week with all those pre-labor symptoms... I just couldn't believe that I still wasn't ready to have the baby. The doctor once again said that I wouldn't pass my due date of April 30th, and that there was a good chance I may go into labor over the next week. The symptoms continued, and this time I felt as if I just KNEW that I was going to have the baby that week. And yet, the days crept by with the only changes being more pain during contractions, and a feeling of pressure on my cervix that I hoped was the baby trying to come out.
Two days ago, I had yet another doctors appointment and this time progress showed. I was dilated to between 2 and 3 cm, and my cervix was at least 50% effaced. My doctor said that since I was almost 39 weeks along and my cervix was so favorable, I should be looking for the signs of labor any day now. However, just in case I still hadn't had the baby by next Friday, April 29th, I was scheduled to come in that morning at 6am to be induced and get things moving. Although I was told it is highly unlikely that I would reach that far. I have been so anxious and so frustrated and impatient these last weeks, and constantly being told that it's only a little farther, any day now... I know I should be excited with the knowledge that either way, I AM having this baby by next Friday. But after all this waiting, I'm just too tired to get worked up about it any more. I think right now I feel more... resigned. The only real energy I can seem to muster towards excitement at all is when I have a contraction... although they aren't anywhere near close enough to consider being in labor, they are painful enough to remind me of what I have left to look forward to. Labor and delivery.
Well, I'm not even ABOUT to go into that one right now. I dont want to imagine how my labor is going to be, I just want to hurry up and get into it so I can get it over with and stop this waiting game. No matter what, I have only to wait (at the most) a week. The wait is almost over.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Garden Update 3
It's that time of the week, folks! Time for the next Garden Update! The garden has been growing well and in the short week since I last posted, I have new pictures--some of which show some obvious growth! Last week's problems are history and we have new hardships this week. Let's get right into this, shall we?
First of all, let's have a quick recap. Last week my biggest problem was that my sunflowers were being eaten down by grasshoppers. Well, I meant to get some garden-safe insecticide this week to "take care" of the hungry hungry hoppers, but miraculously they stopped chomping down my veggies! I am still a bit bothered by their presence as I can hear them flying from one section of the garden to another... yet they dont seem to be actually eating anything else in my garden, and I haven't seen any new bites out of my sunflower plants. I read the insecticide directions 3 times over and I'm very nervous about actually applying it to my garden, so if it doesnt seem that I absolutely need it, I wont get it. Anyways, time for new pictures! I'll put them in the same order as last time, starting in the upper left hand corner and going down the rows.
Row 1:
Cantelope:
Cucumber (For some reason, the cucumbers are still very small. They seem to be growing very slowly if at all... I believe that some of them got zapped by the weed killer last week, and one of them got pulled up when my son tried to help me weed the row. I cant be mad at him since he was doing such a good job helping.):
Watermelon (They are finally big enough that I can tell the difference between them and the cucumber sprouts. I couldnt tell them apart until this week):
Pumpkin:
Row 2:
Potatoes:
Carrots:
Row 3:
Tomatoes (Since I only have 7 tomato plants at the moment, and the row has yet to be really weeded out (I only managed to weed around the plants themselves so far) I went ahead and put wire cages around them for them to grow up into to help support the future tomatoes that will grow on them. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are already some tiny yellow flowers on some of the plants. I wish they would focus on growing UP instead of trying to make flowers already.):
Row 4:
Onions (The leaves fall over when they get so tall, and on the bigger ones I lift up the leaves and some of them are over a foot tall already! Plus, some of them are already getting little onion heads on them... I guess they are for the seed pods or flowers or something? I think I need to do some onion research.):
Row 5:
Peppers (Like the tomatoes, some of the peppers are already putting out buds for flowers. They need to grow upwards and get bigger first.):
Banana Peppers (These are still sprouts being raised indoors. They havent made much progress in the past week, perhaps because they need more sunlight, but it will take at least a week or two to acclimate them to the outdoors):
Row 6:
Squash:
Salad Bowl Mix Lettuce:
Caesar Mix Lettuce:
Eggplant (These are still sprouts being raised indoors. They haven't made much progress in the past week, perhaps because they need more sunlight, but it will take at least a week or two to acclimate them to the outdoors):
Row 7:
Corn (If you recall, last week I planted a second row of corn directly next to the first row. This picture is of the corn in the original row, however I am proud to say that the second row has already begun sprouting and growing tall! It's been such a short amount of time and they are really taking off.):
Row 8:
Sunflowers (I think in the next month I will need to stake them down. They are starting to get tall, and although it's amusing to watch them tilt to the left in the morning and aim themselves over to the right by evening, I dont want them to weigh themselves down and break their stalks before they even have the weight of a flower on their heads!):
The problems I've come to face this week are a bit harder to handle then last week. I have had two major issues. The first one is my son David. When I'm working in the garden, he doesnt like to be away from me for long and finds himself wandering into the garden to see what I'm up to. Usually that's when he's getting cranky and comes over to sit in my lap and cry. I can't listen to him cry in my ears for so long, so I end up getting almost nothing accomplished, and I have to wait till the hubby gets home before David will run off to follow his daddy and let me get SOMETHING done before the sun goes down. Assuming that my hubby has time to watch him for a while. The bad news for the garden is that when David comes running over to me, he tends to walk on my veggies. This week he stepped on a potato (which luckily popped back up), two or three pumpkins, and a cucumber (which sadly did NOT pop back up. Their stems are broken off at the ground, and the plants will soon die).
R.I.P. Pumpkin:
The second issue I'm facing is the weeds. Although I have weeded out around each row of veggies, the weeds are creeping back in. The aisles between the rows are half dead weeds (from the weed killer hubby put down) and half lush, green weeds. Here is a picture of a section of weeds growing at the end of my tomato row:
It will take quite a bit of time to pull out all of those weeds, even though some of them will come right out of the ground. The most time consuming is pulling out the grass... grass roots are SO hard to get up! But what I hate the most are these:
It's a weed that grows on a thick stem, with a long root, and it grows very quickly. In this picture, this one already has flowers coming out. What makes it so horrible? What makes me hate it so much? Look at the leaves. They have thorns on them! And not just on the tops of the leaves. There are thorns on the bottom of the leaves, and thorns on the stem as well! I have to dig a small hole around the base of them and pull them up by the stems that are just into the ground in order to pull them up without stabbing myself on their thorns. Often times, the roots break off in the ground and I either have to dig them up or wait a few days for them to grow back so I can try again. I hate them so much!
I was standing back yesterday, looking over my garden, when I thought to myself, "I wish my garden wasn't more weeds than veggies". So I decided to just leisurely weed out each row and aisle. I'm not going to rush, or worry about how much I can get done in a day. Here's what I've done so far:
Looks nice, right? The row on the left is Row 1, you can see the cantelope and cucumbers. The row on the right is Row 2, you can see the potatoes (2 rows of them). No weeds looks really good and clean, and I can see my veggies! Alright. Well, let's move on over to the Vineyard now.
Lemon Tree (My lemon tree sapling is already twice as high as it was last week!):
Blueberry Bushes:
Blueberries (They're starting to get their color, and they have gotten more round):
Grapes:
And now if we go indoors, my tiny Strawberries in their baskets. Although they are still very small and hard to see, some of them have gotten their first set of true leaves! They're growing!
Well, that's it for this week. As long as I dont go into labor anytime soon, I will continue spending my free time leisurely weeding completely through each row and aisle. Hoping I can get through the entire garden without too much growing back behind me. Until next week!
First of all, let's have a quick recap. Last week my biggest problem was that my sunflowers were being eaten down by grasshoppers. Well, I meant to get some garden-safe insecticide this week to "take care" of the hungry hungry hoppers, but miraculously they stopped chomping down my veggies! I am still a bit bothered by their presence as I can hear them flying from one section of the garden to another... yet they dont seem to be actually eating anything else in my garden, and I haven't seen any new bites out of my sunflower plants. I read the insecticide directions 3 times over and I'm very nervous about actually applying it to my garden, so if it doesnt seem that I absolutely need it, I wont get it. Anyways, time for new pictures! I'll put them in the same order as last time, starting in the upper left hand corner and going down the rows.
Row 1:
Cantelope:
Cucumber (For some reason, the cucumbers are still very small. They seem to be growing very slowly if at all... I believe that some of them got zapped by the weed killer last week, and one of them got pulled up when my son tried to help me weed the row. I cant be mad at him since he was doing such a good job helping.):
Watermelon (They are finally big enough that I can tell the difference between them and the cucumber sprouts. I couldnt tell them apart until this week):
Pumpkin:
Row 2:
Potatoes:
Carrots:
Row 3:
Tomatoes (Since I only have 7 tomato plants at the moment, and the row has yet to be really weeded out (I only managed to weed around the plants themselves so far) I went ahead and put wire cages around them for them to grow up into to help support the future tomatoes that will grow on them. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are already some tiny yellow flowers on some of the plants. I wish they would focus on growing UP instead of trying to make flowers already.):
Row 4:
Onions (The leaves fall over when they get so tall, and on the bigger ones I lift up the leaves and some of them are over a foot tall already! Plus, some of them are already getting little onion heads on them... I guess they are for the seed pods or flowers or something? I think I need to do some onion research.):
Row 5:
Peppers (Like the tomatoes, some of the peppers are already putting out buds for flowers. They need to grow upwards and get bigger first.):
Banana Peppers (These are still sprouts being raised indoors. They havent made much progress in the past week, perhaps because they need more sunlight, but it will take at least a week or two to acclimate them to the outdoors):
Row 6:
Squash:
Salad Bowl Mix Lettuce:
Caesar Mix Lettuce:
Eggplant (These are still sprouts being raised indoors. They haven't made much progress in the past week, perhaps because they need more sunlight, but it will take at least a week or two to acclimate them to the outdoors):
Row 7:
Corn (If you recall, last week I planted a second row of corn directly next to the first row. This picture is of the corn in the original row, however I am proud to say that the second row has already begun sprouting and growing tall! It's been such a short amount of time and they are really taking off.):
Row 8:
Sunflowers (I think in the next month I will need to stake them down. They are starting to get tall, and although it's amusing to watch them tilt to the left in the morning and aim themselves over to the right by evening, I dont want them to weigh themselves down and break their stalks before they even have the weight of a flower on their heads!):
The problems I've come to face this week are a bit harder to handle then last week. I have had two major issues. The first one is my son David. When I'm working in the garden, he doesnt like to be away from me for long and finds himself wandering into the garden to see what I'm up to. Usually that's when he's getting cranky and comes over to sit in my lap and cry. I can't listen to him cry in my ears for so long, so I end up getting almost nothing accomplished, and I have to wait till the hubby gets home before David will run off to follow his daddy and let me get SOMETHING done before the sun goes down. Assuming that my hubby has time to watch him for a while. The bad news for the garden is that when David comes running over to me, he tends to walk on my veggies. This week he stepped on a potato (which luckily popped back up), two or three pumpkins, and a cucumber (which sadly did NOT pop back up. Their stems are broken off at the ground, and the plants will soon die).
R.I.P. Pumpkin:
The second issue I'm facing is the weeds. Although I have weeded out around each row of veggies, the weeds are creeping back in. The aisles between the rows are half dead weeds (from the weed killer hubby put down) and half lush, green weeds. Here is a picture of a section of weeds growing at the end of my tomato row:
It will take quite a bit of time to pull out all of those weeds, even though some of them will come right out of the ground. The most time consuming is pulling out the grass... grass roots are SO hard to get up! But what I hate the most are these:
It's a weed that grows on a thick stem, with a long root, and it grows very quickly. In this picture, this one already has flowers coming out. What makes it so horrible? What makes me hate it so much? Look at the leaves. They have thorns on them! And not just on the tops of the leaves. There are thorns on the bottom of the leaves, and thorns on the stem as well! I have to dig a small hole around the base of them and pull them up by the stems that are just into the ground in order to pull them up without stabbing myself on their thorns. Often times, the roots break off in the ground and I either have to dig them up or wait a few days for them to grow back so I can try again. I hate them so much!
I was standing back yesterday, looking over my garden, when I thought to myself, "I wish my garden wasn't more weeds than veggies". So I decided to just leisurely weed out each row and aisle. I'm not going to rush, or worry about how much I can get done in a day. Here's what I've done so far:
Looks nice, right? The row on the left is Row 1, you can see the cantelope and cucumbers. The row on the right is Row 2, you can see the potatoes (2 rows of them). No weeds looks really good and clean, and I can see my veggies! Alright. Well, let's move on over to the Vineyard now.
Lemon Tree (My lemon tree sapling is already twice as high as it was last week!):
Blueberry Bushes:
Blueberries (They're starting to get their color, and they have gotten more round):
Grapes:
And now if we go indoors, my tiny Strawberries in their baskets. Although they are still very small and hard to see, some of them have gotten their first set of true leaves! They're growing!
Well, that's it for this week. As long as I dont go into labor anytime soon, I will continue spending my free time leisurely weeding completely through each row and aisle. Hoping I can get through the entire garden without too much growing back behind me. Until next week!
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