Some of you may remember back when I was pregnant with Luke, when I got admitted twice in the same week, back to back days, for different reasons. On that Friday, we went for monitoring, where Luke did HORRIBLY with some ugly decelerations (more than once) that were so bad that the nurse wanted to fax the test strip to my high risk doctor directly, followed up with a failing biophysical profile--he was too lazy to practice breathing and his movements were more sluggish than usual--my MFM had us head to the hospital, where they quickly hooked me up to monitors and watched him for a couple hours. He did perfectly, then they followed up with a biophysical profile again, where he passed easily in 5 minutes. All that drama for nothing.
The next day, I was laying on the couch watching tv when I started having contractions. I was told to call if I have more than 5 in an hour. I had more than that, called, they told me to go in. Same place, the very next day, more monitoring for both contractions and his heart rate. (He did perfectly.) I had an irritable uterus from a UTI, they sent me home with antibiotics after a few hours.
Silly me, thinking this pregnancy has been so mellow and drama free with the exception of the hand saga, I often almost forget I'm pregnant. Last week I was mildly alarmed when I was spilling a little protein at my OB, but then I wasn't spilling any at my high risk doctor, so it didn't seem too terribly alarming. Then I started feeling like I was getting swollen, especially in my face around my sinuses/the bridge of my nose, it felt like I was getting a sinus infection, but didn't. Which is kinda a big deal, because swelling in the feet during pregnancy is normal...the face, not so much. But swelling is tricky, I didn't think I looked more swollen, and maybe it was all in my head.And my blood pressure was really good.
My first appointment today went well, unlike his big brother, the little boy in utero is super cooperative and easily passed the nonstress test and my fluid levels were good. No drama there, at all, except he flipped from head down to breech which is a whole lot more comfortable for me, although it's surprising an almost 5 lb baby still has that much room in there. But no big deal, having a c-section, he can stay breech (and just might).
My second appointment...eh. My blood pressure was good. My 24 hour urine results, not so much.
The diagnostic criteria for preeclampsia is two blood pressure readings of 140/90 or higher, and 300 mg of protein in a 24 hour urine test. (The in office dip tests are supposed to give them a general idea. Last week my test was +1, which is supposed to be an estimate of 100 mg. +2 is a guess of 200, etc., and they only go up to +3. But they are notoriously inaccurate. One of my friends had a 24 hour urine test of 250 mg when her office test was completely clear. One sample at one random time doesn't mean that the kidneys aren't spilling protein, even with a completely clear test. Or someone can get a +3 test if they are dehydrated, but not actually be spilling 300 mg over 24 hours, so they can be inaccurate both ways, but a whole lot more convenient than saving your pee in an orange jug for 24 hours.)
Anyway, last Monday, I had a +1 test in my OB's office, but a clear test in the afternoon at high risk. Wednesday through Thursday I did my 24 hour urine test and blood work. It came back at 700 mg of protein and my uric acid was "a little high" (something to do with the kidneys, not sure what, it's not super important in terms of preeclampsia). I am pretty sure my high risk doctor accidently muttered the 700 mg and could tell immediately I knew what that meant by the look on my face (BAD!) because we have spent a lot of time together and freaking out about it isn't going to help anything. She quickly said, "That's not bad enough to pull the trigger. If you get to x000's then we probably will." (Can't remember if she said 2000 or 5000, either way, I'm going to be reluctant to deliver if I'm "only" spilling protein, though I'd rather not have kidney damage along the way so we'll have to weigh the options carefully if it comes to that. Spilling protein isn't good for *me*, but my understanding is that it isn't really putting the baby at risk, as long as my blood pressure and everything else stays normal.)
So, this changes things. It seems like she's now preparing for *when* trouble comes vs. *if* it is coming. Because there is not really a good reason to be spilling that much protein, when I never have spilled that much in pregnancy before. (With Olivia, we never had time for a 24 hour urine, my office dip tests were always completely clear, so who knows how bad my kidneys were doing or for how long.) I did "baseline" 24 hour urines before I got pregnant with Luke, and a baseline 24 hour urine early in my pregnancy with Luke, we didn't do one this time, but last time there wasn't any/much.
I'm now getting steroid shots to help develop the baby's lungs, tomorrow and Wednesday. (It is ideally 2 doses, 24 hours apart, as close to delivery as possible) She made a comment that she wanted them done by the time I go back for monitoring Thursday, which should probably have us all a little alarmed, because the unspoken meaning is, I want them done by Thursday so we can deliver then if we need to. I am only going back Thursday for an NST and fluid check, though they'll also check my blood pressure and she specifically said she'll "see me then", so we'll see how that goes. Then I go back again Monday, so I guess I am on weekly appointments now, plus she is sending the results "and a note" to my OB, so who knows what my next few weeks will look like. I don't think she is inclined to put me in the hospital or on full bedrest, if it gets that bad, they'll likely just deliver because of my extreme history and the fact that we are in the 30's weeks-wise with a nice sized baby.
Mostly, we are still in good shape. The baby is doing well. I'm only a few days away from 32 weeks and will have steroids for his lungs soon. They are watching everything closely. I don't think they'll let me go to 37 weeks anymore unless things take a drastic turn for the better. (Like if my next 24 hour urine test comes back under 300 and my swelling goes away, which is not very likely.) With the protein as high it is, most likely they will call it quits if we can make it to 36 weeks. I would love to make it 37, but I just don't know that it's very realistic anymore with the direction things have turned. Right now, I just want to make it to October with the baby still in utero and doing well. Bonus if we can make it to 35 weeks or more. (At 35 weeks, NICU time is 50/50 odds. Luke was born at 36 weeks and didn't need it but it happens sometimes.Before 35 weeks, he'd most likely need some NICU time to learn to eat and regulate his temp and stuff. So 35 weeks is a good "first" goal, but that's a month away and we may not get that lucky this time.) If I make it to 35 weeks, I'll probably still deliver at the non-baby factory hospital, but before then, baby factory it is because I don't want to risk the baby needed transferred to a higher NICU and us being in two different hospitals.
So blech. I'm not on bedrest but on "seriously, take it easy! No running around like crazy!"-rest. Which I think might mean that any trips to the zoo in the next few weeks are out of the question. (Not like we would have time for that anyway with all my appointments.)
Fingers crossed we can keep this baby baking for awhile longer, we have way too much still to do.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Maybe normal, maybe not.
Everything looked pretty good today.
The baby is still most definitely a boy (and I still can't fathom how anyone can have a boy and be surprised, we can always see he's a boy when they aren't even looking for parts. I guess my boys just like flaunting their stuff.)
He was really active the whole time, and is measuring big...like 4 lbs 9 oz (estimated) at 30.5 wks. I think he might be bigger than Luke was at this point but I'd have to look back. I have read that babies from women who have pre-e or a history of it tend to have either small babies or big babies, and not a lot in between, so I wonder if that has to do with it. Either way, I'll take a nice big baby over a small baby any day.
My fluid levels were good, and he *easily* passed his NST even though it was only 30 weeks. He even stayed on the monitors the whole time. Hopefully that's a good sign that this is kid is going to be way more cooperative than Luke was.
I haven't started my lab tests/24 hour urine yet. That will be a fun project for tomorrow when we don't really have to go anywhere.
My blood pressure has been good all day today. (I've been watching it.) But my feet got pretty huge and my sinuses around my forehead/nose/eyes started feeling tight/heavy/like it is getting swollen. Fingers crossed that it's just the start of a sinus infection or cold or something, but I'm not so sure. I had a few more contractions today, though I don't think I had any during monitoring. So, we'll see. Could be normal, could be not. As long as my blood pressure is okay and I'm not having other symptoms, I don't think they'll do anything like bedrest (bedrest is usually in hopes of keeping blood pressure under control.)
It is crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone. I can't believe I'm already doing NST's and that I only have one growth ultrasound left. With Luke, that pregnancy felt like it was 10 years. This is like I've blinked and here we are in the 3rd trimester.
Luke had a really good day today. He walked into my parents' house and immediately headed straight for the toys. My mom gave him a huge stack of dixie cups to play with as we were leaving (she went with me, my sister stayed with Luke), and he was so entranced with stacking and unstacking them and ruining the pyramid my sister was trying to build, he could have cared less when we left. And when we got back, he was pretty underwhelmed to see me and probably would have been fine if I left again, I practically had to drag him out the door to leave with me. I am glad, that will make it a lot easier to be in the hospital (hopefully just for delivery), knowing he isn't having separation anxiety the whole time. Though I suspect my hospital stay with the hand saga is what started that to begin with, so being gone again (overnight especially) could possibly re-trigger it.
Anyway, so far, things are still looking reasonably okay, so I've managed to chill out a bit. Friday is 31 weeks, I'm pretty certain we will make it at least that far.
The baby is still most definitely a boy (and I still can't fathom how anyone can have a boy and be surprised, we can always see he's a boy when they aren't even looking for parts. I guess my boys just like flaunting their stuff.)
He was really active the whole time, and is measuring big...like 4 lbs 9 oz (estimated) at 30.5 wks. I think he might be bigger than Luke was at this point but I'd have to look back. I have read that babies from women who have pre-e or a history of it tend to have either small babies or big babies, and not a lot in between, so I wonder if that has to do with it. Either way, I'll take a nice big baby over a small baby any day.
My fluid levels were good, and he *easily* passed his NST even though it was only 30 weeks. He even stayed on the monitors the whole time. Hopefully that's a good sign that this is kid is going to be way more cooperative than Luke was.
I haven't started my lab tests/24 hour urine yet. That will be a fun project for tomorrow when we don't really have to go anywhere.
My blood pressure has been good all day today. (I've been watching it.) But my feet got pretty huge and my sinuses around my forehead/nose/eyes started feeling tight/heavy/like it is getting swollen. Fingers crossed that it's just the start of a sinus infection or cold or something, but I'm not so sure. I had a few more contractions today, though I don't think I had any during monitoring. So, we'll see. Could be normal, could be not. As long as my blood pressure is okay and I'm not having other symptoms, I don't think they'll do anything like bedrest (bedrest is usually in hopes of keeping blood pressure under control.)
It is crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone. I can't believe I'm already doing NST's and that I only have one growth ultrasound left. With Luke, that pregnancy felt like it was 10 years. This is like I've blinked and here we are in the 3rd trimester.
Luke had a really good day today. He walked into my parents' house and immediately headed straight for the toys. My mom gave him a huge stack of dixie cups to play with as we were leaving (she went with me, my sister stayed with Luke), and he was so entranced with stacking and unstacking them and ruining the pyramid my sister was trying to build, he could have cared less when we left. And when we got back, he was pretty underwhelmed to see me and probably would have been fine if I left again, I practically had to drag him out the door to leave with me. I am glad, that will make it a lot easier to be in the hospital (hopefully just for delivery), knowing he isn't having separation anxiety the whole time. Though I suspect my hospital stay with the hand saga is what started that to begin with, so being gone again (overnight especially) could possibly re-trigger it.
Anyway, so far, things are still looking reasonably okay, so I've managed to chill out a bit. Friday is 31 weeks, I'm pretty certain we will make it at least that far.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Blech.
My normal pregnancy may have just went out the door. I feel like I totally jinxed it.
This morning I saw my OB. Everything looked good except she casually mentioned I had a little protein (+1) in my urine sample. Since my weight was the same as 4 weeks before, no troublesome symptoms, and my blood pressure was normal, she wasn't too worried about it.
Which didn't stop me from crying when she started talking about how we'd be to Oct.26th before I know it and then looked at me and asked if I was ok. Pregnancy hormones, the daunting prospect of going back to that hospital, the unexpected protein, Olivia's 3 year birthday coming up, and just being tired from Luke all kinda hit me I think.
Luckily my OB is fantastic and gave me a long hug and said, "You know there is nothing you could have done, right?" Which surprisingly is one thing she's never said before, but the ultrasound tech, for my last ultrasound with Olivia--at that hospital--before I was transferred in an ambulance, said something really similar way back then. So of course that made me cry even more. And before I knew it my OB was crying too.
So that was fantastic.(Actually, it means a lot that she cares.)
She reassured me that because of my weight and normal bp, she thought things were okay and we'd make it to the end goal again. But she was glad I was seeing my MFM in the afternoon and they could retest, etc.
So I got lunch, went shopping for a short time, and headed to my high risk doctor.
Except it was just one of those days...my high risk doctor was in emergency surgery, they had no idea when she'd be back, which sucked not only because of the protein thing, but because I wanted to talk to her about when and if we would do NST's, when I would get steroids, etc. And I've only met the nurse practitioner once, I wasn't super impressed, and know others who have had a bad experience with her.
Luckily, even though my sample was clear of protein, she seemed suitably concerned about the protein from the morning, especially combined with the fact that I had gained 7 pounds from the morning and from my appointment 4 weeks ago. Sheesh. My blood pressure was borderline, 134/84, kinda high for me. But no other symptoms. They decided to order a 24 hour urine and bloodwork and went out to do the orders for it with my exam room door open, when my high risk doctor walked in, she still had those shoe covering things on from surgery. They told her about what was going on and she stopped briefly to talk to me, decided that the lab work and 24 hour urine was a good start, and that she wanted me to start monitoring this week and to go back next week. She asked if I was working and implied that if I had been, she would have pulled me out. Then she asked about my symptoms, etc.
So that mostly worked out. Got my NST's question answered (start them this week), and I'm fine with asking her about the steroids next week. I have a growth ultrasound and NST tomorrow and they'll check my blood pressure again there. I can't start my 24 hour urine test until tomorrow afternoon when I get home because I am NOT hauling a jug of pee to the perinatal center and considering I will probably be there AT LEAST 2 hours, there is no way that I can guarantee that I won't have to go to the bathroom. (For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of doing a 24 hour urine test, it works just like it sounds. For 24 hours exactly, you collect all of your urine in a jug. The jug has to be kept cold. So if I went somewhere else and had to use the restroom, I'd either have to figure out a way to "save" that urine for my jug...no thank you....or it would ruin the test if I'd already started it.) So this fantastic fun time is gonna have to wait one more day. They won't deliver or do anything drastic even if I'm spilling a lot of protein (ie. means kidneys aren't working right and a symptom of pre-eclampsia), unless my blood pressure or other things are acting up.
I think mainly, they are wary that this could be the start of something. I'm not eating the best ever, but my weight jumped up like 14 lbs at my previous appointment, and then 7 more lbs this appointment...something really similar happened with Olivia, a month before I started getting sick. However, in neither of my previous pregnancies-including the entire time with Luke being seen every week from 28 weeks on- never did I spill any protein. Even when I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome with Olivia, no protein. (This was part of the reason it took awhile to figure out what was going on.) So, it is concerning, a bit. I'm comfortable that I'm not in HELLP, or near HELLP, yet. I feel like this baby is growing JUST FINE. He's active. I'm not having the upper right quadrant pain that I had with Olivia. I am having heartburn though, a lot, pretty bad, and even when I eat stuff that should be relatively harmless...like a banana. My MFM wasn't thrilled about the heartburn, it does go away with Tums, but my upper right quadrant pain with Olivia started out as heartburn and would go away with Gaviscon/tums for awhile too.
So anyway, nothing ESPECIALLY concerning, but nothing exactly reassuring either. I am reassured that they will check on the baby even more tomorrow, I'll have my lab stuff turned in by the end of the day Wednesday and hopefully results Thursday, see my high risk doctor again on Monday, and my OB the following week with NST's in between as well. Their radar is up, my radar is up, maybe we are worrying unnecessarily, but we'll see. I'm a little nervous how the NST is going to go with a 30 weeker, Luke was notoriously bad with NST's this early. My sister works overnights as a manager and is going to watch Luke for me since she doesn't go to sleep till noon or so, but I hope that the baby cooperates so I can let her go sleep.
I am 30 weeks and 4 days...7 weeks further than we made it with Olivia...well past "viability" and even "micropreemie". I don't think it's very likely that I'll be delivering in the next 2 weeks, unless things get crazy ugly very quickly. Fingers crossed that this is just a fluke and we can return back to our uneventful, boring pregnancy.
This morning I saw my OB. Everything looked good except she casually mentioned I had a little protein (+1) in my urine sample. Since my weight was the same as 4 weeks before, no troublesome symptoms, and my blood pressure was normal, she wasn't too worried about it.
Which didn't stop me from crying when she started talking about how we'd be to Oct.26th before I know it and then looked at me and asked if I was ok. Pregnancy hormones, the daunting prospect of going back to that hospital, the unexpected protein, Olivia's 3 year birthday coming up, and just being tired from Luke all kinda hit me I think.
Luckily my OB is fantastic and gave me a long hug and said, "You know there is nothing you could have done, right?" Which surprisingly is one thing she's never said before, but the ultrasound tech, for my last ultrasound with Olivia--at that hospital--before I was transferred in an ambulance, said something really similar way back then. So of course that made me cry even more. And before I knew it my OB was crying too.
So that was fantastic.(Actually, it means a lot that she cares.)
She reassured me that because of my weight and normal bp, she thought things were okay and we'd make it to the end goal again. But she was glad I was seeing my MFM in the afternoon and they could retest, etc.
So I got lunch, went shopping for a short time, and headed to my high risk doctor.
Except it was just one of those days...my high risk doctor was in emergency surgery, they had no idea when she'd be back, which sucked not only because of the protein thing, but because I wanted to talk to her about when and if we would do NST's, when I would get steroids, etc. And I've only met the nurse practitioner once, I wasn't super impressed, and know others who have had a bad experience with her.
Luckily, even though my sample was clear of protein, she seemed suitably concerned about the protein from the morning, especially combined with the fact that I had gained 7 pounds from the morning and from my appointment 4 weeks ago. Sheesh. My blood pressure was borderline, 134/84, kinda high for me. But no other symptoms. They decided to order a 24 hour urine and bloodwork and went out to do the orders for it with my exam room door open, when my high risk doctor walked in, she still had those shoe covering things on from surgery. They told her about what was going on and she stopped briefly to talk to me, decided that the lab work and 24 hour urine was a good start, and that she wanted me to start monitoring this week and to go back next week. She asked if I was working and implied that if I had been, she would have pulled me out. Then she asked about my symptoms, etc.
So that mostly worked out. Got my NST's question answered (start them this week), and I'm fine with asking her about the steroids next week. I have a growth ultrasound and NST tomorrow and they'll check my blood pressure again there. I can't start my 24 hour urine test until tomorrow afternoon when I get home because I am NOT hauling a jug of pee to the perinatal center and considering I will probably be there AT LEAST 2 hours, there is no way that I can guarantee that I won't have to go to the bathroom. (For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of doing a 24 hour urine test, it works just like it sounds. For 24 hours exactly, you collect all of your urine in a jug. The jug has to be kept cold. So if I went somewhere else and had to use the restroom, I'd either have to figure out a way to "save" that urine for my jug...no thank you....or it would ruin the test if I'd already started it.) So this fantastic fun time is gonna have to wait one more day. They won't deliver or do anything drastic even if I'm spilling a lot of protein (ie. means kidneys aren't working right and a symptom of pre-eclampsia), unless my blood pressure or other things are acting up.
I think mainly, they are wary that this could be the start of something. I'm not eating the best ever, but my weight jumped up like 14 lbs at my previous appointment, and then 7 more lbs this appointment...something really similar happened with Olivia, a month before I started getting sick. However, in neither of my previous pregnancies-including the entire time with Luke being seen every week from 28 weeks on- never did I spill any protein. Even when I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome with Olivia, no protein. (This was part of the reason it took awhile to figure out what was going on.) So, it is concerning, a bit. I'm comfortable that I'm not in HELLP, or near HELLP, yet. I feel like this baby is growing JUST FINE. He's active. I'm not having the upper right quadrant pain that I had with Olivia. I am having heartburn though, a lot, pretty bad, and even when I eat stuff that should be relatively harmless...like a banana. My MFM wasn't thrilled about the heartburn, it does go away with Tums, but my upper right quadrant pain with Olivia started out as heartburn and would go away with Gaviscon/tums for awhile too.
So anyway, nothing ESPECIALLY concerning, but nothing exactly reassuring either. I am reassured that they will check on the baby even more tomorrow, I'll have my lab stuff turned in by the end of the day Wednesday and hopefully results Thursday, see my high risk doctor again on Monday, and my OB the following week with NST's in between as well. Their radar is up, my radar is up, maybe we are worrying unnecessarily, but we'll see. I'm a little nervous how the NST is going to go with a 30 weeker, Luke was notoriously bad with NST's this early. My sister works overnights as a manager and is going to watch Luke for me since she doesn't go to sleep till noon or so, but I hope that the baby cooperates so I can let her go sleep.
I am 30 weeks and 4 days...7 weeks further than we made it with Olivia...well past "viability" and even "micropreemie". I don't think it's very likely that I'll be delivering in the next 2 weeks, unless things get crazy ugly very quickly. Fingers crossed that this is just a fluke and we can return back to our uneventful, boring pregnancy.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
29 weeks
I am getting really bad at this. Every time I start to try to blog, Luke wakes up or something else comes up and I get interrupted and never finish and never go back to what I started. But this time I'm going to really try to finish!
29 weeks now (and 3 days). Kick counts are good, when I remember to do them, but usually when I lay on my side and start doing them I fall asleep. I can't do them when Luke is up because he takes me laying somewhere as an invitation to come over and climb all over me. As far as I know, everything is fine. The fabulous part of this is that I have hardly any time to think about all the things that could go wrong or to worry at all, unless I have a doctor's appointment that day or something. The only mildly warning sign I have is my feet keep swelling pretty bad by the end of the day, but I don't think I'm swelling anywhere else, so I'm going to chalk that up as normal. Even my heartburn has been behaving lately. And I don't remember if I mentioned that hallejulah, I passed the 1 hour glucose test so no gestational diabetes for me! I'm still trying to not go crazy on carbs (most of the time), but I'm pretty excited not to have to mess with that diabetes crap, it's such a pain to keep track of your blood sugar all the time and remember to test an hour after every meal, etc. etc.
One of my favorite moments possibly from this entire pregnancy happened last weekend. It was Luke's favorite witching hour, 4 am, and we were in our bed. (Joe got fed up with Luke's bed hogging ways and my paranoia "your blanket is too close to him, move your pillow higher, etc" and had moved to the couch.) I was TRYING my best to sleep while Luke watched Blue's Clues and flopped around everywhere. At one point, Luke was laying with his head at the foot of our bed and his feet resting on my belly. Almost immediately, as soon as he put his feet on my stomach, the baby kicked, right where Luke's feet were, and strong enough that Luke felt it and giggled. It was such a cool moment, even at 4 am. The brothers are already playing together.
We are getting really close to a name. Maybe by the end of the week, even.
We are not at all close to ready for this baby, house-wise. It seems like it shouldn't be "that bad" because we have a 16 month old and all of his baby stuff. It is "that bad" because our living room looks like a mini Toys R Us wannabe. Kangaroo climber? Check. Cozy Coupe? Check. (Yes, we have a cozy coupe in our living room. It was too hot outside for Luke to play with it there and now it's been raining for 3 straight days, the plan is to take it outside though, at least.) Two more ride on cars. Leapfrog table. And lately Luke has been pushing his baby walker around too, right around the time I was going to put it away figuring he'd outgrown it. I am dreading adding a baby swing and everything else to the chaos. We'll definitely have to limit the toys we keep in here, but Luke's room is really small, too. I'm probably going to have to start rotating his toys in and out so some seem "new". And then there's the baby's room. Luke's room was supposed to be Olivia's room, and it was tough emotionally to get it ready, but it was already pretty much emptied out and not too hard to do. Well, our "spare room" is about to not be so spare. (Although I doubt we'll put the baby in there for awhile.) It's our office/ guest room/ exercise room- complete with a desk, desktop computer, two printers, file cabinet, 8 million books, elliptical, twin bed, wall to floor book shelf, and large dresser. Not to mention it's where we've been throwing all kinds of random crap over the past couple years. Anyway, it is going to be a ton of work. I have no idea where we are going to put all of that stuff (good thing we have a basement, and I'm trying to sell/get rid of a lot of it.) I think we are moving Luke to the twin bed (just going to throw the mattress which is pretty much brand new on the floor b/c otherwise it's too high for him.) He hasn't slept in his crib in a month, anyway. I am seriously contemplating moving Luke to that room and putting the baby in his room. Since the crib is already in Luke's room, it would be easier. Plus that room is a lot bigger than Luke's room, so there would be more room for his toys. The downsides are that I don't want Luke to feel like he's been displaced...I'm not sure how much he would or wouldn't feel displaced given that he's only 16 months and NEVER SLEEPS IN HIS OWN ROOM anyway. The other thing is the wall decals of the giant elephant and tiger and giraffe and monkey in the tree. Luke LOVES them, he goes in there all the time and points at the animals and likes to pat the wall where they are. I mean, he could still do that even if that is the baby's room. We can't move the decals to the other room because only 2 of them are reusable- the tiger and elephant- the tree and monkey, and giraffe, can only be applied once. (And no way will I be able to convince Joe to rebuy the same thing we already have on the wall..they weren't that cheap.) I'm not sure that's a good enough reason not to move him. For now, we just need to worry about getting the room cleared out, anyway.
It is going to be a busy couple of months!
29 weeks now (and 3 days). Kick counts are good, when I remember to do them, but usually when I lay on my side and start doing them I fall asleep. I can't do them when Luke is up because he takes me laying somewhere as an invitation to come over and climb all over me. As far as I know, everything is fine. The fabulous part of this is that I have hardly any time to think about all the things that could go wrong or to worry at all, unless I have a doctor's appointment that day or something. The only mildly warning sign I have is my feet keep swelling pretty bad by the end of the day, but I don't think I'm swelling anywhere else, so I'm going to chalk that up as normal. Even my heartburn has been behaving lately. And I don't remember if I mentioned that hallejulah, I passed the 1 hour glucose test so no gestational diabetes for me! I'm still trying to not go crazy on carbs (most of the time), but I'm pretty excited not to have to mess with that diabetes crap, it's such a pain to keep track of your blood sugar all the time and remember to test an hour after every meal, etc. etc.
One of my favorite moments possibly from this entire pregnancy happened last weekend. It was Luke's favorite witching hour, 4 am, and we were in our bed. (Joe got fed up with Luke's bed hogging ways and my paranoia "your blanket is too close to him, move your pillow higher, etc" and had moved to the couch.) I was TRYING my best to sleep while Luke watched Blue's Clues and flopped around everywhere. At one point, Luke was laying with his head at the foot of our bed and his feet resting on my belly. Almost immediately, as soon as he put his feet on my stomach, the baby kicked, right where Luke's feet were, and strong enough that Luke felt it and giggled. It was such a cool moment, even at 4 am. The brothers are already playing together.
We are getting really close to a name. Maybe by the end of the week, even.
We are not at all close to ready for this baby, house-wise. It seems like it shouldn't be "that bad" because we have a 16 month old and all of his baby stuff. It is "that bad" because our living room looks like a mini Toys R Us wannabe. Kangaroo climber? Check. Cozy Coupe? Check. (Yes, we have a cozy coupe in our living room. It was too hot outside for Luke to play with it there and now it's been raining for 3 straight days, the plan is to take it outside though, at least.) Two more ride on cars. Leapfrog table. And lately Luke has been pushing his baby walker around too, right around the time I was going to put it away figuring he'd outgrown it. I am dreading adding a baby swing and everything else to the chaos. We'll definitely have to limit the toys we keep in here, but Luke's room is really small, too. I'm probably going to have to start rotating his toys in and out so some seem "new". And then there's the baby's room. Luke's room was supposed to be Olivia's room, and it was tough emotionally to get it ready, but it was already pretty much emptied out and not too hard to do. Well, our "spare room" is about to not be so spare. (Although I doubt we'll put the baby in there for awhile.) It's our office/ guest room/ exercise room- complete with a desk, desktop computer, two printers, file cabinet, 8 million books, elliptical, twin bed, wall to floor book shelf, and large dresser. Not to mention it's where we've been throwing all kinds of random crap over the past couple years. Anyway, it is going to be a ton of work. I have no idea where we are going to put all of that stuff (good thing we have a basement, and I'm trying to sell/get rid of a lot of it.) I think we are moving Luke to the twin bed (just going to throw the mattress which is pretty much brand new on the floor b/c otherwise it's too high for him.) He hasn't slept in his crib in a month, anyway. I am seriously contemplating moving Luke to that room and putting the baby in his room. Since the crib is already in Luke's room, it would be easier. Plus that room is a lot bigger than Luke's room, so there would be more room for his toys. The downsides are that I don't want Luke to feel like he's been displaced...I'm not sure how much he would or wouldn't feel displaced given that he's only 16 months and NEVER SLEEPS IN HIS OWN ROOM anyway. The other thing is the wall decals of the giant elephant and tiger and giraffe and monkey in the tree. Luke LOVES them, he goes in there all the time and points at the animals and likes to pat the wall where they are. I mean, he could still do that even if that is the baby's room. We can't move the decals to the other room because only 2 of them are reusable- the tiger and elephant- the tree and monkey, and giraffe, can only be applied once. (And no way will I be able to convince Joe to rebuy the same thing we already have on the wall..they weren't that cheap.) I'm not sure that's a good enough reason not to move him. For now, we just need to worry about getting the room cleared out, anyway.
It is going to be a busy couple of months!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
28 weeks
The last couple weeks have pretty much been a blur, but I guess that's this pregnancy + life with a toddler. I am 28 weeks Friday, which is just crazy to me, that it has gone so quickly, that I have made it so far uneventfully again (err, disregarding that whole infected dog bite/hand fiasco). This was my OB's major goal for me when I was pregnant with Luke, which doesn't seem like much of a goal for a lot of people I guess but when you've had to deliver at 23 weeks, every extra week you get is a huge blessing and can make a huge difference for the baby's well-being. So hooray for 28 weeks!
In a quick nutshell:
Last week I had 2 dr appointments (no more lovenox- hooray!) and an ultrasound (all good), cleaned my house like a mad person, packed us up for Chicago, we drove there Wednesday, spent 1 full day / 2 nights in a hotel, drove back Friday morning. Then Saturday and Sunday we had birthday parties.
By this Monday I was sick with a bad cold and Luke was super crabby, by Tuesday we were both sick and miserable, luckily by Wednesday I was feeling a ton better even though Luke was still pretty sick, today we are finally both mostly better. I finally got around to taking my 1 hour glucose test this morning. (I didn't have time to deal with it the week before when we were getting ready/going to Chicago. I meant to do it Monday but then was sick.) I'm not too optimistic that I passed so trying to enjoy as many carbs tonight as I can. Also yesterday we found out that the HR person at Joe's work made a huge mistake that is most likely going to cost us around $5000 that we were not expecting to be paying, and it's probably also going to screw up our taxes for the year. So, it hasn't been the greatest of weeks, but it's bound to get better sometime soon.
Chicago was fun. Luke really liked seeing all the fish in the aquarium, though I don't think we'll go back there again. It was way too crowded with a lot of bitchy workers. Luke wasn't really any more impressed with the bigger water animals than he was with the regular aquariums of fish. (I mean, granted, they were pretty and everything, but we could have taken him to a pet store for the same effect.) It was AWESOME to see my friend Maggie though and we almost managed to convince her to come live in our basement and be our nanny. She hasn't seen Luke since last October so he's changed a lot and probably didn't remember her, but he warmed up to her pretty quickly and she carried him around the aquarium for us which was really nice. (Most of the aquariums were too high for him to see very well from the stroller.) By the time we got back, my feet were insanely swollen from all of the walking (and probably crazy cleaning in the days before). Luckily that seems to be better now. The drive was easy and went really well. Luke slept for half of it, and then watched Blue's Clues on the portable dvd player my parents loaned us, the rest of the drive. I read a couple trashy books and we discussed baby names and got nowhere.
Some pictures:
In a quick nutshell:
Last week I had 2 dr appointments (no more lovenox- hooray!) and an ultrasound (all good), cleaned my house like a mad person, packed us up for Chicago, we drove there Wednesday, spent 1 full day / 2 nights in a hotel, drove back Friday morning. Then Saturday and Sunday we had birthday parties.
By this Monday I was sick with a bad cold and Luke was super crabby, by Tuesday we were both sick and miserable, luckily by Wednesday I was feeling a ton better even though Luke was still pretty sick, today we are finally both mostly better. I finally got around to taking my 1 hour glucose test this morning. (I didn't have time to deal with it the week before when we were getting ready/going to Chicago. I meant to do it Monday but then was sick.) I'm not too optimistic that I passed so trying to enjoy as many carbs tonight as I can. Also yesterday we found out that the HR person at Joe's work made a huge mistake that is most likely going to cost us around $5000 that we were not expecting to be paying, and it's probably also going to screw up our taxes for the year. So, it hasn't been the greatest of weeks, but it's bound to get better sometime soon.
Chicago was fun. Luke really liked seeing all the fish in the aquarium, though I don't think we'll go back there again. It was way too crowded with a lot of bitchy workers. Luke wasn't really any more impressed with the bigger water animals than he was with the regular aquariums of fish. (I mean, granted, they were pretty and everything, but we could have taken him to a pet store for the same effect.) It was AWESOME to see my friend Maggie though and we almost managed to convince her to come live in our basement and be our nanny. She hasn't seen Luke since last October so he's changed a lot and probably didn't remember her, but he warmed up to her pretty quickly and she carried him around the aquarium for us which was really nice. (Most of the aquariums were too high for him to see very well from the stroller.) By the time we got back, my feet were insanely swollen from all of the walking (and probably crazy cleaning in the days before). Luckily that seems to be better now. The drive was easy and went really well. Luke slept for half of it, and then watched Blue's Clues on the portable dvd player my parents loaned us, the rest of the drive. I read a couple trashy books and we discussed baby names and got nowhere.
Some pictures:
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| Blowing a kiss while playing outside at the hotel after the 5 hr drive |
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| Luke's first train ride |
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| Bed hogs- we had a king size bed |
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| Luke's first train ride, sitting by daddy |
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| Are you done taking pictures yet? I'm trying to eat my granola bar in peace! |
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| Luke and Maggie- I couldn't use my flash so this was one of the few "decent" pictures I got of them. |
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| Looking at fish |
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| Watching beluga whales and waiting for the dolphin show |
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| Reading an Elmo book on the train ride back |
Monday, August 13, 2012
Bye bye lovenox!
Everything looked pretty good today. The baby was an estimated 2 lbs 6 oz, 62%ile, which is great for 26.5 weeks. All his measurements were about a week ahead this time.I know this because she gave me a printout for my doctor with them. At this time with Luke, he was more like a week and a half ahead. And Olivia, I was already almost 3 weeks postpartum. This pregnancy still seems so new so much of the time (although in some ways it feels like I've been pregnant FOREVER, like since 2009, which is almost true, this is my 4th year in a row that I've been pregnant.) It's still hard for me to believe I'm already 3 weeks farther along then I made it with Olivia. What a short time we had with her.
My high risk doctor asked me today to compare movement between the three. That was easy- Olivia I never really felt much other than a twinge randomly- she only weighed 10.5 ounces-and I don't think she moved much either- or at least not as much. This baby seems less active than Luke, but it's hard to say, I have less time to overanalyze how many times an hour he's moved or if it's been an hour.He's moving just fine right now. Since he's clearly growing well, she's not too worried about it.
In fact, I am DONE jabbing needles in my stomach for this pregnancy. I stopped around 28 weeks with Luke and was more than happy to stop them now. I am still taking baby aspirin daily. That was the best news of the appointment.
We talked about when we are evicting this baby officially, 36 weeks with an amnio or 37 weeks. An amnio at 36 weeks risks my water breaking- again- and then having to deliver a baby with immature lungs anyway (which is the point of the amnio, to check lung maturity.) Or worse, it could make me go into labor (after my water breaks), which could cause my uterus to rupture. 37 weeks is IT, period. They don't let me risk going any further (the whole labor-uterine rupture thing), though I suppose I could try to be difficult about it, 37 weeks is as far as I really wanna go anyway. The only risk of waiting 37 weeks is that in the week between 36 and 37, I could maybe go into labor which would again risk rupture, or the extra week could give more time for trouble to start. So really, the risks of waiting an extra week are probably not that much more than risking an amnio breaking my water and sending me into labor. If I start having a lot of contractions or things start going awry, they are going to deliver anyway. So I think I feel okay about 37 weeks. My MFM likes it. I asked if I could have steroid shots for his lungs to help just in case, because I'd rather not have a baby in the NICU at 36 OR 37 weeks, it might not be necessary but can't really hurt. She said absolutely, we can do them around 33 weeks, and she thinks they'll help. I feel a lot better getting them, than not. (Yay more shots!) So, October 26th it is. Maybe. So far we are 0 for 2 as far as babies coming on schedule (although Luke was only a few hours early). Just maybe, this baby, who has by FAR been the easiest pregnancy (at least mentally, and the physical difficulties have a lot more to do with my 27 pound 15 month old), will get the memo and stay put and drama free. We'll see. Considering I've already spent 4 days in the hospital this pregnancy, (not that I can blame the baby for my stupidity), but I'm not holding my breath.
My high risk doctor asked me today to compare movement between the three. That was easy- Olivia I never really felt much other than a twinge randomly- she only weighed 10.5 ounces-and I don't think she moved much either- or at least not as much. This baby seems less active than Luke, but it's hard to say, I have less time to overanalyze how many times an hour he's moved or if it's been an hour.He's moving just fine right now. Since he's clearly growing well, she's not too worried about it.
In fact, I am DONE jabbing needles in my stomach for this pregnancy. I stopped around 28 weeks with Luke and was more than happy to stop them now. I am still taking baby aspirin daily. That was the best news of the appointment.
We talked about when we are evicting this baby officially, 36 weeks with an amnio or 37 weeks. An amnio at 36 weeks risks my water breaking- again- and then having to deliver a baby with immature lungs anyway (which is the point of the amnio, to check lung maturity.) Or worse, it could make me go into labor (after my water breaks), which could cause my uterus to rupture. 37 weeks is IT, period. They don't let me risk going any further (the whole labor-uterine rupture thing), though I suppose I could try to be difficult about it, 37 weeks is as far as I really wanna go anyway. The only risk of waiting 37 weeks is that in the week between 36 and 37, I could maybe go into labor which would again risk rupture, or the extra week could give more time for trouble to start. So really, the risks of waiting an extra week are probably not that much more than risking an amnio breaking my water and sending me into labor. If I start having a lot of contractions or things start going awry, they are going to deliver anyway. So I think I feel okay about 37 weeks. My MFM likes it. I asked if I could have steroid shots for his lungs to help just in case, because I'd rather not have a baby in the NICU at 36 OR 37 weeks, it might not be necessary but can't really hurt. She said absolutely, we can do them around 33 weeks, and she thinks they'll help. I feel a lot better getting them, than not. (Yay more shots!) So, October 26th it is. Maybe. So far we are 0 for 2 as far as babies coming on schedule (although Luke was only a few hours early). Just maybe, this baby, who has by FAR been the easiest pregnancy (at least mentally, and the physical difficulties have a lot more to do with my 27 pound 15 month old), will get the memo and stay put and drama free. We'll see. Considering I've already spent 4 days in the hospital this pregnancy, (not that I can blame the baby for my stupidity), but I'm not holding my breath.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
26 +2
Man, oh, man. This pregnancy is flying by. That is a good thing, mostly.
The heartburn has started with a vengence, pretty much no matter what I eat. I hate it. It makes me nervous since my symptoms started with bad heartburn with Olivia. But I remember having a lot of bad heartburn with Luke too. And my feet are getting pretty swollen by the end of the day, which has my radar up a bit too, although no headaches, no dizziness, no other pain or symptoms. I don't think I am very swollen anywhere else.
This week is going to be REALLY busy. Three appointments (all medical for me), a quick trip to Chicago, and then next weekend we have parties both days. Somehow between packing and cleaning, I know I need to still take the lovely 1 hour glucose test. I figured I'd wait till we are back from Chicago, which I know my doctors won't be thrilled about, but I am hopeful I might actually pass, maybe, this time. But if I don't pass, counting carbs and checking my blood sugar is a really huge pain in the butt. (And eating all of the time is annoying too.) I'd like to put them off as long as possible. I already passed the glucose test once this pregnancy, so I feel okay waiting a little longer. Fingers crossed.
Luke is SO busy. He does not sleep nearly enough. And he is heavy and likes me to carry him a lot still which sucks for my poor back. But he's also fantastic and so funny. My sister has been working with him on dancing. He now will spin around in circles waving his hands and considers it dancing. Then he gets really dizzy and tries to walk while we laugh at him. It's awesome. Now, when I want to catch him to change his diaper, I don't say, "let's go change your diaper." I say, "show me how you dance", then wait till he's dizzy to pick him up and change him. Less resistance that way.
Today we went to a picnic for SHARE (an infant loss group). The weather was perfect and it was nice. Those kind of things are always bittersweet, but infinitely better and easier now that we have a
living child. Even though all of the families have had a loss, going to stuff like that when there are other kids and families, would have been hard for me. Last year we didn't go because Luke was still pretty young and it was hot. The year before, I don't think I knew about it but probably wouldn't have gone anyway, but this year, I'm glad we went. We also have a walk coming up at the end of October....that is going to be tricky. I think I want to try to go, but I'll be 36ish weeks pregnant, so probably not walking, possibly not even pregnant anymore. So we'll see how that goes.
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and Luke will probably be awake again any time now, so I better get some sleep while I can.
The heartburn has started with a vengence, pretty much no matter what I eat. I hate it. It makes me nervous since my symptoms started with bad heartburn with Olivia. But I remember having a lot of bad heartburn with Luke too. And my feet are getting pretty swollen by the end of the day, which has my radar up a bit too, although no headaches, no dizziness, no other pain or symptoms. I don't think I am very swollen anywhere else.
This week is going to be REALLY busy. Three appointments (all medical for me), a quick trip to Chicago, and then next weekend we have parties both days. Somehow between packing and cleaning, I know I need to still take the lovely 1 hour glucose test. I figured I'd wait till we are back from Chicago, which I know my doctors won't be thrilled about, but I am hopeful I might actually pass, maybe, this time. But if I don't pass, counting carbs and checking my blood sugar is a really huge pain in the butt. (And eating all of the time is annoying too.) I'd like to put them off as long as possible. I already passed the glucose test once this pregnancy, so I feel okay waiting a little longer. Fingers crossed.
Luke is SO busy. He does not sleep nearly enough. And he is heavy and likes me to carry him a lot still which sucks for my poor back. But he's also fantastic and so funny. My sister has been working with him on dancing. He now will spin around in circles waving his hands and considers it dancing. Then he gets really dizzy and tries to walk while we laugh at him. It's awesome. Now, when I want to catch him to change his diaper, I don't say, "let's go change your diaper." I say, "show me how you dance", then wait till he's dizzy to pick him up and change him. Less resistance that way.
Today we went to a picnic for SHARE (an infant loss group). The weather was perfect and it was nice. Those kind of things are always bittersweet, but infinitely better and easier now that we have a
living child. Even though all of the families have had a loss, going to stuff like that when there are other kids and families, would have been hard for me. Last year we didn't go because Luke was still pretty young and it was hot. The year before, I don't think I knew about it but probably wouldn't have gone anyway, but this year, I'm glad we went. We also have a walk coming up at the end of October....that is going to be tricky. I think I want to try to go, but I'll be 36ish weeks pregnant, so probably not walking, possibly not even pregnant anymore. So we'll see how that goes.
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and Luke will probably be awake again any time now, so I better get some sleep while I can.
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