Merry (Belated) Christmas!

Merry Belated Christmas to all! Things are hectic as usual, but there are some things I want to share with you while my sweet prince snoozes. Let's see if I can get it all typed out and posted before he wakes up!

*** Ready? Set? Go! ***

Griffin's first Christmas has come and gone. Strangely, the day isn't nearly as blurred as our Christmas usually is, and that is all thanks to Griffin! Every other year we've gone to my mom's Christmas Eve, spent the night, gotten up at the ass-crack of dawn to do our Christmas, then headed over to my brother's house (in a fit of my mom's anxiety for fear of forgetting something at home and having to make a grueling 3-mile trip back) and had brunch and Christmas there. Then, in the early afternoon once we were sure everyone at my brother's house had opened their gifts from us and we had opened all of ours from them, we packed up the car and drove an hour and a half to Bry's mom's house (usually in cold rain or heavy fog like last year) only to arrive and have had his family who said they would be having dinner have decided to eat early before we got there and then offer us a sandwich hours later (don't get me started...) during the annual hearts tournament. Moving on....we just stayed at my brother's for the day and then came home. So much nicer to not travel so much - and all thanks to Griffin! Mommy and Daddy refused to subject our wee man to all that traveling. As for Santa, he and our family were good to Griffin. He got a few toys, lots of books and some clothes. He had no idea what was going on though since he's you know, 7 weeks old (omg, really?  already?!?!) and was asleep on Mommy most of the day.

Rewind to the Tuesday before Christmas. December 21st. Griffin turned 6 weeks old that day, and I had my post-partum check up. The incision is all healed up, my uterus is fully back to normal and I am free to resume my normal activities. Oh wait though, I had a fever of 100.5 the night before and an aching, red boob. Yes, obviously mastitis, though not a terrible case of it. Still, antibiotics were in order. That's where it gets interesting. I have so many drug allergies that the "only thing" they could give me was an IV of vancomycin. And a 23 hour hospital stay. And a home health nurse twice a day for the next 5 days to administer meds in the IV line I'd be going home with. But wait! Thankfully, due to the new home health people the hospital forces the docs to use requiring a picc line for ALL home infusion therapy - even 5 days worth - my doctor decided that was not in my best interest and sent me home after only 8 hours and one bag of vancomycin with a prescription for oral clindamycin. (I'm not even going to attempt to understand why he wouldn't give that to me in the first place, especially when I asked for it.) He then proceeded to tell me that I absolutely 100% would get diarrhea and was likely to get a nasty C. diff infection. I don't want to jinx anything, but day #9 on the clindamycin here and none of that has happened. Thank you probiotics!

And lastly for today, since the prince is starting to stir, making my typing time is severely limited, I have to tell you about daycare. He starts Tuesday. I'm not happy. Besides having to go back to work and leave my precious baby in someone else's care whom I don't really know, we have one issue that has cropped up. He sleeps in his carseat because of the reflux. They don't allow kids to sleep in their carseats. They don't allow the carseats in the room with the babies at all. He HAS to sleep in his crib, but we can prop it up. Yeah...that doesn't work. Unless someone knows how to prop a crib mattress up at a 60 degree angle while simultaneously keeping a baby in place and not rolling down to the bottom of the crib, someone at daycare will have very tired arms or severely lack the ability to hear by the end of the day. Part of me wants to try in the next 4 days (omg only 4!!!!) to get him used to sleeping in a crib propped up and have him be ok with it. And by "ok with it" I mean not squeal and scream in pain while throwing up the entire contents of his stomach all over himself and his crib, and then continuing to throw up/dry heave once being picked up. The other part of me wants to continue with the status quo here at home and let daycare deal with it since they are the ones who refuse to let us put his carseat in his crib there. (With the amount of money we are paying them, they should allow it while also presenting Griffin with a potty seat made of gold.) Perhaps a few days of that will make them change their minds? Alas, I don't know if I can stomach sending him off to daycare knowing he will be having such a horrible time and not being there to comfort him. Looks like my last 4 days of maternity leave will be sleepless and puked filled.

Happy New Year! Next post, I will have Christmas and New Year's pics :)

New pictures!!!

Sorry for the delay. Also, sorry these aren't from the camera and are phone pics. We can't find the card reader, so the pictures are still stuck on the camera. Here is a quick update before the pics:


Stats: 11lbs, 11.25oz; 22in long; still cute as can be (see pics below!)

Health: Prevacid seems to be working pretty well, but he still squeals in pain some.

Milestones: Smiles and laughs in his sleep. Smiles while awake. Laughed once or twice while awake (apparently, we aren't that funny...). Starting to reach for things. Great neck strength/head control. Follows objects with eyes (when he's in the mood to).

And now, what you've all been waiting for....

My new bed. Thank you, reflux!



Sleeping

Sleeping in my swing.

***But wait! I do more than just sleep.***

I chill.

I scream and flail.

I wear bears on my feet.

And I drive!

ENT update, etc.

Griffin is A-OK!  Nothing else seems to be going on, and nothing about the microcleft and deviated septum needs fixed. We go back in a year just to check in and make sure no other issues have cropped up, but other than that he's been pronounced perfect yet again. Yay!

The Prevacid is working well. We stopped the Zantac now that it has been a few days on Prevacid. He's in a little more pain tonight than he was yesterday, but I think that will subside in the next day or so.

Thanks to everyone who has given me suggestions on increasing my milk supply. Sadly, I've tried them all to no avail. I'm still pumping some and renewed my pump rental for another month on Monday. It just doesn't look like exclusive breastfeeding is in the cards for us. Griffin is growing wonderfully though, so I know he is ok, and I know I gave it a good try. If I had it to do over again, I would probably do things a little differently, but I can't dwell on the past and the missteps I took.

In other, but related, news: I wish I could be a stay at home mom! Today was such a great day. Even though I'm totally beat at this point and typing as fast as I can so I can snatch a few hours (hopefully) of sleep before my little prince wakes up again, I would just love to stay home with Griffin. If only I could get paid to do so! I don't have to go back to work until after the New Year, but I'm dreading it. I've been dreading it since the first moment I saw Griffin, and even somewhat before then. I am keeping my fingers crossed to a) remember to buy lotto tickets and b) win at least $500,000 in the lotto. A girl can dream....

Didn't I *just* pee on a sick?

Here we are with Griffin already a month old. It may be a cliche, but time really has flown by. How can a month have already slipped by???  I guess sleep deprevation will do that to you.

So, Griffin is a healthy little guy who now weighs 11lbs 2.5oz and is 22 inches long. He has reflux, which we have been giving him Zantac for, but it's not helping enough so starting today we are giving him Prevacid. Hopefully that will calm the pain down for him enough that he can sleep comfortably and just be more comfy in general. He also tends to get very painful gas, which we are giving him chamomile tea for. I know it sounds odd, but that was what the pediatrician told us to do. We replace one ounce of water with tea when we make him a bottle of formula.

Oh yeah...formula. My intention was to breastfeed. He only took the breast for the first 3 days. Each time he did, it was more of a fight to get him to stay latched on than it was the last time. By day 4, he refused and went to a bottle while I started pumping. Newborns should generally eat 2-3 ounces at a time. He screamed for a 4th ounce by the time we came home from the hospital. What can I say? He likes his food! Anyway, I have never been able to pump enough to satisfy him, so earlier this week I decided to stop. That decision was heartbreaking...and only lasted 24 hours at which point my boobs were screaming in pain and I just had to pump since I couldn't even pick Griffin up without pain. I decided I would pump when my boobs felt like they needed it, which has never been as often as I have pumped, and we'd go from there. He gets his Zantac mixed in with breastmilk though that will stop in a few days when the Prevacid kicks in. I hope to be able to pump enough to feed him one 4oz bottle a day. It may only end up being a 2oz bottle, but I know every little bit helps and is good for him.

In other health news, Griffin has a microcleft lip and deviated septum. The microcleft doesn't cause any problems - his palatte is perfect - and is just a cosmetic thing. The deviated septum is partially causing his snoring and waking him him when he stops snoring mid-snore and then suddenly snores again. Because of this, we will be seeing an ENT on Tuesday just to get a once-over and make sure there aren't any other subtle issues. Our doctor doesn't think anything can or will be done, especially at his age, but thought it would be a good idea to just get looked at, and I very much agree. I'll try to update after that appointment, but Bryan goes back to work on Monday so I'll be flying solo and might be totally insane by then!

Last night, at just one month and one day old, we left Griffin with a sitter and went to the movies (Harry Potter yay!) and then we got a full, uninterrupted night of sleep! Thanks goes to my sister for coming over to watch our little cutie and offering to spend the night to help us out. She got a nice dose of what it's like to be a new mommy. This is a very good thing seeing as how she's only 17 and we'd like to keep her from becoming a mommy for quite a few years! I think one night with a fussy baby is a fabulous form of birth control.

We still haven't pulled the pictures off of the camera yet, nor have we uploaded any videos. Once my laptop gets fixed and Griffin stays down for a nap long enough for me to eat, pee and then get on the computer I will at very least get them off of the cameras and ready to look through and post.

Hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving and is having an equally great holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year, I shared with you a Month of Thanks. I considered doing it again this year, but with little Griffin taking up all of my time I decided to skip it. Perhaps it will return next year.

I do want to say how thankful I am for so many things. Our families and friends - both near and far. Our jobs. Each other. The great team at the hospital that got Griffin and me through the very scary birth. Sometimes thanks is so hard to put into words - other than "Thank You!" This year, my thanks all boils down to this:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Birth Story

Tuesday the 9th, we were set for our last prenatal appointment at 2:45. DH got home just around 1:45 and as I was waking up from my mid day nap, when my water broke. We gathered stuff up, called the doc's office to tell them we would see them in L&D instead of the office and headed out. We got all checked in and in our room, but I wasn't having any contractions. They started the pitocin and suddenly the contractions came every minute and strong. So they stopped the pit and my body continued that trend. I went from 4cm to 7cm in an hour and a half. The doctor came to check me and found that I had a bag of forewaters - basically just part of the sac that was stuck between my cervix and Griffin's head. So he broke that, but instead of just water gushing, there was blood too. He thought I might have an abruption so he decided that we would do an "urgent c section." In less than a minute that changed to "STAT c section" when Griffin's heart rate dropped drastically.


While wheeling me into the OR, they tried pumping my epi full, but I could feel everything, so they had to knock me out. Poor Bryan didn't get to be in the OR and instead was just sitting on the other side of a window that was shaded and thinking that both Griffin and I were going to die. Then he heard Griffin screaming as he was pulled out! Once he was out, and the NICU team was checking him over, they rasied the shade. I can't believe he didn't pass out! He said he could see Griffin and then he could see me on a table and tons of blood all over the floor. Anyway, they finished putting me back together and we all went to recovery. I woke up 3 hours later to Bryan feeding Griffin a bottle and being called Griffin :) I'm glad he picked that name! He definitely looks like a Griffin to me!

So that's basically it. Scary as hell, but we're all fine. Griffin spent about 12 hours in NICU because when we got to our post partum room, the nursery nurse noticed he was breathing way too fast. They think he had some fluid left in his lungs. He would have come to our room sooner than 12 hours, but there were a number of premie emergencies and resucitations that obviously took precedence (and I wouldn't have that any other way!). I did get to hold him for a few minutes before he went to NICU though and I'm thankful for that.

Finally I have a few more pictures to share of our precious Griffin. These are all taken on my phone, as we haven't pulled the pictures off of the camera yet, so I apologize if the quality isn't the greatest. Enjoy!

Snoozing Before Coming Home

Trying Out My Boppy

Laying on Mommy

"With a Stroke, Beauty Lives...."

Please welcome Griffin Michael to the world!

Born Tuesday, Nov 9th

8:48pm via emergency c-section

20.75 in. long

9 lbs. 6 oz.

More to follow when I have a brain!

The True Home Stretch!

I'm 38 weeks today. I can not believe I've made it this far and not gone into labor yet!  At my appointment on Tuesday I was 3cm dilated and 60% effaced, so we're making some slow progress. If our Wee Man does not decide to come out before next Thursday, we're all set up for an induction that morning. One week max and I'll have my little boy in my arms!  So exciting! 

Not much else going on here. The nesting instinct hasn't kicked in. Instead I forced myself to do chores last night. I feel much better about coming home from the hospital now that some of those lingering things are done. There are still a few more things that we will take care of this evening, but all in all we're pretty much set to bring our butterball home!

One question for you mamas out there - does any one know of a good fundal height chart? I was only able to find one, which said at 38 weeks if you measure 37.5cm you are in the 95th percentile for size. My measurement on Tuesday was 46cm. I'm really going to give birth to a toddler here!!!

Backwards Progress

Wee Man is still hiding out. He even seems to have closed his "door" slightly. After being 2cm and 70% effaced on Thursday, today I am 1.5cm and 50% effaced. WTF? *sigh* 

Guess he wants to hang out longer.

Nothing Yet...

The full moon failed me. The "24-48 hours after cerclage removal" from my doctor failed me. Acupuncture has so far failed me, though it's not even been 24 hours since my treatment.

I know, I know - he will come in his own time and when he is ready. I don't want him born too early and have to struggle at all. I also don't want him born too late and be ginormous. And I'm really not trying to force the issue, just encourage it. What can I say? I want to meet my sweet baby boy. I want to name him. I want to see who in the family he looks like, if anyone (I didn't really look like anyone in particular when I was born). I want to get rid of the RLS, the major carpal tunnel and especially the icepick-in-the-cervix pain.

Fingers crossed that we find I've made more progress at my check up this afternoon!

Cerclage Out!

From today until whenever Wee Man arrives, I am a "normal" pregnant woman!

This morning, the cerclage was removed. I was hoping it would be fairly painless, but a few weeks ago my doctor said it might be pretty painfully. Thankfully it wasn't too bad. Definitely uncomfortable and definitely nothing I would want to experience daily, but all in all it was fine. It came out very easily once she was able to find it. Apparently my cervix is very high up still so it took quite a bit of speculum moving to get it in sight.

Once it was out, I laid there being monitored for contractions for about 30 minutes. Not one. I had one that I didn't feel at all before the cerclage came out, but nothing afterwards. While we waited for the 30 minutes to be over, we seemed to have a little party in Triagee Room 1. The attendees: my nurse for the day, my L&D nurse friend who had been over in the high risk ob unit, my doctor, one of the other doctors, us and the social worker that visited us after the twins were born. It made those 30 minutes fly by! Once everyone left we only had about 5 minutes of quiet before we were released.

I've had no active bleeding since the removal, I've gotten some much needed sleep and holy moly I was able to walk through the grocery store without feeling like an ice pick was attacking my cervix!

One last thing about the removal - the doctor checked me as soon as it was out to see what my cervix was up to. I had been a fingertip dilated and 40% effaced as of 2 weeks ago. Today, I am 2cm dilated and 70% effaced. Yay!

35 weeks, 6 days

Weight estimate for Wee Man G: 7lbs, 7oz.

Holy crap!

My 30th Year Is Over...

...so that means it's time to see how I did on my goals!

Weight Loss: Still on hold, for obvious reasons! 
Accomplished? Well, I lost weight before getting pregnant so, yes! Accomplished.

Reading: I made the initial goal I set for myself, which was 10 books. Then I upped it to 25. Then I stopped reading so often. I completed 16 before my birthday, and last night completed a 17th.
Accomplished? First goal yes, second goal no. I'm calling it a yes. Accomplished.

Movies: Bryan has taken control of the TV with XBOX, so I ended up not watching too many. Definitely not one per week like I had planned. This goal, as well as the reading goal, was to increase my leisure time and relax/decompress. I have done that. Most nights I've done that, actually - so, while not technically a completed goal, I did accomplish the leisure in other formats.
Accomplished? Would it be stretching the truth to call this accomplished? I think it might, so since I've been generous with the previous two goals, we'll say no here. FAIL.

Series 7: HA! We'll come back to this next year.
Accomplished? Total FAIL.

Savings for TTC: This became savings for Wee Man G. Didn't make our goal, but we've paid a small chunk of credit off while also getting all of the things we need for WMG's arrival and paying zillions of copays for all of my doctor's appointments.
Accomplished? As things tend to, this goal changed as well. We are in a good position though and have done much better at managing our money. I say we done good! Accomplished.

Cleaning out former Mancave: It's a nursery now.
Accomplished? You bet your ass it is! Accomplished.

Sewing: I got those pants taken in for my friend. I got some more fabric cut. Then we cleaned out the mancave and the junk to sort through took up all the space I had for my projects. I wanted to have Marc's quilt done by now. It's not.
Accomplished? FAIL.

Letter Writing: I've pretty much stopped writing letters, though I'm working on Thank You Notes still. This is partially due to sleep/trying to sleep/being too tired to remember my name let alone write a letter, but lately, it has more so to do with carpal tunnel and my lack of ability to hold a pen comfortably.
Accomplished? FAIL.

All in all, I accomplished 4 out of 8 goals that I have told you about (while destroying the word "accomplished" for you in one post), but you may remember there were some other goals on that list. I failed all of those others except the biggest one. What was the biggest one, you might ask? Get Pregnant. I'd say that was a BFA: Big Fat Accomplishment!

Stay tuned...Wee Man G will be making his entrance any day now over the next 4 weeks. I will update as I can!

"You've Really Ballooned Up"

Yes, this was actually said to me. By my boss. A day after he said "You're really getting big." Wonder what today's comment will be!  lol. Good thing I am not quick to take offense. Plus, I know I'm freaking huge for 35 weeks. Care to see?

Yeah. Big belly. Love it though! 

Today was my last progesterone injection - horray!  I also ran into my primary OB at the office. I hadn't seen her in almost two months, so it was great to chat with her for a minute. She is "stealing" my cerclage removal from one of the other doctors because she wants to be the one to take it out. Then she told me that many of her patients who have had a cerclage deliver in 24-48 hours after removal. That's next weekend. It's also a full moon. Hmmmm. Let the guessing games begin! Please post your guess as to when I deliver in the comments. To the winner goes the satisfaction of being right! 

I really can't believe it's so close!

Baby Shower, etc.

Our baby shower was last weekend two weekends ago and just so wonderful! I can't even describe it. I was hoping to get pictures up for everyone, but the only ones I can get at the moment are in .bmp format, which blogger won't upload.

A brief rundown of the big day: great food (catered by my mom and sil's mom), soooo many presents it was overwhelming, wonderful family and friends. Thanks to everyone for making it such a special day!!!  I will try to get pics up as soon as I can. Not sure when that will be though.

So, I'm now one day shy of 35 weeks. That means 8 days until the cerclage comes out and Wee Man is allowed to arrive! At my 34 week appointment, they checked my cervix and I was a fingertip dilated, 40% effaced and at -4 station. He's got a long way to travel down, but he can hold off on that for 8 more days. Any more pressure on my cervix and I'll be in tears 24/7! I swear it feels like there is an ice pick up there stabbing me.

And now a request for prayers. A fellow blogger/WTE gal/fertility challenged gal/twin mama/Nov. mama was in a car accident a week ago. Lindsay was about 35 weeks along with her twin boys, Lane and Lucas. The boys were delivered. Lane is doing wonderfully, Lucas not so much. Baby Lucas took the brunt of the impact, which broke Lindsay's pelvis where he was resting head down. Please pray for a miracle for Lucas and for their entire family as they deal with the injuries and whatever the aftermath is. This completely breaks my heart.

Awareness and Rememberance

It's October 1st. The first day of Pregnancy and Infant Awareness Month. In two weeks, I will be lighting candles while participating in the Wave of Light to remember my precious Wally and Liz along with all of the other little angels of the world. I hope every reader joins me on October 15th at 7pm local time in lighting a candle for our angels and leaving it burning for an hour.

Please bear with me while I write out my thoughts today. They will most likely be disjointed.

It's hard to believe that a year ago I was preparing for the same day, but with a much heavier heart. Even with our Wee Man on his way it doesn't erase the pain and sadness of saying goodbye to my first born children, but this year I am more upbeat feeling. It's only natural, as it has been over a year since we met and said goodbye (for now). I'm not in the throes of deep greiving this year. Instead I'm preparing for Wee Man. And though in the back of my mind I still worry that will might lose him too, I trudge on having full faith that he will arrive safely, happy and healthy.

Not a day goes by that I don't think about Wally and Liz. It's not with tears anymore though. I smile a lot thinking of them. How adorable they were. How I know and can feel that they are still around us. How even though I miss them terribly, they are happy and safe in Heaven and as much as I would have loved to raise them, I wouldn't change a thing. Wee Man is meant for great things, and he has his big brother and sister to watch over him in ways we can't.

I know it will be emotional when Wee Man arrives - not only for the joy of his healthy birth, but for the sadness on what we missed with Wally and Liz. Those feelings will subside in time, just as they did when my sister was born 2 years after my brother was stillborn. She is also destined for great things on this earth. Bry has an angel sibling as well, though we don't know anything about him or her, as his mother never speaks about it. How blessed we are having so many angels in our family!

Anyway, I again hope that you will join me this month and on October 15th to remember all of the angel babies out there.

A Very Nice Weekend

While I anxiously wait for my shower this coming weekend, I thought I'd give you all a little update on the nursery progress. We have begun with decorations!

First off, we have the oh-so-adorable dragon mobile. It arrived in the mail on Saturday and I immediately put it together. Bry has been very busy with school work and work work, so he hasn't had a chance to hang it up yet, but hopefully he'll get to that tomorrow evening.

Next up, and last up for now, is the first of the dragon paintings. I can't remember if I mentioned these before, so bear with me if I'm being repetitive. I bought three small, flat canvases each measuring 8in. x 10in., as well as a set of acrylic paints and brushes. I printed out two dragon coloring pages I found online and one picture of my own creation - a G with a clip art crown on it. I traced the first dragon picture onto the canvas and painted it over the weekend. It's not perfect, but I'll touch it up soon. What do you think?

In addition to nursery decor progress, I also received a shower gift in the mail from my cousin - 5 lamaze toys! We now have Paddy the Panda, Jacques the Peacock, Tucker the Turtle, Sydney and Sandy Kangaroo and Captain Calamari! I love that Captain Calamari has a hook on one of his tentacles!

After putting the mobile together, painting a dragon and opening the gift, I headed out to a good friend's informal divorce party. It was a nice little get together - totally last minute thrown together once her divorce was finally final. Very nice to see some friends and eat some awesome cookies!

Sunday, I had a haircut and a pedicure. Thank heaven for pedicures, as I can no longer reach my feet! To top off an already great weekend, my Ravens won their home opening game against the Browns. Go Ravens!

32 Week Checkup

What a wonderful day it's been!  Not only did a good friend get great news and have a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders, but Wee Man and I are doing fabulously as well!  Since I'm not having the biweekly ultrasounds anymore, one of the OBs in the practice who I had my prenatal scheduled with wanted to check my cervix and just make sure everything was still fine. I'm happy to report that I'm all closed up and Wee Man is very high up and not putting any real pressure on my cervix. Horray!

A few stats:

• Wee Man's Heart Rate: in the 150s
• Weight Gain: 19lbs total
• Measuring 34 weeks
• No new stretch marks still
• Depending on Wee Man's position, my belly button is about to pop

I'm so very glad that Wee Man is not even close to making his appearance. I do think though that they are going to have to pry him out of me when the time comes!

Up next...Baby Shower!!!! T minus 8 days :) 

Nursery Furniture...Complete!

That's right, folks! We've got all the major pieces of furniture in and put together. The last piece is my mom's rocking chair, which will arrive whenever I get around to calling my brother and figuring out when he can haul it up to me. Below are some pictures. There is no decor as of yet, but that will be coming soon. There is, however, an adorable dragon keeping watch over Wee Man's room. Without further ado...

The crib, complete with mock-child trying to escape.

View of the room from the doorway showing the crib and changing table.

The dresser with bookshelf hutch.

And an up close of Douglas the Dragon who is now sitting on the bookshelf.

30 Week Checkup

Today was my 30 week prenatal check. A few stats:

• I am a fulll 30 weeks exactly today
• 70 days until my due date
• 42 days until the cerclage comes out
• Measuring 32 weeks - yes he's a butterball!
• Weight gain: 17 lbs.
• No new stretch marks (yet)

So, I have 3 weeks until my shower, 6 weeks until cerclage removal and the possibility that I will go into labor at that point, and about 20 billion things to do both here at home and at work.

This weekend we will be putting the crib together and getting the mattress. I'll post a few pics after that's all done, but there are no decorations yet. There are, however, three stuffed animals already - not a big surprise since I have a stuffed animal addiction, but I only bought one of them and the only reason I bought it was because it was a dragon. I have no idea how I'm going to get everything done in time - especially at work - since all I really want to do is sleep.

Stay tuned for pics!

My Favorite Maternity Pic, and a Big Congrats

First of all, I got all of my maternity pics back from my friend. Below is my absolute favorite. She managed to capture Bryan in a very natural state with me!

Second of all, and more important than a picture, a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Tanika & Chris on the birth of their beautiful baby boy, Ethan. I couldn't be happier for you guys!

Maternity Photos

My lovely friend, Jess, is a wonderful photographer. A couple weekends ago she took some maternity photos of me. She's still editing them, but here are a couple she's completed. My belly is HUGE already and only going to get bigger! (please note: this is not a complaint, just an observation)

Lovely evening on the water with my belly boy!

Bare Belly

Bryan, Me and Wee Man G!

Standard Heart on the Belly

Quick Update 'Cause It's 3am

Once again the RLS monster has attacked. Hopefully I'm almost worn out enough that my exhaustion will override any lingering restlessness. Anyway, I figured while I had a few minutes I'd update you on the mancave/nursery conversion.

First, it is now the nursery. There is nothing mancave about it anymore! We worked our butts off this weekend (I worked while sitting on my butt!) and got everything cleaned out. Today we rented a Rug Doctor and Bry cleaned the carpet in there. It got 95% of the mancave mess, but unfortunately there is one lovely black paint stain left. It will hopefully be hidden by furniture - which arrives next weekend (pending no interruptions on the east coast by Hurricane Earl).

I ordered drapes Saturday night and ordered the crib Sunday evening. The drapes should be here in 5-7 business days. The crib will ship in a week, so I assume that with Labor Day it will ship next Tuesday. Once it ships, it is supposed to take 4-7 business days to arrive. I'm so excited that my little man's room is going to be coming together so soon! Just keeping my fingers crossed that he continues to bake for another 8+ weeks!

28 week U/S & Prenatal, Day Care and 1st Pediatrician Interview

The past 24 hours have been packed with appointments! Ok, so it's only four, but that is a whole lot more than normal, plus I had an all morning meeting at work yesterday. Anyway, here are the updates as promised!

28 Week Ultrasound

Wee Man G is looking cuter every time we see him! He's very active and looks completely healthy. I had the good ultrasound tech yesterday so she printed lots of pictures and looked at everything for us. I also asked her if, in her opinion, he looked big since I'm consistently measuring 1-2 weeks ahead of schedule with fundal height. She measured his foot, belly and head a few times and those measurements put him at 28w6d to 29w6d, but she said he wasn't abnormally large and at this stage it's normal to be off by a week or so. She also said, he may just be long for his age, but he's not overweight or anything. I was worried about his size because of the GD probability (more on that below in the prenatal section).

My cervix is holding steady at 3-4cm long depending on the angle. She didn't see any real evidence of funneling, so that eased my mind a ton. Though I'm somewhat sad that this was probably our last ultrasound, I know that just means that we will be meeting him soon - but not too soon!

A couple pictures:

Wee Man's Face

Wee Man's Profile

Prenatal

Dr. E was very happy with how everything is looking. She's not concerned about the fundal height, especially because I told her what the ultrasound tech said. She feels great about my cervix length and assured me that cervical length really doesn't predict anything in the 3rd trimester. My blood pressure was great and the nifedipine for those contractions has been working wonderfully. I got my progesterone shot. All in all it was fairly uneventful, unless you count the extreme joy of passing the 1 hour GTT with 117. I'm officially not gestationally diabetic! Woohoo!

Day Care

While I would love to not have to pay quite so much for Wee Man G's daycare, after having toured the center I can say it's well worth the money. There are so many fabulous things about the center. Honestly, I didn't find anything negative to say. Here are a few highlights:

1. Security. Not only do you have to buzz to get in, check in with a person and a computer (if someone other than Bryan or me picks him up, they have to be listed by us as authorized and show photo ID), but they also have closed circuit cameras watching each room and the playground that are monitored by the center's director. These things may be standard in some facilities, but I was just really impressed with it all. Also, the playgrounds have no gates - just high, thick metal fencing.
2. Diversity. I live in a fairly predominant African-American area. This is not a problem at all, but I was concerned that Wee Man would be the "odd man out" so to speak in terms of race. While it would not make or break our choosing a center, I do want him to be exposed to as many different races, ethnicities, cultures, etc, as possible. There were African-American, Caucasian and Indian children and teachers. This is a definite plus. They also are able to care for special needs kids and they have them in the regular age groups. They stress teaching children that we are all different and that's fine. We met a very cute little autistic boy who was building an elevator out of blocks. No kids were teasing him and they wanted to play with him and were his friend. This just showed me that it is a very loving and caring environment.
3. Curriculum. I know this doesn't matter too terribly much for an infant, but I love that they follow our state's guide to education - especially in kindergarten preparation. They feel that learning begins in infancy and really work to develop self esteem, knowledge, skills and sociability. They put together portfolios for each child showing their milestones, samples of their work, etc., so that when the child goes to kindergarten their teacher knows exactly where they are developmentally and can continue on the right track with them.
4. Fun.We got to meet one of the infant teachers. She was a lovely young Indian woman who we could tell genuinely enjoyed working with babies. She even did an art project with the infants yesterday - foot painting! I'm sure the little ones enjoyed the sensation of paint on their feet and the parents probably loved their babies' first artwork!
5. Communication. In addition to the daily communication between teachers, the director and parents, they also hold parent meetings every other month to keep everyone up to date on the happenings at the center, while also providing the opportunity for parents to meet each other and network.

There were many other reasons that we liked this center so much, but it's just too much to type out. We were overly impressed with every person and every policy there. We were even invited to Back to School Night in September so we could meet other parents. I will definitely be attending. Bryan may or may not depending on what grad school work he's in the midst of at that point.

1st Pediatrician Interview

Last, and to be perfectly honest, least, we met with the first pediatrician we decided to interview this morning. I won't get into the hassle it was to book this first appointment, but wow. So, after such a wonderful day yesterday, this was a huge let down. The building was hard to find and the complex it was in was not well marked. We went to the correct floor and it was all open with half walls separating different specialty areas. In one large waiting room with these sections, was Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, and a central reception desk. It was all laid out in a very confusing way.

We went up to the central reception desk to make sure we were in the right place. There were two receptionists. We were ignored at first while they literally stared at each other. Then one turned towards us, but didn't even look up at us. I took that opportunity to ask if we were in the right place. She said yes, and checked us in. She was not friendly at all and honestly she seemed like she could have cared less to even be there. I know we all have days like that, but at least look me in the eye.

We checked in and sat down to wait in the designated pediatric area. They had a little table in the center and some wall mounted toys, as well as a tv playing kids shows (what in the world show has a big stuffed penguin who calls himself "Weiner"????). A nurse stepped out of a door around a corner in the OB/GYN area and called a last name that started like ours, but had an extra syllable on the end. Since our name is not difficult at all to pronounce and she was calling from the OB area, we figured it wasn't us, but we got up to go around and ask, and she had already disappeared. A minute later she came out and said the same last name, but added Bryan's first name to it...or at least her version of his name: Barry. Really? Ok, whatever. She was nice enough, just apparently couldn't read a simple name. I thought, "shrug it off, Kate. The doctor is what is most important here."

She was ok. Nice enough, but nothing spectacular. She almost didn't even know what to say to us. She's the ONLY pediatrician in the entire big building, but they are working on hiring another. After hours, if we have a question or problem there is a 24 hour nurse's line to call, but you don't get to talk to her. There is an urgent care center open until 1am during the week, but it's in a shady part of town especially at night.

Sorry, but no. There is very little I can say that is positive here, and I want only the best for my Wee Man.

This weekend: finishing cleaning the mancave out so it becomes a nursery labor day weekend. Exciting!

GTT Test, Take 2

Saturday I went back to LabCorp for my GTT test. Thankfully, they were able to print labels out unlike last time, which I believe is what the "lab error" was, I haven't gotten a call so far this week saying there was a problem and I had to redo the test, and there was no smelly lady! (Sorry for those of you who wanted a picture.)

All in all it was a pretty uneventful morning. I sat and read a book. I did a little people watching, but aside from a very annoying couple who didn't seem to want to wait the 5-10 minutes for the 4 people who had gotten there before them to be taken care of, there was only one interesting person. It was sad though because it was a boy - maybe 10 or 12 years old. His father signed him in, and then left. The poor kid sat there looking a bit terrified. When they called him to get registered, they asked where his father was since they needed a parent or guardian to register him. He told them his dad had left and said he would be back in about 15-20 minutes. I was called back about 10 minutes later, which actually put the time he sat there waiting to be around a half hour. Test over, I walked out to my car and there is this boy sitting waiting for his father, no blood drawn yet. I felt so bad for him. What a moron father that was. I know I don't know the particular circumstances, but really? His child is a minor. He can't sign for anything, not to mention the possibility of abduction. What is wrong with people?

Anyway, coming soon: ultrasound, prenatal appointment, daycare walk through and (if we like it) sign up Thursday; first pediatrician interview Friday morning. Oh, and there has been a bit more progress on the mancave/nursery conversion, but I'll update more on that after this weekend as there will be a lot more work done over the next few days. Fingers crossed the ultrasound shows a strong, long, closed cervix and a still healthy, adorable Wee Man!

27 Weeks, GTT "Results," etc.

I'm a full 27 weeks pregnant today. I have 91 days left until Wee Man G's due date and 63 days left until he's allowed to make his entrance. I am no where near ready! Bryan assures me that we will be ready to move the furniture in on Labor Day weekend. He better get his ass in gear and get it cleaned out, then!

Also, I had my 1 hour GTT last Friday. The lab called on Monday and told Bryan that I had to come back in and redo the test. Why? Well, when I called LabCorp they told me it was a "lab error." At the doctor's office today the "results" said "deterioration or loss of sample." Dr. E. then said "I hate LabCorp! They seem to just throw samples away!" If you remember from my previous post, they could not get the labels to print out of the computer and so had to write my name and information on the tubes. How much you wanna bet they never wrote it on? Anyway, I go back Saturday morning for the repeat and they better get it right this time! Also, the smelly lady better not be there too. I hope they got her labs right simply so I don't have to smell her!

Moving on....

I am not on bedrest. Yay! Woohoo! Yippie! That's not to say that I'm up and about and partying or anything, but that does mean I can continue to work. Dr. E. feels pretty confident that I'll be able to continue working at least up until the cerclage removal, if not longer. While I would love to stay home more often, I think I would go insane on bedrest. I already worry too much and with nothing else to do, I would dwell on every little tiny thing.

One more week until we reach the third trimester! Until then, hope everyone is well in blogland!

1 Hour GTT

I had my one hour glucose test this morning. It was just the standard deal, but thankfully I got the orange flavor. If they had given me fruit punch I might have tried to give them a Kate punch! A few things did stand out that I can blog about, and maybe you'll be slightly entertained (and probably grossed out by one of them). Since I'm sleepy this evening, I will do the list thing again.

• Thankfully I had an appointment, as it was drug screening day and every person looking for a job was in there.
• When I first sat down, the woman next to me smelled...unclean. Unclean in a certain girly area, to be exact. I moved to a different seat a minute later.
• Said smelly woman also yapped loudly on her phone complaining about how long it was taking. She's obviously very pressed for time since she apparently doesn't wash her lady bits.
• They couldn't get my file to come up in the computer, so they couldn't print out the labels for my blood tubes. Let's hope they don't mix them up with someone else!
• I checked my blood sugar with my monitor right before they drew the blood. It was 150. Pretty sure I'll be back for the 3 hour GTT!

On a good note, I have only had 2 full contractions today. A number of "quivers" that are the irritability kind, but only 2 that actually contracted. I was dehydrated after that stupid sugar drink. I basically have to constantly drink water. Once I was done, I chugged 20 oz and was much better.

26 Weeks

Today I had another ultrasound and injection. The injection was fine, the ultrasound not so much.

There wasn't anything bad with the ultrasound, and my doctor is perfectly happy with the results. I am not nearly as happy though. My cervix is now down to 3cm (still good, but I've lost half of the length I had 4 weeks ago) and it's starting to funnel "a little bit." That is in quotes because the tech I had today, who was not my normal one, couldn't say much of anything. Also, she didn't give me any pics. Not even one. She got a picture of him sucking his thumb, but did she print it for me? Nope.

After that, I went upstairs for the injection and thankfully I had to be moved from one of the other practice's docs to mine. I love all of the doctors in the practice, but mine is my favorite and she understands that I need things explained to me to be comfortable. Well, she could tell right away I was not happy. I ended up crying because I was upset about the changes in my cervix coupled with the contractions I've had on and off. Part of my concern is that I'm 26 weeks, which is the same size as I was with Wally and Liz when they were born. And actually, I'm measuring 27 weeks.  After I explained my weekend of laying in bed, which made the contractions/irritability go away completely, and then my having them again when I'm up and about, she decided to try me on nifedipine in hopes that it will calm my uterus down. (Naturally, the drug store was out of it so I can't start it until tomorrow afternoon) She told me that if I have any contractions while at work I must leave immediately and go home to bed. I also go back next week to see her for my weekly shot and we'll talk again about how my uterus is fairing and make the decision at that point whether or not to restrict me from going to work.

Tomorrow I go in for my 1 hour GTT. Hopefully I'll pass that and it will be at least one thing I don't have to worry about.

Lastly, I leave you tonight with some random things:

• At 26 weeks, Wee Man G has an 80% chance of survival if born, which he will not be yet, but yay!
• I have 98 days left until my due date, 70 days until he's officially allowed to arrive.
• I can no longer put pants on while standing.
• After dropping the soap in the shower, I seriously consider whether I need it or if I can just use body wash instead.
• I still worry every time something baby related arrives at my house that I've jinxed us. This includes new maternity clothes. This also includes doing any kind of preparation for the nursery. I received a baby blanket from a sales rep I work with. I brought it home yesterday. See above for today's drama.
• I have full faith that Wee Man G will be coming home with us this fall. I hope it doesn't involve a NICU stay, but if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. As long as he comes home healthy and happy, it's all good.

Feeling Better

Thank you all for your concern and prayers! I'm feeling much better now and hope that drinking even more water (I was already up to 12-14 cups a day!) will keep any irritability under control. I will feel very relieved on Thursday if my ultrasound shows no change in my cervix. Keep the prayers coming though - I don't want any more "excitement" this pregnancy!!!

Scary Afternoon

I went to the doc this morning for my weekly progesterone shot. All was fine. I got back to work and felt something odd. I thought maybe my cerclage stitch had come loose. So I called the doc's office and they said to go to L&D just to be safe and b/c one of the practice's docs was down there on rounds already. So I go and they check and I was just feeling the tail string of the cerclage. Since I'm such a high risk and I was feeling some tightness in my stomach on the way over, they hooked me up for awhile to the monitor. Turns out I have an irritable uterus. It doesn't mean anything bad per se, but since I'm already a high risk preterm labor case it could be a symptom that something is starting. I'm so freaking scared! I'm just about as big as I was when I lost my twins last year. Ugh. I wish they would have just kept me overnight for observation. I'm laying and drinking a ton of water and getting up every 15-20 minutes to pee (the only thing I can do for irritable uterus is drink and pee a lot). My stomach keeps tightening though. It's hard to tell if it's because of having a constantly full bladder or what. Thank God we at least have a chance if he comes, but I'm terrified.

Mancave to Nursery Conversion

So we've made some definite progress on the former mancave. Remember what it used to look like? It's not near as far as I wanted it to be at this point, but progress is progress. Here's a new pic taken from approximately the same angle.

Yes, there is still crap in there, but it's a lot less crap! Notice: the lack of books on the shelf (there is an identical empty shelf on the other side of the room that you can't see), no computer monitor and no overturned TV stand. It would look less cluttered if we either hadn't just done the laundry or if my husband would learn how not to shrink my shirts.

Tonight's goal: make list of broken down tasks for Bryan to accomplish. We agreed to make lists for ourselves (ok, really I'll make the lists for us) and each take 30-60 minutes an evening and accomplish something each day. I'm really hoping to get the furniture in there by the end of the month, but that may be pushed back to the first weekend in September. We'll see how it goes!

Ultrasound/Prenatal Update

We had our 24 week ultrasound and prenatal check yesterday. All is going swimmingly (cue Dory from Finding Nemo - "Just keep swimming") and my cervix is 4cm long and closed at both ends, even with Wee Man G's head resting on it. Unfortunately we didn't get very clear pictures this time, so below is a shot from 22 weeks that I never got around to posting. Once again, he's sucking that thumb!

As for the prenatal check, my doctor is very happy with everything. Not only did she say that she's going to laugh her butt off if I hit 40 weeks and she has to induce me, but she also said that I'm measuring between 25 and 26 weeks. Whoa, Nelly! I'm gonna have a butterball! And just in time for Thanksgiving....

Super Huge "Ginormous" Important Milestone

That's right, ladies and gents: we've reached the threshold of viability!

Coming soon: Ultrasound/prenatal update and mancave-to-nursery conversion update. Stay tuned!!!

Not Much New, Except a Poll!

While I anxiously await viability (5 days!), I figured I may as well get a vote on Wee Man G's name. Now, we obviously aren't forcing ourselves to stick with the results, but I'm interested in seeing what everyone else likes. Please vote and if you feel so inclined, leave a comment as to why you like one over the other. I'd love to hear reasons why you like or dislike a name, and I promise I won't take offense!

Without further ado, here are our choices, and why we like them.

Gabriel Griffin: DH picked out Gabriel. I've always thought it was a beautiful name and have known two Gabriels in my life - each of which were incrediably sweet and mature for their ages and went by "Gabe." I briefly dated one of these Gabes. When he broke up with me, it was by far the most mature and honest break up ever. We got back together (even more briefly than the first time) and broke up again over the same thing. The issue? He never wanted marriage and kids, knew I did and felt it unfair to hold on to me when he couldn't give me what I wanted. Oh yeah...he was 20 at the time (I was 22). See what I mean when I say mature?  Griffin is DH's middle name (see below).

Griffin Michael: Griffin is not only DH's middle name, but also was his grandfather's middle name and his grandfather's mother's maiden name. Apparently his great- and great-great-grandparents were very nice and fun people to be around. Those traits have certainly carried on through the generations! We also really like this name because it's different, but not totally off the wall. Michael was my grandfather, who was also an extremely kind man. Additionally, he was generous, loving and completely hilarious! My brother is named for him, and my nephew's middle name is Michael. By the way, I don't have a problem with the cousins having the same middle name. My sister and I happen to have the same middle name as well. (note: my sister is 14 years younger than me, technically a half sister, and her middle name was chosen in my honor)

So...thoughts?

Update: Apparently the poll isn't working, so I guess it's just a comment leaving poll now! Poll is now working!

A Letter from our Son

Dear Mommy and Daddy,

This is just an "fyi" of sorts to prepare you for my arrival this fall. Buy pacifiers. Lots of pacifiers. I may call them pacies, binkies, ninnies or nuks. I may not like the brand you initially pick out for me. One thing is certain though - I LOVE to suck my thumb. So unless you want to start saving money now for braces, you might want to stock up on the sucking toys.

Also, as you can tell from all of the pictures you've been taking of me I'm not shy about showing off my boy-bits. This may carry over to life outside of the uterus. Be warned.

Much love,

Wee Man G

P.S. - Pick a name already!

Week 20 Ultrasound & OB appointment

Today I am 20 weeks pregnant. Technically we're halfway there, though my halfway point is more like 24 weeks since I'm not exhaling until viability. I had my first bi-weekly cervical length check and all was great. The ultrasound tech was also so wonderful and instead of just checking for the heartbeat and getting the rate down, she looked at our Wee Man and printed 8 pictures out for me. The most precious of which is below - he's sucking his thumb!!! 

After the ultrasound, I hung around the hospital for a bit waiting for my prenatal checkup. Everything is great there as well. Our anatomy scan results were in and Wee Man is measuring "exactly" on time. My doctor was also very excited that my cervix was measuring 3.8 at the 18 week anatomy scan. Well, I blew that number away today - 5.0!  Woohoo!  Keep up the great work, dear cervix! 

As for the possibility of a UTI, I don't have one. Turns out it's just Wee Man kicking down to my cervix and bladder that is causing all of the discomfort. Wee Man is definitely a little wiggle worm and I feel him more and more every day. I'm trying not to get too terribly excited - just in case - but I have to say I'm loving every second of this pregnancy! 

Thanks again for all the prayers and good vibes!

Annoying Symptom & Goal Update

Let me first say that this pregnancy has been a breeze so far physically. Fatigue, but I love sleeping so it doesn't bother me. Mild nausea, but it was just reassurance that baby was healthy. Aches and pains, but I have a fairly high pain tolerance. The one thing that really annoys me though is the restless legs, or more accurately tonight, restless leg. Just one. The right one. The rest of my body was laying peacefully, but Righty here decides it's time to party. Since I'm now up and about, I figured I'd blog a little update.

Pregnancy: A-ok. All is going fine. Might have a UTI, but we're waiting for the culture to come back from the lab to make sure before starting any meds. I'm allergic to everything on the safe for pregnancy list except 2 very strong drugs, so my doctors have decided to wait for the lab. Those results will probably be in by my appointment on Thursday afternoon. I also have my next ultrasound on Thursday. Here's praying for a strong cervix!

Goals: Yes, I have an update! (Sorry Dawn, it's not a letter)

I've finally gotten back into reading! I just finished another Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael novel, The Summer of the Danes. Perhaps one of the best in the series! I stayed up later than normal finishing this, and then I was still awake a bit so I started my next book: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gergory Maguire. I'm skeptical on this one as I read Wicked years ago and hated it. At first it was fine, but by the end I wanted to tear the book apart to punish it for wasting my time on crap. Hopefully, this will be different. So far it is, but I'm only about 30 pages in. Unlike Wiked, I find myself not wrapped up in how this story relates to the story it's been spun off of. Here's hoping it doesn't dissapoint since I've got Mirror, Mirror sitting by the bed as well!

I've also started to cut fabric for Marc's quilt. Not much more I can say on that since it's a surprise as to what it looks like.

Kickin' It Team Blue Style

I don't think I made the announcement quite clear before, but yes we are expecting a beautiful baby boy! I honestly didn't care whether Sprout (now called Wee Man) was a boy or a girl, but knowing that he's a boy just feels "right." When I've pictured myself with a child, it's always been a boy. I guess it's just my subconscious letting me know I'm a boy mom type.

Things are going great per medical standards, even though I'm still terrified about keeping Wee Man in long enough. I know the cerclage is working. The progesterone is working. Acupuncture is working. All of these things are working to keep him in place for the duration, but I guess a mommy with a loss will always worry. And really, isn't worrying what moms do best? A couple stats here to keep track of just how well things are going:

• 
  
  Heart rate: originally 170, currently 160.
• 
  
  Cervix length: 3 days prior to cerclage 4.4cm, as of last Wednesday 3.88cm
• 
  
  Weight gain: somewhere between 3 to 5 lbs depending on the day

And now for even more exciting news - I definitely am feeling Wee Man kick! It's such a strange feeling, but I love it. Pretty much every day since Saturday (ok, so only 3 days so far) he's been thumping around in there. I've kindly asked him to not kick down so much for fear of him hitting the Cervix of Doom, but just like his mommy and daddy he's stubborn. Already so much personality!

Now the Great Name Debate begins. It's amazing how difficult it is to pick a name when you're definitely going to need it. Nothing seems good enough for my little boy! This doesn't  bode well for future girlfriends. If I can't settle on a name that is good enough, there will never be a girl good enough for my Wee Man!

One Year, One Day and One New Baby on the Way

In case you didn't know, yesterday was Wally and Liz's birthday/angelversary. The past few weeks were a little rocky emotionally, but like all special days the anticipation was worse than the event. I'm surprised at how well it went. I talked to them some, but I normally do that anyway. I did shed some tears, but not nearly as many as I had expected.

I know that they were meant to be angels. I know that they are watching over their mommy and daddy. I know they are watching over their little brother. The Wee Man is such a lucky kid to have them as gaurdians! And look below (nose and lips are pointing upwards) - Wee Man is just as cute as they are!

Old Wives Tales and Chinese Gender Charts *UPDATED*

So this afternoon is our big anatomy ultrasound. According to the poll, we're having a girl (by the way, thanks to Leslie who chose "stubborn child" - I think that's what we'll have too!). For kicks, I've decided to list 15 old wives tales' and chinese gender charts' predictions. Enjoy, and be sure to check back tomorrow (might be later tonight, but I'm not promising anything) for the big news!

Chinese Charts

Here we have my "chinese age" as 31 (dude! I'm only 30! wait...did I just say "dude"?), conception month is February. Result: GIRL

Here my chinese age is 31 again. Result: BOY

Here my chinese age is 32. Result: GIRL

Old Wives Tails

Here we have a quiz. Result: 60% chance GIRL, 40% chance BOY

Here is a list. I'm listing it as "topic (my answer): RESULT"

• Heart Rate (170): GIRL
• Weight Gain of Father (none, loss actually): BOY
• Weight Gain of Mother (what little is in the front): BOY
• Cravings (protein/meat, savory things): BOY
• Color of urine (bright): BOY
• Mom's Appearance: (same as before): BOY

Ring test. Result: BOY GIRL BOY GIRL. I guess we'll call that a 50/50 chance? Seems the most accurate to me!

FINAL RESULT: 9 for the boys, 6 for the girls. BOY

Stay tuned for the real result!

.          .          .

We have a very healthy, all-parts-there-and-perfect, bouncing baby BOY!

Look Who's Growing a Belly

Ok, ok. I already had a belly of blubber, but now there's a baby in there and pushing all the blubber out! In the picture, I'm actually sucking it in as much as possible. I'm gonna be huge, and I'm loving every minute of it!

One week until the anatomy scan. Vote on the poll, and keep the prayers and good vibes coming for a continuing healthy pregnancy and cervix-of-steel!

Random Update

I feel like I haven't been giving very good updates lately, so here's an attempt while I have a little brain power left at the end of the work day.

Cerclage
All is fine on that front now. I had a bit of a freak out the day after it was done. I had more bleeding than right after it was placed the day before, so that was quite disconcerting. I realized though that it was just because I had had a huge gas bubble that had finally moved and when it moved, it pushed on things and I did feel a lot of pulling in the cerclage area. The bleeding quickly changed to spotting, which in turn changed to nothing within 24 hours. I feel more secure with the cerclage, but I'm honestly still freaking out about every little thing. I know that's par for the course after a loss, but sheesh! I can't wait until next Monday when I can get back in for acupuncture. I've missed it two weeks in a row now, and I'm definitely feeling a negative difference.

Other Pregnancy Stuff
My mom rocks. She came over Saturday and on her way to my place, she stopped at JCPenny and bought me a bunch of maternity clothes that fit and were *gasp* NOT black and white. I have to for the most part wear plus size tops thanks to the boob gods for these knockers. As much as some women yearn for big ones, I'm so done with them! I swear finding work appropriate maternity tops that are not a) black, white or a combination thereof or b) ridiculously hideous is close to impossible. I've tried Old Navy, Gap, JCPenny, Nordstrom, Motherhood, etc. It's not that they don't have some nice looking plus size stuff, but most of it is not at all appropriate for me to wear to work. The conservative finance industry does not generally embrace knit anything. Where, oh where, are the plus size plain blouses??? If anyone knows, please clue me in!

In more exciting pregnancy news, I felt Sprout move once. Just the once, and the only reason I felt him/her is because he/she balled him/herself up on the right side underneath my belly button and pushed up until I felt like a new belly button would be made for me. Then Sprout did a somersault. That was pretty cool feeling - weird, but cool.

Also, anatomy/gender scan is coming up on the 16th. That will be a fun day! Any guesses?

Non-pregnancy stuff
I have a sudden urge to read some russian literature. I don't know why. I haven't felt like reading jack in months, but whatever. I'll find something at home. I think I have two or three books in that genre to choose from.

I also have a sudden urge to be very, very crafty, but I also have a very, very strong laziness gene. I think I really just want to go shopping and buy new supplies for new projects while leaving the others to gather dust. I won't do that though. Must. Finish. Quilt. For. Marc. Or, if I'm being honest, I must start it first!

Other than that, life is pretty much the same 'ol. same 'ol.

Cerclage Day!

What a fabulous way to start the Memorial Day weekend! Sounds odd, but now I'm much more confident in my ability to carry Sprout to term.

The part I was worried about most was the anesthesia, since I have so many drug allergies and sensitivites. Thankfully it was just a shot of lidocaine in my back - piece of cake! Everything went wonderfully, I believe "perfect" was said by my doctor. The surgery started at 7:45 and we were home by 11:45. I'm completely exhausted since I only got few hours sleep, but I'm not in much discomfort at all. Can't wait for Bry to finish making me dinner so I can eat and go to bed! 

Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts!

Happy Update

Baby is fine.

Placenta is fine.

Cervix is closed on both ends, over 4cm long and "beautiful."

2 days 'til cerclage.



A happy update indeed!

Hopefully Our ONLY Unscheduled Trip to L&D

We had quite the night last night and now I'm on modified bedrest for the weekend. We ended up in L&D after midnight last night b/c I was feeling pressure and had a big stripe of blood when I wiped. Baby is just fine and quite the active little guy/gal (kept moving so they couldn't get a complete heartrate reading lol) and there was no sign of blood in my CM or in my cervix (they did cultures), but until I can get in with the perinatology diagnostic center on Monday, I'm to lay around with my feet up and "let gravity work for" me. *sigh* Keep the prayers coming, please!

Thank God cerclage day is just around the corner!

First Unscheduled Trip to the OB

Thankfully Baby and I are ok, but I will admit that I was starting to freak out on the way to the hospital (doc's office is right there at the hospital). What happened is I had some weird CM at lunchtime (light green - really, it looked like I had blown it out of my nose!), so I called to make sure I shouldn't worry. They said given my history, it's just best to be checked out so head in as soon as I could. My doctor wasn't there, but one of the others checked Baby and me over.

All is fine. No sign of infection. Cervix is long, closed and hard. Baby's heartbeat is good. Baby is also in a very good spot in my uterus and not way low down at the hairline where Wally's last heartbeat check was.

8 days until Cerclage Day. 8 days until I can exhale. Please continue your prayers, good thoughts and positive vibes for Baby and my cervix!

Goals? Oh Yeah..I Made Those Once, Didn't I?

It's been quite a while since I've updated where I am on the goals I set for my 30th year. I can sum up my progress in one word: nada.

Maybe I've made a few itty bits of progress lately, but nothing like I had planned. Of course, nothing planned ever happens quite the way we plan. So without further ado, here's my updated lack of progress.

Weight Loss: Obviously I'm not losing weight right now, being pregnant. I'll deal with this one in 2011.

Reading: I did make some headway in this department. Then I got pregnant. Then I went to bed. Every night around 8pm. I also lost interest in reading all of the books I had picked out.

Movies: Totally lost interest in watching movies as well. All I want to do is watch the inside of my eyelids.

Series 7: Do you really have to ask? I have no interest in reading, and I never had much interest in reading this one except for the fact that I would make more money if I pass the exam. More money?  Sleep?  Hmmm...I choose sleep for now.

Savings for TTC: All those savings are now savings for Sprout related items. Putting more into savings right now has taken a backseat to "Let's pay off some of this credit card and make it easier for us to afford Sprout and all Sprout needs as well as, you know, eat."

Cleaning out former Mancave: Thanks to my friend "The Other White Kate" (like "Pork. The Other White Meat") We got the soda cans and empty boxes thrown out and most of Bryan's "little people" stuff consolidated. We can now actually enter the room and get to the perimeter to actually clean. Too bad sleeping has taken precedence for me here too. Bryan's classes have taken precedence for him. He has a plan of getting it all done the last week of June. Let's hope!

Sewing: Well, I added a new short project to the list. I need to take in the waistbands of some pants for a friend. Too bad I haven't checked any projects off of the list. I do have all of the fabric I need to complete the front of my friend's quilt. I won't be able to post pictures of the progress on that one for you though, since he reads this blog (Hi, Marc!) and what the quilt actually looks like is a surprise. I promise to post the finished product though.

Letter Writing: I've written two letters in the past two or three months. The first of which was a "guilt letter," meaning my friend wrote to me and started the letter with "Since I haven't heard from you, I figured I'd write." (Smooth one, Dawn) Then she wrote back, then I wrote back, then she wrote back and then I went to sleep. (Notice a pattern, here?)

Basically, I've been sleeping. Some day soon I hope to make more progress on these. I did read 10 books in my 30th year, so that is a definite accomplishment by my standards. I got ambitious and changed the goal to 25 books, but I doubt I'll complete that one. I'm just not in the reading mood right now. Maybe I'll take a nap instead....

Pretty Boring Here...And Loving Every Minute

All is going well in babyland so far. I'm still nervous, and probably will be until the cerclage is done...or maybe when I hit 24 weeks and viability...or maybe when I hit 30 weeks and finally feel comfortable really prepping our home...or maybe I'll just be nervous until the day I die in the very very distant future. Whatever.

I'm just so thankful for each and every day of this pregnancy. I'm also thrilled to be up and about and not making L&D trips, unlike last time. I will have to go twice before delivery though. Once for the cerclage and once for the cerclage removal. Cerclage day is soon, and then there is so much going on between that and removal. Here's a rundown of the next couple months:

Week 15 (May 27th): Cerclage Day
Week 16: Start Progesterone shots weekly through 37 weeks, thankfully fully covered by insurance as well as the nurse who will be coming out to my house once a week to administer these shots plus check me and baby over. Thank you Alere. 
Week 18: Anatomy scan
Week 20: Begin ultrasounds every other week to check cervical length, etc.

Additionally, I'm still testing blood sugar and going to acupuncture once a week. Good thing summers are quiet at work and I can easily slip out of the office!

Finally, Happy Mother's Day to all of the mommies, mommies-to-be and someday-mommies out there. I know this is a rough day for so many of us. For far too many, it's just not a happy day. So for those who can't find joy today, I wish you a peaceful day and continue to pray that we all get healthy, take-home babies and that we have the patience to wait for the day we bring them home.

Well Hello There!

My little spot of a sprout has grown into my adorable little Sprout complete with arms, legs and face! Baby is very healthy with a heartbeat of 171. Baby kicked its little legs and then, as you can see in the picture below, waved to us!  I like to think that little mouth is also blowing kisses :) 

One month exactly to go until the cerclage!

Diabetes Teaching Class

I may have forgotten to mention that in addition to sticking myself, keeping a food log and faxing both to my endocrinologist weekly that I also had to attend a diabetes teaching class. Said class was today.

Wow. A lot of information was crammed in to a couple hours. Basically, I keep checking my blood sugar, keep my food log, report both to the endocrinologist AND the teaching center's dieticicans, plus I also get to follow a strict diet (but there's lots of food on the diet to eat) and pee on more sticks. Ketone test sticks to be exact. These will apparently tell the dietician whether or not I'm eating enough throughout the day. Oh, and I need to stick to 1900 calories. And learn the carb/protien/fat dietary exchanges. And stay up an hour later than I have been lately so I can eat a snack.

Just how is a preggo brain supposed to remember this all?????

Up next: 10 week ultrasound on Monday afternoon,

Summer Plans

The weather has been beautiful lately here in the mid-atlantic states and it's gotten me thinking a lot about summer. I won't get to the beach this year, nor will I get to visit out-of-state family. This is because of the cerclage I will be having on May 27th. Once that goes in, I'm self-restricting travel to a one hour radius of the hospital. So what's a girl to do with herself? For me, it looks like my summer will be filled with needles.

First up, is cerclage day - plenty of needles invovled with that. Then, I'll be starting 17P shots (progesterone) the first week of June. Those are weekly. They are also intramuscular (ie - big needle). Then...well, this takes a bit of a story, so please bear with me.

Back in January, when we found the "natural" approach to PCOS/infertility was not working, I decided to make an appointment with a recommended endocronologist - Dr H. That appointment was yesterday. She is very nice and extremely knowledgable, but she is also very aggressive in treating metabolic disorder - especially when the patient is pregnant.

She looked through my past 2-hour GTT results, and saw that in March of last year, while I was first pregnant (before the BFP), my level was 199. You may remember this post where I assumed based on my own research that I was no longer considered prediabetic. I was so happy about my progress. Turns out, for this doc at least, above 120 is bad. My level having been 127 in January coupled with being pregnant and having a history of high sugars led her to "not fool around" with my case.

What does that mean, you may ask? Well, that means I got a new toy yesterday - a blood glucose monitor! I now have to check my sugar 7 times a day and log it, keep a food log and fax her both of those once a week. That's a lot of work for 7 stinkin' points! However, since this is all in the interest of not only this pregnancy, but my continued health (and hopefully I will be able to some day really put the word "good" in front of that), I am now sticking my fingers and carrying around a meter and supplies.

Yesterday, for my first test I had to stick myself 3 different times to get enough blood for a reading. This was after Dr. H showed me how to test in her office, which took 2 pokes to work. In 24 hours, I stabbed my fingers 11 times. They hurt now. I guess I'll get used to it.

Now so far, we have a cerclage, weekly progesterone injections and 7 finger sticks a day. Let's forget the cerclage for now and total that up over the summer. For simplicity I'll count the summer as 12 weeks. So...12 weekly injections. 12 weeks of 7 sticks a day is 588 sticks, bringing the total to 600 times a needle is going to cut into my flesh this summer....at least. I say at least because Dr. H also says she has "a low threshold" on prescribing insulin. Oh, and with pregnancy she doesn't use oral insulin. F***ing great. I'm done counting. Just bring on the cerclage, the progesterone injections, the finger sticks, the insulin injections and this fall, a healthy take home baby. In the end, this is all worth it.

So....in light of my stabby summer to come, please tell me all of your beach and vacation plans. I will have to live vicariously through you and keep your plans in mind each time a needle strikes!

First Prenatal, and "Excitement"

I just got back to the office from my first prenatal. Everything looks fine, but given the last pregnancy and the fact that I'm axious as all hell, the nurse practitioner gave me a slip for an early viability ultrasound. She said if I wanted to, she would find reasons for insurance to cover weekly ones until the cerclage! Love that woman!! Anyway, I have to call later today and schedule both the early 8 week and the normal 10 week ultrasounds. I also have to call the office on Monday and schedule the cerclage since the woman who does the scheduling for procedures is out with the flu. The only minor thing going on is that I have a little protein in my urine, which could be nothing or could be a UTI. For now, we're treating it as nothing since there was no bacteria and waiting for the culture results since I'm so allergic to so many medications - most of which are the safe for pregnancy ones.

On to the "excitement." First of all, I'm still a boring pregnant lady - this excitement has nothing to do with me physically. This was also not good excitement. I was woken up yesterday by a call from my husband saying "I'm fine, but if you want to - and you don't have to - you can meet me at St. Agnes' emergency room." All he said was that he had started feeling dizzy and sweating alot and then he threw up. Thankfully, one of his coworkers recognized that as heart attack warning signs. DH did not realize this until after I had already thrown clothes on, driven to the hospital and was sitting with him telling him how worried I was because of those signs being heart attack warnings. Then he got a little freaked out.

After three EKGs, two rounds of bloodwork, one chest xray and lunch in the ER, he was pronounced "healthy as a horse." Thank God! See, two weeks ago one of our clients at work was driving home, felt hot and sweaty and just wrong, called his wife to tell her where he was and that he was pulling over. His wife called 911 immediately and the ambulance got there in 7 minutes. He had had a heart attack and had crashed into some trees. That quickly, with no pain and no time to actually pull off the road, he was dead. Cause of death was not the accident, it was the heart attack.

I'm still reeling from yesterday's episode and feel like a big ball of nerves. I know they said he was fine and ran every test they could, but how many times last year was I stuck in L&D being told everything was fine, when it turns out it wasn't. Yeah. I know there was no test to see if Liz had an infection. There were no actual signs of infection in any test they ran - though they never ran a white blood cell count. Anyway, DH is fine, I am fine, I assume Sprout is fine and I hope to have that confirmed in a couple days via the early ultrasound.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Spring!