Tuesday, June 29, 2010

SNIPpits

Sunday - 30w3d - Chris built the glider and put it in the nursery. It's amazingly comfortable, but I'm kindof glad that I feel like it needs a lumbar pillow because it means that the pillow I wanted to make with 'her fabric' will be used. Anyway, that night I started reading the Hypnobirthing book an dliked it WAY more than I thought I would. In fact I didn't put it down until I hit page 125ish at 11pm and realized that I REALLY needed to go to sleep.

While reading, I took the opportunity to shine a light on my tummy and she definitely kicked back at the light just like all the emails said she would. *NEW PARTY TRICK* Also, for the first time I felt her leg (?) just chillin over on the side of my tummy. It's the first time I've felt a body part and not just a mass when poking my belly. exciting.

Monday - 30w4d - Tired as all get out and fairly lazy. That is until Christopher came home and I put him to work building the crib while I made coleslaw wiht our CSA cabbage. Then I proceeded to clean the outside (and TOP) of the refridgerator off and organize the magnets. I think they call this nesting.

Monday night - last night - I couldn't fall asleep. I stayed up late to see who Ali kicked off of the Bachelorette (Poor Craig), then realized I even if I fell asleep right that minute, I'd be tired at work tomorrow so I was already behind the 8 ball.

I went to bed, laid there until 11 COMPLTELY uncomfortable and in my tossing and turning woke up Chris. (It's his day off today, don't feel sorry for him.) He tried to help me fall asleep by rubbing my back until he fell back asleep at 11:20. Then I tried to fall asleep on my own until 11:48. Then I gave up and started watching Dr. G medical examiner. Then it was way past midnight. And when the vile alarm clock went off at 5:08am this morning, Dr. G was still on.
SIDE NOTE: If you think you have a nasty spider bite, you don't. It's MRSA and you need to get on antibiotics. Just so you know.

This Afternoon - 30w5d - There are now 65 days till the due date. The crib and glider are in her room. Clothes are washed and hung. The first batch of cloth diapers are sitting in her room (however I need to wash them the recommended 3 times to increase the absorbancy and I also need to break down and buy a pack of Newborn disposable diapers for her to wear till she chunks up a bit...). Chris has made the comment that all he needs to do is install the carseat and we're ready for her.

I suggested that he sit down in the living room and finish reading the Birth Partner like the doctor instructed him to do. THEN he might be ready.

*stretch*

Anyway, she's been stretching all afternoon. The very top of my tummy - the part I see when I look down between my boobs - keeps getting a hard little foot poking out against it. At least I think its a foot. I suppose she could have her hand outstretched above her head, but she's been going at this for hours and I don't think that'd be a comfy longterm position for her to maintain. SO, I think she's flipped head down. At least for the moment.

I read online that the postion she's in at 35 weeks is most likely the position she'll be in when I go into labor because at that point she just runs out of room to move around that much. So as long as she's head down by July 29th, we'll be golden.

*stretch*

It's kindof nice having a little partner in crime with me all the time. I think it's going to be strange when she's not in there anymore... 5:30! Quittin' time.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

30 Weeks

Photo: I look cute today, I just didn't have time to snap a picture. :) I'll post one later.

At 3.5 pounds, shes beginning to be able to regulate her own temperature so she's losing the lanugo (downy hair) that covered her body earlier. Interesting tidbit: The weight she's gaining now is called white fat, like adults have, versus the brown fat she was gaining in the second trimester that would have protected her from hypothermia had she been delivered very prematurely.


•How far along?•
30 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
I'm 2-3 pounds above my prepregnancy weight. Doing good considering all I want is popsicles and ice cream.

•Maternity clothes?•
Still bored with the wardrobe. The weather is still too chaotic to bust out the dresses. And I was so busy painting this weekend that I forgot to do laundry. Awesome :P

•Sleep•
I don't think I moved an inch last night once I fell asleep. It's falling asleep that's the issue. That and the leg cramps that I wake up to in the morning - YOWZERS!

•Best moment this week•
I had a midwife appointment on Monday with one of my favorites amongst the midwives (not that I've met many, but that last lady is not welcome back!) and everything was great. I weighed less than I did at my previous appointment (I TOLD you it was a big lunch!), my blood pressure was the lowest its been so far this pregnancy, there was only a trace of protein and my fundal height is measuring right at 29.5 weeks. Plus she told me I looked great. :)

•Movement•
Her movements are definitely less sporadic compared to just 3 weeks ago. I've got lots of little toe tickles down low so I assume she's still breech, and she likes to stretch against the sides of my belly in a way that almost hurts. But it's still neat.

•Food cravings•
Red grapes, gummy grapefruit slices, vanilla ice cream, popsicles, iced tea, etc etc.
Not really craving meat or milk/cheese as much as I was a few weeks ago, but I do love a bowl of Quacker Oatmeal Squarescereal in the morning.

•Gender•
Girl.

•Labor Signs•
No.

•Belly Button in or out?•
I can see the bottom!

•What I miss•
Being able to suck in my tummy. My stomach muscles are almost sore by the end of the day. She's starting to get heavy.

•What I am looking forward to•
Building the glider and crib!

•Weekly Wisdom•
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth is a highly recommended book, but the first half of it is touchy feely birth stories that I'm not in the mood for. Maybe once I feel like I've read more of the 'assigned literature' I'll go back for a little light reading.

•Milestones•
2 Milestones this week:

(1) We painted the nursery. And it is so stinkin' cute I can't even take it.
(2) There is now 10 weeks / 70 days till her due date. As Chris says "I'm starting to freak out a little..."

Thursday, June 17, 2010

29 Weeks!

Photo: I did not take a picture this morning because I woke up at 6:25 thinking it was Saturday and then came to the awful realization that it was Thursday and I was gonna be late for work. Not a beauty today, but I'll take a picture tomorrow morning.

UPDATE:


Her eyebrows and eyelashes are completed and now her hair will start growing. Fingers crossed for a blonde. She's getting a little cramped in there and now weighs 3 pounds and is probably about 15.75" long. That doesn't seem like much, but find a 15" ruler and then add some more to it. Scary to think that is pretzeled up in there. :)


•How far along?•
29 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
As of yesterday morning (remember I was a little rushed today...) I only weighed .4lbs more than I did when I found out I was pregnant. (Considering she weighs 3 pounds doesn't that technically means that I'm still down 2.5 pounds?) Rockstar. However, I fully expect to start gaining some weight in this third trimester.

•Maternity clothes?•
I'm bored with my wardrobe at this point and really want it to get sunny so I can start wearing some dresses to the office. However, considering I'm pulling double duty next week and have a million inspections to do, I'll still be sporting jeans, steel toed boots and a t shirt for the foreseeable future.

•Sleep•
Still sleeping hard, but it's never enough. I had to take a nap at lunch today. I had to make the choice between taco Thursday and a nap. Nap won. That said, I'm starving and need to get buy some food somewhere or I'm gonna get a little punchy.

•Best moment this week•
We picked a pink paint color. Hallelujah. I've got a gallon of Behr's My Fair Lady in Satin finish in my car. Painting of Saturday!! (What a great way to spend our first day off together since Kylie's christening...)

•Movement•
This week her movements have been AWESOME. They aren't sporadic kicks and punches anymore, but instead are these long stretches, and if I happen to have my hand in the right place, I swear I can almost make out the edges of whatever body part is pushing for more room. So neat. I'm still getting a lot of rolling and twitches, and sometimes after dinner, if Chris and I are sitting next to each other, I'll have him watch my stomach as it changes shape. It's really weird not to have any control over her movements/my stomach.

•Food cravings•
We hit up Cold Stone Creamery on Tuesday night after eating at the Olive Garden with Shakes and Sarah. Cream Cheese ice cream with cherry pie filling. Holy! It was so good.

•Gender•
Girl.

•Labor Signs•
No.

•Belly Button in or out?•
I think it's shallower than I think.

•What I miss•
I miss feeling refreshed after a night's sleep.

•What I am looking forward to•
Spending the WHOLE DAY with Chris on Saturday! And I guess my Midwife appointment on Monday...

•Weekly Wisdom•
I have 4 very sizable books to read and only 8 weeks till I'm full term. Add on a full time job, 8 hours of commuting and a house that the dogs destroy on a daily basis and I have no idea how I'm going to get all this reading done.

Also, I'm still highly annoyed about the childbirth classes being cancelled.

•Milestones•
Saturday will mark 75 days till my due date. Eeek!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Childbirth Classes

So apparently there was a family emergency and the entire childbirth class - all 7 sessions - have been cancelled. Due to our opposite work schedules, the only class we can take without too much of a disruption would be a 2 day weekend intensive class on July 10th and 11th. Then we'll take the breastfeeding basics and Newborn care classes later in July. For our inconvenience they're throwing in a free infant CPR certification, but I'm still a little dissapointed. I really didn't want it all crammed into two 8 hour days. :-/ I guess if any questions come up afterwards, we can just ask them at our midwife appointment. Meh.

Growth Scan - 28.5 weeks

At my 27 week midwife appointment my fundal height was measuring at 30 weeks. Since I hadn't yet had my GD screening, they were concerned that she might be getting a little too big, so they scheduled a growth scan to check her measurements.

Our appointment was Monday at 2:30p so Chris met me at the hospital after work. I could tell from the moment my name was called that this was not going to be a good ultrasound. The tech had such a thick french accent that I could barely understand my own name when she said it. When we got back to the room it was pretty evident that she was not at all comfortable operating the machine and spent the majority of the session staring at the keyboard trying to find a certain key.

Then little girl was being stubborn as per usual. She was breech (not that I'm concerned about that - she has plenty of time to flip) with her spin facing up (so she was looking at my back) with her head tucked down to her chest FAST asleep. Her head wasn't even slightly tilted to one side or the other so we could get a glimpse. Little stinker.

It makes sense, but as the pregnancy progresses, her bones start to calcify and aren't as transparent. That coupled with her horrible position meant that her ribs were casting shadows on every part of the anatomy they wanted to check so I was poked and prodded far harder than I have been before.

Then to top it all off, the tech was so boring and quiet that Chris almost fell asleep during the scan. It was not nearly as exciting as the previous scans.

But she looked great and was measuring at about 28weeks 6days on most body parts with slightly longer femurs (she's gonna be tall!).

So then the tech leaves and we're waiting in the room for probably 20 minutes for the doctor to come in.

He introduces himself and immediately asks to describe the issues I've been having with this pregnancy.

Umm... what?

*Insert minor freak out*

He clarified that he'd been looking through my chart and couldn't figure out why I was coming in for a scan when everything in my chart looked so normal. Note to doctor - you should LEAD with the 'Normal' diagnosis before scaring the crap out of me. I explained about the fundal height and the concern my midwife had had with GD (even though I ROCKED my screening with a score of 86 when 130 was the cutoff).

We discussed that since we were tall that he wasn't surprised that her limbs were long, but that she was measuring right at the 55th percentile for everything and looked great. She weighs 2lbs 15oz by their measurements and my amniotic fluid level was 18cm and normal. Therefore I blame the crazy fundal measurement on the amazing (and filling) lunch my coworker and I ate right before my 27 week appointment.

In fact, I just compared my 27 and 28 week belly shot, and I'm slightly smaller in the 28 week photo. I'm also weighing about 2 pounds less than I did that week, so chalk the whole thing up to a fat week and lets move on. :)



So in conclusion - she's measuring fine, she's still stubborn and we didn't get any pictures. Diva.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

28 Weeks!


I am officially in the third trimester now. Intense. People keep saying it's the home stretch, but it also feels like a million lightyears ago that I entered the 2nd trimester, so maybe it won't go by as fast as I'm fearing.


•How far along?•
28 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
I think I've officially gained weight with this pregnancy now - I'm up about a pound from where I was back at Christmas. Not bad!

•Maternity clothes?•
Chris and I discussed the finer points of nursing bras last night. It was kindof a weird conversation. :)

•Sleep•
I need more. But I must be sleeping like a rock during the night because the last few nights I haven't even rolled over. I've slept on my left side the whole night and, besides maybe adjusting my legs, I think I'm pretty much dead to the world.

•Best moment this week•
The best birthday gift I got, even better than the balloons my parents had delivered to my office, was the nes that I passed the gestational diabetes screening and that I'm looking fine as far as PreE goes. WOOT!


•Movement•
I'm expecting it to start slowing down now. They say that the movement reaches a peak from 24-28 weeks, and then just becomes more jabs and kicks and less rolling and gymnastic movements. She's pretty good at letting me know she's in there, and I think she's currently head down with the hiccups - weirdest sensation ever.

•Food cravings•
Groupons sucked me in this morning with a coupon to a local Rice Pudding cafe. I've never been there, but if it was in Beaverton and not SW Portland, I'd know where we were getting dessert. However, I do have a birthday coupon for cold stone creamery that I'm sure Chris would be more than happy to redeem.

•Gender•
Girl.

•Labor Signs•
No.

•Belly Button in or out?•
It's shallow for me, but still has a way to go before it's flat.

•What I miss•
Being able to hug Chris without my stomach/boobs getting in the way. He commented on that last night when I got home from work.

•What I am looking forward to•
MONDAY! I have a growth ultrasound on Monday. I'll be 28.5 weeks and I haven't seen her since 22.5 weeks. We've been pretty lucky though. I got an ultrasound at 6.5 weeks to confirm, then we had the NT scan at 13.5 weeks, the BIG ultrasound at 19.5 weeks and the BIG 2.0 at 22.5 weeks, so this will be our 5th peak at Miss thang, and my midwife was talking about another growth check up in 4-6 weeks. Sweet.

•Weekly Wisdom•
Expensive restaurants while pregnant are not worth it. The portion aren't big enough for this hungry hippo and the funky cheese they sprinkle on everything will turn your stomach from the second they set the plate down. I made a bad selection for my birthday dinner and next time will have more respect for Olive Garden and their unlimited breadsticks. :)

•Milestones•
Third Trimester!

Stay tuned to hear how the ultrasound goes on Monday and how Chris fares at the first childbirth class Tuesday evening.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Happy Birthday To ME!

So on Saturday I met this lady and bought her nightstand to use as a sidetable next to the glider in the nursery. I had been looking all over for a decently priced table, and when I finally found this one on craigslist for only $35 I flipped. It's exactly what I wanted.

photo from the craigslist ad.


Then I met up with Chris (who got off work 'early'), Justin, Sarah and Regan and Becky who were visiting from Massachusetts. Becky is a sweetheart and it was fun to make fun of Regan again. "Wait, a lamb is a baby sheep?" yes. he said that.

Here's a picture of the studs down by the waterfront.
Regan, Chris, Shakes


I wish Chris and I were able to spend more time with them at the Rose festival, but Chris had to work at 4am the next morning and I can't go on any of the rides because Hannah is too 'sensitive' *wink*


Here is a Beautiful rose that is currently growing at my house. Seriously. It's perfect.


Sunday was a quiet day at home. I got lots of stuff done around the house. At least I think I did. I don't really remember. Monday I spent all freakin' morning at the hospital lab doing my gestational diabetes glucose test. Ugh. Then I got home and made an awesome pasta salad and some lemon raspbery mousse squares (Thanks Kraftfood recipe ad in the waiting room magazine).



Then we met Justin and Sarah downtown for dinner at Paley's Place. Awful. I hated it. Loved the company, hated the restaurant. Luckily they all indulged me and went out for gelato afterwards even after spending WAY too much for WAY too tiny of a dinner. I'm usually a fruity gelato girl, but this time I went with (1) Sweet Italian Cream (2) Chocolate Hazelnut and (3) Hazelnut. Fabulous. OMG. The Hazelnut was awesome.

Oh, this is what I see when I look down now:


We were a little bored waiting for Shakes and Sarah before dinner so I started snapping pictures. :)

So today is my birthday. This is the first time I've actually WORKED on my birthday and I'm not a huge fan. I think it should be a personal holiday. I could have taken it off, but I'm in the mindset that every day I take off NOW is one less day of paid maternity leave I'll have THEN.

My parents had these delivered to my office, which was super sweet and unexpected.

And Chris said he's making my favorite dinner tonight - Chicken parm with a side dish of sliced yellow and green summer squash. Yumm-o.

BUT THE BEST NEWS:

My midwife called the house line and told Chris that I needed to call her back so she could talk to me about my test results for gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Scary. And when a doctor calls and says that you need to call them back in order to get test results... uh... I'm not expecting good news.

However, she said that everything looked normal! Seriously, best birthday gift I could have asked for.

That's about it!

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Good and Bad of my Midwife Appointment


•Good•
My coworker and I went out to lunch yesterday and had a fabulous meal.

•Bad•
Stepping on the scale after said lunch.
4:10pm appt should be reserved for skinny chicks and I should get dibs on the first appt of the day.
I'm just sayin'...

•Good•
She approved of the childbirth books I'd ordered and appreciated when I asked for any of her suggestions.

•Bad•
My reading list is now 5 times longer than it was.

•Good•
She gave us the Doula lecture and just might have won over Chris on the benefits of a doula.

•Bad•
The hospital have volunteer doulas there occasionally, but if you'd rather guarantee a doula is available for the birth, you need to buy in on one of their 'package' deals that cost about $700. Added to my list of things to do is now finding a doula that is in the middle of certification and need some more experience - aka - free.

•Good•
My blood pressure was normal.

•Bad•
I still got the preeclampsia lecture including the line "We just want you to be aware that we could have to induce you as early as 30 weeks if it becomes an issue." (In my head I'm doing quick math, realizing this is only 3 weeks away and then realizing that I don't even have a diaper bag.)
*Insert silent mental freak out.*

•Good•
She follows that line with "But it's only an issue if you start spilling protein..."

•Bad•
I give the required urine sample and, of course, I'm spilling protein.

•Even Worse•
Now I have to do a 24 collection on Sunday. Don't even ask what that entails.

•Good•
My birthday is on Tuesday.

•Bad•
I have to do my gestational diabetes 1 hour test on Monday.
Which means if I fail, my first punishment is no birthday cake.

•Good•
I haven't cried yet during this appointment.
But trust me, the tears are right there...

•Bad•
My fundal height is measuring at 30 weeks when I'm only 27 weeks. So while preeclampsia could mean growth restriction, GD could mean gigantic baby.
Midwife wants to check in on the baby's growth.

•Good•
She wants an ultrasound before my next appointment in 2 weeks. And another 3-4 weeks after that.

•Bad•
It was after 5pm when we got out of our appointment so we couldn't schedule them that day and I just realized that it's 5:15pm on a FRIDAY and I forgot to call them to schedule.
Must. Remember. To. Call. First. Thing. MONDAY.

•Good•
After getting the Doula and Preeclampsia lecture, the midwife decided to go easy on me and skip the weight lecture. I'm going to assume it wasn't because my 20 minute appointment was quickly approaching the hour mark and say that she thought it wasn't necessary because I've actually done really well on the weight gain aspect. Which, I have.

•Overall•
Worst Doctor's Appointment EVER.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

27 Weeks!


This week marks the end of the second trimester. At 27 weeks, her lungs, liver and immune system are continuing to mature — and she has been growing like a weed. Her crown-to-rump length may have tripled since the 12-week mark.


•How far along?•
27 weeks

•Total weight gain/loss•
I stepped on the scale this morning and it looks like I'm back to prepregnancy weight. I have a midwife appointment this afternoon, but my coworker and I went out to eat for lunch and the chili and breadbowl I just polished off will definitely skew my weigh-in...

•Maternity clothes?•
I need to buy more maternity tank tops. Then again, it feels as if it'll never be sunny in Oregon, so maybe I should just stock up on the clearance maternity sweaters instead.

•Sleep•
I went to sleep at 9ish and woke up at 5:30 still exhausted. Which is why I laid back down and slept in till 5:55. Needless to say, I'm not looking amazing today considering I need to leave the house by 6:15.

•Best moment this week•
We went to Babies R Us to create the registry. It was nice being able to just register for the 'fun' stuff since we've already purchased the big items ourselves: crib, travel system, pack n play, exersaucer, swing, bouncer, boppy, bathtub, glider.


•Movement•
She's going CRAZY in there most days. I think her sleep schedule depends on my daily routine more than I thought. On work days she'll wake up at the same time as me and I feel her throughout the morning until about 10. Then she's quiet until about 2 when I feel a few kicks here or there. Then she's mainly quiet until about 6pm when I'm almost home. I eat dinner and afterward she goes crazy. Then she's quiet after 9. HOWEVER, because of Memorial Day, I had a 4 day weekend (sat, Sun, Mon, Tues) and her schedule was completely off. One night she had me up until after midnight with insane kicking fest. It felt like she never slept those four days.

On Monday, while we were at Babies R Us, she was kicking so hard, I put Christopher's hand on my belly and she impressed him with about five giant kicks in a row. Now that it's Thursday and I'm back at the grind, she's fallen back into her normal sleep schedule. thankfully. She still isn't waking me much in the middle of the night and hasn't really discovered the enjoyable past time of bladder soccer yet.

•Food cravings•
I'm starving. I'm eating three good sized meals a day, plus mid morning and afternoon snacks and dessert. If I even THINK of skipping one, my stomach growls loud enough for the guy in the next cubicle to hear - and make fun of me for.

Still having milk with dinner to curb any heart burn and that seems to be working. I haven't had to bust out tums in weeks.

•Gender•
Girl.

•Labor Signs•
No.

•Belly Button in or out?•
I haven't really noticed much of a change lately.

•What I miss•
Being able to easily get comfortable. I know it's just gonna get worse, but I'm starting to feel the discomfort. When I'm sitting on the couch, out at dinner, laying down in bed, etc. I never stopped to think before that while yes, you have a big stomach, it's not a flexible stomach. As in, you really can't bend around it or squeeze it or suck it in. Its firm and it's unyielding and only a person that has never been pregnant before would have the audacity to say excuse me in a store aisle and expect me to magically be able to get out of their way. Really? Out of the five people in this aisle you expect me to be the one to make room for you to pass with your giant cart? Not gonna happen. Go around. mkay?thanks!bye.

•What I am looking forward to•
The weekend. This three day work week is really tough and I'm counting the days until it's Saturday again. *wink*

Okay, what I'm really looking forward to is a nice 70* sunny Portland day. The weather here has been dismal for the entire month of May and June isn't looking much better.

Oh, I'm also looking forward to my birthday. Of course.

•Weekly Wisdom•
I printed out some information for Chris such as the Top 10 tips for the labor coach and the description of each phase of labor and the signs of preterm labor. He read over it all in bed last night, sets it down, shrugs his shoulders and goes "Eh, it's all basically common sense." Great. Glad to see I'm the only one a little freaked out here. I've ordered a couple books off Amazon and will start reading them once they get here. Relying on 'Common sense' and google isn't going to be very helpful with a screaming infant.

•Milestones•
This is the last week of the 2nd trimester. OMG. The third trimester is so intimidating - it's got all the childbirth classes, and the giant tummy while still working, and the pregnant during summer fun times, oh and that little It-could-happen-at-any-moment goodness that can all be a little overwhelming.

ShareThis

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...