Thursday, July 21, 2011

14 Week Update

Another big week!

Mom is doing much better.  She does have a tumor in her brain, but apparently it has been there since at least November (hard to see on her previous scan) and it hasn't changed appreciably since then.  The Dr doesn't think it is causing the stomach issues and doesn't think radiation or surgery is necessary at this point.  He wants her to go in for repeat scans every 3-6 months for now.  She goes back to talk to her oncologist again on 8/8, so we will see what he has to say.  And the steroids are helping.  Her appetite is getting better and she is keeping food down.  I am going to spend the weekend with her and Dad, so I am really happy about that. 

I met with my surgeon this week and we have a preliminary plan in place.  He wants me to see a hematologist 8 weeks after little one is born to discuss whether I need to be on blood thinners for surgery or not since I have had a post surgical blood clot before.  He also wants me evaluated for clotting/bleeding disorders.  We are tentatively scheduled for surgery March 27 or 28 depending on which surgeon does the operation and what the hematologist says.  And he also said that he won't know whether expansions are necessary or not until he gets in there, but either way, it will be an outpatient procedure.  Huge weight off my mind.

Weekly Check In:

  • How far along?: 14 weeks
  • Total weight gain: I am up 2 lb (3 from last week).
  • How big is baby?: Baby is the size of a lemon this week. 
  • Maternity clothes?: Fully in maternity clothes at this point.  They are so comfortable.
  • Movement: Still way too early.  I have an anterior placenta, so it will likely be quite a while before I get to feel little one moving around.
  • Stretch marks?: Just the ones I already had.
  • Sleep?: This week has not been good.  I can no longer sleep comfortably on my stomach, and I am not supposed to sleep on my back anymore.  The left side is more comfortable, but triggers my sciatica and the right side is really uncomfortable.  If I am having a hard time sleeping now, I hate to see how it will be later.
  • Symptoms?: Starting to be a little less exhausted and nauseous.  Heartburn, heightened sense of smell, frequent urination, gassy, constipated, really vivid dreams, food aversions and round ligament pain are all still there.  
  • Food cravings:  Still wanting sweets, but I am also enjoying bacon and potatoes.  R likes to say that my Irish is coming out.  Other meats are not sitting well any more.
  • Belly button in or out?: Still an innie.
  • What I miss: I'm actually not missing too much at the moment.  I was missing coffee, but I have started having the occasional iced decaf coffee and am feeling much better now.
  • What I'm looking forward to: Spending time with Mom and Dad this weekend.  And going to see Harry Potter with R on Sunday.
  • Best Moment this week: Finding out that Mom doesn't have to have surgery or radiation and coming up with a plan for my surgery.
  • Milestone: Baby is growing hair, eyebrows and eyelashes this week!
- J

Saturday, July 16, 2011

More pregnant than I have ever been.

Finally, I can say that I am more pregnant than I have ever been before.  Yesterday was a hard day, but it was an important milestone.  I have gotten past all of the problems with my first two pregnancies, and so far, everything has been going splendidly. 

As a celebration, I bought Baby it's first stuffed animal; a blue corduroy elephant.  It is soft and cute and I am so happy to be able to celebrate this.  Here's a picture:






- J

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Update on Mom

I just talked to my mom and she was able to get her results sooner than expected. 

Good news: There is no bowel obstruction and the lesions on her liver and gallbladder and in her abdomen haven't changed significantly since her last scan in May.

Bad news:  She has a lesion on her left temporal lobe.  She has a consult with a neurologist or neurosurgeon (not sure which) on Tuesday to see if she needs to have surgery, radiation or both.

Her oncologist believes that the stomach issues may be a combination between her brain and abdominal lesions.  His goal is to get her eating, retaining food and to start weaning her off of the IV fluids.  He started her on steroids today and she is going back for 1 liter of fluids a day for the next 7 days and then see how she is doing.

So not great news and we still don't know a whole lot.  I guess we will find out more on Tuesday.  Ironically, we are both consulting with surgeons that day.

- J

13 Week Update

Fair warning, this is going to be a long update.  A lot of stuff went on this week. 

Mom has not been doing particularly well.  She was struggling to keep down any food last week and it has continued this week.  She saw her Dr on Monday and her cancer markers have gone up.  He feels that her stomach problems could be a result of the cancer, not a side-effect of the chemo.  He sent her to the hospital every day this week for rehydration.  She also had an MRI of her brain on Tuesday and a CT scan of her abdomen yesterday.  She thought she would be getting the results tomorrow, but she doesn't have an appointment, so we are not sure when she will be getting them now.  She has been sounding a little better, but she has still been having a hard time keeping food down.

I am also having a hard time with work right now.  We are currently going through a 3 way merger and it sounds like someone I can't stand is creating a team of people who do what I currently do.  He really wants me on the team, but I don't know if I can stand working for him.  I also don't know if he would allow me to work from home once baby is here, which is important since daycare is so expensive.  I could possibly take a different role under my current boss, who is flexible about me working from home, but I am not sure if they would try to cut my pay.

I have my consult with the plastic surgeon on Tuesday.  I found out at my last OB appointment that I will have to be on the Lovenox for 6 weeks after baby arrives, which is going to delay having the first reconstructive surgery, as they won't do it while I have blood thinners in my system.  I am hoping I will be able to talk to him and get a better idea of what we are looking at for a time frame and what I can expect since it will only be one side instead of both sides like last time.

Baby is doing wonderfully which is such a relief.  I had my NT scan, first series of blood test for the quad screen, and OB appointment last Friday.  Little one was looking great, had a nice strong heart rate of 159, and was bouncing around and waving.  The blood work all came back good, and I go in on 7/29 for the remaining blood work and my first glucose tolerance test (they are doing an early one because of my PCOS).  I'm getting nervous because I am approaching the point in my pregnancy where I lost our twins.  If I make it to Saturday, I will be the most pregnant I have ever been.  Saturday will also be my last day on the progesterone and Metformin. 

Weekly Check In:


  • How far along?: 13 weeks
  • Total weight gain: I am up 1 lb.
  • How big is baby?: Baby is the size of a peach this week. 
  • Maternity clothes?: Fully in maternity clothes at this point.  They are so comfortable.
  • Movement: Still way too early.  I have felt faint little twitches and rumbles, but I am not sure if that is Baby or not.
  • Stretch marks?: Just the ones I already had.
  • Sleep?: I was sleeping better, but this week I have been having a hard time.  Partly because R has been on vacation and staying up all night playing video games.
  • Symptoms?: Starting to be a little less exhausted and nauseous.  Heartburn, heightened sense of smell, frequent urination, gassy, constipated, really vivid dreams, food aversions and round ligament pain are all still there.  
  • Food cravings:  I think baby has a bit of a sweet tooth.  I have been craving chocolate, cookies, cake, ice cream.  If it's desert, I want it.  I have also been loving faux macaroni and cheese from the box, which I used to hate.
  • Belly button in or out?: Still an innie.
  • What I miss: I'm actually not missing too much at the moment.  I was missing coffee, but I have started having the occasional iced decaf coffee and am feeling much better now.
  • What I'm looking forward to: Finding out what the plastic surgeon has to say about my reconstruction.
  • Best Moment this week: Having an excellent NT scan and getting to share it with Mom.
  • Milestone: Baby is forming teeth and vocal chords and the intestines are moving from the umbilical cord into little one's stomach!
- J

Sunday, July 10, 2011

NT Scan Update

Friday we had our NT scan.  This is a more detailed ultrasound where they are checking to make sure that there aren't any signs of neural tube defects, or any soft markers for chromosomal abnormalities like Down's Syndrome.  They look at Baby's spine, the thickness of the skin at the back of the neck, the nasal bone and the brain.  The also take measurements of the other parts of Baby's body. 

So Friday morning Mom came down for my appointment.  We went to Swedish, tracked down a wheelchair for Mom and found the ultrasound office.  They got us back pretty quickly and found Baby immediately.  Our little one's heart as beating at 159 bpm, nasal bone was present, brain and spine looked good, and the skin thickness was 1.6 (I believe you want the measurement to be less than 3).  Baby was bouncing around and waving.  It started with it's legs crossed, but then began kicking them out, looking a little like a frog.  The ultrasound tech loved our little one and took lots of pictures.  She was thrilled that she got to see each of Baby's fingers, and loved the kicking Baby was doing.  She also had a guess as far as gender, but we are going to keep that under our hats for the time being as it is way too early to be accurate.

After the ultrasound, I met with a woman who is working on a study at Swedish.  They are trying to determine factors that make certain women more at risk for pre-eclampsia, looking specifically at women who have had migraines.  She went over the study with me and then met me at my OB's office to do a blood draw.  We stopped for lunch, and then went up to the OB's office. 

Mom got to meet Dr J, which was great.  I had told Mom so much about it, I'm sure it was nice to match a face to a name.  We went over my list of questions and because we had just had an ultrasound, Dr J didn't use the doppler.  She said that she couldn't give me the official results of the NT scan because they had to also look at blood work that was taken that day and then would be taken again at 15 weeks, but she thought it all looked good.  She is also going to have me come in an do an early glucose tolerance test at 15 weeks when I come back for the other blood draw.  And she gave me a prescription for physical therapy for my back since insurance won't cover massage therapy.  She went over my operative report from my uterine surgery in 2004 and said she doesn't think there is a reason why I would need to have a C section, but she is going to double check with some of the perinatal guys to see what they think.  Finally, she warned me that I will be on the Lovenox for 6 weeks after delivery, which means I won't be able to have my reconstruction until my blood goes back to normal after going off the Lovenox.  Overall, it was a pretty good appointment.

We got back home and Mom was wiped out.  She hasn't been feeling well (can't seem to hold any food down), so she asked if we could drive her home.  Once R got off work, we stopped and got gyros and then took Mom home.  Since we were in the neighborhood, we also stopped to visit with R's mom and daughter.  We had a nice chat, but didn't get home until almost 3:00 am.  Man, was I wiped out!  It ended up being quite the big day.  Without further ado, here are the latest pictures of our baby:

Baby waving at the camera.

Baby crossing it's legs.


Baby kicking its legs out like a frog.

- J

Thursday, July 7, 2011

12 week update, 4th of July and a surprise!

This has been an interesting week.  I was able to get a prosthetic on Friday and while I don't like wearing it, I am feeling more human when I leave the house.  We had a very busy weekend.  Saturday we took a "day trip" to Mt Rainier.  We were supposed to go camping, but I wasn't up to it, so this was our compromise.  We left at 9:45 am and didn't arrive until 4:00 pm.  It should have taken 2-3 hours, but there was a traffic light out in South Hill which held up traffic.  It took us two and a half hours to go 3 miles.  The campsite was gorgeous though.  R and I are already talking about camping there next year with little one.  We ended up hanging out until 10:00 pm and didn't get home until 1:00 am.  It was a very, very long day.  I ended up sleeping most of Sunday in an effort to get caught up on my rest.

Monday was the 4th of July and with it, baby's first fireworks.  We woke up early and went upstairs to camp a spot on the roof to watch the fireworks from.  We sat up there from 9:00 am until midnight.  We both got so sunburned!!  We had a great time though and everyone enjoyed the BBQ.  Surprisingly, the roof was not as packed as it has been in prior years, but it was still good that we camped a spot.  And the fireworks were fantastic!

Tuesday, my Doppler arrived.  I tried it out immediately, but had a really hard time trying to find baby's heartbeat.  I'm sure it was a combination of being early, overweight, and user error.  I ended up calling the on call Dr though because I get paranoid after our previous experiences.  She said that I could come in for a quick check on Wednesday, so that is exactly what I did.  I felt a little better when the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat either.  I knew in my heart that little one was probably okay, but they offered an ultrasound to make sure, so I went with it.  I was waiting for the nurse to do the ultrasound, but my Dr ended up doing it instead.  Baby was bouncing around and waving.  There was a nice strong heart beating away.  Here's the latest pic of baby:



Little one's head is down in the middle, and the little hand is waving.  Baby's butt and feet are up in the air to the right.  And the best part is that I will have more pics tomorrow!


Weekly Check In:

  • How far along?: 12 weeks
  • Total weight gain: I will find out tomorrow.  I am actually really nervous about it.
  • How big is baby?: Baby is the size of a plum this week. 
  • Maternity clothes?: Fully in maternity clothes at this point.  They are so comfortable.
  • Movement: Still way too early.  I have felt faint little twitches and rumbles, but I am not sure if that is Baby or not.
  • Stretch marks?: Just the ones I already had.
  • Sleep?: Still waking up in the middle of the night at least once to pee, but I am sleeping better.  My dreams are still crazy though.
  • Symptoms?: Starting to be a little less exhausted and nauseous.  Heartburn, heightened sense of smell, frequent urination, gassy, constipated, really vivid dreams, food aversions and round ligament pain are all still there.  
  • Food cravings:  I think baby has a bit of a sweet tooth.  I have been craving chocolate, cookies, cake, ice cream.  If it's desert, I want it.  I have also been loving faux macaroni and cheese from the box, which I used to hate.
  • Belly button in or out?: Still an innie.
  • What I miss: I'm actually not missing too much at the moment.  I was missing coffee, but I have started having the occasional iced decaf coffee and am feeling much better now.
  • What I'm looking forward to: My NT scan and OB appointment are tomorrow!  I can't wait to get a nice long view of little one.
  • Best Moment this week: Getting to see baby moving around and waving on the ultrasound yesterday.
  • Milestone: Baby has fingernails and toenails now.  Also, little one's facial features are becoming more defined.  Depending on which method you use to calculate the trimesters, I will be in the second trimester at the end of this week!
- J