29 Week Check In

Well, it looks like it's back to my old ways.  Sorry it's been so long since I last updated.  We've been very busy the last few weeks.   We've been working on the nursery and have it almost finished.  We still need to clean out Connor's closet and hang some art on the walls, but aside from that, it's done.  I'm still a little worried about getting it finished in time because we are booked up through the end of the year, but we will figure it out. 


We also got to spend some time with Kate and Jeff before they left for their big trip.  We had a very relaxing overnight trip to Whidbey Island for Jeff's birthday.  We spent the evening chatting and hanging out on the beach, looking at the bio-luminescence.  A few days later, we had a lovely dinner with Kate, Jeff, Sig, Penny, Callie, Ron and Linda.  It was a celebration for Linda completing her cancer treatment and being able to go home, as well as a Bon Voyage dinner for Kate and Jeff.  While we didn't get to see nearly enough of them, the time we spent was great.  

R's been busy getting ready to go into the studio with Shedu to record their EP.  The guy mastering the recording for them has worked with some big Seattle bands in the past and is working on getting them signed with one of two record companies.  We'll see what happens.  We are definitely not holding our breath, but it would be pretty fantastic.  

We had a growth scan and an OB appointment on Halloween.  Both went really well.  Connor is definitely going to be a big boy.  He's now in the 93rd percentile and they are estimating his current weight at 3 lbs 8 ozs.  His head is measuring 4 weeks ahead and they are guessing that he will easily be over 9 lbs by birth.  We discussed delivery with my OB and discussed the pro's and con's of an elective C section.  I think the plan at this point is to schedule a C section for as close to my due date as possible, but if I go into labor before that we will play it by ear and see how it goes.  We got some great pictures of Connor's face.  He has adorable chubby cheeks already.  He was playing with his feet and was "talking" to us.  Here are the most recent photos:

 

Weekly Check In:

• How far along?: 29 weeks

• Total weight gain: I am up 15 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight.

• How big is baby?: Baby is the size of an squash this month. 

• Maternity clothes?: Fully in maternity clothes at this point.  They are so comfortable.

• Movement: Lots of strong kicks and movement!  He's quite the prankster and stops moving as soon as anyone puts their hand on my belly to feel him. 

• Stretch marks?: No new ones, but the ones around my belly button are getting worse.

• Sleep?: Still having a really hard time sleeping, which seems to be leading to migraines.  I'm getting pretty worried about how I am going to sleep for the next 11 weeks.

• Symptoms?: Heightened sense of smell, really vivid dreams, heartburn and movement.  Also having some rib and hip pain now.

• Food cravings: Bagels and sweet foods are the foods of the week.

• Belly button in or out?: Still an innie, but my belly button is getting pretty flat.

• What I miss: Not a whole lot at this point.

• What I'm looking forward to: My second shower is coming up soon (11/12), which I am looking forward to.  We are also going to start our classes soon.

• Best Moment this week: Spending time with Kate and Jeff was great, and seeing Connor was fantastic!  I love getting to see my (not so) little guy.

• Milestone: Connor is starting to get fat deposits under his skin, making him look less translucent and wrinkly and giving him more energy.  He's also running out of room in there!

- J

OB Appointment Update

We had a great appointment today.  Baby actually cooperated, so we will be making the official announcement on September 17th.  Everything looks perfect and little one is measuring 1 - 2 weeks ahead.  Here are some pictures!

Profile - Not the best as Baby didn't want to show it's face:

Foot:

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

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

2nd Camping Trip and Ultrasound Picture

First, I apologize in being remiss with my posting.  I meant to post Baby's latest ultrasound picture, but haven't had time.  This was the first chance that I have had, and it is almost a week later.  So without further ado, here is our little one:

Now, on to our camping trip.  Talk about a comedy of errors!  We got started far later than anticipated, each stop took much longer than it should and as a result the person we were following got a little heavy footed.  We were just coming down out of Steven's Pass and we both got pulled over for speeding.  The person we were following is going to pay our ticket, which is fantastic, but I am worried about the hit on our insurance.  After that little debacle, we got a call from someone who had already made it to the site.  Apparently there was a mud slide and the road to the site was closed due to fallen trees.  Our hostess was devastated.  This was her special place.  But I think that the site will be fine as soon as they clear the down trees.

We ended up finding another site that was large enough for all of us and was also very beautiful.  It was right off of the river, which was gorgeous and so relaxing.  The only problem is that there were mosquitoes everywhere and I was basically eaten alive all weekend.  I am covered head to toe with bites.  Everyone else was pretty much okay, but I couldn't use the bug spray because of little one.  I am so incredibly itchy!

Other than that, we had a very nice weekend.  The weather was beautiful and the company (for the most part) was excellent.  Our next camping trip is in just under three weeks.  I am hoping that everything continues to go well so that I can go along.  Next weekend we have a wedding to go to and we are going to visit my parents for Father's Day.  The following weekend we will be down in Portland for Solstice.  It is going to be a very busy few weeks.

- J

Baby's first camping trip

We got back from our Memorial Day camping trip yesterday.  It wasn't our normal Macthoy trip.  We weren't up to going that far and I didn't want to be that far from a hospital in case there was an issue, so instead we went camping with the band. 

We went to a campground in the mountains by North Bend.  The campsite itself was beautiful, but the drive there was awful.  There is a logging road that you have to go down to get to the campsite and it is not maintained at all.  3-4 miles of the road was just potholes.  The group site that we reserved was not as big as we thought it would be, so cramming all of the tents in there was a challenge, but we made it work.  Also, there was another site directly next to ours, which was a bit of a problem.  There wasn't a lot of privacy.  But the views of the mountains and the sounds from the river were stellar. 

Unfortunately, the weather was not great.  The first night it poured and was really cold, which flavored the rest of the trip.  The firewood got all wet so starting a fire was nearly impossible which meant that there was no shot at all of drying out.  The next day there was some sun and overall it was more enjoyable, but it was still pretty cold.  By the time Sunday rolled around, everyone decided to cut the trip short a day and go home.

There is another camping trip coming up in a couple of weeks, but I am not sure if I am going to go.  I am leaning towards not at this point.  It is further away, and I am just not sure how I feel about being away from a hospital.  Also, I felt like people were annoyed by having to avoid smoking near me.  I kind of felt like I was an inconvenience and people would have been happier if I had not been there.  Plus, Pickles was really not enjoying herself.  On the other hand, the site is supposed to be gorgeous, and the weather should be much better.  I am going to talk to my doctor tomorrow and see what she thinks.

Which brings me to the most exciting yet nerve-wracking part of this.  Tomorrow I go in for another ultrasound.  I am praying that little one is okay and we get to see a nice strong, healthy heartbeat tomorrow.  R wasn't at the first appointment where I saw the heartbeats for the twins, so I am excited for him to be there with me tomorrow.  I am praying that it goes well, so that he can have that experience with me. 

Wish us luck!  I will post more tomorrow.

- J

Introducing our Little One!

Here is the very first picture of our little darling.

All you can see is the gestational sac, but that is exactly what you should see at 5 weeks.  In fact, little one is measuring exactly on track.  And, there are no bleeds in my uterus, my tubes look good, and it looks like I ovulated from the right side.  Everything looks textbook right now.

I got a chance to meet with the doctor as well.  She said that I will stay with her practice until I am at least 10 weeks along or until my OB wants me back.  She said that I should stop the progesterone and Metformin between 10 and 12 weeks, but when I mentioned that I would feel better staying on them until I am past the point where I lost Hannah and Liam, she said that was fine.  She did say that I am going to stay on the baby aspirin and the Lovenox for a long time to come.  Finally, she said that any time I was feeling anxious, I was welcome to come back in for a check.

Today has been such a wonderful day.  I am absolutely floating on air today.  We are all set to tell our parents tomorrow.  And now I have pictures I can give them as well.

- J