Baby update! I had a check-up with my regular OB doctor today. As you ALL know, Jakey was born around this time so I was really interested to see what he had to say today. Believe it or not, I am not effaced or dilated at this point (non-medical terms: thinning or open) so we really couldn't ask for anything more. He said that my contractions aren't anything to be too worried about at this point unless they are true labor pains (yes, I remember what those felt like, ugh). I am still supposed to take the low dose of the procardia and remain on bed rest/ take it easy for the next three weeks. He also said that at this point since the baby is head down and the baby's head is a big enough size that he really isn't putting that much pressure on my cervix so the chances of having issues with an incompetent cervix aren't likely. He did say that preterm labor could still happen spontaneously but he didn't think that would be the case.
In three weeks he will take the stitches out (very quick, easy, painless procedure in the doctor's office) and then I get to go on my merry way. I think I will run a mile or two and do jumping jacks to try and start labor, haha :-) Actually, no, just go shopping! I am not a big shopper but I have missed it for the last 3 months. Plus there will be a lot of little stuff to get done before the baby comes. The c-section is scheduled for May 7th at 9:30am at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital. It felt so surreal to actually schedule the c-section!! I really do want to go into labor on my own though, so I don't feel like I am walking into the hospital perfectly fine and then walk out with a baby. I know people do it all the time but I almost feel like I might be disappointed if I do it that way. Not that I am against having a c-section at all, I just want to actually feel real labor contractions and have that "middle of the night, honey it's time to go to the hospital" experience! I guess I need to give it a little more thought over the next couple of weeks and make a final decision about the birth plan.
Next appointment is April 9th and the doctor will do a final sonogram to check out the position of the baby and make sure all looks good!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
IN LOVE!
Adam Lambert - Tracks of My Tears - totally in love with this performance and song. I could listen to this over and over. This is the guy to watch this season.
I am also a huge Danny Gokey fan. Not just for his personal story about losing his wife right before auditions but because this guy can sing.
(Yes, I am a huge American Idol dork, errr, I mean fan!)
I am also a huge Danny Gokey fan. Not just for his personal story about losing his wife right before auditions but because this guy can sing.
(Yes, I am a huge American Idol dork, errr, I mean fan!)
Baby Dreaming
Throughout my whole life, I have always been a very vivid dreamer; sometimes to the point where I wake up very confused, angry, sad, or happy because of the emotions I experienced in a particular dream. Take that and multiple times a thousand and you'll get the idea of what my dreaming is like when I am pregnant!
Last night I had a dream that I was in the hospital and they had given me a spinal epidural and were getting ready to perform the c-section. I felt my entire body go numb from the chest down and everything. I remember asking for Paul to be able to come into the room and while I was laying on the operating table waiting, I felt a huge gush and my water broke. It all felt SO real. I literally woke up in a panic thinking that my water broke.
Luckily, it didn't actually happen. I had a couple 'stronger than usual' contractions last night and counted about 5 in 35 minutes so I think I had baby and labor on the brain more so than usual when I was falling asleep. In fact, I took an extra dose of my procardia to calm down the contractions. After a good night sleep, they seem a lot better this morning. Paul was about ready to make me go to the ER last night. I will be taking it easy today! I have a check-up with my regular OB tomorrow morning. More to come.....!
Last night I had a dream that I was in the hospital and they had given me a spinal epidural and were getting ready to perform the c-section. I felt my entire body go numb from the chest down and everything. I remember asking for Paul to be able to come into the room and while I was laying on the operating table waiting, I felt a huge gush and my water broke. It all felt SO real. I literally woke up in a panic thinking that my water broke.
Luckily, it didn't actually happen. I had a couple 'stronger than usual' contractions last night and counted about 5 in 35 minutes so I think I had baby and labor on the brain more so than usual when I was falling asleep. In fact, I took an extra dose of my procardia to calm down the contractions. After a good night sleep, they seem a lot better this morning. Paul was about ready to make me go to the ER last night. I will be taking it easy today! I have a check-up with my regular OB tomorrow morning. More to come.....!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Jakey's First Wizards Game!
Looks like he had a good time, right?!? He's gonna be a b-ball fan like his daddy!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
It's Getting Big!!!
My belly that is. Thought it was time to post some new fatty-bo-batty pictures (as Paul calls them) for everyone who never gets to see me. These are at 32 weeks 5 days. Pretty sure I wasn't this big at this time when I was pregnant with Jakers :-)
Is anyone else a little nervous that 34 weeks 1 day is fast approaching?!?!
Is anyone else a little nervous that 34 weeks 1 day is fast approaching?!?!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Our Exciting Weekend
A day in the life of.....
Paul -- worked, worked, sold 3 cars (yay!), worked some more, played poker with the boys (broke even), played with his new MAC laptop, walked the dogs, met with Joel to come up with the plan for painting Jake's new room, bought paint for said room, went to the store for Abby because she was craving a hot dog and potato salad, and ate a yummy hot dog for dinner.
Abby -- worked, worked, enjoyed some much needed girl time by watching Mama Mia and singing along, got the baby shower invites done with Gretchen, had a horrible night sleep (pregnancy discomforts), studied, ate a yummy hot dog for dinner, studied some more, got really frustrated that the 'e' on her keyboard started to malfunction, and discovered that her fingers are too swollen to wear her wedding rings (normal symptom in late pregnancy).
Jake -- ran around at Lisa's bridal shower and took advantage of the attention of all the ladies, finally had some normal poop (need to cut back on the juice and fruit intake), danced to Mama Mia and played with Eva's niece, slept with mommy and daddy, got his THIRD haircut (and was very cooperative), ate a yummy hot dog for dinner, AND went to his very FIRST Wizards basketball game at the Verizon Center with daddy and Aunt Allison!
BG2 -- kicked, hiccuped, slept, squirmed, pushed, kicked, kicked, hiccuped, slept, hiccuped, and squirmed.
Jake surely takes the prize for the most excitement and fun times this weekend. He was a ball of giggles the whole time. But that's how it's supposed to be right? :-)
Paul -- worked, worked, sold 3 cars (yay!), worked some more, played poker with the boys (broke even), played with his new MAC laptop, walked the dogs, met with Joel to come up with the plan for painting Jake's new room, bought paint for said room, went to the store for Abby because she was craving a hot dog and potato salad, and ate a yummy hot dog for dinner.
Abby -- worked, worked, enjoyed some much needed girl time by watching Mama Mia and singing along, got the baby shower invites done with Gretchen, had a horrible night sleep (pregnancy discomforts), studied, ate a yummy hot dog for dinner, studied some more, got really frustrated that the 'e' on her keyboard started to malfunction, and discovered that her fingers are too swollen to wear her wedding rings (normal symptom in late pregnancy).
Jake -- ran around at Lisa's bridal shower and took advantage of the attention of all the ladies, finally had some normal poop (need to cut back on the juice and fruit intake), danced to Mama Mia and played with Eva's niece, slept with mommy and daddy, got his THIRD haircut (and was very cooperative), ate a yummy hot dog for dinner, AND went to his very FIRST Wizards basketball game at the Verizon Center with daddy and Aunt Allison!
BG2 -- kicked, hiccuped, slept, squirmed, pushed, kicked, kicked, hiccuped, slept, hiccuped, and squirmed.
Jake surely takes the prize for the most excitement and fun times this weekend. He was a ball of giggles the whole time. But that's how it's supposed to be right? :-)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Another Terrific Tuesday!
Jake and Paul love their "daddy and me" days. Today, Paul took Jake to Dulles Town Center and had a blast playing there!
Did we mention how much Jakey looooooves slides?!?!?
Little Gunning Update
Yesterday was the second of two check-ups in the last 4 weeks or so. Though it was actually the third trip to the doctor's in the last 4 weeks but I will explain...
Everything continues to progress well with the pregnancy. The most important thing of all -- cervix IS NOT dilating. Good stich, good stitch. Even though I have been having more frequent contractions (not painful, but sometimes a bit uncomfortable), they don't seem to be doing any damage. I am continuing on the medicine to keep the contractions to a minimum -- 3 times a day -- and it causes icky headaches, but not the end of the world. The doctor was a tiny bit concerned about the size of the baby so he did an ultrasound to check the baby's size and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. Everything looked great! The baby is head down which is why it seemed like I was a little small. (Surprised me that he is head down since Jake never wanted to adopt that position.) The baby's estimated weight right now is 4 pounds which put me at an estimated gestation of 32 weeks (though I am only 31 weeks today). They don't adjust your due date because of that or anything, but it gives you an idea that MAYBE the baby will be a good size (still depends on when is born!). For comparison purposes, Jake was 5 lb. 5 oz. at 34 weeks when he was born.
This baby has always been extremely active -- kicking and moving and squirming all over the place. I have never questioned him moving around enough. About a week and a half ago, the baby was very quiet for two days and it made me a little nervous. It was as if, all of a sudden, he decided to hibernate for two days. So of course the doctor's office wanted me to come in. They hooked me up to the fun fetal monitor for about 20 minutes to make sure all was well... After about 2 minutes, the nurse looked at me like I was crazy. "This baby is moving all over the place. Heartbeat sounds great!" Well, yes of course he is moving around now.... because I am at the doctor's office! No more movement scares since then.
I go back in about 2 1/2 weeks for my next check up. That will be a couple of days before 34 weeks. Of course to me, 34 weeks is a huge milestone since that is when Jakey was born (34 weeks, 1 day to be precise). At the next appointment we will schedule the date to take out the stitches (around April 20th) and will also schedule the c-section (the week of May 4th). As I have said before though, I really want to go into labor on my own so I might try to push back the scheduled c-section another week :-)
Until then, it's business as usual -- plugging away at the project at work that I have been managing for the last year that is set to "go live" in 3 weeks. Here's to hoping that stress and the extra hours don't cause an early onset of labor!
Everything continues to progress well with the pregnancy. The most important thing of all -- cervix IS NOT dilating. Good stich, good stitch. Even though I have been having more frequent contractions (not painful, but sometimes a bit uncomfortable), they don't seem to be doing any damage. I am continuing on the medicine to keep the contractions to a minimum -- 3 times a day -- and it causes icky headaches, but not the end of the world. The doctor was a tiny bit concerned about the size of the baby so he did an ultrasound to check the baby's size and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. Everything looked great! The baby is head down which is why it seemed like I was a little small. (Surprised me that he is head down since Jake never wanted to adopt that position.) The baby's estimated weight right now is 4 pounds which put me at an estimated gestation of 32 weeks (though I am only 31 weeks today). They don't adjust your due date because of that or anything, but it gives you an idea that MAYBE the baby will be a good size (still depends on when is born!). For comparison purposes, Jake was 5 lb. 5 oz. at 34 weeks when he was born.
This baby has always been extremely active -- kicking and moving and squirming all over the place. I have never questioned him moving around enough. About a week and a half ago, the baby was very quiet for two days and it made me a little nervous. It was as if, all of a sudden, he decided to hibernate for two days. So of course the doctor's office wanted me to come in. They hooked me up to the fun fetal monitor for about 20 minutes to make sure all was well... After about 2 minutes, the nurse looked at me like I was crazy. "This baby is moving all over the place. Heartbeat sounds great!" Well, yes of course he is moving around now.... because I am at the doctor's office! No more movement scares since then.
I go back in about 2 1/2 weeks for my next check up. That will be a couple of days before 34 weeks. Of course to me, 34 weeks is a huge milestone since that is when Jakey was born (34 weeks, 1 day to be precise). At the next appointment we will schedule the date to take out the stitches (around April 20th) and will also schedule the c-section (the week of May 4th). As I have said before though, I really want to go into labor on my own so I might try to push back the scheduled c-section another week :-)
Until then, it's business as usual -- plugging away at the project at work that I have been managing for the last year that is set to "go live" in 3 weeks. Here's to hoping that stress and the extra hours don't cause an early onset of labor!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Good News, for once.....
I am glad that someone finally thought to do this.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29556042/?GT1=43001
Things are tough for an awful lot of people right now and hearing some heartwarming stories of good deeds and inspiration could do everyone some good right now.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29556042/?GT1=43001
Things are tough for an awful lot of people right now and hearing some heartwarming stories of good deeds and inspiration could do everyone some good right now.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
30 Weeks..... Whoa!
There is something very satisfying and nervewracking about hitting the 30 week mark in the pregnancy. I think it finally gives you a sense of being in the home stretch and there is a lot that goes along with it.... Weeks 1-6 are fun and exciting because you just found out that you're pregnant and it's fun to dream about the new little person growing inside of you. Weeks 7-16 is when reality sets in and you feel like you got run over by a bus; not so much fun anymore. Weeks 17-22 are exciting all over again because you start to feel the baby move and you find out the sex of the baby. Weeks 22-29 aren't so shabby because you still feel great and you start to look pregnant. You forget about being so sick in the beginning and you don't quite yet remember or know how uncomfortable it is in the end. Then week 30 hits and you think, "holy cow! What in the world happened to the last 7 1/2 months of my life?!?!". And the list of things that needs to be done starts playing itself over and over in your mind. "Where is the baby going to sleep? His clothes are all packed away in the garage! Where is the baby bathtub? Does the bouncer seat still work okay?" and so on and so forth. But mainly, it's excitement about making it to 30 weeks without any major complications (especially in my case) and knowing that the baby's arrival is right around the corner. Wow, 30 weeks. Where has the time gone?
According to Baby Center, the baby is about 15 1/2 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds right now. Did I also mention that research shows that pregnant women experience forgetfulness 15 percent more than nonpregnant women? Maybe managing a major project at work and studying for my PMP exam and getting ready for this baby all at the same time isn't such a good idea! Yesterday I think my brain had an overload because it was the first "almost breakdown" that I have had. I have actually been pretty proud of myself about keeping my cool and keeping stress to a minimum. I felt like I had been really nice to Paul and Allison for the last couple of weeks and patient and level headed about everything going on with my project at work. I call my event yesterday an "almost breakdown" because I didn't cry or scream or completely fall apart. I just had an internal anxiety attack and after some time spent by myself working through it and continually telling myself that everything doesn't have the be PERFECT, I was okay. Today was much better. I feel normal again. But there goes my record for being "nice" :-) Thankfully Paul and Allison understand and just ignore me. Smart people.
The baby continues to stay put. My doctor is optimistic and thinks the whole going into labor thing will be different this time. In other words, he doesn't think my water will randomly break at 34 weeks. This may sound weird but quite honestly, I sort of wanted that to happen again -- when Paul was around so he could experience it first hand. It was quite the experience, let me tell you. So here's the plan of action: (1) we schedule a c-section for some time around May 12th and I plan to go in and have the baby then, (2) the stitches come out some time around the week of April 20th and we see what happens, (3) if all else fails and I go into labor on my own then I immediately go to the hospital to have the stitches taken out and have a c-section.
That's the latest and greatest from the diaries of a pregnant girl on bed rest... Starting to get a little tired of the scenery in our bedroom. Might be time to redecorate after the baby is born!
According to Baby Center, the baby is about 15 1/2 inches long and weighs about 3 pounds right now. Did I also mention that research shows that pregnant women experience forgetfulness 15 percent more than nonpregnant women? Maybe managing a major project at work and studying for my PMP exam and getting ready for this baby all at the same time isn't such a good idea! Yesterday I think my brain had an overload because it was the first "almost breakdown" that I have had. I have actually been pretty proud of myself about keeping my cool and keeping stress to a minimum. I felt like I had been really nice to Paul and Allison for the last couple of weeks and patient and level headed about everything going on with my project at work. I call my event yesterday an "almost breakdown" because I didn't cry or scream or completely fall apart. I just had an internal anxiety attack and after some time spent by myself working through it and continually telling myself that everything doesn't have the be PERFECT, I was okay. Today was much better. I feel normal again. But there goes my record for being "nice" :-) Thankfully Paul and Allison understand and just ignore me. Smart people.
The baby continues to stay put. My doctor is optimistic and thinks the whole going into labor thing will be different this time. In other words, he doesn't think my water will randomly break at 34 weeks. This may sound weird but quite honestly, I sort of wanted that to happen again -- when Paul was around so he could experience it first hand. It was quite the experience, let me tell you. So here's the plan of action: (1) we schedule a c-section for some time around May 12th and I plan to go in and have the baby then, (2) the stitches come out some time around the week of April 20th and we see what happens, (3) if all else fails and I go into labor on my own then I immediately go to the hospital to have the stitches taken out and have a c-section.
That's the latest and greatest from the diaries of a pregnant girl on bed rest... Starting to get a little tired of the scenery in our bedroom. Might be time to redecorate after the baby is born!
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