We arrived safely at 36 weeks on Saturday and had a very important visit to the specialist today. We had what will be our last growth scan and spoke to the doctor about the possibility of inducing me early. Andy was able to get off work and come along with me, which made the discussion a lot easier, and we are both satisfied with how it turned out. So, without further ado, the results! . . .
Little miss Ellie is now weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds! That's up 15 ounces from this time two weeks ago! And if that wasn't progress enough, this now puts her in the 6th percentile! She had been in a percentile known as 'less than 3rd', where they stop really keeping track. This is HUGE! Everyone was very pleasantly surprised and we are so happy that she has grown so much. The rest of my test results looked great too. She is still very responsive for our Non-Stress Tests and scores well on the doppler (blood flow) readings too.
However. They still want to induce me at 38 weeks. We weren't really ok with that until today because we didn't understand why they would want to take her early if she's still growing well. They said that when a baby shows growth restriction as early as Ellie did, it is usually due to a placenta issue, especially considering they didn't find any other potential causes. With placenta issues, time and research have shown that it is safer to deliver at 38 weeks than wait longer and hope the baby continues to grow. Over time, the placenta ages and begins to break down. When there are already issues, 38 weeks and beyond is when you can have problems with placental detachment and stillbirth. So, it's a safer bet to induce me and deliver her early than hope that she continues to grow and we don't have any placenta problems. Makes sense to me, so I'm ok with it. PLUS, I am good to go at my preferred hospital and with the doctors I am already familiar with. So at my regular OB appointment on Wednesday, I will set up a time sometime around the 4th to be induced! I think as far as scheduling goes, the 4th would be our preference, but we will see how the schedule looks for the hospital and go from there.
And after all was said and done, Andy finally came to the realization that that's next week. Next week. Not 4 weeks from now like my due date suggests, but next flipping week. Oh my. I have a lot of different feelings about this, which I suppose is normal after receiving such news. Part of me is glad that this phase of life will soon be over. I am getting tired of being fat and tired all the time. I know, I know. The tired part will not get any better, but it will be a different kind of tired I think. Plus, I'll have a baby to snuggle! The other part of me is completely terrified that I'm going to be a mom next week. Yes, I did realize that this was coming. But it's a little different when it's this imminent. It's a feeling that I'm pretty sure everyone has at some point. At least I hope so.
Anyway, that's all the news for today! I will give you another update after my appointment on Wednesday and let you know what the magic date is going to be!
Oh, and I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for your prayers over the past several months. Just knowing that you're all out there lifting us up has made this whole journey so much easier. And now that we're nearing the end of this, I wanted to ask you to dedicate some of your prayer time to another mom that I know. Her name is also Heather and we went to middle school together. We haven't really kept in touch over the years, but we're facebook friends anyway. She had a beautiful baby girl named Olivia this past week. After she was born, they found out that she has a heart defect that will require major surgery very soon. You can go here to read more about the details of their situation. All I know is that this family needs a lot of prayer right now. Instead of being home for Christmas with their brand new daughter, they will be spending it in the hospital, praying for another day of no further complications. Even though I don't even really know them anymore, my heart aches for them and their situation. So since you've been so faithful in lifting us up in prayer, I'm asking you to please do the same for little Olivia, her mom Heather, dad Kyle, and big brother Jack.
Thank you again for all of your love and support and I hope you all have a safe and blessed Christmas!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
35 Weeks and The Internet.
Ok, so it's been a while since I updated, but it's not my fault, I swear! Our internet has been so unreliable here and it seems like I can only manage to access it via my netbook, not my usual computer. This just makes the whole blogging process a lot more difficult, so I've let it go. Luckily, today the internet gods have smiled upon me and I am here to bring you up to date on all the progress that's gone on!
First of all, I made it to magic number 35 on Saturday! This means that the docs at my preferred hospital aren't scared of me anymore. They don't have a NICU there, so they won't deliver before 35 weeks. So unless something happens and the specialists want me to go to the big scary hospital with the NICU, I will be delivering at my preferred, smaller hospital. YAY! Developmentally, Ellie should be about the size of a (small) coconut right now. At our last measurement on the 10th, she weighed approx. 4 lbs. 1 oz. Sounds good, right?! Yeah, still less than the 5th percentile. We'll get measured again on Monday (yes, Christmas Eve) and talk to the specialist doc about a 'delivery plan' that may or may not include inducing me at 38 weeks. I have mixed feelings about that, but I talked to a friend at church who was induced at 39 weeks with her daughter (who is now 3) and she had a great experience and didn't even get an epidural, so that's encouraging. I feel like I'm ok with being induced as long as I can still go to my preferred hospital. I've had appointments with all the doctors there, know my way around, and that's where we took our baby class so we're even familiar with some of the nurses. I'd really feel more comfortable there, so there's going to have to be a pretty good reason to make me feel ok going somewhere else! In other news, she is still head down (thank goodness!) and has started her decent, but has not fully dropped yet, so I'm still gasping for air but glad I'm not waddling too badly just yet.
Last night after choir rehearsal I was surprised with another baby shower thrown by the wonderful choir! Everyone was so kind and generous and the snacks were AMAZING! Unfortunately, since it was a surprise, I didn't have my camera with me, so we don't have any pictures to share. There are a lot more nursery supplies and baby clothes to put away now though!
Ok, on to nursery progress. There has been a LOT of progress made, which makes me feel SO happy! The new crib came in (defect free!) and Andy got it put up in about 30 minutes.
That's got to be a record or something. Mom came down the other weekend and whipped up a beautiful crib skirt for us (the bumpers are still in the works) and we've got a mattress and sheets in there too!
We've also got the changing pad all set up on the dresser and tested out the wipes warmer, so that station is ready to go!
Now if we can get the blinds hung and get the valance up around them, we will be in pretty good shape. Andy's still working on painting the armoire, but I told him that it wasn't 100% necessary to have it done before Ellie is born. I don't know why I said that. I think I was trying to be nice or something. He is working on it, though, and it will hopefully be done in the next few weeks, which is good because it will provide a LOT more organizational space! Things are just kind of stashed away in different places right now and it's not making a whole lot of logical sense, so I'd like to get all the furniture in there so I can decide where things need to live instead of having to function in this 'in the meantime' state. Don't get me wrong, I'm still VERY pleased with the progress that we've made! I just have a desire to feel 'done' before she arrives so that I don't have to worry about tying up any loose ends afterwards.
There's one more project that I'm working on currently and it's one that I'm really super excited about! My sister came over last week and helped me get started with it and now I'm waiting on a few more things to come together before I can finish it. I don't want to spill the beans before it's finished, but here is a sneak peek for you . . .
. . . stay tuned for the final result coming (hopefully) soon! Ok, off to get the house all ready for Christmas! I've got the shopping done and the presents wrapped, now I just have to tidy up the kitchen and dining room so we have somewhere to eat!
First of all, I made it to magic number 35 on Saturday! This means that the docs at my preferred hospital aren't scared of me anymore. They don't have a NICU there, so they won't deliver before 35 weeks. So unless something happens and the specialists want me to go to the big scary hospital with the NICU, I will be delivering at my preferred, smaller hospital. YAY! Developmentally, Ellie should be about the size of a (small) coconut right now. At our last measurement on the 10th, she weighed approx. 4 lbs. 1 oz. Sounds good, right?! Yeah, still less than the 5th percentile. We'll get measured again on Monday (yes, Christmas Eve) and talk to the specialist doc about a 'delivery plan' that may or may not include inducing me at 38 weeks. I have mixed feelings about that, but I talked to a friend at church who was induced at 39 weeks with her daughter (who is now 3) and she had a great experience and didn't even get an epidural, so that's encouraging. I feel like I'm ok with being induced as long as I can still go to my preferred hospital. I've had appointments with all the doctors there, know my way around, and that's where we took our baby class so we're even familiar with some of the nurses. I'd really feel more comfortable there, so there's going to have to be a pretty good reason to make me feel ok going somewhere else! In other news, she is still head down (thank goodness!) and has started her decent, but has not fully dropped yet, so I'm still gasping for air but glad I'm not waddling too badly just yet.
Last night after choir rehearsal I was surprised with another baby shower thrown by the wonderful choir! Everyone was so kind and generous and the snacks were AMAZING! Unfortunately, since it was a surprise, I didn't have my camera with me, so we don't have any pictures to share. There are a lot more nursery supplies and baby clothes to put away now though!
Ok, on to nursery progress. There has been a LOT of progress made, which makes me feel SO happy! The new crib came in (defect free!) and Andy got it put up in about 30 minutes.
That's got to be a record or something. Mom came down the other weekend and whipped up a beautiful crib skirt for us (the bumpers are still in the works) and we've got a mattress and sheets in there too!
 |
| Close-up of the crib skirt that mom made! |
We've also got the changing pad all set up on the dresser and tested out the wipes warmer, so that station is ready to go!
Now if we can get the blinds hung and get the valance up around them, we will be in pretty good shape. Andy's still working on painting the armoire, but I told him that it wasn't 100% necessary to have it done before Ellie is born. I don't know why I said that. I think I was trying to be nice or something. He is working on it, though, and it will hopefully be done in the next few weeks, which is good because it will provide a LOT more organizational space! Things are just kind of stashed away in different places right now and it's not making a whole lot of logical sense, so I'd like to get all the furniture in there so I can decide where things need to live instead of having to function in this 'in the meantime' state. Don't get me wrong, I'm still VERY pleased with the progress that we've made! I just have a desire to feel 'done' before she arrives so that I don't have to worry about tying up any loose ends afterwards.
There's one more project that I'm working on currently and it's one that I'm really super excited about! My sister came over last week and helped me get started with it and now I'm waiting on a few more things to come together before I can finish it. I don't want to spill the beans before it's finished, but here is a sneak peek for you . . .
. . . stay tuned for the final result coming (hopefully) soon! Ok, off to get the house all ready for Christmas! I've got the shopping done and the presents wrapped, now I just have to tidy up the kitchen and dining room so we have somewhere to eat!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
34 Weeks and The Nursery Goes Green!
Hey there! Things have been super crazy around here trying to get things unpacked/fixed up/organized before Ellie arrives in just a few short weeks. Here's a quick update . . .
We are 34 weeks today! Every day she's getting bigger and stronger - trust me, I can tell! We will get measured again on Monday and see how much weight she's gained, but the OB said this week that I've gained several pounds, so hopefully some of that was her, too! All of my recent tests and checkups have been going well, so there's really nothing to report on that front. AND we have our very last baby class on Monday night. Apparently after that we will be ready to be parents? I don't know. Andy's probably a little more nervous about it than I am, even though we both have pretty much the same amount of experience in the baby department. In last week's class, he was asked if he had ever bathed a baby before. Of course he hasn't, but he HAS bathed a cat, so it really can't be much harder than that!! The only way to really learn how to take care of your baby is to have one and have to take care of it, right? So we'll be fine, I'm sure.
In other news, the nursery has undergone an EXTREME transformation this week! It went from looking like this . . .
. . . to looking like THIS!
Isn't it cute?! Ok, so it's still pretty incomplete, but it's major progress! My father-in-law thinks we should have pained it a 'nice, light lavender' instead of the green, but what does he know ;-) I think it's beautiful! We have also put up the crib, but found a defect in one of the pieces, so we had to take it back down to try and return it. It's purely cosmetic and we're pretty sure that Andy can actually just paint over it if they won't take it back (we're past the 90 day return window), but we're going to try exchanging it first. Drama drama drama.
We did get the mattress ordered, so that should arrive sometime this week - and hopefully we will soon have a crib to put it in! AND, I washed a whole bunch of baby clothes this week and got the diaper bag all packed with her coming-home outfit! We also have the car seat bases installed in both of our vehicles. It feels good to be a little bit prepared, since I know that practically any time I go to the doctor, there's a chance of having a baby that day. Next up, assemble the hospital bag as much as we can and finish up with the nursery. If we can get all that done before Christmas, I will feel great! Speaking of which, I really need to put up our tree and get out the other Christmas decorations! And maybe I should consider doing a little shopping for my family. Hmmm. I guess there's more to do than I thought! I better go get started!! I'll update again next week with more nursery pictures and the results of our growth scan on Monday :-)
PS - Here's an updated belly picture for you - taken after Thanksgiving dinner.
We are 34 weeks today! Every day she's getting bigger and stronger - trust me, I can tell! We will get measured again on Monday and see how much weight she's gained, but the OB said this week that I've gained several pounds, so hopefully some of that was her, too! All of my recent tests and checkups have been going well, so there's really nothing to report on that front. AND we have our very last baby class on Monday night. Apparently after that we will be ready to be parents? I don't know. Andy's probably a little more nervous about it than I am, even though we both have pretty much the same amount of experience in the baby department. In last week's class, he was asked if he had ever bathed a baby before. Of course he hasn't, but he HAS bathed a cat, so it really can't be much harder than that!! The only way to really learn how to take care of your baby is to have one and have to take care of it, right? So we'll be fine, I'm sure.
In other news, the nursery has undergone an EXTREME transformation this week! It went from looking like this . . .
. . . to looking like THIS!
Isn't it cute?! Ok, so it's still pretty incomplete, but it's major progress! My father-in-law thinks we should have pained it a 'nice, light lavender' instead of the green, but what does he know ;-) I think it's beautiful! We have also put up the crib, but found a defect in one of the pieces, so we had to take it back down to try and return it. It's purely cosmetic and we're pretty sure that Andy can actually just paint over it if they won't take it back (we're past the 90 day return window), but we're going to try exchanging it first. Drama drama drama.
We did get the mattress ordered, so that should arrive sometime this week - and hopefully we will soon have a crib to put it in! AND, I washed a whole bunch of baby clothes this week and got the diaper bag all packed with her coming-home outfit! We also have the car seat bases installed in both of our vehicles. It feels good to be a little bit prepared, since I know that practically any time I go to the doctor, there's a chance of having a baby that day. Next up, assemble the hospital bag as much as we can and finish up with the nursery. If we can get all that done before Christmas, I will feel great! Speaking of which, I really need to put up our tree and get out the other Christmas decorations! And maybe I should consider doing a little shopping for my family. Hmmm. I guess there's more to do than I thought! I better go get started!! I'll update again next week with more nursery pictures and the results of our growth scan on Monday :-)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
32 Weeks and Updates on Just About Everything
So life has been a crazy mess the past few weeks! The house is a wreck and my nesting is kicking in, so those two things don't mesh very well. On top of that, Andy's back at work (he took a week off for the move) so I'm at home by myself all day long, but I'm getting pretty big so there's not much I can actually do by myself as far as unpacking goes. I get half a box done and need to take a rest. So I'm nesting like crazy, but can only get projects halfway done. It's crazy frustrating. But we are making progress. A little at a time, but progress nonetheless. Ok, so now on to the baby update . . .
We arrived at 32 weeks this past Saturday. 8 weeks to go. Eight. That's all. Ok, see now I'm starting to panic about getting everything done again. Anyway, 32 weeks means that we are in a safe zone of sorts. If she would be born now, she would stand a very good chance at not only survival, but going on to be perfectly normal. She's still kicking up a storm, which some NST techs have been surprised about. Usually by 32 weeks they are big enough that they don't have enough room to thrash around like she does. Oh but it feels like she has plenty of room in there! My ultrasounds continue to show her head being down, so we're on the right track there! And she continues to pass all of our NST's with flying colors. Sometimes she decides to take a nap right in the middle, so we have to be hooked up to the monitor longer than we'd like, but eventually they see what they are looking for as far as movement and heart rate goes.
Yesterday we had another growth scan done to see how she's progressing size-wise. The ultrasounds that I get done once a week just take measurements (via a special wand called a doppler) of the bloodflow through three major arteries in her head, umbilical cord, and abdomen. They do growth scans every two weeks. So four weeks ago was when she weighed the 2 lbs. 4 oz. Then two weeks ago, she was up to 2 lbs. 11 oz. Now this week she has shot right up to 3 lbs. 6 oz.! She's still below the 5th percentile, but she is showing steady growth, which is a great sign. The doctor said that it's looking more and more like she's just petite and not being restricted in her growth. That's what everyone's been saying all along, but it's good that the doctor is actually starting to believe it now! I guess it's very rare for that to be the actual case. Usually, when a baby is measuring this small it is because something is holding it back or restricting it's growth. Every once in a while, though, they see a baby that is perfectly content to be that size and that's just how they grow. He can't say for sure (can they ever???) but it's looking like that might be the case with Ellie. SUPER good news to my ears!
The only bad news is that they want to continue monitoring me twice a week, just to be safe. And that's only bad news because we got a bill this week from my very first specialist visit back in September. Apparently, our insurance only 100% covers 'routine' maternity care. Whatever that means. Are there really any 'routine' pregnancies anymore? Seriously. So every time I walk into the specialist's office, even if it's just for an NST and I don't see the doctor, it costs us a $25 copay. Really, considering the cost of all the tests and whatnot, that's not bad. Until you think about the fact that I'm going there twice a week. That's $200 a month just in copays that we didn't budget for. Hmmm, I guess we'll find that money somewhere! Really, it's not the money that's upsetting. Nowhere in the insurance statement of benefits does it specify that maternity care is covered 100% as long as it is within the realm of 'routine'. That's what's really annoying. It just says 100% covered. So anyway, that's our little hiccup for this week. There's always got to be something just to keep us on our toes!
So other than that, things are going pretty ok. We haven't been able to decorate for Christmas yet because the living room isn't completely put back together, which makes me kind of sad. That's usually something I do as SOON as I am allowed to, which is generally the day after Thanksgiving. I need to unpack and organize the music room because I've got a student coming tonight. Our dining room is piled full of stuff to be gone through 'then' and we have my Father-in-law coming over for dinner tomorrow night. And the nursery is an absolute mess. Here's a picture of the progress we've made on it so far:
Yeah. The walls need painted, we need to get a blind for that window, the furniture needs moved around, the brown dresser needs moved to another room, the armoire (which is in the garage) needs to be painted and moved up, the crib needs put together, and I have an art project for on the wall that I haven't even started yet! The good news is that we got the car seat and stroller out of the box and assembled the other night. Someday we will have to install the car seat bases in our cars so that we could actually USE the seat if we suddenly needed to, but it's still progress. We're both doing the best that we can and everything that NEEDS to get done will get done in time. Pardon me while I go sit in the corner and repeat that to myself over and over again! Oh wait, no time for a nervous breakdown, there is too much work to be done! Time to watch White Christmas (snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW!) and unpack the music room. Wish me luck!
We arrived at 32 weeks this past Saturday. 8 weeks to go. Eight. That's all. Ok, see now I'm starting to panic about getting everything done again. Anyway, 32 weeks means that we are in a safe zone of sorts. If she would be born now, she would stand a very good chance at not only survival, but going on to be perfectly normal. She's still kicking up a storm, which some NST techs have been surprised about. Usually by 32 weeks they are big enough that they don't have enough room to thrash around like she does. Oh but it feels like she has plenty of room in there! My ultrasounds continue to show her head being down, so we're on the right track there! And she continues to pass all of our NST's with flying colors. Sometimes she decides to take a nap right in the middle, so we have to be hooked up to the monitor longer than we'd like, but eventually they see what they are looking for as far as movement and heart rate goes.
Yesterday we had another growth scan done to see how she's progressing size-wise. The ultrasounds that I get done once a week just take measurements (via a special wand called a doppler) of the bloodflow through three major arteries in her head, umbilical cord, and abdomen. They do growth scans every two weeks. So four weeks ago was when she weighed the 2 lbs. 4 oz. Then two weeks ago, she was up to 2 lbs. 11 oz. Now this week she has shot right up to 3 lbs. 6 oz.! She's still below the 5th percentile, but she is showing steady growth, which is a great sign. The doctor said that it's looking more and more like she's just petite and not being restricted in her growth. That's what everyone's been saying all along, but it's good that the doctor is actually starting to believe it now! I guess it's very rare for that to be the actual case. Usually, when a baby is measuring this small it is because something is holding it back or restricting it's growth. Every once in a while, though, they see a baby that is perfectly content to be that size and that's just how they grow. He can't say for sure (can they ever???) but it's looking like that might be the case with Ellie. SUPER good news to my ears!
The only bad news is that they want to continue monitoring me twice a week, just to be safe. And that's only bad news because we got a bill this week from my very first specialist visit back in September. Apparently, our insurance only 100% covers 'routine' maternity care. Whatever that means. Are there really any 'routine' pregnancies anymore? Seriously. So every time I walk into the specialist's office, even if it's just for an NST and I don't see the doctor, it costs us a $25 copay. Really, considering the cost of all the tests and whatnot, that's not bad. Until you think about the fact that I'm going there twice a week. That's $200 a month just in copays that we didn't budget for. Hmmm, I guess we'll find that money somewhere! Really, it's not the money that's upsetting. Nowhere in the insurance statement of benefits does it specify that maternity care is covered 100% as long as it is within the realm of 'routine'. That's what's really annoying. It just says 100% covered. So anyway, that's our little hiccup for this week. There's always got to be something just to keep us on our toes!
So other than that, things are going pretty ok. We haven't been able to decorate for Christmas yet because the living room isn't completely put back together, which makes me kind of sad. That's usually something I do as SOON as I am allowed to, which is generally the day after Thanksgiving. I need to unpack and organize the music room because I've got a student coming tonight. Our dining room is piled full of stuff to be gone through 'then' and we have my Father-in-law coming over for dinner tomorrow night. And the nursery is an absolute mess. Here's a picture of the progress we've made on it so far:
Yeah. The walls need painted, we need to get a blind for that window, the furniture needs moved around, the brown dresser needs moved to another room, the armoire (which is in the garage) needs to be painted and moved up, the crib needs put together, and I have an art project for on the wall that I haven't even started yet! The good news is that we got the car seat and stroller out of the box and assembled the other night. Someday we will have to install the car seat bases in our cars so that we could actually USE the seat if we suddenly needed to, but it's still progress. We're both doing the best that we can and everything that NEEDS to get done will get done in time. Pardon me while I go sit in the corner and repeat that to myself over and over again! Oh wait, no time for a nervous breakdown, there is too much work to be done! Time to watch White Christmas (snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOW!) and unpack the music room. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
30 Weeks and a Baby Shower
This past Saturday, we had two really exciting things happen . . . we reached 30 weeks and had a beautiful baby shower for little miss Ellie!
All our appointments have been going well recently, so there's not much to report on that front. Miss Wigglepants was being stubborn for the ultrasound tech this week, but once she found the artery she needed, the readings looked great. She even said it looks like she's starting to grow some hair, which is pretty exciting! Developmentally, we're just getting bigger and stronger and chubbier to help survive in the real world. I've been feeling fatter and fatter every day, but I'm told that's a good thing so I will try not to complain about it. My dreams are strange and my hips hurt by morning, so sleeping is getting more difficult, but I'm also told that it just prepares me for the challenges of having an infant, so I will try not to complain about that either. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good and and optimistic about keeping Ellie cooking for 10 more weeks!
We actually started our childbirth class at the hospital on Monday night, too. Two hours, every Monday night, for five weeks. That's a lot of information. I think I'm too laid back to care a whole lot about it (I don't need a birth plan - I go to the hospital, they take care of me, I have a baby - how hard is that??), but it's already been really good for Andy, so I guess it's worth going to. There are only 5 other couples there, so at least it's a nice small group and the nurses that teach it are super nice.
The house is coming along quite nicely! My dad came down on Monday morning and mom got here Tuesday. Andy's dad has been coming over every day too, so we've got a full house of workers! We've got the dining room completely done (except for hanging up the curtains) and the kitchen will probably be done by the time I get there this morning. Mom and I (but mostly mom) spent yesterday cleaning one of the bathrooms (yes, it took that long) and today we will tackle the other one before taking a break to run some shopping errands in town. Someone has to go out and buy the new toilet paper holder - might as well be us! Anyway, they are hoping to finish the living room and hallway by the end of the day and get at least one coat of paint up in either the master bedroom or the music room. The guys are just working like crazy trying to get as much done as possible before we get furniture moved in. I seriously have the best family ever. I've been taking pictures of the progress, but will probably wait until after we've moved in and then just do a giant before and after post.
Ok, now on to the really exciting stuff - the baby shower!! With all of the moving and stuff going on around this time, mom decided not to even try to surprise me (which was fine by me!) so I knew it was coming. But I had no idea how CUTE everything would turn out! She decided to go with a zoo animal theme (along the same lines as our jungle/safari nursery theme) and use bright primary colors with a box of animal crackers as the inspiration.
These cupcakes were the centerpieces (along with other cupcakes for eating). The animals are actually made of fondant! I thought they were plastic bathtub toys when I first saw them! Mom found a woman in her local area who is a nurse, but also decorates cakes on the side. She did an awesome job!
Here are the elements of the cake table. Again, that elephant is fondant! It's so cute!! Mom made the zebra stripe pretzel candies and got the wooden puzzle train at her local thrift store.
The gift table was decorated with Ellie's quilt (which you've seen in a previous post) and the stuffed elephant that was my nursery inspiration! I found it at a store about a year ago and went ahead and bought it because I loved it so much!
As they arrived, all of the guests were instructed to color a picture and write a message to Ellie at the bottom. They will go in a picture book for her. Here is Sarah, my cousin's daughter, coloring some lions! (I forgot to take a picture of the book itself, but I'll get it up here someday!)
We played a few games, but my favorite was 'Sort My Socks!' Each team had a basket full of socks that they had to match and pin together. The team who completed their basket first won! These ladies are FAST at sock sorting, let me tell you! I think I need them to come over to my house on a weekly basis!!
Last, we ate snacks and then opened some very nice gifts, which I insisted Andy be around for. He's going to use those diapers and wipes too!
All the wonderful women in my life who were able to attend (minus my cousin April who had to leave early). A lot of people had work and other conflicts but were still kind enough to send gifts - all of which were very much appreciated! We feel so incredibly loved and blessed. Thank you cards will be coming out AFTER Ellie is born, so hang in there - we didn't forget!
Mommy and Auntie, who also helped a lot with the party planning and prep :-)
And this is how Ellie felt about the whole party . . .
Can you see her smiling?!? And those chubby cheeks?!? Such a cutie pie, if I do say so myself! We can't decide who she looks like though, so we might have to do that the old fashioned way and just wait until she's born :-)
All our appointments have been going well recently, so there's not much to report on that front. Miss Wigglepants was being stubborn for the ultrasound tech this week, but once she found the artery she needed, the readings looked great. She even said it looks like she's starting to grow some hair, which is pretty exciting! Developmentally, we're just getting bigger and stronger and chubbier to help survive in the real world. I've been feeling fatter and fatter every day, but I'm told that's a good thing so I will try not to complain about it. My dreams are strange and my hips hurt by morning, so sleeping is getting more difficult, but I'm also told that it just prepares me for the challenges of having an infant, so I will try not to complain about that either. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good and and optimistic about keeping Ellie cooking for 10 more weeks!
We actually started our childbirth class at the hospital on Monday night, too. Two hours, every Monday night, for five weeks. That's a lot of information. I think I'm too laid back to care a whole lot about it (I don't need a birth plan - I go to the hospital, they take care of me, I have a baby - how hard is that??), but it's already been really good for Andy, so I guess it's worth going to. There are only 5 other couples there, so at least it's a nice small group and the nurses that teach it are super nice.
The house is coming along quite nicely! My dad came down on Monday morning and mom got here Tuesday. Andy's dad has been coming over every day too, so we've got a full house of workers! We've got the dining room completely done (except for hanging up the curtains) and the kitchen will probably be done by the time I get there this morning. Mom and I (but mostly mom) spent yesterday cleaning one of the bathrooms (yes, it took that long) and today we will tackle the other one before taking a break to run some shopping errands in town. Someone has to go out and buy the new toilet paper holder - might as well be us! Anyway, they are hoping to finish the living room and hallway by the end of the day and get at least one coat of paint up in either the master bedroom or the music room. The guys are just working like crazy trying to get as much done as possible before we get furniture moved in. I seriously have the best family ever. I've been taking pictures of the progress, but will probably wait until after we've moved in and then just do a giant before and after post.
Ok, now on to the really exciting stuff - the baby shower!! With all of the moving and stuff going on around this time, mom decided not to even try to surprise me (which was fine by me!) so I knew it was coming. But I had no idea how CUTE everything would turn out! She decided to go with a zoo animal theme (along the same lines as our jungle/safari nursery theme) and use bright primary colors with a box of animal crackers as the inspiration.
Last, we ate snacks and then opened some very nice gifts, which I insisted Andy be around for. He's going to use those diapers and wipes too!
All the wonderful women in my life who were able to attend (minus my cousin April who had to leave early). A lot of people had work and other conflicts but were still kind enough to send gifts - all of which were very much appreciated! We feel so incredibly loved and blessed. Thank you cards will be coming out AFTER Ellie is born, so hang in there - we didn't forget!
Mommy and Auntie, who also helped a lot with the party planning and prep :-)
And this is how Ellie felt about the whole party . . .
Can you see her smiling?!? And those chubby cheeks?!? Such a cutie pie, if I do say so myself! We can't decide who she looks like though, so we might have to do that the old fashioned way and just wait until she's born :-)
Friday, November 9, 2012
Settlement Day!
So, remember that one time that we bought a house? Yeah, me too! Settlement went off without a hitch yesterday. Well, kind of. We'll get to that. Here's a rundown of our big, exciting day . . .
7:30 rolled around bright and early for our final walk-through. Everything looked pretty much how we left it the last time, so we were satisfied enough and left around 8 to head to the attorney's office. Now, our settlement was scheduled for 9, but the attorney had said that he wanted us there around 8:15 to get started on our part so the sellers didn't have to sit around forever and just watch us sign papers. Hence the freakishly early start to the day.
So, signing the paperwork wasn't all that painful. My hand didn't even cramp up! The sellers showed up at 9 and signed their part of the papers and then handed over the keys. And that was that! We got a few instructions from them about the keys (5 of the 6 go to the house and the one left over goes to the garage) and the mail. They moved into a rental duplex right next door to the house. That's a little weird to us, but I suppose we will just have to get over it. It's just a rental, after all, so hopefully they won't be there permanently. So our mailboxes are RIGHT next to each other, so if we get each other's mail by accident we can just pop it in the other box. At least they were nice enough to let us know that they would gladly do that for us!
And that was that. No party music, no balloons, no popping champagne cork. It was a little anticlimactic, to be perfectly honest. I didn't really feel any different. We literally climbed in the car and said, "Well, I guess we own a house now." So we drove home (to the house we currently live in) and picked up the other car full of cleaning supplies and headed over to the new house to start cleaning! Yay, fun! Andy took a broom and swept down the walls and ceilings and I followed behind him with the vacuum. After the vacuuming was done, we rented the carpet cleaner and really attacked the carpets. They didn't look dirty because of their color, but there was some seriously disgusting water coming out of them. I'm glad we took the time to do it. We finished up around 9:30 and returned the carpet cleaner to the store with time to spare!
In the middle of the day, I had to run to town for a Non-Stress Test. Ellie was very cooperative, so I only had to be hooked up to the monitor for 20 minutes instead of 40 like the last time. Results were good - nothing to report!
Last night around dinner time, we got a call from our realtor saying that there was a problem with our paperwork. I knew it was too easy. We've hit roadbumps around every corner with buying this house, so just going in and spending an hour signing papers seemed way too easy. Luckily, it wasn't a problem with us or anything we did, but the HUD needed re-done by TODAY because of a bank error. The bank holding the first mortgage on the house gave the attorney the wrong payoff number for their portion of the mortgage. They accidentally took $4,000 more than it would have taken to pay off the mortgage, so the second bank got that much less. These numbers were off from the beginning, so it's hard to tell why they just noticed it NOW, but it should make the bank holding the second mortgage really happy to be getting that much more than they thought they would, especially since they were the ones actually taking the loss in the first place! So, we didn't do anything wrong, we just had to go in and sign a new HUD. This means that the attorney got to his office at 4:30 this morning to rewrite it and our agent got to her office at 6 to make copies for us. We got there at 6:15 (on Andy's way to work) and signed off and the sellers will sign off sometime today as well. That's a lot of extra work for a lot of people just because of the bank's stupid mistake. Like I said, it would have just been too easy to sign the papers and be done!
Our only other hiccup is that we don't have a key to the front door. None of the keys they gave us work for it. We've got our agent talking to their agent about whether or not they were forgotten or just got lost over the years, but we will probably end up changing the locks anyway. Especially since they live next door. Call me paranoid, but I just don't want to take that chance. Andy thinks it would be nice to have the garage have the same key as the house anyway. Just one more adventure of the brand new homeowners!
Today's adventures include running to town to get all of the paint we will need next week (don't worry, someone from Home Depot will carry it to the car for me!) and pulling about 10,000 nails and screws out of the walls so that Andy can start patching them when he gets home from work. After that, the guys can start painting the walls and ceilings. I think that part will make me more excited because the house will start to look different and feel more like ours.
And with that, I will leave you with a picture and get started on another busy day! Be back with a baby update next week :-)
7:30 rolled around bright and early for our final walk-through. Everything looked pretty much how we left it the last time, so we were satisfied enough and left around 8 to head to the attorney's office. Now, our settlement was scheduled for 9, but the attorney had said that he wanted us there around 8:15 to get started on our part so the sellers didn't have to sit around forever and just watch us sign papers. Hence the freakishly early start to the day.
So, signing the paperwork wasn't all that painful. My hand didn't even cramp up! The sellers showed up at 9 and signed their part of the papers and then handed over the keys. And that was that! We got a few instructions from them about the keys (5 of the 6 go to the house and the one left over goes to the garage) and the mail. They moved into a rental duplex right next door to the house. That's a little weird to us, but I suppose we will just have to get over it. It's just a rental, after all, so hopefully they won't be there permanently. So our mailboxes are RIGHT next to each other, so if we get each other's mail by accident we can just pop it in the other box. At least they were nice enough to let us know that they would gladly do that for us!
And that was that. No party music, no balloons, no popping champagne cork. It was a little anticlimactic, to be perfectly honest. I didn't really feel any different. We literally climbed in the car and said, "Well, I guess we own a house now." So we drove home (to the house we currently live in) and picked up the other car full of cleaning supplies and headed over to the new house to start cleaning! Yay, fun! Andy took a broom and swept down the walls and ceilings and I followed behind him with the vacuum. After the vacuuming was done, we rented the carpet cleaner and really attacked the carpets. They didn't look dirty because of their color, but there was some seriously disgusting water coming out of them. I'm glad we took the time to do it. We finished up around 9:30 and returned the carpet cleaner to the store with time to spare!
In the middle of the day, I had to run to town for a Non-Stress Test. Ellie was very cooperative, so I only had to be hooked up to the monitor for 20 minutes instead of 40 like the last time. Results were good - nothing to report!
Last night around dinner time, we got a call from our realtor saying that there was a problem with our paperwork. I knew it was too easy. We've hit roadbumps around every corner with buying this house, so just going in and spending an hour signing papers seemed way too easy. Luckily, it wasn't a problem with us or anything we did, but the HUD needed re-done by TODAY because of a bank error. The bank holding the first mortgage on the house gave the attorney the wrong payoff number for their portion of the mortgage. They accidentally took $4,000 more than it would have taken to pay off the mortgage, so the second bank got that much less. These numbers were off from the beginning, so it's hard to tell why they just noticed it NOW, but it should make the bank holding the second mortgage really happy to be getting that much more than they thought they would, especially since they were the ones actually taking the loss in the first place! So, we didn't do anything wrong, we just had to go in and sign a new HUD. This means that the attorney got to his office at 4:30 this morning to rewrite it and our agent got to her office at 6 to make copies for us. We got there at 6:15 (on Andy's way to work) and signed off and the sellers will sign off sometime today as well. That's a lot of extra work for a lot of people just because of the bank's stupid mistake. Like I said, it would have just been too easy to sign the papers and be done!
Our only other hiccup is that we don't have a key to the front door. None of the keys they gave us work for it. We've got our agent talking to their agent about whether or not they were forgotten or just got lost over the years, but we will probably end up changing the locks anyway. Especially since they live next door. Call me paranoid, but I just don't want to take that chance. Andy thinks it would be nice to have the garage have the same key as the house anyway. Just one more adventure of the brand new homeowners!
Today's adventures include running to town to get all of the paint we will need next week (don't worry, someone from Home Depot will carry it to the car for me!) and pulling about 10,000 nails and screws out of the walls so that Andy can start patching them when he gets home from work. After that, the guys can start painting the walls and ceilings. I think that part will make me more excited because the house will start to look different and feel more like ours.
 |
| It's hard to see because of my unwilling photographer, but here I am, using my brand new key to open the door! Too bad it was the front door and the key didn't work! |
Monday, November 5, 2012
29 Weeks and 3 Appointments in 2 Days
Another busy week has come and gone, leaving me with the daunting task of how to summarize it all for you! We'll start with our 29 week update and go from there.
According to the internet, Ellie is the size of an acorn squash right now! Now, of course, it would be a tiny little acorn squash that no one would ever buy except for me because I would think it's cute. I've always been that way with tiny things. Even travel sized bath items are cute to me because they are just so small. Maybe that's why God is giving me a tiny baby, who knows?! Anyway, she's definitely starting to get a little more cramped for space. Every time we go for monitoring, it is easier and easier for the tech to get reads on her because she can't swim away as easily! That's not to say she doesn't try, she just finds other ways to fight back. She's giving me some pretty fierce heartburn no matter what I eat, so I'm just learning to deal with it and know that it will go away some day.
So, we had lots of appointments this week just because that's how the timing fell, but it snowballed into a mess that none of us anticipated. On Wednesday morning, I was scheduled to go in for my glucola test and then have a follow up the next day to go over the results and get my Rhogam shot (darn RH- blood type!). Thursday I was also to have another growth scan at the specialist just to make sure she's still progressing.
Well, Wednesday got off to kind of a rocky start. My family has a history of difficultly with getting blood drawn. It has nothing to do with being queasy or anything like that, we just have small, hard to find veins that don't like to be punctured. I have some horror stories I could tell you about medical professionals who have had to stab me repeatedly just to get a single vial of blood, but I won't go into that right now! Knowing this about myself, I try to be as prepared as possible - making sure I am very well hydrated (to plump my veins) and warm (so they don't retract any further into my arm) - and I make sure to go to a lab where the person drawing my blood is doing that procedure all day, every day. For the glucola test, however, they needed to just have a nurse do it at the office. I was a little nervous about that, but was determined to do my part to make it easier on her, so I drank PLENTY of water before downing my glucola drink and heading out to the office. That was almost a tragic mistake on my part. My stomach was so full of water that adding the glucola made me so terribly nauseous. I almost had to pull over a few times on the drive into town, but I made it! I was also relieved to see that it would be the nursing supervisor that would be drawing my blood. Unfortunately, she needed 3 vials and only got 2 before the only viable vein in my arm just stopped bleeding. She had to stick me in the back of the hand and do some wiggling, but finally got everything she needed. Not the most pleasant experience, but not the worst.
Then the Dr. came in for my actual checkup. She said I look great! My belly was measuring right on the money at 28.5 weeks and I have gained a grand total of 14 pounds so far! Oh, but she noticed I hadn't had my flu shot yet. Andy had been bugging me to get one (since he already got his) and I had been meaning to, but it's hard to make yourself do something you don't want to do, even when you know it's in your best interest. I had never had a flu shot before, so I wasn't sure how my body would react to it, and after having been stuck twice already that morning, I did not want one then, but she was not about to let me leave without it. So, I got three needles in my left arm on Wednesday morning. Luckily, my only adverse reactions to the shot were being very tired (which I've heard is almost universal) and my arm being very stiff and sore. I went to bed that night, not worrying about the next day because it seemed as though all the tough stuff was over. Ha.
Thursday morning I was up bright and early to drive to the specialist. Luckily, they are not too far away from our home, but they are in the opposite direction as my OB's office, so I knew having the two appointments in the same day could present some challenges. I got there and had my ultrasound, which was just fine. They don't make my back hurt like they used to, which I am very grateful for! After some wiggling and some jiggling, we also finally got a couple of good pictures of Ellie! Unfortunately, the ones of her face did not scan well at all. Her little foot measured at almost 2 inches long (which seems pretty long to me!) and overall they estimate that she weighs about 2 lbs. 4 oz. We got to see her practice her breathing, which is a very good sign of development, and all of her blood flow and fluid levels look great. After that, they hooked me up with a Non-Stress Test, which I did not know that I would be having. Nothing too terrible about that. I'm just glad I brought a book! Then I thought I was supposed to talk to the doctor about the results of the infection screening bloodwork I had done the week before, but that wasn't on my chart, so I had to wait around for him to have a few minutes to meet with me. It was a different doctor than I had seen before, which turned out to be a good thing! The previous one was very knowledgeable, but not terribly great with bedside manner. This one explained things in a way that I could really understand and made me feel a LOT better about the whole process that we are going through.
Basically, he said she is still too small and they still don't know why. This is more serious than just being small, though, because this is the area of the percentages where they find the drug addicted or fetal alcohol syndrome babies. I hadn't realized that before. The good news is, he said, that I'm giving her the best shot that she can have at this point. I'm doing everything I can. It felt really good to have a doctor actually look at me and tell me that. I think at some point, every mom wonders if there's something more she can be doing for her child, but that's even more prevalent when you're still growing the baby. I'm her only source for everything right now, so it's so easy to think that it's something that I am doing that is causing these problems, but according to Dr. Smith, that doesn't appear to be true. She shows no signs of nutrient deficiency or inadequacy and I don't have any bad habits that would be affecting her. There are also no signs of infection and still no obvious signs of a chromosomal disorder that they would be worried about. Basically, there are no answers as to why, but that's not really important anymore. What's important is just making sure she's still growing and not showing any signs of distress. We've decided not to have an amniocentesis done because it wouldn't change anything about our treatment plans. So what are our treatment plans? Well . . .
I will be going in to the specialist for twice weekly monitoring. On Mondays, I will have an Ultrasound and a Non-Stress Test and then on Thursdays I will have just the Non-Stress Test. This will hopefully ensure that if she stops growing or starts to show signs of distress, they can catch it in time and decide to deliver her early before things get out of control and we have a stillbirth. The notion of delivering her early is terrifying to me. If I go in for a NST and they say she's not thriving, they'll rush me across the street to the hospital and c-section her right out of there before I even have a chance to call Andy! However, it is comforting to know that they will be watching her so closely because the thing I want more than anything else is to bring my baby girl home. I still think that this will all turn out to be nothing and that she will be born healthy at full-term, but it is still good to be prepared. So since there is a risk of having to deliver early, Dr. Smith wanted me to go ahead and get some steroid injections to help her lungs and blood vessels develop. This is the same stuff they normally give to moms who go into pre-term labor, but I got it early. They couldn't give it to me there, but called my OB to set it up for my afternoon appointment that very day. No biggie, just a few more shots!
So after that meeting, I had 15 minutes at home to eat some lunch and rush back out to the OB! I got there and got my Rhogam shot, which hurt like the dickens. If you've never had one, be thankful. They're the type of shot that has to go in your tush. It's not pleasant. The good news is, I passed my glucola and iron tests, so no extra stuff has to go on in that department! Then the doctor came in and told me that there was a problem with the steroid shots. I needed one that day and one on Friday. Normally, they would send me to the pharmacy and I would pick them up and then bring them back to the office to be administered, but ALL of the pharmacies in the area were out of them. So I was going to have to go to the hospital. Ok, I think I can handle that. Leave the OB at 1:30 and call Andy in the car to verify directions to the hospital. Now, I teach piano lessons on Thursday evenings starting at 4 and I still had cat toys and all kinds of clutter strewn around my house that needed picked up before anyone arrived, so I was beginning to feel a bit of a time crunch. But how long could it take to drive 3 blocks to the hospital and get a shot??
An hour and a half, that's how long. It took a while to register because I had never been there before and then I had to be escorted up to the maternity ward since I didn't have an official appointment. Once there, they got more paperwork filled out and then sent the order for the shot down to the pharmacy. That's when the real waiting began. It took forever just for that stupid little syringe to get upstairs! I was completely worn out and overwhelmed and had already been punctured 4 times in 2 days, so I may have been a little crankier with the nurse than I meant to be, but I think she understood. Shot in the right arm this time, since the left just got the flu the day before, and I was on my way. This was the most painful shot I can remember receiving. It was like an instant burning muscle cramp. I actually cried when I got to my car it hurt that bad. But by then it was after 3:00 and I needed to make the 25 minute drive home to get the house tidied up for my students! I got there and got everything done in time, so it all worked out, but there's nothing like a surprise trip to the hospital to really cramp your plans for the day!
Friday morning I went back to the hospital and got the follow-up dose of the steroid shot in the same arm as before since it still hurt less than the flu shot did. Luckily, since I had an appointment, it took less than half the amount of time it did the day before. It was kind of nice to get a sneak peek at the maternity floor though! We will soon be headed there once a week for birthing classes, so it's good to know where we're going!
Friday night was my last night of work at the retail store (yay!) and it was crazy and busy, but the steroids gave me lots of energy, so I didn't mind it too much. Saturday, we got to go to a friend's wedding and catch up with some really wonderful friends there. Yesterday included church, a potluck lunch afterward, errands, and packing. And this morning I am headed back to the specialist for another Ultrasound and Non-Stress Test! The past several days have just been a whirlwind of activity, but we seem to be surviving (for the most part)! Life's not about to slow down any time soon - this week includes settling on the house and cleaning/painting/beginning to move in! Super exciting, but a little surreal as well. I'll let you know how it goes :-)
According to the internet, Ellie is the size of an acorn squash right now! Now, of course, it would be a tiny little acorn squash that no one would ever buy except for me because I would think it's cute. I've always been that way with tiny things. Even travel sized bath items are cute to me because they are just so small. Maybe that's why God is giving me a tiny baby, who knows?! Anyway, she's definitely starting to get a little more cramped for space. Every time we go for monitoring, it is easier and easier for the tech to get reads on her because she can't swim away as easily! That's not to say she doesn't try, she just finds other ways to fight back. She's giving me some pretty fierce heartburn no matter what I eat, so I'm just learning to deal with it and know that it will go away some day.
So, we had lots of appointments this week just because that's how the timing fell, but it snowballed into a mess that none of us anticipated. On Wednesday morning, I was scheduled to go in for my glucola test and then have a follow up the next day to go over the results and get my Rhogam shot (darn RH- blood type!). Thursday I was also to have another growth scan at the specialist just to make sure she's still progressing.
Well, Wednesday got off to kind of a rocky start. My family has a history of difficultly with getting blood drawn. It has nothing to do with being queasy or anything like that, we just have small, hard to find veins that don't like to be punctured. I have some horror stories I could tell you about medical professionals who have had to stab me repeatedly just to get a single vial of blood, but I won't go into that right now! Knowing this about myself, I try to be as prepared as possible - making sure I am very well hydrated (to plump my veins) and warm (so they don't retract any further into my arm) - and I make sure to go to a lab where the person drawing my blood is doing that procedure all day, every day. For the glucola test, however, they needed to just have a nurse do it at the office. I was a little nervous about that, but was determined to do my part to make it easier on her, so I drank PLENTY of water before downing my glucola drink and heading out to the office. That was almost a tragic mistake on my part. My stomach was so full of water that adding the glucola made me so terribly nauseous. I almost had to pull over a few times on the drive into town, but I made it! I was also relieved to see that it would be the nursing supervisor that would be drawing my blood. Unfortunately, she needed 3 vials and only got 2 before the only viable vein in my arm just stopped bleeding. She had to stick me in the back of the hand and do some wiggling, but finally got everything she needed. Not the most pleasant experience, but not the worst.
Then the Dr. came in for my actual checkup. She said I look great! My belly was measuring right on the money at 28.5 weeks and I have gained a grand total of 14 pounds so far! Oh, but she noticed I hadn't had my flu shot yet. Andy had been bugging me to get one (since he already got his) and I had been meaning to, but it's hard to make yourself do something you don't want to do, even when you know it's in your best interest. I had never had a flu shot before, so I wasn't sure how my body would react to it, and after having been stuck twice already that morning, I did not want one then, but she was not about to let me leave without it. So, I got three needles in my left arm on Wednesday morning. Luckily, my only adverse reactions to the shot were being very tired (which I've heard is almost universal) and my arm being very stiff and sore. I went to bed that night, not worrying about the next day because it seemed as though all the tough stuff was over. Ha.
Thursday morning I was up bright and early to drive to the specialist. Luckily, they are not too far away from our home, but they are in the opposite direction as my OB's office, so I knew having the two appointments in the same day could present some challenges. I got there and had my ultrasound, which was just fine. They don't make my back hurt like they used to, which I am very grateful for! After some wiggling and some jiggling, we also finally got a couple of good pictures of Ellie! Unfortunately, the ones of her face did not scan well at all. Her little foot measured at almost 2 inches long (which seems pretty long to me!) and overall they estimate that she weighs about 2 lbs. 4 oz. We got to see her practice her breathing, which is a very good sign of development, and all of her blood flow and fluid levels look great. After that, they hooked me up with a Non-Stress Test, which I did not know that I would be having. Nothing too terrible about that. I'm just glad I brought a book! Then I thought I was supposed to talk to the doctor about the results of the infection screening bloodwork I had done the week before, but that wasn't on my chart, so I had to wait around for him to have a few minutes to meet with me. It was a different doctor than I had seen before, which turned out to be a good thing! The previous one was very knowledgeable, but not terribly great with bedside manner. This one explained things in a way that I could really understand and made me feel a LOT better about the whole process that we are going through.
Basically, he said she is still too small and they still don't know why. This is more serious than just being small, though, because this is the area of the percentages where they find the drug addicted or fetal alcohol syndrome babies. I hadn't realized that before. The good news is, he said, that I'm giving her the best shot that she can have at this point. I'm doing everything I can. It felt really good to have a doctor actually look at me and tell me that. I think at some point, every mom wonders if there's something more she can be doing for her child, but that's even more prevalent when you're still growing the baby. I'm her only source for everything right now, so it's so easy to think that it's something that I am doing that is causing these problems, but according to Dr. Smith, that doesn't appear to be true. She shows no signs of nutrient deficiency or inadequacy and I don't have any bad habits that would be affecting her. There are also no signs of infection and still no obvious signs of a chromosomal disorder that they would be worried about. Basically, there are no answers as to why, but that's not really important anymore. What's important is just making sure she's still growing and not showing any signs of distress. We've decided not to have an amniocentesis done because it wouldn't change anything about our treatment plans. So what are our treatment plans? Well . . .
I will be going in to the specialist for twice weekly monitoring. On Mondays, I will have an Ultrasound and a Non-Stress Test and then on Thursdays I will have just the Non-Stress Test. This will hopefully ensure that if she stops growing or starts to show signs of distress, they can catch it in time and decide to deliver her early before things get out of control and we have a stillbirth. The notion of delivering her early is terrifying to me. If I go in for a NST and they say she's not thriving, they'll rush me across the street to the hospital and c-section her right out of there before I even have a chance to call Andy! However, it is comforting to know that they will be watching her so closely because the thing I want more than anything else is to bring my baby girl home. I still think that this will all turn out to be nothing and that she will be born healthy at full-term, but it is still good to be prepared. So since there is a risk of having to deliver early, Dr. Smith wanted me to go ahead and get some steroid injections to help her lungs and blood vessels develop. This is the same stuff they normally give to moms who go into pre-term labor, but I got it early. They couldn't give it to me there, but called my OB to set it up for my afternoon appointment that very day. No biggie, just a few more shots!
So after that meeting, I had 15 minutes at home to eat some lunch and rush back out to the OB! I got there and got my Rhogam shot, which hurt like the dickens. If you've never had one, be thankful. They're the type of shot that has to go in your tush. It's not pleasant. The good news is, I passed my glucola and iron tests, so no extra stuff has to go on in that department! Then the doctor came in and told me that there was a problem with the steroid shots. I needed one that day and one on Friday. Normally, they would send me to the pharmacy and I would pick them up and then bring them back to the office to be administered, but ALL of the pharmacies in the area were out of them. So I was going to have to go to the hospital. Ok, I think I can handle that. Leave the OB at 1:30 and call Andy in the car to verify directions to the hospital. Now, I teach piano lessons on Thursday evenings starting at 4 and I still had cat toys and all kinds of clutter strewn around my house that needed picked up before anyone arrived, so I was beginning to feel a bit of a time crunch. But how long could it take to drive 3 blocks to the hospital and get a shot??
An hour and a half, that's how long. It took a while to register because I had never been there before and then I had to be escorted up to the maternity ward since I didn't have an official appointment. Once there, they got more paperwork filled out and then sent the order for the shot down to the pharmacy. That's when the real waiting began. It took forever just for that stupid little syringe to get upstairs! I was completely worn out and overwhelmed and had already been punctured 4 times in 2 days, so I may have been a little crankier with the nurse than I meant to be, but I think she understood. Shot in the right arm this time, since the left just got the flu the day before, and I was on my way. This was the most painful shot I can remember receiving. It was like an instant burning muscle cramp. I actually cried when I got to my car it hurt that bad. But by then it was after 3:00 and I needed to make the 25 minute drive home to get the house tidied up for my students! I got there and got everything done in time, so it all worked out, but there's nothing like a surprise trip to the hospital to really cramp your plans for the day!
Friday morning I went back to the hospital and got the follow-up dose of the steroid shot in the same arm as before since it still hurt less than the flu shot did. Luckily, since I had an appointment, it took less than half the amount of time it did the day before. It was kind of nice to get a sneak peek at the maternity floor though! We will soon be headed there once a week for birthing classes, so it's good to know where we're going!
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| Ellie's little foot |
Monday, October 22, 2012
27 Weeks and a Head Cold
So I've had a decently nasty cold for the past week, which makes me not want to do much of anything, let alone write about not doing much of anything. But I figured I owed you an update, so here it is!
On Saturday, we reached 27 weeks! I can't believe I'm in the last week of my second trimester! Ellie is having frequent parties in my belly and has even started playing tag with Daddy. He pushes on my belly and she kicks back. It's pretty funny. For them. The internet tells me that she is practicing breathing her amniotic fluid (sounds icky to me, but it's good to practice, I suppose!) and showing more and more brain activity! And I'm getting bigger too! Yesterday, I had to have Andy tie my shoes for me to go to work because I just couldn't reach them well enough. Granted, I had just had a really big lunch, but still. I will be done with work in just 2 more weeks and then good-bye shoelaces! Slip-ons from here on out! I promise I will get an updated belly picture to you here soon, it's just been hard with our crazy schedules.
Speaking of crazy schedules, here's a sample of what we've been up to this past week:
Monday: Andy work 7-4:15; Heather work 5-10.
Tuesday: Andy work 7-4:15; Heather work 10-3, quick dinner, clean house, teach lesson.
Wednesday: Andy work 7-4:15, dentist appointment at 5:15, quick stop home for dinner, church council meeting at 7; Heather work 9-2, make and eat dinner, choir practice at 6, pack a little once home.
Thursday: Up early for ultrasound at the specialist; Andy work afterwards until 4:15; Heather run errands while in town, make dinner, clean house, teach lessons, eat dinner, teach more lessons, sort and start laundry
Friday: Andy off work; meeting with the insurance agent to sign papers for the homeowners insurance, grocery shopping, pack and do more paperwork for the rest of the afternoon, more laundry, dinner; Heather work 5-10.
Saturday: Fall Fest all day at our favorite Christian Summer Camp and Retreat Center (where we met and got married). Home to collapse after a long day.
Sunday: Sunday School and Church, Bells practice for Heather, lunch with Andy's dad and a friend of his, home to change clothes, Heather work 3-7, dinner, more laundry and packing.
And that brings us up to the present! Hopefully this week will be a little less hectic, although I can't be sure. I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday and work here and there throughout the week. I can't wait until I'm done with work and then will have 20 more hours a week to spend on things like packing and getting ready for the new house!
Speaking of the new house, only one more thing has to happen in order for us to reach settlement on the 8th. And it's completely out of our hands. If this last ball gets dropped, the whole thing will fall apart, and we don't even know the name of the person whose responsibility it is. I'm just trying not to think about it too much, because the possibility just stresses me out too much.
Our ultrasound on Thursday went well, I guess. It didn't take nearly as long as the last one and consequently wasn't nearly as painful! That's always a plus! The ending conversation with the doctor was almost identical, though. She's still only in the 7th percentile and he's still concerned about why that is. She looks great developmentally. Bloodflow to everywhere is great, her organ development and placement is great, heart looks great, everything is great. Even her short femurs (leg bones) caught up! I had to specifically ask about it because he didn't bring it up, but he said that the last measurement was in the 3rd percentile and now they're in the 28th! So that was a bit of good news for the day. Maybe if her legs can catch up, the rest of her can too?! But for now, we are getting some blood work done (on me) to see if I am carrying any kind of an infection that could have spread to her very early on and caused this stunted growth. If it comes back positive, then we will pretty much have to do an amniocentesis at 32 weeks to find out if it did actually pass to her. I don't want to have one done. I really don't. But if the doctor says it's necessary, then we will do it.
The most discouraging part of the day was when he told us that whatever we find out will pretty much just be for the sake of knowledge and preparation. At this point, nothing that they find will have a solution. She has no physically deformities (which would at least be fixable to a certain extent), so everything else is either a viral infection (no cure for viruses) or a chromosomal abnormality (no cure for that, outside of science fiction). So anyway, it wasn't a bad visit because there was no bad news, but I don't feel like calling it a good visit either because I didn't feel good when we left. I'm just getting to the point where I either want an answer or to be left alone. 13 more weeks of this and then I will have her in my arms, good or bad. That's what I'm going to focus on right now and realize that, as frustrating as they can be, the doctors really do have our best interests in mind. God's already got her life all planned out and He'll give me the strength to deal with whatever is involved in it. If you didn't know this already, my absolute favorite book of the Bible is James. He's got so much good stuff, minus any sugar-coating, packed into such a few short chapters. For example:
I think that's what I need to be focusing on in the coming weeks and months. Building endurance. The specialist wants to see me again for another ultrasound on November 1st (I have my glucola test at the regular OB on the 31st of this month and then go back on the 1st for my first Rhogam shot. Another busy week.) and then has warned us that he will probably want me to come in weekly after that to be hooked up to the fetal monitor to make sure that there is no need to take her early. Combined with the bi-weekly OB visits that come in the second trimester, plus once a week birthing classes starting in November that will certainly prepare us for any possible problems that may arise during the birth process, our endurance will be growing in abundance. And I will, with God's grace, consider it an opportunity for joy.
On Saturday, we reached 27 weeks! I can't believe I'm in the last week of my second trimester! Ellie is having frequent parties in my belly and has even started playing tag with Daddy. He pushes on my belly and she kicks back. It's pretty funny. For them. The internet tells me that she is practicing breathing her amniotic fluid (sounds icky to me, but it's good to practice, I suppose!) and showing more and more brain activity! And I'm getting bigger too! Yesterday, I had to have Andy tie my shoes for me to go to work because I just couldn't reach them well enough. Granted, I had just had a really big lunch, but still. I will be done with work in just 2 more weeks and then good-bye shoelaces! Slip-ons from here on out! I promise I will get an updated belly picture to you here soon, it's just been hard with our crazy schedules.
Speaking of crazy schedules, here's a sample of what we've been up to this past week:
Monday: Andy work 7-4:15; Heather work 5-10.
Tuesday: Andy work 7-4:15; Heather work 10-3, quick dinner, clean house, teach lesson.
Wednesday: Andy work 7-4:15, dentist appointment at 5:15, quick stop home for dinner, church council meeting at 7; Heather work 9-2, make and eat dinner, choir practice at 6, pack a little once home.
Thursday: Up early for ultrasound at the specialist; Andy work afterwards until 4:15; Heather run errands while in town, make dinner, clean house, teach lessons, eat dinner, teach more lessons, sort and start laundry
Friday: Andy off work; meeting with the insurance agent to sign papers for the homeowners insurance, grocery shopping, pack and do more paperwork for the rest of the afternoon, more laundry, dinner; Heather work 5-10.
Saturday: Fall Fest all day at our favorite Christian Summer Camp and Retreat Center (where we met and got married). Home to collapse after a long day.
Sunday: Sunday School and Church, Bells practice for Heather, lunch with Andy's dad and a friend of his, home to change clothes, Heather work 3-7, dinner, more laundry and packing.
And that brings us up to the present! Hopefully this week will be a little less hectic, although I can't be sure. I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday and work here and there throughout the week. I can't wait until I'm done with work and then will have 20 more hours a week to spend on things like packing and getting ready for the new house!
Speaking of the new house, only one more thing has to happen in order for us to reach settlement on the 8th. And it's completely out of our hands. If this last ball gets dropped, the whole thing will fall apart, and we don't even know the name of the person whose responsibility it is. I'm just trying not to think about it too much, because the possibility just stresses me out too much.
Our ultrasound on Thursday went well, I guess. It didn't take nearly as long as the last one and consequently wasn't nearly as painful! That's always a plus! The ending conversation with the doctor was almost identical, though. She's still only in the 7th percentile and he's still concerned about why that is. She looks great developmentally. Bloodflow to everywhere is great, her organ development and placement is great, heart looks great, everything is great. Even her short femurs (leg bones) caught up! I had to specifically ask about it because he didn't bring it up, but he said that the last measurement was in the 3rd percentile and now they're in the 28th! So that was a bit of good news for the day. Maybe if her legs can catch up, the rest of her can too?! But for now, we are getting some blood work done (on me) to see if I am carrying any kind of an infection that could have spread to her very early on and caused this stunted growth. If it comes back positive, then we will pretty much have to do an amniocentesis at 32 weeks to find out if it did actually pass to her. I don't want to have one done. I really don't. But if the doctor says it's necessary, then we will do it.
The most discouraging part of the day was when he told us that whatever we find out will pretty much just be for the sake of knowledge and preparation. At this point, nothing that they find will have a solution. She has no physically deformities (which would at least be fixable to a certain extent), so everything else is either a viral infection (no cure for viruses) or a chromosomal abnormality (no cure for that, outside of science fiction). So anyway, it wasn't a bad visit because there was no bad news, but I don't feel like calling it a good visit either because I didn't feel good when we left. I'm just getting to the point where I either want an answer or to be left alone. 13 more weeks of this and then I will have her in my arms, good or bad. That's what I'm going to focus on right now and realize that, as frustrating as they can be, the doctors really do have our best interests in mind. God's already got her life all planned out and He'll give me the strength to deal with whatever is involved in it. If you didn't know this already, my absolute favorite book of the Bible is James. He's got so much good stuff, minus any sugar-coating, packed into such a few short chapters. For example:
I think that's what I need to be focusing on in the coming weeks and months. Building endurance. The specialist wants to see me again for another ultrasound on November 1st (I have my glucola test at the regular OB on the 31st of this month and then go back on the 1st for my first Rhogam shot. Another busy week.) and then has warned us that he will probably want me to come in weekly after that to be hooked up to the fetal monitor to make sure that there is no need to take her early. Combined with the bi-weekly OB visits that come in the second trimester, plus once a week birthing classes starting in November that will certainly prepare us for any possible problems that may arise during the birth process, our endurance will be growing in abundance. And I will, with God's grace, consider it an opportunity for joy.
Monday, October 8, 2012
25 Weeks and Other Updates
So much has been going on that needs sharing! First up, we have picked a name! We debated for (what felt like) a long time before finally deciding on the one that I had picked out from the beginning. I keep trying to tell Andy that he should just go with whatever I want because he almost always ends up deciding it's what he wants too. Happened with the house, the name, and too many other situations to even count! Anyway, our baby girl will be named . . .
We wanted something that would carry some meaning for us, so this name was selected with great care. Elaina comes from my mother's mother's name, which was Elaine (well, it was her middle name, but it's what she went by). She passed away when I was 3 or 4, I don't remember which, but old enough that I remember it happening. Joyce was Andy's mother's name. She passed away when he was in high school - I never got to meet her. Aside from being a beautiful name (in our opinion!), we thought it was a great way to remember and honor two wonderful women who are no longer physically in our lives. I have taken to calling her Ellie for short :-)
So, little Ellie is 25 weeks cooked now! She's still very active, which the doctor says is a good thing. At this stage of development, she is putting on more fat (gotta stay warm!) and growing some hair! Not much else to report on the development front.
We had our 24 week check-up with the OB last Thursday. They said I look great! Ellie loves playing hide and seek, even from the nurse just checking her heart rate. She would find it for a second and then you'd hear a loud thump (I can personally verify it was the sound of a good swift kick) and then she'd be in a different place and the nurse would have to find her again. After a few minutes (and lots of laughter) we got a reading of 150. The doctor looked at my blood pressure and said it was even better than his, so I took that as a good sign, haha! Oh, by the way, his name was Dr. Sheppard. Yes, that's right ladies, I got to see Dr. Sheppard at this appointment. Ok, so this Dr. was quite a bit older and much less 'McDreamy' than the one from TV, but it still made me giggle. He measured my bump and said I was measuring right on, so that's encouraging, and I've gained another two pounds since week 20, so hopefully Ellie's growing quite nicely in there too. We will find out on the 18th when we go for our next ultrasound at the specialist!
In housing news . . . on Tuesday of last week, we were able to have our home inspection! The inspector found a few little things that need fixing, but nothing that the combined handyman powers of Andy, his dad, and my dad can't fix! So that's quite a relief. I was only able to be there for a tiny portion of the inspection because I had to go to work, but I was able to walk through the whole house and take note of it's general condition. The owner's had already moved out and they had CLEANED before they left! I wasn't sure what to expect because our Realtor had warned us that anything can happen when people are in a situation where they are 'losing' their house. It actually was left in really good shape for us! They even had left the lawn mower and everything there and are still keeping up with taking care of the lawn in the meantime. I (with the help of my mom, of course) will still go through and give everything a thorough scrubbing before moving in, but it was very nice to see that they had taken such good care of it for us. All of this is happening now because . . .
Our settlement is scheduled for November 9th! We will take the week after that to clean and paint and fix those little things (and finish packing, haha!) and then move the following weekend. This is exciting on the one hand, and really a bummer on the other. Now I actually have to pack. That's really hard to do when you're only moving 5 minutes away. Some things (like most of the kitchen) will just get thrown in laundry baskets and taken over by the car load to get put away immediately, but a LOT of the rest of the house really does need packed up into boxes so it is contained and doesn't have to have a 'home' right away. I hate packing. And I think I'm starting to nest, so it really goes against ALL of my instincts to be putting things IN boxes right now. Andy's doing a lot of the work, which is very helpful, but it still makes me cranky to even think about having to do it. It's one of those necessary evils, I suppose. I'm trying to keep my spirits up by picking paint colors and planning room layouts and all that.
We just got an email from our Realtor saying that the seller would be willing to meet with us to show us how the downstairs gas fireplace works (something even the inspector couldn't figure out!) and also all the swimming pool information. We're going to do it, because how else will we ever know?! However, I am a little nervous that it will be awkward to meet with them. They are, after all, losing their house to a couple of kids (that's what we look like, anyway!) that are barely older than their own. We're going to have to see them at the settlement anyway, so it's only awkward because they'll be teaching us how to use their house. Oddly enough, I had a dream about this very thing a few months ago. They were nice about everything in my dream, so let's hope that turns out to be true :-)
I don't have any new baby pictures for you this time, so as a consolation prize, here's a picture of our soon-to-be house, taken when we had our first walk-through all the way back in May. I was convinced enough at that point to take pictures, it's just taken a little bit longer for the rest of the universe to agree with me :-)
Home, Sweet Home. Well, soon anyway!
We wanted something that would carry some meaning for us, so this name was selected with great care. Elaina comes from my mother's mother's name, which was Elaine (well, it was her middle name, but it's what she went by). She passed away when I was 3 or 4, I don't remember which, but old enough that I remember it happening. Joyce was Andy's mother's name. She passed away when he was in high school - I never got to meet her. Aside from being a beautiful name (in our opinion!), we thought it was a great way to remember and honor two wonderful women who are no longer physically in our lives. I have taken to calling her Ellie for short :-)
So, little Ellie is 25 weeks cooked now! She's still very active, which the doctor says is a good thing. At this stage of development, she is putting on more fat (gotta stay warm!) and growing some hair! Not much else to report on the development front.
We had our 24 week check-up with the OB last Thursday. They said I look great! Ellie loves playing hide and seek, even from the nurse just checking her heart rate. She would find it for a second and then you'd hear a loud thump (I can personally verify it was the sound of a good swift kick) and then she'd be in a different place and the nurse would have to find her again. After a few minutes (and lots of laughter) we got a reading of 150. The doctor looked at my blood pressure and said it was even better than his, so I took that as a good sign, haha! Oh, by the way, his name was Dr. Sheppard. Yes, that's right ladies, I got to see Dr. Sheppard at this appointment. Ok, so this Dr. was quite a bit older and much less 'McDreamy' than the one from TV, but it still made me giggle. He measured my bump and said I was measuring right on, so that's encouraging, and I've gained another two pounds since week 20, so hopefully Ellie's growing quite nicely in there too. We will find out on the 18th when we go for our next ultrasound at the specialist!
In housing news . . . on Tuesday of last week, we were able to have our home inspection! The inspector found a few little things that need fixing, but nothing that the combined handyman powers of Andy, his dad, and my dad can't fix! So that's quite a relief. I was only able to be there for a tiny portion of the inspection because I had to go to work, but I was able to walk through the whole house and take note of it's general condition. The owner's had already moved out and they had CLEANED before they left! I wasn't sure what to expect because our Realtor had warned us that anything can happen when people are in a situation where they are 'losing' their house. It actually was left in really good shape for us! They even had left the lawn mower and everything there and are still keeping up with taking care of the lawn in the meantime. I (with the help of my mom, of course) will still go through and give everything a thorough scrubbing before moving in, but it was very nice to see that they had taken such good care of it for us. All of this is happening now because . . .
Our settlement is scheduled for November 9th! We will take the week after that to clean and paint and fix those little things (and finish packing, haha!) and then move the following weekend. This is exciting on the one hand, and really a bummer on the other. Now I actually have to pack. That's really hard to do when you're only moving 5 minutes away. Some things (like most of the kitchen) will just get thrown in laundry baskets and taken over by the car load to get put away immediately, but a LOT of the rest of the house really does need packed up into boxes so it is contained and doesn't have to have a 'home' right away. I hate packing. And I think I'm starting to nest, so it really goes against ALL of my instincts to be putting things IN boxes right now. Andy's doing a lot of the work, which is very helpful, but it still makes me cranky to even think about having to do it. It's one of those necessary evils, I suppose. I'm trying to keep my spirits up by picking paint colors and planning room layouts and all that.
We just got an email from our Realtor saying that the seller would be willing to meet with us to show us how the downstairs gas fireplace works (something even the inspector couldn't figure out!) and also all the swimming pool information. We're going to do it, because how else will we ever know?! However, I am a little nervous that it will be awkward to meet with them. They are, after all, losing their house to a couple of kids (that's what we look like, anyway!) that are barely older than their own. We're going to have to see them at the settlement anyway, so it's only awkward because they'll be teaching us how to use their house. Oddly enough, I had a dream about this very thing a few months ago. They were nice about everything in my dream, so let's hope that turns out to be true :-)
I don't have any new baby pictures for you this time, so as a consolation prize, here's a picture of our soon-to-be house, taken when we had our first walk-through all the way back in May. I was convinced enough at that point to take pictures, it's just taken a little bit longer for the rest of the universe to agree with me :-)
Home, Sweet Home. Well, soon anyway!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
24 Weeks and A Trip to the Specialist
So today we have arrived at 24 weeks! Nothing huge developmentally going on, but Baby Girl's skin is starting to get more opaque and pink, so that's exciting. She's punching and kicking me regularly, which I don't mind one bit. Yesterday, she was kicking so hard that I could actually see my stomach move! That was pretty crazy. I had some serious mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was awesome to actually SEE how strong she's getting. On the other hand, I felt a bit like an alien was about to come busting out of me. Andy hasn't gotten to see that yet, but he DID get to feel her kick last Sunday! He got fed up with waiting, so he sat me down on the couch and parked his hands on my belly for over an hour to make sure that he would be there whenever she decided to kick. He didn't recognize it at first because he thought it was just a little muscle twitch, but eventually he felt it for real. He was pretty excited, to put it mildly.
As far as names go, we are 99% settled on the one that we like. However, he still doesn't want me sharing just yet in case we change our minds. I'm not going to be able to keep it to myself for too much longer though, so I hope he gets over it soon!
Quick update on the house: things are moving along very well - and very quickly! We got all the paperwork from the banks and have our inspection scheduled for this coming Tuesday morning. We've submitted all the necessary paperwork to our bank for the mortgage application to be processed and will be signing papers and scheduling the appraisal on Tuesday afternoon. I don't know when we schedule the closing, but I'm hoping for November 2nd. After we get the keys at the closing, we are going to give ourselves until Thanksgiving to get everything moved. Our first month's mortgage is included in our closing costs, so we're going to go ahead and pay November's rent too. This way, November is paid up on both houses and there's no rush to get from one to the other. We can take a week or two to clean and paint the new house before moving everything and then have a few more days to clean over here before giving the keys back. Giving ourselves this time and space will (we hope) really reduce the stress of moving and it gives me a little bit longer to get everything packed!
Now, onto our visit with the specialist this past week. Andy was unable to get off of work to come with me, so my mom came along, which was a BIG help. They people there were really nice and we could tell they really knew their stuff. Basically, after almost 2 hours of ultrasound and talking with the doctor, they've come to the conclusion that she's still too small, but there's no apparent reason why. The doctor explained that up until the 3rd trimester, all babies grow at pretty much the same rate. After 28 weeks, they start growing differently based on their genetic predispositions to be tall or short or whatever. So my being short should have nothing to do with the baby's size right now. That being said, any measurements that fall between the 10th and 90th percentile are considered in the 'normal' range for growth. Well my baby girl is only in the 7th percentile, so she's just small enough to warrant further investigation.
They did not change my due date because developmentally speaking, she's right on track for 24 weeks. She has all the pieces and parts that she should have at this point and they are all put together in the right order and working well. Overall, she is proportionate, except her femurs (thigh bones) are a bit shorter than they should be for the rest of her body. The doctor basically said that being this small at this age could mean any one of a hundred different problems (none of which have solutions, of course), but there are no secondary indicators to point to any particular one of those problems. Even her short leg bones don't necessarily mean anything because problems that cause that usually affect the arm bones too, but they look totally normal. So she's small, but there's really no indication as to why. He mentioned doing an amniocentesis to check for chromosomal abnormalities or infections, but didn't think it was really necessary at this point. Her blood flow measurements everywhere (placenta, heart, brain) were good, so there's not really a concern about a nutrient deficiency or anything like that either.
We were pretty much told that there's nothing (specific) to worry about, but they are bringing me back on October 18th to check on her growth and make sure she's still progressing normally. I'm guessing they are probably going to want to monitor her growth throughout the rest of the pregnancy too. Andy's going to come to the rest of these specialist appointments with me, just because they're so overwhelming. It's hard to process all that information all at once, especially knowing that no matter what the problem would be, there's no fix for it. It did make me feel better to hear him say that it's entirely possible that I was like this as a baby too, they just didn't know it. The technology wasn't sophisticated enough to take such precise measurements back then. So it could still be just the way my babies are going to develop, we just don't know that yet.
So that was our trip to the specialist. It didn't really change anything for me, seeing as how they still don't know if there's anything wrong, but at least I got some more good pictures out of it!
This one is probably my favorite from the whole session - you can see her profile really well, including her adorable little nose! And, if you look carefully, her lips are parted and it looks (to me) like she's smiling :-) I have also been told that it looks like she is blowing a bubble, but that's just her hand behind the other side of her head.
Here, you can see that she's getting her workout on by doing crunches! Her face is turned away (which is why her head looks weird) but it was funny to see her flex in and out of this position, touching elbow to knee.
So this coming Thursday I go for my regular visit to my OB and then I will be headed back to the specialists on October 18th. Even though they say nothing is necessarily 'wrong' at this point, please continue to pray for my baby girl to grow big and strong and make it above that 10th percentile!
As far as names go, we are 99% settled on the one that we like. However, he still doesn't want me sharing just yet in case we change our minds. I'm not going to be able to keep it to myself for too much longer though, so I hope he gets over it soon!
Quick update on the house: things are moving along very well - and very quickly! We got all the paperwork from the banks and have our inspection scheduled for this coming Tuesday morning. We've submitted all the necessary paperwork to our bank for the mortgage application to be processed and will be signing papers and scheduling the appraisal on Tuesday afternoon. I don't know when we schedule the closing, but I'm hoping for November 2nd. After we get the keys at the closing, we are going to give ourselves until Thanksgiving to get everything moved. Our first month's mortgage is included in our closing costs, so we're going to go ahead and pay November's rent too. This way, November is paid up on both houses and there's no rush to get from one to the other. We can take a week or two to clean and paint the new house before moving everything and then have a few more days to clean over here before giving the keys back. Giving ourselves this time and space will (we hope) really reduce the stress of moving and it gives me a little bit longer to get everything packed!
Now, onto our visit with the specialist this past week. Andy was unable to get off of work to come with me, so my mom came along, which was a BIG help. They people there were really nice and we could tell they really knew their stuff. Basically, after almost 2 hours of ultrasound and talking with the doctor, they've come to the conclusion that she's still too small, but there's no apparent reason why. The doctor explained that up until the 3rd trimester, all babies grow at pretty much the same rate. After 28 weeks, they start growing differently based on their genetic predispositions to be tall or short or whatever. So my being short should have nothing to do with the baby's size right now. That being said, any measurements that fall between the 10th and 90th percentile are considered in the 'normal' range for growth. Well my baby girl is only in the 7th percentile, so she's just small enough to warrant further investigation.
They did not change my due date because developmentally speaking, she's right on track for 24 weeks. She has all the pieces and parts that she should have at this point and they are all put together in the right order and working well. Overall, she is proportionate, except her femurs (thigh bones) are a bit shorter than they should be for the rest of her body. The doctor basically said that being this small at this age could mean any one of a hundred different problems (none of which have solutions, of course), but there are no secondary indicators to point to any particular one of those problems. Even her short leg bones don't necessarily mean anything because problems that cause that usually affect the arm bones too, but they look totally normal. So she's small, but there's really no indication as to why. He mentioned doing an amniocentesis to check for chromosomal abnormalities or infections, but didn't think it was really necessary at this point. Her blood flow measurements everywhere (placenta, heart, brain) were good, so there's not really a concern about a nutrient deficiency or anything like that either.
We were pretty much told that there's nothing (specific) to worry about, but they are bringing me back on October 18th to check on her growth and make sure she's still progressing normally. I'm guessing they are probably going to want to monitor her growth throughout the rest of the pregnancy too. Andy's going to come to the rest of these specialist appointments with me, just because they're so overwhelming. It's hard to process all that information all at once, especially knowing that no matter what the problem would be, there's no fix for it. It did make me feel better to hear him say that it's entirely possible that I was like this as a baby too, they just didn't know it. The technology wasn't sophisticated enough to take such precise measurements back then. So it could still be just the way my babies are going to develop, we just don't know that yet.
So that was our trip to the specialist. It didn't really change anything for me, seeing as how they still don't know if there's anything wrong, but at least I got some more good pictures out of it!
This one is probably my favorite from the whole session - you can see her profile really well, including her adorable little nose! And, if you look carefully, her lips are parted and it looks (to me) like she's smiling :-) I have also been told that it looks like she is blowing a bubble, but that's just her hand behind the other side of her head.
Here, you can see that she's getting her workout on by doing crunches! Her face is turned away (which is why her head looks weird) but it was funny to see her flex in and out of this position, touching elbow to knee.
So this coming Thursday I go for my regular visit to my OB and then I will be headed back to the specialists on October 18th. Even though they say nothing is necessarily 'wrong' at this point, please continue to pray for my baby girl to grow big and strong and make it above that 10th percentile!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Ups and Downs
The past two weeks have been so full of ups and downs for us. I'm exhausted. It's been so crazy I haven't even wanted to give updates, but now enough has happened that I just have to! But first, a baby update . . .
We have reached 23 weeks this weekend! I can hardly believe it. Baby Girl is kicking and punching like a champ and Momma loves it! Well, most of the time. Sometimes, she gets me in some kind of organ that really hurts. But it's still very encouraging. Andy still hasn't been able to feel anything, which makes us kind of sad. I swear she's strong enough that he should be able to feel her, but she always stops moving as soon as he touches my stomach. Even when I touch it, she stops. It's very frustrating. The internet tells me she's about the size of a grapefruit now, but I'm not so sure with how she was measuring a few weeks ago. The other cool fact is that all of her facial features are fully developed now, so we should (hopefully) get some good pictures at our next scan!
Ok, on to the life updates . . .
First let's start with an up:
Andy is making terrific progress on the furniture for Baby Girl's room! We have the glider that is completely done and sitting in the living room . . .
. . . And it's super comfortable too! I actually use it a lot already. Last week, the dresser was also fully completed . . .
The picture is bad because of the horrible lighting in our basement, but it really is pretty. We painted the hardware oil-rubbed bronze and I think it looks really sharp against the Marshmallow White. And then just this past week, he has been working on getting the wardrobe sanded down and ready to prime . . .
Again, horrible pictures because the lighting is just terrible, but you get the idea. They were gorgeous pieces of furniture before, and I really like how they are turning out!
Down:
Last Friday afternoon, on my way home from work, my car completely died. I made it onto our road, but not quite home, so I had to walk the rest of the way. This in itself was very upsetting to me, seeing as how it was a hot day and I'm quite pregnant. We had it towed to the mechanic, who was closed for the weekend and couldn't diagnose anything until Monday. So on Monday we got a call saying that it was the alternator (which is a fairly expensive part) and it was located in between the engine and the dash, so there would be quite a bit of labor as well. Between driving Andy's car (when he wasn't at work) and borrowing my Father-in-law's car, I was able to make it to work and all my other commitments for the week, but it wasn't enjoyable. I'm used to driving my SUV, so driving around all these little cars all week long just drove me crazy - not to mention how hard it was to get in and out of them! Anyway, my car came home on Thursday night, but the bill was $659 (which is a lot for us). So we had to pull money from our budgeted areas for moving expenses and improving the new house once we move in. It's frustrating to be doing so well on budgeting for upcoming expenses and then have to use it because an unforeseen circumstance arises. We were proud though that we didn't have to dip into our savings for our down payment and closing costs, so that was a little bit of a silver lining to an otherwise cloudy event.
Up:
On Saturday (the day after my car broke down), my mom came down to take me shopping at some nearby outlets to get ideas for clothes for Baby Girl! It was so much fun. We were supposed to be just window shopping so that she could get a feel for my taste in baby clothes and stuff like that, but we ended up walking away with a few adorable outfits that were just too cute to leave at the store. I love that even though we moved away from my parents last fall, they still live close enough to come visit like that on a semi-regular basis. It also made me so excited for the baby to be here so I can dress her up and snuggle her all day long :-)
Down:
Monday evening, I had to work. That, in itself, is not really too big of a down. However. This particular retail job requires that I do a lot of straightening of the store. I go around and put things away, straighten the items on the shelves, pull things forward, etc. It ends up being a lot of getting up and down off the floor to reach the bottom shelves. At 8:59 (we close at 9:00) I stood up from kneeling on the floor, and my pants ripped right out. The new girl that I was training thought it was just hilarious, but I wasn't so amused. Here's what I had to walk around in the rest of the night . . .
Yeah. Luckily, we were only there for another hour finishing things up and my t-shirt was just long enough to pull down over it. Now, if you've ever been pregnant, you probably know this already, but those of you who haven't, let me make this very clear: Maternity clothes are flipping expensive. Seriously. They cost just as much (if not more) than regular clothes, but they NEVER go on sale. So when I found some on clearance at target for 50% off, I snatched up two identical pairs right away. When I was wearing them, though, it felt like one pair was a half-size smaller than the other. Not enough to be uncomfortable, just enough so that I could tell the difference between two otherwise identical pairs of jeans. I guess the tight pair got just a little too tight on Monday night. I now only own one pair of jeans and a pair of capris. The weather has cooled down sufficiently that the capris are officially out of season. So I have one pair of pants to wear to work and no money to go buy more because all our money just went into my car. I guess I will start saving my pennies and hopefully be able to get a second pair in a few weeks. It just feels ridiculous to only own one pair of jeans, but I guess that's the way life goes!
Up:
This is the big one. This past Friday, I was in the music room and my phone chimed letting me know I had a voicemail. Our cell phones don't get great reception in our house (because of the tin siding, we think) so it never rang, but the voicemail was very surprising! It was our Realtor, Janet. She's been awesome, by the way. If any of you are ever looking for a house in my area, let me know and I will get you hooked up with her. Anyway, she called to say that we heard back from the mysterious investor that was the last piece to the puzzle. They wanted us to change something. Andy got home and she called and actually talked to him and it turns out that they will approve it if we push our closing date back (from October 19th) to on or before November 9th! Of course, we said yes to that and went right out and signed the papers agreeing to it. So we don't have all the paperwork from the banks and such yet, but we DO have a closing date SET for no later than November 9th! It will take another week or so to get the rest of the paperwork in and then we will file the actual mortgage application and schedule the inspection and really get the ball rolling. The best part, for me, is that I know we will have the keys by November 9th. No more waiting and wondering. It's time to start packing. Well, we decided I could wait until the beginning of October to start that so that I have a week to just enjoy this good news and get mentally prepared. The only drawback is that now yesterday was the first day of Autumn and I don't get to put out any of my fall decorations. But I'll take it if it means I get to put up the Christmas tree in a house that we own! I just feel so excited and so relieved. This is really, finally, happening. And just in time too, because I was starting to feel antsy about getting the nursery set up :-)
Neutral:
I have mixed feelings about this next one because it hasn't happened yet. On the 27th, we will go in to the specialist for the scan to see why Baby Girl was measuring so small. I've been really hungry this week, so I hope she was just a little behind and will have caught up by then. Andy can't get the day off to go with me, so my amazing Mom is coming down so I don't have to go alone. I'm not really worried, I just don't like having to wait so long to find out. Luckily, a doctor should actually perform the scan and be able to tell us something right away, so that cuts down on the waiting quite a bit. Anyway, just please keep us in your prayers this week for good reports, calm nerves, and a cooperative baby!
(Also, I told Andy that we need to agree on a name for her before I go in for this appointment, so hopefully that announcement should be coming very soon as well!)
We have reached 23 weeks this weekend! I can hardly believe it. Baby Girl is kicking and punching like a champ and Momma loves it! Well, most of the time. Sometimes, she gets me in some kind of organ that really hurts. But it's still very encouraging. Andy still hasn't been able to feel anything, which makes us kind of sad. I swear she's strong enough that he should be able to feel her, but she always stops moving as soon as he touches my stomach. Even when I touch it, she stops. It's very frustrating. The internet tells me she's about the size of a grapefruit now, but I'm not so sure with how she was measuring a few weeks ago. The other cool fact is that all of her facial features are fully developed now, so we should (hopefully) get some good pictures at our next scan!
Ok, on to the life updates . . .
First let's start with an up:
Andy is making terrific progress on the furniture for Baby Girl's room! We have the glider that is completely done and sitting in the living room . . .
. . . And it's super comfortable too! I actually use it a lot already. Last week, the dresser was also fully completed . . .
The picture is bad because of the horrible lighting in our basement, but it really is pretty. We painted the hardware oil-rubbed bronze and I think it looks really sharp against the Marshmallow White. And then just this past week, he has been working on getting the wardrobe sanded down and ready to prime . . .
Again, horrible pictures because the lighting is just terrible, but you get the idea. They were gorgeous pieces of furniture before, and I really like how they are turning out!
Down:
Last Friday afternoon, on my way home from work, my car completely died. I made it onto our road, but not quite home, so I had to walk the rest of the way. This in itself was very upsetting to me, seeing as how it was a hot day and I'm quite pregnant. We had it towed to the mechanic, who was closed for the weekend and couldn't diagnose anything until Monday. So on Monday we got a call saying that it was the alternator (which is a fairly expensive part) and it was located in between the engine and the dash, so there would be quite a bit of labor as well. Between driving Andy's car (when he wasn't at work) and borrowing my Father-in-law's car, I was able to make it to work and all my other commitments for the week, but it wasn't enjoyable. I'm used to driving my SUV, so driving around all these little cars all week long just drove me crazy - not to mention how hard it was to get in and out of them! Anyway, my car came home on Thursday night, but the bill was $659 (which is a lot for us). So we had to pull money from our budgeted areas for moving expenses and improving the new house once we move in. It's frustrating to be doing so well on budgeting for upcoming expenses and then have to use it because an unforeseen circumstance arises. We were proud though that we didn't have to dip into our savings for our down payment and closing costs, so that was a little bit of a silver lining to an otherwise cloudy event.
Up:
On Saturday (the day after my car broke down), my mom came down to take me shopping at some nearby outlets to get ideas for clothes for Baby Girl! It was so much fun. We were supposed to be just window shopping so that she could get a feel for my taste in baby clothes and stuff like that, but we ended up walking away with a few adorable outfits that were just too cute to leave at the store. I love that even though we moved away from my parents last fall, they still live close enough to come visit like that on a semi-regular basis. It also made me so excited for the baby to be here so I can dress her up and snuggle her all day long :-)
Down:
Monday evening, I had to work. That, in itself, is not really too big of a down. However. This particular retail job requires that I do a lot of straightening of the store. I go around and put things away, straighten the items on the shelves, pull things forward, etc. It ends up being a lot of getting up and down off the floor to reach the bottom shelves. At 8:59 (we close at 9:00) I stood up from kneeling on the floor, and my pants ripped right out. The new girl that I was training thought it was just hilarious, but I wasn't so amused. Here's what I had to walk around in the rest of the night . . .
Yeah. Luckily, we were only there for another hour finishing things up and my t-shirt was just long enough to pull down over it. Now, if you've ever been pregnant, you probably know this already, but those of you who haven't, let me make this very clear: Maternity clothes are flipping expensive. Seriously. They cost just as much (if not more) than regular clothes, but they NEVER go on sale. So when I found some on clearance at target for 50% off, I snatched up two identical pairs right away. When I was wearing them, though, it felt like one pair was a half-size smaller than the other. Not enough to be uncomfortable, just enough so that I could tell the difference between two otherwise identical pairs of jeans. I guess the tight pair got just a little too tight on Monday night. I now only own one pair of jeans and a pair of capris. The weather has cooled down sufficiently that the capris are officially out of season. So I have one pair of pants to wear to work and no money to go buy more because all our money just went into my car. I guess I will start saving my pennies and hopefully be able to get a second pair in a few weeks. It just feels ridiculous to only own one pair of jeans, but I guess that's the way life goes!
Up:
This is the big one. This past Friday, I was in the music room and my phone chimed letting me know I had a voicemail. Our cell phones don't get great reception in our house (because of the tin siding, we think) so it never rang, but the voicemail was very surprising! It was our Realtor, Janet. She's been awesome, by the way. If any of you are ever looking for a house in my area, let me know and I will get you hooked up with her. Anyway, she called to say that we heard back from the mysterious investor that was the last piece to the puzzle. They wanted us to change something. Andy got home and she called and actually talked to him and it turns out that they will approve it if we push our closing date back (from October 19th) to on or before November 9th! Of course, we said yes to that and went right out and signed the papers agreeing to it. So we don't have all the paperwork from the banks and such yet, but we DO have a closing date SET for no later than November 9th! It will take another week or so to get the rest of the paperwork in and then we will file the actual mortgage application and schedule the inspection and really get the ball rolling. The best part, for me, is that I know we will have the keys by November 9th. No more waiting and wondering. It's time to start packing. Well, we decided I could wait until the beginning of October to start that so that I have a week to just enjoy this good news and get mentally prepared. The only drawback is that now yesterday was the first day of Autumn and I don't get to put out any of my fall decorations. But I'll take it if it means I get to put up the Christmas tree in a house that we own! I just feel so excited and so relieved. This is really, finally, happening. And just in time too, because I was starting to feel antsy about getting the nursery set up :-)
Neutral:
I have mixed feelings about this next one because it hasn't happened yet. On the 27th, we will go in to the specialist for the scan to see why Baby Girl was measuring so small. I've been really hungry this week, so I hope she was just a little behind and will have caught up by then. Andy can't get the day off to go with me, so my amazing Mom is coming down so I don't have to go alone. I'm not really worried, I just don't like having to wait so long to find out. Luckily, a doctor should actually perform the scan and be able to tell us something right away, so that cuts down on the waiting quite a bit. Anyway, just please keep us in your prayers this week for good reports, calm nerves, and a cooperative baby!
(Also, I told Andy that we need to agree on a name for her before I go in for this appointment, so hopefully that announcement should be coming very soon as well!)
Thursday, September 6, 2012
It's A...
Boy - 5, Girl - 12. And the winner is??
. . . . . .
GIRL!
Yep, that's right, we're having a baby girl! We could not be more thrilled. We haven't decided on a name yet, so for right now Baby Girl will have to do. That still feels a lot better than 'he or she'!
I did actually drink all 48 ounces of fluid that I was supposed to, which the ultrasound tech was very impressed by. I also did NOT pee my pants, which I was very impressed by! I really almost didn't make it though. I did go to the bathroom before we left home (shhhh don't tell) and I was in pain by the time I got up on the table! Luckily, she only scanned for a few minutes before letting me go, and watching the monitor really distracted me from it. My instructions specified 'non-carbonated' fluids, but I guess I should have gone with all water. I had a 1/2 cup of coffee (which is less than the Dr. said I am allowed per day) and an entire bottle of vitamin water along with two more bottles of regular water. Baby Girl was SUPER wiggly and energetic and hard to get good pictures of. OOPS! Maybe they should specify to keep the sugar low? Anyway, chances are she would have been that wiggly anyway. Seeing that made me feel SO much better about not feeling much just yet. I have been feeling more and more, but I definitely was not feeling all of those flips!
She also is apparently a little camera shy. She would not take her hands away from her face for a legitimate profile picture. I still think the pictures turned out SUPER cute, but the tech wasn't quite satisfied with any of them for the purpose of seeing just the profile. So, I guess there's a chance we'll have to go back in and have another one done. I'm not complaining about getting to see her again! Except that it kind of hurt. The tech had to be kind of rough with me in order to get Baby Girl into the positions she needed. She rolled me around, jiggled my belly, everything. Afterward, my back hurt pretty back and I figure she had nudged Baby into my kidney at some point. Ouch. I feel all better now, though :-)
The last thing we noticed about Baby Girl is that she kept fidgeting with her umbilical cord. Not joking. While her hands were up by her face, she had ahold of it and was tugging and playing and pretty much just fidgeting with it. Hmmmm. I suppose she really must be my child - I've always got to have something for my hands to be doing!
As far as determining her health, we didn't get very far on that front. Between the tech and the machine, we could tell that she has all of her facial features, both arms, both legs, a nice round head, and fingers and toes. Also, she weighs right around 11 ounces, which is average. However. The doctor that I was supposed to see afterward to read the scan and talk to me about her health had been called away to an emergency surgery, so I saw a Nurse Practitioner instead. She was great, but didn't have the qualifications to read the scan, so we will have to wait to hear about her health. They will have one of the doctors look over it sometime in the next week or so and then if there are any pressing problems or they need it to be redone because the pictures weren't good enough, they will call me back in for another one. This was the conversation I was most anxious about having (I didn't really sleep last night) and we didn't get to have it. But I still feel so much better now that I've seen her. Of course we won't know anything for sure until I see the Dr. next in October, but I can stop worrying about some of the major medical concerns that were crossing my mind.
Ahhhh! Ok. I'm still freaking out a little bit. I really can't believe we're having a little girl! Up until this week, I was very neutral. I really didn't have a preference either way. Then I woke up on Monday and for some reason thought, 'I really want a little girl.' So I'm a little extra excited that I still get one, even though I made up my mind at the last minute! Ok, here's some of the better pictures of my little Baby Girl . . .
 |
| Look! I'm a girl! She was really modest and made the tech work hard to get a shot of this particular area. Good Girl! |
 |
| Tiny little baby toes! |
 |
| Laying on her side, waving hi to us! Look at that cute little ear! The line you can barely make out between her hands and her ear is her umbilical cord that she was fidgeting with. |
 |
| This is a little hard to make out, but she's laying on her back and we're looking down on her. She's got her legs crossed and is clearly giving a facepalm. That's my girl! |
The rest of the pictures look cute in person, but didn't scan very well. I was a little disappointed that we got regular printouts instead of a disc of digital images, but whatever. I'm not about to complain! We got to take home 11 different pictures of her, so I'm very satisfied with that! And that's all for today! Stay tuned for updates on Little Miss McD!
UPDATE: Just got a call from the Dr. They looked at the scan and noticed she is measuring pretty small. She's all put together right, so there's no genetic abnormalities to be worried about, she's just small. So they're referring me to get another scan done by an office that specializes in high risk pregnancies to figure out why. I think that it's just because I'm pretty petite and she takes after her momma, but that's my opinion. He said it's either that or our dates are off and I'm not as far along as we thought. There is also a slight chance that the placenta isn't delivering nutrients like it should and that's why she's not growing well. He said not to worry about anything at this point and just to wait and see what the other office says. They will call tomorrow and set up an appointment for me. Guess we'll get a second chance to see her after all! Please keep all three of us in your prayers for an easy answer to these questions!
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