Bleh!

We had our most recent ultrasound on Wednesday and a visit with a different OB since my friend was in Chicago at a conference. All of my BPP exams (biophysical profile) with the ultrasound have been wonderful! Monkey is thriving. They measure breathing - he is breathing like crazy. They measure movement - he moves like crazy. They look at the fluid - there is plenty of fluid. He passes the test with flying colors! They have not measured growth yet but that will be soon.



My visit with the OB went well. I was 1.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced which is pretty good for a first time mommy. She also thought that monkey felt bigger than what the ultrasound indicated. She didn't seem to worried.

Our last official "married without kids" event was later that night. We went to a Shins concert at the Crystal Ballroom. Used my huge belly as a good reason to skip the line and got to go in first with the guy with crutches who didn't even have a cast. That guaranteed that I got to sit down. It was a good concert.

About mid way through the concert, in part because all I was doing was sitting with my hands resting on my belly, I noticed that I was having some not painful contractions. They lasted a minute and were fairly irregular. By later that night/early next AM they were very regular. Before I went to bed, I made sure we were all packed in case we needed to be.

By the next morning I had slept less than an hour and called the on call doc. Not painful but regular contractions every 2-5 minutes. She said to come in and they would check to see if my cervix was changing at all. We brought our bags just in case but I wasn't convinced. We arrived a little after 630AM to the hospital OB triage area. They checked and my cervix was the same. They said I could walk or go home and wait to see if thing got painful. I tried walking, but that really didn't help. Nice OB nurse who was getting off at 7 AM was replaced by grumpy - "please don't come back until you can't talk through your contractions" and "you don't want your baby to be born now anyway" nurse. The OB triage room was about 100 degrees! AND I am getting a cold!

MAJOR LETDOWN! So since then I think we have both been in a little bit of a funk. My cold is not helping my mood. I took today and yesterday off. Saw my OB today who again today (she is back from her conference) and confirmed that nothing had changed. At least she seemed a little more anxious to get things going than grumpy OB nurse.

So I will try going back to work on Monday and Tuesday. I will have my ultrasound for growth on Wednesday. My maternity pics will be later Wednesday PM. I have plans to see the Star Trek movie and visit with a friend this weekend. We will not chance the 4 hour drive to GP for Mother's Day/Ethan and Aiden (nephews) birthday party which is a bummer as I would like to see everyone.

So, i just feel BLEH! Too tired and sicky to feel excited right now and definitely not dealing well with the uncertainty. Even Tom is feeling let down after the "practice contractions". It is hard to know what to do other than wait. I think monkey will be earlier than his due date which is nice. My nesting is pretty much done - which leaves little to occupy me.

Come soon little monkey - I will feel better once I see your healthy smiling face! GO AWAY COLD!

Ooh and here is the artwork that Tom picked out for the nursery - the only pic we haven't hung yet has monkey's name on it so no ruined surprises!

The Final Countdown!

So we went for our follow-up ultrasound this last Wednesday to make sure little monkey is growing. The ultrasound done first of Feb he measured in the 48th percentile. End of March was 38th percentile and this last one was 22nd percentile. UGH!

It just goes to show that if you go looking for something hard enough, you might find something. If we hadn't had the ultrasound in March, we would have never known. I am measuring normally. I am gaining weight. Heartbeat and all parts look normal! He is moving a lot! He has hiccups and kicks! HIs bottom has changed sides so it is not against my liver and his feet kick my liver instead of my stomach!

So now we have to have more looking and we may get to meet little Monkey a little bit early if he falls below 10th percentile. We won't know more until at least the 13th of May most likely. I have been instructed to cut back at work and no more "Exercise" outside of walking and doing my normal things - basically no gym! I am enjoying sitting down more at work and seeing fewer patients as monkey likes to move more when I sit still and I like to feel him moving ;-)



Meanwhile, I had a very nice shower from my office ladies. They slathered me with good monkey clothes and gifts and tried to trick me into saying the name of the baby out loud - not yet! Let there be one surprise for me to share!


The nursery is almost completely done really really close!
Artwork is now up - pic to come soon. Tom picked out some artwork done by local artists and we got some frames and put it all up this weekend!

We have ordered the ottoman to go with the handmade rocking chair that a nice guy in my dad's church made for me years ago and has been through 4 moves now!

We have found a cool new kind of more environmentally friendly diaper to try that has me excited about diapers. You can check it out at gdiapers.com and I will let you know how they work. Flushable, compostable or disposable liners that actually break down in the landfill instead of clogging it up. Unless they fall off the kid altogether, it sounds worth a little bit of work! Even better than cloth!

I spent most of the afternoon packing my bag to go to the hospital - I LOVE PACKING! And of course monkey's bag is packed as well with two options for first outfit depending on how cold it is come his going home day!

Changes

So I am sitting here at work with a nice hole in the afternoon. I have begun to limit my number of patients so that many afternoons are more like this while my mornings are busy. This allows me to catch up and sit down. I DID NOT USED TO LIKE TO SIT DOWN.

This weekend, in between concerts and Maternity Orientation and getting things done around the house I took a grand total of 6 hours of naps! I could have slept more. I could likely have slept most of the day and never showered or dressed and been perfectly happy - until I smelled myself with my super-spidey pregnant senses. I DID NOT USED TO LIKE TO NAP AND LIE AROUND AND NOT DO ANYTHING ALL DAY.

I am getting better at saying no and not doing things that I am not interested in. I make Tom go with his friends to movies or concerts I am not interested in and I take a friend if he is not interested. I have cut back on my volunteering because it was just too much to do some days. I will likely not have a medical student with me next year as it is too much to cram into my day and I feel I am not doing my best. I skipped the drive to Grants Pass to spend Easter with mom and dad as I knew it would be a less than 24 hour trip. I DID NOT USED TO HAVE SUCH LIMITATIONS TO MY MENTAL WELL BEING!

My belly is getting bigger. I have done well to not gain too much weight. I have only recently seen maybe a small hint that a single stretch mark is forming near my belly button. I used to be able to walk fast and long and hard and get my heart rate up. I now walk at a slow pace for a maximum of 30 minutes (actually usually 30 minutes). I cannot reach down to pick something up without making it a big ordeal. I feel off balance and clumsy. My cute clothes are replaced with mama elephant clothes. I DID NOT USED TO BE SO PHYSICALLY LIMITED!

And yet, I cannot wait for the next changes. I can feel little monkey moving right now and know that sleep will become "sleep" and my patience will be work thin and I will wonder why I ever thought it was bad to lie around all day long doing nothing. I have been waiting for this change. I have looked forward to putting all my energy in this project for a while. And here is the one thing that hasn't changed - I CAN'T WAIT AND I AM IMPATIENT!

Good thing I am too tired to do anything about it most of the time. Good thing I know that monkey needs more time to grow and we need more money in the bank before my unpaid maternity leave. Good thing I have a husband who sometimes forgets my limitations (because he is not used to them either) but then remembers and is nice enough not to question my sanity when I make some horribly irrational demand (and then makes me dinner). I will say a little YAY for changes and I can't wait to see what comes next!

Forecasting

So this morning I am sitting in bed in my PJs while the sun shines outside thinking about how life will change in a couple of months. I wanted to sleep in this AM, but cats awakened me at 830. This is about as long as they can go without being "starved" in the morning as on weekdays I feed them closer to 730 when I leave in the morning for work. Somehow, I think both of those times will become sleeping in. I don't mind the mornings so much, but I have a feeling that Tom (who is still asleep at 1030) will find this a big change! I know that Monkey will not like to be kept waiting to eat either and even this AM has been up kicking and punching already, preventing me from going back to sleep. It will just be a lot more fun when I can load him up in the stroller and go for a nice morning walk rather than talk to him through a bunch of skin and amniotic fluid!

My new favorite thing to do is to walk into Monkey's room and just stand or sit and look at the nursery. He will usually oblige with a kick or two. How fun it will be to have an actual baby to put in the nursery! How odd also and I am looking forward to moving out of the surreal into the reality of it. I am trying to be patient with my 7 weeks and 2 days left ;-)

We are also still trying to figure out a plan for moving. This house will be fine for a little bit but there are parts of it that do not translate well into a family of three. I have a feeling that the back yard which is a common area will need to be more accessible if we stay here so a set of stairs off the back deck will need to be constructed. I would also like to have some room for family and friends to visit. We found a great place in Multnomah Village but it didn't work out right now. We have a looked at a couple of others but still feel like we may just be looking a little too soon and that moving and having to shift our finances around when maternity leave and baby are on the horizon is maybe not the most stressless venture!


I am glad to be feeling well! I know people who are pregnant and due around me that are on bed rest or having to given themselves shots and that would certainly not be very fun. A little discomfort when I first stand up and getting more easily tired are good things that are just reminders that I need to slow down and take it more easy.

It will be interesting to see what new challenges come our way with this little one. I will be excited for everyone to know his name - we have decided on a name that we are about 99% sure we will use but are not really telling anyone yet! I will also be excited to see him. The ultrasound pics are nice but not as good as the real thing!

I think I'm going to wake up my husband now and think of something nice to do today to enjoy the warm, sunny Northwest spring day!

Nursery and Shower

What a busy week it has been!

We had more ultrasound pictures. Monkey is growing well but slowing down just a slight tiny little itsy bit. We may have to have one more ultrasound just to make sure all is well. He is looking cute as ever and very much like his daddy I think! He will be a cutie pie! I can't wait to see him. Still a little over 8 weeks until the due date. I am really not in a hurry for him to come early. He weighs about 3 pounds 7 ounces right now based on ultrasound measurements but he needs to grow a little bit more. I am feeling okay. I can't move as quickly. My pelvis sometimes feels as if it is only held together with some loose rubber band and the heartburn is significant at times. I also have cut back the number of patients I will see in one day as I do not want to over do it. It seems most days I am tired only a couple of hours after waking up. This is a little annoying but I guess all in all I cannot really complain because this pregnancy has been a cake walk compared to what it could be. No morning sickness, no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no bed rest (yet)! I am happy and healthy and so is monkey! I have also only gained about 17 pounds which is awesome. Still going to the gym 3-4 times per week although walking more slowly on the treadmill. We got some more 3 D pics this time from the ultrasound just by mentioning that it was done last time and was so cool. But monkey was not a cooperative and held both his arms over his face most of the time - oh well. Here are a couple of quick shots that she literally had to go frame by frame to get! I like the one where he looks like he is leaning on his one hand!
Also a pic of me today after the baseball game - too bad the Ducks decided to play horrible defense against the Beavers.






Mom and Shauna came up Friday afternoon to help me go to Ikea and get nursery furniture. Then we put it all together and had it looking great in the nursery room by bed time! I'm lucky my mom and sister enjoy putting things together as much as I do ;-) It would have frustrated Tom a little I think to help me as much as they did with holding and assembly of parts! We made quick work of it all! You can see that our cat Sydney is not letting the room be completely claimed by anyone but her yet! So far they haven't tried to jump in the crib. We will see if they figure that one out or not...






Saturday was my friends and family baby shower! What a fun time with lots of people there to wish monkey well. My friend and OB Laura and knitting friend Meg did a great job of putting it together. Mom, Shauna and Rita came up from Grants Pass and my friend Beth came from Eugene! Also many of my Portland buddies were there as well! I was very happy to see them all and visit! Monkey got lots of cool clothes and bedding that I already put away. I love just walking in monkey's room and turning the light on and seeing the transformation from no nursery to nursery.....

Pregnancy Pics

We are in a lull period of activity. Soon the doctor visits will become more frequent but for now, it is just waiting. More frustrating is that we found a house to fall in love with and are trying to figure out if we can afford it and if they will accept an offer that is lower than their asking price. You would think this wouldn't be a big deal in this market but it is. So we wait. And until we know, I cannot get started on putting things together in the nursery. So I will update some pics of me. The first one is from Feb 4th (24 1/7 weeks) and the other two are from Feb 21st and 22nd (26 4/7 weeks).

Who do YOU think he looks most like?

We totally lucked out today. We had a follow-up ultrasound and they wanted to make sure the growth was okay because where the cord inserted on the placenta was a little to one side. Monkey is growing well and he is right on track. The ultrasound tech was so smitten with him that she put the 3-D probe on and got a WHOLE BUNCH of great pics of his face. I have also attached pics of myself and Tom as babies. There is some extrapolation to imagine and hopefully the scan shows up well (you can click on each image to make it larger). I am limited because I have to scan the pics in and I have limited cropping ability, but who do you think he looks like?

Monkey is moving all over the place when I stop long enough to pay attention. We are taking names if anyone has ideas. We have some top contenders but aren't going to say. Guidelines for names are more traditional names, nothing that can be shortened to something weird and nothing that starts with K or C (Tom doesn't like the alliteration although my name doesn't follow that rule - oh well)

No signs of issues yet. Baby looks healthy and prety cute. Verification today on ultrasound also that this is a boy! Baby weight about 1.5 pounds, my weight gain 13 pounds - Christmas food!

We are doing well.....