5lbs 8oz....Already!

Growth ultrasound picture taken today. Yes, I know the picture is crooked. I'm lazy. I don't feel like editing it. This was the only decent picture that we got out of 10. I liked this one because she was sucking her thumb!

That's right, my kid is big. Not out of control big, but big. 5lbs 8oz at 34 weeks, 3 days. She will be gaining about an ounce a day from here on out and I have 42 days left until my estimated due date. If you do the math, that's a little over 8lbs if I go to the full 40 weeks. Again, not a monster but scary enough for me...especially when the ultrasound tech said, "Wow, she has a nice size head!". Wow. Thanks. My birth canal thanks you too.

All good news today though. Still no markers for Down's Syndrome (see post from December about that scare, in case you missed it), all her organs look great, heartbeat is great, fluid is perfect...like I said, all good news! There is apparently no threat of preterm labor either, according to the ultrasound, so these annoying contractions are just part of pregnancy for me. My doctor suggested on Friday, at my follow up appointment from the preterm labor scare, that I still take it easy since the contractions are clearly related to my activity level. No problem. I don't feel like doing much these days anyway!

Here's how I'm looking these days....

As far as how I'm feeling...well...hmmm...

Positives:

• I love to feel Lily move.
• I'm getting really close to meeting Lily, which is so exciting to me, obviously.
• I don't have any stretch marks yet.
• I am not on bedrest.

Negatives:

• I'm swollen.
• I'm huge (for my normal self).
  
• I'm crabby.
• My hips hurt.
• I can't sleep well.
• I'm tired.
• My feet hurt.
• I'm hungry all.of.the.time...but get nauseated after most meals.
• I pee every 20 minutes.
• Nothing fits me.
• I'm crabby.
• I'm crabby.
• I want to kill anyone that says anything about my weight.

Yep, this part of pregnancy is not the prettiest. All of my mommy friends warned me about this stage and here it is. I can see why some women do not want to work up until their due date. It's enough work just growing the kid and carrying it around at this point! Honestly, I know I have very little to complain about...but I do it anyway.

Here is some nursery pictures. We're considering it done now. I love it! Dustin did an amazing job on the painting and embellishments. He copied her bedding for the lady bugs and butterflies.

And here is another homemade gift from my friend Erin. She made these adorable frames for all of her current pregnant friends. Too cute.

Check out my friend Nicolasa's new blog:
http://naivehappiness.blogspot.com
She decided to do an uplifting blog with just pictures of happy things, submitted by whoever. Book mark it. It will make you smile, for sure.

Happy 60th Dad!

60???

I cannot believe my father is 60! That seems impossible to me. He does not look a day over 45 and probably never will in my eyes.

This is going to be a good year for you, I just know it! The house is sold, you're healthy, you're going to be a grandpa...and you're going to quit smoking! Ok, so I added the last one but I can hope!

You've always been my hero and just because you're old won't change that =) You're an amazing dad and will be an amazing grandpa to Lily. Thanks for all you do!

Happy Birthday! I love you!

A "tour" of Labor & Delivery??

Yesterday was quite an interesting day. One that I would rather not repeat but I'm glad I listened to my instincts...

Going back a little, Dustin and I were signed up to take a "Prepared Delivery" class, beginning this coming week. (This is supposedly the new term for Lamaze classes, with a tour of labor and delivery, etc). After thinking a lot about it and talking to Dustin, we decided to cancel the class. The bottom line, I just don't want to know. I have always been the type of person that is better off just doing things, rather than knowing everything there is to know about it first.

For example, if I buy something that has to be assembled, I will not read the instructions, I will try my best to figure it out. There is just too much information in those damn instruction booklets...kind of like how I felt these labor classes might be, too much information to freak us out.

That all being said, I had to register for my epidural, something this hospital requires. I cannot have an epidural without being preregistered. We decided to do the tour of labor and delivery with the epidural registration, which was just an hour of literally touring the unit where Lily will be born. Very simple, informative and not too in depth. We did this yesterday at 10:30am.

After the tour, I had some medical questions about some symptoms I had been experiencing for a couple of days. I had been experiencing some pressure and pelvic bone pain, almost to the point where walking was difficult. I assumed it was the baby "dropping" but it just felt weird to me. Although I had just had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, (which was also a bit stressful. I'll get to that in a minute), these symptoms seemed to pop up Friday and Saturday.

There wasn't really anyone available to ask during or after the tour so I just gave my doctor's emergency line a call. I really wasn't at all worried. Like I said, I expected him to say that the baby had dropped and that was it but I wanted to be sure.

Nope. He said, "At 33 weeks, we are not expecting symptoms like this yet. Go to triage in labor & delivery". Ummmm, ooook??!!

Very calmly, I turned the car around and went back to the hospital. I called Dustin to tell him, since he was on his way to work at that point. I also called my mom to give her the head's up. I really don't know what all of this meant, but I really wasn't afraid of anything.

To try to shorten this, I spent 5 hours on a stretcher in labor and delivery for preterm contractions, mostly caused by what I now know is a bladder infection (very common in pregnancy). I did not have any typical symptoms of a bladder infection at all, so I was pretty surprised.

They had to give me two shots and a pill to stop the contractions and an IV drip of antibiotics to shock my system. Thankfully, the baby is safe and sound. No dilation, no effacement, thank God. It's just a good thing I didn't ignore this because it could have actually caused me to go into full blown labor or a kidney infection which could be very bad for the baby.

Mom ended up leaving work to come and sit with me, which I needed. Dustin really couldn't get out of work and I was not liking being alone. We definitely figured out that I SUCK as a patient. I am way too much like my dad and have no tolerance for sitting around, unable to function. The shots themselves were horrible. They made my heart race and I was shaking really bad. Poor little Lily's heart rate also increased, of course. I know it could have been a lot worse but I'm going to go ahead and feel sorry for myself...it sucked.

I have a follow up appointment this Thursday to check on how everything is after all of that. I'm supposed to "modify my activity" until then, which is fine with me. I'm tired.

At my 32 week appointment last week, I was actually measuring 35 weeks! Nothing to worry about, but my doctor ordered an ultrasound to see how big the baby is. Measuring that far ahead either means a.) she is a big baby or b.) I'm retaining fluid. Either way, she may come a little earlier than expected! The stressful part of the appointment was when the doctor couldn't find the baby's heart beat! Turned out that the doppler monitor wasn't working and she was just fine. Needless to say though, I had a really hard time focusing after that scare.

Christ on a bicycle, pregnancy is so stressful. I guess it won't get any less stressful once she's here so I better get used to this, huh?