2 week dr's visit

On Tuesday we took Jack to the doctor for his first well-check. It turned out to be a big day. First, he lost his umbilical cord that morning. Finally. I had been waiting for it to fall off so we could start using the cloth diapers, which make him look really big by the way.

I also needed an actually nursing bra as I only had sleep bra's so we were going to stop by the maternity store before the appointment because I had Jonathan to watch the baby and we tossed lunch in there too just because.

So lunch went fine. We went to Boomerang's because it's quick and very yummy. Then it was off to Special Addition for some bra shopping. This is now the only maternity store I will go to. It's locally owned, the people are extremely helpful, they have a return policy (unlike most other places) and I can find affordable things there if I look hard enough. At one point Jack got a little fussy, I think from being in the car seat for so long, and Jonathan was able to rock him and he was fine. Of course I was leaking milk everywhere because of the fussing, which makes bra shopping a little more tricky, but we managed. I now actually have a nursing bra.

His appointment was last on the list and unfortunately he was starting to get a little hungry as we got there. We put him on the scale and he was up to 9 lbs 7 oz! Holy Cow! Almost a pound above his birth weight already. I expected him to be at his birth weight, but that far over it was impressive. He's 75% for weight and 50% for height and head. And the doctor said he looks perfect. We're not going to worry about the tongue tie issue unless we start having problems, but so far I think we're good. The poor guy was screaming by the time the appointment was over so I found a place to feed him and was able to nurse before heading home.

Dr's apt.

Everything is fine. Nothing has changed. Kid isn't cooked yet.

Dr's apt.

Well, the good news is that my body is showing some sign that it's going to actually have to get this kid out at some point. I'm dilated 1/2 a centimeter. It isn't much, but it's progress.

I also made it very clear that I don't want a c-section and I would also really prefer to avoid being induced. So far he seems to think that both are possible. There's no point in really worrying about it until it's actually an issue. I know that they don't like to let the baby cook longer than 41 weeks, which is April 5th. I'm not exactly sure why, but again, I'm not going to worry until we get there.

I was in the waiting room for a friggin' hour today. It sucked. I can't sit in one position for nearly that long. My doc will be on vacation next week and the only good thing about it is that I'll be seeing a nurse practitioner and won't have to wait for long.

This evening we took a breast feeding class, and it was very good. We got some great tips about how to handle things at the hospital. One thing that we'll be doing is setting the alarm on one of our phones to go off every 2 to 2.5 hours during the day to remind us to feed. When the alarm goes off we'll ask any visitors to leave the room. I'm not necessarily again some people seeing me breast feed, but at the beginning we need to not be distracted and have time to figure things out. We don't mind visitors at the hospital but if you come, please don't be offended if we ask you to leave.

I also found out that the hospital has hand pumps (the ones that are $50 at We-Be-Babies) that you can request and get for free. Woo Hoo!

More Painting?

These are too cute. I found them at www.elephantsonthewall.com and they have a ton of options, the pictures are just a few that would match the nursery. I'm debating about painting a few on his walls. It would be more difficult to sell the house with these there, but it would be easy to paint over them if we decided to sell, which we aren't even thinking about right now. What do you think?

I also got my glucose test results and I don’t have gestational diabetes! I didn’t even tell anyone about taking the test because I was so nervous about it. I have a friend who’s a nutritionist who was pretty sure I was going to have it and she had me freaked out. I was almost sure I was going to have to take the 3-hour one. 6 months before we started trying to get pregnant I went on a low carb diet in preparation for this and to hopefully try to prevent it. There’s no way to know if it was that or if I would have been fine either way, but I’m relieved. I’ve also continued to eat healthy since I’ve been pregnant but I do have sugar on occasion now. I figure that I can’t drink, I feel like crap and my body clearly doesn’t belong to me anymore, food is one of the few things I can still enjoy. (That and the doc said my weight gain is perfect so it all works out.)

28 Week Dr's Apt.

I saw the doctor today and everything went well. They did a sonogram and the little guy isn't so little anymore. He weighs approx. 2lb 10oz. and looks perfect. He was sucking on his hands and kicking my bladder. He's still breach and they say he probably will be until about 32 weeks.

The doc said that my weight gain is on track, pound for pound actually. So I think I should win a prize.

And the doctor loves us. We talked about what hospital we'll be delivering at and he said that they'd probably let us pick. I told him that we're registered at both and that we'll go wherever he is. That's the important thing here. He told us that he wished all his patients could be so easy, and then he hugged me. I just want him to deliver this baby and this baby to get here safe... and preferably not late.

Rule #1: Don't scare mommy!

I feel the baby move on a very regular basis and have since about week 19. Every 2 or 3 hours I feel something. Sometimes it's just a little kick but most of the time it's several. Last night I was sitting on the couch and I even told Jonathan, "wow, he's getting stronger" because I got some big movements.

Then today I didn't feel anything. At all. All day. At first I was thinking that maybe he was having a lazy day but even on lazy days I feel something. So I called the doctors office and they told me to come in.

The nurse put a monitor on me, at first she couldn't find the heart beat which just about made my heart stop, but she did find it. Thank God. The nurse tracked it for about 5 min and it was fine. The doc came in and did a sonogram and baby was moving.

So, my placenta is at the front and it always has been. Until last night, his feet had been down and his head by the placenta. Last night all those big movements I was feeling was him turning head down and now his feet are kicking the placenta, which is why I haven't felt anything.

Anyways, everything is fine. I have felt a few little movements since I left the dr's office but not much. The doc was glad that I came in and told me that I did the right thing and that that's what they're there for. I love my doc.

24 weeks - Viability!

This is the best picture we got at the sonogram the other day. He was wiggly and stubborn at the same time. The other clear picture we got was of his boy parts. There is no doubt about his gender. The white blob in front of (above) his face is his placenta. The placenta is high and in the front so his head is right around my belly button and his feet are down. He seems to like that position right now. Sometimes I'll feel him kick towards my left side, which I prefer to him kicking straight down, but it's always one of the two.

We are now officially at 24 weeks which is considered viability. What that means is that if the baby were born now they would do everything possible to keep him alive. The chances aren't great and the risk of having long term problems are high so we wan't to keep him cooking for a while longer but it is a big milestone.

I have a runny nose and a headache. Everyone seems to have something right now so I guess it was just a matter of time before I picked something up. Hopefully this is as bad as it gets. This is the down side of being pregnant during the winter instead of the summer, there are so many more germs and the chances of getting sick are much higher. And when you are sick, all you can take is Tylenol, Sudafed, or Benadryl.

The child birth preparation class yesterday was okay. It was good to find out what happens in the hospital and what the standard procedures are. It just re-confirmed that I love my doctor. All of his staff has been with him for a long time, and as long as everything is ok medically he lets the patient call the shots. He's very big into making this my day and even though things don't always go as planned he does everything he can to help the plan happen. He also delivers 90% of his own patients. All during the week, even in the middle of the night, he's the one there. If I have the baby on a weekend it's whom ever is on-call, so we're shooting for a week day.

We are also back to not knowing which hospital we're going to be at. The nurses have all been talking like it's going to be up north. We now need to take a tour and pre-register at that one just in case.

This week:

• Bring on the bulk! Baby gains about 6 ounces this week. The weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs.
• His body begins to fill out with his appearance increasingly becoming more like a newborn.
• Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing his distaste.
• Little creases have appeared on his palms. The muscular coordination of his hands has improved as he sucks his thumb.
• Over the next seven days the sweat glands will be forming in the skin.
• His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.
• This week your baby is officially considered viable.
• Baby weighs 1.3 pound (600gm) and is 11.8 inches (30cm) long -- almost the length of a ruler! (ours is 1.4 lbs, according to the sonogram)
  

16 Weeks: Belly shot & Dr's apt.

The picture above is from my point of view, this is what I see when I look down and it's why I feel so big. Believe me, I know that this is nothing yet but it is much bigger than it has ever been.

My dr. apt went well today. We waited for over an hour but everything looks good. I got the test results back from my blood work and there is a 1 in 7,600 chance that the baby has down syndrome and a 1 in 10,000 chance that he has trisomy 18 (both chromosomal disorders). Basically what is says is that we cooked up a good one.

All of my little complaints are normal, they sympathized and told me to take tylenol for the headaches. That's what I expected. The baby is measuring right on track, a day ahead actually, but he's 5 oz and all of his measurments look great. I forgot to ask about a flu shot, I'll call tomorrow and figure that out.

Of course the best part was the sonogram and getting to see our little man. He slept through most of it but we managed to wake him up eventually. This is him sucking his thumb.

This is a view from the front, you can see his face, his torso, and his legs are curled up. He's so big now that it's difficult to get his whole body on the screen.

The doctor said he would bet his next pay check that it's a boy, and this is why...

Here it is circled, in case you need a little help identifying parts. And, this is the only time his penis will be allowed to be displayed on the internet.

Sonogram & a pro-noun

Thanks to Starbucks our little one was awake and moving for the show today.

They measured the fluid on the back of the neck and it is way below the worry mark. Anything less than 3 mm is good and ours is at 1 mm. I also had some blood work done and they'll call in a few days if there is anything to be concerned about.

My mom went with us so she could see the action and we weren't disappointed. I also asked the technician if she could take a guess at the gender. And we're having a boy!!! She was pretty sure that it wasn't just a guess too, there was some strong evidence for it. We'll confirm it in 4 weeks but they've already put "male" on my chart. It's so nice to be able to say "he" now instead of "it". Everyone is very excited. We would have been excited either way, but I had a feeling it was a boy. He was stretching and moving all over the place.

The other great news is that the blood clot is completely gone! Yay! So I've been cleared for normal activity. Yay! I'm going to look on-line for some hiking pants and I'm planning on going for a walk in the morning.

My mom called to tell me that was the most fun she'd ever had at a doctor's office. And Jonathan took video of the whole thing and he's up-loading it now so hopefully I can post that soon. It's very cool. In the mean time, you have the pictures.

still restricted

I spoke with a nurse today and was told that I'm still on restriction until the clot is completely gone. I go back in 2 weeks so hopefully I'll get cleared for normal life then.

And when we go in 6 weeks from now we can find out if we're having a boy or a girl!

Dr's Visit and Sonogram

Todays sonogram was by far the neatest thing so far. On our way to the office we stopped at Thundercloud and got sandwiches to eat while we waited. Luckily we were there right around lunch time so the wait wasn't long. I hadn't even considered eating right before a sonogram would make it more interesting. The baby was awake and moving around, it was SO cool. He/she was flexing its finger and looked like it was waving at us. From one angle we could see all 4 limbs moving at the same time, it's a very active little squirt.

And what's really great is that the subchorionic hemorrhage is almost gone! It's half the size that it was 2 weeks ago and only 1.2 cm big now. So it's 1/4 of the size as it started out and a little less than 1/3 the size of the baby. The doctor said, "the chance of miscarriage is next to nothing now." Needles to say it was the best news we've heard all year.

I completely forgot to ask if I can be off of "restricted activity", we were just too mesmerized by watching the baby move to think of anything else. I'll call tomorrow and ask the nurse and if I can, I'm headed to the pool. I'm so out-of-shape it's pathetic, it would be nice to just be able to do a little.

The picture doesn't do what we got to see justice. The babies head is down and the body is above it. The little bitty thing to the right of the baby is its right hand waving. The baby is now 3.32 cm big, about the size of a prune. And the blood clot is so small you can't even see it in this picture. In 2 weeks we go back for our level 1 sonogram which measures fluid at the base of the babies neck and is an indicator of downs syndrome and a few other genetic deformations. While we were there the doc measured it today, he said we are looking for a number that's 3 or less and right now my baby is a 1. Yay! We have to wait until it's officially time to measure to double check and confirm that everything looks good but I'm not worried, this baby is doing great... and is kind of a show off too :-)

8 week sonogram & doctor's appointment

Today was the day they took our genetic history, did all kinds of tests, and gave us the doctor's pregnancy "guide" book. We waited in the office for over an hour before they even called us back, it was a full 1.5 hours past the appointment time before we saw the doctor... and we had Cooper with us. Luckily he did really well, all things considered.

The great news is that the blood clot is only 1/2 the size as it was last week! The doctor was thrilled and he expects it to keep shrinking and completely go away. I could tell he was relieved and he thinks that everything is going to be fine. We are SO excited and relieved. I'm not out of the woods yet but we're definitely headed in the right direction. And as long as I don't have anymore bleeding, I don't have to go back for 2 weeks.

Now for the picture: It looks much more like a baby this week. Its head is down and body is above it, and it doesn't have a tail anymore. It grew .55 cm in 5 days. On another angle we could see two arms and two legs. I think it looks like Jonathan... it has his big head!

7 Week Sonogram

Everything looked good.  The clot is the same size, no difference.  But the baby is now 1.22 cm!  It has more than doubled in size in the last week, and it still has a strong heartbeat.  It's amazing to see how different it looks in just a week.  As much as I don't like what's going on with the clot, it's cool to get to see the little one every week.  

To explain the picture: the black blob on the far right side towards the bottom is the clot.  The black thing in the middle toward the top is the baby's sac.  Towards the bottom of that sac you see a peanut shaped thing, that's the baby.  The small ball just above it is its yoke sac.  On last weeks picture the yoke sac and the baby were the same size but now the little squirt is much bigger.  The baby's head is on the left side.  You can't really tell from the picture but on the sonogram itself we could even see where its tiny arm buds are, very cool.  

I go in next Tuesday for my "first visit" that I've had set for a while now.  It will include a sonogram and some other tests too.  I'm hoping to avoid having to get blood work done given that I've already had it run once.  

Doctor's Appointment

I saw my doctor for the first time today, everything went well. The baby is still growing and has a strong heart beat. The blood clot is still the same. I was told to just take it easy, it's fine to work but not to exercise. And I have to have a weekly sonogram until this thing goes away and go in anytime I have a lot of bleeding.

He said that the odds of any pregnancy miscarrying is about 30% and this doesn't help things, but he the odds are in our favor and hopefully this thing will either come out or dissolve.

Now to explain the picture. The peanut sized thing in the middle of the black bean shaped thing in the center is the baby. It's .46 cm big, just a wee little thing. The black area on the far left is the blood clot. It's 4 cm by 2.5 cm, so a lot bigger than the baby right now.