Birthday Babymoon

Well, it looks like we are in the final stretch!  It is starting to feel like I've been pregnant forever.  It looks like Baby Stanis may be greeting us around July 10th or 11th.  We go back for our final placenta previa check a week from Monday.  The doctor isn't hopeful that there will be any change.  If that is the case, then we will most likely schedule the c-section on July 10th or 11th.  

It has been really warm the past few days and that has been really hard for me.  I'm exhausted and hot most of the time.  Two days ago I started having contractions brought on by heat/dehydration.  Fortunately, after drinking a few jugs of water and laying down for a few hours, the contractions stopped.  Tom and I were just about ready to go to the hospital, though.

Last weekend Tom treated me to an extra special birthday present --- two nights away from the noise and chaos of our remodel!  It was my Birthday Babymoon...  We stayed at a spa resort in Los Gatos, which is just a few minutes from our home.  On my birthday I got a massage and a pedicure and felt positively spoiled.  It was great!  We were able to stop back home and check on the construction and then escape back to the hotel.  We enjoyed breakfast in our room each morning, several wonderful meals out, and even made time for a jaunt to Lowe's to buy yet more stuff for the remodel!  :)

Car Seats and Nesting

Not too much new on the baby front these days.  I've been "nesting", aka organizing, our little area in preparation for Baby Stanis' arrival.  Tom put the car seat in the car this weekend.  It is still weird to see it there.  We have a little bunny strapped in to it for now.  I tried to stop by the fire station yesterday to see if we had the car seat installed correctly.  For everyone saying "just stop by the fire station", it just isn't that simple.  They don't do it at our fire station, so they sent me to the Sheriff's office.  (Saratoga doesn't have a police force - we are covered under the county sheriff's office.)  Once there I was told I had to call someone to set up an appointment to get the car seat checked.  I left a message yesterday but have yet to hear back.  I found a list online of local inspection sites.  The first one I called, a local Audi dealership, no longer does inspections.  The second place referred me to another number, etc, etc, etc.  This seems entirely more complicated than it needs to be...

Over the weekend I was moving stuff from one closet to another, to make room for all the baby stuff.  While putting some empty binders on a shelf, I gashed my finger on a piece of our old cast iron bathtub.  It was actually fairly grotesque and quite bloody.  Tom and I ended up in the emergency room a few hours later when I started to get tingling in the finger.  A few stitches later we were on our way.  We were actually amazed that we were in and out of the ER in an hour.  Don't know if we just lucked out, or if the ER up here has shorter wait times than LA.

Friday is an important milestone for Baby Stanis.  I'll be 34 weeks along and at that point the OB said it is ok to go to the hospital where we plan on delivering.  Before then, we need to go to the "bigger" hospital that has a more advanced neonatal center.

Tonight we have an infant CPR class.  Last week we had a breastfeeding class.  I can't say I'm getting much out of these classes.  The breastfeeding class had about 20 minutes of info spread across 3 hours.  And I got to practice latching a fake baby to a fake foam breast in front of the class.  That was fun.  It seems like we'll get more information during the one-on-one with the nurses in the hospital than we got in the class.  Many of the nurses are lactation consultants and they have a very pro-breastfeeding program at the hospital.  After our disappointment with the basic baby care and breastfeeding classes, we decided to cancel our Childbirth Prep class.  We're most likely looking at a c-section, anyway.

Baby Update

It has been a while since my last post.  I've just been gestating away...  This past Saturday baby Stanis had quite a fantastic baby shower!  He now has a wardrobe that rivals both mine and Tom's put together!  I was truly blown away by everyone's generosity.  We have so many great items for the baby!

Today we had our ultrasound to check on the placenta previa.  My parents, who were in town for the shower, joined us and got to see their first ultrasound.  Baby Stanis wasn't terribly cooperative and they didn't get to see too many things that were recognizably body parts.  However, I think they still enjoyed a glimpse of the baby and hearing the heartbeat.  Baby Stanis is measuring about 4 pounds 2 ounces.

Unfortunately, the placenta previa has not resolved itself and the OB thinks we are most likely headed for a c section.  She wants to check it again in a month.  At that point we'd be about a week away from the c section, so we're really bringing this one down to the wire!

In other news, Tom set up the bassinet a few weeks ago.  My big trip today was to Target to buy diapers. We're going to get the car seat this weekend.  Slowly, we're getting everything ready for the baby.  We have a very limited amount of space to work in because of the remodel, but I don't think the baby is going to mind!

In other news, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary yesterday!  What a year it has been and what an exciting year we have ahead of us!!!

Ultrasound Update April

Today we had our ultrasound checkup to see if the marginal placenta previa had cleared up.  Unfortunately, it is still present, although the doctor thinks there is still time for it to resolve.  However, she has placed me on "disability" and told me I have to stop working.  I guess this means any ambition I had to run out and get a job in my third trimester is gone.  HA!  I have so little energy right now, I can barely function.  

The intestinal distress hung around for about a week and a half, which was not much fun.  I was worried about the baby, but all indications are good and they didn't find anything in my labs to indicate an infection.  I never thought I'd get sick of eating bread, but after a week of bread and rice, I was craving protein like nobody's business!  We had a few more scares with the contractions - at one point they were happening every 5 minutes.  However, we found that if I drank a bunch of water and laid down on the couch, they went away.

We interviewed another pediatrician last week.  We liked her better than the first one, but she didn't have much of a sense of humor.  We're going to interview one more doctor.  

This past weekend all of our worldly possessions were packed up and moved into the garage.  We start demolition for our remodel this Thursday.   We have two rooms and a bathroom in the house that we will be living in for the next 4 months.  It will definitely be an adventure!!!

The video we took today has a good image of the baby's face and profile.  Enjoy!

Dehydration

We had quite a scare yesterday.  I've had "intestinal distress" since Friday night and was planning on calling the OB today if it didn't clear up.  Yesterday morning I woke up around 7 and started having contractions.  I was in bed and started counting them.  I got to 5 in 45 minutes and somehow drifted back to sleep.  When I woke up a few hours later I shook it off as me being paranoid and got out of bed.  On my way down the stairs I was struck with a particularly painful contraction and yelled out to Tom that we needed to go to the hospital.  (In the back of my mind was the info diarrhea + contractions = preterm labor.)  A quick call to the doctor confirmed this and off we went.

The whole way there I was telling Tom I thought I was over-reacting, that they were just going to tell us to go home, that everything was fine.  Meanwhile, I was still having contractions.  We got to the labor and delivery floor, spoke to a nurse, and were put in a delivery room.  They hooked me up to a fetal heart monitor and contraction monitor.  I was having contractions every 10 minutes.  These weren't gut-wrenching painful, but they were still painful.  They took a urine and blood sample and started me on an IV.  Apparently, I was dehydrated from the diarrhea and that triggered the contractions.  I didn't feel dehydrated.  However, after a few hours on the IV the contractions slowed down to every 20 minutes, then every half hour, then every hour, then gone!!  After a few hours without contractions they sent me home.  The nurse told me they get a lot of women during the summer who go into preterm labor because of dehydration.  I feel we were really lucky to get to the hospital early enough to stop the contractions.  And yes, I'm now drinking water by the gallon.

Gestational Diabetes

Every woman is checked for gestational diabetes between 24 and 28 weeks.  Gestational diabetes only occurs during pregnancy (hence the name) and can result in anything from a large baby to a stillborn.  Most often, gestational diabetes goes away once the baby is born, and both mom and baby are fine.  However, having gestational diabetes puts the mom at a 50% risk of developing diabetes later in life.  GD is managed during pregnancy with diet, exercise and possibly daily insulin injections.

Two weeks ago I had the gestational diabetes test - the glucose tolerance test.  This involves drinking 10 ounces of glucose watery stuff.  It was pretty gross and made me nauseous.  An hour later your blood is drawn.  Sadly, I failed that test.  The next step is the expanded glucose tolerance test which I had this past Tuesday.  This time I had to fast for 12 hours, show up at 8 am, have my blood drawn and drink a glucose drink that had twice the sugar concentration of the previous one.  I almost vomited while drinking it.  I guess that isn't too uncommon.  Try downing 10 ounces of corn syrup sometimes.  Or rather, don't.  At this point you are held hostage for the next 3 hours so they can draw your blood hourly.  So, I sat in the waiting room.  And got bored.  So I bothered the font desk people with a question -- "I haven't felt the baby move as often in the past two days - is that normal?"  Next thing I knew I was whisked back to an exam room, my weight and blood pressure measured, told to pee in a cup, and then had a PA come in with a doppler to check the baby.  She told me movement isn't reliable until 32 weeks - after that point if I notice a change in baby activity they do get worried.  However, since I was there (and being held hostage) they were happy to check on the baby for me.  She put the doppler goo on my tummy and went to work finding the heartbeat.  Baby Stanis was probably on the most intense sugar high of his short life and every time she put the doppler on my tummy he kicked it.  She told me I have a feisty baby.  However, we did listen to the heartbeat, kicks aside, and it sounded great.  She said he had good blood flow.  That's my boy!  :)  This diversion passed a half hour of my captivity.  Four blood draws later I was free to go.

I got the test results today.  NO GESTATIONAL DIABETES!!!!

Pediatrician

There have been several, several things about being pregnant that have surprised me.  I think I had some vague notion that two lines showed up on the pregnancy test and then 9 months later a baby popped out.  And yes, that is what is supposed to happen, but there is just so much else that has to be done in between.  Ultrasounds, peeing in cups, getting blood drawn, baby kicking, circumcise or not, breastfeed or not, choosing baby gear, interviewing pediatricians, etc, etc, etc.  That last item - interviewing pediatricians - would NEVER have occurred to me.  However, within 24 hours of the baby being born, he is checked out by the pediatrician.  Hence, a series of "prenatal" pediatrician interviews are now in our future.  We had the first one today.

I don't know exactly what I expected, but the person we interviewed did not meet my ideals of a pediatrician.  Tom called him a "baby mechanic".  To me it seemed like he was tired, burned out and not terribly interested in being a pediatrician.  I don't expect the pediatrician to think my child is the greatest gift to mankind, but this guy made it seem like caring for a child was like working an assembly line.  Not quite the warm, fuzzy feeling I was hoping for.  We have the next interview in a few weeks.  Let's hope that one is better!

Ultrasound Update

Today we had an ultrasound to check the status of the placenta previa. Baby Qbert is doing well, but the placenta is still blocking the cervix. I am no longer allowed to travel and have to avoid anything strenuous. We have to watch out for bleeding and if that happens, it is off to the hospital we go. We were able to confirm that Qbert is still, in fact, a boy. He is currently 1 pound 12 ounces and his size places him in the 70th percentile, which means he's at the larger end of the spectrum for his gestational age. I got the lovely sugar drink for the glucose tolerance test. I'll most likely try to get that done tomorrow morning.

I'm feeling a bit immobilized by the "nothing strenuous" warning. Is carrying groceries in from the car strenuous? How about packing boxes for our upcoming remodel? Perhaps I'll ponder about this while I relax on the sofa for a bit...

23.5 weeks!

It has been a while since my last update and so much has happened with baby Qbert. A few weeks ago I was reading in bed around 11pm when I felt something poke my bladder from above. I thought it an interesting feeling and then it happened again. I sprung out of bed (well, as much as one can spring when 20 weeks pregnant) and ran to tell Tom. It happened two more times that night. It took me a few days to determine that this was, in fact, Qbert saying hello and not, say, last night's dinner saying hello. Since then Qbert has exhibited his future career as an Olympic track star by running mini-marathons on my bladder. At times it actually gets really uncomfortable. However, it is so exciting to finally feel the little guy!

Last week I had my monthly prenatal checkup. She informed me my uterus is in the right place (good to know I didn't stash it behind a kidney). One of the ways they judge the progress of the pregnancy is by where your uterus is - each week it should be in a certain range. My uterus, apparently, is complying. We also listened to the baby's heartbeat.... ahhhh... so much fun to hear! It always makes me grin like an idiot. The last few times they've had to chase the baby around my tummy because he just moves so much! Next week we go in for an ultrasound to see if the placenta has raised up at all.

A few weeks ago I was having some pretty bad heart palpitations, which can be normal during pregnancy. However, I was getting dizzy afterwards, so my OB referred me to a cardiologist. They put me on a Holter monitor for 24 hours. They said they would call if there were any problems, and I haven't heard a thing, so I assume all is well with my heart. I have a follow-up with the cardiologist at the end of next week. I think stress got the better of me with the palpitations. However, I've been trying to drink more water, which seems to have helped with the dizziness.

When we found out we were pregnant, it jump-started our plans for remodeling the house. After a few months of design work, we finally submitted our plans to the city of Saratoga last Tuesday. I waddled in with the contractor, hoping to play the pregnant card and get our plans pushed through a bit faster. In the process of talking with the building inspector, we found out the previous 1100 sf addition put on our house by the previous owners was never permitted. Or, rather, the permit expired and was never finaled. So, technically, half of our house is illegal in the eyes of the city. We're now trying to get the previous owner to provide copies of the finalized permits, which they say they have. My dreams of having our remodel finished before the baby gets here are quickly vaporizing... We also decided over the weekend to rip the upper deck off the house, as we don't see ourselves really using it, and it is likely to cost about $20,000 to rebuild. It is currently unsafe and possibly causing problems with the 2nd floor cantilever.

However, the one room Tom and I are remodeling ourselves is the nursery! We've spent the past three weekends working on it. The previous owners used the room as a framing studio, so we had a lot of work to do. We ripped out a huge shelf along one wall, painted the walls, tore out the old trim, and partially installed the new trim. The room was a light purple with hideous dark purple trim. We're working on removing the linoleum and we have the hardwood to install. There are also pipes in the room, so we're going to put in a vanity with a little sink. It has been a lot of work, but it is fun seeing it all come together.

Finally, we went Friday night to set up our baby registry. After the fun we had with the wedding registry, we approached this with a mix of excitement, apprehension and dread... After getting our scanning gun, we started in the first aisle, which was bottles. We came prepared with two books and a few emails from friends. We almost went in to meltdown just on the bottles. 20 minutes later we decided it really was going to depend entirely on what the baby decides he likes, so we registered for a bottle set that seemed good... We referred to our books and emails a few times, but generally we picked things we thought would work well... All in all, we were done in 2 hours! Tom said it was more fun than the wedding registry. I wasn't so sure --- choosing nipple pads vs china patterns? Tough call. :)

Some pics from the nursery in progress:

The nursery before we started:

Tom removing the giant shelf (notice the lovely purple moulding around the wood beams):

Working on the room (notice the lovely new white moulding) The door and trim around the sliding door had been deep purple:

Yay power tools!

Part of the 150 feet of trim we painted:

The old linoleum floor:
Tom unloading 66 boxes of hardwood flooring, at 62 pounds a box:

Sad Weekend

Tom and I flew to San Diego this past weekend for a party that my parents, together with my great aunt and uncle, Don and Daryl, throw every few years.  We had a great time at the party on Friday night.  Saturday we stopped over to Don and Daryl's to return some items from the party and visited with them for a while.  After we left, Don sat down to read for a bit, fell asleep, and never woke up.  Daryl tried to wake him for dinner, but he had passed away.  We are so sad and devastated by this.  Don had had some serious medical issues, but it seemed like he was doing much better and gave no indication he wasn't feeling well.  We had a fun visit with him on Saturday and he was in good spirits.  This has come as a huge shock to the family.

I have so many memories of Don, all the way from their home in Washington DC, and being a flower girl in their daughter's wedding 25ish years ago, through to dancing with him at my own wedding this past summer.  Don had been in a wheelchair and I kept telling him I was going to dance with him at my wedding.  He would laugh at me like I was a crazy person, but as he recovered his strength and ability to walk, I became more and more insistent that we would, indeed, have that dance.  At the wedding, Don asked me to dance and we had a wonderful time of it!  It meant so much to me.

I know it will take more time for it to sink in that Don is gone.  He led a fascinating and exciting life and I am sad it was cut short all too soon.

IT'S A ...

We had our big ultrasound today and found out Qbert's gender! Watch the big reveal here:

Week 17 Prenatal Visit

Today we had our monthly prenatal visit.  Typically they check the baby's heartbeat with a doppler machine.  At our last monthly visit she couldn't find the heartbeat with the doppler so we had an ultrasound.  We were really hoping the same would happen today so that we could get a glimpse of the baby's sex, but the doctor found the heartbeat in about half a second.  She said it was a good, strong heartbeat and we all listened to it for a bit. Even with all the physical changes with my body, it is still reassuring to hear confirmation that there is a baby in there!

On Tuesday I slipped on our wood stairs and fell down the staircase.  I spoke to the OB on the phone and she assured me the baby would be ok.  Based on the subsequent headache, vomiting and bump on my head, I think I probably had a minor concussion from the fall.  Despite the OB saying the baby was fine, it still made me feel a lot better to hear the heartbeat today!  I'm sporting a 3 inch bruise on my bum and it hurts to sit, but otherwise I think I'm doing ok.  

At today's visit I also had blood drawn for the quad screen.  This is a set of tests that look for genetic defects, such as Down's Syndrome.  I assumed this test was done as a matter of course, but we were given the choice to have it or not.  We saw no reason not to have the test, so we signed the consent form.  The OB said if the results are positive we'll hear in about 3-4 days.  She said otherwise it takes weeks to get the results.

Our next visit is on Feb 19th, for the big 20 week ultrasound.  This is when we'll find out the sex of the baby, assuming Qbert is cooperating and presents the appropriate pose!  Don't forget to vote in our poll in the upper left corner of the page!

Prenatal Massage

Here we are in our 17th week and my body is starting to feel out of sorts.  After a few weeks of contemplating how nice a massage would be, I finally went today to get a prenatal massage.  The cost was daunting, but my back has been crying out for some TLC.  I really didn't know what to expect --- I envisioned a massage table with a big hole in the center where the baby bump goes.  Needless to say, this is not how they do it.  Instead, I was propped up on a myriad of pillows and just sank into them on my side.  The massage felt great.  The massage therapist taught me how to "roll under" when I want to flip sides during the night.  Instead of heaving the baby over you by rolling onto your back, you get on all fours and then shift to the other side.  I'll have to try that tonight and see how it works.  For the final portion of the massage she had me on my back, lying on two wedges.  This felt incredible.  She said I could sleep this way at home, but I'm not sure I could get myself out of the wedges on my own.  The only part of the massage I didn't really enjoy was when she said it was time to massage the baby and she started massage my bump (and, ahem, maternal fat stores).  I think she noticed I tensed up.  This was partly due to the fact that she was putting pressure on my bladder, which hadn't been emptied for at least 30 minutes.  She quickly moved on to other areas.  I think I'll definitely go back, as budget allows, for additional massages.

We received our first onesie and bib today!  A few weeks ago I went to Tom's office for lunch and they were having a health fair.  We wandered around and found a booth with baby stuff on display.  His company contracts with this company to provide a myriad of services - health care referrals, financial/legal referrals, etc.  They also offer a pack of books for pregnant couples.  The pack arrived today --- 4 pregnancy books, the onesie and bib.  I've been having to hold myself back from buying cute baby clothes, so it is fun to finally have *something* that is baby-sized!

Week 15

As of today we are 15 weeks pregnant, starting our 16th week.  We are 3/8 of the way there!  There hasn't been too much to report --- my belly "popped" over the weekend, or so I think.  My waistline has vanished.  I'm starting to waddle ever so slightly, which has me concerned.  It seems entirely too early to be waddling!

I was looking through old pictures and realized I never posted our home pregnancy test photos.  We actually took 5 tests.  The first one had the faintest, faintest, faintest line on it.  Subsequent tests taken over the next few days continued to show light lines, so we finally went the digital route.  It was after the digital confirmation that I pounced on Tom at some ridiculously early hour, screaming "We're pregnant!!!!".  Despite 5 tests, he still didn't believe it!  :)

We've settled on a rough design for our home remodel.  I am ever so hopeful it will be done before the baby is.  Hope springs eternal.  Tom and I are remodeling the nursery ourselves.  Tom demolished the built in sink and cabinets over the weekend.  We have yet to order new ones, but we still have 6 months to go.  I started ripping up the linoleum, although we're holding off on that until we have the new floor to put down.

Don't forget to vote in the boy/girl poll in the upper left of the page!!

For a better start in life...

"Laboratory tests over the last few years have proven that babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and 'fitting in' during those awkward pre-teen and teen years. So, do yourself a favor. Do your child a favor. Start them on a strict regimen of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness."

So why won't my OB/GYN let me drink more than 1 diet soda a day???

Week 13 Checkup

We had our monthly prenatal checkup today. They couldn't find the baby's heartbeat using the Doppler machine so we had an ultrasound instead. This was our first abdominal ultrasound and it was certainly more comfortable than the transvaginal ones. Qbert was dancing up a storm in there! S/he waved to us at one point which was just awesome to see! The heartbeat was strong. Apparently the placenta is low-lying which could correct itself in time, we just have to wait and see. If it does not correct, it could lead to placenta previa. The doctor told us she wasn't telling us this to worry us, that it could correct on its own. Right, like I'm not going to worry... We should know more at our 20 week ultrasound.

Still, it was great to see the baby again and watch him/her move around!

2nd Trimester

Well, we've just about done it.  Or we have already done it.  Or we're in the middle of doing it.  It all depends on what method you use.  However you slice it, we're somewhere near the 2nd trimester.  I tried an online calculator to tell me when the 2nd trimester begins and it gave me the following answer - second trimester begins either Jan 3, Jan 13 or Jan 22, depending on if we're calculating by development, gestation, or conception.  Well, that clears things up.  However, we hit a big milestone over the weekend - 12 weeks!  This is the point when the risk of miscarriage falls considerably.  After our early scare at about 5 weeks this is an exciting benchmark.  We have a regular prenatal appointment on Thursday.  There won't be an ultrasound but instead we get to hear the baby's heartbeat via Doppler.  After that appointment, Tom is going to announce to his work that we're expecting, so it is a pretty big appointment for us.

We went to another baby store yesterday, "Baby Super".  It isn't as flashy as Babies R Us, but they seem to have a huge selection of furniture and strollers.  We really liked the quality of their cribs.  I read some online reviews that said they can take forever to ship furniture, so we'll probably have to pick something soon.  We did find a bedding pattern that we (meaning me) love.  Tom seems agreeable to the bedding pattern...  I think he's more focused on the cool features in the strollers.  My main concern with a stroller is that I can lift it into the car without putting out my back.

Here's the bedding pattern:

 

In other news, I exercised for the first time since the morning sickness started.  I finally felt well enough to go for a 3.5 mile walk.  I'm sure I'm going to crash this afternoon, though.

This evening we're signing the design contract for our home renovation.  I'm sure the contractor is going to laugh when I tell him I want everything done before the baby arrives.  Ah well, a woman can dream...

Disturbing Crib

Not much new on the baby front this week. Still having nausea, but it is getting better. I'm still exhausted most of the time and climbing the stairs completely winds me.

I looked at cribs online today and saw the most disturbing crib. It looks like the cages they use at the animal shelter for poor homeless critters. It is designed to hold 4 babies:
It is baby prison! This just seems wrong on so many levels.