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!