Saturday, November 22, 2008

31week update!

Well, we went to see my peri on Thursday for GD counseling. We actually just saw the nurse - of course- the one I don't like. She isn't good with patients. They first put me in a u/s room and I was excited that I might get an u/s - no such luck.
She just went over how to draw blood and diet.
She asked me what I ate for breakfast and I said 'oatmeal no sugar, banana whole, and a two bites of DH's huge cinammon roll'. My result came back GREAT - she said she was surprised that it came out good considering I shouldn't be eating cinammon rolls or banannas in the morning (no fruit in the morning - or before noon). Well I didn't know that because I didn't have the diet yet. Since testing (3 times on Thurs., 4 times on Friday and so far 3 times today) all results are way under the limit. Yea! So either my walking has helped as I increased my exercise from lying down all day to sitting up more and walking to the mailbox and a little beyond and/or following the diet has helped. Although I'm not sure the diet has helped 100% as I didn't start following it until thurs afternoon. I went to breakfast today with DH. We also went to lunch on Thursday after my appt.
Oh, I do testing 4 times a day for 7 days and then fax the peri's office my results. Then they will meet with me to discuss if the diet is working for me. If it isn't working - they will have me take insulin, but I think my levels are good so far. If they feel everything is working - I think I will only check my blood once a week.

DH setup our crib on Thursday afternoon and arranged our dresser/changer combo. He took a few days off from work and is off next week. We bought it from a friend and it's great - no scratches or anything. It's perfect. It made me finally realize that we may have a baby in 2 months from now. DH bought a mattress last weekend.

There is so much left to do, but it is helping the time to go by faster. I feel like I haven't done so many things.

I can't flake at work this week in fact I have a few deadlines. Ugh! I just want to take it easy this holiday week. Boo!

I have my baby's angelversary next week - it will be a sad time. I sound strong on here, but I have my really bad days where I'm not positive. I burst into tears one day when I saw a baby who was about the same age as my son would have been (six months) on an online forum. He was dressed in a santa outfit.

Friday, November 21, 2008

24 weeks - 29 weeks - what I did

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This is what I did, it may not make sense to others. You have to do what your body feels comfortable with. I've learned to try to listen to my body.
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I started out this timeframe with harsh kicks, bh contx and some cramping a few days after I hit 24 weeks.
I didn't want to go to L&D as they don't know my history and I don't trust emergency room drs. I'm not sure if they admit you to L&D first (and wait for your dr) or if they would do what they did to me last time I went in. For example, I wouldn't want them to do a manual check. Last time my water had broken and they did a manual check - which can actually cause infection from what I have read on the internet.
So I felt sick on a sunday night, but opted not to go. Next day I went in for an emegency obgyn appt (peri wasn't in town and i'm not sure he would have seen me anyway - they push problems to the obgyn first). Of course, my obgyn has to be booked weeks in advanced (or months) and then even sometimes he is in surgery or delivering babies. I saw a nurse practioner which didn't help my nerves. Long story short since I posted this around that timeframe. I was diagnosed with BV (bacterial vaginosis) and a UTI. They found blood in my urine and it was very cloudy. The BV was causing the cramping and she saw discharge when she looked up into my vagina. I had no discharge at all. It scares me sometimes because my body doesn't typically have the *normal* symptoms others do. If I am sick I don't get a fever unless i'm about to die - ok I'm exaggerating. But even if i had a kidney infection or something serious my body would try to control it on its own and i would not have symptoms. I rarely ever get sick. So this is not good when you are looking for symptoms like fever or discharge and not having that...
I think this period was the hardest or maybe between 20 and 24 weeks. I felt 'ok i've made it to viability' but I didn't feel confident if I delivered around this time. Getting the diagnosis of BV and UTI had me googling and seeing that they could causes preterm labor. I had originally planned to do more around this time but after reading that I was overly cautious for weeks.
Also, I posted before I hit 24wks on the IC site I frequent asking about getting lenient around 24 wks. (and by getting more lenient I was going to start doing stairs twice a week). Most of the girls said if they ever did bedrest to do it between 24 and 28 or 24 and 32 weeks. To me, that was hard to hear because I had been good and doing bedrest since my cerclage at 12w4d when most of the girls on there don't put themselves on bedrest at all until things start going downhill. Some of their drs believe in bedrest, but my peri doesn't sound as cautious as some of their drs.
A girl on this site is 3 weeks ahead of me and she has been pretty strict with her bedrest like me. We talk and we had pretty much the same strategy (no stairs, ,showers every few days, etc). She lost twins last year in December and went through IVF/FET and transferred only one embryo this time. Recently she went to L&D and they put her on bedrest. I'm sure she felt like me that she had been so good this entire time and then she had bedrest anyway. Sometimes I think this will happen to me...I'm praying I don't have to do hospital bedrest, but I have been doing more.
So back to my point about timeline - IC rears its ugly head between 16 and 24 weeks (sometimes earlier like me). BUT 24-28 weeks is imperative for baby development, so you don't want to go into labor then. A lot of girls on the IC site have gone into labor between this period and had premies. I figure if I have been good this long, I could do a few more weeks.
So I decided to continue being conservative from 24-28weeks because of the infections. I did go out to dinner at 27 weeks (with my feet up on another chair) and did go over to my father in law's once a week during this time - to take a shower and visit him. Was inclined on his recliner the whole time... I stopped going outside my house to take a shower - at work - maybe around 25 or 26 weeks. It was perfect timing as it was starting to get colder outside and I didn't want to leave with wet hair. I could take a blow dryer, but that would mean standing up - my hair takes FOREVER to dry even with a blow dryer. I can't stand up for 30 min straight, etc.
I started taking a shower about the same - every 3 days until 28 weeks. 28 weeks I went upstairs and took a shower and stayed upstairs for a few days. I did a shower for 3 days straight - so nice. I probably took a shower during this timeframe every 2 days or so (after 28 weeks)
28-29 weeks I started going upstairs twice a week, I believe. This means I could take more showers. :)
29 weeks I went out for my birthday - DH dropped me off at the front of the restaurant and I sat outside until he parked. We went to a nice place - we had been planning it for awhile to go out if everything was ok with my cervical length.
Cervical length check at 28w5d was great so I kept doing what I was doing. Next check is at 32w3d and I plan to do stairs more before that time and then see how I'm reacting to it. If at any point, going upstairs puts me to have bh contx I would do less. Going down is fine.
I'm not sure what other helpful info I can put on here. Oh, I did start cooking more - maybe a meal once a week and nothing to difficult to cook.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

OB appt - 30w5d

My obgyn couldn't make it so I saw a nurse practioner (what is new).
She was a new one -or one I hadn't seen before and was pretty good.
Baby h/b was 145bpm
Belly measuring at 31 weeks - I always forget to ask them what the measurement was.
I haven't gained 1 pound in 2 weeks (!!). She said she wasn't concerned because of my diet changes. I'm supposed to be gaining 1/2 a pd a week.
Blood pressure is great. Urine is ok I think.
I told her I feel less movement and she just asked if I got 10 kicks a day - well yeah!!!!! But 1) I thought it was 10 kicks every 2 hrs and 2) I'm used to getting A LOT of kicks daily - 50-100 maybe. She said he may be running out of room or positioned differently.
I started walking daily to the mailbox. It's great because it hasn't given me BH contx and I haven't had discharge.
Oh, I only told my mom about having GD. She said that my sister had it with her last pregnancy (which was a boy and she was also 37 almost 38). My mom says 'everyone gets that'. Well maybe everyone in her family. :)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

30 week update

We went out to eat for my birthday last week. It was nice to go out to a very nice restaurant and I felt worried but still enjoyed myself. I did eat salmom and thought I ate pretty well.

Things are good, except I am officially diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I failed my 3 hr GTT this week. Boo...it's very upsetting.

So I have to follow a diet and get monitored more by my peri. I guess my first consultation is next week. I'm not complaining because I will do anything for this baby. Yeah I get to see my same peri's office so hopefully they can combine appts. I'm not sure if it means extra u/s or just monitoring my blood. I know a girl online gets non stress tests twice weekly.

I'm not very happy about it and I've read that 10% of women get this but I googled what could happen to the baby and it doesn't make me feel too good.

I have to admit my diet is not that great. DH doesn't cook anything that isn't easily able to be heated up. I am dependent on him for most of my meals and what he gets for me at the grocery store. I give him a list though. I can't blame him though. I am just used to eating what I want because I'm usually so active (run, walk, walk my dogs). I think the only reason I am getting this is because I am NOT active. Although my mom and my sister have pre-diabetes and if they had diabetes -I'm not sure they would tell me. My mom and my sister are overweight. Diabetes runs on my mom's side of the family. I've never had diabetes before.

So, yesterday I walked to my mail box and I'm going to try to start slowly to do more. I don't want to affect my cervix, but also it isn't healthy that I don't walk too much. I started doing stairs at my house about twice a week starting 2 weeks ago. I hope to do stairs almost daily starting in a few weeks.

I have gained a normal amount of weight in this pregnancy. Before I got pg last year I was a size 3 or 4...I was a size 2 when I got married. After I had the baby I had to lose the extra weight...when I got pg again this year I was probably a size 6. I'm also short. I ran a half marathon last year, so I'm pretty active.

On a happier note, I am still employed! I guess I'm ok with that. :) I don't like working especially right now, but I guess it means I can buy more stuff for the baby. I have been moved to a new manager. The positive thing is that I used to work for him informally before, so I know what he is like. I was scared he wouldn't let me work from home. In fact, we had a big mtg on Friday and I told him I couldn't go in for it. DH told me if they made me to just quit. So, my drs won't prescribe bedrest, so my last manager was kind enough to just let me work from home on her good faith. This new manager didn't ask me if it was dr. prescribed, he just said it was fine. It is still stressful since I will be doing a new job, but I hope between now and the baby's arrival - I can just skate by. I'm not sure that will be possible, but I need to not let myself get stressed (as I'm a workaholic and like doing a good job). With all my dr. appts, I'll be missing a lot of work. My new boss has 3 kids and he said he is very understanding about kids.

We haven't bought anything for the baby. I think I mentioned that my sister gave me boy clothes, but that's it. My mom bought us a stroller for our shower and it came last week, but when DH set it up it was damaged. We really liked the colors though (red and black). So, I ordered a replacement which won't be here until almost Christmas. I hope the baby doesn't come before that since it's a travel system (stroller and car seat). We bought a crib and a changer/dresser from a friend of DH's. We got it on Thursday and it isn't setup yet, but we really like it. It's great quality and we got a good deal. We have to do some carpet cleaning before we set it up and move some furniture. DH's friend also sold us a play yard for pretty cheap. We figured we needed an extra one when we visit family. It's a travel one. I hope to get one for us to always have downstairs, so this one would be an extra.

I have a shower next month which I'm looking forward to. I also have a couple's shower later next month.

Next post - what I did from 24-29 weeks.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

28w5d Peri appt

Babies h/b was 153 bpm today.
I think he is measuring ahead, but I didn't write down what they calculated.
He is 2 lbs 15 oz. Yea!
His eyes were opening and closing and you could see that on u/s. DH thinks he looks like me and I think he looks like DH. His face is looking more recognizable. On a different note, we won't do the 3d u/s - we want to be surprised - although I know you can't exactly see what the babies look like on the 3d u/s.
He has no hair, but does have long eyelashes you could see on u/s.
Cervix is getting harder to see - but they measured it at 3.6cm. Of course, they do this on the abdomen, which isn't as accurate as TVU.

Bad news: I found out I failed my glucose test from yesterday - have to take the 3 hr test next week. I did eat right before my test, but instructions said that was ok.

They asked me if my baby was very active and I asked 'is it a bad thing if they move constantly'. There are times when he doesn't move though. But sometimes it scares me when he moves around too much. I think the election got him excited as he was kicking a lot last night and I might have had some bh contx. I guess he is an O.bama baby. I went to sleep before Obama's speech as I wanted to make sure the baby went to sleep.

I'm glad my cervical length is measuring good because I did go up the stairs on Friday and plan to go up again tomorrow maybe.

Forgot to mention you could see him practicing his breathing. U/s tech said 'he must be practicing for a marathon'. Funny she said that since both me and DH are runners.
He even covered his face when she started focusing on it.
I had them check yet again - 3rd time - if he was a boy (because friends and families keep asking me if I am sure.) LOL

Thanks for the support ladies!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Boring OB appt

Last time I went in - it was an emergency appt so I didn't see my dr.
Today, I took my gestational diabetes (GD) test before going into my appt. I don't know the results, but hope all is well.
I asked my dr a lot of questions - I forgot to bring a list of stuff so of course I forgot to ask him some stuff.
It took him awhile to find the h/b and I forgot to ask what it was. I just lied there with my eyes closed trying to listen to the h/b.
My obgyn thinks everything will be ok. He is very laid back. He has tattoos, crazy hair, and a soul p.atch. I have been seeing him for 15 years I guess. I trust him, but honestly he wasn't the best at getting me pg or even the expert on my issue. I strongly advise high risk girls to see a high risk obgyn or peri.
I asked him about my infections (BV and UTI) - he said urine looked great today (as I told my DH beforehand that it didn't look cloudy). I'm a wannabe dr. :)
He said those infections can't harm the baby and I was 'what if they get up into the uterus (as my last loss was due to an infection)'. He said 'well not those kind'.
He said he is glad I got the cerclage and maybe it is helping me, but maybe not. He said it is just a safetynet, but it could be the reason I have made it this far. Gee thanks. I told him 'well I don't know if you know but my cervix was opening from the bottom at 12w4d when I had the cerclage placed'. He said 'i didn't know that but that can happen in normal ppl and its worse if it is opening from the top.' I honestly think I would have lost another baby without the cerclage. He said 'but some women have issues with the cerclage like PTL or infection'.
I asked him about the baby's head being down -as it was down already at 24w3d and he said 'that's great - it should be doing that'.
I had diarrhea this weekend and he said it wasn't a sign of labor and it is fine.
I like boring appts. I'm at the point where I'll be seen every 2 weeks now. Tomorrow I see my high risk peri.
Oh, he asked if my peri had offered to do steroids. I said 'believe me I've asked him but he said no unless things start going badly'. He said 'well he is the expert, so I would go with what he says'.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Ok, my last chance to inform undecided voters...

If you don't know who to vote for and you don't know whether to believe emails that are sent to you (that obama doesn't like the national anthem or that he pals with bill ayers) - GO TO
WWW.FACTCHECK.ORG

This is a non-partisan website that evaluates claims from both sides and sees if there is truth to the allegations.

Please, America, make an informed choice tomorrow - we all will be stuck with our decision for at least 4 years. I will respect the choice if there is a fair vote -as this is who everyone will have chosen.

The reason I am posting this is because my FIL just sent an email to DH saying he believed one of the emails sent to him regarding the flag/national anthem. He already voted so no hope for him to change his mind there, but maybe there are people out there who haven't voted and can change their mind.

Whoever you vote for - just know the facts.