Wordless Wednesday



Little Pineapple at 38 Weeks 3 Days

Pineapple's Hand

Another picture of her chubby cheeks

My Baby Girl!

I am now just over 32 weeks. Really hard to believe that it's gone this fast. 2 appointments ago when I met with my OB he said that I would have to start weekly ultrasounds starting at 32 weeks, so here I am. I have had this ultrasound tech at my 20 week and with Gabby a few times, so it was nice to see a familiar face that I really liked. I have to have the weekly ultrasounds because I am on meds for my gestational diabetes. To really check the growth of the baby and make sure she isn't getting too big.

She was super sweet and explained everything to me. Since it's not just a dating ultrasound it was a little longer and was about a 1/2 hour. It was a biophysical, so they have to check for breathing, muscle tone, body movements, amniotic fluid and heartbeat. When I had it done with Gabby she passed all but the fluid test (I had it done at 41 weeks) and I was admitted and induced that night.

Pineapple did wonderful. She got the breathing out of the way right away, heartbeat was a good 144BPM (strong heartrate). Her movements took a little longer, but not much and they were BIG movements - like I figured would happen. This baby girl moves a TON all the time. The fluid also passed with flying colors at 13.4 - It has to be between 7 and 22. So we are perfect there as well. All in all it was a great ultrasound and I expect next week to be the same. I had my appointment with my midwife after that and I was measuring right on. She isn't worried at all. Blood pressure as usual was great 80/52.

The tech was super sweet and nice and gave us a 3D ultrasound picture. It will be fun to see her next week again. Look for another pic next Tuesday.

30 Weeks

So now technically I am 31 weeks today, because I have been SUPER lazy with this blog. I apologize to all my readers out there. I looked back at my blog with Gabby when I was 30 weeks. Such a different pregnancy. At this time with Gabby I had just found out I had Gestational Diabetes and was just starting to test my blood. This time around I have been doing it for 22 weeks already and it's old hat. Not that I like it anymore this time around.

Things are going really well this pregnancy and like I have said before it's been so different than Gabby's and I am not complaining what-so-ever.

The diabetes is going well, I am now meeting with my nutritionist every 2 weeks ,but after my next appointment we might be able to go down to phone appointments. I am seeing my Midwife & OB every 2 weeks as well and starting with my appointment on the 24th I have to start having weekly Biophysical ultrasounds. I have them scheduled out until the middle of October. They want to make sure that the baby is growing well and okay. I had one with Gabby and that ended up being the day we were admitted into the hospital. So I will be spending a LOT of time at the doctor's office.

Pineapple is moving around a TON and almost all day long. She likes to move around especially at night when I am laying down to read and then to sleep. The other funny part is a lot of the time if she hears Gabby crying, yelling, giggling, she starts moving around. Its really funny to see and feel.

Gabby totally is in love with her baby sistah as she calls her. She says goodnight and tells her that she loves her before she goes to bed. Usually she whispers it, so I sometimes tell her to yell it so baby sistah can hear her.

Only 9 weeks to go!

Wordless Wednesday - Pineapple

Well we had our 20 week ultrasound and pineapple is a.....

....sorry I can't tell you. Mike and I aren't telling until we tell our families this weekend. So keep an eye out for my Manic Mommy Monday post, because I will announce it then! Only a few more days...

Baby is healthy and looking good. Pineapple was swallowing - if you look close you can see it's mouth open. the baby is weighing about 1lb right now and measuring 2 days ahead. He/She was kicking and punching and moving around a TON during the ultrasound. The tech made a comment about how she had to be quick to catch pictures of pineapple. It was so awesome to see Pineapple for almost and entire hour.

It's Finally Time!

I can't believe I am writing this post, but it's finally time to welcome our sweet little angel girl into this world. I had my ultrasound this morning and then appointment with my Midwife. The Ultrasond was a Biophysical Profile to see how she was doing.

This is what they are looking for:

Biophysical Attribute	Normal	Abnormal
Breathing	1 breathing episode within 30 minutes	No breathing episodes within 30 minutes
Movement	2 or more movements within 30 minutes	less than 2 movements within 30 minutes
Muscle Tone	1 or more episodes of active extension/flexion of limbs, etc. (i.e. opening and closing a hand).	Slow extension/flexion of limbs, partially open fetal hand, etc
Heart Rate	2 or more episodes of reactive heart rate acceleration within 20 min	1 or more episodes of unreactive heart rate acceleration
Amniotic Fluid	1 or more adequate pockets of fluid	Either no pockets or inadequate pockets of fluid

In our test the only one that she didn't pass was the last one with the Amniotic fluid. She had the others done in like 10 minutes, but my fluid was measuring around 5.11 when I was there. it needs to be around a 7. one of my pockets there was almost no fluid at all.

So when I went to meet with my Midwife, she checked my cervix to see how things were going, but she wanted to have another ultrasound to check her measurements and the fluid level again. I still haven't progressed really anything more than last Thursday - which doesn't surprise me as I have felt only a little different. Her head is a little more farther down, but not much and my dilation isn't much at all.

I had the other ultrasound and my fluid was actually even lower at a 4.56, so it didn't change anything, she still wanted me to come in tonight and be induced.

So Mike and I will be heading to the hospital tonight around 6ish and will be admitted. They are going to give me a ripening gel to ripen my cervix and get things going. She said that sometimes that can be enough and no pitocin is needed. if it's not, then tomorrow morning we will be starting the pitocin drip. Luckily she is on call tonight and will be there for me, which will be nice!

So tomorrow most likely we will be holding our little one! I am so excited and nervous at the same time, but I know it will go fine!!

I will update when I can!

41 Weeks

Can't believe I am posting a 41 Week post...I was hoping to be posting a "here's the baby!" post, but yep, it's 41 weeks. Technically it's not until Tuesday, but I wanted to post it tonight in case I actually go into Labor.

I was doing really well up until today. I posted about my checkup from Thursday and not much has changed. I am a bit more uncomfortable today than I was last week. Friday Mike and I went on a date night. He was getting stir crazy being in the house and we had some gift cards to Olive Garden - Which let me tell you is a challenge to a diabetic without meds :) But I made it work, neither of us actually ordered any pasta. He got the Mussels (EWWW!), Salad and the Gnocchi Soup (So that was the closet to pasta that we got) and I got the Salmon and Broccoli and of course the Breadsticks (that was my downfall)...I was a bit higher on my test than I wanted to be, but oh well, one night out of how many? We then went Mini Golfing, it was fun but the entire time we were out playing I had stabbing pains in my pelvis from Peanut's head...

Saturday we helped some friends out with some crown molding. It was a fun time - I mainly supervised the boys ;) We had some DQ and went out to Chipotle with them which was fun.

Today I hit a wall, I was cranky,crabby - preggo on a rampage. I think I am just tired, tired of being pregnant. don't get me wrong I LOVE being pregnant, but it's more that I want to meet my little angel and see her and hold her. Every time I get up from sitting down I get a stabbing pain in my pelvis, I can't sleep at night, Friday night I was up every 2 hours. and all of a sudden today I lost all my energy..I was on the couch 90% of the day....

Tomorrow I have an ultrasound at 8:50, then an appointment with Jamie my Midwife at 10:00 and then monitoring at the hospital...unless that is she comes tonight. So cross your fingers!

39 Weeks

Yep, you read that correctly, 39 weeks, that means 1 week until the due date and up to 3 weeks until the little one is here in our arms. We are so excited and can't wait. I am still feeling really good, even despite the heat here in MN. Yesterday Mike and I went to the Como Zoo with his brother, my sister-in-law and my niece. It was probably up to 88 degrees, with god knows how much humidity. Outside was fine, but it was inside the buildings that was tough, since those were sauna's. The MN Zoo would have been better, but since we didn't last long this worked out. Tomorrow is supposed to be 90 + degrees and with the humidity it will feel like it's in the 100's. Not sure I will make it, but we will see.

Today I had an Ultrasound scheduled to see how big the little one is - at least an estimate, since it's hard for them to tell exactly how big she is. But the tech said her head is average (thank you!!) and not too big. She also said that she is weighing between 7 1/2lbs and 8lbs. So average. If I go on time she will be about 8 to 8 1/2lbs and if I go late she could be up to 9lbs....I am thinking the diapers we bought might not fit if she is that big, but we will see :)  Below is her profile picture, she barely fits on the screen anymore. You can see her mouth, nose and her hand.

On another note my niece is a walking fool. She is 14 months and walking like crazy. Mac wasn't quite sure what to make of her, but did really well with her. I am not worrying about mac and peanut getting along at all. I figure by the time next year rolls around and Peanut is walking that Mac will be used to it and laid back.

Mac also had a great time playing with the neighbor dog yesterday evening Tucker. We haven't had Mac around bigger dogs without being through a fence (at my parents) but last night Mike thought she was ready and sure enough she was! We couldn't ask for better. Tucker and Mac sniffed and hung out right by each other and there was no barking, growling or anything. Tucker is a 3 1/2 year old German Shorthair Pointer (Jager's boyfriend). He is a lot more laid back than Jager, but it worked out. I am hoping that we can bring Mac up to the dogs up at the kennel and have them around each other more often to get her used to dogs. It will make walking a TON easier! We might even be able to leave the neighborhood. Mike and I were super excited about it! It's been a good 2 years since that's happened. We couldn't ask for a better end to a great weekend.

Patiently Waiting

11 days to go until my due date, counting down the days until Peanut decides that she wants to make her arrival. She is sure moving around in my belly. In fact last night she was moving so much I could barely fall asleep. I kept telling her, if she wants more room to move around she just needs to come on out of there. But she is being a typical kid already and not listening to mom ;)

But I am not going to rush her out of there, she will come when she is ready. Luckily (at least for now) my Midwife is letting me go until August 24th, which is 2 weeks after my due date. I am assuming that will stay the same unless the ultrasound shows that she is too big.

I am heading in Monday morning to have an ultrasound and see how big she is and how she is doing. I am really excited to see her. I haven't seen an ultrasound of anyone that I knew of a baby that far along.

My sugars have been a bit frustrating lately, but my Midwife says that they are doing fine. My dietitian on the other hand wanted to put me on meds after last week's numbers, but Jamie my Midwife said no when I talked to her on Thursday. She said that I was too close to being done and she didn't want to go that route. So I am trying hard again to stick to my diet and figure things out and what I can do to keep them down. Mostly though they are low, Most of the time if they are above 130 they aren't over 145, so that's good.

We are getting pretty excited to meet her and luckily I haven't been too uncomfortable, just inpatient. Although I complain here and there I really have nothing to complain about as I am doing really well. I have only gained 16lbs, which is right around what I wanted to gain and my weight is holding steady! YEAH! I am super excited, I was getting nervous a few months ago (Before I started my new GD diet) that I was going to gain like 30lbs, but 16lbs is not bad and I know that I can lose that after. At least that's the goal. My blood pressure is doing really good - last time I went in it was back down to 100/56 again or something like that, it's only been up once and that was my first appointment so I think I was just nervous. I am not really swelling in the ankles and hands, just a big. I actually got my wedding ring back on, which has been nice.

Gestational Diabetes, Rhogam Shot and an Ultrasound....What an appointment!

Today was my monthly appointment for 28 weeks. I knew it was going to be a long one, but it really tired me out....

Here is the run down of my day
7:30: Making Eggs for breakfast, really wanting some juice, but since I had the test this morning I passed on it
9:20: Drank 10 oz of my LOVELY 50g Sugar Fruit Punch drink. I had to get it down in 5 minutes and at first it wasn't so bad, but by the end I wasn't liking it too much.
9:45: Left for my appointment. I had to drive to the Waconia Clinic.
10:25: Had my vial of blood drawn...shortly after that I found out that my Hemoglobin was good at 12 1/2 (normally it's much lower, so that's good news, no extra iron) but my glucose was a 136....Unfortunately I needed to be 130 or under...which means I will have to have another one - see below
10:45: After sitting for awhile waiting I went to the Ultrasound Room to have my 4th (Yep 4th) Ultrasound of Peanut. Boy she has gotten big. She showed her face, barely...just like last time. The tech that was running it was still learning and while she was quick to notice that she doesn't have a cleft lip (the entire reason we were there) she didn't get a good profile pic or another pic of her face. They did however get her heartbeat  - which was a great 147bpm. and they double checked that she was a girl - yep still a girl :0)

11:20: Went to meet with my Midwife.  It was the normal talk. We will be reviewing the birth plan around 36 weeks. Next appointment she will give me all the information to start working on it, although Mike and I already have started it.
11:35: Got the painful Rhogam Shot. It wasn't too bad, it was a just a little burning...and after that I was finally done and got home around 12. Long morning.

Since I failed the 1 hour Gestation Diabetes test I have to go back next Thursday for a 3 Hour. I have to fast for 8 hours before the test which luckily is in the morning. They take my blood sugar level before it starts after fasting. Then I have to drink a lovely 10oz orange drink which has 100g of sugar in it. Yep you heard that right 100g. Then 1 hour later they take my levels again, I have to wait another hour and then tested again and then one more hour and test again. The crappy part is it's not a finger prick but a full vial of blood drawn out of the arm. I will have to bring a snack for afterward since I won't be able to eat anything until almost noon. If two of the three numbers are high then I will be diagnosed as having Gestational Diabetes and have to monitor my sugar. Which means I will have to cut out the carbs....probably not a good thing that I am known as a Carb Queen.

A view at our Little Peanut

Here is a picture of Peanut....at 24 weeks or so....She wasn't cooperating much so this was the best picture we got of her.

23 Weeks and Stressed

Before I even start this blog post...I want to point out that I am having a VERY long week and a very crabby week. Not really anything has gone wrong, it has nothing to do with the pregnancy except the fact that it's all I can think about. I also want to point out that I know it will get better and all this and I am just in a funk....Like my friend Jess said to me today, that I am the only one that can pull me out of this funk....So I appreciate all the support that I know many of you will give me, but please don't be upset if I don't jump at the advice right away....

 

I am now officially 23 weeks and closer to the end then the beginning. Heartburn has been kicking in full force this past week, in fact I had to go buy more tums, only because I don't like the green & yellow flavors in the pack we have :)  But other than that the pregnancy is going really well. She is moving like crazy. We get to see her again on Monday! I am super excited about that. Since I am farther along it will be nice to see how big she has gotten.

As for my funk I have trouble on a day to day basis of focusing on anything that does not include the baby. At work it's the worse, which is why home life is still fun because I can do things that have to get done for the baby....At work without going into too much boring detail, I have switched roles and not quite feeling the new role yet. It's still a bit vague and I am on a project that I am still trying to get my head wrapped around. I know it's my perfectionism coming through and I just have to let go. I have things that I have to get done and I just have to do them and not worry about them being perfect, because they probably still will be.

I have way too much on my list to research for the baby, between the breast pumps, the size diapers I am going to need and all the other things. I have to find a pediatrician, I want to take a CPR class before the little one comes, and then there is Day care. We have our first tour with the Eden Prairie Montessori school on Friday and then next Thursday with Primrose which is close to our place. I have to start calling around to some other places that are in home so I can make the decision. We will probably go talk to some of the in-homes in May. So we can make the decision of an in-home vs a center. I think we have decided not to go with a center like New Horizon's or Kinder Care, just because they are the same price in our area as the Montessori schools, so why not just put our child there, plus they are closer.....

I just want this week to be over, I want us to get the dressers and the gliders ordered, the border and the closet system up and see my little one on Monday. Hoping tomorrow and next week is better than today!

Mish Mash of Things....

I didn't know what to call this blog post so it will be a bunch of mish mash of things....

• I really wish I could feel Peanut moving....I know that people say once she does start moving I won't be able to sleep, but it would make me feel so much better.
• I am impatient for the next four weeks to go by so that I can see my little girl again on the Ultrasound screen and know that she is okay.
• I had a great weekend with my family - both sides this weekend. Got to see my parents and my in-laws(IL's).
• I got to spend a lot of time with my niece tonight. She is getting so big.
• I miss my hubby! We are crossing our fingers and toes that he will be flying home tomorrow night. At least by Tuesday because his hotel is only booked until Tuesday.
• I am really glad that my little puppy is doing so well with my SIL's & BIL's dog Abby and their little one. This afternoon my IL's brought her over to my SIL's house and Abby and Mac played and played and played in the backyard. Mac is now sleeping on the couch exhausted. She did really well in their house with Alyssa on the floor and stuff and she only barked a few times when Leah was holding Alyssa. She is going to do really well with Peanut I think when she comes along.
• I cried at the show 16 & Pregnant tonight, because this wise little 16 year old girl realized that in order to give her little boy the best life she had to give him up for adoption and I balled my eyes out at the fact that she did it even though it was really hard for her to...I think I cried because I don't think even at 30 I would be able to do that. So for all those out there that have given up a child, I applaud you!!

Peanut is a Girl!!!

Ultrasound Pictures

Here are the pictures from the Ultrasound. This is Peanut's Profile. If you look close you can see Peanut sucking their thumb or one of their fingers

This is a picture of Peanut's Hands. You can see the digits. They are the white stripes in the pictures. The tech said this was interesting, because most babies have their fingers balled up.

Here is a picture of Peanut's Foot....you can see the digits in this one too. So cute.

The tech said that Peanut is about 8oz maybe 10, but probably no more than that. I have an anterior placenta (have to do more research on what exactly that means) but pretty much it sits farther back, so I might not feel peanut moving around as much in the front of my belly and I might feel peanut more in my back.

It's a....

....I can't say yet....But soon!!

Our little peanut almost didn't cooperate, but the tech moved them around enough that they opened their legs up. they were crossed and under their butt :)

Everything looks wonderful! I even got to see their little hands and fingers even...all but like 2 of the fingers were stretched out. Peanut is laying across my belly (at least at the time). I have to go back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound to see the Diaphragm, lips and heart, she couldn't get a good look at all that stuff. which is fine with me! I am measuring a bit behind, but nothing major, I am at 18 weeks 2 days. instead of 18 weeks 6 days. I was just so excited that DH was able to be there. He was his usual, not too excited, but he was glad to see the little one. Now we are just waiting to hear (hopefully by the end of the day) if he will have to fly out to DC or not tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully not! if he doesn't I will be posting Wednesday night...but we will definitely be on a team. Will post a picture later!

Show us your Goods!

It's less than 3 days to Mike and I meeting Peanut - at least on the monitor :) but anyway it's getting close....and the days are getting longer and longer....For the longest time I was having dreams that Peanut was a boy up until this past week. and now I have had two dreams that Peanut is a girl, so who knows.

I just hope that Peanuts shows us their goods so that we can know if Peanut is a boy or a girl. Mike has requested that if they don't show us then we aren't going to find out until Peanut is born. and for all those that know me you know that I am not patient, so if I have to wait another 5 months to find out I am going to go crazy! I have to clarify with him that if he just means that we don't have any unscheduled ultrasounds just to find out. Because if that's the case I totally agree, but if we need to have one for something else, then we should so find out - unless it's really close to the end. So keep your fingers crossed!

18 Weeks

One week closer to Mike and I meeting Peanut! This week went surprisingly faster than I thought it was going to go, which is good because it's one week closer to seeing peanut. Even if we don't get to find out the sex (although I will be totally bummed if we can't) it will still be great to see peanut.

I am pretty sure (about 80%) that I felt Peanut move today!! 80) I am super excited if that's what it was...At least that's what I am going with. It felt like a fluttering. it happened this morning and also this afternoon while I was working.

17 Weeks

Another week down and another week closer to meeting little peanut. I am still convinced Peanut is a boy and I will be super shocked if in 2 weeks when we go to the Ultrasound (if Peanut cooperates) they tell us Peanut is a girl...I will be super shocked. This past week was good. I am starting to get a bit more uncomfortable in my clothes...Specially jeans..All I want to do is wear comfy PJ's. some friends of mine gave me jeans, but my butt seems to be too large for most of them, so I am going to have to break down and buy a pair this week before we go out of town.

I got to see my little Munchkin - Alyssa three days in a row this week! She is getting super big and just about crawling! I can't believe it, and in June she will be 1 year old. Seriously where does time go??

Not much else going on this week. I have to say I am very touched and overwhelmed by the kindness of the girls from the Waiting to Try Message board that I am part of. I wrote about Carly a few posts ago and her husband was murdered last week and we all decided that we needed to help her somehow. So one of the girls started a collection and with that collection we raised about $1,000 dollars, to buy Carly her carseat for little Tadpole (she is due in April) and now a bunch of other things, plus send her some money. She doesn't have a lot of family around where she lives and wasn't able to have a shower, so she had a lot of stuff on her registry that Rob and her hadn't gotten yet. I just hope she has some support to go through what she is going through. She is constantly on my mind. and even thought she is an online friend, I have known her for years and I can't imagine what she is going through. Please keep her in your thoughts.

On another note my insurance company finally figured out our chiropractor stuff and reprocessed the claims. so I have to call tomorrow to make sure that I do indeed need to send in a check for the overpayment for the FSA stuff...what a mess!

2 Weeks until the Ultrasound!

I can't believe that it's only two weeks until we find out if we are having a baby boy or a baby girl! Where does time go? Seems like it was just yesterday that I was at my 15 week appointment and now I am coming up on 17 weeks tomorrow!

Heard Peanut's Heartbeat

Today was my 15 week appointment and it went great! So much easier than last time. Although I hate peeing in the cup, but what can you do right? They weighed me and I pretty much wore the same things as last time and I only gained 1lb - GO ME!! so total for the pregnancy I have been at about 2 to 3lbs total. My goal is about 15lbs for the entire pregnancy so I am right on track.

My BP was a ton better too. Last appt it was like 140/70 or something like that, which is really high for me and this time it was 96/60 something, which is much more normal. I don't think it's ever been below 100, but it's been 100 plenty of times. My MW thought it was fine.

I got up on the table and she got the doppler out and found Peanuts heartbeat - it took longer than before, which freaked me out for about a 1 second (I had a dream this weekend that peanut was gone and no HB was found). but there was the swish swish swish and I could hear he/she moving around!! It was so cool, there would be a break in the swish swish and that would be the little one moving...he/she moved like 3 times while we were listening....

She explained the RH Negative thing to me and like you all told me - nothing to worry about :) We also had decided not to do any of the genetic testing. I didn't want to take the chance with the Amnio and I didn't want to do the NT scan, because it would just freak me out more than I need to be freaked out.

We have another appointment on March 15th (exactly a month away) and we have the U/S scheduled. Mike will be there for that and if he can stay for the appointment then we will go out to lunch after word - probably take a few hours of PTO or work later that day to make up for it. Four weeks will not come soon enough!!! I want to know the gender now, so I can start buying stuff ;) and thinking of names....