Whew! 34 weeks and I'm carrying a cantaloupe around what used to be my waist! It feels like much more than that! My appointments went well and AJ cooperated nicely with the NST and ultrasound. I saw my OB as well and so far everything is looking good. My belly measures about 36 weeks and my blood pressure and AJ's heartbeat are both perfect. She agreed that I'm probably having quite a lot of braxton hicks contractions. Of course her recommendation is to rest and lie down and drink lots of water. I can't really rest and lie down at work, but I'm trying to be good and drink more water, as much as my body protests all the long walks to the bathroom.
I have all the typical complaints of a heavily pregnant woman--fatigue, back, hip and pelvic pain, bouts of nausea and indigestion, etc etc etc, but for the most part things seem to be going smoothly. I am very happy to be finished with the most hectic parts of work this week--this was the week I needed to get through the most at work. We are preparing for an upgrade of our system, so month end was rushed up a bit. I also finished writing up procedures for literally every task I do and most of the people who will be doing them in my eventual absence have been trained. I am relieved to know that if something happens and I have to be out tomorrow, I've done what I can to responsibly prepare everyone as well as I could. For now, I don't have any immediate plans to be out of work, but it's nice not to worry about it.
We're hoping that the long holiday weekend (and the huge amounts of rain we are expecting thanks to Tropical Storm Isaac) will allow us to make more progress on the baby's room. My personal goal for the weekend is to clear it out completely and get it totally cleaned. I'd love to have the wall paper removed from the one wall (who does that?) so that it's ready to paint too, but we shall see if we get that far!
Next week yet another OB appointment (of course with NST and BPP including another weight estimate) and the dreaded Strep B test :-P I officially see my OB (or one of the other OBs on staff--they want their patients to meet all three OBs so that we are comfortable with whoever is on call when we deliver) every week from now on. Unbelievably I have only 39 days until my due date! 8-O It's hard to imagine being a mommy of two! I hope I'm ready!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Check Out Baby Big Head!
5 points for knowing the movie this post title is from :D
33 weeks pregnant! Little Alexander is the size of a honeydew melon this week, according to my ticker. According to Tuesday's ultrasound, he's estimated at about 5 lbs 12 oz--in the 95th percentile for his gestational age. Overachieving little chunker! He's doing well and my fluid measured fine for the second week in a row, which makes me think the first high measurement was probably off. He was nice and active for the NST too--a little too active, he kept running away from the monitor which makes the test take forever. That and the fact that the medical assistant kept leaving the room and coming when he'd been off for awhile. I'm going to start "finding" him again myself when she's not in the room. No OB appointment until next week, but so far everything looks good.
I think I had some braxton hicks contractions yesterday. It occurred to me I never had any contractions with Tyler until they started me on petocin, so it's sort of new to me. My belly got tight and I felt like I needed to catch my breath. Luckily, drinking some water seemed to make them go away. And resulted in a few extra trips to the bathroom during the night. *sigh*
AJ finally showed his face during the ultrasound! He has chubby cheeks and I think he was sucking his fingers!
So cute, right? :)
33 weeks pregnant! Little Alexander is the size of a honeydew melon this week, according to my ticker. According to Tuesday's ultrasound, he's estimated at about 5 lbs 12 oz--in the 95th percentile for his gestational age. Overachieving little chunker! He's doing well and my fluid measured fine for the second week in a row, which makes me think the first high measurement was probably off. He was nice and active for the NST too--a little too active, he kept running away from the monitor which makes the test take forever. That and the fact that the medical assistant kept leaving the room and coming when he'd been off for awhile. I'm going to start "finding" him again myself when she's not in the room. No OB appointment until next week, but so far everything looks good.
I think I had some braxton hicks contractions yesterday. It occurred to me I never had any contractions with Tyler until they started me on petocin, so it's sort of new to me. My belly got tight and I felt like I needed to catch my breath. Luckily, drinking some water seemed to make them go away. And resulted in a few extra trips to the bathroom during the night. *sigh*
AJ finally showed his face during the ultrasound! He has chubby cheeks and I think he was sucking his fingers!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Another week, another appointment
32 weeks pregnant and baby is the size of jicama (google it! I've seen them use it on Chopped!). Today was my first non-stress test and biophysical appointment. Well, it was actually supposed to be yesterday. I called on Monday to ask the receptionist a question about my appointment schedule and she casually mentioned that I had an appointment on Wednesday. I told her that my paperwork said Tuesday. She looked again and informed me that the appointment had been rescheduled because the ultrasound tech was sick. I was annoyed, first of all because they had rescheduled me without even informing me (she claimed that they may have planned to call me later in the day), and secondly because they rescheduled me not for my usual morning appointment, but rather for 3:00 pm in the afternoon. That causes issues for me with transportation, since Adam and I carpool to work up north and my doctor is on the south side. Anyway, there wasn't much I could do about it, so I accepted the new appointment time.
Today I had planned to take our van to work and leave early for my appointment, but instead I ended up staying home with Tyler, who has a nasty sore throat and has been running a high fever. Thankfully it's down to a reasonable level now, but boy is he pathetic when he's sick! It just breaks my heart!
So first up today was my non-stress test. If you have never had one, basically they just put a monitor on my belly where one part monitors for contractions and the other monitors the baby's hear rate. They are looking for a certain number of accelerations within a certain amount of time. The medical assistant hooked me up and left the room for a few minutes. After maybe 10 minutes, she poked her head in the door and said "Your baby is boring." Apparently AJ had chosen that moment to be napping. She gave me a glass of ice water to try to perk him up, but it didn't really work. A few minutes later she had me roll onto my right side and drink another glass of water (I wish she'd have let me drink the water, then turn, I ended up with a wet shoulder from that move) and then gave me a sucker. Finally, after much waiting and running away from the monitor, he gave them enough movement to satisfy them, since I was also going to have an ultrasound done.
Next was the biophysical, which is just an ultrasound where they watch for breathing and movement. They also checked the fluid levels, which were much lower this week. Then I had a quick appointment with my OB. Actually, it ended up when they rescheduled me they set my appointment with a nurse instead of the doctor, but when I explained my confusion they had my OB come in anyway (*rolls eyes* communication please!). She was pleased with everything they had seen and cautiously optimistic about the fluid level, although she noted that it's not an exact science and if the umbilical cord was in a fluid pocket it wouldn't be counted. The bottom line is things look very good, but I will still be monitored with weekly biophysicals and non-stress tests and bi-weekly appointments. Next week they will also check the baby's size again. Let's see if he's still packing on the pounds quickly!
So AJ is doing well! Tyler is on the mend, I think and I'm back at work this week and trying to get things in order to my upcoming maternity leave. In other news the baby's room is still no where near done--really not even started--but I am considering a new theme of cute little monsters. And that's about it for now!
Today I had planned to take our van to work and leave early for my appointment, but instead I ended up staying home with Tyler, who has a nasty sore throat and has been running a high fever. Thankfully it's down to a reasonable level now, but boy is he pathetic when he's sick! It just breaks my heart!
So first up today was my non-stress test. If you have never had one, basically they just put a monitor on my belly where one part monitors for contractions and the other monitors the baby's hear rate. They are looking for a certain number of accelerations within a certain amount of time. The medical assistant hooked me up and left the room for a few minutes. After maybe 10 minutes, she poked her head in the door and said "Your baby is boring." Apparently AJ had chosen that moment to be napping. She gave me a glass of ice water to try to perk him up, but it didn't really work. A few minutes later she had me roll onto my right side and drink another glass of water (I wish she'd have let me drink the water, then turn, I ended up with a wet shoulder from that move) and then gave me a sucker. Finally, after much waiting and running away from the monitor, he gave them enough movement to satisfy them, since I was also going to have an ultrasound done.
Next was the biophysical, which is just an ultrasound where they watch for breathing and movement. They also checked the fluid levels, which were much lower this week. Then I had a quick appointment with my OB. Actually, it ended up when they rescheduled me they set my appointment with a nurse instead of the doctor, but when I explained my confusion they had my OB come in anyway (*rolls eyes* communication please!). She was pleased with everything they had seen and cautiously optimistic about the fluid level, although she noted that it's not an exact science and if the umbilical cord was in a fluid pocket it wouldn't be counted. The bottom line is things look very good, but I will still be monitored with weekly biophysicals and non-stress tests and bi-weekly appointments. Next week they will also check the baby's size again. Let's see if he's still packing on the pounds quickly!
So AJ is doing well! Tyler is on the mend, I think and I'm back at work this week and trying to get things in order to my upcoming maternity leave. In other news the baby's room is still no where near done--really not even started--but I am considering a new theme of cute little monsters. And that's about it for now!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Living large!
This week I'm thoroughly enjoying being off of work! The week is flying by though, of course! Monday we went to the State Fair, a summertime tradition in my family! It was pretty hot (though not as hot as it has been) and kind of crowded, but we had a good time! The food was delicious! I rented a motorized cart because I just can't walk very far without feeling pretty crummy! Even so, my hips and back and even my shins have been sore all week! I have found that if I stretch out my hips and back before I got to bed, I am sleeping better, which is a huge relief! Tyler had a fabulous time, especially riding the kiddie roller coaster and the big slide on the midway. Thank goodness Daddy was there to ride with him!
Today I had my last regular appointment with my OB. I'm 31 weeks pregnant now and next week I start going for my biophysicals and non-stress tests. At 31 weeks, AJ should be as long as a stalk of bok choy LOL! The appointment went well, my blood pressure is good and AJ's heartrate was in the 140's. My OB read the ultrasound report and told me that they will be keeping a close eye on the fluid levels, since they were a little bit high. They measured at 22 at the ultrasound and anything of 25 is considered polyhydramnios. Everything else looks good. I'm still measuring around 35 weeks and I really am feeling huge!
Today I had my last regular appointment with my OB. I'm 31 weeks pregnant now and next week I start going for my biophysicals and non-stress tests. At 31 weeks, AJ should be as long as a stalk of bok choy LOL! The appointment went well, my blood pressure is good and AJ's heartrate was in the 140's. My OB read the ultrasound report and told me that they will be keeping a close eye on the fluid levels, since they were a little bit high. They measured at 22 at the ultrasound and anything of 25 is considered polyhydramnios. Everything else looks good. I'm still measuring around 35 weeks and I really am feeling huge!
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