33 Weeks!

Time is really flying now! Last week was my first set of non stress tests. Our boy did great on Tuesday. I wasn't sure what to expect, but they just hooked me up to monitor movement and contractions, just like they did when I went to labor and delivery. I could feel him moving around like crazy and watched his heart rate increase significantly with movement. That's what they look for. I also had a quick ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels. He's still breech and she tried to get us some good pictures, but he was not cooperating. He also wouldn't show us he's still a boy, oh well. We did get to see him curl his little toes under at one point, which was super adorable! My fluid level is the same as it was two weeks ago. Normal, but she said it was the low end of normal.

I had my MFM appointment on Wednesday. We met with the doctor who was on call when I last went to L&D and I absolutely loved him! Really great bedside manner. He reassured me that baby still has plenty of fluid and that I have a 97% chance he will turn on his own in the next few weeks. I'm still having intermittent pressure in my chest and back and he said to call if it gets worse or I get too worried. I'm not sure what it is, I'm hoping it's just pressure from how the baby is sitting and pushing on things.

Friday was another NST. The boy decided to sleep during the first part, so she had to get out this vibrating noise maker and put it on my belly. The poor little guy got startled out of his sleep and was wide awake for the rest of the test, showing her what she needed to see. My parents were watching our daughter, so my husband and I got to go out for a date night afterward. We had a nice dinner and went shopping. Of course, when you have a child and a baby who is soon to arrive, who do you shop for? The kids, not yourselves at all. We came home with some cute summer dresses for our princess and some great decor to add to the nursery.

Today we did our "finish up the registry" shopping trip with our 10% off coupon. It was lots of fun (until we got to the register and had to actually pay for all the great things we "had" to have). Now I think we have everything we need to have before he arrives. The nursery is in it's final phase and I'll be posting pictures soon!

Another Trip to Labor & Delivery

So I've been having this pressure in my chest and back very sporadically the past couple of weeks. It seemed to coincide with a particular move my dear son makes where he presses one foot into my right rib, one into my right hip bone, and pushes his head out on my left side. I just chalked it up to pressure from that fancy stretching move of my breech boy. Last night the pressure came but did not coincide with this move and would not go away. I took a Zantac hoping it was heartburn...nothing, so I googled. I know, I know, I shouldn't have, it just freaked me out that I was having a massive heart attack. Nervous, I took my blood pressure - I'm usually in the 110/65 range and I was 128/85 - ack! So I wait 5 minutes, freaking out and take it again 143/91, now I'm really worried (in hindsight, the anxiety is likely what caused the spike). I called the on call doctor and he didn't seem too terribly concerned. He told me it was likely nothing but to go to labor and delivery to be checked out. So, 11:00 at night we drag a groggy 3 year old out of bed and head downtown from our lazy, quiet suburb. They take my vitals, have me pee in a cup, and hook me up to a contraction and fetal monitor. Absolutely everything comes back normal and good. They leave me hooked up for quite a while and check my vitals a couple different times and both the baby and myself continue to look fine and healthy, although I am still feeling the pressure in my chest and back. My 3 year old is wide awake and completely content playing preschool games on Daddy's IPad. Daddy and I are uncomfortable and exhausted, but relieved all is looking good so far. When I see the doctor, she examines me and says that it is likely just "abnormally presenting asthma," she said if it were a heart attack or a clot that the baby would most likely be showing some signs of distress and he looked absolutely wonderful, and I was sent home. We finally crawled in the door at 3:00 AM. I'm still having the pressure and just started up my asthma meds again (I haven't needed any for several months). I'm hoping in a couple of days I'll start feeling better. My stupid anxiety has me a bit concerned that it is still something worse, but I guess the good news is I start going in for different things a lot this week and I would hope somebody would catch something if it were serious. Tomorrow is my first NST and the following day another appointment with my OB.

Our daughter loved her "Big Sister" class at the hospital! She got to learn how to hold a baby doll the correct way, diaper, swaddle, and feed a bottle. She got a cute little certificate and shirt, and they got to tour the maternity wing and see newborns in the nursery. She is still talking about her teacher and what she learned in class. It was a fun and special day for her.

Appointment Crazy

Tomorrow I hit the 32 week mark. That's when I start all of these crazy appointments. Is it weird to say that I'm actually looking forward to them in a way? I know it will be quite a stress load, especially for my husband taking time off of work to go to them with me and grandparents helping watch our daughter, but I'm relieved to be watched so closely. I'm excited to see and hear him frequently and this means we are getting really close to meeting him face to face! One thing that has me stressed about it all is that my bi-weekly testing will be at the sister hospital (because it's a closer and easier drive than the one I will deliver at), and it will be in the same facility where we found out we lost "C" (the son we lost at 17 weeks), where I had 2 D&C's, and where we went after we delivered him. If I end up in the same ultrasound room it will be very emotional. I'm afraid all of those anxieties will come flooding back when I walk in. That is the main reason I want my husband with me, plus if we find out something is wrong, I don't want to be there alone.

Tomorrow we take my daughter to her "Big Sister" class at the hospital I will deliver at. She's really excited! We are going to make a fun day of it for her, going out to lunch before and shopping afterwards. A day for her. It should be a lot of fun! It's been a gorgeous week and we have been having a lot of fun playing outside. She even got to ride her tricycle outside for the first time last night.

I'm getting to the very uncomfortable stage of pregnancy. Here is my complaint part of the post - I will try to get it all out in this one post. I don't want to forget these things either, so I'm writing them down. I'm still thrilled and blessed to be pregnant and wouldn't trade it for the world, so don't take it the wrong way. Here are the things I won't miss...the waking up at least 3 times per night to pee, having trouble falling asleep because my back or hips hurt or I have restless leg syndrome. Heartburn. It wears me out to do almost anything, climbing stairs, throwing in a load of laundry, trying to get up off the ground after changing a diaper. I love feeling him move, but he's starting to find some very uncomfortable positions that make me short of breath or make me contort my body as best I can to try to get him to move. My tailbone hurts all the time now and locks up randomly shooting excruciating pain. That same tailbone pain combined with the exhaustion from exertion makes my need to nest not happen, then I get irritated that things aren't just so. I want everything clean and ready but my body won't let me take care of those things, so my poor husband is being run ragged. And one last thing...I WANT A BIG TALL MILKSHAKE! Stupid GD! Okay, I think I got it all out ;)

30 Week Growth Ultrasound

Today we had our 30 week growth ultrasound (at 30 weeks 4 days). I didn't think I'd be nervous for these later ultrasounds, but I was so terribly nervous! Worried he was growing okay or that they would see something wrong that they hadn't seen before. I am so thankful to report that all is well with our little man. He is weighing in at 3lbs. 14oz., all his measurements look good and he is in the 59th percentile for size. His heart rate was 134, which is good. My amniotic fluid level is 9, she said that was good. He's still a he, and a very wiggly he at that. The ultrasound tech told us he had the prettiest 3rd trimester heart she had seen all day. Unfortunately he is breech. His head is poking out on my left side, he's sitting on my bladder, and just like his sister at this stage, he has his feet up by his head. I had a lot more trouble telling what everything was on ultrasound this time. He's getting so big and she said that breech position is more difficult to see things. We did get to see his sweet little face and I am so in love! I can't wait to smooch him!

His skull, I think...

She said it's his legs, but I can't quite figure this one out...

A foot....

and the other foot...

Pardon me while I keep track of all the stats from my appointments, it doesn't make for very interesting blog posts, but I want to have record of it for the baby book. We had an appointment with the nurse practitioner after the ultrasound. She told me I had about a month left for him to turn and gave me a position to try. She also told me when he turns at this stage it could be really uncomfortable because he will push on my aorta and I could get really nauseous and faint for a couple of minutes. She also gave us some great news about the ultrasound. If we were to have growth restriction due to the single umbilical artery it would likely be presenting already, so in all likelihood he will grow just fine for the rest of the pregnancy. I've been put on iron once per day because it was a bit low.

I'm focusing on the gestational diabetes now. I met with my dietitian yesterday and talked to my nurse today who say to continue with my diet because it is working with my numbers. Hopefully it will stay that way. Apparently I was just barely over the limit with my 3 hour test (75/174/155), some charts I've looked at wouldn't even fail me at those numbers, so hopefully I have it even more mildly than I did with my daughter. I had a high number after lunch today (157), but I ate out and overdid my carbs with a big muffin and some fruit. I have had that same meal but only half the muffin and been fine in the past. Pinterest is not my friend while I have GD! Oh the delicious things I'm seeing on there! Not to mention it is a beautiful week here, in the 70's. My daughter and I have been playing outside all week and I would love to go out for ice cream with the family! All in due time...he'll be here by summer, so we'll just have to wait and go as a family of four :)

Gestational Diabetes, Grrr!

Yep, I have it again. I failed my second two numbers of the three hour test. I honestly could care less about the finger pokes and diet. I've done it before and it's only for two months. I think it will be a bit more tricky this time to eat and poke on schedule while tending to my 3 year old. I lived by my timer when I had it with her...poke, eat, wait an hour, poke, wait an hour, eat, wait an hour, poke...you get the idea. Cutting down on the carbs isn't too difficult except for missing my morning orange juice and my desserts. Upping the protein is a little more difficult because I don't eat much meat, but nuts and cheese usually do the trick. My only real concern is making sure my son is okay. I was able to control my blood sugar levels with diet alone last time and my daughter had no complications (and that was over Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Christmas season - talk about tough ;)). I'm hoping all goes just as smoothly this time. One of the last things I needed during this pregnancy is one more thing that can cause pregnancy complications and stillbirth. It just makes me more nervous. In all likelihood though, keeping it well managed, there should be no complications. I'll just keep repeating that mantra.

We had our hospital tour this week. I'll be delivering at a different hospital (the sister hospital) than where I delivered my daughter. It is HUGE! I have been going there for all of my appointments and ultrasounds (my MFM's office is in the hospital), but I had no idea that the labor and maternity ward were as big as they are! They deliver the most babies in a year in my entire state (6000-7000) and they currently are caring for 67 babies in the NICU. There is a labor wing for high risk deliveries and one for regular deliveries. 2 floors for after care. A wing for mamas who are on hospital bed rest. The night we toured was extraordinarily busy, we didn't get to see a full labor room because they were full or dirty or about to be filled. They also had to double up some mom and babies in the after care rooms for a bit, which made all of us on the tour nervous. They assured us this was something that rarely happens, it was just an especially busy night. I have mixed feelings about how big it all is, but at least we will be in a place where they are well equipped to handle any complications that should arise, that's comforting. The birthing suites are nice and roomy and cozy. We have the option of birthing tubs, hot showers, birthing balls, things like that.

I hit 30 weeks tomorrow. It hardly seems possible! Only 10 weeks away from my due date. The nursery is coming along and we hope to have it finished in the next two weeks. I'm looking forward to my ultrasound this coming week. Hoping all looks good and healthy in there. Time is whizzing by! Here's the nursery progress...