Doc appt.

So today we had a tiny scare but apparently nothing big....I went for my usual biweekly NST.  It can take anywhere from 30 to an hour and  a half usually (they need to get enough time of the baby being active and seeing that her heart is okay bc an active baby is a happy baby apparently).  So after a good 45 minutes, the nurse took my heartstrip to the doctor and she came back and told the other girl in the room she could go but I couldn't....so she left me hooked up and I noticed that Leah's heartrate kept dropping and so I started to freak out....so then after I had been hooked up for two hours, my doctor came in and pulled the curtains to block me from the other patients.  He did an ultrasoun because he wanted to see what was going on and he checked to make sure the cord wasn't wrapped around her neck.  It wasn't so that's good.  He couldn't explain to me why that happened but after assessing her ultrasound said that she looked fine and healthy...she was moving a lot, etc.  So even though I am a worry wart, I feel that it's best to just trust the guy.  I have another appt on Monday morning so it will be good to see everything is fine.

I talked to him about inducing me and he said that he will start to check my cervix around 37 or 38 weeks and if I am "ripe" which means dialated and soft cervix that is shortening, then we can talk about taking her out. He wants to go with my body but still won't let me go past 40 weeks.  My stepdad doesn't want the baby to stay in past 39 weeks.  He told me to give my doctor his number (he's been a baby doc for over 32 years)  and wants my doc to call him if he wants to talk about it (not in a threatening way....just concerned).  He says with high bp nothing but trouble will come from leaving the baby in there longer than she needs to be.  So we'll see what happens.  I am not going to bring that up with my doc for a few more weeks because I was a pain in the ass today already with all my freaking out (but when people come in bc there's something wrong with your baby's heartrate, it's not easy to just be like "oh, okay, that's cool")  Anyway, the baby has been active so that's good.  I'm having another sleepless night but apparently that's the way it's going to be.  Heartburn is getting really old, too.  well....only about 6 or less weeks until even more sleepless nights :)

34 weeks

Well...the baby flipped back a week ago (can't remember if I posted that or not) so she's head down and apparently dropping a little lower which is good because it will be harder (I assume) for her to flip back to breech.  If she does flip back, I don't think that I am going to let them manually flip her because I've heard from a few people (including a labor ad delivery nurse) that have said that it can actually cause harm because there is often a reason the baby goes breech....like the way the cord is wrapped or whatnot and that it can be painful and a lot of times babies will just flip right back to breech anyway.  

We had our first baby shower in San Mateo and it was a lot of fun.  Looking at the pictures, I look look like a whale but I should appreciate it because soon I'll be a lot bigger.  It is one month from the 38 weeks they said they'd most likely induce me at.  But....they switched my medicine because my BP has been too high so we shall see if they want me to go full term now (like if the meds balance out the bp)  I am going to discuss this with my doctor on Friday when I see him.  I want to see if there is a way to get an induction date now that it's sooner or if it's still a wait and see thing.  At least with an induction date, it would be nice to KNOW that the baby is coming on that time.   We'll see.  Not sure if i posted before but all of the tests I had last week came back normal and fine with her measurements, etc.

Starting tomorrow I have to test my pee daily for protein (yay) because it's a sign of preeclampsia if there is protein in the urine.  The NST appointments this week have gone well.  Leah looks good and has a good heartrate.  I've been cramping but nothing too bad.  

I read a news article about a woman that went crazy and killed her baby and then ate his toes and brain.  I don't know why I found the urge to share that but um fun fact.

The baby should weigh about the same as a standard cantaloupe (close to 5 pounds).  My stepdad is a baby doc and he said if I (when I) get to 35 weeks, it's a good cutoff point to know the baby should be pretty much fine.  

Well 34 weeks down and 6 more to go (maybe less!!!)  Doc appt on Friday so hopefully more to post then.

ps JP posted on the last blog on how to leave commets...apparently u have to hit tab a bunch of times or something.  Thanks, JP.

33 weeks

Well....I have had a few appts recently. The first one my blood pressure was really high so after we saw the baby was okay, he sent me for a check on my blood....don't know what he was checking for exactly but everything was okay.  Then today I had an ultrasound and her measurements seemed a bit behind but i think it has to be 2 weeks at least to cause concern....and i don't remember seeing anything that was the far behind.....my doc will talk to me about this next week.  She weighs an estimated 4 pounds 7 ounces which is bigger than what I was when I was born.  

I am kinda cramping so this is going to be short but I'll update soon.  Our first baby shower is on Saturday. :)

ps the nursery is coming along and we have the belly cast made but not painted yet....pictures of everythign to come.

32 weeks

Well.... I went to my 2 doc appts for the day and the first one was the NST appt where they do the ultrasound and check the amniotic fluid and the baby's heartrate, etc.... That lasted an hour. She said to me, "Now was your baby breech last week?" And I told her no but I hoped she wasn't this week....alas, she is. Sarah says not to worry and so did the doc. They said there is plenty of time for her to turn and that they will try to turn her startinag at 34 weeks I think.

My second appt was with my regular baby doc. He said that he's really happy with today's blood pressure. He also said that it is possible that my baby weighs 5 pounds by now which is what the 3d ultrasound lady guessed (I still think that's unlikley bc Julian and I are small people and that would put me having a 9 pounder). The thing that kinda sucked was that I haven't grown (don't get me wrong, I have gained weight since last time but not tummy measurement) or should I say my uterus hasn't grown since 2 weeks ago. I should be 32 and I am still measuring 30. So he ordered a big ultrasound at the hospital (different than the one I get every 3-4 days now) so that they could get the measurements of the baby. It could be due to the high blood pressure or it could be due to the baby flipping positions and being curved differently. I'll post more on that when I know more...

The air conditioning broke yesterday and I was a baby about it....but try being about 8 months preg in a 90 degree apartment and seeing how you feel. Dude, I get hotter than any man around me does at this point. They came and fixed it which makes me very happy.

Yesterday I woke up and thought I had food poinsoning again but it prob wasn't...I threw up a little bit in the morning and felt horrible. Julian stayed home from work. After a few hours of sleep he said I got color back in my face and I started to feel better. It was fun to have him around. I think we should both not work and just hang out all day when the baby comes and before too. Julian put together the crib and dresser and changing table. They look really good! Now I need to clean up all the styrofoam bits all over, but after we get things settled I will post pics.

I bought a belly casting kit. Sarah is going to come over this weekend and help me do it. I should post a link to what that will look like because JP is going to be confused I think.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.its-your-birth.com/images/belly_cast-smaller.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.its-your-birth.com/Belly_Casting.html&usg=__Gnee4Ol_hKj6tvsXVg_hNF5_Pyw=&h=300&w=250&sz=56&hl=en&start=17&sig2=4xCtA1nQH4W_yrcXLJoj3g&um=1&tbnid=u-neNsKlY5TF7M:&tbnh=116&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbelly%2Bcast%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=n4BfSsWGK4jp-QbgurznAQ

Then we (haha sarah, you know the truth) are going to paint it....I have no artistic skill but sar is good. I am so excited!

OK well....until next time. :)

birthing class 1

scared me.....seriously. We had to watch an 80s video of a woman giving natural childbirth and all the labor leading up to it....seriously, i am up at 6am bc i am freaked out. i was up at 4am freaked out too. i know that i am getting drugs for mine but i am still not feeling so good about it.

we are starting to get the nursery together this week which is fun...

i had to go into the hospital last friday bc of blood pressure. they hooked me up to a machine to judge contractions and the baby's heart rate and gave an ultrasound to check her and my amniotic fluid. everything was good and i have another appt this thursday....following this week i go in 2-3 times per week from here on out.

a c section is sounding more appealing to me now bc of that video...we see more videos the next 4 mondays so i'll keep you posted on my thoughts.

31 weeks

I was reading the update I get about each week of pregnancy....for 31 weeks it said "You might have some troupble sleeping as your little one does somersaults in your stomach"....alas, I am up right now writing this. At least it means she is doing okay. I have started to feel her around my right side, almost on my back. It is the strangest thing...and now I will feel her tapping or kicking in multiple places at once which is also different.

She should weigh about the same as 4 navel oranges, although the ultrasound lady guessed she would be close to 5 pounds by now (which is huge and I highly doubt she's that big) It's weird, though, because I was only 4 pounds when I was born, so it's nice to know that her weight is increasing so that she'll be okay if born early.

The crib and dresser come tomorrow between 2 and 5. I am excited but it won't be put together until next week but I can be patient.

I started filling out the paperwork for the hospital and they didn't have a box for interracial babies and I think they should. So I marked 3 boxes- asian, caucasian, and other and put what she is in it. I guess it's a good thing, though, because she shouldn't fit in a box and be all confined like that...

I am constantly hungry. I want to eat my 4th nectarine for the day but then I'll be sad tomorrow so I won't. I really want to though.

I don't have much to update about the baby except that she's getting bigger, her kicks are stronger and all over, and she gives me a lot of heartburn. A true remedy that works is mixing half a teaspoon of baking soda with 4 oz of water....seriously, it works like a charm and instantly.

we have our CPR class tomorrow which will not be fun but it's good that we are doing.

ok I am going to walk around and see if that rocks her to sleep so I can go to sleep.

30 weeks

Well...there's no more than 10 weeks left of my pregnancy...today the doctor said that they will not let me go past my due date but they may induce much sooner....it's all wait and see.  He printed out the paperwork stating I cannot go back to work to start the school year, so that decision was made for me.

The baby should be close to 3 pounds and 16 inches long by now.  He seems to think that she has already rotated head down, but luckily I don't feel kicks to my ribs as of yet.

Starting at 32 weeks I am going to go to the doctor two times per week.  I guess they'll hook me up to a machine and monitor the baby's heart just to make sure that my hypertension is't taking a toll on her well being.  They'll be able to watch really closely which makes me feel good that they'll make sure she's okay regularly.

Heartburn is a regular thing now....but I am lucky because usually just drinking a glass of milk and then sleeping with two pillows can make it go away.  It's also really weird because I'll have periods of time where I just can't sleep. I guess this is normal....but recently I've been waking up around 5am for about an hour and then i can fall back asleep. Weight gain is um...really taking place. The only good news to this (besides the baby is growing) is that breastfeeding burns about  500-600 calories per day so it will help me lose some of it after she is here.

Her eyes can now move in their sockets....she will only be able to see pure reds, greens and yellows at birth thgouh (or distinguish those colors, i should say) but she'll still enjoy the girly colors as well (just a little later).  Her eyelids are no longer fused shut and she practices openign and clsoing her eyes and doing looking movements. Her brain is continuing to develop. She is taking a lot of calcium from me for her skeleton and iron for her red blood cells. The  hair that developped all over her body should be mostly gone by now except for patches on her back and shoulders and then we can now see if she has hair on her head.  It is unpigmented as of now.  (We have an ultrasound on Friday so I will know if she has a full head of hair or not by now).

Her movements are getting pretty firm but they don't hurt.   She seems to have a good temperament in the womb haha. She isn't over active where it drives me nuts, but she kicks enough each day to remind me that she's there and doing well.  It hasn't gotten old yet...I get really excited when she kicks.  I wonder how I'll feel as the weeks come to a close.  Who knows.

If I don't write sooner, happy 4th of July!