31 Weeks

Posted by Me Sun, 26 Nov 2006 02:53:00 GMT

I’ll be 31 Weeks tomorrow. :) I can’t believe I am already in the 3rd Trimester. My due date of 1/28/07 doesn’t seem too far off. Yowzers!

I am certainly starting to feel the effects of Jack’s size in my belly. Finding a comfortable position to sleep in is getting a bit tougher but I do enjoy feeling him kick throughout the day & night. As of late, he’s been having more hiccups which according to Dr. H is a good sign. He likes to hear that the baby has hiccups – apparently a sign of a healthy baby. I hope that’s true! :) Speaking of Dr. H we had an appointment with him last Wednesday and everything checked out. Jack’s heartbeat came in around 140 and my fundal length was measuring at 30-31 weeks – so right on target. Since we didn’t do the whole Pam Smear/Culture checkup in the beginning I had the pleasure of doing it at the last appointment. Boy, are those fun. I hadn’t had anyone “down there” since my Dr. Bow Tie days! :)

Anyways, overall the appointment went well. I see him in 2 weeks again since now we are on the every other week schedule. Once we are in January, I’ll switch over to the once a week schedule. Yay!

This coming Wednesday we have our first “meet & greet” with a potential Pediatrician. We asked Dr. H for more recommendations since the last one he recommended unfortunately didn’t take our insurance. I’ll be making a few more “meet & greet” appointments and hopefully we can settle on a good one before Jack makes his appearance.

In other news, I saw my parents, my sis and her fiance, and a slew of relatives from my mom’s side a week ago. I had the first of 2 Baby Showers and it was a lot of fun. In lieu of actual gifts, a lot of my relatives gave us some checks to help with the preparation of baby’s arrival. Every little bit helps and LOML and I certainly appreciated everyone’s kindness. My parents were generous enough to give us a stroller that comes with the Car Seat so that’s pretty cool. We haven’t installed it yet in the car – one of the many things on our “To Do” List. I have another Baby Shower on LOML’s side this coming Saturday (12/2) so that should be fun. It was great to see family and getting pampered for a while with good food. I’ll see them next in a couple of months when Jack is due to arrive.

Thanksgiving we spent with LOML’s parents and it was really nice. We opted to go out to eat instead of slaving over a hot stove. It worked out really well. The place they picked out offered a really yummy Turkey dinner and the great thing was we didn’t have to clean up. :) Stress-free Thanksgiving works for me!

Other than that, I have been busy working and finishing up our Christmas shopping. I am pretty much done. I try to do most of it via the Internet since I absolutely hate the crowds at the mall/stores. Gotta’ love the Internet! :) I have a few more things to finish up but overall that should be pretty set. Yay! I am waiting for the things to arrive so I can wrap them and be done. Ahh – I can’t wait!

Despite everything going on – you’d think I’d be distracted enough, I still have my moments of anxiety. I don’t think it ever goes away. I still get some scary dreams (on the off chance when I actually do manage to get some shuteye!) which aren’t so pleasant. Jack tries to reassure me though by offering up a swift kick so it makes it all a little better.

I do have to admit that I am getting more nervous about the last few months as the reality sets in that eventually he has to come out. Also, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t worry that something could go wrong. The Childbirth classes were pretty informative but also admittedly a tad intimidating. I am so grateful for every week I pass and continue to pray that all goes well and that Jack arrives without any complications. My biggest worry is and will forever be his welfare. I will endure anything as long as he is safe and healthy.

All righty, I am going to take it easy for the rest of the evening – take a shower and have a snack. The last few weeks have been really busy with family gatherings, work, and preparations for both baby and X-mas. I can’t imagine that the next few weeks/months will be any different. Days are just whizzing by at a speed that’s hard to comprehend.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and managed to enjoy some good family/friend time.

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Update

Posted by Me Wed, 02 Aug 2006 13:40:00 GMT

So, it’s been a while since I last posted. Thanks, Bekah for the check-in! I thought I’d respond by doing a quick “Update” post. :)

We have our second appointment with Dr. H next Monday, the 7th of August! Wooohoo! I hope all goes well then. We won’t have an ultrasound so I think the appointment won’t be too long. Either way it’ll be nice to see the Dr and make sure all is going as it should down there.

I would like to say that now that I am in the second trimester that I woke up one day and magically all my nausea went away and I feel “GREAT!!!” as my SIL once told me it happened. Alas, not quite yet. I made it through a week or so without the consistent evening puke event but had a recurrence this past Monday when I got that all too familiar feeling and ran for the nearest bathroom. Tuesday I felt better and we’ll see how Wednesday goes. I am still a bit queasy and taking the Dr’s advice and taking my B-6 Vitamin/half a Unisom tablet combo twice a day to remain functional throughout the day. I have tried not taking it or varying its combination always with less than stellar results. :(

A week ago I had a little scare when I found some brown spotting in my undies. I called the Dr’s office and D, the trusted nurse told me not to worry. Brown Spotting is ok. Bright red is bad which I knew. The spotting only lasted one day…really one morning, but of course, I was freaked and made LOML order a doppler right away so we could check on Baby G. We did and were able to discern the heartbeat which allowed me to sleep a little easier without visions of impending miscarriages. I haven’t used the doppler since. I don’t think Baby G likes it very much since the next day I got super nauseous again. I figure we have the doppler for emergency purposes. Since I am so used to Dr BT’s schedule going 4 weeks without some other kind of reassurance can drive a woman batty. However, I also promised myself not to go super neurotic and use that thing every minute of the day. :)

Despite the on-going nausea, I have been able to gain some weight. I think I am up to 3 lbs now, maybe 4. Haven’t weight myself recently. My belly is getting bigger and I have been forced to resort to buying some maternity wear which makes me look more pregnant than just fat I think (or maybe that’s just wishful thinking). Sleeping has gotten a little bit more complicated since I am trying to sleep mainly on my side. I have pillows everywhere which makes it look like I am sleeping in some kind of fort.

Work has still been insanely busy. I haven’t “come out” to work people yet, but plan to sometime next week. Since I don’t work in an office and am a freelancer, I didn’t feel the urgency to tell anyone right away. Most of my clients I never even met face-to-face so it’s a bit odd to share something personal. However, share I will since eventually it will impact my availability to work.

I don’t think I have “felt” Baby G yet. I have felt some flutterings but can’t discern if it is just gas or things moving around in there or actually the Baby…or lastly again it’s my mind playing tricks on me which is entirely possible. I haven’t looked at any Baby stuff yet – still feel it’s too early in the whole process. I have, however, made some Pregnancy Books purchases from Amazon. I am skipping around them all and they did come in handy when I had my little spotting scare. Though honestly, one book gave me no information, one scared the crap out of (“What to expect when you are expecting!”), and the other was actually very helpful (“The Pregnancy Bible”). In any case, I enjoy reading the week-by-week books since it’s cool to find out what’s happening with baby. :)

Since work has been so busy and I don’t usually take naps during the day, I crash pretty darn early…like 8pm early. It is actually quite pathetic. I adopted this early bedtime during the height of “morning sickness” where I was just tired of feeling so sick that eventually I figured going to sleep might give me some relief. Now, I do it partly for the initial reason and also cuz after a full work-day I am just tired and need to sleep. I am trying to take my prenatal vitamins again so I can get the right amount of iron in me to hopefully keep away any potential anemia. I have been relegated to Flintstones ones for a while there (recommended by Dr H) since they were easier to take while dealing with the all-day nausea. I tried a new “real” prenatal vitamin today since the ones I used to take just don’t become Baby G anymore (meaning – send me invariably to the bathroom for a puking session).

So, that’s the update. We’re doing well. I am trying to worry less and trust that all is as it should be. I am trying to feel more comfortable that this baby will stick and am grateful for the miracle that is growing inside me. Even though the morning sickness has not been pleasant, I’ll endure this and much more if it means that Baby G is well since ultimately that is the most important thing right now – our baby’s well-being.

I hope everyone is doing well out there in the Internet world! Wish us luck at our appointment on Monday and hopefully we continue to good news.

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Graduation

Posted by Me Sat, 01 Jul 2006 16:24:00 GMT

Yesterday was u/s day. Yesterday was also my last appointment with my RE. It appears I have graduated. It’s so weird! Good, but weird.

Dr. BT made us wait for a while until he came into the room to “wand” me. However, once he did, he rattled of measurements quickly – Baby G has grown. S/he is actually a little bigger than expected measuring at 32.5mm. I am currently 9w6d today. When I asked if that was ok and if it meant anything, he just said “Oh yeah, it’s fine. Just means it’ll be a big baby!” :) Well, LOML was a good size baby so I guess Baby G may already be taken after his daddy. :)

In any case, the placenta is growing beautifully and the heartrate was a nice strong 182bpm. According to Dr. BT, that’s the highest we’d ever probably see the heartrate. We apparently caught Baby G during an “active” period. When Dr. BT was measuring him/her he said s/he was moving quite a bit.

It was amazing to see Baby G. S/he is still so small but is starting to look like a Baby. We saw the head. The rump. The umbilical cord and the little heart beating oh so fast. It was unbelievable.

Dr. BT said everything looked good. Asked how I was feeling. Told him I was feeling more sick lately and he said hopefully I should be past all that in about a week or two. We’ll see. He was surprised at my eating Almonds and said my eggs/bacon/toast/pickle/watermelon diet wasn’t too bad. The Almonds threw him off a little. I don’t think he personally likes Almonds. Also, let’s be clear. I don’t crave any of the aforementioned foods but know that I can stomach those. For some reason, the bacon settles my stomach like nothing else. It’s very weird. :)

Once he was done, he gave us a picture of Baby G to keep. It still hasn’t sunk in. He also asked us which OB/GYN we planned on going with. We asked for a recommendation and though we couldn’t find anyone on the list we brought from our insurance company, the lovely receptionist found a wonderful Doctor close to home. Apparently, he’s her Doctor as well. The office takes our insurance and though he technically didn’t take new patients until August, Dr. BT called on our behalf and as he put it “greased the wheel” for us. About an hour or so after the appointment, we got a call from the receptionist letting us know that Dr. BT worked his magic and got us an appointment with Dr. H for 7/10. :)

It’ll be sooooo weird to start with a new Doctor. To say I am slightly anxious is an understatement. I mean the whole goal was to “graduate” from Dr. BT and I really didn’t want to be held-back again – but now that it is reality it requires a bit of an adustment. I got used to the whole staff…spending the better part of my life over at Dr. BT’s office. The people know me. It’s weird to start new somewhere else. Dr. BT told us to come back and show off the big belly and definitely when the kid is born.

I hope everything continues to go well. Dr. BT is slowly weaning me off the meds. I have stopped all Progesterone Suppositories. Down to 1 Estrogen Tablet Twice a Day. I still take 2 Progesterone Pills 4 Times a Day. I go back tomorrow to Dr. BT’s office for a blood test to see how I am doing. I figure this will keep happening until I am completely weaned and ready to see Dr. H. The good thing is that Dr. BT knows Dr. H really well. He said he is the nicest man which brings me some comfort.

So, we shall see what will happen. According to Dr. BT, my miscarriage rate has dropped down to 1% to 2%. Baby B/C has been pretty much absorbed. All that is left is a small fluid sac next to Baby G. I know we are not out of the woods yet but I am grateful to have made it this far. I am still scared. I am still nervous, but trying to also relish this miracle I have been able to thus far experience. I know anything can still happen, but I also don’t want my fear of the unknown debilitate me.

Anyways, we’ll see what happens. For now, I am trying to take it easy and take it one day at a time. I hope for continued good news. Hope the weaning off meds won’t cause issues and my first OB/GYN appointment brings us even better news. I’ll be 11w1d by then. So, if you have some good growing vibes to spare – please sent them Baby G’s way. I want this one to stick and stay for the long haul. :)

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Still Here

Posted by Me Wed, 28 Jun 2006 00:28:37 GMT

I am still here. Alive. And seemingly still pregnant. These last few days have been a bit rough. The m/s seems to have kicked up a bit. Yesterday was particularly rough. I really couldn’t keep anything down. Today I have been nibbling and eating nonstop and avoiding food smells which seems to alert the gag reflex (sorry tmi). The only meals I seem to be ok with is eggs, bacon, and toast with a little bit of margerine. Breakfast goes off ok but the day gets more fragile as it continues on. Today’s lunch consisted of a soft pretzel, pickle, and bacon. Breakfast and dinner were scrambled eggs and toast. In between, I am munching on almonds and crackers and watermelon. Watermelon is good. I only had one rough moment right before lunch while I was trying to take care of dirty dishes. So now, LOML has been the designated dealer of foods and dirty dishes since they affect me so…and not in a good way.

In any case, I had a blood test today. It freaked me out a bit when the phone rang since the caller ID said “Private Call Number” and well that’s what it said when I got the bad call from Dr. BT last time. Actually, it always says that when I get a call from Dr. BT instead of the Nurse, but luckily it was the Nurse to give me my new meds instructions. I am to stop my Estrogen Patches tomorrow as well as reduce my Progesterone Suppositories to only once a day instead of twice a day. I keep all of my pills the same. I go back on Friday for another blood test and (potentially) my last Ultrasound with Dr. BT. I guess the weaning off the meds has begun. I am a little nervous about it, but I guess since he is re-checking me in 2 days I should be ok. Fingers Crossed!!!

This week is a bit nerve-racking. I mean with Friday’s appointment. Work going a bit crazy. My stomach being wobbly off and on since last week it’s all a bit much. I have to remember though that if all this means Baby G is hanging in there then so be it. I’ll take the icky feelings. I’ll take the puking. I just want this baby to stick. I pray it’s holding on and we get good news on Friday. I would like nothing more than to graduate from Dr. BT’s office. I mean I already feel like I have been “held back” a few times. It’s like each IVF Cycle is a class and I go through it – do all the homework etc – come to final exams I either barely pass or make it through only to find out at “graduation” that I am short a few credits and have to repeat a class. I don’t recognize anyone in the waiting room anymore. I am not sure if everyone passed or just gave up, but it’s tough. I have become known in the office and though there is some comfort in that – there is also some sadness. I don’t want to be “held back”. I want to graduate. I want to be on a new path. It’s scary, I’ll admit but I’ll take that over staying in my comfort zone.

I read somewhere once that courage is not the absence of fear or the opposite of it. Instead, it is moving forward in spite of being afraid. I am scared of what is to come but I guess I am looking at the ultimate goal and working my way through the potentials – the fear of disappointment – hoping I’ll get to the “goal”. I don’t know. I try to take it one day at a time. I made it through the blood test. Next up is the ultrasound. I hope it all goes well. I’ll be supernervous Thursday evening/Friday morning. I can’t even think about what might happen after the appointment – say moving on to a regular OB/GYN…leaving my comfort zone of the IVF World wherever everyone knows me and with whom I have spent more time in the last year than my own family. I can’t think about that yet. Too many “What if’s?” We’re at one day at a time stage. So with that in mind – one day down – 3 more to go. :) For now, I guess I am still pregnant.

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Down To One

Posted by Me Tue, 20 Jun 2006 19:36:00 GMT

So, I had my third ultrasound today. I was so nervous. I mean waiting in that room with nothing but a paper napkin to shield you – your mind just wonders and it drives you not. In any case, it took some time until Dr. BT showed up to do his thing. He had some good and bad news to tell us. Let’s lead with the good news.

Baby A is progressing and right on target. Measuring a little under an inch and had a nice strong heartbeat at 175. Apparently, Dr. BT was able to detect some fetal movement and overall Baby A was doing all right.

Now, for the bad news, Baby B didn’t develop at all. No fetal pole or heartbeat. The sac was so much smaller than Baby A’s. Apparently, Dr. BT was able to see what exactly happen. Our second embryo did apparently split since Baby B’s sac was divided into 2 sacs. However, as said, no development occured and hence we are to expect Baby B’s sac to disintegrate in the next few months. It hopefully shouldn’t affect Baby A, but there are no guarantees. A twin can disappear quite often – it’s what they call the “Vanishing Twin” syndrome.

It was sad to hear that Baby B won’t make it, but LOML and I were also not suprised either. Last u/s he/she was really behind and the heartbeat was quite slow. So, when we saw today’s u/s screen and saw how much smaller the sac was we knew the answer.

So, now we are down to one! God, I hope Baby A can hang on. Twins would have been lovely, but I’ll take one beautiful healthy baby. I pray and hope that Baby A hangs on. So far he/she is doing ok. We have another ultrasound in a week and a half (6/30). That will also be the last ultrasound I’ll have with Dr. BT. If all is well with that one, he’ll release me to a regular OB/GYN. So, we’ll see. Next ultrasound will be a big one. He said if all looks good that time my chances of miscarrying this one would go down to 1% to 2%. So, we shall see.

It’s been a rollercoaster few weeks. Singleton – Twins – Back to Singleton. I hope that next week we get some good news in regards to Baby A…well I guess we can go back to Baby G now that there is only one.

I am tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night – my mind has been pre-occupied. Anyways, I won’t have time to rest quite yet – loads of work to do.

I am grateful to have made it to another step – past another step. I am sad about Baby B and the possibility that is lost there. It’s weird that we actually “lost” 2 potential babies since our second embryo split and all. But I am focusing on Baby G (also known as Baby A) now. I hope that he/she just keeps growing and progressing. I don’t want to lose this one. I know I am still at risk – esp now that I lost the other one.

Please send us some good growth vibes for the next few weeks. We sure could use them.

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