I've grown so much since my 34 week pictures! I got my hair cut yesterday and my stylist said that she could tell that my face was swollen. Guess I will NOT be allowing any more pictures until this baby comes!Wednesday, October 29, 2008
38 Week Pictures
I've grown so much since my 34 week pictures! I got my hair cut yesterday and my stylist said that she could tell that my face was swollen. Guess I will NOT be allowing any more pictures until this baby comes!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Think I am going to be a 41-42 Weeker
I have NO signs of impending labor. Belly is still high. Still got my mucous plug (I think). Braxton Hicks contractions haven't changed. No cramping. I have to say...after hearing about the Chapples and Simmons babies...I want to meet my little guy...but think it will be quite a while before he arrives! I still have about 2-3 days of work I need to do before everything is completely wrapped up at my job and I have a bunch of little things that I could do before the baby comes to get the nursery ready. I think that I am going to go buy some primrose oil and start taking that to see if it will help move things along. I am also scheduled to get a massage on Saturday with a therapist that does acupressure and might see if she has any tricks up her sleeve that she could use to help speed things up.
We met with our doula tonight and went over our birth plan. I vascillate between wanting to be ultra-granola and avoiding any sort of intervention and having my "safety instinct" kick in and am willing to do whatever the doctors tell me is best for my baby. I have to admit, though, that I am a little excited to see how my labor goes....it is such an unknown. And, it is so exciting to think that I might get to have the labor that we wanted rather than a c-section or getting induced. We'll see!
We met with our doula tonight and went over our birth plan. I vascillate between wanting to be ultra-granola and avoiding any sort of intervention and having my "safety instinct" kick in and am willing to do whatever the doctors tell me is best for my baby. I have to admit, though, that I am a little excited to see how my labor goes....it is such an unknown. And, it is so exciting to think that I might get to have the labor that we wanted rather than a c-section or getting induced. We'll see!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tyger's Big Adventure
Someone found our dog and returned him today!!
The park we lost Tyger in is part of a 20 mile long series of parks next to a huge reservoir. Hubby and I lost Tyger at mile 3 and mostly searched for him between miles 3 and 5. The wonderful human beings that found him said they picked him up at mile 18!! They lived across the reservoir and heard him howling all night long and came over in their boat the next morning to see if they could find him. He was just sitting in a pile of leaves looking sad and crying. They took him back to their house...which was a HUGE beautiful stone house with 14 foot ceilings and hard wood floors...fed him and started to call the local animal shelters to see if anyone had reported him missing. But, the animal shelters were all closed on Sunday and Monday, so they decided to make a flyer and hang them up at the park. They made this beautiful flyer and described Tyger as a "very sweet, male, Brendel," which just about sums Tyger up (other than his neurotic tail chasing). The wife was about to hang the poster in the park where they found Tyger, when she noticed one of the signs that we posted and called us! We are so lucky that such wonderful people exist in this world!! After we got back on Sunday not having found Tyger, we figured that he was gone forever and spent the day reminiscing about how sweet he was and his cute little habits. I kept finding his toys all over the house that he would lovingly tote around with him. He has been EXHAUSTED since he has been back....which is not typical for him. We had to bring his food to him in bed for the first two days because he was too tired to get up. He's getting back to normal now and so are we. Whenever he starts his highly annoying tail-chasing that makes me want to scream, I try to remember how sad I felt when I thought we had lost him. His "older brother" Roscoe seemed unphased by the whole ordeal...and...if I am honest...was a little happy not to have his high-energy little brother pestering him to play all the time!
The park we lost Tyger in is part of a 20 mile long series of parks next to a huge reservoir. Hubby and I lost Tyger at mile 3 and mostly searched for him between miles 3 and 5. The wonderful human beings that found him said they picked him up at mile 18!! They lived across the reservoir and heard him howling all night long and came over in their boat the next morning to see if they could find him. He was just sitting in a pile of leaves looking sad and crying. They took him back to their house...which was a HUGE beautiful stone house with 14 foot ceilings and hard wood floors...fed him and started to call the local animal shelters to see if anyone had reported him missing. But, the animal shelters were all closed on Sunday and Monday, so they decided to make a flyer and hang them up at the park. They made this beautiful flyer and described Tyger as a "very sweet, male, Brendel," which just about sums Tyger up (other than his neurotic tail chasing). The wife was about to hang the poster in the park where they found Tyger, when she noticed one of the signs that we posted and called us! We are so lucky that such wonderful people exist in this world!! After we got back on Sunday not having found Tyger, we figured that he was gone forever and spent the day reminiscing about how sweet he was and his cute little habits. I kept finding his toys all over the house that he would lovingly tote around with him. He has been EXHAUSTED since he has been back....which is not typical for him. We had to bring his food to him in bed for the first two days because he was too tired to get up. He's getting back to normal now and so are we. Whenever he starts his highly annoying tail-chasing that makes me want to scream, I try to remember how sad I felt when I thought we had lost him. His "older brother" Roscoe seemed unphased by the whole ordeal...and...if I am honest...was a little happy not to have his high-energy little brother pestering him to play all the time!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Lost Dog
Today my hubby and I went on a walk to celebrate the baby's successful growth and to enjoy a little bit of the fall before we hunker down when the baby comes. We took the "lads" (aka, our dogs Roscoe and Tyger) to a local state park about 45 minutes away. We planned on doing a 6 mile hike/walk. Three miles into the hike we were all alone and decided to let the dogs off their leashes to walk for a bit. We've done it many times before and they always stick by us. Today proved to be an awful exception. Our dog Tyger, a whippet/pit-bull mix that we adopted in February 2007, caught wind of a deer and took off running. We called and called him and tried to chase after him, but he took off and never looked back. We spent five hours calling his name and scouring the park. It ended up pouring down rain, our voices were hoarse, and we hadn't eaten in seven hours so we decided to leave. It was horrible. We are going to go back tomorrow with flyers and post them everywhere. The park wasn't in the middle of the wilderness so I hope that he finds a nice person to let him in their home and feed him some grub. He's a skinny little thing, so I hate to think of him all alone in the rain right now.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
My Little Porker!
We got good news today!! The baby grew leaps and bounds in the past two weeks and went from the 5th percentile to the 17th percentile, which is out of the IUGR range! Yeah! They want to keep monitoring me twice weekly until he comes, but he weighs approximately 5lbs 15oz and they are no longer talking about inducing or c-sections. Woohoo! My 3lb weight gain in the past two weeks has resulted in his 1lb 10oz weight gain, so I guess I'll keep packing it on in the last two weeks!
Of course, my first question to my husband when we left was...do you think this means I can start running again? I was half kidding because whatever I am doing...be it not running, eating a LOT of meat/food/protein, etc. is helping...but part of me really misses running. Maybe I'll try a little walk/jog tomorrow to see how it feels....I think my hubby would flip though...
In celebration, we got pumpkin ice cream. Yummy!!
Of course, my first question to my husband when we left was...do you think this means I can start running again? I was half kidding because whatever I am doing...be it not running, eating a LOT of meat/food/protein, etc. is helping...but part of me really misses running. Maybe I'll try a little walk/jog tomorrow to see how it feels....I think my hubby would flip though...
In celebration, we got pumpkin ice cream. Yummy!!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Ode to My Husband
Today, on the eve of his 35th birthday, I wanted to write a blog about my husband.....and some of the many, many reasons that I love him and think that he is an amazing man:
1. He ALWAYS stops to smell the roses. Literally. We'll be walking down the road and we'll pass some pretty rose bushes in someone's yard and he'll stop and smell a couple of them. Me? I'm focusing on "accomplishing" the walk and barely notice the roses. He always stops to make me smell them. As cheesy as it seems, it is a reminder that there are beautiful things all around us and that we should appreciate them and a reflection of his attitude toward life...that it is precious and finite and no amount of time should be wasted in getting wrapped up about the "small" things.
2. He is a walking encyclopedia and remembers absolutely everything he ever reads. He'll tell me about some obscure historical figure that he learned about in fifth grade that I barely remember, like....John Cabot (he discovered Newfoundland BTW). He is obsessed with the history chanel and animal planet. He's your go-to man in Trivial Pursuit. I will only play if I can be on his team.
3. He can solve just about any problem with an excel spreadsheet. When we first found out about IUGR, I cried and called all my friends. My husband's response was to do research in medical journals to calculate the percent chance that our nuchal fold test had been a false negative or did not detect chromosomal problems and that our baby would have down's given the amniotic fluid level, etc. When buying my engagement ring, he downloaded data from Blue Nile re: the 5 c's and cost of diamonds and ran a regression to see which "c" had the biggest impact on the cost of the diamond (cut followed by color). Then, he bought the biggest, nicest ring that he could afford with the best cut and color. I still get compliments on how it sparkles.
4. He is the biggest cuddler I have ever met. Deep in sleep in the middle of the night if I somehow get disconnected from him, he will find me and envelop me in his arms. He loves to be entangled.
5. He is a natural nurturer...even though he thinks that he is a hard @ss, he loves to see his employees, co-workers, friends, family, neighbors thrive and grow personally and professionally.
6. All of our neighbors know my husband because he is constantly working in the yard, volunteering to help in neighborhood projects, talking to people, and generally being a sociable guy. I tend to be doing my own thing, running, working inside the house, in general less social than him. He has made our house into a home and our neighbors into extended family.
7. He wants to learn all about birds and plants so that he can teach his children their names. He will spend hours looking up plants or staring at the birds that come to our birdfeeder. He spent two years trying to attract Gold Finches and Cardinals to our yard. We now have several that have made their home in our bushes.
8. He has taken care of me during IVF and this pregnancy in a way I thought no-one ever would. He brings me water in the middle of the night when I am thirsty. He cooks me dinner and tries to keep the house clean because he knows it makes me happy (by inclination, my husband is a VERY VERY dirty man). Earlier this week, I was working late and came home grumpy....only to find that he had straightened the house, turned on calming music that I love, had candles burning in every room, and had made me a delicious london broil dinner. Is this man too good to be true? Also, over the past two months, when I have freaked out about having the baby and all that we have to do to get ready for the baby, he has helped to calm me down and write out "to do" lists and commited to doing things on the list by set dates. In the past few weeks, he has: re-grouted the kitchen tile, painted and organized our medicine "closet," installed the new china cabinet in the dining room and painted it, fixed the back step, installed a new light in the kitchen, painted the kitchen, organized the "man room" in the basement, fixed my computer, researched a new camera, and finalized all the details with our new life insurance policy.
9. He is so excited to be a father. He talks to the baby every night and kisses my belly and tells our son that he loves him and he can't wait to meet him.
10. He constantly tells me how beautiful he thinks I am...particularly right now when I am 9+ months pregnant and how he will be a little sad when I am not pregnant because it is such a special time.
In addition, I think he's pretty cute:>
1. He ALWAYS stops to smell the roses. Literally. We'll be walking down the road and we'll pass some pretty rose bushes in someone's yard and he'll stop and smell a couple of them. Me? I'm focusing on "accomplishing" the walk and barely notice the roses. He always stops to make me smell them. As cheesy as it seems, it is a reminder that there are beautiful things all around us and that we should appreciate them and a reflection of his attitude toward life...that it is precious and finite and no amount of time should be wasted in getting wrapped up about the "small" things.
2. He is a walking encyclopedia and remembers absolutely everything he ever reads. He'll tell me about some obscure historical figure that he learned about in fifth grade that I barely remember, like....John Cabot (he discovered Newfoundland BTW). He is obsessed with the history chanel and animal planet. He's your go-to man in Trivial Pursuit. I will only play if I can be on his team.
3. He can solve just about any problem with an excel spreadsheet. When we first found out about IUGR, I cried and called all my friends. My husband's response was to do research in medical journals to calculate the percent chance that our nuchal fold test had been a false negative or did not detect chromosomal problems and that our baby would have down's given the amniotic fluid level, etc. When buying my engagement ring, he downloaded data from Blue Nile re: the 5 c's and cost of diamonds and ran a regression to see which "c" had the biggest impact on the cost of the diamond (cut followed by color). Then, he bought the biggest, nicest ring that he could afford with the best cut and color. I still get compliments on how it sparkles.
4. He is the biggest cuddler I have ever met. Deep in sleep in the middle of the night if I somehow get disconnected from him, he will find me and envelop me in his arms. He loves to be entangled.
5. He is a natural nurturer...even though he thinks that he is a hard @ss, he loves to see his employees, co-workers, friends, family, neighbors thrive and grow personally and professionally.
6. All of our neighbors know my husband because he is constantly working in the yard, volunteering to help in neighborhood projects, talking to people, and generally being a sociable guy. I tend to be doing my own thing, running, working inside the house, in general less social than him. He has made our house into a home and our neighbors into extended family.
7. He wants to learn all about birds and plants so that he can teach his children their names. He will spend hours looking up plants or staring at the birds that come to our birdfeeder. He spent two years trying to attract Gold Finches and Cardinals to our yard. We now have several that have made their home in our bushes.
8. He has taken care of me during IVF and this pregnancy in a way I thought no-one ever would. He brings me water in the middle of the night when I am thirsty. He cooks me dinner and tries to keep the house clean because he knows it makes me happy (by inclination, my husband is a VERY VERY dirty man). Earlier this week, I was working late and came home grumpy....only to find that he had straightened the house, turned on calming music that I love, had candles burning in every room, and had made me a delicious london broil dinner. Is this man too good to be true? Also, over the past two months, when I have freaked out about having the baby and all that we have to do to get ready for the baby, he has helped to calm me down and write out "to do" lists and commited to doing things on the list by set dates. In the past few weeks, he has: re-grouted the kitchen tile, painted and organized our medicine "closet," installed the new china cabinet in the dining room and painted it, fixed the back step, installed a new light in the kitchen, painted the kitchen, organized the "man room" in the basement, fixed my computer, researched a new camera, and finalized all the details with our new life insurance policy.
9. He is so excited to be a father. He talks to the baby every night and kisses my belly and tells our son that he loves him and he can't wait to meet him.
10. He constantly tells me how beautiful he thinks I am...particularly right now when I am 9+ months pregnant and how he will be a little sad when I am not pregnant because it is such a special time.
In addition, I think he's pretty cute:>
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Boobies
I went to a breastfeeding class today. There were about 20 pregnant women packed in a 15x20 foot room. It was insanely hot with so many burgeoning bellies in such a small circumference! The class was reassuring more than anything else. After all my reading and conversations with other mothers, I feel slightly prepared that I know *something* about nursing.
After the class, about 6 of us stayed to get measured for nursing bras and our nipples checked out. For the record, I am a very bashful person "in the locker room" so to speak. I don't change in front of my sisters or my friends....even my oldest friends that know everything about me will never see me prancing around in my underwear. When changing at the gym, I face the locker and do all the middle school tricks so that no-one really sees you changing. So, when the instructor first said that we would all be fitted for bras in the SAME room and then look at each others nipples, my first reaction was "hell no." But, then I figured that I would never see these women again and that I really needed to get fitted for a bra and I didn't have that much time left, so I needed to suck it up. So, I stayed. Turns out, at the PEAK of my pregnancy, I am a whopping 34 B. Wow. Most of the other women were whipping out the D's. Oh well, I guess I won't have saggy breasts? Also, I was worried that I had flat or inverted nipples as I've always likened my nipples to 12 year old adolescents. I don't have the "porn star" nipples that stick out. The lactation consultant said that my nipples were fine and that the baby would pull them out and even commented on my nice, numerous Montgomery's tubercles. It was hilarious to me to see so many pregnant women walking around with their bellies sticking out and staring at each other's nipples, but also pretty neat. We were all about to join the oldest sorority in the world....the mom club!
As for staying mentally sane while waiting to find out about the baby on the 23rd, I am in a much better place now. I had a monitoring session on Monday and the baby showed good fetal movement, blood flow, heart rate, and was even "practice breathing." I go in tomorrow for more monitoring and actually get to talk to my OBGyn for the first time in person since I got the IUGR diagnosis. At this point, I am taking the attitude that I cannot worry about the baby until he comes as there is nothing that I can do at this point if there is something wrong with him. I have always been a worry wart that focuses on the worst case scenario (so as to be prepared) and I am slowly learning...through IVF and pregnancy...that I don't control anything by worrying and that the best that I can do is to try and be positive about the situation and have faith in my strength. No one gets through life without suffering, so you have to learn how to live through it. As much as I believe this to be a truth, I also believe that you have to choose to be happy and choose to find the things about living that make it worthwhile. OK...enough from me....
After the class, about 6 of us stayed to get measured for nursing bras and our nipples checked out. For the record, I am a very bashful person "in the locker room" so to speak. I don't change in front of my sisters or my friends....even my oldest friends that know everything about me will never see me prancing around in my underwear. When changing at the gym, I face the locker and do all the middle school tricks so that no-one really sees you changing. So, when the instructor first said that we would all be fitted for bras in the SAME room and then look at each others nipples, my first reaction was "hell no." But, then I figured that I would never see these women again and that I really needed to get fitted for a bra and I didn't have that much time left, so I needed to suck it up. So, I stayed. Turns out, at the PEAK of my pregnancy, I am a whopping 34 B. Wow. Most of the other women were whipping out the D's. Oh well, I guess I won't have saggy breasts? Also, I was worried that I had flat or inverted nipples as I've always likened my nipples to 12 year old adolescents. I don't have the "porn star" nipples that stick out. The lactation consultant said that my nipples were fine and that the baby would pull them out and even commented on my nice, numerous Montgomery's tubercles. It was hilarious to me to see so many pregnant women walking around with their bellies sticking out and staring at each other's nipples, but also pretty neat. We were all about to join the oldest sorority in the world....the mom club!
As for staying mentally sane while waiting to find out about the baby on the 23rd, I am in a much better place now. I had a monitoring session on Monday and the baby showed good fetal movement, blood flow, heart rate, and was even "practice breathing." I go in tomorrow for more monitoring and actually get to talk to my OBGyn for the first time in person since I got the IUGR diagnosis. At this point, I am taking the attitude that I cannot worry about the baby until he comes as there is nothing that I can do at this point if there is something wrong with him. I have always been a worry wart that focuses on the worst case scenario (so as to be prepared) and I am slowly learning...through IVF and pregnancy...that I don't control anything by worrying and that the best that I can do is to try and be positive about the situation and have faith in my strength. No one gets through life without suffering, so you have to learn how to live through it. As much as I believe this to be a truth, I also believe that you have to choose to be happy and choose to find the things about living that make it worthwhile. OK...enough from me....
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