36 weeks

 

Holy cankles batman... Called my doctor last week because my feet swelled up pretty suddenly last week. They had me come in on Friday for a blood pressure check. Everything was normal and there was no protein in my urine (which would be an indicator of pre-eclampsia). Then at my appointment on Tuesday, my blood pressure was 140/86 which is pretty high for me. My doctor sent me over to the unit for serial blood pressures and put me on the monitor for about an hour. Everything was a-okay, so we went home. I am SO swollen, even in the mornings when I wake up after having my feet up all night. I never swelled up with Cal so this is new for me and it's no fun. Glad it's not wintertime because all I can wear are flip flops. : ) Baby girl is still doing great, I was still dilated 1cm on Tuesday, so no change there. I weighed 176 on Tuesday (I have gained 9 pounds in 4 weeks... yikes!). Induction date is 3 weeks from today. We have been working on the nursery/Cal's room and I have been organizing and cleaning like crazy to get ready for the soon-to-be chaos. Tonight I even packed my hospital bag just in case. She seems pretty comfy in there for now. She is sitting so low that she isn't in my ribs at all like Calvin was (I rotated ice packs with him the last few weeks, my ribs were BRUISED from his strong kicks!). Here is the latest belly pic. I know it looks small, but I assure you the weight has been distributed EVERYWHERE else...

35 Weeks!

Time for an overdue update! After being taken off bedrest at 29 weeks, my next appointment did not go so well. My cervix had shortened back down to 1.1cm and I had funneling, which means that it was opening from the inside when I had contractions (signs of a weak/incompetant cervix... reason I've been on bed rest). Dr. Wagner checked my cervix for dilation (1cm/50% effaced, change from last time when I was barely a fingertip) and sent me to the unit for monitoring and after 4 hours I was able to go home. I was put on strict bed rest until I could come back Monday for a fetal fibronectin test and another ultrasound (this was on a Friday). So I spent the weekend in bed/on the couch behaving. Everything on Monday looked unchanged and the fetal fibronectin came back negative (99% chance I would not go into labor for 2 weeks). So back home again on modified bed rest until my next weekly ultrasound. 3 ultrasounds later (cervical lengths ranging from 1.1cm -2.1cm but no funneling), I am now 35 weeks pregnant and off of bed rest! At our last ultrasound, she was sucking her thumb and opening and closing her eyes. They got a profile picture of her and it looked like she had really big pouty lips (watch out Dad!) and LOTS of hair. Her last weight estimate was 4 lbs 15 ounces and that at my 33 week appointment. At my appointment last week, Dr. Wagner said we will stop the Procardia around 36-37 weeks and no more ultrasounds, just manual cervical checks. Basically I'm back to "normal" appointments and just waiting for her to get here. We did schedule an induction date, November 15th, but I am not sure if we will use it. I will be 39 weeks and if she isn't here yet I will probably let her decide when she wants to arrive. If I am dilated a lot more by then, I will consider it more seriously. Dr. Wagner has told me numerous times that my labor will probably be quick since it is my second baby, she is head down and very low, and my cervix is so thin. Which makes me a little nervous! But we will see... She hasn't done anything else by the rules so far so who knows, this labor could be longer than the last one!

I am feeling much more miserable this time than I felt with Cal. Nauseous all the time, crampy, swollen, horrible heartburn and indigestion... All that fun third trimester stuff. Still contracting on and off throughout the day. My biggest complaint at this point is the pubic/pelvic pain I have, especially at night. I have to wake up Korey to help me roll over and get out of bed to go to the bathroom because my pelvis feels like it is about to split apart. I had that a little with Cal, but not this bad. It actually gets better during the day, it's when I'm laying down or sitting for too long and then try to get up that it hurts. It doesn't help that she is so low and putting so much pressure on everything down there. Just taking it one day at a time until she gets here.

Calvin is excited, he asks almost every day if baby sister is done growing yet. Every once in awhile he asks to see my belly and he will talk to her. We are getting their room ready. Calvin has a new toddler bed and we turned his old one back into a crib for her (which he insisted on sleeping in that night). His favorite book is a Berenstein Bears book that we read every day called "The New Baby." It is about the bear getting a new bed because he outgrows his old one. I hear him in his room climbing into his new toddler bed and saying "there's no aches in my legs or pains in my knees!" Ha. And he has started calling Korey "Poppa" because that's what the little bear calls his dad in the book. He cracks us up. His teachers at the Y say he is so funny. The other day he told me that I was pretty and handsome (I don't remember what he wanted) and I told him he was smart and funny. He responded with "that's because I'm the TOTAL PACKAGE!" I started cracking up and asked him where he learned that and he of course said his daddy told him that. He has been telling people every since that he is the total package... Goodness...

I will post some belly pictures in another post. Definitely getting bigger (along with everything else but that's another story!) Next appointment is next Tuesday, will try to be better about updating before she gets here!

Pics from Summer 2012

 

Found him asleep in bed like this... not staged!

Hope he took notes!

 

 

Posing for Mommy

 

Handsome little stinker

 



 

Walking with Daddy to Freudenfest

 

Finger painting with Mommy (he actually hated it,

he does not like getting his hands messy)

 



 

Fourth of July fun - my little water baby



29 weeks - Off bed rest!

 

Well exactly one month after I was admitted to the hospital, I am officially off of bed rest. I had another good ultrasound yesterday (cervical length was 3.4, same as last week). That is a normal measurement and since it seems like the Procardia is working so well, my doctor took me off of bed rest and decided to keep a close eye on things with weekly ultrasounds and cervical checks. Baby girl weighs about 3 lbs 2 oz and is already growing some fuzzy hair. We got a great picture of her little foot and almost got a 3D picture of her face but she was hiding it with her hands. I am excited to be off bed rest, but still trying to take it easy. I am still having a lot of contractions and a LOT of uncomfortable pressure. I can try to go back to work when I am ready, so I have to figure out all of my FMLA/short term disability that I am in the middle of right now. (Oh so many phone calls and letters and paper work!) Since I'm still contracting, we feel more comfortable seeing how the next couple weeks go off bed rest before jumping back into work. Belly is growing and I can tell she has had a growth spurt this past week (which is probably not helping the aches and pains I'm having). Calvin likes to talk about his "baby sister" and asks me questions sometimes about her. The other day we were talking about how I'm going to feed the baby when she gets here. After a long discussion, he said, "that baby not going to eat MY boobies all gone!" Haha. He has been talking about my boobs ever since. Got to love his curiosity about EVERYTHING right now!

28 Weeks - Hello Third Trimester!

I am officially in my third trimester! I had an appointment yesterday and my cervix is almost back to normal length. Dr. Wagner told me to write a paper on how to grow cervixes because he's never seen such a big change. The problem is that we know how short it has been, and I could get back to that length pretty quickly if I don't keep doing what I'm doing. He did lift my bed rest restrictions a little bit (I can be on my feet for longer periods of time, cook light meals, etc.), but since I'm still contracting and feeling a lot of pressure he wants me to "listen to my body" and stop when I start to feel crampy or start to contract. I am still taking my Procardia every 4 hours right now. She is measuring fine and looked great on the ultrasound as usual. I've gained 2 pounds since I was put on bed rest and a total of 13 pounds so far with this pregnancy. Pretty similar to what I gained with Calvin. I was curious to see what I've gained just laying in bed all day for the last 4 weeks, but I guess my appetite hasn't been great so it's not as much as I thought it would be. I am looking forward to another "normal" ultrasound and hopefully I will be taken off bed rest and can ease back into a normal routine. Work is iffy right now, I think if I sat at a desk all day that he would let me go back to work, but he knows that my shifts consist mostly of being on my feet and running around for 12 hours. But if things stay stable then maybe I can pick up some shifts as I get closer to my due date. Next ultrasound is Friday - may be the last one for a little while if things still look good!

26 week belly

I will be 28 weeks on Thursday an my belly has definitely gotten bigger in the last 2 weeks, but this is the most recent belly pic I have for now. : )

Home! And Calvin turns THREE!

After 18 days in the hospital, I was released and am finally at home! My cervical length on Saturday was 2.4cm and my uterus was behaving so they let me go home. I have been doing well at home, I can tell when my Procardia starts to wear off but I am resting and following the rules. I am nervous for my ultrasound on Friday, readmission is always lingering over my head and I do not want to go back until I am full term and ready to have a baby... Of course bed rest at home has brought on new struggles and obstacles, like having to rely on Korey for everything instead of nurses, and having to watch him take care of Calvin on his own since I cannot help, but being here and getting to wake up with them everyday is so much better than laying in a hospital bed. We have been telling Calvin that I was in the hospital because the doctor was keeping me safe, so when we got home and I laid down he said, "Me and my daddy are keeping you safe now?" : )

Saturday was Calvin's birthday and we had a party for him that night with my family. My sister decorated the house and made food while I laid on the couch and told her what to do. : ) It was hard but we had a great time. Then on Sunday, Korey's family came over and we had another little party for him. Calvin had a great time and kept saying that he wanted "another birthday."

Updates on THREE year old Calvin:
-His new favorite cartoons are Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, which he says are "Papaw Carder's favorites."
-He tells a knock knock joke that goes like this: "Knock knock. Who's there? Don't cry, it's just a JOKE!" (The way he tells it is so funny).
-He is still working on potty training, and wears big boy underwear and pull ups during the day. He will pee on the potty (when he feels like it or we remind him, but not consistently) but will not poop on the potty.
-He is starting at the YMCA this week. We are nervous how he will do because this will be his first time in a daycare situation, but I think he will love it and it will make things a lot easier on us while I am on bedrest.
-Bedtime is a struggle nowadays, he does not want to go to sleep in his bed and it takes at least an hour of him sneaking in and out of his room before he finally gives up and goes to bed... We are working on it!
-He tells us everyday that we are his "best friend"
-He loves to build "birdie houses" right now because of an episode he saw on Mickey Mouse, and he also loves to turn anything that resembles a stick into a "sword" so he can slay dragons. He has a great imagination.
-He hates clothes and will take them within 10 minutes of walking into the house. He will not sleep with pajamas on and we have to fight to get him dressed most mornings.



 

"Reading" his birthday card



 

"It says it's my birthday, and I need to put my clothes on,

and I done eating, and we need to open these presents."