Still Hanging in There (35w2d)

I'm surviving bed rest so far. I really have no clue how some of you did it so long! But I guess when you don't have much of a choice you do what you have to do. I'm bored, there is nothing good on TV during the day! I had another doctor's appointment today. My BP was 136/96. The top number went up quite a bit. Luckily there was no protein in my urine. So for now I am still at home and still on bed rest. Dr. checked me again and my cervix remains unchanged. They also did the GBS test and ordered a 24 hour urine and did some other blood work. NST was the same old same old, Noah passed with flying colors and I continued to have contractions. When I got home my OB called me. He called me to inform me that he had conferred with another doctor about my case and they decided that I will most likely be needing a c-section. He said there are four reasons why he thinks I will end up with a c-section: 1) The high blood pressure; 2) The diabetes; 3) When he examined me he noticed I have an extremely small pelvis, he said he could barely fit his fingers up there and when he pushed down on the baby he didn't move further into my pelvis like he should; 3) He says he thinks that the baby is breech. This last one is debatable for me because at my last u/s they said he was not breech. But he said with number one and two combined he doesn't feel comfortable letting me go to 40 weeks. So he scheduled a c-section for December 30th at 12:45 p.m. He said that if I happen to go into labor before then, which he doesn't think I will, then we can talk about a vaginal birth. He also told me that it is possible that if my blood pressure or blood sugars get worse that he may decide to do it earlier. So, the bottom line is that baby Noah will arrive no later than December 30, 2008. Only 2 weeks and a couple of days away! How do I feel about it? I'm not really sure. I went into this with no expectations about the birth, just to have a healthy baby. So while I am sad that I will probably never get to experience going into labor and delivering vaginally in the end it doesn't matter to me how he gets here. I am a bit sad that the doctor didn't seem to want to try an induction, assuming baby is not breech which I don't think he is. But he is the medical professional, and while I don't believe my doctors blindly I do trust him to make the right call for me and Noah. Shawn and I are going to make sure that we get everything done this weekend just in case they send me in early because of my BP. I really want Noah to "cook" a little longer though. I have to pack a hospital bag yet. It just doesn't seem real, that in a little more than 2 weeks we will have a baby. My next doctor's appointment will be on Tuesday. I probably wont be on again until then unless something happens in between now and then.

Bed Rest (35w0d)

Well, the good news is that I will have a lot more time to blog. The bad news is that my doctor put me on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. I really thought that those pesky contractions would be my demise but it turned out to be something totally different. The past couple times that I have been at the doctors my blood pressure has been slightly elevated. My baseline BP is usually kind of low and I have never had a problem with my BP. The past few times my bottom number has been in the 90s and they have told me that my BP was up from my normal BP. Yesterday my BP was 128/98. When my doctor saw how swollen my hands and feet were he declared that yesterday had to be my last day at work. He told me that I need to be at home, laying on my left side until baby comes. It was totally unexpected and I was a little upset. He also told me that if my BP got above 140/110 he would put me in the hospital. So obviously we are trying to avoid that. The bad news is that my "bed rest" time will be unpaid. My boss has given me a few things to take home that I can work on which should help me earn a little money. I also got a Christmas bonus yesterday which is equal to almost 2 weeks pay so that will help. The main thing is that I want baby to be healthy and I don't want to be in the hospital. I feel sorry for my husband because this leaves everything in his hands, earning the money, cooking, cleaning, and doing all last minute preparations. He of course is being amazing as always. I know we will get through it, some of you have been on bed rest much longer. I have another doctor's appointment on Friday and I have a few questions for the doctor that I didn't ask yesterday due to my surprise. I want to know if I will still be allowed to go to 40 weeks or if they will deliver early since I am on bed rest. I want to do what ever is best for the baby. Well, anyway, expect to hear a lot more out of me. I didn't sleep well last night so I am going to try to take a nap before my boss starts calling me. I'll be back!

Busy Bee (34w6d)

Yes, I have been a busy bee! I have missed blogging and am just now finding some time to sit down and type out a post.

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The baby shower was great! It was so exciting to see so many people come to help us celebrate our little miracle. We had the shower at our church and we had over 60 people come! We got tons of great stuff! the only thing we didn't get was our swing. We also got enough cash and gift cards to purchase a changing table and a glider! Here are a few pictures. To see all the pictures you can go to our babysite (link in sidebar):

Like I said, there are many more pictures on our babysite so feel free to go on over and check them out.

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Baby is doing fine. I had my second growth u/s at 33 weeks and he weighed 4 lbs 14 oz. The doctor told me he is exactly the average weight. So looks like our little monkey isn't going to be a porker after all! I did notice that his head and belly were measuring almost 36 weeks (I was 33 weeks) but his legs were only measuring 31 weeks. I hope he isn't going to be short like me! We could see his pudgy little cheeks and we even got to see that he has hair! Most importantly he is finally head down! We also had the tech confirm for a fifth time that he is a little boy. It still seems so surreal to me that there is an actual baby in there. And that God willing in a few weeks or so we will get to finally bring a baby home. Crazy! I'm finding myself more anxious that something will go wrong the closer it gets. I'm guessing these are normal feelings, especially after IF. I want him to be healthy so bad. I'm also terrified of becoming a mother. I know nothing about babies, the only thing I have ever "mothered" is our cats. But I guess it is something that you learn. I have had 5 NSTs so far and Noah has passed them with flying colors! I have failed all of them (see below for more on that.) I have also noticed that Noah is having the hiccups about 4 times a day. Poor little baby! He even has them during my NSTs sometimes. Too cute!

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I have been feeling pretty good up until about two weeks ago. I was just bragging about how great I feel. Over the past two weeks or so I am feeling totally exhausted again. I am also feeling a lot of pressure down low, especially when I walk or stand. I have also been having some contractions during my NSTs which causes them to keep me on the monitor for an hour each time (thought these things were only supposed to be 40 minutes?) I have only been having about 5 or 6 contractions an hour but they are not in a regular pattern. They have done an internal each time and I was not dilating until my last NST/internal on Friday. He told me I was dilated to 1 cm! I wasn't dilated just two days before so he sent me home from work on the off chance that the contractions I was having during the NST were causing me dilate. I had contractions all day Friday and was starting to worry when they finally let up in the evening. I rested all day on Saturday and the tried to resume my normal activities on Sunday and the contractions started again. It seems that when I walk of stand for even a little while they start up again. The thing is, I am confused about whether they are BH or the real thing. They are slightly painful but not bad at all, the tightening stops me in my tracks though. My hands are now starting to swell and I have begun to suffer from what I guess is carpal tunnel. My fingers on my right hand are numb and my wrist hurts. The swelling in both hands makes my knuckles hurt really bad and makes it hard to do much with my hands.

I feel like such a lazy bum! I am so busy at work that when I get home I am exhausted and do nothing but lay on the couch. Shawn has been so great! He is trying really hard to do what I ask, although I know I am picky and hard to deal with sometimes. I am so blessed to have him as a husband and I know he will be a great Dad!

All in all, I am blessed to be where I am and I will never ever forget it. I will also never forget all of you still in the trenches. I think about you often and keep you in my prayers. I know the holiday season can be hell on earth for someone going through IF. Remember, I was there for quite a few years. My advice, do what you have to do to get through it. Don't do anything that makes you miserable. Take this time to think about yourself first. This may not be what most would tell you but sometimes you have to be selfish.

Well, it's back to work for me. I have another Dr's appt and NST at 10:45 today so lets see if I can manage to NOT be sent home from work!

Pictures & Such (31w4d)

Hello there! If anyone is actually still checking my blog I would be surprised! But, I do have a good excuse! Work has been insane. We have a huge case going on right now with depositions back to back which has kept me extremely busy and exhausted when I get home. I usually have enough energy to have dinner and then fall asleep. The good news is that it is making time fly, the bad news is that I haven't been eating properly which is making my blood sugars not so great and that I have been swelling a lot. At my latest doctors appointment (on Thursday- 31w1d) I was measuring at 34 weeks! So I have to schedule another growth u/s to make sure the little bugger isn't getting too big. Baby Noah is doing great, moving around like crazy. Sometimes his movements are so strong I feel like he is trying to bust out of my belly! I think he is lying transverse right now but I was assured he has some time to move into position so I wont worry quite yet. I will also be seeing the doctor every week from here on out and will begin seeing them twice a week soon. I will also be starting the NSTs next week. I'm just hoping Noah cooperates and passes the NST.

We also started our childbirth classes. We have had two classes so far and for the most part it is stuff I already knew. We do get to spend some time practicing relaxation techniques every class which involves me laying on the mat with pillows and Shawn giving me a massage! That is my favorite part of the class. On Monday we did the hospital tour I am so glad we did. Out hospital is awesome! The labor/delivery room is really nice! It looks like a hotel room and even has a flatscreen tv! The postpartum room is even nicer and also looks like a hotel room. We even got to peek into the nursery and saw some newborn cuties! The hospital was nothing like I expected it to be. I expected it to be stark and white like you see on tv. The lighting is low and it has wood floors and wallpaper on the walls. Very nice, modern, and relaxing.

Now on to the pictures! My FIL painted my belly for Halloween:

We had a small family shower last Sunday and we got some of our big items for our nursery. My Mom got us a dresser and the travel system, MIL & FIL got us the crib, and we also received our bedding set! You can see the complete collection of pictures by visiting our babysite (link in the sidebar.)

Here is Shawn putting together the travel system.

And here is the finished product. (Yes, I realize there is a cat in the picture, but in our house, our kitties are always in our business so it is rare to take a picture without them somewhere in the picture.)

Here is Shawn putting together the dresser.

And he also had a little helper.

And here is the finished product with some random stuff on top.

Here is the crib.

And here is the crib with the bedding! So cute!

The nursery is far from complete. We still have all of the little decorative items which we will receive at our big shower this Saturday. We are so excited! Like I said, there are many more pictures on our babysite so head on over and check it out!

The chances of me being able to post before the weekend is slim. After this week the "big case" should settle down and hopefully things will be back to normal soon. If I don't post before Saturday I guarantee I will be back with lots of lovely pictures from the shower!

Randomness (28w5d)

Holy cow! I seriously did not realize how long it has been since I have updated! I haven't forgotten about all of you or blogging, it just seems the days go by so fast and by the end of the day I am totally exhausted. Since I seem unable to form a coherent paragraph I will do my update in a list form:

• All continues to go well with baby Noah. He is most active at night and still breech with his head just under my ribs on the left and feet firmly lodged into my bladder. I REALLY want him to turn! It is much easier for others to feel him kick when he isn't kicking my bladder. For now though it seems he likes this position. Lets just hope he decides to turn before the big day!
• The last couple times I have went to the doctor I have been measuring two weeks ahead. I have another doctors appointment so we will see if I am still measuring ahead. The funny thing is in the last two weeks I haven't gained any weight at all. The doctor isn't concerned though so neither am I.
• We had our first growth u/s on Thursday. All looks well and baby was measuring 2 lbs. 14 oz. and was measuring 27w5d which was actually a couple days behind. I will ask my doctor but I don't think it is a big deal for him to be measuring a few days behind.
• I have been having some serious indigestion and heartburn over the past two weeks which is making it difficult to follow my diet because the things I am supposed to eat give me heartburn. For example, I have found that if I eat anything other than eggs and some sort of meat for breakfast my sugar goes up. However, I have been unable to eat eggs because they give me terrible heartburn. I'm not talking about mild heartburn and indigestion, I'm talking about pain and pressure so severe in my chest that it travels into my neck and jaw and makes me feel like I'm having a heart attack. This usually is the worst at night which makes it very difficult to sleep. I have been taking the Zantac and I am up to two pills a day and I am only supposed to take one a day. Even the two a day isn't enough and I am miserable half the day. I have an appointment today at 11:30 and I'm going to ask the doctor if there is another medication I can take. The only thing my tummy can tolerate is bread which is a big no no for me.
• It is less than a month until my shower and I am so excited! I actually hate baby showers (what infertile doesn't) but I guess because this one is for me it is different. I just cant wait to see everyone and celebrate our little one and I can wait to see all of the cute items that we get for him. Shawn's close family is having a private shower for us also because they said they bought too many items and didn't want to make the guests of the big shower sit through me opening all of their gifts. I'm a little behind on finishing the diaper cake centerpieces so I will be working hard on them this week so that we can decorate them.
• We have done absolutely nothing to get our house ready for the baby yet. The nursery is still currently a storage room and the "litter box room." It's just one of those things that I was afraid to do for fear of "jinxing" myself. But now I realize it's time to get moving. We will need to have a spot to store all of our shower goodies soon. So this weekend we will empty the room and shampoo the carpet. We don't really have anything to put in there yet. We are still waiting for the crib which should be in in the next couple of weeks. We have a changing table that we are sanding down to stain to match the crib and we still have to purchase a dresser. Seems like we have so much to do!
• I have some belly pictures but I have to get them off the camera. I also plan to take before/after pictures of the nursery.

That's really all I have for now. When I look at my ticker and see that I only have 79 days until my due date I begin to freak out a bit! I will update again today after my doctor's appointment.

Guess in my Baby Pool!

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Double Digits!

Today I am 27 weeks pregnant and according to some sites I am in my third trimester. So I’m calling it the start of my third trimester today! We celebrated this morning by doing something that I have been putting off for a while. I took my left over Follistim (two 600iu cartridges, unopened) and a few vials of leftover Menopur to my fertility clinic and donated them. I was so nervous about giving up the meds but they expire in December and I knew that someone else would be able to use them. They promised me that they will give them to someone who needed it financially. It was also good to see everyone at the fertility clinic that I had grown to know and love. I felt nervous about going in there with a pregnant belly but I hope that the people that were there saw it as a sign of hope and not something to hurt them. I guess I just wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt anyone. But I guess they don’t know my story, they don’t know that we tried for almost six years for this little miracle. I also got to see my doctor who came out just to say hi. I brought some ultrasound pictures to show him. When I left, I left in tears. It’s not easy to forget all of the times that I left that office devastated due to a cancelled cycle or a negative beta. But this time was different, I have a warm feeling when I visit, because if not for them my little Noah wouldn’t be bopping around in my belly. I am thrilled to be where we are. I’m not going to lie, I’m still scared something could go wrong, but I’m starting to get used to the idea that this little miracle might actually come to meet us in 10-13 weeks. We have another ultrasound scheduled for October 23rd. It’s a growth ultrasound to make sure that baby isn’t getting too big because of the diabetes. I will be having growth ultrasounds every three weeks or so. I will also be starting NSTs sometime soon. All in all I feel pretty good. My belly is sore feeling which I guess is from the growing and stretching. I am also feeling some BH contractions (at least that is what the doctor said they are) a few times a day. Usually I feel them at night but I did have some this morning too. Noah is still breech because I feel all of his kicks directly on my cervix or bladder (hurts!) Every now and then I feel a punch up high and yesterday when he was bouncing trampoline style on my cervix I could feel his head in my upper belly. So weird! I have some pictures to post (belly pics) but I have to get them off of the camera. I have nothing to compare it to since our other camera was stolen but I will try to take them every week. My MIL is mailing out m shower invites this week so I am really going to start registry stalking like crazy! Well, I wish I had more to say, I’m not doing much but working and getting ready for our dinner theatre at church. I continue to follow all of your blogs and try to comment when I can. I will try to post some pics in the next couple of days.