Paul & Sarah

So this week has been kinda a rough week, with Paul’s job going bust and all. (It was a hellish 2 weeks, actually.) Combined with our slight annoyance/disappointment that we didn’t get confirmation of the baby’s sex at this week’s appointment; and well…. we were looking for a happy.

I was looking into 3D ultrasound places here in Las Vegas and found one with great rates AND a coupon! They were able to get us in this morning at 10:30 for a basic package of 2D and 3D images and a guaranteed gender confirmation. (Seriously, if they can’t tell 100% for sure you get to come back for free and if they’re wrong you get your money back or another free 4D session. We were pretty stoked about our chances of finding out with policies like that!)

So this morning our friends Sibyana and Cheri met us at Miracle in Progress (it was like 5 minutes from their house – on the other side of the valley for us) and we had ourselves a little viewing party! The tech was really great – more gentle than the nurses at Dr. Schwartz’s office to tell the truth. She ended up working with us for 30 minutes instead of the 15 minutes our session was supposed to be. She wasn’t able to really do any of the 3D or 4D stuff because of the placement of the baby in relation to the placenta. The baby was laying *on* the placenta, using it for a pillow. But she kept trying and trying to get the baby to turn and “look” at her so she could get some 3D images.

So even though we only got one 3D image, we’re still stoked because we got the one thing we came for:

It’s a boy for sure. I commented on the ‘tiny wang’ and the tech replied that it wasn’t small at all. Paul, ever the proud Papa, was beaming as we all collapsed into giggles.

We got a great view of our son as he waved his arms, yawned, gulped amniotic fluid, kicked, and wiggled. It was the first time that I’ve watched him moving around and was able to feel some of it. SO COOL.

So we have a DVD of the whole 28 minute session, and a CD with some pictures. I’ve culled the best of the pictures and put them in a gallery. I label one picture and then place the original behind it in the gallery so you can flip back and forth to see what’s what. For most of the session, the baby kept his back to us, so that’s why some of the best shots don’t have his face in them. (We’re gonna see about editing down the DVD of the ultrasound and posting some of that. A lot of it is kinda boring, but some of it is amazing – like watching him yawn right at us.)

Afterwards, we had brunch with Sibyana and Cheri, and then Paul let me hit the nearby Target to add blue things to the registry. :)

But yep. We’re having a Boy. And no, we have no idea for names yet at all.

Great appointment today. Confirmed something important about our baby: it’s a little punk. Misty (Dr. Schwartz’s nurse) spent a good 15 minutes trying to coerce the little critter to show us the goods. We were looking up at it’s bum, like we were under the invisible little chair it was sitting on. But the baby just wasn’t about to open it’s legs and confirm what we thought we saw. The baby was flip flopping and bouncing around (maybe because of the two sips of OJ I had right before the ultrasound) but not about to show us what we wanted to see. DANGIT. Next time… (Misty and I both thought we saw something, but she wasn’t confident enough to call it.) It continues to seem odd to me to see the baby doing crazy acrobatics and I still can’t feel ANYTHING. Hopefully soon.

Dr. Schwartz was great about answering questions today, having been prepped by my e-mail last week. We covered a lot of things today:

• I only gained half a pound!! Holy cats! I was totally shocked. I was honestly expecting a gain of 4-6 pounds because my clothes are totally fitting different (way tighter) and well…. I’ve been eating more than I ever have cuz I’m starving all the time!! Dr. Schwartz was happy to see the small gain, but cautioned me that I need to make sure that I actually am eating enough since the baby does need a fair amount of nutrition for all the growth it’s doing these days. He totally gets that my brainmeats are making it hard for me to eat as much as I apparently need to. At my next appointment he’ll be checking to make sure that the baby is growing and gaining weight as expected. But he was supportive (as always) that I must be doing things pretty well as far as nutrition and calories because my blood sugars are consistently improving, and my a1c results (like a 3-month diabetes report card) were down to 6.0 (from 6.5 and 6.3 the last two times it was checked.)
• Speaking of proper nutrition, my Muscle Milks are TOTALLY FINE. Contrary to what the morons at GNC and Vitamin World yelled at me last week, there’s NOTHING of concern whatsoever for pregnant women to have protein shakes. The L-Arginine in the shakes (as a form of protein) is also found in most nuts. L-Arginine has been found to help with placental growth retardation, as well as preeclampsia: both of which I’m at risk for! (The lady at GNC was yelling at me that I was going to have a GIGANTIC, over-grown baby because of drinking protein shakes, and that my doctor was stupid for allowing them. Dr. Schwartz asked which GNC it was cuz he wants to have a word with them.) So I can happily keep drinking my yummy High-protein, Low-carb, vitamin-rich shakes. Hooray!!
• The swelling in my ankles/feet is nothing to worry about yet. Dr. Schwartz thinks I’m just prone to swelling. (I’m getting a fair amount of swelling in my wrists too.) He encouraged me to continue to keep my feet up as often as possible. He agreed that striving for good hydration is a good idea, but that it won’t help this kind of swelling as much as it does for regular hot-weather swelling. He cautioned that it’s not gonna be fun towards the end of my pregnancy when it’s hot, cuz then I’ll have both types of swelling working together. Oy. (Oh, and apparently a restless legs / ants under the skin feeling in the evenings is normal too. Wheeeee.)
• He also commented that towards the end of my pregnancy, he expects to see me twice a week for nonstress tests and whatnot. So I’m gonna have to work something out with him for scheduling, and work something out at work so that I burn as little of my paid leave as possible. (Maybe I can just not take a lunch EVER AGAIN.) I’m really concerned about my maternity leave. I’m taking as little leave as possible for my appointments, but any leave I take comes directly out of what I’ll be able to take when the baby is born. I have to take 8 weeks off because the daycare won’t take infants under 8 weeks – but there’s no way I’ll have that much paid leave saved up – especially if my appointments move to once a week or more. Unfortunately, we need both our salaries – so I’m not sure what we’re gonna do for several weeks that I’m gonna have to take off unpaid. I guess that’s what credit cards are for, right?
• So, because I’m doing so well (blood pressure was lowest it’s ever been, blood sugars are consistently lower, weight gain is very small) I’m cleared for another 3 week appointment. No changes to my insulin or blood pressure meds for the 2nd appointment in a row! So I’m set for Wednesday March 24th at 3:00pm. (Dr. Schwartz is taking me as his last appt from now on so I can burn as little paid leave as possible – he just has to leave by 4:00 to catch his flight home.) Edit: I changed my appointment to the first of the day at 8:00am, because I actually lose less work time by going in the morning. Those first-thing appointments go fast tho, so I can’t always get them. There will be a full ultrasound at the next appointment to check growth and (hopefully) confirm sex for us.
4 Comments | Tags: changes in me, clothes, development, Doctor Appts, testing, Ultrasounds

• The raging psoriasis on my arms is gone. Apparently it’s a common occurrence during pregnancy because of the elevated estrogen levels. (I was surprised that it wasn’t from the progesterone, since that stuff seems to be responsible for everything else!) The stuff on my head is not nearly as bad, but I have been using a medicated shampoo for the first time ever – so I’m not sure what’s fixing that. (For those who don’t know, I have really horrible psoriasis on my arms: unsightly and extremely painful.)
• I’m still not feeling anything from the baby. Really beginning to bug me. I think I’ve felt a flutter or three, but nothing more than that and not for over a week. Dangit, I’m more than halfway done with this process…. I wanna feel something! Plus, it’s just disconcerting to not feel anything. I want some sort of confirmation that everything is OK in there. I poke and poke at my belly, and I can feel the honeydew melon in there… but no response from it’s tenant. Wah.
• Speaking of that honeydew melon… bending over is a thing now. Like, I avoid doing it now. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s not comfortable. And I figure if it’s not comfortable for me, it can’t be enjoyable for the baby. I’m noticing it more when I get into bed too these days. We have a fairly high-up bed, so it’s a bit of a climb to get in. Lifting my leg up that high kinda shoves everything up. Maybe it’s time for a little step-stool.
• I have an appointment to see Dr. Schwartz on Wednesday afternoon. Dr. Schwartz said we could take another look and see if we can find out the sex at this upcoming appointment. I really hope the baby cooperates this time. I’m gonna drink orange juice on the way over to the appointment to wake the kid up. I REALLY wanna find out the sex. I’m pretty sure it’s a boy, but confirmation would be great.
• I’m gonna talk to Dr. Schwartz about a bit of swelling I’m having in my ankles. Most days my ankles are a little swollen by the time I get home from work. If I put my feet up for a little while it goes back down, but it’s a little worrisome. I’m really concerned about pre-eclampsia, so I’m on watch for any symptoms.
• Lastly, I’m STARVING. Like all the dang time. Doesn’t seem to matter what I eat, I’m ravenous again within 2 hours. I’m trying to make healthy choices, but it’s still worrisome. I’ve never been this hungry, this often in my whole life. It’s hard to deal with, cuz I know I’ve gained weight. Granted, I know that some weight gain is expected – cuz ya know, the baby is growing… but when you live your entire life trying to avoid any sort of weight gain, it’s hard to get right with this gain. (Plus the books and websites say I should gain somewhere between 0-14lb for the whole pregnancy, which short of living like I’m training for a marathon doesn’t seem possible or realistic.) I wake up a couple times a night to pee and most nights I’m starving for at least one of those trips to the bathroom. Usually I just ignore it and go back to bed, but then come 7:00am’s alarm I’m so hungry I’m nauseous. But eating in the middle of the night just seems so wrong. So yeah, there’s that.
3 Comments | Tags: changes in me, development, Doctor Appts, emotional hoo-ha, movement, Ultrasounds

In response to a question posed in a comment, here’s a little about what is currently planned –

Dr. Schwartz has suggested that I be induced a week before my due date for a couple of reasons:

• Diabetics tend to have very large babies (10lb+ isn’t uncommon.) The baby is full term anytime after 38 weeks, so pulling it a little early just means the baby is smaller. Smaller babies have an easier time being delivered vaginally, and have fewer blood sugar issues after they’re born. It’s common for large babies of diabetic women to have higher than normal blood sugars for a few days after delivery. The smaller the baby is at birth, the less this is a problem. We’re still expecting the baby to be ~8lb on delivery.
• Dr. Schwartz really wants me to have a vaginal delivery. He feels that at my size, recovery from a c-section would be harder than average. Also, there’s a lot of benefit to the baby by being delivered vaginally. It releases hormones that finish maturing the lungs and helps to ‘wring out’ junk and fluids from the lungs and sinuses. Neither of us are opposed to a c-section if it becomes necessary, but a vaginal delivery would be preferred.

At this point, I have no problems going along with Dr. Schwartz’s plan. Whatever he feels will be best for the baby (and me) is what I want. I trust my OB to guide me in this. (Gotta say, I really LOVE Dr. Schwartz. I can’t imagine going through this process without such a great doctor.)

I am half-way through my pregnancy. Yes, 20 weeks is the usual half-way mark, but seeing as I’m not going to go to a full 40 weeks – I did the math and the magic day is today! (currently Dr. Schwartz is aiming to induce me a week early on July 10.)

There is SO much to do. We’ve made a little progress, but between Paul’s work schedule and me getting totally sick (and now Paul is sick) it’s been hard to get things done. Plus, while I’m not exhausted like I was during my firxt trimester, I am pretty beat after a full day at work, so I don’t have much left after getting home, doing homework and getting dinner made. But I have faith in us.

We’re hopefully picking wall colors for the nursery and baseboard colors for the house. I think once we have the paint purchased and in-house it will lend a new sense of urgency to getting the office emptied and getting the guest room cleared out.

But… Um, yeah. I’m half-way through this. Hopefully that means that I’ll start feeling something soon. I’ve felt a couple of flutters, but I’d like to start having poking contests with my kid in the near future.

Random physical stuff:

• I am rapidly approaching the end of useful life for my sole remaining pair of jeans. Getting them on right out of the dryer is becoming a challenge, and they’re not as comfortable when I’m sitting as they used to be. I will be completely in the realm of knit pants from here on out, methinks. (since maternity jeans in my size do.not.exist.)
• Speaking of disappearing waistlines…. mine is slowly but surely disappearing. And the way I can really tell is that I can FEEL the honeydew melon of my uterus now, right at my waistline – in line with my bellybutton. I still haven’t felt anything (OK, maybe one or two flutters, but I’m not sure) so it’s reassuring to finally be able to feel *something* that confirms this isn’t all in my head. I showed Paul and had him poke my waist… just weirded him out.
• Round ligament pain isn’t any fun. It’s terribly disconcerting. And, um… it hurts!
• I’m finding that I do feel a difference now when I’m laying in bed and I end up on my back. The books say that laying on my back at this point will put pressure on a big vein and/or nerve. They’re right. I can feel it, and notice a difference when I roll to one side or the other. (It’s kinda cool when the stuff in the books turns out to be correct.)
• I have ugly shoes. But I’m totally OK with this. Because for the first time in a long time, I have comfy shoes. AND they slip on, so no more bending over to tie my shoes. (I can tell that putting on socks is gonna get interesting in another month or so.) I got two pairs of these beauties, and they really are comfy!
• Wilford Brimley is my hero. He (OK, the folks at Liberty Medical) finally sent me new insulin syringes. The ones I got at Walgreens sucked. At least once a week I would jab myself, only to have the dang needle not go in. Couple that with increasing dosages requiring me to jab myself multiple times, several times a day… I’m thrilled to have the largest insulin syringes available with the smallest, finest needles they got.
• Lastly, while I’m all about winter all the time; I can’t wait for it to warm up enough to use the pool at my in-laws. I have every intention of heading over there after work each day and walking or swimming laps or something. The exercise will do me good, and the temporary relief of pressure off my back will be wonderful too. Our highs have been kissing 70 for a few days, so maybe it’s not so far away!

For those waiting with bated breath: WE DON’T REALLY KNOW. Sorry.

Our kid is a little stinker. The baby spent basically the entire time sitting on it’s butt, directly on top of my cervix. The tech tried and tried to jiggle it outta position, but nothing doing. (a couple of Andes mints didn’t help either.) She had a hard time even getting the measurements she needed for the anatomical ultrasound (femur, abdomen, head) because the little critter wouldn’t cooperate. And the couple of times it did move where we could get a look: it put it’s hand(s) between it’s legs.

But the good news is that Dr. Schwartz says everything looks fine. Some of the measurements are measuring “ahead” by nearly two weeks, but Dr. Schwartz says that’s because Paul and I are both tall, so we’re having a tall baby. It’s weight clocked in right at 8oz.

For those interested or who know what on earth this relates to:

• Head Circumference: 16.25cm (6.4″)
• Abdominal Circumference: 12.42cm (4.8″)
• Femur Length: 2.5cm (1″)

The heartrate came in at 161, so according to old wives – it’s a girl. Dr Schwartz and the tech gave us a guess, but they both strongly cautioned us not to paint anything yet. I tried to explain to Dr. Schwartz that I’m a planner and I really need to know… he chuckled, told me to deal, and then listed his favorite neutral nursery colors.

Paul’s mom Jeanne came along today and seemed to really enjoy herself, especially when the tech turned up the sound and the WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH of the baby’s little galloping heart stopped our chatter for a moment. I wish the kid would have cooperated a bit more so she could have seen it wave and face us like Paul and I have seen before. I invited her to come to the next appointment if she wanted to, since we’ll try again then to get/confirm the sex.

In the meantime, there’s new pictures that I screen grabbed from the DVD we got today. (I’ll get a DVD of the next appointment too.) They’re mostly body parts, but there’s a couple cool profiles – and an awesome 3/4 full face image from the heartrate image. It’s small, but if you’re good at all for looking at ultrasounds, I think you’ll see it. It’s kinda like the face on the moon… the baby is looking to the left. You can see the chin, lips, nose, cheeks, forehead and a dark hollow where the left eye is.

The rest of the appointment was pretty ordinary. Insulin and one BP med were upped a tad. Weight is up .5lb for a total of 4.5lb in 18 weeks – just fine. My next appointment is in 3 weeks, which is great. The fewer appointments I have for a bit, the less paid leave I have to burn. (Last week’s illness cost me 3 days of maternity leave…) They drew blood for TSH, a1c, and the 2nd part of the quad screening. (Dr. Schwartz took a copy of a bill I got from the lab for $700 worth of “genetic” tests that my insurance is denying from my first visit in November… I LOVE that he’s willing to take on that kind of stuff for his patients.)

So for now I guess we’re looking at more gender neutral stuff, since we might not find out the sex of our little stinker until July!

We had hoped that today we would discover who’s father I become: a baby girl’s Daddy, or a baby boy’s Pop. Well, the skilled technicians and doctor couldn’t make the call since the little punk kept turning its back on us. So, I would like to introduce myself to our blog by opening up a poll to our friends and family: Can you decode the image and guess what the sex is of our baby? Take a look here, or click the image for larger, and take a guess! The technician and doctor reported that this was the definitive image to go by…

Here’s the current results of others who have played doctor:

So we’ll have to wait another 3 weeks till the next ultrasound to find out for sure, but until then, I can at least get to work emptying out the baby’s room and preparing it for painting and new carpet. The decision on paint and furniture color will just have to wait.

I’ve been trying to find ways to make the baby more real to Paul, since all the books say that this whole thing won’t be real to him until he can feel it kick. (Which I guess makes sense… since he doesn’t have to second guess every move he makes based on what it might do to the baby.)

So based on my weekly e-mails (and that nifty little fruit widget on the right side of the website) I find things in the house that are the same length and weight of the baby. It’s been a neat thing for Paul to be able to hold something in his hand that’s the approximate size of the baby. (And then holding it up against my belly really puts it in perspective that there’s something *growing* in me.)

Tonight it was the 3/4 full Mrs. Dash container. (5.5″ long and 6.5oz) Two weeks ago, it was the container of poultry seasoning (4.5″ 3.5oz). Prior to that, there’s been convenient fruit to approximate our baby. It seems amazing to me that in a matter of weeks it can go from a tiny clementine orange to a seasoning container.

I don’t know if I’ve felt it move yet or not. I may have felt some flutters, but they’re not regular or anything. Neat thing though… I can feel my womb now. It’s high enough out of my pelvis that I can feel it when I’m laying down. I hope to start feeling something soon though. That’s gonna be so neat. I cannot wait until Wednesday. Here’s hoping the little critter cooperates and tells us what it is. I wanna start looking at Pink or Blue things. :)

Quickest appointment yet today. But I guess I’ll be having more like this for the next couple of months.

Took a quick look at the baby, mostly to check the heart rate (160, just like it has been.) Didn’t get a measurement, but the critter obviously bigger than it was two weeks ago! (According to the intertubes, it’s 3-3.5″ or roughly lemon-sized.) It was just kicking back, with it’s arms up, like laying in a hammock. The tech got two pictures, but they’re pretty fuzzy. It was bobbing it’s little head, but not dancing like last time. (This appointment was at 3:00pm, whereas my others have all been before 10:00am… so maybe afternoon is siesta time?)

Dr. Schwartz went over my 1st trimester screening results with me and things are looking great.
Downs Syndrome result is 1:4800 (chances of the baby having DS are one in 4800 similar births.) The baseline chances for someone of my age with my health profile was 1:320, so the actual test results tell a MUCH better story.
Trisomy 18 result is 1:2350, which I guess is very good. Dr. Schwartz says anything over 1:100 is fabulous.
Based on these numbers and the great results on the nuchal fold screening, there’s no need to seek further testing (like a CVS or amnio) at this time.

My a1c is down to 6.3 from 6.5 when I first got pregnant. (The a1c is like a 3 month report card on my blood sugar control. Anything below 6 is non-diabetic territory, so I’m doing fabulous in this regard which basically negates any diabetes-related risks to the baby.) Thyroid is creeping up a little, which is expected. My thyroid meds will prolly get adjusted at my next visit, if for nothing else than to negate the fact that I’ve got 30% more blood volume now. My blood pressure was lower than it has ever been – which means the new med (Methyldopa) that was added to my regimen last time is working. Still on the high side, but Dr. Schwartz was happy to see some movement on that, finally.

I e-mailed Dr. Schwartz yesterday with a couple of questions, so he’d be ready to be interrogated. Got some surprising answers, not what I was expecting from the reading I’d been doing in books and online.

Delivery: Currently Dr. Schwartz is planning on letting me go to 39 weeks – so delivering around 7/10/10. (If I went to 7/11, this would be the 3rd kid in my family with that birthday, which includes my brother!) He wants to avoid a C-section if at all possible. Vaginal delivery has a lot of benefits to the baby, but mostly he doesn’t want me to have to deal with recovery from abdominal surgery. He feels that at my current weight and as a diabetic, recovery would be less than optimal and that I would be in a lot more pain & have a longer recovery than average. He’s totally open to a C-section if it becomes necessary, but has every intention of inducing me first and letting me at least attempt to labor. He said that actually he expects me to do well with a vaginal birth. So YAY for that. I’m not all crunchy granola and ‘needing’ to try to push the kid out – but I’m totally open to the experience. I am also totally open to the epidural as soon as they’ll let me have it. :)

OMG pains: Apparently mostly what I’ve been experiencing in the last two weeks has been “low pelvic pain” as opposed to “round ligament pain” My pelvis is splitting apart and it’s totally normal. Hurts like hell and scares the crap outta me when it takes my breath away or wakes me up in the middle of the night, but it’s normal. So whee and hooray for being pregnant.

Bedrest: Currently not a big concern. Dr. Schwartz says I’m doing fine and that he avoids complete bed rest if at all possible. Apparently high risk pregnant women are at higher risk for DVT (blood clots) when on complete bed rest. He didn’t rule out modified bed rest for the last month or two though – which would mean that if I’m not at work, I’m home with my feet up. (Honestly other than the fact that modified bed rest would mean baby/house prep has to be done sooner, being ordered to go home and put my feet up sounds pretty good actually.)

Next appointment is first thing in the morning on Wednesday the 27th. Dr. Schwartz says we’ll try to figure out the sex at that appointment, but if we don’t get an answer then we will for sure at the next appointment which will be the “big” anatomical ultrasound. So hopefully we’ll know soon!