Holy Crud!

While uploading my week 33 belly pic, I realized I have gotten HUUUUUGE in the last 2 weeks. I have the same shirt on in my week 31 and week 33 pictures and check out this massive difference!

Week 31

Week 33

I think it is very safe to say that I am carrying a GIANT kid.

33, Yipee!!

Yesterday I hit 33 weeks for this pregnancy. AMAZING!! Honestly I never thought I would make it this far, and after talking seriously with some family and close friends nobody else thought I would either. Well, :0P to everyone, including myself.

Baby K at 33 weeks 2 days

33 weeks was a major milestone for Julianna too. When Joe and I got to the NICU on February 26, 2008 (2 yrs ago today) Julianna was no longer in an isolette. She was in an open crib AND was wearing clothes for the first time. It was a huge deal. She no longer needed oxygen and the only tubes and wires she still had were her feeding tube and her monitor leads. It was the first time we had ever held her like a newborn (not kangaroo-ing). It was also during her 33rd week that both of her grandma's got to hold her for the very first time.

Julianna at 33 weeks 3 days (39 days old)

Week 33 was (and is) amazing for both of our kiddos, just for very different reasons.

...Or Sooner

Deep breaths. That's about all I can do these days, take deep breaths. So I had another unexpected trip to L&D yesterday. I didn't feel too badly, just "off" and confused about a few things. I debated whether or not to even call Dr O. because the office is closed on Wednesdays and I knew he would send me to the hospital. Sure enough, once he called me back, he sent me to L&D. So, here's how that trip went...

Got there about 5pm. First thing was to do a bazillion exams and tests. They did a few tests to make sure my water hadn't broken (at this point I don't think I'll know even if it does), including an ultrasound to check amniotic fluid levels. Those tests came back negative and my AFI was "near 10" which is normal (the ultrasound was broken, so they couldn't save exact measurements). I was checked to make sure I didn't have another bladder infection, also negative.

During all this I was hooked up to the fetal monitor and it was showing bunches of contractions and that my uterus was irritable between them. Basically that meant instead of my uterus calming down between contractions (which would make my strip look like a flat line with the contractions as hills) it was in a constant state of mini contractions (my strip was all over the place, up and down). At this point, they decided to start an IV and get admit labs just in case I would be staying.

HORRIBLE IV experience! The nurse jabbed me on the top of my left hand, filled two viles and my vein blew. So now I have a lovely black and blue bubble on my hand. She then moved onto a vein up on the inside of my elbow (the one where they usually drawn blood from). This one didn't blow, but holy cow! it really hurt. They gave me an IV with sugar in it, since I wasn't allowed to eat anything (I couldn't eat just in case things went badly and I needed my c-section). Well, this was a bad idea! My sugar shot up to 272!! That's really high! It's normally around 120 after eating. I then got switched to a regular IV, thank goodness too because I was getting all jittery from the sugar.

Once I was getting hydrated, my uterine irritability calmed down and my strip looked much more normal (flat with hills). My contractions were still pretty frequent, sometimes regular, sometimes not, and boy oh boy were some of them strong! I had the strongest contraction yet while on the monitor and I was amazed to see the spike.

I am amazingly lucky when going to L&D, Dr O was there again for another birth, so things moved along pretty quickly. Once the contractions weren't as strong, and all my tests came back negative he decided to let me come home. I don't have any specific restrictions (other than the ones I already have), but I am to relax and take it easy until my appointment on Tuesday.

Dr O knew last week at my appointment I probably wouldn't make it 2 weeks until my next one, so I know he wasn't surprised to hear from me yesterday, but I am getting kind of tired of this whole "unknown" situation. I told Melissa the other day that I wish I had a magic 8 ball that would just tell me whether things were fine or if it was something serious. I am tired of guessing, but at least so far nothing has been really severe. At the least I want to make it 2 more weeks, at the most I will be allowed to go possibly 4 more weeks. Either way I see a light at the end of the tunnel...and my light is an adorable baby boy!

Sleep?

I am currently in the process of having one of the worst night's sleep EVER! The reason I say "in the process" is because as I am typing this it is 3:51am. It's one of the nights where you have trouble sleeping to begin with but throw in some craziness and it just gets that much better (there is a major hint of sarcasm here).

For the last hour and a half I have been just on the verge of sleep. You know that weird place where you aren't sure if your dreaming or actually awake. Where you wake up every few minutes and have to get your bearings and convince yourself that you are NOW awake. Well that weird place has brought me a number of creepy "half dreams". Tonight I have had people in my house, someone suffocating me, me having a thrashing nightmare in my dream, Joe and I having whole conversations that aren't real, a dog running through the house, and a huge number of contractions. And those are just the ones I remember.

I think that last one was a dream. I have been out of bed for about 20 minutes with only one contraction, so I'm pretty sure the several dozen I had in my pseudo sleep weren't real. Amazingly, through out this sleeping disaster Joe is still sound asleep. Which is fine because he works in the morning, and needs his sleep. I unfortunately need my sleep as well, too bad it's riddled with creepy half asleep/half awake very realistic dreams. I guess I'll just wait for the soft glow of my computer screen to lull me into a peaceful sleep. Ha ha.

*I'll post about my trip to L&D in the morning (you know the actual "sun's up" morning), I'm just not feeling it right now.

Not Complaining...Just Commenting

I had sworn I would not complain about anything uncomfortable or unpleasant during my third trimester. I was so happy to have made it this far that I wouldn't complain about the things I missed out on before. But there are a few things that I would like to comment on and they just happen to suck.

My hips suck. I have bad hips anyway, and I am actually surprised it took them this long to really bother me, they started early with Julianna. It's mostly when I'm sleeping. I obviously cannot lay on my stomach (my preferred sleeping position), and when pregnant you're not supposed to sleep on your back, so that only leaves my sides (left side is optimal during pregnancy). I can fall asleep pretty easily, but 30-45 minutes into my sleep I start to get very sharp pains in my hip, so I take the 45 seconds it takes to roll, more like flip, over to my other side, then I realize I need to pee. So I get up, use the bathroom, and attempt to fall asleep on my other side. 30-45 minutes later, the same pain, flip, pee, try to fall asleep again. This is how my whole night goes. My hips suck.

Getting dizzy and light-headed sucks. I have recently started having spells of light-headedness. The first time was looking at flooring with Joe in Lowe's. I actually had to sit down just as things were starting to go really fuzzy. After about 30 seconds I was fine. It's happened in line at the grocery store, while doing dishes, and most recently at a dinner for married couples. We were at Joe's dad's church this weekend for a couples dinner, and I was burning up the whole time! I chugged bunches of water and was close to stripping off all my clothes, but we were at church and I thought that behavior might have been frowned upon. Once everything was over, we stood up to leave and I was so thankful to be getting out of the heat (none of which anyone else felt). Joe asked me if I was ok and I said I was, why? He said I was really pale, and as he said that I felt incredibly light-headed and almost lost my balance completely. It only lasted 30 seconds or so and I was fine. I'm not sure what's causing all the dizziness and almost blacking out, but it sucks.

And finally, contractions suck. And I'm not talking braxton-hicks contractions. Weeks and weeks of them suck. Enough said.

So that's not me complaining, just commenting on some of the more unpleasant things I am experiencing during this final trimester. I don't think I would give them up, I want to experience everything this trimester throws at me, but I wouldn't be upset if they were slightly less unpleasant either.

4 Weeks Later

We finally got Julianna's 2 year pictures taken...4 weeks after she turned 2. We tried a new portrait place and loved it! She did so well getting her pictures taken. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed. I am amazed every time I post a NICU picture of her!

We decided that since we were there getting her pictures taken, we would jump in and get a family picture taken. We have never had an "official" family picture taken and really wanted to get one done before Baby K arrived. I am so glad we did.

4 Weeks Longer!!!!!!!!

Baby K has now had 4 weeks longer to gestate than his sister! I wondered if anyone was getting sick of my weekly belly pics and excited ramblings about how much further I am in this pregnancy...then I decided I didn't care! If you don't like it, you don't have to read it. Haha! I am just so excited to be so much closer to no NICU stay and no preemie complications and no adjusting of age and so many other things! I know I still have several weeks to go for Baby K to be out of the woods, but I am so happy he has stayed put this long already!

Baby K: 32 weeks 1 day

Julianna: 32 weeks 2 days (2 years ago today)

*I wish I had a better picture of Julianna to post, but somehow the CD of her hospital pictures got put in the wrong case and is currently at Joe's sister's. This one was taken with a cell phone. I hope to have it back for next week's picture!

See You in 2 Weeks Or...

I had yet another OB appointment today. It's funny, but I still get excited to go to them even though I've had like a million (ok, maybe only half a million). It wasn't a big appointment, mostly because I was just in L&D on Saturday and had cultures and a cervical check then. Baby K's heart rate was fine (144bpm). My belly is measuring big...but I'm not surprised. I already know this kid has a giant head.

My sugar levels have been out of whack a few times, and Dr. O isn't happy about it. He said he still doesn't think I need insulin, but wants me to be a little more careful. This irritates me because I AM careful. Yes, I cheat every now and then, but the times my sugar has been crazy are times when I've been really good! I apparently just have some random foods that my body doesn't like...and despite having no carbs, eggs are one of them, weird. I also still haven't gained any weight in the last 2 weeks (I'm actually down 7lbs from 3 weeks ago) Dr. O wasn't really happy about that either. My argument was how am I supposed to gain weight when I have such restrictions on my carbs! And I'm supposed to eat small meals (seconds are not looked upon favorably).

My next appointment isn't for 2 weeks. Or as Dr. O put it, "See you in 2 weeks, or sooner if you have more problems". I almost laughed at that! Every time he tries to space my appointments out to a more normal schedule, I end up either in his office or in L&D with some problem before my appointment, and he remembers that. The last 2 problems between appointments were a bacterial infection bringing on early preterm labor (with my cervix softening) and a bladder infection which brought on early preterm labor (this time dilating my cervix). At my next appointment I will have an in depth ultrasound to check on Baby K. Because of my gestational diabetes, he is at risk for getting too big (ya think?) and a few other issues, so they will take a good long look at him to make sure he's doing ok.

So overall, not a fabulous appointment, but definitely not a horrible one either. I am so excited that in just 2 days I will be 32 weeks! Holy shmoly, I can count the number of weeks to my (and Dr. O's) original goal on less than one hand!! AAAHHH!!! Good thing I have been almost completely ready since 28 weeks :0)

Present for Daddy

Last year (when Julianna was only 13 mos old-10 adjusted) I let her paint Joe a picture for Valentine's Day. What was I thinking?? That was a mess! I wanted to do it again this year, and wow what a difference a year makes. Julianna was awesome with a paint brush. She barely had any paint on her when she was done.

I let her pick out the colors...she picked purple, green & yellow.

She had so much fun...I think she painted for almost an hour!

To make the purplish-green blob look a little better, we dipped a cookie cutter in paint and "stamped" her painting. She did pretty good!

I would really like for her and Baby K to paint pictures every year for Valentine's Day. I think her painting turned out really well, and Daddy really liked it.

Here We Go...Again

Thanks to all my FB friends that sent me good thoughts last night! I ended up going into L&D for contractions. I wasn't super concerned because they were really sporadic (2 would be 9 minutes apart, then I wouldn't have one for 30 minutes, then 2 more would be close together, etc...), but Dr. O still wanted me to go in and get monitored. That was a little after 9pm.

Joe's sister, came to pick up Julianna & took her to her place for the night, and then I called my parents and they met me at the hospital. Joe was on shift and I didn't want him taking time off because I was so sure it wasn't going to be a major event. Plus, he was only 10 minutes from the hospital if I really needed him.

So my mom and I spent several hours in triage in L&D (my dad got a pillow and waited in the waiting room watching TV). I got an exam, a cervix check, a bunch of cultures, and sat around hooked up to the fab monitors. I think my mom was pretty excited to hear Baby K's heartbeat. I had several contractions while on the monitor, which actually made me really relieved. My mom was shocked that I was relieved to see contractions, until I explained that validated what I was feeling. I mean I still am not quite sure what contractions should feel like, and to know what I was feeling were contractions for sure, made me more confident in my decision to go to the hospital.

Anyway, I am now dilated a fingertip even with my cerclage, but there wasn't any strain on my cerclage so Dr O isn't too worried (by the way, conveniently another mom decided to deliver last night so, he was already at the hospital, which expedited things quite nicely). He said if it gets to the point where there is strain on my cerclage, then he will get worried. But as of right now, my contractions are starting to affect my cervix, so he wants to keep an eye on them.

I have a bladder infection, which is what is causing my contractions. So, I am on an antibiotic again. I also had an fFN (fetal fibronectin test). I thought I couldn't get them because of my cerclage, but Dr. O said they just don't usually do them when you have a cerclage. It was NEGATIVE! For most of you that don't know about all the crazy high-risk tests, when your fFN comes back negative you have a 97% chance that you WILL NOT go into labor within the next 2 weeks. Which means...Baby K will be at least a 33 week baby! No 31 or 32 week baby here.

I have an appointment with Dr O on Tuesday, so we'll see how things are going by then, but I am still really optimistic that I will reach my pregnancy goal!

My Glass is Finally Half Full

Another week down! I am 31 weeks pregnant today! Baby K now has 3 weeks and 1 day longer in my belly than Julianna did. I am finally starting to believe that I might make it full term! I have been mentally preparing myself for a 27 week long pregnancy since I got my two pink lines in August. But with every passing day, I am more and more optimistic that Baby K may avoid the NICU. My glass is no longer half empty. So here's week 31's comparison (sorry again for the blurry picture...I suck at trying to take my own belly picture & sorry but Julianna's picture is not quite 31 weeks).

Baby K at 31 weeks

Julianna at 1 day shy of 31 weeks holding mommy & daddy's fingers (check out the little pink bow in her hair!)

Ridin' the Roller Coaster

When Julianna was born we were told her NICU experience would be a roller coaster of good days and bad days for her, of emotional ups and downs for us, and a long journey that would really leave us exhausted. And, wow, it really was! I wish someone had told me to expect the same for this pregnancy.

I have my good days, where physically I feel awesome, and then I have my days where I am just a physical wreck (aka: cerclage, contractions, back aches, etc...). As you may have read from my emotional post 2 weeks ago, I have my emotional downs. But I also have my ups and they far outweigh the dips. Even on days when I fell like total crap (physically), I think holy moly, I'm 30 weeks pregnant, that is so cool. And I smile.

Whenever I get to experience a new common third trimester thing with Baby K (pleasant or unpleasant) I get excited about it. This week Baby K got the hiccups and I LOVED IT! I never got to experience hiccups with Julianna. Some days he pushes so hard into my ribs I can hardly catch my breath, but I get so happy because he's big enough to do that. My belly moves constantly now, jumping, rolling, and getting lopsided and I love to just sit and watch it. I only ever "saw" my belly move once with Julianna. Even when he decides to use my bladder (or other organs) as a pillow I don't mind. I love knowing that he is close to 4lbs now...4lbs! Julianna took forever to reach that 4 lb mark.

I love roller coasters, but I think I prefer the kind I can ride at an amusement park.

Diaper Duty

Now, if only I can teach her to put a diaper back on, I may not be the one changing all of Baby K's diapers!

An Unusual Line-Up

Saturday night I went to an unusual baby shower. It was special for many reasons. First, it was for moms who are on their 2nd, 3rd & 4th babies. Second, it was thrown by the pregnant moms. And third it was for 7 of us! I have written about all the pregnancies I know of right now, (I think I am up to 10 with a total of 11 babies!) and those of us that are pregnant from mommy group decided to throw ourselves a baby shower.

There are 7 of us due from the end of March to the beginning of July. Here's what 7 pregnant mamas look like all lined up.

I know it's tiny, but our due dates are all labeled.

We exchanged names and brought lots of yummy food (thanks to everyone who thought of me and my GD when bringing food! I really appreciated it!). Erin and I also took several tubs of baby clothes and let the moms go through them and take whatever they wanted. It was a really fun night of no kiddos and fun conversation. We're hoping to get all the babies together once their born and take another picture.

Weeks That Start With a 3

After Julianna's birth and all the problems I have had so far this pregnancy, I have hit a milestone I really doubted I would. 30 WEEKS! From here on out my baby's weeks start with a 3! I have never had that! That also means I am getting close to my overall goal, because it was a week that starts with a 3 (not telling because I don't want to jinx something). Being this far is wonderful, but part of me feels like I should have a baby by now. It's really weird.

So here is this week's kiddo comparison (sorry for the blurry pic).

Baby K at 30 weeks 1 day

Julianna at 30 weeks 1 day

(just for size comparison, her S.A.M doll-the pink pointy hat thing- is only about 6-7 inches long top to bottom)

Dancin' a Little Jig!

WAHOO! Today's OB appointment went really well! (Dancing a little jig right now!) It was sooooooooooo nice to leave an appointment without bad news, or even just ok news...I left with GOOD news! ALL good news! Here's today's info:

Baby boy is big! He's measuring around 31.5 weeks and I will just be 30 on Thursday. And not only is he big, but he's taking after his big sister and has an even bigger noggin! His head is measuring just past 32 weeks! Pretty glad I'll be having a c-section now. His heart rate was 140. He is currently head down and the giant bump that keeps protruding from my upper right side is his rear end. I got a picture of his face, but he was so active, the picture is really blurry and even I (self proclaimed ultrasound picture interpreter) can't really tell what it's a picture of.

My blood sugar levels have been really well controlled (for the most part) by my new fun diet. I have had a few spikes, but Dr. O said he isn't concerned. He said the levels look so good, that he isn't concerned at all about me needing insulin. He also said it's very unusual to see the diet work so quickly for someone. The negative of the diet is that I have lost 3lbs just since Friday. He said he would have liked me to keep my weight the same, but isn't too concerned as long as I start gaining again.

I had some contractions while I was in the office and Dr. O confirmed that most of them are BH (the non painful ones I'm having). He said that if I have 4 or more painful ones in an hour to call immediately, but being that I am down to 3-4 painful ones a day he isn't too concerned about them either.

And the best news of the day...my cervix has actually lengthened! Today's measurement was almost 3cm! Dr. O said he was shocked but so happy to see that measurement. There's still some funneling, but it's about the same as before.

What does all this good news mean for me? Well I will not be getting steroid shots for now. Dr. O feels that as long as things continue to go this well, I won't need them, and if he feels I do need them, he'll let me know. And second...I am OFF...I repeat OFF...of bed rest! I am still on my restricted activity (no lifting Julianna mainly and lay down if I feel I need to). But I don't need to line up people to watch Julianna anymore (for now at least). That is what has made me the happiest today! With Joe's schedule this week Julianna was going to be home 1 day out of 7! And now she will come home tomorrow and not have to go anywhere else for awhile! I am so happy!

Now, before I get all the comments about taking it easy and such, I AM going to be careful about how much activity I'm doing, and I promise I won't over do it.

I hope and pray that I can continue to have awesome OB appointments like today!

30 Second Rule?

Really? She must get this behavior from Joe...I know I've never eaten french fries off the floor like this before.