Ok, so I know I'm not done yet, but I thought it would be fun to put
together a collage now of my growing bump!
Friday, January 17, 2014
30 weeks!
We've reached the 30 week mark today! Baby is growing still and we are getting more and more excited to meet him! It'll be here before we know it.
Exercise:
Other:
Baby:
Symptoms:
- Acid Reflux- I've had issues with this my whole life, but it's definitely worse being pregnant! I do my best not to eat before going to bed, and especially not anything spicy. I sleep with 2 pillows to stay angled enough that it doesn't get too bad. This symptom was WAAAAAAY bad when I had my cold. For some reason, being congested was a sign for the acid reflux to act up. Cough drops were needed, but also made it worse. So if i started coughing during the night and had to use a cough drop, I was done for. I'd have to sleep sitting up for the rest of the night.
- Pelvic Pain- This comes and goes. Some days it's so bad it hurts to walk, other days I barely notice it. Certain things I do will cause stabbing pain, like when I roll out of bed in the morning. It feels like a knife is being stabbed right in the front of my pelvis (in the pubic symphysis). Not very pleasant, but at least it isn't as regular as it was during weeks 15-25.
- Back Pain- This is similar to the pelvic pain. Some days it's awful, other days it's not too bad. The more I walk, the more it hurts. This is just a fact of life!
- Frequent Peeing- This one has come and gone for me throughout the pregnancy. I guess it's getting to its worst phase now though, since some nights I get up twice in night to pee instead of just once like I was during the other trimesters. I wouldn't say I have to pee all the time though. Yet. :)
- Breathing- Since he's sitting breech, he's not kicking my lungs and ribs, so I don't feel that I'm really having any trouble with breathing yet. I get out of breath faster, but that's cause I'm carrying extra weight! This will probably get worse over these last few weeks as he keeps growing and hopefully flips.
- Swelling- Still don't have much of this! My wedding ring has started to feel more snug, but since I can still take it off I think we're doing ok. I still have my tiny ankles, so maybe I'll get through this pregnancy without having the dreaded "cancles" (or however it's spelled)!
- Emotions- I feel like I've started becoming more emotional lately, kind of like when I was in the first trimester. I'm more prone to crying over silly things, and having my feelings hurt more easily. Ryan is handling all of this like a champ, and just letting it happen.
- Weight Gain- This one is hard for me. I know that weight gain in normal, cause I mean come on, I'm growing a human being! BUT, it's still hard to see the numbers increasing. Since I haven't been active and I don't always eat the way I should, I've gained more than is necessary. My OB says my weight looks fine and hasn't said anything else about it, but I'm getting more and more aware of it. I'm up 32lbs currently. Hopefully watching my diet better and walking regularly will help that not to rise to a much higher number by the end.
- I've started doing 30 minute walks around the track at the rec center with a friend. That seems to be the perfect amount of time. By the end I feel swollen, especially in my hands, my back starts to hurt & my waddle increases, but I feel good and not like I've over-done it. I think if we went for a longer time, those discomforts would become real pains. It is hard to find the motivation to go everyday like I want to, since at the end of the work day I just want to go home, have dinner, and veg. So it's a work in progress!
- I've been sleeping with a pregnancy wedge pillow thing to try and help with my back pain. I think it helps, but not so much that I think it's the best invention and I need to tell all pregnant women about it. We'll see if it becomes more important to me as my belly continues to get bigger and heavier.
- I ordered a maternity support belt at the suggestion of my OB, and I'm excited to give it a try once it arrives. It's supposed to help with both the pelvic & back pain I have.
- I've been making some of my regular shirts work as maternity shirts, but I'm at the point now that I won't be able to continue doing that. I do have maternity shirts, but even those seem to be getting snug. I don't want to buy more now since I only have 10 weeks left, but wearing the same things over and over gets boring. A sacrifice I'm willing to make though to save money!
- He is still breech, but has plenty of time to flip before the big day. I don't mind not getting kicked in the ribs, so this arrangement works out great for now!
- He isn't a super active baby, so I cherish all of his movements. He's more active in the evening and later, although I'm starting to feel him during the day more frequently.
- He responds to music and flashlights that are placed on my belly
- He hasn't done anything that causes me pain, although I think he's found a nerve or something to bump in there on the left side that he'll hit sometimes. It sends this shocking feeling down my leg. Since it catches me off guard, it normally makes me jump. It happened at church once and startled Ryan when I jumped suddenly. Pretty funny!
- He should be almost 3lbs, and about 15-17in long.
Overall, I still LOVE being pregnant! I'm going to miss feeling him move once he's out, that's for sure. It's still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that there is a BABY in there, and I'm not just gaining weight. It blows my mind how we're able to grow people. Take a second to think about it, like REALLY think about it, and you'll probably have your mind blown too! It's such an incredible thing to be a part of. I'm grateful to have this opportunity, as I know that not every woman does. Sometimes when I look at my belly (stretch marks and all), I can't help but feeling incredibly blessed.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
New Year Scare
I've decided that Baby Deuel has a goal to give his mom & dad heart attacks before he makes his grand arrival into this world. Here's our latest adventure caused by him!
We flew home from California on January 1st. We got to the airport that afternoon and said our goodbyes. After Ryan and I checked our bags, we started walking towards security. Baby felt reeeaaaally low, and I felt a ton of pressure. It was making it difficult to walk. I made a comment to Ryan about needing to ask the doctor at my next appt if it was normal for him to be so low at only 27-28 weeks. We walked slowly throughout the airport and finally got to our gate. We boarded the plane, and once we took off I started trying to get comfortable so I could sleep for the flight. My back was hurting, but that wasn't anything unusual for me and my poor body. I was able to fall asleep, and slept for most of the flight. I wasn't sleeping so deeply though that I wasn't aware of how bumpy this flight was. We were on one of those little planes, the ones that just have 2 seats on each side. I think the size of the plane made it so we felt the turbulence more easily. But other than that it was an uneventful flight.
Once we landed and got off the plane, I let our ride know that we were going to get our bags and then we would call them once we were ready. Ryan and I both decided to make a stop at the bathroom before heading to get the bags. When I wiped, I discovered blood. Not just spotting either, but like I had started my period. My head started spinning and I couldn't quite catch my breath. With tears streaming down my face, I got myself together and headed out to tell Ryan what was going on. Seeing my face he obviously knew something was wrong right away, and I did my best to explain without starting to sob. We headed towards baggage claim so we could find someone to ask where the closest hospital was. I was reviewing in my mind when I had last felt him move, and as I thought about it I hadn't felt him move since before we boarded the airplane. It was getting harder to breath as my panic kept growing. We got downstairs to the baggage claim and Ryan headed straight to a police officer he saw. After they spoke for a minute, the cop had Ryan him to me, and then over to some chairs. I was so scared, and on the borderline of having a panic attack. The cop asked for details of what was going on, and he jotted down some notes as I spoke. He then said that he was going to call in the paramedics to come talk to me. As we waited for them, several other police officers started gathering around me. One went with Ryan to watch for our bags. By the time the paramedics arrived, we had about 5 cops around me, plus the one with Ryan. I'm sure to on lookers, it was quite a scene with me bawling and surrounded by cops, and Ryan being escorted by a cop. There ended up being 4-5 paramedic firefighters in addition to all the cops. They took my vitals, instructed me to calm down so I didn't cause problems for the baby, and then told me to tell them what was going on. As we were talking to them, I continued praying mightily for our baby, and for guidance. Ryan and I both felt that it would be ok to refuse the ambulance and just have our ride take us straight to the hospital, and the paramedics seemed to agree. Since I wasn't coding they wouldn't have gotten us to the hospital any faster, and we couldn't really afford the bill for an ambulance ride! The paramedics left but all the police officers hung around until our ride got to the door. The one that had been by my side the whole time took a look around, laughed, and said "Obviously you've got quite a few officers hoping that they would get to deliver a baby today!" I guess so! Haha.
Our friends let Ryan drive, knowing how I am in cars and not wanting to get me more upset than I already was with everything. How thoughtful, right? We got to the hospital quickly, and were sent straight to the maternity ward. We sat there for quite some time before they had a room ready to take me to, and in the meantime we made some phone calls to let our families know what was going on & to ask for extra prayers. Once they got me into a room, they had me change into a gown and then hooked me up to 2 monitors. One for baby's heartbeat, and the other to watch for contractions. As soon as she got me attached to those, he finally moved. So with that and hearing his heartbeat, I finally started to really calm down. We told the nurse everything, then waited for the doctor to come and do her evaluation. When she got there, she continued to put us at ease. She had a GREAT bedside manner, and we liked her a lot more than my own OBGYN. She asked us to go over our story again, and then listed off the tests she wanted to do. I ended up having some blood tests, a urine test, regular ultrasound, intrauterine ultrasound, and the fetal monitoring. Once baby moved again, he had the wiggles and just kept going. He even got hiccups once during the time we were there, which sound funny on the heart monitor. It would cause a funny static sound when he moved, and then when he had the hiccups it was a different sound. All of the tests came back normal, and they couldn't find the cause of the bleeding. It had stopped on the way to the hospital, which was a good thing. I didn't have any contractions, and his heart rate stayed strong the whole time he was being monitored. They did say that he is currently breech, but that isn't something to worry about yet since he still has plenty of time to flip. He was sitting really low though and putting a lot of pressure on my cervix. That would explain why it was uncomfortable walking! Eventually they said that either it could have been related to the subchorionic hemorrhage I had back at week 6 of the pregnancy (the initial bleeding scare), the altitude changes from the flight (although it didn't happen on our way there), or it was my body just having a freak moment. I think the last is most likely, since I have a long history of it doing just that! I was given instructions to stay home from work the following day and rest, and to keep taking it easy over the next few weeks. If it happened again, I was to call my OB immediately and go from there.
After all of that, I was finally released a little after 2 am. We got home and into bed by 3am. Our flight had landed at 9:35pm, so it had been a looooooong and exhausting night! Our dear sweet friends stayed with us the whole time, and then went to work as usual the following morning at 8am. We are so lucky & grateful to have such amazing friends!!
Since that whole episode, things have been just fine. Although I was going to the bathroom every ten minutes (at least that's what it felt like) for the next few days to check for bleeding, there hasn't been any more. Like I said, I think baby just has a goal to give me a heart attack before he comes! We were both grateful that everything turned out so great, and not having a teeny tiny 2lb (give or take) baby join us almost 3 months early. He still needs time to grow in there! I had my regular follow up appt with my OB on the 10th, and I told her about the whole experience. While she could access the records electronically, they didn't send them to her so she had no way of knowing anything had happened. I was surprised they didn't, but oh well. She didn't like what had happened, and again gave me strict instructions to call if anything seems to be going wrong. We discussed the upcoming birth, and we are going to move forward with a regular vaginal delivery. After hearing her talk about it, and the fact that she got 4 other opinions from various maternal fetal doctors & orthopedic surgeons, I feel much better about things going this way. They all feel that there isn't any risk of re-breaking my pelvis (which was a HUGE worry of mine), and that even with the screw my pelvis should still allow enough movement to let baby get through. And because my doctor is aware of my history, she will be watching baby extra closely to monitor him for fetal distress. At that point, we would switch to a c-section.
It's hard to explain how I feel about all of it. After operating under the absolute knowledge of needing a c-section for the last 6 1/2 years, it's really hard to suddenly switch gears mentally and be happy and excited about this change. I know that there are pros and cons to both ways of delivering, but you don't really know how your own body will respond to a certain type of delivery until it happens. No one knows for sure what really will be best for my body, because my circumstances are so unique. The way my doctor put it, I don't have a problem (like gestational diabetes, etc) where she can go research medical journals and get ideas on how to proceed. So she's just coming up with the best plan that she can, based on her knowledge and my medical history. I have to trust that. If at any point I start to have a feeling that things need to be done differently, I most certainly will voice that opinion! We're feeling pretty good at this point that things will all work out ok.
We flew home from California on January 1st. We got to the airport that afternoon and said our goodbyes. After Ryan and I checked our bags, we started walking towards security. Baby felt reeeaaaally low, and I felt a ton of pressure. It was making it difficult to walk. I made a comment to Ryan about needing to ask the doctor at my next appt if it was normal for him to be so low at only 27-28 weeks. We walked slowly throughout the airport and finally got to our gate. We boarded the plane, and once we took off I started trying to get comfortable so I could sleep for the flight. My back was hurting, but that wasn't anything unusual for me and my poor body. I was able to fall asleep, and slept for most of the flight. I wasn't sleeping so deeply though that I wasn't aware of how bumpy this flight was. We were on one of those little planes, the ones that just have 2 seats on each side. I think the size of the plane made it so we felt the turbulence more easily. But other than that it was an uneventful flight.
Once we landed and got off the plane, I let our ride know that we were going to get our bags and then we would call them once we were ready. Ryan and I both decided to make a stop at the bathroom before heading to get the bags. When I wiped, I discovered blood. Not just spotting either, but like I had started my period. My head started spinning and I couldn't quite catch my breath. With tears streaming down my face, I got myself together and headed out to tell Ryan what was going on. Seeing my face he obviously knew something was wrong right away, and I did my best to explain without starting to sob. We headed towards baggage claim so we could find someone to ask where the closest hospital was. I was reviewing in my mind when I had last felt him move, and as I thought about it I hadn't felt him move since before we boarded the airplane. It was getting harder to breath as my panic kept growing. We got downstairs to the baggage claim and Ryan headed straight to a police officer he saw. After they spoke for a minute, the cop had Ryan him to me, and then over to some chairs. I was so scared, and on the borderline of having a panic attack. The cop asked for details of what was going on, and he jotted down some notes as I spoke. He then said that he was going to call in the paramedics to come talk to me. As we waited for them, several other police officers started gathering around me. One went with Ryan to watch for our bags. By the time the paramedics arrived, we had about 5 cops around me, plus the one with Ryan. I'm sure to on lookers, it was quite a scene with me bawling and surrounded by cops, and Ryan being escorted by a cop. There ended up being 4-5 paramedic firefighters in addition to all the cops. They took my vitals, instructed me to calm down so I didn't cause problems for the baby, and then told me to tell them what was going on. As we were talking to them, I continued praying mightily for our baby, and for guidance. Ryan and I both felt that it would be ok to refuse the ambulance and just have our ride take us straight to the hospital, and the paramedics seemed to agree. Since I wasn't coding they wouldn't have gotten us to the hospital any faster, and we couldn't really afford the bill for an ambulance ride! The paramedics left but all the police officers hung around until our ride got to the door. The one that had been by my side the whole time took a look around, laughed, and said "Obviously you've got quite a few officers hoping that they would get to deliver a baby today!" I guess so! Haha.
Our friends let Ryan drive, knowing how I am in cars and not wanting to get me more upset than I already was with everything. How thoughtful, right? We got to the hospital quickly, and were sent straight to the maternity ward. We sat there for quite some time before they had a room ready to take me to, and in the meantime we made some phone calls to let our families know what was going on & to ask for extra prayers. Once they got me into a room, they had me change into a gown and then hooked me up to 2 monitors. One for baby's heartbeat, and the other to watch for contractions. As soon as she got me attached to those, he finally moved. So with that and hearing his heartbeat, I finally started to really calm down. We told the nurse everything, then waited for the doctor to come and do her evaluation. When she got there, she continued to put us at ease. She had a GREAT bedside manner, and we liked her a lot more than my own OBGYN. She asked us to go over our story again, and then listed off the tests she wanted to do. I ended up having some blood tests, a urine test, regular ultrasound, intrauterine ultrasound, and the fetal monitoring. Once baby moved again, he had the wiggles and just kept going. He even got hiccups once during the time we were there, which sound funny on the heart monitor. It would cause a funny static sound when he moved, and then when he had the hiccups it was a different sound. All of the tests came back normal, and they couldn't find the cause of the bleeding. It had stopped on the way to the hospital, which was a good thing. I didn't have any contractions, and his heart rate stayed strong the whole time he was being monitored. They did say that he is currently breech, but that isn't something to worry about yet since he still has plenty of time to flip. He was sitting really low though and putting a lot of pressure on my cervix. That would explain why it was uncomfortable walking! Eventually they said that either it could have been related to the subchorionic hemorrhage I had back at week 6 of the pregnancy (the initial bleeding scare), the altitude changes from the flight (although it didn't happen on our way there), or it was my body just having a freak moment. I think the last is most likely, since I have a long history of it doing just that! I was given instructions to stay home from work the following day and rest, and to keep taking it easy over the next few weeks. If it happened again, I was to call my OB immediately and go from there.
After all of that, I was finally released a little after 2 am. We got home and into bed by 3am. Our flight had landed at 9:35pm, so it had been a looooooong and exhausting night! Our dear sweet friends stayed with us the whole time, and then went to work as usual the following morning at 8am. We are so lucky & grateful to have such amazing friends!!
Since that whole episode, things have been just fine. Although I was going to the bathroom every ten minutes (at least that's what it felt like) for the next few days to check for bleeding, there hasn't been any more. Like I said, I think baby just has a goal to give me a heart attack before he comes! We were both grateful that everything turned out so great, and not having a teeny tiny 2lb (give or take) baby join us almost 3 months early. He still needs time to grow in there! I had my regular follow up appt with my OB on the 10th, and I told her about the whole experience. While she could access the records electronically, they didn't send them to her so she had no way of knowing anything had happened. I was surprised they didn't, but oh well. She didn't like what had happened, and again gave me strict instructions to call if anything seems to be going wrong. We discussed the upcoming birth, and we are going to move forward with a regular vaginal delivery. After hearing her talk about it, and the fact that she got 4 other opinions from various maternal fetal doctors & orthopedic surgeons, I feel much better about things going this way. They all feel that there isn't any risk of re-breaking my pelvis (which was a HUGE worry of mine), and that even with the screw my pelvis should still allow enough movement to let baby get through. And because my doctor is aware of my history, she will be watching baby extra closely to monitor him for fetal distress. At that point, we would switch to a c-section.
It's hard to explain how I feel about all of it. After operating under the absolute knowledge of needing a c-section for the last 6 1/2 years, it's really hard to suddenly switch gears mentally and be happy and excited about this change. I know that there are pros and cons to both ways of delivering, but you don't really know how your own body will respond to a certain type of delivery until it happens. No one knows for sure what really will be best for my body, because my circumstances are so unique. The way my doctor put it, I don't have a problem (like gestational diabetes, etc) where she can go research medical journals and get ideas on how to proceed. So she's just coming up with the best plan that she can, based on her knowledge and my medical history. I have to trust that. If at any point I start to have a feeling that things need to be done differently, I most certainly will voice that opinion! We're feeling pretty good at this point that things will all work out ok.
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