Our Baby at 32 Weeks

Well, look out............Dave and I have just now in the year 2009 learned how to scan photos......:) Here's a 32 week ultrasound photo from my last visit which shows the baby's profile.

Doctor Appointment Update - WEEK 32!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekly doctor visit today. Went by myself while my mom watched the girls - good thing - the office was packed and I waited an hour just to be called back to wait some more. Now, on to the good stuff........

Vitals were all fine - weight 178lbs, BP 114/56. Dr. Pinckert performed the sonogram today - the office was short a technician. He was once again, very happy for the pregnancy going well. He measured the baby at 5lbs! - all body parts measuring in the 33 to 34 week range. I'm a bit skeptical at this bigger size, but I shouldn't question it, bigger is better than smaller or not growing at all. He pointed out today the fine hair sticking up on the top of the baby's head and also showed me and printed some very clear profile pictures of the baby's face. Today the baby is laying across my belly with her head to my left. The doctor commented that the placenta had moved away from the cervix, but was lying anterior (on the wall closest to my belly outside) (does that make sense? :)) The fluid, cervix, heart beat were all fine.

My next appt. is in one week.

Quick Update

Received a call from the nurse at my doctor's office yesterday afternoon. Labs came back normal. Protein in urine was in the 430 range - high, but less than the last set of labs. All other pre-ecclampsia markers were normal. So YEAH!!

Doctor Appointment Update

Weekly check up was today. I drove down to Rockville this morning with the girls with snow, sleet and rain showers falling. Vitals were: BP 111/46, weight 179lbs. The baby looks good on ultrasound - just the basics checked today. The baby was laying with her bottom up and head down today and looking towards the side. Her heartbeat was strong in the 150 range. We watched her practicing breathing again today.

The doctor gave me lab slips to check my 24 hr urine, blood, and lovenox medicine levels. I will go tomorrow morning to have the blood drawn. Next week, the doctors will check the baby's growth. My appt. is for Tuesday at 11:15am.

Found out this morning, my brother and his girlfriend are expecting a son - July 10th.

Our Home is Changing. Bit by Bit

We've changed things up a bit this past weekend. (A little background here....Ava is almost 3 1/2, and all of our kids LOVE going to bed - whether it be for nap or bedtime - they practically race us upstairs to make it to bed first and once in bed they are there for the night) We have four bedrooms. Dave and I knew that we would have to rearrange things eventually once the baby comes home. We thought about waiting until after the baby is born, but figured since we are all so much into a routine it might be better to make the changes now so we all have time to adjust.

Oh yes,.... and the other deciding factor in making the change was this.... Last Wednesday, we put the kids to bed as usual - 8pm. Ava in her crib. We knew Ava was now able to get in and out of the crib, but haven't witnessed it first hand. Dave and I were watching TV downstairs in the dark, because Andrew sleeps down here too. We could hear thumps and noises from upstairs - nothing crazy though. About 9pm, I heard footsteps coming down our foyer. I said to Dave, "someone is there!" Then I heard footsteps running. When I got to the stairs, Ava was already to the top and very sheepish about coming back down when I asked her to. Finally, she came down and the look on her face would tell you she knew she did something wrong. She also had a very heavy load of Tinkerbell Lip gloss all over her face. It was all very funny to us being this was our first experience of a kid wandering out of bed at night. About ten years of kids and this was the first time. Now, I think that's pretty good!!

So, with a 3 1/2 year old still in a crib, Ava's safety at hand, and a new baby coming - time to move Ava out of her crib and into a regular bed. We also decided to have Amelia and Ava share a room being Amelia's room is pretty large and she wishes she could have sleepovers with her sister on a regular basis. So, this weekend we set everything up (Amelia with new firefly bedding and Ava with new princess/mermaid bedding), and a minor disagreement with Ava on Sunday night that maybe for my sake she could just sleep in her crib just one more night for all of us and our peaceful nighttime - nope Ava insisted she wanted to sleep in her bed in her new room. The rules: no talking, no getting out of bed, blah, blah, blah. Well, no one fell out of bed, but there was a lot of silliness and kneeling on nightstands and so on, but we have survived two nights now without major incident.

After the first night, I was telling my mom on the phone in front of Amelia that the girls did great in their new room and no one got out of their beds. Amelia quickly corrected me and said, "Oh, Mom - we got out of our beds". I asked Amelia to tell her teachers today about her new arrangement. She told them about the room she now shares with Ava. Her teacher asked, what did you do once you went to bed? She answered, "we drank beer". We will all get used to this new arrangement. I just know it.

One last bitty change....the photo above is Ava at 5pm over the weekend crashed out on the couch. Seems she stopped taking a nap now too.... Shooot!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Well........as I am one to do.....I brought the girls to the mall last week to have their picture taken. I also threw myself in a few of the photos..... See if I can post a few.

We spent the morning at The Verizon Center to see "Disney on Ice". Everyone enjoyed it. Happy Valentine's Day.

Doctor Appointment Update

Just back from my weekly visit. Everything is going well. My vitals... weight 176lbs, BP 122/45, urine the same. Sonogram done to measure fluid, cervix, heartbeat at 137BPM and blood flow through the cord and placenta. Today the baby is laying breech and has her feet up by her face. The sonographer showed me the baby making breathing movements on her own! This is to be expected at this gestational age.

We talked generally about the c-section and that it will be performed at Shady Grove Hospital in Rockville. This is where Andrew was born almost ten years ago.

Next visit (Wednesday, February 18th, 10:30am) we will do labs along with the usual profile of the baby.

Today it is unusually warm - 71 degrees. Very, very nice!

A Milestone

I am happy and relieved to say that I am

THIRTY WEEKS pregnant today!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!

Doctor Appointment Update

Yesterday was my weekly OB check up. Andrew has been home all week with a mystery (I think stomach bug) sickness, and Amelia's school was delayed by 2 hrs due to some snow the night before, so we all went to my afternoon appt. My vitals are: 175lbs, BP 116/56 (and that's with the girls pounding on the arm rest of the chair I sat in to get my BP:), urine was showing +2 for protein, the same readings I've been getting.....

After this, went to the sonogram room. The technician who I haven't met before measured all the baby's bones and body parts and came up with a total baby weight of 3lbs 9oz and all in all measuring at about 30 weeks - ahead of the baby's actual 29 week age. My amniotic fluid level, cervix and now "low-lying" placenta were all fine. The baby's heartbeat was around 146 BPM. The baby had moved (of course) and was again facing up, but laying cross wise across my belly. We got to see her face again. When the technician left the room, she mentioned that "it looked like the lovenox was working for me". Anybody want to guess what I said? :) HOPEFULLY, we'll see in 10 weeks. :) I met another doctor in the practice who was happy to report that all was good and the baby looked good. I asked about obtaining the cord blood at birth to preserve. The doctor said, no problem - they do it all the time. No further testing at this time and my next appt. is scheduled for 1 week.

Dave sent away for the cord blood kit which he will carry to the hospital and follow up on once the cord blood is taken.