Tying Up Loose Ends

As our due date gets closer and closer, Simeon and I are finally having to take care of some final details we have been putting off completing. The nursery is all put together. We bought and installed our car seat. We even started making a list of people to call once the baby is born (one list is people to call as soon as she arrives; the other is people to call once it is a decent hour). So now we are just down to finding a pediatrician and packing our hospital bag.

I have a couple pediatricians picked out (narrowed down nicely by those covered by our insurance company and then by proximity) and even have an interview set up with one doctor for Friday afternoon. I have been putting together a list of interview questions, such as hours, procedures, policy, etc. So I am feeling pretty confident on finishing this one.

As for the hospital bag, I have mentally started packing, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to actually pack my bag. I guess it will just make it all seem really real and that is just scary. I know I need to pack my robe, slippers, personal toiletries, our cameras (both video and digital) and going home outfits for myself as well as the baby. But I feel like there are probably more things I am just not thinking about.

So here is where you all come in: I want to know (yes, this is me ASKING for advice again) what you all think.

  1. Do you have any questions we should ask a potential pediatrician to help us determine if they are they right doctor for us?
  2. What was something you brought to the hospital that you found really useful?
  3. Is there anything else I am forgetting to do???

37 Week Belly & Dr Appt

Nope, no baby yet. (I think I am going to get use to saying this one quite a bit!) Sorry to worry you guys. Things have just been really hectic. I am finishing up my last week of work and I gotta admit it cannot end soon enough. Then Simeon and I were out of town for a couple days for Thanksgiving (the few pictures I took can be seen here). And finally I spent the rest of my weekend in bed with a horrible cold. The worst thing about pregnancy has got to be the fact that I cannot take any medications. I just have to ride this cold out til the bitter end.

Anyway, on to the more important info:
I had my 37 week doctor’s appt this afternoon and have this to report back:

Urine: Normal: no protein, no sugar (yea!)
Weight: no weight gained or lost since last appt (holding on at 6 lbs total gain!)
Blood Pressure: Nice and low
Baby’s Heartbeat: Normal, in the 150s
Measuring: right on schedule for 37 weeks
BPP: 8 out of 8

Basically, things are going great. We had another ultrasound to check the biophysical profile. Apparently I am now having these once a week until delivery, general around the same time as the appointments with my OB. Fun times. But I must admit, it is nice to see that everything is going well in there.

Alrighty, back to the task at hand, here is my 37 week belly shot:


And the close-up:

What else? Oh yeah, over the weekend Simeon and I finally broke down and bought our travel system. He was a little worried that I would go into labor and we wouldn’t have a car seat in the car and would therefore have to leave our newborn daughter at the hospital, since they require you have a car seat to allow the baby to go home with you. So we bought (that was delivered quickly by zego van courier service), assembled the stroller more so than the car seat and installed as needed and are now ready to have a baby! Or at least drive her home and see how things go from there.

It was cute how excited Sim was to have the car seat and stroller. He practiced putting a stuffed animal in the car seat and even took it for a test drive around the living room. Then once we got the base and car seat in the car, you could totally see the Daddy in him come out. I just love how excited he has been and know he is going to be a great father.

Oh and before I forget, I finally got around to getting all the pictures from my friends baby shower up loaded. I have such amazing friends, who really take great care of me. You all know who you are, and I couldn’t do any of this without you! I love you guys! Thank you so much!!

Ok, well I am off to bed. This cold is still kicking my ass. Add that to being 37 weeks (37 weeks, 3 days to be precise) pregnant and I have no energy for anything else. My next order of business is packing my bag for the hospital and finding a pediatrician. But I will tell you more about all that tomorrow. For now, good night!

36 Week Belly & Dr Appt

I had my 36 week doctor’s appt this afternoon and have this to report back:

Urine: Normal: no protein, no sugar (yea!)
Weight: gained 3 lb since last appt (back to 6 lbs total gain!)
Blood Pressure: Nice and low
Baby’s Heartbeat: Normal, in the 150s
Measuring: right on schedule for 36 weeks
BPP (Biophysical Profile): 8 out of 8

We also had an ultrasound to check on the baby’s growth (just a gestational diabetes precaution). It was wonderful to get to see her again! Just watching her squirm and wiggle, while I can feel it at the same time, blows my mind. Plus she had the hiccups again, which was just lovely on my very full ultrasound-ready bladder. Here is her profile picture, in which I am sure she was mid-hiccup.

Since room is a little tight (that is putting it mildly) inside my belly, ultrasounds done this late in the pregnancy aren’t as accurate as the earlier ones. Mostly they just wanted to check things out and see how we were progressing. According to the ultrasound, my due date should be on or around December 3rd (they said not to trust this, but to go with our conceptual due date of December 19th–but I still thought it was interesting enough to share) and the baby is currently weighting in at about 7 lbs 8 oz…let me just let that sink in for a minute. Seven and a half pounds…at 36 weeks! Since babies tend to gain about a half pound per week in the final stretch, we are looking at one good sized baby!

While we were in there looking around, Simeon and I asked the ultrasound tech to double check the sex for us. If I have to exchange all the pink girly things we have acquired, I wanted to know before I go into labor. So she wandered down to that area and got a lovely and very reassuring view of our daughter’s private region. Whew! Still a girl!

And since we are sharing pictures, I thought I should toss in my 36 week belly shot as well:


And the close-up:

The First Shower

Yesterday my boss, with the help of several fabulous ladies in my office, threw me my first baby shower. It was the nicest thing. To see all these people who I see on a regular basis in a very professional and conservative manner discussing diapers and midnight feedings while cooing over all things frilly and pink is enough to melt anyone’s heart. So as far as I see it, an emotional pregnant lady didn’t stand much of a chance.

I convinced Simeon to take a long, late lunch and come to the shower with me. Once I mentioned there would be cake and coffee, it didn’t take much more to convince him to join me for the celebration.

Overall the shower was a wonderful time. Thankfully my car has plenty of room so we could take home the mountain of gifts we acquired. I am so excited to go through each and every present again as I put things away in the nursery. This has truly helped me to feel more prepared for my little girl’s imminent arrival.

All the pictures from the shower, taken by my co-worker and friend Sandra (who actually had the foresight to bring her camera), are here.

Hicc-em-ups

Ana got the hiccups last night. It wasn’t the first time she has had them, but the first time I actually recognized them for what they were. I was lying in bed desperately trying to fall asleep between the alternating snores of Simeon and Ellie (they like to do this to me ALL THE TIME), so I tried to focus on my belly movements as I drifted off to sleep. Then I noticed how incredibly rhythmic the movements were. I was starting to wonder if my daughter was keeping time in there, as it was almost as constant as the ticking of a second hand on a clock. Then it suddenly dawned on me that where I was feeling the tiny bumps was right about where I was guessing her head was and it wasn’t kicking (or punching) at all, but the hiccups! It was so cute I had to roll over and wake Simeon up to share my realization. I know it is totally minor, and not a very big deal, but the little things, even as small a hiccups, just make this whole thing so real and so worth it. We can’t wait to meet you, baby girl!

35 Week Belly

Do you know what 35 weeks pregnant means? It means that in just three short weeks, I will be considered “term.” As in the baby could come and everything and everyone would be just fine. Three weeks! I have no idea how time has gone so quickly. Although in 3-5 weeks I am sure the hours will draaaaag by as I learn about fun things like sleep deprivation and being covered in another human’s bodily fluids. Ahhh well, all in due time. Until then, here is the 35 week belly shot:


And the close-up:

Fun with Flickr

I’ve had a Flickr account for awhile, mostly to sign in as a “friend” and see other people’s pictures. I have never really done anything with it personally because the site is blocked by the firewall at my work which is where most of my blogging takes place. But since I am not going to be working there much longer, that firewall can kiss my ass. I wanted to actually get familiar with the site a little and in doing so I found Flickr Toys. So I made this:
Belly Shot Mosaic
Pretty cool, huh? The pictures range from 17 weeks (when I finally thought I was showing enough to warrant taking a photo) to 34 weeks. Kinda interesting to see all the pictures together like that! It also makes me realize that what I wear really does impact how pregnant I look! Go figure.

The Follow-up Appt

“I wish all my gestational diabetes patients were just like you” was the first thing the new doctor said when he walked into the exam room, instantly making me feel at ease. Then he backed this up by explaining how my glucose levels were really very good, for a GD patient, but that they were just being overly cautious in having me start taking medication. The doctor is prescribing glyburide, an oral diabetes medication that does not cross the placenta. It is not insulin like I had assumed. He is even starting me on the very lowest dose they offer because he doesn’t think it will take much to keep my scores in the optimal range. Yeah me! So I just take the tiny pill once a day with breakfast. Easy as that. Then if my scores still aren’t where they should be, I can either up the dose or take an additional pill. But he really doesn’t think it will come to that.

So after chatting with the doctor for a bit about the medication, going into more depth about the risks of GD and what will happen after I have the baby, he said he wanted to check on the baby and have me take a Non Stress Test. Basically they just hook up a fetal heart rate monitor across my stomach and listen to the heartbeat for about 20 minutes. They are checking to make sure the heartbeat is within the normal ranges, with frequent fluctuations, and hopefully a couple big baby movements causing the heartbeat to fluctuate 15 or more beats per minute. Wanting to totally out do her mother, my daughter passed this test with flying colors…in about five minutes. So then I just had to lay there for another 15 minutes watching the numbers jump around and feeling her kicking away inside me.

So everything is going great. I still have my appts set for next Friday, along with the ultrasound, and we will be able to monitor how the medication is working. While things may seem scary or overly complicated at times, rest assured that I am taking care of business and doing all that I can to make sure I have a happy and healthy little baby to show for all this in just a few short weeks.

Doctor’s Appointment Report

I had my 34 week doctor’s appt first thing this morning and have this to report back:

Urine: Fine: slight protein (only because I hadn’t had very much water to drink yet since it was so early in the morning), no sugar (yea!)
Weight: lost 3 lb since last appt (bringing me to 3 lbs total gain)
Blood Pressure: Nice and low
Baby’s Heartbeat: Normal, in the 160s
Measuring: right where I am suppose to be!

I was floored by the fact that I continue to lose weight, but my doctor assures me that as long as the baby is still growing, things are perfect. We just attribute the weight loss to the healthier diet and added exercise, so it is not an area of concern. Go figure. I was under the impression that people gain weight during pregnancy.

Another interesting bit of information for ya: my due date has moved again. My doctor mentioned my due date in passing and said it was set for December 19th. I said the last time someone told me the date, they said it was December 14th. She laughed at this and said not to listen to anyone else but her. So we are now due on the 19th. This doesn’t bother me, other than the fact that I could now possibly be pregnant until December 26th (since they will only let me go over my due date by a week). So no longer a guarantee that we will not have a Christmas baby. *sigh*

Then my appt took a turn for the worse less-positive. My doctor wanted to look over my glucose log book to see how my blood sugar has been and needless to say, she was not as impressed as last week. I am still on my super-strict diet, but for some reason my body is not always responding to the lower carb/sugar. I can eat the same breakfast two days in a row and have a 2-hour glucose level of 85 one day and 138 the next (I am suppose to keep it between 60-120). Since my activity level isn’t really changing (especially first thing in the morning!) we can either attribute it to stress (sounds about right, what with all the changes in my life) or just the hormonal imbalances screwing with my insulin levels. Either of these factors are not things I can control, so my doctor thinks it would be best for me and the baby to go on insulin.

At this point, I just want to do what is best for the baby, and if that means taking medication, then so be it. My doctor thinks it will be easier for me to take a new pill form of insulin, rather than the shot, which was just fine by me! However, she isn’t very familiar with this new drug, so she is having me meet with another doctor in the office (appt set for tomorrow morning) who regularly prescribes this specific medication. That way if I have any questions or concerns, he will be able to address them. Then I will meet with her as scheduled next week and she can check to see how the meds are working. Also at that time we are having an ultrasound to check on the growth of the baby. So it is going to be a pretty eventful week…medically speaking anyway.

The Childbirth Preparation Experience

As most of you know, Simeon and I attended our childbirth preparation class over the weekend. We initially signed up for the four-week class (two hour class, one night a week) but because Simeon has been trying to get all of his traveling out of the way before the baby comes, he would have missed half of the classes. So I called the hospital to see if we could attend the “Weekend Childbirth Seminar” (6:30-9:30pm on Friday evening and 9:00am-4:00pm on Saturday) instead. It cost about $30 more, but I figured since the main reason we were taking the class was to better prepare Simeon, it was worth the extra money for him to be able to attend the entire thing.

I had heard a lot of women never make it through the entire class because they end up going into labor within the four week period. I thought for sure this wouldn’t be the case with the weekend class, but sure enough, Saturday morning we lost two couples in our group because they were in labor. Go figure. I guess if you are destined to miss the class it will happen no matter what.

Simeon and I actually had a great time in the class. I admit there were a few things I had never heard before and I actually learned a thing or two. Simeon came out very well informed and with a new outlook on a few different things. I was very happy that they didn’t scare the crap out of him by showing any horrific bloody labors with screaming women and fainting husbands or something that would further scare him about the whole process. We did watch a couple birth videos, but they were all very tasteful and not really any more graphic than TLC’s A Baby Story (which I totally admit to having a TiVo Season Pass to record all the episodes during the day and Simeon has watched more than a couple of them with me). In fact, I swear the video they showed us in 8th grade health class was more graphic…but then again I think they were trying to terrify us about sex back then anyway.

Overall the class was very helpful. Sure we touched on basic anatomy and fetal development, which was all review for us, but they also went into great depth about medical intervention, relaxation techniques, and my personal favorite, massage. In fact, there were large portions of the class where I got to lay on my blanket, curled up with a pillow and they actually taught Simeon how to give me a massage. Sure I was focusing on my breathing and pretending to be in pain at the time, but it was still pretty darn nice.