Today was a very hot day, and I believe it was supposed to get into the hundreds for a temperature. Andrew and I went to playgroup, and we were the only ones there. I guess it was just too hot for everyone else. We were only there from about 9:30am to 10:15am, because we couldn't take it anymore. We then went to my mom and dad's where Andrew would be for my doctor's visit.
I didn't think much of this visit because the baby was moving so much the last time and has been moving so much since then. I figured that was the reason his heart couldn't be monitored and not that there was anything wrong. I mean, how can you move so much if you have a bad heart? It just doesn't see to make sense. When I got to the doctor's office, there he was on the screen. The tech said that he was 1 lb. 13 oz. already which meant that he was measuring a week early. My due date is Oct. 15, but with this size, it was expected to be Oct. 8. The doctor didn't change my due date officially or anything, but it gave me something to think about. Andrew was three weeks early, and I don't ever remember him being big too soon. It seems more and more likely that this baby will be born in September. We'll see.
The baby was moving a lot as normal, but not too much that the tech couldn't get what she needed. She said that the heart and other parts looked normal. She even gave me a few 3-D pictures to take home. I got to see his little feet and hands, which seem just perfect. She did have some concern, though about the amount of fluid was around the baby. She said that she would have the doctor take a look at that. I didn't feel that concerned, because it just seemed to be a little thing. When the doctor came in the room, he asked if I had been tested for gestational diabetes. I told him that I was scheduled to be tested on the 13th of July, but it didn't seem very likely since I am hypoglycemic, and never have high blood sugar. He said that the high fluid count could be a result of me having diabetes. This got me worried. I had been eating way too many sweets with my inlaws visiting. They fit sweets into every evening as one of their mandatory diet restrictions. It is a wonder that they aren't overweight. I hardly ever eat anything sweet, but I wasn't ruling out that I didn't have diabetes, since the doctor told me to rule out cakes, cookies, donuts, ice cream, etc. He recommened that I get my blood sugar tested before I come back to see him on the 11th of July.
I immediately called my regular OB-GYN to make an appointment, but my doctor was out of the office that week on vacation. I would have to wait for someone to call me on Monday to set up that appointment. I went home that night vowing to test my blood sugar before eating anything sweet. Little did I know, however, that my test strips were expired and my readings weren't accurate.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Vacation Survived!
For vacation this year, we decided to fly to San Fransisco and rent an RV to travel north to Canada and back. That is for another blog, but I wanted to write about how things went with the pregnancy.
Turns out, the only times that I really had issues with my belly were when I was under stress. You may think that it wouldn't happen on vacation, but since we were traveling in such close corners with my inlaws, stress did happen to find me on many separate occasions. It is not to say that the trip was a total bust, but in reality, how can a trip be stress free with a woman who is 5 months pregnant??
I was very pleased with what I was able to do. Luckily, it was only hot on the last few days of our trip, so I wasn't miserable in that wayat all. Every place we stopped to check stuff out gave us an opportunity for a walk. Though Dennis and I love to hike, it just wasn't in the cards during this trip. I was worried about overdoing it and being so far away from my doctor. However, when I came home to my first doctor's visit, she told me that everything looked great...better than expected by her and me! I was thrilled. So what was it that I did on vacation that I didn't think I could do being so far along? Here are a few examples:
When we were in California, we visited the Avenue of the Giants. Many of these trips were just photo spots, but there was one, "the Founder's tree", that allowed us a bit of walking. This was my first test, and I had no issues. After that, we took a walk along the beach at Shelter Cove, which had a few stairs and some rather rocky sections. No issues again.
Two more times for walking were in Washington. The first was at the Hoh Rainforest, where we took a short hike around the beautiful scenery and saw lots of interesting plants and even some elk. The other time was when Dennis and I visited Forks, the home of the Twilight saga. We took the bus there a 7something in the AM and got to Forks from our KOA in Port Angeles around 9AM. We then walked up and down the main street to visit a closed visitor's center, have breakfast and then head to the shops for Twilight gear before the tour. The tour also allowed us to walk along the beach in La Push, which is a Native American Reservation. Afterwards, we walked to another store before walking back to the bus station. Overall, that was the most walking I had done during my entire pregnancy, and though I was tired, I didn't get cramps or issues. This was two big walking days in a row, and we added a third when we decided to spend the next day in Victoria, BC. I had never been to Canada before, so this was an exciting trip. However, I was exhausted and didn't really feel much for walking. We took a couple of sitdown breaks, but we mostly walked the whole day. It as a beautiful, sunny, but windy day. The town was just great. It would be nice to bring the boys back when they get older. Being pregnant made it a bit hard to have as much fun, since I was tired most of the time, but that didn't stop my eyes from seeing the sites.
Overall, I was very surprised by my body. Maybe it is just that it knows what to do since I have already been pregnant. Whatever the case, I was very glad that I could enjoy my vacation and not have any issues with my baby. He was my major concern the entire time. With the walking and lifting Andrew and the lack of rest, I am very happy to say that none of those things negatively affected my little guy. This is a good sign for the rest of the pregnancy.
Turns out, the only times that I really had issues with my belly were when I was under stress. You may think that it wouldn't happen on vacation, but since we were traveling in such close corners with my inlaws, stress did happen to find me on many separate occasions. It is not to say that the trip was a total bust, but in reality, how can a trip be stress free with a woman who is 5 months pregnant??
I was very pleased with what I was able to do. Luckily, it was only hot on the last few days of our trip, so I wasn't miserable in that wayat all. Every place we stopped to check stuff out gave us an opportunity for a walk. Though Dennis and I love to hike, it just wasn't in the cards during this trip. I was worried about overdoing it and being so far away from my doctor. However, when I came home to my first doctor's visit, she told me that everything looked great...better than expected by her and me! I was thrilled. So what was it that I did on vacation that I didn't think I could do being so far along? Here are a few examples:
When we were in California, we visited the Avenue of the Giants. Many of these trips were just photo spots, but there was one, "the Founder's tree", that allowed us a bit of walking. This was my first test, and I had no issues. After that, we took a walk along the beach at Shelter Cove, which had a few stairs and some rather rocky sections. No issues again.
Two more times for walking were in Washington. The first was at the Hoh Rainforest, where we took a short hike around the beautiful scenery and saw lots of interesting plants and even some elk. The other time was when Dennis and I visited Forks, the home of the Twilight saga. We took the bus there a 7something in the AM and got to Forks from our KOA in Port Angeles around 9AM. We then walked up and down the main street to visit a closed visitor's center, have breakfast and then head to the shops for Twilight gear before the tour. The tour also allowed us to walk along the beach in La Push, which is a Native American Reservation. Afterwards, we walked to another store before walking back to the bus station. Overall, that was the most walking I had done during my entire pregnancy, and though I was tired, I didn't get cramps or issues. This was two big walking days in a row, and we added a third when we decided to spend the next day in Victoria, BC. I had never been to Canada before, so this was an exciting trip. However, I was exhausted and didn't really feel much for walking. We took a couple of sitdown breaks, but we mostly walked the whole day. It as a beautiful, sunny, but windy day. The town was just great. It would be nice to bring the boys back when they get older. Being pregnant made it a bit hard to have as much fun, since I was tired most of the time, but that didn't stop my eyes from seeing the sites.
Overall, I was very surprised by my body. Maybe it is just that it knows what to do since I have already been pregnant. Whatever the case, I was very glad that I could enjoy my vacation and not have any issues with my baby. He was my major concern the entire time. With the walking and lifting Andrew and the lack of rest, I am very happy to say that none of those things negatively affected my little guy. This is a good sign for the rest of the pregnancy.
Friday, June 1, 2012
20 Week Ultrasound at Maternal-Fetal Medicine (May 31, 2012)
UN-Welcome to you, first trimester.
The first trimester wasn't pleasant, but I have to be happy that I didn't have the same experiences as my mom and other friends. I was tired and sick-feeling the entire time, but luckily, I never threw up. I also was having some bad back pains. This was very uncommon compared to being pregnant with Andrew. I think it might have something to do with being my second pregnancy. I had horrible back labor with Andrew, so I guess the pains knew where to go and wanted to start early. I went to Dr. Rose, my and Andrew's chiropractor regularly to get some soft tissue work done. This was mostly a massage, but I liked that she knew what to do and took into account that I was pregnant. The pains in my back started before the nausea, but I have to say that the nausea outlasted the back pains.
I also think that my hormones were a bit too comfortable and knew right when to "attack." I was catty throughout the pregnancy (so far), since I'm still in my second trimester writing this post. I also had some issues with my asthma, which started before I got pregnant, about two weeks before. I wasn't sure what was goin on with that, so I went to Sw. Am. to get my asthma tested. I went to see my regular doctor to get the results of that visit, but my regular doctor wasn't in when I need to be looked at. I saw someone else, who prescribed Advair. The tests showed nothing wrong, so they thought they would just try a new medication that I had to take twice a day. After finding out about this, my regular doctor, Dr. B, wasn't too excited, since she feared it would have negative effects on the baby. I trust her, since at that time in my pregnancy, she seemed to be the only doctor being overly cautious. She put me on a nebulizer treatment, which seemed to work okay as well. My regular inhaler was on standby just in case of an emergency. I also started to get a few minor headaches about this time. This was the beginning of March. Maybe it was the changing of the temperatures or something, but that wasn't normal. That was quickly followed by some type of stomach flu. It seemed to be hitting me all at once. Nausea, back aches, headaches, breathing problems. It wasn't any fun.
Things seemed to get better around week 9, since I had no issues. However, during week 10 when Dennis was out of town on a long business trip, I had some brown spotting. I was a bit worried about this, since I never had any spotting issues with my pregnancy with Andrew. Everything added up to be a scary situation. My OB/GYN put me on pelvic rest for the rest of that week. Luckily, my mom was able to stay at the house a lot, being that it was spring break for me, and I was home more often. She helped a lot with Andrew, and she even helped moved the rooms around a bit upstairs to get Andrew ready for a big-boy room. I started to make the pregnancy more public during the last week of March, which was my 11th week. I told more family and friends, and I wasn't avoiding the question. I told my students during week 12. I was just really tired all the time. That was the main memory. My belly was getting bigger, but there weren't any major changing from what I thought. I could have been bloated for all I knew! :)
I also think that my hormones were a bit too comfortable and knew right when to "attack." I was catty throughout the pregnancy (so far), since I'm still in my second trimester writing this post. I also had some issues with my asthma, which started before I got pregnant, about two weeks before. I wasn't sure what was goin on with that, so I went to Sw. Am. to get my asthma tested. I went to see my regular doctor to get the results of that visit, but my regular doctor wasn't in when I need to be looked at. I saw someone else, who prescribed Advair. The tests showed nothing wrong, so they thought they would just try a new medication that I had to take twice a day. After finding out about this, my regular doctor, Dr. B, wasn't too excited, since she feared it would have negative effects on the baby. I trust her, since at that time in my pregnancy, she seemed to be the only doctor being overly cautious. She put me on a nebulizer treatment, which seemed to work okay as well. My regular inhaler was on standby just in case of an emergency. I also started to get a few minor headaches about this time. This was the beginning of March. Maybe it was the changing of the temperatures or something, but that wasn't normal. That was quickly followed by some type of stomach flu. It seemed to be hitting me all at once. Nausea, back aches, headaches, breathing problems. It wasn't any fun.
Things seemed to get better around week 9, since I had no issues. However, during week 10 when Dennis was out of town on a long business trip, I had some brown spotting. I was a bit worried about this, since I never had any spotting issues with my pregnancy with Andrew. Everything added up to be a scary situation. My OB/GYN put me on pelvic rest for the rest of that week. Luckily, my mom was able to stay at the house a lot, being that it was spring break for me, and I was home more often. She helped a lot with Andrew, and she even helped moved the rooms around a bit upstairs to get Andrew ready for a big-boy room. I started to make the pregnancy more public during the last week of March, which was my 11th week. I told more family and friends, and I wasn't avoiding the question. I told my students during week 12. I was just really tired all the time. That was the main memory. My belly was getting bigger, but there weren't any major changing from what I thought. I could have been bloated for all I knew! :)
It's a boy!
On April 14th, Dennis and my 5th year anniversary of being together, I had horrible pains in my stomach. They seemed to come iu waves of bad and worse. After about 20 minutes of them not going away, I called the doctor, who told me to go to the emergency room. Dennis, Andrew and I loaded up around 12 noon. It was just before lunch time, so we actually didn't get to eat anything. I could tell that the pains were very high, and that they were more than likely in my stomach, but I wanted to be sure that it wasn't some sort of early labor. It really felt that bad.
When we got to the emergency room, Andrew had fallen asleep in the back of Dennis' car. I had called my parents just as we were leaving our house so that they would be able to meet us and take Andrew. I just hung on Dennis in the line to be checked in because I didn't feel that I could really stand on my own. I was hurting so badly.
After I talked with the lady at the desk, they brought a wheelchair out for me. I sat there just doing my lamaze and trying to get through it. I was trying to remember labor with Andrew and the pains I felt. It wasn't quite like this until I was pushing. It was very hard to imagine that these weren't labor pains, and that something "normal" could be causing this.
Just as I was wheeled back to the triage area to get my vitals read, I started to feel better. The pains were there, but they were going away in a fading motion. It was so strange, but after I was placed in a room and told them that the pains were leaving, they wanted to keep me around to do some tests to check me. They took some blood, had me pee in a cup and did an ultrasound. All came back normal. I had some stress that week at work, which is what I partially attributed this pain to, but I still wasn't sure since they couldn't tell me much.
The ultrasound was worth the $217 the trip to the emergency room cost, because on our 5th-year anniversary, we found out that we were going to have another boy! I was alone in the ultrasound room, since I sent Dennis to get some lunch. I thought that we both shouldn't starve, since I didn't know how long we'd be there. I was able to see my son's fingers, toes, spine and little pee-pee. I couldn't help the smile forming on my face, because I just loved him so much. I had a wonderful son at home, whom I adored, and I knew then that I would love this son just as much. The tech asked me what I had at home, and then after I told her I had a boy already, she asked if I wanted to know the sex of this baby. I OF COURSE did, but I could already tell by looking at the ultrasound. It was just nice to hear her confirm. I was also too shy to ask her, so I just answered "yes." I knew Dennis would be upset because he really wanted a little girl, but I was too excited to keep it from him.
When I got back to the room, he was already there sitting in a chair to the side of the room. I was beaming from ear to ear from hearing the news, and I couldn't keep it to myself. I could tell he was a bit sad, but he mentioned just what I was thinking earlier. We both shared a wonderful son, and he was excited to have another little boy to love, who may be a bit more like mommy. :)
We left the emergency room with no real answers. The RN who was mostly in charge of me said that it might have been gas or something that has to do with the digestive system. I took that information and left. The cramps were gone, but I was left with a happy feeling of knowing that I would soon have another little boy.
When we got to the emergency room, Andrew had fallen asleep in the back of Dennis' car. I had called my parents just as we were leaving our house so that they would be able to meet us and take Andrew. I just hung on Dennis in the line to be checked in because I didn't feel that I could really stand on my own. I was hurting so badly.
After I talked with the lady at the desk, they brought a wheelchair out for me. I sat there just doing my lamaze and trying to get through it. I was trying to remember labor with Andrew and the pains I felt. It wasn't quite like this until I was pushing. It was very hard to imagine that these weren't labor pains, and that something "normal" could be causing this.
Just as I was wheeled back to the triage area to get my vitals read, I started to feel better. The pains were there, but they were going away in a fading motion. It was so strange, but after I was placed in a room and told them that the pains were leaving, they wanted to keep me around to do some tests to check me. They took some blood, had me pee in a cup and did an ultrasound. All came back normal. I had some stress that week at work, which is what I partially attributed this pain to, but I still wasn't sure since they couldn't tell me much.
The ultrasound was worth the $217 the trip to the emergency room cost, because on our 5th-year anniversary, we found out that we were going to have another boy! I was alone in the ultrasound room, since I sent Dennis to get some lunch. I thought that we both shouldn't starve, since I didn't know how long we'd be there. I was able to see my son's fingers, toes, spine and little pee-pee. I couldn't help the smile forming on my face, because I just loved him so much. I had a wonderful son at home, whom I adored, and I knew then that I would love this son just as much. The tech asked me what I had at home, and then after I told her I had a boy already, she asked if I wanted to know the sex of this baby. I OF COURSE did, but I could already tell by looking at the ultrasound. It was just nice to hear her confirm. I was also too shy to ask her, so I just answered "yes." I knew Dennis would be upset because he really wanted a little girl, but I was too excited to keep it from him.
When I got back to the room, he was already there sitting in a chair to the side of the room. I was beaming from ear to ear from hearing the news, and I couldn't keep it to myself. I could tell he was a bit sad, but he mentioned just what I was thinking earlier. We both shared a wonderful son, and he was excited to have another little boy to love, who may be a bit more like mommy. :)
We left the emergency room with no real answers. The RN who was mostly in charge of me said that it might have been gas or something that has to do with the digestive system. I took that information and left. The cramps were gone, but I was left with a happy feeling of knowing that I would soon have another little boy.
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