35 Weeks On Saturday

So I had a post all ready to go a few weeks ago, but with work and then getting ready for baby I forgot about it. Shame on me. So here's an update:

I am 36 weeks and 4 days as of today. Cannot believe this guy could come at any time now, although more likely to come closer to 40 weeks, maybe even after. My doctor says he is close if not over 7 pounds... yikes! I think if I make it a few more weeks he will be an 8 lb baby- not uncommon on my side of the family.

I've gained 35 lbs so far - and 8 of that was in the last 2 weeks! I now weigh 199 -haha! But I'm 6" tall so I'm not that huge. It also seems I might have a bit more amniotic fluid than most women, so my doctor is monitoring the baby twice a week to make sure he isn't stressed. So far his heart rate has been normal. Better to be safe than sorry in this case, even if I have to go in twice a week. Argh. How fun.

We have mostly everything for William except for a few odds and ends - going to pick up the diaper table today and then we are having the rest delivered. Then we are set! Will post a pic of the crib decorated once it is finished. It's a mini-crib since we will likely be sharing our large bedroom with the baby for the first year. But there's still lots of room as our apt is pretty spacious.

I'm finally on maternity leave; left work last week for 4 months.Yahoo!  I have pretty bad swelling in my feet and calves, and sitting in a chair all day was getting pretty unbearable so I left a few weeks early. My doctor has been monitoringnme closely to make sure it doesnt turn into preeclampsia. so far no high blood pressure or other signs. I'm wearing old lady compression socks today (ick). Going to try to walk every morning and then swim a bit to control it. It can be pretty uncomfortable otherwise. But all in all, my pregnancy has been good and I've really enjoyed feeling the baby kick and have had loads of energy in the last two trimesters, so I can't complain.

Looking forward to meeting William soon!

Hawaii and 30 Weeks!

Its been a while since I've posted on here, so I thought I'd write a quick bit to catch up on happenings.

We just got back from our honeymoon/babymoon in Kauai.  It was beautiful there. We snorkeled with tropical fish, laid by the pool, and ate (A LOT), took drives in a convertible we rented. All around relaxing vacation. Glad to be able to do this before the baby comes. 

Here are some pics:

And here is a pic of me the day we flew to Hawaii  - 30 weeks (10 more to go!)

And last but not least, a 4D of little William! He's handsome isn't he?

So excited!  Now that the wedding reception and honeymoon are behind us, time to start planning for Will's arrival!

Vanessa

23 Weeks and Counting

This is me a few weeks ago at a little over 21 weeks. 

As of Saturday April 27th, I am 23 weeks along. I can't believe I am already more than halfway there! I have a doctors appointment this afternoon, and I am curious about how much weight I have gained. I suspect only 5 or 6 pounds total, because I can still wear most of my clothes with a belly band. I will say that I bought some maternity jeans (above) and they are already getting snug though. Right now the baby is about 7-8 inches long and weighs about a pound. But from this point on the baby will be growing exponentially. I think because of my "paleo" type diet, I won't gain much myself.

I think my doctor is going to discuss the gestational diabetes test with me. Because I've had digestive imbalances (bacterial overgrowths) that are currently under control, I'm going to ask him to do an alternative, such as buying a monitor and testing my blood off an on and recording it in a diary. Reason being, if I drink all of that super-sugary glucose drink, those bacteria will multiply and will promote infection, and that will not be good for me or baby. I have an extreme intolerance to processed sugars. So we will see what his thoughts are on that today. I read about 10% of women develop gestational diabetes, many with little to no symptoms until it starts to affect them late in pregnancy, so monitoring my sugar (if I don't do the glucose test) would be a smart thing to do. But with my lack of eating simple carbs and low-sugar intake, I can't imagine this will affect me.

I also want to get a CD of the ultrasound today. Last time I only got print outs and when I tried to scan them, they were fuzzy; otherwise I would have posted them on the blog site. We got some great shots of the baby last time - one where the baby was looking directly at us, where you could see all the facial definition, it was really cool. So I hope to get some good shots today for everyone to see.

Until then!

Momma V

It's a Boy!

So baby is getting bigger and I can definitely feel it wiggling around.  Sometimes I get a kick or punch and I love being able to feel him more and more as the weeks go by. The baby is about the size of a grapefruit or mango now... he is growing so fast!

So this Monday I went in to get a precautionary ultrasound for some symptoms I had over the weekend that turned out to be nothing.  Better safe than sorry, so I went in to make sure all was well, and it is. Jeremy and I were going to go in together (and still are) on Monday April 8th to have the mid-pregnancy screening and ultrasound done, and that was the time we thought we would find out if we were having a girl or a boy. When I went in on Monday, I told my doctor that I wanted to try not to find out until then, but as soon as he put the roller on my belly, the baby was positioned just so, and it was very obvious we were having a little boy. So I feel bad that Jeremy was not there that at that time, but I think this coming Monday will still be very special because he has gotten so big!  You can see so many details now compared to a month ago. It really is amazing how fast they grow in this period of 40 weeks.

We have a few names picked out, and have plenty of time to decide, but right now we really like William. We'll see if that sticks. Someone said that we may want to wait and see the little guy first and see if that is fitting, so that is a possibility.

Here is a pic my mom took this morning. My shirt is a bit flowy and baggy, I really do look much bigger than this, especially in form-fitting clothes.

Ultrasound pics to come soon!

Love you all,

Vanessa

Baby is Growing Fast

Hi All,

Thought I'd post a picture of my growing baby belly that Jeremy took a few nights ago. It's amazing that I have grown so much in the last 2 1/2 -3 weeks.  I read that from 16-20 months that the baby doubles in size; the baby grows an inch a week at this time and I should gain 1-2 pounds per week during this period. As a result I've been getting lots of new muscle spasms and slight growing pains which is to be expected.

So I finally got some maternity clothes which I need now.  I love my Gap maternity jeans (ladies I highly recommend these as they are very stylish and don't look maternity) and am feeling comfy today!

Can't wait for the 20 week ultrasound which is on April 8. If we cannot find out what the sex of the baby is then we will go to get a 3D/4D ultrasound somewhere.

Jeremy has been really cute and has been playing the baby music on his iPhone at night. Last night it seemed like the baby was responding because I was feeling all sorts of flutters and "fish in a fish bowl" types of feelings. He/she was very active.

I LOVE the 2nd Trimester

Hey ho,

I am now officially 16 weeks as of last Saturday. I cannot tell you how good I feel. It is night and day compared to the first trimester. I have energy up the wazoo (yes, I said wazoo) and am ready to start organizing my house for baby.  I am also raring to go baby shopping.  Of course a lot of that cannot be done until we find out the sex of the baby, so I am in limbo for about another 3 weeks. Sigh.

My nausea is about 90% gone and I can cook most foods again - yay!  Last night I made an andouille sausage and shrimp gumbo.  It was spicy but hey, baby liked it. Spicy doesn't seem to affect me as much as eating too much at once does. Since your food digests slower, I have to keep that in mind and eat smaller, more frequent meals.  Speaking of food, it is time for second lunch!

I also found out that I will get the rhogam shot at 28 weeks, unless Jeremy is negative too.  There is a rh protein that is missing on my red blood cells (that is what rh negative means) and so now Jeremy has to go get a blood test to see if he is negative or positive. Just a little fact: 85% of the human race is rh positive, and 15% (me included) is rh negative.  Go figure. So I can hope Jeremy is negative as well. The shot is an "insurance" of sorts; in case of the small chance (I fall or get into a car accident.... I'm knocking on wood right now) my blood mixes with the baby's blood, then this keeps me from attacking the baby (that sounds horrible doesn't it?)  Not ME personally. My blood, of course.

I'll post a pic of my growing belly soon. It's definitely obvious I am prego now. Either that or I love me some Budweiser.

Well that's it for now.  Time to go eat - again :-)

Vanessa

16 Week Ultrasound

Buon Giorno Friends and Familia,

Hey I have a love of the Italian language, even though I have a vocab of about 40 words.  If I sound prententious, too bad - sue me! I have this fantasy I was of Italian heritage in another life. If you've been to Italy you may have the same daydreams.

So......many of you know that yesterday I had a doctor's appointment to run some 2nd trimester risk assessment tests, and most importantly have a 16 week ultrasound (I will be 4 months on Saturday). I was really hopeful we might be able to find out the sex of the baby, but alas, it was not to be. My doctor's high-tech ultrasound machine broke down, and so the one he was using was a loaner and did not show a great amount of detail.  Boo  :-( In the meantime, we were still able to see the baby and hear the heartbeat, which was fun and also reassuring that the pregnancy is still going smoothly. There will be another ultrasound at 20 months, and the machine they use at that time shows quite a bit more detail (a specialist comes in to run more tests, measure the baby, check out all of its organs, fingers, toes etc.) so we should have a good chance to find out then. I was really looking forward to be able to start buying baby clothes, but I guess I will have to wait a bit longer. :-( Being patient is hard!  I do have to say that when the baby moved its legs, I swear I saw a penis!  But who knows - maybe one of the toes was in the way, it was quite blurry ;-) But now it has gotten me thinking about boy's names. Ha ha!

The good news is the baby is healthy.. he/she was moving around quite a bit. So that is what is important. And in a few weeks I should really know if those "flutters" I feel now are really the baby, or just gas.  Most of the time it is gas. Hee hee.

I had some blood drawn for the purpose of running risk factor tests. They take the blood tests from the 1st trimester, my 12 week ultrasound where they measured the baby and make sure there are no abnormalities like down syndrome, and the blood tests from yesterdays visit, and will be able to give me an overall risk factor for abnormalities. So far 2 out of 3 tests look good. This will determine whether I should consider an amniocentesis (needle where they draw amniotic fluid); right now my doctor doesn't think it is necessary.

Oh and this is interesting (and important) .... since my blood type is A Neg, I might need a Rhogam shot. Because of the blood type, if my blood mixes with the baby's blood during pregnancy, it might distinguish baby's blood as foreign matter, and could start attacking the baby. So this shot would create antibodies to keep that from happening. I will find out in a couple days if that is necessary or not. So thanks mom and dad for the A Neg blood - it's all your fault!  LOL

As far as my growing belly.... the baby is supposed to double in size in the next month (from week 16 to 20), so I assume I'm going to need to buy some new clothes! Right now I am still able to fit into most of my skinny jeans, but have to unbutton them and wear long shirts. That will not be possible in the next few weeks.

Oh and a question: even though I technically won't be a mom yet, but I will be 6 months pregnant in May, does that mean I get to celebrate Mother's Day?  I think the hard work of growing a baby should qualify me to get cards ... hint hint

Here is a video of what is going on with the baby weeks 16-20.  The human body is amazing.
http://www.babycenter.com/2_inside-pregnancy-weeks-15-to-20_10308111.bc

Ciao,

Mommy V