Strict Bedrest SUCKS!!!

Hey everyone,

I've been a little slow on updating this, mainly because I didn't want to worry anyone, but I went into preterm labor on Saturday December 21st. I started not feeling well, that evening, thinking I was just having an off night. I'd been having braxton hicks (BH) contractions for days, not realizing how many I was having until I saw them on the non-stress test (NST) at my doctor's appt the Thursday prior. My dr. wasn't worried, as this is normal to have more BH contractions around 34wks.

Back to Saturday night, the contractions started getting closer together, wrapping around to my back, and hurting. We started timing them, and they were only ~2min apart, lasting for 1min. I called the on-call dr. at the hospital, and he told me to drink lots of water, take a warm bath, and if they continue for another 30min to call back. Unfortunately, they continued, and were starting to get worse. So, I called labor & delivery (L&D), and we headed into the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 11:30pm, and checked into a L&D triage room, and hooked up to their NST machine. After monitoring my contractions and Aeneas's movements & hear rate, the on-call dr. decided to try giving me fluid to try to stop the contractions that way first. So I was hooked up to an IV of saline, but it didn't do anything except make me have to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME! I was starting to get worried at this point that Aeneas was going to come at only 34wks4days. The dr. next decided to give me a shot of terbutaline (it helps smooth muscles, like the uterus stop contracting). It was horrible, the meds made me feel like I was having an anxiety attack, my heart racing, I couldn't get comfortable, and all panicky. Luckily, this helped slow down, and then stop the contractions completely at the time. Aeneas was doing well on the monitors this entire time.

Around 7am we were finally released from L&D, but I was put on strict bed rest (only allowed to get up to go to the bathroom and get food. Minimal walking, going up and down stairs, etc.) until I saw my dr. on Thursday for my normal weekly check up and NST.

Needless to say, on December 26th at my normal check up & NST I was still having contractions about 5-7min apart, but they didn't last very long, or hurt. So my dr. decided that I need to stay on strict bed rest until 37wks (when they won't stop a baby from being born). Now this doesn't sound so horrible, only 12 days, but do you have ANY idea how long a day can last when you can't do anything but lay in bed, and nothing is comfortable anymore.

At this point I'm 8 days away from being able to get up and do anything again. Any time after 37wks (January 7th), Aeneas can come anytime, and shouldn't (hopefully) need any extra care. We still have some stuff left to get for Aeneas, but have installed his carseat, have his nursery mostly put together, and have our downstairs area ready for him as well.

I am still having contractions all day, everyday, and they get worse when I get up and move around even just for the few minutes to get food or go to the bathroom.

So yeah, I've been on bed rest, bored out of my mind since December 22nd, and as much as I complain, I'm glad Aeneas is able to stay inside, and mature longer.

Here are some pictures of me from the last couple of weeks.

32wks

 33 wks

 34wks

 35wks

Thanks for tuning in. Until next time!

The Countdown Has Begun. 8wks 3days Left (At the Most)

So, it's crazy how fast this last bit of pregnancy has been going. I feel like every week goes by faster and faster, and I just can't get enough done to feel like I'm catching up with everything I'd like to have finished before Aeneas is here! I'll be 32wks on Tuesday, December 3rd!

I am now on medical leave from work, which has been nice, yet somehow I still seem to overdo it at home. It's not easy to do very little. I've been working on some crafts for the nursery. I'm painting a 24x32in map of Middle Earth and two smaller paintings of Smaug, and Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves walking in a line. I also painted a small Hobbit sign. I started a test baby quilt (I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing before making one for Aeneas), which is almost halfway done. I have to say, quilting is not my favorite thing in the world. It's turning out nice so far though.

We had a "Friendsgiving" on Monday night with two other couples (both of whom are expecting as well!) It was a lot of fun, but I definitely overdid it cooking everything. 

On Thanksgiving day, we invited one of Tony's co-workers over, and had a nice quiet day of leftovers, which there were plenty. :) It was much more relaxing. We did miss seeing all of Tony's family though, and going to a movie! 

Our last check up went well, Aeneas is measuring right on track, at ~3lbs 11oz (50th percentile). Here are some of the latest pictures of him. He's finally filling out some, and has quite a bit of hair on his head already. :) I'm getting so excited to meet him! 

 Signing off until next time...

Third Trimester

So I have been horrible about posting lately! Sorry everyone! It's been crazy around here.

I had a kidney infection, and hurt my lower back at work (not a good last 2 wks for me). I'm finally starting to feel better though. However, because of this, and my morning sickness coming back with vengeance recently, my doctor and I have decided that this coming week will be my last at work. I'll be going on medical leave until baby is here, than will have the 6wks (vaginal delivery) or 8wks (c-section) of maternity leave.

Through all of this, Tony has been the most amazing husband I could imagine. He's been crazy helpful around the house, and super sweet to me. I couldn't be more happy with him.

I have some pictures of me from the last couple of weeks, but none of the ultrasounds scanned in of Aeneas. He has been growing well these last couple of weeks. He's around 3lbs now! It's crazy how real this is starting to feel! He kicks all the time, and does crazy ninja stuff in there. :) I also found out that I don't have gestational diabetes! Yay for that! However, I am on the bubble, so I'm going to try to be better about the carbs I choose (hard around the holidays though). 

Here are some photos. This is at 26wks:

I was Juno for Halloween, so here I am all dressed up. :)

This is at 27wks:

This is at 29wks:

Once I'm done with this last week of work, I'm going to be focusing on some projects I've been thinking about for the nursery. I'm going to do a couple of paintings, and work on making a diaper bag and some other small items. Other than that, I'm going to be resting, and hopefully this little guy will continue to grow like he has been!

23wks & Counting

So I'm a little late on posting this. We had our 22wk check up last Thursday, and Aeneas looked AMAZING! He was kicking away, and of course, didn't want to sit still for measurements. He also decided that he didn't want to look at us this time, as he faced my back the entire time.

I've really started to feel him moving around as well. Since I have an anterior placenta, it's taken a lot longer for me to feel him and his crazy antics, but just in the last couple of days, he's been kicking all over the place! :) I love being able to feel him moving around.

The last couple of weeks have had their ups and downs. On the 20th, I had to go back to the hospital to get fluids after throwing up for over a day, and having my throat become so raw it started bleeding. NOT FUN.

However, since that incident, I've only thrown up one other day! I'm hoping this means my HG is starting to wane. I'm still taking zofran in the mornings when my nausea is at its worst, but during the rest of the day I'm starting to feel more like myself.

22 wks

This last week, since I started feeling better, I went to the gym 4 times (which I'm hoping to do every week now). Tony and I walk 2 miles each time, which is about when my hips, abs & swollen feet start protesting, especially after a work day when I've been on my feet a ton.

We also started to work on the nursery, and bought a rocking recliner, which I just want to sit in all the time it's so comfortable, as well as moved our dresser up to use for baby clothes, and diaper changing area. Things are starting to come together! I still feel a little panicky about everything, as I only have 17wks left (if I'm let go to full term).

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more about our little boy and us getting prepared for him.

Half Baked

So today we had our 20wk ultrasound! I can't believe we're halfway done already! If you don't know what happens at this ultrasound, they look at all of the internal organs (kidneys, bladder, stomach, heart, brain) to make sure they are all developing properly, and there aren't any defects that can be seen. They also look at the umbilical cord and placenta, spine, make sure there are ten fingers and toes, make sure there is a nasal bone, eyes spaced correctly, and a fully formed lip. They also take measurements of the femur, humerous, and circumference of the head and stomach for dating purposes (It's probably the longest appointment in most pregnancies today).

And our little boy did AMAZING!! All his internal organs looked amazing, he was flipping and kicking and moving around the whole time, and it's looking like he's going to be a long little boy (his arms and legs were measuring ahead of the average)!

I was weighed this time at the appointment, and it looks like I'm down another couple of pounds, so now I'm close to 9lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. I decided to try on some pre-pregnancy jeans that I hadn't been able to wear in awhile, and lo and behold, they fit (wouldn't zip or button because of baby, but they definitely were comfortable everywhere else)! I will say the positive to all this morning sickness is that I've only had to buy 1 pair of maternity shorts (for work). My normal wardrobe is still functioning wonderfully otherwise. :)

On another note, we have decided to make the nursery Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit themed. We're thinking about painting mountains and trees on the walls (or decals) along with some quotes:

"Even the smallest person can change the course of the world"
"Courage is found in unlikely places"

I'll post pictures once we have some of it done. We just decided on it, and have now emptied out the upstairs bedroom for the nursery, so we'll be working on it in the near future.

Until next time!

Journey to a Baby on the Way

This has been a long hard journey to get to this place, of being 19wk 5days pregnant.

Over the last 8 years we've been through three miscarriages, in which the last one I was finally diagnosed with PCOS and insulin resistance. We tried temping, clomid, injectables (NOT fun), and an IUI to no avail. I've worked on eating a low carb diet and being on Metformin for my insulin resistance, and have lost about 85lbs from when I was my heaviest.

I moved to NC to work on a PhD, and was there for two years (I hated every second away from Tony, and was not a fan of the program or most of the people). During this time I decided I would try to get as healthy as I could so when we were back together we could start trying again if we felt ready.

Apparently it worked, because I got knocked up the day I moved back from NC! It's kind of funny because we had talked about how we weren't going to try right away, we were just going to have fun being us for a little while before I/we felt ready to try again.

Me being me, I ignored the signs of being pregnant until I started feeling nausea and motion sickness...not normal things for me. I talked to a friend about it, and she had wise advice, "You won't know for sure until you take the test," so on my way home that night (June 6th), I stopped by the grocery store, picked up a box of pregnancy tests, and made my way home. I couldn't sleep all night, so when I had to go to the bathroom, around 2am, I took a test. It was positive! I was shocked. I mean, I had an inkling, but seeing those two pink stripes next to each other is still a shock, I think, no matter how certain you are. Now I really couldn't sleep, I was freaking out, and what does a librarian do when she's freaked out? Research. I researched the areas best high risk OB/GYNs, and found one that I felt comfortable with.

We had our first appointment June 10th, and got to see our little baby bean at 6wks. Because I was considered high-risk, we continued with weekly appointments. It was a good thing too, because our baby wasn't growing at the rate it should. Around 10wks we found out after a lot of blood testing that I have extremely high inflammation, and a blood clotting disorder (MTHFR gene mutation caused). My doctor put me on twice daily injections of Heparin, and a whole bunch of other vitamins and such.

We were praying for the baby to start growing rapidly to get back on track, if not, then there were probably chromosomal problems with the baby, which would end in miscarriage.

We were in luck! The heparin once in my system seemed to be doing the trick! Baby was catching up quickly to where it should have been growth wise! :D

During this whole time I was battling hypermesis gavardium (extreme morning sickness) as well. I was on all the medication for it my doctor wanted to proscribe (8mg zofran every 6hrs, B12 and unisom, and pretty much eating only toast and rice). I ended up having to go to the hospital twice to get fluids because I wasn't able to keep anything down.

At this point, I've lost about 4-5lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight, and baby is doing extremely well! I still have morning sickness (unfortunately), and will have to take heparin throughout my entire pregnancy, but at this point, baby is back on track, and we are extremely excited for the new addition to our family!

We have our 20wk a/s on Thursday (Sept 12th) and are just hoping our baby BOY continues to do amazing!

Here's some photos: Me at 6wks

 Me at 18wks

 Our Facebook announcement

Stay tuned for more info on baby Daltoso. :D