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Grandpa's 80th Birthday

Friday, July 31, 2009
We celebrated my Grandpa's 80th birthday at the Saint's game a couple of weeks ago, here is a picture of him looking excited to eat his cake!

Hanging out with Cole and Alex

Here are some pictures from when we spent two days with John's nephews Cole and Alex, we had a blast!
This is Alex patiently waiting for Cole to be done in the porta potty on the walk to the park (quite handy placement of the potty I might add).

Here is Cole at the very top of the rope mountain, he loves to climb!

Here is Alex showing us how to use the parallel bar thing. I beleive he ended up burning himself slightly as the metal was directly in the sun. Ouch!


John and I had always wondered what this round tire looking thing was for, the boys quickly showed us how it worked!

And the beagles, they had to be tied up in the shade and were not to happy about that!

Bed Rest

That's right, I'm on it. Thank goodness it is only modified bed rest, which means I literally do not have to lay horizontally all the time!

I am still allowed to work from home, and even drive in to work for about an hour a couple time a week. I can also move around but cannot excercise, walk, walk the dogs, go shopping, lift heavy things, etc. This just started yesterday but has allready been a huge challenge for me. First reason is that I do not do well with people telling me things that I cannot do. Of course when this happens the only thing I do want to do is that which was previously denied! Second reason is that even when I do take a day off, I never just sit at home. That is why I am so glad I was able to get the green light from my boss to work from home. There is nothing I love more than a good mental stimulation!

Anyways, the dogs are sure to love it as their kennel time just went from around 10 hours during the day to zero! They probably won't know what to do with themselves!

At the doctor's appointment where I learned that I was being put on bedrest, my blood pressure was still good (122/70) but my protein levels were at 2+ which is the highest they have tested at. This means that more protein is beginning to leak out of my kidneys and can also mean that my mild preeclampsia may be upgrading to full preeclampsia (hope not). Because of the preeclampsia diagnosis my doctor does not think that I will carry the baby full term. Depending on my body and the baby she predicted that we would try to deliver either next Thursday or the one after that. This means that I would have to be induced into labor, which is not what I want, but will be the best thing for both the baby and myself.

We were going to head to John's friend Mike's cabin with a huge group of people that was sure to be a blast, but John put the kibosh on that as soon as I got pregnant. I wasn't on board and still wanted to go, but after the appointment yesterday I am starting to come around on his reasoning. : ) I just know that they are all going to have a blast! Oh well, that just means that next year will be that much more fun for us!

I guess it is a good thing that we have everything ready for the baby, since she seems to be coming sooner than planned!

Week 35 Belly Shot

Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Do I look huge, because that is how I feel!


Week 35

Tuesday, July 28, 2009
By this time our little baby should be weighing in around 5 to 5 1/2 pounds. I will have to check with the doctor on Thursday to see if they can give me an estimate. She's still head down which is good since it will increase the ease of labor, if there are any eases to that! Over these next couple of weeks she shouldn't get much longer, at this point she could be up to 20 inches long. Up until delivery the baby will continue gaining weight at around a 1/2 pound per week.

I am feeling the increased pressure of the baby on my injured groin muscle. I have given up the hope that it will heal and will probably have to wait for that until after she is out. That's fine with me though, because I am pretty sure all of this dumpy stuff we've been dealing with will be worth it when we are finally able to meet our little girl!

I'll try to take a picture tonight and post it, I feel like I am huge!

Getting Everything Ready

Monday, July 27, 2009
This weekend John and I worked our butts off getting everything ready for the baby. In our minds if we do this and have the house clean with everything ready for an impromptu early birth, then chances are the baby will go full-term. Usually this is how things work out for me, when I am ready for the worst it never happens, but when I am not it sometimes does.

Not that having the baby now would be the worst. We understand that the longer the baby goes to term, the better, but we are both really excited to meet her.

Seeing her play with her toes through the ultrasound on Thursday really got John read for her to come and definitely lifted his excitement levels.

The only things that may not be ready are the dogs and cats, as I am sure they will all go through some sort of withdrawal from lack of attention once she comes. Oh well, they'll just have to get over it! : )

Preeclampsia

Saturday, July 25, 2009
Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from the on-call nurse at the clinic. The level of protein in my urin test came back elevated, which means that I have been diagnosed with preeclampsia.

At this point it just means more monitoring. I will try to rest more and keep my blood pressure down, though I suppose it went up again once I started stressing after hearing the diagnosis.

I also have to watch for the following symptoms, which will mean that I have gotten toxemia:
  • headaches that do no go away with Tylenol or rest
  • swelling of legs, arms, hands and/or face
  • acid reflux together with soreness under ribcage
  • sick feeling
  • blurry or spotty vision
  • decreased movement of the baby

If I do get any of these symptoms I have to call the nurse line immediately. The nurse informed me that since I am already at 35 weeks if my blood pressure increases and I start to get these symptoms that the doctor will probably deliver the baby early.

All that being said, if I don't get any of the symptoms and my blood pressure stays where it is right now, 120/50, I could very well carry the baby full-term.

We would love to wait for week 37 so that she is full-term and not premature, but are both ready to meet her soon. I just hope that this excitement all dies down and I am able to go into labor naturally as well as deliver naturally instead of being induced or having a c-section. It is amazing to me how little power a person has over their own body, be it that they are pregnant or not, and you don't realize that until going through a pregnancy or some kind of illness.

Wish us luck!

Blood Pressure

Friday, July 24, 2009
As of my appointment yesterday, my blood pressure was back down to 120. This of course does not take me and the baby out of the clear. I will still have to have the NST and ultrasounds with my appointments each week. If my blood pressure stays at 120 or goes lower I only have to get checked once a week. If it starts going back up I will have to get checked 2-3 times per week as well as run the chance of being put on bed rest.

The baby got a little upset during the NST and tried to push/kick off the heart rate monitor, the nurse definitely thought it was funny, when she was trying to hold it in place physically on my belly the baby kept kicking at it to get her to stop.

During the ultrasound we were able to see the baby's practice breathing and heart beating. She finally did some good movements near the end and even started playing with her toes. One of the benefits of having this issue is that I am going to be able to see her every week until she comes.

Now I just have to wait for the results on the urine test to find out if I have preeclamsia or not.

More Appointments

Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I should have mentioned below that the increased monitoring done by my doctor will be done through weekly appointments (normally these wouldn't have started until week 37). At these appointments we'll be monitoring the baby via ultrasound as well as doing a non-stress test which monitors the baby's heartrate for a half hour.

My first of these appointments is on Thursday. John and my mom are coming with for information and probably for moral support.

I'm pretty sure that my mom is really excited to see the baby!

Super Attractive Picture

Here is a picture that my sister took of John and I at my Grandpa's 80th birthday celebration. The best part is that it isn't at the end, this is how we were at the beginning. The sun soon came out which gave us both a lot more energy!

Doctor's Appointment

I had my first awful doctor's appointment this morning. Hopefully it will be the last, but I have a feeling I have a few more trying appointments in the near future to get through.

My blood pressure, which was amazing throughout my pregnancy, has now skyrocketed from 100 to 140 in a month. This is causing my doctor to be worried about preeclampsia which has made her schedule a whole slew of tests and appointments to get through the next six weeks.

Preeclampsia is caused by high-blood pressure in pregnant women. It can cause the baby to have a low birth weight as well as other non-identified issues. The most damage that it causes is with the mother. Some of the things that I may have to worry about are seizures during labor, organ issues, premature delivery, as well as some others. It can be treated, but the only cure is delivery of the baby. This usually causes women with preeclampsia to be induced before their due date.

There are a number of symptoms leading to preeclampsia that I do not have including extreme swelling, headaches, rib/diaphragm pain. The one that I do have is the spike in blood pressure. Another symptom is protein in the urine, which I will be testing for tomorrow.

This development is causing me to have to do a 24-hour urine collection so that the doctor's can use that "huge" sample to test for protein. I also have to go into the doctor every week to have an ultrasound and a Non-stress test (the babies heart rate is monitored for a half hour). These tests will make sure that the condition if there is one is not negatively affecting the baby and that everything is still developing as it should.

All of this information is a little hard to swallow, especially for a person who has not had any other real issues throughout this entire pregnancy. I'm doing my best to get through this without thinking of all the possible bad outcomes (totally where my mind always goes). At least with the careful monitoring, if anything does go wrong, the doctor will know sooner and will have the best chance of remedying the situation.

Baby Shower #1

Monday, July 20, 2009
I had my first baby shower yesterday that was put on by my sister Kristen and my mom.

It was a blast! We played a game where they melted candy bars inside of baby diapers (so it looked like poop) and people had to guess which type of candy bar it was. There was also a baby food themed game and a memory game.

Everyone that came seemed to have a great time, which made it even more fun. I am often amazed at the generosity of our family and friends and was overwhelmed many times throughout the shower yesterday.

Thanks to everyone who came to share and celebrate our new baby with me yesterday!

Thanks Kristen and Mom for putting on one awesome shower!

Baby School Dropouts

My husband and I are baby school dropouts.

We had baby class scheduled for last Friday from 6:30 - 9:30pm and on Saturday from 9:30 - 4:00pm at United (where I'll be having the baby). We went to the first night where they told us all about the labor and what to expect and all that stuff. After painfully sitting through that info (not because it was too scary, but because it was so boring since we had already read all about it and heard about it from friends who have recently had babies) we decided not to come back for the Saturday all-day class.

I think that we are both extremely happy with our decision as we got tons done on Saturday, including a lunch trip to Key's Cafe where I had some of the best meatloaf ever!

The only thing that we missed on Saturday that we would still like to do is the birth center tour. Fortunately they give those quite a bit and for free, so we are planning on going to do that soon.

Belly Pain

Friday, July 17, 2009
Last night I woke up at 3:30am with extreme pain shooting into my right side lower belly area. The pain hurt so bad I wasn't sure I would be able to get up. I even had a thought run through my head that we would have to be heading over to the hospital...

The pain didn't feel like labor, not that I know what that feels like. When I was able to sit up straight the pain started to go away. After going to the bathroom and walking a little it was gone.

Now I am just sore as the baby continues to move lower in my belly, I keep telling her that she's running out of room and is in for the shock of her life if she keeps on going...but of course she isn't listening!

Oh and by the way, now due to the discomfort, painful muscles, and positioning/moving of the baby I now waddle. And, I don't even care! : )

Falling Asleep

Last night John and I decided to head over to the 7:30 showing of the new Harry Potter movie. The movie was great, but after a long day of "relaxing" I fell asleep in the middle of it!

Thankfully my husband soon realized I was sleeping, as I began to snore (how embarrassing, but really I was so tired I don't think I even cared). Due to that I didn't miss very much of the movie.

I would highly recommend it to any Harry Potter enthusiast, even if you just kinda like the movies. Don't take my cue and snooze through it though, there are a lot of things that happen!

It's official, I've now lost my mind!

Yesterday I jumped in the car and drove over to the park and ride to go to work. On arrival I realized I did not bring my purse which meant no bus pass, no money, no nothing. I did have my phone. I wasn't even able to just drive in to work from there because I would have no way of paying for the ramp fee, plus I desperately needed gas!
My options were to:

#1: Drive back home (20 min.) grab my purse, get gas, drive to Minneapolis, and pay for a full day of parking with no early bird rate (between 12-20 dollars).
#2: Work from home.

I contacted my boss to see if it would be okay to work from home and instead she just told me to take the day off. Pretty awesome huh? I'm sure it didn't hurt that I also told her I thought I pulled my groin muscle the night before walking (now I am pretty sure it is just pain from the baby's head and body pushing lower, and lower, and lower, and lower...).

So what to do on a day off, relax, of course! While relaxing yesterday I laid sod in the yard, went to lunch with my mom, cleaned, and went to Target. So much for relaxing, but it was still nice to have the day off!

Made to Make Babies

Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Lately I have been starting to get the impression that I hail from a long line of women who were made to make babies. I really don't know of a more archaic thing to say, but after I learned something this weekend I fear it may be true.

I was talking with my great-aunt Phyllis and she told me how my Grandma Wurdeman always had easy pregnancies. She supposedly never felt better than when she was pregnant with my dad, uncle, and aunt. This is the same thing that my mom says about her pregnancies with my sister and myself.

Now with that information doesn't it make sense that I have had such an easy pregnancy so far?

I suppose now that I have said this, my labor is going to get tricky...hope not!

I swear that I would never...

Monday, July 13, 2009
There is a list at www.thebump.com of things mothers swore they would never do before they had children. I have a feeling after reading these that I will have to take back a couple of the ones that I have uttered over the years!

"I swore I wouldn't..."
  • "...smell the baby's/child's butt in the middle of public and exclaim, 'Did you poop? I think you pooped!'"
  • "...bribe my kid with food, but sometimes Puffs go a long way to making a happy home."
  • "...become a short-order cook. Our son was going to eat what we ate, or he wouldn't eat at all."
  • "...give our kid a pacifier...he ended up getting one while he was still in the hospital."
  • "...let him have animal crackers for supper!"
  • "...dress my kids in matching outfits."
  • "...let them sleep in our bed."

Week 33

Friday, July 10, 2009

It is week 33 and we have potentially 5-9 weeks left of waiting before the baby comes. I can't believe how soon she will be here, but do need more time to get everything ready.
I just started another class this week as well which is not over until August 7. I had a little talk with my belly and told the baby that they can come any time after August 8th. I guess we will have to see how well behaved this baby is going to be. : )

Week 33 is the beginning of the 8th month which spans from week 33 to week 36. At the end of this month the baby will be considered "full term" in the medical world and the doctor usually gives a green light for labor any time after that point. But again, I am going to cross my fingers that she waits until after August 8th! This month she is about the size of a cantaloupe, which just happens to be one of my most craved fruits to eat during this pregnancy, right up there with Strawberries.
This week it is normal for a lot of women to get "third-trimester insomnia". This is caused by bathroom trips, leg cramps, heartburn, and a big belly. I have had a couple issues with the heartburn but other than that I am sleeping quite well, thank goodness! The baby is gaining about a half a pound a week of weight and could possibly grow another full inch this week.
Because she is getting bigger, the baby has maxed out the available room and amniotic fluid level which means I can feel her movements even stronger. At times, depending on where she decides to poke (my bladder for example) it can get pretty uncomfortable. When this happens I shift around or jump a little or do a skip thing, it usually takes care of it. Either it gives her a hint that she is quickly catching on to or else it just moves her around so she is aiming at a more acceptable punching bag location.

Daycare

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
John and I are on the hunt for the world's best daycare provider. There are a few guidelines that we have decided were necessary to put into place prior to our search to help and make it successful:
  • The daycare must be located inside the Hugo city limits. If we continue to live in Hugo we want our kids to go to daycare with other kids that they will eventually be going to school with.
  • The daycare provider must accept breast milk. Some places do not allow you to bring pre-pumped milk and it is important to us that this is an option.
  • The daycare provider must be licensed. You would be surprised how many "strangers" are out there providing daycare services without licenses.
  • The daycare must accept both part-time and full-time kids. To start out we have decided to ask John's mom, Darlene, to watch the baby two out of three days of the week. This significantly cuts down on expenses and is a great help to us.
  • The daycare center/home must look like it is lived/played in. It would be great to walk into a pristine and spotless home but I would wonder if kids were ever allowed to play there. Plus if this baby takes after either of its parents it will for sure break and/or mark up a lot of stuff in its lifetime, and then we would feel guilty.
  • The daycare center/home must have a fenced in back yard.
  • The daycare provider must be "normal". By this I mean that we both have to feel comfortable with that person. Chances are we are going to be building quite the relationship with this person and I know that we will both feel better about leaving our child in their care if their personality and values match with ours.

That being stated, we have been to two places. One was a center (mucho dinero) and another was a home daycare. The home daycare is at the top of our list at this point due to many great factors including the one that all of the children she currently watches have been with her since they were babies, oh and she is a major twins fan (that definitely doesn't hurt in John's book). We have another appointment on Thursday at another home daycare and then we have some time to make our final decision, there are some other providers as well that we may look into.

Wish us luck!

Doctor's Appointment

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
I had my second bi-monthly appointment this morning. It wasn't until 9am this time which gave me a little more time to hang out at home before heading out, which was really nice!

Because my doctor is on vacation I had to make this appointment with a different doctor at the practice. This was fine with me as I know that when I do deliver this baby, my doctor may not be on call or available. If that happens one of the other three doctors in the practice will be delivering the baby. It is nice to get to know another one of them, and now I will have a 50/50 chance of knowing my delivery room doctor.

The doctor I had today was great. She was just as nice and friendly as my regular doctor, but a little more outspoken. I feel kind of guilty about this, but I may just like her a tad bit more than my regular doctor.

My blood pressure is still going down, and since it wasn't bad to begin with that just means the doctor/nurse looks at it and says "Wow, that is really good!". The baby and uterus are measuring right on track at 32 weeks and the baby's heartrate was between 140-150 which is also good. I also asked the doctor today to show me how to find the baby's head in comparison to her butt. Her head is down, lower every day I swear, so hopefully she doesn't decide to flip back around before she comes out.

I also related a story to the doc about John's co-worker's wife who had a 12 pound baby. Her exact words were, "Well there's no way you are going to be having a twelve pound baby, you would be much bigger by this point." Those may have been some of the sweetest and most encouraging words ever spoken to me, and definitely gave me some courage to take on the next two months!

Week 32

Monday, July 6, 2009
This week the baby is starting to get ready to come out of the womb, crazy to think that huh?

She should be about four pounds and could be up to 19 inches long (but probably not since my belly isn't very big). She is working on practicing swallowing, breathing, kicking and sucking. I guess she has also been able to suck her thumb for a while now, who knows if she actually is.

At this point she is also continuing to accumulate fat on her little body, so her skin is becoming even less transparent and more opaque like ours is (probably not tan though!).

Instead of kicking I am feeling a lot more movement and some jabbing, she's running out of room to move around freely so this is pretty normal. She will hopefully be moving into a head down position with her little butt in my ribs soon as well. She might already be like that, I have no idea how people can tell the difference between the head and the butt. Whenever one of them sticks out I give it a little pat, just in case it is the butt, but not too hard in case it is the head! : )

Do I Work Tomorrow?

Thursday, July 2, 2009
So I just found out by chance that my office is closed tomorrow for the 4th of July holiday! Yes, I should have known this before, but just finding out now probably makes this the best Thursday in work history (besides the fact that I have to get a lot of stuff done for month-end).

Right away I thought of something to do that I have been wanting to do for a very long time but just never got around to it...

I am taking the beagles to the groomer. It should be an interesting trip, they don't usually have any issues with us clipping their nails, and love to be brushed, but the blow-drying will be a new concept to them. Also, they take care of a glad located at the dog's behind that has been causing my dogs to rub their butts on the ground (definitely something John or I would never want to do, ever).

Wish us luck that I don't end up chasing a soggy beagle or two around Petsmart tomorrow!

Keeping Me Up At Night

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Has anyone ever had heartburn so bad that it wakes them up at night?

This is what I have been experiencing over the week. My heartburn has gotten unbearable! If anyone has any tips, besides the tip of cutting out all spicy food (I am in denial on this one and for sure could never give it up).

What I am going to say now may make me sound super lazy but...when I did wake up with the heartburn so bad that I couldn't fall back asleep, I was too lazy to get up and go downstairs to get Tums. Plus, I have a fear that once I get up I probably won't go back to sleep anyways, this happens to me a lot!

What types of food seem to give me heartburn, well lets put a quick list together:
-fruit (strawberries, melon, peaches, etc.)
-hamburgers (yum)
-tomatoes (should this be in the fruit category)
-lemonade/juice
-pop
-basically every lunch and especially every dinner I eat
-when I don't eat because I am busy and start to get hungry, the hunger feeling now comes with a side of heartburn

Some people say that their heartburn gets worse when they lay down. Not me, I am lucky enough to have the type of heartburn that is not affected by gravity and equally affects me whether I am standing, laying, sitting, or propped up part way.

Now though, the Tums are on my bedside table which is much better. Go figure, last night I didn't wake up at all from heartburn. Maybe because even without taking them I was being watched over by the Tums fairy, or maybe I was just so tired there was no way anything was going to wake me!

At least my calcium levels will be good and high, no osteoporosis for me! We'll just have to add this to my short list of sufferings to badger the baby with when she gets older!