Any Day Would Be Good...

I just realized I never updated from my last post. The results came back and I do not have cholestasis, thank goodness! I still have the itchiness at night, but now I just ignore it the best I can.

I've had a few episodes of stronger contractions but after 4-5 of them they fizzle out to nothing. My last OB appt I was finally dilated to one and more effaced than the previous appt, but my doctor didn't say by how much. I'm starting acupuncture soon so hopefully that will get things moving.

My husband is off for five weeks starting Monday so it would be awesome if she would make her debut next week, but I just have this feeling she's quite comfy in there.

I haven't had any stretch marks pop up yet, which I'm grateful for. Although, if I do get any, they'd be worth it! I am all belly. Everyone says I look like I have a giant basketball under my shirt. This better mean I lose all the baby weight quickly, right?!

Baby's room is finished and the rest of the house is good enough. We have a freezer stocked full of meals. Now we just need baby!

When a 15 Minute Appointment Turns into 2 1/2 Hours...

I was supposed to have a routine checkup today. I mentioned during my appointment in the past week or so I've had some intense itching on my legs, feet, arms, and hands when I go to bed at night. Apparently it's a possible sign of cholestasis, a liver problem that can occur in pregnancy. I've stayed away from pregnancy books and google for most of my pregnancy - instead relying on my doctor, doula, and close friends when I had questions. So when my doctor told me to stay off of google, I knew this could potentially be bad. I ended up having blood work drawn and an ultrasound.

I don't have the results on the main blood test yet. Apparently it's a send-out lab and it will be a few to several days before we get the result. The other labs tested at my clinic today all came back good. My doctor told me when she is suspicious of this and tests for it, usually the patient tests positive for it about 50% of the time. If I do test positive I'll have to be induced at 37 weeks - so next Friday. Apparently the biggest issue with cholestasis is baby being stillborn so as soon as you hit 37 weeks it's best to get baby out. I also had a bio physical ultrasound done today and of course baby measured perfectly on everything! She was being her cute little self. One hand was curled up by her cheek and the other was holding on to her foot! And she's getting some adorable chubby cheeks. The ultrasound tech even checked to see if she had a head of hair - looks like just some fuzz! My cervix was checked today as well and it's closed, but starting to soften up.

For now baby is doing awesome and I just need to patiently wait for results and go from there.

60 Days to Go...But Who's Counting?!

I can't believe we're in the final stretch! We finally started on her nursery a couple weeks ago. My husband painted it all and I've been shopping for the finishing touches. We have a crib set up. In our house. For our baby. I'm guessing this will all sink in sometime around her first birthday! Baby Girl continues to do well. She's getting so strong in there! Even when she nails me in the ribs or hip I'll congratulate her on how hard she kicked me. I'll definitely miss her moving around in there!

We were out of town over the weekend for my husband's work. I strongly recommend against traveling long distances this late in pregnancy. I was so uncomfortable and sleeping in a hotel bed just isn't the same as being at home. I also noticed airplanes and airports are not designed for pregnant women. I felt I took it pretty easy over the weekend, but I had some really icky stretches of braxton hicks. One day I was having 10+ in an hour. Another day they got really intense over a few hours and were lasting several minutes. I actually started to get stressed out that night. There was no way I wanted to end up in a hospital several states away from home. Luckily our hotel room had a giant bath tub that was deep enough to completely cover my belly - it was awesome! I think in the three nights were were there I took about five baths! I feel like my belly popped out a bit and dropped a little over the past week.

Two more months before this little one is in my arms!

Third Trimester Fun

Second trimester I felt so darn good I figured I'd breeze through the third trimester as well. Not so much. Last week I had the glucose screening test. I failed the one hour by 2 points. Two freaking points. The next day I went back to do the fasting three hour test. My body was not happy about that. I started feeling very nauseous soon after drinking the twice as sweet juice. I had to stand and pace back and forth a little to keep from throwing up. The second blood draw did not go well. There are way too many bad phlebotomists at my clinic and it doesn't help when my veins are already beat up from years of infertility treatments. A good 15-20 minutes after the second blood draw I felt like I was getting light headed. I told my husband I wanted to go out to the car so I could at least lay back. Halfway down the hallway I had to sit down or I would have passed out. That got me a room to finally lie down in for the rest of the test. I also called my doctor's nurse and ask if I failed the first two blood draws if I could skip the last two or if I passed the first three if I could skip the last one. I passed the first three with flying colors and left as soon as the result came back. The kicker is I found out my doctor uses the lowest cutoff for the one hour test so if I had one of the other doctors I would have passed the one hour according to them. I spent the rest of the day napping and taking it easy. I really don't want to ever go through that again. I felt worse than when I had morning sickness.

Reflux is another battle I'm losing against. It's been going on for a good month or more now and it's really ramped up the past couple of weeks. I have vomit come up the back of my throat at least 3-4 times a day. Now that baby is getting bigger and stronger her kicks are really adding to the fun. The past couple of days I've also been feeling very queasy - to the point it's interfering with my day. I really don't like taking medication, but I may give in to my doctor's recommendation and try some prilosec.

Baby decided to mess with me on Saturday. She has a fairly consistent pattern of activity throughout the day and has maintained the same schedule for a good month. Her most active time has always been in the range of 5am-7am. Saturday morning she didn't move at all during that time. Once I noticed she hadn't been moving I started doing what I could to make her. I ate breakfast, drank some ice water and moved around, let the cat sit on my belly, and all I got from her were a few random and very soft bumps. Nothing like her normal activity. I finally called labor and delivery and they suggested I drink something with sugar and try laying down. Since we don't have juice or soda in the house my husband had to make a quick run. Sure enough, little stinker went to town after I downed some sprite. Guess we just have a little sugar addict growing in there!

The nursery is finally coming together. I feel rushed being only 10 weeks from baby's due date. I put off ordering furniture until about a month ago. My husband is almost finished painting her room and after we let it air out for a few days we'll start moving all her stuff in there.

It doesn't matter how big my belly gets, how much she moves around, or how many baby items take over our house, this still doesn't seem real to me!

One Year Later

A year ago was the absolute worst day of my life. Losing our baby by ectopic was completely devastating. The only thing positive to come from our sorrow was the hope I may be able to get pregnant again. And here we are a year later...six months pregnant with a beautiful baby girl. The past month has been a struggle as we passed each of the milestones from our pregnancy last year. The first beta...second beta...first ultrasound...first hearing it may be ectopic...and now today. I can't help but think we should have a four and a half month old. But then I look at where our life is right now and things have actually worked out really well. Losing our baby has made us treasure this one even more. I haven't taken this pregnancy for granted. Everytime I feel her kick I stop what I'm doing to acknowledge her. I still look at my growing belly in complete awe. Only three months to go before we meet our sweet baby and I know her little angel sibling will always be watching over her.

Perfect

We had our 20 week ultrasound last week.

Baby Girl measured perfectly! It still doesn't seem real most days, even with all of her kicking and my growing belly. I'm trying to trust in this pregnancy more and more. It certainly helps to hear she's doing perfectly every time we go in for an appointment. A little over 18 weeks to go! 

My first baby shower is in a little over a month. I've been trying to put together a registry and it's painfully slow going. During my years of infertility I tried to figure out why I was infertile and why there is so much more of it these days. There's not one specific thing, but a likely culprit is all the chemicals we're exposed to everyday. I have been trying to find low chemical options for baby gear. It's darn near impossible unless you can afford to spend an insane amount of money. We've decided to at least try to get the best we can for the things she will spend the most time in - such as her crib, crib mattress, crib sheets, car seat, and a few other smaller things. It at least makes me feel like I'm doing something. So much to do and so little time to get it all done. She's going to be here before I know it!

Cold - Day 21 and Counting...

I am so over this darn cold.

Last weekend I finally felt a little better on Sunday. Even went to the neighbors to watch some of the Super Bowl. I got home and was tired so I started getting ready for bed. About 10pm I started having chills. I took my temp and it was under 98. I took a quick warm shower and put some warm jammies on and crawled into bed. It went downhill from there. And quickly. Body aches returned and the chills turned into uncontrollable shivering. I was having Braxton hicks whenever I had a coughing fit and on top of the body aches the pain was getting unbearable. About 1am I took my temp again and it had spiked to over 102. I of course freaked out and called my husband who was working the night shift at the hospital. He went down to the ER and asked the ER doc's opinion. The consensus was I should really come in with a temp that high and not being able to take Tylenol. My husband was having a busy night so it was over an hour before he was able to come pick me up. While I was waiting I did everything I could to lower my temp - I stripped naked and drank ice water and used cold compresses. By the time I finally got to the ER my temp had dropped two degrees so thankfully it didn't stay high for very long. The first thing they checked was baby's heartbeat and it was 163, so despite my misery, she was doing well. They checked for a bladder infection which I thankfully didn't have, but it did show I was a little dehydrated so they gave me two liters of fluid. After the first bag of fluids I started throwing up. Baby must have had enough at that point because she was kicking pretty good - certainly didn't help with the vomiting! So they gave me zofran too and after all of that I started to feel a little better. I asked if there was anything I could take for pain and there wasn't. At least the fluids helped a bit. The ER doc also put me on antibiotics. Since my cold had gotten better and then worse it was highly possible I had picked up a bacteria infection along the way. Finally got home a bit after 7am and spent most of the day sleeping. I took my last dose of antibiotics today and I am finally feeling better. I'm still coughing, but not nearly as hard and much less frequent. Still a bit tired, but I suppose that's to be expected.