Halfway There!

Today I am halfway there...well not technically since he is coming five weeks early but no sense in splitting hairs over it. Today marks 20 weeks into my pregnancy. Here is what I do the majority of my day...even at work if needed....

Resting...it's what I do! Everything continues to go well. I feel extremely blessed that nothing is really required of me at home. BJ takes care of everything from the cooking to the cleaning and my family is  a half a mile away if I need anything while he is working...like dinner ;)  I cannot imagine going through this pregnancy without the great support system that I have. I don't know how women without a support system do it. I am learning my limitations on what I can and can't do , if it may bring on cramps or contractions.  I haven't had a real bad night since last Wednesday and I am happy about that. I continue to take the medicine everyday to keep my uterus "calm" and I also take Tylenol and Benadryl as needed as well. I am extremely lucky and thankful to know another mom that has been through this before and went on to deliver a healthy, full term baby. She has been sharing all of her secrets with me to keep the pain at bay.

I am flat our refusing to step on the scale until next week because I really don't want to know how much weight I may have gained with the holidays, so no news  there! I return to the doctor next week for another ultrasound to look closer at the little one's heart, lip, and palate, AND confirm, for my mother's sake, that he is a BOY! She thinks I am walking around with twins in my belly...Ha! We will also plan our appointment with the Maternal Fetal Specialist that day as well. I continue to crave ANYthing beef or spicy. I can also never get enough Mexican food, however with the growing little one, my heartburn is starting to bother me some so Tums are being used quite often now.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!! I will update next week after our next appointment.

Today's lesson...

I can longer make the walk to get food for lunch without causing cramps. Therefore, if it is not within one block of my office building, I am out of luck.

This is a story for the baby book...

I can imagine it now, "Well son, we thought that you were a girl for almost a week, sorry! We didn't mean to squash you manhood but you really shouldn't cross your legs during the ultrasound."

So we were pleasantly surprised this morning to find out that we are expecting our second son. What a blessing, and he is developing beautifully! He is also measuring on time which wonderful so hopefully another 11 pound baby is NOT in my future. All of his body parts and organs checked out great, however he was burying his face in the placenta so we couldn't get a shot of his face to check his lip and palate and we didn't get a good shot of his heart. We head back in two weeks to take another look.

Onto the doctors appointment. He continues to watch me very closely and I will now be seeing him every two weeks. He told me that I need to take it very easy and be off of my feet as much as possible. I believe he actually used the words "inactive" and "bed rest". I am just happy that I can continue to work at my job without causing harm to the baby with preterm labor and I can work from home if needed. The doctor approved of that. My blood pressure is still looking great and my weight gain is holding steady at 6 pounds, same as the last doctors' appointment. I can't really guarantee that it will stay that way after the Christmas holidays but who knows. Aside from the cramping, everything else is going well. So I will continue to take the medication to stop the cramping, take it easy and stay off of my feet as much as possible, and enjoy  this beautiful baby boy that is moving and kicking more and more everyday. Happy Holidays Everyone!!

She is a Drama Queen!!

Yep that’s right! The little one creating all this drama appears to be a girl! We should know officially on Monday when we do the more detailed ultrasound.

Now let me back up to tell you why we know what we know. On Monday night of this week I noticed that I was feeling some cramping in the lower part of my stomach and some lower back pain. It didn’t last long and it was only a few times so I didn’t think much about it. Well on Tuesday the cramping began to be more consistent and I was getting more and more uncomfortable. So that night I gave the doctor a call and he suggested that I come down to Labor and Delivery to get checked out. Cramping at 18 weeks is not a typical issue to have…but when have I ever done anything typical! Apparently my children follow suit ;) Anyways, we head down there figuring we would be checked out and then sent back home…nope. First the nurse tried to find her heartbeat and she was having difficulty. This was when I first got nervous. So off she went to find another nurse to use a Doppler to find the heartbeat and she was having difficulty as well. This was when I lost it and I all I could think was I cannot lose another one. She was eventually able to find the heartbeat but it was not registering on the Doppler so they had to manually count it and the number they came up  with was 120 beats per minute which is significantly lower than it has been but it was there and after everyone left her alone she kicked me three times. We had to have a serious talk about her behavior ;)

Continuing on, they hooked me up to the monitor to see if the cramping would show up that way and they didn’t which was good but the doctor felt I should spend the night so that they could watch me and that my doctor could take a look at me in the morning. The night was rough, I ended up needing some Ambien to help me sleep because of the cramping and in the morning my doctor decided to go ahead and start me on a medication that will keep my uterus “calm”. They checked my cervix twice and I am happy to say that I have not dilated at all which is wonderful so as of right now they are just saying that I have an “irritable uterus”. The medicine has worked great in the morning hours but the last two evenings I am still cramping so I have my feet up resting right now. 

Before we left the hospital I asked if we could check the heartbeat again for my peace of mind, so the doctor ordered an ultrasound. I am happy to say that she is growing well at 8 ounces, measuring on time, showed us her private parts, and her heart rate was at 150.

Please keep our little one in your prayers as we hope that whatever this issue is will resolve quickly. I will update again on Monday after our appointment.

P.S. I am beginning to believe that she just wants some atypical drama  like her brother, so I had to reassure her that she will get plenty of attention and this is not the way to go about it!

Snowy Alabama Afternoon

This afternoon I had the great pleasure of seeing a holiday classic at a historical theatre. This is the second year that my mom and I have enjoyed the Holiday Film Series at the Alabama Theatre. Last year it was "White Christmas" and this year it was "Holiday Inn" Two great classics. If any one is interested they are showing movies all week and next weekend, including a matinee on Saturday of classic movies for children.

Coming up to the theatre while the snow was falling.

 

Some pictures from the very large tree in the lobby.

Our view from our seats. Beautiful right?!? It may not look like it but we chose seats on the third floor, high up in the theatre. Unfortunately with my current pregnancy state and a lack of  a center of balance, I had some nausea and a hot flash but I recovered quickly and we enjoyed the show. ;)

My favorite part of the show is always the well talented, organ player playing "Big Bertha". This guy is always entertaining...he is an organ player and well... I will just leave it at that. He is great and hilarious and puts on a great show!

 

Me and mom after the show.

I hope we will continue this tradition next year!

17 weeks!

Today marks 17 weeks and I had the great pleasure of having my husband home with me tonight even though it is his working week. One of the great things about being married to my husband is that he cooks and he cooks well! Here is my dinner from tonight!

 It was so pretty I had to take a picture...and it tasted as good as it looks. I have discovered while chicken does still make my stomach churn, I will eat my husband's chicken.  Go figure!


Things are still going well this week. My nausea is helped now by eating a little something instead of needing Zofran all the time. I have  been feeling a lot fluttering this week which is exciting but I think that might be due to the fact that I have needed some caffeine this week while I have been fighting a migraine. Unfortunately there is nothing, other than Tylenol which is a joke, that the doctor feels comfortable  prescribing me. So the last two evenings have been spent with me laying in my dark room for an hour or two with my ice pack.

My food cravings are still for very spicy foods and beef but I have noticed that I have finally gotten my sweet tooth back. I am unsure if that is a good thing ;) We are excited to see the little one again soon but we are still undecided on a boy name. We have two girl names but cannot agree on a boy name. I think this one is a girl but I also thought Brayden was a girl until he showed us otherwise, so I can't rely on that. Here is a picture of my 17 week baby belly.

Our Friday Night Surprise...

I know what you are thinking... no we still don't know the gender of the baby. This concerns my first baby boy. Shortly after I started working for Children's Hospital I saw that you could nominate a child's name to  be painted on the foundation of the new Children's Hospital. I know that at some point we purchased a brick in Brayden's memory that is somewhere on the Children's campus but for the life of me I don't have any idea where it might be. So I submitted his name to be placed on the foundation and that is the last I thought about it. Well I happen to be walking from the main hospital back to my office when I noticed a set of new names placed on the foundation and I saw it. Not only could I see his name but it was in his favorite color, red. I was, however, pretty bummed because there was no way I could get close enough to get a decent picture. This Friday I was surprised to see this on our front step...