Tour

We took a tour of the birth center this evening. I'm glad we got around to it because I think it's been about 11 years since I had been up to that area. At least now we'll know where to go on Tuesday morning! The rooms are all very nice and a lot bigger than the room I was in when I had Logan out in Washington. The only thing that is notably different is the fact that I will not deliver and stay in the same room. They have a separate labor/delivery area where I will have the baby. Then after 1-2 hours I will be moved over to the birth center which is right down the hall. This hospital is much more up to date than the one where I had Logan - they seem to have all the amenities that you could possibly need - huge rooms that include a couch, rocking chair, queen size bed, whirlpool tub and internet access. The two nurses who gave us the tour were both very nice - which is also a good thing!!

We Have A Date!!

I went in for my last check-up today. I saw a nurse practitioner since my doctor is out of town until Sunday. I am actually dilated to 1 1/2 cm - yay!! Since things are finally beginning to progress we went ahead and scheduled an induction date & time. We'll be going into the hospital next Tuesday (8/26) at 7 AM and hopefully by early afternoon we will be welcoming our baby boy into the world.

Baby's Room

The room is almost done. My Aunt sewed the curtains (they look great!) (the picture below is a close up to show the pirate ship/treasure map print - they came out very blurry) and Mike & I finished painting the walls. They also look really good but I am NEVER painting stripes on walls again. OMG it took so much prep and all of those kudos go to Mike for taping off the two walls that we did the striping on.

I found the two cute pirate prints on eBay. They are so cute and I can't believe how well they match the walls. The two prints by the crib are ones that my Mom bought at Hobby Lobby. They are nusery rhyme prints - one is Jack & Jill and the other is Hey Diddle Diddle. They are absolutely perfect for a baby's room!

The one item that isn't in the room yet - the pirate ship. Yep, you read that right. Mike is building a pirate ship for the baby that will serve as a bookcase/changing table. He started on it this past weekend when Logan & I went up to the lake. It is almost complete construction wise but then comes the really hard part. We have to figure out how to paint it so that it will look like a true pirate ship. I think Mike did a great job and I can't believe how he was able to come up with this!

10 Days

That's right I have 10 days (or less, hopefully) to go!! So remember yesterday how I bought some pants for the baby because I couldn't find the ones that Logan wore? Well this morning as I was finishing (what I thought) was the last load of baby clothes I noticed a tote by the laundry door. I opened it and sure enough there were some more newborn-3 month baby clothes. Including about 6 pairs of pants. Now I'm debating if I should take back the 4 pairs that I bought. I might keep them though because all of the ones I have seem to be shades of blue and the new ones I bought are tan, green, and dark brown.

Tuesday night we took Logan to the waterpark again. It will probably be the last time we go, I'm not sure when their last day is but the pools around here close as of August 15th so I'm sure they'll be closing soon after that. We all had a great time while we were there - it felt great to just float around the "river". Somehow though Logan managed to give himself a little bit of a black eye (under his left eye in the picture). They have a water squirter that you can push buttons on and it will shoot water out. The buttons tend to stick a little and one of the times that Logan was pushing on it he seemed to lose his balance and smacked his head on it. He instantly started screaming but I managed to calm him down pretty quickly. It must not have hurt too bad though because when we left the park he had to go over to it again and push on the buttons.

No Progress

I had my doctor's appointment today - nothing new going on. I return again next Wednesday for what will hopefully be my last check-up. My blood pressure was high this morning but they re-checked it before I left and it turned out to be fine. I also tested positive for Group B strep - which apparently is pretty common. There is no risk to me but could be to the baby if not treated. I will receive some antibodies when I go in to deliver to prevent the baby from developing it.

I started washing the clothes for the baby. Between all of Logan's hand-me-downs and the garage sale finds we are set for clothes. The only thing that I did buy were some pants. I'm not sure what happened to the ones that Logan wore when he was just born but I seemed to have just sleepers and onesies.

Doctor's Appointment

My appointment went well yesterday. I have gained 9 pounds so I am up a total of 12 pounds overall. I'm sure at least half of that is the baby because I can tell that he is running out of room in there!!

I had an actual exam yesterday to check if there was any progress going on down there. So far, not much. I'm not dilated at all. I go back for my next check-up on Wednesday. He'll check to see how I'm doing at that point and we will probably discuss an induction a little bit further.

We did briefly talk about me getting induced. The doctor is not against it which is good. I was induced 2 days early with Logan and everything went fine with that so I'm all for it again if the doctor agrees. Unfortunately my doctor will be out of town from August 19-24 so my days for an induction are pretty limited. It would happen either August 18th or the 25th so we should know more again after the next appointment.

I DO NOT want the baby to come late though. I don't think I've written about it on the blog yet but my brother is leaving on September 2nd to study abroad for his junior year of college. He will be in Ireland until at least next summer. Which means if the baby is too late Uncle Taylor will not meet him until he's almost a year old.

Tidbits

-I can no longer breathe when I have to put my socks on. I guess one bonus to being pregnant in the summer time - I've barely worn socks so my oxygen levels are good most of the time.

-Why is it when you're pregnant everyone wants to know when you're going to have the next one? Ummm, can this one finish baking and enter the world before I'm on to the next???

-My heartburn has been C-R-A-Z-Y!!

-Mike & I are arguing about names - particularly the middle one. Not sure who is going to win :(

-My next appointment is tomorrow (later today).

-Logan & I are going up to the lake this weekend. It will probably be the last time I go up this summer - let's hope the weather is good!

-This baby seems to be a night-owl. He is his most active from about 10 pm - 1 am.

-Baby's room is painted and things are getting organized in there. I will take a picture soon - I love the colors of the walls!! It is such a gorgeous blue.

35 Weeks

Tomorrow marks my 35th week of being pregnant - can you believe it? Well I can definitely tell that I am pregnant :) My heartburn has been raging out of control these past couple of days and two of my fingertips on my right hand are numb. Gotta love all those pregnancy side effects.

Today I had a checkup with my doctor and everything continues to look good. My blood pressure is good and the baby's heartbeat was at 140 bpm. I was down 3 pounds which puts my weight gain at 3 pounds total. I think the little guy is running out of room in there!

My next checkup is in two weeks (August 7th) - the doctor said that I'll get an "exam" at that one to see if anything is changing. I had hoped that I would get another ultrasound but the doctor said as long as the baby doesn't seem that he's in distress there will be no need for one. Kind of disappointed about that - I was hoping to see some more pictures of him before he made his entrance.

17 Weeks

I had my 17 week check-up today. Even though I'm only 17 weeks along I cannot believe that I'm already 17 weeks along. Make any sense?

The check-up went fine. My bp is still good and I've gained 1 lb. now. It's amazing how much tighter my jeans are feeling because of one-flippin'-pound! The heartbeat was strong at 153 bpm - doctor is still thinking a girl. I did mention to him the fact that I've been having quite a few headaches (2-3 a week). I hadn't been taking anything to try to ease them - just drinking lots of water. He did say though that I could have 1000 mg of Tylenol at once but not to exceed 2500-3000 mg in a day. He also said if the symptoms change or worsen that he might want to consult a specialist. It seems like I've traded morning sickness for headaches this time around :)

We'll get to have an ultrasound next visit (April 25) - hopefully the little one will cooperate. It took us 2 or 3 times before Logan "showed" himself.

Baby News

We had our doctor's appointment this morning - everything is going good so far. We were able to hear the heartbeat - 150 bpm. The doctor has predicted it will be a girl. My weight was up 3 lbs. from the last visit so overall I am still down 1 lb. from my first appointment. Blood pressure was good - let's hope it stays that way. When I was pregnant with Logan I had to stop working 3 weeks early because it kept rising.

I asked the doctor about the prenatal vitamins. He said they do make chewable ones that I could try or I could take 2 Flintstone vitamins each day. After talking with my MIL (who is a pharmacist at the clinic we go to) I decided to go with the Flinstone ones. I was able to chew them up without a problem and so far no gross burping has occurred.

Baby Baby (Update)

I just thought I would give an update on how I'm feeling. I'm sure I'm going to totally jinx myself by telling you that I haven't had any morning sickness yet. First thing tomorrow morning I'll probably begin praying to the porcelain God. I've felt good so far though, no more scares like last week. Thank goodness - noone needs to go through that!

As long as I eat a little something every couple of hours I seem to feel fine. I've been craving Sunkist pop so I've been drinking that quite a bit. My next doctor's visit is on the 20th - we should get to hear the heartbeat at the appointment!

Forgot to mention before but I seem to have the same afflictions as I did when I was pregnant with Logan. LOTS of new hair growth and outbreaks beginning on my face and back. I'm sure the "troll" nose will happen as I get further along. Taylor will be pleased to hear the last one especially.

Pain, Sadness, Joy

Sunday night while playing cards I began to feel cramping but it wasn't painful, just very uncomfortable. It was close to Logan's bedtime so in between one of the rounds I stood up to tell him it was time for bed. I felt this "dropping" sensation and my pants felt instantly wet. I ran upstairs and looked and saw blood - everywhere. I began yelling for Mike to come upstairs and to hurry. He came into the bathroom and the only words I could utter were, "I lost the baby." Mike asked if I was feeling ok and I said yes I felt fine. I began to undress and then climbed into the shower. Mike went downstairs to tell our guests I wasn't feeling well and to put Logan to bed. While I was showering a million thoughts began going through my head.

What had I done wrong? Why me? My pregnancy with Logan went so smoothly, what happened with this one? How can I recover from this? Will I want to get pregnant again? How can I be so sad over someone I never met? Why Me? WHY ME??

Mike waited in the bathroom until I was done. As soon as I came out of the shower he wrapped me in his arms and I just began to sob. I couldn't stop crying and the harder he held me the more I cried. I just wanted to crawl in bed and go to sleep. Only that sleep wouldn't come. As soon as I thought I was ok I would just begin to cry again. My heart was aching and I had no way to fix it.

Monday morning Mike stayed home from work. When I woke up I called the doctor to tell them I needed to come in. When asked why I broke down when I told them I had a miscarriage the previous night. They scheduled me to come in at 1:45 that afternoon. My brother and his friend came over to watch Logan while we went to the doctor. We didn't expect to be that long - what could they do?

While talking with the doctor I explained what had happened - how I knew I had lost the baby. He examined me and said that I had been dialted about 1 cm and my cervix was beginning to close back up. He said from the description Mike & I gave him that it sounded as though I had miscarried but he wanted me to have an ultrasound just to make sure and to see if there was anything remaining that needed to come out. Mike & I shook our heads because we KNEW the ultrasound would show us nothing. I didn't want an ultrasound - why would I want to see where the baby should be, but was now no longer there?

We went back to the waiting room and waited for my name to be called. When we got in the room the ultrasound technician said, "I hear you've had some bleeding." I replied with, "That's an understatement." I didn't expect to see anything good and felt this was such a waste. She put the gel on my belly and as soon as the wand touched my skin we saw something on the monitor. Our baby appeared on the screen, first I saw the head, then a leg, and then I saw an arm. That baby was there and it was moving! I couldn't believe it and I instantly began to cry. She recorded the heartbeat - 167 bpm. As healthy as ever! She knew we weren't expecting that. I couldn't believe it - the joy completely overwhelmed me. She printed out the very first pictures of our little one for us to take.

We met with the doctor one final time and found out that what I experienced was a sort of hemorrage. It happens sometimes to women who are pregnant. The blood was not from the baby or the placenta - it was all mine. It was basically a period that didn't happen. Even the doctor seemed very surprised at the outcome - we were all expecting the worst.

When we got home we showed Logan the new pictures. He carried them around all night and showed everyone. "That's my baby. In Mommy's belly."