A Baby Update

I meant to update this Tuesday, but I wanted to add some pictures from my latest ultrasound and I finally got around to scanning them today.

We finally got a picture of her face and not her feet or her bum! There are a few more, but this one is the most clear.

Here's what I learned at my last appointment: I can definitely try a VBAC. There are only two doctors at the Pocatello hospital that do VBACs, and mine is one of them.We talked about the risk of uterine rupture, how it's listed as 1% but really it's only .5%, but in almost all cases of uterine rupture the baby dies. That being said, he told me his wife has had 5 successful VBACs, so we're going to give it a try unless I develop pre-eclampsia again. This doctor likes to induce VBACs because he wants to make sure either he or the other doctor is there to supervise. I don't want to induce, but if I get a different doctor they will probably not let me do the VBAC, so we'll see what happens as we get closer. I may go into labor on my own and not need any inducing, which is what I hope will happen.

After my appointment I had another ultrasound and the tech went through everything. She was so thorough and nice, it was a much better experience than my last. Baby girl's growth is now measured around 37%, so she is doing great. Everything is formed correctly, she has ten fingers and toes, and it measuring a week later than the current due date (the same as last time), but they're still saying April 16th is the due date. I thought it was the 17th, but I guess it's a day earlier. We'll see. :)

So there is nothing to report but good news, and we are very excited to finally get all this resolved.

The Baby Bump

It took a long time for me to start showing with this pregnancy. More so than I remember with Tayvin, but I might just be impatient. It's hard to be pregnant and wanting people to know and gush (I'm totally narcissistic like that, hopefully you love me anyways) but not looking like you're pregnant! Especially because in my first trimester I lost so much body mass in my arms, legs and face that everyone who saw me noticed. But the day has finally arrived. My pants were getting too tight even with a rubber band around the button so I bust out the maternity pants and shirts. They are so comfortable! I kinda wish I had normal pants with a waistband like that. And now I have a bump to hold and show off. :)

Honestly, being pregnant is no fun. So it's nice to have something to show for all the nausea, vomiting, aching joints, headaches, exhaustion, etc.

It's a girl! And the drama has already started.

Jeremy and I went in for my ultrasound yesterday to see our little baby. We have an awesome neighbor who watched Tayvin for us while we were gone, and she is doubly awesome b/c it took forever. When we finally got in, the ultrasound tech was annoyed that we hadn't had a 12 weeks ultrasound. She asked if I had late care or something, and when I explained that we just didn't get one because we were paying for it ourselves she asked why we weren't on Medicaid. The answer? Because I don't want to be, at least here in Georgia. Anyways, she started the ultrasound and the first thing we see is a little bottom. The tech looked around, and it would appear that our baby is a little girl! At least, we didn't see any boy parts. ;)

The tech then measured the head, stomach, and leg, and got really anxious because the baby's growth was in the 3rd percentile. She was asking if we were sure about the due date, and asked if we had heard of IUGR. She was also annoyed because she couldn't check the chambers of the heart because the baby was too small. Then she grabbed a nurse and because we're moving they wanted to make sure that we would tell our new doctor about the ultrasound and to make sure I got another. What's frustrating is that if you move the due date back a week the baby jumps up to the 19th percentile, and IUGR is impossible to diagnose without another ultrasound. And an ultrasound tech is not supposed to diagnose anything. That's the doctor's job. But the midwife seemed to ignore it. It felt like since I'm moving, they're just going to pass the buck. I'm really glad I'm not giving birth at this birth center, I have not had a great experience there.

So if I had gone and done the 12 week ultrasound, this might not be a problem. Yesterday I didn't feel like anything was wrong, and felt really calm throughout the visit. I think it helped that Jeremy was there. But today Jeremy is at work and I've been throwing up, and I'm really worried about this little baby. IUGR is intra-uterine growth restriction, and it can cause death in the womb. That's the scariest sentence I've ever written. So I'm in limbo right now because my due date could just be off, or my baby could not be getting enough oxygen in the womb. Or the baby could just be small. Heaven knows petite women run on both sides of our families. But of course my pregnant brain is trained to be paranoid and worry, so that's what I'm doing. So if you can, please keep us in your prayers, and hope that we'll find out everything is ok once we get to Idaho.

Another weekly update :)

I can feel the baby move! He/She has been nudging my belly and pushing his/her back up against my tummy. I felt a kick the other day, too. Yay! That's seriously the best part about being pregnant. It validates all the nausea and pain to know there's a little person in there. We get to find out whether it really is a he or a she in two weeks on Nov. 27! We're hoping for a girl.

Tayvin has been pretty cute lately. Our neighbors across the street got a St. Ber-doodle puppy whose name is Merlin. Merlin is 3 months old and as big as Tayvin, but thankfully he doesn't nip or bother Tayvin too much. And Tayvin tells Merlin, "No sir! No sir, Merwin!" when Merlin jumps on him. So cute. He also was dragging my heating pad around by the cord, getting it caught around corners and chair legs. In the interest of preserving my heating pad, I tied a string around a stuffed puppy so now Tayvin can take it on a "walk" around the house. What does he call the puppy? Merwin. :)

Tayvin has also been going through a defiant stage. It was pretty bad for a couple weeks, but he seems to be coming out of it. I think finishing off the Halloween candy helped. And no candy rationing/stealing here. Tayvin willingly shared his candy with Mom and Dad. He couldn't eat it all day long, and he had to eat meals, but we let him eat quite a bit of his candy. And while he seemed to be naughtier than usual, that had started before Halloween, so I don't think the candy had much to do with it. Science shocker for me: There's no such thing as a sugar rush. Just a sugar downer, actually. Ha, the reason I even started this paragraph was to share the following (I got a little sidetracked. Oops.). I would get pretty angry with Tayvin when he was being defiant or ignoring me when I asked him to do something, but Tayvin started saying something that instantly defused me: "You not angry Mommy, you just cute!" It's hard to stay mad when he's being clever like that. Little stinker.

Jeremy is doing his last rotation in Georgia in a state-run psychiatric hospital. It's just as creepy as it sounds. He's also in the forensics ward, which is where all the criminals are. Those who have been deemed unfit to be put on trial b/c of mental illness. Some of these people are seriously disturbed, but when they are on their medication they make a 180 turn around. There's are some horrible stories, and I'm not sure if I'm technically allowed to share them, but some of the people Jer is seeing are murderers who were listening to the voices in their head. And because they were "insane" at the time, they will be deemed no guilty and the murder will not go on their record. I'm not sure if I agree with that, but that's a discussion for another day. He has three more weeks of this rotation and then he is done here in Georgia. Tayvin and I will fly out to my parent's a week after that, and a week after that Jeremy will start the long drive out to Idaho. Wish us luck!

Fall!

Fall has finally come to Savannah and with it my morning sickness is gone! I'm not completely done being sick period, but I can eat food again and cook again and go in my kitchen without feeling sick. Hallelujah! I'm only four months pregnant now, and with Tayvin it lasted until the seventh, so I am very, very grateful. Monday I made homemade bread bowls and cheddar-broccoli-potato soup, and it was so nice to be back in the kitchen and making yummy food again. Yesterday I actually cleaned Tayvin's bathroom and scrubbed everything down. I won't tell you how long it had been since the previous cleaning. Way too long. It's nice to be able to get back in the swing of things, especially before our move. Jeremy was worried about me being too sick to pack, but that doesn't seem like it will be an issue anymore. I'm ready for the holidays!

This week in review

This past week was incredibly rough. I started throwing up Monday and couldn't keep anything down all Tuesday. Wednesday morning I woke up at 2am and was throwing up every half hour until 7am. I didn't get a lot of sleep. Jeremy finally got some meds in me Wednesday morning, he crushed up a Zofran so it would get absorbed faster and I took a Phenergen as well. Jeremy also made me eat some toast and I got a drink of ice cold water, which felt amazing on my raw throat. All in all, a really horrible way to start the week. Thankfully I was getting better Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday I was ok until I forgot to take my medicine again in the afternoon (sometimes I am dumb). Thankfully today has been good as well. I am so glad to be eating again and able to stand up and walk around without feeling sick.

That being said, my neighbors and friends are awesome. I was in bed for three days, barely able to take care of myself, let alone Tayvin. But every day someone was available to take Tayvin for most of the day so I could rest and be sick by myself, which was a great blessing. On Friday on of my neighbors came over and made me a Tayvin lunch and let him play at her house the rest of the afternoon.

Friday was also Tayvin's birthday, and I had been planning on a big birthday party for him, but that didn't happen. Thankfully he didn't know the difference, and Jeremy made a nice birthday cake. Tayvin got to blow the candles out three times so Dad could get good pictures. :)

Jeremy has been so amazing throughout all of this. He's not super sympathetic, because he warned me that my pregnancies are horrible and no fun, but he is taking care of everything. He's been washing and folding all the laundry, washing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen, making dinner, reminding me to take my meds, playing with Tayvin, and being helpful in every way. I'm so thankful for him. He has my vote for Husband of the Year.

My Mom also mailed Tayvin's birthday present along with a couple Halloween costumes she had stashed away from when my sister and I were kids. One is a dinosaur and the other is a white cat, and they are both in suprisingly great shape considering they're over 15 years old. Tayvin loves to dress up in both, but he's going to be a dinosaur for Halloween. He's a "big scawy T-Wex!"

I really hope that the nausea lets up soon, and that I can keep up with my meds and keeping my stomach full so I don't get sick again. I'm not sure how this upcoming move is going to get done, but I do know that a dozen people have offered to help, so some way or another, it will get done.

Preggo update

So for those of you who are interested and like details, this is what the problem was over the weekend: I was throwing up. Shocking, I know, but the Zofran had been doing a great job of keeping me from throwing up for a full week. Then on Saturday I ate breakfast, but couldn't eat anything else. I would try to think of something that sounded good to eat, and everything sounded gross. I think the hunger gnawing at my stomach made me so nauseous that I threw up. On Sunday it happened twice. But this morning a friend of mine recommended Sam's Club muffins, so I asked another friend to pick some up for me, and that is exactly what my tummy wanted. Thank you for the suggestion Lindsey, and thank you Ashley for getting me food and helping me out so much! Ashley not only brought me some muffins, but made me some lemonade, did a load of dishes and made Tayvin a sandwich. The load of dishes was VERY appreciated.

I called my midwife's office and talked to a nurse. I explained what was going on, all the details, and she was very surprised. She's going to talk to one of the midwives and see if there's anything else we can do, but I really just need to keep on eating. In all honesty, this is not nearly as bad as my pregnancy with Tayvin. That was really awful. I'm still eating and not super dehydrated, but I just don't have the energy to keep up with Tayvin or really play with him. He can tell something is wrong and has been acting out more often than usual. Plus Jeremy started his pediatrics rotation today, so Tayvin has been very sad when Daddy leaves. Let's just pray the nausea ends sooner than it did with Tayvin.