Trip to Triage

I didn't think we'd get to double check the gender of this baby for another 2 weeks, but we've verified that this nugget of love is a girl! Let me back up a bit...

Sunday morning I woke up and pretty quickly felt some low abdominal pain. I decided to watch it and go to work anyway, especially since I was precepting a new nurse and would be able to sit down most of the day. Well the pain kept coming and going all day--it was really dull, and maybe a 2/10 on a pain scale. TMI warning: I also seemed to be having more vaginal secretions, and while I knew it wasn't urine, I couldn't tell if it was just normal secretions, sweat, or the more scary option- amniotic fluid!I wasn't sure if I should call the OB or not, but finally decided to give her a call around 2pm when I was still having pain. Of course, she wanted me to come in, and since it was Sunday I needed to go to the hospital, up to the triage section of Labor & Delivery. Yikes! I was feeling pretty nervous driving up there, but baby girl was kicking away the whole drive up which did reassure me.

The nurses there were great. Go nurses! Smart, professional, caring. They hooked me up to 2 monitors-one to monitor baby's heartbeat, and one to monitor contractions. Baby was doing great--nice strong heartbeat, and still active. The other monitor didn't pick up any contractions at first, but after repositioning me, it started to show uterine activity (i.e. contractions). They said the contractions were not Braxton Hicks contractions; they were "real" contractions. The nurse gave me a medication to stop the contractions, and warned that it would make me feel like I'm shaky, with a racing heart beat. And boy, did it! I felt terrible after a few minutes--very, very shakey. I had forgot that she said it would do that to you, and I was thinking, "gosh, i'm getting nervous!" But then I remembered it was the med. Ugh, no fun at all! It did stop the contractions though. They also did a cervix check, and swabbed me to see if I was leaking amniotic fluid. Cervix looked nice and closed & felt long, and my fluid was not amniotic fluid. Whew. They also had sent some urine to the lab, and it came back with showing some blood in it. So the OB thought that most likely it was a UTI, or kidney stone, or that it could be preterm labor. Since the contractions stopped and everything else looked ok, she decided to give me some antibiotics, send me home, and have me come into the clinic Monday am for an u/s to look at baby, my cervix (to make sure it wasn't shortening-a sign of preterm labor), and my kidneys (to check for stones) and then over to see my regular OB.

Todd and I left the hospital--feeling pretty shaken up, and only partially reassured. We both had these images of a 26week baby being born, and all that that would mean, and were anxious for my u/s to make sure that my cervix was looking ok.

So then Monday, I called to schedule my u/s and dr appt, and was able to get in at 10:30. We had an intern doing the u/s first, and when she checked my cervix it was 3.something cm long...The triage RN had said that if it was under 4, the doc's would probably be concerned. So I felt a little nervous about that, but knew that the experienced tech would be coming back in to recheck her work in a little bit. When she did come back, she remeasured it, and it was over 4cm! Whew!

Everything else looked great. Baby looked fantastic; moving all over the place, waving her hands at us. There was this great moment when we were looking at her profile, and she opened and closed her mouth 3 or 4 times--Todd thought it looked like she was smacking her gums! It was really cute. We asked them to double check gender--and they think more certainly that she is a girl! We also got an estimated weight of her--2lbs, 1 ounce, which is right on target.

My kidneys looked ok too. They couldn't see any stone, but the radiologist said it doesn't mean that there isn't one there. Ultrasound isn't the best technique for visualizing stones, but it doesn't expose the babe to radiation, and so it's the preferred way for pg women.

Off to the clinic we went to see our regular OB...She was super nice, and reassuring. She said we did the right thing by coming in on Sunday and was glad that the baby looked great on u/s. We don't have a definitive answer as to why I was contracting, but the pain is better, and we know it's not the scary possibility of preterm labor. So I'll continue to take my antibiotics, and hopefully we'll get the culture report from my urine back today.

We laid low the rest of the day yesterday, and I"m taking it easy today as well. I'll see if I can get some of our new u/s pictures posted so you all can see how cute she's getting. :)

Thanks for checking in,
Love,
Julie

Belly movements

Yesterday I was taking a nap, with my arm resting over my belly. Baby girl decided to give me a swift kick, and I felt my elbow move! I told Todd about it and wondered if I had been watching my belly, if I would've seen it move. I've heard about how alien-like it is when you can see your baby move from the outside, but we had yet to witness it.

So last night, before bed, I pulled the sheets down to uncover my belly as we talked. She started kicking, and I looked down, and could see my belly move up and down! I could feel her kicking (or maybe head butting, or maybe pumping her arms) on both sides of my tummy, and we could see all of those movements from the outside! It was so strange and bizarre, and wonderfully exciting at the same time.

There really is a babe in there! :)

24 weeks!

It's been a busy month--I can't believe I haven't posted since the 1st! Things have been going well with baby girl, and today we've reached our 24 week milestone! I would like it very much for baby girl to stay inside and incubate for another good 16weeks (well, 15 would be ok too), but it's nice that we've reached the timeframe of viability.

I had the most vivid dream about our baby last night. I dreamed that she was born, and weighed 1.5 lbs (which is about how much she weighs right now), and I was able to take her home (unlike in reality where a 1.5 lb babe would stay in nicu for awhile!). I struggled in this dream to find the right sling, or baby carrying device for her. She was so tiny and I just couldn't get anything to work right for her. We tried all these differnt types of slings, and she just was too tiny for them, and I was afraid she'd fall out! Different friends would stop and try to help me with her, and I just remember feeling like I had 2 left hands when I was holding her. At work (in the real world) I hold babies a lot, and am very comforable with it, and so I was surprised in this dream that I felt so out of sorts!
Also in this dream, Todd and I were taking her to the doctor for her day 2 check up, and they asked me what her name was. I stopped, and realized that we hadn't named her yet! So the rest of the dream was me and Todd talking about names, and trying to decide if our current lead name is the name we really want to use. "Do we really like this name enough? Is this really what we're going to name her??" By the time I woke up, we still hadn't decided on the name, but I think we were leaning towards our current favorite (and yes, I'm going to keep that one quiet!). :)

Funny stuff, dreams are. A bit of my own anxiety coming out perhaps?

She's been a very active girl the past couple weeks. I'm feeling her all the time now, and Todd's felt her a couple times too. It's such a bizarre, fun feeling!

We've started to get some hand-me-down clothes from family & friends, which is so nice. It's been fun to get them washed, and sorted, and maybe this week I'll start to put them in her dresser. Sometimes it's hard to believe that this is really happening...

This month I've also had some reminders of IF, and of all the pain that brings. We've been to a couple functions where there were couples that I know are struggling with IF, and my heart just aches for them. I feel bad for my bump, because I know it hurts to see it, and I can instantly be brought to that back to that same place in my mind. I'm glad that we've been open with our struggle becuase it's allowed others to be open with theirs, and for that, I'm so grateful. I also feel like we've been able to open others' eyes to IF, and I'm glad for that. At work, I'm trying to get IF coverage included in our healthcare plan, and I had 55 other staff members from my floor sign a letter of support for this coverage! My benefits manager was really supportive, and has asked our insurance folks for a quote to add this coverage for 2009. I'll be super excited if it really happens!

So there you go! A month's worth of updates all in one day! We've got an OB appt a week from Tuesday, and I'll be doing the yummy glucose tolerance test. Oh boy. Can't wait for that!

Thanks for checking in. Hope you all are doing well too!

Love,
Julie & baby girl

Happy Updates

Hi all,

Thought I'd pop in and give ya'all a little update as to what's going on with the 3 of us these days.

Baby girl has been moving like crazy, and I'm finally feeling her more regularly! It's been so much fun to feel her move & kick! She hasn't been strong enough for Todd to feel her yet, but I hope that's coming soon so that he can feel how awesome it is too!

My belly is really looking pregnant these days. You can't tell so much in my scrubs at work, but when I'm in regular clothes it's definately out there! It's fun to look pregnant now. Everyone has been so great, so excited for us, and I'm just so happy that all of you are able to join us in this part of our journey. I have to admit that it's much more enjoyable than the first part (the IF part) was!

Todd's been busy getting the crib and other furniture ready for the nursery. It's so strange to see a crib in our old office! I love it!

Today is our 4th year anniversary, and we're off to dinner. It's been a wonderful 4 years, with a wonderful man, and I can't wait to bring our daughter into our lives!

Thanks for checking in on us,
Love you all,
Julie

And for all of you belly watchers...here it is:

Ultrasound pics

Here are our pics from our last ultrasound, when the babe was about 17 1/2 weeks old. Sorry it took me so long to get them up!

I love the feet! (the shot is looking up at the bottom of her feet, as if she's standing on a piece of glass with the camera below).

Enjoy!

Julie, Todd, and baby girl

It's a...

Girl! The radiologist didn't get a perfect look between the legs, but said with "high 80's percent certainty" that our little nugget of love is a girl!

The other, most wonderful part of our ultrasound showed that our daughter appears perfectly healthy. Initially when we looked at her, she was doing a headstand (super cute!) and then moved all over the place. It's just amazing to see how active she is! All of her limbs measured appropriately, and her head & chest & abdomen looked great. We got a great view of the 4 chambers of her heart, watching the blood flow through the valves. It was amazing. We could see the fluid in her stomach and bladder, and watched the blood flow through the umbilical cord. We also have a great photo of her little feet that I'll have Todd post up here later.

After our ultrasound we went to our OB's for our monthly visit. We listened to our babe's heartbeat, which was a strong 155 beats per minute. Our OB also said that later in the pregnancy she could do another u/s at the office to be certain of the sex if we want. She thinks we're probably safe to plan for a girl, but if we want more certainty then an u/s would be fine. So we'll see. We go back to the Ob in another month--May 6th.

Anyway, we're so happy and thrilled to know that our baby is healthy. It's just a bonus to know that we have a little girl on the way!

Thanks for checking in with us,
Love,
Proud parents of a DAUGHTER,
Julie & Todd

Ultrasound Update

Just wanted to let you know that our ultrasound was moved up to April 10th--this Thursday! Hopefully we'll find out if we're having a boy or a girl, as long as the little peanut isn't too shy! :)

I can't wait!

Love,
Julie