For those of you who are interested in following our story, check out our new family blog.
Smith Chronicle
Thanks,
Much love,
Julie, Todd and Kate
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Birth Story
Our little girl is now 5 days old, and cute as a button! The time at home has just been absolutely wonderful so far, despite some predicted sleep deprevation. She is such a good babe!
It's so hard to believe that she's here finally. Being that my brain is a bit mushy and slow right now, I'll be brief with her birth story.
1. Monday night we went for a walk and I was feeling really tired of being pregnant.
2. Got home, got ready for bed after a movie and had just taken off my glasses when I was jolted physically in bed. Turns out my water broke and I had my first contraction--this was at 11pm.
3. We timed the contractions for a little while and called the OB. they were only 10 minutes apart but he wanted us to come in anyway since my water had broke. I was a bit bummed because I'd wanted to labor at home for awhile and I was nervous about getting on the hospital clock.
4. Contractions really started getting more frequent as soon as I got off the phone with the doctor. Todd finished packing up the car in between helping me get through the contractions and we left the house around 12:10.
5. We got to the hospital around 12:40 or so and slowly made it up to triage...I had to stop every few minutes though b/c of contractions, including one time in the parking garage where I had to drop to my hands and knees--there were a few people walking around and I'm sure they enjoyed seeing me labor in the parking garage!
6. We finally got up to triage where they checked me and found that I was 4cm and 100% effaced. I was a bit disappointed to only be at 4, and was anxious to get into the tub. They were short on nurses and weren't sure if I, or the other laboring woman in triage, would get the room on the L&D unit...but pretty quickly they decided to let me. We left triage for our birthing suite at 1:30am.
7. I got into the tub which felt so good. We were really trying for an un-medicated birth, but the contractions were so hard. I tried to get into the zone and just let my body do it's work, but it was so hard. Finally after about 30 minutes in the tub, I said, ok, let's get an epidural. They got me out of the tub around 2am and up onto the bed so that the nurse could get an IV in.
8. At this point I was really having a hard time...I remember rocking around on the bed, up on my hands and knees and just really having a hard time sitting still. All of a sudden, I felt like I needed to push and told my nurse that. She checked me and I was at 10! I heard her call over the intercom for some help, that I was ready to push and that she needed the doctor.
9. The anesthesiologist finally comes in to do the epidural..My nurse asked me if I still wanted it, since I was ready to push, and I said, "no! I just want to push!" I had to labor down for 10 minutes or so, b/c the OB was finishing up a c-section, and it was SO hard not to push when that's all that my body wanted to do.
10. I finally got to start pushing around 2:15, and it felt so good. I remember the OB saying, most women push for 1-2 hours, but I can tell you're not going to do that! 30 minutes later our daughter was born!
So yes, my friends, that is a 3 hr, 45 minute labor and delivery. Totally crazy! I can't believe how fast it went. I feel pretty lucky that we were able to have a natural un-medicated birth, and I'm so glad that I was alert with a clear mind during her birth. It was so amazing.
My husband is laughing now b/c I said I'd keep this brief, and now i've written a novel, but once I started going it just all flowed out!
She is a beautiful girl, breastfeeding well, and making her mom and dad smile all the time. I'm overwhelmed with the joy that we are experiencing with our daughter.
Thanks for all your love, support and encouragement along the way. This has been a wonderful way to share our journey with all of you, and I'm so grateful for the positive words of encouragement that you've given us along the way.
I think I'll be ending this blog for now, but before I do, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks again.
Much love,
Julie, Todd & Kate
It's so hard to believe that she's here finally. Being that my brain is a bit mushy and slow right now, I'll be brief with her birth story.
1. Monday night we went for a walk and I was feeling really tired of being pregnant.
2. Got home, got ready for bed after a movie and had just taken off my glasses when I was jolted physically in bed. Turns out my water broke and I had my first contraction--this was at 11pm.
3. We timed the contractions for a little while and called the OB. they were only 10 minutes apart but he wanted us to come in anyway since my water had broke. I was a bit bummed because I'd wanted to labor at home for awhile and I was nervous about getting on the hospital clock.
4. Contractions really started getting more frequent as soon as I got off the phone with the doctor. Todd finished packing up the car in between helping me get through the contractions and we left the house around 12:10.
5. We got to the hospital around 12:40 or so and slowly made it up to triage...I had to stop every few minutes though b/c of contractions, including one time in the parking garage where I had to drop to my hands and knees--there were a few people walking around and I'm sure they enjoyed seeing me labor in the parking garage!
6. We finally got up to triage where they checked me and found that I was 4cm and 100% effaced. I was a bit disappointed to only be at 4, and was anxious to get into the tub. They were short on nurses and weren't sure if I, or the other laboring woman in triage, would get the room on the L&D unit...but pretty quickly they decided to let me. We left triage for our birthing suite at 1:30am.
7. I got into the tub which felt so good. We were really trying for an un-medicated birth, but the contractions were so hard. I tried to get into the zone and just let my body do it's work, but it was so hard. Finally after about 30 minutes in the tub, I said, ok, let's get an epidural. They got me out of the tub around 2am and up onto the bed so that the nurse could get an IV in.
8. At this point I was really having a hard time...I remember rocking around on the bed, up on my hands and knees and just really having a hard time sitting still. All of a sudden, I felt like I needed to push and told my nurse that. She checked me and I was at 10! I heard her call over the intercom for some help, that I was ready to push and that she needed the doctor.
9. The anesthesiologist finally comes in to do the epidural..My nurse asked me if I still wanted it, since I was ready to push, and I said, "no! I just want to push!" I had to labor down for 10 minutes or so, b/c the OB was finishing up a c-section, and it was SO hard not to push when that's all that my body wanted to do.
10. I finally got to start pushing around 2:15, and it felt so good. I remember the OB saying, most women push for 1-2 hours, but I can tell you're not going to do that! 30 minutes later our daughter was born!
So yes, my friends, that is a 3 hr, 45 minute labor and delivery. Totally crazy! I can't believe how fast it went. I feel pretty lucky that we were able to have a natural un-medicated birth, and I'm so glad that I was alert with a clear mind during her birth. It was so amazing.
My husband is laughing now b/c I said I'd keep this brief, and now i've written a novel, but once I started going it just all flowed out!
She is a beautiful girl, breastfeeding well, and making her mom and dad smile all the time. I'm overwhelmed with the joy that we are experiencing with our daughter.
Thanks for all your love, support and encouragement along the way. This has been a wonderful way to share our journey with all of you, and I'm so grateful for the positive words of encouragement that you've given us along the way.
I think I'll be ending this blog for now, but before I do, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks again.
Much love,
Julie, Todd & Kate
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Welcome Kate Scarlett!
Today Julie gave birth to their beautiful baby girl, Kate. She was born on September16th at 2:45 AM. She weighs 6 pounds, 9.1 ounces and measures 17 3/4 inches long. Julie and Kate (and Todd too) are healthy and doing great. The new family is trying to get some rest and will be heading home tomorrow. They plan on updating us tomorrow, if they feel up to it, and maybe even post some pictures too.
Congratulations to the new parents!!
Congratulations to the new parents!!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Any day now...
Although I've felt like it could be any day now, for the past 2 weeks-- it REALLY feels like it will be soon now! I had my OB appt today, and am now 3 cm dilated! Hurray! Progress has been made this week. :) That is 3 cm that I won't have to do in labor, and I'm quite happy about that. I've also been having contractions off and on since Tuesday night, and have been going for my long walks every day. At my appt today, my OB also stripped my membranes, so hopefully that will help to get things rolling. The other great thing is that my OB is on call tomorrow. It would be so fantastic if it worked out and she was the one there when I'm in labor. I've really liked all the other OB's in her practice, so I'm not too worried, but it would be fun if she was the OB on call.
I'm getting so excited to meet our little girl!
Will keep you posted...Hopefully we'll have good news to share next time I post! :)
Thanks for checking in,
Love
Julie
I'm getting so excited to meet our little girl!
Will keep you posted...Hopefully we'll have good news to share next time I post! :)
Thanks for checking in,
Love
Julie
Monday, September 8, 2008
39 weeks!
I'm happy to report that my blood pressure was just fine at my appointment today and all my labs from last Thursday were normal. I had checked my bp at home a few times over the weekend and it had been normal, so my anxiety level had decreased quite a bit, but it was still nice to get the official ok report from the OB's.
Still maintaining the same dilation and effacement...which I suppose is better than going backwards! I am so ready for this babe to come though! The evenings have been getting harder for me--bad heartburn and general restlessness. I've started dreaded the evening hours. Fortunatley I know it's not much longer until I'll have a whole new set of reasons for keeping me up in the evening! :)
I went to my last baby shower yesterday. My dear friend Sarah had all of our neighbors over for a mocktail party which was super fun. Tasty beverages and great stories about breastfeeding, labor, and childrearing. I'm so lucky to have such fun neighbors! They also set up a neighborhood meals-on-wheels of sorts...People sign up to bring dinner to new parents and we end up with 2-3 weeks of dinners brought to us! It's such nice community. We've participated in bringing meals to lots of families in the neighborhood already and it's fun to be on the receiving end of things now.
Not much else to report. We'll certainly keep you all posted as things progress!
Love,
Julie
Still maintaining the same dilation and effacement...which I suppose is better than going backwards! I am so ready for this babe to come though! The evenings have been getting harder for me--bad heartburn and general restlessness. I've started dreaded the evening hours. Fortunatley I know it's not much longer until I'll have a whole new set of reasons for keeping me up in the evening! :)
I went to my last baby shower yesterday. My dear friend Sarah had all of our neighbors over for a mocktail party which was super fun. Tasty beverages and great stories about breastfeeding, labor, and childrearing. I'm so lucky to have such fun neighbors! They also set up a neighborhood meals-on-wheels of sorts...People sign up to bring dinner to new parents and we end up with 2-3 weeks of dinners brought to us! It's such nice community. We've participated in bringing meals to lots of families in the neighborhood already and it's fun to be on the receiving end of things now.
Not much else to report. We'll certainly keep you all posted as things progress!
Love,
Julie
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Appointment Update
Well we made it to our OB apointment this week. Our OB came into the room, looked at us like, we'll you're here after all, and Todd said, "you wagered wrong!" She laughed and shrugged her shoulders.."What can I say? Don't follow me to Vegas!" :) haha :)
Baby girl continues to look good and is still super active. I can tell she's getting more cramped in there, but I'm still feeling her move a lot. I'm still dilated & effaced about the same--no real change there. The only bummer part of the appointment was that my blood pressure is up. The MA checked it when we first got there, and it was 136/84...Normally I run 110-120/60-70. They rechecked it before I left, and it was still high: 138/88. My OB said it wasn't high enough that they had to do anything right now, but she did want to draw labs and have me come back on Monday to see what it was doing. She reviewed the things to be watching for related to high blood pressure and said that she'd plan on talking to me about lab results on Monday unless they came back concerning tomorrow. Hopefully everything is ok and it comes down over the weekend. My swelling is much better this week--my weight was actually down 2 lbs since last week and I know that's all fluid! I can actually see the bones in my feet today!
I'm trying to stay calm about all of this, although I certainly am a bit worried now. Maybe baby girl will just decide to arrive this weekend and it will all be a moot point!
We'll keep you posted,
Love
Julie
Baby girl continues to look good and is still super active. I can tell she's getting more cramped in there, but I'm still feeling her move a lot. I'm still dilated & effaced about the same--no real change there. The only bummer part of the appointment was that my blood pressure is up. The MA checked it when we first got there, and it was 136/84...Normally I run 110-120/60-70. They rechecked it before I left, and it was still high: 138/88. My OB said it wasn't high enough that they had to do anything right now, but she did want to draw labs and have me come back on Monday to see what it was doing. She reviewed the things to be watching for related to high blood pressure and said that she'd plan on talking to me about lab results on Monday unless they came back concerning tomorrow. Hopefully everything is ok and it comes down over the weekend. My swelling is much better this week--my weight was actually down 2 lbs since last week and I know that's all fluid! I can actually see the bones in my feet today!
I'm trying to stay calm about all of this, although I certainly am a bit worried now. Maybe baby girl will just decide to arrive this weekend and it will all be a moot point!
We'll keep you posted,
Love
Julie
Saturday, August 30, 2008
No labor yet...
Labor Day Weekend has begun, but without any REAL labor so far! We've been keeping busy, getting last minute things ready, and trying not to get too caught up in our heads about the upcoming events. Todd's been finishing up the bathroom--right now he's sanding the doors to the vanity cabinet he built. I made some cookies today and later this evening I'm going to make some chicken pot pies to freeze. Depending on when labor actually happens, I'd like to bring in some of the cookies to the nurses at the hospital. :)
I think we both had expected to go late (in terms of due dates) and when our OB told us she thinks we'll go early (or very soon!) our mindsets completely changed! Every night this week since our appt, I've thought "is this the night?" The only other preliminary sign that we've had of labor is that I've started passing my mucous plug...started on Wednesday and continues a little each day. Labor is such a bizarre event-- you have no control over it, and just have to accept that it will begin when it's time to. We just have to be patient and surrender to that unknown. So who knows when this is going to happen!
The waiting continues...
Love you lots,
Julie
I think we both had expected to go late (in terms of due dates) and when our OB told us she thinks we'll go early (or very soon!) our mindsets completely changed! Every night this week since our appt, I've thought "is this the night?" The only other preliminary sign that we've had of labor is that I've started passing my mucous plug...started on Wednesday and continues a little each day. Labor is such a bizarre event-- you have no control over it, and just have to accept that it will begin when it's time to. We just have to be patient and surrender to that unknown. So who knows when this is going to happen!
The waiting continues...
Love you lots,
Julie
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Appointment Update
We had our weekly OB appt today and everything continues to look good. Our little girl measured perfectly and sounded great. My OB checked my cervix again, and this time I'm dilated to 1-2 cm, 60% effaced, and was -2 station. She said, "wow, that's a lot of progress since your last visit." Now, I know that women can be at 2cm for a while before going into labor, but my OB was really hinting that she doesn't think it will be that long! She asked me if I had an appt scheduled for next week, and I said yes. She said, well, I'd give it 50-50 chance that you'll make it that long. Then she went into what days she's on call this week, and said she'd love to be there for the birth if it works out. Holy smokes! This is really happening! I'm glad Todd was there for this appointment...he looked more than slightly shocked at the idea that this babe could come this week!
This evening we had our last labor class. I was having some low abdominal cramping intermittently though the whole class, and am still having it. Not sure if it's the start of something more, but time will tell. Todd and I did get home and spent a little time doing some last minute preparations, but we're off to bed now.
Will certainly keep you posted and updated as things progress!
Lots of love,
Julie
This evening we had our last labor class. I was having some low abdominal cramping intermittently though the whole class, and am still having it. Not sure if it's the start of something more, but time will tell. Todd and I did get home and spent a little time doing some last minute preparations, but we're off to bed now.
Will certainly keep you posted and updated as things progress!
Lots of love,
Julie
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
36 week OB appt
Our OB appt went really well today. Thankfully our little girl measured right on track at 36 cm! Whew! I was a little worried about that! She's still head down (good girl!) and my cervix is nice and closed still. I was able to talk to her about some of our labor questions and feel very reassured with her responses. I like this OB so much! She does think I need to stop working, and I'll admit that I'm glad to hear that. Work has been getting really tough for me lately. I know some women work up until their due dates, but it's just not happening for me. I'll be able to spend the time instead taking care of myself and our babe, cooking healthy meals, taking care of the few things I still have on my to-do list, and putting my feet up. Sounds just fine to me!
Poor Todd has been sick since Friday and I actually had to take him to Urgent Care last night at 2am. They think he might have pneumonia and put him on some meds to hopefully get better. He's slept pretty much all day today, and I think he'll be home the rest of the week. Poor guy--he never complains when he's sick, but I know when he asks if we should go to the hospital in the middle of the night that he doesn't feel good. I just want him to be feeling better by the time our little girl comes!
Think that's about it from here. We have a fun dinner coming up on Sunday with some of our good friends. It's kind of a last before-baby get together. These friends have been so supportive of us during our journey through IF, and then through pregnancy. I'm really looking forward to it!
Love,
Julie
Poor Todd has been sick since Friday and I actually had to take him to Urgent Care last night at 2am. They think he might have pneumonia and put him on some meds to hopefully get better. He's slept pretty much all day today, and I think he'll be home the rest of the week. Poor guy--he never complains when he's sick, but I know when he asks if we should go to the hospital in the middle of the night that he doesn't feel good. I just want him to be feeling better by the time our little girl comes!
Think that's about it from here. We have a fun dinner coming up on Sunday with some of our good friends. It's kind of a last before-baby get together. These friends have been so supportive of us during our journey through IF, and then through pregnancy. I'm really looking forward to it!
Love,
Julie
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Catching Up
Boy, what a month it's been! I've completely let this blog slide as we've gotten busier, but I've promised friends that I'd get you all up to date! So grab a cup of tea, put your feet up, and enjoy!
Baby Girl Updates:
Our little one has been super active the last couple weeks. Her movements definately feel different as she has gotten bigger and has less room to bounce around in. Instead of lots of pointed kicks and punches, I feel more swooshing actions, and whole body bumps. It's so strange watching my belly bounce up and down, back and forth, and know that our little girl is making it move like that. She's also started getting the hiccups. She's been having them at least once a day, which is another strange feeling. This morning I woke up on my day off at 7am...I thought, hmmm, why did I wake up? Do I have to pee? Nope. Hmmm..and then there it was! Hiccup! What a bizarre thing!
Our OB appointments have been going well too. I have my last every 2 week appointment next Wednesday, and then we'll be going in every week. At the last appointment, she measured a week behind, which does make me a bit nervous. It was a fill in OB, so there's certainly the chance that she just measured differently than my normal one. She wasn't too concerned at this point--said she could feel plenty of baby, and we'll just have to see what she measures next week. Good news is that baby girl is head down, and will hopefully stay that way until she comes!
Shower Updates:
I was lucky enough to have 2 showers put on for this baby girl a couple weekends ago. The first one was a work shower, hosted by some of my lovely colleagues. We had such a nice time eating the delicious food everyone brought, telling stories, and of course, oohing and ahhing over the darling baby gifts people brought. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends at work! One special part of the shower, was when we all went around and talked about our own names--what they mean, how our parents picked them, and what we liked about them. I thought it was really special to learn these intimate details about my friends, and gave some insight into name choosing.
My sister and mom hosted the other shower for me. Some of my girlfriends, family friends, and my mother & sister in-law came to celebrate. Again, it was so nice to be able to visit with everyone, eat yummy homemade pizzas, and admire the darling baby items people brought for our little one. I really feel lucky to have such caring family and friends.
Nursery/House Updates:
I've been busy getting our little girl's room all ready for her over the past couple weeks. Todd and I had most of the furniture purchased and set up months ago (yes, we are planners!) but I had lots of hand me down clothes and then new clothes from the showers to sort though. This last weekend, I washed everything and organized it nicely into her dresser. I also whipped out my label maker to make it really clear what's what (yes, I'm a true 5S'er!) I really like how the room has turned out. We haven't gone with any theme, or colors..it's pretty basic, but I love it. It's fun to sit in the rocking chair and imagine what it will be like in a short while to have our daughter home with us.
Todd's also been busy trying to finish up some home projects before she arrives. We have a new bathroom that we've been working on for awhile now...We had a tile guy take FOREVER tiling, and now that it's finally done, Todd's been hustling to finish the plumbing and get the bathtub, sink, etc all ready. I've been looking forward to laboring in our new shower and started feeling anxious over the last week or two that it might not be done in time. But Todd's put in some late hours and the shower is now ready and he says the tub is getting installed TONIGHT! I can't wait! :)
So, there you go! I'll do my best to stay more update with this site to keep you all in the loop. It's amazing how time flies sometimes, although we certainly have been busy with other family things. We both had deaths in our families, within days of each other, so that was pretty hard. We love and miss you Grammy and Uncle Allen.
Thanks for checking in,
Much love,
Julie
Baby Girl Updates:
Our little one has been super active the last couple weeks. Her movements definately feel different as she has gotten bigger and has less room to bounce around in. Instead of lots of pointed kicks and punches, I feel more swooshing actions, and whole body bumps. It's so strange watching my belly bounce up and down, back and forth, and know that our little girl is making it move like that. She's also started getting the hiccups. She's been having them at least once a day, which is another strange feeling. This morning I woke up on my day off at 7am...I thought, hmmm, why did I wake up? Do I have to pee? Nope. Hmmm..and then there it was! Hiccup! What a bizarre thing!
Our OB appointments have been going well too. I have my last every 2 week appointment next Wednesday, and then we'll be going in every week. At the last appointment, she measured a week behind, which does make me a bit nervous. It was a fill in OB, so there's certainly the chance that she just measured differently than my normal one. She wasn't too concerned at this point--said she could feel plenty of baby, and we'll just have to see what she measures next week. Good news is that baby girl is head down, and will hopefully stay that way until she comes!
Shower Updates:
I was lucky enough to have 2 showers put on for this baby girl a couple weekends ago. The first one was a work shower, hosted by some of my lovely colleagues. We had such a nice time eating the delicious food everyone brought, telling stories, and of course, oohing and ahhing over the darling baby gifts people brought. I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends at work! One special part of the shower, was when we all went around and talked about our own names--what they mean, how our parents picked them, and what we liked about them. I thought it was really special to learn these intimate details about my friends, and gave some insight into name choosing.
My sister and mom hosted the other shower for me. Some of my girlfriends, family friends, and my mother & sister in-law came to celebrate. Again, it was so nice to be able to visit with everyone, eat yummy homemade pizzas, and admire the darling baby items people brought for our little one. I really feel lucky to have such caring family and friends.
Nursery/House Updates:
I've been busy getting our little girl's room all ready for her over the past couple weeks. Todd and I had most of the furniture purchased and set up months ago (yes, we are planners!) but I had lots of hand me down clothes and then new clothes from the showers to sort though. This last weekend, I washed everything and organized it nicely into her dresser. I also whipped out my label maker to make it really clear what's what (yes, I'm a true 5S'er!) I really like how the room has turned out. We haven't gone with any theme, or colors..it's pretty basic, but I love it. It's fun to sit in the rocking chair and imagine what it will be like in a short while to have our daughter home with us.
Todd's also been busy trying to finish up some home projects before she arrives. We have a new bathroom that we've been working on for awhile now...We had a tile guy take FOREVER tiling, and now that it's finally done, Todd's been hustling to finish the plumbing and get the bathtub, sink, etc all ready. I've been looking forward to laboring in our new shower and started feeling anxious over the last week or two that it might not be done in time. But Todd's put in some late hours and the shower is now ready and he says the tub is getting installed TONIGHT! I can't wait! :)
So, there you go! I'll do my best to stay more update with this site to keep you all in the loop. It's amazing how time flies sometimes, although we certainly have been busy with other family things. We both had deaths in our families, within days of each other, so that was pretty hard. We love and miss you Grammy and Uncle Allen.
Thanks for checking in,
Much love,
Julie
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Strong heartbeat!
Since I'm a nurse, I have my own stethoscope. When I first started feeling her move, I tried to hear her heartbeat with it, but wasn't able to. I've tried every couple weeks to see if I could hear it, but hadn't had much success....Until tonight! I'm working late, and had some down time. My stethoscope was sitting right next to me, and I was getting ready to put it away in preparation for going home. I decided to give it a try and see if I could hear our little girl. I tried in one spot, but only heard my tummy girgling. I tried it in another, and heard a strong, rhythmic beat! I counted to make sure it wasn't mine--and it definately was not! It was so amazing to hear! Even though we've heard her heartbeat at the OB's a handful of times by now, hearing it with my stethoscope, on my own, was just amazing. It's so reassuring and calming and did I mention it was amazing?! :)
I called Todd to tell him the latest, and will be bringing home my stethoscope for him to listen to as well! Now whenever I have any anxiety about how she's doing, I'll be pulling out my stethoscope to check her hb! (I might just start carrying it around in my purse!)
30 weeks today! I can't hardly believe it. We have an OB appt Tuesday, and will be going in every 2 weeks from now on. Fun, fun, fun!
I am so excited to meet our little one! (But sweet girl, you can stay inside and gestatate a bit longer, ok?)
Thanks for checking in on us,
Love Julie
I called Todd to tell him the latest, and will be bringing home my stethoscope for him to listen to as well! Now whenever I have any anxiety about how she's doing, I'll be pulling out my stethoscope to check her hb! (I might just start carrying it around in my purse!)
30 weeks today! I can't hardly believe it. We have an OB appt Tuesday, and will be going in every 2 weeks from now on. Fun, fun, fun!
I am so excited to meet our little one! (But sweet girl, you can stay inside and gestatate a bit longer, ok?)
Thanks for checking in on us,
Love Julie
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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
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
Monday, June 2, 2008
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! :)
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! :)
Monday, May 26, 2008
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
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
Thursday, May 1, 2008
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:
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:
Sunday, April 20, 2008
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
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
Thursday, April 10, 2008
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
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
Monday, April 7, 2008
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
I can't wait!
Love,
Julie
Friday, March 14, 2008
OB appt
Todd and I had our 2nd OB appt this past Tuesday. We went over all of our lab results and our last u/s with our OB, and everything is looking really good. Then she had me lay down on the table, pulled out a doppler, and smeared a bunch of goo on my tummy. After a minute or so, she found the right place, and we heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was so amazing! It was fast, maybe 160-170 beats per minute, and sounded great! Todd does a really good impression of how it sounded. :)
We talked a little about the next appt--which is the big one! We get to have our anatomy ultrasound before our appt, and that's where we should be able to find out the sex of our baby! (assuming our babe is not too camera shy!) I made our appt for the morning of April 11th. You can be sure I'll post the results here as soon as we find out!
It's nice not to have real frequent appts right now, especially after making so many trips to the doctor when we were trying to get pregnant! We've been working on the house, or more accurately, Todd's been working on the house. He tore down our scary, steep old staircase, and is making a new, safer staircase. It will make it much more safe to go down to the basement to do laundry as I get bigger, and then have a babe with me!
I've been feeling much less tired now too. They say in your second trimester, pg women often get this burst of energy..I think I'm starting to feel that! I've gotten more done in the past week than I did in the past 10 weeks! It's a nice change.
Thanks for checking in,
I know there's fewer updates now, but I'll do my best to update when something new comes up!
Love,
Julie
We talked a little about the next appt--which is the big one! We get to have our anatomy ultrasound before our appt, and that's where we should be able to find out the sex of our baby! (assuming our babe is not too camera shy!) I made our appt for the morning of April 11th. You can be sure I'll post the results here as soon as we find out!
It's nice not to have real frequent appts right now, especially after making so many trips to the doctor when we were trying to get pregnant! We've been working on the house, or more accurately, Todd's been working on the house. He tore down our scary, steep old staircase, and is making a new, safer staircase. It will make it much more safe to go down to the basement to do laundry as I get bigger, and then have a babe with me!
I've been feeling much less tired now too. They say in your second trimester, pg women often get this burst of energy..I think I'm starting to feel that! I've gotten more done in the past week than I did in the past 10 weeks! It's a nice change.
Thanks for checking in,
I know there's fewer updates now, but I'll do my best to update when something new comes up!
Love,
Julie
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Hi there
Hey friends,
Not much more to report at this point, but I thought I'd say a quick hello! We got our official test results back from our ultrasound last week, and everything looks good! :) Things have been going well...I'm starting to show a bit--mostly it's just my uterus pushing my little pudge out, but it looks like a belly and I'm gonna show it off! haha My lovely mom took me shopping this week and we found some really cute and, more importantly, COMFORTABLE clothes--thank goodness for elastic! It's so much better than squeezing into tight jeans.
I did have a day of bleeding again over the weekend. I had to go in for another u/s just to make sure everything was ok, (thankfully it was) and the bleeding has stopped since. Our little babe was bouncing around, sitting kind of cross-legged, & looking particularly darling too!
Anyhow, I've had a fun week of telling folks that I'm pregnant--especially with some of my friends at work who knew about our IF struggles. And even though there were times during all of this that I regretted being so open with my IF, overall it's been a good thing--I feel so loved by all of you and have been so amazed with the generosity of people. Thank you!
Here's a question for you fellow ex-IF'ers: when you were telling people you were pg, did you ever feel like you wanted to disclaim your "previous" IF? Like, no really, it's really exciting for us...or " it took us a while" or something else to say that it wasn't just any easily achieved pregnancy? Just wondering...I sometimes want to add that disclaimer, and I wonder how common it is among IF'ers? (not to say that any pregnancy isn't exciting, but I think you know what I mean...)
Have a great week everyone. And btw, we've got our 2nd OB appt next Tuesday.
Love,
Julie
Not much more to report at this point, but I thought I'd say a quick hello! We got our official test results back from our ultrasound last week, and everything looks good! :) Things have been going well...I'm starting to show a bit--mostly it's just my uterus pushing my little pudge out, but it looks like a belly and I'm gonna show it off! haha My lovely mom took me shopping this week and we found some really cute and, more importantly, COMFORTABLE clothes--thank goodness for elastic! It's so much better than squeezing into tight jeans.
I did have a day of bleeding again over the weekend. I had to go in for another u/s just to make sure everything was ok, (thankfully it was) and the bleeding has stopped since. Our little babe was bouncing around, sitting kind of cross-legged, & looking particularly darling too!
Anyhow, I've had a fun week of telling folks that I'm pregnant--especially with some of my friends at work who knew about our IF struggles. And even though there were times during all of this that I regretted being so open with my IF, overall it's been a good thing--I feel so loved by all of you and have been so amazed with the generosity of people. Thank you!
Here's a question for you fellow ex-IF'ers: when you were telling people you were pg, did you ever feel like you wanted to disclaim your "previous" IF? Like, no really, it's really exciting for us...or " it took us a while" or something else to say that it wasn't just any easily achieved pregnancy? Just wondering...I sometimes want to add that disclaimer, and I wonder how common it is among IF'ers? (not to say that any pregnancy isn't exciting, but I think you know what I mean...)
Have a great week everyone. And btw, we've got our 2nd OB appt next Tuesday.
Love,
Julie
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Yup, we're pregnant!
We had a great ultrasound today! Our baby looks beautiful, and was really active! It was jumping around, waving it's little arms and legs; overall looking quite darling. His/her heartbeat was 179 beats per minute and measured about 50mm (about 2 inches) which is right on track! It was amazing, really amazing. I felt so happy and calm and reassured that everything was ok. It's strange though--even as I'm writing this, part of my brain is worried, afraid that something isn't right--despite this calmness & reassuredness (is that a word?) that I felt just a few hours ago! Oh the agony of the mind...
We'll get our official test results back early next week...
I just have to keep looking at these pictures and remembering how active our little babe was today. Todd and I were so excited to see him/her--and it's really looking like a little baby now. I'm going to put up our pictures this evening--they really don't do justice to how beautiful our babe is though.
And, by the way, we've decided to officially announce this pregnancy. It kind of makes me nervous, but mostly excited. Thanks again for your support and kind words of encouragement. You'll never know how much I've appreciated it.
Love,
Julie
Friday, February 22, 2008
Quick hello
Hi there friends,
Sorry I've been so bad about blogging lately! It's nice to not have any news to report--since everything has been going so well.
Todd and I are on vacation right now, but I wanted to put up a quick post saying hello.
I continue to feel pretty good--just on the tired side. My pants this week have been a little snug--Todd's had a good laugh with all the unbuttoning of them that I've done!
We'll get back home next week and have our first screening ultrasound & bloodwork on Thursday. I'm anxious to see our little bean! It will have been about 3 weeks since the last ultrasound, and I'm excited to see how much it's grown! Of course, there's a part of me that's nervous...but I have to believe that everything will be ok.
Thanks for checking in, and I'll try to do a better job with updates!
Love,
Julie
Sorry I've been so bad about blogging lately! It's nice to not have any news to report--since everything has been going so well.
Todd and I are on vacation right now, but I wanted to put up a quick post saying hello.
I continue to feel pretty good--just on the tired side. My pants this week have been a little snug--Todd's had a good laugh with all the unbuttoning of them that I've done!
We'll get back home next week and have our first screening ultrasound & bloodwork on Thursday. I'm anxious to see our little bean! It will have been about 3 weeks since the last ultrasound, and I'm excited to see how much it's grown! Of course, there's a part of me that's nervous...but I have to believe that everything will be ok.
Thanks for checking in, and I'll try to do a better job with updates!
Love,
Julie
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Ultrasound pic
Here are a couple pictures of our little bean! The first one is has all the measurements on it, but you can see the little arm and leg buds better with the second one!
It's amazing that it's grown 3 times it's size in just 2 weeks! It's definitely more than a gray blob now!
Think I'm falling in love...
Have a great day,
Love Julie
btw, I am feeling better today although I'm staying home from work to recoup! Thanks for your kind words yesterday.
It's amazing that it's grown 3 times it's size in just 2 weeks! It's definitely more than a gray blob now!
Think I'm falling in love...
Have a great day,
Love Julie
btw, I am feeling better today although I'm staying home from work to recoup! Thanks for your kind words yesterday.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Week 8 update
Hi friends,
Our ultrasound today was great! We could see our little bean again--he or she is so much bigger! Heartbeat was a strong 176 and we could see the beginnings of little arms and little legs. Phew! What a relief this ultrasound was. I had started bleeding again today at work, and was so anxious to make sure that everything was ok. It was a good thing I had this appointment scheduled already, or I would've been even more anxious! They could still see that little pool of blood in the bottom of my uterus, but it looked like it was resolving nicely--thank goodness!
The other good news is that my RE feels comfortable with how I'm doing and is turning me over to my OB. So now I get to be a "regular" pg patient. I think it will be very strange going to the OB's for the first time...I still don't feel like I'm really part of that club. But I'm glad to be and am looking forward to my OB appointment which is this Friday.
The only bummer of the day is that I seem to have some GI bug. We won't get into the details here, but I'll say that I've spent far too much time in the bathroom today (and it wasn't morning sickness either!). I've got a fever, which worries me a bit--so I've been taking some Tylenol to keep it low grade. Higher fevers during pregnancy can be dangerous to the embryo, particulally in the 1st trimester. I may even set my alarm to take my tylenol regularly tonight. At least Todd is home to help take care of me this time!
I'll get home to scan the picture of our bean and get it posted as soon as I can.
Thanks for all your kind words and encouragements. I don't know what I'd do without you!
Love,
Julie
Our ultrasound today was great! We could see our little bean again--he or she is so much bigger! Heartbeat was a strong 176 and we could see the beginnings of little arms and little legs. Phew! What a relief this ultrasound was. I had started bleeding again today at work, and was so anxious to make sure that everything was ok. It was a good thing I had this appointment scheduled already, or I would've been even more anxious! They could still see that little pool of blood in the bottom of my uterus, but it looked like it was resolving nicely--thank goodness!
The other good news is that my RE feels comfortable with how I'm doing and is turning me over to my OB. So now I get to be a "regular" pg patient. I think it will be very strange going to the OB's for the first time...I still don't feel like I'm really part of that club. But I'm glad to be and am looking forward to my OB appointment which is this Friday.
The only bummer of the day is that I seem to have some GI bug. We won't get into the details here, but I'll say that I've spent far too much time in the bathroom today (and it wasn't morning sickness either!). I've got a fever, which worries me a bit--so I've been taking some Tylenol to keep it low grade. Higher fevers during pregnancy can be dangerous to the embryo, particulally in the 1st trimester. I may even set my alarm to take my tylenol regularly tonight. At least Todd is home to help take care of me this time!
I'll get home to scan the picture of our bean and get it posted as soon as I can.
Thanks for all your kind words and encouragements. I don't know what I'd do without you!
Love,
Julie
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Almost 8 Weeks!
I can't believe I'll be 8 weeks pg tomorrow! This is going to be a busy week with appointments. Tuesday afternoon I have my 8 week u/s with my RE to make sure the little bean is growing as he (that's my default pronoun) should be. I think I'll start to be able to breathe more easily after I know that everything is still on track and looking good. Right now, I still feel like I'm holding my breath--afraid for the worst..The pain of IF is still so fresh in my heart...So I'm glad that Tuesday is almost here and we'll get some reassurance!
Then on Friday we have our first OB appointment! That will for sure be a strange, yet exciting appointment! I'm writing down all my questions, & I'm a bit afraid that I've turned into a worry-wart patient, but I guess that's just the way it goes! It will be nice to meet our OB and see what their practice is like. It's gotten good reviews from 2 of my friends who were recently pg.
Not much else is going on here. Just waiting. I haven't had any more bleeding (hurray!), although I'm still spotting practically every day. I've been trying to take it easy, and not push it. Last night I slept a delightful 12 hours! (well, yes, I did have to get up to use the bathroom twice!--but other than that, it was great sleep!)
Thanks for checking in on us. I really have so much gratitude for all of you who have supported me and Todd during this journey. It has not been easy, but having your support really helps us get through it. And now, it's wonderful to be able to share our joyous new journey with you .
Much love,
Julie
Then on Friday we have our first OB appointment! That will for sure be a strange, yet exciting appointment! I'm writing down all my questions, & I'm a bit afraid that I've turned into a worry-wart patient, but I guess that's just the way it goes! It will be nice to meet our OB and see what their practice is like. It's gotten good reviews from 2 of my friends who were recently pg.
Not much else is going on here. Just waiting. I haven't had any more bleeding (hurray!), although I'm still spotting practically every day. I've been trying to take it easy, and not push it. Last night I slept a delightful 12 hours! (well, yes, I did have to get up to use the bathroom twice!--but other than that, it was great sleep!)
Thanks for checking in on us. I really have so much gratitude for all of you who have supported me and Todd during this journey. It has not been easy, but having your support really helps us get through it. And now, it's wonderful to be able to share our joyous new journey with you .
Much love,
Julie
Saturday, January 26, 2008
As promised...a look at our bean!
We finally scanned our u/s pic and wanted to share it with you! Our little nugget of love is the tiny gray blob between the 2 vertical lines. :)
Isn't she/he darling? Ok, maybe it's too tiny to tell yet, but some of our friends swear they see gender parts!
I'm still feeling pretty good. Bleeding off and on, spotting off and on, but I'm trying really hard to stay calm despite that. I worry more when I'm bleeding, so I hope that this is a short lived episode and that it resolves soon! I'm still super tired, going to bed early, taking naps...I had a touch of nausea today, but really nothing to complain about! I'm just so amazed that this is happening.
Thanks for all your positive thoughts and encouragements. It helps to know we have so many wonderful family and friends rooting for us!
Love,
Julie
Isn't she/he darling? Ok, maybe it's too tiny to tell yet, but some of our friends swear they see gender parts!
I'm still feeling pretty good. Bleeding off and on, spotting off and on, but I'm trying really hard to stay calm despite that. I worry more when I'm bleeding, so I hope that this is a short lived episode and that it resolves soon! I'm still super tired, going to bed early, taking naps...I had a touch of nausea today, but really nothing to complain about! I'm just so amazed that this is happening.
Thanks for all your positive thoughts and encouragements. It helps to know we have so many wonderful family and friends rooting for us!
Love,
Julie
Thursday, January 24, 2008
More bleeding....another ultrasound
Warning--TMI for those w/aversions to AF business...
So after that initial bleeding on Sunday, it resolved fairly quickly and turned into spotting...Tuesday am I had more bleeding, but I wasn't too worried b/c it was about the same as Sunday and stopped pretty quickly too. Spotting continued....Well today, I woke up and had more bleeding. Again, not too worried, seemed like the same deal. So I went to work, but the bleeding continued....it wasn't heavy flow, not even medium, but definitely more than spotting. I finally called the clinic and they wanted me to come in. I left work early, went home and put my feet up and waited for Todd to come pick me up. After I got home, the bleeding stopped and transitioned back to spotting.
Fortunately, our ultrasound looked great! Our little bean had grown a lot since Sunday, when he/she was too small to measure! Today it is 0.66cm long--which measures 1 day ahead (6w4d, and I'm currently 6w3d) and had a beautiful heartbeat of 116! They could still see the pool of blood, which may or may not have gotten a tad bigger since Sunday. They think it should resolve itself as the pregnancy continues and the babe gets bigger. I asked about the bleeding, and the Nurse Practitioner said that if the bleeding stays the same, that's fine...if it changes to a larger amount, or with cramps, etc, then call again. Assuming everything stays stable for now, we'll return for an u/s in another 10 days to make sure our bean is growing as it should.
Thanks for all your positive thought and support. I'm feeling better today and hope that this bumpy beginning is nothing more than a bumpy beginning (and will lead to a nice big bumpy me!--ok, too corny, I know).
Love,
Julie
BTW, I'll see if Todd will help me post a pic of our u/s to share with you!
So after that initial bleeding on Sunday, it resolved fairly quickly and turned into spotting...Tuesday am I had more bleeding, but I wasn't too worried b/c it was about the same as Sunday and stopped pretty quickly too. Spotting continued....Well today, I woke up and had more bleeding. Again, not too worried, seemed like the same deal. So I went to work, but the bleeding continued....it wasn't heavy flow, not even medium, but definitely more than spotting. I finally called the clinic and they wanted me to come in. I left work early, went home and put my feet up and waited for Todd to come pick me up. After I got home, the bleeding stopped and transitioned back to spotting.
Fortunately, our ultrasound looked great! Our little bean had grown a lot since Sunday, when he/she was too small to measure! Today it is 0.66cm long--which measures 1 day ahead (6w4d, and I'm currently 6w3d) and had a beautiful heartbeat of 116! They could still see the pool of blood, which may or may not have gotten a tad bigger since Sunday. They think it should resolve itself as the pregnancy continues and the babe gets bigger. I asked about the bleeding, and the Nurse Practitioner said that if the bleeding stays the same, that's fine...if it changes to a larger amount, or with cramps, etc, then call again. Assuming everything stays stable for now, we'll return for an u/s in another 10 days to make sure our bean is growing as it should.
Thanks for all your positive thought and support. I'm feeling better today and hope that this bumpy beginning is nothing more than a bumpy beginning (and will lead to a nice big bumpy me!--ok, too corny, I know).
Love,
Julie
BTW, I'll see if Todd will help me post a pic of our u/s to share with you!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Early Ultrasound! (after a bit of a scare...)
Hi there,
Well I unexpectedly had my first pregnancy ultrasound yesterday! I had woken up early, ready to go to work, but had a fair amount of bright red bleeding. It really scared me. I know that some women have bleeding during their pregnancies, but it is really hard to stay rational when you see that. I called in sick to work and anxiously awaited for my clinic to open up. I finally was able to get a hold of my clinic, and got an appt for 10am. Todd's skiing in Denver this weekend, so one of my dear friends drove me to the clinic. By 10, the bleeding has mostly stopped...I was just spotting a bit.
Fortunately, the ultrasound looked great. We could see the gestational sac, the yolk sac, and this tiny, tiny little gray blob that is our baby. I turned 6 weeks today, so it was a bit tinier than they prefer to be able to measure and count the heart beat...But we could definitely see this little flicker of gray that was the heart! Phew! And it was just one, not two! It's too bad Todd wasn't able to be there for this u/s, but it won't be long until he gets to see one.
What a relief that was to see! They did see a small pool of blood in the bottom part of my uterus, so they expect me to have a bit more bleeding..but everything should be fine. I'm supposed to stay off my feet for a few days, just to be cautious. (How unfair that Todd's out of town and unable to wait on me?!--just kidding--I know it's killing him not to be here now!) My lovely mom came over last night to help out and keep me some company. I love my mom!
We'll be going in for another u/s on Friday to get a better look at the heart, after the little guy has some time to get a tad bigger.
Thanks for your positive thoughts. Turns out I really needed them!
Here's hoping for an uneventful week,
Love,
Julie
Well I unexpectedly had my first pregnancy ultrasound yesterday! I had woken up early, ready to go to work, but had a fair amount of bright red bleeding. It really scared me. I know that some women have bleeding during their pregnancies, but it is really hard to stay rational when you see that. I called in sick to work and anxiously awaited for my clinic to open up. I finally was able to get a hold of my clinic, and got an appt for 10am. Todd's skiing in Denver this weekend, so one of my dear friends drove me to the clinic. By 10, the bleeding has mostly stopped...I was just spotting a bit.
Fortunately, the ultrasound looked great. We could see the gestational sac, the yolk sac, and this tiny, tiny little gray blob that is our baby. I turned 6 weeks today, so it was a bit tinier than they prefer to be able to measure and count the heart beat...But we could definitely see this little flicker of gray that was the heart! Phew! And it was just one, not two! It's too bad Todd wasn't able to be there for this u/s, but it won't be long until he gets to see one.
What a relief that was to see! They did see a small pool of blood in the bottom part of my uterus, so they expect me to have a bit more bleeding..but everything should be fine. I'm supposed to stay off my feet for a few days, just to be cautious. (How unfair that Todd's out of town and unable to wait on me?!--just kidding--I know it's killing him not to be here now!) My lovely mom came over last night to help out and keep me some company. I love my mom!
We'll be going in for another u/s on Friday to get a better look at the heart, after the little guy has some time to get a tad bigger.
Thanks for your positive thoughts. Turns out I really needed them!
Here's hoping for an uneventful week,
Love,
Julie
Saturday, January 19, 2008
4 more days until the U/S!
The suspense is really getting to me! I'm starting to feel a bit anxious and wish that Wednesday would just hurry up already! Every little cramp, twinge, etc make me worry about our little bean(s)...I wish that I could just stay calm and feel certain that everything will be fine, but it's much harder than I thought!
Physically I'm still feeling pretty good. Tired, yes. Nauseated/vomiting, no. Todd said that I've become a furnace at night, emitting more heat than I ever have before. :) (He thought that I had a hot water bottle next to me earlier this week--and it was just my own body heat!) That can be typical of pregnancy, so I take it as a good sign.
Four more days, 4 more sleeps, and we'll have more concrete confirmation that everything is going well. Please continue to send your positive thoughts that this pregnancy is, and stays healthy!
Thanks,
Love,
Julie
Physically I'm still feeling pretty good. Tired, yes. Nauseated/vomiting, no. Todd said that I've become a furnace at night, emitting more heat than I ever have before. :) (He thought that I had a hot water bottle next to me earlier this week--and it was just my own body heat!) That can be typical of pregnancy, so I take it as a good sign.
Four more days, 4 more sleeps, and we'll have more concrete confirmation that everything is going well. Please continue to send your positive thoughts that this pregnancy is, and stays healthy!
Thanks,
Love,
Julie
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Scheduled U/S
Just a quick note to let you know our 6 week u/s will be on Wed the 23rd at 1pm (pst). Hopefully we'll see a heartbeat or two!
I'll be sure to post an update after our appointment.
Thanks for checking in on us! We appreciate your support and discretion!
Love,
Julie
I'll be sure to post an update after our appointment.
Thanks for checking in on us! We appreciate your support and discretion!
Love,
Julie
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Beta #3
More good news! Our 3rd beta was 769, which more than doubled from the previous 326! Everything looks really good right now, and we'll be going in for a 6 week ultrasound to check for a heartbeat(s). I haven't scheduled it yet, but it will probably be on the 22nd or 23rd.
I'm feeling pretty good--very tired, but not much nausea. My mom never had morning sickness and I'm hoping to follow in her footsteps!
Thanks for checking in on us. We'll let you know when we're making our official pg announcement...until then, please continue to keep this quiet!
Thanks!
Love,
Julie & Todd
I'm feeling pretty good--very tired, but not much nausea. My mom never had morning sickness and I'm hoping to follow in her footsteps!
Thanks for checking in on us. We'll let you know when we're making our official pg announcement...until then, please continue to keep this quiet!
Thanks!
Love,
Julie & Todd
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Beta #2
I had my 2nd beta today. The Beta HCG is where they measure the amount of HCG in your blood. As a pregnancy progreses, the hcg increases...and right now they want to see my hcg double every 2 days.
Today my hcg was 326! My RE's office was very pleased with that number, and I'll have it re-checked on Friday to make sure it continues to double.
Here's this cool little graphic showing my values so far:
I asked if the hcg values correlate at all with a twin pregnancy, but they said not necessarily. The numbers really vary from pregnancy to pregnancy...So we'll see! We should find out at our 6 week u/s.
So, again, thanks for your support. It's still very early, but I'm glad to be able to share this with you. Please continue to keep this news within our little inner circle of blog readers.
Thanks,
Love,
Julie
Today my hcg was 326! My RE's office was very pleased with that number, and I'll have it re-checked on Friday to make sure it continues to double.
Here's this cool little graphic showing my values so far:
I asked if the hcg values correlate at all with a twin pregnancy, but they said not necessarily. The numbers really vary from pregnancy to pregnancy...So we'll see! We should find out at our 6 week u/s.
So, again, thanks for your support. It's still very early, but I'm glad to be able to share this with you. Please continue to keep this news within our little inner circle of blog readers.
Thanks,
Love,
Julie
Monday, January 7, 2008
It's a positive!
I took a hpt today and it was positive! I went to the clinic to have it verified by blood work and my beta came back at 92! Anything over 25 is a positive. I'll be going to the clinic Wed and Fri to make sure it's doubling as it should.
This is really hard to believe, and I know how it can be difficult to see a pg announcement if you are having your own IF struggles. I just want to thank all of you for your love and support over the past year and a half.
Please keep this news quiet. We've decided to share it with you, our family and friends who read our blog, but would prefer to keep it within that inner circle until a later date.
Thanks,
Love,
Julie and Todd
This is really hard to believe, and I know how it can be difficult to see a pg announcement if you are having your own IF struggles. I just want to thank all of you for your love and support over the past year and a half.
Please keep this news quiet. We've decided to share it with you, our family and friends who read our blog, but would prefer to keep it within that inner circle until a later date.
Thanks,
Love,
Julie and Todd
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