28 week Check

Because of the fact that I've basically stunk about doing any kind of a hand written pregnancy journal like I did with Rhyan and Mack, I've decided I want to do some special things with this baby/pregnancy that I did not do with them. Its really just not been possible for me to do the journal this go round. I'm going to regret not taking the time, but I've also had some really high highs and some really low lows and I dont like recording/journaling when I'm not somewhat objective :-). Life has been hectic!

So our first treat for this baby is that we decided to do a 3D ultrasound of her! When Rhyan joined me for my 24 week check, I so enjoyed seeing her get so excited to see the baby and hear the heartbeat! So I was hoping she would really like the 3D where she could really see the baby's face!

My appointment was Wed, May 28 at 3pm. My mom's bday was the next day so I thought she'd enjoy going with us and getting to see her grandbaby. We invited Jeff's parents as well, but they werent able to make it.

So we all got there at 3pm and Nikki took us back at around 3:20. The kids did well waiting!  But it was SO hot in Dr Pohls office and it made time go slowly for me! Sidenote: While chatting with nikki, I found out that her other job is at Dr Gerber's office... literally next door to my office! How funny!

Nikki had warned me that the baby would have to be in a good position with plenty of amniotic fluid around her face in order to get good pics. Good news: she was face up so we could see. Bad news: she was super far down (she's head down already) and so her face was literally up against the uterus for a while. And the placenta was right in front of her face!

We tried having me turn over a few times to get fluid to shift and to see if she would shift up towards my belly button just a bit to allow for better pics. In the start of the scan, these were the pics we got. Not great, not bad. The mouth portion of her face looks distorted b/c of the placenta!

When Mack first saw the baby he said "Oh! I like the tail on the sharptooth!" (he insists that everything is a dinosaur... including the baby in HIS belly and I guess in mine, now, too!?!). Rhyan was quick to correct him and say "no Mack! theres not a tail! thats the baby's nose!". I was thrilled that she could tell!!!

She had been doing the scan for probably at LEAST 10 minutes just to get those 3 pics. The kids were getting restless so Jeff decided to take them back out to the parking lot and let my mom stay (very sweet of him!). But before they headed out, we let the kids listen to the heart rate! 142bpm.

The baby was moving a good bit and we were so hopeful that we would get some better pics... They were improving the longer we did the scan, but I felt kinda bad because its supposed to be a 15 min scan but she probably worked to get good pics for half an hour! I was so grateful!

Here, the baby's umbilical cord is passing in front of her upper lip, but she is SMILING! How sweet!

And I love how you can see her chunky little arms and hands up by her face here. Its just the ultrasound, I think, and not actually what it looks like... but it LOOKS like she has hair already! I love this one!

One thing that Nikki noted and my mom mentioned, as well, is how this baby seems to have my NOSE! Small and round. Bless her heart!

Finally, in the last 5 minutes, we could see past the placenta and cord and get a couple of pics of her!

This last one is obviously not the best... teh placenta and hand were both at the face, but it is a very clear pic of that round nose and pretty little lips!

Jeff had decided to keep the kids downstairs to run around while I waited for my appt with Dr Pohl. Yall, I love him. But oh my word. This was the 2nd appointment I've waited for 2 HOURS to see him! Ugh! Both times it was because I was scheduled after an ultrasound and in those cases, the office staff worries about Nikki's schedule and makes sure theres an available appointment with her and then they just squeeze you in with Dr Pohl. So both times I got put off to the last appointment of the day. Boo!

I didnt see Dr Pohl till 5:15. I had a list of stuff to discuss with him but didnt DARE bring up anything. I'll deal with it all when i see him again in 2 weeks. Thats right. We are on the every other week schedule now... because i'm in my 3rd trimester!!!

He measured my fundal height and then sat me up and said "measuring a little ahead". I asked him how much a "little" is and he said I'm 28 weeks, measuring 31. I about died.

Dr Pohl said she may just be a bigger baby. But I reminded him that I CANT give birth (vaginally) to a bigger baby. Mack was 8lbs15oz and he got stuck and came mega close to a csection! I DONT want to risk my baby and I DONT want a csection just b/c i eat too much and grow a heifer! So Dr Pohl said "well, it looks like it'll be carrot sticks and celery for you till August". OMG!

So, here are stats:
28 weeks
Gained 17lbs
Measuring 31 weeks

When  I got back to the car, the kids were playing so nicely and Jeff was super sweet about it taking so long! We headed to CFA (no fear, I ate a salad. yum. right?!) for some dinner but before we did, Rhyan asked to see the pics and immediately said "oh mommy! She is SO CUTE!". I love her nurturing soul :-)

We are grateful for a healthy, growing baby. But would really prefer if she would be a little smaller. So if anyone sees me go for a donut, you have permission to slap my hand. Oh my! ;-)

24 week checkup

I was SO excited when I got a call from Dr Pohls office before my 24 week check up saying that Nikki was going to redo my scan at no charge to check for cleft palate and try to get a profile shot! I thought it was so sweet of her!!!

This appointment was also the one where they do the glucose test. Honestly, its not a big deal to me. The drink they gave me was cherry flavored this time instead of the orange and I didnt think it tasted bad at all. The only thing I dont like is that you have to drink it within 5 minutes once you start it and I'm just not one to drink in general large amounts at once. But I did. And it was fine. Actually, I was at Rhyan's 5 year check up waiting for her to be taken back when I had to drink it! I'll post about her check up soon :-)

So when we (Rhyan and I) first got to Dr Pohls, Pam (the nurse) had to go ahead and do my bloodwork first. It has to be done right at one hour after you drink it. Rhyan's appointment had run late so we were lucky to have gotten there literally within a few minutes of that hour mark! When she took the blood, my vein blew and it was the strangest sound... But luckily she had gotten all the blood she needed!

Then, Nikki took us back for the scan. I was SO glad Rhyan was able to be there. I told Nikki that I was thinking of doing a 3D scan and was wondering if Rhyan would be able to tell about what the baby looked like if we did it and she said "lets see!" and flipped it over to 3D for a few seconds. Rhyan could totally tell about the baby's face! It was so sweet! Nikki told me that the 3D scan works better when the face is fuller and there is more tissue for the ultrasound to work with so she recommended doing it around 28-29 weeks. She said that 30 weeks and beyond the baby generally doesnt move around much and makes for a fairly boring scan but that 28-29 is usually pretty good b/c the face is nice and full and the baby can still move around a good bit. SO... I'm a sucker and while I've never done one before, I scheduled it! Mostly b/c I think the kids will like it, but also because there are other things that i've done with both Rhyan and Mack (handwritten journals of each pregnancy) that i've not done this go round (simply bc life has been crazy busy!) so I'd like to do some things this pregnancy that I didnt do with them to make up for it!

Back to the scan! The baby moved around a decent amount and we heard the heartbeat (155) and saw the cute little profile of our little girl. I asked if she would check again and make sure it was a girl (we had, at that point, not yet told ANYONE, including Rhyan and Mack!) before we told anyone and she said she'd be glad to. But then the baby kept her legs CLOSED and would NOT move! So Lets hope the 20 week scan was accurate, right?!

Nikki said the palate looked good and snapped a few profile shots for us. The baby was yawning a good bit during the scan so she got one of her with her mouth open b/c Nikki thought it was cute ;-). I was thinking about how that goes to prove the whole "you yawn b/c you need more oxygen" theory wrong b/c a baby doesnt even breathe till they are born (is that so weird to anyone else!?!) and get all their oxygen directly through the cord!

We finished up the scan and then went into an exam room to wait for Dr Pohl. Thankfully, he didnt take long at all that day! Since Rhyan was with me, I was a little concerned about the wait ;-). Basically, Dr Pohl reviewed my stats... and wow.
At my 24 week check up I had gained a total of 11 lbs so far. SEVEN of which were from week 20-24.
OUCH!
He didnt make a big deal about it at all so I mentioned that I needed to be more careful and he assured me that 11lbs total for 24 weeks is very healthy and fine and that I do so well keeping my weight in check in the beginning that I leave myself room for an "off" month or so. And that most women have their biggest month of gain from 20-24 weeks! He's told me that with each pregnancy and I know it to be true. But 7 lbs still bugged me! Because I know that it was because I was eating JUNK. Our disney trip ruined me!

He also measured for fundal height which was dead on at 24cm. Yay for a normal sized baby... so far!

I asked him briefly about if we would need to get a pertussis vaccine and he assured me that YES. Whooping cough is back on the rise as a result of people getting the vaccine as a kid and never getting a booster shot. But really, how is anyone supposed to know which vaccines to get a booster of?! Unless our dr's handle that at a yearly checkup (which they DONT!), who thinks to keep up with that? Anyways, he said that its on the rise and that the main caregivers for the baby will need a booster shot. That includes mainly me and preferably soon so the immunities can get passed onto the baby, Jeff, grandparents and any additional regular caregivers (Tracy). He also said that the easiest way to do it is to call your local pharmacy and let them know you need it and they can order and administer it at the pharmacy and bill the insurance and avoid a dr co-pay. Hopefully, that will work! And hopefully our sweet family will participate and protect our sweet baby :-). Apparently there have been infant deaths here in GA as a result of the whooping cough. Scary!

And that was pretty much it. In and out. In regards to the glucose test, no news is good news. And since i've heard nothing, I assume I'm good to go :-)

24 weeks... healthy and growing. And technically at the point of viability. So if for some reason I did go into labor at this point, survival rate is pretty good (although far from ideal). Landmark week!

Here are pics from 25 weeks...

 

Our Home...

Jeff and i bought our first "starter" home in Jan 2002, only 6 months after getting married. We loved our little home and it was a great size for the two of us (approx 1500sqft) but when the housing market was doing so great we saw it an an opportunity to make a little off of it and get something larger. Interest rates were great at the time, too, so we could get a bigger house for not too much larger of a monthly payment. So we sold and bought our 2nd house which we worked hard to make our HOME!

 We bought our house in October 2005. Everything in it was builder grade and over the 8 years we lived there we spent countless hours of our own sweat as well as about $25,000 to upgrade lighting, floors, fixtures, etc as well as landscaping, adding a back porch, etc.

When Mommie passed away in Jan, Jeff and I knew that it was in her will to sell her home and property and divide the money between her four children. Jeff and I had tossed around the idea of, one day, buying an older farm home on some land. We started talking about buying Mommie's home. The thing is, we lived 1/2 a mile from Mommie in our home and the thought of driving by the house that I grew up in but never being able to roam the property again was pretty much heartbreaking.

And the thought of buying it and living in the house I grew up in without Mommie and Daddy being around was pretty much heartbreaking.

The question was: which would be worse?
The answer: watching strangers buy the home/property.

We knew our emotions would eventually calm down from losing Mommie and if we didnt make the decision NOW to talk to the family about buying it, we would regret it. It was a hard decision to make at such an early phase in pregnancy, knowing we'd be making lots of decisions while expecting a baby. But it was a now or never decision.

We worked hard to just touch up everything and make sure our home was completely move in ready for about 6 weeks. And then the day came to take the pictures for the MLS listing and put it up for sale...

I offered to do the pics myself (instead of Jeff's Dad, who is our real estate agent) and just email them to him. I wanted the memories in picture form anyways... So, here they are!

Our kitchenette. Replaced the lighting

Kitchen... we replaced the lighting and put in silestone countertops

We used our dining room as a playroom in this house. It was a perfect set up for us!

And off the kitchenette was a "sunroom" where we kept our fine china, a seat and our desk

In the laundry room we tiled the floor

The bonus room had just recently become Rhyan's room right after Christmas in anticipation of the baby coming (although at the time no one knew that!) Rhyan had been asking to get to move up to the bonus room so she LOVED this room! We did too! It was super cute for her!

Mack's room and the room that served as the nursery for both our babies! I had grown to LOVE this room, simple as it may have been. It just held so many sweet memories of rocking my babies!

Our Master Bedroom! Simple and spacious and got great light, which i LOVE!

Our foryer. I've never had a foryer till this house and always felt it was wasted space, but it spoiled me!

Our extra bathroom. We put down tile, replaced the mirror and fixtures in here.

Our extra bathroom (Aka: Rhyan's "old room"). This was one of my FAVORITE rooms because of the beautiful big window and great light it got in!

And this was our master bathroom! We put in tile, replaced the shower, updated all the lighting and faucet fixtures and mirrors and had it custom painted. Loved this room!

Our living room was SO open and roomy. My only complaint is that I really dont love vaulted ceilings. Its cold in the winter and just doesnt feel cozy to me. I guess you like what you grew up with, huh?

And then there was my very favorite place in the whole house... our back porch! I LOVE being outdoors!

There was obviously also a full basement, and I did take a picture but it was pretty full of stuff and not worth posting :-). This was the house we called "home" for 8 years. Where we brought both our babies home from the hospital and spent most of our married life so far! It holds so many memories for our family. And while we were sad to leave it, we are so blessed to now be raising our kids on the same property that I grew up on!

Btw, we put our house on the market on a Thursday evening (March 13th) and it showed for the first time on Saturday March 15th. And that evening, while we were out of town in Tifton for Jeff's cousin's wedding, those people put in a contract which we negotiated for about a week. And less than 2 weeks later we were OUT of our home. What a whirlwind.