Day 4

The difference between Daria and her sister is uncanny - you can't even say they're related, they look so differently!

Pictures!

Hello everyone!

I'm very sorry for the delay in getting pictures and details 'out there'. Unfortunately Daria is a pumpkin head - no lie, 36 cm. head circumference! She dislocated my tailbone and gave me a 3rd degree tear so I've been too uncomfortable to sit for too long and I've got some serious edema going on in my feet (can't even wear flip flops) so even standing is painful.

But - she's wonderful. We went home on Thursday, she's officially a 'take home kid' and she's eating magnificently. It's really nice to have a baby that will actually feed at the breast this time. She's only lost weight until discharge - going from 7.14 to 7.6 and has been gaining really well since. I imagine when she gets weighed on Wednesday that she'll be above her birth weight. Even better was that her bilirubin levels were great and we haven't had to do lights or anything out of the ordinary.

It was a little surreal to go through Arianna's baby clothes and realize that much of the clothes she wore for her first 6 months are actually going to be too small for her sister. Otherwise she's a great little lady and we're truely blessed to have her in our lives - I'm so in love with her chubby cheeks!

With big sister Arianna, who is so in love with her 'baby'

hmm?

So I'm going on 4 hours of one constant contraction and (TMI) I know I lost my plug (again) this afternoon, so I'm definitely more dilated.

In some way I hope this is it - I'm really tired of being constantly nauseous right now...

I'm going to sit on the ball for a little while and see how everything goes.

Monday Update

So I went to my OBs office for a 10:15 appointment and we're making some (very slow) progress. I'm 100% effaced, kid is fully engaged (don't know the station) and I'm now 1.5 cm dilated... so 1/2 cm. I'll take it - its better than nothing! I scored a 9 on my bishop scale (which is the 'how good is this person for an induction' rating) and a 9 is good - so if they could/would induce, I'd be golden... but my hospital doesn't do any kind of induction until 39 weeks.

So, encouraged by the appointment, I decided to go walking at the mall. I walked for nearly an hour and stopped to get some sorbet (shhh... don't tell my doc). I've had what feels like one solid contraction since then, not painful but overall tightness that just won't give up - I hope that's a good sign!

I'm really tired now so I'm going to go lay down and take a nap and hope these continue on their own.

Monday...

Well, we didn't have to go to the hospital last night. I managed to sleep, which was needed. I was up probably every 2 hours or so but was able to 'switch sides' and get back to sleep, which was good.

No regular contractions yet today, just a few big doozies, but I have an appointment with one of the OBs in my office at 10:15 AM today - so I'm hopeful that there has been some progress since Saturday, and if not I hope she's willing to 'help things along'. I'm really frustrated - I wish I hadn't agreed to the terb shot.

Hubby was in a car accident on his way home Friday so we're down to one car this week - thankfully he works close to home. We drove up to my parents home to pick up Arianna and drop her off at daycare - I'm hoping we won't need to go to the hospital today because she was really distraught when we left her this morning. You could tell she really missed us and kept asking to go home.

So I'm just waiting at this point - feeling really nauseous this morning for some reason so I won't be going for a long walk before my appointment. Its supposed to be really hot today so if I haven't progressed enough to go to the hospital I'll probably just go to the mall and walk around for a while...

Another update

So its about quarter of 8 PM and my contractions are picking up again and they're definitely different from yesterday - I don't get much warning before the peak it happens very suddenly and there's stabbing pain with it so I hope that stabbing pain is in my cervix, meaning its breaking up the scar tissue!

Hubby and I haven't done much of anything today - he still feels yucky and I'm just exhausted so we've been vegging around the house trying to rest (I did manage about 5 hours of sleep all day but the only thing I've managed to eat was 3/4 of a strawberry poppy seed salad from Panera Bread and a yogurt smoothie from Dunkin Donuts). I spent about 30 min. on the birthing ball and we went for a short walk around the neighborhood. I think it took the terb about 12 hours to wear off because the contrax didn't come back regularly until after 4 PM - that stuff works fast, let me tell you! I was having contrax every min. on the strip and then they gave me the terb and it QUICKLY slowed to every 10 min. It was amazing how fast it worked.

After I do this update I'm going to get back on the birth ball for a little while and see if do these psuedo squats will help spread my hips and allow my cervix to break up. We'll probably be back at the ER again tonight but I won't be calling Tina until I get an exam and can be sure I'm progressing some. If the exam at the hospital is uneventful we'll head home and I'll make an appointment to see my OB tomorrow and see if she'll break up my scar tissue for me. The big reason the doc in the ER wouldn't do it fully is that I'm only 36 weeks so not technically full term. The doc that was covering my group was really busy last night (full moon has some truth in it!) so he didn't get to come down to the ER but I know if he could have he would have helped break it up - he told me so when I saw him on Thursday.

So that's it for now. Arianna is being an angel for grandma and grandpa and they're happy to keep her for another night - we'll pick her up in the morning so she can go to daycare and give grandpa a break (who is just newly laid off and has an abundance of free time).

25weeks: My hubby says the same thing. Pregnancy is very morbid, you get very excited about seeing a woman in pain "Ya, Jen is miserable, that's awesome!" LOL!

My frustrating Saturday

My parents came to the house at 5 and took Arianna to spend the night with them - I knew we'd be going to the hospital at some point that night.

I decided to labor at home until I 'couldn't take it anymore' - a sign that the contractions were strong enough to put me in active labor. I sat on the birthing ball for a while, took a nice bath for a while and DH and I took a nice walk around the neighborhood. After my bath about 8 PM the contractions had slowed to a crawl so I figured we were 'done' for the night. DH had food poisoning from a cookout we'd gone to that day so he was throwing up all over the place and by 9 the contractions had me really tired so I just looked at him and said "let's go to bed as we may be up early". He surprisingly agreed.

I woke up at 10:40 with lots of pain - I was really feeling it now and had a hard time talking through it - surely this was it! I got hubby up and called my doula and started packing the car/getting dressed.

We got to the ER at 11:50 and true 'full moon' fashion it was packed. I got through registration and triage and sat down. Hubby was still not feeling good but I needed to walk around with Tina (my doula) so he stayed with our bags while we walked the halls for about 15 min. They called us back and got me into a room to get the baby monitored and get an exam. Boy do contractions hurt when you have to lay down through them - I don't know why women do that without an epidural! I ended up standing next to the bed for a long time doing the strip because it really hurt to lay on my back. Then the resident/attending came in to give me my exam. Apparantly my doula knew her very well and was excited she would be the one doing my exam because she could 'fast track' me upstairs to L&D if needed.

I was 100% effaced, which was AWESOME, but only 1 cm. dilated (not awesome). So she told me to get up and walk around for two hours and see if that helps any. The scar tissue from the cerclage was going to make dilation pretty impossible - she even tried to break it up for me (ouch!!).

So I diligently followed orders - lots of walking with Tina and lots of contractions - eventually they were right on top of each other with no break in between and it was really frustrating but, if I do say so myself, I did very well despite no pain meds. They were really strong now and Tina said I should get examined because she could tell by the change in contractions that I'm further along.

4 AM I get another exam and there is no freakin' change. Not even a half a centimeter! I couldn't believe it! The the worst news came in.

They have no beds. With contractions showing up on the monitor at every minute or less they couldn't just send me home but they had no where to put me but in the ER on the WORST BEDS IN EXISTANCE and I really couldn't stay laying down - really, back labor sucks when you have to stay on your back.

So they gave me terbutaline and sent me home... after I'd labor hard for more than 24 hours they were giving me drugs to stop all my hard work and sending me home simply because they don't have a bed. WTF?!!

So its noon now, we're finally up and I'm eating something for the first time in 24 hours (I don't get hungry in labor) and incredibly upset about the turn in events. The worst is that I know we'll be back there again tonight playing this dance again... I have to go through those contractions again and hope they have a room for and hope that I get a sympathetic doc who will break up my scar tissue allowing my cervix to open up. All the docs I've seen have said the same thing - once the scar tissue breaks up I'll go from 1 - 6 fairly quickly. I like the sound of that, just wished it would happen sooner than later.

I kinda wish my doctor was on last night - when she took out my cerclage on Friday we talked about the size of the baby and what my cervix looked like and she told me to 'do everything I can' to get this kid out now... so that's what I'm trying to do. Just wish that I didn't have to seemingly fight them on it.

ooh ooh!

I'm having contractions about 2 - 4 minutes apart. We're going to time for an hour before we make 'the call' but its looking promising!

Wish me luck!

Cerclage Removal!

I can't believe I made it to the point of actually having it removed... this is surreal to me.

Anyway, in a little under 10 hours I'll be stitch free! Although, theoretically, I could dilate and go into labor immediately, the OB I saw today said in his 30 years he has never seen anyone go into labor the day the stitch is removed, so chances are good I'll be home after a few hours of monitoring.

But... if I'm lucky enough to be the exception I'll have hubby post a quick update here before he jets off to the hospital to meet me.

I can't tell you all enough how wonderful you have all been with your comments and emails - I am very blessed to have such caring people wondering about me.

I can't believe the end is in sight now (hopefully) and hope that my story has been inspiring and helpful to you.

36 weeks!

It's a funny thing being pregnant again after having a preemie - especially sub 30 weeks. If you're fortunate enough, like me, to make it to (almost) full term you'll experience a strange emotion... the "I never expected to make it this far and now I feel overdue" emotion.

I guess mine is compounded, unfortunately...

Ended up in the ER last night due to lack of movement - which never happens, this kid is VERY active... s/he didn't do well on the NST at first and then they gave me apple juice and pretzels and flipped me all over - then s/he got marginally better, but I still hadn't felt a kick in HOURS... very scary.

Today I had my regularly scheduled NST and still hadn't felt so much as a hiccup... low and behold I get on the NST and s/he decides to hold a dance party. The NST was incredible - beyond perfect wave form. I cried happy tears...

Then I had an U/S. I'm really start to hate these... my AFI is 26 and baby is still in the 97th percentile - now 7 lbs. 12 oz. I'm 36 weeks... it could be off by as much as 10% at this point, which is about a lb. in either direction - so s/he could be as big as 8.5 lbs. or as small as 6.10... still really big for this point.

In essence s/he is measuring 3 weeks ahead - so 39 weeks. Add in the abundant fluid and I'm big... really freaking big and uncomfortable! I can fully appreciate why so many women complain about the end of pregnancy. It used to make me really mad when I'd hear women complain because I had wished to have been able to experience it with Arianna, but now I understand and will never chastise a full term pregnant mom again! Seriously, there isn't anything that doesn't hurt right now. My feet are huge and rolling over in bed brings me to tears... and lack of sleep? I can't even call 'no sleep' lack of sleep, because that implies there is actually SOME sleeping going on.

They won't induce at my office, instead at 40 weeks they'll give me the option of a c-section. He says because my fasting numbers have been so hard to control (now under control with 30 u of insulin) and this kid has been measuring steady at 97th percentile for 3 months, the u/s is probably pretty accurate - this kid is just plain big.

On top of that he said in his 30 years of being an OB he's never seen anyone dilate into labor once the cerclage is removed (which I know is rare, just wishful thinking on my part I guess) and furthermore, since I've been funneled to the stitch for so long (thus creating alot of pressure on the stitch), I will have alot of scar tissue that will make dilation difficult, if not impossible.

Everything about this kids position is perfect for 'natural child birth'- which is what I've paid alot of money to a doula to help me with. I've been preparing myself for this for months and I'm so excited to get the birth I want... but now I'm looking at the very real possibility of a c-section and that is very scary to me. I'm really disappointed. I know in the grand scheme of things having a full term healthy kid is so much more important but I was hoping the actual birthing experience could be close to what I wanted this time. *sigh*

And although I'm only 36 weeks I said a silent prayer - that this weekend I go into labor naturally and have a healthy baby. I'm beyond dreading a c-section. No, I'm not as foolish as some to actually TRY and induce labor but I wouldn't mind it happening on its on at this point. I can only pray...

How exciting!

Well, today has been an eventful day!

I had a non-stress test (kid was amazing - never seen my tummy move so much when s/he kicks) and my u/s was great - my AFI went down 10 points! WOo HoO!

Baby is measuring in at full term - 37w5d and weighs 6 lbs. 10 oz. I can't believe it! Wow!

Best news of all - we scheduled my cerclage removal. Because I'm already so thinned out I bet the kid is coming when the cerclage is out! Of course, I could go weeks without it too... that would stink!

So next Friday at 9 AM I'll be at the hospital having it removed... and maybe, just maybe, we'll have our new little one too! I can only hope that being 36 weeks and a few days is enough time to avoid the NICU and allow him/her to come home with us - how amazing would that be? A take home kid - WOW!

Sad...

I'm bored...
and overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done that I refuse to let myself do (cleaning the house for one).

If I spend too much time out of bed I get cramps and contractions but staying in bed is painful too - laying on my side is really painful to my hips and laying on my back is out of the question at this point.

Today our refrigerator decided to break. Shawn had taken Arianna to the playground and all I wanted was something to drink but I came out to a kitchen slowly drowining in melted ice from my freezer. I wasn't about to leave it there! So I got towels and did alot of bending down and picking up and then had to call a repair guy and spend even more time out of bed.

I feel like crying alot of the time. Everything is just so overwhelming, even when Arianna comes into the room to spend time with me she'll want me to help her up onto the bed (when she's perfectly able to climb up herself, of course) and I'll just cry because I can't get up. She'll want out and I have to scream for hubby and that scares her too. Then there's the eye rolls from hubby when I ask him to do something as simple as get me a drink - does he think I like this??! I hate being so dependent on people!!

I saw my OB yesterday - would you believe they're not going to give me the steroid shots?!!! I don't qualify for them anymore at 34 weeks but I'm obviously in danger of delivering soon and I have gestational diabetes which slows lung maturity. Its pretty doubtful I'll make full term so why not give me the shots?

This makes me cry too.

This pregnancy is really overwhelming right now and I don't have anybody to really talk to about it - so I'll just vent here for all of you to read.

Thanks for the sympathetic 'eyes'!

Still here at 33 weeks!

Hi everyone,

Sorry for not updating sooner and sorry for worrying people so much that they had to email - I hope to be better in the next few weeks. My only excuse is its really hard to type while laying down.

Things aren't much better than they were 2 weeks ago - I'm still on bedrest at home and my asthma is still really bad.

I'm on enough prednisone to kill a cat right now. Its not really helping so we added 3, yes 3, different inhalers. I'm at the highest advair, flovent and albuterol. All things that aren't great with Long QT Syndrome but I actually haven't been having any weird symptoms with all this medicine so I must really need it!

The prednisone, unfortunately, has raised my blood sugars so I'm considered a gestational diabetic and have to test my blood sugar 5 times a day and follow a special diet - do you know how hard that is to do when your on bed rest? Sigh...

My cervix has shortened a lot in the last 2 weeks also - its at 1.7 now and the OB I saw on Tuesday said they may take out my cerclage on Friday to avoid ripping through my cervix. I think this is jumping the gun - I'm not having contractions and as far as I know I'm not dilating (didn't get a manual exam this week) so why take it out? If I have shortened more I may ask for hospital bedrest because its obvious that bedrest at home isn't working too well... I'll also be asking for steroid shots regardless of tomorrows appointment. Since I've got gestational diabetes lung maturity is slowed even more and I'm at risk of delivering soon so I'd hope they'd be open to giving the baby a little boost with one round of steroids.

On the bright side this kid is still huge - 97th percentile and 5.5 lbs. already at only 32 weeks! Part of me is happy that I won't see full term because natural delivery will be really hard with a 9 lb. kid. I'll need recovery from bedrest and adding recovery from a c-section (because the kid is so big) will be awful.

So that's my update - not great, but I'm still here and baby is still baking away (oh ya, and not breech anymore! ya!)

31 weeks

Well, here I am at 31 weeks - this is great!

Good news: Had another negative FFN this week and my 5th to last 17P shot - I'm positive I'll see 33 weeks now - wow! My cervix is still funneled, still 2.5 and still finger tip dilated, but no change so that's good.

Bad news: My asthma is OUT OF CONTROL. The last time my asthma was this bad I was hospitalized for 3 days.

I finally saw OB medicine yesterday which was none too soon. She is very concerned about my horrible peak flow readings (as am I) and doubly concerned that my breathing gets even worse when I'm laying down (and particularly on my right side). I have to spend the majority of my day laying down so this is a real problem. When doing a quick exam she heard some extra heart sounds that may or may not be related to where I am in my pregnancy (blood volume is at its highest right now), so she ordered an echo cardiogram for next Friday to check for pregnancy associated cardiomyopathy.

CAN I CATCH A BREAK PLEASE?! SERIOUSLY!!

I'm on 2 weeks of prednisone and albuterol via nebulizer around the clock (despite my not to be taking it with my Long QT Syndrome) until things get better but I'm not very hopeful. I haven't slept well in 3 days now because I'm gasping and coughing. This is terrifying. I never expected it to get this bad. She's trying to get some answers from my cardiologist regarding which steroidal inhaler I can use because the pulmicort I've been on for a 12 years isn't even touching it now. The problem is that most of the steroidals that I should be using have a component to them that is bad for folks with Long QT Syndrome.

As she put it, I have the ultimate protection, my defibrillator so I need to get my breathing under control and if that means using stuff that is contra-indicated, then so be it. I'm reasonably well protected and its more important for me and baby that I nip this in the bud.

She'll check back in on me on Monday to see if the prednisone is helping - if not I'll be looking at some hospital time and IV steroids. G R E A T!

This is the pits!

But on the bright side, pregnancy is going well so I'll look at the positives for now...

Jinx!

I wrote my last post about an hour before I left the office for the weekend.

We were getting our house exterminated for carpenter ants and I was getting home about 30 minutes earlier than my husband and the exterminator so I could make sure everything was all set to pack up and wrangle the cats into carriers - hubby knew I wasn't doing any of the actual work, just getting everything lined up for him to do it. Well, I get home and the exterminator was there early and already putting the chemicals on the outside of the house! He arrived early so he could start his vacation early - so I had to run in and wrangle the cats and do EVERYTHING before hubby and my mom arrived to help. It was alot of work and I was stupid for doing it...

We got out of the house with the cats on time and I drove hubby back to his office so he could leave his car at the house when he was in NC... so I've got the cats in the back of the car for the next 4 hours and 3 adults crammed into my corolla (oh ya, with a carseat taking up a seat...). I dropped off hubby and was already having lots of contractions. Thankfully I had an appointment for my 17P shot so my mom and I drove there. She was coming with me so that she could stay in the cats while the car was running with the AC on. I had 3 hours between taking him back to work and picking him up to the airport and OF COURSE I would spend that at the office... I got my shot and an exam.

I'm 1/2 - 1 cm. dilated and contracting. I'm on bedrest at home now and had to go to the hospital Thursday night for an ultrasound and meds to stop any contractions ( I had 3-4 dozen of very painful contractions over the course of 4 hours). I got there about 6 PM after picking up Arianna at daycare, dropping off the cats at the house and driving up to my parents (only to turn around and go back to the hospital) I was super worried 'this was it' when I got to the hospital
but thankfully my u/s was the same as earlier in the week and the contractions had stopped by the time I got on the monitors...

The the doctor came in and gave me some 'perspective'. She yelled at me for 10 minutes...

I guess I needed to hear it - as I vented to her about everything I have to do at home with my 2 year old she counter-acted with "You have a husband and family and friends to help, you have more important things to do right now and that is stay in bed... allow other people to do everything, you do nothing but lay in bed"

I stayed with my parents and they put Arianna in a diaper all weekend... it was really hard to 'allow that' considering how hard we've worked on potty training (successfully!) for more than a month.

This is going to be really hard so expect to read lots of venting here!

30 Weeks!!

I can't believe I'm in the 30's now! This is AWESOME!

This week I had another OB appointment and u/s. My cervix is still funneled and a little bit shorter at 2.4 cm and it looks like the 'Y' shape I was worried about - meaning its starting to dilate too. Not enough to be worried about, yet. I have another appointment next week and will ask for a dilation check to be sure.

I'm having ALOT of trouble with my asthma lately - to the point where I'm taking my inhaler frequently throughout the day. I'm actually really worried about it. The hospital I will deliver at doesn't do anything BUT OB related stuff. The hospital next to it can handle my Long QT Syndrome (which limits the meds I can take for my asthma) and asthma but hasn't done anything OB related in 50 years... I'm supposed to see OB medicine which is the branch between the two hospitals but at yesterday's appointment they were running so far behind that they had me reschedule my appointment, so I have no OB medicine doc right now.

Add to that the fact that I'm 'moving in' with my parents this weekend because my husband is going to NC for the weekend - and that moves me more than an hour from the hospitals! So, if I have trouble, and I probably will, I think I'll make the trek up to Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston which has a great cardiology deparmtent and OB department and can handle my asthma with my 2 high risk factors. This will create a problem with getting records to my doctors but I don't really care - the 'tangled web' of hospitals down here is a bit too much to deal with right now and I don't want to have to wait for hours at one of the hospitals down here while OB medicine figures out what they're doing...

My ffn is still valid for another week (its predicts 10 to 14 days out), so I'm still pregnant for at least another week! woo hoo!

Next weekend I'm getting professional maternity pictures done and will post them for everyone to see!

Have a great 4th of July!!

Good News!

I had another ultrasound and FFN test today. Baby is still huge but fluid level is very normal. Cervical length is holding strong at 2.6 cm, so I can rest easy for the weekend! My FFN test came back negative - this means I'll see the 30s... I can't believe it! I'll be able to say "I'm 3x weeks pregnant"... unbelievable!

So much for that...

So today I'm my most pregnant - this was my first milestone and I'm very happy.

Now the bad news:

Yesterday I had an ultrasound (my first in 4 weeks) to check the baby's size and my cervical length. My doctor is concerned because I'm HUGE... when I say huge, I mean really big - as in full term big. As it turns out this kid is in the 90th percentile and I have an 'overabundance of amniotic fluid' - both of which put pressure on my cervix... which is now funneling and short at 2.5 cm - a loss of nearly a cm in a month. I've had an increase in discharge that I chalked up to advancing pregnancy but now realize its my cervix thinning...g.r.e.a.t.

I failed my 1 hour like I thought I would and have to take the 3 hour this weekend. A big kid and overabundance of amnio fluid are signs of gestational diabetes - so I bet I have it. My father has Type II so its not like I don't have risk factors for it.

Arianna was born at this point in my pregnancy and weighed 2 lbs. 15 oz... this kid, at the same gestation, is weighing in at 3 lbs. 9 oz! I'm paying $1000 for a doula and watch, I'll end up with a c-section because the kid is too big... oh ya, and breech... fun times.

On the bright side my OB and I agreed that the reason Arianna was born early was cervical incompetance so getting the cerclage was the single best thing I've done this pregnancy. The 17P shots are a close second because they've been shown to strengthen weak cervix. We also agreed that even if I pass the 3 hour on Saturday I should plan on following a low carb diet because this kid is just WAY too big and if it continues I'll be looking at a 9 lb baby. I won't lie to you that if I go full term I'm VERY scared of delivery. I hired a doula to do it 'all natural' and I'm scared that the size of the baby will make that very hard.

I have another ultrasound on Friday to check the cervical funnel - if it shortens more I'm on bedrest. It would be very hard to do bedrest at home with the amount of work required around the house and potty training a 2-year old and it sounds odd to request it but I'll be asking for hospital bedrest. Although I haven't been having any contractions a funnel/short cervix brings it on and I'd rather be in the hospital if that happens so it can be stopped immediately.

I just need 6 more weeks to feel comfortable... I can do that in the hospital; I know I can, I know I can...

I've made it this far - that's a reason to celebrate but I want my 'take home kid' and I don't care if I have to hang from my toenails to get it!

28 weeks...

Yesterday I was 28/3 - the day I went into labor with Arianna so I'm a little teary eyed yesterday and today. At 5 o'clock I was driving to the ER with DH thinking they'd just give me some meds and send me home. The nice nurse in the ER had me give a UA sample and get changed and no sooner did I get back to the bed the resident checked me and told me I was 'paper thin' effaced at 100% and 4 cm. I wasn't going to leave the hospital and she would be born very soon. For some strange reason I was more excited than not and when the resident tried to calm me down I stupidly said "I was born really early and I'm fine... she'll be fine too". I've learned so much since that day.

I was wheeled up to L&D and they immediately gave me the first steroid shot and it seems that the exam the resident gave me really sent me into full labor - the pain was UNBEARABLE! Within an hour I had an epidural and the onslaught of Social workers/NICU staff/Nurses/OB Medicine and OB staff would infiltrate my room throwing all sorts of info at us but I was too scared to really listen.

She was born at 6:43 AM on 28/5 - so if I can make it to 28/5 and still be pregnant I've reached my first goal - to make it past where she was born.

I have a growth u/s and meeting with my doc tomorrow afternoon - I am very optimistic everything will be fine but still have my fingers crossed, just in case.

Third Trimester!!

I did it - I made it to the 3rd trimester. Only 12 days until I can say I'm my most pregnant. I can't believe how time has FLOWN! Wow!

I was just sending an email to my husband today saying how I'm glad we'll have all our debts (minus my 2006 Toyota) paid off next month so we can actually have some money to buy baby things because we haven't purchased ANYTHING yet. I feel bad in a way. At this point in my first pregnancy we had finished the nursery and had lots of baby things. This baby is already second best and s/he isn't even here yet!

Oh well - its more important that we pay off our debts so I can stay home with minimal stress when the baby arrives.

I had my 1 hour gestational diabetes test this morning - I hate that test, its so pointless. I'm sure I'll fail it again like I did with Arianna and I'm really not looking forward to doing the 3 hour. I didn't get to do the 3 hour with her because she was born the day I was scheduled to take it - oh well! I was good and watched my diet closely for 3 days prior to the test so I hope it makes a difference. I only failed my 1 hour by a few points last time but had a huge carb loaded breakfast before hand. This time I enjoyed a yogurt and water so I hope it makes the difference!

I had my 17P shot and they're getting so much more tolerable now - maybe its because I'm more vocal about how they should administer the shots or just that I'm used to them, but either way its good. Only 8 more shots! WOo HoO!

I have an appointment on Tuesday and then we make a plan for the rest of the pregnancy. Since I'm in the 3rd trimester I'm out of the 'incompetant cervix' danger zone and if my cervical length is favorable we can pretty much rest assured it won't be the reason I deliver early if I do.

On the bright side I haven't had any contractions (that I feel anyway) in 2 weeks - how odd considering how the weeks previously had gone. I'm not complaining, its the best news I could report. I'm so optimistic right now. As long as Tuesday's appointment goes well my anxiety level will drop through the floor because I'm doing really well now! Who'd-a-thunk it? :)