Thursday 31 October 2013

Quick update (10/31/13)

Happy Halloween.  My belly still doesn’t quite look like a standard pregnant belly.  Alas, it is what it is.  I can definitely feel him move and that is fun. 

Lately, I have been going through a stage.  My boss calls this “Getting in Tune with my baby”.  I have been waking up at about 4:30 am and not being able to get back to sleep to closer to 5:30 or later.  This lack of sleep is effecting my work day, and training my replacement.  I’m not a good teacher/talker, and have been doing that nonstop for almost two weeks now.  Also in my sleep, I have been a snore talker, according to Deb, mumbling in my sleep while snoring lightly, sometimes coming out with full words which also wakes her up thinking I’m talking to her. 

I am now 31 Weeks and one day (or 31 weeks on Friday per the ultrasound people, but OB sticks to a January 1 due date.)  I am in the single digit countdowns and Deb is convinced little one will come early.  For my sister, at least one, if not two, came late, so I’m not counting on early.  I’m ok with that though.  Deb is just anxious to meet the bean. 

The breast pump debate in my head is still continuing.  We have found one that is about $160 but it seems replacement parts aren’t readily available.  So if I need bigger breast shields to accommodate larger nipples than most I don’t know if it would be a possibility.  This then puts the debate on should we get the Medela.  Babies R Us is having a midnight madness sale this Friday having the hands free one on sale for $380, from $450.  I have a feeling we are just going to bite the bullet and get the Medela. 

Belly pictures.








Not a lot of change.  Very gradual I guess.  

Friday 18 October 2013

Head Down (10/18/13)

Last night as I was falling asleep, Deb and I were cuddling, and she started to giggle, which means she felt a good kick from my stomach.  I fell asleep pretty quickly after that.  Apparently, however, the Bean was on the move.  My stomach looked like it was morphing into something else, the bean was kicking and pushing and moving.  Deb intently watched my stomach for a long time, until it settled down.  This morning I felt he was in a different position, because before now he was laying sideways (maybe that explains my troll tummy instead of prego belly).  Alas, per this morning’s ultrasound he is no longer in a breech position and is head down. 


My MIL had a slight freak about that however.  When she was pregnant with Deb’s brother he was in breech till fairly late in pregnancy.  The day after he turned, she went into labour.  So she was worried I was going to be going into labour soon.  Deb assured her that is not normally the case.  

Ultrasound 29 Weeks 2 Days (10/18/13)



Profile shot

Full Face view, eye lids and all. 


We got to see him pull his toes up to his head.  Very cute.

The bean is doing very well.  He is now in the 70th percentile.  I was very worried when I first heard this, but the doctor said that is still all good and well.  With hypertension they worry about low birth weight, so him being a bit bigger is good.  (I just hope he isn’t going to get too big.)  But I guess he just had a big growth spurt. 

And here are the two missing weeks of belly shots

Week 28 Getting thicker

Troll tummy has officially popped out, still not looking pregnant though.  As of last Saturday I have gained 17 pounds in this pregnancy.  I think tomorrow’s weigh in is going to show a bit more of a gain, I just hope not too much. 


Seeing I got some good recommendations for stuff needed before the baby on last blog post, and I am very thankful for that, I am now asking for recommendations for Breast Pumps.  I know I definitely want electric double pump, but after reviewing some of the products out there I’m more confused than ever.  My friend recommended the Medela, but after reading some reviews the ratio of them conking out after 5+ months isn’t winning, plus there seems to be a concern of getting mold in the pump/tubes.  I think I need to look at some of them hands on at stores instead of online, but I would appreciate any feedback on breast pumps.  

Thursday 10 October 2013

Nursery (10/10/13)

Finally I have uploaded the photos from our camera.  Here is our before/after of our nursery. 
 Entranceway 
 Before
After

 Crib Wall Before

After


One of our crib bedding sets.  I know bumpers are not recommended for a new born, but we will be having our little bean sleep in our room for the first few months in a bassinet. 


Change table wall before




This is the change table wall after. 



 This change table, we were able to pick up from a garage sale for $1.00.  It needed some slight reinforcements, but Deb was very able to quickly fix it up and take off the packing tape residue.  In fact most of our nursery items are from garage sales or shop at home.  The dresser used to be Ikea Birch, we painted and then MIL got us decals from the Dollar Store.   The dresser is full of our small sized baby clothes, and the closet is full with the 3 – 12 months clothes, diapers for the first few months, along with other baby related items. 

 The baby gear storage, bassinet, exersaucer, swing, toys etc.  When baby is in here, this is where the rocker will go. 


Storage for bibs, socks, facecloths etc

This is the light switch cover we *sigh* paid full price for at Babies R Us.

The growth chart outside the door.


Even before we were pregnant, I was doing research of things you should have/shouldn’t have, must haves versus wants.  From Deb friend who is a midwife, we got a recommendation that a video monitor is very worth it, and a canopy cover for the car seat that doesn’t interfere with the handle.  In turn we purchased those items.  Can I get some feedback on recommendations for must haves for a newborn or infant from some more moms who have been through this?  We have put together a list of stuff still to purchase, which mostly includes stuff like talc, diaper cream, baby shampoo/hair brush, nursing bras, along with a few wants like a giraffe diaper stacker. 


A few people have been asking if we are having a baby shower.  When we say no, we get some of the weirdest looks.  We might be wavering on that, and doing something like a pot luck, but then again, maybe not.  I’d also appreciate input into baby shower pros/cons.  The usual is gifting, but we have pretty much all ready provided what we need, we have more clothes than I’m sure we’ll need.  The other side of things is visiting and friends/family meeting the baby.  We get fairly overwhelmed having a lot of people over, but having a constant stream of one on one meet ups day after day seems a bit daunting as well.  

Wednesday 9 October 2013

28 Weeks (10/09/13)

What an interesting week of appointments.  On September 29 I went in for my blood work to be done for Crohn’s and Gestational Diabetes.  On Tuesday I get a call from my general physician, Dr B.  I got stressed to no end thinking he got the results and is calling me in sooner than seeing my OB because it was positive for Diabetes.  They wouldn’t tell me what it was over the phone, so I had to go in for a rush appointment.  (He was going on Vacation as of Thursday.)  So I get an appointment for the same day, had to leave work early, so did Deb because we were car pooling, and when making the appointment, I had forgotten I didn’t have the car that day.  Buggar.  We get to the appointment a bit late because of traffic, and the receptionist wasn’t too pleasant about it, even though we called to explain we would be late.  Once in with Dr B, he rushed me in because I’m anemic.  I all ready F#%*ng know that.  I’m trying various forms of iron.  Alas he had me try yet another version of supplements.  (Didn’t work).  He was looking at the paperwork from the gastrologist (Dr. W) but didn’t have the results for the Diabetes yet.  Are you kidding me, we rushed and stressed and missed work to find out something I all ready knew.  He also had concerns that I might have arthritis as something was inflamed.  At which point, I asked for a copy of my blood work.  After investigating the results, I figured it was my Crohn’s that was inflamed, and would discuss with Dr. W the following week. 

On Monday I saw my gastrologist, Dr W. for Crohn’s.  That day I was seeing two specialist at the opposite ends of the city.  The first appointment was supposed to be at 8:45, which in theory left plenty of time to get to my following appointment at 10:30.  Well, the receptionist at Dr W had double booked time and she had a meeting until 9:30.  Needless to say I didn’t get in to my appointment until 9:45.  On the upside my blood work is looking good.  The high levels of inflammation were within acceptable levels for pregnancy. 

From there I quickly made it to my next appointment, luckily traffic was good.  That is the benefits of not travelling during rush hour.  The next appointment was with the Problems in Pregnancy clinic with Dr H.  I was more excited about this appointment because my asthma is getting worse and they would be dealing with that.  Originally I thought this appointment was going to be relatively on time, and get to work at a decent time.  Nope, that was not the case.   The nurse took me in almost right on time. She did my weight, and blood pressure, both not too bad.  Then I waited for the doctor to come in.  After about 20 minutes I saw Dr H’s partner doctor who was helping that day.  We went over most of the concerning issues and questions they had. 

One of the major benefits of that appointment was, I got to get my Gestational Diabetes results two days sooner.  I do NOT have Gestational Diabetes.  Woohoo. 

The appointment went fairly well, but the partner doctor wouldn’t go over any of the options until Dr H reviewed the information.  So I had to wait again.  This time it was about an hour and a half.  By this time I was starving.  I hadn’t had any snacks, thinking this appointment would be quick, so I had just eaten breakfast.  Snicker Joe was starting to come out, as it was after 12:30 by the time the two doctors came back in.  Apparently there was a medical emergency that morning which put everything behind. 

We went over everything and the main point Dr H was drilling that I was not happy about was my weight gain.  She didn’t like that I drank my calories having prune juice with iron tablets to help with constipation.  She instantly lumped me in the horrible eater category because of my weight, and of course blamed my constipation on the fact I don’t drink enough water.  I do know I need to get more exercise, but as my asthma is getting worse it is getting even harder to want to walk with the anticipation of a major coughing fit.  Not once did she ask how much I actually drink, nor did she ask what it was I eat on a regular basis.  The hopeful silver lining to this appointment was the fact they are changing up my inhalers to improve my asthma, in theory. 

Once in the car I started to inhale my lunch, and ended up snacking most of the afternoon.  Changing up my morning eating routine messed up my entire day. 

From that appointment I went directly to Walmart to get the new prescriptions filled.  At Walmart they didn’t have some of the items in stock, so I needed to pick everything up the next day. 

At work I started to discuss more definite dates for my Maternity leave with my bosses.  Based on generally a clean bill of health I had figured I would be able to work until December 20th.  In my mind that was great news, almost an extra month of full income, as I had figured I would stop working December 1st due to medical leave for one reason or another.  My immediate boss was ok with things, bringing in my replacement third week in November and then us both working the month of December.  The next up boss had some slight issues with the scheduling of things and not getting proper notice if I go on medical leave if needed, which is why we wanted to bring in my replacement as early as we had figured.  After a slight brief discussion the higher up boss left having to “noodle” about this, meaning she had to talk to a lawyer and or read up on medical leave.  I wasn’t having the best of days and this fueled for me to be disgruntled perpetuated by pregnancy hormones.  By the time I got home I was fuming, the door wasn’t open so I had to hunt for my keys, with my hands full, which I ended up dropping things, then the dogs were jumping up and poking their claws in my leg, dinner wasn’t on the go, and even though I had been snacking most of the afternoon I wasn’t wanting to wait long for dinner.  All very trivial things that normally would have been no problem, but hormones were making a mountain out of a few small mole hills. 

We all ended up going out for dinner to a buffet and slowly I calmed down.  Needless to say we didn’t get a lot done that night.

That brings us to today’s appointment with my OB, Dr C.  My blood pressure was good, I had only gained .4kg since the last appointment, I had figured everything was good to go, and wanted to discuss maternity leave with a bit more certainty, making sure working till December 20th was ok.  As soon as I brought up leave, she said I should be stopping work now.  With high blood pressure, the more pregnant I get the worse it can be, and if it goes off the rails things can go wrong trying to get my blood pressure back to normal.  This totally blindsided me.  I mentioned I have a low stress desk job, but she thinks I should start medical leave as soon as possible.  I told her that I still had to train a replacement and probably the earliest I would be able to stop working would be early November. She agreed that it “should” be ok for me to continue to work that long, but not much longer.

Once back at work, I talked it over with my immediate boss and we came up with approximate dates to work with while talking with the higher up boss, provided my replacement can start that early.  We had called my replacement saying she got the job on Monday, and then gave tentative dates on Tuesday.  However we are now moving things up about a month.  My replacement is pretty flexible but she does have to give notice where she is working now. 

In the end, my tentative medical leave will start November 8th ish, depending on the start date of my replacement, as cautious medical leave, and so I can start to see the home nurses frequently.  Other than take my blood pressure, I’m not sure what they do.  

Here is week 27 belly photo.



The belly is starting to come in, but still mostly just look like I’ve gained weight.