Busy on Wednesday?

Don't know what your Wednesday plans are, but my day will be rather full. You see, I'll be having a baby! EEK!!! My blood pressure was up again, second straight time in two weeks. It is now 150/78. Not good. Weight was fine (actually down about half a pound), no comment on my urine, so no idea what's going on there. I am 1.5 cm dialated, though; far enough that one finger could reach in and touch the head. (That is about the strangest thing I think I've ever typed!) Oh, and I have been having arthritis-like pains in my hands on and off since Friday. He said that is definitely not good because it means I am sometimes retaining enough fluid to either put severe pressure on my joints or to actually force the fluid inside, causing the pain. "We need to get this taken care of. Let me go call the hospital." They were slammed full tomorrow, so the earliest they could get me in is Wednesday morning. "9 AM; be there at 8:30, and we'll have this baby!" YIKES!!

So that's it then. Unless baby makes his own plans, looks like we'll be parents as of sometime October 6. Be looking for an announcement sometime that night, depending (obviously) on when Baby G arrives and how long it takes to contact my brother to post the news. Wish us luck!!

No Baby, No Induction Scheduled (Yet)

I know you are all anxious for news, but there really is none. I had my appointment today. My blood pressure is up slightly, but nothing to be alarmed about. My weight is up just under two pounds, but I know at least half of that is in my feet! Since my hands and face aren't puffy, again there is no great concern. Urine still shows only trace protein, so no worries there.

As far as progress, there has been, and I quote, "nadda." No dilation, no effacement, nothing. Consequently, since no other factors are mandating it, there will be no induction, at least not yet. I will be seen again on Monday, where my progress (or lack there of) will be checked again. They will also do a non-stress test to make sure that the baby is still happy and healthy. If I have made progress, we will discuss induction for sometime next week, perhaps Wednesday. If not, I'll probably be seen back later in the week (I'd guess early Thursday). With all the other factors (possible pre-eclampsia, baby size, etc.), they certainly don't want me to go much more than a week overdue, so if they don't decide to induce next week, it will be the following week for sure, dilation or no. All of this, of course, assumes that Baby G doesn't decide to make his own plans.

So, that's all there is for now. I am almost completely over the bronchitis (I'd say 85-90%). I'm not too uncomfortable (assuming baby isn't using me for a punching bag; see below). I am getting quite tired more often; I go through spells of pretty good energy and exhaustion. But all in all, everything is fine. And the baby's room is all done! Missing a couple of decorative touches, but all of the necessary stuff is in there. Check out my webshots album of the Baby's Room if you would like to see.

Thank you all for your love and support. Just a few more days!

I am NOT a punching bag!

Or a trampoline, or a kickboxing practice dummy. Could someone please explain that to my child? I understand it is getting cramped in there (hey, it's not *my* fault he chose to grow so big before coming out), but pummeling me to death from the inside isn't going to help any. All it is doing is hurting me. :-( Just a few more days, just a few more days....

Then I get to complain about postpartum pain, absolutely no sleep, and no time to myself. :-\

Abstract art, a.k.a. new ultrasound picture

Here he is! Can you see his face? Chin on the left, forhead on the right, upper half of the pic.


Current baby status: Head down (with feet pounding my ribs!), spine against my left side, head pressing *quite* well on my pelvis, making walking, and even sitting, rather difficult at times. Estimated weight: 8 lbs 7 oz. EEK!

Current me status: Urine looks clear of protein, weight has stabalized, blood pressure is back down to 130/68. Yay! We're hoping it was more of a fluke than true pre-eclampsia signs. So, no more bed rest, though I still have to "take it easy." (But I'm guessing they say that to *any* woman 38 weeks pregnant!) Also, no further talk of induction, at least not until my next appointment (Sept 30). They want to give me as much time as possible to get as well as possible before introducing a baby into the mix. This of course assumes he doesn't decide to come on his own.

Current bronchitis status: Still hanging around, but I am feeling better (relatively speaking). Coughing is more congested, but considerably less frequent. Nose is still rather runny, but slowly getting better. My right ear is stopped up, which is driving me batty!! Breathing is easier, overall. But to me, the real sign of improvement is that I *feel* much better. Certainly more alert and focused than I have been for almost a week now. So let's hope I continue to improve.

We may be out of luck

Well, we've been extremely lucky and blessed for 37 weeks, but it looks like our baby luck may have finally run out. Standard disclaimer: no one panic! The doctor is not alarmed, just concerned, saying that "it bears watching." So far, things are still fine. However, I have several factors which show me as borderline for preeclampsia. I had some blood drawn today; should get those results back tomorrow. Assuming that comes back okay, I will be allowed to stay home over the weekend, albeit on all but bed rest. I will then go back to the doctor on Tuesday, and I will probably be going twice a week from then on to have my weight, urine, and blood pressure checked (these are three of the major indictors). Apparently, I am standing right on the line between okay and not. If they can keep me stable at my current levels, they will let me continued as is, at least to my due date, which has been revised to October 2. If I cross said line on any factor between now and my due date, I will have to go into the hospital to be monitored and potentially have labor induced. Fun. So, be thinking of us.

And for everyone who has been asking me how big I am, I'm HUGE!!! Allow me to show you:

The Kitty Inspection Committee

Before I start this post, I wanted to let you know that Jacob's apartment is just fine. The only property they lost was everything in the refrigerator and freezer due to no power for a few days. Not bad, considering.

Okay, now to the actual post. Most of you probably know about the KFC (Kitty Financial Committee) by now. If not, you can read all about them here at a previous post I made. Well, with all the new responsibilities coming to the family with the baby, they wanted in on the action. Thus, the Kitty Inspection Committee was formed.

The real story? With all this new stuff, you don't really think we can keep it away from four cats, do you?! LOL Nope, no way, no how, not a chance. We *have* managed to do quite a good job of keeping them out of/off of the crib, which is our primary concern. They are already accustomed to not going in that room (not that they don't try every time). We have let them come in and sniff around, and we have held them up and let them sniff at the crib, but that's it. There's a door to that room, so not much trouble. But the travel system? That's staying down here, and it had to be put together, which obviously means we needed lots of "help." You don't really think that they were just going to let us "peoples" do it alone, do you? So once it got all put together, it had to be inspected.

Here is Tigger, inspecting the infant seat and stroller (and DH in the background):


And Bengal, inspecting the basket. Clearly it can hold at least 15 pounds. LOL

International baby

My friend Cyndi has returned from her three-month work-related trip to Italy. She and I met up today briefly, just to say hi and catch up. She just returned yesterday, so she's still a little, um, spacy from the trip, to say the least, but it sounds like she had a fabulous time. Cyndi is quite the experienced international traveler, having spent a great deal of time in Paris just a couple of years ago during the Ga Tech architecture study abroad program.

While in Paris, she became entranced with what was *the* baby toy for all French children. It's a small plastic giraffe. She said at the time that she wished she knew someone with a baby so she could buy one. Well, upon finding out that I was expecting before this European trip, she decided that our baby would indeed have one of these little giraffes, and she specifically sought one out on her weekend trip to Paris. How many babies can say that? "Why yes, *my* chewy toy came from Paris! Yours is just from Target." LOL Thank you, Cyndi! I'm sure he'll love it.

And, it's just so darn cute, I have to show you:

Might have to take down the pregnancy ticker

It's been pretty fun to watch, but it's really starting to freak me out now!

GO! Set. Ready?

Given that I can't sleep, and I've been meaning to blog on this topic for what seems like forever, I figured it was about time. How many times have you heard or said the following: "you're never completely ready for a baby." I heard that constantly growing up, and I've been told that more times than I can count since announcing this pregnancy. I know it's true; it has to be. How can you prepare yourself for something you have no concept of in actuality, particularly if you didn't grow up around lots of little kids and babies (I certainly didn't).

It occurs to me that having a child is the one thing we do almost completely backwards, thus the title of this post. Under normal circumstances for most any task, we would do everything possible to prepare ourselves. We'd read, we'd study, we'd practice. We'd "get ready." Then we would set up the plan for how to accomplish whatever it is we want. "Set." Finally, when we feel "ready and set," we'd implement said plan and tackle whatever it is we were preparing for; "go." You can't really do that with having a child. For most people (my personal observations here), the first thing we do is start trying (GO!). Only once we have succeeded do we really start setting out the fully detailed plan. What do we need? When do we need it? How does this whole birth thing actually work (you expect me to do what?! LOL)? Only once we've taken the plunge and there's no turning back do we bother to get around to being "set" for actually bringing a child into this world and into our own home. And then, once we think we're all (or mostly) set, or we hope we are because we're running out of time.... only then do we really sit down and say, am I ready for this? The answer is no. No matter how much prep work we do, we'll never be truly ready. All we can do is hope and wait and pray.

Doesn't really matter, anyway, because it's too late to change my mind at this point. Only 5(ish) weeks left. EEK! Are we ready? No; see above. Are we set? Well, we're getting there. Hey, we have a constructed crib in the baby's room now. Yay! ::big smile:: OMG, we have a crib!!! That means we're *actually* going to have a baby to put in it. EEK EEK EEK!!!!! What the heck were we thinking?! We're not ready for this! ::tries not to faint:: And we're breathing....

Quite a range

When I had my storybook shower at the beginning of this month, we posted two contests for the attendees. One was "guess the birthday" (using birth time as a tie break, should two people pick the same date). The second was "guess the weight" (using length as the tie break). We got quite a range of answers! I guess that's good. It means not too many people will be all bunched up, so there shouldn't be any close calls. The dates range from 9/23 (two weeks early) to 10/15 (8 days late). Times from 2 AM to 11:23 PM. Weights from 6 lbs. 5 oz. to 8 lbs. 8 oz. (Thank goodness no one thinks I'll be giving birth to a behemoth.) Lengths from 17 3/4 inches to 20 inces even. Should be an interesting contest!

The funny thing is going to be seeing how well my father does at the birthday game. He decided to take the "scientific approach." He looked up the moon tables on his palm and chose the date of the full moon closest to my due date. LOL So he guessed October 13. Given the sheer number of engineers we had there (these were most of my college (Georgia Tech) friends), I'm surprised he was the first person to think of it. Let's see how accurate science is, shall we?

Atlanta Get-Together - a special thank you

I just wanted to thank everyone who came to the Atlanta GTG today at Valerie's house. We had a fabulous time. We just had one three weeks ago, but they decided to hold one again, since this will be my last one before my baby is born. (Next one is scheduled for the last week in September or first week in October; um, no). We had a great time, despite missing a couple of members who had to cancel at the last minute (missed you Stacey and Maria!). Lots of laughter, lots of stories, lots of food, and some stitching. LOL It was so much fun!!

And surprising! That's right, part of the GTG involved a surprise baby shower for me, and not only did the "locals" participate, but several other members of the TWBB as well, some from as far away as England. I was so stunned! And I didn't have a single clue it was coming. I have been promised I don't have to send out thank you notes (bless you), but I did want to publicly thank the following people for making today so special for me: Valerie (the hostess with the mostest), Jana, Lori, Kirsten (who also brought the yummiest cake!), Cris, Ginny, Becky, Cindy, Angi, Teresa, Annette, Margaret, Sue, Jenni, Lisa, Mel, Pauline, and Kay. Y'all are the best!

I understand that at least one package did not make it in time, but Valerie will get any stragglers to me at a later date. So, if you don't see your name listed above but you did send something, it just hasn't gotten to me yet.

Thank you all again! I feel so loved and blessed with friends like you.

-Erin, smiling through happy tears

Where has Mr. Wiggles gone?

Before I start this story, I want everyone to repeat (and believe) the following statement: everything is fine! Got it? Okay, you may continue. For anyone who gets the baby newsletter, this story is a repeat.

We had a minor baby scare on Tuesday. He had been very very active for the last week or so, virtually in constant motion. He was quiet, though still moving, on Monday. Tuesday, I realized late afternoon (naturally, around 4 pm when the doctor's office closed) that I had felt virtually no movement all day long. Called the office, and they sent me to "OB Assessment" to have fetal heartbeat and activity monitored. Took them a while to find the heartbeat (not uncommon for our uncooperative child), and he still wasn't moving much. After about an hour, they decided to use the accoustic stimulator, which is essentially a buzzer placed on my belly that provided noise and vibrations. Boy, he did NOT like that! I thought he was going to jump right out of me through my belly button. But that was the reaction they wanted, and after that (I think he decided he didn't want to go through that again), he's been moving regularly. Whew! Don't scare mommy like that again please!

The world's strangest favor

Probably my most embarrassing pregnancy moment to date: I had to ask someone for the world's strangest favor yesterday. I had a baby appointment, and when I came out of the office building, the person next to me in the parking lot had parked almost right on the line nearest the driver's side of my car. Granted I was a little closer to the line than normal (not exactly centered), and the parking spaces are narrow (less than a foot from tire to line if you are perfectly centered), but there was not even a foot between the sides of our vehicles. Not only could I not have gotten the door open far enough to actually get in it if I could have reached it, I couldn't even get my hips between the sides of the cars. Turning sideways did no good with this basketball sticking out front, which also prevented me from crawling through the passenger's side. ::sigh::

So I head back into the building, hoping to find someone, someone skinny enough, to help me. Thankfully, an angel was sent promptly. As I was walking in, a very nice man, roughly my age and quite slender (5'10" and 160-170), was walking out. I stopped and asked if he would mind helping me, and he said he would certainly try. When I explained the situation and what I needed him to do, he just smiled. "I'd be happy to help. I hope someone will do the same for my wife if she is ever in a similar situation." As we walk out, he asks where I am parked, and I point off to our left. "Uh-oh, I hope I'm not the idiot who parked too close!" LOL He wasn't; in fact, he was parked directly in front of me. Even he commented on how close the cars were, and even he had difficulty getting in the door (but not getting between the vehicles ::rolls eyes::). He backs it out for me, I thank him profusely, and I leave. Next time, I'm cheating to the right side of the parking space!

Just what I wanted! (not)

This morning, I woke up to another "official" sign of late pregnancy: stretch marks. Now, these are not my first stretch marks. I have plenty from being overweight on and off my entire life, but I've had most of those long enough that they have faded to the pale silvery hardly-noticable type (particulary when I am so pale to begin with). It was just rather a shock to see "fresh ones" glaring purple in the mirror this morning. I know, they are to be expected, but that doesn't mean they are welcome. Guess I should step up my skin care regiment with the stretch mark cream Connie gave me for Christmas. I haven't been very diligent about it to this point; perhaps this is my punishment. If I start now, maybe I can minimize them to some extent. We shall see.

Buy stock in Charmin

This whole post carries a minor TMI (too much information) alert, and a definite *rant* warning.

To all who like to invest in stock, you should buy Charmin now.  Or whoever their parent company is.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the stereotypical need to urinate constantly has finally hit this pregnant lady.  And it's awful!!  I used to go 6-8 hours (sometimes more) without needing to find a restroom, and I *never* had to get up at night.  Even after getting pregnant, I thought visiting the facilities every 4 hours was a little much, but not unmanageable, and maybe once during the night.  But now, I am literally getting up to go every 60-90 minutes, and it is driving me batty!  Even at night, this goes on.  It's a wonder my husband is getting any sleep (and I know many nights, between the bathroom and my simply being unable to find a comfortable position, he really isn't getting much sleep).  And I've got 11 more weeks of this?!  I'm not sure if I can cope.  Oh, and buying stock in Tums is probably not a bad idea either.  I've had heartburn off and on fairly regularly over the past 7 months, most usually at night.  For the past few days, it has been almost constant!  Ugh.  I just hope I have an esophagus left by the time it's all over.

Yes, the baby has a website

I've been emailed this question a few times over the last week, so I thought I would post it here for good measure.  The baby's website is officially up and running.  Pretty much all that is currently there are the monthly updates I send out.  I imagine it will be much more "hopping" once he actually arrives (well, assuming I have the time, that is, ha ha).  Don't feel compelled to visit or read if you're not really interested.  I just know some are, so I wanted to let you know it was there.  If you want to receive the monthly updates via email, just drop me a line (you can use the email link in the left "star" box).  But again, don't feel like you have to.  I'm not trying to drum up interest.  I already send it to 45 people, but it's easy to add you if you want.  (Am I being wishy-washy enough for you?)
 
Oh, and it's a Geocities free site, so that means pop-up adds and limited hits per day.  So if you can't access it right away, try back in a few hours or a couple of days later.  One of the prices you pay for a free site.  Maybe when I rejoin the ranks of the employed, I'll actually spring for my very own domain and ad-free hosting.  We'll see.

I have taken the final step

Yes folks, I have officially stepped wholely, totally, and completely into the world of pregnancy. How was I not there before, you ask? Simple. I was still "making due" with regular clothes. But no more, they're just too uncomfortable.

I now have maternity clothes.

Not sure how I feel about that (besides much more comfortable! LOL). There just isn't much selection out there for plus-sized ladies, and when you combine that with the fact that I am not willing to spend $30 for a top or $50 on a skirt or pair of pants, my options become severely limited. To make matters worse, summer clothes are on "seasonal clearance" right now, so finding things in my size becomes even more complicated. How can shorts be "out of season"?! It's the middle of JULY!!! Hello, anyone home in the retail market? It's 95 degrees outside. What the heck makes you think that I'm going to want to even try on (much less buy) a sweater right now?

I figure it will balance out soon enough, though. Every season, the clothes for the next season come out earlier and earlier. Bathing suites used to be in stores in March, then February. I usually see them out around mid-January now. Give it a couple of years, and they'll be out before Thanksgiving. Follow that trend, and eventually, they'll loop back on themselves and all will be right again. I'm just not sure I can wait that long.

Half way there!

::doing a little happy pregnancy dance:: I just cannot believe that I am 20 weeks through this pregnancy already. Wasn't it just yesterday that I announced? I assure you we are not half way ready for a baby! Guess I'll have to work on that. My last day at work will be Wednesday, May 26. Should have plenty of time after that.

Baby Gaston - all is well!

Well, as much as they can tell, which is pretty well. We were in the ultrasound room for about an hour. The tech did a very detailed analysis to determine fetal age. She put my due date about 5 days earlier than the one that my doctor gave me, but she did say that it's a numbers game and some babies are just bigger than others (i.e. don't get my heart set on an earlier date, LOL). Oh, and it's *definitely* a boy. Both she and the doctor said so, and I have the picture to prove it (I really will get the scanner hooked up this week). The doctor even laughed and said that, although dad's don't like to hear this, sometimes their little, er, parts are not big enough to be seen at this point, "but that's not a problem for your little guy." :-p

Anyway, after doing her analysis, the doctor came in to have her own look around inside. I like her a lot, she was very very nice, and very careful to explain everything she was doing and seeing (something I like in a doctor, but I know some people don't). She asked if this was our first, and when we said yes, she said "oh, so they got you all freaked out about this for probably no reason." She said that the absolute number one most common reason that AFP tests come back high is "just because they do, with nothing to ever explain why." She went over a few other "normal" reasons, including twins ("we'd definitely know if that were the case by now") and fetal demise ("clearly not a problem with your little wiggle worm here"). She also said that my readings were not that high. A reading of 2.5 is considered normal, and mine was 2.87.

Then she went over the defects that could cause it. Missing the top of the skull: everything is perfectly intact as it should be, the brain is developing well. Intestines developing on the outside of the body or the lower abdominal cavity not completely covered in skin: no evidence of that, and it is very easy to detect via ultrasound. Lack of skin covering the spine: she did a "cross section" view of the spine all the way down for as much of it as she could see, and there is skin covering all of it. She did say that it is hard to detect if the very ends of the spine are exposed. The very bottom portion is hard to see because it curls into the "butt crack" (her words), but she seemed unconcerned about that one. The very top portion, where it joins the brain, is also hard to check directly via ultrasound, but if that is the case, it usually causes a clearly visible problem in the cerebellum, and she found no evidence of any such problem. So, as best we can tell, all is well.

Ultrasounds are not 100%, of course. The only way to be absolutely sure is to do an amnio. Then she said almost the same words, verbatim, that I said to my mother last night. Having seen no evidence of a defect of any kind (including a cleft lip, which doesn't show up on the AFP test, but since I was there they decided to check), the likelyhood of him having an undetected defect after four ultrasounds, two in the past two weeks that have been looked at by three people, including a perinatologist, is so much less than the chance of miscarriage due to an amnio, they really discourage the test unless the parents are practically hysterical and absolutely demand to have difinitive proof. The worst possible outcome would be to do an amnio, have it come back perfectly normal, and then to miscarry a perfectly healthy baby. I was in absolute agreement, so we will just assume all is well, since we are as sure as we can be at this point. She also said that unless something else shows up strange at my regular doctor, she has no reason to see me back. Yay!

And the list narrows

Well, we now have an actual "short list" for baby names. It's down to six (from 43): Brian, Evan, Kevin, Luke, Ryan, and Shane. (Yes, I am perfectly aware that two pairs of those rhyme.) We do alreadly have a favorite, but we're not telling. Actually, the list may not even get any shorter. We won't make a decision until he actually arrives, so there's no point in agonizing over it right now. Oh, middle name will be Warren, my maiden name.

In other news, one of my blood tests came back slightly off from the expected value, so I have to go in for a more in-depth test on Tuesday, May 18. If you could spare come good thoughts for all three of us that day, it would be much appreciated. My doctor doesn't seem overly concerned, and since the in-depth test is an ultrasound (completely non-invasive and risk-free), there's no reason not to double-check, just in case. I'll let you know the results as soon as I have them.