35 Weeks down... 5 to go?

This last week has been quite eventful. Had another trip to labor and delivery on Tuesday since the increased dose of my blood pressure pills weren't helping my contractions. We were worried that since they thought I was already dilating and didn't want it to get worse. According to our nurse I was still the same amount dilated. She said her guess is that I'll go into labor on my own in the next two weeks. They checked my blood for preeclampsia again, gave me a shot of Terbutaline and sent me home on a "modified bedrest". This basically means I need to be sitting or laying down most of the time. I started working half days this week so I can rest and still keep things above water at work. 


I saw my OB, Dr.Crum, on Thursday. I was soooo happy to finally get to talk with her. When she checked my cervix, she found I'm not dilated or effaced! She said the NP and hospital were feeling a scared portion of my cervix from my surgery 2 years ago. She also said some people just contract a lot. Which must be the case for me. My belly is hard all the time and cramping sets in at night. She's thinking we won't have any problem with preterm labor unless my blood pressure goes back up. She said she doesn't have any indication that baby boy will be here in 2 weeks. In fact, she thinks I'll be able to go full term. They are taking me off the Nifedipine next weekend at my 36 week mark. They are thinking this may help my body go into labor. If my blood pressure spikes again they will consider inducing me or planning a c-section. I was happy to hear that if I go into labor from here on out, my doctor will deliver Ollie :)

34 Weeks (waiting.. waiting and more waiting)

So many questions and not enough answers! My contractions haven't eased up much at all. In fact, last night while shopping they got pretty painful.  When I'm laying down or resting I'm perfectly fine. The minute I stand up the contractions start and don't let up until I sit down. The meds they gave me aren't helping a bit. They actually doubled my dosage today but we haven't seen any results yet. Luckily, my next doctors appointment in Thursday. I'm really quite interest to see if I'm dilated any more then last week. I am at the point of wanting more answers. At first I didn't think much of whats going on. But now with back pain and contractions... i'm becoming a demanding preggo :)  So far they're thinking they will take me off the meds in two weeks and let me go into natural labor. I thought first time moms weren't supposed to dilate very easily. Just my luck, i'm already dilating and live an hour away from the hospital. I'm also worried about my "high blood pressure" during delivery. I'd rather be induced and coached through delivery... even a scheduled c-section would be nice. Anything where they can make sure baby and I are okay by monitoring us would be just lovely. I'm looking forward to voicing all my concerns to Dr.Crum. I don't know if I'm being unrealistic with my expectations or if everyone has these thoughts.

I've been slowly but surely packing hospital bags for me and Ollie. It's kind of surreal to think that we are packing the fist things he will be using from home. I keep looking up lists on google to see if we're missing anything. I'm sure we will forget something. Luckily there is a Buy Buy Baby right next door :)

Crazy week..... (33 weeks and 5 days)

We are still in our 33rd week :) After a weekend of bed rest, I feel much better and well rested. Mom came down for the weekend to keep me company and Jonny's been super husband/dietician (helping me pick less salty foods to keep down the water retention). The swelling has gone down a lot! My legs are still swollen, but not as severe as they were last week. The doctor thought I'd be ok returning to work since I mostly sit at my desk all day.

By Tuesday I noticed I was having Braxton Hicks more regularly. I started counting them and had 7-8 every hour. I called my doctors office to let them know. My fear is always to be that "crazy patient" who calls about EVERYTHING. But since they asked about them at my last appointment, I thought it’d be best to let them know. I got a call a few hours later from Mary, the triage nurse. Their office was going to be closing within the hour and she recommended I go straight to labor and delivery at the hospital. I reminded her I wasn't in pain, and they mainly happened when I would get up and walk around. I've never felt a real contraction from labor so I’m not sure where mine stack up. She let me know if they are strong enough to notice the tightening and trigger me to count them, they are too strong (definitely considering how far along I am). I asked her if I could rest for the night and come in to see my doctor the following day. She said false labor contractions go away when you walk around. The fact that mine were more pronounced with activity was a huge concern. She said she would let the hospital know we were on our way. The whole way home to get Jonny we went back and forth on what to do. I didn't want to go to the hospital just to be put on monitors for a few hours and sent home. We ultimately decided to go...

When we got to the hospital they immediately checked my blood pressure which was way too high.... 143/93. They started an NST right away to make sure baby was active (which I could already feel) and to see just how bad my contractions were. A nurse came in and drew more blood for another preeclampsia test. We spent the next two hours waiting on results and watching the monitor screen. We also watched an episode of Friends, which happened to be the one where Phoebe has twins, how appropriate! Finally, the nurse came in to let me know that I was once again negative for preeclampsia. She gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop the contractions and sent us home. My blood pressure was back down to 128 over something….. Since I was lying down for a few hours it had gotten better. They never checked to see if I was dilated or anything. Walking to the truck, the contractions started again. We decided I would just call my doctor the next day to see what was going on.

After talking with the MA on Wednesday, she recommended I come in so they can put me on daily medication to ease my contractions. My doctor wasn't in, so I saw Laura the NP. She checked my cervix and found that I'm already 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. His head is down and he's getting ready to make an entrance. Laura did a Fetal fibronectin (fFN) test to send to the lab which should tell how high my risk is for premature delivery. fFN is a protein produced during pregnancy. It acts as a biological glue, attaching the fetal sac to the uterine lining. If fFN is detected before 35 weeks of pregnancy, preterm labor is indicated. It usually suggests you will go into labor within the next 2 weeks. They said the hospital technically should have done all of this when I was there! They also put me on a hypertension (high blood pressure) medication called Nifedipine to ease my contractions. The NP is thinking I will probably wind up on bed rest until delivery after my appointment next week. They want to make sure Ollie cooks till at least 36 weeks at the absolute earliest. They are pretty much set on delivery at 37 weeks though. Which lands us right on our 1 year anniversary (11/13/2011)! What a wonderful gift :) It's a bit overwhelming to think that our little boy could be here in 4 weeks or less... there is sooo much to do! and to buy! We've been slacking!

Luckily, I already had this week scheduled off work. I decided to come stay with mom since Jonny is headed to NY for his brother’s wedding tomorrow. Today my routine has been: sleep, eat, pee.... usually in that order. It's been nice to relax and finally get some sleep. Hopefully my fFN test results will be in by tomorrow at the latest. We are really looking forward to meeting with our doctor next week to try to set a more permanent plan in stone for delivery... and hopefully see that I'm not dilated any more.

33 weeks ... NST and Preeclampsia

After my pictures last week, I noticed that my feet had swollen up worse than they ever have. I thought it was just because I was busy with errands all day and on my feet. The swelling never went down and eventually got worse throughout the week. By my appointment on Thursday, my legs looked like one big blob. Jonny and I named them "Thankles". Thighs, knees, calfs, cankles and feet all in one. I was worried about the swelling, but at my last appointment my doctor said it was very common at this point in the pregnancy. I thought it was somewhat normal. When the nurse saw my feet she knew something was wrong. My blood pressure was also pretty elevated and there was protein in my urine. All three together are signs of Preeclampsia.

They did a few blood draws to send to the lab for confirmation. Then they did a NST (Fetal Non-Stress Test) to see if Olliver was okay. The put a monitor on the baby's heart beat and one on my uterus to see if I was having contractions. The doctor was worried that I was in a stage of preterm labor since I've also ben having mild braxton hicks at night. By this point I was a bit freaked out. It's one of the only appointments Jonny hasn't accompanied me too. I knew going in there was a chance I'd be diagnosed with preeclampsia. Mom and grandma both had it with their pregnancies and it's hereditary. After googeling my symptoms before going in that morning,  I knew what they were looking for. Luckily, baby boy was fine and I wasn't dilated  They sent me home on bedrest for the rest of the weekend.

Never google a diagnoses ..... unless you don't intend on sleeping that night. The information on Preeclampsia is scary. Preterm labor, bed rest in the hospital, and if it's not monitored the mother can elevate to the "eclampsia" stage wich causes seizures and strokes. Needless to say, we got very little sleep Thursday night. Friday afternoon, we got the call to let us know my tests came back negative. The nurse said to stay on bedrest for the weekend and drink lots of water. What a weird deal, I'm swollen from water intake, but the more i drink the more it flushes out my system. I would have thought the complete opposite!

As of today, my swelling has gone done quite a bit. We had a babymoon and vacation (and Jonny's brothers wedding) scheduled in Boston/New York this week. We were supposed to leave Tuesday. My doctor said flying would only make my symptoms worse and strongly suggested I stay home. Even with the compression hose, my swelling is still to drastic to fly.

I'm really hoping this is a better week. Keeping my swelling down is my main priority, but I'm still working and on and off my feet all day. Jonny's been great about helping me make better choices on what/whatnot to eat. Trying to keep down on salt and carbs just might be the death of me.

 Only 7 more weeks till our baby boy gets here!  :)

Maternity Pictures (32 Weeks)

The last couple weeks I've struggled with watching myself grow and put on more.... fluff. Well, fluff and water now that I am swelling beyond belief. When you see another pregnant women struggeling with the same thing, your first reaction is to remind them they're pregnant and growing a baby. I did this a lot with friends and couldn't understand why they were so worried or shocked at their body transforming. I now realize how hard it is when you're the one growing. It's sooo annoying when people remind you your growing a baby and this is to be expected! Especially when you see other people who's bodys only show their pregnant in their belly. Why can't mine do that? My face and hips showed I was pregnant less than  months in! I decided to keep working out through my pregnancy because I didn't want my body to get carried away gaining weight. Truth is, your going to gain what your going to gain weather you like it or not. It's hard seeing your old body stuck in the new one that's being taken over. When you think of how people view you, you image that they see you as your oldself. This isn't the case for people meeting me while 8 months pregnant. They never meet me before so hopefully they've Facebooked me to see this isn't anywhere near what I used to look like.

I know a lot of this seems shallow  but it's a true feeling that a lot of people go through.

With all this going on, maternity pictures were something that I'd go back and forth on wanting to do. One day I'd be excited and the next I'd be having a minnie meltdown. Finally I decided I just needed to do them because one day, when I get my body back, I'll want to see these and remember. Our friend Meghan is a wonderful photographer. She had taken our engagement pictures last spring and they look amazing. I never questioned her ablility, I was just worried about picking myself apart in the picture.

Yesterday was the day! We went to Skull Valley since Meghan had lots of ideas for that area. We wound up driving down a frontage type road that eventually turned into a dirt road. We followed some train tracks to see where the best scenery would be to use them in our pictures. As we were driving, we came across a beautiful old ranch. It had a long dirt driveway with huge trees that made a conopy over the drive. It was PERFECT! Meghan is pretty bold and decided we should just ask the family if we could use their driveway and pastures as a back drop for our pictures. It was better to ask then get caught bare belly in front of their home. It payed off because they were more that happy to let us use their land. Meghan shot some great pictures in front of their driveway and then we moved to the train track and a broken windmill we found. Any ideas Meghan had on poses I was happy to try. We had driven all the way out there, so I'd better make the best of it. I laid in weeds and on a train track. It's amazing how hard its become to get up, let alone lay down on the ground. Pain is beauty...... right?

I'm soooo happy I followed through with the pictures! They turned out great! They will be a great reminder of how far I've come, when the baby weight starts coming off.