25w4d

My mind is cluttered with things I want to write here. Let’s see if I can get it all out.

My appointment last week went well. I did get the prescription to have the glucose gestational screen done and made the appointment for this Wednesday. I have to drink thick, sugary goop, wait an hour and get my blood drawn. If the results come back elevated (above 140mg), I have to go back for another test that will say for sure whether I have gestational diabetes or not. The second test is similar to the first but instead of waiting one hour, I have to wait 3. I don’t know if I’m worried about this test or not. I am feeling great. I’ve gained a lot of weight (30 pounds so far) even though you really wouldn’t be able to tell by just looking at me since it’s mostly all in my belly. Regardless, there is nothing I can do but wait for the results so I’m not going to start worrying until there is something to worry about.

For those of you who don’t know, Norman and I had been living with my parents while our house was being built. Given the situation with the new house, we will definitely be staying with my parents longer than expected. This means making a bunch of changes, including using a spare room in their house as a nursery. So much work needs to be done in that spare room. It used to be my brother’s old room. The room was being used as storage…and it has wood paneling on the walls, yuck! We cleared out the room and I called Salvation Army to come pick up the furniture next Saturday. We contacted a contractor who will be tearing out the panels and replacing them with sheet rock, as well as adding the new baseboards and fixing the closet. We’ll paint the walls ourselves. My parents ordered our crib, mattress and changing table a while back and I got a call that it was ready to be picked up from the store. I guess we’ll have to store the stuff in the Florida Room until the nursery is completed. We also need to make more room in our bedroom for the pack n’ play – or for a co-sleeper (which I am seriously considering adding to my registry now that we are staying with my parents and are extremely tight on space). We spent the entire weekend cleaning up the house and have so much left to do it’s making my head spin. I am exhausted. I mean it. Everything hurts. I am getting to a point where I am becoming useless when it comes to physical exertion and I can imagine it will only get worse.

I was jolted out of bed early Sunday morning with the mother of all leg cramps. They just keep getting worse and worse. This one on Sunday was so bad I was wailing and screaming and crying in agony. I couldn’t make it go away on my own. Norman had to get up and massage it away, and even then it took what seemed like a lifetime to go away. This cramp started in my calf and worked its way down so far that I couldn’t even bend my knee. I was hysterical. I remember hearing Norman saying something like calm down, labor is going to be way worse. That scared me too; although my mom said she had leg cramps during her pregnancy that caused her worse pain than labor (thank God for epidurals). My leg is still killing me now and I am paranoid all night long that I am going to get another. I wore support hose today and am trying to do lots of feet and leg exercises to hopefully slow down the recurrence.

My baby shower (being hosted by my cousins and mom) is on May 17. I have the invitations and will be sending them out in 2 weeks. I am really looking forward to it. I am excited to see everyone and have them celebrate our baby girl with me.

Our baby girl does have a name, by the way. A few people already know. I don’t know what I’m waiting for to share it with the world? I will soon.

25w0d

Life has been stressful due to our new house and I can’t write about it because we now have an attorney working for us and I think it’s best to wait until things blow over before I give deets here (Heath, I will call you and tell you all about it). Needless to say, I have been a ball – literally – of nerves these days.

In pregnancy news, I have been doing well. My leg cramps are God AWFUL. I get them every night now. It’s driving me insane. I also still have bad acid reflux as well. I am always dying of thirst and peeing up a storm, too. I think I have visited every public bathroom in South Florida. Oh, and my left wrist kills me sometimes. The pain is so bad I can hardly move it. I did some research on that and discovered that pregnancy can actually cause carpal tunnel syndrome due to excessive fluid retention. This (along with everything else) should disappear after delivery. Go figure.

I was laying on the sofa yesterday and had the remote on my belly. All of a sudden it started bouncing around like crazy. It’s so funny how Norman always misses when the baby kicks hard enough for him to see or feel her! He’ll have just stepped out of the room or something, Nugget will start kicking up a storm, I yell for him to come back and he runs back in as fast as he can and misses it. He’ll feel her soon enough, hopefully sooner than later!

My 6 month appointment with my OB is tomorrow. I am assuming it will be the standard: weigh in, pee in a cup, blood pressure, listen to the baby’s heartbeat. I don’t know if he’ll make me have a glucose screen to check for gestational diabetes or not. They are usually given between 24 and 28 weeks.

15 weeks to go.

24w1d

Well I ended up going to the hospital last night because the pain was making me nervous. It was my first trip to the ER while pregnant – I had been so proud of myself for not having gone. I hate feeling like a nervous, first-time mommy (even though that’s what I am!).

Anyhow, the minute we walked into the ER the lady at the desk told another ER worker get a wheelchair and take her to L&D (labor & delivery). I was like woooaaahhhh, no no no, I am not in labor. She asked how far along I was and I told her. They took me in ahead of everyone in the waiting room – I didn’t even stand there for 30 seconds. They registered me and took me straight to the L&D unit. We ended up waiting for a bed for only about 30 minutes or so. They took us into the L&D suites, told me to take off all my clothes, put on the hospital gown and get in bed.

The L&D suites are amazing. I was definitely reassured that I had made the right decision to have Nugget at this particular hospital. These rooms are like hotel rooms. They call them suites because you labor, deliver and recover all in the same place. The bathrooms are huge, stocked with lots of shampoo and soaps, as well as a ton of sanitary napkins (childbirth and its aftermath is bloody and messy). They never take the baby out of the room unless they are taking her to do lab work or if God forbid there is some sort of complication.

I had such a surreal feeling as I lay in that bed. I couldn’t stop thinking about how this is where I’d be in 3 short months from now, ready to deliver our little girl. It was overwhelming, really.

The nurses are wonderful. So patient and understanding. I felt reassured that I had done the right thing by coming to the hospital. They strapped a baby heart beat monitor and movement detector around my belly and some other device – who knows what it was.

All in all we were there for 5 hours and the entire time we were there, we got to hear the baby’s heart beats and her movements in surround sound. If I hadn’t been so desperate to get home and get to bed, I could have stayed listening to those sounds all night.

They discharged me telling me I was experiencing mild contractions and that it was perfectly normal. Make sure I get lots of rest, drink lots of water, etc. etc. The real kicker was when the nurse told me to call my OB if symptoms returned. Yeah, OK. Maybe next time I’ll be lucky enough for a call back.

24w0d

At our last Level II, my Perinatologist noticed I had a very small cyst on my right ovary. A Corpus Luteum Cyst of Pregnancy she called it. She told me it usually meant that the ovary where the cyst formed is the egg that was fertilized. I always thought it was my left ovary that had been fertilized since that is where I always had the worst pain…but I digress.

So my cyst was apparently small and nothing to be concerned about. Fine. I truly never thought about it again. I don’t even think I mentioned it here.

Since last night, I have been having a sharp pain on my right side (very different from round ligament pain). I put 2 and 2 together and realized that the pain very well could be the cyst, right? I have had cysts before and just want to be sure everything is OK. I called my OB this morning and left a message with the front desk. They assured me he’d call me back. Three and a half hours later, no response. I call back and spoke to the nurse. She reassured me he’d call me back. Another three and a half hours later, still no response.

I am so frustrated.

The first time I discovered hemorrhoids I called the doctor twice and never got a call back either. I am beginning to lose my patience.

I told Norman I would go to the hospital if the pain persisted. How long am I supposed to wait before I call back and why in the world is it so damn hard for my OB to pick up the phone and CALL ME???????

23w6d

24 weeks tomorrow!

Here is a picture I took of myself while we were in Orlando last Saturday.

I was 23w2d:



I am still a little sick but definitely on the mend. Lucky for me my immune system has always been awesome and now with the prenatals I am Wonder Woman.

I ended up calling my Perinatologist and my Cardiologist today because the tachycardia was getting to where I was having 5 or 6 skipped beats every hour. My Perinatologist said that according to my Cardiologist I was doing great and she definitely doesn't need to see me for now. I have been able to record 3 events on my Event monitor and when I spoke to my Cardiologist today, he reassured me that I was fine and the recordings he was looking at were almost perfectly normal. Ironically, I haven't had one more episode since speaking to him. Go figure. Tomorrow I'll call him and my Perinatologist and let them know I am doing fine. I think maybe the increase in tachycardia was from my head cold. My mom said that always happens to her, too.

In other news, the Baby Shower invitations are ready tomorrow. I can't wait to see how they came out!

Our registry is also complete (Babies R Us) and my parents are taking us to the store to buy our crib, changing table and dresser on Friday. I'm so excited!

Now all I ned is a house.

23w5d

I am working from home today. I am not feeling well, my throat is swollen and getting sore and I have definite stuffiness and shortness of breath (while at rest). Plus last night I got my Event Monitor and was already able to record a tachycardia event. I called it in this morning and am going to wait a bit before calling the Cardiologist and seeing what he thinks. In the meantime, I am drinking an Odwalla Strawberry C Monster smoothie hoping the vitamins in there will nurse me to health…fat chance.

It’s a dreary day, dark and windy. I am fighting the urge to crawl back into bed just yet. I have work I need to get done. But I will definitely be resting though.

I need to get better so that I can start breathing through my nose again.

23w4d

I’m getting sick, but I am fighting it.

I went to Orlando for one night this weekend with my parents because it was my mom’s birthday last Saturday. We met up with my brother and my SIL and had a very nice time. We ate dinner at the Latin Quarter in City Walk. There were soooo many people there; I guess it was a combination of Mardi Gras and Spring Break. The restaurant turned into a club at 11PM and Nugget was not happy with the racket. She was startled and was kicking like crazy.

Poor Norman ended up staying home because of how sick he was feeling. You know he’s been fighting a nasty ear infection and I guess that turned into a really bad head cold. He missed work on Friday because of it and I felt terrible leaving him at home knowing how sick he was. But he was able to rest up and managed to get himself well enough to go back to work today.

I barely slept on Saturday night (I woke up with an awful leg cramp) and was exhausted last night. I felt really sick as soon as we got back home yesterday – swollen throat with a stuffy nose and head. I drove over to Jamba Juice and bought us both smoothies with Immunity boosts then took a nap that left me feeling worse than before. Don’t you hate when that happens? And I have hemorrhoids again.

I saw my Cardiologist last Thursday and he feels I am doing well. He wants to continue to monitor me and is going to give me an Event Monitor so that I can record the tachycardia I have been having. I called my Perinatologist this morning to see if he had sent the report over to her. I wonder if she will want to keep seeing me or not. They told me they were going to call me back and let me know. At my Cardiology appointment I had an Echo and EKG done. Right after the Echo, the radiologist put the wand on my belly and gave my mom and me a peek at the baby. She was sucking her thumb looking as cute as ever.

I am 6 months already, the last month in my second trimester. I am so thankful that things are going well.

22w6d

Today was our appointment with the Perinatologist. The appointment went very well. It was the first time I could actually feel the baby kicking while actually seeing her do it at the same time. She was kicking and punching harder than I have ever felt. It was making me laugh so hard because she was tickling me at the same time! Even the technician said she couldn’t believe how amped up she was and how hard she was kicking. She could feel the baby while she was scanning me.

It was a looooong scan. Right before we began the technician told me it was another Level II. This technician was awesome. She gathered all of the baby’s measurements and captured a bunch of great images for us:

Nugget is measuring 23 weeks, weighs 1 pound 5 ounces and her heart rate was 161 BPM.

She even stuck out her tongue! It was so cute. (We got 2 pictures of her doing this and although they are scary looking I think it’s adorable lol) She loves grabbing at her feet and is very squirmy. Every technician so far has noted how hyper the little rugrat is, this one was no different. She kept commenting how Nugget wouldn’t stay still.

I was basically discharged from the Perinatologist’s care. Since everything looks so good and I am doing so well, the Doctor felt that unless I begin feeling cardiac symptoms or if my Cardiologist notices a significant difference in my heart function, she no longer needs to monitor the baby.

I have an appointment with my Cardiologist tomorrow. I’ll be getting an EKG & Echo and the Doctor will compare it to my last exams from early October, right before I got pregnant. I am feeling great. The only thing I occasionally get is mild tachycardia, which I have been told is very normal in pregnant women given the large increase in the blood volume.

Without any further ado, I present the Nugster at 22 weeks and 6 days old:

Profile picture



Another profile



With her tongue out



Another



It's a Girl!

22w4d

Meet the Leachco Snoogle Total Body Pillow.

I’ll be receiving this bad boy sometime later this week or early next week. I have to say, I am in desperate need of lower back support. I am beginning to get bad lower back pain and it’s really uncomfortable. Plus I need to stay put on my sides, preferably my left side. I also need some kind of foot stool or something makeshift to keep my feet elevated throughout the day while I’m here at work.

I’m beginning to feel my pregnancy strongly affect me physically in other ways besides the nausea and heartburn. Don’t get me wrong, I can bend over and pick things up if I drop them on the floor, my wedding rings still fit, I can get in and out of bed relatively easily and I can still see my feet when standing (well sort of…I have to lean forward a little bit, but still!). These are just a few of the precious things I used to take for granted pre-pregnancy. They are now delicious treats because I know that given a month or 2 more I will be big(ger) and a lot more uncomfortable. Everything in perspective, right?

Nugget is a gymnast in the making. She kicked so hard on Friday afternoon that I almost jumped out of my skin (a cervix kick?) it was such a weird sensation! I can’t believe we still can’t see movement from the outside. They say that usually begins at 28 weeks and if that’s the case we have about 5 weeks to go before my belly comes to life. I am desperate for Norman to start feeling her. So far it feels as though it’s been my little secret because I don’t verbalize every single time I feel her since it is too constant now. He does talk to my belly, though. It’s the sweetest thing. She can hear now and react to loud noises. We are going to start playing music for her.

Our next scan is on Wednesday and I promise to ask for good pictures so that I can post them here. I actually have video of the Level 2, the only thing is that it’s on a VHS so I have to figure out a way to get it online.

Updates Wednesday!

22w0d

I think I really do have more energy these days than I give myself credit for. Take yesterday for example:

Norman’s been sick with a nasty ear infection. I got him an appointment to see a specialist at 1PM. I took him to his appointment, drove him to the Design District for a meeting he was having afterwards, drove myself all the way back to my office to pick up my computer because I left it and had work I had to finish, drove back to the Design District to pick Norman up, dropped Norman’s prescriptions off at Walgreens, made dinner, went back to Walgreens to pick up the medicine, ETC, ETC.

If it weren’t for my aching boobs and huge belly with Nugget squirming around in there (and heartburn, acid reflux, forgetfulness, leg cramps, nausea, huge appetite, emotional instability, and fabulous nails and hair) I wouldn’t even remember I was pregnant!

In all honesty though, I have been feeling great.

Speaking of leg cramps, I have always been prone to getting them – even as a child. I would wake up screaming in the middle of the night because of the pain and my dad would have to run in and massage it away. In fact, I would get them so bad that I would literally walk with a limp for days. Well Norman wasn’t having any of that waking up in the middle of the night to my wailing. Soon after I got married I learned how to avoid them. Since I would always get them in the middle of the night, usually while lying in bed stretching, I would make sure to stretch with my toes pointing up and towards my head. This completely eliminated the cramping. I would only get them every once in a blue moon anyways, and after I discovered the secret I rarely every got them again.

Well as you know, leg cramps are one of the many joys of pregnancy and I have just recently begun to be affected. So of course now you know I already have a tendency to cramp up. I started getting them again in the beginning of my second trimester. But last night I got leg cramps in BOTH LEGS AT ONCE. oh.my.god. Seriously now. It happened so fast and was so intense. I jumped out of bed so fast I almost feel into my closet. I was able to stretch them out before they got really bad but I have never had such bad pain in my poor calves before. I wanted to scream. Thankfully I’m not limping today. I’ll do some research on how to maybe avoid them or ease them. I already know that one tip is to always sleep on your left side. Believe you me, I try to do this but somehow always end up on my back. People. I feel awful when I wake up after sleeping on my back. My heartburn kicks in to full force and I just feel bad overall. I am going to have to cave in and buy a humongo pregnancy pillow to keep me positioned properly.

My 5 month OB appointment went well last Friday. I got to hear the baby’s heartbeat and my Doctor changed my prenatals. He told me again he expected smooth sailing and that I was doing great. He also asked me if I could believe I was already 5 months. NO. I cannot believe it!