Wednesday, June 27, 2007

26 Weeks Deep

Today we made it to 26 weeks! What a milestone this week is. It seems like every week since 22 has been a milestone to me, since we lost Erik at 22 wks. I'm feeling optimistic, but still realistic, and I'm slowly starting to think that this pregnancy just may work out. Its all starting to feel so real, and like there's a good chance that in just 10 more weeks, just 70 days, we could have our little boy in our arms. Its amazing. But that thought seems so... so foreign to me. Its something I've felt before, but when it didn't work out that way, I feel that I'm really cautious about letting myself think and feel that way again. I guess its just one of those things that "pregnancy after loss(es)" does to you.

To think that this trimester is 2 weeks away from being over, then I'll be into my 3rd trimester. Gah... It all feels so scary, I've never been "this pregnant" before. I don't know what a 3rd trimester feels like. Its uncharted territory for me. I've had 3 first trimesters, 2 second trimesters (counting this one) and never have I experienced anything past that point. My body is changing, what seems like, every week. My belly is looking 26 weeks, but my brain doesn't know how to process that. Twenty-six weeks... **sigh** I know it may not seem like a big deal to some. It just may be "another week" to go through... But for some reason, each new week it takes me almost ALL week to believe we've made it this far.

I know its only by the grace of God, and the uplifting of prayers that has me here and we couldn't be more grateful. Every day, every single day, has been a true blessing. And if for some reason, it was all to end (like it has before) I will always thank God for this experience. This has been a difficult pregnancy, from the IUI, then the cerclage surgery, the episodes of bleeding, the hopsital stays, not to mention the 10 long weeks of strict bedrest and 10 more to go. But we are where we are, its all been a blessing, and its all for the sake of this baby.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Not so Luck.y Charms

This morning, like many mornings, hubby wakes up early gets dressed leaves all my "necessities" near me like the TV remotes, cell phn, house phn, laptop, cross-stitch project, my outfit for the day, a breakfast bar or po.p tart, snacks, water, ect. and he kisses me & my baby belly then leaves for work. Well this morning, was not much different EXCEPT I didn't want a stinkin pop tart, or breakfast bar. I Wanted Luck.y Charms. So in my most pitiful, sweet, still- half-asleep voice, I ask him to please make me a bowl before he leaves. Him, being the wonderful husband he is, makes me my cereal, kisses me and leaves for work. So here I am, content with my bowl of cereal, propped in "my prison" or what others call a "Bed" and I began to eat my cereal. Mmmm. Marshmellowy goodness. I Love Luck.y Charms... All is going well, when I hear something funny. It's a June bug! Ok, I'm not sure yall are familiar with these gross little things, but they're like little beetles that fly around and run into stuff, and they're EVERYwhere outside come the month of June (hence the name.) So one of these little buggies is In My House! So I'm thinking, "its just one little harmless bug, just ignore 'him', MIL will be here in an hour and she'll take care of him, just ignore the little bug." So I do, or at least I try to. I go back to eating my cereal when that Son of a Biotch lands in my bowl! AHHHHHH! Nearly tossing the bowl in the air, I get so mad, I get up, march over the sink and pour it all out. Now I'm pissed off. That dang bug ruined my breakfast. Determined to have my Luck.y Charms, I grab another bowl and the box and that's when I realize there's no more. That WAS the last of the cereal. Now I'm really pissed off! We have, Honey Bun.ches of Oats, Cocoa Pebb.les, Specia.l K w/strawberries, Frosted Flakes and Honey Smacks, but do I want those kinds????? NOOooooo. I want Luck.y Charms. UGH!

So disgusted with this big ole' mishap I call my husband to tell him what happened, because ya know, it is so important I have to bother him at work. I tell him my story and I can hear him trying to hold back his laugh. He's actually laughing. He's actually laughing, AT ME! So, that's when my emotions come flooding out, and the tears start. Ohhh yes. The tears. All because I wanted my bowl of Luck.y Charms, and that damn bug decided that my bowl looked like a nice landing spot, now I'm crying. (It has to be pregnancy hormones, because nobody that's sane, cries over cereal.) He tries to explain that he's not laughing at me, just at the situation, which by the way isn't any better so we hang up. Not 5 minutes later, as I'm turning on my laptop to blog about this tragic experience, my MIL calls. She tells me that my husband has called, and she's coming over earlier than usual with a new box of... You guessed it.
LU-hu hu-CKY CHAR-har har-MS Baby, OOOOOohhhh Yeahhhhh! Mother In Law's ROCK! She should be here soon with my "magically delicious" cereal so now I'm happy again.
That S-O-B June Bug may have stole my last bowl of cereal, but I'm getting the last laugh!
HA! HA! HAAAAA!

Hope everyone in blogland has a great Tuesday and can start today with a smile. But you better not be laughing at me!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Clothes, clothes and more clothes

Since all I have is time, I thought I'd take some pics to show yall what we've got so far.

My sister came over and gave me a bag of clothes that my nephew has grown out of. My nephew Lucas is 7 wks old, and that little ham has already grown out of his newborn and 0-3 month clothes. I couldn't believe his has already grown out of 0-3, so my sister tried to put an outfit on him to show me, and he looked stuffed in it. The little snaps were busting open, and in some of the footsies outfits he couldn't stretch his legs out straight. He's just so chubby & cute.

So our little one has got a nice little start. Here's pics of some the stuff she gave me.

Onesies, Mittens & Socks:
These onesies are premie, newborn, and justborn and a couple are 0-3 months
mittens on the left and socks on the bottom.



Gowns & Footsies

Hats and a pair of shoes

And these are the few outfits that I bought (on sale) while we were TTC. Ya know, those "too cute to pass up" kinda deals... Come on, I know I'm not the only infertile that buys stuff for my "future" babies.
Race Car overalls


Hoodie, shirt & pant suit.



(Here's the back of the hoodie) SO CUTE!

"Jungle Friends" romper

And this last outfit we bought when we were pregnant with Erik. There are a few items we're keeping that were just for Erik, but this one we're sharing. This one is daddy's favorite.

Houston Rockets onesie & shorts


(Back of onesie) Go Rockets!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Father's Day - Boot Camp

I gave my husband his Father's Day gift a day early, and paid for him to go to Boot Camp for New Dads. Our hospital offers this class to new dads, four times a year and the next class wouldn't be offered until late October. We're due Oct. 3rd, but doing a C-section the first week of September, so would this was his last chance to go before the baby would be here.

He went to the class that afternoon, and learned so much. He showed me that he learned how to change diapers, strap a baby into a carseat, carry a baby, hand off a baby to someone else, bathe a baby, and so many other really great tips to help me once the baby is here. Richard came home with a Boot Camp t-shirt, a certificate of completion, a folder full of great info for him and I, and most importantly he came home really excited and ready to have a baby. That evening we went through the folder together, and I am so glad that he went. The experience he had is something I'm sure he'll never forget. He said there were about 12-15 other men there, all new dads, and seeing their excitement for their soon-to-be arriving babies, really hyped him up for ours.

Here's a quick pic of a cute camo footsie he bought, his certificate, a handout, and his t-shirt.


Friday, June 15, 2007

Project: Bed Rest

It's been one week since I've started working on my cross stitching project, and I thought I'd give you a progress report to see how its coming along. Just a reminder, I am a novice, this is my 1st project, and I've never had a formal lesson on how to properly cross stitch I just drove head first into this one...
So, with that being said, here's a picture of my work.


Thursday, June 14, 2007

Ob appt - 24wk 1 day

Yesterday I had two appts. First, I had planned on doing my one-hour Glucose Test at the lab, and getting out just in time for my Ob/gyn appt. Well, only half of that plan worked out. We got to the lab, waited almost 2 hours, still had six people ahead of me in line, and still hadn't gotten to drink the orange syrup. So I just crossed my name off the list and left.

My Ob was ok that I hadn't gotten it done, she said to just try to go some other time. By that time it was noon and I had been fasting for more than 12 hrs. so I was hungry and dehydrated. My Ob measured my fundal height and it was on track, then she used the doppler to hear baby's heartbeat and just when she'd find it he'd kick it and move away. He did that twice and the second time she felt him kick the doppler from under her hand, and we heard the swish of him swimming away. (lol, little stinker) She said he was probably retaliating because I was fasting to long for his liking. So after the appt we went straight to Chik-fil-a for lunch.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Kick baby, Kick!

This afternoon I noticed that when the baby kicked hard enough, I could actually see my stomach move. My stomach would thrust out in such an unpredictable way, just below my belly button, it was the funniest thing. So I had Richard place his hand on my belly, and we waited. Both of us were silent, breathing so shallow, starring at one another when IT HAPPENED! When his eyes lit up, I just knew he had felt it. It was so amazing. My heart leaped with joy, my husband finally felt his son move. I had been describing the baby's movements, or at least trying to, for some time now. We were so excited that it was now something he too could feel.

I can't even put into words, without falling into a complete pile of blubbery tears, how exciting this was for the both of us. So we laid there together, TV off, in complete silence just waiting for another kick from our little one. It took a while... I could feel little tremors, but he couldn't. Then finally he gave daddy a great big kick, right in the palm of his hand. The tears... They came pouring from my eyes. Happy tears that is.

After today, there's no denying that we now have a little soccer player in there.
Kick, baby KICK!

Friday, June 08, 2007

Project: Bed Rest





So to pass my time, I've decided to try to do something positive to keep my mind busy. So I've picked up cross stitching, and this is my 1st project. My SIL gave this to me when I was in the hospital with Erik, and after we lost him I stopped working on it. I took a few pics to show you what I'd done, and to document my progress along the way (which isn't much.)

So this is what I'm starting with... Everything that is done here, is what I did 2 yrs ago.




And here's what I've done so far...

Don't laugh. Its not much.






Thank You Anonymous Poster

THANK YOU anonymous poster, your comment makes me feel a lot better. I don't know ANYONE online or in "real life" that has had this issue during their pregnancy, so as you can imagine its quite scary to be alone in the dark.

I've looked online and can't find much. If you (or anyone else reading this) have any suggestions as to where I can find out more about this Velamentous Insertion of Umbilical Cord, literature, web sites, forums, really anything... Please let me know.

Thanks again for the reassuring post.

-Jennie

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Velamentous Insertion of Umbilical Cord

I had been doing some research online to try to find out exactly what our baby's umbilical cord is doing. I knew the cord wasn't inserted properly, and the risk of fetal demise due to the cord ripping free was a possibility we are up against, but that's all I knew. Well at my last appt I asked more about it. She explained it to me some, and said that we'd have to do a c-section at 36wks (which I have no problem with) and its called Velamentous Insertion of Umbilical Cord.

Well here's what I found online.

http://www.thefetus.net/page.php?id=167

Per this site, VIUC is found in 1.1% in singletons and 8.7% in twin pregnancies.

www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20497

Per this site, the definition of VIUC

Definition of Velamentous insertion of umbilical cord
Velamentous insertion of umbilical cord: An abnormal condition in which the umbilical cord does not insert into the placental mass but, instead, traverses the fetal membranes before it inserts into the umbilical cord. The main danger is vasa previa, a condition in which the blood vessels may be lodged between the fetus and the entrance to the birth canal. The unprotected vessels may rupture at any time during pregnancy, causing fetal hemorrhage and death.

This is all so scary, but I know it could be worse. I'm determined to continue learning as much as I can about this, and I will make it my priority to stay positive and thank God for every day our baby is still with us. We are so blessed to have gotten this far, I've never made it this far in a pregnancy before, and it is through prayers and God's will that we will have a successful pregnancy.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Ultrasound - 7 Pics

Appointment with my Maternal Fetal Medicine Dr. was wonderful!

My little chunky monkey now weighs a whopping 1 pound 4 ounces! The u/s tech got all the measurements she needed, and everything checked out great. It was so neat to see the lenses in his eyes. Then we got to see his feet kicking around, she measured them and his little feet are each an inch long. And he is definately all boy. I was telling the u/s tech that at the last u/s (video we showed our family) my dad wasn't 100% convinced that our baby was a boy. My dad thought "his package" might be a part of the umbilical cord and not a "winky." So she said, "Ok, well lets just show him THESE shots." And she printed out two pictures of our baby's "boy parts" just for my dad. lol. She's so funny. She ended up giving us 6 pictures total, along with our video. So here are our baby's pics. Enjoy!


These 1st two are from our May 3rd u/s - 18 wks 1 day


Profile




Giving "THE FINGER!"


These pics are from today - 22 wks 5 days



Profile


Baby waving



Cutest little baby face!
(The "ring" seen inside his left eye is a lens)


And last but not least, here are his "boy parts"


Saturday, June 02, 2007

fishy thoughts

Yesterday was my brother's 30th birthday so he and all the guys went fishing in Freeport, Tx. Richard caught 12 fish, all to small to keep. My dad didn't catch anything. And my brother caught a 3.5 ft. shark in the same beach waters we swim in every summer. SCARY!!!

And yesterday, made one year since I got my one and only tattoo.

On a different note: This thing about having an ultrasound once a month, has gotten me so spoiled, especially since its video-recorded and I can show it to our family and watch it anytime I want. I. Love. That. If there is anything that has made this pregnancy a little easier on us, its the frequent ultrasounds. Richard and I are both so excited about Monday's appt. I really hope everything goes well, we're just so anxious about seeing our little munchkin and seeing how big he's grown. Its amazing to me every time he moves inside my tummy. About ten minutes after I eat this little guy gets to moving around a lot, I can feel him all the way up to my belly button. Its a sensation that's so indescribable. It reminds me of when you have an aquarium full of fish, and once you drop a little fish food in, how they all swim to the surface gobbling up all the food they can. That's what it feels like.

Ok, I'm rambling. I better go we have company on their way.