Pregnancy Stuff to Remember - Week 39

Wait... what?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that this sweet little guy decided to make his appearance a month early.  It's quite a story... stay tuned for it.

Lucas Andre was born December 8, and after a 9 day stay in the NICU, he came home and has been a model baby ever since.

I had forgotten just how sweet baby snuggles could be, and I am so in love with this little brown-haired boy!

Pregnancy Stuff to Remember - 35 weeks

Size of baby: I'm not answering this anymore... it's stupid.

Total Weight Gain: About 17 now.  Feeling like humungo-preggo girl.

Maternity Clothes: Yup

Gender: Still a boy.

Movement: All the time.  The boy never stops.  Never.  Never ever.

Symptoms: Awful round ligament pain... There are times when I can't take more than 5 steps without being frozen in pain.  I've also been having some pretty intense contractions.

Sleep: All I can say is thank goodness for Tylenol of the PM variety.

What I miss: Definitely sleeping on my back. Being able to roll over during the night without having to wake up.  The wonderful bliss of the second trimester.

Cravings: Honeycrisp apples and mini babybel cheese.

Best Moments these last 4 weeks: Can you tell by reading that I'm not in such a happy place right now?  I've just hit that incredibly uncomfortable stage and I'm very aware I have 5 weeks left.  I know I'll miss being pregnant after he's born, so I know I just need to remember the good stuff.

What I am looking forward to: January 4th... the scheduled delivery day!

Pregnancy Stuff to Remember - Week 31

Size of baby: I'm not answering this anymore... it's stupid.Total Weight Gain: I was up by about 14 pounds, but lost 5 during a round of food poisoning.  Yuck.

Maternity Clothes: Pretty much yes all around now... I managed to find some cute maternity stuff on clearance while on a girls trip out to SF a few weeks ago.  Yay!


Gender: Still a boy.

Movement: 24/7, baby!  He loves to do a jig every night around the midnight hour.  Or is it a reel?  I could never tell the difference between the two...

Symptoms: Back pain and feeling like I'm going to fall on my face from being front-heavy.

Sleep: Hit or miss depending on if the baby using my uterus as a dance club and how much my back hurts.  I get by with a little help from Tylenol PM

What I miss: Definitely sleeping on my back. Being able to roll over during the night without having to wake up.

Cravings: When I was in SF I got to satisfy my strawberry-rhubarb pie craving.  Three times!

Best Moments these last 5 weeks: My D-Mamas trip to SF (first time away from the kids... ever!). While I was there, I was in a maternity shop and as I turned around this lady gasped and said, "you are just the cutest pregnant woman ever!"  It does wonders for the ego hearing stuff like that...

What I am looking forward to: Getting ready for the baby to come. Colder weather. Meeting our newest little man!

Nine more weeks!

Pregnancy Stuff to Remember - Week 25

Size of baby: Who knows what obscure fruit or veggie my baby is going up against this week... purple moon potato? Kiwano melon? 

Total Weight Gain: I think I'm up by 10 pounds... did a lot of good eating in SF.

Maternity Clothes: Pants... yes.  Shirts... I can get away with non-maternity.  Although they do make some cute maternity stuff, I just don't want to drop the cash on it.  Since I was biggest in the summer with my other two, I have no cold weather maternity stuff.

Gender: So. I had this cool idea... while in SF, I was going to go down to the beach and write "It's a..." in the sand, right where the waves were coming in.  I'd take a picture, then another one of the wave coming in and erasing it.  The next few pictures would show the wave receding and revealing the gender.  Which is...







BOY!

So my big idea never happened, but they way I painted it, you can picture it in your mind... right?

Movement: Yeah, this little guy takes after his brother.  I think we're going to have another soccer player on our hands!

Symptoms: Still cruising in second trimester bliss.  My only issue is that my back is KILLING me.

Sleep: Hit or miss depending on if the baby using my uterus as a dance club and how much my back hurts.

What I miss: Definitely sleeping on my back.

Cravings: Nothing really... I have been enjoying brie and pear sandwiched on ciabatta bread.  Soooo yummy!  I know, I'm not supposed to eat soft cheeses... blah, blah blah.

Best Moments this week month-and-a-bit: Definitely our trip to SF and seeing old friends.  It's so incredible how much has changed since we first met.  It was fun to see how big some of their kids have gotten, and I loved watching our kids play together.  Sweet memories!

What I am looking forward to: Getting ready for the baby to come.  Colder weather. Meeting our newest little man!

Pregnancy Stuff to remember - Week 19

Size of baby: I googled this one... apparently my baby is the size of an heirloom tomato. Seriously... out of all the fruits/veggies they could have picked, their choice was this rather obscure one?

Total Weight Gain: If you go by my normal weight, I've gained 3 pounds.  Pre-pregnancy weight has me at minus 7.

Maternity Clothes: Yes, but mostly because normal clothes just feel so uncomfortable right now.  Maternity stuff is too big, but feels better.  So right now I'm walking around with my pants on the ground...

Gender: We know... but I'll do a reveal post one of these days soon.  Any guesses???

Movement: Yes.  And then some.  This is one very active baby!

Symptoms: Thankfully the nausea has passed.  I still don't really have an appetite which stinks.  I want to be excited about eating again!

Sleep: I'm still having no problem in that area, even without the anti-nausea meds.

What I miss: Not much... I enjoy this part of pregnancy.  I can tell that I'll have to stop sleeping on my back pretty soon though.

Cravings: Pepsi is the one huge craving right now.  I don't drink pop otherwise, but have craved Pepsi every pregnancy.  I wait until I'm in the second trimester, and then only allow myself one small can.  I also try to drink it every other day if I can hold off.  And I will only drink it with crushed ice and a straw.  Otherwise I don't want it.  Don't ask me...

Best Moments this week: No "best" moment, but the most interesting came this morning when I accidentally took one of my anti-nausea meds instead of my thyroid meds.  They look almost identical and the anti-nausea meds knock me out.  It's been 7 hours and I *just* have started feeling like I'm not going to fall over.

What I am looking forward to: Our trip to San Francisco next week!  Woo to the hoo, baaaaaaby!

Pregnancy stuff to remember - 15 weeks

Since baby number three will probably get the short end of the stick in pretty much every other area, I decided to do one of these baby journal things... something I never did with either Elise or Mattias. 

No... I am not dropping some obscure gang sign. This is baby number three, yo.

Size of baby:  I have no idea... the size of an avocado? Some other fruit?  Does this make me a bad Mom that I don't know this stuff?

Total Weight Gain: Right now I'm at negative 12 pounds.  But that's about par for the course with me.  It's okay, since due to a wonky thyroid, I was about 10 pounds over my normal weight when I got pregnant.

Maternity Clothes: Bahahahaha!  I'm just thankful to be comfortably fitting back into my normal clothes.

Gender: To early yet... we may or may not find out.

Movement: I know they say it's too early, but I swear I feel some movement.  Judging by the bazillion ultrasounds I've had, this baby is a mover and a shaker.


Symptoms: nausea, barfing, more nausea and even more nausea!  I'm learning to be thankful for the barfies because it means everything is okay.  I've had a few complications with this pregnancy (including surgery), so indications that all is well is most welcome, even if it is on the form of puking.


Sleep: Thanks to my anti-nausea meds, I have no problems in that area!

What I miss: Having energy.  My poor kids think I'm the lamest Mom ever.  They may be right.

Cravings: Lettuce wraps, peaches, blueberries, and oven roasted tomatoes with garlic.  By far the weirdest craving ever. And yes, I've been making them.  In fact, today I ate almost a pound and a half of them... mighty tasty stuff, friends.

Best Moments this week: I had one day where I had energy and wasn't nauseous.  Of course I ruined it by worrying about it.


What I am looking forward to: Hopefully getting over feeling so sick all the time.  EATING!

I can't see the difference, can you see the difference?

On the left is me the day before I gave birth to Elise. And on the right is me the day before I had Mattias. The difference in size absolutely astounds me. And Elise was only 2 oz. bigger! How crazy...

Why don't I ever crave broccoli?

I found this post in my drafts folder... I'm not sure why I never posted it, but the memories make me laugh, so enjoy!

Dear God,

I'll bet you have people asking You, "what is up with (fill in the blank)" all the time. Like the platypus for example. I'm guessing You've taken Your fair share of ribbing on that one. Personally, I think the platypus is kinda cool; a downright funky animal. I only regret that I've never seen one in person.

But I really gotta ask You, why did You have to come up with pregnancy hormones; namely, the ones that make me crave weird things at odd hours of the night? It's not like being pregnant isn't hard enough, what with the nausea, the wild mood swings, and the getting bigger with the round ligament pain and things of that nature.

And let's not even mention the pain of child birth.

What I take issue with is the fact that I can be marching my shopping cart down a grocery store aisle, minding my own business and keeping to the exact letter of my shopping list when BAM! Out of nowhere, I spy a bag of marshmellows and think to myself, "how good would a roasted marshmellow be right now?"

Never mind that I'm nowhere near a campsite, and the fact that it's ten billion degrees out during this very pleasant (she said, sarcastically) Texas summer day. All I can think about is a white-melty-blob of high-fructose-corn-sugar-goodness. All rational thinking goes out the window and I toss the marshmellows into my cart.

Fast-forward a few hours later, and I now find myself in front of my stove, "roasting" a marshmellow over an electric burner on a wooden kabob skewer. And by "a" marshmellow, I mean 5.

Well, pregnancy cravings must happen for a reason, right God? At least that's what I'll keep telling myself as I'm double-fisting the candy corn.

Yours very hungrily,

Joanne

The good, the bad and the ugly of my hosplital stay

The Good

Food - My rule of thumb is that any food that I personally didn't have any hand in making is good food. Even better, the hospital I stayed at actually does a wonderful job at preparing food. Plus, every morning you get a menu with a whole plethora of choices for each meal. I spent a lot of time agonizing on whether I should choose cheesecake or angel food cake for dessert.

Nurses - I love the women and men (although I have yet to meet a murse... I think they are mythical creatures, like unicorns or a helpful government worker) who work in this profession. In another lifetime, I think I would like to have gone to school for nursing. They showed me mercy when necessary, and kicked my butt when it needed kicking. Yay nurses!

Drugs - Not that I am a big proponent of drug use, but having your belly/uterus sliced open really, really hurts. Unfortunately I am allergic to almost all of the "good stuff", but found the right mix of Darvocet and Motrin worked quite nicely.

TV - We don't have cable at home... the hospital does. And I can watch it in bed. Does life get any better?

Calling someone to magically take the baby away - For the most part, Mattias hung out in my room. But at night, I would call for him to be whisked off to the nursery and brought back in a few hours for a feeding. It was all sorts of lovely. Mostly because it led to...

Sleep - Can you believe I got more sleep in the hospital with a newborn, than I usually do at home (if you're a parent of a diabetic, you can). Because we have to check Elise's blood sugar at least twice a night, I usually get about 4 hours of sleep a night. Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was getting about 2 hours. So the hospital was heaven for me. Sleep heaven. And the naps! Sweet, wonderful naps.

The Bad

Lactation Consultant - Usually I have no issues with these (mostly) women whose job it is to look at and touch women's breasts on a daily basis. But I was matched up with the Lactation Nazi this go-around. Seriously woman, I nursed my first for 2 1/2 years. I just stopped 8 months ago. I can handle this! Mattias dropped a lot of weight in the hospital... almost 10% of his birth weight. And I guess that's a no-no. This lady basically wanted me to nurse him every hour, threatening me with formula if he didn't gain any weight. The problem was that Mattias was a very sleepy baby and would rather snooze than eat. The funny thing is, the pediatrician didn't think his weight was a big issue. Sorry Lactation Nazi, the doc wins this one.

Asking about my poop - I love starting the day with a bright and cheery, "so, have you had a bowel movement today?" The only thing better is being threatened with an enema when your answer is no.

Loneliness - With Elise, Fred was at the hospital with me the entire stay. This time, he had to go back and forth between the house and the hospital; sleeping at home so he could care for Elise. I spent a lot of time by myself and it was very lonely. Especially during the overnight. Thank goodness for nurses and cable TV!

The Ugly

The bill - I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it will make me cry.

Stick a fork in me...

I'm done!

My last pre-birth picture. I'm going to meet my son in a few hours and I CAN' WAIT!

Hopefully Fred will have time to hack into my blog account to post some updates, so stay tuned. Thank you to everyone for all your prayers, thoughts and well-wishes.

Just more of me to love

Ahhh, probably the penultimate obligatory belly-shot.

To loosely quote So I Married an Ax Murderer; "Look at that thing, it's HUGE! A virtual planetoid... it has it's own weather system!"

Or at the very least, it's own zip code.

Four more days, four more days, four more days...

The end is in sight

A week and a half.

That's all I've got left until Mattias makes his grand entrance. To say I'm ready for this little guy to be born is like saying... you know, I don't even have an analogy. I'm THAT ready.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled beyond belief to be pregnant, it's just that this pregnancy has been a tad difficult. Let's take a look back...

In January, I find out I'm pregnant. I also find out my thyroid gland has gone nuclear on me. A normal TSH should be between 1 - 5. Mine was 75, meaning I was severely hypothyroid.

Then the barfing stared. Like, every day. Not as much as with Elise, mind you... but still. Consider that one of the indicators of being hypothyroid is gaining weight, and I managed to lose 10 pounds in my first trimester.

Then there was the strep throat. 'Nuff said.

At the end of trimester #1, just as I was feeling like food was not my enemy, I got food poisoning. I did not leave my bed for 33 hours and lost 6 pounds in two days.

The second trimester was amazingly low-key. Except that Texas decided to ramp it up and have one of the hottest summers since we moved here. Seriously... I almost forgot what outside looked like.

I got to experience the joys of carrying low and the fact that it wreaks havoc on your bladder. It's not that I don't enjoy visiting the bathroom every 45 minutes, it's just that I do have a lot of other things to do.

In the third trimester, I caught a stomach bug, ended up getting very dehydrated and had to be admitted to the hospital for about 7 hours to get an IV and some shots to stop labour. That was all sorts of fun.

The last two fun events, I haven't written about yet. Last Monday we went to the Rangers game. On the hottest night of the year. When temperatures at 8:00 pm were still hovering around 100. Let's just chalk it up to pregnancy hindering my judgement.

I started having a few contractions and by the end of the game, they were 2 minutes apart and getting to the point where I couldn't talk while I was having one. I seriously thought that this was it. I called the on-call doc, who gave me a bunch of suggestions on what I could do at home to try and stop the process. Thankfully it worked... but I had visions of rushing to L&D at 11:00 pm with Elise in tow.

Then today... as I was making Elise's dinner, I dropped a big dinner plate and as it shattered, one of the pieces sliced into my foot. Copious amounts of blood and screaming ensued. It finally stopped bleeding after pressure and elevation, but WOW does it hurt and it's pretty hard to walk on.

Hopefully during the last 10 days I will avoid getting hit by a car, contracting SARS, or anything else that would be that proverbial cherry on the top of this pregnacy sundae.

But again... thrilled to be pregant. And even more thrilled that it's almost over.

Update on baby Mattias

I went in for my 36 week appointment today. Hard to believe that in three weeks from today, we'll be welcoming our baby boy to this world!

I'm still hanging out at 3 cm... thankfully, no change since they released me from the hospital last week. The doc thinks he's about 5 pounds at this point, but I remember she said Elise was going to weigh in around 6 pounds and a bit and when she was born she was 7 lb 13 1/2 oz (the 1/2 is VERY important).

She also doesn't think I'll make it to September 7th (my scheduled c-section date). Dear Lord, I hope she's wrong about that. Because I'm still having contractions, she told me to take it easy and rest a lot. Ummm, I pretty much aim for that EVERY day, but I don't really know what "take it easy and rest" means anymore.

As much as I'd like to have this baby sooner rather than later, it would not be the best plan for us. So pray that Mattias decides to stay put for a little while longer!

May you live in interesting times

Apparently, I have a flair for the dramatic when I'm pregnant. With Elise, I fell in the bathtub at 32 weeks and went into labour. I had to say in the hospital for a weekend, but they managed to stop the labour and send me home.

This time around, I caught a nasty little stomach bug that, despite my best efforts, dehydrated me severely. When I called my OB's office on Wednesday, they became concerned when they heard I hadn't been able to keep anything in me since Saturday, and told me to go to L&D (labour and delivery) to make sure everything was okay.

Upon checking in and being hooked up to various and sundry machines, they discovered my contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart, and I could definitely feel them getting stronger. I was also dilated to a 3, and at 70% effaced.

It took 3 shots of Terbutaline, and 3 bags of saline; but they finally stopped the contractions about 7 hours later. As an added bonus, I was also diagnosed with a UTI and reflux.

But, I'm at home, taking it easy, and little Mattias gets to cook for a little while longer. One thing I have to mention is that my husband is a complete and total ROCK STAR. He has done an amazing job of looking after both Elise and I. While working from home this morning, he wrangled Elise, managed all her diabetes care, and even cleaned the whole downstairs.

All while I slept blissfully upstairs (at least one of the drugs I'm taking knocks me out). What can I say, I married well!

State of the Pregnancy Address

I am at 34 weeks.

I have 5 weeks left to go.

I am only sleeping about two hours a night.

I am uncomfortable.

I have some sort of crud (but it's not serious crud, I saw the doc today).

I have to pee approximately every 45 minutes.

It is 106 degrees today. It was about the same temperature yesterday. And the day before.

Apparently it feels like 110.

The 7 day forecast calls for temperatures above 100 degrees every day.

One thing you never want to hear a weatherman say in regard to hot weather: "no end in sight."

I never want to be pregnant during the summer in Texas again.

Despite all my complaining, I am blessed and thankful for this pregnancy.

That is all.

The joys of being pregnant

Yes, there are many joys to pregnancy; the feeling of a life growing inside of you. The anticipation a meeting this little person who shares your DNA. The smiles you get from people when they see your ever-expanding tummy. And, of course, the eating of pretty much what you want, when you want.

And let's not forget the built in excuse for going from zero to stark-raving crazy in .5 seconds.

Yup, being pregnant is a joy, but I am finding out some of the not-so-joyous stuff that I never experienced with Elise.

This baby is carrying so low, that I think he's using my bladder as a water bed. Or a trampoline. Seriously, every time he moves, I have to pee. Last night alone, I got up 10 times. Ten times, people. When you go to bed at 11:00 pm and wake up around 7:00 am, that's about every 45 minutes.

There is a well-worn path from my side of the bed to the toilet, and I think I actually fell asleep while sitting on it a few nights ago. And the saddest part of all? Elise and I now have something in common; we have both peed our pants sometime during the last week. In my defence, I DID sneeze. She was just too lazy to stop playing and head to the potty.

I cannot wait until I can claim my bladder is my own again, but until then I'm seriously contemplating the Depends route at night.

Is being 33 and wearing a diaper really that lame?

We have an ETA for our baby boy!

Yesterday was my 28 week appointment and the doc said everything is looking great! I had another sonogram because my doctor was a little worried about my placenta being too low, but the problem seems to have fixed itself. She said I am measuring right on target.

We also found out that September 7th at noon will be the arrival time for our little guy. It looks like we're going with the name Mattias. Still looking for that elusive middle name though.

Why are boys names so hard to come up with?

27 weeks

Getting bigger + stupid, hot Texas weather (even though it isn't even summer yet) = one unhappy preggo.

An open letter to my bladder

Dear Bruce,

We need to talk. These four-times-a-night visits to the bathroom have to stop. You understand that I don't get enough sleep as it is, right? Well, having to roll my ever-expanding body out of bed, and practically killing myself as I trip over every obstacle between the bed and the bathroom is not helping. Especially when I sit down and all you manage to squeeze out is a teaspoon of liquid.

Seriously? You woke me up for THAT?

Look, I understand the baby is using you as a punching bag, but you really need to toughen up.

Sincerely,
Joanne

P.S. I would also appreciate it if you could do a little better job of holding it together when I sneeze... a girl only has so many pairs of underwear, if you know what I mean.

It's a....

We loved having a baby so much the first time

We thought we'd give it another whirl
So we're overjoyed to announce
That in September, we're having a baby...

BOY!!!