Week 34:
Fetal Development:
The baby responds as a newborn with its eyes open while awake and closed while sleeping. S/he is developing immunities to fight mild infection. Those sharp little fingernails are at the ends of the fingertips already, and you might need to clip them during the first few days after birth.
Ok, so not much going on as I am still stuck in bed. But we are very grateful that I am a full week further. Contractions have really slowed down while on rest, so that's good. I am getting bored and would LOVE to go for a walk, but that can wait. I'm also having a hard time getting comfortable and sleeping. Otherwise, things are going pretty great.
We went to the first meeting of the parenting group this morning. It was nice, but I felt really weird being a foreigner and having to leave after 25 minutes so as not to break my half hour orders. Hopefully they all understand. I will continue to go weekly, but keep it as short as I can. I must admit, though, it was really nice getting out of here. I haven't had any repercussions from it yet, and its been 7 hours, so I feel better about going to the midwife Thursday.
Hopefully I will have another positive posting for next week!!
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Normal
Normal is a word I have come to hate. Especially in this pregnancy. Everything, it seems, is considered normal, and if its not normal its horrible. But that's because they wait until its so far from normal that its horrible. I am also sick of the attitude you get when you have "problems" and your doctor finds out you re a first time mother. As if we are just idiots who know nothing about our bodies. And nothing about what is normal.
So with that intro, I guess we all know where this is going. I'm back on bed rest. I had my ultrasound last week, after a non normal measurement that freaked us out, but everything was fine. As of Tuesday (Aug 7), Baby weighs 1945 grams, or 4.28 pounds. Her body measures perfect, brain looks great, head is right size, legs long enough. She is perfect. I was so overjoyed to hear all this. But before leaving, I had a few questions. Mostly I just wanted to know how to make things calm down in the Braxton Hicks department. And for the first time, I got a midwife with a braincell and she asked me for details about the contractions and what I had already tried. When I told her she was a little concerned and made an appointment for me. She also said if they got really bad I should go to the delivery ward. About midnight, they got really bad.
I ended up in the delivery ward that night and finding out that the contractions I am having are real, and are doing some not so good things. My cervix has become mature, ripe in English, and is so soft she could touch the baby's head!! Since its the contractions causing it, I'm on bed rest to try to stop them. I am also supposed to be on the lookout for any fluid loss, pink mucous, or worsening of the contractions. So far, the rest has made a noticeable difference. I have the contractions at night still but much less in the day time. Its a real relief.
I know that my baby would survive if I had to have her now, but I don't want her going through the pain of all the needles and wires and tubes. I rather her wait, just a few weeks even. I am almost through week 33 now, and I will feel much safer if I deliver at 36 weeks. Obviously I'm still holding out hope for 40, but have accepted that it may not happen.
Sorry this isn't on such a positive note, but its whats going on this week. Other than these things, though, I feel really good. No leg cramps or headaches. I'm really happy not to have other difficulties.
And we are also getting some work done on our house. BY we, I of course mean Marcus. He is painting floor boards and crown moulding and getting baby's furniture painted before we move in. Its oil paint so the fumes need to be gone before I get in!! We got new tiles and counters for the kitchen, and will be getting our new sinks next weekend. We got latex paint for all the walls. Now it all just needs to get done! As soon as it is, we will share pics!
Ill try to update early next week when I start week 34!!
So with that intro, I guess we all know where this is going. I'm back on bed rest. I had my ultrasound last week, after a non normal measurement that freaked us out, but everything was fine. As of Tuesday (Aug 7), Baby weighs 1945 grams, or 4.28 pounds. Her body measures perfect, brain looks great, head is right size, legs long enough. She is perfect. I was so overjoyed to hear all this. But before leaving, I had a few questions. Mostly I just wanted to know how to make things calm down in the Braxton Hicks department. And for the first time, I got a midwife with a braincell and she asked me for details about the contractions and what I had already tried. When I told her she was a little concerned and made an appointment for me. She also said if they got really bad I should go to the delivery ward. About midnight, they got really bad.
I ended up in the delivery ward that night and finding out that the contractions I am having are real, and are doing some not so good things. My cervix has become mature, ripe in English, and is so soft she could touch the baby's head!! Since its the contractions causing it, I'm on bed rest to try to stop them. I am also supposed to be on the lookout for any fluid loss, pink mucous, or worsening of the contractions. So far, the rest has made a noticeable difference. I have the contractions at night still but much less in the day time. Its a real relief.
I know that my baby would survive if I had to have her now, but I don't want her going through the pain of all the needles and wires and tubes. I rather her wait, just a few weeks even. I am almost through week 33 now, and I will feel much safer if I deliver at 36 weeks. Obviously I'm still holding out hope for 40, but have accepted that it may not happen.
Sorry this isn't on such a positive note, but its whats going on this week. Other than these things, though, I feel really good. No leg cramps or headaches. I'm really happy not to have other difficulties.
And we are also getting some work done on our house. BY we, I of course mean Marcus. He is painting floor boards and crown moulding and getting baby's furniture painted before we move in. Its oil paint so the fumes need to be gone before I get in!! We got new tiles and counters for the kitchen, and will be getting our new sinks next weekend. We got latex paint for all the walls. Now it all just needs to get done! As soon as it is, we will share pics!
Ill try to update early next week when I start week 34!!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Stockholm Trip !
SO I finally put pictures from our trip on photobucket! Unfortunately you can only have 10 pictures in a slide show, so there will be alot of them on here!!
The first day we walked around Gamla Stan (old town) and shopped, so there aren't that many good pictures of it. I also added in the first day pictures the pictures from the second days morning walking around the main castle and one of many harbors. It was so much more beautiful in real life!
The second day, after seeing the castle and harbor, we went to an area called Djurgarden, translated to Animal Gardenor Yard. It has alot of fun things, especially for tourists. The first thing we did was go to Aquaria. A very disappointing and somewhat dirty aquarium. Thank goodness it was included in the cost of our hotel. I actually got really upset seeing how the fish were kept and didn't get many pictures of them. The first area is a man made jungle and it was pretty cool. I will not be taking my child here, and that is a little sad to me. So this is Aquaria, or as I like to call it, Disappointia.
After leaving Disappointia, we walked past the Tivoli and decided to skip it since I cant ride anything and that's the real fun of a place like that. We will definitely bring little one there when she gets big enough!! It looks so nice. And Marcus, of course, loves it!
We took about an 8000 mile walk to an area called Skansen that is a sort of open air museum of how life was back in tha days. What days? Well, I'm not sure but they looked pretty inconvenient and apparently all they did in them was walk up hills. This part nearly killed me! But it was pretty. Hopefully I can enjoy it more next time we are in Stockholm.
Skansen also has an "Aquarium", though its more like a zoo. That's where we headed next. Before the entrance you can see some Pelicans and turtles. But then, when you enter you see these teeny little monkeys on your right and the other thing with the loooooong tail on the left. I love that he is lying in a bowl of lettuce!! It was so cute!
You then go outside where they have the other things running loose. Sorry, a zoologist, I am not so they re all called things. Or adorable things, cute things, weird things, whatever. These "things" are just adorable and come so close you really want to pet them, but you re not allowed.
The next area, after about 28000 stairs, had bugs, so I didn't take any pictures. And moving on... before entering the next building is the Baboon area. There were lots of little baboon babies running around. I so wanted to take one..haha. They're wild little things, climbing all over the place!!
We then went in to find the much touted Southern US Squirrels, which have been renamed Piff and Puff instead of Chip and Dale. Whatever! There are also some turtles and fish to see in there. The water was at least clean in this place, so I was ok.
At the very end, with no freaking warning were snakes. Obviously I didn't want to taint my camera with snake pictures, so you will just have to imagine that nightmare. LOL. That was the end of day two.
Day three started with a boat tour of the Canal of Stockholm. Whatever that means. It was pretty much a river ride that took an hour and was really boring with weird details and cheesy stories. But, I suppose its a touristy thing to do and some of the views of Stockholm were gorgeous.
The last major touristy thing we did was take a cruise to an island called Birka, or Björk Ö in Swedish. It translates to Birch Island. It is an ancient "viking" settlement. Well, we take the super long 2 hour boat ride there, which was nice, and its pretty, but nothing like we expected. Here are some highlights of the "cruise". Note the hilarious people in the inside picture!!
Once we got to the island, we had pretty high expectations of an old viking settlement. We quickly got ourselves to the English Speaking Tour and anxiously waited to see some cool stuff!!
Ok well, it was neat, but no remains of the settlement really because they built out of wood, which apparently gets sucked back into the Earth according to the "archaeologist" tour guide. I'm hoping its a translation issue, not an idiot issue. I personally have never seen the Earth open up and swallow wood, but what do I know?
Anyways, the first part we saw was the burial mounds. Burial mounds of Iron Age people. Not vikings. Vikings are explained as people who don't settle, they have to stay on the sea to do their pillaging and plundering and whatnot. So, she explains that its not really a viking place, but an iron age settlement. They should probably let the advertisement people know this because its NEVER mentioned in the brochures. Neither is the fact that there is nothing left of the settlement.
You get a long boat ride a hilly walk with some interesting facts, a few rebuilt shacks and an "angry dog". "Angry Dog" was a sweet old yellow lab sleeping under a tree with a warning sign. He was maybe the best thing on that place. Unless you have a liking for men who think its appropriate to not use deodorant or ladies who enjoy pushing their way in front of you so they can get a better view of the reconstructed cabin. SO thats basically how the island was. It took an hour for the tour, and about 20 seconds to look at the other stuff.
You then get to wait 4 hours for the boat to return. You have options though. You can get regular Swedish food for about 30 dollars per plate or ice creams for like 3 bucks each. Or you can do as we did and play on the big rocks overlooking the sea.
I was planning to add pictures of the island, but for some reason they wont work. I will edit later and add them, I promise!!
The first day we walked around Gamla Stan (old town) and shopped, so there aren't that many good pictures of it. I also added in the first day pictures the pictures from the second days morning walking around the main castle and one of many harbors. It was so much more beautiful in real life!
The second day, after seeing the castle and harbor, we went to an area called Djurgarden, translated to Animal Gardenor Yard. It has alot of fun things, especially for tourists. The first thing we did was go to Aquaria. A very disappointing and somewhat dirty aquarium. Thank goodness it was included in the cost of our hotel. I actually got really upset seeing how the fish were kept and didn't get many pictures of them. The first area is a man made jungle and it was pretty cool. I will not be taking my child here, and that is a little sad to me. So this is Aquaria, or as I like to call it, Disappointia.
After leaving Disappointia, we walked past the Tivoli and decided to skip it since I cant ride anything and that's the real fun of a place like that. We will definitely bring little one there when she gets big enough!! It looks so nice. And Marcus, of course, loves it!
We took about an 8000 mile walk to an area called Skansen that is a sort of open air museum of how life was back in tha days. What days? Well, I'm not sure but they looked pretty inconvenient and apparently all they did in them was walk up hills. This part nearly killed me! But it was pretty. Hopefully I can enjoy it more next time we are in Stockholm.
Skansen also has an "Aquarium", though its more like a zoo. That's where we headed next. Before the entrance you can see some Pelicans and turtles. But then, when you enter you see these teeny little monkeys on your right and the other thing with the loooooong tail on the left. I love that he is lying in a bowl of lettuce!! It was so cute!
You then go outside where they have the other things running loose. Sorry, a zoologist, I am not so they re all called things. Or adorable things, cute things, weird things, whatever. These "things" are just adorable and come so close you really want to pet them, but you re not allowed.
The next area, after about 28000 stairs, had bugs, so I didn't take any pictures. And moving on... before entering the next building is the Baboon area. There were lots of little baboon babies running around. I so wanted to take one..haha. They're wild little things, climbing all over the place!!
We then went in to find the much touted Southern US Squirrels, which have been renamed Piff and Puff instead of Chip and Dale. Whatever! There are also some turtles and fish to see in there. The water was at least clean in this place, so I was ok.
At the very end, with no freaking warning were snakes. Obviously I didn't want to taint my camera with snake pictures, so you will just have to imagine that nightmare. LOL. That was the end of day two.
Day three started with a boat tour of the Canal of Stockholm. Whatever that means. It was pretty much a river ride that took an hour and was really boring with weird details and cheesy stories. But, I suppose its a touristy thing to do and some of the views of Stockholm were gorgeous.
The last major touristy thing we did was take a cruise to an island called Birka, or Björk Ö in Swedish. It translates to Birch Island. It is an ancient "viking" settlement. Well, we take the super long 2 hour boat ride there, which was nice, and its pretty, but nothing like we expected. Here are some highlights of the "cruise". Note the hilarious people in the inside picture!!
Once we got to the island, we had pretty high expectations of an old viking settlement. We quickly got ourselves to the English Speaking Tour and anxiously waited to see some cool stuff!!
Ok well, it was neat, but no remains of the settlement really because they built out of wood, which apparently gets sucked back into the Earth according to the "archaeologist" tour guide. I'm hoping its a translation issue, not an idiot issue. I personally have never seen the Earth open up and swallow wood, but what do I know?
Anyways, the first part we saw was the burial mounds. Burial mounds of Iron Age people. Not vikings. Vikings are explained as people who don't settle, they have to stay on the sea to do their pillaging and plundering and whatnot. So, she explains that its not really a viking place, but an iron age settlement. They should probably let the advertisement people know this because its NEVER mentioned in the brochures. Neither is the fact that there is nothing left of the settlement.
You get a long boat ride a hilly walk with some interesting facts, a few rebuilt shacks and an "angry dog". "Angry Dog" was a sweet old yellow lab sleeping under a tree with a warning sign. He was maybe the best thing on that place. Unless you have a liking for men who think its appropriate to not use deodorant or ladies who enjoy pushing their way in front of you so they can get a better view of the reconstructed cabin. SO thats basically how the island was. It took an hour for the tour, and about 20 seconds to look at the other stuff.
You then get to wait 4 hours for the boat to return. You have options though. You can get regular Swedish food for about 30 dollars per plate or ice creams for like 3 bucks each. Or you can do as we did and play on the big rocks overlooking the sea.
I was planning to add pictures of the island, but for some reason they wont work. I will edit later and add them, I promise!!
Monday, July 30, 2007
32 WEEKS?? Can you believe it??
Its been a while, I know. 3 Weeks actually. Boy time has been flying. I was waiting for something and I forgot what now, but thats why its been so long. Oh, plus, Im huge and uncomfortable and lazy nowadays.
So I am starting week 32 now. I can hardly even fathom that in just 4 weeks I could deliver a baby that will be term. So strange. So exciting!
I have done my weekly reading and it seems that I am right in line with whats supposed to be happening. I can hardly breathe, baby is quite active, and I am exhausted and constantly heading for the bathroom!! I am also having plenty of Braxton-Hicks contractions, especially when I go walking or sit for more than 10 minutes in my computer/desk chair. But theyre no problem. The problem is that when I dont stop what Im doing, they get more intense and like real contractions. Therefore I am on a strict time limit and pace restriction when walking. That's not as easy as it sounds. But when you get a contraction, you seem to know its time to rest. Hehe.
I have been so happy these past 2 weeks because I feel like I can finally enjoy the pregnancy. All of the amazing changes my body has been going through are finally nice. I have always looked forward to this time in my life, and in NO way expected it to be such a nightmare. Now that I am off bed rest and no longer sick 24/7, and have learned to deal with the SPD pain for the most part, I am happy!! And I am really getting more and more excited to see my baby. I sometimes feel like she already has a personality in there. Moving to certain things, responding when Marcus or I touch my belly. Sometimes when I get laughing really hard it feels like she is laughing too. I know, I know, she isn't. But it feels like it and I love it!
Marcus and I went to Stockholm last week to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. It was so much fun! I am completely exhausted, still. But I am so happy I did it and i carefully exerted myself to do fun things. We saw the old town which was mostly just shopping but has really old buildings, the castle museum, The Skansen open air museum and two aquariums/zoo, took a boat tour of the canals of Stockholm which had a great narration with a vast amount of history, and did a boat tour to this island called Birka. It involved a lot of walking, but we followed the rules and Marcus got me some Ecco shoes to make it easier on the feet. Our hotel was lovely and we managed to find free parking right next to the train station when we went into the city. Oh, PLUS, we ate at 3 American restaurants and it was SO delicious. (There are none in Kalmar) It was truly great! We even got lucky with the weather. It was fore casted to be rainy, but it didn't rain once until we were on the road for home Friday. I actually got a little sunburn from the unexpected sunshine!! I definitely recommend Stockholm to anyone who wants a fun, reasonably priced vacation in Scandinavia!
We are moving into our house in 3 short weeks and cannot wait! I have all of these ideas about the baby's room. I cant decide on the so many choices I have. Like how to do the walls and what type of rug/curtains we want. I can go more pretty and clean or more wild and baby. I think we will go the more calm/pretty route, just to make sure she can rest in there. Its so fun looking at stuff. We have found this wallpaper place that has sort of murals in wall paper and they re so pretty so we think we will do one. We just have to choose between 2 we love. One is fairies in a forest type setting, and one is light colored wild animals(cartooney). Both match the bedding, since its just green, so we just have to decide. Arg! Here they both are!
I have my next midwife appointment tomorrow and the next ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday Aug 7th. Im really excited to get a confirmation that we are indeed having a little girl. The first one was great, but I didn't have a quite full bladder, so she said it was a little unclear and could only say 90%. But we both have felt this is a girl from day one. Im pretty sure she is a girl, but if "she" turns out to be a he, Im totally fine with that too! I just cant wait to know for sure. I will definitely be updating next Tuesday!! And sharing the adorable ultrasound pics we get.
Thanks for being patient. I know its been a long time, but no news is usually good news, and this time it definitely was!!
So I am starting week 32 now. I can hardly even fathom that in just 4 weeks I could deliver a baby that will be term. So strange. So exciting!
I have done my weekly reading and it seems that I am right in line with whats supposed to be happening. I can hardly breathe, baby is quite active, and I am exhausted and constantly heading for the bathroom!! I am also having plenty of Braxton-Hicks contractions, especially when I go walking or sit for more than 10 minutes in my computer/desk chair. But theyre no problem. The problem is that when I dont stop what Im doing, they get more intense and like real contractions. Therefore I am on a strict time limit and pace restriction when walking. That's not as easy as it sounds. But when you get a contraction, you seem to know its time to rest. Hehe.
I have been so happy these past 2 weeks because I feel like I can finally enjoy the pregnancy. All of the amazing changes my body has been going through are finally nice. I have always looked forward to this time in my life, and in NO way expected it to be such a nightmare. Now that I am off bed rest and no longer sick 24/7, and have learned to deal with the SPD pain for the most part, I am happy!! And I am really getting more and more excited to see my baby. I sometimes feel like she already has a personality in there. Moving to certain things, responding when Marcus or I touch my belly. Sometimes when I get laughing really hard it feels like she is laughing too. I know, I know, she isn't. But it feels like it and I love it!
Marcus and I went to Stockholm last week to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. It was so much fun! I am completely exhausted, still. But I am so happy I did it and i carefully exerted myself to do fun things. We saw the old town which was mostly just shopping but has really old buildings, the castle museum, The Skansen open air museum and two aquariums/zoo, took a boat tour of the canals of Stockholm which had a great narration with a vast amount of history, and did a boat tour to this island called Birka. It involved a lot of walking, but we followed the rules and Marcus got me some Ecco shoes to make it easier on the feet. Our hotel was lovely and we managed to find free parking right next to the train station when we went into the city. Oh, PLUS, we ate at 3 American restaurants and it was SO delicious. (There are none in Kalmar) It was truly great! We even got lucky with the weather. It was fore casted to be rainy, but it didn't rain once until we were on the road for home Friday. I actually got a little sunburn from the unexpected sunshine!! I definitely recommend Stockholm to anyone who wants a fun, reasonably priced vacation in Scandinavia!
We are moving into our house in 3 short weeks and cannot wait! I have all of these ideas about the baby's room. I cant decide on the so many choices I have. Like how to do the walls and what type of rug/curtains we want. I can go more pretty and clean or more wild and baby. I think we will go the more calm/pretty route, just to make sure she can rest in there. Its so fun looking at stuff. We have found this wallpaper place that has sort of murals in wall paper and they re so pretty so we think we will do one. We just have to choose between 2 we love. One is fairies in a forest type setting, and one is light colored wild animals(cartooney). Both match the bedding, since its just green, so we just have to decide. Arg! Here they both are!
I have my next midwife appointment tomorrow and the next ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday Aug 7th. Im really excited to get a confirmation that we are indeed having a little girl. The first one was great, but I didn't have a quite full bladder, so she said it was a little unclear and could only say 90%. But we both have felt this is a girl from day one. Im pretty sure she is a girl, but if "she" turns out to be a he, Im totally fine with that too! I just cant wait to know for sure. I will definitely be updating next Tuesday!! And sharing the adorable ultrasound pics we get.
Thanks for being patient. I know its been a long time, but no news is usually good news, and this time it definitely was!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Another one bites the dust....week that is. 28 Down!!
Ok, so I'm starting week 29 now!! Its so exciting I can hardly, well, breathe!
Before I share the exciting details of my last two weeks, you have to read some info about week 29 of pregnancy.
Fetal Deve
lopment:
The baby's head is in proportion to the rest of the body. Fat continues to accumulate under the skin. The brain can control primitive breathing and body temperature control, and the eyes can move in the sockets. The baby is becoming sensitive to light, sound, taste and smell. Now, I wonder how experts know a baby can smell in utero?
OK, so that's what the baby is doing. And me? Well, I'm doing pretty much nothing. I haven't been writing because of some complications, but I'm better now and back at it! Still resting as much as possible, to avoid further problems, but not forced to stay in bed all the time.
I saw my midwife yesterday and everything is going as it should. I am measuring right, which I was nervous about. And the baby's heartbeat was perfect!!
Many of you know that I am a member of an expecting in September pregnancy board. I get to read some really great advice and some really scary stories. The scary ones are SO not good for me. I read about one girl whose baby is afflicted with left ventricle something. Basically her left side of her heart doesn't work. She will either die soon after birth or have a lifelong struggle with surgeries and medications. This is detected when the heart beats funny. So, I was/am very grateful to hear a healthy heart every time we go.
Also, from that board is a woman who had triplets 3 months early. All the wo
men are due in September, so its scary that she already has them! Well, the babies are adorable and seem pretty healthy. The babies were born a little over 2 weeks ago, and in the picture, they are as old as my baby is now. Its just so hard to imagine that my little one looks like that already. I try to picture it, and just cant. I see her more as a kind of blob of flesh with poky limbs. Nice, huh?
Here are those triplets at 2 weeks.
I hope my baby waits, but its nice to know that if she must make her debut early, she will be OK.
Before I share the exciting details of my last two weeks, you have to read some info about week 29 of pregnancy.
Fetal Deve
lopment:The baby's head is in proportion to the rest of the body. Fat continues to accumulate under the skin. The brain can control primitive breathing and body temperature control, and the eyes can move in the sockets. The baby is becoming sensitive to light, sound, taste and smell. Now, I wonder how experts know a baby can smell in utero?
OK, so that's what the baby is doing. And me? Well, I'm doing pretty much nothing. I haven't been writing because of some complications, but I'm better now and back at it! Still resting as much as possible, to avoid further problems, but not forced to stay in bed all the time.
I saw my midwife yesterday and everything is going as it should. I am measuring right, which I was nervous about. And the baby's heartbeat was perfect!!
Many of you know that I am a member of an expecting in September pregnancy board. I get to read some really great advice and some really scary stories. The scary ones are SO not good for me. I read about one girl whose baby is afflicted with left ventricle something. Basically her left side of her heart doesn't work. She will either die soon after birth or have a lifelong struggle with surgeries and medications. This is detected when the heart beats funny. So, I was/am very grateful to hear a healthy heart every time we go.
Also, from that board is a woman who had triplets 3 months early. All the wo
men are due in September, so its scary that she already has them! Well, the babies are adorable and seem pretty healthy. The babies were born a little over 2 weeks ago, and in the picture, they are as old as my baby is now. Its just so hard to imagine that my little one looks like that already. I try to picture it, and just cant. I see her more as a kind of blob of flesh with poky limbs. Nice, huh?Here are those triplets at 2 weeks.
I hope my baby waits, but its nice to know that if she must make her debut early, she will be OK.
I am starting really think about everything to come. Its only 8 weeks to full term, ya know. That's scary!! And whats even scarier is that I have had this weird feeling, that I hope is not true, that she will be coming around 35 weeks. Its not super early, but still earlier than I would like. I do think that my due date is off by about 6 days, but it still doesn't make up for that. I don't know why I have had this feeling, but I just cant deny it. I wonder if anyone else has had premonitions of early or late delivery and they came true. I also had a feeling it was a girl and that turned out to be true. Marcus has shared both of these feelings, too. Maybe its just because I'm so excited. I guess time will tell.
Speaking of time, its getting close to when we move into our house!! YAY! We move on August 18Th and I cant wait. It may be weird, since I cant do anything, and I like to do everything. Hopefully I can relax and take my pointing and telling duties well. I can also choose paint and wall papers... exciting stuff!
Hopefully next week I will have pics to share. Of me, that is.
Speaking of time, its getting close to when we move into our house!! YAY! We move on August 18Th and I cant wait. It may be weird, since I cant do anything, and I like to do everything. Hopefully I can relax and take my pointing and telling duties well. I can also choose paint and wall papers... exciting stuff!
Hopefully next week I will have pics to share. Of me, that is.
Friday, June 29, 2007
hospital beds and morning sickness.... oh my
Hey everyone. Well, its Friday and I am mid week 27. Just as things were going super duper great, there was a turn for the worse. I just cant seem to have one of those TV fun and happy pregnancies. I know they exist, because I watch alot of TV. Its what you do on partial or full bed rest.
I started the week out with a slight cold, but that was nothing and it went away pretty quickly. I am starting to believe in cursing yourself, though. Monday I was a little nauseous, which brought to mind how I had been morning sickness free for almost 3 weeks. And I was so happy for that. This was about midnight. I fell asleep and woke up about 2am from something, either a kick or Neko whining or my hips. I lose track. I couldn't get back to sleep, which is becoming the standard, so I was playing on the internet. About 5am my stomach starts to really hurt. I know I am alot hungrier than usual lately so I ate a little fruit and had a small glass of milk. I then attempted to go back to bed. Well, about 8 I woke up throwing up. Just like before. But I didnt think it was morning sickness, maybe just a weird stomach. It has continued since and I am back on my medicine. Poooooooo!
So, I have come to terms with my morning sickness coming back, and I am really trying to take care of myself better. I have started using my exercise stuff again and feeling really good about it. I have learned to go to the bathroom before, or I will have to stop to pee and never go back. SO thats what I did on Wednesday. Thats when I saw I was bleeding. This is absolutely NOT what you want to see when youre pregnant, not to mention this late in the game. (not late enough, but late) SO I tried to call the hospital and Marcus at work, but apparently in Sweden there is some stupid magical combination of dialing you have to know or it wont go through. And when it finally did, I get a busy signal. SO I throw on some clothes and rush to Marcus' job so he can call. They want me to take an ambulance, but that seems like overkill, so we drive. I am crying and shaking and very close to vomiting at this point.
We get to the hospital and they have a bed waiting to roll me into a delivery room just in case. Oh my god I was scared! They start to do an examination with the ultrasound. Baby is fine. Moving, above the median size by 11%, and heartbeat is perfect. Thank goodness. But they still dont know WHY I am bleeding. SO they want to do an internal examination. I have to pee first, and give them a sample while Im at it. They find blood in it, but it turns out to be just from me bleeding. Whew!
Doctor gets to the internal exam and sees the blood, but finds no reason. Still, they decide its best to keep me overnight in case things get worse and I need emergency surgery. NOT what I wanted to hear. Its so difficult for me not to know why something is happening. Its just not my nature to accept these things and walk on. Its also difficult enough to sleep at home on my special mattress, but the hospital beds are like rocks. So it was a sleepless night for me. I wasnt worried, just incredibly uncomfortable. And my neighbor was snoring soooo loudly all night. I cant believe that she just had a baby and it slept through that. Maybe it got used to it inutero.
Marcus is turning 30 on Monday, so I have a big party to finish prepping for. I wont be doing as much as I had planned, though. Im not risking anything!! The doctor didnt technically put me on bed rest, but I kind of am. Since I bleed when I move alot, and I have been reading stories online about women who had unexplained bleeding and were allowed to exercise, did, and lost their babies even past 26 weeks. I just cant take the chance. Anyways, hopefully we will get some good pics from the party and I can share them next time.
SO that has been my very eventful week. Probably boring to read, but I had to share. Its almost becoming funny how horrible my pregnancy has been. And in a way, I guess I do have a TV pregnancy. Can we say soap opera?? Geez!!
And PS, for those pics of Marcus Vila wanted, here is one from two weeks ago.
I started the week out with a slight cold, but that was nothing and it went away pretty quickly. I am starting to believe in cursing yourself, though. Monday I was a little nauseous, which brought to mind how I had been morning sickness free for almost 3 weeks. And I was so happy for that. This was about midnight. I fell asleep and woke up about 2am from something, either a kick or Neko whining or my hips. I lose track. I couldn't get back to sleep, which is becoming the standard, so I was playing on the internet. About 5am my stomach starts to really hurt. I know I am alot hungrier than usual lately so I ate a little fruit and had a small glass of milk. I then attempted to go back to bed. Well, about 8 I woke up throwing up. Just like before. But I didnt think it was morning sickness, maybe just a weird stomach. It has continued since and I am back on my medicine. Poooooooo!
So, I have come to terms with my morning sickness coming back, and I am really trying to take care of myself better. I have started using my exercise stuff again and feeling really good about it. I have learned to go to the bathroom before, or I will have to stop to pee and never go back. SO thats what I did on Wednesday. Thats when I saw I was bleeding. This is absolutely NOT what you want to see when youre pregnant, not to mention this late in the game. (not late enough, but late) SO I tried to call the hospital and Marcus at work, but apparently in Sweden there is some stupid magical combination of dialing you have to know or it wont go through. And when it finally did, I get a busy signal. SO I throw on some clothes and rush to Marcus' job so he can call. They want me to take an ambulance, but that seems like overkill, so we drive. I am crying and shaking and very close to vomiting at this point.
We get to the hospital and they have a bed waiting to roll me into a delivery room just in case. Oh my god I was scared! They start to do an examination with the ultrasound. Baby is fine. Moving, above the median size by 11%, and heartbeat is perfect. Thank goodness. But they still dont know WHY I am bleeding. SO they want to do an internal examination. I have to pee first, and give them a sample while Im at it. They find blood in it, but it turns out to be just from me bleeding. Whew!
Doctor gets to the internal exam and sees the blood, but finds no reason. Still, they decide its best to keep me overnight in case things get worse and I need emergency surgery. NOT what I wanted to hear. Its so difficult for me not to know why something is happening. Its just not my nature to accept these things and walk on. Its also difficult enough to sleep at home on my special mattress, but the hospital beds are like rocks. So it was a sleepless night for me. I wasnt worried, just incredibly uncomfortable. And my neighbor was snoring soooo loudly all night. I cant believe that she just had a baby and it slept through that. Maybe it got used to it inutero.
Marcus is turning 30 on Monday, so I have a big party to finish prepping for. I wont be doing as much as I had planned, though. Im not risking anything!! The doctor didnt technically put me on bed rest, but I kind of am. Since I bleed when I move alot, and I have been reading stories online about women who had unexplained bleeding and were allowed to exercise, did, and lost their babies even past 26 weeks. I just cant take the chance. Anyways, hopefully we will get some good pics from the party and I can share them next time.
SO that has been my very eventful week. Probably boring to read, but I had to share. Its almost becoming funny how horrible my pregnancy has been. And in a way, I guess I do have a TV pregnancy. Can we say soap opera?? Geez!!
And PS, for those pics of Marcus Vila wanted, here is one from two weeks ago.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Cant breathe... must slow down.
Tomorrow I start WEEK 27!! Woo Hoo!! I can hardly believe its gotten this far. And I know I say that every week, and still mean it. I remember what feels like two days ago being so nervous about making it to the 2nd trimester... and now I'm about to start the 3rd!! Final phase. Its really sinking in and getting real. Morning sickness should have maybe made it so, but that was just like being extremely sick for 24 weeks. LOL. Now I can eat and can feel my baby eating after I do. Its very strange and amazing.
I met with my midwife last week and everything was good. She did the Doppler thing to hear the heartbeat and we actually got to hear umbilical cord sounds. That means we could hear the baby eating!! It was AWESOME. And every time we hear that little heart chugging away it makes me cry a little. Its so relieving.
I had to go back the nest day for some blood work just to recheck y levels and all, and found out why I have been so utterly exhausted. I had pretty low iron counts. I vaguely recall being put on iron when I was about 22, but only stayed on it for like a week because I didn't believe it was anything serious. Now, however, I believe it. I have been dragging around like half dead for a few weeks. We didn't get to buy the pills until Thursday, so this is day 4, but it seems like I have a slight increase in energy. Though I also have a stupid cold and cough, so that's dragging me down a little. As long as I can rest, I don't mind too much. Baby does like to wake me up at all hours of the night, though. So, real rest is tricky. Good thing I have nothing to do but lie around resting! I'm SO lucky!!
Below is information about week 27 that I got from StorkNet.
Fetal Development: During this week, the brain continues its rapid growth, and the lungs continue to grow. Eyelids begin to open, and the retinas begin to form. The baby will grow over 1/2 inch this week and will be about 1 1/3 feet long (from crown of head to the toes or 9.6 inches from crown to rump)!
Maternal Changes:
Congratulations! At the end of this week, you will have finished the second trimester already!
You may be experiencing some shortness of breath. Your uterus is close to your rib cage now, and your lungs may not be able to fully expand. Don't worry though. Your baby isn't lacking oxygen and your circulatory system is actually working more efficiently thanks to those pregnancy hormones that have caused you so much discomfort.
Well, seems like baby is really growing! And I feel it too. I took some pics last week and just haven't had the energy to post anything. SO I will post them now. Seems like the iron supplements are really starting to help. Still tired, but not scarily so.
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