Been a while

It's been a while since we posted here. We had a very healthy baby in April (YAY!!). I had to be induced though. After all the trouble to keep him in there, he decided to stay in there. I had some excess fluid so I can't really fault him for not wanting to give up the Olympic sized (for him) swimming pool.

We're starting to figure out a routine, albeit very slowly. The main one we've figured out is he eats every 3 hours or so. Other than that, it's all open ended.

I've started getting more active again. I've started going back to the gym this week and today walked about 3.5 miles with him. I wanted to go to dance class, however the walk totally wasted me. I'm going to try for class tomorrow. I'm not technically cleared for exercise, but I figure as long as I listen to my body and not push I'll be fine.

Hard to believe he's almost a month old. While the day to day seems to blur together, when you sit back and look at it, you really see how time is flying.

Good news

The doctor's office called today and said the latest round of labwork was all normal. So no thyroid issues!! This makes me very very happy. So the first one was just a fluke. I can live with a fluke like that.

No news

No news on the heart monitor, so it couldn't have been too bad, I'm guessing. :) I do need to check some test results. They are thinking there may be a thyroid issue. The first test came in a hair low. And I do mean a HAIR low. The normal range is 6.0, and I was at 5.6. We did a retest, so we'll see how those results look. If it's a bit low it could be causing the heart palpitations. However, I really only seem to get them when I'm working. So it could still be stress. This weekend went very well. I've been able to get out and about quite a bit. We went to a birthday bash on Sunday at Legal Seafood for our friend's 40th birthday and today was shopping.

I have been feeling more stress and fear of having this kid than excitement. Even if I'm the one having it, I don't really feel connected to him. I'm just the people carrier, really. So today Geek and I went out and did some baby shopping. It really was needed for both of us. We got some toys, some clothes, small pack of diapers, and the painting stuff we'll need to work on the nursery next Saturday. It really put us both in a better frame of mind and made all this seem more concrete and real, rather than just a waiting game.

Cyborg

Today was another ultrasound and the heart rate monitor hookup. He's measuring 31w 5 days and roughly 4lbs 4oz. He was also camera shy again today. You could just see him thinking "Argh! The pappirazzi again!!" and was holding a hand over his face.

Afterwards, they hooked me up to the portable EKG machine. So I have lots of pads, wires and a control box strapped to my chest. Yay for being a cyborg. I'm to record my symptoms as they show up. I then take it back tomorrow.

I go in on Tuesday to see the doctor and see what my labwork results were. Hopefully the heart monitor results will be there too, and I have the ultrasound report for her. We'll see what happens.

Frustrated

I tried going back to work this week. The plan was to go back two days a week. Well, the day went fine, but I either overdid or was overtired because that evening had another cramping episode. No bleeding so I wasn't too stressed. They also weren't that regular. But it's taken me a few days to recover. So I didn't go in on Thursday. I figured I'd rest and go in today. Wrong!! I had another bad day and ended up having "issues" all night, so I plan on working at home and taking it easy. This is really getting on my nerves though. I'd like to see the office a few times before I go off for maternity!!

We got the furniture last weekend, as well as a carseat and a stroller from a friend of ours that is the last year's model of the one we want. So basically we can get him home now. Still need a blanket and a onesie to finish the checklist for the trip home, but we can get from hospital to home and he has a place to sleep. :) So far the crib and the changing table are up. We still have work to do in the room, so we didn't really go nuts constructing stuff yet. We have a friend coming out in a few weeks to take the mirrors down, patch the holes and paint. They should also be able to tear down the bookcase that's in there and move it somewhere more useful now. We'll move the glider in there, put up the dresser, and get the curtains up and that should do it.

I had an "alien baby" moment last night which was funny. I was reclining in bed and went to sit up, tightening my ab muscles as I did so. You could see the outline of his back. That was pretty creepy but cool at the same time.

In other non-pregnancy news, things are moving along here. Geek is doing a charity spin class at the gym called Spin for Hope (for the American Cancer Society), so feel free to sponsor him. It's a three hour ride. :) I'm really proud of him for doing this. In May, I will be performing in Hips for Hope for the same cause.

It's that lovely tax season again so everyone's got their hand out. It's annoying as anything, but what can you do. Hopefully we'll get some of it back.

The puppies are good. Brutus loves the snow and has a blast playing in it. He's been getting very adventurous and wandering off down the road here lately to do his business. Mainly because he knows we can't follow him. Silly dog. He comes back right after but still... Buddy, on the other hand, can't wait for it all to melt and get warm again. He hates the snow and usually tries to look pathetic as soon as we go out by shivering and lifting his paws. Silly dogs.

Huray

Got the results of the glucose challenge. No gestational diabetes. :)

More of the same

I had a doctor visit today. I'm still off work/working from home. Now the difference is, given the cramping/spotting that occurred last week (which was very likely stress induced) if there's no improvement there, I will be taken off work completely. So I really have to learn to relax and not push so hard at working, and not get so stressed when things aren't working right.

On other news, the glucose challenge is tomorrow. This is going to be particularly nasty as I can't drink the usual icky orange syrup. I get a special mix of straight sucrose solution with saline. Yum. Hurray for corn allergies. So hopefully that will be uneventful and I'll pass first go.

Otherwise, da Babi is doing great. His heart sounds great and I'm measuring right on target. There's another ultrasound being scheduled and I go back to the doctor in two weeks.

In yet other baby news, we did the childbirth class last Saturday. It was an interesting time. We learned a lot, and honestly wasn't freaked out by a lot of the stuff. Facts given straight up tend not to bother me, whereas hearing the stories do. The tour of the facilities was totally worth it. I was surprised that the hospital doesn't staff the nursery. They encourage the baby to be in the room as much as possible. Dads don't have to abide by the visiting rules (YAY!!). The one thing that totally sucks is that kids have to be over 12 to visit. :( That part I was totally annoyed with. But the other side is if it's a normal birth and I can get out of bed, I can go to the lounge and visit with little folks. The rooms are very homey and nice, so that won't be bad. They have 5 private rooms and they fill those first then there are 3 double rooms. So here's hoping I will be in a private. :)

I've signed up for a baby CPR class, a mother/baby class and a breastfeeding class. I'm looking forward to them actually. There are people from the childbirth class signed up for them, so I'll get to see them again, which will also be nice.

And for the record, I have never seen such hellacious, bratty, out of control kids as I did at the doctor office today. OMFG, they were awful. Screaming, yelling, one was grabbing their baby sister and trying to wrestle. And the parents did NOTHING. I so appreciate our friends with well behaved kids and great parenting.

Pregnancy update again

For those of you bored of this topic, feel free to skip. :)

I'm still on bedrest for this week and at least Tuesday next week. There's an ultrasound scheduled for Friday and a doctor's appointment for next Tuesday. With any luck things are moving as they should, up. I honestly don't know how other women cope with being laid up like this. It's driven me nuts!! I was able to sit up and direct my kitchen this weekend which helped a lot. I simplified the menu, so there wasn't a huge amount for Paul to cook. Even so, there's still a lot for one person to do. I over-did it a bit on Friday to try to help him out. It didn't seem like much (empty and reload dishwasher, trash out the fridge for new food arriving) but apparently it was, as I felt a bit off Saturday. However, that was nothing compared to Saturday evening.

I'm usually very careful about where I let the dogs sit on me. They need to stay off my stomach. Buddy was in a spot that I thought was ok, until Paul made a noise and he launched himself off me to go see. All his weight launched into my lower abdomen and then he launched himself off like it was a springboard. OUCH!! It started some of the worst cramps yet and I seriously thought it was time for the ER. I was also afraid the babi got hurt as there wasn't much movement that evening compared to the day before. However I decided that since there was no blood to wait and see how I felt. Sunday was still not the best but I still wanted to wait and see how things were going. The cramping wasn't as bad, still no blood and some movement. We also had folks coming for a photoshoot, and I didn't want to cancel.

The shoot went well, which made us all very happy, and things seemed to simmer down for me. After some chocolate cake, lots of movement and kicking was felt, so I'm not as concerned. The "cramping" that started last night was in fact pain from muscles not really wanting to stretch in my midsection. That I can live with. :)

To save what's left of my sanity I started working remotely last week. I'm quite happy about that, as at least I'm no longer chewing up sick time. Now the trick is to stay stress-free. Even with the bit of the job I'm doing it can be stressful. The good news is it's hard to be stresed out when there are warm pugs snoring happily in your lap. I will still need to sort out my time off and get the doctor to fax over documentation, but that should be relatively easy.

Not even born yet...

and this kid is already causing grief. :)

The ultrasound last week showed a very healthy little boy in there. While he's healthy, Mom's not so much.

Starting on Sunday I started cramping rather badly. I thought it might be due to the fact the office was 87 degrees (83 with the door wide open and fan blasting on high) so I thought maybe I was dehydrated (even though I was drinking tons). Nope. Not it. The cramping continued on Monday. It was pretty intense at work, but I was hoping it was a growth spurt or something, so didn't say anything about it. In the car the cramps were steady - almost 10-25 minutes apart. I made a deal with the Evil Overlord. I'd lay down in bed and behave if he'd stop the cramping. That worked until I tried to get up on Tuesday. It was still totally bad. I ended up staying home and flat out to keep the cramping at bay.

Today was the doctor appointment. I did have some good news, heart was strong, the tape measure came out for the first time, bloodwork from last week came back fine, the quad screen was negative and even the Down syndrome risk was really low.

The bad news is I have placenta previa. The bleeding started today. It's still light, so no one's really stressed, but this does mean I'm off work for at least a week. I can't work out at all, and have to stay horizontal and stress-free. I'll go for weekly ultrasounds for a bit and have an appointment next week. If anything gets worse, I need to call immediately. So not entirely happy but rest is about all I can do. The doc's reasonably convinced it's going to resolve itself, we just need to wait for things to grow enough to lift the placenta up. So what to do in the meantime. I wonder if I can play Oblivion and stay relaxed and not get stressed playing it.

Still a bit discouraged

but I now have a plan. It's been such a shock to the system having to eat so much. Telling an ex-anorexic to gain weight? Talk about a mental freakout. But I think I can work this so it's not quite so traumatic. I'm going to shoot for 2250 calories. Ok so it's not 2500 but it's closer than 1700-1800 I've been doing. If I do 3 meals of 500 calories and 3 snacks at 250 calories, that will do it. It seems like a much better plan than what I've been doing which has been either binging at the end of the day to meet my calories, or pigging out at breakfast so I have a hope of making the calories. So I need to plan out my meals and snacks a bit more carefully but I think this will do it. Wish me luck.

Had my Dr. Appt today

Not great news.

My sugar was high. :( They did a blood glucose check and it was also high (122). They suspect it's because my calories are so low. So I'm under orders to seriously bulk up my calories. As in a 50% increase.

Going to the grocery tonight I was so seriously depressed at the amount of crap in the trolley. I mean, I know I need it, but still. :/ I'm trying my best to get over the mental block of the scale going back up. I know I need to do this, but it's hard. I know the way I've been eating over the last year is hardly "normal" but it worked for me. It was healthy and good. Now I have to go back to more "normal" foods, higher fat meats, many more potatoes, etc.

If I can get up to 2500 (what the doc recommended) I might have the energy to exercise and dance. Right now I can barely work. In fact I've been off the last two days to try to sort this out. Wish me luck.

I'm supposed to perform tomorrow and I'm hoping I'll be able to. Right now I can't even practice. Here's hoping I can pull some energy from somewhere for tomorrow.

Pregnancy update

Things are still plugging along on that front. I'm not as tired or pukey as I was, which is a very good thing. I broke down and bought two pairs of maternity trousers. I don't really need them yet, but my "glutening" jeans look really bad on me. :) I'm still not gaining weight, which is a good thing at the mo. I'm sure I will do, but right now, all is still good. I've been trying to exercise still, and dance, and haven't really changed my diet all that much (still eating healthy as ever), but trying to add a few more calories in than usual. So yeah, it's just like our wedding, lots of hurry up and wait. :)