He's late, he's late!

At my appointment yesterday I finally got to see a Doctor. I've been hating the nurse I've been seeing all along, so this Doctor was a welcome change.

She told me she noticed I hadn't been scheduled for an induction and said she went ahead and scheduled me for the first available slot, which is the 18th! I literally burst into tears and told her that my nurse told me 3 weeks ago, and at every appointment since then, that she had me down for the 13th. The Doc double checked and said I was not on the schedule and the schedule is full now. She even had the nurse call and try and squeeze me in, but they couldn't do it. I cannot imagine carrying this baby 2 weeks past his due date, and I cannot BELIEVE that my stupid nurse never scheduled the induction! I'm filing a complaint for sure.

None of these natural induction methods seem to be making any difference. Yesterday I was still not dilated at all. Now we're all just sitting around staring at each other, waiting for this baby to show up... I wonder what is taking him so long...

37 Week Appointment

I can't believe it's almost here. Just 3 weeks to go until my due date. As I'm typing this I just realized that also means its just 3 weeks to go until my birthday, which I haven't even been thinking about at all!

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday and it was my favorite appointment so far, mostly because my usual nurse (who pretty much just measures my stomach and sends me on my way) was out of town, so I saw a midwife instead. The midwife was really nice and very well informed, and she spent extra time with us answering my questions. Yes, the hospital will let us delay cutting the umbilical cord, and yes, they will let Danny be the one to cut it. Also, as long as everything goes well, they will let me be the first to hold the baby and won't just whisk him away for tests and measurements. We had heard other things from other people who had given birth at this hospital, so it was nice to know that, as long as we speak up and make our plans and desires known, there is nothing in our birth plan that is out of the question.

My exam showed that my cervix was softening a little, but I was not dilated at all, so no baby any time soon. The midwife also estimated that our baby would be about 7 1/2 pounds at birth, which was reassuring after discovering that I had gained a whopping 5 pounds sine my last appointment only 3 weeks ago. I thought maybe the baby had a huge growth spurt, but she says everything is right on track and looking good. I'm pretty sure this baby is going all the way and will not be making an early appearance. I haven't even had any braxton hicks contractions or anything (just one of the things I've lucked out with. I also don't have any stretch marks, no black line on my tummy, and my belly button, though flattening, is not poking out).

Now we just have to wait...... and wait....... which is difficult, since we were trying to get this baby for so long I already feel like I've been pregnant for 3 years. I've packed my hospital bag, and one for the baby. I've put a few things in Danny's backpack too, and hopefully he can finish that up quickly. The nursery is ready, too, which is comforting. There are just a couple more things to finish up, some of which I have to wait to do until the grandma's get here (on May 1st. Yay!), since I can't figure out how to work my sewing machine....

If you want something done right...

This week is week 30, and our babykins seems to be getting bigger and stronger everyday!

I had an OB appointment this afternoon, and (surprise, surprise) they told me they STILL don't have the results from my anatomy screening, which was done January 5th (week 23). At my appointment last month before we left for California my nurse asked me if I had even done the screening. I reminded her that I had, but she said she never got the results from the imaging clinic that had performed the scan. I gave her their card and she said she would call them and get the results. Well, I'm pretty sure that never happened because today she asks me if I ever got the results.

"No," I said "you said you would call them and get the results"
"Oh, yeah... I couldn't get them..." She tells me.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they never got back to me"

She tells me I need to call them myself and tell them to fax her the results right away. So frustrating.

As soon as I get home I call the clinic and explain that I had my scan done on January 5th and my doctor is telling me they never got the results. The receptionist ask for my information and then informs me that the DID in fact send the results over to the hospital... Twice.

I ask the lady if she can please resend them, and I give her a "different fax number", which is really the fax number for the Kinko's around the corner from my house.

I drive over to Kinko's, pick up the fax, and then re-fax it to my Doctor's office myself. Now, not only do I have the results, but next time my nurse tells me she "never got it" I can tell her I sent it to her that very day. Phew... [wipes sweat from brow].

As for the results, I don't really know how to read them, but everything seems to say "normal" and "no abnormalities", so I'm thinking that's a good sign. It does say "Breech", but I'm pretty sure he's flipped at this point.

Anatomy Scan Results

Just for fun, here's a picture of me now that I'm in my 3rd trimester. Laurel is not actually pregnant, we were just at the maternity store and she was trying on the stuffed bellies :)

Better Late than Never

After months of trying to book my 20 week ultrasound, and the hospital being too overbooked to see me, our insurance finally gave me the 'Okay' to go to another facility. And, after weeks of trying to get this other facility to return our phone calls, I finally go a hold of someone and was able to book the 20 week ultrasound at almost 23 weeks. Hey, better late than never.

The ultrasound was on Thursday. It was an anatomy scan, where they have to look at, photograph and measure  nearly every centimeter of the baby. They wouldn't tell me much, but I do know that our bouncing baby boy is weighing in at 1 lb 5 oz (a wee bit big already), and he's about a foot long. We also got an up close and personal shot of his "boy parts" as the tech called them, so if anyone was holding out hope for a girl, it's time to give up.

The ultrasound itself was not fun at all. I barely got to look at the screen, it was freezing cold in there, and my back was killing me because of the position I had to lay in (but at least I got to lay down, poor Danny has to stand in the corner for the hour long visit. They didn't even offer him a chair!). I was glad when it was all over. We can start calling the Dr to try and get our results on Monday. Oh, and they didn't even give us any pictures, so don't ask...

More exciting than the scan is the fact that I felt the first real kicks that same day! It happened in the car on the way to the clinic, and then again while I was on the table getting the scan. In fact, our guy was kicking so much that it took forever for our tech to get a measurement of his femur.


A few days before that, on Tuesday, we went to another OB appointment. They listened to the heartbeat, which was good, and they measured my stomach and told me I was "measuring big", 24 weeks, even though I was only 22 weeks 4 days. They also said I'm gaining too much weight, since I gained 12 lbs since my last visit. The nurse said to me "Let's try and keep it at a pound a week, okay?". Hmm... I really don't feel that big, at that point most people we're telling me that I look too small to be almost 6 months, or that they wouldn't know I was pregnant if I hadn't told them. Also; I've only gained 10 pounds total from my pre-pregnancy weight. But, alas, I don't want to get too big, so I guess I better be more careful. No more yogenfruz for me...

23 weeks 1 day

next week is 6 months!

I am finally starting to show, though, which is very exciting. Danny always tells me "you look super pregnant today!" with this big huge smile on his face. He's getting a bit jealous though, now that we're in the fun part of the pregnancy.


Last night we were laying in bed and I could feel the babykins kicking, and it felt like it was pretty hard. He put his hands on my belly and waited, and whenever the baby kicked I'd say "did you feel that?", but he couldn't feel anything. I wager it won't be much longer til he can feel it too though. This baby seems to be getting stronger every day.

Oh, P.S. If you haven't heard, Danny got new orders and we're moving to Fort Belvoir, Virginia in May. Actually, my due date it May 4th and our move date is probably right around May 8th, so this should be fun. Also; we're coming home for a couple weeks in February (the 7th through the 21st). See you then!

20 down, 20 to go!

Well everyone, here we are in week 20, the halfway mark is here and I've been feeling a lot better. I usually just take 1 Zofran first thing in the morning and I'm good all day long, as long as I don't let my stomach get too empty. I've been getting a lot more flips and flutters going on down there, which is really exciting! Just waiting to feel those actual kicks.

20 weeks 5 days

Still, no one seems to be able to see that I'm pregnant. Even if I tell people they always say "You don't look pregnant". When I told my friend John's sister I was 5 months along she said "No way, you can't even tell you're pregnant at all", to which John responded: "you can tell if you saw her before". (smile)

But I have had to move on into mostly maternity clothes (thanks Ellie), everything was just a little too tight and getting really uncomfortable. Even if I don't look that big I can sure feel it. 

Who knows how big I'll be by the time we get to California is February! Danny is putting in for 2 weeks leave and we can't wait to get out there and see everybody. Maybe by then I'll really be showing and our little boy will be kicking up a storm. My 3rd trimester starts February 10th.

So... what's left to do before the babykins comes? For starters, we have yet to start on the nursery, but the Star Wars theme is going to be fun. Danny is really excited about it. I think we're going with a Navy blue, white, and gray color scheme, with really modern fixtures and accessories. Oh, and there's the small matter of giving the little Politoed a real name. Time is ticking... 

The results are in!

So... funny thing happened to me last Tuesday; I was suddenly pregnant. I know, I know, I've been pregnant for more than 4 months. What I mean is, I suddenly felt SO pregnant. It just happened so fast. Monday my stomach was flat and I was wondering when I was ever going to start showing. I still hadn't gotten my weight up to what it was before the pregnancy because of all the morning sickness. But then BOOM! on Tuesday my pants are more than an inch from buttoning. When I bent over to grab my shoes off the floor there was something stopping me, an avocado sized baby. I just couldn't bend normally.

It just kept going that way. On Wednesday night while I was singing with my band I felt the first little flutters of baby Politoed inside! It felt like popcorn started popping in my uterus.

17 weeks

5 weeks

And with my new found baby bump came a new found appetite. Just in time for Thanksgiving I was able to start eating normal amounts of food! (sometimes even more than normal amounts).

I was supposed to be getting a 20 week ultrasound in December, before Christmas, but the ultrasound department at the hospital is booked solid until late January, and I'm not a very patient woman. Luckily Danny's parents, who were in town visiting for Thanksgiving, didn't want to wait to find out little Politoed's sex either. On Monday, the 28th, they took us to an ultrasound studio called That's My Baby and we got to see our baby squirming and dancing around. The tech, who knew I was on the phone with my mom, put the device on my belly and said "Do you want to send your mom a picture of his penis?". It was so fast, i was just shocked. I think i stammered something like, "what? boy? you mean it's a boy?"

"Mama, it's a boy!"

The ultrasound tech was great. She showed us everything, we saw the heart beating away, we saw his little face, his spine, his feet and his hands. She took pictures of everything. She said he looks great and he has long fingers. All the better to play the piano with, I say.

Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma

We are so excited to be having a little boy, even though we only had a girls name picked out. Go figure. I have 3 brothers and no sisters and when my little brother Joseph was born I looked up at my dad and said "I still get to be the pwincess!". After the ultrasound on Monday my mom texted me said 'You know what this means? You STILL get to be the princess.'

So now the name game begins. Danny and I have know our girl's name for years now, but we never really talked about boys names too much. We have a stack of about 20 index cards with different names we like, but nothing is really jumping out at us. It's hard to find something that works for a boy as a baby and as a grown man, and harder still trying to find a name we like that's not on the current top 100 list. If you have any ideas feel free to send them our way. I know we have almost 5 months left, but I like planning ahead...

We've started planning the nursery and decided on a Star Wars theme! Yeah, we're nerds, get used to it. Our baby boy is registered at  Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry and at Amazon.com Baby Registry

Here are the ultrasound photos! Such a huge change from the last pictures we got:

Look that that precious face!

He's waving to us.

Update from the ER

I'm sitting in the ER again waiting for the okay to leave, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to update this blog. I know it's been a while.

Before you get too worried you should know that everything is okay. I came in around noon because I had a little spotting after I peed. Any sign of bleeding is a red flag for me (no pun intended), so I drive down to the ER. Well, first I checked the babies heartbeat with the at home Doppler a friend gave me, and though I was happy to see a rate around 140 I still thought I should head to the hospital. At my 16 week OB appointment yesterday the heartbeat was above 160.

Honestly, by the time I got myself into the waiting room I was pretty much panicking. Danny came down from work to be with me though, which was awesome.

I got some blood drawn and a pelvic exam, but I'm still waiting to get the lab results. I also got some fluids, and they did an ultrasound. They said there was no sign of bleeding, my cervix is completely closed, and on the ultrasound the baby was moving around and looked really good. Danny even saw the face! He said it looked like every other baby.

Unfortunately the Dr couldn't tell us the sex, but I think it might be a girl because I didn't see anything! Maybe it's just wishful thinking. The good news is that next week Danny's parents are taking us to an ultrasound studio to get a gender screening done. Look for an update on Monday, we should know the sex at that point!

I'm really hungry, but I can't leave the ER yet because my blood pressure is too low. 80 something over 50 something. I might need some more fluids. It looks like I'm still not hydrated enough. Also; I'm still waiting on those lab results....

-Rachel (Sent from my iPhone)

UPDATE:
Lab results were all normal, my blood pressure went back to normal. They sent me up to the real OB who did a vaginal ultrasound to check and see if my cervix had opened or thinned out at all. She said it all looked good, cervix was closed and about 4cm thick. They want it to be at least 3cm, so mine was awesome! Still couldn't tell us the gender though.