Updates

Tuesday was not a fun day. I was having some pains in my lower abdomen so I called the doctor just to make sure it was ok. She suggested I come in, but my doctor was off so I could just see another one. Matt and I went in, listened to the fetal monitor for 1-1/2 hours and then the doctor finally came in. He spent about 1-2 minutes with us and kind of acted like I was silly for coming in. I don't handle that very well. I've never been pregnant before, so I don't know what's normal and abnormal. I was not a happy camper when I left.

I called MY doctor the next day to see if she could see me sometime this week before she was off with her family for Spring Break. We went back Thursday. So much better! My belly is officially full term- 40 weeks- even though I'm only 35 weeks pregnant. My blood pressure is still ok. I'm sooooo swollen that my doctor feels sorry for me. :) We also decided that unless she comes early on her own, we're going to do a scheduled C-section. Anna is just too big to risk shoulder distosia and other complications. So, hopefully we'll find out in the next 2 weeks when she'll be here! I also had my first pelvic exam and there is no progress being made there. Anna is still head down but she's pretty high. I felt so much better when I left that appointment and so did Matt. Some doctors are just plain mean.

I've been writing thank you cards like a crazy woman! We are so blessed to have so many people who love us and want to help prepare us for Anna. It's kinda fun to go back over the list and see who got what and get to thank them. I wish there were more I could do, but this will have to be enough for now.

I've decided that I'm not going to try to sleep anymore. :) It told Matt it feels like someone beat the crap out of me when I wake up! I'm so swollen everywhere that it hurts to sit up, stand up, walk, turn over, sit down, etc. But hopefully she'll be here soon and I won't have all of this fluid and weight.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I can't wait to go back to the doctor next week for my latest update. We're getting close!!

Today's Visit

First off, I don't get to stay home quite yet. Just wanted to get that out of the way. We had our weekly non-stress test and Anna did fine. Crazy as always. My blood pressure was fine- still high for me, but fine. Dr. Stradtman measured my belly. I am 34 weeks preggers today and my belly measured 39 weeks!! She said she was almost positive it was more amniotic fluid, but wanted me to have an ultrasound. If Anna was huge or I had more fluid, it wouldn't change my treatment, she just wanted to know.

We went off to the ultrasound room. Anna is measuring in at 37.5 weeks- just 3.5 weeks ahead- and weighs around 6.8 lbs. She's gained about a pound in the past 2 weeks, which is normal. If she continues at this rate and I go full term, she'll weigh about 9-10 lbs. Dr. Stradtman couldn't believe that I'm not having any contractions because my belly is so stretched. The real culprit of my huge belly is amniotic fluid. So, everything is fine with Miss Anna. I'm just gonna have to put on my big girl panties and suck it up until she gets here. Maybe she'll come a little early.

I still don't have any stretch marks- Priase Jesus! I REALLY hope I don't get them, but I'm getting worried. My belly keeps getting so big at all my appointments. I know it's not a huge deal, but it's forever. We'll see.

I can't wait for my baby showers this weekend!! If you didn't get your invitation, just come on! Apparantly the Moody post office is PATHETIC, and a lot of my family didn't get their invite. It feels like the reunion all over again. Anyone who wants to come is more than welcome!

Well, I'm off to home and choir practice. Then I'm sure we'll have Mexican for dinner! I'm so glad my friends love and appreciate Mexican food as much as me!!! Have a great week.

Updates and Such

This has been a very busy, fun week for us. Last Sunday our wonderful friend, Meg, took some awesome pics of us at my Grandparents house. They turned out so great and I can't wait to print them out and put them in the house! We went back to Dr. Stradtman Wednesday for our, now weekly, non-stress test. Anna is fine. Moving around like a crazy woman as always. I had another big jump in weight- she says because of fluid and I'm believing her! :) My weight had pretty much stabalized a few weeks ago, but the past 2 weeks I had big gains. She looked at my hooves, I mean my ankles, and saw how swollen I've gotten lately. It's odd because I didn't have any issues with this until the past 3 weeks. Which is when Anna started getting so big so fast. I guess it's all connected. She's giving me until my next Wednesday appointment and if I have another gain and still look this bad, she's asking me to quit work. It's a huge sacrifice...I can't even joke about that. I don't care at all!! Luckily, we have that short-term disability policy that will cover some of my income while I have to be out. I know I will go completely stir crazy but if it will help me to be less swollen, I'm in. It's gotten to a point where I can't feel my feet and they hurt, like the skin is stretching. Everyone keeps telling me that when she's born, all-at least most- of this fluid will be gone! I'm so looking forward to that.

Well, hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll be at our Bethel Women's Event this weekend so I'm excited about that.

Bye.

Silliness

We had our appointment with the neonatalogist yesterday. Anna is perfectly healthy and normal. She's just HUGE! She already weighs 5 lbs 9 oz, and her due date is 8 weeks away! The doctor is predicting a 10-12 lb baby!!!!! He said some babies are supposed to weigh 5 lbs and some are supposed to weigh 12. Somebody has to have the 12 lb babies. We talked to Dr. Stradtman after this and she said she wouldn't induce before 39 weeks. She also said that since Anna is still very breech, I'll probably have a C section. That doesn't really bother me too bad. It's not my first choice, but there are definite advantages I guess.

I was a little frustrated and even a little mad when we found all of this out. I don't want to always hear, "look at that big girl", etc. I think if we were having a boy I'd feel differently. Also, from personal experience, it's no fun being the very tall, pale, freckled, red-headed freak! It's not fun to get attention for things like that. I was upset when we left the office because I don't want Anna to have to always be the "big girl" or that "red-headed girl".

Later that night I realized how silly it was for me to be upset about these things. We have a perfect, healthy baby. So what if she's a little porker! God didn't have to give us a healthy baby, or a baby at all, but He did. There are so many people, friends of ours, who are dealing with major medical problems with their children and I'm worried about her standing out too much. Silliness! At least if she gets teased for being different (if she even is different in these ways), she'll have a mommy that can relate. At least her differences will be silly things and not developmental, etc.

So I'm over my original shock and dealing with the fact that the next few weeks are going to be very rough for me. They told me I won't be able to breath good at all and the little sleep I'm getting is over. But that's ok. I haven't had ANY complications at all, so I won't complain.

The doctor told us again yesterday that she has "tons of hair"! I hope she keeps it all! I can't wait to see what color it is. Just one more thing to look forward to.

Little Miss Priss

Anna has decided that this pregnancy has been too easy for me. So she's shaking things up now! Nothing too major. We went to the doctor last Friday ( I was supposed to be there Wednesday and got the days confused) for a quick, standard appointment. We were seeing Dr. Favor that day since Dr. Stradtman likes for you to see a few different doctors in the practice. She measured my belly and said it was a little big and ordered an ultra sound. The ultra sound showed that she weighs 5.5 lbs and is measuring about 4 weeks ahead of schedule! Also, I have too much amniotic fluid. I don't know anyone whose had this problem since most of my friends had the opposite problem. Did I mention that she's alos breech! Just to be safe they hooked us up to a fetal monitor for a while. The snow started about then. Everything looked fine. They booked me to come in Monday to see Dr. Stradtman.
Dr. Stradtman isn't very concerened with ultra sound results. They can 'be off a little' and aren't 100% accurate. She said that the fluid usually causes pre-term birth. However, it may allow her to turn before I go into labor so that I won't have to have a C section. I read today that turning isn't usually an option. Even if the baby turns, they usually turn again since they're just floating around in there. So I may have a C section, which doesn't really bother me much. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor again and everything looks good. She HATES the fetal monitor. Both times she gets right up under that ultra sound paddle and starts punching/kicking the crap out of it. The nurses laugh because she's sooooo mobile all the time. She acted up the whole time and I told Matt that she has to be a red-head! Oh yeah, the ultra sound showed that she has a good bit of hair! Now we just wait to see what color! Dr. Stradtman acted like the fluid thing isn't too big a deal. She said I'll just be completely miserable from here on. Since she's big and I'm completely full of fluid, breathing will be even more difficult. I already sound, and look, like an old lady when I climb stairs and get out of a car! :)
The nursery is finished!!!!! Well, I need some decorative things, but she could come home today and have a fun room. That makes me feel so much better. Stuart and Teresa got our glider for us and brought it over Sunday! It's beautiful! It's a recliner/glider and looks like something that should be in the living room. I can't wait to use it.
We had a good Valentine's day. We didn't really do anything special. Went to church, got our chair, went back to church for our Valentine's banquet, etc. We had nursery last night and I discovered that I have new respect for pregnant moms of small children! It was so hard to give Easton his bottle and hold Will! The belly is getting VERY big now and it definitely made things difficult.
Sorry this is so long. A lot has happened and I haven't had much time to write about it. We're getting very excited and can't wait for our baby showers!

My Birthday Week!

Well, I started my week off a little crappy. I had the flu over the weekend, but I'm much better now. Also, Dr. Stradtman called me at 8pm to inform me that the bacteria- proteus- that has been staying with me throughout my pregnancy is still here. So I get to go see a urologist! Not excited about that, but her nurse said she didn't think they would have to do an 'examination'. I hope she's right! So I'm currently taking a multivitamin, extra folic acid, iron for my anemia, Tamiflu, Zpack, and Augmenten. I will have to take the Augmenten the rest of the way. I don't mind any of this, I just hope Anna doesn't.

My birthday has always been a running joke with friends and family. It usually kinda stinks. I think it has a lot to do with the weather this time of year, because I'm usually sick- check. Historically, January 28 is not the greatest day either. Reagan was shot, I watched the Challenger explode on my 5th birthday, Anna and Brian died, you get the picture. This year, unfortunately, is no exception. We found out Tuesday that Matt's great grandmother passed away. She is such a sweet lady and I'm so glad that I've been able to get to know her these past few years. It's hard to be sad for her because, in the condition she was in, she was already gone. She was just stuck here, not getting to enjoy her reward. But now she's in Heaven with family and friends and she's healthy and hopefully eating like a horse! So, today I am happy for her. Tomorrow I will be sad for the family, but not her. Nemaw will be missed. I wish she had lived to meet Anna. How many kids can say they met their great-great-grandmother?

Well, time to go. I'm headed to church and then Guad for dinner with my friends!

It's all I can do...

just to keep my eyes open today. I feel like I'm in college again. Since my major required hours of sitting at a computer staring at blue prints, my eyes would get very tired and my eyelids would jump for weeks at a time. I'm there today. I've always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Thanks to pregnancy, I can FALL asleep anywhere. I just still have the trouble with STAYING that way. I wake up constantly on my back- which I know isn't good. I guess God's just getting me used to all the sleepless nights ahead.

We went to Atlanta this weekend to see Stuart and Teresa. We had a great time and got to go play at Lenox Square mall. As we were walking, I looked at my hands and they looked like I had hot dogs for fingers! That was my first swelling experience so far. It took about an hour for my rings to finally come off and I don't plan to put them back on for fear of having to cut them off. And when I say cut 'them' I mean my fingers because there's no way I'm cutting my wedding rings! I would be devestated!

General question...why do some older men have to be disgusting, sexist, rude, condescending pigs? Just wondering. It's been very rough around our office lately. Since we now have 3 people doing the work of 10. Luckily, my two co-workers and I work very well together. Otherwise, I'd go crazy.

We plan on getting some things done for the nursery this week. I know some of you can't beleive it hasn't been done for months, but we haven't had much time. I'm struggling with bedding. I really like what I've chosen, but I don't LOVE it. My mom has offered to make Anna's bedding, like she did Ava's. Ava's was great, but I know it's such a hassle. Plus, I don't really have time to go look at fabric. I guess I better decide soon since Matt wants to paint this weekend! :)

Well, guess I'll go now. Hope everyone is doing great and has a great week!