3rd trimester already!

I didn't realize how much actually changes in two weeks, especially when your pregnant.



How far along: 28 weeks

Weight gain: another 2lbs gain for a total of 10lbs in 28 weeks. At 30 weeks with Parker I had gained 28lbs! Though he was measuring pretty big on the ultrasounds and had a decent weight considering he was born at 35 weeks.

Movement: Today, I can tell that Eliana is sitting transverse. Her head is definitely pressing into my right ribcage and her butt in my left, with her feet kicking away down low. Ever wonder how to tell which way the baby is without an ultrasound? I believe the most popular site to teach you how to do this is spinningbabies.com. Just scroll down the page to see how you can do belly mapping.

 

Symptoms: Not much in the way of symptoms. I'm starting to feel a bit more run down throughout the day. When I sit in the car to long I get very uncomfortable. Contractions are still down to a minimum.

Sleep: Sleep is still great!

Best Moment this Week: Finished the mobile for Eliana this past week. Their room is coming together so cute. Still have the banner/bunting to make and finish hanging up some pictures. Since I finished all the major projects, I will be focusing on Parker's birthday party coming up.





 What I am looking forward to: Ultrasound next Tuesday, Aug 14th!

34 weeks

Packing the hospital bags??

I have the bag that I will be packing, I just haven't sat down and started yet. I don't want to be caught by surprise but I also don't want to get it done too early. Since Parker's nursery is done and everything else is in order I feel that packing the bag is the last thing I get to do while pregnant. I don't want to rush it in a way. I did however pack his diaper bag and that is sitting on the nursery room door. It's so close now and I'm very excited but getting nervous. I wanted to have an all natural birth but since I have been so uncomfortable the last 3-4 months, I just want to get the epidural and enjoy the birthing process and not think about all the relaxing and focusing.(I have been trying to relax and focus just to get through the painful contractions I'm already having and I'm tired.)

How far along: 34 weeks
Weight gain: 30 lbs
Stretch marks: I have the same small red marks on the left and right sides, not very big but definitely new.
OB Appointments: Right now I'm have appointments scheduled every week because I have been having a lot of nausea and even more contractions. I'm still not progressing which is very good at this point. We want Parker to continue to grow and be healthy when he's born.
Symptoms: Sciatica pain, tons of pelvic pressure/pain, insomnia, and exhaustion. I find that swimming in the morning helps a ton with the aches and pains.
Sleep: I sleep about 3-4 hours at a time, I will get up for about an hour and lay back down. Usually because I wake up extremely uncomfortable. Thank goodness for late night video games, they always put me back to sleep.
Best Moment this Week: I found out one of the reasons I was having such bad nausea...peanut butter. I had no appetite because the nausea was so bad, everything I ate seemed to upset me. Well, the ACTUAL culprit was peanut butter. I don't know why and I will ask my OB about it at this next appointment. I know that since I have stopped eating it, I have had ZERO nausea.
Food Cravings: Nothing, I'm not hungry at all right now. I'm forcing myself to eat right now.
Labor Signs: Upped my dose of Procardia this week since the contractions were getting worse. They seem to be worse as the day wears on. In the morning they aren't as bad.
Belly Button in or out?: In
Feet Swelling?: Minor swelling but I'm happy to say I don't have cankles!
Wedding rings on or off?: I took them off, they still fit but not comfortably. I just wear them on a chain around my neck.
Movement: His moving has graduated to more of a rolling type movement.
Milestones: Less than 6 weeks till my due date and less than 3 till I'm full term and can stop taking Procardia.

31 weeks

I just calculated that I will be considered full term on Sept 10th 2010. I have this feeling that he will be coming before Oct. 3rd, but I don't want to jinx it and be 2 weeks late.

My next OB appointment: August 10th (probably scheduling the last U/S and confirm his growth and his position)

Thought it would be fun to do a little longer pregnancy survey this week, and I really like some of the questions in this one.

*****About Your Pregnancy******
Is this your first pregnancy?
Nope, we have a 10 year old daughter
When did you find out you were pregnant?
Jan 17th, 2010. It was confirmed by a blood test on Jan 22nd, 2010
Was it planned?
Yes, although we did not think we would get pregnant so fast
What was your initial reaction?
We had a rough month the previous cycle. I had received a positive pregnancy test on two digital pregnancy tests. My period was over a week late at that point and that is not very common. A few days after the positive tests I started bleeding and I went to my OB the next morning. They drew blood and confirmed that I was not pregnant and she even told me she did not think I was having a miscarriage but after talking to some other people false positives, especially on two digital pregnancy tests, are not common and it probably was an early miscarriage.

SO needless to say I never used those digitals again and I was afraid that the same thing would happen. When I had my positive test this cycle I was on pins and needles for months, my husband will agree.
Who was with you when you found out?
My husband
Who was the first person you told?
My husband then, I’m pretty sure the next person we told was my mother in law.
How did your parents react?
The grandparents-to-be on both sides of our family were very excited.
What was your first symptom?
My first symptom was actually before I took my pregnancy test. I NEVER had this symptom with any other period. I had extremely sharp pains on my left side, I was at work and they were so painful I had to lie down and I tried to use ice and heat to help relieve the pain. The pain was so intense it would shoot down my leg at times. This was the Friday morning before my positive test. I firmly believe this was caused by implantation, it was confirmed when I had an ultrasound that this was the side I ovulated from that month.
What is your due date?
My due date is October 3rd, 2010 but he is measuring 2 weeks and 1 day ahead by ultrasound. The last ultrasound due date we received was September 17th, 2010. I still stick with my initial due date since I know when I ovulated and when I had my last period.


****About the birth*****
Home or hospital birth?
Hospital
Natural or medicated birth?
I started out this pregnancy really wanting a natural birth but as time has gone by I’m really starting to second guess myself. I definitely don’t want an epidural but I’m thinking maybe some other types of “allowable” painkillers. I have been having such bad contractions for over a month I can’t even imagine how hard they will be when I’m in real labor. I don’t remember much from my daughter it went so fast and I had an epidural so early.
Who will be in the delivery room with you?
It will be my husband and my mother.
Will you breastfeed?
Yes
Do you think you'll need a c-section?
There should be no reason I would need a c-section unless he is breech.
Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time?
Yes
What's the first thing you might say to him/her?“Hi Parker, I’m so happy to finally see you and I love you.”
Would you let someone videotape the birth?
My mom did last time and I doubt I will have much to say about her doing it again this time.
Are you excited about the birth, or scared?
Very excited but I’m starting to get a little scared.

30 weeks

213 days down and 67 days to go. Apparently that is 1,584 hours till delivery if I make it to midnight of my due date. It is getting so close, I don't want to rush it because I know once he is born I will blink my eyes and he will be 10 years old. I do hope he comes on the earlier side of my due date like my daughter did when she was born. It will be hard if I'm one of those women who goes to 42 weeks. Not to mention his size...probably would be closer to 10lbs based on current estimates.

I added a few others to this list;

How far along: 30 weeks
Weight gain: 28 lbs
Stretch marks: I have these tiny red marks on the side of my belly, he had flipped one evening from breech to birthing position and it was very uncomfortable and I woke up the next day and noticed them. The bad thing is he turned back to breech the next day.
OB Appointments Every 3 weeks still, may change after my next appointment. I will be almost 33 weeks at my next appointment.
Symptoms: Sciatica pain, insomnia, exhausted, major hot flashes, and nesting.
Sleep: Sleeping on my sides in miserable but I can't breathe when I sleep on my back and I was told that it's probably no longer healthy for me or the baby if I feel that way to sleep on my back. I wake up all night long sometimes to pee, sometimes because of a bad dream, and sometimes for no reason at all. Sleeping on my sides gives me horrible sciatica pain for some reason too.
Best Moment this Week: Well I mentioned he flipped from breech to birthing position one afternoon and then turned back the next day. I'm so determined to not have a c-section so I tried swimming again(this worked the first time) and what do you know he switched back to birthing again. He has been this position for a couple days now and hopefully he will make himself comfortable and stay that way.
Food Cravings: Hamburgers, peaches, and watermelon
Labor Signs: Had pre-term contractions about a month ago, taking Procardia to help stop those and also help with the heart symptoms from the hyperthyroid. Now all I have is some light BH contractions.
Belly Button in or out?: In
Feet Swelling?: No swelling really anywhere...yet
Wedding rings on or off?: Still on, I may make it to my due date and still be able to wear them.
Blood Pressure: Very good, never had very high blood pressure. Today at my cardiologist appointment it was 98/57
Still Working?: No, I haven't been working for about a month now, I'm not on Dr ordered bedrest but due to some of my other issues(pre-term contractions, and some thyroid issues) we decided it was best to stop working and not push myself so much.
Movement: He moves a lot, especially after eating watermelon. He also has the strongest hiccups.
Milestones: In the single digit weeks left till delivery...9weeks5days and I don't have gestational diabetes(I just recieved my results back)
When do you think you will deliver: 9/17/2010

Baby's Hiccups in the Womb

I was sitting and eating some blueberry muffins this morning...yum I might add ;) Parker had some major hiccups going on, it was so distracting. I haven't used the video feature on my camera before but I just had to try to get this on film. Unfortunately I couldn't hold my breath so you may see exaggerated stomach movements from me breathing. The important thing is to notice the little jumps my stomach makes...yes that is my little Parker! You have to watch carefully to see them but they are there. I put my ring on my belly to try to help see the movements, these are probably the strongest hiccups he's had yet and he gets them a lot. He is sitting breech and I set the ring on the the part where I think is his shoulder, his head sits a little bit above that.

28 weeks 12 weeks to go....

It's amazing to think that in 9 weeks Parker will be full term! My due date is only 12 weeks away. I doubt my OB will let me go to my due date with how big he already is. We had an ultrasound this past friday and he is weighing in at 3lbs 2oz. WOW! At our 22 week ultrasound he was weighing 1 lb 3oz, so he basically tripled his weight in only 6 weeks. He is back to his breech position but we were able to get some great 3D pictures of his face.


I have finally finished shopping for all the larger baby items. I picked up this gorgeous Peg Perego Prima Pappa high chair for $18 at a garage sale down the street. I wasn't in the biggest hurry to find a high chair since I probably won't even use it till around 5 or 6 months but this was a deal I couldn't refuse. It was in excellent condition. I love when people take care of their furniture :)



I also have nearly finished the nursery, I still have the comforter to hang, and few other wall hangings, curtains to purchase, and a bookshelf to find. I have posted some pictures previously but here is an updated picture.

27 Weeks!

Although it seems that this pregnancy has been long going. It's amazing to think that I'm in the last stretch of the pregnancy. I remember just the other day getting the positive pregnancy test. I was so nervous when I saw that second line, I took the test earlier than planned but I just couldn't help it. I remember getting up that Sunday morning and just saying, "What the heck, I will just take it and whatever happens, happens."

Sure enough the faintest pink link shows up. My hubby was still asleep and I just kept looking at this test. I'd say a good 30 minutes looking at the test at as many angles as I could turn it. Maybe I'm just seeing things. How can a test be positive only 9 days after I ovulated?!? I jumped into the bed and woke up hubby and told him that I think this is it. He rolled over and looked at the test and sure enough he could see it. I tried not to get too excited, we went through a positive test let down the cycle before.

I haven't really posted too much about what you go through emotionally when you receive two positive pregnancy tests just to start bleeding a few days later and be told by an nurse practitioner that you were never pregnant in the first place. Looking back, I know I was, especially when these pregnancy tests only give you a positive when you are producing the hormone over a certain amount. It was just not the right time in God's eyes, although I will always be sad for the little one that passed before we met.


This week has been crazy, tiring, frustrating, and stressful. I had been feeling and I still feel very off. On Wednesday I had this weird heart flutter thing happen. When it happened I couldn't breathe, talk, I felt faint and dizzy and probably would have fallen if I hadn't been sitting down. I just wanted to hit myself to get my heart to work right. It was really scary and odd. I called my OB not really thinking it was horrible but I was a little concerned and wanted to see if it was something to worry about. Well, she had me go see a cardiologist the next day. They said that it is probably SVT and could be caused by my thyroid but would have to run some more tests. These tests included me wearing a heart monitor for 48hours. Of course I felt palpitations, dizziness, faint, and short of breath during the whole 48 hours but not one flutter like I felt while working. So we will probably never get to the bottom of it, and I have this horrible itchy rash from the nodes they placed all over.

Onto Friday morning, I wake up at 3am and I'm having contractions. Not painful but pretty uncomfortable. So here is the pregnancy brain kicking in, I think that I'm possibly a little hungry. I get up and get some fruit and a glass of water. I'm watching TV and eating and thinking, wow these are really uncomfortable braxton hicks contractions. I start to feel cramping along with them, and my whole body is just aching. I try to lay back down in bed to no avail. So I wake up hubby and tell him what's going on. He calls L&D and they want me to come to the hospital to get checked out. Sure enough I was having contractions, they weren't strong and I wasn't dilating but was having quite a few. They gave me a shot to stop the contractions and within minutes the contractions stop. I go home and I'm told to rest for the next few days.

Do I get to rest the next few days? Not really, but I'm not complaining everyone, especially my OB, wants to figure out what is going on with me. My OB and cardiologist think maybe my thyroid is getting worse. Appointments get scheduled for endocrinologists and blood draws, echo cardiograms and ultrasounds. Not much rest is being had by me.
That has been my week, now I have to find a way to get a hold of my work who are closed through Monday and take more days off to rest and get to my appointments, and possibly not work anymore. Who knows?!? I'm just frustrated by it all, I want Parker to be healthy and so worried about him being born early. I'm also worried that something more serious is going on. What's worse is I'm still having more than usual contractions and I feel no better today than when this all started.