Finally posting the most recent ultrasound pics!

These are from the unexpected ultrasound on August 12th. :) Sprout is getting to look more and more like a baby all the time.







Also - a mini update: eggs are officially on the ban list. I have tried them several times in the past week, hoping that I would be able to stomach them. But this morning, I actually lost it.

So no more eggs for at least a while.

In other news, however, I am able to eat baby carrots again.

Pregnancy is strange. :)

-mama g

the belly, the vaccination, and the beginning of swollen feet

Greetings, faithful reader!

For those of you who might have lost count... We are half-way through week 19. Sprout is making him or herself more and more known each day. Including right now. (I'm being kicked as I type this).

I am officially showing. Thankfully, Alex thinks my pregnant belly is cute. This is really good news for me, because it didn't feel anything even resembling cute until he said it was. Now - I'm starting to feel better about it. It's really bizarre... We girls spend most of our lives trying to keep our tummies from view - and then we get pregnant, and they are out there on display. It's hard to let it go, and be okay with a tummy poking out. But what do you do?

I've gotten a few emails and phone calls asking me how I'm going to handle all this flu nonsense. I'd be lying if I said I'm not a bit concerned. I'm concerned. College campuses are giant petree dishes for diseases, and since the H1N1 likes the young folks... I'm sure that it will be on our campus in force. The good news: my particular college has moved off of the main campus due to remodeling of our building. And my one and only class is being held in the off campus location. That means I will only be exposed to College of Ed people. The bad news: most of the College of Ed people work with children at schools during the day, and then attend class in the evening. My particular class has only 7 or 8 people in it... And I think only 1 or 2 actually teach in schools, so really - with hand washing, and good hygiene as the CDC recommends... I should be fine. I am getting the regular flu vaccination tomorrow, and then HOPEFULLY - the campus health clinic will get the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available in October. If they get it - I am already on the list. But they won't know for a couple more weeks. I am being careful already. I carry clorox wipes and anti-bacterial wipes with me at all times - AND I do use them often. (i.e.: today on the shopping cart at Target) I've been washing my hands very carefully, and if I even sense that someone I'm around is sick... I'll leave the room. I'm not afraid to be rude at this point. I've got to look out for Sprout.

Today, I did the grocery shopping for the week... Which, I have to say is getting more tiring each time I do it recently. I'm hopeful that it will start getting easier - OR that I find another solution for getting groceries into the house. (I've actually been thinking that if I break it up into 2 smaller trips, it might be a little more doable) Anyhow, as I was driving home, I noticed that my flip flop was digging into the top of my foot. I looked down, and saw my little toes were all kinds of swollen. My ankles weren't too bad, but my toes were puffy and stiff. I've read that the whole swollen feet thing is super common and gets worse as the pregnancy wears on... My thought? Minimal. I can handle swollen feet. It's some of the other possible side effects of pregnancy that have me sleeping with garlic & holy water on my bedside table. Thankfully, I've not had to deal with any of those...

...and just to prove that I still have a sense of humor about things... Pregnant Women are Smug (I wouldn't watch this at work. It has one or 2 inappropriate words)

- mama g

Who's that girl?

By and large, I am still feeling okay. Today - I am headache-y which I'm getting used to... My biggest complaint is that a couple of nights ago I must have slept on my right arm wrong, and it has been hurting for a couple of days. I've tried icing it - tried elevating it (which only made me overextend my elbow, and made it worse). I'm by no means babying it - because it's my right arm, and I'm FAR too dependent on it... But I can't figure out how to make it better. :( (I even took some Tylenol in the hopes that it would help, but to no avail)

It is still so strange how different I feel. I barely recognize myself most of the time any more. I find it impossible to concentrate, I am tired all the time, I overreact to stuff... These are not characteristics I know to be mine under normal circumstances. PLUS - I can't remember things very well, and I just sort of feel foggy - like when I've taken cold medicine, pretty much all the time.

One of my girlfriends said that she felt that way pretty much until she stopped breastfeeding. That's a long time from now. I wonder if she actually did return to her former self, or if she just got used to her fog-brained state, and improved slightly from there.

- mama g

Doing better

Eighteen weeks.

We are almost to the halfway point. In just a couple of weeks, we will have our gender ultra sound - and I'm getting really excited.

Over labor day - work will begin on setting up the nursery. I'm afraid that once we know the baby's gender - I'm going to have a hard time not buying all kinds of stuff!

I am feeling much better today than I did last week. The bleeding seems to have stopped, and I'm starting to be able to fathom engaging in "normal" activities such as showering and leaving the house without feeling too exhausted.

I even ran an errand yesterday in Norman, and then (after a nap, of course) Alex and I went out to dinner with our friends Laura & Ralph. And I did just fine.

I'm ready to think positively, and I've decided that today is the magical day during the 2nd trimester when I woke up feeling good, and wound up feeling great for the next couple of months. So - HOORAY!

The glass is half full, folks. Because I say it is. :)

- mama g

rocky road pt. 2

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who have called, emailed, texted, etc... your concerns and offers of support. It is really wonderful to be so surrounded by people who care so much about Sprout & me. :)

Now... on to the update.

The first thing that they did at my doctor's office was another ultra sound. This ultra sound machine is 2009 to the 1976 ultra sound machine they had in the ER. And, the ultra sound tech spoke fluent ultra sound, whereas the ER doctor was struggling with his little "ultra sound to English dictionary". (note: I am not dissing the ER doctor! I am extremely grateful to him, and I think it is an extraordinarily difficult job he has to do. I can't imagine having to know a little bit about so many things. The ultra sound tech does this one thing day in and day out - so of course she is much more accomplished at it)

Sprout wasn't squirming much today, but enough to make the ultra sound tech happy. She said it was satisfactory fetal movement. (and honestly, she was probably pleased to not have to chase Sprout around with the little gooey wand thingy) She went ahead and took measurements... Sprout is growing perfectly, weighs 5 1/2 ounces (she said "that's a stick and a half of butter") heartbeat is good & strong (146), and otherwise all is just great for little Sprout.

Now on to Mommy, and why there is bleeding... The ER doctor thought that my placenta was down low in my uterus, partially covering the opening to my cervix. That could be the beginnings of placenta previa, a scary diagnosis indeed, but not life threatening... just disturbing. I thought bed rest was immanent. Anyway, the ultra sound tech found that my placenta is no where near being low. It is up on the side of my uterus completely out of the way of my cervix. (see - the ER doctor's ultra sound machine was SUPER sub par) HOWEVER - I had formed a clot in the (or on the) placenta wall. That was causing the bleeding. It's not uncommon, but not common either. The doctor said that through delivering more than 6,700 babies in his career, he's seen "some crazy shit" and that this is "normal crazy" not "crazy shit crazy". (i told you, this guy is funny!) This should heal on its own and cause no disturbance to Sprout whatsoever. As for Mommy? The bleeding should subside soon. Until then, rest as much as is possible, no stress, etc... I'm just going to take it SUPER DUPER easy the next few days until the bleeding stops - and probably for a week or so after. I'm not going to get out unless it's TRULY necessary, and I'm going to increase fluids - because as we've learned throughout this journey... Increasing fluids is the cure all. :)

Oh? And that urinary tract infection?? My doctor asked if I were having any symptoms at all of that. I am not, and have not. He said that pregnant women have all kinds of bacteria, etc in their urine that might throw another doctor - so as long as I am symptom free... Go ahead and take the antibiotic for a 3 day run instead of the 10 day run prescribed and "that'll probably be overkill". :)

So, to sum up... All is fine. When we got home from the doctor, Alex put his 2 babies down for a nap, and I slept for 4 hours. From emotional breakdown to 36 hours of worry, I was completely exhausted.

Sprout probably has no idea what has transpired over the last couple of days. Blissfully unaware of the worry going on surrounding him or her. At least - I would like to think that's how it is. Sprout just floating around, kicking and practicing sucking (which is what What to Expect says is going on in there this week), and not worrying about anything at all. :) A happy little baby.

And now, that happy little baby's much relieved Mommy is going to relax, have dinner with her WONDERFUL husband (who did stay home from work today) and breathe.

I will post a couple of the ultra sound pics from today soon.

- mama g

rocky road

**warning... this post contains graphic details. do not read if squeamish***

After the last OB appointment, I'd say things were going fine. Although the Tylenol didn't really touch the headaches, they started to subside - and to be frank, I haven't had one in a few days. (KNOCK on wood)

But Sunday night, during my festival of getting up to pee every hour and a half, I noticed some spotting. By Monday morning, it was gone, and I wrote it off as no big deal. Fast forward to Monday night... I'd say it went beyond spotting to bleeding, and did not lessen Tuesday morning. So - like a good little pregnant mommy, I called my OB. Unfortunately, I was going to need an ultra sound, and the ultra sound tech for my doctor's office was out for the day at a funeral, so my OB sent me to the hospital (Norman Regional) to get things checked out.

Now, as most of you know... I am stubborn. I MADE Alex go to work. I didn't know at the time that I would end up going to the hospital, I figured that I'd be seen at my OB's office, and it would be no big thing. Turned out, not only did I wind up at the hospital, but because I am only 17 weeks, I wound up in the ER.

I'd say this was the point where I not only started to get nervous, but the same point at which I began to SERIOUSLY regret sending Alex to work. Marmee offered to drive up, but I thought by the time she could get here - I'd be released. Laura would have come to sit with me too... But again, my bull-headed self didn't want to inconvenience anyone.

So I went to the ER by myself. The nurse and doctor were both super nice, and they checked everything from blood to urine to an ultra sound where the doctor had to struggle to get Sprout to be still long enough to read a heartbeat. The heartbeat was strong (130-140 range) and the fact that Sprout was still squirming all over the place had a calming effect on me. (Also - super fun side note: the doctor was able to see one of Sprout's feet, and it had all five toes on it!)

The blood tests came back fine, urine test showed a slight urinary tract infection - for which the doctor put me on an antibiotic - and I was released after a total of about 2 hours.

I followed up with a call to by OB, and was given the instruction to rest, increase fluids (sigh) and call if there were any changes such as a brighter red color to the bleeding, or an increase in amount of bleeding.

Now, to last night... Around 9 I noticed that I was having some increased bleeding on my maxi (about 3/4 full at that point) and the color was definitely a bright red as opposed to the rust color it had been for the past 2 days.

Suffice it to say, I lost my cool. I started crying, Alex and I decided first to call Marmee... She said it was important that we call the on call nurse for the OB office, which we did. The on call nurse suggested that the ER wouldn't be the best option, because they would most likely start to poke and prod which would be the exact opposite of what we would want to do in this case, so unless the bleeding increased more from what it was, the best course of action would be to call the OB's office this morning, and try to get in and be seen there.

I have my appointment in about a half an hour.

I am emotionally drained. I am sore from forcing myself to stay on my left side last night. I am still really uneasy about this whole bleeding issue. (Partly because the ER doctor, when I asked him if he could tell if there were any danger to the baby said "Bleeding is a sign of danger" and THAT keeps echoing through my head) And I am worried because all of the doctors have confirmed that if the worst case scenario were to start to take place, at 17 weeks - there would be nothing they could do.

Now, on the upside... Marmee thinks that all this bleeding is probably related to the UTI, and if that's the case - it should be going away soon, because I've already taken 3 doses of the medicine.

I will post later on to let you know how the appointment goes this morning.

- mama g

Checkup day!

We had our OB checkup today. On non ultra sound days, the appointments take about 12 minutes start-to-finish.

Sprout is progressing very well. Good strong heart beat, 144 beats per minute. Mommy is healthy too - a 4 pound gain this month (eek) but I would have sworn it was more like 80, so all in all - I'm happy with that. My blood pressure and all other exams were great.

As for the headaches - the doctor told me that I should take Tylenol and pray that it works - because often times, it doesn't. I guess the headaches can be caused by hormones - and Tylenol doesn't really help with that kind of headache. I haven't been taking the Tylenol - and he said I was being needlessly paranoid. :) This is one of the reasons I like my OB so much... He shoots me straight and doesn't pull any punches. Plus, he's really funny.

So, at the end of 16 weeks, all is good with Mommy & baby. :)

- mama g

head ache

I'd say I've had a headache for most of the past few weeks. It's usually dull and bearable - and so I've been doing little more than increasing fluids and getting rest to help alleviate the pain.

But this past week - none of my normal tricks are working. This headache is here and it's not messing around. Last night - it even called for reinforcements and brought on a full-scale migraine. Now, I know my doctor's instructions say that I can take Tylenol as needed. But I am still so hesitant. I am afraid that if I take Tylenol, and it works - that I'll start taking it every time I get a headache - thus turning into everyday... And I don't want to put my little Sprout's baby organs through having to deal with that so early on.

Then there's been the added fun of the sinuses the past couple of days. Last night - during the full swing of the migraine... I must have gone through half a box of kleenex, and sneezed 75 times all within a ten minute period.

I'm not sure if I have a cold, really bad allergies, crappy luck.... But I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow - and I have my list of things to ask him. Such as: in his instructions, it says that for a cold, I can take Sudafed as directed. Sudafed?? But doesn't that raise blood pressure? And isn't blood pressure kind of a concern with pregnant women?? I just don't feel comfortable taking these things. Maybe with his reassurance I will relax a bit - and take the pills I am allowed to take, but honestly... Right now, I have the luxury of staying home if I feel rotten, and so I don't feel justified in taking medicine so I can better function at home. The laundry, the dishes, the dusting can all wait if it means that I can keep from putting unneeded toxins in my body and thus my baby's body. Granted, I feel like a big fat slug on those days when the most I can muster is my hourly bathroom trips from the living room and back... But, as everyone on Facebook is reminding me... Once the baby is here - even taking time off to feel rotten will be a long forgotten luxury.

So, if anyone needs me, I'll likely be on the couch, in my chair, or sneaking time in Alex's chair (only when he's not home... shhhh!).

- mama g

dreams

I understand that people have started having prophetic dreams about little sprout. Rick told Alex that he had one about the gender of the baby (I'm not going to reveal what he dreamt... I don't want to sway anyone else's dreams)...

That news prompted one for me during my rather large nap today. My dream predicted the same gender as Rick's did.

Only 1 month 'till the big ultra sound, and I'm an antsy antsy girl. I have to give props to my friend Lindsay who could have learned her baby's gender - but chose not to. (She even had the gender in an envelope in her house - but never peeked!!) If I had the ability to look in there right now to see what was going on - I'd do it.

Sprout is a fun little nickname... But I'm ready to start addressing my baby by his or her real name now. I'm ready to start knitting blankies and buying outfits... I'm getting really excited about this baby (not that I wasn't to begin with) and I'm ready for Sprout to make him or herself known!!

Impatient, much?? Nah!

- mama g