Cerclage Free

The stitch came out on October 8, now we are just waiting for this baby to make an appearance!

Maddy and Baby Elmo's Completed Room

Here is the nursery/"big girl's" room. It is pretty much complete except for some wall decorations and curtians. Maddy is very excited about her brother coming. She has been practicing on her doll. (Mostly she just undresses it!) We decided to keep both dressers since everything fit. We have plenty of storage space for all of their stuff now.

Baby Shopping!

I went to Babies R Us today and picked up a bunch of stuff for the new little guy. Some onesies, a tub, a bumper, the boy version of Maddy's blanket, bottles, pacifiers, a diaper bag...! And I feel like we still have so much more to get!! But it's a start!

31 week appointment

Here he is!

All is going well. The baby is now over 4 pounds. They said he will be more than what Maddy weighed. I asked if I could be induced since she was 7.4 TWO WEEKS EARLY and the doctor said we would talk about it at the 35 week appointment. I can't imagine what his weight will be if he goes full term, or worse, is late!! Ugh!!!!!

Maddy came to the sonogram today. She didn't really know what was going on, I think she thought they were going to take the baby out of my belly button. When the doctor said, "all done", Maddy yelled, "NO!! Let the baby out NOW!!". She was so cute!

I have another appointment in 2 weeks just with the doctor, then in 4 weeks with both Steinfeld and the doctor, and then in 5 weeks the stitch comes out!

27 Week Appointment

All is well again, cervix is over 6 cm (they are looking at anything over 2 being good). I am completely off all restrictions and I was getting tips from Dr. Korn (aka Dr. Doom) about great attractions to take Maddy to see at Sesame Place!!! He said not to even give the cervix or the stitch another thought for the rest of the pregnancy. I told him about some cramping I had on Friday (I was ready to go to the doctor!) but it passed by the time the office opened and I never called them and he said that is all normal.

My next appointment is the first week of September at 32 weeks. Dr. Korn said going back to work is absolutely fine.

Our little guy is 2 and a half pounds right now.

23 Week Appointment

Cervix got longer AGAIN and I was told I have enough to donate.

I saw Dr. Korn who congratulated me and told me that I have graduated to "normal pregnancy status". I asked about walking and of course he said to continue to take it easy, but after the next appointment we could talk. So maybe a vacation getaway is not so out of the question for August!!

Braxton Hicks

Yesterday after a full day sitting at the baseball field and going to the Little Gym, I had a whole bunch of Braxton Hicks contractions. I think maybe sitting in the sun for a few hours might have made me dehydrated. After we put Maddy to bed, I drank a lot of water and rested. They seemed to go away.

Today I feel fine, but I do think that maybe I need to slow down a bit. Only 18 more weeks to go (16 if he is nice like his sister!).

21 Week Appointment

Cervix actually got longer from last week (even with all the furniture moving and basket carrying)!! Things are going great! Baby looks good. He is approximately one pound right now and he was very active during the sonogram. Kicking and squirming all over the place!!

I will post pictures soon.

Opinions

We are going to keep Maddy's room girly with Tinkerbell on her side, but we are undecided as to what we should put on the other side for Felipe.

Here is Maddy's set The walls are going to be two shades of green, light on top and dark on bottom, or blue on top and green on the bottom. Which one do you think matches better or are they going to be too busy with Maddy's bedding? We are just going to get the Toddler bedding set because it's cheaper and has all that we need anyway. All you will see is the sheet through the crib bars and the blanket will hang over the back bar, we will get a solid color crib skirt and bumper to tone it down.

Finding Nemo was too expensive and hard to find and we have tons of Elmo stuff already, so this might be the best and easiest way to go. Thanks for all the links to Nemo stuff. It's all so cute, just way too much money for bedding that's going to be peed and puked on!!

19 Week Sonogram

All is great! Cervix is holding strong at greater than 3 cm, which apparently is very good. Baby is doing great and has a one in 99,000 chance of having something wrong, which Linkie said are very good odds...lol.

As far as the pregnancy is going, (as much as I do anyway) I really can't complain at all. This is as close to a "normal" pregnancy as I could hope for. I am working, still able to hang with the monster, and I have been cooking and light cleaning. And none of this seems to have any effect on the cervix. I feel great, never had any morning sickness, and I feel like I have the weight gain under control. And the best part is that I am half way there!

Linkie even gave me a glimmer of a "normal" summer when she said taking Maddy places during the summer would be fine as long as I kept going for the 2 week check-ups and things progressed the way they are now. So things really can't be any better!!!

Here is little "Elmo" or "Boy" as Maddy calls him...

Yes, that IS what you think it is!

Movement

I thought I had been feeling something for a few days, but today there was no question, this little guy is already kicking me!

16 Week Appointment

Well, it's official, Maddy is going to be the big sister of a bouncing baby boy!! The appointment went well. Unfortunately, Dr. Joyless does not capture the greatest sonogram pictures and she sent us home with a hand and a foot. No profile.

Good news is that the cervix did not change, so working and part-time parenting have not changed it a bit.

Now hopefully I will sleep through the night knowing everything is a-okay!

Chris has the limbs, so I will post them later (but really, they are not that interesting!).

14 Week Appointment

Not much to report. All looks good. No new sonogram pictures. Dr. Joy"less" Steinfeld is a no- monkeying-around kinda doctor. She is there to check the cervix, she checks the cervix and moves on. Who cares that there is a baby swimming around in there! I did get kinda nervous when Dr. Linkie couldn't find the baby's heartbeat (okay, so I kinda cried) and when she saw that I was upset, she got the portable sonogram machine to prove that the baby was fine. So I did get a fuzzy glimpse at the little bean.

Next appointment is in two weeks. I might BEG for a sono picture then!!!

Lunch Plans

I did try to make it to lunch today but Chris' car had other plans (like not starting). I was bummed but Heather delivered the pizza from lunch after school with the box signed from all the first grade teachers. It made me smile!!!

Dr. Appointments

I called the doctor and apparently Dr. Steinfeld, the new high risk doc, is very busy. When I told them that I couldn't make any appointment until after 3:00, they squeezed me in next week and then booked my next 2 appointments until the end of June so I wouldn't run into that problem again.

The pain is lingering, mostly in my back and legs so I'm not too concerned. It's always worse at night but the heating pad and extra strength Tylenol seem to be helping a little. I was going to try and meet my co-workers for lunch, but I'm still not sure that is a great idea. I do want to get out, but I also want to be able to go back to work on Monday so I think I might have to sit this one out.

Just spoke to Dr. Korn and he said that back pain is totally normal and could be from the spinal or just the position I was in from the surgery. No need to worry. They will check everything else at the appointment on Tuesday. Another sonogram!

Feeling Much, Much Better!!

I woke up this morning and I could actually move! It is amazing how fast that intense pain went away. So today I am feeling much better!

The Last Cerclage I Will Ever Have!!!

The cerclage went in today. The wait for the cerclage was definitely worse than the actual procedure. BUT, the pain after the cerclage was nothing like I have ever felt!!! I could NOT (and will not) do this again, so thank goodness it went better the first time. I have been popping Percocet like it is candy and the morphine they had me on in the hospital did almost nothing. When we called the doctor he said I should have stayed the night, but I kind of made the pain seem not so bad to get out. I felt like being able to move around my own house instead of being strapped to an IV and confined to a bed was a better choice. Sleep is impossible. I am looking forward to just spending the next 4-5 days in bed and hoping to feel somewhat normal again by Monday. I felt great before all this, not a pain or cramp. 6 more months...I can do it!!

Thanks for all your phone calls and text messages! As soon as I feel up to it, I will get back to you all.

Change of Plans

Cerclage date is now Tuesday, April 28th at 11:30.

Cerclage

The stitch is scheduled for Thursday, April 23rd with Dr. Korn.

2nd Sonogram ~ 11 Weeks, 2 Days

We had our 2nd sonogram today where they checked the baby's neck fold for signs of down syndrome. So far it looked good, but we will know more when the bloodwork comes back. Smiley said that from the number we got today we shouldn't even be worried.

The stitch will be done next week. I will find out tomorrow the exact date. This is becomming an extra long spring break! Unfortunately Dr. Korn will be doing it again because Smiley is not insured to do them anymore. They had to pick only two doctors in the office to insure (at $180,000 a year) and he wasn't one of them. He said to let Korn do the procedure, say what he needs to say and then just not go back to him afterwards. He said not to mess with luck and that we should keep things the same as last time.

The sonogram room now has a giant flat screen tv to watch the sonograms on! It is kind of overwhelming seeing this 3 foot baby on the screen!

So here are the pictures...

Ist Sonogram ~ 8 weeks, 2 days

All is well and the baby is good. The heartbeat was strong and Smiley said that the way the baby looked and the bloodwork looked, that there was little chance of an early miscarriage. The stitch will go in at 12 weeks, 3-4 days rest, and then back to work as usual. I asked about stairs and if I would be able to continue to work and Smiley said all would be fine if I was smart about it. The baby is due November 3, so we are thinking he/she will probably make his appearance sometime in October.

Here is little "Brickwood" a name Chris decided would fit the little "baby-to-be" until it arrives.

Our next appointment/sonogram is April 16th. The stitch date will be set then.

Ist of Many Prenatals

We are indeed pregnant. It has now been confirmed by a doctor. Not sure how far along and we don't have a due date yet. All that will be revealed at our next appointment on March 26th with Smiley.

I have over $200 raisied for an Autism walk I can't even participate in...oops!

Ready or Not!

So I took a home pregnancy test and thought maybe we were okay...and then that pesky second line started to show up, so yes indeed, I do think we are pregnant...again.

I am torn right now. This is unexpected and I am not sure we are ready. I wanted more time with Maddy, at least the summer. Our last summer as 3. We will just have to make the best of it and I will have to try to do as much as possible while keeping the little poppy seed surprise safe.

So here it all begins again! More dates with Smiley Dick and Dr. G. More wonderful cervix updates and couch rest.

If we are right, we will be a family of 4 sometime early November. What is it with us and winter babies?

This is all very overwhelming!