Saturday, January 29, 2011

God is in control

These last few days have been INSANE!! Here's the run down:

I went in for my weekly appointment on Thurs. I met with Dr. Prewitt...I think I've already expressed how much I like her. She has been my advocate for keeping baby Claire inside when I think the other doctors would have cut me open thinking I had a 10 pounder and found a 6 lb baby. This week Dr. Prewitt said that I had gained a significant amount of water over the last few days and wanted me to have another ultrasound done to get an estimated baby weight.

I went in first thing Friday morning. The ultrasound took a little longer than the previous one because the tech decided to measure my water also. As she suspected, my AFI or amniotic fluid index was at 28cm. 25cm is the cut off for polyhydramnios or the actual condition associated with having too much amniotic fluid. To add to the mix, although still at a healthy weight, Claire had only gained 2 oz. (Keep in mind here that Claires estimated weight was 7.2 4 weeks ago but the Dr said "no way" she was for sure 6ish. Now we could try to analyze it like I have or we could just say that at 7.4 she is still healthy! or that the ultrasound is off in the opposite direction and she's actually 8.4. Only God knows at this point)

Oh and one more added little hiccup. She had little fluid in her stomach and a ton in her bladder. What does this mean? Your guess is as good as mine and even with the Dr. "explaining it to me" I still probably know as much as you- nothing. It COULD mean that she has an abdominal blockage that is keeping her from swallowing fluid into her stomach like she should...leading to the build up in my belly. It COULD mean that her stomach contents had just emptied into her bladder and that she hadn't peed in my 5 min. appointment and that I just randomly have alot of fluid even on the lower side of diagnosed. It COULD mean nothing and it COULD mean Claire gets rushed in to surgery seconds after being delivered.

NOTE: I like to know things and do my research. I am a realist and run off of a logical brain. I want to be prepared and I want to know the best and worst case senarios. With that said; pregnant women should NOT be allowed to google anything. at all. EVER.

Here's the break down:

50-60% of all polyhydramnios cases are called "idiopatic" which pretty much means that the Dr.'s have no idea why it happens.

30% are due to a birth defect of the esophogus/stomach/bladder/ or urinary tract where the baby 1) can't swallow properly to consume her amniotic fluid OR 2) she can't pass it out properly and creates an access. This is fixed with surgery right after birth and there is never a problem again.

20% have Trisomy 21 or Down's Syndrome and have a retardation with swallowing.

Scary stuff!!! Ask me how much food I've been able to keep down since I talked to the Dr. yesterday and the answer isn't a good one. I've been freaking out.

Here's the good news though:

I had an anatomy ultrasound at 20 weeks which told me that Claire was a girl and that all of her limbs, organs and functioning parts were perfect.

I also opted to do the AFP blood tests which give you an idea if your baby has an sort of chromosomal abnormalities. They have 3 stages of this test. I passed the first test with flying colors and wasn't required to go any further. There was a 1 in 10 million odds that I could have a baby with chromosomally wrong.

Do Dr.'s make mistakes? yes. Could there have been a faulty test result? yes.

But with both of the above more or less ruled out that leads me to hope and pray that I fall in to the 50-60% of cases where there is absolutely no rhyme or reason except that Claire is getting her practice in to be an olympic swimmer someday.

Just to be on the safe side I have been scheduled a 4D ultrasound for Thurs. to check everything one last time before Claire is born. ASSUMING that she doesn't decide to make her grand entrance before then. If she does then we deal with whatever is tossed at us when it comes.

The bottom line is that God has given me a peace that passes all understanding. What if Claire has to have surgery and special feeding tubes? What if Claire is Downs? What if....? What if.....? What if....? None of it matters because 1) I will love my little girl just as much as if she was perfectly healthy and because 2) God is in control.
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Thursday, January 13, 2011

"I have to ask. . . you're not trying to steal a basketball are you?"

This was a Dollar Store employee's lame attempt at a joke. It almost cost him his life!!

I'm kidding. . .mostly

I'm generally pretty good natured about the fact that I look like I'm having triplets. I don't have any stretchmarks. I am getting to the point to where I literally can't drive anywhere. Even with my belly smashed against the steering wheel my legs barely reach the pedals. My "maternity" shirts don't fit and I have to resort to wearing Aaron's XL shirts. My face is finally starting to show the tale-tell signs of pregnancy (i.e. discusting puffy-ness, bags under my eyes, no energy to put on make-up, ect.) My hips are expanding so my pants that have fit this entire time are now uncomfortable and FORGET trying to wear anything other than flip-flops!! Dispite all of this I can still smile when the lady at the registration desk at the hospital jumps to grab me a wheel chair when I come waddling through the front door. Give me another week though and I might be creating a hit list. Here is my (according to period EDD) 36week and 3 day picture. Really, me and the Dr. are going off of my ultrasounds which would mean I am 37week and 3 days. leaving me with just a smidge over 2 weeks until my due date.


I got quite a few chuckles from the last rediculous picture that I posted on facebook. I even had someone say to me (once they saw me in person) that I must have been "pushing it out" for that picture. I really wasn't. In fact, between just me and you....I stand up straight and suck it in a little so that my back looks straight, and my butt looks good!

If there is one thing I've learned over the last year of photography, it is that the lighting of a picture can change its entire dimension. Not only can it set the mood and change the vibe but it can also flatter or age a person 10 years in either direction. With that said...here is me again, with a slightly different angle. I'm obviously going to post the most flattering one. Note the shadows and the effect that it has on what my belly looks like: Yes, I am torpedo momma! Which is why this picture would not have originally been posted had I not decided to use it as an example. Plus it makes me laugh...so I was hoping it would do the same to you.


ULTRASOUND INFO:

If you have been keeping up with me and baby Claire, you know that I went in for an ultrasound last Friday. Since an ultrasound tech can't tell you squat about your baby, I didn't get to find out anything until my Dr. appt. today. Since the tech was also in a bad mood when she did my ultrasound she didn't take the time to try to get any good pictures for me. All she told me was that Claire was face down so I wasn't going to get to see her. She was able to check and make 100% sure that "she" was a she FOR SURE. Even though we had the 100% guarantee already, it was still good to hear before my shower on Sun.

Today, I got to meet the final delivery doctor that was on the list. I officially have met all of the people who will potentially deliver Claire. The great news is that I love every one of them. All of the other dr.'s that I wasn't fond of are all "filler" dr.s for the clinic and will not be on call at the hospital. This is GREAT news!!

Also in GREAT news:

The Dr. today measured my belly and said "wow...big one here." What's new doc?! The interesting point that she made is that after doing some extensive and uncomfortable pushing and prodding that it felt as though, even with my big belly, that Claire is feeling "long" but not "big" Her guestimation was 6lb. 

I mentioned that I had had an ultrasound and she looked over it and confirmed exactly what she had just old me. I have ALOT of water, but what seems to be a small/average but lengthy baby. AWESOME news! That means if Claire gains her 1 oz a day from now until my due date, I'm looking at a high 6's/low 7's baby. YAY! no c-section. . . . hopefully!

Now I can just sit back and relax until she decides to get here, right?

WRONG!!! I'm nesting like a chicken. . . literally


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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Good day!


Today was a great day!

 I often drag my feet through the day and at the end I'm left with the feeling of "Holy Crap...where did the day go?!"

Today was not that day. Instead of rushing to get all of my chores done I just did them through the day. If I got tired of doing one thing then I would do something else. Easy as that. Somehow (even when I try to calculate the time difference in my head) with doing more around the house, I was able to do other things too.

I did a little sewing.

I tried real hard to teach Emily that there are numbers after 13. She didn't get it. HOWEVER...she did understand that after twenty or "two-zero" there is a "two-one" and then a "two-two" and so on. I felt like that was a step in the right direction. I'm also trying to get her to have the visual recognition of all her single digit numbers. She only has trouble on 6 and 9. Dyslexic? Probably not. She doesn't get them confused. She just doesn't know what they are.

I took a few pictures.



Watched some T.V.

and even squeezed in some Facebooking.

I was able to do everything that normally takes up my time in moderation and it feels good!

AND I still have 30 minutes before Aaron gets home. Gosh, what am I going to do with myself?! I guess I will blog some more.

I had a doctors appointment yesterday. I think I said it in my last Dr. Appt. Update but my doctor had expressed a very minor concern about the size of baby Claire. Apparently she had noted it in my chart so when I had the very awesome Dr. Thomas this time he brought up the subject.

He said he usually ignores Dr. S's "big baby" notes but that if baby Claires weight was proportional to her length and head size then she is around 7.5-8 lb's NOW.

Wonderful.

No biggy...

Haha! I crack myself up. Actually it would be a BIGGY and since I'm not very big that might cause unnecessary complications. So Dr. Thomas scheduled me for an ultrasound tomorrow morning to see if they can get a better estimate of how much she weighs. Then we will go from there. I'm not worried. I heard all of this with Emily and she was a bean pole. I'm also not worried because, well, women deliver 9lb-ers every day now without a second thought. In fact, I'm EXCITED because I get to see my baby Claire again. and maybe just a little because I want to make sure that she hasn't grown any extra...appendages that would make me want to name her a more masculine name.

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully I will have pictures of Claire for you in the morning.



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Saturday, January 1, 2011

It's Christ-a-mas!!!!

As a joint gift from my parents and Aaron and I, we all chipped in and bought Emily a power wheels jeep. This is my livingroom. Darn jeep nearly took up the entire living room!


 I love the look on Emily's face here. It's a mix between...why is there something huge in my livingroom and where did all the cookies and milk go and WHY am I awake right now?
 Opening stockings before we go test out the power wheels
My mom got Emily some Zhuzhu pets. I had never heard of them but I guess they were a pretty big deal last year. Apparently our cat (who has never caught a mouse in it's life) thought they were pretty awesome too.



 Yes, I got a flash from my parents for Christmas so I took that opportunity to take all of the inside christmas-y pictures I've been meaning to take for the last few weeks.

 Showing off the ornaments that her and Grandma painted
Cousin Josh and the lady bug beany he got her for Christmas.

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