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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Non Stress Test

Well, I'm still pregnant! 40 weeks and 3 days. So at my weekly appointment with my midwife, they hooked me up to a monitor for a non stress test (NST), which they do for all patients who are overdue. It's a twenty minute test that monitors baby's heart rate and my contractions. Basically, they want to see that her heart rate goes up and down with activity and that it isn't dipping too low. My midwife walked in the door in the middle of it and could tell from across the room that she is doing fine in there! She passed with flying colors and the midwife says that's a really good indication that baby is healthy and safe.

That being said, she did set up my induction date for February 4th - this Monday. At that time I will be 41 weeks and 1 day. She said they set inductions for overdue patients at around 41 weeks because it is possible that they won't be able to fit me in that day and we'd have to reschedule, and they really don't want you to go past 42 weeks. So this gives us some leeway. So Monday morning I am supposed to call the hospital at 6 am to see if they still have room for me that day, and if so, I'm to be at the hospital at 7 am. Depending on how dilated I am, and I opted out of checking that today, there are different ways to go about inducing labor. If I'm 3cm or more, they will most likely start right up with Pitocin, but if I'm not at 3 cm, they use a gel that is supposed to dilate me. Or, if I'm dilated enough and baby's head has dropped enough, they could break my water for me and see if that got things going. Which with Owen, the doctor breaking my water is what finally got things REALLY moving, even though I had been getting the Pitocin for a few hours.

BUT, I'm hoping to avoid all of that and go into labor on my own. The weather sucks today - lots of snowing and blowing and travel is NOT advised - so tomorrow would be better. : ) I didn't even go into work this morning and only went this afternoon because my doctor's office is close to work and I was NOT going to miss my appointment! : ) I made it just fine, just took my time.

I don't think there's much of a chance that she will come yet today, but if she wants to be a January baby, she better get her butt in gear! Just the rest of today and tomorrow left! Otherwise, Little Miss will be a February baby.

Monday, January 28, 2013

40 weeks

My due date was yesterday, January 27, 2013. Today, on a foggy, icy Monday morning, I had to get my butt out of bed and go to work. Ugh. Not what I was expecting! I was so sure last Friday that it was my last day, and struggled to make it to 5:00 because I had worked like a mad women to get ahead, so now I have nothing of importance to do. Ugh.

The last few weeks have gone by pretty slow. At 36 weeks, I started seeing the midwives that are at the clinic I go to, since my doctor moved to Texas. There are 3 at the clinic, and they all rotate patients. That week, she checked me for Group B Strep (I came out negative) and then checked my cervix. 1 cm dilated. Stomach measured fine and heart beat was good.

Owen's New Year's kiss to his sister : )


Week 37, I went back and met with another midwife. Baby must have been laying funny, because she said I was measuring about 34 weeks. She ordered an ultrasound just to double check everything. Better to be safe than sorry. So a few days later I went to the hospital for the ultrasound. Everything measured on schedule and was told the baby was probably about 7 lbs 7 oz (+ or - a whole pound!). No good pictures out of it, because she was laying face down, but we did get confirmation that she is a girl! : )


Week 38 - Nothing new to report, just went over the ultrasound with the midwife, she measured baby and listened to her heart. Everything normal.

38 weeks
           
 Owen found these helmets in his room. His is my old motorcycle helmet, and the other is a Vikings helmet, which he said Oriana could have. So this is them wearing their helmets.

Week 39 - Same thing. My iron and blood platelets have been low again this pregnancy, but not quite as bad as last time. I've been to the lab I don't even know how many times for a complete blood count, and everything stays about the same. So the midwife told me when I come in for labor, they will do another one then, because the anesthesiologist won't do an epidural if my platelets are below 100. They have been hovering around 140, so I'll probably be in the clear. She measured baby, listened to her heart (both looked good), and then checked my cervix again. Still 1 cm and baby is high. I could've told her that! I think she's kicking my heart sometimes!!

: ) I may miss my built-in table soon!


So she had me schedule an appointment for this week. It's on Wednesday. If I'm still pregnant on Wednesday, they will hook me up to monitors for a non stress test, just to get a good reading on how she's doing in there. If she seems stressed in any way, they will send me to the hospital to be induced right away. If she's doing ok in there, they will still schedule an induction, but I'm guessing it will be for Thursday or Friday or whenever they can get me in! So it's possible I'll be having a February baby. As long as she's healthy, I don't care when she comes out! And when I found out I was pregnant and before I had gone to the doctor, I thought my due date would be early February, anyway. I think I'm just anxious because I'm caught up at work and it's a little slow right now anyway, so it would be the perfect time to be done! : ) Plus, I don't want to be induced. I'd rather go naturally. They say induced labors are harder and I'd like to have the experience of going naturally, since Owen was induced. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Dr. Owen
 A few weeks ago, Owen and I were talking about Oriana coming out. He said, "But she doesn't have no door to come out!" So I assured him that the doctor would help get her out. He said, "Do you want me to get my screwdriver?" Not sure what he thought he was going to do with that to get her out, but I told him we better let the doctor take care of it. So on Saturday, I asked him again if he was ready for Oriana to come out and he went and got his doctor kit and and told me he would get her out for me! He's so cute!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Christmas

Christmas went so fast this year! Luckily, we were able to celebrate it with everyone. First, we went to Muscatine for Ryan's family Christmas and stayed in a hotel so the kids could swim. Ryan's mom, step-dad, sister and her family, uncle and his family, and grandma and step-grandpa came over and we swam, had snacks, opened presents and then went to Applebee's for late night appetizers and drinks. It was fun and Owen got spoiled! Two race tracks for his Hot Wheels, clothes, a game for his Smart Cycle, a pirate ship and a John Deere tractor and trailer that he can get on and drive! We even let him drive it down the hallway of the hotel. (And thankfully, by now I think he's forgotten about it. We took it to my parent's house for the winter so it wouldn't be tempting him, and he hasn't talked about it in a while!) Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture!

The next day we met my Mom in Manchester so she could take Owen and I back to Elkader. Christmas Eve fell on a Monday, and Ryan had to be back in Cedar Falls to work, but I didn't. So we went to my parent's house and Ryan came Monday afternoon after work. That night we went to my Grandma's for supper and a game of cards.

Christmas Eve was kind of a lazy day. It flurried most of the day, so my dad had to work, but Mom, Owen and I made it to church in Strawberry Point, where we met my brother and his family coming in from Omaha. And then it was back to my parent's for a delicious meal of prime rib and hamballs. YUM! Ryan had made it to town by then, too, and after supper it was time for PRESENTS! Thankfully, my brother and sister in law are picture taking fiends, and they were nice enough to share these with us:



Books!

Car transporter - but he doesn't know what it is yet.
His face when he realizes it's a car transporter. SO CUTE!
These are the glasses from his doctor kit : )
Sharing his AquaDoodle mat with Annaliese
He got so much more than what's in these pictures, including a Nerf gun. We also brought a few Nerf guns we had at home, bought my dad a Nerf gun for part of his gift, and my brother got Nerf guns for Ian, Annaliese, himself and his wife. So after presents there was a huge Nerf war going on in the basement. It was really funny to see, and actually the adults got more into it than the kids did.

Christmas day was hosted by my parent's, so my mom's side and dad's side both came over. Lots of people and lots of yummy food. I told Ryan I should've made a sign that says

I'm due January 27th.
It's a girl.
Her name is going to be Oriana.

and wear it around my neck. I got asked the same questions a million times. And a few times, I got blank stares when I told them what her name is. No, it's not common name. That's what I like about it. But it's not like I'm going crazy and naming her Blu Ivy or something like I'm a famous person! ; ) But anyway, Ryan and I had to work the next day, so we headed back to Cedar Falls that afternoon. Luckily, my mom had the rest of the week off, because we didn't have any daycare for the rest of the week. So Owen got to stay at Nana and Boppa's and be spoiled for a few more days. Here are some pictures of him playing in the snow with Ian:




And finally, since we were not at home on Christmas night, Owen missed out on Santa coming to our house. So on Saturday night when he finally got home, he got to open his presents from Santa.

Mike the monster (from Monsters Inc) was in his stocking.

Obligatory socks and underwear in his stocking! Plus lots of treats!

He got Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, Wall-E, and UP.

Monkey shirt with googly eyes and pants.

Batman backrest. I got a new one for Christmas, too!

Tool bench. He said, "Hey! Boppa has one of those!"
After all the birthday presents and Christmas presents Owen got those few weeks, we had some MAJOR toy overflow! So we packed up some old toys and went to Goodwill, plus we just got a new toy organizer from my parents. There are even a few toys we haven't even taken out of the boxes yet! TOY OVERLOAD!! And next year will be worse...

Owen's Birthday Party

This year for Owen's birthday, we combined parties with two of his cousins. His cousin Jaxon's birthday is November 26 and his cousin Lexi's birthday is November 27 (same as mine!). With their birthday's always close to Thanksgiving, and Owen's the week before Christmas, we decided to have a joint birthday party for the three of them in between. So the week before Owen's birthday, we went to the Play Station in Cedar Rapids and then spent the night at the Long Branch Hotel to swim and party! The kids had a blast! The Play Station is an indoor jungle gym, basically, with slides, ball pits, tubes and games. Owen's favorite was the ball pit.


Ryan got in to play, too!



Balls!
He made Nana get in, too!
He LOVES to swim!
Quick break


Jump!
Owen, Jaxon and Lexi (who wasn't feeling well, poor girl) ready for some presents!

Toy Story from Mommy and Daddy
A dragon (later named Blanket Elmo George) from Aundrea, Mike, Bri and Lexi

Koosh gun from Dustin and Tiffany - I think this gun is lots of fun, by the way!

Smart Cycle from Grandma Angie and Grandpa Dan
He also got some Hot Wheels cars and a Hot Wheel's suitcase to store them from Jason and Carrie, and my Mom made him a Dr. Seuss quilt for his BIG BOY bed!

New sheets and quilt from Nana and Boppa
We made the switch to his big boy bed somewhere around the end of November/beginning of December. We also switched bedrooms, since we only have two bedrooms, and ours was huge. This way, the kiddos are together in one big room that's also big enough for them to have quite a bit of floor space for playing. Our room is a bit cramped, having a king size bed (that I will NEVER give up!). So all that fits in there is the bed, a dresser, the bassinet and a small table. And it's tight, but it works, and after Ori's too big for the bassinet, it will be better. We don't need a lot of room - the kids do!

Anyway, the switch to the big boy bed went pretty well. I knew it was going to impossible for me to force him to stay in bed after reading nighttime stories (and was a battle I didn't want to fight in my third trimester), so the rule is that he has to stay in his room, but he can play until he's ready for bed. He has a night light, and we have a light in the hall on, so he can see, but it's not too much light. It's working out ok. He always finds reasons to come out of his room, but we just tell him to turn around and he's normally pretty good about it. He's always been a good sleeper, and normally sleeps through the night just fine. He even will get up in the middle of the night, go to the bathroom on his own, and then go back to bed without a word. I know he's done this because I have insomnia, and heard him one night. And he always forgets to turn off the bathroom light, so if I get up in the night and the light is on, I know he's been up! : ) There have been a few times he's woken up in the middle of the night and will come to our room, but I lead him back to his bed, tuck him in, scratch his back (and his head and belly - I must do all three!) and then I go back to bed and he falls asleep!

I am a little worried about how nighttime will go once Oriana's in the room with him, but I guess that's a bridge I'll cross when we come to it. He plays quietly, so I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but I guess we'll see. And hopefully he sleeps soundly enough that her waking up in the night won't be too much of an issue for him. We aren't the first family to have kids share a room, so I'm sure it will work out!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

My little man is THREE!

Happy Birthday, Owen! Sunday was my little man's third birthday. I can't believe he's three! We had a pretty low-key day, since we had his birthday party last weekend (which will be a separate post), but it was pretty good day, I'd say.

He came into our bed at 7:30 - a little earlier than I was hoping for, but he just snuggled with me and played with my hair while playing games on my phone and iPad for awhile. When I finally decided to get my butt out of bed, I made some blueberry muffins for breakfast (which took too long, so he had a "go-la (granola) bar") while he continued to play on the iPad in his room. I'm pretty sure he uses that thing more than Ryan and I get to! But I was trying to keep him out of the living room for a while, because his presents were in there and Ryan worked the night before and I wanted him to be able to sleep in for a while before Owen opened his gifts. It worked! The iPad is an awesome distraction for kids, plus all the apps Owen uses on it are educational. (Well, that's what I tell myself, anyway!)

Anyway, when I let him into the living room, it took him about 5 minutes to even notice his presents on the floor! And of course, in true little kid fashion, he went for the biggest present first.

Pirate Ship

Monster Truck

Reindeer shirt with googly eyes

Dinosaurs
After presents, we made a big mess in the living room getting them all out of the packages and he played for a while before we headed off to Independence to meet my mom at Pizza Ranch. We got there early, so we stopped at a park and checked out the tank and threw rocks in the water. I don't know what it is about throwing things into water, but Owen just loves to do it!





After lunch, we headed back to Cedar Falls. The Vikings were playing, but weren't on regular TV, so we went to Zsavooz to watch the second half. They kicked butt! Yay!

While we were there, Ron, Tammy and Emma came to give Owen a present. Ron and Tammy are friends of ours that love to watch Owen for us on weekends and let him spend the night. Emma is their daughter. Anyway, he got some nerf-like guns and bow and arrow, so when we got home, we had ourselves a little gun fight! I'm pretty sure Ryan and I were having just as much fun as Owen, and Ryan's pretty good with that bow and arrow!

And that was about it! After that it was time to relax for a little bit and then head to bed!

Owen's new gun and reindeer shirt with googly eyes! : )
Happy birthday to the coolest, cutest, smartest three year old I know!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

32 Week Bump

I'm so good at keeping up with my blog. NOT!

There's not a lot new going on with my pregnancy. It's going almost the same as it went with Owen - I had to take the 3 hour diabetes test (which I passed), I have a low platelet count, and low iron. Same as with Owen.

I'm not sleeping well, between my back hurting, having to pee a lot, and leg cramps. Same as with Owen.

I feel pretty good otherwise - I get on the What To Expect When You're Expecting website and read though the January 2013 message board (where people due in January post problems, questions, funny stories, etc) and I think I have it pretty good. Ugh, the things some of these poor women have to deal with! It's pretty gross and horrifying, actually. But anyway, I'm not dealing with about 99.7% of what some people are, so I consider myself lucky. Easy pregnancy for the most part - same as with Owen.

I am gaining weight faster this time around. I'm almost to my "limit" of 30 pounds, and have 7 weeks to go! (I'm 33 weeks at the time of writing this, but eventually you will see my 32 week bump comparison pictures.) My weight started a few pounds lower than with Owen, but I gained 30 with him and that was my goal for this time and also the recommended weight gain for people of my size. I sit all day at my job, so I'm getting very little exercise. Plus, I love food and it's the holidays. But I'm trying to eat a little better because I really don't think pregnancy is an excuse to get fat and lazy. That's not good for anyone.

Anyway, I took a picture of myself at 32 weeks along because I knew I had one from last time and wanted to compare. I was shocked, actually. I'm a whale.

32 weeks, some days with Owen
32 weeks, some days with Oriana
Ok, maybe not a whale, but my bump is definitely bigger this time. After I took the picture, I was looking at it for a while before I went back and found the picture from Owen. When I saw the Owen picture, I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe the difference.

I went to the doctor last week and when I got back to work, one of my co-workers asked me how much longer I had. I told her two months and I think her jaw dropped to the floor! : ) "TWO MONTHS!" she said. Yeah, I'm huge. To my credit, though, she's never been pregnant, so she can suck it. ; )

I've also been measuring about a week ahead for awhile now, so hopefully that means she will make her appearance a little sooner than my due date. I actually really enjoy being pregnant, even though it can be a pain sometimes. There's just something about feeling the baby doing gymnastics inside your belly that is just too cool. And this is my last pregnancy, so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can, but it's flying by. The holiday season is making time go faster, too, so I guess I'll just have to try my best to enjoy the sleepless (yet quiet) nights and the big, big belly!

Friday, October 19, 2012

25 Weeks

I'm 25 weeks along this week, and I thought I start with a bump comparison:

             
Me today
Me at 25 weeks with Owen


It's a little hard to compare because I'm farther away in the new picture, but I think the bumps are about the same size. A different shape,though - this time I'm more round and maybe a bit higher? I don't know, maybe it's also hard to tell because my shirts are different lengths. I should have been wearing a longer shirt in the older picture.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good. My last doctor's appointment was Monday and everything looks good. She measured my belly (my uterus, actually) and she said I'm actually measuring about a week big. I also got my flu shot, which was fine, my arm was just sore for a few days. I have to go in next week and do the first round of testing for gestational diabetes and they will also check my blood platelets and antibodies. With Owen, I failed the diabetes test and had to go back for the 3 hour test, which I passed, and my blood platelets were low and had to go to a blood disorder clinic and get blood drawn every couple of weeks. Yuck. I'm hoping this time goes better. The 3 hour diabetes test was awful - I literally felt high on sugar. And then felt like crap. You can't drink anything during it and all I wanted to do was curl up in bed with a gallon of water. And it's boring. I took a book and school things to work on during the 3 hours I was there, but I got so high on sugar that I couldn't focus on stuff. So I just had to sit there feeling sick and thirsty, and they draw blood once an hour, so my arm was pretty sore. Just yuck.

In a couple of weeks I start my third trimester. It's happening too fast! I want to just enjoy this pregnancy (it will be my last!!!) but I feel likes it's just flying by. She moves around quite a bit, which I LOVE, but Owen refuses to feel her. I'm determined to get him to by the end, though. Every time I put his hand on my belly, he pulls it away really fast. I try to do it while he's concentrating on something (like Sesame Street or Dinosaur Train), but he always figures it out before she moves for him. Little stinker.

I'll end the post with some pictures (not good ones) of Owen playing in our bazillion kajillion leaves. So. Many. Leaves. But he loved it! He even helped us rake and bag them!



This is an action shot -  he ran from the fence by the truck all the way to the pile and jumped. This happened about 3 thousand times. ; )