He is here!

Kyle Erik was born December 11, 2008 at 12:18am. He weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 22 inches long. More to follow.

Almost there...

We went in today for our weekly appointment. He passed the biophysical profile, but his numbers on the non stress test were a little off. The Dr. had me come back this afternoon to re-run the NST and he passed in 20 minutes... So all is well. I will be going back next Monday for another biophysical profile and non stress test. We will then go in on Thursday to repeat as well as get measurements to estimate size. THEN I will be admitted on Sunday December 14th in the evening to get my cytotec to help prepare for the induction which will begin on Monday morning the 15th. Hopefully he will be born sometime on the 15th. She did warn us that since he is head is still pretty high, there is a greater risk that an induction will end up in a c-section. However with my blood pressure and immunological issues, the risk of waiting is higher. Plus I'm now at the point I was with Zack when my placenta stopped working, so I would never risk it.

Update

We had an appointment today. Everything was fine. Blood pressure is still good and baby is now head down! Who knows what he has been up to! Now I'm just hoping he stays put for the next couple of weeks. I am now 60% effaced and a fingertip dilated which means...nothing. I could go into labor at anytime, or not. The labs that I had last week came back great. The liver function number was down to 17 from the high of 44 a few weeks ago. I guess the bed rest is working.

Doing fine

Another appointment today. Baby is doing great. He measured in at 5 lbs. 11 oz. The ultrasound readout said that was +/- 8 oz. My blood pressure was good and he passed his test again with perfect scores. The only bad news is that the little stinker is no longer head down. He is now transverse, basically sideways. I couldn't believe it! Dr. Baker said he still has some time to get back into position. If he doesn't go back to head down before 39 weeks that means he will be born by c-section. That is not my first choice, but if that's the way things go so be it. The only reason I wouldn't want to have the c-section is the recovery time is longer. Anyway I hope he flips back into place in the next 3 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for us!! Next appointment is on next Tuesday due to Thanksgiving. I can't believe the latest he will be here is 3 weeks from Monday!

34 Weeks 4 Day

Another appointment today. Baby passed his biophysical profile and non stress test with flying colors. He has been on the stretch today as well. I keep feeling him pushing into my rib cage and the Nurse said that what I'm feeling is his hiney. Even Erik could feel it from the outside. We spoke to the Dr. about what the expectation are in terms of how long we will go before getting induced. She is still waiting to shoot for 39 week (December 15) but it all depends on how things go. My blood pressure has been good on bed rest and the labs are now back to normal, so there is no reason to have him born any earlier. I want to avoid him a stay in the NICU so I'm happy with waiting, even if the bed rest is getting old at only 3 days in. I'll do whatever it takes.

Next week we will do another growth ultrasound to get an idea about how big he'll be. Of course it's can be off up to a pound (it was with Zack) but it at least gives us a little peace of mind as one of the problems with high blood pressure is growth restriction. I probably won't have any updates until next weeks as I will be laying on my left side watching TV until then.

34 Weeks 1 Day

We went back to the hospital on Saturday and got the second steroid shot. The labs were better and my blood pressure was good so they let us go home. Baby was not very active on Sunday so I freaked out a bit and went into the clinic today to get a non stress test to make sure he was ok. Of course he passed with flying colors! Stinker. My Blood pressure was high when I went in, so I know I need to do a better job with then bed rest. I was trying to work from home instead of starting FMLA, but that's not possible. Some of the people that I work with make my blood pressure go up when I'm NOT having issues, probably not a good idea to try to deal with them now. Luckily my management is very supportive so they were encouraging me to do what is best for me and the baby, the work will get done. It's nice to have that support and not have extra things to worry about.

We will be going in again on Thursday for a check and will get more information form the Dr. about what happened and what we can expect going forward. I'm not sure if 39 weeks is the goal any longer, may be 37 (Dec 1st) but we will wait to see what she says.

Update

I was supposed to update yesterday, but things went a little fast after the appointment and I have not had the chance until now. My blood pressure was still elevated and the labs they drew on Thursday came back with elevated numbers for liver function. The Dr. on call wanted me to go to Labor & Delivery to get the labs redrawn and have my blood pressure checked. They also had the heartbeat monitor on the baby to make sure he was doing ok. We were there for about 3 hours. My blood pressure reading were very good. It probably had something to do with the fact that I was laying down on my left side and I had just take a double dose of my BP meds. The labs came back with my liver function within normal range, but just barely. The cutoff for normal is 45 and mine was 44. My Dr. had them give me the first of two steroid shots to help develop his lungs and is having me come back in 24 hours to get the second one. They will also re-draw the labs to see where the numbers are today. I have also been ordered to bedrest, at least for now. I have a BP monitor at home ands have been checking it throughout the day. Everything has been good today. He is a little less active today, but he tends to have days where that is just the case... Maybe he is too busy working on getting his lungs developed. Either way he will be checked out in a few hours when we go back to the hospital.

We are not panicking yet, just really glad I have a Dr. who is always on the side of caution when it comes to health of both the baby and me. Will update when we are back from L&D.

33 weeks 4 days

Another appointment today. The good news: The baby is great. He passed all of his test, including practice breathing. The bad news: My blood pressure is way up from last week. Almost 50 points on the top number. They took blood to test for pre-eclampsia, and I'm doing a 24 hour urine collection (fun right?) She also increased my meds from 100 mg twice a day to 200 mg. I think I'm probably fine, but will do whatever it takes to make the baby safe. She mentioned bed rest, to which I heard my inner scream say "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Eun and Emily will remember how much I loved it the last time... I'm not sure I can manage without Eun and Colin bringing me Chipotle and playing Trivial Pursuit with me to pass the time (Word to anyone who ever plays Trivial Pursuit with Eun...She cheats. A lot.)

Any way I'm going back in tomorrow with my big bucket of pee in hand to find out what the next steps are. If we do have to have him early, we are far along enough now that he should be fine with a little extra care. Of course that is not my preference, but whatever we have to do is fine, as long as he is healthy.

I'll update tomorrow after my appointment.

Happy Halloween!

32 weeks 4 days

We had the first of our ongoing biophysical profiles today. The baby is doing well. He is on track with his growth at 4 lbs 6 oz, already bigger than Zack was at birth! He passed all of the ultrasound measurements with the exception of practice breathing. I already know he is doing that because he gets hiccups occasionally and they tend to occur from the breathing. The tech was measuring his head and all of the sudden we saw a little foot pop on the screen. It was pretty cute. She counted and he had all 5 toes. Seems like an uncomfortable way to hang out, but I remember Zack chewing on his feet so they are pretty flexible little monkeys. Also she confirmed that he is still a boy!

He was being a bit stubborn for the non stress test. What they are looking for in the non stress test is to see his heart rate go up when he moves. Every time he moved he would move away from the monitor so we kept losing his heart rate, but he had enough variance in his heart rate that he passed. We also talked about how far she is going to let me go. She was pretty clear that she is not comfortable with me going past 39 weeks. Given my history with both Zack and the last pregnancy, I'm very comfortable with this. Of course I'd prefer not to be induced because of the worst pain in my life experienced when I was induced with Zack, but that's why God invented epidurals and narcotics. Yea for drugs!! If he doesn't decide to come before, he'll arrive sometime around the 15th of December. Zack's birthday is the 16th!!

Going forward I'll be seen every week on Thursday. Only 6 weeks left!!!

Update on everyone

We had a quick appointment today with a different Dr. in the practice as my Dr. is out on vacation this week. Everything was fine. I told her about my numb hands and she said it's a common thing in the third trimester. I didn't have numb hands with Zack so that was new to me. I didn't have an ultrasound this week so I don't have an update on measurements, but she measured my "fundal height" and I was measuring at 31 weeks, right on track. Next appointment is in two weeks and will be weekly after that until delivery.

We also have a very short list of names picked out and there is a front runner but have decided that we are not going to share until he is born. So don't ask! :)

In other news we met with an attorney last week to get the ball rolling on the step-parent adoption process for Zack. The attorney said our case was so straight forward that we didn't need to see him and could meet with his paralegal and save $150 an hour. The paperwork has been complete and she will be submitting that along with Zack's birth certificate and Brian's death certificate to Hennepin County shortly. She said the hearing will be in December or January and that will be it. I'm just hoping that I don't go into labor on the court date... We might push for a January date to be safe. After the hearing they will issue a new birth certificate listing Erik as the father and Zack's last name will be legally changed to Schefers. We decided that it was just easier for everyone, especially Zack, to have the same last name. Erik doesn't want him to feel different or not as much "his child" as Stitch because he has a different name. We will give him the option to change it back when he is old enough to understand what it means. Right now we just want to do what's best for him, and to us that means everyone having the same last name. He will always know he had a Daddy Brian who died before he was born, but that doesn't mean much to a 4 year old.... He is excited to see the judge and make it so Daddy is not his "illegal Dad" any more.

28 weeks 4 days

Stitch is doing really well. His growth is right on track and he weighs about 2 lbs 6 oz. He is gigantic!! I'll start going in every two weeks now and in 4 weeks we will have another ultrasound to check his growth. So far so good.

27 weeks 3 days

Not much to report. Zack has decided to call the baby both Luke and Stitch. First name Luke, middle name Skywalker.... The Star Wars obsession has begun... Oh boy. Stitch/LS is moving a lot. I can tell he is getting bigger as my whole stomach shakes when he gives a particularly big kick. I'm starting to feel him move around more as well, not just kicking. It feels like he is sliding around my uterus like its a water slide. I'm sure he's starting to get a little crowded. I feel as big as the side of a barn. I've been a lot better watching what I'm eating.. No more snickers from the machine at work...Well FEWER Snickers would be more accurate.

Now that I'm off the prednisone I worry (imagine that!) that my body is going to start attacking him like it did the last baby. My Dr. assures me that once I was past a certain point that it's no longer necessary and the baby will be fine. In fact the side effects of the prednisone become more dangerous (especially premature rupture of membranes) than the benefits of continuing. I trust her, I really do. But after losing our baby at 16 weeks, how devastating that was, I worry about everything. From talking to all of the moms I know who have lost a baby, I know this is normal....I just have to go forward with faith that he will be OK. That's all I can do at this point. I did start to do kick counts this week (Recording how it takes for him to move 10 times) just so I have a baseline to go by. I didn't really do this with Zack like I was supposed to, I was a bit preoccupied with other things at that time and highly medicated. When I think back it's a real miracle that he was induced when he was. I credit my wonderful OB for her careful management of the situation, so I will trust she knows what she is doing.

Next week is our 28 week check. We'll be getting an ultrasound to check his growth as well.

We have *about* 2 1/2 months left until Stitch/LS is here. I hope he will have a real name by then. Stitch would be a hard name to have on the playground... I'm just saying...

25 Weeks 3 day --Stitch update

Miracles do happen!! I passed my 3 hour glucose tolerance test and DO NOT have gestational diabetes. I was fully prepared to be test positive so this was a huge relief. I was even on the Internet last night trying to find sample diets that I could use. Amazing!

Everything is going well and we are looking forward to seeing baby Stitch via ultrasound on October 2nd!

Zack Update

I recently "discovered" that Brian had two issues that contributed to his death. One was the severe CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) that that Medical Examiner's office informed me about when they called to give me the results of his autopsy. The other was listed on his death certificate. Specifically he had a Bicuspid Aortic value. Until recently I didn't know what that meant or that it even meant anything. They way they had the cause of death listed made it sound like the heart disease was in the aortic valve... I recently read that a Bicuspid Aortic valve is actually a congenital heart defect. I could not believe that for the last 5 years I have had no idea!! After doing some research, I read that it there is a about a 10-17% chance that the defect will be found in the 1st level relative (child, sibling) of someone who has the defect. It is the most common congenital heart defect, any not usually diagnosed until later in life and in many cases cause no problems. However, for those that have have risk factors (obese, smoking, inactive etc.) it can accelerate the damage done. It's pretty well known that Brian had about all of the risk factors for heart disease, it was just so puzzling that they would be severe enough to kill him at 33. The Bicuspid Aortic valve "discovery" is the missing piece of the puzzle. Here is a pretty good summary that I found on e-medicine:

http://www.emedicine.com/PED/topic2486.htm

Needless to say I called Zack's pediatrician. She said she had never noted a murmur or had any reason to believe that there would be an issue, but suggested that we get an echo cardiogram to make sure. Erik, Zack and I went to the Children's Heart Clinic in St. Paul today. After 30 minutes on the table getting his "heart movie" made and watching Star Wars on the DVD player he was done. The Tech had us wait in the room while he got the Cardiologist. She came in and told us there was no need to keep the second part of the appointment. Zack heart was normal and his aortic values are NORMAL.

I think I had convinced myself that he did have the defect because I was a little surprised by the overwhelming relief I felt. Erik was relieved too, but I think his practical approach to things helps him from worry too much until there is an actual reason to worry. As for Zack, his response was "I told you my heart wasn't sick!" I guess he told us!

I think part of the reason for my response is that since he was born I have had the nagging worry that what happened to Brian would happen to Zack too. Brian's death seem like such a freakish event and I had no idea how to protect my baby from the same thing happening to him. Well I now know that while there are never any guarantees in life, he now has the same shot as any other kid and somehow that cloud has lifted a bit.

YEA ZACK!!!!

I'm off to "study" for my 3 hour glucose test tomorrow. I'll update when I get the chance.

24 Weeks 4 day

I failed!!! The blood glucose test was today and I bombed. My blood sugar was supposed to be under 150 after 1 hour post sugary orange drink... Mine was 171. So it's off to the three hour test. I had the same issue with Zack but passed the three hour. I go back in next Wednesday. I'll drink the same orange stuff and they'll check my blood sugar once an hour for 3 hours. I guess I'll get to catch up on some reading. I'm not too concerned either way. If I fail the 3 hour and have gestational diabetes, then I'll deal with it. Basically it's just keeping carbs and sugar restricted and monitoring blood sugar....I can do that, no problem. My weight was bad too. She mentioned it, but was not too hard on me about it. She just reminded me that I don't want to be having a 10 pound baby... No I do not. She said that Zack was a tiny baby, but this is a different pregnancy with very different circumstances so I should try to watch it from this point forward.

At our next appointment they will be doing another ultrasound to measure his growth to make sure he is on target. I have 2 weeks left of the prednisone and after that the only meds I'll be on is for blood pressure. My Blood pressure has been great, by the way, 120/74 at this visit.

She also told me that starting at 32 weeks I will be getting weekly biophysical profiles. They are basically a non stress test and fetal ultrasound that measure for specific things. For the non stress test they put a belt over your belly to monitor the heart rate and you have to push a button everything time the baby moves. If I remember correctly form the hundreds that I had with Zack, it's about 20-30 minutes of monitoring. After that they give an ultrasound and they check to see if the baby is practice breathing, accelerating heartbeat with movement and amount of amniotic fluid and a few other things. There is some sort of point system and if you pass, baby gets to gestate another week. If you fail, you get a trip to Labor& Delivery for another evaluation. Zack was induced at 38 weeks due to a failed biophysical profile....

This high risk pregnancy stuff is a blast, no? All kidding aside, I'm so greatful that I have such a cautious and wonderful Doc and I am willing to do whatever it takes to get Stitch here safe and sound. We are getting there.

Next Appointments:
September 10th - 3 hour Gestational Diabetes test
October 2nd 28 weeks - Growth Check Ultrasound
October 16th 30 weeks
October 30 32 weeks - 1st Bio-physical profile

23 Weeks 1 day

We had out follow up appointment at the North Memorial Perinatal Center today. It took over an hour, but Stitch finally decided to roll over and give up the goods. We finally got all of the heart measurements they want to see and everything looked good. He was measuring at about 1 lb. 3 oz. I'm not sure how accurate they are at this stage of the pregnancy. I know that they are NOT at all accurate with measurements at the end. I had an Ultrasound the day I delivered Zack and they said 5 lbs 8 oz. HA! He was 4lbs. 4 oz. Not even close. So next step is Dr. Baker on Sept. 4th. I get my 1 hour screen for gestational diabetes and I have a bad feeling that I'm going to failing... I failed the 1 hour with Zack and just barely passed the 3 hour.... Goodbye Ben & Jerry's... Not a bad idea either way since I have already gained almost 20 lbs. I'm going to blame the prednisone... Ben and Jerry are WAY too nice (and delicious) to be responsible for such a travesty.

The other exciting development is that we have crossed into viability territory. Technically babies can survive if they are born at 23 weeks. Of course no one wants this to happen as the survival rate is only around 50% (depending on what statistics you look at) and the rate of disability is quite high. I have had no signs of preterm labor and have no history either, so I'm guessing this won't be an issue, but it's nice to know that if it did, the baby would have at least a chance.

Next Appoinments:
September 4th - 24 Weeks
October 2nd 28 weeks
After 28 weeks we will be seen every other week instead of once a month.
After 36 weeks we will bee seen weekly until delivery!

21 Weeks 5 Days

20 weeks 6 days

There is not much going on...Which is good! Zack has decided to call this baby Stitch, so I said that was as good a name as any until we pick out a real name. He suggested that we call the baby Stitch until he is 4 and then call him Zack... I guess if George Foreman can do it, so can we! I have a feeling this baby will be Stitch right up until delivery as Erik is not know for his speedy decision making. We are working on a list now, but I'm feeling it will be slow going.

Baby Stitch is moving a lot, flipping and kicking like crazy. It's not quite enough for anyone else to see or feel yet, but I'm sure it will be in a few weeks. Zack is really into talking to him and giving kisses, so I'm sure he'll be excited when he can feel some kicking. He is working on his "big boy: patience, but it says it's "taking soooo long!!" He can be pretty entertaining.

20 weeks 2 days

Zack found out about the baby last night. At first I think he was a little confused. His first response was "but our baby died." Then Erik explained that this was a new baby that would be coming to live at our house. I told him it would be a baby brother. He said "I need to go draw something" and went to his toy room for about 5 minutes. He came back with two little pieces of paper. He told us they were light sabers, one for him and one for the baby. The baby can have the green one and he will have the red one, Darth Vader's color. Once we told him the baby was actually in my tummy, then he really got excited. He was kissing my tummy and talking to the baby. Even this morning he was standing next to me and said "besos" (Spanish for kisses, learned from cousin Ezra) and kissed my tummy a few times. We then got to Day care and he walked through the hall loudly proclaiming "I'm having a baby!" When we got his class, he told his teacher Ms. Melissa "My mom's tummy is reallllly big." She didn't know quite what to say to that! I told him to tell her why my tummy was so big. He said "Because I'm going to be a big brother!" They were so sweet, telling him congratulations and that he will be the best brother ever. I just love the teachers at his school.

Of course this morning, about 12 hours after we told him, he was complaining that it was taking way too long to get the baby here and wanted to know why he couldn’t see the baby now. It’s hard to be patient when you are 4! It’s going to a long 4 months for him. I told him it would be after Thanksgiving and he didn’t think that was a good idea at all. Of course he wanted to know who would be eating the baby’s share of turkey for Thanksgiving…

We met with our regular OB this morning. She was pleased with the outcome of the ultrasound and was not at all concerned about the follow-up. She said that it was very unlikely there would be anything wrong as there would be some other indication. She also said that they are just so small at this point (average about 10 ½ oz. and 6 ½ inches) that it can be hard to see everything. A few weeks growth will make a difference. Plus there is really not much you can do to get them to move. In order to get the profile shots (which I will post later) the tech had me roll over so that I was almost on my stomach, because he was not cooperating. At that time he was holding both of his feet in his hands, folded like a clam. She is having me step down again with the prednisone from 15 mg to 10mg. I’m hoping I don’t lose my sense of smell, but I’m prepared. I was nice being able to smell after 2 years of not being able to. Darn sinus polyps.

Next Appointments:
August 25th – Follow up Level 2 Ultrasound
September 4th – 24 week checkup
October 2nd – 28 week checkup

It's a BOY

We had out Level 2 ultrasound today. Everything looked good. They do want us to come back in three weeks for a follow-up US as the baby was holding his arm in a position that prevented them for getting all of the heart measurement they wanted. She reiterated several times that they did not see anything wrong, just wanted to make sure everything was all right, and they couldn’t do that with the way he was positioned. So, we go back on August 25th. I was a little disappointed as I wanted to get a 100% "everything is great." She said she would give me a 95% "everything is great" which will have to do for now. I know there is nothing to worry about, but I don't think I'll be full at ease until we get the 100%...Of course I won't REALLY be fully at ease until he is born safely. And then comes the REST of the worrying...Who am I kidding, the lifetime of worry has just begun!!

We didn't care one way or the other about the gender of the baby, so we are excited to have another little boy in our house. Zack will have plenty of time to adjust to the idea of a baby brother. We'll probably tell him a brother will be much more likely to join him in light saber fights, albeit a few years down the road... We are going to tell him tonight.

19 weeks 1 day

We had a wonderful time last week in Oregon at Lara & Chuck's wedding (Erik's sister) and Zack made an adorable ring bearer/dance floor manic. Back to the real world now...

Nothing new to report on the baby front. We finally went public to people last week as the word has started to spread a little. I'm not really able to "hide" any more and am now in maternity clothes, some of them make me look about 9 1/2 months along instead of almost 5!

Next Monday at 9:30 we have our Level 2 Ultrasound at the North Memorial Perinatal Center. For those that don't know, a Level 2 ultrasound, also called a targeted ultrasound, is done by a specially trained technician with more sensitive equipment. My Doctor wants us to get the more intensive U/S due to my age (I am AMA… of Advanced Maternal Age! YIKES!) My blood pressure issue and the Leukocyte compatibility issues that caused us to lose the last baby. They will be checking to make sure that the growth is on target as IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) is a big concern with both the high blood pressure and the Leukocyte problems. Zack had IUGR (VERY different reasons & circumstances) and was born at 38 weeks at a whopping 4 lbs 4oz! As much as I loved the nurses and doctors at the North Memorial NICU, we are hoping that we don’t have to spend any time with them for this one. I had a Level 2 with Zack as well. It's amazing to watch as they check all of the anatomy and even watch how the blood flows in and out of the heart. It usually takes about an hour. I'm planning on working that afternoon, so I will have an update as soon as I can. We will be finding out gender if the baby is cooperative. We figure it will be better to be prepared, plus Zack will want to know if he's getting his 'heart's desire' baby sister.

17 weeks 1 day

We got the results from the AFP test today. The screen came back normal. I'm not sure exactly what that means in terms of the risk score, but I would guess that a "normal" results would indicate it is not likely that the baby has spina bifida or any other type of neural tube defects. Good news. I have also been starting to feel some movement going on. It feels like the baby is doing laps and practicing flip turns. Every now and then I feel some taping too, like s/he is knocking on the "wall" to see what's going on out here. Zack still doesn't officially know, but he keep taking about his baby sister and wanting to pick up some chicken paste (our term for the Gerber Chicken baby food that he ate until he was 2) every time we are at Target. He's a pretty smart guy so he probably picks up on more than we think he does. He is adamant that his baby will be a sister, so it will be interesting to see what happens if it's a brother. Either way I'm sure he will be so excited when he knows he'll be getting "his" baby for his birthday.

16 weeks 5 days

We had the 16 week check up yesterday. Everything was fine. Baby's heart rate was 156 beats per minute and she found it right away. She did decide to put me on a low dose of blood pressure medication as my BP is still borderline. She said that it will only increase as we get further along so it's best to start controlling it now. She is also starting to wean me off of the prednisone. I'm have been on 20 mg per day up until now, but I'm going down to 15 mg until I see her again on August 5th. She also said it's likely that we will not make it to the due date (December 21st) as with the leukocyte compatibility issues along with my high blood pressure will be cause for an early induction. I can't say I'm surprised. If we go at 39 weeks this baby could be born on Zack's birthday!

We also asked her to give us a Little more detail on the Nuchal Transparency test that we had at 12 weeks. This is the test that gives us the odds of chromosomal defects specific to our baby. Someone my age generally has a 1/200 chance of a Downs Syndrome baby and a 1/160 chance of Trisomy 13/18 (these are fatal to 95% of babies who carry them) What we found out is that the risk for this baby for Downs is 1/680 and Trisomy 13/18 is 1/6000. We feel pretty good about those odds! They took a blood draw to screen for AFP (Alfa Feto Protein) which give an indication of neural tube defects (spina bifida, ancephaly) We should get the results of that next week.

Next Appointments
August 4th --Level 2 Ultrasound
August 5th -- 20 week check up
September 4th -- 24 week check up

15 Weeks 3 days

There is really nothing new to report. The only thing going on is that my Blood Pressure is ticking up a bit. I’ve had a few reading with the top number in the 140’s & 130’s, but the bottom number is consistently in the 70’s & 80’s. This morning it was 119/78, so that’s good. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that I’m sitting on the verge of when we lost the last baby… 16 week. Today I am 15 weeks and 3 days.

Even though there is nothing wrong that I know of, I’m still so nervous. I think that I’ll start to feel better after our appointment next week, even though I’m really freaking out about it…. The last time I went in for routine 16 weeks prenatal check, our baby had died. I keep trying to remind myself that this pregnancy is different. I feel different. My body is not in overdrive trying to get rid of the “foreign body” like it was last time. In fact, I have not really been sick at all, thanks to the prednisone. Even with Zack I was nauseous up until 24 weeks. The down side of the lack of nausea? I have gained SO much weight! Yikes! My pants would barely button this morning! I’m hoping to avoid full on maternity clothes until 20 weeks (8/4), as that’s when we are “going public” with this pregnancy, but at this rate I’m not sure I can make it. If only I could wear yoga pants and sweats to work… Even the elastic waists are getting tight.

Next Appointments:
July 10 – 16 week prenatal check
August 4 – Level II Ultrasound at North Memorial Perinatal Center
August 5 – 20 week prenatal check

14 weeks 3 days... So far so good!

We went in for a "between appointments" fetal heart rate check today. Everything was good. Deb (my favorite nurse) found the heartbeat right away. It was 160 beats per minute. The only thing that was a little off was my blood pressure. It was 140/80... too high on top. Of course they always take it before they check on the baby so no wonder it's high! I told her that we lost our last baby at 16 weeks so until we have passed that point it's going to be high whenever I go in. She also offered me the complementary diaper bag that the formula companies give out. I told her that I would have to wait until after 16 weeks for that one too. That was especially sensitive as at the appointment that they found out our last baby died, they gave me one. I was carting that thing around from room to room until I just left it in the ultrasound room... I've been monitoring at BP at home and it's been consistently in the 120/80 range so I'm not too concerned. I'll keep checking to make sure since I was on BP meds with Zack.

Next appointment is 7/10 and we will be 16 weeks and 4 days.....

Coming Soon!!