36 Weeks- on bed rest

Time certainly flies... until you get to the last 10 weeks and then it feels like it CREEEEPS by.

Well, we had a tummy check yesterday with our awesome midwife, Anita. I sure do love her. Have I ever said that before??? I'm sure I have, but I really do mean it. She listens so well and always makes me feel like my concerns are valid and puts them to ease without making me feel stupid. I just love her!

Anyway, when we came into the exam room the nurse, Chastity (just love her to pieces too) took my blood pressure. She took it twice with the manual cuff and wasn't able to hear it clearly. So she went and grabbed the automatic one, hooked me up and my blood pressure came up at a whopping 144/99. YIKES BIKES! That is sooo high for me. When I was pregnant with Gavin the actually encouraged me to get an epidural because my blood pressure was sooo high they were afraid I may have a seizure while in labor. Along with the high blood pressure I also had a little protein showing up in my urine. The problem is not the protein itself... the problem is that protein is a very large molecule. So if they are able to find protein, it normally means that my kidneys aren't functioning well enough to act as a filter anymore.

Chas told Anita what she had found and soon I was hooked up to the monitor. Now, let me just say, Anita and Chastity are sooo lucky that I love them so much, otherwise this could have been potentially disastrous. When I was in labor with Gavin I was hooked up to the monitor for over 24 hours straight, only able to lie on one side and anytime I switched positions they would have to come and fix it. I actually told Jonathan that if they didn't come and take it off of me I was going to shove it up their.... well you get the picture. LOL I was not fond of the monitor before. Luckily, after about 15 minutes Anita was able to see that the baby was doing fine. His heartbeat was consistent at the 140 range unless he was moving and then it would bump up to 180. She checked my cervix... already a TINY bit dilated. She said that if I did have to be induced at this point, it would be a pretty easy delivery. Well, that's good news.

So, the two concerns of high blood pressure and the protein in my urine means that I have "preeclampsia". The exact condition I had when I was pregnant with Gavy and that caused me to be induced at 39 weeks. Anita sent me down to get some blood drawn to check my kidney and liver function. She said that unless it comes back really crazy and as long as the baby and I still look good, she wants to keep me pregnant for as long as possible. She put me on bed rest and told me to hydrate like crazy.

Last night was my last day in the office until after the baby comes. The great thing about this office is that our software is Internet based, so I'm able to do some work from home. And there is PLENTY of work for me to do from home. So for the next few weeks I'll be hanging out at home, getting ready for baby. I always thought that being put on bed rest would be the greatest thing ever.... but I feel like there is so much to be done that I just don't have time to be on bed rest. Forcing myself to be idle is hard, but I know that it's what is best for the baby and me right now.

Thankfully, I have the world's greatest husband. On top of working his 12-16 hour days, he's been coming home, making dinner, and then working on stuff to get ready for baby. All without one little complaint. He's the best, I'm so lucky to have him! My mom is pretty awesome too. She's offered to help with anything that I need and is concerned about Jon just as much as she is about me and baby.

I'll keep you all posted. We may be having a baby here within the next few weeks.... wooooooaah.

31 1/2 Weeks

Wow. Here we are in the middle of week 31 already. I'm feeling pretty good, overall. I'm very very very tired but still good. I'm pretty excited and staying positive that this time I will be able to go into labor naturally rather than having to be induced. When I was pregnant with Gavin, at this point my feet were so swollen that I would have to go home in the afternoons to put my feet up. While I am having a little bit of swelling, it's not nearly as significant as it was in my last pregnancy.

I think it's finally set in that this baby is just right around the corner for us. I hopped online to find a list of items that I will need for the baby. Not having a baby shower this time around really makes me nervous. My list of things that I need is pretty long but I prioritized it all and we'll stat tackling it next payday. I also pulled a list of things to put in my overnight bag for the hospital. It seems ridiculous but I didn't have to worry about that last time. My labor came so unexpectedly, my mom and sisters packed my bag while I was checking into the hospital.

I have an appointment to register at the hospital next week along with my 32 week appointment. Our insurance benefits change a little bit come January 1st so we're praying that we'll have this baby before the new year. Even if it's on New Year's Eve, it'd save us quite a bit of money.

After months and months of disagreeing about our little boy's name, it seems we have come to an agreement. We decided that we aren't going to share the name until the baby is here though. Just because everyone has their opinions and sometimes it can really ruin the name for you. We're happy with the name we chose and can't wait to meet our little boy!

Well, that's all for now!

20 Weeks along

Well, today was the big day!! Jon and I had our 20 weeks appointment with the doctor today which means it was time for an ultrasound! At first we debated on whether or not we should find out the sex of the baby. We were not ever able to tell with Gavin and it was such a great experience to have Jon hand me our baby and tell me "Meet your son".

BUT. after much deliberation we decided that it would be nice to be able to prepare ourselves a little bit. So we decided to find out the sex of our little tic-tac.

First of all, we must say that it is so great to have a doctor's office that is almost ALWAYS on time. We never have to wait more than a few minutes before getting in and it is one of the MANY reasons that we love our Midwife. After waiting a few minutes we were immediately called back to the Ultrasound room where they got me ready to go. The doctor came in promptly and popped in the VHS into the machine. (At the end of the ultrasound he popped the tape out and it didn't record! This happened with Gavin's too!!!) He measured the head, checked for 10 fingers and 10 toes, measured the femur, checked for the 4 chambers of the heart, checked the liver, and then..... the gender of our little one!

Welp, all I can say is that my premonitions about the sex of our baby were all WRONG! I swore that this baby was a girl. It just felt so much different this time around. But we were wrong. We will be welcoming another baby boy the first week in January (if not sooner!)


Things for me have been a roller coaster. I go from feeling absolutely wonderful, to being knocked out completely with what I am assuming are Migraines. Last week Jon and I decided to go golfing with a friend of ours. We made the mistake of making the tee time for 11:30am so we were golfing in the heat of the day. About 30 minutes after we finished our game I started to get little arcs of light, or what I have always considered "visual disturbances." I continued to get ready for work and eventually the arcs turned into a huge eyeball headache. The headache was followed by numbness on the whole upper right side of my body... we're talking tongue, cheek, arms, fingers all on the right side. The headache worsened until finally I completely lost my ability to comprehend certain words or communicate what I was feeling. I work for a great Chiropractor who specializes in applied kineseology. All I could manage to tell him when this was happening was "I'm scared." He checked me for several options but found that I was extremely low on electrolytes. I loaded up on my trace minerals and got adjusted and eventually my comprehension returned to normal and my headache subsided.

Things were great for a few days and then BAM! No warning whatsoever had another migraine, this time with extreme dizziness.

We're still not quite sure what's going on. We don't know if they're migraines caused by my increased level of hormones, if they're mini-strokes (the first time I ever had this happen was before Jon and I were married and my doctor told me that was her best explanation), or if my rotated atlas is wreaking havoc (had x-rays taken last year that allowed you to see through my atlas because of how rotated it was.)

Basically what we've decided it that we are going to wait until the next time this occurs and we're going to book it to a doctor while it's actually happening. Hopefully this will give us some answers.

Other than that, things are great. The baby is healthy and growing EXACTLY on schedule. I've even managed to FINALLY gain a few pounds. Total weight gain at 20 weeks is 5lbs!

I'm going to try to hook up our scanner to get the ultrasound images uploaded, but we'll see about that ;)

12 1/2 Weeks

I haven't been very good at updating my pregnancy journal, mostly because nothing has really changed. I'm in the middle of week 12 and have my next appointment with my awesome midwife, Anita, on Monday. On my first appointment I was a little dissapointed that I wasn't quite far enough along to hear the baby's heartbeat. I REALLY hope that we'll get to hear it this time. Jon is going to be able to make this appointment with me and we'll have both the kids with us as well. I think it will be a really cool experience for them to get to hear the baby's heart beat. Gavin still might be a little too small to understand but I think Zoey will be super excited.

So once again, I haven't really had many changes to report. I had my first patient tell me "You're starting to show!" which made me laugh. She's a really sweet lady but she sure tells you like it is rather than what you want to hear. LOL. In the same breath she told Dr. Adam's that he must have "really great baby making energy surrounding him." I think Dr. Adam's about peed his pants he was laughing so hard.

I have noticed that I get the pleasure of "cravings" this time around. When I was pregnant with Gavin I only had one.... carrots dipped in Arby's horseradish sauce. This time the cravings seem to be a little more normal but they come more frequently. So far I've craved:

Jalepenos and anaheim peppers dipped in cream cheese

Wontons and Sweet and Sour Sauce

Celery and Ranch Dressing

Sushi

Chimichangas (really any type of Mexican food)

Sweets.... LOTS and LOTS of sweets

So that's about it for this week. Again. hopefully I'll be able to post the heart beat within the next few days!!

8 weeks

Here I go with my second entry, this time I'm about 8 weeks along. Really not many changes to report. I'm still completely and utterly exhausted and my chest is pretty tender, but other than a few bouts of nausea, I've been feeling pretty good.

Its hard for me to tell if I'm truly having morning sickness or if I've just had a couple bad bean days at Taco Bell. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm pregnant. It doesn't seem real yet. Although I have noticed that I have already started to develop a little round pouch on my tummy. I got a little nervous wondering why I was already starting to "show". I thought maybe I was having twins.... Thankfully I received an update on my weekly orehancy calendar that told me if this was my second or more pregnancy than I could already be showing because the muscles aren't as tight this time.

I have my first appointment with my midwife on Thursday, so I'll hopefully post the heartbeat after that appointment!

We're having a baby!!

A couple of nights ago Jon and I made the realization that I was a few days late for a visit from my monthly "friend." This isn't an unusual situation in our household and so we made a quick trip to the grocery sotre fore a pregnancy test. As soon as we got home I ran upstairs and took the test. After about a minute one bright red line appeared on the stick- not pregnant. So I tossed the test into the trash and we both went to bed a little let down. Now we haven't been "trying" for very long. Infact I wouldn't even call it "trying", I would call it "not, not trying".

Anyway, around 3 in the morning Gavin woke me up wanting a drink. After getting him situated I headed to the bathroom to use the potty. Before heading back to bed I picked up the test and took another look at it figuring "What the heck, a second glance wouldn't hurt." I examined the test carefully and saw the same single red line that had been present before...... but wait.... almost not there at all was a faint pink 2nd line. "A 2nd line?! JON!!!" I woke Jon up and showed him the test.... he smiled and said "We're pregnant!"

So I called my midwife's office this morning and talked with Anita's nurse, Chastity. I told her that I had taken a test and that the 2nd line had just barely appeared and she said "Yup, you're pregnant!" We talked a little bit and determined that right now I'm about 4 weeks along. My due date will be around the 5th of January if I calculated it correctly. We set up an appointment for the end of the month to get the ball rolling and we'll be able to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time ever!!!

Yesterday I went to lunch with my mom and showed her the pregnancy test. She was really happy for us and is excited to have another Grandbaby. She told my Dad later that night and I think my Dad is excited too but he doesn't show it as much. I also called Jenny late last night and told Stacie this morning. Everybody has their concerns about it being so early but Jon and I are confident that this is what Heavenly Father wants for us right now and that we're going to have another normal and healthy pregnancy.

I think I'll wait a few more weeks to tell my friends and the rest of the family but who knows, I might get too excited and spill the beans a little early :)

So far I'm feeling great. I do however, feel abnormally tired. It's hard to stay away from the soda and the coffee to keep me awake. But all the sacrifices will be so worth it when we have a happy and healthy baby in January! I'm PREGNANT!!!