25 Weeks

Cruising right along! I can't believe I only have 15 weeks to go, almost puts me in a panic when I think of how much there's left to do.  The nursery, bedding, painting, birth classes, book reading, registry, maternity photos, etc etc etc.  OMGosh, and his name!!!  I need time to slow down, and a money tree!

On my last post I was heading out to get baptized.  It was really special to do this while pg.  Kerry says we got a 2-fer.  I promised the family that I would post a video of it on my next post, so here goes:

I had an OB appt yesterday.  An hour before my appt, I had to drink the dreaded Glucola to check for gestational diabetes.  (Still waiting on the results)

Is really wasn't that bad, just tasted like sugary flat orange soda.  Supposedly this is a time sensitive test and you have to get your blood drawn exactly 1 hr after finishing it.  As I was about to head out, I couldn't find my car key anywhere.  Kerry had driven my car last so I gave him a quick call.  He gave me a few places to look and after tearing the house apart, it was no where to be found.  By now I was frazzled and flying high on glucose and adrenaline.  I called him all panicked as I was going to be late and did not want to have to redo this test.  He made the statement that it was simple, it was either on the counter, in the kitchen drawer or in my car.  I looked in those areas plus every other possible place at least 10x.  He finally had no choice but to come pick me up.  On his way he kept telling me on the phone that he was sure the key was right in front of me and that I was just over looking it.  Grrrr!

We arrived 10 mins late.  Luckily that was their cutoff or I would have had to redo the test another day. Whew!  They drew my blood and then it was off to wait on the OB.

Our nurse was down the hall with several other nurses and doctors.  She was wearing fluorescent hot pink scrubs and a brightly multi-colored lab coat.  Kerry whistled really loud at her and then started singing and disco dancing to Stayin' Alive.  I about peed my pants!

We met with the OB.  I addressed my concerns about my cervix and how I really needed some peace of mind.  She was very sweet and understanding and was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I enjoyed this pg to the fullest.  She did an internal exam and said there was a soft area but then found my cervix hidden off to the side.  It was long, firm and closed just as it should be.  What a relief!  She listened to the HB and found it to be nice and strong.  She measured my stomach from the pubic bone to the top of my uterus and said I was measuring 25w.  I guess my big belly isn't ahead of schedule as I thought it was.  Weight and blood pressure were right on target too.

She then surprisingly sent me to u/s to make sure there was no funneling and that the cervix length was still doing well.  While the tech was viewing my cervix, you could see Seven's butt crack clear as day right above my cervix. What a cute little bum he has!  He's currently breech, but there's plenty of time for him to get into head down position.  I'm very happy to report that my cervix measured 36mm (34mm last check) and there was no funneling.  Ahhh, now I can relax and stop with this ridiculous worrying.  That was exactly what I needed.

The tech then said she'd let us look at the baby for a few mins.  Yeah!!!  We found him chewing and then sucking on his fingers.  He's definitely getting bigger and putting a little fat on. The amniotic fluid level was perfect and his HB was 153 bpm.  Here's a few u/s pics:

When we returned home, Kerry searched for my car key and guess what, it wasn't on the counter, in the kitchen drawer or in my car!  I gave him a really hard time as he insisted that they were there.  Here's the kicker, guess where he found them?!?!  In the garbage can in the garage!!!  Yeah, why didn't I think to look there???  You're probably wondering how in the heck it got there... well I guess the first thing Kerry did when he got out of my car was throw away some trash, and apparently the key with it.  He's eating crow now!  Thank God the trash didn't get taken out as that is my only car key.  We will be getting a spare made asap!

Seven continues to practice his kick-boxing every day and for the first time, I saw him move across my belly.  It was like an ocean wave moving across.  We read that dad may be able to faintly hear baby's HB by putting his ear to my belly.  Kerry tried this and Seven kicked his ear.  Loved it!  We're not sure why, but Kerry loves saying into my belly "hello, this is your captain speaking".  He then tapped a drum beat on my belly and Seven tapped back.

I seem to have middle of the night insomnia these days.  It's not very uncommon for Kerry to find me upstairs nesting around 4am.  The other night I organized all of Seven's clothes by type then size.  He has a few rompers, shirts and onesies, and then the rest are all sleepers.  Ya know, because my little man is going to be such a sweet little peaceful sleeper who sleeps through every night and never cries.  ;-)  Behind me in this picture is a room with absolutely nothing baby-related in it.  Yep, got lots of work to do.

I finally broke down and bought the milk jugs some new cartons.  I received a great tip to go ahead and buy nursing bras instead of maternity so that I can continue to use them throughout breastfeeding. I've been avoiding this as one, nursing bras are very expensive and two, I have no idea what size I'll need once my milk comes in.  Nursing bras seem to run $30-$60 and makes this girl's eyes bug out.  We're talking about a girl that is completely content with her $10 Walmart bras.  I am soooo thrilled to have found some very comfy ones at Baby Depot for $7.99!!!  They seem just as nice and I was so excited about what a deal I got that I keep repeating to Kerry all night, $7.99!!!

This week's belly...

I think my Bad Hair Day pjs have shrunk (wink, wink)!!  Yikes, this top used to cover my pre-pg belly.

Up next, an u/s in 2 weeks.  My OB wants to double check the marginal cord insertion and get another cervix check.  I think she's really only scheduling this for my peace of mind, and while I believe I'm doing much better in that dept, I'll take it!  I invited my mom so I'm excited for her to get to see her grambaby for the first time.

23-24 Weeks

There wasn't much to update at 23 weeks so I decided to combine week 23 and 24 into one update. Thanks to those that checked up on me. I am officially 6 months now, wowser!!!

Everything has been going really well except for a little anxiety. Not getting cervix checks anymore has affected me more than I anticipated, especially after seeing a friend lose her baby to incompetent cervix. I find myself taking the better safe than sorry approach most of the time. This has resulted in a lack of exercise and self imposed bed rest, not good for me emotionally or physically. I'm chunking up! I tried to schedule an u/s for a quick check but they were only willing to let me come in for an internal exam, which I don't feel is very thorough as you can't feel funneling. I'm going to talk to my OB next Tue at my GD appt to see if we can get one more cervix measurement so I can relax and more fully enjoy life without all the anxiety. I really believe all will be totally fine, but can't seem to get myself to take any chances with all I went through to get here and no ability to get back. I guess I'm already a little over-protective over this little guy.

Seven is doing great and is kicking up a storm. Kerry has seen and felt him kick a few times, though he usually stops as soon as I tell Kerry to look or feel. According to my pg updates, my uterus is now the size of a basketball and Seven is starting to put fat on, as am I! I'm up 14.5 lbs and officially weigh more than I ever have. Supposedly I'm right on track and hope to remain on track.

Week 23 Belly:

Week 24 Belly (Hotel 7 has taken the lead from milk jugs):

We made our next sorta big purchase, a Graco Sweetpeace swing in a giraffe print:

I went to my first consignment sale and this definitely won't be my last, talk about great deals on gently used baby items! I volunteered to work the consignment sale for 10 hrs and in exchange I was able to shop before the public.  It was like black Friday with everyone lining up an hour before hand and racing to get to the best items first.  We were newbies and weren't quite sure what to go after, I'm sure we looked lost.

Here's a few items we got, many still with tags. Between these, gifts and other hand me downs, baby is stocked up on sleepers!

Notice a common pattern in what we were drawn to?:

Kerry was quite proud of his find:

We also got a baby video monitor that retails $199 for $20. Thanks Sharon for introducing us to Sugar Babies consignment!

My mom bought me a keepsake that will be treasured for a long time to come. This is my little man hatching out of his shell right before transfer:

I know it's way past Christmas, but we needed to wait on the gender to know if to get pink or blue.

A video for the family...  this is the commercial ad on local cable featuring Kerry:



Alrighty, I'm off to go get dunked, not sprinkled, fully dunked!  I'm finally getting baptized, better late than never.

22 Weeks

A happy belated Valentines to all!  Kerry and I renewed our vows for V-Day with several other couples.  Towards the end of Kerry repeating his vows, I got a neck cramp from looking up for so long and then my jaws started charley horsing from smiling so big.  I kept rubbing my jaw which got us giggling.  Then it was my turn to repeat my vows and I butchered them!  My first line was "Today I renew my vows..." with which I said "Today I remove my vows...".  I didn't even realize I messed up until Kerry exclaimed "what do you mean you remove your vows??"... so then we ended up belly laughing through the rest of the vows.  Never a dull moment.  We'll be married 8 yrs next month!

Our little Seven has has been working out.  No more wimpy little flutters, but instead full out kick boxing.  It all started last week when I went 2 days without feeling any movement.  I was getting a little nervous and got the doppler out to make sure he was still alive.  As soon as I put the doppler on my belly and found the HB, he kicked it several times.  I don't think he likes the doppler!

He's now kicking up a storm daily.  He seems to really love our church band, especially when the bass is booming.  I think he'll be a drummer like his daddy.  Yesterday I saw a couple kicks externally and again today.  It was the coolest thing ever.  Kerry still hasn't been able to feel him move, most likely because he stops every time Kerry puts his hand on my belly.  Hopefully soon.

I've had several strange episodes where out of the blue I get an incredible urge to pee that lasts about 1 second.  It took me awhile to figure it out, but I now know it's Seven kicking my bladder. I just know he's going to have me in Depends before this is all over with.

Introducing Sponge Bob Jill Square Pants!  What is up with my square belly???  I noticed this in the beginning but assumed it would round out as my uterus grew above my belly button.  It's like my belly button is stuck to something internally and is refusing to poke out.  Maybe my organs have run out of room and are scattering any which direction they can fit?  Maybe it's because the baby is always sideways?  I don't know!

For those of you that knows what it means to "pop", have I popped yet?  If it just means showing, I definitely have, but I was under the impression that you pop when your uterus grows high and heavy enough to drop over the pubic bone and that it happens overnight.  I haven't noticed an overnight change or a drop.

Lastly, please stop by O Baby: Where Art Thou? and send Amy your love and support.  She just lost her baby at 16 wks due to incompetent cervix.  My heart broke into a million pieces when I read her post.  It really hit home as this is exactly what I'm at risk for.  I think I might just have to ask for another cervix check as I've discovered that I'm not quite out of the woods yet.  After revisiting the topic a little further so that I could watch out for signs (which there usually are none), I found that many women with incompetent cervix lose their babies around 20-25 weeks.  Yikes!

21 Weeks

We had an u/s a couple of days ago at 20w5d. This was to check my cervix one last time. All was good, cervix is holding up well and there was no funneling. My ob/gyn said that I'm now out of the incompetent cervix risk phase and believes that I no longer need cervix checks.

Here's all my measurements:

6w1d: 30mm
7w6d: 31mm
11w6d: 35mm
15w6d: 33mm
18w6d: 43mm (measured trans-ab, all others trans-vag)
20w5d: 34mm

I think 40mm is normal, but anything above 25mm is good. Considering I've had part of my cervix removed, I wouldn't expect my normal to be 40mm. The good news here is that the length is pretty consistent and not shortening with each check. Whew! I feel very blessed that the leep I had in 2004 has not affected my ability to carry a baby.

I had prepared myself to not get to see the baby at this u/s as it was just a cervix check. But to our delight, the tech spent some time viewing the baby as well without us even asking. Seven is doing wonderful. Here's the stats from the u/s report:

HB: 148 bpm
Presentation: traverse (head on the right, feet on the left)
Fetal Movement: visible
Amniotic Fluid: normal, 13.4cm
Placenta: posterior
Cord: normal, 3 vessel cord

Placenta Cord Insertion Site: normal

At our 18w6d u/s, we were diagnosed with placental marginal cord insertion. This is where the cord inserts into the edge of the placenta instead of the center. Many times this has no negative implication, but it does carry some risk with it that the baby may not get the nutrients and oxygen that it needs in the 3rd trimester when the demands for nutrients are higher. This can result in intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), possibly having to take the baby early and worst case scenario, still birth. We intentionally didn't tell anyone as we wanted to pray about it and were believing that the placenta would not cause any problems. We were thrilled when we learned that our diagnosis was reversed at our latest u/s and the cord was found at the center of the placenta!!!

Here's a few u/s photos:

A video of Seven yawning:

Thank God for long maternity tops...

... that hide the Oh soooo sexy maternity pants.

Thank God for the Oh soooo sexy maternity pants that have allowed me to actually fit into a pair of jeans.

How big is this thing going to get?  ;-)

An "MC Hammer Kerry - Baby Time" video for our dear friend Tarryn, who's finally going into labor after 42+ weeks:

Yes, we are complete dorks.

Up next... a gestational diabetes test in 4 weeks.

20 Weeks

Half way there, I can not even believe it!  I didn't even realize I was out of the 4th month and now I'm already half way through the 5th.

It was a rare week here in TN. We were snowed in for 3 days. (Mom#2, Dad, Aunt Carol... did you send us this weather?) Since we don't get much snow here, they don't plow or salt residential areas. We live on top of a hill and there were only two ways out...

1. Down a steep hill of ice (straight ahead)

2. Down a steep hill of ice

Our entire neighborhood turned into a sledding park, which Kerry happily took part in. I on the other hand was stuck just watching, but I definitely can't complain on the why.

While snowed in, we ordered our nursery furniture by phone.  We went with a convertible crib that transforms from crib to toddler bed to day bed to full size bed.  Our hope is that this furniture lasts 18 yrs. 

Here's the crib:

The flutters I've been feeling are definitely the baby moving, though still quite subtle.  He has developed a pattern.  I really don't feel much during the day, but within 10 mins of laying down for bed, he wakes up and starts running a marathon.  I believe we have a night owl on our hands!

Baby is the size of a cantaloupe this week.  My belly size concurs with this.

A little rounder!

Oh boy!

Whoa mama!

Holy Cow!

A comparison:

Kerry notified me today that my "milk jugs" are getting bigger.  I figured so as I'm growing out of all my bras. Some day I'll break down and buy a few new ones, but for now, I'm finding free-style to be quite comfortable and a lot cheaper. I think I got this trait from my mom. Anytime I tell her we're coming over, she always asks if she has to put on a bra, lol!