I'm Only Sleeping

NOT! I happen to be enjoying one of my insomniac nights at the moment. It's not that I'm not tired; it's that I am finding it harder and harder to get comfortable, and the heartburn and acid reflux has been really bad tonight. I had been asleep a whole 45 minutes when I was suddenly awakened at about 1:15am by the feeling that I was choking on acid reflux. And of course since then the heartburn has been horrible. I can't sleep sitting up and I'm afraid that if I lay back down I'll start to choke again. So that fear happens to be keeping me up.

The good news is that my horrifically swollen feet and ankles are so much better than they were last week. Here is a pic of what my almost normal feet looked like a couple of days ago. I was off work last week and made sure that I rested a lot and kept my feet elevated for much of the time. Pardon the lack of pedicured toes.

Here's what my feet looked like the previous week. They had gotten so swollen that they actually hurt from the skin being stretched so much. I hope once the hot weather comes back that they don't get this bad again. DH called them Shrek feet. Thanks hun, but I haven't turned green yet.

And on another good note, I hadn't mentioned in my last entry that my coworkers surprised me with a baby shower! It really was a surprise. They created this ruse in which we were supposed to have a teleconference on Friday after work (wouldn't be the first time) with our big boss in Chicago. Now this guy is the epitome of a workaholic and thinks nothing of keeping us late on a Friday night for training. So we all gathered in the conference room and made the call to Chicago. The big boss answered and things seemed to be going normally until one of my coworkers interrupted him (and I'm thinking, boy does she have a huge set of balls!) and told him that his voice sounded very hoarse and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to continue with the meeting. I'm thinking, yeah right- this guy has never let anything get in the way of a good training session. But he agreed that his voice was still bothering him from a conference he had given a couple of weeks earlier and that he should just stop the meeting and instead wish ME congratulations on my expected baby. I'm still thinking, this has got to be a joke- he would NEVER decide to cancel a meeting, but I thanked him and fully expected for him to continue on with the meeting. Then he suggested that instead of the meeting, that we should all have a party. There is no way those words just escaped his mouth. So everyone agrees and stands up and says, 'let's go have a party!' They usher me into the break room, where it had been beautifully decorated with pink and blue tablecloths, balloon centerpieces on each table, platters of noshy food and candy, and big baby-themed banners. I was so moved by it all. I still couldn't believe that the night had been reserved for me instead of a teleconference that I had been dreading all week (especially considering my ugly, painfully swollen feet and how exhausted I had been). It was really lovely and I couldn't get over that my workaholic head honcho boss wanted to be in on the surprise. Everyone really worked so hard to plan and execute the shower and I really appreciated what everyone did.

It's still so hard to believe that I'm even in a position to be the guest of honor at a baby shower. It's almost like a dream. That is, if I could get some freakin sleep.

You'll Be Mine

It's starting to sink in that in 6 or 7 weeks, we'll actually get a baby out of this deal. I don't know quite what it was, but my mind wasn't letting myself believe it for a while. I just kept thinking that something would go wrong. And yet, as the weeks progress, so does Blobby, and it's really turning into something real.

I had another ultrasound appointment today. The good news is that Blobby is still measuring beautifully on target and everything looks good. The placental calcifications looked to the doctor to be slightly worse but not causing enough concern that she'd want me to return for weekly monitoring. And the two fibroids that I have couldn't be located, which is a great sign that they're not interfering with anything. Blobby was very active and we saw his/her hand in his/her mouth, the mouth opening and closing, the eyes and nose, the little fingers and toes. It's quite amazing to see our baby in such detail. The approximate weight is now 4 & 1/2 pounds, which means that if something were to happen and Blobby would be prematurely born, the chances of survival are very good.

I also had a follow-up at my OB. Urine glucose & protein levels were normal, blood pressure was normal at 110/70, and I gained another 4 pounds in 3 weeks for a total of 19 pounds. Also my doctor isn't too concerned about the excessive swelling in my feet and ankles that I had last week. Right now it seems to be much better, so as long as I'm not experiencing any other symptoms of pre-eclampsia, it's all within the normal limits of being pregnant.

I have to say I'm also a bit overwhelmed with some other issues at home. Our 'new' apartment still isn't completely renovated yet and we have only about 6 weeks to be completely moved in. I'm getting VERY stressed about it. DH tells me not to worry- it'll all get done; but it's hard not to worry when I'd like to be living there and settled in before the baby comes. Also, the longer we go, the less I'll be able to do to get the apartment ready.

Another huge source of stress is the fact that DH has to go upstate for a class the weekend of June 7th, which is exactly one week before my due date, and therefore around the time my doctor would want to schedule my C-section. This means that either DH will not be home when I am released from the hospital, or he won't be home for the 2nd and third day that Blobby and I are in the hospital, since my doctor only schedules surgery on Wednesdays and Fridays. I asked about waiting until the following week but my doctor is very concerned that it would be too close to my due date and would therefore be too much of a risk that I would go into spontaneous labor, putting me at a huge risk for uterine rupture and even pregnancy loss. She said she's seen the end result of those and doesn't want to risk it. I would tend to agree. So yes, another thing to worry about. While the timing in general for Blobby's birth is fantastic since DH will be home for the summer, the specific timing issues are causing me a lot of stress. I know DH would want to be there as much as possible, but if he misses this class he would have to repeat it and that would suck.

So I'm having a much better week so far. Feet are only slightly puffy; heartburn is manageable; abdominal discomfort is much less. If every week could be like this one, I'd be a much happier woman. Still, so happy to be pregnant with a thriving baby who is kicking and punching and causing my entire belly to move in waves. This is the stuff I live for. And in a matter of weeks, Blobby will be here, in my arms.

Birthday

Well it's my birthday today. Normally I would be seriously depressed about it but today I'm just mildly depressed. For obvious reasons, this birthday hasn't hit me as hard as recent ones have.

And that's all I have to say about that.

I also guess I should post some updates. I've been really bad about writing lately (bad blogger, bad!) so I apologize to anyone who has popped over looking for updates, only to find the same old crap. It started with some frustration when I couldn't find the perfect Beatles song for a post I wanted to write. It was when we met with the Fetal Echocardiologist back in February and I was searching for a song that would be appropriate; somehow Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band didn't really cut it. What can I say? I have high standards when it comes to blogging.

Blobby's heart was beautiful that day. Got very high marks from the Fetal Echocardiologist. Yay.
On February 26th I had a follow-up OB appointment and everything went well. I had gained 5 pounds in the 4 weeks since my previous appointment. I think this was my first weight gain; before that I had been even Steven with pre-pregnancy weight.

March 11th was my Glucose Challenge test. I was really nervous about that because before I even started with a fertility specialist, I got evaluated by an endocrinologist and was found to be borderline insulin resistant. So I was worried that I would be predisposed for Gestational Diabetes. Luckily, I passed my GCT with flying colors. My glucose was right in the middle of the normal range, so yay. However, they found that I was anemic so I was told to take iron pills in addition to my prenatals. Yuck. If you've never had to take iron pills, consider yourself lucky. And if you've had to take iron pills (pardon the TMI here) you might want to supplement with a nice stool softener like Colace. :-)

March 24th I had another follow-up at my OB. I had gained 8 pounds in 4 weeks- oy! Which meant that I was up a total of 13 pounds. I had my first Non Stress Test (NST) and sat with the monitor for 45 minutes. Blobby's heartrate was perfect and was showing the appropriate range of variability. So yay!

April 1st I had my 29-week ultrasound to make sure that Blobby's measurements were what they should be. Everything was measuring right on schedule, anywhere between 29 and 30 weeks. What a relief. Mostly because everyone's been telling me that I look very small so I was getting nervous that Blobby wasn't developing properly. But, thank whoever-is-in-charge-of-this, Blobby was perfect.

One thing we did see on the u/s that I wasn't expecting, however, was that I have what is called Placental calcifications. It is apparently something that happens often in pregnant women over 35 and isn't dangerous unless it gets so bad that it prevents the placenta from adequately providing oxygen and nutrients. Right now I'm at a Stage 2 which means there isn't any danger. If I get to a Stage 3, it will mean that I will require weekly ultrasounds to monitor Blobby and the placenta. My maternal-fetal specialist is being very proactive about this, which is certainly appreciated. However, I asked my OB about it and she said that every placenta is designed to live for 40 weeks. Sometimes in older women the calcifications occur sooner rather than later, but their presence has been debunked in the research literature as being a warning sign for anything. She said that my maternal-fetal specialist is one of the few practioners who actually looks at placental calcifications as something significant. So I guess either way, I'm covered. I have another ultrasound appointment on April 22nd (3 weeks from the last one) and we'll see what's going on.

So I guess that's the lowdown on what's been going on recently in my uterus. I find it so amazing that, despite having had to go through all the medical intervention to get pregnant in the first place, my body is taking over and is doing what it is supposed to do. I seem to have every typical pregnancy symptom they talk about. The swollen ankles and feet, the heartburn, the discolored and leaking nipples, the weight gain... but you know what? I am loving every minute of it and am so grateful for each and every symptom I experience.