It's been a while since I posted anything. Been pretty exhausted. It sure does take a lot of energy to create a person! However, this is still not anything compared to the extreme physical toll that the first trimester was. I still remember typing at my desk at work and almost falling asleep. I had to keep moving around to stay awake. Matt would pick me up from work and we would eat dinner and I would go to bed at 9. Now, though, we are so close to meeting our little Roo! Things are getting very exciting around here....
This weekend, Matt and I read a blog update about one of our closest friends who has been battling leukemia for a year. The prognosis has been so positive, until about a week ago. The decision was just made to transfer him to hospice, where he can be comfortable and have his pain managed in a more serene environment. Matt and I are extremely sad and sending out our love and prayers to him, his family and his lovely girlfriend as well. What an emotional roller coaster this past year has been for all of them, and for everyone at the Duck Store who cares about him. He is an amazing, strong, beautiful person, and he is loved by everyone that meets him. We are hoping and crossing our fingers that after little Roo is here we can go visit him in hospice and they can meet each other. He and Matt became the closest of friends through work, and I know how much it would mean to him to get to see him again. We have missed him greatly and talk about him every day.
Well, on to baby news......our wonderful OB, Dr. QB, had told us last Friday that if my blood pressure remains the same, he would probably want to induce me this Friday (4/9), as I will be 39 weeks in a few days. I had a reading of +1 protein, which means that I have developed full, but still mild, preeclampsia. However, he doesn't want to be impatient, as inducing can prolong labor and increase the chances for a c-section. In an induced labor, the hormones that are normally present during naturally occurring labor aren't working in the proper feedback loop, and so it can take a loooooong time for things to get started, unless your body is pretty close to being ready. Basically, this has to do with the cervix being more ready, but I don't really feel the need to discuss that in detail on here. lol :) Anyways, bed rest has definitely been working its magic, as my blood pressure on Monday was 118/80!!!! :) QB wants to check me again on Friday, and we shall see where we go from there.
I am really, really hoping that I get to go into labor naturally, but I also don't want to push the preeclampsia. The tricky thing with it is that it can go from mild to severe quickly, and managing severe preeclampsia means delivering the baby ASAP. It can become an emergency situation so quickly. So, I am willing to do whatever it takes to stay rested and go with the flow. I'm also willing to do whatever it takes to get our little girl here safely. That's what labor is all about-being flexible. So, it could be a few days, or a week, but probably not much longer.
Thanks for reading! I promise to make this prettier soon, and to post some photos, too. :)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Quick Update :)
Well, it appears that bed rest has worked it's magic. My blood pressure has stabilized, and the last ultrasound that we got shows little Roo doing very well. However, she insists on staying breech! Since I'm a few days away from 37 weeks, this is definitely something that will have to be remedied soon to avoid having a C-Section.
I asked the midwife teaching our childbirth class about some techniques for turning breech babies, and she had some interesting advice. There is a technique that makes use of a pressure point on your small toe. By using this pressure point, you encourage downward movement of the baby. Creepy and cool. :) She also recommended a website, www.spinningbabies.com. It's cute, and a little woo-woo, which, as a native NW eugene-ian isn't weird to me. I've been doing some yoga poses, too. She just seems to switch back and forth depending on her mood. Matt and I are going to try the flashlight trick, too.
The nursery is all finished! Yay! I want to get all of my baby shower thank yous out before I start hanging up artwork, though. Those are pretty much the last two things on my baby to-do list. My amazing husband is now an expert at putting together any and all types of furniture. We were pretty much all done as of last week, and then the co-sleeper arrived. Matt got it put together in a jiffy. We will have to experiment with how to have it in our tiny bedroom, though. One wall has the heater, and one wall has the two closets.....I'll post pics of the nursery, at least, within the next couple of days.
:)
I asked the midwife teaching our childbirth class about some techniques for turning breech babies, and she had some interesting advice. There is a technique that makes use of a pressure point on your small toe. By using this pressure point, you encourage downward movement of the baby. Creepy and cool. :) She also recommended a website, www.spinningbabies.com. It's cute, and a little woo-woo, which, as a native NW eugene-ian isn't weird to me. I've been doing some yoga poses, too. She just seems to switch back and forth depending on her mood. Matt and I are going to try the flashlight trick, too.
The nursery is all finished! Yay! I want to get all of my baby shower thank yous out before I start hanging up artwork, though. Those are pretty much the last two things on my baby to-do list. My amazing husband is now an expert at putting together any and all types of furniture. We were pretty much all done as of last week, and then the co-sleeper arrived. Matt got it put together in a jiffy. We will have to experiment with how to have it in our tiny bedroom, though. One wall has the heater, and one wall has the two closets.....I'll post pics of the nursery, at least, within the next couple of days.
:)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Almost the beginning!!
Well, I've decided to start a blog to keep friends and family up to date with news about our little girl, Roo (real name will be used once she joins the world). Plus , being on bed rest means there's very little that I can do, so this way I can keep everyone up to date and keep myself busy. :)
I'm currently 35.33 weeks along with her, and was put on bed rest 3/12 in order to stave off any possible complications from possibly developing preeclampsia. I haven't developed it, but my blood pressure was high enough above my baseline that our wonderful OB, Dr. QB, wanted me home and off my feet 80% of the time to lower it and keep me and baby healthy.
The good news is, we went to our appointment Monday and my bp was almost back down to baseline (122/70), and the ultrasound revealed a super healthy and thriving little Roo. Yay! This was what we had been hoping for. The ultrasound also estimated her current weight at 7lbs, 9oz. Ahem. Excuse me, was that 7lbs, 9oz?? That's what I asked QB right after he told me, because I honestly thought I had heard him wrong. This is what I expected her to be at birth, not 4.5 weeks before full term.....especially considering that babies gain the most weight the last 6 weeks in utero. However, ultrasounds are not exact predictors of baby's weight, so we will have to see. I still think she won't be more than 8.5 lbs, but who knows.....:)
For those of you not familiar with preeclampsia, here's a brief rundown. There is no known medical cause of it, the signs can be almost invisible or very sudden, and it can be, in severe cases, life threatening for mom and baby. There is speculation that women who get less exercise and women with low amounts of B vitamins and protein in their diet are at higher risk, but there are currently no studies to prove this. The higher bp in the mom plus swelling decreases blood flow to the baby, causing possible distress and lack of appropriate growth in the baby. Eclampsia refers to convulsions, as severe cases can lead to convulsions in the mother before or during labor, and possible death of mom and baby. There are certain populations that are more likely to develop it, such as women who have been diagnosed in earlier pregnancies, women with diabetes, kidney problems, women who are overweight, etc. The signs that need to be looked out for include edema (swelling), especially of the hands and face, protein in urine (a sign of stress on kidney function),and a bp reading that is significantly higher than the basleine determined for that woman, or 140/90. Indications of a severe case include sudden swelling, blurry vision and severe headache. These are all reasons to never, ever miss your OB appointments while pregnant, and to always call if you have questions or concerns. Matt and I have never missed an apoointment.
While my bp was up in the last 6 weeks, I had very little swelling, and no protein in my samples. However, within 3 days of my appointment 3/08 (the first apoointment in 4 weeks that QB said we could go back to two week visits because my bp was good), I had developed severe swelling in my feet and some in my hands. After taking a day off to rest, I went back to work for two days. I called my OB's office and went in. Sure enough, my bp was 140/80 (this compared to 110/70 my first appointment in Sept. '09) and my edema was +1 (0 being none, +1 being moderate and +2 being severe). Luckily though, no protein was found. QB said that I was "flirting with preeclampsia", and at 35 weeks he wanted me home, resting to ensure that I didn't develop it so we could get the baby to at least 37 weeks (at which point Roo would no longer be considered pre-term).
Phew! That's a lot of info. Well, the good news is the bed rest has had a positive effect, and baby roo is doing very well, moving a lot (a LOT!), with lots of amniotic fluid and good blood flow, and apparently gaining some good weight, too. :)
More to come, very soon!
I'm currently 35.33 weeks along with her, and was put on bed rest 3/12 in order to stave off any possible complications from possibly developing preeclampsia. I haven't developed it, but my blood pressure was high enough above my baseline that our wonderful OB, Dr. QB, wanted me home and off my feet 80% of the time to lower it and keep me and baby healthy.
The good news is, we went to our appointment Monday and my bp was almost back down to baseline (122/70), and the ultrasound revealed a super healthy and thriving little Roo. Yay! This was what we had been hoping for. The ultrasound also estimated her current weight at 7lbs, 9oz. Ahem. Excuse me, was that 7lbs, 9oz?? That's what I asked QB right after he told me, because I honestly thought I had heard him wrong. This is what I expected her to be at birth, not 4.5 weeks before full term.....especially considering that babies gain the most weight the last 6 weeks in utero. However, ultrasounds are not exact predictors of baby's weight, so we will have to see. I still think she won't be more than 8.5 lbs, but who knows.....:)
For those of you not familiar with preeclampsia, here's a brief rundown. There is no known medical cause of it, the signs can be almost invisible or very sudden, and it can be, in severe cases, life threatening for mom and baby. There is speculation that women who get less exercise and women with low amounts of B vitamins and protein in their diet are at higher risk, but there are currently no studies to prove this. The higher bp in the mom plus swelling decreases blood flow to the baby, causing possible distress and lack of appropriate growth in the baby. Eclampsia refers to convulsions, as severe cases can lead to convulsions in the mother before or during labor, and possible death of mom and baby. There are certain populations that are more likely to develop it, such as women who have been diagnosed in earlier pregnancies, women with diabetes, kidney problems, women who are overweight, etc. The signs that need to be looked out for include edema (swelling), especially of the hands and face, protein in urine (a sign of stress on kidney function),and a bp reading that is significantly higher than the basleine determined for that woman, or 140/90. Indications of a severe case include sudden swelling, blurry vision and severe headache. These are all reasons to never, ever miss your OB appointments while pregnant, and to always call if you have questions or concerns. Matt and I have never missed an apoointment.
While my bp was up in the last 6 weeks, I had very little swelling, and no protein in my samples. However, within 3 days of my appointment 3/08 (the first apoointment in 4 weeks that QB said we could go back to two week visits because my bp was good), I had developed severe swelling in my feet and some in my hands. After taking a day off to rest, I went back to work for two days. I called my OB's office and went in. Sure enough, my bp was 140/80 (this compared to 110/70 my first appointment in Sept. '09) and my edema was +1 (0 being none, +1 being moderate and +2 being severe). Luckily though, no protein was found. QB said that I was "flirting with preeclampsia", and at 35 weeks he wanted me home, resting to ensure that I didn't develop it so we could get the baby to at least 37 weeks (at which point Roo would no longer be considered pre-term).
Phew! That's a lot of info. Well, the good news is the bed rest has had a positive effect, and baby roo is doing very well, moving a lot (a LOT!), with lots of amniotic fluid and good blood flow, and apparently gaining some good weight, too. :)
More to come, very soon!
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