Random update post (including appt update from last week)

This is a late post but I want the update in here for later...

*We went to Nick's uncle's memorial service on Saturday and I got burned....sad day. Here is a pic of us with Nick's cousin/his wife while there (me at exactly 31wks):
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*I had an OB appointment a week ago (Monday, July 26th at 30w2d) and gained 2 lbs. That makes me up 7lbs this pregnancy.

*My blood pressure was GREAT again (better than docs and the nurse even commented on how good it was). It seems the farther along in pregnancy I get the better my blood pressure is.

*The doc had a hard time finding Nano's heart beat at the beginning. He would get it on the doppler for like 1 second but it was far away and not clear. He said it was because Nano's heart was right underneath my belly button. So, the doc decided to just flip the ultrasound on real quick to look at the heart and verify where the baby was. Right when he turned on the machine it was on Nano's face and s/he was smiling right at us!!!! :o) It was soooo cute and i could see how the face was getting more chubby and defined. Probably best image of the baby's face and it was clearly accidental. After the doc verified baby's heart was fine/location he was able to get a nice strong heartbeat on the doppler.

*I have another appointment next Monday. It's crazy that they are every 2 weeks now... and soon will be every week. I have less than 9 weeks (8wk5d to be exact) til my due date and it feels like it is coming up so fast. I am getting so excited!

*My amazing sister in law is giving me a co-ed baby shower on August 21st. It is going to be fun with all our friends and I am blessed that she graciously is throwing one for me. Also, my aunts are throwing me one for all the church ladies which will be more traditional. :o)

*Nano is moving a TON these last 2 days. I am getting constantly kicked and feeling rolling/movement. It's to the point where is see lots of movement on the outside for the kicks, but Nano isn't quite big enough for me to see when s/he is rolling completely over (but I sure feel all the pressure from rolling!). It's getting really fun to feel the movements and Nick is stoked when he gets to see/feel Nano.

*I think that's it for now, I am craving chocolate and am hungry even though I ate only 1.5 hours ago. Time for a snack!

~Me

Check-up and ultrasound (27w5d)

Hello to my few readers!

I am back from my wonderful Hawaii vacation and have been getting into the swing of things again. I had jury duty this week the day after we returned plus work 2 days and an OB appointment. Top that all off with working on the new house a TON (we are planning on moving out in under 2 weeks now) and I am JUST now getting a chance to sit down and write about my appointment that was Thursday morning. FYI I am dating this blog post for Thursday's date so the day's pregnant line up with the facts in the post (and not what they would be 2 days later). I'll bullet the info to make it short and sweet:

-I lost 1 pound since my last appointment (pre-vacation) putting me at gaining only 5 pounds so far this pregnancy. I am 28 wks (7mo) today at 2 days after the appointment so 5 pounds is not bad for being 7 months pregnant.

-My blood pressure was good

-I had an ultrasound to evaluate Nano's size since I've been measuring big the entire time. Surprisingly, all body parts are measuring at about 28 weeks (totally normal) EXCEPT Nano's head. Nano's head is measuring 2 weeks ahead (and was measuring 2 weeks ahead at my 20w5d ultrasound too) which means I'm going to have a BIG headed child! :P

-Nano weighed in at about 1200 grams, which translates to 2.65 pounds! The average baby weighs about 2 pounds at this point...so my child is going to be a CHUNKY MONKEY at birth too. Dr. Lasting said, "I'm not going to lie...you aren't going to have a 7lb baby...you are looking at at least 8-8.5 pounds if growth continues like this."

-My fundal height was 32cm (measuring 4 wks ahead)

-The baby's head was down low in my uterus (like nestled near my pubic bone) and his/her feet were up near my ribs/lungs (which explains why I lose my breath sometimes).

-Dr. Lasting also measured the amniotic fluid and said that it was at a good level. :)

That's all the facts about the appointment (ended up not being so short and sweet sorry...). It was probably one of my favorite appointments so far (besides my 9.5 wk one) because the ultrasound was soo cool! Nano totally cooperated and let the doc measure him/her. I even got some good profile pics/pics of Nano's arm/leg. Nano was moving and kicking the ultrasound wand and waving his/her hand up by the face while we were trying to get a profile shot. It was so cute and cool to feel the movements while seeing them on the screen. :)

I'll have to write another post about Hawaii in a while after I go through pictures and let you know about that fun trip. Til then!


~Heather

Nano's Check up (25w5d)

I just got back from my OB appointment and everything is going well.

I had to wait about 25 minutes past my appointment time until I was called because an 11 day old baby boy was getting circumcised in the back by my doc/the nurse. I had NO CLUE that my OB did circumcisions and that fact was really cool to me. I told him that if we have a boy we want him circumcised but we actually want to wait until he is 8 days old. He was fine with that and just told us to make an appointment with the office and he would do it for us. I don't have anyone else I'd want to have do it on my child if we do have a boy so I'm excited that he was willing to do it.

Annnnyway...back to my appointment. I gained 5 pounds in the 3 weeks and 2 days between my last appointment and today. That puts me at +6 pounds for this pregnancy. Not bad for almost 6.5 months pregnant, but it surprised me a bit. Both the doctor and the nurse are happy with my weight gain and said that every pregnancy is different, and that some women don't gain at the beginning but rather at the end.

Today was the 2nd time that the nurse only had to take my blood pressure one time to get a good reading. And, although I didn't ask the exact numbers, the doctor said my blood pressure was great, even better than last appointment's. I'm so happy that I DON'T have diabetes and that I DO have good blood pressure. Less stress/potential for problems with baby that way.

The baby's heartbeat was strong. I didn't get to hear it because (much to my delight) my OB decided to use the fetoscope instead of the doppler. Less ultrasound waves to the baby=better for baby and me. My Bradley instructor suggested that we have the doc use the fetoscope instead of the doppler and I was going to ask him about, yet he just did it without me having to ask. Very cool.

The fundal measurement was big...yet again. I measured 29cm and should be about 25/26 centimeters (because I am 25 almost 26 weeks preggo). I asked him if that was ok and he said yes, that it's not an exact measurement but that he wanted to double check and make sure at my next appointment. He told me that doing another ultrasound at my next appointment (in just 2 weeks because I'm diving into in the 3rd trimester soon) would help see the baby's size and more accurately decipher the weight/height/measurements. So, July 8th I'll be getting to see Nano again... I'm SO excited for that! :)

That was the extent of my appointment, and I left quite happy :)

Also, we got word from some friends of ours (the wife is a nurse) that my OB is one of the favorite OB's at the hospital we are delivering at. Apparently that is a GREAT sign if your doctor is well known and one of the "favorites." That reassured me even more that we had a great doctor! :)

Ok enough for now... gotta pack for Hawaii! :)

~Heather

General update 1/2 for today (25w5d)

I have sucked at posting...i know. A few things have happened since last time I wrote, and I have an appointment today to see how our Nano is doing. (Picture to the right is an overhead shot of my belly poking out at 25w3d pregnant).

First of all... at 23w3d pregnant I got to SEE Nano move for the first time while sitting on the couch watching TV. It had to have been a foot or a hand because it was just a small area on my stomach that pushed up 3x or so in conjunction with the kicks I was feeling inside. Such a cool thing to see! Since then I have been noticing it more and more often and it's more visible than a subtle shift....now I can see it out of the corner of my eye. Nick has yet to SEE Nano move but is still getting to feel him/her. Nano is now big enough where if I am laying in bed I can see a lump on the side where the baby is and Nick and I can feel a big hard lump in my belly where the baby is pressing against. Pretty neat.

My belly button is getting shallower and shallower. I don't know if it will ever actually pop out but it's still weird to see it shrinking!

I had to take my 1 hour gestational diabetes glucose test last Friday (24w6d). It was a frustrating experience and I was very hormonal. I had to wait 50 minutes just to drink the orange drink. They said the nurse would be out in a few minutes but she never came and several people who checked into the lab after me went before me...including another pregnant lady who was getting the same thing done. Then, I had to sit and wait ANOTHER hour just to get it read. I was starving and shaky since I hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before and it was 10am by the time I got breakfast. I was supposed to get the results on Monday from my doctor and finally called at 4:30pm when I hadn't heard from them. They said they didn't have the results and it may take a week, which was not OK with me. So, I called Lab corp directly the next morning and got a guy to manually override the fax machine and send a copy of my results to my doctor (apparently they sent them Saturday but were never received). About 15 minutes later I got a call from my doctor with the results. My gestational diabetes test came back "normal and everything looked good." I was SO happy for those words because I was fearing the worst in my head. I had craved sweets for the first time in pregnancy the entire week before the test (and you are supposed to avoid sweets) so I thought that would make me fail. Also, I am obese and have a higher chance of getting GD because of that as well. Praise the Lord I am fine!

In other news, we are making headway on the house...probably one more weekend of painting is needed and then we can put in the kitchen cabinets/counter and lay the flooring for the house. I am so hoping to be in there by mid/late july. I want to set up the nursery really bad! :)

Hawaii is in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is Nick's and my first vacation since our honeymoon and we are so incredibly excited to go. It works out as a great "baby-moon" too since the baby will be here in less than 100 days (give or take a week or two). I am looking forward to laying on the beach, relaxing, and spending some much needed downtime with my love. He has been working so hard for our family and every free moment is spent on house/baby/side jobs it seems. I am really excited Nick can just take a break from everything and slow life down a bit.

Like I said, I have an OB appt this afternoon so I will have more updates on Nano then. :) Stay tuned to another short post this evening.

~Heather

Life is good! (23w2d)

Life has been busy busy but oh soooo good! I had an appointment last tuesday (so 22w3d) and Nano is still lookin great. I FINALLY gained weight, which I'm not happy about but knew would happen eventually. I gained 3 pounds, putting me currently at 1 pound above pre-pregnancy weight. From now on I will just be saying "I've gained ___ pounds" since I'm in the positive. Nano's heart-rate was 150, which is perfectly normal and for ONCE my blood pressure was great the first time they did it (usually they have to do it 2x).

At 22w5d Nick felt Nano move for the first time! That was an exciting experience for the both of us and now I really feel like we can connect even more because both of us can feel our child. Yesterday (23w1d) Nick felt Nano move again. We were at Mi Ranchito and sharing a chocolate milkshake and Nano was going nuts! I put Nick's hand on my lower stomach and Nano gave him a nice strong kick, which he announced to me by saying, "I felt THAT...did Nano kick me?" I nodded and smiled.

The house is coming along great but we have so so so much more to do. We have the baby room, our room, and the living room painted. The colors turned out better than I thought they would. We bought the cabinets last weekend for the kitchen and are working on doing some patching and more painting before we get flooring and redo the kitchen for good. Hopefully we will be in the new house in July sometime (maybe for my birthday?) and can spend the rest of the summer trying to stay cool and hanging out with friends. Our main goal is to get the inside livable, move in, and then work on the outside slowly as we have the time/money for it. The whole outdoors needs a repainting, some siding needs to be done, and we need a new roof. Not to mention cutting back the gynormous pepper tree, making the backyard party friendly, putting grass (fake or real....not sure yet) in the front yard, redoing the gate, fixing the carport area, and planting some stuff in my garden area. It is going to be a work in progress for a while, but we are so blessed and excited to be moving there.

In other news, my grandparents from Kentucky who I ADORE got into town yesterday and I am planning on spending lots of time with them catching up and hanging out. We are all going to Barona Buffet tonight and I am going to chow down on delicious grub....nuff said. I might go over to the house today to start emptying and reorganizing the crud in the 2nd shed since we have a dumpster and I want to make good use of it. Maybe I can convince my sister to help????

Ok, it's now time to get back to general clean-up around this house. I have laundry to do and desperately need a shower! :P

Til next time,
~Me