Eventful Weekend, etc.

Forgive me for not posting, but this has been, to say the least, an eventful weekend and start of week ... Busy... tiring. Exhausting, really. I'm seeing that I'm going to fall into the "once a week" poster grouping...

Fathers day was this weekend, and let me just say... I haven't learned when to STOP. I wore myself out this weekend coordinating a Men's Luncheon for our church. I started running Friday afternoon when I went to Wal Mart, Costco, Giant, Party City, to the church to drop food off, decorate, and crawled home for dinner, and to do some prep work for the luncheon on Sat. I went to bed DEAD ON MY FEET at 10:00. Actually, my feet were throbbing, they were swollen on the top AND bottom.

Saturday, I woke up and began cooking rice at 8:00 in the morning. Squeezed in a quick shower, asked my DH to load up the Expedition, and left at 10:00 to go to the church. Then, I was on my feet pretty much all day long until about 3:00, when I left the church to go home, and almost fell asleep while driving. Really! I mean it!

I had a lot of help... wonderful, wonderful ladies. 6 of them. And even with their help, I was still dead on my feet that afternoon.

I took what seemed to be a 1 hour hot bath, almost falling asleep in the tub, rolled my self onto my knees, hauled myself out of the tub, put my jammies on, fell into my cool, comfy bed, and slept for two hours. And trust me when I say... I didn't move to far from my bed after my nap. I was pretty much there for the night.

So needless to say, it's taking a looooong time to recuperate from this weekend.

I had a sonogram with the perinatologist again on Monday. They found that one of the babies kidneys is a bit dilated, which if it doesn't correct itself, could lead to urinary reflux. It's easily fixed with a simple surgery before the child turns one. My neighbor's baby has it, and a coworker's grand daughter had it. It seems mild enough, but still! You hate to think that your little precious baby that you've worked so hard to get might be born with this problem and have to face SURGERY. So I have to go back in 6 weeks for monitoring and to see if it's getting worse, or if it has corrected itself.

So my reaction to all this (after my initial reaction of freaking out, that is)... is to not worry until I really have something to worry about. Everything is still forming and growing, so I'll try to put worry aside and relax.

Tuesday, I went to a cardiologist because my heart kept doing strange flip flops and racing. I'm sure it's nothing more than the mere fact that my heart is currently pumping a TON of blood and fluid around to the baby... but nevertheless.... my OB wanted to be safe, rather than sorry. So after I waited an hour and 45 minutes (no, I'm not exaggerating), the doctor finally came in for a 10 minute consult and hooked me up to some monitor thingy that I had to wear for 24 hours. Nice..... Real nice! I couldn't sleep at all Tues night, and was dead on my feet by Wednesday. Plus, to add insult to injury, I had a reaction to the suction cup thingies they put all over your chest. Yes... I'm allergic to some types of adhesive. Hmmm... I'm such a lucky girl that they use the same one I'm allergic to.

Needless to say, I fell into bed at 7:30 Wed night. Missed church, felt guilty, but woke Thurs morning feeling 100% better. Now, I'm just the normal "pregnant woman tired."

Wonder what else the week will hold for me? What ever it is... I guarantee that I'll be RESTING this weekend!

P.S. ... I'll be 24 weeks pregnant on Monday, 6/27/05!!!

Long Time No Post, Eh?

Okay... so it's been a while since I've posted, but hey... we're in the throws of a busy cycle at work, and it's going to be hit or miss through July.

I'm more than a little distracted at work now, because it seems that the precious child in me might be using this time to practice it's field hockey moves... or quite possibly ballet or softball. I'm undecided at the time as to which sport or hobby it's taken up, but it sure likes to practice!

Quick Updates:

My DH was injured a week ago while playing softball. He's been limping around, and in quite a bit of pain. I think he's done for the season ... I'm really broken up about it ... really ... I know he's fighting it to death, but I keep reminding him that he's almost 40, and he needs to take care of himself, because he has a family to think about now. I know it's a hard concept for him to grasp, after only being a "couple" for over 15 years now, but I'm pretty certain that our child is going to want a dad with all his body parts intact.

As for me... I'm doing okay... This past weekend, I woke up and my heart was absolutely RACING. I was a bit alarmed, to say the least. Waking up from a dead sleep to "that" is not pleasant. It has happened a few more times, and one day, I even felt fluttery ... like a butterfly had replaced my heart. I called my RE and he wants me to see a cardiologist "just in case" it's anything other than my heart working overtime to pump thousands of gallons of blood to this child of mine! But other than that... my energy level is great during the day (up until about 8:00, and then I'm in crash and burn mode), and so far, at 22 weeks, I think I've only gained about 10 pounds total.

One thing I'm struggling over, though, is gestational diabetes. Since I have PCOS, I'm a higher-risk candidate for it, and therefore, my doctor is going to test me at 24 weeks... a wee bit early. So now, I'm freaking out about what I eat, drink, and the amount of carbs and sugars each morsel contains. I have vacillated back and forth on the whole sugar vs. NutraSweet issue, not really knowing too much about how healthy NutraSweet (Aspartame), Equal, or even Splenda really is... but suddenly, as the "big test" looms closer, I'm finding Aspartame to be a very attractive alternative to sugar. In fact... while I've avoided it my entire pregnancy, Crystal Light lemonade is now a part of my daily diet.

Does this mean that my child will be born with three eyes, nine fingers, and 12 toes? I hope not. If anyone has any thoughts on Aspartame, etc. during pregnancy, I'd really appreciate a shout out from you so I can make an informed decision about whether I should eat it or not.

So in a nutshell, that's all folks! I've got to get back to work, or I'll be here another hour.

Peace out.

Updates, updates, updates!

May 27 was our 20 week sonogram. Technically, I was 19 weeks. Any way, our doctor sent us to a parinatologist (sp???) because they look for special markers that may indicate genetic disorders, etc (we opted not to have any testing done). When we finally got in (after our 1 hour and 25 minute wait), the sonogram tech started to do her thing, and then suddenly, set the sonogram wand thingie down and said, "I'll be right back. I need to speak to the doctor." And with that, she ran out of the room.

Okay... breath deeply. Relax. CALM THE FRICK DOWN. After 8 minutes painfully went by, and after my husband made me release my clutching grip on his hand, the tech came back. She calmly sat down and said, "You're too early. We need to see you at 23 weeks, and I wasn't sure that your insurance would pay for two sonograms if I proceeded with this one."

Um ... HELLO!!! Obviously, I'm seeing a specialist for a reason ... and tearing out of the room while leaving your patients bewildered and wondering what is wrong with their baby really isn't the best way to handle a billing issue. And to come back and offer no apology, but just get back to business... well, let's just be nice and say that it wasn't handled well.

Good grief, talk about momentary heart failure.

As it all turns out, everything looks great, baby is great, heart beat is 140 BPM, and the baby looks like it has MY nose (lucky thing!). So we go back on the 20th for another look.

My doctor's appointment was uneventful. I'm measuring at 22" (I'm currently 20 wks), and I have to go back on the 29th for my first diabetes test. Yes, it's going to be done early, but my doctor said he would feel better monitoring it early on (PCOS issues). He also had me listen to the baby's heart beat. I'll try to recreate what I heard...

whosh, whosh, whosh, whosh, whosh, [silence-silence-silence] whosh, whosh, whosh, whosh, whosh

I looked up at my doctor and said... "okay, why was there silence there? did the heart stop beating?" and he said, "yup... the baby has so much room to move around that sometimes it gets a king in it's umbilical cord and it causes the heart to stop beating for a few seconds... only 3 or 4... but it's nothing to worry about. It happens all the time.)

HAPPENS ALL THE TIME? Child, don't ever do that to me again! And if you do... don't let me know about it! It was the worst thing I've heard yet!!!

But all in all we have really been blessed --- everything is going well. I'm still constantly worried about the baby, but at each checkup, the baby seems to be getting bigger. And trust me, so am I. Even though I've only gained 8-1/2 pounds, I feel like the child is resting right on top of my lungs! I'm huge and constantly short of breath, and I can't really enjoy an entire meal any more because everything is pushing up on my stomach, but I'm so happy that all is well.