20w3d - DGD Madison & an exciting moment

Here is a picture of my beautiful granddaughter Madison, what a sweetheart! I had a wonderful weekend with my DD & DGD. It was nice to spend time together, snuggle lots with the baby, and spend our days exhausted together from lack of sleep. :-) Good practice for me in July! And DD is such a wonderful mommy - oh, that Madison is one lucky little girl. DD made me very proud.

DGD has been a bit jaundice so daily trips to the hospital were made for bili counts. And the weekend was filled with frequent feedings (every 2-3 hours on the dot to try to flush the excess bilirubin out of her system) and many hours rocking in the sunlight. But as of Saturday it looked like our efforts were working as her number finally started dropping instead of rising...PHEW!!

But seriously isn't she just too cute for words???

Tonight I got back home to my sweet DH and pups...missed them so much! And then we got to experience a magical moment. DH got to feel Maribel kick for the first time. Oh it was so amazing to see his expression at the second she tapped his hand, WOW! He was thrilled and it was something I'll remember forever. All said, this was a FABULOUS weekend - start to finish!

20w1d - More about the u/s & being Grammy A

Here is the 20 week belly shot!

And as of today, I've passed the 20 week mark, which would typically be the halfway point in a pregnancy. But for me, since we'll need to deliver a couple weeks early, it means I have about 18 weeks to go. In other words, we're starting our home stretch (albeit one that's going to feel like it takes forever.)

We're still in awe that we have a little girl in there and that we go to see how wonderfully she's developing. It's amazing to think that we saw all 4 chambers of her heart, her aorta, her stomach, kidneys, spine, brain, etc. They measured the 2 bones in her lower legs, her femurs, the bones in her forearms, the distance between her eye sockets, an area behind the brain, her skull, her abdomen, her nasal bone, etc. and used all of those measurements to calculate her age - which was 20 weeks. Since I was 19w5d on the day of the u/s, she's measuring right on track.

I ordered my Prenatal Cradel Mini-Cradle that the doctor recommended. (Found it on Amazon for only 14.95 so saved $10 there.) I also ordered a wedge to sleep on to elevate my upper half a little bit. So by next week we'll see if those are helping with my crampy/pressure and edema respectively. I also think I'm going to buy some carpal tunnel wrist braces tomorrow. My wrists and hands are really just getting more painful by the day and the doctor said if it gets really bad we could try steroids but we (and the doc) really want to avoid that if possible. So I'm going to see if some wrist braces while I sleep can help any.

Maribel is also kicking up a storm these last few days - woo-hoo!! Not hard enough to feel from the outside yet, but those hard kicks will be coming soon. I can't wait until they come because I'm dying for DH to feel them! As for her name since I've had a few questions about it - Maribel is a combination of Maria & Isabel, and DH suggested this one. It will be pronounced mare-ih-bell, though the Colombian side of the family will pronounce it mah-ree-vell. Jordana (the middle name we've chosen) we just found when searching for names one day and both loved it. It will be pronounded johr-dah-nah (vs. the alternate pronunciation of johr-dan-nah.)

So, this weekend I'm up visiting DD and my new grand-daughter (new abbreviation - DGD - Dear Grand-daughter) Madison. Oh, that Madison is a sweetheart. Poor thing though is fighting off some jaundice. We had to wake her every 2 hours last night to feed her (they want us to feed her that often to help flush out the excess bilirubin.) So DD would set the alarm on her cell phone for every 2 hours and we'd take turns changing, feeding, and getting Madison back down to sleep until the cell phone went off again. Somehow we're all still functioning today and I'm thinking of it as good practice for July. ;-) Right now, DD & DGD are at the hospital getting her bilirubin levels checked again. Thursday's number was slightly higher than Wednesday's and we want them to go down, not up. Hoping and praying they'll be back home soon and I don't get that tearful call from the hospital that they need to keep Madison there under the bili lights.

But it's WONDERFUL having another beautiful DGD to ooh and ahh over. She's a real snuggler too. She just snuggles right up on my chest, curls those legs up into a ball and sighs and squeaks while she settles into position for a nap. Ahhh...love her! And I can't wait until my oldest DGD Lily comes over so they can meet. It will be fun to watch these two beautiful cousins grow up together. And soon their Auntie Maribel will playing right along with them.

19w5d - It's a GIRL!!!

Yep, it's a GIRL!! Go Team Pink!! We can't wait to meet our little Maribel Jordana in July!!

The u/s was wonderful. We love the techs at Dr. D's office. They point things out as they go, take their time, switch over to 3d & 4d real time to get better looks and give us great pictures. The u/s lasted forever...and we loved every minute!

My weight and BP were good, YAY! Dr D. suggested I pick up a wedge to sleep on to elevate my head, neck, shoulders slightly while I sleep to see if that helps the edema I'm having in my hands. And he gave me a website to check out for a support belt to use for the crampy/pressure feeling I've been having when I'm up and about too long. So I'm going to do a little online shopping for both of these items tonight.

Our sweet little daughter looked fantastic and so did my cervix...AWESOME!! Here are some shots (of the baby) for your viewing enjoyment!!

Our little girl yawning


OMG she is soooo darn cute already


Her dainty little hands (always up by her face)


Another little shot behind the arm


A smile (though the slice of the pic kinda makes her look like the joker LOL)


Yapping away in there


What long legs she has!


Arrow is pointing to her girl parts


We're head over heels in love with this little girl already and saying that I'm all smiles would be a complete understatement! :-) :-)

19w4d - Big u/s tomorrow!!

OMG, I just finished working at 13.5 hour day. WTF is up with that!?!? Monday's are bad enough without having to work ridiculous hours full of impossible demands. My eyes feel like sandpaper, my head is pounding, my lower back is killing me, I've scratched my eczema and hives to death from the stress of today, and I will probably collapse in a heap of exhaustion shortly. But before I do, I just had to say:

Tomorrow is the day of our big u/s!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoping for a great report, We just want the baby to be healthy and hopefully we'll get a peek at the goods so we can reveal the gender to you all tomorrow. Fingers, toes, legs...oh, heck everything is crossed that the baby looks a-ok! Good night my friends!

19w3d - Grandbaby Madison has arrived

Two posts in one day, wow! But Madison has arrived so that is worthy of a second post. She weighed in at 9lb 3oz of her...big girl...and was 21" long. That's all of the details I got so far. So now I look forward to talking to DD to hear how it all went and I can't wait until Wednesday night to go see Madison and DD!! YAY!!!

19w3d - Comparisons and cows

Well, my grandbaby is NOT yet here. DD was sent home from the hospital last night since she wasn't progressing past 5cm. Poor thing was soooo upset and who can blame her! But at 6:12am this morning I got a text that she was back at the hospital and moving along nicely. YES!! At 8:20 I got a text that they just broke her water. YES, YES!! So things are cooking nicely and I'm anxiously awaiting that text or call that says that Madison has arrived. Oh, the suspense! I keep checking for missed calls or texts on my phone even though the ringer is on high and the phone is literally 1 foot from my body. Anxious anyone??


So today I'm going to vent about something else. There was a hilarious (and unfortunately true) article this past week on Yahoo Shine about unwelcome parenting advice and it also included unwanted advice for a pregnant mama. Typically I hear advice and do one of two things - ignore it because I don't agree with it or make a spot for it in the memory banks because I think it's good advice. But sometimes I try to ignore advice and can't quite ignore it completely because it ticks me off.

I'm venting today about two pieces of pregnancy advice I got from a family member that just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm sure it was well meaning and perhaps it's just pregnancy hormones making me take it personally, but in both cases I'm being compared to my also pregnant SIL (who I love dearly as if she were my own sister.) So lets travel back to December when I got my first piece of unwelcome (ok, just plain annoying) advice...


Scene 1: Cold December day, visiting with DD and another family member. Enjoying a cup of tea and a game of gin rummy with DD

Me: Well, so far I've gained 3.5 pounds. (Author's note: I was 12 weeks at this time.)
Family Member: That's good. If you can just stay at that weight for the rest of your pregnancy you'll be all set.
Me: WHAT??? You're not serious, are you?? I'm supposed to go another 26 weeks at this same weight?
Family Member: Well sure. They say it's not really necessary to gain weight while you're pregnant. And it's just so hard to lose it afterwards. I was even on Weight Watchers during my pregnancy with xx.
Me: Well, I highly doubt I'd be able to go 26 more weeks without gaining any weight. As you know, I tend to put on weight pretty easily.
Family Member: Well [insert SIL's name here] hasn't gained any weight yet. (Author's note: She's about 8 weeks ahead of me.)
Me: [Insert heavy sigh] Well, I'm not her.

Now SIL knows about this conversation and she was annoyed that this family member would even compare us like that and tell me I shouldn't gain anymore weight. It's really a moot point too, because I have in fact gained more weight. My total is now about 10 pounds. QUICK, someone call the kitchen police to lock me out! (I'm sure I'll get the "talking to" by the doc this week too after I step on the scale, but hey I'll give him family member's phone number and they can figure out what to do with me.)

Scene 2: This morning on the phone with said family member.

Family Member: [Insert SIL's name here] has been able to get her sugars under control (Author's note: she was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes.) She now exercises 30 minutes after each meal and it's really helped.
Me: Oh, that's great!
Family Member: Maybe you could start doing that too. Just exercise 30 minutes after each meal. That would probably help you.
Me: [Insert pause and heavy sigh and think - help me with what?]
Family Member: Especially since you sit at a computer all day.
Me: Um, yeah, we'll see. I kinda need to talk to my doctor first since I've been having cramping and pressure on my cervix if I'm up moving around for 30 minutes or more.

Do I have gestational diabetes? No. Was I asking anyone about a new exercise program to start? No. Was this suggestion to keep me fit and trim like SIL and keep me from turning into a cow by July? Probably so. Now I know that it's possible she didn't hear me when I mentioned the previous weekend how I get really crampy after walking for awhile. And I know deep down she just doesn't want to see me struggle with taking off the weight next summer. But I have no intention of adding 90 minutes of exercise to my day.

Because these pieces of advice make me feel like I'm a good for nothing bum that sits on her couch all day eating bon-bons and gaining weight, I do feel the need to say: I do walk my dog anywhere from 3-5 times a day (generally 10-15 minutes each walk), I do laundry, I clean the house, I cook the meals and do the dishes, I take the garbage and recycleables out, I do the grocery shopping etc. Now, that you know I don't just loaf all day and all night, can I just enjoy this pregnancy without feeling like I have to live up to someone else?

Sure can, until the next comparison comes around. ;-)

19w2d - Grandbaby #2 is almost here

So today as I hit 19w2d in my pregnancy, we get a call that my DD is in labor, woo-hoo!! Soooo excited and we just can't wait until baby Madison arrives! We spoke after she got settled in her room and she was at 5cm dilated (she'd been at 4cm for over 2 weeks now.) Right now we anxiously await her progress calls and we hope and pray she has a speedy and safe delivery. I'll head up to visit her mid-week after she gets home from the hospital and settles in so I can stay with her and the baby for a few days. It'll be great to be there after she gets home to just help her out as she needs it. I can't wait!!

Less than 3 days until our big u/s! We cannot wait to see our little one again and know that he or she is healthy. And this means we have less than 3 days until we know what we're having. And while the guess of girl was consistently beating out boy in our blog poll, we've had a couple new votes over the last week or so and we now have a tie. Out of 30 votes, it's a 50-50 split. So now we all have to just wait and see if the little one lets us take a peek on Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to seeing Dr D during that visit for a regular prenatal check too. It will be good to make sure my b/p and urine look good. I'm NOT looking forward to stepping on the scale, but I do have some items I want to talk to the doctor about. First, I'm having quite a bit of edema in my hands when I wake up. Some days it goes away within a few hours of waking up. Other days it stays with me all day, tingling and prickling, and making my fingers and hands all stiff. It's really making my wrists hurt too. Even simple tasks like operating buttons & zippers or typing become somewhat difficult. So while I know there's not much that can be done about it, I'm hoping he can provide some tips I can use to try to alleviate it.

My other item to discuss with him is I seem to be limited as to how long I can be up and about walking around. I find if I walk for more than 30 minutes or so, I get really crampy and feel pressure in my cervix area. It's like my body is saying - holy shit woman, get horizontal NOW! It could be because of the TAC or perhaps it's just round ligament pain but I've noticed it whenever I go grocery shopping, when my kids and I walked around the mall last weekend, and when Highspeed and I went on walks yesterday (the weather here was GORGEOUS the past few days so we HAD to take advantage of that.) So a brief walk of say 15-20 minutes does not bother me at all, but get into that 30-45 minute range and ouch, I'm a preggo in pain. Taking a few minutes to lay down does make it better, so I just want to see if he thinks it's just from the TAC and/or my lousy cervix in general.

And can I just admit to you all, I am a serious grumpola lately? Between not sleeping much as I search for that elusive comfortable position in which to sleep (which I'm convinced is God's way of preparing me for the sleepless nights when the little one arrives) and struggling to figure out dinners when nothing sounds good except breakfast foods (I swear I've eaten more cereal in the last few weeks than I have in the last few years) I'm just pretty outta sorts. But hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep later (after feasting on my Total Raisin Bran of course.)

19 weeks - We're halfway there!!

Ok, nothing really new to report but we're 19 weeks today! We've reached the halfway point and baby is kicking me a bunch today in celebration!

WOO-HOO!!!!

18w5d - Less than 1 week until big u/s

That's right - in 6 days and approximately 21 hours we will be having our "big u/s". This is also called a level 2 u/s so it will be a nice, long, in-depth look at our baby. They generally check how the baby is developing, look at the major organs, check amniotic fluid level, etc and hopefully - if our little one cooperates - we'll be able to tell the gender. It seems like the wait for this u/s has taken forever but in the whole scheme of all we've been through in this process, 6 weeks isn't terribly long is it? No. But we're anxious for that day to arrive to see that our little one is healthy and growing well and to see if we know whether to start referring to it as a he or she.

So what else is new here? Well, in 2 days we'll be 19 weeks pregnant which, since we'll need to deliver by 38 weeks, means we'll be at our halfway point. WOW!! Is it really possible that we're halfway to meeting our little one?? I get teary eyed every time I think of finally meeting this baby we've dreamed about for so long. Oh, see the tears build up just typing that.

I went to visit my family this past weekend and had a great time with my kids and my mother. (Missed seeing my granddaughter Lily, but she was a bit under the weather. Poor sweetie!!) DD and I were hoping that her little one would arrive while I was there visiting but no such luck. DD has been dilated 4cm for 2 weeks now but my little granddaughter Madison doesn't want to come out quite yet. Ah well, once she arrives I'll look forward to another visit to meet her and to help DD out around the house. And while I was away, DH was his true superhero self and put together the nursery furniture. That's right, he put together the crib, changer, and dresser and then dragged the old guest room furniture out by the dumpster. Thanks so much hun, you are a rockstar!! Now I have to figure out what else in that guest room we need to keep or ditch and once it's cleaned out we can start decorating. (Bought some wall decals over the weekend so can't wait to start putting them up.)

Work has still been awful. I generally have nice normal blood pressure but I have to wonder how (and if) it stays low while my blood simmers for 9-10 hours a day at work. I'm practicing a great deal of deep breathing and reminding myself that in the great scheme of life none of what I do at work REALLY matters. I mean, will anyone really remember a year from now (oh hell even a week from now) that I trained them on a crappy system? It's not like I'm performing life or death operations in my work, right? It's very, very hard to turn off my ridiculous work ethic and attempts at perfection at my job, but I can only make so much lemonade out of the rotten lemons that I'm handed. And lastly I remind myself that there is a glorious light - a cooing, crying, pooping, eating, sleeping, light -at the end of the tunnel. In another 19 weeks, I'll have a little one in my arms and I'll be away from the rotten lemons. Hopefully for a long, long time.

18w0d - Busy, busy week

18 weeks today!!! And only 1 week and 5 days until our big ultrasound!!!

First off, I need to thank the wonderful ladies in my life who have told me that even in their non-pregnant state they can't fit their calves in most dress boots. And these are not large ladies - they're both as tiny as they come. So thanks Sis & Sis-in-law for making me realize that it's not my calves fault, but rather moronic boot designers/manufacturers who think all ladies have toothpicks for legs.

This week has been ridiculously busy. A client flew to our corporate office for training Tues - Thurs and so I had to make the drive back & forth each day to train them. It literally is only a 36 mile drive each way but the commute was anywhere from 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes - EACH WAY! So about 3 hours of commuting on top of a full day of training. I am soooo beat. One more busy day tomorrow (though thankfully no commute) and then I'll look forward to a quick visit with family. One of those Saturday to Sunday deals...never long enough, but I should get to have a longer visit when DD has her baby girl.

Still checking in on the baby's heartbeat every few days (LOVE IT) and still feel some gentle movement in there. No giant kicks yet and some days I don't feel anything but again, I feel it best if I'm really relaxed and just laying down (and relaxed has not been a word in my vocabulary this week.)

So here are some shots for you. Here is the 18 week belly shot. I swear it is getting bigger each day!!



Here's me & our dog Highspeed. I think he wanted to be part of the photo shoot.



And here we are - both smiling for the camera.

17w2d - My fat calves

Hello my friends! Well, we surpassed the 17 week mark on Thursday and it was WONDERFUL to cross another week off of the calendar. This Thursday we'll be hitting the 18 week mark and I think we'll be ready to post another belly shot. It just keeps growing, growing, growing even though the baby only weighs about 4 or 5 oz at this point.

This week was a really crappy work week (yes, again) and it was disappointing that I couldn't go up to NY to visit the family this week due to lousy weather (again) so I was quite uninspired to write. Today though, I had an event that while humiliating and depressing was good fodder for my blog. Let me backtrack slightly.

Last week I had to go to Destination Maternity to grab some "professional" maternity clothes as I have a client flying in for a training this week. So I needed 3 days worth of decent looking maternity clothes (I like my maternity t-shirts and yoga pants but I don't think our corporate office would think those clothes appropriate.) So I got some outfits and spent way more than I'd like (this was to be expected at that store - though I must say, I do like how they offer you water or juice while you're shopping.)

Anyways, one of the outfits was a nice blouse, a black skirt, and a pair of black tights. I figured I'd wear this outfit with my black boots and voila, we have a nice looking outfit. Well today I realized that I don't have my black boots anymore. I think I chucked them last summer after I noticed that they'd seen better days. No problem though, we have a Payless & a DSW less than a mile from our house. So I trudge out in the rain this morning on my mission to get black dress boots.

And I failed on this mission...miserably. My stupid, fat calves wouldn't fit in any of the boots. WTF!!! I tried on pair after pair hoping one pair would be loose around the calves. Nope. Would one perhaps have "stretchy" leather or something that would allow the material to bypass the massive amount of flesh on my legs? Nope. None of them would fit. And I tried on lots. Do boot makers not think of women with swollen, pregnant legs?? Or just "bigger" calves in general?? WTF (again)!!! I left the store with my head hanging down ever so sadly (think Charlie Brown's walk) and I realized I will be wearing my loafers with my skirt later this week. Blech! Oh well, such is life with my newly fattened calves.

So after my horrible boot shopping experience, I drowned my sorrows at the library by picking out some books. (The library is one of my favorite places in the world.) Then I came home and made banana bread so I could drown my sorrows in that (and hey, my fat calves aren't going anywhere anytime soon.) Then I laid in bed all depressed and mopey and even cried. What a fun Saturday! Thank you ever so much fat calves and pregnancy hormones. :-(

16w5d - Movement, YAY!!!

Well, for the last 3 days I've felt fetal movement, YAY!! And I don't think it was gas this time, double YAY!! I can feel it best when I'm relaxed and lying down in bed at night (though today I did feel it while sitting up working.) At this point, I'm not feeling kicks that you'd feel on the outside - those should take at least a few more weeks to feel. These sometimes feel like something rolling around in there. Like all of a sudden a softball rolls to the front of my belly and then rolls back away. Or it feels like someone bumped my belly but from the inside. Sometimes I'll give my lower belly a nudge just to feel it again. I can't wait until the movement is strong enough for DH to feel, but until then I'll enjoy this special one-on-one time with the little one.

And thank goodness for that bit of wonder this week because otherwise, DH & I have been having a pretty shitty week. Both of our jobs suck ass lately. Last night, I had to stop cooking dinner so I could just go into my bedroom and cry my eyes out. That's how much I hate my job! And no doubt I'm a pregnant hormonal mess, but I really hate the company I work for. I can't even begin to describe how poorly run they are, but if they can drive a woman like me to cry buckets of frustration-filled tears you can tell they're a pretty shitty operation. DH has had a rough week at work too, being "volunteered" for tasks that no one on earth would want on top of his regular work. So yeah, it's been a pretty sad, grumpy, miserable week here.

I am glad though that January is behind us and we were able to flip another page on the calendar. And February is always a month that makes my smile. My DD turns 22 years old on Thursday - WOW!! I can't even believe that it's been that long since my parents & I drove to the hospital in a wicked bad ice storm and I delivered my firstborn (after 28 hours of labor) with my mom as my coach. My daughter was born at exactly midnight - even the second hand was on the 12 - between February 3rd & 4th. We actually didn't learn what day she was born until the day I was leaving the hospital. You see, there was quite the debate going on between the docs & nurses about whether "midnight exactly" ends the previous day or is the start of the next day. The verdict, well at least in DD's case, is that it ends the previous day (had it been a minute or even a second past midnight, she would have been officially born on the 4th.) Poor girl though, if she wants to stay up for her b-day she has wait the entire, and I mean entire day, until midnight hits to hit her official birthday. But it sure is something we'll never forget. And I love you Rachel!

Countdown to the big u/s is now 3 weeks away. OMG, I cannot wait to find out what we're having. Target is having their baby sale this week so I actually think I'm going to buy a couple things off my registry while the prices are great. Everything we have on there is gender neutral anways so might as well get while the getting is good. And with that, I think I'll go make dinner and do some shopping. :-)