31 weeks and counting...

     Okay so a few things have happened since my last post. We went to our unmedicated delivery class and it was awesome! We learned a lot and met some other really cool parents that have decided to chose the natural way to deliver their babies. I wish I could keep up with them all.

     Last week we had 3 doctor appointments back to back. The first was our glucose screening for gestational diabetes which I just learned I failed miserably. I am really not too worried about this because from what I have read, that test usually has a high number of false positives because of the sugar content of the Glucola used.  To be on the safe side, I gave in to the follow up test where I will have to go in after fasting, get stuck, drink more Glucola, sit for 3HOURS (instead of 1) and then get stuck again. I am going to be utterly miserable by the time this is all over. My mother suffered with gestational diabetes with her last 2 children but I just chalked that up to the age in which she had them. So I will keep you all posted with the results of that one.   

     Our next appointment for the day was our regular monthly visit with Dr. Harris. This time I only gained 3 lbs (WOOHOO for me). We still had not given our birth plan to him at this point, because we are just so sick and tired of everybody trying to tell us the complete opposite. So we figured we would just give it to him at the last minute. This particular appointment he actually asked about our plan. His exact words  out of the blue were, "So you guys are thinking natural, correct?" There was no sarcasm or anything behind it either, which came as a surprise to us both. As I looked over at my husband who was just as shocked as I was, I began to scramble for words. I told him yes we were and that was in fact our plan A. We also let him know that we we werent those psycho natural parents who werent open to life saving options in case our plan failed. We are keeping in mind that A: Bralen is still breech even though he still has time to turn and B: we are completely on this kids schedule and anything could happen.

      Our last appointment of the day was for our 4D pictures. I dont know if we are biased our what, but this kid is kinda cute. It is amazing how much personality he already has. We went to our appointment at 1pm which is usually around the time I eat lunch and he is up. Ha! Not this time. He was out cold. I mean we shook this fella, talked to him, begged him and all he did was put his hand up to his face and kept it there the entire time. To add insult to injury, there were times he would even play with hair, lol. On the picture below you can see how much hair he already has. I think the tech felt bad for us and rescheduled so we could come back and try again. All of the pictures on here that are somewhat clear happened on our 2nd visit.

     His feet are huge as you can see above. This may be the only thing he has from me because he looks just like his dad. I am still holding on to hope that he will at least have my eye color. The tech said as of right now he is probably around 3 lbs 11 oz. She made sure she mentioned how long his limbs were and how chubby wubby his cheeks already are. All I can see is how big he is getting coupled with the fact that I know where he has to come out, lol.

       Oh I almost forgot. We did our maternity pics last Sunday so on my next post they should be ready for posting. By then I will also have gone back for my 3 week visit so there should be more info to fill you all in on. Well I am tired, not to mention I have a fairly large baby head all comfy in my ribcage so... PEACE!

7 months

      Okay so here is my 7 month update. I went to see Dr. Harris and he put me in the lame room. He does this every other month now that I think about it. The lame room has a crappy machine where only Dr. Harris can see Briz. My doc is very quiet but very smart. He takes measurements every time we go in and even though he never says a word we know everything is ok.

      Before I went to the back he had the receptionist call me by my married name as they all hid around the corner to see if I would respond. It took me a second, but I eventually did look up like I had won a prize from The Price is Right. My insurance had finally did the name change so I was official in my records. So silly, that Dr. Harris. I go back to the nurse and she tells me to hop on the scale. "8 pounds" she says while shaking her head at me. I shake my head too. I thought I had been doing better with that whole "1 lb a week" deal I had made with Dr. H the 2 prior visits. Oh well. I'll try next month.

      So during this appointment he did not do an ultrasound he just took measurements to make sure everything was okay. It was. We decided to take this time to ask him tons of questions about natural childbirth, epidurals, water births, etc. He gave us horror stories of when he was in medical school and having to tie women down to control them before epidurals. He told tales of water birthing pools at hospitals not being sanitary for baby or mother due to cleaning (or lack there of). He also mentioned that epidurals are completely safe and do not cause grogginess in mom nor baby. We are still not quite convinced. We have decided to labor at home as long as possible and then go to the hospital in time to give birth. I am very impatient and dont want to be strapped to a bed with cords and monitors for a long period of time. Dr. Harris suggested that we come in when the contractions are at least 2 to 3 mins a part or when our water breaks. He said this would avoid having to send me back home if its a false alarm which they do a lot with first time moms. I am not sure what type of monster I am going to turn into once those pains hit, but Glenn is prepared... or at least he says he is, lol.

      My next appoint is on December 21st. We go in for the glucose screening followed by a regular appointment. So I will check back in in a couple of weeks or if anything exciting happens between now and then.

Ultrasound Pictures up to 6 months

Briz hiding behind the mean ol' fibroid (the fibroid can be mistaken as his belly)

Briz finally calming down long enough for the tech to get a pic. Note: his dad's big head!

This is when I realized that he may not look too much like me when he gets here :-(

Briz flexin his tiny man muscles for his audience.

I see the light.... 2nd Trimester

               My second trimester has proven to be my good friend. The nausea has gone, and I can actually say I am enjoying being pregnant. I must admit that always being one of the skinny girls had taken its toll on me. Once I finally began to pick up weight I thought I was going to have a meltdown.

(Side Note) At this point you will start to see that I refer to Bralen as Briz. Its my little nickname for him. I like it!

            The first time my thighs touched I wanted to jump from my top floor (just kidding, kind of) and to actually have BOOBIES is another story all in itself. I gained about 7 lbs. in my 5th month (see pic below) and at that point maternity pants were still a joke. I bought a couple of pairs, but during this time I was still in my regular clothing just loosening up the buttons a bit. I remember every time I would come home from work, Glenn would loosen my top button so I wouldnt "choke his son", lol! Truth is, I had plenty of room, but I would still humor him.

           At our 5 month visit, my doctor informed me that I needed to slow my weight gain to about a pound a week. I had to let him know that I wasnt binging on anything and that my diet hadnt changed much since before. I would like to think the weight packed on so fast because my body missed it during the 1st trimester. At this point that was the only explanation I had for the sudden gain since I was walking 30 minutes a day at work and incorporated stairs and some free weights.

                In the pciture below I am about 6 months along (please excuse the towel as I was multitasking this day). At this point my weight gain is about 14 lbs total. I am mostly belly and BOOBIES -I like capitalizing BOOBIES if you havent noticed yet- and I am still feeling pretty good. I have started to see some swelling in my ankles, mostly my right one, which is not very cute when you wear a size 10 normally like I do.

                 We went to see our specialists this month for our 2nd Trimester check up to make sure Briz wasnt at risk for Downs Syndrome or any other abnormalities. He, in true fashion, decided to show off for his audience.  He turned away from the tech constantly. We were able to see how long this kid is truly going to be. His feet alone were already measuring 2 weeks ahead. This can be attributed to a 5'10" mother with size 10 feet and a 6'3" father with size 13 feet. This kid is going to be massive! I will post the ultrasound pics in the next BLOG. Anyway, this particular appointment lasted for about 45 mins to an hour mainly because of Briz's refusal to cooperate so the tech could get adequate pictures for the doctor who bore a strange resemblance to Julio from Sanford & Son. My dad and other mom attended this appointment with us and it was quite entertaining watching my stepmom snap on the tech for calling Briz a crazy kid because of his acrobatics. I never said a word but secretly thought about how I deal with this little boy on a daily basis and he is crazy all over the place.

                At this point Briz is still breech and is sharing his space with an ugly fibroid tumor. I remember in the first trimester (pics on next BLOG) how you could actually see my son peeking over it as if it were his hiding place...too cute! The doctor is now saying that if he does not turn by delivery we may have to consider a C-Section. We do NOT want a C-section. I simply just dont want to be cut. I plan on taking 3 months or so off from work and dont want a large portion of that to be spent healing from a major surgery. I prefer to allow nature to take its course and have Briz come into the world uninterrupted. So as of now we are taking the wait and see approach. We have a birth plan for the most part that we still have yet to share with my OB. We already know there is going to be major opposition to every aspect of it, but we are prepared to remain steadfast.

               I have recently developed something called a PUPPPS (Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy) rash which is a common rash in pregnant women. It is very itchy and I always forget how strange it looks to outsiders as I walk and scratch my belly in public. This condition is harmless to mother and baby, but can be very annoying. It lasts an average of 6 weeks and resolves spontaneously 1 to 2 weeks after delivery. The most severe itching normally lasts for no more than 1 week, I hope I have already gotten the worst of this. Other than this, everything is great! Glenn is ecstatic at how my belly seems to grow overnight and he even got a little kick or two from Briz (I bear the brunt of the stronger kicks as he stomps on my bladder 24/7).

               So far I have gained about 17 lbs total - Woo hoo! So I rate this one as....

Baby 1 Mommie 1

In the beginning.... 1st Trimester

                 Soooooo... I guess this would be the BLOG where I will tell how it all began. I pretty much married my soul mate Glenn. He is absolutely amazing to me and couldnt be happier about becoming a first time dad.

                 We found out about the pregnancy in the beginning of July. I was about 6 weeks along to be exact, this was on a Thursday. I remember spending the entire weekend after that hugging the toilet, which is strange because I wasnt sick at all until the doctor confirmed. By Monday I had lost about 7 lbs. (more than 5% of  my body weight at the time) and ended up being admitted to the perinatal unit for 3 days :-( . I was hooked up to IV's and received over 9 bags of fluids to put my weight back on. I was so dehydrated the doctor would not allow me to leave until I could eat and hold down the food without any problems (this didnt happen until almost the last day). It was, and still is, amazing to me how my body/ mind shut down on me the way it did after formally hearing the doctor confirm it and seeing the little wormy structure on the screen that he proclaimed was our child.

               What also amazed me during our next visit after the hospital stay, was how this baby was so vibrate and carefree. I just remember thinking, "dude you are trying to kill your mom!" but he honestly did not care. My body provided him everything he needed by stealing it from what little was left in me. I kid you not, I was so scared that something could possibly be wrong with him because of the weight loss and lack of food and water for those few days. It was both refreshing and comical to see him turning flips without a care in the world as if I could just hear him saying, "weeeeeeeee!" like the little piggie in the Gieco commercials. I remember thinking to myself that this little munchkin already has my personality... carefree!

                Anyhoo, after I was released from the hospital I was put on Zofran, a drug normally given to cancer patients to help with nausea. It actually worked but the frequency of which I had to take it bothered me a bit (every four hours). I am not a huge medicine taker and neither is my Chiropractor hubby so we were elated when my specialist suggested I take a Unisom/ B6 combo in a lesser dosage and see if that worked. It is now my miracle drug. Instead of 6 doses of the Zofran a day, I now take the combo every 3 days or so.

                 My husband was still amazing during this time. My mom helped out a lot as well. They both tag teamed hospital visits so that no one got worn out having to stay with me all the time. I have already told Glenn there will be no tag teaming come delivery time! He will be on full time duty... He didnt fight me on this one since he too wants to capture every moment of our first miracle.

                 As for weight gain, I started off at 138 lbs. and at the end of the first trimester I was 134 lbs.

Baby 1 Mommie 0