Posts Tagged ‘pregnant’

My Week(192) in iPhone Photos

Sunday, July 6th, 2014

This week is simply called: Still Pregnant.

Sunday:

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Who can possibly feel that depressed in the shoe aisle at Target?

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She’s a fish

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At least it makes a good shelf for dessert?

Monday:

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More fish-like behavior

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Fort time

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Naps

Tuesday:

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I woke up and was STILL PREGNANT

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The princess accompanied me to my growth ultrasound

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Summer means letting them stay up until they ask to go to bed

Wednesday:

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When it is too hot to do ANYTHING, buckets of water on the porch are good enough

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My hero

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Maybe some day I’ll need some baby clothes

Thursday:

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It’s was a little humid

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That drink is 150% sugar.

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Showing off her floating skills

Friday:

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That is not the baby I was hoping would appear while I was at L&D

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I made a giant pasta salad that no one else in my family eats. I am a selfish pregnant lady.

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My cat says: For real, are you ever going to have that kid?

Saturday:

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I LOVE MY BEAR MOMMY!

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It was a really long, really hot week and by the end she wasn’t super excited about the fireworks

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Obligatory blurry firework picture to prove we made the effort to go see them.

It took like 20 minutes to put that together and I am STILL pregnant. In case you were wondering.

Adventures In Kidney Stones: Sequels Are Never As Good As The Original

Friday, June 13th, 2014

On Wednesday, I wrote a hundred words of a boring, nothing-to-see-here baby update before I lay down on the couch with a pillow over my head and screamed swear words into it until I worked up the energy to go to the Emergency Room.

Pregnancy is fun.

Let’s start this extremely long and health-detail related story at the beginning! At my regular check-up on Tuesday, I mentioned to the OB I didn’t feel great. Nothing was HORRIBLE but I just didn’t feel well. I said I had a vague pain in my left kidney and with my history of stones it made me a little worried. She offered to send me up for an ultrasound, but I said I’d rather just do a test for an infection and see if it got any worse. I spent the rest of Tuesday doing nothing and went to bed early with a headache, but no other symptoms and no more pain.

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling totally fine. I made breakfast! I cleaned (a little)! I bought end-of-the-year teacher gifts for Caroline’s teachers! After school I got both kids to the dentist (where I lied straight to the hygienist’s face and told her I would try to only let Caroline snack once a day) and then we went to swim lessons. Right after I got both kids into their suits and turned them over to their instructor my left side started to hurt. It felt like I was being stabbed. Sitting comfortably in the pool chairs is hard when you’re pregnant, but sitting comfortably in a pool chair while you’re pregnant and being stabbed in the back is impossible.

I got up and paced. I sat down. I leaned forward. I leaned back. Half way through class Evan needed the potty, so I took him upstairs where I leaned against the wall and moaned. Being in pain discretely is hard – I didn’t want anyone to think I was in labor (I knew I was definitely not in labor) – but I managed to have several conversations where no one freaked out and asked if I was OK, so I think I pulled it off. “Why yes, we have greatly enjoyed swim lessons! No, no, I didn’t just lose consciousness for a second, I’m definitely paying attention to you!”

Because I had promised the kids Panera to celebrate the dentist AND the last day of swimming, we went to Panera. I’m guessing I ordered lunch and paid for it, since the cops didn’t show up at the house and the children look well-fed, but I don’t remember any of that either. We made it home. I ate a turkey sandwich but immediately threw it back up, which was when I realized I should probably call the OB.

The OB’s office suggested I just go to the ER to be evaluated, since they had an ultrasound machine and good drugs and could give them to me a lot faster than if I was admitted straight to L&D. I messaged a friend who said she could come over and watch the kids so I didn’t have to take them (THANK GOD) and made it to the hospital, which is luckily less than a mile away. The lady at the check-in desk took one look at me and paged four different people to come help. I got a bed and some water and a nice male nurse who I couldn’t pick out of a line up right now if my life depended on it because SERIOUSLY it hurt SO BAD I don’t remember anything.

I was expecting I’d have to live through a lot of poking and tests before they were willing to give me anything for the pain, but as soon as the ER doctor saw me he said I was crazy for not asking right away. I’ve seen enough medical dramas to know asking for morphine is a good way to get labeled a drug-seeker (Because TV is TOTALLY the same as real life!) and I didn’t want anyone to threaten to call CPS on me (I am not entirely rational when I’m in pain) so I resisted for about 20 seconds. Then it hurt so bad I threw up again and begged for drugs.

10 minutes after the first dose the nurse said “It’s amazing how fast Dilaudid works, isn’t it?” and I said “Are you $%&*ing kidding me?” It took three doses before I felt any better.  It also made me feel totally drunk and loopy and dizzy. I’m extremely surprised I never fell over. I did get rolled down to ultrasound where the tech said she could see stones in my kidneys (both of them, because why half-ass kidney stones?!) but couldn’t see a blockage where I was complaining about the pain. Surprisingly, never once did anyone say “I guess that means you’re OK! Go home!” They ran some more tests that said I had the beginnings of an infection and there was blood in my urine, so in addition to the narcotics I got pumped full of fluids and antibiotics.

At some point I messaged another friend (I didn’t have cell service in the ER but they do have free wifi!) who got a hold of my husband at work and told him I was in the ER. He showed up after the ultrasound but before they admitted me. It turns out extreme kidney pain, probably stones and elevated blood pressure (due ENTIRELY to the pain) at 35 weeks pregnant automatically gets you admitted.

I don’t remember the timeline for any of the rest of the night very well. I do know I couldn’t keep any water down so they gave me zofran (useless) then something for nausea through the IV. It took two more doses of Dilaudid and some heartburn medication but I finally, FINALLY, passed out at 2 am.

I spent all of Thursday lying in bed feeling better and waiting for the urologist to come check me before I lost patience and asked to go home. My nice OB agreed, since if I was feeling well enough to give up the IV drugs I was obviously OK. My kidneys on both sides still hurt a little, but not enough to waste a Percocet. The current plan is to wait out the pregnancy and see if the rest of the stones pass/clear on their own (we’re assuming the one that was stuck last night did)(they’re also assuming I had one, even if it didn’t show on the u/s)(because my doctors are nice and my history supports that theory). If I have more pain or any signs of an infection I have to go back in.

The whole thing is just a terrifying deja vu of what happened with Caroline, except I had NO IDEA what was causing my pain last time and it took almost a full DAY before anyone believed me enough to give me something. I’m going to be careful about drinking more (and then more and more and more) water and avoiding things that make my heartburn so bad I break down and take a Tums. I would also say I’m going to take it easy but there’s just no way. Maybe I’ll put off painting the nursery but I’ve been “putting off” literally every household chore for so long now I have to catch up.

I also missed Caroline’s last day of preschool yesterday. They didn’t do a graduation or a show or anything, so all I REALLY missed was dropping her off and picking her up one last time (and giving her teachers their gifts, which E assures me made it to school but were unfinished so weren’t quite Pinterest-worthy). But I didn’t get to take her last-day picture on her actual last day and I didn’t get to thank the school headmistress for taking care of my baby for the past 2 years. I’ve got 16 more last days before she leaves for college (OMG ONLY 16 MORE LAST DAYS) and hopefully I won’t be in the hospital for any of those.

Today is Evan’s kindergarten orientation where we both get to see his new school for the first time. It’s very Time Marches On, since Time obviously doesn’t care that I’m not READY for kindergarten yet and could he please just take an extended summer vacation for a few months so I can have this baby and recover and THEN I can think about sending my first baby to full time big-kid school. I CANNOT think about kidney stones anymore though, so I fingers crossed I don’t have to.

Baby #3 – 30 Week Update

Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

I am sitting on the couch eating the last of the giant marshmallows I bought “for s’mores”…even though I didn’t bother to buy chocolate or graham crackers. Today was my 30 week appointment for this pregnancy and – pardon my french – but shit is about to get real.

I was at Mom 2.0 Summit last weekend. It was really, really fun. Because you probably don’t blog and probably weren’t there I am not going to write a super long, super inspirational post about everything I learned and name drop all the fancy people I met.

Although excuse me if I freak out just ONE more time over my photo with Jessica Shyba. Even my mom watches The Today Show and probably knows about Jessica and her adorable kid-dog-sleeping pictures

Besides eating way too much and drinking nowhere near enough water and standing and walking and DANCING like a crazy person and only getting 3 hours of sleep on Saturday night, it also took a couple of long flights to Atlanta and back. After E picked me up on Sunday afternoon I was so swollen and sore I briefly considered calling the OB just to make sure I hadn’t somehow given myself pre-eclampsia.

Instead I drank a TON of water (and some Diet Coke because caffeine is a diuretic and that makes it legit) and lay on my left side and took a nap. By Monday morning I was only half as swollen and by Tuesday I could wear my shoes again. We even went for a family walk and I didn’t think I was going to die on the way home.

But today was that OB appointment and they broke some news: despite the fact that my sugars are normal (no gestational diabetes to see here folks!) and my blood pressure is still excellent and I’ve had no signs of labor and both my previous pregnancies went to at least 39 weeks and my water has never broken on its own…they Have Concerns. Concerns that mean I am going to be at the hospital a lot from now on.

Don’t get me wrong, I am VERY VERY glad my doctor is on top of things. I am glad the midwives at the practice reassured me everything looks fine. I am glad no one is freaking out and we are “just being cautious”. But I’m also not looking forward to bi-weekly non-stress tests or weekly ultrasounds to watch my fluid levels.

I’ve also lost the ability to totally block out the fact that a) I’m having a baby soonish and b) there’s always a chance something IS wrong and they just haven’t seen it on the scans or tests. The phrase “as long as it’s healthy” has never felt so much like a threat instead of just something people say because it’s something people say.

There’s obviously nothing I can do about it now. I’m in third-trimester limbo until either something happens on its own or we decide the baby would be safer out than in.

To be clear, as of right now, there is NO REASON to think the baby isn’t perfect. Well, no reason besides the unexplained high fluid levels that makes it hard for the nurse to keep the baby on the monitor for my NST and makes me look and feel ENORMOUS. But as far as anyone can tell with the baby on the inside, we’re still good.

I’d be more annoyed with the whole thing if there wasn’t any reason at all for the monitoring. But my doctor explained that in some cases – very rare cases – so rare he has never seen one in person – high fluid levels can compress the umbilical cord so baby doesn’t get enough oxygen. That is enough of a reason for me to keep my eye-rolling down to a “OK, I guess I can bring the kids and the iPad in twice a week for checks” instead of elevating it to “UGH. WHY DO I HAVE TO BE HERE???” There’s also the chance that it’s something in baby’s digestive tract or kidneys that isn’t working correctly. Or that it’s a facial or mouth deformity that can’t be detected via ultrasound.

But we DON’T KNOW, so thinking about it – or Googling it – is pointless. I say that to myself at least 20 times a minute while I’m on the internet. So basically 24,000 times a day.

I don’t want to be the person who freaks out over a healthy pregnancy, a third baby when many people struggle to have even one, someone who is ungrateful and annoying and everyone dreads running into. But I also miss my first pregnancy, when everything felt new and exciting and was so, so, SO very average and I had no idea how fragile pregnancy could be or how many things could go wrong. What To Expect might be terrifying for first time moms but it’s got NOTHING on almost 6 years of the internet.

So for approximately 10 more weeks I am going to live at the hospital being assured that no one really knows anything but they’re trying.

I will spend about 50% of that time pretending I’m not even pregnant so why would I need to buy a crib and the other 50% staring at cribs on the internet to find the perfect one for the nursery we haven’t started yet.

And also 100% of that time being punched in the lungs and/or cervix by a baby who has made so much amniotic fluid I basically have an olympic-sized swimming pool inside me.

My Week(179) in iPhone Photos

Monday, April 7th, 2014

Forgive me, it was party week, so I am late. Basically everything between now and August will be late, although my only real excuse will be “pregnant” or “giving birth”. Those actually sound like better excuses than a 5 year old’s birthday though.

Sunday:

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Random 6 am barfing = morning bath

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Clearly she felt much better a few hours later

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This is not actually very good, but that did not stop me from eating it with a spoon

Monday:

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I HATE YOU SNOW

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TA-DA!

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Helping

Tuesday:

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Pirate Fairy Day. It was really all we did.

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Dancing to the pirate song

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Flip-flop weather!!

Wednesday:

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She accessorized.

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Swim class is their favorite

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Helping me make frosting is THE BEST THING EVAAAAAR

Thursday:

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We had houseguest coming, so I cleaned while the kids had a lazy day.

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Very, very lazy.

Friday:

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I found these two like this.

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Bump.

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Helping Bumpa clean our yard

Saturday:

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AHOY! BIRTHDAY AHEAD!!

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Front porch party mess

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Evan got TWO of these rockets for his birthday and they are both his favorite. Highly recommend for any kid.

Even for us, that week involved a lot of dress up. My laundry pile is sort of insane right now, but I HAVE TO FINISH MY TAXES. I HAVE TO. RIGHT NOW. NOTHING ELSE IS BEING DONE UNTIL I FINISH THEM.

I figure if I type that enough times I might actually do it. Anyone want to barter tax prep services for a photo shoot next year? Or you can come punch me repeatedly in the face. Or how about a kid? I will give you this next baby if you agree to do my taxes forever. (Not really, but it’s tempting. I’m really, really overwhelmed.)

p.s. It is supposed to be 65 degrees tomorrow and I will probably take the kids to the beach. Because that’s how we roll in New England.

p.p.s. My birthday is Thursday. I’m getting my teeth cleaned.

Baby #3 Pregnancy Update (15ish weeks)

Thursday, January 23rd, 2014

Besides announcing I was pregnant, I haven’t blogged much about potential ginger baby #3. I don’t want him/her to read my blog some day (originally documented to record literally every single thought I had about my first pregnancy/baby/Baby Evan from the second I got a positive on the stick) and think he/she wasn’t as wanted. I just don’t have a desk job, unlimited internet and 24 hours a day to think about nothing but BABY BABY BABY BABY anymore. In my mother’s day, this shows up in the fact that I have 3+ photo albums of my childhood, my sister has 2, and my brother has…almost 1.  Today you are less heavily featured on social media. 2014, baby!

Before I wrote this, I had to find an online calculator that would tell me how pregnant I was based on my due date. I’ve been saying “Uh…15ish weeks?” for a while now, since I lost a week based on the measurements at my first ultrasound and I keep forgetting to subtract it and I can’t remember which day I flip over to the next week. Plus I’m assuming the end of the pregnancy will be as miserable as the last one (quick recap: tons of pain, kidney stones, surgery, kidney infections, pre-eclampsia, induction) and I’ll probably be induced again. If I was a character on Downton Abbey this wouldn’t end well. Thank God for my modern medicine and weekly check ups – it helps to know they’re keeping a close watch on me. To sum up that rambling: Not sure when I’ll have this kid, probably July.

I had my second doctor’s appointment yesterday with one of the midwives. Everything is entirely normal, despite the fact that I got my first talking-to about how much weight I’ve gained/might potentially gain. I don’t actually know my starting weight OR my current weight – I had hoped it wouldn’t be an issue at all but I don’t think I’m going to be that lucky. I’m surprised though – besides an endless craving for McDonald’s bacon, egg and cheese biscuits (a horrible craving, since I can only get them in the morning and I mostly want them at 9 pm) I haven’t been eating much or badly. My nausea has kept me from pulling the “PREGNANT! TIME FOR ALL THE FOODS!” card. I’ve been getting to the gym as much or even more than I was pre-pregnancy. I’m not sure what else I am supposed to do so I only gain a couple more pounds in the next 25 weeks (stop eating? take up marathon running???) so I’m going to just let my perfect blood work and amazing blood pressure make me feel better.

On a less complainy note, we’re not finding out if it’s a boy or a girl. I have one of each, so I have stuff for each (and really, is there anything for babies that HAS to be either/or? No, there is not) and I like the idea of being surprised. E doesn’t care. I’m shocked he doesn’t care, but he really doesn’t, at all, not a bit, zero percent. I thought I might have to talk him into waiting but he was totally on board. I think he thinks it will keep me from buying a lot of baby stuff and he might be right. So far I haven’t been tempted to change my mind, but that hasn’t prevented GUESSING. Currently I guess girl, but that changes fairly regularly. I never thought I’d be a person who didn’t find out, since I figured I’d always have a preference (no matter how slight) and I’d want time to accept and get used to the idea. But this time I really don’t care. Caroline says it’s a girl we should name “Caroline Baby Jesus” and Evan says it’s a boy we should name “Diny” (short for Dinosaur) and they like the idea of being surprised when the baby comes out too. Although my poor kids have no idea what getting a new sibling really means, so boy/girl won’t be their ONLY surprise.