32 Week Appointment

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and it went well. We started with an ultrasound, then had another NST and then we saw the doctor.

I'll start with the U/S...It went well, we really had a great time seeing him, especially now that he is getting bigger, and boy is he getting bigger. It looks like he is measuring 2-3 weeks ahead right now and is weighing about 5.25 lbs. It is just an estimate, but it gives us some idea. We are not sure if the weight gain is normal for him or caused by the gestational diabetes. Hopefully, as I get better control of my sugars, which may include medicine, he will gain a normal amount of weight. He has a big head like his brother and he also has quite a bit of hair already. We could actually see it swaying in the water :) He opened his mouth for us and he even stuck up his middle finger for us. We couldn't believe he did it, but we have pictures to prove it! He is adorable of course!

The NST...It took some time to get him moving, but we finally got him going and he did what he was supposed to do, which was good. I didn't have any contractions during the test. Overall it went well.

The doctor...I asked the doctor about a few symptoms that I had over the past two days and he said that they were normal and the best part was that he said they were even normal for someone without a cerclage. I told Matt that I didn't want to hear that it was just normal, I wanted something more and when he said that it was normal even if I didn't have a cerclage, it made me happy! We also talked briefly about the cerclage removal. It will happen at the hospital and he said that they won't induce me right away, but will watch and see what happens and then go from there. I have a feeling it will depend on how big they think the baby is on how long they wait to induce me. I really don't think they'll let me go all the way to the end if he is getting too big. He even said he doesn't want to do a c-section unless he really has to and that made me happy, as I want to try to deliver the baby normally, since this will be our last baby. He is on call on Sept. 25, which is my 36th week, so I am thinking that may be the day of the cerclage removal. But, we'll know for sure in the next week or two.

I'll also know today if they are going to put me on medication for my gest. diabetes. I have had one number a day that has been high, which has been my lunch number, so they may put me on a pill to help with that. The doctor said that he is not too concerned because my fasting and morning numbers are really low. I will also go off of progesterone during the 35th week.

We are really excited and happy about all of the good news and hope that I can hold out until the end of Sept. I feel pretty confident that I may be able to. We go back to the doctor on Tuesday, I know it is quick, my appointment was changed from Monday to Thursday this week, so we have a shorter time between appointments. But, that is fine with me! Ethan and Matt are at Cedarpoint today because my appointment went well. Let's just pray that all continues to go well while Matt is out of town today :)

Here are the ultrasound pictures...

Look at those chubby cheeks!!!

The top picture in this set is where he decided to stick up his middle finger!

The bottom one shows his big round belly!

I also had to share this cute video montage of Ethan dancing the other night! Just click on the words!

My Montage 8/29/08

I made it to 32 weeks!!!

32 weeks! I had many moments early on and never thought I would make it this far and now I'm here!! I can't believe it. I am now in the 8th month and I couldn't be happier! It has hit me that I am only 8 weeks from my due date, so at most I have 8 weeks to go and I have at least 4 weeks to go. I can't believe that in just a few short weeks we will be welcoming this little boy to our family!

I'm hoping to at least go 5 more weeks, which would take me into the 37th week, but there is a lot that will determine if that will happen. My cerclage will come out sometime in the 36th week and that could go a couple of ways. I could go right into labor, I could go a few days before going into labor or I could go a couple of weeks. Now, that is all considering the fact that I am doing well and that the baby is growing well and is handling the gestational diabetes well. I have been told that as long as my non-stress tests continue to go well and that my sugars are maintained well, he should be fine. If for some reason he is needing to be born earlier, they may have to induce me if I don't go into labor on my own fast enough. So, hopefully, he continues to do well and I continue to do well so that we can go through labor as normally as possible :)

It is amazing that with all that we have been through with this pregnancy that we are now looking at the end. Last night, we were talking about all of the things that we have to pull out of the attic and the garage for the baby. I'm so excited to be talking about his homecoming. For so much of this pregnancy I felt like I couldn't get too excited and I wasn't sure about taking things out and getting things ready and now I feel like I can finally celebrate this new life and get ready to bring home our new little boy! Ethan might be out of town for some of this weekend with his Grandma, so that will give Matt a chance to pull things out and me a chance to go through some of the clothes :) I'm just excited to be at this point!

Thanks again for helping us to get this far!! Hopefully, we'll have some pictures to share with you after the appointment on Thursday!

Some new pictures and look at that belly!!

I thought I would do a picture post of my belly, along with some new pictures of Ethan. I want to show off my boys!!

Look at how I've changed in just 2 months...

21 weeks 4 days

26 weeks 5 days

31 weeks 5 days

Our little artist!

Our little German Hummel!

Ethan's Done It!!

He has finally finished potty training! We have had no accidents for the last couple of weeks! This has been such an exciting thing for Matt and I to finally have him done with potty training. It took us about a year to get it down and we finally did it! As with everything else he has done it just took one day for Ethan to decide to do it. He now even asks to go, which has been wonderful. We wanted it done by the end of the summer for two reasons: 1) We wanted him to start school fully trained this year and 2) We wanted him to be fully trained for at least a month before the baby comes, so that he would be less likely to revert. He does a great job with it now and he gets so excited everytime he goes!! We are constantly telling him how proud of him we are.

I'm so amazed at how much he has really grown up this summer. The baby part of him is disappearing more and more and it is hard for mommy, but I am so proud of how far he has come. Matt told me yesterday that Ethan has stopped needing his "chewy blankie" at night. It is a tiny little blanket that he has used to suck on before he falls asleep. I'm just amazed how quickly it can all happen. I'm happy he is becoming more and more independent, but I miss my little baby Ethan! I do think it is good that this is all happening now, so that he may feel a little better about us bringing home a new baby. This only confirms the age gap more for us! I wasn't sure about having such a gap, but now I'm really happy that there is one, because now he is better at understanding what is happening and what a big boy does!

So, Ethan is officially a big boy in so many different capacities and just in time for him to be a big brother!

31 Week Appointment!

I had my 31 week appt. yesterday and things are still going well. I had a few questions for him and everything I asked was normal. He reminded me that since I have never been this pregnant before, it will all be new to me. It's hard to distinguish normal from what may be early labor, because every little twinge scares me. But, it made me feel good to hear it from the dr.

He also told me that he would let me walk a little more at about 34 weeks!!! I can't wait for that. That's gives me another thing to look forward to. It would basically be a modified bedrest, meaning that I will still need to rest a lot, but that I may be able to make small trips out of the house. It was funny because he said that he didn't want me to go crazy and I just looked at him like, how crazy will I get with legs of mush! I'll be lucky to be able to walk for 10 minutes straight in a store! I figure though, that even if it is only 10 minutes, I can at least get my muscles strengthened for delivery.

Next week we will have an ultrasound to check the growth of the baby, which will tell us what the rest of the game plan will be. I am so excited that we are talking about all of these things now! It hit Matt and I how close we are when we saw a woman with her tiny little newborn baby boy at the dr. office. We are so excited!!!

I finally fit in with so many other women!

No, this has nothing to do with the pregnancy! Some of you have asked what I do and how I handle bed rest. I tried answering that a few posts ago, but it was before my latest activity....

In about 3 weeks, I watched the first 3 seasons of Grey's Anatomy! Hence, the fitting in with so many other women. I have heard people talk about it for years and never understood the fascination with it, but now I do! I felt like I could not get to the next episode fast enough. Then, I couldn't get to the next season fast enough. I started out by watching it through Netflix, which was working fine until our queue got mixed up halfway through the 2nd season and there was some lag time. So, Matt had to go get it for me at the video store. Then, I couldn't wait for Season 3. So, he came home with that one too! I watched that in about 5 days, because I was in too much pain last week to do anything else!

Season 4 comes out in early Sept. so, I'm hoping I can watch that one before season 5 starts! This is crazy, but who can resist Dr. McDreamy's (Patrick Dempsey) smile or even McVet (Chris O'Donnel)! Who knew that the nerd in "Can't Buy Me Love" would keep me watching!

Rough Week

Physically and mentally this has been a rough week for me. Since going to L & D on Monday and my appointment on Tuesday, I have been exhausted. I have a few things working against me right now. The first being that the bedrest is catching up with my body and physically it is quite painful. The baby is also obviously getting much bigger, which is adding pressure to many different areas, which is also why the bedrest is starting to hurt more. I also have an abnormality in my back, which is now feeling a lot of pressure because of the baby's weight bearing down on it.

At this point, any position is uncomfortable for me. It would be nice if I could even walk a little to stretch out some of the muscles, but right now walking a few feet has been really difficult on my body. Like I said the bedrest is finally turning my muscles against me. One advantage of this new diet is that I am not gaining weight as quickly and I am using some of my pre-pregnancy reserve :) So far this week, I have remained steady with my weight. The weight has not helped any of this either. I think that now that I have some idea of this diet, I will be able to lose weight a little easier this time.

I actually did not gain much weight during my pregnancy with Ethan, only about 10 or 15 lbs. I gained all of the weight afterwards when he was in the hospital and then even once he was home with me. Of course, once the weight gain started, it was difficult to stop it, which is now working against me.

Mentally, I have also been drained this week. I think that since I cannot do any physical nesting, my brain is doing all of it. Basically, I keep playing out different scenarios in my head and how I would respond to each. I keep feeling like I won't be prepared when it is time to actually go to the hospital. I keep fearing each appointment because I think that will be the one that he sends me to the hospital. My biggest worry is what do we do with Ethan in each situation. It really does change things when you have another little one in the picture! I feel the maternal need to make sure he doesn't feel neglected or worried. I figure if I play all of these scenarios out in my head, I will feel better prepared when something does happen, which will hopefully be weeks from now :)

I go back to the doctor on Tuesday for another non-stress test. We passed well last week, so we are hoping that keeps up. From what I understand, Gestational Diabetes can cause him to not do well on the test. So, hopefully keeping my blood sugar level, will help him continue to pass his tests :) I'll have an ultrasound to check for growth, the following week, so I'm excited for that :)

I'll update you after the appointment on Tuesday!