32 weeks!

I am so grateful to have officially made it to 32 weeks - only 5 - 6 more to have a full term baby! (some say 37, some say 38?) None the less, I hope and pray Baby Dean will stay put for at least 6 more; considering my uterus has been handling a 38 week belly for over a month now!


It is pretty amazing to me how big my belly has gotten - I certainly don't feel THAT big, but I suppose that is because I have somewhat become accustomed to it? :-) I have noticed that I outgrow maternity shirts in a matter of 3 weeks; that being the reason I have only been buying one or two at a time! ;-) haha

I have two doctor's appointments this week; unfortunately Nolan will miss both because he is out in California for his ground job (which he happens to be awesome at, so I am glad he was able to go, and he was able to go home one last time before Baby Dean makes his grand entrance! YAY!).

The specialist appointment is on Wednesday and my "every 2 weeks" OB doctor appointment is on Friday. I really have no expectations for either appointment... just to see and hear that Baby Dean is continuing to thrive and that I am doing well! :-) An Aggie friend, Laura, is going with me to see the ultrasound at the specialist appointment, so that should be pretty cool - especially for her, as she doesn't have any children yet!

At the end of the week, Nolan will be back! WHOOP! and on Saturday, we will be taking maternity photos...

A while back I attended an Officer Spouses Club event; I don't attend too many base wide spouse's events, I mainly stick with the squadron ladies... but I was killing time so I went! The "tea"/membership drive itself was nothing to write home about, however the raffle was! Nolan's squadron's CO's (Commanding Officer) wife purchased 4 tickets for each of the wives that were present from our squadron, and obviously let us choose what we wanted to try to win... Well, I put 2 in a photo shoot drawing and the other 2 in different ones, that I can't recall. And... believe it or not, I won! a photo shoot (and so did the CO's wife). I think we were the last ones to drop our tickets in and they didn't do a lot of mixing them up I suppose; hey whatever works! The best part about winning this photo shoot was that come to find out, it is with the girl I was planning to use for my maternity and newborn photos! WHOOP! :-) My good friend, Inga, whose daughter was born in July used this photographer and the photos are too cute. So, by "winning" the photo shoot we are saving $50 off of the package.

This is a link to her website.

The photographer, Megan, recommended doing the photos at 32 - 34 weeks, so we planned accordingly and now here we are at 32 weeks and I am at least 38 weeks big! LOL There will be no doubt that they are maternity photos!

I am a little nervous since A) I have no fashion sense to begin with and have even less clothes to choose from being that I am pregnant in Jacksonville, NC (a city with no vision, but that is another post) and B) I don't really feel like Nolan and I are incredibly photogenic/know how to take pictures and maybe that is simply because we have never had formal pictures taken, aside from at a our wedding, but I am sure Megan will get some great shots of the 3 of us! ;-) And when we get home, I might try to get our neighbor to snap a few shots of us with Sandi...

You might wonder how Nolan's Bell's Palsy is doing... it is still, slowly but surely improving... his smile is almost all there and his eye is getting better and better at shutting on it's own!
As long as he doesn't blink (with his left eye) the pictures will be great! I only mention that because I took ONE (you should always take 2 right?) picture of him on his birthday last week, with his DQ Ice Cream Cake and he must have blinked because one eye is open and the other is closed! Rats!

Have a great week!!

Specialist Visit

Although it was very last minute (the OB doctor I saw on Thursday didn't put my referral in :-( ) so Nolan wasn't able to go, I was able to see a maternal fetal specialist out in town yesterday! Yay for an office employee over in OB at the Naval Hospital who got the referral in the system and scheduled me a same day appointment! :-)

Overall, the appointment was very reassuring to me to see that he is growing and all seems to be going along just fine in there... I didn't get any pictures - boo! (I totally forgot to ask!), but he is looking great at 4 lbs. 4 oz., meaning he gained a full pound in a little less than 2 weeks.

They looked at so many different parts - his brain, his umbilical cord (the blood is flowing well), his hands (which do appear normal - something about his knuckles - that do not lead them to believe he has Down Syndrome), his feet (his toes were so cute and tiny), his legs, his kidneys, his stomach (he has a stomach bubble, so they do believe he is swallowing okay) his spine, his face (although he still likes keep his hands up by his face) and a lot of time was spent trying to get good pictures of all of the parts of his heart.... Being that I have so much extra amniotic fluid it can sometimes be a positive for doing ultrasounds, while other times it can be a negative. For one part of his heart, the way that he was positioned (he is now head down) and because of the fluid and the shadows created by his lungs/fluid, they weren't able to be certain of what they were seeing.... soooo... to be on the safe side (more so to know for sure if he has any heart defects, so that he can be delivered in a place where there are pediatric cardiologists to take care of his heart) they are sending us to have a pediatric echo-cardiogram in Raleigh on the 12th of November. There doesn't seem to be a huge concern about his heart; all looks good, but not being able to see to be certain seems to be the reason for the cardio specialist visit.

I had hoped that the specialist would make a tentative plan for us, but it seems at 31 weeks, there is still quite a bit of time for things to change, so we are holding our plans loosely I suppose. There is always a possibility that the fluid could peak/stabilize or even begin to decrease, which either would be great!

However, at this point, with so much extra fluid, she reiterated the high risk of preterm labor - and that if my water breaks I will definitely know and to go immediately to an ER... since there is no telling what the baby or the cord will do if and when it breaks... the worst being the cord coming out first, thus cutting off the baby's supply of oxygen, when his head comes after it. The specialist is glad that I am not currently working and will be seeing me again next week, Wednesday, to keep an eye on my amniotic fluid levels. Until then I am trying to slow myself down a little bit, just to be on the safe side. They were surprised I don't often feel short of breath, with all of this fluid, but I suppose that is a good thing. :-)

Until next time... :-)

Baby Shower with Friends

Although at times it may be a bummer to live so far away from both of our families, it is times like last Saturday mid-morning/afternoon that remind us that we are surrounded by a different kind of family that is incredibly amazing!

My two girl friends, Amy and Inga, whom we met while living in Corpus Christi (December '08 I believe) threw the most amazing baby shower for Baby Dean and me! :-) Inga was a Kindergarten teacher (so much more fun and creative than a middle school teacher like myself) in Illinois for 3 years and Amy is a practicing RN who loves to and is always such a generous host! What a great duo, right?!

Hosts Inga and Amy! :-)

I quickly discovered they were going above and beyond when this is the invite that we got in the mail....

As Dr. Seuss was the theme, Amy handmade each of these Cat in the Hat hats and she and her husband, Kevin, made the green PVC/very Dr. Seuss-ish tree to hang them on!

The "brunch" spread of food - YUM!

Dessert
Homemade creme filled cupcakes made by Inga

Meagan, Jen, and Angela
All are VMM-263 wives, but Nolan and I have known most throughout flight school...

Current neighbor, Hilary (L), Old neighbor, Shana, (back), Sherri (front right)
Sherri is a fellow Texan and also a 263 spouse

Marley, 263 C.O.'s wife, and Carol, a friend from the base chapel that we attend on Sundays

A few Bible Study friends...
Ryanne, Erika, Sarah

A few more Bible Study ladies...
Laura (fellow Aggie, met in Corpus), Anna (fellow 263 spouse)

Gifts for Baby Dean!

Myself and Nolan as babies...

Opening gifts...

More gifts...

Nolan opens all the gifts that come to our house now, since I opened so many at my shower!

One of the many hand/home made gifts (my friends are super crafty!)
This one says Vote for Pedro (since Nolan looks like Napoleon Dynamite...)

Personalized Aggie jersey...

The sign Amy made... was EXACTLY at the same height as my Baby Dean belly! haha

One word:
Blessed! :-)
Our counter top full of gifts!

And gifts keep coming via mail!

What a wonderful day of celebrating the upcoming arrival of Baby Dean! :-) We look forward to meeting him and using all of said gifts - maybe in only 7 more weeks! Whoop!

38 weeks!?

Yep, you read that right, I saw an OB doctor yesterday and he measured my belly as 38 weeks; meaning I went from a 35 week belly to a 38 week belly in just 8 days! AHHH! AND only gained 1/2 pound - I am up to 20 and 1/2 pounds... Very strange if you ask me!

Aside from the belly measurement and listening to Baby Dean's heartbeat, which sounded fine - between 130-140 bpm (if I recall correctly, since I was totally shocked about the 38 week belly info), the doctor just talked with me briefly.

The doctor basically said I definitely need to see the maternal/fetal specialist before they will make any other decisions... They put in a referral, which will take 48 hours to go through, so I am praying that it will be in on Monday and the specialist will be able to see my by Friday (one week from today).

The doctor talked a bit about the possible causes of all of this fluid:
- gestational diabetes, but I passed that test very recently so they have no reason to think I have it
- birth defects, which they do not think Baby Dean has, since they have looked at him now 3 times and his initial anatomy scan looked normal
- no known reason, 60% - 65% of the cases have no known reason
- and finally he was the 3rd person to throw out the idea of us having TWINS! ya, I think that joke has long passed, but we shall soon find out I guess... LOL

The doctor also mentioned the risks associated with so much fluid:
- preterm labor
- if the baby was ever head down, and they decided to induce, the chances of him staying head down to deliver are slim (b/c he can roll around so much in the fluid) and the induction would likely turn into an emergency c-section
- my water breaking/going into labor could cause the cord to come out first and then Baby Dean's head could crimp the cord, thus cutting off his air supply
So, with just that little bit of information I am starting to more and more mentally prepare myself for a scheduled c-section - really doesn't sound like going into labor will do either of us any good... but of course we will wait to "see what the specialist" says. That was the doctor's phrase of choice yesterday...

I asked about starting the weekly non stress tests - the doctor said they usually don't start them until 32 or 34 weeks and I am only 31 weeks on Sunday... so maybe that will start in a week or so, after seeing the specialist.

I/We take comfort in knowing that if Baby Dean is born early, for whatever reason, after a stint in the NICU, he is likely to be fine! :-) WHOOP!
I will be doing my best, however, to keep him growing in-utero for as long as I can - praying my body doesn't know how big it is and decide to push him out sooner!
I am also grateful that I don't really feel like I have a 38 week pregnant belly; it is quite massive and gets in the way at times, but it is all I know, so keeping that "I feel good for the most part" mentality will hopefully carry us through the next (at least) 7 weeks! Since we really don't know anything for sure at this point, I somewhat fear I may not make it to 38 weeks, but I am now focused on one week at a time, which will take us to 38 weeks - technically a full term baby! :-)

Please pray for Baby Dean and my sake that we make it! :-) We can do this! :)

"Med-Up"

As of yesterday afternoon, Nolan is back med-up! :-) Whoop!!!

He has been med-down, meaning he couldn't fly, only do ground/desk type work, for a little over four weeks now!

He had a flight physical yesterday and all is well enough for him to get back in the cock pit! YAY Nolan! He was a little concerned about his vision, as his right eye has had a hard time blinking and shutting, but he passed the vision test!

I wouldn't say he is back to 100% of what he was prior to the Bell's Palsy (facial control wise), but he is well on his way and it is wonderful that he has recovered enough to be able to get back to flying! He will be doing a SIM (simulator) today to get reacquainted with flying the Osprey!
What a huge blessing! :-)

Added post...

Howdy all...

I added a post (that I wasn't quite done with until today) below the Polyhydramnios post, with pictures of our trip to Virginia / Washington DC... Whoop for those 10 days of leave! :-)

Crib and Blanket!

Last Friday night, we put Baby Dean's crib together... I say we, but Nolan did most of it. ;-)

Directions and pieces!

Getting there...

Almost done!

Proof that I helped! ;-)
That is the drawer that is at the bottom of the crib; neither of us knew it had a drawer! haha

"Big Sister" Sandi and her pallet outside the baby's room...
waiting patiently for us to be done.

Done! :-)

You might wonder about the mattress... being the coupon queen that I try to be, I have three or four 20% off one item at Babies R Us, so since they can be used after the 15th of October, we will be getting a mattress and a few other big items. Yay for saving money!

Crocheting Baby Dean's baby blanket...

I decided to make this baby blanket a bit different from the other 2 I had made previously, so I am doing a double crochet, which I learned how to do via youtube.com! ;-)
I am getting there... to try to make sure I get it done before he comes, my current goal is 2 - 4 rows a day, which takes me a few hours or so.

Polyhydramnios

You know it is going to be an interesting appointment with your midwife when she walks in the room and says "Oh, you are alone today. Ah.. what a day to come alone."

Nolan was able to make it to the ultrasound appointment in the mid-morning (which we thought we be more informative that it turned out to be), but headed into work before the midwife appointment later this afternoon.

Well, it is official. After having an ultrasound done this morning, I have been diagnosed with polyhydramnios - too much amniotic fluid - much like the midwife thought about a month ago.

The good news is Baby Dean looks good - weighs about 3 lbs. 4 oz. and is still measuring around his due date... Also good news is that when he moved his heart rate increased (like it is supposed to.) I passed my blood glucose test last week - scoring a 107 and a score of 135 implies possible gestational diabetes. My weight gain continues to be about a pound a week; I am up to 160, so a total of 20 pounds gained. I am 29 weeks and 3 days although I am still measuring, 5 weeks ahead, which puts me at 34 weeks.

Since I am now considered a "complicated/high risk" pregnancy there is a lot that goes with that.

They drew about 6 vials of blood to do various testing.. I will get the results of all of that next Wednesday at my appointment with an obstetrician, who I will likely now be seeing every two weeks for the remainder of the pregnancy (no more seeing a midwife).I will likely be sent to a fetal/maternal specialist (now that I am "high risk") to have a more in depth ultrasound done. There is no reason for them to think that Baby Dean has any birth defects (a possible cause for the excess fluid), however having this more in depth ultrasound will provide more information on that front...
I will begin weekly non stress tests at the Naval Hospital where I will sit for an hour and Baby Dean will be monitored; they will also measure the amount of amniotic fluid each week to keep an eye on that.
The obstetrician that I briefly saw today after the ultrasound wrote in his notes that they will look at inducing at 38 weeks - not really a fan of that idea since I have read that most inductions turn into C-sections - but maybe it truly will be medically necessary... or Baby Dean will beat them to the punch! ;-) We shall see.

And here he is! ;-)

So... who is he looking like to you? Nolan or me? Hopefully a bit of both! ;-)

Although the "diagnosis" seems to make things a little overwhelming, I think overall we are all doing well! I am having a bit of trouble sleeping as of late - I am a back/stomach sleeper, which is totally impossible at this point, so it is hard to get comfy, but I do manage to sleep 2 - 3 hours at a time! :-) In general, I feel good, I have had slight cramping the past two days, but the midwife attributes that to all of the stretching that my uterus is having to do - and at such a rapid pace. I have been laying down in the afternoons, when possible; I don't sleep per se, but it seems somewhat restful. Driving has become quite awkward over the past 2 weeks or so... Baby Dean seems to move straight up and push his head and backside into my ribs! haha He is quite active throughout the day and night, which I appreciate, since it lets me know he is still kickin' in there! ;-) (and punching and sometimes he does both at the same time!)

Virginia / DC trip

I suppose one could call it our "babymoon" - a vacation taken by a couple that is expecting a baby in order to allow the couple to enjoy a final trip together before the many sleepless nights that usually accompany a newborn baby. :-)
We did, however, very much enjoy our time visiting Josh and Jill (and Lily, their puppy), who recently moved to Virginia, as well as visiting DC, something that Nolan has talked about since we moved to North Carolina a little over a year ago.
It was a lot of fun in many ways, but most especially because we haven't been back since we moved in February 2007. We recalled many great memories we have of the area and times we spent together when Nolan was at TBS.
On our drive up, Friday, October 1st, we hit up the first Five Guys we found at the Virginia border! YUM! The car ride up for me was less than ideal, but thank God for Nolan being able to do all of the driving; I had to practically be laid out flat to keep somewhat comfortable. I was afraid it was going to be too much for his eye (that doesn't blink on it's own b/c of the Bell's Palsy), but all was well!

On Saturday, after Josh and Nolan hit up a 1,000 table gun and militaria show, the four of us went to lunch together at Panera Bread and then Nolan and I headed to the fairly new Air and Space Museum that's in Virginia....

We saw the Enola Gay...
(each engine puts out 2,000 lbs of torque... it has 4 engines, so a total of 8,000 lbs of torque to fly this plane... to put that in perspective to today's engines, just one engine on the Osprey puts out 6,000 lbs of torque!)

We were both surprised when we saw this!
The beginning of the Osprey!

Nolan and the original Osprey...
notice the capability for pilots to eject... the Osprey doesn't have that feature now...
although it does still have a single striped color on each blade to identify which blade is which.

On Sunday we visited this apple orchard that Jill had found that had a pick your own pumpkin patch as well...

I picked an apple! :-)
(I had never seen an apple tree.... at least that I can recall)

The pumpkin patch...

This sign is exciting because we kept following them and finally found the patch!

Josh and Jill

Baby Dean and me

You may notice that Nolan's right eye doesn't squint or close, that is the Bell's Palsy.
Over the long weekend that we were away, we were both grateful that Nolan's headache had gone away and his ability to move his forehead and lips was beginning to return... Eating has been a bit challenging as well, but it is getting easier for him! :-)

Kermit
at the American History Museum

Nolan pushed me around this museum in a wheelchair after the ever so thoughtful security guard at the front saw my huge belly when I went to unvelcro my raincoat! ha
It was a bit humbling to be pushed around, but it really was a great thing - we went at "Nolan speed" throughout the museum and I then had the energy to visit 2 more museums that same day!
We visited the Natural History and Air and Space Museums too!

Our last day there, October 5th, before starting the 5 hour drive home, we visited the National Marine Corps Museum outside of the Marine Corps Quantico Base gate... We also at at the museum's "Tun Tavern"... fun times!

Going on leave for 10 days, as well as this impromptu trip, was just what we both needed! It was so nice to hang out together again... Nolan had been gone for two weeks prior, and the week he came back (hardly any other pilots from the squadron were back) Nolan was working crazy hours, to cover various duties and schedule writing that needed to be done. Nolan's Bell's Palsy is still steadily improving... it has almost been 4 weeks... hoping for a full recovery by 8 weeks, but whenever it is, we will take it! :-)

28 weeks (and 4 days) photo!

4-5 weeks ................................................... almost 29 weeks
..................................................... measuring 33 weeks (maybe 34 now)

Well, here I am!

Since I am (and have been for a month now) measuring 5 weeks ahead of schedule I/we can't wait til Wednesday to find out what is going on in there!!! :-)

Yesterday, was my oh so fun gestational diabetes test.... I must say the orange drink wasn't too bad. I did the 1 hour test, if I failed it (which I didn't hear from them today, so I think I am good) I will have to do a 3 hour test...

Today, Nolan and I worked a bit on the nursery... since we JUST might be having this baby in 6 weeks instead of 11 weeks.... moving the last few things (a treadmill and tv/tv stand) out! We planned to get the crib and bassinet together, but I went to help a friend make a diaper cake and then to a squadron spouses' meeting, so we hope to do that tomorrow/this weekend.

Nolan also put together the stroller frame today, so we are stroller ready! :-) The car seat just snaps into this frame. :-)

We also purchased this baby bag with a gift card that my friend, Annan, sent! :-)

Lastly, last night was our first Lamaze/Childbirth Education class.... it was quite informative for both of us!