9 months!!!

Whoop! We made it to 36 weeks... 9 months, although I am sporting a 41 week belly....

I am so grateful to have made it this far with such a huge belly full of amniotic fluid and about 6 pounds or so (now) of baby... :-) I really don't know if my doctors thought my body would hold out, but so far so good! Praying it can hold out just a tiny bit longer until we find out how developed Baby Dean's lungs are....

I feel like I look a bit tired in this picture, but overall I am still feeling good...

My blood pressure has been up and down, no real rhyme or reason, so who knows! :-)

For the most part the nursery is done... I really should post pictures, but we just decided on a rug (that should be here soon) and I still need to put some pictures in the frames I bought... so soon.. very soon! ;-)

Lastly, watch my belly grow from 0 - 9 months..... CLICK HERE

T-minus 10 days...?

Our maternal fetal specialist appointment yesterday went great! I am feeling much better about being so very high risk and nearing the end of this pregnancy. I am also extremely grateful that we now have a tentative plan... WHOOP! :-)

And here it is! ;-)

On December 2nd, at my Naval Hospital appointment, we will be scheduling an amniocentesis/possible induction for the week of Dec 5th. (what day exactly will depend on Naval Hospital availability for doing the amnio - not something they do too often at the Naval Hospital - I called and asked! haha)

The amniocentesis (which could bring on labor/other complications) is being recommended by the specialist to determine if Baby Dean's lungs are developed "enough" and if they are, they will induce labor and we will have a baby! :-)

If his lungs are not mature enough, I will be admitted to the hospital and stay until his lungs develop a bit more or until he decides to come on his own!

Although by doing an amnio/inducing they are trying to reduce the risks for Baby Dean and me, both procedures, as well as labor and delivery with polyhydramnios (all this extra fluid) still involve many risks... therefore, please continue to pray that all goes well and that we will never lose sight that God is in control! :-) And of course for Nolan who is and has been the most amazing support I could ask for through this not so normal pregnancy. Thanks!!! :-)

On a side note - my blood pressure has been much better over the past 3 days... I have been taking it a bit easy and I think that has helped! :-) YAY!! Also, based on his measurements, they believe Baby Dean weighs about 6 pounds! :-) Hopefully he will gain at least an ounce a day (the statistic) from now until he is born and he will weigh almost 7 pounds at birth! :-)

Looking forward to December 2nd to find out what day exactly we might be meeting Baby Dean!

Latest info

On Saturday morning I noticed my feet swelling (from the night before) had not gone down, so I thought I should maybe check my blood pressure... it was up! It ran about 138/87 over the weekend and into Monday if I was up and about and even sometimes just sitting on the couch could elevate it. The only way to get it down was to be lying down, so that is how I spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I also felt like Baby Dean had "dropped" on Saturday and was clued into what Braxton Hicks contractions felt like... my belly becoming a rock!

I contacted my specialist on Monday and her nurse advised modified bed rest until my Wednesday appointment with the specialist.... basically what I had done all weekend; laid down as much as possible, but still got up to do some things...

Now today, Tuesday, I went in for my weekly non stress test on Baby Dean and of course my blood pressure is FINE! White coat syndrome - now in reverse!
However, they did pick up a contraction (that I was well aware of, however wasn't painful) that lasted 8 minutes! CRAZY! So with that the tech brought in an obstetrician to chat with me, which is JUST what I was wanting since my next Naval Hospital appointment isn't until December 2 (the day they plan to set up my induction). The doctor began by telling me that if the baby was born now he would do quite well - his lung development at this point is such that I wouldn't need a shot to help him develop quickly and that the Naval Hospital would be able to take care of him there. It seems my uterus, which is very stressed at this point, due to all the amniotic fluid (which seems to be back up to 33 from 24 last week) is starting to get ready for delivery.

To the specialist we go tomorrow! Nolan is able to go with me so that is awesome! :-)

Getting Closer...

Since I have so many doctor's appointments each week, I will just summarize the three I had this week! ;-)

First was my non stress test on Baby Dean on Tuesday morning. Nothing too exciting about that one.... I hadn't really felt him moving much for the 12 hours prior so I mentioned that and he proceeded to make me look like a fool moving all sorts around! But, they were happy to see that he was awake and moving; as was I. :-) My blood pressure was roughly 117/72, which is awesome - yay!

Wednesday was our specialist appointment. They took a few more looks at his heart, just to be certain all still looks good, even though the peds cardiologist gave us the thumbs up! They also measured the amniotic fluid and believe I am down from 31-33 to 24. I thought that was fantastic news, however the specialist wasn't as excited. She reiterated that I am still very high risk and that if my water to break I am to immediately get to a hospital - no shaving my legs or even packing a bag! The tech also mentioned Baby Dean was doing a great job at "practice breathing," so that is cool! The specialist said she would see me next week and off we went!

Today, Thursday, I had my "every 2 weeks" appointment at the Naval Hospital with a general OB doctor who measured my belly, which is measuring 40 weeks now. (I am sticking with a 1 cm growth every 2 weeks, so that works I guess) My weight was up to 166, so I gained only 1 pound in 2 weeks, which isn't what I would have hoped for at this point, however I did lose some of that amniotic fluid weight, so maybe that is counteracting what Baby Dean and I really gained...
My blood pressure was okay - 120/83. The doctor measured Baby Dean's heart rate as 150bpm...
He also reiterated the high risk of all of this fluid - I mentioned I was down to 24 and he too didn't seem to think that that was too significant. He mentioned the risks of the cord coming out first, when my water breaks, as well as 2 new risks that I had not heard/thought about.... 1) with my uterus being so stretched that it may not contract like it is supposed to, after the baby is born, therefore meds will help with that, but depending on how much blood loss there is, there may be a need for a blood transfusion and 2) that with all of this fluid, as time goes on, the baby has more opportunity to get himself wrapped up in the umbilical cord - no bueno.
And finally, the shocker news of the day - from the notes he read it looks like they (the Naval Hospital) are planning to induce at 37 weeks! He said that they follow what the specialist says and she had said between 37 and 39 weeks, so I suppose they are going with the 37 weeks...
I was quite shocked, as somehow I had not gotten this vibe from seeing the specialist just the day before, soooo I put in a call to her office to confirm that that is what she is still recommending/maybe she needs to speak with the Naval Hospital to clear things up...

Edited to Add:
Today, Friday, afternoon, I heard back from the specialist - she confirmed that I wasn't crazy - she is not recommending induction AT 37 weeks JUST to induce... that will come at 39 weeks! LOL
So from now until 39 weeks, if my body begins to labor - my cervix begins to dilate or efface - they will admit me to induce labor at that point. She also mentioned that we are still a ways out and we can't really make definitive plans because of the many variables... I will see her on Wednesday and see where things are at that time.

USMC Birthday Ball!

November 13, 2010
Wilmington, North Carolina

I am wearing the ball dress I wore last year... I think it worked quite well, although you can see my Baby Dean belly brought the slit up significantly, but I went with it! :-) (I should take a picture of my toes... I painted them myself - I feel so accomplished! ;-) )

And here is a flash back photo....

November 7, 2003
College Station, Texas

This photo is from our very first birthday ball together at Texas A&M; it was called the Sea Services Ball since both Navy and Marine contract cadets attended. We went as friends, to this our first, of many wonderful birthday balls to come... We look young!
This year makes our 7th birthday ball together; I didn't go to the one in 2007 since it was just a happy hour (no dinner or ceremony) and I was working at crazy Bellview Middle School in Pensacola.

A few more pictures from this year's ball...

A real band for the ceremony - very cool!
It has always been a tape recording of the National Anthem and Marine Hymn...

Cake!

Thunder Chickens!

Baby Dean was using the side of my uterus to roll his feet or elbows or something across!
I just like to say he is doing back flips - haha!

Ladies and friends of mine at our table...
Anna, Erika, and Maghan

The Springs
We first met them in Quantico at TBS, but didn't really start to get to know them until Corpus Christi, Texas, when Chapman (and George) lived across the street from us in base housing.

Meagan and Nate Ross
A LOT of people in and outside of the squadron often confuse Nolan and Nate...
It has become quite humorous, but likely annoying for the guys... like asking Nolan "so you were able to get someone to watch your kids?" Nolan's response, "yea, Paige has got that covered for us..." or something to that affect....
I don't see the resemblance.

A few more friends!
Jen, Maghan, Erika, Me, and Emily

Most or all of the (junior) Captains in the squadron, ie - our friends/Nolan's peer group.
Not sure whose grand idea the leg over the banister was, but it doesn't look like too many of them enjoy it! ;-) ha
Pope, Spring, Withers, Dean, Beis, Ross, Zier, Cummings, and I think Hall

After the ball, which seemed to be done at 9:30pm (it went by really fast!), we all headed to a piano bar not too far from the hotel. I didn't have my ID to get in, so I opened my coat and explained that I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, 28 years old, obviously wouldn't be drinking and frankly I probably wouldn't be staying too long! LOL The ladies died laughing at my technique for getting in the door; it worked! ;-) It was quite loud, although not much more loud than at the ball (the music was way too loud, throughout dinner and during dancing), so we didn't stay more than a half hour or so... I had never been to one, so I thought it was pretty cool. :-)

Maternity Photos

http://www.abeautifulmoment-bymegan.com/

Click on Client Proofs and then Dean

Enjoy! :-)

You may notice the picture with the blocks that have the name Keaton.... a name we both really like, but have always thought it doesn't go too well with our last name, so when we got home from our maternity photos we started name searching again and think we have found THE one, but we are waiting until we see/meet him to "officially" name him!

Pediatric Echocardiogram

What a comfort to know that all looks well with Baby Dean's heart! :-)

Interestingly enough the ultrasound tech was looking at his heart from the other side of my belly (relative to when the other techs have looked) and his elbow, as well as other shadows were not a problem!

Although I was hoping Nolan would get to see more of Baby Dean at this appointment, they really did focus solely on his heart... it was pretty funny that in their evaluation, they were measuring his heart rate, first of his heart and then by using his umbilical cord. When they first went to use his umbilical cord it was going along and all of the sudden we heard a loud woosh... Baby Dean was "playing" with the cord! haha They had to start that one over! It never really occurred to me that his umbilical cord would have the same heart rate at his heart - truly amazing! They measured his heart rate a few times, to see that it changed, depending on what he was/wasn't doing. At first it was measuring at about 120, which I said was actually kind of slow for him, so I thought he was sleeping... maybe in a food coma from the yummy Jason's Deli we had for lunch. Sure enough, after 5 or so minutes of my belly being jabbed at to look at his heart, his heart rate increased to 130s -140s! YAY! Just like it was suppose to when he started moving around in there.

They see no need to see us or baby in the future, unless something comes up, they are happy to check on him! :-)

Praising God to have cleared that up!

On a side note, I had to fill out the usual "you are new to this doctor's office" form and when I got to the occupation question I couldn't resist.... I followed in my mom's foot steps of having a sense of humor about it, so I put "Domestic Goddess of the Dean Household." Who knew it would be such a hit with the staff?! And, as if they weren't cracking up enough about that... one nurse had said I looked familiar, so Nolan asked her if she knew who Deb from Napoleon Dynamite was... She totally saw Napoleon in Nolan... that funny tidbit also traveled quickly around the office... It was really funny to see them all get such a kick out of us... Having a sense of humor is always handy; even when you aren't 100% sure that your baby's heart is functioning correctly! :-)
I have to admit, Nolan and I were about 95% sure that the baby's heart was fine, but there was that nagging 5% that we are certainly glad to not have to think about anymore. :-)

More pictures!

Wow! Yes, there are more pictures of Baby Dean to share...

It is pretty crazy to think that when we first got pregnant we expected, but were kind of sad, that we would only see this baby two times before it was born: 1) to confirm we were pregnant and 2) around 20 weeks for the anatomy/gender scan....

Here we are with tons of ultrasounds and ultrasound pictures! I suppose they gave me some since Nolan wasn't able to come to the appointment and for that I am grateful! :-)







This last one makes the right side of his check look really funny to me, but it is still a cute picture!

The appointment with the specialist wasn't too eventful, but informative. :-)

They are looking forward to hearing what the pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Milazzo thinks about his heart... we will see him on Friday afternoon.

My blood pressure was 120/81, "textbook perfect" the nurse mentioned, and that I was carrying the 33cm of fluid very well! :-) That is always nice to hear. I feel good, but that makes me feel even better!

The ultrasound tech again had a hard time seeing the parts of his heart that they like to check on, but I suppose she got as many pictures as she could. I asked her if his right atrium looked a bit larger than the left and she didn't think so, but of course stated the doctor would have the final say.

Based on his measurements Baby Dean is weighing 5 pounds 2 ounces, meaning he gained almost 1 full pound in the past two weeks - they would like to see him gain about 1/2 pound each week, so he is doing well in that respect. The ultrasound tech stated that based on his current weight and gestational age he is in the 60th percentile. :-)

She also measured the fluid around the baby and came up with 32 cm. Last Friday they measured it as 31 something and two weeks ago they measured it as 33, so it seems that it has stabilized - GREAT NEWS!

Looking forward to sharing more great news on Friday!

Busy week ahead...

Monday is the squadron's Family Readiness Team meeting. I fulfilled all of the requirements to be able to participate earlier in the year, mainly because I'd like to be/stay in the "know" about upcoming squadron stuff/info during deployments... ;-) I have found that the Officer Wives meetings usually share this info first, but I still like to go to both gatherings.
(An aside to squadron things - I won 2nd place in the chili cook off they had 2 weeks ago... too bad I couldn't attend, but I was rushing to the first available maternal fetal medicine appt! We "won" two tickets to the Marine Corps Ball, a $100 value, however we donated them back to the squadron to give to the Marine of the Quarter or something... still really cool to win! :-) You may or may not recall that my Magic Cookie Bars, when Nolan was at VMMT-204 sold for $500 at the cake auction they had... that money that helped pay for the ball last year... Team Dean is pretty awesome at winning at squadron events! ;-) Go us! )

Tuesday is our Non Stress Test day at 9am until Baby Dean arrives. I will go back up to labor and delivery, but won't actually have to be in triage for the NST, since there will be a seat for me!
I suppose they will do a quick ultrasound to check my AFI (fluid levels) and then put me on the monitor for 45 minutes. If baby is looking good and active I can leave, if not, we go from there...

Wednesday is my appointment with the maternal fetal specialist, Dr. Lydia Wright. She just opened an office here in Jacksonville about a month ago and I suppose she is still building up business to see patients here more frequently... meaning that this week I will be driving to Wilmington (to her main office) to be seen. I am really looking forward to them measuring Baby Dean - I would LOVE to see that he is up to 5 pounds or more! :-)

Thursday - Veteran's Day! Yay for a day to hang out with Nolan!

Friday we are going to make a day of it and head to Raleigh for our pediatric echo-cardiogram with Dr. Milazzo at Duke. They have a Jason's Deli (a favorite eating place of ours since we began dating - I guess a little over 6 years ago...) I LOVE their broccoli cheese soup! and of course the turkey croissant I get, AND the soft serve ice cream! The last time we were in Raleigh we got a portion of soup to go and froze it - I think we might have to get 2 since it is soup weather! Although Jason's is fantastic, I am really looking forward to hearing great news about Baby Dean's heart, as well as Nolan getting to see him again!!! I have had all of these appointments lately, but Nolan hasn't seen him! Nolan has been seeing more of his movement from the outside, which is neat.

And finally, Saturday is the Marine Corps Ball down in Wilmington!
Believe it or not, I am wearing the dress I wore last year! haha
It bunches a little bit on my back (my spine is a bit curved due to my baby belly) but it fits the same otherwise and the best part is... it doesn't drag in the front for me to trip on since my belly lifts up the material! ;-) I think I will try "heels" (they are maybe an inch at most), but will definitely take some flats to be on the safe side! :-)

Pictures and more info as we get it! :-)

A few maternity photos...

We took maternity photos this morning... and the photographer posted these on Facebook for us a few hours after she took them!






I really love them all! I can't wait to see the rest of them! It should be about a week...

In the last one, I really wish Sandi would have been willing to lay down (she was quite distracted by barking dogs and being in a new place) or that I would have thought to ask to take a photo with us standing so you can see my baby belly! Oh well! I think I might still ask our awesome neighbor, Hilary, to get a picture of the 3 of us for a Christmas card photo... that you can see my Baby Dean belly in. :-)

Routine turns interesting...

I headed in to OB this morning for my routine "every 2 weeks" appointment and within an hour I was sent to L & D upstairs to be monitored... which turned into a 2 hour event...

All is well, but it did get a bit interesting there for a while...

Through my regular appointment I learned that my belly is now 39 weeks big - I will be 33 weeks on Sunday - so I roughly grew 1/2 cm each week over the past two weeks... (maybe I am slowing down!? yay!) and gained about 5 pounds, which quite honestly I had expected. I have been trying to eat a little bit more each day, maybe it's silly, but if he is going to be premature (which seems to be somewhat of a realistic fear) I want him to be the biggest premature baby we can get! :-) So, I am up to 25 pounds of weight gain - hoping for 10 or less more, but whatever it takes! ;-) The OB reiterated that if any unusual fluid is present/water breaking I am to immediately get to a hospital - I guess they don't think they have told me that enough! ;-)

I was originally sent up to L&D be monitored because my blood pressure was 136/90 when they checked my vitals at my OB appt.; an hour later it had not gone down, thus they were thinking pre-eclampsia had begun. I was likely going to be sent upstairs for my first, of many, weekly non stress tests, however the elevated blood pressure just added to that and confirmed it should definitely be done today.

The non stress test tech checked my AFI - she came up with 31.something; apparently it can fluctuate from one reading to the next if and when the baby moves around.

I was then put in a joint triage room and Baby Dean and I were hooked up to 4 different monitors. One for my heart rate, one that monitored his heart rate/movement, as well as contractions, blood pressure and pulse-oxygen. Baby Dean instantly showed them how active of a little guy he is - even the people on the other side of the curtain commented! LOL After being monitored for about 45 minutes they came in to tell me that Baby Dean was doing fine and my blood pressure, which the machine had been taking every 10 minutes or so, had steadily come down to about 126/86, so that was good, but the twist in it all was that I was having contractions (something they were not really expecting to see!) I certainly wasn't feeling them, although I think I might have a little bit of an idea of what they feel like since I had one while they were talking with me and they pointed it out...

Although my blood pressure was the first concern, with all of the fluid I have and a 39 week belly, they weren't too shocked about the contractions, but with a 32 week 5 day baby, I was deemed as having "preterm labor."
What a heck of a note.... I went upstairs to check on my blood pressure and now I am in preterm labor... okay God you have a plan, so let's see where this is going...

(On a side note - the girl on the other side of the curtain, who was 39 weeks was told she had pre-eclampsia and that she would be induced today... I could tell by the change in the sound of her voice she was a bit shocked and headed home to eat lunch and get her things to come back and have her baby... That really made me think this could be the day... but since I wasn't feeling the contractions I had a bit of realism that told me today can't be the day! ;-) )

With the preterm labor label they did a preterm labor workup on me: of the various things they did, one was the 37 week Strep B test, and another was to check my cervix. The best news of the day... My cervix is closed! WHOOP! No baby today - Thank you God!

In regards to God having a plan... guess who was up in L&D?! My midwife, who I saw from the beginning to about 23 weeks! What a relief to have a familiar face, as well as someone who was familiar with my pregnancy's history, in a time when I was seemingly all alone! :-)

All the while, Nolan is driving the 2 hours back from the Raleigh airport, on little to no sleep, after traveling through the night, changing planes 4 times to get from CA back to NC. Sure hope the Navy/USMC didn't pay much for those flights! ;-)

Pictures!

Today was another visit to the maternal fetal specialist and the ultrasound tech was awesome! Not only was she able to see that 4th part of Baby Dean's heart that they couldn't see well enough last week, she also gave me 7 pictures! WHOOP! (I had mentioned that I forgot to ask for one to show Nolan last week and that Nolan wasn't able to come this week either, but he would be home on Friday, so they were extremely generous and gave lots of pictures to show Nolan.. and you all as well! ;-) haha )

So... first, pictures of our super cute son and then to the details of the visit!




The other photos are: 3 profiles that are VERY similar to the first picture and another picture that proves he is still all boy! ;-)
I had a very crazy dream a few nights ago that the hospital tried to give me a baby girl and I was so confused and upset because I just knew that couldn't be right after thinking we were having a boy for all this time! LOL I shared this with the ultrasound tech when she found this part of his body, so I suppose she gave me that picture to reassure me that he is still a "he." haha

As for the visit, the tech first measured all of the pockets of amniotic fluid and share the number 33 with me. Apparently that number was 31.9 last Monday, so an increase of 1.1 in amniotic fluid.
Since this is the first time I have been given a "number" I did a little researching to find out that it relates to amniotic fluid index (AFI), which I had a come across in my polyhydramnios research, but I never had a number to compare myself with averages and such...
"If an AFI shows a fluid level of more than 25 centimeters (or above the 95th percentile)... then a diagnosis of polyhydramnios would be made. About 1-2% of pregnant women have too much amniotic fluid. Most of these cases are mild, with only slightly elevated levels." LINK

I also found that a normal range is between 8 and 18, with 12 being average...
Baby Dean and my body continue to "over-achieve" (as Nolan says) and are rocking 33, so let's just hope my body keeps managing the over-achieving and maybe even slows down a bit!

They will want to begin removing some of the excess fluid once I reach 50, however if I continue at a rate of about 1 for the next say 7 1/2 weeks (which will take us to 40 weeks) thankfully, at this rate, I should only get to 40-ish.

The tech spent the majority of the rest of the time trying to get a good look at that fourth part of Baby Dean's heart that they were having trouble seeing last week... She was successful in getting enough information for the specialist to say that the fourth part, the right atrium, looks good, however it is a bit larger than the left, which is likely due to all of this extra fluid. I asked the specialist what that means for him at birth, when he is no longer in all this fluid... she assured me he would be fine. She mentioned that the Pediatric Cardiologist will likely see no problem with this slight difference, however he will likely want to see Baby Dean when he is roughly a month old to be certain that all has worked itself out.

As if the 4D pictures weren't awesome enough, the tech also pointed out that Baby Dean was breathing and we watched his chest go up and down a few times - simply amazing!

All of the information from the specialist visit will be sent to the Naval Hospital OBs to keep them in the loop... Non stress tests at the Naval Hospital should start soon... Also, she is recommending they check my cervix (ahh - fun times! ;-) ) on Friday just to see if anything is going on (that I am unaware of) due to all this fluid.
The specialist and the tech, (different ones from last week) both, seemed quite surprised that I was feeling okay and not having trouble breathing so that must be a blessing I didn't even know about - since there seems to be so much shock that I am feeling good! :-) My proof to myself is that I can still tie my own tennis shoes! ;-)

There was also mention of inducing at 37 - 39 weeks, however it is still too early to make any decisions, because quite honestly there are so many variables that can still change at this point... so we will just keep looking one week at a time. :-)

I will go back to the specialist next week, (hopefully Nolan can come!) which will put me on a rotation of either seeing the specialist or the OB at the Naval Hospital each week.... for now...