Dr. Appt.

I had a routine appointment today. I've gained five pound in the past four weeks. Eek. It was expected though...I've been eating nothing but fast food lately. Doc said the ultrasound showed no problems and the fibroids are very small and shouldn't pose any problems. My blood pressure was higher than normal, but still in the normal range. Last appt. it was 98/54. This appt. it was 122/78. I go back in three weeks for my "long" appointment in which I discuss my labor/birth wishes, what to look for in regards to preterm labor, where to go when I go into labor, etc.

I've been told that at this point in time, there's no reason to call the doctor or hospital if I think there is something wrong...to just go straight to the hospital. That really made me realize just how close I am to having this baby! Oh my gosh, we're already talking about when I go into labor!!! After my next appointment, I start appointments every two weeks, then at 36 weeks, I start weekly appointments!

I expressed my concern over the change in due date and the doctor said that the ultrasound can be off by up to two and a half weeks and that he's fine letting me go up to five weeks "overdue" as long as the baby looks good to compensate for the amount that the ultrasound could have been off and that some babies just need 42 weeks to fully mature, but he wasn't comfortable letting me go any further than that, which I'm fine with. So, baby can come at any point from June 9th to July 21st without any intervention to stop or start it.

It's a...

GIRL!!!

I had my ultrasound on Friday and I got to see my beautiful baby GIRL that is now due on June 23rd because she's a porky two pounds! I'm unsure how I feel about changing my due date. While I don't know exactly when I conceived, I find it hard to believe that I was pregnant that long without knowing it. My biggest fear is that, as usual, I just have a big baby that looks like it should be due earlier than we thought, but isn't ready to be born until it's original due date. However, with changing the due date, a baby that isn't born until the beginning of July is going to look like it's quite a bit overdue, when it really is just larger than your average baby, but developmentally, is right where it's supposed to be at term. The further past your due date you go, the higher chance that the doctor is going to want to induce. They start pushing it at a week overdue (which will be June 30th) and basically force you to do it at two weeks past your due date, which will be July 7th, which if you go by my LMP is only two days overdue. So, my concern is that the doctor will start pushing for an induction when really, the baby just isn't ready to be born yet and while it's completely my choice, what if this due date IS right and I really DO go two weeks overdue, at which point the infant mortality rate rises significantly.

Everything looked good on the ultrasound, with the excpetion of some fibroids, which I will be discussing with my doctor on Friday. As long as we monitor their growth and they don't grow too much, they shouldn't pose any problems. :)

I'm so excited to be having another little girl!

He got something special too!

So, I have my ultrasound on Friday. The girls asked if they could go and I told them that they could. When Cole found out the girls were going, he really wanted to go. Drake automatically told him no because he wanted me to be able to focus on the ultrasound and the baby and not have to worry about Cole, who, while an incredible kid, has the pent up energy of a five year old boy and finds it difficult to sit still at times.

So anyways...Cole has been really bummed about not being able to go to the ultrasound. Yesterday, the baby was moving around quite a bit, so I called Cole into my room and he was able to feel the baby kick! The kids have all been DYING to feel the baby kick, but none of them have ever been able to because the little stinker always stops moving as soon as someone puts their hand on my belly. He's been bragging ever since then that he got to feel the baby kick. He's not quite so bummed about missing the ultrasound anymore because he got to be "special" and feel the baby kick before anyone else.

Appointment today

So, I had a routine appointment today. Blood pressure was 100/64, so pretty normal. The doctor checked for a heartbeat, but couldn't find it. I wasn't worried at all, oddly enough. Normally that would have me freaked out, but the thought that something could be wrong couldn't have been further from my mind. I was just excited that I got an ultrasound to find a heartbeat. lol Sure enough, there was the baby, and there was his/her heart just beating away! Unfortunately, the ultrasound at the doctor's office isn't a very good one. He just uses it to find a heartbeat and to see if the baby is head down at the end of the pregnancy if he thinks the baby is breach. So, all he could tell me was, "Yep, there's the baby. Yep, there's the heart beating! Baby is laying sideways and facing towards my back, so we couldn't get any good pictures. We got one that has a faint outline of the baby and a dark spot where the heart was beating. I don't have my scanner hooked up, so you don't get to see it though. There really isn't much to see anyways. lol

In three weeks I go for my ultrasound and in four weeks I have another doctor's appointment :)

Oh, and I gained seven pounds in the past four weeks. ICK!

Not much to update

I've been feeling the baby kick regularly lately, which is tons of fun! Drake can even feel him/her from the outside, which he loves. The kids haven't been able to feel the baby kick yet, but I'm sure they will soon enough. (Which isn't soon enough, according to them. lol) I have a doctor's appointment on Friday. It's just a routine, "How are you feeling, let's listen to the heartbeat, wow you're fat," kind of appointment. Okay, he doesn't actually say the last part, but it's how I feel when they make me step on that scale. lol

I have an ultrasound scheduled for the sixteenth of March. I'm really excited to "see" the baby and find out if I can start saying "him" or "her" instead of him/her. lol It's also payday, which means I get to go shopping on the way home from the appointment while Drake is still at home with the kids. Shhhhhh...don't tell him that though! I'll probably just get a "I love my daddy" shirt in pink or blue so I can tell Drake that way what the gender is. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm sure I'll bring home a lot more than that. lol

I've been feeling fine, but eating VERY poorly. I really need to get a handle on that. I feel sick as I shovel so much fast food into my face, but it tastes SOOOOOOO good. BAD Katie! I need to get back on my elliptical.

I've been SO exhausted lately. I think I've just been staying up too late. I get my macchiato in the morning, which keeps me alive for the short amount of time that I need to get things done (get the kids off to school, Drake off to work, etc.) but then I just crash and feel terrible because the boys are stuck playing Wii all day (which they LOVE, but I hate that they have to entertain themselves) and Sera just wanders aimlessly around the house tearing things apart, and I just don't have the energy to clean up after her, so the house is a catastrophe! I'm sure exercising, eating better and getting to bed earlier will help with it, I just need to find the energy to actually do it...it's quite the catch 22.

Anyways, other than that, nothing much new. If there is anything to update after my appointment on Friday, I'll let you know! :)

So many emotions

I have been an emotional wreck lately. I've had these immense highs and these really, really low lows. Goodness, I hate this part of being pregnant! Every emotion I experience seems ten times worse or better than it actually is. I find myself snapping at the kids for the tiniest things. I find myself getting on Drake's case about stupid things that wouldn't normally bother me. I find myself taking offense to things that are obviously not meant to offend. I get upset when Drake says something that I would normally laugh off because I TOTALLY know he's joking. It's driving me CRAZY! I hate being a hormonal, emotional mess. lol I'm freaking crazy when I'm pregnant and I can't help it! I TRY not to do it, but I fail miserably. lol

Today, I was reading the blog of a woman who just lost her baby. :( She was 41 weeks pregnant, went in for her non stress test, and they couldn't find the heartbeat. I cannot even begin to imagine the anguish she must have gone through to find out this baby that she so desperately wanted and loved was gone. I think that losing a child is every parent's biggest nightmare. I can't imagine going through an entire pregnancy, planning, hoping, wondering, loving, only to be told that you will never hold your child alive. My heart is absolutely breaking for her.

I am so very grateful to have been blessed with five amazing, healthy children. There are times that I feel like the odds are against me...like the more children I have, the more of a chance something terrible will happen. I know this is awful thinking. They say that one in four babies are miscarried. I'm on my eighth pregnancy and have suffered two miscarriages. Statistically, I'm right on track. (Which, in my pregnancy addled mind, is a bit reassuring for this baby lol) I heard last night on television that 1 in 8 pregnancies start off as twins, but only 1/10 of those finish the pregnancy as twins and that most people don't even know they were pregnant with twins because one of the babies dies before they even know they're pregnant. So, statistically, one of my pregnancies had a very good chance of starting off as twins. I don't know the statistics for still birth, but I feel as though I'm tempting fate with each additional baby that I have. When I had my second miscarriage, my mom told me that she had been very blessed and had never gone through what I was going through. She had five biological children. Statistically, at least one of them should have been miscarried. (What a terrible thought, I know!) Sadly, my first thought was, "Someone had to make up for that to keep the statistics right," and I prayed right then that I wasn't that person and that I wouldn't suffer another miscarriage because I didn't think I could emotionally handle it. My heart aches for women who suffer loss after loss after loss. They are much stronger than I am. I think I would just give up and make sure I never got pregnant again.

Anyways, this is all very depressing. I'm happy to be pregnant. I'm so ridiculously in love with this child already. I'm going to have a happy, healthy pregnancy and a beautiful, healthy baby come early July. I cannot wait!

Doctor's appointment

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday. She checked the size of my uterus and seemed a little concerned. She said that my uterus was the size she would expect from someone who was about 12-14 weeks along...not the 17 weeks that I was. Unfortunately, the ultrasound machine for the office was broken and I can't get an appointment with the radiology appointment for another four weeks. So, it's a sit and wait to see how big the baby is and if there is anything to be concerned about. After she measured my uterus, she looked for the heartbeat. It seriously took FIFTEEN MINUTES!!! Oh my gosh, talk about a VERY LONG fifteen minutes. After being told I was measuring at least three weeks behind, she couldn't find a heartbeat?!?!?! Yes, it was quite nervewracking. Thankfully, she did eventually find it and it was nice, strong and steady, so that relieved my fears a bit. I don't have another appointment for four weeks and right around that time I should also be having my ultrasound. Cross your fingers for me!

I've been feeling okay lately. I'm really exhausted, but doing well. I find there are times that I just forget to eat and boy does my body let me know it! I get horrible headaches and just feel like crap and it's usually right around then that I think, "Oh yeah...I haven't eaten yet today!" Duh, Katie! So, at least I'm eating well. lol

I think I'm feeling the baby kick, but it's still very faint. I can't wait for that first, undeniable hard kick. That's always fun! The kids can't wait until they can feel the baby move from the outside. They keep asking when that will happen. Patience grasshoppers...patience!

Emma has decided that she wants to be there when the baby is born. None of the other kids do though. So, as long as she continues wanting to be there, I think she's going to be there for the whole thing. She's very excited about being the kid who gets to hold and kiss the baby first. I think we're going to let her cut the cord as well.