Due date = still no baby

She's perfectly content hanging out in there apparently.  On to tomorrow.  As long as she comes out healthy I can stand it a bit longer.  She's actually really good in there.  I won't ever be able to use the "You used to kick me in the ribs" guilt trip with this one.  She never has. ::knock wood::  But the poor thing is just running out of room.  I think she'll be much happier out here where she can stretch a bit.  Don't you think?

So, I've been keeping myself busy today.  I think nesting has officially kicked in.  I completely organized the nursery and made sure it's presentable.  What do you think?  A confession-  this is what it started out looking like:

Just terrible. Even Sophie almost got lost in there.  It was our catch all room. Now, it looks like this:

Chiisai approves.  :) I love it.  Now I just need to have some stuff to hang on the walls.  Maybe I'll pick up some little shelves or something tomorrow.  And we have to get an actual knob for the door.  Right now it has a pull down handle type knob and Sophie cat has figured out how to open the door.  She thinks the crib is hers and Zoe has taken to the bassinet.  Not gonna happen.

Oh, and here's some belly pics.  Last week, 39 weeks

And 40 weeks!  Taken tonight, May 29th, the EDD.

So folks, until tomorrow, send some quick labor thoughts my way. Good night!

No news and some rambling

Nothing new to report.  She's still head down.  Her fluid levels are good.  I got in a bonus ultrasound.  Hooray!  And that's about it on the baby front.

Mike really thinks she's going to come this weekend.  I asked if he wanted to go to a movie and he said, "Well, I'm kinda scared.  I don't want you to start having contractions during the movie." Haha.  So are we staying home until she comes then?  I'm not planning on it.

Today was also my last day of work.  I was originally planning to work until she came.  But, my office manager got a long term sub for me weeks ago and I decided today to take advantage of that. There is so much to get done before the end of the year (report cards, comments, awards, assessment scores, etc...) that I decided that it would be much less stress on me to have time to get these things done at home.  Then, I can go in after the school day is over and get everything put in.  It will be so nice not to have to worry about how to fit it all in AND teach during the day. I told my kids today that they would have a new teacher starting next week.  They were actually really excited because they know the baby could be here any time.  I said I would probably come in to visit and that I would tell their sub when the baby came.  So hooray - no more work (well, no more going in to work) until AUGUST!  ::happy dance (as much as my pregnant, swolleness (sp?) will allow)::

I will leave you tonight with a few pictures from my baby shower.  One of my best friends made me an amazing baby scrapbook with shower pictures and lots of open pages created for me to put in pictures and info for all the holidays and important events for her first year.  So great!  And now I have pictures to share. :)

Family picture. My mom, my grandma, and me. My grandma was so excited. She's almost blind now but she was so happy to be there. I'm so glad she made it.

My MIL, me, and my mom. Can you see the excitement on my mom's face?

I love this picture. My mom kisses and talks to the belly every time I see her. I'm glad I have a picture of this so I can remember it forever.

This shot requires some explanation. It's my reaction to the next picture.

This is the baby sampler that my mom is making for the baby. A bit of background on this: I saw this baby sampler in one of my mom's cross-stitch magazines when I was 8. I told my mom I wanted it when I had a baby. I remember her saying "Kate, do you know how BIG that sucker is?" Well, no, I didn't - I was 8. Anyways, apparently, my mom bought the pattern then and has saved it for 20 years. She started it when I was pregnant with the baby we lost.  She started working on it again when we got pregnant this time. She kept it all a big secret.  And now it's almost done. And let me tell you - it's HUGE! Seriously, it's at least the size of a receiving blanket. And the pattern was 12 PAGES long. Isn't it great though?! I love all the little animals and the little angels watching over everything.  I can't wait to see it completely finished and hung in her room.

ONE WEEK until the due date!

Be careful what you ask for

So, yesterday's post asking for progress must have worked. Just a little. Don't worry, I'm still here. Baby is still there. Everything's good. But last night I had a pretty serious case (bout, session?) of contractions. They weren't really painful for the most part. But they were about five minutes apart and the whole shebang lasted for a solid four hours. We didn't get to go to sushi. I didn't go to the hospital (my thinking- "These aren't too bad. I'd rather be uncomfortable at home whre I can eat and drink and move around than uncomfortable in the hospital.") Mike and I are hoping that this development moved the little one down and she's getting ready to come soon.
I have an NST today, so I'll check to see if she's changed positions or any of that. ::fingers crossed:: she'll be here before the end of May.
T-8 days until she's due.

Fears. I has them.

I must have fears of my doctor.  I don't feel like I have fears but every time I go, my blood pressure shoots up.  WTH body?  To prove my point, I give you this example from today.

I had an NST at 1:30.  I was running late by about five minutes and worried that I was going to put the very nice NST lady behind schedule.  I got in, sat down, hooked up, and then nice lady took my blood pressure.  118/84.  Perfect she said.  She looked back over my charts and noted that my blood pressure has never been high there.  I could tell she was kinda wondering why exactly I was there since she hadn't seen any reason for it.  But she didn't say anything.  The rest of the NST went well.  Baby's baseline heart rate was around 120 with really good accelerations up to 154.  Go baby!  And all my fluid levels are "perfect."  So, good to know I'm not leaking anything that shouldn't be leaking yet.

Jump to my doctor's appointment.  I had run some errands in between the two appointments so I was feeling pretty proud of myself.  I was running late but not worried because the office is ALWAYS running behind.  I signed in, sat down, and waited while reading my book.  I got called back maybe 10 minutes later.  Sat down on the table and the nurse took my BP.  140/90.  WTH!?  An hour ago it was perfect!  What do you people do to your blood pressure cuff?  It can't be me, right?  I think I must have a fear of the table.  Yeah, that's it.

Other things learned at this appointment: The doctor will allow me to go one week past my due date without induction "unless my blood pressure skyrockets."  In which case, he wants me to deliver at 39 weeks.  That would make May 22nd.  To which my thought is, "Which BP readings are we using?"  Because, as we have just learned, my BP is only high at YOUR office.  At home I'm great.  NST's office is perfect.  So let's just hope he'll take that into account.  I REALLY don't want to be induced.  Especially since it doesn't seem to be necessary.

It's been so long I've forgotten

I have no idea where I last left you guys off.  Was it two weeks ago?  Three?  I have no idea so I'll just start with basics.  

Everyone here is good.  Baby is growing, I'm growing, Mike's growing (much to his displeasure).  I swear, his belly wass keeping up with mine until about a month ago.  Haha!  I would love to update with pictures, but alas, my camera cord has completely run away.  We can't find it anywhere.  ::sigh::

I can't believe how close we're getting.  A little more that 5 weeks and she's due to be here.  WOW!  And we have almost nothing done or ready for her.  Alright Kate, get on top of things.  Our plan is to paint the nursery this weekend and get all her furniture set up.  I think once that's done, I'll feel I have things more under control.  My showers are coming up.  Work shower is at the end of the month and family/friends shower is the second weekend of March.  I'm looking forward to them. Then I can start sorting and returning and washing and all that fun stuff.  ::deep breaths:: We'll make it.

My blood pressure has continued to be high at doctor visits.  Last time was 142/91.  When I take it at home though, it's all good.  I told the doctor that it's just them.  They freak me out.  Still no protein in my urine.  No swelling.  Nothing other than the high bp for any signs of pre-eclampsia. So that's all good.  

The doctor is still being very jump-the-gun proactive about it though and has me doing twice weekly neonatal stress tests.  I get to go in  lay on a recliner hooked up to belly monitors that check for her heartbeat and any contractions.  Plus I get a spiffy little push button thingy to click each time I feel her move.   So far all's well.  Her heartbeat goes a little low at times but then shoots right back up so no one is concerned as of now.  We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

In other news, we got rear-ended today.  Before anyone freaks out, we're all good.  My car is fine except a small dent and crack in my bumper.  I'm just freaked out.  I'm worried about every twinge that *might* not be normal.  Mike's pretty calm about the whole thing.  I have a feeling that by tonight we'll be making a trip to l&d.  I really don't want to be *that* pregnant lady but I would rather be safe than sorry, ya know?  I'll let you guys know what happens.

Now, I'm going to go lay down and rest with a good book, a cuddly pug, and two protective kitties.

Where to start?

I haven't blogged in so long that I don't even know where to start.  So the time between blogs has gotten even longer and then more happens and then I'm even further behind.  Ahhhhhhh!  It's a vicious cycle I tell ya.  So, today I'll just do a listy type blog and give you the basics of the past few weeks.

1.  My students know I'm pregnant.  Yes, finally.  I told them during a St Patrick's Day writing lesson about why I'm lucky.  Their reactions:  "I knew it!!!"  I had to laugh.

2. My 24 hour urine collection (affectionately referred to as "The Pee Jug" by Mike and me) results came back perfectly normal.  No proteins (or at least the normal amount).   When I dropped it off though, the nurse had to make a stupid comment.  Here I am, carrying in a bag with my jug 'o pee, feeling stupid enough.  I walk back to the lab to give it to the tech.  Lo and behold, she's not there.  Great.  So a nurse comes by and asks if she can help.  I tell her I just need to drop off my 24 hour urine collection thing.  She says "Oh, well do I just need to leave it?"  Yep, that's all.  She says, "Oh, I can take it for you then."  And she does.  Then she looks in the bag and says, "wow, that's a lot of urine!"  Gee, thanks.  My reply was, "Well, apparently you pee a lot in 24 hours."  

3.  All that being said, I'm still being monitored for signs of pre-eclampsia.   My blood pressure at the last appointment was 148/72.  The doctor came in and said, "Well, you're not going to like this, but I'm going to need you to do the 24 hour urine collections every two weeks."  Ugh!  I pretty much begged not to to.  I asked if there was anything else.  Can't I just get some specimen cups and some of the little dip stick things the doctor's office uses? Apparently no, those aren't as reliable.  So, I'm on pee jug duty again today.  And every other Sunday it seems for the remainder of the pregnancy.  But as long as it leads to a healthy baby in the end, I'll deal.  It could be worse.

I have other updates and stuff to make (with pictures!) but I need to find my camera cord before I can share.  So, that's all for now. 

Yup, still high.

And it's been a completely crappy morning.  Arg!

The bottom line is, my bp this morning was 140/70 and I'm "borderline" and need to get a blood pressure cuff to keep track at home.  I'm not on bedrest but I need to "take it easy." (as if I've been oh so busy up to now.)

And now I need to vent.  I'll completely understand if you want to just skip over all of this.

Added stress #1 -  I drove Mike to work this morning.  Then had about a half an hour before I needed to head over to the doctor's office.  I thought about going in to school just to settle the room a bit more for a sub but I was afraid I'd get stuck there.  So I went to the store to get some shopping done.  I get all my stuff scanned then go to pay with my debit card.  Oh fabulous - it's in Mike's wallet.  Thank goodness I had a credit card on me.  I hate putting stuff on the card.    

Added stress #2 - I packed up all the stuff into the car and headed to the doctor.  I decided to call work just to make sure they had received my sub plans.  No.  The office manager is not in today and they can't get the plans from her e-mail.  Can I please send them to someone else in the office?  Umm, no, I can't.  I'm in the car on my way to get a blood pressure check which I'm sure is skyrocketing right now.  I decide to flip around and print off the plans myself at school.  Then I'll be sure they're there.

Added stress #3 - I get to work.  At this point it's 8:00 and I should be at the office. I walk into the office and run into my principal.  She asks "so, your blood pressure's ok?"  "Um, well, I don't know yet.  My sub plans didn't get printed so I'm here to print them then I'll go to the doctor." She looked confused and I walked off.  I headed into the office and asked the clerk if I could use her computer to print my sub plans.  She stared at me like I had three heads.  I repeated my question.  She said,  "well, can't you just use your printer?"  I answered "well, I supposed to be at the doctor right now and I need these printed."  "Why can't you just use your printer?" "FINE, I'll use my printer" and I turned and stormed out.  Yes, looking back it was a little melodramatic but WTF?  Couldn't she just stick in my flash drive and print up the stupid plans?

Added stress #4 - So I head all the way out to my room (it's in an outside building) and boot up the computer (which takes FOREVER and a day).  It was finally ready to go and I stuck in the flash drive and go to print the plans.  Oh look, your computer and printer aren't talking to each other.  OF COURSE!  I started messing around with settings and junk, yelling at the stupid printer and computer, and 20 minutes later, I had plans for my sub.  I would have been done in 3 minutes if the clerk had just let me use her printer (I'm still bitter.  Can you tell?)  Off to the doctor now.

Added stress #5: I get to the doctor's office at 8:35 and tell the nurses I'm there for a blood pressure check with Vivian.  "Oh, she's not at this office today."  Are you fricking kidding me?! "She's at our other location.  Can you go there?"  I asked "Isn't there a nurse here that can take my blood pressure reading?  Really, that's all I need."  At this point, I'm fighting back the tears and a scream is lodged in my throat.  "We'll call Vivian and see."  The answer is yes, another nurse can do it but they're all in a meeting right now.  "We'll call you when someone's available." Thanks.  

I finally get called back about 15 minutes later and tell the nurse that I've had a really stressful morning.  She takes the reading and I'm at 140/90.  I break down crying and mumble "damn." She's really sweet and says "Ok sweetie, just calm down and we'll take it again in a few minutes." She brought me a glass of water and let me sit for about 5 minutes then took it again.  It was down to 140/70.  So, better but still high.  She would call it in to the doctor and they'd get back to me.

So I head out and cling to my phone.  I'm dying to know what they're going to say.  I call Mike and tell him what's up.  Then, I wait. And wait.  And wait some more. I try calling my mom when I get home to give her the update.  I can't phone out.  Um, ok.  Then I get an e-mail from Mike about an hour and a half later - my phone isn't working.  I can't call out and apparently no one can reach me either.  Great. Luckily the doctor has his number and got in touch with him.  They're not putting me on bedrest but I need to take it easy.  I also need to get a blood pressure cuff and start taking my blood pressure at home.  If it goes high and stays high, I need to go to L&D.  (let's hope that doesn't happen)  

Anyways, that's my update.  Hopefully my phone starts working and I can try to call the doctor myself.  All in all, it could be worse but I'm still worried.

Houston, we have movement

And we have had really noticable kicking/punching for a little more than a week now. They're so strong that Mike can feel them from the outside already. Quick story that cracked us both up:

The first time Mike felt the baby move, it kicked him right in the head! He was laying on my tummy talking to her and suddenly - bam- right in the cheek. Then two more above and below the temple. Hahaha. She can already defend herself. :)

And for your viewing pleasure (or just my memory if you don't enjoy them), here are some belly pics.

18w in Phoenix visiting Mike's family

18w in Phoenix

21w here at home. I know you can't really see the belly but I like this picture.

21w. Sorry for the blurriness. It's hard to take your own belly pics.

Oh and none of my kids have said anything yet. I'm amazed every day.

It's Aliiiiive!!!!!

My laptop that is. Oh internet, I cannot tell you how utterly happy I am about this. Mike's been laughing at me because I have been stroking my keyboard and saying things like, "Oh, I have missed you so much" and "Don't ever go away again, ok?" and "I love you computer." But truly, I am sooo glad to be able to relax on the couch and surf away. What does this mean for you? Hopefully, I'll actually be able to update more often. Hooray! And pictures will be making a return. :)

Funny story for the day:
I was walking into the school this afternoon for lunch. I hear behind me in small whispers "hurry! she's going inside. go, go!" I glance behind me and three little girls from another classroom are hurrying toward me. I continue walking. They call my name just before I reach the door. I turn around to three faces staring up at me. "Mrs. M, are you having a baby? Yes or no?" Hmmm, must be showing more than I thought. I was taken aback my the bluntness. No wishy washiness there. No room for wiggling. I quickly thought through all of the options: Lie. Truth. None of your business. What do you think? Why do you ask? I decided on truth. Why not? If anything were to happen at this point, I would be out of work for awhile anyways so I supposed it couldn't hurt anything. "Yup" came out of my mouth. The complete and utter shock on the girls' faces was priceless. They went running off yelling, "Mrs. M is having a baby!" I was expecting to come into a barrage of questions when I picked my kids up from lunch but got nothing. Not a word from any of my kids. I'm thinking it won't take long for word to spread though.

I must admit that I'm happy it's been put out there. Because really, how do you bring up pregnancy with a group of seven year olds? And when?

My doctor's appointment is tomorrow. Hopefully we'll discuss the ultrasound. And I'll get to hear the heartbeat again. :) I'll be sure to keep you all updated.

((hugs)) to all. I have missed you!

OH MY GOD, IT'S A..........

GIRL! She had everyone but Mike fooled. You should have seen the huge smile on his face the whole afternoon. Even the ultrasound tech before looking for the sex said "I'm thinking boy for you." The poor girl has apparently been blessed with her daddy's big hands and feet already. Let's all hope she grows into them.

Everything is looking great according to the tech. HB 141 and she was wiggling around all over the place. It's amazing that I can't feel it yet. On the screen the baby looked HUGE. She's measuring right at 19 weeks (which is where I originally thought I should be according to ovulation time and all that) so I'm happy. We'll see if the doctor changes the EDD when I go in for my appointment on Thursday. I have another u/s set up for February 13th. The tech couldn't get as many angles of the heart as she wanted so she wants me to go in again. Dang. You mean I have to see my baby AGAIN?! Alright, twist my arm some more. HAhaha.

I'm going to try to get the pictures scanned soon so I can show you how cute she is already. I'm so excited!

I have found a way back to you!

Hooray!!! I apologize so much for the long silence. Blame this as Mike has been playing it just about every night since he got it for Christmas. And I know that If I mentioned that I wanted to get on the computer, he would get off without an argument, but I feel bad. I just want my laptop to work again!

Anyways, internet, HELLO! Apparently blogger is not banned by the school district's communist internet blockingness. Yaay! So I am updating from school. This unfortunately means that I can't post any pictures. And I have some great ones from our trip to Phoenix while we visited Mike's family.

AlthoughI was worried about it, the visit was actually pretty good. My favorite part: We went to the Desert Botanical Gardens and saw the Chihuly exhibit. It was absolutely amazing! The things that man creates are awe inspiring.

I also got a great video monitor and a breast pump from Mike's mom for Christmas. So yaaay! Two big items out of the way already. I was so excited when I opened the monitor. I think Mike thought I was nuts. Haha.

In other pregnancy news, our Big Ultrasound is tomorrow. ::deep breath:: I keep having slight panic attacks. I know that in all likelyhood, everything is fine. But the "what if's" are getting to me. I don't know how to stop them either. So I just keep taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. It's working less and less. I wish that I had taken the entire day off tomorrow and not just the afternoon. I don't know how great a teacher I'll be what with the anticipation and anxiety. Oh well, the kids will survive one half day with a crazy teacher. Oh wait, they do that every day.

And since some of you are probably asking the same thing EVERYONE has asked us, we will find out the sex of the baby if a good oportunity presents itself. If there is no doubt about what the baby is, we want to know. If the u/s tech can't get a great shot, we're not worried about it. So, wish us luck tomorrow that all is well and good and that we will (or won't depending on your preference) know which team the baby will be on.

And as a parting question: What do you think is in there? I've been thinking boy from the beginning and Mike's been all about team pink. He's so confident that he's got me wondering and now I'm all confused. Everyone else that we've talked to thinks boy but is hoping for girl. What's your thought?

(Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors. I'm not going back to edit this as the bell is going to ring very soon and I still have stuff to get done around this classroom.)

I'm out!

Of the pregnancy closet that is. My work holiday party was Friday night. At a wine bar. Yes, a wine bar. Perfect place for the pregnant lady. Most of the people that showed up are the people that show up for every get together so we're all pretty close. Some knew about our IF struggles. Most knew that I rarely drink. (an aside: In fact, I was getting teased at the beginning of the night being asked, "Where's your root beer?" It's a standing joke because I usually brought sodas of some sort to the happy hour gtg's (because most times I was in the dreaded 2ww).)
Anyways, I dodged around questions for most of the night. Finally during dinner, I broke down and asked for a glass of water. One of the teachers across from me said, "You're drinking water? Is that all you're going to have?" I answered back, "Probably." Her reply - "Why?" Here I paused mid sip of water and debated spilling the beans. My thoughts were flying. Should I or not? Well, I'm 15 weeks and things should hopefully be ok from this point on. I'm going to start showing soon and then they'll know anyways. I'd rather tell than have rumors flying. Then again, that's kinda rude to ask. Who cares why I'm drinking water?!
My answer came out mid thought. I didn't even look up from taking my sip of water through the straw. "Because I'm pregnant." Hoorays, congrats, and all that jazz followed. Questions about how far along I was and what my due date was. Lots of excitement over our "good timing" for the EDD. (I had to laugh at that one. We just got really lucky there.)
Then came something I wasn't expecting. From two different people on two separate occasions that night I heard, "I noticed you were getting kinda chubbier around the middle but it would have been really rude to ask anything." Apparently, I must have some sort of bump. I attribute it to the fact that I don't bother to "suck it in" anymore. But nonetheless, I will start taking belly shots this week to see if I can spot any differences.
All in all, I'm really relieved that people know and that word will spread on its own now. Yaay.
Now, off to write x-mas cards and then to the store. Then, I should probably write lesson plans for next week. Yes, I'm a fabulous teacher. Didn't you know? Haha.

Normal?

So, I hardly ever weigh myself. Comes from years of being overweight I suppose. But this morning I really wanted to know how much I've gained. My jeans are all pretty tight now even though I'm still not showing a damn thing. So anyways, I got on the scale. And I've LOST 10 pounds. Is that normal? Is it hurting the baby? I knew peoplw lost weight during pregnancy but I thought it was due to morning sickness and stuff. I'm able to keep all of my food down and have been throughout the pregnancy. Please just tell me I'm crazy. And then tell me that I'm not suddenly going to gain a bazillon pounds now that I've voiced concerns over this lost weight.