I Made it to Oregon I made it to my parents' house without any delays or problems, thank goodness. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got here and it took about 13 hours of total travel time, but it was worth it. I'm having a great time shopping, sitting out on their sunny back patio reading and eating good food. It's a very low key vacation with a focus on rest and relaxation, and I feel better than I have since before pregnancy! I'm sleeping through most of the night too, which is amazing. And the bean is kicking up a storm, my Mom felt him/her last night and that was really cool.
Grandma has purchased a bunch of clothes for the bean, and I got a cute little tie-dyed onesie and matching floppy hat in Ashland yesterday. I also got some stationary for printing out this journal, a project I plan to tackle when I get home. This afternoon we will do a bit more maternity shopping and I'm going to look for a baby sling/wrap.
I can't believe I'll be entering the third trimester next week! I'm here through Wednesday, and I fly out that night for a long night of 3 flights. By the time I drive home from New Jersey it will be Thursday afternoon, and I'm planning to just crash. Then I have an ultrasound first thing Friday morning. The next couple of weeks are just going to fly by!
2006-08-28 (25 weeks)
The Good Balancing out the Bad
What a week it's been. I'm now 25 weeks along - yay! I had a good week of work and was fairly high energy moving into the weekend, which was good because I needed to pack to prepare for my long trip across the country. My plan was to spend Saturday packing and relaxing and then leave Sunday for my friend's house in New Jersey. I would stay there for 2 nights as I'm flying out early Tuesday morning. Well, I made it to my friend's house, but things haven't exactly gone according to plan!
Friday night John and I decided to go out to dinner. I ended up getting a chicken sandwich with mushrooms and goat cheese and ate half of it with some fries. Then we got ice cream too. Later that night I started to feel some heartburn/acid reflux/indigestion - which is nothing new these days. I took some Tums and went to bed, but had trouble falling asleep. After sleeping lightly for a few hours I woke up at 4 a.m., and that's when the violent vomiting began. I slept on and off through the morning, waking up 2 more times to vomit. I have to conclude it was food poisoning, most likely from the goat cheese. I won't be having that again for a long time!
I was in bad shape the next morning and John went out and got me ginger ale, saltines and ginger snaps. I sat around all day and tried to rehydrate and ended up throwing up again in the afternoon. Finally my stomach settled a bit after that, but I was exhausted and went to bed around 8:30. No packing for me. I woke up early Sunday feeling better - not great, but better. I managed to pack, keep some food down and get everything together for the trip somehow. After saying goodbye to John and my beloved pets, I got on the road and drove to my friend's house.
I hung out for a bit after arriving, then we got on the road again to go pick up the crib I had won on eBay! Luckily it wasn't a long drive and it was well worth it as the crib is absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to get it home and assemble it. We came back and lounged around for the rest of the day, and I finally got a decent night's sleep in her guest bed. I'm feeling better this morning, although definitely not 100%. I'll probably just nap and take it easy today in preparation for my early departure tomorrow morning. I have 2 layovers to get to my parents' house too!
Oh yes, there were some good developments to report too ;) John and I both got to feel the baby's kicks for the first time this week. I actually felt them several times and he felt them twice. And I saw my whole belly jiggle. The kicks are definitely getting stronger, and this food poisoning business hasn't seemed to have any impact on the baby as he/she is kicking away strong than usual. Thank goodness!
2006-08-22 (24 weeks)
24 Week Prenatal Appointment I had my regular checkup today and all is well. The doctor went over all the tests I had done last week for my little scare and said he feels confident that everything is on track with our little bean. He also said my weight and blood pressure are good and that my belly is measuring right at 24 weeks. Yay!
Our pregnancy is now legally viable so the baby has a chance of survival if I had to give birth now. Of course, the doctor told me we could expect all kinds of problems if we gave birth this early. But now every week closer that we get improves our odds of having a healthy child.
In other news, the sheetrock in our attic is almost done - and it may in fact be finished by Friday. John and I also agreed on a shade of yellow for the nursery, so if he can move his stuff out of there and up into the attic while I'm away, we can get working on it when I return from my trip. On that note, only 3 more days of work left and I'm done! I leave on Sunday for New Jersey to spend a couple of days with my friend and to pick up baby's crib. Yay! Then I fly out of Newark Tuesday morning to Oregon to stay with my parents, returning on the following Thursday. I can't wait to see them, it's been a whole year!
I'm really looking forward to the trip and it should be relaxing. Hopefully the security and flying part won't be too bad. I have 2 layovers to get to their little town in southern Oregon, but I prefer not to be in direct flight for the entire time anyway so I can move around and hydrate. I'm bringing my laptop there so I can do my freelance job, so I'll be logging some entries from out there too. My Mom and I will be doing some maternity and baby shopping too.
2006-08-15 (23 weeks)
First trip to Labor & Delivery I made my first trip to Labor & Delivery yesterday and it was not planned. Thankfully everything is OK with the baby, and it looks like I just have a virus or something, but the experience was scary nonetheless.
I had been feeling some cramping since Saturday morning. I took it easy over the weekend, getting plenty of rest and drinking plenty of fluids. But the cramping and lower back pain continued, and I woke up Monday feeling nauseous and feverish on top of it. After doing my freelance job in the morning I called in sick to my desk job for the afternoon and went to see my obstetrician's group. I explained all my symptoms and they checked the baby's heartbeat and my cervix and everything was fine. I had a temperature of 100.3 though, so they decided to send me over to the hospital for some tests just to be on the safe side. Thankfully my husband was with me for the whole experience. After all kinds of monitoring, probing and bloodwork at the hospital, they concluded I probably just had a virus and normal growth pains, which were causing the cramping. They finally let me go home and told me to rest and take it easy for a few days. I'm doing just that today, and plan to get back to work tomorrow. What a scary experience!
I'm so grateful everything is OK with the baby. And I got to poke around the L&D ward a bit and take a look at the rooms, since I won't get the official tour until October. I must say I was very impressed with all the doctors and nurses I dealt with so I'm optimistic about having a good birth experience.
