Doctor's Visit week 25 We're back from our California vacation. I'll get to that in a bit, but first let me tell you about my last doctors appointment. It was last Friday. It was just a typical appointments. Nothing major happened at it. Weight, blood pressure, urine sample. All the usual stuff. Listened to the heartbeat again. Measured my belly. And answered my questions. I asked about me losing my balance, he said completely normal, just be careful. Asked how long I'd be in the hospital, 2 days (this is less than I had thought). I asked what causes pregnant women to get leg cramps. He gave me the medical, technical answer. It had something to do with calcium and blood. He said they are very common, and I could try streching, or drinking more milk, or use a heating pad, he said I could take Tylenol if I needed to. I asked if my weight gain was fine, or too much, or too little. He said it was right on track. (I'm up 16 pounds). I asked what causes Gestational Diabetes (which is a form of diabetes that is only present during pregnancy). Once again he went into the technical explanation (although I do think he was trying to "dumb it up" for us, it was still very technical). I really have no idea what causes it, even after listening to his answer. But what I do know now is that there is nothing I can do or can't do that would cause or prevent it. It just happens in some women. .......... I told him I wanted to donate the cord blood. From how he spoke it sounded like he has never had a patient donate it before. He has had patients bank it, but not donate it. I told him I contacted the Marrow Organization and they are sending me the paper work. I asked if he'd charge a fee for his time it takes to collect the blood, he said no. .............. The only question Johan asked was how does he ever take vacation. He said that he usually doesn't. He'd take a friday and a monday off for a long weekend, but he doesn't normally take vacation. He is taking a vacation this November. Which is fine by me because my baby will be born in October. ...... Everything was normal and healthy at this appointments. I need to go for my Glucose test before my next appointment. That is the one where you have to drink this gross stuff and then they take your blood. Sounds like fun. ...... My next appointment is August 4.
2006-07-12 (25 weeks)
25 Weeks Well guess what everyone, I got a phone call today from USA Baby. And my furniture has arrived! They said it would be 8 weeks, and it hasn't even been 1 yet. I'm so excited to get it and set up the nursery. I can't have it delivered this weekend because we'll be in LA. But I'm going to see if I can have it delivered next Wednesday. I'll be off from work. We were supposed to still be in LA until Wednesday, but Johan's boss won't give him that day off. Anyways it is good this way. Then on Saturday we'll go register. We're going to register at Babies R Us, and I think also for a few things at Target. That's the advise I've had, to register at 2 nation wide stores. And both store are available online for shopping. .................. I also talked with the marrow organization today. They are sending me all the paper work for donating the cord blood. They are 100% free. They'll pay for all the shipping and everything. However they said that some doctors will still charge a fee for their time to collect the blood. So I'll ask Dr. Fleisher if he charges a fee or not. I see him on Friday morning. I think that a whole lot more people would donate the cord blood if they just knew about it. Because very few people bank the cord blood themselves, so the majority of the blood is just thown in the trash. It's too bad because there are sick people out there who could be helped by it. And from what I have read, the cells obtained from cord blood is used primarily to help children. Because the cord blood doesn't contain enough cells to help an adult because of their size.
2006-07-09 (24 weeks)
cord blood banking I don't know if many people know what cord blood banking is. If you're pregnant you sure do. These companies bombard you with their ads. Well cordblood banking is where you have the umbilical cord (which is generally thrown into the garbage after birth) but it is stored by a storage bank. See the umbilical cord contains stem cells which can treat varrious illnesses like anemia, luekemia, and others....... These stem cells are not the same as stem cells from an embryo, that is a very different thing, that is where the embryo is made and destroyed to ubtain the cells. The stem cells from the umbilical cord just normally end up in the garbage. ...... The thing is cord blood banking is very expensive. About $1600 for collection, then an annual storage fee. In researching this I found out that Johan and I do not have a family history of any of the illnesses listed. And I answered no to every question that would make me think I might need it one day. Although you never know. So I'm gonna say that we will not be banking the cord blood. ........... The other option (besides throwing it in the garbage) is donation it to a public bank. this is run by the same organization that keeps a registry of bone marrow. Their website is www.marrow.org So the cord blood would be available to anyone world wide who is a match. However my hospital (or any other hospital in Nevada) was not listed as a collection hospital. I called the marrow organizaion to see if it would be possible for me to donate, they were closed (it's Sunday). I also emailed them, so I'll wait to hear back from them to see if this is possible.
2006-07-07 (24 weeks)
Furniture We bought the furniture today. We went to USA Baby and had much better service than at Babies R Us. The sales girl was very helpful and informative. I posted the photos of what we bought. The color is a bit lighter than it appears in the photos. It's made by Baby's Dream Furniture Inc. We chose these peices because they will grow with the child. None of it looks too "baby like". And the crib is what they call a life time crib. This means that the crib will turn into a child's bed and then into a full size adult bed. It was a bit more expensive than I had planned on, but this furniture will last a very long long time. Everything is made out of solid wood and not wood composite like other companies. We also bought the mattress for the crib. The 5 drawer chest is on back order so everything will be delivered when that item comes it. It will be about 6-8 weeks. All together with the 3 items, the mattress, delivery, and full assembly of all the items it was $1,560. But I think it was worth it.
