27 Weeks! I can't believe I'll hit 27 weeks tomorrow. This pregnancy is really flying by! Sprout is extremely active, more so than Jake was. She moves around a lot and my belly is really jumping now. I also got around to taking belly pictures yesterday, which I will post after I finish this entry.
The pregnancy is still going well, although I find I'm more tired now and a little more uncomfortable at night. Nothing major, but it is so tough keeping up with a toddler at this stage of pregnancy! I feel like it will be easier once this baby is born since I won't be pregnant anymore (I'm probably insane for thinking that since I know I'll be getting very little sleep once the newbie arrives). I guess it's because I feel like I've been pregnant for 2 years now and I'm ready to claim my body back. Oh well, I know I should enjoy it because we're counting down now.
I've had a couple of dreams about going into labor and having the vaginal birth I'm aiming for. I'm pretty excited to give it a go again. My gut is telling me that it's going to happen this time, and that it will be a much better birth experience than with Jake. Of course, I know not to get my hopes up since I know how far things went astray with Jake's birth. But my gut is usually spot on, so I'm at least a little hopeful that it's going to work out.
I have an ultrasound and a prenatal appointment this Wednesday, so I'll try to update again after that. And then next week I'm flying to Oregon for a quick trip to bring Ferris (our dog) out to go live with my parents. I'm not sure if I wrote about that whole fiasco in this journal or not, but Ferris needs an adult home with no children. We are very lucky that my parents are going to take him so he'll be with people he knows who will spoil him rotten, and we'll still get to visit with him. It will be better for Ferris and for our family for him to live with them, but it's still going to be difficult to say goodbye to him.
2008-02-08 (23 weeks)
Good Appointment I had a rough week, but had another good prenatal appointment this morning. All is well with the Sprout, and the doc found he heartbeat instantly. I'm doing well with no swelling and am at 13 pounds gained at this point, which is pretty good I guess. At least my weight gain isn't as much as last time and has been much slower. I know it could speed up in the final weeks but hopefully things will remain status quo. The three of us all battled with a wicked stomach flu this week, so it was no fun for anyone. It came and went suddenly, but I was up all night Tuesday vomiting, not fun at 23 weeks pregnancy. Luckily I'm back to feeling fine today.
I signed the consent form for my VBAC at today's appointment and have drafted a birth plan that I'll show the doctor on my next visit. He encouraged me to do it so we would be on the same page about things. I really respect him and feel a lot more comfortable going into this birth than the last one. Of course I've already been through it so I have more realistic expectations, but I also think this doctor is much more in line with my birthing philosophy than my last group of doctors were.
I'll go back for an ultrasound and another exam in 4 weeks, and I'll be getting monthly ultrasounds from here on out. that seems like a lot, but it only adds up to 3 or 4 more of them. I'm getting close! I also have to have the wonderful glucose test for gestational diabetes, but I don't have to go for that until after my next appointment. I'll be in my third trimester at that point - holy cow!
I also am behind on scanning and loading my last ultrasound pictures, and I haven't taken a belly shot in ages. I better get on that. I've been feeling huge most of this pregnancy, but over the past couple of weeks I feel like my belly is more in line with how I should look for this stage in pregnancy. So hopefully I don't get too much bigger than I did with Jacob by the end of this!
2008-01-24 (21 weeks)
Feeling Movement on the Outside It's been a busy few weeks. My father has been in town for 2 weeks (leaving tomorrow morning) and the focus has been on getting our apartment ready for rental. My Dad has been a lifesaver and he did ALL the projects except painting. John and I got about half of it primed last weekend with the help of a friend, so we are just about ready to rent it out. AND, our tenants downstairs have expressed interest in moving up to the second floor, while their former roommate and his wife may take the first floor apartment. That would be awesome because they're all such good tenants and really take care of the place. We wouldn't have to advertise it and show it, which would save so much time!
Sprout's movements have gotten a lot stronger over the past few weeks, and I'm feeling kicks on the outside now. John felt them too a a few nights ago, which was so night. This babe is much more active than Jake was, especially at night. He was always pretty quiet and still at night, but I'll wake up and she's doing a happy dance in there. Luckily it hasn't actually woken me up - yet. But Jake has been good in that department lately :rolls eyes: Ah, the joys of babyhood.
I go back for another prenatal visit in 2 weeks, but I expect everything will be status quo. This pregnancy really has been smooth sailing so far, and I'm very grateful. I've also been doing my Bradley exercises now to get my body ready for the VBAC, and they help with the little aches and pains. I'm more than halfway there, yay!!
2008-01-11 (19 weeks)
Good Ultrasound & Yes to VBAC! I've had a busy but exciting couple of days. I finally got my Level 2 ultrasound yesterday morning and it was all good news. The baby is growing exactly on target with no sign of any abnormalities, including any neural tube defects, which is what my blood test flagged for concern. Sprout was really active for the ultrasound, and is currently in the breech position with the placenta on the side, and it looks like she's using it for a punching bag. No, we didn't find out Sprout's gender, we're just going with both of our hunches that it's a she. We have 20 or so weeks to find out for sure.
The other piece of good news is that my fibroid, which I've been so worried about throughout this pregnancy, is located at the top of my uterus, and there's almost no chance it will complicate labor and delivery. So the perinatologist from Yale said I'm a good candidate for a VBAC!
I met with my OB this morning and we discussed all this at length. He's very supportive of VBACs and the hospital I'm delivering at was the leading one for VBACs in my state for many years, due to his practice (he's the OB/GYN chairman for the hospital). Their VBAC rate has gone done recently, largely due to patients opting for repeat c-sections. But the whole practice is still very supportive of VBACs, so it looks like I picked the right doctors to attempt this with.
My OB told me something else today, which didn't surprise me but really angered me. This whole pregnancy I've been worried about my fibroid being an issue and causing me to have a repeat c-section, because my last OB told me on the operating table that the fibroid had caused Jake from descending properly, which had caused me to get stuck at 4 cm. Actually, when advising me to get the C/S he told me he thought Jake was a really big baby and my pelvis wasn't large enough to deliver him (he was 7 lbs 1/2 oz so we know that wasn't true).
I've had doubts in the back of my mind about the fibroid this while time, especially after finding out how it is positioned yesterday. So one of my first questions for the OB this morning was to go into my chart and tell me what my old OB's notes were about the c-section and the fibroid. Sure enough - the only mention of the fibroid stated that it was at the top of my uterus. It wasn't in Jake's way, and my official post operative cause for the c-section was "failure to progress."
This makes me absolutely livid. My old OB basically lied to me and caused me to worry about this for no reason. Not to mention how I feel about the whole "failure to progress" diagnosis and how much I had hoped to avoid it with Jake's birth. But I was a first-time mother and John and I were being as cautious as possible under the circumstances. I don't regret the decision we made, but I do think if I had been given the chance to labor peacefully I would have progressed and given birth vaginally.
We've already come up with a plan to get a hotel room across the street from the hospital when I go into labor this time around. We live almost an hour from the hospital, so I don't feel comfortable leaving home at the last minute. But I really don't want to go to the hospital until I've progressed much further along this time (and now I have an idea of how to do that since I've endured hours of labor already). I'm really looking forward to the chance to have a vaginal birth this time around, since this will be my second and probably last baby.
We have a couple of alien baby pictures from the ultrasound that I haven't had a chance to scan yet, but will post soon. In the meantime, Sprout is moving around a lot these days, assuring me that all is well and she's growing on target. Go Little Sprout!
