Baby's head down!

We had our 32 week OB appt today. Started with a scan, and to my UTTER surprise, baby is head down! Her feet are up near her face, so she's folded like a pancake. Silly girl.

I REALLY hope she stays head down. I'm nervous she may flip back, but we'll hope for the best. We get another scan in 2 weeks to confirm her position. If she's still head down, I'll call off the moxibustion appt with my acupuncturist.

She measures about 5 days ahead, and weights 4lb 10oz. Decently big girl! They think they'll be about 9-9.5 lbs when she's born, if she goes to 40 weeks. Her head is facing towards my back (and a little sideways), which I know causes bad back labor. But at 32 weeks, I'm sure she has plenty of time to turn. Wait.......actually, isn't it a good thing if they are facing towards your back? I forgot which is the bad one...

Stay head down baby! Man I feel like I should start paying better attention in childbirth class. I've been tuning it out, thinking I was surely headed for a c/s!

Home from Hospital. What a day!

Spent 4 hours in the hospital today. The first half was lovely....they sent me to Labor & Delivery. Honestly, I love the L&D unit at our hospital. The nurses were so completely nice and friendly, and treated B with lots of kindness, too. I got my gown, got to lay in a nice big reclining L&D bed. They brought me apple juice. They hooked me up to external monitors and asked a lot of questions.

It was like Four Seasons to me. It was really fun to be in a real L&D room. It made me actually kind of sad that I'm likely headed for a c/s, and won't get to experience that side of things.

Well, they could not find signs of pre-e. Blood pressure there was 110/70 reflexes good, baby moving a TON, hb and oxygen levels good, no swelling, and no protein in urine.

We stole a look at the Room Service menu - it's so nice! I can't wait to order food from there, is it weird that I get excited about that? LOL.

They sent us down to the main ER, ewwwwww...what a different experience. Uncomfortable bed, sick and crying people all around us, and we spent 2.5 hours there. You know the drill - you wait 45 min, then the doctor comes in, then you wait another hour for blood results, etc. wait wait wait. no one brought me apple juice. haha. They really didn't investigate my numb/pain under my right rib. They kept saying oh pregnancy does lots of weird things. Ummm ok, but can't you check things out a little? They ran a CBC on me, and my iron/hemoglobin is still low, despite two iron pills a day. My red blood cell count is super low, but they weren't worried about it.

They eventually discharged me, saying drink a lot of fluid, get lots of rest......and just chalk everything up to pregnancy. I felt a bit cheated on the testing, but honestly I was so uncomfortable and wanted to go home.

I miss the L&D area already! I had so much fun there, it was like the ultimate playing house. All the monitoring, but no real pain/contractions to deal with. It was fun and weird to be treated as a patient in that wing....just last week we walked those same hallways for our hospital tour.

I guess I will have to get used to all this dizziness and constant pain in my ribs now. I do NOT know how I can endure another 6-8 weeks of this, I'm serious. I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach and a MLB pitcher threw a 90 mile pitch into my ribs and back. How can i handle working and just LIVING in this increasing pain for 2 more months. Lord help me.

And now I leave you with 2 pictures we took once we got home from the hospital. My 32 (almost) week belly pic. Gotta love the belly hanging out at the bottom. I was tired, hungry, and obviously didn't care. :)

Not feeling well...might go to hospital

==Update===
It's now 11:12am. I am feeling moderately better, but still "off." Like some weird groggy feeling, where you just woke up. Except I can't shake it. We have an at home BP monitor, so I tried it a few times this morning. Normally my resting BP is about 110/70. When I took it at home today, it ranged from 127/80 to 133/83. That is definitely high for me....of course maybe this home monitor is wonky.

I told B to go to the gym, but when she gets back I will call the on-call doc again to have her tell me what to do. I really hope this isn't pre-e. I remember Puffer getting pre-e, and her BP was around the same as mine. I wouldn't be as freaked out if I was 37 weeks...but I'm only 32 weeks tomorrow, way too early to deliver this munchkin. Well, I'll call the doc in a bit, and she may have me go down to L&D to get monitored. I'll try to keep you posted, please send any good thoughts you can. :)

(I called the doc. she doesnt think it's pre-e, thinks it might be a strain of flu virus that wasn't included in the flu shot. didn't feel i needed to go to the ER, but said I certainly can if it would make me feel better. i guess ill go just to get checked out?
===

I feel like something's wrong.
Yesterday I got really nauseas in the morning, then at parenting class I got all clammy, sweaty and ALMOST fainted. I felt disoriented the rest of the day. I called the on-call doc and she didn't think it was pre-e.

She told me to call again today if I feel worse, and I do. I've been up since 4am unable to sleep. Weird stomach cramps, terrible disorientation, nausea, diarrhea, and i feel like i can't breathe in deep enough. i keep taking huge breaths to try to get enough oxygen. Plus I feel really lightheaded, shaky, like I could pass out at any time.

im so scared, i dont like feeling this way for hours now. ill try to eat something then call the doc in another hour or two. I'm so scared it's pre-e, or something that will harm myself and the baby...or require a super early delivery. ugh.

31 weeks. I've now seen it all.

Well I'm 31.5 weeks. Below are some pics we took a few days ago. Can you believe how huge I am? I can't believe I still have 8 weeks to grow!

At birthing class, my belly is bigger than all the other women - and they are 3-4 weeks ahead of me. ugh. Our class is a bit too hippie for us, we realized. I just want to learn about pain management, epidurals, stages of labor. They made us watch a video called "Orgasmic Birth." The video was of women climaxing during birth, shouting "yes yes yes" and later telling the camera how giving birth is so sexual and enjoyable. You know, good for them. But this isn't for me.

I'm getting really hormonal lately. Everything makes me mad or weepy. The garbage bag is full, I cry. Someone honks their horn outside, I cry.

I also have two weird sensations going on, wondering if I'm the only one?
1. The past month the area under my right tata (skin on my ribs) has turned numb, like a 4"x4" patch. It also kind of hurts during the day especially if I'm wearing a bra.

2. About once a day, I feel like this kid is having some weird seizure. Her feet are down near my left lower side. And I'll get this 1-2 second extremely fast twitch feeling. It's definitely NOT kicks or hiccups. It feels like a a super rapid twitching in that localized spot. (Not all over my belly). Did anyone else have this? Some sites I found had women complaining of the same thing, but babies were ok. Other sites were about women who experienced this and had babies who developed epilepsy or strokes at 4-18 months. Ugh. I would think if it was a true seizure I'd feel it across my whole belly. This almost feels like she's tooting bubbles in the fluid.

I'll ask my OB about both of these on Tuesday.

And now, for some belly shots!

Questions and Observations at 30.5 weeks!

1. What breastpump (if you used one) was the best? And what accessories do I need to get for it?
2. Any tips on what to pack in the hospital bag, that isn't in the standard lists?
3. For those who've had a cesarean birth, I'd love to hear your experience during the surgery and what recovery was like for you.

I feel HUGE by the way. My belly is measuring about 3-4 weeks bigger than my gestational stage. I can't believe I have just over 9 weeks left. I'm getting really achy lately - horrible mid back pain, a pinched nerve in my lower back, sore hips, and the heaviness in my belly makes even a 5 minute walk almost too unbearable for me. When did I become such a wimp? LOL.

Birthing Class....
So this class is WAY too crunchy for us. It's supposed to be a class for folks open to epidural or natural. Apparently it leans 99% natural, and the one other couple like us got grilled last night for suggesting they want an epidural. I completely admire and respect women who do it naturally. For me, I guess I don't have that "thing" in me that wants to do it that way. I want an epidural - for me, that is the way I feel I will enjoy birth a bit more. As crazy as it sounds, I actually prefer and feel more comfortable in a medical environment with machines, doctors, etc. To each her own, I guess! I felt so bad that the other couple like us was judged so poorly last night. :(

Breech...
The birthing instructors recommended I try moxibustion (doing that tonight), putting ice on the top of my belly, laying inverted, and the Webster technique with a chiro. I will try each of these things to see if they turn baby. I just have a gut feeling she's not going to move. If she doesn't, I will gladly opt for a c-section. Most babies in my family come 14 days early, so I'm guessing they may want to schedule just before I potentially go into labor.

Is it weird that I'm not scared of a c-section? I mean crap, it's major abdominal surgery! I think because the 18 months of TTC involved so many medical procedures, surgeries, needles, docs...that the idea of being in surgery doesn't scare me. I must be numb to the surgical environment, and feeling like a science experiment. :)

Last but not least, my coworkers are all jealous I'm getting maternity leave. It's clear none of them have had kids, because they all tell me "Oh you are so lucky you get a few months off! You'll get to watch lots of TV, entire seasons of TV on Netflix, veg out.." Um, no. I will be feeding every 2 hours, not showering, trying to not have a mental breakdown, and trying to sleep anywhere I can. Whoever thinks maternity leave is like Club Med is so wrong.

30 weeks!

Here's a belly pic from Sunday. I feel a lot bigger, slower, more exhausted, etc. We had our 30 week OB appt today - everything seemed fine. Baby is still breech, and it's looking less likely that she'll flip. (She's never once moved position) He recommended a few ultrasounds between week 32 and 36 to check position. If she doesn't budge, they may schedule a c-section at 38 weeks. That's 7 weeks, 5 days from now! Umm, time to go to BabiesRUs. We've barely bought ANYTHING yet or prepared the room.

Just had our hospital tour tonight - it made things feel more real. We heard a baby crying, we saw/heard a woman in transition of labor puking into a bowl, saw someone getting wheeled down the hallway, and saw a dad getting scrubbed up for his wife's c-section. Wow......we're going to be in one or more of those scenarios in 8 weeks or so.

Big Bagina

This is B's new nickname for me. :) I woke up today and felt....weird down there. I noticed that my "ladyparts" are totally swollen, they feel HUGE! LIke two huge twinkies. I guess this is normal for the third tri? Must be all the pressure from this breech baby laying SO low in my pelvis. that, and I've been so constipated lately - all that big-vein pushing is probably contributing!

Big bagina. That's me. haha

Baby Shower!

We had our baby shower last Saturday, and Becky made it! Her flight landed about 2 hours before the shower - talk about good timing. It was so great to be around friends, and my mom even made it up. She was on her best behavior and did really well. All the decorations, cake, etc were so cute.

Here are some pics!
Opening presents...


Playing the "How big is my belly" game...


Friends of ours who just had a baby...


The amazing cake!


The shower favors. I made these. Thank you, thank you. ;-)