Failure to Thrive

Those that follow me on Twitter and of course family and friends that are on Facebook already know about what's been going on this week... for the rest though, here's an update - thoughts and prayers for us and little Jay are much appreciated!

As I mentioned over the weekend, we switched Jay to formula as at his doctor's appointment on Friday showed that he had LOST weight rather than gained any and the doctor wanted us to supplement with formula to see if that would put the weight on him, thinking maybe my milk supply just wasn't doing the job.

Well first thing Monday morning we went in for a follow-up again just to see if the formula was doing the trick... well he hadn't lost anymore weight, but he didn't gain any either, holding steady at 6lbs, 1oz, which was the same as his hospital discharge weight after he was born.

Our doctor said that wasn't acceptable and had his receptionist call over and get us admitted at the hospital so they could look into why he wasn't gaining any weight despite us feeding him every 2-3hours.

Jay with feeding tube & pump

Well, Monday we met with the pediatric doctor here who explained that it's possible Jay just has what is called "failure to thrive" meaning that for whatever reason he just "got behind" and hasn't seemed to catch up. He looked him over and said that Jay appears to be completely healthy - he was very impressed at his strength too, despite his small size, and how well he was already holding his head up! They ran another renal ultrasound on Jay just to check and make sure his left kidney (the enlarged one) hadn't grown any in the past 2 weeks, possibly putting pressure on his stomach causing it make him feel full when he actually isn't, and they drew some blood for some blood work tests too. They also had us feeding him formula via a bottle and then pumping the rest in via a pump hooked up to his feeding tube, as he needs to be eating 2.5oz per feeding to get in the calories he needs to grow (at home we were doing good if we could get him to take 1oz per feeding - getting anymore than that into him before he fell asleep or spit it up was rare!).

About 1am on Tuesday we had a bit of a scare too - Jay started spitting up and coughing up A TON of mucus! It was really scary as at one point it seemed like he was choking trying to cough it up and the nurses had to suction a ton of it out of his noes and the back of his throat... seemed like it was taking forever to get it to stop coming up and yeah... it was just really scary!

Tuesday morning we had the results of the ultrasound, which came back fine - his kidney hasn't grown or changed since so that's not the issue, and all the tests they did with his blood came back fine as well. They suggested we do this barium x-ray where they mix barium in with formula and feed it to him and watch via an x-ray to see how it's going through his system, down his throat, into his stomach and through to his intestines, making sure there's nothing blocking or obstructing the flow that would cause him not to eat much or spit up when he eats more than a certain amount. That came back fine though too - nothing abnormal, everything was going through him fine.

He kept his 11am feeding down pretty well but spit up most of the 2pm feeding. They hooked him to an IV bag with formula in it that is slowly continuously pumping the food into him via his feeding tube. He spit up a little at 8pm and again at 130am. I fell asleep around 3am and they said he spit up again at about 4am so they turned down the amount he was getting per hour from 20ml to 10ml and he hasn't spit up since (as of 930pm Wednesday night).

Today (Wednesday) we had a pediatric GI specialist come in and take a look at him to see if she could think of any other reason that what we've already ruled out that could be the cause for this. She said the same thing the pediatric doctor did - he seems perfectly healthy! She said it just seems he "got behind" and needs the push to get him to eat more and hold it down. She also increased his calorie intake from 24 to 27, so it seems like going back to breastfeeding won't be an option for us as he needs high calorie formula to catch up and push his growth.

Keeping calm in mommy's arms with his
binky while continuously being fed via
feeding tube.

The pediatric doctor said that for tonight they're going to keep him on the continuous feeding to see if he continues to grow more (he's gained 4oz since we've been here, now at 6lbs 5oz, up from 6lbs, 1oz) and then tomorrow we'll try giving him a bottle again and pumping in what he doesn't finish every 3 hours to see if he can stomach it now that he's been having it continuously going into his system for over 24hours. He said we'll be here at least through Friday if not through the weekend and it's possible they might send us home with his feeding tube still in him so we can give him a bottle and pump in the rest via a syringe - hopefully he does well enough though the next few days with the bottle though that we won't have to do that. He also said the feeding tube can last for several months before needing to be changed out, however he said he doesn't see Jay needing it for more than a few weeks after we go home if at all. He also said that they'll leave us alone as much as possible, meaning they won't be doing anymore tests or poking/prodding of Jay unless there's an absolute reason for it as he'd rather just see how he takes to the feedings.

I must say though, this pediatric doctor has been great! I like his approach of let's not do anything unnecessary when it comes to the testing and all that and he's very easy to talk to - I think when our family doctor retires (we believe he's in his early-mid 60s) I might try to see if we can get on under this guy.

Jay has been quite the little trooper too, taking everything so well! Sure, he cried when they put the feeding tube in (which was hard for me to watch too) and got a little fussy near the end of them drawing blood from his heel and at the end of the ultrasound and while they took the big scary x-ray of his belly, but for a barely 3 week year old he's been doing very well! He's been sucking on his binky quite a bit too, using that as his security item it seems, as Monday while everything was going on he was sucking on it like crazy while holding onto my finger. He had a little bit of a crying fit earlier - nothing seemed to comfort him for about 10 minutes, but then he was fine - I think he's just a little stressed, having to be back in the hospital and hooked up to a machine with nurses coming in throughout the day to check his vitals... I don't blame him for having a good cry - the situation sucks.

My mom's been coming up during the late morning and staying through the afternoon so I can get a nap and shower in (I've only been getting a few hours of sleep at night here in the hospital as I don't want to leave Jay alone up here - he's too little and only a few faces are really familiar to him) while hubby's been coming up after work in the evenings and staying til around midnight - fortunately he took this week off as his vacation from UPS as we were expecting Jay to be born this past weekend so he doesn't have to rush off to his night job this week.

So that's where we are with things - we'll be here at least through Friday, possibly through the weekend, all depending on how much Jay grows and how well he does with the bottle the next few days.

Thanks in advance for your prayers and thoughts - hopefully things continue to progress and get better and he's able to eat as much as he should be on his own!

37 week appointment & hospital growth ultrasound

Today I had my 37 week check-up today and the NST stress test looked good, as did his placenta and fluid. Jay's still head down and in the correct position too, with his fundal height measuring 36cm, and heartbeat was in the mid-upper 130s. I mentioned this glob of mucus that was on the tissue when I wiped the other day and the doctor agreed with me that it was probably the mucus plug.

I got home from the clinic and the hospital called me, requesting I come in early this afternoon for the growth ultrasound, so I went before the weather got bad. Felt kinda bad as hubby couldn't get off work at such short notice or take a long enough lunch break as he just started a new position at work today, however he told me to go ahead and go since it took so long for them to get it scheduled. Kinda wished he had been able to come though, given what we found out...

I'm soooo confused though!

At the 30 week scan the hospital did, Jay was measuring a bit bigger than average overall. Then at the 35 week scan my clinic did, everything was showing right around on target, minus his femurs, give or take a week. Today he's measuring small - his gestational age is showing him to be measuring about 34weeks instead of 37 and his femur is still showing to be about 32-33 weeks! They estimated his weight as being 5lbs, 12oz - only a 7oz gain in the last 2 weeks (he was about 4lbs 13oz at 30 weeks).

They said it could be a number of things - he could just be on the shorter/smaller size as no one in my family is taller than 6ft, they said it could be that I have an infection that may be causing his growth to have slowed down that much, and then they said there is the possibility that it could be Downs Syndrome (we didn't do the additional testing for it as I'm not at high risk and it doesn't run in our families and it's not like there's anything you can really do about it anyway).

Honestly, I think it's this low-carb diet they have me on, as that's the *only* thing that's changed in the last 7 weeks, although the high risk doctor I met with for this ultrasound said it shouldn't have had *that* much of an effect on him... if it was Downs they can usually tell by the face though, right?

The doctor said I could have an amnio if I wanted, but hubby and I don't see what the point in that would be - if he has Downs, he has Downs... can't really do anything about it - even the doctor said the only point would be to confirm or deny it and help us "prepare."  She also said I could get some blood testing done to see if I have any infections that could be affecting him so I think I might do that, as if I do have any infections obviously we'd want to get that cleared up anyway...

As far as his kidneys...

At first they couldn't tell if it was fluid or a double kidney, but the doctor looked in closer and said it looks like fluid and said it's not uncommon for that happening with little boys. She said there's not really much we can do about it until he's born, which then they'll check and make sure it's functioning correctly or not and go from there. She said they prefer the liquid to be 10% or less and his was at about 11% so she was going to mention to my doctor when she talked to her about maybe having me deliver next week at 38weeks, meaning they would induce me and Jay would be 2 weeks early.

Aside from the kidney and his growth having slowed down they said the rest of his vitals look good...

Can I be done already? I'm tired of all the doctor appointments and the frustrations that keep coming up =/

37 weeks is finally here!!

Today I am 37weeks and 1 day.

And 37 weeks is technically considered to be full-term, so at this point, it's all just a waiting game, as Jay can make his arrival at anytime!

In other news, the baby shower was this past Saturday - I'll be making a separate post about that soon as I need to upload some of my photos I took.

We're also expecting a massive blizzard here in the next day or so (supposedly starting sometime tonight), giving some parts of northern Illinois up to 2 feet of snow! I hear my area is supposed to get 12-18 inches. One of the things they kept saying during our birthing classes at the hospital is that they often see a huge increase of women going into labor during bad weather and snowstorms and a few friends on Facebook have confirmed this as well, saying they went into labor during snowstorms or tornadoes and the L&D floor was PACKED with other pregnant women also going into labor! Not getting my hopes up too much, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crossing my fingers or at least keeping the thought/idea/possibility of it happening in the back of my mind! lol...

Also, I am *still* waiting on the hospital to call and schedule me for the ultrasound my clinic wants me to have to look more closely at Jay's femur and kidneys.

My clinic called early on Wednesday saying that they talked to my insurance and it was good to go and that they sent my paperwork over to the hospital and that they would be calling me soon to get it scheduled. On Thursday at my follow-up my doctor asked if I had it scheduled yet and I told her I was still waiting to hear from the hospital, so she told me if I didn't hear anything Friday to call the clinic and let them know so they could look into it. Well, Friday came and went, as did the weekend, so I called as soon as I woke up this morning. They gave me the number for the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at the hospital and I called explained the situation to them - the woman I spoke to pulled up my info and looked, as they have me on file from the last one we did at 30 weeks, and said it was showing they hadn't gotten any recent paperwork for me and requested I call my clinic and let them know so they can resend it and that they would call me shortly after they received it. So I did and spoke with the girl I talked to last Wednesday - she said that was strange as she has confirmation showing that the hospital received the paperwork they faxed over for me but said she was sending it over again and I should hear something soon.

So... I'm still waiting.

I'm starting to wonder if there's even a point now - I mean if it were earlier and we weren't at the point where we can expect him to arrive at any time I'd get it, but it seems like a waste as with my luck we'll schedule it and I'll go in labor before the appointment or we'll have the ultrasound and I'll go into labor like 2 days later. At this point too, since hubby kinda wants to be there for this one in the event that something is "wrong," the only good time this week that we could schedule for that works with both our schedules would be Thursday morning - otherwise we'd we have to wait until next week and I'll be even further along... and the further along I am the harder it's going to be to check his femur... ughhhhh

36 week appointment

Today I had my week 36 exam with the stress test, ultrasound, and meeting with the doctor.


The stress test took longer than normal today - they first hooked me up and we couldn't really hear his heartbeat that well despite the fact that he was clearly moving around as we could hear that! Anyways, she let it go, despite the heartbeat being faint. Apparently it didn't pick up on the doppler well enough and after 20 minutes and showing the doctor, they kept me hooked up longer, moving the heartbeat monitor around where we found his heartbeat a lot better than before. They kept me hooked up for about 10 minutes more before sending me over to ultrasound.

Today's ultrasound was a little different as in addition to checking the placenta and fluid she was checking for various "exercises" and movements. We had to wait for him to do a breathing exercise, having me lay on my side to see if that would get him to do it - she said some babies take awhile with that one in there, fortunately it didn't take him too long once I changed positions.

I met with the doctor...

Apparently the ultrasound, while everything else we looked for today showed as being fine, one of his kidneys appeared larger than the other. The doctor said that in most cases, it could just be that he hadn't peed yet so the kidney was full, however it isn't uncommon for boy babies to have problems with their kidney's not functioning or emptying correctly. She said that since this is 2 abnormalities they've found within a week they want me to see a high risk doctor at the hospital's maternal fetal medicine ward and get my next ultrasound there so they can check on this as well as his femur which we were going to check on again next week anyway.

Honestly, I'm kind of annoyed - it seems like it's just been one thing after another... UTI's, an infection, gestational diabetes and all that annoyance... now this growth thing with his femur and possible enlarged kidney... ugh! And I'm so sick of going the doctor so much too...


YOU CAN COME OUT AT ANYTIME AFTER THIS WEEKEND, JAY!!!!

They put the request in at the hospital while I was there and was going to have my insurance approve it and then call me in the next day or so to schedule the appointment for later this week or early next week. She said if it's early next week I can call and cancel one of my appointments at the clinic next week, as we won't be needing 2 ultrasounds anyway. 

I did notice this sharp, shooting pain the past few nights which felt like him literally bouncing on my cervix. It only lasts a second or so and I can feel him "bouncing" when it happens... boy does it hurt! It's a sharp, shooting pain... he kept doing it last night while I was sitting on the couch. I Googled "baby bouncing on cervix" and apparently it's a pretty common thing, feeling exactly like how I described it. I mentioned it to my doctor today too, just in case, and she gave a laugh and a grin assuring me that that's perfectly normal for this stage and in most cases it's just him trying to "drop down" a bit to get ready to come out.

35 week appointment & growth ultrasound

So today I had my 35 week appointment.

It started out just like all my other appointments, with us doing the 20 minute stress test. Jay wasn't as fussy about it this time, as I think he's gotten used to it happening, but he did squirm and kick/punch a little bit but he eventually seemed to give up and went back to sleep for a bit.

Then we had our growth ultrasound to see how much he weighs and how he's measuring.

I noticed when the ultrasound tech was measuring his head that it was measuring a little big as the gestational age the machine gave for it was 36+6. The tech also explained that the "white stuff" we were seeing was his hair, saying that he has quite a bit of hair already! Apparently he's taking after daddy, as daddy has a bit head and I guess when he was born he had so much hair they joked about him needing a haircut! lol...

We didn't get a lot of photos this time around, as he doesn't have that much space so he's kinda squished in there and getting a clear view of his face is a bit tricky - she did get part of the side though!

Right now they said he weighs 5lbs, 6oz and overall he is measuring on target for his gestational age and is measuring in the 32nd percentile.

However... the doctor did go over with me that his femur's measuring a bit small - the machine showed it being about 32weeks when we're in week 35... she said it could be nothing but maybe machine error and so we're going check again in 2 weeks just to make sure. She said it is possible that maybe he's just going to be on the shorter side, inheriting my "shorter" family genes instead of hubby's "tall" genes too. But we won't know for sure until he's born and they measure him outside the womb. She said don't worry about it for now - she thinks it's a bit strange too that we're just now noticing this after how many ultrasounds that we've had.

So that's pretty much it for today - said my glucose numbers are looking fantastic so she's not too concerned about that, just keep doing what I'm doing. And clearly the diet and stuff has worked in slowing his growth down as he's now on target and not measuring all big like he was 6-7 weeks ago.

One thing's for sure - even if he does have shorter legs, he sure knows how to pack a punch with them as it feels like he's constantly beating up my uterus! lol...

32 Week Dr.'s Appointment

This morning we had the first of our 32 week doctor visits, as they're now seeing me every Monday as well as having me come in for a follow-up at the end of the week due to the gestational diabetes so they can check how I'm doing with it.

Last Thursday (which I forgot to post about due to the holiday) they put me on medication - 2.5mg of glyburide (1 pill) to be taken with dinner - as while my dinner levels were looking good and under the cutoff since making the changes the dietitian/nutritionist recommended last Monday, my fasting numbers were still a little high.

Well... the pill seemed to get my fasting levels down the 1st day (Friday) but Saturday through Monday it was back to what it's been at (high 90s or 100 when the cutoff is 90). Today the doctor bumped me up to 5mg of the glyburide (2 pills) to see if that does it.

Christmas also messed me up a little, as they say it's difficult to count carbs when you yourself home-make food, let alone when someone else does it and we had 2 big Christmas dinners within 24 hours. I ate smaller portions but I knew that most likely it was going to be off and it was... although not too bad. The doctor basically told me to get back on track and keep monitoring my meals like I was now that Christmas is over.

Today they also started me with the weekly "stress test." What that is, is where they hook you up with the contraction belt like the one the hospital had me wear when we went after the car accident in October, and they have a separate one they put on you that monitors baby's heartbeat. You sit back in a comfy chair for about 20 minutes while they monitor baby's heartbeat and any contractions you might be having and it all shows up on the printout. Also, you get this button clicker too that you press everytime you feel baby move.

Yeah... Jay didn't seem to like this too much! He was quiet prior, however they had the volume turned up so they could hear for the heartbeat just outside the room at the nurse's station in case anything did happen (the hospital one was quiet) and I think that peaked his interest! After a few minutes he started moving around a little bit... and then he found where the hard round plastic contraction monitor was in the center of my belly and started kicking and punching it - he got in a few good ones! Hubby came with today and started laughing at how the lines on the printout machine were spazing when Jay was beating on the plastic monitor! He gave up after a few minutes but then soon found the similar monitor that was monitoring his heartbeat and he started beating on that one! lol... eventually he stopped and gave up, realizing that like the other one it wasn't going anywhere, but it was pretty funny!

He seems to have issues with things that press on my belly or when I'm curled up in a position that "cramps" his space and he's not shy about letting me know he doesn't like nor is he afraid to get aggressive and start beating until he gets his space back! lol...

We had a brief ultrasound today - she mainly checked the placenta and his growth to see how much room and amniotic fluid he has as well as if the placenta was looking healthy still and not old and icky. The doctor said 10-20 (forgot the units she used) is where we want to be and we were at 14.5 so she said that's good and he still has room without us having to worry. His heartbeat was 149bpm which is what it's been at the last few check-ups, so no change there and that's good. She also said he's head down, which is the position we want him to be, so that's good too!

Guess we'll see how my follow-up goes on Thursday!

Appointments, appointments!

Today was a day of doctor's appointments!

I started off the morning early by driving across town to our hospital for my first meeting with the dietitian/nutritionist up on the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at 830am. By the time they updated all my information it was about 845 when I got to sit down with her and go over my typical daily eating habits, she went over a booklet of information with me regarding gestational diabetes and a handy pamphlet of what foods to eat and such and then we made a basic outline of what times I would be having my meals/snacks and how much carbs I can eat at each, as I am mainly counting my carbs as things high in them tend to be high in sugars as well.

Then she gave me a blood sugar glucose monitor kit so I can monitor my levels 4 times a day - my fast level when I first wake up and then an hour after each meal. Basically I prick my finger to get a drop of blood out and then hold it next to this strip that goes in the monitor and it tells me my number or whatever. There's a chart too that tells me what my level should be at different times for fasting and after meals.

Doesn't seem too bad, but man! Even after insurance the strips are still a bit expensive, as she called in a prescription to get me set up with a 30 day supply of the strips and needles and I picked them up already.

At 930am they took me down the hall for an ultrasound, which turned out to be another anatomy scan like the one we had back in October, however this time they were specifically measuring parts of him to check his growth. It appears he has a big head, as that seemed to be measuring a few weeks bigger than he is, and a few other body parts were just slightly ahead of his gestational age when it came to growth. According the ultrasound, based on his measurements it's showing him to be about 31weeks, 4-5 days while his gestational age is actually 30weeks, 1 day old - so he's measuring about a week and a half bigger than he should be. They said he's within 2 weeks though so that's fine and with me monitoring my glucose, if I'm able to work on keeping that down that should help slow down his growth some. The estimated due date the ultrasound was figuring was February 9th, so I guess that means he could be here around then if not closer to his actual due date of February 20th. He also currently weighs just under 4lbs, at 3lbs 14oz.

We did get some decent 3D shots this time around though!

He did shift positions like we thought he did the other night, as his head is now down near my bladder (which explains why I have to pee at least every 2 hours now!) with his face towards my right hip. He's kinda curved around my left side with his back facing us and his feet are curved up towards my belly button.

Face with hand in mouth and foot/leg coming towards face.

Speaking of feet... Jay has discovered them and seemed quite fasciniated by them during our ultrasound today as he spent a good bit of it with one hand in his mouth and his other playing with his feet! lol... at one point we even saw him kick himself in his face! lol... The ultrasound tech also caught him in the act of bumping my left pelvic bone, as I mentioned to her he seems to like hitting that quite a bit despite me finding it a little painful - right after I said that she was like "Oh look! We just caught him in the act of it too!" It was too funny!

He was quite active today but we were able to get him to quit playing with his feet just long enough to get a few quick shots of his face - he didn't like her nudging him with the ultrasound too much though at first, as he gave us a little angry scowl for interrupting playtime with his feet! lol... He has chubby little cheeks like his daddy did when he was a baby though!

"No more pictures, please!"

 I had a few hours to kill until my regular check-up at the OB/GYN office so I met up with my mom before visiting hubby as they were in the same vicinity (hubby was at Verizon but in the middle of putting away a shipment when I called and mom was on the other side of the parking lot having coffee with friends at Panera). Unfortunately, looking through Panera's nutrition guide, they had nothing that met my 15carb max allowed for a mid-morning snack (everything was AT LEAST 50g of carbs if not more) so I just had water with a lemon in it. I'm going to have to search online and look up nutrition facts for all the places we regularly go so I know ahead of time what I can eat, etc.

After visiting with both mom and hubby, I swung home for a quick lunch before heading across town for our regular check-up at 145pm (it was originally at 11am but I had them push it back a bit just so I wasn't cutting it too close with my appointments at the hospital this morning). By then the hospital had sent over all my information from this morning and we briefly went over that. They did say Jay is still measuring big but reiterated that if I'm monitoring my glucose now that should help get him to slow down his growth a little bit. They also are starting me on weekly appointments now to monitor his growth and then starting at 34weeks they'll be having me come in twice a week since with the gestational diabetes I'm technically classified as high risk.

Also, the scale at my clinic and the scale in the dietitian/nutritionist's office have about a 10lb difference as the dietitian/nutritionist weighed me being 5lbs less than I was at my check-up at the clinic 2 weeks ago, while the clinic's scale had me 5lbs heavier than I was 2 weeks prior! I didn't think a few hours and lunch would make THAT big of a difference... regardless though, at my clinic they said my weight was fine and everything pregnancy-wise seems to be in the normal range (despite Jay's slightly bigger size right now).

Until next week!

22 Week Anatomical Survey Ultrasound

So today (Monday) we're 22 weeks, and 1 day!

This also means it was time for our monthly appointment!

Today we had the Anatomical Survey ultrasound, where the ultrasound tech does thorough scans and stuff of Jay's body to make sure everything is there and how it should be. His brain seemed to look good, his heart has all 4 chambers, his kidneys seemed fine, spine was good, and we from what we could tell he has both arms and legs and all his fingers and toes! We could also see where his eyes, nose and mouth are too.

His heartbeat was at 155bpm which is about where it was last time, and she said he weighed 1lb, 2 oz so far.

He decided to be a little stinker though when she went to take 3D picture of his face and wouldn't cooperate - he had been moving quite a bit this morning, which is strange for him as he usually doesn't move much in the morning, but I swear he senses when we're going to the doctor as every time so far he's been really active! However, previously our appointments have been at 10:30am or 11am and today's was at 11:30am. I think, from what we could see on the ultrasound, he was getting tired again by this point and curling up to sleep, as he had his hands up by his face - hiding from whatever, lol... the tech spent like 5 minutes or so poking and nudging him trying to get him to move so we could see his face, but he refused and instead kicked me every time she nudged/poked him with the wand like he was fighting back, lol...

Grandma (hubby's mom) was not too happy to hear about this, as she was really hoping we'd get a good 3D shot of his face, lol... she was joking about how she was going to have to have a talk with that boy, lol...

So here's the 3D shot we ended up with:

Personally, I think these things are a bit creepy... from left to right, there's the umbilical cord floating around and you can see a little hand and finger going into his mouth, then there's the nose and an eye (with the nose all smooshed against himself, I think he looks like Squidward from Spongebob, lol...) and apparently his legs are bent up over his head somehow - seems he's a bit of a contortionist in there!

It was cute though - at one point he had his hands clasped together and then he unfolded them for us. And another time it looked like he was waving at us! In addition to the kicking, I think he's been punching too, as she was looking at his legs on one side but I was feeling "kicks" up by his other half.

We think it's funny that he'll hide his face from us for the 3D picture, but he's got no problem showing off his package to everyone, as we had no problem getting a view of that! lol...

Our next appointment is in 4 weeks, then after that we go every 2 weeks (we have the Glucose Challenge test is in 6 weeks) up until the last month - then I go in weekly til he finally pops out.

*****

In other news, I found out today for sure that my primary doctor is "retiring from the practice." I asked if that meant he was "retiring" retiring or just moving elsewhere and he explained that after 29 years in OB/GYN it's just his time to cycle out and that he plans on being a laborer, helping with deliveries at the local hospitals for a bit. He said he might still pop in at the clinic from time to time if they need help while someone's out on delivery duty. It was a bit sad though, as he's been my primary doctor there for over 2 years and worked with me throughout all my LEEP stuff I went through and all my follow-ups since. Fortunately there's 3 other doctor's on staff at my clinic, which they've been cycling us through with our pregnancy appointments as our delivering doctor is whoever happens to be on delivery duty that day, but still...

*****

Today we also got hubby situated with getting tested and his prescription to clear up the bacterial infection that he most likely has since I have it.

*****

Oh and I registered us for a few classes at our delivering hospital too - we were signing up for the childbirth class and breastfeeding class, but we learned that if we also signed up for the newborn care class, the cost of that one is free, so we figured we'd sign up for all 3. The childbirth class covers all the basic labor-related stuff you would expect. We signed up for the 3 night class in November, however the lady gave us a heads up that so far, we're the only ones signed up for it and if they don't have at least 3 signed up they tend to cancel it and we'd have to pick a different time. The breastfeeding class I figured I need to take as I'm pretty unfamiliar with it - my mom didn't breastfeed and neither did my aunt so I haven't really had a lot of exposure or whatever to it and no knowledge outside of what I've read and heard. That class is a 1 night class that I'm going to in November. The newborn care class they recommended we take about a month or so before our due date, so we're doing that one in January. Should be interesting and maybe even fun... I think!

18week exam and we know the gender!

We had our 18week, 1 day appointment this morning and just got back a little bit ago.

I had another cervical ultrasound first before the ultrasound technician pulled out the belly scanner and got a better look at baby that way. The doctor said my cervix length is great - measuring at about 47mm - and he said 30-35 is the average so anything better than that is really good! He said it's safe to say that having had the LEEP done prior, it shouldn't have any affect or give us any problems. I also seemed to put on a good bit of my weight this time around, which the doctor said is normal - when we went in for our first appointment I had gained about 5lbs from where I was pre-pregnancy. The second appointment there wasn't any change - maybe a 1lb at most. This time though, I gained about 9-10lbs, so he said being that I'm about halfway now, the fact that I've gained around 15lbs so far is typical.

The technician also asked us, in the event that baby is cooperating and she could tell what the gender is, if we wanted to know.

We said of course - the suspense has been killing us and while our anatomical survey isn't until next month's appointment (on Oct 18), we were hoping she'd be able to tell us today as we can't stand to have to wait another 4 weeks, lol...

First she got a good profile:

Then she showed us the little arm:

And then we took a peek below...

It's a boy!!

He wasn't shy at all about showing off his package to us! lol...

He was pretty active again today, all moving around. The ultrasound technician clocked the heartbeat at about 170bpm. After we took a look at his package, he decided that was enough for us to see today and decided to roll over and turn his back to us - we got a pretty good view of his spine though! Jaydran's gonna be a little stinker though - the doctor was trying to hear the heartbeat and he wouldn't stay still enough. Our doctor was trying to find him and at first all we could hear was movement! lol... the doctor clocked the heartbeat at about 160bpm but before he could find it he commented that "Well, it's not like he's not alive - we can definitely hear movement, he just doesn't want to stay still for me to catch his heartbeat!"

Hubby's excited - he wanted a boy first because he's always said little girls need big brothers. I would have preferred a girl just so we had 1 and it didn't matter to me what the rest of our kids are, but I'm fine with it, so long as we hopefully have a girl someday =) I'm a little nervous though because I have NO experience with infant boys! My younger sibling is a girl as is my cousin that lives nearby that I helped out with a bit when she was born. All the kids I babysat for, while some were boys, most of them were already potty trained and the only boy that was still in diapers was nearly a toddler so it wasn't like he was pooping his diapers much in the few hours I was watching them.

I should point out - my "mommy instinct" was wrong. I had several dreams the past month where in them baby was a girl. It wasn't until the other night I had a dream where they said we were having twins, but they could only find a set of boy parts, and no girl.

For a boy we're doing a Mario Bros themed nursery - my mom's going to help me make a Mario Bros/Mario Kart mobile and once we move I want to paint the room to look like the first level of the original game, with the blue sky, the reddish brick ground with the boxes and green tubes and the castle... and then put in all different Mario characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, etc. It'll look awesome if I can do it! Also, out at the new Toys R Us Express shop they put in the mall, we found several different Mario plushies for $5. They were smaller ones and they had Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and one of the yellow turtle bad guys - I'll have to remember to pick those up!

Hubby said we can go on Sunday and put together our baby registry - we're probably going to do Target and Walmart and maybe stop by Babies R Us, although their prices are really high compared to Target and Walmart yet most of the items are the exact same! I'm excited - I love to shop!

Also, we're going to Dallas at the end of October and seeing a Cowboys game since hubby's a huge fan - I found a few baby items online we have to get while we're there! In addition to picking up a mini kids jersey (since they sell em at the Walmart down there like the stores up here have Bears stuff), I saw this really cute set of baby stuff:

 

It's a Cowboys baby bottle with a bib and pacifer for $19.99. Since we don't want to pay shipping we figured we'll probably just pick it up down there.

So much fun! While I can't be super girly with a boy, we at least know he'll enjoy playing video games, watching football with daddy, rocking out to music with mommy, and we can take him to some of the more family friendly super hero movies (like Iron Man 2 and Spiderman).

Quad Screen and Insurance Stuffs

So at our next appointment on September 20 we have the optional Quad Screening which is a blood test that can determine if baby has spina bifida or Down's Syndrome among a few other things. Hubby and I were talking about it and right now we're leaning towards skipping it.

While it is covered under our insurance (which is a $250 yearly deductible, with insurance covering 85% and with us having to pay up to $2000 out of pocket max), we decided it's not really worth the extra expense - I'm only 26 now, as is hubby, so I'm at low risk; from what we've read, a lot of the time the tests come back with either a false positive or a false negative; and honestly, even if our kid does end up having a deformity or is a special needs baby, what difference is it really going to make?

Hubby and I aren't too keen on abortion (hubby has his personal reasons for it, so he's extra sensitive about the topic, whereas I think it should only be a valid option in the case of rape as I don't feel the victim should be forced to live with a constant reminder for 9 months or in the case where carrying the baby to term poses a serious risk to the life of the mother) so it's not like if the test comes back positive for anything we're just going to terminate it - neither of us feel right about that at all.

Since we're delivering in the hospital, it's not like there won't be someone nearby to help with whatever when kiddo is born, so the only real benefit of knowing ahead of time is to mentally and financially prepare ourselves, but no matter how much you prepare mentally, it most likely won't hit ya until kiddo is actually here and you're "dealing with it" ya know? And financially... as cliche as it sounds, if it happens, it's in God's hands and help us provide.

I also read that if there are any major defects, like a missing limb or whatever, it'll show up during the later ultrasounds and that the further along you are, they can tell via ultrasound by looking at certain facial features and stuff whether or not baby is developing Down's Syndrome.

I have no problem with people that decide to do the Quad Screening, but for us, we just don't really think it's that necessary and we're both fine with not doing it.

I'm a little confused about the upcoming anatomy ultrasound though. I called our insurance today to ask about whether the Quad Screen was covered and asked about the anatomical survey too, as our doctor said that since it's not a necessary required ultrasound, some insurance companies don't cover it and when they mentioned having a few cervical ultrasounds they said our insurance is a pain about things like ultrasounds even though they'd get it approved for us. I asked the lady about the anatomical survey being covered and she said it wasn't coming up in the computer and said my clinic would have to send over the procedure code so they could find out and look into it. But then later when I said it was an ultrasound she was like "oh, well all the ultrasounds are covered under your maternity benefits."

So I guess that means the anatomy ultrasound is covered...?

That one isn't until closer to the end of October so I think I'll mention it when we go in for our appointment on the 20th and ask them about sending our insurance the "procedure code" for it just to be sure. We both want to know what we're having, but it would be nice to know if insurance is covering that one or if we're going to have to pay out of pocket for it.

14 week check-up

Today we had our 14 week check-up.

All seems to be good!

Today they checked out my cervix, as I had the LEEP done almost 2 years ago and wanted to make sure the length and everything was good or not as that could cause complications later - doctor said my cervix is nearly 40mm long and said that anything over 30 is considered good, so mine is looking fantastic! They're going to check it again in 4 more weeks as he said up until this point my uterus hasn't really stretched and expanded yet as baby wasn't big enough yet and was just filling in the empty space, but that should begin to change soon.

We saw baby again today too, although the angle from cervix wasn't as good a view as the previous angle we had at our last appointment. Baby appeared to be waving at us this time though - it was cute! The technician didn't mention how big baby was (I think it was hard to measure from that angle) but we did get to hear the heartbeat and it was at a normal 162bpm.

Other than that, the appointment was pretty quick. The doctor said next time we come in we need to let them know if we'd like to do that additional testing which includes checking for spina bifida and other stuff. Do most people do that? Is the testing usually covered by insurance?

Our next appointment is September 20, at 18 weeks 1 day, and then we'll find out at 22 weeks 1 day - days before we go on vacation near the end of October - what baby's gender is (assuming baby is cooperative in its positioning).

Meet Jay or Alexi!

Today was our first OB appointment and ultrasound!

Here's one of our first ultrasound photos:

Meet Jaydran (Jay) Alexander if a boy or Alexandria (Alexi) Nicole if a girl!

The official estimated due date that the doctor's office is going by is Feb 20, 2011, but we all know how these things can go - the kiddo can be either late or early. I was 2 weeks late, hubby was a week or 2 early.


Baby is 3.49cm (~1.4inches) long and has a heartbeat of 180bpm - the doctor's office said everything is in the normal range, so that's good!


It was pretty amusing - the kiddo was wiggling around and moving A LOT, like it was having a little party in my uterus. It's like it was like "oh! Mommy and daddy are watching - I wanna make sure they see me so I'm going to dance around all crazy-like!" hehehehe... too cute!

After the ultrasound, they had me go pee in a cup and hubby went back out to the waiting room - by the time I got back out there he had already sent the photos they gave us via text to our families and posted em on facebook! lol...

We went back into one of the exam rooms and met with the lady in charge where she asked all kids of health related questions pertaining to family medical history and that sort of thing. They also gave us a bag of goodies which had a lot of info packets she quickly went over with us - I still have to look and see what all is in there - she mentioned journal or something... then I had a pap smear, which was about a few weeks early from my regular 6 months check up, but they said that counts for that and they'll do another post pregnancy and then I'll be back on the 1 year check ups (yay!).

Then they took my blood, which sucks as I always get faint and start feeling sick when I have blood drawn (which is why I can't donate plasma or blood), but after telling the girl that, she took us into one of the exam rooms so I could lie down while she did it, saying that lying down sometimes help, and it really did. I felt a little faint, but not as bad as I did the last time I had bloodwork done. I was able to walk out within a few minutes afterward - I was still feeling a little weak, but we were going to get lunch after and I knew getting something in me would make me feel a lot better and back to normal.

My next appointment is in 4 weeks - August 23 (right before my birthday!) and they'll be doing another ultrasound to check my cervix, as I had the LEEP procedure done back in December 2008 and they just want to check and make sure my cervix is open enough and isn't shortened or anything bad like that that could cause complications later on.

They said they do appointments every 4 weeks for the first 28 weeks, then they go to every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, and then once a week until labor.