Updates...

Yes, it's been a while. When you get out of the groove of doing something such as blogging, it's hard to start up again. Rather than trying to go through all the details of what I've missed typing and updating, I thought I'd just give a quick overview-update and add in some "progression" pics. :) These are 3 pictures of my ever-growing profile at 16 weeks, 24 and now at 30! Crazy to think that we're only about 10 weeks away!!

Quick updates: the third trimester has met me with some new and some "old" symptoms that are really slowing me down. I don't want to sound all complain-y, but I also don't feel like the pregnancy books quite do these "9" months justice; sometimes I feel things are just glossed over, and other times, I've resolved that I just don't particularly ENJOY pregnancy. Bouts of nausea (though not as bad), near-fainting spells, and headaches are back like the first trimester...now I have "severe reflux" (which I won't even begin to get into what happens in the middle of the night to wake me up) and sleeplessness. I'm definitely having moments of round ligament pain (frontal, abdominal stretching that is sharp and almost knocks the wind outta ya), plus sacroiliac pain (backside pain, almost like a charlie horse in your butt), and pelvic bone pain (which we just learned this week could be from a loose connection in my pelvic bones). I had SOO planned on getting at least moderate exercise throughout this pregnancy, but just getting in and out of a car to run errands, standing on my feet too long, or doing some minor household chores, causes me residual, I-can-barely-walk pain for about 2 days afterwards. I am constantly telling myself that it's OK, and "we" just need to get through this pregnancy, reducing as much pain as possible.

For those who are curious, my scars from surgery are at a complete standstill, and I'm kinda convinced they won't ever look much better than what they are now. Afterall, Baby is taking all the nutrients first. I've had very little of an appetite and haven't gained too much weight yet, so it's been hard to think that I've been getting all the nutrients that I need after Baby takes them.

Now, for the way more FUN news. We have found out that we are expecting a *GIRL* and are thrilled that she keeps showing very healthy signs. She is a very active baby inside of me, but is a bit ultrasound-shy as she turns inward whenever we try to see her pretty little face. At home, it's constant activity...and she favors my right side most of the time. Friends and family who have observed my tummy closely can see a bigger lump on the right side almost all the time. She kicks way out to the sides, too...occasionally downward, but mostly so far out to the sides, that she's kicking right above my hip bones! And, no, since everyone keeps asking, we don't have a name for her yet...workin' on it!

David and I attended our 1st childbirth class this Monday and we loved it. The teacher is great, it's comforting to hear other women going through the same aches, pains and discomforts, and it's just SOO educational! We have 3 more weeks of classes and then we'll be pros, right? :) Yea, not until the little one makes her appearance and we all get through delivery, we know.

I'll try to shoot out another update and one that's even shorter soon. Thanks for reading and being a part of our journey!

Recovering...

My recovery has been going well, I think. I was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday in the late afternoon. The ride home was awful - they had given me a big dose of Percocet and an iron supplement - for the about-3-mile-drive, David had to stop twice because my whole world was spinning and swirling. We finally arrived home, to a house that had been cleaned by friends from church! What a wonderful blessing when I was going to have guests in town and our house just wasn't ready for that! I tried to get some sleep and rest while my sweet husband went to pick up medications and take care of me, while also trying to catch up on being gone from his work for 2 full days (and worried about his wife the whole time!). I tried to take it easy on Wednesday, but also catch up on emails and keep some food in my system.

On Thursday, it was another slow day with just a few "emergency" emails to address - the rest could wait! My dad decided to come down from Chicago to check on me :) and to help out if we needed anything. He arrived in the evening with tons of food his wife, Diane, had made for all of us, which was a great help...and proved to be many meals for all of us over the next few days. The next day, one of my favorite roommates from college, Laurie, arrived for her weekend visit with us and another favorite roommate, Kim, who lives nearby. We actually managed to get out of the house (!) and spend some time with Kim and her family for the afternoon! Not bad on the 3rd day after surgery!

My goal was to move around as much as I could and get through the rough spots. Anyone who has had surgery knows that part of the battle is crazy muscle soreness, so I figured, "The sooner I move and the more I move, the faster I'll feel better!"

Below is a self-portrait of bandages after surgery. Things are a little out of scale and if you don't want to see, now is the time to stop scrolling. :) But, alas, these were the incisions I got to deal with just as my tummy is starting to grow....

Surprise Surgery

Little did we know what was coming, a mere 36 hours after the last post! We spent Sunday visiting with David's extended family (fun to see you all, McGhees!) and stayed as long as I could. I had begun feeling "weird," as I put it, and it was a long 2 hours home. I spent the evening sitting and laying uncomfortably trying to focus on a movie until I eventually just headed to bed. I figured it was just another rough day of pregnancy...until 4am....

I awoke suddenly with SEVERE pain. The pain I spoke of over Memorial Day weekend's trip to the hospital had steadily increased throughout the whole evening though I tried everything I could to decrease the pain; this time around, the pain was already at that elevated level and I was sure something had gone wrong...yet again with the cyst. We headed to the hospital after having the doctor paged (who told us it was likely gas!), and because I was 2 days over 16 weeks, they took us straight to the maternity section of the hospital. This time around, we did more painful ultrasounds, CT scan, and blood tests to determine what the issue was...and tried heat, ice, anti-gas pills and eventually 2 rounds of morphine to dull the pain - NONE of those pain remedies worked. For 6+ hours, I squirmed and grimaced as they tried to find the cause and eventually, THANKFULLY, I got the first shot of Demorol...ahhh...THAT was what I needed to get through it! It didn't take all the pain away by any means, but it lowered it to a 3 or 4 and I could finally catch my breath. My doctor came by the hospital some time that Mon morning and said that they would keep me on a 23-hour watch...I didn't care as long as I had some pain medication! Soon after, I was told they had decided to then do "exploratory surgery" at 7am the next morning instead and see what was going on - all the tests were coming back with blood flood to the ovary (which should NOT be the case if it is twisted) and no real apparent problems. I also wasn't showing signs of Appendicitis, but a General Surgeon came to ask if I wanted my appendix out while they were in there - heck yea! Take any unnecessary organ out at this point!

Surgery was interesting for me this time - for my neck, they 'knocked me out' in some holding room through an IV; this time I went all the way into the operating room, they had me get up on this stainless steel table, they strapped me down in a "t" position and then came the gas mask...I HAD to be out in like 2 seconds. :] I awoke in the recovery room and immediately asked what happened/what all they found. It was there that I learned they had to take my ovary AND my fallopian tube (plus the appendix) out...I was shocked and didn't understand, especially when none of the tests were showing such a need! It was once I sleepily got back to my room that David showed me pictures and compassionately explained what they had discovered. Because of the the twisting (the cyst had caused the ovary to twist several times, with even fresh hemmoraghing in the last 24 hours), blood indeed had been cut off from the ovary and fallopian tube. I don't have any idea how it all works, but I can't help but think what this problem cyst would have effected further either in my body or with the baby had it continued (and how would I have dealt with that level of pain!?). Pictures are below...the top left pic with the white marshmellow-looking thing is the good ovary (bottom left square on the same pic is my appendix); the bottom pic: the top two pics/squares are the bad ovary and fallopian tube....no question why they had to come out! Oh, and the pinkish blob on the left is the sac the baby is in!! :] Baby fared the surgery well as far as all tests have determined! No contractions for me the whole night, good, strong heartbeat, and baby eventually returned back to its correct spot in my tummy once the swelling went down. Whew!





Ironic to me now, I went back today and read through the "mix of emotions blog" to see that I wrote: "We learned that if it had grown in size instead, there is a risk of it twisting and eventually cutting off blood circulation and there are consequences to that situation that I'm still not sure I understand!" How interesting that we now know EXACTLY what happens when twisting ("torsion") DOES happen and blood supply IS cut off....

First Measurement

Tonight we took our first set of "tummy circumference" measurements. :] I am officially over 16 weeks and feel like I'm beginning to show...although the 2nd picture (a sneaky snapshot that D took) doesn't really look all that "large." I lost about 10 pounds since becoming pregnant, hence the note on the pic below that I gained 8 pounds of it back.

Today has been a mix of emotions. For starters, we had our second appt with the new doctor earlier this morning. We are still a bit unsettled about our feelings for our doctor, though we feel overall she knows what she's doing...it's more a personality preference. We were pleasantly surprised that she took a few quick moments to check the size of the cyst - and it has gone down in size slightly! We learned that if it had grown in size instead, there is a risk of it twisting and eventually cutting off blood circulation and there are consequences to that situation that I'm still not sure I understand! Anyway, we got a 5 second glimpse of our little baby again, this time looking like it was waving at us as if to say, "Hello!!" (We know - we have quite an imagination about this baby who is not aware, but what new parents don't?) The doc did give us one little picture, where the baby totally looks like an alien: it's mostly just the head with hollow eyes and a skinny spine going up to its head. Kinda funny to us!

Later in the day, we received our first fun little baby items (besides the little robe that Lori picked up for us from a local "free" store - shown in the left of the pic below - thanks Lori!). David's parents found some cute little burping clothes, and receiving blanket and some onesies - all unisex of course! Hard for us to believe that our baby will likely be smaller than those first outfits!

First Father's Day-ish

June 21

Happy Father's Day, Daddy-to-be!! Some people have said that these Mother's/Father's days are the best because there are no kid responsibilities...yet, somehow I think our first ones next year will far surpass our quiet and rather boring ones together this year. :) I got David a cookie cake (one of his 'fav' things), to say a little thanks for all the crummy-feeling-days he's been helping me with and to share in our anticipation of changes coming up. As a little fun bonus, some"one" had to check things out prior to Daddy seeing it and was a little ticked off that I was not allowing him to lick the sugary-goodness...you'll see.

First Purchases!

June 10-12

We bought our first baby-related items! Becky spent some time online, looking through new crib purchases (and other items for the room) as well as some used purchases on places like Craigslist. We had some great finds!! First, on Wednesday, we bought a used-but-in-good-shape crib in a neutral color wood. Only $100 and it's a "convertible" crib, which we've since learned it means that it can go down to a daybed and eventually use part of the crib as a headboard for a full bed later! I LOVE practicality!! Next, on Friday, my great friend Lori made the long, long trek out about 40 minutes west of our house with me to check on a changing table and a glider with an ottoman. AND, they both match the crib, too! All items need a bit of TLC cleaning, but we feel blessed that we now have some 'absolute necessities' for under $200! We think we got some GREAT deals!!!