March of Dimes Meeting

So I had a meeting with the March of Dimes representitive for Bartow County, Mary, at Starbucks. I'm going to try to get the team together again this year. I probably will not participate in the walk because it's only a few days after my due date, but I will definately still fundraise.

I think this year instead of trying to get donations from families, I'm going to gear it towards businesses. I know it's tough for families with the economy in the crapper these days. I know a lot of companies from work, so I'm hoping to gear my campaign towards that direction.

I have to work on my letter to send out, but it's going to start by telling my story, why I got involved with the March of Dimes and what their money will be going towards. Brent's Brigade was the #1 family team last year, so I'd love to reclaim our spot this year.

I'll post periodically about my efforts to keep ya'll updated. If anyone thinks their company would be interested in donating, let me know the company address and contact person and I'll get a letter out to them.

27 Week Specialist Appointment

Today was my follow-up appointment at my specialist office in Atlanta. Our tech looked at our little sweetheart first (and raved about how cute he was). Baby is doing amazing and we could even see him doing his breathing excercises in there. She gave us some pics, see below. My cervix was between 2.5 and 2.7cm, which is much better than last week's 1.7cm when I contracted. I've been faithfully on my terbutaline, I take it everyday at 6am, 12pm, 6pm and 12am. Doc told me I'd be staying on those for a while and he also said that I can't go back to work until further notice. So I have the pleasure of taking my note in tomorrow to my GM and having a conversation about vacation and sick time as well as short term disability pay. Not sure what I have to do in order to get that. I will probably call HR in the morning and see what my options are then go in and talk to my boss about a plan of action. My next appointment is in 2 weeks, so I know I'll be out at least that long for sure. I'm hoping I can go back to work, I really miss my regular customers. One of my regulars who also happens to be Ronnie's boss called him yesterday to check on me. It was really sweet... I'm not sure how my boss will take my extended time away from work, I just hope she sympathizes since she saw what I went through last time. I'm pretty sure I became a different person a little bit after that experience. Not worse, but not better either, just different. Right now I am just happy that my little guy is healthy and doing the things he's supposed to be doing. I read on my update from BabyCenter that if he was born now he'd have an 85% chance of surviving, though not without a lot of medical treatment. I'm pretty sure we'll make it to the mid 30 week range, but that little tid bit was comforting to know.

Profile

Nose and Lips

Face

26 Week Specialist Appointment

Just when I though I was out of weeds...

Wednesday started out like most of my trips to Atlanta. I stopped to get gas, ran into the Racetrac for a cup of hot chocolate and was on my way. I got there and waited about 20 minutes. Got called back and undressed from the waist down. First the tech checked on baby. He was absolutely perfect of course, bouncing around all over the place like he had been all morning. Then she checked my cervical length. The first two measurements she took were closed and long and perfect, like every other time I'd been there. All of the sudden the thin line started opening, it got larger until it had opened about half of the length of the line, then almost as quickly as it opened, it shut again. Leaving no evidence that anything ever happened. The tech said she was gonna get the doctor and I was left in the room all alone, fearing the worse as you can imagine...

My doc came in and of course was greeted by the horror on my face. He told me that my cervix did not open, what we saw was a contraction. I asked him if that was supposed to happen, and he said no, not this early. I didn't feel anything when it happened, so I told him that and he decided to put the monitors on me. I was tearing up by this time and he calmed me down and said that there was medicine to elimate contractions, and I'm not going to lose my baby. I was hooked up to the monitors for about 45 minutes. The nurse kept checking the lines on the paper every 10 minutes ago. I could tell by the look on her face that nothing was out of the ordinary. When the doc came back he looked at the lines also and said that there was nothing, I hadn't had any more contractions since. He gave me my prespription and asked me about my work situation.

I told him I worked full time on my feet, and he said that might have to change. He had the office secretary type a letter for work, I'm now on bedrest til Wednesday, when I go back so he can re-evaluate me. At that point he'll make a decision on whether I'll have to either work a reduced schedule or take a leave of absence. So I've been lounging the past two days at home. I'm not really happy about it though. I thought I'd have my last appointment and everything would be smooth sailing for another 3 months. I guess that's just not my luck... And to top it off I'm already halfway through the last book of the Twilight Saga. I guess I need to go pick up some more to keep me occupied while I have 10 hours a day myself. I really don't want to drown ALL my time in front of a TV like a zombie. Though I will be making my 10am spot open to watch "The Doctors". I love that show...

Anyway, I have strict orders to go to my OBGYN here if I feel any kind of pressure or pain, or the ER if it's after hours. I'm taking terbutaline every 6 hours to relax my uterus muscles. I'm really hoping all of this is just precaution though. I can't go through what I went through last year again. It would literally break my soul... For those of you who are into religion, please pray. I need all the help I can get. Thanks.

25 Week Appt. on Jan. 16th (late again, I know...)

So Friday morning I went to my regular OBGYN office for my 25 week checkup. It was pretty routine: pee in the cup, blood pressure, weight (which I only gained 1 lb. in 2 weeks, yay) and then saw my midwife. She found the heartbeat almost instantly and said he's finally not hangin' out so low in the pelvis anymore. She asked if I had any problems at all such as spotting, and of course I haven't or else she would've gotten a frantic phone call if I were. So at my next appointment to see her I get to do the gestational diabetes test and drink some really sweet stuff and then get my blood drawn. I'm really not looking forward to that one. That appointment is on Feb. 3rd. Wow... it's almost February. Yikes...

Anyway, I see my specialist on Wednesday, I'm so excited! If all is well then I get to say goodbye to them. I definately need to take him a thank you card. Even without anything going wrong, the reassurance has been SOOOO wonderful. I can't imagine what kind of wreck I would be without seeing my baby boy every two weeks. I fall more in love everytime I see that little booger rolling around in there. :o) He melts my heart every time he pokes and kicks me. I can't wait to hold him in my arms and kiss him a billion times a day.

I'll post some 26 week belly pics tomorrow... until then I hope everyone has a great week!

24 Week Specialist Appointment and Pics

I saw my doctor in Atlanta today, the appointment was very, very good! He said my cervix was perfect, the baby was perfect, so after my next appointment in 2 weeks if all is still well that will be my last appointment. Yay! Honestly, it was worth every penny just to have piece of mind my whole first two trimesters. I see him on my 26th week, and at 27 weeks I'll be in my third trimester, so I am SOOOO excited that I'm only 3 weeks away from that! The past couple of weeks were just a whirl wind for me, but somehow I managed to keep my mind occupied with other things. (Seeing the movie Twilight helped, I constantly daydream of gorgeous vampires that sparkle...lol) Anyway, I got some cool new pictures:

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Profile - If you look at his chest you can see his little heart.

(the black blobby-thing)

Leg and foot.
(See the bones?!)

Face.

Profile of face.

Another profile of face.

The Crib Diaries

I'm pretty pissed, I'll come right out and say it. About 6 months ago I found the crib and changing table/dresser combo I wanted. Actually, it was one I looked at a year ago for Brent, back when Babies'R'Us carried it. Eventually it was discontinued at that store. When I started my search up for a new crib I found the one I'd originally wanted, and it was on the Walmart.com site and MUCH cheaper. SCORE! And of course Walmart.com has a wonderful program called Site2Store, which means you can choose a store to pick it up at and the shipping is absolutely free! What a great deal right... I couldn't be more excited.

Well a couple of weeks ago I decided to start doing my registry and went to Walmart.com to add the baby furniture of my dreams, and to my horror and dismay, THEY ALSO STOPPED CARRYING IT!!! I'm pretty sure I cried a little, but I tried my best to find it elsewhere. All of the off brand websites I went to wanted some ridiculous amount for shipping, so I decided to hang up the search and try to find a new crib. I kinda put it on the back burner for a few weeks, since I was still feeling a little burned. But a couple days ago I went back to Walmart.com to continue my registry ventures. I liked some of the other cribs, but none of the coordinating pieces. I wasn't in love like I was with "my" crib.

So I decided to try Babies'R'Us to see what they had going on. A lot of their stuff is really cute but it is pretty pricey. Finally I tried Target.com... and guess what pops up? MY CRIB!! Do they just shuffle these thing around to different retailers or what?! After I happily noticed that the price was the exact same at Walmart.com, I looked desperately for some kind of "free shipping to store" banner on the page. I added it to my basket to see if it gives you the option of picking up in the store, and if not how much shipping would be. Of course... just because it's MY luck and I happen to be in LOVE with this set, Target doesn't offer any other option other than home delivery... Great, I got over it, for about 2 minutes until I totalled the order to see the shipping cost. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS?!?! Are they on crack?! And that's standard ground shipping.

So I guess I'm back to square one. I'll probably be either surfing Walmart.com to look at new arrivals every other week or check Target.com and pray they run a free shipping promotion. I'm still pretty sad about it. I put up the pictures from the site, so you can see why I'm so in love with it. I like the fact that it's convertible and the changing table/dresser combo is great because I don't have to buy separate pieces. Maybe I'll just ask for Target gift cards on my shower invitations, lol. :o( OK, I'm going to go pout some more. I hope every one has a great 2009.