Another Check-Up...

Today I had to go to the doctor's by myself, which I always hate. But I was meeting with Sarah, so I knew I had a shot of getting an ultrasound so I was pumped.

I got to the doctor's and signed in. When I was at the front desk, Sarah saw me and said she was going to see me in the ultrasound room (sweet!). I did the pre-appointment stuff, got called back, got weighed, and waited in the room.

And waited.

And waited.

I waited over a half hour for Sarah to come in to see me. Kate has told me before that since Sarah is so popular and is a talker, you have to constantly wait on her. It got so bad for Kate that she actually stopped seeing her. But I couldn't complain at the moment because I really wanted that ultrasound.

She finally came in and immediately revved up the machine. Because of how big the baby is and how smooshed she is in there, she couldn't get a lot of good pictures. I really wanted to see her face, but she could only see the top of her head (which is frighteningly huge) and kind of a side picture.



It's hard to see, but this is the bottom of her head (she's looking to the left), neck, shoulder, arm, and hand.

This is her heartbeat. If you look at this picture compared to past ones, this one is all baby, where the last ones, you can actually see space around her.



Sarah didn't have her measuring tape, but she felt around with her hands and said I'm right on schedule. I asked if the baby was big for how far along I am, and she said she's really long, which isn't surprising, since both Mike and I are both tall. She also said at our next appointment, they would be checking to see if I was dilated yet, and that she would be the one checking, so it will be cool to see if I'm progressing at all.

Although I had to go by myself AND wait forever, it was still a good appointment since I got to see my little (well...maybe not so little) baby!

Well Hellllooooooooo Dr. Bermeo...

Today we had another check up appointment, and we were scheduled to meet with yet another doctor. This time, we met with Dr. Miguel Bermeo. I had seen him once before when Kate had Sonny, but only in passing when he came in to check on her. But Kate said he was really nice, although she also said that about ManBearPig.

I did the usually pre-appointment stuff and we waited in the room. He came in and right off the bat, had a much more friendly approach then ManBearPig. He asked how we were doing, asked how the pregnancy was going, asked background questions. It was really nice. Then he gave HIS back story. Where he went to school, why he moved to Spokane, etc. He joked around with us a lot, which was awesome. He even cussed. Hilarious!

He made fun of me for writing on my hand (I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but if I need to remember something, I always write it on my hand. If I don’t write it down, I’ll forget. If I write it on paper, I’ll lose the paper. It’s a vicious cycle) and listened to the heartbeat. He read my hand and answered all my questions. The main one I had was about the mice infestation we are having at our house.

It’s getting pretty bad. I’m constantly finding mouse poop, and I’m now finding it on our clothes and I found some in the nursery. They’re basically in every room in the house except Mike’s office. I made the mistake of reading on the internet about a virus that if pregnant women get, it can cause mental retardation among other deformities in the fetus. For those that know me, I over think everything and was super freaking out by the time we got to our appointment.

Anyways, Dr. Bermeo explained that although I shouldn’t be freaking out quite as much as I was, I shouldn’t be around the droppings and shouldn’t be the one cleaning them up. Also, we’re having an exterminator come out to the house this weekend, and I can’t be in the house for 2 days after, so I have to stay in town until at least Monday. But I’d rather do that then run the risk of hurting the baby and/or myself.

After putting my mind at ease a little bit, he told me that I need to be drinking more water so the baby stays hydrated and I don’t go into early labor (dehydration can cause contractions) and told a couple funny stories of him getting buried in the snow by snow plows. He also told me signs of when to call the doctor, when to call 911, and when to go straight to the hospital. All that talk made me freak out and realize that this baby is actually coming and we have NOTHING ready.

I liked him a lot, as did Mike. I definitely want to book my appointments with him from now on and I hope he’s on duty when I actually go into labor. We tried to get him for our next appointment, but he’s on vacation for Christmas, so we are seeing Sarah again. I really hope we can get the ultrasound she promised us. I want to see our little baby now that she actually has some fat on her :)

Like a Ton of Bricks...

At almost 8 months along, I think I’m about due for another complaint blog.

Like I said in my “7th Month: Into the Final Homestretch…” blog, things up until that point were pretty smooth sailing. But I swear to God, as soon as I hit 7 months, everything went down hill, and fast.

Let’s go over how sarcastically awesome the past few weeks have been:

1. Boobs: These things are starting to get ridiculous. I am now growing out of my sports bra. They not only are killing my upper back, but they are now starting to fill up with colostrum (the stuff that comes in before milk) so they are super sore. Oh and speaking of colostrum, I am now sexily leaking.

“That must’ve sucked when YOU figured that out, Jamie”, you might be saying.

But oh no. It wasn’t me who discovered it.

It was Mike.

We were cutting the dog’s hair and I had been leaning on the counter. I stood up to hold the dog and Mike says, “Ummm you’re lactating.” I look down and there are two perfectly round wet spots on my shirt. On my LIGHT YELLOW shirt. I say, “Oh no. It’s just water”, since I had been leaning on the bathroom counter (although secretly, I was praying it was water to save me the embarrassment). I went in the other room and checked things out, and it HAD been coming from me. Great. Yes, it was Mike and not some stranger in public, but I think it was more embarrassing for me for him to see it.

My friends who I see every once in awhile always comment on how huge they are getting. Even friends and family that see me almost every day say something. I don’t blame them either. They’re huge. And when I tell them that I’m actually in a sports bra and not a regular one, they freak out even more about how huge they are. Did they really expect me to wear a regular bra when they are already up to my chin?


2. Back (and Front) Pain: This is the worst. The front hurts because everything is stretching out/how she is positioned, and the back hurts because she is knudged right into my sciatic nerve. So not only my back hurts, but it shoots down my entire right leg. It gets so bad, that by mid-morning, I literally can barely walk. And you can forget about nights. I’m holding onto everything from the edge of the bed to countertops just to weeble wobble around the house. I actually stayed home from work one day because I couldn’t move.

The mornings are great though because I’ve been laying down all night. But as soon as I start the process of actually moving around, it all goes to heck.

The front pain isn’t as bad, but it progresses throughout the day like my back does. The pressure she causes on my hoo-ha is almost unbearable. I feel like she’s trying to push her way out, but can’t get through. My doctor gave me this belt thing that I’m supposed to wear to help with that. I waited forever for it, and later found out that it had been sitting in our front door for almost a week (we go through the back door to get in the house). I went into the bedroom and tried this thing on. When Sarah first told me about it, I thought it was going to be like Spanx, where I put it on like underwear and it just holds everything up, but no.

First you have to put this belt thing on that velcros around your waist. Then you put this thing that looks like an ace bandage around your back that velcros to the initial belt you put on. THEN you put a band on that velcros to the back strap that goes across the top of your belly. I got all this on, and thought for a split second (literally) that this thing might actually work. And then it happened.

The back strap flipped over because no matter how straight you stand, the curve of your back causes it to flip in half. Because of this, the Velcro rubs against your skin. And since the Velcro is now on your skin and not on the strap that goes across your belly, the strap then came undone and hit me in the face. Officially done with this torture device.

Here is what it looks like:



See how she's cheating and holding the back part up? That's because if she doesn't, it will flip over and she will get smacked in the face!

I’ve tried it 3 more times after this fiasco, and I last maybe 5 minutes in it. The Velcro on my skin causes a horrible itch, and it just squeezes me way too tight.

I’ve talked to both Sarah and ManBearPig about this, and basically all they say is that it just gets worse from here. All I can do is just enjoy it now, since this is the best of it.

3. Peeing: I expected this to get worse. With the baby growing and constantly kicking my bladder, plus drinking a gallon of water a day, I’m not surprised that I go to the bathroom as much as I do.

But one day, I went 16 times. IN ONE DAY! I go back and forth so much at work, I basically count it as my walk for the day since the bathroom is all the way down the hall. It’s guaranteed that if I have been sitting down for more than 5 minutes, when I stand up, I automatically have to go pee. I now know my pee schedule.

4. Feeling “Stuffed”: With how big the baby is getting, I almost constantly feel like I’m really full. Don’t get me wrong…I get hungry. But when I do eat, even if I’m starving, I can only eat a little bit because my stomach is so small now. I’m constantly taking deep breaths and blowing them out like I’m walking out of a 3 hour visit to Golden Corral. It’s just really uncomfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable…

5. Baby Spreading Out: She spreads out as much as she possibly can. She digs her feet into my side and her head into my ribs. It’s too the point that I’m breathless even when I’m just sitting.

The cool thing about this is that when she pushes really hard, we can feel the outline of her feet and exactly where her head is. I just wish it didn’t hurt so bad.

7. Heartburn/Nausea: This has only recently gotten bad. For a few nights now, I have been feeling nauseas as I lay down in bed. It usually passes long enough so I can fall asleep. But the other night, I woke up at around 2am and threw up. I talked to my doctor about it, and they said that it's caused by heartburn, which I thought was a little odd, but after they explained it, it made sense. They still want me to take OTC Prevacid for it, but I'm fine with my Tums.

6. Being Gross: This is probably my biggest complaint about pregnancy. I feel unbelievably gross. I’m as big as a house. I know being pregnant, you’re supposed to gain weight, but it’s not like I started off this process small, so it’s just been straight down hill. I try to look sexy or at least nice, but then I get out of the shower or catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and my confidence is just deflated. I can’t wait until I can start working out. Not just for my sake, or my child’s sake, but for Mike’s sake. I feel dumb for this, but I actually feel bad for him that he is with someone that is so huge. I just want to be pretty again. He’s never said anything, and I really doubt he ever would. And maybe it’s all in my head. But I’m really looking forward to being able to exercise and get to the size that I should be.

That’s it for about now, although that seems like a lot. I’m just grumpy today. But I feel better now that I vented. I know when she’s here, I’ll miss being pregnant, but definitely not the things I listed. No no no.

An Experience with ManBearPig...

This had to of been THE shortest doctor’s appointment we’ve ever had.

We waited for the doctor for at least 20 minutes, while the actual appointment lasted less than 3 minutes.

No exaggeration.

Complete let down.

We didn’t really expect to have a long appointment, since usually they go through the usual routine (weight check, blood pressure check, answer any questions I have), and then Sarah comes in, b.s.’s with us for little bit, and checks the heartbeat, but with this being our first appointment with Dr. Silverstein, we expected something a little longer than 3 minutes.

The nurse brought us in, and like usual went through the usual stuff and told us the doctor would be in shortly. A short 20-25 minutes later, Dr. Silverstein came in.

Here is a breakdown of the appointment:

Doctor comes in.

Says hi.

Tells me to lay down.

Measures my stomach.

Feels around and tells us where her head and butt are (which was actually pretty neat).

Sticks the sonogram on my stomach for about 3.5 seconds to hear the heartbeat.

Asks us what we are doing for Thanksgiving.

Tells us to take my file to the front desk and says goodbye.

Doctor leaves.

She says nothing about who she is, asks nothing about who we are, doesn’t even say “Nice to meet you.” It was exactly what I thought it would be with her. Super rushy, because that’s exactly how she was with Kate’s delivery.

Ulgh.

And to top it off, Sarah didn't write in our chart that we were due for an ultrasound, so we didn't get one. They said they would talk to her about it, but they didn't see a reason for us to have one. Maybe I want to see my baby? Hello?!

A funny thing that came out of this appointment though is that Mike calls her ManBearPig because she had a mustache. Hilarious.

Oh well. Next time we meet with Dr. Miguel Bermeo. Hopefully he’ll turn out better and actually have a little bit of a conversation with us.

7 Months...Into the Final Home Stretch!...

Or for all my nerdy Sci-Fi friends, Into the Final Frontier.

Any way you look at it, I’ve hit the 3rd, and final, trimester. So far, every thing has been going pretty smooth. Baby and I are both healthy, I’ve had only a few bumps in the road, but nothing that is out of the ordinary in pregnancy, so it’s been great.

I have heard from multiple books and friends that the 3rd trimester is the worst. Basically everything bad that was experienced in the 1st trimester comes back, along with stuff that I haven’t had the joy of experiencing yet, like major heartburn, hemmoroids, hip pain, insomnia, etc. Hopefully I’ll just skip right past all that stuff, but we’ll see.

Another bit of good news…

I actually have a belly now! It’s not just a roll of sexy, sexy fat. It’s an actual baby belly!

Check Up!...

Today we had our regular every-two-week check up. It was nothing really special. We did find out the results of the glucose testing though. Everything is great! Sarah said that I’m still gaining weight at an awesome rate, and to stick with my water. We were hoping to get in for an ultrasound, but she said that we’d have to wait another half hour, but Mike wanted to get home for the Steelers game and I didn’t really feel like sitting in that room for another half hour (at least), so she said she would just schedule it for next time. We aren’t due for one until next week anyway, so it worked out.

When we went to schedule our next appointment, the appointment lady asked who we would like to schedule it with. Of course, we said Sarah, but she thought it would be a good idea to start meeting with the actual doctors since Sarah is just a nurse and wouldn’t be delivering our baby. So for our next appointment, we will meet Dr. Silverstein, who is the same doctor that delivered Felix for Kate. We’ll see how that goes I guess. I felt she was a bit rushy with Kate, but that could also be because Felix basically fell out of her. I’m hoping she’ll be different in an doctor’s office setting.

Glucose Testing...

At my last doctor's appointment, Sarah informed me that I would be doing a glucose test at my next appointment, and that day was today.

I had talked to a few friends about this glucose test, and they had nothing but bad things to say about it.

"Oh my God, it's so gross."

"It's so thick and disgusting. You literally have to choke it down."

"You just have to make sure not to throw up after you drink it, or you have to go back and do it again. It's horrible."

Oh joy.

After these words of encouragment, I was NOT looking forward to this testing.

I got to the doctor's office, and when I went up to the counter, they handed me a bottle of what looked like orange soda, so it wasn't really that thick. She told me I had to drink it within 5 minutes and bring the bottle back up when I was done. I took it back to my seat, with all the expectant mothers in the waiting room watching me. They would whisper to their significant others, telling them exactly what it was I was doing. One lady actually said, "I wonder if she'll puke." Thanks, Lady Wearing a Tiger T-Shirt from 1984.

I looked at the bottle, wondering if I was going to win this battle that was put before me. I took the cap off, and started chugging. Once I tasted it, I realized that it tasted exactly like orange soda from McDonald's, but with a few 10 extra spoonfuls of sugar thrown in. It was definitely sweet, but nothing that I couldn't handle. It actually made me crave a happy meal. Yes, yes. I am a fat girl. I'm well aware of this.

I drank the orange drink pretty fast, and took the bottle up to the desk. The lady behind the counter actually said, "You're already done? Wow." She wrote the time down and said they'd call me back in a minute. I didn't really know how to take what she said. Do I take it as I should be proud of myself for drinking something so disgusting? Or should it make me worried that I could handle something so sugary?

I got called back and met with Sarah. It was a pretty quick appointment. I didn't have a lot of questions, just mainly freaking out about this test. I asked her if I could take baths, since the house we are moving into has a kick ass huge tub. She said it was perfectly fine and I could take them as hot as I want. I talked to Kate about this later, and she said I shouldn't stay in the bath for too long though.

Sarah told me that I had to be in the lab in exactly an hour, since it's basically a timed test, so they could draw my blood. Again. I made my next appointment and went out to my car. I wasn't there too long, since I didn't know how long I would be waiting at the lab after I turned my paperwork in.

I walked down to the lab, and of course there was a wait, but I had like 20 minutes, so it was no big deal. Time kept creeping closer, and this girl a few years younger than me was talking to the Check-In lady. But she wasn't just giving her her information. She was bullshitting.

Time kept creeping closer.

She's still blabbing away.

Tick tock.

Blab blab blab.

Finally she goes into the room to get her blood drawn and I have 3 minutes to get my blood drawn. I talk to the Check-In lady and she realizes that I'm on a time draw. She tells the ladies drawing blood, and they try to rush through Blah Blah Ditzy Girl, (who I will forever be bitter towards if my test results didn't turn out because she wouldn't shut up) and finally get me in, almost 5 minutes past when I was supposed to get my blood drawn.

I sit down, and OF COURSE, there is a student doing the blood draws. She takes forever setting up, and once again, OF COURSE, can't find my vein. Instead of getting the actual tech, she tries anyway. Now you know how much I hate to get my blood drawn, especially when it's done by idiots. So she stabs me and realizes she misses. Instead of taking the needle out and trying again, she takes the needle out a little, shifts it to the left, and stabs it back in. WHAT?!? AND she missed again! So what did she do? Her little "Take the needle a little ways out and stab it back in again" move. And did she find the vein? NO!!

Finally, she called the tech over. By this time, I'm super uncomfortable, I have been stabbed multiple times with no blood, and time is quickly running out to do this test. I asked the tech if she has enough time to get this test done, and apparently she had a few minutes to spare. Within 10 seconds of her coming into the room, I had a needle in my arm, in a vein this time, and blood was filling up the capsules. Never trust students.

They had to take 9 capsules full this time, 7 to test against the first round of blood draws that I did when I first got pregnant, and then 2 for the glucose test. It was so much fun! Not.