Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. This year on Christmas Eve we are going to my mom's house & then on Christmas day we are going to my brother's house & then the day after Christmas we are going to Dan's parents house. This should be our last "quiet" Christmas because next year Madelyn will be here although she will still be a little too young to understand what is going on. I hope everyone has a great holiday!

In other news, we had our 36 wk appointment yesterday & now start going weekly. Nothing too exciting to report as everything continues to be status quo at this point. Once again it took the doctor a while to find her heartbeat, which amazes me - you would think that the bigger the baby is the easier it would be to find the heartbeat! When they did find it it was 159 bpm. I have not dilated at all but the doctor said that Madelyn's head is wedged down in my pelvis, which is good news, and partly explains why I am feeling so miserable! That means she shouldn't be changing positions between now and her delivery & she is in the "locked and loaded position". The doctor also confirmed that I have been feeling contractions as my body is preparing for the delivery. I am really nervous but excited at the same time. Next week I am off on vacation and then have to go to work for 1 day and then start my maternity leave. I plan on getting Madelyn's room all finished up and all her clothes & sheets washed and ready for her. It's hard to believe that our lives are about to completely change forever in the next couple of weeks.

34 weeks & counting...

Today we had our 34 week appointment and sonogram. We were quite happy when the doctor announced that Madelyn is still a girl and there is still only one baby! We would have a bit of a problem if either of those things had turned out to no longer be true! :-)

It is so amazing to see her on the ultrasound machine - she has a lot of hair already & we could even see the fat rolls on the back of her little neck. She was all tucked up in a little ball & was burying her face, so the tech had a hard time getting a picture of her face, hands and one of her feet. Everything looks great though & everything is measuring normally. She is actually measuring a week ahead and is an estimated 5lbs 8oz already. Given that she can gain up to 1/2 a pound a week for the remainder of the pregnancy, she could easily end up over 8 lbs (God, I hope not!). Of course, there is a margin of error & this is just an estimate. She is in the correct position for delivery and her heartbeat was 140. Dan is convinced she will make her arrival early, though there are no signs of any premature labor yet. The dr said I should be good to finish all my Christmas shopping. I'll post the new ultrasound pics soon.

Classes, classes, classes!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had dinner with my mom, Bob, David, Toni & Caitlin the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and then on Thanksgiving day we went to Dan's parents house and had another wonderful meal. Austin was in town visiting for the holiday, so that was a lot of fun too. Then on Sunday, we went to the Breastfeeding class, which was very informative and I learned a lot. This Saturday we have part 1 of the 12 hour Childbirth class, which is what we are really looking forward to - in this class we also get to tour the hospital.

I am starting to get really uncomfortable and am glad the end is in sight. I am kind of nervous but cannot wait to meet our little girl and hold her in my arms. I am already smitten! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We are now at 32 weeks - less than 8 wks to go!! The appointment today went well - the doctor said everything looks great and the baby is growing well. Madelyn's heartbeat was 155. At our next appointment in 2 weeks we will have a sonogram to see how big Madelyn is and what position she is in - after that I have one more appointment in 2 weeks and then start weekly appointments the last week of December. We are both very excited and anxious to meet her!


In other news, this past Sunday we had Thanksgiving dinner with Mom & Bob at David and Toni's house - dinner was great and it was nice to all get together. Austin is arriving today & we will be going up to Dan's parents house on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. Should be a fun filled week & we definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year! It's amazing how much life can change in a year.

H1N1 shot

Today we had our 30 wk appointment & everything is still looking good. My 3 hour Glucose Test came back fine, so I do not have Gestational Diabetes which is great news. I have gained 32 lbs so far, and my blood pressure was a little elevated (148/78) but the dr said she is not concerned yet & will not be unless it starts to run around 160/90. Madelyn was turning her back to us apparently, so the dr had a hard time finding her heartbeat, but she finally did & it was 144 BPM. I am very glad that I can feel her moving around and felt secure that she was alright when the dr was trying to find her heartbeat! I also got the H1N1 shot and that was pretty much the extent of the appointment.

Other than that, we had the Baby Care class this past weekend, which was very informative & worth the time. The nursery is almost complete and I will post pics as soon as it is done. All we have left is the crown molding, new blinds, a new lampshade, a rug and a glider rocker and Maddie's room is ready!

3 hr Glucose Tolerance Test

Today we went for the 3 hr Glucose Tolerance Test. While not fun, it was not as bad as I feared. This time I drank the orange flavored Glucola (100g) - it was sickly sweet and made me feel nauseated & kind of dizzy. They took blood before I drank the Glucola and then at 1, 2 & 3 hrs. We got up and walked around and I am not sure if that helped or made it worse. Luckily I started to feel better after the first hour or two. My heart definately goes out to all diabetics though as it was not a fun way to spend the morning. Dan went with me and was a real trooper & did not complain once about sitting in the waiting room with me for 3 hours. It was great to have his support & encouragement & I am very thankful that I have such a supportive and involved husband.

Hopefully everything will come back okay & I do not have gestational diabetes. I'll post the results as soon as I hear back from the doctor, which should probably be by the end of the week.

Ughh....

Today I got some pretty bad news - I failed the 1 hour glucose test, and now have to go take the 3 hour one. That means I get to drink a stronger version of the Glucola and then have blood taken 4 times over a 3 hour period. I am not looking forward to that at all, as anyone who knows me knows that i HATE having blood work done. I am not very happy about it at all, but don't have much of a choice. If I do have gestational diabetes, it is better that we find out for both my health and Madelyn's health as it can be pretty serious and cause complications.

At least my thyroid level came back ok again and I am not anemic!

Glucose Tolerance Test

Today we had our 28 week appointment & everything continues to look great. Madelyn's heartbeat was 150 bpm. I also had the Glucose Tolerance test which wasn't as bad as I had feared. I drank the lemon-lime Glucola, which tasted like super sweet flat Sprite & then had the blood work an hour later. The Glucola did give me a headache and made me feel slightly nauseated, but not too bad. I hope I pass though as I really don't want to have to have to do the 3 hour test.

So far I have gained 28 lbs, and the doctor said my stomach should start to get really big around 32 wks. We now have appointments every two weeks & she scheduled us for another sonogram on 12/08/09 (in 6 wks) to check the baby's growth.

In other news, the nursery is definitely coming together, and I will post pics of it soon.

The Home Stretch

Today we are 27 weeks, which makes us officially in the third trimester! Only 13 weeks to go! I am still feeling good, but am starting to have a hard time getting up and bending over to pick things up. Oh, and my belly button has officially disappeared :-(. Madelyn has definitely been very active lately which is good though. She likes to kick Dan in the head if he puts his head on my stomach, it is pretty funny.

This weekend we are painting the old dressers I had to match the crib. So far, Dan has painted one and it looks awesome! I am really surprised as I expected it to look horrible and we would end up having to buy new dressers. We are also going to finish cleaning out the nursery so that we can start painting the walls and putting up the border. I think we are going to put crown molding at the ceiling and the wallpaper border right above the top of the crib.

Also, Monday is Dan's mom's birthday, so today we are going to their house to celebrate. I decided to skip the JBF sale & just go the next one in the spring. I woke up this morning and just did not feel like walking around all day and standing in lines! Plus, I want to get everything set up in the nursery & sort through everything we already have to determine what we still need before I go buying a lot more stuff.

25 weeks

Today I had a drs appointment & everything continues to look good. Madelyn's heartbeat was 141 bpm and she has been kicking up a storm. My "fundal height" as they call it is right on track at 25 cm....matches the 25 lbs I have gained so far! My next appointment is in 3 weeks and will be the glucose tolerance test which I am not looking forward to, and then we start going every 2 wks. The third trimester will start in 2 weeks!! The pregnancy seems to be flying by and the rest of the year is going to continue to go quickly.

Here is our schedule for the rest of the year...needless to say, we are going to be very busy!:
10/10 - yardsale
10/15 - JBF sale @ Crossroads Mall
10/19 - Susan's Birthday
10/27 - Dr appt - Glucose Tolerance
10/29 - Toni's Birthday
10/30 - Austin's Birthday
11/07 - Walking With Dinosaurs
11/8 - 3 hr Baby Care class
11/10 - Drs appt
11/24 - Drs appt - Dan also has a drs appt
11/24 - Austin arrives
11/26 - Thanksgiving
11/28 - Austin leaves
11/29 - 3 hr Breastfeeding class
12/5 - 6 hrs of Childbirth class
12/05 - Dan's Work Christmas party
12/08 - Drs appt
12/12 - 6 hrs of Childbirth class
12/16 - Bob's Birthday
12/25 - Christmas
01/14 - Dad's birthday

During this time I should also have a dental appt in November, have to pick a pediatrician, get everything ready for Christmas and get everything ready for Maddie's arrival! Whew!

24 wks

Today marks 24 weeks...only 16 weeks to go! This past week we noticed that we can see my stomach move when Lima kicks! We also registered for all of our classes that we will start in November..we have a 3 hour baby care class, 3 hour breastfeeding class, and a whopping 12 hour childbirth class. The rest of the year is going to fly by and Lima will be here before we know it. We also went to Babies R Us and registered and bought the bedding - now we get to pick out paint & really get rolling on the nursery. The bedding is pictured above and is really cute!

Mr & Mrs Fogle

We just got home from the Bahamas and from getting married. We were there from 09/12/09-09/19/09 and got married on 09/16/09. We both had an awesome time there. The butler suite is the way to go and they made sure everything was just perfect during our entire stay. Practically every day we came back to our room to find fruit or cheese and crackers, rose petals on the bed, our robes laid out, etc... On our wedding night they also had a rose petal bath drawn for us when we got back to the room after our candlelight dinner on the beach. Dan sent me a dozen roses and a plate of chocloate covered strawberries on the morning of our wedding, which was really sweet of him. The wedding was beautiful and was the happiest day of my life so far. We both agree that we would go back there or to another Sandals resort in a heartbeat, but with Lima on the way, we probably won't be able to go back anytime soon! We are happy to be home though and are excited about getting everything ready for Lima now.

It's a......

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we had our 21 week appointment with an ultrasound, and we can now officially call Lima by her name - Madelyn Brooke! Everything looks great & she is measuring right on schedule @ 21 weeks 4 days. She now weights 14 ounces and her heartbeat was nice & strong at 167 bpm. Her heart, kidneys, head, spine, arms & feet all look perfect. It is kind of hard to tell from the pictures above, but she looks absolutely adorable! The placenta is at the top of the uterus, which is right where we want it, and my cervix is long which is good to know considering that we are leaving for the bahamas in 4 days. The dr said everything looks great and I go back in 4 weeks on 10/06/09, and then 3 weeks after that I will have another appointment and the glucose tolerance test.

We are both very excited, but Dan has been freaking out a little even though he doesn't want to admit it! When they said it was a girl he was like "are you sure?" and walked up to the monitor to get a better look & when he realized it was in fact a girl, I could see his shoulders drop in resignation. It was pretty funny. I know he is excited though and little Maddie will have him wrapped around her little finger the minute she arrives!

Another exciting thing that happened this past weekend was that Dan gently rested his head on my stomach and Lima kicked him in the head 3 times and he was able to feel it. I guess she did not like him invading her space!

p.s - the arrow in the pic on the bottom shows her "girl parts" :-)

The Halfway Mark

On Saturday we turned 20 weeks - halfway there! I am still feeling good and have been feeling Lima move on a regular basis. It has also started to be easier for Dan to feel the baby move as well. Lima is especially active after I eat and right before bed. To me it feels like a popping or a muscle twitch, and is a very cool feeling. We have our next appointment in exactly one week (09/08/09) and we will have the ultrasound and will find out if Lima is a boy or a girl assuming he/she cooperates! They will also check to make sure everything appears to be growing properly & that Lima appears to be healthy, which is the most important thing!

This past weekend we also had my "Bachelorette party" that my sister in law organized for me. We went to a spa and all had manicures and then we went to La Hacienda for dinner. It was a lot of fun and I really appreciate Toni for organizing it for me.

Other than that, we leave for the Bahamas in 11 days and get married in 15 days! We are both very excited and anxious to leave, but have a lot to do to prepare. This weekend I should have a fitting of my dress, which I think will have to be let out more, and then I will have to pick it up one night next week. I have a feeling the rest of the year is going to fly by...when we get back from the Bahamas we have to get Lima's room & everything else ready, have a yard sale, register for classes at the hospital, and find a pediatrician. I also want to have all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving so I don't have to try to fight the crowds when I am 8-9 months pregnant.

19 WEEKS

Dan's Birthday

Yesterday was Dan's 34th birthday and to celebrate we went to his parents house for dinner on Saturday, a Missions game with my brother, sister in law and niece on Sunday, and picked up food to celebrate at home last night. For a present I gave him the Xbox game "Hitman" to go along with his Xbox 360 which was both a Valentine/Birthday present. I think he had a great day, but I feel really bad that we missed a call from his brother Jason who is in the Navy & is currently at sea on a 6 month tour.

Possibly the best present Dan got yesterday was that he was able to feel Lima move! It took a lot of patience and concentration, but he was able to feel a couple of very faint movements. He should be able to feel more as the weeks progress.

17 weeks!

Today we had our 17 week appointment & everything was great! Lima's heartbeat was 168-170 BPM. I have gained 13 lbs so far, but the doctor said that was fine and I look good for being almost halfway through the pregnancy. She said she will let me know if I am gaining too much weight. We decided to pass on the Quadruple Screen Test because it seems like a lot of people get results showing an elevated chance of a problem & they get all worried and everything turns out to be fine. Even if your results do come back ok, there is still a 20-30% chance that the test did not pick up a problem, and/or that the baby will have another genetic problem that the Quadruple Screen does not test for. We will love Lima regardless, and decided we don't want to have the unnecessary stress that the test might cause us. The doctor also put me back on Advair for my asthma which is a relief to me, as the inhalers did not seem to be cutting it.

Another exciting thing happened over the last 5-6 days or so...I started to feel Lima move! To me it has felt like a bubble popping and always seems to be in the same place. I am not feeling it consistently yet, but that should come with time, and it is still a pretty faint feeling. I am very excited about finally being able to feel Lima move, and Dan should be able to feel him/her move soon too.

Our next appointment is the big one where we should be able to find out if Lima is a boy or a girl! That is in 4 weeks on 09/08/09.

It's a girl...maybe!

For fun we decided to take an Intelligender Gender Prediction Test which, according to the website, is supposed to be 80% accurate. As you can see, we got a "girl" result, which immediately threw Dan into a panic about her eventually dating. My feeling is that it is a girl, but I am not all that convinced of the accuracy of the test, and even the box tells you not to paint the nursery or make any financial or emotional investments based on the results. We won't find out for sure until we actually see the goods at our next ultrasound on 09/08/09!

Second Trimester!!

Yay! Today we are 14 weeks, which means we are officially in the second trimester! I am very happy about that and feel a little bit more relaxed, although I don't think I will be worry free until Lima is here in my arms (then I will have a bunch of other worries!). Physically, I am still feeling good & my "bump" is getting bigger. I am not sure that just using an inhaler is going to work for my asthma though...no major problems so far, but it is starting to bother me. I am monitoring it & using my Peak Flow Meter to check my breathing, but have a feeling that I am going to have to call the doctor again to get on another long term medicine...

171 BPM!

Today we had our 13 week appt & it went great! We heard the heartbeat with the doppler & it was 171 bpm, which is nice and strong still. It took the doctor less than a minute to find the heartbeat and she said it was because Lima was moving around. I am being treated as a normal pregnancy and have no restrictions on me at this time. I am a little concerned because I have already gained 7 lbs (I do have a dress I am going to have to fit into after all), but the doctor said that is great, & of course, the most important thing to us is that Lima is healthy. I am definitely going to start eating more salads though! She also said that unless something drastically changes there should be no problem with us going on our trip in Sept.

Our next appt is in 4 weeks on 08/11/09, and then we have the sonogram to find out if Lima is a boy or a girl & another appointment on 09/08/09. We are very excited about that appointment!

PCP appointment....

I went to my regular pcp on 07/07/09 for a refill on my thyroid medicine and to talk to her about my asthma. She agreed that my thyroid appeared to be fine & my meds shouldn't need to be adjusted, but said the OB failed to take my TSH level, so I had to have more blood drawn. She agreed that I shouldn't be taking Advair unless as a last resort, and wants me to see if I can go on just a rescue inhaler instead. If the rescue inhaler isn't working she will give me a long term medicine that is safer for use during pregnancy. I am waiting for my rescue inhalers to come through mail order, and have to f/u for the thyroid medicine once she gets the TSH levels back.

Other than that, Dan is coming home from Corpus tomorrow! I have missed him and can't wait for him to be home. I am doing well though, just feeling really fat & tired. I am very excited that we only have about 1 wk left in the first trimester. My next appt with the OB is on 07/14/09 where they are going to try to listen for the heartbeat with the doppler.

The Ultrasound

On Thursday 07/02/09 we went for an ultrasound and were very happy to see that everything seems to be proceeding quite well. we got to see Lima sucking his/her thumb and kicking up a storm. We both think it was the most amazing thing we have ever seen. The baby now measures 5.22 CM, which is a little over 2 inches, is measuring 11 weeks 6 days and the heartbeat was 176 which the tech said is nice and strong, so everything seems to be right on track. The subchorionic bleed is still there & was measuring 1.3 cm...the tech seems to think the ER told us the wrong size & said that 95% of women have some sort of "scar" whether they have active bleeding or not. I have not had any additional bleeding, but am going to continue to make sure the doctor monitors it.

The picture on the top is a closeup on Lima's face...the dark spots to the left are the eyes, the nose and then the hands which are in front of the baby's mouth. The picture on the bottom is of Lima sucking his/her thumb.

Since everything is going well, we decided to share our good news with everyone this weekend, and everyone was very excited. We are now 12 wks....only 2 wks left in the first trimester, and I am definitely starting to get the "bump", and my pants aren't buttoning at all. I bought my first pair of maternity pants and they are super comfy, and also bought the Bella Band which holds up your regular pants if you leave them unbuttoned/unzipped.

Dan is going to be in Corpus all this week for work and I am on vacation. I plan to start going through things to see what we can get rid of to make room for Lima!

Drs appointment....

We went for our 10 wk appointment today. The doctor didn't do anything really and we both felt the appointment was kind of a waste of time. My lab work all came back fine, including my thyroid. Urine test was also good. The dr did not seem very concerned about the Subchorionic bleed and said about 30% of women have bleeding in pregnancy. She just said to call them if I have any additional bleeding and that we are doing everything we can to avoid miscarriage & everything looks great so far. She said the heartbeat being 200 bpm (which is what it was at the emergency room) is nothing to worry about. She said it is too early to hear the heartbeat on doppler, so they scheduled me to go back in a couple weeks on 07/14/09. I have always heard that you can hear the heartbeat on doppler at 9-12 wks, so I think she just didn't want to do it in case we didn't hear anything & I would panic. All in all, we didn't learn anything new about the status of the baby, and now we have to wait 3 wks for our next appointment.

I am pretty sure I can now feel my uterus, but I am not 100% sure that is what I am feeling. For now we are trusting in God and putting our faith in Him....if I decide I cannot wait 3 more weeks then I will call and request an ultrasound.

Subchorionic Bleed....

After a very long week, we were both happy it was Friday & had settled in for the night, when I went to use the restroom and noticed some light pink spotting, which quickly turned bright red. Although it was not very heavy & I did not have any cramping we decided to err on the side of caution and go to the ER. At the ER, they took blood and did an ultrasound which showed a Subchorionic Bleed of 5mm. The ER doc said it is a relatively common condition wherein the placenta pulls away from the uterine wall a little bit as it is growing and causes the bleed. He likened the baby to a cancer, where the baby is attaching like a tumor and as the placenta grows it can kind of tear. He said everything looks great and it should resolve although I may continue to have some bleeding. No heavy lifting, lots of rest, and f/u w/ Ob in 2 days.

I got to see the baby on ultrasound (Dan could not go in with me) , and it was absolutely amazing!! Lima is now 2.3 CM long, the heartbeat was 200 BPM, and the baby measured at 9 weeks 2 days. The ultrasound tech said the heartbeat was great - is usually between 120-200 BPM, so Lima is right up there at the top. She checked it twice just to be sure and both times it was 200 BPM. Considering that when we last saw Lima on u/s was about 3 wks ago & he/she was .61MM at the time, the growth rate is amazing. You can also now clearly make out what parts are what...head, arms, legs. I got to see Lima's little fingers moving & waving in the air & the tiny little feet buds where you can start to see the toes separating. Absolutely amazing, and I wish Dan had been able to go in with me to see it. When they wheeled me back from ultrasound Dan immediately knew Lima was ok by the huge smile on my face though.

Speaking of high heartrates, there is a wives tale that if the baby's heartbeat is over 140 it is more likely to be a girl..... hmmm.....

Anyway, of course I came home and researched subchorionic bleeding this morning on the internet, and it does seem to have a high success rate but can potentially cause problems with placental abruptions, but it appears that is more likely to happen with larger clots. We are still praying, but seeing Lima & knowing he/she is okay has given me a great deal of relief at this point. I have never made it this far as far as seeing the baby alive and kicking at this point in the pregnancy before. We continue to pray & keep our fingers crossed. I cannot wait for the first trimester to be over! This has been very stressful for us.

Blood work...

Yesterday was the IOB appointment, which basically consisted of them going over my health insurance coverage, hospital info/classes we can take in the 3rd trimester, obtaining both our family histories, and having me sign a bunch of forms about that tests we want done. Oh, and how can I forget, the dreaded blood work. That actually went well though - the plebotomist did a good job and I could not even tell when she switched out the vial. I did get kind of light headed afterwards though and was "kind of out of it" according to Dan.

I signed the form for the Quad Screen Test, but after talking about it we have decided to probably skip that one. All it does is tell you if your odds of having a baby with a problem are elevated, not if there is an actual problem, and apparently false positives are common. We do not want a test that will potentially just cause us more worry, especially since terminating is not an option for us. We will love what God gives us whether there are problems or not.

Other than that, the delivery will take place at St. Luke's hospital, which is a nice hospital. All Labor & Delivery & recovery rooms are private, which is a definate plus. I kind of felt that it was a little early for them to go over the hosp & stuff, but it is good info to have.

Our next appointment is on 06/23/09, which is the "make it or break it" appointment in my opinion. If everything looks good at that time then we will share the good news with everyone.

8 weeks!

We are now 8 wks pregnant & everything seems to be going okay so far. I haven't had any morning sickness at all but have been extremely tired & slightly emotional :-). We go on Tuesday for blood work...hopefully everything goes well there & my HCG levels are where they should be. After that we don't have another appt until 06/23/09 which will be at 10 wks.

On 05/07/09 we took a pregnancy test & were very excited when we got a positive! We immediately called the doctor for an appointment and went in on 05/12/09. Due to my prior history of miscarriages, they scheduled us for an ultrasound on 05/26/09. On that date we were able to see our little Lima's heartbeat... he/she measured .61cm and the heart was beating at 113 BMP, which the ultrasound tech said was perfect. Lima (as we are now calling him/her) measured at 6w3d & is due 01/16/10. We are optimistic that everything will continue to go well. We go on 06/09/09 for blood work, and 06/23/09 for another drs appointment. Hopefully they will do another sonogram at that time. I will post a picture of the first ultrasound soon.