Immunizations

So today was Brian's 2 month check up with the pediatrician. He weighed 11 pounds exactly and is 22 and 3/4 inches long. He is under weight and short for his age, but the doctor said that it isn't by much and since he is gaining weight adequately he is ok. His head is average size for his age and she said he is very proportional overall. He got 4 immunizations and I hated every minute of it. It brings all new meaning to the phrase "this hurts me more than it hurts you." I have never heard him scream like he did and it broke my heart down to the very core. I wanted to bust into tears myself. I think I would have if Jason wasn't there helping me. It was the most horrible thing that I have had to do so far (in regards to Brian). He actually had tears - a first. Babies don't make tears until they are older, and he definitely had tears in his eyes which I had never seen before (from him). I hated doing that to him, but I know that it is much better for him to have a little bit of pain now than to catch some illness and get really sick and maybe even die. It still sucked though.

On another note, Brian is growing and changing SO fast I can't even believe it. He is sleeping through the night now which is nice. He also moved into his crib on Friday night and has been sleeping there soundly since. He started going to the babysitter last week on Monday. He is doing good with that and we have been SO blessed to find someone like her. Her name is Autumn and she has an 8 month old little girl named Elizabeth. Her husband is a classmate of mine. They are our age and also strong Christians. She loves kids like me and I feel very comfortable with her taking care of him. She really has been an answered prayer to Jason and I. The other nice thing is that she agreed to watch him for the same amount that we would have to pay a daycare. Brian has started smiling all the time and I LOVE that after he has been with Autumn (even for only a couple of hours) that when he sees me he just starts smiling and cooing. He 'talks' so much now too. He will have a 'conversation' with me or Jason for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. We love it. It is so fun.

My brother is going to be graduating this month on the 21st and Brian and I are flying to Houston for the ceremony. Jason can't miss work. I am looking forward to it especially since my grandparents will be there. It will be the first time that Ryan (my brother) and my grandparents get to see Brian. I am a little worried about flying alone with Brian, but I think I can do it. We will see.

Jason and I booked our Christmas trip to Cincinnati and I am WAY excited. This will be the first time I have been to Cincinnati to visit my family since I got married. We could only afford to stay for 3 days (24th, 25th, 26th), but at least I get to go at all.My entire family will be there - all the cousins, all the aunts and uncles, everyone. I am really excited. I can't wait. I don't even care about what I want or what I am going to get (giftwise) I am just so happy I get to go home. I am excited to show Jason my roots and where I come from. I am excited for everyone to meet Brian. I am just way excited.

This weekend we are planning on taking Brian to see Santa Clause downtown and get pictures taken. That will be fun.

I love being a mom.

Minus One

I am having surgery tomorrow to remove my gallbladder. I will not miss it (it has been causing me A LOT of pain lately). I will update when I feel up to it.

ABC's - (Academics, Brian, and Cholelithiasis)

Academics:
School is going well. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be to be in medical school and take care of an infant. I haven't been studying very much, but I am still passing so I am happy. I have been back for about a month now on and off and am back full time since the beginning of this week.

Brian:
Baby Brian is doing very well. We went to the pediatrician again last week and he weighed 8 pounds 15.5 ounces (so almost 9 pounds). He also was 2 inches longer (21.25 inches). He got his second Hepatitis B shot and cried really hard until I picked him up. It felt really good to pick him up and have him stop crying. It was the first time I really felt like he knew I was his mom and that he loved me back. I really liked it - I didn't like the shot part, but I liked that I calmed him down.

He is eating about every three hours during the day and going at least 5 hours at night - which is glorious! I am working with a new schedule and trying to get him to go 6 more often because he does it on his own every now and then.

We do not have to put him in daycare (YAY!). I have a friend from medical school that has an 8 month old daughter and his wife says home with her. She is going to watch Brian for us during the day. We are going to pay her the same as we would daycare so its good. It was an answered prayer. We really didn't want to put him in daycare. They are a really nice Christian family which is a plus as well. We met with them tonight and I feel really goos about the whole thing. It seems that they have a lot of the same parenting ideas as Jason and I which is nice. It also helps that Jason and I are pretty laid back about things. God is good.

Brian met his great-great-grandpa last weekend and also flew on his first plane. He did great and never even missed a beat. His great-great-grandpa was so excited to meet him and SO cute when he got to hold him. It was a good experience.

I checked on his heart murmur a few days ago and the murmur is still there, but we are not worried at all. It will close eventually and eve if it doesn't, he will be fine. We go to the cardiologist when he is 8 months old.

Brian has an online photo album at www.brianalexander.myphotoalbum.com - check it out ( I can't post all his pictures on this site, there are too many).

Cholelithiasis:
I have gall stones. I will be going tomorrow to get a sonogram to make sure that is in fact what I have (I self diagnosed). If I do have them, they will most likely fo surgery to remove my gallbladder in the near future (this weekend or Monday). Gallstones are actually quite common post-partum especially in c-section patients. They are VERY painful. I have now had kidney stones, gallstones, and given birth and the least painful is the contractions from labor. The kidney stones and the gallstones are very different pains. With kidney stones the pain is constant and with gallstones it isn't, but the pain from gallstones is much worse and is a worse spot. Hopefully this will all be taken care of soon and I will be able to get back in the groove of things. Luckily, gallbladder removal is laproscopic and I can go home the same day. I will try to keep you up to date on the situation.

Pediatrician and Cardiologist

Well we went and saw the pediatrician for the first time on Friday, October 5. He weighed 6 pounds and 10 ounces (4 ounces less than when he was born and 1 ounce less than when we left the hospital). He was in the 25% for height, weight, and head circumference so he is a little small, but perfectly proportional. The pediatrician said he is a perfectly healthy little boy and that he was in good health. He also got his first shot - Hepatitis B round 1. We will go back when he is a month old and then at two months old to get more vaccinations and do more check ups.

We were able to see the cardiologist on Thursday, October 11. He performed another Echocardiogram. The echo showed that his PDA (patent ductus arteriousus) has closed on its own (YAY!). The VSD (ventriculoseptal defect) and the PFO (patent foramen ovale) are both still open, but small and causing no adverse health effects. The irregular heartbeat has also resolved on its own. The cardiologist said that in most cases both of the defects that Brian has will resolve within 9 months of age. We will go back to see the cardiologist in 8 months to check them again. Other than that, we don't have anything to worry about and the cardiologist said that he is in perfect health. We were relieved and happy to hear it. I will be periodically monitoring Brian's heartbeat myself and if I hear the murmurs resolve, then we can go see the cardiologist sooner and get everything checked out and get a clean bill of health. It's nice to know something about medicine. It can be scary at times, but I like knowing what is going on and I like that doctors can talk to me like a doctor and I understand them.

In general, we are all doing well. I am back at school today and my mom is in town helping out with Brian. I am very tired and my breasts hurt, but other than that I am doing well. I am healing well from my surgery and hope to be able to work out soon. I am ready to get this extra tummy off. Brian is as cute as ever and is a champion eater. He seems to like to sleep more in the day than the night though which is a little frustrating, but not too bad. He eats pretty consistently every 3 hours at night and during the day it varies from 2 to 5 hours (I try not to let him go that long). He is making more noises which I like and he makes lots of faces which are fun to watch. He is staying awake some during the day - most days he will stay up between 2 feedings at least once, sometimes twice depending on what is going on. He has a pretty sensitive stomach and I have to be really careful about what I eat or he will get really bad gas. I want a coffee pretty badly, but caffeine is too hard on him and makes him stay up. I love being a mom - even when I am really tired and he won't stop fussing. He doesn't really cry - just fusses. I love watching Jason with him - they are SO cute together. Sometimes I don't like some of the things that Jason does with.to him, but I keep my mouth shut and remind myself that dads are a lot different than moms and that babies need both kinds of interactions. I can't wait for him to start laughing, but at the same time I want him to stay little and cute. I still can't get over how beautiful he is - I just stare at him sometimes. I love him so much, and my love for Jason has actually grown too. It's amazing. I knew it would be and I am not disappointed.

Labor and Delivery

Here is my story...

Saturday (9/29) I had been studying ALL day because I had an exam on Monday. I had been at the library at school, but went home at about 5:00 p.m. because the library closed at 6. All day long I hadn't really felt well, but couldn't really place my finger on why. After a few hours of studying at home I started to get this really annoying lower back pain. (it was about 8:00) I remembered that my mom told me that's how her labor felt with my sister so I started to pat closer attention to the pain and time it. Sure enough the pain arrived pretty reliably every 15 minutes and lasted about a minute or two. I went to the bathroom and had a little bit of bloody show. I told Jason that I thought we would be having a baby sometime soon, but I didn't think it would be during the weekend. He told me we couldn't have the baby yet because he wasn't ready. He immediately went and got the baby name book and started trying to figure out what we were going to name our son. We made a list and then narrowed it down to 3 names. By the time we finished that, my contractions were about every 10 minutes apart and were now more in the front than the back. We went up to the 14th floor of our apartment building for a birthday party we had been invited to. We only stayed about 45 minutes. When we got home we cleaned the apartment and made sure we had everything we needed for the hospital. I was still not sure that this was the real deal, but Jason seemed more and more convinced as my contractions became closer together and more intense. Finally around 11:00 p.m. I decided to call the doctor on call (my doctor was off that weekend). He didn't call me back so I called a second time at 11:45. Finally at about midnight we just decided to go to the hospital. By the time I got to the hospital my contractions were about every 3 to 4 minutes and I had a pretty hard time talking through them. They sent me to an observation room and put the fetal monitor on me. I was only dilated about a fingertip - not even a centimeter. They observed me for 2 more hours and re-checked me. I was MAYBE a centimeter - it was a stretch. They told me that they would observe me for 2 more hours and if there wasn't any change I would be sent home with some pain medication for the contractions - I was QUITE uncomfortable at this point. Jason and I decided we would spend that 2 hours walking the halls to try and move things along. At 4:00 a.m. they rechecked me and I wasn't quite 2 centimeters, but the nurse kind of stretched me out to get me there - ouch. They finally decided to admit me.

After I got to my room, they asked if I wanted to have an epidural. Because I had already been in labor for 8 hours and had only dilated less than 2 centimeters I said I wanted the epidural and I would take it as soon as they would give it to me. I didn't want to be too tired and worn out when it came time to push and it seemed as if it would be a long, long time before I reached that point. They came and first gave me my IV. They had to try twice before they got it because I was so swollen. Then they came to give me the epidural. I was really scared that it was going to hurt and almost changed my mind about getting one, but it actually hurt less than the IV did. They gave me some litocane so I really didn't feel a thing. I felt way better after getting the epidural and was very glad I decided to get one. It's a strange feeling, but I was glad I wasn't in pain anymore.

The doctor on call come in to check me after the epidural took effect. According to him I wasn't really even a centimeter dilated (it's very subjective). Because of that, he broke my water and gave me some pitocin to speed up my labor. There was meconium (poop) in my amniotic fluid - a sign of possible fetal distress. That really worried me, but the doctor said that the baby's vital signs looked good and not to worry. They placed a monitor directly on the baby to monitor his heart rate. They also placed an IV type thing to clean out the amniotic fluid with meconium in it and replace it with saline. I became a little more concerned because the fetal monitor was showing that the baby had a heart arryhthmia that we had not known about previously. The doctor said that it was nothing to worry about yet and that the baby looked fine. NICU would be in the room when the baby was delivered so if it was something that needed attention, there would be a team there to take care of it.

I called my parents at about 6:00 a.m. and they arrived from Houston at about 10:00 a.m. I called my mother-in-law at about 8:00 a.m. and she had a few things to do so she didn't arrive until about 11:00 a.m.

I was re-checked about an hour after the pitocin was started and had dilated to 3 centimeters. An hour after that I was at 5 centimeters. Even though I was 5 centimeters, my baby still had not dropped down in to the birth canal. If the baby doesn't drop, then it cannot be delivered vaginally.

I am not sure when this next part started because I was in a lot of pain and things got quite crazy. I started to feel my contractions again even though I had an epidural. So I let the nurse know and they sent in the CRNA to give me more medication through my epidural. When she gave me the extra meds, my legs and lower body felt like they were on fire and my back started hurting so bad I thought I would cry. Getting that medication was actually more painful to me than the contractions had been. My legs went even more numb, but I could still feel my contractions. I waited about an hour to make sure and then told the nurse again that the medication didn't work. The CRNA gave me another extra dose and the same thing happened again - lots of pain, lots of burning, and no relief. I let her know that it still didn't work and they gave me a different medication. This time it still hurt, but not quite as bad. I didn't care though cause the medication worked - for about an hour. The next time I started feeling in pain again they gave me more the "new" medication and I had the same problem as with the first medication and I started to get really sick. I was shaking uncontrollably and started vomiting. I actually vomited ALL over Jason - poor guy. They were giving me anti-nausea drugs, pain medications, and saline. There was all this movement going on around me and all I could do was lie there and try to breath through the pain. They placed an oxygen mask on me and finally got me stabilized. I found out that while all of that was happening with me, the baby's heart rate had dropped to about 60 beats per minutes (normal is 120 - 160 bpm) which was really scary. He was doing ok now that I was stable, but he still was starting to show signs of distress. It was about 12:00 or 1:00 p.m.

The doctor came in to check me. It was a new doctor this time because the doctor on call had to leave for some reason. This new doctor was a D.O. (like me) which I thought was cool. She checked me and I was still only 5 centimeters and the baby's head was starting to swell in the birth canal, AND he still had not dropped down in to the birth canal. Because it had been more than 4 hours with me on pitocin and nothing had changed the doctor started talking about going ahead with a c-section. She said that with the meconium, the arrhythmia, the heart rate dropping, me not progressing, and the baby still high in the uterus, it was probably just best to go ahead and get the c-section. Because I had mentally prepared myself ahead of time for the possibility of a c-section I decided to go ahead and get the surgery.

They took me back to the OR to prep me and told Jason they would come get him when they were ready.

While I was in the OR they began giving me more medication through my epidural which was hurting me again quite badly. I tried to just bear it so that we could get on with things and have this baby. I also wanted Jason with me. This was the first time in my life to ever have surgery. After the mediation was administered, they began pricking my stomach with a needle to make sure I was numb. There was this one line on the left side of my belly button that I could still feel even though everything around it was numb. They gave me more meds and re-tested. I could still feel it. More meds (more pain). No change. The rest all becomes quite blurry in my memory, but here is what I do remember. I think that they decided to give me general anesthesia since the epidural wasn't working, but nobody told me what was going on - they just started doing stuff to me. They placed this mask over my mouth and nose with Nitrous Oxide in it and told me to breath deeply. I felt like I was suffocating and kept trying to ask for Jason ( like I said - I didn't know I was going under and that Jason couldn't be in the room). Nobody could hear me asking for Jason and I started crying. The doctor asked me what was wrong and I said I didn't know I was just crying and then I lost it and was bawling my eyes out. I was crying uncontrollably and every part of my body that wasn't numb was convulsing with my crying. They brought Jason in to try and clam me down, but the next thing I know they are taking him away from me again. I knew I was going to be ok and I knew I needed to calm down, but I just couldn't make myself do it.

The next thing I know I wake up in the recovery room alone without a baby and clueless as to what just happened to me. My throat hurt, my stomach hurt, I was tired, and I wanted to know what happened to my baby. I wanted my husband. They wouldn't let anyone come see me and they didn't know what had happened either. Finally after a long hour in recovery I was allowed to go back to my room where I got to see my husband and my family. The first thing that Jason said to me was that our baby was beautiful. The first thing I wanted to know was when I would get to see him. They said that there was something wrong with his heart and that he had to stay in the nursery until they could figure out what was wrong.They filled me in on his birth details and told me that I had to go under general anesthesia since my epidural wasn't working properly. Nobody got to see my baby born but the doctors and nurses. That was sad for me. it was sad that Jason didn't get to cut the cord. It was sad that I didn't get to experience that miracle of life that most other moms get to experience and now even worse I couldn't even see my baby.

They finally did bring him to my room for maybe 5 minutes. He was already almost 4 hours old when I got to hold him for the first time.

They told me that the soonest I could take out my IV was at 2:00 a.m. - 12 hours after surgery. I told them I wanted it out as soon as possible so I could go to the nursery to see my baby. At 2:00 a.m. they came in and took out my IV and I was wheeled to the nursery in a wheel chair by Jason. I got to breast feed him and hold him for about an hour. I also listened to his heart and was very, very concerned for my very new son. His heart sounded so bad. There was no regular rhythm and a very loud murmur. We still didn't have any answers.

The next day they finally let him come stay in my room with me in the afternoon and he didn't have to go back to the nursery.

We found out later that he has 3 holes in his heart. A patent foramen ovale, a patent ductus artereosus, and a muscular ventriculoseptal defect. He also has atrial hypertension, a narrowed aorta, and an ectopic beat. They think most of the holes will close on their own, but it is still something that has to be monitored very closely.

The baby and I were both released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon (10/3).

Announcing....

Brian Alexander Jones

Born: Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 2:00 p.m.
Weighed: 6 pounds 14 ounces
Measured: 19 inches long

39 Weeks and Counting

So another doctors visit and another disappointing report. There are still no significant changes in my cervix which means we are still playing the waiting game. It is not looking like he will be coming out anytime soon, but we can always hope. I go back next Wednesday for another check (thats 2 days past my due date). The absolute latest he will come is October 16 (she will induce me on or before then if he doesn't come on his own). So it will go like this (assuming I don't go into labor on my own): get checked on Wednesday (Oct. 3). If no changes, then I will get checked on Monday Oct. 8 and have a non-stress test done to make sure the baby isn't in distress. If all looks good, then I will come back on Thursday Oct. 11 for another check and another non-stress test. If all looks good, then we induce on Monday or Tuesday Oct. 15 or 16. If my cervix begins to dilate at all on its own before that time, then we will most likely schedule an induction. So that means that if I go in on Wednesday next week and I am a centimeter dilated she will induce me the next day (most likely). Lets all hope for that....

I am so ready to be done being pregnant. I have really enjoyed it for the most part, but now it is just annoying. Everyone told me I would reach a point when I felt like I was done and I didn't think I would, but I have. I am swollen all over and can't feel my hands for most of the day. I can't sleep at night. I pee all the time. I can't concentrate. I can't breathe. I get heartburn all the time. He doesn't really move anymore which was fun for me. I can't bend over. And I can never get comfortable. I am ready to start getting my normal body back, but even more than that, I am ready to meet my son! I want to hold him and hug him and kiss him. I want to see what he looks like and hear what he sounds like and see what his personality is like. Will he look like me or like Jason? I am ready to watch how amazing of a dad Jason is going to be. I am tired of waiting for him! I want him here! I am ready to start giving him all of my love. My journey has been so long, and yet it is just beginning...

Another Doctor's Visit

Well I saw the doctor again yesterday and there have been some changes. The first and most exciting (to me) is that I am now 50% effaced (that means my cervix is starting to thin out). Although being effaced isn't anything to get excited about, at least SOMETHING is happening. My cervix is still closed and very high - if one of those two things change, then we can get excited.

I have to go back on Friday because my doctor is becoming concerned about pre-eclampsia. (It is the most common, dangerous complication of pregnancy and it may affect both the mother and the fetus.) My swelling is pretty bad and has now started to affect my face and my hands are constantly numb from entrapment of the nerves. The second concerning sign of pre-eclampsia is that my blood pressure has slowly started to creep up. It has been around 100/60 my whole pregnancy and yesterday it was 140/80. Although 140/80 is still in the normal range, since it is high for me my doctor is a little worried. I will go in on Friday and get my blood pressure checked again. If it is any higher than what it was yesterday we will probably begin discussing inducing labor to avoid developing full blown pre-eclampsia. (The only cure for pre-eclampsia is to have the baby.) I am going to have a friend at school take my blood pressure again today just to see what it is. I will update Friday after I see the doctor.

Well..

I went to the doctor again today. No changes - cervix is still as hard as a rock which for those of you who don't know, means I am nowhere close to going into active labor. He's full term and things could change at anytime, but I haven't been having any "practice" contractions or feelings like he is moving down into the birth canal. Hopefully he will change his mind and decide he is ready to come out soon. I am so ready...

Doctor Appointment

Well I went to doctor yesterday and she did my first vaginal exam. She said that my cervix has not changed at all - it is still as hard as a rock and that she would not expect the baby to come anytime before his due date. I was a little disappointed, but hey what can you do right? I go back in a week and get another exam so maybe I will get lucky and something will change before then. I doubt it. I am giving up on him arriving before or on October 1st. This will be interesting...

Pros and Cons of Pregnancy

Top 10 Things I Dislike About Being Pregnant:

10. Fear of the unknown (birth)
9. Not being able to sleep how I want to
8. Getting hot so easily
7. Not being able to bend over to pick things up or tie my own shoes
6. Moving slow
5. Being tired ALL the time
4. Using the bathroom every 15 minutes
3. Sore back, pelvis, sacrum, and pubic symphysis
2. Swollen feet, ankles, and hands
1. Waiting


Top 10 Things I Like About Being Pregnant:

10. Getting the nursery ready
9. Daydreaming about my son
8. (Sometimes) the baby belly
7. I know this is nerdy, but I like knowing the medical/physiological reason my body does certain things and then seeing them happen
6. Talking about my son or about being pregnant
5. Seeing Jason talk to or rub my baby belly
4. Poking him and feeling him respond to my touches
3. Watching him move
2. Feeling him move
1. Getting a son who is a product of myself and the man I love

Baby Shower Dates

The Houston shower is August 25.

The Dallas shower is September 22.


More info to come.

Visit from the Parents

Well my parents came in from Houston yesterday to see me. When they got here, they surprised me with a van-load of baby gifts from a shower they threw for me in Ohio (where my family is from). That was really cool. We have all the Newborn sized diapers we will need and more clothes for under 6 months than we will ever be able to use. We also went to Babies-R-Us and picked up our crib and ordered our glider that my parents are getting us. The crib looks AWESOME and I can't with until the chair gets in. The nursery is going to be so awesome and I can't wait for it all to be done. We still would like to have the dresser that works as a changing table too, but it is $500 so unless we get a lot of gift cards to help defer some of the cost, we probably won't get it.

I am in the process of helping plan 2 different baby showers - one in Houston and one in Dallas. We still haven't figured out dates yet, but I will post them when I know what they are.

Jason and I are so blessed. We have so many good friends and family that love us and that makes me feel better about bringing another life into this world. I know that no matter how hard this journey is going to be, God will be with us and bless us every step of the way and our friends and family will be there to help us out in any way they can. Thank you to all of you out there that are friends or family. We love you all.

Finally - an Update!

So I went to the doctor yesterday and got my 30 week sonogram done. The baby weighs a little more than 2 pounds and is in the head down position. We saw his genitalia again - he is indeed a boy. We also got another good look at his cute little face and there were no signs of Cleft Lip. We go back in tomorrow for a 4-d sonogram to check one last time. I will try and get that posted as soon as I can. My blood pressure is good, my weight is good, and his heartbeat was good. Everything is progressing along just as it should. I feel fine (just a little tired) and am getting more and more excited about his arrival.

We got the playpen/bassinet and set it up last night and also played with the car seat and stroller a little bit.

We are almost done painting our bedroom and will have the crib as soon as that is finished. I will post more pictures once we reach that point.

We are still unsure on the name we want, but have a few a mind. I will let you know what we decide when we decide it.

He moves a lot now. The other night I think he kicked and kicked for over an hour solid and Jason could even feel him too the whole time - I was snuggled up to his back.

We went on a two week trip to San Francisco that was AWESOME and I will write more about that later and post a few of the favorite pictures.

Stephanie's wedding was this past weekend and was beautiful. She looked amazing and everything went very well. it was nice to see her again. I just wish we could have spent more time together.

I started back at school on Monday so will stay busy from here on out. I will do my best to keep you all informed.


Here are the new sono pics:

Looking straight at us...


Profile...

It's Been A While

So it's been a while since I updated and I have seen my doctor since then. Everything at my apointment went well. My blood pressure was normal - YAY. I had gained 3 pounds (in 4 weeks and in total) which my doctor was very pleased with. She said that a pound a week is acceptable and normal and that overall I should gain between 20 and 25 pounds. I personally would only like to gain 15, so we will see what happens. My uterus was 2 finger widths above my belly button. I do have a belly now, but it is still hard to tell I am pregnant unless you know. I am sure people on the street look at me and just think I am fat, not pregnant. Oh well. I am starting to grow out of my clothes and that is not fun. I am going to have to go shopping soon for maternity clothes. Jason and I registered at Babies-R-Us this weekend which almost put me into tears. There is so much we need and I feel like we are not going to get some of the big stuff we need and then have to find the money somehow to pay for it. Hopefully I am just freaking out over nothing. Some of the bigger stuff we need/want we didn't register for at Babies-R-Us because we found something better elsewhere. The car seat, strolller, high chair, and play yard are all the pieces we need but didn't register for at Babies-R-Us. They are at another website and can be purchased online. Jason's mom already got us the bedding and lots of clothes and my mom is buying us a glider chair. It is all very overwhelming. And we don't even know his name! Ok well I think that is all the new news I have for now. Jason and I have been busy readying his nursery. Soon I will try and post pics of that too.

20 Week Sonogram

Profile of baby...


Baby face...


Proof he is a boy...

I'm Having a BOY!!!!!

And he is PERFECT! I am so happy!

Delayed

My doctors appointment to find out the sex has been moved to Friday at 11:00.

Blood Test

The last time I went to the OB/GYN she ran a "Quad Test". (See below if you don't know what that is.) The results have come back completely normal. Just wanted to let you know.

The quad test is "an enhanced prenatal screening test" for Down Syndrome, trisomy 18, and neural tube defects. It is done between the 15th and 20th week of pregnancy and measures substances that come from the developing fetus and placenta and are present in the mother's blood. The substances measured are alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estriol (a form of estrogen) and inhibin-A.

This test is a screening test, meaning that a positive result places you in a higher risk group for having a baby with a problem, but does NOT diagnose a baby with such a problem. If the screening test is positive, other tests are recommended to check further.

Finding Out the Sex

We are scheduled to see the perinatologist on May 16th at 2:00. We will find out the sex and we will also take a good look at all of the babies organs to make sure everything is good and healthy. We will also get a preliminary look at the face trying to see if there is a cleft lip or palate. I will keep you updated.

154 Days to Go!

I have been getting asked TONS of questions lately since I haven't updated so here you go.

My doctor's appointment on Friday went well. My blood pressure is back down to normal which is really good and I was really happy about. Also, I still haven't gained any weight, but my doctor is very pleased with that. It's weird cause even though I haven't physically gained any weight my belly is getting bigger and harder and its harder for me to hold/suck in. I did NOT get to see Baby Jones on the sonogram because we were able to hear the heartbeat on the doplar and everything sounded great.

We talked to the doctor about my 20 week sonogram (which is the one when you usually find out the sex). She said that since we are going to go to a perinatologist to see about the cleft lip and cleft palate we will just look at that time and figure out the sex. That appointment had not been set yet, but should be within the next two weeks. She also said that once I am farther along (and tha baby is bigger/easier to see) we will do a second 4d sonogram at her office to double check the face. I will work very hard on getting pictures from both of those appointments and post them here. As soon as I know when the perinatologist appointment is, I will post it here.

Everyone keeps asking if I have felt the baby move yet. The answer is I don't know for sure. There has been once or twice when I have felt a fluttering type movement in my lower abdomen when I am laying in bed, but there hasn't been anything really definate. I am hoping I will be able to start feeling it move soon.

Everyone also wants to know what sex Jason and I want to have. We don't really care, we just want a healthy baby. Maybe we are leaning toward a girl, but either is totally fine. We do have a girl name decided on - Audrey Lynn Elizabeth Jones. No decision on boys names yet. I am ready to know the sex so I can start thinking about all the fun stuff like nursery decorations and clothes!

Ok, thats all the baby news. I spent my weekend in Oklahoma City. We went for Devan's wedding which was very pretty. It was plain and simple, but beautiful. I really liked it and Devan looked AWESOME. It was kind of cute because she forgot the rings in the dressing rooms so when they got to the part where they are supossed to exchange rings they had to borrow her parents rings. It was cute and not a big deal. She handled it well though. She did turn a little red for a bit, but it was fine and everyone just chuckled about it. I also got to see Sarah and Colin, Dr. Xiao, and Dr. Hill. It was good and lots of fun. I also got to go downstairs in the PEC and see the new labs that they did over the summer. Jason and I also made it out to Dr. Gaither grave and that was really sad and hard. I miss her a lot more than I thought I did. She was one amazing lady. Anyway, I had a good fun weekenk. Jason and I got stuck in really bad traffic on the way home to Fort Worth for about an hour. After that hour they shut down the highway we had been sitting on and we had to turn around and find a new way home. It was more than 100 miles extra and almost 6 hours of a trip overall (usually it takes 3). Oh well, it wasn't too terrible.

I think thats all the news I have. I will probably be updating again soon when I know the next appointment date and so forth.

Complaint

I am so beyond tired this morning that I cannot even keep my eyes open very well. Everyone says that you get more energy in the second trimester and I feel like I have even less. Being a medical student on top of being pregnant is not an easy thing to do and being pregnant is the easier part of having kids (so I am told) as far as time commitment goes.

I am also feeling a little sick to my stomach this morning and I really don't like it. I wanna just go home, take a Zofran, and go to bed for the rest of the morning and maybe the afternoon too.

I have to study

No rest for the weary....

VERY Quick Update

Thursday night Jason fell and fractured his radial head. So I spent all of my Thursday nigth and all of friday morning at the hospital (long story) and the rest of the weekend have been taking care of him. Here is a copy of one of his x-rays.




I have a cold and cannot really take any good medicine to help it go away, so I am miserable.

On top of my cold I am having (what I think is) round ligment pain and it is quite intense. Can't really move, and trying to take care of someone when you can't really move is not easy and does not make the pain better. Coughing also makes it worse and I cannot stop coughing.

Thats all for now. I have an exam tomorrow.

13 Week Doctor's Appointment

Ok so I am FINALLY updating. I had 2 big exams yesterday and spent all weekend studying and then went to bed last night at 7pm and slept till now (7am).

So I am in the exam room at the doctors office and the nurse is trying to find the babys heartbeat on a dopplar thingy and cannot fins the heartbeat. I think she probably tried for about 5 minutes or so and couldn't find anything at all. I have to admit it worried me a tad, but I didn't get too worked up over it. The doc came in and told me that since the baby was going to be difficult today we were going to get a free sonogram. So off to the sonogram room we went. The doctor actually did our sonogram this time and this was the first time I actually got it done by her instead of the tech. We got a really good view of the baby and he/she was moving around like crazy! He/she was tossing and turning and flipping over. We saw him/her wave and kick and all kinds of stuff. It was very exciting. We got a good view of the spine which looked good and also a good view of the heart (what we cared about at the moment) and it was bating nice and strong with a good regular heartbeat. He/she laid still long enough for us to get a good look at his/her face, but he/she is so small right now that we really couldn't tell if everything looked normal or not. The doctor really tried though. She looked for probably a good 2 or 3 minutes trying to decide.

We scheduled our next exam for Friday, April 27. At that exam we will get to schedule our 20 week sonogram which is where we will find out the sex, YAY! We talked a little more about the CLCP subject with the doctor and she told us that we have 2 options: we could just switch over to the 3d/4d sonogram dueing our 20 week sonogram there at her office to see if we could see anything about the face, or we could find a Perinatologist to do it for us. We chose to go to a Perinatologist. They have much more advanced technology for looking for stuff like this and they also have more experience at looking for stuff like this - I mean that's what they do EVERYDAY. So Jason is working on getting that set up. It will also be around 20 weeks. So We should know pretty together both the sex and if the baby has CLCP or not. I'm not worried. It is just a preperation measure. I want to have everything set up and ready for when my child gets here. Man that still sounds so weird to me. "My Child." Kind of scary too! I'll be ok. I have tons and tons of support and God will guide Jason and I to be great parents.

So while I was at the docotr's office, my blood pressure was pretty high. I talked to the doctor about it a little bit because I know that pregnancy can cause you to have high blood pressure and that sometimes leads to pre-term labor. She said that that is most likely not the case with me. It is too early for pregnancy induced hypertension to show up (she said). She said that more likely than not I am border line hypertensive already and becoming pregnant just amplified the already exsiting problem. It something that I am a little concerned about, but shouldn't be a big deal. She said that we will keep an eye on it and if it continues to rise (or gets too high) I will have to go onto medication for it. I asked her what I can do to keep it down and said get new parents. It is mostly genetic. She also said to limit sodium intake - so thats what I am trying to do. Thats hard though cause I have been craving salty foods.

Thats about all there was for the doctors appointment, but I got to go and see RENT Sunday night and it was AMAZING! Jason got us GREAT seats and I thouroughly enjoyed evey second of it. I think I fall more and more in love with it everytime I see it. He also got me a cool T-shirt that says "No Day But Today" on it. I had a blast!

I will also be in Oklahoma City from April 27 - April 29 for a wedding. If anyone there would like to try and meet up with me, give me a shout!

Very Quick Update

I am feeling better, but very very tired.

My next doctors appointment is Friday.

Still haven't gained any weight, but I haven't lost anymore.

We are learning about pregnancy in class right now and it is very interesting.

Week 12

Well I am officially 12 weeks and 3 days pregnant (based on my estimated due date), which means that I only have 4 more days left of my first trimester! Its kind of crazy cause I still feel like it is all a big joke like in a few weeks someone is going to go "Ha ha - fooled you!" but I know it's not. I still don't feel pregnant. Anytime I talk about it or think about or someone buys the baby something it just feels like we are having the same daydream and it's never really going to happen anytime soon. The only time that I do feel even remotely pregnant is when my body is revolting against me and those times are not fun! So far being pregnant sucks. I have heard over and over, however, that it is MORE than worth it, and I know it will be.

Ok so what's new? I have lost a total of 13 pounds since February 19 which is a little weird to me. Part of me wants to be happy that I am loosing weight, but the other part of me is like well this isn't really the time to be loosing weight. I am not too concerned at this point because the doctors are ok with it and most people I talk to that have been pregnant say that a lot of people loose weight in the first trimester from being sick and such. So for now, it's no big deal. If I don't start gaining weight at least toward the end og my second trimester, then I will worry.

I sopke with the docotr (well Jason did it for me actually cause I was in school) and she said that I can stop taking the progesterone suppossitories since we have seen a good strong fetal heart rate. Yay! I have been taking my pre-natal vitamins and they make me a little bit sick, but I will live. They tested me last time I went to the office to see if I was a carrier of the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) gene and it came back negtive which is really good news. That means that the chances of our baby having CF is really really insanely low so one less thing for me to have to worry about

I have been really sick this week, but a different kind of sick. Apparently I do not have high enough progesterone levels to keep me from bleeding some, but I DO have high enough levels to stop up my bowels. Progesterone is the major contributor to constipation during pregnany and it all starts at about 12 weeks - well suprize, suprize - I am 12 weeks and what happens? MAJOR constipation! Not cool.I will spare you all of the gross details, but I was sick - to say the least. I had my first real meal since Sunday yesterday for lunch. From Sunday to Wednesday all I ate was steamed white rice.

I feel a little guilty this morning because I have been really good about cutting down on sodas. I am down to about a can every other day (they say 9 cans a day is still in the safe range for the baby), but today I stopped by Sonic and got a large DrPepper. So much for being good. I guess I will just have to lay off for the next few days. I sure do love my DrPepper! Speaking of which, has anyone else heard that Diet DrPepper contains prune juice or is that just a myth? Christina told me that yesterday and if that is the case, I need to be drinking Diet DrPepper. Let me know if you have heard that too.

Well my next appointment with the OB is on Monday, April 2, but I also have an exam that day so I need to call her today and see if I can't reschedule. Hopefully during the next appointment we will be able to schedule the date that we get to find out the sex and if the baby has the CLCP or not. The doctor was really nice about all of it and assured me that we would take a look on the 3d/4d sonogram to make sure the face has developed properly so I am way excited about that. I will get to see my baby's face before he/she is even here. I will try an post a pic of it is they give us a copy (this is still at least 2 months away however). I have tried to scan in the sonograms, but have not been able to because of the paper thay use and how much black ink they use too. Sorry

So people have already begun buying things for that baby. I got a onsie from Laura (my mother-in-law) that says 'Miracle' on it and is OH SO adorable. And then my mom and sister were at Dillard's the other day and found all kinds of baby Chirstmas outfits on sale for like 3 and 4 dollars. They bought 1 little boys outfit with Santa in a helicopter that says 'Baby's First Christmas' on the back and 'Ho, Ho, Ho' across the butt - CUTE! They also got 2 little girls outfits one is a Mrs. Clause type suit thing and the other is white with Santa on it. They all came with cute little hats too! They are the perfect size (if my baby is normal sized) - 3 months. They are so little. It makes me think about how I made something that is going to be totally dependent on me and only that big. It's all kind of crazy and OH so exciting! I am SO excited! Thats all that has been bought so far that I know of. I should be getting more soon though cause I know that my mom and sister are going to be shopping this weekend. We'll see what we get! I can't wait for baby to be here. I wanna see what he/she looks like and acts like. I am nervous and exctied. I can't with till I can feel him/her move. Ugh - ok enough daydreaming, I need to study.

Ok, well I try and keep this more updated, but for right now, not a lot is going on really and I am trying to stay ahead in my classes (what a concept) so I am quite busy. Plus being sick has taken away a lot of my free time. If anything happes I will try and update though.

Update

So the doctors visit went well. All my hormone levels (except Progesterone) are good and within the correct range. They drew my blood while I was there and are going to check all kinds of things, but the one I care about the most is the progesterone levels. Hopefully thewy will calling me soon with some good news. So I have lost 8.5 since I got pregnant which the doctor is not worried about. Its just cause I have been so sick to my stomach. She gave me a prescription for Zofran (an anti-emetic) and I took some this morning and it seems to be helping a lot so I am happy. The doctor did a pelvic exam and checked out my bone structure. She said that I have pretty small hips and that I need to hope/pray/think positive about having a baby less than 8 pounds. She said that a 6.5 pound baby would be perfect and very easy for me to deliver, but anything above 8 pounds and I will probably have to get a C-section. That scares me. I DO NOT want a C-section. Anyway, we also talked about my high risk for having a baby with Cleft Lip - Cleft Palate since Jason and his brother have it. She said that we will do a 4d sonogram at about 20 weeks to check the development of the face and see what we can see. If we do not see anything on the sonogram then it means we are in the clear for the lip, but there will still be a chance that the baby has cleft palate. We will not know about cleft palate until it is born. She also said that even though CLCP (cleft lip cleft palate) is multifactorial, since both Jaosn and Noah have, we are at a higher risk because in Jasons case it seems to be more genetic than normal. Its not really a big deal, it'll just be nice to know ahead of time so that we can be prepared. We will need to have a plastic surgeon set up which we already know which one we use, and CLCP babies also require a little bit different care. They have to use special nipples to feed since they cannot effectively "lach on" or suck. It'll all be good. I am about 10 weeks along which means that I will be able to find out the sex of the baby in about 10 more weeks (I am half way there). Ok I think that all about the baby.

I also have been talking to my room-mate from undergrad (Stephanie K) and she is getting married in July. She has asked me to be one of her bridesmaids so I am SUPER excited, but I am going to be a VERY pregnant bridesmaid by the time her wedding comes so it should be interesting. She is coming into town this weekend and we are going to go shopping even though she has pretty much already found her dress. I guess I am going to have spend a day or two looking for my bridesmaid dress over Spring Break cause I don't know when I will have the time. That'll be interesting. She said she thinks that the store I want to get my dress from has a pregnancy pillow that you strap on so that you can find a dress that will "fit" a little better. IDK. It'll be a new experience, but I am excited none the less. I am so happy for her. I kind of feel bad that I am pregnant cause I don't want to take ANY bit of attention away from her on her big day. It should be fine. I hope.

The Beginning

Ok so here's the story so far...

On Saturday, February 10 at about 3:30 in the morning I woke up with this pretty bad pain in my lower abdomen. I tried to self medicate and go back to sleep, but nothing was working and the pain was getting worse. By about 8:00 a.m. I couldn't take it anymore and woke Jason up and told him I needed to go to the ER. He got up and showered and we were off to the ER at Plaza Medical Center. By this time the pain had spread to my right side along with my lower abdomen. So the ER does the initial work up and decides I probably have a kidney stone. They did urine tests and blood tests to make sure. Well after already getting my IV and my pain medication the doctor comes into my room and tells me that my urine test shows that I am pregnant. I laughed at him. He wasn't kidding. See, I was on birth control AND had had my previous period so I was sure there was so way I was pregnant. The doctor informed me that he was going to do a serum pregnancy test which is more accuate as well before they moved forward. They wanted an MRI, but since my pregnancy test came back positive, they couldn't do one. Anyway, the serum test came back positive too and Jason and I were in shock and also super excited. So that is how we found out. They ended up doing a sonogram to see how far along I was and also to see if I did actually have a kidney stone. The sonogram showed that I did in fact have a kidney stone and that I was about 4.5 weeks along in my pregnancy. So I went home happy not only cause I had some good pain medication running through my body, but also cause I was gonna have a baby!

Sunday, February 18 - I started bleeding vaginally which quite frankly freaked me the heck out especially since I am in medical school and know every possible thing that can go wrong during pregnancy. It was about 8 p.m. AND I had an exam the next day. I called my OB/GYN (who I had not even met ever) and told her what was going on. She told me to take it relax and take it easy for the rest of the night and call her office in the morning and make an appointment to get a sonogram and some blood work done to see if everything was ok or not. So I went in Monday afternoon and got some blood work done. They called me on Thrusday to tell me that my progesterone levels were low - which isn't good. Low progesterone levels correspond to high risk of miscarriage. I was worried - again. So the docotor prescribed me 50mg supossotories which I have to take twice a day. They also wanted me to come into the office on Monday to get a sonogram done. (I spent both Thursday and Friday hunched over the toilet vomitting cause I was passing my kidney stones) So on Monday Jason and I went back to the docotors office to get the second sonogram of our very short pregnancy (so far). The baby was about 1.8 cm long and there a nice good strong heart beat (good news!). The chances of having a miscarriage AFTER seeing a good heart beat in utero is only 1 in 10 which is way better then the 3 in 5 for before you see the heartbeat. It was really cool to see the heart bearing. It was kind of surreal. It was hard to believe that is going on inside of me and that that heartbeat is the heartbeat of my future child. It's so surreal. I cannot even describe it. So anyway, although the sonogram looked good the doctor wanted us to come back to get more blood work and another sonogram on Thursday. So back I went on Thursday and saw the heart beating again - nice and strong at 154 bpm. The baby was 1.99 cm long and they took my blood again to measure all my hormones. I still have not met the doctor, but I have an appointment today at 1:00 to meet with her and find out what she thinks about all this stuff that is going on and get any questions I have answered.

So, in summary, I am about 9 weeks pregnant and have already had 3 sonograms, been stuck with needles over 6 times, and will be due around October 1 (so late September or early October).

Ok well I guess I will update again after I see the doctor this afternoon.

TBA

I am excited to start telling people about the amazing journey I am on, but right now I have an exam in two days. Be patient with me and I will spend some time making this worth reading this weekend!