Still Pregnant

Well I had a lot of doubters! But it is April and I am still pregnant. I had many people convinced that I was going to have the little guy in March. But he will probably go to his due date and this little dude will be a great big dude!

I think that it is very interesting how big I have gotten....I am huge...I mean very, very big.

Good news is that I hopefully won't go past my due date, My doctor has more or less promised me that (we aren't talking about the 14th, but my original 18th of April).

Monday, April 14th I am having an ultrasound to see how big this kid is going to be. Not if he is going to beg, but how big! If he is too big I will have a c-section. If he is just right I will be induce. I am still hoping i will go into labor on my own, this week. There are storms coming in this week so I am thinking I will probably have my water break during the sirens and storms predicted fro tomorrow.

That is fine. I have taken all the harassment I could possibly take by on lookers of my large bump.

I have been asked when my twin are due. I am called "fatty" I suppose endearingly by a man at my church. I have been stared at, probably in amazement, or in some form of birth control, at Target and I have been played like a drum, by someone trying to get my kid to wake up and kick. That was the strangest. I don't know how I felt about that.

Well I am ready And I will let everyone know when I have little (or Big) Alex!

Cynthia

2 freakin' weeks left!!!!

Okay I hate to complain, but I am so over this right now! All you people who thought I would actually have the baby in March...I wish you were right. I actually think that I am going to be on time not early. I have made no progress. The doctor said he is probably trying to descend, since i have terrible aching pain and pressure in my pelvic area. (They don't usually talk about this part, they say pressure, but not pain!). I still can't sleep and am not the cheeriest person in the world. People are replacing excitement with comment of sorrow towards me and even slight disappointment. My shape and size has drastically changed int he last 2 weeks. I don't even feel like i look like myself. I am huge. I am actually kinda hoping he is a 9lbs baby so that my size will be somewhat validated. Well I will try to update more and more until the day and then I will post pics of little Alex as soon as he arrives.

Cynthia

One MOnth Left...thank goodness!

I have one month left. I have been going between anxious and patient the last few weeks. I am often reminding myself that Alex would be better off staying in my womb for a few more weeks. But I have truly made it to the misery stage of pregnancy.



I haven't felt the same since my short stay in the hospital a few weeks ago. I have had borderline high blood pressure and am supposed to lay on my left side for an hour several times a day. Easier said then done, especially since I am a restless person altogether.



Friday I had another visit to Labor and Delivery. My blood pressure was awfully high after some nail biting basketball and some housework. It prompted valid concern, and Chris and I prepared for the hospital like it would be our last drive their. I was only 35 weeks last Friday, so I was kinda hoping nothing would happen yet. Chris was patient and rightfully a Little nervous I suspected, since he missed the parking deck entrance 3 times. I didn't call when I got to the sky deck to pass into the hospital, so I had to navigate on foot to the Labor and delivery ward.



When I got their they got me in a room, got my specimen, made me change into a backless gown, and immediately had me lay down on the bed and hook up to all the monitors. By the time they checked my blood pressure it was already rapidly decreasing.



I am glad and all that it didn't stay really high, that could be detrimental to mine and Alex's health, but i was disappointed that the nurse was unable to see me feeling as awful as I felt an hour b/f my visit. I think I was home by 2am.

I pray for patience every hour of the day.

I sleep very little b/c of discomfort or acid reflux. I am huge, and today, probably b/c of the way I slept and high blood pressure, my legs were swollen to my knees. I could hardly walk. Oh well! I will make, most women do!

Tough couple weeks

Okay well I guess I am thankful Alex and I are okay, but I don't think it is going to be much better from now on...so I decided to start this on a positive note.

I have had 2 great showers and have a couple more to go. It is so cool to see all the people who care about me and my family and about Alex, a little boy they haven't even met yet. He got so many cute outfits! I can't wait to dress him up. I will be honest that part of me was a little disappointed that I wasn't having a girl for only like a second only b/c you don't think that you can play dress up with a boy. Though I can't put a smocked seersucker dress on him I can dress him very well and you can get little smocked clothes for boys too! I am actually enjoying all the little man outfits he is getting. I can't wait to have this boy!

Half the little things he received have his little name on it....Chris says that he will know what is his before he can spell anything else!

I may not write on this for a while b/c I have to write like 100 thank yous as of today and I haven't even had all my showers.

Okay I know having 2 showers doesn't sound so bad...that was the highlight of my last couple weeks.

Last Thursday I got to work after getting up really early to catch breakfast at the river market. I wasn't feeling good from the beginning and when Richard, my trusty helper, got there, I mentioned that I had a stomach ache and that i get nervous about them b/c I had not Idea what contractions feel like. Well by 10:30am or so I clearly had the stomach flu so I drove myself home. Soon after, I began to really have contractions that have been set off by dehydration. I called the doctor and my parents, husband (who is in Toronto Canada on business) and my brother. Soon after, I would say like at 11:45 the nurse calls me back and in pain, she can clearly tell, I explain what is happening. She says to me " Can you find a ride? If not, i know where you live, I can pick you up to take you to the clinic? " I told her I can call my dad, and she said she would call me back with some other instructions. I called my dad who dropped everything at work and started heading my way. When the nurse calls back I told her my dad was on his way,a bout 15-20 away, I asked about who I would see when I got to the clinic and the Nurse said to me: "Oh no honey, you are going straight to labor and delivery, pack a bag and have a bowl and towel ready to when your dad gets there!" I was freaked out. But I knew that what I was feeling was more than just stomach cramps!

I think my contractions were frequent but they weren't very high on the scale, but they hurt enough to put me on my knees!

the nurses in the hospital where awesome! they really took great care of me. We got the contractions controlled that night and my illness under control by Friday morning.

All night I had to watch pool Alex's little heart race b/c of the fever I was trying to fight off.

The best birth control in the entire world could be to have someone spend the night in labor and delivery on a busy night. I could her pushes and baby cries...that was great, but at like 1 or 2 am for at least half an hour to 45 minutes, this woman in labor (natural labor I am taking it!) SCREAMED at the top of her lungs!!! I mean primal scream. The kind in movies that the victim screams when the monster is after her. Continuously!!!! for a long time! I am getting an epidural as soon as I arrive the next time!!!!!

I haven't been 100% since then. I went to the doctor Tuesday with I would say are mixed results.

I gained like 5 lbs in 2 weeks...despite the stomach flu...but I blame the 13 gallons of fluids they pumped me full of last week, and the tremendous swelling I have endured from over the weekend, my feet look like Fred Flintstones!

My blood pressure was up! Don't get me wrong, it isn't as bad as it could be, but for me it is high. the highest I have ever had is 120/ 72 and today it was like 140/80.

When the doc arrived, he finally acknowledged a soon due date of April 14 not april 18 (yea!!!), but after he checked Alex's strong heartbeat he measured me. I am measuring 2 weeks ahead!!!! 36 weeks not 34! That freaked me out! I could have a full term baby like really soon like any time now! He also said that i had to begin one week appointments now! He may do a fetal weight estimate in the next couple weeks to see Alex's weight!

I freaked out today and have started to really take this seriously. After today Chris and I have to assume he is coming at anytime now! No more waiting...Alex could be here sooner than we thought!

Cynthia

April 18th can't come soon enough

Hey Guys!

Sorry I haven't been updating this thing like I should. Chris and I have been busy. We finally sold our house in Oakland and we are moved out completely. Wednesday we will officially close. Though I am relieved, I have been a little sad. I barely said goodbye, and I feel a little guilty that I am leaving that first home Chris and I so proudly built together. But I guess this year marks the beginning of a new journey. My mom commented that this little apt. is going to be Alex's first home. I really am not at home here yet, I feel like I am staying at a extended stay hotel. Our next home will be special though. I hope to live there for many years to come.

A few weeks ago I got stretch marks. They came overnight. They just have seemed to get more itchy and painful everyday. I have large welts all over the stretch marks. It is effecting my sleep greatly and my spirit. Earlier, I couldn't believe that this is what half of pregnant women go thru and I hadn't found one webpage talking about relief from itch painful stretchmarks. So the last time I googled extreme painful stretch marks, I clicked on IMAGE. about the 4th picture over is a belly that looked just like mine....raised reddish purple stretchmarks that looked almost like the veins in a leaf. Under the picture it said PUPPP.

Now I have read about this in my pregnancy books, but I thought it was like a rash separate form the stretch marks, but apparently most cases are in the creases of the stretch mark it self. I have done lots of research today, and it looks and sounds like that is what I have. Some descriptions were exactly what I am feeling. And 70% of PUPPP sufferers they are expecting a boy and research suggest that the male hormones are linked to this and a small amount can be found in the biopsied rash.

I feel a little relieved to know what it is, but according to some of the bloggers, it is low priority, since it is only uncomfortable, not life threatening.

I don't know if I will make it another month and a half, if this itching and pain lasts. I am miserable and can't sleep.

Oh well! Seeing Alex will be worth it!

I also attended a shower this weekend for Alex. This is the first of many. I was so excited to get all the cool stuff for him. And I am thankful for all we received.

Cynthia

Birthing class

Chris and I took a birthing class yesterday. It was helpful and it allowed me to ask a few questions I wanted to ask. Chris did well, despite the fact there were a few graphic images of crowning babies...etc. But he did well! I am going to write a longer blog tomorrow after I go to the doctors...sorry I am tired and have a cold.

Cynthia

Why can't I sleep!

Insomnia sucks...Usually it is just that I can't get comfortable ( on my left side..or my right, or even half way tilted on my back with a pillow). Right now it doesn't even seem like it is worth the effort to try to even sleep right now.

I guess the first thing that went wrong today is that I woke up sick this morning...nothing major, just some stomach problems...that made me feel aweful so I spent most the day in bed. Thinking that wouldn't bother my sleep, I just gave in to it this morning (well yesterday morning).

Like I said before...if it not one thing it is another..I also have constant acid reflux. not the kind I had b/f pregnancy, like when you eat something spicey and you take like 2 tums and it goes away with out any memory. This is like Battery acid. The chill of it on the back of my throat lets me know it is probably doing irriversable damage to my esophogus. I am taking doctor recommended Zantac...but I don't think anything is strong enough to help this.

Oh well I know you don't really want to hear me bitch about it anymore.

Alex has really been active lately. He hasn't been switching up positions ( he has been in the same position for a month now). But he is constatly getting sick of his cramped quarters. Chris for a while thought I was exaggerating on how hard he had been kicking me in the last week or so...but this moring I made him sit and feel for him self how strong his boy. I can kindaa describe it like this:

Do you know when you are in bed and hot and you are trying to get the sheets off of your legs and it seems to be stuck around your ankle so you kick in the air as hard as you can to un "strangle" your feet and give yourself more room....that is how it is constantly feeling.

I love feeling him move though. A month or so ago, my weekly Baby center newsletter suggested I begin to count how may move my boy makes, like ten in an hour, etc...If he doesn't then it basically suggested I panic, freak out...go to the doctor. I am so glad he is kicking really hard right now, b/c if he weren't i'd still be counting and freaking out,,,because anytime I try to actually count , he usually settles down.

We rented an apartment last weekend...and ironically we also sold our house this week. i am glad we have a place, even if it just temporary, becasue I have had the opportunity to begin to set up a nursery. We have our crib and dresser/ changing table and Alex's monogrammed bedding! it is really nice. I will be happy wehn we do move to really fix his room and paint it the color I want.

I began my 2 week visits this week. All is good...I didn't get into too much trouble for gaining so much weight and Alex is head down and measuring just were he should.

I am thankful!! and I am now sleepy! goodnight...

c