I'm here!!

Hi. My name is Joel Adams Gregory H., and mommy wanted me to let you know that I arrived January 4, 2011 at 8:51pm. I weighed 7lbs and was 20.5" long! Not bad for showing up a month early to my own party :)

I had a bit of a rough start, but mommy, daddy & I have been home since Sunday, and I'm quite happy with the place.

Mommy wanted me to let you know she's working on a longer post, but I guess I'm keeping her a bit busy these days.

oh well. snack time! bye bye for now... oh, here's a picture of me that mommy snapped in the recovery room shortly after i was born... aren't i cute??

well that was interesting...

ended up at the hospital this morning, as i thought my water broke while I laid in bed. I was waiting for J to get out of the shower (we were to meet friends for brekkie) and I felt this pop and gush of fluid...  so we had a bit of a rush around the house (packing and stuff, JIC) and went into the hospital.
They hooked me up to the monitors & sparkle was doing well.. they couldn't get a sample of fluid from the underwear I brought in, so the OB on call did an internal exam and checked everything out, and turns out that nope, false alarm, but man, I was so sure it was the real thing. And honestly, from what I'd told the nurses/dr, they thought so too, but nope.  Because it was a false alarm, they sent me home... 

So now we're home and I had a bit of a nap and a shower, and well, I really just have to get my arse in gear and really pack those bags now  Being not quite 34 weeks I'm at an odd spot - baby could need steroids for lungs, and they weren't sure whether they'd induce or admit me to put on antibiotics to keep him in to bake a bit longer.

33 week update..

aka the one where i have a minor freakout.

So let's see... last time I updated, I was just at 30 weeks, and starting my 'sick leave'. It ended up coming at a good time, as much as sick leave can be at a good time, because I ended up with a doozy of a sinus 'thing' that lasted close to 2 weeks... also, that pesky BP thing. I went into the office on the 30th (31w) for my work baby shower, and sparkle got spoiled something rotten... was really sweet of everyone. Funny.. gifts from people I never expected to get gifts from, and no gifts from people I expected to get gifts from (as much as you shouldn't expect to get gifts from anyone, but kwim?).  Here's a pic of me from that day... all huge and beachbally :P (I think people on twitter may have seen this? I can't remember) Regardless, that was the state of the belly at 31w. I will try and get a new pic tomorrow... Could be one of the last pictures... Speaking of pics though, I hadn't posted the last u/s pic we got (29w)... here ya go!

I'm feeling all right, all things considered (more shortly). I monitor my BP pretty much daily, and it's been ok. at my last appt (31w2d) it was good, but I love my GP, and she was the one who took it. I believe the protein was back at +1, where it's been for most of the pregnancy. Next appt is Dec 16 (this Thursday) and they'll do a biophysical profile (BPP), and monitor my BP & proteins again... I fully expect my BP to be outta whack though... and here's why...

Around the end of November (dates/times are blurring now), we found out that J's neurosurgeon would like to do some proactive surgery to remove a few of his meningioma that have been growing for a few years now. And given the state of the family at the moment, neuro suggested either rather immediately, or like 6 months down the road. All things considered, we opted for surgery this month, so on top of being on sick leave for blood pressure issues, my husband is having frickin brain surgery at the end of this week. While he's been through this before (in 2000, for a much bigger tumor that caused a huge seizure), it still frickin blows goats.

So ya. i'm ok. Baby is ok as far as I know. At my last appt he was still breech though (possibly "frank breech" (V-shaped; head & feet up, bum down), so am seeing my chiro to hopefully help with that. Webster Technique, anyone? She did one adjustment last week, and will do another tomorrow. Hopefully by Thursday's u/s, kidlet will be on the move. Babe has slowed down a lot this last week - didn't even flip for chocolate ice cream last night like he usually does. I am a bit worried that they'll want to induce me on Thursday... hopefully I can put that off til January, but I dunno. I just have a feeling that we'll be meeting our baby sooner than later. like, much sooner. Due to some odd circumstances (me being sick being one of them), I haven't been able to connect with the doula yet either, so if they DO want to induce me when J's still in the hospital, I won't have anyone there. am I freaking out? mmm, maybe just a little. Will try and update Thursday after my appt...

30 weeks..

Officially 3/4 of the way thru my pregnancy - amazing. Time really has flown, especially with everything that's gone on since finding out we were pregnant back in May.

I have a bit of an update after last week's testing & such.. Short story - we're both fine :). I'm off work, but we're all good. Of course, it took me 4 days or so to find out that this was the case... ugh.

So, after Wednesday's appt, I did the 24h urine collection on Thursday, and took it to the lab first thing Friday... Apparently I needed more bloods drawn, so I had those done, and they said results would be in later that day. I made sure they had my cell number, and left, (naively) expecting a call later that day to let me know whether I was to continue bei g off work, or what the case was. 5pm comes, no call... so I took it easy on the weekend, and went back to work Monday.

Monday morning I called the OB clinic at the hosp, explained my story a handful of times, and waited for a nurse to call me back. Not only did I not know whether I should be off work still or not, but if so how long; also I was curious abt my labs & noone had told me on Wed when/if I should book my next appt for. So I waited, nothing that moring... nada. I called back after lunch, was told the dr who'd seen me up at u/s had my file, and was assured. the nurse would call me back by end of day. Which, of course, didn't happen. I was livid. Y'know, for people soooo concerned abt my BP a few days earlier, they sure didn't seem to care that it was now rising by the minute....

Tuesday morning I called the hospital again, and was PISSED. The receptionist took my message again, and finally, just before noon the nurse called me back. Apparently there'd been some mixup with my file (not surprising - story of my life). Labs were fine, and yes, I was still supposed to be off work. But for how long? SHe had no clue. When was I supposed to see a dr again? No clue. So I packed up my stuff and left work, possibly for good.  She did call me back later, and said that yes, I was to be off work for good now, and my appt on Dec 2 with the OB (u/s & udate) will be good timing.. but y'know, no apology or anything about the mix ups, or anything. SO FRUSTRATING.

I've been checking my BP now that I'm home, and today for example it was 115/86. Yup, dangerously high NOT. Ah well. Taking it easy, and hoping that HR & Compensation at work can figure out how to deal with my leave a month early.

And now... to nap.

29w update...

First off - wha?? 29 weeks?? when the hell did THAT happen?

I digress. I had my biweekly OB appt today, and unfortunately it didn't go as smoothly as the ones before.... while I've officially lost 1.5kg since my last appt (more by my scale, but whatever), my bp was up up up, and the protein in my urine was +3 (has been +1 all along). This worried the resident & OB, so they ended up keeping the Fetal Assessment u/s unit open for me so they could get a view of baby, they drew blood from me, and i'm off work until Monday at least. Oh, and I get to collect all my urine for a 24h period, starting tomorrow morning. Fun  :eh: They're worried it's preeclampsia, which if it is, I will pretty much be off til baby comes...

The u/s was quick but good. Babe was moving around like a madman, and is breech (although not transverse like usual). He's almost doubled in (estimated) size now - up to 3lbs 14oz or so (was 2lbs at 24w). I have a picture, but won't be at work to scan it anytime soon. Maybe hubs can scan it at work - not sure.

so that's my update. funny that things are 'off' (well, potentially anyway), bc I've been feeling fairly good lately. FIgures, eh?

more pics - 28 weeks & change

 The belly is finally starting to round itself out... this was 28weeks... It was a long day, sorry for the long face..

We've gotten the furniture together this past week. And really, when I say "we", I pretty much mean Baby Daddy. The drapes are back up (still need a blind), the dresser is together & so is the rocker.

As you can see, I started doing baby laundry this week too.  First load was just washcloths, receiving blankets & the odd bib & crib sheet. I've done a few more loads since - some tiny clothes (!!!) hooded towels & more crib sheets... love washing the little stuff.

Just fat..

not diabetic! WAHOO!

Like I've said all along "I don't have diabetes, I'm just fat." I did the gestational diabetes screening test this morning... finger prick after fasting (result was 4.8 - normal is between 3.0 and 7.0), then I drank the trutol, and had 2 more draws of blood taken, one- and two-hours after the drink. The nurse called me later this afternoon, and "your results were perfect". She sounded pretty damn flabbergasted... as if she couldn't understand how someone my size isn't diabetic. OY.I've dealt with this type of comment in the past (dr. bastard, any time a new health care worker noticed I was taking metformin, etc), and it just burns my fat arse. BUT, it doesn't matter, bc I'm not diabetic.

Although y'know, I bet y'all $10 that they make me do the test again in about a month or so.  Just because.... Oy. Whatever. I'll pass it again then too. so there.

Busy day! (27w update..)

First off, I had my 27w OB appt this morning, and it went quite well..

• bp was in about the same range it's been all long, hb was good (150bpm), and when the resident felt my tummy, she said that good ol' standby "yup! gonna be a big baby!" pfft. whatever, not much i can do at this point. 
• i got booked in for my 'official' gestational diabetes test - thursday morning. fasting, much gross orange drink & blood draws. fabulous :( eh, i'm not too worried as the first test came back well within range, so *shrug*. 
• on top of the GD test, also scheduled the next OB appt (17tg - 29w1d), and i have an u/s appt on the 25th (30w2d), so the appts are coming fast & furious now. 
• best part of the appt was the fact it was scheduled for 9:15am, and by 9:10, i had already completed the portion of the appt with the resident & seeing the actual OB was just a formality. back at work by 10... usually you wait at least an hour just to see the resident.

once i was back at work, i got an email abt a work baby shower for sparkle at the end of the month. he's gonna be one darn spoiled kidlet! We also set up an email acct for kidlet so we could put baby-related appts in our google calendars in their own calendar. Super geeky, i know, but hey. not like the kid won't need an email address at some point, right?

And earlier tonight, we bought (and assembled!) a stroller. After Saturday's fiasco, we decided to go back to the stroller we'd been considering before the B-Nimble caught my eye, and bought a Graco FlipIt from Sears. They had the same model at WalMart, but after waiting for what seemed like forever for someone to help us, we realized we couldn't actually test drive the damn thing, as the infant seat was tethered to the side of the stroller for display. So we went across the street & Sears employees were super helpful, so we got it there. I liked the pattern better too :P

In other news :P I had a dream last night htat baby will be born on Jan 27 at 8:18 am. I wonder how close (far?) I'll be?? It was a home birth though, and i know THAT won't be the case. i'd be cool with the date though.

In speaking to a couple of friends last week who are due approximately the same time I am, I felt awfully lucky for how things have been going so far with the pregnancy. One, pregnant with twins, is on modified bedrest already. The other (singleton pg), is on modified duties at work. I'm slowing down a bit, but still working, etc. Still hoping to make it to the end of December as far as work's concerned... 8 weeks - I can do it (especially with a few holidays in there!).

Pictures (no particular order)

We got the crib set up today, and picked up the dresser. The glider is also in, but they had it stored behind a whole bunch of stuff, so we told 'em we'd be back later this week. Crib is pretty though, no? And the dark wood will indeed tone down the bright green. Phew!

I was in PEI for work most of this past week, and my hotel room had a full length mirror, so I took the opportunity to take a 26week belly shot. I'm sorry this is dark, but it's the only one that's not blurry. Definitely getting a belly though (and this was before I ate out for 4 days straight!)...

Here are some shots from the shower. I don't have pictures of everything, but trust me, there was a lot of loot.

Frustrated...

J & I went to go test drive/most likely pay for the stroller we'd decided on today. Got to the store and found out that that specific stroller has been backordered until Januaryish. Thing is, J called the same damn store on Monday, and they said it was available. So we drove all the way out there (half hour from home, plus crappy parking & store layout), and no stroller. I was LIVID. She starts showing us similar models, but I was just pissed. All I could smell was bait & switch. Lure us in, and then "oops, not available..." in hopes we'd buy something else, likely more expensive. Back in the summer I researched strollers for HOURS. Evenings on end. This was the only one that seemed to hit every criterion I/we had - lightweight, suitable from newborn, etc. And now, I get to do it all over again. I am NOT happy. Plus research the infant car seats, and find the best combo. FUN! (not).

y'know, I know that pregnancy/TTC/life in general shouldn't really be easy for anyone (except super lucky assholes with horseshoes firmly embedded up their arse), but my god. how many years we waited to finally attempt (and y es, be successful) pregnancy, then J has a stroke. Find a stroller, foiled again. Can't anything go smoothly? I know it doesn't seem like much, but we've got enough stuff we still have to figure out (other baby gear - swing, pack & play, put together furniture, actually dealing with said baby once he arrives), I hate to have to uncross something off the list and do it again. I've tried looking into stuff tonight, and i don't have it in me.

I have the pictures from last weekend's shower, and I'll try and put them up tomorrow in between ghosts & goblins...  

22 weeks! (pics..)

Here's a pic of me taken last night after work. Almost 22 weeks... so hard to believe.

Here's a shot of my dad finishing up the trim in the nursery.. I love how the paint turned out. So bright & cheery. We're going to go with dark furniture & a denim-y blue trim, which I think will tone things down a tad... 

While Dad & J painted, I was "errand girl". The go-fer of sorts. Go fer sandpaper, go fer rollers, etc. But really, the hat says it all ;) I was the boss, they were the 'honey - do' guys.

Things are trucking along fine. Happy to have baby's room somewhat finished. I'm feeling pretty good still. I've felt a few kicks, but still not really often. That I'm aware of anyway. Can't tell between digestion & baby (I'm slow like that, hah). While dad & J were painting, I took the clothes we've got so far & organized them a bit. Just to see what I had bought, and what I'd stashed in the "baby gift" drawer that I wanted to keep for our kidlet :P And now I have little piles of little clothes. At least one outfit for each size up to 24 mon :P They still need to be washed, but it's something. We got the first gifts off our registry last week too! The jolly jumper, a Sophie, and a rear-view mirror so whoever's driving can keep an eye on baby boy. It's all getting real now!

Enough 'blathering' though. will update again when there's something to update :)

the day after...

so, about 24h since I've posted, and i'm in a much different state of mind than I was yesterday. I had a good cry last night, and talked to some friends, ate nothing but crap today, and did a bit of retail therapy, and strangely, i'm feeling pretty good now.

I've uploaded the u/s pics, and they can be found on the ultrasound pic page..

Today's ultrasound...

Well, the 20w u/s was this morning, and everything is measuring really well. Baby is beautiful, and quite active (thanks, OJ!). Dr. measured him to be in about the 89th percentile right now, so he's telling me to expect a big baby, but who knows what exactly that means.. regardless, we're quite happy with the news that our SON is healthy & growing like a weed. He's measuring approximately 14oz.. almost a pound already, insane.

Honestly, I am a tad bit sad that it's not a girl. I was ok with the news (I think I 'knew' but was holding out hope) that it was a boy until we were at the mall tonight. all the super-cute girly stuff - the little argyle tights, silver slippers, dresses & skirts... is stuff that I'll never get to buy. And can't even really buy as a gift, as all my friends here have boys too. If nothing else, having a boy will probably be easier on my wallet than a girl - less "omgit'ssocute"...  fewer shiny, distracting things when baby's a boy than a girl ;) and lord knows i'm easily distracted by cute & shiny :)

All that said, I'm sure that when baby is born I'll love him and feed him and he'll be absolutely perfect, and I'll wonder why I ever wanted a girl in the first place, but for now, I reserve the right to be a tad bit sad for the girl I won't have. Call it pregnancy hormones or something, who knows.

As for the poll that was up here, over half said it was going to be a girl. On one of my chat boards they predicted boy, and another board's poll predicted girl, so noone really knew :P

I'll scan the pictures we got when I'm at work tomorrow and post 'em then. toodles!

half-baked!!

20! weeks! pregnant!

I cannot believe that theoretically there are fewer days until we meet the baby than there have been so far in the pregnancy.

Today was my 20 week OB appt... Things went rather well. my BP was decent (although I think the med student bust a few blood vessels in my arm. OW), heartbeat was in the 150-155 range, did the trutol test for gestational diabetes.. our maternal serum screening results were in. Based on my age alone, there was a 1:304 chance of defect (Downs, Trisomy 18 or spina bifida), but when they figured in the blood tests & 12w u/s, chances went waaaaaaaay down. Spina Bifida was 1:10,000 (virtually nil), Trisomy 18 1:5000 and Down's 1:1200ish. He was pretty happy with the results overall... said after Thursday's u/s those may go down even more.

I"m feeling pretty good. I think I've been letting myself get dehydrated on the weekends, bc I end up getting awfully lightheaded Sunday afternoons. I drink water all through the week (when i'm in the office anyway), but totally don't drink enough at home. i knwo i've got to fix that, but damned if i'll figure out how to remind myself. Here's the 20week belly pic....

I've got to go find some yoga pants & maternity jeans. Weather's taken a turn for the friggin cold here, and I don't think I'll be able to get away with capris & flip flops as long as I'd hoped, dammit.

ETA: OH! i have been meaning to post this for a while now (as it happened 2 weeks ago)... I felt *A* kick. I was laying in bed one night (on my tummy... i know, i know), and everything was calm... then *THUNK*. i was a bit freaked at first, until I figured out what it was. I probably have felt more than just hte one, but nothing definitive. Still hoping that i feel it more regularly soon. Can't wait to see little sparkle flippin & floppin on Thursday at the u/s... i'm already in lurve :)

Honey, do...

I mean "honeydew". oops :P (or do I??? hmmm...)

We bought a sample jar of paint at Home Depot this weekend, and did a test run in the baby's room. The color we're going with is Honeydew by Behr. Painting in our house is usually a bit chaotic, so it doesn't happen often. But we gave it the college try. Here's the test once the tape came down...

Now, remember it's just 1 coat of flat finish paint + primer over a dark purply grey color, so another proper coat of paint will just finish it off.We'll be painting the trim again, bc the previous owners didn't believe in taping, and couldn't edge to save their souls. Not that I/we are so great, but there's purple on the front of the closet frame,etc. For the record, accent colors in the room will be pink or blue, depending on teh results of thursday's ultrasound, and no real 'theme', although there will probably be a plethora of cow stuff...

The room is essentially 8x10, as the closet juts into the room. We're keeping the trim & doors white, but trying to figure out what to do for furniture. the crib (convertible to double bed) & dresser/change table we're looking at are available in both white & espresso finishes. It's a small room, but I think the color will be bright enough that it can hold a few pieces of dark furniture. Or should we stick with white furniture which could create an uber-bright room? To me, dark furniture is classic & gender neutral; it'll grow with either a boy or girl. Whereas white furniture... eh. I like it, but it kinda screams girl to me. Not so much in the beginning, but will a 13 year old boy want white furniture? i'm going to say no :P

I realize I'm totally over-thinking, but that comes with living with hubs for 10 years... he's the king of overthinking things :P Your thoughts??

Best comment ever!

Had dinner with some friends tonight, and when we were walking to the car, one said to me "by the way, you can TOTALLY see your baby bump now" and I think I may have swooned :P So nice to hear that from someone. Especially when you're convinced that you're hte only person who can see these things :P As proof, an impromptu 19w2d belly shot...

Got some news on the weekend that our next door neighbors are moving to a new house a bit further into town. Makes me sad, but as part of 'cleaning out the house', she gifted some baby stuff to us - tub, BF pillow, baby toiletries, etc. Love the sentiment, hate the reasoning. But if you're looking for a new place here in NS, I know of a place with great neighbors ;)

In other news, Ultrasound & OB appts are next week. Less than a week now to cast your vote for blue v pink, as all will be revealed this time next week.... Registries have been created (links on your right if you're so inclined), but they'll be updated after the u/s to stick a few more items in blue or pink :P

17weekish update...

Not much going on here. I signed us up for prenatal classes today - 6 nights over the next 3 months. Weird how they schedule things but whatev. They're free - guess you can't ask too much :P

In slightly more exciting news, i think I can say that I am finally sporting a little bit of a baby belly. Now, I'm a bit of a 'fluffy' girl to begin with, so it's really just an enlargement of the mid-belly roll (bw boobs & tummy), but ah well.

Been feeling fairly good - bit off today, but other than that, pretty darn good for almost 18 weeks. I think we're going to do up the registry next weekend. Have to go to the mall for a hair appt anyway. Suggestions on what to put on the registry? We know what crib we're getting, can't get the stroller we want at Sears (or TRU for that matter).. but it's alll the other stuff I don't know what to put on there.

16 week update

uh ya. 16 weeks. can you believe??? All sources (babycentre, my ticker :P) agree that the baby is now approx the size of an avocado... crazy.

After the "who's your doctor" clusterfork (explained midway through this post), I got a call from the clinic with an appt date for today, with one of the OB from the clinic who did my ET (let's call her Dr. Evil)... Now, this wasn't who was supposed to be following me for my pg, but it turns out that he-who-will-be-my-OB (Dr Y) is just on vacation, and I'll see him next month. Phew.

Anyway, we go in for the appt, they get the weight (ugh) and pee sample, then we wait for a bit. The resident came in, took my health history, did a bit of a physical exam, and then went to get Dr. Evil. J said that from the moment she walked in, you could feel the tension ... oops? Thankfully the resident or intern did most of the actual 'doctoring'.

In the less-than-10-min we saw Dr. Evil, we argued about why I was seeing her, instead of Dr Y. I told her that the referral never got sent over and she said that was "BULL" (then explain why I wasn't scheduled for an appt bw 8 & 16 weeks besides the u/s????) , and when I told her that my GP's replacement told me to reduce my BP meds, she flatly told me i shouldn't have done that. Whatev. Thing was that my BP at the GP appt was 120/82 after a crappy sleep, no meds yet that day, running around to drop stuff off at hte hospital for J, etc, while my BP at today's appt was up a bit, after having appts in the morning to get J discharged from the hosp (yay!) and had drank a bit more caffeine than usual, so I didn't think it was too bad. I explained that with J's stroke I was the only driver, and I didn't want to be lightheaded while driving, yadda yadda. she finally backed off, but srsly. it was tense :P On top of that, I often have 'white coat syndrome', so it probably WAS normal, except I knew I was going to have to see her...  Oh yes. Then she told me that I'll probably have to do my Trutol test early (like 20 w), which I can only assume is because she expects me to have Gestational Diabetes. Y'know, bc I'm fat and all. Oy. I so hope to prove her wrong :P

I will give her credit though, in that she was able to find the heartbeat... which sounded pretty forking amazing.  She didn't give an actual number, but when I offered that it was about 155bpm at the 12w u/s, she said that was 'about right'.

Next appt is the 14th of Sept (20 weeks!!!) with Dr Y, and then 2 days later is the BIG u/s. I definitely want to find out the baby's sex - I feel that we've had enough uncertainty to deal with lately, dammit...

So that's that for now. i have a bit of a bump that's formed right under my boobs, but baby is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY down in the pelvic region, so it's just displaced organs & such. Otherwise, feeling pretty good overall. 

Eeek! Shower time!

A friend messaged me last night asking if there were any plans for a baby shower yet, and if not, if I'd like her to host it. As far as I had known, there were no plans, so we chatted and came up with a plan, and now, a date!

some deets for the locals...

Sunday Oct 24

1-4 pm,

Tacoma Sobey's, Dart NS.

a map will be provided with the invites, all of which will go out, um, sometime in the next little bit I guess :)

I'm a bit in shock. For some reason, this makes it seem more 'real' that there's a baby on the way :P

12w u/s..

Sorry for not being around lately - I have a post started to explain what all's been going on, but in the meantime, I can tell you that we had our 2nd ultrasound yesterday, and the doctors are really happy with how Baby H. is growing. What a difference a month makes - baby's got arms & legs, a cute lil nose, lips, belly, all sorts of things. So cute <3 I have put a labeled copy of the picture on the ultrasound pic page. Interestingly, both the fellow & the OB who looked at the u/s said that they could see a second sac, but it was empty. I'm not really surprised, I mean, we put wo embies in, and I could've SWORN i was having twins at first... so, who knows. Just thought that was kinda neat.

Next ultrasound is a whole 8 weeks away. God, it's going to seem like forever. But it's up at the same place we had yesterday's hour-long u/s, and this will be the detailed anatomy scan... including baby's sex if we're interested. Still trying to decide whether or not to get that part done, but I guess we have about 8 more weeks to decide. We don't want to pay to find out, but I think that with everything else going on, it makes the most sense. So start making your guesses over in the poll (to your right).