35 Weeks!

Back to the doctor again today!I feel like this is all I post about anymore!

It was a pretty good appointment. We talked more about the heart racing and the issues with that. I shared w/ her my concern about laboring w/ this and she agreed that its definitely something we need to get under control soon! She wants me to get a heart "Event Monitor". Basically its a little box that I carry with me and when I have an "episode" I put it up to my heart and it records what is going on. Then it can transmit to the cardiologist and he can decide what course of action to take. She said there are medications that are safe to take to control the heart rate. Why they didn't do this test 2 weeks ago I have no clue but I know who's hands I'm in. They called to set it up a fitting today but I haven't heard back from them yet. Hopefully God just decides to work it out all on His own and it turns out to be nothing at all!

She's sending me for an ultrasound at the Perinatolgist office next week to check baby girls size and fluid. Depending on what they see next week will determine what our course of action for birth will be! She was 4lbs a month ago so she said she could very well be 6lbs by now! Crazy! Basically because of my history of a "narrow" birth canal (sorry tmi! lol) they will either induce between 37/38 weeks or at the latest will do a c-section between 38/39 weeks... She doesn't foresee me lasting that long however. SO looks like we'll mostly likely be having a baby sometime between 11/10 and 11/17! However.... She said that they will consider me full term from here on out and if I go into labor they won't stop it anymore!! WHOO HOO!!

Hopefully I hear from both the cardiologist office and the Perinatologist tomorrow!
Thanks for all the Prayers!

Home Stretch!!!

Yay! 31 weeks today! Everything has been trucking along. I am now going to the doctor every 2 weeks. My LAST perinatologist appointment is this Friday! So thankful that God has protected my little girl from the 5th Disease! Bestie gets here Thursday for my Baby Shower on Saturday! SO excited!!

Here are a couple pics from my weekend. Wifey and I took her little sister and friend to Disneyland. I didn't get to do much but it was nice to just BE there! I love taking in the ambiance and the atmosphere! It was the first weekend of "Halloweentime", so it was wonderfully decorated for Fall/Halloween!

Stubborn, Stubborn Girl!

Well I've come to the conclusion that this little girl is just STUBBORN. It seems like as soon as we start to close a chapter on one thing that has happened in this pregnancy... something else happens! I really hope that she's getting this out of her system BEFORE she leaves the womb! lol


Friday I had another perinatologist appointment. Court came with me and was very excited to see "her" baby! Baby girl has a strong liking for Court's voice. She reacts to it more than anything else which is kind of cool! So they start the ultrasound and as soon as the doctor starts she says "Well it looks like she is still breech."..... STILL BREECH!?! What?! She's NEVER been breech!! 2 weeks ago her head was very far down on my pelvis.. So much so that they've had difficulty watching the blood flow in her head because she was SO far down. Well, Nope, Not anymore! Her head is in my ribs! She completely flipped! Everything else still looks great though! Only one more Peri appt left on the 3rd! Yay!

I saw my regular OB on Monday and everything checked out well w/ her too. She suggested rocking on my hands/knees to try and get her to turn back around. She said its very odd for her to turn the wrong way when she was already head down... but that's my girl ;). She said they don't really "worry" about it until 35/36 weeks and if she's still breech then... we'll talk about "options"... so she better get moving back in the right direction!!

Keep us all in your prayers! Hopefully only about 8 more weeks!!! We have lots of stuff planned here in the next month so hopefully staying busy will make the time pass quickly!

Doo Dee Doo...

Friday I had another Perinatologist appointment. It was a "quick" one. I met a new doctor and he was really nice but didn't monitor her the same way that the others had in the past. He barely watched her blood flow which I thought was odd... but he's the doctor I guess? He scared me a bit when he said that he saw something "off" w/ her kidneys. He left the room to go look up numbers on the computer and came back in and said everything was normal? So I'm not really sure what THAT was about... but everything else seemed good! She weighs 2.7lbs now and he commented that her legs are LONG! Everything else, her head, organs etc were measuring right on.. 27weeks4days... and her legs are measuring 28 weeks 6 days!! I had just commented to hubby a few days before that it felt like she was really long! I guess my intuition was correct!

Another one of my correct intuitions: I had my glucose screening this past week and I passed (WHOO HOO!) but my blood test came back that I'm anemic. This didn't really surprise me considering I had an iron deficiency called "Pica" when I was pregnant w/ both the other girls. I had just been noticing the symptoms coming back... Craving Ice... Loving the smell of gasoline... weird stuff like that. haha So I was told to eat more red meat, green leafy vegetables and taking an iron supplement. Not a big deal... As I sit here munching on ice! ;)

The girlies are both gone to grandma's house this week! Sweet Pea is off track for one more week so they get to go visit before she has to go back to school on the 15th. This is the first time they've gone away from us w/out us going somewhere like when we went on our cruise in May. It's so odd to be home w/ out them! But SO refreshing too! Hubby and I took advantage of them being gone and camped out in the living room and had a movie marathon today! So nice! I'm looking forward to having a quiet relaxing week. We're going to paint baby girls room and get the crib etc setup to surprise the girlies when they get back! They will love that!

Good News... And Bad News...

So FIRST the good!

I had a great Perinatologist appointment today! It was a "long" one. They had an ultrasound tech come in and give a thorough exam and then the doctor came in and did her OWN exam to compare and make sure everything was the same. The doctor said that her blood flow numbers are looking great! And while the tech was doing her ultrasound she typed big and bold on the screen "NO HYDROPS" Whoo Hoo!! We're on our 3rd ultrasound now and everything is looking great! I got a good look at my sweet little girl today :)... Which made me very happy! She is just so freaking cute already! I can't believe how much more detail I could see in her features today compared to 4 weeks ago! She REALLY does have a thing for her hands! We watched her suck on her hand and thumb for a while and even got to see her rubbing her eyes and sticking her tongue out at her hand... SO cute!! And THIS time I got to see the front of her face and while her profile reminds me of Sweet Pea... Her face from the front looks alot like Moo to me with some chubby cheeks! All in all it was a very refreshing appt. It's always nerve racking to go in and wait while they look... just praying they don't find anything disturbing, but it's so worth it when they tell me everything looks good and I get to see my little love!

Here is a shot of her working on that hand!

And here is a shot of her face... I think it looks like she is smiling :)
AND.. now the Bad! :(

Monday afternoon.. Sweet Pea came down with a 102.4 fever. By Tuesday afternoon we were dealing w/ 103.6! It was just so odd because she had NO other symptoms. Yesterday after her bath I noticed that she had a few red bumps showing up on her face/neck.. (still fighting a 102 fever) So I decided I should probably take her in today if she woke up w/ a fever still. Sure enough 101.4 this am with more bumps showing up on her chest/back. So i called and made an appointment for this afternoon... AFTER my peri appt! Turns out she has a mild case of Chicken Pox!! Moo had this in 2/07 and thankfully because of the Vaccine that kids get now its NOTHING like it was when I was a kid. They don't itch her and a couple of them are already starting to crust over. The doctor said that she will probably get less than 30 bumps as opposed to the 200-500 that kids get with OUT the vaccine... That is good news to me!! BUT sad news as we have tickets to see Vanessa Hudgens tomorrow night at the state fair for her birthday!

Here she is pretending to Pout.. She really is in good spirits all things considering! You can BARELY see a couple of her bumps on her chest where its a little red..

She's such a Sweet Girl!

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors!

Friday on our way home from church camp we had our 2nd Perinatologist appointment. It wasn't very exciting. It was a "quick" ultrasound which means we didn't really get to see her. They checked the organs for fluid and the blood flow in the head. Everything was pretty even with our last appointment! So that's good. Baby Girl is already head down since the last appointment so she had a hard time getting her to hold still to monitor the blood flow. Next appointment is the 21rst and they will measure growth along with everything else so it will be longer and we'll get to see more of her! :)

I had my 24 week appointment today at my regular ob/gyn. No news is good news as far as I'm concerned! lol I've gained 3lbs... Pretty darn good for 24 weeks! Heartbeat was good. The regular doc feels a little boring after going to the peri, but that's okay. I have to get my glucose screening in the next couple of weeks. Yuck. I threw up every time I did it with the girlies so hopefully I can stomach it this time!

Here's a new pic... I dont think i've gotten that much bigger but she's definitely FILLED out my stomach now. And is starting to kick my ribs... Fun Stuff!!

Perinatologist Appointment!

Sweet Girl!

Today we met with the perinatologist for the first time. VERY nice office.. Very lush with super nice ultrasound machines! I was alot more nervous than I think I was letting on. My blood pressure was just a tad high for me lol.

The peri. was nice. I was concerned at first that she was going to be very rushed. But we settled in quite nice. She began the ultrasound first thing before she really started explaining anything! As she was looking at everything she started explaining what would be happening. Basically the virus is a "Parvo" virus.. that attacks the blood. (no not the same that a dog gets! lol) So for the next TWELVE weeks they are going to be watching the blood flow through her brain. By comparing the blood flow from today's ultrasound to future ones.. that will be the first sign of something going wrong or the "Fetal Anemia". She said that if they were to see that happen they would want to do an in-uterine blood transfusion right away. The danger with this virus is that by it attacking the blood it can make the heart work overtime... causing basically congestive heart failure. One of the other signs they will be looking for are the "hydrops".. basically fluid around the organs.. such as the spleen, heart, liver etc. So they are going to continue to monitor her into October. Right now I'm going every 2 weeks unless they see something that makes them concerned. There is no real "time frame" that something could pop up if it was going to so that kinda sucks.

The peri was VERY thorough. She wanted to know all about the girlies and how their exposure happened etc. She went over my lab results with me and it turns out that I WAS exposed to it before in the past!! They do 2 tests. One to show past exposure and one to show recent exposure. My past exposure was like a 1.3 and my recent exposure was like a 6.7 with the words "HIGH" marked next to it. She also told me that its NOT like chicken pox where you grow immune to it. Just because you were exposed before doesn't mean that you can't get it again. That made me a little sad because it means that even though the girlies had it.. they could still get it as adults and pregnant. But at least we will know for sure that they have had it.


The GREAT news is that everything looks PERFECT today! She is exactly 1lb and looks amazing. I personally think that she has "Sweet Pea's" profile! Her mood today I can only describe as "cuddly". She kept rubbing her face and sucking on her hands and she just looked "sleepy" like she needed to be cuddled to sleep or something! It was precious!! We also got a good "money shot" and confirmed that she is in fact another little girl. (Click here for the money shot!)


So my next appointment is Friday August 8th at 4:15! Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts!! Keep em coming! ;)

Sucking her Hand Praying Hands....

Doctor Checkup!

Not much to report... Still haven't gained any weight! I'm sure that is going to change real quick here. lol! Baby Girl's heartbeat was 141. She's been 145 all the previous times so just about right on! She said that my cervix is still closed so that's good, that means the contractions aren't doing much of anything yet. She just said to listen to my body and continue with the limited activity. Don't do anything that I don't Need to do. :) Easier said than done!!

She told me that they will work together with the Perinatologist so I will be going back and forth between both of them most likely the rest of my pregnancy! Lots of fun! So not much to report.. but lately that's a GOOD thing!!

Finally.. An appointment!

The Perinatologist office called to setup my appointment! The soonest they could get me in is Friday July 25th at 12:45. She said it will be an hour appointment with a consultation and ultrasound. When I asked if she could get me in sooner, she said that she couldn't for an hour appointment and that after reviewing my case the doctor wanted to make sure they had a good amount of time for my appointment... whatever that means.

So more waiting.... My favorite thing to do! I feel better and worse all at the same time. I feel better that I have an appointment. I feel better that they're already going to be doing an ultrasound. I feel better that the ball is rolling.. but all those same things make me feel worse somehow too. That this is real and it IS serious.

I go to see my regular ob tomorrow... as a follow up for all the contractions etc. Sigh.. I'm already tired of doctors!!

Talked to the Peri Office!

Just a quick update!

I called the Perinatologist office this am and explained to them what was going on and asked if I had to wait for the authorization. She said she needed my referral in order to schedule an appointment so she went to look for it. They got it while I was on the phone and they sent it to "the back" for doctor review. She said that after the doctor reviews it they will give me a call to setup an appointment! Yay! I'm glad they aren't dragging their feet with this!

Test Results are Back..

So my doctor called me this afternoon with my test results. (I still can't believe it took them almost a week!)

She said that there are two parts to the test. One to see if I have it, and the other to see how BAD I was exposed. It came back that I DO have it, and my immunity to it was 1. Which means I had a very high exposure to it and tested very high. She asked about how I was exposed to it and since both of the girls had it I was basically exposed double during the time I was susceptible to it. That NOW I'm probably building up immunity to it. Its kinda like mono where once you have it.. you will always test positive for it.

So now what to do about it. (I wouldn't recommend googling fifth disease in pregnancy because this royally freaked me out!) They don't deal with such "high risk" things at the regular obgyn office so they are referring me to a "Perinatologist". I asked Wifey what that is and she said "Basically Addison from Greys" haha that put it into better perspective for me. For those of you that don't watch Greys Anatomy, basically it's a "High Risk baby/pregnancy doctor". She said that they will probably want to start doing weekly ultrasounds and blood tests on me to watch the baby. No one has officially told me for WHAT yet.. but like I said.. I googled it... SO i know what they will be looking for.

My obgyn office is supposed to be getting authorization from my insurance for the referral and I am supposed to wait for the Perinatologist office to call me to setup an appointment... And if i don't hear from anyone within TEN DAYS to call.. UM thanks but I have a PPO and I will be calling tomorrow to ask if I need to wait for authorization. You can't make me wait another ten days!

Hubby and I were talking and its just amazing to us how something that is so not a BIG deal in any other person, kids, adults can be so harmful to a fetus. I mean the girlies didn't show a single sign except for a slight fever and a rash. And its frustrating that there is absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent it. Short of never touching my children... I don't think so! At its most contagious point... none of us knew that Sweet Pea even had it!

I'm trying to grasp the road that could be ahead of us. I know that MY God is bigger than 5Th disease. I need to keep looking forward and praying for the positive. Its so so hard to do in these situations. I just feel like I keep getting hit from every angle and it doesn't let up. I know there is a lesson to be learned in all this. If only I could just fast forward 4 months and be holding my sweet precious little baby girl in my arms and everything be A-OK!