Excuses, Excuses

Yes, it’s been quite a while.  Here are some of my lame excuses:

1.  I was really sick!  I had a good two weeks with an awful cold.  Spent about 3-4 days not being able to speak!  It was straight up terrible!  (Feeling much better now though!)

2. Work has been insane.  No, really, it has.  We had finals, and awards ceremonies and graduation.  Too much going on all at once.

3. I was trying to finish up my own classes!  Those went well!! Ended my Community Health course with an A and my Biostatistics course with an A-!! So excited.  My new class has already started and will run until just after the baby is born.  oy!

4. We’ve been busy with baby classes and baby appointments and baby, baby, baby.  Yeah, you know how that goes.

Now that I’ve gotten my lame excuses out of the way let’s see what’s new.  Due to my heart issues my doctor and I have decided to have a scheduled C-section.  It’s just the safest thing for baby and I.  But I always run the risk of going into labor early!  Heart issues were getting better with an increase in the dosage of medication, however, for the past week and a half I’ve been having palpitations and shortness of breath… again.  Waiting on a callback from my cardiologist.  Baby is doing just fine, but I start my weekly (yes, I said weekly) non-stress tests tomorrow.  Went for my ultrasound and prenatal appointment yesterday. What a shock, lil’ miss did not want to participate in anything.  She was head butting me in the bladder (and still is…) and was facing my back.  Poor ultrasound tech had an awful time getting some measurements.  But! She is at 3 lbs 9 oz, which is normal for this stage in the game.  I got to see her lil fuzzy head too!  Prenatal was good.  My family was a bit concerned with how much swelling I was having in my hands and feet, but the doctor assured me that it was within normal range and not cause for concern.

Other than that, I’ve been feeling miserable.  My back is killing me; my legs are killing me; my feet are killing me.  AND I can barely keep my eyes open.  Some women really enjoy pregnancy.  I am not one of them.  Here’s a few things I’m looking forward to doing without:  excessive drooling (anyone else dealing with that?!), achy body, peeing every 10 minutes, restless sleep, not being able to take normal medications that help me, crying for no reason, eating obscene amounts of food, and not being able to bend over!!!  I am excited for the end result… just the process of getting there SUCKS.

I know I haven’t posted a picture in quite a while so here is one that my co-worker took at the awards ceremony.  I look huge; ignore my Hulk legs and feet.

 

Also, husband and I opened a baby pool site for people to place some guesses about lil’ miss: date of birth, weight, length, etc.  Check it out… Make some guesses… Make me laugh!

http://www.babyhunch.com/poolpage.php?poolid=4484e3b3057846c6ffe44a61c465544c

I promise I will post something extra special soon!! 🙂

Oh, Boston, you’re my home!

I guess it’s been some time since I last posted, but it has not been from lack of content!  

First and foremost, let me report that myself, baby and all my loved ones are safe from yesterday’s attacks on Boston.  My sister was downtown at the Red Sox game, but made it home safely.  I am not sure if this is the most healthy way to feel but I am not sad for my city.  I am not mourning the losses.  I am angry; I am pissed off.  I want swift justice brought down upon the scumbag(s) that decided that Boston was a city to mess with.  Boston is not a city of assholes that back down when faced with the threat of terrorism; we stand up to bullies.  We will have our justice.

In other news, I’ve been feeling pretty miserable.  I have been put on a beta-blocker to help slow my heartrate down.  It doesn’t seem to be very effective.  My heartrate is still pretty high and I am still having palpitations.  Luckily, I do not have SVT, I have what they call Sinus Tachycardia.  Elevated heartrate but normal heart rhythm.  The beta-blocker has been really wiping me out.  Fatigue is a common side effect and it’s even worse when you’re pregnant.  It’s been taking a lot out of me just to function properly throughout the day at work.  I have to take it 2x a day so once in the morning and once at night.  Oy, what a exhausting condition.  I am also having a really rough time with this carpal tunnel.  I haven’t been able to feel three fingers on my left hand for a good 3 days now.  I’ve tried the braces.  They don’t really seem to be working much.  When I wear them to sleep I still wake up with numbness and lately it’s been a really sharp shooting pain up my arm into my hand.  It’s keeps me up a lot of the night.  Other than that though, I’m doing okay!  She’s better than I am, that’s for sure.  To be safe I am now having prenatal appointments every other week.  

This semester of school is almost over.  I have a few more hurdles to jump over and then I can relax for a good… few days before my next course starts.  I am only taking one actual course this semester.  I am attending a 5-day seminar in June that will count towards my degree.  I figured I could handle that on top of the course.  Work has been crazy (as usual); trying to wrap up the semester while trying to prepare the department for me to go on maternity leave.  It’s a lot to do, but it will get done….some how.

Stay strong Boston.

 

 

Little Miss Attitude

T minus two hours and 26 minutes…

I’ve been wearing this heart monitor for 2 days now and let me tell you, I cannot wait to take it off!  I don’t mind the wires the bulky beeper-esque machine, really.  It’s the tape and electrodes; they’re making me itch!  So, the NP at the cardiologist’s office thought it could be either supra ventricular tachycardia or mitral valve prolapse.  (If you want to Google it, have fun.)  I have to go Tuesday for an echocardiogram of my heart, but hopefully this contraption has caught something and they can treat it.  Although, honestly, my heart hasn’t been as nutty the past two days as it has been the past two weeks.  Typical.

Yesterday I did get to have a little fun though.  I went over to our sonography lab and let some students try and get some ultrasounds of the baby.  Well, lil’ miss was not having any of that.  She was in the worst possible position.  She was laying in a vertex position (vertical) with her butt near my rib cage.  If this was all, it would’ve been okay, but NOOOOOO.  She was facing my back so there wasn’t any good way to get her face and she had her legs folded up to her head and her arms in her face.  She did NOT want her photo taken.  We saw some good shots of her spine and her legs.  I got up twice to try and jostle her around.  Finally, she moved into a somewhat better position.  I ended up spending close to 3 hours there, but here are some shots of her.

Here’s her little profile.

3-D shot of her face.  (She has some umbilical cord over her eye.)  I think she looks like a panda bear.

Another shot of her face.  A little creepy looking.

Here are her little legs crossed.

I’m going to go back in a few weeks when she’s a little chubbier (and cuter).  Right now she’s weighing in at 1 lb 5oz.  Well, tomorrow is Easter and it’s the first time in quite a while that my mother is  cooking.  We have a ginormous ham and artichokes (my fav. veggie!!)  Most importantly though, we just stopped at the Italian bakery and picked up our pizzagaina and ricotta pies.  It will take every ounce of control not to devour them tonight.  Hope everyone has a happy and safe Easter.  Buona Pasqua!

Pregnancy Is The Pits

Seriously, whoever said pregnancy was super wonderful obviously didn’t have any complications.  Yes, I get it.  The end result makes it all worth it.  The past month for me has been a whirlwind of new complications and really, it sucks.  How is one supposed to function?!  Currently I am blogging from my bed where I am monitoring my heart rate which has been unusually high for the past couple days.   Before you say it, I know that your heart rate can be a little high when pregnant.  Mine, right now, at sedentary is 138.  That’s really high.  Not only that, but I’ve been short of breath, had chest pains and some dizzy spells.  I’m not normal.  Going to meet with a cardiologist tomorrow who will probably make me wear a heart monitor for at least 24 hours.  I’m terribly excited about this… NOT.

Aside from the fantastic cardiac issues, I’ve also been dealing with pregnancy carpal tunnel.  I dragged my poor husband to the CVS and bought some carpal tunnel wrist braces.  Great news!  They actually help!  I wear them only at night since I find it quite difficult to write and type and function with them on during the day.  Just wish now that the weather would warm up so I can walk around without socks on.  I’m also noticing that I am congested all of the time.  Apparently this is pretty common for pregnant women, but I’ve never heard anyone complain about it.

Husband and I also got most of our new bedroom set!  We spent all day Sunday cleaning and ripping apart our bedroom to make room for the new furniture.  Monday came and guess who doesn’t have a dresser.  Yep, it’s me!  It was damaged before even taking it off the truck, so I guess I can’t fault them for that.  I do have to wait now until April 6th for it to arrive with our backordered headboard.  Frustrating.

Anyways, I guess it’s back to relaxing for me.  At least I have Macaroni Cat to keep me company.

Where does the time go?

I find myself asking that a lot lately. My oldest neice turned 16 on the 9th. Seriously, I still want to throw up thinking about it. This is still one of my most favorite pictures of her. I think she was about 3 or 4; maybe 5.  I don’t know.  It’s been too long.

Life has been a constant struggle to just keep up the past few weeks.  Between work and school I am just completely exhausted.  I am only now getting over that upper respiratory infection, but now I have chest pain.  Just one thing after another, I guess.

Well, since I neglected to post this when I actually was 22 weeks.  Here’s a baby bump photo.

There really hasn’t been much going on otherwise.  I’m scheduled for my glucose screening in a few weeks.  I heard it’s awful.  Totally looking forward to that now.  Baby is doing well.  Kicking up a storm, not that I have really felt any of it.  Adam feels her all the time.  Daddy’s girl already!

We’re Halfway There!

Yup, that’s right. If you can believe it, we are officially past the halfway mark. 20 weeks… (well almost 21 now.) I feel like it was just yesterday that we found out, but now she will be here in 4 months. Nauseating. In fact the past couple weeks have been nauseating! I’ve been so busy with school and work that I’ve barely had time to sit down and relax. Could be why I keep getting sick lately. My body is just completely worn out and I’m physically drained. Battling an upper respiratory infection right now, definitely keeping hydrated though. (Aren’t you proud?)

Well about one week and a half ago my neice, Annabelle, turned the double-digits. Really wild thought that it’s been a decade since she was born. Even more frightening is that my oldest neice is going to be 16 on Saturday. Seriously, does time fly by or what? Wasn’t I just powdering her little tushy? Ugh. I feel really old now.

Anyways, here are few pics from my neice’s artist birthday party last week. My sister did a crazy great job with decorating and the cake was ridiculous (6 layers!!).

     

     

  

In other exciting news, Adam and I celebrated turning 20 weeks by registering!  The whole process was a bit overwhelming.  We did the whole Babies R’ Us and another site called Myregistry.com.  I really liked Myregistry because it let me add the little odds and ends I saw from all different websites and compiled them into one list.  I really wanted it for myself so I know where I saw everything.  haha.  I’ve already did a little shopping and my mother has already bought out the fabric store.  She’s made some blankies and bibs and she’s still going!

Well, since I’m feeling pretty awful I am going to bed!!

Oh Boy!!

It’s a girl!

Today was the big day!  I won’t lie, I had my hopes up for a boy, but we are excited to have a healthy, happy, and active baby girl.  She was not very cooperative again.  The poor ultrasound tech had a very hard time getting measurements.  Although, our little bundle of joy prominently flashed her goods as soon as the tech turned the machine on! We’re going to have our hands full, that’s for sure.  Everything looked great.  There was no sign on a cleft lip, which is great news.  Got some great shots of her, saw some hands, saw some toes. (She has 10 of each!)

Here’s she is waving hello to the world.

I think we got her good side.

Well, I guess the world can always use more girl geeks, right?  She could still like Star Wars and play with Legos.  Although, if she’s anything like me it’ll be boys, boys, boys from a young age.  ugh!  Let’s pray boybands are a thing of the past by the time she gets to be that age.  My family is still recovering from the Hanson obsession I had.

No need to wish me luck!  I wish the rest of the world luck. 😉