Contractions

Doctors appointment update...although I have lost two pounds in the last two weeks, my uterus is now measuring 5 weeks ahead...I have the belly of someone who is 36 weeks pregnant! :) My uterus is all the way up to my ribcage now. The doctor said we'll definitely have another ultrasound in a few weeks to check on her size and growth.

I have been having really yucky contractions, so the doctor checked me out and said that my cervix is okay. My pee-in-a-cup test showed that I am very dehydrated, so that is probably the cause of the contractions. It all started with being so sick last week, and it has been difficult to get used to drinking fluids again. I'm trying to drink as much as I can so that hopefully the contractions will stop. Some of them are pretty painful, making me seriously doubt how long I'll be able to make it in actual labor without an epidural!

Merry Christmas!

Alyssa had a great first Christmas!!! We got to spend time with all of her grandparents and had a lot of fun. We went to the traditional Christmas Eve movie and had lots of laughs with the Cook gang, had a really nice Christmas dinner and fun family time with Grandma and Grandpa Scheck, and then had Christmas with Mammaw. Alyssa got lots of Christmas gifts. She got clothes (including Colts, IU, and Pacers socks) and lots of awesome nursery things. And I got my official going-to-the-hospital bag complete with all the essentials!

I'm enjoying my time home on Christmas break. I'm almost recovered from being sick. Some days, I have lots of contractions, but Alyssa seems to be doing well. She's definitely growing!!! :)

30 Weeks

30 weeks today, 3/4 of the way there! I feel like the last couple of weeks have gone slowly, so it's nice to finally be at the 30 week landmark.

That "miserable cold" I thought I was getting turned out to be much more than I bargained for. It was some sort of nasty flu bug plus a sinus infection and the worst cough I can ever remember having in my life. I was off work Monday and Tuesday and saw my family practice doctor. I am still having some bad coughing/asthma episodes and am very short of breath and wheezy. It's very unnerving that I'm being told very different things by my OB and my family practice doctor regarding which medicines I should be taking. The OB pretty much tells me to take anything I need because it's important to make sure that the baby gets enough oxygen and nutrition. The family practice doctor doesn't want me taking anything at all, and he said the only safe antibiotic is Amoxicillin. (I have already taken other antibiotics prescribed by my OB earlier in this pregnancy.) The OB has also been very concerned about dehydration (I wasn't able to swallow fluids for a few days because of the cough and choking), but the family practice doctor shrugged his shoulders and said if I don't drink anything, I'll just pee less. The family practice doctor delivered babies for 30 years (He would have delivered Jeff if he hadn't been on vacation). I don't know who I should believe, and it makes me worry a lot that I have done something to hurt Alyssa. Thankfully, I'm getting better now that I have figured out that the biggest problem is asthma, so the only things I am taking now are my inhaler and Afrin.

Healthy Girl

The ultrasound showed that Alyssa is very healthy and a perfect size. She's measuring about a week ahead, which is fine. The reason my uterus is measuring so far ahead is because I am carrying her up so high. It is not a problem at all. (In fact, it's sort of nice that she's not sitting on my bladder so hard anymore!) :) And Alyssa turned around head-down and then transverse (side to side) during the ultrasound, so we know that she can still turn herself around. She still likes to be breech a lot, but her position won't be an issue for another 4 or 5 weeks.

New pictures should be on the website and in the photo gallery. I LOVE her cute little cheeks. They look chubby to me after seeing her looking like a skeleton early on. :) And the ultrasound tech commented on her nice long legs just like Dr. Dungy-Poythress did. So Jeff and I are hoping that means that there are some taller genes in our family somewhere that just happened to pass us up. We also confirmed once again that Alyssa is most definitely a girl. Jeff was a little embarassed at that picture. She's getting so big that it almost looks inappropriate! I am totally comfortable now that we won't get any big surprises in the delivery room. :) Her heart rate was 156, and the weight estimate was 3lb6oz, which is very healthy but not huge. I think that's all of Alyssa's news for now.

As for me, I am very suddenly coming down with an especially miserable cold, and I'm hoping that I feel well enough to enjoy our VERY busy weekend ahead. We have two family Christmas get-togethers, plus church things, plus shopping, plus lots of cooking (but, thankfully for all of us, that last one is Jeff's department). :) Next time you see me, be sure to ask me about my first experience teaching Kindergarten! :)

Graduation

We have officially graduated form chilbirth class. We got to learn all about the drugs at the last class, so I think we're as prepared as anyone could be. I'm excited and ready to start packing a suitcase, but I'll try to resist that urge for a little while longer-don't want to give Alyssa any ideas. :)

As my doctor suggested, I got one of those maternity support belts that holds your belly up (the ones that we have been laughing at for months). As promised, it really does help with the aches and pains, and I think it keeps Alyssa's weight off of my bladder too, which is really nice!

This is an incredibly busy week with all the Christmas programs at school. We were supposed to have a field trip to the Children's Museum today, but we had to reschedule because we're on a 2-hour fog delay. (There are probably first graders crying all over town this morning.) At first, I was really glad that I wouldn't have to walk around up and down those ramps with 7-year-olds for hours today...but then I started imagining how enormous I'll be in a month or two when we reschedule the trip. :0

Our ultrasound is at 2:00 tomorrow. They'll make sure everything is okay with Alyssa and see how big she is. I'll update as soon as I can.

Strange Dream!

I had a REALLY strange pregnancy dream early this morning. I dreamed that Alyssa's two little legs and feet popped right out through my belly and kicked around. At first, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and I was calling for Jeff to look. Then...I suddenly realized that that wasn't supposed to happen, and I got scared. (And, of course, no one answered at 911.) I was really freaked out for a while when I woke up, but now I think it's SO funny! :) (By the way, when I woke up, she was kicking me right in the place where her legs came out.) :)

Childbirth Class Humor

Today is Alyssa's first SNOW DAY! :) I thought I'd take the chance to add an update. It has been an eventful week! Last Saturday, we had the first half of our childbirth class. We're now qualified to have half of a baby. After tomorrow, we can have the whole thing. :) It was a fun time, and there are some funny moments that we'll always remember. We watched a video of a woman going through labor drug-free. About 2 minutes into the video, Jeff began looking very concerned and whispered to me, "You're not going to be that whiney, are you?" (To his credit, the woman really was extra-whiney.) I suggested that he share his question with the 15 other women in the room, but for some reason, he didn't want to do that. :)

The first thing we were asked to do was to introduce ourselves and share our biggest fear about childbirth. One mom said that her biggest fear was the poster on the wall with a diagram of a cervix dilated to ten centimeters. Toward the end of the morning, we practiced standing, sitting, kneeling, etc. in different positions to help cope with labor pains. Stations were set up around the room with pictures instructing us on what to do at each station, and we rotated to a new station about every minute. It was nice practice, however we quickly realized the difficulty of getting up and down off the floor with a rapidly-growing little person in our bellies! Every time we got to a new station, there would be quiet groans going up from the ladies looking at the pictures that required sitting on the floor. And a minute later, there would be groans from those same women as their poor husbands tried to pull them up off the floor. :) We must have looked hilarious!!!There are some things (probably most things) about childbirth that just can't be taught or learned in advance. For example, I can only imagine that it's a whole lot easier to exhale gradually for ten seconds while sitting in a comfortable chair perfectly relaxed than it is to hold your breath for ten seconds while trying with all your might to push a human being out of your body! But it was fun and exciting anyway! :)

Monday was our doctor appointment. The first thing the nurse practitioner did was to compliment me on limiting my weight gain, which was a big relief! She said she tells people 5 pounds is the limit, but no one can actually do that, and some women have gained 30 pounds by now. (I cannot imagine how uncomfortable that would be!!!) Alyssa's heart rate and my blood pressure were perfect. Then she measured my uterus...and I'm measuring a MONTH ahead! (My dates are definitely not off.) She said it's much more concerning to measure too small than too big, but it does buy us an ultrasound next Friday. I'm really excited to see Alyssa again!!! Measuring too big could mean too much fluid (which usually means nothing at all, or very rarely can be a sign of a problem with Alyssa), or it could just be because of Alyssa's position (We're pretty sure she is breech right now, but she has another month to turn around before we have to worry about that), or it could mean that Alyssa will be the world's first female sumo wrestler! :) She thought that Alyssa did feel big, although she didn't say she felt big enough to measure a month ahead. So we'll just have to wait for Friday to see what's going on in there. :)

Bonk!

I'm starting to have some serious aches and pains. One side of my behind hurts a lot whenever I move. And it already feels like this kid could just drop right out of me at any moment. I can only hope that, in a few more months, it really does happen that easily! :)

Yesterday, a student was standing right in front of me, and out of the blue, he purposely bonked his head (gently, thank goodness) right into Alyssa. Of course, I had to tell him that it wasn't appropriate, but it was SO hard not to laugh! That big belly sticking out there was just too tempting for him! :) I wonder if any other kids have thought about doing the same thing.

Dumbest Father in the Class?

Yesterday during first grade lunch duty, I had to point my finger and say to a student, "Alyssa...SIT!". I immediately started laughing, wondering how many more times in my life I will say those words. :)

Today marks 27 weeks down, 13 or so to go. We have childbirth classes this Saturday and next. Jeff and I are both really excited. Jeff asked the other day "What if I'm the dumbest father in the class?" I assured him that he will definitely not be. He has been SO wonderful this whole time, wanting to learn about what is going on with Alyssa and with me, and (usually) listening to me spout off information even when he wasn't interested. He went to breastfeeding class without complaining, and he has gone to nearly every doctors appointment with me. I think he's a pretty well-educated father. And he takes such good care of me. He gave me constant back rubs for months when I was cramping so badly, and again now that my back is getting sore. He made a trip to the store for me last night because he insisted that I should be home resting instead of out in the cold, he does most of the housework, and he has helped me through all the hormonal mood swings. He got a book for expectant dads as a gift, and once in a while, he makes a comment about something he read. A couple months ago, the day I had my minor breakdown over gaining weight and not fitting into my clothes, he calmly assured me that "the book said this day would happen." :) It backfired for him last weekend, though. On Sunday, when he was in big trouble for throwing a temper tantrum when I took too long browsing the clearance sale at Big Lots (one of his least favorite places to be), he made a big show of rubbing my belly and talking to Alyssa when we got home. It was very sweet. But unfortunately, he immediately followed up with, "The book said I get brownie points for touching your belly!" He's an awesome husband and dad, but he is definitely still male. ;)

Our next appointment is Monday with the nurse practitioner. I really like her, but I'm a bit nervous about what she'll say, because she is the one who told me that I should gain less than 5 pounds during my whole pregnancy. (The doctor basically said that's silly. The baby alone weighs more than that!) I've gained 8 or 9 so far, and he says I'm doing great. After this appointment, I'll have some more bloodwork, and I'll start being seen every two weeks.