Updates, Updates, Updates

   Yesterday was a day full of doctors, nurses, and ultrasounds.  My scheduled ultrasound revealed that my due date is still on for Sept. 9.,  Baby H weighs 5lbs, 3oz at 33 weeks, and too much amniotic fluid is the reason for a larger fundal height.  Baby H even turned her head and smiled for a picture, too cute!
  However, over the weekend I started experiencing a severe stabbing pain in the right side of my lower back, sometimes reaching around to my abdomen.  When I mentioned this to the ultrasound tech she told one of the nurses, who then had me see one of the doctors right away.  He then had me go downstairs for a different ultrasound, which revealed a pinched ureter (highly common in pregnancies towards the end).  He referred me to a urologist who confirmed the same diagnosis, which means some xrays to confirm there is nothing more serious going on.  Unfortunately, there is nothing much to do for the pain right now; it will go away as soon as I deliver.  Until then I just have to tough it out and try to position myself away from putting more pressure on my right side. 
   I was supposed to be working yesterday, but I'm pretty sure I spent more time across town at the doctors' offices than I did in my office at the bank.  Oh well, health of baby and me is more important, right?  Right now I'm waiting for the hospital to call me back to schedule an appointment with a different doctor about the excess amniotic fluid- and they have 2 minutes....(I was told to call back if I hadn't heard before 3pm).  Whoa!  Speak of the devil, my phone rang as I was typing that.  Something about a wrong fax #, but now it's been corrected and Dr. Hayes office will be calling me shortly to set up that appointment (for the excess fluids). 

More to come....

Doctor Says...

  I had an appointment last night with Dr. Katie; everything seems fine and moving right along.  However, when Nurse Madge measured my tummy she got this very odd, kind of surprised look on her face.  Apparently I'm measuring much bigger than I should be at this stage...so she had Dr. Katie measure too.  Same thing: confused/surprised look on her face after measuring.  SO, we might be doing another ultrasound to see exactly what's going on- whether I'm further along than they thought, or there's an excess of fluids in there, or maybe baby was just stretching out.  Regardless, I have another appointment in a week and then they will decide whether to do the ultrasound or not.  Dr. Katie did say that more towards the end of August seems likely, rather than a couple weeks into Sept for my due date.  Make those bets, Family!
  Another interesting tid-bit I learned was that I have been having Braxon Hicks for several weeks now and I didn't have the slightest clue.  I thought that the tightness of my tummy was because Baby Holm was moving all around and putting pressure on my belly, NOT because my belly was actually contracting.  Silly me.  Then again, it's not like I've ever been pregnant before to know what a contraction actually feels like.  I guess that's why it sometimes hurt.  Now I know :-)
   Today I am experiencing lots of pain/aching on the right side of my belly (but it's not like a contraction that comes and goes), as well as on the lower right side of my back.  Not so zesty.  I'm interested to see what my next appointment brings....

Ultrasound

    Everything went great!  We got like 8 pictures, a couple 3D and the rest black&white.  So clear, and so pretty!  Baby even yawned for us....so cute!  It's crazy how much our baby is moving and shaking all the time, but I don't really feel it that much.  The ultrasound tech said we should start feeling some major kicking here pretty soon, maybe within a week or two.  I'm excited for Zach to feel it too...but I'm sure I'll be regretting my excitment when I can't sleep with all the kicking and moving, haha.  Oh well. :-)
  So...the sex of baby?  We know....but we're not telling :->  It's a suprise.  Either Gabriel James or Holly Noel, but that's all we're saying.  You'll have a 50% chance if you try guessing- but I still won't tell you.  :-)  You'll just have to be as patient as I have to be in waiting for my due date....which by the way, the tech said should be Sept. 17, not the 2nd as we thought.  Our next appointment for a check-up is in 2 weeks, but we should know have all the results from the ultrasound within the week.  Awesome!

Snow in Mid-April....

     What a week we're having!  Yesterday we had so much snow that there was thunder and lightning right along with it.  Now THAT is a really cool occurance!  "Thundersnow"  awesome!  I needed a little exercise, so I helped Zach shovel the driveway (just a little bit, because it was heavy heavy heavy snow!).  Not going to lie though, I did get sidetracked and I threw a few snowballs at Zach, hehe.  Surprisingly, he didn't retaliate :-) 
   When it was warmer outside for the 1st couple weeks in April, I definitely experienced the warmness of pregnancy.  I felt like I had hot flashes all the time :-/  However, now that we've discovered the change in seasons is actually winter, hint of spring, winter, I'm no longer feeling the hot flashes- it's back to popsicle toes.  Silly weather!  Oh, and get this...supposedly we're getting 70s here by next week.  Outrageous!  I never know whether to wear my winter coat and boots to work or to opt for the light jacket and work shoes.  
   Baby is a moving and a shaking right now.  I can always feel baby's movement the best when I'm sitting at work or laying down to sleep.  Almost like a muscle twitch down around where my bladder sits.  It's so exciting!  Less than a week til we find out if we're having baby Gabriel James or baby Holly Noel.  I'm MOST excited for that :-) 
   I was reading in Parenting magazine that babies usually respond to Dad's voice more than Mom's (probably because the deeper voice travels better through the fluids).  So I told Zach, and we tried the theory out.  Zach started talking to my belly and I kid you not, I felt our baby move!  He couldn't feel anything yet, but I totally did!  So cool!     

Ultrasound date has been changed...

   So apparently the Ultrasound Tech is not going to be in on Monday April 25 @ 5pm.  The issue with rescheduling is that Zach has a very packed schedule and I have to try to work it so I don't have to take time off work.  Of course, Daddy has to be there with me for this big moment.  Hello?!  All in all, after a couple calls and dates/times changed, we have the new date set for Tuesday April 26 @ 7am.  Bright and early!  Thankfully, it's only the day after the original date, so I don't have to deal with too much impatience, just a little :-)  Overall, I'm very happy with the date and time.  I will have to be up really early to start drinking the water....though I have a feeling I'll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed well before the alarm goes off.  Something just tells me the excitment will be pretty immense.  Just a feeling :-)