ALL of the Bumpdates from Pregnancy #2

Can you believe that I never shared a single one of my weekly bumpdates on here the entire time I was pregnant with Josephine?! Crazy, right? I was diligent about sharing each and every one while I was pregnant with Annabelle. I feel a little terrible, but... second child syndrome, I guess. Sorry, Josie.

I do want to share them, though, but I don't want to bombard everyone with 30+ weeks worth of photos in separate posts... so I'll be sharing them ALL here today. I delivered at 37 weeks, so I'll be sharing weeks 5 through 36.

The pregnancy was anything but uneventful. The first half was normal... we found out she was a girl at 16 weeks, but then at our anatomy scan at 19 weeks, we found out she only had a single umbilical artery - or a two vessel cord! That happens in less than half of one percent of pregnancies, and we had to be monitored extra closely to make sure she didn't have any heart or kidney problems (she didn't / doesn't) and that she kept growing on track (she did) because those babies can be smaller. It also increased our chance of having a stillbirth by quite a bit, so I was going to be induced around 39 weeks anyway... but then at 30 weeks, I tested positive for pre-eclampsia, so the goal was to just get me to 37 weeks.

I had twice a week BPP ultrasounds. If she failed that, I had to do an NST immediately, which happened three times. I met with my OB once per week and the midwife on staff once per week. They did a growth ultrasound every three weeks. I had to go to the lab for blood work one time each week and 24 hour urine tests every three weeks. I was on modified bed rest, which my OB referred to as "chill out rest" because he met Annabelle at appointments and knew there was no such thing as bed rest with a husband in the military. It was so insane, and we utilized a lot of hourly care at the CDC during that time so I could rest.

I was induced at 36 weeks 6 days, and she was born at 37 weeks 1 day! It was a really tough second and third trimester due to stressing over those issues, but in the end, it all worked out. I was able to labor and deliver how I wanted for the most part (I'll share her birth story soon), and Josephine was born absolutely perfect, so all the craziness was 100% worth it!

Without further adieu...

Sorry about that! But I really want these to be documented here, even if it's just for my own personal benefit. Thanks for looking... or for pleasantly skipping over this post if it's not your kinda thing!

Bumpdate: Weeks 35-36

If you missed my previous bumpdates, you can check out weeks 5-12 here, weeks 13-14 here, weeks 15-16 here, weeks 17-18 here, weeks 19-20 here, weeks 21-22 here, weeks 23-24 here, weeks 25-26 here, weeks 27-28 here, weeks 29-30 here, weeks 31-32 here, and weeks 33-34 here! I've decided that at the very end of this, I'm going to make a book out of all of my weeks so Baby Cookie can look back and read through them someday. I also hope to make one giant blog post compiling all of my weeks together to see the progress.

How far along? 36 weeks

Size of baby?

35 weeks: honeydew melon

36 weeks: head of romaine lettuce

Total weight gain? I'm finally gaining... and I hope it's all baby! I'm up 7 pounds now! 

Gender? GIRL! You can read about it here! 

Maternity clothes? Yep - all the time still except for some huge t-shirts!

Sleep? I'm getting maybe three hours a night altogether... but I am in bed for eight hours or so. Heartburn, aching hips, cramping/contractions, and needing to pee are all keeping me awake at night!

Work outs? Walking through the grocery store leaves me huffing and puffing. It'll be fun to see how I do at the baseball stadium later this week! 

Cravings? What I'm craving now is basically not cooking... which is funny, since Dan and I prepared 32 freezer meals over the weekend! So over cooking. 

Aversions? Still tomatoes and peppers because they are causing heartburn at night.

Best moment of this week? We took one last road trip to see some wonderful friends get married in KC! 

Worst moment of this week? On our road trip back to Dayton, I started cramping and having some small contractions... got checked out, though, and all is good. The midwife said she does not see the baby coming "this week" - so we'll see! Could this be my last bumpdate? I'm thinking not... but she may surprise us!

Looking forward to? Having this baby out of my body and in my arms!!! Baby Cookie, I know your timing is your timing, but we are so anxious over here!

    

Glucose Tolerance Test

Where do I even begin with this post? I guess I'll start by sharing that I officially hate my hospital and that I do NOT have gestational diabetes, thank goodness.

My experiences with these tests (yes, multiple tests) were miserable.

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At 28 weeks pregnant, my doctors sent me to the lab in the base hospital to do the one hour glucose test. No biggie, right? Wrong. I called to get my results that afternoon, and I FAILED. By a lot. Like a lot a lot. Almost enough for them to diagnose me with gestational diabetes.

I knew something wasn't right, though. I made sure to eat only protein before going in. My blood draw was in the morning, so I actually just didn't eat breakfast. There was NO WAY my blood glucose was as high as they said it was.

Get this: not only did my asthma medication (albuterol - so I can breathe and so Baby Cookie can get her oxygen too!) made it high... and no one warned me about that... but ALSO, they gave me double the grams of the liquid for the one hour test. That'll do it.

The doctors made sure I scheduled a three hour glucose tolerance test as soon as I got back in town from Kansas City for our baby shower. I scheduled it, I fasted, and I did NOT take my asthma medication (which, by the way, then screwed my breathing up for THREE WEEKS, no joke - from not taking it twice - the night before and the morning of. Ugh. Bad decision.)

After fasting and then drinking this horrible liquid, I was fine for about an hour. I sat in the main waiting area, and I went back to have my blood drawn at the one hour mark. Did I mention it was the new workers' first day on the job? No? Well, it was. And they were so nervous. The lady who was drawing my blood was SHAKING as she moved the needle toward my vein. I have NOT had the best experiences with this hospital to begin with (like that time I was admitted for kidney stones, and it took them SEVEN times to get my vein for an IV - 90 whole minutes and two VERY bruised arms). I started feeling woozy just thinking about that, and she dug that needle into my arm and STARTED MOVING IT AROUND. What?! NO! I felt myself getting flushed, and I announced that I was dizzy and hot and was going to pass out.

Luckily, I didn't pass out. But I almost did. Everyone in the room rushed over to me with water, and then they let me lay down in a bed for the other two hours I had left... and I got an experienced phlebotomist to do the remaining blood draws... thank goodness.

After leaving, I had the best meal of my life. I couldn't even wait until I got home. I went through a fast food drive-thru and ate in my car. And when I say ate, I actually mean scarfed the food down as quickly as I could. And it was glorious.

The best news? I passed the fasting blood draw and every single hour - including the first hour that I failed the first time around - with flying colors! In fact, my third hour blood draw was LOWER than it should have been... confirming my hangriness. I need food, people.

I'm SO glad that part of pregnancy is over. Here's to four-ish more weeks!


    

Bumpdate: Weeks 33-34

If you missed my previous bumpdates, you can check out weeks 5-12 here, weeks 13-14 here, weeks 15-16 here, weeks 17-18 here, weeks 19-20 here, weeks 21-22 here, weeks 23-24 here, weeks 25-26 here, weeks 27-28 here, weeks 29-30 here, and weeks 31-32 here! I've decided that at the very end of this, I'm going to make a book out of all of my weeks so Baby Cookie can look back and read through them someday. I also hope to make one giant blog post compiling all of my weeks together to see the progress.

How far along? 34 weeks

Size of baby?

33 weeks: pineapple

34 weeks: cantaloupe

Total weight gain? Between 3-5 pounds, depending on the day... I'm curious if I'll pack on more rigt before delivery, or if I'm just not meant to gain much. We'll see!

Gender? GIRL! You can read about it here! 

Maternity clothes? Always except bed - still fitting into those giant Royals shirts from T-shirt Tuesday... you know the ones... they always give XXL because it's what they have. Yep, those.

Sleep? Sleep. Ha. I'm waking nearly every hour to pee or reposition myself. My hips hurt so much that I constantly have to switch sides.

Work outs? Walking occasionally but mostly not working out at all at this point. I know I'm going to regret this afterward when it's that much harder to get back in shape, but the moment I try, my entire body feels like it's shutting down.

Cravings? It's something different every meal at this point. I don't want much... hardly anything ever sounds good... and the only thing I can stomach is what I'm craving at that instant. Talk about annoying...

Aversions? Most hot foods right now. It's so hot outside that I can't even think about it. Also, still tomatoes and now peppers too. Reflux. Ugh.

Best moment of this week? Ellie and Megan hosted a wonderful baby shower for us here in Ohio. It was small but special and fun! 

Worst moment of this week? Another couple of hospital visits... one for my breathing, in which they had to give me an IV of magnesium sulfate to relax my lungs (from my sinus infection)... and another time for rapid heartbeat. I could hear and feel my heart pounding, so I laid down for a while... 90 minutes later, Dan checked my pulse, and it was still over 100 beats per minute RESTING... so he freaked out and called L&D. They had me come in, but they didn't really do anything... they just monitored Baby Cookie and waited for my heart rate to go down before sending me home.

Looking forward to? We're heading BACK to Kansas City to see a couple good friends marry each other! PLEASE pray that the drive goes smoothly. Dan took extra leave so that we can break the drive up more.