Gabriel had his 4-year check-up today (I had to cancel last month's original appointment). There are always funny stories that come of a child's time at the doctor's office.
This morning when our favorite RNP in the world asked him how he was feeling, he responded by telling her-- in all seriousness, I might add-- that he was feeling good except for where his hand got cut off by Darth Vader. Fortunately, our RNP has 3 little boys herself and took it all in stride, to the point of going along with this ridiculous conversation even when Gabriel began telling her that Jackson is Yoda. "You know, he's Yoda because he's small." (Like there can be a logical explanation for any of this?!)
He really does live entire days pretending that he's Luke Skywalker.
At any rate, our growing boy (overall smack-dab in the 50th percentile) is now 38lbs and 40" tall. While technically a bit too light still to switch from a toddler carseat to a booster seat, the RNP said that his height is a bigger issue than his weight. And at 40" tall he's cleared to make the transition!
P.S. When I told my doctor yesterday how I've had a Doppler in my house but have been too afraid to use it, she laughed at me. And then she told me that since I'm now far enough along to easily get a heartbeat, I should take advantage of such technology-- especially until the time when I'm feeling sure movements fairly frequently throughout each day. So I tried it tonight. And I have to say that it was pretty cool to hear the baby in my very own living room! A strong 154bpm.
Now I'm just scared to use it because it's so expensive to replace if I break it!
Friday, April 13, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
My Afternoon
Scheduled Appointment Time: 12:00pm
Actual Appointment Time: 12:55pm
Phone Call to Hospital to set up Ultrasound: 1:20pm
Scheduled Ultrasound Time: 2:30pm
Amount of time in which I needed to Drink 30oz of Fluid: 10 minutes
So I missed lunch (I wasn't hungry before I left my house at 11:40am and figured I'd be home around 1pm to eat anyway). By the time I was done with my doctor, I was famished and the hunger pains were starting to make me ill. To make matters worse, 30oz of water in 10 minutes would probably make a non-pregnant woman sick, so you can imagine how I was feeling as I left the building. The mental conversation I had all the way to hospital went something like this: You cannot throw up. You need this fluid in your bladder for the ultrasound to work. You cannot throw up. You cannot throw up... It worked!
Mom's Weight: 121lbs (+9lbs already this pregnancy-- very typical for me!)
Mom's Blood Pressure: 96/56 (much better than last month's 82/40)
Ultrasound Measurement of Baby: 15 weeks, 5 days
Baby's Heart Rate: 152bpm (all my babies heart rates have been 141+, so I still say boy)
Baby's Activity: more than I've seen via ultrasound ever (maybe explains why I'm already feeling him/her?)
<EDIT>
Size of Hematoma: I just got off the phone with my doctor. Unfortunately, the hematoma (placental bleed) is bigger than last month's by about 3cm, bringing me to a grand total of 11cm (once again, bigger than the baby).
The good news is that the baby is tolerating it exceptionally! More good news is that because I haven't been bleeding and the baby is doing so well, my doctor feels that letting me resume some more normal activities would be fine (i.e. taking long walks, light housework, etc.). To quote her: "Lifting heavy groceries, big loads of laundry, or your children should be avoided, except in emergency, and-- whatever you do!-- do not resume your daily sit-ups!!"
My next appointment with Dr. McCloy is on May 15th (I will be 20w, 4d according to all three of my ultrasounds). She'll then send me for another ultrasound so that we can check on the baby, since the concern is that the bleed could at any point begin hindering his/her growth. From what I understand, starting at around 20 weeks gestation this type of hemorrhage is no longer called a subchorionic bleed and is referred to as placenta abruptio. Because of the increased demand from the baby on the placenta by that point in pregnancy, any placental compromises carry a much more significant chance of causing IUGR and/or pre-term labor.
In the end, this is what I know: in the last 10 minutes, I do feel as though we just took a major leap in the wrong direction. However, I am also filled with the knowledge that my God-- the God who is amazing and powerful enough to create this precious life in the first place!-- is more than able to keep this baby healthy and safe in the midst of any medical reports or negative circumstances. I am reminded that my hope is not in this pregnancy reaching a certain number of weeks or in hemorrhages no longer existing; my hope is in God. And, most of all, I am learning that to know Him is to trust Him, no matter what. He's that wonderful.
</EDIT>
Other Facts:
Outdoor Temperature as of 1:30pm: 43* (F)
Precipitation: misty rain (very appropriate for spring, I think)
# of Red Lights Encountered Today: 9
Craving of the Day: grilled pepper quesadilla
# of Tulips Sprouting Along My Porch: approximately 84
Scheduled Appointment Time: 12:00pm
Actual Appointment Time: 12:55pm
Phone Call to Hospital to set up Ultrasound: 1:20pm
Scheduled Ultrasound Time: 2:30pm
Amount of time in which I needed to Drink 30oz of Fluid: 10 minutes
So I missed lunch (I wasn't hungry before I left my house at 11:40am and figured I'd be home around 1pm to eat anyway). By the time I was done with my doctor, I was famished and the hunger pains were starting to make me ill. To make matters worse, 30oz of water in 10 minutes would probably make a non-pregnant woman sick, so you can imagine how I was feeling as I left the building. The mental conversation I had all the way to hospital went something like this: You cannot throw up. You need this fluid in your bladder for the ultrasound to work. You cannot throw up. You cannot throw up... It worked!
Mom's Weight: 121lbs (+9lbs already this pregnancy-- very typical for me!)
Mom's Blood Pressure: 96/56 (much better than last month's 82/40)
Ultrasound Measurement of Baby: 15 weeks, 5 days
Baby's Heart Rate: 152bpm (all my babies heart rates have been 141+, so I still say boy)
Baby's Activity: more than I've seen via ultrasound ever (maybe explains why I'm already feeling him/her?)
<EDIT>
Size of Hematoma: I just got off the phone with my doctor. Unfortunately, the hematoma (placental bleed) is bigger than last month's by about 3cm, bringing me to a grand total of 11cm (once again, bigger than the baby).
The good news is that the baby is tolerating it exceptionally! More good news is that because I haven't been bleeding and the baby is doing so well, my doctor feels that letting me resume some more normal activities would be fine (i.e. taking long walks, light housework, etc.). To quote her: "Lifting heavy groceries, big loads of laundry, or your children should be avoided, except in emergency, and-- whatever you do!-- do not resume your daily sit-ups!!"My next appointment with Dr. McCloy is on May 15th (I will be 20w, 4d according to all three of my ultrasounds). She'll then send me for another ultrasound so that we can check on the baby, since the concern is that the bleed could at any point begin hindering his/her growth. From what I understand, starting at around 20 weeks gestation this type of hemorrhage is no longer called a subchorionic bleed and is referred to as placenta abruptio. Because of the increased demand from the baby on the placenta by that point in pregnancy, any placental compromises carry a much more significant chance of causing IUGR and/or pre-term labor.
In the end, this is what I know: in the last 10 minutes, I do feel as though we just took a major leap in the wrong direction. However, I am also filled with the knowledge that my God-- the God who is amazing and powerful enough to create this precious life in the first place!-- is more than able to keep this baby healthy and safe in the midst of any medical reports or negative circumstances. I am reminded that my hope is not in this pregnancy reaching a certain number of weeks or in hemorrhages no longer existing; my hope is in God. And, most of all, I am learning that to know Him is to trust Him, no matter what. He's that wonderful.
</EDIT>
Other Facts:
Outdoor Temperature as of 1:30pm: 43* (F)
Precipitation: misty rain (very appropriate for spring, I think)
# of Red Lights Encountered Today: 9
Craving of the Day: grilled pepper quesadilla
# of Tulips Sprouting Along My Porch: approximately 84
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tomorrow at noon is my appointment with the doctor. Unfortunately, she doesn't have ultrasound technology right there in her office and I'm not sure exactly when she'll be able to get me in at the hospital for one, which is the real key to finding out how things are progressing with the subchorionic bleed. I'm hoping to have an appointment by the end of the week, but I don't know if that's unrealistically optimistic or not.
Even so, tomorrow we will see how much I've gained (a lot!), the measurement of my fundus (much bigger!), and how the baby's heartbeat is (I'm guessing it's pretty good since I've been feeling movement the past 2 days). Daniel and I were very generously lent a Doppler a couple weeks ago so we could check the heartbeat ourselves, but I must say that we're both too afraid to use it. We figure that if we don't find a heartbeat, we won't know if it's because there's actually a problem or if it's because we don't know how to use the thing!!
In all my free time of late, I've discovered online gender prediction questionnaires, based on all sorts of ridiculous old wives' tales. (I'm sorry, but I don't think my mother's hair color has much to do with whether I'm having a boy or a girl, right Beth?!) The results all say girl, but I think I'm having a boy and I'm sticking to my story. I have a feeling my mother-intuition is a better predictor than whether or not my leg hair is growing faster than before pregnancy.
In other news, potty-training has begun again with Bronwyn. She definitely seems ready this time (at least she's not crying in absolute fear the minute she's told to sit on the potty now). Potty-training her is so different than potty-training Gabriel. My confident little girl is much more capable of getting herself on and off the potty (start to finish), changing her pants when they're wet, and cleaning the floor when she's had an accident than her somewhat-insecure older brother ever was. However, this confident little girl also tends to be far more impulsive and distracted than her perfectionistic, attentive-to-detail brother, so the number of accidents she's had in three days is probably higher than Gabriel's lifetime total. Whoever said potty-training girls is easier than potty-training boys needs to visit my house!
Even so, tomorrow we will see how much I've gained (a lot!), the measurement of my fundus (much bigger!), and how the baby's heartbeat is (I'm guessing it's pretty good since I've been feeling movement the past 2 days). Daniel and I were very generously lent a Doppler a couple weeks ago so we could check the heartbeat ourselves, but I must say that we're both too afraid to use it. We figure that if we don't find a heartbeat, we won't know if it's because there's actually a problem or if it's because we don't know how to use the thing!!
In all my free time of late, I've discovered online gender prediction questionnaires, based on all sorts of ridiculous old wives' tales. (I'm sorry, but I don't think my mother's hair color has much to do with whether I'm having a boy or a girl, right Beth?!) The results all say girl, but I think I'm having a boy and I'm sticking to my story. I have a feeling my mother-intuition is a better predictor than whether or not my leg hair is growing faster than before pregnancy.
In other news, potty-training has begun again with Bronwyn. She definitely seems ready this time (at least she's not crying in absolute fear the minute she's told to sit on the potty now). Potty-training her is so different than potty-training Gabriel. My confident little girl is much more capable of getting herself on and off the potty (start to finish), changing her pants when they're wet, and cleaning the floor when she's had an accident than her somewhat-insecure older brother ever was. However, this confident little girl also tends to be far more impulsive and distracted than her perfectionistic, attentive-to-detail brother, so the number of accidents she's had in three days is probably higher than Gabriel's lifetime total. Whoever said potty-training girls is easier than potty-training boys needs to visit my house!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
I got permission from Daniel to clean the bathroom today.
It probably would have been better to stick with a job like dusting end tables and windowsills, but dusty end tables don't bother me while dirty bathrooms do. And, hey, at least I didn't vacuum.
Truthfully, I don't like cleaning bathrooms. In fact, it might be one of my least favorite jobs. But I really like clean bathrooms, and so I do the job often and thoroughly. Dust on the back of a toilet is far more offensive to me than dust anywhere else. Loose hairs in a bathtub give me the creeps, while I don't think twice about picking a hair off the couch. Why this is, I may never know. I guess the bottom line is that, in my opinion, bathrooms are supposed to be sanitary. Very sanitary.
I swept, I scrubbed, I cleaned the light fixtures, I washed the mirror, and I dusted baseboard. The bathroom now smells clean and it looks shiny. It was a very therapeutic 30 minutes, I must say.
As soon as I was done, though, my somewhat-perfectionistic self couldn't just be satisfied with the results. Rather, I immediately began wondering what the upstairs bathroom looks like. It rarely gets used, but I'm sure it's an inch thick in dust. Oh well. There's no way Daniel's giving me permission to climb those stairs and clean a second bathroom today. I think the only reason he agreed to me cleaning the downstairs one is because he knows it's good for my mental health, which in turn is good for my physical health.
Sometimes I wish I was more bothered by all dirt, because then my house would probably be very clean. Most of the time, I wish I was less bothered by the things that do bother me, because then I might be a more fun mom with more time to read and play.
It probably would have been better to stick with a job like dusting end tables and windowsills, but dusty end tables don't bother me while dirty bathrooms do. And, hey, at least I didn't vacuum.
Truthfully, I don't like cleaning bathrooms. In fact, it might be one of my least favorite jobs. But I really like clean bathrooms, and so I do the job often and thoroughly. Dust on the back of a toilet is far more offensive to me than dust anywhere else. Loose hairs in a bathtub give me the creeps, while I don't think twice about picking a hair off the couch. Why this is, I may never know. I guess the bottom line is that, in my opinion, bathrooms are supposed to be sanitary. Very sanitary.
I swept, I scrubbed, I cleaned the light fixtures, I washed the mirror, and I dusted baseboard. The bathroom now smells clean and it looks shiny. It was a very therapeutic 30 minutes, I must say.
As soon as I was done, though, my somewhat-perfectionistic self couldn't just be satisfied with the results. Rather, I immediately began wondering what the upstairs bathroom looks like. It rarely gets used, but I'm sure it's an inch thick in dust. Oh well. There's no way Daniel's giving me permission to climb those stairs and clean a second bathroom today. I think the only reason he agreed to me cleaning the downstairs one is because he knows it's good for my mental health, which in turn is good for my physical health.
Sometimes I wish I was more bothered by all dirt, because then my house would probably be very clean. Most of the time, I wish I was less bothered by the things that do bother me, because then I might be a more fun mom with more time to read and play.
Monday, April 9, 2007
This is for all those who might not believe me when I say I'm popping out WAAAYYY faster this time around. A picture to very clearly prove my point:
15 weeks with #4 and I've got the belly that clearly says: "Been there, done that."
(Please don't cry too much for my stomach muscles-- even I've gotten over it.
)
Edit: Just wanted to note that the brown shirt and blurry lines definitely minimize my belly (I guess I should have enlisted Daniel's help in order to better prove my point). And on that note, sorry about the big flash where my face should be; when I tried to take the picture without the flash, I couldn't hold my hand still enough and it turned out even worse!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Easter Pictures
Jackson wasn't sure what to do with his basket
"Are you sure, Mom?"
Goin' in for the jelly bean!
Bronwyn really does wake up everyday with a 'fro at least this big
A new favorite character
Jackson's "Easter" book
>>>>>Okay, so here's my official disclaimer about the following pictures: it's really hard to get 5 people all smiling at the same time, especially when 3 of those people are just-barely-4 years-old and under. We now have a bunch of really funny Easter pictures, but not a single "frame-able" one. Oh well. At least we have captured memories of how crazy being parents of lots of little guys really is!! Here are 6 of the funny snapshots that I'm sharing with all of you. (Now you know why I don't send out family photos with our Christmas cards!)<<<<<
1.
(My kids really are generally happy, I promise!)
2.
(What can I say? He's 4 years old.)
3.
(Daniels says Bronwyn looks like her dog just died in this picture.)
4.
(Again... he's 4 years old.)
5.
(Ummm... yet again, he's 4 years old.)
6.
(This one's pretty good, except that Jack's about to "dig for treasure." What is it with boys and picking their noses anyway?!)
Happy Easter!
Edit 4/09: I just have to publicly note that Daniel is wearing a pink tie, which he did solely to bless me. Those of you who know him know that he is a guy's guy: clothing is something strictly functional as far as he's concerned (well, unless it's sports apparel, of course). I very much appreciated him being such a good sport about the tie!!!
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