Since I can't sleep, I figured I'd give everyone an update. The results from my lab work yesterday came back slightly lower than the week before. That's good news! The enzyme levels are a little below 400 and I didn't get the protein checked this week. I can check another week off and Baby T can stay put! :) Monday morning I'll head back to get more labs done for next week and we'll go from there. I'm into week 33 now. Baby T has moved onto the size of a honeydew this month and hes probably a little over 4 pounds at this point. Even if he is delivered at 38 weeks he'll still be at the watermelon stage and should be big enough and strong enough to be born. So again, good news that my levels are down a little and we'll move on another week. 
I made a list of things I need to do asap just in case plans would change. One of them is talking to work about the possibility of me leaving early and see what I can do with my maternity leave dates. They aren't that flexible so it may end up I will be off longer than planned, but we'll see. Monday I will most likely have to call off to make it to all my appointments and get my lab work done and I can see this possibly happening again before the baby is born, but it'll all work out. The one downer to being a teacher is you can't take half days, so its all or nothing. No wonder I can't sleep, I've got so much going through my mind of things that need to be done. It's hard to find good company at 3 am, but Knuckles at least sleeps next to me during my crazy awake nights! :)
I had my regular doctors appointment this morning and learned my last round of test results were still elevated and not what they should be. At this point the doctor thinks it could basically be two things, either cholestasis or preeclampsia. She said there is nothing that I can do but go in for weekly tests for the remainder of the pregnancy in order to monitor my enzyme and protein levels. The enzymes can't get above 900 and the protein levels can't get above 300. If either of those cases occur then Baby T will be delivered right away. Right now the enzyme levels are around 400 and protein a little under 200, so if everything can at least stay status quo for the next 5 weeks then my doctor and myself will be very happy. My doctor is shooting to make it to 38 weeks and then she thinks she will induce me at that point. But pretty much its a week by week thing now and I'll go to the doctor each week, get tests run each week, and just wait and see each week. I'm not sure what the specialist will say next Monday, so that might change everything anyway. With all of this craziness that is going on with my body, Baby T should be doing just fine in there anyway, thank goodness. So that's all I know for now. After my appointment this morning I went to the lab and got more blood drawn. I'll call tomorrow to check on my levels. It was a lot of information and craziness in one morning and I'm a little overwhelmed right now, but the good news is the baby is okay. My countdown shrunk by 14 days all in one morning and it looks like Baby T will be here in about 5 weeks instead of 7. I better get busy finishing everything up.
Christmas Part I was very nice yesterday. Tomorrow is Part II, which I am also looking forward to! All day I kept thinking about what next year will be like. I'm sure whatever I imagine in my mind will be very different from reality, but the one thing I am sure of is it will be very different, in a good way of course. I'm getting so excited! I showcased my little guy in a really cute purple top from my mom. Baby T even got a gift yesterday, a really cute bib that said "I'm a Dallas fan 'cause my daddy said so!"
I'm off from work this week and want to try and finish up the nursery. I need to organize some more and decorate the walls. I feel like I have a few more weeks to make sure I have enough ready (I'm sure I'll never have everything ready) before I'll be at the point where Baby T could arrive at any time. I know I still have an estimated 7 1/2 weeks, but Baby T has his own agenda and I want to feel comfortable that we're ready enough whenever he decides to make his grand entrance. I'm really looking forward to my doctor appointment Monday. I have lots to ask and want to discuss my test results since I never heard back from them last week. Any who, heres a Christmas belly picture. 
That's pretty much how I feel lately. I'm a round version of Scrooge :) I went to the health campus yesterday and had all of my tests done. No word from the doctor yet, but I will call tomorrow with hopes of knowing something before Christmas, if not I have a regular appointment on Monday and can hopefully find out then. My new bed is the couch. It's pretty much the only place I can sleep. I'm getting about 4 hours a night and am surviving fairly well throughout the day. I'm pretty impressed with myself about that. I guess my body really is practicing for a lot less sleep in a few months. Honestly, I'd rather just figure it out then and sleep now, but whatever. This is week 32, next week Baby T graduates to another food and I graduate into month 8! It's kind of hard to believe I'm almost 8 months pregnant, but at the same time my body pretty much "tells" me every minute of every day. Weird. For as much as I've been complaining lately, I found another perk to pregnancy this weekend....no shoveling snow for me! I did feel a bit helpless (which I hate) when Zach went out to shovel, so I went out and brushed off the cars and then he shoveled around them. Luckily the snow was nice and fluffy, so it worked out nicely for both of us I guess. I've also learned that people do a crappy job of clearing sidewalks. With my ever changing body I am finding myself a little more unsteady on my feet on normal ground, so icy sidewalks are not cool. The grocery store and my school were the main offenders. Last but not least, I'm afraid to get weighed at my appointment on Monday. I've been a little stressed about these tests and just stuff in general AND there are always sweets around right now because of the holidays. I've been indulging more than I should and it isn't even Christmas yet, yikes! I do still drink my 8 glasses of water and have fruit/veggies and milk every day, but I don't think that will outweigh the cookies. Should be interesting. I'll have to make sure I wear really light clothing, haha. That's it for tonight, I'll post again when I have results.
After many phone calls to the doctors office I finally received some news....I need to go in for even more tests, blah! I guess its not bad news, but its not necessarily good news either. So right now I'm still unsure of what is actually going on and what it all means, but Monday morning I have another date with the lab to get some more tests run and then I continue to play the waiting game. This is the hardest part of everything, just not knowing anything for sure. As of right now there is nothing else I can do though, so waiting it is. I did manage to work it out that I can get my testing done at 6:40 and then found coverage at work for advisory so I can go into work a little late, which is awesome since I only have a few sick days left. This is all to make sure that Baby T is doing good in there, so they can test me every week from here on out if they have to. I don't know what normal is, but for me pregnancy is getting harder and harder the further along I am.
31 weeks means I'm down to single digits, in weeks at least, until Baby T arrives. I'm ready to not be pregnant again, so maybe these 9 weeks will fly by, who knows. I've had more test results come back bad so I'm playing the waiting game again, very impatiently, to hear back from the doctor to see what it all means. I'm hoping its nothing but my hormones messing things up again. Keep your fingers crossed that the doctor gets back to me with reassuring news. Due to my lack of sleep and not getting any news or results, I'm pretty cranky lately. One week from today is the start to my Christmas break, hopefully that will help. Anyway, enough complaining. I think we are making progress with choosing a name. We've narrowed it down to a "short" list of 10, which is a start :) Baby T wiggles around in there all the time, which makes me smile. He's going to start gaining about 1/2 a pound each week from now until delivery (up to that dreaded watermelon, haha). I'm constantly hungry again, it's gone through spurts during the entire pregnancy. Let's see if all this hunger helps him gain 1/2 a pound a week and me only a pound total....sounds tough!
I really enjoy my sleep and would appreciate enjoying it for more than 2 hours at a time. This is the third night in a row that I am up when I should be sleeping. Seventh grade students have no sympathy for a tired, grumpy, pregnant teacher. This causes a problem. So hormones, all I am asking is that you can get yourself back to at least semi-normal so I can sleep through the night. Do what you want during the daylight hours, leave me be at night. We still have too long to go to be up every night before Baby T is born. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.Sincerely,Tired, grumpy, possibly crazy, pregnant lady
Finally I got some holiday spirit and put up a Christmas tree. I didn't have the motivation to do the real thing this year, but instead used the little artificial one I had from my apartment. It's not nearly as nice as the real thing, no smell and not enough room for all of our ornaments, but it works and it looks cute! I hope Knuckles and Scooter don't knock it over :)
Finally a new belly picture! I didn't realize how long it has been since my last one, but exactly 4 weeks ago today. I'm wearing my sleek black top today to minimize my "twin" look, hahaha. You'll get a good enough idea though! This is my almost 31 week picture - I put up two since I've been such a slacker lately, enjoy!
Finally I got to see the doctor. Todays wait was super long, but it was a good appointment so it was all good in the end. If I go into labor, I'll want them to rush to the hospital too :) Finally I went to an appointment where my weight was good! I actually gained exactly 4 pounds in the past 4 weeks, which is perfect! Go me! My belly also measured 30 cm, right on track. Baby T's head is down already and all the jabs I feel are probably him kicking and/or kneeing me in the upper stomach/chest. Let's hope Baby T stays in this position for another 10 weeks! Finally I'm at the point in my pregnancy where my appointments go from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks! That means we're getting close and that makes me one happy mama! Since two weeks is Christmas, my next appointment is December 28th. Finally it's the weekend! I'm completely not into work right now. Everything about me wants to focus on the baby, getting the house ready, and all sorts of other stuff. This makes work hard, my patience short, and the days long. My long-term sub was in the other day observing, the girls are infatuated with him already and the staff thinks hes a 'surfer dude'. Should be interesting when I get back.
This is my vent for the week, readers beware...For the most part this pregnancy people have been really nice with comments. I always read on these messages boards about rude comments from people, both who you know and strangers, but for the most part I've been lucky. Today things changed. Let me start by explaining my day from the beginning... I went to bed kind of early last night feeling like poo, woke up this morning and puked right before I had to leave for work. Drove to work in the pouring rain wishing the entire time we would of had a delay. Get to work, still feeling like poo (took a plastic bag with me for the car ride just in case anything else was on its way), the kids were bonkers and it was only Wednesday. The first two classes went pretty well, during planning I went to make copies and ran into a teacher that I rarely see. She was asking me about my pregnancy, same old same old for a while. She asks how far along I am and I say 7 months, feeling pretty good about my answer. She looks at me and then my stomach in shock, and says "Are you having TWINS?" So I take this as a backhanded way to say, wow you're looking fat! In my shock, I somehow utter out "nope, just one!" instead of what really was going through my mind. But even worse, as I'm trying to get over the comment, she reaches out and touches my belly!! Seriously?!?! This was the first person to go in for the random belly touch and let me tell you, super uncomfortable and unwanted. Friends and family go for it, but co-workers I see about once a month, inappropriate. Within two minutes this lady had two strikes. With my feeling like poo and me just being all crazy hormonal, I needed to get out of there. So I quickly ended the conversation and went on my way. Whew! Was she trying to be rude, probably not. Did I take it the wrong way, maybe. But today was just not the day for any of it.
30 weeks that is! I've officially made it 3/4 of the way through the pregnancy, but I feel like I'm heading back to the first trimester. Only 10 more weeks until Baby T's arrival and even better only 43 days left of work until maternity leave. The paperwork is in and its official, I will be off from February 18th to April 23rd! That will probably be the fastest 9 weeks of my life. I started to prepare things at work for my maternity leave. My long term sub has been hired and I'm suppose to train him and another long term sub at some point before February 17th. So, lots to do at work but life goes on and even if I don't get it all done, they'll figure it out, heck they'll have to!Not too much exciting about 30 weeks. Baby T moves pretty much all of the time. I think I'm noticing braxton hicks contractions. Apparently they start around like 6 weeks or something, but they aren't noticeable until about 20 weeks or more. There is no pain involved just a tightening of my stomach on and off. So I'm guessing thats what it is. I am getting bigger and bigger and am sure I'll hear about it at my doctors appointment this Friday. Simple things keep getting more difficult, but Zach is being a big help around the house and I'm just moving a little slower than normal. I'm still fixated on delivery since childbirth class this weekend. I'd say we're ready, but we still have no clue what our childs name will be. Of all the things associated with this pregnancy, that is one thing we just can't figure out. Eventually it'll come to us :)
We spent the day at our marathon childbirth class, but we covered everything in one day and now we're done. Some of the day was boring and pointless, some scared me a bit, and some I actually found helpful. I do feel more comfortable overall though from the day. Apparently there is still a lot more I need to do before the baby comes: talk to insurance about whats covered, find a pediatrician, create a birth plan, pack a hospital bag, and try to relax.
The videos weren't that bad today, saw three births total and then a few more on medical options. From day 1 of this pregnancy I was positive I wanted an epidural as soon as I could get one. Well after learning all about them today I'm not too sure if that's what I really want. I think I'll go in with the mind set to go as far as I can naturally and then make decisions from there. Epidural definitely isn't out but I'm not as excited about it as I was before today. I'm a real wuss when it comes to pain though and am doubtful I can actually make it all the way through labor without one. Ugh, so what to do, what to do...
Other than the pain medicine options, everything else was more reassuring. We practiced breathing techniques, laboring positions, and other techniques to use during labor. At the end of the day we took a tour of Women's and Babies and saw labor and delivery rooms, the nursery, and recovery rooms. The facility is really nice and now I know what to expect when I actually go into labor and make it to the hospital. We also got to see 3 really cute newborns in the nursery! I can't believe how small they were! One of the babies was a bit bigger and I thought, I'm not sure I could push one out that size, haha.
I feel like Baby T, Zach, and I will be in good hands while we're there and that's what I needed. The only real downer for the day is that the chairs were so uncomfortable. Now my tail bone and back are killing me. Pregnant ladies on uncomfortable chairs and the floor all day is not a good idea. I did get a few back rubs from Zach though during our day, so it's all good :)
I had my first case of heartburn the other night. At the time I had no clue what it was. I've never had heartburn before so when I woke up feeling pain and discomfort the other morning at 4 am I was a bit concerned. I managed to go back to sleep a little before my alarm went off at 5:30 but the pain and discomfort was still there. I went straight to the Internet and realized it was most likely heartburn. I feel for people who experience this normally, it was no fun. I've pretty much only had it at night and after reading all about it theres not too much I can do to prevent it during pregnancy. Apparently about 70% of pregnant women get heartburn, I guess I could say I'm lucky to have made it this far without it. Either way, if it continues to be a problem when I'm sleeping I may invest in some Tums. To be honest they look and sound gross but whatever. I know I still have a ways to go but some days and more so nights I'm counting down the weeks because I just keep getting more and more uncomfortable and tired. T minus 11 weeks.
