Well I made it to 35 weeks. Only 3 or 4 more weeks until the baby arrives! I'm at the point where I think I am ready, maybe not ready as in having everything I want in order around the house, but ready to have a baby and not be pregnant anymore. I am almost to month 9, so Baby T is on the verge of the watermelon stage. I put another belly shot in to show you how much he is growing. Over the past few weeks I feel like I've been ballooning. My doctor decided she didn't need to see me in person this week (that means an entire week with no doctor appointments, booyah!). Instead after I got my blood work done Monday I just called and talked to her nurse yesterday. Some levels went down this week but others went up. My doctor said my body is 'holding steady' and this week wasn't really an improvement but also not really a decline in my health. So its not bad or good news, just news. I'll admit, I was a bit disappointed yesterday when I got this news because I really did want good news, but at least it doesn't seem to be getting any worse. The past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster and I'm just drained. It's impossible to turn my mind off, but am hoping I'll be good until next Monday at least when I go back for more tests.
Baby T probably has enough clothes for the next year! He is one lucky little guy! My team decorated my room with balloons, gift bags, and little baby things all over. There were also a ton of names on the board that I could choose from - here are a few examples: Nimble Trimble, Justanother Trimble, Jack B Trimble, Raul Trimble to name a few. There were also some real suggestions as well, haha. Throughout the day gifts arrived each period and after school there was cake and present opening! The kids put in their two cents about names all day and added some to the board as well. It was a bit of a crazy day since I didn't have a board to use and people were stopping by all day, but it was great and overall the students handled it well. I'm exhausted now, but that would happen on any given "normal" day at NMS :) I'm lucky to have such awesome co-workers and really enjoyed the day! Oh, and props to them all because I had no clue about any of todays events until I arrived this morning!
....ankles go, where oh where could they be? It seems as though I have lost my ankles, I go straight from calf to foot. Swelling has hit my feet, ankles, and hands. Just another part of my body that isn't normal, oh well. Maybe if this keeps up I can get away with wearing comfy shoes to work, right now though even my sneakers are tight, yikes! ....energy go? I am so tired all of the time lately. Last night I passed out while watching the Cowboys game, I made it to half time at least :) But I slept through the entire night (woot woot) and I took a nap today. After all that, I still feel like I could go to bed soon. I love sleeping but there is a lot of stuff I need to get done, so something needs to give here. ....motivation go? I have a list of things I need to do, today I only accomplished putting diapers away and the rest of the clothes/blankets I washed from last week. Zach hung one thing on the wall in the nursery, but overall we were super lazy. Reality struck today that it could be a mere 3 1/2 weeks before the baby is here, I need motivation now! I know what I need to do but I just can't get myself to actually do it.
This week has been nuts. Three doctors appointments in four days, lots of lab work requested, a bump removed from my face, and a babys butt! Today's appointment with my obgyn was so much more reassuring than last week. Even though my enzyme levels went down last week, other levels rose a little, so my doctor said my body is pretty much maintaining right now which is good. I'm happy with maintaining and so is she. If I can stay at these present levels or there about she said she will try to wait until 39 weeks to induce! Yay! Obviously, if my levels reach the 900 number at any point Baby T would be delivered, but right now things look good as far as everything is concerned. During the normal measurements and hearing the heartbeat the doctor gave me a slight panic attack when she thought the baby was breech, but low and behold it was his butt! Thank goodness!! His head is still down and his butt is right above my belly button. I got to feel it today, super exciting! Who would of thought I'd be so excited to feel a butt :) Anyway, Monday I'll get more blood work done for my obgyn and the gastroenterologist and we'll go from there. It's still a week by week situation but at least things are not getting any worse. Based on the events of the last two weeks, coupled with some struggles overall thus far, I've decided that my body doesn't agree with pregnancy. My liver is all crazy, I developed a bump on my face from my insane hormones that was removed yesterday, I puked for about 6 weeks straight this summer, and there are a million other things I won't get into. Who knows what the next 5 weeks have in store for me. But who cares, in 5 weeks or less Baby T will be here and I can't wait!!
No, no, not that kind of drink (although a glass of wine would be awesome and probably help me sleep right now). I am always thirsty first thing in the morning and right before bed. The morning thing is no big deal and I absolutely LOVE milk right now so it all works out actually, but when I get into bed each night I lay there forever and usually get up eventually to get something to drink. I have a glass of milk in hopes it will help me sleep (pssht, in my dreams...). Then I lay there some more until I have to go to the bathroom. I get back into bed and lay there even more. Eventually I'll fall asleep but I can almost guarantee that I will be up 2 more times before my alarm goes off to use the bathroom again. Yuck! Having a bladder the size of a pancake is not cool. Sometimes I think I can't sleep because I'm thirsty, but then I wake up because I had a drink. There's no winning here. Oh well, eventually my bladder will un-pancake itself and it'll be all good. Cheers!
Now there are 3 doctors that have no clue what is going on with me. Here's how my day went, up at 5, at work at 6:30 to write sub plans, at the lab getting blood work done at 8, much needed nap, gastroenterologist appointment in the afternoon. With all of that said, no one still knows what is going on with my liver. Here's the good news, my enzyme and protein levels are down from last week! Still elevated but at least they are going in the right direction again. This will calm my nerves for another week. The gastroenterologist reviewed all of my lab work with me, the notes from my obgyn, and asked me a bunch of questions. In the end though, he has no idea what is going on with my liver. He was encouraged that the levels are decreasing, but doesn't understand why. I have no pre-pregnancy test results to compare to, so he is unsure if it is pregnancy related or if there is a problem with my liver. The rest of my blood work is normal and that confused him even more. He thought there may be two different things that could cause this, HELLP syndrome or acute fatty liver disease of pregnancy. However, all of the other things that should be elevated if I had either of those are normal, so again, its a mystery. If it is either of those, the pregnancy would be over and Baby T would be delivered. The encouraging part is I would have many other symptoms if something was wrong and would know right away to go the doctor or hospital, so its not going to quietly hurt me or the baby. Since there are so many unanswered questions, more blood work was ordered. I don't know how much blood I have left! After those results are received, he will review them and decide if he wants a follow-up appointment while I'm still pregnant or wait until after Baby T arrives. Surprisingly I wasn't very emotional today, I think since I heard almost the same news last week it wasn't as much of a shock. In the end, it's all a waiting game and my lab work each week will decide the plan of action. It's a bit discouraging that no one knows what is actually happening, but its encouraging that many people are working hard to figure it out and make sure the baby and I are okay. It's also encouraging that my levels are slowly decreasing. Even with all of the tests/appointments today I still have two more doctor appointments this week, one next week, and another date with the lab next Monday. If nothing else, they are keeping me busy :)
We had another baby shower today with Zach's side of the family. It was great! Baby T is pretty much set now. He's a lucky little guy already with all sorts of family and friends that love him. I worked really hard on the nursery this week, now I have a bit more to put away and we're just about set. I feel comfortable that if Baby T would arrive early that we'll be ready enough at home for him. Of course there is more we need to do, but all the majors are covered :) Baby T got a bunch more cute little outfits, lots of needed diapers, and all sorts of other stuff as well. We hung curtains in the nursery this morning and with the exception of a few things to hang on the walls and finding a trashcan for up there, it's ready! I get so excited going through things, washing his clothes, and putting things away. Not long now! Thanks to everyone today for the shower, we had a great time! After I get everything put away I'll take new nursery pictures for you all to see.
