We ended up having a very pleasant conversation after that, but still. Major ouch.
Friday, October 31, 2008
It had to happen sooner or later ...
I was at Walmart trying to find some vitamins, when the guy next to me asks "So when are the twins due?". Ouch.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Knobby Knees
31 weeks, 6 days - Today's really the first day that some of GB's movements have move past the "aww, how sweet" stage and entered the "hey kid, that kinda hurts" stage. Not that I'm complaining - nor do I want the movements to stop. I still love feeling her move around; it's just not quite as cute as it was a month or so ago.
Assuming she's still positioned head down, it's mainly been her incredibly knobby knees (sorry GB - you get that from me) that poke me the most. But knobby knees and all, I love this experience.
Assuming she's still positioned head down, it's mainly been her incredibly knobby knees (sorry GB - you get that from me) that poke me the most. But knobby knees and all, I love this experience.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Appointment Update
We had another appointment yesterday (10/23/08). We got an ultrasound done - the ultrasound tech wanted to check the baby's lips and/or nose to check for evidence of a cleft palate, and she wanted to check on the baby's spine and head. Thankfully everything checked out fine. And also thankfully, it seems that GB has inherited her mother's head size and not her father's. Woo hoo!
Her heartbeat was a strong and healthy 152 bpm. And she’s already positioned with her head down, so that’s good. She still has room move around and switch positions, but she’ll soon get too big to do that. Hopefully she’ll stay where she is. And she’s face-up, or “sunny-side up”, which helps me to better identify which body parts are poking me at any particular time.
According to her measurements, she weighs 3lbs, 14oz. But our birthing class teacher said that weight estimates from an ultrasound can be off by as much as 4 lbs. So she can either weigh as little as
-2oz or as much as 7lbs, 14 oz. And she’s supposed to gain about ½ lb every week from now on.
I got to experience first-hand why pregnant women shouldn't lie on their backs during the 3rd trimester. During the ultrasound, something hit me like a ton of bricks – it was like a light switch turned on. I started sweating, got light-headed, and felt incredibly nauseous. It was one of the weirdest, most unpleasant feelings I’ve had in a long time. The ultrasound tech noticed that I was fidgeting around and breathing faster, so she quickly had me roll over to my side. And just like that, the light switched turned off. I was lying on my back so long that the weight of my belly was keeping oxygen from getting to all of my oxygen-requiring parts – and I’m sure GB wasn’t happy with it either.
Lee’s mom got to come to the ultrasound, so that was really special. GB just keeps looking cuter and cuter. And we got another confirmation that GB is indeed a “she”. So her closet full of pink and flowery clothes isn’t for naught.
Our midwife said that she'd call the lab where I was typed as having A- blood and explain to them that something isn't quite right over there. Mistyping a pregnant woman's blood is too significant to ignore. I'm just very thankful that I had dontated blood before and remembered that the Blood Center had told me what my type was. I hate to think what could have happened if I hadn't.
We’re meeting with a potential pediatrician next month and we’re meeting with a potential doula next week. She’s one birth away from receiving her doula certification and said she’d be our doula for free since we're helping her get certified. We want to meet with her ahead of time to see if our personalities mesh well. Because let’s be honest: Lee and I are a tad (ahem) wacky. And if someone is going to be in the delivery room with us, he/she needs to be accepting of our ever-present (but nonetheless endearing) wack.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Weight gain: 23.6 lbs
Her heartbeat was a strong and healthy 152 bpm. And she’s already positioned with her head down, so that’s good. She still has room move around and switch positions, but she’ll soon get too big to do that. Hopefully she’ll stay where she is. And she’s face-up, or “sunny-side up”, which helps me to better identify which body parts are poking me at any particular time.
According to her measurements, she weighs 3lbs, 14oz. But our birthing class teacher said that weight estimates from an ultrasound can be off by as much as 4 lbs. So she can either weigh as little as
-2oz or as much as 7lbs, 14 oz. And she’s supposed to gain about ½ lb every week from now on.
I got to experience first-hand why pregnant women shouldn't lie on their backs during the 3rd trimester. During the ultrasound, something hit me like a ton of bricks – it was like a light switch turned on. I started sweating, got light-headed, and felt incredibly nauseous. It was one of the weirdest, most unpleasant feelings I’ve had in a long time. The ultrasound tech noticed that I was fidgeting around and breathing faster, so she quickly had me roll over to my side. And just like that, the light switched turned off. I was lying on my back so long that the weight of my belly was keeping oxygen from getting to all of my oxygen-requiring parts – and I’m sure GB wasn’t happy with it either.
Lee’s mom got to come to the ultrasound, so that was really special. GB just keeps looking cuter and cuter. And we got another confirmation that GB is indeed a “she”. So her closet full of pink and flowery clothes isn’t for naught.
Our midwife said that she'd call the lab where I was typed as having A- blood and explain to them that something isn't quite right over there. Mistyping a pregnant woman's blood is too significant to ignore. I'm just very thankful that I had dontated blood before and remembered that the Blood Center had told me what my type was. I hate to think what could have happened if I hadn't.
We’re meeting with a potential pediatrician next month and we’re meeting with a potential doula next week. She’s one birth away from receiving her doula certification and said she’d be our doula for free since we're helping her get certified. We want to meet with her ahead of time to see if our personalities mesh well. Because let’s be honest: Lee and I are a tad (ahem) wacky. And if someone is going to be in the delivery room with us, he/she needs to be accepting of our ever-present (but nonetheless endearing) wack.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Weight gain: 23.6 lbs
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Names
So GB doesn't have a name right now (you know, besides "GB"). Lee and I decided that we'll come to the hospital with a list of 5 or 6 names that we like, and wait until she's born to see what name best fits her.
Lee has joked (or "joked") that he wants to name her Leigh, so that when the first little punk calls and asks to speak to her, Lee will say "Yeah, this is Lee. What do you want? No, no - you've got the right Lee. What do you want?" He's already in full-fledged protective Daddy mode.
Naming a child is a huge decision! You have to take into account a lot of things (if the name rhymes with anything bad, if the initials spell out anything dirty, etc).
Here are the names that we're considering:
Natalie, coincidentally, means "child born at Christmas". But I think the name might be too popular and/or trendy - I don't want her to be one of six Natalies in her class.
Catherine is a great name, too. But I don't know if the "th" in Catherine is too much with the "th" in Smith. What if she has a lisp? [I would want to call her Cate, though]. Lee's concern is that people will call her "Kathy Lee", but I contend that in 10 years, kids won't know who (the famous) Kathy Lee is.
Those are the three that we know of. Then there are a few names that we're throwing around:
Then again, maybe we haven't even yet come up with what GB's name will be ...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
ps: Happy Birthday, Dad!! I love you :)
Lee has joked (or "joked") that he wants to name her Leigh, so that when the first little punk calls and asks to speak to her, Lee will say "Yeah, this is Lee. What do you want? No, no - you've got the right Lee. What do you want?" He's already in full-fledged protective Daddy mode.
Naming a child is a huge decision! You have to take into account a lot of things (if the name rhymes with anything bad, if the initials spell out anything dirty, etc).
Here are the names that we're considering:
- Mallory Jane
- Natalie Jane
- Catherine/Katherine Leigh
Natalie, coincidentally, means "child born at Christmas". But I think the name might be too popular and/or trendy - I don't want her to be one of six Natalies in her class.
Catherine is a great name, too. But I don't know if the "th" in Catherine is too much with the "th" in Smith. What if she has a lisp? [I would want to call her Cate, though]. Lee's concern is that people will call her "Kathy Lee", but I contend that in 10 years, kids won't know who (the famous) Kathy Lee is.
Those are the three that we know of. Then there are a few names that we're throwing around:
- Audrey Leigh
- Nora Jane
- Jillian Leigh
- Kara/Cara Jane
Then again, maybe we haven't even yet come up with what GB's name will be ...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
ps: Happy Birthday, Dad!! I love you :)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Tagged!
I got tagged by my friend Jessica, and I've been instructed to post seven random things about me (or The Adventures of Team Smith). So here goes:
- Watching Lee with our friends' 2-year-old daughter melts my heart and just confirms that he's going to be an amazing father. I am the luckiest girl in the world.
- I want to learn how to make biscuits ... the real kind - the ones made with shortening, butter, and everything else that's not healthy. I won't make them all the time, but I still want to know how to do it.
- I really love our church. I'm glad Lee and I have found a place where we can grow individually and as a couple. God has done some really amazing things in our lives.
- It upsets me when people tell me they feel sorry for our child because she'll have a birthday close to Christmas. Please don't feel sorry for her! She will be loved, well taken care of, and constantly told her how special she is to us. That's more important than any silly present.
- I'm so glad the weather is cooling off. I'm far less cranky and my hair looks much nicer in the fall.
- Taking off this semester turned out to be a great decision. I can't even imagine how stressed I would be if I had to deal with homework, papers, and tests on top of everything else.
- I love www.etsy.com. So far I've purchased a keychain, a diaper, and three prints for the nursery ... and there's only 412 more things that I want to get.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
A Plus!
Woo hoo! No Rhogam shot for me - I got retyped on Tuesday afternoon and my midwife's assistant called me this afternoon to let me know I'm A+. Whew!
I'm so A Plus.
I'm so A Plus.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Type Mismatch
I called the Northwest Florida Blood Center and they still maintain that my blood type is A+. The woman I spoke with said they type-check everyone's blood when they donate, so that means they've type-checked my blood type three times (yes, I'm a horrible person for only donating three times) and confirmed that I am A+.
I left a message with my midwife to see if I can re-typed with her to confirm her results. Her records say I'm A-; the Blood Center says I'm A+. I've done some research on the Rhogam shot and I'm not too impressed with the potential side effects or the lack of studies on the effects of Rhogam on a fetus, so I'm praying that my midwife's office's records are wrong. If they're wrong (and I am, in fact, A+), I don't have to worry about the whole Rhogam thing.
And besides, I've really, really liked saying that I'm "A plus". I'd hate to give that up.
I left a message with my midwife to see if I can re-typed with her to confirm her results. Her records say I'm A-; the Blood Center says I'm A+. I've done some research on the Rhogam shot and I'm not too impressed with the potential side effects or the lack of studies on the effects of Rhogam on a fetus, so I'm praying that my midwife's office's records are wrong. If they're wrong (and I am, in fact, A+), I don't have to worry about the whole Rhogam thing.
And besides, I've really, really liked saying that I'm "A plus". I'd hate to give that up.
Hiccups
It's not at ALL funny when I have the hiccups - but for some reason, it makes me smile to feel GB's hiccups. Is that bad??
Friday, October 10, 2008
Wordle
http://www.wordle.net/ makes me giggle. You type in a website, and it'll spit back out an image containing the most used words on that site. Apparently I say "like" lot. And apparently I say "apparently" a lot.
(click below to see it bigger)
(click below to see it bigger)
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Warm Kool-Aid
28 weeks, 4 days - I had my glucose test done today. I had heard horror stories about how awful the drink was, so I really wasn't looking forward to it. And while yes, it was a tad gnarly and did taste like warm, overly-sweetened orange Kool-Aid, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. The worst part was how I felt afterwards. I'm not used to drinking really sugary drinks, and I got pretty jittery and light-headed. I had to wait an hour and then got my blood drawn. If my levels are high, I'll get a more extensive test for gestational diabetes in two weeks.
I've gained 4 lbs since my appointment 3 weeks ago - grand total: 21.2 lbs.
I think today was 'Training Day' at my midwife's office. There were at least three or four nursing students from Pensacola Christian College (who wear the traditional nurse uniforms from years ago instead of scrubs - they looked so cute!).
One of the student nurses was in the room with us during my appointment. Our midwife spent a lot of time explaining procedures and medical terminology to the student, which was nice because I was able to learn some stuff too. Of course, though, in between being taught by our midwife, the student nurse was blushing and laughing at the comments that Lee was making. Learn a little - get embarrassed a little ... I'd say our student nurse's first day went rather well.
My belly is measuring 27.5cm which is right on track for my being 28 weeks along (1 cm/week). We got to hear GB's heart rate, too. Thanks to the sugar overdose courtesy of the glucose drink, GB's heartrate was really fast. And she was moving around like c-r-a-z-y.
Our midwife told me to start monitoring GB's kicks. I'm supposed to feel her move at least 5 times an hour, twice a day. That shouldn't be a problem - she's a very, very good mover. And shaker.
I also found out that my blood type isn't what I thought it was. I always thought it was A+ (or, "A plus", as I like to call it), but apparently it's A-, which means I'm Rh negative. Lee's blood type is O+, so he's Rh positive. And this has the potential to be a bad thing, so I have to get a shot of this stuff that will trick my body into thinking that the potential "positiveness" of the baby's blood isn't a foreign substance. If we were both positive or both negative, it wouldn't have been a problem. But because I'm one and he's the other, I have to get this shot. And I'll have to get it with every pregnancy. Interesting. (Here's a website that makes sense out of what I just said: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/rhfactor.html)
Our next job is to pick a pediatrician and set up a tour of Baptist Hospital. And our birthing class teacher mentioned that she has a friend who's trying to get certified as a doula - she just needs to attend one more birth to get her certification. A nice thing is that she wouldn't charge us anything. But I'm wondering if I'd get panicky with extra people in the delivery room. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge decision. But we'll still think about it and pray about it to see if it's a good choice for us.
I see our midwife every two weeks now! Way back in May, I thought that December would never get here. And now, here we are, going for a checkup every two weeks. Grow, baby, grow!
I've gained 4 lbs since my appointment 3 weeks ago - grand total: 21.2 lbs.
I think today was 'Training Day' at my midwife's office. There were at least three or four nursing students from Pensacola Christian College (who wear the traditional nurse uniforms from years ago instead of scrubs - they looked so cute!).
One of the student nurses was in the room with us during my appointment. Our midwife spent a lot of time explaining procedures and medical terminology to the student, which was nice because I was able to learn some stuff too. Of course, though, in between being taught by our midwife, the student nurse was blushing and laughing at the comments that Lee was making. Learn a little - get embarrassed a little ... I'd say our student nurse's first day went rather well.
My belly is measuring 27.5cm which is right on track for my being 28 weeks along (1 cm/week). We got to hear GB's heart rate, too. Thanks to the sugar overdose courtesy of the glucose drink, GB's heartrate was really fast. And she was moving around like c-r-a-z-y.
Our midwife told me to start monitoring GB's kicks. I'm supposed to feel her move at least 5 times an hour, twice a day. That shouldn't be a problem - she's a very, very good mover. And shaker.
I also found out that my blood type isn't what I thought it was. I always thought it was A+ (or, "A plus", as I like to call it), but apparently it's A-, which means I'm Rh negative. Lee's blood type is O+, so he's Rh positive. And this has the potential to be a bad thing, so I have to get a shot of this stuff that will trick my body into thinking that the potential "positiveness" of the baby's blood isn't a foreign substance. If we were both positive or both negative, it wouldn't have been a problem. But because I'm one and he's the other, I have to get this shot. And I'll have to get it with every pregnancy. Interesting. (Here's a website that makes sense out of what I just said: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/rhfactor.html)
Our next job is to pick a pediatrician and set up a tour of Baptist Hospital. And our birthing class teacher mentioned that she has a friend who's trying to get certified as a doula - she just needs to attend one more birth to get her certification. A nice thing is that she wouldn't charge us anything. But I'm wondering if I'd get panicky with extra people in the delivery room. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge decision. But we'll still think about it and pray about it to see if it's a good choice for us.
I see our midwife every two weeks now! Way back in May, I thought that December would never get here. And now, here we are, going for a checkup every two weeks. Grow, baby, grow!
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Farewell, Innie
Dear Innie Belly Button,
What can I say? It's been nice knowing you, and I do hope you'll eventually come back.
Over the past month or so, you've gotten progressively shallower and shallower. You spent a few weeks almost completely flattened out. Until now. Now it's like you have split into two separate beings, each with its own agenda.
The bottom half? You're still flat and have resisted the urge to turn into an outie. Thank you for that. Except you don't match your counterpart.
Because the top half? Yeah, we've got a problem. Apparently YOU think it's okay to break away from the pack and have a mind of your own. YOU think it's okay to poke out like a turkey timer. Do you two halves know how weird it is to sport a half-innie/half-outie? Very.
If I have to lose my cute innie belly button, couldn't it at least happen all at once? Is that too much to ask? Hey top-half, stop trying to be the hero. Slow down and let bottom-half catch up. And bottom-half, if you're eventually going to become an outie, just do it. Commit!
What can I say? It's been nice knowing you, and I do hope you'll eventually come back.
Over the past month or so, you've gotten progressively shallower and shallower. You spent a few weeks almost completely flattened out. Until now. Now it's like you have split into two separate beings, each with its own agenda.
The bottom half? You're still flat and have resisted the urge to turn into an outie. Thank you for that. Except you don't match your counterpart.
Because the top half? Yeah, we've got a problem. Apparently YOU think it's okay to break away from the pack and have a mind of your own. YOU think it's okay to poke out like a turkey timer. Do you two halves know how weird it is to sport a half-innie/half-outie? Very.
If I have to lose my cute innie belly button, couldn't it at least happen all at once? Is that too much to ask? Hey top-half, stop trying to be the hero. Slow down and let bottom-half catch up. And bottom-half, if you're eventually going to become an outie, just do it. Commit!
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