We're moving!

I've finally decided to simplify my life a bit by consolidating the family blogs into one:

r a i s i n g h i l l

This blog will stick around for archival purposes, but head over to the new one for updates! And be sure to check out the authors of each post, because hilltot and babyhill will be posting on the new blog as well (under their new monikers, zack-zack and mei-mei).

See you there!

Professional beauty

OK, here are some REAL photographs of our little princessa! We took her to the always fabulous Judith for her newborn pictures, and here's a sneak peek on Judith's blog:

A Dainty Little Lady

Isn't she gorgeous??

Music to labor by

I forgot to include one thing in my birth story: the soundtrack to my labor. With hilltot, we were prepared with a full set of CDs and DVDs to entertain us during labor and while in postpartum recovery. This time, it was Chris' job to pick out and pack the music. Well, that didn't quite happen...so we ended up in the hospital with no music at all.

Luckily, I remembered that I'd put some songs for hilltot on my iPhone. So here's the song we listened to while I was in labor.

Birth story

OK, here's my birth story. Please don't read any further if you're not interested in reading about my girl parts!

To set the stage, I'd been telling people for months that I was trying to convince the baby to wait until 38 weeks to be born. But after having preterm labor starting at 32 weeks, everything was looking VERY stable and "unmoving" at 37 weeks. My cervix was long (37mm) and closed, I was having Braxton Hicks contractions but they weren't doing anything, and the baby was so high that my doctor was concerned she would turn again before birth and end up transverse or breech. In addition, my mom and step-dad arrived last Tuesday and are leaving next Thursday (one day before my actual due date) and I was starting to worry that they would come and go before the baby arrived.

Anyway, last Thursday I woke up feeling a bit funny. My Braxton Hicks were a little more uncomfortable, but they weren't regular or increasing in frequency at all. I joked several times to Chris that he shouldn't wander too far off b/c I was probably going to go into labor. Then I got a huge spurt of energy and cooked a bunch of food for hilltot and made my mom sit through my long explanations of when and what he eats, what his schedule is, etc.

That evening after hilltot was in bed, Chris and I headed to a BBQ for Mark and Rebecca, who were visiting from Austin. They had their 17 month old Luke with them and we were bringing over our pack-n-play for him to sleep in (although I included the caveat that we'd need it back if we have the baby while they were in town). As we left the house for the BBQ, I made Chris turn the car around and go back home to pick up our hospital bag "just in case". He rolled his eyes but we went back to get it anyway.

We were at the BBQ for awhile and I kept bugging Chris not to drink in case I went into labor. It became a joke, b/c people kept handing him drinks and I'd shoot daggers at him. Later we were all out on the patio and I was sitting on a wooden chair with a cushion. I joked, "Oh, I'd better move to a chair you can hose off more easily" and the women laughed while the guys said, "Ew!" I moved to a metal chair.

Not 10 minutes later, I suddenly looked up into Lori's eyes (she was standing directly across from me) and said loudly, "OH CRAP". She said, "What? Are you OK?" and everyone went silent as my water broke and GUSHED all over the patio. My water never broke with hilltot so I hadn't experienced that before, and I had a LOT of fluid with this pregnancy. My doctor had already warned me that if it broke, it would be a waterfall. I sat there for another couple minutes as my waterfall continued to flow and everyone took pictures, videotaped, and passed around champagne while exclaiming, "We're having a baby tonight!" Carrie got me a towel to wrap around my waist and Chris and I made our way to the car (which had the hospital bag already in it...HAH).

We got to the hospital and couldn't remember which floor L&D was on. (Why would we have taken the hospital tour again? We just had hilltot 20 months ago!) Luckily there was another couple there who was clearly heading to the same place, and they told us to follow them. We hung out in triage for awhile as they monitored my contractions (yep, I was having them and yep, they were strong) and they got ready to check us into a birthing suite. Chris tried on all of the different gloves and played with the different machines, and also loudly announced "Honey, I'm not wearing any underwear" (he was wearing his board shorts b/c he'd taken hilltot to a wading pool earlier that day), which the nurse thought was hilarious. He also started to recite Bill Cosby jokes, but I told him he wasn't as funny as he thought he was so he stopped (I was a bit on edge). I was feeling pretty strong, but I got very sad when I realized that I had had my last day with hilltot as an only child. I wish I'd known that before.

They finally moved us into a huge birthing suite and we met our nurse Erin and the doctor who was going to deliver, Dr. Burdick. Both of them were fabulous -- we were very lucky to have gotten such a fantastic team.

After monitoring my contractions for awhile, Nurse Erin announced that I have a "mighty uterus". Also, I had a lot of fluid (no kidding). Apparently my uterus is very strong. I entered the hospital with barely noticeable Braxton Hicks and within an hour was going off the charts with double and triple contractions, coming right on top of each other. However, my cervix wasn't quite keeping up b/c I was only 1-2cm dilated. Chris asked if the contractions I was having were "normal" and Nurse Erin said, "She's not getting a break. Normally you have 1-3 minutes between big contractions, and hers don't even come down to baseline before the next one hits. She has a very high pain tolerance." Lovely.

High pain tolerance or not, I'd decided earlier that I wasn't going to hold off on an epidural like I did last time. I wanted to do whatever I could to be calm enough to have a successful VBAC. So after about 3 hrs of laboring, I asked for the epidural. Of course, it couldn't be as easy as that -- the anesthesiologist was in the OR and the back-up was nowhere to be found. It took over an hour and a half for someone to finally get there, and then he had to insert the catheter twice b/c he got a blood vessel the first time. In addition, it turns out that pain medication doesn't work very well on me (we kind of knew this already from hilltot's birth, but thought that was just a fluke). I continued to labor with just a bare amount of pain relief, and finally the doctor came back to up my dose to make it more bearable. By then, I was already 8cm dilated but it was SUCH a relief to finally be able to rest for a little bit.

Another thing I was worried about was the baby's position, especially since there was so much fluid and she hadn't descended into my pelvis before labor started. Plus, hilltot was posterior-facing, which was part of what made his labor and delivery so difficult. So during one of my cervical checks, I asked Nurse Erin if the baby was posterior. She felt around and said, "I'm sorry honey, the baby is posterior...oh...wait a second...uhhh...well then. Not posterior anymore. The baby just turned around!" Such a good baby.

I rested through another 40 minutes or so of contractions, and at 4:30 AM it was time to push. According to Nurse Erin, not only do I have a mighty uterus, but I'm also a champion pusher. After an hour of pushing, baby Sophia made her entrance! Dr. Burdick let Chris announce her gender, and it was so funny. He looked at Sophia, then looked at Dr. Burdick and Nurse Erin and said, "It's a...girl??"

Sophia came out kicking and screaming and I got to hold her right away. It was so different from hilltot's birth, where they whisked him away to do CPR on him and I didn't get to hold him for a long time. I held her while I was stitched up (2nd degree tear) and she nursed almost immediately. It was just magical.

She passed all over her newborn tests and scored a 9 on her APGAR. After she was cleaned up, we saw that she has a head of strawberry-blonde hair and dark slate blue eyes. Her skin looked pink and fair right after birth, but a lot of that may have been the newborn rash that she had. Now that the rash is going away, her skin is starting to look a bit more like hilltot's did, with the olive tone. She has daddy's coloring for the most part (jury's still out on the skin) and some of my facial features, and she actually looks a lot like hilltot did at this age. Except for the light hair and blue eyes. She's just beautiful.

I am so happy with how this delivery went. The VBAC was so much easier on me than the c-section, both physically and emotionally. Nursing has been going pretty well, although I am in the midst of the fiery depths of nipple pain right now (Sophia has a clampdown reflex, which she will hopefully outgrow in the next couple of weeks). She generally sleeps for 3 hours at a time, and at night she's been doing one longer stint (4-5 hour stretch). So far she's been a very happy and calm baby, and she seems to be as healthy as can be.

We are just overjoyed. And just as I'd asked, she was born at exactly 38 weeks.

Baby blues

Baby Sophia!

I'm a little late posting this, but it's been a pretty busy couple of days. As you can guess from the title, babyhill has arrived! And just as I've been saying for the past several months, we have a bambina -- a precious little girl we named Sophia Grace. She was born on Friday, July 31st at 5:20 AM and she came into the world kicking and screaming after a successful VBAC. She was 7lbs 11.9oz and 19.5 in long and is just perfect. We brought her home on Saturday evening and we've been spending the last several days enjoying our time with her and her big brother.

I'll post more later (including the birth story), but I just wanted to make our happy announcement and include a picture or two!

Please make it stop

It was 105 degrees today. At 10 PM, it has cooled to a nice balmy 91 degrees. It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow. And the most important piece of information that is common to all of these statements: We don't have air conditioning. We're in the Pacific Northwest. Why in the world would anyone here have air conditioning?

Oh, and have I mentioned that I'm 9.5 months pregnant? Ugh.

Just for fun - 25 weeks of belly

Belly pic: 37 weeks (full term!!)

We made it to full term! I'm so happy to have made it this far so we don't have to worry about babyhill being a preemie. And according to the results of today's ultrasound, we also don't have to worry about babyhill being too small. Not even close.

Apparently, babyhill is having no trouble at all growing in utero. He/she is in the 87th percentile for size -- estimated at 7lbs 12oz today. With an average gain of 1/2 lb every week, that means we're looking at a 9-1/2lb baby if we make it all the way until my due date. That's nearly twice the size of hilltot. Of course, weight estimates are notoriously inaccurate and Dr H said that they tend to over-estimate, often by as much as a pound. But it is clear that this baby is large and that I am large as well. My amniotic fluid index is now 25cm, which is up from 20cm last week. My amniotic fluid level should be dropping at this point, so the increased numbers mean that I'm now diagnosed with "mild polyhydromnios" (just when I get to drop one label, I gain another.) It's nothing to worry about now, but Dr H will be keeping an eye on it.

One challenge that my vast amount of amniotic fluid presents is that it gives babyhill plenty of room to move around. Normally at this stage of pregnancy, the baby has already moved down into the pelvis and is too crowded to move. Not so with babyhill! He/she is having fun splashing around in the mommy pool and thus could flip to transverse or breech at any point. Dr H is keeping a close eye on that too, and she said when I go into labor, they're going to have to do some major investigation to determine exactly where the baby's head is (her quote: "None of this gentle poking and prodding that we do now"). She said that it could just be the baby is very tall, but I am carrying both long AND wide, which means that the baby could be positioned more sideways than up-down right now.

But the bottom line is that babyhill is doing well (and performed very well during my NST, as usual) and seems to be quite happy hanging out in my belly. No wonder, with all of that room in there! I am still not dilated and my cervix is long (37mm) and closed but I'm getting even more uncomfortable, I can feel lots of pressure in my pelvis, the top of my belly is sore, I keep popping my hips out when I move too quickly (ouch!), I can't sleep due to heartburn and/or the ridiculous heat wave we are having, my feet are swollen, my knees are starting to bruise internally from the weight, and I'm spending more and more time in my little nest on the couch. I do believe the "glow" of pregnancy is long gone! Now I'm just really looking forward to meeting little babyhill.

I'm also hoping that things will start moving along, because my mom and stepdad arrive on Tuesday to stay with us for 2.5 weeks and help take care of hilltot while we are busy delivering and caring for babyhill. Neither Dr H nor I ever considered that babyhill wouldn't arrive early, but now we're not so sure. What if A-mah and Opa come and go before babyhill even arrives? There's nothing we can do about that (induction is too risky with my c-section scar), so I'm having discussions with babyhill and trying to convince him/her that next Friday would be a lovely day to get labor started. Let's work together, shall we?

Here's my 37 week belly picture:

Moment of clarity

Barista: How old is your little guy?
Me: Almost 21 months.
Barista (gesturing to my belly): And how far apart in age will they be?
Me: Almost 21 months.
Barista and Me (in unison): Wow.

Non jamais vu

At this time during my pregnancy with hilltot, I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart and was on the phone arguing with the doctor that I was NOT in labor because I had another month to go. The doctor won, we went to the hospital, and hilltot was born 12 hours later.

Right now, I am drinking a chocolate malt from Red Mill and not having contractions. Thus, I am feeling really confident that we will make it at least longer than we did with hilltot. If we can just get past tomorrow, then we will have passed hilltot's gestational time, we will have avoided the solar eclipse (which according to some cultures is a very bad time to have a baby), and the baby will be a Leo instead of a Cancer. Plus, we will be one short day away from being full term.

We can do it!

I hope my knees are ready

According to yesterday's check-up, the baby hasn't yet dropped. However, the bottom of my belly already rests on the tops of my thighs...while I'm standing up! Where in the world will this baby drop when he/she does? To my knees?

Belly pic: 36 weeks

This is it, the last comparison belly picture! I never made it to 37 weeks with hilltot, so this is the last belly picture I have from 2007. Good timing too, because I'm getting more and more dismayed every time I see the difference between my pregnancies. Even Dr H makes fun of me now. In fact, she ordered an ultrasound for next week to check the growth, not because she's worried the baby is too small, but because she wants to see "just what we're dealing with here".

Anyway, today I'm 36 weeks! 9 months pregnant! One more month until my due date, and only one more WEEK until we're full-term! I even made the rest of my weekly OB appointments today, all the way through 40 weeks (even though Dr H chuckled and said, "Let's schedule all the appointments, just for fun..."). Although the way things look today, I might make it further than anyone thinks.

I had my weekly NST, where the baby jumped and poked and kicked at the sensors and generally made a loud ruckus (the monitor amplifies motion as well as the heartbeat). The other woman in the room kept laughing and saying that she felt so inadequate with her nice calm baby. Her chart was flat and consistent, while mine once again looked like the Cascade mountains. However, since I'm already 36 weeks, neither the nurse nor Dr H were worried about the massive number of contractions I was having.

I had a cervical check as well, and Dr H told me that she'd expect me to be around 2cm dilated at this point. I was 1cm dilated at 36 weeks with hilltot, and since this is my second baby I should start dilating a bit earlier. Well, surprise surprise: I'm not dilated at all. Zilch. 0cm. The baby also hasn't dropped at all (so that's why the top of my uterus hurts so darn much), although he/she is still head-down, thank goodness. My cervix is softening so I should start dilating soon, but as of now I have a fair amount of work to do before labor will start.

I was pretty happy to hear this, until Dr H said, "But remember that you went from 1cm to 10cm in less that 24 hours last time. And generally your second labor will be about twice as fast." Oh yeah.

Regardless, I'm happy that I made it to 36 weeks and it seems that babyhill is content to stay put a bit longer. I have an ultrasound next Friday, which is when we get to see just how large and in charge this baby actually is. And the baby will officially be full-term at that point!

To celebrate reaching 36 weeks, I got a pedicure this afternoon. My toes (or at least what I can see of them) were looking pretty pathetic and I wanted to try to fit in at least one last pedicure before the baby arrives. At first I felt like I should pay more for my pedicure since my feet are so fat and swollen now, but then I reasoned (with myself) that my NAILS aren't any fatter, so it's not like they have to use more polish on me. And the ladies at the nail place were very funny and nice -- super curious about the pregnancy and telling me all their own stories. They were pretty certain this baby is a girl, so I think it's unanimous: the cashier at Fred Meyer, the waiter at Giacomo, and the ladies at AP Nail Salon are all positive that I'm having a girl.

Well enough chatter. Here's my final comparison belly picture! I'll still post weekly pictures, but I'm now officially beyond comparing my last pregnancy with this one. And note that in the 2007 picture, I'm intentionally sticking my belly out to make it look bigger. Brat.

Random thought of the day

If babyhill is a girl, then not only am I carrying my daughter in my belly right now, but I am carrying the eggs of some of my future grandchildren as well. Neat.

Note: A girl is born with all of her eggs already developed. Boys don't start creating sperm until puberty.

Belly pics: 34 and 35 weeks

I didn't get around to posting my belly picture from last week, so here are both this and last weeks' comparison shots. I really need to stop doing comparisons, because they make me more and more nervous. What do I have in there, a whale? I've been calling babyhill "Peanut", but maybe I need to call him/her "Shamu" instead.

I just realized that next week will be my last comparison belly shot, because I didn't make it to 37 weeks with hilltot. So no more freaking out about my comparative corpulence. Instead, I'll just wonder how I can possibly get any bigger without falling over every time I stand up.

Still calm!

I had my 35-week check-up and NST today, and everything looks really great! Babyhill was super active during the NST, but I didn't have any contractions at all while I was on the machine! Of course, I had four contractions while I was having my check-up, but that's just because I was moving around. I had one every time I had to lie down (to get my belly measured and for a quick ultrasound amniotic fluid check) and get back up again.

My belly is measuring right on target and the amniotic fluid is still good (20cm, which is still high normal). Since babyhill measured in the 80th percentile at my last ultrasound and is performing so well during NSTs, Dr. H decided we don't need to do another ultrasound growth check. The reason for the growth checks is to make sure that the baby is not suffering from IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) due to the single umbilical artery, and this baby is clearly not having trouble with being too small.

In fact, Dr H asked me to think about where I would draw the line for having a VBAC -- would I consider another c-section if this baby is measuring 9 or 10 lbs? She said since my hips are pretty narrow, it might be difficult (or impossible) for a large baby to fit through. However, the external and internal dimensions of my hips aren't necessarily the same, so it could be fine. I'm still planning on a VBAC, but if we start venturing into the 10+ lb range, I might rethink things.

Another thing we are considering is having a doula during the birth. Dr. H is very supportive of that idea, saying that doulas have been shown to quite drastically reduce the chance of having a c-section. For several reasons, I have some fears around this birth that I didn't have last time -- mainly that the baby will not do well in labor. At the same time, I very much want to have a VBAC, both for personal/emotional reasons and because the recovery is so much easier. I can't imagine trying to take care of both a newborn and hilltot while recovering from abdominal surgery. What I am worried about is that I will panic during labor (due to my fears of the baby not tolerating labor) and will jump to having a repeat c-section. I don't want my possibly unfounded fears to cause me to decide to have an unnecessary c-section.

So, a doula. This is someone who is trained in labor and delivery, whose main focus is to support me, and who can calm me down and keep me focused on what I need to do. Although Dr. H understands my fears and promises that she will "talk me off the ledge" if necessary during labor, she said that she might not be the doctor delivering me and a doula would ensure that I get the support I need no matter who is there. Everyone I've known who used a doula has said they wouldn't ever do it differently -- the doula made the experience so much easier for both the mom and the dad by allowing them to focus on the important stuff while she took care of the details. That sounds pretty good to me.

Anyone out there have recommendations for a Seattle doula who is experienced with VBACs?

Calm before the storm?

Or hopefully, just calm.

Today I had my 34-week appointment and NST. Unlike last week's excitement, everything looked great today! I did have 5-6 contractions in 20 minutes (the normal rule of thumb is to call your doctor if you have 4 contractions in an hour), but that was a LOT better than last time (when I had too many to count). And this time most of the contractions were nice and gradual, making rolling hills on the print-out rather than spiky mountain ranges. Dr. H was happy with the change, so I'm happy.

I'm measuring ginormous and the baby's head is still down, which is great. Babyhill's head hasn't engaged in my pelvis yet, so we're going to keep an eye on things and hopefully he/she will stay head down! And based on my last ultrasound and my measurements today, Dr. H says that babyhill is probably about 5.5 lbs right now...which is 1 oz heaver than hilltot was when he was born. I said, "So I'm not crazy to feel like this baby is so much bigger..." and Dr. H said, "Nope. You're probably right." Of course, in utero weight estimates are notoriously inaccurate.

My amniotic fluid is measuring on the high normal side (21 cm on the AFI, normal = 8-24 cm at 34 weeks), which means that the baby's systems seem to be working just fine. Babyhill was extremely active during the NST and had hiccups for at least 15 minutes of it, and Dr. H's nurse commented that I have one of the busiest babies she's seen. The good thing is that the baby's heart rate increased whenever I had a contraction, which is how things are supposed to work. Hilltot's heart rate decreased during contractions, which ended up with him not being able to tolerate labor.

I'm having weekly NSTs and appointments now, and Dr. H will also measure the amniotic fluid at each appointment. I'm happy to have made it to 34 weeks (well, tomorrow) and now I'm feeling a lot better about my chances of making it to at least 36 weeks. And maybe 37? 38??

Here's a picture of me and monstro-belly taken last night. My feet look and feel like swollen sausages too, but I won't take a picture of those. Or at least, I won't post one. You're very welcome.

"Share" is not in baby's vocabulary

Seems that babyhill is taking after hilltot in the "sharing" category. See, while I'm growing a baby, I share all of my nutrients (and energy) with the baby. In fact, the baby takes everything first, and I get whatever is left over. It's nature's way of making sure the baby is taken care of, with the assumption that if I need more nutrients for myself I will find a way to get them.

The problem is that I started off with a deficiency in certain things, especially red blood cells and iron. Now that babyhill is proving to be at least a gazillion times the size of hilltot, he/she is taking more iron than I have to give. I've been taking iron supplements throughout the pregnancy but my body still can't keep up. My anemia is becoming more and more symptomatic, which includes heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and faintness in addition to the regular fatigue. Since it would take 2-3 months for any additional iron supplementation to take effect, there's not really anything we can do about it now.

I ended up in the ER on Friday because of shortness of breath and faintness. We didn't need to check babyhill -- luckily the baby handles all of this quite well -- but Dr. H wanted them to check my heart and lungs and to make sure I didn't have a blood clot. I got an EKG and chest x-ray along with a barrage of blood tests, and I'm glad that they were so thorough and everything checked out. Now at least we know my heart and lungs are OK when I'm feeling like this! And I guess this is pretty much how it's going to be until babyhill makes his/her debut.

I can handle another 4-6 weeks of this though. Hear that, babyhill? I don't mind -- you stay nice and comfy in there and I'll manage things out here. Deal?

Belly pic: 33 weeks

OK, back to my amateur belly pictures. How is it my belly looks so small and dainty in the pictures Judith took, yet so large and out of control in the pictures I take? I think part of the problem is that I'm comparing them to 2007...and I get more and more alarmed every week. What is going on?? Isn't this the baby that is in danger of IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction, i.e. being too small)? And wasn't hilltot the baby in danger of being too large due to gestational diabetes??

So we've made it to 33 weeks! Only one more week until we hit the "safety zone" -- babies born between 34 and 37 weeks have a high chance of being born healthy. Of course I would prefer to make it all the way to 37 (or even 38, if I dare dream) weeks so that we have a full-term baby, but Dr. H told me that if labor starts after 34 weeks, they won't do anything to stop it. Especially now that we know what happens when I take terbutaline. Not only am I one of the small percentage of people who react badly to Nifedipine (which we discovered when I was having preterm contractions with hilltot), but I'm also one of the even smaller percentage of people who react badly to terbutaline. There aren't many more options for stopping preterm labor, so our best chance is to just make it until at least 34 (or 38...c'mon baby!) weeks on our own.

The baby hasn't dropped yet, although I honestly don't know where it would drop. My belly already rests on my lap when I sit down. I've heard that second babies often don't drop until labor starts, and I'll be happy if that's true for me. I remember feeling like I was trying to keep a bowling ball from falling out when hilltot dropped!

I'm thrilled that babyhill has flipped around to be head down, and now I'm just hoping for him/her to turn a bit to be anterior-facing. Right now, baby is facing my right side, which is better than posterior-facing (like hilltot was) but still not ideal. I feel kicks and punches and twitches and hiccups all over my belly though, so I have no idea if the baby has turned or not.

Things are going well other than the whole preterm contraction stuff. I had a glorious prenatal massage on Wednesday (thank you Chris and hilltot, for my Mother's Day present!) and the massage therapist was careful to stay at least three zipcodes away from any pressure points that might cause contractions. I have a lot of back pain so I spend a fair amount of my evenings in either child's pose or cat-cow pose. I generally wake up around 1 AM with painful heartburn and spend 30 minutes or so trying not to throw up, and then I wake up again around 3:30 or 4 AM to go to the bathroom (again). Pretty standard pregnancy stuff. I have contractions whenever I stand or walk for too long, but so far they are irregular and not too painful so I haven't started tracking them.

Otherwise, I'm just counting down the days and hoping to make it to full-term! I'm also thinking that it might be time to start getting things prepared for babyhill's arrival. Maybe buy some diapers, wash some of the newborn clothes, set up the co-sleeper...

Meanwhile, here's my aggressively growing belly:

Official -- and gorgeous -- belly pic preview!

I love love LOVE these pictures! Even though they are of me and therefore that makes me a bit narcissistic. But really, they are of my belly and therefore of babyhill, and I especially like the ones with hilltot and Chris (well, his hands) in them.

As I mentioned earlier, I had my official belly pictures taken last weekend by the fabulous Judith (of Fernstrom Photography). She just posted a few of the shots to her blog and I can't wait to see them all! Although I already know I want the one of hilltot snuggling with my belly blown up to wall size and perhaps painted on the side of the house. I'm also thrilled that there's at least one "zen" shot -- I don't remember pausing long enough between chatting and laughing to look so maternal.

And so, without further ado, here are the preview images:
http://fernstromphotography.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/06/beauty-and-the-belly.html

Not again...

So today was a surprisingly eventful day in babyhill land! The original plan was to have my regular 15 minute OB check-up, followed by a 30 minute NST (non-stress test) which would show that the baby's heart is great and my uterus is nice and relaxed. I suspected things would be a bit off when I woke up feeling like I had just swigged a bottle of wine and was trying desperately to keep my balance in a wildly spinning room (note: I felt like that while I was still lying down in bed). I ate some food, drank a ton of water, and checked my blood sugar. My blood sugar was normal, and nothing stopped the room from spinning. I was glad that I already had a doctor appointment scheduled.

My appointment was uneventful (blood pressure and pulse were normal, even though I still felt dizzy) and Dr. H said she thought my dizziness might be from my chronic anemia getting worse as the pregnancy continues. Even though I'm already taking double the regular dosage of iron supplements every day, I might have reached a new threshold and have started feeling symptomatic anyway.

So off I went to the NST room to be monitored. There was another woman in there who is 41 weeks pregnant and doing everything she can to get labor started naturally. The way the room was set up, we could see each other's charts but not our own, so we kept each other up-to-date. Turns out we both developed chart envy. Hers was nice and stable with a couple light contractions that built to their peaks slowly and evenly (showing no sign of impending labor). Mine was full of huge spiky contractions. We asked the nurse if we could trade charts, but no go.

I ended up getting a shot of terbutaline, a beta-adrenergic agonist bronchodilator. Basically, it relaxes smooth muscles (such as the uterus) and is used to stop preterm contractions. After the shot, they monitored me for another 30 minutes and the contractions had stopped. So far, so good! But Dr. H wanted me to have a quick ultrasound to check the baby's position, blood flow, and now my cervical length (because of the contractions). I had a bit of time before the ultrasound, so I went to the front desk to schedule my next few appointments.

As I was standing at the front desk, I suddenly felt super dizzy and nauseous and broke out into a sweat. I interrupted the receptionist and said, "I'm sorry, I need to sit down" and as I backed toward a bench, apparently I turned a lovely shade of gray. A nurse happened to be passing behind me and the receptionist yelled for her as I fell. The nurse guided me down on the bench and called for help, and soon I was being wheeled back to Dr. H's office. I rested there for awhile as they monitored my heart rate and blood pressure and gave me some crackers and juice. Eventually I felt a bit better and they wheeled me to the lab for my ultrasound.

The ultrasound was fine. The baby looks great (and is very busy), my cervix is still over 3cm, and everything looks just as it should. Even better, the baby has turned to be head down! No more breech!

I headed back to Dr. H's office for a last check-in, and she verified that things look great on the ultrasound. The dizziness and fainting are concerning, but don't seem to affect the baby at all. Now my job is to "take it easy", eat well, stay hydrated, and call Dr. H with any signs of dizziness, fainting, or contractions.

So after a relatively uneventful pregnancy, looks like we're back in preterm labor land. I'm hoping this was an isolated event and the terb will do its magic to stop things until I'm full-term (5 more weeks). However, I'm a bit worried about the instruction to "take it easy". Hilltot is not a "take it easy" kind of guy, and the last thing I want or need is to end up on bed rest.

Oh, another lesson learned: take Chris' car to the rest of my appointments. Thinking I'd only be gone for 45 minutes, I took my car -- the one with the car seat, the stroller, AND the Ergo carrier. 4 hours later, Chris was trying to figure out how to get to the hospital with hilltot. He ended up putting him in the BOB stroller and started walking. Luckily I didn't get admitted to the hospital, so I was able to leave and pick up my boys as they trekked across the city.

The silver lining of this entire day? I got a surprise ultrasound! Here's babyhill at 32 weeks! This is the best profile shot we were able to get -- babyhill was quite annoyed with being bothered all day and kept turning or placing a hand in the way of the image. To be honest baby, I don't blame you.

Belly pic: 32 weeks

I'm 8 months pregnant today! Which means, if babyhill decides to stick it out, I have 2 more months before we get to meet the little one! Of course if babyhill is anything like hilltot, we'll be introducing ourselves in a little over 4 weeks.

I have reached the point of pregnancy when people look at me with pity once they hear I have another 2 months to go. Yesterday, one woman said, "Really? Wow. You look like you're ready to pop right now. You poor thing." No kidding. And this morning, Chris commented (in a very loving and supportive way, of course), "Honey, you are HUGE." Still, even though I'm feeling huge and whale-like, I know that I'm not that big compared to many other pregnant women. In fact, I feel a bit inadequate when I'm around women who look like they are "really" pregnant (making me look "kinda" pregnant).

I've been trying to figure out if babyhill has turned head down by tracking the kicks and punches. Unfortunately, my ability to accurately pinpoint the origin of movement leads me to believe that I'm growing an octopus in there. I feel and see movement all over my belly -- up on top, down below, on both sides. And I can't feel anything that might be a head or a bottom. I have an appointment on Monday, so maybe Dr. H will be able to tell me.

Tomorrow I have my maternity photographs with Judith and I'm really looking forward to it! I just hope I don't have all kinds of stretch marks or stuff that I wasn't aware of (I can't really see much beyond my belly button). I love her work and I'm sure she'll make me look great, even if we do have to use strategic placement of scarves or an uncooperative toddler in order to disguise any unpleasant side effects of expanding to more than twice my size in less than 6 months.

Anyway, here's the belly:

Busy busy bee

Lately I seem to have gotten another surge of energy. I don't feel the desperate need for daytime naps anymore and I'm finally starting to think about the things we need to do before babyhill arrives (like figure out where he/she will sleep, etc.). Of course, I haven't done anything about it yet, but I'm thinking about it.

What I have been doing is finally getting around to baby-proofing critical parts of the house. I know, it's a little late for hilltot and a little early for babyhill, but I'm doing it more as a precaution for when I am in the middle of nursing babyhill and hilltot suddenly decides to empty the knife drawer. See, our current form of baby-proofing is called "staying one step ahead of hilltot". He's pretty predictable, so I know what he's going to try to get and I can either distract him or block access to his dangerous objects of choice. That won't work as well once I have to take care of babyhill while hilltot is on the move.

I'm thinking this is probably a form of the nesting frenzy that happens before the baby is born. I remember having several rounds of this before hilltot was born, with the most intense happening in the days before I went into labor. I just hope that at least one or two rounds of my current nesting will result in me actually doing something that directly affects the baby (like set up the co-sleeper, get out and wash the newborn clothes, buy diapers, etc.). But I have to admit, it's much easier to think and worry about how the baby's arrival will affect hilltot -- he's the known quantity in the equation.

Is it just me?

Is no one else alarmed by how much BIGGER I am this time around?? Although I suppose I am the one who's going to give birth to this baby, so its size affects me a bit more than anyone else. But still! I'm HUGE!

Belly Pic: 31 weeks

I think this picture makes it pretty clear that babyhill is large and in charge this time around. At this point, hilltot was only in the 20th percentile for size. Babyhill is in the 80th. And at 29 weeks, babyhill was already measuring 32 weeks. Yet in spite of this impressive growth, I've gained exactly 0 lbs in my third trimester. But no worries -- I gained 16 lbs in my second trimester alone. So I'm doing just fine.

I'm also suffering some side effects that I never had with hilltot. I had some swelling of my feet and ankles in the evenings before (which changed to MASSIVE elephantine swelling after he was born), but this time my ankles and feet are already swollen by mid-morning. I also can't lie down on my back, or even sit down leaning back with my feet up (which is supposed to help the swelling) because it makes me lose my breath and get dizzy. And I have to take a break to catch my breath after walking up a single flight of stairs.

However, on the plus side, I have not been having preterm contractions (at least as far as I know), I haven't been restricted to modified bedrest, and I don't have diabetes. So even though I am bigger and more uncomfortable this time around, overall it's still an easier pregnancy.

If I could change one thing, I'd ask babyhill to flip around rather than riding transverse breech. The baby is still facing down (head, back and butt on top, arms and legs dangling below) so any kicks and punches are aimed directly at some very sensitive internal organs. Unlike hilltot's kicks, these kicks make me feel kind of queasy, like I'm riding a roller coaster. And I can't see them as well since they are deep inside my belly. Hilltot's kicks were clearly visible on the outside of my belly -- I could actually grab a foot every once in awhile. Which is kind of quease-inducing as well, but at least it was visible so I could share the experience with everyone around me! Now I just jump and say, "Ooh!" and no one really understands what's going on.

9 more weeks! We're down to the single digits now. I'm hoping for at least 7 more weeks (to make it to 38 weeks), and sometimes I think that I might actually go overdue this time. Babyhill seems awfully comfortable in there...

Belly Pic: 30 weeks

This picture's a bit late because I was in Boston last weekend for my MIT reunion (that's also why I'm wearing a green shirt instead of my customary blank tank top). The trip was a lot of fun and I didn't go into labor, which is a huge bonus! We spent most of the weekend walking around the city and I felt pretty comfortable, even though my feet and legs are now swollen like sausages. I was so happy to not have GD, because that meant I could eat whatever I wanted (lobster pasta, cannoli, fried noodles, Emack & Bolio's ice cream...yum!). However, I would not choose to fly a cross-country red-eye flight when 30 weeks pregnant again. I didn't have to use my doctor's note to get on the plane, but I did get lots of looks from people. I suppose it's not that common to see such a pregnant lady flying.

Oh yeah, I got a haircut too! I originally went in for a trim and ended up saying, "Could you just cut all the layers off?" That turned into more than 5" removed, and for the first time in 30 weeks I feel lighter.

Ultrasound

So far it's been a good week in babyhill news! First, no gestational diabetes (YAY!) and now a good ultrasound! The purpose of the ultrasound was to check the baby's growth, see if they can figure out why I'm measuring large for my date, and check my cervical length to make sure it's OK for me to travel to Boston at the end of the week. And everything looks good!

The baby is measuring 29 weeks 4 days (which is just one day ahead of actual gestational age), the amniotic fluid is normal, and my cervix is a nice long 43mm. Babyhill is still breech, but is more transverse now (head on my upper right side, bottom on my lower left) which is why I'm not carrying quite as high as I was at my last appointment (when baby was sitting straight up). We still have about 4 weeks for baby to turn around, so turn, baby, turn!

One of the main risks of SUA (the umbilical issue) is intrauterine growth restriction, which means the baby could have trouble getting enough nutrients and growing as he/she should. Well, turns out that doesn't seem to be an issue yet -- babyhill is in the 79th% for weight (3lb 10oz)! It's funny, because one of the main risks of gestational diabetes is that the baby grows too quickly, yet hilltot ended up being very small, always measuring around the 20th% for weight. Dr. H joked that my body seems to find ways to manage the growth of my babies (diabetes or SUA, as necessary).

Dr. H thinks that babyhill seems very comfortable and may decide to hang out in utero longer than hilltot did -- maybe even make it to my due date! That would be ironic, since my mom and Manfred are arriving three weeks early this time. But we don't have a lot of control, and Dr. H said that I can't be induced due to my previous c-section. So we'll just have to wait and see what babyhill has in mind (unless baby decides not to turn around and we end up having to schedule a c-section).

Dr. H also warned me that second labors tend to be faster (and hilltot was pretty fast -- I never had "early labor" with him) and because I'm attempting a VBAC, I need to be in a hospital when I go into labor. So no waiting around until we hit the transition stage of labor -- once contractions start, I need to head to a hospital pronto. I'm a little worried about how fast this might be. My mom had 30 hrs of labor with my brother and only 5 with me. If my second labor follows the same pattern as my mom's, we'll be lucky to make it to labor & delivery in time to catch babyhill!

Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, here are the ultrasound pictures from today! You can see a little face, a profile, and a foot. So cute!

Keep the cupcakes coming...

I don't have gestational diabetes this time!!! It seems the Metformin is working -- I'm SO relieved! This means that I get to eat as much pasta from the North End, fried noodles from the Eatery, cannoli (the real ones, not the tourist ones) from Mike's Pastries, and ice cream from Tosci's as I want when we head to Boston next week! I can't wait!

Looking a bit longer term, it also means that I won't have to start that dreaded GD diet, check my blood sugar levels 4x a day, or give myself insulin shots 3x a day. I don't have to worry about babyhill being ginormous due to an overload of glucose or having health problems because of it. I'm so happy!

Oh yeah, I'm still anemic, so now I have to double the amount of iron I take every day. No biggie.

Belly Pic: 29 weeks

I've almost made it to my 30s (weeks, that is...I'm quite well-versed in my 30s as far as my age goes)! It's kind of overwhelming when I think that I only made it through 6 weeks of my 30s last time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll make it to at least 38 weeks this time (c'mon babyhill, work with me here). My goal is to make it to Kristy and Tiffany's birthday (August 1st) -- that will put us at 38 weeks and it will be right after my mom and Manfred arrive in Seattle for three weeks. The timing would be perfect. However, if babyhill is anything like hilltot, he/she has a mind and schedule of his/her own.

As I mentioned last week, I took the dreaded 1hr GTT to test for gestational diabetes. I haven't heard back from Dr. H yet, so I'm taking the stance that no news is good news! Last time, I'd already gotten the results from my 3hr GTT and was scheduled for treatment at the Joslin Diabetes Center within a week of taking the 1hr. I could call Dr. H to find out for sure, but I'm happy with my ignorance for now.

I have my next ultrasound on Monday morning, which is when they will check my cervical length to make sure I'm safe to fly to Boston on Thursday night. They will also be checking the baby's growth and trying to figure out why I'm measuring so big. Chris has a theory (based on nothing scientific or medical) with which I agree: We know the baby was breech at 22 weeks. It just happened to be in the middle of turning around at my last appointment, thus stretching things out and making my belly bigger. Now it's settled nicely into an ANTERIOR position (not posterior, like hilltot) and getting comfy for another 2+ months of hanging out before a smooth and simple VBAC delivery in early August.

Wouldn't that be nice?


Note: That freakishly large hand in the 2007 picture is Chris', not mine. Don't worry Kristy, abnormal and uneven hand growth isn't a side-effect of pregnancy (at least, not that I know of).

Apparently we're big

Today's encounter at Trader Joe's

Woman: So they'll be about 2-1/2 years apart, right?
Me (assuming she's talking about my children): Actually, they'll be about 21 months apart.
Woman: Really? How old is he?
Me: 18 months old.
Woman: Really? 18 months old? He's very big.
Me: He's tall for his age.
Woman: And that one (pointing to my belly) will be here in about a month?
Me (not commenting on the lack of math skills): Well, no, in about 3 months...
Woman: Really?
Me (starting to get annoyed with the constant incredulousness): ...
Woman: Are you sure? 3 more months?
Me: I'm quite certain.
Woman: Well don't worry. I got huge with my second baby too. And look how svelte I am now.

F=mg

Note to self: When 7 months pregnant, don't choose to sit in the first row of the balcony at church. The balcony railing is very low, and when you stand up, your massive belly hovers a good 2 feet over the top of the railing. There is a significant risk that you will topple over into the pews below.

Cowboy, let's chat

Cowboy, remember how we had that talk about two years ago, when I explained why my belly was so big and tried to prepare you for what (or rather, who) was soon to arrive? Well, you might want to sit down for this...

Belly pic: 28 weeks

Happy third trimester to me! I've officially made it to the land of increasing discomfort. Yippee! I had an OB appointment today (I'll be having them every 2 weeks now) and things look great, although apparently I'm measuring large for where I'm supposed to be. That could mean lots of things: there's too much amniotic fluid (which would bring another host of issues...but we'll cross that bridge if/when we come to it), I have gestational diabetes which is causing the baby to grow too quickly, the baby is still breech and floating higher in my belly than it normally would, the baby is stretched out, or the baby is simply a very large baby. Personally, I'm hoping for option 4: the baby is stretched out and taking up lots of room. I'll be doing an ultrasound sometime in the next 10 days, so we'll find out for sure what's going on then. In the meantime, I feel better knowing that I actually AM larger and more unwieldy this time around -- it's not just in my head.

I also had the dreaded 1-hr GTT (glucose tolerance test) this morning to find out if I need to go back next week for the even more dreaded 3-hr GTT, which would in turn determine if I do in fact have gestational diabetes. I'm not feeling very optimistic about it, but there's always a chance that the Metformin I've been taking has been working its magic and I don't have GD! However, I plan to enjoy a weekend full of noodles, banana bread, fruit, and other diabetic no-nos before I get my results back from Dr. H.

Here's my belly pic at 28 weeks. Even though I actually look bigger in the picture from 2007, the measurement of belly "largeness" is the height from the top of my pubic bone to the top of my uterus, not the sticky-outedness of my belly (and yes, "sticky-outedness" is the correct medical terminology). You can see in today's picture that the top of my belly is much higher than it was with hilltot.

Where's the zipper on this thing?

You know how you feel after you've eaten way too much food and the waistband of your pants is really tight and uncomfortable? If you're in a casual setting (or hidden behind a table) you can unbutton and unzip your pants for some immediate relief. Ahhhhhh!

Well, that's how I feel now. Except it's my belly that's too tight, not my pants. And I have no way to unzip it. Ugh.

I'm also running into the next stage of maternity pants trouble. Early in pregnancy, most maternity pants don't fit me because they are too baggy in the hips, thighs and butt. They slide right off. Now that I've finally filled out enough to hold the pants up relatively well, my belly pushes them down. I think I need to start wearing suspenders.

OK, enough whining from me! I'm actually feeling pretty good overall, though I do feel like I'm HUGE now. I'm back to gaining weight, just in time to impress and/or shock my OB. As of this morning, I've already gained nearly as much as I did during my entire pregnancy with hilltot. And I still have a whole trimester to go. Way to go, me!

Belly pic: 27 weeks

Here I am at 27 weeks! Only one more week until I reach the third trimester, which is also the official point of viability. I think I've also started having Braxton Hicks contractions in the past couple days, usually brought on when I've exerted myself too much (walking too far or too quickly, carrying hilltot around, etc.). So far they've been pretty minimal so I'm not too concerned, but I will mention them to Dr. H at my next appointment. At least this time I know what they are! (When I was pregnant with hilltot, I had 10 contractions in less than 30 minutes while I was being monitored during a non-stress test/NST and I had no idea until Dr. H pointed them out to me.)

My impressive weight gain has slowed considerably, even before being diagnosed with GD. I've actually lost all the weight I was so proud of gaining last week! But I know it will go up again -- I seem to have pretty drastic swings from week to week, but as long as my overall gain is healthy, Dr. H is happy. She only sees me every couple weeks, so it looks much steadier to her than it does to me with my daily weigh-ins and Excel tables and graphs.

At our last ultrasound, babyhill was breech. I think that he/she has turned around, although I'm not sure. For a while, it felt like the baby was lying tranverse (i.e. I got a lot wider), and now my belly feels rounder again. I'll be getting another ultrasound in a few weeks, so we'll know for sure then.

I told you spiders are out to get me

One of the side effects of pregnancy for me is spider veins. I get little spider veins all over my legs, and I'm sure they will soon erupt into lovely varicose veins. Actually, I get really "veiny" in general -- you can easily trace the flow of blood throughout my body.

Anyway, I was looking at my knee (the one that's not scarred and patchy from the eczema I also enjoy as a pregnancy side effect) and I noticed that it looks like I have a word written on it in a faint and wispy scrawl. And the word is not a nice one. Since this is a baby blog, I'll just say it starts with an "f" and has four letters. A capital "F", in the case of my knee.

Yes, I'm being graffiti-tagged by spider veins. I guess I should just be grateful I don't really get stretch marks. Who knows what THOSE would spell out.

Really? Me?

Click here to see what I won!

Thanks to Vale for being so sweet!

Belly Pic: 26 weeks

I have less than 100 days until my due date! I'm still feeling pretty good, although I'm pretty exhausted if I don't manage to sneak in at least a quick nap while hilltot takes his nap. Swelling has commenced (I can poke my lower legs at the end of the day and leave little dents) but it's not painful yet so I haven't broken out my fancy medical-grade compression hose. Whoo-whee, I can't wait until those come out! Although I don't know how consistent I'll be about wearing them once the weather gets warmer.

I've also hit the stage of pregnancy when my pants won't stay up unless I'm wearing those sexy over-the-belly full panel maternity pants. Even though the under-belly styles look better and are more comfortable when I first put them on, they start to feel too tight and my belly pushes them down so that I end up with my pants hanging halfway to my knees. I know this look is cool with teenage boys, but much like the midriff-baring issues I had earlier (before I finally gave in and got out my maternity clothes), I don't think a pregnant mom in my 30s can pull it off.

After a very slow start with the whole weight gain thing, I'm going like gang-busters now. However, I'll be doing my second glucose tolerance test (the 1-hr GTT) at my next OB appointment in 2 weeks. Even though I passed it the first time (at 11 weeks), I doubt I'll pass it this time because the placenta has had a lot more time to mess with my insulin receptors. So that means I will likely go back to my strict gestational diabetes diet, blood monitoring, and insulin shots in a few weeks. That also means I'll stop gaining weight as quickly because I won't be able to eat anything I like for at least 2-3 months. In preparation, I am making sure to thoroughly enjoy my last bites of noodles, bagels and cupcakes.

In more exciting news, I scheduled maternity pictures for June! I didn't have professional pictures done when I was pregnant with hilltot and I regretted not having them. Plus, I know the best photographer around, so I'm taking full advantage of her Mother's Day special. She did such a terrific job with hilltot's one-year photos (click here and here for a few samples), so I'm really looking forward to see how she manages to make this belly look good.

Speaking of which...here's the 26-week belly!

This had better not be a trend

When I was pregnant with hilltot, two rather unusual things happened when I was 36 weeks along. They are in no way related to the pregnancy, but I always associate them because of the timing. 1. We signed the papers to refinance our mortgage, and 2. the airbag fault warning went off in my car. I remember signing the papers because I was big and uncomfortable and they made us wait in the lobby for a long time. I remember the airbag fault because we had to bring my car in and we were able to get a last-minute loaner car because I was so pregnant -- I needed to have a car at my disposal. I requested a VW Golf as my loaner because I've always wanted a Golf, and I was so excited to be able to drive one around for the weekend.

Five days after signing the new mortgage and the day after getting the loaner Golf, I went into labor. Needless to say, I never got to enjoy driving the Golf around.

Anyway, here we are at 25 weeks pregnant. And guess what we did today? Signed the papers to refinance our mortgage. Guess what else happened? The airbag fault warning went off in my car. I haven't taken my car in yet, and I'm kind of nervous to do it because I'm afraid I'll get a Golf loaner that I never get to enjoy. Maybe I should request a Jetta or something just to break the pattern? Because this is WAY too early to be going in to labor.

Although it would be kind of funny if my sure-fire signs of labor include signing mortgage papers and having an airbag fault in my car. I'm pretty sure those aren't two of the standard signs listed in the pregnancy books.

Belly Pic: 25 weeks

Only 3 weeks until my third trimester!

Pregnant Women are Smug by Garfunkel and Oates

This made me laugh. And personally, I don't think I became smug until after I had hilltot and I'd been a mother long enough to realize I wasn't going to break him. The first time around, I was too freaked out by what was happening to my body to be smug, and this time, well, I'm just too tired.

Why, yes...

...as a matter of fact, I did swallow a watermelon! And this one is next.

Belly pic: 24 weeks

Today I'm 24 weeks! So I'm theoretically 6 months along, and I have 4 months (16 weeks) left. This week I haven't been quite as exhausted as I was last week, so it's been nice. I've gained 17 lbs so far, which is pretty close to what I gained by this point with hilltot. However, with hilltot I stopped gaining weight in the third trimester due to my gestational diabetes. I'm sure the same thing will happen this time if I am diagnosed with GD again, and I will do whatever it takes to avoid anything close to Madame Zaritska's first prophecy (see my earlier post today)!

I'm a little late posting my belly pic today and I'm tired, so I'm going to keep this short. Happy Friday!

Madame Zaritska better be wrong

There's a "just for fun" website where Madame Zaritska (a virtual clairvoyant) predicts your birth experience based on how you answer a number of questions. All I can say is, holy cow she'd better be wrong:

"The day you deliver, outside will be bright. Your baby will arrive in the middle of the night. After a labor lasting approximately 24 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 15 pounds, 14 ounces, and will be 18-1/2 inches long. This child will have light violet eyes and barely there blonde hair."

Of course, last time (with hilltot) she predicted a girl too. And I'm not so sure how it will be "bright" outside, as well as the middle of the night. Full moon? Hence the huge baby? And seriously, can anyone see me giving birth to a blonde baby?

I did it again (is that against the rules?) and this is what I got the second time:

"The day you deliver, outside will be sunny. Your baby will arrive in the late evening. After a labor lasting approximately 40 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and will be 20-1/2 inches long. This child will have medium gray eyes and a lot of brown hair."

That sounds a little more reasonable (actually, it sounds a lot like hilltot), although I can do without the 40 hour labor...

Belly pic: 23 weeks

Here I am at 23 weeks! Still chugging along, feeling pretty much as exhausted as I did during the first trimester. I'm not sure if I'm getting more anemic or if gestational diabetes is starting to creep in, but I hit a serious wall every day around 11:30 AM and then again around 6:30 PM. Nowadays I don't even try to catch up with anything during hilltot's naps -- I can barely make it to the couch before I'm asleep myself.

I've also started to think about things we need to do to prepare for this baby. Luckily, we don't need to purchase very much -- we'll be able to reuse hilltot's infant car seat, co-sleeper, and his newborn clothes since we didn't know his gender either and thus have a fair amount of gender-neutral clothing. And if babyhill is a boy, we'll have plenty of clothes for him for a long time!

I'm trying to think of what we'll need doubles of, and so far it seems like a short list: baby monitor, car seat protector, infant diapers, high chair (eventually). I've been looking at the various sit-n-stand stroller options and I like the Joovy Ultralight, but I haven't talked myself into it yet. I plan to use my various carriers a lot with babyhill so that I can push hilltot in his umbrella stroller when we're making quick trips to the store or running errands, but I know that snapping the infant car seat into the stroller is awfully convenient when you don't want to wake a sleeping baby. Then do I put hilltot on my back? Because he'll still be a little too young to walk with me (he'll be ~21 months old). I have no idea. Any suggestions? A lot of people have recommended the Phil & Ted's double stroller, which looks like a really great stroller, but it's a bit more than we're looking for from both a functional and financial perspective. I'm thinking more of the equivalent of a Snap-n-Go -- something to keep in the trunk of my car and use for quick trips. For longer walks, I'll put hilltot in the BOB and carry babyhill in a carrier.

Also, please feel free point out any glaring omissions in my short list of things to get. It seems like an awfully short list. I know I must be missing something really important.

Belly pic: 22 weeks and update

I don't have a lot to report about being 22 weeks along, other than my belly is getting bigger and I'm finally starting to gain weight. Dr. H said that my weight gain is just fine and I'm right on track for 22 weeks along. She also said that I can "probably" go to Boston for my MIT reunion in June, as long as I'm ready to change my plans last minute. Since I had pre-term contractions starting at 31 weeks last time, flying cross-country and staying up all night to party with college friends (um, I did mention this is my 15 year reunion, right??) might not be a great idea. The best we can do is assume I can go and do an ultrasound to check my cervical length the week before.

The big news today is from our ultrasound and fetal echo cardiogram this morning. I was completely stressed out about it, but it seems that things are going really well. The baby's heart is completely normal, the neural cyst is gone, and the baby is growing right on target! All parts and pieces are accounted for, including four chambers of the heart, two functioning kidneys, and a nice strong flow in the umbilical cord. Babyhill was also extremely active, doing some tap dancing and shadow boxing while the ultrasound technician busily kept up. The baby is also currently sitting breech, but that's not a concern at this point. When the tech put the ultrasound wand high on my left side and said, "Here's baby's head..." and then low on my right side and said, "...and here's baby's bottom", I was a little startled about how BIG babyhill already is.

In addition to today's belly comparison picture, I'm including two profile shots from the ultrasound. It's already obvious how beautiful babyhill is, isn't it? Although Chris is a little concerned...this one may have gotten his nose.

Out of sync

According to the various pairs of maternity pants I own, my butt does not keep up with my belly when I am pregnant. You're supposed to buy your pre-pregnancy size, and they make the clothes roomier where necessary. In pants, that means lots of room for your belly (obviously), but it also means a bigger and wider bottom. For some reason, my bottom doesn't quite follow the curve, so I'm cursed with baggy bottom syndrome. It's so bad that the heavier materials (i.e. denim) slide right down. Hence, I wear a lot of skirts during pregnancy. I just hope it stays warm enough for me to start wearing more skirts now! Or I need to find maternity pants made for flat-bottomed girls.

Belly Pic: 21 weeks

21 weeks down, 19 to go! Or less, which is highly probable. I'm still just chugging along. Apparently, babyhill is about 10.5 inches long now and weighs nearly a pound! That's hard for me to fathom, because I feel like my belly hasn't grown since about 14 weeks, and I picture babyhill to be the size of a kumquat or something like that. It's amazing how much less focused I am on this pregnancy than my first. I know it has a lot to do with the fact that I don't have the time to sit and stare at my belly (hilltot has other ideas on how to spend the day). Even though I'm a lot more tired, I'm also glad not to be so obsessed. Of course I still worry, and I still get a thrill when I feel babyhill wiggling around in there, but in general I just get through my day and try to rest when I can.

I have my next OB appointment on Monday, and hopefully I'll find out then whether or not I can fly back to Boston for my MIT reunion in June. I'm hoping I can because I can't wait to see friends, show Chris around Beantown, and get back east to recharge my batteries! Although I enjoy living out west, I miss the east coast and don't get back there nearly often enough. And I'm not even talking about missing my family, which I do, intensely. I'm just talking about soaking up some good ol' east coast vibes while enjoying the people and places. It's good for my soul.

Next Friday is also our next ultrasound and fetal echocardiogram. We'll get to see babyhill's heart in detail and hopefully we'll find out that everything is just fine. We'll also check the flow of the umbilical cord, see what's going on with the neural cyst (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's simply gone), and check all the tiny babyhill parts and pieces to see if we can find anything of concern. I keep hoping that the doctor will say, "Oh look, everything's just fine. The SUA corrected itself, the cyst is gone, and you have absolutely nothing to worry about." I know that's impossible (at least about the SUA correcting itself) but a lady can still dream.

Belly pic: 20 weeks

I've reached the halfway point! The only comparison pic I could find was one of me sticking my belly out, so I look a lot more "popped" and higher in the 2007 version, but that's only because I was arching my back. I also thought I'd include a picture of the little guy who was inside the 2007 belly, and is now beating me in sheer belly mass. I have a bit to go before I'll catch up to him, but I'm getting there.

Now I'm getting really exhausted in the afternoons and evenings, but I think that's because I may be coming down with something. Last night I was at Target (for my big night out - whoo hoo!) and three different people asked me if I needed to take a seat. One woman even made me sit down and brought me some water, saying that I looked like I was about to faint. And yeah, I did feel pretty awful. I'm not sure if it's low blood sugar (I'm still in that cycle where I feel too nauseous to eat, but not eating makes me feel nauseous) or something else, but today I woke up with a horrible headache and sore throat as well. So perhaps hilltot and I are just passing a cold back and forth.

Last week I also switched out my belly button ring for my pregnancy ring. Yes, I have my belly button pierced. It's the result of losing a bet with a group of 14 year olds when I was 22 (never bet against teenagers). I don't even remember what the bet was, but I've had the piercing for 14 years and it's become a part of me. I had to take the ring out when I broke my back (belly button rings and full torso braces don't mix well) and once I was out of the brace, I felt so strange that I had to put the ring back in. And now I've taken out my metal ring, which was straining against the melon-y massiveness that is my belly, and replaced it with a longer, flexible plastic ring. I was able to wear the pregnancy ring throughout my pregnancy last time, as well as through an emergency c-section.

Nothing else really to report. I don't have any appointments until April, so I'm just sitting on the couch eating bon bons while I wait. HA.

Belly pic: 19 weeks

Today is 19 weeks! Babyhill seems to be doing just fine, although there's really no way to tell from out here! I listened to the heartbeat on the fetal doppler this morning (I allow myself to find the heartbeat once a week, just to reassure myself), and although I haven't felt much fluttering lately, I've felt exhausted and nauseous. I chalk that up to babyhill churning out lots of hormones. I also suspect I might be succumbing to gestational diabetes (I feel like I'm suffering from low blood sugar pretty much all the time, yet I feel too nauseous to eat anything).

I've gained about 9lbs so far and I'm hoping to increase that dramatically but I'm not sure how to do it. I gained 25lbs with hilltot (I'd gained about 15lbs of it by 19 weeks), and I'm hoping to gain more this time because I started off this pregnancy 10lbs lighter. So I have some catching up to do! Any suggestions on healthy, tasty, protein-rich, non-meat foods I can eat? Other than peanut butter, yogurt and cottage cheese? I'm sick of those.

Anyway, here's my belly pic from today. I don't have one from my last pregnancy to compare this week, so you get a silhouette of last week's.

Duh

The past few days, I've thought to myself, "Gosh, I feel bloated! What did I eat??" Then I remember that I'm pregnant.

Belly pic: 18 weeks

I feel like I've gotten smaller since last week! I've been sick so I haven't been eating as much, but I don't think that should impact my belly size. Regardless, everything is going well and I'm in that stage of pregnancy when I can sometimes forget that I'm even pregnant. I'm not nauseous anymore, I'm not as exhausted as I was before, and I'm still pretty comfortable getting around. I have tweaks and twinges every once in a while that might make me gasp (round ligament pain), but that happens infrequently and passes quickly. I'm starting to spread out to the sides too (maybe that's where the belly growth has been) so my waist is a distant memory...I'm quickly heading to pear/weeble wobble territory.