Overnight Adventure!

Overnight Adventure? That's putting a silver lining on it!! Wednesday had an interesting turn of events not too long after I wrote the last posting. I started having some cramping on Wednesday afternoon that only got worse, then came the lower back pain and feeling pretty sick. It was kind of how I felt when I started going into labor with Caroline. Needless to say, I called my OB and was told to lie down, drink tons of water and call back in a little bit if it stayed the same or got worse. Well, it got worse. My OB decided it would be a good idea to go to Labor and Delivery and check how the baby was doing on a fetal monitor.

When we got to the hospital, we learned the baby was doing great, however, there was "irritability" that registered on the moniter-so some action was going on, but not even to show up as contractions. I was told that I was probably just dehydrated, but after a nurse told me I was dialated 1 cm, I was brought upstairs to be put on an IV and observed during the night. All I kept thinking (since I got about 1 hour of sleep) was a.) I'm only 23 weeks and I'll go into labor ealry or b) BED REST! Thank goodness when my doctor came in the next morning and I learned that I was not indeed dialated 1 cm; I was not dialated at all for that matter! Obviously the nurse the day before made a mistake. I am, however, 25% effaced, but my doctor also said that could be normal for me at this point, but she really wouldn't know that b/c normally at 23 weeks they don't check to see if there is any effacement. SO, I was put on partial bedrest until this morning (I was allowed to still go to the appointment at the perinatalogist on Thurs. morning after I was discharged, though. More on that in a minute...) when I was to see my Dr. again to see how things were going and if we would still be able to go on our beach vacation Tuesday morning that had been planned for about 5 months.

We left the hospital after I was discharged and made it down to the ultrasound appointment in time.-barely Everything looked great with the baby and the perinatalogist said that she is not worried and thinks that everything will be fine. There were no other indications that anything was wrong and the cysts were gone. When we were leaving, I asked the Dr. if she, by any chance, knows the sex of the baby and she said she did. So, ladies and gentlement, there is someone out there that knows what we are having and WE don't even know!! Don't worry-you all know how I am when I set my mind of something, I will not give in and call her to find out!!

Now, back to today-I saw my OB for my follow-up and she said everything seems perfectly OK to go on vacation, but to still "take it easy". I don't think that will be too hard since we'll be sitting by the beach/pool much of the time and Brett can be my "man slave" (as he affectionately referred it when he was putting in all the extra help this weekend) the rest of the time. We are meeting Ron and Kerri and the kids (Brett's brother's family). so it should be a lot of fun to seee the cousins together (ages 1,2,3, and 5). W e are, of couse, very excited to see everyone and still be able to go, but we adults are even more excited that we will have a babysitter that will be helping us out with all 4 kids throughout the week! Now that will be an adventure, not to mention a well-deserved vacation! I will make sure to add pictures when we get back and also pictures of blueberry picking from last weekend, too (the camera is already packed, or those would have been posted already)!

Catching Up

I have lots to catch everyone up on. Let's start with blueberries! Saturday we went blueberry picking at a local farm. Caroline absolutely loved it! She was so intent on picking only the blue blue berries ("No pink, Mommy! No green, Mommy!" She went from bush to bush picking tons of blueberries and putting them all in her own bucket. We picked about 5 pounds of bluebnerries total and I think Caroline must have eattenabout 2 punds while we were picking! We will definitely have to go back there bnefore their season in over in July.
Ok, now Father's Day...
Although it was nothing TOO serious, we spent the first several hours of Father's Day in the Emergency Room. Basically all last week Caroline kept having "accidents" each day. I wasn't really sure why that was happening bc she's been really good about telling me when she has to go and usually will only have an accident once a week, if that. Fri. she had three accidents and by Sat. she had four within about 3 hours after she really hadn't even had that much to drink. So I called the nurse on call on Sat. night asking if maybe she had a UTI. Sure enough that's what they thought it was, and told me I had to bring her in to be seem first thing Sun. morning and of course the urgent care centers didn't open until noon! So we got to the ER at about 7:45 and didn't end up leaving until just after 11am! The good news is that she got her medication and is feeling much better. The rest of Father's Day was better even though it poured out all day long! We went to Brett's favorite breakfast place (Cracker Barrell) and went home for naps (Caroline and I). After Caroline woke up, we opened presents and Caroline and I went to the store to get some of Daddy's favorite things to make for dinner. We grilled out and had a really nice night.
Starting last week, Caroline has been giving me more trouble going down for her nap. I am really worried that she is going to start to want to give up her nap before Baby #2 comes. I told Brett that she better nap at least until this baby is 4 months old. She has always been a great napper and usually takes naps that are about 2 hours long each day. Lately, she has been playing in her crib for sometimes up to an hour and a half before she'll fall asleep. Twice since last week she hasn't taken a nap at all. I know that some of you may be reading this thinking that I am crazy and that I am over reacting, well, if you are thinking that you have A) don't stay home with your child or B) are not pregnant with child #2,#3, etc! We moms needs our break while our little ones naps!!!
Now, with that said, I am bringing Caroline to a Stretch n' Grow class at the Rec. Center on Wed. mornings. The class is taught by my sitter's mom, whom Caroline adores! They jump and dance and sing for 45 min. (moms need not be present!) and then I've ben bringing her over to the pool after to swim for a bit and eat some lunch. So, needless to say, she usually take a very good nap on Wednesdays (and so does Mommy!). I think the key is to make sure I have her do some extended physical activity every mornig so she'll be exhausted by naptime!
This Thurs. Brett and I are going to our perinatalogist appointment to get the next level ultrasound. They will be checking on the bilateral chorid plexus cysts and the position of my placenta, since it was a bit low last time. We weren't too nervous about the appointment since the cysts are pretty common (Caroline had them, too) and every other test has come back normal. However, yesterday I got a call from the perinatalogist's office asking if we could come in an hour earlier than our appointment so we could get genetic couseling ans testing done, since "the doctor likes to get a complete picture of all her patients and babies". I asked the nurse if she really asks this for all her patients or if she was just asking this from Brett and I (so basically, "IS THERE A PROBLEM??"). She claimed again that she really does suggest is for all her patients though. I called Brett to tell him and right away he had the same reaction and asked if I could call my OB to make sure this was a normal request. The nurse at the OB's office said that is is "absolutely normal", so that made me feel better. Brett, on the other hand, still does not fully believe any of them, since he is still annoyed at my OB for waiting a week and a half to tell us about the cysts and my low-lying placenta. I'm sure it will all work out and I'll leep everyone updated.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow! I haven't written anything in awhile! I will have to catch you all up on what we have been up to. Almost 2 weeks ago, I had my 20 week appt. The heartbeat was in the low 140s and I had gained 7 pounds total since the beginning. My OB discussed the results of my ultrasound, too. It looks like Baby #2 has the same bilateral chorid plexus cysts that Caroline had at the same point in the pregnancy. Chorid plexus cysts are bascially tiny cysts that develop on the baby's brain (bilateral cysts develop on both sides of the brain) and usually are harmless and disappear on their own somewhere between 21-24 weeks. Caroline's were gone by the 21st week. Chorid plexus cysts could be one of several indictations of a possible chormosonal problem in the baby, however both Caroline and Baby #2 did not have any of the other indications that are usually there in combination with the cysts that would point towards a chormosonal problem (for example limbs measuring different lengths, one spot in the heart brighter than the rest, or your quad blood screening coming back with any abnormalities). When we were told all of this with Caroline we were still deeply concerned/nervous until the results came back from a 21 week ultrasound showing the cysts had disappeared. This time, of course we are looking forward to seeing ultrasound results of the cysts no longer existing, however, we feel a lot more positive about the whole thing after having gone through it all with Caroline, not knowing much about it at the time. SO, my level 2 ultrasound with the perinatalogist will be June 21 and we will know more than. At that same appt. they will be checking my placenta to make sure that it has "moved up" since my OB said from my 18.5 week ultrasound that my placenta was "borderline low-lying". She did say that when the placenta is like that, that it usually moves up on its own within the next several weeks, however, if for some reason it does not, I would need a C-section. Let's hope that it's moved up, since I had a very easy labor and delivery with Caroline, so I'm hoping for the same this time!
Other than that, the OB said that everything looks great with the baby and that the baby's measurements were "beautiful", so that is all good news!
Besides Baby News, we have just been busy with visitors again. My parents ("Grandma" and "Grandpa") came for a visit. My mother arrived Thurs. and my father got in on Fri. My dad left today and my mom will be here until Wed. Caroline was very excited to see her Grandma and Grandpa. We all took her to play in the fountain again and went out for a pizza lunch. Tonight before my father left we went out to dinner and she stayed busy coloring pictures the whole time. I think that was one of the first meals out where we did not have to keep pulling books and toys out of her bag to entertain her! Hopefully, we have hit a turning point?? We'll see.
Brett left today, too, for a trip to D.C., so it is just Caroline, Grandma and I until Wed. We have big plans to go to the pool tomorrow and get her very tired out for her nap!