34 weeks, 1 day - 99% Safe!

Big milestone yesterday!  99% of babies who are born at 34 weeks live and have no long term problems related to premature birth.  In fact, if you have problems after 34 weeks, doctors will frequently just go in and get the baby rather than putting you on bedrest or giving you drugs to keep you from going into labor.  That is a comforting thought indeed!

I can't believe we're already at 34 weeks.  I'm in Atlanta right now, going through a dry run of mommy-hood with little Cousin Carter.  His birthday is 8/7, two days before Baby is due.  I envision them becoming very close since they'll be so close in age.  That makes me happy to think about.  Of course, I'm not sure how this weekend is going to prepare me for motherhood in reality, since Carter is just a little angel and is so easy to deal with.  I hope it doesn't set unrealistic expectations of how our baby is supposed to behave.  We'll see if I still think he's such a good little man after the weekend, but so far, he's pretty fantastic.

I'm getting good and big these days.  People still like to tell me how tiny I am, but now that strangers are able recognize that I'm pregnant and not just chubby, I don't mind as much.  I can't imagine, though, how uncomfortable it must be if you really do get huge.  I've gotten to a point where I get fairly regular nausea and cramping in my legs, I can't bend over very easily, and I have trouble sleeping.  If my belly was as big as many of those I've seen, I can't even imagine how grumpy I'd be.  I haven't had hot flashes or been unduly put out by the heat, even this recent heat wave that's put us into the triple digits.  Don't get me wrong; I'd rather it be 85 all the time, but I don't think I'm any more uncomfortable with this heat than I was last year.  The diabetes diet is going ok, but it makes me kind of grumpy.  I started out by actually losing weight while I was trying to figure out what I could and couldn't eat, but I think that's mostly subsided.  I don't have a scale here but my weight had stabilized last time I checked it.  Not up to quite what they recommend you put on for this point, but I seem to put it on in spurts rather than a steady pound per week, so I'm not too worried.

Anyway, Carter is awake so I'm going to go get him.  It's not too much longer now before I'll be saying that about our own little Baby!  I just can't believe we're in the home stretch!!

33 weeks, 1 day - Dear Baby

Dear Baby,

Thank you for not giving me stretch marks thus far, but please, please, please get out of my ribs. Those little feet of yours really hurt. Though, based on how big you are now, I can see why it would be difficult for you.

Can't wait to see you in a few weeks! We're super duper excited!!

Love, Mama

33 weeks, 0 days - Uncle Andrew Got Married

The whirlwind of events that took place last week began with Uncle Andrew's wedding and concluded with the surprise shower, so we should be all caught up and up to date after this one.

Matt and I ended up staying at a hotel near where the wedding was being held even though it was just outside of Atlanta.  Grandma Rehbein booked us a room for convenience sake, which was really nice.  It made things so much easier and allowed Matt to hang with his family a lot longer while I went to bed good and early.  Matt took Uncle Andrew out for his bachelor party on Thursday night, then the groomsmen went to a swanky barbershop for a shave and a haircut on Friday morning.  This barbershop served whiskey along with the shave, so it was a nice event for the boys.  I got in on Friday and we went almost immediately to the hotel so Matt could be there for the rehearsal.  The rehearsal dinner was at a little Italian place and all guests were invited, which was really nice since it feels like you never really get to see people at weddings.  Uncle Andrew and Aunt Allie handed out very nice, thoughtful gifts to their bridal party.  Matt got lion head cuff links and a fancy flask set.  We debated whether the lion heads signified Gryffindor House or House Lannister but no decision was made really (personally, I think he's too much of a dummkopf to be in either but that's neither here nor there).

I had an exciting moment while getting ready for the wedding.  Matt left early as he was the best man, so I was left to get ready by myself.  Right before I stepped into the shower, I decided to bolt my hotel room door just to be sure the housekeeper didn't come in at a bad time.  It turned out to be a very wise decision because the front desk gave our room away to Matt's cousin, Steven Rehbein (though I'd never met him or his wife, so I didn't know this at the time).  Right as I stepped out of the shower, I heard someone fiddling with the door.  I threw on a towel and ran over to the peephole and was surprised to find two people trying to get into my room.  Again, good thing I had bolted the door, otherwise, I'd have met some extended Rehbein family under very inauspicious circumstances, indeed!  Anyway, after a couple of minutes, they decided that their key didn't work and went down to the desk.  The front desk then called my room and said, "Hi, this is the front desk; who is in this room?"  I responded that I was with Matt Rehbein as part of the Susan Rehbein group.  The girl responded with, "Well, this room is reserved for the wedding."  Yeah, ok, well a) I'm WITH THE WEDDING... check the last name, genius and b) even if I wasn't, how is that my problem?  It's not like I snuck in, illicitly checked myself into a room, and then attempted to sabotage the hotel's reservation system.  Come on!  I told her that I was with the wedding and she hung up in a huff, reminding me to get my keys reactivated.  It was really weird.

Aside from that, the weekend was just lovely. The wedding itself was lovely. The weather was great, the location was gorgeous, bride and groom looked so happy and everyone seemed to have a very nice time. Everything seemed to go very well and Uncle Andrew was just so cute to watch. He just looked so very very happy to be surrounded by so many people that he loved. Many of his college friends were able to make it down and he was just such a joy to watch. Matt's best man speech was really great, but Grandpa Rehbein really stole the show by starting out with a strong speech at the rehearsal dinner then busting everyone up with a few words at the wedding. Grandma Rehbein should have been very proud of her boys that day, for certain. :)

To follow are a few pics of Matthew that I pulled from the photographer's site, since I didn't take any pics at the wedding. You can see my dress in the family pic. I got lots of compliments on it and felt really, really good about how I was dressed, considering I was nearly 32 weeks pregnant at the time. :) It's not much of a belly shot, but the girls at the front desk of the hotel kept chirping over me, over and over. They were really cute and just couldn't stop gushing about how great I looked and how much they hoped to look as good as I do when they're pregnant and how my dress was just so perfect and on and on. It was enough to make me forgive them for being accusatory jerks earlier about the room mix up.  Again, all in all, it was a very nice event and watching how happy it made Uncle Andrew was just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

32 weeks, 6 days - Surprise Shower!

Before I tell the sweet story of our fabulous shower surprise, I just want to let it be known that there are 50 days left until our due date! Holy moses!!!

So, surprise shower. And what a surprise it was! Originally, we were told that we needed to check out of the cabin by 10:00 am on Saturday because they had another group coming in later that day, but while we were there, the folks we were renting from told us that the other group cancelled so we could take our time. That sounded delightful to us, but Matt started acting a little weird about it on Friday night, implying heavily that we needed to be to have the boat to the dock around 10:00 am. He's always a little weird, so I didn't question it too much, but I wasn't really sure what his problem was. Why not spend another day on the lake and just go home after? But again, without saying that it NEEDED to be back by 10, he gave me the impression that we should have it back by then so that's what we did. We packed up as much as we could on Friday night, then got up at 7:00 am on Saturday to finish packing and straightening and cleaning so we could get the car packed and get Matt onto the boat at 9:30. I drove the car over and met him at the marina where the boat is permanently docked and we were on the road for Atlanta shortly after 10, right on schedule.

I should have sniffed that something was up because his mom called then Amy called then Amy called again then Matt called Amy then Amy called again. I mean, I know they love each other but that's a lot for even them. We pulled into Matt's parents' house around 12:30 to drop off stuff that we'd borrowed (Alabama is an hour behind Georgia... and about a light year behind the rest of the country) and Amy and Brooklyn came out to say hello to us. They walked us in and, as we were coming in the foyer, I saw gifts and a baby shower sign. "Aww, what little tricksters," I thought to myself, "they're throwing us a shower." Then, as I continued into the room, I saw a teenager that I didn't recognize, Matt's Aunt Kathy, Grandma Rehbein, my Aunt Gretchen, and Matt's Grandma. Wait. What? Run that by me again. A teenager that I DID recognize -- namely Bridget Toolan -- Aunt Kathy, Grandma Rehbein, Gretchen Toolan, and Matt's Grandma! What the what?! Two worlds colliding in a very unexpected location. I was so surprised!!! And a little confused, to be honest. It took me an embarrassingly long time to understand what my family was doing in Matt's parents' house. I think my face says it all in this pic:

So yeah. A little surprised. And confused. Hahaha, oh jeez. What an embarrassing moment to be captured. Anyway, after that there was much hugging and visiting and belly discussion and snacks, followed by present opening, lunch, and more visiting. There may have been laughing involved, too. The second pic was taken when I'm over my stunned confusion and on to being pleased and touched that my family loved me enough to come all the way from New Jersey for my shower, so I'm showing off my belly for Bridge.

All in all, our families were so incredibly thoughtful and generous. We opened gifts for what seemed like forever and people just gave us so many nice things. We were a little bit overwhelmed with the generosity and the love we felt through the notes and cards we received. And especially for Aunt Amy and Grandma Rehbein for organizing the shower and Great Aunt Gretchen and Cousin Bridget for coming all the way down just for the day. How lucky, lucky, lucky we are to have so many people love us so much.

There are lots of cute photos from the shower, so I'll just post some of my favorites below:

Whaa? An ORANGE outfit from Great
Aunt Gretchen? Has the world gone mad?!!

 

32 weeks, 5 days - Babymoon!

As you may or may not know, Matt and I were on our Babymoon from June 10 through June 16 at Lake Wedowee, AL.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a babymoon is like a honeymoon, only you take it before your baby comes instead of after you get married.  It's an opportunity to get away and spend time together before the chaos of a new baby enters your life.  We thought it was an important thing for us to do since we don't get to see each other very often and when we do, there are usually a million other things we have to do and people we have to see so that precious alone time is hard to come by.  We chose Lake Wedowee because Matt's parents have their boat docked there and it's an easy place for us to get to.  We talked about a lot of other options, but I wasn't too keen on being at the beach (a) I'm so fat and b) I could get knocked over by the waves and c) I can't drink and d) I don't really want to lay in the sun), I get winded too easily for the mountains to make sense (since I can't really hike around to appreciate them), I don't like spas, and historic touristy destinations are super expensive and again, I get tired so easily that I was afraid we wouldn't appreciate it as much as I should.  The boat just seemed like a perfect place to relax and float around in the water, cook our favorite meals, and be alone together.  And it was.

The cabin we rented was awesome.  We got a great deal for a whole week and the couple we rented from was super nice.  There was a dock right outside the cabin where we tied up the boat, so each morning, it was just a matter of getting out of bed and rolling down to the dock.

The town itself was... interesting.  Wedowee, AL.  I'm pretty sure it's the area Deliverance was based on.  And if not Deliverance, at least My Cousin Vinny.  Matt and I quoted that one an awful lot, especially after we "got mud in our tires."  Amazing, really.  I saw a sign outside a cemetery that read, "Before opening graves, call (xxx) xxx-xxxx."  What the what?!  Is that for grave robbers or what?  Who the heck "opens" graves?  I also saw a sign on the side of a building that read, "YOUR ADD HERE."  So... are we advertising that we have attention deficit disorder or what?  It was all very strange.  The accents were VERY thick, much of the food was deep fried, and believe it or not, there were not many gluten free options in the grocery store.  Our menu became a little more creative than I'd originally planned, but that was fine.  Over all, it was just what we were looking for: laying on the boat reading to each other, floating in the water, cruising around the lake, and cooking our favorite foods, all on nobody's schedule but our own.  The weather was great, the location was beautiful, and everything was just about perfect.  Needless to say, it was very very difficult to come home on Sunday.

Below are a few pics we snapped during the event.  I ended up buying a bikini because maternity suits made me feel like a walrus and I wasn't around anyone besides Matt so I didn't have to be embarrassed by my big belly or my fat thighs.  I draped my swimsuit cover-up over my tummy when I laid in the sun so Baby wouldn't get cooked, which is why my arms look so brown and my tummy still looks so white.

32 weeks, 4 days - Dr. Appointment

So, a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks since I posted last.  Uncle Andrew got married, Matt and I had our babymoon, we had a surprise baby shower, and I had another dr. appointment.  There are pictures that should be associated with most of the items (which, let's face it, are the reason you all stop by this site) so I'm going to just go ahead and get the shortest one out of the way first.  The rest of the events will be posted through out the week, so stand by for those updates.

I went in for a quickie dr. appointment with Dr. Elliot this morning.  As usual, he was wonderful.  The word perfect wasn't bandied about as it was last time, but he did tell me that I'm gorgeous and to keep up everything I'm doing.  Except my diet.  :(  He asked about my sugar levels and I told him that I saw the endocrinologist, took the 3-hour glucose test, and passed it.  He said that, while I don't have diabetes, my sugars are still higher than normal so I'm giving the baby more than normal sugar levels which can cause it troubles down the road (mostly a large sized baby and trouble stabilizing the sugar levels after its born).  So, he told me to cut carbs and follow a diabetes diet.  Meh.  So, while I don't have gestational diabetes, I have to act like I do.  Except that I don't need to prick my finger and test my blood throughout the day.  <sigh> While it's for sure good news that I don't have it, I'm still grumpy about having to watch my diet.  When he told me to cut my carbs, I told him that I don't eat many since I have Celiac's Disease but that I do eat a lot of fruit and he said that I shouldn't be eating more than one serving of fruit per day.  One per day!  Egads, man!  I eat like 10!  So... that's going to have to change.  Maybe that will be enough to get my levels down to normal.  And, I have to say, it's pretty awesome that I didn't find this out until AFTER babymoon; that way we didn't have to worry about it on vacation.  :)  Good timing, Dr. Elliot.

Other than that, things were good.  I gained three lbs since my last visit, which was three weeks ago, so I'm right on track with weight.  Blood pressure 110 over 70, so I think that's good.  He didn't tell me the heart rate, but it sounded good and strong.  The funnest news, though, came when I asked him how they can tell if I do have a larger than average baby or not.  He told me that they're going to do another sonogram at the appointment after next!  Hooray!!  I'm so excited!  I don't know if we'll get pics from it or not, but I'm so excited to see Baby again and to maybe catch a glimpse of his/her head/face and to find out how big he/she is trending!  He did say that once they're over 8 lbs, it's hard to determine how big they really are.  He said they're pretty good at telling if it's 6 lbs 9 oz or 7 lbs 5 oz, but once it gets to be over 8, they aren't very good at estimating.  I don't yet know when that appointment will be, but the next one is on July 3rd at 3:15.  I'm hoping that the sonogram appt. will be just a week later because then we can schedule it early Monday morning and Matt can come!  Maybe.  I don't really know when we go from every two weeks to every week.  Hooray for sonograms!

31 weeks, 0 days - 3-hour Glucose Test & Results

7:40 am - Oh, the best laid schemes of mice and men.  I had such high expectations and hopes for how this morning would turn out and they were all dashed in a single act of lazy stupidity.  Oh Amanda, will you ever win?  In a whirlwind of cleaning and straightening, I stuffed my lab paperwork into a bag to get it out of the way before my mom came.  I then took that bag to work.  Where I left it.  As you may or may not know, I do not live particularly close to work, nor is the lab where I am scheduled to have my test particularly close to work.  In fact, it’s super inconvenient because the best road to get from work to the lab is HOV only (in the direction I need to go) from 6:30 am to 9:30 am M-F.  Ugh.  Sooo… I drove to work at 5:50 this morning.  Traffic was delightfully light.  I ran into the building, grabbed the paperwork, and hopped back on the road to come to the lab… and realized that I didn’t actually know how to get there without using the HOV-only road.  Thank goodness Matt is so dear; he woke up to talk to me on the way and pulled up Googlemaps in order to guide me.  I arrived here around 7:15 and was pleased to see that the lab was pretty empty.  I wanted to arrive at 6:30 when they opened so that I could be first in line and then be able to be back to work early enough to work a full day.  I remembered from taking Daddy to the lab that being there first thing in the morning was frequently important because they take people on a first come, first serve basis.  Soo… here I am.

I registered with the triage person and then a phlebotomist drew my “starvation” blood level.  It just meant that I wasn’t allowed to eat since after dinner last night, so since I’m here so early in the morning, it wasn’t very difficult.  He tested my blood and, as long as the sugar level was below 140 during starvation mode, they were to give me a sugary drink after which they’d check my blood levels every hour for three hours.  So the clock didn’t start until I was given the drink.  He didn’t tell me what the level was but he came out shortly with a bottle of red glucose drink and asked me to drink it within 10 minutes.  I have to say, THIS drink lived up to the hype.  Oh my goodness.  It was FOUL.  But in a sweet way.  It didn’t taste like fish oil or anything, just really disgustingly sweet.  Not nearly as delicious as the 1-hour glucose drink.  And now I wait.  Blood draws at 8:27, 9:27 and 10:27.

7:51 am – that juice made my tummy hurt.  

9:20 am – I haven’t been drinking water because my tummy huts but I need to drink because being stuck four different times in 3 hours kind of hurts if they can’t find a good vein because you're dehydrated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stopped recording after that because I got SO very sick.  Like the sickest I've ever been in my entire life.  It was awful.  I ended up stopping at CVS on my way home and begging the pharmacist for help and then getting nearly hysterical when she couldn't help me.   I spent about 25 minutes there because I was too sick to drive and I thought I was going to faint then throw up while I was passed out and then choke on my vomit die.  Did I mention that I got a little hysterical? 

I came to work this morning and apologized to my boss for not getting back online once I got home but that I was far too sick to do so.  He told me that he'd heard that test makes you so sick that it takes everything you can do not to throw up, so he didn't expect me back.  Wtf?  Really?  If my BOSS knew that, why the heck didn't someone think to mention it to ME?  Arrgh.  Whatever.  It's over now and I'm fine.  Just a gross day yesterday.

The good news is that the doctor called around 4:00 pm to tell me that my test results were normal and I do not have gestational diabetes.  Hooray!  So all in all, it was worth it.  Though I'm glad I don't have to go through it again.

30 weeks, 5 days - Stranger Comments & Breast Feeding Class

I've said for a long time that I was kind of waiting for strangers to recognize that I'm pregnant and that would be a sign that I'm really, officially showing.  Not the kind of showing that people who know you really well can tell, but the kind that just anyone can tell.  It happened yesterday.  And it was funny and cute and surprising.  The postings from my "birth club" on BabyCenter made it sound like it was going to be horrible and that I'd be plagued with thoughtlessly rude comments, but my first experience with a stranger's comment was an absolute delight.  I was taking a walk yesterday during my lunch break and I walked past a construction site.  I know construction workers have a stigma associated with them and the stereotype is that they're crude and whistle or cat call at women, but these guys are always nice and smile at us and say hello.  Well yesterday, I was walking by and was on the phone with Matt when I passed a big guy who gave me this giant toothy grin as I passed and said, "Hey!  Congratulations!"  At first I wasn't sure what he was congratulating me on, but after a few seconds it was clear.  And he really seemed genuinely happy and happy for me.  Like he was so delighted that I was bringing another child into the world that he couldn't contain it.  You know that kind of smile where you can tell someone is genuinely happy?  When their smiles go up into their eyes and they sort of twinkle at you?  Like his smile just bubbled up and burst out of him.  I realize that I associated a whole lot of emotion and internal commentary to a single smile and two words, but it was just a really nice human moment.

Also, yesterday I went to a breast feeding class at the hospital where I'm going to deliver.  It was wonderful.  I was shocked by how many people were in the class (I'd say 35-50 plus their partners), too.  I wasn't sure about taking the class but I'd heard so many stories about women having trouble nursing that I figured I might as well just take the class to see what I could see.  Turns out, it was a very good move.  The class was fantastic.  The instructor was fantastic.  I learned a lot and had an overall really great experience.  I wish Matt had been able to come, but Sheri came with me and took copious notes so I wasn't alone.  It really made me look forward to our birthing class and for my infant care skills class which will both be in July.  It was also really fun to look at all the pregnant women of all different shapes and sizes and ages and ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds.  I mean, it was in Arlington, so there weren't THAT much ethnic or socioeconomic diversity, but it really was pretty cool to see so many different bellies and belly sizes.  Sheri and I kept pointing out people and wondering how far along they were.  It would be kind of fun to know which bellies were almost ready and which still had a while to cook.  Just kind of interesting to see how different bodies develop.

30 weeks, 1 day - Glucose Update

Met with the endocrinologist today (diabetes doctor).  She was fantastic.  My blood sugar was actually too low this time, so that was kind of annoying.  The doctor asked me why my OB sent me to her instead of sending me to get the 3-hour glucose test to confirm whether or not I have gestational diabetes.  I told her that because of my family history and because we did the screen later than it's generally done, my OB preferred to send me straight to the endocrinologist to have her make decisions as opposed to waiting longer.  She explained to me that since my sugar was low today, I clearly don't have out of control, untreated g. diabetes so that's good and that most women who do have it are able to control it with diet.  That's the same thing my OB said, but I told the endo doc (Dr. Go) that I was really frustrated with everything I read because I've been so careful about my diet already.  She was just wonderful and listened and explained things to me so thoroughly.  She walked me through everything that would happen if I do in fact have it and gave me a glucometer with which to test my sugar.  She then explained my options to me: basically, I can either take the 3 hour test or just skip it and start monitoring my sugar.  I told her that I'd prefer to know for sure and she said that she agreed with me and that's what her recommendation would have been but that she preferred for me to make the decision.

Here's how it goes from here: I have the 3 hour test on Wednesday am.  The results should be available to Dr. Go as early as Thursday at which point she'll call me and tell me what's up.  If I do have it, she'll call in a prescription to my pharmacy for testing strips and I'll start monitoring my sugar four times a day and will set up an appointment to meet with her again and go over my sugar levels with her once I get back from the babymoon.  I'll make an appointment with a nutritionist also and discuss what sort of changes need to be made in my diet to keep my sugar levels normal.  If I don't have it, then no worries, the screen gave a false positive, and all is well with the world.  Until I take the test, I should continue on with my regular diet and exercise regimen.

So, while I don't really know anything more than I did yesterday, I feel a lot better because the Dr. Go spent so much time with me listening and explaining things.  She was really fantastic.  How lucky I am to have so many great doctors around!

Oh, and she also said, "Wow, you do NOT look 30 weeks pregnant.  That's amazing."  After I told her that people frequently say that, she said, "Oh, well it's a good thing.  You know that, right?  You know that it's a compliment and that you should take it as such."  I told her that since I'm gaining weight as I should and as far as the OB is concerned, everything is growing the way it should, I'm not worried but that it was nice to get extra medical reassurance.  Like I said, she was really, really nice.