Everything looks good. There really isn't much to report from this appointment. It was more informational and to get my yearly well woman appointment out of the way. I go to the 1st look ultrasound in 2 weeks, so I will have more to report then.
She decided to keep December 26th as my due date. She said that at this point it's normal for the u/s to be off by a week and that they aren't 100% accurate. She said if I wasn't so regular she would be more leery, but my periods are consistantly 26 days. She said that she would rather go with my LMP because I had difficulty delivering ally and tommy since they were angled sideways and she feels they may have fallen into that position b/c I am short waisted and didn't have a lot of room for them to turn the correct direction. The bigger the baby is, the more likely it is that you'll have trouble with them turning in strange ways. The only way to get them to come out is for the doctor to reach up and turn them, which has its risks (and is really painful even w/ the epidural, trust me).
If future ultrasounds keep pointing to me being behind, she may change it, but for now she feels confident there are more reasons to keep the earlier date than not to.
So, that's all for now. I get my next ultrasound on June 16th. :) I'll update then!
6/02/2008
5/22/2008
Saw our little bean!
Our baby :)
This is a head-on shot, so it's kind of hard to see. There is JUST one, for those of you who have asked! The little ring at the top of the Gestational sac is the yolk sac. The yolk sac remains until about 10-12 weeks when the placenta takes over.
We get another ultrasound on June 16. This is called "First Look". It's an additional ultrasound with a Perinatologist done between 11-13 weeks to test for the same types of conditions that the Triple or Quad Screens check for. The ultrasound and bloodwork is done at the same time and then the results are compared to give a more accurate result of the potential for anomalies. This used to be a test done for women who were pregnant at age 35+, but in 2007 ACOG advocated to have this be a standard test offered to all patients and for it to be covered by insurance. At first, i was a little bit nervous about this, but the doctor's office assured me that it's offered to everyone, not just me.
This is a head-on shot, so it's kind of hard to see. There is JUST one, for those of you who have asked! The little ring at the top of the Gestational sac is the yolk sac. The yolk sac remains until about 10-12 weeks when the placenta takes over.
Yesterday (5/21/08), we saw our little one for the first time. Everything is going well. The baby measured about a week behind what we thought he/she would, but that's normal because you never know if you ovulated/implanted late. It's also early, so it's very possible that the baby will measure differently at the next ultrasound. The due date going by what i my LMP was would have been 12/26/08, but if we go by the ultrasound it would be 01/02/09. My OB will probably talk to me about which date to go by after the next ultrasound.
We get another ultrasound on June 16. This is called "First Look". It's an additional ultrasound with a Perinatologist done between 11-13 weeks to test for the same types of conditions that the Triple or Quad Screens check for. The ultrasound and bloodwork is done at the same time and then the results are compared to give a more accurate result of the potential for anomalies. This used to be a test done for women who were pregnant at age 35+, but in 2007 ACOG advocated to have this be a standard test offered to all patients and for it to be covered by insurance. At first, i was a little bit nervous about this, but the doctor's office assured me that it's offered to everyone, not just me.
Our baby looked very good. The heart rate was beating at 164bpm, which is very good. They want it to be over 120bpm, so I was happy to hear that.
My next appointment is June 2nd. That's just a regular appointment with my doctor. Then I get the ultrasound on June 16th.
I'll keep you posted!
Christy
5/19/2008
Announcement
Look to the right. :)
Yep, we are going to have another baby! It was a huge surprise. We've known for about a week now. Many of you know that we really wanted to have #3 and tried for 14 months back in 2006-2007. After spending a lot of time, emotion, and money trying we decided that we couldn't pour any more of ourselves into trying. We decided to stop and took most of last summer convincing ourselves that we weren't meant to have #3. Over the last 8 months or so, the idea of having just 2 was getting easier to accept. We spent a lot of energy telling ourselves of all the reasons that we "shouldn't" have another one anyway. (the kids are getting older and more independent, tommy is almost 100% potty trained, school tuition, no extra bedroom, vacations, money, etc). Not to mention we got rid or most of our baby stuff. We did keep our crib, baby swing, and high chair b/c it was painful enough selling the smaller things, so I couldn't bear to get rid of the big stuff just yet. (Thank goodness!!! lol)
After doing all that we were pretty comfortable with our decision to stop trying and move on with our lives. So needless to say, this was a huge shock. We were very happy when we found out, yet a little apprehensive. It was really hard to believe, so it took a few days to wrap our heads around it.
What happened was, in March, i started early (for any guys reading this, i'll spare the tmi details) so that meant that I would probably start right around the time of our vacation in April. I called the doctor and asked them if there's anything that I can do to delay it. Most people would just take their next pack of birth control right after finishing one month's worth in order to delay it. Well, the doctor will not let me be on any estrogen based birth control pills because after having Tommy I had a PE scare, and estrogen in BCPs can cause clots. So, they said the only thing they can prescribe is Aygestin, which is a progesterone-only pill. Some people take this pill as a form of birth control for the entire month, but if you take it just before you are supposed to start, it doesn't act as a BCP because it doesn't prevent ovulation. So, the instructions for delaying my period was to just take it from 3 days before our trip until the day we returned. I was then supposed to start 3 days after that. Well, 3 days came and went. I researched this medication online and found that some people don't start for 10 days after stopping the medication. I ended up waiting the 10 days and still nothing. I got to the point where I was enjoying not having my period, so i kind of let it go. It never once crossed my mind that I could be pregnant given that we've never been able to conceive without medical intervention, and the last time it didn't work even with medical intervention.
So, Tuesday of last week, I was really crabby. Matt was asking me what was wrong and why I was so moody and I told him that I probably screwed up my body by taking that medication and that I still hadn't started, so my hormones were probably all over the place. He agreed and said I better call the doctor on Wednesday to see if they need to give me a shot to restart my system. I agreed. I thought about it and figured that the first thing the doctor would say is, "well, you never started, so did you take a pregnancy test?" so I figured i would go ahead and take one just so i could say that i had and that it was negative. lol I ended up finding an expired test in the bathroom. I took it and it came up positive right away. I was shocked. I called Matt to come and see and he was shocked, too. I told him the test was expired and we should probably buy a new one. He ran up to Walgreens and picked up a new box. That test came back positive, too.
I called the doctor the next morning and she had me come in that day for bloodwork. My hcg level came back 18,596miU. She estimates that I was probably around 7-8 weeks based on that result. She said that the progesterone actually probably caused the pregnancy and that may have been what I needed all along. So, we're thinking I'm probably due December 26th if we go by my LMP, which was in March. She scheduled an ultrasound to get an exact due date for Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.
Yep, we are going to have another baby! It was a huge surprise. We've known for about a week now. Many of you know that we really wanted to have #3 and tried for 14 months back in 2006-2007. After spending a lot of time, emotion, and money trying we decided that we couldn't pour any more of ourselves into trying. We decided to stop and took most of last summer convincing ourselves that we weren't meant to have #3. Over the last 8 months or so, the idea of having just 2 was getting easier to accept. We spent a lot of energy telling ourselves of all the reasons that we "shouldn't" have another one anyway. (the kids are getting older and more independent, tommy is almost 100% potty trained, school tuition, no extra bedroom, vacations, money, etc). Not to mention we got rid or most of our baby stuff. We did keep our crib, baby swing, and high chair b/c it was painful enough selling the smaller things, so I couldn't bear to get rid of the big stuff just yet. (Thank goodness!!! lol)
After doing all that we were pretty comfortable with our decision to stop trying and move on with our lives. So needless to say, this was a huge shock. We were very happy when we found out, yet a little apprehensive. It was really hard to believe, so it took a few days to wrap our heads around it.
What happened was, in March, i started early (for any guys reading this, i'll spare the tmi details) so that meant that I would probably start right around the time of our vacation in April. I called the doctor and asked them if there's anything that I can do to delay it. Most people would just take their next pack of birth control right after finishing one month's worth in order to delay it. Well, the doctor will not let me be on any estrogen based birth control pills because after having Tommy I had a PE scare, and estrogen in BCPs can cause clots. So, they said the only thing they can prescribe is Aygestin, which is a progesterone-only pill. Some people take this pill as a form of birth control for the entire month, but if you take it just before you are supposed to start, it doesn't act as a BCP because it doesn't prevent ovulation. So, the instructions for delaying my period was to just take it from 3 days before our trip until the day we returned. I was then supposed to start 3 days after that. Well, 3 days came and went. I researched this medication online and found that some people don't start for 10 days after stopping the medication. I ended up waiting the 10 days and still nothing. I got to the point where I was enjoying not having my period, so i kind of let it go. It never once crossed my mind that I could be pregnant given that we've never been able to conceive without medical intervention, and the last time it didn't work even with medical intervention.
So, Tuesday of last week, I was really crabby. Matt was asking me what was wrong and why I was so moody and I told him that I probably screwed up my body by taking that medication and that I still hadn't started, so my hormones were probably all over the place. He agreed and said I better call the doctor on Wednesday to see if they need to give me a shot to restart my system. I agreed. I thought about it and figured that the first thing the doctor would say is, "well, you never started, so did you take a pregnancy test?" so I figured i would go ahead and take one just so i could say that i had and that it was negative. lol I ended up finding an expired test in the bathroom. I took it and it came up positive right away. I was shocked. I called Matt to come and see and he was shocked, too. I told him the test was expired and we should probably buy a new one. He ran up to Walgreens and picked up a new box. That test came back positive, too.
I called the doctor the next morning and she had me come in that day for bloodwork. My hcg level came back 18,596miU. She estimates that I was probably around 7-8 weeks based on that result. She said that the progesterone actually probably caused the pregnancy and that may have been what I needed all along. So, we're thinking I'm probably due December 26th if we go by my LMP, which was in March. She scheduled an ultrasound to get an exact due date for Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.
4/28/2008
Wonderful vacation!
We had a great vacation! It was a lot of fun. Very relaxing! We missed the kids, but of course, it was good for us as well as for them.
The ship was huge. It was very pretty. We really loved our room. It was spacious and we had a balcony, so that was really nice. The staff was great. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The food was wonderful as well.
We arrived in St. Maarten after 3 days on the ship. It was a really nice island. We were surprised at how aarid it was. We really loved our tour there. It was an ATV tour. We took 4 wheelers around the island, which is half french and half dutch. It was interesting to see the different sides of the island. At the end of the tour, we spent about an hour at Orient beach. It was beautiful. The ocean was so pretty. The sand was so soft, white, and powdery. We loved it. When the tour was over, we re-boarded the ship to get cleaned up to go shopping in Philipsburg. It was a lot of fun. It was interesting to see all the vendors there. And then there were also really nice stores also - Tiffany's, Coach, etc.
The next island was St. Thomas. We went on a snorkeling tour here. It was really great. We took The Dancing Dolphin catamaran out to Turtle Cove. There were lots of pretty fish and several green sea turtles, which was really neat. That was something that I really wanted to see, so I was excited to see them. They were so used to people that they would just swim right up to the surface less than a foot away. It was really neat.
We didn't get to do the shopping we hoped to do on St. Thomas because they had a Mardi Gra type of fesitval downtown. We were told that all the stores would be closed for this event from Thursday-Sunday. We arrived on Thursday. It turns out that some of the stores were open afterall, but by the time we found out, it was too late to get a taxi. We ended up just visiting some of the local vendors at the pier and purchasing some stuffed turtles for the kids and a few magnets.
Our last island was Princess Cays. It was really pretty. The beach was very nice. This is actually a part of the bahamas that Princess Cruises owns. They had an island bbq for us. It was really good. This island was really pretty, with nice beaches, lots of shells, and reefs to snorkel in.
It was nice because the only people there were people from the ship, Princess staff, and vendors that princess invited to the island. The vendors were very friendly and made a lot of the items. The good thing is that because they were invited by Princess there wasn't anyone there asking if they could braid our hair or anything like that.
We had a very nice trip!!! If you want to see pictures, you can go to http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/563343719JyKTwk;jsessionid=abcymZCF72Kw5eI1X6_Nr
The ship was huge. It was very pretty. We really loved our room. It was spacious and we had a balcony, so that was really nice. The staff was great. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The food was wonderful as well.
We arrived in St. Maarten after 3 days on the ship. It was a really nice island. We were surprised at how aarid it was. We really loved our tour there. It was an ATV tour. We took 4 wheelers around the island, which is half french and half dutch. It was interesting to see the different sides of the island. At the end of the tour, we spent about an hour at Orient beach. It was beautiful. The ocean was so pretty. The sand was so soft, white, and powdery. We loved it. When the tour was over, we re-boarded the ship to get cleaned up to go shopping in Philipsburg. It was a lot of fun. It was interesting to see all the vendors there. And then there were also really nice stores also - Tiffany's, Coach, etc.
The next island was St. Thomas. We went on a snorkeling tour here. It was really great. We took The Dancing Dolphin catamaran out to Turtle Cove. There were lots of pretty fish and several green sea turtles, which was really neat. That was something that I really wanted to see, so I was excited to see them. They were so used to people that they would just swim right up to the surface less than a foot away. It was really neat.
We didn't get to do the shopping we hoped to do on St. Thomas because they had a Mardi Gra type of fesitval downtown. We were told that all the stores would be closed for this event from Thursday-Sunday. We arrived on Thursday. It turns out that some of the stores were open afterall, but by the time we found out, it was too late to get a taxi. We ended up just visiting some of the local vendors at the pier and purchasing some stuffed turtles for the kids and a few magnets.
Our last island was Princess Cays. It was really pretty. The beach was very nice. This is actually a part of the bahamas that Princess Cruises owns. They had an island bbq for us. It was really good. This island was really pretty, with nice beaches, lots of shells, and reefs to snorkel in.
It was nice because the only people there were people from the ship, Princess staff, and vendors that princess invited to the island. The vendors were very friendly and made a lot of the items. The good thing is that because they were invited by Princess there wasn't anyone there asking if they could braid our hair or anything like that.
We had a very nice trip!!! If you want to see pictures, you can go to http://travel.webshots.com/slideshow/563343719JyKTwk;jsessionid=abcymZCF72Kw5eI1X6_Nr
3/16/2008
New Toy!!
Over the weekend, we decided to put together this pedal car for the kids. It was an incredible deal, so we got it for them for Christmas. They had plenty to open Christmas morning, so we decided to wait until it got warmer out and just surprise them with it since they wouldn't be able to play with it in the winter anyway.
Expert pedal-er
And he's off....
It's so cool. The kids love it. It's adjustable, so the size is perfect for both of them right now and we can move the seat back when they get taller! They were so excited!
Ally
Tommy
Our neighbors were outside when we got it put together so Collin and Evan got to ride it too! I think they really had a lot of fun with it. 
Our neighbors were outside when we got it put together so Collin and Evan got to ride it too! I think they really had a lot of fun with it. 3/11/2008
Ice Skating!!!
Today, we went ice skating. It was a lot of fun. I had the wrong size skates, and by the time I thought I should exchange them, we didn't have much time left so I grimaced in pain the rest of the time. It was still fun. The kids had a great time. They both want to go again sometime.
My mom went with us. I'm SO glad because it would have been next to impossible to do this by myself. lol
Here's ally holding on to the wall. She did really well. A year or two ago she would have been petrified, so I was really glad to see her enjoying herself. Towards the end, she actually let go of the wall a few times.
Tommy had a great time, too. He was a little more timid of the whole thing, but he enjoyed it. He went around the rink (my mom and I switching between kids) two times and then at the end, he and i would just go up about 1/4 of the way and then back up towards the door. I think his skates might have been hurting him, too. He still really loved it.Grandma with Tommy
Grandma with ally 3/08/2008
Happy 30th Steph!
Surprise!!! :)
Today was Steph's 30th birthday party. It was a party planned by her husband, Erik, at a winery nearby. It's a quaint little place, very nice. It was a Luncheon style birthday party - very much what Steph likes. She had no idea about the party (as you can see on her face).
Eric & Steph
Steph opening presentsThere were a lot of people there, although you can't tell from my pictures because I was standing on a chair taking most of them. Steph's family was there, Erik's family was there, some of Steph's co-workers, her friend Tiffany from college, and several of us that have known each other since high school.
Monica, Heather, Steph, me
Erik & Steph 
Heather & Steph
Barry & Laurie (first smiling, then silly faces) Laurie is Steph's sister. Barry is a friend of ours from highschool.
Barry & Heather
Monica & Me
Steph and Tiffany
(steph, i know you are going to hate this picture, but it serves you right for not smiling for me.) ;)
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