Milestone three: 28 weeks. A trip to L&D and moving out!

These past few days have been full of excitement. Our stroller system and Stokke Sleepi combo arrived on Thursday and we love it!! We only assembled the stroller as it's neater to keep the cot in the box with all the works that will be going on. Here's what it looks like (and don't look at the mess around the place, we are packing!! The Dude is also very interested....)

Then, I woke up on Saturday feeling very dizzy. Never happened during the pregnancy but I did suffer of this occasionally in the past. Not sure what it is, sounds like vertigo of course, but it solves itself in a couple of days max. Anyway, we are packing and moving things around the house as our Attic project will start tomorrow and we are moving out today. I couldn't do much at all but Mike is just brilliant. In the afternoon after coming back from shopping I went to the bathroom and found my knickers were stained. Damn. Not much of course, and light in colour. But still. And I had been dizzy all day. So I remember the ultrasound tech said it could happen, to stay calm and get checked out. This is the conversation between me and Mike that took place.

Me: "Mike, I'm spotting a bit"

Mike: "Oh...I think it's ok"

Me: "... I want to go to the Maternity Hospital just in case"

Mike: "Do you want to give them a call?"

Me: "No! I WANT to go there"

Mike: "Ok so"

Jeez.

And off we went. I could feel Elvis moving, so I knew he was ok, I was thinking mostly it could be my mucous plug and kept repeating to myself we are 28 weeks already, it's going to be ok even if Elvis will arrive early. I had no contractions, but then you know the way your mind play games so I started feeling tightening in my back but nothing major.

When we checked in, I told the receptionist I was 28 weeks, with low placenta and mild spotting. She made a quick phone call and said to us "Ok, better not go to casualties, we go directly to the Delivery ward" both Mike and I nearly passed out!! She quickly explained that it was just a precaution and that they had all the equipment up there to check me out properly.

All was well, Elvis HB was checked by a midwife (140bpm), my blood pressure was a bit low (100/60) but there was no reason of real concern. The doctor came along (incidentally the same doctor that admitted me with the ectopic last year..) and gave me a scan which showed that the majority of the placenta is now high and I only have a little "tale" which is still low. No sign of detachment, plenty of fluid and Evis moving around. He didn't do an internal and said minor spotting can be perfectly normal but to go back if I had bleeding of course. While I was getting dressed we heard from the room next to us a baby crying and lots of cheers and the words "We are having a boy!!" Oh my God, I really think Elvis is a boy now!! Interestingly we heard no screaming beforehand, only a baby heartbeat being monitored. If that's the way it's going to be it doesn't sound too bad at all!

Right so, back home we went.

And today is really 28 weeks! No weight gain and nothing much to report. Sleeping is still on and off and I'm getting a bit more tired. Eating well and drinking plenty of fluids. Thanks to all of you for the reassurance on the movements, I'm definitely more relaxed now (and considering this is going to be an even week my positivity should spike!). I have a dense week ahead, teaching, talking at a conference on thursday, meetings of all sorts...it should go by quite quickly (I hope!). Checking out for now, we are taking pics of the attic as is now and we'll do so as the works go on, can't wait to have it finished!!

A bigger eggplant I suppose...26 weeks!

I like the even weeks. Somehow I feel more relaxed in those. A good cyber friend made me notice that this is very unusual so I started thinking how can this be. Well, first of all it seems that all the big milestones in a pregnancy are happening in even numbers....12 weeks, 20 weeks, 24 weeks, 28 weeks, and so on. Then my OB appointments were generally on even weeks, and even if I don't have one this week the next one is only 9 days away.

First big news to report is that I am the same weight this week too! 69kg!! woohoo delighted with myself (it means I'm holding steady at +12kg). In all honesty probably it's going towards 70kg, but the needle was not there yet so it doesn't count until next week.

Elvis has now almost predictable patterns of wake and sleep. I am quite sure is very awake at night even though he doesn't wake me up at all, but yesterday we went to bed very late and it was all go go go in my belly. I feel he's definitely head down as the strongest movements (which I attribute to kicks) are up high. Then he's awake early morning when I stay in bed a few more minutes after the alarm has gone off. Mid morning I get usually another few flips and kicks. then afternoon and before dinner and again before going to bed. I admit I do get nervous if I think it's been a while since he kicked me, and I repeat to myself that he has to sleep too and the doctor said babies sleep for 1 or 2 hours at the time.

We still check the heartbeat with the doppler and now we are picking up on rate variations which is apparently a good thing! Admittedly I freaked out the first time I realised that while listening the rate seemed to be picking up pace and then slow down...we are still talking of rates never lower than 140 and never higher than 160. I've read that it has to do with the nervous system developing further.

Another big step we made is that we started looking at cribs and strollers!! Oh dear, the choice is huge! But we are quite set on the crib which is a modular system which transforms into a bed and you can use it until the baby is about 3 years old and we think at that point we'll move him into a proper size bed. Here are some pics. The brand is Stokke and it's known to be quite expensive but we found a UK based website which has great deals!

The crib system

The bed (it's the crib with extra panels added and bigger mattress)

Initially we were looking into babybay and co-sleeping solutions but we like this one a lot more.

On the stroller the jury is still out. Again we need something light frame-wise as we live on a first floor duplex which means we have stairs to get to the front door. We are thinking to get a travel system which combines a carrycot, a car seat and the stroller for when he's a bit bigger.

Finally a quick update on the Attic project. The architect has received the 3 quotations and we are going to look at them tomorrow! Woohoo!

The OB visit

Finally I can update! Yesterday after the OB appointment I was on a panel for some scholarships assignment and had no email access!! Ahhh, nearly had withdrawal symptoms! Then once home I was so so tired I didn't fire up the computer at all...

Anyway, the visit went very well, apparently Elvis has assumed position!!I did notice that I started feeling movements much higher up (as if they are in my stomach) or low down, but not on the sides so much. His little heart was beating away and everything looked good, including the amniotic fluid and the placenta seemed to be a bit higher up also.

My urine sample was fine, and so were the results from the thyroid blood work I did at my 20 weeks scan! That's great as I wasn't sure how those would have turned out!

We talked about the Braxton Hicks contractions I had (Dr. L had actually written down in his notes about our conversation!) and the fact that they are totally gone now, or at least I don't notice them at all. He said they can be very normal and unless they become very very frequent, I have spotting associated with it or the waters break there's nothing to worry about. I thought I had them because of all the travelling, but he said that really the uterus most of the time has a mind of its own! All good then!

I asked him about the weight gain and popped on his scale to see the difference from the 12 weeks weight. It says I'm "only" plus 8kg! Now, I'm pretty sure with the steroids and all I had piled up a good 4 kg between the pre-preg weight and 12 weeks, but still....it feels better. He said not to worry too much to be honest, the only problem may be for me to loose the weight after birth but it's not a huge gain by any means! Woohooo! Love the Irish philosophy! Of course thanks to all of you also for the reassuring words on weight gain and although I do love the new boobs (it does look like I had a bit of a job done!) I was also gifted with itchy stretch-marks in that same area which I'm afraid will look like a geographical map once the "thinning" effect after pregnancy and breastfeeding will occur. Ah well, I'm sure I won't really care too much!

Finally, I asked the OB if in Ireland there was such a program as the cord-blood donation. Nope. Pity to be honest...

Oh, I meant to say that now that the fear of incompetent cervix has somewhat subsided (I have hope it wouldn't be a tragedy at this stage) and with it the premature labour (again viability gave me this major relief) I have this new fear now which is the possibility of umbilical cord real nots and torsion...ah well... you know me by now, so just shake your head and say out loud "will she ever relax and enjoy?" eheheh

But yoga on monday night was great. Actually as it was my first time (missed the first three sessions), I didn't know that it was "couple nights" and that we were going to tackle labour and breathing techniques...so there were three couples...and me!! boohoooo!! I wasn't even wearing my rings so I felt quite lonely but then just paired up with the teacher thinking of myself as if I was in a lesbian couple and giggled all the way through!

Back and ready to start

I'm back in Dublin and quite happy to be out of the heat!! It was actually very very difficult to sleep in Italy...
Thank you my friends for the support messages about the weight gain, I do feel much better (and didn't gain any extra while on holidays!!). I've also finsihed with the pill so it's all good to go for my fist scan on thursday. I feel a bit anxious (not about the scan, just this cycle in general) and worried that it may be another big blow. I'm a also thinking about which complementary therapy should I try this time around...as I mentioned before I kind of tired of acupuncture, and I was curious to try possibly reflexology or reiky... and I'll do meditation this time too. Any suggestion from you girls?

Comments on my weight

I have had enough. Since I started this nightmare of IVF last year I gained 6 kilos (13.2 lb for my American friends!). I know, I feel it and I'm certainly not proud of it. in total it's a little over 10% of my weight. Considering that I eat very little it has to be blamed on the hormones. Some days I tell myself "it'll be worth it" but most days I'm saying "is it really worth it?"
My mum passed a few comments while here on holidays on the fact that I have to go for walks (it's fecking bloody melting hot!) or I won't "consume the fat", my sister also noted that I am a bit "swallen". Ok I get it you know? i would like to see you all in my place and see how good you are at keeping your perfect figure. I am conscious of my body, I've always been. i've done sports (all kind) since and actually before I could walk. Lately I've done much less, I got older and obviously there is only so much legacy you can count on. But I don't know how to deal with this now. Nothing I do seem to make a difference, I have to eat while stimming or the follicles won't grow, the pill is just a devil for fluid retention but I only have a few more days to go and it'll be over. I'm absolutely dreading the fact that I'll be on cortisone this time around too. I said to Mike the other night that I won't be taking any more drugs after this cycle. So either we stop altogether or we'll look for a clinic that pays more attention to Nature itself, doesn't put me on the pill just to time me right with their calendar, and possibly considers IVF/ICSI on a natural cycle. I am so low today. We're going to the hills for a few days and back to Dublin on monday, so no internet for a while. I'll miss you all.