The last 2 weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster for me. Nothing bad, really, but with the short week this week and 3 appointments last week, I feel I’ve been all over the place! Kind of have really. So going back to week 31, I had my first non-stress test and another growth scan to check baby weight and such. The non-stress test is to put monitors on the belly to check baby movement and heartbeat. Need to have so many movements in a specific time frame and they like to see variance in heartbeat rhythms. So that went well and next day I met with our new pediatrician. I didn’t really have a lot of questions to start out with, I’m sure more will come along. But he is a very likable guy and I think baby will be in good hands. Then the 3rd day of appointments was my next NST with my OB. Again, fetal movement and heartbeat all good. Dr A is very pleased with progress and thinks things are going very well. So, of course I’m happy to hear that. Especially cause I feel like I’ve been a REALLY bad eater lately. I started off the majority of this pregnancy doing so well, making great food choices and frankly, I’ve become QUITE lazy. I need to be better, not just for the baby but for myself as well. That is probably the one thing I’m looking forward to most about the new year, besides the baby is staying home and being able to cook and make meals for us. I know they will be healthier options than what we have now. Thankfully I pushed Brian for a physical recently (mostly to save money on our health insurance), but at our ages, it’s good to do anyway. And while is cholesterol numbers weren’t too horrible, they could be better. His BP is what concerns me most and I know a large part of that is due to smoking. So hopefully with baby coming he will make a better concentrated effort to quit. I told him back at the positive pregnancy test he had nine months. Let’s see if he’s serious.
Then this week, had another NST on Monday – which I promptly forgot about, until an hour later (whoops!) and they were able to still get me in, so that one again, good. And since the office is closed for the holiday (thurs and fri), I have to have the next NST at St. Anns. Normally I would go to the MFM (maternal fetal medicine = high risk) clinic, but they are booked pretty solid, so I actually have to go to labor and delivery. So I’ll actually get to see the birthing rooms before our hospital tour, which is next week (7th). I was told to call ahead though to make sure they have a bed available and aren’t all booked. The appointment is at 2PM which is a little annoying because it’s right in the middle of they day and quite frankly normal day off naptime. Oh well, I’ll manage.
And did you think I was done with appointments, oh nooooo….. On Tuesday, I had the 2nd and final Fetal Echo – which is a highly detailed ultrasound of baby’s heart. This is at children’s hospital. It was ok overall, but a little bit of depressing news. First, I had one of these scans several weeks back and it wasn’t entirely conclusive about a possible problem – Aortic Coarctation (which is on wikipedia, but the dr.s description was much easier to understand). So, not a big deal at this point, nothing to fret over, until I got the bill. YES I have insurance and they paid 80% of it, but my portion was still a lot. Especially considering I KNEW I would have to have another. I was unsettled. But it’s what I have to do, so I go again and don’t cancel (I really wanted to) and guess what, still inconclusive, no answers, positive or negative and another HUGE bill on the way for me. Just is infuriating really.Â
Anyway, the gist of the potential problem is this, in diabetic moms, babies can have heart issues, where the RIGHT side of the heart in enlarged, which causes the left side to have to work harder and can also cause a narrowing of the aorta (which is on the left side). Again, this causes stress on the heart and can cause downstream problems if not caught or fixed. Basically if we didn’t know and left the hospital, baby could get very sick in a few days of being home. Since we have no answers now, what they will do is give him an ultrasound before we leave the hospital, if the problem is present, he would get transferred down to children’s hospital to have the surgery to widen the aortic valve and I’m not sure about anything after that as far as recovery and going home, etc. But I’m hopeful the problem won’t be present at all. And we can just have baby, come home and be happy.
There are a couple of reasons the scan can’t really tell at this point, mostly because of baby’s position. He’s definitely head down, maybe not quite vertical I think he is slightly diagonal, but they just couldn’t get a great position to look at what would be the back side of the heart to see the Aorta part that they need to see. Again, I’m not worried yet about what is going to happen, cause I know we will deal with it as it comes along, I’m just stressed about money right now because, well considering how much the scan at children’s was, I can’t imagine how much OPEN HEART SURGERY will be. Good grief. Best not to think of it at all and again, we will just hope for the very very best outcome.
SO that now brings an end to the appointments the last 2 weeks. And… also I do have the NSTs, twice a week every week until he arrives, so I’ll be on the go a bunch. Luckily work isn’t too high pressure right now, but I can see us getting much busier as the training for the new people wraps up and their GO LIVE date is 12/16. So it should be a very interesting December.
In better news, I finally bought a couch! Of course that didn’t go off without its own problems, but nothing to earth shattering and hopefully the company will honor their commitment and I will get it on time (basically before baby). Again, a huge outpouring of money, but we’ve needed this for years and I’ve put it off for far too long.
And since it’s thanksgiving week, let me say a few things about that. I’m thankful for still having my job although I won’t for much longer, it’s afforded me things like paying all these medical bills on time and buying the new couch and getting prepped for baby. Also for the very generous friends and family that have surrounded me with gifts either new, handmade or hand-me-downs. I would definitely be so much worse off if I had to do all this myself. I am so grateful to all these people – just amazed all the time. And hopefully when the decisions comes to either have another child or just stop with the one we are getting, I can find a great place to donate back all the generosity I’ve received. I would love to be able to help others with all these wonderful things they may be gently used. I’d hate to give to good will where someone else would have to buy it, but if I could find a family in need that can take these things or families, that would make me feel much better. Again, have a while to sort that out. But again, grateful for family and friend and my husband, who is a pretty great guy. I do complain about him a lot but at heart I couldn’t have a better person. He does have his issues (most people do) and most stuff I can live with but at the core, he is very caring and generous and puts up with most of my BS (I’m quite demanding you know) and for that I am very thankful. I know we will have arguments to come on how to raise this child and about money and all things that go with living together… but we’ll continue to grow and learn and make it work cause that is what we do.
Not every day can be a good day… but I think there is a little good in at least every day. I hope to really focus and remember those good moments and be able to share them. Case in point, yesterday (thanksgiving), we had our annual dinner at Scot and Joe’s place. I asked Scot to make the Turkey this year because a. it’s hard work and b. I didn’t think I’d have the energy to pull it off. And boy was I right. I only made a few sides and was purely exhausted by it and I did some stuff on Wed night. Anyway, it was a great feast enjoyed by everyone.
So I guess next up is Christmas which hopefully will be a low key affair. My moving around with this extra belly has been fairly slow and with the rate this child is now growing I can only anticipate it being worse and more uncomfortable. Hopefully I’m over exaggerating and it won’t be too bad, right?! HA!Â
So just under 6 weeks to go… can’t wait to meet my baby boy!
Trip the Knit Fantastic 
