Placenta News

I got a call from my doctor's nurse this morning.  My doctor looked at my ultrasound today, and he said that my placenta is actually not just low lying, but it is a partial placenta previa.  I will have another ultrasound in about 4-6 weeks to see if it moves up or not.  Until then (or longer depending on what it does), I cannot do any heavy lifting, no weight lifting (I have been lifting with my personal trainer for over a year now), and no sex.  And, if any bleeding starts, then I will most likely be put on bed rest.  Please please please pray for me that I do not have to go on bed rest and that it moves up!!  Thanks!

Ultrasound Pics and Updates!!

Last Wednesday, I had my 20 week ultrasound.  It was SO much fun!!  My mom, sister, and Caleb came with me.  Nobody needed to look away, and nobody saw anything that they could even guess what the sex was.  Yippee!!  :) 

UPDATES:

I got a call Wednesday evening from one of the nurses at the doctor's office.  She said that the baby looks good, but I have a low lying placenta (not placenta previa, but close to the opening).  I will most likely have another ultrasound in about 4 weeks to see if it has moved up.  Hopefully it does, or else I will have to have a C-Section.  I have read online that only a VERY small percentage of women who have this have placentas that stay low.  Please pray that it moves up!!

I am calling the doctor on Monday to see if there is anything that I shouldn't do with my low lying placenta.  I still do personal training twice a week (weight training) so I need to find out if I can still do that.  I hope I can!!

Caleb came up to Nebraska to be with my family on Christmas (after doing 24 hour officer staff duty on post).  That night, he felt the baby move!!  Merry Christmas to us!!  :)

Questions and Updates

How long before your due date did you start nesting?  I have been in a cleaning mood lately... or is it just something that is normal for this time of year.

Also, do you get Christmas presents for your close friends?  I feel bad because I got their kids gifts, but not them.  Should I find something for them in the next few days, or is that okay?

For my other updates, I feel like doing a list:

1. All the baby clothes that I have are in the dresser ready for baby to come.
2. I want to move everything baby that I have in the garage into the house to have everything ready to go and so I can reorganize our garage.
3. My family is still coming to stay with us with the dog and hopefully it turns out okay since their dog doesn't get along with my dog.
4. My mom has promised not to look at the screen during the ultrasound, so I'm feeling better about that.  Now I have to worry about my husband driving me crazy about him possibly looking because he knows that I will make a big deal about it.  I'm pretty sure he won't though... I hope.
5. I'm feeling the baby more now.  The ultrasound tech told me that my placenta is in front and it may be a while before I feel baby.  I'm thinking that this is why I only feel the kicks really low... but I just felt the baby kick and roll which felt SO weird!
6. I am really hoping that I get the ultrasound tech that I like (I have had her for every ultrasound since I went to that doctor for my second opinion when I miscarried).  She's awesome!!
7. I'm pretty sad that the one baby store in town is closing... although the sales are nice!  Now I have to go 1 hour to go to Babies R Us and 2 hours to the nearest natural baby store.  :(
8. I've only gained 4.4 pounds (according to my home scale) since I got pregnant.  
9. I'm still not really showing yet and I can fit into the two pairs of pants that were one size up from my starting pregnancy size.  
10. I'm driving my husband crazy with the things I'm eating: pasta, Reames egg noodles, egg sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches.  I will eat some chicken, but I don't ask for it. 
11.  I LOVE chocolate milk.  And another craving of mine is golden delicious apples with salt.  Mmmmm!!

What the Doctor Wants...

Is for pregnant ladies to be calm.  He says it will make for a healthier pregnancy.  Well, luckily this year I'm not stressed by deployment or my ballooning weight (yet) or my blood pressure being through the roof (yet... but hopefully that won't happen).  Nope, this year first we had my mother stressing me out (turns out I was taking her joke the wrong way and she will obey my wishes of NOT FINDING OUT THE SEX), and now we have maternity leave problems (plus now my sister will be coming to the ultrasound, too so yet another person to worry about looking). 

I work at Kansas State University in the Serology Lab there.  I do tests on animal serum.  I have a lot of fun with my job... mainly because I love the people!  I started in June.  Well, my friend (who is also pregnant) went to talk to the HR person about maternity leave yesterday and she reported back to me that people who have not been employed here a year are not covered under the FMLA so they don't get the 12 week maternity leave.  I'm due May 10th... just a month before my 1 year mark!!  I'm meeting with the HR person on Friday to discuss this further, but right now it looks like I will only get paid for the vacation, sick, and comp time I have saved up, then I can take up to a month of non-paid leave without losing my job.  I'm not sure how much leave I'll have saved up by then, but say it's 2 weeks to a month.  I REALLY don't want to leave my 6-8 week old baby!!  :(  Has anyone else dealt with this?  What did you do?  Thanks!!

Ultrasound Worries

My 20 week ultrasound is exactly a week from today.  Now, I have had the worries in the past that: a) my baby would be dead, b) something is wrong with my baby, and c) that I will be able to tell the sex of the baby (I want to have a surprise).  But, I called my mom last night, she's coming into town for the ultrasound, and she asked what would happen if I saw the baby's genital area and knew what it was.  I told her that I was planning on looking away.  To this she said, "I'm not going to look away."  Really Mom?  Thanks a lot!!  Now, not only do I have to worry about myself and Caleb seeing, but I have to worry about you seeing, too.  She says she could keep a secret, but no, not going to happen if I can help it because this is her first grandchild and I just KNOW that she would slip up at some point and say something or buy me gender specific clothing... thus ruining my surprise.  Can you tell I'm super worried about this and kind of mad at my mom for saying this?!?!  But, I'm hoping everything goes well, and I'm actually hoping that the baby is cross his or her legs!  And, PLEASE let me have the ultrasound tech who has done every ultrasound on me since the day that I went in for my second opinion on my miscarriage.  That is all!!  :)

Dreams

In pregnancy they say you have crazy dreams... well it's true!  I have had 5 so far that I have remembered once waking up... be ready to cock your head at how weird they are and laugh at me!!

1) I was working in a zoo with one of my friends from work (Alex).  We worked with a lion and we lived connected to its pen in a dorm-like place.  My boss from work was there, too (Dr. Hesse), and he lived in his own separate dorm also connected to the lion's area.  Taking care of the lion was easy, we would let him out to roam the neighborhood at night and then let him back in the next morning.  We were getting ready to go to a conference and the dorms and lion area were going to get fumigated.  We were moving some of the furniture out into the hall and leaving the others in the dorm.  I was worried about the lion because we would have to let him out for the whole weekend, but there had been sightings of two other lions in the neighborhood recently.  Sure enough, I looked outside and there were two red and black lions roaming the neighborhood.  (Then I woke up.)

2) At work we get a discretionary day.  I was going to use this and then use two other days of leave.  Then, Angie (from work) told me that since she has been working longer than me, she has a discretionary day, and Iowa day, and a Missouri day.

3) I was getting ready to play indoor softball at  a bar or something (there were tables that looked like kitchen islands at either side of the place).  We didn't place with softballs though, we played with these small mint looking things.  I was the pitcher and I had to get used to using them instead of softballs.  I wanted to store the extra ones in a trashcan so they didn't roll off the table.  The players had to hold these paper cut outs so they could catch balls, and we had to wear cleats even though we were inside.  My coach was Matthew Morrison from Glee and one of my teammates was Sean Goodin from grade school and high school.  Our opponents coach was Jane Lynch from Glee.

4) I was hired to be a waitress at a bar.  I was learning how to do it.  A kid came up to me wanting apple juice and I had to ask if I could give it to him.  I didn't go behind a bar for the drinks, it was more like a kitchenette.

5) I was at PWOC at Fort Riley with my name tag on sitting in the front row surrounded by my elementary school teachers.  Then, a rain storm came through and it had REALLY strong winds and up to softball sized hail.  After the hail, I went outside to check my car for dents and realized that the windows were rolled down and water flooded everywhere.

Now, since I'm sure you enjoyed your laughs, if you know anyone who knows what dreams mean, please let me know.  I'd love to know what these dreams mean!

This is the first glimpse we had of Baby Riggs.  I woke up in the middle of the night (September 2nd at 3am) to go to the bathroom and decided that was as good of a time as any to do a pregnancy test.  POSITIVE!!  This was the 4th or 5th test that I had taken... the previous ones were all negative and I was about to give up hope.  But, the test on this day was the answer I wanted!  I went to tell Caleb, and luckily he was not on the phone this time!  HA!!  His reply was, "Seriously?!"  It was an AWESOME day!

This ultrasound was done at 6 weeks 1 day.  I had had some of the exact same pains on the Thursday and Friday before this day as I had had last time I was pregnant.  Of course I was shaken up about the pain.  I remember getting a call from the nurse about scheduling the ultrasound while I was out to lunch with Caleb.  I was crying and I definitely could not eat.  I went in for this ultrasound and we could barely see the baby (it's the little speck over to the left side of the black area), but we could see a strong heartbeat.  YAY!!

The next time I saw anyone at the doctor's office was at 9 weeks.  It was the appointment where they take all of your, your husband's, and your family's medical background information.  I was SO proud when my blood pressure was 118/55!  Last pregnancy it was REALLY high (one of the signs of Triploidy).  And, I knew that my blood pressure before I lost my 53 pounds was not good anyway.  Lose weight, people, it is the best thing you will EVER do for yourself, your life, and your family!

These 4 ultrasound pictures are from yesterday.  I am 13 weeks and 1 day today, so yesterday I was 13 weeks exactly.  The first one is Baby doing a headstand.  The second one is Baby's feet.  The third one is Baby's leg and hand.  And, the fourth is a profile laying down shot (you can also see a hand).  The ultrasound was SO awesome.  I LOVE Stephanie, one of the ultrasound techs at The Women's Health Group in Manhattan.  I've had all my ultrasounds with her (fetal demise, follow up after D and E, cyst, 6 week 1 day, and now 13 weeks).  She tells me exactly what I'm looking at and she is SO thorough.  Plus, she doesn't care that I mess up her good shot when I laugh!!  This ultrasound was done because I walked into my appointment wanting to get the first trimester screen to see my chances for genetic abnormalities.  Dr. Priddle (in my opinion the BEST OB/GYN EVER!!  and he's cute... don't tell Caleb) convinced us not to do that since I DO NOT want an amniocentesis by any means (since it increases your chances of miscarriage).  But, he still let us get the ultrasound and see what the nuchal translucency (one part of the first trimester screen) of the baby was.  It was 1.5 = normal!!  Baby's heartrate on the doppler before the ultrasound was 159 bpm and 161 bpm during the ultrasound.  (Too bad they proved the heartrate and gender prediction wives tale is false... I secretly [or not so secretly] want a girl!) 

My next appointment is December 1st.  I don't get to see Dr. Priddle, so hopefully it will still be a good appointment.  I will hopefully remember to update between now and then (at least you got 2 today)!!  I am having a FANTASTIC day!!!  Hope yours is just as great!

I'm Thankful for...

My miscarriage. 

That may be strange to say, but really, both Caleb and I would not be where we are today without it.  Let's look:

- I would never have lost 53 pounds.
- I would not be working at my job and meeting new friends there.
- I would not have found the BEST OB/GYN ever!!
- Caleb would not have gotten to meet his son/daughter until 5 months old.
- Caleb would not have gotten to be around for the pregnancy (appointments, feeling kicks, etc)
- I would not be eating as healthy as I am now.
- My blood pressure would not be AMAZING (116/54).
- Caleb and I became closer because of it.
- My faith got stronger because of it.
- My friendships grew because of it.
- Caleb and I would not have gotten to do some of the things that we have done recently.
- I would not be enjoying this pregnancy as much without it.
- Certain things in life would just not have meant as much without it.

Thank you, God, for giving me Hope even if just for a short time.  You had a plan for me before I was ever born, and I'm so thankful!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13 (NIV). 

Wow!! I am SUPER bad at blogging!!

Just because I want to say it, "Oops, I did it again!"  Haha!!  But really, with everything else going on in my life, I am extremely terrible at keeping up with writing on here.  I only wish I could be as good about doing projects and writing a blog as Adrien is... and she has 2 kids!!  But anyway, I must catch you up, but I'm not going to tell you what has happened in the past month... I'll just start here:

I'M 12 WEEKS 2 DAYS PREGNANT!! 

Wow, it feels REALLY good to get that out in the open.  But, please do not blab that on Facebook.  I'm not ready for the general public to know that yet.  That will probably happen around 16 weeks when I've passed the time when I miscarried last time. 

How am I feeling you ask?  Alright.  I had my usual aversion to chicken (just like last time) at the beginning.  Now, I am LOVING chicken and really turned off by beef.  Also, I swear my kitchen stinks.  I don't know where it is coming from and I don't know what it is, but it is bothering me!!  Someone with another sensitive nose, please come over to my house and help me try to find it!!  So, back to how I'm feeling... and how I felt in the beginning: I threw up four or five times in the morning when I was around 7 weeks, but now I've been able to keep things down and I've actually been pigging out.  Crap, I'm going to get fat!!  We went to Las Vegas when I was 10 weeks.  It was a great vacation... and I got to miss a week of work!  But, oh, the plane rides were horrible (except for one)!  Other than that, my boobs hurt and I'm INCREDIBLY tired.  Plus, recently I think my uterus has started stretching, so I'm in a little pain (which the nurses assure me is normal).  All of this is awesome and I'm happy... but truthfully I'm scared to death after my miscarriage last year.  So, this news will not be public knowledge until 16-20 weeks (basically when I can't hold it in anymore or else I will POP!).

This is really the only new news that I have.  I will post my 6 week ultrasound picture on here later.   I'm really hoping I can get some good sleep sometime soon... between the dog jumping on the bed when she's not supposed to and getting up to pee, the night is just too short!  I hope you all are doing well!  Until next time... 

14 weeks

I have finally told everyone closely related! Now I can tell the whole world!

I went back to the doctor on Friday because I thought that something was wrong with MY heart. Turns out that I am just stressed... like my mom said! But, he did find the baby's heartbeat on the doppler! I recorded it. Now I can listen to it whenever I want to!

(I was hoping to be able to put the heartbeat on here. I have it in an .exe file and a .wav file. If anyone knows how I can get it onto here, that would be great!)

13 weeks

Today, I am 14 weeks. I am really forgetting to post something during the label week of these posts!

I went to the doctor on Monday. My blood pressure was 161/84 the first time they took it and 156/88 the second time they took it, so it is high. My weight is 185.2 lbs, so I haven't gained any since a month ago. Then, when they tried to find the baby's heartbeat with the doppler the PA student couldn't find it and neither could the midwife. So, they brought in the ultrasound machine. Luckily, they were able to see the heartbeat on the monitor, and the midwife said that it looked good. It was pretty much the scariest moment of my life!

Then, they made me go to the lab to get a jug. I had to collect my urine for 24 hours. The midwife wanted to get a baseline for protein since protein in urine and high blood pressure can mean preeclampsia. This is SO scary for me especially since I am not showing very much still.

Caleb is doing good in Iraq. I get to instant message him almost every night since he has gotten to Iraq, and I have gotten to use the webcam with him twice now. I really LOVE getting to see him!

Sookie is doing great! We started basic obedience classes on Monday, and she did really good. We also have one of her puppy friends over (a 9-month-old pug) a few days a week. It really wears her out!

12 weeks

I am 13 weeks tomorrow!! That means: I AM OUT OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER!! I have been craving junk food. I know that I am not supposed to, but it is all SO good! (I made a pot roast tonight to get my veggies for today!)

Caleb made it to Iraq. So, now the "real" deployment starts!

Sookie is doing good. She is getting spayed in a few weeks. I should not be worried about her because I know she will be okay from working at a vet's office. It is just a lot harder to do when it is YOUR doggie!

11 weeks

I am actually 12 weeks today, but I am going to tell you what happened this past week. I went home for Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun! My sister, Rachel, and I went to the Mizzou vs. Illinois football game. (Mizzou won 37-9! YAY!!) I have started not being able to eat things that I normally love. It is getting really difficult to find something that I want to eat when it is time for me to eat. Other than that, everything is still the same. I am still not showing yet.

Caleb is doing good. He is still in Kuwait and pretty bored. He calls me every few days and emails me usually every day. I am doing good with him being gone so far, so hopefully it keeps going good!

10 weeks

Today I am 10 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I have been VERY emotional the past few days. Caleb left Friday, so that mixed with the pregnancy hormones has made me cry a lot. But, I know that he made it there and is doing just fine. It is really hard to think that he really is going to be gone for a year. A year is such a long time. But, I have so many friends that have gone through this and it is really just a given in the Army, so I know that I will make it through. And, I already can't wait until he gets to come home! Our dog, Sookie, really misses him. I just don't play with her as good as he did. He called Sunday morning. It really surprised me, and it made it SUCH a good day! Now, I am just trying to keep myself busy... and I'm leaning on my friends a lot!

Please pray that he, and the rest of the soldiers overseas, stay safe!

THE ULTRASOUND!!!

Today I had my 10 week appointment. The doctor was very nice, but he was old and a little touchy feely. I still liked him though because he asked me about horses and seemed very knowledgeable. He even did an ultrasound!

The baby's heartbeat was 158 bpm. He/she was also moving around A LOT!! (This kind of worries me for when I actually feel the baby!!) We could actually see the legs and arms of the baby, so it was like it was a real baby! (LOL!) (Another funny thing that you will notice on the pictures is that the doctor used my maiden name and not my married name on the ultrasound machine.)

Anyway, here are the pictures!

9 weeks

Tomorrow is my next appointment! We will get to hear the baby's heartbeat and hopefully get an ultrasound. I can't wait! I will also finally know my blood type! And, I will know the results of the oodles of tests they did on my blood between the last appointment and now.

I am currently losing my waistline as the area where my uterus is becomes more and more round. I still can't wait until I actually have a baby bump!

More will be coming tomorrow after the appointment!

8 weeks

Today I am 8 weeks 5 days pregnant. This past Wednesday I had my first appointment at the hospital. It wasn't really too terribly exciting. All we talked about was family history. But, we did schedule our next appointment for the 25th of August. I will be about 10 weeks by then, and Caleb will be leaving for Iraq soon after. So, the nurse scheduled us with a doctor who could possibly do an ultrasound. I am hoping he is nice so I don't have to beg too much! (Keep your fingers crossed, pray, or whatever you need to do so that we can see our little one... and get a print out picture for Caleb to take with him.)

After this appointment, I will be doing group appointments. They will be 2 hours long with the 1st hour with my individual care provider. I will get to meet many other women, soon-to-be mothers also. I hope I like the appointments this way!

I still am not showing, but I bought my first 2 pairs of maternity jeans. They are THE most comfortable pants I have ever worn! I am thinking about wearing them after I have the baby. But, I am also hoping that I lose weight afterward, so I have a feeling that that will not work! Still, if anyone wants a comfortable pair of pants, maternity is the way to go!

I also have this thing about buying baby clothes. I know that I will get a TON at my baby showers, but I just can't help going into stores, seeing the small clothes, and not leaving the store without at least one outfit! I think I need help! On the good side, all of the clothes I have bought are either on sale or from thrift stores, so I haven't been doing too bad! I just know I need to stop!

Caleb and I spent 2 hours the other day registering at Babies R Us. It was a lot of fun picking out what we want, but there is SO much we don't know. (They gave us a book with advice for picking out certain items in it AFTER we were already registered!) Now we just need to register at Target and continue to put Disney/kids movies in our wish list on Amazon.com and we will be ready for people to start shopping for us. (Hint, hint... haha!!)

I am just 4 weeks away from being done with the first trimester!

7 weeks

This is amazing! I think this is the first week that I haven't been to the doctor or the ER for some sort of pain! Things are going great now!

My 8 week appointment is this coming Wednesday, and I have been told that we will do absolutely nothing other than discuss family history. Then, I am hoping that I can schedule my appointment that is supposed to come at 10-12 weeks for earlier because at that appointment, the heartbeat is heard. I want Caleb to be here for that!

The biggest news this week is that I now hate chicken! Caleb's battalion FRG had their first coffee on Wednesday, and afterward 3 other ladies and I went out to Porter's. (Yes, it is a bar, but I only had lemonade... and it was free!) We ordered chicken wings and they were delicious! The next day, Caleb came home and made grilled chicken for me and I just couldn't make myself eat it. Just the thought of it (yes, typing this is difficult) makes me feel sick!

6 weeks

Today I am 6 weeks and 2 days pregnant! Last night at 3:30am I was jolted from my sleep when I felt a horribly sharp pain in my abdomen and pelvis. I decided to go to the ER because it was very scary! They did a blood test, a U/A, and a pelvic exam. The U/A was normal. The pelvic exam showed that I have bacterial vaginosis. And, my hCG was 8000, so I am still pregnant, but the doctor didn't know how that correlated to what was actually going on inside. He ordered an ultrasound so that they could check and make sure I didn't have an ectopic pregnancy. But, I had to wait until 7:30am for the ultrasound department to open up and it was only about 5am at that point. I thought that I would be able to go home and wait for them to open, but they told me to stay there!

I was happy that one of the nurses brought me in a warm blanket. At 5:30am I let Caleb know that I would be getting an ultrasound sometime after 7:30am and I wanted him there. I tried to sleep on the hard exam chair, but I only got about 30 minutes of sleep. A hospital is definitely not the place to get a good night of sleep! Then, Caleb got to the hospital, and we waited only a little while before we were worked in to get an ultrasound.

It was a trans-vaginal ultrasound, so it felt very funny! But, luckily, we got to see the baby! The ultrasound tech was not actually supposed to show us, but I kept asking if we would get to see and she was just very nice! The baby was in it's sac and you could also see the yolk sac and the heart beating at 140bpm. It was really nice to see, and I am glad that Caleb got to see it!

The doctor said that the pain was from my round and broad ligaments stretching which is normal. I was sent home with some Clindamycin for the bacterial vaginosis at about 8:30am. Now all I need to do is catch up on sleep!

5 weeks

Today, I am 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The nauseousness that I had been feeling the week we came home (July 13-20; I was 3 weeks 5 days to 4 weeks 5 days) has now gone away. I have learned to eat late at night so that I am still full when I wake up. I also was given B6 from the doctor to help. It just feels so weird to be pregnant and not be able to see a pregnant belly.

I still have disbelief about being pregnant. I sometimes think that I am going to have my period any day, but I know that I am still pregnant, and my hCG is progressing like it should. My only hope is that Caleb gets to see me with a (small) baby bump before he leaves. I will be about 10 weeks when he leaves, so hopefully I start showing early. Other than that, I am feeling fantastic!