The Bump Watch... 28 weeks

28 weeks is a HUGE milestone.  Hitting this number just takes a weight off of my shoulders and now I know that if she were to be delivered, her chances of survival and quality of life are close to normal.  It's such an exciting time and hard to believe that these weeks are just slowly slipping away... but I can't wait to meet our new little person.  Phillip and I are still just awestruck that this will be OUR little person, that will look like both of us, together... it's a strange concept.

Anyhow... here are the 28 week bump photos!  Here before too long I will have to put them all together to create a slide show so we can see the bump grow right before our eyes!





She has certainly gotten bigger over the last 4 weeks... perhaps we will have to start taking the bump photos closer together!

All our love!

Sneebie and Mommy enjoying a nap after church...

The beat goes on...

Last week, on Wednesday night, a semi-slow night (which is always a welcomed event on Labor and Delivery) a resident asked if the nugget could be used for teaching purposes.  The resident wanted to learn more about using our ancient ultrasound machine for estimating fetal size and heart rate.  Of course I jumped at the opportunity to see the little wiggler.  So Dr. Harkins, assisted by Dr. Short, took measurements of the Nugget's femur (the long leg bone that goes from hip to knee), which measured at 29 weeks (when I was only 27).  Dr. Harkins somewhat questioned her measurement, until Dr. Short mentioned, "well... look at her mother's femur length"... so, perhaps the nugget will be long like Phillip and I!  They also measured the Nugget's tummy, measuring at 29 weeks, and her little head, which measured at 27 weeks.  All of the measurements looked completely normal (just a little on the longer side) and the Nugget was very busy the whole time entertaining all of us.  Jeannine took photos via her iphone for me to share, it seems to take the best images for posting.

In this image they are measuring her head.  GOOD NEWS!  She is no longer in breech position, she has wiggled her way to head down!

 

Here is a photo of a cross-section of her umbilical cord.  I've circled the cord segment, it sort-of looks like Mickey-mouse.  I also pointed out her eye.  She's looking directly at the camera here.  When I showed Phillip this image, his response was, "I am NOT cutting through that cord".  He doesn't want to, but I really want him to.  I have a few weeks to change his mind :).

Later that night, we also put the Nugget on the fetal heart rate monitor to gather a strip of her heart rate.  This one looks SOOOO much better than the previous one I posted about 10 weeks ago.  You can easily see her heart rate, steady around 135 beats per minute, then jumping up to 150 beats per minute.  My blood pressure at that time is printed just below her heart rate strip, and the chart below that would be contractions (I wasn't having any at that time.)

To add to the strip, I took a video of the monitor, so you can actually watch the numbers as her heart rate bounces around.  It's an amazingly beautiful thing to me to be able to watch something that has become so routine to me... only knowing that as I read these heart rate interpretations, I'm reading it for our little Nugget.

I also received news today that I did in fact pass my pregnancy diabetes screen, so I am NOT diabetic!  I am, however, anemic.  My hemoglobin number was 10.9 mg/dl and it should fall into a range of 12-16 mg/dl.  All that this means is that I need to start taking an iron supplement, or incorporate liver into my everyday meals (I think I'll be opting for the supplement :).  I wasn't expecting to receive this lab result, but upon further examination of all of my symptoms, it's not shocking.  I was very sick in the beginning of the pregnancy, and still occasionally, and I easily become tired and breathless.  Hopefully taking the supplement will be the cure-all... and not add to another gastrointestinal issue I've already been dealing with.

Phillip and I have decided to take a "Babymoon" (like a honeymoon before the baby arrives).  He will be traveling to Arizona for work in a couple of weeks to look at an ethanol plant just south of Phoenix.  The weekend following this trip actually ends up being a 3 day weekend for him, so we looked at flights and found a really great deal, so I will be joining him.  I think it will be great fun, and a last hoorah before the Nugget is here.  We've been looking at things to do in Phoenix, and I think we are going to drive the Apache Trail.  Apparently it's a "challenging" drive... but a beautiful one too... Phillip is ecstatic... I'll probably need another prescription for my Zofran (my anti-nausea medication).  I want to eat at a restaurant called Pizzeria Bianco, Oprah rated it as the best pizza place in America, and doesn't Oprah know all?  Any recommendations of things we should do while we are there would be greatly appreciated... we are very excited!  I will post photos when we return!

Look for upcoming photos of our 3D Ultrasound!!!  Our appointment is on Thursday, February 7 at 3 pm.  We can't wait to see our little Nuggie!

All of our love to the family & our fabulous friends...

Welcome Third Trimester!

*** Thanks for this "funny" mother! ***

We are officially 2 days away from the 3rd trimester!  It's incredible to me how much has changed in my life over the past 27 weeks... and how in just 12 short weeks, I'll be a mommy forever.

I asked Phillip last night if it was real to him yet, and he still said no... I'm anxiously awaiting that "ah-ha" moment.  Apparently, Grampa Steve's occurred when he was hanging the mobile over the crib for baby Phillip 30 years ago.  It really is amazing to me how emotionally detached from the whole pregnancy men can be.  And, of course, I realize that it's not intentional, it's just not real for him yet.  While for me, it has become more and more real every day as I feel and watch our little nugget getting stronger.  It's hard to forget about her when she's constantly nudging me in a "hey Mom!  Don't forget about me!" way.  I was laying in bed this morning (I tried to sleep in late, because I have to work tonight) but was first awoken by a little brown dog that needed to use the restroom, followed then by a little alien nugget that was dancing around in my tummy.  I happened to have the camera sitting near the bed, so I captured it on video.  Some of her movements are subtle, followed then by big kicks that jolt my tummy.  I just think it's amazing... simply amazing... so I thought I would share it with you.  I hope it plays...

Monday morning, January 31st, we were supposed to go see Dr. Kauffman in Wichita for my Glucose Tolerance Test (the test to see if I have diabetes with the pregnancy)... but due to inclement weather, we chose not to make the drive on icy roads.  I'm sure that Phillip's truck could have made it, but it just didn't seem worth risking anything.  We rescheduled the appointment for this Friday morning at 9:15, Mother said she would accompany me... to help keep me awake for the entire visit, since I will have worked the night before.  So, keep your fingers crossed that my pancreas is working as it should be, I can't imagine cutting out sweets... I haven't been craving sweets, but I can't imagine having to cut them out.

A few weeks ago, I received a letter in the mail stating that my old frequent flyer miles were going to expire, and that I should use them for gift cards, magazines, or airline tickets.  So, in reviewing my options, I chose to use the miles for magazines.  Most of the magazines weren't any that I would be terribly interested in... but I knew Phillip would love, i.e. the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and Time, just to name a few (I think there are 15 in total we will now receive!).  Now they have begun to arrive in the mail, which Phillip is ecstatic about, and he has proceeded to read to the Nugget, nightly, about all kinds of business affairs.  Last night he read to her about Emerging-World Fear: Inflation; rising Commodity Prices from the Wall Street Journal.  Needless to say, this lulled her right to sleep... or terrified her, one of the two.  But it is amazing to see how she becomes so still when she hears "Daddy's" voice, almost as if to give him her full attention (we'll see how this works when she is a teenager :).

Sorry, I scanned this one in a little crooked... but I thought this diagram was really helpful (once I found it) in showing the "fetal lie" or the position of the baby.  Of course, last week when we looked at the Nugget on sonogram, she was still in Breech position... she still has plenty of time to wiggle around in there, and I won't become quite as concerned with her positioning until week 34 (when she will become so big that it will be hard for her to flip back and forth).

I thought I would let you have a glimpse into the life of "big brother Sneebie" as he enjoys his last trimester of being an "only child."

"Suntanning with my Monster"