30 Down, 10 To Go

Holy cow, we have reached the 30 week mark today. Stunned and delighted, I am. This may not be shocking, I guess, but every day that goes by without incident is a good day; indeed, a gift. So things are full of joy, here at the R v E household. Yay!

Last Tuesday's appointment went very well. The Bee measured at 3 lbs., 2 oz and gestational age was calculated to be 29w5d; 4 days ahead of schedule. I find this kind of funny, because with a baby conceived via IVF, there's just no question as to the date of fertilization. So I guess he'll be a fairly good sized baby. My right uterine arteries are still notched, but the left are doing great; in fact, my placenta likes the left arteries so much it has moved over there. So, I started out with a posterior placenta and it migrated over to the left lateral side of my uterus. Where the blood is. So that's a good thing, and it explains why much of the little wee bee's movements are in the lower left quadrant of my abdomen: he's usually head down, with his back along the right side of my uterus, hands in the lower left and feet in the upper left. Well, as long as he's comfy. The perinatologists don't seem to concerned, but want to see me back every 4 weeks just to stay on top of things and make sure problems don't crop up. I'm mightily relieved that they take such a proactive approach to pregnancy. I'd much rather the consistent monitoring than trying to react to a problem that has developed due to lax monitoring. Snapshot is posted down at the bottom of this post for those of you wanting to see the cheeky monkey. I'm also including a ticker - Oh, I had to get one - when the hell else am I going to be pregnant? I've got to enjoy this while I can!

With the advent of the third trimester, I have found that puffy feet are the rule, not the exception. The swollen ankles are really impressive and I found that my feet hurt a lot, which Mr. Right attributes to my weight gain (about 20 lbs so far). My new best friends are the TEDS support hose which are supposed to force the retained fluid back into my lymphatics and blood stream. They mostly work... mostly. What works the best is exercise, but as I do that in the early morning, my feet are back to their usual puffy selves by evening. Well, you can't blame a girl for trying...

I did have a spectacular nosebleed on Saturday evening. I say spectacular because it was also my first. I knew this could happen during pregnancy and is in fact fairly common, but was still a bit unsettled that it took 30 minutes to stop the bleeding. I called my aunt, who said that if it didn't stop soon to call the doctor. Fortunately, it resolved while I was on the phone with her. She said not to do what she did, which was wait a week before going to the doctor. (!) A week?! She didn't think it was a big deal because she had nosebleeds as a kid, but everything eventually wound up being okay with her. Thank goodness, because the woman is the brightest ray of sunshine. The ringer on my cell for her is "Ode to Joy", because she's a tremendous joy in our lives, and we know how lucky we are to have her. Hello C!

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post. I can't tell you how much they mean to me, and I'm always surprised when they arrive. Your kind words of encouragement have helped me tremendously. I know that some of you are going through very difficult times yourselves, so it always amazes me that in the midst of your own agita you can root for someone else, too. Thank you kindly, ladies and gents. : )

Commencement! (Finally)

I know it's been quite a while since my last post, but we have been utterly swamped at work. I'm not complaining; we were slow over the summer and into October to the point of anxiousness. We've had lulls before, for about two week stretches, but never for several months. I doubt I'll ever complain about being busy again - it's just a fact at this point. So our flurry of activity has kept me from keeping up with your activities and keeping you up to date on my own. Without further ado, the good news:

My cervix has graduated. Throughout the testing and biweekly monitoring, my doctors are satisfied that it's not going to do anything inappropriate. We are quite relieved on that front - it's a good thing.

On December 27th, they performed another Doppler and found that my right uterine arteries have still not quite stepped up to the plate. Our chipmunk measured very well (picture is posted below), and in fact measured 4 days ahead, so thus far intrauterine growth restriction isn't a concern. We will go back to the perinatal center on Tuesday for another Bee check to see how his size is coming along. I'm still not very big (at the onset of my 7th month), which of course makes me a bit nervous that growth restriction will be a problem. It doesn't help that people keep commenting that "Wow! You're really carrying small!" Depending on how the scan goes on Tuesday, I will either welcome these comments, or want to smack people in their foreheads. We shall see, but I am hopeful.

We had our orientation at the hospital today, which was neat and exciting, now that we get to do this "for real". Mr. Right hates hospitals, so he's trying to use this experience to associate good things with hospitals so he won't dislike them so much. I've always liked hospitals, because to me they were the places where they fixed things (like my dad's heart, my arm, etc.). I wonder what is will be like to actually give birth to a child... I know we're supposed to work on our birth plans; ultimately, all I really want is a healthy child and healthy mom. Everything else is just a bonus.

I'll be 29 weeks on Monday, and it still surprises me that I am actually carrying a wee child under my heart. Even with the swollen ankles, puffy feet, maternity jeans, clear skin, and occasional kicks in the cervix. When the Bee does that, I usually ask him to move a bit and kick somewhere else if he feels like stretching out. He always does, and I tell him how appreciative I am of that. Makes me feel good that we're off to a nice start. He'll likely be an Aires, so I'm sure we'll have our hands full. At this point, I am so grateful to have gotten even this far that I won't mind that a bit. So Bee, kick away. But just keep in mind if it gets painful, I'll ask you to shift just a little and kick me somewhere a little less sensitive.

I promise to check in on you all and see what's going on in your lives, and input whenever appropriate. I hope you're all well. : )