have a healthy baby

What an adorable and beautiful baby girl she is! babies are so cute then they reach the “terrible two’s” what do they call them that?

After the potty training and the first few steps it’s all downhill, kind., elementary school, High School, dances, proms, then graduation, college and getting a new job! Along the way they may develop crushes, romance, love and a brand new puppy. Happy Birthday 0 years old! LOL

(((((Love Rebecca)))))

Mc Huggs :)

PS Thanks for the invite I would have missed this one. Kudos!

:-) So happy!

About to start 41st week, according to LMP.

This NOT funny anymore.

My bun is overcooked and still in the oven. (SIGH!)

Doctor visit today. Still just one cm, but I gained a little over FOUR POUNDS in just a week! Can you believe it! We also got to see the baby on ultra-sound, as my non-stress test showed her to be “non-reactive.” The stinker was taking a nap… when she should’ve been showing off how healthy she is! The resulting scan was very reassurring. We learned two things She is smooshed up in tight quarters and she LOVES to suck her thumbs!

After the first part of my visit I texted my husband the following. “Good visit. No weight gained this week. 1 cm dilated. Going to do a stress test.” He called me back all in a tizzy, shouting, “WHAT DO WE DO?” I said, “Hmmm…Go shopping?” I didn’t mean to upset him. I honestly thought he knew the 1 cm means it could still be weeks before the baby comes! I tried to reassure him but whenever I would tell him to calm down he would shout, “I AM calm.” I found it really adorable that he got so frazzled!

The “stress” test (which I think they called by the wrong name – I think it was more accurately called “Non Stress Test” measured the baby’s heartbeat and movement over about a 20 minute time-span on monitors. The doctor said she looked great, “like a very healthy baby!”

Victor is five weeks and two days old today and I simply adore him. He was born by scheduled c-section on July 28, 2009 and weighed in at 5 lbs 13 oz. At his one month appointment, he weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz. So he’s growing at a strapping rate.

On the day of the surgery, I was so afraid I was going to break down, because even though it had been exactly two years since we lost our first son, Aidan, the memory of it all was still fresh. I could still hear the silence from my baby when they took him out and tried to intubate him. But he was so small. I also heard my husband give let out a sort of howl or gasp that broke my heart. Aidan lived for an hour, and during that time, the doctors and nurses kept asking me if I wanted to see him. But I was so drugged up and out of it that I kept saying no. I only saw him two hours later, after I was wheeled to my hospital room. My husband and I spent an hour with him as a family. We took pictures together and admired his tiny features. Then a nurse came to take him to the morgue. She removed all his tiny clothes and blankets and returned them to us, along with a blue satin memory box that contained his portrait and footprints. We spent the remaining days in the hospital opening and closing that box, making funeral arrangements, and shopping for an urn.

But my new doctor reassured me that I would have a completely different experience this time. I made it to full term and the baby looked great. The c-section came off in a very relaxed manner. I did not feel too much pain, even after the anesthesia wore off, and listened to my doctors having conversations about Star Wars and Star Trek conventions while they were cutting into me. Victor let out a loud cry when he was born and scored a 9.8 on the Baby Richter Scale. Then I had a round of devoted nurses who taught me how to take care of my baby, because I couldn’t travel to any classes during my pregnancy and was too scared to read up on any childcare books. At best, I crammed like I as studying for a test during the last two weeks before the c-section and that was it.

So the physical aspects of this particular journey are over, though I know that I will always be a frequent traveler to this mental terrain.

Holy Smokes – I gained seven pound in the last three and a half weeks, while I’ve been on vacation. This is twice the rate of 1 pound per week I am SUPPOSED to be gaining. Guess I don’t have to worry about the underweight problem anymore. Baby measured 28-29 weeks in fundal height and 29 weeks 1 day on the ultrasound. She is on target in her growth. I am now 8 pounds over my start weight which was too high to begin with. Now I’m hoping I don’t gain more than 11 or so pounds additional!

My SIL and I got to see her suck her little thumb and chomp on her fist. We could even see her little tongue going in and out of her mouth when she opened and closed it!

My husband and I went to our last detailed ultrasound, in which a technician does measurements of the baby’s growth. He’s right on schedule but on the tiny side, estimated at five pounds, in the 47th percentile. What worried me was that the technician remarked that he was sitting very low, with his head at my pelvis. My doc told me to “behave” since he will be gone on vacation for two weeks, to return on 7/21. My c-section is scheduled for 7/28.

I still have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for the baby, shopping and cleaning, etc. But now I’m a little afraid to do them. I really don’t want him to come early.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated on this goal.

I did make a scary trip to L&D during my thirty-first week. In the late evening, I had more discharge than usual and then perhaps scared myself into having contractions that became regular, occurring about every five minutes. I was checked for leaking amnio fluid, which turned out to be negative and given a shot of terbutilene to stop the contractions. As my husband sat next to me in one of the curtained stalls, the terrified and defeated look on his face told me that he was having a flashback, just as I was, to the time when we lost our first baby, when I had waited too long to react to the signs that something was wrong.

Fortunately for us, this time, the outcome was much more positive. We just lost half a night’s sleep. And nothing else.

The next day, a Sunday, my husband began setting up our room to accommodate the baby, because suddenly it had become a reality that we will, God willing, be taking our baby home this time.

28 weeks along
Terrifying gush of blood, though I felt just fine.
Admitted to OB ward for heart monitors, ultrasound, and pelvic exam.
Long story short… Rebecca is fine. I am fine.
This just happens sometimes. Doctor’s orders – no exercise, lifting, and “pelvic rest” until there’s no more bleeding for a week. Whatever it was seems to be over with.
I got to see my baby on ultrasound again, though, so that’s always reassuring. She measured a few days ahead of schedule in her growth as she’s been doing all along. The tech said she weighed 2.8 pounds now. Relieved and thankful.