Week 29: Childbirth Class with Bloody Mary

The beginning of week 30 has left me wondering, where is this baby going to find anymore room to grow. We still have at least 7 weeks left, and 10 more until 40! I guess this is the part of pregnancy that everyone warned me about. The third trimester backaches, inability to get comfortable at times, heartburn, and a backlash of nausea! Granted, I don't feel these symptoms all the time, so that's a step in the right direction. I have been rockin' the pregnancy waddle as Colt likes to point out, but this is usually only after I've been walking for a long period of time, or I'm wearing my cute winter boots. Anyway, the close of week 29, and the beginning of week 30 have been nothing if not eventful.

Last week, as you know, I was called into my doctor's office for another ultrasound to determine the size of the baby. As they concluded, he was about 3 lbs, 1 oz. at 28 weeks, 6 days, and in the 70th percentile. This is not all together uncommon, and larger babies do run in my family, but we're still not sure what that means in terms of when he'll come. I got a call on Monday morning with the results of my 24 hour urine test...well sort of. One of the office nurses called me and asked if I could come in either that day, or on Tuesday to meet with the doctor and go over my results. I told her that I was already scheduled to come in that day (Monday) to get the H1N1 vaccine, and inquired about any appointment openings that she had around that time. Unfortunately, the doctor was already double booked for that day, which made me wonder why she even mentioned that as an option in the first place, but that I could come in at noon on Tuesday. I was a little bit perturbed that I would be going back to the doctor's office the next day, which would make it 4 times in 3 weeks, but I obliged. At my ultrasound appointment the previous week, I had them take my blood pressure, which was at 122/80, and I had them test it again on Monday's H1N1 vaccine appointment, and it was at 118/80. Both of which are good numbers! Tuesday I waddled into the office with Colt following, loyally behind me (he hasn't missed any of my appointments with the doctor). They did all of the preliminary testing, and checked my blood pressure once again, which was at 122/82, still normal. Colt and I were escorted back to our room to wait for the doctor. When she walked in, she looked a little troubled. "Alright, we have to talk," she said. In my experience, these words are almost never followed by good news. She received the results of my urine test, and my protein levels were at 354. Normal protein levels should be under 150, but in the mildest form of any kind of problem, the levels are between 150-500. She was concerned about this because two of the markers of Pre-eclampsia are protein in your urine, and high blood pressure, among other things. My blood pressure is normal now, but for several appointments previously, it had been slowly escalating. She was worried about the combination of those two symptoms, and said that if the problems continued down this path, that they might have to deliver the baby a little bit early to ensure that everything would be ok. The only "cure" for Pre-eclampsia is to deliver the baby, and then the condition clears up. After hearing this, I was thinking, "Well lets just hold our horses for a few minutes here before you slice me open and go digging for baby." I explained to her that even before I got pregnant, I had had some issues with protein in my urine. In fact, about 5 months before I got pregnant, I had to do my first 24 hour urine test for my general practitioner. She too said that I had elevated levels of protein my urine, but that it was normal for some people to have more protein than others. My OB disagreed. She explained to me how the kidneys work to filter out proteins, and when, for whatever reason, they aren't filtering out what they should be, there could be a problem. She said this could be considered "good news" for my pregnancy though, as it didn't sound like Pre-eclampsia if I've had this protein problem even before I got pregnant. Also, since my blood pressure was normal at the last several visits, that gave less credibility to the Pre-eclampsia diagnosis as well. She referred me to a Nephrologist (kidney doctor), to have them run some tests and find out what the root of this problem is. If its not related to my blood pressure, which I'm sure its not, then its not Pre-eclampsia, and that can be ruled out. On the other hand, if its not related to my blood pressure, then I'm not sure what it could be related to, and we need to get to the bottom of it! My OB said it could be a neph-something-or-other, but that it shouldn't affect the pregnancy. She didn't seem to concerned with the alternative, which made me feel a little bit better. Hopefully if we discover its not Pre-eclampsia, and there is some other reason that my kidneys are slacking on the job, they'll be able to do something, preferably non-invasive to fix the problem! Anyway, she gave me the number of a Nephrologist, and told me she wants to see me back in a week (11/24) after I have been to see the Nephrologist. Of course, when I called to make the new patient appointment with them, the first availability was on December 2nd, so I had to take that appointment. I called my OB back, and told her that the new doctor informed me that there would be no way to get in before my next OB appointment, but that I had another OB appointment on the 3rd of December, and wanted to know if that was ok. SO NOW my OB is calling the Nephrologist, trying to get me in with them before my November 24th OB appointment. I know...CONFUSING! So many doctor appointments, so little time. As of now, I have an ultrasound appointment with my mom's friend Jennifer, on the 23rd, an OB appointment on the 24th, a Nephrologist appointment on the 2nd, and another OB appointment on the 3rd. To top it all off, my December 3rd OB appointment marks my 32nd week, at which time they start increasing your appointments to every other week until about 36 weeks, and then it goes to weekly! I'll probably be living at the doctor's office for the remainder of my pregnancy. Better safe than sorry I suppose.

In happier news, my baby shower is TOMORROW! I am so excited! My mom and my Grandma Dee have put so much time and planning into it. I can't wait to see the final result. I will post pictures as soon as I have some. Trying to find something to wear to the baby shower has been...fun. Since the beginning of my pregnancy, my ambition was always to look pregnant, and not just fat. For the last several weeks that I have been REALLY "showing", I have been buying regular, non-maternity shirts in bigger sizes, so I can look pregnant, be comfortable, and still feel cute. This has become more of a task in recent weeks. I think I've come to a point where the non-maternity shirts aren't going to cut it much longer. Although I have come to terms with the fact that I may have to buy some maternity shirts, I refuse, REFUSE to wear a mu-mu for the next few weeks. I will not do it. My Grandma Jan and Mama picked out some really cute maternity clothes for me at Kohl's, and my shower ensemble will most likely come from their findings. Cute, and not a tent!

Tuesday night was our first child birth class at University Community Hospital, which is where we plan to deliver. Neither one of us was expecting this to be a blast, but we had heard that they were somewhat helpful. We were in a class of 4 couples (not including us). Although the teacher was very sweet and helpful, I can't say that I learned anything new. I come from a HUGE family, and it seems like every year, someone is having a baby. This has proved to be very helpful during this pregnancy, and knowing what to expect. Before we left for the class, we were running late, as usual. Colt really wanted to shave before we left, as to make a good first impression. In an effort to be speedy, he wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing, and he cut his ear, and his nose pretty badly. It was bleeding, so he put some paper towel on the wounds, and we left for the class. The kept the paper towel on the whole way there, but when we parked at the hospital, he obviously had to take it off. It started bleeding profusely! His ear had pretty much dried up, but the scratch on the bottom of his nostril was pretty bad. We made it to the class with a few minutes to spare, so he ran to the bathroom and grabbed a few hand fulls of toilet paper to stop the bleeding. It was HILARIOUS! The teacher asked us all to answer a few "get to know you" questions, and Colt was holding a bloody wad of toilet paper in his hand, and blotting his nose every few words. I couldn't help but laugh so hard (not while he was talking of course). We both got a huge kick out of it. It didn't stop bleeding until we took our first break about an hour later! Poor guy!

Side note: I had a cup of coffee this morning, which I haven't really wanted almost the entire pregnancy. I used to be an avid coffee drinker, but the thought of it during this pregnancy has kind of been a turn off. Anyway, as I type, I am watching the baby squirm and dance in my belly. He must like the extra caffeine kick! HA!

Well I suppose I will leave you with a few pictures. I didn't post them on Facebook, but I thought since this was my "personal" blog, that it would be ok to post them on here. Aunt Heather (my go-to photographer) is down for the shower so we took some cool "belly" photos. I had been trying to figure out a way to use my curtains in my room, which are such a cool orange color, and some low lighting to take some cool shots, but I don't know how to set the timer on my camera. She was a big help, and they came out great! Just to preface this, I don't think these are immodest, and if you are having lustful thoughts about a 7 and 1/2 month pregnant belly, you're a weirdo. Thanks for reading!!!