just for a giggle...or a head shake...

"Why, Whyyy" is right... LOL

http://bettertospeak.tumblr.com/post/106444250/why-whyyy

Think Pink

Well, we THINK it's a girl! The ultrasound wasn't really clear due to the baby sitting funny, and being quite modest, but the best shot the doctor could get showed..well.. no little boy parts anyway ;)

We have 2 girl names picked out but we can't decide between the two. Either Reagan Maria, or Cadence Maria.

Cadence was our top (and only) choice for a long time. Since hubby is in the military, he has to walk/march/sing to cadence all the time, so it kinda stuck. The only problem is we now know a few people who have named their daughters Cadence.

Reagan is a fairly new pick. I didn't like it much at first but now it is growing on me more and more...maybe even my top pick now. Ronald Reagan, a great President, passed away on our wedding day (but we didn't know about it until the next day). Hubby heard the name Reagan somewhere else and mentioned itto me. Like I said, I wasn't too keen on it at first, but now I really like it.

What do you guys think? Reagan Maria or Cadence Maria? You can click here to vote, or just leave me your thoughts in a comment! :)

Blood Pressure confusion

I went to the specialist last week who told me that he didn't think my blood pressure was high enough to worry about and wanted me to get off the meds my other doc put me on and just keep checking my blood pressure every day. So that's what I've done for a week.

I think, for the most part, my BP has been fairly normal, granted it is in the higher range of normal, at home without the meds. One day I took it and it was high but I chalked it up to the fact that I had been cleaning the house all day.

So I go back to my regular doctor today and she tells me that her philosophy and his are different. She thinks of high as being anything over 140/90 while he lets it go to 150/100 before he is concerned. She also tells me that he isn't worried about delivering a baby at 32 or 34 weeks but she doesn't like to.

So she tells me that since most of my BP's are pretty good, that she is OK with just keeping a close eye on it without the meds,but I have to call her if I have two consecutive days of it being above "her" high.

She also told me I can't do housework. I'm on a modified bed rest. Unless I'm taking a shower, going to the bathroom, or something else completely necessary, I'm to be sitting with my feet up or laying down. Great, I don't have to clean the house...but who will? Surely not hubby! I love him to death but his idea of "clean enough" is nowhere near my idea of "clean enough."

More blood drawn and a mystery appointment

I had to go give more blood today for yet another scan. It's a good thing too because while I was at the office, I asked a nurse about the specialist I'm supposed to go see. "They still haven't called me to set an appointment."

She calls to see what is going on with that as she had faxed over all my info a month ago. Apparently,they made an appointment for me, without consulting me, and forgot to tell me about it. It's AT LEAST an hour drive away and in the middle of a school day - Yippee. WOuld have been nice to know about it LOL. My luck, I would have never found out about it and then they would have wanted to charge me for not canceling it within a certain time and being a no-show. At least now I have to time see if I can take off that day.

And I know, I know, I still haven't scanned my latest ultrasound pictures... I will soon, I swear (I hope!)

More funnies from my kids...

From a 2nd grader: "Mrs. A., When you goin' bring yo baby ta schoo?"
Me, laughing and patting my tummy: "Hunny I bring my baby to school every day!"


From a different 2nd grader after seeing me eat some of the 'reward' Skittles I keep in my desk: "Mrs. A is eattin' the Skittles!"
Me giggling because I was caught: "Don't tell all my secrets! The baby wanted some Skittles."
Her: "Nuh-uh.. babies don't eat Skittles, they drink milk!"
Me: "Well until it's born, my baby eats whatever I do."
So the rest of the day, anytime I was eating or drinking anything she would ask, "Your baby eating/drinking __________ (whatever it happened to be)?"


From a 6th grader: "Ohhhh... Mrs. A... Your stomach is getting so fat! You gonna have a chubby baby!"


And a not-so-funny, but a really really sweet:
One of my first graders was painting a picture presumably for his mother for Mother's Day. It had a picture of himself under a tree and the words, "Hapey Mothrs Da!" He gave it to me at the end of the day and said, "It's from your baby." :)

everything looks good

I still haven't gotten around to scanning the newest pictures, but I will this weekend. However, I had (yet another) doctor's appointment today. It was just a check up so nothing major but everything looks good. All my blood work is back in and everything is looking perfect! :) I have some other scan in 2 weeks and another appointment in 4 weeks...until then... I think I want another doughnut. and maybe some ice cream. or a bagel...

Freak me out, why don't ya!

I was supposed to have another Dr's appointment on Monday afternoon, ended up being an ultrasound appointment Monday Morning.

Monday morning I'm going about my busy life at school. Crazy kids and crazy amounts of paperwork when all of a sudden my cell phone rings. Crap, I forgot to turn it off again.

I noticed it was my doctor's office calling so I answer.

"Hello. We need to reschedule your appointment for today. The doctor won't be in today."
"Oh man, really? I really needed to see her."
"Well, she won't be in at all today."
"OK, can we make it for first thing in the morning?"
"Is there something wrong that you need to see her for? I'm seeing that this is just a scheduled check-up."
"Yes, hold on, I'm in my classroom, let me walk out." Nod to the other teacher in the room who understands and takes over.
"OK, I'm back. A few days ago I tripped and fell to my knees. I didn't think too much of it because I'm a clutz and everything seemed OK, no cramping or bleeding or anything. But then last night I noticed I was spotting just a little and I wanted the doctor to check it out just to be safe."
"You shouldn't be working if you are bleeding after a fall! You need to go home and lay down!!"
"Well it was just a little spot. And I wasn't that concerned because I fell last Wednesday so it was several days apart."
"Hold on a second please."
"Yes, the Doctor wants you to go home, we will schedule you an unltrasound at (another doctor's) office. Do you know where that is?"
"Yes, it's right by the hospital right?"
"Yes, I'll call you back and let you know when the appointment is. Go home ad lay down."
"Uh, OK, thanks."
"Bye"
"Bye"

So even though I wasn't freaking out too much about it before, now I am. I call hubby in a panic, wake him up tell him what's up, go to my principal (tell her that one of my kids is going off and just hit the other teacher, as well as) that I needed to leave and why. About this time the doctor's office calls back with an ultrasound appointment for me in less than an hour and a half. Wow, that's soon, I must have reason to panic now!

I fly home, crying, call Hubby again, wake him up again, and tell him that he has to go with me. He of course agrees and gets up and is showered and dressed by the time I get home.

They call me right in when I get there and the baby looks fine. Good heartbeat, moving around (Hubby said it looked like he/she was trying to do sit-ups already) and everything was fine. The nurse said the placenta was a little low but nothing to worry about as it would pick back up in the next few weeks. All in all, my nerves were calmed again... and I got to see my baby again! :)

They said that it MIGHT have been possible to tell the sex at this stage but we weren't able to yet so we will just have to wait until 20 weeks.

I have some ultrasound pictures, but I haven't scanned them yet. When I'll do I'll put a few of the really cute ones up!

The cat is out of the bag!

My students crack me up!

One of my lower functioning younger students overheard one of the other teachers say something to me about my pregnancy. It was then repeated later in the cafeteria.... and in line... and in other classes... and all over the school! Eventually my older (6th grade) students started giggling behind my back - they just had the whole sex ed/health talk not long ago.

A few brave souls have come up to me and either asked in whispers, "Are you pregnant?" or started off with the more self preserving, "Someone told me that..."

Their reactions were just as funny as their asking was. Most of the girls were happy and hugged me while most of the boys (who came usually in groups), started laughing and punching each other playfully saying, "I told ya so!" When I confirmed it for one boy in particular, his response was "Bow chicka wah wah!" as he walked off.

During 6th grade math remediation today, one of my more...ahem..."active" boys was doing his normal (unmedicated ADHD) thing. When I said name is a less than perfectly calm manner (as it had not been the first time I called his name in the 30 minutes I had him), he looked up at me and yelled, "Mrs. A, don't stress the baby!" to which he was rewarded by the giggles and laughs of his classmates (and yes, he eventually got me to giggle at that one too).

No running

This is a post that I meant to write several days ago. Monday or Tuesday to be exact, but life got in the way. Ok, maybe not so much life as my bed...

We went back to the doctor on Monday. Wasn't great news, but it could have been worse so I'll do what I have to do. Apparently I have chronic hypertension. High Blood Pressure in other words.

Hmmm, so what does this mean doc? Well first of all, I have to take (more) meds, ya know, on top of the gigantic prenatals I'm already taking. OK, not so bad, I can handle that, it's just a matter of remembering to take them.

It also means more frequent doctors visits. For the next month that means more time off of work, but during the summer it'll be no biggie. But then I'll have to go back to work...

I'll have to go see a specalist who works/lives 2 hours away but comes as close as one hour away once a month or so. yippee... more drive time.

There is a risk of bedrest. My first reaction was "oh no...pleeeeeease don't tell me I have to stay in bed all day" >loaded with sarcasm< but then I realized that this would again mean time off of work, not that I wouldn't love to be away from work some. I just want to be paid my regular paycheck while I'm not working :(

And then there is the reason for all of these precautions. My baby could be in danger. The placenta is only supposed to be in place for the 40 weeks it takes to create life. HBP beats up the placenta and wears it down so that it is "all used up" earlier than the 40 weeks which could cause me to go into early labor risking the baby. There were some other possibilities too but that is the first one she talked about so it was the one that stuck in my head.

The worst though, was when she told me I couldn't run. No running, no walking, no exercising of any sort that will raise my heart rate. I almost cried! Maternity yoga is all she said I can do. Guess I'll have to do yoga in that cute little maternity running skirt I just bought!

Was that a kick or am I just still woozy?

Yesterday, although not a scheduled Dr. appointment, I had to hit the Health Plex and get some blood work done. Before I went, the nurse practitioner at my Doctor's office said I didn't need to fast and that they would take quite a bit of blood so I might want to go ahead and eat pretty good before I went. She was laughing as she said it so I took it as a joke.

I shouldn't have.

10 vials! That's how much blood they took! 10! TEN! Diez! Dix! (OK that's the extent of my I-can-count-to-ten-in-[whatever language]) What could they possibly be testing that they would need 10 vials of my blood AND my pee in a cup?! After this, my doctor ought to have a full medical history and be able to tell me what I had to eat that day.

Luckily the woman who was taking my pound of blood was very nice ad personable, not to mention professional and very good at what she was doing. I hardly felt the needle go in my arm and she talked to me the entire time she was draining me to keep me from thinking about the wooziness I was experiencing due to the loss of blood.

Afterwards, Chris treated me to a chocolate milkshake :)

Later that night, I was laying on the couch when I felt something... strange. Butterflies? No, not quite. More like fish swimming and hitting me with their tails. What the heck was that? It was just blow my belly button to the left. The doctor told me that I could possibly start feeling the baby kick, especially with how active the baby was the day we had the scan, however, most women mistake the feeling for gas.

But then again, this is my husband's child so it could be that the child is gassy! ;)

I have to laugh at today's Bible verse:

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake.- 1 Timothy v. 23.

I know that "back in the day" the water wasn't all that good to drink and wine was actually safer, but really, is that the best Bible verse they can find for a PREGNANT woman today? hahaha :)

Then again, perhaps today's verse isn't for me after all. Perhaps it is for my husband. It is quite possible that he needs a glass of wine (or two) to deal with my hormonal moods and random food cravings!

First baby pictures

Yesterday we went to have the genetic testing done and it was one of the most exciting days I've ever had! We got to see our baby moving around, and hear the heartbeat - 175bpm! It was so amazing to know he (or she!) is moving around and doing well inside there! The baby was moving so much that the nurse was laughing and having a hard time getting pictures and getting the measurements before he (or she) would move again! I told Chris that our child is definitely going to be an athlete - runner and/or swimmer for sure. He just laughed and said that it is definitely MY child because it couldn't get comfortable and was restless! I'm so thankful that they gave us some pictures to take home... our first baby pictures!

Even though I had guessed that I was about 13 weeks, the sonogram found that I am probably only about 12 weeks, which makes since to me since I've never been very regular. This puts me at an expected due date for my lil punkin of about Oct 20th.

first doctor's appointment

Well we made it to the doctor's appointment today and although we didn't actually see the doctor, the nurse practitioner we saw was excellent and answered all of our questions very well. We found out that our doctor is not one who jumps too quickly to C-sections, which is a very good thing! We also received a large bag of goodies and info to look through on everything from the hospital where I will deliver to breastfeeding. She was also able to get us an appointment with another Doctor to do genetic testing for disorders such as Downs Syndrome. We would never terminate just because of a disability, but we decided we wanted to do it for two reasons. 1) To ease any nerves or be prepared if the tests come back positive and 2) to get a chance to see the baby a week earlier! The genetic testing includes a sonogram as well as finger prick so we are very excited about getting to see our baby next week rather than waiting until the 13th.

Doctor Frustrations!

I know doctors have families, I know they have lives and are people too, and I know things happen... but why do they have to happen to MY doctor right before MY FIRST appointment?!?! I got a call today saying that my appointment for tomorrow is canceled, which means the second appointment which is to be next week is also canceled! :( Now, the first time I can get in is on April 1st for the "meet and greet" and April 13th for the first real appointment. I had hoped for a Spring Break appointment so I wouldn't have to take any extra time off of work and could save my sick time, but my doctor will be out of town that week as well! UGH!! Guess all I can do is wait...

On a good note, I'm feeling a little better now. Still exhausted and fatigued, but at least not as sick feeling anymore. At least, not all the time.

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired!

I have been SO tired lately that I just haven't been able to post anything. Tired, and sick. I haven't yet actually thrown up, but I feel very nauseous all the time, mostly at night. I've tried taking my prenatals (from GNC), in the morning, at night, with food, without food, and any other way I can think of seeing if it helps. So far, the best is right before I go to bed after having eaten a little something.

I'm also trying to nibble all day long and not let my stomach get too hungry, because that is when it seems the worst. I have a box of Goldfish crackers and a thing of peanuts in my desk at school to help with that. Hopefully this part goes away soon.