Sorting The Baby Stuff

Appointment Went Well

Doc said to call if contractions get to more than 6-8 an hour.  Colin took no nap yesterday, but still was pretty good at the doctor's, though the evening was rough.  

Mother-In-Law called today. Said she wants to come a week before the baby is born, and then mentioned being gone from her house for a month.  ???!!???  Is she planning to go somewhere else too?  Surely she's not planning on being HERE for a month.  I'm way stuck between the need to have help with Colin and the household, (especially the very particular need of someone to watch him when we are at the hospital) and my intense desire for privacy, especially the first few days.  I need the help but want to be left alone.  Am going to have to reconcile all this somehow.     

Oh, and Colin started preschool this week.  Mon, Weds, mornings only.  He liked it the first day, but did not want to go back today.  I'm sitting here counting the next thirty minutes until I can leave to go get him.  I've gotten bunches done in the  two hours he's been away, but I miss my noodle.  

The First of Two Things Keeping Me Up At Night

Things in the c00chie area have improved.  I started alternating an anesthetic spray and a numbing cream.  Turns out, I think, that I am sensitive to something in the spray - while it would numb things for a while, the itching came back ablazing and worse than ever.  Several baths and some Benadryl later and that seems resolved  - no more spray for me.  I also went swimming one day (per a commenters suggestion) and it was wonderful.  The chlorine caused some irritation, but overall it made me feel great, and I swear it did seem like the pressure of the water pushed things back where they should have been.  Haven't had to use the cream since last night, and haven't needed an ice pack for days.  Hope I'm not jinxing anything here.    

I am feeling this new baby boy move a bit, which is nice, but what I'm feeling more of is contractions.  Talked to Duchess, who reassured me that the practice contractions frequently come stronger and earlier in subsequent pregnancies, and that as long as they are not organized/regular I'm probably fine...

...but I'm trying to decide whether to say anything to the doc about it.  Thing is, I think he's a pretty conservative guy, and I'm afraid he'll make the dreaded recommendation - that recommendation which will not be named here, because it is just is not possible.  We have a 2 year old and no one to come watch him.  My husband can't just take off work.  This thought, this fear of getting the dreaded recommendation, (or worse, me being hospitalized like I was with Colin) awakens me at night.  Not every night, but some - especially right before an appointment. (He's started to see me every two weeks, though I'm only at 28 weeks, I think. When did your doc start seeing you every two weeks?  Seems early to me.)  

I'm worried on so many levels: I have an appointment tomorrow and due to a mix up, my husband can't watch Colin, so I have to take him with me.  I think its just a pee and blood pressure check, but the waits can be long at this office, and I'll have to wake him up from nap to go the the doc.  And I was at exactly this point in my pregnancy with Colin when I went for a pee/bp appointment and didn't come home for nine days.  Dear goodness, what if I have him with me and they want to do an NST, or who knows what else?  I bought him a little sack of peanut M&Ms that we'll take, and I'm planning to bring a backpack full of activities and other snacks for him.  Maybe if I'm over-prepared I can keep the bad stuff from happening. 

Really, I should not complain, or even have the nerve to worry.  I'm not a service worker who is on her feet all day and whose family literally would go hungry without my employment.  I no longer feel so miserable that I would rather do anything (including go to the dentist) than continue being pregnant.

** I hadn't mentioned the contractions to my husband, but I did just fess up this evening, and I told him I was worried whether to mention it to the doc tomorrow.  He said to go ahead and tell him.  Will update tomorrow to let you know that everything at the appointment went well, and my son was an angel the whole time.  Oh, and don't be concerned that all this worry will raise my blood pressure -  I have abnormally low bp, so that is unlikely to ever be a problem for me, I think.   

   

V To The Power of Three

As mentioned by a commenter below, doc said it is Vulvar Varicose Veins.  Nothing to be done that I'm not already doing.  Parents coming to visit for 3 days and not interested in mentioning it to them, but when I start walking like I have a grapefruit between my legs at about 7 pm, I think they might catch on that something isn't right, ya know?  Cried most of the drive home and for about 25 minutes after I got back, which only made my head hurt.  Last night it was so bad at 4AM that I actually got out a tube of Colin's old teething gel.  I know it makes things swell, but it also makes them numb, so at least I could get back to sleep.  

Doc said to watch salt, which I'm already trying to do.  Also said to stay hydrated - when I told him I was drinking three bottles of wine water a day he said I needed to be drinking three in the morning and three in the afternoon...which means more peeing of course, which leads to more walking, which leads to more chaffing, which leads to more swelling - ugh.  He also said to try these.  Real beauties, no?

Thanks for listening to me just bitch and bitch and bitch.       

Way TMI

Way way too much, and it's all crotchy.

The 'swelling' I mentioned in my last post has virtually taken over my life. I am near miserable. From the link the kind commentor sent me and what I can find online I think it might be like hemmoroids of the crotch. I've never had hemmoroids before and know almost nothing about them. By the end of the day (or, like on Friday, by noon) I can hardly walk because the friction it causes is just too much to bear. I have spent the weekend sitting on ice packs and, no kidding, frozen burritos. Have a dr appointment on Tuesday and while I'm embarassed to mention it to him, I'm just going to have to. If I push a baby out of there something is going to permanently burst, I fear. Plus, as I said before, I am just about miserable.
Thing is, I'm trying to prepare myself for the dr to say there is nothing to be done other than wait it out- or worse, I'm terrified it will last after the baby is born. Or I'm afraid he won't take me seriously. I was suffering some pretty ugly blues until the worst of this hit this week, and I was ready to talk to him about it, but now Ive been feeling so bad physically that I don't know if the emotional stuff was just a passing thing or what.
I know I'm lucky to be pregnant with a healthy baby. Really I do. But another 100 days of feeling like this is probably not within my capabilites.

All Is Quiet and Normal Here

Sorry for the Most Boring Blog Title Ever. 

We got to Baton Rouge and are 95% moved in.  I had appointments with both the regular and high-risk OB's the first week we were here.  I really liked the staff and docs at both places, which is practically a miracle, and very reassuring.  Had a nice long u/s with mat/fet med and the heart looked good enough that they recommended holding off on fetal echo for now.  We will repeat the big u/s in a couple of weeks to check baby's heart again.  I'm feeling well, with the exception of some very uncomfortable swelling in my .... uh, lady parts.  Sorry if that is entirely too much information.  I've never even heard of this before, and I'm going to assume its normal and there is nothing to be done about it, but boy-howdy is it unpleasant. Haven't mentioned it to a doc yet because I haven't seen one since it started.  Am moderately stressed that we know no one here and the closest person we have that could watch Colin while this baby is born is 7 hours away, but we've got some time to work on that since we are just at the 23-24 week mark.  My husband's solution is planned induction so family is already here, but that is just not my bag.  

I want to share more about how Colin is adjusting to life down here, and my quest to find activities for him like the library, Gymb*ree, swimming lessons and preschool, but I think I'd better get to bed for now.    

Very Good News!

We are having another boy- Yippee!! And the scan looked so good that we opted not to do the amnio.

Amnio Tuesday

We decided to go with amnio. I took the advice I was given by a commenter on the last post and asked about loss rate of my clinic. The u/s tech has been working with the doc I will see on Tusday for about three years and to her knowledge the two of them as a team have never had a loss due to amnio. Plus, she said they'd do the anatomy scan while I'm there, which is super handy because then I won't have to go get that done at my regular OB on the 30th, when there is a big moving truck in my driveway hauling away my entire household. We leave for Baton Rouge the morning of the 31st.

For the moment I am feeling very comfortable with our choice. I'm wondering, though, if the anatomy scan might look so good that we all agree not to do the amnio?

There is News Now

Doc called today to say quad screen shows Downs risk is 1/136. Risk based on my age alone is 1/155. What we need to decide is whether to do amnio to get a for-sure dx. We've gone back and forth all day. Right now I'm sitting on 'do it' because labor hurts like a motherforker and I want to know what I'll be seeing at the end of that effort. I don't want to get a big surprise at the moment the critter is born.
The 12 week scan back in Nov showed nuchal thickness of 1.1, and they get concerned with a measurement of 3 to 4 or higher. That scan also showed the presence of nasal bone, which is not present in 90% of Downs cases. So, the physical findings on a u/s from 6 weeks ago show nothing to worry over. Risk of loss due to amnio is 1/300, I think. I'm willing to listen to anything anyone has to say.

I Place My Worries Here

Last week I heard about a friend's friend who had a baby at just over 21 weeks - the baby is 8 months old now. Twenty minutes later I met a three year old boy who was born at 26 weeks. And now the Duggars have a baby at 25 (?) weeks. This is all starting to freak me out. I'm at 17 weeks. I'm starting to fixate on these early births, and I really don't know why.

Yes I had preterm labor at 28 weeks with Colin, but I really believe that was mostly due to the circumstances at the time and not just because my body was freaking out. So I mostly think my chances of preterm labor this time are low...unless I worry myself into it by fretting over these stories, I suppose. But still, my mind keeps wandering back there...not quite to the repetitive thoughts stage, but...

No News Is Good News

Nothing new to report. Am waiting in OBs office right now for a regular appointment. Now that I don't feel so crappy things are going along quite well. Quad screen today. 20 week ultrasound on Dec 30th, while the movers are at my house packing everything but the cats and the kid into a big moving truck. We leave Bowling Green and head to Baton Rouge the morning of the 31st.