Pregnancy :: Bought Dex's Bouncer Seat!

So I had a coupon for Babies R Us that expired at midnight tonight, and so I went ahead and bought Dex a vibrating baby bouncer seat. Hopefully it will tide us over until I can get the swing I'm really hoping for...........................


Pretty cute, huh? This was the best I've seen so far and the price wasn't bad. Guess I better go remove it from my registry.................. ;)

BOO On Creepy Physical Therapists! Yay Chinese Food!

Well, I'm home. Could that have been more pointless or humiliating?

She made me walk around the room in my VELVET COW SPOTTED BIKINI UNDERWEAR so the med students could "observe the slip & slide motion of the pubic symphysis dysfunction". HUMILIATING. EVEN FOR GOOD NATURED ME. Thank goodness I didn't go with the lemon/lime thongs, right?

She then proceeds to show them how I cannot bring my foot to my chest. My God, woman, I can't do this when I'm not pregnant, much less when I'm this pregnant! Lastly she gathers the med students around to see how rotating the legs makes the pelvis slip around (which is extremely painful!!!!!!!!) and she did this again and again and again.

So what did we actually learn today, kiddies?

• That this is caused by pregnancy. I think I'm gonna fall over and die from the shock of that surprise.
• That this may or may not go away after pregnancy. Okay, that's a little depressing.
• That there is no quick fix for it. Duh. Yes. I just typed Duh.
• That other pregnancy complications can exaggerate the condition. Duh again.

Worth noting, though, taking into account how bad my pelvis is right now seperated wise, if I choose to try a VBAC I could cause myself permanent damage and be stuck with a chronic back problem. The epidural would take the pain away during delivery, but the delivery itself will trash my pelvis. Granted, she's a pessimist, and resembles a Disney Villain, but I'm gonna trust her on that and not even attempt a VBAC. I do not want chronic back problems.

She ends with come in once a week, so we can "visit". I say that I can't really justify a $30 copay weekly for conversation no matter how titilating. And as much as I enjoyed being paraded around in my cow undies, I think I've done my share towards furthering science with this visit. She gave me a lame-o belt and agreed to keep the meds as they are now.

She expects to hear from me post partum, but I'm gonna believe that this thing goes away after giving birth. Because she scares me. Have you ever had the feeling that you were stuck in a room with someone that is so creepy her therapist sleeps with the light on? I experienced that today.

Crappy experience. So DH is buying me chinese food tonight, and the kids are using the ridiculous belt to strap each other to the dining room chairs. AND, THEY LIKED MY GLITTER GLUE AND CRAYONS EFFECT ON MY PERSON DIAGRAM.

Physical Therapist, Physical Schmerapist

Well, I have another appointment this afternoon except this one is with the physical therapist instead of the OB. Frankly, I am working really hard on backing out of it, but no luck so far. From everything I understand, there is not one thing they can do to help the situation; only the end of the pregnancy will help the situation and it's just not time yet. I hate wasting time and money so someone can tell me that. =sigh= Who knows, maybe I'll come home with a completely different view of the experience, but we'll see.

I woke up this morning at 4AM again and found myself quoting the Animaniacs ("My bottom hursts - Wakko). At least my subconscious hasn't lost its sense of humor.

And, because this is such a cheery type of post, we got a call from our new bank that there is a problem with our old bank that needs addressed. =sigh= This month is going to be uber tight financial wise anyways (especially since baby is probably coming) and we just didn't need this. The situation was completely out of our control, but they have added a ton of fees up the wazoo anyway. I talked them down $50 but that's as low as they would go. On the bright side, the bank lady said she loved us. People are weirdos.

Now, Michael is going to freak on the $$ thing, and get really, really tight fisted for awhile. Which is understandable, although last night he insisted on asking me if I really had to have Grape Nuts because they are expensive. Huh? Did you just ask me if I really had to have Grape Nuts? Yes, I'm 8 months pregnant, I can't walk or drive, haven't left the house for days, and throw up all the time. Yes, dear one, I must have Grape Nuts. Or I am going to bawl. And make scene. And tell your mother. Needless to say he bought the Grape Nuts. ;)

Design Update - It's All Gone Nuts

Alright, so the design I had up 2 days ago wasn't displaying right in all browsers. Makes sense, really, as I had it set up pixel specific and there just wasn't much margin of error.

Yesterday I switched it out for a skin, but quickly discovered there were very serious quirks in it that kept it from functioning in a precise manner, although on the bright side it did have cross browser compatibility.

This morning I decided to try again with something different, instead of trying to "teach" everyone how to make the other skin "work". It looks good, definitely has less "bugs", and also has cross browser compatibility, BUT the comments aren't working! =aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!= I'm screaming here.

For the time being if you want to say something we are going to have to depend on the tagboard. Which is humourous, because one of the remaining bugs is that on occasion the tagboard will replace itself with the baby registry. Explain that one to me! I'm working on getting it all worked out................ ;)

Pregnancy - UPDATE - 1ST OB APPT. THIS WEEK

First off, I hope the new temporary design holds water. I'm a little overwhelmed with how compact it is, but I don't have the time or energy to rewrite the other for multi browser compatibility, and this ones *cute*. I bet Zippy feels a little nauseous....

I went to the OB this morning for my first appt. of the week. It was for a non-stress test (here on out referred to as a NST) and is simply where they strap on monitors and check the babies heartbeat, movement, etc. for a period of time (usually 20 minutes).

All seemed to be going well (he had the hiccups for the first 14 minutes straight), but they didn't let me up at 20 minutes and kept taking the prinout for the OB to look at. Turns out after the first 20 minutes they were monitoring contractions.

Understandable, but if they had let me know what they were doing I could've given 'em the heads up to the fact that my pants were too tight, I was in an uncomfortable position, I was hungry & thirsty, the train commute had been wild, and I had to pee. Of course, my uterus was overactive!

Anyway, they wanted me to stay on for monitoring there or go to the hospital, and I opted for curtain #3 (my idea, not theirs) which was to come home and let them know if the contractions kept on. After some food, water, and a pain med for my crazy pelvis, things seemed to have settled down considerably. A nap this afternoon should take care of any remaining overactivity (of which there is some), although, I admit, that frankly I just feel like complete and total crap.

Hopefully it's just a bad day, and not the decline the OB was expecting in regards to how my body functions under the stress of the excessive fluid. He said once the contractions started up, we were on a downhill slope, so, again, hopefully just a bad day and not a turn for difficulty.

I Don't Nest. I Compulsively Prepare.

Nesting is a stupid term. Every single stupid thing a pregnant woman done is chalked up to "nesting". Birds nest. Platypusses nest (I think). Pregnant women compulsively prepare for the inevitable. We really deserve a more worthy word for our behaviors.

That being said, I am working all hours of the day and night to try and get this house ready for Dexter's arrival. Trying to completely re-evaluate and reorganize one's life is difficult enough after a major move, but trying to do that while figuring into the equation a new family member is a huge job. Let's throw in that it is the turn of the season (the clothing change out is coming), and the fact that I walk like a three legged fish, and you can imagine the terminally slow place at which things are progressing. Actually it's going okay, but to me it seems to be in slow motion...

The most interesting aspect of it all has been the fact that my computer is somehow a priority. Not having my graphics copied off, my files alphabetized, or my software applications updated is driving me out of my everloving mind. Haunting me at 3 or 4 in the morning. Can someone explain that one to me? Hmmm?

Yesterday I got the last of Dex's clothes washed & put neatly away. The bassinet is prepared. My breasts have not detached themselves and gotten their own place. So, he can dress, sleep and eat. I guess the rest is just gravy.

Pregnancy :: "The Baby" Has A Name

I wanted to check with all the family and make sure no one was not wanting to know his name before birth today, and got the go ahead to make it public. Rather a relief! It was getting redundant referring to him as "the baby" on here! His name is:

Dexter Wyatt

Pregnancy :: Baby Registry

Of course, it's all mainly fun stuff or big stuff. There are so few middle grounds when it comes to buying for babies.... Anyway, here's what's there so far, and I'm sure I'll add to it as we go along. :)

The pictures should show up before too long........ I don't know why it's showing the list as all text.

Pregnancy :: Pirate C-Section Discussions - OB Appt.

Hey, friends! I just got back from my OB appt. and wanted to update everybody on the news! Here's what we found out (and if you need any of the terms explained scroll down to the post with the first OB appt. where I linked everything up to explanations ;)

Polyhydramnios -
The fluid has increased (just as I said it would - cookie for me) from a measurement of 28 to 32. Because it has continued to follow the same pattern as it did for Lang (started at the same time, increased incrementally at the same levels) the OB said that we can just expect it to continue the same route (ie more fluid continuously until delivery). At this rate it is about getting as far as we can.

I told him I was not interested in amnioreduction, and he agreed as long as I can continue to breathe normally and we don't see a decrease in my organs functioning. By not draining off the fluid we are taking a risk of sudden labor (the uterus just can't take the extension anymore, etc.), but with amnioreduction we would be taking the risk of causing a placental abruption & hemmoraging due to quickly decreasing the uterine size.

I'm telling you all this, because this choice is an important one. It means he will need to be born much sooner than if we were draining the fluid. Fact is, I am in absolutely no hurry to have this little guy (I like him where he's at - so much quieter), but neither am I interested in taking a weekly risk of a hemmorage by multiple reductions. I've done that before (the hemmorage) and it scared the bejezus out of me.



Hydronephrosis -
With the scan we did today we were able to see that the baby's condition has progressed from mild to moderate. Again, as expected. A pediatric urologist will be on hand at his birth, and we will follow the same close monitoring we did with Lang as an infant.



Pubic Symphysis Dysfunction -
I am meeting with a physical therapist & orthopedic surgeon on Thursday to develop a plan on how we want to treat this during the (short) remainder of this pregnancy and in the postpartum period.

We pretty much ruled out a VBAC today, because while my uterus MIGHT (not likely with the polyhydramnios "decompression" issue) be able to do it, I just can't imagine the recovery of pushing a baby out of this messed up pelvis.

They also made a list of all the things I can't do (they recommended a nanny - very funny) which consisted of everything I absolutely must do on a daily basis & they upped my meds considerably.



Fluffy Condition -
Yes, baby is still exceptionally fluffy (read chubby) and this is turning out to be a wonderful thing. If he's coming earlier than expected he needs every ounce he can pack on. We watched him breathing his fluid for the entire time of the scan, and he also sucked his thumb and patted his eye. Very awesome! LOL. The OB pointed out that one of the interesting thing about polyhydramnios babies is that they are not confined at all (have soooo much room), and he proved this by turning completely from front to back during the scan without so much as brushing against a side....

What does all this mean? It means everything and yet defines nothing all at the same time. We are going to push through as far as we can for time. However, the OB indicated that 2-3 more weeks would be our absolute max accomplishment with the way the fluid is increasing. We're looking at about September 15th (although it is not set in stone yet - yes, Lily is excited). I might possibly push for September 21st (back to the pirate day - all little boys want to be born on Talk Like A Pirate Day). Yet even these guesses depend on the assumption that my uterus can withstand the strain (which I believe it can) and not go into labor on its own.

They have me going in to be monitored & attending misc. appointments 3 times a week now, so that really cuts into my nesting/ preparation time also. Not to mention it is taking me 4x as long to get anything done with my whole pelvis issue. We are going to have to simplify and prioritize what we want to get done the most and I'm going to have to accept the fact that he will be arriving in less than perfect circumstances. Aw, well, par for the course, right? It's an imperfect world................... :)

The Difference Between 4 & 1

It's 3. A little homeschool humor there...............

Actually, I was thinking about that today (thanks to a post on the pregnancy forum). The difference in how we approach and percieve parenting from our first child on down the line. There is a massive difference in how I handled Summer versus how I handle Langdon, and I wonder if I will be able to say a few years from now that there is a difference in how I handle this little guy versus his older brother.

With my oldest I wanted her to measure reasonably on those ridiculous charts and made every change imaginable to see if I could get accomplish that by her upcoming OB appt.

With my youngest, when they say "He's too small, he's too pale......", I just laugh and say maybe their standards are too big and too bright. ;)

I wonder where we'll be with our fifth. I hope it doesn't involve chanting, acupuncture and granola. That's all I'm saying...........

Pregnancy :: Dueling Banjos Of Metabolism

That's the point I'm in with this pregnancy right now. My body says sleep, his evidently says not so much.

For the past 2 weeks or so I've been waking up every single morning at 4AM and been wide awake. Hyper actually. However, there is nothing more pitiful than a woman who is now measuring 48 inches around waddling & limping around an echoey home at an absurd time of day trying to think of amusing things to do in the dark.

I'm sure there are multiple technical explanations for such behavior, but I have to believe it's nature way of preparing us for a newborn. Everyone says "rest, rest" during the final few weeks, but our bodies seem to be specifically designed to exclude that possibility so that we avoid the shell shock of parenting a newborn.

Before my pelvis got so bad I was going out each morning at 5AM and doing the grocery shopping. Then it was making all sorts of superfluous lists. Now it is watching FOX News and surfing the web. At the rate my productivity is decreasing, I suspect by next week I'll just be sitting in a dark room picking my nose.

Pregnancy :: Nesting? Or Codeine?

So hard to say! The girls and I are moving through the house working on unfinished projects at a phenomenal rate, and I can't say if it is the urgency that comes with late pregnancy (nesting instinct, if you will) or it is simply the fact that codeine makes me hyperactive and compulsive.

Either way, I have to admit that it is good to be able to move around almost normally for small periods of time. I can still feel my pelvis sliding around and hear the strange popping in my lower spine where it meets up with my pelvis, but without the intense pain. It's actually very interesting all things considered! Without the pain clouding things up I can get a much clearer picture of what's going on and, wow, is it wrong. Pelvises are not supposed to do that. ;)

Today we are sorting the newborn clothes, blankets, and other misc. stuff. I won an auction (check out the slideshow below) on ebay the other day as my one "newborn" splurge, so we're getting ready to get all of that in the wash and ready.

I'm also setting up an online baby registry. Mind you, we absolutely don't need it. We're not having a shower, and people are certainly less enthusiastic about fifth children anyway, but I wanted the experience. ;) We're actually doing our own baby shower (for us only) and maybe I'll just buy something off it, wrap it up, attach an obnoxious balloon and order myself a cake. Because I can. And I'm a dork. And dorks roll like that.

Pregnancy :: Nursery Idea (For Nana)

Sorry this took so long! The girls had me working on their blog stuff for most of today.... ;)

Anyway, this is the bedding sest that Lang liked (I showed him a bunch of diffent ones and these got the screen pat of approval) and I thought the middle part seemed like it would work well for a quilt and perhaps the outer border could be done into a bumper?

I think I like this one best but he actually prefers...............


Imagine that! I just can't decide if it's creepy to surround a newborn with maneating lizards?

So what do you think? Can we make these work without it being too big a deal? Let me know your opinion!

Pregnancy :: Blogging Baby

Well, I've certainly taken a considerable amount of time off from blogging, and hadn't necessarily planned on returning at any point, but there is a lot going on here and this might be the most effective way to keep everyone in the loop.... :)

I went to the OB yesterday for the first time since the move (18 weeks), and although I've griped and drug my feet terribly through the process I have to say that it was a positive experience all things considered. Luckily I was automatically routed to a high risk fetal maternal medicine team. While at the time I thought that was a bit unnecessary, it turned out to be a real time saver as that is where I would've ended up anyway.

We started with a sonogram at 9:30AM. While I expected it would take some time, I had no idea that it would go on for hours. It was amazing to see the baby for such a long period of time, but it was also exhausting. Because of the findings of the initial tech, they involved several others, including the top u/s doc at the hospital and, when it was all said and done, here's what we now know:

The baby has hydronephroses. This is the same kidney disease Langdon has also, with the main difference being that this little guy has it in both kidneys from the very start. It is currently mild, which is great. I have a feeling (judging by Lang's experience) that it will progress up to the moderate range before delivery, but most likely we can handle it with the same positive results that we saw with Lang. The odds of this are 1 in 10,000. We have 2 children with it, and there are no genetic contributing factors.... Thus, why Michael and I don't play the lottery; or perhaps, we should play the lottery, kwim?



I again have polyhydramnios (excessive fluid) and in a big way. Once again, we will probably see this condition worsen considerably as the pregnancy progresses (drawing again from our personal experience with Lang) however, this time they can draw fluid off using the amnioreduction option, whereas last time they couldn't. While this condition is most often associated with central nervous defects, it also occasionally occurs with absolutely no explanation; such seems to be our case. My fundal height is at 44cm instead of 32 cm, just to give you an idea what this condition looks like on the outside. :)

And, finally? Baby is weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds 3 oz. For 32 weeks this is just absurd. They are running a multitude of tests looking at different possibilities as to his size. Time will tell if it can be explained; we certainly never saw anything like this with any of the others. Even in the sonogram pics (which I will scan and post ASAP) you can see that he is one seriously short, fat little baby. Very rarely can you call a fetus on a sonogram image cute, but he was adorable. The techs took extra pics to show people is how much of an impression he made. We are currently referring to his condition as being "fluffy"....


After the sonogram, we continued onto the OB directly. After several hours of poking, prodding, and testing we ended up here:

I have Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD). It's such an ugly thing to say, and it's uglier to feel. I had thought the clicky and slidy aspect of my pelvis this pregnancy was getting a little out of hand, but didn't worry about it until I actually began to crawl about, and the pain got really quite bad. We're starting physical therapy next week (I don't know how I'm going to find time to do this - and I already refused their cane, thanks for asking), and they've got me on some great painkillers. They don't fix it by any means, but they help. And that's something. It's exaggerated by the excess fluid/large baby situation, which I thought was all in all a wonderfully ironic combo (or all they all somehow interrelated as I never had this with any of my other pregnancies? Can't say.....). We'll continue physical therapy post partum and I should be able to ambulate like a person again by 3 months after giving birth. Yippee.

This particular OB practice loves, loves, loves VBAC (vaginal births after cesarean). Becca also loves, loves, loves VBAC. However, I have no interest in trying to squeeze a 43# confused fetus, through a tidal wave of fluid, using a defective pelvis all the while hoping my uterus doesn't explode. I believe I'm opting for a c-section, and by the end of the appt. they were recommending a c-section, so I think that's settled. For now. However, we can't plan when. If they can control everything going on they would shoot for 39 weeks, but all docs on the team were in agreement that we will likely go considerably earlier and probably with the decision being made as an emergency c-section situation. If we do go the amnioreduction route with the fluid, they will begin testing for lung maturity at 34/35 weeks and again at each drain. In other words, they will not plan my c-section for Talk Like A Pirate Day. Only real strike against them.......................

That's it for now. I have to go in every single week from here on out, so anything I've forgotten to add will probably surface somewhere down the line. Watch for me to post his sonogram pics tonight or tomorrow (still waiting for the scanner to get hooked up)..............