Last week was a long post, this week is a short one.
This was a pretty uneventful week. Last weekend Martin went to pick up our crib and change-table (actually it's a dresser with a change-pad on top). The dresser is now in the baby's room (i.e. our office), so that we won't have to move it again, but the crib isn't unpacked or assembled yet. We want to keep the office functional for as long as possible.
And really, that's about it! I've been tired this week, likely because I was fighting off a cold (successfully!), and I've been trying to go for short walks at lunch to keep my joints moving and to keep my bloodsugar in check.
I'm not posting Bud-facts this week, while we wait to find out whether my due date is changing (I'm seeing the OB on Tuesday), so you can go back to week 24 and read the Bud-facts from then.
More next week!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
25 (23?) Weeks & 1 Day
Well, big news today! If you haven't already heard....Bud is a GIRL!! We had our first Fetal Assessment on Tuesday and found out (with certainty) that we will be having a little baby girl in a few months! We are very excited! It was a surprise to me as I was quite convinced we were having a boy (as were many of our friends), but Martin was pretty sure Bud was a girl, so he may have gloated a bit when we found out. ;) We couldn't be happier - especially because it means we don't have to repaint the baby's room, which is pink from the previous owner.
During the fetal assessment the nurse took lots of measurements and looked at all sorts of things to do with Bud to make sure that she is healthy. We were so pleased to hear that everything looks normal and that there is what appears to be a very healthy baby growing inside of me!
As you may recall, during my 19 week ultrasound, Bud was measuring at closer to 17 weeks. Because there can be a bit of room for error in determining the gestational age of a fetus, and becuase we were quite comfortable with the estimated conception date, my OB decided to keep the due date as it had initially been estimated (June 5th or June 9th, depending on who you ask). But at the fetal assessment, Bud was measuring at 22 weeks instead of 24 weeks, so the nurse is making a strong recommendation to my OB to change the due date (I guess that would put us closer to June 23rd, with induction around June 9th).
Since Bud's growth is stable, and since it really does kind of make sense that we could have been off (e.g. perhaps I couldn't get a positive pregnancy test until week 8 because I was actually only at week 6; and maybe I did start to have nausea at week 7 (which is normal) instead of week 9 (which is a bit later than many women)), I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the idea of changing the due date at this point. I see my OB on March 3rd, so we'll figure it out then.
At this point, I'm kind of assuming that I'm actually 23 weeks and not 25 weeks, but I'm not going to make any solid changes until I talk to my OB. Because he'll be wanting to induce me around 38 weeks, I'd like to be as sure as possible that we're working with the right due date - otherwise we risk getting the baby out at 36 weeks...which is getting into preemie range. Thankfully I will be having many more fetal assessments before the induction, so the doctor will have a good chance to monitor the baby's development before making any induction decisions. Anyway, for the time being, my post titles will include two possible weeks, and I'm going to hold off on posting any Bud-facts because I think we're needing to "catch up" by two weeks now. You can go back and read the Bud-facts for week 23 if you want. :)
In addition to the fetal assessment, I also saw my endocrinologist (for my diabetes) this week. My test results were the best this time that they've ever been! Yay! Still a few things to tweak, but in general it's going very well.
Bud is still moving around a LOT and sometimes we can feel her kicks with just a light touch. It's nice to know that she's healthy enough to be so active! So far she's not keeping me up at night either. Hopefully it stays that way for a while.
I'm still having some discomfort in my knees and hips if I use them too much, but otherwise I'm feeling very good. I had lots of energy this week! I've tried some more of my prenatal yoga and enjoy it, and I've also tried to go for some indoor walks (my office building is attached to a mall) over my lunch break in order to get some exercise without having to navigate icy and uneven ground outside.
And now it's photo time! First, I have two pictures of Bud from the fetal assessment. The first one is her face. She's lying down with her chin on the right and her forehead on the left. (Eyeballs don't show up on ultrasound, so she just has eye-hollows in the picture.) The second one shows her head and her hand waving at us! (The nurse added the "hi mom, hi dad".) We were very pleased to be able to take photos home from fetal assessment free of charge, as the regular ultrasound pictures cost $50 (or maybe even more)!
I'm also attaching a photo of me taken today. So I guess it's either my 25-week or 23-week picture, but I'm thinking more likely 23 weeks.
+-+resized+%26+cropped.jpg)
During the fetal assessment the nurse took lots of measurements and looked at all sorts of things to do with Bud to make sure that she is healthy. We were so pleased to hear that everything looks normal and that there is what appears to be a very healthy baby growing inside of me!
As you may recall, during my 19 week ultrasound, Bud was measuring at closer to 17 weeks. Because there can be a bit of room for error in determining the gestational age of a fetus, and becuase we were quite comfortable with the estimated conception date, my OB decided to keep the due date as it had initially been estimated (June 5th or June 9th, depending on who you ask). But at the fetal assessment, Bud was measuring at 22 weeks instead of 24 weeks, so the nurse is making a strong recommendation to my OB to change the due date (I guess that would put us closer to June 23rd, with induction around June 9th).
Since Bud's growth is stable, and since it really does kind of make sense that we could have been off (e.g. perhaps I couldn't get a positive pregnancy test until week 8 because I was actually only at week 6; and maybe I did start to have nausea at week 7 (which is normal) instead of week 9 (which is a bit later than many women)), I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the idea of changing the due date at this point. I see my OB on March 3rd, so we'll figure it out then.
At this point, I'm kind of assuming that I'm actually 23 weeks and not 25 weeks, but I'm not going to make any solid changes until I talk to my OB. Because he'll be wanting to induce me around 38 weeks, I'd like to be as sure as possible that we're working with the right due date - otherwise we risk getting the baby out at 36 weeks...which is getting into preemie range. Thankfully I will be having many more fetal assessments before the induction, so the doctor will have a good chance to monitor the baby's development before making any induction decisions. Anyway, for the time being, my post titles will include two possible weeks, and I'm going to hold off on posting any Bud-facts because I think we're needing to "catch up" by two weeks now. You can go back and read the Bud-facts for week 23 if you want. :)
In addition to the fetal assessment, I also saw my endocrinologist (for my diabetes) this week. My test results were the best this time that they've ever been! Yay! Still a few things to tweak, but in general it's going very well.
Bud is still moving around a LOT and sometimes we can feel her kicks with just a light touch. It's nice to know that she's healthy enough to be so active! So far she's not keeping me up at night either. Hopefully it stays that way for a while.
I'm still having some discomfort in my knees and hips if I use them too much, but otherwise I'm feeling very good. I had lots of energy this week! I've tried some more of my prenatal yoga and enjoy it, and I've also tried to go for some indoor walks (my office building is attached to a mall) over my lunch break in order to get some exercise without having to navigate icy and uneven ground outside.
And now it's photo time! First, I have two pictures of Bud from the fetal assessment. The first one is her face. She's lying down with her chin on the right and her forehead on the left. (Eyeballs don't show up on ultrasound, so she just has eye-hollows in the picture.) The second one shows her head and her hand waving at us! (The nurse added the "hi mom, hi dad".) We were very pleased to be able to take photos home from fetal assessment free of charge, as the regular ultrasound pictures cost $50 (or maybe even more)!
I'm also attaching a photo of me taken today. So I guess it's either my 25-week or 23-week picture, but I'm thinking more likely 23 weeks.
+-+resized+%26+cropped.jpg)
Sunday, February 15, 2009
24 Weeks & 2 Days
Short post today. Nothing too significant happened this week and I am thoroughly exhausted right now. Next week's post will be more detailed. :)
Bud has still been very busy and Martin can often feel his/her movements. I'm getting bigger all the time, and a lot of my non-maternity shirts aren't really fitting anymore. (The non-maternity pants mostly stopped fitting a while ago already.) I know it's picture-posting week, but I think I'm going to wait until next week. I hope nobody's too terribly disappointed.
This weekend Martin's mom is in town to help us baby-shop. We went to the Baby and Kid Show at the Convention Centre yesterday. It was quite interesting, and we entered our names in about 1,000 draws (or at least that's what it felt like). Maybe we'll get lucky and win something! We also picked out a crib and dresser/change table that we like, but we haven't gone to actually purchase them yet. Besides that, we got a LOT of little stuff - bottles, blankets, towels, etc. plus a few clothes too. (Grandma Rose couldn't resist buying a few outfits for Bud.) Six hours of walking around yesterday really took a toll on my knees and hips and back, so today I'm feeling very pregnant and achy and tired. It's nice that we have the day off tomorrow too to recuperate.
Here's this week's Bud-facts:
- Bud weighs more than 1.3 pounds / 600 grams.
- Bud still has little body fat and his/her skin is thin and fragile, but he/she is now well-proportioned.
- Bud's brain is growing rapidly.
- Bud is slowly starting to fill the space inside me.
- From crown to heel, Bud measures about 11.8" / 30cm.
More in a few days....including (likely) Bud's gender! (First Fetal Assessment is on Tuesday.)
Bud has still been very busy and Martin can often feel his/her movements. I'm getting bigger all the time, and a lot of my non-maternity shirts aren't really fitting anymore. (The non-maternity pants mostly stopped fitting a while ago already.) I know it's picture-posting week, but I think I'm going to wait until next week. I hope nobody's too terribly disappointed.
This weekend Martin's mom is in town to help us baby-shop. We went to the Baby and Kid Show at the Convention Centre yesterday. It was quite interesting, and we entered our names in about 1,000 draws (or at least that's what it felt like). Maybe we'll get lucky and win something! We also picked out a crib and dresser/change table that we like, but we haven't gone to actually purchase them yet. Besides that, we got a LOT of little stuff - bottles, blankets, towels, etc. plus a few clothes too. (Grandma Rose couldn't resist buying a few outfits for Bud.) Six hours of walking around yesterday really took a toll on my knees and hips and back, so today I'm feeling very pregnant and achy and tired. It's nice that we have the day off tomorrow too to recuperate.
Here's this week's Bud-facts:
- Bud weighs more than 1.3 pounds / 600 grams.
- Bud still has little body fat and his/her skin is thin and fragile, but he/she is now well-proportioned.
- Bud's brain is growing rapidly.
- Bud is slowly starting to fill the space inside me.
- From crown to heel, Bud measures about 11.8" / 30cm.
More in a few days....including (likely) Bud's gender! (First Fetal Assessment is on Tuesday.)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
23 Weeks & 1 Day
This week was a bit more eventful than last week.
Bud has been moving around LOTS this week! I'm getting kicked by him/her many times a day. Martin has even had a chance to feel the movement once! (They're not always strong enough to feel.) Apparently 22 weeks is quite early to be able to feel it on the outside, so this could be a very strong active baby in the next few months!
On Monday I had another appointment with my OB. We talked about the ultrasound results. It turns out that their results (re: gestational age) were only off of my expected due date by 9 days, and they have a "+/- 10 days" added on, so we're still in range and there's nothing to worry about. Good! So my due date by me is still officially June 5th. The doctor's due date is still officially June 9th (calcualation methods are slightly different). He has said that, if all is still going well, he's willing to wait until 38 weeks to induce, but doesn't want to wait any longer and jeopardize the health of the baby. So we're looking at around May 26th for the induction. I'm hoping that Bud decides to come a couple of weeks early on his/her own and that we can skip the whole induction, but we'll see....
My first fetal assessment (i.e. a more detailed ultrasound) is scheduled for February 17th. My understanding is that we will be able to find out the gender of the baby at this appointment and that we will also be able to take some pictures home (which I will definitely scan and post)! We're pretty excited about this appointment! After that I will be having monthly fetal assessments for the time being, but more frequent ones eventually.
On Thursday I had my appointment with my ophthalmologist to make sure all the growth hormones coursing through my body aren't causing vascular growth in my eyes again. I got the all-clear! Everything looked good and he didn't see anything that looked out of order! Whew! I don't see him again now until early May.
Oh, and my belly button is now flat. It's neither innie nor outie.
And now, this week's Bud Facts, courtesy of www.babycenter.ca:
- Bud weighs a little over one pound / 500 grams and measures about 11.4" / 29cm from crown to heel.
-Bud's hearing is well established and he/she can make out a distorted version of my voice, the beating of my heart, and my stomach rumblings. Loud noises heard in utero, such as the barking of a dog or the roar of a vacuum cleaner, probably won't bother Bud when he/she hears them outside the womb.
- Numerous studies indicate that Bud may prefer classical music. (I haven't played piano for him/her yet, but maybe I should!)
- Bud's lungs are developing to prepare for breathing.
- If Bud were to be born now, he/she would have a good chance of survival (about 85%) with the right care. Advances in science and technology now mean that a 24-week-old baby can grow outside the womb if necessary.
That's all for this week!
Bud has been moving around LOTS this week! I'm getting kicked by him/her many times a day. Martin has even had a chance to feel the movement once! (They're not always strong enough to feel.) Apparently 22 weeks is quite early to be able to feel it on the outside, so this could be a very strong active baby in the next few months!
On Monday I had another appointment with my OB. We talked about the ultrasound results. It turns out that their results (re: gestational age) were only off of my expected due date by 9 days, and they have a "+/- 10 days" added on, so we're still in range and there's nothing to worry about. Good! So my due date by me is still officially June 5th. The doctor's due date is still officially June 9th (calcualation methods are slightly different). He has said that, if all is still going well, he's willing to wait until 38 weeks to induce, but doesn't want to wait any longer and jeopardize the health of the baby. So we're looking at around May 26th for the induction. I'm hoping that Bud decides to come a couple of weeks early on his/her own and that we can skip the whole induction, but we'll see....
My first fetal assessment (i.e. a more detailed ultrasound) is scheduled for February 17th. My understanding is that we will be able to find out the gender of the baby at this appointment and that we will also be able to take some pictures home (which I will definitely scan and post)! We're pretty excited about this appointment! After that I will be having monthly fetal assessments for the time being, but more frequent ones eventually.
On Thursday I had my appointment with my ophthalmologist to make sure all the growth hormones coursing through my body aren't causing vascular growth in my eyes again. I got the all-clear! Everything looked good and he didn't see anything that looked out of order! Whew! I don't see him again now until early May.
Oh, and my belly button is now flat. It's neither innie nor outie.
And now, this week's Bud Facts, courtesy of www.babycenter.ca:
- Bud weighs a little over one pound / 500 grams and measures about 11.4" / 29cm from crown to heel.
-Bud's hearing is well established and he/she can make out a distorted version of my voice, the beating of my heart, and my stomach rumblings. Loud noises heard in utero, such as the barking of a dog or the roar of a vacuum cleaner, probably won't bother Bud when he/she hears them outside the womb.
- Numerous studies indicate that Bud may prefer classical music. (I haven't played piano for him/her yet, but maybe I should!)
- Bud's lungs are developing to prepare for breathing.
- If Bud were to be born now, he/she would have a good chance of survival (about 85%) with the right care. Advances in science and technology now mean that a 24-week-old baby can grow outside the womb if necessary.
That's all for this week!
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