31 Weeks & 2 Days

This was a busy week, appointments-wise. But first the non-appointment-related stuff....

This week I have been pretty tired. It could have to do with this stage of pregnancy, but it was also a very busy week, so that could explain it too. Also, Bud has been putting more and more pressure on my bladder, so my visits to the bathroom are becoming more and more frequent - including during the night, which probably also helps to explain the tiredness. I'd really LIKE to be sleeping well NOW because a good night's sleep will be nothing but a memory once Bud is actually HERE - but it's getting more and more difficult to sleep soundly at night. Oh well...such is the life of a pregnant woman, I suppose.

Bud is moving more and more all the time. This week it's been a lot of pushing by her, instead of so much kicking. Often I can feel exactly where her head is, but I haven't managed to pin-point any other body parts. Just her cute little head that's still on top (I'm urging her to put in down, but she's not listening to her Mom...practice for the future, I suppose).

So this week I had an appointment with my OB again. My bloodpressure is still a little elevated, but he's still not worried about that. It was pretty soon after I got there (walked), so I'm not surprised it was a bit elevated. It was much lower than the reading last week at the endocrinologist (I'm always elevated there). Bud's fetal heart rate was good. Fundal height (i.e. uterus length) is 32cm. Interesting b/c I'm 30 weeks, so it would normally be closer to 30cm. Which begs the question.....were we right about the due date the first time?? Hmmm.....more on that in the Fetal Assessment section below. My ankles are swelling a bit, but he's Ok with it. Baby is still breech from what he can tell. He showed me how to feel her head and it's definitely on top! I asked him what the reasons would be for inducing any earlier than 38 weeks, and he said if (a) the baby is big (re: diabetes), but he said that is very unlikely given my good control, or (b) if she's no longer getting adequate nourishment from the placenta. So it sounds like 38 weeks is definitely what we're aiming for.

We also had another fetal assessment this week. Bud is over 4lbs now (we can't remember if she said 4lbs or 4.5lbs). She is at the 60th percentile, size-wise. She was 40th last time, but they said the difference is due to the margin-of-error, and that her growth is perfect and that she's still definitely the right size for her age (i.e. new due date is still considered correct). This is a much more precise measurement than the fundal height measurement at the OB's office (i.e. a tape measure on my belly). They said everything looked great and there were no concerns. She is still breech, and has her feet up by her ears (she's doing yoga already!), but still has plenty of time to turn. We only got one picture and it's very hard to distinguish because she was being very difficult and moving around a LOT. I'm attaching it anyway....you folks can see if you can decipher it any better than we can. The resident doctor who was observing could see my belly moving from about 4 feet away. They seemed surprised, but pleased, at how much she was moving - although it made taking some measurements difficult, and made a good face-picture impossible, unfortunately. Maybe next time.

I also had a massage therapy appointment this week. I can't remember if I've mentioned this previously, but I have been getting massage therapy every two weeks and I HIGHLY recommend it during pregnancy. It really helps my back and my hips during pregnancy, and it's very rejuvenating too!

And, once again, here are the Bud facts for this week:
- Bud now has less room to move and can't do the back-flips and somersaults we're both used to.
- By this stage most babies have turned head down into the "cephalic" position ready for birth. A few (like our sweet, stubborn Bud) take a little longer. Bud still has time to turn.
- Bud's arms, legs and body continue to fill out and they are finally proportional in size to her head.
- Bud weighs about 3.3lbs/1.5kg (more, according to the fetal assessment...see above) and looks more like a newborn.
- Bud measures about 16"/41cm from crown to toe. (This may also be more, but they don't check this at the fetal assessment.)
- Bud will likely gain at least 2 more pounds by delivery.
- Bud's organs are continuing to mature and she is passing water from her bladder.
- Brain scans have shown that fetuses have periods of dream sleep around month eight (about what, I have no idea).

And, lastly, here's the picture from fetal assessment:

EDIT: My mom just noticed that the name on the picture is not mine. The picture is definitely mine because I do remember that pose and I was there when this picture showed up on the screen, but somehow they got the wrong name on it. I'm going to contact them about it. In the meantime, here's a cropped version to protect the identity of the woman whose name is on my baby's picture. :)

30 Weeks & 2 Days

Short post tonight as I'm exhausted!

We just got back from a very nice long weekend at Martin's mom's house, which is why I'm posting so late, and also why I'm so tired.

Not much new from this week. My hip was bothering me a lot all week, but it finally loosened up over the weekend. I think it helped that I was walking around a lot instead of just sitting at a desk all the time (like I do during the week).

As usual, Bud is moving around a lot. I'm getting the sense that she's positioned differently now, so hopefully she'll get out of the breech position (if she isn't already). We have a fetal assessment on Tuesday, so we'll find out then. There's still lots of time for her to move, though, too.

My doctor's appointment this week was with the endocrinologist. It was pretty quick and went well. Nothing noteworthy to mention.

Here are the Bud Facts for Week 30! Eight weeks to go!

- Bud's lungs and digestive tract are nearly mature.
- Researchers believe that Bud can actually see now, but no one knows how much she can make out. She can probably see what's going on in utero, distinguish light from dark and even track a light source. Some researchers think baring your stomach to light stimulates visual development. (I guess I"ll have to try that.)
- Bud is opening and shutting her eyes.
- Bud has eyebrows and eyelashes.
- Bud is becoming more cramped and less able to move so freely.
- Bud may soon slow up growing in length, but she will continue to gain weight until she's born.
- Bud is about 15.7"/40cm long
- About a pint and a half (approx. 1 litre) of amniotic fluid now surrounds bud, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger.

29 Weeks & 2 Days

Well, this was another good week! We had Grandma Rose here all week again, so there was lots of "baby time" :) On Tuesday I took the day off work to do some baby shopping with her. That was a fun day! We were hoping Grandma Dyck could join us, but she wasn't feeling very well, so wasn't able to. After that day of shopping, we now have just about everything! We still need to buy cloth diapers, but we're not planning on using them until Bud's a couple months old, so we have some time.

After we did our shopping, we just HAD to set up the crib because Grandma Rose bought a beautiful bedding set for Bud and we wanted to see how it looked! It looks GREAT! So now we have a combo office/nursery. We have the change table and crib up, but we still have the computer desk in the same room, so it's doing double-duty right now. Eventually the computer desk will move out.

My baby-related appointment this week was the OB. Everything was A-OK! I'm still healthy and Bud's still healthy! I"m at the point now where I'll be having OB appointments every other week, endocrinologist appointments every other week (not the same week as the OB), and fetal assessments every other week! Ack! Busy! And at some point at least some of these will be moving to EVERY week! Thank goodness my boss is very understanding and accommodating! I'm very lucky in that respect!

Bud is still VERY active, and is putting a lot of pressure on my bladder still. On Thursday I had an appointment with my massage therapist and Bud got so active during my massage that my massage therapist could actually SEE my belly moving! Crazy! Also, Bud got the hiccups for the first time...but I think I may have mentioned that already in my last blog post. Also, this week without thinking, I gave my belly a little smack with my hand - not hard, but I guess hard enough because she JUMPED inside me! I must have really startled her!

I'm still craving fruit and bread & butter pickles, but I've also started craving coffee (decaf). That's a new one. It seems like things with strong flavours are appealing to me a lot now.

Last night, Martin and I went on a date! We're not sure how many more chances we'll have for that, so we thought we'd better make the most of a free weekend! Thankfully he's not opposed to dating a pregnant woman :) We had a very nice dinner at Joey's and both ate waaay too much. It was just impossible to pass up the banana bread pudding! Mmmmm...... Thankfully I've gotten pretty good at managing my insulin around little indulgences like that and had a pretty stable bloodsugar evening - even after a decadent dessert!

Alright, here are the Bud facts for Week 29:
- Bud's head is getting bigger and her brain is developing billions of neurons (important for later learning) at an amazing rate!
- Bud's nutritional needs are growing. Her bones, in particular, are soaking up lots of calcium right now. (Good thing I've been eating lots of cheese and yogurt! And my prenatal multivitamins, of course.)
- Bud weighs around 2.5lbs/1.1kg and measures about 15"/38cm from head to toe.
- Bud is reacting to sound - or will be soon.

And now, some pictures of me at 39 weeks (ready for our date night) and the bedding from Grandma Rose!

28 Weeks & 2 Days

This has been a pretty good week overall. I've had some diabetes-related frustrations, but I won't go into them. The good news is that my appointment with my endocrinologist this week went VERY well - we have some new strategies and the results of my bloodtests were VERY good! Yay! My bloodpressure was a little elevated, though, so we're going to keep an eye on that. Hopefully it was an anomoly.

My energy is starting to wane a little and I'm definitely starting to feel bigger and more awkward. My right hip has been bothering me still, but it's managable. I'm still craving fruit like CRAZY - mmmmm....pineapple! mmmmm....apples! - and the newest craving is now bread & butter pickles (which have a lot more sugar in them than I thought!)

Bud is kicking LOTS - unfortunately many of her kicks are directed at my bladder - my poor tiny bladder! Yesterday I'm SURE she had the hiccups. It's the first time I had noticed a feeling like that, but it was sure funny! Apparently that's very common at this stage.

This week Grandma Rose has been staying with us while Great Grandpa Berg is in the hospital (he'll be okay - he's recovering from some pnuemonia and some heart problems). This has been a special treat (in spite of her reason for being here) as we really enjoy having her around and she is SOOOO excited for Bud to come! This weekend she and I went shopping for some sleepers for Bud's first few days/weeks/months. Then last night Grandma and Grandpa Dyck came over for supper and Bud's two Grandmas had fun sifting through all the baby clothes and pushing the stroller around the basement! It is VERY clear to us that this baby is going to be VERY well loved by all grandparents (as well as the rest of the family)!

Here are this week's Bud-facts!

- Bud may be much more active when I am having a bath or shower. (She is!!) She's responding to the light and noise by moving around inside me.
- Bud can open her eyes and turn her head in utero if she notices a continuous, bright light shining from the outside.
- Bud weighs nearly 2.3lbs/1+kg and may measure 14.8"/38cm from top to toe
- Bud's fat layers are forming and her fingernails appear.

More next week!

27 Weeks & 1 Day

Well, I guess I'm now in my third trimester (depending on who you ask...some say 26 weeks, some say 28).

I don't have much to update since my last post a few days ago, so I'll just give the Bud Facts for 27 weeks.

- Bud is growing steadily as she prepares for delivery day. She will gain more weight rapidly over the next weeks.
- Bud is acting more like a newborn now. She opens and closes her eyes, sleeps and wakes at regular intervals, and may suck a finger or thumb.
- Bud may be hiccuping a lot. (Not that I've noticed...)
- Bud weighs nearly 2 pounds / 875 grams and measures 14.5" / 36.6cm from head to toe.
- Some experts believe that babies begin to dream by the 28th week. No one knows for certain what they dream about but the brain is active this week as well. The characteristic grooves on Bud's brain's surface start to appear and more brain tissue develops.


This coming week I have an appointment with my doula as well as with my endocrinologist, so I may have a more interesting update next week :)

26 Weeks & 4 Days

Sorry this post is a bit late, but I thought I'd wait for yesterday's Fetal Assessment before making my 26-week post.

First off, I'm still doing well. I'm starting to get a bit more tired, but I've been waking up more at night lately, so that could be why - perhaps because Bud's kicks are getting stronger now. My ankles started swelling a bit too, but I'm finding ways to reduce that.

So enough about me...and more about Bud! Yesterday was our 2nd Fetal Assessment. It went VERY well. The nurse said everything looked great - heart-rate, size, placenta,etc - and she said that I must be taking very good care of my diabetes, judging by the health of the baby (which was very nice to hear). She estimated her weight at about 2 lbs which is apparently exactly where she should be. According to her growth chart, Bud is tracking perfectly just below the 50th percentile. She was very responsive to being "prodded" by the nurse and kicked the ultrasound machine a number of times. It was really neat to be able to actually watch her move around instead of just feel her! The nurse said she had a "very sweet face", but I'm not sure how she could tell in all that wavy black and white :) We were able to bring home a bunch more photos, so I'll post a few at the end of the blog. All this just makes us SO excited to be able to meet Bud in a few months!

So before I post the pictures, here are the Bud-facts for Week 26:

- Bud is becoming more sensitive to sound as the network of nerves in her ears develops. If Martin talks to her now she might learn to recognize his voice. The more she hears it, the more likely she is to find it soothing after she's born.
- From top to toe with legs extended, Bud is about 14" / 35.6cm. She weighs a little more than 1.6lbs / 760g. (Actually, according to the nurse, she weighs 2 lbs.)
- Bud's eyes begin to open around this time.
- Bud continues to take small breaths and, although she's only breathing in water and not air, it's good practice for when she's born.


And finally, here is my 26 1/2 week picture, and some new pictures of Bud!

25 Weeks & 1 Day - Take 2

Yep, you read the title correctly....we have a new due date! It's now June 19th. This puts the 38-week mark (i.e. induction time) around June 5th...which just happens to be Martin's birthday! Perhaps I will only have to make ONE birthday cake every year for the two of them. :) (Who am I kidding, I've never made Martin a birthday cake!)

Long story short, between the first ultrasound, the first fetal assessment, and clearing up an earlier miscommunication about cycle-length, my OB did a recalculation at my appointment on Tuesday, and we came up with our new date. Under this new date, Bud is tracking perfectly size-wise. :)

Also during the appointment, the nurse was using the doppler machine to listen to Bud's heartbeat, and Bud kicked the doppler machine! She's feisty! The good news is that her heart rate accelerated exactly as it was supposed to when she exerted this little effort, so it was a very healthy response.

Speaking of kicks, this week I SAW a kick for the first time! She is very very active still, and has started a slightly annoying habit of kicking my bladder. I get to feel her movements lots, but every time Martin tries to feel her, she stops moving. I think her Daddy has a calming effect on her, but I think it's starting to make Martin question whether I'm making all this up about her being so active! ;) The other day I could actually pinpoint where her head was, and when I gave it a little push, she responded by kicking me! I'm really looking forward to being able to "interact" with her more now if that happens more often!

I've still been having a lot of energy lately which is very good. I'm hoping that lasts for a while, but with the 3rd trimester looming, I'm not so sure it's going to. I've still been trying to keep at least mildly active with walks over my lunch break, a few walks after work, and some yoga on the weekend. It actually really seems to help with my energy levels and with the comfort of my joints.

We've still been buying some miscellaneous stuff for Bud here and there, but nothing big this week...some books, some toys, a bouncy seat...stuff like that.

I don't have a picture this week, so I'll try to put one up next week.

And now that we're back on track with dates, here are the Bud-facts for week 25:

- Bud is responsive to touch now.
- Bud's eyelids will open around now and her heart is beating so strongly it may be heard with just a stethoscope.
- Bud weighs about 1.5lbs / 660g (although at the Fetal assessment 2 weeks ago they said she weighed about 1.5lbs already, so this may be a bit off), and is approximately 13.5" / 35cm long from crown to heel.
- Bud makes breathing movements but has no air in her lunchs yet.

All for now! More next week!