I've finally found a few minutes to myself! This week has been crazy busy with friends and family, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I finished "my part" of the taxes tonight. I can't believe we spent almost $5,000 in medical expenses last year! I didn't add up the mileage to and from all the appointments and to the pharmacy though because I don't think it will make a difference anyway.

I haven't been to Church in 3 weeks so I'm hoping to make it this Sunday. Sean is taking Ian to Busch Gardens on Sunday with a friend of his and his little boy, so I have the day to myself. I don't know if I want to hang out at home and enjoy the silence though! I have the HHPSI meeting later that afternoon so I'd hate to spend the day running from one event to the next... I'll have to think on that one.

Bug is doing really well! She was quiet for two days and it had be a little worried, but today she's moving around and giving me little kicks here and there. I had a horrible dream last night were my water broke at 24 weeks and no one at the doctor's office would call me back because they were busy discharging people from the hospital for the weekend. I woke up in a panic, checking the sheets and my shorts to see if my water really had broken. I spent the rest of the day in a sort of fog; I had three people tell me I looked like crap so I can only imagine how fantastic I appeared!

Saturday Sean's going out for a while so I'm going to be hanging out with Ian for the day by myself. I'm thinking of taking him to the Aquarium... but then again my brother's house is empty so I may just take advantage of that.

 

Wow, I didn't realize how long ago I last posted!

I've been busy cleaning out what's going to be the Baby's room, cleaning the rest of the house, and then visiting with a relative who grew up with my Mom but whom she hasn't seen in over 40 years. It's been a great few days!

I have dinner tonight with one of my best friends, then tomorrow we go and visit with my brother's family (they're leaving Thursday for a month!), Thursday I have to finish our taxes (better late then never) and then this weekend I have a Haunted Hunter's meeting that will take about 6 hours.

I'll update more when I get a minute to breathe!

Bug is pretty active in the morning. I find myself in that blissful half awake/half asleep phase just enjoying her bumping against my skin and I start to think about how lucky I am. I can't believe that this pregnancy is real half the time, and it seems like the other half of the time I spend worrying that something is going to go wrong. However; for those few peaceful moments when it's just my daughter and me, I am completely happy and my heart is full of light because I know she is real and I know she's right where she's supposed to be.

I spoke to my friend on Tuesday and it looks like I'm getting a baby shower. I was against it because this is my second, but a lot of my friends have asked about one and were really disappointed that I wasn't going to have one. M told me that she wanted to host it, so it looks like Bug will be getting some things of her own after all.

We're also planning on having Ian's birthday party in August (his birthday is in November). Crazy, maybe, but it'll be nice to have it when I'm not big as a whale, and not in the season when he's always sick! The main reason we're having it so early is because he's going to a new school in August and he's convinced he won't start until he's five. He doesn't adapt to change well, or disruptions in routine, so this seems like the easiest way to prepare him for such a big move... Of course, this is subject to change as I put more thought into it!

I took some time away from the computer this week. I had a lot on my mind so I did a lot of "inner" work and I feel more at peace with myself.

I went for my perinatologist appointment on Thursday and Sean was able to come with me which was great. This is the first time he's gotten to see his little girl! We dropped Ian off at school and found the specialist's officer right away. They took us in right on time; one of the benefits of having an early morning appointment! The u/s tech was awesome and told us everything we were looking at. It was amazing! We saw the heart and the brain, the spine, all the fingers and toes, all the organs… She spent a long time at the heart, measuring each valve, listening to each one, measuring the heart rate (120). She even showed us a picture in 3-D, but it’s still kind of early so the baby looked a bit alien-like.

Afterward the doctor came in. He sat down and started playing with the buttons on the ultrasound machine and started talking about the measurements of everything, saying how good everything looked, everything with this, that, and the other thing was perfect, the baby is measuring 3 days behind but is still great, is perfect weight, my cervix is good… You know when you get that sinking feeling in your stomach and your feet go cold? I knew there was a “but” in there, I just knew it! The way he was trying to get to a specific picture I just knew there was something out of the ordinary...

Well, the “but” is there’s a cyst on her brain. It isn’t located where it would affect any cognitive or motor activity, but it is a marker for Trisomy 18. I almost died when he said that! However; he said everything else looks great and my blood work came back within the normal risk levels so he thinks the chances of anything being wrong is small. But, you all know what my thought process was at that point. The heart structure is great (that’s why they did so much work up on it) which is the usual organ affected by Tri-18, but I’ll be getting another u/s at 26 weeks to see if the cyst has resolved itself or not.

The other thing that surprised me what the whole P-17 (Progesterone) shot information I received. I was under the impression that the shots created a significant drop in premature labor (statistically), but the truth is it’s only a 12% drop. He said that they don’t even truly believe it helps, but it “doesn’t hurt”. Wow… He spent a good deal of time talking about being on the look out for signs of premature labor (um, my water just broke at 33 weeks, I had no “signs”), what to do to help decrease the likelihood, blah blah blah….  Um, not what I was expecting to hear.

He also went on to discuss the Epidural situation. Basically if I want any chance of having an epidural I have to switch to Heprin from my Lovonex at 36 weeks. Lovonex stays in ones system for 15-18 hours whereas Heparin is only 5-8 hours. I can't get an Epidural while the medication is still in my system because there is a great chance of spinal bleeding and paralysis, but I have more of a window with the Heparin than with the Lovonex.

So, I’m thrilled that the baby is still a girl (LOL!) and everything is looking good for the most part. I’m concerned about the cyst but I’m trying not to let that freak me out until there’s something to freak out about. Plus, I feel much better after getting a bunch of comforting emails from women who's baby's have had a cyst while in the womb! I even felt so good about it that I went and bought my little girl her first "girlie" outfit yesterday.

Here’s a picture of little Miss Sunshine. The second picture I love! This is how she was the majority of the 25 minute u/s session, LOL!