Eat-Sleep-Love | Maryland DC & Virginia Sleep Coach, Baby Planner, Maternity & Child Consultant

Maternity & Parenting Center

30 week prenatal appointment

by

Today we had our 30 week prenatal appointment. It was just another run-of-the-mill appointment. We discussed my medication, and I am supposed to stay on the current dosages of the tylenol and the Terbutaline. I am measuring 29 cm, which is right on track. The baby is head down and slowly descending – I think he already knows the way out, so we are going to have to convince him to hang in there a bit longer. We got to hear (and record) the heartbeat again, so I am posting it here if you are interested in listening!

The good news is that my last urine culture finally came back negative! We sent out one more today to see if the “maintenance” dosage of antibiotics I’ve been taking is keeping this infection at bay. I really hope it does! On Thursday, we go back to the Maternal Fetal Medicine office for another ultrasound. I will find out if I am allowed to do any more courses of Indocin, they will be checking on my cervix to make sure I am not starting to go into labor, and they will also take another good look at Frank to see if he is growing or shrinking. I am also going to ask them to search for Fiona, because I think she is in there somewhere.

So . . . . for right now, all is well. I am back to appointments every 2 weeks unless there are new problems with Frank and contractions. Oh, and for those of you who have been asking, here is a “belly shot” of me at 30 weeks:


My only other thing to add was that we stopped by the house to check on the progress . . . I really hate our contractor. He got the wrong granite in again, but at this point, we might just accept it because if we don’t, he really won’t ever finish the damn house! We are still hoping to start moving in next weekend, but I’m still uncertain if that is just a pipe dream.

Time to celebrate!

by

So today was Elliot’s birthday! I took it easy most of the day . . . Frank has been a bit temperamental since we stopped the Indocin, and I have a feeling he may have a girlfriend Fiona lurking in there, too. I suspect they are fighting today, so I’ve been trying to give them some quiet time to work out their issues.

I’ve been having difficulty finding the “right” gift for Elliot this year. He has been wanting this USB external, self-charging hard drive to backup his computer, and I found a good deal on one on Amazon, so I’ve been thinking of ordering that. I decided to ask him to make sure it was the right thing – I hate ordering things to find out I didn’t get it quite right. So, when we sat down together, I told him what I wanted to get him and asked him if I had the right thing with the right specifications. He is currently on the fence with that gift – I was going to order him a 320 GB drive, and he kind of wants the 500 GB drive, but that is a bit more money than I wanted to spend right now (since my “real” present is the other gift I’m about to discuss). I’m still waiting for a decision from him on the backup drive. Perhaps I’ll save that and buy it for him for another holiday . . . . maybe Chanukah!

The 2nd present is a joint gift from my parents as well. Elliot desperately needs a new grill. He doesn’t actually realize it, but his old grill died. The grates have rotted through, there are layers of scum (and now cigarette butts from the contractors) and just flat out poisonous decay, and I firmly believe it is too dangerous to ever fire that grill up again. The problem is, he truly loves his grill, and like everything else in his world, he hates parting with anything. Part of him sincerely believes that he will be using that grill again. I’m sorry to say, he isn’t going to win this battle. So, I did some investigating, and I identified what I think is the “perfect” grill for Elliot. But, again, I know how much his grill means to him, so I decided to let him select his next grill instead of dictating which one I thought was best for him. It turns out, he really liked the one I picked out and showed him online! There is one other one I saw, and he is trying to decide between the two. He asked me for a few days so he could go see them in person and decide which one he likes best, and if he finds something else he likes even better, then I will get that for him. There is one we saw that is really cool, but super-expensive. It looks kind of like a built-in grill – it comes complete with a stone facade workspace! I’m willing to spend the money, but Elliot won’t let me . . . he thinks it is cool, but not worth the money. We’ll see . . . perhaps I’ll buy that one anyway.

So, we’ve been trying to figure out how to celebrate Elliot’s birthday for weeks now. We had hoped to be all moved into the house and invite a bunch of people over for a bbq dinner in our Sukkah. Needless to say . . . we haven’t moved, we have no Sukkah this year . . . and so we didn’t have a party. Elliot was extremely disappointed – he just loves to have everyone over for his birthday dinner in the Sukkah. Once we realized the Sukkah party was out, we discussed other options. We talked about going out for a nice dinner somewhere, but Elliot has been crazy busy with work and running around, and hasn’t really been in the mood to go out for dinner at night, and Frank has been making my life difficult, so I get nervous planning anything specific since I never know how I will feel from one minute to the next.

After much discussion, we decided that I would make Elliot a nice dinner at home. We didn’t get the place cleaned up enough to set the broken dining room table for a romantic dinner by candlelight, but I was doing well enough to cook for him, and we sat together on the couch and ate dinner. I decided to make Chicken Marsala (well, a vegetarian version of Chicken Marsala with veggie Chicken), rice pilaf, and broccoli. For dessert, we had chocolate lava cakes and a side of ice cream. I didn’t have the energy to cook up a full cake yet (I’ve been fighting a cold all day, probably thanks to our friend Greg who was sick at the Sukkah party last night). I’m hoping to bake a cake for him for Wednesday night when we go out to dinner with my parents to celebrate his birthday.

Unfortunately, just as Elliot got home and we were preparing to have his birthday dinner, our contractor, Keith, called. He was extremely pissed off, and we ended up fighting with him on the phone for 45 minutes. Long story short, he works with my cousin, and I finally contacted my cousin about all the problems we’ve been having. He must have ripped our Keith a new one, because he was PISSED. He tried to tell us that all of the problems with the house were our fault, not his (because clearly, we are responsible for mis-measuring and mis-ordering). It was a HORRIBLE conversation . . . and I certainly did not need to get that worked up or upset. Frank was quite unhappy for the rest of the evening, but at least Elliot & I got to have a nice dinner together. Too bad Keith ruined Elliot’s birthday :(.

Volunteering, Dinner and Contractions

by

Today was a crazy busy (but wonderful) day. I serve as the Special Needs Liaison on the BBYO Commission for DC Council, and we are in the process of launching a new project called KEY (Kol Echad Youth) to allow Jewish teens with multiple and significant disabilities to interact in a social setting with other teens. The program we planned was in honor of the holiday Sukkot (and for those of you who do not know, Sukkot celebrates the Fall harvest season). We planned a Sukkah party at one of the synagogues. For those of you who don’t know, a Sukkah is a big open structure with a relatively open top. It was originally designed to serve as a shelter during the harvest season, but the top remains open so that you can see the stars at night. The inside of this Sukkah was decorated with lots of harvest decorations, and there were picnic tables inside. We started off with a 2 hour training session for the teens who would be volunteering, and I thought it was an incredible session. We had over 20 teens show up and participate, and they actually seemed very enthusiastic about the new project! 10 of the teens stayed after the training for the actual program, and we had 10 additional teens with disabilities join the event. We started off with an art project – the “typical” teens worked with the kids with disabilities to make a clock. Then, the kids paired up and made a fruit salad and then ate it. The program ended with one of the teens playing guitar, and the entire group sat around singing songs together. It was such a rewarding program, and I was so impressed with how well it went! I’m quite excited for this program to continue.

The program ran a little late, and towards the end I was experiencing some pain and contractions. I raced home so Elliot & I could head out to our 2nd event of the day . . . a dinner in our friend Janice’s Sukkah. Elliot was running late from his volunteer event, so, of course, we showed up an hour late to dinner. I was in a lot of pain, and we had to refill my Terbutaline because I was almost out. The contractions/pain continued the rest of the night, but I really was feeling better by this morning. Ellen and David surprised Elliot at dinner with a cake for his birthday! It really was a wonderful evening.

Feeling Wonderful

by

I have to say, I love taking Indocin . . . it just puts Cranky Frank right to sleep. I started feeling great on Friday, and then Saturday I was able to run to the jewelry show with my mom and go check out the progress (or lack thereof) on our house renovations. I was feeling so well that I actually forgot to take my last dose of the medicine on Saturday! I even managed to reduce my anti-contraction medication (Terbutaline) to half the dosage and space it out longer than 4 hours! It was so nice to feel human again.

I have a big day planned for Sunday (I’m volunteering at an event all day, and then I’m off to a dinner at a friend’s house).

Relief in sight

by

I spoke to the maternal fetal medicine doctors today, and I get to do another 48 hrs on the 2nd medicine (Indomethacin). So, for the next 48 hrs, I should be feeling pretty good! I can’t believe how close we are getting to meeting this little guy!

Are we really moving?

by

According to our contractor, our house will be finished this weekend. Now, we’ve been hearing this since . . . May. But for some reason, this time I think it really might be true! I would love to finally be able to move into our new house and settle in. We shall see if the contractor is telling the truth this time.

I’m feeling okay today. Frank seems to be sleeping right now (he was awake and contracting most of the night), so let’s hope he stays quiet. The nausea is what is making me feel the worst today. According to the scale, I’ve lost another 2 lbs . . . I cannot for the life of me figure out how that is possible. I swear, this baby must have Elliot’s metabolism (which is much better for him in the long run). I’m sure going to miss eating with impunity.

Cranky Frank Strikes Again!

by

It is official . . . we decided to name the fibroid Frank . . . or Cranky Frank, or Frank the Crank. Funny how easy it is for us to name things other than our son! Well, Frank has been quite crotchety the past 2 days. It all started late last night . . . I fell asleep on the couch and was 2 hours late taking my tylenol. Frank was definitely unhappy about that, and decided to punish me with stabbing pains and contractions from 4:00 am until about 8:30 this morning. I finally managed to subdue him with meds, but he let me know he was pretty displeased on and off all day.

Tonight, we went out to celebrate my mom’s birthday! Just a quick little dinner. Apparently, Frank did not want to go out to dinner, so back to cranking he went. I was pretty miserable by the end of the meal. We did stop off at a new gelatto place, but even that didn’t satisfy Frank. We came home, and Frank is feeling a little better (thanks to some tylenol and some anti-contraction medication). I hope he decides to let me sleep tonight.

I’ve been having a fair amount of contractions tonight – I think they have mostly been small, but still . . . I’d prefer it if they went away. I’m counting down the days until our appointment next week – I just really wish we could cut the little bugger out!

Another Appt

by

Today was another follow-up appointment to monitor my contractions. Last night was a rough night – I was in a lot of pain and I had contractions pretty steadily throughout the night. Yesterday I tried to reduce the anti-contraction medicine, so today we are going to return to taking the maximum dose at scheduled times (every 4-6 hrs) to see if that helps. I am also staying on the tylenol every 6 hours. I’m still measuring right on target, but I seem to have lost another pound this week. They also sent out another urine culture to see how my UTI is doing. I have to call the maternal fetal medicine place and ask when I can do another course of the 2nd medicine. Other than that, I seem to be doing okay. They don’t really know if the contractions/discomfort will continue throughout this pregnancy or if they will magically disappear, so I’m supposed to focus on each episode at a time and not try to project for the rest of the pregnancy.

Perhaps I spoke too soon . . . .

by

Well, after my great sense of relief that everything has been going so well, my fibroid (you know, it kind of feels like it needs its own name . . . please feel free to offer up options) started to get pissed off again. It hurts. It stings. It is stabbing periodically – I’d say, it is generally displeased with my current state of being. Around 4:00 today, the contractions started back up. I had been emboldened by the past 24 hrs, so I had dropped down to only 1 pill of the anti-contraction medication “as needed” – so perhaps that approach is now letting these contractions sneak in there. I’m not so happy about it. I took one pill at 2:00 today, and I took a 2nd pill at 5, and the contractions do seem better, but I may need to think about returning to my structured regimen of 2 pills every 4 hrs. And to think I was having visions of stopping the medication, just taking tylenol, and avoiding future bouts of contractions. Ahhh . . . how foolish and cocky I can be.

Wish me luck!

by

I’m a bit nervous. . . . since I started taking this 2nd medicine on Thursday afternoon, well, I’ve felt pretty good. I hardly have any pain/discomfort connected to my fibroid right now, I’m tolerating the side effects of the medication well, and the contractions are few and far between. I was able to resume “normal” activities today . . . I babysat my nieces (okay, I made Elliot do all the work, chasing and lifting) but we went to play at Niki and Eric’s house, and we ate dinner, and then we put them to bed. After we finished babysitting, we stopped off at Ken and Erica’s housewarming party, and finally got home. I’m tired, but feeling great. Tomorrow, my mom and I are going to run to a jewelry show we’ve been wanting to attend, and I’m hoping I feel well enough for that.

I will be taking my last dose of this wonderful medication at 11:00 am tomorrow, and the medicine is due to wear off around 5:00 pm. I’m just worried that the pain and contractions will return, and that we’ll end up back in the hospital. Let’s hope the medicine did more than mask the problem and actually did some healing the past few days. We are supposed to attend Bill’s birthday party tomorrow night – I hope we make it!