I am 32 weeks along this week - 8 more to go! I am still enjoying pregnancy, although the feeling bad part is hitting me fairly frequently these days instead of early on in the pregnancy like a lot of people. I am nauseous a lot and get sick very suddenly with the only warning of a sudden acid reflux kinda of feeling. I have started having problems with my back, which I feared from the start since I hurt it almost 4 years ago. And then there is laying down.....I can't really breathe that well when I pay down so last night I started sleeping on my back with my head/chest propped up in a reclined position. I have to say, I feel like I slept better last night than I have in a while - only waking up twice (thanks to a full bladder) and quickly going back to sleep (which is unheard of lately)!
I went to the doctor last Wednesday for the start of my twice-monthly appointments. She had some suggestions for my recent issues, and I have started taking her latest advice and so far, so good! I get the pleasure of wearing a support belt from now on to see if it helps my back, but it doesn't get delivered until today so we'll see in a few days or so if it helps. I get to take Z.antac once or twice a day as needed to help with the acid issue - and boy does it help! The only day I've gotten sick since Wednesday was Sunday and I think that was because I forgot to take a Z.antac that morning - not anymore, I'm taking one every day from now on!! Unfortunately my blood pressure has been a bit high the past two visits with her, so I got to do a 24-hour urine collection on Sunday (yes, it's as glamorous as it sounds) and have labs taken yesterday for her to use as a baseline in case it keeps going up. They can also test for a protein that I think can indicate if preeclampsia is a possibility (if not it could just be gestational hypertension)....either way, oh goody! So my dear hub has been doing his best to make sure I take it easy and stay as stress-free as possible......he is truly a blessing and such an incredible man....he will be a phenomenal dad, even if he's unsure....I can just tell! So now I just get to wait and hope I don't hear from the doctor's office....no news from them means good news for me!
We got a call last night that told us our new crib was in, so we made our way to B'R'Us to pick it up after dinner......I think we are going to LOVE it! Greg didn't feel up to putting it together last night, so that is on tonight's agenda....unless he decides to do it today while he is off work. Either way, Eli's room will get put back together tonight and I will be able to take some new pictures! In case you haven't figured it out, we are naming our handsome little guy Elijah Royal Burks, Eli for short. Royal is after Greg's grandfather who passed in October - he was a big part in Greg's life and was thrilled to hear in September that he would be having a Burks great-grandbaby....unfortunately he passed before we found out it was a boy or had any pictures to show him, I know they would've loved each other!
Eli is very active still.....this past week it has felt like he has moved from the lower left side of my belly and taken up residence right under my rib cage. All morning I have felt the bizarre sensation of something on the bottom of my ribs.....I can only guess it's his fingers or toes playing around in there! Such a strange feeling, but still so very cool! Greg will put his hand on my belly when Eli is being active at night and just sit there commenting on how strange that is - and I respond by telling him he wouldn't disagree if it was his belly moving. Very natural feeling to me, but there is still something a little strange about it!
On a different note, he has finished his main PT sessions and they have asked our insurance for approval to do 24 more sessions with him. He had a new x-ray done last Friday so we are hoping they can tell if there has been any improvement. He has had hardly any lower back pain at all since he's been going, but now his upper back is hurting more so we're not sure if that is just the PT working it to strengthen it or what. Hopefully though he does good.....he's actually been taking it easy when he hurts and using a heating pad like a normal person instead of ignoring the pain like he usually does, so that in itself is improvement to me!!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
beginnings
I have been really bad at keeping up with posting, as my cousin so lovingly points out from time to time ;-) Well, she's just got a better way with words than I do, and more to say I guess. Hopefully this year will inspire me to write more, I'm sure I'll have a ton to day after my little love arrives in April. I ended last year with a trip to Alabama with my family to see my Grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin who met us there from Mississippi. My cousin's hub couldn't make the trip and neither could mine, but it was the closest thing we've had to having the entire family together in a while. It was really great to see everyone, although I did miss joining in on the late night wine drinking and chatting - I still chatted, it's just not the same without a glass of wine in hand! We enjoyed a bit of sight-seeing at a local Frank Lloyd Wright house and stopped by Helen Keller's birthplace for a picture, but mostly we just enjoyed being together.
Christmas was an adventure this year. Christmas Eve started things off with a bang by bringing Oklahoma their first blizzard (at least the first on in my lifetime). It was crazy, snow blowing everywhere with drifts in front of our house over 2 feet tall! We managed to make it to mom & dad's for the afternoon for Christmas with my family, although it took us 30 minutes to get there where it normally takes about 7. Gef had a windshield wiper break on the way there so he dropped his fam off and headed to the store to get a new one. Lisa's significant other got stuck on dad's driveway so the men spent a good deal of time in the cold trying to get his car out, eventually succeeding and allowing Mike to get his boys to their mom's for their Christmas with her. We got stuck backing out of the driveway and had to have dad and Gef push and rock our SUV to finally get us moving, only so we could get home and not even be able to get up our driveway! Christmas Eve in Norman with Greg's dad's side was cancelled but his brother caught a ride home from work and got dropped off at our place to do our annual Christmas Eve movie night and spend the night since his SUV was stuck at work. Christmas day started off a little better with the weather clearing up a bit and roads becoming easier to manage. Greg's mom, stepdad and older brother came over to do our normal Christmas day activity. I got a headache shortly before they got there and ended up in bed by 3 with a migraine that wouldn't go away. Greg's family stayed until around 6:30 and then got stuck a few blocks from our house and Greg had to go pick them up and bring them back to wait for a tow truck, which finally arrived around 8:15. Christmas in Norman was rescheduled for the following Tuesday, which ended up bringing us more snow. Luckily this was just wet snow so it didn't cause any travel issues and we were able to have a nice Christmas with the Burks family.
New Years Eve was quiet for us, which is fine by me. Greg painted the ceiling of the nursery and got the walls ready for me to paint on New Years Day. His older brother came over and we had another movie night and rang in the new year before heading to bed. Quiet, but great. New Year's Day I painted the nursery and in the days to follow we moved the furniture back in and put the bedding on and installed a new closet system. It looks like an actual nursery now!! If I were to have him now he would have a room to come home to ;-) I catch myself standing in the doorway now just staring, in disbelief I'm sure that this room will be inhabited in a few short months by a little person that we made!! I will post some pictures soon, they are at home.
Now we are into this year, getting ready to celebrate Greg's birthday tomorrow and to see our sweet boy's face on Friday when we have a 3D ultrasound! I am not sure I could be any more excited for Friday - I will post all of the good pics we get from our session so you can see his precious face too! He's really a mover - if that's any indication of things to come after he's born we are in for a crazy ride!!! I hope you all had safe and happy Christmases and New Years and that this year brings you a whole new world of possibility, I know it will for us - this year is the beginning of a whole new world!
Christmas was an adventure this year. Christmas Eve started things off with a bang by bringing Oklahoma their first blizzard (at least the first on in my lifetime). It was crazy, snow blowing everywhere with drifts in front of our house over 2 feet tall! We managed to make it to mom & dad's for the afternoon for Christmas with my family, although it took us 30 minutes to get there where it normally takes about 7. Gef had a windshield wiper break on the way there so he dropped his fam off and headed to the store to get a new one. Lisa's significant other got stuck on dad's driveway so the men spent a good deal of time in the cold trying to get his car out, eventually succeeding and allowing Mike to get his boys to their mom's for their Christmas with her. We got stuck backing out of the driveway and had to have dad and Gef push and rock our SUV to finally get us moving, only so we could get home and not even be able to get up our driveway! Christmas Eve in Norman with Greg's dad's side was cancelled but his brother caught a ride home from work and got dropped off at our place to do our annual Christmas Eve movie night and spend the night since his SUV was stuck at work. Christmas day started off a little better with the weather clearing up a bit and roads becoming easier to manage. Greg's mom, stepdad and older brother came over to do our normal Christmas day activity. I got a headache shortly before they got there and ended up in bed by 3 with a migraine that wouldn't go away. Greg's family stayed until around 6:30 and then got stuck a few blocks from our house and Greg had to go pick them up and bring them back to wait for a tow truck, which finally arrived around 8:15. Christmas in Norman was rescheduled for the following Tuesday, which ended up bringing us more snow. Luckily this was just wet snow so it didn't cause any travel issues and we were able to have a nice Christmas with the Burks family.
New Years Eve was quiet for us, which is fine by me. Greg painted the ceiling of the nursery and got the walls ready for me to paint on New Years Day. His older brother came over and we had another movie night and rang in the new year before heading to bed. Quiet, but great. New Year's Day I painted the nursery and in the days to follow we moved the furniture back in and put the bedding on and installed a new closet system. It looks like an actual nursery now!! If I were to have him now he would have a room to come home to ;-) I catch myself standing in the doorway now just staring, in disbelief I'm sure that this room will be inhabited in a few short months by a little person that we made!! I will post some pictures soon, they are at home.
Now we are into this year, getting ready to celebrate Greg's birthday tomorrow and to see our sweet boy's face on Friday when we have a 3D ultrasound! I am not sure I could be any more excited for Friday - I will post all of the good pics we get from our session so you can see his precious face too! He's really a mover - if that's any indication of things to come after he's born we are in for a crazy ride!!! I hope you all had safe and happy Christmases and New Years and that this year brings you a whole new world of possibility, I know it will for us - this year is the beginning of a whole new world!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Merry Christmas!
I have been REALLY bad about updating this thing lately! I only have a minute right now, but I do intend on posting about our (well, my family's & my) trip to AL to see the rest of the fam (Elizabeth I'm sure you're disappointed in me) and Christmas and all that goodness......hopefully tomorrow. In the mean time, I hope you & yours had a VERY Merry Christmas and that you are all staying warm!
Friday, November 20, 2009
a typical day
As unusual as this morning has been, it feels so routine at the same time. I spent this morning going to 2 doctors offices and a hospital to get blood drawn for testing and to get a Holter Monitor (basically a portable EKG) put on. It all started about 2 months ago when I asked my OB if it was normal to be laying down and suddenly feel my heart pounding so hard - the answer was yes because my blood volume has increased being pregnant it can do that from time to time. Perfectly normal and nothing to think about unless my heart rate also raises above 100 when I'm laying down. Normally it just beats hard and eventually calms down, but the other night it decided to play around with me a bit. I had been laying down for about 10 minutes or so and it started beating hard as it does sometimes, then it felt like it threw a few extra beats in there, and then my heart rate went up. Not high enough that I thought I was having a heart attack or anything, but fast enough that I knew I'd have to be calling my OB. I was having issues watching the clock & counting the beats myself (you wouldn't think it was very hard) so Greg came to my aid. He sat me up and had me take some deep breathes and he took my pulse after it had calmed down a bit. Well, it was 100 then so I'm not sure how high it had been. After it finally went back to normal he had me sit on the couch with my feet up for a bit to make sure I was okay and when I could finally muster up the energy (the ordeal zapped my energy completely) I headed to bed. The next day my OB told me she wanted to check me for anemia, thyroid problems and possibly an arrhythmia. So today I went and got blood taken for testing with her, had a consultation with my Primary Care doc to "order" the Holter Monitor, and ran by the hospital to get all plugged in. I have to keep track of any abnormal feelings I get whether I think they are heart related or not (except my little guy moving) and what time they happened according to this device. I also have to keep track of when I sleep and if I get up in the middle of the night so they can understand the declines & increases in my heart rate when they print out the report this thing is recording. When it has run for 24 hours I get to take it off, stick it in a baggie with my data sheet, and drop it off the ER. Fun times ;-)
On a slightly different note, Greg finally has some answers about the pain in his leg lately. He had an MRI last week (our hospitals love us lately I'm sure) and it turns out that he has dysplasia of the L4, L5 & S1 vertebrae and the S1 is sitting on a nerve, causing the pain down his leg. This is good news and bad news. It's good because we finally have some answers about his back/leg issues AND because this MRI has finally shown something his past MRI's haven't. Now we can get cracking on treatment and hopefully have a new man by the time this kiddo arrives next April. The bad part is not huge, it's only a possibility really, but it's still not great. He begins specialized physical therapy daily starting next week, which is probably going to cause him some pain until he gets used to it - that sucks. They are hopeful that it will help the problem and get him to a better point than he's been in years - that is great. There is a chance that it won't be enough, which we will know 2 weeks after he starts, and if it's not then they do surgery - that SUCKS. I am hoping and praying that the therapy (and the drugs they've given him) will be all that it takes to get him on the right side of things. I pray that it doesn't come to surgery, but that if it does I can stay calm during the ordeal and that he can recover from it before the baby comes. He wants so badly to be able to play on the floor with his son and run around or play ball when the day comes, but that couldn't happen as things are now. Only time will tell how things turn out.....
So that's us in a nutshell lately! I DO get to start the baby registering today though!!! My beautiful sis and I are going to the store after work today and will be picking out all of the fun and necessary things for her favorite nephew!! That right there could make the crappiest day great, I'm so excited!!
On a slightly different note, Greg finally has some answers about the pain in his leg lately. He had an MRI last week (our hospitals love us lately I'm sure) and it turns out that he has dysplasia of the L4, L5 & S1 vertebrae and the S1 is sitting on a nerve, causing the pain down his leg. This is good news and bad news. It's good because we finally have some answers about his back/leg issues AND because this MRI has finally shown something his past MRI's haven't. Now we can get cracking on treatment and hopefully have a new man by the time this kiddo arrives next April. The bad part is not huge, it's only a possibility really, but it's still not great. He begins specialized physical therapy daily starting next week, which is probably going to cause him some pain until he gets used to it - that sucks. They are hopeful that it will help the problem and get him to a better point than he's been in years - that is great. There is a chance that it won't be enough, which we will know 2 weeks after he starts, and if it's not then they do surgery - that SUCKS. I am hoping and praying that the therapy (and the drugs they've given him) will be all that it takes to get him on the right side of things. I pray that it doesn't come to surgery, but that if it does I can stay calm during the ordeal and that he can recover from it before the baby comes. He wants so badly to be able to play on the floor with his son and run around or play ball when the day comes, but that couldn't happen as things are now. Only time will tell how things turn out.....
So that's us in a nutshell lately! I DO get to start the baby registering today though!!! My beautiful sis and I are going to the store after work today and will be picking out all of the fun and necessary things for her favorite nephew!! That right there could make the crappiest day great, I'm so excited!!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
snips & snails & puppy dog tails...
Well our ultrasound was this morning and all signs point towards a BOY! The little booger was being stubborn at first and had his legs smashed together so the tech went about her business checking all of the things she needed to check. When she finally came back to the gender he decided to cooperate and showed her his goods few times! The he decided to be stubborn like his daddy and kept turning his head away or sticking his hand in his face every time she went to get a good profile picture - needless to say we didn't get one! We got a few pictures, probably as good as any ultrasound pictures are. I am looking forward to January when we go do a 3D ultrasound and really get a look at his precious little face! He looked healthy and strong - his heart rate was a strong 156 and they estimate his weight for now around 9 ounces already (YIKES!)
I am SO excited to really start planning now - finalizing bedding, painting & decorating the nursery, picking out his name (not sure I'm looking too forward to that one though, it's so hard!) Greg and I just couldn't be happier - it's so surreal when I think about where we were just 5 months ago and where we are now. Every time I hear his little heart beating or see his picture I just couldn't be happier!! Such a huge blessing we've been given, one I wasn't sure we'd ever get, but already couldn't imagine life without.
I am SO excited to really start planning now - finalizing bedding, painting & decorating the nursery, picking out his name (not sure I'm looking too forward to that one though, it's so hard!) Greg and I just couldn't be happier - it's so surreal when I think about where we were just 5 months ago and where we are now. Every time I hear his little heart beating or see his picture I just couldn't be happier!! Such a huge blessing we've been given, one I wasn't sure we'd ever get, but already couldn't imagine life without.
Monday, November 2, 2009
17 weeks!
Well today marks 17 weeks for me! It is either the shirt I am wearing today, or I reached the point where I wake up and go "WHOA! I actually look pregnant!" I guess we'll see if I still look this way as the week progresses ;-) We have our big ultrasound THIS WEDNESDAY - as in less than 48 hours from now!!! I will post any news we get later that day or shortly thereafter, and some pics of munchkin! Still in disbelief how fast this is going, but I am so ready to see and hold this little blessing!!!
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