Update on Ty Land

Ha ha, get it Ty Land ... sounds like Thai Land but its not the country its my stomach ...

Okay never mind. I won't try to be cute any more.

So this week has started off as a pretty awesome week. (Except for my dear friend who had a little incident involving car keys and her daughter). I know it is only Tuesday but I feel the rest of the week will be great also. It all started early Monday morning with our first 3rd trimester check up.

During this visit had our glucose test. For those of you who are following and know I did take a test like this already, since I changed doctors I don't know the results of the first test and since my weight has been far more controlled there was no immediate reason to take it earlier. I will not get the results from this test until our next appointment in two weeks. After this test we also just did the general check up stuff, check me, check the baby, chit chat about my feelings and such. Well after all had been checked my now favorite person in the world, Midwife Alice, decided to take me off of bed rest for the next two weeks to see how things are. :) Yeah.

Of course, just because I am off of bed rest doesn't mean I am going to go hog crazy and do everything. But there are some stuff around the home that I have been wanting to do. But I am starting light.

After the appointment, I met up with Chris to visit and interview our first pediatrician. We need to secure one right away. The first one we met was highly recommended by some friends of ours. We were a little concerned because when we called to set the appointment I checked to make sure they accept our insurance, didn't want to waste time, and at the time they couldn't take anymore medicaid patients. Thankfully, something told me to still set the appointment, who knows by the time Ty is born they could have some more openings. So we went and mentioned this do the office manager and she informed us that since Thursday (the day after I made the appointment) the number the were allowed to accepted has increased. Which is really really good because Chris and I really liked their medical philosophies and the atmosphere of the office. We meet with one more pediatrician today but I think we are pretty set.

Well now you are all caught up for now. Things are moving along now pretty fast as we get closer. We have less then 80 days to go so look for me updates from us as the weeks go by.

Our Most Recent Prenatal Visit

Okay so Chris and I were talking about it and we have lost track of what number prenatal visit we are on so we will just go with ... our latest visit. Yesterday we had a visit with Alice our Midwife at the birthing cottage to check on how little Ty is doing and how I am doing with the pregnancy. I have to say that it was a real encouraging and well spent visit. Here are my high points of the visit:

Urine test: Tests for Glucose, Protein, Bilirubin, Ketone, Specific Gravity, Blood, pH, Urobilinogen, Nitrite, Leukocytes. I must be drinking a lot of water because all of the results were good.

Weight: Even on bed rest and not being active, my weight was great. Since that dreadful visit a few weeks back when I had gained too much weight in one month I have actually lost 1.5 pounds. But the baby is still growing and health. :)

Babies heart rate: Still strong and beating loud and clear. Although it did take the student aide a little while to find it. Luckily the baby was moving just before that point so I knew he was fine.

Chances of preterm labor: Are pretty low. While there are some issues, it is not bad as we originally thought.

While I am still on bed rest and my cervix is still dilated the chances of something going wrong are very slim. My cervix is no 1cm dilated (10cm is when it is time to push the baby out) but it is not effaced, or shortening. The midwife explained that there are several women that have gone for weeks/months being 5cm dilated and baby still was healthy and went to full term. Even if I continue to dilate slowing over the next 11 weeks I should still be okay unless I start experience real contractions and other symptoms. So I am not worried. Just chillin in bed, catching up with friends and knitting my little projects.

Peace Out

Our 4th Prenatal Visit

Okay folks, 4 more weeks have gone by and here we are at our 4th prenatal visit. So how did things go? Well, everything went great. It was nothing different to report except we did opt to have the 3 screen or tri-screen blood test done. This is what it is. The test measures the levels of up to four substances in your blood: AFP, hCG, uE3, and inhibin A. Having abnormal levels of these substances in your blood is associated with an increased likelihood of carrying a baby with Down syndrome. Thanks BabyCenter.com. This screen isn't mandatory, but they most at least offer it. Me and Phil had decided from the start to have this done. The test does more times than not comes back with a bad reading when actually there's no problems, and visa versa. But when it comes back good, more times than likely it is. Understand? Either way, you'd just go and have a more detailed screen done. We are not worried, not thinking about it, leaving it in God's Hands. Screens take 1 1/2 weeks. Will keep you posted on that.

Outside of that, it was business as usual. We got the joy of hearing Our Lil' Monkey's heart beat and it was strong. Video? Of course I took a video :) Check it out below.

So what's on the horizon? Well, this Friday is our Big Ultrasound! This is where they do a more detailed ultrasound looking and measuring the baby's head, legs, arms, body length and basically everything and then, hopefully if the baby cooperates, you will be able to know the sex of the baby. Excited!! So, if you haven't done our gender poll, do it!!

http://channersfirstbaby.blogspot.com/2009/03/baby-gender-poll.html

If you post a comment anonymously, then make sure you put your name in the post.

Peace Out Folks
Chris C.

Our 3rd Prenatal Visit

We are in the 2nd trimester and about 4 weeks ago we had our 2nd prenatal visit. Well, what felt like the longest 4 weeks in our lives finally came and we had our 3rd prenatal visit. We were all excited like kids waiting for Christmas. We had all our documents in order, like Phil always has. We had all the questions we wanted to ask. I mean, we had 4 weeks to think about them. Plus, every day we are watching the Discovery Health channel and baby stuff, so we always seem to have questions there and all we do then is write them down. And we were off. Appointment was at 9am.

So we got there, checked in, and waited to see the doctor. While waiting, we are racking our brains for other questions we might have missed or just thought of. Also, we are playing with the kids in the waiting room. Cute. Finally, we are in! I wait in the room while Phil goes off and does her vitals and stuff and comes back. The doctor...or wait, she was a Nurse Practitioner, comes in and we were like, wait a second, you're not the person we have been seeing! I guess people are allowed to have a day off too. But this NP was pretty down to earth and cool. She was lively and made us feel very comfortable and when we brought out our note pad with many questions, she just sat back and said shoot let's hear the questions. She likes questions :) All in all, we got all our questions answered and we were good.

Finally she said the words we have been waiting for for like 4 weeks, LET'S HEAR THAT BABY'S HEART BEAT. YYYEEESSSSS!!!! Finally :)

So she pulls out her Doppler, squeezes the cold gel on Phil's stomach and we were off. At first nothing. She reassures us that sometimes when the baby is positioned in a certain way, it's sometimes difficult to hear off the back. But then, there was the very familiar and welcoming sound we have come to just love, our baby's heart beat. There it was, thumping away interrupted by whooshes and knocks and cracks. I just thought that it was the Doppler, but the NP said, wow you have an active baby. All those the sounds along with the heart beat was the sound of our little one moving around. I guess he didn't care to be bothered. And I say he, because well we don't know yet, and I refuse to say it.

I took a video which I hope you can hear the NP as she explains the different sounds you hear from the Doppler. You'll hear the baby's heart, the baby's movement, and she showed us the difference between the baby's heart beat and Phil's heart beat which you heard through the placenta.

So, the next prenatal visit is in *sigh* another 4 weeks and very shortly after that we'll have the longer more detailed ultrasound to measure the baby and see what we are having. EXCITED!!!

In the mean time, take our poll. What do you think we are having? Boy or Girl?

Ok, here is the video. Enjoy.

Peace Out Folks
Chris C

Our 2nd Prenatal Visit

Well folks, today was the 2nd of our prenatal visits. We are happy to say that everything is all good. Thank You Lord. Today's visit was more about going over the results of all the tests that were done at the 1st prenatal visit about 2 wks ago. The doctor said that Phil was all good, the tests were all negative, which is good :), and well most of all the baby is good. We will be at 11 weeks now come tomorrow, and the best part is that we were able to hear the heart beat again and it is beating strong and great.

The doctor was able to do this with the help of an instrument called a Doppler stethoscope. She gelled up Phil's abdomen and then the instrument amplifies the sound. At first, it sounds kinda like static from a radio, but then all of a sudden, you start to hear this little fast thumping sound. That was the sound of our baby's heart! It truly is incredible what technology allows us to do in this day and age. The doctor measured the heart beat at 160 bpm. That's fast for us, but not for the tiny little fetus which is about the size of a kumquat, a little over an inch or so long, that was just right.

Anyway, we have our next appointment in 4 weeks. It's going to seem like forever the wait. *sigh* But look at it this way, next week we will be at 12 wks, 3 months!!! Wow!!

Lord, I pray and ask for health and strength with Phil and our little gift from You. Amen.

Here's a short video of the heart beat one more time. Thanks Dr. Kelly.

Peace Out Folks

Chris C.

Our Appointment

Well this morning was our first prenatal appointment ... and it went ... okay. I guess not as well as I hoped. I didn't get to hear the heartbeat but we did do most of the tests. We did a physical test, pep smear, urine and blood test. We go back in 2 weeks to review the results. Also got a referral to go have an ultrasound completed. We are going there on Friday, can't wait for that. One thing I am concerned about is that she indicated my uterus is small for 8 weeks ... what does that mean??? Seriously.