Antibodies are Rising

People must not realize that at least some (if not all) pregnant woman (including myself) want to look pregnant. I feel like I might scream the next time someone tells me (especially considering I'm about half-way through the pregnancy), "you don't even look pregnant." I said something to Paul this weekend about that comment, and he said, "I thought you'd consider that a compliment." Yes, it's true if someone isn't pregnant, they don't want to look pregnant (Nadia asked a lady at the feeding clinic if she was going to have a baby, and when the lady said "no" then Nadia asked "then why is your belly big?". I was dying of embarassment. Thankfully the lady handled it very well). Anyhow I want to look pregnant when I am pregnant. I know from experience I'm not one of those ladies who looks like she has a basketball under her shirt when she's pregnant. I thought it would be obvious a little earlier since this is the third time I've made it this far in a pregnancy, but I guess not. I definitely feel pregnant, especially by how the smallest tasks seem to knock the wind out of me.

As glad as I am to be at home, Nadia is really missing the RMH. She keeps asking me when we're going back. I'm glad it was a positive experience for her, but I'm hoping to never need to stay at a RMH again (although it was a very lovely place). One evidence that they missed being home as well is that whenever Daddy is home, they want HIM to do everything (brush their teeth, get them ready for bed, etc.). I keep hearing "I want Daddy" over and over and over again. I get enough snuggling time with them while Daddy is at school that it doesn't bother me too much. The only thing I can think of that I am missing from our time in Hershey would be the tempurpedic mattresses. They were very comfortable! I am at the stage where it's hard to sleep at night due to being pregnant.

I checked out a book from the library about 10 days ago. After reading a little of it, I decided I needed to buy it. Paul always feels that way. He doesn't borrow books and doesn't give away books that he's bought after he's read them. I rarely buy books for myself, but when I do, I rarely keep them. I say that just to emphasize how very impressed I am with the book, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus. I believe I'll be reading and rereading this book in the years to come, and I've only read a couple of chapters thus far. I highly recommend it! The authors are Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson in case you're interested in reading it.

I don't like the way this OB office handles bloodwork results. They want you to call, and then they call you back. The problem is it's impossible for me to know when they'll have the results. It took more than a week to get the first titer results (in part because they lost the blood vials for 8 days), and it took one week for PSU to report Paul's results. Hershey faxed them the results on the very same day. I called yesterday to check on them as I figured Hershey was faster. Someone called me back at 5:30pm, but I was taking Ian to the bathroom, and I couldn't call back because the office was closed. I called back today. The nurse didn't want to give me the results at first because she said she didn't know anything about Anti Fya titer levels. I asked if she could just tell me the number (she wanted me to wait until my OB appt on May 9th). The number went from 8 (on March 20) to 42 (April 25). I have no idea what the critical level is as far as when an intrauterine transfusion is necessary. Shortly after I hung up with the nurse a midwife called me to say that she thought I needed to see a specialist asap.

She didn't think I should wait until May 17 to see the specialist. They will be at this clinic this Thursday, but they didn't have any openings. She asked if I was willing to drive to Harrisburg. I have an appointment tomorrow at 2:30. I wish I had thought of this 2 weeks ago when the OB suggested moving up the appointment. I would have saved myself a lot of driving if I had had this MFM appointment while we were in Hershey. Hindsight is 20/20. My in-laws offered to come up and watch the kids tomorrow as this clinic doesn't allow children under the age of 12 in the room during an ultrasound. The upside is that I'll get to learn TOMORROW if baby is a girl or a boy! This means I'll know before the big yard sales on Saturday!! The midwife said I'll need bloodwork and an ultrasound (with MFM) every 4 weeks for the rest of the pregnancy due to the titer levels rising. The Anti-Kell level fell to zero, but we already knew (based on Paul's blood type) that wasn't an issue. It's just the Duffy antigen (Fya) that's the problem. Please keep praying our little one won't develop fetal anemia!