Spring is in the air!

Well it has really felt like spring this week! We've had a day here and there in the past month or so where we've had spring weather, but this has been the first week where it's been consistent. Yesterday it even got into the 70's! I love spring; it's my favorite season. I love it when the temps are in the 60's and 70's, and I love to see the flowers start to bloom. Our grass has turned green again which is also nice. The trees are still bare though.

And of course today I hit the 26 week mark. WOOHOO! The third tri is very close in sight now! I am so thankful my little girl has made it this far! Only 3 more months until I can hold her in my arms!!!

Today I am going to start the process of trying to line up babysitters for the fall. Unfortunately my 8:00 class is still up in the air. Hopefully my fall schedule can be finalized SOON as I want to have the babysitters lined up before they leave at the end of this semester. I do know I'll need babysitters from 9-10:50 MWF so I guess I'll at least work on that. How it goes in the fall will determine whether I work FT or PT next spring.

One motivation to keep working FT (particularly if my plan of hiring a babysitter to watch her for 9 hours a week in my office works out) would be that if I work FT until she's 22 months old, I could then take a year off (at half pay) fall 2010-spring 2011. I wouldn't be eligible for a sabbatical if I use parental leave between now and then. My sabbatical application would be due in January 2009 if I want to have off in 2010-11. I could take one semester off at full-pay, but I think I'd rather have a full year off at half-pay. I would have to accomplish some sort of project in that time, but I wouldn't have to be on campus At All. I would feel like a SAHM during that year which might be wonderful timing if baby #2 is born or adopted in 2010 like we are hoping although of course since this baby took 6 years we know that we have no clue as to when a second child may become a part of our family. Yes, there are folks out there who decide they want a baby and get pg within a few months of when they started trying, but that hasn't been the case for us by any stretch of the imagination! I remember once a friend was trying to show empathy for my situation (this was a few years ago). She said she could relate to how awful it was emotionally to stare at a one lined hpt. I tried not to scream or laugh because the reason she thought she could relate was that it took her TWO months to conceive (so ONE month she had to see a BFN). Oh my goodness - she thinks she can relate to seeing bfn's for years after seeing them in one month?!?!? Oh well I know she meant well. Anyhow I think I want to mull over some ideas of what my "project" would be just in case I decide to do a sabbatical as it would be nice if I already have some of the planning done in case I decide to go that route so I can devote a shorter amount of time to my sabbatical application after she arrives. :-)

Double Digits!

Well the countdown to the EDD is now only 99 days! WOOHOO! I hope the time just flies by as I cannot wait to hold her in my arms!!!!! I can think of at least two things that I will not want to go w/o in these last 3 months. The first would be Pepcid. I have found that if I take one in the morning around say 9am that I don't get a severe case of heartburn that day. If I forget and take one after my throat is already on fire, it isn't nearly as effective. Of course the worst is when I forget to take one AND forget to bring it with me to work and have to wait until 5pm or later to take one (like yesterday...ugh!). It's funny bc the nurse was telling me on Tuesday that if I had heartburn not to eat within 30 minutes of going to bed, not to eat spicy food, etc. Well my heartburn starts sometimes as early as 8:30am, and I don't eat spicy foods for breakfast, lol. I never eat anything after dinner, and I usually eat dinner around 5pm so it's ususally been at least 4 hours since I've eaten when I go to bed. So I don't think that's the problem! The second would be my pgcy pillow. I really, really miss spooning with dh. So last night at midnight I ditched the pgcy pillow. Well I only lasted until 3am and was back in my nest as the pain in my hips wasn't allowing me to sleep. A third lesson I learned yesterday was that even if I am upset about my weight gain, I need to pack a big enough lunch. In addition to the heartburn, I felt awful at school yesterday as I only packed a granola bar and PB&J sandwich for lunch. I was so hungry!! I guess the world won't come to an end if I end up gaining 35 rather than 30 pounds with this pgcy. :-) I'm still going to aim to gain only 14 more pounds the next 14 weeks, but as long as she's healthy, that's what's most important.

4th Prenatal Visit

Well OB appts are pretty mundane (at least now I know what to expect!) - nurse weighs me, I give a urine specimen, she takes my b/p and asks a bunch of questions, and then the OB listens to the h/b. Of course he didn't find it until he went way down low as that's where my little girl likes to hang out, LOL. My b/p is still good. I was NOT happy about my weight. Supposedly I gained 2.5 lbs in the last week. What?!?!? This has to stop! Over the past 12 weeks I've gained 16 lbs which is 4 too many. I have about 14 weeks left, and I really don't want to gain more than 30 lbs during the 2nd/3rd trimesters so that means 14 lbs at most so I need to stay closer to the 1 lb a week than I have lately. I realize that's "just" 4 lbs too many but still!!! My next appt is April 25 for my 5th prenatal visit as well as my Rhogam shot (I'm O negative). Between now and then I need to go to a lab and have the 1 hr gestational diabetes test. I think I'll do it next week as they prefer it to be done between week 26-28, and I'll hit week 26 on Friday. Dr. O said the plan is that if I have a c-section I am to have a 6 pack (that means 60,000) platlet transfusion prior to the surgery. If I do not have a c-section, they are to have platlets on hand ready for a transfusion if necessary. He said I need to remind whomever is on call when I actually go into labor. The nurse also gave me a kick chart that I am supposed to use to record movements every day starting in week 28 to make sure I feel at least 10 movements in 2 hours. I can say it will take no where near 2 hours to reach the 10th movement. She's kicking right now as we speak! :-)

When I got to my office I got GOOD news in the form of the letter from the university wide promotion committee. Last year my friend Michael was ranked #1 of those going up for Associate Professor by the Provost but then much lower by the committee and he wasn't promoted. He was told he hadn't been here long enough (although he had technically met the requirements of how long you have to be here before you can go up for promotion). So based on his experience last year, I was not very hopeful I would be promoted this year, but I figured it was worth a try. Well here's the GOOD news. They rank the candidates in 3 categories: Priority, Recommended and Not Recommended. This year Michael was ranked 4/6 in Priority (compared to last year he was near the bottom for Recommended), and I was ranked 1/16 in Recommended which would mean 7/22 between the top 2 categories. Last year about 1/2 were promoted (about 12) so I now feel very hopeful that I will indeed be promoted since I am in the top third of those going up for Associate Professor. WOOHOOO! This would be SUCH amazing news. There's a pay raise involved for one thing, and secondly in light of having a baby this summer I really didn't want to go through all the work of applying for promotion again next fall as it's a VERY time consuming process. Also, I am hoping to cut back (for a few years) in terms of how many committees I serve on and such which wouldn't help my chances of being promoted in the future. So this is very, very, very good news if I get promoted before becoming a Mom so I can focus on being a Mommy the next few years and then once she's in school I can step it up again if I ever decide I want to go up for Full Professor, or maybe I'll be content to stay at Associate the rest of my career as Full can be very hard to attain as they only promote a couple to Full most years. Of course this letter doesn't mean I will definitely be promoted by the President, but prior to receiving this I thought my chances were slim and now I feel rather hopeful that I will be a tenured Associate Professor in the near future. YAHOOO! PTL!!!

Heartbeats and kicks

I had read that around 26 weeks or so that the baby's heartbeat could be heard by Daddy. One site suggested using an empty toilet paper roll as a listening aid. Well he can't hear her that way yet. I'll be hearing her h/b this afternoon at my 4th prenatal OB visit. One time he also had his hand on my belly when she was kicking, but he couldn't feel her. Her kicks vary in intensity and that wasn't a strong one. Even this morning there was one time when she kicked so hard my hand actually moved (it was in the right spot). So I know she does sometimes kick strong enough that he could feel it, but it's hard to get the timing right of his hand being on the right spot at the right time.

Big Baby!

Well the nursing prof whose shower I attended a few weeks ago had a baby boy yesterday. She had opted awhile ago to have an elective c-section. Well it turns out she probably would have ended up having a c-section anyhow as her son weighed 10 lbs 7 oz! YIKES! I hope my daughter doesn't get that big before she's born. :-) This is her first baby at the age of 40 after ttc about 8 years. I am so glad her ttc journey finally had a very happy ending!!!

Our house is being shown 3 times today. I hope one of these 3 decide to make us an offer. We shall see! If they don't, I think sometime next week we'll drop the price some as the house will have been on the market 4 weeks as of next Thursday.

I should clarify about getting tired of people asking me if we've picked a name yet. I love when people ask how I'm feeling, if we know the gender, when I'm due, etc. It's not that I don't like being asked pgcy questions. It's just that I already feel frustrated on my own that we haven't picked a name yet and so it's hard when I get asked so many times a day particularly as some people ask me every time they see me (even if that's daily!) or every time they email me.

There are so many things I am thankful for - of course my daughter comes very high on that list! I also would have to add I am so appreciative of the friends and family who have been praying for her and sharing in our excitement through the pgcy whether that's "in real life" or those of you who take the time to read this blog and post comments. Really it means a lot to me!!! Today I want to focus on something else for which I am very grateful. Some of you know that there was a stretch of about 18 months where I was really in a stressful situation at work due to interpersonal conflicts within my dept. I wanted to leave the university, but of course since I have been the primary (and at times exclusive) breadwinner the past 2 1/2 years that wasn't possible. Well the first big improvement happened about one year ago when the dept chair stepped down and the administration appointed a new dept chair. Life has been so much better for me at work under his leadership. The former dept chair completely left the university after the fall semester as she decided to retire. The other individual who was behind a lot of the conflict had no intention of retiring any time soon. Well he got himself in trouble (again!) but this time he realized the end result was going to be different. So he beat the university to the punch and announced his retirement this week. My two closest friends in the dept transferred to other depts in 2007 over all this "stuff." I wish these two retirements had happened one year earlier so my friends would still be in the dept, but honestly I had zero hope that both would be gone within such a short amount of time. What a relief! I am so grateful!!! Although work will not be my main focus in the next year (being MOMMY will be instead), I am still very thankful for these drastic improvements in my work environment.

25 Weeks!

I am sooo happy that our little girl has made it to this point! What a miracle! I also love the fact that I can feel her move so I have daily reassurance that she's still alive and well. I think the kicks are strong enough for Paul to feel, but it's just a matter of whether his hand can be there at the right moment. He hasn't felt her yet. Yesterday someone at work made a comment to me that they didn't realize I was pg (someone else had told her). So I guess it's still not obvious to everyone. I think part of it has to do with what I am wearing that particular day as I have in the past week had strangers comment that I am pg.

Today I get my new laptop at work. I am excited! It's like a new toy, LOL. It's not that our computers at home are that old (Paul's desktop is 4 years old and and my laptop is 2 years old). I am sure I won't bring my work laptop home all the time since we do already have two computers at home, but I will definitely do so when one of us needs to use software that we don't have which the school computers do (like SPSS for me and Adobe Illustrator for Paul). After today there are only 3 weeks left of classes this semester. Then we have a one week break and then have final exams May 5-9. Then I have a one week break before the 6 week summer session starts. I'll be teaching one class on Tu/Th from 5-8pm from May 20-June 26 and then I'll have two months off. The fall semester begins August 25. It will depend on when she's born as to whether I'll start that day or not. If she came on her EDD I wouldn't start until Sept 2 (unless she came by c-section then I wouldn't start until Sept. 15).

In the next week or so I plan to start trying to line up some babysitters who will watch our daughter in my office. I'll need 9 hours total a week, but it wouldn't have to be all done by one person. I am waiting to make sure my schedule doesn't change first. The 8:00 class doesn't have enough students yet (that's not a popular hour, LOL), but the students aren't done scheduling yet. The 9:00 and 10:00 sections are already full; so anyone else needing to take Language Arts Methods will need to sign up for the 8:00 class.

Very Active

Well as the days go by I can feel her moving a greater and greater percentage of the day (and night). I notice when I roll over in bed to switch sides that usually prompts some serious kicking for example. I still don't think it's strong enough for Paul to feel from the outside. Hopefully soon it will be. In just a few days I'll be down to double digits in terms of days til her EDD. YAHOO! I'm also only 11 days away from the 3rd trimester!! YIPPEE! I just can't wait to hold her in my arms.

Still no progress on picking a name. Paul spent some time reading through a big baby name book we've owned for a few years, and he keeps just coming back to Victoria. He thinks that's the perfect name. I don't agree. Also, he absolutely doesn't like Vicky, and I think with a 4 syllable name there is a VERY good possibility it will be shortened. I agree that Victoria goes well with our last name, but it's just not a name I like for our daughter. I think he's a little miffed that I am rejecting his choice, but I responded that he's probably rejected about 50 of my choices for girls names so I don't think the problem is that I am being too picky if I've just rejected one. I will say I am getting really, really, really tired of being asked if we have a name yet. I estimate that on an average day I am asked at least 10 times a day - could be ladies at Bible study, a stranger, a prof or student at work, etc. I feel like wearing a sign that informs people we haven't picked a name yet so they won't keep asking me every day. I am trying to be patient as trust me if it were up to me we would have picked a girl's name a month ago at least, but it's definitely harder to be patient when I am being asked so many times a day - EVERY day. Well hopefully sometime in the next several weeks we'll come up with a name we both like. It's definitely not an easy task though!

As promised, here's one more belly shot (taken 24w5d). I should add a disclaimer that most of these belly photos are taken at the end of a day so it's been a longggg time since a brush went through my hair or any makeup went on my face. For example this one was taken at about 7pm on a day when I had been out the door at 8:30 that morning (and no primping in between). I think you can tell from the photos how very low I am carrying her. Her head could not be any farther down, LOL! I heard someone talk about dropping at the end of pgcy, and if the placenta situation doesn't change there won't be any dropping going on for me. When the cardiologist started the u/s he started near my belly button, and I thought nope she's not up there. Sure enough he spent most of his time much lower on my belly. So I think I can judge the placenta situation to some degree just by where I feel her kicking.

Ultrasound #5

Well I got to see our daughter for quite a long time today! The cardiologist did an echocardiogram. He studied her heart for quite a long time and took pictures from many different angles. This was the first u/s that hurt. He was pushing really hard. I thought he was trying to fit the whole wand into my belly button! OUCH! Mostly he was down low though so I guessed the placenta hadn't moved much. Then an u/s tech came in and took measurements again. She gave me 3 photos. I'll post one here. Her arm was waving while this photo was taken so her arm is a bit blurry due to being in motion. Her heart and everything else looks great! She now weighs 1 lb. 8 oz. She weighed 13 ounces 4 weeks ago. The placenta has moved a TINY bit but is still mostly over the cervix. So I go back in 6 weeks to have the placenta checked again. So far I've had an u/s at 6w, 8w, 10w, 20w, and 24w; I am not objecting to having another at 30w. :-) Hopefully the placenta previa will be resolved by then. I asked Dr. Maslow which type of delivery typcially involves less bleeding and he said typically a c-section involves twice as much bleeding. He said if I end up needing a c-section that he will probably recommend I am given a platlet transfusion prior to the c-section, but we should know more in 4 weeks after the hematologist studies all the results. He said the hematologist told him that he thinks my bleeding problem might be different than what NIH diagnosed it to be in 1985 which is why all the tests are being run. So anyhow the bottom line is that she's doing well. YAHOOO! Please keep praying about the placenta previa. This means I am still under all the same restrictions, but at least my restrictions haven't been increased yet.

I am happy to report I didn't gain any weight in between these 2 doctor appts. Good thing since they were only 2 days apart, LOL. Actually technically I lost a few ounces. My b/p was down quite a bit from Monday. It amazes me how much that fluxuates! My b/p is always fine, but I mean the top # was 20 less than on Monday. My next dr appt is next Tuesday with my regular OB. I think at that time I'll learn when I'll have the gestational diabetes test and also when I'll have the Rhogam shot.

Unanimous!

Well there are 3 happy bits of news to share tonight! First, I got a letter at work today from the university wide tenure committee stating that they unanimously (9-0) voted to recommend that the President grant me tenure. :-) In one category they said I met the requirements for tenure and in the other two categories they said I exceeded the requirements. YAHOOO! I was expecting it to turn out this way, but still it was wonderful to see it in black & white. Within the next month or so I should find out from the President about both tenure & promotion. I haven't gotten the letter from the university wide promotion committee yet. That will probably come in the next week.

Second, it seems Paul has gotten a 4th acceptance. We haven't received the official offer yet, but from an email they sent him today, it seems like Lehigh also has accepted Paul. Of course he's going to go to PSU as it's rated much higher nationally than Lehigh, but I am proud of my hubby that so far he's 4 out of 6 for acceptances (still haven't heard either way from Carnegie Mellon or Duquesne).

Third, I got an email stating that my new laptop has arrived at work. Hopefully they will set it up soon. :-) This will replace my desktop in my office. My current office computer is OLD and very SLOW. I've been there 4 years with this same computer and have no idea how long it was there before I got there (even though supposedly all computers on campus are replaced every 3 years). Paul is thrilled also because he needs to use Adobe Illustrator for part of his thesis and that software will be installed on my laptop (there wasn't room on my old computer for it although most profs did already have it on their computer). So I can bring my work laptop home at night when he needs to use that software at home.

I've also attached one belly shot taken today. Paul said this photo doesn't really show my belly like it looks in real life. They say the camera normally adds weight to a person, does it subtract inches when pg? LOL! I'll have him take another photo in another outfit later this week. My mom gave me this shirt the day before Easter as an early bday gift. You can't see it in the photo, but it says "baby" in silver glitter letters on the front near the top. I wore it with a solid blue skirt today (no bow on this skirt, LOL) and wore my lime green sandals since it got near 70 degrees today (WOOHOO!). Normally I am not THIS coordinated but the funny thing is I have one rain coat and it's navy blue with lime green trim and since it was raining today I wore the coat so it matched my outfit perfectly. I got quite a few comments about that. It's not like I have a rain coat for every outfit - it's truly my only rain coat and happened to match my outfit today! :-) So maybe the photo doesn't do my belly justice but let me say in the past 3 days I have gotten belly comments from quite a few people and usually the word "big" has been included. In fact I have just now reached the stage where even people who don't know me have said to me - oh you are pg. So I am far enough along now that finally even strangers can figure it out. Hopefully another photo tomorrow or Thursday will demonstrate it more clearly. :-)

AARP?!?

Yesterday I received an invitation in the mail to join AARP. WHAT?!? I believe you have to be at least 50 years old to join AARP. I do have a birthday in 3 weeks, but I will be turning 36 not 50! The name listed was my maiden name; the next time we move I plan on only listing my married name in terms of mail to be forwarded so anything that comes with my maiden name now I won't receive. I was waiting on one check with my maiden name when we moved here (even though we had been married 3 years at that point). Maybe it was AARP playing an April Fools joke on me a day early? I can't wait for the u/s tomorrow morning!!!