Iron

The OB's nurse called and said I should take iron for my anemia and to check with the hematologist as far as the dosage. She also said I should take Celace every day as well. I know that happens a lot with senior citizens that one medication causes them to have to take another medication and so on. Thankfully in my case it will just be for the next 11 weeks. He wants me to take the iron 3 times a day. I am curious to see if this will have any effect on my energy levels.

Of course the best way to increase my energy level would be if I could get more sleep. The hip pains have returned even with the "nest." I rarely get much sleep past 4am although I do try to at least rest in bed. When my schedule allows I take a morning nap as usually if I get up at 6:00 then by 8:00 I can fall back asleep for an hour or so. Of course since I needed to be at work at 8:25am today that wasn't possible. Tomorrow I need to be at work at 8:30, Friday I need to be there at 8:00am, and Saturday I need to be at church for our cantata dress rehearsal at 8:30am so no morning naps for me for awhile! Tomorrow is going to be a long day as I'll be at school from 8:30-3:00 and then at 6:00 Paul and I have an infant CPR class at the hospital.

Classes are done!

Well yesterday was the last day of classes for the spring semester. Next week I am giving exams on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Then I get one week off before the summer session starts during which I will teach Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5-8pm. Today I need to start grading the 68 big projects that were turned in yesterday. I want to finish grading those by the end of the week. Tomorrow and Thursday I'll be on campus from 8:30-4:00 as we are conducting interviews for four faculty positions in our department. Friday I have a 4 hour meeting at another college regarding a grant project. Today I am driving to the airport (1 hour away) to pick up one of the candidates we are interviewing tomorrow. She's about to graduate with her PhD from Indiana University, my mom's alma mater. :-) Paul doesn't have classes this week. He needs to finish writing a paper, and he has a final exam next Monday. I asked him to come with me today to the airport as there are some shopping malls and restaurants up that way. So we are headed out shortly to do some shopping and have lunch together before we pick her up. I plan to stop at Motherhood and also Babies R Us while we're there. Since I did the registries online, I want to make sure at least some of the items on my BRU registry are available at that store (which is the closest one in this area). So it will be fun to spend some time with my hubby today!

Last night at handbells we had a baby shower for Abbey. She brought her sweet 8 week old daughter, Anna Claire along. I enjoyed holding her and feeding her a bottle for a little while. Of course we all had to take turns as everyone wanted to hold her! After the shower was over we did rehearse two songs one time each. Anna had her eyes wide open and seemed to enjoy it. Of course she heard the bells many times before she was born!

Iron deficient

The hematologist said that all my results were good except I am iron deficient. He said I should call my OB to see if he wants me to take an iron supplement; the downside of that is it will lead to more constipation. He suggested if my OB wants me to take one I should ask about a softener also. As for the bleeding during delivery, he is not concerned because as he told me 4 weeks ago - maternal blood clots far more easily. He agreed with Dr. O's plan to give me 60,000 platlets preventatively if I have a c-section and to have them on hand if needed otherwise. He wants me to come back in 6 months to make sure the iron problem was just due to pregnancy. However that is a very good sign that I don't have clinical hemachromatosis like my father does (since that causes you to have too much iron). I was tested for that as well since it's genetic, and it turns out I have one good and one bad gene (I know which parent gave me which, LOL). He said since I have both it could go either way. I could develop hemachromatosis in the future, but he said most likely I will not as most individuals who have it have two bad genes.

I am happy to report that Paul and I made GOOD progress on picking a name for our daughter yesterday. The last 3 years Paul had given me 3 first names that he liked. We discussed those 3 again, but he also gave me 4 more possibilities. We had already decided awhile ago that we would use either Nicole or Renee for a middle name as we both like both of those names. After I scratched the ones I didn't like (such as Ide - I've never even heard of that name!!), we were left with 4 first names. Paul eliminated 1 of those (Natalie) before I headed to choir rehearsal last night, and when I came back he said he also wanted to scratch Sophia as he agreed with me he didn't want our daughter to frequently be in situations where she was one of several Sophia's. Sophia has been a very popular name the last few years in the US. Paul said he never had another Paul in any of his classes growing up, and he liked that. Same goes for me; there was never another Ruth in my classes. We did really like the sound of the name Sophia Nicole, but we decided to scratch it. That leaves us with just two combinations, and Renee is our middle name choice with both of them so it seems her middle name will probably be Renee (unless we change our minds which of course we might, LOL). Renee is my middle name. I am not going to divulge the other two first name possibilities until we've picked one as if someone doesn't like it I don't really want to hear about it. :-) One of them is a name of one of his relatives, and the other is a name he picked out 3 years ago (so some of you might guess that one). I like the meaning of these names, and neither one has been popular lately based on the Social Security records. The one name we even both like the nickname which is what we would actually call her most of the time (unless she's in trouble, LOL). Paul didn't really care what the names meant, but that was an issue for me such as he liked Cassandra which means "entangles men" and Andrea which means "manly, warrior." Meaning wasn't the only issue with those names. For example, I like Cassie as a nickname, but he doesn't like Cassie. He likes Sandra as the nickname, and I don't. Anyhow I feel greatly encouraged that we are very, very close to picking a name for our little girl!

No Weight Gain!!

If I was going to be consistent I'd title this post "28 Weeks," but I am pretty happy with what the scale said this morning at the OB. I didn't gain even one ounce in the past 17 days since my last appt. WOOHOO! I haven't really been trying to do anything differently. I think maybe it's that my appetite in the evening has really shrunk although it has grown in the mornings. I just continue to eat when I'm hungry and try to eat healthy things for the most part although I did have cake and ice cream on my bday.  This means in the past 15 weeks I've gained 16 1/2 pounds. I was aiming for no more than 1 lb a week so I am pretty close to the target!!!

The OB appt was pretty uneventful. He measured me with a measuring tape for the first time, and he checked her h/b as always. He said everything was good. I was hoping her h/b would be up higher this time, but nope it was still down super low so maybe the placenta hasn't moved after all. We'll find out in 2 1/2 weeks at my next u/s. I asked if it was truly okay that I am taking one Pepcid AC every 12 hours without fail, and I was reassured it's totally safe. Even with taking one every 12 hours I still have a decent amount of heartburn/acid reflux. Starting today I am to complete the kick count chart once a day (write down how long it takes to feel her move 10 times). My next appt is in 3 weeks (31w). I also had my Rhogam shot today (in the butt). The nurse felt badly about giving it to me, and I assured her that considering I had over 200 shots in the last 10 months in order to be pg, one more was really no big deal to me. It didn't really hurt. The PIO shots were much worse. My next dr appt will be on Monday morning with the hematologist.

This morning I bought a toy on eBay (new) using the birthday money I got from my Aunt Janet. I had seen it at Wendy's home in Chicago in November. It's called "Together Tunes" by Neurosmith and is a pretty neat toy. It was a lot cheaper on eBay than other places I saw it online. This was officially my first toy purchase for my daughter! I hope she likes it. I think she will as I can already tell she likes music! :-)

First Gifts!

Today we got our first gifts from our baby registries! As I got the mail as I left for work this morning, there was a package from Walmart. I opened it and found there was a wrapped gift inside. I waited until I got home from work to open it so I could take a photo of the package. Kelli had given our baby her first 3 CD's! Then I went outside to take some photos of the spring blossoms and found there were 2 packages on our front porch that UPS had delivered while I was at work! One was a butterfly lamp for her nursery also from Kelli! I've never met Kelli in person. We met online about 5 years ago on a discussion board. They live in Texas and also signed up with Lifetime 3 years ago, and unfortunately they also were never presented any possible matches. So they've been back to ttc with an RE. First they tried a few rounds of inj/iui and then not that long ago she tried her first round of ivf. She developed a severe case of OHSS (was hospitalized over Easter) and so wasn't allowed to have a fresh transfer. Thankfully they had 8 embies that made it to blastocyst and were able to be frozen so she shouldn't ever need to be stimmed again (she stims VERY easily - she got OHSS from a TINY dosage of meds). I am praying she gets a BFP from her first FET! I had mailed her my extra meds for her IVF; I'd love to think they played a small part in her finally having a baby! So anyhow if you think of Kelli, please pray that when she does her FET she gets her long awaited BFP (they'll hit the 6 year mark of ttc this fall).

The other package on the front porch was a gift from Jo from our BRU registry! I am sure I'll put the boppy to good use! One of my sisters gave Paul a boppy slipcover for his bday, so we have an extra cover when the pink striped one needs to be cleaned. Jo is another friend I met online, but even though she lives in FL, I have also met her (and her dh) in person a couple of times as her mom doesn't live that far from where we do. Jo gave birth to a precious little boy on 7-20-07 as a result of her first round of ivf. Of course I will send proper thank you notes, but I also wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Kelli and Jo here as well!!! :-) Jo and I have been email buddies for quite awhile now. I never dreamed a year ago when I was buying her something from her registry that Paul and I would also end up doing ivf and I'd have my own registry a year later!

In Memory

Well today would have been our daughter's EDD if she hadn't been frozen for almost 3 months. She was conceived August 1 which means July 18 would have been in the first two weeks of pregnancy (since they start it 2 weeks before conception) if she hadn't been frozen. So this gestation truly seems like an entire year. That also means that today would have been the due date of the three triplets we lost in August. So today I am remembering the 6 little ones we lost 8 months ago. We know all 7 were still alive on August 4 when the triplets were transferred back to me. We have no idea how many days after that the triplets made it, and the RE didn't tell us exactly how many days the other 3 made it in the lab, but we know they had stopped growing sometime before August 7 when our little girl was frozen. Of course the sadness I feel over losing these 6 little lives is not as strong as it would be if there wasn't a little girl kicking inside me, but still I grieve for her siblings, particularly the three little ones I saw on the ultrasound on August 4 within my uterus. Of course technically none of these were lost as a miscarriage since most likely they never implanted. In a natural cycle if conception took place but not implantation, the couple would never know about the little life which existed for a short period of time. That's very different with IVF. You know from the day of conceptioon of the existence of the little ones, and in fact some have testing done on that first day and already know the gender of each one! We didn't have that done so we don't know how many were brothers and how many were sisters of the girl I am carrying now. I am thankful though that God performed a miracle and allowed this one little baby to keep growing. This day would be a million times sadder if we had lost all seven babies. This photo was taken yesterday (wearing one of the maternity tops my parents got me for my bday) at 27w4d.

I have to say the weather here has been GORGEOUS lately. The high yesterday was about 75 degrees which is just perfect IMHO, and thankfully they finally adjusted the thermostat in my classroom and it was finally comfortable (not a sauna any more PTL) on Monday. I had brought a fan to class on Monday, but I didn't need it thankfully. I chalked it up as the same type of thing as if you wash the car then it will rain. If you bring a fan to class then they will fix the thermostat.

36

Well today is my 36th bday. Of course growing up I loved bdays. Then in my mid 20's I wasn't nearly as happy to see another year roll around as I wondered when I'd get married and start having children. Once I got married (age 29), then they didn't bother me again for a little while until we started having trouble ttc. I made the mistake of reassuring myself with the thought "surely by the next bday I would be a mom." This was especially true starting in 2005 since we had started pursuing adoption in 2004. The last two bdays were really, really hard. Well I am happy to say that is not the case this year!!! I still feel a tiny twinge of pain when I contemplate having turned 36 before I become a mom; I feel very "behind." However in life there really aren't set times when things like marriage and having babies are "supposed" to happen.

I remember as a child I met someone who was born in 1900, and she said how easy it was to remember how old she was every year. I remember telling some friends at school I wanted to have a baby in 2000 for that reason. Now sometimes children set unreasonable hopes for the future, but to hope to have a child at the age of 28 is not really an unreasonable thing. I remember in college when we'd talk about how many children we wanted to have and such, I remember telling my friends I hoped to have 3-4 children and be done having them before age 35. God's plans were obviously different than mine. :-) I still can't say I understand why I needed to wait until age 36 to become a mom, but it's not my job to understand - only to trust. Anyhow this bday is a MILLION times easier emotionally than any bday has been for more than 10 years bc my daughter (I love the sound of that word!) is kicking inside me!!!!!!!! My dream of becoming a mom which I have had for 20+ years is finally going to come true in less than 3 months!!! She's the best bday present of all. What else could I need or want?

I opened my bday presents from my sisters this morning as well as from Paul. He got me a gift certificate for a nail salon as I mentioned last weekend when I painted my toenails it was the last time I thought I could reach down there to paint them until after I give birth. So when they need repainted (thankfully the polish on toenails lasts a lot longer than on fingernails), I am going to use my certificate as I am sure by that point it would be even more painful to reach my toes. He also ordered two Steeler items (haven't come in yet) for our little girl. My sisters gave me a cute little outfit (pink!), 2 bibs, a calendar for recording "firsts," and 4 children's books (she has quite a growing collection which is wonderful in my opinion!). I am very thankful for all of these gifts which in one way or another all relate to BABY!!!

It's a good thing the choir cantata is in 2 weeks. I don't think I could do it much farther into the pgcy. I am not sure if it's my lungs and/or diaphragm that are being squished, but I get out of breath so easily and feel awful if I sing too much. Even just singing all the verses in a hymn is too much some Sunday mornings! We are doing the cantata twice that morning (8:00 and 10:45) so unless I have an easier time breathing that day, I think I won't actually sing every part of every song. I'll just sing as much as I can. I think I can do all the alto parts. Sometimes he has us also singing with the tenors when it's just supposed to be the tenors. I think I'll give myself a break during those parts. Playing handbells is no problem so I am sure I can play on May 18.

Dinner troubles

Since our house was being shown around 12:45 today, we decided to go out for my bday meal then. I had picked an Italian restaurant about 15 minutes from our home that we had never been to before. When we got there, we found out the whole place had been rented out for a private function today. I was getting really hungry and didn't want to drive very far to another restaurant. We drove to one other place that we had been to before that wasn't far away, but we found out it's only open Wed-Sat. So after two strikes we just went to McD's as I was HUNGRY. Paul insisted that did not count as my bday meal. So we decided to meet somewhere at 5pm tomorrow before I go to handbells. I was wanting to try a restaurant we hadn't been to before; so I looked online and through the phone book and made a new choice for tomorrow. Just to be safe I decided to call them. I am glad I did as they are open 6 days a week, and Monday is the day they're closed. Nuts! So I decided to abandon the plan to try a new restaurant. Instead we're going to meet at Cracker Barrell as I see they are currently serving strawberry pancakes. They only sell those for a limited time each spring, and they are VERY good. So we'll have breakfast for dinner tomorrow night; Paul's favorite thing there is a cheese omlette. I need to make sure not to fill up TOO much on my dinner as someone in the handbell choir told me we're going to be having cake & ice cream at rehearsal tomorrow night in honor of my bday. How kind is that!!!

Our daughter has been quite the gymnast lately, and I am very happy to report I am feeling her move MUCH higher than before so I'm hopeful that this means the placenta is no longer on or near the cervix. As much as I love feeling her move, I wouldn't object if she slept while I was sleeping as I have a very hard time sleeping when she's kicking me. :-) Sometimes I feel her on both sides of my belly at the same time so I guess I am feeling hands and feet! Paul has no trouble feeling her move. I love that he can experience that as well!

27 Weeks!

Well today my little girl reaches the 27 week mark!!! Since today is the 18th it also means her EDD is exactly 3 months away which means starting tomorrow her EDD is only 2+ months away. WOOHOO! I am also happy to report that Paul felt her move this morning. I knew her kicks were definitely strong enough for him to feel as yesterday while I was doing a peer observation on a new faculty member I could see my belly moving at different points during the class period. It made me want to laugh, but that would have been rude so I just smiled. :-)The weather here has been GORGEOUS this week. We're supposed to hit 80 degrees today! Spring has definitely sprung! The grass also needs mowed for the first time in many months. The trees are still bare though. Paul or I will mow tomorrow since our house is being shown on Sunday. We have 2+ acres so mowing is no small task although thankfully we have a riding mower or it would be a really, really long task!

Well our house hasn't been shown for 2 weeks now, but it will be shown three times this weekend - twice tomorrow afternoon and once Sunday afternoon. So that will be showings #9-11 since we put it on the market 5 weeks ago. I hope one of these three would like to buy the house! We shall see. This means Paul and I will be busy either tonight or tomorrow morning with cleaning inside the house and mowing the lawn.

Today my dept chair told me that he has decided to hold off on his decision to cancel my 8:00 LA class as he thinks he can fill it with transfer students (only 5 students are currently enrolled in that section and that's not enough). So I told my 2 babysitters today that the schedule is up in the air and won't be determined until probably June but that either I'll be teaching from 8:00-10:50 or 9:00-11:50 MWF. Knowing how much students don't like 8:00 classes they are probably hoping it ends up being 9:00-11:50, but they said either way it's fine.

It's definitely an adjustment only wearing my wedding band and no other rings, but I am glad that at least that ring still fits. Hopefully I won't outgrow that one as it's a size 6 and my ring fingers are usually a size 4.5. Today was another unbearable day in my classroom. I called maintenance. We shall see if they do anything. Thankfully I only have 4 more days of teaching in that sauna. When I drove home from work today the bank sign said the outside temp was 84 degrees and there are lots of windows in that classroom which can't be opened so they let in the sunlight but not any breeze. I would say the difference in temp between that classroom and the hallway was about 15 degrees. Even my sandals started to feel tight so I think next to start swelling are my feet/ankles. So far that has only happened when I've been teaching in that hot room too long. I love how active she is these days, but I wish she'd be more calm at night. I was awake from about 3:00-5:00 am this morning as she was kicking me SO much I couldn't stay asleep. I did solve the gum pain problem though as I bought some Anbesol and that numbed the area much better than Sensodyne toothpaste. Even though these temps are contributing to my swelling up, I still have to say I LOVE spring weather! Tomorrow the high should only be in the 70's. That's my absolute favorite!!! I wouldn't mind living in a place where it was in the 60's/70's all year round or even low 80's w/o humidity.

Jury Duty

About a month ago Paul received a summons for jury duty. We returned the paperwork and asked for him to be excused because the day he was to report for duty fell in the middle of final exam week. At the time, he didn't know which day his final would be. It turns out his final will be the day before he was to report for duty. Yesterday we got a letter saying he is excused. We have both been summoned several times over the last 10+ years, but the timing has never been right so we've always asked to be excused. Neither of us are opposed to serving as jurors sometime, but the timing has never worked out thus far. He was very happy to hear he's been excused as these next few months are going to be VERY busy for him as he needs to take his physical chemistry comprehensive exam and also write his thesis (which he must defend by July 25).

Our house was shown 8 times during the first 3 weeks it was on the market, but now in the 4th and 5th week it seems it will only have been shown once (this coming Sunday afternoon). I am not willing to move in July or August. If we're going to move prior to her arrival, it seems an offer will need to be made in the next couple of weeks. If that doesn't happen then I want to start working on setting up the nursery in early May. We figured why unpack the crib from the box if we might move before she's going to use it. Since we probably won't live here for that many months after she's born, I don't plan to put up wallpaper border or anything like that in the nursery in this house. I'll wait until after we move to do that. My parents had given us a "gift certificate" for a rocking chair or glider for Christmas. We'll also shop for that in a couple of weeks if it seems we won't be moving before July.

I admit I am annoyed with my OB's office that they haven't let me know my G/D test results yet. How hard is it to pick up the phone and leave me a message saying whether I passed or not? The system (HMO) has a website where you can check your medical record, and I've been checking there a million times a day as well but the lab results haven't showed up there yet either. If I don't hear this morning, I think I'll call again or send a message through the website. I think 48 hours is reasonable enough to wait when I know the results were available early on Tuesday morning.

P.S. TameraRae was correct - no news was good news! I sent an electronic message and about 2 hours later got the reply that my result was in the normal range (128). WOOHOO! I am relieved not to have to do the 3 hour fasting test. Some OBs use 140 as the cutoff and others use 130. I am not sure which my OB uses. If it's 130, I just squeaked by! Anyhow I am very glad I passed!

Third trimester!!!

Well baby is now officially 2/3 baked! In just two more days I'll be down to just 13 weeks left until her EDD. I am so thankful she has made it this far!!! Unfortunately I didn't sleep well last night. First of all Paul was up the whole night working on a presentation he is giving this evening. Even though we can't cuddle any more (due to the "nest"), I still don't sleep as well when he's not there. Hopefully I can at least get a better night's sleep tonight as I'm pooped at the moment.

I found out my reassigned time from the summer can't be moved to the fall. :-( I have asked another professor if he would teach a 12:00 literacy class so that I could teach his 11:00 math class. I hope he agrees to this switch. My babysitters are available at that time so they'd be watching her from 8:50-11:50 MWF if I can teach the math class. My choices if he doesn't agree to the switch are to teach the 12:00 literacy class (which I have never taught before so that means a new prep for me plus one of my babysitters isn't available that hour) or to supervise 5 student teachers. I have nothing against supervising student teachers except I have no idea how I'd arrange for babysitting for that. So the option I might pick is to cut back to 75% (take 25% off as maternity leave). The unfortunate part of that is we'd have to pay 55% of our health insurance premium (compared to 10% now) plus it will mean I can't take a sabbatical in 2010-11. So I am really praying Gordon agrees to switch classes. The last 4 years he's taught exclusively off-campus so he's taught about every course our department offers so I think he has already taught the literacy class before.

P.S. Well I got an answer already to my prayer request of my fall schedule. Gordon will let me teach the 11:00am math class he was scheduled to teach. PTL!! What a relief! My two babysitters are fine with this. Now I am just waiting to hear my G/D test results!

Orange Soda

Well I had my 1 hr. G/D test at 7:45 this morning. To me the drink just tasted like orange soda. My only objection was I don't like carbonated drinks and to drink it that quickly definitely made me feel the need to burp. I haven't heard yet if I passed it or not. Hopefully I did! I knew I didn't want to take the test after ladies Bible study as we were having a luncheon at the end since it was our last session until the summer study starts in June. I knew I'd eat some sweets at that (which I did). :-)

This hospital (where my RE is not where my OB is) has a section of parking spaces reserved for expectant and new mothers. Over the last 4 years, I've wondered if I'd ever be eligible to park in one of those spots. Well this morning I did. It put such a smile on my face to know I qualified! Another similar experience happened last week when we were signing up for the summer and fall sessions of Bible study. One column of the sign up sheet is for indicating how many children you have (under the age of 5) so they can plan accordingly for nursery workers. I was never so happy to write down the number "1" in that column by my name. Trust me I wanted to do the dance of joy in celebration of finally being able to write a number down!!

My Dean has suggested that instead of my 8:00 class I supervise 5 student teachers in the fall. This is definitely not my preference. I would rather have my reassigned time moved to the fall (only teach 9 credits) or teach another class at 8:00 or 11:00 on MWF. Although supervising student teachers is a super flexible activity in terms of scheduling, it would be much harder to line up a babysitter while I do that. So I would ask for prayer for this situation.

Babysitters

Saturday evening another student emailed me who also is interested in babysitting our daughter in the fall. On Sunday the one who had volunteered on Friday wrote back and said $8/hr was fine. I wasn't sure what the going rate was, but I knew it had gone up a lot since I was a babysitter in the 80's, LOL. I've had both Ashley and Angela in several classes over the last 3 years. They'll both be student teaching and then graduating next spring. Ashley is actually going to have me for the 4th time as she's taking my assessment class in May/June. Both have worked or are working in day care centers. Ashley works in one on campus which accepts children as young as 6 months, and Angela has worked in one that accepts them as young as 6 weeks. I have asked the two of them to work out a schedule. I wanted two so that I'll have a backup if one is sick or something like that. I believe they will take very good care of her! I still haven't heard officially that my reassigned time can be moved to the fall. I've only lined up babysitters for 8:50-10:50am thus far as that's the only time I know of so far that I will be teaching during the day in the fall.

Applebee's sent me a coupon for a free dinner sometime in April since my bday is this month. Handbells was cancelled for tonight; so we decided to use the coupon tonight. I always look forward to having dinner out with my hubby! :-) I plan to have the pecan crusted chicken salad tonight as I am thinking of having my 1 hour G/D test tomorrow morning before Bible study so I figure tonight is not the night to load up on carbs or sugar. I want to pass the test as I've heard the 3 hour test is really Not Fun. For one thing you have to fast for that one which sounds downright awful. Just two more days until I am officially in the 3rd trimester. WOOHOOO!

My fingers have already started to swell up. My wedding band still fits but most other rings either won't go on or they are a bit tight. Actually when Paul bought the wedding band 7 years ago I purposefully didn't get it sized properly. We had the engagement ring sized properly in 2000 (size 4 1/2) so I knew the wedding band wasn't going to fall off (size 6) with the engagement ring in front of it. Being able to wear this wedding band while pg was actually the reason I didn't get it sized 7 years ago. I had no idea the wait til that decision would prove wise would be 7 years, but I am glad this ring is "too big" as right now it fits nicely. I didn't think fingers swelled up until the very end of pgcy. Is it normal for it to happen this early? I mentioned it to the nurse last week, and she didn't seem concerned. She just told me not to wear them if they were too tight as too many patients have had to have rings cut off! Yesterday was the first day I only wore my wedding band. Normally I wear my wedding band & engagement ring on my 4th finger of my left hand and another ring (I rotate which one) on the 4th finger of my right hand. I think my fingers are going to feel bare the next 3 months, but at least my wedding band still fits. :-)

I'll Never Know

At least here on earth I don't think I'll ever know how many people have been praying for our daughter. I was reminded of this again yesterday at Paul's brother's surprise 40th bday party. There were about 60 people there - mostly family or people from their church. Several women whom I have never met before came up to me and told me that they are in Paul's mom's Sunday School class and that they have been praying fervently for this little one. I was blow away again by another glimpse of just how many have been praying for her. Being told by so many at my own church that they have been and are continuing to pray for her has been so very touching, but it's even more overwhelming (in a good way) to realize how many people I don't even know have been praying such as folks in Vancouver, Chicago, Ankara, etc. I plan to let my daughter know this from a very early age, and I hope when she's old enough to really understand it will be as touching to her as it is to me that she was so loved and prayed for by so, so, so many people even before she was born. Even people I have only met online have told me they have been praying for Paul and I for years. Amazing. I can't think of any situation the rest of my life where I have felt so "prayed for." I thank each and every one of you whether you've been praying for us/her for years, months, weeks, or days. She is living proof of the power of prayer!

I didn't think the heartburn could get worse, but it has. I'm not trying to be gross, but it's now coming up into my mouth. So far it's only happened at times when I've been forced to swallow it back down. OUCH that hurts! I am going to try to prop my head up more when I sleep which is a challenge with the total body pillow. Another lesson I have learned is I need to eat a bigger breakfast. I had a light yogurt (which used to be my norm but I've been eating the kind with sugar most of the time during pgcy) and an English muffin for breakfast today. It was not enough. Between my hunger and also feeling warm in the sanctuary, I felt awful. I left once during the sermon and laid down on the floor in the area where the coats were as I felt I was very close to passing out. After a few minutes I felt better and so we went back in. I lasted a bit longer but then the room started to spin again and I could feel the color draining from my face. I told Paul let's just leave. I didn't want to keep coming in and out. I sat in a chair in the lobby, and Paul went and got me a cupcake from the food to be served at coffee hour after the service was over. The food plus the cooler temp helped immensely. I don't normally go to the 8:00 service so I usually have eaten a snack before I go to church. Today was one of the unusual Sundays when I didn't have anything I was involved in for the 10:45 service (meaning handbells, choir, flute, or piano), and Paul prefers the 8:00. So no more light yogurt for me, and if I need to leave the house before 7:30am I am bringing a banana or some other snack with me as I sure don't want to feel as awful as I felt this morning again any time soon!

Sauna!

I said I was enjoying the warmer temps outside, and that is true. However, I do not enjoy a classroom that feels like a sauna! My classroom that I teach in from 12:00-2:50 MWF has been warm all semester. Of course it has felt warmer than it would have in the past since my body temp has risen due to being pg. In Jan/Feb I usually wore just a turtleneck with a skirt as a sweater would be too much in that room. Even the turtleneck was often too warm, but I would have felt funny wearing a short sleeve shirt when there was snow outside! For the last several weeks I've been wearing short sleeved shirts, and I've still been warm in that class, but it's been bearable. Yesterday it was not. I should have called maintenance to come and do something. The problem is the room is small, and when you first enter it at 8:00am it actually feels chilly in there, but from 9:00-1:50 there are 35 bodies in there and that raises the room temp tremendously. Yesterday it was so bad I was periodically stepping into the hallway to try to cool down for fear I was going to throw up or pass out. I was dizzy, my hands were swollen, etc. The students were all dying as well (but at least they only had to be in there 50 minutes and they aren't pg!). I won't put myself through that again. I hope they fix it, but if not I will call for help. I felt badly for a few hours even after I was done teaching.

To make matters worse, I hadn't felt her move during the day or the night before so by the time I got home at 4:30pm I wasn't feeling well physically or emotionally. I tried eating something sweet and when that didn't work I really started to panic. I was so tired I really didn't want to make a trip to the ER so I kept trying to wait and give her a chance to give me a kick. In the beginning when I first started to feel her move, the movements weren't consistent, but for the last few weeks I usually feel her many, many, many times a day. Thankfully around 6:15 I finally felt her move. Whew it was a big sense of relief! Today she's been her normal active self. I guess she just was not feeling like moving much yesterday. :-)

I talked with my dept chair about my fall schedule in light of the fact that so far only 4 students have signed up for my 8:00 class (their least favorite hour). He agreed it would be cancelled. I bounced a few ideas off of him as to how to adjust my schedule, and the one he liked best was to move my reassigned time from the summer to the fall (to work on an accreditation report). This would mean I'd get paid less this summer BUT in exchange I'd only teach 3 classes in the fall. It sounds perfect to me in light of being a new Mommy. He said he'll ask the Dean if that will be possible and get back to me next week. So that means I only would need a babysitter for 6 hours a week - not bad for working a FT job, eh? :-)

I talked to a few students yesterday in one of my classes about my need for a babysitter. This one group of girls are often talking about their babysitting experiences so they were the ones I decided to ask first. Well one already emailed me and said she would love to babysit my daughter from 8:50-10:50 on MWF. I want to have at least 2 babysitters lined up so I have a backup in case one is sick or something. Next, I need to see what Ashley thinks of the salary I was planning to pay ($8/hr). She's a really sweet person; this is the third class she's had with me since fall 05. She'll be a senior in the fall and will be student teaching next spring. If I can't be a SAHM (due to Paul being a FT student), this is the next best thing I think considering it's just 6 hours a week and she'll be in my office just around the corner from my classroom. Hopefully she'll sleep most of that time so she won't disturb anyone. I'll have bottles of pumped milk there for her, but I can feed her right before and right after my classes so I might not have to do too much pumping. I can also come check on her in between my two classes as I'll have a break from 9:50-10:00. Also, the semesters are only about 15 weeks long so this will only be for about 30 weeks a year. That also helps put things into perspective! Anyhow, I am glad I have at least one babysitter lined up for the fall! :-)

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!!!