Mama's Gonna Buy You a Mockingbird: My Pregnancy With J!

We had been TTC from January to March of 2007, and decided to take a break once I got a new job so I would be eligible for FMLA. Well, as they say, even the best-laid plans of mice and men sometimes go astray. I was charting using fertilityfriend.com and got a really nasty chest cold with a fever in the first part of my cycle, so I couldn't really tell when I ovulated. However, since I was past CD20 we figured we were "safe" and had sex, and the next day my temp dropped back into pre-O, pre-fever range. I got pregnant on CD28, and we were thrilled to be expecting. It was a little scary at first, but soon my excitement overcame my apprehension. DH was actually less nervous than I was! Our little boy is due January 17, 2008.

Symptoms: Starting around 9dpo I had a runny nose (definitely not allergies). I constantly felt "wet" and had creamy CM, and when checking my CP I noticed that my cervix was really tender. I also had achy AF-like cramps from 9dpo-ish onward. My sense of smell went nuts (I swear I could smell DH's breath from across the room, and it wasn't even bad breath!). I noticed that I was really thirsty, and also chocolate chip cookies I made at about 12dpo just tasted weird to me but DH said they tasted just like every other batch I'd ever made.

Morning sickness: Started at 5 weeks on the nose...in the middle of the night. I have been consistently fine in the morning and sick at night. So much for "morning" sickness! Still sick at 11 weeks, and my gag reflex has been getting ridiculous. I gag sometimes for no reason, and sometimes when I am talking. By 13 weeks, it has mostly tapered off, but I still feel barfy sometimes in the evening. I was throwing up one to two times a week til 15 weeks, but after that it was gone! Well, just about. I did throw up once at 18 weeks, too.

Landmarks: Felt baby at 14w1d. Woke up at 15w3d with a belly, and really popped during week 15/16 transition (at least I think so, see pics below). Big u/s at 19w, it's a healthy boy! Penta screen came back normal. Baby James really hates the doppler. At 13 weeks he wouldn't even sit still for it, so I got a bonus u/s to see the heartbeat. At 17 and 21 weeks he spent most of his time kicking or punching the probe before we could hear the heartbeat. DH first felt him move at 23weeks, 2days, but I'd been able to feel him on the outside for a while, he just always quit kicking when his daddy tried to feel. At 28 weeks, I was measuring 5 weeks ahead (vs 25 weeks, measuring 26) and I failed my 1 hour glucose test. At 30 weeks I was measuring 34 weeks. A quickie u/s confirmed my suspicion that DS is head down. I took my 3 hour GTT at 31 weeks on the nose and the next day was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I will be working with an endocrinologist, as well as sticking to the South Beach Diet to control the GD. Hopefully I won't have to take insulin.

33w1d, Nov 30: Our "practice" trip to L&D! I started having contractions at 4:30 pm that were 6-10 minutes apart, lasting at least 30 seconds. When I got home from work I tried drinking a liter of water, peeing, laying down, eating, taking a shower and taking a bath, and they would not stop. Instead they were getting closer together and a little stronger. I called the midwife on call at 8:30 the first time, and the answering service paged her for 2 hours. Turns out they were paging the wrong MW. When I did finally get in touch with the correct MW at 10:30, my contractions were 4 minutes apart lasting an average of 45 seconds and they were starting to hurt a little. We were instructed to go to the hospital, where we were sent up to L&D. They took a urine sample to rule out a UTI (which I didn't have), and hooked me up to the monitors to just watch things for a little while. Baby J really hates the doppler/fetal monitor, which is no surprise since at 13 weeks he wouldn't even sit still for it, so I got a bonus u/s to see the heartbeat. At 17 and 21 weeks he spent most of his time kicking or punching the probe before we could hear his heartbeat. So our time in L&D was punctuated by lots of him kicking the hell out of my ribs during and between contractions, and punching the fetal monitor. At about midnight I got my first shot of terbutaline and they did a Fetal Fibronectin Test (FFT). The terbutaline gave me the shakes and sent my heartrate from 75ish to 95ish. It was awful stuff, and it really didn't do anything for the contractions other than maybe slow them down a teeny bit. About 45 minutes or an hour later I was given another shot of terbutaline, which shot my heartrate up to 120. My heart monitor did not like that and beeped a lot. All the while the baby was still kicking the crap out of me. The second shot of terbutaline did about as much as the first, and made me even shakier. We finally got the results of the FFT, which were negative (meaning a very low chance of preterm delivery). The next day was my baby shower, so we went home at 4am and slept until 11am, when I got up to go to my shower.

33w3d: We started the nursery!

34w4d: I am finally measuring right on! The baby has now dropped. I didn't really notice other than an odd buzzing/vibrating sensation in my pelvis at 34w, and suddenly my mid-belly panel pants stay up (before the panel would roll down). Since finding out that I've officially dropped, I notice that I waddle and I have to pee more frequently (though DH won't admit that I waddle, he even said that if he thought I was, he wouldn't tell me).

35w5d: Measuring 4 weeks ahead again. Boo. And now my contractions are painful, wahoo! At least it's a good excuse to practice my breathing. We may have a baby before New Year's, since my MW said that they likely wouldn't stop labor at this point since I'm so close to 36 weeks.

36w2d: Labor has begun! I had a really scary thing happen today where I was timing my painful contractions and felt something leaking, ran (ok, waddled really fast) to the bathroom and found that my panties were soaked with bright red blood. We went to the hospital and everything is fine, the bleeding stopped within about an hour. Plus, I'm a fingertip dilated. My contractions have remained fairly consistent (max. 15 minutes apart). The MW says that the cause of my bleeding is most likely a pocket that was formed when my placenta moved up, and when I started dilating it all came gushing out. My MW said I am in early labor, so most likely the baby will be here within the week.

37w2d: Still no baby, still in "early" labor. Dilated to a "loose" 2cm. Started losing my mp (still losing it at 37w6d...apparently you make more as you lose it. Fun, eh?) Also got stretch marks and what seems to be the appearance of PUPPP this week. Measuring 41 weeks at 37w6d.

38w4d: HAD THE BABY!!! See this post for my birth story.

1st Trimester: (Weight gained/lost is total gain/loss relative to original pre-pregnancy weight)
Weeks 1-4- Month 1 - COMPLETE! (135 pounds, +/- 0 pounds)
Weeks 5-8- Month 2 - COMPLETE! (-2 pounds)
Weeks 9-13- Month 3 - COMPLETE! (-3 pounds)

2nd Trimester.
Weeks 14-17- Month 4 - COMPLETE! (+3 pounds)
Weeks 18-21- Month 5 - COMPLETE (+8 pounds)
Weeks 22-26- Month 6 - COMPLETE (+15 pounds)

3rd Trimester:
Weeks 27-30- Month 7 - COMPLETE (+16 pounds)
Weeks 31-35- Month 8 - COMPLETE (+17 pounds)
Weeks 36-40- Month 9 - COMPLETE (+18 pounds at 38 weeks/delivery)