Read This Story

You all should read this story (if you haven't already). It is very well written, and very emotional to any parent, but especially those with special needs children. Have a tissue handy, not just women, but men (who are parents) as well. You will need them.

Click here.

32 Weeks!

I will spare you all the bare belly picture this week. I have a fresh row of bright red/purple stretchmarks that appeared overnight in the middle of last week just above the stretchmarks that I got during Lincon's pregnancy. Oh boy! Needless to say, baby June appears to be growing like she should! :)

I have not heard yet about the fetal fibronectin test that was taken yesterday at my OB appt...which means to me that the test came back negative. This means that all signs say that I will not go into labor within the next 2 weeks. This is great news! This will get me to 34 weeks, and a much more well developed baby!

Also, there is a lot coming up in the next 2 weeks that I really don't want to miss! This weekend we will be headed to the Tucson Gem & Mineral festival. I look forward to this event every year!! There is also the Superbowl this Sunday. Which isn't all that exciting to either Andy or I, but since so many people get into it, I figured that I would mention it... Then next weekend we will be headed to the Renassiance Festival just outside of Phoenix! Out goal is to pick up a cool wooden mace/sword/axe to go with Lincoln's shield that we bought him last year. We will also be picking out a pretty shield for June so that someday she may duel with Lincoln or they can slay bad guys and dragons together. :)

This is Lincoln watching a drumming show from Daddy's lap at the Ren. Fest. last year.

This is the staged jousting tournament and old fasioned arena. Cool tudor style, huh?

Here is Lincoln's shield. Andy and I really liked the symbology behind Lincoln's mascot here...the Phoenix, being reborn through fire and rising from the ashes. Plus, it is just really prettily hand painted. :)

All's Quiet on the Western Front

Is that how the saying goes?

Today's appointment was very good. Baby June was doing gymnastics during the NST, so she passed with flying colors in a very short amount of time. Then the cervical length check went good. I am measuring 2.3cm, so about the same or a little longer even than last week. Yay! June is still breech, which prompted the doctor to ask me, "Why do you have to do everything the hard way?" This made me laugh a little. Honestly, I don't know why we do things the hard way, lol. She then went on to tell me that there was still plenty of time for her to flip, and that she doesn't start to worry about position until ~36 weeks.

We will continue the weekly cervical length checks and bi-weekly NSTs until 34 weeks. Then things will really start to get interesting I imagine! During Lincoln's pregnancy I went from completely closed at 33 weeks to 3cm dilated at 35 weeks. We will see if that happens again this time!

Weekly Weigh-In

This week did not go as well as far as calorie intake and weight gain. We started a new medication, and we have noticed a drastic change in his eating habits as well as his behavior; sleeping, playtime, and general attitude. I hope that these side effects are short lived. We just increased to the theraputic dosage today, so after a week at this level, if his seizures are not improved then we will be dropping this med. If his seizures are improved, we will be reluctant to drop this medication, even with the side effects. However, if the side effects continue to be this severe, we may have to get rid of it anyway. We will see what the neurologist says next Monday/Tuesday after our trial week is up.

Calorie Intake:
Jan 26: 955 calories
Jan 27: 1148 calories
Jan 28: 1340 calories
Jan 29: 1460 calories
Jan 30: 1140 calories
Jan 31: 1375 calories
Feb 1: 1143 calories

Weekly Average: 1223 calories/day

We fell a little short (about 100 calories), but it is still better than we were doing 2 months ago!

Lincoln's Weight: 29lbs 14oz

He maybe lost a couple of ounces this past week, or stayed about the same. I estimated him to be about 30lbs last week, but we were having difficulty getting a good measurement due to the wiggles. But, we have a new technique for weighing Lincoln that seems pretty accurate. Hopefully we will be getting pretty good readings from now on!

My weight: +31lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight.

I actually lost some weight according to last week's OB appt. I was down 2lbs! I am pretty certain that I am back up at least one of those pounds now though. :)

June's weight: Estimated to be around 4 lbs! Yay! Grow baby grow!! :)

Much better

Baby June did so much better today at her NST. The nurse even said "I love your baby", because her heartrate accelerations with her movements were so classsic. I was on the monitor for only about 15 mintues and then we were done! Yay!

Then I went to get our car emissions test done...waited for 45 minutes for the 30 cars in front of me to go, finally got tested, passed, then came home and updated our registration online (thank goodness I didn't have to go to the MVD!) for 2 years to a tune of $353!! Ouch! I sure do miss the $30 registration fees from when we lived in Oregon.

It was a good, productive day though!

I can't believe next week it will be February! There are so many things to look forward to in February:
Gem & Mineral Show
LOST
Arizona Renaissance Festival
Winter Olympics
Valentine's Day
Tucson Rodeo Days Parade
and that I will be due the next month!

Yay, for February!! :)

A funny top 10 post

The Top Ten Reasons Men Prefer Guns Over Women. (Courtesy of Facebook)

#10. You can trade an old 44 for a new 22.

#9. You can keep one gun at home and have another for when you are on the road.

#8. If you admire a friend's gun and tell him so, he will probably let you try it out a few times...

#7. Your primary gun does not mind if you keep another gun for backup.

#6. Your gun will stay with you even if you run out of ammo.

#5. A gun does not take up a lot of closet space.

#4. Guns function normally every day of the month.

#3. A gun does not ask, "Do these new grips make me look fat?"

#2. A gun does not mind if you go to sleep after you use it.

And the number one reason a gun is favored over a woman...

#1. YOU CAN BUY A SILENCER FOR A GUN.


Hardy har har... ;)

Not stellar

Well, today's appointments were not stellar.

At the NST baby girl was moving around quite a bit, but her heartrate was not accelerating with all of that movement. This is unusual. So we had to spend about 45min trying to get enough good movements with accelerations. She also had several short heart rate dips, which is new to this appointment, but nothing to worry about the nurse said. I haven't seen anything like these at the 2 prior NSTs we have had, so I am still gonna worry a bit. All I can say is that I am glad we will be having another NST on Friday to double check on her.

At the cervical length check it was immediately apparent that my cervix has shortened again. Her first measurement was 1.92cm, her second one was 2.4cm...both of which are much shorter than last week's measurement. She felt my cervix and thankfully it is still closed up nice and tight. She went on to say that if she was checking me out based on the feeling of my cervix alone, she wouldn't be worried at all...but the fact that my cervix had shortened so much in one week, made her a little nervous. She said that she still thinks that everything will be okay and I will be pg for at least another month, but she made sure to tell me that she was on-call this weekend in case I needed to get ahold of her. Yikes!

I asked her to double-check on June's position. She is still breech and facing toward my left side, so her head is on the upper right side. This was exactly how Lincoln was sitting for 3 months prior to when he finally flipped at 35 weeks. I really really hope that she will copy her brother in this, and flip before delivery.

So, next week the doctor will be doing another cervical length check, but first she will do a fetal fibronectin (fFN) test, which can tell you with pretty good accuracy if you are NOT going to go into labor in the next 2 weeks. If the test is negative, most likely you will not go into labor, if the test is positive, you may or may not go into labor within he next 2 weeks. So we will be hoping for a nice big fat negative test result next week. I will keep you all posted.

I am taking this all in stride, and am not really all that worried about June coming in the next few weeks. We have been here before with Lincoln, and I know that every pregnancy and baby is different so she could still surprise us. But if she did happen to be delivered now, we are in a pretty good place for a good outcome, healthwise. It wouldn't be ideal of course, but my twin sisters were born at 26 weeks with many many complications, but they both survived, and I was born at 34 weeks, and only spent 11 days in the nursery with no real complications. So a baby girl born at 31-32 weeks (who already received the steroid shots for lung development), would likely spend about a month in the NICU and special care nursery for feeding/growing and possibly breathing issues. Lets hope it doesn't come to this, but there could be worse things...