23 week appointment

Went in to see my regular OB today. I am gaining weight JUST fine....maybe a little bit too much weight hahaha. Baby's heartrate was 140-150s so that was excellent. My blood pressure was 118/60 (which a little high for me but normal for most people). My OB did not seem too concerned about my cervix issue at this point because it had all remained the same. The only concerns I have is that my uterus measured 4 centimeters over what it should (measuring 27cm instead of 23), which means I am about a month ahead on growth, but the doctor said this is normal in this stage...we will see next week at my specialist appointment what the baby actually measures!! Hopefully I am not going to be having a big baby!! I am also spilling sugar into my urine, but I have been doing that the whole pregnancy so she did not seem too concerned about that either. Next time I will be scheduling my glucose tolerance test, and hopefully that comes back normal - I don't want to have gestational diabetes on top of everything else going on! Plus I love my sweets - this baby is definitely making me crave chocolate A LOT! Isabella loves listening to her baby sister's heart beat. Now we just have to come up with a name so that Isabella can start calling the baby that instead of "baby" or "sister".

Pictures throughout November

It has been a while since I have posted pictures of Isabella! I don't know if it is being at home with her more often, her growing up, or a mixture of both, but I am noticing a LOT more personality coming from her lately! It is such a wonderful thing to watch her grow! I just wish it was not going so fast!

If you notice in the background, she has ransacked our living room and thrown all her toys on the ground...it is her favorite game of all time. This is her new "look" she gives us - it looks like she is ticked off, but she will smile a big smile every time she gives you this look.

Nana has been a BIG help during this time of being on light activity and has helped me out with Isabella when I need someone to help! Both sets of grandparents have taken her out for me, watched her and allowed me to rest! I love them all!

She is posing in her boots...she LOVES these boots!

One morning we were hanging out at home...I asked her to go sit by the cat so I could get a picture...nope she decided to sit ON the cat!

She is "showing me her teeth" after breakfast...it is one of the only ways we can get her to smile for the camera haha.

Sam was vacuuming the house (thank you babe!) since I can't do it and Isabella wanted to be like her daddy and vacuum as well...of course she had to do it almost naked - this girl LOVES to be naked!

For the first time in about a year I was able to go take Isabella to Gymboree with help from my mom and dad. It was so crazy to watch her play on things she had trouble with last time I went! She has gotten so big! She knows the routine and most of the songs.

Her favorite was the rocking horse they have. I felt bad for the kids riding behind her because Isabella would rock super hard when she was on it!

She was climbing to the top of the "mountain" and being the queen of the mountain! Her agility and balance is getting so much better! Except for when she trips over her own feet, which sorry Isabella but you get that from mom and you might have the curse the rest of your life!

This is a picture from before the class started. She was watching for the choo choo train to come by the window, but it did not.

One day my dad and mom took Isabella to the playground at their church. My dad used to take her every Monday when I worked while my mom was at Bible study, so he wanted me to see how much she enjoyed going! She is in LOVE with papa! She can't get to the playground fast enough.

She is such a good climber- she is able to climb on everything from the big kid playground!

She loves to swing, especially when other people are sitting next to her on the swing. I think Nana and Papa love watching her swing as much as she loves swinging.

Look mom - this is SO MUCH fun!

This last weekend we were able to go get our Christmas tree...I decided this would be the best weekend because who knows what is going to happen with the pregnancy. We went to Reindeer Lane and picked out our tree. Isabella loved looking at all the trees and being with her Nana and Papa M., Aunt Kristen, Uncle Alex, and mommy and daddy. She even got to try a candy cane - which of course she LOVED!

Her favorite part of the whole day was being pulled in the sled...she kind of likes to be spoiled, and my family kind of likes to spoil her.

She even got to see Santa and his Reindeer! She was not too fond of Santa again this year, but she LOVED the reindeer!

I can't wait to see how she is going to react on Christmas day! After a long thirty minute trip to the tree farm, she was SO tired! I loved getting pictures of her sleeping!

I am just so grateful for my family because they allow me to be able to see Isabella do things, and I can just sit back and relax while they do all the heavy work. So I still get to take it easy, but still get to watch her interact and grow in her environment! Thank you family I love you!!

Specialist appointment

Went to see the perinatologist again today. It was a different doctor than the previous times, but he seemed pretty nice. Measured my cervix again, and it is now 3 cm (it was 3.7 cm to 3.9 cm). He felt that the other people had over measured my cervix previously. This makes me a little nervous however because what if they measured the same as he did and my cervix, did in fact, go down almost a whole centimeter in a week and a half? He told me the funneling appears to be the same as before based on the pictures so he is encouraged by that. He is thinking that at this point he does not believe I have an incompetent cervix, which is good if we decide to have another baby. He did feel that there is a possibility that I might have had this issue with Isabella when I was pregnant with her but just did not catch it because the funneling was so small, and that could have been part of my issue as to why I had her early. He told me to continue on the same plan - no work, light activity. I go back on Tuesday which is probably going to be my last appointment. They will check my cervix length again and also measure the baby, which will be neat to know. After that I am not sure if I will be allowed to go back to normal activity and work...seems like I have been saying that a lot!

I will take the time this week to post some updated pictures of Isabella! Her personality is developing more and more every day! We went and got our Christmas tree on Saturday at Reindeer Lane, and decorated our Christmas tree yesterday which was loads of fun! I am getting really pumped for Christmas this year! It is so much more fun now that Isabella is getting excited about things! She sees our tree and every time yells "Christmas Tree"!

No changes...

Went to see the perinatologist again today to check on my cervix. Everything looks the same - cervix length is 3.7 cm which is really good. There is still some mild funneling going on. I have been having some cramping and some pressure whenever I am around doing stuff so I am still being placed on work restriction. Doctor said he would prefer if I did not work at this time. I don't know if I will be able to return back to work if the cramping goes away or if I hit a certain week...still a lot of unsures at this point. I will be returning back to the specialist Monday after Thanksgiving to recheck. I am definitely enjoying spending more time at home with Izzy and thanks to family they are helping me out with her which makes it definitely easier. I do feel super lazy though. I can barely do laundry and dishes without worrying if I am hurting the baby!

What is super nice is that I get to see an ultrasound of the baby every time I go in. Today we got some BEAUTIFUL shots of the face which I am quite fond of! Her side profile looks so much like Isabella, maybe slightly smaller nose! I am in love with this little girl already! Hopefully soon we will have a name picked out. I really want to start getting things organized for the new baby but it sounds like that will have to be put on hold until I can do more! I am very grateful that the baby has stayed healthy and cervix has remained closed though!!

Isabella is getting really excited about baby. Every time I have my shirt up looking at my belly she comes over and kisses the belly, and will tell baby sister I love you and wave hi when I ask her to. She also loves to look at the ultrasound pictures. It took some explaining at first for her to understand that it was a baby but now she smiles when I show her! We are so blessed!

Ultrasound

Before I start talking about the ultrasound results here is a picture of Sam and I at the wedding that I had talk about the last blog. He sure looks handsome!



On November 12th, we had our 20 week ultrasound done! The baby looked absolutely beautiful! We found out we are having another little girl! I am so excited for Isabella to have a little sister to play with! Hopefully they get along well.

Her little leg - which was always in motion. Daddy said that she was tapping on the gas pedal cause she is going to be a little racer...we will see about that one!

She was giving us a thumbs up...letting us know she likes her little home!

She was constantly in motion - this isn't the best picture of it but she was trying to do a headstand while we watched. It was pretty amazing! This girl did not sit still during almost the whole ultrasound!!

A side profile of her beautiful face!

This is my favorite picture. She looks exactly like Isabella did in her profile pictures on the ultrasound. Obviously it is hard to really tell but this baby has the same nose and upper lip! I can't wait to see her. Okay I CAN wait! At least 17 more weeks!

They said the baby looks just perfect...but I have a little issue going on. They told me that my cervix is funneling, which means that on the top of my cervix closest to the baby it is starting to open up. So what does this mean for me and the baby? Well, Friday I had to go see a perinatologist (a specialist in high risk pregnancies) to check and see what she thinks. She told me that while my cervix is funneling, my length of my cervix is encouraging (it measures 3.66 cm which I guess is good). I will have to go see her for the next four weeks until I hit 24 weeks to check on my cervix and make sure it is not shortening and the funneling is not getting worse. If either of these occur I will possibly have to have a cerclage done, which is where they stitch up my cervix to keep the baby in there and my cervix from dilating. The doctor says she hates to do it unless necessary because there are risks to it.

She did tell me that I do not have to be on bedrest at this point though and that she feels like I just need to take it easy. She told me no work until this coming Friday when we will check it again. If everything looks the same I think that I will be able to return to work, but I am not sure if I will be on restrictions or if I can stay full time at twelve hours. Sam has been really great and he has been doing all the lifting of Izzy when possible and helping me out around the house. I am still having Braxton Hicks so every time I get a few he yells at me to lay down :). My mom has also been great and has been available to me whenever I have needed her! I am just grateful for such a wonderful support system. I will continue to update the blog as I learn new things!

Life with Braxton Hicks

This week I had a slight scare on my pregnancy - nothing too crazy but I am a freak and think that everything is concerning hahaha. Tuesday I was working - did not drink much water and starting having what felt like tightening in my abdomen. Felt like it was nothing so went home and just relaxed. The next day I was off and relaxed at home all day. I felt horrible cause Isabella is the most active person in the world and it was driving her nuts that I was just being lazy!

Wednesday I went in to work, with no feelings of tightening...until the mid morning. I had like one or two probably the whole morning so I started chugging water. I had about 4 16 ounce cups of water in about 2 hours, which on a pregnancy bladder makes you have to go CONSTANTLY! Well, starting about 1200 after lunch I started having tightening again. I wrote down my times I felt them...1200, 1205, 1215, 1230...hmmm maybe I should relax right? So I try sitting down and I was still having about 5-6 in an hour for 2 hours. So I called my OB - nurse said to lay down and drink water! HAHAHA YA RIGHT! I work in a hospital - how are you supposed to lay down when you have patients to care for? Well, I had about 3 more in a 15 minute period so I called my resource nurse over - who so kindly told me to go lay down. Than the charge nurse told me to lay down in a PCU room that has a bed and stay in there for 1 hour and don't come out - she would figure out what to do with my patients. During that hour I had about 5 tightenings. They than sent me home for the day. I went home and relaxed - as long as I was laying down I did not have anything, as soon as I got up I started having them again. Called into work the next day so I could stay off my feet and just take it easy...which seemed to help. I still had a few throughout the day but nothing like the day before!

So moral of this story?? Braxton Hicks are a bitch :) (pardon my language people haha).

This weekend we did have some fun times though. We had a wedding of one of Sam's high school buddies at which he was a groomsman. So while he was doing all the pictures and stuff for the wedding party - I got to pamper myself and get my hair did :). It was wonderful! For the first time in a long time I actually felt really good about myself!! Had cute hair, a new dress, and new shoes! It was fun to go out and get dressed up for once. I would post a couple of pictures but camera card is acting up on my computer! We had a good time, but I did learn that dancing for more than 2 songs would bring on those nasty Braxton Hicks again! Tomorrow I start my stretch of 3 in a row at work...Hopefully with lots of water they will stay away!

Halloween!

This was Isabella's second Halloween but the first one she really got to enjoy it! Here she is cheesing it up in her outfit before we switched to her costume!! I am loving this girl so much! We dressed her up as Dorothy this year from the Wizard of Oz and I must say she is the cutest Dorothy I have ever seen! Thanks to Aunt Stephanie for making the costume and nana for making the bow for her hair!!

I took her first to go see Nana and Papa M. at their church for trunk and treat...which she absolutely loved! I thought she would go screaming away from the costumes but she had a blast looking at all the kids!!

She loved going up to people, them handing her something, and her able to put it into her basket! Here she is with Nana and Papa M. They loved seeing her as always!

I than took her to see Nana and Papa P. and of course they loved seeing her as well! Isabella loved showing off her outfit to anybody who would look!

That night Sam, Isabella, and I went trick or treating with our neighbors. They were Dorothy, the scarecrow and the lion from the Wizard of Oz. We tried and tried to get a picture of all three of them together but by that time they were all itching to go door to door to get free candy! Isabella got the concept down in about 1 house and would walk up saying "tee tee".

Most of the time she waited patiently, but if I didn't keep a close eye on her she would keep trying to dig in the candy bowl to grab more while the people were distracted.

Here is Hudson as the lion....

And Owen as the scarecrow....They both looked ADORABLE!

After a long day of trick or treating Isabella was worn out! She kept saying "Night night!" and as soon as we laid her down in our bed she was out in 3 minutes - definitely not a normal thing for her!

Here she is dreaming of candy and treats! Let's just hope she doesn't think that if she says "tee tee" for trick or treat to people she will get what she wants from strangers! Now we have to work on the concept don't accept things from strangers...hmmm goes against everything Halloween stands for :).