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 :).

18 week Appointment

Izzy is a really curious girl - very smart too. She is really starting to figure out how things works and tries to pull things apart and pull them back together. She is really good at wood puzzles too.
Pregnancy update...here is my most recent belly shot - it was taken at 17 weeks.

I went in for my 18 week appointment and so far all is well. We go to schedule our ultrasound for November 12th. We could have done it before than but of course I worked all the days they had available. But it is only a week and a half away so we can handle it. The baby's heartrate is 140-150s and my uterus is where it should be - right at my belly button! This baby is really active too - I am starting to really feel it move and it kept moving away from the doppler. That is a little different than with what I remember of Izzy - she seemed to be pretty calm in utero - who would have predicted she would be as active as she is now?

Speaking of Izzy - her vocabulary keeps on expanding. Every day she says a new word that I never thought she could say. I need to really sit down and start writing out the words that she is saying so that I can keep track of them! How they grow!! Her favorite saying right now is "Oh Nice!", especially when she watches football with her daddy! She is very independent and likes to do things the "big people" do. I love it! Life is so interesting with a toddler around!

Flutterings in the Belly

SOO...ladies and gentleman exciting news - I think I am starting to feel little peanut Palmer move around in his/her little home of a uterus. I could be wrong but I get these feelings of being on a roller coaster every once and a while. And if I am right this little peanut is also feisty because I am getting some sharp "kicks" every once in a while as well! Only two more weeks and I go see my doctor again - I can't wait to hear that glorious heartbeat again. There is nothing like it when you don't quite know if what you are feeling is baby or something else.

I received a call this week from my insurance case manager that I guess I am assigned to now due to being "high risk" (who would have ever thought that those words would come out of my mouth-the first part of my pregnancy went so smoothly last time)! So insurance will not cover a home health nurse to come to my house every week for my lovely progesterone shot unless I am on bedrest. So that means I am going to have to make a lovely trip to the doctor every week to get that shot done! And hopefully I won't need a home health nurse to come or else those shots obviously are not doing what they are meant to do!

Sam and I are both really nervous this pregnancy, me so more than him - every one you talk to says their second one was such a relief - they weren't as nervous and that they knew what to expect! Well, I am having a really hard time with this because I am twice as nervous this pregnancy. I come to work and I want to cry almost every day! I know I need to think positive thoughts but it is hard when you work with the population of babies I work with. I wish I had a crystal ball so that I could see how this pregnancy would end up! Everything went downhill so fast for us - and we were SOOO incredibly lucky that Isabella ended up being a healthy, happy little girl! I just hope that our luck continues and God continues to bless us with happy health children!! Well sorry this post was a little of a Debbie Downer! Tune in soon - I promise I will be taking a picture of the belly soon - we have been slacking in that department!!