Baby Shower

This past Sunday was my baby shower and man did I get a ton of good stuff!! If I had time to tell you everything we recieved I would but, I don't think this blog is big enough to list everything. In short it was awsome and my friends and family were overly generous, so a big thank you to everybody.

I will say this, my sister-in-law Christy came up with an awesome bingo game for opening gifts, all the cards had different registry items on it so there was crazy competition going on. When you are opening gifts for over an hour it makes it fun for everybody to stay somewhat involved and the crowd was watching intently as I opened every gift. It was mayhem up in front, at one point I though MaryAnne Tillotson and my cousin Allison were going to leave the shower just to buy me a gift card just so they could win at bingo! MaryAnne did win in the end with the opening of the Boppy, thanks Shannon, so all was right with the world!! (It was hilarious!!)

Thanks again to my Mother, Mary, Liz, Christy and Sarah for an awesome afternoon, everyone had a good time and for a biggie sized shower I thought it ran really, really smoothly. Katie will be blessed to be born into such a loving family, I know I am!!

29 Weeks

Well here we are at 29 weeks, only 11 to go!!

Let me begin by saying that today is an ugly day, inside and out. It's currently 2:15pm and 49 degrees outside, there is a bit of a drizzle and everything is soaking wet. This of course would have to be the day that I scheduled my three-hour glucose resistance test for my gestational diabetes, lovely. I'm sure you are all familiar with the notion that when it's cruddy outside you just want to stay curled up in bed all day, well today was that day for me and not only couldn't I stay in bed I had to have this stupid test done at 7am, when it was pouring outside and dark.

So you can see my day started off with a bang, oh and did I mention that the power went off at some point last night so lucky me that I woke up at 6am or I would have missed my appointment. I guess this is one time when I can thank my bladder for not allowing me more than two hours of sleep at a time! Anyhow I got to Apple Hill Medical Center at 7am and they immediately ushered me back to the galley of blood letting to take a vial of my blood, have me drink this even nastier, and sugary, version of orange soda for the test and they put me in a separate waiting area with a 13" TV and some magazines.

At first I didn't think I was going to have any issues with the gross drink but after sitting for 15 minutes Katie started going bonkers and banging on my lungs and I got all sorts of queasy. I knew right away that having to fast for 10 hours previous to the test was going to be an issue but I never really considered the ramifications to adding a high concentration of sugar to the mix, very bad things people, very bad. Thank goodness I was in a waiting room by myself, with a closed door, because I started burping like a trucker and for all I cared if someone would have come in I don't know if I could have stopped.

At 8 am the nurse came in my room to usher me back to the hall of blood letting to take another vial of blood from me, of course with my awesome luck she couldn't find a good vein in my right arm so back to the same spot on lefty we went. That same spot ended up getting a quadruple hit because apparently I only came with one good vein. After that I went back to the waiting room to wait another hour for the test to be readministered at 9am and finally at 10am.

The waiting wasn't as bad as I thought but the not eating was horrible, especially with that horrible sugary mixture floating around in my stomach. Me being a thinking lady, I had two pieces of bread stashed away in my purse so I could chow as soon as my nurse would allow me. (She complimented me on my thinking ahead, nice eh?) I came home around 10am, ate a baked potato and fell asleep curled up in bed with my cat. What a morning.

In conclusion, after just speaking with the nurse at my doctors office it has now been determined that I do NOT have gestational diabetes. (and the crowd goes wild) She didn't give me the exact results but my doctor did say to me that sometimes women test high after one hour which would indicate diabetes but during the three hour test their levels normalize after one hour, to be diabetic it should stay above 140 for two of the tests. I guess I fell into that catagory.

Score one for me, finally!!!

Ok everybody, have a great weekend, and don't forget Baby Shower next weekend; I can't wait to see everybody. And, YAY, I can eat my own cake!!! (I was a bit worried about that.)

New Baby!!!

Lauren Claire Mishler

Born September 28th at 9:54am

in Charlottle, North Carolina

6 pounds 12 ounces

19 and 1/2 inches long

Welcome to the world Lauren, it's a better place now that you are in it!!!

Crazy Swelling!!!

I just wanted you to see my fat legs, ankles and feet, it's like walking on water balloons! My real post is below.....Enjoy.... 

Back To The Hospital

You would think by now Nat and I would have our own parking space at the York Hospital, we made our fifth and sixth trip of the pregnancy this week and had our first overnight experience. Before I get ahead of myself lets take a journey back to Tuesday........

Tuesday morning I woke up and at first didn't really think too much of anything; I ate breakfast and then went about my morning routine of checking emails, reading the paper, and surfing online. While I was sitting at my desk I noticed that my normally swollen fingers looked especially plump and when I looked down at my feet I almost laughed out loud, I had no ankles and my toes looked liked little sausages. Now I know that swelling is normal in pregnancy so I kind of wrote it off as normal swelling, but as the day went on I noticed I was walking funny and my socks were too tight on my ankles, I had noticeable indented rings around them.

At this point I decided that I should weigh myself, just to see if I was really as swollen as I thought I was, I tend to be a tad overly dramatic. I couldn't and didn't believe the scale when it popped up that I had gained 14 lbs. in the past 8 days, what the crap, how do you gain that much weight that fast? I naturally assumed that the scale was broken so I used a backup scale that was in another bathroom, that scale said that I had only gained 7 lbs., still high but more acceptable.

I didn't really think too much of the rapid and abnormal weight gain, mostly because I convinced myself that scale #2 was right, and forgot about my bloated body until Nat got home from work. When Nat came home I was sitting in a chair in my sunroom with my feet propped up and Nat noticed my chub legs right away. I explained the tale of the two scales, showed him the rest of my lovely swollen self and he looked at me like I was five and asked why I hadn't called my doctor. I told him it was normal to swell and that although 7 lbs. was a lot to gain, it wasn't out of the question. Nat immediately went upstairs weighed himself on scale #1, came back downstairs, handed me the phone and said, "Call them and tell them you have gained 14 lbs. in 8 days!"

Oops.

Of course I called the doctor who told me to go immediately to the hospital to be checked for preeclampsia. Luckily my blood pressure was fine and when the hooked Katie up to the monitor she was happy as a clam, no signs of trouble. After two hours of monitoring and some other tests we were sent home and I was told to stay off of my feet and avoid salt.

Then came Wednesday...

I woke up Wednesday with the same swelling and another familiar symptom, nausea and vomiting. Ugh. I called my doctor and was told to head on in to get a full check-up. Once there I was told that maybe I might have something non-pregnancy related going on so my doctor ordered a gallbladder ultrasound and some blood work to check on my kidneys. So that evening Nat and I headed back to the hospital for the gallbladder ultrasound, which turned out to be normal so back home we went.

Then came Thursday......

Thursday started off alright, had my breakfast, read my paper, went back up to my room to read emails when all of a sudden I began vomiting, hard, and kept on doing it three times before 9am. (I get up around 7am.) I called Nat at work who agreed that I should call my poor doctor back, who by now was most definitely sick of me, so I put in a call, left a message and waited for a call back. At this point I was feeling rotten so I called Nat back and asked him to come home from work and no sooner did he walk in the door than my doctor’s office called and told me to head straight for the hospital. This time I was being admitted for observation, I think they were just sick of me bugging them, hehe.

We got to the hospital around 11:30am and I was immediately shuffled into a bed, placed in a horrible robe that didn't fit and was missing snaps and an IV line was started. The nurse asked me tons of questions, hooked me up to a monitor and then administered a drug that we now know I'm allergic to called Phenergan. Phenergan is a drug that helps stop nausea, so is Zofran the drug I told her I had been given every other time I was in the hospital for the same reasons, but in all of the rush the doctor most likely didn't even look at my chart and just decided to give me what he normally gives sick pregos.

Bad decision.

Within 30 seconds of being given this drug I turned into a raving lunatic; Nat was convinced I was possessed. I was shaking, the room was spinning, I was convulsing, itching and I couldn't get comfortable (tossing and turning constantly). Plus there was the crying, I was so dehydrated that I wasn't producing tears so it was blubbering without the blubber. My inhibitor switch was also turned off and I began swearing, mostly to Nat not at him, and I have no idea what I said to the nurse and doctors that kept checking on me, but I'm pretty sure I owe them all flowers.

At some point when everyone around me agreed that it was safe to move me, safe for them not me, they moved me to my own room in the maternity ward to let the rest of the drug ware off. The next point in time that I was aware of was when my friend Michelle came in to visit after she had gotten off of work, she is a nurse in the OR. When she came in I was still itching and twitching, but most of the spinning had worn off. Michelle let Nat take a much-needed break from me and while he was gone I got sick all over my bed and myself. Thank God Michelle is a nurse and a mom because she flew right into action, cold washcloth on my neck one on my forehead, she called another nurse in the room, basically she did all of the thinking that I was unable to do. After getting cleaned up and Nat coming back in the room, I passed out. I think now that the throwing up was like the curtain call on my drug addled afternoon, it was over and so was my day.

By Friday I was feeling better and had some visitors that afternoon. The culprit of the vomiting and nausea seems to have been really bad heartburn, can you believe that? I guess my diet wasn't jiving with my stomach and with Katie getting bigger and bigger and putting all sorts of stress and strain on my system it finally just gave out. I am now on a bland diet, eating six small meals a day, nothing fried, greasy, or spicy. I am also on a new pill called Protonix, for the acid, and it seems to be working at least a little because although I am still having problems getting the food to go down, no acid is coming back up. I can work with that.

They sent me home Saturday afternoon and I just had a check-up and my weight has stabilized although I am still really, really puffy. (Call me Puff Mommy) I just had my baked potato and half a chicken breast so now I am going to prop myself up in bed and try to relax, drink lots of water, and take a snooze. There is more to this long story, including a new baby in the group, but that's too special to add to this pitiful post so I will update again really soon. Sorry this was a long one, I just have to write it down so I have proof when we ground Katie for freaking her parents out so much.

Update at 27 Weeks

Nat and I have just returned from another awesome ultrasound and first news first, Katie is still a girl; I admit I was a little worried about that one. I know it doesn't happen to often but sometimes those little buggers change sexes on you and the good Lord only knows that we have enough pink stuff in this house already, we would have been in trouble!!

On with the good news. Katie's approximate weight is 2.8 lbs. which the doctor said puts her on course to be a "medium" sized baby, about 8 lbs. at birth. I'll be very, very happy with those results but we seem to make bigger sized babies than that in our family so I'm going to stay cautiously optimistic. Also after further review Katie's cord situation doesn't seem to require a label anymore, her cord was being called "velementous" or attached at the side, but now it appears to be only slightly off centered so they are stripping her of her label. (this is a very good thing!!) They are still going to require us to have weekly stress tests at 34 weeks, but the chances of her having any problems with the test just dropped consiterably, also lessening the chances of me needing a c-section. YAY!!!

In stupid news it looks like I have gestational diabetes, boo!! I had my glucose tolerance test on Saturday and my results came in this morning, to be considered diabetic you have to be above 140 mg/dl and I was at 183 mg/dl. I won't be offically diabetic until after my next test, which I'm waiting to schedule, which is another fasting test but instead of drinking the Sunkist tasting drink and waiting an hour for a blood test I now have to get a blood test done every hour for three hours. To be honest I could care less how much blood they take from me, it's the not eating after midnight and then not being able to eat for three hours that scares me, I don't know if I can make it that long?!

Ok well that's it from our camp. Mama and baby are looking good, feeling good, and excited about all of our great news. I posted some pictures below from our ultrasound today and yes she has her mother's giant feet, no need to pass that one back to me!

Have a Good Week!!! 

Katie at 27 Weeks

 

She Has A Middle Name, Finally!!

So we have finally decided on a middle name for our daughter and I'm pretty sure none of you would have guessed it?! Her full and proper name will be:

Katherine Elaine Burt

Katherine is Nat's great-aunt's name and Elaine is my mother's middle name; we went back and forth with the middle name so much because Nat really liked Elaine as a first name and wasn't sure he wanted to give up on that possibility, chances are in our favor for another girl. In the end we both liked the way it sounds when the first words are, "Introducing the next President of these United States" or " Introducing the Shuttle Captain for this mission", you get the drift. Feel free to substitute your own aspirations for my child in there, gold medal winner, Nobel Peace prize recipient, yada, yada, yada.......

In other news we had a doctors visit yesterday, the last one of my second trimester. Katie's heartbeat sounded great and my blood pressure is looking normal at 124/70. The nurse told me there was a "fair" amount of sugar in my urine, sorry if that's TMI, but I am scheduled for my glucose resistance test on Friday or Saturday so we will soon be finding out if I'm turning diabetic, why not?!

Also I was told that beginning at 34 weeks I will be given weekly stress tests, the baby would actually be taking the test, to see how well she will potentially handle labor. In the last ultrasound they discovered that she has a condition that is called, velementous cord attachment, which means that her umbilical cord isn't attached to the center of the placenta but off to the side somewhat. It isn't that uncommon and would only be detrimental to the baby if I were to go into active labor and she wouldn't do well, the most likely outcome would be an emergency c-section. By running the fetal stress tests they will be able to tell me if I should just go ahead and plan a scheduled Cesarean or if she does well than we proceed with the normal birthing process. I guess just another one of those wait and see situations?

We do have our next ultrasound on Monday, hopefully we will learn more about this cord situation then. Overall I'm not to worried about it, my doctor reassured me that she has seen this all before and if I have to get a c-section then oh well. So I'm just going to go with the flow on this one, plus I'm definatly more excited to see how big she's gotten and to find out that she's just as healthy as she was at our last ultrasound. Can't wait!!!

Ok well that's it for me. Oh, except my doctor was proud of me for finally hitting my pre-pregnancy weight, I'm back to normal, and my measurement from pubic bone to the top of my uterus was 27.5 cm, I'm 26.5 weeks, so she was happy to see that too. Ok now I'm really done, I'll catch you all up after the ultrasound on Monday!!!!

Have a good week!!!

Baby Shower Invitation

Here is a copy of the invitation to my baby shower, please let me know if you haven't gotten one. I know there are a few missing out there so let me know if you need me to send one your way. Also to the right of the picture are links to my registries and to a map of the location of the shower, you can plug in your address and get door to door directions. 

Losing a Role Model

Today I lost one of my role models and boy was she a big one for me. I almost couldn't believe the news when I saw it; former Texas governor Ann Richards had passed away yesterday after a bout with esophageal cancer. Many of you know that I am a Democrat, and very interested in politics, and as a woman there was and is no greater woman to represent that party than Ms. Richards.

Many people outside of Texas might not know much about her; she was a one term Texas governor who was defeated by now president George W. Bush in 1994. She never did run for anything again, but her silver tongue and quick whit made her a favorite guest commentator at conventions and on TV political shows. I had the privilege of seeing her as a guest speaker at my community college in Fort Worth in 2000, I really didn't see her as much as I heard her, even though she had not been re-elected as governor in Texas her popularity rating never dipped below 60% and people would come from miles around just to see her.

She is from a dying generation of women that could be feminist without shoveling it down your throat, classy and brassy at the same time. She always said she got in to politics and out of being a housewife so her tombstone wouldn't read, "She kept a really clean house". She spoke her mind and there isn't anyone out there that could disagree with someone with more sass than Ms. Richards, it was always fun to watch her get someone going.

In the end her I know her legacy and spirit live on. Texas women have something inherently special about them that this Yankee girl can't get enough of, Ms. Richards had it and so do many women I have known from Texas. They aren't afraid to be women, they speak their mind, have opinions, disagree with people and aren't the least apologetic about it; all this while looking like they just walked out of a beauty salon, hair all in place and perfectly dressed. What's even more remarkable is that I rarely hear or heard swearing, they don't use it because it's not effective as a woman, a trap that I often fall in to.

Now that's a legacy, leaving behind a generation of women, on both sides of the political isle, that can serve it up and take it all while wearing high heels and manicured nails. Thank you Ms. Richards for always being yourself and not fading in to the sunset. The stars tonight will be a little less bright.........

Atlantic City

We are back from our short, but needed, vacation to Atlantic City. All in all it was a fun trip, the weather could have been a bit more cooperative, but it really didn't matter too much to us in the end.

We had two good beach days, the day we arrived and the day we left. The water was freezing, like in the low 60's cold, but we chalked that up to Ernesto plowing through the previous week. Nat did get in to ride the waves but the undertow was really bad so I didn't even bother, to get in not to ride the waves?! Instead, I stood at the waters edge and watched my 30 year-old husband body surf with a bunch of kids and get clobbered by some really choppy water, which in the end was much more amusing than immersing myself in freezing water.

On the rainy days Nat and I visited casinos and went to all of the stores and shops around town. The Borgata was the only casino we spent actual gambling time in. I'm no good at table games so I, being both frugal and lazy, parked in front of the nickel slots and got down to work.

First thing you need to know about Atlantic City, in case you have never been there, is that by day it is filled with the over 65 crowd who take bus trips from surounding areas, more women than men and all of them loving the slots!! They will sit at one machine for hours with their casino cards on lanyards attached to their necks and machine at the same time, oxygen machine by their side (while smoking a ciggy in their other), completely transfixed by the sound of their machine beeping and dinging. Every once in a while a friend of theirs will come sit next to them for a quick chat, but mostly they are alone and at one with the machine, focused on hitting that button, waiting for the triple bars to appear. Nat and I laugh, knowing full well that this will be us in forty years, holding on to each others arm, wearing our nametags and hiking our pants up a little to high, excited to hit the buffet for lunch but also excited to smell the acrid, smoky odor that is Atlantic City success.

I started at my "Lucky" machine with five bucks and took it up to $20 before giving it all right back to the casino by my inability to know when to walk away. Meanwhile Nat lost ten dollars in the same amount of time, on slots as well, but he just kept laughing because he couldn't win to save his life. We have no luck with gambling. After about one hour of paying the casino to enjoy it's lovely decor, we left and went back to the hotel. The only other "action" we had while in the casino was at Caesar's when I had to make a bathroom break and Nat felt the call of the slots and lost 50 cents at the machine adjacent to the ladies room. We are hopeless.

We didn't do much better in the shopping arena either. The city is about halfway through a new upscale shopping pier right outside of Caesar's, which was awesome, but mostly out of our league. We went in to Tiffany's, Burberry and glanced at Louis Vuitton. I couldn't seem to convince Nat that Katie's mother should have a $500 diaper bag from Burberry or that Katie's should have a baby cashmere blanket, didn't bother looking at that price tag. (Shannon, you and I can never go to this mall with credit cards!!)

It was a fun little trip though, bad gambling and shopping aside, we ate well and laughed a lot and knowing that was our last trip alone was something special all in itself. We said goodbye to couples vacations, lazy afternoon naps, and quiet dinners and to be honest, right now, I couldn't be happier to see them go.

Family Reunion

Can you guess which one is me?? I'll give you two hints, at 5'5" I'm probably the tallest female and at a whopping weight (not going to say it out loud) I'm most likely the heaviest in the whole crowd!

Marty Party

Saturday night was my first night out with friends in almost 6 months and boy did they all tire me out! As you can tell by the pictures we were involved in a high stakes beer pong tournament that ended with Heather and Nat dancing, oh yeah it was that kind of fun. I actually didn't play in the tournament itself, I'm no good without beer, but luckily after the tourney ended they let Nat and I play against Deb and Rob. We didn't win, by a large margin.

The tournament was held at the 4th annual Marty Party, a charity event to raise money for Pennsylvania kids through "The Second Mile" foundation. "The Second Mile" was founded by Jerry Sandusky, former defensive coach for Penn State, and our good friend Mark DeRose's father Marty was a huge contributor and cheerleader for both charitable organizations and the Nittany Lions. In honor of Mr. DeRose spirit for giving and for fun, the Marty Party is held every year, Mark's band Ernest Good Life plays the tunes, and we all eat, drink, and play pong. Most of all we have a blast and all of the money we spend goes to help a group of kids have a better shot in life, how cool is that!

As for the results of the tournament, well, let's just say that round one knocked out 2/3rds of our group. Deb and Rob were the only bright spot, making it to the semi-finals before succumbing to an old guy with a band-aid on his nose. In the 2nd tournament Nat and Michelle actually went up against Heather and Brandon in round 1; Brandon and Heather took that game to advance to round 2 but that was about the time that Heather kept wandering away to talk to people, and dance, so Michelle had to step in and finish out the game. That was where the hopes and dreams of Pong Championship died, no big wins in our group.

In the end it was fun, so much fun that I woke up at 2am with leg cramps and a head ache. Nat and I didn't win anything, beer pong or raffles, but we got to spend much needed time just enjoying the day with friends. Sure there was talk about the baby but there was also laughter, jokes, trash talking and good ol' fashion mockery and that is the stuff you can't just muster up on your own. Thanks for the good times, oh and Deb next year it's sooooooo on, you better get your tickets now!!!

In case anyone was interested in more information about The Second Mile here is their website:
http://www.thesecondmile.org/welcome.php

 

Moving Right Along!

We had our monthly visit with our OB/GYN Monday evening and as it stands we are looking good and moving forward. Katie's heart was nice and strong at 150 bpm and I have offically gained 14 lbs. from my lowest point and the doctor told me I can resume a regular diet now, no overeating to catch up! He also measured my belly, actually my uterus, and the measurement in centimeters should match-up with your development in weeks and I was dead on at 22 cm. So I guess I am average for once, who thought that would ever make me happy!

I will say this about being pregnant, I look in the mirror at myself and wonder how in the world my body is ever going to recover! I am enormous and to top it all off I still weigh about 14 lbs. less than I did when I first got myself into this position. My mind can't seem to wrap itself around the fact that I'm going to keep getting bigger and that I still have a LOT of growing to do; how does my skin keep stretching like this? I just keep reminding myself what my friend Michelle said after she had her daughter Makenzie, "It's not like we were strutting around in bikini's before we got pregnant!". True.

I am enjoying this part of being pregnant, this mostly calm 2nd trimester. Gone are the IV's, the constant trips to the doctors office, the constant trips to the bathroom to get sick, the not eating and not being able to leave the house. I feel almost human now, part of the world again; I can even drive my car!! There are still some food issues and this stupid heartburn that is a constant 24 hour friend, but overall I would say that compared to about 8 weeks ago I am sitting pretty.

Well that's it from me for now, I have to go eat something..............
Talk to you all soon!!!

Just shy of 22 weeks!

Ok, it's offical, I'm enormous! Laugh all you want, I'll wait.......

Done?

Well, in the news here is that Nat was able to feel Katie kick for the first time on Monday night. It was pretty cool, she would move around and start kicking and then the second I would place Nat's hand on my stomach she would stop. We played that game two to three times when Nat leaned over my stomach and started talking to her and off she went. I guess she recognized her daddy's voice becuase she gave him a few nice solid shots.

I'm just starting to feel her with consistancy and on a schedule and as we found out yesterday, bananas make her go crazy! She is still really low and I'm pretty sure she is on or near my bladder because I'm heading for the bathroom more and more every day and night. It's all really fun and exciting and for the most part I'm enjoying all of the changes, although my chest can stop itself from it's rapid expansion at any time. It's getting a little out of hand.

Ok well I have my next doctors appointment on monday so hopefully you will all hear from me at some point next week. To all my teacher friends and family, welcome back to the school year and good luck! 

Katie's Room

Here are a few pictures of the nursery, or what we have so far. The dresser was actually Nat's changing table when he was a baby, my sister Liz sanded it down and painted it for Katie to use. We are going to paint the room a light lime color and are looking into gliders but that will be it for furniture, it's a very small room so we didn't have much wiggle room. Well that's about it for now, I'm just photo happy................ 

Week 21:

I don't know if I was at a weird angle in this picture or what but you can barely see my bump. In case you aren't familiar with this group, from the left is my brother-in-law Doug, sister Liz, me, Nat, sister Sarah and brother-in-law Tim. Yes I'm really pale and with my dumb luck Liz and Doug just returned from the beach so I look like death. We were at Sarah's friend Brandy's wedding tonight, which was my first big event out and wouldn't you know the only other pregnant person there was wearing the same dress as me. (and she was skinny too!!)

Anyhow in bigger news, I'm finally eating so I'm getting bigger all of the time now. I have been eating almost everything that passes in front of me with the one enormous exception being chicken, go figure? I don't know what I have against it but it grosses me out right now so I'm avoiding it like the plauge. I am enjoying Italian Ice's , at least twice a day, and tonight I rediscovered ranch dressing which might finally bring vegtables back to my plate. Everything else is coming back little by little but due to my troubles with heartburn I have to be very careful with the size of my meals and the quickness to which I inhale it.

Well it's late and a bit past my bedtime so I'm going to make this a short post. Have a good week and hopefully I'll be in contact soon....... 

Half Way There! (20 Weeks)

Well first let me explain the noticable change in the background...... I'm bored and it's girly; Enought said. (Everything is pink right now, it's a sickness, I can't help it!)

Secondly, look at that big bump I'm wearing, can you believe I'm only half of the way there?! The funny thing about the belly is that I'm still about 15 pounds less than I was when I got pregnant and I'm only up about 7.5 from my lowest point. What I'm trying to say is that I'm going to be very rolly-polly in a few months, like Violet in "Willie Wonka" when she ate that flavored gum and had to be juiced. Oh yeah, I pulled that out of the memory vault, but I think it's an accurate compairison, or it will be.

Other than my rapidly expanding mid-section there isn't much to report. I'm starting to branch out with my eating, I had a slice of pizza last night for dinner and another slice today, yummy. I also had a miniature candy bar today, first chocolate tasting in over 4 months, is was so good I don't really care if it makes me sick! It beats the crap out of Triscuits that's for sure. I'm still slamming orange sodas for some reason and toast with cream cheese is my meal of choice, although I'm hoping that will fade as I can eat real human meals again.

Well Katie and I are going to try and take a quick nap while Nat and his dad are out at the fairgrounds checking out the plans for York's new minor league baseball team, the York Revolution. (We bought season tickets.) Oh by the way Katie's middle name is still being discussed, I thought we had it down to two options and now Nat isn't sure so the field is wide open again. Ugh. Have a good weekend, enjoy the break in the heat!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Introducing Katherine (no middle name yet?!) Burt!! Katherine is a name that runs all through Nat's paternal side of the family and it was a name that we really liked the nickname, Katie. Nat also happens to have two first cousins named Katie, one a Kaitlyn the other a Kathryn, so she will be a bit different. Plus even though she bothered her big sister and I growing up, Katie Tillotson always cracked me up and I think she is the reason I always liked the name. So Katie Burt she is and hopefully she will make her grand apperance right around Christmastime.

The ultrasound yesterday was awesome, no other way to describe it. We were able to see her heart pumping blood in and out, we saw her stomach, kidneys, the lobes of her brain and almost all of her skeletal structure. We learned that she is now 9 oz. and she has nice long legs, that's what the ultrasound tech. told us! We also learned that the hemorrhage that has kept me on my butt for 8 weeks has gone away, yippie!!, so hopefully after my visit with my OB on Friday I will be allowed to get movin'!

All in all it has been a very exciting 24 hours for us. We are so happy that Katie is healthy and growing and although Nat was expecting a boy, don't know why, he was already imagining her as a fighter pilot and space ship captain before we left the doctors office.

Ok well mark October 15th on your calendars, that's going to be baby shower day. I still need some addresses, you know who you are, so let me know so I can let my sisters know. Have a good week and hopefully soon we will have a middle name to share with you!

16 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS

I'm just starting to pop out above my belly button, to me it's obvious but maybe not to everybody, please ignore those two overgrown bushes above my eyes. I need to get out!! 

Iv trouble, again!

It seems as though any progress made by my uncooperative body is always followed by a random, yet significant setback which is then followed by a visit to the hospital. The last time I wrote, which unless you check the blog without prompting you never saw, was on the 4th of July. I had been feeling better, eating and drinking, and basically beginning to think that I was coming out of this haze of sickness and then BAM; I was getting sick all day and was back in the hospital getting fluid pumped into me. That was last Wednesday; a week ago today.

Fast forward to today and we are at the scary nexus once again. I have been back on IV therapy for a week, this time I haven't been feeling as great as before, in fact I have been so nauseas that getting out of bed hasn't been an option on certain days. Couple the nausea with the fact that my IV doesn't want to work and the fact that my veins are shot and we come to this moment in time, a big "now what?".

My current number #1 issue is the IV; I'm like a drug addict with that thing, I need it, I want it and I feel strangely attached to it. Sure it's not very convenient being tethered to a bag for 12 hours a day, but it keeps me from marathon vomiting so I love it. LOVE IT!!

The problem, of course there is one, is that in the past week my mini-cath, the actual injection site where the tube goes into your body, has had to be changed four times. Usually I can keep the same site going for three or four days before it becomes sore or irritated, but my last one only lasted one day before it became backed up and fluid couldn't be pushed through the line. Four changes in one week means four different sites have been punctured, irritated, and bruised and are now on the mend but can't be used until back to normal. Basically I'm out of fresh, healthy veins and my only option would be to have a PICC line put in and instead of boring and possibly grossing you out I'll leave it up to you to Google that process, it doesn't look fun and I really don't want to have one put in.

So this all brings us to right now, 4:45am Wednesday morning, wide awake trying to convince this growing miracle inside me to stop making me sick, begging is next. I have my weekly doctors appointment Thursday, oh and yesterday I had 9 vials of blood taken from me for all sorts of second trimester testing, routine stuff nothing out of the ordinary. Hopefully this time I can live IV free without the hospital outcome, but unfortunatly that's not completely my decision. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Come On......

Good Morning!!

It's 3:30am here and I am once again wide awake and getting sick. What a life?! I was doing pretty well, in fact I hadn't run my IV since Thursday night and as a major bonus I was beginning to eat again, real food like steak and potato salad. (It was soooooo good!!) But the inevitable reared it's ugly head once again yesterday morning when that oh so familiar feeling passed over me and I haven't been able to keep anything down since.

So here we are 3:45am, watching the news and trying to keep my mind off of the rumbling going on in my stomach. It's annoying being this sick because even though I'm ravenous I know whatever I eat is going to make a repeat appearance in about an hour. Double annoyance is that I'm stuck feeling like this for at least a little while longer because I waited too long yesterday and missed out on calling my doctor, now I have to wait until at least 8am when the office opens again.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I'm assuming that my IV will be back in later today, hopefully sooner than later. I had a checkup on Monday morning and baby was chugging away with the heartbeat around 145 bpm. My weight is still somewhat of an issue but I think my doctor was pretty excited that I was eating and drinking on my own so she was cautiously optimistic. Who knows what they are going to have to do now but I am losing ground once again and that isn't going to make anyone happy.

Ok well I am going to attempt to snooze for a little bit, the news is about to begin repeating itself and I am sick of being awake. I hope you all had an enjoyable 4th of July and stuffed your faces for me! Even though I was stuck in bed all day I did have the perfect seat for watching the Jacobus fireworks so that was our little bonus surprise. I'll keep you all updated on my situation......fingers crossed!

My Gear!

Here's my PICC line, currently in my left wrist but they have to switch it today, I guess they only leave it in the same place for up to four days.

This is my cool little bag that carries my actual IV bag and my machine that controls the drip, Joan help me out here? It's very nice and compact, not too bulky, which is good because I have to sleep with it in bed!

I did visit with my doctor today and we are keeping the IV in for now, on a week to week basis, until I feel like I can live without it. Since Monday, and having the IV in, I have gained back 10 lbs. and my blood pressure has returned to a healthy 100/60, it was running 139/96!! Long story short, I'm a big fan of IV fluid!

Have a good week!!

I'm a Cyborg!

New day, same old story; I was back in the hospital again Monday for IV fluids. It's getting old, I know, but what's a girl to do when she is dehydrated and can't stop getting sick? This time I had a much more pleasant experience at the hospital, I had my doctor call ahead and pre-register me for a room in Labor and Delivery so I just showed up and went right in. Why Labor and Delivery, I don't know, maybe to scare me a little, because that's what happened.

My sister Liz took me to the hospital. I was really doing badly on Monday, I hadn't been able to keep anything down for a few days and was on the verge of passing out everytime I got sick. Liz dropped me off at the main entrance to the hospital and away I went to Labor and Delivery on the 4th floor. Just to point out how pathetic I was my sister dropped me off, parked her car, got directions, and still caught up to me before I made it to the registrar. Sad, sad, sad.

I got to Labor and Delivery and the nurse checked me in and I was lying in a hospital bed within 10 minutes of arriving, key information when you have shaky legs and you are out of breath from walking 50 feet! My nurse was awesome, I wish I could remember her name because she deserves a letter or card from me, she was in immediately, put in my IV and checked on me so much you would have thought that I was in labor. Nat arrived from work about 30 minutes after I checked in and we sent Liz back home to finish washing windows, secretly I think she was happy she got a break!!

After about an hour we got a visit from Sue, the nurse midwife from our doctors office, who explained that I had a ton of protein in my urine (sorry) and that until that corrected itself I would be parked in the hospital. I figured they would have to get a bag of fluid, maybe a second and then I would be on my way. But in the end it took almost three bags, 1000 ml bags, to clear me out and since this was my third visit with the IV fairy they decided to just go ahead and leave the pick line in. My parents ended up coming in around dinner time to sit with me, they brought Nat some food and sent him home for a break. While they were there I had a roommate that was just in the beginning stages of labor and the whole scene seemed so frantic to me, a little concerning.

Finally around 7pm my specimen was deemed protein free and I was allowed to go back home to my own bed. Nat was just getting ready to leave the house to come back to the hospital so luckily I was able to catch him in time and my parent chauffeured me home. Nat's parents offered to stop at the grocery store and grab some jello and bread for me, my food staples, and drop them off at the house. So once again our parents to the rescue, thank God, which made it possible for me to come home and plop right in to bed.

Yesterday I woke up feeling a little better, at least a little more hydrated, and put a call in to my doctor about the exciting day I was about to have. Yes friends there is never a dull day here! I was told that I would now be getting daily IV therapy from the VNA, visiting nurses association, and today around 3pm I would get my first visit. First I would have my supplies delivered by the hospital and then the nurse would come by later and hook me up.

I decided it might be best to have someone else there to watch what this lady was going to do to me, I'm not a very good listener as of late, so I called my mother and asked her to come witness this process just as my back-up. Mom agreed and said that she would come by around 2:30pm and sit with me until the nurse came. Well little did we realize that the time given to us was more of an estimate or a fun suggestion than and actual time, we waited and waited, then Nat came home and decided to call the VNA and we learned that it would be sometime after 4:30pm. Oh. We asked mom if she wanted to go home or stay and all she said she was going home to was more cleaning so she decided to stay. So we waited and waited some more until finally at 5:35pm our nurse showed up.

Finally.

She was busy, you could tell, and she was in speed mode so she explained everything really fast and hooked me up to this gigantic 2000ml bag that would take 12 hours to empty. Now if you are doing the math right now let me stop you, the bag would empty out around 5:45am and I would be responsible for disconnecting it and flushing the port. I got this fun little backpac to put the bag and the drip machine in that I had to sleep with and carry to the bathroom everytime I got up. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was pretty quiet and there was enough of the IV line that I could roll around in bed and not get caught. This morning I woke up early and made Nat stay home until the machine went off right at 5:45am.

It was a good thing that I made Nat stay home because I was worthless using only one hand, I couldn't do anything. The line screws in to the port and that turning motion is impossible with one hand so Nat, once again, saved me from frustration. We got the thing closed off and cleaned and off he went to work and off I went back to sleep. Now I am just waiting for another visit from the nurse, who will hook me up again and keep me hydrated!!

Well that's been my exciting life for the past few days, never boring. It's all actually been a good thing and a blessing, I feel better, I have been able to eat and the pick line is no bother at all, you forget it's there. I am back to the doctor tomorrow for another check-up and to see if they are going to continue the IV therapy, which I am going to beg for! I'll update with some pictures tomorrow, show you how I'm now half human, half machine. Hehe!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy 30th Birthday to my always fashion forward husband!!! I LOVE YOU!!!