Normal Discomforts

I’m definitely feeling pregnant. I’ve entered the uncomfortable stage though it’s still mild at this point. Sleep has still been fine so that’s nice.

Normal discomforts at this stage:

• Pelvic pain – feels like my pelvis is bruised
• Back pain – should wear my brace more but that brings it’s own discomfort
• Constipation
• Getting my bladder kicked – talk about sudden urge to pee!
• Gotta do a plié squat to bend over
• The kitchen counter hits my belly – I can still manage to lift my tummy to rest it on top, but not for much longer
• Feeling the effects of being almost 40 pounds heavier – I feel out of shape because I am

I still love the fact that I feel her move so much. Yesterday the doctor said she’s measuring big from what she can feel so that’s good. I still have over three months to carry her so the discomforts will intensify, but it’s all worth it. I can’t wait to hold her!

I also just got back my glucose screening results and I do not have gestational diabetes. Hurray for one less thing to worry about!

Cheap Clothes!

I always have my eye out for good prices on kid’s clothes because every time I turn around Desmond needs a new wardrobe.  By “good” I mean $2 or so.  Yes, I am cheap.  Every now and then I go into my favorite consignment shop Once Upon a Child and now is the time for their winter clearance.  They have a huge bag sale twice a year where you can get all the clearance clothes you can stuff in a bag for $15, but it’s a crazy busy event and you have to go in with lots of patience to wrestle the crowd, plus last time I didn’t find any worthwhile 3T stuff.  This sale is better for infant clothes where you can make quite a haul.

Before this huge sale they mark down all their clearance to $1 so that’s when I like to shop.  I went the other day to look for shirts for Desmond.  Almost all his 3T stuff is getting too short in the torso and arms.  I found a few things for him, but there’s just not much clearance in his size.  Then I moved on to peruse the baby girl clothes and they have tons of it!  I was especially excited about a cute embroidered jacket and a red velvet dress I got for only a dollar each!  I had to limit myself to only the really cute things because I can always go back and get lots of girl stuff at the bag sale on February 5th.  I ended up leaving with a bag full of clothes for both Desmond and baby and I saved $50 off the regular consignment prices which are considerably lower than retail to begin with.  Hurray for good deals!

New Medications and Complications

Last week I was hospitalized from Tuesday afternoon through Friday morning.  My heart went back into atrial fibrillation.  You can read the full story on our family blog.  I was worried about it because no matter what I did I felt like it was going to negatively impact my baby.  Even if I did nothing I was putting her at risk because I could have a stroke and she might not be getting the blood flow she needed.  At least she’s a mover and I could feel her kicking and squirming around which comforted me. 

Finally after 54 hours my heart returned to a normal rhythm on its own.  I think the new medication helped and now it’s a daily regimen at least until the baby is delivered.  I just hope she grows big enough and doesn’t have any heart defects because of my medication.  At least her heart is already formed and has been pumping for awhile.

I guess I’m a high risk pregnancy now.  I’ll have to ask my OB.  I was borderline before but now that I’ve demonstrated that I can go back into a-fib and I’m on blood thinners and other meds, they’re going to watch me even more closely.  I also wonder if they’ll just want to do a cesarean to prevent any labor complications and stress on my heart. 

My pregnancy with Desmond was easy, but the delivery was complicated and not what I expected.  This time the pregnancy has been complicated so I’m hoping the delivery will be easy.  It’s only fair, right?

Tuesday I get to see my OB doctor Tricia Wright again.  I really like her and she even stopped in to see me at the hospital which was a big relief to me.  I cried when I was talking with her.  I also get to do my glucose test for gestational diabetes at this appointment so I’m hoping I’ll pass that with flying colors so I don’t have to worry about anything new.

I had a growth check ultrasound scheduled for this coming Friday, but I cancelled it because it was going to cost $400.  I figured she’s probably fine and even if she was a bit small, what could we do about it?  Anyway, we have to pay for everything again until we meet the deductible and then we have to pay 20% until we meet the out-of-pocket maximum.  With this hospitalization we may have met both.  We were hoping to wait until delivery to shell out lots of cash on my medical stuff since we’re still trying to recover from the new roof, but we’ll be getting a huge bill soon. I might reschedule the ultrasound since I know we’ve at least met the deductible.  It takes awhile to get in though.  Hopefully labor and delivery will be free now.

I’m not too happy about all my weight gain.  The beds in the hospital can weigh you (weird, huh) and according to that I’ve just entered the 200s.  That’s about right considering my last prenatal appointment weight.  I indulged a bit too much during the holidays and I still haven’t picked up a work out routine.  Now I kind of use my heart issues as an excuse not to push myself.  I can’t have chocolate any more because of the caffeine and we’re still sticking to no ice cream or frozen treats since that’s usually what I’ve been eating when the a-fib started in the past so maybe those restrictions will help a bit.