Doctor Appointment Week 38

Today marks the beginning of week 38! We’re only two weeks away from Tadpole’s due date! But who knows how many days from her actual arrival. Don’t forget to vote in the poll on when you think Tadpole might be born. The poll is located on the right of the blog near the top.

Yesterday started off as a very emotional day for me. I don’t know why, and that can happen a lot during pregnancy – emotional reactions to things, or to nothing, that you cannot explain. Basically I was an emotional wreck in the morning and when Andrew asked me how he could help all I could really come up with was a shrug. This grew into me not wanting to be away from him, though I kept telling my pregnant mind that he had to go to work. And I really wanted him to come to my doctor appointment, which I hadn’t really wanted until that morning. Well, I figured I’d want him at appointments for sure starting next week, but not this week.

Anyway! Andrew was a most loving husband and made a call into work that he would be taking the day off because he needed to be home to support his wife. I told him he didn’t need to do this, but then at the same time I was telling him that I wanted him to be near and go to my appointment. I’m telling you, sometimes a pregnant woman just doesn’t know what she wants or needs, and sometimes you just cannot control how you feel or how you emotionally react to something even when you really try.

My spirits slowly lifted as the day went on and Andrew was home with me. We had breakfast together and decided to get donuts at this really yummy place only a few blocks away, and we swung by McDonalds for hash browns for me and a coffee drink for Andrew. Sadly their espresso machine was broken, so Andrew picked something else off the menu. But we took the morning easy as my emotions slowly changed back to a more “normal” state. Then off to my doctor appointment!

Tadpole is still doing fantastic and still is a head-down position. Yay! Her heart rate was measured at 146 bpm. My uterus didn’t change much and was still basically 38cm, which is what I measured at last week. That’s normal for the last bit of pregnancy though – the uterus growth slows. During this point in pregnancy the mother’s weight stays the same or increases slowly compared to earlier on in pregnancy. Of course this is all averages. Oh and I believe I forgot to mention last week that my test results for Group Strep B came back negative! That’s a very good thing.

We talked about the amount of contractions I’ve been having, which is still only 1-2 a day and not that intense. Except for two I had on Saturday that were the most intense I’ve had thus far. Andrew also asked a few question about when Doc S would actually head over to the hospital, and how often Doc S will check on me, and other related things. Doc S said that he can keep tabs on me from his office (about 15 minutes away from the hospital) either via phone or the hospital’s internet server for doctors and nurses that keeps information on how Tadpole is doing, how much I’m dilated and how I’m doing. But he said he’ll be at the hospital probably a couple hours before Tadpole is actually born, and come and check on me at least every hour unless there was a dramatic change in something.

This week I had my cervix checked. And before I go into that all, here’s a bit of education for those who aren’t familiar with the terms cervix, cervical dilation (dilate) and cervical effacement (effacement).

Cervix: The lower part of a woman’s uterus that leads into the vagina (sometimes referred to as the neck of the uterus because cervix means neck in Latin).

Dilate: The opening of a woman’s cervix, which occurs in the last part of pregnancy due to contractions and the pressure of the baby pushing down on the cervix. Dilation is measured in centimeters. During pre labor or the very beginning of labor, a woman’s cervix is measured at 0-3cm. During active labor (contractions coming at a regular rate and with more intensity) it is measured at 4-7cm. During the transition phase of labor (when a woman prepares to push or has just begun to) the cervix is measured at 8-10cm. And the delivery of the baby occurs when the cervix is 10cm.

Effacement: The softening, shortening and thinning of the cervix, which is measured in percentage. You start off at 0% and labor begins typically when you are 100% effaced. Prior to effacement a woman’s cervix feels more like the cartilage in the tip of your nose, and gradually changes to feel more like the softness of your cheek and paper thin.

When Doc S checked me I had not dilated at all, but I have begun to efface – about 25% or so. He’ll check again next week to see if there are any changes. So looks like Tadpole wants to stay in a bit longer and (at least right now) doesn’t want to come early. Of course all things can change with a drop of a hat.

I am no longer thinking it would be awesome if Tadpole was born on Good Friday (22^nd) or on Easter (24^th), but think it would be awesome if she were a May Day (May 1^st) baby. Why you ask? Because we just found out that Doc S will be on vacation April 22-29^th… I was a bit bummed and peeved to find this out since before we decided to go with Doc S we asked him what his calendar looked like for April and the beginning of May, you know, to make sure HE would actually be the one delivering my baby, and not a doctor I do not know who is on-call.

I know things can change, and typically a woman’s first baby comes late, but there is now a chance I will have a stranger deliver my baby. I personally am not that comfortable with the idea of someone I do not know being *down there* and delivering my baby. Besides being *down there* I wonder if the on-call doctor has the same views as Doc S on matters we have discussed, what his bedside manner is like, and all sorts of other things. I know not long ago women who had babies in hospitals usually didn’t get to pick the doctor who would deliver their child, but picking the doctor who would deliver my child is important to me. It might be an irrational though, but it’s how I feel.

Okay, I’m done ranting… I’ve been praying for peace on the matter and reminding myself that God has a plan and purpose. Tadpole will come when she comes, and it will be on the best day for her and for us, and with the people present who need to be there. For those of you who read my blog and pray, if you could join me in praying for peace on the matter, it would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much, my dear Andrew, for being such a support for me yesterday! I love you! And thank you, God, for putting Andrew in my life. ^_^

Week 38’s picture will be coming either late tonight or tomorrow at some point.

New Home

Many of you have been praying that Andrew and I would find a new home to move into. Our lease at our current home is up in a month and a half, and we’ve been looking at moving into a two bedroom apartment so that Tadpole can have her own room and so we have more space. We’ve been looking and looking for a couple months now with no real luck with finding a place with a good floor plan, square footage, a decent price, and in a nice neighborhood. This all changed two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago our friend Sherwin e-mailed Andrew about his former co-worker looking for someone to rent her condo. Sherwin’s co-worker (we’ll call her J) lives on the east coast now and wanted to privately rent out her place here. Sherwin forwarded all the information on the place to us from J along with a few pictures, and told us she would be in town that weekend and is open to show the place. The place looked great from the picture and the information on it sounded amazing too! Thus, two weekends ago we went and checked out the condo... We loved it!

It’s a two bedroom and 1.75 bath, with 960 sq feet, recently upgraded kitchen and bathrooms, and a patio/balcony that overlooks a green belt (nice pretty trees, with a small stream, and room for the sun to shine through). I love that the kitchen has a pantry, and the kitchen is a great size for all the cooking and baking I love to do, AND has room for a couple people to be in the kitchen at the same time (some of the places we looked at only had enough space for a single person). 

What else is awesome is that it’s located in the city we’ve been hoping to move to: Kirkland! And it’s officially “ours” on May 10^th, so we can move shortly after Tadpole is born, or take our time since our lease is up at the end of May at our current home.

We signed the papers last week, but have been waiting to make an official announcement until after the paper work and money went through. I didn’t realize how stressed I’ve been about finding a place to live. I feel so much better now! Thank you so much, God, for providing this new home for us! Looking at the details on how everything worked out is amazing! God's hand has truly been guiding us like we prayed for. Thank you everyone else who continued to pray that we would find a suitable new home to move into.

It’s funny, we don’t physically live there yet, but it already feels like home. ^_^ It’s been great to mentally nest now that I know the layout of our new home. I can’t wait to actually be living there with our little girl!

Aquariums, Trolls and Fortunes, Oh My!

Yesterday was the first Saturday Andrew and I have had in months that didn’t have a single thing written on the calendar. We thus decided to take advantage of it! Who knows, it could have been our last Saturday without anything planned and without a baby. There are only a few more weekends left, or possibly none at all before Tadpole comes. Though I am totally looking forward to her coming. ^_^

Andrew and I decided to have a date day. We wanted to get going early in the morning, but unfortunately I didn’t sleep much at all the night before, so we didn’t get out the door until after lunch. Our first stop was the Seattle Aquarium! I love being surrounded by the ocean. ^_^ 

Happy to be at the Seattle Aquarium

We got to the aquarium right before the fish feeding time at the dome tank, so we walked through all the exhibits to make sure I at least could have a seat while we watched the divers feed the fish. They had a short talk before the feeding began, and I thought it was funny it watch some of the fish swim up to the bag of food and pull bits and pieces out the side of it.

The fish were following the divers around the tank

We of course went back through all the exhibits and made sure we didn’t miss anything. Here’s a bit of what we saw.

Starfish! Aww, look how they love each other.

Pretty, bright-colored coral. Andrew says it makes him feel like he's in sunny California

The lion fish

I forget the name of this little guy, but he looks cool!

Barney the harbor sea

I think one of my favorite things this visit was seeing how fast sea otters eat! We got to the sea otter exhibit right after their feeding started. One of the otters had a big chunk of something it was eating, so I thought I’d take a picture of him. He turned around once and it was half gone. By the time he turned around again his meal had vanished! All that to say I did not get a super good picture of him eating, but check out his teeth!

Nom nom nom.

We also had fun with Andrew and Tadpole being a jellyfish. I’m sure Tadpole smiled for the camera. ^_~

Andrew the Jellyfish!

Tadpole the Jellyfish!

After the Aquarium we went to the Troll under the Fremont Bridge. I don’t remember ever being there, and Andrew hasn’t been there before, and we figure since we live in Seattle we should at least go see it once. 

Then we had an early dinner at Super Buffet, a Chinese buffet located across the street from the Northgate Mall. It’s a place we kept talking about eating at, and just haven’t. And since we know we’ll be moving out of the Northgate area, we figured we should eat there before we live further away. Tadpole has been making me super hungry lately, so a buffet style meal was perfect after a day of walking. I even ate more food than Andrew! For those who know my eating habits, this rarely ever happens. I did discover that I do not like muscles and that whole baby octopus are pretty darn good. 

My first plate of food

When we got our two fortune cookies at the end of our meal, Andrew told me to pick which one I wanted. I grabbed both, placed one on the left side of my baby bump and the other on the right side, and then asked Tadpole which one I should choose. She kicked me on the right side, so I received this fortune:

So does this meal Tadpole is going to save me sometime in the future? And if yes, how?

All in all we had a great day being together! It was nice just being the two of us, but I look forward to going on outings like this with little Miss Tadpole.

Week 37

I totally forgot to post these pictures yesterday! I blame it on having "pregnant brain." I've been randomly forgetting things, or not finishing sentences. For example, when making rice in a rice cooker, I did everything you are supposed to do but push down the cook button. I only realized this after I was expecting it to be done...

Since we’re in the month of Tadpole’s due date, I’ve decided to have a weekly photo taken instead of a monthly picture. There probably won’t be much change per week, but I thought it would be fun. So here you have it, me at the beginning of week 37.