Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Four Months Old!

Yesterday Zach turned four months old! He had his 4 month pediatrician appt on Saturday. He's now 12lbs 9oz and 24 inches tall. He's on the 25th percentile for everything and on his growth curve. The pedi said that his head and neck are looking much better, but that he still wants us to see the neurologist next month. Zach starts physical therapy tomorrow. He also went to the eye doctor yesterday and she told us that everything is fine and his eyes look great.

He's been up to so much this month! He is grabbing and holding onto everything. Then shoving it into his mouth. He likes to taste everything. :) He is also getting really strong and loves standing with support. He is just starting to try and sit up from lying down. He rolled from front to back a day after turning 3 months old, but has only done it a handful of times. He hates tummy time and that's his way of getting out of it if he is in the right position. He doesn't roll all the way from back to front, but he is trying. He rolls onto his side and sort of squirms to get to the place he wants to go. He's gotten very vocal and babbles, squeals, and giggles throughout his day.

We started solids this month! We tried oatmeal first, but he didn't like it and it gave him a belly ache, so we switched to rice cereal at the recommendation of the pedi. He tolerates it much better, but only eats a tiny bit at a time.

I can't believe he's already 4 months old!



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Early Intervention Assessment

Zach had his EI assessment today. They put him through a series of tests where they held him in different positions and tried to get him to follow lights and noises. He did very well, except he wouldn't follow the light. I think he just doesn't like it. But he responded to everything else the way they wanted. He scored average or above average in all areas and off the charts in motor skills. They were impressed that he is already reaching for objects and holding onto the rings on his playmat. They told us that because his Torticolis seems to be improving with stretches, he doesn't qualify for EI unless his pediatrician writes a letter saying that the condition was congenital, which it wasn't. They were also impressed with how vocal he is.

He was so good during the whole assessment too! I think he thought the evaluators were there to play with him. He was smiley and giggly and let them do whatever they needed to do. He only started crying at the end because it was getting close to naptime.

Oh and guess who rolled over twice on Saturday! Yep, rolled over at 3 months, 2 days old. Except how he won't do it again and throws a fit when we try to get him to do it.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Three months old!

Today Zachary is three months old! I can't believe it! He's growing so fast and getting so smart. He's a really happy baby and only really cries when he is hungry or tired.

So what has Zach been up to?

He has been sleeping in his crib for about 2 weeks now. He sleeps really well, only waking up once most nights. He usually sleeps one 5-7 hour stretch and then another 4-6 hour stretch. Last night he slept all night from 8pm-7:30am!

We got him a new playmat for playing and tummy time. He doesn't like tummy time much and usually melts down after only a few minutes, but he loves lying on his back and playing. He swats at and "talks to" the hanging toys. Sometimes he even grabs the rings hanging from the toys!

We had his first appointment with Early Intervention for Zach's torticollis this week. It was mostly just paperwork, but the staff member explained a little about the program. If Zach qualifies, he will be in the program for a year and will be eligible for all their services, including meetings with a physical therapist and occupational therapist if he needs it. He has an appointment for his assessment next Wednesday and they will show us some stretches that will hopefully help. His neck already seems a little better, but he still favors the right.

Oh, I almost forgot! We got Zach his first pumpkin! He loved it! He thought the pumpkin was hilarious.


Sunday, October 7, 2012

2 month doctor's appointment



We had Zach's 2 month doctor appointment on Friday. He is now 10 lbs 14 oz and 22.5 inches tall. He's gained 4 pounds and grown more than 3 inches. Great news!

The not so great news:

Zach's head is flat on the back, which means that we need to do more tummy time so that it will hopefully round out. The doctor didn't seem too concerned. He has Torticolis, which means that a muscle on the left side of his neck is tight, preventing him from turning his head to the left. The doctor told me a few stretches to try and is referring us to Early Intervention. They will come to the house and teach us more stretches. Also, he is a little bit cross-eyed so we got a referral for a pediatric opthmalogist. The doctor is pretty certain that all these issues will resolve easily, but is being proactive, which I really like.

Zach got 3 shots and an oral vaccine at his appointment. He liked the oral vaccine and the Tylenol they gave him before the shots. However, the shots, not so much. He did the silent scream and the nurse had to blow in his face to get him to breathe. Every time. Poor little guy. He cried all the way to the car, but fell asleep and stayed asleep in his carseat for over an hour after we got home. First time I've seen him cry real tears and it was so so sad.  He was fussy and sleepy all day Friday, yesterday, and today. No fever though.


Friday, September 28, 2012

Who does he look like?

I've been playing a fun little game lately. While I was pregnant, Zach looked just like Todd in all the ultrasound pictures, so I have been trying to find a little bit of me in him. We played around with some old photos to see who he looks most like.


First we found this one.Todd is on the left and Zach is on the right. He definitely looks a lot like Todd. Almost everyone talks about how much he looks like a Strauss. 
But then I found this one! That's me on the left and Zach on the right! Yay! He looks like me!


Saturday, September 22, 2012

2 months old!



On Thursday Zach turned 2 months old! He is getting a fun little personality. He loves music and will "dance" if something he likes is playing. But he can't fall asleep with music on because he gets too distracted to sleep. He is still sleeping in our room, but we plan to transition him to his crib in a few weeks. However, he is sleeping really well! He usually wakes up only once at night. He sleeps for 6-8 hours, then wakes to eat and goes back to sleep for another 4 hours usually.

 He loves the giraffe that hangs from his bouncy seat and sits and "talks" to it and swats at it. They are BFFs. One time, he was in the seat and babbling away at it and then he started to cry. The next thing we knew, he had punched the giraffe and sent it swinging! I couldn't help but wonder what the giraffe had said that was so mean!

We packed up his newborn sized clothes on Thursday night and he is in 0-3 month sizes exclusively now. He still wears newborn size diaper covers though. He is exclusively cloth diapered and we love it.

His head control is really good, even though he hates tummy time on the floor. Usually if I put him down on his playmat, he tries to push up for a few minutes, then just lies facedown on it and goes to sleep. Or pretends to sleep so he doesn't have to do tummy time! I have a video of him doing tummy time, but I can't find it on my computer. It is on Facebook though. 

As long as he isn't sleepy or hungry, Zach is the happiest little guy. He gives us big smiles and giggles all the time. He loves baths and any time he gets to be naked or just in a diaper. My favorite part of the day is when he has just woken up and I am getting him dressed. He stretches and kicks, all while smiling and giggling at me. I love it!

Just for fun, here are some outtakes from our 2 month photo shoot:





Zach's 2 month doctor's appointment isn't until October 5th, so I will update with how much he has grown and how he did with shots after that.

Friday, August 24, 2012

One month doctor's appointment!

Today Zachary had his one month pediatrician's appointment. He did great! He now weighs 8lbs 14oz and is 20.5in long. His head is now 15 inches around. He has a heat rash on his shoulders and chest, but the Dr. said to just put powder or Vaseline on it to keep his clothes from rubbing on it. It doesn't seem to bother him. He did really well at the doctor and we were told that he seems to be doing really well and is a healthy boy!

Zach has been learning all kinds of new things lately. He has learned to smile, to laugh a little, and to reach for and swat at his toys. He loves sitting in his bouncy seat and "talking" to the stuffed giraffe that hangs from it. He "aahs" and "coos" at it. It's really really cute.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

One month old!

Today Zachary is one month old. I can't believe how the time has flown. The first few weeks were pretty rough, but we had a lot of help. Todd's mom came up for the birth and helped get the house ready for Zach to come home. My parents came when he was a little over a week old and helped us immensely with the house, the dogs, and learning how to be parents. When they left, Todd was home for a few more days and then he went back to work. Zach and I have gotten into a little bit of a routine. He wakes up twice at night usually, maybe 3 times. He naps in the morning for a few hours and again in the afternoon, with some cat naps throughout the day. He's been pretty fussy this last week but I think he's going through a growth spurt. He's very close to outgrowing his newborn clothes. In fact, I think we have to retire the outfit in today's picture because it is supposed to be pants and looks like shorts on him. He has just started to coo and is very close to smiling. Yesterday he started trying to bat at the animals hanging from his bouncy seat. He can't grab them yet, but he's given them a few good swats. He sees his doctor for his one month appointment on Friday.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Zachary's Birth Story


Zachary's Birth Story

On Wednesday, July 18th , at 39 weeks 4 days, I went to work as usual. In the afternoon I was talking to a coworker when another coworker came in and told me that my boss thought I should go home because she was afraid I would go into labor at the office that day. I brushed it off and continued my day. That evening, as I was getting out of the car, I felt a small gush. For the next few hours I would feel like I was leaking any time I moved around. Finally I asked a few friends about this and they suggested that I call my OB. Since it was after hours, I called Labor and Delivery instead and they asked me to come in and get checked. Todd and I rushed around getting the dogs ready, finished packing the hospital bag, and headed to the hospital at around 9pm. I texted Q and let her know we were heading to the hospital and would let her know if we were staying so she could head over.

We got the hospital around 10pm and were admitted to triage. They took urine and bloodwork and checked me for fluid pooling. While we were waiting for the test results, Q showed up. Thank goodness because I had no cell phone reception in triage. The doctors came back and explained that my water had broken so we would be staying. They told me that I was having contractions 2-3 minutes apart, even though I couldn't feel them, and I was dilated 1-2cm. So off to Labor & Delivery we went!

I got all admitted and into my lovely johnny and we all settled in for the night. Todd fell asleep pretty quickly, but I couldn't sleep so Q and I stayed up talking and listening to music. Around 5am, the contractions picked up and I could definitely feel them but they weren't overly painful. The doctors (I had about 5 of them) came in and discussed options. I was only dilated to about 2cm and it had been over 12 hours since my water broke so they wanted to find ways to get things going. They suggested that I walk to the halls to try to get the baby to drop more and speed things up and then we would talk about doing Pitocin and an Epidural. Todd and I began walking the halls, but after about 20 minutes of walking, the contractions slowed down and almost stopped!


We went back to the room and the doctors came back. They suggested that we start Pitocin to speed up contractions and then once it got painful, I would get an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me and I signed a consent for the epidural The nurse suggested that I take a shower at this point because I wouldn't be able to once the medication started. So I showered and changed johnnies and they started the Pitocin in my IV at about noon. Within an hour, the contractions had picked up and were very painful so I asked for the Epidural. The doctor said that the anesthesiologist was about to go into a C-section so we needed to either start the epidural now or we would have to wait until he came back. I decided that we should do it now because I didn't know how long it would be before it got to be too painful. 


The nurse suggested that I go to the bathroom before the epidural because I wouldn't be able to get up once it started. She also told Todd he had to leave and suggested that he go get lunch. Q had gone home for a few hours to see her kids and husband and get something to eat. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Todd was gone and there were 3 doctors there whom I had never met before. I was having very painful contractions at this point. They told me to sit on the bed, lean forward, and roll my shoulders forward. The nurse stood in front of me and held my shoulders forward. I tried to grab onto her when I was having a painful contraction, but she pushed my hands away and told me that I had to hold still. By this point I was in tears from pain, exhaustion, and confusion. The anesthesiologist applied numbing agent to my back, but it wasn't enough and it felt like he was drilling a hole into my spine while I was also having very painful contractions. I kept having to ask him to stop during contractions and he would tell me that I hold still. Finally he realized that the numbing agent wasn't working and applied more. I was crying hard and he had to insert the needle several times because I was shaking and he couldn't get it placed right.

After the epidural was placed, the nurse told me that I should sleep. But she kept coming in the room every half hour or so and having me change position to keep Zachary on the monitors. Some of the positions were very uncomfortable and I couldn't sleep at all. Around 5pm, the doctors came in and checked me and found that I was fully dilated but had a little bit of cervix that wasn't fully effaced. Zachary was at -2 station. I was feeling a lot of pressure at this point, but they told me that I had to wait to push until I was fully effaced or I could damage my cervix. The nurse suggested that I get onto my hands and knees to try to get the baby to come down more and finish effacing the cervix. This was incredibly painful and I was having contractions right on top of each other. Everyone was reminding me to breathe through the contractions because I kept forgetting. At one point the nurse was bent over looking to see if the baby was crowning and reminding me to breathe and she was blowing on my behind. I freaked out and started yelling at her.

I started feeling a ton of pressure and knew that I needed to push so I asked the nurse to call the doctor. She said that she didn't think I was ready and we might have another hour before I would be. I yelled, “No way do we have an hour! I am not doing this for another hour! Get the doctor!” She wouldn't call the doctor though and kept moving the monitor around trying to get the baby's heart rate to register. I kept screaming for her to get the doctor and finally I think the doctor heard me and came in. He told me that he wanted me to wait 10 more minutes and then he would check to see if I could push. I calmed down and agreed. At the 10 minute mark, he came back and checked me and told me that it was time to push. The other doctor said that Zachary wasn't moving down and they may need to use vacuum extraction to get him out because he seemed stuck. I agreed to this, but wanted to try to push first. At 6:18pm, I started pushing. I didn't know it, but Zachary's heart rate was dropping very low with every contraction and the doctor had mentioned a C-section. I pushed a few times and the doctor checked and found that Z was crowning. He mentioned vacuum again, but I pushed really hard. Then I heard the nurse yell, “We need a pedi team for a bradycardia baby!” I heard more doctors rush into the room. I pushed as hard as I could and he was out! He didn't cry right away but Todd and Q went to be with him. He was purple and had the cord wrapped around his neck. They removed it and he pinked right up and started to cry. Q reassured me that he was okay and finally they brought him to me.



Zachary Colin born 6:25pm on July 19, 2012. Weight 6lbs 12oz and 19 in long.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

39 weeks- The Waiting Game

 Well, the crib is set up! The hospital bag is packed. The carseat is in the car. All the little clothes and blankets are washed and put away. The Pack N Play is set up to be the changing table. All the diapers are washed and folded.  The stroller is in the front room, waiting for someone to take on walks. The bouncer is in the living room waiting for someone to calm and soothe. Grandma and Grandpa and Grammy are on the edge of their seats waiting for the call that it's time to go. Everyone is waiting to hear that you're coming. We're all waiting for you little one.  And we're all so excited to meet you.

All your little clothes, blankets, bibs, towels, and hats are ready for you to wear.

Your hamper is waiting to make you laugh and hold your clothes



Your rocking chair is waiting to soothe you on those long nights.


And your mobile is waiting to make you smile.

We're ready when you are, baby!

Upcoming events:
7/19- NST and Dr. S. appt
7/20- Last day at work before maternity leave
7/21- DUE DATE!


Thursday, July 12, 2012

38 weeks 5 days

I had another NST today. At first the nurse wasn't too happy with him because he wasn't moving much. She came over and rubbed the spot on my belly where she said she thought his back was and he started moving. Seems that he was asleep! He started moving all around after that (no one likes being woken up!) and passed the test.  Then I had a quick ultrasound to check fluid and his position. He is head down and my fluid is normal. His heart rate was 136bpm. My blood pressure was good at 135/85- a little higher than usual for me, but still good.

I am battling a nasty sinus infection right now, which makes sleeping even more difficult than usual, but luckily I'm on antibiotics and it's getting better.

Exciting things are happening this coming weekend! Todd's friend is coming up from NJ and bringing the crib with him. Yay, we'll finally be able to finish the bedroom! And we get to hang with Ed and his daughter!

Upcoming events:

7/19- NST and Dr. S. appt
7/21- DUE DATE!!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

37 weeks 5 days

Today I had another non-stress test and saw Dr. S. Baby passed the NST with flying colors. He tried to escape from the monitor a few times, but they had me turn on my side and that kept him in position. I had a short ultrasound to check his position and fluid level. He's head down and fluid level is normal. Then I saw Dr. S. and he said everything looks good. My BP was 113/70. I will see Dr. S again in 2 weeks because he is going out of town next week and I'll have another NST next week. I hope that Dr. S. is back before I go into labor, but I trust that he'll leave me in capable hands if I don't.

Upcoming events:

7/12- NST
7/19- NST and Dr. S.
7/21- DUE DATE!


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

37 Weeks 3 days

This picture was taken at 37 weeks on Saturday. Thirty-seven weeks is considered full term by many doctors and baby books. That means that if Zachary were to come now, they wouldn't stop him.  I think my belly looks lower in this picture. I had a growth ultrasound and a non-stress test (NST) last Thursday. Baby is head down and now weighs almost 6 lbs. For the NST, they put a heart monitor on him and watched his heart rate for 20 minutes. He hated it. First he kept moving away from the monitor so they had me hold it so he couldn't escape. Then he got the hiccups for about 20 minutes. Poor little guy. They actually did the NST first, then the ultrasound. By the time we got to the ultrasound, he was pouting.

You can see him in profile here. Pouting. Anyway, everything looks good. I will have another NST this week and every week until I deliver. I don't know why this is, but I plan to ask Dr. S. at my appt this week.

Over the weekend, Laura came to visit and we went on a shopping spree at Babies R Us.  We got the crib mattress, blankets, a tray for the Bumbo chair, a nursing cover, a few clothes, socks, the Boppy pillow, and a few other small things. We are pretty much ready for baby now. Todd's friend is bringing the crib next weekend and setting it up for us. My hospital bag is slowly being put together. I need to pick up a few things at Target this weekend and then I should be ready to go.

Upcoming Events:

7/5- NST and Dr. S. weekly appt
7/12- NST and Dr. S. weekly appt
7/19- NST and Dr. S. weekly appt
7/21- DUE DATE!!


Thursday, June 21, 2012

35 weeks 5 days

Oh wow, I'm due one month from today! I saw Dr. S. this morning. My BP was 122/79 and I didn't gain any weight in the last 2 weeks. I've gained 6 lbs total so far. He checked the baby's heart beat and it was good. He measured me and said I am right on track for 36 weeks and that the baby should be just the right size. He palpated and thinks baby is head down right above my pubic bone. That explains the constant need to pee! I had a Group B Strep test done and had bloodwork for other testing. I asked how long they let people go before talking induction and he said 41 weeks. If I refuse then, I will have to have 2 non-stress tests a week until I go into labor on my own. I will probably take the induction at 41 weeks if I go that far.  Overall, it was a good appointment and Dr. S. seems happy with how things are going.

Over the weekend we went to Target and got curtains for the baby's room and a few other things. We got 2 more crib sheets so we are ready. We have a few more things to buy that we plan to pick up in the next few weeks. I also need to work on the Thank You notes from my last few showers. I keep procrastinating. Bad!

Upcoming events:

6/28- Growth scan, Non-stress test
7/5- Dr. S. appt

Saturday, June 16, 2012

35/35!

Today is 35/35! It is a kind of mini-milestone in pregnancy in that I am 35 weeks pregnant and only have 35 days left until my due date. I'm feeling pretty good, but I tire easily and don't sleep well at night. I also have some achy-ness along the sides of my belly from stretching. Baby boy is about 5-5.5 lbs now and gaining about half a pound a week. I saw Dr. S. last week for my biweekly appointment and he says everything is going well. My blood pressure continues to be good and I'm growing right on schedule. I see him again this coming Thursday and then start weekly appointments. 

We met up with some friends last weekend. Jess and Mike got us a really cute outfit for the baby and also the Rock N Play so he has someplace to sleep. Thank you Jess and Mike!

My office threw me a baby shower yesterday afternoon. It was really nice. Everyone came out and made a ton of food. We got a lot of great gifts too! I have about a month left before I go on maternity leave so I have been working with a few coworkers to get them ready to cover my clients. 

Today we went out to Target and got a few things we still needed for the baby, including a drying rack, which we will use for cloth diapers, blankets, and handmade items. We also got 2 more crib sheets and the curtains for his room. We have a list of things that we still need to buy and plan to work on that shopping over the next few weeks. We also plan to get the carseat set up in Todd's car very soon so that it will be ready before baby arrives.

Upcoming events:

6/21- Dr. S appt for Group B Strep test and a few other tests
6/28- Growth scan and Non-stress test, probably also Dr. S but appt isn't made yet.
Then I will have appts for Non-stress tests and Dr. S every week until I deliver. :-)

Saturday, June 2, 2012

33 weeks

Okay so that picture is actually from last week at 32 weeks. We went to PA to visit my family and have our baby shower there. We had so much fun! We arrived Friday night and had dinner with my parents. Todd's mom came out for the shower so she joined us. After dinner, we hung out for a while and then went to my grandparents' house, where Todd's mom was staying for the weekend. We hung out with the grandparents for a while and then came back and went to bed. It was so hot there! I think it was about 90 degrees and humid! On Saturday, we went thrift store shopping a little then picked up Todd's mom and my sister and went shopping at Once Upon a Child. We got lots of cute baby clothes. Then we met Todd and my dad at Five Guys and had lunch. The boys had been out running a bunch of errands all day and talking about books and history. After lunch, we all went to visit my great grandmother at the nursing home. She has Alzheimer's disease but seemed to be having a pretty good day. She was able to remember all of us. However, after about 45 minutes, she got distracted and wandered off so we decided to leave. We had dinner with my grandparents, Aunt Sue, Uncle Art, and cousin Andrew that night. After dinner we headed to my sister's house to have a bonfire and marshmallow roast. Unfortunately, it was pretty humid and we had trouble getting the fire started. Then it started raining. We were pretty tired after a long day, so we headed home to bed.

Sunday was our baby shower. Aunt Sue made all the food and my mom used her cafe for the shower.




 The cake. Created by my Aunt Rochelle and Aunt Susie. It was as delicious as it was adorable.
This is my friend Emily. We've been friends since we were 12. She is pregnant with her 3rd baby and is due about 3 weeks after me.

The baby shower was a lot of fun! My sister planned a few fun games including one where you had to taste baby food and figure out what flavor it was. It was so gross! There was also Baby Word Scramble, Guess the Number of Jelly Beans in the Bottle, and a raffle for door prizes. All the decorations were really cute and the food was delicious. We received lots of gifts too. Everyone was so generous and we are almost all set for the baby now.

I had an ultrasound this past Thursday at 32 weeks 5 days. Baby is measuring right on schedule and weighs about 4 pounds. His heart rate was 137 bpm and he is still head down. The tech said that my high risk Dr wanted one more cervix check so she did it and my cervix is still very long at over 4cm. I've been having some swelling in my ankles and feet since Monday so they checked my blood pressure. It was normal at 108/64 so the dr said to just drink lots of water and put my feet up whenever I can.

I am feeling pretty good, just soreness from stretching and hip pain. I have to pee all the time, which is kind of annoying.  Baby is kicking like a crazy person. He always kicks a lot right after I eat, but really he is just a kicking machine.

Upcoming events:

6/7- Dr. S. 34 week appt
6/28- 36 week growth scan and Non-stress Test

I will have another Dr. S. appt in there somewhere but it isn't schedule yet. It will probably be on the 21st though.

Only 7 weeks to go!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

30 weeks 5 days

Today was my last cervix check ultrasound. My cervix is 3.39-4.01cm, which is good. Baby's heartbeat was 139 bpm and he has flipped to head down. The tech said she noticed that my belly has gotten a lot bigger over the past few weeks so she wanted to make sure I don't have too much amniotic fluid. Nope, fluid level is normal. Maybe baby just had a growth spurt or I just look big because of his position. I think he looks a lot like Todd!

I'm feeling pretty good lately, just tired and a little achy in the evenings.  He is kicking up a storm lately.

Coming events:

5/24- Dr. S
5/27- PA baby shower
5/31- Growth scan

Thursday, May 10, 2012

29 weeks 5 days

I had an appt with Dr. S today. It was pretty routine. They checked my blood pressure and it was normal at 117/76. I haven't gained any weight still. He listened to baby's heartbeat and said it sounded good. He was able to feel baby from the outside and said he's still breech and curled up around my belly button. I told him I've been having trouble sleeping and he suggested that I take benedryl before bed to help with breathing and sleep.

We've been getting out cloth diapers ready for the baby. So far we have about 18 prefold flat diapers, one newborn cover, and 3 size small covers. I have ordered one more NB cover and one more size small. A friend is giving me 9 more prefolds and we registered for a few more. I also bought a few pocket diapers from a friend that we are thinking of using for nighttime.

Upcoming events:

5/17- Cervix check
5/24- Dr.S
5/27- PA baby shower
5/31- Growth scan

Thursday, May 3, 2012

28 weeks 5 days

We had a growth scan and cervix ultrasound today. My cervix is really long at 5.6cm. The tech was joking that it would take a really long time for him to get out because the birth canal is so long. Ha ha. Baby was measuring right on track and weighs approximately 2lbs 9oz. His heart rate was 125. He is also now breach. I think he turned over the last few days. The tech said she thinks he will probably turn again. He was all curled up with his legs crossed and his arms up by his face. She also confirmed again that he is a boy.




Upcoming events:

5/10- Dr. S
5/17- Cervix check
5/27- PA baby shower
5/31- Growth scan

Saturday, April 28, 2012

28 weeks!

This has been a bit of an eventful week. On Sunday night, I felt like the baby had dropped really low and it was hard to walk. I tried drinking some water and stayed off my feet the rest of the night. Around 10pm, I started feeling some tightening in my uterus. I went to bed and drank a lot more water. It continued on and off until around 2am when I was able to sleep. I woke up at 4:30 because it was happening again every 4-5 minutes. I drank more water and it stopped after about an hour. I woke up at nine and it started back up and I was having a lot of abdominal pain. I could feel baby pushing out with his butt every time I had the tightening feeling. I called my Dr.'s office and the nurse told me to go to Labor and Delivery for monitoring. I called Todd and told him what was going on but he was stuck in a training at work and couldn't come get me so I called a friend and she came and picked me up and took me to L&D. Once there, they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor. I was having "small contractions." They took blood and urine and discovered that I was very dehydrated. They gave me 2 bags of fluids by IV and the contractions slowed way down. A midwife checked me internally for infections, signs of early labor, and my cervix. My cervix was closed,  the early labor tests came back negative,  and she didn't see any outward signs of infection. Baby was fine the whole time. He was moving all around and kicking the monitors. After about 4 hours, the contractions stopped and they let me go home.  I was still in pain, but they said that was from the baby fighting the contractions and it would go away in a few days.

I saw Dr. S. on Friday. He said that all the tests from L&D came back negative and baby looked good. He checked his heartbeat and it was good. My blood pressure was 115/79 and I haven't gained any weight. He talked to me about fluid intake and told me to rest this weekend. He also said that I am now on every other week appointments with him.

I have been resting on the couch all day other than going to the bathroom every half hour.

What is baby up to? He's a kicking machine and moves all over the place all the time. He's very feisty as we learned during the hospital visit. He has been kicking my belly button a lot lately, which feels so weird! My belly button is getting shallower every day but I think it's in his way!

Upcoming events:
5/3- Growth ultrasound
5/10- Dr. S
5/27- PA baby shower

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

26 weeks 3 days

We had another ultrasound and cervix check today. My cervix is between 3.3 and 4.45cm long. The tech said this is normal and awesome. She said that my average for the whole pregnancy thus far has been 3.9 and that if I have another baby, they probably won't need to check it. Baby's heartbeat was 150bpm. He was kicking me the whole time we were looking at him. He also looks just like Todd!

Doesn't he look like he has Todd's facial features?ProfileWith all the ultrasounds, no one has ever shown me his feet, so I asked to see them today. Cute little feet!

We had our baby shower in NJ this weekend. Todd's mom threw it in her home and it was great! His aunt Arlene and cousin Charlene cooked all the food including fried chicken, lasagna, pasta salad, potato salad, and meatballs. A lot of Todd's mom's coworkers came and everyone was so generous! Baby Zachary got lots of clothes and toys, along with a convertible carseat, bouncy seat, a cute lamp, and NJ Devils Jerseys. We also got a bunch of diapers and wipes for him. Thank you Mom for the wonderful shower!

Upcoming events:

4/27- Dr. S monthly appt
5/3- Growth scan
5/27- PA shower

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

24 weeks 3 days

I had a growth scan today. Baby Zach looks great! He's measuring right on schedule and weighs about 1lb 8oz. I had my favorite tech today and she rechecked everything from the anatomy scan. She also made a point to make sure that he is indeed a boy. He is! His heart rate was 141 beats per minute and he was moving all over. She also checked my cervix and it was 4.47 cm. Even longer than last time! She mentioned that everyone (the drs, etc) is really happy with how my cervix is doing. She said that they will keep checking it until 30 weeks and I will have growth scans every 4 weeks. Everything looks perfect!
Here you can kind of see his jaw with his arm on the topAnother profile with arm3D face with arm in front
3D face with arm in front. I love his cute little nose in this one!

Upcoming events:

4/14- NJ baby shower
4/17- Cervix check
4/27-Dr. S monthly visit
5/3- Growth scan
5/27- PA baby shower

Saturday, March 31, 2012

24 weeks


I'm 24 weeks today. If he were born today, he would have a chance of survival. Now, we don't want him born for a few more months, but that is reassuring to know. Baby Zach is squirming around a lot and pushing out all the time.

We came home today and found a big box from Grandma and Grandpa. They sent us about 15 little pieces of clothes in different sizes, including a fleece snowsuit for next winter. They also got him this really cute blanky.
We ordered our stroller last weekend and it came in Thursday. We picked it up and put it together yesterday.
Pinky didn't like being a model, but the stroller seems nice and really comfy.

Upcoming events:

4/3 Growth Ultrasound
4/14 NJ baby shower
4/27 Dr. S monthly appt
5/27 PA baby shower