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

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

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

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

23 weeks

I had my monthly visit to Dr. S. on Thursday. When I got there, he came out and greeted me and then said I was having my Glucose Tolerance Test that day so I needed to go to the lab to get the drink and then come back for my appt. So I went down to the lab and drank the nasty sugar drink. It tasted like the syrup from the soda fountain at a restaurant and gave me an immediate head rush. I went back up to see Dr. S. and complained that it would have been nice if he'd warned me that I had to do that that day!

He answered a few questions I had including discussing the fibroid the tech noticed on my last ultrasound. He said no one had mentioned it to him so maybe the tech only thought she saw it and was wrong. He asked about whether I had scheduled Childbirth Classes and I told him that we have a class scheduled for April 21st. He said that they want me to have a growth ultrasound on April 3rd because my BMI is too high for them to get an accurate measure of baby's growth based on uterus size. He also said that they will keep measuring cervix length until 30 weeks and then reevaluate if they need to continue. He said that they want me to take it easy for the next 2 months, avoid heavy lifting, etc. so that nothing will come up. He said he doesn't foresee any problems but that he tells all of his patients that.

What's baby up to?
He loves bouncing on my bladder. He also likes to push out when I'm lying down and I can feel his back or something sticking out. He's kicking like crazy all the time too.

Upcoming events:
4/3- Growth ultrasound
4/14- Baby shower with Todd's family in NJ
4/21- Childbirth Class
4/27- Dr. S. monthly visit

21 weeks 5 days

I had another ultrasound today to check my cervix. It was great! My cervix was between 3.46 and 4.0 cm, which is awesome. Baby looked great and has grown a lot. His heart rate was 146 bpm. She did mention that I have a very small fibroid on the top of my uterus, but that it's so tiny that they don't think it's a problem. She said it's about the size of the tip of your little finger. She kept commenting on how active he was today too. He's been super squirmy lately and I've been feeling him a lot. It's so cool!

Last week we went to the Salvation Army to see if they had any good baby stuff. They didn't have much but we found a cute little photo album to hold his ultrasound photos.

Upcoming appts:

3/22- Dr. S monthly appt
4/3- Growth Scan and cervix check.

20 weeks- Halfway done!

I'm trying to make a collage of belly photos. The first one is from 9 weeks 4 days, the second is from 16 weeks 6 days, and the third is from today at 20 weeks. I think I look a little bigger today.

We went out shopping today and got the baby a sleeper and a onesie at a thrift store. Then we went to Babies R Us and picked out a stroller and diaper bag. Todd wanted to test them out before we made a final decision. We love the one we picked out because it's light, easy to fold, and manipulates really smoothly. Todd wanted to pick out the diaper bag so I didn't get one that he'd be embarrassed to carry.

Baby also more than likely has a name. His name right now is Zachary Collin but that may change before he's born.