5/20/2013
My Only REAL Pregnancy
Problem
I only have one real pregnancy related issue.
Varicose veins in my legs. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure my husband will tell
you I can complain with the best of them. Yes, I'm tired, emotional,
forgetful, etc. But those are all common, simple pregnancy problems. My
varicose veins are a little more complicated.
I had them when I was pregnant with Ella. It came on
at about 6 months pregnant. I didn't know what it was until the doctor told
me. The solution? Beautiful support hose. You know, thick, opaque, fake tan
color support hose. They are lovely. They come in "maternity" too! But the
real problem happened after I delivered Ella. On the day I was supposed to be
released from the hospital, about 5:30 in the morning when I went to go change
her diaper, the side of my leg really hurt. I mean like someone hit the side of
my leg by my knee with a baseball bat. I mentioned it to the Doctor. It was a
blood clot. Eeek. So I had to go for ultrasounds on my legs. Luckily it was
not a deep vein clot, just the superficial vein. I was sent home with
aspirin/heat treatment. To make a long story short, it got worse. More clots.
My leg was hot, red, and hurting.
Next step to a vein doctor. Here I am, the youngest
person in the office, leaving my 4 day old baby at home. Best or most gruesome
part? He had to get the clots out of my leg! They take a needle, try to suck
them out then squeezed the rest out like a zit. My mom was with me. She
started to faint and had to go lay down! We still laugh about it. I didn't
think it was that bad, since I just had a baby, but I wasn't watching it
either. On top of that I had what looked like an iodine colored lightening
blot down my leg. Doctor was not sure if that was ever going to go away, but it
did, thank God.
Here's a fun part-- I was told if I wanted to have more
kids, to start wearing my support hose again while trying to conceive! How does
that work?!?!!! Fast Forward to this pregnancy. It gets worse with each
pregnancy (according to books). Now I have varicose veins in both
legs, probably since being pregnant for 10 weeks. My legs are embarrassingly
ugly with my goobally veins. Scott, my husband, looks at my legs without the
hose on and feels sorry for me. The support hose help, but isn't that going to
be fun to wear in the summer?! I can't wait. Sense the sarcasm!
I am lucky I don't work as a stylist or cashier or a
place where I'm on my feet all day. That would make them worse. During the
weather casts or in sports, my feet are up on a chair. I'm trying to take
preventative measures. I just am
hoping after this delivery I don't get the blood clots again. But if I do, I
now have a vein specialist, Dr. Jeffrey Trachtenberg, who can get to me right
away. Here's wishing my legs a pain free, cool summer, and NO
CLOTS!
5/13/2013
The Nursery
I have nothing done with his room. I do have the bedding, courtesy of my Mother-in-Law.
I love it. When you order something off the internet you just don't know how it will look and feel when it comes. It is soft and the colors are beautiful. Funny story when I was searching and crawling the web and Pinterest looking for his perfect bedding. I would show my husband who said what does it matter, just get blue. Then he suggested Green Bay Packer bedding. I laughed, but decided to humor him and look it up. Most of it is handmade and sold on Etsy (a site to sell homemade items, it's a great site!) or sold on Ebay. After seeing it I texted him "Packer bedding--NEVER!!" Not only are hunter green and gold not the color scheme I ever planned on going for, it is too busy and lets be honest--down right hideous!
And although this baby boy won't care what his room looks like when he is 0-3... I do. And he'll get his choice of Pokemon or Packers when he's older. So for now I get to use a side hobby of decorating to make it the warm, lovely, baby room of my choice!!
5/6/2013
More Doctor's Appointments
This pregnancy is going by so quickly! I now go see my doctor every two weeks. I can't believe it! He will be here in a just a bit and that will fly by!
This past appointment was so very special! I am still tingling and amazed. At my 27 week appointment I had another ultrasound. First thing upon looking at his face is that he has "fattened" up a bit. It is so neat to see! The first thing he was doing was "nom, nom, nom" with his mouth. Adorable! He's estimated at 2 pounds 4 ounces. He's just perfect. He's in the 44th percentile right now. 50 is right on, above 50% is a big baby, below smaller. Ultrasound tech said he is just slightly under 50% so nothing to worry about, but I'm not likely to have a huge baby. But that I already know. Ella was only 6 pounds 4 ounces. I never anticipated him being a 9 pound baby or anything. My husband was a small baby and I was a small baby. Ella was small, but perfect too.
Toward the end or even now people say "you look big" well I think that's just what people say to pregnant women. Let's not forget TV makes you look bigger. Certian maternity clothes make you look bigger. And honestly, as long as he's healthy I don't care how "big" I look. That can always be worked off after!!
After measuring him, which was the purpose of the ultrasound, I asked if she could try for a profile picture of Mr. Peanut. I only have one, which is in the blog here. The rest are front facing. She got the best profile picture. Then to my surprise she switched it to 3D. I don't think there was even a 3D option with Ella. I'll be honest sometimes I see a 3D ultrasound picture on the internet and I think I can't see that or that's creepy. Well--not when it's your baby!! Again, I'm still in amazement. He looks like Ella! He was using my uterine wall as a pillow so we couldn't really see the top of his face, but his nose and mouth look just like Ella's! I couldn't believe it. With Ella I had nothing to compare it to. I didn't know what a person with the combined DNA of me and my hubby would look like. Now that I have a reference it was so cool! What a great experience!
Here is the profile picture.
None of the 3D ones turned out super clear so I will not post that, but I hope anyone having a child soon can experience what I did. Overwhelming joy at the sneak peek at the little bundle soon to be apart of our family!
4/29/2013
The BABY Boom!
First things first-- I did not start this! Our morning editor Tanieka is due in June. I'm due in August and the rest of pack--Stacey Skrysak, JC Fultz, Kevin Chierek, and our morning producer Kyle's babies are all due in September. Well we hope Stacey makes it until September. As many of you have mentioned, there is either something in the water or as our General Manager points out, he threw a really fun Christmas Party!! It doesn't make any difference to me it is still a blast.
Our downtime here consists of baby chat. How we feel, how their wives are feeling, what we're having (JC and Ashley are the only couple not finding out the sex of their baby before hand), name ideas, showers, etc. It is very fun. All of my co-workers will be first time parents. Maybe they consider me the old pro? I'm not sure, but I have a fabulously well behaved, beautiful and funny 4 year old so we must have done something right! I can only hope things go as smoothly with Mr.. Peanut as they did with my daughter. Many people stop me when we are out and I love it . Your well wishes for me and all of here at WAND are truly appreciated and well received. I thank you for all your support and prayers!!
4/22/2013
The name game
Many of you have asked if we have a name picked out for our little guy yet. Yes and no. My husband has a name he is insistent upon. This name has been his favorite since before we knew Ella was a girl. I am surprised he is still in love with it. However, he says he is open to other options. I come up with names and he makes these awful faces and noises and says "No!" immediately. If you are open to other suggestions then why do you automatically say NO? He says it's because he knows what he likes. Hummmmm. Not so sure about that. I'm also convinced one of the names he recently threw out was to make his other name sound like a dream. It was one of the worst names I've heard.
I will say I do not dislike the name he has picked out, but I am not IN LOVE with it. But then again, I'm not IN LOVE with any boy's name. I am in love with Ella's name and can easily think of 5 more girls names that I really like and would love to name a girl.
I will say this is how it was the first time around too. I think boy's names are harder than girls. Notice how I'm not giving his "perfect" name away or his "awful" name or any of the names I am okay with or really don't like. That's because it could be your name. And I'm assuming your mom loved it.
4/8/2013
Car Seat Update
Update, update, update--and it's a good one! I called Evenflo. And they told me where to look on the car seat for the date of manufacture. Good news! I was looking in the wrong spot. The lady on the phone was very nice and asked for the serial number and told me the expiration date on the car seat is not until December of 2014! Whoo hoo! So happy I don't have to make this investment again. I did have to have an avalanche of stuff fall on me to find the correct sticker on the car seat--but you know what? With that savings, it was worth it.
4/1/2013
Car Seat Madness
Ella is 4 years old. She will be 4 and a half when this baby gets here. We got her car seat new in 2008, the year she was born. If you didn't know--car seats expire. Yes, they do. Check out the link at the end for more information. In short, they last either 5-6 years. Reasons for expiration that are sited include breakdown in plastic, Styrofoam, etc.
Mine should be fine. I should get another year out of it, right? Ella's baby stuff is long since packed, stored, up in the attic or hanging out in storage in the basement. A light went off that I should check the date of manufacture on her car seat--you know--just to be safe. Keep in mind its under a bunch of other baby stuff. I tried to peek under the car seat cover without having an avalanche of all the other stuff. What I saw made me see red. Keep in mind, I do not know for sure what I saw is even what I was looking for--but hormones and all--I am angry. From the quick glance of all the numbers on a sticker it says 05/06. Is Evenflo telling me that the car seat I purchased in 2008 was sitting in a warehouse or on a store shelve for more than 2 years?! How irritating. I could see if the manufacture date was in the beginning of 08, hey I'll even take December of 07. But MAY OF 2006. Come on.
No worries, I will be digging further into this date: #1 to make sure I'm correct And if I am: #2 a strongly worded letter to Evenflo. The car seat and stroller (travel system) was a hefty price, which I may not get use out of. I would expect some sort of discount on the purchase of a new car seat. And lets not forget--I have the bases for both mine and my husbands car for this expensive little infant car seat.
Bottom line. I am a good mom. I understand safety. I'm not going to buy one from a garage sale. But I hope a car seat company can't scam a good mom because it let a car seat sit around for more than 2 years.
http://baby.about.com/od/healthandsafety/f/car_seat_expiration.htm
3/27/2013
Anatomy Check:
Mr. Peanut is still a Mister! My boy is doing great in there from the anatomy ultrasound I had on Friday. He has all his arms, legs, fingers, toes. 4 heart chambers, kidney's are working properly, etc. I was so relieved and happy. It so nice to know he's growing and thriving in there.
Mr. Peanut's arm
Claudia Quigg, the Executive Director of BabyTALK in Decatur has a new book out about families. She said this in her book and reiterated it on our 4 pm show recently. I'm paraphrasing here: Every woman has two babies living inside her head when she is pregnant. The perfect baby and then the baby, where something is wrong.
That is so true.
So. True.
I have this vision of my perfectly healthy baby boy snuggling in my arms. Then there's every night when I pray nothing is wrong with him That he is healthy and happy and lives a long healthy life. I list all of the things I can think of that he could have and I ask God not to let him have any of them.
One of the scariest things about having a second child, so far, is knowing I have one healthy baby and thinking of how badly I want my second baby to be healthy too. I actually considered first and second trimester screenings this time around. It's something I didn't even consider with Ella. But in the end I opted not to do it. I don't want to be scared this whole pregnancy. I want to enjoy it and Friday's ultrasound eased my biggest fears. I know he's doing well in there!
See, I know sometimes you can do all the testing offered, and still lose a baby. My best friend lost her first born son to a genetic disorder no one knew her and her husband carry. William died at 6 days old from a Urea Cycle Disorder. It's the hardest funeral I've had to go to. And it took from me and my friends any naive la-la-land of having never losing a baby. It can happen and it's devastating. If you'd like more information about the genetic disorder go to www.nucdf.org
On a much lighter note: my guy was moving all around in there and my husband said "Is it just me or is he more active than Ella was?" I said yes, it seems like it. The ultrasound technician said "Yes, it's a boy!" I think she was trying to tell me something. A boy, it's going to be very different!
Mr. Peanut at 21 weeks.
3/18/2013
Cravings
Berries, Berries, and more Berries. At least it's not Snickers ice cream, although it's not like I don't eat ice cream! Blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. All three. Mixed. I could munch on them all day. This is not a cheap craving, these berries are NOT in season. If I buy a pint of each the cheapest I can get them is for $8. I could have more expensive cravings I know, but I'm trying limit myself so I'm not spending $8 every two days. Plus, who wants to go the grocery store that much? Then I think 2 more bucks and I have a pack of diapers. I should be stocking up on those expensive little things.
Which reminds me---- if you see diaper coupons and don't use them... feel free to mail diaper coupons to the station, care of me! Ha Ha Ha.
Here's me at 20 weeks.
I'm now half way through this pregnancy already. Next week it's an ultrasound to see how Mr. Peanut is doing. It's unbelievable. Time to start thinking about bedding, the room, different furniture for Ella's room, where will guests sleep.... the list goes on. But for some reason, I'm thinking about berries!
P.S.--- I will linking a board to WAND's Pinterest Page soon so you can see they types of bedding and things I'm interested in for Baby Boy's room.
3/5/2013
Skeletor Baby
Skeletor Baby--it's what me and my friends call the "face" shot of baby in the womb, as seen on ultrasound. This is a picture of my very cute baby at 16 weeks 4 days. But he does look like a skeletor baby. The ultrasound tech said it's because at that stage of development they don't have any fat on them yet. That is why originally when asked to announce my pregnancy on air, I showed the 12 week ultrasound picture, which is a side view. At least the side view makes them look like they have fat on them. I have a skeletor baby picture of Ella too. Her chin is a little more pointy than this baby boy, so I'm thinking his face shape will be more like his daddy's and less like mine.
Skeletor Baby
During this time of waiting, wondering, praying, planning and worrying, I also take the time to day dream what he will look like. Will he have my eyes like Ella? Will he have dark hair or end up with the recessive gene and have light hair? Will he have darker skin like my husband or lighter skin like me? I had an actual dream when I was pregnant with Ella. In my dream it was a girl and she was pale with bright red perfect little rosebud lips. This is not at all what Ella looked like after she was born. So I know my day dreaming is just for fun. I can wait to meet him because I want a healthy baby, but at the same time, I can't help but wonder what this little one will look like.
*On a side note, my husband and his sister look more like neighbors that siblings. She is blond, blue eyes, pale. He is darker skinned, dark hair and dark eyes. You never know what genes will mix to make your perfect baby.
3/4/2013
I'm a germ magnet!!
This is what the website www.whattoexpect.com says about getting sick while pregnant. "The truth is, pregnant women can get sick with the best of them — and even better than the best of them, since the normal immune-system suppression of pregnancy makes expectant moms easier targets for germs of every variety. What's more, being sick for two can make you at least twice as uncomfortable — especially since so many of the over-the-counter remedies you're used to reaching for need to stay behind medicine cabinet doors for a while."
It happened…something I'd been trying so hard to avoid. I got sick. There were so many sicknesses at WAND during December I did my very best not to get sick. I washed, I sprayed Lysol, I used hand sanitizer till my hands were raw, I wiped down the anchor desk, the microphone and on and on. After multiple stories of the flu virus running rampant in Central Illinois—both stomach and influenza—it struck me.
I woke up on the first day of my second trimester with the chills about 4:30 am. After warming up I realized my head hurt and I didn't feel well so I ran downstairs and took pretty much the only thing you can take while you are pregnant, Tylenol. Then I thought, that was stupid, I should take my temperature. I ran back upstairs to take my temperature. 99.8. Great. I'd already read and heard fevers are BAD during pregnancy, they can affect the fetus. Yes, I tend to worry, a lot. So I started to freak out and woke up my hubby. I got out the books and the papers from my doctor's office. At that point I was just counting down the minutes until I could call the office. I knew it wasn't a true emergency to wake up the Doctor.
After calling and waiting for a call back, the nurse said it wasn't really a fever until 100.4. That was the good news, but why did I feel so weak and all around bad? I had a flu shot in October. I guess it was a mild version. I wouldn't wish the full version, which I know many of you had, on my worst enemy. I really couldn't get out of bed or off the couch. Maybe the difference is, when you're pregnant you can't take ANYTHING. If I wasn't carrying this bundle of joy, I would have made my husband go to the store grab anything with the word flu on it. Then I would have taken it all at once and felt better laying there nearly comatose until it passed. But nope. I had to suffer through.
And if that wasn't bad enough—late the next night, I woke with the worst stomach ache. By the morning it had turned into a stomach flu/issue, not really sure what to call it. I won't get into the appetizing details, but later that afternoon I put in call to the Doctors office. The Doctor called me back and you guessed it—I couldn't take anything. I had to ride it out. No Pepto, no Tagament, just ride it out. He also said it was his third call that afternoon with similar symptoms. Powerade and Saltines were all I could take and in small doses. It took a Friday and a Monday off work and I was finally back to feeling like I could join the land of the living.
Then a week or so later I had a mild head cold. Everything I got was the mild version, thank God! But I just feel like every germ passing by I'm catching this time. Maybe it's the 4 year old in daycare bringing everything home?
From here on out---here's to a great Second Trimester! And me and this little guy feeling much better.
2/25/2013
Not my first time at the rodeo
This ain't my first time at the rodeo, but it sure is different. Everyone always says no two pregnancies are alike. It's not that I didn't believe these people, I figured a woman's pregnancies were similar. I know each baby is an individual with its own set of characteristics. They may be different sexes, but in general I figured you carry babies how you carry babies. I am now a believer and am one of the women who will say each pregnancy is different.
I just hope the labors are similar!
16 weeks and three days along
I have been nauseous. I have actually thrown up, just once though, thank God. I have been exhausted—even that's different because I'm running around and playing with a 4 year old. It's all different.
With Ella I had the easiest pregnancy. Yes, I was tired, but never had morning sickness, This time is was at night, by the way. I hope I did a good job concealing the fact that I wanted to barf during WAND News at Six and was all but falling asleep during WAND News at Ten. With Ella I walked a mile and a half daily. Too tired in the first trimester to do that this time around, but I'm hoping to get there soon. I gained more weight the first trimester this time. (add sarcasm: I know you're thinking: Really? I didn't notice at all!! ) One way for me to keep from being nauseous or getting sick was to keep something in my stomach at all times. I did choose good healthy food, but it doesn't really matter when all you're doing is eating, laying down or sleeping.
But all of that really doesn't matter as long as this baby is healthy and happy. We are so excited to be parents again! Ella is over the moon to be a big sister and we are beyond blessed to add this newest family member.
So here's to a great Second Trimester! Except literally what happened the first day of my second trimester. That's coming up next....
