Alicia’s blog

I am 37 weeks now, which is considered full term. I went to the doc yesterday, and she removed the cerclage! It wasn't very much fun. In fact, it was quite uncomfortable. But it was exciting none-the-less, and when we left we celebrated with a milkshake at 9:30 in the morning! I am a free woman. I can do whatever I want, thus the "normal pregnancy." I can lift whatever I want, or go for a jog if I felt like it (yeah right), do all the shopping I want, anything! Of course, at this stage of the game I'm too big and uncomfortable to do much, but it's nice to know I can. Even better, is that the baby can come anytime. We made it! We're here, we've finished all our to-do things like install the carseat, and pack the labor bags for the hospital. We're all set. We're just waiting on a baby :-)

I trying to prepare myself for the wait. Just because the cerclage is out doesn't mean the baby will just come right out, although I kind of wish it did. So, we are going back to the doc next week, on my birthday, for another check up. Hopefully I will have made some progress. How do you prepare yourself for this? We went to all the classes, I've read about 12 books, watched videos, but even with all that, I have a healthy anxiety about childbirth. I guess that's normal. But, women do this every day, and I will too. The doc did say that after everything I've been through, labor and delivery will be no big deal. Man, would I like to believe her. But, I don't want to be naive about giving birth - I know it's no cake walk.

We are both very excited that it's so close. Greg is really cute. Everytime he gets in the car he looks at the carseat and pretends to talk to a baby that isn't there yet. The other night, he got out the Baby Bjorn carrier and tried it on, and he was so excited he just wore it around the house for awhile. He's gonna be great.

A good stretch of sleep still eludes me, but my books say that after the baby gets here I will look back even on these times with longing. So, I'll try not to complain too much, and be happy that I can nap in my chair in the middle of the day.

So, attached are a few more pictures of me at 36 weeks, and some pictures of the nursery in its basically completed arrangement.

Wish us luck! We'll keep you posted.

    I am writing this at 4am. Sleeping well through the night has been over for some time now, but it seems that making it through the night at all will just be impossible from here on out. Besides the usual - needing to get up and pee 3 times, and needing to turn over several times a night because one side is falling asleep, I am plagued by restless leg syndrome. Heard of that? It sounds so lame - but it's real, and I have it, and it sucks! I have this uncontrollable need to jerk my legs around, and it wakes me up. Tonight was particularly bad, I was waking up like every hour. I think that since I'm awake I may as well change positions, so then I have to wrestle my body pillow around in the bed, and get re-situated, which I know is very disturbing for Greg's sleep. How could anyone sleep through that? As Vicki Iovine (Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy) says, "It's like wrestling an alligator." So, defeated at 3:30, I got up, had a snack and turned on my computer to read all about restless leg syndrome. Apparently 20-25% of pregnant women get it, and it goes away after you deliver - thankfully! The only other thing I'm really suffering at this late stage of pregnancy is heartburn, and I have my Tums and Pepsid on hand at all times!
    I guess this is why it's good that I'm not working anymore. I'd be a wreck!
    I went to the Dr a few days ago, and things look good. My incision is healing well, baby looks happy and healthy, and based on her measurements she weighs about 5 pounds. That sounds about right, maybe a little big compared to what my books say (4.5 pounds about now). I'm going back in 2 weeks, and then Doc will start the internal exam to see how things are looking down there. Isn't that exciting!  She will likely take the cerclage out in the 37th week, and then baby can come anytime! That's very exciting. So, I'm counting the days until the next office visit.
    We only have a few things left to do, like settle on the pediatrician, install the carseat, and finish packing our labor bag for the hospital. The nursery is looking really great, and thanks to a second baby shower a couple of weeks ago - we basically have all the things we need. My friend Emily hosted that baby shower, and it was all JPL gals who got me the practical things I really needed like diapers, bottles, baby monitor, towels, washcloths - good stuff. We also played lots of fun games that included a bottle-drinking race (do you know how hard it is to drink from a bottle?), the fertilization game, baby trivia, and pin the bottle on the baby. There were lots of good prizes, and everyone got something. I'll post pictures from that when I get them, and of my big pregnant belly :-)
   

So, most of you know I have had a somewhat compicated pregnancy, with the cervix thing, and a few trips to the hospital with severe abdominal pain which they had ascribed to an ovarian cyst. On Sunday, Feb 25, the pain came back again, bad as ever, and we went to the hospital for the 4th time. The case was really hard to diagnose apparently (um, did I say 4 trips to the hospital) because my blood work was always normal, and all they could see on ultrasound was this tiny cyst, which are really common, and they could not understand why that would be causing me so much pain.
    After 2 days in the hospital with them giving me the limits of what they were comfortable with pain medication wise - which was just scratching the surface of the pain, they decided they finally had to operate. So, I had surgery on Tuesday night, and they had to remove my entire ovary. When they got in there to see, they found a benign tumor that had killed my ovary, and enlarged it to the size of a small grapefruit! Horrible. Amazingly, the baby made it hrough surgery fine. I have 15 staples in my stomach that start at my belly button and go down from there, but they just avoided the uterus all together. My baby is tough!
    The Dr learned a lot, it seems a big mystery that they were not able to see this without surgery. I suggested she write a paper, and she agreed. Apparently I am now her very special patient who she will never forget. I had to go to great lengths to achieve this status. I spent the rest of the week in the hospital recovering. I came home the following Sunday, March 4th. My mom flew out here to help us out, so that Greg can go back to work. She has been great - cooking, walking the dog, helping put the nursery together. I'm so glad she was able to come. She leaves this Saturday, just when Greg's parents are arriving. Then they will stay and help for a while. They are also bringing a lot of the remaining nursery items that we are inheriting from Greg's sister. So, we have help, which is awesome.
    The recovery has been a harder than I thought it would be. I bounced back really fast after my appendectomy a couple of years ago, but this was much more involved. It's hard for an incison like mine to heal with a growing belly, it has been very uncomfortable for me when the baby moves, which is sad - and she moves a lot. But that seems to be getting easier everyday. I have learned to appreciate the small things, and just being comfortable is everything!
    Needless to say, I went ahead and took my leave from work. The Doc says there is no reason I should go back at this point. They said I would need at least 2 weeks to recover from this, and then if I go back to work, it will only be for 2 or 3 weeks until I need to leave for the big show. I'm debating whether or not to do this at all. On the one hand, if I feel good, I'll go stir crazy. On the other hand, it is a LOT of red tape at work to keep messing with my leave status, and I will be getting state support, and it would really suck if I thought I was up to it, only to go back and discover that I'm really not. So, we'll see.
    Everyone in the world keeps telling me what a rare experience this was, that it's not at all how pregnancy should go. They are trying to keep me from the attitude that being pregnant is awful and never wanting more kids. I don't feel that way, and I have not been completely soured by this experience. I know it was bizarre, and I think I'd like the chance to do it again and have a "normal" pregnancy, after I get over this one, wh

    On a happier note, the day before we went to the hospital, we went in for the 3d imaging to see pictures of the baby. It was really neat, we got a whole cd of pictures, and a DVD of the whole thing. I will attach a few for your viewing pleasure. So far, Greg and I, and our parents agree, she looks like she has Greg's nose, and my cheeks, chin, and lips. But, you know, she'll probably come out looking totally different :) My favorite picture is the one where she has a little smile on her face. She looks so content in there. She actually made lots of good facial expressions for us during the ultrasound. It was great.

    What a huge surprise! My friend Amy came to town for the MER Science Team meeting, and was staying with Greg and I. I knew that many other friends were coming to town for the meeting, and was looking forward to seeing everyone. On Sunday, February 11, we were sitting around the house and making plans to go shopping for the baby that afternoon. Then Jenny called and said that she had a present to drop off from our friend Heike in Reno, and that her and Rich were coming over with lunch and to drop off the present.
    So, after a little bit, Rich and Jenny show up wih a HUGE tray enchiladas. That all seemed fine. Then I looked out the front door, and I saw Deanne, Alice, and Robin coming in the house, carrying more stuff, and Jenny says, "I hope you don't mind, we brought a few more people!" Then I saw the balloons, and I figured out what was going on. It was great. Then came my sister-in-law, Shana with more food, Emily and Pauline, and then Susie, and Wendy! Wow, what a group. It was great - they brought the party to me. Apparently, Alice had been planning this for a while since everyone would be coming to town for the meeting.  It was great.
    Rich and Greg took off to go on a hike, while the ladies had a delicious Mexican lunch. Those girls know me well - you can never go wrong with mexican :-) We had enchiladas, mexican mac&cheese, guacamole and chips.... and desert too...yummy! Then I opened presents. I got lots of good loot. Books, blankets, sheets, toys, clothes - and not too much pink, which is Greg's biggest fear.  Thanks to everyone for their generosity and for giving me such a great afternoon.
   

26 weeks

We've known since about 20 weeks that it was most likely a girl, but we wanted to wait a few more weeks to be sure, and after a few more Dr visits, it's still a girl!! So, there you have it. Originally, the Doc was only 70% sure it was girl, and said that she did not see any "extra organs" down there. Of course, Greg's response was, "If he doesn't have a tally-whacker yet, he's no son of mine."

I've been able to feel the baby move since about Christmas, but just last week Greg was able to feel her for the first time. That was very exciting. Sometimes I come home and just stare at my belly. When she's active, I can see my stomach shake, and it makes me smile. Actually, it makes me giggle with happiness, and then I can't see her anymore because I'm laughing. Then I have to concentrate.  That's the good stuff.

Most of you know, I have had some complications in this pregnancy. Everyone has something. First, I had the cerclage to strengthen up my cervix. Last week, I had severe stomach pains, and we went into the hospital and found out I have an ovarian cyst. Cysts are actually really common, and only cause you pain if they get twisted, or they are leaking, or rupture. So, mine must have gotten a little twisted. Incidentally, Greg's new favorite thing to say to me is, "Don't get your cyst in a twist." Anyway, they don't want to operate on me for obvious reasons, so they kept me overnight to monitor me, and the pain subsided. As long as the pain does't come back, it's all good. We should wait as long as we can to take it out - for the baby's sake, and we may never have to take it out. Sometimes these things go away on their own. We'll just continue to monitor it. It's been a little depressing to have problems, mainly because it has led to such limited activity for me, but, of course, it's all worth it. When I see baby on the ultrasound, and feel her kicking around inside me, I feel all better. She looks great. And she has the cutest little legs I've ever seen. (Little soccer legs according o Greg).

I'm still working, which is great. I'd go crazy if I weren't. My plan currently is to work through March, and we'll see how I feel then. Greg and I are hoping to get the 3-d imaging of the baby done sometime this month which will be great, and we'll certainly post those pictures.

I went ahead and posted a prego picture of me from over the Christmas holidays. I have couple others I need to download, and I posted some more recent ultrasounds. I also posted a few pictures of the nursery stuff we have right now.

We have been working hard on the house - getting ready the nursery. It's coming along. We have a "theme" and some colors at least, and some furniture, although we are waiting on the crib. We are fortunately inheriting a bunch of things from Greg's sister, Katherine, and the crib is one of them. Greg's parents are driving cross-country to bring us all this stuff in March. Isn't that great?

Pregnant! What a ride.

    We are a little late getting this started, but better late than never. I am 16 weeks pregnant, which means I'm over the hump of morning (evening and night) sickness. The official due date is May 9, but who comes on their due date? Hopefully, come May 9th - give or take a couple of weeks - there will be a happy, healthy Baby Vaughan.

    Far and away the hardest thing to give up has been caffiene. You all know how I love my lattes. I was really hoping to get one of those Drs who says that a small cup of coffee a day is just fine, but I didn't.  My Dr said once or twice a week. Well, trying to decide when once or twice a week will be is harder than giving it up, so I gave it up. I have had the food cravings and aversions as well. I cannot get enough Mexican food or baked potatoes, and I crave Taco Bell! Funny. I'm not doing so well with chicken breast or lettuce. These things change often though, so I'm sure what I'll want will be completely different in a couple of weeks!

    Things are going ok so far. We have seen the baby on ultrasound a handful of times, s/he has a strong heartbeat that I got to hear for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It looks more and more like a baby each time we go in. We saw the legs kicking around a couple of weeks ago. That was exciting. Greg says s/he's getting ready for soccer practice. Another really neat ultrasound moment was when the baby was actually in the way of what the Dr was trying see, and so the Dr pushed down on my stomach with the ultrasound wand to try and get the baby to move and it did!! I saw it shimi up out of the way on the screen. So cute!
   
    I do a have a slight pregnancy complication. Apparently my cervix may not quite be up to the task of carrying the weight of pregnancy. Thankfully they have an outpatient surgical procedure to help strengthen it. I had that done 2 weeks ago, and baby and I are doing fine. The real downside of this whole thing are the restrictions on my activity and travel. I have been advised against travel for the duration of the pregnancy, which was a huge bummer since we had already purchased tickets to go home for Christmas, and I was going to tag along with Greg to AGU - an annual geology conference in San Francisco. The conference is great and many good friends will be there. So sadly, I have to stay home now. There won't be much exercise for me either, no heavy lifting, etc. A lot of "taking it easy" is what the Dr ordered.

    So, we are busy preparing for Christmas at our house in Sierra Madre. It will be the first time niether of us has gone home for Christmas and we will try to make it feel like the holidays. My mom will be joining us for Christmas at our house. We had said that after we ad a baby, we would start thinking about satying home for the holidays, and we will get an early start on that.