dilation

Just a quick update. I had my 38 week appointment today and they FINALLY checked me for dilation.

I am currently 1 & 1/2 cm dilated and 60-70% effaced! I'm a bit surprised to be so effaced already and a little excited too.

Hopefully that means it wont take me too long to get moving once I go into labor. Who knows though, I could hang out at this for the next three weeks.

38 weeks..

I can absolutely not believe we are only two weeks away from my due date. How is that possible? It still seems surreal and that it isn't only two weeks away. Two months is more like it.

In the last week or so I've started feeling different. Not necessarily bad but definitely different. In the last few days my stomach seems to have gotten a lot heavier. I feel like suddenly he's gained a ton of weight or something. Almost like I have a bowling ball in there. It has gotten a lot harder to turn over in bed. I understand that this makes sense considering I'm almost due, but for it to suddenly come on in the last three days? I find that a little strange.

I've also become a labor hypochondriac. Every twinge has me wondering if this could be the beginning of labor. It never is but I still keep taking mental notes. Backache, cramps, Braxton Hicks contractions. Heck, I've even made note of the fact that my face broke out like crazy last week. I wish I could just sit back and let it happen but I always want to know when stuff is going to happen. I'm such a planner -- it's driving me nuts!

I have my weekly appointment tomorrow and I'm hoping I can get them to finally check me for dilation. Sarah's wedding is on Saturday and it is 2 hours away from the hospital. I've been given the all clear to go as long as I have no labor symptoms ... but considering I have no clue what I'm looking for in that area other than the obvious (my water breaking or extreme pain) I would like to know if I'm dilated at all beforehand.

Anyway, I need to finish up here. I've got my last assignment due tomorrow and I've barely started on it. Add to that a 1:45 trip to the vet this afternoon and I've got a full day. The emergency vet told us to take him into the regular vet after he finished his UTI meds. Our regular vet recommended it but said she understood if we didn't. I wasn't going to if I was happy with his behavior after the medication was finished, but I'm still not 100% satisfied with his behavior. He doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, but he still is making fairly frequent trips to the litter box. So something might be wrong still ... ugh I hate how much pets can cost you!

to hell in a handbasket

Wow I suddenly don't feel quite as safe in our neighborhood as I did 20 mins ago. Thanks to morsehellhole.blogspot.com/ which I stumbled upon as I was googling residential truck permits for our ward (Caleb just got a ticket for a permit we've never heard of) I have now been informed of violent activity that the Chicago news channels apparently don't like to cover.

Now we don't watch the news every night but we do watch it more than once a week and all shootings tend to be out on the West side or the South side of the city. Every once in a while there is something going on up here on the North side but it is usually pretty rare and consists mainly of robbery, not shootings.

I already knew that our neighborhood is considered a "pocket" neighborhood. Meaning that the safety of the area can really vary from block to block and that a few blocks north of here it starts to get a little iffy. However, I've felt pretty good about our block and the few surrounding it (except after dark...I've never really liked walking from my car at night). And now none of those stories mentioned on that blog are from our block, but a few are just down the street. Not an area I walk through, but it is an area I drive through daily to get to work, the store, the doctor's office, etc.

I dunno, I guess I'm still not very "afraid" of where we live. It's more that I'm confused. If there was a shooting that close, how could I not have heard it? But perhaps it really isn't as close as I think it is. Probably 5-6 blocks away, it just seems close since I usually drive. Also I'm angry that this isn't covered on the nightly news! I would like to know if my neighboorhood is going to hell in a handbasket people! Especially since I'm about to bring a child into the picture. What, the news is only going to cover the shootings on the South side because that's what we expect? No one wants to know about the danger on the North side. That ticks me off.

Thank goodness we have a security system in this place and that the tenants are good about keeping all the gates and outter doors shut tight. Our last apartment was in a better area yet I was still nervous. Things happen, I mean it is Chicago and our last building's outter doors and gates were hardly ever shut properly. So I guess we are safer here.

I just wish I knew about these things earlier than this. I shouldn't have to randomly find this out. The news should be covering it! grrr...

Updated belly pics and then some...

Today was going to be a lazy day. I've been out of the house all week (class and then doctor's appointments) so I was looking forward to sitting on the couch and doing nothing today. Well, I was bit by the nesting bug this morning and haven't spent too much time being lazy. I've made pancakes, done the laundry and dishes, made cookies AND I boiled what few bottles and plastic toys I have for this little guy. I've gotten a lot done and I'm still feeling good.

Caleb is at the Chicago Comic Con this evening so I've got the place to myself and as soon as I'm done wasting time online, I'm going to get some homework done. I am also listening to The Scarlet Pimpernel. I haven't listened to this is ages! It is by far my favorite Broadway musical but I haven't taken the time to sit and enjoy my favorite music in a VERY VERY long time. It is so good for the soul =)

Anywho, below are my most recent "belly" pictures. Recently I think my weight has hit that "end of pregnancy plateau" ... meaning, I haven't gained any weight in the last week and a half and it will probably stay that way. I've officially gained 38lbs. I'm glad it tapered off, according to the books I was only supposed to gain 35, so I feel pretty good about 38lbs, I just want to make sure it doesn't keep skyrocketing like it was. I gained 3lbs one week when you're supposed to only really gain 1 a week. So, I'm just hoping it wont be too hard to lose again, but we'll see! I'll mainly be glad to get rid of the water retention weight. My face is getting a little puffy.

20 days left..

I had my 37 week appointment on Monday. Still no check on dilation but the doctor did try to determine the baby's position. When she couldn't make a 100% prediction by just feeling my stomach she decided to break out the office ultrasound machine. Mind you, this is not a high quality machine and as the doctor attempted to find my son's head her reaction became more and more amusing. She couldn't find it for the life of her. I kept trying to "hint" as non-I know everything even though I've never been to medical school as I could that it was deep down in my pelvis but she wanted to see it for herself.

She then proceeded to tell me that this has never happened (not being able to find the head) and that she was going to send me to Fetal Diagnostics this week for a better ultrasound which would also determine fluid volume and the baby's size. I'm really not worried at this point because I know the kid has a head. As you can see from the above picture, he had one at 20 weeks and heads don't just disappear right?

Anyway, so I got to schedule another ultrasound which I was pretty excited about...it's fun to see your baby even though it is incredibly difficult to tell what is what on the ultrasound machine.

I scheduled it for Tuesday at 1:30 but my issue soon became this: the only office that had an opening this week was the same place I went the day I had some spotting back in October and found out we'd lost the baby. I wasn't too thrilled to go back there even though I knew this baby is just fine. I mean worst case scenario, my fluid is low and we have to have the baby this week. However, it was hard not to let my fear creep back in. I did actually break down at one point but I really wanted to see my baby again so I went ahead and scheduled it. The worst part was that Caleb couldn't come with me again (he hadn't been able to get off work the day we found out either since it was all so last minute) and I didn't want to go alone.

Thank goodness my friend Cathy happened to be off work and was able to go with me. I don't know if she knows it, but having her there kept my mind off it almost completely. We were just chatting away the entire time there and in the waiting area. I didn't have the chance to worry about it and that was wonderful.

Our little guy was just fine, his head was exactly where I kept trying to tell the doctor: deep in my pelvis. I was pretty proud of myself too because for the last two months I've been trying really hard to determine what body part is what when I feel him stretch out and I've managed to guess correctly. We didn't get any great pictures this time, just a good shot of his foot (you can see his little bitty toes!) but the actual ultrasound was great. Poor Cathy couldn't tell what was what but I've found after you've had four ultrasounds you start to recognize what everything is. I could tell where his feet and hands were. And when she focused on his face we could see him yawning and his whole face moving. It was definitely the coolest thing I've ever seen.

She did also check to make sure (for the third time) that he is a boy. Lately I've been hearing stories of people being wrong and getting the opposite sex and I was starting to worry. Not that having a girl would be bad (although I know I've written on here about my fear of having a girl -- two words: Middle School) but we've been calling him by his name since April 10th not to mention the fact that 95% of his clothes are for a boy.

The fluid was great too (I know I shouldn't have been hoping it was low...but I'm getting impatient to meet him!) and they "think" he'll be about 7lbs at birth. That doesn't mean too much though, since the weight prediction is the most inaccurate the tech said. And I've read online that it can be a 2lb difference either way! What the heck is the point then? Whatever. I predict 8lbs but we'll just have to see.

Well that was my eventful last few days baby-wise. Maybe next week they'll actually check for dilation.

Cats...

So last night we got about as much sleep as the night before. This time it was thanks to our sweet cat Osiris who we noticed (at midnight) had blood in his urine.

We knew he'd been acting weird as far as the bathroom is concerned all day. He kept going in there over and over again and I thought he was just being finicky because we were out of our regular litter and had to downscale on the number of litter boxes we had available. We were going to get litter today after church.

Well, we didn't get to church this morning because we were at the Emergency Vet until 1:30 last night and didn't get to sleep until after 2am. Add the most annoying cat in the world (our female, Isis) and we had another long night. She just sits outside our door in the morning and meows - as I think I mentioned in the previous post. I guess since her brother was at the vet all night she felt the need to continually ask us where he was. ALL freaking night. We do have three cats and Anubis, our other male, didn't seem to matter to Isis: In fact, I was this close to having another cat to take to the Emergency Vet, only this time I was going to be the reason she needed to go.

I'm seriously about to give her away (okay not really..but I'm very very tired of her). All my pregnancy hormones get directed at this obnoxious cat. I actually got out of bed at 4am and chased her around the apartment trying to catch her so I could put her in the kennel for the rest of the night. If you will, imagine a half naked, 9 month pregnant woman run-walking after a fat little tabby with a small head at 4 in the morning. I'm sure it was a sight. Needless to say I couldn't catch her and I gave up. Eventually we were able to block her out until about 7 when I threw a pillow at our closed door in hopes she'd get the message. She did, and then promptly came back at 9.

Anyway, back to the sweet, sick cat. We're going to pick him up here pretty soon. He had crystals in his system and it is a urinary tract infection. Apparently crystals can cause what is called "blockage" in male cats and can be life-threatening. Luckily we caught it early ... sadly we caught it on Saturday night and got to charge a ridiculous amount of money onto our credit card.

Ahh...Maybe tonight we'll get some sleep?

insomnia

I've been awake for over an hour. I have heard of pregnant women not being able to sleep but so far I've been pretty blessed. While I usually wake up at least once during the night to go the bathroom, I'm able to fall right back to sleep. Tonight I was not so lucky.

I woke a little earlier than usual for my standard bathroom break. Usually it's 5 something, this morning it was 4:30ish. Sadly when I returned to bed my mind was racing and despite my best efforts to calm it, using all of my usual tactics, I had no luck. Poor Caleb was wide awake too, I probably woke him up when I got up.

Anyway, I tried for about 45 mins to get back to sleep and decided to go ahead and get up once my stomach started growling. There is absolutely no way I'll be getting back to sleep once I'm hungry. Usually I have a stash of saltines by the bed for situations such as this, but I was out and just decided to get up.

So now it's almost 6am on a Saturday morning...I've got my coffee, I've had my bagel. Now what? Guess I'll be hanging out on the computer again. I'm on here way too much these days. But, at least I know that (as well as any hope of getting extra sleep) will be coming to a quick end in a few weeks. I guess I'm just making up for all the time I'll be MIA once the baby arrives.