26 Weeks!

Time seems to be flying by so quick, yet not quick enough! This week was rather uneventful. I went in to work on Wednesday for the day and have otherwise been cleaning and packing my stamp room (so sad!). Our pre-inspection is tomorrow at 9 am so I vacuumed and steam cleaned all the carpets, Drew cleaned all the dog slobber off the walls and cleaned up the kitchen, everything else was still pretty clean from last week! Hopefully our pre-inspection guy will say that there isn't much we need to do (aside from fix the grass) and that will make it easier on us!

I have an OB appointment on Tuesday, my last one in England! I'll get my records to take to my next base and be good to go!

Here's my 26 week pic.. I feel like a whale some days (today was one of those), I have to keep reminding myself that there's a little person in there and that it's not fat, though that seems to be accumulating in places as well. I'll update more after the OB Tuesday!

Repeat Toxoplasmosis Test

One of my OB doctors just phoned.. working on Sunday! They received my repeat Toxoplasmosis results back and everything was negative again, yay! That means that my middle test was probably a false positive and that with the perfect ultrasound results that everything is fine and dandy!

Just wanted to share that little tidbit of info!

Oh, and Cheers to 25 weeks along! 15 weeks and counting until we get to meet our little girl!

Do we have a name??

After lots of thought and going back and forth.. we've narrowed baby bean-ette down to TWO names! There's a lot of meaning and reason behind both names, and we STILL can't decide. We have more time of course but are anxious to call her something besides she, her, and bean!

So, we've settled on Ann for the middle name for sure, and the first name is going back and forth between Lyric and Lindsey. I think in the end we'll probably end up waiting until she makes her appearance and see which she looks more like. Maybe one will fit her better than the other. At least we're getting closer and agree on something, even if it's two things! For now, she'll just go by "L", or "Baby L"!

That said, Drew went to his Dad's 101 class yesterday and he learned all sorts of stuff! He changed his first diaper on a baby doll, and learned how to swaddle. He also learned about how to deal with his hormonal wife and that he isn't alone in the hormonal wife department! He seems to be more and more excited about being a Dad!

On the belly front, Baby L is quite abusive. She kicks and tumbles all day long. Drew can feel her moving regularly now and you can actually see my belly bounce and shake when she's really active. Sometimes it hurts! I'm pretty sure she was using my spinal cord as monkey bars the other day, and whenever she would kick my left leg would reflex.

We're still waiting on a hard copy of orders. It's getting pretty frustrating since we're just waiting around and trying to clean and organize as much as possible. I'm going into work on Wednesday as a locum for the day, just when I thought I was done! At least I'll get an extra days worth of pay, it certainly is welcome! I can't remember if I mentioned this previously, but we got pre-approved on our home loan! We're all set for when we get to LA. We've been looking at houses through the realtor's website and writing down the ones that interest us, so it should just be a matter of finding one that suits us once we get there and getting the paperwork done! Scary and exciting all at the same time!

That's all for now! I hope you are all having a great weekend!

OB appointment

Ok, I had my 24 week appointment today and all is well! I'm measuring a little bit big, but she said it's fine, that after the 1st trimester babies grow at different rates. As long as it stays within 3 inches of how many weeks I am, then it's considered normal (I measured 2" more). The baby was really active during the appointment and was kicking at the Doc when she was measuring and looking for a heartbeat (which was 150-160 bpms).

My blood pressure was good 106/70. The triple screen and my 1 hour glucose test came back normal. According to their records I've gained a total of 12 pounds, and she said that was good. I'm suppose to go back in 2 weeks for a final visit before we leave and to pick up my records to take to the next base. We covered things to do during travel to prevent problems, like drink lots of water and only water on the plane, get up and walk around as much as possible, don't cross my legs, etc. She seems to be very happy with my progress!

I also picked up some luggage with WHEELS today since I'll have to do some traveling on my own, the giant duffel bags I moved here with probably weren't going to cut it while I'm 6 months pregnant. I remember struggling with those bags then, and I wasn't pregnant! Drew's orders still haven't come in, but they should hopefully be here this week and we can start getting everything scheduled. He took Cossie down to the pet shipper today to get measured to verify what size crate they would need to build. Looks like a big one, but he had given us a quote for the larger size just in case so that's good.

I also got the scanner working and the ultrasound pics from Friday scanned, so here they are!

Top half of body

Close up of her little head
Up the nose, and the little mouth! Drew thinks she has his nose, but I think that's gonna be my chin!
Two tiny feet squished together. Will she have my giant big toes??
Hope all is well, and happy Monday!

24 weeks

Can you believe theres only 3 weeks left in the 2nd Trimester?? YOWSA! It seems like this one is flying by, but the first one was soooo slow. So, I'm updating with my 24 week pics today. It was kind of depressing, I went to a PartyLite party last night and was discussing PCS dates with another girl there. I was explaining how our date had gotten pushed back to January, but I'm due in January so we had to apply to get our old date back and she said, "oh! I didn't even know you were pregnant!" I'm thinking gee, I really do look fat! Just when I was getting proud of my baby bump!

So here's the pics, I'm even wearing one of my new maternity tops from Dianne (that's Drew's mom), Thank You!

Well, we're cleaning and going through our stuff just waiting on our orders so we can schedule our housing pick up and everything else. Drew is off this week, so we're getting to hang out as well! Lots to do, and so little time it seems.

I'll update some more tomorrow after I see the OB!

More from yesterday

Okay, now that I've had time to sit, I'll go over yesterdays events!

I picked Drew up at work around 10:15 and we headed to Cambridge to find the hospital. We got there (after a few wrong turns) and got parked. The building wasn't really labeled so we went in and followed the signs to the Rosie Maternity Hospital. I almost lost Drew at the Breast Unit *giggle*, but we finally made it to where we needed to go.

We got checked in at 11:15 and didn't get called into the room until just after noon! Yikes! That's NHS for you I guess. It was pretty scary in the room, there was the specialist, another doctor, and a medical student in there. First we went over my file just so she could clarify results. She said that based on the results alone, she's inclined to say that it was either a false positive on the recent blood work, or a false negative on the original blood work. However, she would do the scan and make sure no abnormalities were found there.

I got up on the table and she started scanning. She did all parts of the brain, which appeared normal, she was talking us through each step of what she was looking at. She started scanning the heart and at that point I started to get light headed like last time. I told her how I was feeling and she had me roll on my left side. She said that it was normal for me to get light headed and it was from lying on my back, and the pressure of the baby on my major blood vessels restricting blood flow. Good to know I'm not just weak sauce! I was still sweating and light headed but the doctor was able to keep scanning while I was lying on my side. She continued to look at the heart, the kidneys, spine, we got to see her nose and mouth, all of her little fingers, even each of the joints, and her little feet. She was picking her nose at one point, silly girl, but we didn't get a picture of that.

This is funny, but kind of gross. About 10 minutes before she finished I was coming around, but still not feeling great, I had this awful urge and I wasn't sure if it was gas, or the big D. Considering I had my rear pointing towards this poor specialist I wasn't about to chance it so I squeezed my cheeks tight with all my might. I had goosebumps, and my bowels were screaming in pain. The doctor noticed that I was grimacing and asked me if I was okay, and I didn't want to tell her I had to do one or the other, so I just creaked out, "I have to pee!" She said, "you're in pain???" And I said, "no, pee!!" I silently mouthed to Drew, "I have to fart!" Let me tell you, the next 5 minutes until I managed to control the urge was painful and long, but it finally passed (the 5 minutes, not the gas). It was pretty embarrassing, but at least I was able to hold it in!

She finished up, another specialist had a quick peek at the brain as well, but the conclusion from both specialists is that everything was 100% normal on the scan, and that we should expect a healthy baby. She said she couldn't rule out any genetic or chromosomal defects, but since my triple screen came back low risk that we should be okay there as well.

We finished up and headed back to Mildenhall so Drew could get back to work. I ran a couple of errands and headed back to Ely to pick up Kat from work so we could go see Wicked. We made it to London just in time for a quick bite to eat with Jackie and her friend Brian, and then headed into the show. It was wonderful!! If anybody has the chance to see it, and hasn't yet, I highly recommend it! It was a great going away gift from my friends, and I'll miss them terribly.

I got a call from Sally Ann (my boss, well, was my boss!) to let me know that the Toxoplasmosis results came back on the original cat that started this whole thing.... negative as well! So that's good to know.

I have my regular 24 week OB appointment on Monday, so I'll let them know the results as well. Hey, tomorrow is my 24 week photo too, so you're getting TONS of posts this month! I also have more ultrasound pics to share, but the scanner is being feisty so I'll get them up as soon as I can.

Talk to you soon!

Temporary Update

I have to run out the door in a few to go meet the girls to head to London to see Wicked. I just wanted to let everybody know that the ultrasound went great, 100% perfect and no abnormalities were detected. The specialist also agrees that it was either a false positive test this time, or a false negative test last time. I'll update with more about the visit tomorrow since I'll be home really late, but I didn't want to leave you all hanging.

P.S. We got some more pics of our baby girl, and guess what!? She picks her nose already! Just like daddy! Heehee.

Keeping you posted!

Yesterday I went to a Baby Basics class, apparently it was for the two of us, but I thought it was just for me! Drew has one in a couple of weeks though so he should get a repeat of most of the information. It was mostly about how to deal with newborns and how to comfort them, a bit about breastfeeding, safety, when you should call the doctor, and other things to expect. At the end we got a free diaper bag from Similac that had a bottle of formula (though I'm planning on breastfeeding, so hopefully it wont be needed!), some diaper rash creme, a 6 oz bottle, a pack of wipes, a sample of baby laundry detergent and a few other things for gifts! We also got the What to Expect the First Year book!

While I was there, the Dr. called Drew and said that they were going to re-run my blood from a couple of weeks ago and also to go down to the lab and they would draw some more for another test. I went this morning, and the lab tech used a butterfly catheter to get the blood, but it stopped flowing after a few seconds and it was just slowly dripping in and she wasn't entirely sure if there was enough. While my background is with animals and not people, I imagine that the basic rules apply to blood drawing and I know what can happen if we don't get a good sample. I felt bad because I didn't want to tell her how to do her job, but I told her that this was a really important test and I'd feel better if we could get a fresh, clean stick with a full tube. She didn't seem offended, and obliged. So, that's off to the lab, hopefully it wont take another 2 weeks to get results.

The level 2 ultrasound is tomorrow at 11:30, so I'm hoping everything looks good there. Our baby girl has been kicking me like crazy for 3 days straight, so it makes me feel comforted that she's healthy enough to be as active as she is.

Today was my last day of work, wahoo!!! No more having to avoid cats and feeling bad about not being able to do my job! I'll still see a few of my coworkers, two of them are taking me to see Wicked in London tomorrow evening, so that will be fun! The office got me a leather address book with all of their addresses already filled out so I can keep in touch, an a Cockney Rhyming Slang book, because one of the girls was always trying to teach me how to talk like that. So funny! I'm really going to miss them.

I'll update after the ultrasound tomorrow, hopefully they will be able to give us some answers right then!

Small Update

Well, things are looking up a bit this morning.

Mom sent me an e-mail from the FDA website stating that there is a fairly high false positive rate for the Toxoplasmosis tests for pregnant women.

I spoke with a lab technician who said that it's possible that I was exposed so long ago that my IgG level was not detected on the original test, and that re-exposure would boost my IgG level but would not cause any harm as I'd be immune from my initial exposure.

I also spoke with a nurse this morning who went over the results of my 22 week ultrasound. Everything looks normal. Everything is where it should be, the baby is attached up high towards the front of my uterus, she's measuring in the 85th percentile for weight, her length is good, my amniotic fluid is normal. Brain, heart, spine, kidneys, umbilical cord are all normal.

The doctor is suppose to call me back this afternoon to answer some more questions for me and also so I can see if I can get another serology run to rule out a false-positive, and also make sure my IgM is still negative.

I'm feeling a bit of relief, and hope it continues on to be good news from here on out. I'll update some more as soon as I get any new info!

Edit.. As soon as I finished writing this, the Doctor called me up. She said she's going to phone the lab in Texas as soon as they open, but she also thinks that it was a false positive result. She'll order more blood work, but in the meantime she'll still get my consult at Addenbrooks going so there is no delay, better to take all the precautions. She said she'd keep me posted with any information she finds out from the lab as well.

2nd Edit.. Wow! They are moving quick. Referrals just phoned as well and said I just need to come down and fill out some paperwork but that i have an appointment on Friday (the 14th) at 11:30am to go get my Level 2 ultrasound. So at least things are moving a long quickly and we don't have to wait too long for some answers.

Stressful Weekend / Day

Well, I had to work all weekend, which wasn't too bad, but it was REALLY busy. It sure didn't slow down from the week that we had. I meant to post last night, but was too tired!

I've been on cloud 9 since we found out that we're having a girl. I just can't believe it! I already loved this little baby, but just being able to put a sex to her multiplied that feeling by a million! I have so many questions running through my head about what she'll look like, who's mannerisms will she pick up, will she be a musician like Mom? or a be a fabulous test taker like Dad? Both?

She's been kicking at me like crazy, and getting stronger every day. I even jumped and said ow! with a kick the other night... I love it!

So.. on to today.....

About two weeks ago, we had a cat come in to work for an appointment with diarrhea. Ian (my boss) came in and handed me the cat so he could grab a fecal sample. I took the cat back to the owner and then washed up like I always do after cat handling. Ian was looking at the sample and hadn't seen what he was looking at before, so I took a peek and hadn't seen it before either. After some research the protozoa we had seen looked strikingly like a form of Toxoplasmosis, though it usually isn't seen in stool. I hadn't thought to wash my hands after adjusting the microscope since I didn't actually handle the sample, but after seeing what it could possibly be it dawned on me that Ian had handled the sample and then the microscope, which I then touched. I disinfected and washed immediately along with all the surrounding areas that the cat had been in contact with.

I called my OB-GYN and they suggested I come down for another Toxoplasmosis test just to be sure. I'd do one now, and one in 4 weeks. So I had the test done, and today the nurse called me back. One part of the test had come back positive, though the results were odd.

There are two parts to a Toxo test. One is the IgG level, which tells whether or not you have been exposed and the other is the IgM level which tells how long ago you were exposed. My IgG level was positive, but my IgM level was negative. The only reason for a negative IgM test would be if I was exposed 6 or more months ago. The catch is that BOTH tests that were run at 10 weeks were negative. It's possible that the test is a false positive, but in the meantime they are going to refer me to the high risk OB at Addenbrooks in Cambridge for a higher level ultrasound to check for any markers relating to toxo exposure, and possibly an amniocentesis, though I'd like to avoid that if possible.

The good news is, that if I was exposed it would have likely been between 10 and 20 weeks, in which the chances of it transmitting to the baby are about 15%. Also, because of the strange results, it's very possible it was a false positive. Also, if I was exposed, it probably wasn't from the cat that I had handled a couple of weeks ago. Work has paid for fecal exams and Toxo screening on the cat, and so far the fecal has come back negative. The toxo screen is still pending.

I'm trying to keep positive and not worry. It's difficult and I'm feeling very guilty at the moment. I've done the best as I can with being hygienic at work. I avoid anesthesia, x-rays, I glove up when handling medicines, and I wash with antibacterial soap numerous times a day, but I could have done more. It's also hard because it's my job, and if you take out animals and things they excrete, there's nothing left for me to do but throw in a load of laundry every half hour, vacuum and mop twice a day. Thankfully I only work half a day tomorrow, and Thursday, and then I'm done even being in the position.

I'll keep everybody posted as I find out more. Up until now, everything has looked and gone fantastic, and there's not a reason to worry until I get some definitive answers.

The RESULTS!

Alright, I'm back from our ultrasound, boy was it eventful! I'll start off from the beginning and get to the good stuff!

I woke up this morning at 7:30, I wanted to sleep in so bad and I just couldn't do it! I started drinking water right away, big mistake! I must have gone pee 5 times before 1PM, but I knew if I was already exploding there was no way I was going to make it until 2! I drank my last glass of water, and a glass of OJ at about 1:10 and we headed out the door. We got to the hospital around 1:45, and checked in. I was doing the "potty dance" in the waiting room, they FINALLY called us in around 2:15.

I got situated on the table and he started scanning, I was watching everything, looking at what he was typing and trying to see if I could tell whether it was a boy or a girl, or waiting for some inkling of a hint! I must have been so anxious about seeing SOMETHING that I forgot to breathe and all of a sudden I started to faint. I could feel myself start to go and told the Ultrasound tech that I thought I was going to pass out, he quickly put a fan on me and had Drew put a damp cool rag on my head and to breathe deep. I was trying to look at Drew but he was getting blurry, and fading to this weird orange color. The lights WERE dim in the room, so I'm sure that accounted for some of the orange color, but it was still weird. Finally after about 5 minutes I started to come back around, but let me tell you, WAS I EVER EMBARRASSED! I thought to myself if I can't handle an ultrasound, how the heck am I going to handle birth!?

So he continues on with the ultrasound measuring everything, checking brain, heart, kidneys, limbs, umbilical cord, everything is checking out fantastic. The heart rate is 130 beats per minute. He finally tells me I can go relieve myself (oh thank the heavens above!), and while I'm in there to do a headstand or cartwheels because if we were going to see any of the "goods" the baby needed to be flipped around. So I went and did as I was told and came back and was poking around trying to get the little tyke to move. He put the probe on my belly again and it hadn't moved an inch! It was awake though, and was starting to kick around so he started pressing with the probe and finally a little roll, just enough to see what we were looking for.

The tech said he would flip through the screen colors and land on the color of the sex of the baby, but apparently he passed it a couple times and then he stopped...



PINK!!!!!! It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!



He then made us laugh by saying see, there is the tell-tale "hamburger", lol. Can't say I've ever heard it called a hamburger before, but it made sense and Drew and I busted up laughing. I was so excited because I've had a feeling this whole time it was a girl, and while I would have been happy either way, I think it would have been a blow to my gut instinct had I been wrong.

Drew is also excited, he said he wanted a boy at first, but as time has gone on, he's wanted a girl more and more. We both still want a boy eventually, but for now we're extremely happy!

We only got two pictures today, so here they are.. doesn't she have a perfect little head???




She's measuring a week ahead right now, and weighs approximately 1 lb and 5 oz and doing fantastic!

So now it's back to the waiting game, but things should move along quickly now. First thing is to get back to the states and see everybody!! We sure miss you all and can't wait to see you!

Love to you all!

It's almost here!

TWO days until our ultrasound! I'm getting excited, and even MORE impatient. I've slowly been breaking up the time to make it go by faster, first to do the Stampin' Up! Workshop, then to our finance appointment, then do the BBQ with Bryan and Tonya (that was last night). I work tomorrow, then Tuesday is the big day! I just hope the bean isn't hiding the goods, and everything else looks great too!

Some exciting news, Drew felt the baby kick for the first time on Friday night! I was getting some good roundhouse kicks to the upper abdomen and told Drew to hold his hand there until he felt something, I knew he would! A few minutes later he got a good one. I was so happy he finally got to feel what I've been feeling for a few weeks now. Maybe not in the same respect, but it's exciting to be able to include him into what otherwise seems like somewhat of a lonely adventure, only to be shared and experienced by other women who have been, or are pregnant, and the bean of course!

Things have been going well, the only complaints I've really had are the inability to sleep, or stay asleep due to the nerve pinching somewhere in my back causing a lot of lower back and hip pain on my left side, and the bloated fat feeling. Even though I'm not huge yet, my abdominal muscles feel impaired which makes getting up or rolling over in bed seem like a huge task that I envision looking something like a beached whale trying to flop itself back to the ocean.

I've had an insatiable hunger the last few days, though that's not really a complaint, just an observation. I've gained a couple pounds (eek!) so I'm now up to a total weight gain of somewhere between 11 and 12 pounds. I'm doing the best I can to control the things I'm eating and keep eating healthy, so if it goes above my "recommended" weight gain, well then it's just going to have to do so, and I'll work extra hard to get it off after. If I'm hungry, the baby must be hungry, right? I'm still inhaling apples like they are going out of style, and I've had a recent craving for pears as well. In fact, I think I need to stop and pick some more up today!


So, here's the new 22 week pictures! There's getting to be more and more to hang on to, though it still doesn't look like "baby" to me. I appear to be carrying all over the belly and wide. My love handles spill over the sides a little, and it seems to spread fairly evenly from my lower to upper abdomen.



Hopefully we'll have lots of good news for you on Tuesday. We'll try and call everybody, but I'll post it here as well just in case. Drew has to go to work after the U/S, but I should be home after about 4 or 5PM (8 or 9AM CA time), so if you don't hear any news, then feel free to give us a call!

Talk to you soon!