ho-hum

35 weeks today...weeee

Not much going on here, I went to a class at babiesrus yesterday about breast pumps. I hope to pump exclusively fairly early on so that Dan can help feed Dex in the middle of the night but still get the benefits of breast milk. The class didn't really teach me that much however. They did have one good tip - bring the pump you plan on using to the hospital so the lactation consultant can help you get it all set up and fitting proper.

I think this weekend Dan is going to put a car seat base in my car just in case I go into labor early and then a few more weeks from now put it in the Ford Escape.

That's really about all, Gator football spring season starts today. Wish I was in Gainesville so I could watch the orange and blue game and have the baby at UF instead of Dayton but I cant imagine the drive back up with a newborn so I will just have my little man here :) Hope everyone is doing great. Within the next 2 months our family's will have so many new babies its going to be fun!

34 week update

Had my doctor appointment today. Dexter's heartbeat is upper 130s/lower 140s which is good. He, as of today, is head down - but with 6 weeks to go he can always move around some. My latest hemoglobin was a whopping 9.9 up from 9.8 a month ago. We will repeat another one when I am actually in labor, especially if I require a C-section they will want to closely monitor that.

As for how I am feeling - generally I feel good. He still loves kicking my right ribcage which causes some discomfort. A couple days ago I woke up to swollen hands and since then my finger joints hurt and that has limited one of my sources of exercise - doing any yoga position which requires my hands on the ground hurt my hands to bad to do now. Good thing is the weather has improved some lately so I am able to go for more walks outside as a nice source of exercise along with my Wii Fit.

In 2 weeks is my big 36 week visit. I will officially be in month 9 then! I will get my final growth ultrasound, I will see my doctor and fill out hospital admission paperwork/tour the L&D floor.

Nursery

Here are a couple pictures of our nursery. Because we are moving around the end of the year I didn't want to paint or do anything to fancy. I am feeling pretty good the only thing that hurts on me is my right ribcage and right back - Dexter is getting big and loves to ram his head or feet into my right ribcage. This weekend I am going up to Akron to see my cousin and borrow a baby swing, bassinet and some more clothes. I am seriously thinking that Dexter has more clothes and things than I do and he isn't even here yet.

32 week checkup

Just some quick info from my checkup today. Everything looks good and on track. Dexter has a nice heartbeat around 145. His head circumference was 32cm and his weight was approx 4 lbs 11 oz. In 2 weeks I have my next doctor visit and will have my repeat CBC done at that time. One final growth ultrasound is scheduled for 36weeks.

Baby Shower

My Coworkers

Me and the wall of presents

Me, Mom and Heather

My amazing baby shower cake

I had my baby shower this weekend, I wasn't sure what to expect but it certainly went beyond any expectations I might have had. My friends at work and my sister and mom really went above and beyond with the amount of presents I got and the wonderful cake, food and games we had at the shower. I got a stroller, books, play mat, blankets, rattles, bath stuff and a ton of clothes. I am pretty sure Dexter is covered with all his clothes needs for the first 6months! Now all we need is Dexter to arrive! The nursery is close to being set up, just a few finishing touches of wall decorations. I will post some pictures of that later in the week. Thanks again to everyone who came to the shower and to those who couldn't make it but sent presents! I send a special thanks to Kathy for all of the wonderful gifts and time she spent knitting a beautiful sweater and blanket.

31 weeks, getting closer

Yesterday we got a super soft blanket from Joan House. Joan and her husband Ed are both such wonderful supporters of Dan and I through our marriage, his cancer and our attempts to have a baby. I am glad Dexter will have something to roll around on and play with that was made with love!

This weekend is my baby shower and I cant wait to see my mom this weekend and have some silly baby shower fun with my friends in Dayton.

30 week checkup

Met with the doc today, my hemoglobin is up from 9.5 to 9.8 so they are happy it went up instead of down. They are going to repeat the blood work in a few weeks to see any new changes. Dexter's heartbeat was nice and strong in the 140-150s and everything else about the visit and lab work was normal. She wants me to try and drink a lot more fluids though because a couple times this past week about an hour after waking up I was getting really dizzy/faint and that's probably a combo of my low hemoglobin and not getting fluids during the night. She said if increasing my fluids doesn't help or it starts happening more than just the mornings to come in and they would probably just give me IV fluids. In 2 more weeks (March 6th) I have my 32 week doctor visit and growth ultrasound scheduled.

Big Happy 1st birthday to Holly's son Rowan today!

30 weeks!

Wow, finally in the home stretch here and cant wait to actually met Dexter! He is swimming around a ton in my belly and while 3rd trimester is going well its defiantly different than the previous two. Sleep is becoming pretty spotty at times trying to find a position that is comfortable and I feel like my belly has really exploded outwards. I already have 1 stretch mark on my belly (dear god what will it look like in 10 more weeks). I got my Rho-gam shot today since I am B- blood type and tomorrow I see my doctor for a check up. I am sure I will have something to post tomorrow about that. Until then!

Popeye the Sailor Man

Well for the last month I have been on iron 3 times a day to boost my hemoglobin levels. It was 11 at 14 weeks, 10 at 24 weeks and is now down to 9.5 at 28 weeks. My doc wasn't happy that it continued to drop despite all the iron. All my other labs were normal so basically I just wasn't absorbing all the iron I was taking. So now they switched me to a different form of iron to see if I can absorb that instead. However, Dexter seems unphased by this (perhaps he is stealing all my iron) and is growing beyond schedule. He is currently following in his cousin Cole's footsteps of being in the 90%+ percentile for growth. His head circumference and long bone measurements put him at 29weeks 4 days (vs 28weeks 1 day which I really am). He also measures about 3 pounds.
Above is a nice face shot of Dex. You can see his eyes, nose and mouth pretty clearly. We are now on every 2 week doctor visits but I wont get another growth ultrasounds for 4 weeks since he appears to be doing just fine. So Feb 19th I see my doctor again and I get more lab work to check on my levels. She said if they continue to drop she will give me IV iron. Thats about it from here. Everyone is doing great and hope you are also!

No evidence of metastatic disease

I had my 9-month post-chemo CT scan on Friday 30-Jan-2009, and have just spoken with Cindy in the Oncology department. She read back the results of the scan, and they indicate a stable lower quadrant with no evidence of cancer. I have an appointment with the Oncologist at the end of the month to prepare documentation for a possible extension to my Code-C profile (they call it C-Code, but that means something else to a programmer =P). So far, so good.

Last week I also found out that an article I wrote had been accepted into the Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications (PPNA) journal. Journals are generally regarded as more important than (most) conferences because they are peer reviewed and highly selective. This is a huge milestone toward my doctorate, and relieves a lot of pressure. I still have to submit two more articles, write the dissertation, and defend my work before I can graduate.

putting together the nursery

We got our dresser and crib in today! They are both really nice pieces of furniture which will hopefully last Dexter for years to come. Not sure how much decorations we will do in the Dayton house since we will be moving at the end of the year, probably just put a few things up on the walls and a nice colorful rug on the ground. Here are some pictures, and also another belly shot of me and Heather to compare to last months. I am getting larger and larger by the day!

Baby Bump

In my sad attempt to stay in shape I have been doing Wii Fit. Today marked the wonderful occasion of getting out of the normal BMI range and into the overweight BMI range. My Mii did a double take and shook its little head. Remind me to email Nintendo and suggest "I am pregnant" as an excuse when they ask you why do you think you gained weight.

This is my final week in the second trimester, and like most books say its really been a breeze these last couple months. I am sure the final 3 months will ramp up in difficulty as I continue to get bigger. Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!

Kicker

So Dex is really a great kicker at night. Seems like 10pm-midnight is his workout time and then he sleeps during the day. Last night Dan felt him kick for the first time. It was a pretty cool experience, but I think it also freaked out Dan a bit!

That's it from here, I think I will post a belly pic next week as I am really expanding now. The highlight of this week will be Heather's big 20 week ultrasound on the 21st and that night the season premiere of Lost.

Also - got this off Amanda's blog and facebook - check out the amazing photo's from Kristin's wedding: http://www.clanegesselphotography.blogspot.com/ The final pictures with the sparklers are amazing. So cool to see what a professional photographer can do.

Not much to update

25 weeks today! My doctor called yesterday with my lab results from the previous week. I thankfully passed my 1 hour glucose challenge test so I don't have to take the dreaded 4 hour version. The only lab that is out of whack is my hemoglobin. I historically run low on this. It was 11 at 14 weeks and 10 at 24 weeks. (normal is 15ish) So they upped my iron supplement from once a day to three times a day. Prior to my 28 week checkup I will do a more complete blood profile to see if its iron deficiency or what (Ulcerative Colitis is my guess).

For those who don't read Deb & Joe's blog, she had her big 20 week ultrasound a couple days ago and they are going to have a boy and girl!! Heather has her 20 week ultrasound next week so I look forward to seeing if Cole gets a little brother or sister to play with.

That's it from Dayton, its freezing cold here currently and expected to snow the next couple days.

24 week checkup

My appointment went fine today. Dexter is growing great, he actually measured 2 days ahead (24 weeks, 3 days) He weighs 1 pound 2 oz and his head circumference is 220mm. So everything is right on track. My cord is defiantly implanted on the side of my placenta so I still get to have frequent ultrasounds to make sure he is growing proper.

In addition to my ultrasound and doctor visit I did the glucose challenge test to make sure I dont have gestational diabetes. This consisted of drinking a little maybe 5 oz bottle of sugar water and then getting my blood drawn 1 hour later. It wasnt too bad except that much sugar wasnt really fun with my already sensitive GI System.

Next appointment is Feb 5th. Now its time to watch some TV and hope that the Gators beat Oklahoma in the big game. Go Gators!

CT Scan

No changes. Remission continues. One more scan in 3months and then we move to every 4month scans for 1 year!

http://www.karrels.com/cancer/CT_Scan_7_Jan_2009.pdf

A few Christmas Pictures

Just got back from Heather & Jeff's house. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with their family and my Uncle Bob. We also opened lots of great presents. Dan and I got some great baby stuff! We also got a box full of information about my mother's side of the family for our genealogy research.

Reading to Cole, one of his favorite activities.

Comparing Pregnant belly sizes (I am 22 weeks, Heather is 16 weeks)

Cole wants to go for a walk in his daddies shoes

Patiently waiting for Christmas dinner to be served.

Shopping!

Dan and I did our final Christmas shopping Friday. Included in that trip was getting some maternity clothes for me since I can no longer button my pants! So I got a couple pairs of pants and shirts that should cover me for the next couple months.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.

some stats

I forgot to mention the 2 stats I remember from the exam. The baby weighs 12 oz (so next time you take a drink of coke think of Dex) and his Head Circumference is 170mm. Both measurements are right on track for 20 weeks.

20 week update

Went to the doctor today for my big 20week ultrasound and checkup. Our baby is officially a baby boy! His heartbeat was strong in the 150s and all his measurements looked good. Below you can see some of his photos. He was moving all around and was hiccuping for a good portion of the exam which was pretty funny to see.

The only potential problem from today's visit is I possibly have "marginal cord insertion". Based on the angles they could get they think the umbilical cord is going into the side of the placenta instead of the middle, which could lead to various problems such as growth problems due to not enough nourishment (which hasn't happened yet, he measures 20 weeks still) or possibly problems during the delivery. Nothing really do be done right now about it except monitor his growth via ultrasounds to make sure he stays on track. So normally I would be done with ultrasounds until the birth but I will be getting one in 4 weeks in addition to my doctor checkup.

Click the photo below for a much larger version.