Twenty-Six / Ninety-Seven

First of all, let me reiterate how I detest posting profile pictures of myself. Were it not for my need to please my far-away friends and family, you'd just have to imagine what my changing body looks like (like it just woke up).

I reached a couple of personal pregnancy milestones this week: I reached twenty-six weeks of pregnancy (my personal magic number), and I moved on to a double-digit pregnancy countdown. I have only ninety-seven days to go if I'm allowed to be pregnant all the way to my due date, which is actually quite improbable. (I probably only have 75-85 days left.)

I saw my MFM for my regular monthly check-up today. At the appointment, he confirmed that my cervix is still stable and that there was no evidence of an internal bleed. With that good news, he removed the precautionary restrictions imposed by the on-call OB at my little hospital visit on Sunday. Regarding my cervix, the doctor said since I've not had any adverse symptoms throughout the entire pregnancy, and since I'm now at 26 weeks, my overall cervical length is now less of a concern. He said with this transabdominal cerclage, once we successfully pass 24 weeks without any cervical issues, we're really in the clear -- if there were going to be a change, it would have happened by 24 weeks. The primary focus now is keeping preterm labor at bay, and so far, the once-weekly progesterone injections are doing the trick.

The baby weighed in at 2 pounds 10 ounces, and based primarily on femur length, is the same size as a baby at 28 weeks gestation (two weeks ahead of where I am in this pregnancy). I've been telling James she feels so much bigger, like a big lump in my stomach, and when she kicks now, you can see strong movement from the outside. He was skeptical since her weight was around 1 pound 5 ounces only one month ago, but to our great surprise, she's doubled in size. She's positioned head down and curled up in a ball.

As for her rapid growth, we're not extraordinarily concerned. James and I are both very tall people who come from very tall families, so this baby's long femur length is probably related to our genetic makeup. (Even Gracie was the size of a full-term baby when she was born four weeks prematurely, and now at six-years-old wears clothes cut for a tall ten-year-old.) Still, the doctor wants to see me again in three weeks to monitor and remeasure the baby, and wants me to begin watching my sugar/carbohydrate intake to help slow things down growth-wise. I'm scheduled to take the test for gestational diabetes in two weeks, but regardless of the outcome, I'm still supposed to watch my sugars and carbs (which is why I suddenly feel the need to engorge myself on watermelon, Junior Mints, and chicken-flavored Cuppa Soup).

Baby Face

Tummy on left, Face Forward on right, Hand up top by face

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photo credit: Oprah.com

The Paint Fumes Have Robbed Me of Title Creativity, or The Painting of Gracie's Bedroom Set is Done

Gracie's new $7 garage sale bedroom set has been sanded, primed, and painted by my wonderful mother. Said wonderful mother also hauled the whole mess up the stairs (with a little boy helper) and got everything set up and arranged. She would have also assembled the crib and moved in the changing table, but since I've not purchased settled on the girl's coordinating bedding sets, and since I'm not 100% if I need to want to bother with a new coat of wall paint, the less furniture in there, the better.

As for the cost of refinishing, Mom used her palm sander and filled it with sandpaper I picked up at a thrift store for another project. I can't remember how much it was precisely, but it was less than two dollars for the whole package, and I'd already used part. Three cans of Kilz spray primer was used to prime the entire set -- $4.50 each, or $13.50 total. Sherwin Williams provided the paint. We were fortunate to find three gallons of white paint that had been newly placed in with the selection of mistints. (The paint guy said they were there only because the packaging had changed, not because there were problems with the paint.) Gallons of mistinted paint cost $1 each at Sherwin Williams, and we used no more than 1/4 of a gallon, or 25 cents worth, for the whole project (I bought so much because I need to touch up some trim and paint something else white). For around $15, the entire set was transformed, and I'm really pleased with the final product.

Thanks, Mom!

The Transformation Transpires

Remember Gracie's new bedroom set? Mom came over today to begin the transformation process. My mom is awesome in so many ways, but a couple of the things I really appreciate most about her are (1) she loves doing so many of the things I dislike (sanding furniture, doing the laundry, etc.) and (2) she's not one to come over and wait to be entertained.

My mom lives fairly close to us, but doesn't get to come over as often as she would like. When she does come, she shows up at my house with a pot of homemade soup for my fridge, takes off her shoes, loads the dishwasher, brews a fresh pitcher of tea, switches out the load of laundry, plays a quick game of Uno with the kids and gets dinner started all before heading out for her favorite prime time programs on T.V. She mentioned after church yesterday (before my hospital excursion) that she had free time today if I had projects, and the bedroom set was the first thing that came to mind.

She arrived earlier in the day and got right to work. In no time, she and the kids -- well, Bub -- had the footboard and side rails completely sanded. After a rejuvenating trip to Sonic for Happy Hour, the headboard was completed. The last of it is being primed right now with the spray primer suggested by Tracey at Notes from a Cottage Industry, a step we never anticipated would be so fast or so easy, and a step we can clearly see will shorten the overall refinishing process significantly. She's set up tables in the garage to apply paint through the evening, and I wouldn't be surprised if I have photos of a finished product (minus the coordinating bedding) to show within the next day or two. In the meantime, the progress so far:

Instead of Just Enjoying a Lazy Sunday Afternoon...

Instead of just enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon at home with my family, my body decided it was high time for a trip to Labor and Delivery. Today began just as any other Sunday -- I went to church, I visited with friends, I picked up some groceries. I planned to spend the overcast afternoon parked on the couch watching rented movies. Instead, I spent the afternoon at the hospital having a most through examination. Sometimes I hate my body.

Were I anyone else with any other history, I would have still had a lazy Sunday at home, but I am me and I have an extensive history that leads me to be very aware of what should and should not happen in a pregnancy -- at least not in my pregnancy -- so today, when I had a minimal amount of bleeding, I told James it was time to head in for a check up.

We had the best L&D nurse who listed carefully and took my otherwise dismissible complaint seriously. (He even asked if I was a nurse because of my use of the "lingo" -- haha!) More importantly, he made us comfortable in a concerning situation. He checked me in, hooked me up to the monitor, and called the on-call OB in my practice who said because of my transabdominal cerclage, the on-call MFM needed to come in for a scan -- we needed his level of expertise. When the nurse called the on-call MFM, he refused to come in since I was established in another practice (forget the fact that he was on-call and it was his job). He told the nurse to keep me overnight and he might pop in to see me during his morning rounds.

(Have I ever mentioned how I really dislike doctors with God complexes?)

Instead of making me spend the night as punishment for my practice choice, the nurse had the hospital sonographer come scan my cervix, and since the on-call MFM wouldn't do his job, the on-call OB came in to review the report and complete my exam. Fortunately, James and I know enough about my girl parts that once we saw the image on the screen, we knew I was okay. I wasn't contracting or in pain. The baby was moving and had a good, reactive heart rate. My cervical length was stable and coincided with my last doctor's appointment. The cerclage was holding fine and there was no internal bleeding either in the uterus or around the cervix. The bleeding I experienced was erroneous and not a cause for continuing concern.

The OB allowed me to go home, but as a precaution, he put me on modified bedrest until I see my MFM for my regularly scheduled appointment on Wednesday morning. The doctor and I are both fairly sure the MFM will remove that restriction, particularly since my cervix is completely unchanged, still, better safe than sorry. As for my continuing care, he also said that it's really time for me to move to weekly appointments, though I'm not sure my regular OB is ready for that. I'll see what my MFM says because ultimately he has the final say when it comes to my course of care.

I am so glad to be home and not in the hospital -- even for the night. I'm thankful for our good news and that there are no immediate threats to me or the baby. I'm grateful for compassionate L&D nurses, wise doctors, and this very effective transabdominal cerclage. I'm thankful that my house is (fairly) clean, and my laundry-lovin' mama was already planning to spend the day here tomorrow. I'm thankful for a precious husband who takes excellent care of me (and the kids and the pets and the dishes). I'm extraordinarily thankful for God's mercies that are new every morning, noon and night.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

A View I Hope to Avoid for a Good Long While...