The Kings of Huntsville

24 week checkup

My 24 week checkup was today. Today I had to go in fasting, having only drank the nasty orange glucola stuff 45 minutes before my appointment. The purpose of this was to test my blood sugar at 1 hour past drinking the drink. My blood sugar was 143, I think. The cutoff was supposed to be at 140 for pass/fail. Last time I was pregnant, my one hour blood sugar reading was 180-something and I had to do the longer test, which I then passed. Since I was so close to the cutoff and I passed the long test even with a 1 hour reading of 180-something last time, my doctor decided that I didn’t need to do the 3 hour test this time. THANK GOODNESS! I’m so thankful she made that decision.

They also tested my iron-count. It was a little low and I’ll have to start taking the iron pills now. I had to do the same last time, so this is no big deal to me.

Weight gain since the last appointment (almost 5 weeks ago) is +9 lbs. No wonder I’m looking more pregnant lately! This puts me to +3 lbs. from the beginning of the pregnancy, I think. I’m going on memory, though, so there could be a mistake. I’m seeing that all of the sweets we’ve had at our house around the holidays is definitely taking its toll! At least I’m pregnant and weight gain is still considered a good thing at the moment.

The next appointment is in 4 weeks and I will get a follow-up ultrasound to check on the location of the placenta and whether it has moved or not. I will also receive a Rhogam shot at this appointment.

Answers to my questions:
1) Can I get my hair highlighted?
Yes

2) Can I still get a prenatal massage?
Nothing to my lower back - so this may not be worth it at this time. I may call the Westin and ask how much of the prenatal massage is concentrated around the lower back.

3) Can I do my physical therapy exercises for my back (exercises from the last time I was pregnant and on physical therapy)?
No.

4) Should I limit the amount of stair climbing I do at home?
No. This is a good thing to know!

5) Is there a point that I will definitely be placed on bed rest even if I haven’t experienced any bleeding, if the 28 week ultrasound still shows a PP?
I won’t be placed on bed rest unless I have an episode of bleeding. I actually was going to save this question for next time, but she answered it without my prompting.

6) If there is still no bleeding late in the third trimester, at which point would the baby’s birth be scheduled (also assuming the PP hasn’t resolved itself)?
I did not ask this question. She seemed a little reluctant to answer any specific questions until we have a definite diagnosis in another 4 weeks, and I figured asking about the birth was getting a little bit ahead of myself.

7) (I added this one) Are there travel restrictions? I have family in MS who want to throw me a shower and want to know when.
The answer to this one was “The sooner the better.”

24 Weeks and Questions for my OB

From December 2008

Wednesday marked 24 weeks, and I made sure to take another belly photo. I’m actually looking pregnant these days! For the most part everything is still going well. I feel good, though my back is starting to hurt again like last time. But otherwise, pretty uneventful.

I go to see my doctor on Monday and I’ve made a list of questions for her. I went on ahead and typed them here so that I could easily keep up with them. I’ll go ahead and post them while I’m at it.

Questions for my OB:

1) Can I get my hair highlighted?

2) Can I still get a prenatal massage?

3) Can I do my physical therapy exercises for my back (exercises from the last time I was pregnant and on physical therapy)?

4) Should I limit the amount of stair climbing I do at home?

5) Is there a point that I will definitely be placed on bed rest even if I haven’t experienced any bleeding, if the 28 week ultrasound still shows a PP?

6) If there is still no bleeding late in the third trimester, at which point would the baby’s birth be scheduled (also assuming the PP hasn’t resolved itself)?

On that note, I hope everyone had a great New Year! Today my parents are bringing Phoebe back and we’re all going to watch the Cotton Bowl this afternoon. Can’t wait! We’ll also give my parents their gifts, since I accidentally left them when we went there for Christmas. Oops! I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!

Christmas Day

Phoebe’s second Christmas is one Rick and I have both very much looked forward to. The day started with me opening one of my gifts early because breakfast depended on it. I got a Belgian Waffle Maker! We made waffles, and Phoebe woke up while they were cooking. We decided to go ahead and eat breakfast, and then we’d go see what Santa brought. Phoebe loved the waffles so much (no syrup on hers either), that she crammed so much in her mouth, she threw up. Yeah, lovely. So we had to change her jammies before we could open gifts. Fortunately, she’d only had waffle and some water, so it wasn’t too bad of a cleanup. I tore up what was left of her waffle into little bit-sized pieces. She proceeded to continue eating, and stuffing many of those pieces in her mouth. Guess she didn’t learn anything, but she didn’t get sick again, at least!

So after that we went to see what Santa brought. Here is the before shot:

Changing Phoebe’s clothes real quick-like

She was funny. The first few gifts we opened from Santa was a toothbrush, toothpaste, and some stockings. Well, she really wasn’t interested in those things. Then we got to a toy, and once it was opened, she grabbed it and ran off into the bedroom with it! I had to call her back to open the rest of the gifts. And of course, we saved the largest gift for last…

She loved her rocking horse. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

And what our living room looked like after we all unwrapped. It seemed much messier in person. I think some of the mess is out of this shot though.

From December 2008

(couple more photos in the album from Christmas).

Phoebe really got quite the haul from Santa!

After we unwrapped gifts, We all got dressed and loaded the car and headed to Mississippi! About 45 minutes down the road we realized we forgot the gifts. It was too late to turn around, so I still have to get them their gifts.

Unfortunately, I do not have photos from Phoebe’s Christmas in Oxford, but she did pretty well there too. Maybe my mom got some photos we can see next week. She was funny there too, though. By then she had figured out what you’re supposed to do with wrapped gifts. She spotted a big gift under the tree and just started unwrapping! Fortunately, it was hers. We took that as our cue to go ahead and start opening gifts there too.

The rest of the weekend was a bit hit or miss. Phoebe was working on a tooth, so she was fussy and had some other side effects from that. Rick and I both saw the tooth on Friday night, but then Saturday it couldn’t be seen anymore. The only thing we can guess is that her gums swelled up after that. Sunday Rick and I came back to Huntsville and left Phoebe to spend a week with her Grammy and Granddaddy for a week! I’m sure they’re all still having a lot of fun there. I’ve been refraining from calling them too often, though I did call at lunch time on Monday. I haven’t called since though!

I hope everyone else had as great a Christmas as we did.

Helping Daddy

Last week Rick was putting together a shelf. Phoebe thought the bars in the floor looked like a fine place to sit.

From December 2008

Unfortunately, those were the pieces Rick needed next.

From December 2008

On an unrelated note, geekking.com is indeed better with bacon!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Phoebe’s First Haircut

Before (taken earlier this week while helping Daddy put together a shelf):

During:

After:

From December 2008

Phoebe did really well. The stylist had to chase her head around, as she would turn every time she’d brush the hair out and over her eyes. She never fussed or cried. Though toward the end she kept trying to get down out of my lap. We ultimately only had her bangs trimmed. I thought we may need to neaten it up all over before we went in, but I’m surprised at how much better it looks just getting her bangs out of her eyes. And yes, I did get some hair to put in her baby book.