A Great Weekend, A Great Appointment & 33 Weeks!

Well it was an awesome weekend for us, especially little man! Saturday grandma and grandpa C came and picked up A and I to head out to my aunt, uncle and cousins house for some swimming and a BBQ. Aunty A, Uncle S also came out which was really nice. We spent a couple of hours in and around the pool and then had a great dinner.

Of course A LOVED the pool, as usual.

Sunday we were up and ready early to head to Toronto so that little man could see The Wiggles in concert. But first we got to meet them all backstage!

So in baby news, I am now 33 weeks!!! I am only FOUR weeks away from giving birth to a TERM baby! I know the end of the pregnancy is just going to fly by and before we know it we are going to have a new little baby here in our home that we will be totally in love with!

I had a long day yesterday for appointments. First was an ultrasound. They were doing another estimate on baby's size and making sure that baby was doing well. The baby is now measuring at an approximate 5lbs 11oz which is the 90th percentile for size. Baby also scored an 8/8 on the assessment which is wonderful. The ultrasound tech did an internal ultrasound even though I told her that they do not do those anymore and didn't do one last time. She told me it was on the sheet so the doctor obviously wanted it done. I was confused but since I have had so many did it anyways. Wowzers! I am STILL very sore/tender from the exam I had a week ago here in town. Turns out when I saw my doctor that they didn't want a cervical measurement because at this point in the pregnancy there is no reason to really do it. We know the stitch is doing its job.

I saw cardiology again as well. Not much new there. They did increase the medication that I am on again as my heart rate is still pretty high. Hopefully we start to see some change in it soon! I was also told that I need to start putting my feet up higher than my heart as much as I can in the day and as well try to sleep like that. I have swelling in my feet and legs which can be pregnancy related, but cardiology wants to be safe as there is always the chance that it is heart related.

Anyhow, I of course ended up seeing a brand new doctor and was a little frustrated because I have not seen the main doctor who knows me best in a while. We talked about the pregnancy and how things are going and then I asked about my stitch removal. She told me that it would be at 37 weeks or later. I told her that I had discussed this with my main doctor and she had spoken a while back about possibly removing it sooner. As well I wanted to be sure that it would be her removing it and I was told it would depend on the day I came in. So of course I get upset. My anxiety has been getting worse and I like plans in place so this all didn't go over well with me. I am VERY nervous about the removal as it is and not knowing who would be taking it out made it that much worse. She went and got my doctor for me.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO we have kind of put plans in place. I will have my cerclage removed on August 8th because she will for sure be there that day. If she is not upstairs, they are to page her to come up and do it. This is only 13 days away!!! I will be 34 weeks 6 days, so a bit early for removal, but she is totally okay with it.

I know that I will most likely be delivering a healthy baby, but with my personal experiences and a lot of my social circle, this is not the case. So with knowing too much it makes it hard for me to be 100% positive about how things will go and how things will turn out. Until that baby is safe in my arms there will always be that small fear. Thankfully my doctor TOTALLY understands WHY I feel this way and wants to try and make things easier for me.

She has put in my birth plan that no interventions are allowed during delivery such as forceps and vacuum extraction. If anything is going wrong I will immediately be given a c section. Usually doctors try everything else first, but she will change that for me.

By my appointment August 8th I need to decide if I want to be induced. This was another suggestion from her, but it is totally my choice. The main reasons for this are so that

1. I can plan childcare for A for the delivery day and the couple days after. She realizes that in having A it isn't going to always be easy to find last minute care for him as I only have so many trach trained people.

2. It reduces my anxiety about possibly not making it to the hospital where I see high risk and having to go here to the hometown hospital. With how fast labor has been for me in the past there is a good chance that I would not make it 40 minutes out of town. This makes me very anxious as the doctor I don't want to EVER deal with could very well be on call. I would rather deliver alone than there with him.

The induction would be at around 38 weeks.....so, big decision for me to make!!!! This means baby will be here by the end of August!!!! However with that all being said, there is a possibility that I would not even make it to induction day and end up having baby prior. I have yet to make a choice yet, but will let you know the final decision when I do.

So all in all, we are having a baby soon! It is starting to feel real. It honestly hasn't yet at all because I have been so focused on getting past each day. We are just super excited to finally meet this baby and become a family of four!!!!!!!!!!

Almost At The Big 3-0 & Family Update!

Well here we are.....only ONE day away from 30 weeks! Tomorrow! I can't believe how fast time is going with this pregnancy. We still have NOTHING ready or done yet for this baby! But we are okay with this because we are not going to be doing the baby's room until after it comes home anyways. Baby will be sleeping in with us for the first while so we will have lots of time to do things the way we want. It is tough when you don't know if you are having a boy or a girl because we don't want to do the room "neutral". If we have a boy, it will be a boys room and if we have a girl, it will be a girls room.

My 29 week appointment went okay with the doctor last week. Again, she wasn't wanting to check my cervix as it is best to leave well enough alone. I did have an ultrasound to do a measurement of baby as the week prior, I was measuring larger than the 28 weeks that I was. Turns out this baby is HUGE. At only 29 weeks, this baby was measured at an approximate 4.4lbs! I of course thought right away about delivery. I am nervous enough as it is, and knowing that this baby is going to be VERY large makes me even more nervous. She will be doing another measurement in a few weeks and if it is still measuring in the 95th percentile then we will talk more about a possible c section. (For those that don't know, a baby at 29 weeks should average about 2.5lbs).

I also had my registration same day and things are all set up there and ready to go. It was kind of odd to register for a delivery because we never had the chance for that with A. My support during delivery of this little miracle will of course be my hubby and my mom. IF my mom happens to be up North, then it will be Auntie A. Needless to say, Auntie A said she had to figure out a way to keep grandma up North so she can be there for the birth of her new niece or nephew! hahaha I wish the rules weren't so strict about who can be in the room and such, but rules are rules.

I continue to deal with contractions that started a week ago. They were pretty random when they started a week ago, but over the course of the week have become much more frequent. Some days they seem like they are just constantly happening.

I had to head to Mac again for cardiology last Tuesday and actually ended up in labor and delivery after seeing the cardiologist. I had Andrea with me and if it wasn't for her, I honestly don't know if I would have gone in. I feel like I am being crazy and just worrying too much. When I told the nurse that she told me that I shouldn't think that at all. She said she thought I was very brave after my history. Amazing sometimes how we can be thinking one thing and others around us are totally not even thinking on the same page.

I was hooked up for about 45 minutes and then my doctor (thankfully she was on) came in to see me. She ended up doing a manual exam to check my cerclage and said that I had about 1cm left of cervix and stitch was holding. She said to go for lunch and if they continued or got more frequent to come back. So Andrea and I went and had a nice lunch and then headed home.

Cardiology was happy that my EKG showed that my heart rhythm was back to normal (it was abnormal the first time) and doubled the medication that I am on. My heart rate was still about 100 so she does want to see it a bit lower. I am still dealing with the shortness of breath, but I am happy to know that it at least is not because of my heart!

On Wednesday I had A LOT of contractions and started to wonder if maybe I had a UTI. I was able to go into my family doctors office here on Thursday (of course he was away on vacation so I had to see someone else), but I am really glad that I went. Turns out the dip test didn't show anything that made her think that I had a UTI, but was going to send it away for a culture. However she thought I was diabetic. When I told her no she was shocked. The glucose in my urine was VERY high. So this morning I headed in for blood work after fasting and we will see if it shows anything. This is just so frustrating for me. I had my gestational diabetes test around week 26 and it was fine. The doctor was surprised that when baby was measuring in at 4.4lbs that they didn't sent me for fasting again, as diabetes is something that can develop any time during the pregnancy.

In little man land.....he is officially done school! He absolutely had the BEST time and I am so proud of him for doing so well. I really didn't think that he would like school and boy did he prove me wrong! If he could go everyday (including weekends) he would! It got to the point that in the mornings he would be very angry because he wanted to go THEN and not have to wait for the bus to come and get him.

He had an amazing teacher who went above and beyond her duty as his teacher. She made sure that she included him in any way that was possible. His first year of school could honestly not have been ANY better in the way of people that were involved in his care/teaching. (I hope they wouldn't mind me posting these pics....they are AWESOME pictures!!!!!!!!!!!)

His EA was also amazing with him and after all of my anxiety about who his EA would be, I am happy that he ended up with the one he did. When we would talk about his teacher and EA here at home he would light up. He definitely knew who I was talking about!

Sadly I am going to have to find a new school for my little man for next year. I will not go into details as to WHY this has to happen, but there is just no way that he can continue to go there in September. I will say though, that this has NOTHING to do with the school in ANY WAY. It is an amazing school and the BEST place for him but for the best interest of our family it will not and cannot happen. I am VERY VERY emotional about this and have cried many tears. I wish there was some way to make it work but at this point I see no resolution to the problem without moving him to another school in our city.

The other part that totally sucks about this, is that I called the special needs coordinator that I dealt with last year to get things organized for him to go to school and she is not back until September 6th which is the day that he is to start school. So it looks like once again he will not be able to start his school year on time along with all the other kids. And with his medical issues it always takes much longer than the typical registration and getting the school sorted out and ready for him.

My other issue, is that the school that he goes to was willing to let him go every day next year even though he would be staying back in SK. (The school is still not on the everyday/all day kindergarten.) This meant that he would be in two different classes, but we know he would love it anyways. So now I will have to find a school that has all day/everyday class as I am sure that him being in two classes is not going to be an option.

SOOOOOOOOOO frustrated and definitely NOT what I want/need to be dealing with at this time!

Besides school, he is going to have a very busy summer. He will be involved in four different camps over the next two months. They are each one week camps and his friend Missy will be going with him. With how much he loved school I knew that there was NO way that he was going to want to just sit around home all summer and relax. And of course, thinking ahead I wanted to be sure he was going to have fun if I was in hospital at all with this pregnancy. But thankfully that has NOT happened!

On July 1st we headed to Cambridge to be a part of the Canada Day Parade. I had NO idea that this even went on every year and it was a lot of fun! We were part of the float/walk for organ and tissue donation. A had a sign on his wheelchair that was made to support his favorite Auntie A. It was really awesome to see people in the crowds clapping and whistling for our float. The support is incredible! A's sign was also a big hit. I heard MANY people reading it out loud. A walked with his favorite friend in the parade and he LOVED it.

A with his Auntie A

Is this not awesome?!?!

After the parade was over there were a bunch of booths set up and some carnival rides. A went on this firetruck with his friend "M" and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. It went really high up and around in circles. First forwards and then backwards. Mommy stayed on the ground and took pictures and a video!

27 Weeks Yesterday and a Family Update.....

So, here I am only 6 days away from the third trimester...I can hardly believe it! This baby has been SO active the past few days and the kicks/movements are getting stronger. I am loving every second of it!

I saw my doctor on Monday, as usual after my ultrasound and on a bad note, I am now dilated to the stitch. However on the good note, I have the stitch! Right now all that is keeping this baby inside is this amazing stitch that was placed at 12 weeks 2 days. I do have about 1cm of cervix left BELOW the stitch and so far the stitch is still closed tightly. I will not be having anymore trans vaginal ultrasounds (TVUs), but instead will be checked manually by the doctor as there is no point in doing the TVU with no cervix left.

The great thing is, is that I am still home. I am 100% okay with this though as I feel great and I think with having surpassed the 24 week mark by many weeks, my comfort level has just skyrocketed.

As for the two other tests I had done recently, one came back good and one not so good. My three hour gestational diabetes test came back fine which was great....I didn't want to deal with that during the pregnancy at all. As for my EKG that I had two weeks ago, it did come back abnormal. So my doctor had talked to cardiology and they sent me down to have another repeat EKG as well as an echo. To say I was scared is an understatement.

I do not know the exact name of the issue, but it seems that I have an abnormal rhythm of my heart. The cardiologist said that my pacemaker for my heart is not in the usual spot. However, their main concern right now is the shortness of breath that I have been having now for probably the past 6-8 weeks and my heart rate which is higher than it should be. My resting heart rate was 115. So the cardiologist wants me on a medication that will lower my heart rate, but I admit I have not yet started them as I am a bit worried as it will also lower my blood pressure which is already low to begin with. I placed a call yesterday to the nurse practitioner that I saw just so I can ask her about my concern before starting it. Yep, I am a worry wart, but I would rather feel at ease taking the med. Hopefully she will call me back today.

So what is going on with our sweet baby at 27 weeks????

Well, baby weighs about 2 pounds and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

Your baby's reproductive organs are in their proper locations by 27 weeks pregnant. If you're pregnant with a little girl, she is getting ready to be a future mama. Her ovaries now have all the egg-producing follicles that they'll ever make in her life. If you're pregnant with a boy, his testicles have descended into the scrotum. However, for some boy babies, their testes will remain in their pelvic cavity until birth.

And what is going on with our little man?

Well, he is coming to the end of his school year. Just two more weeks and then off for the summer. However I have planned for him to go to four different camps this summer so I am sure he will be happy about that. They are one week each and all have different themes. I figured since he loves school so much that there was no way that he would be able to just hang out here at home for the whole summer. He will have a private contract worker going with him, and I think she is pretty excited too. She has been working with A now for just over a year and she is amazing with him.

We had his birthday party on Sunday.......

A new thing that our little man has started with is a temper. He gets VERY mad and screams. If he is sitting in his wheelchair he also tries to pull on the sides as he screams. My guess is that he has learned this at school as there is a little boy in his class who gets into trouble quite a bit. But who knows, he is also growing as a young boy and I am sure every child goes through stages like this....

He will stop when I tell him that it is enough and that mommy doesn't like it, but it doesn't usually last long. He is using this as well now when he is frustrated and when he wants something specific. The thing is though it is hard to get mad at him because this is also his only way of expressing his feelings. He can't talk and tell us what is wrong or what he wants, so he does this. Some days are definitely worse than others, but we will just continue to tell him that it isn't nice to scream and that we don't like to hear it. The new baby is definitely going to recognize his big brothers voice! hahaha