Wednesday, May 23, 2012

24 weeks

Today was a big day!  Not only did I deliver my first babies, but we also had our 24 week appointment.

In terms of the appointment, Dr. Johnson says baby boy is doing wonderful!  His heart rate is in the 140s and uterine measurements were right where they should be!  Way to go baby!  The only unfortunate part of this appointment is that I found out I have gained 10 lbs in the last month!  In not gonna lie, I panicked a little bit when I found that out.  Apparently it is not a problem since I only gained 4 lbs in the first 5 months of the pregnancy.... but still, makes me a bit nervous.  Looks like I will be trying to cut out the junk food more.  No more cheetos for this girl (quite sad about this, as I have quite enjoyed these as an afternoon snack over the past week or so).  Anyway, glad to hear baby is growing well and things are right on track.

In terms of life outside of baby brain, I am on my first week on by obstetrics and gynecology rotation.  Today I delivered my first baby, twins actually, by C-section.  It was incredible!  I actually considered crying for a second, before I regained composure and realized that was off-limits, or they would for sure see that the pregnancy hormones were getting to me.  I now realize why ob-gyn's love their jobs.  Bringing life into this world is miraculous, and being a part of it was a huge honor! I can't wait for the day we bring our own little miracle into the world!

Friday, May 4, 2012

20 Week Appointment

It's a Boy!

We had our 20 week appointment 2 weeks ago and decided to find out the sex of the baby.  I had originally not wanted to find out at all, thinking it would be much more fin to find out once the baby was born.  Derek has wanted to find out the entire time.  So the week before our 20 week ultrasound, I was starting to change my mind.  I had a significant "inkling" that the baby was a boy.  This was based on the fact that I was getting punched/kicked ALL THE TIME! Even to the point where I was waking up in the middle of the night with the baby kicking me.  I figured this was pretty significant for only being 19 weeks pregnant, so I guess I just assumed it was a boy.  I had already been slipping up a few times and saying "he" instead of "the baby" or "it".  So I decided it was time to find out for sure.  Again, my original thought was that we should have the ultrasound tech put the sex of the baby in an envelope that we would take to the bakery or something to make a cake or dessert in the color pink or blue and have everyone over so that we would all find out together.   Of course, the day of the ultrasound, I changed my mind yet again.  Knowing that I would not be able to pull my eyes away from the screen to not find out, I decided we might as well know right awake as soon as the ultrasound tech knew.  Derek was excited about this, as I had finally agreed with his original thought of wanting to find out! As an aside, I must say Derek was very understanding throughout this whole ordeal and said that even though he wanted to know, he would completely go with whatever I wanted to do, even it if meant not finding out the sex of the baby until it was born.  I really appreciated him being so flexible and understanding.  I really am quite the lucky lady!

Anyway, so we were sitting in the ultrasound room, watching the absolutely incredible technology that lets us see our baby developing, both enjoying seeing that absolutely EVERYTHING was perfect.  No cleft lip, no spina bifida, brain development right on track, normal heart without problems,  arms and legs developed correctly with all fingers and toes.... PERFECT.  Everything I wanted to see was showing up right as it was supposed to be.  So then we get to finding out the sex and she goes down by the legs and pauses briefly.... there it was, very clearly on the screen.... it was without a doubt a baby BOY!  Derek got a huge smile on his face and I started to cry.  Both of us very excited that we would be having a boy.  While neither of us had a preference for a girl or boy, I think there has always been a thought that it is so nice for families to have a big brother around.  Lucky for Derek, he experienced that with Russ, but I never had a big brother and always wished that I had so I was glad that the rest out or kids would have a big brother to look up to.  Also, I think that there is always a secret hope in the back of every man's mind that his first child will be a boy, who he can take fishing and teach to play baseball and hockey and all of the fun boy bonding things.  So needless to say, we were both very excited!  It was incredible to see our baby develop right on the screen.

The other thing that I found to be funny was that I had been saying the baby kept moving around all the time.  I don't think that Derek really understood what I meant by that, or maybe he thought I was bluffing and just being dramatic.  So I was happy to prove to him that I was serious when the baby kept moving during the ultrasound.  We were all laughing so hard because the ultrasound tech was trying to get certain measurements and she would get so close to getting the measurement and then the baby would move around.  She was really having a hard time getting him to stay in one place!  She even called him a "little monkey" at one point!  Again, I was glad to finally show Derek that he is moving around and kicking me ALL THE TIME! haha.  Not that I mind.  I quite enjoy getting to feel him moving around as long as its not the big kicks that hurt.

So on to life surrounding the ultrasound in the past two weeks since we found out we are having a boy.  Since he is kicking and moving around a lot, I have become ultra aware of the fact that there is a little life inside of me who can now hear my heart beating and hear us talking or the music playing in the car.  I have noticed that he becomes more active with music and that his heart rate goes up anytime I start talking.  It has been really fun!  I am thinking I should start reading my medical textbooks aloud so that I can educate him early on.... :-) Just kidding!  (but I really did think about it!  haha)  I now find myself talking to him occasionally when I feel him moving around.   Last friday I had a 3 hour exam as the final of my medicine rotation.  In the car on the way to the exam, he was moving around in there like crazy, so I found myself talking to him and telling him that he would have to help me out and be really good and not move around so much during the test so that I could concentrate.  I doubt that he understood me, but sure enough he was a little more calm during the exam, thank goodness.    Other times I find myself saying good morning or just telling him that yes, i can feel him moving around in there and I know he's in there.  I dunno, its silly, but fun at the same time!

We are very excited to see what life brings in the coming weeks and months.  Our windows are being replaced in 2 weeks and hopefully the carpet will be replaced soon after, so then we will start getting the nursery set up.  In the mean time, my mom and I continue to check the clearance at Gap and find fun little things for the baby.  It sure is fun getting to look around.  If I am not careful, he will have a full wardrobe before he is even born! :-)



Monday, April 2, 2012

16 Week Appointment & Vacation in Florida

As usual, life has been very busy!  Derek continues to work like a crazy person, and I continue to spend most of my time in the hospital or studying.   We had our 16 week prenatal appointment last wednesday.  As expected, baby has a very good strong heartbeat that is now audible with the doppler.  Also, Derek and I decided to do some prenatal testing, which came back completely normal.  I had a funny calm feeling because I had a sense that things were going just perfectly.  I have not been worried at all.  Though, I think Derek was relieved to hear that things were going fine.  So now it is just a few more weeks until our 20 week ultrasound.  Derek would love to find out the sex of the baby, but I tend to go back and forth depending on the day.  As of now, we will not be finding out the sex, but who knows, maybe I will change my mind at some point!

Since things have been so busy for both of us lately, we decided to take a vacation to Sanibel, Florida to meed up with my parents who were there on spring break.  We flew out Thursday night and spent 3 days in Sanibel, sitting by the pool and visiting some of my favorite spots from being there as a younger person :-)  Of course, the time went by way too fast, but it was nice for both of us to have a little break from work to relax in the beautiful sunshine.  We owe my parents big time for picking us up from the airport and letting us stay with them all weekend!  We had a blast!  Also, Derek was able to feel the baby move for the very first time!!  I have been feeling movement for a couple weeks now, but of course the baby is pretty small still so it is more difficult to feel from the outside.  The baby was moving around like crazy this weekend and Derek was able to feel the baby kicking one night while we were laying in bed watching TV.  I think it was as amazing to him as it is to me!  It makes it seem like reality that this baby is coming in the relatively near future.  The other thing that makes it feel real.... me not fitting into my clothes.  I was able to bring some of my drawstring shorts along on vacation that seemed to do okay, but I ended up wearing them without the buttons and still felt like they were too tight!  It felt like I was getting bigger by the day!  Great weekend with lots of great adventure and baby fun!  I can't wait until next year's trip.  Strange to think baby will be here by then and we will be carting around strollers and carseats.

So now it is back to reality, work for Derek and Medicine at HCMC for me.  I think we will both be a little more recharged thanks to this much needed break.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Starting to Feel Movement

As usual, things have been very busy with Derek working a lot and me on rotations constantly.  There have also been exciting things going on as well.  Last week, Derek and I went to the Boyce Avenue concert at First Ave.  We had never been there before, so we were not quite sure what to expect.  Of course, it was fully standing room with really nowhere to sit down, but it was quite the crowd.  The show actually sold out!  We had a really good time and were enjoying the music, when I suddenly started to feel butterflies in my stomach.  I started paying a little more attention to this feeling and realized that the baby was moving around!  It was an incredible feeling, one I had definitely never experienced before.  Im not sure if it was just moving around because it was enjoying the loud music or what was really going on in there, but it put a smile on my face for the rest of the night!  I knew that we were getting close the the stage of feeling some movement but I assumed that we would be a little later with it since we have been a little behind with everything else (like hearing the heartbeat).   Unfortunately, it was only a feeling that I could feed on the inside so Derek was unable to feel the baby moving around, but I knew that will be coming in the near future.  Now that I am aware of what this feels like, it seems to be happening more frequently, and at random times like driving in the car or working in the back yard.  Pretty great, that is for sure!  I know there will be many more exciting things to come.

Also, I seem to be starting to gain some more weight.  I knew this would be coming eventually, and I thought that I would be perfectly fine with it seeing as how it is a good thing for baby, but honestly it is really hard at the same time.  We have decided to go to Florida in 2 weeks with my parents so I brought out my summer clothes today and started trying on shorts and capris to make sure I would be ready for the trip.  Of course, I barely fit into most of them, and some of them have no chance of fitting in the next couple of weeks.  Surprisingly, it wasn't just around by waistline that I was not fitting so well, it was also my butt that seems to fit differently into my capris.  I think I had a bit of a rough morning when I realized that my body may never be the same.  Even though I am sure I will lose the weight after the baby is born, things will just be different.  Not sure I am loving that idea right now, but I guess I am game for whatever is good for the baby.  I will just have to go shopping for new summer maternity clothes.... not the end of the world I suppose!

On another note, I just finished up my pediatric rotation on Friday, meaning I got the entire weekend off (which happens very infrequently these days)!  Unfortunately, Derek had to leave town on Saturday for a convention that they go to every 6 months so it has just been me this weekend.  I got some things done around the house that I have been annoyed with, like trimming and hauling away the dead branches and trees in the back yard.  I also started cleaning out the baby room closet.  Unfortunately at this point, I made more of a mess than I actually cleaned, but hopefully that means I am going through the junk and getting rid of it.  Then I spent most of the weekend hanging out with my parents and brother and going for  walks to enjoy the beautiful weather.  79 degrees in the middle of March... I'll take it!  Hopefully the beauty will last a little longer so Derek can enjoy some of it when he gets home on Wednesday..... can't wait!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

A Difference In Personality

Dear baby,

As I am sure you will find out one day, Derek and I are very different at dealing with emotions.  I am the person who screams and cries with excitement, and wears my emotions on my sleeve.  Derek is the complete opposite.  He needs time to process his excitement and never shows how excited he is right away but then does something sweet to let you know how he feels.    The events of yesterday were no exception to this difference in emotions.  Getting to see the ultrasound and listen to the heartbeat put a smile on my face for the entire day and made me want to cry.  Derek was quiet, definitely in thinking mode.  Of course, I knew he was excited too, as he called his mom right away to tell her that everything was going well.  But it was not really until today that it finally came out that he was just as excited as I am.  Derek announced to all of his coworkers that we are pregnant.  Here is his message.....

So this is how you know when Derek is excited about this.  This was his way of showing his excitement, and I am very glad to see it.  Maybe someday after you are born, Derek will wear his heart on his sleeve a bit more, but maybe not.  Either way, it doesn't really matter.  It always shows in the ways he does little things that he cares for me and you, baby!  I am sure lucky to have him as a husband and you will be very lucky to have him as your dad.  I know he adores you already!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

12 Week Doctor Appointment

Today was a big day in the Johnson house!  First off, thank you to all of the parents who did not bother me last night with their sick children.  I was able to get 7 hours of sleep on call, which is usually unheard of.  Given, it was not the best sleep I have ever had in my life, as I kept checking to make sure I had not missed the phone going off.  But hey, you take what you can get!  Then I got to come home and sleep a few more hours before our doctor appointment.

It is hard to believe we are already at 12 weeks.  So this was the first appointment that Derek and I went to together.  We were excited to hear the baby's heartbeat, but unfortunately Dr. Johnson had a had time finding it with her doppler, so she sent us to have an ultrasound.  This made me a little nervous, but it turned out to be a huge blessing.  Not only did Derek and I get to see the baby in the ultrasound but we also got to hear the heartbeat, so it was a huge 2 for 1!  Also, this was the first time Derek has really seen the baby, so it was amazing!  I can't believe he/she already has fully developed arms and legs with 5 fingers.  It was incredible to see!  Baby is doing well and growing right on track.  All good news!  It seems we are off to a strong and steady start, so hopefully we will keep right on going.




Tuesday, February 21, 2012

On Call + Dr. Appointment Tomorrow

I have been feeling much better the last several days, so Derek and I have finally gotten a chance to work on the painting that we have been trying to get done in the entryway.  It is not quite finished, but I am surely relieved to have the last of the wallpaper in the house completely gone.  Why people put up wallpaper, I will never understand!  

In other news, today and tomorrow are sure to be absolutely crazy!  Tonight is my first in-hospital call night, meaning I am currently on a full 25 hour shift until tomorrow morning.  I am interested to see how overnight call goes on the peds service, however I am surely not looking forward to being away from home for the night.  This will be the first time away from home without Derek since my wonderful trip to Atlantic City with the girls for our bachelorette weekend.  Im feeling a bit sad about having to sleep in the hospital.  I have been felling like such a home-body lately that I am already having a hard time knowing Derek will not be here and it is only 5 oclock.. :-(  The benefit to this long overnight shift is that I get the day off tomorrow.  Hopefully I will get enough sleep here in the hospital to not be exhausted tomorrow, but I am really looking forward to my big day off. 

First of all, We have our 12 week OB appointment tomorrow at 3PM, which is going to be the first time that Derek and I get to hear the baby's heartbeat.  I am super looking forward to this and can't wait!  It is hard to believe we are already almost out of the first trimester with relatively few problems.  After our appointment, Michael has a district hockey game at 5PM that we will be going to.  Derek (being the should-be-a-coach guy that he is) has been asked to be the extra set of eyes for Michael's coach.  He specifically called him to ask for his help and opinion about how to improve the team.  Huge complement for Derek's coaching ability in the future!  After Michael's game, we are headed back home to watch Matt's hockey game at 7PM.  As you may know, Matt recently got pulled up to the AHL to play with the Texas Stars, so we will be cheering him on and hoping he has a great game.   Long day, huh?  Well, hopefully everything goes as smoothly as planned and I get a good amount of sleep tonight.  Dear Children's hospital parents.... please wait until tomorrow morning to bring your sick kids to the hospital unless absolutely necessary!  haha ;-)