We had our appt. with the Julie, one of our wonderful midwives, on Wednesday. I haven't really had any regular contractions since Monday and was really praying that I'd be dilated a bit. Soph got to come with Jamie and me and Julie let her help measure my tummy and find Bean's heartbeat. That was fun! As of Wednesday I was dilated 3 cm. (sorry if that's TMI), so my prayer was answered. That doesn't mean much, except that all those contractions over the weekend were doing something and now we just much continue to wait...
I've been very motivated to keep the house clean and go on daily walks, hoping any extra activity might spur things on! :) I've also been needing at least 1-2 naps every day because I'm just so sleepy! I know that I'm still 2 weeks from my due date (I'm 38 weeks as of today), but for so many reasons, that I won't get into here, we've been praying for an early delivery, so, we wait, trusting the Lord and his timing more than our hopes, but still praying in faith.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Pray for me please!
Hello all ~ well, still no "real" labor... I've been having contractions on and off each and every day, and in the evening they've gotten really regular and painful only to totally go away when I fall asleep. I have a midwife appt. tomorrow so I'm hoping for some good news (i.e. that I've started to at least dilate or something!). Pray for me because I'm feeling so ready. The house is all clean and ready, all the baby stuff is out and washed, laundry is done... :) I also feel really mentally, emotionally ready to tackle labor/delivery - and I just have to wait. It's hard.
Pray for my sister too if you think of it. She's about 7 weeks pregnant and just feels ill all day long and can't eat, etc... I can feel her pain as I went through the same thing.
Thanks for the prayers.
Pray for my sister too if you think of it. She's about 7 weeks pregnant and just feels ill all day long and can't eat, etc... I can feel her pain as I went through the same thing.
Thanks for the prayers.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
could it be the start?
I've been having a lot of contractions today! At least a couple an hour. I don't think I'm in authentic labor yet, but I do feel this could be the preperation for it - at least I hope so. We are praying Baby Bean makes his/her appearance this coming week, so we'll see! I'll keep you posted.
My mom and dad came over today. Mom helped me deep clean my house so now I feel better that my house is all clean and baby ready!
My mom and dad came over today. Mom helped me deep clean my house so now I feel better that my house is all clean and baby ready!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Full term
Well, today I am offically 37 weeks pregnant, which means I am full-term and it is now safe for Baby Bean to be born. Of course... it is also safe for Bean to wait another 5 weeks - which would take us to 42 weeks pregnant- before being born. You can probably guess what my vote is! :)
I feel so "great with child," and really don't love the feeling of my stomach resting on my lap when I sit. :) My pregnancy related acid reflux is so bad now that I have to have about 6 pillows arranged in my bed to create a nice upright angle for falling asleep. I'm very tired. Tired from not sleeping well, tired of being pregnant... just plain tired. I believe I've hit the pregnancy wall. So, I'm complaining... sorry. I need to be content, even now. The timing of this birth is in God's hands and I need to trust Him! Please pray for me. I feel a bit grouchy from being so uncomfortable and tired, etc... Poor Sophia. It'll be good for all of us to have "normal" Mommy back. :) Jamie is my rock, as always. So patient and helpful and giving. He is so tired too, but always sacrifices his own rest times to allow me more time to sleep. He never complains when he gets home from work at 10pm and asks, "What did you guys have for dinner?" (hungry and anticipating some yummy leftovers...) - only to get the response, "Um, cereal..."
So, we're praying for Baby Bean to come in the next couple of weeks and for strength for all of us to get through these tough weeks prior to Bean coming. Thanks for listening to me complain and for praying. :)
On a happy note, my dear sister, Jeni, is pregnant!!! It is Jeni and David's first baby and we are so excited for them. She is struggling with the awful all-day "morning" sickness and could also use your prayers. Thanks!!!
I feel so "great with child," and really don't love the feeling of my stomach resting on my lap when I sit. :) My pregnancy related acid reflux is so bad now that I have to have about 6 pillows arranged in my bed to create a nice upright angle for falling asleep. I'm very tired. Tired from not sleeping well, tired of being pregnant... just plain tired. I believe I've hit the pregnancy wall. So, I'm complaining... sorry. I need to be content, even now. The timing of this birth is in God's hands and I need to trust Him! Please pray for me. I feel a bit grouchy from being so uncomfortable and tired, etc... Poor Sophia. It'll be good for all of us to have "normal" Mommy back. :) Jamie is my rock, as always. So patient and helpful and giving. He is so tired too, but always sacrifices his own rest times to allow me more time to sleep. He never complains when he gets home from work at 10pm and asks, "What did you guys have for dinner?" (hungry and anticipating some yummy leftovers...) - only to get the response, "Um, cereal..."
So, we're praying for Baby Bean to come in the next couple of weeks and for strength for all of us to get through these tough weeks prior to Bean coming. Thanks for listening to me complain and for praying. :)
On a happy note, my dear sister, Jeni, is pregnant!!! It is Jeni and David's first baby and we are so excited for them. She is struggling with the awful all-day "morning" sickness and could also use your prayers. Thanks!!!
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Welcome Baby Eli Javier Figueroa!
My Kindred Spirit, Rachel, just had her first baby Thursday, August 7 @ 12:12am! She and Javier welcomed an adorable 8 lb., 20 in. long baby boy into this world. Eli Javier is an absolute doll, and together the three of them make such a beautiful family! We happened to be up in the Akron area the day she gave birth, so it was so special to be able to drive right over to the hospital and meet Eli. Congratulations Rach and Jav!!!
Big Sister
On Tuesday, August 5, Sophia and I went to the Siblings' Preparation Class at Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital (were we'll be delivering Baby Bean). It is geared for kids just Soph's age and was a lot of fun. They hold it in the waiting room/lounge on the Labor/Delivery Unit. The kids get to learn about how babies grow inside mommy, how to put a diaper on a baby, how to swaddle a baby, what might change when baby comes home, and they also got to see a real newborn in the nursery and see one of the labor/delivery rooms. As a goody bag, each child got to take home a bunch of supplies that the midwives/OBs may use when helping the mommies have their babies. Sophia has loved playing doctor with these items. I forgot my camera the night of the class so I chronicled some of the fun we've been having with her goody bag contents!
Getting "scrubbed in" with her real surgeon's scrubber sponge (minus the chemically detergent soap)
Her first delivery! Midwife in the making???
Practicing her diapering skills.
Practicing her swaddling skills. Look how happy her baby looks! :)
Getting "scrubbed in" with her real surgeon's scrubber sponge (minus the chemically detergent soap)
All suited up and ready for the action!
Her first delivery! Midwife in the making???
Practicing her diapering skills. 
Practicing her swaddling skills. Look how happy her baby looks! :)Happy Birthday Grandpa!
On August 3rd, all family that could, gathered to celebrate my Grandpa's 82nd birthday! Grandma Hanna has been gone only a few short weeks, and we certainly missed her being there to help celebrate the life of Grandpa. We were thankful to spend the afternoon with him though, and hopefully he had a good time. We love you Grandpa!!!
Sophia's cousin, Devon
And... missing :)
Sophia's cousin, Devon
Trying to catch a water balloon...
And... missing :)New Windows - Before Shots
All of the windows in our house are old and needing replaced. God provided for us to start tackling this. July 28th, we were able to replace three of the priority windows. They were all picture windows and couldn't open. This of course greatly limited airflow in the house, esp. in the living room and our bedroom because this was the only type of window there = zero airflow!
Inside living room
Inside Sophia's room
Inside our room
Outside of both bedrooms
Inside living room
Outside living room
Inside Sophia's room
Inside our room
Outside of both bedroomsNew Windows - After shots
Wow! Don't they look way better?? Especially makes the outside of the house look much improved... unfortunetly there are still a bunch that need replaced - which now look even worse! Some day our house won't be the eyesore of Keen Avenue. :) Seriously though, we are so thankful for these new windows and for the airflow they provide!
Inside living room
Inside Sophia's room
Inside our room
Outside of our room (left) and Sophia's room (right)
Inside living room
Outside living room
Inside Sophia's room
Inside our room
Outside of our room (left) and Sophia's room (right)Much over due!
Thank you for all of your prayers. I think the medication switch has fixed the problem! Thank you Lord Jesus! Granted, I'm still feeling the effects of being 36 weeks pregnant, but all the crazy, unexplainable symptoms have pretty much subsided, so we are thankful for that!
I am about to post a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks that I've just not had the energy to do till now. We'll start with some shots from July 26 - Jamie's and my anniversary. 5 years!
Jamie testing out the camera/tripod set up :)
Think I could fit in my wedding dresss?? :)
"I love you."
So, I was trying to explain my "grand" ideas of how I wanted our posing to go for the kissing shot. Jamie was just like, "Hey, just let me kiss you." :) Classic male/female design. :) Meanwhile the camera is shooting away...
"smooch"
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Don't even know where to start...
Well, it's been another crazy week for us. Last weekend Jamie and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary (I will post some pics asap) and my Mom and Dad were gracious enough to keep Soph for two nights so Jamie and I could do some date nights (eating out sans toddler is quite a treat!) and sleep in two days in a row! :)
Monday we had three of our unable to open picture windows replaced with two double hungs each. It's great to have some air flow through the house now and where the new windows are at the outside of the house looks so much better! We can't wait to get the rest replaced so the house matches. :) Again, I took pictures but have yet the chance to post them...
So, as mentioned before I've been struggling with what I thought was just really bad asthma since Spring. I figured what with allergies, the hot, humid weather and being pregnant I was just struggling. Unfortunetly the past 4-6 weeks have been so bad that, as you may know if you read my previous blog, I went to my doctor. Well, this past week started out really bad for me, so by Wednesday morning I called my mom and asked her to help me out so I could go back to my Dr.
She picked Soph and me up in the morning and we spent the day resting in her air conditioned house until my appt. at 4pm. Well, after looking me over a bit my dr. was again unsettled and not convinced that only my asthma was involved. I told her that they didn't do any testing to rule out a blood clot when she'd sent me to the hospital just two weeks ago. I told her that the docs there assured me it was just my asthma and they even told me they'd talked to her (my doc.), so I trusted them and felt comfortable leaving.
WELL! ... My doctor was quite upset. She said they had never called her and she never would have permitted me to leave without conclusivly ruling out a blood clot in my lungs (via CAT scan). So, she sent me back to the hospital, this time directly to radiology with a STAT order. It went smoothly (and I was thankful they had the donut shaped Cat scan as opposed to the tunnel kind) and I was in and out of there in only about an hour. The scan was negative for any clots which was wonderful news.
The next day my Doctor had me go see a cariologist to rule out any heart involvment. They did an EKG, and Echocardiogram (both came back totally normal) and put a 24 hr. halter monitor (this little box attatched to cords which are attatched to your chest with little stickies that records your heart rhythm continuously) on me. I had to record any time I had symptoms and what I was doing at the time.
This takes us to Friday morning (yesterday) where I went back to my regular Dr. for a follow-up. She is still puzzled by my symptoms (my lungs are totally clear and my inhalers are not doing anything to help my shortness of breath, my heart rate is way high, blood pressure way low, dizzy, lightheaded, feelings of my heart pounding, feeling very drowsy - like in a fog... etc... ) and unconvinced it is "just" my asthma. And yet, my heart appears totally healthy, no blood clots... what's going on??
So, she has one life threatening concern she wants to rule out - basically she was hearing some irregularities in my heart rhythm and wanted to make sure I wasn't at risk for my heart stopping. So, back to the cardiologist where they removed my halter monitor to do a stat read on it to see if my heart had done any of these dangerous arrythmias. I was to return home (well, my mom's house where we'd just stayed since Wednesday since all the docs are in her area (Akron) - an hour from my house) and wait for my Dr. to call me.
She calls a few hours later and says the halter monitor showed nothing seriously abnormal or anything. She is repeatedly asking me if I'm anxious or anything, and though this could explain a lot of my symptoms, I'm just not feeling any of that, so that didn't help solve the mystery.
Out of no where she takes one last stab and asks, " You haven't recently switched your Synthroid to a generic form, have you??"
okay... pause for a second. I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid back in college. I have to take a pill every day so that my thyroid gland functions properly. The name brand is Synthroid. A few months ago when I filled my prescription they filled it with a generic verison, but I thought nothing of it. Okay, unpause...
So, I told her that I had and it was like a lightbulb went off. She said most of her patients cannot take generic Synthroid because the dosing isn't accurate or something and it doesn't work properly. So, she had me go get the name brand and I started that today. The hope is that this is what is really causing all the strange symptoms and they will start to subside as my body readjusts to the right medication...
Whew... for those of you who don't know anything about thyroid disease... it does some funky stuff to you, and as a point of interest, my mom, both aunts and my grandma have/had thyroid disease and have all tried generic synthroid and have all had a terrible reaction to it. Interesting...
So, though I'm not feeling all the way better, I'm really praying this does the trick! I don't expect that all my asthmatic symptoms will go away, after all, I have asthma and I'm "great with child!" But, all the other funky, uncontrolled symptoms - praying they go away soon! We did go ahead and install two window air conditioners last night to help keep the house (and me) more comfortable.
If you were praying for me, thank you! Keep it up! Sorry this post was so long... just wanted to update you on our wild week.
Monday we had three of our unable to open picture windows replaced with two double hungs each. It's great to have some air flow through the house now and where the new windows are at the outside of the house looks so much better! We can't wait to get the rest replaced so the house matches. :) Again, I took pictures but have yet the chance to post them...
So, as mentioned before I've been struggling with what I thought was just really bad asthma since Spring. I figured what with allergies, the hot, humid weather and being pregnant I was just struggling. Unfortunetly the past 4-6 weeks have been so bad that, as you may know if you read my previous blog, I went to my doctor. Well, this past week started out really bad for me, so by Wednesday morning I called my mom and asked her to help me out so I could go back to my Dr.
She picked Soph and me up in the morning and we spent the day resting in her air conditioned house until my appt. at 4pm. Well, after looking me over a bit my dr. was again unsettled and not convinced that only my asthma was involved. I told her that they didn't do any testing to rule out a blood clot when she'd sent me to the hospital just two weeks ago. I told her that the docs there assured me it was just my asthma and they even told me they'd talked to her (my doc.), so I trusted them and felt comfortable leaving.
WELL! ... My doctor was quite upset. She said they had never called her and she never would have permitted me to leave without conclusivly ruling out a blood clot in my lungs (via CAT scan). So, she sent me back to the hospital, this time directly to radiology with a STAT order. It went smoothly (and I was thankful they had the donut shaped Cat scan as opposed to the tunnel kind) and I was in and out of there in only about an hour. The scan was negative for any clots which was wonderful news.
The next day my Doctor had me go see a cariologist to rule out any heart involvment. They did an EKG, and Echocardiogram (both came back totally normal) and put a 24 hr. halter monitor (this little box attatched to cords which are attatched to your chest with little stickies that records your heart rhythm continuously) on me. I had to record any time I had symptoms and what I was doing at the time.
This takes us to Friday morning (yesterday) where I went back to my regular Dr. for a follow-up. She is still puzzled by my symptoms (my lungs are totally clear and my inhalers are not doing anything to help my shortness of breath, my heart rate is way high, blood pressure way low, dizzy, lightheaded, feelings of my heart pounding, feeling very drowsy - like in a fog... etc... ) and unconvinced it is "just" my asthma. And yet, my heart appears totally healthy, no blood clots... what's going on??
So, she has one life threatening concern she wants to rule out - basically she was hearing some irregularities in my heart rhythm and wanted to make sure I wasn't at risk for my heart stopping. So, back to the cardiologist where they removed my halter monitor to do a stat read on it to see if my heart had done any of these dangerous arrythmias. I was to return home (well, my mom's house where we'd just stayed since Wednesday since all the docs are in her area (Akron) - an hour from my house) and wait for my Dr. to call me.
She calls a few hours later and says the halter monitor showed nothing seriously abnormal or anything. She is repeatedly asking me if I'm anxious or anything, and though this could explain a lot of my symptoms, I'm just not feeling any of that, so that didn't help solve the mystery.
Out of no where she takes one last stab and asks, " You haven't recently switched your Synthroid to a generic form, have you??"
okay... pause for a second. I was diagnosed with underactive thyroid back in college. I have to take a pill every day so that my thyroid gland functions properly. The name brand is Synthroid. A few months ago when I filled my prescription they filled it with a generic verison, but I thought nothing of it. Okay, unpause...
So, I told her that I had and it was like a lightbulb went off. She said most of her patients cannot take generic Synthroid because the dosing isn't accurate or something and it doesn't work properly. So, she had me go get the name brand and I started that today. The hope is that this is what is really causing all the strange symptoms and they will start to subside as my body readjusts to the right medication...
Whew... for those of you who don't know anything about thyroid disease... it does some funky stuff to you, and as a point of interest, my mom, both aunts and my grandma have/had thyroid disease and have all tried generic synthroid and have all had a terrible reaction to it. Interesting...
So, though I'm not feeling all the way better, I'm really praying this does the trick! I don't expect that all my asthmatic symptoms will go away, after all, I have asthma and I'm "great with child!" But, all the other funky, uncontrolled symptoms - praying they go away soon! We did go ahead and install two window air conditioners last night to help keep the house (and me) more comfortable.
If you were praying for me, thank you! Keep it up! Sorry this post was so long... just wanted to update you on our wild week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)