26 Weks!

Today marks 26 weeks...only 14 more to go!

Today also marks the best news we have had in a while with this pregnancy! We had both our regular 6 month appointment and another appointment with the specialist this morning. We were supposed to hit the regular appointment and then head over to the hospital for the specialist, but my doc had an emergency and had to reschedule for later today...hence me not starting this until nearly 4pm on Wednesday! We had a wonderful, leisurely breakfast at a diner downtown and then headed over to see the specialist. The ultrasound showed that the baby is still growing well and is still right on target for her size measurements. And best of all it showed that the fluids increased again! We increased by 2 centimeters this time, not as much as I was hoping for, but still a good increase. The technician says the normal range is between 8cm and 20cm, but the doc says normal is 15. On one and a half months of bed rest we have increased from 6.2 to 11.5 and that was enough encouragement for the doc to say that we don't need to keep coming in every two weeks. He thinks the progress is indicative of a positive future and now we only have to go to the specialist once a month!!! This guy also gave me permission to do some exercises to stretch (yoga exercises) out so I won't be as sore and even gave me permission to drive myself to the pool so that I can do a full immersion soak 2-3 times a week (basically just keeping the bulging belly underwater because the tub isn't nearly deep enough to cover this thing!). I cannot tell you how excited I am to be able to get out of the house a for a couple of hours a week! Whoo hooo!!!

After that appointment we headed over to my office to pick up my personal belongings. I'm pretty much over my frustration on how my office manager called up last week basically telling me I was terminated, without using the words fired, or termination. However, I do have a problem with the way the whole thing was handled on their end and I cannot begin to tell you just how livid Ty has been over this. So we picked up my stuff and and headed for our second appointment.

It was actually better seeing my regular doc after having seen the specialist. Good news is better to have before you get not so good news. My OB wants to continue seeing me every 2 weeks so he can do non-stress tests on the baby. Basically what this amounts to is me sitting in his office for a 1/2 hour every two weeks with a fetal monitor strapped to my belly. He wants to get info on what the baby is doing and how much she is moving. I still don't feel a whole lot of movement with her, and a lot of the time I am not sure if it is her moving or gas bubbles in my intestines. I think what I feel is her, but he is worried that the smaller amounts of fluid may make it harder for her to pull a good enough punch to feel it on the outside and he just wants to make sure that she is moving. It's all just precautionary and I don't feel that there is a thing wrong with her. I am bummed that I have to go down there every 2 weeks still, but I will do whatever is required. Everything I had concerns about the two docs dismissed as normal and said not to worry. They said I should be expecting to get more tired, more easily, and to expect other changes, physical as well as emotional. So I will keep up the bed rest, but add in some yoga and some pool time and maybe just a little cleaning around the house (if I can get away with it).

So that is the Indian Hills News for now. I am off to find a maternity bathing suit so I can get to the pool as soon as possible!! Oh, and thanks to everyone who comments on the blog. I read them all and I do appreciate hearing from you all!!

Week 24

Last week we had our 24 week appointment with the specialist. She was shocked to find that baby is growing well and is on target for her June 1 due date as well as showing an increase in fluids. We went from a paltry 6.2cm of fluid just two weeks before to 9.2cm this visit!!! A 50% increase in fluids!! This is great news and if we can continue to have this sort of increase we should be at the normal and acceptable level within one month!

So my goal for now is to keep following the doc's advice and hopefully continue to see improvement. I am still going to have to see the doctor every two weeks at this point, but if we continue with improvement perhaps I won't have to increase those visits and admittance to the hospital will be out of the doctor's vocabulary until May/June!

To top the day off, we got word that I may be able to put together a show with the photos I took of the wolves in December. The place who makes our prints said that they really like the shots we sent to them to try a new mounting process. Apparently the previous work they had of mine was a huge hit at their "First Friday" opening of their new location. My work wasn't on display, it was in their processing room which happened to be open to the public for their opening and people were commenting. This interest generated enough intrigue that they started talking to Ty about having me do a display in their studio. Can you believe it? I cannot!!! Who would have thought that a gallery in one of Denver's hottest areas, The Golden Triangle, would want to hang my work?! I think it would be amazing to have my work in a real gallery and not just hanging in a restaurant showing. WHAT A DAY!!

We are starting to play around with other middle names for Lucanne. While we originally envisioned a female derivation of Christopher, we are starting to think that we need to find some derivation of "miracle" for her middle name. Any suggestions will be appreciated!

Later in the week though I got a call from my office basically saying that they had to terminate me because I wouldn't be able to return to work due to the pregnancy complications. This wasn't entirely unexpected, I cannot expect to keep a job I cannot make it to, however the timing and delivery wasn't the kindest. I cannot blame them for needing to find someone who can do what I do and I feel sorry that the person won't have the benefit of me training them. I wasn't well trained and had to learn most of the tricks of the trade on my own. I had always intended that when I went on maternity leave I would be able to train my replacement so she wouldn't have to struggle like I did. The office manager said she missed me both as a friend and as an employee and that did take some of the sting out of blow. I do feel more free now and don't stress about who is doing what at my desk. ;~)

So that is Week 24 in a nutshell. We hope you are all well and look forward to updating you all again next week when we make it in for our Week 26 appointment. Love to all!