Modified bed rest - day 2 + Turkey day recap

So yesterday was Thanksgiving and it was really quite a fun day. I took it easy until about 10am and then got ready for Colleens from 10-11. We arrived at Colleen's around noon to commence the Thanksgiving BBQ. It was really fun - my parents were there with Colleen, Ricky and their kids, my Aunt Babe came over as well and then Geoff and I. Relatively small though bcs Kevin was at Holly's and Meghan and Cade did not fly up. I did call Meghan yesterday en route to Colleen's but have not heard from her how she and Cade spent the holiday. After that we came home and I laid down for a while - I ended up falling asleep and so did Geoff - so we did not get to Belmont until just about 6pm - which ended up being perfect for timing (for us ;) but we did not help out setting up as much as normal. For dinner there was the Palmers and Christina's parents and of course Nicholas made his Thanksgiving debut :) Nicholas was so well behaved and pretty much slept through the entire dinner until his meal time just around dessert. He is such a well behaved baby though - he does not fuss at all (minus the ""i'm getting hungry" little cries - but besides that he is really a happy and very content baby. It was really fun to have dinner with Christina's parents they are really, really delightful people and so kind and fun. Geoff's Mum made a very incredible meal and everything turned out perfectly - including the flour less chocolate cake :) Geoff did a ton of dishes during dessert (bcs his belly was not feeling that well) so we left after dessert and came home to watch an episode of Mad Men in bed.

Today, well my schedule got pretty cleared with the news I need to be on modified bed rest. So I just folded the pre-fold diapers and wipes, am going to go to Belmont center for stamps and Starbucks and then will fill my day with things that involve productive sitting - like folding laundry. Geoff is going to have to keep the washer and dryer going constantly for me to keep relatively busy ;)


Besides that today is the day that Geoff is painting the nursery! :) I am so very excited - we are getting there and soon enough we will be able to have the nursery set up. I forget if I mentioned it, but we got the decorations for the nursery in the mail a few days ago and I am really happy with them. No too much - just a few accent pieces to give a nod to having a "theme" or some coherent motif. We also got the new vacuum in the mail today - Geoff picked out a really great one and it is really quite cool - I never thought I would be so excited about a vacuum - but that is where my life is currently ;) The electric broom has served us well over the last 6 years but time to upgrade to something that actually sucks things clean.

A mild case of mild preclampsia

So yesterday proved to be a be an unexpectedly interesting day. I was planning on working remotely and then going with Mum to drop off my 24 hour urine sample around 9:15 am and ended up not getting back home until close to 4pm. Mum was really sweet to drive me in for the drop off, and then went to temporary parking bcs we figured it would only take a few minutes. So I get to Blake 14 and they check me in and then put me in triage. They thought it was kind of odd that I was told to drop off my urine with them and not at the outpatient place. So they decided bcs of this oddity I should be monitored for the next 40 minutes. So they hooked me up to the baby monitor and then also put me on the automatic blood pressure machine for readings every 10 minutes. I called Mum to tell her this could take a little bit so then she parked the car and came up to join me. So at first my blood pressure looked okay, but then the readings started to creep up a little (either on the top or the bottom). The best news is that the baby was just perfect, his heart beat was just fine and there was plenty of movements through out the day.

So they took off the baby monitor, but bcs of the few high readings on my blood pressure they decided to re-run my labs and have my liver and kidney checked out again. After a very long ordeal in extracting the tubes of blood (which involved routing around in my veins - yuck) the nurse needed to start a new line on my right arm bcs she fudged up the left so so badly and did not want them to reject it bcs of not having enough blood. So then they decided that I should wait for the blood work results, but not the urine. So then Mum and I ordered lunch and waited for the blood results. Low and behold the blood results took super long bcs they forgot to run one of them - so hours later they came back and said the blood was normal - thankfully, but that at this point I should just wait for the urine results bcs it would just be another hour. So then by about 2pm they said that my urine protein levels were slightly elevated (315 instead of a normal 300) so they needed to consult with a high risk Dr. After more waiting they said that I could go home, but need to be on modified bed rest until my ultrasound and Dr. appt. on Monday afternoon. So in the end I have a mild case of mild preclampsia and they need to see me twice a week and take my blood once a week until the baby comes. I was really not (and am still not) ready for them to talk about induction - the mid wife on duty yesterday mentioned it - bcs I know that is the only cure for severe preclampsia - but for mild - I would like to hold off on discussing that for now. Besides the nursery not being painted, I just want this baby to stay inside me for 2 more weeks - I do not care if I need to be on bed rest for 2 weeks to make that happen - I just want him to hit full term and come out at 37 weeks. If that wish cannot be granted then my aim is for 36 weeks so he won't have to spend much time (if any) in the NICU. Really quite amazing how your goals change so quickly. I just really hope that the preeclampsia does not get any worse and that we can make it to the finish line by the skin of our teeth - that would be quite the appropriate delivery for me - it aligns with the rest of my life ;)

Today we are headed to Colleen's for a T-day BBQ and then to Geoff's parents for dinner. It should be a great day overall and I am just going to try to take it easy and not east too much. It will be great to see Colleen's kids and also to have Nicholas and Christina's parents for the holiday as well. I need to figure out how to look presentable with the least amount of effort possible ;)

Yeah normal - but still have an orange container to pee in

So I just got my test results back and my liver and kidney function is normal - yippee! I was trying not to worry, but am still so relieved to have the good news. besides that I have almost filled up the orange container with pee, so Geoff will need to pick something up on the way home for me to transfer my extra pee into. I cannot believe I need to carry the pee into Boston tomorrow and hand it over to them. Seeing as the blood work was normal I can now look more forward to to ultrasound on Monday afternoon. I am more assured that he is growing just fine and he has been very active today. I don't know if it is bcs I have been taking it relatively easy or focusing on him more, but he has had great movement today so I am really pleased.

I washed all the baby clothes from my 2 showers today and am starting to organize them on the guest bed. I also washed the cloth diapers and inserts and started to pack my bags for the hospital. Funny, my "goody" bag is mostly filled with food - I am obviously more concerned about eating than anything else. Well that and my camera. I am going to see if I can create a web part for this page and upload my belly bump photos. They are kind of fun and neat to see the progression - you can def. tell when we had growth spurts ;)

Also, I bought another 4 pack of massages from Isis this week and have one scheduled every Sunday into December. Also, Pama said that I could work remotely from here on out - which is really very wonderful of her. I will def. take her up on that offer bcs I feel so much better today just being able to type with my laptop in bed.

I got the decorations for the nursery in the mail today. We got the lamp, mobile, valence and wall decorations. They are cute - and should look great with the blue walls when Geoff has finished painting. So far Geoff has done an incredible job and even just with the primer on the nursery looks fantastic :) I am really looking forward to getting it set up and seeing how it all looks in the same space.

Easy street for me

So I had my appt. with my mid-wife today and after waiting 45 minutes in the waiting room - it is decided that my blood pressure is on the high side and there was protein in my urine. That and I gained 8 pounds in the 3 weeks. Great. So I had some blood work done to check on my liver and kidneys and tomorrow I have to do a 24 hour urine test to test the protein levels. My ankles have been swollen for about a week so it looks like I am retaining a significant amount of fluid. They also booked an ultrasound to make sure the baby is growing normally. The positives being that I am measuring perfectly and that the baby is head down. Also, he has been kicking and active so that is a good sign.

So I will need to work remotely tomorrow so I can collect all my pee and put it in the big orange jug. I also canceled the breast feeding class at Isis bcs they want me to take it easy (I would have to take bus to train to get to Pru for class) and I certainly do not want to have to carry my orange jug on the bus and train with me and also to class. Kind of silly, I always half-joked to Geoff that I wish they would tell me to be on bed rest, but now they want me to take it easy and work remotely and I really do not like the feeling of it. I know that most of this is precautionary but it is still really scary, especially when they ask you questions like "do you have headaches, are you seeing lights or spots, do you have pain..."

This is really the first thing to pop up in my pregnancy to date. I wonder if it is my bodies way of saying that it has had enough of this pregnancy thing. I should also call my Mom to see what she says - she usually makes me feel better. So my mom told me to take it easy and not try to worry. Geoff is heating up dinner now so I should be running - he got his 4th qualified lead today (out of 5) he is so close to getting to his goal - I am so happy for him. I also ordered an Edible Arrangement for the President of his company today to thank them for the crib they gave us - I felt so great after doing so - gift giving is the best :)

All things baby

Baby shower(s)! :)

Very quick post bcs I have to go do a few things to get ready - but today is my baby shower! Technically it is my second one bcs my work one was on Friday afternoon, but today is the one with family and friends. I did not sleep well at all last night, so I hope I will not look like crap today. Amanda is coming over in about 15 minutes to do my hair and make-up for me - which is so incredibly nice of her :)

Last night I went back tot he hairdressers to have some highlights put in and I am so happy now with my hair. After the first appt. it was a bit too dark, but now with the highlights (and a gloss she put in) it is really perfect and I feel much more ready for my upcoming photo opps.

I will write more about my showers when I get back :)

A swiney Dad

Let's see since my last post not much has happened with the nursery. Geoff attacked the wallpaper for 5 hours on Sunday (doing at 1/4 of it) and has not had a chance to go back to it since. Last weekend we had our Doula appt. from 9:30 - 1:00pm on Saturday and then we went to dinner in Belmont on Saturday night bcs Justin and Kristal were visiting. Justin completed the NY marathon so after that they decided to sing up here to say hello :) Sunday I had Erin's baby shower in Lowell - that was really fun. It was easy to get to (minus navigating downtown Lowell) and her friend Taylor did a really great job with everything. Hillary and Emily were there and I also go to meet Emily's mom and sister who were really fun. Hillary is due in about 2 weeks with a little boy so she could have him any day. Also, Katie Sano had her little girl Leighton a few days ago - she looked really cute in the photos I saw on Facebook. Christina and Jon are still waiting for their baby to arrive - I think she has been having contractions for almost 2 weeks now so I think they are anxious to get things moving along. I went to lunch with Mum, Christina and Stacy Bell on Monday (when I was working remotely). It was really great to see everyone and just catch up. When I was out to lunch on Monday Geoff came down with the swine flu (H1N1) - his temperature got up close to 104 which was a little scary. So I made an emergency trip to CVS, called my mom and have been taking care of him since. I am so incredibly thankful that I was able to get the vaccine about 12 days ago. It takes your body a week to 10 days to build immunity and Geoff came down with the flu exactly 10 days after my shot. I am still trying to keep a distance and stay well, but I guess at this point I am bound to get it if that is in the cards. You just can't live and take care of someone without being exposed.

So yesterday I stayed home to take care of Geoff and did some errands in the morning (bank and dry cleaning) then FINALLY finished up my B-day thank you notes and also the other thank you notes I needed to write for house warming gifts. I also raked a ton of leaves in the backyard. We are up to over 20 bags right now - and I have done the majority of them. I am not complaining - more so that I have never raked so many leaves in my life! I ran out of bags so I need to go to Stop & Shop today to pick some more up - I may get a bird feeder while I am there :)

Today is Veteran's day so I have that off already. Besides the leaf bags, Aaron and Megan are coming over to pick up boxes for their move. After that I want to work on the baby shower thank you notes I am designing and then I have a hair cut and color around 2:30pm. After that I have a breast feeding class at Isis from 6-9pm. I have no idea how I am going to stay awake till 9pm - I am in bed around 7:30pm these days.

Friday afternoon is my baby shower at work and then Sunday is my baby shower. I am looking forward to both. On the work front, the company laid off over 100 people on Monday when I was working remotely. Mike was really nice and called me to let me know. I feel so bad though for everyone who was let go - especially with the "jobless recovery" and the holidays coming up shortly. Speaking of which I need to email my family to get X-mas ideas from them - I want to get all our Christmas shopping done early this year bcs I only want to have to wrap gifts come December.

Well I am off to start the (holi)day!

The Nursery is getting a face lift :)

So today, besides me being up at the crack of dawn - okay technically the sun hasn't even started to rise yet - Geoff is planning on stripping the wall paper in the nursery so we can paint the walls. Geoff really likes a blue paint sample I got yesterday so that is fine with me, only bcs we agreed he would re-paint if the bext baby is a girl :)

Yesterday I was quite busy. Geoff went to the lake with Jon and Chris to take the boat out. It was supposed to be my "Queen for a Day" day, but that was overruled by the boat and everyone's schedules. So as Geoff was heading out I ventured to Whole Foods and then Stop and Shop. After that I dropped off the dry cleaning, got a latte, and then headed to Home Depot to get paint samples. After that I came home to look at the samples in the light and then headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to return some items I had purchased a few weekends ago. They have a Trader Joes there so I swung in there as well to get some "almost ready to eat" meals for the week. They are really great main dishes, so we just need to figure out the sides when coming home from work at night. After that I went to The Container Store in Chestnut Hill and returned the hamper I had purchases online. I then bought 2 under the bed containers so I can put out sheets in there.

After that I finished my Valentino movie on Netflix on demand and Geoff came home. I was in bed really quite early (before the last of the trick-or-treaters), hence me being awake so early today. I have not been sleeping that well lately and my eyes show it. Also, I forgot about turning back the clocks last night so me waking at 6am today was really 5am! ;)

Everything baby has been going great. I had a mid-wife appt. on Friday. My blood pressure is good and my weight is just fine. I was (by some small miracle) able to get the H1N1 vaccine on Friday. So I need about a week to get immunity and then I will feel much better about riding the bus and train commuting. The mid wife said the baby was head down getting ready for his big decent into the world. his heart beat sounded perfect (I recorded it for Geoff) and I was measuring perfectly as well. I am really quite thankful that we have had the most uneventful and healthy pregnancy to date - I have not been sick once and everything is measuring on track :) I just hope this streak lasts through labor and delivery :)

I am going to go watch the second half of the English Patient on Netflix. I have started about three movies over the past week so now I want to finish them all.

Tomorrow I am starting to work remotely on Mondays - yippee! It really makes such a difference and I will have more energy for the time I am at work to be more productive and happy there.