My baby is normal!

Fonda and I drove to Sarasota today for the appt. with the perinatologist and the Level II u/s, not a bad drive but I had this horrible feeling in the pit of my belly and my stomach felt mildy upset. When i got into the U/S room the tech took one look at the baby's kidneys and said how normal everything looked. She even checked many other parts of the baby and didn't find anything at all that might be abnormal. I am absolutely relieved. All is good with the world.

Husband rant

David doesn't work on Monday. He thought it wouldn't be wise for us to go to the appt. in Sarasota together in case there is bad news. The both of us are a little stressed out and it probably wouldn't be good.
I suggested that he watch Seth for part of the time so my mom wouldn't have to be here so long and he wasn't happy about that.
"I'm in agony and I thought I would be able to take a day off!" WTF? a day off? Hello? I'm very achy and tired,d o I ask for a "day off" I think I deserve one as well if he does.
many days he was off work in the week and I still had my mom come watch Seth so he could do stuff around the house. He gets upset when I question him about sitting around playing video games. I've let him have it way too easy for too long. He goes to band practice twice a week and stops at the pub a couple times a week after work. Since when do I go out anywhere after work to " relax"?
When do I get any time to "relax" Especially when many times he's out all day and doesn't get home until 1 hour before Seth goes to bed then he whines about wanting some nookie? Well, I had a busy day and once Seth is in bed I want some alone time. What has he done for ME lately????

End of rant.Thank you very much.

I have scheduled my appointment!

For Monday october 30 at 2:30. It's going to be an hour and a half, ick. My sister is going to try to find a sitter for Amber so she can go along with me. David will be working and my mom will be watching Seth. I hope she can go, I don't want to be alone. Especially if i get bad news.
Today's weather was lovely! High in the mid-70s! Seth and I went to get the stroller and then we went to the playground and the grocery store THEN we went to the mall with Fonda and Amber so we have been very busy. But it was fun. :)

Prenatal Hydronephrosis

From the research I have done and the very limited information I received from the Dr. office I think this may be the issue. Apparently it's the most common problem found on prenatal scans with about 42,000 each year. Half of those turn out to be nothing but the other half has a variety of diagnoses, most likely an obstruction or a kink in the collecting tube in the kidney( I really wish the Dr. office would have given me proper names for things! I may not know much but I am quite familiar with anatomy and physiology of the human body)
Since my baby's tube is even so slightly enlarged I am guessing that maybe it isn't completely obstructed? I hope it's nothing.
The perinatologist office hasn't called yet to set up and appt. I really wish they'd hurry up because I am stressed out! Anytime I talk to anyone about this kidney thing I start to cry. Even if i start to think too hard about it I cry. I wanna get past this so I can be normal again!!!!
Logically, I tell myself that it's probably nothing and it's extremely minor AND I am going to a very capable Dr. who will be able to give me advise. But the mom in me just worries and feels so sad because there's is something inperfect about my baby. David even said "How are we going to financially manage caring for a child with special medical needs?"
Hopefully we won't have to.

Fortunately my sister went to the same perinatologist during her pregnancy ( because her quad screen showed high probability for Down's syndrome) and she says he is excellent and the staff was knowledgable, besides it's in a very neat facility in Sarasota. At least she''ll be able to tell me where to go.

20 weeks 4 days appt. update.

Heart rate is excellent at around 160 and i measure properly. My BP is 100/60 and my weight is a whopping 134lbs. ( Whopping for me ,at least) I have gained 17 pounds!!! Yikes!
My U/S showed that one of the tubes in one of the kidneys is a little enlarged so i am being sent to a Dr. in Sarasota for a Level II U/S to get a better look. Apparently much of the time it turns out to be nothing. I didn't feel so upset at the time but now..I can't get it out of my head! I feel so weepy and irrational today.
Hopefully it'll pass, I don't like feeling this way.

I don't wanna know how much I weigh!

I put on some new jeans this morning and turned around to see how they looked in the mirror. WOW! My butt is huge! I want to know but at the same time I am scared to know how much I weigh. Last time I checked I weighed about 132 or so. It doesn't sound like alot..considering I am 5 months pregnant ,but it seems to look horrible on me! Maybe it's my warped body image? I've been under weight all of my life( just by 5-10 lbs, not alot) so being proper weight is difficult for me to accept? Many people might feel like I am an idiot because there are plenty of people out there with legitimate weight issues and here I am worrying about pregnancy weight.
But honestly I finding gaining weight very difficult to accept! I am so afraid of being " fat" that I can't stand to gain a pound.
I can't stand to have any extra flab or jiggle anywhere. After Seth I had a difficult time dealing with the extra belly skin after pregnancy. It's not like my body was ever perfect. David has always loved my body, noone in my life has evr made fun of it..exept for being to thin in elementary school ( that was way before I had body image issues..that was simply genetics and high metabolism)

I still look in the mirror, pregnant or not, and all I see is a fat girl. :(

I need another U/S

Yesterday I called the place that did my U/S and complained about the tech giving away the gender. They apologized profusely and said they would take care of it. Later that day the tech calls me at work telling me that she needs more pics of the face for the Dr. I told her I didn't want her to do my U/S and that I would like to schedule it elsewhere. So I am going to the hospital to have it done on Monday at 4.
My mom is going with me this time. You know, last time I had to have my 20 week U/S done twice due to some heart pics being omitted. This is annoying.
Now I am scared there is something wrong with my baby's face. I just hate having tests done!

Here's a pic...

Ultrasound today..

Apparently everything looks good. I am measuring one day ahead so that would make my due date March 1 but I won't change anything, might as well stick with march 2. I saw legs , arms, hands, head, eyes, heart ,you know. Everything was there. I'll find out for sure from the Dr. next week.
We told the lady that we didn't want to know the gender but she immediately said " I accidentally saw the gender" and referred to the baby as "he " throughout the entire scan. Whe I complained ( after correcting her several times) she said that she calls every baby "he". Somehow I don't quite believe it. We got a pic that seems to show the genitals in full glory. Why the hell would she do that???
Tomorrow I am bringing the pic back and will ask someone there what exactly i see in the pic. If they say it's what i think i am going to complain. This is my last baby and David and I really wanted a surprise!! Now we know it's a boy.

Am I upset because I was secretly hoping for a girl and I am disappointed? I don't know. I actually DO feel a little sad even though i told everyone I really wanted a boy. Now I will never have a daughter. I feel like I should just be happy that it's growing and healthy. Pretty shallow,I know.

Seth's Two!

One...Two...three... that's about as high as he can count these days. He will count just about anything but if you ask him how old he is he doesn't know. Eh, He'll catch on eventually.
We had an awesome party and my mom's house. Mom and Jack, David, Fonda, Jason, Amber, Mamaw, Dad, Sean and Heather were all there. Dad had forgotten but I called to remind him and he came right over. Sean and Heather got there late as well but the important thing was they were there.
Seth got alot of neat stuff, a couple trucks, some clothes, some art stuff and coloring books, a tricycle from David and I. So far he's been having a blast with everything. Oh, and we had tons of food. It was great! Seth ate alot more than he usually does for lunch and he really enjoyed the cake. It was a Publix cake with the "Cars" theme ( "Cars" is Seth's new obsession..the movie not neccisarily ANY car) Seth immediately stuck his fingers in the frosting. We all sang "Happy Birthday" and Seth just beamed! He was absolutely thrilled when evryone was singing! When we clapped he clapped also. We've been trying to teach him the birthday song for a month now so he was quite familiar with it but I didn't expect him to be sooo excited when we sang it.
Then we all hang out in Mom's back yard while Seth ran around getting good and dirty. We all had a good time but when we got home I could tell Seth was exhausted..and so was I.
I can't believe I am the mom of a two year old. And I wouldn't want it any other way..

chicken tenders, deviled eggs, cookies..

assorted veggies with ranch dip and fruit. Oh, and of course, cake. That is the menu for Seth's birthday party. Yum yum. Now I just have to get a birthday present for him. Probably Friday when David gets paid...godness knows, there isn't much $ left after buying all the groceries! I can't believe what we've spent! A lot less than other people, I'm sure, but a 2nd birthday only comes around once and everyone loves an excuse for family to get together and EAT! At least my family..oddly enough we are a thin bunch but we sure like food! Saturday should be loads of fun.

Seth loves halloween decorations.

Maybe because he was born in the month of Halloween, maybe because his Dad loves halloween so much, in any case: let me tell a cute story.
We have a plastic light-up jack-o-lantern and a rubbery light-up skull we set on the table in front of the front window at Halloween. Seth calls the skull " Scary guy" and the pumpkin " scary pumpkin". So he is fascinated by the two objects. He turns the skull to the pumpkin and says " hi scary pumpkin" then turns the pumpkin to the skull ans says " hi scary guy". This conversation goes on and on without much variation. I think it's pretty cute.
Every time we are at the store and he sees a ghoulish Halloween decoration it's always " Scary guy" But he isn't scared really. More fascinated.
This halloween will be loads of fun, I can tell.

Seth's birthday is getting closer..

I ordered a cool cake from Publix and invited all kinds of family, we got party plates and cups. I just need to get birthday presents. I can't believe my boy will be 2, time is going so fast!
I can't believe that my boy has gone from the crankiest non sleeping little baby to the happiest, most pleasant, excellent sleeping boy. I keep wondering when the terrible twos kick in because right now he is super cute. He didn't get any of our moodiness, thank God!