Alton Update & Other Stuff

Week Thirty-Seven
This week, the average size is about 6.3 pounds (2859gm) now and 19.1 inches (48.6cm) length.
She is official full term now but can still benefit from extra days in the womb.
Your baby continues to practice breathing movements. Isn't it amazing how she can breathe "under water?"
Grasp is firm now. It won't be long until you'll feel that strong little fist confidently grasping your finger (or tightly clenching your hair)!
A few weeks ago, your baby would move her eyes toward light. Now she turns towards light outside the uterus.
" As the uterine wall stretches and thins allowing more light to permeate, he develops definite daily activity cycles. You will want to be sure to establish good patterns yourself at this time, thus encouraging them in your child. Ever heard of a baby getting his days/nights mixed up? Now's the time to try to avoid that!

Now if they would just tell me how to do that I would be all set!

Travis is sick this morning. He woke up yesterday with a funny thoat, and he woke up this morning about two AM crashing and banging around the bathroom looking for cold medicine and Afrin to clear his nose. I feel so badly for him, he rarely gets sick, but when he does it lays him out!

Yesterday Lynn fron our home group and I went to Burke Williams and got fabulous pregnancy massages. She is due 10 weeks after I am and is having a little girl. Lynn suggested that we should just plan their arranged marriage now. We then tried to go get pedicures, but my nail place closed at 6 and we got there at 7:15. :( We did call our husbands and had them meet us at Lucille's for dinner. YUM! I broke down and had the fried chicken. It was sooooo good! Jason and Lynn are a fun couple and we had a good time at what might have been our last un-childed hurrah.

I need to clean the office today and pack my suitcase for the hospital. There is a full moon on June 1st and next weekend we are going to try to do things to induce labor. I will be 38 weeks next Sunday, so I think that will have been adequate time to Alton to incubate. I will keep you all posted.

Alton Update

Week Thirty-Six
Your baby is almost ready and most likely, so are you! The only organ still to mature is the lungs. While certainly you are both growing anxious to meet, remember that each day (up to 42 weeks), that your little one stays within your womb will multiply his chances to breathe on his own.
If he hasn't already, this week your baby may drop into the birth canal. While breathing for mom becomes easier, walking may be the exact opposite! If he's not your first baby, this "lightening" may not occur until right before labor.
Fat is dimpling your baby's elbows and knees, and forming creases in the neck and wrists.
His skin is growing smooth and, shall we say it, "baby" soft.
His gums are very rigid. It won't be many months before you'll see his teeth.
She has a fully developed pair of kidneys and her liver has begun processing some waste products.
Your child's average size is now 18.66 inches (47.4cm) and 5.78 pounds (2622 g). Between now and birth she will gain about an ounce a day!

We changed the hospital we are going to deliver at. We found out that Little Company of Mary has a spa tub for laboring mommies! They also have multiple full time lactation consultants, and they are much more natural delivery friendly than Torrance Memorial is. I went and pre-registered there today, so we are good to go for baby launch!

Small problem though, I tested positive for Strep B cultures, so I have to go to the hospital as soon as I am in labor, which means no lengthy laboring time at home like we'd planned. :( Strep B is a bacteria we all have on our skin, and mine just happens to have gotten into the birth canal which can cause Alton to become VERY sick when he is born if I do not receive IV anti-biotics while I am in labor. If you know me well, you know I am not a fan of IVs or needles. :( At least our little boy will be safe.

One of the other neat things about LCOM is that they keep the baby in the room with you pretty much at all times. They even do the newborn tests and his first bath right there in your delivery room, so I can witness his first bath. The only time he will have to go to the nursery is when Dr. Lynch circumcises him. Or as Travis is affectionately calling the procedure, the weiner wacking.

I am starting to feel like poop. I am tired and feel plain icky. :( It will all be over soon and then my sleep deprivation can start!

Contractions are not a little party in your uterus

So Travis and I went out to dinner last night. I fell victim to the ads from Olive Garden and their new Chicken Crostini. Oh my goodness, it was so good!
So when we were seated at the table, I started having contractions. They were about 15 seconds long and 5 minutes apart. This went on for about an hour and a half. I KNEW that even if I was really in labor, that we had time to kill. So we had our overly garlic-ed meal and even stopped at Rite-Aid for more Rolaids before I went home and hopped into the bathtub.
Sure enough, as soon as I got home and into the tub, the contractions stopped.
Maggie (you can visit her blog, it is posted on my side bar) was very sweet. She is going to be my assistant coach, so I called her to tell her about my false labor. When she heard that I was having contractions, she said, "well I am going to go to bed extra early in case I need to drive up to LA early in the morning. She lives in San Diego, and is expecting a baby too.
I have been taking it easy today. I am tired, and my uterus has been contracting on and off. Nothing as regular as last night though. It generally aches, and Alton has discovered my pubic bone makes a great percussion instrument. I am still very thankful though. I am generally comfortable uterus aches aside, and I haven't started swelling, or developing cankles.
Who is reading this? Leave a comment for the crazy pregnant lady who thinks her carefully documented thoughts are being sent into the cosmic void of the net without landing in front of anyones eyes.

Alton's nursery

Alton's Room is
Done!

Click on any of
the pictures to make them bigger

You can't tell,
but the stars are the same color red as the letters for his name.

Alton Update

Week Thirty-Three
Amniotic fluid is at its highest level during your pregnancy.
Your baby's head size has increased 3/8ths of an inch due to rapid brain growth.
Neurons and synapses are developing in huge numbers -- forming connections in your baby's brain will give him the skills he needs to thrive as a newborn. This week, he may be able to coordinate sucking and swallowing with breathing.
While most of his bones are hardening, his skull is quite pliable and not completely joined. The bones will be able to move slightly to make birthing easier.
You baby takes intermittent deep breaths -- of water! That's okay, though since she gets oxygen from the placenta. This breathing exercises muscles and encourages her lung cells to produce more surfactant (a protein essential for healthy lung development).
If your baby is a boy, his testicles will be descending from his abdomen into his scrotum. Sometimes one or both testicles won't move into position until after birth.
Your infant is now 17.2 inches (43.7cm) long and weighs 4.23 pounds (1918gm).

Baby Update

We had another growth scan on Friday. My fluid levels are awesome, and Alton's little belly caught up with everything else. I really think the small tummy and low fluid level from 3 weeks ago was the result of my flu. Oh, his head is now measuring smaller than the rest of his body, but not alarmingly small. WHOOT!!! Anything to make labor easier. Travis and both have huge heads, so I was afraid Alton would be a melon head coming out.

Travis and I went to Target on Friday night after eating at Daphne's. Alton's wardrobe has gotten quite large, so we needed more hangers. Travis actually picked out an outfit for Alton. It is a cute little onesie done in light blues and greens and it says Surfer Dude. He wanted me to make sure to remember that he bought it for Alton and to be sure to tell his mom. See it here.

I finally look pregnant!



What is Alton doing in the womb this week?
Week Thirty-Two
-Your baby is up to 3.75 pounds (1702gm) now and is 16.7 inches (42.4cm) long.
-You might notice he's not moving around as much now. Don't worry! He's fine -- just running short on room. He still has plenty of growing to do though, believe it or not!
-All five senses are working. Your little one is fascinated and practicing testing these out as much as possible!
-He may move to the rhythm of music. Studies with heart rates show that he also prefers some types of music to others -- already!
- Brain scans have shown that babies have periods of dream sleep (REM) starting around the eighth month. What do you suppose your baby is dreaming about?

What's Alton Up to This Week?

Week Thirty-One
The rate of physical growth slows down just a bit, but even though he doesn't get much longer, he will gain a lot of weight the rest of the pregnancy.
Fat continues accumulating. This layer of fat turns his skin from red to the rosy pink he will have as a newborn.
Calcium, phosphorus and iron are being stored and his bones are growing and hardening.
Your baby is 16.2 inches (41.1cm) long and weighs 3.3 pounds (1502gm)
His brain enters another period of rapid growth, producing hundreds of billions of new nerve cells! Amazing!
He may move to the rhythm of music. Studies with heart rates show that he also prefers some types of music to others -- already!
Lungs are the only major organ left to complete development. Remember, that while you may be anxious to meet your little one that these last few weeks can be vital - with each day increasing your baby's ability to breathe on his own.

Picture Time

PICTURES!!!

Click on them to make them bigger!

Alton's Nursery

I am still going to stain the pegged
shelf, I just haven't yet.

Yes, those are Rolaids chews on top of
the book shelf.

I love this part of his room, these two
walls are my favorite in the whole room.

His dresser / changing table and crib

Alton's Crib. I am going to paint the
letters and the star, I just haven't yet.

Notice the Baseball glove and baseball.
Those are daddy's contribution to the nursery.

Alton Update

I had my ultrasound this morning. Alton is now resting head down! My fluid level is at 9.3! I am not out of the woods yet, but the fluid increase is encouraging. :)
I went to Costco today and I bought the baby some books! They had 5 Dr. Seuss books, so I bought those. They also had Peter Rabbit's Giant Story book , which I think has all of the Beatrix Potter stories. I also got him a book with 100 Bible stories for children. I am excited to read all of them to him. :)

:(

DYK my doctor is going to Africa for two weeks starting today. So yesterday, there were four of us scheduled for the 4:15 appointment. I was FINALLY seen at 6:15. I had my ultrasound first which was good because there might be an issue. The baby's head and limbs are all right on schedule for when they should be, BUT his abdomen area is behind two weeks. My first thought was yay! Skinny baby! I was really afraid he would be a 10 pounder. But then when we FINALLY saw the doctor, she was concerned and thought that my placenta might not be feeding the baby enough. So I have to go back for another ultrasound in three weeks to check for growth. As long as he continues to grow and he isn't a month behind in the tummy region, he is okay.
Then on top of all of that, my fluid is low. Well low normal. Normal is between 5-25 centimeters and my fluid level is 6. My doctor says that most of her patients at 29 weeks are at about 20 centimeters. So I have to go in every three days for the next two weeks for fluid ultrasounds. I am depressed because everything I read online about this seems to suggest that a c-section is in my future. If I continue to be low normal, I am at risk for a prolapsed cord. This is where the cord delivers before the baby and it puts the baby at risk.
Oh and Alton hasn't turned yet. I know that there is plenty of time for that still, but if I were to go into labor tomorrow, I would have to have a c-section. I don't know if you have paid attention to my previous posts, but I have been doing everything in my power to avoid a c-section. I do not want one, and this whole situation is DEPRESSING the heck out of me.

Please pray

I found out at my appointment today that I have low amniotic fluid. This is worrisome. I have to go in every three days for the next two weeks so that they can measure my fluid levels. :(

On the bright side, my baby shower was AWESOME and we got a lot of stuff for little Alton. My Target registry is almost complete. :)

I thought morning sickness was over!

I totally threw up my entire breakfast this morning. :(

My shower is on Saturday. There are supossed to be 40 people. Maggie coming up from San Diego and I am sooooo excited!

We have our next appointment on Monday. I am now being seen every two weeks. We are getting another ultrasound done that day too. :)

28 weeks!

Today is the first day of my third tri-mester. Alton has decided to celebrate by waking mommy up at about 2 and again at 6 in the morning. I fear that this issue is just at it's beginning.

He really is in there!

Travis felt Alton move last night! I was afraid he wouldn't be able to, but sure enough, while we were watching Grey's Anatomy, he felt "The Pulse".
Johnny never got to feel John John in the womb, so I was very excited that Travis got to feel his little kicks.

Time for an update

It has been over three weeks since my last post. That simply won't do.
Travis and I went shopping on Sunday. We went to Target and bought wipe refills because they were on sale and a few other things for the house. Travis wandered over to the Hot Wheels aisle and lurked lustfully. He can't wait for Alton to be old enough to play with them so that he has a better excuse to buy them. We went over to the sporting goods aisle and Travis could not resist temptation. He bought Alton a tee-ball glove and baseball. It is sitting in his crib like a cute teddy bear or something, just waiting for him to be born. Travis has told my stomach all about it. I think he is really getting excited about having a little boy.
I had to go to the OB on Tuesday. I had only felt Alton kick once or twice the whole weekend, so when I went in, she placed the doppler on my tummy and found his heart beat right away. It was beating at about 160-165, so the syrup I had on my waffles for breakfast that morning really worked.
The invite list for the baby shower got totally out of control. We sent out 48 invites and so far we have had only two nos.
Yesterday I went to the LA Zoo with Kristina, Johnny, John John and Elayna. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of uphill walking. It is only $45 to join for the year, so I think that after Alton is old enough to sit up, I will join and take him for walks there.
We have our birth plan appointment with Dr. Lynch on Monday. I am going to ask her to recommend some pediatricians for Alton while we are there too.