Tuesday, November 2, 2010

20 weeks and Happy Halloween

Sunday we made it to 20 weeks which is halfway if I was to go to 40 but my doctor has mentioned that with everything going on with the low lying placenta, cramps and anything else that might happen it looks more like 37 weeks so....I am OVER HALFWAY! Sweet! I made it to about 37.5 weeks with Peyton so we will see!

I had an appointment last Thursday and it went much better than I expected which was a relief. My doctor asked about the cramping and I told her as nicely as I could that I was miserable and frustrated and didn't like the
answer that I have an "irritable uterus." She was equally as frustrated which was reassuring but also had no idea why I was feeling the way I was. She told me she would look into it, call two new high risk doctors to get some opinions and let me know by Tuesday. Other than the whole pain issue, the baby is growing, heart beat was great and everything is going well.

The next day I got a call from my doctor personally saying that she was up pretty late and talked to the two new doctors who mentioned that yes, this is uncommon, but they have around 2-3 patients a year that have these symptoms with no real preterm labor symptoms or changes in
their cervix (like me). They have used some of the medications that stop preterm labor to help and they both had differing opinions on what medication to use but one had the same suggestion that my doctor was leaning towards before she talked with them. So, she prescribed me some medication that is used in stopping preterm labor but in a smaller dose and with the instructions to use only when needed and not every 6 hours as directed. Pretty much since bed rest relieves the pain completely the idea is to rest as much as possible and take the medicine when I am unable to rest as much as I would like or in too much pain. I have only taken it twice, once shopping on Saturday with my mom and sister and then yesterday before Trick or Treating, and it helps but the best thing is complete rest. I have also noticed that when I rest for a whole day (complete bed rest) I can manage the pain more for the coming week.

So, praise for some medication that can provide relief and also discovering
that rest helps even more. Pray that I am able to rest as much as possible so I don't have to take the medication unless needed. My next appointment is November 16 with a high risk doctor to do an ultrasound to check my cervix and make sure that the cramping hasn't caused any changes in terms of dilating/going into preterm labor and we will be looking to see where the placenta is and if it is still in a safe position.

I didn't think my belly has grown much but I saw my sister yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks and apparently she thought I have grown significantly. I am still right around the same size/measurements as I was with Peyton however I wear less maternity clothes at this point than I did with her. Maybe I am just more confident in being pregnant this time or not as excited about "buying new clothes" or I know how I will have plenty of time to wear the unflattering and not stylish maternity clothes in a month or two. Other big event this weekend was Peyton's third Halloween experience! She started getting sick Friday and then more so Saturday and by Sunday was pretty cranky and had a slight fever. We rested all day and I was going to push the issue but I figured we could do a couple of houses and see how she felt. I brought out two costumes for her and she decided to be the cheerleader over the princess even after the Longhorns embarrassing loss to Baylor. She is a true Longhorn fan!

The whole Trick or Treating experience was the best medicine for her and she was super happy and into it. She kind of said, "Trick or Treat," and "Thank you," but mostly before or after they opened/closed the door. She loved carrying her pumpkin bag and wouldn't let anyone help her at all and she walked the majority of the way which was pretty impressive. She would tell us over and over that she needed to walk to the "doors" or she would say, "more doors."

She was pretty worn out by the end. After she got all of her goods we went to Granny and Papa's house and she went through her candy. She would open up a piece, either look at it or take a small bite and then say no and move on. Most of the time she wouldn't even eat it so we had tons of opened candy at the end which I ended up giving to Papa or throwing out which helped reduce our candy load significantly.


It was fun and we are excited about next year heading out with our 3 year old and a 6 month old! Goodness...that will be wild....and scary!

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