The Very Last 4D Ultrasound

We had our last appointment for the 3D/4D ultrasound last night. Since the last session, which was the best, didn't get recorded to the DVD properly, they had us come back for another session so we would get our DVD. This session wasn't as good as the previous one. However, Brooklyn did show us her face. She had her hands up by her face at first but eventually moved them away. We got a bunch of additional pictures, but they were not as clear as the last time.

We got to see Brooklyn smile this time and stick her tongue out at us. She has gained a lot of weight in her face since the last 4D ultrasound we had done. Her cheeks are so chubby now! She has dimples too! We could actually see the dimples on the ultrasound! She looked so cute though. I just wish the pictures would have come out a little bit clearer. I still think she is going to look like her daddy.

Hopefully this ultrasound will be the last one that we have to have done until she gets here. I have posted a couple of the pictures below. They aren't too clear and are really distorted, but they are the best ones we could get of her. The next pictures I post will hopefully be ones of her AFTER she is here!! Enjoy!

Love, Jennifer

32 Week Doctor Appointment

I had my appointment today with another doctor in Dr. Fletcher's office since she was out of town. I don't know what it is, but every time I have to go to the doctor they are either running way behind, or have to rush out to deliver. This just happened to be the case today as well! There are four doctors in her office including her. Dr. Fletcher and two of the other doctors were out, and the one doctor that was left there this week got called out to deliver. I was there for two hours by the time I left, which to me is highly irritating because sitting in a doctor's office for two hours... not comfortable.

Anyway! Enough about my wait. Nothing really new this week. I did lose almost 5 pounds over the last week according to the doctors scale. 4.8 pounds to be exact. The doctor I saw didn't think this was really a problem though. As long as I am staying properly hydrated. We'll see what I weigh next week though and talk to Dr. Fletcher if I have lost more.

They took Brooklyn's heart beat. It was at 158 this time. It has seems to be running on the higher end lately but they said everything was fine. When they measured my belly it was a 32, which is right on with how many weeks along I am. According the patterns though, usually I measure one week behind what I really am, but I guess she is just really growing now and has seemed to have caught up.

I had some contractions last night while I was sleeping. Every time I would turn sides I would have a contraction. I asked the doctor about that and he said that is fine. He said that even though I am on medication to help my contractions that I am still going to have contractions. He said as long as they are no more than 10 minutes apart for an hour then I am fine. He did tell me that if they were still coming sporadically and were starting to hurt more that I could double up on the dosage of medicine I am taking. I am just going to see how the next week goes though and try to take it easy.

I'm sure the doctor I saw knows what he is doing, but when it comes to advice on what I should and shouldn't do, I really only trust Dr. Fletcher. She knows what is going on and I think she is really the only one qualified to make decisions that might affect the rest of the pregnancy. So I will be asking her all the questions I asked today next week. My appointment next week is on Thursday, November 6th at 3:40 in the afternoon. Hopefully I won't have to wait like I did today. That's pretty much it for this weeks appointment though!

Love,
Jennifer

Here Comes Brooklyn! Part 2

Now for the hospital part. To pick up where I left off... I called Dale, crying, as soon as I walked out the door to the doctors office. Told him what was going on. After I got off the phone with him I called my mom, Grandma Carrie, and told her what was going on and that I needed her to meet me at the hospital. She left work immediately. Next I called Grandma Belinda and told her what was going on and where to meet me at the hospital. I had to have someone there since Dale, daddy was in Orlando on a business trip. I was scared and didn't know what was going to happen.

Once we got to the hospital I had to check in and then go straight to radiology to have an ultrasound, yes another, and growth scan done. Dr. Fletcher wanted Brooklyn measured to see how she was in her progress and to make sure there there was no distress or anything else going on. We got the same tech that I've had the past two times I have had an ultrasound done at the hospital. She took all the measurements needed and told us that Brooklyn looked like she was going good. She said by the measurements that she already weighs approximately 3 pounds and 12 ounces. Her heart rate was where it should have been and that she was already down in position at that time. They had to search down pretty low to find her this time, which I already knew she was down way low because of all the pressure I was feeling. Also, yet again, Brooklyn was holding her foot, yes holding, her face again. There is something about her foot she just loves. With her other hand she kept pushing away the ultrasound tech. We got to see her breathing though, very heavily, which was good. The tech said she was being such a drama queen though and that we are going to have our hands full because she couldn't get Brooklyn to move for nothing. So Brooklyn has officially been labeled already as a "mess" and a "drama queen." Which with her attitude, I fully expect those labels to hold true.

After the ultrasound they sent me back up to labor and delivery. Next the doctor ordered me to be monitored, both my heart and Brooklyn's, as well as monitoring contractions that I was having.... or cramps as I was calling them. So they got me all hooked up and I got to sit there for at least an hour if not two. By the way, by this time, it's probably 10:30 or so and I am starving because I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. I as planning on going straight to work and eating there. So Brooklyn needless to say was not all too happy with me.

After they monitored me for a bit, and then got shots. Lovely lovely shots. Per doctors orders they gave me a shot of Breathlean? I'm not sure how it is spelled. In pill form it is spelled Terbutaline. This show was suppose to stop my cervix from dilating even more and stop the contractions I was having. The medication raised my heart beat as well as the babies pretty high, causes me to be short of breath, and worst of all, really shaky. I was sitting there shaking and could do nothing about it. I now have the pill form of this medication that I have to take every 4 hours on the dot until at least 36 weeks to try to keep my from having any contractions. So needless to say, I have alarms set constantly so I won't forget to take a pill, especially in the middle of the night.

After the burning shot in the arm, I then had to get a steroid shot in my hip. They said there were a series of two of these shots. I would have to come back the next day, Friday, about the same time to get another one. The steroid shot was given to me though to help Brooklyn's lungs try to develop a little faster just in case we can't keep her in my belly until 36 weeks. I was not too happy about that shot. It burned SO bad. My hip literally hurt until about 8 pm Thursday night and is still a little sore even today. That is even after I went back today to be monitored again and to get the other shot in my other hip, which really burned too, but didn't hurt near as bad.

Anyway, after all that was done they decided to let me go home because everything checked out ok. My appointment back Friday was noting special. Just heart monitor and another shot. They said that everything still looked ok and that I just needed to pay attention and make sure I didn't have anymore contractions and to take it easy, which is what I have been trying to do. So I think that is about it. There are other things to talk about and mention, but I am actually getting tired now and think I am going to go rest. I will post more soon about other ongoings!

By the way, for those wondering, Dale could have come back at any point in time during all of this mess. He was ready t hop on a plane and would have been back here in a second. We decided since Dr. Fletcher caught what was going on, Kudos to Dr. Fletcher by the way, that he should just go ahead and finish out his trip in Orlando. I am currently staying with my parents until they get back who have been a great help and have made sure that I actually follow my bed rest instructions as much as possible. Thank you to everyone for all the phone calls and love and support and offers of help. I really do appreciate it and it is really nice to know that we have so many family members and friends who care so much about us and Brooklyn. Thank you.

Love,
Jennifer

Here Comes Brooklyn!

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST

Ok, so it's official. Brooklyn is ready to be here and she is ready to be here now. I don't know if it is because her daddy didn't talk to her before he left for his trip and she is trying to go after him, or if she is just tired of us trying to see her face and is thinking "Fine, I'll show you my face!!" Either way, she decided to throw me into pre-term labor on Thursday, October 23rd, and my doctor has now moved me to high risk and bed rest!

The Brooklyn going after her daddy thing first. When we dropped her daddy off at the airport Wednesday morning he didn't talk to her and say goodbye. He has been talking to her a lot lately. I know she probably really didn't know what was going on, but when her daddy and I walked away from each other she started kicking the crap out of me. So I am saying she was mad and this is her daddy's fault! :)

Second theory. She is tired of us trying to see her beautiful face. Every time we have an ultrasound, she hides her face with the exception of the very last one, or what we thought to be the last one. I watched the DVD that we got with the package from the ultrasound place Wednesday night, pre bed rest period, and they had only recorded the first try on the dvd. Yes, the try where you can't see a darn thing besides he foot. The second try, where we could actually see her face and we got to see her yawn and all that other precious beautiful stuff. Gone. I called back yesterday and told them it wasn't on there. They informed me they didn't have it saved. So what they are going to do is have me come back in and try to get another video of her. I have asked my doctor, since I am on bed rest, if this would be ok for me to do since next week is the last week that they can even do the ultrasound. She said it was fine as long as I wasn't up walking around a lot and putting any strain or pressure on her. So Thursday at 5:30 I have an appointment to go to the ultrasound place to try one last time to actually get some pictures of her pre-birth. I'm sure she won't like it, but she'll just have to deal and hopefully cooperate one last time for me. I will be drinking orange juice again!

Now back to the bed rest. So I went in Thursday morning for my regular routine check up with Dr. Fletcher. Everything was going fine, minus the time I had to wait because she was in delivery. Brooklyn's heart beat was 150, my blood pressure was 120 over 80, and everything seemed to be checking out ok. I assumed I would be out of there in no time and on my way back up to work. I almost just canceled the appointment since I had been the week before, but decided to go ahead and go anyway since Dr. Fletcher will be out of town all next week.

So the doctor comes in. Asks me how I am doing... any bleeding, no. Any contractions, no. Ok, so she asks me about some upper back pain I complained about a week or two ago. I told her that it wasn't as bad, but now the only back pains I was having were lower down. I told her that the past week off and on I had cramps like I did way back when I had my menstrual cycle and all. She paused... then said, "ok... well this is your baby, so we don't know if you would be at risk for pre-term labor. Tell ya what. I am going to be out of town next week. You are only 31 weeks along, so there shouldn't be anything going on, but let's just do an exam and make sure there is no monkey business going on."

So here I am thinking, ok, she will find nothing, it's probably just typical back pain brought on by all the rapid weight gain. BOY was I wrong. She did the cervix exam and low and behold I was dilated to a one almost a two already. I was in pre-term labor she said. The cramps I had been feeling off and on all week. Yeah, not cramps, CONTRACTIONS! I told her that I hadn't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions or anything else yet. She informed me that some women don't. That there is a precept ion that every single contraction is going to be very painful, and that it just isn't the case with some women. Mine were light, but I was dilated to almost a two and Brooklyn was 60- 70% effacement already so she was sending me to the hops ital and putting me on bed rest until 36 weeks at least.

Dr. Fletcher gets on the phone with the hospital to tell them I am on my way. I am in such shock I'm on the verge of tears. Dale is in Orlando. She's not due for another two months. I'm on BED REST! I was suppose to go to work! I was freaking out and couldn't retain anything the doctor was telling me because I was so scared something was going to happen to Brooklyn.

So now, I have to go to the doctor every week until Brooklyn is here. I have been moved into a high risk category as well and will have to be closely monitored. I go in next Wednesday for an appointment with one of her partner doctors in the office, then will hopefully see Dr. Fletcher the rest of the time. She told me it was really important that we try to get Brooklyn to 35 weeks though so she would be healthy and her lungs would be fully developed. So I made my appointment and headed to the hospital. So that is the story of how and why I am on bed rest. The hospital stay is a whole other long post to come later. I am sure I am leaving something out, but hey, I am on bed rest pretty much the rest of the year, so I will be posting on here a lot now! Watch out world, Brooklyn's ready to be here!

Love,
Jennifer

Mommy & Brooklyn at 31 Weeks

This is a picture of me at 31 weeks. Look how much Brooklyn has grown in just 10 weeks compared to the last picture posted!! Photo taken October 19, 2008.

3D/4D Ultrasound Pictures

These are the pictures from the 3D/4D ultrasound from October 14th, 2008. These will be the last pictures we will get of her until she is born! Enjoy!!

Love,

Jennifer

Brooklyn smiling!

The Last 3D/4D Ultrasound

   We went back Thursday evening, October 14th, for our last try at getting clear pictures of Brooklyn. Before we left home, I made sure to drink a glass and a half of orange juice so she would have to move around. Daddy, Grandma Carrie, Grandma Belinda, Great Grandma Ethel, and Papa and Great Grandma Edith were all there.  

   To our surprise, Brooklyn was actually showing her face this time! We were all so excited! The only thing partially blocking her face at first was her umbilical cord which was floating up around her head. Brooklyn let the ultrasound tech get a few pictures before she moved to put her hand in front of her face. So the tech thought shaking her up a little might make her move her hand. Yeah... she was wrong! It just made Brooklyn mad. So instead of putting her hand down, she brought one of her feet up right in front of her face!

   In an attempt to get her to move, I got up to walk around a little and we tried again. She had moved her foot out of the way, but still had her hand there. So the tech shook her around a little more to try to get some better pictures. At this point, she was done. Brooklyn moved and faced my back and the tech called it a day. I was just grateful that we actually got some pictures of her though! I think she looks just like her daddy. Her daddy thinks she looks like Shrek because of her nose. It's ok though, because Shrek is cute. It's weird for me knowing what she looks like now and knowing that her little face is what kicks the crap out of me all the time. I am very excited now though. I'm ready for her to get here so I can finally hold her and see her beautiful face for myself. I will post the pictures from the ultrasound shortly.

Love,

Jennifer

First Child Birthing Class

So last night was my first session of five for my Prepared Child birthing class at Moore Medical Center. Daddy, Dale, has been sick and couldn't go so I had my mom, Grandma Carrie go with me since she is right down the street.

The class was ok. There were 7 other couples there, one which I know daddy will know because he went to school with the girl when he was younger. Everyone seemed really nice though. The instructor just went over the basics with the first class. She covered different things to do for different pains and gave everyone tips on things to do at the hospital and things to bring to help you relax. Relaxation seemed to be the theme for the night. The class was pretty basic though. I am actually looking forward to the other classes because I think I will learn a lot about what to expect and different options that I will have. From what the instructor was telling us, I should really like my stay at the hospital because they treat their patients more like family and not just another sick person in a bed.

Hopefully I will have more to talk about with next weeks class. We are suppose to go over the difference between false and true labor. We are also suppose to get a tour of the facility soon. Class lasted until 9:30, so I was ready to go home and go to sleep after that. Not much to report back about it though.

Love,
Jennifer

30 Week Dr. Appointment

I was suppose to have my next appointment with Dr. Fletcher on October 6th after the 3D/4D ultrasound at 29 weeks. However, when I arrived, Dr. Fletcher was getting in an ambulance with another patient on her way to the hospital. So it was rescheduled for Tuesday, October 14th.

My appointment was just another general check up. They took my weight, which I have gained, but will not disclose at this moment how much! Thee took her heart beat, which was 158 bpm. They said my blood pressure was good, and that when they took my belly measurement I was only at 29 inches, even though I am 30 weeks along. So all and all, I am doing great statistic wise.

Dr. Fletcher told me that my glucose test results came back great. I asked her about my constant back pain and showed her where my back has been hurting. She thinks I just pulled a muscle and that there isn't anything she can do for me about that. I also asked if I would be able to go out of town at the end of the month to go to the NASCAR races. She said that usually she doesn't let her patients travel after 32 weeks. However, since it was one week over and since I was doing so well, and since there is a great hospital in Dallas, she said it would be fine. I just have to make sure not to over do myself and to drink plenty of water. She said after this trip though I can not travel. She also told me that at about 35 to 36 weeks we will start going over a birthing plan. Oh, and no more blood work until the baby comes! I was way excited about that news.

That was about it though. I had already scheduled my next two week appointment from the one I was suppose to have on October 6th, for October 23rd. Dr. Fletcher told me to go ahead and keep that appointment though because she will not be there the following week. So I have my next appointment next Thursday the 23rd. After that I assume I will go back to every two weeks until I start going every week. Everything is still going well though!

Love,
Jennifer

3D/4D Ultrasound

We went in for the 3D/4D ultrasound last Thursday, October 6th. It didn't go as well as we hoped. Daddy, Grandma Carrie, Grandma Belinda, Great Grandma Edith, Great Grandma Betty, and Great Grandma Ethel also came along. We were having the ultrasound done at a place called A Glimpse Before and After. They have a policy that says if they can not get you a good picture of the baby the first time, they will reschedule you to come back at a later time to try again. Thank goodness they have this policy because Brooklyn did not want to show anyone anything!

Brooklyn was folded in half AGAIN, like she was when we had the ultrasound at the hospital. So instead of having her fists hiding her face, she had her feet hiding her face. Not only were her feet, which looked huge by the way, in her face, she was HOLDING her feet in her face. Yes, holding them! We tried for about 30 minutes to get her to move around. We tried shaking her and poking her. Nothing. I drank water, moved around back and forth on both sides and my back. Nothing. I even went to the bathroom and did the chicken dance because that got her hyped up at a wedding we went to the weekend before. Still nothing. She was not going to move at all. So the ultrasound tech finally called it quits.

SO, we have our final ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow night, Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 6:30 pm. If we don't get to see her this time, we will just be out the money we spent trying to see her and will have to wait until she is born. I'm thinking this is God's way of trying to teach me to be patient and wait! They said the second time around they usually get really good pictures and videos of the babies though. I am also going to drink a bunch of orange juice when I get home tomorrow night so she will at least have to move around some.

The first try wasn't a complete loss. We got to see her feet and her hands and a little bit of her face in between her feet! Which, from what I could tell, I think she is going to look like her daddy. Hopefully we will see for sure tomorrow night though! Wish us good luck!!!

Love,
Jennifer

Glucose Test

I went in yesterday morning for my glucose test. This test is to see if I have developed gestational diabetes. I've never drank something so gross. The drink they give you for this test is like orange kool-aid with 5 cups of sugar. You have 5 minutes to get the cup of juice down and then you have to wait an hour and then have your blood drawn. It was the longest hour ever having to sit in the doctor's office. Then when I had the blood drawn, the lab tech was horrible. She might as well jabbed me with the needle. When she pulled the needle out she pulled it out so fast she scratched my arm! Lucky for me, it should be my last lab work I will have to have done at the office.

They told me I should have the results by Friday. If I don't hear anything, then the results came back fine and I will discuss them with the doctor next Thursday. If something is wrong, they will call me and have me come back for a 3 hour test (which I will give an update on if that is the case). I think everything will come back just fine though. So another pregnancy test down and 12 more weeks to go!

Love,
Jennifer

Hospital Visit

I had my first motherly moment of panic today. Brooklyn usually moves around, a LOT during the day. I feel her move or kick me about every other hour. Well the last time I felt her move was last night when I laid down to go to sleep. She always starts kicking me and moving around when I lay down. I usually then feel her kick me through the night when I lay on my sides, and then in the morning while I'm getting around for work. She didn't wake me up at all last night. Then this morning, she wasn't moving around either.

I didn't think much of it until after I had some orange pineapple juice and two donuts this morning for breakfast. The juice alone usually makes her go crazy, but she still didn't move. All through the morning at work she didn't move. So I started to worry. When I went to lunch I laid back in my car thinking that would make her start kicking me, because she always kicks me at lunch. Nothing. When I got back from lunch I asked my friend if she thought this was something I should start worrying about. I was concerned because Brooklyn moves so much that for her not to move since last night was out of character for her. She told me to go down to get orange juice and try that, so I did.

So an hour goes by and by this time I am on the verge of tears worried because she still hasn't moved. I called the doctors office to talk to a nurse and I have to leave a voicemail. I finally called Dale and let him know what was going on and we finally decided that we should just go to the hospital because we would rather be safe than sorry.

I left work and headed home to meet Dale. Once we got home we headed up to the hospital where they checked me in. Once they got everything set up they took me back to find the babies heart beat first. The nurse, who was new, couldn't find it at first, which really freaked me out. They finally called someone else in who found the heart beat, and then after 16 hours since the last time I felt her move, she gave me one good kick.

The nurse went ahead and called Dr. Fletcher, who ordered an ultrasound since I was unable to feel any other movements. The ultrasound came back fine. They measured her heart beat which was 150 the first time and then 138 during the ultrasound. They also measured all the fluids and said that her cord was no where around her neck, which is what I was worried about. They said Brooklyn was healthy and fine, (and she has hair on her little head!). They said the reason I was probably unable to feel her move was because she was in a breech position, which seems to be her favorite position to lay in.

I felt kind of stupid for freaking out so much, but I know it's normal. I was just so scared that something was wrong with her. With Brooklyn being my first, I'm just not sure what is right and wrong. They told me that if I don't feel her move at least 10 times in 24 hours then I should be concerned. So now I know, and that was my afternoon with Brooklyn. She has resumed kicking me this evening. Not as much as normal, but that is fine with me, as long as I know she is there and ok.

Love,
Jennifer