Meet Baby Jones

Sorry I’ve been inconsistent with updating. It’s probably hard to imagine that I would be too busy (with me being on bedrest and everything), but it’s true — I have been unbelievably busy. Basically, I’ve been manning the fort from our bed, taking care of most of the details that is part of our very complicated life.

So, here’s the update:

1. Pregnancy - I’m still on modified bedrest, but my docs have informally told me that I could increase my activities. They weren’t really too specific about this, so I’ve kind of just designed my own ADLs (Activities of Daily Living). Basically, I’ve been doing more cooking for both Melvin and me, laundry, cleaning and also running errands.

Avery is still very active in my belly. Just within the last few weeks, Melvin has been able to really feel his kicks (they are that strong). Most times, we can even make out Avery’s anatomy, being able to feel his feet, his back and his tush. One of our favorite things to do now is spoon in the morning and night with Melvin in front of me. My belly would be right on his back and most times, Avery will start to kick and jab right away. Melvin sometimes gets suprised with how strong the kicks are. It really has been one of the most joyful, bond-forming experiences we’ve been able to share together.

And now to the Gestational Diabetes. A Registered Dietician (Helen) came by last Friday to talk to me about the diet I need to be on. At first, it didn’t sound like something I could handle, but after a few days of being on it, it really isn’t that bad. Basically, I just need to space out my meals so I’m eating frequently but with less quantity so my blood sugar is constant. Concentrated sweets are out, of course, and more protein than carbohydrates at each meal. I’m also supposed to be checking my blood glucose 6x/day (in between meals), but my glucometer has not arrived yet.

Finally, the discomforts I’m feeling right now. Let’s see here, besides taking 5 minutes to roll out of bed (I mean, I literally have to roll out of bed), constantly feeling like a ton of bricks is sitting right on my chest, having to go to the bathroom 5x/hour, having the sensation when I am standing or walking that a giant watermelon is in my pelvis and feeling very moody lately, it really hasn’t been that bad. Just a typical day most days in the life of a pregnant chick.

2. Baby Shower - I feel terrible about this, but I don’t think we are going to have a baby shower for Avery. My friends had one planned for April 7th that I cancelled, and today my Uncle Darryl called Melvin to ask when the best time to host one for me but we had to decline that as well. See, with being on bedrest, I’m just nervous about overexerting myself. Things could still change within the next 7 weeks, but as it stands, no baby shower. We are, however, planning on having a Welcome Baby party a couple of weeks after Avery decides to arrive.

3. Odds and Ends - Our long-time tenant Deb, moved out last week. It was sad to see her go, but I guess it was time. She had been renting from us since May, 2001, afterall. So now, as if Melvin was not busy enough, he now has to tend to that property and make sure it gets rented. My poor husband

I had my weekly prenatal appointment today with Dr. Chasteney. As I’d suspected I would, I’ve chosen him as my favorite doctor in the practice. Not only does he refer to me by name when I see him, he also takes his time to explain things to me. Also, I think I am most compatible with his personality because he is lively, outgoing and funny.

So anyway, at this week’s appointment I was informed that I failed my 3-hour glucose tolerance test. Translation: I have Gestational Diabetes. My levels were as follows: Fasting - 90; 1 hour - 254; 2 hour - 211; 3 hour - 139. Yeah, pretty bad. I was bummed, of course, but Dr. Chasteney was not too worried about it. Per protocol, I’ve been assigned a Registered Dietician to go over my diet and also a Registered Nurse to show me how to use a glucometer and also to go over my new diagnosis with me. I already know how to use a glucometer so I really don’t need the nurse for that, but I wouldn’t mind her going over G.D. with me. I’m supposed to check my glucose levels for a week (6x/day!!!!) and then Dr. Chasteney and I will talk further about the plan for me when I see him again next Friday. He doesn’t think I’ll need insulin injections, but he does think I’ll need to be started on an oral hypoglycemic ie. glyburide.

Besides the G.D., we also discussed my return to work tentatively scheduled for April 11. Yes, we could use the extra income, and yes, being at home all the time is making me sick. But the reality is, my pregnancy-related discomfort has really increased. These days, it is harder and harder for me to get up from a sitting/lying position. Everything below my chest aches or cramps. When I’ve been standing for too long (more than 15 minutes), I get really crampy in my abdomen and buttocks area. And really, how am I supposed to follow this new diabetic diet and also make sure I stay well-hydrated during the day at work? In my unit, you take a break when you can, not when you would like or need to. Also, you can forget about drinking water because guess what? A potty break is sometimes really just not possible. It sounds like I’m making excuses for not wanting to return to work. It’s really not that. The only real fear I have is that I’d be sacrificing Avery’s health just for that job. And when I look at it that way, the tug-of-war in my head disappears and everything becomes crystal clear.

Lastly, we talked about how my pregnancy is progressing. Avery is measuring 1 week ahead based on my belly measurement. Yep, he’s a biggun! As a matter of fact, he already weighed 4 pounds at my 31 week ultrasound. Just to give everyone an idea, normal babies are this weight at the beginning of 33 weeks. My perinatologist said that if I carry Avery to term, he’ll be more than likely be 8.5 - 9 pounds. OUCH!

Or just practicing to be one?

Avery is kicking up a storm right now! He has been very active today, kicking and jabbing and moving about what seems to be nonstop. Could it be the buffalo wings I had for breakfast and lunch that’s making him crazy? Perhaps. I read somewhere that babies aren’t too fond of spicy foods. It’s all good though because Avery’s movements soothe and comfort me. I love knowing that he seems to be very strong and healthy.

Yesterday I went for what was supposed to have been my last transvaginal ultrasound to check my cervical length, a procedure that almost did not happen had I not had an appointment with Dr. Chasteney in December. See, out of the 6 Obs in the clinic and including 1 perinatologist, only Dr. Chasteney mentioned the need to have a last ultrasound done at 28 weeks “just to make sure” since apparently studies now show that women at risk for premature cervical effacement and dilation are not out of the woods after 24 weeks as previously thought. Well, was he right.

I get to the perinatal testing center at 2:30 pm for my appointment and was seen at 3:00 pm. Patti (my favorite ultrasound tech) and Dr. Roberts (my favorite perinatologist) were both there and so I was glad. I am taken to the ultrasound room and as always, Patti was super nice and allowed me to take a peek at Avery. In 4D at that! The little peanut looked so adorable! He was a bit camera-shy though as he had his left arm over his eyes the entire time we were trying to get a look at him. Melvin is going to try to scan the ultrasound images before the end of the week, but in the meantime, my description of him is going to have to do. The little peanut has really full lips, much lot like his daddy’s when he was a baby. His nose looks pudgier now than in early images and Melvin thinks that it looks a lot like mine (I’m really sorry Avery). His cheeks are chubby, but I guess that’s universal among babies at this age. In the images, his toes and fingers are clearly visible and thank goodness, it looks like he has all of them. And of course, Patti made sure we had an image that proves Avery is a boy. And as Melvin has joyfully announced over and over before, he is definitely a boy.

Patti then leaves the room to get Dr. Roberts. They come back in and we start the small talk. I mentioned to Dr. Roberts that I am interested in finding a job there at Paoli Hospital, a much closer commute to me than Temple. She said she knows the attending who runs one of the ICUs there and when I’m ready, just let her know and she would introduce me to him. Great! I told her I would be contacting her as soon as I deliver Avery.

Then the procedure begins.

I really did not expect anything to be wrong since all my appointments had been just perfect up until then. So I just sat and waited for another declaration that my cervix was in great shape to hold Peanut for another 12 weeks. As Patti placed the probe in my vagina, Dr. Roberts starts looking at the monitor then tilts her head left to right and back and forth as if she was trying to locate a hidden object. Patti then starts to move the probe around in my vagina and after about a minute, Dr. Roberts says, “Oh, this is not good. Your cervix has thinned considerably since the last time we saw you. You must stop working immediately!” She then proceeds to tell me that at least I was not dilated and was not funneling. That was the good news. Now, she said all this with very little excitement in her voice, so although as a healthcare provider I understood the magnitude of what she just said, I still remained calm. I really appreciated that gesture whether or not she meant for it to soothe me.

She then starts barking out orders. Avery and I were to be monitored immediately and the first injection (of 2) of betamethasone was to be given to me. One of the technicians who works in the perinatal testing center, Debbie, pulls out a wheelchair and I was promptly carted off to Labor and Delivery.

When we get to the 4th floor, I was taken to the Triage room. I was met there by my nurse, Heather, who tells me to undress and put on a hospital gown. She then instructs me to lay on my right side and she then places a monitor around my belly to track Avery’s heartbeat as well as contractions I may have. While laying there, I was also given my first shot of betamethasone on my tush. Boy did that hurt! The shot itself did not hurt (although it was intramuscular), but the medication did. 2 mls had to be injected in me and I felt every burning drop of it.

Ok, so after about an hour of having to lay strictly on my right side and poor Heather having to come in every 5 minutes in that 1 hour to adjust the monitor on my belly, Dr. Bussard (one of the Obs following me) comes in to do an internal examination. While examining me, she tells me that I had a few small contractions which concerned her. She then said it could be caused by many factors, including dehydration, so she instructs me to drink a pitcher of water and see what that does. The bad news was that I had to be there another hour to be monitored. The worse news was that I would have to probably urinate every 5 minutes because of all the water I had to drink. Normally, this wouldn’t be too bad, but since I had to call on my nurse to take me off of monitor everytime I had to pee, it was not pleasant.

After an hour, Dr. Bussard comes back in the room and announces that my contractions were probably caused by dehydration as evidenced by the fact that I did not have any more in the last hour. That was the good news. The bad news was that she agreed with Dr. Roberts — I need to be on modified bedrest. Translation: No work.

Now, I do not disagree with that order. Not at all. Just like my body has loudly announced, Temple was simply working me way too hard. I just had not prepared to be out on leave this early. I’ll probably talk about it more later, but for now, I’ll just say that this is going to be really difficult.

Anyway, so I was discharged from the hospital with orders to stay in bed, drink lots of water and return to the clinic tomorrow to receive my second dose of betamethasone and also have my cervix checked. Again. I forgot to mention that the entire time I was in the hospital, of course I kept my darling hubby informed. I think he asked me if I wanted him to drive over, but I told him it was unnecessary because it was not expected that I would be be there for long anyway.

I promise not to push my son as hard as I push myself.
I promise not to push my son as hard as I push myself.
I promise not to push my son as hard as I push myself.
I promise not to push my son as hard as I push myself.
I promise not to push my son as hard as I push myself.

I had my last bimonthly ultrasound yesterday The next one I’ll have is scheduled for week 28 and then I don’t know if I’ll have any more. Although I’m sad that I won’t get to see Avery as often anymore, I’m thankful that I’ve been able to see him as many times as I’ve had (I think I’ve had like 6 ultrasounds done so far). Most moms I know have told me that they only were given 2 - 3 ultrasounds during their entire pregnancies.

Yesterday’s ultrasound was the most special I’ve had so far. Patti (my favorite ultrasound tech) treated me to another 3D ultrasound. This time, we were able to capture Avery’s face in print very clearly compared to the other times when you couldn’t really determine what was on the printout. He looks like a real baby now! His cheeks are fat, lips are full, nose is long and sort of looks upturned and his chin is pointed. On one of the prints, he looks a lot like his daddy when he was a baby.

The perinatologist said that Avery is developing wonderfully, although is on the bigger side. He predicts that Avery will be born longer and heavier than normal. Yesterday, he weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces and just a little over 12 inches long. The perinatologist said that normal weight at this time is 1.3 pound (600gm) and normal length is 11.8 inches (30cm) long. I guess all the Filipino food I’ve been feeding the little peanut has really been fattening him up.

I had my monthly prenatal appointment today and met with Dr. Theresa Marlino, 1 of the 6 ob-gyns in Dr. Russino’s practice at Paoli Hospital. The office schedules appointments so that moms-to-be get to meet with all of the doctors in the practice at least once. The rationale is to ensure that mom-to-be is familiar with whoever might be on call the day the baby decides to arrive. Makes perfect sense. I’ve so far have met with Drs. Bussard, Russino, Chasteney and Marlino. I still have to meet with Drs. Kambin and Anthopoulos and then I’d be able to tell who I like the best. So far though, my favorite is Dr. Chasteney because he has been the most thorough and personable.

Anyway, back to today’s appointment. I don’t want to jinx it, but so far, so good. I’ve only gained 6 pounds since becoming pregnant, my blood pressure has been normal to slightly on the low side, I have no ankle or hand swelling and my urine has come up negative for both protein and glucose during each visit I have had. As someone who tends to mostly look at the glass as being half-empty, I always expect the worst at my appointments. Needless to say, I have been ecstatic each time I go and am told, “You and baby are doing very well.” I just hope this positive trend continues as I still have 15 more weeks to make sure Avery and I stay healthy.

I had my 22nd week ultrasound today and so far, everything still looks good. My cervix appears to be nice and strong and does not dilate when pressure is applied on my belly. Avery as usual was bouncing around like an acrobat in my tummy. He was positioned upside down during the ultrasound with his head right on my pelvic floor and his feetsies towards my chest. At one point, he gave a big ol’ kick as Nancy (the ultrasound technician) placed the probe on my belly. It was crazy to feel his kick the same exact moment that I saw him do it on the monitor. Amazing.

The tech commented on how long his legs are and how active he is. Perhaps he’ll be an athlete, eh? She also commented on how big his feet are and how he is a boy undeniably. I just chuckled.

Hey Avery!

Well, the Eagles beat the pesky New York Giants tonight 23 - 20 at the Linc — yay! This means they advance to the next level of the playoffs and play the New Orleans Saints next Saturday night. I am as big an Eagles fan as the next person (and I hope you grow up to be one too), and truly, I am thrilled with what the team has done despite McNabb being out until sometime next season. BUT, I still highly doubt that they’ll make it all the way to the Super Bowl. I just don’t have a lot of faith in Jeff Garcia after how he played tonight. We’ll see.

Today I had planned on getting a lot of things done like help your dad out with setting up Quicken on our home computer and cleaning my office. But, the worst stomach ache I’ve ever experienced sidelined me for most of the afternoon. After I took a shower around 1 pm, I laid down in the bed to try to relieve the pain and that was all she wrote, son. I was out for the count and didn’t come to until almost 4 pm. By then I couldn’t do anything but go to Whole Foods to pick up your dad’s food for next week so basically, most of my day was wasted. I wanted to go to the store early because even though your dad set TiVo up to record the game, I still wanted to catch at least the end of it live. And yes, I was able to do that and with your Uncle Tim at that! That was nice, huh?

So yeah, your Uncle Tim is here until tomorrow. It’s always nice to have company over because sometimes, it just gets too lonely here with just your dad, our cats Melanie and Tiffanie and me. That’s why we just can’t wait until you arrive, Avery! We are sure you’ll fill our house with lots of fun and laughter. And don’t worry, the plan is to give you a little brother or a little sister before you turn 2 so hopefully you don’t get too bored.

In terms of preparing for your arrival, both your daddy and I have been busy, busy, busy working on that. Your daddy is in charge of the big picture: planning for the financial aspect of having you, working on setting up our house so that it is kid- and grandma-friendly and coordinating my baby shower. My role is to set up my shower registry, seek out sales for items you’ll need anyway, and design your nursery. There’s a lot of work to be done before you get here and sometimes, it gets the best of your daddy and me. But at the end of the day, we say to ourselves, “It’s all for Avery”. And it truly is all for you.

Love,

Mommy

I’ve been reading that a fetus can start reacting to sounds as early as 14 weeks. By their 35th week, an unborn child has the ability to not only hear both high- and low-frequency sounds, but distinguish the difference between the two. Apparently, a fetus is affected by what it hears from the womb.

Researchers Peter Hepper and Sara Shahidullah did a bunch of studies on prenatal communication including one that I found particularly interesting:

Hepper found that babies of mothers who had watched a particular soap opera while pregnant stopped crying when they heard the song’s theme played as newborns. Babies who hadn’t been exposed to the show didn’t have a reaction when the theme was played.

I was completely blown away by a story told by a famous Orchestra Conductor, Boris Brott in The Expectant Father:

As a young man, I was mystified by this ability I had to play certain pieces sight unseen. I’d be conducting a score for the first time and, suddenly, the cello line would jump out at me: I’d know the flow of the piece before I turned the page of the score. One day, I mentioned this to my mother who is a professional cellist. I thought she’d be intrigued because it was always the cello line that was so distinct in my mind. She was; but when she heard what the pieces were, the mystery quickly solved itself. All the scores I knew sight unseen were one’s she had played when she was pregnant with me.

Now that’s cool.

Some doctors believe that by enriching your baby’s prenatal environment with additional stimuli, you can encourage the growth and development of your baby’s brain.

At night, we’ve made a habit of having “Family Time” just before bed. Sometimes I’ll talk to Avery about my day so he’ll learn to recognize the sound of my voice.

We play music for him too. If he’s awake (Catherine will usually let me know), I strap headphones around Catherine’s womb, plug up my iPod and play him some old-school jazz from the greats like Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.

Enjoy, Avery!