Surprise Surprise!

http://BananaP.blogspot.com

BP surprised us by arriving on Wednesday March 23rd at 10:50 pm. Check out his blog...

The Countdown

Here's the countdown so far:

56 days under house arrest

28 weeks and 3 days pregnant

8 ultrasounds

8 visits to the amazing Dr. Chitour

7 novels read

4 embroidery stitches learned

2 negative fFN tests

(2 secret visits to CVS)

1 scarf knitted

Because He Cares

Nick and I have a lovely routine in the mornings. We wake up; he gets ready for work; I lay in bed telling him the weird, pregnancy induced dreams I had; he goes off to work; I go back to sleep.

This morning, I was telling him that I dreamed my dear husband kept punching me in the right arm, not hard of course, but punching me nonetheless. Over and over and over, the punching continued. It was pretty annoying.

Nick smiled and shook his head. "I wasn't punching you. You were on your back and I was gently pushing you to try and get you to roll onto your side." Clearly, the pushing didn't work, as I woke up this morning on my back.

You see (for those non preggers people) the medical community highly recommends laying and sleeping on your left side, as this is the position that is best for circulation to your baby.

Needless to say, we're going to have to figure out a better "Get Susan to roll onto her side" strategy.

He Comes By it Rightly

My mother came with me to last week's ultrasound. This was not only her first ultrasound, more importantly, this was the first view of her first grandchild.

Dr. Scorza, bless his heart, definitely catered to his captive and captivated audience. He spent quite a bit of time pointing out various parts of Baby Pollara. BP even waved to us - giving us full view of all 5 fingers.

Then, we saw the bottoms of BP's little feet. Dr. Scorza let out a cry:
"Wait, go back", directing the tech to show his feet again. In a very serious voice the doctor said "Your child has 2 left feet."

The panicked voice inside of me silently screamed "What, two left feet, how is that possible?!?"

Then, the light bulb went off... 2 left feet... ha ha ha... 2 left feet.

I let another second pass and then replied "Well, neither of his parents can dance, so he comes by it rightly."

We all had a good, well deserved, chuckle.

An Early Valentine's Day Present

Yeay!

The doctor just called. This morning's fFN test came back negative. Yippee!
That means, within the next two weeks, I should not go into premature labor. What a relief.

It's like the winter of 1986-87 all over again

One warm October Day in 1986 I was walking down the street with a few of my pals - laughing, sharing a can of coke, delighting in our status as high school seniors. My best friend Amy was there, as were a few of the "Glenside Guys" - our local artist/rebel/sweetheart guys, including Matt Rosenberger, who had returned to school a few weeks ago after a bout with mono.

A few days later was Rosh Hashana and in the middle of our family dinner at my grandparents' apartment, I pretty much melted - fever, sore throat, chills. I stayed back at the apartment while the rest of the Gross crew went to services.

My mom dragged me to the doctor who tested me for everything from Strep to Mono. All came back negative. I missed a few days of school, the fever broke and I went back to school. A week or so later, same thing. More tests, more negatives.

Finally, on the third round of Mono testing, which included my graciously blacking out during the blood test - it was determined that YES, I had Mono. Clearly I had gotten it from sharing a Coke with former Mono victim, Matt Rosenberger.

I was promptly put to bed, where I remained for months. My memory is a bit foggy, but the way I recall the experience is that I went to bed in the Fall and woke up and it was Spring.

One night this week I was telling Nick about my Mono bedrest experience. I explained that each day my big activity would be heading downstairs for a bowl of Captain Crunch cereal. I ate so much Captain Crunch that I earned myself a Young Astronaut's watch, which I wore proudly for years.

In telling Nick this story, I said how great it was to "get a prize" for the whole experience. I thought out loud about getting some sort of prize for this bed rest sentence. Nick smiled and reminded me of the awesome prize we will have at the end of May.

Silly me, how could I want a watch, when I get a baby?!?

Weekly Stats

Just got back from the weekly ultrasound.
Here are the stats from the ultrasound and Monday's doctor's appointment:

Cervix: 3.1cm (last week it was 3.2 cm)
Funneling: very small amount

Baby Pollara: weighs 1.7 pounds

Test that predicts pre-term labor within the next 2 weeks: negative (yeay!)

steroid Shots: received two this week. Will help BP's lungs develop.

All in all the doctors are happy, but still really cautious. Won't let me off the couch just yet.

A Sign of Things to Come

Yesterday was my weekly ultrasound.

First things first, my cervix is now 3.2cm, a bit shorter than last week, but the doctor assured us that 3.2cm is perfectly normal. The funneling is gone, which is also very positive.

As the tech was doing her thing (insert wand, stare at screen) she chuckled. Apparently, Baby Pollara was literally, dancing on my cervix. That's right - standing straight up and dancing on my incompetent cervix.

Last week I was convinced that I was having some sort of problem because of all of the movement I felt on my cervix. Tears, panic, rushed in to see the doctor, the whole nine yards. But, it turns out, as confirmed by yesterday's pictures, this kid is just dancing his heart out.

It's fascinating, that at just 23 weeks, this child already knows my weak points and can push my buttons so easily. 16 years from now, I can only imagine what buttons he will know to press to get a reaction from dear old mom. Will it be staying out all night... underage drinking.... joy riding ... who knows??

* * *
On another note, Monday is a big day. I'll be at 24 weeks. This means if BP arrived, he would have a good chance of survival. Monday I go to the doctor for a shot of steroids to help this little guy's lungs develop. My doctor can also do a test which can predict the likelihood that I will go into premature labor within the next two weeks. Hopefully that will come back negative and I will just continue to cook this kid.

My new mantra is 38 weeks, 6 pounds. That's my goal. Deliver a beautiful, healthy child at 38 weeks. 6 pounds sounds totally manageable, just a bit bigger than a bag of flour.

Have a peaceful weekend.