This Weekend in Pictures

Since Friday was Halloween, I thought I'd start the weekend there. Even though I worked Friday, my office had a good Halloween turnout both in costumes and with food, so I'm glad I had made the schedule change so I could work that day. I was Mother Earth, transforming last year's toga with some brown and green tulle and some flower garland from the dollar:


Saturday afternoon we went to a Jack and Jill baby shower for a co-worker and his wife. Since the guys were there, one of the activities was a beer drinking contest...out of baby bottles...

Lloyd, don't worry no beer will be in your bottles!

Sunday was somewhat rainy and overcast, so we made it an early walk and 'park in the car' day. When we got to the end of the Balboa Park promenade, we discovered a new art installation called Cool Globes. Each of the many globes were focused on a different effort to live more environmentally responsible.


This particular globe was covered with a knit rope sweater and was about the small things we can do to save heating and cooling expenses...like putting on a sweater instead of instantly turning up the thermostat.


I thought the globes also served as a nice background for a belly update photo:

25 weeks

Well that's it for us, we are trying to adapt to the time change and going to have a dinner of chicken enchilada casserole. Hope you had a lovely weekend!

This Sunday

A little knitting...

A little doggie...

A lovely day.

Popped

As I alluded to in my last post, I've seen some steady growth changes the last week or so and mid-week last week I do believe I've hit that milestone referred to as 'popping'. The growing belly ('is she gaining weight or is she pregnant?') has clearly turned into a round pregnant belly.

23 Weeks

Although, I have to admit this photo makes me look huge (or at least I think so!) and I really don't feel huge yet. I actually feel pretty amazing. I've passed through that icky body image stage and I love the way I look. I know that there will probably be a time when I start to feel like a whale, but for now, I'm enjoying this.

(We also discovered that black t-shirts aren't the best to wear when trying to show belly progress ;)

Things are a-changing

I've been regularly attending my spin class since the beginning of the year, which has been a major accomplishment for me. The last few years, my attendance has dropped at the beginning of the year and it has taken me from anywhere until April or June to get back on the bandwagon. So in an effort to bribe myself (which works entirely too well), I get a paper clip to add to my chain every week I go. If I have to miss for something I can't help (illness, travel, etc.), I'm fine. But if I flake, I loose all my paper clips. The idea is that at some point, I get to cash in my paperclip chain for a prize. The problem is, I never did settle on a prize this year. I'm contemplating buying a share of a yarn CSA through Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm (mostly for the feel-good factor, but also because this is such a rare thing to be able to do, too), but there are other things we need to be spending money on right now. And more yarn is not one of them! (I know - gasp! ;) So for now, I'm still officially prize-less.

Regardless, I've been finding the motivation to go to my spin class on my own. Unfortunately, when I went to class this last Wednesday, I realized that I have taken my last spin class for awhile. I've needed to monitor my heart rate in class for a while now, so that hasn't been a problem, but unfortunately, the angle I have to ride at does not bode well for a growing belly. I noticed it last week, but this week I was uncomfortable and the last thing I want to do is ride with bad form (not good on the knees!!). So, I'm going to have to find something else to do now. I've been walking periodically - obviously every Sunday at the park, but also on and off during the week. But I really need something else to make me feel like I'm working out.

I'm going to use the next few weeks to try out a couple things. My gym offers a water aerobics class Thursday nights (taught by my favorite spin instructor :) and they also have a pool for lap swimming. Sharp also offers very reasonably priced prenatal yoga classes three nights a week, but I still have to pay for an entire 8 class series up front. Given that we just shelled out almost $300 for our birthing class, yoga may need to wait for another week or so. I like that for each of these options, I can do them through the rest of my pregnancy or at least until I'm just not comfortable doing anything anymore. I'll keep you posted on what I decide to do!

Random Updates

I've been remiss in updating this week, but wanted to pass along how our hospital tour went last weekend as well as the latest update from our OB appointment on Monday.

The hospital (Sharp Mary Birch Hospital) tour went well. While they aren't able to offer everything we were hoping for (no water tubs, only the traditional birthing position), they were pretty flexible about most things. The facilities were also really nice and private. Even for those of us whose insurance only pays for 'semi-private' recovery rooms, they make an effort to only have one person per room whenever possible (which apparently is usually the case). As for labor and delivery, you are assigned your own room for everything. You are there from the time you are admitted until about 2 hours after the birth. You can have whoever you want in the room with you whenever you want them there. Once the baby is born, the baby stays with you the entire time (except for the first bath, which you can also do if you aren't too tired), so there is no nursery in the hospital (except for the NICU).

After our tour, we stayed behind and talked to the nurse about our specific questions regarding having a natural birth in today's hospital settings. She said, while indeed the epidural rate is high (like most facilities), people do have fully natural child births there. She also suggested that at the time we are admitted to ask if we can be assigned a nurse who would be interested in assisting with a natural child birth. In her experience there were definitely people who were more into it than others...and we do want someone who will be more into it. She also mentioned that we might want to think about hiring a dula, which we are considering...but of course don't really know where to go, since we don't know anyone who has used one and I'm not a big fan of picking names from a list.

All in all, we both felt much more comfortable going there for the birth and it also made selecting our child birth method easier as well. We decided officially to go the HypnoBirthing route and plan to start a class with a certified hypnotherapist (Jennifer Lindeman) in a couple weeks. We are then going to supplement what we learn in that class with a Bradley method book that Brad's sister gave us. We are also thinking about taking an abreiviated child birthing class that the hospital offers, so that we are familiar with the hospital practices and philosphies as well.

As for the OB visit, we did get a chance to meet the other OB in the office, only to find out that she is scheduled to begin her own maternity leave at the beginning of November. Apparently the OB we have been seeing (and don't really care for) will have an nurse practitioner available on Mondays to help with patient load and we may try to schedule our appointments then (since we prefer to go on Mondays anyway). I am also set for my glucose one hour test next appointment (beginning of November) which sounds fun (bleh). As for progress, this was the first time the OB measured my tummy since I now have one :) I think she said I was 21 cm, but I'll know for sure next time. I'm also up a total of 10 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. As for Lloyd, she had trouble finding his heart beat because he was moving all over the place (which I thought was pretty cute). She'd catch him for a couple seconds, long enough to hear the beat, and then he'd be gone. It took several tries before she was able to catch him still long enough to hear him for her count. I was also reassured that the pain I've been having in my ribs is normal and as a result of my ribs expanding (sexy! ;) Who knew!?!

We also went over the ultrasound results from the 20 week ultrasound, she said that the only thing they had noticed was one kidney measured slightly enlarged (vs. they two the second ultrasound found). She said that normal growth usually takes care of this issue and that maybe at the next visit they will talk about refering us back to our ultrasound facility for a follow up. I also heard from a blog friend that her son had a similar issue and was fine by birth, so that was reassuring to hear as well. So for now everything seems to be progressing as it should.

Lloyd's turned into quite the wiggler and started some regular good kicks as well. Beginning with Sunday night, we've gotten into a nice little routine at bedtime. When I first lay down and while I'm reading (although, I should probably be reading out loud...I still can't quite bring myself to do it...), I or we'll keep a hand on my tummy and he'll give a good kick periodically. Brad has had more trouble feeling him since I get the bonus sensation of knowing where he is moving before a big kick comes, but last night we hit pay dirt. He had quite a few big kicks that Brad was able to feel. His movements during the day are getting pretty predicatable as well...especially after some of his favorite foods (we discovered yesterday that he is a fan of popcorn - who would have guessed! :)

Finally, I thought I'd link to some of my most recent baby projects: a new sweater, some burp bloths and a simple blanket. I've also pulled out a patchwork quilt I started on vacation last year (its been siting in a bag on the floor of our bedroom since then and needs to be finished and put away as part of the 'making room for baby project') and I'm almost done! I starting putting on the binding this morning, so I should have a finished quilt pretty soon - talk about getting a monkey off my back!

Our Little Lloyd

We met with the genetic counselor on Wednesday this week regarding my AFP screening results. Basically there are four hormones that are in my blood because of the pregnancy. In comparing my numbers in each of the four hormones to the average pregnant woman (1), they've found that when two are higher than 1 and the other two are lower than 1, that it correlates to an increased risk for Down Syndrome. Of the two 'lower hormones' mine were just slightly lower. Of the two 'higher hormones' one was somewhat higher and one was almost to 2. These results are what made my test screen positive for Down Syndrome and increased our risk from 1 in ~500 to 1 in 98 for my age. The test also showed that my results tested negative for the other 3 conditions they were screening for (a very good thing!).

We then had a more detailed ultrasound done in which all sorts of measurements were taken to look for Down Syndrome markers. I got to watch this entire ultrasound with a separate monitor, so it was really fun and interesting to see his anatomy in so much more detail. We tried to video this second ultrasound, but they wouldn't let us for legal reasons (they don't keep video records themselves, so they don't want us to have them either :-P ) Besides moving around a LOT, everything looked normal except his kidneys were slightly enlarged.

Look at that little nose!

The doctor then came in and explained that the larger kidneys (the cut-off for 21.0 weeks is 4mm and Lloyd's were at 4.1mm), were a soft marker for Down Syndrome. Because of this, they bumped our risk for Down Syndrome from 1 in 98 to 1 in 49. However, she also explained that the enlarged kidneys are seen in normal babies and that generally it clears itself up during the pregnancy and if not, the baby has a tendency for urinary tract infections once born. Apparently this trait is also usually seen in boys probably due to the way that their urinary system is built. She then asked if we wanted to have an Amniocentesis to analyze his genes and see if he did in fact have Down Syndrome. And that was pretty much all the information we got. These weren't exactly the results we expected.

We had to decide that day if we wanted the Amnio. We could come back and do the test, but we needed to do it within the next few days because of the timing of Amnio test results. However, after we were done with the doctor and started talking (in the hall by the way), we had a ton of questions, the answers to which would influence our comfort level with the idea of the Amnio. The risk of miscarriage due to the Amnio procedure were 1 in 1000, so definitely something to be concerned about. We also had a lot of questions about soft markers and their prevalence in children with Down Syndrome (do kids that end up having Downs show more than one? are there certain ones that are more commonly seen? is their a separate risk factor for each marker?).

With the information Brad was able to get online through his Mom while we were in the hall, we decided we didn't want to do the test. We then went home and did some additional online research, including searching through peer-reviewed journals. Basically our decision not to proceed with the Amnio, came down to the fact that what was triggering the 'soft marker ruling' was just 0.1 mm. We also discovered that besides soft markers, there are also medium markers and strong markers. We felt that if there had been several soft markers, a single soft marker that had a stronger tendency to be associated with a Downs case, or we had medium or strong markers, then we might think about the Amnio. We also felt pretty confident that since our one soft marker is also seen in normal kids and that it has a prevalence in boys, that it wasn't something we were going to worry about as being overly 'abnormal'. Finally, given the mood of the office (not directive and very protective), we felt that our risk results were being increased more for legal reasons that for actual cause (God forbid they tell someone not to worry and they end up having a child with Down Syndrome).

We feel really good about our decision. This is not something that we are stressed about or are going to worry about for the rest of the pregnancy. Our guts tell us he is just fine. We will, however, likely have a follow up ultrasound in about two months to check on his kidneys, but other than that, it is back to business as usual for us.

And like the previous Wednesday's ultrasound (when we saw The Raconteurs later that night), we saw Sigur Ros later Wednesday night (wonderful show btw!!!). Lloyd seemed to take after his parents and was a big fan of those gents from Iceland and rewarded both of us by letting us feel his first kicks. I've been feeling him moving around a lot more consistently lately, mostly after I eat a meal, but this was the first time Brad's felt him and I've felt him from the outside. He was also funny last night when I went to bed. I noticed that not only was he all the way at the bottom of my stomach (so it looked almost flat above my belly button, but he was all on the right side! I was like - what are you doing, silly!?! And pretty soon, he evened himself out, but for a little while my stomach looked seriously messed up!

Finally, we got the video of our 20 week ultrasound compressed so that you can see it here. It's about 6 minutes long and you can hear the technician (mostly explaining what you are seeing) and Brad and me (being amazed). I think these are so much fun to watch!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend this coming weekend and talk to you soon!

Back from Hawaii!

I returned today from a wonderful trip to Honolulu to see our friend Shan get married. It was such a beautiful wedding (and beautiful bride don't you think!) and everything went perfectly :)

I arrived Thursday late morning and started off the food journey of the trip with a 'plate lunch' from the Rainbow Drive-In followed by freshly made (i.e. piping hot!) Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery. My friend Matt and I spent the late afternoon and early evening on the beach.

On Friday morning, Shan and Brian took us on a drive up to the North Shore where the waves were anything but huge. Turns out the big 60 foot waves roll in during November and December.

Waimea Bay

After making a couple stops to take beach photos, including the famous Waimea Bay, we went into town for shave ice at Aoki's - yum! I had pineapple, melon and lilikoi with ice cream on the bottom.

After that we headed to one of Shan's favorite beaches which was actually one of several small bays within a very lovely resort. We hung out a bit here and even went for a swim:

20 weeks - on the beach

That afternoon we met back up with our friend Susan who flew in that day and made it to a super yummy 'friends' dinner at Phuket Thai.

Saturday Susan and I spent the morning and early afternoon helping Shan put together the favors for the wedding...which were super yummy brownies. We were also going to help her uncle with the flower arrangements but he was just too fast! Once we headed back to Waikiki Beach, Susan, Matt and I made a mad dash (literally!) to hike Diamond Head crater (before it closed at 6:00).

View of Waikiki Beach from the top of Diamond Head

We hiked up through the bowl of the crater and made our way through two of the steepest stair cases I've ever seen as well as a really neat tunnel. When we reached the summit we could see over the whole city from on top of an old WWII bunker.

I also took a little video of the 360 view:

Here's a view of Diamond Head from Waikiki Beach:

Sunday morning to afternoon was the wedding at the Halekulani Hotel, complete with some really great food (including a whole Kobe beef thigh!) and cupcakes for the wedding cake, which made me very happy. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the Halekulani pool (our hotel pool was under renovation so we were allowed to use the pool across the street...which was way better!)

Monday we were able to get a late check out so we were back at the pool for the morning and early afternoon, then it was shopping and walking the city until our airport shuttle arrived for our red eye flights back to the 'mainland'.

All in all a very wonderful trip! Lloyd was also a trooper and except for reminding me a couple times that I was squishing him, he seemed to have a good time as well. He was particularly fond of Red Mango frozen yogurt and would wiggle quite a bit after I had some...and I did have it on a couple occasions ;) This trip also marked the first time total strangers asked me about being pregnant...so I guess it must be obvious enough now!