Hello 3rd Trimester!

Last week I started the 3rd Trimester.  That means I need to get things in gear in the nursery.  So far it's painted, the dresser is painted, and the crib is together.  I need to finish the quilt top so I can get it machine quilted.  I also need to finish her letters.  I need to figure out where I want things to go so I can feel like things are getting done!

I had another ultrasound last Friday.  My mom came along again to see MJ.  She is still two weeks behind in growth but she is growing accordingly.  She weighed 2lbs 7oz with a heart rate of 164.

My mom mentioned that I was only 6lbs at birth and was full term.  I wouldnt mind a small baby with a small head at birth! :)

Passed the test!

Monday was the appointment with the glucose test. I drank the orange drink and had to wait an hour to get my blood drawn. The drink didn't taste bad, I thought it tasted a little like orange Hi-C. The bad part was having to wait around for my blood draw.  I didn't get a call this week so that meansy result was normal!

Madalyn's heart rate was 139 this week. I have one more four week appointment and then it's every two weeks! Next week we have another ultrasound scheduled. Hopefully she's growing like she should!

High Risk

Had another ultrasound last Friday. I know, I know I'm slow to update. At this appointment we were finally told that I am being treated as high risk. They still think the elevated AFP level was a false positive but still say it may cause per eclampsia, miscarriage, and low birth weight. This time her head measured 2-3 weeks small but that could be genetics. Her brain looked good and we're not worried about her head size because her daddy has a small head. I have to order fitted hats for him online because stores don't carry his size!

Anyways on with the appointment. My parents got to come with us this time and saw Madalyn!  She didn't move much for them and I even drank juice before this appointment!  She likes to stay curled up and make it hard for the doctor to check everything. Everything checked out fine, or at least everything the doctor could see. I also had a picture happy ultrasound tech this time. I walked out with 13 pictures! I decided I want her for my next appointment. I even got a picture of her heart rate which was 160.

We get to see our baby girl again in three weeks!

Bought the fabric

I have most of the fabric I need for the major projects in the nursery. I even found some more fabric that would be perfect but I need to find something to do with it before I buy it! I decided to make a quilt and crib skirt bc I don't like any of the nursery bedding out there. It's either pink or purple with butterflies, which I am not going for. I want birds, owls, and bright colors. I'm thinking we'll paint the walls grey and the dresser turquoise.

Madalyn update... I had and appointment on Monday and she sounded great! The next ultrasound appointment is on the 18th and hopefully my parents can come. The glucose test is scheduled for February 4 and I'm definitely not looking forward to it! Yuck!

It's a...

Sorry it's taken a week to update but I wanted to be sure all the Christmas cards made it out and I'm pretty sure they have!  If you can't tell already we are having a girl and will be naming her Madalyn.  When we found out last week I thought it would be fun to announce to everyone in our Christmas card, so that's what we did.

The appointment went well on Friday.  Heart rate 154 and everything looked perfect!  I was told that the elevated number could be a sign of issues later on in pregnancy such as preeclampsia and poor growth.  Since I had an abnormal level I will be going in for ultrasounds every 4-6 weeks!  When I decided to do this screening I was only expecting an extra ultrasound or two and now I'll be going back every month.  I'm hoping that my parents will be able to make the one in January.

My friend talked to a coworker who does the screening at their company and was told that the elevated AFP does not mean there's a higher chance of preeclampsia.  Plus my normal range might be slightly higher than "normal".  It's interesting to hear another person's knowledge.

I also had an appointment with my regular doctor on Monday.  Heart rate was 159 (I MAY have gotten the two heart rates switched, but oh well!).  My doctor is not worried about the elevated number and even told me that artificial reproductive assistance, sometimes those numbers are elevated.  Like I said, it's interesting to hear other opinions and knowledge!  I go to see her again in January too.

I started feeling M move around every once in a while.  Every time I try to feel her from the outside she stops!  Hopefully hubby will be able to feel her soon too.

Elevated screening numbers

This morning I got a message from the Genetics Counselor for me to call her back.  I knew right then something was up because the last time when all my numbers came back great the nurse just left a message saying that everything checked out okay.

Finally, when she called me back the Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 18 went down to a 1:5,000 chance but my AFP numbers were slightly elevated.  The AFP is looking at open neural tube defects, i.e. spina bifida.  My number was 2.87 and the cut off is 2.5.  I was told not to worry because it's slightly elevated and I already have an ultrasound scheduled for Friday.

Today I was told I'm crazy because I'm more excited about seeing my friend on Thursday and getting to eat some BTT for breakfast with her on Friday.  Dont get me wrong...I'm excited about seeing the baby on Friday but I dont care if it's a boy or girl so I'm not on pins and needles waiting to find out.  My friend also gets to see the baby with us!  I cant wait till I can feel the baby moving because then I would know it's still there.

We're slowly working on rearranging the house.  Instead of moving around one room for the nursery we have to rearrange three rooms!  The office is going to become the girls' room, the girls' room is going to become the nursery, and the office is being moved to the dining room.  I also added a small bookcase to our bedroom for my books.  What a pain!

First piece of nursery furniture

Today I was amazed at how quickly I got in for my blood draw.  I signed in and not even 10 minutes later I was called back.  Needless to say I was getting daggers stared into my back!  LOL, or at least that's what the nurse said.  I dont even want to know how long the other ladies had been sitting out there but obviously they needed an ultrasound down or were there to see the doctor.  I've learned in my many visits to the doctor's office, if someone doesn't have to wait very long to be called back it usually means blood work or something like that.  It always takes longer if you have to see the doctor.  It's frustrating but I'm glad it was my turn today to be called back immediately.  The next appointment is at 7:40am so hopefully it wont be a long wait to be called back either!

We bough our first piece of nursery furniture last weekend!  We bought a used short/long dresser and I plan to refinish it.  I have several ideas but first we need to find out if baby is boy or girl.  I have also found the crib online and plan to order it in the next week.  I believe I have found the ONLY crib that does not convert to a full size bed.  It is still a convertable crib but only converts to a toddler bed.  Do you know how hard it is to find a non-convertable crib?!  Nearly impossible!  I am okay with one that converts to only a toddler crib.

So far we only have a girl name picked out.  We've had names picked out for a few years but I no longer like the boy name.  I'm not going to worry about a boy name until after we find out if baby is a boy or girl.  Shawn is hoping for a boy and I dont care either way.  I do hope Shawn can have his son but all the girl things are so cute!  Either way I'm okay.