31 Weeks

Here's a quick pic of me (and Miss Casey in belly) at 31 weeks pregnant. The shirt makes me look like I'm carrying her much higher than I feel like I am... it's just a really long shirt :) The little stinker will NOT leave my right hip alone, I think she thinks that her shoulder or arms or something belong in it and against it ALL the time. HA! More updates to come on the Big T - so many sayings and stories lately... he is one bundle of love, energy and lots, lots more!

Love to all!!!
~j

Button Nose and Hair

Tonight I had my first Biophysical Profile (BPP). Casey did perfect and scored 8 out of 8. She was doing nice practice breathing movements (they watch for her to do them consistently over a 30 second time period). She did one big movement during the u/s (and of course is doing them repeatedly as I sit here now) and even "waved" for the "camera" as she opened and closed one of her hands a few times. I also got to see her yawn or swallow a few times (can't really tell the difference) so that was cool. Ty did that once during the last u/s I had with him while he was alive.

Check out this cute 3D image - my little girl has a sweet little button nose...
now we just gotta get her to smile for the camera :)

In other Casey news, she has flipped and is now head down, so the above image is actually upside-down. Based on my memory from Tegan and Ty's pregnancies she will probably stay that way now (head down, that is). I want to say Ty was head down at 30 weeks and the midwife at that appointment said by that point they usually don't flip back once they've gone head down... I'll keep my fingers crossed. That explains all the big movements I've felt over the past week - her flipping and having her feet up in my ribs as opposed to her head.

Speaking of her head, I also learned that my little C has hair - enough to be detected by ultrasound at least. You can see it in the image below - it's the spiky stuff near the "hair" label. I wonder what color it is and if it'll be straight like my and Tegan's hair or curly/wavy like Brendan and Ty's... hmmm :)

Well, that's all for now. I've got another BPP scheduled for next Wednesday, so I'll probably have another pic or 2 for ya then. Got a whole bunch tonight, but the others are the profile (which I just got a pic of last week) and then her arms and a foot.

Praying all is well with you and your loved ones! Love to all!
~j

Published

So I got a message from a friend last night that she saw a picture of me in the Eden Prairie magazine while she was at the dentist's office. After looking through the magazine website I remembered it was probably a picture from when Tegan and I went to the Tuesday morning music at the park this summer - we went ONCE and our picture made it into the EP Magazine. HA! Anyway, here it is. I'll have to see if I can get a copy of the magazine so that I can keep it as a keepsake for Tegan. :)
Love to all!
~j

28 Week Ultrasound

Well, today was my 28 week ultrasound. Casey looked great, as always, and even cooperated and slept through the u/s with just a short bout of the hiccups (of course during the time they were trying to record the heartbeat and the blood flow through the cord). :) She is measuring a little small, but within 5 days of her due date so totally "normal" I'm told. At this point in pregnancy babies are truly beginning to be individual and unique in their size, so I'm just thinking we might have a little pipsqueak on our hands. Her weight estimate is 2 lbs 7oz, so right on target for what all my books and such tell me for what a 28 week old baby in belly weighs.

As far as position, she's still got her little face nuzzled in the placenta and her butt is down (so she's breech) but the perinatologist wasn't worried as there's still plenty of time and room for her to turn. I was a bit bummed - only got 2 u/s images to take home and the 3D image u/s machine wasn't cooperating, so no 3D images of her face. I do go back for another growth assessment ultrasound in 4 weeks, though, so maybe we'll get one then. Based on the below image, though, it looks like she's got a pretty cute nose... just like her brothers, Ty especially - I was/am in love with how cute his nose was!


Take care and love to all!
~jenn

What Can I Say???

So I was in tucking Tegan in for the 2nd time tonight and I noticed him poking at (almost picking, but not quite) his nose. Here's our brief conversation:

Me/Mommy: "Tegan, do you need me to get a tissue? We don't pick our noses, that's yucky."
Tegan: said as seriously and innocently as can be said, "No, Mommy, my finger works good."

How do you not laugh at that?! I just quickly and quietly kissed him goodnight and left the room to laugh. HA!

Arrrr, Matey!

Well, here are the best pics from Halloween. Our little pirate was just too busy to pose for many and too fast to take any "action" shots. HA! (that and action shots in the dark don't really come out well)

Checking out the blinky necklace

(well, blinky ring we attached to a necklace because it was too big for his finger).

Gram'ma Moore, "Tegan, what does a pirate say?"
Tegan, "Arrrr, Matey!"

Tegan's typical eyes closed smile :)

Update on Tegan & Me

Well - after much deliberation I decided to call Tegan's pediatrician's office and see if I could have him tested for H1N1. I figured if he was positive I'd take the Tamiflu, if he was negative I wouldn't. I explained the situation (that I'm pregnant and want to avoid taking Tamiflu if I can and I'd like to have him tested) and the doc was happy to do so. The test was simple, just a nasal swab and 10 min later we knew that he DOES NOT have H1N1! YAY! What a relief that was and is!

Today the little guy is still "off". He slept most of the night, only up 2x with some grunts which often are predecessors of a bad dream/night terror (so I went in to comfort him before they escalated) and he was up right around his normal time at 7:15 (a little later than normal, but no much). His cough is still pretty yucky, but it's nice and productive (phlegmy for those of you who like specifics) and he's not running a temp. He still doesn't have his appetite back, but who would when you had yuck (a.k.a. boogers/snot/mucus/phlegm/etc) running down your throat into your tummy all night? My mom is home with him (typical Thursday daycare routine - my parents spend Thursdays and Fridays with him at our house) and reports that he's drinking plenty of juice, so he IS at least getting some healthy calories (and I buy the Bolthouse Farms juice/smoothies, so they are loaded with 100% real fruit and tons of vitamins and antioxidants).

OK - time for Casey and I to eat :)

OH, before I forget - I think I updated you all on here, but if not I was unofficially diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes for this pregnancy. I had passed my first 1 hour glucose tolerance test at 20 weeks (with a "score" of 93... not sure on the units) but at my 26 week test my "score" was 193 after just an hour which is quite high and would have generally required a follow-up 3 hour fasting glucose tolerance test. Being that I've already had GD (with Tegan's pregnancy) I had the option to just assume that I had GD and to move forward OR take the 3-hour test. To make things easiest on everyone we/I decided to just assume that I have GD and move forward with testing and restricting my carbohydrate intake. Things are going great with that and with my testing. My glucose readings are right where they should be (staying under 120) and I'm not overly hungry at all :) YAY!

OK, now it's really time to eat.
Love to all!
~j

H1N1 Hits Home: Updated

Brendan took Tegan into the peds office today. The kid slept until 9:30 this morning and when he did wake up his eyes were all crusty - again. Didn't we just deal with pink eye 2 weeks ago?! Maybe it was 3 - regardless, recently. Well, since he's been running a fever and had a cough they wanted to see him to rule out an ear infection. The ear infection was ruled out, but this was then added "he probably has a mild case of H1N1". The doc explained that right now everyone they see who is sick is exhibiting the H1N1 symptoms and he (the doc) also speculated that when Brendan was sick a few weeks ago with aches and nasty cough/sore throat he probably had H1N1 as well.

I called my midwife's office and explained the situation and they want me to start taking Tamiflu for 10 days as a preventative measure as there are such great risks to the babies/fetuses of pregnant women that it's much safer to just take the Tamiflu. In one respect I'm hesitant given our history (stillbirth) and the fact that there hasn't been an official diagnosis of Tegan or Brendan of actually having H1N1... but the last thing I want to do is follow in the footsteps of my husband and son and get sick and risk getting Casey sick and the horrible results that could have. I just keep going back and forth on what I should do, especially since I have had exposure to H1N1 at school (just not as direct as the exposure I have had at home if T or Brendan really do/did have H1N1). I ask that you pray that I am able to decide what is best for me and Casey and that whatever decision I make truly is the one that is best for us both. Thank you!
Love to all!
~j

Photo Update

Well - Casey and I are officially 27 weeks along today... my weekly update tells me that she is approx 15 in head to heel and weighs just over 2 pounds. At this point she is about 1/2 the weight of Ty when he was born and only 3 inches or so shorter. WOW! Crazy to realize how far along we really are. We could potentially be meeting this little girl in 9 weeks! I'm SO very excited.

I thought I was looking OK, but I guess the face is finally filling out like the belly. BOO! Oh well, part of pregnancy, I guess. Otherwise, though, I'm feelin' good and Casey is one busy little girl - doing her best to keep up with the activity level of her brothers (sorry Brendan, I guess girls don't necessarily make for calmer babies). HA! Most of her strong kicks and movements are during the day, so hopefully that's a good sign that she'll be a great night time sleeper! (One can hope, right?!)

Tegan is officially not feeling well. It's 7:45am and I just snapped this pic. Doesn't he look peaceful? Too bad he's usually awake by 6:45 begging to watch cartoons and play legos and choo-choos. Poor guy had a temp of 102.9 (ear thermometer) when he got home from daycare yesterday. Our daycare provider took his temp (under arm) earlier in the day and it was 100.8, so she kept him until I got off work. She said that he laid of the floor all afternoon and didn't want to play - as you know, that's NOT what my child is normally like. He nearly fell asleep on the 10 min drive home, too. Hopefully it's just a 24 hour thing and he's back to himself today. Thanks to Brendan for staying home with him today so that I didn't have to go in and make sub plans and such... such a hassle, especially if the sub doesn't do anything I leave for him/her, which usually happens unless it's one of my few reliable subs.

Gotta head to work. Love to all!
~j