Sunday, November 23, 2003
Kristen's Belly Pictures!!!
New feature!!! We've been taking pictures of Kristen's growing belly since week 20 and I've finally put them all on a web page. Check it out here! You can also find the link to the belly page on the left navigation bar.
Week 31-33 - A growth spurt!
(sorry for the lack of updates... too much slacking on my part!)
Anyway... Kristen has been doing well for the past three weeks. We're a week away from Thanksgiving and Kristen has finally decided to have her belly grow a little. She's now a whole seven pounds above her pre-pregnancy weight! At our doctor's visit last week we were told she should gain a total of about 15-20 lbs. by the time she gives birth. That's about a pound a week from here on out. Our visit to Kaiser went well, although K's blood pressure was quite a bit higher (138/87) than her ususal blood pressure (below 120/80) which resulted in another round of blood tests this time to rule out toxemia/preeclampsia. The test results came back negative thank goodness. Although the whole experience did scare Kristen into finally cutting back on her work hours which she started to do on November 17th. K had already had a note to cut back her hours since her October 24th doctor's appointment due to back and hip pain which was made worse by having a physical job that requires her to stand for most of the day and do a lot of lifting. Kristen however being the workaholic/stubborn person that she is insisted on trying to stick it out until December. After the scare though Kristen cut back her hours immediately, blood pressure has come down, and we have both been much more relaxed since.
K and I also started to attend Kaiser's six-week child birth class last week. Through our first two classes we got to see how births really happen in "the real world" compared to Baby Story that you see on cable. Great for me since I've been a little behind in my pregnancy book reading, but mostly just a refresher for Kristen since she has a whole library of pregnancy books that she has been reading. The first couple of classes have made K a little more anxious however with all the talk about the average labor lasting 14+ hours with contractions lasting up to 90 seconds with as little as 90 seconds of rest in between. Hmmmm, can we say epidural?
Baby Chen is starting to kick less, due to her own growth in the womb and the lack of room. The type of movement felt has definitely changed. Except for the occasional jab or when she decides to stick her feet into Kristen's ribs or when the baby gets the hiccups most of her movements now are more like rolling and shifting. We're really getting excited now that Kristen has a real belly and the due date is less than seven weeks away. Both of us just can't wait for her to be born.
Oh, last thing, our friends and family are throwing a baby shower for us this weekend! Should be lots of fun with both sides of the family invited... stay tuned for more details. =)
Anyway... Kristen has been doing well for the past three weeks. We're a week away from Thanksgiving and Kristen has finally decided to have her belly grow a little. She's now a whole seven pounds above her pre-pregnancy weight! At our doctor's visit last week we were told she should gain a total of about 15-20 lbs. by the time she gives birth. That's about a pound a week from here on out. Our visit to Kaiser went well, although K's blood pressure was quite a bit higher (138/87) than her ususal blood pressure (below 120/80) which resulted in another round of blood tests this time to rule out toxemia/preeclampsia. The test results came back negative thank goodness. Although the whole experience did scare Kristen into finally cutting back on her work hours which she started to do on November 17th. K had already had a note to cut back her hours since her October 24th doctor's appointment due to back and hip pain which was made worse by having a physical job that requires her to stand for most of the day and do a lot of lifting. Kristen however being the workaholic/stubborn person that she is insisted on trying to stick it out until December. After the scare though Kristen cut back her hours immediately, blood pressure has come down, and we have both been much more relaxed since.
K and I also started to attend Kaiser's six-week child birth class last week. Through our first two classes we got to see how births really happen in "the real world" compared to Baby Story that you see on cable. Great for me since I've been a little behind in my pregnancy book reading, but mostly just a refresher for Kristen since she has a whole library of pregnancy books that she has been reading. The first couple of classes have made K a little more anxious however with all the talk about the average labor lasting 14+ hours with contractions lasting up to 90 seconds with as little as 90 seconds of rest in between. Hmmmm, can we say epidural?
Baby Chen is starting to kick less, due to her own growth in the womb and the lack of room. The type of movement felt has definitely changed. Except for the occasional jab or when she decides to stick her feet into Kristen's ribs or when the baby gets the hiccups most of her movements now are more like rolling and shifting. We're really getting excited now that Kristen has a real belly and the due date is less than seven weeks away. Both of us just can't wait for her to be born.
Oh, last thing, our friends and family are throwing a baby shower for us this weekend! Should be lots of fun with both sides of the family invited... stay tuned for more details. =)
Week 30 - R&R for Mom and Dad...
Vegas, baby, VEGAS BABY! So Kristen and I finally got a chance to get away from the daily grind and took a short trip to Las Vegas for our last vacation before parenthood. Lots of Cirque Du Soliel. We saw all three shows. The 'O' Show is definitely best the first time around. Saw Zumanity out of curiosity but definitey wouldn't recommend. Mystere was excellent. As for the rest of the vacation we did some walking, some shopping, and a little bit of gambling. =) Overall, a very good trip. We even came out without losing any money - a feat in itself.
Week 29 - How many more doctor visits?
From here on out, we'll be traveling to Kaiser more frequently. Our last appointment was Friday, Oct 24 (more on that appt. later), with another one in three weeks, then every two weeks until week 38 and finally weekly until the baby is born.
As for the most recent visit with the nurse practitioner, Kristen passed with flying colors. Her tummy measured within expected limits and the baby doppler showed a good 150 heartrate for our little girl. Weight gain is now up to four pounds over pre-pregnancy weight. Kristen also had to have five viles of blood drawn for several tests - diabetes,hematocrit, and liver tests. For the diabetes test, they gave her a small bottle of carbonated orange liquid to drink and had her come back an hour later to determine her blood-sugar level. The orange drink was a super concentrate of glucose - 50 grams of sugar! Not bad tasting as it was like orange soda (I took a sip) but it had almost 50% more than the amount of a Pepsi in just a 10 oz container! Kristen started to get a headache within the hour and wound up crashing about three hours later when all the sugar wore off. Anyway, here are the test results:
Glucose (test for diabetes): passed (barely!!!) Needed to be <140 and K scored 133.
Hematocrit (test for iron/anemia): passed (barely!!!) Need to be between 30-46% and K was at 33.3%.
Liver tests: passed
Nursery update: I made a mobile for the nursery consisting of Classic Pooh, Tigger, & Piglet stuffed animals and hung it over the glider. The stuffed animals were actually meant to be hung from the ceiling, but Kristen gave me the permission to turn them into a mobile. It's pretty heavy, and we had to install a solid ceiling hook to make sure it was secured. I think it turned out pretty nice and Kristen seems to like it too.
As for the most recent visit with the nurse practitioner, Kristen passed with flying colors. Her tummy measured within expected limits and the baby doppler showed a good 150 heartrate for our little girl. Weight gain is now up to four pounds over pre-pregnancy weight. Kristen also had to have five viles of blood drawn for several tests - diabetes,hematocrit, and liver tests. For the diabetes test, they gave her a small bottle of carbonated orange liquid to drink and had her come back an hour later to determine her blood-sugar level. The orange drink was a super concentrate of glucose - 50 grams of sugar! Not bad tasting as it was like orange soda (I took a sip) but it had almost 50% more than the amount of a Pepsi in just a 10 oz container! Kristen started to get a headache within the hour and wound up crashing about three hours later when all the sugar wore off. Anyway, here are the test results:
Glucose (test for diabetes): passed (barely!!!) Needed to be <140 and K scored 133.
Hematocrit (test for iron/anemia): passed (barely!!!) Need to be between 30-46% and K was at 33.3%.
Liver tests: passed
Nursery update: I made a mobile for the nursery consisting of Classic Pooh, Tigger, & Piglet stuffed animals and hung it over the glider. The stuffed animals were actually meant to be hung from the ceiling, but Kristen gave me the permission to turn them into a mobile. It's pretty heavy, and we had to install a solid ceiling hook to make sure it was secured. I think it turned out pretty nice and Kristen seems to like it too.
Week 28 - Nursery is coming together...
Finally, all the furniture is now in place. We got our call on Friday that the dresser/changing table combo unit came in and was ready for us at the store. It was delivered to us on Tuesday and the nusery looks pretty complete now. We also had an old yellow bookcase that we got from Kristen's parents house. Obviously, the bookcase is now in the nursery and it is definitely NOT yellow. We painted it a very light shade of purple over the week and moved it into the nursery as well. Now the nursery really looks good!
vistors since 9/15/03.