I had my 23 week OB appointment today. My blood pressure was perfect, baby's heart rate was wonderful, everything looked good. Oh, except my weight gain. I'm really going to have to stop eating those cookies - haha! Actually, I honestly think it's the bagels. I love, love, love bagels. I eat at least one a day, if not more. Yeah, they really aren't the healthiest things in the world.
I talked to my doctor about VBAC. She told me the risk of uterine rupture and what could happen. Then she handed me a form that I had to read and sign if I decide to go that route. The form wasn't really that scary - it basically said you are taking a chance by doing this but you have to do what is right for you and for every patient that answer is going to be different. It's times like these I wish I had some brass ones - I really felt like saying to her "ok, thank you for explaining the risks of a VBAC to me. Now what are the risks of a c-section? I mean, it IS major surgery, isn't it? Don't you have an increased risk of blood clots? Or how about for future pregnancies...does it get riskier and riskier for every pregnancy if you have had multiple c-sections?" Alas, I'm not brave enough to say something like that so I let it be. Besides, I have no problem with c-sections. I had one and had no ill effects from it...yes, the recovery was longer but it really wasn't that bad. I think I am just becoming more and more pro-VBAC the more the doctors act like it's not the better option - haha!
Anyway, after that whole thing I decided to call the hospital M&M and I had talked about using. I was so happy with the conversation I had with them. I told them I was a surrogate and they were thrilled. I asked if it would be a problem and they said no, that they deal with surrogacies and adoptions and all different scenarios all the time. Yay! Then I asked them about the VBAC and they were thrilled about that too! She said they love when people VBAC...it actually makes their day when patients have successful VBACs. Woohoo! Then we talked awhile about the bracelets for M&M and how that works, the birth certificate, etc. Then she informed me that M&M would be able to have their own room so they could have privacy with the baby. I asked her about payment for that and she told me it was a courtesy they give to parents in surrogacies and adoptions. Yippee!! Is this perfect or what? We also talked about my having a doula which they of course didn't have a problem with. Then I asked about tours and they told me we could just come in whenever we wanted to and they would give us a tour. Holy cow! My old hospital it was a scheduled thing...they did them every other week, charged you for it, and you were with 6 or 7 other couples! This hospital is amazing! I went on their website to get more info and they even have a whirlpool room for laboring! I'm getting excited now!
So that was my wonderful day. Other than the doctor being less than supportive, it was a great day. I got to talk to MA on the phone for awhile today which is something we haven't been able to do much recently. <3 Love and miss you guys!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Pumpkin! Yay!
Yes, I know I'm weird but this pumpkin craving is crazy! Shayla helped us bake a pumpkin cake over the weekend, Paul bought me pumpkin ice cream, and Jo at work brought me a pumpkin latte this morning. Mmmmm! I *love* all this pumpkin! Now if the weather would be more autumn-like I would be all set!
Thank you M&M for the cookies! They were soo good! :-)
Shayla's bloodwork all came back normal. So, we are pretty much at a standstill now. There is nothing more they can test for, nothing more they can do. We have an appointment with the dermatologist next month for a follow up but I'm sure he'll just say that her hair is starting to grow back in so we won't ever know why this happened.
Only 2 more weeks until our camping trip - I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! I hope Shayla is my normal happy little girl and doesn't give us a hard time!!
Thank you M&M for the cookies! They were soo good! :-)
Shayla's bloodwork all came back normal. So, we are pretty much at a standstill now. There is nothing more they can test for, nothing more they can do. We have an appointment with the dermatologist next month for a follow up but I'm sure he'll just say that her hair is starting to grow back in so we won't ever know why this happened.
Only 2 more weeks until our camping trip - I'm excited and nervous all at the same time! I hope Shayla is my normal happy little girl and doesn't give us a hard time!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Autumn is here!
It finally feels like Fall and I love it! Especially because my huge craving lately is pumpkin - pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin! I could eat it all day long -haha!!
And this little baby is kicking me to death from the inside! All day long - thump, thump, thump. All night long thump, thump, thump. I love feeling it and I keep telling her that her daddies are going to have to sign her up for soccer when she is older because she is such a good kicker!
And yesterday was Shayla's appointment at Children's Hospital. It went well...although we don't really have any more answers now than we did before. I'm going to cheat and just copy my update from somewhere else:
The doctor's at Children’s were so nice and very helpful. Instead of just saying "no, it can't be that" they explained WHY it can't be this or that. Not her thyroid because she is 50th percentile height and weight and she wouldn't be if her thyroid were out of whack. Not Zinc deficiency because her nails would be brittle and not growing. He also discounted the virus theory by saying the virus that will kill hair follicles would be accompanied by a very high fever generally lasting several days and Shayla hasn’t had a fever in almost a year…and that wasn’t even one I would consider very high. I’m not going to go into all the theories he discounted but you get the idea. It really was nice to have a doctor explain everything to me.
He asked a million questions and looked over her blood test results from the pediatrician. He said the ONLY thing he can come up with that hasn’t been tested for is heavy metal poisoning. He asked if we spray for mice and I told him no, but we do for ants. He said ant spray doesn’t have the same chemicals as mouse / rat poison so it wouldn’t be that. He asked if we had any access to thalamine – uhhh…it hasn’t been produced since the 70s, so no. However, his concern was that our house is so old – he said that something we had in the basement could have come in contact with some rat poison or something that had thalamine on it years ago. If we brought that item up into the house and Shayla had contact with it, it could have caused her hair loss. It’s a long shot but he didn’t feel comfortable not testing for it. The good news is if it was something like heavy metal poisoning she obviously isn’t in contact with it any more since her hair is growing back in and she’s perfectly healthy otherwise. The bad news if it was poison is that we have to try and figure out what / where she came in contact with it.
He said if this test comes back negative, he honestly will have no answer. He said this stuff does happen for no reason and it’s frustrating but the good news is that it should never affect her again in her life.
So we’ll get the blood test results this week and either have an answer or forever wonder why she lost all her hair and just hope it never happens again.
I do have to say though – being at Children’s was sobering. It made me realize just how lucky I am that my only problem is that my daughter’s hair is falling out. I almost felt like a baby with a petty problem after watching all those kids walk around with their heads shaved and staples going across their skull, with their trach tubes, with obvious chemo hair loss, etc.
So, that's pretty much it - by the end of this week we will either have an answer or not but we are at the end of the road for testing. Her hair is growing back in (and much, much lighter than it was before it fell out) so I guess that's what matters. If it wasn't growing back, I would probably be much more concerned.
And a big thank you to everyone who called, emailed, and messaged me yesterday. I truly felt all the love and support for Shayla. <3
And this little baby is kicking me to death from the inside! All day long - thump, thump, thump. All night long thump, thump, thump. I love feeling it and I keep telling her that her daddies are going to have to sign her up for soccer when she is older because she is such a good kicker!
And yesterday was Shayla's appointment at Children's Hospital. It went well...although we don't really have any more answers now than we did before. I'm going to cheat and just copy my update from somewhere else:
The doctor's at Children’s were so nice and very helpful. Instead of just saying "no, it can't be that" they explained WHY it can't be this or that. Not her thyroid because she is 50th percentile height and weight and she wouldn't be if her thyroid were out of whack. Not Zinc deficiency because her nails would be brittle and not growing. He also discounted the virus theory by saying the virus that will kill hair follicles would be accompanied by a very high fever generally lasting several days and Shayla hasn’t had a fever in almost a year…and that wasn’t even one I would consider very high. I’m not going to go into all the theories he discounted but you get the idea. It really was nice to have a doctor explain everything to me.
He asked a million questions and looked over her blood test results from the pediatrician. He said the ONLY thing he can come up with that hasn’t been tested for is heavy metal poisoning. He asked if we spray for mice and I told him no, but we do for ants. He said ant spray doesn’t have the same chemicals as mouse / rat poison so it wouldn’t be that. He asked if we had any access to thalamine – uhhh…it hasn’t been produced since the 70s, so no. However, his concern was that our house is so old – he said that something we had in the basement could have come in contact with some rat poison or something that had thalamine on it years ago. If we brought that item up into the house and Shayla had contact with it, it could have caused her hair loss. It’s a long shot but he didn’t feel comfortable not testing for it. The good news is if it was something like heavy metal poisoning she obviously isn’t in contact with it any more since her hair is growing back in and she’s perfectly healthy otherwise. The bad news if it was poison is that we have to try and figure out what / where she came in contact with it.
He said if this test comes back negative, he honestly will have no answer. He said this stuff does happen for no reason and it’s frustrating but the good news is that it should never affect her again in her life.
So we’ll get the blood test results this week and either have an answer or forever wonder why she lost all her hair and just hope it never happens again.
I do have to say though – being at Children’s was sobering. It made me realize just how lucky I am that my only problem is that my daughter’s hair is falling out. I almost felt like a baby with a petty problem after watching all those kids walk around with their heads shaved and staples going across their skull, with their trach tubes, with obvious chemo hair loss, etc.
So, that's pretty much it - by the end of this week we will either have an answer or not but we are at the end of the road for testing. Her hair is growing back in (and much, much lighter than it was before it fell out) so I guess that's what matters. If it wasn't growing back, I would probably be much more concerned.
And a big thank you to everyone who called, emailed, and messaged me yesterday. I truly felt all the love and support for Shayla. <3
Monday, September 10, 2007
It's a.....
Healthy Baby Girl!!
She's measuring right on track (actually a few days ahead - little piggy - hehe), the ultrasound tech said everything looked perfect - yay! She was moving around in there, bicycling her legs, and elbowing me. <3
After the ultrasound we went to lunch - we all had a good time. M&M were having a great time playing with Shayla. MB even showed us a trick to keep her occupied while we are waiting for our food to come out. They are going to make such good daddies!
After that we headed out to our weekend away in the Poconos. Friday night was horrible. My parents place only has 1 bedroom so we put the pack-n-play in there for Shayla and Paul & I were sleeping on the futon couch in the living room. Well apparently Shayla figured out how to climb out of the pack-n-play and then sat in the room playing for God knows how long before we figured it out. After we found her sitting on the floor playing (she couldn't get back in the pack n play nor could she get herself up on the bed because it's too high) she was overexhausted...meaning she would NOT go to sleep. We put her in the bed, in the pack-n-play next to us in the living room, in our bed, etc. NOTHING worked. We finally put her in the car and drove her around until she conked out at MIDNIGHT. Ugh. Luckily she wasn't too cranky on Saturday and we got to drive around sight seeing without too much problem. Saturday night went much better - we put her in the bed and put pillows on the floor so she could get in and out of bed by herself. She played for a little while but was able to get back into bed and go to sleep when she was ready - ahhhh, peace!
So, that was my weekend. It was wonderful from start to finish with the exception of Shayla's sleeping issue Friday night. Love you M&M!
She's measuring right on track (actually a few days ahead - little piggy - hehe), the ultrasound tech said everything looked perfect - yay! She was moving around in there, bicycling her legs, and elbowing me. <3
After the ultrasound we went to lunch - we all had a good time. M&M were having a great time playing with Shayla. MB even showed us a trick to keep her occupied while we are waiting for our food to come out. They are going to make such good daddies!
After that we headed out to our weekend away in the Poconos. Friday night was horrible. My parents place only has 1 bedroom so we put the pack-n-play in there for Shayla and Paul & I were sleeping on the futon couch in the living room. Well apparently Shayla figured out how to climb out of the pack-n-play and then sat in the room playing for God knows how long before we figured it out. After we found her sitting on the floor playing (she couldn't get back in the pack n play nor could she get herself up on the bed because it's too high) she was overexhausted...meaning she would NOT go to sleep. We put her in the bed, in the pack-n-play next to us in the living room, in our bed, etc. NOTHING worked. We finally put her in the car and drove her around until she conked out at MIDNIGHT. Ugh. Luckily she wasn't too cranky on Saturday and we got to drive around sight seeing without too much problem. Saturday night went much better - we put her in the bed and put pillows on the floor so she could get in and out of bed by herself. She played for a little while but was able to get back into bed and go to sleep when she was ready - ahhhh, peace!
So, that was my weekend. It was wonderful from start to finish with the exception of Shayla's sleeping issue Friday night. Love you M&M!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Good Times!
My OB appointment last week went well. I met my real OB and I love him. He's very nice, down to earth, etc. He is fine with the surrogacy, fine with it being for M&M, and can't wait to meet them. He had a million questions for me and thought the whole thing was fantastic. My blood pressure was great, weight gain was a little more than I would have liked but considering I had only gained 6lbs before this, I really can't complain. The ONLY problem I had was that he kinda blew me off about the VBAC. I know most doctors prefer repeat c-sections because it's easier for them (obviously!) so I didn't like that he wasn't really into having the conversation - all he said was that they prefer repeat Cs over VBAC. So, that really wasn't any help since I'm leaning towards VBAC. Argh. But I have time for that decision so I'm not going to worry about it right now.
This weekend was great! My boss let us out of work at 1pm on Friday for the holiday weekend so that was fantastic! Saturday we drove out to Brick. My mom took us out on a Fall clothes shopping spree for Shayla - she got SO much stuff - yay! I found while looking at the clothes that Shayla is very un-proportionate. She is a 2T in the bottoms and a 3T in the top. She's husky but short - haha!! So trying to find outfits was an interesting problem because we couldn't buy things that came in sets. We wound up buying some stuff that came in sets and I'll just save the pants for next year. Sheesh!
Then Sunday we went to Paul's brother's house for a little birthday party for his mother. It was nice but I didn't really feel like I fit in - it was 80 year old women and a priest. Not exactly my type of party - haha!
Later that day M&M came to my parents house for dinner. It was so nice to see them again! Shayla was quite the entertainer for the evening. My parents really liked them and completely understand why I am doing this for them :-) We took a few pictures - I'll have to post one or two later. It's the first pictures I have of M&M with me - can you believe it? Almost half way through the pregnancy and this is the first time we got pictures of all of us together.
Monday we went home and did nothing all day. It was great. Actually, we DID go shopping but I don't consider that actually doing anything - lol.
Well, that's enough for today. I probably won't update again until next week. Friday is our BIG ultrasound but I am leaving right after that to go to the Poconos and probably won't have time to update here. We have no internet up there so no updating til we get home!
Have a great week everyone!!
This weekend was great! My boss let us out of work at 1pm on Friday for the holiday weekend so that was fantastic! Saturday we drove out to Brick. My mom took us out on a Fall clothes shopping spree for Shayla - she got SO much stuff - yay! I found while looking at the clothes that Shayla is very un-proportionate. She is a 2T in the bottoms and a 3T in the top. She's husky but short - haha!! So trying to find outfits was an interesting problem because we couldn't buy things that came in sets. We wound up buying some stuff that came in sets and I'll just save the pants for next year. Sheesh!
Then Sunday we went to Paul's brother's house for a little birthday party for his mother. It was nice but I didn't really feel like I fit in - it was 80 year old women and a priest. Not exactly my type of party - haha!
Later that day M&M came to my parents house for dinner. It was so nice to see them again! Shayla was quite the entertainer for the evening. My parents really liked them and completely understand why I am doing this for them :-) We took a few pictures - I'll have to post one or two later. It's the first pictures I have of M&M with me - can you believe it? Almost half way through the pregnancy and this is the first time we got pictures of all of us together.
Monday we went home and did nothing all day. It was great. Actually, we DID go shopping but I don't consider that actually doing anything - lol.
Well, that's enough for today. I probably won't update again until next week. Friday is our BIG ultrasound but I am leaving right after that to go to the Poconos and probably won't have time to update here. We have no internet up there so no updating til we get home!
Have a great week everyone!!
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