This week has gone by really fast. So fast that I could hardly keep up with all the things happened this week!
Monday July 20
First day back at work after taking a week off (doctor's order). Still had headaches but not as bad as two weeks ago. I started to believe that the work was the source of my headache. I have been working reduced hours (5 hrs per day) since mid June. In theory, my workload should have been reduced, but in reality, I ended up condensing a 9-hour work day into 5 hours. Things got very tough when staff is on vacation or off sick, which happens quite often. So I got to work at 7:30am, started going through 800+ e-mails and 20+ phone messages. I also started cleaning up my desk, knowing that today might be my last day.
Went for ultrasound at 12noon. Baby Bethany was measuring at 4 lb 6 oz (smaller than normal) and she was also in breech position. Heart rate was 135. Long sigh! She is one stubborn baby (and she got the stubborness from me!). She was head down when I was 33 weeks, and two weeks later, she decided to do a sommersault in my stomach. I really think that she has a little plan of her own and I really hope that she will share with me so that I am prepared.
Went for pre-natal appt at 1pm. I told my doctor that I was still experiencing headaches but not as bad as two weeks ago. I was hoping that she would let me go back to work till the first friday in August. After she read the preliminary ultrasound report which indicates that the amniotic fluid was in the low-normal range, she told me that I needed to stop working completely.
Low level of amniotic fluid simply means that baby is not peeing enough, thus not producing enough amniotic fluid. Unfortuately, there was not much I can do to help her produce more of the amniotic fluid. The doctor seemed to be quite concerned about the low level of amniotic fluid and the fact that the baby was in a breech position. So she suggested the following action plan:
1. Ultrasound sound next tuesday to determine if the fluid level is still low or even lower
2. Aversion at Civic Hospital next thursday. Aversion is a manual turning around of the baby, in hopes that she will get into the correct position. The risk factor of aversion is that the membrane might rupture during the procedure, thus bring on labour. If this happens, the doctor will perform an emergency c-section.
It was too much information at that time for me to process and I was not even afraid or worried. At one point, I was not even paying attention to what the doctor had to say. Lucky that Joe was with me at the doctor's office so he managed to take in all information. I went back to the office, filled out a bunch of paperwork and told my boss that I was officially off work till Aug / Sept 2010. The information on the low amniotic fluid / aversion / emergency c-section did not really sink in until I was on my way home.
For the last few weeks, I had this feeling that Baby Bethany would come out earlier than Aug 24, but little did I expect that she might make her first appearance as early as next week when I will be only 36 weeks. I was thinking along the line of 38 / 39 weeks. When I went home, I called mom right away ( I always call her after every doctor's appointments) and broke the news to her. I could sense her worry in her tone, but she stayed calm and managed to calm me down. I felt much better talking to my mom.
On the positive side, Joe and I had our maternity pictures taken in the evening in the Dow's Lake area. The photographer is also a friends of ours. She is a very talented photographer and both Joe and myself are confident that our pictures would turn out fabulous!
Tuesday July 21
With the idea that Baby Bethany might come out next week, I need to make sure all tasks on the to-do-list are to be completed ASAP (two days ago, I thought I still had 5 weeks to finish all tasks!)
1. pack hospital bag -- DONE
2. pack baby's bag -- DONE
3. bought more cloth diapers -- DONE
4. signed up for cloth diaper trial program -- DONE
5. spoke to the own of the cloth diaper store about cloth diapers -- DONE
6. bought an extra pack of new born disposable diapers (our plan is to wait for baby bethany's umbilical cord to come off before starting cloth diapering) -- DONE
7. cook more freezer meals for Joe -- DONE (so far, I had made spinach ricotta lasagna, pasta sauce, butter chicken, beef stew, curry chicken with potato )
In the afternoon, I spoke to Annette (Bethay's godmother) about my condition. She is a mother and a grandmother and she provides me with a lot of good advice during my pregnancy. I am very picky when it comes to taking advice from people during this pregnancy. There are only two people I turn to for advice: my mom and Annette! We spent a far bit of time talking and I felt much better after our conversation. My biggest worry is that the baby will come out before my mom arrives and I will have no idea how to manage. Joe will be taking two weeks off, and Annette and Barry have also offered to help us too. So I think we will be ok! :-)
Wednesday July 22
Joe left for Montreal for meetings for two days (wed & thurs). I stayed home for the day. Between watching 24 Season 5 and doing two loads of laundry, I managed to make more freezer meals! :-)
Mom called around 10am and 10pm to make sure I was doing fine. Joe called around 6pm when he checked into his hotel to make sure I was doing fine.
Thursday July 23
Spent another day cooking freezer meals! I also make honey cake, a recipe I got from my mom. It is my favourite cake!
Friday July 24
Another productive day in cooking freezer meals! I also found out more information on cloth diapering!
Saturday July 25
Baby Shower @ Annette's house from 1pm - 3pm. It was a wondeful afternoon just to chat and open gifts! By the time Joe came and picked me up, our car was packed with gift bags in the backseat!
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| From Drop Box |
Sunday July 26
Based on what we received from the baby shower on saturday, Joe and I took a trip out to Babys'rus to pick up the rest of the stuff we needed. Although my parents are heading up the baby's bedding department, mom asked that we left a few items on the gift registry as dad and mom, being first-time grand parents want to spoil Baby Bethany "just a bit more"! Joe and I have a feeling that Baby Bethany's room will be filled up with all kinds of goodies from Gong Gong and Pao Pao in no time at all!
The guest bedroom is finally painted! Joe was working really hard this weekend to get everything ready, on the assumption that Baby Bethany will come out next week. So now that the room is painted, all we need to do is to re-arrange the furniture in the room, wash all the linens and get ready for my mom to arrive on Aug 5! Less than two weeks to go! YAY!!!! :-)
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