A quick update...ok maybe not so quick

We had our second AMA (Advanced Maternal Age) Ultrasound on July 31st. Mother and baby are doing well and yes it’s still a boy. Doctor says he was about 1lb 3 oz. They are still saying he is a little big for his age but not enough to be concerned about or change the due date. I think his is going to be tall. After reviewing the ultrasound and the blood test results for the genetic screening the Doctor said we could pretty much move me off the AMA list for high risk and just consider ourselves out of the woods so to speak for having any sort of birth defect. Hurray!

My previa is still there and still "marginal". He said it moved up a little but not enough. We are going back for a check up in 2 months. He was not terribly worried and said as long as I am not spotting or losing fluid in anyway we can just sit back and wait for the placenta to move it up. He is confident that it will. If not it just means a C-section. Wah!

I haven’t gained a lot of weight yet only 6 or 7 pounds but I eat a lot more now so we shall see what happens in the next few weeks. As long as I gain a pound a week the doctors and nurses are happy. At first I was concerned that I wasn't eating enough and was depriving him of food but I guess he is doing fine as big as he is. No one has really said 'girl you better feed that baby!" so I guess I am doing OK. I eat when I am hungry but I try to eat good stuff and not a lot of empty calories. Although I did request an oatmeal cream pie this morning but alas the store did not carry that particular morsel. Rat’s foiled again.

I had a few crying fits this past week brought on by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (those of you who have read the book know what I mean) and the movie “Little Miss Sunshine” but then again who am I kidding I always would cry at just about anything. Jamie says I am a little more testy these days too but I am carrying a boiling mass of testosterone in my belly so who wouldn’t be? We had a spirited conversation yesterday morning about getting the kid a cell phone and I had strong opinions about not paying a $500 cell phone bill. Turns out we were on the same page all along just different paragraphs.

Mom and Jamie are planning to be in the delivery room with me but we are also considering hiring a doula to attend us during the birth. This is basically a woman who coaches you through delivery and is with you the entire time beginning to end no matter how long it takes. They help you with pain management techniques when you are going natural which is what I want to do if I get this previa cleared up. For more info on doulas, Google them or check out this link www.alaboroflove.org .

We've picked out a new favorite name for the baby, which is good because we really are having a hard time agreeing on anything. "William Patrick Grant" is our new favorite and we would call him "Liam".

As always your comments are welcome.

On the Mindbender with Doctor No-Feel-Good

Our regular monthly check up at the OB/GYN was set up for July 20th. We arrived expecting a routine check up - pee in a cup, take your vitals, meet a new doctor, listen to heart beat, answer questions. Done and out of thee in 30 -45 minutes. Things started out pretty routine. I peed in the cup and the nurse took my blood pressure and weighed me. Woo-Hoo I gained 5 lbs! How often is a girl happy about that? The nurse went over my results from the blood work we did last month for genetic screenings. All results were negative so our chances of having a child born with a defect are like 1 in 1100 now. Hurray!

So we were taken back to an exam room to wait for the doctor. 40 minutes later (no joke) she finally arrived. We immediately disliked her. Granted our judgement was a little skewed because we were so annoyed at being left to wait so long. She was a little brusque in her mannerisms and the way she phrased some of the questions was a little condescending. But the chances of us getting her the day of the birth are like 1 in 7 so what ever...all she has to do is catch the kid when he slips out. We are not going to be best friends or anything.

So anyway she's asking us questions and making small talk as she is attempting to use her Doppler to find the heartbeat. She can't find it. She asks me to pull down my pants a little more and starts looking again. Can't find it. She has me lay down flat and tries again. Still no go. I'm silently talking to the baby in my head telling him to wake up and move around or something. In hindsight that was probably the wrong thing to do. What can I say, the kid listens to his mommy.

By now it's been several minutes tying to find the heartbeat and we are all starting to get uncomfortable. The last few times were like BAM! there is was, spot on, no fumbling around. So Dr. Crabby Pants says we need to take a look but the portable ultrasound is broken so we will have to get you in with Jean (the ultrasound tech). She gathers up her Doppler, hands me some tissue to clean up the gel on my tummy and leaves the room.

I clean up and get my clothes all arranged and then we hear a knock on the door. It's a nurse with eyes as big as saucers. "Okay," she says "Jean said she could work you in so just come this way." This lady looks scared which is odd because you would hope the staff could be a bit more calm about things like this so as not to get the mothers all worked up. At this point I am fine, because honestly I think I have been feeling the baby move for a few days now so I don't think there is anything to really worry about. I just really need to go pee.

After making a pit stop on the way over to ultrasound and are told to wait in some comfy chairs outside the Ultrasound room. We wait another 30-45 minutes for our turn. We are aware that our ultrasound is not scheduled and we knew we would have to be worked in but as the minutes wore on we started to get a little apprehensive. Something that should have taken 45 minutes has now drug on to almost 2 hours. I started to get worried. Jamie was pretty upset the whole time.

We are finally ushered in for our turn. Jean is a very sweet lady and always puts me at ease. I lay down and she greases me up. BAM! There's the baby and there's the heart beat. Hurray! We are elated that there is still a small life in my tummy. I mention something to Jamie abut how That Woman should change the batteries in her Doppler and Jean says our baby is so active that the doctor probably couldn't get an accurate reading. Jean sees the good in everyone. It's just her nature.

Jean takes us on a little tour of our baby showing us all the cool parts - legs, feet, arms, hands. She makes several cool ultrasound pictures for us. We express an interest in knowing the sex and she attempts to glean that info for us. The baby has his legs crossed. Jean taps on my tummy to get him to move, he does and she zooms in for the close up.

"Do you see that?" she says "Do you know what that is?"

"Uh, no..."

"Well little girls don't have things that poke out."

It's a boy.

Jean wraps things up with her paperwork. I clean up and go potty again. (Jean has her own bathroom.) She asks if are supposed to go see the doctor again. We have no clue. Jean leads us back over towards the exam rooms and we meet up with Saucer-Eye Nurse who is once again wide-eyed with anticipation. "Is everything OK? " she breathes. Once she is reassured she takes us back around to That Woman's office. The doctor asks us if we covered everything. We say yes, she asked us all the questions. The interview concludes and we leave.

It was a roller coaster of an emotional morning. But it ended on a high note getting to find out the sex 2 weeks earlier than planned.