Newby II has hiccups right now. It's such a weird feeling, those little thumps.
This morning Josh bent over to pick up a toy and farted in the process. It sounded like a muted machine gun. Then he stands up, giggles and says "I farted! hahahah Fart fart fart..." Such a boy!
He's counting better these days although he stills skips 'two' sometimes. Actually he'll 'two' and any other sequence of numbers he wants. For example, this evening he was racing from the front door to the living room window. At the door, he readies himself by counting then shouting Go! Except he counted like this: one four five six, GO! - one seven eight nine ten GO! - one three four GO!
My midwife appointment on Thursday went well. Baby measures a healthy growth, my blood pressure, protein, glucose, weight, all those vitals are healthy and normal. Baby's heartbeat is fast and strong, just like Josh's was. We talked about the low lying placenta. It has grown upwards and is now 4.7 cm from the cervix- which is great news. There are now no complications going into another natural birth. The next appointment will focus on our birth plan and preparations so Rusty will be there along with Melissa.
In other news, Rusty & I are working to pick up another client to design and host his website. He has a new business (that I can't talk about yet) and wants to roll out with selling it this Fall. We're waiting to hear from him confirmation to begin. Additionally, another contact, Rusty's boss's husband, wants to barter a custom cabinet he built for us in exchange for a website and some hosting. Since he already has the cabinet made I'll probably begin sketching ideas for him next week.
Speaking of sketching, the nursery will get it's final wall treatment on Tuesday- yay! Michelle of Bella Designs will come in the morning to paint the bumble bees on the walls. Now all I need to get is furniture, bedding and curtains, and the room is complete!
It's my birthday- I'm 31 today! yay! I didn't do anything special for my birthday today except stop for a slice of cheesecake in the afternoon. Rusty and I are working on plans to go to the movies this weekend to see Across the Universe.
The change in season has caused Josh's nose to be "messy", as he puts it. He woke up several times last night saying "nose mess" and "nose hurts". I'm guessing the sinus pressure is what hurt. Aside from the discomfort, some dripping and the occasional sneeze, he's fine.
I volunteered and shopped at Divine Consign today. It was nearly an all day affair. I started my volunteer shift at 8:30, went home at 12:50, ran an errand, took a short nap, then went back for shopping at 4pm. I jumped in line an hour early for the pre-sale shopping and still had a long line of moms in front of me! I got more clothes, shoes, books, a couple toys, another baby monitor and a crib side CD player. I'm all shopped out and happy with my new stuff. :)
Picture time!
Here's Rusty at home. Yes, he's almost always in the office at home.
Me & Hannah Poole- She's due in 3 weeks in this picture.
The brown walls in the loft before they got painted.
Southern Painting painter dude doing his thing.
From brown to blueish-purple, green and yellow walls!
The loft with our fancy custom curtains made by a neighbor named Jenny. She did a beautiful job! I tied one up to show the difference in lighting and effect.
Another curtain graces the top of the stairs (also made by Jenny) and look great against this new green.
Josh's room.
The nursery. Or what will be the nursery. The lighting isn't great in this shot.
The upstairs is a much happier place now.
We took Josh to the Jimmy Porter Park in Carrollton after dinner to let him run around and release some energy. The park has been updated since we were last there- more than two years ago! There's re-enforced banks on the creek, mini waterfall to control flow, an official brick crossing path, and -gasp!- a paved parking area. The grass was shoulder high to Josh in some areas but he didn't mind.
We got our upstairs painted and I LOVE it! I'll post pictures tomorrow or Monday when the walls are dry enough to move stuff back. The only unexpected snag is the nursery walls are a bit more purple than blue-purple. I even put in Reveal light bulbs. Maybe some blue tinting on the light shades will help. Once the room fills in with furniture and other colors perhaps it won't be so nearly girly.
Our house getting painted today! I'm so excited to see what things will look like with our new colors. The fumes are a bit strong so I'm chillin' downstairs today. I'll take pictures when it's done for everyone to see on our online photo album.
My busiest week of the month is almost over- yay! It's been nice to be busy this week compared to some previous weeks. Here's a review my week:
- Monday Josh ran away for an hour followed by a nice 2 hour power failure in my neighborhood
- Tuesday was yoga and lunch with mom friends followed by prepping my lunch and breakfast for the morning
- Wednesday I volunteered for the JBF Consignment Sale for 5 hours (throwing out my pelvic joint in the process)
- Thursday I saw a chiropractor then shopped and volunteered another 5 hours at the consignment sale
- Today the house gets painted upstairs while I catch up on email, phone calls, and other tasks
There were tons of moms at the pre-sale. I heard that about half of the total sales are generated during the pre-sales. I got in on the first pre-sale since I volunteered to work 10 hours. The consignor pre-sale started at 6pm and when the moms filed in at 6:00pm, there was a slight breeze in the room of moms dashing around and rushing in. I expect Divine Consign to be bigger and busier based on how it was last year.
My birthday is next week. For the first time in years (or ever), it doesn't feel like such a big deal. I guess turning 31 isn't a big deal in of itself. Last year I dyed a streak of hair blue to mark my statement against feeling old. I don't feel old this year at all, though I do plan to turn the blue back to brown at month's end. I don't expect to have the time or energy to maintain the blue once Newby II is here.
Speaking of, he's awake now thumping around. My next midwife appointment is next week, the start of my 33rd week. This week I'm 32 weeks, the beginning of my eighth month. Two websites to check out for the expecting mom is i-am-pregnant.com and Storknet. According to these sites (collectively), he's sleeping 90-95% of the time, weighs at least 4 lbs. (my last ultrasound indicated 5.5 lbs.), has all five senses, toenails and hair are growing, and by next week the average weight gain for the mother is 22-28 lbs.
Heh.
Well, I've gained- lemme check real fast... - about 36 lbs. With Josh I gained about 50. So far I'm on a similar trend. Not that I care about numbers. I'll lose it all again in time. I eat healthy, stay moderately active and avoid junk foods. Ok, I avoid really junky junk foods! :-)
Josh was missing this morning for almost an hour. Here's what happened...
There's a thunder storm this morning with the works- lightening, thunder, gobs of rain. The morning started out fairly typical with Josh up right around 7am ready for his diaper change and breakfast. After his bowl of cereal, I go upstairs to shower while he's downstairs watching Bob the Builder. So far, this is still normal. Usually Josh follows me upstairs eventually. I finish and check on him. He's playing with a toy and watching the start of Sesame Street. I go back into my bathroom to pull up with my hair and finish getting dressed while Rusty is showering. I was upstairs the second time for maybe 5 minutes. As I was on my way downstairs, when I see the back door open. Still, this is isn't completely unexpected since Josh has on occasion helped himself outside to play. I'm thinking "Oh geez, he's playing in the rain and getting muddy." As I approach the back door, I see the gate to the driveway open. Uh-oh. This isn't good. I check the backyard and downstairs and realize- he's missing!
I yell to Rusty what's going on then grab an umbrella and start my search up and down the alley. No Josh. Rusty comes out in shorts to look while I call the police. At this point, we estimate he's been outside 10-15 minutes. I'm not panicked at this point, just level headed and looking. No Josh. We switch- Rusty stays in the home while the officer and him double check the house and I walk up the neighborhood. No Josh. I look in the drains where water is rushing in and have this thought what if he was swept into the drain. No Josh. Now I'm starting to have fears of him drowned, kidnapped, lost, hurt... No Josh. I tell the neighbors on both sides of our home to keep an eye out. I search the front of the neighborhood again when a black truck pulls up and a man asks me if I'm looking for a little boy.
Joshua!!
I was relieved and emotional all at once. I'm so glad he was picked up by a Good Samaritan. He explained that he saw Josh wandering in the street headed towards Rosemeade. The neighbor had been driving around looking for someone looking for him. "He's a very sweet little boy and I can tell he's well cared for." I get the driver's name, thank him repeatedly and take Josh inside.
The policeman takes notes, I change him out of his sopping wet diaper and clothes, and we evaluate how he got out and how to prevent it. On a normal day, the gate to the driveway is closed but we think the storm tripped it making it open. We had the back door locked but we didn't have the flip latch locked. Also, we didn't have our house alarm set which would have notified us of the door being opened.
I'm so thankful he's not hurt and wasn't missing for a terribly long time. In that short time where I began to panic and imagine the worse, I felt like a statistic. So many children go missing and I brush off those stories. They were negligent parents. The kid should have known better. I won't happen to us, we lock our doors and have a gate.
It happened to us for one hour. And one hour is all I need to learn my lesson. Never underestimate your toddler's abilities and never trust that they will OK alone in the home.
We changed Josh's bedtime routine hoping it will help him sleep sooner and more independently. My goal is to get him to either fall asleep within 30 minutes of lights out or to stay in bed when we walk away from outside his room.
Old routine: bath, 10 min. of TV, asthma medicine, brush teeth, read books, say good night then sit outside his door (mostly out of sight) on a stool with a dim hall light until he falls asleep.
New routine: TV after dinner, asthma medicine, bath, brush teeth, read books, say good night, play a CD of soft music then sit outside his door (mostly out of sight) on a stool with a dim hall light until he falls asleep.
Mainly the music and the timing of TV is new. We're giving this a few days to see if it helps. Eventually I'll drop the stool sitting too. Tonight's music choice is Matt Musselman's Dialogue, soothing classical piano music. Tonight he's out in less than 20 minutes. Go Matt!!
The spring on the garage door snapped yesterday as Rusty was coming home. Josh was coming inside with him when it happened so of course he talked about the 'boom' and the 'sound' and 'garage door' and 'it broke' and 'wow!!'... He even talked to pop-pop and grandma on the phone about it.
Midnight snacks and naps are becoming more frequent. A typical night snack is a bowl of cereal or piece of fruit. I also tend to take a nap almost daily ranging from a 30 minute snooze to 2 hrs or more, especially if Josh is frequently up at night. I remember napping in the first pregnancy too around this time of gestation. Luckily I'm at home this time instead of cat napping on my lunch break in the office.
The usual yoga instructor is out on vacation in Ireland. I've come to prefer her style the best having the right mix of stretching and breathing, while not over working us mega bellied mamas. The substitute today was brutal. She didn't have the "isn't it wonderful to be pregnant" mat-side manners. In fact, many of her stretches were difficult to do even without a big belly. My opinion isn't helped by the fact that I was positioned right in front of her (or behind her when she faced the wall) and nearly had a foot in my face several times. That technical issue aside, I was so tempted to inquire what days she teaches, but resisted for fear of seeming tacky.
Here's the baby! And he's head down!! yay!
The sonogramist confirmed that the gender (still a boy), estimates the weight at five and a half pounds and suggested an early due date of October 26th- which I laughed at and said "yeah right". (They don't really know by looking at a baby's measurements.) I inquired about the low lying placenta and was informed she was not at liberty to say. Why is that, I asked. Because of liability. Huh. She goes on to say that if she told me a bit of information that I misunderstood or misheard or misinterpreted in some way, patients were known to get upset, doctors get upset, her boss gets upset... essentially, they would rather the doctors interpret and communicate the sonogram results to the patient than the sonogramist. Whatever. I'll find out at my next midwife appointment (which happens to be on my 31st birthday) whether or not the placenta is growing up and outward enough to not be a complication.
The pregnancy is going fine but has its ups and downs. I'm getting heartburn almost every afternoon and/or evening so I've started taking papaya enzyme tablets- they work rather well and last longer than Tums, although not with immediate relief. I get leg cramps twice a night on average and still get a little out of breath while walking and talking, especially when doing so going upstairs. The up-side is I get to take it easy propping my feet up and sleeping with a couple extra pillows. Naps are almost daily, if even for 30 minutes. On more than one occasion the Jamba Juice people will "accidentally" make too much smoothie and put my order in a larger cup. woot. Tomorrow is prenatal yoga. I planned to go on Wednesday but Josh was home that day recovering from being sick (he threw up several times in the night) so tomorrow is my make-up day. Perhaps I'll stop for another caramel covered apple on the way home. :-)
It's already three and I feel like my day is almost gone! Quicky update before I rush off to do laundry, prep dinner and run errands:
- Midwife appointment went smoothly this morning. I scheduled myself for another ultrasound later this week.
- New pictures of our weekend trip to Boulder, CO are now posted online in our photo gallery.
- Josh learned a new skill last week: he can now open the refrigerator. I moved his milk cup down to a shelf in the door where he can reach it whenever he wants.
- I have current maternity pictures on the last page in a folder called Newby II. Sometime in November I'll rearrange the gallery to include our newest member keeping Josh's pictures in place. New pictures will be added to this folder periodically or monthly.
September is looking to be crazy busy for us! My calendar on the fridge is filling up almost daily with various events such as volunteering, appointments, yoga classes, playdates and scheduled events. So far 6 weekdays have nothing scheduled or planned yet. I'll try to keep updated with the blog this month, but no promises!
Beautiful Colorado! We arrived yesterday after a relatively short and somewhat painless flight. Short being less than 2 hours on the plane, and painless being Josh's willingness to not run everywhere or tantrum. He was fine on the plane until the landing when he got cranky then fell asleep. It helps that there were 4 other families traveling with kids.
We ate a late lunch at Efrain's with my dad then convinced Josh to nap for an hour. That held him over for the evening allowing us to wash clothes and eat at my aunt's condo. He's now acclimated to the change in time zones- he woke up at 7:05 this morning and went down for a nap at almost noon.
I'm rally grooving on the climes. It's a good 10 degrees cooler than at home now- yay! We spent the morning wandering around the Farmer's Market and Boulder Creek Festival. If it weren't for my restraint, I could easily spend all our cash at the market on foods and stuff. Today I bought 2 white peaches, 3 carrots, 3 prune plums, a bag of flax seed crackers, a jar of salsa, and red stone earrings. Except for the earrings, everything is organic and super yummy.
After Josh gets up, we may swing by my grandmother's apartment before going to a patio party at my aunt's. My grandmother Betty is suffering from lung cancer (since 2003) and every update I hear sounds worse and worse. She's miserable living with the medical treatments and reduced lifestyle. It's a grave reminder of how smart I was to having never smoked cigarettes despite growing up around it. In some sense, I want Rusty to get the clue too before it's too late. The sooner he quits in life, the better chance his body has of cleansing itself and avoiding his own lung cancer. And the better chance we have to teach our kids to do the same.
Josh has a funny way of saying some words:
elephant = eff-a-nant
balloon = ba-noon-noon
T.V. = tee-dee
box = bock
He's got the onset of a mild cold it seems. I plan to keep him away from crowded kid areas today and we'll do low-key activities. So far it's just some sneezing, a little sniffles and coughing, but these are the things that can quickly get out of control with his asthma.
A couple updates to previous blog entries...
- We changed our paint colors for the upstairs rooms. "Honeydew" will work nicely in the loft/game room, "Afternoon" in Josh's room, and "Hyacinth" in the nursery. Southern Painting is scheduled for September 14th using Sherwin Williams paint. We decided to do vinyl wallies in Josh's room but still plan on having bees painted in the nursery.
- My failed attempt to use the Elna 7000 sewing machine turned out to be not my fault (yay!). A couple days after I returned the borrowed machine, a former Chinese neighbor called to check on us since we moved. I asked if she had a sewing machine I could borrow but she insisted on making the curtains herself. "I make look good. You see." And she did! They are way better curtains than I probably would have made. She confidentially told Rusty "do not let Sarah have a sewing machine, ok?"
Rusty scored mega-cool points with dinner this evening. He made oh-so-yummy cod cakes (cod, potatoes, carrots, onions & stuff) that even Josh gobbled up. In fact, Josh ate more cod cake than peas and cheese. It helps that he also had tartar sauce (a new word for him) and cocktail sauce (another new word) on the side. Thanks super Dad! Tomorrow Josh will get to see his grandparents Anne & Russ (aka pop-pop) for dinner. We're making quiche, French onion soup & Caesar salads for everyone.
Emily stopped by for less than 24 hours with her family on Thursday night through Friday morning. They invited me to join them for a baseball game at the Ranger's stadium in Arlington (Kansas City Royals trounced the Rangers 6-2). Josh came with me while Rusty stayed behind with the onset of a mild cold. Friday morning we had breakfast at Ikea, went shopping at Fry's, picked up Emily's mother from the airport, then hung around the house until everyone had to go. By night, I was so exhausted from the extra activity and lack of Josh napping longer than an hour, I crashed by 8:30- nearly the same time as Josh.
Women are hypocrites: we title ourselves in ads and articles Wife, Mom and [insert professional title here]. Never do we see men labeling themselves as husbands and fathers prior to their work titles. Are women so busy juggling family life and work life that an extended title is needed? Don't fathers also juggle family life after a long day at work? Or perhaps we women are trying to connect to other moms that we're just like them. In addition to working, we too clean up after dinner, give the kids a bath, read stories at night and shuttle them to school or daycare each morning. Oh wait. Dads do these things too? Hmmm. Why do we get those extra titles? Are there that many dads out there who don't pull their weight at home? Or are we women holding on to an old fashion view of dads who leave all the domestic work to the women?
I had my midwife appointment this morning. I’m as healthy as could be expected: low blood pressure, no traces of protein or glucose, normal weight gain, healthy baby growth, no complications health-wise. My midwife is 90% certain the baby is breech at this point, but we’re not too worried as there is plenty of time for him to turn on his own before we get too far along. So! We have a low lying breech baby and an otherwise normal healthy pregnancy.
I met a mom-to-be the other day who reminded me that I am surrounded by supportive mothers whose beliefs are aligned like mine. I know several moms who are all for breastfeeding for as long as reasonable, or even possible. Moms who learned every detail about their pregnancies in order to make informed decisions. Moms who forged ahead against their doctor's wishes or even insurance company's wishes in order to obtain what was best for them or their baby. Moms who opted for alternatives to conventional wisdom and practices. The mom-to-be that I met was about as hands off as one could get. She did not feel the need to take a birth preparation class other than what the hospital offered (at or after 36 weeks), she was all for the epidural and painkillers, but didn't want a c-section unless it was really needed. Her doctor is concerned the baby may be too large in proportion to her body size (she's not petite and her belly isn't enormous at this point) so talks about considering a c-section have already come up. She plans to go back to work after 8 weeks maternity leave.
Scary thing is- she's so not alone. There are millions of other moms-to-be who are following closely to her path right now. They blindly go into labor and motherhood relying on doctor instruction and basic notions of the upcoming transition into being a mom. They don't question their doctor's advice and see no need for birthing classes since that's all taken care of by the hospital.
I'm not going to judge these women. They are following a system developed by the medical industry that is in place to relieve mothers of such stresses and worries. But I do have a different drum I beat to and enjoy the company of other moms who have their own drums as well. I am ever so grateful to be surrounded by the moms that I have befriended in the last 2 years. :-)
I made an Amazon.com wish list for the nursery. We finally have a theme and an idea for the currently empty room. yay! The brown walls will be painted a super light yellow to match a bumble bee theme, black furniture, and some day we'll have bees painted on the walls by Bella Designs. I can't wait to see the finished room! :) Josh is also getting an upgraded room decor to be a planes, trains and trucks theme.
My first attempt to sew with the Elna 7000- let's just say I suck so bad I never figured out how to thread the needle throgh the contraption and that's using the user's manual, circa 1987. I stared at pictures, read and re-read steps, experimented. I still don't get it.
Here’s what I remember of this morning’s yoga class:
…extend your left leg up, breathing deep into those areas that need oxygen most, hold that pose and let your shoulders drop, now raise them, inhale, feel your shoulder blades rolling back, taking deep calm breathes as you do, roll them back along your spine, now take your right hand and grab your left foot keeping your shoulders back, breathe, now take your right leg and just curl it gently around your body resting it on your left shoulder, exhale as you stretch those muscles…
I think I was doing it right because I broke a small sweat. I liked the instructor too. She was much less spiritualistic than the first instructor I had for prenatal yoga.
Here’s what’s new for those who want to know:
- We recently hired a house cleaner to come twice a month. The idea is to take care of the grime that we tend to neglect, like dusting the window blinds and vacuuming upstairs. Once the new baby comes, she will be greatly appreciated.
- We’re planning a trip to see family in Boulder, CO for the Labor Day weekend. It will be Josh’s first flight as a toddler/preschooler. I think we're ready for the challenge!
- We are getting ready to have the boys’ rooms and game room painted from ca-ca brown to something more kid friendly and upbeat.
- I was planning to visit my mom in Lubbock but may not after all since our funds will be tight in August and early September. (We have a number of expenses hitting us at once.)
This week my focus is getting curtains made. I borrowed a sewing machine from Rusty’s mom (thanks!) then realized I haven’t used a sewing machine in over 15 years. I did use a serger two years ago but that was a different machine and different project. So! It’s time for me to suck it up and do some domesticating for once.
Inger sent me (and 40 of her closest friends) to a website to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen foundation. Her personal story with breast cancer is a reality check for all of us. Breast cancer does run in my genes and although I haven't noticed anything unusual yet, I know I need to be vigilant for bumps. I did have a cancerous pocket removed from my eye lid about 3 years ago. There was a tiny bump on my lower eye lid that looked like a wart or something. I went to the optometrist to remove it for cosmetic reasons (it didn't really bother me, it was just there) only to have the lab report back that it was basil cell carcinoma (skin cancer). The optometrist and eye surgeon were both rather surprised of the lab result because it's an unusual place to get skin cancer, and we were all relieved to have caught it early. Not nearly as traumatic as Inger's experience, but eye opening nonetheless. ;-P
This low lying pregnancy is starting to be noticeable. At least twice a day I get winded and feel a mild pressure on the pelvis. When this happens, I get the urge to sit or lay down and take it easy for a little bit. I've increased my fluid intake and reduced my trips up and down the stairs in the daytime to what's necessary. I'm thinking to start yoga classes soon at Destination Maternity during the week while Josh is at school. And I'll be going to the pool more to take some of the pressure off.
Josh is a knowledge sponge lately! Finally!! I taught him the sign for water this afternoon and he repeated it (with a cute variation) after seeing it only a couple times. Now he can say and sign "more water". He's slowly getting into the routine of saying "tank you" when he gets something, but still needs to be reminded to say "may I" and "pwease" when he wants something. We're working on it. He's remembering tunes and singing them. He doesn't know the words but he likes the song "Are You Sleeping?", mostly because he gets to say "ding ding dong" at the end. He's super cute when he's happy. And super annoying when he tantrums. But that's two-year-olds for ya.
Me and Josh at Target this evening:
Me: Josh, sit down honey. Thank you.
Josh: Up?
Me: No sweetie, sit down.
Josh: says something incoherently
Me: Sit down.
Josh: whines and continues to try to stand up
Me for the remaining 20 minutes of shopping... sit down, sit down, sit down, Hey, I said sit!, sit down, sit down, sit down now, now Josh, sit down, put your butt down, sit sit sit, sit down, sit down now!, sit down, sit down, sit down, I said sit down!, sit down, sit down, SIT DOWN, sit down now or- sit down!, sit down, all the way down, your leg wouldn't get stuck if you were sitting down, sit down, sit down, SIT down, sit down NOW!, SIT DOWN!!! ...
I finally buckled him in which sent him into hysterics, crying, wailing and carrying on like I had broken his spirit or arm or something. In the checkout line I gave in and pulled out a Dum Dum sucker from the diaper bag. He immediately stopped screaming (which was putting me on a super short fuse and annoying everyone around us) and obsessed over his new sticky treat. In general, I'm opposed to giving toddlers/preschoolers candy, but this wasn't candy- it was a life saving device. ;-)
I have a viscious case of heartburn that started last night and carried over to this morning. I thought it was due to my homemade lasagna last night, but when I woke up and got heartburn again within 30 minutes, I knew it wasn't just lasagna. Perhaps its hormones or something baby related. In pregnancy, everything can be attributed to being pregnant. I'm 24 weeks along, have gained 20 pounds and, aside from heartburn, feel fine most of the time. Sometime I feel some pressure way low in the belly, either because baby is stretching or because... uh, I really don't know why.
Josh and I both had appointments today. First his...
We went to have the area from surgery checked out. He's fully healed, everything looks good and he can now resume all kid activities- yay!!! The area is starting to itch (which means the skin is healing) and there's still some firmness, and this is the deep tissues that are also still healing. The appointment was quick and anti-climatic.
Now mine...
I took Josh with me to my midwife appointment this morning. So far, everything checks out to be normal and healthy: weight increase is on target, diet is still good with room for improvement (as usual), uterus growth is on target, blood pressure healthy, baby's heartbeat strong and fast- like Josh's. We talked about some of the things I read about from Pithiviers and she's ok with everything except the "safety position" which isn't necessary. She informed me that the doctor who came up with that technique later recanted his stance stating that it really wasn't effective. So no change there- which is fine by me. She also suggested a warm bath for me and the newborn baby at the same time, or we could use a wash basin just for the baby. We talked about the sonogram from four weeks ago. Everything looked normal and healthy there except for one detail: the placenta is low lying. This didn't seem to be a cause of alarm to her though she'll monitor things to make sure things stay low risk. Apparently the placenta was measured to be 1.8 cm above the cervix. Two centimeters seems minuscule to me, but apparently this is enough to not cause alarm. We'll do another sonogram at 32 weeks to see how things have grown.
So I had to do some reading on what exactly a low lying placenta is and what it means. "Normally the placenta implants or buries itself into toward the middle or top of the womb. This means that it is well out of the way of the 'exit' when it comes to labour, and the baby has an easy passage out. When this doesn't happen, you are said to have a 'low lying placenta'. This can potentially cause complications when it comes time to give birth." [womens-health.co.uk] This is not uncommon- 15% to 20% of pregnancies have a low lying placenta. However, after 28 weeks, a low lying placenta is known as placenta previa. My midwife informs me that with a low lying placenta, it typically grows upward (toward the top of the womb, where the blood supply is best) as the uterus expands. This is good as at gives room for a normal labor. But, if it stays low at full term, there may be complications such an increased risk of early labor and bleeding.
This is not a common pregnancy complication as about 1 in every 250 pregnancies may have placenta previa. Placenta previa can cause severe bleeding during pregnancy. There are actually three types of previa:
1. Complete previa : occurs when the cervical os is completely covered
2. Partial previa : involves only a portion of the cervix being covered by the placenta
3. Marginal previa : extends just to the edge of the cervix
Diagnosing a previa is usually made when there is painless bleeding during the third trimester, although in many cases there are no signs at all. If it is diagnosed after the 20th week of your pregnancy (my sonogram was at week 20), and you are not experiencing any bleeding (I'm not), you may be simply asked to cut back on your activities, and increase the amount of time you spend in bed (darn!). You should, however, be alert for any bleeding in which case you will be put on bed rest, be told to refrain from sexual intercourse (bummer) and be monitored more closely by your practitioner (or midwife). [pregnancy-info.net]
SO! If I notice any bleeding, cramps, or unusual pain, I'll let everyone know, including my midwife. Until then, I'm to assume this will all be fine as nature works itself out. It's good to be informed and know what the risks and implications are in any unusual situation. Luckily, I'm not in an unusual situation yet.
Well, no more unusual than what my life is already. :-)