Growth Ultrasound

Today I am 36 weeks and 5 days, which means that this Sunday Baby H will be 37 weeks and full term! My due date is not until October 2nd, but that's just around the corner (23 days, but whose counting?)! This Sunday she will be fully developed and she will spend the rest of her days in there gaining weight.

So today was a bittersweet appointment for us because it was our very last growth ultrasound, but everything looked perfect, so we couldn't be happier! The heart rate was 150 beats per minute and she weighs approximately 6lbs 9oz. It was definitely harder to figure out what the images were on the ultrasound machine this time around, because baby girl is running out of room and looked pretty squished!

Here's a few pictures from this morning (the ones that I was able to make out).

 

 

P.S.
If you're watching the pregnancy ticker on the side of my blog, the baby/fruit comparison will change on Sunday for the very last time.... The next fruit in line is WATERMELON!

bumGenius 4.0

Last night I made a trip to the Cotton Babies store and purchased 12 more diapers made by bumGenius! Baby H will have the cutest fluffy butt on the block! Aren't the colors fun?! I have to get a few more diapers to complete our stash, but I can't decided which color(s) I should get more of...

P.S.
These can be used for any other kids that we may have, which is why we wanted to get some greens and blues. Also, a green bum will look adorable with a pink dress. ;)

Maternity Photo's at 34 Weeks

I've decided that I am really going to miss having this baby bump (and not having to suck in my gut), so Friday night I met up with a photographer friend and he took a few pictures of me. It was SO hot that I literally had sweat *dripping* off of me at the end of this hour session and my hair was drenched. I was a hot mess! But here are some pictures from the first half hour!

32 weeks and 5 days along!

Today was the first of my weekly fetal monitoring tests and little missy did not want to participate! I was hooked up to machines for over an hour when the test should have taken 20 minutes. The funny part - we still didn't get a good reading after that hour. My stomach was moving around like a water bed and her hard kicks kept knocking the monitor belt out of place. Honestly, this was the most active that she has ever been. As the nurse watched my stomach roll, she just kept saying "oh, my.... oh, my!". And wouldn't you know it, the baby slept through the entire ultrasound which was done immediately after the other test. They even had to jiggle my belly to get her to move to a new position. Silly kid!

After they got her in the right position, they were able to get all of her measurements and she was measuring almost a month ahead of schedule. The ultrasound tech was baffled that I passed my glucose test, because this kid is HUGE! Or not.... After they realized that they entered in the wrong due date (Oct 22nd instead of Oct 2nd), all of the measurements were perfect! She is now in the 57th percentile and is just 2oz shy of being 5lbs. Grow baby, grow!

Here are some pictures from this morning. The first one is a profile picture with her fist next to her chin, and the second picture is her face with that same hand next to the chin.

My next (and probably last) ultrasound will be on Friday, September 9th. I'll be 36 weeks and 5 days along.

3D Ultrasound

Today I am 27 weeks 5 days (3rd trimester - yay!) and Baby H is looking good! I had an ultrasound scheduled for today and I went in with my fingers crossed hoping to be in the "special" room with the 3D ultrasound machine... Jackpot! After all of the baby measurements were taken, the Tech gave us a sneak peek at a 3D image. She had a hard time getting one though, because the placenta and her arm was in the way. However, we still got to see a glimpse of her mouth, nose and the inner corners of her eyes. We have decided that she has Andrew's nose and Angelina Jolie's lips - What do you think? Ha, ha!

As for her measurements, she weighs 2 lbs and 9 oz and is in the forty first percentile. The doctor said that this means "she's average", but I disagree.  :)

Today's Appointment

Everything went well today and baby girl already weighs 1lb 7oz and her hear rate was 153 beats per minute. We couldn't really get a good profile picture though because she's in the breech position and thought it was a good idea to play peek-a-boo and keep her hands in front of her face. Silly girl! So this is the best shot that we have:

P.S.
They confirmed that she is still a she - LOL!

Team Pink!

Everyone reading this blog already knows that it's a girl! I just thought I would create a post for those who haven't seen the pictures from our "gender reveal". So here you go:

Ten Fingers & Ten Toes

Today we had our anatomy scan. Most people refer to this appointment as the "big" ultrasound because the gender is revealed. But more importantly, this appointment is when they measure every part of the baby to confirm that everything is growing properly and to make sure that there are no visible defects. I am so glad to say that Baby H is lookin' good! We counted 10 fingers, 10 toes, 4 chambers in the heart (with a heart rate of 153 beats per minute), 10 inches in length from head to toe and s/he weighs 11 oz! We are so excited that everything is going so well and we look forward to revealing the gender over Memorial weekend!

In other news, I'm starting to feel little movements in my stomach. It actually feels like a little fish swimming around in there. Check out the little creature that's getting cozy!

It's kind of hard to figure out what the legs are doing, but they are bent. So the long part is the thigh and the calves are pointing up and over to the left and the feet are blurred at the very top.The ultrasound tech had a hard time getting a good profile picture and said "if only we could take out a few of your ribs so that I can get a good angle". Ha! I told her to just keep poking my belly until we get the right view... I'd like to keep all of my ribs, thank you very much!

For my Detroit peeps:  Here's a picture of my "baby bump" at 19 weeks 4 days.

Upcoming appointments:
Monday, May 16th at 1:50pm with Dr. Hugge so that she can look at my anatomy scan results (we had today's ultrasound appointment at St. John's).

Wednesday, May 18th at 9:10am with the high risk doctor, Dr. Moore. She's still monitoring me to watch for signs of preeclampsia.

Friday, June 10th at 7:30am at St. John's for a follow-up ultrasound. Yay, more pictures!

Anatomy Scan - Phase One

Today I am 15 weeks 4 days, and Baby H is measuring right on-track! The heart rate is 157 beats per minute, and all major organs are visible. They tried to give us a gender guess but s/he had the umbilical cord between the legs... Bummer!

There isn't much more to report, because today's appointment was perfect! I go back to St. Johns in 4 weeks (May 12th) for the "BIG" anatomy scan and hopefully this little one is more cooperative!

Here's the profile picture from today, with a little hand on the other side of the face waving "Hi"! Pretty darn cute, if you ask me! :)

P.S.  I was told not to wear heels anymore because I'm a weeble-wobble that can fall down. : /

Not Exactly High Risk

Today I had my appointment with the high risk doctor to discuss the blood clotting disorder. She is comfortable with the baby aspirin that I take daily and does not want to put me on anything stronger, because it could be more harmful than helpful. She also told us that I run a higher risk of developing preeclampsia, because it's far more common in women with blood clotting disorders. Since you can't prevent preeclampsia, they will keep an eye on me and just watch for symptoms so that it can be treated.

While I was hoping that today would be my one and only appointment with Dr. Moore, turns out that she has different plans for me... I'll go back in 8 weeks to do more blood work and she'll compare it to the blood that was taken today. I do have to say that it was a very informative appointment and  Dr. Moore is a pretty awesome lady!

Genetic Counselor Results

Just a quick update: The Genetic Counselor called this morning with my results. The risk of this baby having Trisomy 21 (Downs Syndrome), Trisomy 13, or Trisomy 18 is 1 in 10,000. She said "this is excellent and it doesn't get much better than that".

Based on my maternal age my risk was 1 in 952 (without doing blood work). So I agree with the counselor.... 1 in 10,000 is pretty great!

Stay tuned - My appointment with the high risk doctor is on Wednesday, and hopefully this will be the only time that I have to meet with her (no offense, Dr. Moore)!

Pretty Profile

I just got back from my 4th ultrasound and so far, so good! The heart beat was 169 beats per minute and the baby was big enough to do the Nuchal Translucency (AKA, NT) scan and we also did some other genetic testing. The Genetic Counselor will call me on Monday with the genetic test and the NT results, and then I will see Dr. Moore on the 23rd to discuss the ultrasound results.

Here's some fun pictures from today (at 11weeks 4 days) and then some info on more upcoming appointments:

Upcoming appointments:
On Thursday, April 14th at 8:30am, I will have another ultrasound. For no reason, other than they are keeping a close eye on me. :)

On Thursday, May 12 at 8:30 am, I'll have another ultrasound! This appointment is "THE BIG ONE" - The anatomy scan!

Appointments are set!

March 17th at 7:45am (Yikes!)  --  I will go to the Perinatal Center in St. Johns Hospital to meet with the high risk doctor, Dr. Moore, and she will do another ultrasound to make sure that everything is still looking good.

March 22nd at 11:20am  --  I will meet with the Nurse Practitioner to discuss what to expect over the next few months while under their care. I think they will also go over family history at this appointment (but I'm not 100% sure).

March 23rd at 1:30pm  --  I will go back to St. Johns Hospital, but this time I will meet Dr. Moore in her suite to discuss my ultrasound from the 17th (so I guess she'll be silent on the 17th?) and we'll also talk about my blood clotting disorder, Heterozygous Factor V Leiden. Fingers crossed that baby aspirin is good enough, because the other option that I know of is doing injections... Every day.... In my stomach! <gag> <faints>

Oh, one more thing... My last day in the 1st trimester is March 26th!!!

Olive you!

I just got back from the doctor and everything is looking good! According to my 3rd ultrasound, baby Hardesty is growing right on-track (9wks 2 days) and is about the size of a green olive. The heartbeat... Wow! 180 beats per minute, which is fantastic! It was just so exciting to see him/her wiggling around! Check out our little gummy bear... I swear s/he has legs - I guess this was an action shot because I could see them moving around :)

Also, a little background info: In August 2010, I was diagnosed with Heterozygous Factor V (5) Leiden and Methylenetetrahydrofolate (AKA MTHFR, which is way more fun to say). Because of this diagnosis, my doctor is sending me to a high risk doctor just to make sure that my medication is good, and that I shouldn't be on a stronger blood thinner. I currently take baby aspirin everyday and my doctor seems to think that this is all I need, but she would like a second opinion. Just another reason why I love my doctor... She is very proactive!

Until I hear back from the high risk doc, my next appointment is on March 22nd at 11:20. This one should be pretty uneventful though, as I am only scheduled to meet with the Nurse Practitioner. The only other update that I have right now is that I'm pretty sure I have broken the world record for having the most consecutive hours of nausea... So expect to see my picture in the next edition of Guinness Book of World Records! I'm not complaining though, just simply stating the facts!

Update your calendar!

October 2, 2011... This is going to be a great day, because Baby Hardesty is due! Yes, it's true - We are expecting! However, since we are only telling our family and dearest friends, please do not share this information just yet. We are not ready to tell the world, at least not until we are out of the first trimester.

My first ultrasound appointment was on February 7th at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I was 6 weeks along and we actually saw the heartbeat that day! A couple of days later I received a phone call from the nurse and she told me that Dr. Glass (the "back-up" doctor since Dr. Hugge is on maternity leave) would like me to come back for a follow-up ultrasound... "given my history".

So today, Feb. 17th, I had my follow-up appointment. Baby Hardesty is now 7 weeks 4 days, and is measuring a day ahead of schedule! We saw/listened to the heartbeat again and it was so much stronger than it was at our first appointment. This time it was 160 beats per minute. This is great news, because they want it to be between 110-180. We're at the higher end of the scale and we couldn't be happier!

Here is a preview of what we saw today:
P.S.  The head is at the bottom of the black circle and the butt/legs are pointing towards to top.