Brontosaurus Lays an Egg

[starlooker]

***HUGS***

I'm so, so glad to hear from you, whenever you have time and access. I'm glad Naomi is still doing well, and love updates verrrrrry much.

Miss you, and glad to hear things are going well!

[VelvetElvis]

Thank you for the update!

[starlooker]

1. Little Bit and I are just fine, no problems.

2. Had a bit of a scare today.

Had some light pink spotting. Not much at all, but I haven't had any before, and between that and Friday's weirdness, I got pretty panicky. Even though, yes, intellectual brain knew that it's fairly common and was probably innocuous. Put in a call to the nurse, and while waiting for her to call back, bawled on Donny's chest for awhile. Then watched Jeff Dunham to distract ourselves. Nurse called back and asked a bunch of questions and decided that, between me missing this month's exam and the Friday stuff and the spotting today, I should probably come in.

Donny and I took the most silent, efficient, no-monkey-business shower together we have ever taken and drove up there. After some hemming and hawing about our lack of insurance, we got taken back pretty quickly. (Yes, I am applying for Medicaid asap.) I got weighed. Blood pressure was pretty damn good -- 112/76 -- which is dead on normal, and I'm betting it was elevated because I was pretty stressed. My heart rate was pretty high, anyhow. So, then the nurse put the doppler on, and this time there was no hide and seek. About a millisecond after she started hunting for a beat, there it was, loud, clear, strong, and unmistakable. Baby did try to get away from the Doppler at one point, and then we heard Baby give a kick which made us laugh. So, that made me feel about a hundred million times better.

And then the doctor came in and Donny got to sit in on a pelvic exam for his first time. (He was situated such that he didn't actually SEE anything except for my face. Apparently I looked like I was having just SO much fun.) Doctor didn't see any bleeding. Also (spoiler tags for people who don't want to know the exact state of my lady bits), my cervix is apparently high, tight, and thick which translates to: I'm not remotely at all even slightly dilated, which we are happy about. So, yay. Not sure what caused it, but everything looks normal, so yay. We also have my big ultrasound scheduled for Oct. 25th. Hopefully by then, we'll have an answer on the insurance.

So, yeah. I'm kind of crashing a bit from all the emotion. But it was SOOOO reassuring to hear the heartbeat, and I'm glad I went in. And my husband is the best, all calming me down and telling me it would be okay and holding my hand and driving to the doctor and sitting in on a pelvic exam. And only laughing a little bit when I stood up after the exam and the paper from the table stuck to my butt. Which, you know, made me laugh, too, so it's all good. That's true intimacy, right there.

[VelvetElvis]

I was nervous reading your post!!! Glad everything's ok!!

[Gravity Defier]

I'm glad you and Little Bit are okay and even though you put the happy news first, I was still a little worried from the news of a scare. Yay for Donny being there for you, too. :)

[Luet]

Very glad everything turned out well.

[steph]

(Yes, I am applying for Medicaid asap.)

Good. So I don't have to pester you again?

I'm glad everything is ok with you and the baby.

[thoughtreader]

OMG! I'm so glad everything looks ok!!
Hearing the kick must have been a nice up to a scary situation.

[Young Val]

:::echoes the above:::


Super glad you and Little Bit are doing well!

[Claire]

Really glad to hear that everything is okay!

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Well, I WAS going to write a longer update, but I just got a call from the SCBU that Naomi has been waking up hungry today, which is a super-good sign, so I'm going to head over early.

Things That Are Weird
* being a mommy but without a baby
* all my shirts have room around the waist again
* why isn't the baby moving?!?! oh, right....
* breastfeeding

I'm so in love with my little girl, you guys, I can't even say how much. It's astounding.

[Luet]

Yay! Go feed that hungry little girl! Nom nom nom.

[VelvetElvis]

[starlooker]

Always glad for good news about Naomi!

~~~

Tonight we went to a bar for a birthday party of an apartment manager Donny knows pretty well from hanging out at the pool.

I know her by sight and have been introduced a couple of times. Also, Donny brought home a list of helpful baby websites from her. (She has an 8 month old.)

She is officially the first person besides Donny to rub my belly.

I also had my first Shirley Temple tonight. Meh. Asked the bartender for a fancier non-alcoholic drink, instead, and she looked totally confused. Finally mixed me some orange/cranberry/pineapple juice which was pretty tasty.

I haven't been to a bar since my bachelorette party. My friend and I, Lisa, used to LOVE playing the touch-screen games most bars have. We discovered "Monkey Bash" before I left ND and thought it was hilarious. Played it with Donny tonight. Discovered it was probably way funnier drunk.

Discovered I can hold my own in casual football conversation!

All in all, a good night to be pregnant out at the bar.

[starlooker]

I have started reading, "The Happiest Baby on the Block." My initial thoughts about this book are summed up in the following missive to my child:

Dear Little Bit,

Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE do not have colic. Be one of those easy babies. Please.

Love,
Mommy

[VelvetElvis]

I had colic, but my mom had these drops to give me that she swore worked magic. She said it was very easy to give them to me, since my mouth was wide open screaming all the time.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks. Naomi is doing so well, and will hopefully come home in a couple days. She's woken up and is working on feeding properly. She managed to yank out the NGT last night, so we're going to try sticking to cup and breastfeeding and see how she does. She's put on weight - was above birth weight on Sunday night, and was up even further tonight, so we know she's getting nutrition! She seems a lot less frail, too, but that may simply be my getting used to her. She also makes hilarious and adorable faces when she's sleeping, which really entertains Rei and I.

[Luet]

Awwww! Adorable to the max!

I also had colic. My parents used to drive me around town in the middle of the night to give the neighbors a break from the screaming.

[Young Val]

Gah! She is so cute; I can't handle it!

[Gravity Defier]

I love them all, for different reasons, but my favorite is the second.

Because I'm imagining her doing the Thriller dance.

[Jayelle]

These pictures are making me melt. I am a little me puddle on the floor.

[starlooker]

I love the third one. She is just so darling. I'm SO happy you're taking her home soon.

[steph]

I love the pictures!! I really want to cuddle baby Naomi!

[VelvetElvis]

OMG baby yawns.

[Claire]

I love them all, for different reasons, but my favorite is the second.

Because I'm imagining her doing the Thriller dance.

Omg. She's TOTALLY doing the thriller dance!

[starlooker]

Expect normalcy, says my mother. Also, she reassures me that my brother and I were both easy babies. I look forward so much to the influx of cute that will be ours, soon.
~~

At night, after I've been in bed awhile, or very early in the morning, I like to try to concentrate on my lower abdomen and feel for the baby moving. I lie very still and focus. What happens, first, invariably, is that I feel something thumping like little rhythmic kicks. It pulses throughout my torso, and it is my heart. Nowadays, I feel for my heart, first, and then try to lower my focus to my abdomen. My heartbeat even reverberates there. I never noticed this, before. When I am looking back at my pregnancy someday, when I remember trying to feel Little Bit's early stirrings, my baby and my heartbeat will always be intertwined. That could not seem more right.

Some mornings/evenings, I drift off before I feel anything. Sometimes I feel nothing, or just normal tummy rumblings. But, more and more often, there's something new there. Reassuring and gladdening, making me smile reflexively and still myself at the same time.

I love this.

[VelvetElvis]

I'm grinning like a fool.

[LilBee91]

Dangit ovaries--stop that twitching.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Kirsten, I somehow missed your post near the top of the page! SO GLAD that you and Little Bit are okay! Those sorts of scares aren't fun.

Naomi has been doing well with feeding, so the special care nurses asked if I'd be willing to come spend a couple nights on the unit (they have motel-esque rooms) and make sure both she and I are comfortable with her feeds. It's been great, and we've gotten a lot of support tweaking this or that, which I'm sure we're both glad of. Today she was bawling and wouldn't settle despite a feed and then trying her again when she started fussing - apparently she WAS still hungry but needed a different position this time. Silly baby has a different "favourite" position each time, and I can never tell which it will be! Anyway, the upshot is that if she hasn't lost weight when we weigh her tomorrow, we may be able to start planning getting her home! When we weighed her on Wednesday evening, she was 2.43kg, which is awesomely above her birth weight. Go baby!

Rei went and got her some "petit newborn" clothes today in anticipation of going home, since all the stuff we bought before is huge compared to her. "Haha," we laughed two weeks before she was born, "it's a big-butt baby, and will be bigger still when it's born! No way do we need any of the tiny clothes!" Mice, men, agley, etc.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Totally forgot to say that poor little Naomi is a hiccup monster. She got them a lot before she was born*, and she gets usually a few bouts in any given day, usually just before or after feeding.


* Always funny when they had me strapped up to the monitors with the clicker to count movements. Movement. Movement. Movement. Movement. *briefest of pauses* Movement. Movement.

[VelvetElvis]

Are they pink? That pink blanket next to her looked really nice. Pink might just be her color!

[starlooker]

So happy baby is growing and learning and you will be able to use the newborn stuff you bought, eventually

And, this is one of those things I thought I posted, but didn't. Thank you, everyone, for your concern & happiness about Little Bit being okay. I was really, really touched.

[VelvetElvis]

I can't stop looking at her beautiful, perfect hand in the thriller picture, Ali.

[mr_thebrain]

have i ever mentioned that when one of you ladies posts an ultrasound picture, i always wanna say "HAHA I can see inside your uterus!"

[starlooker]

Don't care. I'm a uterus hussy.

So, 19 weeks! Starting week 20! Almost halfway there! (Possibly actually halfway there, depending on when Little Bit shows up.)

This week's biggest event, obviously, was my scare on Monday. I don't even know how to talk or write about it now. I am so grateful everything is fine. I wonder how many of these jolts I'm going to have over the course of my baby's lifetime. I hope they all turn out like this one. Everybody safe and fine, even if Mama got shaken up.

One of the things it made me realize is I really cannot imagine going back to life as it was before. Life before pregnancy was fine, don't get me wrong. It's just the idea of us as parents is so part of me now. A fast-growing part of me, part of us, part of who we are when I think of us now.

I've got to get going on doing things, getting stuff together, cleaning the apartment, all of those types of things. We are soon going to enter countdown mode, really. This is the last week where I (officially) have more weeks to wait than weeks that have passed. (Please, Little Bit, arrive on your due date or within a few days and don't make a liar out of me, okay?)