22w3d... Hospitalized... Scary Couple of Days

I apologize in advance for any spelling and grammar errors, as I am hopped up on serious pain killers.

On Sunday night, I was having serious back pain, and blood in my urine, so I called the on call OB, and was told over the phone that I probably had a bladder infection, and that they were going to call in some antibiotics that should clear it right up. Well, DH put me to bed, and went to get my meds. Well, I took my meds, and fell asleep, but slept terribly. I stayed home from work on Monday, trying to help myself heal.

At about 8pm on Monday night, I had another bout of serious back pain, and still had blood in my urine, even after being on the antibiotics for 24-hours. Well I called the on-call OB again, and she decided to have me come in to L&D and get a urine sample, and to double check for a possible small kidney stone(she didn't think this would be the case.) Well after my urine came back with no bacteria in it, she decided to send me down for a renal ultrasound. We got a very quick look at our little boy. He was waving at us as if to let us know that he was still perfect. Anyways after that, it was pretty obvious that I had a stone in my right kidney, but the tech didn't tell us anything else at that point. Well when the OB came to tell me the results, she revealed that it was the biggest kidney stone she had ever seen, just over 2 centimeters. She also said that she was going to admit me into the antipartum unit until a urologist was able to assess the stone.

Well I was in the hospital from Monday evening till today at noon. Basically, I have a massive kidney stone that will NOT pass on its own. If I weren't pregnant they would shock pulverize it and it would turn into powder/smaller pieces, and I would expel them (painfully I might add). Anyways, they can't do that before our little boy is born.

So for the rest of the pregnancy they can only manage the pain, meaning that I will be on percocet/every 4 hours and an antibiotic/ 1 per day. Unfortunately that means that I can't drive for the remainder of the pregnancy, or whenever I am on the percocet. The OB asked that I should get my disability paperwork from work, and start my disability leave now, through 6-8 weeks post-partum. I am not on bedrest (at this point), but I am supposed to take it easy because of the narcotics.

Well I am sure I have regaled you all with enough info for a while, but I figured that I'd update everyone. I also found out that The NEST and my blog are blocked from the hospital internet. I'll be blogging a lot more in the future, since I'll have less to do.

BTW, if anyone else has had to deal with anything even CLOSE to any of this I would LOVE to hear from you. There was SO much information that I had to take in during the last few days, I am a bit overwhelmed.

Thanks for making it through the long story.

20w3d... IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

IT'S A BOY!!! We are so incredibly excited. It was very cool to see him in both 2-D and 3-D.


This is a picture of our little one's face. Look at that cute little nose!


Here is what we call the paparazzi picture. He has his hands right up in front of his face as if to say, "Don't take my picture!".


Here is another picture where you can see the body profile. You can see the head, the arm, the ribs, and the legs.

We are absolutely in love with our little, beautiful baby boy!!!

20w1d... Over halfway there...

I had my doubts along the way that we would make it as far as we have, but we are here. On Wednesday we will get to see our little one again, and hopefully find out if it is a boy or a girl. Not that it matters what we are having, but we are incredibly excited just to see the baby again.

Well Bri and I have had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend. On Friday we went to the mall, and I got a pedicure, which was heavenly. I have needed that all winter, and now that it is flip-flop season I really needed it. Then Brian and I went to see "Baby Mama", it was hysterical! We loved it. After the movie Brian and I went and registered at Babies'R'Us! We loved walking around the store picking items that would be perfect for our baby. It was really wonderful. We has also started another registry at another very popular specialty store local to us called "Great Beginnings"(www.greatbeginningsonline.com). Between these two registries we feel that we have covered all of the basics that our little one needs, although considering we are new if any of you know of something that we are missing, let us know.

On Saturday, Brian and I went to a local sci-fi convention. It was a first for us, but we really had a great time with some of our friends from work. On Sunday, we set up our brand new grill, and Brian made us some wonderful burgers and corn. Today we went and bought ourself some outdoor furniture. We actually feel like we are enjoying our backyard for the first time again.

I hope all of you have enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend!

18w6d... Busy week!

Thursday was a big day...

Bri and I had a great OB appointment. Our little one has a great heartbeat, somewhere in the 140s. The baby kept moving away as soon as the doppler got even close to it, it was cute. We LOVED the OB we saw this visit! She is very young, probably no older than Brian, but incredibly knowledgeable and very kind. We would really like her to deliver our little one... I guess we will just have to wait and see who is on call that day. Two more weeks till we find out if it is a boy or girl!

Second big news... As some of you know I have been growing out my hair to donate it to a breast cancer charity (Beautiful Lengths) for a couple years now. The back story for those who don't know, I have wanted to donate my hair for some time, but never got around to doing it. Well almost a couple years ago I decided to grow my hair longer. Around New Years 2007, I decided that my resolution would be to grow it out long enough to donate it. Well as you all know a lot has happened in those last two years, and I have gotten close to cutting it many times, but never managed to convince myself to do it. Well thursday I decided it was time to cut it. I have a completely new look, and I LOVE it. I managed to get three pony tails out of the hair that was cut off. Two of them were over 12 inches long, and one of them was 8 inches long. I had Brian come and document the whole thing in pictures, so enjoy!

17 weeks!!!

We bought a crib yesterday!!! It is beautiful, picture below.

Here is also a picture of our bedding. We have had it for a LONG time, since our first miscarriage.





We can't believe how big this little one has gotten...
From BabyCenter:
Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and he's around 5 inches long. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now, rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden into bone. Some of it will remain cartilage for years after he's born. A newborn's skeleton has 300 parts (a combination of bone and cartilage). As your child grows, some of these parts harden and fuse together. By the time your baby reaches adulthood, he'll have just 206 bones.

16w4d... Lots of Updates

Updates... Updates... so MANY updates...

1) I passed the glucose test! I will have to re-take the test between 24-28 weeks, but for now... I passed!

2) I felt the baby!!! It started last week where I felt little flutters right above my pubic bone. Then over the last week, I have felt little pinches/flutters really low in my abdomen. There is nothing else that it could be. It is amazing knowing that I am feeling our little one moving around in there.

3) I think the morning sickness is 90% gone. All I have left is feeling nauseous when I don't eat soon enough, and early in the morning. Luckily I haven't thrown up in over a week.

4) My online "sister" from a trouble trying to conceive message board found out she was pregnant last week!!! I have been saying a little prayer for her, and keeping everything crossed till she can go to her ultrasound in mid-May. Congrats again sweetie!!!

We are so excited... We are planning on ordering our crib this weekend, since there is a 14-16 week delivery time. We are starting to design our nursery... if only I could decide what to paint the walls. Any ideas, let me know!

Oh, and one more update, I accepted a big promotion at work, I am now the Deputy lead of all of the Data Analysts. It means I am working a lot harder, and it will probably only be a temporary thing till I go on maternity leave in October. Its only the first week, so I haven't decided if I am crazy or excited yet. I have to say that it would be a lot easier if I hadn't been pregnant during this promotion, but I am strong, and really good at my job, so I'll make it!!!

14w6d... Update

Well I haven't updated in a while, because there isn't too much to update.

On Wednesday we had another OB appointment, and it went much better than the last appointment. I am down another couple pounds, which the doctor isn't concerned about at this point, but will probably be keeping an eye on. We heard the heartbeat nice and strong, right after the doppler went on my belly. I took the 1 hour glucose test, so we should know something by Monday. I am hoping all will be well, but honestly who knows. The drink wasn't so bad, its only the last couple gulps that make it taste like cough syrup.

This week while my all day morning sickness has gotten much better, I have now started involuntarily throwing up each morning either in the shower or while brushing my teeth. Its pretty nasty. Oh well I'll take it, because I feel a lot better after all of the bile is out of my stomach.

13w6d... NT Results!

Hi everyone!

Brian and I got great news yesterday. The geneticist called from the group that we had our NT scan with. We were given the results from our NT scan blood test. We were told that between the ultrasound and the blood test that our risk for Down's syndrome and Triostomy 18 went down to 1 in 10,000 which is as low as the scale for this particular test goes. This is great news, not that we were really worried that anything would show, especially after the ultrasound results.

On a different note, the morning sickness is getting better, although is not completely gone yet... but the exhaustion is still around.

We have our next OB appointment this week, and I have the 1 hour glucose test on Wednesday, so I'll let you all know when I get the results from that.

Love to all!

12w3d... NT Scan!!!

Well we got to see our little one again!!! He/She was bouncing all over the place, it was crazy to watch, and amazing to know that our little one is perfectly healthy.

Ok, first of all, we went in today for an NT Scan. What is an NT Scan? Well here is a good description I found.
"This prenatal test (also called the NT or nuchal fold scan) can help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems. The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average."

The NT fold is considered at a risky level when it measures anything above 2.5mm, well our little one measured in at 1.33mm so is considered low risk. What a relief! We also had a small blood test that will be combined with the ultrasound results to give us our risk levels. We should know the results to that in about a week.

Anyways, it was amazing to see how much this little one has grown in the past month. It is 5.5cm from head to rump at this point, which is about the size of a chapstick tube. I am pretty sure that this little one has Brian's chin. We saw its nose, and its stomach and its heart. I really am in awe about the miracle of life with this little one growing inside of me.

Brian and I have set up a gender poll on our family blog http://themclaughlinsblog.blogspot.com,
so if you are interested in guessing whether it is a boy or girl, make sure to vote before May 28th, because we are going to have a big ultrasound that morning to check all of the organs and we should find out the sex at that point.

12w... Tons of updates!

Wow where to begin. Well I apologize for not updating lately, life has been kind of hectic.

Update #1: Brian's family now knows! The big news is officially out. We are starting to tell people at work and everything. Brian's family is incredibly excited for us, and couldn't be happier about having another grandchild coming soon. Everyone is guessing the sex and the name, but since we don't know the sex, and we aren't telling the names, we are keeping people in the dark once again.

Update #2: Gestationally we are in the 2nd trimester!!! The baby is fully formed! It has every organ, and everything it needs to be a little person. The second trimester consists of letting everything mature and continue to grow. The third trimester is mostly for adding fat before birth. We are so incredibly excited to have made it this far, it really feels like a dream.

Update #3: Well I broke down right before we went to Charlotte and invested in a couple of pairs of maternity pants. They must be the most comfortable pieces of clothing I have EVER owned. I keep asking myself why I didn't get some sooner, and I have to admit it was because I was afraid of something bad happening again. Well if the amount of morning sickness and exhaustion that I have had are any sign, this little one is doing just fine.

Update #4: We are looking forward to our NT Scan on Wednesday morning, we are certain everything will be wonderful. We are looking forward to seeing the little one again soon, and getting some beautiful pictures of him/or her.

As a side note, I just wanted to send my love to a fellow blogger and online friend, Schmoodle. She tragically lost her twins this week in her 23rd week due to a placental abruption. My heart really goes out to her, I was terribly heart broken for her when I heard. She is in my prayers.