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Thursday, March 4 (43 days) Well . . . here I am again . . . What is going on?! These last two months have been a bit crazy. At the end of December we thought we were moving to Orlando. Then came an unexpected call from Northern Illinois University. John had pretty much accepted the job at UCF, but I was able to convince him to talk to NIU. We had just found out that my dad was losing his battle with cancer and I thought being in Illinois would be a good idea. Who wants to live in Orlando anyway? So mid-January we packed up a few things and moved in with my sister during which time my dad came to live with her also. I think it was good for us to be together, especially since my dad got to spend time with the little guy. After closing on our house (yes, we bought a house) the second week of February, we drove back to PA to move everything else. The following week, baby John and I made trips to my sister’s to see my dad. It was a crazy week trying to get utilities hooked up, unpacking boxes, and preparing for the arrival of our moms for John’s first birthday. Baby John and I spent the night at Kari’s Thursday the 19th and left the next morning to pick up grandmas at the airport. That night around 2 am we got a panicked call. My dad couldn’t breathe. It happened a lot faster than we had expected. He was still coherent and had been eating and drinking small amounts. And, of course, there was a lot that I had not said. I couldn’t believe it. The next day was John’s first birthday. It went pretty well, considering. Things were just crazy. After getting through my dad’s services last weekend, I thought we could finally begin a normal existence. Now we can get the house together, I can get things going for the bar in July, find a job and get the little guy in daycare. Then yesterday it seemed my jeans were feeling a bit tight. After a quick trip to Wal-Mart, I discovered the reason. So we moved, John started a new job, we bought a house, my dad died, and John turned one, and now we are expecting another little Wallace. This poor little thing has had a rough start, but this is a good thing. We didn’t think it would happen so soon. I'm still nursing and haven't had a period. I can’t imagine what’s next. Sunday, March 7 (6.7 weeks/47 days) I really can't believe I'm pregnant. I took the other test in the two pack that I bought Wednesday, just to make sure. I have no idea when it would have happened. We've had sex maybe twice in the last two months. it just seems so impossible. Last night I started thinking about what kind of job I can get to help out with all of our new bills since being on our own again. I checked out the Bradley Birth page to see when instructor training sessions would be offered near us. There's a class at the end of April in St. Louis that could work. It would cost as much as the bar exam, but I think I would enjoy it more (duh) and would get more out of it personally. Of course John's not happy about the cost. But I could have a part time day job and teach Bradley one night a week at home. Plus there aren't any teachers here or in DeKalb. There's one in Rockford. I sent her an email asking about class demand. I hope she gets back to me and tells me she has had pretty good numbers. I think this kind of thing is becoming more popular, too. Anyway, I just ordered the required reading books from Amazon. My sister took the news pretty well. I thought she would be upset since she's been trying to get pregnant. I know she didn't want to get pregnant last month, though, dealing with my dad and everything. Not that I did. Well, actually, we wanted to get pregnant again by the time John turned one so that we could stay on schedule for 4 kids by the time I'm 40. I just can't believe it happened and have no idea how it happened. I wonder how a doctor or midwife is going to determine my due date. Yeah, I get to find a new caregiver now. Sucks. One doctor's office with a midwife that was recommended is no longer on the health plan we have. I've called a few places with no luck so far. But I wonder how important it will be this time to have a midwife versus a doctor since we've already been through this once. I guess I'll just keep trying. I'm sure there are good doctors around here. At least the hospital I can deliver in is a good one, from what John has heard. Maybe I'll see if they have a website. Tuesday, March 9 (7 weeks) It looks like finding a doctor is going to be a big pain in the ass. There are a total of four female gynocologists in the area. There were five until this week. And, of course, the fifth one has a midwife on staff. But that practice has dropped the insurance we have. So yesterday I decided to go with one of the four that I had a gut feeling about. They had me talk to a nurse before scheduling my first appointment since I have not had a period and can't pinpoint conception. She said I would come in next week for a meeting with the education (?) nurse and then an exam. The following week I'll go in for a vaginal dating ultrasound. She said I would have another ultrasound at 20 weeks to check the baby's development. So that's a minimum of two ultrasounds according to her. I started to ask about other prenatal tests and then realized that I actually went through them all last time. So I doubt I'll put up a fight with those. Then I started to ask about the hospital. She said she's also a labor and delivery nurse there. They would monitor constantly when I hit active labor, they may let me to get in a tub for 30 minutes, and I would probably have to have an IV. I didn't like the way she talked about these things. I said that since I had a successful first delivery without complications, I figured the doctor and hospital would be more hands off. She said I must have come from a laid back liberal city. Ha! I may go along with a second ultrasound, but everything else needs some work. I think I'll see how I feel about the doctor at the dating ultrasound and then decide if I'm going to try to find someone else and maybe another hospital. I guess I could always go with a home birth, but I'd rather not have to pay for anything out of pocket and I like the idea of laing in a hospital bed for a couple of days with someone bringing me food. I wonder if we'd be able to go without the baby eye ointment. Whether that's optional should tell me a lot about the hospital's policies. The dating ultrasound will be good. As long as those things work. It seems to me that my stomach is a little too big for only 7 weeks. I hope I'm wrong. Otherwise it means twins. I don't know how we would handle twins. That would be crazy. I sent in my application and deposit for the Bradley training workshop next month in St. Louis. That's going to be a tough weekend. Classes go 8:30 am until 10 pm Thursday thru Saturday and then 8:30 am until 4 pm Sunday. John will have to take care of little John the entire time. It's going to cost as much as the bar would. But I figure I can do this almost right away, given that I have students, and I'll be able to do it at home. If I took the bar and passed, I would get sworn in in November and then have to find someone to teach me what to do. I haven't practiced anywhere so I don't think I would know where to start. I'm going to have to start bringing in some income soon and Bradley classes seem like a good idea. If I can find a decent part time job, too, I think we should be okay. Too much to think about. Friday, March 19 (10 weeks) The 10 weeks is a guess. We should have a better idea Monday. My dating ultrasound is at 10am and then I get to have an ultrasound of my left breast at 11am. Fun, eh? At my appointment this past Monday, the nurse practitioner guessed I was 8-10 weeks along. I asked her to try the Doppler before I left and we were able to hear the heartbeat. So I think I'm on the 10-12 week side. During my exam she hit a tender spot on the side of my left breast. She said it felt like a cyst, although I don't know how she could guess that. Of course I didn't think to ask. Anyway, I'm going to have an ultrasound on it to check it out. I'm glad they were able to schedule it for the same morning. John won't have to take another half day off. The first part of my appointment was spent with a nurse educator who went through my medical history and the usual dos and don'ts. She offered me a copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting, which I quickly declined. I told her I hate that book. It should be titled, The Hypochondriac's Guide to Pregnancy. We talked about prenatal testing and ultrasound, etc. She made me feel better about this doctor and the hospital. She said everything done in the hospital is determined by the doctor. So I just need to see what she says Monday. John had his 12-month appointment Tuesday. He weighed just under 20 pounds and is just under 29 inches. I can't believe he doesn't weigh more. But the doctor didn't seem to have a problem with it. He asked if he was still nursing, to which I answered yes, a couple times a day. Then he said, well, I have to ask if it's for his benefit or yours. Of course I didn't say anything to that, like, don't you agree with the AAP that babies should breastfeed for at least a year? I'm a dope. He was good overall, though. John had to have two shots. Poor baby. I saw her stick one of them in his leg. Ugh. I forgot to give him any Tylenol before we got there, but he was a tropper. It only took a minute for him to calm down, and I didn't boob him immediately this time. Kari came over yesterday. She talked to her doctor while she was here and found out that she didn't ovulate this past month. She's freaked out. She said she is going to start taking her temperature in the mornings now and would go back next month for the same blood test. Then I guess she can really start freaking out if she doesn't ovulate again. I think it would be strange that she would have a hard time getting pregnant since no one else in our family seems to have a problem with it. Wednesday, March 24 (12 weeks) This doctor thing isn't going well. I went for the ultrasound Monday morning. The machine said 11 weeks 3 days and 11 weeks 5 days. So she said 11 weeks 4 days and gave me a due date of October 7. That makes today 12 weeks along. But the measurement and dating is only accurate within a week, maybe not even that close. Anyway, John thinks she said "he" at some point. I didn't think you could tell this early, but I was wrong. It is possible. He thinks she didn't offer the information so that I would do the 20 week ultrasound. That's almost the only reason I said I would do another. At the start of the appointment, she walked in and sat down and asked about my fibromyalgia. Excuse me? For some reason the nurse practitioner had put that in my chart last week. So I got to explain that I don't have that and am not even sure what that is. Then we went on to my lab results. I knew what was coming and beat her to it when she mentioned the test for syphillis. I explained what happened last time and she seemed satisfied. So we went on with some other questions about her practice and what I could expect. I told her we used a midwife last time and everything was great. She seemed receptive to what I want saying that she's reasonable and we seem reasonable, so things should be fine. The ultrasound was good. I couldn't believe I was seeing a tiny little baby with arms and legs, bobbing around. Baby John didn't like the whole doctor's office vibe and was yelling part of the time. It looked like the fetus was trying to cover his ears with his hands. We took a few sonograms. John thinks she purposely gave us shots sans crotch area. Whatever. I'm not sure I want to find out this time anyway. Then we went upstairs for the other fun ultrasound. That was a real upbeat place. I got to take off my top and put on a gown, then sit with other women in another waiting room. What a great atmosphere. The technician said she saw two tiny little fluid filled cysts that were about 2mm and 4mm. She said it wasn't anything really, nothing to do anything about. I guess I have dense breast tissue. So that was a relief and I was able to concentrate on being happy about the first ultrasound and the little thing growing inside me. When I got weighed this time, I was a half pound lighter than last week. I think I had gained about 9 pounds by this point last time. Well, this morning I returned a call to the doctor's office and talked to a nurse I had talked to this first time I made an appointment, and I think she was in the room during the ultrasound. Anyway, she said Dr. Schleicher had consulted with another doctor who specializes in high risk pregnancies about my fibromyalgia and syphillis screening. OK. Let's go back over this - I don't have fibro whatever and I explained the deal with the syphillis screening. Well, it seems she would like additional lab tests run to make sure there is no problem with my clotting tendencies, and something else, and something else, and make sure there's no threat to the pregnancy. What?! OK. This is when I think about looking for a practice with a midwife and I'm not really concerned about the drive. How did I suddenly become a high risk pregnancy possibility? This is something that makes me think that had I been under this doctor's care when John was born, I would have ended up with a C-section. His heart rate would have dropped and instead of giving me the chance to push him out, I would have been prepped and in the operating room before I knew it. I told the nurse that I would like to talk to the doctor and would call back about scheduling the blood tests. I don't expect to hear from her before Friday. I called a practice with two midwives in Elgin, which is where John said the closest would be. The receptionist said they are accepting new clients. I need to check with insurance first, though. Whattabunchofshit. Friday, March 26 (12.4 weeks) Things are looking up. Wednesday, March 31 (13 weeks) John didn't breastfeed at all yesterday. A first. So that was 13 months and 8 days, or 1 year, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day that he nursed. And he's weaned himself. Maybe it's the changing taste of the milk since I'm pregnant. He's so big. He's been kissing, nearly running everywhere, climbing up and sliding down his little tikes play thing, dancing, playing his organ, and scribbling with his new crayons. He's the cutest. Last Friday I found out that there's no problem changing my insurance member group so that I can see someone else. I can't believe that Homefirst takes our insurance. I read about them before I got pregnant with John. Unfortunately, they don't come to Ogle County for home births and their only midwife is kinda far. I found a midwife closer and talked to her Monday. I really like her. She is in Aurora which is about an hour away, but a straight shot on the highway. She delivers at a hospital that has had midwives with priveleges for more than 20 years. I told her everything about the doctor I had seen. She understood my concerns and reasons for wanting to find someone else. She let me go on and on about my delivery with John and my current pregnancy. The insurance change will go into effect May 1, so I made a couple of appointments for May and June already. She has evening hours, too! The doctor finally called me back yesterday. That took a week. She left a message telling me to call her tomorrow. I'm not sure if I will. I don't know if I should keep my appointment for April and do the AFP test there or just wait for my first appointment with the midwife. I guess I should call the midwife's office and ask them. The hospital I will deliver in is Provena Mercy Center. They have showers and tubs, and all rooms are private. Woo hoo! Last time I moved to another room after a little recovery time. This time I'll stay in the same room the entire time. I love what I just read on their website. |
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Kris's Journal Prepregnancy June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 September 2003 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 |
John's Journal Prepregnancy June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 |