Friday the 13th... What a day!

I had no idea it was Friday the 13th when I made my doctor's appt. I was reminded when I got there, however. We go up Friday morning. Aunt Kathy got up to take care of Charlotte while I went to the doctor. Her phone pretty much blew up the day she got here so she had no phone to use. We didn't have our internet phone/"land line" yet so she had no way to get ahold of me (which made me nervous in case they needed something.) But I went to the doctor at 9:30 am. I had my NST done to monitor the baby's heart rate for 20-30 minutes. The baby was pretty chill but active enough to pass the test. I then had to have blood drawn which is just a nightmare for me. I warn the lab techs that a butterfly needle is probably the best choice for me, they don't use one, and I walk away with huge hematoma from the blood draw. I don't like to say that I'm a nurse and know what I am talking about but sometimes I wish I would. 

I then had to see the doctor. My doctor was out of town on vacation so I saw a different one. He was the only OB doctor in the building for the day so he had a heavy workload. When they called me in to get my blood pressure and weight, my blood pressure was high...not crazy high for me, just higher than its been...by quite a bit. I get into the room and they inform the doctor has to swab me for my GBS status...which means it's naked time from the waist down. Perfect. He comes strolling in, swabs me, then brings all sorts of news. He states that there is glucose in my urine so he wants me to repeat my 3 hour glucose test bc he feels as though I am probably gestational diabetic. He then informs me that he does not like my blood pressure and I have gained 9 lbs in one week so he wants to send me to the hospital to be monitored for a few hours. He said he didn't feel comfortable sending me home for the entire weekend with a high blood pressure. What a blow!!! I mean, seriously... a blood test, a vaginal swab, glucose in my urine, AND go to the hospital to be monitored???? Yeah, I totally was fighting back the tears when I walked out to my car.

So I went over to the hospital. I had never been. In fact, I am supposed to preregister for my delivery in a week and half and have an OB tour the next day. So I find my way through the hospital, get all checked in, and they put me in a little curtained area. I sat up on a stretcher for 3 hours while they monitored the baby's heart rate and my blood pressure. They took some lab work and watched me. In the end my blood pressure came down beautifully, my labs came back normal, the baby looked beautiful and I had a few real contractions. So they sent me on my way! I grabbed some fast food (that was so delicious) and headed home. Aunt Kathy and I figured out a way to communicate through the internet so I was able to tell her what was going on and she was able to write me back.

I got home in time to enjoy pool time with two of my favorite people. Charlotte was perfect for Aunt Kathy and didn't really even miss me too much. They went out to the pool as soon as I got home.

Charlotte LOVES to pour water on you while in the pool.

She's so funny!

LOVE LOVE HER FACE HERE! So proud of herself.

Charlotte is learning to make a fishy face and here Aunt Kathy is working on it with her.

After swimming, we came inside and had a snack. Charlotte is loving the movie Toy Story 3. Here she is enjoying it on her little couch that Papa insisted on buying her for her birthday.  (She sits on it all day long.)

After Toy Story and snacks, Charlotte got to Skype with Uncle Darrin and his kitties Tom and Jerry.

Charlotte loves her computer time :) Although, depending on who she's talking to, sometimes she will just sit there and stare. It's funny.

We had mostacolli for dinner. I created a new little recipe for my sauce for my mostacolli. Charlotte loved it!

I believe she is saying, "Hats off to the chef" in this picture.

After dinner, Aunt Kathy and I spent about 30 minutes in the baby's room getting some stuff put away, organized, etc.

After those 30 minutes on Friday, 6 loads of laundry, and about 20 minutes on Saturday, THIS is what the nursery looked like! Quite the difference, right????

Friday was an eventful but productive day. I'm just happy everything turned out ok and I was able to come home...and not have to stay in the hospital over the weekend bc of blood pressure issues. I am just so very thankful that Aunt Kathy was here to take care of Charlotte. Not having to worry about them or what they were doing made it easier for me to focus on me and the baby. I'm so thankful to have such an amazing family... I really am blessed. Charlotte had a blast. 

Our Little Bean - First OB Appt in Georgia

There was so much drama that came along with me trying to find an OB in Georgia. I put off finding one until the very last minute. The Friday before we moved, I called the OB rates #1 in the area and as it turns out, they don't take our insurance. Go figure. Picking an OB is so important bc the outcome of your delivery alot of the time depends on the doctor you go to. I've seen so many times babies that might have had better outcomes had a better decision been made during the labor process. The doctor matters. And I wanted a doctor I felt I could trust right away. I've never had to pick a doctor just by closing my eyes and pointing...I've picked a place to live that way, just not a doctor. 

So, I finally get ahold of the group I go to now. I ask to see their #1 physician (#2 in the area). They needed a referral from my insurance before anything could happen. So I put that in motion. Then, turns out I didn't need a referral. So I call the physician's office again, ask them if they can take me, they say they will call me back. Two days later, no call. So on Monday, June 4, I call them back and say I need to know bc I had a high blood sugar result at my last doctor that needs to be addressed. They finally give me an answer. They have a new doctor coming in...a woman... and she starts the next day, Tuesday June 4. They fit me into her schedule for 3 pm the next day. Perfect. Finally an OB.

I arrive at the doctor's office, a bit nervous. But they were so nice. They took my hand and led me to the different places I needed to go. By the time I had filled out my papers, pee in the cup, waited for lab, I had sat in THREE waiting room. The nurse's tech called me in, got my history, my old chart, weighed me (OUCH), and took my BP (it was high-ish). She sent me back out to the same waiting room while we waited for the doctor. 

A few minutes later the tech calls for to come with her. She said they were sending me for an immediate ultrasound. I said, "Ok..." She then said, "since the baby has a heart condition, we want to see how it is doing. If the heart condition is still there then we are going to send you to our high risk clinic right now." I had NO IDEA what she was talking about. I start crying. She was surprised that I didn't know anything. So she pulls me into a patient room and tells me that there was reference to a heart condition on the 18 week ultrasound. So she said that I needed to sit and wait and they were going to do an ultrasound before I saw the doctor. Talk about being freaked out. My phone only had 5% battery left. I didn't want to call Alex bc I kept tearing up and I was trying not to cry. I also didn't want to worry him until it was necessary. I didn't want to tell my family. BUT I needed to tell someone. So I texted Niki. I just gave her a basic bit of information. She prayed for me and the baby. The things that went through my head... I was so scared for my baby. So scared for what he or she might have to go through in the months to come.

I was taken in for my ultrasound and I talked to the ultrasound tech about the reason why they were doing it. She showed me the report. Then, she showed me my baby.

And here is the beautiful site I saw...

Such a beautiful... perfect... profile. 

She looked over everything on this sweet child of mine. The tech talked me through all of it while I cried. (I was a bit distraught. I felt so bad for her.) Everything looked perfect to her. The heart appeared to be completely normal. PHEW! What we ended up figuring out is that they worded in the order that the reason I was having an 18 week ultrasound was to rule out any heart problems. Apparently that is their insurance coding reason. I was not having it at 18 weeks for that reason. All patients have ultrasounds anywhere between 18 and 22 weeks to check growth and development and to identify any issues of the baby... and for most people, that is when they find out the gender.

Once all was good in the hood, she then turned on the 3D part of the ultrasound. I've never seen a 3D image. OMG! So amazing!!!

My beautiful baby :) 

That part was just plain 'ole amazing. I cried and cried. She probably thought she needed to offer me a pill of some sort. I was a basket case.

I then went to see Dr. Amanda McPherson. It was her first day at the office and she ended up not seeing me until after 5 pm... the office closes at 5. She came in all frazzled and apologetic that she hadn't even looked through my old records. I gave her my background, my history, etc. She let me know that she would probably induce me at least a week early. She gave me an update on what would happen so we could monitor the baby closely given my preeclampsia history. She was so nice...even if she was frazzled. She reminded me alot of a doctor, Dr. Kennard, that I used to work with at Trident. She also stated that she agreed that the whole heart condition part was probably about insurance coding.

I left the office feeling completely drained but feeling relieved that I got to see my baby and meet my doctor. Such an emotional rollercoaster. But, the only that matters is that my baby looked fabulous and healthy...and chubby...in the ultrasound :)

9 Month Check Up with Dr. Leonardi

 Charlotte had her doctor's appointment for her 9 month check-up. She was so excited to be out of her carseat when we got there that I had to bribe her to sit down by giving her Cheerios... I have a feeling this is going to be happening for the next few years. Bribe with snacks. It worked for awhile.

 She shooves as many in as she can. Her hand gets stuck in the little snack bowl and then she flips out. Its kind of funny, well, not when I'm driving and can't reach back to fix it.

 So her doctor's appt went well. We discussed everything from bowel movements to sleeping patterns. It was discussed that I need to let her cry it out. I've been dreading doing this since she was 3 months old and I moved her to her crib in her own room. I think of it and dread it every single night. So, Dr. Leon told me to put on my big girl panties and just get it over with. I asked if I could switch babies with him and take his 2 month old and he could let Charlotte cry it out at his house. He said his older daughters would love that! He told me if I couldn't handle it to just get drunk and have Alex deal with it :)

 We kept her on her soy formula but he said she can be advanced to regular foods and just eat whatever we eat... in small bites of course. That kind of tugged at my heart strings a bit. Real food??? What a huge step! I've been making her homemade baby food since she was 4.5 months old! Now, no more steaming, pureeing, freezing, etc. So crazy.

 I took these tutu pics the same day as her dr appt in the afternoon. She just looked so cute so I took a bunch of pics of her. I feel like in this picture she's saying, "This stupid house has terrible service!"

 She weighed in at 17 lbs which is the 25 percentile. I am so surprised that she is still a bit small. He isn't concerned. He says she's perfect the way she is. He referred to her as "thin" but in a good way. I wonder how she will gain weight now that we are doing all regular food :)

 How Hilarious is this face??!??!  "Welp, where should I go now?"

She ended up getting the rest of her flu shot. Oh it's so sad hearing her scream from that stupid thing. She did good, though. She stopped crying pretty quickly.

 "Mommy, I'm just a bit tired today. That silly shot got the best of me."

 "JUST KIDDING! Let's play!"

 This was taken after her afternoon nap. She had just woken up and I was giving her her afternoon bottle. She gets so excited about her afternoon bottle :) Well, any bottle to be exact.

 So she doesn't like the feel of grass... esp right now bc it's kind of hard and prickly.. so she keeps one leg up the entire time she's sitting in the grass. SO FUNNY!!!

Alright, time to call it a night. We started eating every leaf in sight.

The best compliment I got of the day over Charlotte was when the doctor told me she is a "neat kid". He was like, "She's just so cool." And it's true, she is cool. Her personality is hilarious and she is so active, fun-loving, and full of life. She's a gift from God.

Have a good day, folks. I am FINALLY up to date with this blog. Praise Jesus.