Pregnancy: 36th week

Week 36
June 19 - 25

Ah, the infamous 36th week. The week where one typically gets tested for Group B Strep and also the joys of the first cervical check. To tell the truth, I was super nervous going in. No one likes to have exams where the doctor sticks their fingers or whatever up inside you (get your mind out of the gutter!). And I'd heard that cervical checks hurt massively. I also woke up feeling a little off, so that did not help matters at all.

Before all the fun started though, I brought up my rashy feet, which I updated in the previous post and bitched about in another, so I won't repeat that here. And then we got down to business. First was the GBS test. I knew essentially what would happen and that it'd be quick. I just wasn't excited to have a swab go places where no swab should go. Luckily it wasn't bad and was over before I knew it. And then the cervical check. Honestly, I'm thinking that if you go through any sort of infertility testing, it kind of desensitizes the area. I say that, because my cervical check, while a little uncomfortable, wasn't in the least bit painful. And my cervix was hiding a bit, so she had to search for it. Perhaps it'll be different when I'm actually in labor? I don't know. Anyway, I'm 1cm dilated. She didn't mention how effaced I am or how soft/firm my cervix was, but I imagine I'm still a ways away from going into labor. So while I'm glad to have at least a little progress, I'm not too excited over it, because I know that I can go for weeks and not have it change any.

Then right before I left, she got my urine sample results back: I have a bladder infection. It was news to me because I have no symptoms of one, which is one perk of being pregnant. I did mention to her that I had my full prescription of Macrobid, minus 1 pill, that I'd gotten when I was diagnosed with a bladder infection during my first ER visit in February (I was back the next day, where they determined I didn't actually have one, so that's why I still have the pills). I just wanted her to know so she didn't need to order anything unnecessarily. But she said that she doesn't recommend Macrobid at this point in the pregnancy. Apparently it has a tendency to cause the baby's bilirubin to go up, and we don't want that. Excess bilirubin causes jaundice.

The next day, I got the call telling me that the prescription for my bladder infection was ready to be picked up, so off I went to the pharmacy. As the clerk was looking at the slips, she looks up and asked me if I am allergic to penicillin. I replied that I am. Then she leaves the counter and comes back with a pharmacist. Apparently, with the medication I was prescribed, Cephalexin, there is a 3-5% chance that since I am allergic to penicillin, I'd be allergic to that as well. Great. I took the meds anyway because 3-5% is pretty low odds, but I made myself wait until DH was home from work before I took the first pill just in case I got a reaction. With all the bad going on right now, I'm happy to report that it appears as though I'm NOT allergic to Cephalexin. If I were, that would just be the crappy icing on top of a crappy cake.

Sorry... I don't like to complain about pregnancy, although from my posts, it doesn't seem like it since I complain a lot. I really AM grateful to be having this baby. I just hate that I'm experiencing all the bad things I never learned about until I got them... and I considered myself pretty educated about pregnancy for someone who'd never been pregnant. Silly me. I knew absolutely nothing. And should I be so fortunate to get pregnant again, life will probably throw more curve balls at me to prove it.

In more uplifting news, the baby seems to be thriving and is pretty active. Its new favorite activity is stretching its feet up into my stomach. As you can imagine, this isn't very comfortable for me as it causes more reflux and heartburn. But it seems to like the activity, so we'll just go with it. Like I can do anything about it anyway.

DH & I also had our initial name discussion, and it left me wanting to bang my head against the wall and regret even proposing that he be involved in naming the kid. Apparently it's very common for men to not take this seriously and suggest absolutely insane names that will cause a lot of hassle for them in the future. And then they complain that they didn't get any say in the matter. Well, they only have themselves to blame. Anyway, I gave him my requirements and told him to try again. We'll see if it pans out any better next time. If not, I'm going to have to inform him that his naming rights extend to the surname only. Otherwise, they've been permanently revoked until the next baby, when ideally he'd have learned his lesson.

If you're curious, my requirements are 1) must be traditional, but 2) not trendy, and 3) no kre8tive spellings. The way things are going, I might compromise on the trendy requirement, but the name has to be just right for that to happen. When I told my mom my requirements, she asked about the kre8tive spelling one, and she was shocked to learn that I wish she'd just named me Jamie, and that I hate having my name spelled Jaime. Not only is it super annoying to consistently have your name misspelled by everyone, even people you've known for decades, it's doubly more annoying to have people pronounce it the way they would if I were somewhere where Spanish was spoken. I realize that she just wanted my name to be slightly different, but when your personality is like mine, "different" is one of the last things you want to be. Yeah, she had no way of knowing this while I was a baby, so it just goes to show that you can't assume stuff like that. So I'll give a traditional name with traditional spelling just to play it safe. Boring? Perhaps. But at least I'll know that if my kid gets picked on, it won't be because I let DH have his way and name it Spicy Chicken Sandwich. And yes, I'm completely serious... it's the baby's in utero nickname, and DH likes it so much, he thinks it should become official.

Oh, what fresh hell is this?

Title says it all. I think I now officially have PUPPP, although I will have to wait until my next appointment for an official diagnosis.


Since my update, the rash has spread to about mid-shin on my legs, as well as right above the knees both front and back. Also, joining in on the fun is my lower belly and the most enjoyable of all, it's starting to spread to the soles of my feet. I know I said before that it generally stays off the soles of the feet, the palms of the hands and the face. But now I know that "generally" is the operative word in all of this.

I cannot even begin to explain the suckiness of this condition. All I can tell you is that my resolve to not be induced except for medical necessity is severely being put to the test. Not that my doctor would consent to that before 39 weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought of begging on the off-chance that she'll let me.

Here's what's worked for me so far, and what hasn't... although what works one day sometimes doesn't work the next, so it's pretty much trial and error.

1) Steroid cream Triamcinolone. My doctor prescribed this, and I'm to put it on my feet 3x a day. It kind of works. It usually stops the itching for a short period of time, but not nearly long enough for my liking. At the time of her ordering it, the rash was only on my feet, so the tub is quite small. Now with the rash spreading, I don't know how long it'll last. So I will probably end up requesting more next week at my appointment.

2) Hydrocortisone cream. This works so long as the itching isn't too bad and only in the beginning stages. Once a full attack is on, I don't even bother looking at the tube since I know it'll just go to waste. And like the steroid cream, it only helps the itching for a short while.

3) Aveeno lotion. The only place this works is on my belly, and again, only for a short time (see a pattern here?).

4) A&D ointment. This works wonderfully well on my feet at night, as long as there is no itching when I apply it. I just slather it on, and since it's greasy, I put on knee-highs to keep it from getting on the sheets. The knee-highs also serve as a barrier between my skin and the sheets. If the sheets moved ever so slightly, it would set off another round of torture. Anyway, this combo usually gets me through the night.

5) Cold water soaks. I've only tried this on my feet when nothing else will work, and it surprisingly works very quickly. Haven't gotten the courage to try this on my whole body yet.

6) Scrubbing myself raw with my loofah during a shower. This works awesomely, but is likely something I can't do very often unless I want no skin at all.

And next time nothing else works, I'm planning on breaking out my box of baking soda, making a paste, and then slathering it on, letting it dry and then rinsing it off.

This sucks.

Foot rash update

I had my appointment today, and the first thing on the agenda before getting the GBS and cervical check, was to ask about my rashy feet.

My doctor doesn't exactly know what it is. Because it hasn't spread to other body parts, she doesn't think it's necessarily PUPPP. But she had no other ideas to offer either. So she prescribed me some steroid cream to use 3x a week, and instructions to keep an eye on it. If it starts spreading, it's PUPPP. And unfortunately, the only sure way to get rid of it is to have the baby. Unfortunate because I'm 36 weeks, and unless it gets about 10x worse, I will refuse to be induced just because of it. So it's looking like I'll just have to live with it for the time being.

Pregnancy: 35th week

Week 35
June 12 - 18

****WARNING****

The following post includes photos of my rashy feet. Although I would consider them very mild in comparison to other photos I've seen, if you are squicked out by skin condition photos of any sort, don't read any further.

Okay, something possibly really sucky is happening with my feet (and hopefully it only stays on my feet). Of course, I'll have to wait until next week for my appointment to get my doctor's opinion, but I think I have PUPPP... Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy. Sounds horrible, and although it is bad in an annoying way, it's nothing major. Basically PUPPP is a rash one gets in their first pregnancy, usually in the 3rd trimester, and it's itchy as hell. About 1 in 200 women get it, it can spread over your entire body, though thankfully it generally stays off the face, hands and soles of the feet (ugh, can you even imagine that?). Right now, my rash is just on the tops and sides of my feet, including some on the tops of my toes, and some even perilously close to in-between some toes, though I think it's starting to creep up my legs. But then again, I just shaved, so that might be unrelated. Have to wait and see.

At first, I thought I just got some bug bites on my right foot, right below the ankle bone, but then it started to spread to my left foot, so I started researching. The bumps are pretty small and don't react the same way as a mosquito bite would on me (I get huge welts). So I ruled out mosquitoes, although with the amount of bumps I have, I doubted them anyway. I looked up bed bug bites, and my bumps don't look anything close to that. So that's good at least... I don't want to deal with bed bugs. It doesn't look like a typical shingles outbreak. I didn't walk through a nest of spiders, nor fire ants, although the day before the first bumps appeared, I was outside walking in some grass for an hour or two, but I very much doubt I walked through anything poisonous at Relay for Life. But I don't know what else could cause this reaction.

In the meantime, I've been putting hydrocortisone cream on it, and as long as I don't touch it or let clothing rub up on it, it's not bad. But all that is easier said than done because usually when something itches just a little, you unconsciously scratch it. And in this case, just a little itch turns into torture, so I've had to literally sit on my hands sometimes so I couldn't scratch. I'm just curious what my doctor will think about it. I have hopes it'll be gone by next week, but I'm not counting on it.

And as an interesting aside, women with PUPPP have boys about 70% of the time for some reason. So if I do have it, and I end up with a boy, it would appear that I'm allergic to boys. :)

Onward...

This weekend, I decided to get all wild and stuff and go walk around Walmart (don't judge, Walmart is about as awesome as you get in the town I live in). I'd been cooped up pretty much all week, and I'd been just itching to buy some of the last-minute hospital bag items. So I finally got to go, and while I did satisfy my urge to buy stuff, I also painfully realized that my baby is starting to engage. Ouch, I just love the feeling of sharp stabs to my cervix! So walking around Walmart wasn't as fun and fulfilling as I wanted it to be, and it also took longer because I had to slow my roll. And it's just going to get worse. When it's happening, I really wanna physically move the baby up and away from that area, but I don't because as much as it hurts, I know that things are progressing and it's ultimately a good thing.

I can now officially say I have hit that point in my pregnancy where I wouldn't mind if the baby came early. But in my heart of hearts, I know that I NEED to have the baby stay put for at least another 2 weeks. And in all reality, if I have this baby before 40 weeks, I will be shocked.

We are getting ready just in case though. The baby bag is ready to go, and I'm working on mine. Mine's a little more difficult because most of the things that will go in there are things I wear/use on a daily basis. And I'm not going to go out and buy a second set of everything... I've got other, more important stuff to buy, like the diaper pail (commonly known as a garbage can) the dirty cloth diapers will go into. I also informed DH that we (he) will be installing the car seat base next week. I thought I'd get some eye rolls with that, but apparently he's been told stories of babies coming early by various people, so he understands my slight urgency and is rolling with it. Works for me... it's easier to get ready when you don't have to stop and explain why I'm already doing such-and-such when the baby isn't even due until the middle of July.

Men.

Insurance headaches

This week, I've been looking into our upcoming insurance conundrum. Here's how things stand at this very moment: DH is on a single BCBS plan through his employer; I am on a single high-deductible individual plan through Medica. We have separate plans because for DH to go to a family plan at work, it would basically take about 3 quarters of one paycheck a month away. Just for the 2 of us. We cannot afford that, and likely can't even consider it unless we have more than 4 children. So the question arises of whose plan the baby goes on when it arrives?

1. Although BCBS does offer single + dependent plans, DH's employer hasn't included that option to their employees. So that's out, unless DH wants to drop his work plan and do it privately through BCBS (I'll explain later why he would have to be the one doing it).

2. The baby can go on mine, automatically making it a family plan, which will increase both the deductible and the premiums (to be expected), but will also be the least headache-inducing option since all you have to do is let Medica know within 30 days and they'll adjust stuff without having to re-apply. DH would stay on his current plan. And I did call them and ask about the deductible, since my $2,000 limit has already been met. It would transfer over to the family plan deductible of $4,050, so that was a huge weight lifted off. I'd feared that we'd have to start all over again on it, which would completely BLOW.

3. Likewise, DH can come onto my plan as well with only the premiums rising. The only thing about that is that he'll have to apply to be included. And while I have no fear that he'll be denied, it is kind of a hassle. The good thing is that his employer would reimburse him a few hundred dollars a month to be on mine. They currently pay $400 a month for him on their plan, and should he decide to drop their coverage, they'll still pay... not $400, but I think about half that. So that would cover most, if not all, the rise in the premiums should he be included on mine.

4. We could also shop around for a completely new plan for all of us, though it's very unlikely that that will happen. The biggest hurdle is the fact that I still want maternity coverage, and not many insurance companies in the state of North Dakota offer that in individual plans. Just BCBS, Medica and Sanford Elite1. BCBS has already denied me coverage due to my infertility problems (when I worked, BCBS was my insurance, so they know my history), so I doubt that'd change, even with the addition of a baby. Sanford's is a plan I'll look into more, but from my quick glance at it, it'd be more expensive all-around.

So without knowing all the numbers and such, #3 is probably what we'll go with since DH still has to pay towards insurance each paycheck, even with the $400 his employer kicks in... and whenever he goes in to the doctor, we still get bills for it. The nice thing about my plan, is that even though the deductible is high, once that's met, the plan pays 100%, and there's no co-pay at any point unless you go to the ER. And even then it's only $50. Right now, since my deductible has been met, we pay for nothing save the monthly premium. I go to the chiropractor: no charge. I get my Metformin refill: no charge. I go to my bi-weekly soon to become weekly doctor visits: no charge. Any testing I get done: no charge. Anything else that comes up, like a potential ultrasound to check baby's position: no charge. So it's nice not to have to worry about that until the baby is born.

All this makes me wanna move to Canada though.

Pregnancy: 34th week

Week 34
June 5 - 11

Warning: this will be a whinging post. Yes, whinging. It's a British word I picked up on the internet. It means I'm going to complain. A lot. :)

Ugh... I'm hitting that point in the 3rd trimester where I just do not want to do much of anything. Also not helping is the fact that it's getting warmer & more humid out, which zaps whatever energy I have left. Which brings me to another non-helper... going to the Y to swim laps in order to get 12 visits in per month. I do not want to go at all, but I have to in order to get the $20 insurance refund. I'll be cancelling our membership in a few days, but I really should have done it last month. I just wasn't thinking ahead (a common occurrence). And the sucky part is that you have to give 30 days notice, and we are billed on the 15th. Why I chose the 15th instead of the 1st, I don't know, but that means that we'll be billed for the first 15 days of July and I obviously will not go 12 times in 15 days when I'm due to give birth any day. DH says not to even worry about getting my 12 for July, so that makes me feel better, although he didn't let me off the hook for June. Luckily, DH's karate group practices at the Y 3 times a week, and I can go watch and have it count. So I think I'll be doing more of that, considering that they'll be closing & draining the pool on the 15th of June for 2 weeks, for their annual cleaning & maintenance.

My feet are really starting to bother me. I thought it was just because I am walking around in flip-flops all the time, but then I look down and see that my normally-bony feet are looking more sausage-like. Great. Swelling. So far, I've been able to escape that, but now that it's warmer out, I'm sure that doesn't help matters. Going downstairs and walking on the tile bathroom floor (which is frigid, even when it's super hot out) feels blissful. I think my hands are going to be next, as they are feeling a little achy, too.

And the best... I'm getting stretch marks on the underside of my belly, as well as the areas right above my hips. I figured it would happen, but as it took so long to get them, I'd began to hope that I'd be able to finish the pregnancy unscathed. Nope. Oh well.

I think the baby has dropped a bit, and it makes me fearful about what is to come. See, the baby has decided that my bladder is still the awesomest toy around, even though it's now head down. So it's like a new toy, only it doesn't know it's not new since its feet were having all the fun previously. On Wednesday night, all throughout the night, the baby was awake and constantly head-butting or punching it. Which, of course, is super uncomfortable for me considering there's always something in there. So I found myself getting up so many times I lost count in order to make sure it wasn't so full that I'd have an accident the next time it got poked. Not fun, and the next morning sucked. Doesn't it know that it's night time, and night time means you should be sleeping? Yeah, I know it doesn't work like that with babies. But I can dream.

Um... oh, I had my 34 week appointment this week. Like all the rest, it was pretty quick. I did ask her about delayed cord cutting and how she felt about it. She wasn't too encouraging. The overall answer was "we can do it if we remember to, and only if the baby is tolerating it. But I don't like it." Oh, you better believe you will be reminded! Even if I'm too out of it to remember, DH is going to be all over it like white on rice. Hopefully. If he isn't too enthralled with the squirmy little thing they just put on my belly. Or not passed out from all the gore he'll likely see even if he tries to avoid seeing it. *sigh* Yeah, I might have to let this one go if even we don't remember. But strangely, I'm not upset about the thought that the cord might be clamped right away. I mean, I'd still like it done, but there are other things that are of higher importance to make sure that get done, that this one kinda takes a back seat.

The next appointment is going to be the fun one. And by fun, I mean "not fun". It's when I get tested for Group B Strep, and I also get my first cervical check. I am curious to see if there's any progress, but to be honest, I'm not excited to take off my pants. It has to be done though, so I'll just soldier on.

On a happier note, we went to another garage sale this past weekend, and hopefully rounded out our clothes collection. They had both boys and girls clothing, but by the time we got there, the boys section was pretty well picked over, so we didn't get much there. We picked up some smaller girls clothing as well, and just by chance, I came across an orange 12m dress from Garnet Hill that is fabulous and was only $1. Garnet Hill is one of those posh websites that offer boutique clothing for boutique prices. The particular dress I found isn't available anymore, but going off the prices of their baby/toddler dresses, I'd estimate that the dress I found was easily $50. It makes me all warm & fuzzy inside to think about that. So I'm thinking that this dress will be what the baby will wear during her 1 year pictures. And she'll still wear it even if she's a ginger. If we have a girl, that is. Hey, I'm just being prepared!

Pregnancy: 33rd week

Week 33
May 29 - June 4

I forgot to talk about our last baby class last week! Guess I'll do it here. :)

This was the class that talked about what happens after you give birth... for both you and the baby. It was actually kind of a blur for me, and I only remember the nurse talking about circumcision, and the process behind that. I had previously asked DH his opinion on it, and whether he would want to make that call should we have a boy. And DH said that if we have a boy, he would be circumcised. Fine by me, because as I said in a previous post, I have no strong feelings on it one way or another. But I think he's having second thoughts now that he knows kinda how they do it. Not the cutting part, but the restraining part. Since the baby is awake when it happens, they have to restrain the baby to make sure they don't move during the process. It bothered him. I haven't asked if he changed his mind yet, but we've got time.

We also got to take a tour of the maternity wing, which was cool. We were shown how to get there should we go in in the middle of the night (through the ER doors). And we were shown 3 different kinds of rooms... an exam room, a birthing room, and a recovery room. The exam room is the room they bring you to first, to actually make sure you're in labor. It's a tiny little room with basically just a gurney with stirrups and a sink. And it was a little distressing for me to learn that the 2 exam rooms were the overflow delivery rooms. Distressing because I know that July is going to be a busy time for them, so it very well could be me in there, giving birth. I'm sure if it happens, I won't care when I'm in the moment, but right now it kinda freaks me out.

The birthing room was the biggest we saw out of the 3, since they were designed to be the only room a mom would be in the whole time. It has a nice couch that can be pulled out into a twin size bed, as well as a recliner. It also has a full bathroom with whirlpool tub. I hope I'm in one of these rooms! There are 3 of them. The last room we saw was a recovery room, usually used for those who got a c-section. It was smaller than a birthing room, but it still had the same couch and recliner from the birthing room. It also has a bathroom, but no tub. Just a shower. These rooms weren't designed to handle a birth, so the beds don't have stirrups. There are 2 in the actual maternity wing, and 2 more that were described as "overflow", and are shared by the surgical ward next door. We were told that with the anticipated baby boom, those rooms would likely be filled with new moms. There is also a mini kitchen to be used by dads. DH told me he'd be spending most of his time in there, since I won't allow him to eat in front of me as long as I'm not allowed food. Butthead.

The week after, we had the Happiest Baby on the Block class. It was pretty informative, and DH enjoyed the fact that they were passing on information that he could actually use, as opposed to the regular baby classes where much of the info is geared towards the mom. We "learned" how to swaddle. I put quotes around that because we both fail using a swaddling blanket. So we will be taking lessons from a friend, who just happens to be an awesome swaddler. He doesn't know this yet, though I'm sure his wife will pass it on when she reads this ;). But we also have borrowed some cheater swaddlers from a friend, as well as bought a Halo swaddle/sleep sack at a garage sale. Apparently we'll also be getting one to take home from the hospital. So the baby won't be lacking there. But using an actual blanket to swaddle is a skill we should probably have regardless. You never know when it'll come in handy.

Pregnancy-wise, my allergies/whatever the hell is going on with my nose have escalated. I am not impressed. But otherwise, baby is growing, I'm growing, and I'm now doing lots of laundry in preparation. Most of it is diaper related, but some loads are baby clothes. I've been getting pretty bad about OUR clothes though. Many times DH will ask me if I have washed any of his white socks/t-shirts/work pants/etc. and I have to hang my head in shame and say no most of the time. But now that I'm nearing the end of diaper prepping, hopefully I won't suck so much. :) I can only hope.

Baby stuff on a budget

It's a relatively well-known fact that I am not the type of person that regularly frequents garage sales and thrift stores. Because let's face it, I like buying new, even if that means spending more money. But now that we've finished the Dave Ramsey course, I'm finding myself buying a lot less new stuff, and going more to garage sales and thrift stores. Not that I enjoy it all that much, but I do like the deals I get when I come across something I like. This past weekend especially, when DH & I stopped by a few garage sales.

The first one, aptly named the "Spoiled Kids Garage Sale", we picked up a handful of baby boy outfits, a baby-proofing kit and a bag with 10 Avent bottles with extra nipples in the different sizes. And the bottle bag was especially awesome because Avent is the brand I was looking to use should we have the need for bottles. We got there towards the end, so it was pretty picked over already, which was a little disappointing since they supposedly had some pack n plays and other stuff I was looking to get. We spent $8 total.

The second one, we accidentally came across while looking for another, and was the one we got the best deals at, so I'm glad DH turned one street too early. This one had tons of baby boy clothes, all very well taken care of, and super cheap prices (like, 10 cents & 25 cents). We got 3 bag fulls of clothes, and the best part is that the majority of things we picked up are easily things I would put a girl in. But the only down side I realized once I washed the clothes, is that most of the things we bought are for 6-12 months, and even some going up to 18 months. So our newborn-6 month drawer is looking a little bare, while the 6-12 month drawers (yes, drawers) are full. Anyway, we also got a box of cabinet stops, 5 t-shirts for DH, a fleece jacket for me, and a vibrating bouncer chair for the baby (for $1). We spent a grand total of $12.

The third one, we bought a teether, a set of plastic keys and a super cute monster hand puppet set with 2 books to go along. We spent $2.50.

The fourth & final one, we bought a handful of girls clothes. We already have quite a bit of girlie clothes, so we didn't buy too much, but what we did get is really cute. We spent $3.

So all told, we spent $25.50. Score! And BTW, no, the picture I put at the top is not what I bought. I stole it off the internet. I'm bad like that.

But I did have to put my foot down at a garage sale where we didn't buy anything. They had a toddler car seat for $5 that DH really wanted to buy. It expires in 2013, and since we'll need one eventually, DH was all for buying it. The thing is, this car seat looked the worse for wear, so I had doubts about whether it'd be safe or not. I said no. He thought it'd be fine once we cleaned it up, but I still got major red flags. So I finally got all practical and told him that by the time our baby was big enough to be able to use it, it would be expired, which it likely will be. He saw the light then, thank God. Just wish he took the safety factor of car seats more seriously. I'm all for saving money and whatnot, but not at the expense of our baby's safety.

Anyway, I'm not too worried about the lack of smaller clothing yet. Afterall, the garage sale season is just starting. Now I just have to keep an eye out for upcoming garage sales that mention baby clothes.