Evil Baby Picture

During the last ultrasound the baby turned and looked right at the screen. Normally this would be cute and adorable. This time it was horrible and frightening. I'm not sure if Vanessa has been secretly banging that alien from Predator or perhaps consorting with Satan. I guess she could also be carrying He-man's nemesis, Skelator. I hope it's the He-man one. That would be cool. In any case this baby picture reveals a terrible, bloodthirsty creature complete with vicious claws for hands, soul destroying gaze and nasty, big, pointy teeth. I sure hope our child is not the harbinger of sorrow who will conquer the world and enslave all mankind but if it does maybe it will be nice to dear old Dad and give me an island or two complete with bikini clad women bringing me drinks while a small team of experts works out new ways to be nice to me. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Joe

And A Small Pancake Shall Lead The Way...

So today was a fun filled day of medical adventures. ;->

We started off with our meeting with a genetic counselor at Kaiser. As with most everything in the Kaiser bureaucracy, this was mostly useless. It went something like this:

Us: Hey, Vanessa is 36 years old and there is a non-trivial chance of Down's. We'd like an amnio please.

Kaiser Doc: No, you must meet with a genetic counselor first.

Us: Seriously??

Kaiser Doc: I'm totally cereal.

(two weeks later)

Us: Hello Genetic Counselor, we'd like an amnio please.

GC: No. First you must give me $15, then we must spend over an hour going over all the basic information you have already read in like 2 pages of every baby book on the planet, then I will draw a detailed family tree even though you have already told me there is no history of genetic problems in your family.

(An hour goes by)

GC: ...so in conclusion, you should have an amnio!

Us: (slaps forehead) We'd like to die now please.

The Genetic Counselor was a really nice lady though. It's not her fault she works for morons.

So later in the day Vanessa wakes up from a nap, gets out of bed and promptly starts gushing blood out of her lady parts. This is not good. To the ER we go. I'll spare you the long, not very funny story. Let's just say that it contains many hours of heartache, anguish and tears on the part of the prospective parents as they wait helplessly under the uncaring glare of fluorescent lights, holding hands and desperately hoping for good news.

It wasn't fun.

In the end it turned out that Vanessa has a small pancake in the way.

She has been diagnosed with Placenta Praevia. This is good news for now. It is not an immediate threat to mom or baby. Over 90% of cases will clear on their own before birth. Most of the rest will deliver normally via c-section.

Placenta Praevia is a condition where the placenta is covering the cervix. Normally this is not a problem in early pregnancy as the placenta will "migrate" up and out of the way over the next few weeks.

The hilarious part is that as I have learned more and more Latin, medicine has started to sound sillier and sillier. "Placenta Praevia" literally translates as "a small pancake comes first" or "a small pancake is in the way".....

Awesome. ;->

Joe

Blackberry ESB

The homebrew for Ellen's b-day party is in the keg and mellowing
nicely. I used 3.5 lbs of blackberries but it only has a hint of
blacberry flavor. Of course the flavor will change quite a bit over
the next two weeks as it carbonates and ages.

Home bound...again

Well, I'm home bound again. I went to the doctor today for my 12 week check up. I had some spotting last week and was in the ER. It went away...until Sunday. I woke up at 1:10 AM to use the bathroom and there was more blood. This time it was less and it was darker. So I called the nurse line on Monday and was told to take it easy, if it's not bright red and there is no cramping I should be fine. Besides, I had my appointment already scheduled for today. The spotting had continued off and on since. Granted, the spotting is dark which indicated "old blood", but it is coming from somewhere. So, today at the doctor's I told him what was going on. I was starting to suspect maybe a bladder infection. Or what if I was starting down the road to an incompetent cervix? He did an ultrasound and we saw that the baby is fine. The heart was beating, he was jumping around, and he has definately grown. Then the doctor took a peek under the hood. He didn't like that I had old blood hanging around. But there was no obvious reason for the bleeding. My cervix looked good. No softening and it was closed. He explained that sometimes women can develop a blood clot in the early stages of pregnancy due to the growing uterus. As the uterus grows, this clot can be pushed out. But since he couldn't be sure that was what was going on, he suggested rest and relaxation for the next two weeks. This will put me into my second trimester and the miscarriage rate drops significantly.
So needless to say, I am fine, but I have to chill for two weeks. I am nervous about blowing through my sick time at work before the baby even comes, but luckily, I should have almost 400 hours or more of time by then. In the mean time, I plan on working on some stitching projects, reading a book or two and watching some movies. Also, here is the latest ultrasound picture we have of our little bug, which I think is going to be a boy!

Larkin's Tavern

We are hanging out with Pat at the Tavern.

Another trip to the ER!

Okay, I have only been to the Emergency Room maybe twice in my life that I remember. Well since I've been pregnant, I have been two times in the last two months! The first trip was due to extreme diarrhea due to a Campylobacter infection. They gave me fluids, medication, and sent me on my way.
The second trip was yesterday, it is was much scarier. I had gone in to use the restroom at work and noticed blood on the toilet paper. Then I saw there was four quarter size drops of blood in the toilet. Needless to say, I freaked out. First I called Joe, then Kaiser. While I was on the phone with Kaiser, my boss Suzanne, came down to the girls locker room to give me some much needed support. She really is a wonderful person! After much back and forth with the Kaiser people, I was told to go to the ER.
At this point I didn't have any new bleeding and I wasn't experiencing any cramping. Joe met me at the Sand Canyon ER where we proceeded to wait about an hour to be seen. The first doctor did a quick ultrasound that revealed a live and happy baby. But he saw something he was unsure of. He thought I might have a small tear where the placenta could have been separating from the uterine wall. Being a very professional doctor, he admitted that he was no expert and so he was going to send me to the ultrasound professionals for a closer look.
The ultrasound tech was very nice. At first they were not going to let Joe come with me, but we insisted. He had to promise to not ask any questions. First she did a quick stomach side ultrasound. Then a transvaginal ultrasound. The whole process took about twenty minutes. After lots of measuring and looking at stuff, she invited Joe over to my side and showed us the baby! It is really quite big now. It was moving around and kicking just like the last ultrasound we had at nine weeks. You could see the arms moving, little fingers and little feet. We also saw the outline of his facial features and the umbilical cord. Then, she turned on the sound and we heard the heart beating for the very first time! It was absolutely amazing!
The end result was very positive. I am fine, there was no reason for the bleeding and the baby is just as good as can be. In fact, we got an updated picture of the little bug. Personally, I think it is going to be a boy, but of course it is too soon to tell. I just say it's a hunch I have.
So the moral of the story: if you're a little constipated (which is common for pregnant moms) and you need to use the bathroom, wait until you absolutely have to go! Don't strain, because sometimes capillaries close to the surface of the cervix can pop and then you get some bleeding. And then you freak out and have to go to the ER. And then your husband and you worry until you see the baby is alive. And then you find out your fine and get a new picture of your baby...so maybe it wasn't all for not :)

Homebrew

I have a nice blackberry ESB in the primary right now. It is for
Ellen's b-day in September. Pat came by and helped brew it yesterday.

One Year Old!

Happy b-day Pieces!!!

Fourth & Final Fair Trip

We made our last trip to the Fair Friday afternoon.















We were joined by Chaz, Rene & little Ella. Chaz had not been yet this year so he was pretty excited to be there. We started at the Centennial Farm. We looked at all the farm animals, the beehive, various flowers & gourds and of course all the crops! They had onions the size of volleyballs, tons of corn, peppers, chilies, herbs, fruits of all kinds, grapes, even cotton.














We stopped for a bit of refreshment.
















The food list was short:

Deep fried Oreo
Apple Fries
Beef jerky
Soup
Australian battered potatoes
Tasti Chips
More mini-donuts
Several tasty brews












I had a good time. ;->

Little Ella had a really great time! She was fascinated by all the animals, especially the pigmy goats.


















We all wandered through the midway until we wound up at the big ferris wheel. Ella's pilot breeding showed in her complet lack of fear of high places. ;->















Of course all good things come to an end, so we sadly say goodbye to the fair for this year. :-(

With any luck we will be there next year with our own little one.