35 week ultrasound and appointment

We went yesterday for what may be our last ultrasound! That's fun to think of. I jump at any chance I have to see her, but she's so big now that we can't tell her face from her abdomen anymore. Everything looks great - she's very healthy, and the fluid level has gone down tremendously!

I get 3 different e-newsletters every new week of development. I always look forward to Tuesdays when I get my new fun facts about Hazel and the pregnancy. One of them said this today:

"Your baby weighs about 5.5 pounds..."

Ha! Try 6 lbs, 12 oz. Yes, 6 lbs 12 oz already, if the scan was accurate. Oh.my.goodness. Please Lord let her come early. Actually, like I've been saying, they are always amazed at my large baby. Once again, the technician asked me, "Is there any chance you are diabetic?" Because of her size, the machine estimates her due date to be November 18! I would be completely happy with that, but I've been warned by my mother-in-law that that probably won't happen. She had big babies, and they didn't come early. I jokingly told a single friend of mine last week that when she meets a potential spouse, an important question to ask is, "How much did you weigh at birth?" (obviously this is a joke! I love my husband and have never regretted marrying him, even if he does give me big babies :)

So the rest of the newsletter said this: "...and will continue to gain about half a pound per week until you deliver. [that puts her at 9lbs4oz for those who were curious] She stretches out to 20.25 inches as it approaches full term. Stem cells in the bone marrow continue to produce red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets to maintain a healthy immune system, but there is not really any development remaining for arms, legs, brain or organs. Your baby will simply continue to grow in size as it readies for its big debut."

So Hazel's pretty much fully developed! How fun is that? Hurry up and get here, girl!

For any mommy readers out there, were the ultrasound weight estimates right or wrong for you?

poll happy

I realized I have baby pics of James and me on the computer, so even though I said I wouldn't put this picture of Hazel on the internet, here it is. This was her picture at 24 weeks. Since I just discovered the fun poll thing, I ask, who does she look like? :)

Who does Hazel look like?
	James
	Emily
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Dr. Kapur had us go once more to get an ultrasound this week to see if my diet was helping to reduce my excess amniotic fluid. As I'm sure you remember from my constant whinings about it, I haven't had sweets in over 5 weeks, and no sort of fatty foods whatsoever in over 3 weeks. But this time, my fluid levels have remained about the same they were 3 weeks ago, which is still lower than they were 5 weeks ago. Okay enough with all these numbers! Suffice it to say, the diet is helping to control the fluid level, and also control my weight gain, which Dr. Kapur is very pleased with now. And more exciting, Hazel is no longer breech! I wonder if it was the exercises I was doing to ease her out of breech, or if it was just taking her a little longer to get upside down. Hey, if I had the option, I'd wait until the last possible moment to suspend upside down, too.

So the funny part of the ultrasound measurements is that her head is still slightly large, but not excessively so. At the scan, I was 29 weeks 6 days. Her weight was 1.78kgs (3.96lbs) which is what they should weigh at about 32 weeks!! Dr. Kapur reassured me that her weight isn't excessive, and agreed and laughed at my remark that Hazel just must be a big American baby. After reading the reports closer, I see that her abdomen circumference, not her head, is the largest part of her now, age-wise! So James and I laughed at the thought of our cute little chunky belly baby.

This is completely unrelated, but Jaya gave Hazel a gift today. She had bought a child's lehenga for her 5 year old niece, but it's too small. So she gave it to me, knowing I've been dying to buy some cute Indian clothes for Hazel. She said that until Hazel can fit into it in about 3-4 years, that I can let my niece Olivia wear it. So Christi, what do you think of Livvie being an Indian maharani for Halloween 2008? ;)

honesty time

We are giving birth in India, which may seem rather, um, rustic to some of you. :) So I wanted to show just how nice and modern our hospital is, even in a city that can be both modern and far behind.

The road we take on the way to the hospital. (seriously!)


The hospital! It's barely 2 years old.


The lobby. There is a Whole Foods counter and a coffee shop, and in the other lobby, there is a Subway.


James wanted to look very touristy in this pic next to the International Patient Services desk. Funny thing, we've never once used this desk!


The OB-GYN and Pediatrics department. James is paying our bill.


Me with Dr. Kapur! She's such a great doctor, and thought it was so sweet I wanted to take a picture with her. (27 weeks in this picture)


So this brings me to the visit we had with her yesterday. I had another ultrasound last Saturday to measure my amniotic fluid and Hazel's head size to see if my diet had been helping. The good news is that my excess fluid has been downgraded to "mild excess fluid." And Hazel's head growth is slowing down - it's now only a week ahead of gestational age, but get this - her femur grew a ton! Maybe she'll be tall after all!

The bad news is that Dr. Kapur is concerned about my weight gain. This brings me to the title, "honesty time." I have a friend, Alicia, who began a weight loss blog where she bravely posted her weekly weight and her weekly weight loss/gain. Let's face it - as women, this is about the most courageous thing we can do! I did really well with the sweets - I didn't have anything in 2 weeks! (she did allow me ice cream once a week, but I still only had a small serving once) I also stayed away from almost all bad starches - white breads, crackers, potatoes, etc. But I have still gained 24 pounds in my pregnancy. (did I really just admit that?!) So now...Dr. Kapur has extended my diet to restrict cheeses and all fatty foods too for 3 more weeks. So I've got a tough battle ahead of me if I want to control my weight gain, which of course I do. Any of you brave enough to comment how much weight you gained during your pregnancy/ies?

So I've decided to leave myself up for humiliation and post my weekly weight and weight gain so I can have that much more motivation to not gain unhealthy weight. You'll see it on the right side of my blog. We'll see if my very healthy diet makes a difference! The good side to this is I get yet another ultrasound in 2 weeks to measure my fluid again, and seeing Hazel again is reward in itself.

And finally...today marks 3 months until my due date! It's getting closer!

24 week ultrasound

We had the 24 weeks ultrasound last Saturday. It's funny to me because I know in the States you just get a few ultrasounds, right? Like 2 or 3? Well this one was my 5th! And it's not because there are problems or complications, they just let you get a bunch here. I love seeing Hazel. And they do the 4D ultrasound pictures here for no extra charge!

Just in case you're having trouble seeing, the B&W is her facial profile - see the ears and nose? And the 4D...well, I think it's her right eye, nose, and frowny mouth. I just love seeing her little hands.

Notes from the ultrasound: she passed with flying colors! Every thing they checked on (skull, spine, heart, kidneys, limbs, etc) are normal with no anomalies. She also doesn't have a cleft palate, club foot, or cord around the neck. There are lots of other things they tested for that came out well, but I don't know what they mean. :)

The only trouble is her gestational age according to size is about a week and a half ahead of what it should be. Dr. Kapur told me that for the next two weeks, I need to cut all sugars and sweets from my diet. This is going to be rough - y'all know my sweet tooth! My glucose challenge test came back fine and well under what the limit is, but she still wants me to test again in 2 weeks and then meet with her about it. The one thing that will help me stay away from chocolate is picturing giving birth to a baby with a giant head. That ought to stop me in my tracks! Anyway we'll see if that works. And if not, at least I'll have picked up some better eating habits.

Everything else is fine. My haemoglobin score was just shy of the range it should be, but she said not to worry about it. I have been feeling great so everything seems okay. I am still not feeling pregnant when I move, which I think is a good sign. I only feel it when I have to sit nicely for a long time. You know, not putting my feet up or reclining.

So all in all, things are looking great! PTL for a very healthy prognosis!

18 week ultrasound video

Here is small 1.5 minute clip from our 14 minute ultrasound on July 3. She was 18 weeks at that time. It's of her body laying down, with her head on the right side. Hopefully you can see her arms, legs, fingers, face, etc.



As a side note of this ultrasound, her measurements are showing that her estimated due date, according to her size, is November 30. Everything is ahead of her age except her femur, which is right on schedule. Looks like she'll be taking after her mom's short height. :)

the big ultrasound

In India, it is illegal to find out the sex of the baby.  So last week, while we're here in Thailand, we took advantage of their lack of rules and went to find out exactly what Baby Roberts is...a girl or a boy?

This is me, on the way to the doctor.  I'm 18 weeks in this shot, btw.

This is the ob-gyn, Dr. Reallylonglastname.

And this is the sweet ultrasound technician who told us that we're having a girl!  (as if you couldn't already tell from the sickeningly sweet new pink template on the blog) We watched in awe for about 20 minutes as Hazel moved around like a wild woman. She kicked, punched, covered her face, and did all sorts of crazy things.  I drank coffee before the ultrasound so that she wouldn't be sleeping, and now I know what my morning jolt of caffeine does to her every day.

One cool thing about this particular hospital is that they gave us a free DVD of the ultrasound, so we're gonna try to cut it down to a few minutes and upload it on the blog.  We finally got to hear the heartbeat too!  

say cheese, baby roberts!

I tried to crop to just two shots instead of this big one, but for some reason it's not working. So, the 4th and the 5th frames are the good shots. In the 5th one, you can see the spine. These are from the 12 week ultrasound.

Dr. Kapur said that everything is fine and the baby is the right size for his gestational age. She did prescribed me some protein biscuits because she's concerned I'm not getting enough protein since I don't eat meat daily. They came in a little tin can and look similar to doggie biscuits, but they are tasty. Way better than non-FDA approved chicken! So now I'm happy and full of protein.

12 week ultrasound

We had the ultrasound today! It was SO cool to see the baby! Baby Roberts finally looks like a baby. We saw the spine, hands, feet, head, and heartbeat. The baby was moving around a lot and the technician commented, "It's doing a lot of hip-hopping," with a smile. I asked, "Is that good?" and she replied, "I can't tell you that. You signed a release." It took me a second to realize she thought I said, "Is it a girl?" So I felt like a horrible person, and stumbled over telling her that I wasn't asking what the sex is, and knew I signed a release and wouldn't ask that question, and didn't care what we had, and re-asked my original question. She told me that yes, it's a good thing.

We were pretty bummed that we didn't get to hear the heartbeat. The waiting room was packed, and there were only two ultrasound machines, so we were rushed through the exam. She took the appropriate measurements, and she herself charted the heartbeat, but even though we asked several times, we didn't get to listen. It wasn't the experience I was hoping for, but with a healthy active baby, and a (so far) complication-free pregnancy, how can I complain?

We'll get the pics from the ultrasound soon and post them here so the grandmas can coo at the baby and get a good cry in. :)