Dr. Blake (High Risk) Appointment Update 02/26/09

Went to the doc today.. Baby Toria is doing good!! She passed all her tests with flying colors.. woohoo!!!! She was cute on her ultrasound.. she had her arm draped across her face.. I just imagine it being all dramatic.. life of a Princess! hahah.. and then she was huffing and puffing during the ultrasound.. the doc said it was like huff puff and then sigh. HAHA.. I guess we were boring her? And then she had her tongue moving constantly.. i dunno if she was wanting to suck or what the deal was with her tongue but it was moving! The doc usually is very straight forward and to the point and she actually was like commenting on how cute Victoria was acting! haha..

I keep reading stuff online... yeah.. i know.. i shouldnt! hahha.... But I was told during my hypnobirthing class to tell them NO to the Vitamin K shot (for her) and to supply my own Vitamin K infant tablets for her. They said that the injection gives her WAY too much Vitamin K. And it hurts her cuz its a shot. But I'm having a hard time finding Vitamin K. SO.. I looked it up online!!!

I read I can take vitamin K now and when I breast feed it'll get to her that way, plus give her the tablets in the hospital as well. However, the Vitamin K causes your blood to clot better (or something?) and since they found out I have a blood clot disorder and they have me on baby aspirin for it, I'm assuming the last thing I want is to clot more! hahahha.. so thats a no-go.

Then I read that if a baby gets too much vitamin K it can cause leukemia and other cancers (or something?) but then if the baby doesnt get enough, they can have bleeding in their brain that can cause permanant damage and death.. I'm just like OMG! UGH!

SO.. I asked Dr. Blake. She said the chances of the bleeding disorder arent high (I think i read its 1 in 100,000 babys) but she recommends the shot. She said that the shot is not likely to cause any harm to the baby, only good preventative things.. so.. she suggests having the shot.

And I'm being an over protective mommy, but I didnt want her to have to have a shot right when she's born! haha.. I know shes coming out to the real world and shes not going to be all warm and cuddled up inside my belly, so thats a shocking change to start with, but then to be stabbed with a needle too. Poor girl! I know they have to take her blood but I figured if i could take away one more needle from her and give her tablets I will. But i guess I'll allow her to have the shot and deal with it! ahah...

But then again, if she were a boy, we'd be having MUCH WORSE done to her then a shot HAHAHA.. so I guess I'll just quit being an overprotective mommy and let them do their job!!!

I have an issue with the erythromicin in her eyes too!! Its pointless... I have no diseases so she doesnt need it.. but its a standard thing they do.. ugh!

I need to quit reading the interenet i think :P

Anyways.. Here is a new picture of me... 33 weeks exactly.. She's gonna be here in no time.. I'm scared :P

Kevin is starting on the nursery tonight (He'll do more painting tomorrow.. he just tried the color on the wall to see what it looks like... I'm really scared about it cuz it looks pretty dark!!! We went with the blue color because there really wasnt any other color we could choose that would look good with her quilt.. the pink i think would be too pepto bismo pink and it would drown out the other pink in her room, the orange would be kinda pukey, and then that leaves turquoise and i dont want it THAT dark!!! So we had the choice of light turquoise, medium and dark.. we went with the medium color.. Kev and i both agreed on it.. but now that its starting to go on the wall, im scared HAHHAA.. I hope its not too dark!! I'm sure I'm just freakin over nothing!! We'll see tomorrow when he gets to painting it more! :)

Here is where we are so far..

The pictures are just to show the color so far.. it obviously not much yet!!! Plus I keep changing my mind about where I want to put everything in the room.. The lamp Kevin just hung in the ceiling I already want on another part of the room, the crib I now want somewhere else.. I think I'm gonna drive Kevin NUTS :)

Its hard sometimes!!!!

It's really difficult to be in a bad mood when everyone is being nice to me today! Can't I just hate life today? HAHA. I woke up in incredible mouth pain (I lost a giant filling on my flight home from california in January) I didnt hurt for a few weeks, but I started hurting the beginning of Feb. So I'm not happy!

I went to my doc appointment with Dr. Noland. My mouth pain finally went away by then (I broke down and took one of my tyelnol 4's.. ) and the nurse weighted me and I went WOW! haha.. I've gained alot in the past week.. makes me sad! hahha...

Dr. Noland said everything from my ultrasound yesterday looked good. And she told me this is the one time in my life when I go to the doctor and tell her how i feel she's gonna tell me its okay to feel like crap :) She said its normal! My legs being swollen is normal, me being tired is normal, and I'll feel baby Victoria move more as she gets bigger! (I told her I dont feel her constantly but I feel her more lately)...

She then asked if I was going to deliver at St. John's and I told her yes. And she said "Okay" then she went on to say that she saw "Katy" the nurse who did our hospital tour for us and Katy told her that we were there and thinking about St. John's. I then told Noland how nice Katy is! hahah..

Seriously, its so nice to not just be a number. For someone to actually remember who you are and talk about you to someone else in a nice manner! I just know we chose the right hospital now! I just really hope that Katy is working when I go into labor.. that would be ideal!

Then I went to Walgreen's to pick up a perscription and the girl who helped me immediately went to the computer when I got there.. then she's all "hmm.. can i help you?" and I told her "pick up for Bravo" and she's all "OHHHH you got me, you changed yer last name!" hahaha.. so that made me laugh.. She said its gonna take her awhile to remember Bravo and not Green. I'm there so much she sadly knows me by name hahaha.. So... again, I didnt feel like a number, i felt like I existed!

So yeah.. so far ive only come in contact with a few people today and so far everyone has been really nice to me and I just wanted to be a snotty person today but I guess I'll have to pull myself outta it and be normal HAHAHA...

I did go to my potential future Psychiatrists office.. hoping they'll start to see me as soon as the baby is born. But the lady i needed to talk to wasnt available and when she called me I didnt hear the phone cuz I was driving. I called her back and all I get is voice mail. I hope she calls me soon, I want to see if my day will continue to be good and she'll tell me the doctor will see me... preferably before the baby gets here but if not immediately after she gets here! As my doc wont see me till like June or something? Ridiculous!

Anyways, my Day's of Our Lives is about to start and that is the one show I truely appreciate watching daily so I'm gonna go get ready to watch it :)

ta ta for now!

Victoria's Ride Home from the Hospital Outfit!!!

Here is a picture of the outfit we chose for Victoria to wear home from the hospital.. It's a onesie and it has little floral pants that match with the sweater and it has a little hat for her to wear also.

I'm going to buy her cute little ruffly socks or something to wear home on her little tootsies!! Hopefully it wont be too hot or too cold that day!!! hahah.


I just had to buy her this little outfit because it reminded me of her crib set! I just thought it was too Cute..










I think I have something for the color Orange Lately! :)











A cute little Yellow Dress for her to wear in the Summer time :)











There are too many pictures of ALL her new clothes... These are just the most recent ones we've bought :P

I really need to post a picture of her adorable bathingsuit that her Grandma Barbara bought her!!! Its too cute!!!!

As I'm labeling pictures on my computer, I also have realized, I need to find out what everyone wants to be called. Like the Grandparents, "Grandma" "Grammy" "Nanna" "Nanny" UHH??? And We need to figure out how to differentiate between them all! haha.

So far, all I know is Isis has claimed "Tia Isis" Which works for me!!! Other then that.. No clue :P

A Picture of me at 32 Weeks Pregnant

Here is a picture of me at 32 Weeks Pregnant! I'm getting Huge!! Hardly any of my clothes fit anymore. I'm already on my second set/size of Maternity clothes! If I get any bigger I'm just going to wear a tent I think! :)

Victoria's Bedding

WOOHOO!!! Victoria's bedding FINALLY arrived yesterday!!! I ordered it in January and they took FOREVER! Its SOO pretty tho!!!!

I just ordered the bedding and the mobile. We'll either order the other stuff later or use different items instead of what comes with the set (we dont know yet.)

Now we're in the dilema of what colors to paint the room! I'm so torn! I'm usually REALLY good with colors and making these choices but right now, I can't figure it out for the life of me! I kinda like how they did it in the picture with the light turquoise walls.. but she's a girl so Kevin thinks she should have pink.. We dont have a clue!!!

02/20/09 Dr. Blake (High Risk OB) Update

Okay.. Had an appointment today. Had some confusion on the time of the appointment.. so after getting turned away at 10:45am.. I went back at 1pm and had the actual appointment (Never trust Kevin when he tells you he KNOWS what time yer appointments are!) HAHA...

When I got there they did the "non-stress test" on me.. its where they put a monitor on my belly and I need to hold it there for like, 20 minutes while they listen to the baby's heart beat. I guess the point of it is to see if her heart rate goes up and down as she moves. Like its usually around 150 normally, but when she moves it'll go up and then its supposed to go back down to 150. So they move my belly around trying to make her move around (gotta love pissing off the baby!) hahah.. I guess she did okay on that (they didnt say much about it)..

Then I had my ultrasound. She's weighting 3.8 pounds now. And from what I read on Babycenter.com (or something?) shes supposed to be 3.75 pounds so shes right on track with the weight. So thats good!!! However, Dr. Blake said she is 9 days behind schedule (I could have sworn a month ago she told us 7 days..) and then she's in the 7th percentile (meaning she's only larger then 7% of baby's her gestational age - 32 weeks!).. she was in the 8th percentile one month ago. Dr. Blake said 1% isnt anything to worry about. *shrug* The umbilical cord blood pressure was normal. She did say something was on the high side but for the life of me I cant remember what she told me! But the baby did take her practice breaths this week (Last week they watched her for 15 minutes and she didnt take any!) but the two weeks before that she did.. so maybe last week was just an off week!

I was concerned about the info as in the 9 days behind and the 7th percentile deal but Dr. Blake said she's actually doing very well and she got a 10 out of 10 in tests today and there is nothing to worry about right now.

So, being she's the doctor that really knows what shes doing, I'll take her word on that. If she wouldnt have said that I'd probably have gotten sad and went home and moped around over it.. but she said not to worry, so I'll take her word on that I guess! :)

Now I have two baby classes tomorrow (Saturday), an Ultrasound at Dr. Noland's office on Monday, a OB appointment WITH dr. Noland on tuesday, an appointment at St. John's for preadmission work and the financial part (EEK!) on wednesday, then a OB appointment with Dr. Blake on Thursday and then I get to relax all day Friday (yeah right!) HAHA.

OH, we did have a hospital tour of St. John's today also. (I went on a tour a few weeks ago, but i thought for sure I'd be choosing Hillcrest so I told Kevin not to worry about getting time off work for the tour!) BUT, then I toured Hillcrest (as did he.) and I decided I really liked St. John's way better!!! SO.. we scheduled another tour of St. John's today so Kevin could see as well!

The nurse that did the tour for us was so much more informative then the night i went.. she explained a lot more (including how to park) HAHA>. funny thing.. they tell you to park on the 6th floor when you are in labor and going to the hospital.. so i thought we'd check out the 6th floor so I could see everything as in if i were in labor.. well we're driving and we're at like, floor 5 and then it goes to 7.. and I'm like HUH?? So we got in an arguement over whats going on.. and finally we just realized we're really confused, parked at floor 5, took the elevator to floor 6, went out in the parking garage and stood there like HUH??? as we were way confused.. so we said "whatever" and went on to our tour.. well.. the nurse "Katy" explained, if you enter in front of the hospital then you hit floors, 1, 3, 5, 7 by the hospital enterance.. but if you enter the other parking structure (the one we usually use to get to Dr. Blakes) then you hit, 2, 4, 6 8 for the hospital.. SO.. we just entered the wrong side of the structure.. we're not stupid afterall :P hahhaha. we were way confused!

So she took us across the air bridge thing and showed us where you check in when in labor then she showed us the triage room (we couldnt go in there tho), then she showed us where they do the c-sections if there is an emergency, then she showed us the labor and delivery rooms which are very nice! I like it cuz they hide everything, like the oxygen tubes and all that stuff is behind a picture that slides up in the room and the monitors and everything are in an armoire and there is a nice chair that reclines in there and a bench chair too, plus a flat screen tv and then there is a shower and the place where the put the baby and all tht fun stuff. And she showed us the "code pink" button on the wall that is connected to the NICU department so if baby has problems, they press that button and immediately the NICU rushes to the room to help the baby. The room was very nice tho!!!

Then they showed us the nursery's.. I guess St. Johns is the only one in Tulsa that has a "special nursery" and a normal nursery. Like if the baby needs oxygen or antibiotics or something more done, but isnt in bad enough condition to go to NICU, then she will go to the special nursery.. its kinda between a completely healthy baby and a sick baby nursery.. so if its something minor, she'll go in there (on the same floor as me) but if its something major then she'll go to the NICU unit. So thats nice to know.

Then she explained the tag system. Baby has a bracelet on her wrist, ankle and a security tag on her umbilical cord. Kevin and i will each have a bracelet and the only people who can get her outta the nursery is kevin or i. And we have to go thru two locked doors to get to her.. And if shes taken beyond the security points all the elevators lock up and security knows right away.. so she can't be stollen (or lost like in Kevin's dream.. he dreamed that the hospital lost her and he couldnt find her tracking number (like a UPS package) so they couldnt find her HAHA)

We got to see the recovery room too.. there is a padded bench thing that makes into a twin bed plus a rocking chair and then my bed.. plus another flat screen tv. and that room is nice as well.. oh, plus our own shower.

During my tour they said that Kevin can have a tray of food brought up to him (we pay for it tho) or we can call and have food delivered.. or beg our family members to bring us food HAHHA... so yeah.. thats nice to know as well... plus baby can be brought in our room in a bassinet type deal and she can stay in there as much or as little as I want her in there.

And Nurse Katy is all for natural childbirth and she said other nurses are too... so i dont feel like im going to be pressured into an epidural so thats good!! Shes worked there 20 years, another nurse we saw has been there 20 years too, another 10.. she said they all are like that.. they stay forever! Plus we saw the nun that visits everyone while yer in there.. everyone seemed SO NICE!!!

Nurse Katy said she'll try to find us on wednesday when I do the pre-admittance tests and stuff so she can work with us.. and I'm for sure asking for her if she's working when i go into labor, she just was so nice and made us feel so at home! She even gave us a hug on our way out! haha..

I liked it cuz nurse Katy was like "well thanks for considering our hospital" and Kevin is all "we decided on your hospital, no more considerations!" and Nurse Katy got all excited. See, at Hillcrest, I hadnt even toured the hospital yet and they wanted me filling out paper work with my insurance info to "sign me up!" they didnt even ask if I was interested, they just assumed thats my decision! umm.. no! :)

And to top it off, all my classes were at Hillcrest, even tho I chose St Johns .. so i was just going to keep it that way since we already paid and stuff.. well.. hillcrest called thursday and said my classes were cancelled!!! So, we have to go with St. John's classes anyways, so to me, that was just a sign that i made a good choice in St. Johns since hillcrest fell thru on my classes too! Now i just have to wait like 3 weeks for my refund!!! jeeze!!

Anyways.. so thats my long drawn out day. Now I am going to take a nap and regret it tonight when I can't sleep :) hahha

Baby Victoria up to Now!!!

Well, not everyone has daily updates as to how Baby Victoria is doing. It has definately been a bumpy ride to say the least!!! From day one actually!

It started by going into the ER at St. Francis Hospital and finding out SURPRISE, we are pregnant!! (that was August 9th, 2008).

The reason I went to the ER to begin with is I woke up in incredible pain on my side and I basically fought through it all day long (slept most the day) and finally around 8pm I told Kevin I couldnt deal any longer, I HAD to go to the doctor!!!

We were in the ER for many many hours and they took lots of blood from me. I thought I was having pain related to my Gastric Bypass but.. nope! One of the tests they ran on me was a pregnancy test (blood) and thats how we found out so early that we were pregnant. A urine test wouldn't have showed up pregnant yet.

After that I started seeing my family doctor and because of my Bipolar and my Gastric Bypass, she thought it might be a good idea I see an actual OB rather then her because I had "other issues" along with pregnancy! So, she found me a doctor and I started going to her. Dr. Noland.

As I started going to Dr. Noland's office she then thought it would be wise of me to see Dr. Blake (a High Risk OB). So I went to see Dr. Blake and she said our baby is small (size/weight/developmental wise!) ANd she wanted to continue seeing us, along with Dr. Noland seeing us as well.

In December, right before Christmas, I went to see Dr. Blake and she said that the blood pressure in the umbilical cord was high and that might be causing the low weight of the baby. And at this point, Victoria was measuring 2 weeks behind schedule size and developmental wise. With the combination of her being small and the blood pressure deal, Dr. Blake said I may want to have an Amnio test done to see if she has any chromosomal deformities, such as Downs Syndrome or (I cant remember the names, something like Tristomy 13 or 17 or something?? I cant remember and cant find it online so I know I"m probably way off!)...

So, we were faced with the decision of having an Amnio done or not. From what I read and was told by Dr. Blake, there is a 1 in 300 or 200 (depends on what you read) chance of a miscarriage. Well, the way we looked at it, if someone said "1 out of 300 people at this party will win a car" the chances are pretty decent we could win a car. So we would go to that party!!! Well.. thinking 1 in 300 is a good chance at something good, means 1 in 300 is also a good chance at something bad happening! We didnt want to chance our daughter's life!

I asked my doctors if we had the amnio, can they "fix her" while she is in me? The answer is NO. IF she has any of the chromosonal problems, it is just for our well knowledge. So we know what we will be facing once she is born. There is absolutely nothing benefitting HER by me having an amnio, its strickly for the docs and us to know ahead of time.

When I asked Dr. Noland, "what would you do" and her answer was "its a personal choice" thats when I told her "NO" to the amnio! Because we didnt want it anyways, but for her to say "personal choice" and not anything about a medical reason for doing it. Yeah.. no thanks, we'll pass!!!

Well, the same day that Dr. Blake told me about the high blood pressure in the umbilical cord and about the amnio, she sent me to have blood work done. She warned me it was a lot of blood but I had no idea!!! 17 vials of blood later I left the doctors office! Wow!!!

So I was faced with the dilema of going on my trip to California or not. The blood work wouldnt be back until after the new year and my flight left on new years day. If they found something wrong, they might have to have me come into the doctors office (if I ended up having an infection or something). They finally told me I should just go on the trip and if I have to come back early then I will. So I did.

I have never wished I had an infection.. but I did wish that. I was hoping I had some infection and they could fix it and then the baby would be okay!

While in California Dr. Blake called and told me my blood test results. She said I had something called... Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) www.apsfa.org

She told me that I need to start taking baby aspirins every day. So I have been and ever since I've been taking them, the umbilical cord blood pressure has now gone to normal and the baby has gained weight and is only 1 week behind developmentally wise (and that was in January, not sure how far behind now) but she's definately catching up now! So apparently that blood disorder was causing the stress on the umbilical cord and holding back her needs from me!

SO.. She is now doing really good! She is still "small" she is in the 8th percentile, meaning she is only larger then 8% of fetuses her age. So because she's in the 8th percentile, they are still having me go to the High Risk and the Normal OB.

On February 12th I had an appointment with Dr. Blake and they did fetal monitoring for 20 minutes (listening to hear heart rate).. they were looking for rises in her heart beat.. I guess she "passed" the test, but she didnt respond quick enough for Dr. Blake. So she told me I now need to see her once a week and Dr. Noland once a week!!! (an ultrasound at each appointment).

I also was reminded that Victoria is breech and if she hasnt "Flipped" in the next two weeks, we will be having a serious conversation regarding c-section time!!! EEK!! Not what I wanted to hear!!!

So, I had an appointment yesterday, February 16th with Dr. Noland and over the weekend (I'm pretty sure it was Sunday night, the 15th) Victoria decided to flip! What a good girl! I'm so proud of her!!! People asked me "what was the secret to get her to flip?" thinking I did some exercises or something. I told them "Her daddy and I had a talk with her and explained if she doesnt flip, shes grounded till shes 13 years old!" It worked :) Yeah!!!! And during that appointment she finally let us see between her legs again (no one has been able to verify she is a girl since November, so we wanted to make sure that she is in fact a girl, since in November it was very early and could have mistaken her for a girl! But yes, she's a girl!

Dr. Noland said that Victoria got an 8 outta 8 at her office yesterday, she's doing great, she said the umbilical cord blood pressure was normal, my weight gain is normal (I dont see how!), my blood pressure was normal, her heart rate was around 150 which is great.. so she's doing good! She did tell me that there is nothing wrong with the baby, Dr. Blake is just "overly cautious" and wants a doc to see me twice a week. Which is fine with me!

Its just funny because most people get like two ultrasounds their whole pregnancy. I've had 9 successful ultrasounds so far (I had 2 early on but it was too early to see anything so I dont count those)... I've had so many ultrasounds that I only have two more pages in my little ultrasound photo book I have! HAHA.. Craziness!! But I get to watch her grow so thats kinda cool!!!

Ever since she flipped, I feel her constantly now. I dont know if its her new position or if she also grew or what, but I feel her non-stop! Shes a crazy active girl. Its fun :) Except she keeps me up at night (like I was sleeping anyways) but still!! hahah...

I have an appointment Friday with Dr. Blake, then one with Dr. Noland and one with Dr. Blake for the next weeks prior to birth!

I'm nervous about giving birth. I don't feel prepared at all! I havent been practicing my hypno birthing (I guess I"ll make that another blog at a later time)... yeah..

So that is where we stand right now! Not everyone knew about the Downs Syndrome scare and all that stuff because we didnt want to worry everyone and deal with it all. So we pretty much kept it to us!

Anyways. Hope that catches everyone up!!!

Trying this Stuff Out!!!!

Okay... So. I'm a blogger at heart! So I thought I would make a family blog so instead of writing "books" to each individual family member and leaving some out by accident, I will blog it. And if you don't know what's going on in our wonderful life, its YOUR fault for not reading :) HAHA. Like how that works??

So here is my first blog and my first attempt to see how this goes for me!! I figure I will try to blog for awhile, get used to this site and then if I think its something I'll keep up with, I will inform everyone else of it. And if it is crappy, then I will just count this as one more try that failed :P.

Alrighty then! Here goes!!! Lets see how it works out for us :)