Mondays = F.H.E. (Family Hospital Evening)

One of the most fun parts of having what doctors refer to as chronic hypertension (translation: high blood pressure) is the amount of doctor visits. As of my 32nd week, I have been getting bi-weekly non stress tests (NSTs). If you don't know what those are, it's when they strap on fetal monitors for about 20 minutes or more that measure baby's heartbeat and my contractions. The doctors want to see that the heartbeat goes up when the baby moves and doesn't fall too quickly. The test is done to make sure the baby is still doing well when there are issues that could compromise his health and growth (like high blood pressure). Anyway, my perinatologist (high risk physician) advised me to get these tests done twice a week, and he told me to do so with my OB, but my OB, Dr. Sorensen, is only in her office three days a week (Tuesday-Thursday). The solution was that I would have an NST on Thursdays at Dr. Sorensen's office, since that was the day my appointments always fell on anyway, and then I'd go to the hospital every Monday for my other NST. (Thank freaking goodness for Medicaid....the Lord knows exactly what he's doing--What a blessing!!)

My Thursday NSTs are followed by ultrasounds to check on baby's diaphram (to make sure he's practicing his breathing), and other things like his size and position. They look at his heart as well. This past Thursday I was having contractions but my OB said they looked more like my uterus was aggitated so she told me to drink more water. Apparently dehydration can cause contractions, which is something I learned in my child prep classes. I try to drink lots of water, but I live in a desert and sometimes it feels like there isn't enough water to keep one hydrated no matter what. I agreed to try harder. During the ultrasound, baby was head down (finally!) which gave me confidence that maybe I could avoid a c-section.

As most of you know, Saturdays are the busiest (but most profitable) work days for David and me. We worked our normal 10-12 hour shift, then I napped until it was time for the Relief Society Broadcast, which I attended before coming home and going back to bed so I would be able to work. Saturday night I had the strongest contractions I'd had up to that point, but I didn't reach the "4 or more in an hour" mark that would send me to the hospital, so I went to bed, however I did miss a few hours of work in the morning because I felt very strongly I needed to rest a little longer in order to keep the contractions at bay. After work on Sunday, we went to church, where David and I got the programs copied (part of David's calling as Ward Media Specialist), and I spent some last minutes preparing my talk. We both spoke in Sacrament and then substituted in the 15-18 year old Sunday School. After church, I was exhausted, and so we went to bed around 3:30 or 4:00 and slept pretty much straight through until work started at 2:30 the next morning (I did get up at 10 pm to take Daisy out and take my medicine). Due to this amount of sleep (which was amazing, by the way), I didn't drink as much water as usual on Sunday. Mistake number 1.

Monday started with work as usual, although when I woke up I found the Brita filter empty (sad!) so I took the half a bottle of cold water available (the tap water here is gross, not to mention luke warm at best) and worked all morning on that (I usually drink a full bottle during the work day, give or take). Mistake number 2. Around 2:00 pm we headed to the hospital for my NST. I was hooked to the monitor by 2:15 and it stayed there for about...4 hours almost.

I was thirsty when we arrived but didn't think much of it. (I found out later my urine test was "really gross" (nurse's words) and showed my dehydration.) I asked for some water while the test was being started. 20 minutes are so after the test started the nurse asked me if I knew I was having contractions. I had felt a couple, but nothing major, and none of them really hurt. Apparently they were coming every 2 minutes. I drank the large cup of water I was brought and the contractions subsided, but not 5 minutes after I finished, they started up again. After calling Dr. Sorensen they decided to give me a liter of saline through I.V. in order to hydrate me faster. They pushed it quickly and my contractions again subsided until about 5 or so minutes after the I.V. bag emptied. Back to square one. At least they couldn't blame the contractions totally on my dehydration.

After that they did this swab test that tests for a protein that is apparently only in the system a few weeks or less before a woman goes into active labor. They also did a pelvic exam to see if I was dialating. The test results took about an hour, so I watched "Cash Cab" and some of the news. In the end, the test came back negative and I wasn't dialating any more than was normal, so I was able to go home. Hopefully my future NSTs will be a little less exciting. :)

Mom arrives: 33 days

New Blog Name

I decided to rename the blog. No real reason, just thought it'd be a nice little change.

Don't get confused...it's still us.

Shopping Around

With Nathan's arrival just around the corner, I have been shopping around for a new digital camera. David and I have one, an Olympus Camedia, but it is starting to show its age. It was a gift from David's brother, Chris, for Christmas in 2004, I believe (he entered the MTC the week after our wedding, so I'm pretty sure it was the Christmas before). Anyway, to give you a visual, this camera is 3.2 megapixels, with an LCD panel that is no bigger than 1 inch across. The main thing about this camera that bugs me is that it eats batteries like nobody's business and it randomly decides to not work. It will shut itself off or read "card error" when we try to take pictures. Also, the shutter speed is ridiculously slow, and it is hard to capture moments that are passing quickly. It has served us well, but its time has come.

So in looking for a new camera, there are a few features that I am most interested in. For one, I want a sleek, point and shoot camera. Although I love photography and would enjoy working with a more sophisticated camera, I do not want to carry it around. I need a camera that will take just as good of quality in general, without all the bells and whistles. Plus, I figure with all the baby stuff I'll be carrying around for awhile, a camera I can slip in my pocket or purse will make life much simpler. I want decent megapixels as well. I read that decent 8x10 prints can be made with 6-8 megapixels, but to go bigger you need around 10. Most of the newer cameras are advertising 10-12 anyway, so I've been kind of eyeing 10. Of course, anything would be a step up from my Olympus, but I think 10 is a good way to suit my needs. I would like a camera that can take decent video clips, with sound (the Olympus records video clips up to 30 seconds without sound), and I appreciate standard features like image stabilization and face detection. I also need a faster shutter speed. When Nathan is doing something cool, I want to be able to pick up the camera, get it on, and be snapping pictures without having to wait 30 seconds. One of those speed functions that can take a series of photos in a matter of seconds to show high speed would also be pretty cool. My price range is $300 max, which is another reason to avoid the nicer, more professional cameras.

After some looking around, the one I like the best so far is the Nikon Coolpix S60 (this is the one I ended up putting on the baby registry).

The back is a touchscreen 3.5" LCD, so all the menus and things are touchscreen, minimizing the buttons on the camera and simplifying the look. One feature I think is cool about this camera is that you can touch a face or object on the screen while taking a picture and it will automatically focus on that object or face. Other reasons I like this camera: It has 10 megapixels, it has in-camera retouch functions including the ability to add your own writing or drawings, it has the main features I want like image stabilization and speed, and it has other little cool functions like smile shutter and blink warning.

I realize there a several of you out there who know much more about digital cameras, photography, and finding good quality products for the best price in general. Please feel free to share your comments and opinions, but please be kind. (I don't think I can handle any comments about how lame this camera is and how lame I am for liking it!) I would also appreciate any suggestions if you know of another camera that has the features I like and is in my price range. I look forward to hearing what everyone has to say. Thanks for the input!

GO BUCKEYES!

I have to admit I had forgotten that today was Ohio State's first game of the season. Thank goodness I check Facebook regularly and saw my friends' updates before it was too late!

The sad news is that due to the time difference, the game starts at 10:00 am MDT, and David and I are working unti 1:45 pm. Even in the best of circumstances, we will miss the live broadcast. The good news is that I DVRed it so we can watch it later today, I just have to stay away from Facebook until after I've watched it.

GO BUCKS!

Hi There September

So it occurred to me today that August was simply a wisp of an idea to me. I swear just yesterday it was July 4th or even June something. All of a sudden it's September and I'm sitting here going "Huh? What the heck?" Time flies, I suppose.

Kira came to visit last week and she taught me how to read a knitting pattern. Luckily, I just wanted to knit a baby hat, so the pattern didn't involve some of the harder knitting techniques that an amateur like me isn't ready for. Surprisingly, the hat only took me a couple days to finish. It seems a little big, but even if it doesn't fit a newborn, it will fit eventually. I hope.

You may have seen the photo on Facebook of this hat on our puppy, Daisy. That picture came about because I was trying to take a picture that would show how big the hat actually was. Surprisingly, she allowed me to pull the hat over her ears and she even let me take her picture before shaking it off. My childhood dog, Kipp, would have never held still long enough.







I also finally got around to taking another "pregnancy" photo. I took one at 22 weeks and have been meaning to take another one for some time now. Somehow it ended up being 8 weeks between photos instead of the 2-4 I was planning on. Oh well. For those of you on Facebook, this is the same photo, but here it is again.

Yesterday was a weird day. I got up at 3 for work, which is a "late" day for us. I've decided not to start earlier than 2:15 on a weekday, which means getting up at 2, but we usually are up at 2 or 2:30 on work weekdays, so a day when we don't start until 3:15 is somewhat of a treat. Anyway, I got up at 3 after about 4 hours of sleep. After work, which ended around 9, David and I slept for another 4 hours. We got up and spent some time talking with his brother, Job, and Job's wife, Jessie, then they left and we ate a late lunch (this was about 3:30 by now). Lunch made my stomach a little upset so I laid on my side on the couch to help. This made me sleepy and so I ended up falling asleep around 4:30 and though Daisy licked my face a few times, waking me up temporarily, I ended up sleeping until 8:30. I was supposed to go to a meeting for the new stake provident living website that I signed up to help with at 7, but David woke me at 6:15 and I was so exhausted I couldn't imagine getting up. When I did wake up at 8:30, I was wide awake, which I expected, and I watched a bit of TV and talked to my brother, Jon, on the phone for a bit. Around 10 I went to read scriptures and things with David so he could go to bed. While getting ready for bed my eyes just drooped and I could not keep them open. I fell asleep very quickly and slept until 2:30 this morning when it was time for work this morning.

Normally I would jump to the conclusion that I just slept too much, which lead to that continued feeling of tiredness. However, in the past when I've woken from sleeping too much and felt tired, that feeling of tiredness would go away after a brief time awake (like 20-30 min) and not come back for quite some time. This time it was like sleep was a drug that I could not get enough of. I couldn't even bring myself to wake up enough to eat at dinner time. My second thought would be to blame this on the pregnancy...so my question to you people in the medical field or those who have had children before is this: is that normal? Did anyone else experience this somewhat occasional day of such extreme exhaustion that 12 hours of sleep just didn't feel like enough? I'm hoping it was just a temporary thing. I felt quite guilty for the amount of sleep I got, and I admit it worried me a bit that I slept that much and still felt so sleepy afterwards.

Anyway, hopefully September will linger a little longer so that October won't seem like such a shock. October means only one thing to me: the possibility of Nathan making his entrance. I am considered full term at 37 weeks, which will be October 18th. After that, it's game on. I only HOPE he waits until November so my mom will be here. October also means I have very little time to get the nursery completed and it means time to bite the bullet and actually buy and install the car seat and pack my bag for the hospital. September is all of a sudden a "prepare for October" month....let's hope I remember to breathe.