Well Ryan and I spent the day at the hospital today and it was exhausting! The past few days I have had a headache that will not go away and some pretty decent swelling that doesn't want to leave either, so I called the docs this morning to see what I could do besides Tylenol and elevating my feet. Their response was that I had to come in right away and see the doctor. I of course panicked and called Ryan to have him come home and take me to the appointment. We threw our hospital bags in the car just in case and headed to the docs.
When we got there we went through the usual pee in a cup and weight. Turns out I gained 5 lbs in 2 days! I am really swollen!! Dr. Amerson went through the check-up and even measured around my ankles and my arms. Thankfully she kept those numbers to herself! She then told us she was sending us over to Labor & Delivery because with the swelling, weight gain, headaches, and lack of sleep I could potentially have preeclampsia. With that, Dr. Amerson listened to the heartbeat, sent us on our way, and I started panicking and crying again!
The hospital is only a block away from the doctor's so we were there in no time. We headed into triage and got hooked up to a monitor for the baby's heartbeat, contractions, and blood pressure. The baby's heartbeat was fantastic the whole time. It ranged everywhere from 120-160 which they said is exactly what they want to see. Apparently I had a couple of contractions while we were there, but I didn't feel any of them. And my blood pressure was the lowest it has been in my entire pregnancy. I guess I was nice and relaxed knowing that I was at the hospital! They drew some blood and all of the tests they ran came back fine, so then we went to have an ultrasound done. It's amazing how different the baby is now compared to our last ultrasound. Luckily for us the baby is laying in the perfect position - head down and facing the back. We couldn't see his/her face because the baby was being stubborn and holding its fist in front of its face. The doctor measured all of the bones and fluid levels and everything is perfect. In fact, she said the baby has long legs. Go figure! Ryan asked how tall the mailman is because we don't exactly qualify as two people with long legs! :) She also told us how much the baby weighs now, but I'm not going to tell so we won't have any cheaters in the poll. :)
After all of that was said and done we were discharged and sent home. My only instructions are to take it easy and eat 2 grapefruits a day for the next 4 days....YUCK! Supposedly grapefruit will help flush out the swelling. I go back for a re-check on Tuesday. Hopefully I'll be back to normal then. We'll see if Baby Smith will wait for Grandpa and Grammom Suzie to get back from abroad before he/she makes his/her debut in the world!
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Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
GMA!!!
Okay so this morning Meghan and I got to tape a segment for Good Morning America! My friend Sara works for J. Crew and a girl she used to work with there now works for a company called Two Birds. Two Birds makes a bridesmaid dress that can be worn 12+ different ways and they were going on GMA to promote the dress. Sara emailed me because they needed a pregnant lady to show that you can be huge and still wear the dress! Obviously I said yes right away. At the last minute Sara couldn't take off work to go to the taping, so she asked if Meghan would take her place. Of course the answer was yes!
So at 6:15 this morning I left home and went to Hoboken so Meghan could do our hair and makeup. We took the bus into the city together and got to the GMA studio at 8:15 (even though we didn't need to be there until 8:45). When we went in we had to tell the security guards we were there for the GMA Now segment and when a lady came to get us she asked if we were the models for the segment today. We were like oh of course, yes, we're models, can't you tell?? :) We hung out in the green room until everyone else got there, which happened to be next door to all of the dressing rooms for Robin Roberts, Chris Cuomo, and Sam Champion. We got to see Sam in his dressing room a few times. Very exciting! Unfortunately Chris and Diane were at the Democratic National Convention, so there was no hope of seeing them.
At 10:15 we went to the studio for the taping. Lee Woodruff was the host of the segment. Meghan was very excited because she read Lee's book, so she was a little starstruck! We basically just stood in a row behind Lee and Ariane (the dress designer). It turned out that Meghan and I were on TV practically the whole time!!! Meghan was standing right behind Lee and I was right behind Ariane, so every time the camera focused on one of them, you see Meghan or me in the background! I didn't know what to do! Do I smile, do I just stand there, where do I put my arms, my hands????? Very nerve racking!! Everyone will see, I am standing there like a fool! So they talk about the dresses and the whole concept behind them and we rehearsed how Ariane was going to call up certain people in a certain order. Well I think she was so nervous that she started calling people in the wrong order and totally threw us off!
Meghan was the first person to be called to the front. Ariane wanted to show that her whole look could be changed just by changing the sleeves. Then another girl, Emily, was called up to show how the back of her dress could be changed. I was next. She called me up to show that an elephant can wear the dress too. Finally three other girls who's front looked the same were called up to show that their backs were all different.
The whole morning was so exciting and I can't wait to see it all on TV. Meghan and I laughed about how nervous we were when we got called up. Meghan said her lip started quivering and I didn't know what to do so I started playing with my hair, rubbing my stomach, and was just standing very awkwardly. Hopefully we won't look too bad when it airs!!
We found out the show is going to air on GMA Now which is Good Morning America's third hour and airs on ABC News Now, one of their cable channels. You can go to this website to see if they have this channel on your cable http://abcnewsnow.com/. Unfortunately, my cable provider doesn't have this channel, so if your does please tape it for me so I can come see it! Hopefully we'll be able to watch it online after it airs. They said it will probably air on Friday. I'll let everyone know if that changes.
Thanks Sara for thinking of us to do this. We had a great time!!
So at 6:15 this morning I left home and went to Hoboken so Meghan could do our hair and makeup. We took the bus into the city together and got to the GMA studio at 8:15 (even though we didn't need to be there until 8:45). When we went in we had to tell the security guards we were there for the GMA Now segment and when a lady came to get us she asked if we were the models for the segment today. We were like oh of course, yes, we're models, can't you tell?? :) We hung out in the green room until everyone else got there, which happened to be next door to all of the dressing rooms for Robin Roberts, Chris Cuomo, and Sam Champion. We got to see Sam in his dressing room a few times. Very exciting! Unfortunately Chris and Diane were at the Democratic National Convention, so there was no hope of seeing them.
Meghan hanging out in the Green Room
Okay, so 9:00, time to get dressed. The dresses we wore were a deep purple and they were fantastic. So comfortable - they felt like wearing nightgowns! There were 10 girls and even though we were all wearing the same dress, we all had different styles wrapped around us. It really was pretty amazing that I was in the same size dress as a girl who wears a size 2!
Dresses Round 1: We loved our dresses like this, but Ariane decided to switch it up.
Dresses Round 2: Here is how we went on air!
At 10:15 we went to the studio for the taping. Lee Woodruff was the host of the segment. Meghan was very excited because she read Lee's book, so she was a little starstruck! We basically just stood in a row behind Lee and Ariane (the dress designer). It turned out that Meghan and I were on TV practically the whole time!!! Meghan was standing right behind Lee and I was right behind Ariane, so every time the camera focused on one of them, you see Meghan or me in the background! I didn't know what to do! Do I smile, do I just stand there, where do I put my arms, my hands????? Very nerve racking!! Everyone will see, I am standing there like a fool! So they talk about the dresses and the whole concept behind them and we rehearsed how Ariane was going to call up certain people in a certain order. Well I think she was so nervous that she started calling people in the wrong order and totally threw us off!
Meghan was the first person to be called to the front. Ariane wanted to show that her whole look could be changed just by changing the sleeves. Then another girl, Emily, was called up to show how the back of her dress could be changed. I was next. She called me up to show that an elephant can wear the dress too. Finally three other girls who's front looked the same were called up to show that their backs were all different.
The whole morning was so exciting and I can't wait to see it all on TV. Meghan and I laughed about how nervous we were when we got called up. Meghan said her lip started quivering and I didn't know what to do so I started playing with my hair, rubbing my stomach, and was just standing very awkwardly. Hopefully we won't look too bad when it airs!!
We found out the show is going to air on GMA Now which is Good Morning America's third hour and airs on ABC News Now, one of their cable channels. You can go to this website to see if they have this channel on your cable http://abcnewsnow.com/. Unfortunately, my cable provider doesn't have this channel, so if your does please tape it for me so I can come see it! Hopefully we'll be able to watch it online after it airs. They said it will probably air on Friday. I'll let everyone know if that changes.
Thanks Sara for thinking of us to do this. We had a great time!!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Oh Man!
I had my check-up at the doctor's today and I finally got an internal exam. I was so excited when the nurse told me I was getting one and I thought for sure I was at least 2 cm dilated. Well, I was way off. I'm not dilated at all!!!!! I couldn't believe it. With all of the pressure I've been feeling I was positive this baby was coming early.
Dr. Amerson said we have a very smart baby, obviously :), because it has dropped into the perfect position and is at 4 station. Most women begin labor at 0 or 1 station and the goal is to get to 5. She said this means I should have a quick labor because the head is extremely low already. Great - now I have to worry about giving birth in the car on the way to the hospital! You better believe we'll be on our way as soon as I feel my first contraction!
So the baby is just hanging out and Dr. Amerson said it will definitely be a September baby. I told her my parents would be happy to hear that since they leave for Ireland and Scotland tomorrow and don't come back until Sept. 9. She said she thinks the baby will wait for them to get back. Great - 2 more weeks of feeling like humpty dumpty for me! It seems like this little guy or girl is just going to take his or her sweet time coming into the world. I guess the longer it stays in there, the more nutrients it will get and the plumper it will be! I asked Dr. Amerson if she could tell how much the baby weighs now and she said it's hovering right around 7 lbs right now. I hope she's right!
Some other very exciting news is I'll be on Good Morning America this week! For those of you who don't know the show, it's a morning news/talk show on ABC. I got an email from my high school friend Sara Ward saying she was doing a segment on GMA for a company called Two Birds. They have a bridesmaid dress that can be worn 12 different ways and they really wanted a pregnant lady to be on the show also. Luckily Ward thought of me right away and we head to the studio tomorrow to tape the segment. We were told to bring strappy shoes to wear. I haven't worn heels in MONTHS so let's hope I don't fall on national TV!! They think the segment will be airing on Friday morning but I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes tomorrow and what they say.
We're off to dinner with the Andersen's tonight. Kellie loves to use her New Orleans spices in her food so I'm hoping the extra kick with give the baby an extra kick towards coming out! :)
Dr. Amerson said we have a very smart baby, obviously :), because it has dropped into the perfect position and is at 4 station. Most women begin labor at 0 or 1 station and the goal is to get to 5. She said this means I should have a quick labor because the head is extremely low already. Great - now I have to worry about giving birth in the car on the way to the hospital! You better believe we'll be on our way as soon as I feel my first contraction!
So the baby is just hanging out and Dr. Amerson said it will definitely be a September baby. I told her my parents would be happy to hear that since they leave for Ireland and Scotland tomorrow and don't come back until Sept. 9. She said she thinks the baby will wait for them to get back. Great - 2 more weeks of feeling like humpty dumpty for me! It seems like this little guy or girl is just going to take his or her sweet time coming into the world. I guess the longer it stays in there, the more nutrients it will get and the plumper it will be! I asked Dr. Amerson if she could tell how much the baby weighs now and she said it's hovering right around 7 lbs right now. I hope she's right!
Some other very exciting news is I'll be on Good Morning America this week! For those of you who don't know the show, it's a morning news/talk show on ABC. I got an email from my high school friend Sara Ward saying she was doing a segment on GMA for a company called Two Birds. They have a bridesmaid dress that can be worn 12 different ways and they really wanted a pregnant lady to be on the show also. Luckily Ward thought of me right away and we head to the studio tomorrow to tape the segment. We were told to bring strappy shoes to wear. I haven't worn heels in MONTHS so let's hope I don't fall on national TV!! They think the segment will be airing on Friday morning but I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes tomorrow and what they say.
We're off to dinner with the Andersen's tonight. Kellie loves to use her New Orleans spices in her food so I'm hoping the extra kick with give the baby an extra kick towards coming out! :)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
37 Week Visit
Unfortunately I was disappointed to find out at the doctor's today that she would not be doing an internal exam. I really wanted to see if I was dilated at all because I'm sure I am! She told me that she could have done the exam, told me I was dilated, and then I'd be all excited and still have to wait around for another week or two before anything happened. So I'm hoping when I go back on Tuesday they will do one then!
Anyway, I told Dr. Levat that I have been feeling a little crampy for the past few days and I still have a lot of pressure all the time. She said that's great because it sounds like things are starting to progress. We listened to the heartbeat which she said sounded great and then she did a quick 2 second ultrasound to make sure the head was in the correct position. It is! I saw it tucked way down there!
Now it's just more of a waiting game. I'm so ready for this baby to be here! We go on Saturday to have the car seat installed and we've been checking out some new cars for me. I'm the only person who wants to go out and buy an SUV right now, but I really want one! Hopefully by this time next week the Honda will be gone and I'll have my new car. If you know anyone that wants to buy a Civic, let us know!
Time to go back to the couch...I'm trying to get all of my sleep in now before the baby comes! :)
Anyway, I told Dr. Levat that I have been feeling a little crampy for the past few days and I still have a lot of pressure all the time. She said that's great because it sounds like things are starting to progress. We listened to the heartbeat which she said sounded great and then she did a quick 2 second ultrasound to make sure the head was in the correct position. It is! I saw it tucked way down there!
Now it's just more of a waiting game. I'm so ready for this baby to be here! We go on Saturday to have the car seat installed and we've been checking out some new cars for me. I'm the only person who wants to go out and buy an SUV right now, but I really want one! Hopefully by this time next week the Honda will be gone and I'll have my new car. If you know anyone that wants to buy a Civic, let us know!
Time to go back to the couch...I'm trying to get all of my sleep in now before the baby comes! :)
Monday, August 18, 2008
36 Weeks
We hit the 9 month mark on Friday. I'm still feeling a lot of pressure in my lower abdomen and I definitely waddle everywhere I go! Wednesday night I got some more baby practice in with Nola. Jay and Kellie needed a night out so babysitter Caitlin came over. It's so different watching her now than when she was a baby. She was walking all over the place and talking baby talk nonstop. I have to learn their bedtime methods though because I have never had an easier time putting a baby to bed! It was great! On Thursday we had a visit from Uncle Matt. He was in the area for work, so he and his friend, Jeff, came up to the house for lunch and an afternoon by the pool. He finally got to see the nursery and I think he now realizes that I really am having a baby! We had a great time Friday night at the Cheesecake Factory with all of the old Deer Run neighbors. It was so good to see everyone, and for all of us to be together, finally! On Saturday we took it easy and caught up on all of the Olympics for the week. Ryan loves this time of year so we've been DVRing all of it. On Sunday Kellie and I went shopping while Ryan got in some manual labor helping Jay lay soil in their backyard. He has a nice t-shirt tan now! We'll have to sit by the pool to help him even out. :) I've been going on walks and still doing my regular routine at the gym trying to help this baby along. It's hard to walk sometimes because of all the pressure, but I figure that's a good sign. I'm anxiously awaiting the doctor's appointment on Thursday. Ryan is taking an appraisal class in the city all week, so let's hope nothing too big happens while he is there!
Here's my 36 week picture. Could be the last one!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
1 Month To Go!!!
We got some very exciting news today at the doctor. The baby has dropped into position!!! I had to get the strep B test done today, which every expectant mom gets, and the doctor said the baby is so low that the q-tip she was using actually poked the baby in the head! I had a good feeling that the baby was nice and low because for about a week now I have been waddling and feeling like I have to hold my stomach to keep the baby from falling out. Dr. Amerson said since this has been a very healthy pregnancy and the baby is in position we just have to wait and see when he or she decides to come out! Any guesses on when it will be???? I go back next Thursday to see if I'm dilated at all. I guess I should pack my bag for the hospital soon!
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