32 weeks

Wow, we've been terrible about updating this blog. Things are all going really well. We've had lots of requests for a new belly picture of Heather so here it is:

The crib is now in the place where we took the previous ones, so we had to move our "studio" out to the living room.

Baby Shower

Monica (with the help of Domenique) threw us an amazing co-ed baby shower at her new house. The food was awesome, and there were some really cute activities such as make your own onsies. And of course, we got LOTS presents for our soon to be spoiled blueberry!

The party was exactly what we had wanted: fun, un-snooty, chill and (we hope) a good time was had by all. It was a blast and we're both so THANKFUL for everyone!

28 weeks

We went to an 8 hour childbirth prepatation class yesterday, I'll post about that a little later. For now, here is a long overdue belly pic of Heather:

Monthly OB appt

Today I met with Dr. Dimsdale while Dr. Galaif was out on vacation. Dr. Dimsdale was nice and answered all my questions with the answers I was hoping for. Here is all the good news -

• Blueberry's heart rate is good (around 144 I believe)
• My blood pressure is perfect
• My belly measurement is good
• The soreness I've been getting on the top side of my belly sounds normal and is probably just stretching and bruising from the baby kicking there
• My Glucose and iron tests came back good

Sleep has been a real issue because of leg cramps and the doctor told me to eat a banana before bed and stretch. Perry gave me a great leg massage yesterday and my sleepytime cramps were pretty minor last night. Thanks Perry!

Back to Dr. Galaif in 4 weeks and then my OB visits will be every two weeks!

In other news, we just started to receive some baby gifts. David and Dom bought us a stroller which was WAY too nice of them, and Meighan and Paul sent us some baby bath time essentials. It's exciting to start filling the house with baby stuff.

Baby's first concert

Last Saturday we took blueberry to his first show: Deerhoof at the Mezzanine. I think it will be good for his future indie cred.

On Sunday we decided on a glider for the nursery: the mighty Dutailier Intermezzo, upholstered in a nice sage microfiber. Its certainly more than we originally intended to spend, but it's rilly rilly nice and can move to the living room when its outlived its usefulness in the nursery. Now we only have one more piece of baby furniture to get--a dresser that can double duty as a changing table. We checked Ikea, but didnt find anything suitable, so we're still on the lookout. A lot of furniture places need 10 or so weeks lead time on orders, so we'll be cutting things close if we don't decide on something soon.

This Saturday is our Childbirth prep class at Day One, its ridiculously long, something like 10 hours. Oh and tomorrow we're meeting with a potential choice for a pediatrician.

Healthy Pregnancy and Newfound Fame

Sometimes I think being pregnant must be a lot like being famous. Everyone stares at me. Sometimes they smile. People I've never talked to stop to chat. Folks comment on my appearance constantly. Strangers ask if I'm excited. I guess everyone loves a pregnant person, but it sure is strange.

On another note, I went to a healthy pregnancy class at Day One yesterday. It was only me and one other girl which gave me the opportunity to ask all my stupid questions. I already knew most of what we went over but it was reassuring to hear everything from an expert so I'm very glad I went. My teacher was Ami, a midwife and a lactation consultant and a very cool lady. She didn't push the homebirth thing at all, but just meeting her and hearing a bit about it made me almost want to consider it. Maybe for the next one.

Ultrasound update and happy 26 weeks

On Friday we went for an ultrasound w/ Dr. Musci to check on the cord issue. All looks relatively the same, which is a good thing. Nicole was our ultrasound check and told us blueberry liked showing off the fact that he was a boy. His head was down and pointed to the left, his spine and butt against my right side and his legs somewhat over to the left but not over his head like last time. I have another visit in 4 weeks to check on things.

Here are some stats -

• He is now almost 2 pounds - 1 pound 15oz to be exact


• Heart rate was 148 BPM


• Growth percentile is 55.5% - a bit up from the last visit

Blueberry was feeling camera shy from the waist up, but here is a video where you can see the side of his head (note the ear), his hands in front of his face, and a nice leg shot (look at those cute toes).

We missed last weeks picture, but here is week 26.

Yoga and Orange Soda

Yesterday I took a prenatal yoga class at "It's Yoga Kids" in the Presidio. Our teacher was really sweet and it was a nice mix of work and relaxation. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it (I might just use a video) but I'll take at least one more class. It felt good to take some time out for myself. They also do baby/mommy and family yoga there so it might be a fun place to bring the little one and Perry if I can drag him there.

This morning I woke up extra early to take my glucose screening test. I drank some Orange soda (it was tasty actually - see picture below), sat around for an hour, and then they took a few vials of blood. Hopefully I'll pass. If I don't, it means I need to come back for a 3 hour test and be pricked 4 times. Of course I'd probably get a lot of free orange soda out of it.

Obama Baby

Blueberry seemed to be real happy about the Obama victory and celebrated by throwing a wild party in my belly at 3AM. Or perhaps he was protesting prop 8. The world will never know.

Last week's pic

Last week we spent our "babymoon" (as the kids are calling it these days) in Kauai. A short recap:

• we stayed at the Grand Hyatt Resort in Poipu, sort of a splurge for us. The best thing about the resort was its huge pool area and saltwater lagoons.
• my blackberry fell victim to the ocean on our second day, I had no email access for almost 7 full days. This sucked at first, and then was amazing when I got used to it.
• frosty drinks at the Hyatt's pool cost $16.50 with tip (lucky there's only one of us enjoying them)
• we took a cool helicopter tour of the island, one of the highlights of the trip
• I'm still nursing a bad sunburn

Here's our week 24 pic, taken from the lanai of our hotel room last week:



In other news, we've placed an order last night for our first substantial baby item: the crib. w00t!

Another Appointment

Saw Dr. Galaif this morning. BP, pee, weight, are all good and Blueberrys heartbeat is nice and strong. My belly was measured for the first time today and all measured well. She recommended a flu shot so I'm going to get one later today. I will need to get a glucose screening test before my next appointment in 4 weeks. I guess you drink a sugary beverage and then get a blood test an hour later. Next appointment is in 4 weeks with Dr. Dimsdale because Dr. Galaif will be out of this office. Hawaii is around the corner.

23 weeks

This weekend we hit a few baby stores and started the arduous task of putting a baby registry together. We're still not quite clear on what a "receiving blanket" is for, never mind all the other crap.

Next belly pic will be in Hawaii...

Perinatal Assoc visit #3

Today was our third visit to SF Perinatal Associates, where we get our high-def ultrasounds. Whereas the first two visits were our ultrascreen (at 13 wks) and second trimester screen (at 18 wks), this was a followup because the doctor saw a slight dilation of the umbilical veil at the 18 wks ultrasound. We got the same ultrasound technician as our first visit--I think her name was Sarah. She was really nice and took the time to point out the various parts she was taking measurements of. The baby was in a breech position--his butt was pointed downwards, and he had his legs and feet up in front of his face. I guess this is a dangerous position to deliver the baby in, but its perfectly fine for now--the technician said the baby will do plenty more moving around in the next 3 months.

On to the important item: the umbilical vein measurement, which was .77 cm, last time it measured approximately .6cm. Dr. Musci said that it is still not quite large enough to be classified as varicose or varyx. So, for now, this is all good news. He does want to keep an eye on it, so we have scheduled another ultrasound in a little over 3 weeks from now.

The plus side of having to come in for another ultrasound is that we got to see a lot more of boyberry. The movie Heather posted earlier is a neat 4D clip where you can see him with one of his feet up in front of his face.

Here's some of the boyberry's stats:

• his heart rate was 153 bpm
• 1 lb 3 oz
• growth is 44th percentile

Finally, here is the week 22 picture:

Today

Dancing at 4am

I woke up at 4am last night on my back, rolled over to my side, and the baby started kicking and moving like crazy. It was nice and reassuring. I wonder when I'll be begging him to relax and let me sleep. For now, I'm happy to feel him dance at 4am.

21 Weeks

Somehow I think I look smaller this week.

Big Kicks

Yesterday while laying on the couch I felt 3 big kicks and Perry was finally able to share in the experience. For the past few weeks I've felt fluttering, but very subtle and internal. Last night, I felt a really big kick, like a little alien was trying to escape. I quickly called Perry over and he was able to feel the second one and then actually watch my stomach jump for number 3. What are you doing in there little boyberry? Fluffing up the pillows? I hope you are comfy.

20 Weeks!

Happy half birthday little one!

Monthly doc appt

Yesterday was another appointment with Dr. Galaif. Things all went a-OK. Heather dropped her pee off and we got to hear the heartbeat again, which was loud 'n strong. We asked questions about the possible umbilical vein varix diagnosis. The dr said it is a really rare thing (if it turns out that we actually have this), and they don't have too much information on it. It is something that folks never would have been able to detect before, without high definition ultrasounds that did not exist 10 years ago.

I called Perinatal Associates (where we get our high def ultrasounds) to ask a few more questions. I got to speak to Amy, the genetic counselor that we met with on our very first visit. She talks a bit much, but was really really nice. She concurred with the ultrasound doctor that based on the literature that is out there now, there's nothing additional that needs to be done besides an extra ultrasound. All of the instances of "bad stuff" out there are when this condition is present with multiple other abnormalities, which thankfully there are none of. So for now, I feel pretty good about it all...

Oh and the doctor green-lighted our trip to Kauai at the end of October. Huzzah!

19 Weeks

Bigger Yet?

It's a....

BOY. And Perry was 100% sure blueberry was a girl. I'm excited for Perry to have a buddy to play transformers and GI Joes with. Baby boy blueberry is about 10oz which is a bit ahead of schedule and has 5 fingers on each hand, cute little footprints (see below for one of them) and moves around like crazy. The placenta was in front of the baby's face so we couldn't get any good 4D shots this time. The doctor did notice one slightly concerning issue. There is some dilation where the cord connects to the baby. At this point he told us not to worry and made me promise not to look awful things up on the Internet (yeah right) but he wants to see me in 4 weeks to take another look. If it gets worse, it could be an umbilical varix which is very rare and seem to have mixed outcomes. But... I will try my best to not jump to conclusions although I am worried as hell. I went out and drowned my sorrows in a HUGE milkshake which helped a bit. I have an appointment with my OB on Wednesday so I will talk to her about my concerns and hopefully she'll make me feel better.

Still Confused

After several calls with Dr. Galaif's nurse and prenatal associates, it seems the only thing that REALLY needed to be tested was my AFP, which is 1.58 (2.5 is the cutoff). They also tested my SLOS which was 1 in 10,000, the best score you can hope for. I believe this means I had the expanded AFP test (Prenatal Associates thinks I had the quad screen) but I will ask for more clarification on these tests when I see my OB.

Negative but frustrated

Just found out my AFP came back negative which is a really good thing but I think there was some confusion and I should have been screened for more things. Nurse is calling me back in the morning with more info but I'm a bit annoyed.

Babymoon

Just booked a trip to Kauai for our last vacation before baby. We are staying at the Grand Hyatt which seems like the best resort on the island so it should be amazing. Perry wants to take underwater pictures of my big belly. I will miss the mai tais but I am really looking forward to a week of relaxation. And Malasadas of course :)

18 Weeks!

Almost half way there. I'm not sure if I can really see a big difference in this pic compared to the last two weeks but I FEEL bigger.

17 week old blueberry

Snapped this picture before catching brunch with Domenique, David, & Lucy. They gave us a bag of some of their baby stuff they didn't end up using like a boppy pillow and a baby wipes warmer. There won't be any chilly wipes for our little one!

Our first article of baby clothing

Yesterday I got my work-provided prenatal care kit in the mail. It contained:

• an Adobe logo branded onesie (ha, our first piece of baby clothing)
• (what seems like) every book in the What to Expect... series
• a cheapo diaper bag
• more booklets and pamphlets and bits of paper

At this point it seems like we have enough baby-related reading materials to fill an entire bookcase...

Cranberry Juice Cocktail

Today I got my blood drawn for an AFP test which can help predict birth defects. I also got a free cranberry juice in return for my deposit. Results will be ready in 2 weeks or so.

Today is 16 weeks!

Latest pic of Heather:

On "Baby Bonding" Leave

Today I also got some good info on paternity leave with my HR deparment. Adobe offers no special company-paid paternity leave. There are 2 state/federal laws that I qualify for however:

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which is up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off.
• California Paid Family Leave (PFL), which allows up to 6 weeks of partial pay (roughly 55% but it is capped--I would not get the full 55%), paid by the state. It runs concurrently with FMLA, but it takes 1 week to "kick in"

Additionally, if you take more than 30 days of "Baby Bonding" leave, you need to pay for your own benefits. (health ins, life ins, etc)

After considering it all, I think I'm just going to screw the "Baby Bonding" leave, and use my upcoming sabbatical with a couple weeks of PTO tacked on when blueberry arrives. I think we will need all the money coming in that we can get, although it does annoy me that I am paying for the CA PFL (in taxes) and won't be using it...

Expensive Vitamins

Heather filled her prescription at Walgreens' for the prenatal vitamins that she liked best--Prenate DHA. These are the ones that smell like "cake". They include the omega-3 fatty acids, which, I assume, makes them so expensive. Even with insurance, it came to $40 for only 30 pills! That's not even a whole month! Unless you're talking about February...
We better get a refund if the baby comes out dumb! (just kidding Blueberry!)

Doc appointment #3

Today was a quick checkup at Dr. Galaif's office. Heather dropped off her pee, and then we listened to the heartbeat on the doppler. This time we heard it loud and clear! They say that after 20 weeks, you can hear the heartbeat without a doppler--you can just use a standard stethoscope. I bet we'll probably end up buying one so we can hear blueberry's heartbeat at home.
We were out of the office before we knew it, sent on our way with more prenatal vitamin samples. One thing we did learn is that the doctors at this practice trade off the oncall pager weekly. If blueberry happens to come during non-business hours--which I imagine is quite likely, it is possible it could be delivered by a different doctor. Dr. Galaif said we can schedule some of our future appointments/checkins with each of the other doctors, so we can get to know all of them. I get the feeling that this is how a lot of practices do this.
I took the day off, so I dropped Heather back off at work and enjoyed the rest of the day. The next big date is the second trimester ultrasound on Sept 18th, where (hopefully) we'll find out whether its a boy or a girl!

Definitely not a Jew

Good news. Results from Perry's Canavan screening were available early and left on our answering machine today. He is not a carrier. We are both very happy. And Grandma wanted me to marry a Jew!

Ultra-Screen

Today was my first trimester Ultra-Screen. The test is a prenatal screening which gives you your risk for Down Syndrome, trisomy 18 and other chromosomal abnormalities. The findings come from combining an ultrasound measurement of the fluid accumulation behind the neck of the fetus (nuchal translucency) with blood tests and your age. First a sonographer gave me an ultrasound where she measured the baby (2.67 inches CRL- right on track), took lots of pictures (which they gave us on disc), and told me everything looked good. I noticed in the video of my last ultrasound that it looked like blueberry had no arms, so I was relieved when she easily found them. In fact, I think the baby may have been waving at us in the first picture attached. Then she took specific measurements of the back of the neck and the doctor came in to repeat the job and verify her findings. I was told to arrive with a very full bladder and since baby decided it had enough photos taken and didn't want to cooperate, the doctor had to push on my stomach quite a bit to get the baby to move to a position that made him happy. I really wanted to remain relaxed and listen to what the doctor was saying (after all, this is important stuff) but all I could really think about was how bad I had to pee. When I was finally allowed to go to the bathroom I seriously couldn't sit up straight. But boy.... I think it was the best pee ever!

The doctor told me I had great results and gave me a report which reminds me very much of the citywide test score printouts I would get in reading and math in elementary school. The results were pretty similar too. I'm in the 97.5 percentile. I was a smart kid.





After the screening we met with a genetic counselor to talk about me being a carrier of Canavan disease. Basically, if Perry is also a carrier then the baby would have a 25% chance of having the disease which could be determined by amnio. A nurse took Perry's blood (right after she took the blood of a woman who was carrying around a puke bucket and did NOT look well) and we should have results in 3 weeks or so. Hopefully, since Perry is very un-Jewish we will be ok. She also went over our family histories and made us both very late for work. We won't have results for a few weeks.

1 out of 11 is not so bad

So I got a call from one of the genetic counselors at Prenatal Associates about my jew panel blood test. Turns out I am a carrier of Canavan disease, which is a pretty scary disease. As long as Perry doesn't have it, blueberry will be fine. We are going to meet with Amy, a genetic counselor after my first trimester screening on August 6th. Nothing I can do now except wait.

Appt with Dr. Galaif and a Pleasant Surprise!

Today was a checkup for Heather with Dr. Galaif, and it was my first time meeting her. She seemed pretty nice, and I liked her. She generally seems to get good reviews on Yelp, however there is one worrisome one about failing to remove the placenta post-delivery (yes, pretty worrisome!). We're wondering if we should bring this up with her in the future to ask for her side of the story.

The checkup started off well. The doctor wanted to hear blueberry's heartbeat with a fetal doppler, but was having problems finding it. We got a little worried there, and I think the doctor could tell, so she moved us over to the other room to do a quick ultrasound to confirm everything was OK.

She found the blueberry pretty quickly, so that was a relief. It looked much more "baby-like" this time, and it was kicking around like crazy! We watched it for about 2 minutes, and in that time, it kicked 3-4 times. It looked a little bit like a bean jumping around in a mini-moonwalk.

Here's a short clip i filmed on my digicam showing a nice kick at about 20 seconds in:


Incredible!

Pin Cushon

Today I got my blood tested for my frist timester screening (coming up in about 2 weeks) and to test for genetic diseases "popular" in Eastern European Jews. They suggested I get tested for 4, but I decided I might as well go for all 11 which included:

• Cystic Fibrosis (which Dr. Lam actually tested me for and was negative)
• Tay-Sachs
• Canavan Disease
• Familial Dyautonomia
• Bloom Syndrome
• Fanoconi Anemia Group C
• Gaucher Disease
• Glycogen Storage Disease
• Maple syrup urine disease (is it wrong the mention of this makes me crave pancakes?)
• Mucolipidosis Type IV
• Niemann-Pick disease type A

The nurse was very sweet but after she took my blood, I realized she only took a small amount. I guess she didn't realize I was getting a bunch of tests, not just the 1st trimester screening ones. So she had to stick me again, this time in the other arm which didn't work out so well for her... or for me I should say. She had to call in the veteran nurse to stick me once again. Now I have bandages on both arms and I didn't even get a free juice out of it. I should have results in 2 weeks.

First look at the blueberry!

Today was our first visit with an obstetrician and we got our first ultrasound. Heather's primary doctor, Dr. Galaif, was on leave for a family emergency, so this first visit would be with a different dr at the same practice--Dr. Lam. I was a little weirded out at first because he was a guy, but he turned out to be really nice. Plus, Heathcliff Huxtable was a male obstetrician too, right? I would let Dr. Huxtable deliver my wife's baby, for sure...

When we met Dr. Lam, I was instantly reminded of the doctor in Knocked Up, but I think that is only because:

1. he is Asian
2. we had just watched it again when we were in Brooklyn

The high point of this visit, without a doubt, was seeing blueberry on the ultrasound monitor. It was basically a fuzzy blob of pixels, but it was a huge relief for us to find out that everything was proceeding just fine. We could even see the heart, which looked like a pulsing spot near the center.

We received a huge stack of booklets, pamphlets, and other materials to start reading.

Some things we learned today:

• Heather is approximately 7 weeks, 3 days along. There are lots of pregnancy websites out there that compare the size of the fetus at this stage to a blueberry--thus the name of this blog.
• The due date is Feb 15th--this means there is a chance it could be Valentine's Day, or it could fall on a Friday the 13th!
• Our little blueberry measured in at 13mm (a hair over half an inch)
• Dr. Lam said sushi is okay, as long as you stay away from the high mercury stuff

Oh, they also gave Heather 5-6 packs of various prenatal vitamins--free stuff rules!

Without further ado, our first look at the blueberry:

Our next scheduled appointment is July 30th, where I will get to meet Dr. Galaif (Heather has already met her). Our next scheduled ultrasound will be on August 6th, which will be the first trimester combined screening.

First Side Profile Pic

We will soon learn that this is nearly week 6.

need to buy stuff... lots of stuff...

Stayed up late thinking about all the stuff we need to learn, buy, and prepare for. I just placed an order for some books for the both of us on Amazon:

• Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
• The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth
• Easy Labor: Every Woman's Guide to Choosing Less Pain and More Joy During Childbirth
• Belly Laughs (yes, the Jenny McCarthy book, I figured Heather would enjoy this one)

I was going to order the What to Expect When You're Expecting book that I've heard so much about, but the reviews on Amazon made me think it is the worst possible book for Heather to read, so I'll leave it for now.

Can it really be?