10 More Days To Go...

So this past Friday the 16th marked my 37th week of pregnancy, and as of today we have 10 more days of waiting until I'm induced! Slowly but surely, we're getting closer and closer to meeting Maia!! I think we're ready... kind of. We have baby furniture, baby gear, baby clothes... I just need to wash a few more things like sheets and blankets, and the crib needs to be put together. But we will wait until the last minute to satisfy the procrastinator me! We actually could wait a bit longer since the baby will not come home right away, but we might be busier than expected after the baby is born, so I don't really feel like taking that chance! 

On Saturday Marcus and I attempted to put together the bassinet. It's the same one that Marcus used and I'm actually surprised that we still have it! When I opened up the box, everything seemed to be in there except the instructions!! Oh well... it took me about 45 minutes to put it together! I pretty much sat on the floor the whole time since that was the most comfortable position for me! But we got it done and that's one less thing out of the way. Marcus insists he can still fit in it (and he really can), but I don't think it will support his weight... so instead, he's using it to hold some of his toys! 

Along with all the baby preparation, Marcus will also be a ring bearer at a friend's wedding on Labor Day weekend! I was really hoping to be there, but I'll be at the hospital probably pumping. So I'm a lil sad that I will miss out on lil man going down the aisle... so for those that will be there with cameras, I'm expecting some nice shots of the entire entourage, especially of Marcus!! He loves getting all dressed up and was kind of disappointed he wouldn't be wearing a tux, but he's excited about wearing a bowtie and maybe some suspenders! Of course, he's mostly excited because of the party after the ceremony... he is a dance machine!! So watch out! 

So it turned out to be a busy weekend for us. We found out that Gordon's mom was in the hospital because her white blood cell count had gone down to 0... scary! She's been on some medication for her cough/lungs that has caused this drop in her white blood cells, so after tests and lab work, they figured this out and she is now on a different medication that does not have this side effect. She was able to have visitors on Sunday so we drove up to Santa Rosa to see her. She's doing better but is still a little weak. We all don't get to see each other much, so she was very happy to see us and my big bump too! We also got a chance to hang out with Julie, my sister-in-law, so it was nice to catch up with her. But our visit didn't quite put Gordon at ease because he had a dream that his mom died... so he's been a little extra edgy lately with everything going on!

As for me, besides my doctor appointments, I've also been taking non-stress tests twice a week now for about a month. Fortunately, Baby Maia has been performing well. They look for a minimum of 7 accelerations in her heart rate to make sure she responds well to stimuli. The nurses love her since she gets it all done in about 5-10 minutes. However, by law they must keep me there for at least 20 minutes. So far, so good... for now the wait continues as we prepare for next week's chaos!!! Labor and delivery may turn out to be the easiest part!!... Wish us luck!

Before becoming a Family of 4... actually 5!

So on the weekend of July 26, we decided to take our last lil getaway as a family of 3. We were choosing between Lake Tahoe and Monterey, and ended up closer to home in Monterey! Mainly because Tahoe is a longer drive, which would've been uncomfortable for Gordon's back and my "bigness." But we all love Monterey, so we knew we'd have fun!

As we kept mentioning to Marcus, this was going to be our last outing as a family of 3, but he corrected us each time, letting us know that we were a family of 4, and becoming a family of 5!! So we stand corrected! It's actually very sweet and touching to know that he includes his little sister, Marissa, in pretty much everything we do. To this day, he still "sees" her and talks to her, so I do believe she's very much a part of his life! For mommy and daddy, it does get somewhat awkward at times. For example, when we go out to eat, we are listed down as a party of 3. But Marcus will sometimes argue with us and the hostess that there are 4 of us! So I sometimes feel the need to explain to him that not all of us have a special relationship with Marissa, so we all can't see her. He also feels bad when that 4th place setting is taken away and he'll comment "don't they know that she's hungry and she wants to eat too?!!" But it's all very sweet... and who am I to say that he doesn't have this special relationship with his sister? Although I personally don't have any type of experience regarding ghosts, or people that have passed, I do believe that there are people out there that do... and maybe Marcus is one of them! Plus, overall he's handled the past couple of years so maturely when it comes to such adult situations. He's currently working on learning what exactly DORV (Double Outlet Right Ventricle) is. He was a little bit disappointed to learn that the first diagnosis of HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) wasn't accurate, because he had practiced over and over how to pronounce it correctly and knew the meaning of the diagnosis!

Anyway, so after about 2 hours of driving down Highway 1, we arrived in Monterey! We were about an hour early for check-in at our hotel, so we dropped by the beach. Marcus has always been in love with the beach, so he didn't mind at all! It was nice and sunny, so he and Gordon spent most of the time chasing the water, trying not to get wet. But in the end, they both had soaked shorts. I had fun too just watching them, although I felt like a beached whale when it was time to get up and leave! Marcus' water day continued as our next stop was the hotel pool! He's our lil daredevil so he loves being thrown around, doing cannon balls and flips, and scaring everyone around him! 

We also spent some time at the Monterey Aquarium. Marcus enjoyed all the different fish, especially the sharks and seahorses. He didn't like touching the tide pool animals too much because it left a funny smell on his hands, even after washing. Gordon and I didn't enjoy it that much because we were somewhat overwhelmed with the smell of the people around us! I know it was muggy outside, but for some reason it smelled like many people didn't bother to shower that day! So our sense of smell kind of distracted us! We then spent the rest of the day by the Wharf and Cannery Row... and some pool time back at the hotel.

Before we knew it, our long weekend was over and it was time to head back. It may be a while before our next vacation, but hopefully we'll be able to have more weekend getaways sooner rather than later! Thank goodness it really doesn't take much to entertain our lil man... sometimes he just wants to get out of the house! 

So now it's back to reality... getting the house ready for Maia and also getting Marcus ready for school. It will all happen in the same week too! The last week of August might be a little chaotic with Kindergarten orientation Tuesday, first day on Wednesday, my induction night on Thursday, and hopefully Maia's birthday on Friday! Fortunately, both my brothers will be here to help out, so I'm planning to sneak in a mani-pedi somewhere in that week too before heading to the hospital! So for now we continue to wait patiently... it's really all we can do! We're all very excited, especially Marcus who's starting to make special requests, like how he wants to be the one to cut the cord! Sorry, not gonna happen!!! Needless to say, he thinks he's ready for big brother duties, minus diaper changing!... and I think after watching this short video, you'll see he's ready too!

episode 01 from marcus mead on Vimeo.

5 More Weeks and Counting...

So this week was filled with doctor appointments for me at Kaiser...

I first went to see my regular ob/gyn who says I'm looking great, my tummy is a growing nicely, blood pressure looks good and my weight gain is just right. I've gained almost 25lbs so I know I can gain more, but it's getting difficult to eat regular meals so I'm down to snacking every few hours. The last few times I've gone out to dinner I was in pain from trying to finish my meal and it gets hard to breathe! I think I'm starting to waddle too! (Horrible visual, sorry!) Anyway, I have one more appt with my ob in about a month. I think since I'm high risk I don't have to go the normal route when it comes to scheduled appts since I don't feel like I have to see my doctor more often towards the end of my pregnancy.

I also went to see my perinatologist this week, the specialist for high risk pregnancies whose main focus is on the baby. Every one of these appts includes an ultrasound, which usually takes about an hour. This particular appt was quick because for the very first time, Maia was sleeping during the ultrasound! So they were able to scan and get her measurements right away for a change! I'm 34wks and she's measuring 4lbs 12oz, so she's growing nicely and starting to fatten up! Yay!! The talk with the doctor seemed to take longer than the ultrasound this time. She suggested I get a bag packed just in case of preterm labor, since we're all on the baby's schedule and not necessarily our own. If I start having contractions, I'm supposed to call UCSF (Labor & Delivery) and check to see what they want me to do. If it's an emergency where I'm bleeding or in pain, I should head over to Kaiser Redwood City, which is 10 minutes from the house. If the baby needs to be delivered there, they will just transport the baby after birth over to UCSF... all sounds so simple! But we just want to be prepared in case things don't go according to plan!

I also had an appt for an echocardiogram with the pediatric cardiologist. It had been almost 8 weeks since my last appt with him and he was surprised at how much the baby and her heart have grown. He didn't expect to see any dramatic changes and was happy to see there were none. He consults regularly with the specialists at UCSF and will send the echo scans he did to them. He went over the surgery options in detail and discussed each surgery's complexity. If possible, the best surgery for the best outcome would be to do a full repair that consists of widening the narrowed part of the aorta, and closing the VSD (hole) in such a way that the aorta would be repositioned to the left ventricle, where it should be. He described this surgery as very complex, but the outcome would be better because the heart would function the way it's meant to with 2 ventricles. But it also doesn't guarantee she won't have any more surgeries. If a full repair isn't possible, because the aorta is too small due to lack of blood flow, they will go ahead and do the 3-stage surgery which will convert her heart into a single ventricle heart, where the right ventricle will do all the work. The first of these 3 surgeries is also very complex and the time in between the first 2 surgeries is extremely critical. The main reason they say this outcome is not as good as a full repair is that the left ventricle is naturally built stronger than the right, so over time, overuse of the right ventricle may cause other complications, which could lead to the possibility of needing a heart transplant later on in life. Plus, the 3-stage surgery has only been around for about 30 years, so there is no research on what happens to patients over 30 years old. 

So once again, after all the surgery discussions, bottom line is we still have to wait and see what her heart looks like after she's born! That's pretty much what it comes down to! But it's nice to be prepared and know what the possibilities are... I'm the type that likes to know the details, whether it's good or bad! Gordon could care less about the details... he knows what the overall plan is and likes to go with the flow and deal with whatever comes our way when it happens.

So nothing has really changed except that my tummy is getting bigger! Sometimes I'm in denial about it until I randomly see my reflection somewhere!... I feel like my tummy gets stared at more too! Anyway, I guess I should start packing now... well, maybe later!

Update on Gordon's on again/off again back problems... it's currently "on" and he will be getting a cortisone shot some time in August that is supposed to last 4 months, instead of popping pain pills, which I think he was getting tired of. Hopefully this will help him become more active, since he's been trying hard to get back in shape to handle 2 kids!!