Sunday, June 29, 2008

Tough couple weeks

Sorry for the long silence on the blog, but it's been a rough couple weeks here. As some of you know, my extended family experienced a tragedy last week with Nick Boehm's passing. The Boehms are like family to the Jacobys, and my heart is still aching for their loss as well as my own. Nick was perhaps my oldest friend, the brother I never had, and I am still struggling to accept the fact that he's gone and to understand why. At some point, I'd like to really write about this and truly do his memory justice, but I don't think this is the time or the place. Let's just say that my thoughts and prayers are with the Boehm family and will be for the forseeable future...and I'm thinking that Baby E will have Uncle Nick as her guardian angel here in the weeks to come.

In baby news, we are still doing pretty well. I'm feeling pretty good except for my feet swelling up on a regular basis. At my check-up Thursday though, my systolic blood pressure was up about 17 points from my last visit. Between the two of those, they sent me for toxemia/pre-eclampsia labs as a precaution and put me on "bedrest" for two days. I go back tomorrow for a non-stress test. I've monitored my blood pressure this weekend though, and I think it's back to normal. It may have just been stress-induced. Hopefully we will have good lab results back, and they will be putting me on half-days at work instead of total bedrest. Prayers will be appreciated from here on out though, if you've got them!

Luckily we are past 34 weeks now, so we are almost out of any preemie danger zone. If it comes back as pre-eclampsia though, I could be induced and Baby E could be here in 3-4 weeks! So we are starting to panic a bit and finish some of the tasks that have been put off. Nursery painting will happen next weekend, and last minute big purchases are being organized. Some things can't be helped though, like when our crib will arrive. The 10-12 week window ends tomorrow, and it's not in the country yet! Steve and I also just started our childbirth education classes (i.e. Lamaze) Wednesday night, and we have two sessions left that we'd like to finish. But I figure as long as she has somewhere to sleep and gets here safely, that's what is truly important.

I did have a joy this week with another shower, put together by my college roommates Dana and Wendy. We had a wonderful lunch at Medici's here in Normal Saturday. I had several friends come in from out of town, including my friend Julie, who extended her visit from Atlanta to attend, and my other college roommate Ann, who came down all the way from Michigan. I also got to meet my friends' two new babies, Will and Mikey. My sister Meghan made some beautiful invitations, and the bakery made a gorgeously-iced cake to match them. It was a fun, lovely and low-key afternoon that was just what I needed after the past few weeks. I will post pictures when I can, as well as a 34-weeks picture. Take care!


Saturday, June 14, 2008

Five and a half pounds already!

Well, we had our thirty-two week check-up on Thursday, and that's the headline. As suspected, Baby E is a big girl! There was a bit of discrepancy between the sonographer and doctor, but the estimated weight was 5 lbs 8 oz or 5 lbs 11 oz with eight a half weeks to go. Well over 95th percentile for this point. Steve and I were both a little flabbergasted, but it's not entirely unexpected. The Jacoby girls were both 9 lbs 5 oz at birth, Steve was 8 lbs 11 oz, and his brother was over 9 lbs. Apparently, it just runs in the family.

According to the technician, they estimate a half-pound a week from here on out...a projected birthweight of 9 1/2 - 10 lbs. My OB seemed a bit more optimistic that she might have just gone through a growth spurt, and it may be closer to nine. At this point, a late July birthdate is starting to sound good though :) Steve kind of freaked out a bit when he saw a projected due date of July 23rd on the machine, but apparently that is just an typical estimate based on an average baby's size and means little.

So anyways, no major concern on their part yet, but we will have another ultrasound at 36 weeks to check everything again. Otherwise, everything continues to look good. We got to see that the baby has a full head of hair, and more confirmation that Baby E is still a girl. We did see hands and figure out that she's still head down with her hips up against the center of my belly. No very interesting pictures this time though, as the baby's size makes it tough to get them.

I'm still feeling pretty well. With the weather heating up, the big concern has been swelling again. My feet are swollen most days now. I haven't worked out in like two weeks because I can't fit them in my tennis shoes! Luckily though, my blood pressure is still average, so they aren't talking about any restrictions yet.

We spent last weekend up in Peoria with the Easter side of the family. We had a lovely shower that I'll post about once I have pictures ready, and we got to spend some time with our adorable nieces. This weekend's looking nice and quiet, and we are finally making some progress on the nursery and its closet organizer. I'll post again soon, but I just wanted to provide and update and let you all know that we appreciate your prayers and good wishes!


Updated: With pictures of Dad, Chewy and I on Fathers' Day (June 15th) as well as the daddy-to-be


Sunday, June 1, 2008

Thirty weeks!

It's been a quiet couple weeks here from me. Last weekend, Steve and I headed to Ohio with my family for my Great-Aunt Betty's memorial service. She passed away at the end of February after a two year battle with lymphoma. The weekend was exhausting, but it was really nice to see all my Ohio and Texas family members again. The nicest part was that we all got to celebrate her life together, which I think was what she would have wanted. She was really excited to find out our little one was on the way and was hoping Baby E would be a girl. So hopefully she will get her wish and watch over her safe arrival.


Pretty quiet week or so since the trip. Our thirty week check-up was on Thursday. Nothing too new and significant to report. My blood pressure was up slightly but still in normal range, and the doctor thought my feet weren't too terribly swollen. Once again, our suspicions were confirmed on one end...this is probably a big baby. At two days shy of 30 weeks, my belly was measuring a bit over 33 weeks (33 cm). My doctor isn't concerned, as it's been consistent throughout the pregnancy and nothing was strange on my ultrasounds. But the long and short of it is that I look over 8 months pregnant already. Lots of funny comments from strangers already about me being due any day now...and I try to just chuckle and say I still have two months left. Luckily I'm still feeling pretty good in terms of back pain and sleeping...just a little tired. But Baby E could arrive in late July and I don't think I'd complain! We have another ultrasound in two weeks, so hopefully we'll get some idea of just how big she is soon.


I'll post two pictures below from 29 and 30 weeks respectively. The first is with my cousin Carey, who is due 4 days after me. The second is with my friend Gauri, who is due 10 days before me, at her shower this weekend. Cute pictures but I am starting to think I should not wear shirts that tie at the waist :)