Directions to the Maternity Ward at AMC

I've had many people tell me they are unfamiliar with the layout of AMC and inquire about where to park and how to find the maternity ward in case they want to visit once the baby is born. I figured I'd try to be helpful and give some directions. Warning, these directions are going to be incredibly specific and exhaustive because I really don't want people to get lost! It's actually very easy to navigate...

First, I am going to assume everyone can find AMC in general. If not, go to this link and you can get personalized directions from your own starting point (http://www.amc.edu/Patient/locations/index.html). In general, this entrance is where you will end up going into the hospital:

If you come to AMC on Holland Avenue this will be in front of you with the parking garage/Hilton Garden Inn on your right. If you come from New Scotland via Madison or through Washington Park this entrance will be on your right (note: this entrance is actually past the turn for the parking garage which is on your left so if you see it you went too far). If you come from the other direction on New Scotland this entrance will be on your left. So now that you know where the hospital/parking garage is, let's talk about getting into the parking garage or other places to park...

If it is a weekday, you can enter the parking garage from Holland or New Scotland Avenues. The entrances are clearly marked. You grab a ticket at the booth and make your way in. You can park anywhere except the spots that have signs indicating they are for a specific physican or administrator, but you are likely to need to go up quite a few levels during the day. On the weekends, you can only enter the parking garage from Holland Avenue. If you come to the hospital on New Scotland, just turn onto Holland at the light in front of the pillars entrance and you'll be able to enter the parking garage on your left. Parking is expensive in my opinion ($3.75 for an hour), so another option is the metered parking along New Scotland and Holland Avenues. During the week you get 12 minutes for .25 cents and can put in enough quarters for a max of 2 hours. On weekends these meters are inactive and you can park for free if you find a spot.

Ok, now that you are parked, let's get you into the hospital! If you are in the parking garage you'll see signs directing you to the elevators. Take the elevator to the 1st floor for the walkway that takes you over New Scotland Ave into the hospital. When you get out of the elevator there is a security booth to the right, the walkway straight in front of you, and the entrance to the hotel on the left. Follow the walkway (it curves to the left - employees might go through a door into a back hallway, don't follow them!) and you'll end up inside the main pillar entrance, also called the Fleet lobby. If you parked along the road, you'll go in through the doors at the pillars entrance and end up at this same point.

Now, to the sixth floor! Go through the lobby (information desk on your left if for some reason these directions still aren't enough!) and take a right into the main corridor. If you need a food/coffee stop, Choices Cafe will be on your left (overhead signs will direct you) before you hit the elevators. You will then come to your first set of 4 elevators on your left. I am not sure if they are marked as C or D building elevators, but I would recommend using the next set as they will get you closer to your final destination even though they are slower. So, walk past these elevators and you'll come up to the next set of two elevators on your right (there are more elevators on the left, but they are service elevators). Take these elevators up to the 6th floor. When you get out you are actually in the C building. You need to bear to your right towards the big windows that look out over Albany. You'll then see a set of heavy double doors to your left next to the windows. This is the entrance to the Birth Place so breath a sign of relief, you're almost there!

Once you pass through the double doors you just need to walk straight towards the desk in front of you. The receptionists there should be able to direct you to where Matt and I are. Most likely, we should be in the maternity ward to the left. All of the rooms are marked with their number up above the door. The nursery is on the left as you walk down the corridor in the E building, but it is very unlikely the baby would be in there. The only time I plan on sending the baby to the nursery is for the doctors and nurses to examine him/her and they are supposed to pull the blinds during that time.

And that's it! It might sound complicated, but it's very easy. You should be able to get from the parking garage to the maternity ward in less than five minutes, much less time than it took me to type out the directions!

The Birth Place at AMC

I've had a lot of people ask me why I've decided to have the baby at AMC when there are many smaller hospitals in the area that some people consider better/more personal/more specialized, so I thought I would explain my thoughts.

My first inclination is purely selfish. Over the past 4 1/2 years (especially the last 9 months!) I've spent nearly as much time at AMC as I have at any apartment or house where I was actually living. AMC is like a second home to me. I know where to park, I know the fastest elevators to use, I even know what food is good in the cafeteria:-) Considering birth is going to be a whole new experience, having these few things that I do know makes me feel more comfortable.


The real reasons I most want to deliver at AMC are for the baby though. The obstetric doctors I chose will deliver at AMC or St. Peter's Hospital, so in terms of my actual delivery I would be able to receive equal services at either hospital. That said, only AMC has a level 4 neonatal intensive care unit in the event that the baby needed some extra help at birth (http://www.amc.edu/Patient/services/childrens/services/neonatology.html). I have worked with the AMC neonatologists and the NICU nurses and I highly respect their clinical judgement. If we needed it, I would want the baby there.

In the event that everything goes completely smoothly and the baby heads to the term nursery, I also am very confident in the services provided by the nursing staff there. The nurses in the nursery are very experienced, are very efficient in examining the babies and getting them back to the mom's room in a timely manner after assessments, and are great resources for new moms. The maternity ward also has trained lactation nurses that work very hard with moms on establishing good nursing habits before discharge. In addition, the baby will be able to be seen by attending physicians from my own pediatric outpatient practice who I have also worked with and respect their skill.

So, does that mean I think that other hospitals aren't good places to have a baby? Definitely not! These are just the reasons why AMC is the place that works the best for me.

Here is the main website for The Birth Place at AMC (http://www.amc.edu/Patient/services/Birth_Place/)

Going into Labor Myths...

Now that my due date is fast approaching I've been hearing a lot of theories or myths about what happens as a "signal" that you are going into labor. Thus far none of them has panned out for me (obviously!), but I thought I'd share and invite everyone else to add comments with myths they've heard...

1. If the baby is more active than usual, it means you are about to go into labor.
~this happened to me last week when I swear the baby didn't stop moving for 18 hours straight, but no labor~

2. The nesting theory: You have a spurt of energy to do household chores to get things settled for the baby shortly before you go into labor.
~I was hopeful when I woke up with tons of energy yesterday that lasted me through dusting multiple rooms, planting seeds indoors to transplant after the last frost, making fresh salsa, cooking dinner, and knitting another baby hat, but no such luck!~

3. That you get a really good night's sleep the day before going into labor
~I slept for about 5 hours straight Tuesday-Wednesday (which hasn't happened in months), but no labor!~

39 weeks and counting...

Just a quick update from a medical standpoint: I went to the doctor's on Wednesday for my weekly check-up. As usual everything is just about the same and fine for me - my weight stayed the same, my blood pressure is fine, and I'm not having any issues with my kidneys being able to filter my blood. The baby's heart rate was exactly where it should be (140s-150s) and he/she continues to be in the right position with his/her head down. She also continues to say that she thinks the baby "isn't very big", but I have no idea what scale she is making that assumption on. Finally, the doctor did an exam for the first time to see if I am progressing at all yet.

There are three things that the doctor measures to determine when it's time for a baby to be born (when it's time to push!). The first is the one that everyone is probably most familiar with - dilation. The cervix goes from 0-10cm dilated in the course of labor. You need to be at 10cm to start pushing. The second is cervical effacement or thinning. Throughout pregnancy the cervix should be thick and it gradually becomes thinner in preparation for labor; it is measured from 0-100% effacement. The third parameter is called the baby's "station". This measurement explains where the baby's head is in relation to the mom's pelvis. It is generally measured as -2 through +2. -2 means the baby is still above the pelvis, 0 means the baby is settled right into the pelvis, and +2 means the baby is descended towards the cervix. From my first exam, the doctor said I am 1cm dilated, 80% effaced, and a -2 station. According to her, this is a good start.

Now that I am on maternity leave with nothing to do, my posts will probably be more frequent, so check back often for updates!

A few more weeks to go...

Tomorrow the baby will be 38 weeks! I just thought I'd post a quick update about my doctor's visit today. Everything checked out fine for me - I've gained just about 20 pounds, my blood pressure was 100/68, and there are no signs of protein spilling in my urine. The doctor also checked the baby's heart rate which was exactly where it should be in the 150s. She also measured my belly and said that she thinks the baby "isn't too big" (not small, but saying he/she hasn't grown bigger than they would expect). Finally, she checked and said that the baby's head is settled down in my pelvis where it should stay to be ready to be born.

The last time I went to the doctor's office I had a test done for an infection called Group B Streptococcus (GBS). Many healthy women are colonized with this bacteria without having any active signs of infection which is why they need to be screened for it between 35-37 weeks of gestation. Having this bacteria only is worrisome for women in labor because it poses an infection risk to the baby. Treating women ahead of time hasn't been found to be helpful because the bacteria are likely to come back once the treatment course is over. What this means is that women who test positive will receive IV penicillin during labor to protect the baby - in Pediatrics we consider the baby "safe" if the mom received at least 2 doses of Penicillin at least 4 hours prior to delivery. All of that said, my test was negative so I don't need to worry about treatment.

That's everything for now!

Can't believe it's almost time!

Howdy, Matt here! Hard to believe that really, it could be any day now... or it could be weeks, who knows! I get pretty anxious thinking that any minute I could get a call from Melissa saying she thinks she's in labor... but, of course it's more exciting than anything!

Speaking of "the call", just wanted to fill you in on how we'd like to spread the news... As you all know, labor can take a long time, and Melissa said that there's wifi in all the rooms so I plan on sending out periodic emails about how things are going...

Because of this, we ask that you please don't gather at the hospital to wait for something to happen... Once the baby is born we'll let our parents know and have them and Katrina come to the hospital to visit to give them "first viewing" ... after that anyone that wants to visit is welcome to. I'll most likely have baby pictures up to send out via email right away as well.

Sorry if this seems harsh, we just know how well loved we are and how well loved the baby already is and don't want to be overwhelmed... Like I said before, I'm already having panic attacks just thinking of the process ;-)

Of course, for all we know this whole process could happen overnight and you could wake up to the news that Baby Veino has been born! haha... we shall see.

Full Term!

I know, I know...in the *real world* everyone considers all babies born before 40 weeks to be "early", but in the medical world anything beyond 36 weeks 6 days is considered to be a full term baby! This is based on the fact that babies born after the 36th week rarely have any of the complications that pediatricians associate with being premature. So as far as I'm concerned, this baby can make it's appearance any day now...

In terms of baby development, as I said, the baby is basically done with all it needs to do to come out a nice happy, healthy baby. All that he/she is really doing is gaining weight and developing the brain, both things that can happen just as well outside of me!

In terms of how I'm doing...well...let's just say it's not a pretty picture. I'm working 80 hours a week on the general pediatrics floor and am up for another 24 hour call tomorrow-Saturday. To complicate matters further, sometime between last Sunday night and Monday morning the baby decided to "drop." For anyone who is not familiar with this term, it means the baby moved down further in my belly to be closer to assuming the right position to be born. This is a good thing in that the baby isn't kicking my rib cage anymore and breathing is much easier (I didn't even realize it was harder until the pressure was relieved), but it also means my whole center of balance has been upset and there is constant pressure on my bladder. I routinely need to get up to go to the bathroom at night twice during the 6 hours I get to sleep, but Tuesday night I was actually up 4 times!

Now please don't think I'm complaining, I knew I was going to be working like this when I got pregnant and am more than happy to do it because I'm really, really glad that I'm able to be achieving all of these goals for myself and Matt. I really just find it interesting to point out all of the strange things that happen during pregnancy. And, I am also wondering more and more how in the world my grandmother managed to have 9 children (8 pregnancies because she had twins)...

More to come soon!

Baby Stuff!

It's my non call night so I thought I would make a quick post with some updates and pictures of baby things Matt and I have been working on...

First, I've been knitting some baby hats and booties in the evenings while Matt and I watch TV. I like knitting baby accessories because they only take a few hours to finish. The first picture is a set I made for a boy and the second picture is of a girl hat - I haven't finished the booties yet!

Another thing we did to get ready for the baby was to clean out the bathroom and put all of the new bath toys, shampoos, and lotions for the baby onto the shelves in the bathroom...

Last weekend I realized I needed to find a place to put all of the wonderful books that the baby and I received at the showers. Matt and I went shopping and found a bookcase that *almost* matches the baby furniture. We rearranged all of the furniture in the nursery one more time, found a good place for everything, and then I was able to put all of the books away on the shelves. Here is how the nursery looks now...




And finally, I realized that Matt and I don't have any pictures together with me looking all pregnant, so we set up the tripod and took this picture:

And that's it!

35 Weeks!

I haven't posted in awhile so I figured it was time for an update. The time of being pregnant is getting short, so I'll try to post updates as frequently as I can:-)

Today I'm 35 3/7 weeks pregnant. The baby should be about 18 inches long and weigh 5 1/2 to 6 pounds. About 99% of babies born by this time of gestation are completely capable of functioning on their own and surviving outside the mom. The reason for this is that the baby is basically done with all of his/her physical development - the kidneys are fully developed, the liver is starting to process some waste products, and the lungs are just about fully developed as well. Over the next month the baby's central nervous system will continue to develop further and he/she will work on building up extra fat stores which will help them regulate their temperature once they are born.

From my perspective, things are going as best as can be expected for someone almost 8 months pregnant working 80 hours a week. My weight is fluctuating like crazy these days as the doctor said it's more common to hold on to water at this point in pregnancy. Last time I went to the doctor I was up 6lbs from the previous visit, but the next day I was down 4lbs. My best guesstimate is that I've gained about 16-18lbs since this whole ordeal started. Despite this, I definitely feel like the baby is taking up every single inch of space in my belly and everyday activities (like putting on socks and picking things up off the floor!) are requiring much more effort. Oddly enough, the reflux has gotten much better, but I'm now experiencing the joy of having to use the bathroom at least twice as frequently as usual. I can't sleep for more than 3 hours at a time without needing to get up, but I suppose that's good preparation for getting up to feed the baby. As of right now I've got seven 14 hour shifts and three 24 hour shifts (or 22 days!) left to go at work before maternity leave...

I'm not too fond of these anymore, but Matt enjoys them, so here's a 35 week belly picture

A Quick Thanks and Update!

Hello all, Matt here... it's time for another update!

This has been quite a busy week! Last Saturday was Melissa's shower thrown by her mother, on Thursday my office threw us a shower, and yesterday was the shower thrown by my mom... at this point the baby certainly has everything he/or she will need!

First, a few pictures:

Melissa Opening Some Gifts

The cake, made by Joan's Cake Chateau

Our cats moe. and Stormy seem to think a lot of the new stuff is for them, as seen in this picture!

Melissa and our current baby moe. (who doesn't look too happy here!)

The nursery at the moment, now all it needs is a baby!

I also want to give a quick thank you to all of you who attended the showers or gave us something for the baby... beyond just the gifts, we're truly blessed to have family and friends as caring and generous as you all. You know who you are, and you'll obviously be getting a more personalized thank you, but I just wanted to get a general thanks out there until then!

Also, a big thank you to my mom, Shirley, and the people at my office for hosting the showers... I know you all put in a lot of work and we appreciate it more than words on a blog can express!

Melissa wants to post something quick as well, so here she is:

Matt already did a great job expressing how thankful we are for all of the wonderful baby gifts we've received, but I just wanted to double the thanks. In addition to all of the "bigger" gifts, I really want to thank everyone for the books for the baby. The gift of literature is something that the baby will be able to appreciate long after he/she outgrows diapers and onesies. I can't wait to start reading with him/her! Thank you so much!

I also want to thank both of the moms for hosting absolutely beautiful showers for me. It was great to see so many family members all gathered together and to hear so many other birth and pregnancy memories from the other moms in the family - and most of all it makes me even more excited to soon be a mom myself!

32 Weeks

I actually haven't posted in awhile now so it's time for some updates! Just to quickly recap my last week on nights was a hectic mess of sickness and mass admissions each night. Just to say I was sick during my last week of nights is an understatement. I was so miserable with a GI bug that I couldn't eat or drink anything for about 3 days and my body hurt so badly just moving from the couch to the bathroom made me want to cry. Regardless, I had to work through it and I think my final Sunday 24 hour call really drove the nail into the coffin - by the time I went to the doctor's for a routine visit the following Tuesday I was down 4lbs, was dehydrated, and had ketones in my urine. The nurse practitioner I saw said that if I couldn't promise to drink copious amounts of water and gatorade over the next 24 hours I needed IV fluids. Luckily, I was feeling well enough that I could accomplish that and avoided becoming a patient myself. I have to follow-up for a weight check with them tomorrow, but according to my home scale I'm back to where I was and my appetite is finally back as well. Crisis averted!

In terms of the baby, he/she is just about to reach the 32 week mark. Despite my health at the doctor's visit, the baby's heart rate was completely normal and he/she has continued to be very active. At 32 weeks the baby should weight between 3.5 - 4 lbs and is likely 16-17 inches long. He/she also has formed finger and toenails now and should have some real hair. The real goal for the baby during the next two months is just to pack on the pounds as everything else is fairly developed and birth ready. By NICU standards 34 weeks is ready for birth, by normal pediatric standards we like 37 weeks.

At this stage I do feel as if the baby has oriented themselves in some type of up and down position rather than just floating around free as the kicks are usually oriented as such. In other words, I'll feel something right up under my rib cage and down around my pelvic bones at the same time. Despite how often and how vigorously I feel the baby moving, he/she apparently really doesn't like to "show off" for others as Matt will sit next to me and put his hand on my belly for a long time when I tell him the baby is moving and he/she will stop completely until 5 seconds after he gives up.

In terms of how I am doing, I feel great to be off nights. The reflux has gotten better with a normalized eating scheduled and I feel almost like a normal person during the day. I basically just "feel pregnant" at night when I allow myself to slow down. My legs ache, my belly feels full, and my body is ready for bed by 10pm regardless of how much I WANT to stay awake. I am getting up at 5:30am though, so I guess that any normal person would feel tired, but I'm used to being able to function on less sleep at baseline, so this is strange to me.

Anyway, I think that's it! Stay tuned for more frequent updates as there is baby shower excitingness starting up which will allow us to really dig into preping for the baby!

When we told our parents...

I have some video from when we told our parents we were having a baby, and thought some of you might like to see it as well!

We made believe we were having a "celebration" because of our offer on the house, so we showed them a video of the house, then Melissa said we had something to give them as "thanks" for everything they've done for us, and went and got gift bags... inside the gift bag was a cookie that said "we're having a baby!" on it. Anyway, here's the end result! (push the play button underneath the black box)

The best and worst of being pregnant

I'm feeling silly and giddy from lack of sleep so I thought I'd make a top three list of the best and worst things about being pregnant.

Top Three Worst
1. People not only want to touch your belly, but they think they are somehow entitled to the right to do so by the mere fact that you decided to get pregnant. (And no, making puppy dog eyes at me like I'm a big mean monster when I say no does not make me feel bad - in fact, that pathetic face assures me that you don't deserve to touch my belly.)

2. Everyone telling you that you shouldn't find out the sex of the baby because it's "one of lifes only surprises" and then repeatedly telling you how they wish they knew so that they could buy clothes for a boy or girl.
(While you're at it, why don't you give me a big hunk of chocolate and then tell me that I'm fat while I'm eating it.)

3. Never knowing when you wake up in the morning which part of your body is going to decide to turn on you that day and which is more essential to pack - a Warehouse sized bottle of Tums for reflux, a banana to ward off leg cramps, or ice packs for all those extra stubbed toes and bruised knees that result from not being able to see below the level of the belly button?

Top Three Best
1. That parents, especially mothers, automatically seem to trust me more as a Pediatrician.
(I know that it's really because they are thinking, "See, she knows what suffering goes into making one of these little monsters and will understand why I want my completely fever-free kid that is eating a popsicle, bouncing on the bed in the ER covered in stickers, and watching cartoons on TV admitted to the hospital overnight for observation just in case they get sick", but it's still nice.)

2. Knowing that becoming a parent is something that Matt and I are equally excited about and looking forward to having this special other person as part of our relationship forever.
(Yea, cheesy, I know. But how could it not make us appreciate each other more to see one of us spend hours building nursery furniture and hanging up chair rail while the other spends 23 hours on their feet for the independence to afford to buy the aforementioned nursery furniture?)

3. Always having company.
(Sure, sometimes it's in a creepy "Oh my god, I think this thing is going to bust out of my belly like the alien in that movie" kind of way, but looking at the hours I have to work for the next few years, it's comforting to have the baby safe in my belly right now and know I'm providing everything it needs and that I never have to miss him/her)

Honestly, these are my active attempts at being funny. I hope no one is offended, but rather gets a chuckle out of my overactive brainwaves at 3 o'clock in the morning on an eerily quiet night at the hospital...

29 Weeks

By this point in time the baby has almost reached their full birth length (50th percentile at birth is approximately 20"). Although the baby might not have too much more growing to do in that respect, they have plenty of weight to put on. The average weight for a baby at 29 weeks is around 3lbs whereas 50th percentile at birth is about 8lbs. As this fat accumulates in the baby's body, their skin will start smoothing out and the baby will look less wrinkly.

According to all the baby sites I like to read, the baby is starting to fill up my belly more and the kicks should be more vigorous and less erratic. I have found both of these facts to be 100% true. My belly feels "full" already and I even find that at the end of a particularly long shift, when I've been on my feet most of the night, that my whole belly actually even aches. It feels like I've been at the gym taking an hour long ab class with Jenn - which is laughable because I don't even think my ab muscles exist at this point in time.

In terms of "kicking", when the baby is awake, I definitely know it! The baby tends to be asleep or moving around less vigorously during the morning hours (6am-10am), then I am sleeping so I am not sure what they are doing (10am-4pm), there are only occassional big kicks in the evening (4pm-12am), and then they GO CRAZY in spurts overnight(12am-6am). The baby is so energized during the late night/early morning hours that I will just look down and see my whole belly "bubbling" like a pot of hot water at times. In all honesty, it's a bit disconcerting til you get used to it. It's not at all the comforting little flutter that I imagined listening to people talk about being pregnant. I'm not saying it's unpleasant, just much more forceful than I expected.

Finally, I know I already mentioned the bad reflux I was having in my previous post, but somehow in the 48 hours since then it's gotten MUCH worse. It's now progressed from some chest discomfort, to a burning sensation in my throat, to full fledged stomach acid coming up when I hiccup or burp. And I'm thinking it can only get worse from here...yikes! Anyway, not really complaining as I know what to do about combating it (more Prevacid!), but I'm just sharing for all the never been pregnant ladies in the room who want the REAL scoop on pregnancy:-)

Finally, here is a picture Matt took last night of my 29 week belly before I went to work tonight.

Doctor Visit Today

As I said previously, I'm now on visits to the doctor every 2 weeks. The visits really only last for about 5 minutes and I'm not entirely sure what the point of them is, but I'll keep showing up because prenatal care is a good thing!

So the visit started off with the traditional calculating of the baby's gestational age (28 weeks and 5 days) and weighing me in. The verdict this time is that they saw no weight change from last visit. I attribute that to the fact that the night schedule I'm on has really disturbed my eating schedule and I pretty much always seem to have reflux (not just with meals) so eating is hard. The reflux is getting worse as well. It used to be more of just a feeling that food/beverage could and would come back up. Now I have that, plus a burning sensation and sour taste of acid in the back of my throat. I've had to up the ante from popping half a dozen tums a day to actually taking a low dose of daily Pepcid as well.

After that they checked my blood pressure and found it to be a nice healthy 100/60 - no pregnancy induced hypertension for this girl! They also checked my pee, as usual, and everything was clear. When I actually saw the MD, she first used the doppler to listen to the baby's heart rate which was in the mid 130s today. Then she measured my belly. The way she does that is to stretch a tape measure from approximately the top of the pelvic bone to the top of the uterus - which seems to be about 2-3 inches below my rib cage. I find this quite impressive as in its normal state the uterus is well below the pelvic bones and not palpable. Finally, the doctor told me that the blood work I had done over the weekend came back within the normal range which means that I don't have gestational diabetes.

At the last second, as the doctor was leaving the room, I basically begged her to see if an ultrasound tech was available to give me one more peek at the baby as they told me last time that I didn't need any more ultrasounds unless something was wrong. Although it really literally only was 1 minute, the tech was free and did do a quick scan to show me the heart beating and to take one quick shot of the baby's head with his/her hands up near the face. I think the picture is creepy actually, but Matt will scan it at work tomorrow and he can post it then.

That's it for now! Time for me to take advantage of the quiet time on the floor and work on some studying for Step 3.

Another Nursery Update

Yesterday my dad came over and put up the chair rail. I think it looks pretty good! It definitely makes the whole two color thing look a lot better, and makes the room look more "complete."

After we were done with that (well, I still have to get the stuff to fill in the nail holes) I put together the dresser... I'm getting to be an expert at putting together furniture! It was a pain, but it wasn't too difficult... took maybe an hour and a half or so.

So that brings us to where we are now, a finished crib, dresser, painted walls, and chair rail! Now we just need to get a changing table... then we'll decide the best arrangement of furniture in the room.

Painting the Nursery!

We finally were able to work on the nursery today, and it's amazing how quickly it's coming together!

I hate painting, and Melissa's dad is good at it so he was nice enough to come and do the majority of it. Last night Melissa and I washed the walls and taped around the corners and stuff, and this morning Wayne came over and painted the room. Melissa was getting a (routine) blood test and once she was home she cut in around the corners to help out.

Here's some before, during, and after picures!

The "before" picture of the room

Melissa painting
(unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Wayne painting even though he did most of it!)

All done painting!
Melissa painting the clouds
While Melissa painted the clouds, I put together the crib. My dad is coming over tomorrow to put up the chair rail, so it probably wasn't the greatest idea to start putting furniture in there, haha, but Melissa doesn't have many days off so I figured it would be nice to do while she's here! I have the dresser to put together too, but I'll wait until the chair rail is up to put that together.

Putting together the crib wasn't that bad, I'm getting pretty good at putting furniture together, haha... well, I guess I'm good if you consider making only one mistake "good" ;-) I got it almost completely together when I realized that the front part was backwards... oops. Luckily it was only a 10 minute fix.

And that brings us to where we are now! The crib is put together, walls painted, and clouds painted...

Here's the final product, with our current baby, moe.

Late night update!

Nothing too exciting to update as it's only been a few days, but I'm awake and figured I would post. Yesterday was a particularly awful day for me at work and I'm beginning to realize why many people don't have babies during intern year of residency. That said, I'm still 100% assured in our decision to have a baby now. At the very least, I like to prove to myself that I can do difficult things and this is clearly the most difficult thing I've ever done.

Anyway, here is rundown of a day in the life of a pregnant intern:
I was on call Sunday beginning at 8am. We had a very busy morning with many discharges to arrange, but a decent afternoon with just enough work to keep us busy. I was even able to take a decent lunch break, but needed to limit what I was eating to keep the reflux to a minimum. I even tried to spend a little bit of time teaching the two med students that were around, but one of them kept disappearing and the other seemed more interested in studying in a corner. By the time evening sign out came around (8-9pm) I was tired. Unfortunately, being tired is not an excuse for a busy ER or demanding nurses on the floor.

Between admissions, transfers from other hospitals, and answering calls from the nurses I couldn't even try to sleep. Also, let me tell you, it is not easy to smile and provide hypothetical answers regarding treatment to hypothetical questions from an over-anxious mom about non-existent symptoms in a peacefully sleeping child at 1am when you've already been up for 19 hours, but somehow I did it. I learned that I have the patience of during the second incredibly similar encounter an hour later with another mom. Finally, it was quiet and I went back to the lounge to update the sign out list and nap.

I had just drifted off to sleep around 3:15am when my senior resident paged me to meet him in the ER for 2 more admissions! This amount of sleep was not enough to refresh me, but was long enough to make my legs, back, and belly ache from lying on an uncomfortable couch clutching my pager in my hand for fear of missing a page and allowing the nurses to trump me and call the senior. To make matters even better, the reflux I was experiencing almost made me puke all over the elevator on my way to the ER. I made it back to the lounge an hour later around 4:40 and was finally able to sleep until 6 (with only 3 pages waking me up in between). From 6-7am I ran around checking labs, following up imaging, and trying to make myself familiar enough with the histories of all my patients to be able to present them adequately during sign out. By 9am I was passed out cold in bed with warm kittens surrounding me.

The only fun thing about this crazy schedule is that it seems the baby likes to be very active around 3 or 4 in the morning so I have him/her to keep me company.

Belly pics!

Hey there... Matt here. Welcome to the new blog. Just thought you might be interested in seeing how Melissa's belly has been progressing!

6 Weeks

14 Weeks

20 Weeks

27 Weeks

That last pic was actually taken today... Hard to believe the "arrival" should only be a few months away! And I'm sure Melissa finds it hard to believe that the baby has 3 more months of growing to do, haha...

27 Weeks!

Baby and I are in the 27th week of pregnancy now and fast approaching what I like to consider the week of viability. The basic rule you learn in medicine is that the 28th week is when the lungs actually "mature" or start to produce surfactant which increases lung compliance and allows for easier breathing. Yup, I realized I just lost everyone except Jackie and perhaps Dave, so I'll leave it at that...Anyway, I know very well from working in the neonatal intensive care unit that babies can survive before 28 weeks, but it's still a milestone to me and I'll be happy to reach it next week!

Basically, by now the baby is about 14 or so inches long and should weight around 2lbs. If we were to meet him/her right now they would look almost like a normal newborn except smaller because they wouldn't have any extra body fat as that really doesn't start accumulating until later on in pregnancy. Since everything has been in place for awhile now things are just continuing to mature. As I already mentioned, the lungs are working hard to mature as is the immune system and the brain.

I went to the doctor's office last week and had a quick check-up. I've gained a grand total of about 10-11 pounds, my blood pressure remains in a healthy range (100/72), my belly seems to measure where it should, and the baby's heart rate was in the 140s (also where it should be). I'm now up to visits every two weeks. According to the doctor I don't need to get any more ultrasounds unless there are any problems, which is quite unnerving to me. I liked to be able to see him/her and know what kind of growing they are doing in there...let's just say I popped down to the newborn nursery to visit the baby's future pediatrician this week and saw AN ELEVEN POUND BABY which may have traumatized me for life. Other than that, I'm doing alright at this point. The reflux has continued to get worse, and I'm now taking Pepcid, but everything else seems to be in proper working order. I'll probably be making most of my future posts in the early morning as I'm working the night team (8pm-9am). It's clearly not ideal, but it's only a month and I've already got one week down!

Matt and I are planning to begin work on the nursery in the next week or so, so stay tuned for pictures of our progress!