28 WEEK CHECK UP

Today you are scheduled to do the Glucose Tolerance Testing (GTT) to determine if you suffer from gestational diabetes or glucose intolerance of pregnancy.  This is a normal test done during all pregnancies usually around the 28th week.  You were instructed not eat anything after midnight and you had to drink a special sugar enhanced drink called Glucola - there were different flavors / colors and you chose red.  You had to drink the Glucola one hour before your appointment and had to drink the whole thing within 10 minutes. Yeah, you did it!  You and Ken dropped by to pick me up and we carpooled on over to our 8am appointment with Dr. Y and staff.

It was also your regular 28 week check up and we were to go over the ultrasound that was done on this past
Tuesday.  Your appointment went well, we discussed with Dr. Y the possiblities of having to have a c-section and about your fear of having to have an episiotomy.  They had to draw your blood of course which wasn't one of your favorite experiences.  The ultrasound results from Tuesday were not in yet and so we set up your next appointment in two weeks.  We've reached that point where now your visits are going to be every two weeks instead of four ~ and do you know what that means?  WE ARE GETTING SO CLOSE to your delivery date.  EXCITING!!!!!!

ULTRASOUND # 5

Today we had your 5th ultrasound and other than our little girl still being small, all other measurements where GOOD!  They did see some bubbles / cysts on the placenta but thought that this was something that normally occured in some pregnancies.  We did have to see Dr. N again but we did as Dr. Y instructed and kept our conversation / questions to the bare minimum and saved them for Thursday's appointment with Dr. Y...

OUR NEWEST MOTHER-TO-BE

Shamara, today is Mother's Day 2011 - next year with God's Blessings you will be a MOMMY, this brings such great joy to my heart that tears are forming as I write these words.  You are 26 weeks along now and you are GLOWING...


How your baby's growing:
The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. She may now be able to hear both your voice and Ken's as you chat with each other. She's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of her lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when she's born and takes that first gulp of air. And she's continuing to put on baby fat. She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel.


If your lower back seems a little achy lately, you can thank both your growing uterus — which shifts your center of gravity, stretches out and weakens your abdominal muscles, and may be pressing on a nerve — as well as hormonal changes that loosen your joints and ligaments. Plus, the extra weight you're carrying means more work for your muscles and increased stress on your joints, which is why you may feel worse at the end of the day. Walking, standing, or sitting for long periods, as well as bending and lifting can all put a strain on your back. A warm bath or hot compress might bring relief. (Some women, though, find cool compresses more comforting.) Try to maintain good posture during the day, avoid activities that require bending and twisting at the same time, take frequent breaks when sitting or standing, and sleep on your side with one or both knees bent with a pillow between your legs, using another pillow (or wedge) to support your abdomen. LOVE MOMMY!

BELLY SHOTS - 25 WEEKS

Ken's cousin and mother wanted some shots of them to use at the Dallas Baby Shower they are planning for Saturday, June 10th and so they got all dolled up and dropped by for me to snap a few pictures. Not bad for an amateur photographer if I say so myself ~ SMILE, You are on Candid Camera!

BELLY of the WEEK

This is day number 172 and you're 24 weeks pregnant!

You have 108 days or 15 weeks left, and are 61.4% of the way there.

Baby's age since conception is 158 days or 22 weeks.
 
We had another ultra sound done a couple of days ago - I am going to post our experience only because one day it will be something for you to look back upon.  Anyways the reason for this ultrasound was to check the baby's size in order for the doctors to better determine your due date.  On the previous ultrasounds they were getting conflicting numbers and had moved your due date a few times already, because they were determining the date based on the size of the baby.
 
We sat through the appointment with the two technicians for over an hour, watching the beautiful pictures of the baby and listening to the techs tell us how perfect everything was looking.  They confirmed that the baby is definitely A GIRL! and that she was below average in her size - nothing wrong with that - some babies are just genetically small and it appears that she is going to be so.

After the technician is finished with all the measurements, she goes to get Dr. N so he can come in and go over everything with us.  He enters the room and begins looking at the measurements and tells us that everything looks great his only concern was the baby's size which was below average for your 24 weeks. Once again, completely normal but they want to keep a close watch to make certain that even if she stays below average in size that she continues to have an upward growth...

and this is where the visit went a little bit off track... you and Ken didn't quite mesh with this particular doctor on the last visit and although I didn't get a completely good feeling either, I convinced you guys to at least give him one more chance.  I didn't feel that you needed to keep switching doctors and such, so you agreed and that is what brought us back here today.  We lucked out and got the same doctor again but our minds are open and we are listening intently to his analysis of your progress but then he began to veer of the road...

He goes from telling us that the baby is completely normal as I stated above, to explaining in detail about the possiblilty of having to deliver the baby before 30 weeks and what all that entailed, to literally talking about the baby dying. I kept waiting for him to stop but he just kept talking and the situation kept getting darker and darker until I stood up and had to call a halt to the appointment.  I literally stood up and said, "This is over! Shamara, Ken let's go." and then turning to Dr. N, I said to him, "I'm not sure what you believe or who you believe in but we have faith in our God and know that this is a prefectly healthy baby. I don't understand how you can go from telling two first time parents that they have a healthy baby and then start talking about death." I was seriously baffled and he probably thought I was a little bit crazy but there was NO WAY in heaven that I was going to let him continue to be so pessimistic/negative about this baby...

While walking out I put a call in to Shamara's OB/GYN, Dr. Y, and told him what had just happened during the ultrasound appointment.  They could tell that I was pretty upset and told us to come to the office right away.  Since Dr. Y's office is right across the street from the ultrasound clinic we were there in minutes, and by the time we walked into the office Dr. N (the ultrasonic doc) had already called Dr. Y telling his side of what had just occured.  They ushered us into a room and Dr. Y came in and graciously listened to us.  I said to him, "I"m not sure about Dr. N, but he has got to be one of the most pessimistic people I've ever met." Dr. Y told me that I had pegged him exactly right but that he felt that possibly due to Dr. N. having to deal with so many bad stories everyday that it came more natural to him to talk about the darker side of things even if he only saw a slight chance of something going wrong. He ask that we let him continue to do the ultrasounds because he is supposely one of the best/top ultrasonic doctors around.  He also instructed us to let him do the ultrasound but to not ask him questions to come back to him (Dr. Y) with any questions so that he could explain things in a brighter light...

Taking his professional opinion we agreed to do just that, so we'll be back in for another ultra sound in 4 weeks.

BuyBuy BABY REGISTRY

There is a lot to be done in preparation for welcoming our newest family member so today we went to buybuy Baby to set up a baby registry to help us keep track of everything you will need and to make it easier for friends and family who want to help and share in this exciting time in your lives.


To go straight to Shamara & Ken's Baby Registry just click here or go to buybuybaby.com / type in Shamara Smith or Ken Iwebema and hit GO!

IT's A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is day number 131 and you're 18 weeks pregnant!  You have 149 days or 21 weeks left and your're 46.8% of the way there. YEAH!  Baby's age     since conception is 117 days or 16 weeks.  Your baby weighs about 5.25 ounces and is 5-1/2 inches long from crown to rump, or about the size of a large pickle. Your baby's digestive system is starting to produce meconium, its first fecal matter. Some new moms are scared at the sight of it in their newborn’s diapers and think something must be wrong with their baby, but it’s perfectly normal and will only last a few days after birth.

Today was ultrasound #2 (click here to see ultrasound #1) and it was filled with some pretty big surprises, keep reading and you'll find out what we found out...

Take a really close look at this first picture here, do you see were it says "GIRL!" This is a perfect between the leg shot (according to the nurse who was doing the ultrasound). Now from the word "GIRL" look down and diagnal - there you go, you got it - now do you see?  I even circled it in yellow for you, well they say that is the development of her private female parts...  I'm personally not convinced because that looks like the development of something else to me.

It was Spring Break this week, so with Tana still in town from our Disney Trip and all the other sisters on break from school, Ken and Shamara were gracious enough to invite them along to share this experience. Ken even brought his mom (aka Lady Vee) in on the experience via the iPhone and she too got to share with us these precious moments.  So, so precious to have all the girls together during such a special moment and of course you know it goes without saying that we had a blast. Well I have to mention here that when the nurse said that the baby was a GIRL, it was pretty quite in the room for a few seconds because we all were totally expecting her to say BOY becasueeeeeee on our Last Ultrasound a different nurse told us she was pretty certain that it was a BOY.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see, so no rushing out to buy any particular boy or girl stuff, dang I was ready too.

After the ultrasound appointment we all got to go across the street to see Doctor Y.  I did call ahead to warn the staff that there was going to be a few extra bodies to squeeze into the examination room today.  Of course they didn't mind at all, that's why we love them so much.  Unfortunately when we arrived, Dr. Y had just gotten a call and had to leave to go delivery a baby but that's okay because now we got to see Ms. Kim (Dr. Y's top nurse), oh yeah it was party time now.  Dr. Y did come out to the lobby to see all "HIS" girls (he delivered all 5 of my girls) before he headed out. Ms. Kim was an excellent sub and even took our group shot below.