Monthly Archives: December 2008

The whirlwind of Christmas 2008

Christmas of 2008 went by in a blur. In brief numbers:

* We drove over 300 miles (all in Eastern and Central Massachusetts)
* We saw nearly 50 family members and dozens of friends
* We attended eight different gatherings in seven different homes
* We hauled a station wagon full of stuff out *and* back.

In more detail:
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Dry Run

I realize that I have been particularly quiet regarding this second pregnancy. Honestly, I’ve been fairly reclusive both in real life and online since the summer. Part of it has been that Catherine keeps me very busy and part of it has been that this pregnancy has me very, very tired. I am only recently starting to feel like my old self, and am very thankful for it!

But those things aside the pregnancy has been going very well. Our babe is growing and developing right on schedule and I haven’t had any major complications. Catherine has been mildly interested in this mythical “baby” but I’m not sure she truly understands what’s happening. She will occasionally tickle the baby or say hello, and she has liked seeing the little one on ultrasound. It is pretty cute.

We’ve chosen to see a midwife this time around. She is part of the OB practice I went to with Catherine and her patients birth at the same hospital, but her style of care during prenatal visits is much more in tune with my own preferences. I’ve been happy with the change.

When I was pregnant with Catherine, the ultrasound showed that I had a cyst on my right ovary. It never caused me any trouble, but continued growing after her birth. At four months post partum I had a quick surgery from my Surgeon’s Advisor to have it removed. A similar (but larger) cyst was discovered at our first ultrasound scan this time around (at 20weeks). We’ve been monitoring its size via ultrasound for the past couple months adn it has been behaving. Until this weekend.

Sunday night I was awake all night with considerable pain. At 4am on Monday I woke Peter up and called the midwife and decided to head to Labor and Delivery and get checked out. Throughout Monday morning I had a series of tests and ultrasound scans run. They all came back with normal results (phew!) and I actually started feeling a bit better. Even so, it was decided that I should stay overnight for observation, just in case. The general consensus is that the cyst torsed (twisted) and that is was was causing the pain. Most likely it untwisted itself and the pain subsided. But we’re still not exactly sure.

All’s well that ends well, though and by 1pm on Tuesday I was home and feeling much better. A hospital stay is not something I had planned for this week, and certainly not the way I had planned my first night away from Catherine, but there were a few good outcomes. Catherine had a chance to see both the Labor and Delivery floor and the Maternity ward. Theoretically that will help her feel more comfortable there come the baby’s arrival. She also got to spend some quality time with just Papa. And she got lots of positive attention at the hospital- what cute kid in pink footsie pjs wouldn’t?

For me: I got IV hydration which I think I was in need of and a whole night of quiet rest. I was also able to take care of some routine lab work there instead of having to bring Catherine along with me to my lab appointment later in the week. And, frustrating as it was not to have a real ‘diagnosis’, it was comforting to hear that everything is looking good and though I was in pain the baby is doing just fine.

Thank you for all of your warm wishes via phone, email, facebook, twitter, etc. And thank you to Corey and Vicky who stepped up to babysit at the last minute- and early in the morning! And, of course, thank you to Peter and Catherine who stepped up and dealt graciously with an unexpected, non-routine, couple of days!