What's up with me?

Ok, so having a headache for 11 straight days was no fun at all. Good thing today, the 12th day, was a better day, and I think it's slowly getting better. Two days ago, I had my prenatal appointment with my OB. Nothing much, she just did the routine group B strep test, did another ultrasound and confirmed that baby's head is already engaged. For the headache, she prescribed vicodin for the pain and benadryl to put me to sleep. Needless to say, it didn't work and I woke up still in pain. The Benadryl didn't put me to sleep either. I tried the sudafed in the morning, in case it's a sinus issue. Still, the same thing. So yesterday she had me looked at by another specialist to see if there's something with the headache issue. (Last week, I was seen by the nurse to rule out preeclampsia and clearly I don't have it, seeing as I don't have any swelling issues, my BP has always been low/normal - I check it myself at home as well, and there's no protein in my urine.)

After different tests and deliberation between the doctors (internist, neurologist, and OB), they couldn't find anything alarming. That's a huge sigh of relief. So they figured it must be my old "migraine" or whatever type of headache I had way before I got pregnant. It could just be the pregnancy making it worse or longer than I usually have. Before the MD sent me home, he had the nurse give me a shot of narcotic in my behind, in the hopes it would stop the cycle of pain and put me to sleep. I did feel a bit wobbly and sedated, but it wasn't enough to actually put me to a deep sleep. I felt a little better, less pain, and very relaxed.

I woke up at 5am though, still with that throbbing headache (accompanied with a nosebleed on my left nostril - again! Forgot to turn on the humidifier, maybe that's why!). So, following the doctor's advice, I ate a very early breakfast and doubled the dose for the vicodin and took benadryl, hoping it would do the trick. I think it kinda did. I feel a little better now, still with the headache but not as painful as the past few days. In fact, I was able to go out, drive and do a little shopping. Not bad, huh? Hopefully, I wouldn't have to take any more meds. I know it should be safe for the baby at this stage of my pregnancy since it was ordered by the doctor, but I still wouldn't want to risk anything.

So, I am hoping and praying that the recovery would be continuous. I don't want to have to go through labor with that nasty headache. I imagine it being hard and painful already, and I don't want it to be more painful and uncomfortable than it should be. I am actually considering an all-natural birth and I hope I'm able to push through with it. Hopefully! Please pray for me. :)

By the way, Bondi and I were just goofing around and he made an attempt at some maternity shots. Here it is:

I am officially in the waiting game. Any time soon, little one...

Headache!

Nearing my due date and having these terrible headaches. No amount of Tylenol can relieve this "migraine" for three days in a row. I just wish it would go away so I can do more stuff instead of lying down to rest.

Anyhoo, these are my latest belly pix. I have grown so much in the past few days and baby's active as ever!

Almost there...

I can't believe I'm on my 36th week now. Today, I'm 35 weeks and 2 days and it just seems like yesterday that we got our positive HPT. There's still not much changes lately, except my belly is growing rapidly, and I feel my ribs are already sore from all the kicking he's doing in there. My bellybutton is almost flat now, and I'm still blessed with no stretchmarks and edema yet, and a very light linea nigra so far. I hope I get to have some maternity photos before I give birth since I think my belly's big enough for a pictorial now, but let's see.

I've gone through my to-do list and I'm almost done with my errands, including thank you cards from the shower and shopping for more last-minute baby stuff. We have pretty much everything we need, except for some minor stuff which can be bought anytime, but I already did the baby laundry, and boy does he have tons of clothes! I already set up the "nursery" (will post pix later) and started packing our hospital bag. All we need is just install the carseat and we're all set!

After my baby shower last week, there's still lots of invitations to parties and gatherings for the next month or so, including two baby showers which unfortunately I couldn't go to. We actually just got home from our niece's dedication and 1st birthday party celebration. I'm so tired right now, I'm gonna go ahead and nap for a while. Later!

Some Pix:

Me... today at 35w2d

Walking towards the venue: Gerry's Grill Union City

Gabriela Santos Vega

Gabie with Uncle Bondi

Child Dedication

1st Birthday Celebration

Delicious Food!

Bye!

Pain?

I originally planned to have a very fruitful day today, with a long "to-do" list in preparation for baby's arrival. However, after a few errands in the morning, I felt tired and then had this terrible gas pain. I just slept on it in the hopes it would just go away, and with the baby constantly moving, it wasn't really hard to recover from it. I was suddenly awaken by a different kind of pain, though. At 3pm, I was in pain in the lower right quadrant of my belly. No matter how I position myself, it won't go away! And it seems to get more painful (but bearable) as I move. Then I couldn't move at all. It also radiates toward my back (still at the lower right side), to my right butt, then my right thigh. I know I'm not in labor because I don't have any contractions, and there's no leaking, no water breaking, no blood whatsoever.

So I called Kaiser OB hotline for advice. After ruling out any other possible scenarios, the nurse midwife asked me to try to take Tylenol first, then soak in a warm-to-hot bath. After 45 minutes, I was feeling good again, except for some intermittent pain when baby moves. I palpated my left abdomen and it was soft, but my right abdomen is hard, and the baby took up residence in that small quadrant. It probably resulted in pressure to my veins, tissues, pelvis, or whatever, thus causing a discomfort. The whole ordeal made me so tired and sleepy (plus the hot bath made me feel so relaxed) that I took another long nap afterwards. There goes my day!

At least I know the baby's fine. He's just so active in there, and he's actually moving nonstop as I type. But it's okay, baby. You can move as much as you want, reassure us that you're doing okay. Because I know all these discomforts are gonna be well worth it. We can't wait to finally meet you!

Baby Shower #2 (Jan. 12, 2008)

Yesterday was my second and final baby shower before the baby's out. There were a total of 60 guests, including Bondi & I. Everyone has been so amazing. We're truly blessed and we're so thankful to my CPC community group for putting up such a wonderful shower, everyone has been organized and so generous, providing food, prizes, help in setting up - and to Jeff & Ailei for the clubhouse. I would also like to thank Trisha for head-organizing the event, and to Jen & Marty from the Twenties for also doing a big part in organizing this event. It definitely was a fun experience not only for me, but also for the guests who came in to celebrate our baby's coming.

The place was fantastic, the food was overflowing, the decors were great, all the details were excellent, and the games and raffles and prizes - wow! Jen & Marty made a pretty diaper cake displayed on the info table as well, and it was really sweet! We got good presents we could definitely use and so we just can't wait for our little one to come out and finally enjoy it.

So anyway, no matter how I say it, no words could give justice to this perfect fun-filled event we all just enjoyed. Thanks, guys!

Marty & Jen at the entrance/info table:

Trisha hosting the games & raffle:

The party:

Some games:

Some guests:



Music:

There's tons of pictures! I'll see if I have time to upload it all... :)

A month more to go!

So I have been neglecting my blog for a while, and I have "piles" of photos, ultrasound scans and video clips, and other milestones I haven't been able to post. It seems I'd rather sleep than do anything productive.

The baby has been very active nonstop, doing his "alien" moves in my tummy, and constantly poking, rather "kicking" on my right rib. So far, I have been blessed not to have any stretch marks on my belly and all, and not to have facial edema or edema in my legs and feet. I do have a small dot of spider vein on my face right under my right eye, which looks like a red pimple which won't come out and refuses to be concealed. They books say i's caused by increased production of Estrogen and I do hope it goes away when this pregnancy is over. Everything looks and feels normal though, save for the fact that my back hurts sometimes if I don't get into the right sitting or lying position. And since I'm carrying low, there's also the "tearing" pain atop my belly which seems like stretching of tissues within it due to gravity pulling my belly down.

Anwyays, tomorrow is Baby Shower #2 - hosted by my friends from church. This is gonna be such a fun event as they told me there's gonna be a lot of fun games and prizes and raffles. There's also a good size number of guests so we're pretty excited on how this is gonna turn out. Hopefully, I am gonna be able to post the pictures soon after, but knowing me lately, I might procrastinate a bit on this and just go do baby stuff first, like packing my hospital bag, doing "baby" laundry, getting baby's essentials together and finishing the "nursery" (as if he has a separate room) which is just the other half of our room. Hopefully, all these will be done and over with before he comes.

I can't believe there's only a few more weeks left! He could be here either earlier or later, or just exactly on his due date. Whichever, I just pray everything goes well and that we're both gonna be safe and healthy.

34 weeks and counting.... Here's my 8-month mugshot: