May 2000
May 2000
May 29: Positive home pregnancy test! Yippee! Also Memorial Day. We tried to celebrate at Steak & Ale, where we celebrated finding out we were expecting Ryan, but they were closed for the holiday, so we celebrated at Brick Oven Pizza that day and Steak & Ale the next!
June 2000
June 16: 6 weeks 3 days along. First doctor's appointment. This included an ultrasound. The picture was too fuzzy to measure the baby yet, but we got to see the heartbeat!!
July
2000
July 14: 10 weeks 3 days along. Second doctor's appointment. Alison had actually lost 3/4 of a pound since the last visit! This time the doctor was able to find the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. The heartrate was 163 bpm, exactly the same as big brother Ryan's was the first time we heard his!
August
2000
August 10: 14 weeks 3 days along. Third doctor's appointment. Alison had gained 1/2 pound since the last visit, but was still 1/4 lb. less than her weight at the first appointment. We had been in a car accident the previous night, in which our Ford Taurus was totaled, but everything seemed to be fine with Alison and the baby. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again, and this time the heartrate was around 150.
September
2000
September 6: 18 weeks 2 days along. Fourth doctor's appointment. Alison had gained 3 1/2 lbs. since the last visit. This time the doctor was able to find the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. This time the heartrate was only in the 130s, but the doctor said that was fine. We scheduled our ultrasound for the next appointment!
October
2000
October
4: 22 weeks 2 days along. Fifth doctor's appointment, including our
ultrasound!!!. We found out that Little Bean is a
boy!
Not only that, but he's a big one! He was measuring 9 days ahead. The ultrasound
estimated his weight at about 1 lb. 6 oz. already! We got to see his face, a
great shot of one of his hands, both of his little feet kicking, his stomach,
and his heart beating, and we could clearly tell that he was a boy. We didn't
get any good pictures of him printed out, but we did get the whole thing on
videotape. Alison was also a lot bigger this time--she'd gained 8 pounds since
the last appointment! But she also had gained 9 lbs. during the same 4-week
period in her pregnancy with Ryan, and never gained at that rate again, so it's
probably just her normal pregnancy pattern. She had still gained just 11 1/4
pounds total. Now we need to choose another boy's name!
October 27: 25 weeks 4 days along. We got some pictures of Alison pregnant with Little Bean. There are also some that were taken at 20 weeks, with big brother Ryan.
November
2000
November 2: 26 weeks 3 days along. Sixth doctor's appointment. It was a very short, routine appointment. Alison found out she's gained another 7 pounds--yikes! The dr had a hard time measuring the baby's heartbeat because he was so active--he flipped over while she was listening! But she did find a good heartbeat, and also measured Alison and said "good." Next week Alison has to have a glucose tolerance test, and it's also time to start seeing the dr every other week. It's hard to believe we're this close to the baby's arrival already! Alison will be entering the third trimester in a few days.
November 7: 27 weeks 1 day along. Alison took her 1-hour glucose tolerance test, to check for gestational diabetes. She passed that test with no problems (hooray!), but found out through another blood test that she is severely anemic. She has been prescibed an iron supplement to take 3 times a day.
November 16: 28 weeks 3 days along. Another dr's appointment. Alison had only gained 1.75 pounds since the last appointment, instead of the 4 or 5 she feared! She got a Rhogam shot because her blood type is Rh negative. Also, the dr strongly recommends flu shots for pregnant women in their 2nd or 3rd trimesters during flu season. Because there has been a shortage of flu vaccines this year, Alison was having trouble getting one, but since she was in the 3rd trimester and traveling to Denver by airplane soon, they considered her high risk and gave her one of the few flu shots they had available at the OB's office. Little Bean was measuring just right, and his heartbeat was really strong. And he was so active, he was basically poking out all over around Alison's bellybutton when she was lying down to be measured! Alison told the nurse she'd been having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions (sort of like "practice" contractions) lately, and the nurse just said to call if to call if there were 6 or more per hour and they didn't go away with drinking water or lying down. So far, that hasn't been the case.
November 24: 29 weeks 4 days along. Little Bean's first plane ride! The family flew to Denver to visit Mark's extended family. Alison had no pregnancy-related problems with the plane ride there or back 3 days later. The flights were only about 2 hours each way and she drank plenty of water while flying. She was happy to discover she had no problems with the altitude in Denver, either, and the weather was not bad while they were there.
December
2000
December 4: 31 weeks along. Another doctor's appointment--this time with Ryan along since it wasn't a Mother's Day Out day for him. It was VERY crowded so there was more of a wait than usual, but they were still out in under an hour. Ryan did great, with the help of some little chairs and a toy in the waiting room, some books Alison read him, Arthur fruit snacks, and flash cards to play with. He also liked playing on the scale, and in the actual exam room, he watched in fascination as the dr examined his mommy! Again, the baby was measuring just right and the heartbeat sounded great. Alison's only concern was that she'd gained yet another 5 pounds in the past 2.5 weeks!
December 18: 33 weeks along. Another very routine doctor's appointment--again, with Ryan along, but at least it was a pretty short appointment this time. It was so routine there isn't much to report. Though according to the dr's office scale, Alison had gained yet another 5.5 lbs. in the past 2 weeks, when she thought from her home scale that she'd only gained a respectable 2 or 3! The only concern she discussed with the staff was some very bad pain she'd had on the lower left side the previous night--it felt like the baby was dancing on her ligaments!--but their only responses were expressions of sympathy, so apparently it wasn't a cause for concern. Alison was amazed to realize there might only be 2-3 more dr's appointments before this baby arrives! (Especially if he's a little early like his brother.)
January 2001
January 4: 35 weeks 3 days along. A very routine doctor's appointment, except for the fact that there was a substitute nurse, and Mark and Ryan went to the appointment with Alison. Weight gain was 3.5 pounds in 2.5 weeks, for a total of 34 pounds so far. The heartbeat sounded great, and presumably the baby was measuring fine. Alison will now start weekly dr's visits. After the appointment, Mark and Alison took Ryan to see the maternity ward of the hospital, so he would know where Mommy was going when the baby came. This included a stop by the newborn nursery, where we saw at least 8 tiny babies (or at least, they looked tiny compared to Ryan!). It's hard to say what Ryan made of it, but it was a good refresher for Mark and Alison to see those little bitty ones and remember what a newborn looked like!
January 11: 36 weeks 3 days along. Another dr's appointment. Alison had supposedly gained 4 pounds in the past week, after only gaining 3.5 over the 2.5 weeks that included the holidays...hard to believe! Her blood pressure was fine (maybe a little higher than normal, but it's normally low). She was measuring right on track at 36 cm, and the baby's heartrate was 133. She asked the dr about her fear that the baby was transverse (sideways) instead of head down. The dr felt around and determined that the baby's head did seem to be down where it should be, and the baby is in the proper position, which was a big relief. Apparently he is curled up on Alison's left side, facing her right side, but the dr said that it's typical for a baby to face one side at this point, and straighten up during the labor process. The dr gave Alison instructions about when to call if labor began, so it is clear the big day is getting close!!
January 14: 36 weeks 6 days along. In fact, the big day was even closer than we could have guessed!! At around 4:30 am, Alison woke up with contractions. At first she didn't think they were the real thing, but when they continued to be regular and didn't go away with walking, she started to wonder. Especially since she had also woken up in labor with Ryan at 4:30 am on a Sunday! (Actually her water broke that time...) At 5:45 she called the OB on call, who told her to come in for a labor check. At 6:30, Mark and Alison dropped Ryan off at the home of a playgroup friend, and they got to the hospital at 7 am. At 8:24 am, less than 4 hours from the onset of noticeable labor, Kyle Elliott Dellenbaugh was born!!!! Please see Kyle's page for further information and pictures of our second little boy!
