Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | August 30, 2009

Today I had my last ultrasound, and thus, our last pictures of Sam before she is born.  It was exciting, as always, but also sad because I knew we were going to catch our last glimpse of our little girl for a while.  But on to the more important things….she is great!  As always, she is looking wonderful.  All of her measurements were perfect for a 36 week old, her heart rate was strong, and we could see her breathing, which was really cool.  Dr. Gerson said that at her 32 week ultrasound she was a perfect 32 week old, and now she is a perfect 36 week old, so that’s important because it shows sustained, consistent growth.  This ultrasound took a while — I had who I think was a resident come in and do the first scan (he had a bit of a hard time, but I guess that’s why they are there – to learn), then the sonographer came in, THEN Dr. Gerson came in.  So we had a long time to peek at Samanatha.  Despite the multiple people looking at her, they all had the same consensus — that she is about 6 pounds 1 ounce now.  So Dr. Bailey was pretty darn close!

Here is the latest candid of our little girl.  She is sucking her thumb!  Which is a vast improvement over the original position she was in when they tried to take a photo and her foot was in front of her face ; )

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pamelamyers | August 2, 2009

On July 30, at one day shy of 32 weeks, I had another ultrasound and Sam’s first non-stress test.  I am pleased to say that Sam passed with flying colors!  A non-stress test measures baby’s well-being by comparing her heart rate at rest to her heart rate when she is moving.  The nurse looks for a specific number of increases when she is moving, at a certain rate, for a certain length of time.  The test is considered “reactive” (which is good) or non-reactive (which is not).  Sam was very, very reactive!  The perinatal center allots an hour for the test in case baby is sleeping, but Sam was pretty much done in the first 10 minutes!  She is an active little girl.  They make you test for a minimum of 20 minutes though, which I did.  It was nice sitting there watching the graph of her heart rate go up and down the whole time.  They also check to see if you are having any contractions, which I was not, thankfully, not that it would have meant anything bad if I did.

We also had an ultrasound.  Her most recent photo is below, although, I have to confess, the bigger she gets, the harder it is for me to pick out things because she is so squished!  The tech said she is probably about 4 lbs 4 ounces now.  Her heart rate was great, and she looks just perfect.  She is in the 52nd percentile now size-wise, which Dr. Bailey was very pleased with.  We tried to get some new 3-D pictures, and we did, but they aren’t as clear as the last one (hence we are not posting them) since the tech said her face is pretty much smushed up against my uterus (the poor girl!)

At Dr. Bailey’s office later that afternoon, we discussed an aspect of my pregnancy that I have not posted about before.  I have gestational diabetes, which I never post about because, honestly, I try not to focus on it.  Even though, yes, it’s a pain in the butt, it is such a minor detail in my pregnancy to me and Mark.  I would put up with anything to have a healthy baby, and we have just that.  Anyway, Dr. Bailey has frequetly mentioned in passing that, because of the GD, I will “not go past my due date.”  So….we finally asked him to elaborate.  He told us that if I don’t go into labor before then, I would most likely be induced at 39 weeks. So it looks like Sam may be coming a bit earlier that expected!  Which is ok by us, as we can’t wait to meet her!

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pamelamyers | July 2, 2009

If we do say so, ourselves : )  I had an ultrasound today, at 28 weeks.  Everything looks perfect with our little girl.  She weighs about 2 lbs 13 oz!  I can’t believe it!  How can she be almost 3 pounds already?  The doctor said she is measuring just right and everything looks wonderful.  In the process of doing all of the various measurements, Dr. Roberts (the perinatal doc we saw today) measured her brain and her head and said Sam is obviously going to be a genius ; )  Mark’s mom, who came with us today, said, “well, of course she will be a genius, look who her parents are!”  Sandi got her first real glimpse of Sam, which was really special for all of us.

After all the “official” stuff was done, we asked if the ultrasoud tech could try to take some 3D pictures, which is what you are seeing here.  I can’t believe the age we live in today.  That we can actually see our little girl’s face before she is even born.  It is so amazing.  Mark and I must have looked at this photo a million times before we even got home.  Below is the original picture.

Here we enlarged it a bit. The detail is amazing!

The next photo we think is just so funny.  Look at all her hair!  Let’s hope when she is born she is not wearing the mohawk she appears to have here! She has long hair just like Dad, I mean, um, Mom. Yeah, that’s it.

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pamelamyers | May 7, 2009

Today we had our Level II ultrasound where they basically take measurements of every possible thing they can, it seems.  They look at and measure her heart, her kidneys, her spine, her head, her belly, the bones in her arms and legs, her nose, you name it.  All in the course of making sure she is developing normally.  We are happy to report that our little Sam passed with flying colors!  She was actually measuring ahead of where she should be, due date wise, which doesn’t surprise me, as I have been saying all along that she will be born before September 25, in my opinion.  She has always seemed to measure a little ahead at every ultrasound.

My mom came with us today, which was a lot of fun. I really wanted her to be able to see her granddaugher moving around and being active. It makes it so much more real than just seeing pictures.  I think she had a great time.

Our sonographer’s name was Tabitha, which Mark and I both found amusing, as Tabitha is Samantha’s daughter on Bewitched (one of my all time favorite shows).  Tabitha seemed a little disappointed that she wasn’t able to reveal our munchkin’s sex to us, but alas, we told her we already knew.  She did confirm that we are having a little girl though, for sure.  Here is the picture.  You will have to trust me when I tell you that this picture is proof.

She was moving around SO MUCH, but Tabitha assures us she was very cooperative!  She got every shot she needed without too much trouble.

Seeing the four chambers of the heart so perfectly formed was pretty amazing.  The doctor who we saw at the end tried to convey to us just how amazing it is when the heart, which seems so big on the screen, is really only about 1/2″ big.  Crazy, isn’t it?  The heart rate was about 151 beats per minute, which is just perfect.

Here are some other photos, the first of her profile

And the next of her face.  We could see her opening and closing her mouth at one point.

This one may be my favorite picture of today because, frankly, it is just so darn cute.  Her little foot!  I think she’s telling me she is a shoe girl already 🙂

Oh, and one last thing….she weighs about 14 ounces already – I can’t believe she’s almost a pound!  The doctor says she should be about 10 inches now.  No wonder I am getting so fat!

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pamelamyers | April 16, 2009

Well, we found out officially today –  It’s a girl!  We are so excited!  I am one day shy of being 17 weeks and Dr. Bailey swears he is POSITIVE it’s a girl.  Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad – you got your granddaughter!  Isn’t she gorgeous?

And she also has a name now – Samantha Anne Myers.  Everyone thought you were a boy, but you proved them wrong!

I also went today to have the second part of my first trimester screening – mostly for the spina bifida/neural tube defects part, but also to get final results on the Down’s and Trisomy 18 tests.  I am not worried at all though – I am on cloud nine!

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