Weekly Check-ups

I had my first weekly check-up and nothing too new to report. As usual everything is measuring out great, blood pressure still low, etc. This was the first time the doctor checked my cervix though and she said there is a slight "dimple", but that's about it. I guess a dimple means slight movement, but not quite 1 centimeter just yet. Till next week!

In the meantime, we are "interviewing" pediatricians. Our expectations are quite high since Matt and I both had fantastic pediatricians growing up - good old Dr. Pfeffer back in Virginia! Being able to pick out a brand new sticker from the sticker box after being good for a shot did the trick for me. Loyal customer for life (or until I was too old to go to a pediatrician)! Hopefully we can find someone William will enjoy just as much.

34 weeks

34 weeks

34 weeks along and had my last bi-weekly appointment earlier this week. Dr. Moore said everything was still right on track. Blood pressure still low, measuring on time, heartbeat great. She doesn't think I will go any earlier than 39 weeks, but I think she just meant in general most first time babies don't arrive before that time (instead of my check-up giving some sort of indication he'd rather wait till then). We shall see!

This past week I have absolutely felt "pregnant." Till now I've had some small discomforts even now and then, but now I can't stand sitting in one spot for too long because my ribs and back get really uncomfortable, sleeping on my side at night doesn't feel right unless my pillow is between my knees, there is more pressure lower in my pelvis and thought I'd never say it.... but there is definitely a waddle starting to occur as a result of that lower pelvis pressure. Eesh! 

So that's all great, but then I met with Dr. Shroff today... the hematologist. My blood platelets dropped quite a bit since two weeks ago, so now I have to take a prescription to try and up that platelet number. It may go right back to normal. It may not. It isn't a proven method, so I'll be going back next week to see how my numbers look. Then take it from there.

In other fun news - Matt and I finished our childbirth series (3 classes once a week at the YMCA). I did skip our second class - labor and delivery. I kind of figure... it is what it is. Why give myself more to think about - surprise me! The first class was helpful in explaining how to know you're going into labor and they also toured us around the hospital - from labor and delivery to postpartum. Then the last class we learned how to take care of our new baby - very important! Matt changed his very FIRST diaper (on a fake baby doll) and was a natural. This was our baby - please excuse the glasses, my contacts were irritating my eyes. Isn't he swaddled so nicely? We have much more to learn, but it was a nice little preview of life to come!

Florida Baby Shower

My friends Sara and Katie threw a baby shower for me and William this past weekend - a delicious brunch was served and it was so nice to spend time with all the girls. Once again William was spoiled rotten! All the gifts were so thoughtful. Sara and Katie were amazing hostesses!

With the hostesses - Katie and Sara

Sara's mom's yummy sugar cookies - W onesies!

Amazing brunch fixed by the girls

More gifts for William

All the Florida ladies at the shower

Then on Monday my work friends threw yet another shower for William! We went to Seito for lunch (yes - I requested a sushi restaurant as the shower location, but their bento box is delicious and very pregnant friendly with nothing raw served!). More gifts for William and he even received his first knitted sweater and booties - they are so sweet!

32 Weeks

8 months along and coming up on the homestretch. I had a 32 weeks/8 month routine ob/gyn appointment yesterday where they measure my stomach (normal), check the fetal heartbeat (136), weigh me (spot on at 25 pounds gained - holy cow - they say to gain 25-35 pounds by 40 weeks, so if I continue at 1 pound a week then I should have gained 33 pounds total. I will mention they weigh me with my shoes and clothes on, so I bet it's more like 23 pounds ;) so far), look at my blood pressure (still low), and everything checked out great. I have one more bi-weekly appointment at 34 weeks then I will be checking in with the doctors on a weekly basis to see how D-Day is progressing.

My blood platelets are low again. If it weren't for that particular issue then this just might be the easiest pregnancy ever. Nothing physically bothers me and there isn't a thing I can do to change my results. It has nothing to do with diet or exercise or anything. Just the way it is. So now I need to check in with my hematologist on a weekly basis to make sure it doesn't go any lower. Talk about doctor appointments galore!  

I'm really looking forward to the weekend... I'll be 33 weeks along and celebrating with my Florida girlfriends! My friends Sara and Katie are throwing a baby shower for William! Pictures to come!

32 weeks in Clearwater Beach, FL

A Virginia Shower

William was spoiled ROTTEN over the weekend! I had my Virginia shower on Saturday after Thanksgiving and I had the greatest time catching up with family and friends. The shower was held at the Hay Adams in D.C. in their room overlooking the White House and Washington Monument. What a view! And you wouldn't believe the incredible weather we had for the day. So nice out that we could open the doors to the room and enjoy the cool, brisk air. William received all sorts of goodies... from his moses basket with rocker to puppy dog towel to adorable little boy outfits. I can't wait to use everything he received!

31 weeks



View from our room at the Hay Adams



WTO cake (my baby picture to the left and Matt's to the right)



Gifts for William




With the family



Love!



Matt stopped by to say hello to all the ladies



Bill Cosby on Parenting

"Parents don't believe in justice! They just want QUIET!" - Bill Cosby
Last night we went with the whole Orosz family to the Florida Hospital Golden Gala and Bill Cosby was the entertainment for the evening. I am a HUGE fan of Bill Cosby stand up and The Cosby Show, so I was really looking forward to seeing him. As expected, he was hilarous and his jokes on topics such as marriage, childhood, and parenting would make you cry from laughing so hard. In light of becoming new parents in the next 10 weeks, I found the parenting jokes in particular to be extremely funny. And so, you're in for a treat because I YouTube-ed a couple "parenting moments" of Bill Cosby's and thought I would share. Enjoy! Also a tummy update below! 30 weeks along...  

30 weeks

Matt and I before the Cosby show!

3D / 4D Pictures!

What a great day it's been! Today is Matt's 28th birthday and today we had William's 3D/4D ultrasound! It was SO much fun seeing his little features!! Absolutely amazing to watch him yawn, open his eyes, stick out his tongue, move all around (so much so that they asked what I had eaten before coming in... just grapes!). The consensus is that he looks like Matt (consensus being me and the sonographer) at this point, but I don't think anyone can argue that William doesn't have Matt's big puckers as I like to call them :) I am just dying over these pictures. An early preview of our little man to come! 

P.S. The sonographer said he's head down, so let's keep our fingers crossed he stays in that position for the next 10 weeks!

A pretty nice birthday present if I do say so myself... I'm looking forward to celebrating this evening at dinner and through the weekend. Happy Birthday, Matt!

Feet nearly on top of his head

A little hand and a little foot

Hi guys!



Look at those big puckers!



A nice profile shot

Sweet little William

 

Mmm Mmm Glucose . . .

Today I had my blood sugar screening. The sugar water tasted terrible and trying to get that down in five minutes was a struggle! Matt thought sugar water sounded delicious -- seeing as he's a sugar fiend, I imagine he would have no problem guzzling the cocktail. They took my blood an hour later and we'll find out in a few days if there are any issues. Fingers crossed! And no Rhogam shot for me today because Matt and I have the same blood type! Hooray!

Since we are officially in the 3rd trimester, I will be seeing the doctor bi-weekly through December. Then it will be weekly up until the due date. I sat there with the receptionist and plotted out all my appointments through January. Pretty wild! I also had to register at the hospital for D-Day. This is where we'll be when William arrives... Dr. P. Phillips Baby Place.

This past weekend we were in Nashville, TN for my cousin Megan's wedding. She married Kevin Daniele in Nashville and the reception was in her hometown of Franklin, TN. Franklin is the cutest town and talk about some great interior decorating shops! If you ever visit Nashville, make sure you make a stop in Franklin too. We all had such a great time celebrating with family and congratulations to Megan and Kevin -- Mr. and Mrs. Daniele!


Me and my cousin Megan - now Mrs. Daniele



Matt and I before the rehearsal dinner
in old downtown Franklin






Beautiful sunset and fall leaves at the reception - 28 weeks along



This Thursday we have our 3D/4D ultrasound scheduled. I can't wait!! It is also Matt's 28th birthday, so we're going to our appointment then out to lunch to check out our baby's newest pictures! Keep an eye out for those pictures later this week... 

27 Weeks

Matt and I have neglected to get a "tummy progress" shot the past couple weeks, so here is a nice little update! 27 weeks this past weekend and still feeling good (minus the constant back ache).      


27 weeks

William is rolling around quite a bit and I definitely felt him hiccuping the other day. I was sitting in a meeting at work and I started to feel a bumping in my side... again and again and again and again. It wouldn't stop. It reached a point where I almost burst out laughing wondering if everyone around me could see the side of my stomach pulsating incessantly.  

Next milestones: 3rd trimester begins this weekend, glucose test in 1 week, and William's 3D/4D ultrasound is scheduled for November 10th aka Matt's birthday!

Before I forget... 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Practice Makes Perfect

Stroller arrived! Matt put it together the other night and we did a practice walk down our back alley with Maggie for kicks. She wasn't so sure about this massive object on wheels, but ended up walking very nicely beside it. I'm looking forward to leisurely strolls with William AND Maggie!

Few clicks and twists - ready to go!

Sniff sniff...

And why are we bringing this monstrosity along with us...

 

It's not SO bad!



Hot Wheels!

Never thought I'd be excited about a stroller, BUT I am! My parents just bought the Uppababy Vista for William. A recent online sale made it a must buy NOW. Nice to have one item on the check list checked off!

I have heard great things about this particular stroller and love that it is on the more "stylish" side. It will come in handy later down the line, since it can adjust to fit a second child! MUCH later down the line, but it's nice to know there is room to grow making it a worthwhile investment.

Here's to some new hot wheels! Thank you, Grandpa/Grandma Tisone!

Uppababy Vista in wheat - William's first pair of wheels!



In other news, we had a regular check-up today and all is well. William's heartbeat was 145 and my growing belly measures normal. The doctor suggested I get a flu shot, so I had my first flu shot today too. At our next appointment in two weeks I'll take the glucose test and assuming Matt does not have a negative bloodtype (I'm negative and I guess most people are positive) then I'll have the Rhogam shot.

 

Third trimester is right around the corner (couple more weeks), which is pretty unbelievable and I am beginning to feel the signs of it. My lower back hurts terribly if I've been moving around a lot (Matt is now #1 cleaning lady) and at night I sometimes jolt out of bed because I feel the worst cramps in my calves and feet. The doctor said it's very normal and I'm at the point where the pressure of the baby will cause some discomfort. And so I'm helping Obama with the terrible national unemployment numbers by hiring my heating pad full-time!   

DC Getaway

 Matt and I went to DC this past weekend and had the BEST time! Fall is my absolute favorite season and I wanted to make a point to get back home in October to enjoy the changing leaf colors before my traveling comes to a halt in the 3rd trimester. I also wanted to surprise Matt with a couple special events as an early birthday present... tickets to Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center (neither of us had seen the musical yet and Matt had never been to the Kennedy Center before) and tickets to the Redskins / Eagles game (If Matt had to pick a team to cheer for he would definitely pick the Eagles, since we went to school in the Philadelphia area and his brother worked for the Eagles for some time while living in the City of Brotherly Love). In addition to enjoying the culture and sports, we also ate our way through the weekend... brunch at Serendipity 3 was glorious (a french toast log the size of my head topped off with frozen hot chocolate), picnic at Gravelly Point watching the planes fly overhead, and lots of fried goodness at Fedex Field. William ate pretty well as a result and all the carbo loading we did probably helped his strength, since Matt actually FELT a kick on Tuesday!

I can't wait for Fall in Virginia next year... it will be great to have William in tow. His barn coat is already hanging in his closet ready to go! 

Kennedy Center

 

French Toast Log at Serendipity 3

Frozen Hot Chocolate... at 10 a.m.



Matt avoided an altercation at Fedex Field and wore a Redskins shirt


   

What will William look like?

I'm pretty partial to brown eyes (obviously biased as I have brown eyes) and I always tell Matt that I hope William has my brown eyes. Everything else... happy to relinquish Matt's boyish good looks to William. Well, no reason to wait any further to find out what he'll look like because morphthing.com already knows!

TA-DA!

His eyes look grey/blue here though! Ok, maybe he won't look like this at all -- but it was pretty funny to give it a whirl.

We are having a 3D/4D ultrasound next month and will be able to see some actual facial features prior to D-Day. Keep you posted on who William looks more like!    

Handyman Strikes Again!

It was a gloriously rainy and overcast weekend in Orlando. I never see a full day of rain around here and I really do love the type of day where you're just content to stay home in your pajamas! It was also the perfect weekend for the handyman to strike again! Matt tackled another item on the "to do" list -- William's closet!

Maggie wondering what fool would go out in this weather

A couple years ago I was out of town for a friend's bachelorette party and upon my return home Matt surprised me with a completely redesigned master closet completed all by himself -- so I knew this would be a simple task in comparison. We went to Ikea and got all the supplies on Sunday afternoon then by Sunday evening he finished the most difficult part of the job. Basically, I was looking to divide the closet into two sides -- one side having a small hamper and drawers then the other side having a few rows to hang clothing. The rows are the easy part and he needed a couple more items from Home Depot to finish it up, so the closet is 95% done here. Great job, handyman Matt! 



The nearly finished product



Hard at work

Also new this week... it has become more obvious that I am pregnant (instead of maybe she needs to do some sit-ups). Yesterday at the grocery store I was wearing a pretty loose gym shirt and the cashier at check-out asked, "You got a bump under there?" No fooling anyone anymore! A picture from this past weekend on my way to my friends, Katie and Alan's engagement party. 24 weeks / 6 months along!



24 weeks / 6 months



Drinkin' Champagne, Feelin' No Pain

I have only told a handful of people, since the situation only became a situation recently... but even prior to getting pregnant, my blood platelets levels have been lower than the norm. Not a big deal though because I have never had any symptoms of low blood platelets (bloody nose, bruising easily, etc). It is very possible to have low blood platelets and function completely normally. The only problem is with pregnancy the blood platelet level may drop more than usual, which is exactly what happened to me a couple weeks ago. My ob/gyn called to let me know they had dropped from the 120-ish range to 85 (ideal being 145+) at my last appointment. Not happy. See, the problem is... when blood platelets drop below 100 then the ob/gyn group I see will not administer an epidural! As in -- you're going to be delivering the natural way!  

AHHHHHH!!!

Now I know epidurals have not been around forever and bazillions of women before me have delivered naturally -- some even CHOOSE to do so today. I on the other hand would rather be feelin' no pain. 

As a result of the drop to 85 my ob/gyn referred me to a hematologist, who Matt and I met with today. Good news! Blood platelets are back up and higher than they were before. Now in the 130-ish range. The hematologist was really great and she said there is absolutely no cause for concern at this time. She recommended that we continue to draw blood to check the platelet count every 4 weeks for the next 8 weeks then after 8 weeks we will determine whether I should be back in the office having my blood drawn weekly or bi-weekly leading up to D-Day. Such a relief because already I was stressing out thinking... now I need to find one of these ladies called a doula and take natural birth classes and see a specialist more often... but for now, I am in the clear and I am definitely crossing my fingers that everything remains status quo. 

I'll leave you with my theme song for (hopefully) DELIVERY DAY as sung by one of my absolute favorites -- Willie Nelson. The title of the song being more appropriate than the actual context of the song.

  

William Thomas Orosz

We have a name for our first little boy!

William Thomas Orosz

William is Matt's dad and grandfather's first name on his father's side, my great-grandfather's on my dad's side, and the middle name of Matt's grandfather on his mother's side who Matt was named after. We love the name and are very happy to carry on a traditional family name. We plan to call him by his full name, William.

Thomas is for St. Thomas of Villanova -- the saint our alma mater, Villanova University, is named after. Villanova is where we met and where this all began, and so it holds a very special place in our hearts.   

We can't wait to finally meet William in 17 short weeks!



Matt and I at graduation



St. Thomas of Villanova