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Ketherine's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 11/15/00 -------------------- 10/31/00 9/26/00 9/6/00 8/30/00 8/15/00 8/10/00 8/3/00 7/26/00 7/19/00 6/22/00 6/14/00 6/8/00 5/31/00 5/24/00 5/17/00 5/11/00 5/2/00 4/26/00 4/20/00 4/13/00 3/29/00 3/22/00 3/15/00 3/8/00 3/1/00 2/23/00 2/16/00 2/9/00 2/2/00 1/27/00 1/26/00 1/19/00 1/12/00 1/5/00 -------------------- Ketherine's Introduction

January 19, 2000

Here's to another stressful week.

I took DS for his ECG on Monday (I just realized in my previous entry I put EKG -- oops, my mistake) and the technician could not get the instrument set up properly on him because his chest was too small. She seemed very upset about the situation yet told me there was nothing she could do. Well, I imagine that there must be a pediatric size ECG somewhere in Toronto! I took him to see the specialist without the ECG results anyway. The doctor took one listen to his heart and confirmed that he has an "innocent" heart murmur and that no ECG would be needed. I was so relieved. Apparently this type of murmur appears after one year of age and typically appears in slender, active children. This definitely describes DS.

As for myself, I had cramping last week and all weekend. There was no bleeding, though. My doctor told me not to worry. But when I went to see him Monday afternoon for a prenatal, he could not find the baby's heartbeat! I was so scared! He immediately scheduled me for an ultrasound Tuesday morning. When I went in for the ultrasound, the technician would not let DH and DS come in the room with me until she made she everything was "OK." Thankfully, she saw the heartbeat right away and told me so. I was so relieved. I don't think that I could have handled any bad news. She went on to check the rest of the baby and everything was fine. My due date of July 17, 2000 is right on.

Not much has changed in my breastfeeding situation except for the fact that it is getting more painful. DS seems to enjoy chewing on my nipples now. This is something he had never done before. The chewing just compounds the soreness I have been experiencing. DH keeps telling me that I should start to wean him, but I really don't want to. Breastfeeding gives me time to relax with my son and also allows me to nap a bit with him before I go to work (I work from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.). Furthermore, my breasts seem to be getting larger. They did not go down in size at all after I gave birth to DS, so they are in fact larger in this pregnancy than in my first. DH really enjoys this, but I don't! I want my 34C bra back!

I am starting to worry about how I will handle labour with this baby. With DS, I did not have an epidural, but the pain was so awful for me that I ended up having a shot of Nubain. I really did not like what this did to me. It took the edge off the pain a bit, but mainly put me into a dreamlike state where I really could not function normally. I want a natural birth this time, but I don't know if I can handle the pain. But the thought of an epidural scares me to death.

Trying to relax in frigid Toronto,
Ketherine

FYI: For those who are unsure, DS stands for "Dear Son" and DH stands for "Dear Husband."