I had my 36 week OB appointment on Wednesday and things seem fine. The doctor thinks maybe the baby is head down. Neither one of us could feel anything that felt like a head near the top of my abdomen, and after he said he thought maybe the baby was head down, I remembered that the night before, on Tuesday, I had felt this incredibly strong pressure/pain in my lower abdomen and pelvic area for several minutes. It had occurred to me at the time that maybe what I was feeling was the baby “dropping” — but I have no idea what that feels like because Emrick, who was breech, never did that. The idea of the baby being head down means that I may consider a VBAC more seriously, but I am not totally convinced that she is head down, or if she is, that she will stay that way. Once again last night I thought I felt her head at the top of my abdomen, and the girl moves like crazy — way more than Emrick did. So I think she changes position a lot. I often feel simultaneous movements on each side of my torso — strong, determined movements, like she is trying to poke her way out of there. I think she’s going to be a feisty one!
Anyway, they are going to perform another ultrasound on Thursday of next week, to check on the baby’s size and position. I will be 37 weeks and 2 days by that point. I also plan to ask them about the location of my placenta. When you’ve had a previous c-section, there is a danger of the placenta lying over your old scar, which can cause complications. At my 18-week ultrasound, I was told that the placenta was well clear of my old scar, but the position of the placenta can change during a pregnancy. It usually moves upward, not downward, so there shouldn’t be a problem with it covering my c-section incision. Still, a little reassurance would be nice!
But Marcus has different concerns. Whereas I want to make sure that everything is okay with the baby and placenta, Marcus just wants to “make sure she has hair.” He’s joking, of course, but we both agree that Emrick sort of made us feel like babies should have hair. It’s not rational, but still. Look at this baby boy:
I just have a feeling, however, that this baby is going to be blond with sparse hair, like your typical baby. I could be totally wrong, but when I think about the fact that I had a mess of dark hair when I was born, I also remember that none of my three siblings had the same. They weren’t completely bald, but none of them had anything like my crazy mop. So in other words, just because our first baby had a lot of hair, it doesn’t necessarily mean that subsequent babies would. And of course, we will treasure our darling baby girl no matter what. She won’t have a name, but she will be treasured. 🙂
After my OB appointment Emrick and I stopped at Target, and then we headed down to Orem, where we had planned to meet Marcus at his work and then go to lunch with him. But while driving down the freeway, I heard a gush of fluid from the back seat. I turned around for just a second and saw that Emrick had thrown up a little on his shirt. He looked a little startled, and I said something reassuring to him. I then heard two more gushes of fluid, turned around and saw that vomit was now everywhere. Fun. I called Marcus and told him we’d not be having lunch with him after all. I wasn’t sure if Emrick had a stomach bug, or if he was just car sick. I became car/motion sick pretty easily when I was a kid, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Emrick turned out to have the same problem.
When we got home, I changed his clothes and put him in a Hanes undershirt. His spirits were up, his body temperature was normal, and other than being a little less energetic than usual, he seemed fine. A little while later, he asked for something to eat. I cut up an apple and split it with him. He ate about half of his half, and then asked me to remove the skin from the rest. So I took his plate to the counter and started to cut the skins off of his remaining apple sections, when I suddenly heard two big gushes of fluid followed by crying. I rushed to the table to find apple vomit all over the table, Emrick’s shirt, his booster seat, the chair, and the floor.
So I cleaned up the whole mess, including Emrick, after which he promptly requested something more to eat! I told him that we should wait until his tummy settled before eating anything more. I filled up a sippy cup with ice water and took him upstairs for his nap. Then I went to the van and cleaned up his car seat. I removed the car seat cover and then did my best to wipe down all the nooks and crannies in all of the buckle pieces, etc. This isn’t easy or fast (or pleasant).
About an hour after putting him down for his nap, I heard him crying. I went upstairs and found that he had vomited in his crib — the mattress, the railing, the floor, and his stuffed bunny which I’d gotten him for Easter. I cleaned him up again and took him downstairs. We cuddled on the sofa for a good hour and a half. Suddenly he became agitated and threw up while I was holding him. I was prepared this time with a towel, though, so it didn’t get anywhere else. It was a very small amount, too, because at that point there was nothing in his belly.
A few minutes later, he asked for something to eat. My first instinct was to say no, but then I thought that making him go hungry might just make him feel worse. So I gave him a couple of saltines. He wanted more, but I told him that we should hold off and see how his tummy handles the couple of crackers he’d already had. I was surrounded by towels at that point, just in case. Sure enough, about fifteen minutes later, those crackers came back up!
The second time he vomited, I concluded that he obviously had a stomach bug, not car sickness. And the saltine vomit was the fifth time he’d thrown up in five hours. I began to mentally prepare myself for the likelihood that the next couple of days were going to be rough. But guess what? He never vomited again. The saltine vomit was the last time. Marcus stopped at the store on the way home and bought some Gatorade and easy-to-digest carbs, and that’s what Emrick nibbled on for the rest of the night. By bedtime he was registering a low-grade fever — not high enough to warrant any medicine — but he slept through the night just fine, and by Thursday morning he seemed totally normal. His appetite was slightly diminished, but he still ate enough.
So not too bad, considering. Is that everything you’ve ever wanted to know about toddler vomit?
Here are some pics of Emrick in happier times (i.e. last weekend):
1 comments
Glad Emrick is feeling better! Hope the baby gets a name soon, she will appreciate that later. With or without hair, she will be beautiful and we will all love and spoil her. Keep the posts coming. I for one have missed them greatly.