Vampire Baby Strikes Again

The wife had her check-up hematology appointment today to monitor her hemoglobin and hematocrit (things that make up blood...for the most part) levels. And, suprise suprise...her levels have dropped down to "critically low" once again. So that means the last blood transfusion lasted all of 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. Awesome. She is having a second transfusion tomorrow. This time they are giving her two pints instead of 1, so hopefully this time it lasts at least a month, preferably longer. She most definitely will need to have a transfusion after delivering the little one...but this is getting pretty inconvenient. She's been trying to save up what few sick days she has left for the days immediately preceding huckleberry's birth (like after contractions start...which could quite feasibly go on for a week or more and she only has 3 sick days left)...but these damned transfusions mean she has to take 5-6 hours off of work and sit in a chair for that amount of time...bored out of her gourd while blood is pumped into her. Poor thing. She's been feeling very dizzy and nauseous and tired too.

We were just saying how easy this pregnancy has felt both for her and me...but we may have spoke too soon.

Good thing we love this little vampire more than we thought we could ever love anything...cause she's sure causing some trouble!

28th week and 3rd trimester

we hit 27 weeks yesterday, which means that today we started the third trimester! I feel like we've been nesting since we found out we were pregnant, but it really kicked into high speed this week! After a ginormous baby shower and receiving tubs of hand-me-downs, we were faced with a lot of decisions about what to keep and what to take back. So the week was spent sorting clothes and inventorying supplies... Which made the nesting seem all the more real. She's going to be with us in about 10-13 weeks!

Whirlwind Trip

Last Tuesday at 11:55 pm, the wife and I loaded up the car and drove 15 hours straight through to Chicago. We got there around 2 or 3 pm Chicago time...I went to bed early Wednesday...and Thursday afternoon I defended my dissertation. It was a pretty intense experience...they grilled me for about 2 hours...and I am so glad that I NEVER have to do that again! So that evening we drove back into the city (my grad school is about 75 miles outside of Chicago)...and saw some old friends who are due at the same time as us with their second child...who is a boy. There first child was a girl...so we inherited a 20 gallon tub filled with barely used and really nice (some of it was designer and independent labels that we could probably never afford...and probably never would buy even if we could afford it) stuff. So needless to say, our baby is pretty set. And that was before the baby shower! On Sunday we had a baby shower with about 30 attendees...and we got a ton more clothing...some of which will have to go back because as much as I'd like to, I just can't justify 35 onesies of the same size. Our friends and family were VERY generous...and we are grateful for them.

Between the dissertation defense and the baby shower, I also had a major interview at a very good hospital for an 80% clinical/20% research post-doctoral fellowship. I just found out that I am their lead candidate so far...with only one more to interview, so fingers crossed. We also saw a bunch of friends to celebrate the defense and becoming a doctor, and we went and saw some of the wife's old college friends.

We left at 3am on Monday. And it took us 16 1/2 hours to get home due to construction traffic. Ugh. I feel like I haven't slept in weeks.

Now it's time to write thank you's and make returns. My goal is to be done with both of those things (until the next shower) by the weekend. I also need to make some dissertation revisions before submitting to the graduate school. Wish me luck!

Not so bad...

So the wife had the blood transfusion on Friday. It was not so bad...just boring. It took 3 hours. Good thing I had a lot of preparation for my upcoming dissertation defense to do as we sat there waiting for blood to pump its way into her. She has a bit more energy and needs fewer naps now. She also is suddenly much hungrier, which is good because she only gained 2 lbs in the last month and is supposed to be gaining a pound a week. At the moment we are at the very minimum of what the doctor wants her to have gained. Eleven pounds so far, with only 14 weeks to go. If she gains a pound a week, we will just barely make that 25-35 lbs target. Good thing we are about to head home for a bit to defend my dissertation, go to a job interview (me), and have our first ginormous baby shower at her mother's house. I'm sure we'll be eating a lot of good food during our stay...that oughtta fatten up baby girl a bit.

Blood

Apparently the wife is not creating enough of it. Her hemoglobin and hematocrit are both "critically low," which we knew would be a possibility because she has a blood disorder, called thalessemia minor. So, by the end of the week, she is supposed to get a blood transfusion. That's fun. The good news is that it is 2010 and not 1980 and blood is a highly regulated substance these days. Also, nobody since the 1980's, before we fully knew about Hepatitis C and HIV, has contracted these two diseases from blood transfusions at the hospital where she will be receiving hers. So that's good news. But I think she is a little freaked out about it all. And I don't have much feeling about it either way. Whatever is in the best interest of the baby...(plus a blood transfusion is really no big deal unless it's an emergency transfusion and you have a rare blood type or something)...

So there you have it. Need more blood!