two to the three

23 weeks!

Feeling great this week as summer winds down. 

Last Wednesday Dan and I headed over to Barnes hospital which has the Siteman Cancer Center. It is a HUGE complex and the cancer center itself is well renowned. We wanted to have a consultation with another oncologist about the reasons/benefits for keeping our baby's stem cells.

The next course of treatment for me, should the cancer ever come back, is a very high dose of chemotherapy followed by a stem cell transplant. If you have been pregnant within the last 5 years you may have heard about stem cell banking. I know that most of my weekly pregnancy newsletters talk about it or have ads that are advertising big stem cell banks. 

I thought that having a stash of stem cells set aside may be a good course of action for us. Usually you save stem cells for the child in case they become sick with some horrible disease. 

Well we found out a lot of information that we didn't know. One, that for there to be enough stem cells for a transplant of an adult we would need 2 or 3 donors. Also that 90% of the time with stem cell transplants they use the patients own cells. The other 10% of the time they like to use a close family members. 

So it looks like my baby's stem cells won't get to help me this time, and unfortunately due to the cancer/chemo I can't keep the cells for my baby to use either. We have to "trash" them, as the doctor eloquently put. 

So a long day of driving back and forth to St. Louis, but much information learned.

Other than the trip to St. Louis I had a very lazy week. Trying to soak up as much summer as possible. 

Bump pic!

At first I was worried I didn't look any bigger...

But then I pulled up weeks 18, 20 and 23

Definitely see some growth!

AND! I forgot to mention. I got the job as a youth music coordinator at First Presbyterian Church. I am very excited to start! I took a tour of the church this week and started planning out a program. It will be a program to build from the ground up, but I am excited to do it!

Questions!!!

How far along: 23!

Total weight gain: Ok, only 2 pounds! So pregnancy total is 8 so far. Once school starts my eating habits always get better so I am hoping the weight gain will slow down.

Maternity clothes: I have been on a mission with finding flat shoes to replace all my lovely heels. Having some fun trolling Ebay looking for good deals. With as clumsy as I tend to be I didn't want to risk running up and down stairs and falling. Falling is one of my huge fears with this pregnancy and my school is full of stairs!

Stretch marks: Still none! Planning on making some homemade stretch mark cream out of lovely stuff. I found out bio-oil has some junk in it that makes me nervous to use it anymore.

Sleep: Harder. I end up sleeping on one side most the night and then I wake up so sore! Also my hands keep falling asleep from carpal tunnel brought on by the pregnancy. yippee.

Best moment of this week: Going to the chiropractor for the first time! I was always a little leery about chiropractors but my hip pain convinced me to try it out. I really liked it. The chiropractor was really gentle and works with pregnant women all the time. Afterwards I was able to walk normally! No more pregnant waddle! I am headed back tomorrow to see if the pain in my hips can lessen even more.

Miss anything: Margarita. Sitting on a patio at a Mexican restaurant with Dan and his mom Wednesday night really made me want a chilly, fruity beverage. I treated myself to Sprite instead.

Movement: Feeling a nice kick or 5 everyday! LOVE IT! Now we are trying to catch one so Dan can feel it.

Food cravings: Besides margaritas? Potato skins!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Felt pretty good this week until this morning. We waited awhile before we had breakfast and then I realized that all of sudden I was feeling pretty bad. Cramps, nausea, just awful. Realized that on top of being pretty dehydrated I probably needed to get my blood sugar up to. As soon as I ate some breakfast and had 2 big glasses of water I felt perfectly fine.

Have you started to show yet: Yep!

Gender: Baby Boy!

Labor signs: Feeling great this week. No braxton hicks.

Belly button in or out: In but getting shallower? Is that a word?

Wedding rings on or off: Still wrestling a bit to take it off, but still keeping it on. For now.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy, maybe a little overwhelmed by everything coming up. 

Looking forward to: School starting! I always love the start of a new school year. Clean slates, excited kids, new classes, the whole year in front of me to tackle any goals I can come up with. LOVE IT! I may start posting more maternity fashion, just because I was able to get so many great ideas for my wardrobe from looking at maternity blogs. We'll see how I handle looking nice 5 days a week. Eek!