Big, Big News!

Joey has started walking! Well, not completely, and certainly not independently, but it's definitely a start and much more than he's ever done in the past. Thanks to Gramma's hard work (and I suppose Joey's too!) she discovered that he will now take steps with the only support being someone holding his hands. You'll see in the video he's still very unbalanced and there's no way he could do it without hand-holding, but it's thrilling to see such progress regardless.

Here's a little clip from the playground outside of IKEA, we were there last night and thought we'd let him "stretch his legs" before getting back in the car to head home.

Gramma is such a pro she can do it with holding just one hand, but Jason and I aren't that advanced yet. I'll capture the one-handed walking on video soon.

The best part is that he is HAPPY while doing this, not crying like he has in the past when we made him work. I think he is starting to understand how much fun it is to be up on his feet!

More updates to follow, we've had progress in other areas but I wanted to get this most exciting news posted ASAP!

- P, J & J

Quick Pregnancy Update

I received a call from the nurse at Mount Sinai hospital...it appears my bile acids are now starting to increase, up to 14.1 from 12.9 in May, despite an increase in the medication last month. Not devastatingly serious, but certainly explains the increase in itching over the past few weeks.

I also failed my glucose test, which means I now have to take a 3-hour glucose tolerance test and this likely indicates that I have gestational diabetes yet again. My level was 9.9, and normal is up to 7.8. Apparently anything above 7.8 identifies 90% of patients with gestational diabetes.

So I will have to take the 3-hour test sometime over the next week, and I'm going to have to increase my medication for the cholestasis from 3 x/day to 4x/day. I can go as high as 5x/day at my discretion, anything more than that I have to discuss with my OB.

Other than that this baby seems to be doing fine...lots and lots of kicking, usually at the worst times but that's okay, it's reassuring me for now. I believe that now that I'm in my third trimester we will begin weekly non-stress tests at some point. My next appointment with my local OB is July 16, and then I meet with my high-risk OB at Mount Sinai July 23, along with another high-risk OB that specializes in liver problems during pregnancy. We're hopeful that the 23rd will be the last time we have to travel to Mount Sinai, if the high risk OB is still comfortable with my local OB following me until delivery.

That's all for now,

-P, J & J