Halfway There!

20 weeks! Halway there! According to my app the baby is supposedly the size of a cantaloupe, I just can't see that!

My weight is staying steady, I've been within 2 pounds of the same weight for 2 months now. I guess I'm losing at roughly the same rate baby weight is gaining, its kind of odd.  Today I am 1.2lbs above where I was a month ago but 1.4lbs BELOW what I was 2 months ago, so yeah, right about the same.  This graph starts at 4/1 when I was just around 7 weeks along, through this morning.

Blood pressure has been down again but the dizzy spells have not gotten bad so maybe my body is adjusting.  Here is a snapshot of my BP readings over the past week or so (I don't update my weight in this app, its just in there from when I set it up).

I think the actual food cravings have started, this week it was pierogies, I finally found some at the grocery store yesterday and plan on having those for dinner.  Unfortunately the horrible taste in my mouth and occasional nausea has also returned. 

Sleeping has become and issues as I can no longer sleep on my back, it makes it hard to breath so I turn from side to side all night long. 

My Ehlers-Danlos (EDS) has escalated significantly over the past couple weeks. I'm having to tape the knuckles on the first two fingers of my left hand to try to keep them in place.  The Relaxin hormone on top of the EDS makes me a very Gumby girl right now. 

The only other new symptom I guess is the pretty much constant gas!!!

trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in while pregnant

Good appointment

Had an OB checkup today, my doctor was on vacation but I really liked the doctor that I saw.  Gracie's heartrate was at 150 and you could hear her moving around a lot.   Everything else looked good.

I think what I've been feeling the past few days is her moving around, I'm ready to know for sure!

Maternity Clothes

They say the clothes make the man, or in this case woman...

I've struggled with clothes since my boobs came in when I was about 16.  Being overweight makes it worse of course.  So I was not at all looking forward to shopping for maternity clothes but it became a necessity.

I'm of average height (5'7"), weigh in at around 230, I'm short waisted, have an hourglass figure (with a few too many hours in it), am THICK in the thighs and calves (like really) and have huge boobs.

Pros of maternity clothes

• Stretchy waist don't hurt my oh so tender expanding middle
• You look MORE pregnant in maternity clothes, as opposed to just fat (more on this later)

Cons of maternity clothes

• Not made with the short waisted in mind, many of the stretchy parts of the pants come all the way up to my bra
• A lot of the pants have no pockets
• Many of the pants have a pleated look to them, not flattering
• The length of the pants seems to be oddly long
• The shirts tend toward empire waist but my boobs don't fit in most empire waist styles

So here are 3 pictures of me, all within 12 hours so no change in baby bump size, these demonstrate how different clothes make you look either pregnant or fat.

First of all the empire waist shirt makes you look very pregnant

Then I went home and put on my PJ's and just looked fat again

Today I put on tighter fitted maternity tank

Updates!

Okay, I won't make you wait this time since I've been bad about posting updates. Here is the ultrasound from June 9th.  Little girl is doing good and measuring on track. She weighed in at approximately 6 ounces that day.

My cervical length was good (4.8 cm) and all of her organs look good so far, they will do more checking when they do the next scan on the 8th of July.

I went in for an appointment with my MFM specialist today. I'd had an echocardiogram a couple weeks ago to check for heart abnormalities due to my Ehlers-Danlos and that looks good.

I also talked to him about my dizzy spells, they have gotten SO much worse, they are happening now even when I am sitting down, its disconcerting. He said there is nothing they can do about them, its common in pregnancy especially when then woman has low blood pressure to begin with. He said it should peak by 20-24 weeks (to which my reaction was "OMG its going to get WORSE???) then start to get better.   I'm starting to be concerned about driving, we'll see how it goes I guess.

We've gotten two cute baby gifts so far, people are great.

Some progress has been made on cleaning out the room for the nursery but not much, gotta work on that this weekend, the dizziness makes that slow work.

All of my brain power is being taken by the fetus.  Getting dressed this morning, pulled a cardigan out of the closet then decided I wanted a different one. Placed the first one back on the hanger and went get the other one but instead took the first one out. Repeat 2 MORE times before I gave up.  I finally got the right cardigan when I started to walk out the door and realized I was chilly.

I think she's been sitting on my colon the past few days, had a bit of an IBS flare up and oh boy does THAT hurt!

Had my first pregnancy related confrontation yesterday, We were in the airport, not much time before our flight and dining choices limited. Decided to grab subway for hubs and I. Ask for Italian for myself and ask them to throw the meat in the microwave and heat it up before putting it on the sandwich. Girl, maybe the manager? Asks me why! First of all none of your business, anyway tell her I'm pregnant and it needs to be heated. She then tells me that is an old wives tale and she knows because she had 4 kids. My response, " you do what you want with you and your kids but this is me and my kid and I want the meat heated" Ugh. THEN I got back to my gate to eat and it was STILL cold! Double ugh!!

Regardless of your views on listeria and eating lunch meat while pregnant it's MY prerogative what I want to eat! I was so annoyed.

Oh, and I have the most awesome husband. We'd been away on a fishing trip for a few days and kept passing by a Dairy Queen, however whenever I decided I wanted it they were already closed. After we got home yesterday he went out and got me dairy queen!

So far weight has stayed about the same for a month. Still down 14lbs from pre-pregnancy. Maternity pants feel more comfortable every day though!

Milestone

Day 118- today I did not gag even once!

Pregnancy brain:

trying to figure out why your soup won't "work" and realize your spoon is upside down

Still not showing

Here is the progression. 15 pounds down between the first pic and the last.

16 week update

Well the 4 month mark has been reached. Baby is the size of a orange (or a soda can maybe).  Things are going pretty well overall.

I had an echocardiogram on Monday to make sure I don't have any heart problems associated with my Ehlers-Danlos I'll get the results of that when I go back to the MFM on the 18th.

Next week is the first ultrasound to check my cervical length, I'll have at least 3 of those a month apart, if its all good after those 3 then I won't have to have anymore.   I need to find out who will be doing my anatomy scan, the MFM or my regular OB.

Oh, AND!!!!!!! We found out we are having a girl!!  The results of the Panorama test came back and everything was low risk (woohoo!) and showed female!

I've been having continuing issues with my blood pressure which is causing the dizzy spells. I've started drinking half of my fluids in a day in Gatorade and that is helping a lot.  Last doctor's appointment my BP was 88/52 and freaked the doctor out. Last night I clocked in at 94/56 so its coming back up.

I'm officially DONE with pants that button around my waist, while I'm still not really showing they HURT me! I've started buying maternity pants and that suck, you have to buy shirts too to cover the panel, who knew???

It's starting to hurt to sleep on my stomach, my regular position, so I am not sleeping well as I try to find a new comfortable position.

Today is day 2 with NO unisom!  The nausea seems to have departed for the most part but my appetite has not come back without the help of the Unisom.  Current weight loss is 15.4 lbs.

Here is my 16 weeks belly.