Braxton Hicks

I started experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions last week. The first one was such a shock and left me kind of excited, a new milestone had been reached!  Then I had another, and another and my belly got kind of sore and I was over the excitement.

I had 3 that first day then no more for over a week, then another last Wednesday night and several yesterday.  The more tired I am the more they happen.  Yesterday I finally was able to drink a big glass of cold water and lie down for 20 minutes and they went away.

I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and she said as long as they continue to stop they are nothing to worry about, they are just "practice contractions".

Nothing much to report from the doctor's appointment, she measured my belly but didn't tell me what it was only that it 'had grown from last appointment' and baby's heartbeat was in the 150's and 160's on the doppler.

A few nights ago I was in bed asleep when Matthew came up to bed. He put his hand on my belly (I kind of half woke up) and she started kicking like mad. This is the first time she's done that in response to him touching my belly, he loved it!

I've not been sleeping well and have been very irritable.  We did make progress on the nursery last weekend though, got the closet organizer in and I was able to put away some stuff.

It's just too bad the rest of the room still looks like this

I've gained several pounds in the past month, I'm only a couple pounds down from pre-pregnancy weight at this point but I guess that was bound to happen.  Speaking of weight gain, a funny cravings story. 

My one consistent craving has been red hots, the cinnamon candy. I eat a box of them maybe once a week or every two weeks because I know they are not good for you. Wednesday night I wanted Red Hots, I had to go to camera club meeting so I stopped at pharmacy on my way because they always have the movie theater size box of them. Well guess which ONE candy they are out of!!! Dammnit! Yesterday I had to go to the grocery store after work to pickup stuff for company coming in town this weekend, first stop, candy asile. I stand there for a good 10 minutes getting myself into a highly emotional state (and having BH's) because there are NO red hots!!! I'm about to cry when on the bottom rack pushed way to the back is TWO bags of red hots! I was giddy! I didn't eat any last night because baby girl decided to sit on top of my stomach but I brought a bag to work with me today :D

Appointments, appointments and more appointments

Wednesday I went and had the blood draw for the Panorama blood test which will tell us the baby's risk for the trisomies and also the gender, that takes 7-10 days to come back.

Then I went for another ultrasound at the Maternal Fetal Medicine center. I really liked the sonographer, she was super nice. Even though an NT scan had not been ordered she was able to get the  measurement and did it anyway (measurement was 1.8 and anything under 2.5 is good) and made a gender guess of girl! Baby is growing on schedule with the revised due date and looks good so far.  Heart Rate was 167.

After that I went up to see the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist who is consulting due to my age and the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. He asked me a bunch of questions and seemed happy with how I was progressing. He ordered an echocardiogram to rule out any problems with my heart and I have to go back for ultrasounds once a month to check my cervical length (yay, more pictures).

So I have 4 appointments coming up in the next month, its a good thing my boss is understanding!

We did our facebook announcement while we were on vacation. 

 As of this week I've lost 14 pounds so far. My nausea is starting to get better, I've cut back on the unisom, that has increased my fatigue though which is weird because I didn't know it was helping with that. 

Oh, and I cry over anything now, hormones are crazy! I'm not a cryer but I cry at least once a day, so weird for me!

Doctor and Ultrasound

First and foremost; there is a baby in there! and it has a heartbeat, 123 to be exact!   The ultrasound went really well.  The setup at my doctor's office is nice, they have a screen on the wall right in front of the exam table that shows the image from the ultrasound so you don't have to try to twist around to see the tech's screen while she is working and has a probe up your hoo-ha.  So here she is, she is measuring at 6 weeks 1 day and apparently I ovulated from my left ovary, good to know(?).  

Then had to wait an hour to see the doctor, that went about as expected except because I am old and fat I have to take the test for gestational diabetes right away, even though I've never had blood sugar issues.  Blah. Anyway, got lectures on not gaining much weight, don't eat candy or much fruit (wtf?) and making sure I exercise. Oh and don't eat much processed food. I told hubby and doctor both that by the time I make it home from work I'm too tired to cook!

Lot's of blood work ordered, I don't have the list in front of me right now.  We also talked about getting the blood test that looks at the fetal dna to look for downs and other trisomys. Received a whole packet of brochures and information, got the OK for the trip to Mexico next month was just told to bring snacks for the plane, get up and move around and don't get overheated. 

I'll call tomorrow to schedule my tests. 

Oh and that dating means I got my bfp at 9dpo, so super early! 

oh, and no more hcg or progesterone test, Doc said that pregnancy is established now and there is no need, kind of a bummer was looking forward to seeing my hcg number.