33 weeks

I haven't posted in awhile but everything is good, just been crazy busy.

Our girl is doing well. We had a growth scan last Wednesday at 32+2 and she was measuring at 5lbs! that is 59th percentile for weight!! She's on track to be a big baby! I have another scan at 36 weeks to check again. Look at those chubby cheeks!!!

As for me, well the back pain gets bad some days and I still don't sleep well, its really hard to get comfortable.  I'm looking very pregnant these days and I think I'm starting to waddle.  I can't stand up for more than about an hour at a time otherwise I start getting braxton-hicks pretty bad.

I've also reached another milestone and that is reaching my pre-pregnancy weight.  Here is me at 4 weeks (just got positive test a few days before) and me at 33 weeks, I weigh the same in both of these photos.

Here is another belly comparison (sorry/not sorry for all the naked belly pics). Since I was overweight before becoming pregnancy my belly hangs down a bit at the bottom (one of the reasons my back hurts I think). Here is a comparison of my belly with no support and me with my hand pulling it up a bit from the top which is basically how my support band keeps it positioned. 

We started our childbirth classes last week, its a 6 week series that includes newborn care and breastfeeding.  It was pretty interesting but makes for a long day.  I'm supposed to have my labor support bag packed by next week, ack!!!

What else...

We've made a lot of progress on the nursery finally! Still got a lot to do but most of its organization at this point. 

I had to start taking magnesium because of horrible leg cramps that won't go away, it  helps a lot!

Baby shower is this coming weekend, my brother is coming down for that and we'll video conference in the family birthday party going on in Minnesota.   I'm excited for that. 

Crazy dreams still abound, I give birth just about every night as I sleep now. 

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

way to go cervix!!

This is the last week of the second trimester and my cervix is holding strong with good measurements! yay!

Baby girl is also doing well, she is measuring right on track size wise but weight wise she is in 75th percentile! Chubby baby. Last estimated weight at the ultrasound last week was 1 pound 14 ounces which is exactly double her weight from 4 weeks previous.  Heart rate was a little high at 179 but tech said it goes up and down.

After all the measurements were done I fished a little and the ultrasound tech (nicest one EVER) turned on 4d for us! We got to see her in 3d but LIVE, it was SOOO freaking cool!  She kept putting her hands up in front of her face but we got a few good pics.

If everything continues to be good I won't have to go back to the Maternal Fetal Care center anymore, I have another appointment with the MFM in September so technically I'm still high risk but all the docs are pleased with how everything is going. 

Pain wise, well that comes and goes, I have days where I feel almost normal then I have days where walking is almost impossible. I have found that I can't be on my feet for more than 20-30 minutes at a time and I can't bend from the waist, both of those things trigger pain.  I have Yoga tonight, I'll have to tell teacher I can't bend from the waist but I think the yoga actually helps so I want to keep going.  I need to start walking on the days I feel good but I'm kind of concerned with getting very far from home and having a bad pain episode with no where to sit down. 

Other symptoms, my hands have started to swell a little, blood pressure is holding steady and I drink tons of water so must just be pregnancy.  Its not bad, just enough to make my rings tight once in awhile.

I do seem to be on an upward trend for my weight, I have days where I am starving! Last night 2 hours after dinner I ate a bagel with cream cheese, a pickle, some grapes and a handful of nuts and then was hungry again before bed but didn't eat again. Guess little girl doubling her weigh every month will do that!

How far along?  26 weeks!  

Total weight gain: -7.6lbs!   

Baby is the size of: bowling pin

Maternity clothes:  bought a few new shirts last week

Stretch marks: None that I didn't already have

Sleep: what's sleep? I toss and turn a lot from back pain

Best moment this week: I was sitting in a meeting with my hands crossed across my stomach and she was kicking so hard she was moving my hands

Miss anything? Beer

Movement: She's quiet when I'm up moving but if I sit down and get quiet she starts dancing

Food cravings: green grapes

Anything making you queasy or sick? Not really

Labor signs: Nope.

Symptoms: Back pain, gas, heartburn, pelvic pain 

Belly button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Getting the stuff cleaned out of the nursery room

Oh and here is a quick reference on the months/weeks thing

Anatomy Scan

Today was the anatomy scan, and everything looked great! All of her parts looked good and she is weighing in at 15 ounces! 4 weeks ago she was 6 ounces so that's quite a growth spurt! This is the only profile shot we got since they were more concerned with her insides today.

Here is me today as well. I've been feeling her move a lot more and the ultrasound tech commented on how active she is.

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!

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!

Skip-to-ma-loo my darling

Went in for my ultrasound and doctors appointment yesterday and not only is little bit doing well she is measuring almost a week ahead so my due date got adjusted to 11/16.  Heart Rate was 165 and length (rump to crown) was 4.1cm (around 2 inches). To put that in perspective the baby is about the size of a donut hole.  Doctor said we're doing well, she wrote me an Rx for nausea meds since I'm still struggling with that, although the unisom helps so much that I won't take the Rx unless it gets really bad, I mostly wanted it for a safety net while we are on vacation.

We will be doing the Panorama cell free dna testing for trisomys in a couple weeks. They take blood from me and a cheek swab from hubs and check the fetal dna present in my blood to see if there is a high risk of any of the trisomies and a few other things. As a bonus they tell you the gender!

I am being sent to see a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist on 5/13 because of my connective tissue disorder (Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome). They will do another ultrasound that day too. I'll post more about that then.

For now, still dealing with fatigue and nausea though that seems to be tapering off a bit.

Here is one of the ultrasound pics, it is SO crazy to see her jumping around on the screen. She looks like she has a horn because she kept putting her hands in front of her face.

Yes, today I am saying she, yesterday I said He all day, we'll see soon but until then I just mix it up. :)

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.