Lately it seems like there isn't much new. I am happy that the pregnancy is uneventful at this point because that is what it should be! Thing are pretty much the same as they have been for the past few weeks; the baby still moves quite a bit. I wonder, "what it is trying to do in there? What it is thinking? Does it think it is going to get anywhere if it hits me harder?"
I went in for my glucose screening this week to test for gestational diabetes. I drank this sugary orange concoction that reminded me of a mutated McDonald's orange drink. It made my stomach a bit queasy and an hour-ish after downing it my blood was drawn. When the results come back if I'm not in the normal range I will have a 3-hour screening to better determine if I have diabetes. I'm hoping I'm in the normal range!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Pondering
Sometimes I sit at the computer and visit my own blog to watch the baby widget. I click on the days to review how many days and weeks it has been so far and then how much longer the baby needs to grow with me. I sit there and just watch it slowly move around in the bubble, knowing that it looks something like that.
It seems like such a dorky thing to do, to watch a widget, but I think it is also something that a mother might do. Since I'm the baby's mother, I guess it is appropriate. I am used being pregnant and I can imagine having the baby here with me after it is born, but it still seems weird to think of myself as a mother. It is exciting and I know that I will like it because I'm sure that I will like as well as love the baby.
I remember when my sister was pregnant the first time and it seemed so strange to see her belly grow, knowing that her identity would never be quite the same again. She was no longer my big sister and someone who looked after me when I needed her; she was going to have someone who depended on her for everything, needed her more than I did, and was more important to her than me - she was going to be a mother. While she always did take care of me more than may have been her responsibility as a sibling, it was a new dynamic. Now, as the mother of four children, being a mother is such a huge part of who she is and it fits her. So I know that it will seem strange for a while that I am the mother, but once it finally sinks in I'm sure that it will fit just fine.
I think that being pregnant helps me get used to the idea that the baby will be there all the time and I will always need to make sure it is looked after. It is never going to just take care of itself - make itself a sandwich when it's hungry like Josh does - someone, usually me, will have to make sure that everything is taken care of for it. Maybe that is why some people get a pet before having a baby - but I'm not interested in having something that sheds hair worse than I do!
It seems like such a dorky thing to do, to watch a widget, but I think it is also something that a mother might do. Since I'm the baby's mother, I guess it is appropriate. I am used being pregnant and I can imagine having the baby here with me after it is born, but it still seems weird to think of myself as a mother. It is exciting and I know that I will like it because I'm sure that I will like as well as love the baby.
I remember when my sister was pregnant the first time and it seemed so strange to see her belly grow, knowing that her identity would never be quite the same again. She was no longer my big sister and someone who looked after me when I needed her; she was going to have someone who depended on her for everything, needed her more than I did, and was more important to her than me - she was going to be a mother. While she always did take care of me more than may have been her responsibility as a sibling, it was a new dynamic. Now, as the mother of four children, being a mother is such a huge part of who she is and it fits her. So I know that it will seem strange for a while that I am the mother, but once it finally sinks in I'm sure that it will fit just fine.
I think that being pregnant helps me get used to the idea that the baby will be there all the time and I will always need to make sure it is looked after. It is never going to just take care of itself - make itself a sandwich when it's hungry like Josh does - someone, usually me, will have to make sure that everything is taken care of for it. Maybe that is why some people get a pet before having a baby - but I'm not interested in having something that sheds hair worse than I do!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Moving all around
In the last week or so I've felt the baby move a lot more than before. Before I could feel small little movements and occasionally a bigger poke. Now I'm feeling the bigger movements much more. They are more than just pokes from the inside out; I feel a foot or something move across. When there is a big movement, it usually catches me off guard; I feel like somebody was standing right behind me where I couldn't see them and pushed me forward and I had no time to prepare my reaction. I can only imagine how it will be as the baby gets even bigger!
It seems to move quite a bit late in the evening and sometimes I think it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I wonder if it will like to stay up late like me? I guess the real question is how early it wants to get up!
The skin on my belly is itchy on a regular basis now as it is beginning to stretch. They say in the books that having good genes and a diet that supports healthy skin are the only effective means of preventing stretchmarks. The diet I can work on since I am trying to eat well for myself and the baby, and who knows how much skin elasticity I've inherited? The books all say that lotions and creams don't really work to prevent stretch marks even though there might be a thousand lotions or creams out there that claim to make them disappear. I have been using lotion on my belly because that seems to help keep it from itching but I'm not counting on it to keep me from getting stretch marks. I figure that even if I get stretch marks in all the common places, there will only be a few people who will ever see them and even fewer of them will care.
It seems to move quite a bit late in the evening and sometimes I think it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I wonder if it will like to stay up late like me? I guess the real question is how early it wants to get up!
The skin on my belly is itchy on a regular basis now as it is beginning to stretch. They say in the books that having good genes and a diet that supports healthy skin are the only effective means of preventing stretchmarks. The diet I can work on since I am trying to eat well for myself and the baby, and who knows how much skin elasticity I've inherited? The books all say that lotions and creams don't really work to prevent stretch marks even though there might be a thousand lotions or creams out there that claim to make them disappear. I have been using lotion on my belly because that seems to help keep it from itching but I'm not counting on it to keep me from getting stretch marks. I figure that even if I get stretch marks in all the common places, there will only be a few people who will ever see them and even fewer of them will care.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Another Appointment
We met the second doctor at our latest appointment. This doctor is a bit younger than the other doctor and only joined this practice a couple of months ago. He was very nice and seemed eager to answer all the questions I had.
I asked him if he was concerned that I have not been weighed at any of my office visits. He said that how much weight I gain is more of an additional way to assess that the baby is growing at a normal rate. He said he could feel that my uterus comes to just above my belly button and that is where it should be at 21 weeks. With the holiday over the weekend, the ultrasound tech's report did not reach the doctor's office yet, so the doctor didn't have those results as additional confirmation that the baby is growing fine. He said the tech will usually call the doctor if something weird shows up on the ultrasound, so he thought the tech probably didn't find any problems. He wasn't concerned that that the baby is too small or that I would gain too much weight considering how I'm doing now, so basically it doesn't matter!
I have been getting an estimate of how much weight I've gained by having Tim hold me on the scale and then he subtracts his weight (which I appreciate very much). Since we started this at the beginning of the second trimester, I've gained around 8lbs. That is pretty good, I think, considering that I'm sure I lost weight in the first couple months. I'd like to gain about a pound a week the rest of the pregnancy.
I also talked to the doctor about who I would have for the delivery. He said I can request to have a midwife or a doctor if I want, or I can just take whoever is on-call at the time. He said the midwives are good about calling a doctor in if things get more complicated than they are comfortable handling. I'm thinking that I would rather have a doctor this time since I don't know how it will go. I'd rather not take risks with my baby that I don't have to take! Both doctors have now told me that I can plan on a natural delivery unless other complications arise. If things go well this time around, maybe the next pregnancy I will feel comfortable with a midwife. I'm going to be at the hospital regardless, so I'm sure a doctor is not too far away if I need one!
I asked him if he was concerned that I have not been weighed at any of my office visits. He said that how much weight I gain is more of an additional way to assess that the baby is growing at a normal rate. He said he could feel that my uterus comes to just above my belly button and that is where it should be at 21 weeks. With the holiday over the weekend, the ultrasound tech's report did not reach the doctor's office yet, so the doctor didn't have those results as additional confirmation that the baby is growing fine. He said the tech will usually call the doctor if something weird shows up on the ultrasound, so he thought the tech probably didn't find any problems. He wasn't concerned that that the baby is too small or that I would gain too much weight considering how I'm doing now, so basically it doesn't matter!
I have been getting an estimate of how much weight I've gained by having Tim hold me on the scale and then he subtracts his weight (which I appreciate very much). Since we started this at the beginning of the second trimester, I've gained around 8lbs. That is pretty good, I think, considering that I'm sure I lost weight in the first couple months. I'd like to gain about a pound a week the rest of the pregnancy.
I also talked to the doctor about who I would have for the delivery. He said I can request to have a midwife or a doctor if I want, or I can just take whoever is on-call at the time. He said the midwives are good about calling a doctor in if things get more complicated than they are comfortable handling. I'm thinking that I would rather have a doctor this time since I don't know how it will go. I'd rather not take risks with my baby that I don't have to take! Both doctors have now told me that I can plan on a natural delivery unless other complications arise. If things go well this time around, maybe the next pregnancy I will feel comfortable with a midwife. I'm going to be at the hospital regardless, so I'm sure a doctor is not too far away if I need one!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Ultrasound
We had the semi-standard ultrasound last week to check the baby's progress. We were really excited to see how big it is now. From the measurements that the tech took, she estimated that the baby weighs close to a pound. From the books I have, being almost a pound is a little big for this length gestation, so maybe it is taking after it's father already! I can't give Josh all the credit, though, because we were both 8 pound babies and I was early and he was late.
We decided not to find out its sex yet. We had been going back and forth the whole time, one of us wanted to wait and the other wanted to know, then we would switch positions, and switch back again. When the tech asked us if we wanted to know if it is a boy or girl, after only a moments hesitation and long look at Josh, I replied that we wanted to wait. In the end, looking forward to knowing if it is a boy or girl will be something fun and exciting to look forward to regardless of any other anxieties or fears I have about the labor and delivery.
Some people have said they think it is a boy or think it is a girl. We even had a friend do an old-fashioned test that she said will tell you the baby's sex. She said she has been 100% accurate when she has done the test before, so she made me close my eyes and didn't tell us what the results were. She wrote down her results and tucked the paper away in a box so she can tell us later.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Plates + Belly = Dishwasher
The baby is changing the kitchen.
I keep the plates and half the set of glasses in a bottom cupboard in the kitchen. The other half of the set of glasses are in higher cupboard more typically used for glasses for Josh to easily access. I can no longer keep the plates in that cupboard. Let me explain for those of you who are not familiar with my kitchen.
The plates are in the back corner of the cupboard on a shelf organizer that is very similar to this:
The largest plates are on the bottom. I can no longer bend myself in half enough to reach them. The baby is getting that big! I'm delighted that my belly is big enough that it is changing what I am able to do, but at the same time, it is hindering some of my functionality which is not great. But not to worry. I have a solution to this problem.
Eureka!! Store the plates in the dishwasher!
In the wonderful apartment that we live in (being only slightly facetious because it really isn't that bad) the dishwasher has never worked more than to rinse and provide a place for the dishes to dry. If you want the dishes to come out clean, you must put them in clean. So I don't use it other than to rinse dishes when we get them out of the box when they are new. Ordinarily it is empty, or filled with the few dishes that I can't put away until Josh can put them away. But now it is the new home for the plates.
I keep the plates and half the set of glasses in a bottom cupboard in the kitchen. The other half of the set of glasses are in higher cupboard more typically used for glasses for Josh to easily access. I can no longer keep the plates in that cupboard. Let me explain for those of you who are not familiar with my kitchen.
The plates are in the back corner of the cupboard on a shelf organizer that is very similar to this:
The largest plates are on the bottom. I can no longer bend myself in half enough to reach them. The baby is getting that big! I'm delighted that my belly is big enough that it is changing what I am able to do, but at the same time, it is hindering some of my functionality which is not great. But not to worry. I have a solution to this problem.
Eureka!! Store the plates in the dishwasher!
In the wonderful apartment that we live in (being only slightly facetious because it really isn't that bad) the dishwasher has never worked more than to rinse and provide a place for the dishes to dry. If you want the dishes to come out clean, you must put them in clean. So I don't use it other than to rinse dishes when we get them out of the box when they are new. Ordinarily it is empty, or filled with the few dishes that I can't put away until Josh can put them away. But now it is the new home for the plates.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
... after a blogging absence
It has been a while since I've posted and I want to apologize for that. I know that it can get addicting to check for new posts and quite annoying when they are not there, (at least that is the way I feel about it when I check the blogs I read). So for those of you who are checking in here from time to time, wondering what is going on, I am committing to posting more often: hopefully at least once a week, but I'm not making promises. There have been some things that I thought I would post about but simply haven't written them. So I may have a few back stories to share, but this post will be about what is going on currently.
Right now I am almost to 20 weeks, marking the midpoint of this pregnancy. In the pregnancy books, they say you typically start to feel the baby move sometime between 16 and 20 weeks. They also say that it is usually easier to discern the baby's movements after you have been through a pregnancy because you know what types of movements to notice and your body has already been "stretched out" and you just feel the movement easier. So I figured that since this is my first pregnancy, I don't know what I'm kind of movement I should be feeling, and my sensation starts being compromised below my belly-button, I won't expect to feel anything until I'm closer to 20 weeks. But people start asking me if I can feel the baby yet. And I start paying attention to what I feel more often. Around 17 weeks I think I may feel something that could be the baby, but I can't be sure or even almost sure. So when people ask me if I feel the baby I say "not yet" even though I might be feeling the baby move. Even though no one is going to call me a liar if I say I feel the baby when I'm not sure if it is the baby or gas (because I have been much more gassy since being pregnant, so that is a very real possibility), I still felt unsure about telling people that I indeed was feeling the baby move.
Then in week 18 I was again trying to figure out if I was feeling the baby moving or if it was wishful thinking as Josh read a chapter of Eragon to me. I was getting a bit frustrated because I really wasn't sure if I was feeling the baby. When he finished the chapter, Josh started feeling my belly and he was more successful that I was. He slowly moved his hand around and said he could feel the little movements of the baby. I wonder if it was because his hands are so much bigger than mine that he was better able to discern the movements for what they were.
Since then, I have been able to feel some of the baby's movements. I still think I'm gassy and probably misinterpret some of the things that I "feel," but I am confident in saying that I do feel the baby move sometimes.
:)
Right now I am almost to 20 weeks, marking the midpoint of this pregnancy. In the pregnancy books, they say you typically start to feel the baby move sometime between 16 and 20 weeks. They also say that it is usually easier to discern the baby's movements after you have been through a pregnancy because you know what types of movements to notice and your body has already been "stretched out" and you just feel the movement easier. So I figured that since this is my first pregnancy, I don't know what I'm kind of movement I should be feeling, and my sensation starts being compromised below my belly-button, I won't expect to feel anything until I'm closer to 20 weeks. But people start asking me if I can feel the baby yet. And I start paying attention to what I feel more often. Around 17 weeks I think I may feel something that could be the baby, but I can't be sure or even almost sure. So when people ask me if I feel the baby I say "not yet" even though I might be feeling the baby move. Even though no one is going to call me a liar if I say I feel the baby when I'm not sure if it is the baby or gas (because I have been much more gassy since being pregnant, so that is a very real possibility), I still felt unsure about telling people that I indeed was feeling the baby move.
Then in week 18 I was again trying to figure out if I was feeling the baby moving or if it was wishful thinking as Josh read a chapter of Eragon to me. I was getting a bit frustrated because I really wasn't sure if I was feeling the baby. When he finished the chapter, Josh started feeling my belly and he was more successful that I was. He slowly moved his hand around and said he could feel the little movements of the baby. I wonder if it was because his hands are so much bigger than mine that he was better able to discern the movements for what they were.
Since then, I have been able to feel some of the baby's movements. I still think I'm gassy and probably misinterpret some of the things that I "feel," but I am confident in saying that I do feel the baby move sometimes.
:)
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