IT'S A GIRL!

Today was my "20 week" appointment. Okay, technically, I'm only 19 weeks, but in two days I'll be 20, so they rounded up. First I had my ultra sound, which was, by far, the best part. I'M HAVING A GIRL!!! I'm SO SUPER excited about that! I've wanted a girl since LONG before I got pregnant. When my mom told me, she was done having kids, and all I had was two little brothers, I told her, "Well fine, I guess I'll just have to have a daughter then." Since getting pregnant, I've been afraid to hope too much for a girl, so I kept telling myself, "It's going to be a boy." to psych myself out, so that I wouldn't be disappointed. But ever since we told Rusty that I was pregnant, he has insisted that he is going to have a little sister. We told him several times, "We don't know yet. It could be a boy. The baby has to decide what it wants to be." His response, every time, was "Well....it's gonna be a girl." During the ultra sound, when she told me it is a girl, I started crying. It felt like winning the lottery. I'm still absorbing it. I'M GOING TO HAVE A DAUGHTER!!! I am definitely on cloud nine! Another cool part about the ultra sound was that as the technician looked at all the parts, and took all the measurements, she kept saying everything looked "beautiful" and "perfect". So we know that our daughter is physically healthy! My friend, Brittany, was able to be there too, and we had picked up Rusty early from school so he could be there, and of course Russ was there. It was awesome to have several important people there to watch, and to get the news with me!

After the ultra sound, I had a regular appointment. I finally got to meet my OBGYN, and I really like her. She's from Texas! She's about my age, and she's really nice. I liked her right away. I had several questions for her, and she answered all of them, and we had a fun conversation. I had to have a little bit of blood drawn, for a thyroid test. I've been battling with depression, and since I know that thyroid problems run in my family, we decided to check and see if that could be the cause of it.

January is going to be a VERY busy month. First, my next appointment is scheduled for Jan 7th. I also have a dermatology appointment scheduled for Jan 17. I also signed up for three of the free classes that are offered at the hospital, Preparation for Childbirth, on Jan 12, Breastfeeding Class on Jan 24, and a Sibling class for Rusty on Jan 29. Not to mention, my birthday is Jan 21st, and sometime that month, my sister-in-law is supposed to give birth. Should be a fun month!

The Latest and Greatest

My tummy feels so WEIRD! I'm not even sure I can accurately describe it. Sometimes it hurts a little bit, mostly on the sides. More often it's kind of a mild pressure, or fullness. What's weird is, every week, when I look at my pregnancy pictures, I swear my belly looks smaller. Russ keeps assuring me it's just moving up and rounding out, and I guess he's probably right. I just wish it would hurry up and grow! (I know, I'm being impatient.) But I guess it must be doing something, because my center of gravity is definitely changing. I keep losing my balance for no reason. Standing up, or getting out of the car, will totally throw my balance off, and I have to catch myself on something. It's even happened a few times when I was just walking.

I feel the baby moving a LOT now. Off and on throughout the day, I will know when it gets active. It's active right now. Some women describe that feeling like fluttering or bubbles. I don't think I ever would have called it that. At first, it felt like a muscle twitch. Lately, it's stronger than that. It feels like a sporadic heart beat that moves around my belly. Russ is eagerly anticipating the day it gets strong enough for him to feel. Every once in a while, when it's really active, I'll tell him and he'll put his hand on my belly to see if he can feel it yet. Nope, not yet.

My back pain has still been consistent. It's usually not so bad that I can't move around, but every once in a while, if I move wrong, I will have to use a cane for the rest of the day. I've learned to avoid bending at the waist and twisting. Those movements tend to set it off.

I am happy to say that, since the day I went to the hospital, I have not had any more Braxton Hicks contractions. I have been watching myself carefully, making sure I don't do too much in one day. That seems to be the key. There are some days, when I'm out running errands, that I get dizzy and a little bit breathless. Generally, if I sit down for 10 to 15 minutes, I'm okay. Some days, my body just says "You're not walking today." If I try it, I get a sharp, pulling pain on one side of my belly that hurts with every step. The only solution to that is....don't walk. But that doesn't seem to happen very often.

My next appointment and ultra sound are getting closer. Only a week and a half away! There was a scheduling conflict, because somebody else has something very important to do on that same day, only two and a half hours before my appointment time, and only one and a half hours before we need to leave the house, if we're going to pick up Rusty from school. Luckily, my friend Brittany saved the day. She will probably pick up me and Rusty in her car, and Russ will follow us on his motorcycle. It's the perfect solution, because it was either that, or I would have had to reschedule my appointments, and this doctor is usually booked WEEKS in advance. And with two appointments, one right after the other, it would have probably been another three weeks or more before I could get everything set up.

Speaking of the doctor, it looks like Obamacare is already changing some things. Now, I have to have TWO insurance plans. Medicaid will still cover some things, and this other insurance, called Magnolia, or something like that, will cover other things. Now, I have to make sure that my doctor is going to be taking this other insurance, or else I might have to switch doctors. It takes affect in 90 days. Wouldn't that be great news, half way through my pregnancy? But, I guess it is what it is. We'll see how that turns out.

Anyway, I guess that's everything important for now. And probably some stuff that isn't important too. :p

Body Changes

This might sound funny, but I pee differently than I used to. People used to marvel at how fast I could pee. When a friend went to the bathroom with me, she said that I "power peed". In other words, it came out like turning a faucet on full blast. Well, now that my uterus is smashing my bladder, and everything that goes along with it, I no longer "power pee". Now it trickles out so slowly. It comes out at a different angle than it used to. Last time the doctor asked me to pee in the cup, I peed all over my hand, because I was holding the cup where the pee would have gone in the past, but now it goes an entirely different direction. This is not so much a complaint, as just an observation that I find interesting. I would not have thought, before, that pregnancy would change the way I pee. But it makes sense, doesn't it?

Another cool thing! The last post I made, I was frustrated with how slowly everything is progressing. Well, my belly still hasn't really grown, BUT I have begun to feel the baby a lot more frequently. The day after that post, I felt it three times, which was more than I'd ever felt it in one day. Over the last couple days, it's become more and more frequent. Today, I kept feeling it all morning long! I even gently poked it, and I guess it swam away, because I didn't feel it for a little while after that. But, every once in a while, as I'm going about my business, I will feel a little fluttery feeling, and get a big, goofy grin. THAT'S MY BABY! :D

Getting Impatient

Okay. I'm not really complaining, but....my belly doesn't seem to have grown at all in three weeks. In fact, if it's possible, it seems to have gotten a little bit smaller. That could just be because it's moving up out of my pelvis, and found more room to move back into. I don't know. I am still feeling baby movements, once or twice a day, as little butterfly motions in my stomach. The thing is....I WANT MORE! I want my belly to grow some more, I want the movements to get stronger! I know that will happen eventually, but I want it NOW!

When people keep asking me, "How's the baby?" I don't know what to say. I usually end up saying, "Well...still in there." How should I know how it is? All I know is I feel it move every once in a while, and my belly's not getting any bigger. I assume the baby is perfectly fine. At least, I sure hope it is.

I know, I know...everybody has told me this would happen. They all said, "It's going to seem like your belly stays the same forever, and then one day you will wake up, and it'll be like it just grew overnight." Well, I'm ready for it. Now GROW! Every day, I am sure I can feel my belly stretching. I have been getting round ligament pains every time I roll over in bed, and every time I stand up too fast, and even when I just laugh too hard. My belly often feels tight, even pressure. So, that definitely means something will happen soon.....right?

I also can't wait to find out the gender. I'm still so excited to have that ultra sound scheduled, but it seems like it's going to take forever to get here! I still have most of a month to wait! I just wanna KNOW already!

I am really trying my hardest to be patient. I keep telling myself that I've got another 5 months, at least, and that's plenty of time for me and Baby to grow. In the mean time, I am trying really hard not to pinch my sciatic nerve anymore...because that hurts. Sometimes, when I roll over or twist wrong, I can feel a warning twinge...like my back is saying, "Hey, keep it up and I'll cripple you!" Twice, I have already found myself hobbling around on a cane. Even when my sciatic nerve is not involved, my back just aches. I've been prescribed flexeril for my back ache, but I don't want to become dependent on it, so I only allow myself to take it every other day. So, on my "no flexeril" days, I just take extra strength Tylenol...which does nothing...and suffer through it. On my "flexeril" days, if I feel like I can go without it, I do. I only take it if my back is REALLY bothering me. Which it is, today, but unfortunately, this is a "no flexeril" day.

I'm still drinking all my water. I am proud of myself for keeping up my water intake. I've never drunk this much water in my life. At first, it was really hard to force myself to drink this much, and I felt like I was trying to drown myself. By now, if I wait too long to have my next glass of water, I actually get thirsty! Wow! My body actually likes this! Who knew?

So, anyway...yeah...that's it. Nothing much to report. I am achy, I am keeping myself as healthy as I can, and I am getting very impatient.

Hospital visit

First of all, Halloween was a great day! While Rusty was in school, I spent the morning with a good friend. We spent a good deal of time window shopping in several stores, then went back to her house for lunch, and watched the first episode of Dr Who. She got me back home before Rusty's bus.

After Rusty got home, I gave him his snack, helped him paint a pumpkin, and shortly afterward, got ready to take him to the zoo for trick-or-treating. It was just me and Rusty, at the zoo, because Russ had to work. The majority of the time we were there was spent waiting in lines. There were a LOT of people there! They had about 16 games set up that we stood in line to play. After Rusty played the games, they would give him candy or small toys. By the time we got through the game area, I was feeling pretty exhausted. That was when Rusty announced that he needed to go to the bathroom. Of course, we were on the opposite side of the zoo from the ONLY bathrooms they had. So we walked all the way across the zoo, then all the way back. While we were en route back from the bathroom, I stopped at a concession stand and bought Rusty some cotton candy, and me some trail mix. Then, Rusty got in a bouncy house. There was a bench set up by the bouncy house, which was intended for parents to sit down on, but instead, it was crowded with a bunch of teen agers. I didn't feel like trying to butt into their crowd, so I sat on the ground a short distance away. I was so tired, and my feet were killing me. I let Rusty jump around for at least 30 minutes, then got him out so we could go find the "Spooky Train". We stood in line for the train for about 30 - 45 minutes. There was another bench at the front of the line, and when we reached it, some old lady had a stroller parked in front of it, blocking up enough space for about three people to sit. I NEEDED to sit down, so I kindly asked her if she could make some room for me to sit. She scooted the stroller a fraction, so I squeezed in anyway, and Rusty sat in my lap. It was a relief when the train came back around, and me and Rusty lumbered our way onto it and got in our seat. That was at least a 15 minute ride, and the whole time, I was thankful to be sitting. By then, I had developed a stitch in my side, and I was panting a lot as we walked. But I was still having a lot of fun. After the train ride ended, I insisted to Rusty that it was time to go. I knew I couldn't handle much more walking around. We made the rather long trek back to the parking lot, and at long last, I collapsed into the car. Rusty was still FULL of energy, and bouncing around. For dinner, I got him a happy meal from McDonalds, and once he'd finished eating that, I quickly got him to bed. The sugar worked in my favor, because when he laid down he was practically vibrating, but shortly afterward came the famous "sugar crash" and within ten minutes he was out cold.

The next day, when I woke up, I felt fine....for a little while. Around noon, I started getting bad cramps. They were radiating up the sides of my belly, and down into the rectum area, and they were so bad that it was hard to breath, and I couldn't move. They came in waves, it was not a constant pain, and I quickly discovered that they were less frequent and less intense if I wasn't moving or walking around. At first, I thought I was constipated, because sometimes that will give me sharp pains, but after going #2 twice, I was still getting the cramps just as bad. Everybody was starting to get a bit worried. Around 2:15, Russ called his boss to let him know he was not going to come in to work, because he was taking his wife to the emergency room. At that point, I hadn't actually made up my mind to go yet, but Russ wanted to be there, just in case. Rusty got home around 3:30, and I was still getting cramps. Finally, I called my nurse practitioner, and asked her if I should go to the hospital. She said it sounded like I was having round ligament pains, but they shouldn't be that severe, so she suggested I go ahead, just to make sure everything was okay.

We arrived at the hospital around 4pm. We had Rusty with us. We sat in the first waiting room a deceptively short time. When we walked in, I had marveled at how few people there were, and thought they weren't that busy. After about a 15 minute wait, they took me into triage. When they were done with triage, they sent me to a DIFFERENT waiting room, and this one was packed! We sat in there for a little over two and a half hours. It was almost 7 when I finally got a room. At this point, having sat still for quite a while, the cramps were becoming pretty mild and bearable, but I was still worried about my baby.

Once we were in our room, we waited some more. At first it seemed like maybe things would be happening more quickly now. Pretty soon, a lady came in to get my ID and insurance information. Shortly afterward, a nurse came in, took my vitals, and asked some questions about the cramping. Not too long after that, another nurse came in and took some blood, and left an IV thing in my arm. Rusty felt very sorry for me, for having to get poked. Around 7:30, the doctor came in and let me know that he was going to schedule an ultra sound, but we would have to wait until the results of the blood work came back from the lab. I was also informed then, that for the ultra sound, I would have to have a catheter. I was a little bit less than thrilled about that, but complied. Just before 8, a nurse came in to put in my catheter.

Shortly after the nurse left, Rusty, who had been more and more restless the whole time, started crying. Since it was almost his bedtime anyway, Russ took Rusty home. He got Rusty some dinner, put him to bed, and turned in a school project, before coming back. While he was gone, I did....nothing. I was very uncomfortable. I had a catheter in, it hurt to bend my arm, my butt was going numb from being sat on for so long, and I couldn't easily adjust myself. A nurse came in to check on me every 30 minutes or so, and assured me that it wouldn't be much longer. At some point while I was waiting, I felt the baby moving. That was very reassuring. Russ got back to the hospital by 9:30. It was almost 10 before somebody finally came to take me to my ultra sound.

They wheeled me into the ultra sound room. Russ was not allowed to go with me. When we got there, they rolled me into a room a little bigger than a broom closet. And then, I waited about 20 minutes for something to happen. I could hear the technician in another room, rummaging around or something, but it took a long time for him to come in to give me my ultra sound. I was not allowed to see the ultra sound. When I asked why, he said it was a policy. My best guess is that if something actually had been wrong, they wouldn't want me panicking. So, I asked him if he could at least tell me if it was moving. After several minutes, he told me that it looked like it had the hick ups, and that it was bouncing all over the place. He took lots and lots of pictures that I didn't get to see. Meanwhile, I studied the ceiling. I wondered if anybody had ever noticed that one of the ceiling tiles was placed the wrong direction. It bothered my OCD. When he'd finished, he wiped of his ultra sound tool, and started to leave the room. I was still lying on my back with jelly all over my tummy. I said, "Umm....could I get a towel?" He said, "Oh, of course", and grabbed one from a shelf on the wall. I wiped my own stomach off, and by the time I'd finished, he was gone. I was still lying on my back, which I know I'm not supposed to do in the second trimester. So, I managed to roll myself onto my side, and layed there waiting. About 10 minutes passed before somebody came to get me. I asked them to sit me up, and they did.

By the time I got back to the room, it was a little after 10. A nurse came in to check on me, and to let me know that they couldn't take the catheter out until the doctor had a chance to look at all the ultra sound pictures, just in case he needed another angle or something, and they had to send me back. So....we waited. For about another hour and a half, I just sat there with the catheter making me uncomfortable, whining to Russ that I wanted it out, and wanted to go home. I was tired, I was hungry, I hadn't felt any cramping in hours, and I felt stupid for being there.

Finally, after 11:30, they came to take the catheter out, and let me know that I would soon be discharged. Yay! A while later, the doctor came in, and discussed the results with me. He said the baby looked fine, I looked fine, and he figured the cramping was probably Braxton Hicks contractions. He said they were probably triggered because I over-exerted myself on Halloween. He essentially put me on bed-rest today. I am allowed to be a little more active tomorrow, but I need to take it easy. Then, I should be fine, as long as I don't over do it again. At long last, a nurse came to take out the IV thing that they never used, and I signed my release paperwork. We left the hospital around midnight. We went by Wendy's so that I could eat something, came home, and went straight to bed.

I did call my OBGYN today, to see if they wanted to schedule a follow up appointment. They told me that unless I have more problems before my next scheduled appointment, I should be okay. So, as of right now, I will be looked at again in about 3 1/2 weeks. For the time being, I am just glad to know that everything is okay, and extra glad to be out of the hospital!