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