Sprout: Halfway!

That's right, 20wks today. And this week's picture doesn't look much different than last week's. I might even look smaller somehow...

Still experiencing some morning sickness, bleh. But the midwife prescribed a new anti-nausea med that is working better than the last. The last worked great for calming down my stomach, but was giving me terrible headaches. The new drug, reglan, calms my belly and helps me eat more. Which is good, since I still have negative weight gain (in other words, I weigh less now than before I got pregnant).

Sprout moves around, sometimes a lot, sometimes not much at all. I get the most movement after I've eaten something, and things are pretty quiet when I'm laying down. Maybe that means I'm growing another good sleeper - Roland was a great sleeper from day one. I even got scolded in the hospital because he slept for 5 hours straight and I couldn't wake him to feed him. He more than made up for it when he was awake though, so I figured that night nurse was getting agitated over nothing.

Roland is just as active as ever, so sometimes I feel bad because I can hardly keep up with him. More days than not I lay down for at least part of his nap. Luckily his naps have been 3 hours lately, so I still get some time to myself even when I do nap. But I have to be careful with him. He doesn't understand why I won't roughhouse play with him like Daddy, and why I get grumpy when he tries to crawl into my lap and I get a tiny knee in my belly.

Next week is the ultrasound, so we should get to see the baby some. It was supposed to be this week, but dealing with insurance has pushed it back. They'll cover the appointment, so long as the paperwork is filed in their very specific way. Which means a massive pain in the butt for me, I've spent more time on the phone regarding the appointment than I likely will in the appointment. Hopefully they can see everything they want in one appointment so I don't have to go through the insurance again for another scan.

We also see the midwife again next week. I have a long list of questions for her. If it seems we are compatible, then she may agree to take us on for the duration of my pregnancy. This would be neat for two reasons: it would mean the rest of my appointments will be with her, and she will be with me for delivery at the birthing center in Ashland. She is the only midwife in the practice that will deliver in Ashland. The rest of the team only has privileges in the Medford hospitals. So far all the midwives we've met have been great, but we'd prefer a birthing center to the hospital.

20wk belly. Still not much to see.

Sprout: 19 Weeks

I feel like I'm actually starting to show a little. Only took 4.5 months to start looking pregnant, but it took a long time with Roland too.

Morning sickness is still around. Well, it went away for a couple of weeks. I even started to gain back some of the 10 pounds I lost. But then it came back strong, I went 24 hours without being able to keep food or liquid down. When I called the midwife she suggested a trip to the ER, since it was a holiday and the clinic was closed. It took two bags of saline to get me hydrated enough to give a urine sample, plus two doses of zofran to get the nausea to go away so I'd stop throwing up. I was sent home with a prescription for more zofran. The stuff works, but it gives me headaches. Since the nausea was mild most of the day I dealt with that instead of the headache. But since the morning sickness came back my appetite is gone, and I'm losing weight again. The baby is moving plenty, and has a great heart rate, so they aren't too concerned about the weight loss.

I also found out I'm allergic to imitrex. Migraines have been really bad (a reason that slight nausea is easier to deal with than medication induced headaches) this time around, and tylenol is not always enough to stop them. Being pregnant tylenol is my only non-prescription option. So the midwife prescribed imitrex. And I got hives. Won't be taking that again.

Other than the morning sickness and migraines, everything is pretty much normal. Baby kicks are strong enough for me to feel, but not strong enough to be felt from the outside. Sleeping on my stomach is no longer possible.

Roland is kinda understanding. He pulls up his shirt and points to his belly and says "baby." Then he tries to pull up my shirt and says "baby" to my belly too. He's been to the midwife appointments, so he's heard the heart beat. I think that helped him understand that something is going on. I'm sure as I get bigger he'll understand a little more.

Sprout: 14wks

Looking back I see I didn't post much about my last pregnancy. And that was the last time I posted.

And now, pregnancy again. 14 weeks today with this one. We've decided to call the creature Sprout. Because it needs to be called something, and It isn't a great name to be called until it's born and we know the gender and share the name (yep, we're doing that again).

So here we go again. I'm telling myself now I'll try to be better about posting but I'll see how that really goes since this time I'm growing a baby AND raising a toddler. Though we aren't planning to move this time, so maybe we'll feel a little more stable.

Bump shot? More like pudge shot. Starting to fill out a little, so in that looking pudgy stage. Pants still button, by now with Roland that was over. But this time I lost a little over 10 pounds right off the bat, and I haven't gained any back yet. Probably because I still feel a bit green most of the time. Food is not my friend at the moment.

23 Weeks

Not too much of a bump yet, but it is definitely there.  The baby has started choosing sides to be on, and twice now I have had a very lopsided bump.  The first time I was bulging to the left, and the bulge was super hard.  Today when I stood up after helping some kids at school the bulge was on my right side, and again really hard.  Once I get up and walk around the bump evens back out and isn't nearly as hard.  So far Baby only likes to push out when I've been still for a while.  I'll have to try to keep my phone nearby and catch it next time it happens.  I find it to be really amusing, just like that week or so I could see into my belly button while lying on my back. 

21 Weeks

Today is 21 weeks.  That means I am over half way.  Not much to see yet though.  I took this picture this morning.  I am starting to fill in a bit, but nothing big yet.  I'm sure that'll be coming soon enough.  I think I looked bigger in the picture I took last week, but that must have been the result of some lovely baby bloat.

More exciting than the picture is feeling the baby.  Last week I was getting some good kicks and Doug could feel them too.  Yesterday we saw the midwife for my 20wk check-up, and when she was looking for a heart beat baby was kicking at her.  We briefly heard the heart beat before the baby rolled away and started kicking again.  Guess baby was not a fan of the Doppler wand.

Ultrasound

Today we had our half-way ultra sound.  And we got to bring home pictures!

 Profile pic, baby making a fist up in the right hand corner.

 At this point the baby was folded nearly in half.  You can see a tiny foot up in the right corner.

 Thinking about putting it's hand in it's mouth, but it never did.  Later on it had it's toes in the same place.

Bottom of a foot.  The other foot is on top of this one, the whole time the baby was pretty curled up.  The tech said the baby has tons of space in there, but for some reason being curled was more comfortable.

 Face.  The black oval is the baby's mouth.  The nose is to the left, and you can make out they eye indentations.

There is no news on the gender.  Apparently not everyone knows yet that we are not finding out until the baby is born.  I got a couple of text messages after the appointment from people wanting to know what the gender was.

We see the midwife again on Monday for a regular check up.

Someone Keeps Kicking Me

Last week on Friday I felt the baby.  Or at least noticed that those twinges were baby related.  I felt it move a bunch on Sunday when I was sitting around watching the swim meet Doug participated in.  Otherwise it seems to be most active after I've eaten.

Belly at 16wks exactly.  Still no bump.  But this morning I did find that sleeping on my belly has become a little uncomfortable.  Everything is firming up in that area.

And today we went to the midwife again.  We got to hear the heartbeat.  That was neat.  Last time they couldn't find it.

There really isn't anything to see in the video, but you can hear what we heard.  Doug had me hold his phone close to the Doppler when the midwife was listening to the heartbeat.

So now we've seen the baby, heard the baby, and I've started feeling the baby.  

Into the Second Trimester

Last Tuesday marked the start of the second trimester.  And probably the biggest change that happened was last week, when I found my jeans wouldn't button anymore.  Lots of girls have been suggesting belly bands in place of buttoning the jeans.  I had inherited a couple, but wasn't sure where they were so I tried one on at the maternity store.  I was not a fan.  If I wanted to be wearing something that snug, I would button my jeans.  Feeling stuffed into my clothes like a sausage is not comfortable, and I would like to avoid it as long as possible.  I finally came across the couple I was given, but they may be too loose to hold anything up yet.  So hair ties to hold the pants shut and long t-shirts to cover the gap it'll be for now.  Going through some hand-me-downs I did find a pair of maternity pants that I like and that I've been wearing.  They have a two inch band of elastic around the top and are super comfortable.  I hope to find more of the same as needed.

And for a belly pic:

No bump yet, the expansion seems to be pretty well-rounded.  Waist is 2 inches bigger than when I started, but still no weight gain.  Just existing weight shifting around on my body, though I can't say I've identified anything getting smaller.

My next appointment is in a week and a half.  Hopefully I will be meeting the midwife I've been assigned to.  At my last appointment she was attending the birth of another midwife, but was nice enough to call the next day and go over any questions I still had.  The biggest preexisting conditions of concern are the asthma and IBS, but she feels that as long as I can keep both well managed they shouldn't impact my pregnancy.

Carrying a Passenger

As most people who know me know, I have a tiny passenger.  S/he is 12wks, 6 days into gestation as of today.  Pretty soon I'll be out of the first trimester, but I haven't been dealing with too many side effects yet so I'm not sure I'll be feeling loads better when I get there.  Mostly I don't feel anything yet.  I had morning sickness for exactly two weeks, and the IBS is a little more unpredictable than it used to be, but the asthma is as quiet as it normally is.  I have been taking daily naps again, and they tend to be longer than they used to be.  No big deal though, I've always been a big fan of the afternoon nap.

I've worn this shirt twice now.  The first time was at Doug's Honolulu Tri.  The second time was yesterday when he did the half Ironman.  We did this picture at the Honolulu Tri.  Still no bump, but we were just under 11wks.

Went in for my first prenatal appointment at 12wks.  The student midwife looked for the heart beat with a Doppler, but couldn't find it.  So her attending midwife came it and looked longer, but still couldn't find it.  Finally they went and got an OB who could run the ultrasound machine and we got to see the baby instead.  Doug took this photo of the computer screen with his phone.  Baby's head on the left, and you can see a little arm in the middle.  Baby was very active, moving around a whole bunch.  It's still too small for me to feel any movements, but we could make out the heartbeat, two legs and two arms.  No word on the gender yet, can't find that out until it's born.  Well, we could at the 20wk appointment, but neither of us want to know.  We're waiting to share the name until it's born too.

Yikes! Long Time, No Posting

I haven't forgotten about my tiny space over here on the internet.  Every now and then I even start writing a post.  And then before I finish I get distracted and by the time I come back to it three weeks have passed.  Suppose graduate school/student teaching/working/all the other things will do that to a person.  I even still have pictures from New Zealand to share.

Now I am reduced to only two of those things: working and all the other things.  However, all the other things has become a VERY long list due to neglect during the graduate school/student teaching phase.  But I did manage to graduate, all while wearing clean clothes and without withering away due to forgetting to eat.  Somehow.

Which means I am a real teacher now!  I even have my very own class.  Sort of.  I started teaching at Waialua Elementary school up on the North Shore.  The class was already in existence with a teacher and two EAs, but they were going up from 9 kids to 11 and needed another teacher.  I was offered the job at my interview and took it.  The first week I fit in here and there, while I saw what the class had already been doing.  Then the other teacher took the kids who'll be going into kindergarten next year and they started using another classroom for their morning activities.  I stayed in the original classroom with 5 kids who will still be in preschool next year.  At lunch the two groups come together, and then we all stay in the same classroom for naptime.  Not much else happens after lunch.

It has been odd, these last few weeks, to not have homework that needs to be submitted before I go to bed on Sunday.  That first weekend after school started back up I kept feeling like I was forgetting something.  Even so, the weekends still feel too short.  Not because I dread going back to work on Monday, but because on Friday afternoon I have an idea of all stuff I'll be getting done and come Monday morning I realize how little of it actually go done.

This weekend was plenty busy.  I was feeling sick on Saturday and went to the clinic to make sure it wasn't serious.  The doc said while I was contagious, it was a virus so I'd just have to wait it out.  Apparently there has been something going around among small people, and since I spend most of the day with them I probably have the same thing.  She told me I can expect to get worse before I get better and that I should expect it to last about two weeks.  Um, thanks for your help?  Sunday I got up and did a 5k.  I wasn't feeling too bad when I woke up so I decided it would be fine for me to go out.  And the event was good.  It was a fundraiser for epilepsy.  They also had a 100k bike ride that Doug did, and by the time we got home I was exhausted.  I woke up after a long nap feeling even worse than I had on Saturday so maybe the doc was right.

Well, kind of a quick update.  Got more events coming up, so there should be more frequent posts.  Next weekend I am doing a women's 5k, which is part of a longer women's series.  There will also be a 10k in March and a half marathon in April.  Doug and I are also planning a half marathon in March.  And before you go thinking that I must have changed a whole lot since my last post, I haven't.  Sure, these are all advertised as running events, but I am not running.  Instead I am walking.  It doesn't suck.  It might take longer, but so far I have been doing pretty good of maintaining a 15 minute mile, and since I finish before some of the runners I'm probably doing alright.