Week #34, Maternity Photo Shoot & Doctor Appointment #11

Maternity Shoot:
My good friend Kathryn came over Sunday afternoon to take some pictures of my belly and me, since I'm sort of attached. We were also lucky enough to bribe talk Kevin into getting his picture taken as well. I'm really not much of a camera person, and despite having googled maternity photos, I had no idea what to do or how to position myself, especially considering how many maternity pictures lean towards the sensuality and intimacy of pregnancy (and that just isn't me).

Luckily, Kathryn came to my house with no preset notions, just vague ideas. So what did we do? Kevin and I did a few of the couple poses, both sitting and standing, and we incorporated a couple of props into the picture: a red heart-shaped pillow as well as foam blocks. We used the blocks to spell out "boy," "baby K," and his name. [As an aside, I don't know why I'm so reluctant to post his name on here; several of my friends and family members know his intended name, so it isn't like it is a huge secret, but I find it difficult to reveal it. Superstition, maybe? Or worry that someone will use it first?]

After Kevin left, I changed and the poses became dance oriented; more specifically, ballet. There was some jazz thrown in there, but ballet is a lot easier for me at this point, lol. We tried some different poses with props stolen from the kid's room: a toque ("Dude"), a bib ("I'm the Captain!"), and a onesie. We also did way more playing around with the blocks, spelling out everything from "boy" to his due date to his first and last names! It was so much fun! Even my cats swarmed me at one point while I was lying down!

I think having a trusted friend behind the camera allowed me to relax and laugh, so I think that when I finally see the pictures I'll have the results I want, not just some awkward poses and forced smiles.

Doctor Appointment:
On Wednesday I had my doctor's appointment with Dr. Cosio (who is amazing, btw). Do you ever remember someone as looking completely opposite of what they actually do? I had envisioned Dr. Cosio as an older woman who was graying or who had started dyeing her hair blonde (to cover the gray). Instead, she was probably in her 30s with brown hair and very slight blonde streaks. I hadn't seen Dr. Cosio for several months (not since my 9th week, to be exact) so it's an understandable mistake, but I used to have an amazing memory of what people look like. I guess that's gone now too, lol.

It was a standard checkup, and I learned that my belly size is bang-on for how far along I am! This is fantastic since I've always been curious about how big my belly is. The kid's heartrate was 145 bpm, which is about what it was last week, and he's still head down. My blood pressure is good, which means my insanely high heart rate (still 95!) is normal. The doctor did suggest that I watch my blood sugar intake for the last while of my pregnancy, since I was borderline for gestational diabetes. I do honestly want to follow her advice, but I have horrible eating habits, meaning my good intentions will fly out the window at my next meal. I also don't want to have a monstrous baby, so really that should be my motivation for cutting down the sugar.

My next appointment (March 22nd - one month from my due date!) will include a cervical swab checking for Group B streptococcus. This is quite a common infection and usually doesn't affect the mother; however, during the birthing process it is possible for this bacteria to pass onto the baby, which has the potential to cause neurological damage due to the baby's lowered immune system. If I do have this bacteria, I will be given IV antibiotics every 4 hours during labour that will cross the placenta to boost baby's immune system.

After my next appointment I will be seeing the doctor every week until the kid arrives. So close now!

My Opinion:
My feet are swollen again. I'm now convinced that it's weather-related, and that my feet act like a barometer of sorts. Unfortunately I haven't figured out what causes them to swell since it just sort of randomly happens. Maybe spending too much time on my feet over a couple days causes them to balloon? And, oddly enough, it's my left foot that is the most swollen. I guess I'm lucky that it isn't both. I almost think I have stretch marks on the bottom of my feet too - plus on my navel between the holes where my piercing sat for 10 years.

Sleep has been...weird. There have been a few days where I sleep but don't feel rested, and other days where staying in bed helps me feel more awake the next day, but it takes me a while to fall asleep that night. And then there was Tuesday night, where I barely slept but woke up feeling fine. I still sleep mainly on my back, but I have been able to sleep for an hour or two on my side later in the night.

Also, I've been cleaning in my dreams. Is this some sort of subconscious nesting that has finally taken root? I've been baking like crazy (compared to before - so maybe once or twice a week) and figured that was my form of nesting, but I guess cleaning isn't far behind, lol.

Development:
He's getting big! The kid should weigh in around 2.146 kg (or 4.73 lbs) and should be around 45 cm (or 13.38 inches) long by now. My uterus should be about 14 cm above my belly button and 34 cm above my pubic symphysis (and I'm assuming it is).

He's now developing his own immune system to help him out once he's born, and his little fingernails are now reaching the ends of his fingers. They may even need to be trimmed a few days after birth. When he's born his eyes will appear blue, but they should (I'm hoping!) darken after he's a couple weeks old.

Oh, wtf? Apparently my amniotic fluid level has peaked, so from now on the baby will be taking over and I "will really start to feel every movement that [my] baby may make." I'm so screwed since it already feels like I feel every movement. As a result my skin will be stretched to the maximum, and this stretching will also cause my skin to feel itchy (yes) so it's best to stay moisturized.

In case you were curious, no, he hasn't dropped yet. I have mixed feelings about when he drops: on one hand I'll get to breathe again, but, on the other hand, the pressure on my bladder will get worse.

Misc:
Oh, hey! I just added a "Comments" section to my Belly Pics page, so feel free to leave one if you are so inclined.

I'm also going to have to start raiding Kevin's drawers for t-shirts, since mine are no longer long enough. The maternity wear shirts are fine, but just my normal ones? Nope. This kind of sucks since I don't want to go out and buy new clothes to only wear them for the next month or two - good thing Kevin is so much bigger than me.

Also, Kevin and I bought a 5 pack of onesies (or diaper shirts, if you will) from Costco last night - they are so cute! They have little racecars on them and they vary from solids to stripes (and sometimes the racecars make the stripes). Yeah, I still get giddy seeing baby clothes, lol.

Week #32 - 8 months

My Opinion:
Heh. I had that written down as IMHO (In My Honest Opinion) and then realized it looked like "I'M a HO" so I changed it.

I have solved the swollen feet fiasco! My office desk is situated so that the vent blows hot air onto my feet - which is great when I'm cold; however, with my pulse running at 90 bpm or higher my feet are never truly cold, and this caused them to swell. Like crazy. The past few days I've been working on my course stuff out in the living room and the swelling has disappeared. It's awesome!

My lower back and right hip have been causing me grief and I haven't figured out how to get around that yet. I've even tried sleeping on my side, but only after falling asleep on my back first - otherwise the heartburn kills me. Regardless of which position I fall asleep in, if I wake during the night my back feels stiff and cramped. My hips ache when I use my legs to help me roll over, so I'm assuming it'll either get worse or I'll find a way to make it bearable.

I've been feeling super tired lately, yet when I go to bed I have a difficult time falling asleep. If I find myself wide awake at 5 in the morning, I usually get up to go to the bathroom (might as well) but then when I lie down again, the kid has woken up and goes nuts. I've also been shuttling Kevin to work this week so it could be that my body is just complaining.

Development:
This week the kid is 1.702 kg (or 3.75 lbs) and is 42.4 cm (or 16.7 inches) long. My uterus should also be about 12 cm above my belly button and 32 cm above my pubic symphysis. I have currently gained around 26.5 lbs, but I was told (complimented?) earlier this week by Kevin's boss: he told me that I finally looked pregnant. I told him that I figured I'd have to at some point, and this seemed like a good time, lol.

This week my boy will be able to register on all 5 of his senses, he'll open his eyes in bright light and close them in dark (like a budgie!), and his toe nails should now be fully formed.

They go on to talk about how I must have felt Braxton Hicks contractions by now - but other than calling them spasms (or a tightening of the belly) that I may or may not have felt since I was 6 weeks along, I have no idea wtf they're talking about. Maybe if I'd been pregnant or given birth once before I'd know, but this is entirely useless information as far as I'm concerned. I do however notice when he kicks me in the ribs or has hiccups (or are those Braxton Hicks?).

Misc:
Time to figure out what to pack for the hospital! And what I want to do for a birth plan; thankfully I finally found a useful link for that aspect. Kevin and I (mainly my idea) decided to nix the prenatal classes since all the reviews I've heard have been negative. A couple of people have mentiond that they'd learned one useful thing, but I figure if all you can learn is 1 useful thing out of a 6 week program (slated at 1 hour each), then that's not a good enough reason to go. Especially when that person can just tell me that one useful thing, lol.

I have heard positive things about the delivery staff though, and if (hah!) I'm in pain I doubt I'll remember any of that information anyway, so I might as well be coached through it without hearing about the gory details. I somehow managed to make it all the way through high school without seeing the delivery videos, so I'll skip them now when they're a little more relevant. Besides, the internet contains heaps of information, and I'm a smart kid, so it isn't like I'm going in blind. I'm even debating creating a birth plan since even those carefully laid plans can be easily tossed aside.

Oh! I'm getting my maternity pictures taken tomorrow afternoon! Yay!

Doctor Appointment #6

I really like the doctors that I've been seeing for my prenatal visits, have I ever mentioned that?  Dr. Fredeen is such a cool guy and he also happens to play basketball in the same rec league as Kevin.  I feel like when my doctors are meeting with me that they genuinely care about how things are going with me and the baby, and that they aren't rushing through my appointment.  And if I bring up a concern, no matter how abstract, they take the time to listen and talk to me about it. 

Above all, they make me feel important and safe.  So if you live in the area and need a baby doctor, I highly recommend him.  Dr. Cosio and Dr. Breckman (who share the office with him) are absolutely wonderful too.  And! I found a "Rate Your M.D." link that has nothing but wonderful things to say about Dr. Fredeen, so if you can't take my word for it, have a read. :)

I had a normal appointment today: Dr. Fredeen asked how things were going and I mentioned the hip pain.  He suggested that it was round ligament pain and I said that I had thought as much.  On the plus side, he said that it shouldn't be bothering me as much the further along in the pregnancy that I got, which was good to hear!  And once I thought about it, I did realize that it takes more for it to bother me - I thought it was just because I was getting out more often, but I guess it's just my body adjusting.  He measured the baby's heart rate, and though it was higher than last time (at 160 bpm), it was still in the normal range.  I mentioned that during the ultrasound the heart rate was at 150, so I hope that the boy was moving around a lot at that point and that it isn't anything bad.  I imagine that I would hear back about the results of my ultrasound (whether good or bad) within a few days.

My next appointment is December 28th and I'll be nearly 24 weeks at that point.  I'm going to do the glucose screening test which will determine whether or not I'm at risk for gestational diabetes.

Week #17

I am nearly 100% sure that I can feel the baby move, but it usually only happens at night when I'm trying to get comfortable to sleep.  It feels like my heart is racing when it happens, so I don't know if the baby's movements are speeding my heart (is that possible?!) or if my racing heart is making me think that I'm feeling the baby move.  Another good visual is a muscle spasm: you know that twitch when a muscle is spasming out of control?  It's like that, but on the inside.  Kevin isn't able to feel it yet, but I googled time frames and it is usually between 20-30 weeks that someone else can feel movement.  Some have felt it as early as 17-19 weeks, so I'm hoping he'll be able to feel it sooner rather than later. 

We don't really have a nickname for our baby (e.g., spud, peanut, viper, etc) but whether our baby is a boy or a girl, the name is going to start with "K" so I may just start referring to it as Baby K instead of just baby or it.

This week Baby K is 13 cm from crown to rump and about 140 grams (nearly 5 oz), which is double what it was 2 weeks ago.  My uterus is about 2 inches below my belly button and is definitely visible.  I'm still not in maternity clothes, but my jeans are snugger and it's just more comfortable to wear stretchy pants.  I did try on a maternity shirt on Sunday, but it made me look twice as big as I am, so I'm going to put that away until my belly is bigger.  Plus, air was blowing up my shirt and making my belly cold (which it usually is, btw).  I haven't gained the 5-10 lbs that my website has hypothesized, but I've definitely gained at least 3 lbs (I weighed myself a couple days ago - and I've been tracking my weight and measurements out of curiousity).

Baby K keeps looking more and more human and its weight will increase 6 fold over the next several month.  Fat deposits (AKA adipose tissue) will become more evident, which is great since fat tissue helps aid metabolism and heat production.

One of the major symptoms of this stage in my pregnancy is fatigue - but it should improve over the next few weeks.  Thank goodness.  Moderate exercise should help, but due to sore joints I've missed my classes this week and will probably only do drop-in dance, starting December.  That's going to suck, but it'll be cheaper since I'm usually missing one class per week anyway.

How am I feeling?  Mainly tired, but this past week I've also been feeling sore.  My right hip socket (along the bikini line) has been feeling tender, so I googled it and it is most likely round ligament pain.  And my lower abdomen has been a little sore too, but that's normal as well.  Between the two ailments I feel uncomfortable sitting for too long and walking can be painful.  Twisting side-to-side is definitely out of the question.  All in all, I feel like an invalid and am so thankful that I'm not working right now. 

Any weird food cravings?  No, but I wouldn't mind going to Than Vu or out for butter chicken. :-)

Mood swings?  If I had written this last night, I could've said "no".  But, I think the problem is that I'm home all day and don't get out as much as I used to.  Plus, I didn't dance at all this week, so I didn't get my talking fix in then, which led to me feeling super isolated and alone.  And fighting with Kevin about it.  So, to solve this problem, I need to get out more or at least do more at home (not just watching tv!).

Any baby purchases?  ... no?  But we're going to West Edmonton mall tomorrow so that may change.

What about the nursery?  No change.  My mother-in-law offered to buy us a crib with an attached change table (instead of the one posted last week) but we declined.  We weren't going to buy a change table anyway and most people just use their floor (with a change mat, of course) out of fear of the baby falling off.  One of these days we'll have to get that nursery started though - preferably before I'm 8 months along.

Doctor Appointment #5 & Fetal Heart Rate #2

Today was just a routine checkup and Q&A with the doctor.  I had a medical student in today, and she seemed pretty nervous (but trying to hide it) so I ended up feeling even more comfortable chatting with her.  The doctor I had today was Dr. Breckman and she was really nice too.  Under her supervision, she had Anamaria (the student) feel for my uterus.  And I was able to learn how they do it!  She said that she feels along the pelvis until she reaches a "ridge" or "drop off" and that's how she knows.  Cool, hey?  And apparently my uterus is 18 inches from pubic bone to top. 

We did another fetal heart rate today and baby must've been sleeping since the heart rate was 144 bpm.  However, it is my understanding that the larger the baby, the slower the heart rate, so it makes sense.  And over 140 bpm is considered a girl, lol.

My ultrasound is scheduled for November 30th (yay!) and my next doctor's appointment won't be until December 2nd, which is the same week.  And at that point I'll be 20 weeks (or 5 months).

Doctor Appointment #4 & Fetal Heart Rate #1

I heard the heart beat today. *loves!*  According to Dr. Fredeen, the average speed was 155 beats per minute and he even said that he could hear the baby moving around.   Also, according to this website, I'm having a girl based on the heart rate!  LOL!  Anyone want to change their guesses for the baby pool?  ;)  I'm getting my 18 week ultrasound done on November 30 (which would actually put me at nearly 20 weeks. /lame) but we've requested gender identification.  Actually, having it done a little later might mean that it'll be easier to tell - unless the kid squirms a lot, lol.

I nearly had to do another round of blood testing, since the lab didn't send the clinic my results.  I would have been really upset if I had to go back, considering how much it hurt last time.  Luckily, the receptionist was able to find it all.  The results of the blood work were that everything was normal; I'm HIV negative (no real doubt, but it's always nice to know for sure!) and I'm producing tons of rubella antigens, which is good since I was vaccinated against them when I was younger.

(Oh, and PS - I asked the Dr how fast the heart rate is, but it was very faint in the video, so that's what the 155 is when he answers).

All around, excellent day, except for the horrible bout of morning sickness this morning. :(