I finally had my 14 week appointment this morning. We got to hear our kitten's heartbeat on the Doppler for the first time, which means my chance of miscarriage is really low now, about 3%. The doctor was in such a hurry that he was just going to send us off after that, but it had been a month since my last ultrasound, and we really wanted to see the change. So we waited for almost an hour (!) for an ultrasound. I tried entertaining Ken in the ultrasound room by inflating a rubber glove to make myself a rooster comb, and by messing with the equipment. I tend to make him nervous. Anyway, the ultrasound was cool. It was hard to see since my bladder was empty (sound waves travel better through water, don't you know), but we saw a foot, a fist, and spine. It was so difficult to make out that they didn't even bother printing one out for us. Next time, I'm sneaking in a bottle of water with me, because the first thing they always have me do is give a urine sample. You'd think they would wait until after the ultrasound, since it makes such a big difference.
My friend Malia and her cutie pie toddler Alessia visited me at the store yesterday. She was so kind to bring us a few things, like a Baby Bjorn, a baby book, a newborn tee, and some tiny clothes hangers. Such nice friends I have. The tiny little baby things are a reminder that there's a baby at the end of all of this. A little scary.
I'm feeling pretty good though, overall. I will need to get myself a pair of maternity jeans soon, I think. I attempted to do this via my favorite thrift store, Value Village. But of course VV doesn't have dressing rooms. So two pair I've picked up have been all wrong for my size. It's hard to tell with maternity jeans, they fit so different than regular clothes. I'll just keep the with the hair-tie-through-the-beltloop trick until I can break down and buy a pair.
Oh, one last thing from this week- the depression study I'm enrolled in contacted me, and they are keeping me in a group that only gets to answer questions on the phone. No classes, no yoga. I still get paid the $35, at least. Bummersville.
ha @ the rooster comb thing! too bad about the long wait though.
ReplyDeleteI always have trouble keeping my bladder sufficiently full for ultrasounds, because if you poke me in the general area and it's full, something's bound to inevitably come out, dude.
I know! He kept telling me that my bladder was completely empty, yet all that pushing and poking made me need to pee. Weird.
ReplyDeleteSo she/he is a lemon eh? That's pretty big! Can you believe that! I remember being so excited when Lydia started getting larger than rice and nuts. You start to really feel pregnant :) Have you felt kicks yet? It starts off really faint. Very light flutters. I bet by now you can feel it, but you might not know thats what your feeling. I remember orange juice was something I'd always keep on hand when I was pregnant because I'd panic if I didn't feel her kicking for a while...all I'd have to do is drink a glass of OJ and she'd "wake up". If you haven't felt it yet, try drinking a glass of OJ and then lying on your side. Just be quiet like you're meditating. I bet you start feeling fluttering. I remember the exact moment I felt her for the first time. It was one of those times where I could close my eyes and remember everything about that moment. What I had on, where I was, etc. It was a really exciting experience for me.
ReplyDeleteAw, surely they must know that a woman is going to want to use every opportunity to have an ultrasound to get a glimpse of the baby. Did they try to do the ultrasound vaginally? I know, for me, in the beginning especially they had a harder time seeing the baby if they tried doing it via the stomach. Once I found out that the baby was clearer vaginally I always asked to have it done that way (until I was farther along). I ticked a few nurses off but I didn't care. For me, ultrasound day was like Christmas.
One of the times Lydia wasn't in a good spot (she basically had her back to us and would dodge the camera) and they said no to the photo printout but I insisted. Sure it was pretty much a blurry spine, but I didn't care. To me it was the most fascinatingly beautiful blurry spines I had ever seen in my life. And when I got home I stared at that blurry spine for almost an hour. These people need to remind themselves that although they've seen a bazillion ultrasounds, this is all new and extremely exciting to the moms.
Plus how else are we going to learn how to read ultrasound photos online if we don't have something to reference :P (don't ask...it was part of the "crazy" I might have mentioned)
I can remember the first time I heard the heartbeat. That's so cool Leigh! Do you happen to remember what the heart rate was? I remember the first time I heard it Lydia's was 164. Hers was always really high (hovered near 200). One of the gender guessing "myths" is that girls tend to have faster heartbeats. Just something to think about :)
I was never able to find a decent pair of maternity jeans (I think I had one pair that I'd wear when I had to look decent) so I pretty much lived in tights (that weren't tight) and cotton pull up type pants. Comfort was key. Oh, did you try on that bra? If you like it let me know because I have a few more of that style (the criss crossy kind that ultimately didn't work for my monster boobs). I hope I'm not weirding you out, lol.
That stinks that you can't take part in the class/yoga part of the study. Do they offer something like that outside of the classes? Can you tell them that you really wanted to participate in that part of it? If not, try contacting Northside. They might have something similar there. I know back when I was pregnant they had a slew of different types of classes...I dont remember the specifics but there might be something along those lines. If they don't have anything like that ask them if they could recommend something like that.
Oh my....too many words. Sorry :/
ReplyDeleteHi Maddi,
ReplyDeleteI'm not aware of any kicks yet, but I'll be on the lookout. I can't do much orange juice though, too much heartburn!
It was really exciting to hear the heartbeat, it was 165. Ken said it reminded him of Miles when he was little, his heartbeat was so fast when we held him.
Thanks again for the bra. It fits great around the body, but I can't fill out the cups :/ it's comfy for home wear, though.