I apologize that I have not updated in such a long time. So here we go from 20-35 weeks.
20 week 2 day Ultrasound!!
It's a boy for sure! The doctor placed the tranducer on my belly and as soon as he did it was clear that we were having a baby for for sure! He had his butt facing us and we had a clear view of his man parts. If you are a person that does not want to know the sex, I advise that you look away as they are doing your ultrasound.
I will be honest with you and say it wasn't very eventful through those weeks. My eating was on and off, I never had any cravings, and still don't, I was seeing my doctor every 2 weeks, and steadily gaining weight, in an apporpriate way. I didn't really start showing until I was 28-30 weeks in. Infact at 6 months I even participated in a photoshoot and you could not tell at all that I was pregnant. I was excited for that!
At 28 Weeks I went in for a rhogam injection. It wasn't that bad, but burned a lot. That same day I also had my routine appointment and a glucose test (sugar tolerance test). They have you drink a drink, to me it tastes like just a very surgary juice, wait 1 hour and pull your blood exactly an hour after you finished your drink. I was scheduled for this test 2 weeks prior, but due to flooding here and traffic I was 3 blocks away from the hospital at the time I should have been sitting to have my blood drawn. It's very time sensitive so if you don't get there in time, then plan on rescheduling your appointment.
Also at 28 weeks was my first baby shower and the same weekend I got married! I traveled from Philadelphia to North Carolina for my baby shower and small wedding ceremony. It was a beautiful weekend and I'm so pleased at my dear friend that pulled it all off for me. Of course our trip was not complete without being delayed one day due to a blown out tire just as we were getting on the highway.
Again, up until this point the most things that changed were just the weight gain, being able to feel the baby move more, finally some belly growth, and I've continued working as a vet tech. I was moved off the night shift close to 6 months pregnant and placed on day shift as I could not be in radiology or be around for gas anesthesia procedures. Now on day shift I handle in/out patient things, in house treatments, and training. It works for me, but there are days I feel like a beach ball rolling around the clinic getting things done.
30 weeks
I woke up one morning and suddenly my belly had changed?! I walked up to my husband and he looked and agreed something had changed with my belly. I had no pain, no fluid leaks, nothing like that going on just a dropped sort of look. I called my dr's office and was asked to come in that afternoon, but I would have to see a different doctor. She stated that I'd only dropped to (-4), the scale starts at (-5), but that I measured smaller than she would like.
32 weeks
I went in for a growth ultrasound and the baby measured just fine. There was plenty of fluid around him and he was appropriate weight for how far along we were, which was about 4lbs.
The following day I went in for my doctor visit. He was okay with my pregnancy progress, did a routine check, and everything was good. That day I did start to have some of my swelling start early in the morning and both my legs were super swollen. He was not concerned becuase the swelling was even in both legs lol. My doctor is so funny at times. He's very open, matter of fact, not an alarmest, answers my husbands silly questions, wants pregnancy to progress without help unless there is a real risk to mom and/or baby, and always willing to teach. At this point he feels as though my baby is going to be about 7lbs give or take a little, but not much bigger than that. Thank goodess for my vagina!
35 weeks
Now we are up to date. I keep gaining steady weight and it's very hard on me. I've gone from 175 to 200lbs and it's rough. I don't know how people can carry around so much weight on a regular basis. After long 12-14 hour shifts at work My legs are swollen, my feet feel sore and even my knees hurt. Sleeping at night is very hard now. Up to maybe 3 weeks ago I could sleep on my back with no problem and now sleeping on my back takes my breath away. I sleep on my side, but my hips begin to burn and I rotate sides about every hour. The baby stays on my right side so imagine what my shifting uterus feels like when i switch back to my left. Painful! I'm also up just as often to pee. I swear I hate running to the bathroom. Getting up and down is such a chore and so is getting in and out of the car and jeep. I feel like a rollie-pollie. My breasts have also started to grow AGAIN! How is this possible?! I'm at the point where I'm over being pregnant and ready to just have this baby already. I'm also very tired all the time again. Where is this nesting energy people talk about? Hasn't happened over here. Thankfully, knock on wood, I haven't gotten any stretch marks anywhere. I lube up daily with coconut oil and palmers cocoa butter. I'm not sure if that saved me or not because according to my genetics I should have had a crap load of them by now. I've even gone out and sported a bikini several times at the pool.
Other changes- Now that the baby is super head down he presses on the nerves in my vagina quite frequently and I like to compare this to sciatica of the vagina. It sends sharp shooting pains down there and wills top you in your tracks! He also has a great way of rolling up under my rib cage on the right side constantly. Seems like we are both running out of room here. Of course my stomach is displaced so the heartburn is horrible! Tums are my best friend at this point. Eating isn't as easy becuase I can only eat but so much at once. Most of the time my pasta order for lunch lasts for 3 meals for me. Oh, how could I forget.....I walk around frequently with my right hip out of place. This is a feeling that I know for sure because I caused this injury when I was younger in gymnastics. Not fun at all when it's out. I can also hear it pop when that never used to happen. I would have thought that I'd have rip roaring sciatica at this point due to my back problems, but thankfully my lower back has felt pretty good over the last several months. It's my mid back that hurts now due to proper posture and every growing boobs!
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19 Weeks....Where to begin?
For the most part I feel like a normal person again. I will say that I have to pee ALL THE TIME! The smallest amount feels like a gallon is sitting there. I'm assuming this is mainly because the baby is growing inside of me rather than towards the outside. I'm hardly showing at all. I posted a picture last week of what I considered a baby bump and my friend said it looked more as if I had missed a week's worth of crunches. After looking again, I agreed. lol Hopefully this baby actually pops soon and then maybe it will take some pressure off of my insides.
I have no cravings, which I'm assuming is a good thing. My weight has pretty much stayed the same as I was pre-pregnancy. This surprises me because my boobs have really gotten larger, my waist has expanded, I have a slight bump, and of course the baby is growing. I had to break down this past weekend and order in new bras because I can no longer comfortably fit any of my sports bras or regular bras anymore. And due to the growth and looming potential growth I've been really good at lotioning up really well every day.
Sleeping. That's a Joke!
Sleeping has been hard. I can't tell whether my insomnia is back or if it's truly the hormones that have caused the change in my sleeping pattern. Either way I don't really sleep much day or night. I'm awake just about every hour on the hour and it's no fun. Getting in a comfortable position is also harder now because my hips hurt when I lay on my side. I have all kinds of pillows lined up on the bed in attempts at comfort. There's practically no room left on the bed for my fiance. The back pain that I was having from a larger chest has started to subside since I'm beginning to get used to the extra weight and am doing my best to practice proper posture as well.
Toxoplasmosis?
I've worked with animals just about my entire life including having worked in a shelter with lots of cats for about a year. Once pregnant I made sure that I requested a test pulled to check my antibody level. I also own a cat, but I've had him his whole life, he's indoor only, and does not catch gross creatures, and again never steps foot outside. Even with me not being concerned about my cat my fiance has been on litter box duty since day one. My doctor called yesterday morning and surprisingly my results were negative! Negative? Yes, negative meaning I have ZERO exposure to it at all. I was shocked. I guess that just means I've been a very good girl in this field and am very vigilant about washing my hands and not putting things in my mouth. This just means that I will continue to practice with the same precautions and not handle the cat litter at work if at all possible, and if unavoidable, continue doing it with gloves and washing my hands afterward.
Genetic Screening
Typically genetic screening should be done on both mom and dad during the planning phases of pregnancy to screen for any potential unknowns that your child may be effected by. My screening was done in 2 phases a month apart and another part of my doctor call yesterday was the good news that I'm clear of any genetic defects! That makes us a happy camper when it comes to the baby. He didn't really need to be tested. Let's say he did have something we would have to carry the same gene in order for it to have the potential of effecting our child.
What happens next?
Next week I'm scheduled for an ultrasound to check the development of the baby. Luckily I can look in on it because I have access to an ultrasound and work. It's amazing how quickly the baby is growing, moving, and shaping in to looking like a person week by week. At this point I can feel some motion. I was really stressed a few days ago and could really feel the motion. My stress placed a lot of stress on the baby and I have now learned my lesson. I thought we knew what the sex of the baby was at our 12 week ultrasound, but after looking a few other times I could no longer say 100% whether it was a boy or a girl, so hopefully next week that debate will be put to rest by the doctor.
