Pregnancy - Second Trimester

I drove to Ann Arbor on Saturday to attend Arianne's shower. There were three pregnant women in attendance. Sean took a few pictures of Ari and I (and our bellies). I don't get to see Ari often enough, but I hope that our babies will be as good of friends as what Ari and I are.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

Some time in the middle of the night, the pain subsided. This morning it elevated to merely a dull ache, versus a stabbing pain. The doctor said that the urinalysis came back negative (no infections) and since the pain lessened that I am to keep an eye on it, but that it is probably muscle and tissue aches from all of the growing that is going on (I think that my belly has doubled in size in the past few weeks). I really do hope that is all it is, because yesterday was a very scary day. It has been a long time since I have prayed THAT many times in one day.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

At about 2:30 pm I stood up at work and had an excruciatingly sharp pain coming from my left lower abdomen. I tried standing in my cubicle for a while, then walked to the bathroom (holding my side and obviously looking pained, because several women followed me in and asked if I was in labor). I walked around in the bathroom for a good 20 minutes, but the pain was not subsiding. I checked and there was no blood or other discharge so I went back to my desk to call my mother (of course). Mom told me to call the doctor. The doctor ordered a urinalysis and then bed rest for the rest of the night. If the pain didn’t subside or if there was unusual discharge or blood they said to call.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

Before getting pregnant I always wondered why pregnant women always say "I'm 18 weeks pregnant" and not just say "I'm 4 months pregnant." Now I completely understand. Getting through each week is a huge milestone in pregnancy, so it makes perfect sense to count each week that you successfully complete. Now that I've turned into a week counting pregnant woman (18w5d to be exact) time seems to go by sooo slow. Each day is a milestone, let alone getting to a new week.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

My books and a few friends have stated that I should feel the baby around 14 weeks. Well, I haven’t felt anything yet. There are times when I thought that I felt the baby, based upon descriptions that it should feel tingly or like butterflies. Unfortunately, those feelings that I thought were the baby aren’t there anymore and didn’t last more than the one time. I feel like I am missing something now that I am at 18 weeks and still haven’t actually felt the baby moving inside me.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

According to the weather, we were supposed to get a lot of snow this weekend, so we worked on getting all of our leaves raked up. Brian threw out his back, so he can barely walk, let alone bend, and I do not bend very well with this big belly. I must have looked funny to passersby with my legs spread apart and bending at my knees trying to pick up the leaves and put them into the bags. I don’t recall every having to rake leaves into bags (being from the country where they either go back into the woods or are burned). Let me tell you, we didn’t like the process. We filled twelve bags of leaved and still didn’t pick up the ones from the other side of the sidewalk. Now my pelvis and inner thighs are so incredibly sore that some things are downright painful to do (i.e., bending, going from the sitting position to standing, etc).

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

I did three different tests that they have out there (just for fun) to try and predict what we'll be having. According to the Chinese predictor (based on my Chinese age, which is 30 when I am really only 28 and date of conception): Gender = GIRL. According to the old wives' tale predictor (a questionnaire of 15 different wives' tales: Gender = GIRL. According to the heart rate predictor: Gender = GIRL.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

We got all of our blood tests back from the second part of the sequential screening and cystic fibrosis and everything came out negative. I am not a carrier for cystic fibrosis, which means that Brian and I will never have a child with CF (you have to both be a carrier for this recessive trait to appear). Our sequential screening also came back negative (I forget all of the diseases that this one checked for, but none were present in the blood). My glucose, sodium and protein are all normal as well (which shocks me because of my cravings for salty things – I have purchased as much “low sodium” food as possible to combat this).

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

I talked to a woman at work today (in the bathroom of all places) who didn’t find out until her 20 week ultrasound that she was carrying twins (she had previous ultrasounds but apparently it didn’t show). Can you imagine? I sure hope that we aren’t in for a surprised like that on December 4.

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

We had another doctor’s appointment today. This was a pretty regular appointment that only included a urinalysis and heart rate check. My protein and glucose levels remain normal. I have gained more weight than the average this last month, so I have to watch that. (I blame it on the fact that we only had 5 trick-or-treaters.) The baby’s heart rate was in the 140 bpm range. Our next appointment will be December 4, 2008 at 2:45pm and will be both an ultrasound and a check-up with the doctor. The ultrasound will hopefully be our chance to see whether or not we are having a boy or a girl (I’ll have to coax the baby into being cooperative).

Pregnancy - Second Trimester

I had a dream last night that is clearer than any dream I have ever had. My dream was about the delivery and early baby days. The baby was definitely a girl – and I still have the picture in my head of what her face looked like (pudgy cheeks, brown hair, brown eyes, my nose, normal ears, perfect white complexion – obviously grammie hadn’t gotten to her yet to kiss her cheeks). She looked about a month old when the nurse handed her to me. I keep calling the baby a boy because I just have this feeling that it is, but when stuff like this dream comes up, I can’t help but thinking it is a girl. Oh, I am just so impatient. I really want to know.