Why I'm Angry with my OB (well, not anymore)

It's amazing how much your relationship changes with your OB after you get pregnant. This person goes from a dreaded once-a-year torture-bearer to your best friend. I found my OB's office long before I got pregnant. To be honest, I didn't really search very much, I just looked up who took my insurance and went from there.

I ended up finding an office that I really liked and made my first appointment with my new Dr. This appointment is kind of my beginning marker of our journey through trying to conceive as I went to her to put an end to my 99 day cycle (I cringe just thinking about it). I saw her through three cycles, two with Clomid, until we moved on to our amazing RE. When I finally came back to her, I was pregnant!

I had had many conversations with her regarding my feelings on labor & delivery. She was totally on board with my feelings and opinions (more on that in another post) and I was happy. I hadn't felt that bond that a lot of women talk about when they refer to their OB, but I figured it was because I hadn't actually had a baby yet. Then, at my 16 week appointment she proceeded to tell me that she was moving offices! Needless to say, I was a little shocked and, to be honest, a little angry. I chose her partially because she delivered at hospitals that were close to my house and now she was picking up and moving to another hospital 40 minutes away!

So started my dilemma. Do I stay? Or do I go? I was really struggling with this and several other decisions that we were making at the time (January was a pretty hectic and stressful month) and was just frustrated about the whole thing. Well, after Rob and I decided it was time to start interviewing doulas (again, more on that later) we heard from several of them that my Dr.'s partner was EXCELLENT. I heard nothing but glowing reviews about her and so I decided I should at least give her a chance. So, I changed my next appointment so I could see her instead of my current Dr. Much to my chagrin, I had to push my much-anticipated big ultrasound off another week, but I am SO GLAD I did.

I am in LOVE with my new Dr. She is absolutely perfect in every way. I feel so comfortable with her and I couldn't be happier with my decision. She's been super helpful and supportive. I love that fact that she has paid to put several of the nurses at the hospital she delivers at through doula training and how completely her beliefs match mine.

So, I'm not angry with my OB anymore. And, I have yet another occasion of proof that God truly does have a plan.

22 Weeks

Baby is now the size of a... Papaya!!

Fruit size no longer changes weekly. So, we're going to stick with the papaya for about a month.

Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day.

I'm still feeling great! I think I must be the luckiest pregnant lady around. I try not to let things bother me and that makes me super happy! I've had some stretching pains this week and I'm beginning to wonder if my belly button will end up an innie or an outie. I'd say the only thing I can complain about is my frequent trips to the bathroom. I joked that I should just put my desk at work in the bathroom since that's where I seem to be spending most of my time. It's kind of frightening to know it's only going to get worse.... My maternity clothes are starting to fit much better now. I don't look like I'm drowning in them at least! Baby is moving around all the time still and I love every minute. I think he's still small enough to be somersaulting and I think he flips between breech and head down often. I sometimes will feel him tap dancing on my bladder and other times I feel the taps way up high. Speaking of way up high, I feel things much higher up with each passing day. It's amazing to think about this tiny little being in my belly! I'm so blessed.

Here I am a 22 weeks! No, this is not actually what a wore out of the house today. It's a pair of leggings and the most amazingly long cami from H&M. They were under a dress.

And... a little hint of the first baby project I'm working on...

Onesies for a Math Teacher's Child

I'm in love with these:

Personal Fave.

Ha. Heh. Hee. Ho. This is SO corny...

(10 Points if you know what this says!)

Not that my mom actually makes a lot of pie, but still cute.

I'd kind of like to make this into t-shirts for my student IRL...

I have a poster just like this in my classroom.

I think I've asserted enough of my nerdy side for one day... ;)

20 & 21 Weeks

WE ARE HALFWAY THERE!!!

I can't believe that I'm halfway through this pregnancy. I am so extremely excited and I can't wait to enjoy the rest of it. I am one happy pregnant lady! 

Let's talk about baby!

20 Weeks

Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

21 Weeks

Baby's digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion, and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, if baby is a girl, her womb is now stocked up with her lifetime supply of six million eggs (the number will drop to around one million by birth).

I'm still feeling pretty awesome. I have to admit, I feel kind of huge for only being 21 weeks, but I don't have much of a torso, so the only place this baby can go is out. I'll take it though, I LOVE my bump. I've been having some hip pain, but nothing terrible and sleeping is definitely sporadic. I get really good sleep one night and really terrible sleep another night. It's times like this where I wish we would have forked out the money for a king size bed. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I can't stretch out like I want to. 

I figured this would be a good time to update my Q&A:

How far along?: 21 weeks
How big is baby?: See above. ;)
Weight gain/loss?: 8 pounds at my appointment on Tuesday
Stretch marks?: Still none, though I have marks on my boobs that freak me out a little occasionally. I don't think they are stretch marks
Maternity clothes?: Yep. Most pre-preg shirts are out because they are too short and pants must be unbuttoned with the belly band or maternity!
Sleep?: Hit or miss
Food cravings?: Fruit! I'm loving strawberries. I think I'm craving naturally sweet things.
Gender?: Everyone says boy right now...
Movement?: All the time! He's a little wiggle worm. 
Belly button?: Still an innie, but getting shallower by the week.
What are you looking forward to this week?: I already got what I was looking forward to: an ultrasound!

Speaking of ultrasounds... we got to see our baby again this week!

I have kind of mixed feelings about our ultrasound for a variety of reasons. First, I'll update on the baby. He's measuring right on track! All of the organs, etc. are looking great. It's such a relief to know that he's doing well in there. There was a moment that scared me a little when the Dr. said that we need to come in for a repeat ultrasound in April. Apparently, there are cysts on his brain. She said these are very common and 98% of the time they resolve themselves, but she just wants to make sure that does indeed happen. She said not be worried, so I'm not. Well, trying not to be. I won't deny that it pops into my head and the what-if's start going, but she didn't seem worried and I don't have any gut feelings that I should be worried to. So, I'm just going to rest in the fact that we are growing a healthy baby!

My other disappointment came from the ultrasound in general. I'm almost tempted to call and complain about our ultrasound tech, but I think a lot of this may just be hormones with a bit of selfishness mixed in. We were SO EXCITED about our ultrasound and got to the office really early. We were called back and she started everything. She said she was going to go through and take some measurements and then give us some pictures. She did her thing for about a half and hour not saying ANYTHING. So, finally I started asking questions, you know? What am I looking at? I could get an idea, but occasionally I wasn't sure and wanted to know. Then she yelled at me! She told me not to talk to her because I was causing her to lose concentration and she couldn't remember which measurements she had gotten and still needed to get. I was a little taken aback. So, I shut-up. Then she spent about 5 minutes trying to get a profile shot, printed it off, and sent us on our way. I don't know, I was just really disappointed and felt like I walked out of there without really having gotten any time to connect with my baby? Does that make sense? I mean, I was really wanting to interact with him and get to know him and without her to talk to me and give us some quality time I felt like I was just staring at a screen for no reason. I mean, I knew we were looking at our baby, but, I don't know. I'm disappointed.

On a happier note, Rob finally got to feel the baby move!! He was so excited!

Also, I've got some updates on some posts in the works. More to come soon!

Boy? Girl? Bald-headed Squirrel?

Remember when you were a kid and out jump-roping on the playground? You always jump-roped to some sort of crazy rhyme and over the years they evolve with the upcoming generations creating new versions that leave you thinking, "What happened to the good-old days? When all Cinderella went upstairs for was to kiss a fella?" I won't go into what changes I've heard to that song from random children on playgrounds but, one that's sort of cracked me up and has been an ongoing joke between my teacher colleagues is the one where "Mama's gonna have a baby." Remember that one?

Well, when I was a kid, it went something like this (with my adult-brained interjections included):

Fudge, Fudge, call the judge, Mama's gonna have a baby. (Why are we calling a judge? And who is Fudge? Is Fudge even a person? Or is that a form of a word that we weren't allowed to say in which case I was too naive to know any better?)
Wrap it up in toilet paper (WHAT!?!?!?!?)
Send it down the elevator (Uh.....)
What do you think it was? (Sheesh)
Boy? Girl? Twins? Triplets?
Repeat.

Okay, now that you've actually read and remembered the little rhyme we all used to jump-rope to and have processed it with maybe as much shock as I did when I really actually thought about what I was chanting when I was 7, I'll let you in on how this one has evolved on our playground. It's really quite simple. Could it be a boy? Maybe. Could it be a girl? Maybe. But, twins and triplets have been nixed off the list and replaced with the fantastic image of a bald-headed squirrel.

How on earth does this relate to my baby? Well, the kids all ask me what my baby is and I usually responded with a simple, "It's a surprise!" Then, one day, I remembered this chant from the playground and decided that Since it's unknown whether it's a boy or girl at this point, it is a bald-headed squirrel. Needless to say, I immediately regretted my decision as it took me approximately 7 minutes and 32 seconds to regain control of my library. True story.

In all seriousness, one of the first questions people ask is whether we're going to find out the sex of our baby.

Our answer is simple. No.

These conversations usually proceed along the lines of either: "Why?", "I could never wait to find out, I don't know how you'll do it.", "That's not fair! How will I know what to buy your baby?", etc.

My response is also simple. "Because we want to.", " I'm a patient person.", "Too bad.", etc.

There are many reasons why the sex of our baby is going to remain a mystery, and believe me, it was a topic of great discussion. Mostly, it boils down to the fact, that we don't want to miss out on that moment of announcing "It's a _____!!!" to all of our surrounding friends and family and even to ourselves the moment our little gift arrives. We've thought about just finding out ourselves, but goodness knows that information WILL slip my lips at some point in time, so we're just going the old-fashioned way.

Like I've said before, I'll probably refer to the baby as a "he" on the blog because "it" just doesn't sit right with me and I haven't given him a creative name to otherwise go by.

Do I have any inklings? No, although I find myself saying that the baby will probably be a girl simply because I've always imagined my first baby as a boy and everyone knows just how much little girls terrify me. But, we currently have a battle of grandma's (well, I guess great-grandma's) going on (both of whom have never been wrong) one of which says our baby will be a boy and the other swears a girl. As for me and Rob, we are content to just sit back and enjoy the ride with images of holding the most beautiful baby in our arms - boy or girl.

19 Weeks

What a week! Not much to update on baby, but we've had quite the winter storm here in St. Louis. After being trapped in the house for two days, we got the nursery painted!! Update to come later...

This week, baby is the size of a mango!!

It's so hard to believe that our baby has already grown so much. I'm getting so excited about the things we have in our future, it's just so amazing. Aside from the development of vernix caseosa (or as Rob's family calls it - cottage cheese) there's not much new with baby this week. Since most of his major organs/systems/etc. are already developed, he's going to spend a lot of time just growing now.

As for me, I'm great! I've got some awesome energy and the baby is moving like crazy. I absolutely love to feel his little kicks and wiggles. I've actually started to be able to feel it and see it from the outside now, but Rob hasn't seemed to be around at the right moment yet. Soon though, I'm sure! I've definitely had some major pregnancy gas (TMI, I know) and sleeping seems to make me a little stiff. I definitely don't get the full night's sleep I used to, but I'm sure it's only going to get worse!

We've also made some really good progress on some decision-making which I'll share with you later.

Until then, here I am at 19 weeks!