I am so frustrated with myself for waiting so long to update, because there are so many things that I don’t want to forget about this pregnancy and the things that have been happening in our life lately. So, I am going to attempt to work much harder at updating regularly.
I will be 20 weeks pregnant in 3 days. I stopped feeling nauseous somewhere between 15 and 16 weeks. I have been feeling pretty great lately. I have a bit of reflux type stuff going on, but no heart burn and no nausea. I have pretty much gone back to eating almost everything that I was eating prior to pregnancy. I don’t think there any foods that I am avoiding, like I did in the 1st trimester, which is great! I still have that weird metallic taste in my mouth most of the time, but I think I have just learned to live with it. I am not as tired as I was, but I wouldn’t say that I am bursting with energy. My belly seems to have grown exponentially in the past 4 weeks. It is definitely getting big, and I think it is starting to look more like a pregnant belly and less like belly pudge.
I continue to be amazed every day that I am carrying life inside of me. It’s not that I thought from the very beginning of the pregnancy that I would lose this baby, but I haven’t really allowed myself to think too far into the future. I have just taken one day and one week at a time. I haven’t had any reason to think there would be any problems with this pregnancy, I think it just goes back to years of infertility and then three losses in a row (with the adoption, chemical pregnancy and then miscarriage all within 4 months). While I felt very blessed in most aspects of my life and certainly didn’t consider myself to be depressed, I just learned to expect disappointment, and it’s really hard to change that mindset. Right now, I feel ridiculously, lavishly blessed. I feel like I am living a dream that I don’t want to wake up from. I really cannot remember the last time that I was so happy.
Can we talk about baby movement? It is seriously the coolest thing! I felt absolute, without a doubt movement at 16 weeks, and it has gotten progressively stronger and more consistent since then. I definitely feel it distinctly every day, several times a day. R felt it from the outside a week ago when I was 18 weeks pregnant. We had just laid down in bed, and I was pressing on my belly just below my belly button to feel the uterus. Apparently I woke the little guy/girl up, because it felt like he/she started doing flips. I quickly put R’s hand on my belly and he felt another flip. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He felt a few more kicks and jabs after that. I don’t think he has felt any movement since then, but he tries. He often puts his hand on my belly while laying in bed, but baby hasn’t been cooperating. I have felt movement from the outside a few times myself, a lot of times right after I wake up in the morning.
I had some cramping on Thursday of this week. I wasn’t super worried about it, but it was the first time I had felt any menstrual like cramping. It was slightly uncomfortable to painful at times. I decided to call the doctor’s office, just to be safe. I assumed they would tell me not to worry about it, but if it gets worse to let them know. I was surprised when they told me to come into the office because they can’t evaluate the seriousness of cramping over the phone. I felt kinda silly for seeing the doctor after only 30 minutes of cramping. They checked for a bladder infection (it was negative), and the doctor checked my cervix. Everything looked great, my cervix was long and thick, and I got to hear the baby’s heart beating on the doppler. My doctor said that cramping is normal, but I have to figure out what is a normal level for me. He said to call if it gets worse, of course. The cramping promptly stopped when I got to the doctor’s office and I haven’t felt it since.
Our 20 week ultra sound is scheduled for Monday…..yay!! I am so excited! We had an ultra sound at the pregnancy resource center at 17 weeks. We planned to find out the sex of the baby then, but the baby had other plans. Once we got to the point of checking the sex, the baby had its legs crossed and tucked underneath itself, so we couldn’t see anything. The baby did finally move, but the U/S tech still couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl. She definitely didn’t see boy parts, but she didn’t see the girl parts either. We have thought since the beginning that this baby is a boy, but this made us start to wonder if maybe there is a baby girl growing inside. There is a big difference in the quality of the ultra sound machines at the pregnancy resource center and the doctor’s office, so we should have a much clearer picture on Monday’s ultra sound. I am also looking forward to seeing all of the baby’s body parts and organs, and seeing how the baby has grown. I still have so much more I want to blog about, but I will have to save it for next time.
