Sweet 16

Today marked the 16th week, and Jarrett and I went to my third midwife appointment (I saw Robin again) this afternoon. It was another quickie -- peed in a cup, had my blood pressure taken, weighed in (had gained two pounds since the last visit), and then went in to the room to talk to Robin. We had to decide today whether we wanted to have the maternal serum screening done, which tests for three birth defects -- neural tube defect, down syndrome, and trisomy 18. Margaret had told me during my first visit, and Robin told us again today, that this test really just gives you your odds of having a baby with one of these birth defects, and ends up scaring you more than anything else. Jarrett and I decided against it, and will just continue to pray that our baby is perfect. Jarrett was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time, which sounded just as amazing to me this time as it did the first time I heard it. I told her that I occasionally feel dull cramps, but said that I had read in my books that this is normal, and Robin confirmed that, yes, this is just my uterus expanding in size.

The greatly anticipated 20-week ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday, April 24, so we hope to find out the sex of the baby then. We'll pray that the little sea monkey isn't too modest and that its legs aren't crossed or something. My next regular appointment with the midwife is on Tuesday, April 29. I believe both of these appointments are with Margaret, but we left the office a little confused as to whether she was actually going to do the ultrasound. I guess we'll find out in about four weeks!

The BellaBand

Today is a big day -- I'm officially wearing the BellaBand. The pants I'm wearing today are just a bit too unbearable buttoned all the way to the top. I can button that top button, but this is proving to be much more comfortable. Could this be the beginning of the popping-out phase? People keep telling me that I still don't look like I'm pregnant, but something is obviously changing (and it's obviously easier for me to recognize these changes than it is from an outsider's perspective). Anyway, a big thanks to Alison for letting me borrow her black BellaBand -- I think it will get much use!

Belly Shot Numero Dos

Here is my belly at 12 weeks. Looks a bit bigger, don't you think? Maybe? I guess it might help if I stood in the same direction for every photo. :)

Twelve-Week Appointment

I had my second appointment with the midwife today -- the second of the three midwives, Robin -- for my twelve-week appointment. It was a quick one -- I was in and out of the office in about 20 minutes or so. I had to pee in a cup, and then I went into one of the examination rooms, immediately followed in by Robin, who I met for the first time. She was very nice, and she proceeded to ask me if I had any questions. I asked her if it was okay for me to continue to work on the weight machines at the Y, and she said I could continue to do anything I was used to doing. I also asked if the next ultrasound would be done at 20 weeks, and she confirmed that was the case, and that it would be the only other ultrasound unless any complications arose. She then took a look at the last ultrasound picture to confirm the due date, and then used the Doppler device to find the baby's heartbeat. As soon as she touched my belly, we immediately heard the little heart beating away. She said it sounded perfect (I thought so too). The last thing we did was go over the test results from the last visit. I found out my blood type is O negative, which is something I was not previously aware of. Apparently this means that I will have to get a shot at some point during the pregnancy as a safety measure in case any unplanned bleeding occurs and my and the baby's blood were to mix at any point. I will then have to have another shot after the baby is born. I guess I'll find out more about this later. All other tests came back good... I don't have syphilis, no hepatitis, hemoglobin counts were good, I'm not a carrier for cystic fibrosis, I'm HIV negative, the pap came back clean -- you know... all the good stuff. Oh -- and I hadn't gained a pound since the last visit. Kind of funny considering how much more food it seems I've been eating lately. Yeah, I'm sure it will catch up with me -- although I am trying to make a point of eating relatively healthy foods. Giving up fried food for Lent has definitely helped. It's not that I ate a ton of fried food before, but I love those I did eat on occasion -- tortilla chips, fried pickle chips (a relatively new discovery), Five Guys fries, Brick Store fish and chips, falafel. Surprisingly, I'm surviving without them, though.

My next appointment will be at the 16-week mark, again with Robin. And then the appointment after that will be the big ultrasound. I can't wait. Jarrett was planning on coming with me to the appointment today, and was pretty bummed when he found out he had to go to New York on an important overnight trip. Of course it had to fall on the one day of the week something important was going on. But it is fine -- there will be plenty of other appointments.

Tomorrow I spill the beans to all of the folks at work, so that should be exciting. Now that I'm heading into the second trimester (can you believe it?), I feel it's pretty safe to spread the word even further.

The Doula

Jarrett and I had our first meeting with the doula on Tuesday evening. We haven't yet signed the contract, but I am fairly certain we're going to go with Jenn Purdy of Decatur Doulas. Jenn goes to our church, and though we didn't know her that well prior to this meeting, it does feel like there is already some sort of connection there. The meeting basically entailed Jenn going over her role at the birth, which is nothing clinical -- she is there to provide physical and emotional support. With her knowledge and experience, she will both be able to help Jarrett know how to help me, will help interpret what the midwife (or any doctors/nurses) is telling us (though I am not as concerned about this because from what I have heard from others, we have an awesome midwife), and to allow Jarrett to have any much-needed breaks. Some of the things Jenn might do are as follows:

• Provide massage
• Demonstrate breathing techniques
• Help Jarrett stay calm
• Offer cold/hot packs
• Comfort brow with a cool cloth
• Do the double-hip squeeze or provide counter pressure (I don't even fully understand this yet)
• Suggest positions to ease back labor and help with pushing
• Etc., etc.

Jenn will come to us when we all determine it is time, based on a phone call we'll make to her when I go into labor. She will then be there throughout the entire labor/birthing process, and will stay around for one to two hours after the birth until we are comfortable and are ready for quiet time. She will even help with initial breastfeeding. We will meet with her once more prior to the birth, and then she will make another visit one to two weeks after the baby is born.

She gave us a packet of information to take home and go over, so I've been spending some time here and there going through that. She provided a sheet with some interesting statistics about the difference having a doula can really make.

Benefits during labor to mother and baby:

• 50% decrease in cesarean sections
• 25% decrease in the length of labor
• 30% decrease in the use of forceps
• 40% decrease in the use of oxytocin (medication used to speed up labor)
• 60% decrease in the use of epidurals
• 30% decrease in the use of pain medication

Long-term benefits:

• Improved breastfeeding
• Increased time spent with baby
• Decreased postpartum depression

Because I want to try for the most natural childbirth experience possible, I think having Jenn around is going to be one of the best decisions we make.

First Belly Shot

This is my belly at what we thought at the time was eight weeks, but what in reality was probably more like seven weeks. It looks pretty normal here -- maybe just a bit of water retention (and some added poundage from holiday eats). :)

First Prenatal Appointment

It's been nearly a week since my first prenatal appointment, but I'm finally getting around to the post. Kate ended up accompanying me to the appointment last Thursday because we weren't sure whether an ultrasound was going to be done (in fact, the chances seemed fairly slim) and Jarrett was (and is) in the middle of a big project at work, so we decided he would come to later appointments when we'd know the appointments would be shorter (the first is always the longest, apparently) and ultrasounds would definitely be done. It was very nice to have Kate's company -- and proof that she is the bestest friend ever for enduring the terrible traffic during rush hour on the way home. :)

The appointment started out with peeing in a cup, a lot of paperwork, and many medical history questions. I assumed the peeing in the cup part of the visit was to allow them to do a pregnancy test, but apparently I'll have to do this every time I go in, and I'm still not sure what they're testing for. I'll have to ask next time. But while we were going through the paperwork, the nurse asked me who confirmed my pregnancy, and I said that I did... with the three pregnancy tests I took. So then she decided to do a quick pregnancy test. The result? "You're really pregnant. I rarely see such a dark line. Do twins run in either of your families?" My response? "Oh good. My husband would just love to get that news."

So then I went into the examination room and was able to meet the midwife, Margaret Strickhouser, whom I like very much. I had to endure a pap smear since I hadn't had one since last April, which is never fun. But then the fun began. She pulled out her little Doppler device, put some gel on my tummy, and began searching for the baby's heartbeat. We heard my heartbeat loud and clear first, and then caught a faint fast-beating heartbeat for just a second. That was the baby. She then took some time to try and locate it again, and finally did, so we were able to listen to it for awhile longer, which was very cool. This, in and of itself, nearly made me tear up, and I think Kate did for sure. :) Margaret said that finding the heartbeat was a good sign, and that the risks of miscarriage go down once a viable heartbeat is located, so that eased some of my worries a degree or two. She then went on to man handle me a bit, trying to locate my uterus since it's somewhat tilted, and then trying to figure out where the baby was located exactly. She had a feeling that I probably wasn't quite as far along as the dates would have us think, so she went to see if the ultrasound technician was available so we could better date the pregnancy. Lucky for us, he was, so an internal ultrasound was performed (see photos above... the blackness is the fluid, the little blob in the fluid is the baby, and the baby's head is at the lower left) and we were able to see the baby and its little beating heart. The little sea monkey (have you seen Juno?) was even moving around a bit! Quite amazing. The technician made the comment that I had a lot of amniotic fluid, and he wanted to make sure there was only one baby in there. By this time I was really getting worried about twins. Geez! But, yes, rest assured -- there is only one.

Whereas I thought I was nine weeks and two days according to the dates of my cycle, they dated the baby at eight weeks and one day, making it about a week behind my initial estimation. So according to the doctors, I'm nine weeks as of today. This means we should expect the little one around mid-September. My next appointment with the midwife is on February 27, and Jarrett is planning on coming to that one for sure. There are three midwives in the practice, and I will rotate between them for all of my appointments, so I'm already seeing a different one for this next appointment. It's not really fair to say at this point, since I haven't met the other midwives, but I really hope that Margaret will be able to deliver the baby only because I've heard so many good things about her. She's already written "water birth" at the top of my chart, so I'm sure there will be more discussion on that at future appointments. It's all very exciting.

Oh, and as for the travel time? The clinic was right there at North Fulton Regional Hospital (where I'll deliver), and getting there wasn't too terrible -- about 25 or 30 minutes. However, as I mentioned earlier, we hit rush hour on the way home, and it took us over an hour. So let's just hope I don't go into labor during rush hour traffic! Although, most first babies take their sweet time coming, so I'm still not too worried at this point.

In other pregnancy news, I experienced my first migraine as a pregnant woman on Monday evening, which was definitely not enjoyable. Usually I'll take two Excedrin Migraine capsules and rest for awhile and am fine, but this time I was determined not to even take the Extra Strength Tylenol that I'm allowed to take while pregnant. So I went to bed very early and actually did fall asleep and slept until around 3:30 a.m., when I woke up to dreams of having to call into work because I still had the headache. Sure enough, dream was reality, and the headache was still there, so I got up and read my little sheet again, explaining what medications are allowed for what symptoms, and it said I could take "Tylenol (or Extra Strength), 2 capsules every four to six hours." Because it didn't give exact milligram amounts, and because we had Extra Strength, I wasn't sure if it was still okay to take two of those (I'm sure it was), so I decided to take one (and still felt terrible doing it -- I just don't like medicine as it is, let alone with this baby inside of me) and went back to bed. It must of helped because thankfully the headache was pretty much gone by the time I had to get up and get ready for work. Let's hope I don't have another for a long time.