16 weeks

How Far Along: 16 weeks today. E2 is the size of a large avocado.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: As of yesterday (15w6d), I was up 5 lbs total. I gained a pound!

Maternity Clothes: Officially in tops and bottoms.
As of yesterday, even at work. Yes, I came out as a pregnant woman to my co-workers. I was SO nervous; last time, I told at 12w6d and we lost the twins a week and a half later. This time, I made it to 15w6d before formally announcing, but some people told me they'd already suspected but didn't want to say anything.

Also, speaking of maternity garb, I need to start thinking about a bra to sleep in (I've never, ever slept in a bra!); the girls are getting a little, um, uncomfortable. I've been polling my mommy friends about what they used/wore. If you have experience, please comment! (I started as a 38DD and have been warned by a couple of friends who were the same cup size that they grew to an H cup, so I'm a bit unsure of when to buy...but if I need one now, I guess, so be it.)

Movement: Daily. I noticed the other day that while for the past couple of weeks I'd only been feeling little movements in one certain area on the left side, suddently I felt it on both sides simultaneously. Today it was almost entirely in the middle (a little high and a little lower at the same time). Baby is moving around in there!

Sleep: Still so so.

Gender: From my fingers to your eyes on February 14th.

Symptoms: Voracious appetite; stuffy nose; nausea seems to be starting to fade (knock on wood), but I keep the Zofran close (and had to take two on Sunday). Less frequent ligament pains this week. Very spotty short term memory. Getting a bit clumsy. Sore boobs. Horrid skin. A bit of lower back pain. And a new symptom I'll share below (see Freak-out of the Week).

Cravings: None really this week. Little sounds good, but everything tastes good. I just need people to put food in front of me and I'd be set.

Belly Button In or Out: In, and still shallow. So weird!

Freak-out of the Week: Holy Hell. I will preface this by saying that neither Paul nor I got emotional about this...but we also barely slept last night. The thought "Please, not again" did pass my lips.

I had some uterine pressure and a definite painless contraction last night after dinner. Before dinner, I thought E2 had maybe moved and was back (and back of head) toward my front. It felt weird, like something was pushing out, something kind of hard...nothing I could grab, so it was a totally internal sensation. As I walked to the kitchen to get my dinner, I almost felt like there was pressure or something on the left side. All through dinner, I felt pressure in my uterus, mostly on the left, sometimes in the middle, but it was fairly constant. After dinner, I laid down on the couch with my feet in Paul's lap and my fingers pressed into my uterus. And there it was: out of nowhere, my entire uterus got hard. OMG. (For those of you new to this blog, I had painless contractions the night before Aliya's water broke. I thought it was early Braxton Hicks. It wasn't; it was preterm labor, and I missed it.)

We had a dilemma. We knew if I paged Dr. M., he'd likely (if anything) send me to the ER, where a) they do nothing, b) they treat women in the second trimester like shit and c) we'd sit and rot for hours. Paul was supposed to get up at 3:15 a.m. this morning and was already exhausted...and it was already after bedtime. We were supposed to start my 17P shots today, at 16 weeks 0 days, but decided to do the first one last night, just in case it would help. (No big deal, by the way, although the pharmacist gave me 22 gauge needles and that's too thin, so it took forever for Paul to draw up and inject.)

I called Dr. M.'s office first thing this morning and told them what happened. They gave me an 11:30 appointment. A few minutes later, they called back and said, "Can you make it here by 9:00?" When I got there, J, who is in charge of the insurance (and is our neighbor), told me that she and Sierra talked when she gave me that first appointment, and decided since I am "their Amy" and they didn't want me to be upset, they wanted to get me in as soon as possible. (So, so glad we stayed with Dr. M.'s!!) Dr. M. gave me another cervical length ultrasound, and said everything is good there...my cervix averaged 4.8 cm, long and closed with no funneling. He also looked at E2 briefly to check for movement (yep!) and the heart rate (160 bpm). All good.

Diagnosis: early Braxton Hicks contractions. Lucky me. (NOT!!) He said I should continue to err on the side of caution and come in any time I feel the need, even if it's every day, and he'll check the baby and my cervix. I won't likely come in every day, but it's nice to see him sincerely communicate that he is happy to help and that I won't be a pain in his butt. Harder for me: trusting my body, not second guessing...and waiting this shit out until (hopefully) we have a live, healthy baby in our arms.

I did ask him, because we hadn't talked about it, what would/could be done if I do develop early preterm labor again (before 20 weeks). He said, "Well, there are several trainwreck scenarios, but we're not there yet. We'll keep measuring your cervix, and if we see a change, we'll put a stitch in and go from there." Sigh...I would have liked more information or more of a plan...maybe there isn't one and there just can't be. It sucks, though.

Looking Forward To: Peace of mind, some day.

Next Appointment: Monday, January 21st for another my next transvaginal cervical length ultrasound (unless he skips it in lieu of today's) and prenatal blood work, PAP, breast exam, etc. Sierra had me pee in a cup and checked my weight and BP today since I am 16 weeks, the point at which they normally start all that stuff.

Miscellaneous: None this week.

Belly at 16w. It doesn't look much different to me (save
for the underwear line above my belly button!).