Total Weight Gain/Loss: I think I'm up another 2 pounds. Again, I'll find out more tomorrow, since Dr. C. will weigh me for my UW appointment.
Maternity Clothes: Yes. Shoes are still an issue, mostly because our spring heat wave turned back into normal drizzle. Flip flops are a little awkward when it's raining!
Movement: Lots every day. Today I've been getting a lot of knee-shoves out the right side of my belly. Oh, and copious hiccups, already four times today, and I haven't even had dinner yet!
Sleep: Meh.
Gender: A baby brother for Aliya and Bennett.
Symptoms: I'm definitely moving more slowly now, and feel like I've got a pretty obvious waddle. Could be my brick feet. Occasional nausea continues to be an issue.
Cravings: Still none...not that lack of cravings equates to lack of eating. :)
Belly Button In or Out: It's turned into a little duck nose at the top, which you can see in the photo below if you look closely.
Freak-out of the Week: None, remarkably. I expected to be a real mess at my big baby shower, but I wasn't. I did get teary at the sight of all the beautiful food and decorations my dear friends had put their love into, and again at one super special gift (I'll show it when I eventually post about the nursery, which as of yet is still an unpainted, unfloored box of a room). The twins were on my mind, of course, but as I e-mailed to a friend today, I was able to mostly focus on this little guy and the love showered upon us, which was nice. I'll post more about my shower later...right now, Paul's harping on me to go watch NCIS with him. :)
Looking Forward To: Our birthing workshop this weekend, 16 hours of learning and practicing with our doula. I can't wait! (This will make us feel ready and prepared for E2's arrival, right?!)
Next Appointment: Tomorrow, May 16th, for our second growth scan and another follow up with Dr. C. at University of Washington. I'll see Dr. M. again on Monday for my last (I think) cervical length ultrasoud.
Miscellaneous: The medical appointments are definitely on the increase now, and that's without moving (yet) to a weekly appointment schedule (except for the non-stress tests, or NSTs). Speaking of, we now have our first two NSTs under our belts. The first one, last week, found me with a blood pressure of 146/83, which concerned the very nice nurse. Granted, I was nervous (I've never had a non-stress test before) and a little anxious to be in the Family Birth Center again, this time alone and pregnant. I know people who've had bad news at these NSTs. E2 was a trooper and had been moving all morning, so there was that to feel good about. As it turned out, E2 did fantastically at his first NST, especially for a 32-week baby. The nurse kept saying what a rock star he was, and that if she wasn't required to keep me there a minimum of 20 minutes, she would have let me go as soon as she was done entering stuff in the computer, because he had already passed! Today's NST was just as good, although the nurse today wasn't very talkative. I stayed longer, too, but that's because she was waiting on Dr. M. to call her back and release me. I go again next week, and, I presume, throughout the rest of my pregnancy (Dr. C. mentioned starting biophysical profiles, or BPPs, in there, too, but I don't know when those start).
The other thing this week was that Paul and I attended a La Leche League meeting together Monday night. There's a breastfeeding class offered once a month at the hospital we hope to deliver at, but it's held from 7-9 p.m., and with Paul currently getting up at 3:30 a.m. for work (and likely a little earlier by the end of the month, when the class is), that just wouldn't work. While this particular LLL meeting is dad-friendly, he was the only man there. Still, he did great, even with strange women nursing their babes (ages 7 weeks to 18 months) in front of him! He had lots of really good questions and was really engaged. I wanted him to come so that he'd have information to help support ME if I end up discouraged or having trouble with breastfeeding, an endeavor we both feel is important. This month's topic was the advantages of breastfeeding (very eye opening for both of us, even though we each already knew of a few). Next month's is about breastfeeding a newborn. I will go for sure; I hope he will, too. :)
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| The belly at 33w1d. I feel like E2 is hanging low today. |
LLL meetings are so awesome. I was nervous about going for some reason but they are such fantastic support if/when you have any breastfeeding issues.
ReplyDeleteI got a lot of good advice about breastfeeding, but the best advice I got was from a friend who told me once you get past the hard part, it's pretty much the best thing ever. I wanted to do it because I felt like it was healthy and good for the baby and I probably wanted to prove something absurd to myself about my own capability, but I never really expected to enjoy it. She was right. It's awesome.
You and baby look great!
ReplyDeletekellymom.com is another breastfeeding resource. I found latch info on there which really helped me out. I think its really neat that your husband is going with you to the meetings.
Im gonna follow your blog.
ReplyDelete