First of all, we hit the 22 week mark this past Tuesday (2/19/08). My little ticker up above actually moved into the 6th month, so we are officially more than halfway there! Crazy to think that we have 17 weeks and change before my due date, but technically I could go into labor anytime after 37 weeks, so that means only 15 more weeks to go!
Gerald got to feel the baby kick for the first time on February 7th. The baby was having a kickboxing party or something, so I put his hand on my belly and he got to feel her! He felt her for the second time last night as well. In fact, just a few minutes ago, she was repeatedly kicking the same spot on the lower left side of my belly - she must have done it 10-15 times, about 2 seconds apart. I almost thought she had the hiccups again, but they were sporadic even though they were very close together - and they were very hard kicks! She actually kept making my hand "pop" up every time she kicked! It's the weirdest, but best feeling ever!
I had to go to the doctor's around 20 weeks as they thought my water may have broken. Luckily, everything was fine and it was a false alarm. I had not gained any weight however - so I was still only at +4 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. He did confirm that my quad screen results came back (this is a blood test they do to check on potential defects the baby might have which leads them to run further evaluations). Our results came back with a 1 in 10,000 chance of Downs Syndrome, which as Dr. Matsuda said is about the best result you can get.
This past Tuesday (2/19) I went in for our scheduled 22 week appointment. Turns out I gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks!! The nurse said it wasn't a big deal and was actually good since I hadn't been gaining weight consistently yet. The 5 lbs are very visible because you can definitely tell I'm preggo now as opposed to before when it just looked like I was pounding down the doughnuts!
22 weeks, 1 day
So we got another ultrasound... I'm really so glad we get to see our little girl so often and get to see how much she's grown each month. Dr. Matsuda told us that there is no doubt now that it's a girl!! We also got to see her little face...
Can you see it? It's so amazing to think that that little one is growing in me right now! It's nice to be able to see her face finally. Although I feel her everyday, seeing her face somehow makes it more real for me.
I think my feet are also starting to swell. I'm not on them very much since I sit at a desk all day and work from home, but they feel weird when I walk on them... ah the joys of pregnancy.
Speaking of which, there is a loooooong list of things people neglect to tell you about pregnancy. Of course you hear of the cravings, the feet swelling, the big belly, the stretch marks, the nausea..... but I have to tell you there was so much I was in the dark about. Linea negra.... what's that?? Oh, that ugly line going down my belly (actually mine's really faint and only goes about halfway up to my naval). Runny nose? Oh yes... expect that for the next nine months. Dry skin? Yep that too. Memory loss? Add that to the list. Poor vision? No... it's not that you're getting old.... you're just pregnant. Some other things.... your nails grow faster, your hair gets thicker (supposedly - mine's already thick so I can't tell), you can only sleep on your left side since you can cut off the circulation to the baby if you sleep on your back or your right side (this doesn't sound so bad but once you start putting on the pounds you enter the new fun world of sciatic nerve pain!), the baby likes to play trampoline on your bladder, your appetite gets smaller per meal (although you eat more frequently) and your stomach gets pushed up into your chest... I can add more but my parents might be reading this. :) If anyone has a desire to know... let me know and I'll email you the rest of the list... :) I know it sounds like I'm complaining about all these things, but really it's such a joy to be pregnant! But there was just so much I was unaware of!
Our next appointment will be March 18th where I'll have to take the dreaded glucose test. This is where they give you a sugary drink and then take your blood an hour later to test for Gestational Diabetes. If you fail this test, then they make you take the more thorough three hour test... let's hope I don't have to do that.
March 18th also marks the beginning of our childbirth education classes! There are many options to choose from, Lamaze being the most popular, but we opted to go with the Bradley Method. This method focuses on the natural birth process, sans pain medication. It teaches you how to maneuver your body to get through the pain and deliver naturally. Who knows... I may change my mind once I'm actually in labor, but if I can try as many methods as possible to do it naturally, that's my goal. :)
In addition to all this, it's been a pretty "exciting" couple of weeks. On Friday the 15th, Gerald woke me up at 5:30 AM to the smell of smoke in our house. Unfortunately, we had disconnected all of our smoke detectors as they had been malfunctioning.... and we were really lagging on getting them reinstalled.
We walked out into the living room / dining room, and there was a haze of smoke and a distinctive smell of sulfur. We immediately opened all the windows and started looking for the source. We had the Gas Company come out (we told them there was a gas leak...otherwise we had to wait a week for them to come out). He crawled under our house and found that there was a piece of plastic over the power source for our AC/Heater that had melted. After having a technician come out the next day, it turns out the previous owners had someone install the unit and forgot to remove a piece of cardboard IN the plastic that clearly said "Remove before use" and ultimately caught fire. Luckily, that was all that was damaged - and luckily Gerald smelled it and woke up!!!
Needless to say.... the smoke detectors are a major priority right now!
Also - we had to give away our little Lulu. On February 16th, we took her over to a friend of a friend's house. She acclamated very well, and it seems like she might actually be getting along with their other cat. The people we gave her to are a VERY nice couple - very pet oriented, and I really think this is going to be a good home for her.
Here are some pics of us on our last day with Lulu...
And Lulu in her new home, and with her new buddy, Otis...
We think she'll be very happy there!
Okay I think I've written a book! If you've made it through this whole post... thanks for reading! I promise to be better about posting so I don't have to summarize our whole life in one post like this!! :)
