19 week appointment:
I had my 19 week appointment on December 14, 2012. It was a busy day as Aaron's Andrea was receiving her endowment that evening. I was grateful, however, that we had family in town that could watch Milee as we went to our appointment. I felt like Ella was old enough and wanted her to come especially since we were having our big ultrasound after my appointment.
When I arrived I went and picked up my lab slip to go and have my gestational diabetes screening, went and signed in at the lab and drank the "delicious" orange drink, then was told to come back in 1 hour for my blood to be drawn. I decided to go to this appointment while fasting since sometimes they require you to fast for blood draws and I didn't want to have to come back if I had eaten and was supposed to be fasting.
I then went and checked in for my appointment. I had a different doctor because mine was out of town. He was actually a retired doctor that had started the practice. He was nice. Jared said that he had to get his 20 yrs worth of jokes out in that one appointment, lol. It was hard to get a word in and especially to ask my questions but he made me feel comfortable and that was nice. He predicted that the baby is a boy because his/her heartbeat was around 140. Ella was happy to hear that. I learned it was completely normal for me to be feeling braxton hicks contractions so early and that I wasn't actually huge (even though I felt like I was) but that you just show way faster with each pregnancy. The doctor once again had trouble finding the baby's heartbeat and I was finally told that I most likely have the placenta on the front of my uterus making it hard to hear the heartbeat and harder to feel the baby move. Phew!
After my appointment we went and got my blood drawn and then we got to go to breakfast in the hospital cafeteria! We had a breakfast sandwich, hash brown cake, and some fruit. Ella had a chunk of cheese as well. It was pretty good.
After "breakfast" we got to go to my ultrasound! I always count down the days to the day of my BIG ultrasound. It is so exciting!!! It was confirmed that the baby's placenta is on the front and slightly over the top of my uterus. This made it interesting during the ultrasound as they weren't able to put the probe directly on my belly but had to go above, below, and to the side to get good images of the baby. We saw that he/she definitely is a big kicker and I decided I am a bit grateful for the anterior placenta as once baby got bigger that would likely result in some bruises from the inside! We got to see the baby's lenses in his/her eyes and that was pretty fun although Ella thought it looked pretty scary. We saw 10 fingers and 10 toes and all the organs and parts in all the correct places. There was a resident and the tech in the room and they both exclaimed that they knew what the baby was (we had made it clear we didn't want to know). After the ultrasound was done, the tech left the room to get the doc and the resident spent some time playing around with the ultrasound machine trying to get specific images of the baby. At one point I asked if what she was looking at was the baby's tummy and she responded specifying gender and then quickly saying the opposite gender in response. I remember just feeling a feeling of dread because I felt like she "spilled the beans" and I really really didn't want to know. I cried on the way home because of this. Jared and I have talked about this instance several times and have decided that we really don't know what the baby is. This baby's heartbeat has been in the 140s the entire time, I am carrying differently, gaining weight much much slower (at this point I had only gained 7-9lbs since I found out I was pregnant), and wouldn't one of the genders be easier to see and exclaim about than the other? Ella insists the baby is a boy so I guess we will just wait and see! Here is a picture of my belly at around that time as well as the pics from the ultrasound.
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| 20wks 3 days |
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| 20wks 3 days |
Ella had misunderstood and bent the first printouts of the ultrasounds so they printed a few more pics for me. The first pics were better and since they can be scanned I don't think it is that big of deal.
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| Foot |
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| I'm guessing this is a foot. This is one of the retake photos |
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| Profile |
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| Feet |
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| The round circles you see in the eyes are actually the lenses! So cool! |
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| Another profile. Baby loved kicking!!! |
I also had my gestational diabetes screening this day and I passed it with a level of 126 which was at the high end of normal.
23 week appointment:
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| 24wks 4 days |
My 23 week appointment was on Friday, January 11, 2013. The baby's heartbeat was normal as was my blood pressure. At this point I had gained just 8 lbs this pregnancy. We talked some about an anterior placenta and what that means, and in all honesty it is a really good place for the placenta to be, I just won't feel the baby as much until later on when the placenta moves as my uterus grows, and it is a bit more difficult to find the heartbeat.
At this appointment Ella took something from Milee and Milee yelled out really loudly (my doctor looked over and exclaimed something because it was truly out of nowhere). It was then that we decided the kiddos wouldn't be going to future appointments if we can help it. We will take Ella if there is another ultrasound, however.
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| 26wks 3 days |
27 week appointment:
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| 27wks 3 days |
I had my 27 week appointment on Friday, February 8, 2013. We got our neighbor to watch the girls which was nice. We were running a bit behind, as usual, and I needed to drink my glucose drink prior to the appointment so that I wouldn't have to sit and wait for an hour afterwards, so it was a bit stressful getting down to the lab and chugging the drink, then running to my appointment. My blood pressure was slightly high which could be due to all of the rushing.
At this point I have only gained 12 lbs this pregnancy. WOOHOO!!! The baby's heartbeat was in the 140s so very healthy. All went well and the doc really didn't spend much time during this appointment.
After the appointment I still have 30 minutes until I was to get my blood drawn so I decided to make all of my future appointments through the rest of my pregnancy. It was then that I found out that my doctor either won't be there the day I am due or the week I am due. I made sure and asked her a few appointments back and she told me that she wasn't going to take any more vacations after March. I am really upset about this as she is the only doctor that is really okay with a natural birth. I will definitely be talking to her about this when I go to my next appointment and to be honest, have already emailed her about it.
I got my blood drawn for my diabetes test and went home and looked up my results...and...I FAILED!!! I have to go in for the 3 hr testing now! My levels were 156 when the highest normal is 139. I am super upset about this as well! I had eaten just an hour before I drank the glucose but tested my blood sugar before we left and it was in a normal range for 1 hr after eating. I hope I don't have diabetes again but am definitely expecting it. It is discouraging as with this pregnancy I have gained weight the slowest of all my pregnancies. I started exercising so hopefully that helps. We shall see!
***Side note: This pregnancy my belly is like a little ball! Its all in front and perfectly round. Kinda fun :)
UPDATE: February 20, 2013
I have been testing my blood sugar regularly for over a week now and determined that I do in fact have Gestational Diabetes. I emailed my doc and asked if I could skip the 3 hr test as I didn't see it necessary to do. She allowed me to skip it but would like me to take the Gestational Diabetes class. I have been eating the diet I was on with Ella and have been doing really well with levels averaging at 100 (supposed to be below 120). I didn't see a point in retaking a diabetes class when I have already received the education, however, after talking to the dietitian that teaches the class, I have come to learn that the literature and education has changed, as well as the guidelines and so it would be best to retake the class. My class is scheduled for this coming Tuesday the 26th.
