34 Weeks - Getting Closer!

This week the little Mossling is about the size of a honeydew weighing in at about 5lbs and could be as long as 20 inches. 

We had our checkup this morning.  My blood pressure is good, 116/62, I've only gained 1 lb in the last 2 weeks, baby is measuring on track, and his heartbeat is strong and steady.  

We go back for the 36 week appointment on the 29th of June and get to finally see him again via ultrasound. Mom & Dad will be here by then so Mom & Nate get to see him too :) 

His movements have stopped being so jerky and now are more of rolls and stretches since he's running out of room in there. 

Nate installed the car seat base and car seat yesterday.  We organized most of the onesies and other clothes by size.  I think we're almost ready! 

This is getting real!!!! AAAAH!

32 Weeks 5 days - Hiccups, Backaches and Braxton Hicks

I'm almost 33 weeks. Baby is the size of a head of lettuce and 17-19 inches long.

He's reached is full length most likely, but still at only 4-4 1/2 lbs he could double in weight. I'd be ok with a less than 8lb baby please!

The hiccups started a few weeks ago.  Mostly at night and for the past 3 days at 5-5:30 am.  It feels like little rhythmic thumps and wakes me up! Its supposed to be a good sign that his lungs are developing.

My back is starting to ache if I stay in one position for too long.  I anticipate it will get worse as my belly continues to stick out farther and farther.

I've had a few Braxton Hicks feelings. Nothing painful just tightening of the belly that slowly creeps up and then slowly fades. Dr. said not to worry about them unless they come on quickly and I have more than 1 an hour or so or if they last longer than 60 seconds.

3 more weeks of work! I can't wait to be done. Its hard to concentrate!

28 Weeks, Third Trimester, and Gestational Diabetes

At 28 weeks the baby is about the size of an eggplant, measuring about 16 inches long and weighing 2.5lbs. Chances of survival outside the womb at this point are up to 90%.

This week begins the third trimester.  Baby has started having REM cycles so could be dreaming :).  He's opening and closing his eyes now and could be starting to have some hiccups, although I haven't felt that yet. 

The acid reflux (GERD) has been mostly under control for the past couple of weeks.  Zantac and smaller meals seems to really help. Not coughing up a lung from being sick is helpful too. 

I had to go do the 3 hour glucose test again though and this time I failed, meaning I have Gestational Diabetes.  The numbers were really very close so it's marginal, but I'm not terribly surprised. I'm still really frustrated with how they test for it.  Diabetes runs in my family and I already eat healthy and get exercise almost daily.  I don't drink sugary drinks or eat desserts all the time, but hey let's have you fast for 10 hours then drink 100g of sugar and see how you feel, ok? 

Sigh.  So, now I get to meet with a nutritionist and test my blood 3x a day.  But, you know what? After all the needles I've stabbed myself with, these will be nothing.  I seriously doubt I'll have to change my diet much if any at all. 

25 Weeks

This week my uterus is the size of a soccer ball.  UGH! And only getting bigger :)

Little Mr. Moss is about 13 inches long from head to toe, and 9 inches from head to rump. These are just averages, so Nate's child may be much longer.

Baby's lungs are starting to develop. If he were born this week, he'd have a fairly good chance of survival but would spend a couple months in the NICU at least.

I've had a rough couple of weeks.  Last week I felt some pelvic pressure that was new and scary so we went in and had an early check up. Baby was fine, cervix was tightly closed and not shortening, etc.  Dr chalked it up to stretching and baby putting pressure on my pelvic area, which is normal.

So, we flew to Portland to have a fun weekend with Dayna & Andy.  It was great fun, except I caught the flu or a cold and was coughing up a lung by Monday.  I completely lost my voice for a couple days and slept in the recliner.

This past weekend, I finally started to feel better. On Sunday, I happened to be wearing a tank top and went into the restroom where I noticed a mole on my back that has been there forever, is now 3x its normal size.  Looking further, 2 others on my back look to have increased in size as well.  So, I called the advice nurse and she told me to have the OB look at them on Tuesday when we go in. It could be pregnancy related. Hormones do wacky things!  I want to insist on a dermatologist referral and get them removed though.

Then, Sunday night my stomach started to hurt, really hurt. Tums, tea, walking, sitting, lying on either side... nothing helped.   The pain got so bad I could barely stand, so off we went to the ER at 10 pm.

Baby is fine with a strong heartbeat, but turns out I have pregnancy related GERD or acid reflux.  They took some blood for tests and had me drink this nasty Maalox / Lidocaine combination to help with the pain. It was really strange because it numbed everything on it's way down, but it helped!  Blood work came back normal. No infections, etc. The only thing they noticed was that my red blood cell count was low, which is another normal thing for pregnancy, but they want me on iron pills now.  Yay anemia. This explains why I've been feeling dizzy lately!

So, I'm exhausted and worried a bit about these moles on my back but we have an appointment tomorrow with the OB.

Here's hoping we both get some sleep tonight!

21 weeks 6 days

Not much new to report this week. Baby is kicking up a storm. Especially after I eat :)

What's interesting this week is the baby starts to swallow an oz or two of amnionic fluid practicing for when he's born.

That means what I eat, he can taste :)  Hope he likes peanut butter and chocolate muffins haha.   Actually, I've had brussel sprouts, salad, fruit, eggs, etc as well. Maybe it will help him eat his veggies? I can hope right?

The crib arrived int he store today. Have to schedule delivery. That's the last big piece of furniture for the room.  Excited to meet our little man.

Here's a 21 week pic with Nate photo butt bombing haha

20 Weeks, 2 Days. Halfway there and it's a BOY!

This week the baby weighs about 10 ounces and is about 6-6 1/2 inches long from crown to rump.

I'm starting to feel little pops from the inside. It's really weird!  Nate can't feel anything yet even with his hand on my tummy. That will soon change I'm sure.

So here's the story of the first ever in utero sex change.  At week 16 the tech thought she saw a labia. Thankfully, we didn't tell the world it was a girl just in case she was wrong. 16 weeks is really early to see everything and the only reason we did a scan then was because I originally had twins and was on a more frequent scanning schedule.  They were kind and kept me on the schedule to help assuage my fears of losing both babies.

At 19 weeks, 3 days we had our anatomy scan.  We asked the tech to tell us if she could could confirm it was a girl.  She was more interested in the brain, heart, etc. which are all perfect, but finally she says, "You've been saying 'She' and I see a penis and a scrotum."  HAHA Poof! Sex change!

She brought the doctor on staff in to confirm so we wouldn't have any doubts.  Yep, it's a boy.  See?

Imagine the baby is sitting on a glass coffee table and you're underneath looking up. The white dots are what the first tech saw and are probably reflections or butt bones cuz that thing in the middle is definitely a little baby wee wee! :)

I had ordered these beautiful ruby red slippers planning for a photo announcement for a girl so we had to scramble to find some boy shoes fast.   More photos to come later but this one turned out really well. River is playing guard dog already! 

Yes we have some names picked out, but we're not going to decide until he gets here. Thanks for following along!

19 Weeks 6 Days.. and SURPRISE!!!

Baby is six inches long this week and about a half pound in weight and about the size of a large mango. Mmmm mango.

We had our 19 week anatomy scan on Tuesday and well let's just say Nate and I were surprised! So good news is the baby is growing right on track and has all the essential parts and pieces; 4 quadrants of the heart, brain is developing on track, brain stem is visible, nose, lips, eyes, etc. We can rule out cleft palate, etc.

I did the last round of blood work for the chromosomal testing so we'll see in a few days the odds for Downs and other related disorders but everything is looking good.

The surprise is the gender.  What we thought we saw at week 16, we didn't :) Good thing we did a gender neutral nursery!  We're perfectly happy with either but it was a bit of a shock.

We're doing something fun with some photos to reveal the gender to our friends so hang on. I promise the wait won't be long.  In the mean time, here's a profile view of our Mossling at 19 weeks.