Little Baby Kicks & Braxton Hicks

I've felt a few slight nudges over the past week, at first I was questioning whether it was the baby or some sort of random digestional activity, but now I can tell it's the baby even though they are rather gentle at this point.

Today for the first time, I felt my uterus tighten up & when I put my hand on my abdomen I could feel the firmness of my uterus. I took a bath to relax and could feel the muscles contracting and then relaxing. No pain but it was slightly uncomfortable.

yay for little girls!

So here we have #1. little baby hands up near her head, #2. little baby foot! and best of all - #3. a profile of the baby's face. Our level 2 ultrasound went well & the doctor is pretty confident that she's going to be just fine. There was one picture that they couldnt get because she was being a bit uncooperative with her positioning, so I'll have to go back in 3 more weeks. We've decided on Angela Civita Simeone - the Civita is John's mother's name. The technician got a clear shot of the bum/genitalia area, and I said "it's a girl!" before she even said anything - and she confirmed it. Right now she weighs approximately 9 ounces about double what she was 3 weeks ago, which explains to some extent the expansion of my baby bump. Aside from an awful cold I am very happy.

18 week appointment

John & I were bummed when they cancelled the ultrasound for today's appointment, because I have an ultrasound at Winchester Hospital next Tuesday and there was no need to have 2 ultrasounds, so we'll have to wait till next week to see the baby & find out the sex. John came to the appointment anyway, he got to meet doctor Cole & also hear the baby's heartbeat which was very exciting for him.

I have been feeling better physically- which is a HUGE plus, and I now have more comfortable maternity clothes & a new haircut so I am also feeling much better about how I look. Before, my clothes were tight & really uncomfortable and my hair was so long - more than half-way down my back it was driving me insane & was a pain to dry. The morning sickness is still lurking but the rest of the day generally feels pretty good, I just wish I didn't go to the bathroom all the time, especially at night when I can be up 3 times which doesn't help my already light sleeping habit.

17 weeks and counting

The past week has shown some improvement. It's been a while since I've had to take an anti-nausea pill (although this week marks 2 solid months of vomiting every day, yay!) and I've haven't missed work recently due to not feeling well. I tend to crash around 3:00/4:00pm and feel tired for the rest of the night.

I am also working with a very short fuse these days, and the ridiculousness that I deal with frequently at work is gnawing at me and I'm on the verge of biting someone's head off occasionally. My irritability is very apparent to me and I'm glad I can put it on my pregnancy and not just because I think I'm turning into a bitch.

I also am enjoying healthier food now, and am more interested in fruits & vegetables, however the past 3 months of eating a lot of junk food high in carbohydrates & fat (ex bagels & cream cheese and ice cream) has definitely caught up with me and hopefully I can eat much healthier for the remainder of the pregnancy. Next week is our big ultrasound at the doctor's office and John will be with me, so I am very excited that he'll be able to check out our little one, and how amazed he'll be at how much he/she has grown.

Level 2 U/S at 16 weeks

My doctor called me on Monday afternoon to let me know my AFP came back abnormal and that she had an appointment set up for the next day at Winchester Hospital to have an ultrasound performed by a high risk obstetrician. That was all the information I was given and was a bit thrown off and curious as to how abnormal my AFP was. The ultrasound was performed by a technician, who took lots of pictures of the baby (none for us though -she was mainly focusing on the organs) for the doctor to look at. We saw the outline of the skull, the development of the brain, spine & ribs, little feet & little hands (she counted all 5 fingers:), the bladder, the kidneys- which she wasn't sure if she would spot, but she did find them, little tiny specks in the image. If the baby was looking right at us, we could see it's face which was kind of disturbing and definitely looks like an alien.

My only concern was that when she was looking at the heart, I did not see any chambers, it looked more like a mouth opening & closing, however when the doctor came in he was able to get a better angle and we did see all 4 chambers which was good because it is on the early side to see such heart development.

In the end, everything is OK at this point, however the baby is not old enough for them to make a complete assessment and I will be going back in 3 weeks for a second ultrasound. Right now the baby is 5 ounces which is a perfectly healthy weight for a 16 week fetus & his/her heartbeat was 144 which was also right in line.

The doctor did try to catch a glimpse if it was a girl or a boy but he didn't get a clear shot, however if I had to guess at this point, based on my lack of ultrasound skills it looked like a girl. It was exciting to think that he would have been able to determine the sex, but I dont mind waiting a few more weeks.

Technically I have an ultrasound at my OB's office on April 15th, and then the following Tuesday I have my next ultrasound at the hospital, so I will have 2 definite chances to get to determine the sex this month.

Also, because our pregnancy is now characterized as high-risk, and doing some research online, it seems I may possibly keep going to the high risk doctor at the hospital so they can keep monitoring the development of the baby's heart & organs as it grows. It seems I will not be "in the clear" until the baby is born. Based on the AFP, I was told our chances for DS are 1 in 18, or as I prefer to look at it, 5.5% - which sits much better with me. So at this point 94.5% chance for a healthy baby, however those numbers can change as we go for more ultrasounds. Technically for someone my age they should be less than 1 in 1000, so 1 in 18 does seem scary.

Thank God for health insurance, Blue Cross is going to love me in the end of this!

In good news - this morning though I definitely felt the baby move a few times, it was like little bubbles in the same spot about 4-5 times in a row.