15 Week Midwife Appointment

I had my 15 week appointment yesterday. It was definitely a full crowd as all 3 kids wanted to come, my mom was in town, and I also dragged Gary along. As before, it was a very relaxed, calm visit with plenty of time to deal with kids in between taking care of the actual prenatal visit. We arrived in a rush after running around and picking up kids from school and meeting my mom. She gave us a mini-tour of the facility again. Josh seemed very impressed about the kitchen in the office! The kids immediately put a movie on and playing with the many toys Rebecca has available.

I peed in a cup, then we asked for another ultrasound so my Mom and the kids could see the baby. The baby was head first towards my back (so its feet were pointing at my tummy) so we had quite the time getting a good face or profile shot. The kids loved to see the baby jump and wiggle and squirm though. Rebecca then used the doppler to get the baby's heartbeat which proved impossible. The funny way the baby was laying meant we just couldn't pick up the baby's heartbeat over my own. She remarked she was glad she had the ultrasound since otherwise there would have been quite the panic, not sure if the baby was okay or not. (Which would not have been a good visit to bring the kids to!)

Then I weighed myself, and we decided to do the internal exam. I had my mom go out into the family room with the kids for this. :) No use scarring them! Rebecca was very professional and let me know everything she was about to do. She also did a breast exam, and taught Gary how to perform one. Apparently 70% of lumps in breasts are noticed by partners! After this, she asked questions about how I've been feeling (tired, sore in my pelvis) and suggested I pick up a bella band for pelvis support. I had no idea those things were good for anything but holding up your pre-pregnancy jeans!

I got dressed again and we sat on the couch and chatted about any questions and concerns I may have had. I asked her specifically about childbirth classes. From what I hear, Hypnobabies is wonderful, except that I can't get past the "hypnosis" thing. Which means hypnobabies wouldn't work for me at all. So we talked about some other options, and she gave me the phone number of a woman who has taught basically all the classes, and combines them. I really like the idea of a class that gives me a handful of exercises or tools I can use in labor, rather than just one option, such as hypnosis. This way if something doesn't work for me I can discard it and just try something else. Rebecca did mention this woman is rather hard to get into a class so if it works out, I'll post my thoughts about it.

We talked for a few minutes about scheduling the "big ultrasound" (I simply can't believe we're talking about it already!), since if I end up going to an IHC hospital, I need to schedule now. She asked if I was interested in AFP (AFK? AKP?) testing. Since it has such a high false positive/negative rate, and a positive would mean I'd have to do that scary test with the super long needle into the womb... we passed. The ultrasound will check for some of those same problems and honestly, if there was a problem? We'd just stress and worry till the baby came. I vote for blissful ignorance, thank you.

So that was our visit. My mom feels a little more confident in this crazy plan of mine, I hope. Gary was impressed that Rebecca remembered his name! When I'm in Rebecca's office, surrounded by pictures that Rebecca has assisted in bringing into this world, natural childbirth seems so do-able and not at all scary or psychotic. Which is a nice feeling!

I need to post the ultrasound picture and a belly pic soon! I stopped posting them every week because I felt like I needed to see a difference, and there really isn't that much change from week to week right now. But I'll get on that soon and be back to post more adventures from the womb.

Intelligender & 1st Tri Farewell

I made it. I'm officially 13 weeks pregnant, and now a 2nd tri gal. Which, on the one hand, seems like a great accomplishment. 1/3 of the way there! On the other hand, I think it's terribly deceptive, considering the majority of pregnant women come into their first tri four weeks in. Therefore it seems like the next trimesters are going to just fly by... uh, no. But even still, it's nice to know I'm beyond the biggest risk of miscarriage. I realized, after I took this pic, that a white shirt probably wasn't the best choice for a baby bump picture, but hey, I was having a great hair day so I'm not going to be too picky.

My birthday was this past week and my older sister really wanted to get me something she had heard of somewhere, called the Intelligender. Essentially, you pee in a cup (the joy of every pregnant lady!) and after 10 minutes, the strip on the cup turns to either orangey-yellow and says 'GIRL' or it turns to grey-green and says 'BOY.' It has an 82% accuracy rate for determining gender, but as they say on their website, don't paint your nursery based on the test!

Ultimately, I ended up returning it. NOT because I didn't believe it would work, I'm a big believer in pee color strips. My hubby and I are pretty traditional though and with our first, we had the ultrasound tech secretly sign a note saying whether it was a boy or girl. We took the note home and threw a party that night, where we all discovered the gender together. It was super fun, and hubby would like to do that again for this baby. Peeing in a cup and yelling down the hall, "Hey, Sweetie, we're having a _________!" seemed a little anti-climatic.

My thoughts? This is a great option if you're one of those Natural Mamas who are opting out of optional ultrasounds. (That was a fun sentence to write.) Also great if you get a "fuzzy" ultrasound photo or baby doesn't cooperate during his or her first photo session. And of course, if you just can't possibly wait till that all-important 20 week ultrasound, then spend the $30 dollars and get yourself an Intelligender test! (Available at http://www.intelligender.com/, and Walgreens and CVS pharmacies.) If you do end up purchasing it, my sister and I would love to know how the test worked for you!

An Ode to Green Bell Peppers

I'm going to start this post out with a little confession: I have actually dreamed about bell peppers. Yeah, it's that serious. The craving hit unobtrusively enough two weeks ago when, while at work, I started thinking about how good bell peppers are. Then at lunch time I decided to go to Subway (read: splurge) instead of the stinky hospital cafeteria. And they had bell peppers to put on my sandwich!

It was delicious. The craving took off like a firecracker in the hands of a twelve year old boy. I have now also had bell peppers on two ham sandwiches, dutch oven chicken, french dip and grilled on hot dogs.... ooooooh yeah... hot dogs and green peppers! (Seriously. It's fantastic.)

My husband thinks I've lost it a little just because I don't think bell pepper ice cream sounds all that bad. I mean, in other countries they have carrot ice cream and avocado ice cream... is it really all that far fetched to throw bell peppers in there? I think not! No, I haven't tried it yet, because there is some part of my rational brain that says it sounds weird. Plus I'd be the only one eating it, of that I'm certain. But if I do get crazy/pregnant enough to try it, I'll take pics and let you know how it goes.

It is nice to have a healthy craving for once... last pregnancy was 9 solid months of craving Lucky Charms.

HOW TO MAKE THIS PREGNANT LADY HAPPY
Take one mini french bread loaf and cut in half. Top with ham, pile with cheddar, and add lots of sliced green peppers. Pop it in your broiler for about 5 minutes (watch it closely!) Remove, slather with olive oil mayo, and enjoy... you won't regret it, and neither will I.

And to top it all off (the post, not the sandwich), it's time for a 12 week preggo picture. You can't tell, but I'm wearing my totally awesome PREGNANT (not fat) tank top because it makes me happy. What better to wear to go out to my birthday dinner?