Cheesy Mango

Every week I follow Nerdlet's progress in the Mayo Clinic book, the "What to Expect" book, and then I usually check it out online too.  I'm having so much fun reading about how things are changing in there -- it's really the only guide that I have.  I can't see in there, and most of the time I can't even feel in there much.  So - on Saturday I hit the 19 week mark, so I thought I would check out what's happening there.  It turns out - this is what's happening in there:

"Have you ever seen a mango dipped in cheese? Well, that's what your baby looks like this week..." (see for yourself, I could not make this up).  So -- allow me to help you a little bit with the imagery here.

Mango:

Cheese:

Take a minute - mix the two together in your head.  Got the image now?  It's pretty weird, right?  And gross.  That is without question the weirdest way I've heard my baby described so far. 

Now, go ahead and add this face:

It just became a little terrifying, right?  Poor Nerdlet.  I guess the cheesy mango is just a phase.  S/he'll grow out of it.

Today was Nerdlet's "big" ultrasound.  Everything is looking good in there, except we were unable to confirm that Nerdlet has feet, and there was zero cooperation when trying to get a map of the heart.  I should MAYBE be concerned about this, but I'm mostly just excited that it means another ultrasound in two weeks.  I can live with a footless baby, but I'm guessing the feet hiding was just another show of rebellion. 

We chose not to find out the gender (I didn't cave!).  At one point Todd and I SWEAR we heard the tech say something about "the boy" -- but then a couple minutes later he told us that it was a good thing we didn't want to find out the gender because that's apparently right where Nerdlet was hiding his/her feet - and there would be no cooperation there either.  Nerdlet is modest.  So - it might be a boy.  But could also possibly be a girl.  We're about 100% sure it's one of those two things (despite the fact that it currently looks like an alien). 

We were able to get a pretty good picture of Nerdlet's spine.  This one I can make out -- it was very clear on the ultrasound screen and very cool to see.

Despite the lack of feet, we apparently have two legs.  Yeah - I'm not really sure there are legs in there either.   But that's how it's labeled!

Arms were also captured on film.  We also got to see tiny fingers, but didn't get a picture of those. 

I think Nerdlet looks like a little monkey here (so, to recap -- possibly boy, possibly girl, possibly alien, possibly monkey), but it's my favorite picture of them all.  It's still a little blurry.  I'm guessing that the ones we get in two weeks will be MUCH more clear. 

So far - so good.  My blood pressure is still high, but my urine tests came back normal so nobody is freaking out about that yet.  Nerdlet currently weighs about 10 oz and appears to be measuring right on track.  All in all - it was a fantastic appointment.  There is always much relief when we get to peek in on little Nerdlet, but this week we also got confirmation that almost everything (that we could see) is developing like it should - and the little bean is still be-bopping away in there!

18 Weeks

Oh, right.  I was going to keep writing.

Here we go…

For some reason it is really hard for me to write about this.  There are a lot of reasons for this, but half the time I sit down to write and wind up deleting things 10 times before just abandoning it altogether, figuring it will come to me later. 
Here’s hoping now is later. J

The truth is that there isn’t a lot to report.  I am 18 weeks pregnant today, which means that this baby is almost half baked.  There have been a couple early bumps in the road – but nothing terribly alarming.  I took my first gestational diabetes test at 16 weeks due to my risk factors.  I failed the one hour test – although I initially thought that I had passed it.  When they called to tell me I failed, I didn’t take it very well.  In retrospect, I feel pretty bad for the people who were trying to schedule my next test – they had to have been completely baffled by my reaction.  Failing the 1 hour test is bad news, but it’s not HORRIBLE news, and it often doesn’t mean anything at all.  In fact, I passed the 3 hour test a week later.  Apparently I just barely passed it, but I passed it nonetheless so I guess – one hurtle down. 

I’ll get another one of these things in about 2 more months.    This is unappealing for several reasons – 1) I am not a fan of needles.  At my first test (the 1 hour) the guy missed my vein and went digging. I almost passed out and threw up simultaneously.  Luckily they got me right away at the second test, but I am forever traumatized (again, some more) by that first experience.  2) I do not tolerate the glucose solution well.  The first time I took it I thought maybe I was just reacting to the extremely hot temperatures outside.  The second time, I actually got to sit in the lobby for about 10 minutes before they called me back, so I knew the temperature in the room was comfortable.  About 10 minutes after I came out I was sweating like crazy and shaking.  I’m sure I looked like a crazy lady sitting out there in the comfortably air conditioned room, sweating profusely.  3) My blood sugar CRASHED at the 3 hour test.  It just completely bombed in that last hour.  So – pregnant, fasting, and now with impressively low blood sugar, it should go without saying that my next food choices weren’t exactly the best ones I’ve ever made.  I’m hoping that, since I know what to expect now, when I do this again I can prepare a little better to  avoid at least this one pitfall. 

My blood pressure was high at my last appointment.  Not alarmingly high, but higher than it should have been which of course set me into panic mode.  We’re monitoring it now.  It was normal that night when we took it at home, so who knows what was going on.  I could do with a little less drama, body.  Thanks.  I also got to hear the heartbeat for the very first time – that was pretty awesome.  My OB had a student with her that day, so she was the first one to try.  She was a little panicked when I told her that we’d never tried to hear the heartbeat before.  She assured me that I shouldn’t panic if they didn’t find it.  The baby is still very small and, as she said, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”  She wound up not being able to find it, but when my OB gave it a try she found it in 30 seconds.  It’s always a relief to get that “proof”.  Even though I think I’m feeling movement in there – the proof is still so reassuring.

I DO think I’ve felt some movement – it’s hard to say for sure, it’s nothing consistent yet, but there have definitely been some bubbles and taps and whirls that I’ve never felt before.  The tapping, in particular, makes me think that it’s the baby.  I am always quick to say that I’m not POSITIVE that it’s the baby, but I guess nobody can really prove me otherwise, so let’s go with it.  It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever felt – and I can’t wait for more pronounced movement.  I can’t wait for Todd to be able to feel it. 

That’s where we are in a nutshell.  I go in on July 30^th for the “big” ultrasound.  Much to the disappointment of almost everyone in the world, I think we are NOT going to find out what we’re having.  I love the idea of not knowing for sure, and frankly – we had made all these plans without knowing if we were going to wind up with a little boy or a little girl – and in that sense, nothing has really changed.  Either way, we’re going to be head over heels in love.  We already are.  So the rest is just frosting.  Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind on this, but know that any pressure we get just firms my resolve to not know.  I’m stubborn and difficult like that.