27 Weeks

It has come to my attention that I've been really really bad about keeping everyone updated on how Nerdlet and I are doing. 

I've truthfully been meaning to update this thing for weeks now (months, even), but every time I've sat down with the intent to write -- my energy just mysteriously drains away and I find myself, hours later, lost on Pinterest (or something) instead. 

Energy has been my biggest battle during this entire pregnancy so far.  Supposedly it returns a little bit in the second trimester, but I'm not really sure that was the case for me.  I noticed a decrease in the waves of fatigue, perhaps, but aside from that it's pretty much felt like sleepy time all the time.  I can literally sleep any time, pretty much anywhere - which is not normal for me.  Pre-pregnancy sleeping in meant waking up at 7 a.m. on weekends.  These days it's more like 8:30-9 (which I realize is still early to some of you night owls, but I am a morning person by nature) giving me 12 or more hours of sleep each night.  I'm a little afraid of what this is going to mean for my third trimester.  The third trimester combined with the onset of fall/winter may induce hibernation, literally.  I'll see you in the spring, friends!

So - the third trimester.  It's just around the corner.  There's actually some debate on this, I guess.  But my Mayo Clinic book says that the end of this week marks the end of my 2nd trimester, so I guess I'm going to go with that.  Which means I'm staring # 3 in the face.  I'm continually amazed at what my body is doing.  It is doing some pretty amazing things -- both in a beautiful "making another human being" way and a horrifying "holy crap, what happened to my ankles?" kind of way. Yesterday (Saturday) marked week 27.  The books tell me that if I have the baby this week, there's a more than 85% chance that baby will survive.  This is pretty remarkable - although I'd really prefer to keep this baby in for a while yet. 

My body, thus far, seems to be cooperating with my wishes.  My last appointment (at 24 weeks) went really well.  I sailed through my second 3-hour glucose test (yes, I had to do two.  My OB was CONVINCED that I was going to fail.  It felt pretty good to prove her wrong).  My numbers the second time were better than the first time and probably more normal than they've been for years.  I managed to find myself on a gestational diabetes diet anyway, though - as a precautionary measure.  My blood pressure was even a little lower at my last appointment.  I was mostly stupefied at how my body seems to be getting healthier (or at least it was then) instead of unhealthier which is what pretty much everyone in the medical community had expected.  I guess it just goes to show that those prayers?  They're still working.  And we are still eternally grateful for them.

As for the baby -- Nerdlet has become a kicking machine.  I still think that my anterior placenta is still cushioning a lot of the kicks, but I'm feeling them more and more and they are getting stronger and stronger, or at least more distinguishable.  Todd hasn't been able to feel them yet.  I have been able to feel a few from the outside, but they aren't very regular yet and Todd isn't very patient so we haven't gotten the timing down just right yet.  I'm sure that will change soon. 

Our anatomy scan ultrasounds (yes, we had two.  This baby does not appreciate being filmed.  In the first ultrasound we couldn't find the feet, and in the second ultrasound Nerdlet kept his/her hands clenched around the face so we couldn't get any good pictures - we did find the feet though!  My baby has feet!  Yay!) showed that everything appears to be normal in there.  It was a good thing we'd decided not to find out the gender of the baby because on top of everything else, Nerdlet had legs crossed with cord tucked between the legs -- both times.  So - there were no moments of weakness for us.  We still don't know!  And yes, it's almost starting to drive us as crazy as it's been driving most of you.

The nursery is still a work in progress - but it's ALMOST done.  For those of you who missed it - we got the polka dots up on the wall...

there are some cosmetic finishing touches that need to be done, but it's pretty much baby-ready at this point. Now, if I could somehow find the motivation to tackle cleaning the rest of the house -- we'd be in good shape. :)

So - the update is -- so far so good.  I'm still nervous every day - all the time.  I guess this is just part of this whole thing though, from what I understand.  Our next appointment is October 11.  I will be just shy of 30 weeks at that point.  We'll get another ultrasound to measure Nerdlet's growth -- and fingers crossed everything will still look as good as it did at the last appointment.  Stay tuned...