today was the first appointment of our third trimester. from here on in i see the doctor every two weeks (instead of every month) and they get a lot more interested in everything i have to say. for those of you following along from afar, here are the details.
1. weighed in at 148# today; officially, by my own schedule (avg weight gain by week up to 30 Lbs), i am not supposed to reach this weight until the end of the month. i'm not too worried about this (at this moment at least) because my weight gain has been sporadic. some weeks none, and some weeks a few. this does mean, on the other hand, that the exact number of pounds i have left is the exact number of pounds the baby is likely to grow (plus or minus one or two) in the next two months. aaron and i recently had a conversation that started with "let's define pastry..." indeed. if you take away the pastries, i'm eating quite well (small meals, more frequent, whole foods) and am even back on the vitamins.
2. after another attempt to reduce the Zofran that resulted in a succession (three + days) of 3AM waking with nausea, I'm back to two per day. "It's hard enough to sleep when you're pregnant," says the dr. She's right. I've been cranky and moody and very tired since I tried to get off the meds again, just because it's waking me up so early. more meds, i'll go back to 2x/day starting tonight. this seems especially prudent because it turns out our insurance company does not cover pre-natal massage (which i was supposed to do for insomnia and back pain). we're foregoing that treatment for now (though Aaron did "win" me a massage at a local chiropractor at the local neighborhood tradeshow this week, so that will be a treat).
3. hello crunchy belly-button. who knew i was such a dirty hippy? doctor says to cut hydrogen peroxide in half in order to clean out my extremely sensitive and newly exposed belly button parts. Ewww.
4. Baby's heart beat was 155 BMP today. Dr Pray again used the word perfect and Aaron relayed his research (not kidding here) on elementary schools for gifted children.
5. My skin looks weird; things that were there before but very slight are now prevalent (birthmarks? sunspots? what is that???) and this includes new bumps on my neck and navel. We're going to check out a family doctor on October 4 (with the hopes of landing a new pediatrician at the same time) and hopefully they can confirm that the skin stuff is pregnancy related and not anything else. Dr says it's very common to have skin symptoms during pregnancy, that's usually all it is, but good to have it checked out.
6. Childbirth, breast-feeding, and newborn care classes begin at the end of the month at Swedish; next several doctor visits, we start rotating around the office so that we can meet the other doctors that might be present at the birth.
7. I drank a large quantity of high-fructose-orange-syrup before my appointment today; this was necessary as part of some blood work they were doing to rule out gestational diabetes. they will also check my iron (since i was anemic during the first trimester) and a few other things. test results back in a few days.
8. i have "pregnancy gingivitis" (according to the dental hygienist, who i saw in my next appointment). this would go away if i would floss more often. big surprise.
It's time to start trying to figure out what kind of birth we want to have, if we want a Doula, and who (else, if anyone) we would like in the room with us. there are these quizzes you can take that tell you what kind of birth you're indicating based on your feelings/preferences related to the medical system, health care in general, and pain management issues. It looks like I'm right in the middle. I don't like drugs or health care if I don't need them, but I also don't find it necessary to do things completely on my own or without assistance or additional comforts. if you're not too drugged out of your mind, there's less of a chance you impact the birth or the baby, and more of a chance that you'll be more present and capable. On the other hand, I don't find it necessary to be a big hero and forgo all pain meds. What I'd really like is to be assured that I can take the edge off the pain enough with some limited meds, not be so crazy out of my mind with pain that I can't make decisions or think clearly (pain typically does that to me - i'm not very toleratnt) YET, still feel what I'm supposed to be doing and stay in touch with my body enough to get what's happening to me and the baby, oh, and avoid an episiotomy. I am truly post-feminist on this: It's my choice and I want it all.
Little V cannot stop moving. Aaron actually caught her on video today. That child is going to be one over-photographed little thing. I hope she's cute.
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You're getting there! So much of what you described in this post brings back memories. I had the belly button thing (don't worry, it does go back to normal -- just takes a while) and the gingivitis (also went back to normal after having Reed). I had the little skin tags on my neck and navel too. Totally normal for pregnancy. The ones on my neck are still there, but are much smaller, lighter and less obvious than they were in pregnancy. You can have them removed, but they don't bother me like they did when I was pregnant.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for you! Other than being huge and achy and having to pee every 30 minutes, the third trimester is such a wonderful time (REALLY)!!! I remember just fantasizing about what Reed might be like and what it would be like to be his mom. The best part is... it's even better than anything you could imagine. Being a mom is totally amazing -- hard and exhausting and messy -- but amazing.
And she will be cute. You're cuter than a bugs ear and, from the pictures, Aaron isn't hard to look at, so I'm sure she'll be gorgeous!
Ditto Meredith in re the skin stuff. My skin tags exploded while pregnant, and I, too, suffered from the bloody gums. Having experienced labor both w/ and w/o a doula and both w/ and w/o an episiotomy, I highly recommend avoiding the episiotomy (or, as Brian calls it, a "dis-please-iotomy"). I had a very skilled midwife with my second labor who let me tear naturally. I tore somewhat severely--enough to require a surgeon's assistance afterward--and yet the recovery was *nothing* compared to recovery from the episiotomy the first time around.
ReplyDeleteAs for the doula--if you find the right person, then I highly recommend it. If not for you, then for Aaron's sake. Our doula also happened to be an amazing photographer, so she could be responsible for catching a few precious moments on film so Brian didn't have to feel like he was experiencing Eli's birth through a camera lens. Plus she was a good friend. That all made for a great doula experience, but I wouldn't hire one just for the sake of having an extra person on deck. It should definitely be the right person.