info galore

Today's wait at the OB had to be the shortest on record. I was in and out in 45 minutes. If only they could always be so speedy! No ultrasound (again) today, just a heartbeat and cervix check. I was sent home with two more antibiotics. That makes me feel like I'm falling apart, but my OB assures me I am not. I understand infections are more common while pregnant, and bless my OB for taking no chances. And for not making me feel like a paranoid moron in the process.

The talk about infections prompted me to ask my OB if I should expect to see any signs of my cervix dilating. His answer? Probably not. That doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. Because everything happened so quickly last time, with zero indication until it was much too late, he doesn't expect the tell tale signs of impending labor. His solution is weekly office visits to check things out. Okay by me! Though I will certainly be on pins and needles the next four weeks, until I reach 28 weeks. As mentioned previously, if/when my cervix unexpectedly starts to efface I am fairly certain I will be put in the hospital until Little Sister makes her arrival.

I had the tiniest bit of spotting this afternoon. So tiny that a normal, non-freakish person wouldn't have even seen it. Spotting can occur after your cervix is checked, but this is the first time it's happened to me. I noticed it late in the afternoon so if it continues through tomorrow I will call the office to ask about it. Just in case. Everything with this pregnancy is just in case.

My contractions remain unchanged. Very infrequent and random. Except for two days ago when the nurse told me I had seven in one hour. Seven. There is no way I had seven. I don't believe the machine lied, but I have gotten pretty good at recognizing irritability and contractions and I felt maybe two bouts of mild tightening during that session. Oddly enough I have noticed that some nurses are more conservative than others when they read the data. What one nurse would consider irritability another counts as an actual contraction. The difference (from my understanding) is mostly pertaining to the intensity of the tightening, where irritability is much milder. The nurses who are very conservative count anything that lasts more than forty seconds as a contraction no matter the intensity.

So where am I in this pregnancy?

Right now I am officially 24 weeks. Though, based on when Little Sister was created I am not quite that far along. How am I sure? Because I was there folks! My OB likes his estimate, which is only a difference of 4 days, so we are going with that. No, four days isn't that big of a deal. Unless of course you're referring to a preemie and I then I want every extra day I can have.

How much weight have I gained? About 22 pounds. It's mostly all belly, though my face is a bit fuller, my arms a little flabbier and my rear and legs a bit snugger in jeans that were previously ginormous. At this point with the twins I had gained forty pounds. Yes, I said forty. A four followed by a zero. I have no idea how I gained that much weight, but however it happened it wasn't related to eating because I was just not into food at all.

How do I feel? Much to my surprise, great! I didn't get pukey during the first trimester, though I was extremely fatigued and had that yucky whatever stuck in my throat the entire 13 weeks. I have a bit of heartburn now but nothing compared to the twins' pregnancy. With the twins I got up (literally) 3-4 times a night to use the restroom from about 13 weeks on. And then horrible insomnia rarely allowed me to go back to sleep. I am very thankful for being comfortable so far and being able to sleep through the night, mostly uninterrupted.

Any concerns so far? Not according to my OB. I've noticed my blood pressure has spiked a little the last couple of weeks, but he hasn't mentioned a thing about it. My baseline blood pressure is very low, at about 100/60. My current blood pressure is about 110/75 (give or take) depending on where and what time of day it is taken. That is still a good blood pressure on its own, and I believe only anything above 120/90 is cause for worry, but some doctors get concerned if the bottom number (which matters most from what I'm told) increases by 15. This is another of those things I need to add to the "leave it alone" list until my doctor deems it a worry.

Is Little Sister a mover? Absolutely! I think she's doing flips in there. She thumps and kicks all day long. Her constant shifting makes me truly wonder how two babies ever fit.

Does Little Sister have a name? We're working on it! Cody and I seem to have serious difficulty naming our children. We have it narrowed down to a few we really like but haven't gotten any farther than that.

Beyond that we're working on finishing selections for the nursery. We had a major head start this time. The walls were freshly painted at the same time the twins' nursery was started, Bentley's crib is on standby and we have re-purposed a dresser. I have purchased fabrics for the bedding (online of course), I need to get a rocker and a few more odds and ends but that is about all. I love shopping for Rhys, but it has been really fun shopping for a little girl. We've only bought a very few pieces of clothing for Little Sister (as we don't know exactly when she'll arrive or how big she'll be in what season) but it's certainly been fun to window shop.