150

We were finally given a h/r this time! Well I had to ask, but he told me the h/r was 150. He asked if I thought I could predict the gender from that #, and I said I know it's just a wives tale. Actually I've read that it's not exactly 50/50 in accuracy - it's a little more accurate than that but not by much. On one website a doctor said that if the h/r is consistently above 140 that there is a 5% increased chance baby is a girl and if it's consistently less than 140 it's a 5% increased chance baby is a boy. So there you have have - a slight edge that those who are predicting girl (the minority!) are correct. :-)

It's been snowing, but the roads were still okay. Some school districts (like the one we live in) were closed today, and most of the others are dismissing early (such as at noon). The ladies study was cancelled this morning; so I didn't miss it after all. So far nothing from where I teach. We shall see if they cancel the PM classes. I normally have office hours from 4-6 and teach from 6-8pm on Tuesdays. Well Paul decided to stay home, and since he was at home he came with me (and drove since I'm a HUGE chicken when it comes to driving in snow). At least this time I knew what to expect for my appt - get weighed, pee in a cup, have b/p checked, answer a few questions, and wait for the doctor to come and check the h/b. It was nice not to have to change into a gown this time especially as last time I sat in that gown for an hour while waiting for Dr. O. The best part was of course hearing the h/b. It took him awhile to find it (again!) but he did. Baby was still on the right side but had moved up higher. The top of my uterus is now maybe an inch or so below my belly button. He said by the next appt it will be up to my belly button. What a huge sense of relief I had when we heard the heartbeat!! PTL!!! he said he had seen Dr. A recently and told him that I was seeing him and Dr. A told Dr. O to tell me hi. That was nice. :-) There was a medical student with Dr. O today and his name was Paul so there were 2 Pauls in the room.

I was asked by the nurse and OB if I wanted the triple quad screening, and I declined it. When the nurse asked if I was having cramping, I said "yes" (whereas the answer to most questions she asked me was "no"). She said that I should drink a lot of water whenever I have any cramping, an that I should probably drink more water in general as it's often a sign of dehydration. So I will drink more! And she said if it won't go away or becomes very painful to call them ASAP. They put in a referral to the MFM clinic (which is at the hospital where my RE is). They said I should get a call within 48 hours for that appt. They said that's when I'll have the u/s, an that the MFM clinic likes to do it between 18-22 weeks. I'll be 18w on Friday so I'm hoping it will be in week 18 or 19 rather than say week 22. An u/s next week sounds good to me!

My b/p was up but still good. Today it was what my b/p usually is when not pg (120/70) whereas last month it was 98/60. My weight was up 4 lb 5 oz. That's about what I was expecting. According to my scale at home (which isn't as precise) I had gained 5 lbs in the last 4 weeks. So at 17w4d I think I've gained about 8 lbs altogether. The nurse last time had said a healthy weight gain was 1lb a week during the 2nd & 3rd trimesters (plus about 5 lbs in the 1st tri = about 30 lb total weight gain). I had hoped to only gain 2 lbs during these 4 weeks, but I'm not going to flip out that I gained 4lbs instead of 2. If I stick to the 1lb a week goal then my total would be 30 lbs since I have about 22 weeks left. I was trying to aim to only gain 20, but I guess it will be ok if I gain 30 since it's for a very happy reason - BABY!

The nurse asked if I had felt baby move (no), and she said many women don't feel it until 20-22 weeks so I shouldn't worry. I had read on the American Pregnancy Association website that 18-20 weeks is the norm for feeling first movements in a first pgcy but it can vary from 14-22 weeks. Now that I have heard baby's h/b it's not bothering me as much that I haven't felt baby move yet. Of course I am still looking forward to that! It's just quite a few ladies on this one 2nd tri discussion board I visit each day have felt their baby move (even first pgcies) around 16w so I was getting a little antsy that I am getting near 18w and still haven't felt baby move.

So anyhow the bottom line is that baby is still doing well. PTL! Now to wait for the phone call that will tell me when I get to see baby again!!! I learned today that although I paid a copay at my first prenatal appt last month ($10), I don't have to pay any more copays the rest of the pgcy. That was a nice surprise. :-)I scheduled my next OB appt for March 11 at 3pm. That's spring break for Paul & I, but I have a conference at school that day that I am a part of (it's for the preschool and kindergarten teachers in two counties). So 3:00 is a good time as I can just scoot over from the conf. I'll go to that one by myself (Paul has been to all my appts so far), but if Paul's schedule allows he will go to the u/s. It will be a thorough one since it's being done at the high risk clinic. I can't wait! :-)

BRRRR!

Saturday we got some snow, and we got some more on Sunday. Over the course of the day on Sunday the temperature plummeted, and it was still freezing cold today (less than 20 degrees). With the windchill, it was below zero last night. I saw I needed gas when I was driving home from choir practice last night, but I immediately thought I'll ask Paul if he'll fill my tank after dinner on Monday night. At dinner tonight I asked him if we could trade cars (we drove separately) so that he could stop and get gas for my car on the way home. And my sweet hubby said yes even though he had braved the elements this morning to get gas for his car. While I'm bragging on dh, in the materials the nurse at the OB gave me 4 weeks ago, one of the activities listed to avoid while pg is to clean toilets (bc of the fumes from the cleaner). So I asked dh if he would clean our 2 toilets yesterday, and he did. And cleaning toilets is only a little less repulsive than changing a diaper in his opinion, LOL.

The weather doesn't look good for tomorrow. Paul will stay home as Tuesday is the one day of the week he doesn't have class or a lab he needs to be a TA in. He usually still goes in but in light of the weather already told his advisor he won't be in tomorrow. I'm not sure what will happen with my OB appt. I might end needing to reschedule it. Patience IS a virtue, right? Also not sure about whether I'll have class tomorrow night. We shall see!

Since I bragged on dh, I think I can share a funny story as well. I showed him some photos online that my sister sent today from Adam's bday party yesterday. I thought the photos were cute off him with chocolate icing smeared all over. Paul found the photos "revolting." He said something like I hope you aren't planning on doing this with our child. I said, yes, it's a pretty standard thing to do for a child's first bday. He kept saying that it's so disgusting - "there was chocolate everywhere, all over the high chair." I just laughed and laughed. He said well if you give our child cake for his/her bday then you alone are responsible for cleaning up the mess. That's fine, but I think Paul is in for a rude awakening that when our child is learning to feed him/herself that even if it's not chocolate icing it can be a very messy experience.

Tomorrow!!!

I am very, very glad my appt is tomorrow. I felt a little silly last Monday just moving my appt up 3 days, but I have to say I am glad I did it. Although last time it was a let down to "only" hear the h/b when I was hoping to see baby by u/s, this time I know that's all it will be and although of course seeing baby would be even better, hearing the h/b is enough for me right now just to reassure me that baby is still doing okay. My mtg in State College for tomorrow afternoon was cancelled this morning due to inclement weather predicted for that area tomorrow, so I could have taken the 1:30 appt tomorrow and not missed ladies Bible study. But I'm not going to call again to switch my appt to 1:30 (and that time slot might have been taken already anyhow). I don't want them to think I'm an annoying patient who changes her appts all the time. Tomorrow I know to just schedule my next appt exactly 4 weeks later if at all possible. And I believe I'll have an u/s (probably with the MFM clinic) before my 21w OB appt. So the wait between appts shouldn't be as long this time, and hopefully SOON I'll feel baby move. Once I am feeling baby move I don't think hearing the h/b will be so important to me.

We have a 2 hour delay at school today, and it has nothing to do with the weather but rather a power outage on part of the campus that happened last night. So I am home later than usual this morning. It worked out well as my friend, Cheri, came over for a Bible study this morning for about 90 minutes. We are finishing a study on Daniel together. We both had started the same study (Beth Moore) at two different churches but neither of us had finished it (I started it in the fall of 06 and she started it in the fall of 07). So I still had my "ladies Bible study" this week but it was just a really small group, LOL. The ladies group on Tuesdays at my church is doing a study by the same author on the Tabernacle. That's the one I'll miss tomorrow.

Tonight Paul and I are going out to dinner. Paul doesn't like to go out on actual Valentine's Day since so many go out that night. Since I don't have handbells tonight as I usually do, tonight is our best night. So we are headed to Applebee's tonight. They are having a special where you get an appetizer, meal, and dessert for $10-12 (depending on what main meal you order). Pretty good deal I think! Plus we have gift cards for Applebee's so actually it won't cost us a dime. I wish we had an Olive Garden nearby; it's been a long time since I've eaten at Olive Garden. Paul feels the same way about Red Lobster. We have to travel about 1 hour to get to either of those restaurants. The ones that are within 15 minutes of our house include Perkins, Cracker Barrell, Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, Quaker Steak & Lube, Applebee's, Denny's, Ruby Tuesday, and Bennigan's. I think that's pretty good considering what a rural area we live in (our home is surrounded by fields used to grow corn, alfalfa, pumpkins, etc.).

Finally, I have to say that I love my pregnancy pillow. It was worth every penny. It wasn't cheap; it probably cost the same as one appt at a chiro or massage therapist. The very first night it helped relieve the hip pain, but my lower back was still hurting. Last night even my lower back felt fine while sleeping. PTL!!! I keep thinking of the children's book the Best Nest. I think this pillow qualifies as the best pgcy nest, LOL! Once I have a camera I'll take a photo of my nest. :-)

17 Weeks!

Today I am 17 weeks pg; in 3 more weeks baby will be half-baked! To celebrate, I am wearing a new outfit! It gave me pleasure to cut off the price tags this morning. For example, the tag on the skirt said $68, but I actually paid $14.99. I would never pay $68 for a skirt, much less a maternity skirt, but it is very well made. It's nice to be wearing high quality stuff at a low price! And the skirt DOES have growing room so it will fit for a couple more months I think, but I am pretty sure it won't fit in say June. Same goes for the shirt, but it's long sleeved so I wouldn't want to wear it then anyhow! It's always fun to wear a new outfit, but it's ESPECIALLY fun since I've been wearing the same 3-4 outfits the past few weeks to work/church (at least the one skirt is black so I can vary what sweater I wear with it). I truly have felt like I've had a "school uniform" again, LOL! Plus there is something special about this being the first day my top and bottom are maternity clothes. :-) Also, since this skirt is solid navy blue, it means that I can wear more than one top with it.

Deliveries

Well today was the day for deliveries! I had a mtg at work, and when I got home around noon I saw a box on the front porch contained maternity clothes I ordered from Mimi Maternity. I had received a $50 gift card for Christmas that could be used at Motherhood, Pea in a Pod, or Mimi. The only one of those stores anywhere near us is Motherhood, so I assumed I'd use it there. Then I thought I could shop online with it. Well the other two stores are VERY high priced, but I was able to find some items on sale. The original prices for the 3 items equaled $150, but I got them for $45.97 so after s/h I was only $1.97 over the gift card. I got a navy blue skirt (L), long sleeved blue/white striped shirt (L), and a short sleeved white shirt (XL). I tried on the clothes, and the white shirt will be perfect later on. The skirt fits now and has some growing room, but it probably won't fit in a few months, but that's okay bc a XL maternity skirt I bought on eBay doesn't fit now but will fit in a few months. And the l/s shirt fits nicely now and again there is some room for growth but not tons. I plan to wear my new outfit tomorrow. YAHOO I get a break from recycling my three other skirts, LOL! It will be the first time I'll wear a maternity top, but it's the only one I own that looks fine now (the other tops are too big for now). It's nice to have one outfit for this "small belly" stage of pgcy, and there is some room for growth so I should be able to wear it for several more weeks at the very least.

Then Clark delivered our crib, toybox, and pillow! I wasn't expecting the pillow. It just came to the store today, and even though he hadn't been listed as one authorized to pick up the pillow (as he was for the other two items), they let him pick up all three items. I am anxious to try out the pillow tonight. I am hoping it reduces the pain in my hips and lower back. The toybox and crib need to be assembled, but it's exciting to have them in the house. Clark asked if our daughter (he's convinced baby is a girl) would be sleeping on wood. LOL we will get a mattress (not included). I put a crib mattress on the registry, and of course if no one buys that for us, we'll certainly buy it ourselves!!! Anyhow it feels very exciting to have a crib in our house (even if it is unassembled). :-) Clark recently helped his bil assemble two cribs as his sister is pg with twin girls (due in March but probably will give birth this month). I didn't ask for him to help assemble the crib - that will be Paul's job!

11 Years

Well it was exactly 11 years ago that Paul and I met. It was the 2nd week of a 4 week ballroom dancing class being held in the auditorium of a department store. Paul's parents had taken the class the year before, and they had told the teacher that their son had taken private ballroom dancing lessons in New Mexico. She said if he ever came back to the area that she'd love for him to come and help teach the class. That first night that he came he was a little late, and this older man had been taking turns dancing with all the women who came without a partner. When he saw Paul walk in, he immediately let go of my hands and said I think he (Paul) should be your partner. I am sure he said this because Paul and I were the only young ones in the class (everyone else was at least 20 years older than us), and that was where it all began. I never would have thought it wouldn't be until 11 years later that we'd become parents (that summer of 1997 we had talked about getting married in 1998 but we didn't actually get engaged until 2000 and married until 2001), but I am glad that day is finally just around the corner!!!

Today also marks the first day we don't have a valid home study. We started the first home study in November 2004 but it wasn't completed until a few months later. Since then we've always done an update or another home study before the previous one expired. But as of today our last home study is now expired. We can update it sometime in the next 2 years, but at the moment I am guessing we might not do so. Our first home study was $750, first update was $350, and our second home study was $1,500 (we could have done a second update but our first social worker was on maternity leave so her pregnancy cost us $1,150). Having done three without anything good resulting from them is partially why I don't think we'll ever pay for another home study (either get pg from ivf, decide to only have 1 child, or adopt through foster care which would involve another home study but at least it would be free). I am very glad NOT to be doing another one right now.

As for the fetal doppler, I have been going back and forth in my mind between renting, buying, or just skipping it altogether. Paul suggested I wait until after my appt on Tuesday to decide, and I think that's a good plan for now. So I've decided to wait on deciding, LOL. It's just 5 more days til my next appt! I weighed myself this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks and wasn't happy. :-( We shall see what the scales at the dr's office say on Tuesday. I haven't been eating sweets aside from fruit so I don't think I am going to change much. Maybe I'm like Lynn and the weight goes on faster in the beginning than the end? Oh well...as long as baby is healthy that's what's most important. If I have to diet after giving birth, so be it. The nurse at the OB said I should gain about 30 pounds total. I still think I can keep that as a maximum weight gain. I had been hoping to only gain about 20 pounds, but that seems dubious at this point.

We haven't heard from any of the other 4 schools where Paul applied yet. I admit the suspense is starting to get to me! He's been invited to visit both schools where he was accepted (they'll pay for his travel expenses, hotel, food, etc.). He already made plans to visit UD (although if we got an offer from PSU before then he'd probably cancel those plans), but he hasn't made plans to visit Pitt yet, but if he doesn't get another offer in the very near future then he probably will make plans to visit Pitt in March. So the next few weeks are BIG for us in terms of hopefully learning the gender of our little one and also deciding where Paul will be going to school starting this fall (and whether that involves us moving this summer or not).

Crib and toybox

Recently I ordered a crib and toybox from Walmart. Last April my parents told me I could pick out a toybox as my bday gift. I had looked at some, but then in May when I started to figure out that we might not be adopting from Ukraine like I thought we would, I wasn't sure we'd ever need a toybox so I hadn't looked for one until recently. This will go in our living room (the room where we spend the most time). Instead of trying to match the woods (which already don't match as it is), I picked a white one. Paul's bday present from my parents last month was a crib. The dresser and nightstands are a light maple in the room I plan on being the baby's room. I was finding it hard to find a crib to match; so I ended up going with a white crib. If I had it shipped to the Walmart, then the shipping was free. Well the crib and toybox have arrived at the Walmart! A friend from work who has an SUV will pick them up and bring them to our house tomorrow afternoon. Then at some point Paul will need to assemble them. :-) There's a twin bed in that room, but it's 1/2 of a bunk bed. So we'll just combine the two single beds back into a bunk bed in the other bedroom (we have 3 bedrooms).

OB appt

Well I called the OB this morning and asked to move my appointment from next week to this week. I figured if I had my appt this Friday instead of next Friday it would be only 4 days sooner than it was supposed to be. I explained that I really wanted reassurance that baby was still doing okay as the first trimester symptoms (mostly nausea and heartburn) had gone away which is great but since I also hadn't reached the point where I could feel baby move, I have no reassurance that baby is still alive and well. I also told her that we had ttc over 5 years for this little one, and that I had a miscarriage 2 1/2 years ago. It was to no avail. She said unless I was bleeding or something like that I have to wait four weeks. I have to admit I almost burst into tears when she said that. I wasn't expecting to have such an emotional response. I asked if I could at least move it up so that it was only 4 weeks later. I had originally picked the Feb 15 appt bc it was a very convenient time slot in terms of having my appt and then teaching at BU as the OB's office is super close to my bldg at work. She gave me two choices for Feb 11 - either 9:15 or 1:30. Normally 1:30 on a Tuesday would be perfect, but that Tuesday I have a meeting in State College (over an hour away) from 1:00-3:00. So I took the 9:15 even though it means I'll miss ladies Bible study next Tuesday. I know it's probably silly. I probably should have kept my appt for Feb 15, but I just didn't want to wait 3 extra days. So my next appt is in 8 days. I hope the time flies as I sure would like to have that fetal doppler test right now if I could even though I have no valid reason to be concerned.

Yesterday I ordered two used books on half.com. One was by LaLeche on nursing. When I told Paul he looked at me like I was nuts. I could tell he was thinking you need to read a book to know how to do that? And yes I know there are plenty of women through the ages and around the world today who nurse w/o reading any books, but I also know it's not always a super easy thing at first. The second was on the Bradley method of childbirth which I have had friends over the years tell me is far better than Lamaze. I can't find any actual Bradley method classes around here; so I told Paul I will read the book and give him the info he needs, but we'll skip going to any classes since it seems they only offer Lamaze classes around here. I figure me reading a book and us discussing it will take less time than attending a weekly class for several weeks. He again looked at me like - you need to read a book? He said I thought my job was to just to say "push." LOL! I said well I want you to know more about L&D than that as actually you don't push until the very end. Boy is he in for an education the next several months. I can't wait to see him change a diaper, LOL! Trust me he is NOT looking forward to changing any diapers; if it were up to him he'd probably never change one. I told him that I am sure I will change far more diapers than he will, but I do expect him to share some of the diaper changing duties! :-)

Choir robes

Well I can tell you that choir robes were not invented with pregnant women in mind! Boy was I hot this morning. I was wearing a sweater and a skirt; I need to wear something lighter on the Sundays the choir sings (twice a month) the next few months. Thankfully we don't wear robes during cantatas as we have a cantata in early May and I don't think I could make it for an hour in a robe. The choir doesn't stay in the loft the whole service when we're just singing one song. I wasn't the only one dying up there; part of the problem is they put in these new lights a few months ago that raise the temperature in the loft by quite a bit. I started to feel really badly but kept telling myself in a few minutes I could shed the robe. After we left, I heard the two ladies who had been standing on either side of me talking about me. They were discussing how I didn't look very good and that they hadn't said anything to me "in case I hadn't noticed." LOL I noticed!!!

Snow Day

Well actually it should be called an "Ice Day" as there's very little snow and quite a bit of ice. If we had ice skates we could use them on the sidewalk and driveway right now as they are covered with a sheet of ice. My university even closed and that almost never happens. All the school districts from our house to where Paul goes to school closed, but not Paul's university. However his advisor wrote him and encouraged him not to come it. Paul emailed the prof of the class he would have had this morning as they were taking a quiz today, and she wrote back and said he can make up the quiz on Monday. She said it was ridiculous they were open today; she said her normally 5 minute commute was terrible. I can only imagine what Paul's normally 45 minute commute would have been like! So this is turning into a four day weekend for me as I am usually home on Thursdays and now am home today. Yesterday I was home alone, but today I get to spend the day with hubby. That sounds very nice!

So I am now FOUR months pg. YAHOOO! I have reached the 16 week mark!! I didn't call the OB yesterday. I am trying to wait a couple of days to see if maybe I'll be able to feel baby move. If not, I'll probably call Monday and try to move my appt up a little bit. Maybe I'll eat something really sweet today and that will get baby moving? I actually haven't craved sweets as much as usual while pg except I have still craved fruit. I definitely don't crave chocolate or ice cream anywhere near as much as usual!

After the embryo transfer I would often put my hand on my belly and talk to baby. Well since the BFP I have done that more. Usually at least once a day I would put Paul's hand there and say something like "Daddy says hi too" or "Daddy loves you also." I think at first Paul thought it was really a goofy thing to do. Well he seemed sort of neutral about it somewhere along the way, and now this week for the first time he initiated it on his own which thrilled me! :-)