Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Check in with the midwife and other miscellany

I call this the "torpedo belly" shot because my stomach looks so much bigger and also pointier than in the other one (shown a couple posts ago) taken at the same time. 

I saw my awesome midwife, Catherine today. Her office is in the basement of her house, and is just a few short blocks from my work. I love that. (Her son actually goes to "my" school, but I've never met him. This happens when there are 1500 children in the building!)

Everything looks great with Lentila. Who may need a new name. A facebook friend named her baby girl fetus "Cricket," which I love... especially since I know her from camp, and the cabin of youngest girls is Crickets. But it's already taken, now! Too bad.

Her heart rate was in the 150s, and my fundus (uterus) was measuring 26 cm. Right on target (it's supposed to match your weeks gestation, more or less, and I will be 26 weeks on Saturday.) My BP was great at 110/70, despite my having some "half-calf" iced coffee this morning... anything to beat back the jet lag. It tasted fabulous. I never meant to give up coffee entirely... it's just that when I was taking Chinese herbs (for infertility), caffeine in addition was way too much for me. I got super jittery. And then I got used to not drinking coffee, and now it's too much for me. But I enjoyed my half cup of half-caff immensely!

I gained 4 pounds since last visit, putting me at a total of 10 pounds since my first pre-natal visit. I don't know my exact weight before that, because I was bouncing up and down from post-summer camp weight loss to OHSS (and not eating for two weeks) and the recovery therein, which caused some rapid weight gain. So my midwife and I are calling my 9 week weight the baseline. Anyway, I'm not getting excited about not gaining all that much because I have a TERRIBLE (read: impossible) time losing weight because of my PCOS. So lots of others gain a lot, but lose it quickly. I don't think that will be me.

Oh well. I'm not sweating it, either.

Walking home from the subway afterwards, I had this vision of a naked, squalling, vernixy just-born baby being laid on my chest... and then thought about the fact that it wouldn't be just any baby, but my daughter. And literally, a chill ran down my spine. It was awesome. Literally.

She's moving more and more and I am loving it! How strange it feels, those nudges. But it occurs to me... she's only one and a half pounds or so now, right? And the feeling is pretty noticeable. So what does it feel like when a seven pound (or more) babe is nudging from the inside? Is it pretty bruising, or what?

Anyway, my next visit is in three weeks, to check for gestational diabetes. After that, it's every two weeks! Yay! I love going to get checked. It's so peaceful and lovely. During my first visit, when I was nauseous, she went up to her kitchen and fetched me a snack of goat cheese and crackers! We chat and laugh about her kids, and today I shared my work frustration (a mother who, seriously, berated me for taking her son's asthma seriously) and I weigh myself and check my urine for protein and sugar and she takes my blood pressure and listen's to the girl's heartbeat, and then I run down the latest list of questions. It's all so sane. I can't wait to deliver with her.

Does anyone else get sore feet? This started happening to me before 20 weeks, when I had gained only a few pounds. And it just seems to be getting worse. They were still sore this morning when I woke up. And the amount of standing I do is pretty minimal -- mainly on the subway, and even then, I usually get a seat. Luckily my mom sent me a foot spa. My feet have been in it, under my desk, for the last hour. But still, it's inconvenient. My shower and my niece's bat mitzvah are going to be a challenge for this reason. Literally, fifteen minutes of standing (in a whole day) and I am shifting from foot to foot.

And now me, my wrinkly feet, my Tums, and of course, my rotund and active belly are off to bed.

3 comments:

  1. Yes! Sore feet! I'm 22 and a half weeks and in the last week and a half I've done more walking than typical lately. My feet were getting really sore after about an hour and I chalked it up to wearing the wrong shoes (despite the fact that my Doc Martens boots are usually super comfortable). Then when it happened in two different pair of shoes I realized it was probably because I'm carrying 20 more pounds than my feet have ever had to support before! Luckily the soreness goes away over night...so far...

    Casey

    ReplyDelete
  2. You really notice a seven pound baby especially a kick in the ribs, lol. Today I got a good jab that made me wince. Mostly it is still soft thumps. I will miss it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My sore feet are a result of swelling and not fitting into my shoes anymore... Ugh.

    I've taken to calling Elsie, Thumper recently becasue she is kicking me ALL the time. I swear she is trying to break a rib now. :)

    As for the quilt... It is pretty easy as long as you pick an easy pattern. I think that top took me about 4 days to piece together and then I "quilted" it on the machine which took about 4 days as well. I did it on the machine so I wouldn't feel bad about throwing into the washing machine all the time. That is why it is her "day-to-day" quilt. I am getting started on her heirloom quilt which will be base don the book "The Little Engine That Could" and will be hand quilted. That one will not be used so it doesn't have to get washed alot. :)

    ReplyDelete