Literally and figuratively. Literally, in that this baby is kicking me so consistently and frequently that I imagine my uterus must have bruise marks on the inside. Don't get me wrong--I'm grateful for the constant reminder that the baby is alive and well inside me; in fact, I think that I even said that not feeling the baby move was the hardest part of the first trimester for me. I need proof, evidence, verification about things in order to feel certain about them. Well, I guess I got more than I bargained for in this little one, who is providing me with that proof, evidence, verification every single day (hell, every single minute it seems sometimes!) that s/he is still there with me, along for the ride.
Figuratively, in that things are definitely progressing along even faster than I had suspected at this point. I had my monthly visit to the birth center yesterday, and boy have things changed in the last month! Baby was kicking me on the drive to the center, and the entire time I was sitting in the waiting area. As soon as I moved into the examination room with the midwives, however, s/he stopped moving about. I find the ambience of the center incredibly soothing and nurturing, and the midwives are so caring and warm; I tend to think that Baby feels this, too, and settles down for awhile.
So, now, the updates:
My belly measured in at 25 1/2 centimeters, right on schedule for being 26 weeks along (roughly one cm per week!). I can't believe my belly has grown 3 1/2 cm since the last visit. I know that I've definitely enjoyed the maternity pants way more than I thought that I would, since they are the only pants that fit, but I guess I didn't quite realize the amount of outward growth that my belly has been doing.
Baby Mitt is positioned (for now) in the right manner--head down in the pelvic region. Audra, the Jorja Fox look-alike, guided my fingers just above my pelvic bone to feel the round crown of the baby's head. That was exciting and creepy all at the same time. I was afraid to do too much pushing for fear I'd smush the little tyke, but it's crazy to think that you can have interaction with the kid while it's still in utero. I love it!
After smearing the transluscent jelly on my lower abdomen, Audra used the doppler and found that the baby's heartbeat is starting to slow down a bit (this is normal), from 160 beats per minute the last few visits to 150 bpm this time. S/he was still throwing lots of kicks and punches in just to let us know that while the heart rate might be slowing down, Baby Mitt isn't!
I asked the ladies whether the baby's very high activity level in utero would be a good indication that s/he will be diagnosed with ADHD later in life. They firmly said no, that while there's a good chance the kid will be active, that's not the same thing as ADHD. She said Adam and I will just have to learn to run the kids around the house a few times before dinner every night. If we're still in Michigan, I'll have the kid shovel snow. That'll take it outta him/her.
Audra took out the Wonder Pillow, a long pillow twice the size of a body pillow, and showed me different ways to wrap it around my body so I have a more comfortable (pain-free) night of sleep. It was nice. But I still have the body pillow that Ads got me for Xmas/Channukah this year and that has served me very well, too.
So, I guess the biggest surprise was at the end of the visit, when I followed Audra to the front desk to schedule my next appointment. Now that I'm at 26 weeks, I start going in every 2 weeks instead of every month. I guess I didn't realize that I was far enough along to need that yet! It was exciting and a little sobering, too, because I'm starting to realize that this is really going to happen...and soon! Please just wait till Adam gets home, little baby. I do not want to have to go through labor and delivery without him there. I know he'd be pretty devastated if he missed it.
So, I guess that's it for now. Baby is kicking, the pregnancy is kicking along and so am I. I got home from the appointment last night to find that Greg House had puked all over my futon. I was stressed a bit, but really in too good a mood from the appointment to really let it bother me. Guess I'm getting ready for spit-up and dirty diapers.
No comments:
Post a Comment