Things are moving along really well. While I was in North Dakota this past week, I had my second appointment with the doctor. It was on of those that I was in the waiting room forever and the appointment was about five minutes long....but it was still reassuring to have the visit. The doctor and I listened to the heartbeat, and once she found it, she seemed very pleased with how strong and steady it was. It took her about ten seconds to locate it nice and loud, and in those ten seconds I was in pure panic mode. I thought maybe it had disappeared and it immediately stressed me out....but then there it was, echoing through the monitor. I need to chill out, I know. :)
I got some bloodwork done for the quad screening, which basically tests to see the probability of potential genetic disorders. The bloodwork results are somehow combined with my age and ethnicity to form the likelihood for things like spina bifida, Down Syndrome, or other developmental conditions. When I called the office the next day they didn't have the results back, but I decided that was a good thing. Also, she did not do a sonogram at this appointment, but the November visit sonogram will allow us to see if we have a boy or girl on the way! We're very excited!
Here is the most recent baby bump picture. Not much difference from week 17, but oh well. I think I'm going to try to stay consistent with the green maternity shirt for the pictures from here on out. It seems to have plenty of room. If you have a moment, try scrolling down to the previous post to check out the week 16 picture in the striped shirt. I bought that shirt in the regular section at Target specifically to take bump pictures in. I even bought a size larger so that it would allow for some growth.....and well.....I'm only a few weeks past that moment and you really could not pay me to wear that shirt anywhere. Can you imagine me at something crazy like 35 weeks in that thing? Oh my......
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| 18 Weeks |
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 5 pounds gained according to the doctor's scale
Maternity Clothes: Just a few of the shirts. I started looping a hair tie through the button loop on my jeans, and then put the BellaBand on top to cover it all and keep the jeans up.
Stretch Marks?: Nope, not yet :)
Sleep: Good. I get a lot of weird cramping/nerve pinching while I am attempting to sleep, but once I'm out, everything is good.
Best Moment this Week: I love hearing the heartbeat at the appointments. :)
Movement: I'm not sure. There is a lot going on in there and I'm not sure if its movement.
Food Cravings: Cheese. All things cheese.
Gender: Not yet...4 more weeks!
What I Miss: Nothing right now. This is great.
Milestones: Second doc appointment and she said everything looks great!
Z is doing really great, too. :) At the moment, his schedule for the training here in Louisiana is very sporadic, so there are days that he is back to our room early afternoon and we get to spend so much time together. We are just hoping that scheduling is able to give him more flights soon so that we can get back up north. He has quite a few things to do before he deploys...it is really heartbreaking that it is happening again already...but the sooner he leaves, the sooner he can come back. Crossing our fingers that everything works out like we're hoping.
Z has also been working on his masters courses through Webster online for Business. He will be done with his third class this Friday and will start the next one on Monday. He has done well in everything so far and seems to enjoy most of what he is learning. Plus, he'll ask me a grammar, vocabulary, or punctuation question from time to time when he is working on his assignments, so I still get to feel like an English teacher. Everybody wins.
Here is Z at 18 weeks.
What expression do you see?
Joy? Anticipation? Distress? Panic, maybe?
:)
Hope life is happy,
b
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