long lines

Remember how I was going to get my h1n1 vaccine on Saturday. Well the clinic was to be from 10am to 2pm. I figured, I should get there early because I did not want to not get it, and was hoping to avoid lines. This photo is not from my clinic....but when I arrived at 9:50am....there were about 600+ people in line in front of me. The clinic was in an elementary school and the line snaked all the way outside where it was raining on and off lightly.

Some of you had some great ideas about playing up my pregnant belly, which is unfortunately not too obvious....well, of the 600 people in line about 30% of them were pregnant LOL. Obviously my OB called every single patient from her (and her two partners) proactive! And we were there in force.

So after a wait of about 2 hours outside, we made it inside....and then had another 45 minutes to wait inside.

But after that 2 hours and 45 minutes, both J. and I had been vaccinated. Me with the thimerosal free version (I was reading on the CDC website and one way you can tell if yours is thimerosal free is whether or not it is given from a single dose vial or a multidose vial, multidose vials contain thimerosal), and J. was able to be vaccinated (with thimerosal) because bebe girl will be arriving during flu season. SUCCESS!!

**the CDC and my OB both state that the thimerosal version is safe for pregnant women, but I feel better knowing that just in case I was able to get the thimerosal-free version. (but I would have gotten it regardless)

finally

I received a call from my OB. There is a county h1.n1 clinic tomorrow.....fingers crossed that the lines are not long. At least as a pregnant woman I should get priority status. I have been trying to find a place here to get the vaccine. They just released them in my state today. I will get to cross another thing off my to-do list!

and I tho.ught I loved him th.en

Happy Anniversary J. What a journey these past 3 years have been... I would not trade them for the world.

22 weeks

How Far Along? 22 weeks

Total Weight Gained/Loss? 9 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity jeans, oh so very comfortable, and still loving the longer maternity shirts (i may always buy maternity tshirts LOL)

Sleep: Really good

Best Moment of the Week: Feeling bebe girl at random times when out and about, like at the dry cleaner....it feels like a secret conversation.

Movement: Yes, almost always when laying down or sitting, now randomly when walking or standing.

Food Craving: Nope.

Food aversions: No.

Morning sickness: Never felt any, thank goodness!

Gender: It is a GIRL!

Labor Signs: No.

Belly Button: In, my bb is really an innie....still really in there.

Wedding rings: still on

What I miss: people NOT asking, "how are you doing?" like they are expecting me any minute to burst out complaining....I love being pregnant they are not going to hear any complaints (knock wood)

What I'm looking forward to: Next OB appointment on 11/6, next US 11/10

Weekly Wisdom: Try and enjoy every minute, it goes too quickly :)

Milestones: I passed the one hour glucose test (at 20 weeks) next glucose test at 28 weeks, weee.

**sadly you can see that while the belly may have gotten ever so slightly bigger.....i am not gaining any weight in my nonexistent flat butt!

it is worth it

I have said many times that this has been an easy pregnancy for me. Really nothing to complain about no morning sickness, no spotting or bleeding, no pain, no food aversions, really nothing. But, I think I have found something that bothers me.

J. and I have a long standing tradition of competition. Most of this competition falls into the intellectual arena. One thing in particular is Sudoku. I am not sure if you play, but we really love the game. To the point that we bought the exact same puzzle book, and regularly use the book for competition. The book is only for competition, if we want to do a puzzle or two on our own, we use other books LOL. So far in the book we have done over 50 puzzles.....and I have won about 80% of the games. I never lose two games in a row....I sound like a poor winner, huh? But it is true.

Well, in the last week or two we have done 4 puzzles.....AND I have lost every one. Seriously, and not really close either. Bebe girl has sucked away all of my brain waves. I really hate losing...really.

If it means she is going to be a brillant girl.....it is worth it.

a chuckle

Last night J. is talking to his sister. She has two little girls 5 and 3. She tells him the adventures of the day.

They were spending the day with daddy and the 3 of them were coloring at the table. The little one (M.) was sitting on her daddy's lap and kept dropping the crayons, and her dad would have to reach down to pick them up. Finally, the older girl (A.) says...."M. wh** the F***?" Their daddy says, "Um, A. what did you just say?" A. says "I said Wh** the F*** Daddy"

Oh my goodness, I had tears streaming down my face as J. is telling me this story. Knowing A. I can imagine the look on her face was something like....what part of that didn't you understand?....because she is after all 5 going on 15 LOL.

I can see we have lots to look forward to :)

For the record, she picked that up listening to her dad tell her mom a story about how he had just taken their dog for a walk, and how the dog had literally chased a squirrel up his legs, and across his body to his head before it leaped away.....let me just say, this family provides me with many giggles :) i love them all.

Note to self

***Do not have s.e.x in the 22nd week of pregnancy and then go for a walk 30 minutes later and not expect to see some leakage (no blood, just discharge....god i love that word, ewwww). Nice, huh?

Of course, having heard all the stories and things that can and do go wrong, and having experienced my 3 previous losses and of course little B during this pregnancy, I suppose I get more worked up than the norm.

Sunday morning was the "day." Add to that the fact that bebe girl decided to have a nice quiet day where she turned her back out and I barely felt anything all day long and I was beside myself (sure that it was amniotic fluid). I of course used the doppler about 4 times that day.....sure that something was wrong, but she was there, quietly waiting for me to find her HB.

Monday she was pretty much back to normal movement, afternoon craziness and after eating and driking cold drinks.....and then this morning, she woke me up to a good half hour of kicking before quieting down for a while.

Glad I didn't call my OB....but need to remember that there was a reason I never let J. get lucky before our early morning runs (after one memorable experience). and walks are just like runs LOL.

I guess pregnancies after losses even when things are going ok, aren't without their worries, real or imagined.

OB appointment

This morning I had another OB appointment. It was just the "typical" OB appointment. The usual weight, blood pressure (so far BP is remaining good with my current medication level) and urine test, everything looked good. My OB came in and reviewed our integrated screen results (which we already knew), our level 2 US results (which we already knew) and said my GTT was normal (which I had not heard). She had previously requested that I do the one hour GTT to make sure because of my age that I did not have gestational diabetes. I still need to repeat the test again at 28 weeks but at least I am happy to report that all is well.


She also asked if I am feeling bebe girl move, and I said yes every day. She checked bebe girl's heartrate, which she declared "just what we want to hear" and that was that....in and out in 30 minutes, including wait time and all.


She said that I don't need to return for 4 more weeks.....and no tests or blood draws between now and then.....wow, I feel almost normal.
Of course I still have my daily worries, but every day we are one step closer to holding her in our arms. Tomorrow we hit 21 weeks exactly.

career?

I think bebe girl is going to be a rockette, soccer star, or maybe a ballerina that does those amazing splits.....cause she is so very active. I fear the next 19 weeks :)

bebe girl's first girly gift

My wonderful friend Trish whom I met through a forum for losses, and who is also in her 7th week of pregnancy (congrats Trish!!) bought bebe girl's first girly gift. here they are, aren't they sweet?

20 weeks - halfway there

How Far Along? 20 weeks

Total Weight Gained/Loss? 6 pounds

Maternity Clothes: Wearing maternity jeans, oh so very comfortable, and still loving the longer maternity shirts (i may always buy maternity tshirts LOL)

Sleep: Really good

Best Moment of the Week: our 20 week US! finding out our bebe girl is growing perfectly.

Movement: Yes, I have felt it, J. has felt it, and I can see bebe girl moving when laying in bed.

Food Craving: Nope. Not feeling hungry this week at all.

Food aversions: No.

Morning sickness: Never felt any, thank goodness!

Gender: It is a GIRL!

Labor Signs: No.

Belly Button: In, my bb is really an innie....still really in there.

What I miss: Not tracking how much caffiene I am drinking. I don't drink that much normally, but if I have a half caf coffee in the morning, I won't have a coke or any caffiene later in the day. Before I didn't have to think about a coke and a coffee in the same day. (I do realize that 1 coke and 1 coffee is below the 300 mg limit......but I figure 1. i don't need it and 2. better to feel good about my decisions)

What I'm looking forward to: Next OB appointment on 10/9, next US 11/10

Weekly Wisdom: Try and enjoy every minute, it goes too quickly :)

Milestones: found out the gender and falling more in love with my hubby

**belly is showing, not very much, most women can't believe it when they see me. J. said bebe looked squished in there LOL. I told him if I gain weight that isn't bebe, then bebe will be even more squished.

int.egrated screen

Before I left for Ire.land, the Friday before our Monday flight, in fact, I went to have my blood drawn for the final protion of the integrated screen. With the integrated screen, they take your bloodwork from the NT, the measurements from the NT scan, and the second set of bloodwork drawn around 17 weeks for me (i think it can be done between 16 and 18 weeks) and they put all of that into some magical computer and give you your risks for downs, trisomy 18 and neural tube defects.

I had blood drawn on Friday and was told to expect results in 7-10 days. If you don't hear in 14 days to call the office. So I left for Irel.and truly expecting not to hear anything until the end of the trip or even upon our return home.

We left Monday night for our red-eye to Ir.eland. When we arrived in Dub.lin, we rented the van and drove 3+ hours to the west coast of Irela.nd where we would be staying for a week. My cell phone rings and the number that comes up is not in my phone, hmmmm. wonder who it could be? I go into our room and listen to the message. It is the perinatologist office, calling to say they have our results please call back. Immediately, I panic inside. How can I not? they say it will take weeks and I am getting the call in days....surely they have found something terrible and they want me to come in so they can look. I take a deep breath and call back, of course they are at lunch. I have to wait another hour to call again. Magically I get through on my next call to a live person.

I give her my name and she gets my results....I think I am still holding my breath.
She says the results are great....the screen is negative.......whoosh, suddenly I can breath.
risk of downs 1/4300 (doctor later tells me better than a 20 year old)
risk of tri 18 1/10,000
risk of neural defect 1/4200

While obviously, this is not a guarantee that our bebe is healthy, it is a very good chance given those numbers and now the level II US which showed no soft markers for problems that she is fine. Knowing all of this I am not willing to risk an amnio. While I understand some people must know without a shadow of a doubt, and I can respect their decision, this is mine. If we had any indication that there was a problem, we might have made a different decision.

So I was able to truly enjoy our vaca knowing that one more thing was looking good for our bebe.