Today marks week 16 of this pregnancy and my 2nd OB appointment. It was a crazy day, but my appointment went well. Let's talk about that for a minute, shall we?
I had both my girls with me at the appointment as my time was after the school and my youngest has pneumonia and an ear infection and needs to be home from school. Let's just say that having kids at any OB appointment is an adventure in itself. "Mommy, what's that?" was heard many times during my appointment, much to the amusement of the staff and doctor. Anyway…
I'm measuring just where I'm supposed to be. The doctor measures my belly from the top of the pelvic bone to the top of the uterus. In a single pregnancy the measurement should be close to the same centimeters as weeks pregnant. I'm not entirely sure how this works with twins, but she said things are where they should be.
I am happy to report that my weight is right on track. I've put on 5 lbs of baby/pregnancy weight. My doctor is good with it as well. No big concerns there.
She answered a couple of questions for me. Nothing too earth shattering, really. I've been having a lot of headaches lately (darn hormones!) and have been using acetaminophen daily to get rid of them. She suggested that I have a little caffeine every day to see if that helps them go away. I guess I will be enjoying my morning chai once again! Hopefully, that will make the headaches go away.
In case you are wondering, my blood pressure was fabulous at 110/60. I am so thankful it is not my blood pressure causing the headaches. Just say no to preeclampsia!
The babies cooperated with the Doppler this time (darn it! I wanted a chance to see them again!). It's nice to know where they are, thanks to their heartbeats we can get an idea of where they are. I've been joking that the babies are in strange places as my belly has been lopsided (only I can notice). Today, my theory has proven true. One baby is off to my left, the other is down really low on my right. (They can still move into a more natural position, there's lots of time for that!)
Speaking of moving, the first baby we listened to, the one on my left, was moving all over the place as the doctor was trying to find the heartbeat. We would hear the heart for a couple of seconds and then the baby would move and make the doctor find the heart again so the beats could be counted (150 beats, by the way!). The other baby who is down low must have had been taking a nap. This baby's heartbeat was easy to find and wasn't going anywhere as we listened (160 beats).
My doctor asked if B, R, and I had discussed all of the genetic tests she told us about at the last appointment (yes, we had talked about the tests). She mentioned one specific test, the Alpha Fetal Protein, which is a simple blood test to check for spina bifida. Thanks to modern medicine, if a baby is detected to have spina bifida, they are able to operate in utero and correct the problem prior to birth. I quickly shot a text to B and asked if this was something they would want to have done. As my doctor was pretty strongly recommending it and I was okay with having this test done, B decided to have the test done. A quick poke later and we were on our way. (If the test detects something, they will move up the ultrasound a few weeks to check the babies out. No freaking out, folks!)
As for the rest of the pregnancy, things are going well. I'm enjoying eating, much to the delight of my kids. I'm not as susceptible to the power of suggestion when it come to food anymore. A few weeks ago, if someone talked about a food, I would want that food! It made making meals pretty easy as I just had to hear something and then that is what I made or picked up. Now, I'm ready to eat almost anything! The girls are taking advantage of this as they suggested Chipotle for dinner tonight, and who am I to tell a sick little girl no? And I can't have a steak burrito without Jelly Bellies for dessert, can I? Nope! (Hey, don't judge!)
I've recently started having the crazy pregnancy dreams people so often hear about. My dreams have been rooted in reality. I keep dreaming about labor with the babies, only the labor is a lot like my labor with Annalies. In a nutshell, I went to the clinic for a non-stress test which Annalies passed. In the 20 minutes after the test while I was sitting in the doctor's office waiting for her I went from no pain and no labor activity to "OH HOLY COW THIS HURTS!" and dilated to 6cm. The doctor came in and had me expressly wheeled over to labor and delivery. I think if I had not had an epidural she would have been born in two hours. However, I am all about the epi and as little pain as possible, so I had a 6 hour labor with little pain until she made her appearance.
Back to my dreams. I've dreamt a couple of times that I am just going about life at home or work and go from "life is good" to the "HOLY CANNOLI!" place. Then I have to figure out how to get to the hospital, which is 20 minutes away WITHOUT traffic before small people want to make their appearances and where I can get happy medicine.
Usually, about then I wake up and start thinking about past labors and start getting myself all worked up over what I will inevitably have no control over. I don't usually get too worked up over things I am unable to control. I've learned a long time ago that it wastes time, energy, and just makes me crazy and not so nice. I try not to worry. However, at a couple o'clock in the morning as I have just awakened from a crazy real dream about something that will happen in the not to distant future, worry and concern are a bit out of my control. I usually snap out of the worry after I wake up a bit more, but I still have the dreams on my mind. I guess we will see what happens when the big day arrives! (Look at me not worrying!)
So, that's where I am now. Feeling pretty good, getting bigger by the day, and so excited about little miracles yet to come!
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