Another Doctor Appt... and Baby Wiggles!

Hello!

We had our second prenatal appointment today, and all went well. It was a much faster appointment than the first one! We went over my lab results from last time (everything is perfect), checked my heart rate and blood pressure (again, right on target), and talked about something called a maternal serum screening. It is an optional test to see if the baby has spinal cord issues or Down Syndrome by checking the level of a certain hormone. If something shows up on the screening, then an amniocentesis is performed, which is a potentially risky procedure where they take cells from the fluid around the baby. We opted to not take the maternal serum screening because the chances of our child having Down Syndrome are slim. Also, if the baby were to have it, we would not choose to terminate the pregnancy. We are excited to welcome whoever is growing inside me, no matter who they are! :) Finally, the doctor answered some silly questions that we had, and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat again! Today the sound was really scratchy at first, and Dr. Setnes Hoefs told us that scratchy noise was our little one wiggling around in there (or as John calls it, the baby was doing the "no-pants dance"). The heartbeat was the same as it was last time, 150 beats per minute. That is right in the normal range, so we are happy parents-to-be. Everything is going as well as it can so far (knock on wood)!!

Speaking of the no-pants dance, I am pretty sure I felt the baby move on April 1st. Hopefully it wasn't an April Fools! :) John and I were lying in bed with the puppies watching TV, and I felt what I thought at first was gas. Just like little bubbles low in my belly. I stopped thinking it was gas when it went on for over 10 minutes, and I wasn't gassy at all. I asked the doctor if it could have possibly been the baby, and she said it probably was! We were both excited. :) It is starting to seem real. I am starting to get a bit more of a belly, which is kind of exciting too. I will post pics in the next week or so. I've only gained just under 8 pounds so far, which they said is right on track.

The food aversions are getting better, but I'm still not the biggest fan of garlic or meat smells right now. Along with my love of limes, I have begun to crave watermelon. The other night, I had half a watermelon for dinner!! I did makeup for Red River High School's production of South Pacific this past week, and one of the kids asked me why I was eating so much watermelon. I said it was my dinner! I also told him that your definition of dinner changes a lot when you're pregnant. :) I've been drinking chocolate milk like it's going out of style, which is very good for the wee one. I haven't had any nausea to speak of anymore, which is lovely. However, last week brought on the lovely pregnancy heartburn. Ugh. I was relieved to hear from my doc today that I can take antacids to relieve that pain. I've also had a really sore back this week, which the doc said can be relieved by massage (John was happy to hear that, I bet!). Other than that, it's going really well.

Well, that's it for this week! John turns 24 tomorrow, so we are gearing up for his birthday. We both have the day off, which is great.

Hope you all are well!

Maura & John