Baby Updates

Hey All!  I haven't updated the baby blog yet because you have to do it from the computer, and for the most part, I only use my phone.  So I thought I would at least update here on what's going on with our baby and how the last appointment and sonogram went.  :)

We began with our sonogram.  The baby's weight was 11 ounces, which is a good growing rate.  At this point (19 weeks, 4 days) the baby could range anywhere from 8.5 ounces to 10.7 ounces.  So our baby is really working on packing on the pounds!  Which is great!  Because I like fat little babies!  :D 

The baby's heartbeat was at 147 bpm.  Anywhere from 120-170 is healthy.  Our baby's heartbeat has been all over the place at our various appointments.  But, the heart seems to have settled a little.  The last appointment was 143 bpm, so at least we're finally getting a somewhat consistent heartbeat (for now).

The baby was very cooperative through all the pictures.  The ultrasound tech was great and she explained all the things we were seeing and what that meant about the baby.  I asked her if everything was measuring normal and correct and she tiptoed around the question, I understand, and said the doctor would go over it with us, but "unofficially" she wasn't seeing anything wrong.  There was only 1 picture the baby wouldn't cooperate with, the picture we needed of the 4 chamber heart.  I had to turn on my side and then roll back over trying to get the baby to roll over.  Finally, we managed to get the picture.  The baby was posing through all of the sonogram.  It was fun to watch.  The baby even swallowed while we were watching, so we got to see the mouth open and a little bit of the tongue.  It's amazing what's going on inside my body right now!!

Like I said, the baby was moving and cooperating well for the pictures, unfortunately, I wasn't feeling those movements.  I guess I can feel them, but they only feel like things getting tight in my uterus.  Those movements aren't as fun to feel as the ones where the baby is really kicking me.  Those are the movements I look forward to feeling more of!  :)  I felt a few last night at the movies, but Michael never felt any.  But I sure he will start feeling them soon.  :)  He's anxious to start.  But he's the same way I am, not counting the little movements and pokes.  He's waiting for feel the big movements and kicks that unmistakable that they are the baby.  The baby is getting more and more active every day, though, so hopefully soon Michael will begin feeling the kicks.

We were about to find out the sex of the baby while we were there at the ultrasound.  We are happy to report that we are having a healthy baby _______!  :)  I know, it's rotten for us to make you wait, huh?  Yeah, well, Michael and I are rotten that way.  :P  But if you'd like to be among the first to know, come to our housewarming party at 6:30pm on Saturday, June 2nd.  We will have food and drinks and hang out and show off the house, and then we will open the box and reveal the sex of our baby.  :)  If you would like to come, just rsvp on our baby website: http://JenMichaelBaby.ourbabychannel.com  We can't wait to see you there!!!!

After our sonogram we had our regular doctor appointment that we have once a month.  The doctor said my weight and size were good.  My blood pressure was good too, which is a little shocking after all the sodium I ate the last 6 weeks and all the stress, but I was glad to hear that everything was healthy.  There were only 2 very minor little things from the sonogram that the doctor wanted to talk to us about (actually only one, I brought up the other based on what the ultrasound tech had said).

One item was the placenta was close, but not covering my cervix.  This was the item I brought up and asked the doctor about.  The doctor explained that if the placenta was not a problem right now, it would probably not be a problem at the birth either.  But, just to make sure, we explained that we would have another ultrasound at 32 weeks just to check on the progress and see how things were going and where things were located.  Now, I don't have a medical degree, so I don't know what it means or why it would be bad to have the placenta near the cervix, but my doctor was not overly concerned.  And since I have an education degree and not a medical degree, I am going to go ahead and trust him and not stress about this.  One other thing I forgot to mention about the sonogram, the tech explained that my placenta was in the back, so I would feel plenty of movement from the baby!  Hoooray!

The only other thing the doctor wanted to discuss from the ultrasound was the size of one kidney, it was slightly bigger than the exceptable range.  My doctor explained that he thought the exceptable range should be widened because he sees a larger measurement in 1 out of 5 patients, and that it's usually nothing.  He continued to stress to me, not to worry, and that the amount it was off was only about the size of 2 fingernails, 1-2mm.  Again, he has the medical degree, I don't, I trust him.  So I'm not stressing.  But since we are having another ultrasound at 32 weeks anyway, we will check the size of the kidney as well to see if there are any other problems, or if it was just a measurement error since the baby is so tiny anyway.

That's about all I have to update you on.  Thank you for those of you who stuck it out through my long post.  :)  Our baby is healthy and that's always good news to hear.  Also, the baby is growing at the perfect rate again!  Everything was measuring between 19 and 20 weeks.  So our due date remains the same!  4 appointments in a row now, all saying the same thing...  The way the baby is growing, it will be born October 5th, 2012.  :)  Only 4.5 months left!  Can't wait!!!  Keep growing, Little Pumpkin!  :D