Pop!

Week 16...avocado! Mmm...

Sorry for the lapse. Work and other obligations have been stretching me a little thin lately...

My older sister came over the other day and said I look like I finally have a "baby shape!" Which of course is a nice way of saying my lower gut is sticking out a little more than usual, mentioned by someone who sees me often enough to notice a difference. Sure enough, I've been feeling "fuller" there. If I lie on my stomach, it feels like there's about a grapefruit-sized knot in there (and I immediately want to move off of it!) Craig says he can feel the difference when he hugs me, or when he goes to kiss the cub goodnight and I'm lying on my back. It happened very suddenly too -- like one day it wasn't there, and the next day it was! Pop!

My regular pants are really not comfortable any more, so I went and bought a lightweight Bella Band from Target (it's called "Be" which I find a little odd, but okay.) I took it for a test drive the other day and it was GREAT. I had a pair of stretchy sweatpants that were too big, and it held them up wonderfully (usually I'm hiking them up all day!) I tried it with my jeans unbuttoned and halfway unzipped when we went out to the bookstore and to the movies the other night, and made it through the evening without any embarrassing pants-dropping incident! The one I have is black, but they also make a white one which I may be picking up for variety under lighter colored clothing...

We went for a checkup yesterday and everything was just fine. The nurse measured the baby's heartbeat in the high 140's but the little one kept moving around in there (which is great!) I think it's because I had a Carnation Instant Breakfast before I left the house, and he/she was all sugared up! (Bad mom!) She also put the Doppler higher up this time, midway between the top of my pubic bone and my bellybutton. The heartbeat was LOUD. And it was awesome. Wub wub wub!

We scheduled "The Big Ultrasound" for Feb. 2nd, so we only have to wait three weeks this time! (They scheduled me 4.5 weeks out for this appointment, so I guess I was ahead some in wait time.) They will hopefully tell us the gender, (if the baby chooses to cooperate, of course!) and they will do all sorts of measurements, and give us an update on the estimated due date.

We also opted for some of the genetic blood test screenings. For example, it would be helpful to know for the future if I have any genetic markers for cystic fibrosis. It requires one from each parent to put the child at risk, and even then there is only a 25% chance of the child being born with it, but it's a test they only have to do once in your lifetime. Why not know, and have some information to give to our children about our medical history?

I can't express how cheesed-off I still am that there's no way we'll ever know Craig's medical history because of the frigging sealed adoption records. We don't give a shit who his birth parents are, we'd just like to know if there is any existing condition in his history that may affect our children. Is that so much to ask? Apparently, to the State of Illinois it is, but we all know by now what a bunch of a-holes their government turned out to be.

Sorry for the tangent, but it irks the crap out of me.

We decided we don't want an amnio or CVS because they're invasive, and after last time, why in the world would I want to increase odds of a miscarriage at all, especially at this stage, just to find out something we'd eventually know anyway?? But non-invasive blood tests that give us an idea of our risk factor are okay with me. They can't give you a "positive/negative" result, only an idea of risk. So at a minimum, it will give us an idea if we have anything else to consider in raising our child. (Or something completely new for me to obsess over, but that remains to be seen.)