Pregnancy

No, you weren't seeing things if you thought there was a prenatal appointment synopsis late yesterday afternoon. I deleted it. Sometimes I write and afterwards I think, "Boy, that was pretty sarcastic." Especially considering how upbeat I felt about the whole appointment.

At any rate, here we are. Tomorrow we finish the 24th week of this pregnancy, and that's a pretty big deal. I feel like I should plan some sort of mini-celebration!

My appointment yesterday was extremely encouraging and very thorough. Blood pressure was 90/51, I've gained 4lbs bringing me to a pleasantly-plump 16lb-gain, my uterus measured at 22.5cm (not a big deal because I almost always measure small and, in fact, have never measured more than 38cm-- even when carrying a 10lb baby and looking huge!), and my active little girl's heart was registering at about 146bpm when she wasn't visibly kicking the doppler. A nurse I spoke with 2 days ago had mentioned some concerns about certain symptoms, but we've almost completely ruled out the possibility of either a UTI or PTL by way of several different tests; all seems well.

There were 2 highlights from my appointment:

1. I found out just how much an advocate my doctor is being on my behalf, and this is so reassuring and comforting to me. After the trip to Burlington last month, Daniel and I both felt that continuing care there isn't necessary unless something more goes wrong or the SCH significantly worsens. Apparently, when my doctor communicated this to the specialist, it wasn't taken well. But she stuck up for us. Even to the point that she defended our desire to do ultrasounds every 6 weeks instead of every 2 weeks, provided there isn't more bleeding or other signs of problems.

2. My doctor agreed to let me ease into more activity because I am crossing the all-important 24-week mark and, more importantly, I've not had any bleeding in almost 4 weeks. I took my first walk yesterday evening-- albeit a slow one because Jackson was walking alongside me-- and it was wonderful! This morning I caught up on laundry and then made the short walk to the library and post office. I will confess to getting rather tired just from simple activities after almost 12 weeks of rather strict sitting/reclining, but considering the warnings to increase activity sloooowly, I don't think my energy limitations are necessarily a bad thing right now. Of course, there are still restrictions on lifting, exercising, etc., but I'm happy to just be on my feet a bit more!

It's a good, good weekend!