The case of the missing tummy

Where did my tummy go? Seriously. It was there this weekend, just starting to poke out. Yesterday evening? Gone. This morning? Gone.

I was in maternity clothes this weekend, just barely. Now I am back in regular clothes! Seriously, I will be 16 weeks, which is 4 months, on Sunday and there is absolutely no outwards evidence of my being pregnant.

I know, in my head and strictly from a logical point of view that the baby has to have turned somehow so that it just isn't sticking out. From an emotional perspective though, I am bordering on being a basketcase!

This baby has to be a girl, no boy would cause his mother this much grief.

September 25: 15 weeks 1 day

I woke up this morning, took care of Leif, ate breakfast, showered, got ready and headed out the door. I dropped grumpy child at daycare, came to my office and worked. At about 11am it dawned on me that I hadn’t even given thought to vomiting. I see the light!

(I also feel a very sore throat and a stuffy nose coming on, likely courtesy of grumpy boy who has a cold and ear infection. Lovely.)

Concerns. I have been having them this time around. I worried early on that just maybe the pregnancy was ectopic. Too much reading. Then I worried when my doctor couldn’t find the heartbeat. Now my worries are that so far I have yet to feel what I believe to be real for sure movement. I felt Leif move at 13-14 weeks. Early, but he didn’t stop wiggling from then on. They say you feel movement earlier with your second because you know what you are looking for. Why then am I 15 weeks and still waiting for movement? Why am I not really showing yet (a little bloated, but not *really* showing)?

Paranoia. It gets the better of you. I am counting the days to my ultrasound, sometime after October 10th. I need to see a healthy, wiggly baby in there.

Baked potatoes with all the fixings and chocolate milk

That would be my ideal meal right now. Lunch and dinner everyday please.

I have been going to Wendy's for lunch an embarrassing number of times a week. The girls at the drive through know me. Everyday I order a baked potato with an extra sour cream (hey, I might as well indulge) and a chocolate milk. Sometimes I have a fix and mix Frosty, but most of the time not.

Then I go to my secret spot by the river and chow this and watch the wildlife and the people go by on the trail while listening to XM Radio. My 30 minutes of heaven each day.

A baked potato from Outback would be ideal. Crispy baked with Kosher salt sprinkled on the outside filled with butter, sour cream, chives and bacon bits. Heaven.

Today I finished my lunch and the chocolate milk was so good I stopped at Safeway and bought a quart of chocolate milk to take back to work. Yum.

September 20: 14 weeks 3 days

Two days and no vomiting OR taking Zofran! Yippee! (Knock on wood…pound heavily on wood… woah, don’t break the shelf AB built.)

AB told me the other night I might be starting to pop out. I think so, but I notice little changes a whole lot quicker than everyone else. I made the comment that with Leif I started showing at 16 weeks or so and he laughed and told me I started showing when I was about 6 months along. Meany. I do know that everyone was surprised when I would say I was 6 months along, but I measured on target up until the end.

My appetite is starting to return, but there is still a lot that I really don’t care to eat. Among them is fish for some reason. I normally love fish. And it doesn’t completely gross me out, not like chicken did last time, or fresh tomatoes do this time. But I would rather not eat it and during the first trimester it seemed to induce compartmentalizing in my stomach. I still am amazed how I could completely sort of the fish from the rice while vomiting... Oh and we can just forget about shellfish. Which means that our foray over to the East side in early October to meet family and go to the Washington State Seafood Festival and OysterFest for me is going to be all about seeing family. Which is fine, but I can’t believe we FINALLY get over for this and I am not going to want to eat anything. A lot can change in two weeks I know. I am still a little queasy here and there, so if that clears up maybe seafood will be ok.

I had been sure earlier on I was feeling movement, even though it was “early”. I felt Leif pretty early. After seeing where the heartbeat was found, I am a little less certain it was movement. I forget how really low my uterus is still. Maybe here soon though I will start feeling movement.

There isn’t a whole lot to report. I am officially out of the first trimester and into my second, the honeymoon phase where everything is wonderful and great. Yippee!

The next appointment is October 10th and we will schedule the ultrasound at that point. I can’t wait for the ultrasound, but just to prepare everyone in advance, we will NOT be finding out the gender. So start thinking about your guesses. (Leif has already guessed sister MANY times.)

September 11, 2006: 13 weeks 1 day

Your craving for emotional security is answered as your personal situation stabilizes. One troublesome conundrum after another gets settled in your favor. Just keep clear of unnecessary drama, and you'll be home free.

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I found my horoscope for today quite appropriate.

Thirteen weeks and a day as of today. I am starting to feel better off and on. I have good days (like Sunday) where I don’t even think about taking my magic make-me-not-puke pill. Then I have the other days. Like this morning when I stepped out of the shower and took two steps to the toilet despite the Zofran in my system.

I was really excited for my ob appointment this morning. We got up and got Leif to daycare then made the 40 minute drive (from daycare) to my ob’s office. We arrived just in time to be informed that they tried to call us to tell us that he was in an emergency c-section. But it shouldn’t be much longer and so if we would like to wait for the appointment, that’s fine. We agreed and each of us settled down with a magazine. About 45 minutes later the nurse comes in and tells us that the doctor just phoned and is still 45 minutes out. We can reschedule, continue to wait, or leave and come back. This appointment was already a reschedule, so we were a week behind on appointments and VERY eager to hear the heartbeat, and my morning schedule at work was clear, so we opted to leave and come back.

Since I had lost my breakfast much earlier, we opted to run out for a bagel and juice (or in AB’s case, lukewarm coffee). We arrived back and 15 minutes later the doctor walked in looking beat as hell.

We talked some about my dizzy spells. Dizziness, doesn’t leave when I lay down, continued nausea and vomiting… He tells us that dizziness and fainting is in no way “normal” for a pregnancy, despite what we see on movies, and should always be watched. It can be a sign of dehydration, or can be a precursor to things that may pop up in the future. Did I say that I love my doctor? I never feel stupid for bringing things up.

Based off of my symptoms he determines that I am mildly to moderately dehydrated and I need to resume drinking water around the clock. I admit it, I haven’t been great at drinking water lately. Partly because I am normally a big ice water fan, but ice water just tastes nasty to me. Yes, duh, I still need to drink water even if it doesn’t have ice. And I have, just not as much as I should.

All of the above was relayed to me in the car on the way home, because I really only got bits and pieces. You see while he was doing the talking about the dizziness, he was also searching for the heartbeat. And searching. Then he stopped, left the room to get a new Doppler and came back. Tried again, searching, and searching. Lots of palpating and then the questions come:

“Are you sure you are 13 weeks? Any chance you could be 4 weeks less?” (Yes I am sure, and no chance.)

“Any bleeding, even a little bit?” (None.)

I am very nearly to tears at this point. My ob is a pro at finding heartbeats. The first time around with Leif he found it without issue each time.

I can’t explain the feelings and the thoughts that were going through my mind as he palpated, pushed and we listened, and listened. I couldn’t even look over at AB, I knew if I did I would start crying.

So many times on discussion boards women post being upset that the doctor didn’t find the heartbeat and ask for advice. My response is usually a flippant, “it’s probably just too early, I am sure everything is fine”. But at 13 weeks, it isn’t too early and I knew it. I have a new respect for what those women are feeling.

My doctor announces that we are going to go ahead and do an ultrasound. About two seconds after the word “ultrasound” and he pauses. There it is. A very faint, but audible whoosh whoosh whoosh. Pure joy. My heart calms, but only a little. Even hours later I sit here feeling just a tad nervous still. But we got a heartrate.

AB jokes a little about that means a boy right? Doctor dispels it as purely an old wives tale and I agree. And actually, by the old wives tale… I think that would make it a girl. ;-)

So the official 13 week visit stats:

Heartrate: 150 bpm
My weight: -2 lbs from the 8 week appointment. (Surprise, I thought I would have returned to my 8 week weight given all the ice cream and chicken pot pies!)
Blood Pressure: 98/70

September 5, 2006: 12 weeks 2 days

I decided this last weekend to try to go without my Zofran. (Probably not the best idea for Labor Day weekend… hindsite.) My morning sickness has to be nearing an end, doesn’t it? Sunday went well. I ventured to the mall with V and had a good time. Monday… not nearly such a pretty sight. That early afternoon it dawned on me, after having puked once, that this was a self-imposed trial period. I had another 14 or so tablets and that I better just go back to it.

Another thing I have been plagued with is dizziness. I didn’t have this with Leif either. According to the online sources I read in the first trimester this is attributed to high levels of hormones that draws blood to the placenta, but then the blood doesn’t always return so readily to the brain. I have to say that I am seriously concerned about these apparent “high levels of hormones”. This is what has been causing my extreme morning sickness (or so the sources say), now the dizziness too? This child is going to be seriously hormonal apparently. (Images of my sister float by…) Or should I just once again reiterate my concern about twins. As long as I keep saying it, it won’t happen. Right?

Wow am I whiney or what? I guess a good sign is that my vegetable aversion lifted today. Permanently, I don’t know. Right now I don’t care. I got a healthy dose of vegetables in at the Mongolian Grill. Everything looked so good that I bought a medium and I plan to eat the leftovers for dinner tonight.

Less than a week now until my next appointment and we will get to listen to the heartbeat! We are really excited.

This weekend we went to a picnic where there was an abundance of babies. Leif was completely enamored. More by the ones that could sit up and crawl. I am not sure he ever noticed the 6 week old in the carseat (thankfully). I think it might be sinking in, but I can’t tell for sure. Twice this weekend he kissed my belly (not that I have a “real” belly, just a sagging bloat thing) unprovoked.

I have received a number of well meaning nuggets of advice from other parents of two with regards to how to introduce the new baby. Many have to do with sleep arrangements because Leif is still in the crib. Our current plan is to buy an inexpensive (read Target plastic thing) drawer set to hold the baby’s clothes and put it in our room. We will use the cosleeper until 6-8 months or so as we did with Leif (until I became concerned about him crawling out of it). We had the nursery, but never used it during this time with Leif. Our plan is to let Leif keep his room and stay in his crib (barring any changes, like he starts to climb out or other) until after the baby comes. This will also help in us having the guest room for a few months longer while family comes to visit after the baby arrives. My thought is to disturb Leif’s life as little as possible. Then once we get closer to wanting the crib for #2 (about a year from now), buy him a big boy bedroom set and redecorate the guest room to his tastes. All just tentative thoughts right now, of course.

There are pros and cons to this method, but I have been surprised how many people (ok, like two) have adamantly told me this is the wrong way to go. One even told me this morning Leif will grow up to be very resentful of the baby taking his furniture and it is setting he and the baby up for lifelong animosity. Frankly this comment made me laugh. She has two kids and a Masters in Chemistry, so a child psychologist she is not. But I do respect her opinion and her kids have an age spread similar to what mine will. On the other side of the fence is a woman I know whose daughter is in Leif’s daycare. She and her husband went this way mostly out of pure laziness in changing things around, but also they (frighteningly) weren’t sure their baby was going to make it until month 8.

So I need more data points. Opinions? Anyone feel strongly one way or the other and why?