Pregnancy: 23rd week

Week 23
March 20 - 26

This week, I go in for my 24 week checkup. I'm kinda excited, but kinda not, because the further along I get, the more not-too-fun procedures start happening. The first big thing is that I'll have a glucose test in week 28. I hope I can just skip right to the 3 hour one, because with my PCOS, I have a feeling I'll fail the 1 hour one, even while on metformin.

*A few days later*
My appointment went quickly, like usual, which is good. The doctor listened to the heart beat, and I'm happy to report that it's still racing along at 170 BPM. My tummy is measuring right on track, and she's happy that the baby is active. That's about it. Oh, and no, I can't just skip to the 3-hour glucose test. I could if I were already diabetic (why they have you test for GD when you already have diabetes is a mystery), but I'm not, so I have to do the 1-hour. Blah.

Appointment aside, it's been an uneventful week. You won't find me complaining. Yeah, I still get up a lot in the middle of the night, and I still have a hard time moving most days. But I'm just chalking it up as normal now.

Choroid Pelxus Cyst

I'm writing this in parts because I will only publish this once I find out more about what's going on in a month or so. I don't want a lot of people knowing, worrying or even worse, bugging me about updates about it when I myself don't have any new information. I'm worried enough as it is, so I think it'll be easier if I post this later. Besides, I don't want to freak anyone out (ahem... my mom) now and have it turn out fine in the end. It might save her an anxiety attack or two.

3/2/12

My doctor called just a little bit ago to share the findings of the 20 week ultrasound from last week. When the tech was measuring things in the brain, she was paying closer attention to one area and wasn't talking about it like she was with everything else. It honestly set off some red flags for me, but I didn't say anything. Well, she apparently found a soft marker. A soft marker is something abnormal picked up by ultrasound while measuring organs, bones & formations of limbs. My doctor said that the ultrasound had picked up a choroid plexus cyst (CPC). So in my mind, I immediately said $&#^.

But my doctor went on to say that in most cases where cysts show up in the 20wk ultrasound, they go away on their own within a month or so, and are apparently more common than one would think. And that since everything else about my baby was perfect, she isn't too concerned about it. Apparently the time to be concerned is if there is a presence of a cyst along with other markers showing up in the heart or other places. Then we'd have to worry about Trisomy 13 or 18 (worst case scenarios as they are almost always fatal conditions) or downs syndrome (still bad, but not the absolute worst thing ever). But again, usually those conditions present multiple soft markers... like 5 or more. And my baby is only showing 1. So I'm worriedly optimistic.

Also, the cyst itself does not damage the brain. It's merely a sign that there may be other things going on. So that's good.

Just to be on the safe side, she wants me in for another ultrasound in a month. And if it still shows up then, then we'll decide what to do.

But we already know what we'll do if it still shows up: nothing. I don't want an amnio since the risk of miscarriage is pretty high with it. We'll already know at the time of birth that something might be off, and in any case, the baby might pop out absolutely perfect. And if something is wrong, then we'll worry about that once the baby's here. It's not like we can change anything by knowing anyway.

I love doctors when they give sorta bad news though. They're all "I don't want you to worry about this." Um, how am I supposed to NOT worry about it? You just told me that something might be wrong with my baby. But anyway, I do find it a little reassuring that she's not too concerned about it. I mean, if she was, she would want to see me sooner and get some testing done. So I'll try to not stress out about it for the next month. Yeah, good luck with that.

Anyway, since the call, I've been scouring the internet, looking for information and advice from people who've gone through the same thing. And I'm very reassured by the fact that the vast majority of babies who've been diagnosed with a CPC at the 20 week scan have the CPC resolved by the 28th week and are born perfect. According to some of these women's doctors, a CPC is the softest of the soft markers and if no other markers show up, it's hardly even worth mentioning because they almost always go away and cause needless worry in the meantime. But since it's recorded on the ultrasound report, the doctor has to tell the patient.

Reassuring though all this is, it has now cast a cloud of worry over the rest of my pregnancy, which sucks. Even if the follow-up scan shows that the CPC has resolved, I'll still worry that it reformed or that something else will happen. I think the only way this particular worry will go away is when I finally get to hold my baby and see for myself that it is fine. Other worries will take its place, I'm 100% sure, but I won't be sad to see this one go.

3/22/12

Today I had my 24 week appointment, and after talking with my doctor, I decided not to get another ultrasound. She completely understands and agrees with my decision. To be completely honest, I'm not concerned about it anymore. After reading all the personal stories about it on the internet, and going along with that my baby has no other markers, it makes me confident that everything will turn out fine. And my doctor told me that they (the particular clinic I go to) only started including it on scan reports within the past 6 months or so, so she figures that they got sued and are now including it to cover their asses. She doesn't like making families worry over something like this, but she said that if it's in the report, she has to tell the patient. I did request that with our next baby, if it happens again, that she not share it. She agreed, but I don't know if she can legally do that even if I request it? I don't know.

Either way, I'm hesitant to post this because up until now, only DH & I knew about this. And if I don't post it, it will stay that way. But I will because it's something that women should know about and be prepared for when their ultrasounds come back with a report that they found a CPC. I know I wasn't prepared for it. Heck, I'd never even heard about it, and it's a common occurrence. So here's my PSA. :)

Pregnancy: 22nd week

Week 22
March 13 - 19

The most notable thing so far this week, is that the baby seems stronger and more active. It's even woken me up a few times with all the activity. I think it's moved up again, because walking doesn't seem as painful as it has been. But it's done this before, so I won't be surprised if it moves back down and my walking problems come back.

*And 2 days later, it's moved back down. I see a theme going here. Stinker.

I also think I can tell when it's flipping now. It kinda feels like the baby is curling up tight in a ball. My theory is backed up by the presence of kicks in a new, higher area.

I'm starting to seriously get impatient over the lack of progress going on in the nursery. DH took one door out and drywalled over it, and is in the process of mudding the joints and evening up the texture. I know it's a time-consuming process, but man, when those nesting instincts kick in, nothing can be done soon enough! Hopefully next week we'll (he'll) be able to paint it, and hopefully within the next month or two, we'll be able to make it to the nearest Ikea (about 400 miles away) so we can buy the nursery furniture. I know that technically, we don't need a crib right away, as the baby will most likely be in a pack n play in our room for a few months. But we will be transitioning the baby pretty early on, so we might as well have the crib ready to go. We DO need the dresser though, since there isn't any place for clothes/blankets/etc. Heck, when we go, we'll be buying the same one for me (but probably in black-brown), because drawer space is at a premium in our house.

Nursery

I figured I would give a run-down of my plans for the nursery. I was aiming for something gender neutral that didn't include tons of animals, Disney, the alphabet or any of the other popular themes one tends to find. The picture I found will work as gender neutral, though it is a touch on the girly side. We'll worry about that once we know for sure we have a boy. Anyway, I've decided that the furniture will come from Ikea... because of the style and because of the price.

For the crib, I want something that has all 4 sides the same height and looks minimalist/modern. It also has to be less than $200, which for a modern-looking crib, is super hard to come by. That's why I just haven't ordered something online. It's also unnecessary for the crib to be convertible all the way up to a full size bed. The majority of cribs now are like this. Why it's unnecessary is because we already have a twin size bed as well as a queen size bed that are not currently in use, so adding a full size bed in the future will not be needed.

For the dresser, the simple, clean look is important as well. And of course the price is a factor. For the baby's room, it's not super important whether it's a long, low dresser or a narrow, tall dresser. But I like the look of the one pictured, so that's what we'll likely get. We already have a changer (white of course), so it won't be used for that, but it's at the right height for it should we not like what we've got now. It makes me slightly nervous to have all white furniture, since kids like to color on stuff, but I like the look of it. I'll just have to find some super awesome cleaner.

Here's the inspiration picture:

The walls will be seafoam green, and I'm trying to find white blackout curtains. The ones I'm finding online are kinda pricey, so I may end up making them myself. We already have a 9 cube shelf unit that we'll put in there. The bedding will be bright yellow and white, and accents around the room will be bright yellow and bits of bright red. I'm fiddling with the idea of putting wood grained wallpaper on the drawer fronts, but probably won't because there will be no other wood element in the room (the nursery has cream carpet). There probably won't be a chair, as it doesn't fit in the budget, but that's alright... there are other places to nurse in the house. DH suggested moving his recliner into the nursery, but I said no because it's an ugly burnt orange color, and frankly, if there's going to be a chair in there, it needs to match. I don't wanna fool with slip covers or reupholstering either. Yeah, color isn't important in the grand scheme of it all, but if I'm going to the trouble to come up with a color theme and design, I'm not going to just toss any old thing in there. Just something I'm stubborn about, I guess. *shrug*

Pregnancy: 21st week

Week 21
March 6 - 12

I think I have now entered that phase of pregnancy where the bladder shrinks to the size of a marble. And very inconvenient to me, it seems to shrink even more while I'm sleeping. The past 3 nights, I have been up no less than 5 times each night in order to empty my bladder. The sad part is, I don't drink much of anything before going to bed. Just a couple of mouthfuls when I take my vitamins. It's super annoying. Especially when people are starting to tell me to stock up on my sleep now, because I won't be getting any once the baby's here. Please. The only thing I can do now that I can't in the future, is sleep as late as I want. If I have a bad night, I can sleep until 11 if I wanted to in order to catch up, though the sleep isn't as good as it is when it's dark out (yes, I have blackout curtains. But my body knows that it's not dark out. So it's not the same restful sleep I should be getting). But more often than not, I'm finding myself waking up fully at 7:30, so sleeping in isn't working out so well.

And weirdly enough, after the 4:30-ish bathroom trips, my brain wakes up a bit and is thinking random things. One night it was thinking of middle names to pair with one of the first names I'm considering. Usually there's a song going in the background, too. I try not to encourage this, because in all reality, all I want to do is fall back asleep as quickly as possible. So sometimes I tell myself to shut up and that usually works.

On to other things, about halfway through the week, I had the very uncomfortable feeling one gets when they eat far too much at Thanksgiving. You know the feeling... that you have so much in your stomach that you fear it's going to literally explode, it hurts a bit, and there is no position that is comfortable. I didn't eat that much, so I don't think it's due to overeating. I wonder if my tummy's getting ready to pop?

*A day later*
Yep. I popped! Maybe a move into maternity clothes isn't as far away as I'd thought.

The baby's a lot more active now, too. It even let DH feel some kicks. Usually as soon as he puts a hand on my belly, the baby stops kicking. So I'm glad he got to feel some love. The baby's still in the same position though... heads up, and it still likes to kick the same places. I don't think I've felt any movement on the left side at all... it's all on the right side.

Babylegs

See what cuteness awaits my little one?

Presenting: Babylegs!

Obviously the top two are girly. And not as obviously, the bottom two are more boyish. If we have a girl, she'll get to wear all 4 pairs. But if we have a boy, he'll just have to survive off of those 2 boyish pairs. I'm sure he'll be heartbroken. :(

DH seems skeptical over legwarmers for babies, but I'm sure he'll hop on board once he sees how cute and functional they'll be. Because usually when babies wear these, they're wearing just a t-shirt, a diaper (usually cloth) and these. So when bubs needs a diaper change, there will be no struggle to get the pants off and then back on. I suppose these could be worn under pants for warmth, but honestly, if it's that cold out, we will be holed up inside anyway. They'll also come in handy when crawling starts, as they'll protect the knees. But even if I don't manage to convert him, I can't blame him... for the longest time, I thought they were just one of those silly trends. And I also thought they looked weird. The more I was exposed to pictures of them though, and the more I heard moms rave over them, I slowly started to see the light. Obviously I have to wait to see if they're all they're hyped to be, but I don't think I'll be disappointed.

DH did ask what I'd do with the girly pairs if we had a boy, and I gave probably the most obvious answer... keep them for when we have a girl. He's like "oh, okay."

I actually think he hopes that I won't like them so I won't order more in the future. I don't blame him because there will be other things that will be more important to buy than Babylegs. But I don't think for one second that I won't be tempted... especially if there's a sale going on. Then I might have to have him hide the debit card!

Pregnancy: 20th week

Week 20
February 28 - March 5

Wow, for this being the halfway mark, I sure can't think of much to write about! All the excitement must have happened last week.

Speaking of that, my doctor called and said that after looking over all the reports and renal scan, she still doesn't have a definite answer as to what it was. So she's just assuming hydronephrosis, and I'm just to wait and hope it doesn't reoccur once the baby gets bigger and is running out of room. Fingers crossed!

I guess the most exciting news I can think of otherwise, is that the baby either moved up a bit or it flipped upside down, because it kicked my belly instead of its normal favorite, my bladder. It doesn't hurt, but when it's usually full anyway, I fear that a good strong kick could make me have an accident. And if I'm not paying much attention to what's going on, I don't think any amount of kegal exercises will help if I don't catch it in time.

*1 day later*
And that was short-lived. Baby's back to kicking my bladder. Oh well.

Since I haven't posted any belly shots yet, I figured I may as well start sometime. I have a picture from every week starting at 9 weeks, so it's not like I haven't been taking them. Just lazy, I guess. And wow, the picture is long, so I may as well keep writing something so there isn't this huge amount of white space at the bottom.

So.... my belly started growing pretty much right away, and so I thought for sure that I'd be in maternity clothes soon. So I frantically got some clothes that would get me through until it started to get warm. But the thing is, most of my pre-pregnancy clothes still fit. I have two pairs of jeans that are still comfortable enough to wear on a daily basis, and the shirts I wear most often are stretchy cotton. So of course they're still going to fit. My camis and tank tops still fit, too. I think my belly will soon make all my tops too short instead of too small, but it still seems pretty far away.

And since it's going to start getting warmer here very soon, I'll probably move into some of my pre-pregnancy dresses that are super stretchy and comfy. The only thing I really want to get is a pair of black leggings. They'll go under some of the dresses and maternity tunics I have, and I've heard they're super comfy, too. Slap on some flip-flops and I'll be ready to go!

On the subject of clothes, I went to JC Penney just to drool over their baby clothes, and I was hit yet again with regret over not finding out what we're having. Because I could have easily dropped some cash on the cute clothes they had. But alas, I will just have to wait and hope that some of what they have is still there come July. And maybe it'll be on sale! Fingers crossed! :)