-24 Weeks and Doctors Visits

Today Jimmy and I went to hematologist and OB appointments. Everything looks fine now with bloodwork, but as always, it can change quickly. As long as I'm not symptomatic, I'm not stressing. Dr. M did give me an emergency dose of decadron to tide me over for any emergencies. We are definitely going to have to increase the NPlate, but that is actually common with some other medications during pregnancy, due to the increased blood volume. Dr. M is usually the man with a plan and I'm relieved that he has one now. We had a great lunch at Sushi Love in Durham. Then we actually got called back on time for my OB appointment! Hooray for small miracles! We really liked the doctor I saw. Everything looks good for the 1st trimester screening, <1 in 10,000 chance for Downs, and they did bloodwork to do testing for spina bifida. The baby started to be stubborn with letting us listen to it's heartbeat, but then relented. I love to see the look on Jimmy's face when they find it! I go back in two weeks for the anatomy scan and my next appointment.

How far along: 16 weeks, 1 day

Size of baby: An avocado, about 4.5 inches long and 3.5 ounces.

Maternity clothes? None of my regular pants can fit anymore. At about 10 weeks was when I had to switch to elastic waists and my "fat" pants exclusively. My hips got wide first, then last week I "popped"

Sleep? Same as last week. I wake up to pee about 2 hours before I have to get up and it always takes a long time to get back to sleep. Prednisone has made me very sleepy this week!

Best moment of the week: Feeling so much movement! And Jimmy telling me it looks like I've lost weight.

Movement: Mornings or evenings, when/if I'm sitting slightly scrunched over. Still not every day, but most days.

Symptoms: This week has been hard to distinguish between steroid side effects and pregnancy symptoms. I am really tired and constantly hungry.

Food cravings/aversions: Nothing really.

Gender: Still not finding out in 2 weeks at our anatomy scan! But I feel like it's a girl, just because when I refer to the baby without thinking I use feminine pronouns.

How is Mommy Feeling? Excited, just really thrilled to be pregnant.

Total weight gain? I haven't really gotten out of the range I started in, it just depends on when I weigh myself. If it's after a meal, it's about 2 pounds. If it's first thing in the morning, none.

What I am looking forward to: Still wanting to get things ready in the house for the baby's room.