"Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable."
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

23 Weeks

Not much new to update. . . and yet, it feels like there is so much that goes through my mind. I have been feeling N kicking so much lately. He was awake earlier this afternoon, going to town on my belly button again! Last night at bell rehearsal, he was awake and listening - maybe excited as well! He seems to be a very musical baby so far.

I have been preparing for Thanksgiving. We are having another couple over. Hopefully it will be a lot of fun. We will eat and we will play games. I have been on my cleaning/nesting kick for the last week and a half. . . this works out well for having people over!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

N woke up when we listened to Handel

We listened to a CD recording of a Handel piece sung by Kathleen Battle and the trumpet part performed by Winston Marsalis.

When the trumpet part came on, all of a sudden N seemed to wake up (bouncing up and down again on my bladder)! DH is excited because he believes that means that N can definitely hear, and that he likes classical music, and he likes the trumpet. I said that N can definitely play the trumpet some day, because that is definitely a good marching band instrument! DH wants N in a symphony/orchestra. Hopefully, N can participate in both, and make both mom and dad happy!

We have such dreams. . .

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Poem that willl go in N's scrapbook

Here is a link to the poem that I will be putting in N's scrapbook very soon (maybe today). It is titled "A Different Child" by Pandora Diane MacMillan. It makes me cry. I love it.

http://webhome.idirect.com/~pandora1sama/diffrent.html

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

22 Weeks

Today, I have an OB appointment. I am sure she will listen to N's (nini/baby) heart with the doppler. I am excited, because yesterday I was panicky! I only felt him once yesterday morning, and then only last night around 10:30 PM. I do hope he is okay in there. The past several days, except for yesterday, I have felt N kick often, particularly in the afternoon! Yesterday I never felt him in the afternoon and it worried me. Other moms are right. . . subsequent pregnancy is very much a roller coaster! Plus, December and the holidays are coming up. It is very emotional time for me (Sam's birthday, surgery anniversary, ECMO anniversary, one year anniversary of my miscarriage, etc). . . and let's not forget our wedding anniversary!

UPDATE: My appointment went well. N's heartrate was very loud through the doppler, and it was a steady 150, which the OB said was perfectly in the center of "normal". This afternoon after the appointment, N decided to turn a bit, and started poking me around my belly button again. My uterus actually measures above my belly button now, according to the OB. That's why it is finally starting to get incredibly difficult to really bend at the waist. Anyway, yay for N and Mommy!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

21 Weeks - 2nd Fetal Echo, Anterior Placenta

(Warning: Lots of exclamation points upcoming. . .)

Second Fetal Echo -- Everything looks perfect so far - structure overall and function great! Excellent!

The baby Nini is about 4 days ahead in growth overall for gestational age, and is estimated at 15 ounces! Almost a pound! That means he's nearly doubled in size in the last two weeks

I've been worried because I haven't been feeling our little Nini moving as much as I felt Sam by this point. When I have felt him, it's been down near my bladder or up by my belly button. That's it.

We found out yesterday that I do have an anterior placenta (out in front), and the tech said that the baby would have to "punch hard through the cushion". So that explains that. He was moving the entire time once again during the ultraound yesterday.

Last night, I wrote the following message to someone who asked how I (not the baby) was doing. Here is what I wrote:

"How am I feeling? Very, very hungry. However, I haven't gained much weight yet. I've gained back the weight I lost in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy and not much more. I am still dealing with my chronic pregnancy-rhinitis and/or allergies to everything outside right now. Some acid reflux, but it's not bad at all. Craving chocolate like crazy, but not craving ice cream as much as I did while pregnant with Sam. The heat really irritates me, and I am even more sensitive to the sun than I usually am when not pregnant. I am so glad our air conditioning was fixed on Monday - the high temp today reached the high 80s. It's been abnormally warm even for Tucson in November. Maybe cooler high temps in a couple of days, which I am so looking forward to. I want to go walking outside without just feeling sick in the heat. I don't really feel nauseous much anymore, except in the heat.

I am allowing myself to actually dream about bringing this baby home with us. I actually got out the baby mp3 player that Sam was actually given for his Christmas in the hospital by a charity or the hospital's Child Life, or both. A Playschool thing where the actually MP3 is plugged into the rest of the player that can be put in a crib and played for the baby. I had never actually "played" with it myself - just waiting for Sam to come home. We'd saved it for a future baby to enjoy, and suddenly I remembered it the other morning, and got it out. I figured out how to load mp3s onto it. That was quite a leap of faith for me, actually. I just felt compelled that it was time."

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Another Article/Research Report Concerning SSRIs and CHDs. . . Very Interesting!

http://www.medpagetoday.com/OBGYN/Pregnancy/16154

I found this article quite interesting. I wish more doctors would look into this, and let researchers (money!) to the SSRI and Congenital Heart Defect connection.

*Sigh*