I can't believe four weeks has flown by and I'm back with another bumpdate! And...we're on the heels of October-how crazy is that?!?
Total Weight Gain: So, interestingly enough, my weight has creeped up, putting me at at total gain of 20lbs. I anticipated that I'd gain similarly to my other pregnancies, and the fact that at my last appointment, at 25 weeks I was only up 20lbs, is nothing short of a miracle considering I've been eating maraconi out of a box, and my exercise until two weeks ago was whatever box I was unpacking! I do hope to start eating more home cooked meals, and getting more consistent exercise in, which will hopefully help curtail the weight gain. I had to lose about 50 with Hannah, what's another 10?!?
Maternity Clothes: I have bought a few maternity specific items like exercise tops and pants, a pair of maternity leggings and jeans to wear under dresses when it gets cooler, and some everyday tops. I think I'm starting to look more pregnant, but there are times, like when I wear the tighter exercise clothes, I don't think it's completely obvious I'm with child. Thankfully my trainer frequently talks about the baby and the pregnancy, so people around me might not actually think I'm just in need a good butt kicking! I hope in the next few weeks to showcase more of a capsul maternity wardrobe I've put together, and some reviews on the maternity clothes I've had to buy this time.
Sleep: With the cooler temperatures, and a cold that required me to work on finding a good fan placement, I've been sleeping much better. Of course, lots of pillows are necessary.
Best moment this month: in my last bumpbdate I mentioned that at 20 weeks I was finally able to feel the baby move from the outside, but at 23 weeks about, the movements became much more pronounced. I went to a Saturday night religious service with live music, and the amount of movement that could be felt from the outside was incredible! I thought that baby would bust out!
Movement: Lots of movement, lots! Thank goodness! I'm starting to notice a pattern; we have a party goer on our hands, every night! I can also poke myself enough to get a response back, which is so reassuring. There was even a time when Moshe came into our room in the middle of the night, and we had a brief conversation-and the baby started moving! I couldn't believe we already woke the baby!
Exercise: I have had five sessions with a trainer-twice a week, for 30 minutes. I love it, even though it wasn't until this past time that I wasn't totally sore from head to toe. You forget how capable your body is, and even when pregnant, with the help of a professional-we can push ourselves to great limits. I am so excited to continue this journey with a personal trainer. For now, I've been limited in how often I can exercise, but when my event is over (Safety Awareness Day) I will have much more free time and I plan on a 5-day a week exercise schedule.
Gender: No idea, and loving it! I think boy!
Labor Signs: I think I might have had some braxton hicks, but I'm not sure. So, no labor signs, thank goodness!
Belly Button in or out: In! I still have that awkward belly flab; it's filing out, but it's still there.
What I miss: nothing really...
What I'm looking forward to: nothing specifically baby related, but I do have my glucose test on Monday.
I had my first OB appointment with a new OB here. To be honest, I felt very disappointed. The care here seems to be much more lax, which I'm not used to. And besides not being used to it, lax care does not work well for me. I don't want to be told by a doctor that I'm fine, I want to know, from blood work, or whatever other test that I'm fine-sometimes rare things happen, and sometimes doctors are wrong. I went into the appointment knowing that no one could possibly replace my OB, but also knowing I'm not new at this, having been pregnant three other times. I know how to advocate for myself and as long as advocating gets me what I need, I'll be ok. I felt the doctor was pretty dismissive of my concerns, and I did have to push for blood work regarding my concerns with the itching I've been having on my hands, feet and now arms and chest. I also didn't like that when he couldn't get the heartbeat on the doppler because it was moving around so much, he was "ok with that" because I feel movement. They also didn't check for protein in my urine when I said I didn't have to pee. While I'm sure most people are fine, I'm not comfortable with such lax treatment.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I think the OB, and myself learned a valuable lesson. One of the blood tests I pushed for was to check for parvovirus-after a community member had her baby very prematurely due to her baby being anemic from having been exposed due to the mother not having immunity. It's extremely rare to have a manifestation like she did, but it happened, and apparently this virus was being spread in Baltimore, and pregnant women were being urged to have a blood test, a simple blood test. While there is no treatment for not having immunity, knowledge is power. Knowing if you have immunity or not will help you be cautious and navigate certain situations.
I pushed for the blood test and thankfully I did! "Interestingly enough..." I've never been exposed to parvovirus and there's nothing to do about it. However, I now have that knowledge, and I can move forward with the right information, caution, and power. I also hope that this experience helps the doctor remember that while being cautious can sometimes cause extra annoyances and work on their end-sometimes rare things happen, and you can never be too safe.
It also showed me that it's completely ok to be that "crazy person" because you are well within your right. I feel so relieved I pushed for that information, because you never know, as rare as something may be, hey, sometimes we fall on the wrong side of statistics.
For comparison, you can check out Hannah's bumpdate here.
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