Today I had my second midwife appointment. I am about an appointment behind because I opted to wait to come in for my first appointment until I was 12 weeks. Many women want to come in earlier but earlier often the heart beat cant be found yet and that’s a real disappointment. So I chose to wait until 12 weeks, and this time I was 16 weeks pregnant for my appointment. All was well! Comparing my doctors office experiences to my midwifes office experience the latter is so much more laid back. I love going there. Its very intimate, there is nothing cold or uninviting about her office like the OBs offices Ive been to. When we arrived we sat in the waiting area-which has lots of great pamphlets and toys. My boys went wild over the toys again, they really looked forward to playing with the toys she has there! The woman who had her appointment before me was also from my city, I met her last time we were up there. We got to chatting a bit, its all very relaxed and calm. No rush rush patient in patient out. I went to the bathroom to give a urine sample (pretty standard for ALL prenatal apts) and weigh myself. Then I reported back my weight once I was in the office. Now let me tell you a little about the office/exam room. I hate those exam tables they creep me out. Especially when they have stirrups. My midwife has a beautiful daybed in her office! No nasty tables! She sits on the bed with me while taking my blood pressure, 102/64, beautiful!!! I always have high blood pressure when its taken by a doctor or a nurse in a medical setting. Then it was time to hear the baby! She found the heartbeat with a doppler almost right away. It seemed that baby was fast asleep snuggled down in my womb. 147 bpm, nice healthy and mature. Then she showed my boys a little ‘doll’ that was how big my baby is! It was amazing to see a model of my little one! I go back in four weeks to do it all again!
I also asked about a birth kit list, since I am birthing at home there are a few supplies I need to order myself. I was a little concerned at how much it would cost but even with shipping it was only about sixty bucks! Ill probably order closer to my 7th month of pregnancy.
Today I noticed some very sharp stabbing pain in my lower back on the left side. I was pushing a shopping cart with my youngest in it and each time I took a step with my left foot I would get this awful stab. It was very sharp and took my breath away! I stopped walking and told my husband who was with me. We took a few minutes so I could sort of stretch and try to work whatever the kink was out. Eventually it went away. It was mildly concerning since I hadn’t had this before but since it went away so quickly it slipped from my mind until later in the evening when it came back. I have been wanting to get a good long run in but I started to get this stab again! I got ready anyway, this time it wasnt as severe but I decided not to run but to get a good brisk walk on an incline on my treadmill and see if I couldn’t work out the back problem. I have always been able to get my back pain under control with a good run. This stabbing continued through my warm up but once things got loose and warm it went away. I spoke to my midwife about it and she told me there are three sets of ligaments that surround the uterus. One set is basically around the lower part of your belly, I get pain here a lot! Then there are a set that are more on each side of the tummy, I generally ha-vent noticed them at all and then there are a set in your back- exactly where I said my stabbing was coming from. So it was round ligament pain and nothing to be concerned about. Definitely a sign the baby and my uterus are growing quickly!
What I ate today
12oz of skim milk
1 piece whole wheat bread
reduced fat peanut butter
1 medium sized pancake with light syrup
reduced fat cheese string
Sandwich and soup:
Two slices whole wheat bread
fat free mayonnaise
lettuce
tomato
lean chicken breast
cucumbers
130 cal 1g of fat cup of soup- ate half.
watermelon
baked potato
light sour cream
chives
a very small slice of red baron deep dish supreme pizza
McDonald’s hot fudge sundae (yeah my bad I know)
1750 cals 50 grams of fat
Today 25% of my calories came from fat. I didnt eat super healthy but not too bad. I really didnt need that hot fudge sundae- and I didnt finish it. Tomorrow Im going to try and eat even better!
At around 15 weeks pregnant the baby’s eyebrows and hair should start to grow! My first son was born with a head full of black hair, it all fell out within the first couple of weeks and came back light brown and has stayed that way since. Its very common and totally normal. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with your baby!
Moms heart is increasing its output to supply the baby with oxygen. Ive noticed that I get pretty breathless quickly while running and I can really feel my blood pumping when I run. It makes sense though, because at this point my heart should be pumping about 20% more blood that it was before becoming pregnant! AMAZING!! By the time baby comes along my heart could be pumping 50% more volume than pre-pregnancy.
Im constantly amazed at the changes my body is going through! My breasts are fuller, and still sore, they have been sore since before I took a pregnancy test! Ive also gone from a 38B to a 38C in this time. Yikes! My last pregnancy I went from a 38C to a 42DD. Im afraid Im going in that direction again. My uterus is now about the size of a grapefruit! And my baby is almost five inches long, that’s almost as long as an American dollar bill. Baby’s kidneys are hard at work and so is their little tummy! Baby now is swallowing their amniotic fluid and what goes in must come out! So they are also urinating now. I think only a mom can get excited about that! The fluid is constantly being replaced, about every 3 hours it is completely renewed. Which makes understanding why pregnant women are constantly making trips to the bathroom a little easier! Even though they are now urinating they wont start having bowel movements until birth, sometimes during labour a baby will pass their first bowel movement, it is called Meconium and is very stick and black, much like tar. When you water breaks if it is stained green or black that can mean trouble for your little one, my oldest son had meconium staining when he was born, he didn’t seem to have aspirated any (breathed it in) but it can cause breathing troubles with newborns if it is aspirated.