Prenatal Water Aerobics

I started a new class on Tuesday – Prenatal Water Aerobics! I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it, but it was so much fun! It was quite the workout too. I was thinking it would be a bit of swim around and move your feet a bit in the pool, but this was hard work. Running in the pool is not easy and then you add in resistance thingies and man was my heart pumping. I enjoyed it so much that I’m going back again tonight. It’s amazingly cheap too, only $25 for 8 classes. It’s held at TOSH M-Th which is only about 20 minutes from work so I think that I might start going twice a week. I know that the workout will be good for me and the baby come March and this is waaaaay better than any treadmill or stationary bike so I’m pretty happy about it. J

Another Dr. Apt

Today was my 15 week apt and all seems to be going well. This was probably the quickest doctor appointment that I've gone to in quite a while. I don't know if the doctor was just in a hurry or if there's just not much to do at this apt but I was with the doctor for all of 5 minutes.

They took a urine sample and my weight and blood pressure. I have gained 4 lbs since my last visit so I think a pound a week isn't too bad for this time, although if I keep that rate I'll gain another 25 lbs in the pregnancy and I'm hoping to avoid gaining too much. The doctor also measured my uterus and listened to the heartbeat with the doppler. It was in the 150's which is right where I expected it to be.

I was able to ask the doctor about the pains I've been having in my lower right side and she said that it's likely just round ligament pain which is what I thought as well. She suggested a neti pot or antihistimine for the congestion and that was it, she was out the door.

I had wanted to ask her about a flu shot because it's getting to be about that time but I totally forgot in all the rush. I was also thinking about asking her all my delivery questions but figured that could wait until I didn't feel like I was being rushed out of there. I don't know what the deal is, but I really hope I don't have another apt like this one or I may be looking at other doctors.

On the plus side, I did schedule my ultrasound with the Maternal Fetal Medicine department where they will do the anatomy scan and tell me the sex of the baby!! I am very excited about this! I know that my family was hoping to find out today, but alas, no ultrasound at the office. I think that they are all more anxious to know that I am! Well, we'll all just have to wait one more month.

I Found the Heart Beat!

I finally found the heart beat using my doppler!! I think that my baby likes to sit really low on my pelvis and that’s why I have been having such a hard time trying to find the heart beat on my own. Well, last night I was unusually thirsty and drank about three bottles of water before feeling like I really had to pee. Then I remembered the feeling of the ultrasound wand being bounced up and down on my uterus (and therefore bladder) during my last ultrasound and thought to myself, maybe a full bladder is what I need to hear the little heart beat. So I grabbed the doppler and listened for a minute to no avail.

Jon decided that he was going to give it a shot so he rubbed some cream on my tummy and moved the wand around all over the place and finally gave up. I decided that I was going to give it one more try. I turned the volume up as loud as it could go and put it right in the center of my abdomen as low as I could go. Rather than move it around I just tried pointing it in different directions. It finally worked! I heard it faintly at first and wasn’t sure of what I was hearing, but I pushed a little harder and there it was, clear as day. I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t mine so I counted and timed the beats and it was beating at 150 bpm which is definitely too high to be mine.

I was so happy that I could finally hear it! I don’t know that I’ll be able to find it again all the time, but at least I know the trick to it now!

My Latest Dr Appointment

So at my last appointment (Monday), I went to the maternal/fetal medicine office for my integrated screening. I first had an ultrasound to measure the fluid filled space at the back of the baby’s neck called the nuchal translucency. It tells me if the baby has an increased risk of Downs Syndrome. The measurement was just fine and all looks good.

 

During the ultrasound, the technician banged the wand up and down on my abdomen a few times (I know… not the funnest thing when I had to drink 32 oz of water before the procedure!) but it really got the baby moving! It was jumping around all over the place! I saw the arms and hands curled up by the face and the legs and feet up in the air (fluid). You can even see the baby’s profile in the ultrasound picture!

 

There is one thing that I noticed from the ultrasound that was a little concerning. The placenta, which is usually up to the side of the baby, was down underneath. You can see the black crescent shaped thing under the baby in the picture above. The reason that’s bad is because if the placenta is blocking the cervix when it comes time to deliver the baby, it can cause life threatening bleeding for both me and the baby. It is called placenta previa and usually requires bed rest late in the pregnancy if not a hospital stay and a planned c-section at 37 weeks! Yikes! The good news is that 80-90% of the time when the placenta is low in the first trimester, it moves up higher in the second and third. So I’m not going to stress out about it too much yet, but it is definitely something that I’m going to watch closely in the future.

 

After the ultrasound I went for a blood draw. It is usually uneventful, but this time I got lucky and got a student… He missed in both arms and, after fishing around in my arm with the needle, called for help. The girls who came to help couldn’t use the same veins that the student was trying for so she decided to try a small surface vein in my right arm. Well, she got it in just fine and was about half way to filling the tube when the vein decided to bleed out onto my arm instead of through the needle and into the tube. That of course meant she had to scrap that tube and try a new vein. Ugh. So to my chagrin she decided that my hand was the best place. The tubes were filled uneventfully but it still hurts a little and I have a nice bruise for it. I just have to tell myself it’s for the baby.

 

They will do another blood draw in the second trimester and use the combined results to tell me if I’m at risk for Downs, Trisomy or Neural Tube defects. I’ll also find out if I’m a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. I know, it sounds terribly exciting, but I’ll get any test that is non-invasive and could possibly help my baby be healthier when it’s born!

 

Next regular appointment, Monday the 20^th!