april 16- get ready for pink!

today we found out you're a girl!

we've already transitioned in our minds to being the parents of a girl, and how that will be different. (although i'm sure there will be more adjusting mentally to be done over time.) we were really in the mindset of parenting a boy. just because that's what we'd always hoped to have first... and then knowing that max was a boy... it's just different to think "we're having a girl!
but it is also exciting. it comes with so many different opportunities and challenges. we can't wait to get started.

here's the overview:

-everything's PERFECT! literally every aspect of the ultrasound was 100% normal. as though i didn't have APS at all! we couldn't have asked for a better result.
-the quad screen came back negative. (it's not that trustworthy anyway... but good news nonetheless)
-the only thing that didn't measure over 20 weeks was the femur. when i asked if that was ok, the lady doing the ultrasound laughed and mentioned that neither one of us are very tall anyway. hehe.. so it makes sense that our kids would be shorter.
-all the organs were good. spinal cord good. brain good. placenta good. cord good.
- she weighs a pound now. how exciting! she weighs already more than max did when he was born. it's hard for me to think about... but... it makes me happy too. just to know that she's so much healthier than poor max was.

she spent the majority of the time doing flips and putting her hand to her face. she also had her mouth open almost the whole time! i guess she'll be like me someday! (or maybe like her daddy- singing all the time.)

we have some really cute pictures that i hope to have up by mid-next week. thadd says she looks like me already. (her feet definitely do! i have long skinny toes.. thadd's feet are...well... a bit more hobbit-ish. :) which is funny because max, even at 21 weeks really did look like a morris. we both think he looked a bit more like thadd's brother, titus, than thadd... but still, he looked a lot like his dad. (and he had hobbit feet and connected earlobes just like his dad for sure!) so i guess, time will tell. she would look a little weird if she came out looking just like her male relatives... i think there's some sort of general rule about that... hopefully the girls will look like girls, and the boys boys. :)

after the ultrasound we went to borders to pick out a book. for max we picked out "where the wild things are". (this was one of my favorites!) for this little girl we got "oh the places you'll go".... another favorite of ours. (though thadd is a little worried about gender ambiguity. it says "guy" a few times. i think it's probably ok for a girl too.)



thanks so much for all of your prayers and well wishes. i know that they truly made a difference. now i'm just taking it 4 weeks at a time from here. i'll have my next ultrasounds at 4 weeks apart. then after 30 weeks, i'll have non-stress tests twice weekly and ultrasounds weekly. they'll induce me if any clots show up to save the baby...or, on the terrible off chance i get eclampsia again, to save me. full term for me will be about 38-39 weeks... which will change my delivery date to somewhere close to the august 23.

march 7- doc says... (please feel free to comment. anything to keep this from feeling like a diary.)

my appointment yesterday went well. we got to hear the hearbeat... along with lots of indistinct swishing, which the doctor said was the sound of active baby kicks.
i pretty much did everything but get on my knees and beg for an ultrasound. to no avail. its just not going to happen for at least 3 more weeks. (sigh) i explained to her that it was really just for my peace of mind... i guess that's not a medical reason. :) but she assured me that my monitoring will go up significantly after that next ultrasound. once i get closer to my third trimester.
for now, i'm still having bi-weekly appointments. i've got the next two scheduled... and i'm scheduling the ultrasound next week. (for about 3 weeks out.
the doc was great about answering my questions- many of which i got from concerned friends and family. (as though i'm not neurotic enough! haha!) here's the verdict:

passing out- probably just normal pregnancy related wooziness... but she's checking my blood for iron and such... as well as putting in a consult with neurology. (she was pretty sure it's nothing serious- but better safe than sorry i guess.)
bp- at the appointment my bp was 128/87 which is closer to how it's been running normally at home. she said that's fine. (and so is 100/52 for that matter.) that as long as i'm under 140/90 we're good.
abdominal pain- could be just normal "aches and pains" of pregnancy. but she's going to double check my urine to see if it's an infection. (doesn't feel like one.)
frequent headaches- normal.
shot location (my belly fat is already getting hard to grab onto as it stretches out)- she said i could do the back of my arms. ouch! or the inside of my thigh. double ouch! i'm sticking with the belly for a few more weeks!

i actually weighed in 2lbs less than my last appointment. (which surprised me since i've been eating like a cow lately. that nausea went away and it was like "bring on the buffet!") she said that's ok. she's just going to double check at the next appointment- because i should put on a few pounds in the next few weeks for sure.
and i had a question about my due date. since we graduated from the infertility clinic on the 17th of feb. we should have been about 12 weeks at that time. when i called the nurse (after the whole passing out incident the other day) she said the computer had me at just 13 weeks! i was like, whoa! i'm sure i'm further than that! (secretly i'm dreading it! what if i have to go through weeks 13 and 14 again! i'm always hoping to jump ahead as far as possible... get past 25 weeks as soon as possible.) so i asked the doc about it when we were in yesterday. she did the math again, based on one of my earliest ultrasounds (because my 42 day cycle isn't all that reliable) and put me at 15 weeks today. (which is only a few days off from what i thought i was. new due date: august 30
i'll update with the blood test results, as well as the urine, when i get them back.

coming in 2 weeks..... quad screen & sugar test.