march 20- doc's news

today i had my appointment... the last one until my ultrasound. here's the news:
bp- low and fine
weight- +3lbs (which the doc said is just about right)
heartrate- 150/minute healthy and strong

the bad news is that i have some sort of antibody. (yes, another one, other than the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.) i'm working on finding out what it's called. i was a little shell shocked when she told me about it, and didn't get the name. apparently it's similar to the rh- antibody that women can get while pregnant. the doctor said that many women get similar antibodies, and as long as the level stays under 16 that it doesn't affect the baby. right now my level is at 1- the lowest it could register... so she didn't seem worried about it. if my levels rise then she said, worst case scenario, that they would give the baby blood transfusions through the umbilical cord. (but, she said that they'd never done that in the history of the hospital, that no one has ever needed it.)

apparently this antibody is caused most commonly by blood transfusions... which she assumed i had had. (i could be wrong, but i feel like i would remember that!) she said it less commonly can be caused by miscarriage. which, apparently happened when we lost max. (she checked back in my records and i didn't have the antibody during my pregnancy with him.)

looks like i'll be having more blood work done more frequently to monitor the antibody. i had several vials drawn on friday... haven't gotten the results back yet. i'll post when i have news.

seriously, how many obscure problems can i have? am i battling with natural selection here? :/

on the upside, if it weren't for the growing bulge in my belly i wouldn't even think i was pregnant. other than being a little more tired than usual, i'm almost completely free of side effects.
oh! but i did forget to mention i'm losing entire hand fulls of hair. eeek! i've heard that it will fill in a little more in the third trimester.. if not, i'm not above some hair plugs!
and.... i guess i also forgot to officially welcome- HEARTBURN! i'm bucking the system though... still eating all sorts of spicy food that i love. i mean, if a roll gives me heartburn, why not enjoy a burrito?:)

march 18- boogie board meets belly

i had a little scare today while enjoying some beach fun. i had never successfully boogie boarded before. (and by that i guess i mean "caught a wave".) so, after living in hawaii for a year i decided to figure out exactly what people were doing that was fun.
alicia and i had a great time.. catching many, many waves- and it was SOOO fun!
one time the board tipped forward, planting itself in the sand, and the wave took me right over it, hitting my belly right on the stationary board.(leave it to me to get injured on a boogie board!)
i freaked out a little. my belly was sore for a while... but i still felt random kicks (which is all i've felt so far)... so everything is probably ok.
i have an appointment this week, so i'll be double checking with my doctor to make sure everything is good.

march 12- the plan for the move

we found out today that thadd's officer candidate school date is set for november 22. YAY!!!
this means that while we have to stay here in hawaii a little longer than we want, thadd will be able to be with me to deliver... and have a few months as a family before he has to go away for training. this also means that i won't have to make a move by myself mid-pregnancy to arkansas and switch doctors.
we'll be moving to virginia, and we're really excited about having seasons again. (and being within a days drive home.)

march 12- not too much new news

still no word on my labs. my next appointment isn't until the 20th. so... i'm just anxiously awaiting that appointment. i'm thinking of buying a doppler. anyone had any good luck/bad luck with these? i'm going CRAZY not being able to check on the baby regularly. :/ my next ultrasound appointment won't be until probably the first week in april.
i'm going to put up a picture of my 38I bra. (it came in the mail... and it's a size too big... only a size- but you should see it!!! it's hilarious! thadd just laughed and laughed when i held it up... but then when it almost fit- he was sorta in shock!) i'm going to hang onto it- i'm sure i'll grow into it before too long!
i pretty much can't watch tv at all anymore. i just cry and cry... everything is either so happy or so sad.

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.