Had my 2nd check-up with the midwives today, this time met with Melissa, who was super nice! Last time was with Jeanne, also great, but she doesn't do births anymore. So I'll keep rotating through the whole lot of them until the Big Day, and then I get whoever is on call at the time.
All went well at the check-up. They weighed me, which is never fun... I'm weighing myself at home every Sunday, and today I was finally at my pre-pregnancy weight (I had lost 4 pounds in the first 9 weeks and have slowly been regaining it in the last 8 weeks). That said, the doctor's scale (mid-day with all my clothes and plenty of food/liquids in my belly) consistently reads 5 pounds heavier than my "first thing in the morning after peeing and before eating or drinking and almost naked" weight. hehe. So, the number freaks me out at the doctor's, but we're more or less on the same page as far as weight gain (5 pounds is what they have - cuz they first weighed me at 8 weeks when I was almost my lowest).
They also took one vile of blood for the final part of the nuchal screening. I don't know how she did it, but for the first time in my life I didn't even feel a pinch when the needle went in. Like, really?? It's in?? Amazing!!
Then, the fun part - the doppler!! I recorded it with my cell phone's voice recorder so Ryoji could hear, and I've uploaded it below. Unfortunately only the paid account can upload sound to listen directly from the blog, so you'll have to download the file to hear it. She explained about different sounds, like at first we were getting what sounded like a heartbeat, but it was really echoeing off the uterus! When she found the real heartbeat, like directly over the baby's heart, you could totally hear it much clearer. The baby’s heartbeat was varying from 137-151, which she said is normal (anything from 115-170 apparently), and she said going up is normal as long as it comes back down. She also told me the funny garbly sounds we heard were the baby moving around, and sometimes the heartbeat would go away and she had to chase the baby around to find it again. So funny!! Especially cuz I haven’t felt any sort of movement yet, which is apparently normal with an anterior placed placenta – booooo… hopefully within the next month!
Last night I started sleeping with an extra pillow to keep me from rolling on my back. I read that by 20 weeks you shouldn’t sleep on your back because the weight of the uterus compresses some blood vessels and can lead to not enough blood getting to the baby, and me. Supposedly this would wake me up with nausea and arms and legs asleep, but I don’t wanna risk that, so I’m trying to make a habit of not sleeping on my back now. Without the pillow, I ALWAYS wake up on my back. And last night I discovered why… sleeping on your side the whole night HURTS! Hmmm… will have to look into how to make this more comfortable!
All went well at the check-up. They weighed me, which is never fun... I'm weighing myself at home every Sunday, and today I was finally at my pre-pregnancy weight (I had lost 4 pounds in the first 9 weeks and have slowly been regaining it in the last 8 weeks). That said, the doctor's scale (mid-day with all my clothes and plenty of food/liquids in my belly) consistently reads 5 pounds heavier than my "first thing in the morning after peeing and before eating or drinking and almost naked" weight. hehe. So, the number freaks me out at the doctor's, but we're more or less on the same page as far as weight gain (5 pounds is what they have - cuz they first weighed me at 8 weeks when I was almost my lowest).
They also took one vile of blood for the final part of the nuchal screening. I don't know how she did it, but for the first time in my life I didn't even feel a pinch when the needle went in. Like, really?? It's in?? Amazing!!
Then, the fun part - the doppler!! I recorded it with my cell phone's voice recorder so Ryoji could hear, and I've uploaded it below. Unfortunately only the paid account can upload sound to listen directly from the blog, so you'll have to download the file to hear it. She explained about different sounds, like at first we were getting what sounded like a heartbeat, but it was really echoeing off the uterus! When she found the real heartbeat, like directly over the baby's heart, you could totally hear it much clearer. The baby’s heartbeat was varying from 137-151, which she said is normal (anything from 115-170 apparently), and she said going up is normal as long as it comes back down. She also told me the funny garbly sounds we heard were the baby moving around, and sometimes the heartbeat would go away and she had to chase the baby around to find it again. So funny!! Especially cuz I haven’t felt any sort of movement yet, which is apparently normal with an anterior placed placenta – booooo… hopefully within the next month!
Last night I started sleeping with an extra pillow to keep me from rolling on my back. I read that by 20 weeks you shouldn’t sleep on your back because the weight of the uterus compresses some blood vessels and can lead to not enough blood getting to the baby, and me. Supposedly this would wake me up with nausea and arms and legs asleep, but I don’t wanna risk that, so I’m trying to make a habit of not sleeping on my back now. Without the pillow, I ALWAYS wake up on my back. And last night I discovered why… sleeping on your side the whole night HURTS! Hmmm… will have to look into how to make this more comfortable!
| 17w4d_heartbeat.amr |
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