week 20: babygirl is the size of a banana! Anatomy ultrasound goes off without a hitch and our girl is beautiful! Thank God!
week 21: babygirl is the size of a baby bok choy? Hmmmmm google: what is a baby bok choy? This week we drove home to Indiana/Chicago to visit family and friends and attend a wedding for a long weekend. We broke up the 9 hour drive on the way down, but did it in a straight shot on the way back. It was already uncomfortable for me to be in the car for that long, but so very worth it to see so many lovely friends and family members. I learned this week that “wedding kate” only comes out when she consumes alcohol. Super nice wedding but I wasn’t feeling in the mood to dance.
week 22: babygirl is the size of a corn on the cob! This week I decided to tackle the beginnings of our registry. Overwhelmed much? We decided to register with Babylist.com simply because you can link anything from any site, and they allow you to put favors, or meal trains on your registry as well! I had some fun, but also felt very reserved about asking for items. What if something went wrong and she didn’t end up being a live birth? We’d have all of this stuff. It’s a daily task for me to push away the fear at this point. She isn’t even viable yet, and her movements are very sporadic and rare. We flew to Dallas this week to spend an early Thanksgiving with my mom and sister. Babygirl was SUPER active in Dallas, which made baby registry shopping with her BB (my mom) and Auntie that much more memorable.
week 23: babygirl is the size of a bunch of grapes, grapefruit or Barbie doll. (The Barbie doll cracked me up.) 23 weeks… I’ve seen a few of those outside the womb in the NICU: translucent skin, visible veins, no fat on their bodies and fused eyelids. But… technically we have made it to viability, where if she came early this week, resuscitation would be attempted. Keep cooking babygirl! One day this week I felt super anxious. It was the day after I got home from Dallas (where our little girl was super active) that I noticed that her tiny sporadic movements had definitely decreased. I was surrounded by her baby things from our visits to Chicago and Dallas and suddenly felt like the world was closing in on me. What if this was it? What if she really wasn’t okay? Tony came home and found me laying flat on my back, stethoscope over my belly trying to hear the heartbeat again. I told him that I was going to order a Doppler and he again pleaded with me to trust that she was okay, instead of needing technology to tell me that. By that evening, her movements had increased again and she continued to be more consistent in the days ahead. Maybe she just disappeared behind an organ or something?
week 24: babygirl is the size of an eggplant, cantaloupe or VHS tape! OB was at a delivery for this appointment, so after waiting 25 minutes I saw the nurse practitioner instead. This is the second time that this has happened, so the feelings of wanting to change OB’s resume. Don’t get me wrong, I 100% understand that an OB might miss an appointment or two to be at a delivery. But my doctor wasn’t someone who was incredibly popular or highly sought after. Some NICU nurses hadn’t even heard of her, and she’s been delivering babies at my hospital for 20 years. It didn’t help my anxiety that she missed so many of my appointments. At 24 + 3 days I go to my doctor’s office and fill out my medical release form to fax to my new doctor’s office. That’s right… I made the decision after talking with a few other NICU nurses who I work with and just went ahead and did it. I picked an all female practice for my comfort level, seeing as how there is no equivalent to Dr. C (my Indiana OB) in Kansas City. The kicker? The new place won’t schedule me for an appointment until they receive my paperwork from the old office. The impatient waiting begins. Am I missing something? Does it require more than copying my 10 (At the most) page chart and faxing it to them?
week 25: babygirl is the size of a napa cabbage (OK Ovia… maybe let’s cool it with all the leafy greens?) or a cauliflower. At 25 weeks 3 days a couple of NICU nurse friends were in town. We walked the country club plaza and hit up a happy hour at a Mexican restaurant. I felt some cramping as we were walking that I thought would subside when I sat down finally. It did- and I made sure to hydrate a lot. But an hour or so later, I was incredibly uncomfortable. The pain had moved from my middle lower abdomen to right upper quadrant. It sort of felt like trapped air similar to after my endometriosis surgery, and almost like a pulled muscle at the same time. The nurse in me began to fear that it was appendicitis. After ruling that out by jumping up and down and marching in place, I took some gas relief medication thinking it was that. No relief. My pain finally reached a level that I was not comfortable with and I called my doctor’s office after hours and got the OB on call. She told me to take two Tylenol and rest, and if I was no better in an hour to come to triage and she would look me over. Around and hour and a half went by and as I was talking to Tony and my two friends and realized “the pain is gone.” It was so bizarre. The next morning I felt no pain when I woke up, not even a hint of a sore muscle or anything. So I hopped on the elliptical and did my 30 minutes and then was a lazy bum with my friends that day. Over the course of the next few days, the pain returned, but with much less intensity and only in the late afternoon – evening. Again, when I wake up I feel like a million dollars. Normal stretching? Organs shifting? Round ligament? I’m so curious to see what my new OB thinks.
week 26: babygirl is the size of a butternut squash! Now we’re talking! I get to schedule my intake appointment finally with my new doctor’s office. They are a super busy practice and made a miracle happen to get me in before Christmas. After the intake appointment (at 26+6 days) I will be able to schedule future appointments, glucose screening etc, AND they would officially take over my care. So I just have to make it a matter of days without needing anything else pregnancy wise for them to take over. I decided this week as I made my work schedule for the remainder of my pregnancy that I’m pretty much done with working 3 nights in a row, with the exception of one more stretch in January. It’s just starting to get a little uncomfortable.
week 27: babygirl is the size of a bunch of bananas, AND we have a new OB! On a Monday I did my intake appointment with a lovely nurse practitioner who also used to be a NICU nurse. As she was placing the Doppler on my belly, babygirl gave it a good kick! It was pretty funny. Heart rate was 147-155 with some nice accelerations. As I ended my appointment, it became evident that the OB that I wanted to see couldn’t get me in to her schedule for a few more weeks. The receptionist told me that as soon as they could figure out a day and time, they would let me know. Not even 20 minutes later, I received a phone call asking if I could come in the next day to meet my new OB. I was told that she was going on vacation during Christmas week and that she really wanted to meet with me before she left town. I was flattered, and luckily had that next day off. When I met with her, she asked me first, “so tell me… why you are transferring?” I explained to her that I had tried to get into their practice upon moving, but was told I would have to wait 5 weeks until they could fit me in. I explained to her that there was no way that I could wait that long after having two early miscarriages. She was more than apologetic, and said that she would 100% look into who had taken the phone call because she wanted to make sure they never turned another “me” away again. She said “you should have been our patient all along, but you’re here now. And from now on, you are going to be well taken care of.” It was music to my ears. We discussed potential induction, vacuum vs. forceps, etc. She told me to schedule an ultrasound for my next appointment, because I needed to see my baby again and believe that she was okay. We talked about my being a NICU nurse who has also had losses and she wanted me to have as much reassurance as possible that things were going to be okay. I left that office feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. It was 100% the right call to make, and I’m so happy that I decided to switch. I now feel confident that we are both in good hands for the big day, and all the days leading up to it. What about my back pain? She thought it sounded exactly like the pain that she felt when her ribs were expanding. Greeeeaaat.
fun event this week? Babygirl was with me when we attended my first Kansas Basketball game in YEARS. ROCK CHALK! I got to see Tony in crimson and blue instead of blue and gold and it was quite enjoyable! We had a really good time at the game together!
ON to the THIRD trimester! Time is FLYING!
