27 Weeks

91 days to go!

Bebs: This week, Bebs weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, her brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Any tiny rhythmic movements I'm feeling may be a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on!

Weight-to-date: 123.6 lbs--gained exactly 10 lbs so far!
Sleep: Ugh. Sleeping is SO difficult now. I can't roll on my stomach, sleeping on my back makes it hard to breathe, and side-sleeping still is hard for me. Usually I can kinda get comfortable with my body pillow. Hubs has taken over what he now calls the "Daddy Boppit" pillow. (It is really called a Mommy Boppy--not sure where he got Boppit from, lol). So between the two of us, there is about 7 pillows in our bed!
Best moment of the week: I had fun celebrating my friend Amanda's bachelorette party! Sparkling cider, hibachi, and listening to a band at the Sands casino...it was nice to get out!
Miss anything?: Bending over comfortably. :-/
Movement: Bebs kicks like crazy 24/7 lately! Her kicks/punches/head-butts are so strong sometimes, you can see my shirt or belly move!
Food cravings: Chinese food. I'm convinced the baby will come out Asian. Oh, and chocolate covered pretzels. Not together, though!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Round ligament pain. See below.
Symptoms: Round ligament pain. Gah.
Belly button in or out?: Out-ish?
Wedding rings on or off?: On
Happy or moody most of the time?: Happy!
Looking forward to (aside from the obvious!): Our friends Tom and Amanda are getting married this weekend; Shane, Tara and Seth are staying with us this weekend; and finishing painting the nursery!

Bebs is the size of a head of cauliflower!

"I think I am having contractions?" / Round ligament pain / Our Friday night in Labor & Delivery
Friday night the Hubs and I went out for happy hour with his co-workers. I absolutely love Jason's co-workers, his boss, and their spouses. We were listening to them telling stories of raising their kids when I felt that sudden knife-stabbing pain again. And then I felt it again and it didn't stop for an hour. I kept squeezing Hubs' leg every time it happened, and then waddled to the bathroom to call my mom. I called the nurse's line at my OB/GYN office about 15 minutes later when we left. She then called the on-call doctor, Dr. Radio. Dr. Radio called me back in a few minutes and told me to go right to the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital to make sure this wasn't pre-term labor.

I had called the ob/gyn office just the day before to tell them I was having this sharp, stabby pain off and on. The nurse tried telling me it was constipation. I'm not a doctor, but it can't be constipation if I'm going all the time.

Anywho, back to Friday night. So after I get off the phone with Dr. Radio, I tell Jason that we need to turn the car around and go back into Allentown. We get to the hospital, and thankfully Hubs paid attention during our tour because I suddenly could not remember where to go. We calmly made it upstairs to the third floor and the staff was ready for me, which was nice.

I had to put on a gown, pee in a cup, and then I laid down for the nurses to hook two monitors up to my stomach--one for the baby's heartbeat and one for mine. Bebs was absolutely fine. It was nice that we got to hear her heartbeat while being monitored. Every time there was a loud "whooosh," it was because she was kicking. Jason was amazed that she moved around that much! hehe

The nurse said I didn't have an infection because I "couldn't be any more hydrated" with my pee test. She then did a cervical check (ooowwwwwwww!!!!!!!) and we listened to the monitors some more. After I explained my symptoms she said it was most likely round ligament pain. She explained that the uterus is about the size of a fist, and then when you are pregnant (obviously) the uterus needs to stretch and grow to hold the baby. I had read in my baby book that my uterus is stretching to the size of a soccer ball now. So these crazy pains and cramps I've been having were not BH contractions--its round ligament pain. She explained because I am petite and am carrying all my weight in my belly, the uterus is probably stretching too quickly to accomodate that. She recommended buying a maternity girdle (awesome), keeping up with my fluid intake, taking warm baths, and taking Tylenol for the pain.

Other Medical Tests
So after spending our date night in the hospital on Friday, our Saturday morning was spent running around to the LVHN lab and my ob/gyn office. Fun!

I had to take the one-hour glucose test at the lab to test for gestational diabetes. I had heard horror stories about women getting incredibly sick from this test, but I was completely fine! First, you have to drink this sugary, fizzy orange drink (basically tastes a little sweeter than orange soda). The size of the drink was a little smaller than a water bottle and you have 5 minutes to drink it. Then we sat in the waiting room for an hour and watched Dr. Phil, lol. Then we were called back, the awesome phlebotomist took 3 vials of blood, and we were good to go!

Next up was the ob/gyn office for the flu shot. Easy peasey. Then it was back home for both of us to take a nap!

**I got the results from my glucose test and I passed with a score of 114, which I was told is good. I don't have to take the 3-hour test and obviously I do not have gestational diabetes. Woot! My hemaglobin levels were too low, though, so I was told to get an over the counter Iron supplement and take it with breakfast or lunch. No biggie!

Whatever you say, Ryan Gosling! ;-)
Found this gem at one of my fave pregnancy blogs...
www.pregnantchicken.com