17 Weeks

We're 17 weeks along today!  And here is the 16 week picture. (I take them every other week which is totally overkill, but I like it.)  I must say that time is starting to fly a little bit, which is a relief because for a long while it was just craaaaawling.  I think our recent travels have helped, my feeling good has helped, and some distractions have helped (more on that later).

So here is the nitty gritty of all things pregnancy related these days:

Nausea:  It has been 100% gone since about...12 weeks I think, give or take. 

Energy:  I felt like I could conquer the world for about two weeks after the nausea disappeared.  I still feel ten times more energetic than first trimester, but I lose almost all energy by about 2 p.m.  I even take a nap many days, which is something I usually cannot do (preggo or not) because it messes up my ability to fall asleep at a decent nighttime hour. :-)  Lately, I can nap everyday if I want and still be asleep before 11 p.m. (which is good for a "night owl by nature!).  I think I'm getting old, because 2nd trimester was so golden for me with both Princess and Smooch as far as energy went.  Or so my memory claims. ;-) Mornings are by far my most energetic time of the day.  This is so uncharacteristic for me that I have been joking that our sweet new babe must be a morning person. 

Cravings:  I still love Mexican food, anything spicy, beef, and citrus.  I've been buying organic oranges for 69 cents a pound at have been eating two a day!  Happy happy. :-)

Aversions:  I can't think of any.  All food is my friend these day. And I"m happy to report that I've been back on the meal planning, dinner cooking bandwagon for about a month now. 

Belly:  I am still noticeably bigger at 16 weeks than I was with Smooch or Princess.  Since all my Smooch belly pics are handy, I will show you a comparison below.  Yikes.  Looking through my Smoocher belly shots, I think my current 16-17 week belly looks mighty similar to my 20 or 22 week shot of Smooch.  I think I'm revving up to get huge.

Weight:  I've gained about 10 lbs. total so far.  About half of that went straight to my backside.  Laugh all you want - I'm not joking.

Pregnancy symptoms "kicking in" earlier than ever:  I think I'm falling apart.  I'm not even to the halfway point, and by each evening I'm practically walking with a limp.  Ask my husband.  He laughs at me. :-)  My lower back hurts and it's nothing the chiro can really fix because it has to do with the exaggerated curvature of the spine.  It just happens earlier and earlier with each pregnancy.  Apparently. At least for me.  Honestly, I'm just glad I can walk.  My mom told me that had such terrible hip pain with her third, my dad had to carry her in one particular instance!

Feeling the baby kick: I've been able to feel the baby kick (or somersault or whatever s/he does in there) since right about the 12 week mark, which is very similar to when I felt Smooch.  I didn't feel Princess until between 16 and 17 weeks though.  One big difference between feeling Smooch early and feeling this baby early, is that even though I'm 17 weeks now, I still feel the baby irregularly and not necessarily daily unless I'm really laying there trying to make baby move.  I think s/he has to kick pretty hard for me to feel it.  With Smooch once I started feeling her, it was regular and obvious much sooner than this time.  It's probably because my stomach was so tiny that time!

Complications:  I mentioned this really briefly in a past post, but I didn't go into detail.  Basically after some spotting one day, I elected to have an ultrasound at about 10 weeks.  During that ultrasound, they discovered a Subchorionic Bleed, which is basically a pocket of bleeding inside the uterus, between the amniotic and chorionic layers. It's not where the baby is, and is only rarely harmful to the baby.  It can, however, if it continue to grow and becomes too large, begin to pull part of the placenta away from the uterus which can result in growth problems for the baby.  The cause of the bleed is a mystery to the medical profession, but it is present in about 1 out of every 100 pregnancies.  

Because of this condition I have been on several restrictions (no lifting over 20 lbs from the ground, no hiking/climbing, etc.) which I have done my best to follow...considering that I have a 22 lb. 19-month old that still doesn't walk.  I have also been having ultrasounds approximately every 2 weeks to keep a close eye on the bleed.  In the below photo, if you look closely you can see a dark area encircling the right half of the uterus.  That dark spot is the bleed.  After a couple weeks mine grew a little bigger, but was still not too concerning.  These things typically resolve themselves by the 20th week, usually by being reabsorbed by the body.  However, mine did something very rare.  *Insert TMI warning here.*

During my 14th week, while at our hotel in Boise, ID traveling home from my sister's wedding, my subchorionic bleed actually gushed from my body in one giant river in the middle of the night.  Imagine the shock and horror!   And the mess.  And the sudden thought of, "I'm sooo glad that didn't happen at my sister's wedding yesterday!" Unsure of the implications, I definitely called my midwife.   Apparently it was fine - though certainly unusual - that this happened.   We continued our travels that morning and scheduled an ultrasound for the day after our arrival home.  You will note in the next two pictures, that lo and behold, the bleed is gone.  You can't see it well in this photo, but the u/s tech did note that there appeared to possibly be a tiny bit of residual bleeding, and some spotting of "old blood" (sorry for all the detail!) these past weeks has indicated that is likely the case.  However, my midwives have left it up to me whether or not I wanted to have another ultrasound later this month to follow up yet again, or whether I'd rather wait for our 20-week ultrasound.  To be quite frank, I was getting pretty weary of driving 45 minutes to a different city for these constant appointments, so I have opted to wait for our 20-week u/s...which is actually scheduled during the 19th week.

Oh and I'm still on all my "light duty" restrictions until further notice, just to be safe.  As tempting as hiking is...   Not.

And the baby looks perfect by the way.  His/her growth is right on target.

And little cutie pie sucks his/her thumb already!  Look at that sweet little forefinger wrapped around the nose. :-)

Gender:  We'll find out gender at the big 20 week ultrasound, and we'll announce it.  We kinda sorta maybe already know what we're having because I had the tech check at the 14 week ultrasound and she took a stab at it.  But then she promptly said, "I wouldn't paint anything b/c it is still on the early side to get a really good idea, and I don't have the greatest angle."  We're not into announcing shaky guesses (even though I agreed with the tech's guess based on the ultrasound image), so we've chosen to wait until we get that info. verified. :-)  We can't wait though!  I love knowing what we're having because it makes everything seem so much more real.  

Well, that was a novel.