18 weeks

another dream

this is the third dream about what I'm having and this time it was a dream about the sonogram pictures and it was def a boy. So, that's two boy dreams and one girl dream, which goes with everyones guess that it's a boy. We shall see in one week. It better not be shy!

crib bedding

so, I'm doing the nursery in a very neutral moon/star "sweet dreams" sort of theme. I want only green, white, cream and a little yellow as the main colors and then plan to add touches of pink or blue accents once we know what it is. Well, I've been searching and searching for bedding that goes with my vision and can find NOTHING. Nothing is the right colors or if I can find the right colors, it doesn't have moons and stars. I'm very picky about the green. It can't be too dull or pukey or have too much yellow in it. So, as a solution, my mom and I went to the fabric store to look at patterns and immediately found an adorable moon and star pattern that I can pick the fabric and my mom said she would make it if I got the supplies. SO exciting. I can't wait to do it. I will be so so cute.

dreams and movement

so, I think I have felt the baby move about 3 times in the last couple of weeks. It's definitely not consistent yet and it only happens when I'm laying on my back in bed. It feels like little bubbles or rumbles. I usually just feel it once and then it goes away. I love it, and I can't wait until I can feel all of its movements all the time.
Also, I had a dream that we were laying in bed talking about how excited we were to find out if it was a boy or girl and how hard it is to wait, so I decided to quickly give birth, but leave it attached to it's umbilical cord (because this makes it safe ;) ) and just peek at what it was. SHE was a GIRL. Then I shoved her back in, like no big deal. Pretty hilarious. But, this is the opposite of the only other baby dream I've had. THe first one was that we had just brought the baby home from the hospital and were trying to stick to our feeding schedule and HE was a BOY in that one. So, if dreams indicate what you're having, then we're having a hermaphrodite. Let's hope not.

all is well

well, the doctor said exactly what I thought she would- that it is highly unlikely that the HB could actually slow down that much and then come back to normal. She really thinks it was just a cheap doppler that is finicky. I guess she could be right. I'll just go with that because it makes me feel better and it hasn't happened since. The HB has been 140's-160's consistently, and she felt no need to check on me or the baby, so it must not be a big deal (hopefully). Also, the cramping stopped the very next day and I haven't had it since. Yesterday at work I felt a little bit of fullness/ tight feeling, but I think that's normal. Nothing like mondays pains.

scared

I have been having some mild lower abdominal cramps all weekend and then yesterday I had some pretty bad ones. They started out feeling just like menstrual cramps in the morning, but were pretty consistent, so I called my doc to see if this was normal. It wasn't off to the sides like ligament pain, so I thought since it was new, it was worth asking about. Doing the job that I do, I'm just a little extra paranoid about preterm labor. My doctor isn't in on mondays, so her nurse just called and told me it could just be musculo-skeletal changes, but to lay down all day, drink lots of water and see what happens. She told me that if they got worse or had more than 4 strong pains in an hour (not consistent dull pains) to call back. Most of the day was okay as long as I was laying down, but when I would move around, they would come back. Then at about 3:30 I got up to go to the bathroom and they started hurting really bad. And on my way back up the stairs I had to stop and hunch over from the sharp pain. So, I laid back down and it took about 10 minutes for it to stop, so I called the nurse again. She said that she would leave a note for my doctor for today and that if it continued, then to call the on-call physician and see what she thinks. They calmed down as the night went on, but then I had a new scare. I got out our home doppler to listen to the HB and i found it loud and clear and we were getting ready to time/count it when it started to slow down to almost nothing. It got slower than my HB, probably as low as the 30's or 40's and stayed there for about 10-15 seconds and then sped back up to 144. SCARED ME TO DEATH. I know it wasn't the doppler cutting out for a second or that the baby just moved, They were very clear beats slowing down. I just left a message for my DR about it, although I have a feeling she'll say that I didn't know what I was listening for, it probably just disappeared or moved and that I should stop using it and worrying myself. I guess we'll see. So, now I'm totally freaked out that something is wrong. I really like having the doppler because most of the time it eases my worries, but last night it just added to them.

cravings

ice cream and pickles, more ice cream, more pickles. Not together, just usually pickles throughout the day and ice cream at night- and lots of it

Enjoying pregnancy

had my appointment with my OB yesterday. All is well, measuring right on target and heart beat in the 140's and my doctor guesses it's a boy. Me too! And my BP was 115/75 - perfect. She thinks extra magnesium supplements might help my killer headaches I've been having as well as benadryl at night to help me get more sleep. Which I'm so glad she said I could take because I've been getting about 3 hours of sleep the nights before I work and then I get a HORRIBLE headache at work. Hopefully these two things will help. So far I haven't gained any weight. Overall I'm down one pound. At first I lost two, and now I gained back one. I must say, that I don't really mind having this little metabolizer in my belly taking all my calories. I've been eating two drumstick ice cream cones every night and still haven't gained and I'm hungry ALL the time. It's pretty amazing. I also LOVE the belly thing. Maternity pants are awesome, they are incredibly comfortable and they fit me so much better because I've always had a larger waist compared to my butt and thighs, so jeans always look baggy on me if I get them big enough to fit my waist. But with maternity jeans I can get a medium which fits perfect around my butt and thighs and the waist doesn't matter because it's a giant elastic band. Love it.
Yesterday I also had my AFP drawn to show if the baby might have more of a chance of having down syndrome, spina bifida, trisomy 18 etc..... The nurse had asked me if I wanted to do it just before I went to leave my urine sample. I said yes I wanted to do it and then was so distracted with the thoughts in my head about the test that I sat on the toilet and peed without leaving a sample in the cup. What an idiot. So, my dr laughed, said it happens all the time and gave me a bunch of water to drink so I could go again after the appointment. It was pretty comical.
So, the next time I see my doctor, I should know if it's a boy or girl and hopefully have a negative AFP result! I really thought that doing the job that I do would make me worry a lot about the possibilities of what could go wrong, but I don't feel like I've done that very much. It's always in the back of my mind, but I'm trying to live in ignorant bliss and just convince myself my baby is normal so that I can enjoy a pregnancy like other normal people do. I want to walk into my ultrasound pretending that the only thing I'm there for is to see if it's a boy or girl. Surprisingly, I've just decided that worrying isn't going to help (very unlike me).
So, on that note- 25 days until I know whether to buy pink or blue!

Preggression