The Big V (and other updates)

Monday marked my 24th week of pregnancy. While I don't sit around thinking about viability, it is still another milestone I'm more than happy to have reached.

I'm not sure what my next milestone should be. Passing my glucose test? That seems like a good one, but doesn't nearly pack a punch like the Big V. Birth of my son? That definitely packs a punch (right to the vag), but that seems so far away!

Here is a belly pic at 24w2d:

So, I realize I left you guys hanging in regards to my fetal echocardiogram last week.

My appointment was Thursday afternoon at the local university hospital. I get there and head up to the OBGYN, which is in a building adjacent to the actual hospital. I was actually five minutes early, which is basically unheard of for me. So I was pumped.

I attempt to check in, and I'm told that I do not have an appointment up there. The lady looks me up, and tells me I need to check in at the hospital, and then go up to the cardio floor. Oh...

So I make my way over there and finally get up to check in on the cardio floor of the hospital. By this time I'm five minutes late. I check in, and go sit in a smaller waiting room down the hall from the main waiting room (which was completely jam-packed). There are so many people waiting. And they are all waiting for news of a loved one who is having a heart cath, or a stent put in, or some other kind of serious heart surgery. I felt completely out of place.

After 30 minutes passes, I go back to the desk and ask if I was forgotten about, since I was sitting in the smaller, less visible waiting room. She asks why I'm there, and then proceeds to tell me that "fetals are always running late".

Lovely.

After 30 MORE minutes, I go back to the desk. There has been a shift change, so I talk to a new lady. I tell her my appointment was an hour ago. She looks mortified, and calls someone. Then tells me that the ultrasound tech is missing. She eventually gets the tech on the phone, and then asks me if I can wait another 15 minutes, and the tech will be down. Well, lady, I've been here over an hour, I'm not going to let 15 more minutes keep me from this ultrasound!

I finally, finally get called back. The ultrasound was not as exciting as I envisioned. I had to turn my head at a horribly awkward angle to even see the screen. And when I could see the screen, I really had no idea what I was looking at most of the time. Plus, the tech really didn't talk to me much during the 40 minute scan.

But all of that annoyance aside, Henry's heart looks great! They were able to rule out 95% of congenital heart defects (which is all any fetal echocardiogram can do, apparently), and that has me feeling quite pleased.

My glucose test and next doctor's appointment is in three weeks. And prior to that, Buster and I will be heading to sunny Hilton Head, SC to attend a family wedding. I've never been to HH, so I'm pretty excited. We will be spending five days down there. This will be our last vacation sans-baby, and we are both looking forward to relaxing on the beach. And I finally get to wear the cute maternity swimsuit I purchased late in the summer!

Good stuff :)

pregnancy miscellany

This week marks my 23rd week of pregnancy. You know what that means! Only one more week until the big V (viability, for those who have female body parts on the brain!)!

Here is a belly shot from today:

I have finally gotten over my bad cold! Yes, my nose is still runny, but that's nothing new for me. I'm able to breathe again, so that's a definite improvement.

Overall I'm feeling really great. The worst thing, which isn't even awful, is that it's hard for me to get comfortable at night. The Snoogle and I have become regular bed partners. I find it comfortable as a pillow, and convenient for the between-the-knees pillow.

But... it doesn't stop me from rolling onto my back. And on my back is not the position I should be sleeping in. I wake up often in the middle of the night only to realize I'm on my back, and then I pick a side. I usually pick my left (which is the side I always slept on pre-pregnancy), but now it's not always comfortable. So I'll switch to the right. And so on and so forth, all night long.

I think I'm going to have to bust out the Utterly Yours pregnancy pillow that my friend sent me.

And I'll use the Utterly Yours in conjunction with the Snoogle. Pregnancy pillow overload, you say? You might be right. But perhaps it will help keep me on my side.

Buster has already complained about the Snoogle and it's aid in the decline of our intimacy. It's tough to work around that thing. So I just don't. Bad wife, I know. And now that I'm going to add another pillow into the mix... there is no hope for Buster.

We should have gotten a king-size bed.

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On Thursday, I have my fetal echocardiogram. This was recommended to me because my brother passed away from a congenital heart defect.

To say I'm not nervous would be a lie. I'm a bit nervous. But, I've heard several reassuring stories from many ladies, so I truly think everything will be ok. It's just so difficult to not be nervous.

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I also scheduled my 3D ultrasound for the end of October. I'll be about 28 1/2 weeks along at that point, so hopefully we'll get some good photos. My baby shower is the weekend following, so if I get a good face shot of Henry, I'll frame it and display it at the shower (even though Buster thinks this is creepy).

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I've been meaning to do a nursery post for some time now... perhaps I will get to that soon! Buster has already painted the nursery (gray and white), and I hope to pick up our furniture this weekend!

they weren't lying

Having a bad cold while pregnant is definitely not high up on my "fun times" list. You always hear people saying how miserable a cold can be when you are knocked up, and now I know they weren't bullshitting me.

Buster had a bad cold which turned into a sinus infection at the end of last week. The bad cold had been with him for about five days or so prior to going all sinus-infection on his ass. I felt pretty great, up until Friday morning. I woke up with a touch of sore throat. But as I got up started getting ready for my day, it went away. Phew, close call, right?

Wrong. Friday afternoon it came back, with a vengeance. I felt awful. Couldn't sleep much at all Friday night. Saturday the sore throat was gone, but it had been replaced with severe congestion and lots of nose blowing.

Since I felt so rough, I decided to make homemade chicken broth. I threw in some frozen chicken breast tenders (all the chicken I had), a quartered onion (skin still on), four carrots (skin on, chopped in half), three celery stalks (chopped in thirds, celery leaf still attached), two bay leaves, eight peppercorns, and two packets of chicken seasoning from Ramen noodles (don't judge, I was out of chicken bouillon!). And I let that go. All day.

Needless to say, my house smelled absolutely amazing. At about 4:00, I had a mug of my homemade chicken broth and it was delightful. About an hour later, I decided to put down the controller (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is my new Xbox 360 obsession) and strain the soup.

And what did I find floating in my delicious, amazing, rich, satisfying soup?

Yep, a fucking stink bug.

I'm not sure if your corner of the world is infested, but mine definitely is. It doesn't help that we are backed up to a wooded hillside. Stink bugs are EVERYWHERE. I kill them when I see them, but they are tricky little fuckers. They flatten out to thin-as-shit and work their way in to my house. And my soup.

So, I threw it out. "It" being the soup. Perhaps that was overreacting, but if the stink bug in question expressed that nasty smelling stank into my soup, I did not want to chance eating it.

After throwing it out, I cried. Crocodile tears. And then sent Buster to the store for saline nasal spray, Breathe Right strips, and decaf lemon tea.

The nasal spray and decaf lemon tea with honey made me feel a million times better. It was such an improvement, I decided to go to sleeps sans-Breathe Right nasal strip. And I slept decently.

Sunday morning, there was a marked improvement in how I felt. No sore throat at all. Some congestion, but I expected that. I even managed to get out of the house. Went to the grocery store and got the ingredients for chili and cornbread. Came home, cleaned up, put the chili on, then settled in to several hours of Kingdom of Amalur.

My congestion seemed to get worse as the day went on. I tried the saline nasal spray, and it wouldn't drain out of my other nostril (the way it is supposed to). Apparently I've moved to the  fully-clogged stage now. Lovely.

After eating chili, Henry went CRAZY! It was the most active he's been for the longest amount of time since I started feeling him move. Does that mean he didn't like the chili, or loved it? It wasn't very spicy at all, as I'm a wuss and can't handle too much heat. But it was a fun hour and a half for me, that's for sure! And Buster even got to feel a roll (that was the first time I really could distinguish between a kick and something else... which I'm assuming was a roll!).

Before bed, I decided to go with the nasal strip. I was so congested and miserable, I was hoping it would help. And it did give me some relief, although I still didn't sleep too well.

After getting out of the shower (and having removed the leftover residue from the sticky nasal strip), I notice something odd on my nose.

A bruise.

Are you kidding me??

I know it doesn't look too bad in the photo, but come on! Anytime there is a random, not-supposed-to-be-there bruise on your face, it's noticeable!

Thankfully, after about 3 layers of concealer and then my bareMinerals foundation, it practically disappeared.

But really, wtf? I guess I can't use the Breathe Right nasal strips when I have somewhere to go the next day...

I can't wait for this cold to be gone!

slacking

I know. I'm a slacker.

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to be motivated to do much of anything when it comes to online. And I apologize.

But, just wanted to mention that I updated Henry's page with some belly pictures, in case you were interested in that kind of thing!

Happy Friday, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!