Today we had another midwife appointment. Up to about 30 weeks we will go there every 4 weeks and than it increases from every 3 weeks to every week close to delivery.
We talked a little about how I was doing, the 20 week ultrasound and she also took my bloodpressure. That was perfect at 120/75. Lastly she looked at my belly and listened to Junior's heart beat. All looks and sounds great!
I really like these appointments because it is a way to get away from our busy life and only focus on Junior for half an hour!
12 February 2008
09 February 2008
Ultrasound picture
So, here is finally a picture of Junior from our ultrasound last Wednesday. In the picture you see mostly Junior's face. He/she is face to the left and in the middle you see the nose, lips and chin. In addition you see the arm with the hand and fingers over the head from left to right-top in the screen.
Like I wrote in my previous blog posting, all 3 pictures we have look similar, and this one was most clear.
Sean also took some movies from the screen, in this movie you see Junior yawn. After the yawn you see the mouth and in the left bottom corner you see the heart beat too. The face is positioned the same way as it is in the picture above, by the way! Pretty cool.... and adorable!!
Like I wrote in my previous blog posting, all 3 pictures we have look similar, and this one was most clear.
Sean also took some movies from the screen, in this movie you see Junior yawn. After the yawn you see the mouth and in the left bottom corner you see the heart beat too. The face is positioned the same way as it is in the picture above, by the way! Pretty cool.... and adorable!!
07 February 2008
The big ultrasound
Yesterday Sean and I went to the ultrasound center for the big 20 week ultrasound.
I was nervous and excited about it at the same time. Since we don't want to find out Junior's gender the most important purpose of this ultrasound was to get reassurance about Juniors health.
The technician was a really nice lady and took her time checking junior top to bottom. The head, brain and spinal cord all looked good. Then she moved to the face and that was just amazing. Junior was actually yawning on the screen and also drinking the amnionic fluid. So cute!!!
The arms, legs, fingers and toes were all looking good and complete as well.
The next part of the body she checked were the organs, which all looked fine. The heart was beating very nicely and it was easy to detect the ventricals and chambers and even the valves. Then she noticed something in the left ventrical which she referred to as echogenic intracardiac foci (EIF), which is like a white spot in the chamber. She didn't really reflect on it to much and told us they see this more in Japanese people?? So we didn't really worry about it.
All happy and 3 pictures later we were outside again. I will post the pictures later, I am still trying to find a nice format, and I have to say the pictures we got were not as impressive as the images we saw on screen.
Later that day, beeing in medical research, I was curious to know more about the EIF she had seen. Big mistake!!! The other day there was a news item on tv about the fact that health care costs go up due to self diagnosis and medication. Well I know why now. The first 10 hits in Google that came up about EIF were related to Down Syndrome. So this is where my big freak out started, by the end of the day I was convinced Junior has the condition. So after an emotional night I called my midwife this morning to express my concern. She called the technician to talk it over and it is really nothing to worry about. The research on EIF is still very contradictory and because of that and the fact that it can cause unnecessary worries (really??) they usually don't even mention it during the ultrasound. Only if there are more indications present that point that direction you get a more specialized ultrasound. The EIF was an isolated indication for us, no other tests caused any concern and because of my age the change of Down Syndrome is still VERY low. But the midwife was nice and took my worries serious and away.
In 10 weeks I will have another ultrasound to check on my placenta. For now it is still really low and blocking Junior's exit.... a potential problem. But with the uterus expanding the placenta should move up too and they will check this around week 30. During that next ultrasound they will also look for the EIF again, because a lot of the times this actually dissapears.
So even though it was great to see Junior yawn and move around the ultrasound also caused some worries, but now I am doing good and I keep looking at Junior's pictures and the little movies Sean took during the ultrasound. Junior is a beauty and so adorable!
I was nervous and excited about it at the same time. Since we don't want to find out Junior's gender the most important purpose of this ultrasound was to get reassurance about Juniors health.
The technician was a really nice lady and took her time checking junior top to bottom. The head, brain and spinal cord all looked good. Then she moved to the face and that was just amazing. Junior was actually yawning on the screen and also drinking the amnionic fluid. So cute!!!
The arms, legs, fingers and toes were all looking good and complete as well.
The next part of the body she checked were the organs, which all looked fine. The heart was beating very nicely and it was easy to detect the ventricals and chambers and even the valves. Then she noticed something in the left ventrical which she referred to as echogenic intracardiac foci (EIF), which is like a white spot in the chamber. She didn't really reflect on it to much and told us they see this more in Japanese people?? So we didn't really worry about it.
All happy and 3 pictures later we were outside again. I will post the pictures later, I am still trying to find a nice format, and I have to say the pictures we got were not as impressive as the images we saw on screen.
Later that day, beeing in medical research, I was curious to know more about the EIF she had seen. Big mistake!!! The other day there was a news item on tv about the fact that health care costs go up due to self diagnosis and medication. Well I know why now. The first 10 hits in Google that came up about EIF were related to Down Syndrome. So this is where my big freak out started, by the end of the day I was convinced Junior has the condition. So after an emotional night I called my midwife this morning to express my concern. She called the technician to talk it over and it is really nothing to worry about. The research on EIF is still very contradictory and because of that and the fact that it can cause unnecessary worries (really??) they usually don't even mention it during the ultrasound. Only if there are more indications present that point that direction you get a more specialized ultrasound. The EIF was an isolated indication for us, no other tests caused any concern and because of my age the change of Down Syndrome is still VERY low. But the midwife was nice and took my worries serious and away.
In 10 weeks I will have another ultrasound to check on my placenta. For now it is still really low and blocking Junior's exit.... a potential problem. But with the uterus expanding the placenta should move up too and they will check this around week 30. During that next ultrasound they will also look for the EIF again, because a lot of the times this actually dissapears.
So even though it was great to see Junior yawn and move around the ultrasound also caused some worries, but now I am doing good and I keep looking at Junior's pictures and the little movies Sean took during the ultrasound. Junior is a beauty and so adorable!
04 February 2008
Halfway point at exactly 20 weeks!
Today I have reached the halfway point. Looking back at the first half of my pregnancy I can say I have been pretty lucky, but it also hasn't gone completely smooth. Sure I never got sick to the point where I was throwing up all day, but I definitely felt very nauseas for 5 weeks and thus overall didn't feel that great. Also I have been very tired, also after the magic 3 months. Last week I found out that is due to slight anemia and a slow thyroid. Hopefully with all the medication and extra iron I feel better soon.
But I guess I shouldn't complain about all this, I have been able to go to work, function somewhat normal and when I take it down a notch I am fine overall.
I am now really looking forward to the second half of my pregnancy. My belly is starting to show and I just feel more pregnant. The first 3 months I really had to sort of get used to the idea. It is going to be great!
But I guess I shouldn't complain about all this, I have been able to go to work, function somewhat normal and when I take it down a notch I am fine overall.
I am now really looking forward to the second half of my pregnancy. My belly is starting to show and I just feel more pregnant. The first 3 months I really had to sort of get used to the idea. It is going to be great!
03 February 2008
Belly pictures and Africa atmosphere (week 20)
This coming Tuesday we will reach the half way point! Whow, sometimes I can't believe how fast it goes. On Wednesday we have our big ultrasound and of course I will post pictures of Junior soon after that. For now I will just have to post some pictures of my belly at 20 weeks.
My waist is now 82 cm, so 5 cm up from where we started.
Sorry for the not so great picture quality. I tried to take them myself and used a tripod which makes it hard to focus the pictures.
Also we have added some Africa items to the babyroom. Mr. Giraffe and mr. Hippo are just hanging out on the wall and in the crib. Also my parents gave us a nice musical mobile for the playpen with all animals attached to it, a chipmunk, an elephant and a zebra. For now we attached it to the crib, but it will move to the playpen once we have put that together. How cute.... Junior is going to love animals (I hope).
My waist is now 82 cm, so 5 cm up from where we started.
Sorry for the not so great picture quality. I tried to take them myself and used a tripod which makes it hard to focus the pictures.
Also we have added some Africa items to the babyroom. Mr. Giraffe and mr. Hippo are just hanging out on the wall and in the crib. Also my parents gave us a nice musical mobile for the playpen with all animals attached to it, a chipmunk, an elephant and a zebra. For now we attached it to the crib, but it will move to the playpen once we have put that together. How cute.... Junior is going to love animals (I hope).
28 January 2008
19 weeks and working down the list
I was amazed by the amount of lists that are out there which tell you what baby stuff/items you need. Every store seems to provide one, some even longer than others.... So I decided to sort of make my own by taking a list from the most realistic store and hightlight the things I think I really need.
Saturday I took my change because I went shopping with a good friend from college who already has 3 children. So she knew what good tips to give me, what things from my list were not necessary and what items I needed more of than the list tells me. I mean, the list tells you to get 6 tissues for cleaning up after the baby... what if you get a baby that throws up a lot? How about 20?
So slowely I am working down my list and I have to say it is a lot of fun.
Saturday I took my change because I went shopping with a good friend from college who already has 3 children. So she knew what good tips to give me, what things from my list were not necessary and what items I needed more of than the list tells me. I mean, the list tells you to get 6 tissues for cleaning up after the baby... what if you get a baby that throws up a lot? How about 20?
So slowely I am working down my list and I have to say it is a lot of fun.
25 January 2008
Maternity clothes (week 18)
It is official now. My normal pants don't fit anymore. For quite a while I was able to still wear pants that were always a little big on me. But this week I gave up, it is just not comfortable anymore and covering an unbuttoned pair of pants isn't always easy and a little nerve racking at work too. So I bought 2 pair of maternity pants. One pair of jeans and one pair of black pants. I also made one myself. I had these casual pants that I wasn't going to wear anymore next year, because the color started to fade. So I took the waist band of and I sew an old t-shirt onto the waist band. Of course I cut the arms of the t-shirt, and it just looks like a wide elastic band. That is what the official maternity clothes look like too.
Now I hope I will manage the winter with 3 pair of pants and in the spring I will have to buy some more pants and probably t-shirts too. For now my normal t-shirts are fine and I wear a belly band over my pants to cover the fact that my t-shirts are getting shorter.....
I swear this baby is growing like crazy right now!
Now I hope I will manage the winter with 3 pair of pants and in the spring I will have to buy some more pants and probably t-shirts too. For now my normal t-shirts are fine and I wear a belly band over my pants to cover the fact that my t-shirts are getting shorter.....
I swear this baby is growing like crazy right now!
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