20 Weeks

So excited to be halfway there to meeting Baby BB! I had my 20 week appointment yesterday and everything went well. Here are a few updates:

Belly Measurement/Weight: I gained 2 1/2 pounds so I am up a total of 6 1/2 since I got pregnant.

Physical Progress: I wear maternity clothes all the time and definitely look pregnant. I am pretty sure my boobs are still growing! They are so heavy too.

How I am feeling about my body: I feel great about my body, I love looking pregnant!

Cravings/Aversions: None really.

Energy Level: I am starting to get tired more again. It takes effort to go up and down the stairs. I get tired after going on walks as well. I haven't been sleeping well because I have been uncomfortable so I feel tired all the time. I definitely sleep whenever I can.

Baby Movement: Baby BB moves all the time! He/she is very active. I love it, baby moving gives me reassurance that everything is ok in there.

My anatomy scan and fetal echocardiogram is tomorrow. Originally my midwife had it schedule for July 6th but I expressed some anxiety in waiting so she moved it up! I am excited to see my baby but nervous that we will have a similar situation to my scary NT scan. I am hoping and praying that everything is normal with baby so I can stop worrying. Hopefully baby's measurements and everything are perfect and we won't need any more tests/procedures. My midwife told me that because all my other tests, the CVS and bloodwork, came back normal there is really nothing to worry about.

I keep having dreams that my baby is a girl! The last two dreams someone has taken her away from me and I spend the entire dream trying to get her back. I always do get her back at the end of the dream and she knows I am her mom. I am not sure why I keep having these dreams, I always wonder if it is a sign that we are going to have a girl since baby is always a girl. Since we are Team Green we will not know until November whether I am right or not.

I will definitely update after my scan tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Newsflash - I Have a Stubborn Child

We had to know from the beginning right - from the hell we went through getting pregnant, to finding out about the lost twin, to the bleeding hell with the subchorionic hematoma... nothing about this was going to be easy, right?

Well, my 12 ounce child isn't making it ANY easier.

Smudge continues to be the most stubborn and uncooperative child there is.

We had our anatomy scan today. S/he's frank breech, which means i have a head, 2 hands and 2 feet at the top of my uterus and a butt at the bottom. I gave a stern warning that s/he has 18 weeks to flip around, otherwise, we'll be meeting for the 1st time in the OR, and I'm not planning on that. There's plenty of time yet for said flippage to happen, so I'm not remotely worried about it. My placenta has also shifted to be more anterior than posterior now. It's actually right at the fundus. So, that might explain why it took so long to feel consistent movement, what with all of the hands and feet at the placenta.

45 minutes later - we got to see a hand!

The sonographer couldn't get all of the views they needed to check everything, but what they did see was absolutely perfect. We have to go back in 2 1/2 weeks to try to finish the anatomy scan, and we're also going to get a fetal echo, which is a specialized heart ultrasound, because apparently with the type of IVF (ICSI) we had to do, there is a miniscule risk of cardiac issues. We're not remotely worried - but if it's just an ultrasound, why not make sure EVERYTHING is okay... so they'll do it at the same time.

20 week belly

Meanwhile - we found out our risk categories for downs syndrome (1 in 880) and Trisomy 13 and 18 (1 in 10,000), so we'll happily take those odds. Apparently the average downs risk for my age group is 1 in 300 and once we finish the anatomy and fetal echo, he anticipates our risk dropping even more. (I already knew my results were "normal", but I'm glad the perinatologist told us the ratios.)

Smudge chewing on a hand

Since Smudge was incredibly uncooperative, we got awful pictures today. With the ones the tech gave us, she had to explain what we were seeing. I begged the one with the open hand from the perinatologist himself, since the tech didn't give it to me. I figured it was the only really clear picture the whole scan, and I wanted just one i didn't have to explain. He laughed at me when I asked, and happily handed it over.

Hopefully we'll get better ones in 2 1/2 weeks.

Anyway - here's Smudge at 20 weeks 1 day and my big ole 20 week belly. Its starting to get in my way now. It's so funny. I love it. 20 weeks and less than 10 pounds gained (7 the last time I got on a scale). I'm really proud of myself.