Pregnancy is soooooooo SEXY!

This is amusing , but perhaps (well, definitely) TMI, so read at your own risk!

First of all, sorry for my long absence, but Hurricane Ike has certainly put a major damper on my internet access. We evacuated for the storm and didn't return home until our power came back on yesterday. We had relatively little damage, but many other relatives and friends had a lot--some even completely lost their homes and everything in them. It's very sad, but we will help each other get through it. If you are the praying type, please pray for all who have suffered down here on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

Now for the nasty part. And I can't stress this enough--TMI ALERT! This story is included strictly for the enjoyment of my pregnancy/mommy blog-oriented readers. Over the past month, I have had increasingly bad pain in my groin area. If you remember, I thought a while back that I might have a hernia, but my doctor said it was probably just bad round ligament pain, a very common pregnancy ailment. I went back to see him yesterday, and I have now developed what's called a vulvar varicosity, which is a nice way of saying I have a gigantic varicose vein in a VERY private place!!! The doc says it will probably go away after I give birth, but in the meantime, I have to wear this lovely contraption called a "V2 supporter." It looks like a giant jock strap and is basically a compression garment designed to squeeze my nether regions into submission for the next three months. It is NOT sexy, but I have to admit the pain is relieved when I am wearing it. The doctor said he has only had to remove two of these veins from people in the past sixteen years since they usually resolve themselves, but he said I would be number three if I didn't wear this god-awful thing until the baby comes. Ugh.

So anyway, if Billy didn't find the actual ailment repulsive enough, now I have to wear this massive elastic chastity belt on top of it. Poor guy! I am one hot mama, let me tell you!

Look at the top of the screen!

I finally passed the halfway mark on my pregnancy timeline at the top of the screen! What once looked like a Sea Monkey now looks like an actual baby. Pretty cool.

Actually, I passed the halfway mark of my PREGNANCY two weeks ago, but it's kind of nifty to see it illustrated in living color for the whole world to see.

Just thought I'd point it out so someone else noticed it, too.

Ultrasound pictures

Okay, for those of you who have been waiting patiently, here they are. Max went with us to the ultrasound, and he was enthralled with what he called "the camera" that helped him see the baby in Mommy's tummy. He kept saying it was like "Superman's X-ray vision." Here are some of the best shots.

First, a body shot:


Next, a profile. Doesn't this look like Max's profile? Weird...


And if you haven't heard yet, it's a BOY!!!!!!! Here's the money shot:


Next, the tech switched the machine to 4D, so we got some more realistic pictures. This was very cool, but I think it freaked Max out pretty bad. He kept asking, "Why is my brother all smushy?" You can even see the little guy sucking his thumb in one pic:




Pretty cool, huh? They didn't even have this technology at my hospital (at least they didn't offer it) when Max was born, so this was the first time I had actually seen these types of pictures in person.

The best news is that he is totally healthy and appropriately developed (even a little big) for his gestational age. Just a perfect little baby.

We have no clue yet what we will name him (we can't agree on ANYTHING!), but it's nice to at least be able to stop calling him "it." It always feels so much more real once you know the baby's sex. I am thrilled to have another boy, but I am now at a loss about what to do. If he had been a girl, I would have wanted to convert the nursery to something more feminine, and I would have had lots and lots of sweet clothes to buy. However, because I already have enough "boy stuff" to last a lifetime, I find I'm just finished. No getting ready necessary. I guess I should just relax, huh? Get some sleep while I still can...

Start placing your bets

Okay, apparently 'tis the season to be pregnant (at least in my little part of the world), because seven--count 'em, SEVEN--moms in my local playgroup are expecting right now. On top of that, we're ALL due in November/December, so we're going to have quite a baby boom this winter. Obviously, I am one of the seven; and as of yesterday, all six of the others have had confirmed that they're having BOYS!

Now, I have been pretty convinced all along that I'm having another boy. But with each additional confirmation in my group, I am getting a little less sure of myself. I mean, SOMEONE has to break this streak, right? I find it extremely hard to believe that that many of us could be pregnant at once and NO ONE will have a girl. That would be really odd, right?

So place your bets now. My big ultrasound is a little over week away, on July 21st. I guess if we get a surprise and the baby IS a girl, at least she'll have lots of cute boys to chase. And if it's a boy, he'll have a built-in crew to run with from day one.

I'm just about to EXPLODE, I'm so excited!!!

Starting to feel the baby...

During the past few days, I have begun to feel the baby move every now and then. It started Monday, I think, and I wasn't sure at first, but now I am. It's a little earlier than I felt Max, but I think that's normal the second time around. Billy still won't be able to feel it for a while, but I am very excited. It's a relief to finally be able to feel some movement, but it will also be more stressful now when I DON'T feel it for a while!

BTW, for those of you who didn't know, the results of our nuchal translucency (early Downs) test came back GREAT! The chances of any chromosomal abnormality are so low that my OB is not recommending any other testing of that sort, which is good since I'm sort of an old lady as far as pregnancy is concerned. Every time I hear someone at the doctor's office mention my AMA ("advanced maternal age"), I look around like, "HUH? Did my grandmother just walk in?" It's so weird.

One last bit of news: we have our "big" ultrasound on July 21, and that's when we will find out the baby's sex. I can't wait to stop calling it he/she or it! Start placing your bets now and stay tuned...

A Brief Cardiac Episode

So yesterday I went to the OB for my fourteen-week checkup. The very first thing they always do after getting my urine and vitals is check the baby's heartbeat using the Doppler. Well, I lay there for what seemed like an ETERNITY as the nurse probed and prodded my belly with the machine. She didn't miss a spot; she covered every inch of my upper and lower abdomen SEVERAL TIMES, and still...NO HEARTBEAT. She tapped the machine against her palm and tried again. Finally, after at least five minutes and a lot of grimacing and head-shaking, she said, "I can't find it. Nothing. But I hate this machine...let me go find another one."

So again I lay there for another infinite amount of time while I waited for her to go do whatever it was she was going to do. I just KNEW she was going to get my doctor so he could be the one to break the devastating news. But when she came back, she was still alone and she did have another Doppler.

"How far along are you again?" she asked.

"Fourteen weeks."

"You're just at that weird stage where the baby could be anywhere in there--really high or really low. Let's try again. Can you pull the top of your shorts down a little farther?"

This time she probed what seemed like the top of my thigh, but sure enough, PAY DIRT. A good, strong 155 bpm heartbeat. I have never been so scared and then so relieved in all my life. WHEW.

It's official!

Exactly 13 weeks and 2 days gestation marks the end of the first trimester, so I am now officially in my second tri--YAY FOR ME! Although every passing day has made me feel a little more secure, I am really starting to relax now. I'm still waiting on the results of last week's nuchal translucency test, and I have another OB appointment on Friday; hopefully, I'll get lots of good news and be able to totally enjoy our vacation to Florida next week.

Butch at 12 weeks...

Okay, it's not REALLY Butch--it's actually a picture of a twelve week old fetus I found on WebMD--but it's better than any of the crappy pictures I got at my ultrasound yesterday. I went for my nuchal translucency (early Down's) test, which includes among other things a nice, high-def level 2 ultrasound. Although the tech was not allowed to tell me the sex even if she saw it, she made sure to get me a good between-the-legs shot and hold it while I looked. I pretty clearly saw a "protrusion" that looked very similar to every ultrasound I ever saw of Max, but I still have to wait a few weeks to find out for sure. I go to OGA at Women's Hospital, and they have a policy not to say a word until eighteen weeks. Oh well...I don't care one bit either way this time--I just want to be able to start SHOPPING!!! And...as my friend Sherri from WebMD said, "Butch would have been a weird name for a girl, anyway."

I am feeling MUCH better this week, just fat. Of course, Max's Mommy and Me swimming lessons started this week, so I have to get into a bathing suit every day in front of a million people. I feel like I should announce to everyone that I am pregnant, not just pudgy and out of shape. I saw a t-shirt the other day that said "With bump--NOT plump!" and I want it!

The Obligatory Update

I call it "obligatory" only because I feel like I need to report something, yet I feel guilty because I have so little to say. After all the drama of the past several months, I have been at a loss for things to write about. We have really just been trying to enjoy the slower pace of life and focus on all of our blessings.

Max has been his usual delightful and entertaining self. Here he is in his latest costume; I am calling this one "drag-queen pirate."

He is thoroughly excited about being a big brother, and he thinks we should name the new baby either "Otto" or "Firestar"--at least those are his top choices this week.

Speaking of the new baby, we had another ultrasound recently, and everything is progressing perfectly. This is a ten-week picture, and you can see that (s)he is really starting to look like a baby. (S)he even seems to be sucking a thumb, although the doctor said that is still physically impossible.

I promise I will get my butt in gear and post some really good pics and interesting anecdotes soon; right now, I am just trying to relax and get through the end of this pukey first trimester. Love to everybody...

UPDATE: When Max saw his picture on the blog this morning, he said, "That's me! I'm a lady pirate!"

Latest Pics of Butch

Here (s)he is! Isn't (s)he beautiful? In the top one, you can see that Butch has a nice strong heartbeat--166 beats per minute. We got to hear it this time, too--loud and clear and GORGEOUS!

In the second one, you can ALMOST make out a bit of a "real" baby shape. The head is closest to the bottom of the picture, and you can see little arm and leg buds forming. The circle toward the top is the yolk sac, which nourishes the fetus until the placenta forms. It is now almost completely depleted and moving away from the baby. It will dissolve soon, and the placenta will take over.

Dr. Dunn told us that the chance of miscarriage is now less than 3%, so we feel very confident and excited about this pregnancy. He congratulated us on our "graduation" and released us to start seeing our regular OB, Dr. Cone.

Introducing Butch "the Bean" Rearick!

Can I just say, WHEW!!! I can finally breathe a little easier. I am exactly 5wk4days, and Butch the Bean is measuring a healthy 5wk5days. It is still so early that we couldn't HEAR the heartbeat, but we could SEE it--steadily pumping away. I'll have another u/s in 10 days and my RE said we'll definitely be able to hear something then.

He also reassured me that even at this early date, my chances of a miscarriage have declined to less than 10%, and after 10 more days, they'll be below 5%.

Needless to say, Billy and I are suddenly feeling a lot better about things. Now, as if you can actually see ANYTHING in these pictures, here is Butch: