12 Weeks

Twelve weeks tomorrow!

Before I start with my normal post, I have put up some other posts that I wrote a few weeks back. You can find them here:

• Party of Five?
• 9 Weeks

You might want to read those first. Totally up to you. Now back to our regularly scheduled blog post....

The biggest news is that I've had my first OB appointment. Here's the rundown:

I have, indeed, gained 6 pounds. Dr. W said that it didn't worry her at all, and actually made her feel that I was getting enough nutrition, so she was happy with it. (This, I think, was in response to my telling her that I maintained a mostly vegan diet at home.)
My blood pressure was 98/68.
The baby's heart rate was 170. Dr. W said, "Nice and fast! You know what they say about a fast heart rate.... You've got a 50/50 chance of it being a girl!" As a side note, I love hearing the baby's heart beating. You just can't get the smile off my face when I hear that strong swoosh, swoosh. Love it.

Questions I had for the doctor:

• I have had my vision go funny when I've gone long periods without eating. Is that low blood sugar? Yes, it is. Because I have not had the constant gagging feeling that I had in the first two pregnancies, I have not been eating as often. Dr. W said to make sure I ate every 2-3 hours. 
• Can I get a prescription for a breast pump before birth? Yes. Did you know that insurance companies now cover pumps for nursing moms? It's evidently a part of the new healthcare system. Anyway, a couple weeks before James was born, I started pumping minimally, as recommended by the doctor, to help with natural induction of labor. After he was born, I pumped almost exclusively for four months, and my pump took quite a beating. (Hey, it's hard to wrangle a baby, a 1-year-old, and curious pets without knocking that darn machine over every once in awhile.) By the end, it was not working properly. I haven't taken it back out of storage, but it's good to know that a pump is covered if I need a new one. Those things are not cheap.
• When do you do an ultrasound? 20 weeks for gender determination and health check.
• Are we taking any precautions because of my previous experience with chromosomal abnormalities? (James, obviously, has a chromosomal abnormality. Plus, very early miscarriages are usually due to chromosomal abnormalities, which means I have two counts against me on that.) Yes, we are. 
• Dr. W discussed prenatal testing with me. The different tests can tell us if the baby has a likelihood of having certain things (Ds being one of them), but they don't tell us any of the health issues the baby might have. So, if we had done prenatal testing with James, we would have known he would probably have Ds, but we would not have known he had a heart defect. The test would have meant I would have had a more indepth ultrasound to see about the health issue. So, to us, the prenatal tests are not necessary. They don't change anything. 
• What I really want to know is: Are there any health issues with my baby? You can imagine I want to look over every bit of his heart, his intestines, his everything. Well, because of my history, I can get exactly what I want. The doctor wants me to have a Level 2 Ultrasound at a hospital in Little Rock. I get to skip right over the prenatal testing part! 
• It will happen when I'm at 18 weeks, so sometime in July. 
• It should show things as detailed as the red and blue streaks showing blood flow in and out of the baby's heart (I am familiar with that from all of James's echocardiograms), as well as things like spina bifida or other issues. 
• Jon is not particularly excited about this Level 2 ultrasound. To him, getting more information just confirms that there is a higher likelihood of something being wrong. And he's right. There is. But from my point of view, the more I know, the better. If we find something like spina bifida, that can be fixed in utero! And if we find something like a heart defect, we can make sure to be in the right place at the baby's birth, so the right team of people can take care of him. Plus, the "science-y" side of me kind of loves the fact that I get to see all this cool stuff about my baby.
• Of course, at this moment, we are assuming that our baby is happy and healthy inside me. But we do have to accept that my chances of an unhealthy baby are higher. And for that, I'm glad there are things like Level 2 ultrasounds to give us good information.

Whew, that was a lot of bullet points. It was a very informative visit. The only other addition was that she suggested I add a 500mg calcium vitamin every day, since I ate mostly vegan at home. I don't think I emphasized enough how much cheese sneaks its way into my "vegan" cooking.... But I have complied.

If you've made it this far into the post, you definitely deserve a photo! My blog has been lacking in photos lately! Here is a picture of me today, wearing my first maternity dress to church this morning.

Kind of reminds me of this post, where I was almost 16 weeks along with Caleb. Newbie3 is definitely making his appearance early!