Pregnancy Can Be Scary!

I've started getting Braxton-Hicks contractions, beginning right around 20 weeks. The majority of them have been mild and just somewhat annoying. Yesterday's, however, was quite alarming! I believe it has to do with being dehydrated, since I woke up with a very dry throat. I had take Dargan for a walk in the neighborhood, and about 1/3 of the way through, right as we were starting up the steepest of the hills, I could feel the tightness and hardness of my belly begin. I actually looked 6 months pregnant for once. As we got to the top of the hill (after stopping to rest twice), I started losing my vision and had to sit down on the curb. I was beginning to black out. Luckily, I bring water with me, and Dargan was very protective and worried. I started feeling better, and decided that since the hills in both directions are basically the same, we would keep going and take the shortcut home. Once I got to the shortcut, I had to sit down again. We finally got home, and I ate a banana, took a lukewarm shower, and laid down for a few minutes. I had an afternoon sub job for a friend that I couldn't cancel, and thankfully, I felt fine for the rest of the day. Looks like I definitely need to be drinking more water throughout the day and keeping track of how I am feeling before leaving the house.

On a lighter note, however, there are lots of exciting new pregnancy things happening. Our level II ultrasound shows that we are having a girl (!!!) and that she looks healthy. She seems to be measuring a week & 2 days ahead in certain areas, like her head and her abdomen. I will ask my Dr. at our next appointment if my due date will be moving up or staying the same.

I was about 90% sure that I was carrying a boy - I even had boy dreams - and Mike thought it was a girl. This is the 1st and only time I have/will ever let him know that he was right & I was wrong. Hee hee hee. I think it was a shock to him. I think it took a while for it to sink in that "it" is a she. But he has definitely warmed up to the idea of having a daughter. I think it will be really cute to see such a big, masculine guy holding a tiny little pink-clad baby. He has taken me a couple of times to buy little pink clothes. So far, she has almost as many clothes as I do. This does concern me to an extent. I guess I should stop shopping, as clothes are always the staple for shower-goers.

I have been obsessively researching just about every baby-related item you can imagine, and am starting to freak out because we plan on registering tomorrow. I feel like I have no idea what we really need or will find useless. Like how many bottles will I need if I am successful at breastfeeding? I have decided on cloth diapering, as it will be cheaper in the long run and I have this major disgust regarding disposable diapers. It must have stemmed from my years working at Marshalls, when I would find used diapers wadded up and tossed into the book bins or left conspicuously on the shelves. Or quite possibly the horror I feel when I look down from my seat in the car only to find a poopy diaper smooshed by countless wheels and exactly where I would have stepped to get out. Oh yea, and that whole landfill thing about the plastic not decomposing for thousands of years or whatever. So, I bought my first cloth diapers: discounted (oh yes, I am cheap) FuzziBunz from a website that sells "imperfect" FBs. They are so damn cute! Nothing like the whole rectangular, diaper-pin, soggy things I was thinking of before doing my research! My next diaper adventure is looking for cheap-as-hell inserts, since the FBs are pocket diapers. I think I'll be going with hemp, even though they are much more expensive than cotton. they seem to be much more absorbent.

An on the topic of movement, apparently, she either loves or abhors classical music. When I place my headphones on my tummy, she is either dancing or beating me to "turn down that racket!" It's kind of fun to imagine her little bald head and skinny arms & legs shaking her fists in anger at my attempts to expand her musical tastes. So far, she seems to do nothing when we play Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly. Wonder if that means she enjoys Irish punk, or is trying to ignore it? Mike has felt her kick a lot more lately, and it can only get more frequent as she gets stronger and bigger. The fact that I am craving sweet foods is helpful in two ways, since it makes me happy, and gets her moving around. It's really fun to poke around and play with her, even though Mike gets mad & tells me to "stop poking the baby!!" Whatever, it's fun. I'm playing with her!

21 weeks Pregnant

Back at it once again

Well, the August pregnancy unfortunately ended. Just a quick recap: fetus stopped growing at 5 1/2-ish weeks, at 13 weeks, i started having some spotting, went to the hospital, couldn't find anything. My Dr. was on call, so she looked. She "couldn't remember" the results of the ultrasound I had at 9 weeks. The following Monday was my scheduled appt. I went in and found out that I had lost the baby. Apparently, she didn't look at my results until right before she walked into my room. *sigh* I had a D&C on Oct. 15 to remove the "products of conception" (God, I hate that phrase).

Buuuut..... I am once again expecting our 1st child. I got a faint positive home pregnancy test on Jan 3, 2008, and a darker one on the very next day. The baby is due on Sept 13, 2008 (according to Fertility Friend). Today, I am 4 weeks pregnant and absolutely thrilled! i have a blood test scheduled for tomorrow. Will update on the results when I get them.

The day that I had what can be considered an implantation dip on my BBT chart, I had this weird urge to blurt out "I'm pregnant" while we were in the hair salon. I'd like to think that was my intuition, but who knows? Probably just wishful thinking. I have had a cold for a little over a week (much better now, thank you), so I was chalking up any possible symptoms to being ill.

I had "stinky pee," a flutter in my chest (not a lot like the heart palpitations I had last time, but similar), and neon turquoise veins all over my body.

So far, I feel like I am going to start my period any moment now and I am so incredibly gassy!

Yesterday, Mike told me that I had been "glowing" all day. I don't really know what that means exactly, but he says my face looks tanner than normal. Sounds good to me!