Dear Brain (in care of Pregnancy Hormones),

Dear Brain (in care of Pregnancy Hormones),
Oh, how I miss you so much! I will admit that the purging and cleaning sprees have been a welcomed change of pace. (Raj sends an enormous thank you, by the way.) And, I am forever grateful that you and the rest of my body have agreed to go easy on me as far as the unpleasant symptoms that often go along with growing another human being, like morning sickness in particular.
Still, I am looking forward to having you back to working at full capacity.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to ask too much! While it would be great to have a boost to make up for this 9+ month cognitive hiatus, all I'm really asking for is to go back to my normal ability to function. I'll even settle for the  flaws and inadequacies that go along with it... I guess.

Yes, we have all had a few chuckles at my expense. Frequently having the 'word on the tip of my tongue' moments, forgetting how to spell simple words, and losing all knowledge of what I was talking about, mid-sentence no less, have been challenges and people around me have usually been able to help.  Pouring olive oil onto my pot of boiling spaghetti (without taking the pot lid off first) was a good trick. Scrounging the house to find something that's been in my hands the whole time - hahaha. Catching myself trying to put the milk away in the pantry or my phone in the refrigerator were also silly tricks you played, but I caught on to those quickly. Today, starting dinner directly in the crockpot, without the pot in place, was a slight inconvenience to clean out & start again in the proper container.  Though I wish I could, I can't even blame you for my leaving laundry in the washer & dryer for a few days (I did that long before I was ever pregnant)! It's just that, with any over told joke, this concept of "Mommy Brain" is quickly getting old.

I've tried getting more sleep to help you out, but some of your friends haven't made that easy. (Could you ask Bladder, Lower Back, and Hips about what we could do to get along better? I really do want to cooperate with them.) I've tried writing things down so there's less for you to keep track of, but that doesn't seem to help when it comes to pouring ingredients into/onto improper places or other similar tasks. I've also tried to slow down a little and not multi-task so much, but that is seemingly impossible with so much to do (especially when you aren't really helping get stuff done correctly on the first attempt)!

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I really miss you and the partnership we once had.  We are all looking forward to having you come back. Let me know if there's anyway to entice your return, all jokes aside.

Warmest regards,
Shannon

via Facebook

Wellness check

Wellness appt with Dr Forcier
Fetal height (24" last time) 27"
156 lbs
148 bpm found right away no echo or arrhythmia
Passed glucose test! First time! (When preg w Shawn, I had to go back for 3 hr test because I failed the 1 hr test.)
Eczema flareup, esp inner elbows - dr said cortisone is ok
Dr Forcier offered to take picture with Shawn, he was on duty when Shawn was born. Raj & I were unimpressed with Dr F 3 yrs ago. I was actually dreading seeing him again today and scheduled this appt during a time when Raj could come, just so I didn't have to deal with the man alone! But afterwards,  Raj & I agreed Dr F must've had something stressful going on back then, which seems to have been resolved now. Tonight, he was very pleasant and amiable! That gives me hope in case he's in duty again when this baby's ready to be born!
Appts will be every 2 weeks from now on!

Guest Blogger, Oma

My favorite part of school

When I picked up Shawn from preschool, we did our usual routine. We went over what was written on his daily sheet and he added details where he could. Afterwards, I always ask what was something tricky, something easy, & what was his favorite part. Today, when I asked about his favorite part, he answered, "When I saw you!" My heart melted. too bad I was driving at the moment! (He had the  biggest grin, too, like he knew he was being smooth.)

Love that kid.

Wellness check

wellness check with Erin Keech, physician's assistant

Within next month, get glucose test & followup to breast cyst ultrasound

156 bmp
23+ fundal measurement

Quick & Easy in & out appointment -almost not worth the time to get here! Not very exciting, but that's ok too.

Oma, Guest blogger

Another Glimpse Inside

I am 22 weeks and 0 days today.  We had our third ultrasound this evening. The ultrasound technician was kind enough to use warm jelly on my belly - Dr Winkelman later confided that was a sign that the technician must like me otherwise the cold jelly can be a little startling! The technician found the baby right away.  She said it’s positioned with its head towards the right side of my belly button and its feet by my lower left side near my pelvis. (I had an idea that’s where the feet are because I feel the most kicks and bumps in that spot.) She also joked that this one probably likes to kick my bladder - uh, yeah!

 

Though she could tell immediately where the baby was and what position it was in, it didn't stay in that position very long...

We saw a lot of the different body parts. When she found a foot, Shawn immediately said that he saw 30 toes! While it did look like an awful lot of bones in that little foot, we’re pretty confident that it was just the fuzzy image on the screen that made it look like that.

Right Foot

The fact that the baby was moving around a LOT made it hard to get clear images. The technician had a little trouble getting good pictures in order to take the necessary measurements, too. Nevertheless, once she captured the views she needed, she was pleased with the measurements and development of the baby’s head, humorous, belly, femur, and the amniotic fluid. With all the measurements and proportions that the technician collected, she said the baby is about 1 pound, 1 ounce and predicts that it will be close to the 47th percentile at birth. She verified that my cervix is closed (well, that's good!) and the blood flow in the umbilical cord was looking good. We saw all 4 chambers of the heart, the diaphragm, both kidneys, the stomach, parts of the umbilical cord, and the spine (which was probably the most clear of all). She also got a picture of one leg fully extended

Left Leg
(from foot to femur)

and another of both little feet together. (I have a similar picture from Shawn’s ultrasound. Back home, it was fun to show him the ultrasound picture of his feet and the baby’s side by side.)



 

Baby's Both Feet

Shawn's Left Foot and Right Toes

She tried really hard to get a profile picture, but this little one had other things in mind.

Head (forehead at the left of the screen, eyes looking directly at the screen),
Left Fist (small circle towards the top, by cheek), &
Chest / Belly (heart is the dark shadow at the center of the picture, stomach is the little dark circle towards the right side)



I seeeeeeee you!

At this point in the pregnancy, we had the option of finding out the baby's sex, but we are waiting to find out in April.  (Based on a variety of entertaining theories, a lot of people are guessing that it's a girl, but as Shawn says, "We'll have to wait and see!")  The ultrasound technician was relieved that we weren't finding out since she was having a hard time seeing things anyway!

Towards the end of the appointment, after rolling around and squirming so much for the previous hour, the little one curled up in an ultimate fetal position, chest down and made it very difficult to see much else! It was almost as if it was saying, “Stop messing with me already! I am DONE!” Since the little one was moving around so much throughout the appointment, the ultrasound technician had a hard time hearing a consistent heartbeat. Then, with chest down, it was still not a good reading. She sent me into a different room to have the nurses try to catch the heartbeat on the Doppler instead, but even after two different ladies attempted, still no luck. Finally, Dr. Winkelman came in to try it himself. None of the heartbeat readings were very clear and the ones they were able hear weren’t very consistent. The rates kept changing and even dropping pretty low occasionally (i.e. from 147 bpm to 78 bpm within a few beats of each other). This could mean that the baby has an arrhythmia. Apparently, this irregular heartbeat is usually a benign condition and most babies grow out of it while in utero; but, the amount of time for the heart to develop out of the irregularity could vary from days to months. So, doctors prefer to keep a close eye on it to make sure it clears on its own, otherwise they can prescribe medicine or further treatments once the baby is born.
 
Dr. Winkelman recommended that I visit a perinatologist / maternal fetal specialist for a comprehensive (or Level II) ultrasound. We saw that the baby is definitely active and, from the Level I ultrasound, the development of all major organ systems looked great, so we’re really not overly concerned that there’s a problem, but the Level II ultrasound is more detailed. Most importantly, they will be able to confirm the heart development. It is completely possible that the Level II ultrasound will verify that there is no reason for concern at all. Better safe than sorry though. It’s probable that we’ll get a few extra ultrasounds along the way just to make sure that everything is continuing to develop the way it should.  (I'm okay with that!)

I made an appointment to see the specialist on Monday, December 10th, less than a week away. The sooner the better, even if only for our peace of mind! Then, my next fetal wellness appointment is Friday, December 21st. Hopefully, that will be the end of the arrhythmia worry!

Nov 28 wellness (21 wks)st title

~150 lbs surprised the nurse, didn't think I was up that far yet lol

156 BPM
Tried to measure uterus, but when I laid down, tummy went flat, nothing to measure!

No sugar or protein in urine- good

Ultrasound next week

Baby is Size of Shawn's shoe

Look into Prenatal classes / sibling classes

Back vs legs up? whatever's comfortable, use lots of pillows. No swelling in feet, so legs up might not be a priority right now.

Headaches - Tylenol Sinus might help

Oma, Guest Blogger

Happy Belated Veteran's Day & St. Martinstag!

Yesterday, we were returning from a wedding in San Diego for a U of I friend and as soon as we got home, Raj went directly to a Bears' game. So, we didn't have a chance to acknowledge Veteran's Day and St. Martinstag.  So, I thought we'd do a belated celebration today instead. 

Unfortunately, Shawn wasn't in the most cooperative mood today, so he lost the privilege of going on our traditional lantern walk around the neighborhood.  I had planned to just use the lantern I made last year, so at least we didn't spend a lot of time making a new one this year!

But, we did celebrate with some German food at dinner.  Using the cookbook, The Best of My Grandmother's German Cookery by Carmen Graves, tonight's menu consisted of:
Paprika Huhn (Chicken in Paprika Sauce)
Sauerkraut
Apfelsalat 3 (Warm Apple Salad - recipe #3) with pecans & vanilla yogurt
Kartoffelpuffer (Potato Pancakes)

No German beer or wine for me, but... YUM!
(Regrettable, a lantern walk would've been a good idea after that big meal!)