I had an appointment this morning for a 17 week check. Short note is that everything is normal. The baby’s heartbeat was 140 and was moving around according to the assistant.

The long note is that I had a bad feeling that something was wrong. Honestly, I have had that feeling days before each visit. I posted that I felt the baby move last week, but I have not felt anything since. Do you know what that does to a person in my situation? She said that it is very normal to not feel all the movements yet. Maybe the baby was just in the perfect spot the other night and had a big kick. But in the next few weeks, I will begin feeling regular movements and that will definitely be reassuring. I have also had cramps when I eat lately. I was pretty sure they were related to food, but that of course just gave me something else to worry about. The doc’s suggestion is to eat regularly throughout the day. Like trail mix between meals. I think she used the word trail mix a dozen times. It is not something your OB usually talks about, it was quite funny. Even as I walked toward the exit, I heard her shout, “Don’t forget the trail mix!” I told her about my anxiety and she said I could come anytime I want to just check the heartbeat. And I can schedule the visits sooner than 4 weeks apart. So I will probably be on 2-3 week intervals. I am very thankful that she is so understanding.

I did the Quad-screen test today. It measures the chance that your baby has one of three birth defects: neural tube defects, Down syndrome, and trisomy 18. It is a standard test that I did with Alyssa and Noah.

Upcoming ultrasound: MAY 18th
Alyssa, Ethan and I will look for signs of a baby brother or sister.

Thank you for your love and concern through this pregnancy. In addition to a healthy baby, please pray for my peace and trust in God that everything will go according to His plan. Which hopefully is the same plan as mine!

15 weeks, 6 days. I am in Abilene tonight. While holding Tate and singing songs to Alyssa, Blakely and Jackson, trying to get them all agree it was time to go to sleep, I felt the baby move. I immediately stopped “Jesus loves the little children” and said, “I felt the baby move!” Blakely came over wanting to feel. Alyssa needed reminding that we were waiting for that first kick. But when she saw Blakely come over and put her hands on my belly, she copied. I think that the baby just wanted in on the action with the cousins. We sat there for a minute waiting to see if I could feel another kick, but no more tonight. I told the girls we will try again tomorrow.

I am so totally pumped! I read in Noah’s journal that I felt him move at 15 weeks, but I thought maybe I estimated wrong. But here I am at 15 weeks and I am sure it was the baby. It is nice to be able to feel the moves of this baby. Sleep tight little one.

I made it from home to my appointment and back home in 1 hour and 45 minutes. That is pretty good timing for a Med Center appointment. The Dr. confirmed that I was still at 13 weeks. The last 2 visits I have had, I went from 7 weeks to 6 weeks, then 10 weeks to 9 weeks. So I was thrilled that I am actually 13 weeks. This pregnancy is going to be long enough without them adding a week at every visit.

Everything went great. I heard the heart pumping at 150 beats a minute. She said that was perfect. She felt around on my stomach and everything was where it should be. I have another appointment in 4 weeks, April 27, where I will do the quad-screen testing. Then another in 3 more weeks, when I will have my 20 week ultrasound. The best news of the morning was her definitive line, “We are not playing around.” She used that phrase a few times to refer to the fact that we have no idea what happened with Noah, and we are not taking any chances this time. She told me, “We do not want a repeat.” Oh, thank goodness she agrees 🙂

She confirmed that we will do ultrasounds at 20, 26, 32, then bio-physical profiles every week thereafter. I think that should do it! In our first visit, she did not seem too excited about the idea of inducing at 38 weeks. But I think now that she has read over our records, she remains as confused as us. And again said, “We are not playing around.” We discussed inducing at 39, maybe earlier. She assured me that an induction was in my future. haha. And if any fluid levels change or anything looks questionable toward the end, we will deliver the baby. Ahhh! All good things to hear. I want a doctor who is as nervous as me, and she agreed we will be crazy the last month. I guess I will just be crazy on my own until then. She did not categorize me as high-risk, she had another term, but I do get the expertise of one who practices high-risk.

All together, I feel great right now. I heard my little baby’s heartbeat, and that was all I needed today. It is amazing how your mind (or Satan) can play tricks on you until you hear that great “du, dun… du, dun” Thank you God!

Are you as confused as me yet? After I made a decision, I thought a good decision, to stay with my original doctor, some new information came to light, and I was able to make an appointment with a high-risk doctor. Everything went great with my visit. I felt comfortable, respected and that God truly opened this door for me. She confirmed that she thought I was in the right place, and delivering at Hermann was definitley a better choice. She reviewed all of Noah’s records and agreed with many, many others that we just don’t know what happened. Tough to hear even 10 months later. But we feel good that this pregnancy will progress as normal.

My due date is estimated for Oct 3. I will continue to see her monthly until week 32, then do visits more often. I will have an ultrasound at 20 weeks, then maybe one more before 34 weeks. At 34, we will do them every week. I am hoping that checking on the baby every week at that point will be enough.

Today, we were able to see the baby. He was moving all around like he was dancing or something. We even saw the casual wave to the parents, like to say, “Hey mom. Everything is cool in here.” We saw and heard the heart beating. Overall had a wonderful visit. I may not have any more news for 4 weeks, so don’t check back too often, GiGi. 🙂