solofallop

no.167: another little girl! (and 20-week check-up)

What a fun morning! We got to see Scully and we found out that she's most definitely a girl!

Every ultrasound is just so amazing. I could lay there forever and look at the baby. Finding out the sex was just a small portion of the scan. They measured all of her pieces and parts to make sure they were all in the right place and growing correctly. Everything from her brain to her femur to her kidneys and heart and toes all looked perfect. It's such a relief to know that everything up until this point is looking good!

I was very surprised that it was a girl. I was 99% sure that it was a boy! Everyone pretty much thought it was a boy, other than Hanna and Molly. Doug was looking forward to balancing out some of the estrogen in our house, but alas, he just gets more. We are all very excited, including Doug!, and also very prepared for a girl since we have everything of Molly's safely packed away. We also don't have to redecorate the nursery or worry with a decision about circumcision. Everything is much easier this way, and I'm really happy that Molly will have a baby sister. Yay for sisters!

Now we just have to figure out a name. We can't call her Scully forever!

After the perinatal visit, I had my check-up with dr. k.

Appointment: 20-week
Blood pressure: 117/70
Weight: -1 lb. (+0 lbs. total for the pregnancy)
Baby's heart rate: 166
Baby's weight: 12 oz. (measured perfect at 20w1d)

We waited for almost an hour on dr. k. And then we saw her for maybe 3 minutes? She asked the normal questions: spotting (no), cramps (no), feeling the baby (yes). Since we didn't have any questions for her, it was quick!

Next appointment: July 25 (glucose test. yuck!)

no.166: an update on the molster

I think we can officially declare ourselves diaper free, at least for the daytime. Molly pretty much led the way in potty training, as she does with almost everything in her little life. We haven’t had an accident for weeks, and I finally trust her enough to take her places without a pull-up on. She still wakes up wet most mornings, so she sleeps in a diaper at night.

Speaking of night, she’s also doing awesome in her toddler bed. We had a couple of nights the first week that she got out of bed a few times and ran to the top of the stairs to yell for us. Thankfully, that isn’t a problem anymore. What was a problem, however, was waking up at 6:30 and coming downstairs.

Our house doesn’t get up until 7 a.m., and if you wake up before 7 a.m., you sit quietly in your bed until 7 a.m. That’s the rule. Don’t break it. To aid Molly in this task of staying in bed until the appropriate time, we bought a clock that turns from yellow to green when she can get out of bed. It’s set for 7:15 a.m., and it works beautifully! Even if she wakes up at 6:30, she stays in her room and occupies herself until 7:15. As soon as it changes color, she shoots out of her room and down the stairs: “Mommy! My clock turned green!!”

[The dogs now sleep in the backroom behind a gate, so there’s no fear of her startling them in the morning. They were going to get transitioned back there once the baby arrives, so we just did it a few months early. I was looking for them last night to put them back there, only to find out they were already back there. They don’t mind at all.]

Molly’s favorite activity is swimming. The girl loves to swim. Actually, she's excited about water of any type. From a mud puddle to an olympic size pool to the ocean, she'll take it. My mom takes her swimming twice a week, for 2-3 hours, and she has to practically beg the child to get out of the pool. Typically, they are one of the only ones at the pool, but during the summer, there are camp kids there too. The camp kids adore Molly, and they like to carry her around the pool. The camp counselor has to remind them to “share” her and “take turns” with her. Of course, Molly eats up all the attention and loves “the kids,” as she calls them. This Saturday, she will start a 12-week swim lesson on Saturday mornings with "Coach." Maybe this year, Coach will actually teach her how to swim. I sure hope so!

Her vocabulary and understanding of things grows daily and amazes me. She often talks about Scully (the name she’s given the baby) and is very excited to be a big sister. She goes from wanting a little brother to a little sister almost hourly. We’ve tried to explain it isn’t a choice, that we get what we get. We just don’t know what’s in there yet. As of right now, she thinks it’s a girl. I think it’s a boy. We’ll see who’s right in a few days!

no.165: 16-week check-up

I figured I better go ahead and blog my 16-week doctor's appointment since my 20-week appointment is next week!

Appointment: 16-week
Blood pressure: 114/68
Weight: +2.5 lbs. (+1 lb. total for the pregnancy)
Baby's heart rate: 150's

It was like most other prenatal appointments, pretty uneventful, which is fine with me! They did take blood for an alpha-fetoprotein test, which tests for spina bifida, among other things. My very favorite phlebotomist got it on the first stick, and she always does a little happy dance that makes me laugh. (It came back negative, good!)

dr. k. said that I should try to keep the weight gain to a minimum since I started out the pregnancy overweight. She said no more than 10 lbs. would be ideal. That was easy to stick with when I was pregnant with Molly because I lost almost 20 lbs. in the first 12 weeks from being so sick. This time, I don't have that wiggle room! We'll see how it goes, but so far, so good.

Questions I asked, Answers dr. k. gave:

Q: After exercising, I feel really crampy and I'm not sure if I'm doing too much?
A: Exercising is a catch-22 sometimes. It's good for you, but it can cause cramping in pregnancy too. Try to drink a lot of water while exercising, and it should help.

Q: I'm planning a trip to Minnesota for Labor Day. Can I fly at 30 weeks?
A: As long as everything is going well up until then, a 2.5 hour flight is fine.

That was pretty much it! They were able to schedule my c-section for 11/11/11 at noon! As long as the baby stays in there until then, s/he will have a cool birthday!

Next appointment: June 27 (anatomy scan! woo hoo!)