i am 23 weeks pregnant & starting a blog...

So it's been suggested by others for me to start a blog about the baby bean.
I guess it all started in early December without much input from my intellectual knowledge or rather my authorization or approval.

But I did find out soon enough and by the end of December, well the little bean had been firmly established and these 12 week ultrasounds pictures were taken on Feb. 19, 2008 - the day after my first midwifery appointment at Legacy Midwifery Clinic *you can check out the midwives profiles* (www.legacyhealth.org/body.cfm?id=1913) which was soon after my 34th (gasp!) birthday (which went by without a hitch and not much fanfare I must say).

Of course, I did have some deep Jack Handy thoughts about this whole experiment during this time. It also alarmed me to learn that if I would have turned 35 during this pregnancy, I would have been considered "advanced maternal age" ("AMA"). I looked surprised and the midwife (Beth) went on to just say that at 35 years old and beyond your eggs are just a bit "older", that's all. Hmmm. Not sure about all that but I guess medically it's supposed to make sense...but I made the cut off. I am trying to meet all of the midwives before I deliver so my appointments are made with whomever is available. So far I have met Beth and Kathy. I think my next appointment is with Terri (?)

So, my doula is Chrissy Curran. We met because right around the time that I had decided that the bean was coming whether or not I had completely agreed to him from the beginning and had been researching for some resources on assistance (i.e. midwives, clinics, etc...)
So, Chrissy had just posted an ad on Craiglist: http://portland.craigslist.org/asking if there were any women who needed a *free* doula because she needed five births for her doula certification.... It was truly a blessing of some sort, I suppose because what perfect timing.

I met with Chrissy after my first midwifery appointment. We seemed to click well and I thought she would be a great as well as affordable asset to this adventure I was on. I'm sure Chrissy will pop up more in this blog as time goes on...

So, more about the first trimester: I only had a little nausea (no vomiting at all) when I either ate too much or when I hadn't eaten in a while. So my body was telling me, "hey dummy, you ate too much and you're too full" or "hey, wait are you trying to starve me?!"
The most disturbing symptom the first three months of pregnancy was being tired. So very tired. I went from sleeping 6 hours a night to at least 9 hours a night and sometimes 10. I didn't even have time to think at all as my head hit the pillow because I was just turned off and waking up groggy after 9 or 10 hours. It was bizarre. But I suppose needed...

In March, I got a call from the RN at the clinic saying that my AFP (alpha feto protein) test came back elevated... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFP_screening#AFP_screening.
I of course had gotten the routine first trimester screening blood work which examines you for possible signs of down syndrome and all that chromosomal abnormality business. Anyway, if your AFP comes back lower than normal limits, it could possibly be an indication of down syndrome and elevated could be an indication of spina bifida... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spina_bifida.

So yeah it kinda freaked me out a bit. I went in for another ultrasound the very next day to get a full anatomy ultrasound where they check the neural tube, etc... and see if there is any indication or signs of the spine not fused or any open exposed spinal cord. Thankfully, there was no indication of any of these from the March 25th ultrasound which was great to see. No cleft palate or other skeletal abnormalities as well. The only thing that was seen that was of concern was my placenta was only about a centimeter (if that) from my cervix which isn't a great thing (they call it "low lying placenta"). So I got to have a wonderful vaginal ultrasound also. Now that was interesting and weird but I realize necessary to really check out where exactly my placenta was hanging out. The maternal fetal medicine doctor assured me that most low lying placentas do seem to float up and away from the cervix as your uterus expands. She described it like un-inflated balloon - put a dot on close to the stem opening of the deflated balloon - then blow it up...the dot magically appears to "move" away from the opening because the material has been stretched - being pulled or "moved" by inflation. That is what typically happens in 80-90% of all cases of low lying placentas. They of course have to re-check this in June (on the 3rd actually) to just make sure that this has happened. If it hasn't, then it could be sort of a problem ("placenta previa" is a condition where the placenta actually is covering the cervix making a bad situation if you start to go into labor and your cervix starts to dilate since you don't want the placenta to cover that needed opening....you get the gist, yeah?)

So here he is in the freaky 3D pictures....

Oh, yeah I also found out that he was a he. I had really thought he was a she (yeah, so much for maternal instinct!) So I was bit taken aback by this news. I had been picking out girls names (his name would have been Mazzie, I think). At least that was the top pick for me at the time of discovering that he wouldn't be a girl!

Don't think that he doesn't have the rest of his head or half of his body -- the 3D technology is just amazing but the program doesn't always complete what the ultrasound can't trace or read....so no worries; he's all intact and there.
One of the doctors I work with was joking around and was like, "Uh Mimi, I think there's something wrong with your baby, he has a hole in his head and only half a body...." (Thanks, Tim.)

So...anyway another symptom of strangeness is that I am actually perspiring under my arms now...it is the most peculiar feeling really! I find myself fascinated by the fact my shirt is slightly wet at times! And the only other weird and most disturbing symptom since being pregnant has been having syncope and/or syncopal symptoms (fainting).

So the first time I fainted - I mean from standing to just collapsing was at the end of February. I was at the dog park doing the usual dog park before work deal with Dinah....

And we were talking with Carole, our dog park neighbor (she lives on dog park- literally, her house sits next to the dog park) with her dog Bandit who now notifies Carole every time we're there. Bandit will start barking loudly like a seal constantly until she brings him out to hang out with us -- I am considered the "treat lady" and I mean, Bandit even recognizes my car, it's truly that bad.

So, Carole is discussing how she is starting to paint her ceiling and I start feeling really faraway almost in a movie surreal sense, I just couldn't really hear or politely follow Carole's fascinating ceiling painting story.... I just felt hot and sweaty and just plain weird. I saw spots and next thing I heard was Carole gasping in a distressed voice, "Oh my god, Mimi! Are you ok??!" I just felt myself hitting the ground (thankfully not on any not picked up dog poop) and hearing myself say, "I'm ok, it's ok, Carole, I'm alright!" I have never fainted before in my life so it was rather jolting to fall with all your weight like a damn tree to the ground. I was glad it was standing on grass, not concrete and that someone was there.

Anyway, I haven't actually fainted again but have felt the weird "I might faint any minute now" feelings a couple times. I of course call the midwives who the first time this happened made me get a bunch more blood work - it all came back fine: I'm not anemic, nor do I have orthostatic hypotension /hypertension or hypo/hyper glycemia issues. And it's not because I haven't eaten. I always eat something before the dog park. in fact, it seems like I am always eating on something... So, I have come to believe that it's the baby lying on my inferior vena cava and to the point of making me feel dizzy and lightheaded and fainting once. I know it's a weird Mimi diagnosis but that's all I can think of. So it looks like this kid already can push my buttons! ;)
Maybe he doesn't like the dog park adventures or feels like he needs some attention or the particular movement at the dog park (chucking the ball for Dinah) is annoying him or something. Or it could just all be my imagination and the syncopal symptoms are just a fluke. Because it does only happen when I'm at the dog park...

So yes, I'm happy to say I am over half way done because I have gotten huge. Or I feel huge.


Ok then, I'll add more to this blog later. My next midwifery appointment is May 12th. Thanks for hanging in there with me...