Week 23 - My Pregnancy Adventure

My belly has definitely been growing lots over the last few weeks. Wow. I have now gained about 11 lbs, but will have my ‘official’ weigh in next week at my next appointment. At the rate I feel like I’m going, I think I will probably be gaining the recommended weight of 25-35 lbs no problem. A friend said to me early on, “you’ll be amazed at how big your belly will get”. I already am….and I still have 17 weeks to go! LOL

Well I didn’t think I would have anything too exciting to report this week, until Friday that is! Here is a recount of my adventure! For those who have heard this story already, feel free to skip this paragraph :) It all began when I was scheduled to go for my follow-up ultrasound, as they needed a few extra pictures of the hands and feet that were missed last time. Since it was going to be fairly quick, I dropped Nathan off to my parents where he was going to do some work, and I had about 5 minutes left before that “one-hour before” deadline for drinking my water. So I grabbed my 1L bottle and chugged it all down. So proud of myself. What I didn’t think about was the 500ml+ I had just had for breakfast with my smoothie.

I decide to leave a bit early instead of waiting around, and decided to get some errands done in town on my way. As I scoured for a parking space, BINGO there was a perfect one just outside from Pharmasave. From there, I could access all the spots I needed to go without too far to walk. The minute I pulled the car into the space, everything started moving around me. Not spinning, but just moving up and down. I turned the car off, and sat still to see if it would pass. After a few minutes, it wasn’t getting any better and it was nothing I had ever experienced. It didn’t feel like dizziness, but like I was drugged. I decided I should probably tell someone in case I passed out or something. I knew a friend who worked across the street, so got out of my car but then almost fell over. I couldn’t even stand up straight. It felt like I was really drunk, or on a really rough boat ride. I knew if I attempted to cross the street I probably wouldn’t make it without falling all over the place. I turned and saw Pharmasave and thought a Pharmacist might know what was happening.

I staggered across to the doors and went in knocking into the wall and just about falling on the floor with every step. The woman at the counter ran over to help me and I told her I was pregnant and something was happening to me but I had no idea what. She said there was an RN on site that day and ran to get her. They both ran over and sat me down, while taking my blood pressure, blood sugar etc. All looked ok. I felt nauseated from the motion sickness of it all and started gagging. So, over came a barf bucket and a plastic bag. What an attraction for the customers I was! She asked if someone could take me to the hospital and we called Nathan to come since he wasn’t too far away. In the meantime, she had me put my head between my legs and I just felt like I was on a rough boat ride…everything was moving back and forth, up and down. Nathan came and we headed to the hospital. By this time it had been about 30 minutes and it was still going strong. I guess I was now white as a ghost and we headed to the desk for the ultrasound. The poor technicians didn’t know what was happening. Out came a stretcher, wheelchair and then I started throwing up (yum!). They brought me up to pre-natal and admitted me where I stayed for most of the afternoon. The doctor came and tests came out well, it was very puzzling. It stayed strong for about 3 hours, where I couldn't walk or move without starting to fall over. Even my head was so heavy when I tried lifting it, it would just want to fall back down. After about 3 hours it seemed to start to go away. Basically I was suffering from 'vertigo' but they don't know what was causing it. The best guess was that perhaps it was water intoxication. When I got home, I did some searching and it sounds like that was probably the culprit. It’s quite uncommon, and usually requires LOTS of water to be consumed, but for me being pregnant where my organs are pushed, my levels are all over the place and my sodium levels are lower than normal, it may have been just enough to do the trick. It was only mild compared to cases where people drink tons of water, but the fact that I drank it so quickly could’ve sent my body out of whack.

Here’s an excerpt of what’s online:
“If water enters the body more quickly than it can be removed, body fluids are diluted and a potentially dangerous shift in electrolyte balance occurs. The body has too much water and not enough sodium. Sodium is an electrolyte. A decrease in sodium concentrations can cause an electrolyte imbalance. Over-hydration is disruptive to nerve cell function and can produce symptoms of vertigo.”

So that was quite a day! The good news is all seems well with Little Bean and he/she is still moving and kicking around lots!

I had my follow-up ultrasound again yesterday and saw the staff that helped me on Friday. They were happy to know I was feeling better. This time I made sure to drink my water over a much longer period of time. I brought my mom to this ultrasound so she could “meet” Little Bean. We tried to see if we could see the sex of the baby, but not much luck. We are pretty sure it’s a boy but will find out in a few more weeks!

The other exciting news was Little Bean received his/her first "official" gift of toys and books! :) All the way from the U.S.A.!! I had to pry them away from Nathan. hehe :)

That’s been the latest news on our end. Tonight we head to prenatal class, the last one for this month. I’ve been having trouble sleeping for the last week or so. I think I am used to sleeping on my back and now that I’m trying to sleep on my side more, I keep waking up. Either that or the baby is kicking. Hard to say. I bought a body pillow but it’s much bigger than my body, so seems to overtake me at night. LOL Hopefully tonight I’ll learn some strategies :)

All in all, I’m feeling really great and so thankful. I feel like I’m feeling better now that even before I was pregnant!

Week 21 - Definitely feeling pregnant :)

Wow, over halfway there! Hard to believe and the time just seems to be flying by so much. My belly has taken on a real growth spurt in the last couple of weeks. We went for our prenatal appointment and I had gained an ‘official’ 6.5 pounds. Well, I weighed myself today and I am now at 9 pounds. My belly is definitely showing its pregnancy now and I am feeling the little guy/gal move around quite a bit! I feel the most movement when I’m lying in bed at the end of the day. At times it feels like he/she is even doing somersaults and Nathan & I can see the movements poking through my belly. That is the neatest thing! It seems like we have quite an active little baby :)

The baby is now 10 ½ inches long, so is already half the length in size. At the prenatal appointment, my pregnancy seems to be going ‘by the book’. I have low blood pressure, heartbeats are 145 and the uterus is measuring exactly the weeks I am pregnant. Our last appointment was about 5 minutes long. All looked well and we heard the baby heartbeat again!

I’ve definitely had more energy in the last couple of weeks. Yay!! I’m not needing to nap as much as before, and am enjoying this while it lasts. I just need to be sure to take it easy as I tend to get excited and want to DO more whenever I get energy coming my way. LOL

We were also contacted and told that we need to go in for another ultrasound, but they reassured us that everything was ok. We had a technician a couple of weeks ago who normally didn’t do ultrasounds, so I guess they need a better picture of the hands and feet. So, we’ll be heading back next week for another ultrasound. We’re looking forward to it and hoping to maybe get a glimpse between the legs. Hehe We’ll see! So we may have another picture to post, but I can’t imagine getting a cuter one than the last one we were able to get…until we go to UC Baby for the 3D one :)

Tonight we just returned from our first prenatal class. We knew a couple of people there, and most of the girls were due between April and June which was neat to see as we’re all fairly close together in our pregnancy. Tonight we didn’t do a whole lot except the introductions and overview. Hopefully the classes will be worthwhile and good! One thing I did learn was they said they only allow two people in the room to coach with you here at the hospital. Hmmm…. so now need to figure out how to swing Nathan, my mom and my sister all in….another thing to investigate!

My latest dilemmas have been maternity tops… at that stage where things are either too snug or too big. I imagine my belly will be growing quickly now though so soon will be wearing the bigger things. The second is we have no idea where to start shopping or looking for things. I’m such a bargain hunter, so am trying to figure out what the deals are, but have no idea where to even start. Not sure when something’s a good price or not. So need to start doing some comparison shopping and asking around. If you have something you would like to get off your hands, let me know! All baby items welcome! :) Between my sister and I, we now need to find double of everything. LOL

My sister also has started a blog! It’s not ‘released’ yet to the public so shhh…. But thought I would post it now for all of you that want to follow along with her too. She is hilarious so I think you’ll enjoy! http://www.babypbnj.webs.com/

Just got a kick from Little Bean… guess that means he/she wants to say hi ;)

Week 19 - Beanie Babies

It's been a few weeks since I've updated, mainly because of the busyness of Christmas and the New Year. We had lots of fun over Christmas with both families coming down for the holidays and even 'Little Bean' enjoyed receiving a few gifts :) So much has happened since my last entry. Where do I begin?

The biggest news is that my sister came home from Ontario to announce that she was expecting her first baby 10 weeks after us (due on August 4th)! She is 9 weeks along now, and I am 19 weeks. We are very excited to have little cousins so close in age (now we just need to convince her to move back closer to home ;) My mom is now super excited to have 2 new grandbabies on the way!

My tummy has been growing and shrinking, I guess depending on what I eat. hehe :) So far I have gained about 6 pounds total but I'll know officially at our next appointment next week! It's definitely hardening up and I am now wearing maternity shirts here and there. I'm at that in-between stage where my shirts are getting too tight but the maternity shirts are still on the bigger side. As for the maternity pants, well the hard part is the middle part seems to hang down to my knees. lol So I am still wearing my regular pants (thank goodness for stretchy ones!) and trying hard to still figure out enough outfits in my wardrobe that fit my body :) As for the boobs... we won't go there... crazy...

In my first trimester, I wondered how people actually enjoyed pregnancy with all the tiredness, nausea, food aversions etc. But I have to say, now things are getting to be more enjoyable. :) I am half-tempted to start parking in those "mom-to-be" parking spaces. hehe :) It seems like my energy has picked up a bit, but still a bit hard to tell. The BEST thing has been that the baby is now kicking and moving lots. Yay! I started to "officially" feel the kicks noticeably enough on December 19th, so it was a nice Christmas gift. Even now typing away, the baby is kicking away. Loving the feeling and definitely helps to remind me no matter how my day is going of what is truly important. Nathan has felt them too and we love to just lay and watch :)

Well, today we had our big ultrasound! They were 45 minutes late taking us in, so my bladder was VERY full. I was just about in pain. lol Thankfully she let me empty out a bit... 6 cups worth later...lol. It took over an hour to do the ultrasound (I was expecting an in and out appointment like our first one). The baby was quite active (there's that word again!) but also very "cooperative" so said the technician. I was so proud. hehe :) We were able to see just about everything, what a difference! In our town (and most of NS) they won't tell you the sex, so we'll have to wait until our appointment with UC Baby in February to find that out. Nathan & I looked at some pictures online before we went but the technician said that she wouldn't even give us a glimpse for us to guess. Boo! She did say "his" at times which made me think more that it's a boy, but then she assured us she calls all the babies "his"... so hard to say if she was telling us the truth or not. Overall, it was very neat to actually SEE the baby and it helps make it that much more real. So unbelievable really. Sometimes I feel I need someone to pinch me. hehe :)

I think those are all the major updates for now. I'm still a bit of a fussy eater as my full appetite still hasn't returned to what it once was, not sure if it ever will now? But I am feeling more like myself. :) Definitely a bit more emotionally stable and the time has been FLYING by so far. It seems to be going by so quickly, makes me think that May will be here before we know it. Eek! I guess we need to start getting some things we need soon :)

Well I will update soon again... here's just one last picture that reminded me of the way I feel right now trying to decide what to wear each morning. hehe :)

Happy 2008!!