My Second Doc Appointment

On the 26th of April I got to go see my doc for my first monthly "tummy check."  Brandon didn't get to make it no thanks to some buttholes who managed to wreck out on the highway and make him late enough he was unable to come. :( He was sad, but at least it wasn't an important doctor's appointment. He didn't get to hear the cool part, but the rest was relayed to him probably in more detail, by me, than he'd ever care.

As usual, they were running a bit behind (my appointment was at 9 and I don't think I saw my doc until 9:30...), but getting me back to pee in a cup and check sugars and protein (at least that's what I assume the dipstick was about) and take my blood pressure at least helped the time go by until I saw the doc. (oh, and don't worry, I really won't blog about every single doc appointment...because I imagine they'll mostly all be similar...but 2nd time hearing the heartbeat was nice.)

What was funny was the first time the nurse took my blood pressure, it was with the automatic machine and it read systolic of 160! That's too high for me, lol. I told the nurse, "That's not right." And she agreed and did it manually. The second reading was something like 138/78. 138 is actually still a tad high for me, but soooo much more normal of a blood pressure. Granted, I had just finished a 12 hour shift where I was in charge, which always makes me apprehensive, and had a patient we had to do a lot with, which is not normal. I'm sure I was still amped.

Anyways, fast forward to the good part. Doc came in to see me and she had this little hand held doppler machine, put some goop on me, and, viola, baby's heartbeat! It was perfectly quick and made me happy to hear it. I didn't realize how sometimes since I have mild to no symptoms (especially moving into the 2nd trimester, now) how I felt I needed that little sound to reassure me all was well. I mean, I feel normal...except I haven't gotten my period and I feel fatter, lol.

She did mention that they ran extra blood tests on me because I work in health care and that I'm immune to Parvo (which made me think of the dog disease and how the hell did I get immune to that...but then I realized it was the human parvovirus, and, whatever, no big deal lol). However, and I knew this before they drew my blood, she was not so thrilled that I have no immunity to CMV. I knew this since before I got pregnant, I gave blood regularly. The technicians at Carter Blood Care had already told me that my blood tested CMV negative, which meant my blood was able to go to babies in need of transfusions (which was AWESOME in my book). They had also told me that most people end up with immunity to it, not because they got sick with CMV or anything, but, like many things most of us are immune to and we don't know it, we were exposed to it, our body fought it, we didn't get sick, and immunity was created. It's not like the doc wants to put me in a bubble or anything, but she just said to be extra careful with the sick patients. Lucky me...we usually don't get patients like that. I can go into details about why...but we just don't. 

What I was a tad surprised the doc didn't bring up was that I was Rh Negative (not a big deal, but it buys me extra shots throughout this pregnancy and any further ones...especially since hubbers is Rh positive). But she said all of my blood work looked great, my weight was fine, and my blood pressure was good (thank God for the recheck). She told me I was making it too easy on her. Hello? Could I have a luckier pregnancy so far? I think not.

Anyways, that was that. Like ten minutes with the doc and I was outta there. I have another "tummy check" in four weeks and in five weeks my next ultrasound! Which will be super awesome since not only will we get to see the little minion again...we'll get a guesstimate on what gender our baby is! Let us pray the kiddo cooperates and we get a clear look-see.  

We figure after we find out the sex...we'll start looking at buying baby crap! 

Not that I believe in signs, but...

And by signs, I mean if I dreamed I was having a girl, then it must be a girl. That kind of thing.


Side note:  I don't know if anyone tried to be clicky and vote on my silly little poll...but I don't think it was working anyways. It wouldn't let me vote! Lol. It should be fixed now...in case you cared. It let me vote...


However, what I've found to be a bit amusing is Brandon's recent Pei Wei trips.


Now, if you've been to Pei Wei and grabbed one of their fortune cookies, then you'll know they give some random comment (where a fake fortune USED to be, no thanks to whoever whined so much that their "fortune" didn't come true), some lottery numbers, and on the other side, a word and how to say and spell it in the language. (I assume it is Chinese...but if it is Japanese, I'm sorry. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to know for certain with somewhat generic restaurants like Pei Wei...though I love them!).


Anyhow, back to the topic at hand, Brandon REALLY loves Pei Wei, and he frequently orders take out or eats there. Well, a few weeks ago, I get a text message from him including a picture of what the word of the fortune cookie was.


Here it is:

So, needless to say, we thought this was highly amusing and will be so tickled if the baby turns out to be a boy, after all. Let me remind you that this is the part of the "fortune" that is teaching you how to spell and say the word, not the fortune. Just in case you didn't catch on.


Well, fast forward to tonight, and Brandon gets sent home sick. Stupid pollen. But he stops and grabs some Pei Wei on the way home. When I get back from eating at my grandma's, I go and sit with him and he offers me his fortune cookie. Of course, I want the fortune cookie. I make a joke about how I'll scream if it teaches us the word girl now. But, alas, this is what came out:

It seems, according to Pei Wei, we're having a boy and he'll join us in October, not November. I guess I need to save up a little more vacation time to stay out through New Years!

Weird symptoms & Dopplers?

Everyone seems to know all the usual symptoms: nausea and vomiting, peeing all the time, sore boobs, crazy sense of smell, and emotional.


While I have a couple of those, and some pretty mild, what I didn't expect with pregnancy was my skin to freak out! I thought you were supposed to have this great skin, hair, and nails (what I'm learning is that many women, once they start the prenatal vitamins, get this...but I was already taking vitamins so mine didn't change). Instead, I feel like a damn teenager again. And not the simple, oh lets pop that real quick pimple...but the "under the skin," swollen, and painful nodules that fester and take forever to go away. Ugh.


I've already really mentioned this on my main blog, but what I didn't mention about it is it's everywhere! My face, my back, my chest, and my upper arms!!! (wtf, upper arms?) It isn't that bad, really, but when you go from nothing to something, then it's shocking enough. And I'm a picker! (I know, I know, bad, bad Kim) Or, if I'm concentrating on something and, say, my arm itches, I'll scratch it, right. But then I'll feel a little bump and I'll scratch at that, because, well, it's small and whatever. Next thing I know my upper arm is reddened because I've started scratching at all the wanna be pimples trying to sprout. I frustrate the crap out of myself.


So, now that some of the exhaustion is relieving (thank God!), I'm being much more aggressive at skin care. I can't stand it! Hopefully, this will all clear up nicely and quick.


Instead of getting nausea, I had a gagging feeling. Like something in my throat wanted to make me gag. And, for a while, it was when I thought of eating, then that slowly went away. Then, it was only certain things that somehow elicited the gagging feeling. But, although almost all of the gagging feeling is gone now, I still have a hard time with one thing...


Little back story: when I first found out I was pregnant, I went batshit crazy looking up cloth diaper websites and found tons of blogs and random people that were giving away free "fluff." (definition of fluff: another name for cloth diapers, and, yes, I'm hoping to cloth diaper) I signed up to follow their blogs, I liked them on Facebook, I signed up for all the giveaways. I wore myself out doing that, but, hey, free stuff is free stuff, right? Anything to save money!


In comes gagging phase...and every single time I saw a Facebook post from a cloth diaper person, or a blog update about cloth diapers, or anything of the sort...I wanted to gag. Yes, I found a random aversion to cloth diaper sites. It expanded to almost anything pregnancy. Any emails I got related to pregnancy, I wanted to gag. The thought of going on TheBump.com made me want to gag. I had to delete following the blogs and remove those diaper people from my Facebook. I couldn't' stand it. I had not the energy or the gag tolerance for all the jazz. Next thing I know...it was starting to affect anything related to Brandon and I buying a house! But, thank God, it never got that bad and I could muscle through those websites.


So, chalk one up for most random aversion ever. Not food, not smell, but a theme...I guess is the best way to call it?


Well, I was reading the birth month board on TheBump that I belong to, and, someone posted about finding the baby's heartbeat on her home Doppler. What? She has a home Doppler? Why? So I looked at it and found out you can buy a home Doppler machine. Other than searching for a baby's heartbeat, I am CLUELESS as to why you'd want one of these. (I'm just saying I can't fathom another reason...but I'm sure there are other reasons for them...)


Then I thought, if she has one, it can't be very expensive. We're all saving to buy a ton of crap for a little one, so no way would anyone would spend a good amount of money on a Doppler when they're planning to spend so much on baby stuff. I thought, if it isn't expensive, it might be fun to play with, that's all. Because, really, who wouldn't want to hear that extra, super fast heartbeat anytime you wanted? (assuming you were of sound enough mind that, if you couldn't find it, you wouldn't freak because sometimes babies are elusive) She had linked the site from where she bought the Doppler, and I clicked it. On discount, it was $63. I would NEVER spend $63 on something so very random. Really, what else are you going to use it for? Maybe I'm too frugal, but I'll pass. However, now you know, if you didn't, that you can buy one...if you want...and find whatever use for it you'd like! How many onesies could you buy with $63? Or, baby wipes, diapers, toys, blankets, etc? Ya, pass for me.


But, as I'm rounding out week 10 and looking forward to week 11 (and really looking forward to finishing week 12 and officially entering SECOND TRIMESTER), I feel good. I think lately I've been sleeping a lot, not because I'm tired, but because I know I'll get hungry and I don't feel like figuring food out...so I'll go back to sleep. Bad, bad me.


And no pictures. Sorry. I pretty much look exactly as I always have (no belly yet), and the next doc appointment is April 26, and even then I don't know what we'll be doing. I think the next ultrasound is at 18 weeks...so, that isn't April 26 lol.