Rhett and I had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year so we were thrilled to learn in mid-November that we finally succeeded. I had just returned from a weekend trip to visit girlfriends and I came home and took a pregnancy test. I dreaded the familiar feeling of looking at the results only to be disappointed with a 'not pregnant' result. I braced myself for the same result but gasped when this one actually said 'pregnant'! I ran downstairs to tell Rhett who was a bit in disbelief. I shortly took another test a few minutes later just to make sure.
A few days later a trip to the Dr's office confirmed that yes indeed a little peanut was growing inside my belly.
Ultrasound, 6 weeks
I immediately shared the news with my family but mostly waited to make the announcement to everyone else after the typical 3 month period. I was a bit nervous that I would soon be experiencing the expected waves of nausea and morning sickness but luckily that never came. I did however feel very tired and spent many a weekend taking long naps. I also took the 'eating for two' thing a bit too literally and justified every opportunity to take extra servings during meals and certainly did not hold back on the desserts.. which is no surprise that I find myself in the predicament of having gained over 50 pounds so far (yikes I know). I also feel very lucky that overall my work has been unusually non-stressful and light this year. This year I worked on 3 small and easy projects which have been a stark contrast to the grueling project I worked on for most of 2010. This allowed me plenty of time to rest, relax and enjoy a relatively stress-free pregnancy.
Ultrasound 12 weeks - we found out we are having a boy!
It hasn't all been a walk in the park though. In mid-April I went to Maui with my family and started experiencing frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions. I had to go to the ER twice during the trip because I was contracting all day every 5 minutes. The doctor ran a variety of tests to check for pre-term labor and the tests all came out fine.
Ultrasound 26 weeks - looking like an alien!
I'm not sure what initially triggered them but it was certainly unnerving and the contractions continued sporadically for about a month after I got home. It seemed to get worse whenever I was in the passenger seat of a car - any little bump in the road would set them off. Oddly enough when I drive it seems to generally be fine. So having figured that out the contractions have minimized significantly.
Our issue now is that our little man is in a breech position. We checked his position at 34 weeks and a number of suggestions were made on how I might be able to naturally encourage him to move. I tried various exercises and tactics like bridge pose, ice packs and flashlights on the belly, swimming, etc. I also visited an acupuncturist a few times to try moxybustion. Moxybustion is a traditional Chinese medicine technique that involves the burning of mugwort, a small spongy herb, to facilitate healing. Mugmort acts as an agent that increases blood circulation to the pelvic area and uterus and is often used to help turn breech babies. It looks like a cigar and you light it at the end and apply the heat close to the outside of the pinky toes. Rhett even helped me do it at home!
Rhett administering moxybustion
I am at 37 weeks now and the little guy still hasn't moved. We tried a procedure this week called External Cephalic Version where the Dr tries to physically move the baby from the outside of my belly. I was really nervous about it but the risks seemed relatively low with a 50/50 success rate. We decided to give it a shot to avoid having to undergo a C-section which comes along with risks of its own. We had to do the procedure at the hospital so in the event that anything goes wrong they can do an emergency C-section. They started out by monitoring the baby's heartbeat and gave me a shot to relax my uterus to minimize contractions. Then the Dr applied pressure to my belly and tried to turn the baby into the correct position. We tried several attempts and on the 4th try it got to be too much for me to handle so I requested that we stop. So now we will most likely have to schedule a C-section unless the baby turns on his own which is unlikely since now he's so big. Despite my fears of labor pains and delivery, I have to admit that I was looking forward to the whole labor process. Now that everything will be planned it takes a bit away from the overall experience plus the recovery time is so much longer. But I just pray for a healthy baby which is all that matters regardless of how he arrives.
Here is a progression of my belly growth over the months!
15 weeks
18 weeks
21 weeks
30 weeks
37 weeks!
I'm glad to be in the home stretch but I will also savor these last couple of weeks. Overall I have really enjoyed my pregnancy and it is truly amazing to feel a little human grow inside of you. I am also so excited to meet my precious baby and hopefully we will be posting lots of happy photos of him soon!
Great entry! Fun to get the nearly whole experience!
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