21 Weeks and All is Well

We had another prenatal visit with the "real" midwife this morning and everything is going great. The baby is doing fantastic and seems to be happy as can be. My blood pressure has dipped nicely and my insane craving for RED MEAT has settled in, so that means my blood volume is increasing nicely. Everything's just great.

Not much other news. Boring pregnancies are a gift, for sure.

As for my project, I am *this close* to getting it on the needles. I have one more i-cord tie to put on a baby gift that I won't describe, since there's a chance this little girl's mommies are going to read this blog. I'm just happy I'm going to finish on time! Too bad the OTHER part of the gift is stuck in limbo and will probably arrive after the baby. Oh well, points for trying, right?

As soon as I post this I'm going to settle into the big chair and knock out that tie, assuming my little monster doesn't cut his nap short. I hope to have pictures of the project actually on the needles tomorrow. Wish me luck!

It's here!

My yarn arrived! It's gorgeous and it's silky-soft. I can't WAIT to get started. I need to get my husband to pick something out because I want his yarn to be at the center, so I think I need to go stash diving to give him some options. I can't imagine him going to a yarn store, no way. I wonder if they sell yarn at the tackle shop? ;-)

The only problem with the yarn is I'm not the only one who loves it. I may have to sacrifice a ball . . .

My (Hopefully) Last Shadow Care Experience

I went in this morning to get a nurse to check the TB test I got on Wednesday. The nurse pointed at my arm and exclaimed, "Is THAT where they did it??"

Uh, no, that's a MOLE.

And that's the end of that chapter [tosses scarf over shoulder]

Yarn Update

So, apparently the yarn I ordered is on permanent backorder. :S The other colors I liked are gone, too. Curses!

I was able to get another yarn, it's similar to a yarn I used for my nephew's baby blanket two years ago, so I know it's very nice. It's a 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal mixture. I've used the sport weight version before, but ordered the worsted weight for this project. After talking with the company on the phone for a while, I decided to go with Shine Worsted in Reef. It's not quite the aloe color, but it should still be nice. It'll match our house better, as those who have been there can attest. ;-)

It should be here on Wednesday and I can FINALLY get this thing going!

My first package!

I got my first package on Tuesday! I was so excited. Jenny sent me a beautiful skein of variegated yarn and a beautiful necklace she got at her own Blessingway. I can't tell you how much that meant to me.


MY yarn, the yarn I ordered, is backordered! I am so excited to get started but I'm in limbo. I really hope it comes soon. [grumble]

In other news, I went to my (hopefully last) shadow care appointment last night. This time I got less than five minutes with the midwife and she was twitching on the edge of her seat to leave the whole time. There was absolutely no joy in the appointment. At no point did anyone seem, I don't know, excited that a baby was coming. I'm halfway along (20 weeks today!) but it was so very impersonal and clinical. Is this what it's like for the rest of you in hospital practices? I'm just so used to seeing a midwife who knows me really well and is genuinely happy with the progress of the pregnancy and the amazing potential of a new life.

I noticed last night that no single person has looked over my chart totally. Different tests and visits are all done by different people who input the results into a computer. If something is out of order, the computer will flag it. Otherwise, there isn't a single person with a bird's-eye view of the pregnancy. That made me really uncomfortable. What if things are technically in the normal range, but there are enough things edging high or low that it might catch a person's eye and move them to work on prevention? Does this get missed until something is clearly wrong? Just more thoughts.

Anyway, last night my blood pressure was fine and the baby's heart rate was 150 bpm. I made the mistake of telling the midwife about the hip and pelvic pain I've been having and got interrogated about WHY I had PAIN. Well, hell, I don't know. Maybe I was hoping YOU had some suggestions. :-P

Thankfully I already had some good suggestions from my chiropractor and "real" midwife. Heh.

Here it is!

Here's info about the big project:

http://www.geocities.com/smack103/support_knitwork.html

I can't wait to get started!

It's a boy!

Yes, another boy! I should have known. :-)

Everything looks great. The placenta is anterior which isn't the best news ever in terms of positioning, but it's away from the scar and the cervix, so that's good. The little guy slept through the whole thing and couldn't be bothered to be woken up. Hey, maybe he'll be a better sleeper than my first little guy ( a mom can hope!). He's measuring about a week ahead, which is not surprising to us at all. He'll probably be a tall guy like his brother.

The other news is I got my PO box yesterday so I'm all ready to tell you about my project. I'll post about it this afternoon, including what you can do to help.

Hey, found a belly picture

I did find a belly picture. It's from two weeks ago, but you get the idea. Ignore the ratty hair, 'kay?

Bad Preggo!

I'm eating a pizza with bleu cheese, onions, and pears on it. I have a salad with gorgonzola waiting for me in the fridge. Sorry, can't really help it.

Oh, and my prenatal went fine on Sunday. It's too early to hear the baby with the fetoscope so we just did the normal clinical tests (everything's great) and I'm measuring right on.

I have my sonogram Friday morning. I'm adding a poll -- vote on the gender, if you like. :-)

A MUCH Beter Prenatal Visit :-)

Yesterday we had our first "official" visit with the midwife and her apprentice. We'd already met with them twice before for a few hours each time, but this was the first real visit. Everything is great. The baby is happy and my uterus is measuring just right. My urine didn't have anything in it that it shouldn't have, heh.

The baby was a lot more cooperative with the doppler than at the hospital practice and we got a good listen to the heart. The heart rate was in the 160's and sounding good. We probably won't listen again until a bit past 20 weeks when we can use the fetoscope. The midwife prefers the fetoscope and, quite frankly, so do we. It just seems better to not be shooting too many high-energy waves at a developing fetus.

Amazingly, my blood pressure was actually really good (120/78). I think this is the first time in over a decade I didn't have white-coat hypertension. My blood pressure is almost always 135/80 when measured by a medical person, but not this time. I'm taking this as a very good sign!

It was a very midwife-y day yesterday. Meredith, our midwife for our last pregnancy, was here visiting from Israel and we got to spend a little time with her at the park yesterday. It was lovely to see her. It really was an exhaustingly fun day. I even tutored my husband's boss's daughter in the evening.

I still have this awful cold and am hoping it gets better SOON. I'm tired of feeling sick, and even more tired of whining about it.

It looks like Aloe has won as the color for my project. I'm happy about that. It was my secret favorite. Thanks to everyone who voted. As soon as I finish a baby hat for my cousin's baby, I'm going to get going on my project. Stay tuned!