"Perfect"

My doctor said the word “Perfect” today when he described our baby’s heartbeat during our weekly check-up and I must say, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I have actually never heard a doctor, or anyone in the medical profession for that matter, use the word perfect before in any medical setting. So, when he said it, I was a bit taken aback by the comment and was speechless. Throughout my life, I’ve learned that nothing can ever really be perfect and that even practicing doesn’t result in perfection. (Side note, not going to say who taught me that one since it will bring back bad memories of playing high school basketball). Anyway, that’s why hearing our doctor say the word perfect to describe our son’s heartbeat was so shocking to me because I don’t really think it’s attainable. It’s an ideal that people strive for and are never, ever quite able to reach. Believe me, I've tried to be perfect, mostly in sports, and it's never happened. However, in this instance I’ve decided that I'm just not going to read too much into it, even though I have already, set my realistic nature aside, and enjoy the moment since it is pretty awesome! I mean, my son has a kick-ass, strong heartbeat, who could ask for anything more! 

The only other news that I have from our check-up this week is that our doctor thinks we’ll be having an averaged sized baby. We asked him the question after he did his routine measurement of my belly and said that from what he can see and feel, that Ryan will be between seven and eight pounds.  It’s just a guess mind you and personally, he feels way bigger than that since my back aches all the time from having to carry him around. Yes, I realize being in pain is just one of those fun things that goes along with being pregnant, the thing is, it’s still annoying and not much fun to deal with. One thing that both Dave and I have noticed is how hard my belly is because Ryan is pretty much taking up my entire abdomen. There really isn’t much more room for him to grow and the other night, we actually saw the entire outline of his body on my left side. It was quite random! I should have thought to take a picture of the event, but didn't because one, Dave and I were finally comfortable on our sitting room chair and two, taking a picture of it would have been a tad on the creepy side. Well, really creepy so it's pretty much best that we didn't. :)

With it being as hot as it is, I'm done with writing or doing anything productive for the day. Seriously, I'm sweating just sitting here and writing this blog is actually making me tired. Gotta love being preggo! So until next time, I'm going to do my best to stay cool and I hope you can do the same. Thank God for air conditioning, fans, and ice cream!

Quick baby check-ups are the best!

We all know that going to the doctor can be a bit of a pain and today, I had one of the smoothest doctor appointments ever.

And when I say ever, I mean ever because everything about it went like clockwork. My husband Dave and I met about two minutes prior to the appointment, walked up to check-in with the receptionist, and then about two minutes after the check-in our nurse was calling our name to be seen by our doctor. I barely had time to sit down. Then, we ran into the doctor in the hallway, said hi, and I stepped on the scale to see my weight gain, which wasn’t too bad at this point. After that, we headed into the examining room, got the okay from the nurse on the urine sample I provided along with a thumbs up about my blood pressure. When she left the room, 30 seconds later our doctor was walking through the door and were talking to him about my pregnancy and how I was feeling. He answered the few questions we had about some stuff I’ve been dealing with and then it was up on the table for a belly measurement and a quick check on little Billy Bubba’s heartbeat. He said that everything looks good with little BB and that he’s about two pounds at this point. It was great news to hear. He then told us that at our next check up, they’re going to do a glucose test to check my blood sugar levels and with that, we were on our way!

We met with our doctor for about 20 or so minutes and after making our next appointment with the receptionist, we were on our way. Like I said, it was the smoothest doctor appointment that I ever had, especially since I was back at work within an hour. Totally awesome!!! The best part about the appointment, something I already mentioned, was how our doctor said little BB was doing well, it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside so I just had to share about how everything went. :) So until we meet again, this is Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off.

Wicked cool.....

Generally, going to the doctor isn’t all that much fun. You have to go because you’re sick, hurting, or simply trying to figure out what might be wrong with you because you just don’t feel right.

However, I’ve found that it’s actually pretty interesting to go to the OBGYN when you’re pregnant. Why you ask? Well, sure there are those awkward moments when you’re like, “You’re going to do what?” Or you’re wondering in your head what exactly your doctor is talking about? So, you just nod your head and then go on the Internet later and research what he was talking about since you didn’t want to look stupid when he was talking to you. It’s probably happened to all of us in some doctor’s office at some point, right? I mean, who wants to look stupid? Not me!

Oh, and I’m using the pronoun he by the way because I have a male doctor.  I go to Aurora and he’s super chill and very easy to talk to, something I find to be very refreshing in a doctor as most I’ve dealt with in the past are the complete opposite.

Now, once you set those weird times aside while visiting the OBGYN, it can be pretty interesting and informative to go to those monthly baby check-ups. Take the one that Dave and I went to today for example. I wasn’t all that excited about going to my baby check-up appointment to begin with. It meant that I had to get up early to go to work early to make up the time that I was going to miss.  Then, I had to leave work, get there, wait for a bit in the waiting room, and finally meet with the doctor for a 20 minute or so appointment. It’s a process to say the least and can get a little old.

When we finally met with the doctor though, it was really, really worth it! Why, the reason being is we were able to hear our baby’s heartbeat! How freaking cool is that? You go in thinking that all that’s going to happen is your doctor is going to ask you questions about how you’re feeling with you telling him that you’re not feeling great. His reply is typically, “that’s normal,” and then the appointment’s over.

Well this time around, he busted out this machine, which is called a fetal Doppler monitor and yes I looked up what it was after the appointment since I didn’t want to ask and look stupid, that let us hear our baby! He located where my baby was nesting, right below my belly button, in about thirty seconds. 

A picture of the monitor the doctor used to listen to the baby's heartbeat.

After about a minute of hearing, “dunka, dunka, dunka, dunka, dunka, dunka,” the doctor said everything sounded good! It was an amazing moment and made me realize that it’s the little things in life that matter the most. Here I was all crabby about having to head off and rush to go to the appointment to begin with, yet when I got there, I was able to experience this wicked cool moment with my husband. Sweet!

During the question and answer portion of the appointment, my doctor did give me some helpful information when dealing with some of the things I’ve been dealing with. So, I guess that part of it wasn’t all that pointless as I made it out to be. For instance, I haven’t been sleeping well, so he suggested I take Benadryl before I go to bed. I’ve also had a cold for awhile and he said Sudafed is a good decongestant to take. I knew this one already, yet, it was nice to get some confirmation. Another thing he mentioned to do to stay regular, and yes this is gross, but I’m going to talk about it anyway given that it happens to a lot of pregnant women, is to take Fiber pills or Metamucil's along with a stool softener like Colace. This suggestion did make me feel like an old lady and kind of silly, however, if it helps I’m down to try it. One thing I’ve learned throughout the pregnancy is that if you need a little help with things, whether it be to use the lotion to fight dry skin or to use some fiber to feel better, do it because there’s no reason to feel uncomfortable. Before I would have just dealt with it, but now I’m all about making things easier on myself if help is available.

In another couple of weeks, we go back for our third ultrasound and another baby check-up. I’m actually looking forward to it! How crazy is that? I never would have thought I’d be excited about a seeing a doctor. There are decisions to be made before this one though, like, should we find out the sex of the baby? Hmmm, that’s a whole other blog post in and of itself. So until next time, it’s Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off!