I NEVER go this long without writing but this week has just been all over the place.
If you checked in on my pregnancy survey entry, you know that at our anatomy scan on Wednesday we found out we’re having a baby boy! I absolutely couldn’t believe it when the ultrasound tech pointed out his little baby penis and was like, “Since you want to know, I can tell you that your little man certainly isn’t shy.” And there we was. We saw his perfect little hands and his perfect little feet and even his perfect little face. He was wiggling and squirming and all curled up on one side of my uterus. The tech tried like hell to get him to stretch out but he was just too cozy to move. She was able to get all of the measurements she needed, however, and he’s measuring in the 54th percentile. Half of the babies at his gestational age are bigger, and half are smaller. He is right where he belongs.
AND we think we’ve settled on a name for the little nugglet.
Oliver. Oliver James. Tim suggested after we got home from work that night and at that moment I felt the baby kick. We both took that as a sign that our little prince was meant to be an Oliver. It was a name I hadn’t really ever considered, and as soon as I heard it, I just knew. We’ve got plenty of time to change our minds if we want but we’ve both already started calling him by his name.
I still can’t believe it’s a boy! I was SO SURE throughout the duration of my first trimester and into my second that we were having a little girl. It’s funny, though. The night before the appointment I had a dream that I saw the ultrasound tech type “boy” onto the monitor and when I woke up I told Tim, “I think Little might be a boy.” He gave me such a sly grin when we saw the tech type “boy” onto the keyboard, we both started laughing. I was crying, Tim was in awe. I never cared one way or the other whether it was going to be a boy or a girl, but I know that Tim really wanted his little boy.
So, the scan was on Wednesday. Thursday we had to get all of our chores and grocery shopping done before work, and yesterday I had an appointment with the midwives at 8:30 in the morning.
I was able to read the report from the anatomy scan and discovered a couple of things. One, that I have an anterior placenta, which explains why it’s so hard for the Doppler to find the baby’s heartbeat and why these “kicks” I’m feeling really feel more like twitches than anything else. It just means that the placenta is at the front of my uterus as opposed to the back of it. I freaked myself out on google reading things about anterior placentas and placenta previa and all that garbage so I knew I wanted to talk to the midwife about that. I also discovered that while gestationally I was measuring at 19w1d, my baby’s brain is measuring at 20w, which was also something I wanted to talk about.
So I get to the appointment, step on the scale, and notice that I’ve lost 2 pounds since the last time I was there. 3 things I want to talk about now.
I didn’t get to meet with Ginny this time because she was on vacation or something, so I met with another one of the midwives, Nina.
When I voiced all of my concerns to her, she basically yelled at me, lol. She goes, “Chelsea. Why are you looking for things to worry yourself with? If Dr. Feroni (the doc who supervised my ultrasound) saw anything wrong with your baby, it would be noted in this report, or she would have scheduled another ultrasound later on. He’s perfect. You’re perfect. And you need to relax and enjoy your pregnancy because your son is going to be just fine.”
She also gave me a huge lecture on weight gain. She basically told me that all I can control is what and how I eat, I can’t control the number on the scale so stop looking at it. She said if I was really concerned, a week before my next appointment, make a list of everything I eat so I can go over it with the doctor. But as far as she can tell, everything looks just fine and I have nothing to worry about.
I asked if an anterior placenta would interfere with a natural, vaginal delivery and she laughed at me again. She told me that the only annoying thing about an anterior placenta is that it may take me a little while longer to notice all of Oliver’s kicks and movements. And that instead of hearing a “click click” on the Doppler for a HB, we hear a “whoosh whoosh”. It doesn’t matter. Everything is fine. Stop catastrophizing. Nina made me feel so much better about absolutely everything.
Except my colposcopy.
Before I got pregnant, I had a pap that came back abnormal. They couldn’t do the Colpo in my first trimester, but to ensure my uterine health, they want to do it now. They basically take a vinegar solution, place it on my cervix, and see if anything lights up. If it does, they take a sample of it. It’s to test for STD’s and cancers, but my OB is sure that it isn’t cancer (thank god) they just want to be safe. Honestly? I’ve probably got HPV from when I was really sexually promiscuous and depressed back in college. My husband is fully aware that this is a possibility, and says we’ll handle it, if that’s the case. Best scenario is that I just happened to have an abnormal pap and everything will be cleared up now, but we’ll see. I’m not worried. I’m mostly just irritated because I’ve heard that this procedure isn’t a comfortable one.
A doctor has to perform that procedure, so my next prenatal appointment will be with her. The midwife said that it’s good that I meet the doctor anyway just in case something happens and there has to be some kind of intervention while I’m in labor. The great thing about where I’m having this baby is that the C-section rate is less than 11%, where at other area hospitals it’s over 30%. I have no issue with women who need to/want to have a C-section… I am just not one of them. I want to do this in a tub with no medical intervention. I’m going to see if they’ll let me burn incense, too. :]
I am SO excited for this weekend. Tonight, Tim and I are going to a Beltane Bonfire at a co-workers house and he and his wife are going to perform a blessing for the baby. I’m making some Beltane incense to burn at the altar and I think we may do a small, private ceremony together. I am really excited to get to know him and his family. He is the father of two beautiful twin boys and I’m really excited to meet and get to know his wife. They have a beautiful home just a few towns over and I’m excited to sit around a fire and make some new friends. I may even indulge in a small glass of wine for the occasion. :]
Tomorrow, Josh is coming over to hang out with us and around 4 my friend Shauna is coming over to cut/color my hair. I am SO excited for this because 1. It’s been WAY too long since I’ve done anything with my hair and 2. She’s going to put blue in it for the baby boy. YES.
That’s all I have for now! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! <3 <3 <3
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