20w1d

I lost lunch again today, just like Monday, about 30 minutes to an hour after eating it went right through. I don't remember what I ate on Monday, but today was a very nice Fettuccini Alfredo with grilled chicken. It must have been the Alfredo sauce.

The weather is quite cold. I've dug out a couple of baggy sweaters. They fit okay over my belly, but I get too warm several times during the day at work, so I lock myself in the bathroom and take my top off to cool down.

Half way!

How do you keep pants with a drawsting waist at the right level of tightness if the string is short? If I tie a knot in the string, then it is impossible to go to bathroom quickly. If I don't, then even a small amount of walking loosens the drawstring and my pants start to sag.

Anterior Placenta Location

Another email friend wrote: I have also heard, and hope this isn't true, that if you have an anterior placenta you are more likely to have a baby that faces anterior, and thus more likely to have back labor. Babies are supposed to face your back when they are ready to be born, so their head can fit through the pelvis more easily. However, I don't know if there is any good evidence behind this old wives' tale.

I guess I should do a little more research.

19w6d

I'm feeling pretty good today. We bought a humdifier for our bedroom yesterday, and I could still breath through my nose when I woke up this morning. My throat was a bit dry, but not as bad as yesterday. It's cold here, fall has finally arrived, and I appreciate my "little space heater".

I asked my pg email friends about the u/s tech saying my placenta was in the front. Here is one of the replies: You have an anterior placenta, same as me. Typically placenta's are posterior, towards the back. Has nothing to do with delivery at all.

No consequences at all -- you might feel your baby kick later than sooner, because when he or she kicks it will have the placenta in and around.

Babies who have anterior placentas have less chances of chord injuries as well. That's a plus:)

I had a bad episode of diarrhea about 30 minutes after lunch today. I wish I knew which food triggered it, or if it was something from yesterday that finally worked it's way through. Now I'm worn out, and almost hungry again, but apprehensive about eating.

19w5d

I'm sure glad that my manager at work lets me have the flexibility in arrival time that I need. My stomach was really bothering be this morning, so I stayed in bed too long. I got to work about an hour late.

I woke up before 6 again this morning. It doesn't seem to matter what time I go to bed, sometime between 4 and 6 I wake up. The only way I am able to go back to sleep is after emptying my bladder. It even happened last weekend when we were out of town for the holiday.

Why Labor is Good for Babies

19w

I just got my flu shot. It was a piece of cake. I expect that my arm may be a bit sore tomorrow. Compared to all of the other IM shots I've had in the past year, this one was nothing!

18w6d

The u/s went fine this morning. I didn't drink as much water as was recommended, but that's good because the u/s tech had me partially empty my bladder before we got very far. As we were doing the exam, my bladder got fuller again (probably because I spread out the drinking instead of doing it all at the same time 1.5 hours before the appointment). I just couldn't drink 50 oz of water quickly first thing in the morning.

We saw the baby's head, abdomen, spine, arms and legs. The head was almost as big as the abdomen! We saw the heart beating and the tech pointed out both my bladder and the baby's. I have some pictures, but as my DH said, "it's like looking at clouds". The skull is pretty easy to identify, but everything else is just white marks (bones) and dark areas (fluid).

18w5d

My earache is gone, but of course I'm still taking the antibiotic for another week. My bloodwork from a week ago came back saying I'm anemic. That's not really surprising since I have been turned away from giving blood several times for low iron. Now that my blood volume is increased, the relative percentage would go down. So I'm taking an iron tablet in addition to my prenatal vitamin each day.

I've been feeling much better the past couple of days. My appetite is increasing and my energy level is closer to normal. I even had the urge to do some yard work last weekend, but I succeeded in letting the urge pass. :-)

18w2d

I have a mean earache today. I'm sure it is an ear infection, possibly a sinus infection, too. I called my PCP to let him know and to see if there was anything I could do for it. To my surprise he prescribed an antibiotic. I'm glad, because at least it shouldn't get any worse!

I was planning to get a flu shot today, but with this ear pain, I am going to wait. Hopefully I'll feel better soon and will get the shot Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

You Know You Are Pregnant When ... - Crosswalk.com Women's Channel

18w

We will be flying to my in-laws for Christmas, so I have been doing a bit of reading about travelling while pregnant.
Don't put your wanderlust on hold
Eight smart strategies for pregnant travelers
Emergency checklist for traveling while pregnant
Getting there by plane
I will be 24 weeks along, still in my second trimester, but this article, Is it safe to fly during my third trimester?, has some good tips anyway.
We will be flying on Delta which has no restrictions.

I think I felt the baby move last Friday 17w2d, but I'm not sure. I was sitting in the recliner and felt what I can only describe as 3 taps low in my abdomen toward the left side a bit. It didn't feel like gas or butterflies, and I know it was much lower than my stomach. I haven't felt anything like it since then, but I don't sit still and just relax very much, either.

17w6d

I went shopping for maternity pants today. It's next to impossible to find XL or XXL maternity clothes. I went to all of the second-hand baby/maternity stores in town that I know about (4 of them) and found 1 pair of jeans that may last a month or two. At least the clerk at Motherhood recommended their website for larger sizes. (I haven't checked it out yet.)

Besides getting one pair of pants, I bought two books. The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy and Denise Austin's Ultimate Pregnancy Book. I'm on chapter 5 of The Girlfriends' Guide already and appreciate the humor and candor. The other one focuses on staying fit (ha!) and healthy during and after pregnancy. From first glance, I'd say it includes exercises safe during pregnancy, recipes, and other generally good info.

Oh, I went to the dentist today, too. I have one small cavity. He said I could check with my OB and get it filled (since I'm in the 2nd trimester) or wait until "after term". I'll wait and see if it gives me any problems.

17w2d

My Dr. appointment yesterday went fine. I had gained a couple of pounds since last time, so my Dr. isn't worried about that anymore. When using the Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat, he had to move it around several times because the baby was moving a lot. He said I will probably feel the baby moving soon, and that's it's possible that I already have but didn't realize what it was.

I had another friend put her hand on my belly yesterday evening. I let her know that I didn't appreciate it. She told me that lots of people will do it, and I told her that that doesn't mean that I have to like it or to let them do it more than once. I plan to let anyone who touches me (or "the baby") without asking know that I consider it inappropriate. Just because people can see that I am growing a baby doesn't make my abdomen public property! Why do people do that? < / off soap box>

The Pregnancy Institute has some fascinating information about umbilical cords and the problems that sometimes happen. This is particularly interesting to me because when my niece was born via emergency c-section, the doctor announced that her cord was wrapped around her body 3 times. (She had not been descending and her heartrate had been decelerating during contractions.) I also have a cousin who's umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his arm and caused that arm and hand to be smaller than the other.

I'm Not Too Old For Motherhood! - Pregnancy and Birth at 40

I went shopping for maternity clothes during my lunch hour today. I got a nice pair of second-hand pants for $11. I went to a retail store and saw similar pants from $25-$50! I hope I can find more nice things for not much money.

16w5d

The past couple of mornings I had sinus/nasal drainage down the back of my throat and gagged several times. It sure makes me glad that I haven't been vomitting with my morning sickness.