Pregnancy and family update

Well, I'm 14 weeks along and officially in my second trimester. I'm feeling a bit better each day it seems — though I'm not well yet and I have to be careful not to overdo it, or I pay for it, big time. I can drink water again, a fact I am much pleased by — water if just about all I drink under normal circumstances. I can brush my teeth again without gagging. I have more energy, most days (I'm still having a bit of trouble sleeping more nights than not, which drags the days down as one would expect).

I saw the endocrinologist on Monday and there was good news: my thyroid is staying where it should at the low dosage I'm at! As the PTU pills have an atrocious taste, only having to take one once a day is cause for rejoicing. My personal theories for why I'm not having to take more (as I had to with the previous pregnancies): it was attended to sooner in the pregnancy and thus didn't have a chance to get as out of whack, or this is a boy which is affecting my thyroid differently than the girls did. It does seem less likely to be twins, I suspect that would cause my thyroid to go higher — but I'm just guessing, I don't know.

I see the nurse practitioner at the midwife's office on October 8, and we'll likely schedule my ultrasound then. Hopefully a rather boring appointment. I'm not doing the triple screen test or amniocentesis, despite being an "older" mother (i.e., 35 or over). Too much chance of a false positive and unnecessary stress and worry. If there's anything wrong with the baby, well, when he/she is born will be soon enough to adjust to that. Anything that needs attending to sooner than birth should be picked up during the ultrasound. I forget when the glucose testing gets done. I figure I'll have to do both the one-hour and the three-hour version, as I have with both the previous pregnancies. Oh well, I'll get some knitting done.

Chris is happy that I'm improving, but is still shouldering more than his share of the parenting duties with the girls. He's been able to go to his gaming sessions for at least part of the time (after the girls are asleep), and with my folks in town this week he'll get to go for the whole evening. Work has started on our basement and will likely be done sometime mid to late October. It will be lovely to have the space available for the girls to play in this winter!

Mairi is enjoying going to school every day — both for the more regular schedule and because it's easier to make friends when you see them more than twice a week. She's grown taller I think, and her shape is generally changing again — she doesn't look at all like a little kid anymore, to my eyes at least. I don't know, it's hard to express the change. She's much more interested in the playing soccer this fall (not off in her own wold as in the spring), and proud of the goals she makes.

Nora is officially weaned. She hasn't even asked about it since Mairi's birthday party, back in August. I feel ever so slightly wistful about it, but mostly I'm grateful — it was time, both for her sake and because of my pregnancy. She sleeps in her own bed now, some nights by herself and others with Chris in there some or all of the night. It took four to six months for Mairi to get used to sleeping by herself, so it'll probably be a while yet before Nora is totally used to it. She's a regular chatter-box most of the time, and has more energy at the end of the day than I have in the morning. *wry smile*

The pictures are from our annual trip to the Michigan Renaissance Festival, which we made mid-month this year. A wonderful time was had by all (although I got some odd looks as I would lie down on a bench or the grass whenever I had the option), and as you can see, Nora wore herself out entirely. I was grateful that I felt well enough to go, and it was wonderful to see many of our eastern Michigan friends.

That's all for now!

Report from my appointment

I went to see Kristin, the midwife who delivered both Mairi and Nora, for my twelve week appointment today. It was nicely low-key.

I've lost about four pounds since I was last in the office (August 10^th). Kristin wasn't too concerned about that, especially since I was able to tell her that I don't think I've been losing weight over the last week or so. I think I've lost between ten and fifteen pounds overall since I became pregnant.

Kristin emphasized that for now, it's not so much what eat, it's that I do eat something, "even if that means you eat Ho Ho's all day". I told her I'm more inclined to salty food, especially Triscuits, and she replied, "Then thank heavens for Triscuits!" :-) She encouraged me to take a multivitamin, if I could find something that doesn't make me lose whatever I've been able to eat. I'm going to try the Flintstones Children's Multivitamin plus Extra C — they don't have any iron in them, and iron is often the ingredient to cause upset stomach.

We listened to the baby's heartbeat — eventually. It took rather a while to find the heartbeat, but Kristin assured me that is quite normal for this point in the pregnancy. It was nice and strong, I think about 150. There was only one heartbeat found — twins is one possible explanation that I and some others have thought of for why I've been so much sicker this time around. (Another popular theory seems to be that I'm expecting a boy. I'd be just as happy with another girl, but time will tell.) Kristin pointed out that there could, however, easily be another one hiding in there. Chris's comment? "If this is twins, just take me out back and shoot me."

So, that's all for now. I see Elizabeth, the nurse practitioner, again next month (on the 8th). I'll be about sixteen weeks, and they'll likely schedule an ultrasound for around Halloween, since they typically do one about mid-term. Hopefully by next appointment I will have actually gained a little weight!