It's A BOY!

We’re pregnant. 17 weeks and 3 days & it’s a BOY!

This pregnancy is different. I’m not sure what exactly feels different, but it just is. For starters, I tested negative at 5 weeks out. We naively assumed “better luck next month.”  Less than two weeks later, I had this tiny wave of nausea and I just knew I was pregnant. Sure enough, it was positive.

Symptoms:

Overall, my symptoms have been minimal. I had a few days here and there with minor nausea and food aversions, and I only gagged and dry heaved while brushing my teeth. I knew my nausea with Parker was so minimal compared to countless other women, but I worried because this pregnancy was even less than that.

Lower back and hip pain came next with vengeance. It was terrible, and I could only take Tylenol since you cannot have ibuprofen while pregnant. It made for a pretty rough car ride to/from our Cumberland trip and a pretty miserable Atlanta trip.

My biggest symptom has been fatigue, and narcoleptic symptoms hit me right after my Atlanta trip. I’m just tired, run down, and exhausted. I even rested in my office floor with a jacket wadded up as a pillow on day on my lunch break. Those 15 minutes seriously allowed me to survive the day.  On a brighter note, I’ve had a little bit more energy the past week or so.

Sciatica sucks. I didn’t have problems with my sciatic nerve with Parker, so it really caught me off guard. I’ve had problems with it off and on for a solid 4 weeks now. 

Doctor’s Appointments:

June 18^th (8 weeks) – I had an appointment with a nurse. Basically, they confirmed pregnancy and drew blood for routine lab work… nothing too exciting. Estimated due date: Jan. 27, 2014

July 8^th (11 weeks) – Wil and I headed for my first appointment with Dr. Smith fully anticipating hearing the heartbeat. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find it with the Doppler, so we discussed that maybe my weeks really weren’t 11 weeks. That was my thought all along since I had the negative test at 5 weeks. Dr. Smith pulled out a tiny handheld sonogram, and we got to see that tiny heart fluttering. That made me feel better, but I was still really disappointed to not actual hear it. We only got to see the screen for maybe 3 seconds. When she checked me, she discovered that I was 11 weeks but my uterus was tilted backwards. Dr Smith was so casual about it and said that explained my lower hip/back pain and why we couldn’t hear the heartbeat. It was just too far in my back. We didn’t really have time to think of questions to ask about it, but thanks to Dr Google I learned that it often tilts forward around 12-14 weeks.  

mayoclinic.com
 

  Side bar: My good friend, Nikki (& Rodney), is also pregnant. She knew how bummed we were about not hearing the heartbeat. She brought over a headset Doppler for us to try. It took a couple of weeks, but we can finally hear the baby. THANK YOU Nikki & Rodney for giving us that piece of mind.

August 5^th (15 weeks) – This appointment was pretty uneventful. I went alone and got to hear the heartbeat. Dr Smith said she loves pregnancy appointments like mine. Low-key is always best. (My sciatic nerve problems started about 2 days later, so I wasn’t able to ask any questions about treatment for it)

August 26^th (18 weeks 16 weeks 3 days) – Gender ultrasound -- BOY! We learned at this ultrasound that my weeks were off. This baby boy was smaller than 18 weeks, and they adjusted me backwards to 16 weeks 3 days. New due date: Feb. 7th, 2014

September 9th (18 weeks 3 days) - follow-up ultrasound for full scan... since the baby was too small for all the anatomy scans, this ultrasound will check his heart, brain, spine, etc.

Parker:
Parker was pretty adamant that this baby is a girl. It's been interesting trying to convince him that it's a boy.

Names:
We're open to suggestions. :)