Week 25 Doctor's Appointment

Can I just say how much I love my doctor?! Seriously, when she asked me what's new with the pregnancy, she really meant it! I get so used to doctors who rush you in and out of the exam room and she just wanted to sit and catch up! We talked about how I can feel and see rolling body parts now. I told her how people can see the baby moving through my clothes. We talked about nursery decor and our bathroom renovation project! Seriously, this woman is great!

So, on to the stats. I'm measuring (literally, they measure you with a tape measure in centimeters and that number should agree with how far along you are in weeks) 24.5 to 25 weeks which is on track. We tried to count the heartbeat but the baby was rolling and moving all around and she that she couldn't get an exact count, but that it sounded in the 140 to 150 range.

Weight gain to date - 11 pounds

I'll post updated belly pictures soon!

Things they don't tell you when you get pregnant...

There have been a few surprises along the way (all of which turns out are common but are just not openly discussed at doctor's appointments). To list, here's been a few of the unusual things that have happened since getting pregnant:

Nosebleeds - It's not the most pleasant thing to think about, but since you have about twice the amount of blood flowing around in your body, nosebleeds are more common during pregnancy. Up until today, my experience with this had been limited to seeing a little bit of blood in a tissue after blowing my nose every now and then. Well today, I experienced a full on nosebleed. I haven't had one in years and I guess my body was saving up for it because it got to be so scary that I wound up calling my ob to see if there was anything I could do to help it stop. I sat for over an hour on the couch with an ice pack on my face and tissues clamped down on my nose. Finally, it let up and I'm being cautious the rest of the day not to get up to fast or run around.

Hair growth - I think it's common knowledge that women's hair growth and texture can change during pregnancy, but I never thought I would notice such a huge change! For me, my hair growth has slowed down tremondously. While this is great for my legs, it means that I've gone 17 weeks without a haircut and you can barely tell that my hair has grown any!

Stomach muscles - This one freaked me out the most at first(and now it just makes me laugh!). Apparently, as your uterus grows, the stomach muscles pull apart from the center to make room. You'll hear people say they've "popped" and I think this has to do with this fact. Your stomach muscles separate down the middle and finally your uterus pops through. This is what my stomach looks like when I'm laying down...

And when I go to sit up... Check out how my muscles are able to keep everything in place along the sides. Along the center, there's nothing to stop it so my uterus (and everything else) just busts right through!

This may have been tmi (especially for all the non pregnant ladies) but I just find it so interesting how just about every aspect of your body changes to accomodate another life growing inside!

23 week belly

In honor of the warmer weather (we've had three days in a row of almost 70 degree weather), I've decided that maternity capri pants and shorts are a must. Today I crammed myself into a pre-pregnancy pair of capris and am wearing them unbuttoned with a bella band. The belly is on the move and seems to be growing by the week!

I'm up 11 pounds total and don't see an end in sight. I seem to be following the standard of 1 pound per week after twenty weeks. I have 17 more weeks to go and hopefully only 17 more pounds to gain! For the first time, a friend this week told me that at least now I look pregnant and not just that I had put on a few pounds! I guess that's a good thing :)

20 week ultrasound short video

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2960782&alb=0

This was the only way I could share the video. The original video is 14 minutes long and too large to upload to blogger or photobucket. I cropped the video with a software that I have on my computer, but then I wasn't able to save it as a file that was supported by the above mentioned outlets. The only way to share the cropped video is to host it through the software's sharing website. I don't intend for you to have to download anything to be able to watch this video so my feelings won't be hurt if it asks you to and you decline!

The voice you hear on the ultrasound (other than the doctor explaining what things are) is my sister! She was narrating the ultrasound and asking more questions that me! The video is about 2 minutes long and when the doctor gets down into the pelvic/leg area, even I have a very difficult time making the parts out and it starts to look like a big moving blur!