Warning to my few male readers: This post covers reproductive-parts topics, so proceed at your own choice. The short of it is that baby and I are both fine and doing well.

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In seven pregnancies, the only ultrasound I had performed was a brief one to confirm that Katie’s tranverse/frank breech position in labor. The lack of ultrasounds was not by accident or laziness, but due to a decision to skip procedures that were not truly medically indicated. Ultrasound technology can be a great tool, but it is a tool that is greatly over-used in U.S. obstetrics without good evidence to back up its nearly ubiquitous employment. So we chose early on to only use it if there was a good medical reason.

Well, I’ve had a new and strange pain this pregnancy in my lower right abdomen. It has at times brought me to tears with its intensity. I could feel a swolleness that seemed to be in the area of my right ovary.

At my 13 week prenatal (last Monday), B. was able to feel the swollenness in the tender area. This is why we decided to go ahead and listen for hearttones with the doppler, because though it’s rare for an ectopic pregnancy to make it that far, it is possible. Finding hearttones (at last!) confirmed that there was indeed a growing baby in my uterus, though it didn’t explain the pain.

Over the weekend, my pain “pattern” changed, and on Monday I called my primary midwife, Mary. Jonathan and I agreed with her that it would be good to get an ultrasound to see if we could find out what was going on. We had several possibilities I was going to look into for where to get the ultrasound. I procrastinated through Monday, though, and Monday night was in quite a bit of pain.

Tuesday morning I called the number Mary had given me for a wonderful OB that she’s gotten to know recently. I talked with her late Tuesday afternoon, and by the end of our phone call, she said she would call the hospital closest to me Wednesday morning and see if they could get me in for an ultrasound on Wednesday. On the list of possibilities were ovarian cysts of various types(that might be causing torsion, a twisting of the ovary on its “stem” that could lead to the death of the ovary), ovarian cancer, and an ectopic pregnancy (in addition to the growing little one).

Wednesday afternoon found us at the hospital. At the welcome desk was a huge bowl of apples. I asked Jonathan if he thought they were to there to keep the doctors away.

The ultrasound tech who worked with us was extremely nice and she really helped put me at ease. She did both a trans-abdominal and a trans-vaginal ultrasound. I had a lot of mixed emotions about the whole thing… wishing that we didn’t need to do it at all, delight in seeing the tiny person growing inside me, and concern about what they might find. Alex, the tech, asked if we minded if she printed us a picture of our baby. Of course not! Though I would have preferred to not need the ultrasound, I figured I might as well get a baby pic out of it!

The long and short of the ultrasound results are that the radiologist didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. When Mary told me this over the phone last night, I wailed, “Well, then what’s wrong with me??!??” But I have to admit it’s much better than finding out that I need to have surgery, etc.

I don’t know if the Lord has chosen to heal whatever has been causing me pain (I haven’t had any significant pain since Monday night and can barely feel the swollen spot), or if there is some other cause than my ovary for the pain. For now, we’re moving forward in faith and trusting that if there is anything that needs to be dealt with, it will be made clear.

In the meantime, I keep coming back to this precious souvenir, which has greatly relieved my sense of surrealness about this pregnancy. There really truly is a baby in there and I’m so thankful!

Monday morning, I had a prenatal. I’ve been a little uneasy about this pregnancy, which has seemed almost surreal to me at times for some reason. Though we don’t generally opt for the use of a doppler during prenatals, preferring to wait for hearttones until a fetascope can detect them, I was more than ready to hear this little one’s heartbeat on Monday.

After some discussion (because I hadn’t talked to Jonathan about my perceived need to hear the heartbeat), B got the doppler ready and started looking. And looking… and looking. Since I was already concerned, it seemed like an eternity. After a couple minutes, B suggested that she try her other doppler (that’s more sensitive, but has some battery issues). One she got it powered up, she went back to looking for a heartbeat. It was obvious it had a better signal, but still… looking and looking. I just closed my eyes, waiting and praying. I could feel the tears pricking at my eyelids. I never thought the beat of my own heart would be a sound I wouldn’t want to hear. And then, the most beautiful song in the word – the beat of my little one’s heart. My eyes flew open and met B’s, both sets full of joy and relief. Sweet little heart, pumping along in the 140’s or 150’s. Bliss.

A friend of mine was a couple weeks further along in her pregnancy than me. It was kind of neat to have a buddy at almost the same stage as myself. Until last Friday, when they found out that their little one had died. She birthed him at home early last Saturday morning. My sorrow for my friends has been a thread running through my emotions all this week, and they are in my thoughts and prayers regularly. Even in my joy, they are in my thoughts. What a complex mix our emotions can be.

I’m starting to gain more energy and am hopeful that I’ll get back to blogging more regularly soon. I have lots to tell you!

Our local church family had a neat surprise for us yesterday during fellowship break – A Baby Bath! It was basically a low-key baby shower with a rubber ducky theme, hence, Baby Bath. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures, because my camera (which is always in my purse) was in the work truck. But good memories! And someone had a 35mm camera that was used for pictures, so eventually we’ll have some evidence. 😉

In other pregnancy news, I hit 34 weeks tomorrow! I’ve been feeling pretty good lately, especially when I stay on top of getting my protein, exercise, vitamins, etc, etc. Swelling is under control, BP is fine, I’m getting used to the carpal tunnel, and my energy level overall is good. I do seem to be a little low on amniotic fluid, so I’m trying to drink even more water so baby can make more cushion for him or her self.

In other health news, we’re trying traction to try to get out the knot in my neck/shoulder. Between that and the wonderful massager that J bought for me, I’m not having much of the burning from the knot that has been haunting me for the last couple months. Praise the Lord!

I find myself pretty quiet lately online and in my email groups. It’s an interesting thing to me. It’s not that I’m hiding, or that I don’t want to communicate. It just seems important to use my energy elsewhere. So I find myself not replying to blogs and group emails on which I would usually comment, and blogging very little myself. I have tons to say, just seem to be on auto-filter. Some women nest right before going into labor; I think I nest 1-2 months beforehand. 🙂

Speaking of nesting, we re-arranged and cleaned our room yesterday. Yay! Our room is very dark (wood panelling that was there when we bought the house), and I very much feel the need to lighten things up. So we re-arranged and did some cleaning, and I got out the light-colored quilt. J even said that we could go ahead and paint that dark wood panelling! Woohoo!

Why all the need to lighten and brighten? I have had, with some of our babies, a tendency to slide downhill emotionally after birth. I’m greatly aware of how much my physical environment affects me, and I’m concerned that being in a dark dreary room during those critical first couple of weeks will drag me down emotionally. The thought of being in a fresh and light room, however, lifts my spirits even now! I’m praying that I can find someone willing to come and paint for us so that J doesn’t have to use his limited time off work to do it. We’ll see how it works out! 🙂

So that’s the latest scoop from our house – how are you all?

I talked this morning with my lovely midwife in Kansas, where we will be travelling for our “homebirth away from home.” in June. I feel much lighter of heart!

Some of the things that helped lighten my heart and ease my mind –

After hearing about what my body’s been doing the last few weeks, she’s not worried about preeclampsia at this point. I’m going to keep tabs on my BP, etc, and keep in place the healthy changes I’ve made in the last couple weeks, but my mental load over this issue is lessened by her confidence.

It was interesting to hear her recommendations for protein intake. I actually wasn’t doing poorly with protein intake before, according to what she recommends. I was still getting way too much junk food and too many wasteful carbs. I find it fascinating that so many women that I respect and see helping women have healthy babies have such varying opinions about things like optimal protein levels. I’m not sure where we’ll land over the next few weeks on what my daily goal will be for protein intake, but it’s encouraging to know that there probably isn’t a perfect number!

While not sounding happy about how much weight I’ve gained already (I was expressing my concern about this issue), she is happy with the fact that I’ve changed my eating and exercise habits the last couple weeks. She thinks that if I’m really committed to eating well and exercising faithfully, that I could healthily maintain my current weight or possibily drop some before delivery. Dropping weight is never a good goal in pregnancy, but it’s neat to know that if I take advantage of the spirit of power, love, and self-control that God has given me (2 Tim. 1.8), that I could see some of the junk food weight come off while nurishing my baby better.

And then there’s just the excitement that comes from getting ready to order a birth kit and starting to really prepare for a birth. That always gives me such a lift.

Guess what??

I’m gonna have a baby!!!!!!! 😀

First of all, I want to thank Michelle for not letting me blow off her concerns about the possibility of preeclampsia developing. You are a true friend!

Last night I got a call from a dear friend of mine who knows a TON about pregnancy and birth. She had read my Checking In post on my blogspot blog and called in the midst of an extremely busy and stressful time to check on me because my symptoms raised a lot of red flags for her as well. This was followed a few hours later by a terrific informative email from another dear friend who was alarmed by what was going on with me. They both were concerned about preeclampsia and had some super practical suggestions on how to head it off.

Sometime between yesterday evening and this morning, I realized that when I talked to my midwife about the tingling in my hands/arm, I didn’t mention the swelling. I called her this morning to round out the information I’d given her and she too was very concerned.

So, here are some changes I’m making. Some are specifically to head off the preeclampia possibility, some are things I should have been doing anyway and have been lazy about . . .

~ I am boosting my protein intake Bigtime. I have not been getting nearly enough protein in my diet and this is probably why I’m having such trouble. My goal is to get between 125-150 grams of protein a day for a while and see what this does to my symptoms.

~ I’m serious about charting my food intake now!

~ A cucumber a day.

~ I will be having my BP checked once a week for the rest of this pregnancy. What I learned last night is that often BP doesn’t do a sudden rise with preeclampsia, but it rises in smaller gradual steps. Tracking it weekly should help me keep tabs on where it’s headed. Today it was 112/62, which is right along what it’s been throughout this pregnancy.

~ I’m being faithful in taking my vitamins – duh!! I have been really bad about this this pregnancy.

~ Though I’m usually a strong advocate of moderation, which for me includes allowing myself a cup of coffee per day in pregnancy, I’m dropping the coffee for now. It interfers with calcium absorbption, and hubby’s research last night found a connection between low calcium levels and preeclampsia. I should be drinking my Red Raspberry Leaf tea anyway. 🙂

~ I have also been waaaaaaaaay lax about exercise this pregnancy, and I’m going to keep working on getting back into that habit, though not so aggressively as I was on Monday and Tuesday of this week. I’m going to plan on two 10 minute sessions of non-intense exercise each day. Reasons? 1) The exercise I got Monday and Tuesday does seem to have made a significant difference in the swelling. 2) Hubby found several studies last night that found that exercise did not have a negative effect on moms dealing with preeclampsia. 3) Two brief periods of gentle exercise should not offset the huge boost I’m making in my protein levels.
Note – I’m open to more input and research on this.

There are probably other things I’m working on, but that’s what I can think of at the moment. And I need a nap. 🙂

I have more eternally significant things to blog about today, but I feel compelled to share with you that I am so glad it is starting to feel like spring! Besides all the usual reasons, there’s my maternity wardrobe. And my size. Or maybe it’s the way my maternity wardrobe and my size are fitting together. For a little while longer….

You see, the cute summer clothes that I had looked forward to wearing closer to “term” fit me now. Not fit as in, “I’m pregnant-enough-looking to avoid looking ridiculous wearing this outfit” but fit as in, “Hmmm… won’t be able to wear this much longer.” The large end of my maternity wardrobe is all summer stuff, hence the rejoicing over springlike weather.

About the size issue… I started this pregnancy about 25 pounds heavier than I would have liked to have been. I’m 25 weeks along and I’ve gained 30 pounds. The midwife is not concerned about the weight, but she has cleared me to start watching my carbs if it will make me feel better. I’m not too worried about the weight myself, because I think a big part of why I just couldn’t lose it before I got pregnant was because of the estrogen dominance issue. I feel very confident about getting it off after the baby arrives.

In the meantime, it won’t be long before I’m going to run out of clothes that fit! For now, though, I’m just going to enjoy wearing my summer clothes. I shall consider myself the beacon of coming warm weather!

This is mostly for my own documentation…

I’m looking forward to my next prenatal – to seeing what my caregiver thinks of my fundal height. I’ve been consciously practicing self-palpation for my last several pregnancies, and I’m regularly feeling the top of my fundus at my belly button. On me, that’s ~22-23 cm. Generally, your fundus corresponds to the number of weeks along you are, and for me that’s held true through 6 previous pregnancies.

Here are some possible reasons I found on babycenter.com for measuring “large for dates”:
• Your due date is off. (Nope, don’t think that’s possible)

• You have looser abdominal muscles than most women as a result of an earlier pregnancy. (rofl!! I’ve had 6 earlier pregnancies – ya think?! But my abdominal muscles have been looser than normal for 10 years, so I’m not thinking this is it)

• You have uterine fibroids. (This is a known side effect of estrogen dominance, so I’m not ruling it out. However, looking at the list, pre-pregnancy I had no symptoms of uterine fibroids, so I’m not super concerned about this)

• You’re carrying twins or more. (Twins do run in my mom’s family…)

• You have too much amniotic fluid. (I suppose this is possible, but honestly, what I’m feeling does not feel like amniotic fluid to me)

• Your baby is positioned high above your pelvis, which might be the case with a breech baby or if you have a placenta previa. (This early in the pregnancy, I don’t think these would really be issues)

• You have a bigger-than-normal baby because of gestational diabetes. This condition is known as macrosomia. You may need to be tested to rule it out. (Given my history, the list of risk factors, and my current condition, I really don’t think this is it. And my urine’s been “great”! lol)

So that’s the fundal height report. Any reasons you know of that aren’t listed here?