Wow, SO much has happened since I last wrote. It has been on my mind to post things, and I keep losing track of the time. So here is the updates to fill you in:
It's a girl! We went in for our 20 week ultrasound, and of course the technician gave us her 'best guess', but she checked a bunch of times throughout the whole ultrasound (it was at least an hour or so) and each time it was a girl result to her, so we are very confident (though stranger things have happened). We have already painted her room pink, and I have to do some black rose stencils on an accent wall with the window. I can't wait to finish setting up the nursery, but I know we have to wait till after the baby shower, which won't be until January. But I can get started now, with what we have :) We are so excited! I felt like it was a girl, but I guess we all have a 50/50 chance with our guesses, right? Oh and we have decided to name her Alissandra Serina. We will probably call her Ali or Alissa. But yay, exciting!
So I would say my pregnancy has been pretty smooth sailing for the most part, with a few hiccups here and there like acne, morning sickness, spotting in the first trimester, etc. However, the afternoon after we got our ultrasound completed, I started to get a jabbing pain in my lower right area of my abdomen. I tried to ignore it the first day. The next day, it was absolutely crippling, and I was crying and could barely walk. I can only compare it to someone shoving a knife in my side and turning it (the exact location was on the lower right abdomen, almost near the groin area). I called our nurse hotline to talk to them, and amazingly enough, it was just round ligament pain! Some people get it worse than others, and it is often common in second and third pregnancies, so I was surprised to get it so bad. There is always a concern that it might be appendicitis, as that is also a stabbing pain, but has some other side effects too that I wasn't having. Also, when you are that far along in your pregnancy, your appendix typically isn't located in that area anymore. So I ended up purchasing a maternity belt. Let me tell you, that (and prayer, heating pads and Tylenol) worked! I went to the maternity store, walked in, and pathetically said "give me your best maternity belt, please!". It was $40, and was their 'heavy duty' one that had a front support, then a back support that Velcros onto the front, and even a top strap you can use to help you for back pain. It took the weight off of my pulling ligaments, and I only had to wear it for about 5 days. I'm not feeling the pain anymore and don't have to wear the belt, but it was a worthwhile purchase to me, and it can come in handy later in the pregnancy if any more ligament pain or back pain comes. I also hear having your belly supported like that can help prevent frequent dashes to the bathroom to pee, because the baby is lifted up a bit off your bladder. Sounds good to me!
So I was really bummed because at 20 weeks, I still couldn't feel her move. Every once and a while I felt a teeny flutter, but I didn't want to be a silly person to treasure gas bubbles, so I figured I would just wait till I was sure. At 21 weeks, I finally felt my little dear move! It felt like I had a random twitch in my uterus..and that's what I thought it was, but I thought that was a weird place to get a twitch. And it wasn't rhythmic or anything, and not exactly in the same spots. I asked some friends, and they were convinced it was the baby. Over the next few days, I kept feeling this more and more, and in different spots, so I knew it was her for sure. Funny story: I was with my husband at the movies, and she was being pretty active and I wanted her to be able to feel her for the first time! I grabbed his hand, and he kind of had to shove it down my pants (I was wearing those high waisted maternity pants) and I think we made the gentleman a couple seats down uncomfortable, thinking we were getting down and dirty, lol! Oh well, small price to pay for my husband to feel his daughter move for the first time :)
Now I am feeling her a bunch. It is still small and subtle, but its fun and reassuring. Last night, I had my first experience of her pushing against my bladder. It was a weird feeling..I had like little surges of REALLY having to pee, but just for that instance when she was pushing against it, haha. Oh it is all so very entertaining.
It is almost winter time now, and the doctors practically make you and your spouse get flu shots if you are pregnant, so we got those today. I hope we don't get sick from them (I know, people say that is a rumor, but I haven gotten sick immediately after getting one before, so pardon me if I am superstitious). Our next baby appointment is in a couple weeks. We have scheduled our labor and delivery classes to start in late January, so we should be done with those in late February. Baby is due April 1, but I'm predicting an early delivery (or at least I am going to do anything in my power to get her to come early by a week or two, with no limits to walking funny, getting my feet massaged, and any other old wives tales out there that wont jeopardize our health). Anyway, it has been a fun and educational few weeks!
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