Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Baby belly (or lack thereof)

Funny how a lot of the people I follow here on Blogger are having blog identity crisis, or hardcore writer's block. I've felt like that ever since I started here lol. Anywho...

So the heart monitor came back with absolutely no "events" captured. Even when I felt "palpitations" from practically running through Lowes trying to catch up to J, even when I felt them while sitting in my chair doing nothing (twice), nothing captured on the monitor. Which is a good thing, since it means it's pretty much in my head and I'm just being sensitive to my body and blood pressure changes. The echo came back with only minor things that the cardiologist said could be old, or it could be from being pregnant, but he wasn't concerned about it unless I started having issues because of how minor they were. So $80 in copays and some mild irritation later, at least I know my heart's good n can tell my family doc I finally got it checked out. Go me.

I just got home from my 32-week appointment. Aimee's heartrate has been running in the 140's-150's, and today was no exception. The midwife was a little concerned that my fundal height hadn't increased at all since my last appointment two weeks ago (30cm), but said it could be because baby girl is starting to engage. According to the midwife, "we're not going to worry about it until your next appointment". If it hasn't "caught up" by then, she wants to do an ultrasound to make sure Aimee's growth is on track. I actually am not all that concerned at this point, because I weighed a hair over 7lb at birth, and her daddy (as big and solid as he is now!) only weighed 6lb 5oz when he was born - so I'm kind of expecting her to be on the smaller side. We'll see what happens though - a lot can change in two weeks, especially with pregnancy.

On that note, I'm going to leave you with a couple belly pictures J took 3 weeks ago, and try to take a short nap before I have to leave for work. :)


Saturday, February 4, 2012

Itchy, skanky, and gumpy.

Sooooo...my chest itches. Not in a TMI kind of way. I mean, the skin on my chest is itching and crawling. Darn medical tape. I'm currently in hour 22 of a 24-hour holter monitor, and since I'm allergic to silk tape, I am in misery. What's worse, I have to leave for work in an hour, and I'm not allowed to bathe or shower while I have the damn thing on! So I get to go to work feeling skanky (only allowed sponge baths), with yucky hair (washing it in the sink just does NOT get it clean enough), and aching from sleeping like crap last night (only thing that gets me moving in the morning is a bath/shower to loosen up my muscles). But enough complaining for now.

Why a holter? Well, it seems that between an old murmur that never bothered me, higher blood volume from pregnancy, and high stress at work lately, I've developed palpitations. Normally, that wouldn't be of concern, since I'm having a "normal" pregnancy, but since I've been getting dizzy, lightheaded, and flushed with them, the midwife decided I should have it checked out. So, I sit here with a monitor strapped to my chest. I'll be following up with the cardiologist again on Friday, and hopefully it catches something so he doesn't make me do the 10-day monitor. Never thought I'd see the day I'd be excited to go to work just to get rid of a monitor!!