18 Weeks: Appointment with the Midwives and Pregnancy Symptoms

Fetus at 18 Weeks

Lots to update about this morning! In anticipation of being stuck in front of my computer for a bit, I made myself a yummy breakfast that I knew would satiate my hunger for a good amount of time. I had a whole grain cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese (good sources of calcium and whole grains), a bunch of grapes (my favorite food) and a protein smoothie. The idea for the smoothie came from one of my midwives yesterday. I was telling her that I was concerned about getting enough protein for both the baby and I (I need a lot more than a non pregnant person, which is a lot more difficult when you are a vegetarian). She told me that I should limit myself to one soy product a day since no one is sure how the estrogen in soy affects the fetus. My problem lately has been that most of the really good protein options, like beans and nuts, haven't been very appealing to me, so its hard to force myself to eat them. She suggested I buy some whey protein powder from whole foods, and make it into a smoothie. So today I made Robbie and I protein smoothies with chocolate flavored whey protein powder, skim milk, a banana, a big handful of baby spinach (you can't taste it but it adds tons of nutrients) and a few ice cubes. I haven't really been enjoying bananas lately, so this is a good way for me to incorporate them back into my diet (good source of potassium and aids in healthy bowel movements). This smoothie has over 28 g of protein per serving!

Filling breakfast of bagels, grapes, and a protein smoothie

That leads to me to the check-up I had at Back Cove Midwives yesterday. I am still in the stage of my pregnancy where I have check-ups every 4 weeks. Towards the end they will increase in frequency to every 2 weeks. Yesterday I met with a different midwife (there are 4 of them and over the course of my pregnancy I am supposed to get to know all of them), Kirstin. She was so nice and I felt comfortable talking to her immediately. This week marked the beginning of my fifth month and I have put on between 8-10 pounds and have added 6 inches around my middle. Luckily nothing besides my belly has been growing yet and the midwife said that I am doing very well and am quite healthy. As usual, she measure the baby's heart rate and it was 150 bmp this time, which is healthy. The baby was moving around this time like crazy so she had to keep adjusting the doppler so we could hear the heartbeat for any extended period of time. She had me feel my belly and showed me how to find the top of my uterus...that was pretty cool. Right now, it is just below my belly button.

Usually these appointments are scheduled for 20 minutes, but one of the nice thing about having a midwife instead of a doctor is that they never make you feel rushed and let you talk as long as you need to. My appointment ended up being an hour because I had so many questions this time! I am going to put my questions in italics to make for easy skimming. I asked her about the pains I have been having in the sides of my lower abdomen sometimes, especially after really long walks or sneezing and sitting up. Like I thought, this is just due to my ligaments stretching out (she showed me a picture of how much they grow in pregnancy, and its freakish!) and she showed me some different stretches I can do to help. I asked her if it's okay that I have been sneezing a lot more, since I usually sneeze 2 or 3 times a day, and I never used to sneeze. She said this is probably due to the increased blood flow to my sinus regions, or maybe I am having allergies due to my weakened-now-pregnant immune system. She suggested I drink more water and sleep with a humidifier (which I already due because of the dry eye problem I was having early on in pregnancy). I asked her about some changes I've noticed in my breasts: a whitish-yellow film on my nipples (I know its gross, but what do you expect, this is a pregnancy blog!). Apparently this is colostrum; the early stages of milk. I thought it was weird that I've been having that since a month ago, but she said it's a good thing and means my body is doing really well in preparing to breastfeed. I also asked her about some itching I've been experience in my lower regions, and she ended up examining me and looking at some samples under a microscope as well as checking pH. Thankfully, she didn't find anything abnormal, and I am perfectly healthy, free of infection. The itchiness is probably due to me not being used to all the extra stuff going on down there. Finally, Robbie had a bunch of questions about the birth he wanted me to ask, all of which she answered the way we wanted her to. He wanted to know when they clamp the baby's umbilical cord, and she said they wait until they no longer feel a pulse. He wanted to know when they wash, weigh and measure the baby. She said they don't do it until we want them to, so we can have the baby in our arms immediately and can breastfeed right away so that we can bond with the baby. She said some people don't even have the baby weighed until the next day, and some people prefer not to have the baby washed at all. Whew, so many questions!

Now that I am well into my second trimester, I thought I would give you an updated list of symptoms I am experiencing (besides those mentioned above).

More energy
I have a lot more energy than I did in the first trimester, although I still get tired more easily, especially after a lot of exercise. I ended up saying that I can't do the adventure program anymore because I was sick of spending every Tuesday in bed all day afterward. I loved doing adventure, and I will miss seeing those dogs every week, but it was really getting to be too much for my body to handle. In general I feel more awake and spunky now, and a lot of times I don't even need a midday nap.

Occasional headaches
Only a couple of times I have gone to bed and woken up with my head swimming from a headache. Before I was pregnant I would get the occasional migraines, and these new headaches are so different. They just make my head feel fuzzy and icky and make me want to go to bead. I guess this is a common symptom, and I'm just thankful it doesn't happen very often.

Sensitive gums
They say that pregnancy hormones do awful things to your teeth, so I've been really careful about taking care of my teeth. I have never had a cavity before and I don't intend to get one now. Lately when I brush and floss my gums have been bleeding a little, which they don't usually do. This is completely normal, and I just need to keep making sure that I keep my mouth in tip top shape. I have a cleaning appointment at the dentist on March 7th.

Hearty appetite
In my first trimester, I was nearly convinced that I would never like food again. I had such a hard time eating! Now I am hungry every two hours! The midwives told me that I should try to eat every couple of hours, making sure to limit myself to nutritious foods (with occasional treats) and only eating until I am full. She said this will prevent me from gaining too much or too little weight during pregnancy (I will gain what is ideal for my body and baby) as well keep me from feeling nauseous. At first I thought I would never be able to eat that often, but now I do it out of necessity. I am always hungry, but luckily I get full pretty quickly too. I am making sure to keep up with my exercise routine (dog walking, yoga, and going to the gym) to make sure I don't put weight on in the wrong places.

Decreased morning sickness
Thankfully, I am no longer nauseous all day long! I am still a little queasy in the morning, and breakfast takes me a long time to eat. If I try to eat quickly, or I have the wrong combination of foods in the morning I sometimes still get sick. I think the trouble in the morning comes from my stubbornness not to get out of bed to eat snacks at night when I am hungry, so I wake up already feeling nauseous which makes eating tricky business. But overall, it feels great not to feel car sick all the time!

Absentmindedness
It is crazy how absentminded I have become! They say that you actually lose brain cells while you are pregnant, and I believe it. I feel like a different person sometimes! Luckily these brain cells grow back after you are pregnant...I hope this is true! I used to be able to remember everything without writing things down. Now writing things down isn't even enough, I had to buy a big wall calender and write things down on it so that I see it every time I walk by it. I am not used to being this flaky at all, and it kind of freaks me out! A couple recent examples of my absentmindedness include going to the mall on Monday with Robbie. We went with the intention of getting me a maternity bathing suit for a trip we are going on in a couple weeks and a book about buying a house for the first time. Instead, we cam home with a couple books on breast feeding, a book on learning baby sign language, and a book on amigurumi. We completely forgot about what we were supposed to get! It certainly doesn't help that Robbie is a forgetful person too hehe. Then, just this morning, Theta was meowing to go sit on the balcony so I let him out. But I completely forgot he was out there, and an hour later when I was looking around the house for him, I remembered that I had let the poor guy outside! Poor Theta was sitting at the door all puffy from the cold! I can't believe I forgot he was out there!

The last thing I wanted to mention before concluding this already too lengthy post is that poor Robbie has been home sick from work for the last couple of days. He has a sore throat and it achy all over. Of course, we are both a bit scared of me getting sick, since I have a weakened immune system now and can't really take any medicine if I do get sick. But Robbie has gone to some extreme preventative measures including wearing a face mask whenever he is working around food, washing his hands and using hand sanitizer after every task, wiping every surface he touches with disinfectant wipes, and refusing to kiss me (which makes me very sad but I suppose its for my own good). Today, he seems much better, so hopefully this is almost over and hopefully I don't get sick too. Time to go walk dogs in a blizzard!