What did I have to deal with during my first pregnancy? Not much in hindsight. At work I was in a nice project lull because we had just lost LA-RICS, and while there wasn't a whole lot to do on the project, I remained assigned to it since it could start back up at any time. At home, it was just Stu and Maggie, and they didn't really mind that I traveled up to LA every other week for LA-RICS. I had plenty of time to blog and plan and think about the new baby and fancy how life would change when she arrived. I also had the luxury of spending a lot of time sitting on the couch watching TV. I had so much time to just enjoy being pregnant.
Well this second pregnancy isn't nearly as leisurely. In some ways it's much more stressful. I've been traveling almost every week over the past two months... In fact, let's take a look at how much I've traveled since I got pregnant:
- April 21 - Found out we were pregnant
- May 5-8 - Austin, TX
- May 12-17 - Vancouver, WA (and during Mother's Day and my birthday! BOOHOO)
- May 28-30 - Seattle, WA
- June 10-12 - Portland, OR
- June 24-25 - Seattle, WA
- June 26-27 - Portland, OR
- July 8 (today) - 9 - Seattle, WA
- July 10-12 - Spokane, WA
And that's not all! I'm pretty much doing some travel every week in July. Who knows what August has in store for me. When I'm not traveling or working, I'm spending as much time as I can with Audrey. She's so much fun right now at this age, but she's also a handful! When you're with her, you're on duty the whole time, either playing with her, watching her to make sure she stays out of trouble, or trying to figure out why she's having a tantrum. Her terrible twos seem to be quickly approaching! So between work and Audrey, I've had very little time to think/obsess about this pregnancy.
I told Stu the other day that I feel a lot more tired with this pregnancy. Well, no wonder!! With all the traveling and chasing Audrey around, my energy is already accounted for. Luckily, as I've entered the 2nd trimester, I'm feeling much more energetic than I did during my first trimester. During the first three months, there were days that I felt like I just couldn't handle everything that was going on, and my patience was low with everything around me-- including with Audrey (why won't she just listen to me??). But now I feel much more equipped to deal with things. Feeling energetic makes all the difference in the world!
Some updates about the pregnancy...
I had some bleeding in early June-- not bright red blood or anything, just old brown blood.. but more than usual and enough to make me worried. On June 10th, a Monday, I was supposed to fly to Portland in the morning, but I changed my flight to an evening flight so I could see the doctor and get it checked out before I left. She did an ultrasound and we saw the little jelly bean in there looking fine and dandy and that eased some of my worries. Then the doctor asked me if I traveled a lot, and I told her that I did and would be for the next few months. I guess I didn't look too happy about that and she asked if there was anything she could do to help me travel less. I told her not really and that I have to travel because I'm in charge of a couple of projects. She nodded and said sympathetically, "I know it's hard being a working mom." And I'm not sure what hit me-- maybe it was the words, or the genuine tone of her voice, but I started breaking down into tears. I couldn't help it. I'll write more about this some other time, but being a working mom (especially one that is pregnant) IS hard! And I feel guilty all the time too. But again, more on that some other time. Maybe I was crying because I was relieved to find out that the baby was okay too.
We had our nuchal ultrasound on Friday, 6/21. It's basically an ultrasound that allows you to measure the fluid behind the fetus' spinal chord to determine if it is at risk of any birth defects-- primarily down syndrome and a few others that I can't remember. Last time when I was pregnant with Audrey, I didn't do the nuchal, and just did the traditional blood tests. But the results of the blood test takes a lot longer than the nuchal and you don't find out until the baby is about 4-5 months along. I didn't know this at the time, but the baby at 4-5 months is like a real baby! The stakes are so much higher at that point. I had no idea at the time, and thank goodness Audrey was perfectly healthy. This time, since I'm a little older and closer to 35, I didn't want to wait so long to find out. So we had our nuchal ultrasound and got to see the jelly bean once again... hands, feet, brain heart... and to our relief, the measurements along with the first blood tests came back all negative! The ultrasound technician asked if we wanted to know the gender, and I said yes, but only if she was absolutely sure. She couldn't tell from the ultrasound... BUT after the ultrasound, Stu and I both commented on how, when the technician was scanning from one leg to the other, we could have sworn we saw a little stick popping out! Maybe it's a boy! We'll find out for sure in a few weeks. I still have a second round of blood tests coming up, and I'm hoping those will be smooth sailing as well.
Last Monday I had a bit of a scare at my 14 Week appointment with Dr. Dilauro. When she took the heart rate monitor to my belly, for a minute there, there was NO HEARTBEAT! I freaked out a little but she moved the monitor around, then finally there it was... very faint, but definitely there! I guess the baby is so small that the heartbeat can be hard to pick up sometimes. It was nice and healthy, which was a big relief to me.
I'm sure I'll get more excited about this pregnancy as it becomes more and more real...like when I can feel the baby kicking....
Start baby registry...maybe that will get me excited! :)
Start baby registry...maybe that will get me excited! :)
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