I had my 19 weeks pregnancy appointment today. Overall it went pretty good, except the lovely pregnancy weight gain… which I’ll talk more about later. These pregnancy appointments are the same every time, so I feel like there’s not too much to report.
We heard his heartbeat and it was in the upper 150s. The shocking part of our appointment is that he is measuring 22 weeks, which is 2 weeks ahead. I guess I would rather him measure ahead than not, but I would really like to give birth vaginally. My ob briefly talked to us about this.
The baby might just be measuring big right now because he had a growth spurt. By the time our next appointment comes, he could mellow out and measure closer to that week in pregnancy. Or he’s just a big baby. In the case that he’s a big baby, she mentioned perhaps having a c-section, but of course it’s just too early to call that.
I have mixed feelings about having a c-section. I will admit that I haven’t thought about it too much because I don’t believe in worrying or stressing about something that’s not right now or totally in my control, but…
I would prefer to have a vaginal birth. Not to knock anyone that has had a c-selection, either because they had to have one or because they just wanted one, but personally I don’t want to go that route. I would like to give birth to this baby in the old-fashioned way. Anyone else feel like that?
I also asked if my due date would move up due to measuring ahead, but she said that she doesn’t move due dates. Of course everything will be evaluated as we get closer to July, but as it stands my due date remains the same. I think it’s sort of odd, but I guess the due date is in place as a guideline more so than a “it’s going to happen on this exact date”. I trust my ob, so I’ll just go with what she says.
She also asked if I had felt any movement yet. When I told her that I hadn’t, she said that I probably will feel something within the next week or two. I sure hope she is right! She told me to lay on the couch after dinner, with a pillow under my right hip so that I am on my left side, and to put my hands on my lower abdomen. She said that this will help me concentrate and be able to tune into any movement. I’ll start it tonight and hopefully I’ll feel the little man soon enough!
Now onto the dreaded topic of pregnancy weight gain.
I stepped on the scale as I do every 4 weeks and you can imagine how shocked both the nurse and I were to see that the scale said I had gained 9 pounds.
9 freakin’ pounds in 4-weeks?! Not cool.
The nurse even checked to see if the scale was broken. No joke. Sure enough it wasn’t.
Yes, I have been extra hungry lately and I have had Taco Bell a few times, but 9 pounds? I’ve never gained 9 pounds in 1 month before. I know that I’m growing a baby, but I gained the recommended pounds for a 2 month period and that’s sort of sad.
I know that I can attribute it to eating lots of carbs and starchy foods because those types of food just sound really good to me all of the time. I can also put the blame on the fact that I haven’t really been exercising. I wish that walking to the mailbox consisted a good workout, but sadly it doesn’t.
I will admit that I was a bit nervous to see what my ob had to say. I’ve heard some major horror stories about ob’s telling patients that they need to go to a nutritionist, etc. and I didn’t want to hear that I gained too much weight. I didn’t need to hear it; I already knew.
My ob was fine with it. She said that she would never tell me that I had gained too much weight. She said that she gained 47 pounds with her first pregnancy by eating junk food. With her second pregnancy she gained 46.5 pounds and that was with going to a nutritionist and eating healthy. No big difference.
She did say to try to pick lean protein over starchy kinds of food and that exercise would be good. I don’t want to gain more weight than I need to because that will just mean that I’ll need to lose that much more after I have the baby. I also don’t want to cause myself or the baby added stress and anything else that can follow excess weight gain. And you know how I feel about having a c-section. Anything I can do to help the situation I will.
She said that my next appointment would be in 4-weeks and that it would be the same as it has been. She said that she likes to do another ultrasound around 23 weeks, but since we are paying out of pocket that she doesn’t have to have this right now. She said that we’ll just continue to see how I measure in the future to see if an ultrasound is needed. At 28 weeks I’ll have more blood work done to see how my blood count is and to test for gestational diabetes.
I did have a tiny amount of blood work today, only to check and see how my thyroid is doing since I’ve been on medicine for it. The phlebotomist only needed to take 1 vile of blood, but oh. my. gosh. did it hurt. I have really small veins and phlebs always have a hard time finding a good one to use. I usually point them to the crease of my elbow, on the right arm, because that’s where I’ve had the most success.
Well, I did that this time, but she didn’t listen. I know it’s not my job, but after years of this I KNOW where to tell them to draw blood. She decided to pick a vein that was closer to my elbow (such a strange place!) and I yelped a little. IT HURT BAD.
She asked if I’d eaten that morning (of course) and said that I seem dehydrated because my blood was coming out very slowly. It was pain, the whole damn process… and it was only 1 vile. Geez. I told her that I would see her in 8-weeks for more blood, but to listen to me next time on where to put the needle. I’m going to have the biggest bruise there.
So that was my appointment. Nothing too terribly exciting happened, but I’ll definitely take that over the alternative!
You might also want to read:
- 18 weeks pregnant: Who cares about pregnancy weight gain! Need. Taco Bell. Now.
- 23 weeks pregnant: Doctor appointment today
- 34 weeks pregnant: OB pregnancy appointment
- 38 weeks pregnant: OB pregnancy appointment, date night, & my labor dream
- 15 week doctor appointment: Baby and Uterus doing great!
[...] not a big deal at all. Back in the second trimester there was a 4-week period that I gained 9 pounds. Even though I’m okay with gaining weight, that was a lot to swallow for some [...]