Twenty Seven Weeks

How far along? 27w2d

Maternity clothes? All maternity bottoms, I'm starting to notice all my non-maternity tops that I thought would work until August are getting too tight. O.M.G. there's a little baby growing in there! Scary thing is that I've probably seen nothin' yet in terms of size. I still can't imagine having a 7 or 8 pounder in there. Guess I don't have long to wait.

Stretch marks? light ones on my bbs which have not gotten worse since their debut last month, my belly still looks great. I'm applying the belli oil every time I get out of the shower. My skin still has a considerable amount of stretch to go - I never thought of myself as 'flabby' - I'm kind of petite - but my belly seems a little more, um, squishy, and less taught than I'd prefer at this stage. I look like I have a beer belly. It jiggles a little. Gross. Not that I care much (or at all), just observing and if it keeps the stretch marks away, so be it. There will always be time later to tone up right? Ha ha.

Sleep? I love sleep. I have to turn over 4-5 times a night because my hips start to hurt and I get up about 4 times to pee, and the dogs wake me up about another 3 times (one likes to stretch her legs out every so often so I get these jabs out of nowhere - the body pillow comes in handy for belly protection), but other than that, I can't complain.

Best moment this week? Passing my glucose test! My OBG, in true form, didn't call to talk about my results. Her assistant finally called to tell me I'm slightly anemic according to some other blood work but didn't mention a word about my glucose test. I used to assume no news was good news. And then the whole CPC think happened and...well, you know. So I asked about the glucose test and she confirmed it was a-ok. I was so relieved. I don't think I could take 14 hrs of fasting - I get dizzy and sick if I go for 2 hours without food. It would not be pretty to see me trying to do the glucose tolerance test.


Worst moment? My little dog passing away.

Movement? Yes. He's getting stronger every day, I feel him at different times than just mealtime now and I feel different, more subtle movements. It's so awesome, I get so excited when he moves and especially when I can see my belly jolting around, it's amazing. Still the best part of pregnancy.

Food cravings? I'm feeling like I'm back in the first trimester now in the sense that not much sounds appetizing. Instead of debilitating nausea it's heartburn now. Yuck. I find that if I stick to 'light' food it's tolerable. No chinese or indian which is what I've been craving lately. I'm eating bagels and light cream cheese, light mochas and lattes, string cheese, tofu salads, veggie burgers, bean burritos, that kind of thing.


Gender? It's a boy! As far as we know.

What I miss: I'm really starting to miss good hard workouts. I also miss beer on friday nights and wine with dinner. DH thinks if we want two kids we should have them back-to-back and I like that idea in theory (should we be so lucky to be able to choose the timing of things) but I think I will enjoy the 'break' from pregnancy that I have coming. For a lot of reasons, not just the alcohol. It's funny because I love the fact of being pregnant. I like the belly and the idea of giving something life and the movement and I don't mind the clothes or the extra lbs. I just have a hard time with the the worry, the mind games, and the total alcohol deprivation thing. In that order.

What I look forward to: My next appointment, June 1. Even fundal height checks give me reassurance since the CPC was found. Some people 'find' T18 in the third trimester when their growth falls off or when the amniotic fluid is too high. Since I have no more scheduled ultrasounds I have to rely on the basics and fundal height is not something I've learned to do myself. I'm a little scared of the upcoming appointments given the possibility of a late discovery of the problem I most fear, but since realistically that fear seems unwarranted, I am looking forward to the reassurance. I'm also looking forward to having appointments every two weeks rather than this once-a-month routine.

Milestones: Passed the glucose test. Also, we set up the crib. It was a big step for me. Kind of emotional. Especially since, get this, when we were done and satisfied that all the parts were in their places and no pieces were damaged or missing, we threw the packaging away. No going back. When I walk by that room I can't quite get my head around there being a big beautiful crib catching the corner of my eye. It's a little unnerving and I'm wondering if I should keep the door closed for a while longer. At this point it's still just the crib. No dresser, no changing table, no decorations, so it's only going to get weirder.



Emotions: Better this week. The CPC has sunk deeper into its proper perspective. For now at least. I have a more 'come what may' attitude about it most of the time. But I still can't stop thinking about it. And sometimes, I find that I can't stop talking about it (and not just on this blog). I somewhat randomly mentioned it to DH's cousin this weekend while we were getting pedicures at a local outdoor mall. It wasn't too random, she was talking about how much 'they' scare you when you're pregnant. So I mentioned that I totally understood...for example.... I think I do it because I'm hoping someone will recognize what a CPC is and have a happy story to report back to me or a 'devil may care' attitude that I can emulate. But that never happens, unfortunately. I don't know a single person IRL that knows what a CPC or trisomy 18 is. I get a lot of blank or alarmed looks. That's the other thing, the CPC and T18 association is awfully hard to explain without horrifying people. Maybe that's why my reaction has been so visceral - it's a tragic situation to have a T18 baby and that makes even the remotest of chances loom large. Only after weeks of study and immersion have I been able to get the perspective that I should have trusted from the beginning. How can I expect to relay what the situation is to someone in 2-3 sentences? Really even if I did have a good answer, there seems no need to belabor it and I think I might try to keep a lid on it from here on out.