19th Week Update

Things went well at the appointment on Wednesday. We heard the heartbeat and we even got to hear my heartbeat, because the baby was close to where my pulse was. It was interesting how different the two sounded. Again, all was well with the baby and my blood pressure was still good. I had a few questions about some things that I have been feeling lately and he said they were all normal or things he was not worried about. I also found out that I can do some leg lifts to help stretch out my muscles in hopes that they won't feel as tight as they have been. The key will be no gravity involved, since that is pretty much my enemy right now. The doctor said that I am in the crucial stage right now. Usually, people that have IC have problems between 18-24 weeks. I'm 19 weeks right now, so I am at the beginning of that.

I went into labor the first time with Ethan at 22 weeks, and that is only 3 weeks away. So, we really want to make it past that point and then the next goal will be to get past Ethan's birth week of 25 weeks. I will have to take it especially easy over the next couple of weeks and then once we get past the next 6 weeks, it will literally be every week I can get in the hopes of making it to somewhere in the 30's. I'm pretty sure we are looking at a September baby if all goes as planned over the next several weeks. We are fine with a September baby as long as we make it past the most critical time healthwise.

The baby has been moving like crazy. I have really noticed a lot of movement lately, which really helps my days go better. I make sure I talk to the baby and I even have Ethan saying hi and he likes to give kisses to the baby. We actually saw our friends' baby after the appointment, he was born about 5 weeks ago and Ethan really liked seeing him. It has helped us with showing him what will happen over the next few months. He was able to see Anne's tummy grow and then he was able to see the baby that we have talked to him about. I figure that anything we can do to prepare him will help him with the changes a little more. I know it will still be a shock to him, but maybe it won't be so big.

I go back to the doctor on June 11 and we have the 20 week ultrasound right before it. We'll hopefully be able to see if it is a boy or a girl at that time. We are looking forward to it and at that point I will be 21 weeks, so hopefully, they will be able to see if anything is changing with me during the ultrasound, which hopefully it isn't.