It's been awhile...

Well, since I last wrote, I have progressed from the first trimester to the second trimester. In fact, yesterday I hit the 14 week point.
I have actually had a few more appointments too.
On March 4th I returned to the hospital for my second ultrasound. First, though, I made a stop by Mauri's cousin's room to see her and her newly born baby boy. It was good to see that the rooms here are much better than those at the old hospital, and it gave me the opportunity to see what awaits me in 6 months or so.
I went back downstairs to my appointment, and this time I was able to see a lot more movement. Although the ultrasound doesn't seem as clear as the last one, I was able to see that the baby was much bigger, and I could see him (or her) move his legs around quite a bit. The doctor actually got him to move around more by pushing on my belly. She then asked if I would like to know the gender, if she were able to see something, and I said "of course"!!
So, she told me that she thought that it was a boy!
I was pretty surprised that she would try to say so early, and it made me think of one of my co-workers from the nursery school who was convinced that she was having a boy because they had told her that they were pretty sure it was a boy during her first hospital ultrasound. Last week, though, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl. So, I guess I'll just add the doctor's opinion to the poll, and wait for my 18th week ultrasound at the private office before I start buying lots of blue outfits and sports gear.
I was told that my blood analysis had been done too early, and that I needed to have it repeated. They were actually able to do it right there, which was very nice because it was quite a change from having the analisis done at the overcrowded ambulatorio.
The next day, though, I received a call that I would have to return to the hospital the following tuesday, March 9th. They weren't able to tell me why, of course...

March 9th: 13 weeks!!
I went to the hospital in the morning, and I guess I wasn't too surprised to find out that they wanted me to make an appointment for an amniocentesis. It seems that they used to do them for only women above 35, but now they also look for risk factors in younger mothers to be.
Since I am already 35, I wasn't surprised to be in the group of women who are advised that they should do an amniocentesis. I made an appointment for the 30th of March. They suggested that time of the month because I would be at 16 weeks by then, but I wouldn't have to worry about conflicts with Easter week.
I was a little bit uneasy after that appointment, and was happy that I had my private doctor's appointment scheduled for that evening. That appointment was interesting, too, because it was the first apointment that Mauri was able to come to.
The two of us went in, and I got the doctor up to date on all of my other appointments, and gave him the information about the amniocentesis. The doctor told me not to worry. He said that it was normally recommended for women my age, and although the amnio does have risks, overall it is a low-risk procedure. He also told me that if I would feel more comfortable having it done there, I could. The plus side- I would have the results in 24 hours, compared with the 3 weeks that the hospital generally takes to get you the results.
I guess I should have asked about the price. While this doctor generally has reasonable prices, it is also frustrating to have to pay twice for a procedure. (The "free" procedure comes out of the 570 euros that Mauri sends the gov. weekly for soc. security for the 4 workers on the boat- regardless of whether they earn anything that week or not.(separate from the third they take out for taxes afterwards, of course)) Since I pay for the "free" procedure whether or not I have it done, the private procedure seems that much more expensive to me.
On the other hand, the peace of mind that comes with having it done by somebody I already know (in the hospital it is a surprise! I have a new doc each time), and of having the results earlier, might just make it worth spending a bit more.
Anyways, we moved on to the ultrasound. The baby was turned so that its back was facing us. You can see the spinal cord in the 4d ultrasounds to the left.
He repeated the measurements, and told me that the baby is developing perfectly for the amount of time that has passed. You can see the comparison in the graphs to the left. If anything, the baby's head is a little bit big, which isn't surprising, I guess, considering that Mauri's dad's nickname is "cabezón."
Overall, the appointment went really well. He told us that at the next appointment, he would look for the gender of the baby. When I told him what they had told me about the baby being a boy the week before, he told me that it was way too soon to know for sure, and that he would never guess that early. It's just too easy to be wrong!
Finally, I checked with him about the hormones that I was still taking, and he told me how to come off of them gradually. I'm ecstatic to get off of them!!
So, the appointment was over. No more appointments for another 3 weeks!!


Since then, not a lot has happened.
I hit the 14 week point yesterday, and I am officially in the second trimester. This is supposedly the best time of pregnancy. So far, so good. I do have a little bit more of my energy back. I also have a little of my appetite back. I'm not so sure that's so great, though, because I've already put on almost 15 pounds!!! Yikes!!
I'm not exactly sure how that has happened since I'm convinced I've been eating less and healthier than usual. Oh well, maybe it's just water weight!! Hopefully, because the baby supposedly only weighs a couple of ounces so far!!!
I have also managed to record a little bit of the baby's heartbeat, and found a way to post it here so that you can listen to it.

To conclude this entry, I'll paste in the information for the 13th and 14th week of pregnancy from my weekly emails.

Week 13:
How your baby's growing:
Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

Week 14:
How your baby's growing:
This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.