So, I guess I can take advantage of the time off, and get caught up here with the details of the past week.
Last Saturday was the baby's first big excursion.
So, baby (baby's name until I know the gender and decide to choose a name from there) did something that most babies will never get the chance to do, and he (or she) :) made it to the top of Denia's mountain, Montgó. Honestly, even though I live on the mountain, and frequently take Sheena for hikes and jogs there, the combination of the cold weather this spring and my current condition has kept me from doing a lot of it lately. Despite that, and after successfully doing a hike with Sheena to la Cova de l'Aigua (part way up the mountain) a week before, I decided that I could give hiking to the cross and the summit of Montgó, with some of the students, a shot. I figured in the worst case scenario, I would get tired and have to turn around and go home before they did, but I would take things easy and at least try.Looking back on the experience, I must admit that maybe I was a bit too ambitious, as many others seemed to think.
Don't get me wrong, I took it easy, but I still found it harder than I expected. Yes, I do get out of breath lately even going up the stairs at the UNED, but I was used to hiking on the mountain, so I didn't think it would be a problem.
It was much harder than I expected it to be. I knew the extra 15 pounds or so (already so far) would affect me, but I hadn't counted on the fact that even going downhill would be much more difficult than usual. My center of gravity is a bit off, and I hadn't realized it until after my trip up (and down) the mountain. I had read that pregnant women were discouraged from bike riding because their balance might be off, and it wouldn't be good for the baby to fall, but I figured those guidelines were mostly for women who were further along than me. :) Just in case, though, I haven't been riding my relatively new bike. Still, I didn't expect that I would finally feel the effects of this loss of balance so early on this hiking trip!!
I convinced Mauri and Sheena to accompany me. (OK, I didn't really have to convince Sheena).
Anyways, we made it up the mountain, and I have a picture of my big-bellied self at the summit to prove it. So, it was the third trip to the summit for Sheena, first trip to the summit for baby, last trip to the summit for me... for at least another 6 months or so (and probably, realistically, much longer).In the picture with the students, a strange orb shows up on my belly. Hmmmmm- wonder what that means.
We made it home, and, exhausted from the trip, I fell asleep pretty early that night. The next day, though, I couldn't completely relax because the weather was nice out, and I knew that soon I'd be needing to have a few days of bedrest, so I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and get out into the garden. I think that pulling weeds was even harder on my legs than going up Montgó had been, and the next day, I could really feel it. Otherwise, Monday was uneventful, and I was only getting nervous about the next day's procedure. So, I did exactly what you should never do, and started reading more about the procedure on the internet. Of course, this, in itself, isn't really a problem. It's when you start to read about people who've had problems with the procedure: those who lost healthy babies because of the amnio, those who had a horrible outcome, etc.
Mauri decided to take the day off of work to accompany me to the hospital, so, of course, the other fishermen, who didn't know he wasn't on the boat, started to call him at 5AM. Once I was awake, I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I ended up getting up a bit early, and took a shower and got ready to go to the hospital.
We arrived early enough to get some coffee before making our way to the place we needed to go. Once we arrived, though, we found that nobody was at the reception desk there. We waited, and I decided that I couldn't wait any longer (needed to go pee) :), so I left my paperwork behind, and ran off to the nearest restroom. On my way back, I saw there were people at the next reception desk, and decided we should ask there, just in case, to make sure we were waiting in the right place. They told me I was in rhe right place, and that I should just wait and eventually someone would go to the desk.
Finally someone did arrive, and asked me who I was, and then they told me to wait a couple of minutes before finally calling me in. When they called me in, the doctor, (the 4th one I've seen on my 4th visit to the hospital), with an accent that made it difficult to understand her, wanted to know if I had any last questions. I was slightly annoyed by the fact that she kept calling me by my last name, and then she insisted that I go to the restroom to "pí pí." I tried to tell them that I had just gone (just right now?!?!- guess they didn't believe me), but they insisted, so I tried to get a last few drops out before the procedure.
They had me lie on a table, looking straight up, without moving, and they started to do an ultrasound to look to see where the baby was. The doctor kept tapping and pushing on different areas of my abdomen, probably to see how the baby would react to the pressure in certain areas. Then they told Mauri he would have to go to the other part of the room, to keep a sterile environment, and they started to glove up. They rubbed iodine on my abdomen, and took a needle out. They then started to insert it into my lower abdomen. I didn't really feel the initial puncture. It was comparable to getting your blood drawn. I did, though, feel it when they were probably pushing it into the amniotic sac. Once they got it into the right place, the assistant went for several tubes that she had to attach to the needle to fill them with amniotic fluid. Truthfully, the process was a bit uncomfortable. I could feel it when they were pushing the tubes onto the needle, and while they were drawing the liquid out. Despite holding the needle still, of course it's going to move a little when they change tubes, etc. so, yes, you do feel something. They also tell you not to move, and, of course, your belly moves when you're lying down and breathing, so I was basically trying to hold my breath the whole time, making it seem eternal.
Once the process was done, they took the needle out, and covered the area with a bandage, and they told Mauri he could come back over.
They looked at the baby with the ultrasound, and showed Mauri the heart beating, and then we saw the baby move his hand, closing it up into a tiny fist. Mauri said that that was the baby waving to me to tell me that he was OK. :)
The baby had its back towards us, and they obviously didn't want to move him around too much after the procedure, so they left him that way. They told me that had he been facing us, we probably would have been able to definitively determine the gender of the baby; maybe next time.
They had me sit up and move over to the desk we had originally been sitting at. Then, they told me to make an appointment for next Tuesday for another ultrasound to make sure everything is still OK. They gave Mauri "my" new green folder for the hospital paperwork, and we were on our way. We made an appointment for next Tuesday, and left for home so that I could begin my 3 days of bedrest.
When we got home, Mauri set up a cushion on a lawnchair outside so that I could comfortably rest and take advantage of the nice weather, all at the same time. I was able to read for awhile, and it was a beautiful day outside.
When I went inside, I decided to take a look to see what was in the new folder they had given to Mauri. It ws interesting to see that the only thing that was inside was the consent form for an amniocentesis, filled out and signed by another patient. I guess that means that all of my private information is in somebody else's folder. Hmmmmmm
Other than some cramping in the area of the needle for the rest of the day, things were pretty much as usual. I was a little bit afraid to move, turn over, get up, sneeze, etc.- because all of those things seemed to make me feel the cramping a bit more. When I woke up on Wednesday, though, I was already feeling much better.
Since then, I've been taking it easy, and all seems to be just fine.
Now, I just have to wait the 21 plus days for the results. They tolde me if they see anything serious before then, though, they will give me a call. So, yesterday, when I got a call from a friend whose number wasn't registered in my phone's contact list, I started to freak out, thinking it might be the hospital with bad news.
Maybe I should have paid a little more for the private doctor, who promised results in 24 hours. I would have known that everything was fine by now.
Oops, I forgot to add the week 16 info from my email from last Tuesday:
How your baby's growing:
Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.
Soon you'll experience one of the most wonderful moments of pregnancy — feeling your baby move. While some women notice "quickening" as early as 16 weeks, many don't feel their baby move until about 18 weeks or more. (And if this is your first baby, don't be too impatient — you may not be aware of your baby's movements until 20 weeks or so.) The earliest movements may feel like little flutters, gas bubbles, or even like popcorn popping. Over the following weeks they'll grow stronger and you'll be able to feel them much more frequently.
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