Howeberry

From adulthood to parenthood, or something like that…

May 22

Lookin’ like a baby!

by Lisa

On Friday, May 14 we had our First Trimester Screening. This is used to determine our risk for Down Syndrome and Trisomy, a more serious genetic defect. This test is done between week 11 and 13.6 weeks.

The risk of Down Syndrome based on my age (25) and their averages is 1 in 965. Per my blood work and my age, our risk of Down Syndrome decreased to 1 in 2,917. Using the same guidelines for Trisomy, our risk pre-test was 1 in 1,822 and dropped to 1 in greater than 10,000. Essentially dropping in both categories to that of a 20-year-old. The doctor at the ultrasound clinic essentially said we statistically do not need to worry about either condition.

From the ultrasound, they scanned for nuchal translucency. This is a visual scan for chance of genetic defects that looks at fluid at the back of baby’s neck. The ultrasound tech said Howeberry’s was “nice and thin,” which is a good thing. I’m starting to confuse where I read or heard information, if you’d like to learn more Wikipedia has a pretty nice summary about this screening.

The only potentional cause for concern is my low marker for PAPP-A. First, what the heck is this?! PAPP-A stands for Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein A. This was determined from my blood work and the marker is showing low, in the 5th percentile. But what does this mean? Per the clinic doctor, this could mean increased chance of “Growth Disturbance” in the 3rd trimester. Again, what?!  She explained this could mean for low birth-weight, potentially leading to bed-rest for me. But for now they’re suggesting 3 screenings in the 3rd trimester and, essentially, we’ll cross that bridge if we get there. But, she said, they usually find this issue resolves itself and moms with this low marker have healthy babies. So we’ll ask our doctor more about this at our next appointment.

At the time of the ultrasound, I was 13 weeks, 1 day. Howeberry’s heart rate was about 145 beats per minute.

Now for the fun stuff – PICTURES!!

Howeberry is 13 weeks 2 days based on length of 7.13 centimeters/2.8 inches head to rump.

Howeberry feet! Baby's sitting "indian style" so you see leg too.

Practicing tongue movements!

Looking like a baby!

1st Trimester

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May 8

Two busy weeks

by Lisa

A lot has happened in the last few weeks and I wish I had more time to keep up!

Start of week 10, on Saturday the 24th, we visited my father-in-law for dinner. Steaks were served. And they very sweetly gifted us our first baby outfit! I think it’s kinda adorable.

On Monday the 26, we had our second check up with the doctor, and I’m starting to think we found the right group. Dr Mike (as they call him, cause his brother is another doctor there) was amusing and seemed to have a great time refreshing our memories on basic genetics, specifically relating to blood type at our early 7:30 appointment.

Best part of the appointment was hearing Howeberry’s heart beat! It was rather incredible. First Dr Mike explained we would listen to my heart beat for comparison. He first applied some goo to where he would apply the featal doppler microphone, found a large artery “about the size of your index finger” in my lower abdomen,  and had us listen to my steady beat for a minute. Then he went searching for Howeberry’s, saying it could take up to five minutes to find. I think it took him less than 2 minutes. The heartbeat was strong and sounded about twice as fast as my own, about 150 beats per minute “if we were counting”.

If you’d like to hear what it sounds like, do a YouTube.com search for “10 weeks heartbeat” – apparently people post everything.

On May Day, start of week 11, we kicked off with our first kayaking trip of the season. It was an all day trip across Barnegat Bay, lunched on Island Beach, then paddled back. It was a beautiful, clear 80º day and the water started out calm. This was suppose to be a challenging trip but started rather easy. I like exercise. that doesn’t feel like exercise. On our paddle back, I told our trip guide about being pregnant and mentioned I hoped to continue kayaking through the end of the season. He said most pregnant woman do pretty well, probably because of the lower center of gravity in the boat, which does not interfere with balance. As long as I’m comfortable, I should be fine (yay!). I’ll just need to remind him as I grow so he can arrange for a boat with a wider cockpit.

And the remainder of the week has been crazy! At work, I spent two days working until 10 PM which resulted in about 2 days worth of overtime. The end result was a brand new phone system for the office and a nearly seamless installation for the users. Another successfully organized project that was nearly transparent to the users.

I’ve been so focused on work that I’ve barely had time to enjoy my newest pregnancy development: I’m about to show! My lower abdomen is firm. I use to be able to press in when poking, but now there is resistance. I’m also finding I can no longer suck my tummy in and my pants are starting to fall down as a result. Might be about time to buy pants with elastic built in just so I don’t have to pull them up every time I stand up.

1st Trimester

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Apr 17

Cravings & Clothes

by Lisa

According to the doctors and my BabyBump Android App, today puts me at exactly 9 weeks. Start of month 3.

Fun part is, for about the last week or week and a half I’ve felt completely normal. Mood swings have dissipated. Cravings are just fun to entertain. Intellectually I know we should start eating out less, save money, blah, blah, blah, but I know eating out will become a treat after baby arrives, so why not amuse ourselves while we can and eat out when the mood (or craving) strikes.

I’ve decided that it is probably a bad idea for a pregnant woman to go grocery shopping alone. Mid-last week I went to the store for lunch meat, bread, coffee – basic lunch and breakfast supplies that we needed. And somehow Goldfish ended up in the basket. I don’t buy treats like cheese crackers! At least in my sleepy-after-work grocery-shopping daze I was able to select the healthier “whole grain” bag. Not sure if i was craving the cheese, the salt, or the puffed cracker, but they totally hit the spot!

My doctor recommended an increase of 300 calories a day, so I don’t mind entertaining snack cravings. So far, this has been a very guilt-free pregnancy.

A personal annoyance at this early stage is clothing. Tummy really hasn’t started expanding yet, so the idea of maternity clothes is kind of silly. I’ve already bought new bras, which helped with the starting-to-feel-normal thing. Work and play shirts fit fine, as do my work pants. Problem is my jeans. The pairs of jeans I love have an annoying tendency of going threadbare on the inner thigh. This may have to do with the material, the particular brand, my healthy “farm stock” thighs that rub when I walk, etc. My last pair of comfy jeans started showing signs of wear yesterday. In the winter I can layer another pair of pants underneath, but it’s almost too warm to do that now. And because I’m cheap and know I’m growing, I’m not interested in buying new jeans when I’ll need to buy maternity pants in another 2 months or so.

Here’s a message to girl friends who may be reading and may be trying to lose weight (you know, cause that’s what women are always trying to do, right?):  If you do lose that weight and plan to become pregnant ..EVER.. keep your pre-weight loss clothes and bras. It’ll save you money later and if you like the clothes, why not keep them for when your body needs to fatten up to support a growing little one?

I’ve read that total pregnancy weight gain will be about 30 pounds.

1st Trimester

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