WEEKS 21 & 22 - MORE APPOINTMENTS

Well, since I last posted, I've had a couple more doctors appointments.

On Monday I had another appointment with my OB. We talked about the ultrasound results. It turns out that their results (re: gestational age) were only off of my expected due date by 9 days, and they have a "+/- 10 days" added on, so we're still in range and there's nothing to worry about. Good! So my due date by me is still officially June 5th. The doctor's due date is still officially June 9th (calcualation methods are slightly different). He has said that, if all is still going well, he's willing to wait until 38 weeks to induce, but doesn't want to wait any longer and jeopardize the health of the baby. So we're looking at around May 26th for the induction. I'm hoping that Bud decides to come a couple of weeks early on his/her own and that we can skip the whole induction, but we'll see....

My first fetal assessment (i.e. a more detailed ultrasound) is scheduled for February 17th. My understanding is that we will be able to find out the gender of the baby at this appointment and that we will also be able to take some pictures home! We're pretty excited about this appointment! After that I will be having monthly fetal assessments for the time being, but more frequent ones eventually.

On Thursday I had my appointment with my ophthalmologist to make sure all the growth hormones coursing through my body aren't causing more retinopathy problems (i.e. vascular growth in my eyes). I got the all-clear! Everything looked good and he didn't see anything that looked out of order! Whew! I don't see him again now until early May. This was a huge relief for me!

The baby has been moving around LOTS this week! I'm getting kicked by him/her many times a day. My husband has even had a chance to feel the movement once! (The movements are not always strong enough to feel.) Apparently 22 weeks is quite early to be able to feel it on the outside, so this could be a very strong active baby in the next few months!

My biggest craving lately is fruit! Strawberries, pineapple, apples, grapes, blueberries...you name it!

Last week I was able to decrease my nausea meds a bit more, so now I'm down to 2/day. I thought I may have noticed a bit of nausea come back when I did this, so I think I'll stick with 2/day for the time being. (The little bit of nausea is definitely bearable, though, and it's not every day - mostly just when I'm tired.) Hmm....maybe I wrote this already in my last post. Sorry if it's old news. :)

This week I've started to get REALLY tired of watching my bloodsguar so closely. I"m surprised it's taken until now, but I'm just finding it sooooo tedious. :P I'm taking a brief "break" this weekend. No - I'm not abandoning my efforts altogether (don't worry). I'm just going to take two days of being ok with slightly worse control (emphasis on slightly - nothing that would be risky to the baby), so that I can be refreshed and ready to go on the tight control again on Monday. It's what I have to do to preserve my sanity while still keeping the baby safe.

All for now!