pregnancy update

Well, I'm 16 weeks pregnant and looking like I did at at least 24 weeks with Ewan. On the plus side, I think I can safely say that I've finally pretty much totally emerged from pregnancy hell. I feel bad even writing that, because I know the first trimester (or more) is a lot worse for many women than it was for me, but the fact is that it still really, really sucked. It was much harder than it was when I was pregnant with Ewan, probably because I now have Ewan to take care of on top of being pregnant. So, for the last 10 weeks, I have felt nauseous around the clock with major food aversions (the vast majority of foods having been pretty darn repulsive), exhausted with no energy, with episodes of lightheadedness and vertigo and one actual fainting episode at 11 weeks. It has really been a challenge taking care of Ewan while feeling this way. We went from watching very little TV (maybe 1/2 hour a day) to at least a couple hours a day. We also read many, many books and did a lot of other very mellow activities. Troy helped as much as possible, but between long hours at work and his long commute, he's just not around that much during the week while Ewan is actually awake. That includes not being home in time to make dinner most nights, so because that task was still on me, we had a good rotation going of pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, quesadillas, and plain pasta. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that no vegetables were consumed in the Turvy household during the last two months, and that our diets consisted of all carbs and dairy (although I tried my best to give Ewan a bit more variety). But we all survived!

And now that I got all that complaining out of my system, I would like to say how wonderful it is to have my energy back and to finally be enjoying foods again (including some vegetables!). I also look forward to starting to exercise again, with my goal being to start walking and doing prenatal yoga this weekend and next week. I am also grateful to be able to report that my initial bloodwork and 12-week ultrasound looked great and that all signs point to a healthy baby! I had an appointment with a midwife yesterday and got to hear baby's heartbeat loud and clear for the second time. Our plan is for this baby to be delivered at the same hospital as Ewan was (Sutter!) by a midwife. Unfortunately, our family practice doctor (Ewan's and my primary care doctor and the one who delivered Ewan) is no longer delivering babies. I saw her for my first two prenatal appointments, then had to switch. After hearing several great reviews of the team of midwives who deliver at Sutter, we decided to try them and think we will stick with them. I will see each of the three of them on a rotating basis for the remainder of my prenatal appointments, then the baby could be delivered by any one of the three of them, or by one of two backup family practice doctors. We will have a chance to meet all of these providers prior to baby's arrival. It would be nice to have the same provider for all appointments and the delivery, and I now realize how lucky we were to have that last time, but I feel ok about this, and it seems to be the service model for most OB and midwife practices for hospital births.

Anyway, we also made an appointment for our 20-week ultrasound, at which time we will find out the baby's sex! I really wanted to know this time, and convinced Troy that we should find out. So, on July 7th, shortly after 10 a.m., we will know! I was feeling so sure for a while that this was going to be a boy, but I've been feeling less certain recently. I was thinking boy for a few reasons, the biggest of which was the doctor's guess at our 12-week ultrasound. However, he promised me that this was only a "50-50 guess" and that it's very hard to determine the sex that early on. Then again, when I asked whether he was actually basing his guess on anything he saw, he made me think he may have seen something. Lately, though, I've been noticing that this baby seems less strong and active than Ewan did, so much so that I started to worry about the lack of activity until the midwife reassured me that most women don't even feel the baby at all yet at this stage of the game. I started to feel this baby VERY early, so early that both the doctor and midwife made me feel like I was crazy, but it's hard to mistake that feeling once you've experienced it. In the last several weeks, though, I haven't noticed much of an increase in frequency or intensity of the movements. By around this time in my pregnancy with Ewan, I was feeling significant movements, and, by 18 weeks, Troy had felt him move and I could see his movements from the outside. We are so not there yet! So, I hate to buy into gender stereotypes or old wives tales, but this pregnancy has been a different experience in many ways, and different makes me think girl. But maybe it's another boy and he's just mellow. Mellow would be nice. Ok, with all those thoughts on baby's sex, I'm posting another poll on the sidebar where you can put in your guesses, even though we will be finding out before the birth this time. You were right last time (at least the majority of you), so tell us what it's going to be this time! And, ok, I'll try to post some belly shots soon.