I'm currently 24 weeks pregnant. That means Owen is now "viable" - There is a chance he would survive if he were born today! The doctors would actually try to save him. The point of viability is really exciting, but it's also a little scary knowing how seriously close I'm getting to the end. This baby is inevitably going to come out of either my tummy or my down-there-region soon no matter what!
Scary, Scary, Scary, SCARY! Giving birth to Ricky (c-section) was the scariest time of my life. I vowed to never put myself through that again, ever. But here I am... about to do it again. Maybe I'll have a VBAC this time but that will probably be just as scary. What was I thinking when I got pregnant this time?
I had an appointment yesterday to check on things. Owen was cooperating for once! We've had trouble finding his heartbeat every single time up until yesterday. The nurse put the doppler on my belly, turned it on, and we heard his little heart beating immediately. The OBGYN (the one who delivered Ricky, actually) measured my fundal height and I'm measuring about 25 weeks. Ricky was measuring a few weeks ahead when I was pregnant with him also. He was a chubby little bugger, weighing almost 8 pounds at birth despite being 3 weeks early. I've actually gained a lot less weight during this pregnancy so far than I gained with my last. According to my home scale, I'm only about 2 or 3 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I initially lost some weight in the first trimester and have been gaining weight pretty slowly since then. Hopefully I don't produce a super huge baby this time and hopefully I'm not as huge when I deliver as I was last time.
I have been trying to interact with Owen as much as possible, poking around at my belly and trying to feel his movements with my hands. Last night I was lying on my back in bed and I think I was able to find his head or butt because on the bottom left side of my uterus I found a hard little lump. It felt too big to be a hand, foot, knee, or elbow but it felt too small to be a head or butt. I'm still guessing it's his head or butt. I'm probably jus overestimating how large his head or butt is supposed to be- he's only about a pound or so, maybe his head and butt are actually pretty small! I pushed on the lump and moved my hand toward the right side of my uterus and I was able to move the lump about an inch to the right. It kept moving back to the original spot and I kept moving it to the right again. I am 99% sure I was actually moving a part of Owen's body, but he was asleep and had no reaction whatsoever to me picking on him. It's so amazing, but hard to believe, that I've actually been able to touch his body in a way.
I woke up Eric to see if he wanted to poke his son's head or butt, he was too tired to respond properly and told me, "It'll still be there tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow". But I tried to find Owen's little head/butt again this morning and it's not in the spot it used to be. He must have switched positions. It's unlikely I'll be able to find his head or butt if it's at the top of my uterus because my placenta is in the front and I believe it's toward the top. Every time I poke around at the upper part of my baby bump it feels sort of hard but I have never been able to feel any body parts there yet. It's probably because the placenta is in the way!
I would post a picture of my belly, which is getting pretty big, but I don't know where the camera is. About 95% of everything I own is sitting in a storage unit right now waiting for a home to go to, and my camera is somewhere in there. Not sure when I'll get to post any new pictures but I'll do it as soon as I can!
Scary, Scary, Scary, SCARY! Giving birth to Ricky (c-section) was the scariest time of my life. I vowed to never put myself through that again, ever. But here I am... about to do it again. Maybe I'll have a VBAC this time but that will probably be just as scary. What was I thinking when I got pregnant this time?
I had an appointment yesterday to check on things. Owen was cooperating for once! We've had trouble finding his heartbeat every single time up until yesterday. The nurse put the doppler on my belly, turned it on, and we heard his little heart beating immediately. The OBGYN (the one who delivered Ricky, actually) measured my fundal height and I'm measuring about 25 weeks. Ricky was measuring a few weeks ahead when I was pregnant with him also. He was a chubby little bugger, weighing almost 8 pounds at birth despite being 3 weeks early. I've actually gained a lot less weight during this pregnancy so far than I gained with my last. According to my home scale, I'm only about 2 or 3 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I initially lost some weight in the first trimester and have been gaining weight pretty slowly since then. Hopefully I don't produce a super huge baby this time and hopefully I'm not as huge when I deliver as I was last time.
I have been trying to interact with Owen as much as possible, poking around at my belly and trying to feel his movements with my hands. Last night I was lying on my back in bed and I think I was able to find his head or butt because on the bottom left side of my uterus I found a hard little lump. It felt too big to be a hand, foot, knee, or elbow but it felt too small to be a head or butt. I'm still guessing it's his head or butt. I'm probably jus overestimating how large his head or butt is supposed to be- he's only about a pound or so, maybe his head and butt are actually pretty small! I pushed on the lump and moved my hand toward the right side of my uterus and I was able to move the lump about an inch to the right. It kept moving back to the original spot and I kept moving it to the right again. I am 99% sure I was actually moving a part of Owen's body, but he was asleep and had no reaction whatsoever to me picking on him. It's so amazing, but hard to believe, that I've actually been able to touch his body in a way.
I woke up Eric to see if he wanted to poke his son's head or butt, he was too tired to respond properly and told me, "It'll still be there tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow". But I tried to find Owen's little head/butt again this morning and it's not in the spot it used to be. He must have switched positions. It's unlikely I'll be able to find his head or butt if it's at the top of my uterus because my placenta is in the front and I believe it's toward the top. Every time I poke around at the upper part of my baby bump it feels sort of hard but I have never been able to feel any body parts there yet. It's probably because the placenta is in the way!
I would post a picture of my belly, which is getting pretty big, but I don't know where the camera is. About 95% of everything I own is sitting in a storage unit right now waiting for a home to go to, and my camera is somewhere in there. Not sure when I'll get to post any new pictures but I'll do it as soon as I can!
It is fun when you feel them really start to move. And glad he wasn't a stinker at the Dr's this time :)
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