Midwife appointment, Heat, Ultrasound

Last Wednesday (June 4) I had an appointment with Tiffany, my midwife.  The appointment went well.  I had a few questions for her, which were answered to my satisfaction.  How can you tell what position the baby is in?  (It’s too early to tell – the baby is still moving around a lot at this point.)  Will my anemia affect my ability to give birth in the birth center?  (Probably not – only very severe cases of anemia are transferred to the hospital.  Even though I am taking Floradix twice daily, I will probably get a bit more anemic as the pregnancy goes on because my blood volume will continue to expand and red blood cells take months to manufacture.  However, this should not be a problem.)  Tiffany filled out the forms for my FMLA maternity leave from Tufts, and I filled out a form to get my medical records released so I could take a copy of them with me to Seattle just in case.

As usual, I peed in a cup and got weighed and had my fundal height measured.  My fundal height was less than would be expected for my gestational age, so Tiffany ordered an ultrasound for me to make sure that the baby was developing normally.  Because babies vary so much in size, only babies who measure below the 10th percentile or above the 90th percentile in size are considered abnormal.  I was worried all week about it.  What if my baby wasn’t growing right?  There could be many possible reasons for this, including malfunctioning placenta and malnutrition.  All “mal” – bad!  On the other hand, the constant movement in my belly was very reassuring and the baby certainly feels big!

I had the ultrasound yesterday, and all is well.  I could not be more “normal” – my baby is in the 49th percentile in terms of size.  Exactly in the middle of the curve.  The ultrasound machine estimated his or her current height at just over 18 cm and current weight at over 4 and a half pounds.  Very reassuring!!  The only lame part about this ultrasound was getting jabbed really hard by the tech, who wanted to get a good shot of the skull circumference.  The baby (once again) was in a not-ideal position, with its head tucked down under my public bone.  It felt like the tech was trying to pry my pubic bone up with the wand.  Fun.  And for the rest of the day, the baby was grumpy, full of activity and wiggling.  I am sure it got a headache from all the pressure!

The other big pregnancy happening was the horrible heat this week.  The heat index got up to 105 degrees with the humidity on Tuesday, and the heat and humidity combined have been brutal.  Not only am I not sleeping well, but my feet have been swelling.  The weather is back down to 80 today though, which means my swelling is gone.  We have window unit A/Cs in our apartment, but they only cool the temperature to about 15 degrees below outside, so if it’s 100 outside it is still 85 in the apartment and too hot to sleep.  I am hoping that this whole summer will not be like that.  The trip to Seattle tomorrow sounds great, and I am really looking forward to the shower.

I keep logging on to TheThingsIWant.com to add more items to my list, but it is very overwhelming.  I think I need to actually go to some stores to see what they have.  It’s hard to tell, for instance, which stroller handle will be more comfortable in terms of angle, grip, and height without actually holding them.  Similarly, which crib is sturdiest and is the right height to bend over the rails.  I am going to try to add a few more things today, though.  Consumer Reports recommends the Chicco Key Fit as the best infant car seat, and that seems like the kind of thing you don’t want to skimp on.

Alex just emailed the baby shower menu, which sounds yummy enough that I am going to post it here.

Edamame dip with rice crackers, jicama, raw vegetables, etc.

Mango salsa wontons

Tofu and walnut stuffed mushrooms

Mini pizzas

Fruit cornucopia

Cupcakes, various sweets from Flying Apron vegan bakery

I am so excited to see my family and friends!!  And just for your information, I do like it when people put a hand on or rub my tummy.  I think people hesitate to do that, and I would be totally weirded out if a stranger did it, but I love it when my friends or family get to feel King Kong monkey around in there.  I recently discovered that my little munchkin (Mischieverina is our current nickname) loves to be rubbed as well.  If I rub or put hands on my sides, she or he moves so that she can get the attention, which is pretty uncomfortable for me!  If I just rub or put hands on the middle part of my belly and rub up and down rather than side to side, he will move into a much more comfortable vertical position.  Now I only rub in the middle up and down, and I think we’re both happier.  This kid is going to love getting massages!

New books I think I need: books on breastfeeding, infant massage, the first year of life, and infant health and care.  We’re going to take an infant CPR class, but I’m not sure I also need the breastfeeding class or the newborn essentials class.  Each class costs money!  I’ve looked into Rochester mommies groups, and there are a lot of them.  I am planning on hooking up with at least one group to make some friends when we move there.

I can’t wait to be in Sea-town!  Got to go buy those maternity compression hose for the plane today.