5 Month checkup

I had my 5 month check up today. I asked that my blood pressure be taken before my weight. haha. (We went to the taste of Huntsville last night and I definitely overate.) Everything is still good. My quad-test bloodwork came back all negative. They asked if I have any swelling issues - thank goodness that has still not happened yet. I sat there thinking I must be a really easy patient so far. I did ask what kind of flu shot they have and it is the low mercury kind, so I'm still on the fence whether I get one. Last year they were horrible at predicting the strands of flu rendering most flu shots worthless, so who's to say this year will be better.

The big ultrasound in Monday afternoon - get to quit calling it IT :)

Early Baby Results

Have you seen the VW Routan commercials - where Brooke Shields accuses people of making a baby just get a new VW van? Well they came up with a great marketing web ad - create your own Routan Baby! Here is our result. A 9 pounder - agh!
(It asks for a photo with the parents mouth closed - so I'll go looking for a better one at home this weekend)

Felt it

I felt the baby move for the first time last night. Jeff had gone to bed early, so I was up watching tv and eating vanilla wafers. I must have given the baby a sugar rush, because there was enough activity to feel. It really just felt like when your leg twitches, but this was inside my tummy. It's the first exciting thing to happen besides ofcourse finding out I was pregnant.

Flu Shot dilemma

I have never had a flu shot vaccine but I've always heard pregnant women need it, so I started researching it. Did you know that most flu vaccines (actually over 50 vaccines) have mercury in it (a preservative thimerosal). Yes more mercury than in light tuna. Mercury is highly toxic to brain tissue, that's why they tell us pregnant women to limit our fish intake. But now they want to shoot it directly into us?!

I read where 7 states have banned flu vaccines containing thimerosal (California, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, New York and Washington). And all children's vaccines in the United Kingdom are thimerosal-free.

So now I'm on a hunt to find a mercury-free shot. I've called my GP - no luck. Next week I'm going to get paperwork for a pediatrician, so I'll ask the nurse there. And whenever the health dept answers their phone I'll ask. But I've read articles where it can be hard to find. Guess more people need to spread the word.

You can read more here www.safeminds.org/alert-flu-vaccine-2008.pdf. This may be an extreme organization (I don't know much about them). Also tons of info here, and page 16 here has a list of vaccines available: www.cispimmunize.org/ill/Flu/Influenza%20Recommendations.pdf

19 weeks

The books say the baby is the size of a large tomato now. I'm finally starting to show some, so I thought I'd take a picture. (One day I'll get Jeff to take one in better light). But anyway, you can see my weird shaped stomach now :) I guess since I'm on the tall side it has plenty of room vertically and doesn't need to stretch horizontally yet. I've also been told that since it's my first, I still have decent stomach muscles that aren't stretched out yet, which won't be the case with a second pregnancy - get fat faster.
I'm starting to get some pains when I move suddenly, which I read is normal. The major back aches haven't started yet - I'm dreading that. I go back to the dr next week and then the ultrasound is on the 3rd. I still have no feeling yet if it's a boy or girl. We need some more girls in the family, but there seems to be alot of Y seed on Jeff's side of the family, so who knows :)

I usually read a little bit in a pregnancy book while I'm eating cereal in the morning. Today had an entry that suggested now that you're in the 2nd trimester, announcing a no sharing food policy. And when you order dessert at a restaurant one lady even said "bring it with one fork and a stun gun". I thought that was pretty good.

Another good quote I heard today: "Life is hard enough when you're feeling good." (this guy was about to have major dental work done).

I remembered getting a 'Baby Me' brochure a couple years ago at work - a program done through Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance, but ofcourse I disregarded it then. So a few days ago I looked it up and enrolled online. It said they give you 24/7 access to call a nurse and they send you free goodies. A friendly nurse just called me and gave me her direct line. I don't really have questions so far, but it's nice to know I have another alternative besides my busy doctor.

I had my first comment (from a guy at work) that he could tell I was finally gaining weight - he could see it in my face. More like my neck. I have been cursed with my mother's genes of having a double chin. This and my stomach are the first places I gain weight. Man, was I hoping to avoid the face fat :( Jeff has a full face too, so I guess our baby should at least have cute pinch-able fat cheeks :)

I underestimated maternity clothes. I ordered long pants from Old Navy in a size Large I prefer loose comfortable clothes - but don't need pants that fall off as I walk. I guess they must want to boost the ego of maternity women. Yeah I'm a medium according to them. Maybe in a few years with another pregnancy I'll be a size small, since they can't seem to stay with consistent sizes :)

Jeff was busy working on painting the nursery this weekend. I had some left over green that I tried in the kitchen and hated it (due to a tan ceiling). Then I found some light yellow in the reject basket at Lowes for $3. Turned out they look great together (with a white ceiling). It's hard to take the photo since the room is small, but you can get an idea. I'll post more as it comes along.

4 mo checkup

Just got back from the dr for my 4 mo appt. The heartbeat is still good at 150. I'm up 5 lbs (though my scale is closer to 7). They also drew blood for the quad test that tests for abnormalities. It does result in some false positives and if that happens, they'll send me to Birmingham to a specialist.
I also scheduled the next ultrasound at 20 weeks (Nov 3), so hopefully the baby will be in the right spot to see 'the goods'.
In other news I will be going maternity clothes shopping this weekend. I had saved a couple pairs of fat pants from about 5 years ago and those are even snug in the waist. I did order 3 pairs of pants in long length from Old Navy, so hopefully those will get here soon. Then I'll try Target again since a friend said that brand runs long. Last time I was in there, what would you know - they were out of all pants sized 10 and 12. sometimes it sucks being a common size. For right now it just looks like my gut has grown, so I'll pack up some of my tighter fitting shirts this weekend. Maybe in a year it'll be like Christmas when I get to unpack all my pre-pregnancy clothes. haha.

First baby purchase

Austin is known for being weird and wanting to stay that way, well we found a store with some weird baby onesie's. This one made me laugh the most. The other ones I liked said:
Bad Mother Sucker
New to Earth (lil alien drawing)
And nope, we don't know the sex of the baby yet, just figured blue was safer (don't want a boy in pink).