5-37 Week Recap

Well, I totally sucked at keeping everyone up to date on this pregnancy. To be honest it's been a lot more stressful than my Pregnancy with Viv, so I'm kinda glad we keep this low key so I could just do one massive update. So here we go.

Holy Crap I'm Pregnant
So I found out that I was pregnant July 29th. It was one of those "I won't be upset if I get pregnant so we can start trying soon" well one "we should be fine" later boom pregnant. This was 2 days before a wedding I was planning on drinking heavily at.

First Trimester
The First Tri. was pretty smooth, we had a dating scan when I was about 9 weeks. Everything looked great. I had no morning sickness, which was nice. I did have extreme exhaustion which was made worse having a toddler to chase and take care of.
Can I just say that this time it was a lot harder? Probably because I didn't get to nap as much as I did when I was pregnant Vivian. But I survived!

Second Trimester
The beginning of the Second Tri. was uneventful. We had our anatomy scan and found out to our surprise that we were having a BOY! We totally thought that we would be that family that you see with a gaggle of girls. Nope, we are blessed with one of each. During the anatomy scan they found that The Dude's Femurs were measuring small. We werent too surprised since Viv's measured on the small side and she turned out fine!
To be safe we scheduled a follow up ultrasound at 26 weeks. Cool, we get to see The Dude another time! Well, this ultrasound he was measuring wayyy small. In the 8th Percentile small. We were then referred to the MFM specialist that we saw when we were pregnant with Viv.

Our appointment was when I was 29 weeks. We had an ultrasound and Bio-Physical Profile to make sure he was hittig all the milestones he should be. Dude was still small and failed his BPP because he didn't take any "practice breaths" so I got to be hooked up to the monitors to make sure his heartrate got the spikes that were necessary to indicate "breathing". Once all of this fun was done the Doctor and Genetic Councler came in and were like we have some concerns. The dude was small and his head was measuring even smaller. Some reasons this could be are: I have an infection (either Toxoplasmosis or CMV), the baby could have Downs Syndrome or I just make small babies. With all these factors the Doctor wanted to see me every week for a BPP and follow up every week, he also ordered some blood tests. So off we went to the lab and I got 7 vials of blood drawn.

1 Week later we got the first round of results. I came back negative for Toxoplasmosis, which was a relief. BUT I tested positve for CMV. (Now most women are carriers of CMV. The most common way women get this infection is if they have children in daycares or schools and they bring this home because these places are just germ factories. There really are no symptoms so you just have it and don't know it unless you get tested for it.) Well, I did what you shouldn't do and fell down the wormhole of all the outcomes moms with CMV infections have had. They range from baby just comes out small and had a normal life to baby has severe disabilities including microcephaly, seizures and other problems.
With that postive CMV test they ran another test to see if the most recent infection was in the past 4-6 months. This way they would know if I had an active infection while I was pregnant.

3 Days after the postive CMV test result, I got a phone call from the Genetic Coucler telling me that all of our testing came back clear of Downs and Trisomy 13 and 18. WooHoo - some great news!

So, at 31 weeks pregnant we finally get the news that my last infection was more than 6 months ago, and they are guessing I just make small babies. (well duh)

Third Trimester
While all this testing happened time seemed to just drag by, and I didn't really notice that we made it to the Third Tri. until all of the testing we had to go through was done.

We finally got AWESOME news at 32 weeks that The Dude had a growth spurt and was now in the 30th percentile!! And with this growth spurt we didn't need to see the specialist on a weekly basis anymore. I now go in every 3-4 weeks for a growth scan to make sure hes still baking well in there.

Now I finally feel like I can somewhat enjoy what is left of my pregnancy. Although, I'm not really enjoying it. I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety.
Anxiety about being a mom of 2 instead of one. I mean we have a good thing going with Viv. I don't want to screw that up.
Anxiety about how much daycare with 2 kids will cost.
Anxiety about how much I won't be sleeping.
Anxiety that he will stop moving like Viv did and I won't catch it in time (this is what paralizes me and causes me to break down and shut down for a while). My Doctor said that with the way Viv came into the world I might have some PTSD about it and its been there the whole time but now that we are getting close to the end of this pregnancy my mind has been triggered. She told me that if I ever feel like something is up or he isn't moving a lot just to come in and get hooked up to the monitors for some peace of mind just so I don't over stress myself. (Of course the moment I tell her this The Dude has been the most active he has been since 31-ish weeks...)

That brings us to here! 37 weeks. If you stuck with me until the very end of this you must either be
1.) very interested in my pregnancies...
2.) bored / trying to go to sleep and need a wall of text
3.) or a saint :)

For Fun-sies and old times sake

How far along? 37 Weeks 1 day

Total weight gain/loss: +40ish maybe more...

How big is baby: Baby is measuring in at approx. 20" inches long. That’s about the size of a Butternut Squash. Weighing in at 6-7 lbs.

Maternity clothes? I hate clothes in general these days, especially pants

Sleep: What is sleep?

Best moment this week: Dude has a name!!!

Movement: He's moving, but I would love it if he moved more just for some peace of mind

Food cravings: Ice Cream Sandwiches... All of them

Gender: Dude

Belly Button in or out? It is officially FLAT… and gross.

Symptoms: Everything HURTS. I've been having contractions, and yeah they are not fun.

Signs of Labor: Besides my random contractions, none.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach

What I am looking forward to: Meeting this dude that caused me so much stress, and seeing Vivian as a big sister has me pretty pumped