Doctor Updates

Well, this post isn't the most exciting since there are no photos, but Ben and I both went to the doctor on Friday for our check-ups - he for his 18-month and me for my monthly OB appointment - so I thought I'd give an update.

Ben is doing very well. He is very active and has really started to want to communicate even more, even though he is not talking much yet. He follows directions, points out many body parts and recognizes lots of pictures in books and around him when asked to point them out. So, the doctor said that he doesn't have a cognitive problem but just thinks that he may be a late-bloomer when it comes to verbally expressing himself. We'll see how he does over the next few months but he has started to say a few words consistently over the past few weeks so hopefully this will continue. His favorite word now is "more;" quite appropriate since he loves to eat!

He is still our growing boy. He's 33 inches long (65th percentile) and weighs 28 lbs. 6 oz. (70th percentile). His head is 18-3/4" in circumference (50th percentile). He also had two more shots and is all set now until he is 2 years old. Poor guy looked so wounded when the nurse gave him the shots but like all other times, he got over it quickly enough.

As far as my appointment, I am now 14 weeks along and am starting to feel less nauseous. I am feeling fairly well except that I have now developed a case of severe insomnia, which I also had last time I was pregnant. I'm waking up multiple times per night and sometimes cannot fall back to sleep from 3-3:30AM on. It's been rough with everything going on in our lives lately, as you will read about in the next post, since I'm not able to nap many days. I have started to exercise everyday for about a half hour now that I am feeling better since this really helped me sleep last time. The OB said that he could put me on Ambien if it keeps up since this is supposed to be safe during pregnancy but I do not want to take any medicine as a personal choice so I'm praying that it will clear up on its own. Please pray that I will be able to get the rest I need and that the exercise will help me to sleep better at night.

All of my other stats looked great. I've only gained 2 pounds so far this pregnancy even though I feel like my stomach is starting to get much bigger. I guess running after a toddler this pregnancy keeps me active! My bloodwork came back normal - I still have an rh- bloodtype (B-) so I will need to have the Rhogam shot at 28 weeks and immediately after the baby is born, just like last time. This keeps my body from forming antibodies that will clash with the baby's blood if this happens to be + type. I've been though this before, so no big deal. What's one more needle when you're pregnant, right? :)

I was also tested early for Gestational Diabetes since I have a history and it came back negative this time. This was expected since it usually doesn't show up until later. I'll be tested again at the usual 24-28 weeks and will see if I will have it for this pregnancy again. Other than that, I have a script for my level 2 ultrasound that I am trying to schedule for sometime the end of October. This is where I will (hopefully) be able to find out which gender baby I am having this time. If the baby doesn't cooperate, my OB said he would do another ultrasound for me in the office a few weeks later so we should be able to tell everyone this big news in about 4 weeks.