22 Weeks and Counting...

The arrival of our baby seems to be rapidly approaching. It is all too real, leaving a sense of urgency to prepare and organize. My baby bump seems to be growing every day and more and more movement can be felt along with this progression. Last night, I was amazed by all the little flutters, making me wonder if the little one was doing summersaults in my belly.

Not knowing the gender of our baby has been the source of much frustration. We had originally been under the impression that we would be informed fairly early because Jeff’s mother had referred us to our OBGYN. She had even noted to our doctor that we would all like to know this information. The doctor simply told her to tell us that we should ask her, which would lead us to believe that as soon as she knew, she would tell us. To our dismay, it would appear that she had forgotten. When we asked her about the gender following our second ultrasound, she indicated that it was not even stated in the report from this office since they never reveal the gender. We honestly do not understand the reasoning behind her sending us to this office, consequently leading to the frustration. I can only be thankful that I had been proactive in scheduling another ultrasound, although its intent will be different in these circumstances. We had originally scheduled this additional 3D ultrasound, which requires a fee, because I thought it would be a waste to dismiss the technology available today that enables us to encapsulate memories of our baby in the womb. This ultrasound allows us thirty minutes of viewing of our baby, a DVD and images, along with the gender assessment. The focus will now be shifted primarily to the gender assessment.

Yesterday, we had yet another appointment at our OBGYN. These visits are never too pleasant since they always begin with the weigh in. I was pleased to see that there was not much weight gain. This is always followed by checking of my blood pressure (which was normal), and then a quick listen to the baby’s heartbeat with the fetal Doppler monitor (again, normal). Many of these visits also include a blood test, which is not pleasant for obvious reasons. I was informed that I would be sent for another test to check my blood sugar levels during my next visit (cringe). I was further informed that I would now have to increase my visits to every two weeks. This was the moment when I realized I would soon reach the third trimester of the pregnancy (yelp).