It is official…I am a Freak of Nature. I am almost 20 weeks pregnant, which is over half-way for me, and you can barely tell that I am pregnant. I remember people not being able to tell I was pregnant when I wore certain clothes at 8 months with Nathan, so I guess not showing much is just normal for me. My doctor said that my extensive abdominal scars makes the abdominal wall resistant to stretching, so the baby gets pushed toward my back. This leaves me with a very small profile when pregnant. Here’s a picture taken at 19 weeks 4 days preggo:
I know that my weight gain is doing great as I believe I am up about 12 pounds so far. I can also feel the baby’s hiccups and see some of the stronger kicks already, so I know that baby is getting stronger and bigger each week. Still, the Mommy in me can’t help but to worry about my baby’s growth. I know with Nathan, even though I carried him with a small profile, that he was always either average or bigger in size for his gestational age. In fact, the doctor said that he would have been between 8-8.5 pounds if born on his due date. So I know that my body is at least capable of growing a good sized baby.
Anyhow, tomorrow is our (slightly early) 20-week sonogram! We *may* find out what we’re having as well. I have been debating with myself for the last two months to make totally sure that I am not being impulsive about finding out what baby is. C was fine with it either way, but I know he is definitely looking forward to finding out the gender tomorrow. I think the main reason I wanted to go ahead and find out is because I need to sell or trade Nathan’s boy clothes for girl things if baby is a girl. If baby is another boy, I still have to sort through Nathan’s baby clothes because their birthdays mean that they will be wearing different sizes in different seasons. Since I will be working until right before the baby is born, and tired on my off days, it seems like a logical choice to give myself as much time as possible to prepare things.
Anyhow…for other news, we just survived our first major childhood illness. Nathan came down with the coxsackie virus, otherwise known as Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. I also came down with it, but thanks to the Heavens Above, my fatigue, nausea, and fever ended the night before he started showing signs. He started out with sleeping a lot and being very quiet, then developed a sudden high fever.
Sunday night around 1am, the baby alarm went off so I went to check on him. I found him shaking and drooling excessively in his crib and moaning. It just about scared me to death to find him like that, but it got worse. I sat with him in his nursery on the rocking chair and tried to warm him up, thinking maybe he was shivering from fever. However, he didn’t seem to respond to me and his legs went very stiff despite the shaking. I started to suspect a febrile seizure and practically ran with him into our bedroom where C was sleeping.
I shook C awake and comforted Nathan while C woke up. Nathan’s eyes rolled in the back of his head and then I knew without a doubt that it was a seizure. That went on for about 2-3 minutes and then he suddenly stopped shaking. I knew from a previous call to his pediatrician for a vaccination-induced fever that a febrile seizure is not an emergency if it only last a few minutes and he only has one. Scary as all get-out, but not an emergency.
Anyhow, I put Nathan to bed with me and he finally fell asleep around 4am. He continued to have fever until yesterday, so I followed the doctors orders and gave him as much as anything he wanted to drink, tylenol, and lots of love. He is finally on the mend today, and super-happy about this. I am really relieved to finally have my vivacious little boy back. 🙂
Shall update on our 20 week sonogram tomorrow. Be sure to check back and see if it is a Natalie Noella or a William Garrison!
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