Update 12 weeks, 4 days

Not much of an update really. As far as I know, all is currently well. I got brave and decided to wait the usual 4 weeks from my last ultrasound, so nothing new until 12/21. Still nauseous but not as bad all the time. I have some days where I feel icky all day, others where it's just once in the morning and then barring strong smells, I'm okay. I *think* I heard the heartbeat on my doppler a few days ago at 12 weeks but it was in and out so I couldn't count it. . .Hoping that at least means my little wiggly bean is still hanging in there. . .

My morning at the doctor's office. . .

Last night around 11:30 p.m., I started having what may or may not have been contractions. I had Braxton-Hicks with GG, but only like one or two a week, not every 10 minutes or so for hours. I never had normal labor with her. My water broke and then I had excruciating back labor for two hours before my C-section. So I did all the stuff they tell you to do, changed positions, walked around, drank water, etc. and they continued for like three hours, coming every two minutes to around every 10 minutes. At about 3:00 a.m., I called my doctor's exchange and he called me back. I explained what was going on and that I thought it was contractions (tightening all the way around and uncomfortable) and wasn't sure what to do. He asked me if the baby was moving much and I told him she was actually moving more than usual. He told me it would be much easier for me if I just met him at his office when he got there in the morning at around 8:45 a.m. than it would be to deal with the hospital. I took that to mean he thought I was okay and tried to sleep. I got maybe three hours altogether, then got up and went in to see him.

They did the usual stuff (urine sample, weight check, blood pressure, doppler check on the heartbeat) and said everything looked normal. He then "checked" me and said my cervix was "unlabored," which to me means not dilated or effaced-a good thing to be sure. They put me on the contraction monitor for about 15 minutes and it didn't show anything (I didn't really feel them much anymore anyway by then). He was very nice (as usual) and told me that since my cervix was unchanged there was nothing to worry about. He thinks I'm having more ligament pain and tightening than anything. In fact, he was so okay with my status that he told me to cancel my regular appointment next week and just come back in four weeks like usual. Needless to say, I am relieved but in need of sleep.

This little one has been moving like a crazy jumping bean for the last 24 hours. She's rolling, punching, kicking. . a LOT. I took a nap today and when I woke up, I think she had the hiccups for the first time because my belly was jumping rhythmically for a few minutes. Pregnancy is such an adventure!

Doppler

Well, I ignored my good friend, Sara's advice (see comment on my prior post-sorry, Sara!) and bought a home doppler. I got it from Smartmomma.com and paid for expedited shipping (I'm SO impatient) so I got it today. I then spent the better part of 20 minutes searching for the baby's heartbeat, which I found several times, but never for more than 5 seconds or so. The thing didn't come with a battery so I "borrowed" one from our smoke detector, which probably isn't at full power, so I couldn't get the display screen to accurately count the beats. It kept saying crazy stuff like 70 and 82, but I could clearly hear that it was a rapid baby heartbeat. So I checked with the clock (counted for 10 seconds, then multiplied by 6) and it was actually 156 bpm-which is normal.

I mashed around so long and so hard (and was covered in the stupid gel stuff when I was done) that I actually made my skin sore, so I spent the next hour or so being worried that I may have harmed the baby somehow. I'm over it now, as I'm sure he or she is fine inside the little sac of fluid, but I'll probably only check for the HB once every few days just to be safe. 15 weeks today, YAY!