18 Week Baby Update

Ok so I didn't give an update to my last baby post.  There's just one in there, thank goodness!  :)

We didn't get a lot of really fun pictures. She only gave us one of the baby looking directly at us - which always seems the most alien-ish to me.  Also, I was measuring right on track!

I had another appointment this past Friday and it went great.  I'm still very guarded with the midwives just because of my previous experiences with my providers.  But they have been so fabulous!  Both times, they've sat right next to me, put paperwork down, and just talked.  I feel like our relationship will be so much better than with previous ones.  

18 weeks!

One really encouraging thing from my last appointment was I asked to skip the GTT (glucose tolerance test) and monitor my sugars for a few days to a week on the food I'm already eating.  My last provider said I'd have to do this for the rest of my pregnancy, which I couldn't afford.  The supplies are expensive!  But I have leftover supplies; enough to monitor for a week, maybe more.  They were super cool about it and even said they didn't want me to feel "boxed in" with the GTT.  So I'll monitor a week before my next appointment.  I had explained at my previous appointment that I felt I was, at the very least, misdiagnosed with gestational diabetes with my last pregnancy and she was really open and understanding about my feelings. (wondering more about my feelings on the subject?  see my posts from when I was pregnant with Kaylee here and here)

So it seems this prenatal experience will be a lot less stressful and, dare I say, more pleasant?  :) 

I've been feeling the baby move more and more which is always fun.  When she found the heartbeat, she said the baby was moving all over the place.  Heart rate was in low 150s again.

Our "big" ultrasound is the 13th - next Wednesday.  We are still planning not to find out the gender.  I'll actually be glad when the appointment is over because I think it's going to be very hard to know that I could know the gender but choose not to find out....especially because I'm such a planner.  :)  But I do wanna wait.  I think it will be a nice surprise at the end of labor.  Hopefully this time we will get some better pictures of the baby!

In other news, Septtro quickly put up Ri's hair the other day when she was sick.  And it was SO cute. I tried it again the next day and I like it. I may stop brushing it out as much.