16 Week Checkup

I had my 16 week checkup today. I've been feeling really great recently...I think my TSH levels finally evened out over the last few weeks because I haven't been feeling as crappy as I did last month.

I gained a pound, which puts my total weight change to -3 (wooo hooo)! I was really excited to see that I gained SOMETHING, even if it is just one pound...I just feel paranoid that if I lose weight the entire pregnancy the baby won't be healthy. Crazy I know, but it's the worry-wart of a mommy in me!

They did the quadruple screen and checked my TSH levels to make sure they're still below 3. And, I've been feeling strong braxton hicks contractions for the last few weeks, a couple of times per day. I asked him about feeling them so early on, and he said it's normal, that my uterus actually contracts 3-4 times per HOUR! So it's OK to feel it, just as long as it's not accompanied by blood or weird mucus-y discharge.

Also, little bean's HR was 160 INTERESTINGLY....one of my fellow pregnant mommas passed along a fun site to "predict" the baby's gender (http://www.babybpm.com/)and at 12w 6d with a HR of 130, the baby was predicted a boy. But now it's predicting GIRL, based on 16w 6d with a HR of 160! I know it's just an old wives tale and it's about as accurate as the chinese gender calendar (which all told me Aidan was supposed to be a girl). But, this just makes me even more anxious for Friday when we have our gender confirmation scan. I'm so excited, I probably won't be sleeping from here until then!

Anyway, I scheduled the anatomy scan for Dec. 12 at 2pm, and my next checkup is on Jan 3. I'm so glad everything is going well...no PIH and hopefully no diabetes. Now if I could just have a successful VBAC, I think I can file this pregnancy under "AWESOME"! It's really important to me to have an uneventful, healthy pregnancy. I really want to apply to be a surrogate after I have this baby next year, and I think it'll look great if they see I've recently had a healthy pregnancy.

And randomly, off topic, I'm going to a place I never thought I would ever go before: Cloth Diapering! I know, it sounds silly, but I have a severe aversion to dealing with poopy diapers. I couldn't fathom having to spray off a dirty diaper before washing it, not to mention my OCD tendencies would never let me put a completely filthy diaper into my washing machine....it would be forever soiled in my eyes! But I've asked around and I've been schooled on the cloth diapering ways. So I've been doing research to figure out what brands might suit me and how much cheaper it would be....and I think I'm going to try it out. They make these liners that go over the cloth insert, so when you get a dirty diaper, you just flush the liner and wash the insert, which calms my anxiety about having to get my hands and/or washing machine dirty. I might actually like it, especially since I refused to breast feed before I got pregnant with Aidan and then ended up conceding to try it and in the end loving it! And hey, if it saves us from having to buy spend a ton of money on diapers, I'm willing to give it a shot.

So that's my update. My next update will be about the baby's gender, but it won't be until after we tell Casey's family in person, right before Christmas. And in case you missed it, we finally compromised on a girl's name. Aidan actually picked it out, and since Casey hates my top choices and I hate his, we had to go back to the drawing board. I didn't like it at first, but our choice has been growing on me. So, if it's a girl, she will be Abigail Maria-Jane (calling her Abby for short). And it was never a question as to what boy's name we were going to use...we've had this first name picked out since before we started trying for a second! But we did pick out a middle name we liked, so if it is a boy, he will be Jackson James-Cooper (I imagine calling him Jack, JJ, or JCoop for short lol). So hang tight, only a few more weeks until the world will know if we're on team pink or team blue!