Head Down

Just a quick note today to record the doctor's visit. We did a quick exam that wasn't entirely pleasant to me to check for various things, then did an ultrasound to check baby's position. She is already head-down and ready to go, so that's good. Unless something weird happens, no c-sections for me. And lordy if she isn't bigger than it seems possible to be in such a small space. Not like, too big or anything, but just, it's crazy to think that even at that small size she seems so big already. Weird.

The doctor continues to not be worried about my weight gain, so it's still just me feeling like a house. I took some cute pics of the belly last night, will post asap.

30 Weeks

Hello! We're at 30 weeks now, and the kicking has increased in its urgency and violence. I swear she's doing gymnastics in there all day long, but it's kind of fun to feel her so much. I'm finding myself referring to her as my daughter instead of the baby, which is a slight mental shift, but an important one. "The baby" was a more detached way of viewing her, as a thing separate from me. "My daughter" gives her the ownership that was lacking before, and really drives home just how crazy a life shift is on the way. As a wise man once said, "it's about to get real up in here."


Our next doctor's appointment is on Valentine's Day, when I will turn in my hospital pre-admission paperwork and birth plan, and they will doubtless give me a kick card and ask me to pee in a cup...again. After that appointment, the appointments will increase in frequency. I'll probably go in again two weeks later, and then once a week in March until she shows her little face.

Her middle name is still up for debate. We'd liked Jane for a while, but now I think we're leaning towards Elizabeth. It has a nice musical sound to it, all rolled together.


I'm a little frustrated that I can't bother to go try on wedding dresses for several months, but I think that, combined with my mom's wedding in September, will be a very good thing -- if I lacked motivation to get back in shape before, I definitely have it now.

22 Weeks and New Doctor

My Kaiser appointment went well, I really liked the doc. She was very thorough and attentive, and fit us in at the end of her rotation since we were an hour late. We got lost on the way there and then couldn't find parking and it was super busy. She gave me a whole rundown of how my care would proceed for the weeks to come, what would be done in my next appointments. She asked Shawn and I a bunch of questions about our family medical history and so on, we listened to the baby again, and she answered all my questions. Right away I had a better feeling from her than I ever had from Farney. Even the medical assistants were so nice and helpful when scheduling my next appointments. I have an appointment coming up dedicated solely to having a nurse give me a rundown of questions about medical history and so on. A whole appointment dedicated to that. I can't even remember when/what Farney asked me about my medical history. My big ultrasound appointment is on Wednesday at 8am, when the radiology tech will do all the anatomy measurements and so on, and confirm the baby's gender.

Dr. Hayes also measured my tummy and said my belly size was right on target for where it should be, and told me about some other genetic tests that I might like to do (which Farney never mentioned, despite his two long speeches about how common miscarriage was in the beginning on the pregnancy -- he was awfully lax about some important tests and procedures later on).

When we were listening to the baby, we kept hearing these little pops on the doppler machine -- baby was kicking at the wand where it was pressing on her(him) in my tummy. Hehe, silly baby.

Confirmation of gender and other interesting news to come on Wednesday.

22 Weeks:

A Jolly Xmas Day

I have an appointment with my new Kaiser doc on Monday, December 6th, at 10am. I got a female doctor, but after looking at her profile it looks like she's a resident and not a full fledged doc yet. Which is cool with me, her profile looks like she's a cool lady, and one of the questions I've written down for her is whether or not a doc will be shadowing her and so on.

Baby has been kicking more and more these days, a lot at night and in the morning, but lately I've also been feeling kicks after eating, which I've heard is what they do. Of course, I've also been getting heartburn on a pretty regular basis during the day. It doesn't really matter what I eat, it gives me heartburn anyway. But it's not super bad heartburn, so I just chug water and deal with it.

I got a cute new journal last night, and I'm going to use it as my pregnancy journal. I got the idea from a friend of mine who said she had used one, and kept records of questions she wanted to ask the doc, random thoughts, and so on. The one I got is super cute, it has little rainbow colored dolls all over it, like those Russian nesting dolls. Shawn and I also went to the bookstore and Walgreens tonight and got more xmas stuff -- garland for the tree, two new music cds, and some towels and pot holders for the kitchen. Walgreens had all kinds of xmas stuff for cheap, so I didn't feel bad, we didn't even spend $20 there and got a bunch of cute stuff. I got a new stocking, too, red and knitted. And I officially have one present under my tree, and another one that needs to be wrapped. Yay, Christmas!!

Finally, my stomach feels huge tonight. I took a picture of it, just to document, cause it feels more ginormous than usual.

More Thoughts on New Doctor

The more I talk to friends about my experience with this doctor, the more glad I am that I'm switching. I'm realizing that there are a fair amount of things that haven't been done that should have been. He hasn't been measuring my abdomen, he didn't measure the baby at 17-18 weeks, and during my ultrasound this week, all he did was look at gender, when he was supposed to check out all kinds of other things. Every mom/pregnant lady I've talked to has raved about how much they love Kaiser and how thorough they are in their prenatal care.

Tomorrow I will being calling the Kaiser offices in the area and leaving them voicemails for Monday. There is an office in Alameda, so it would be nice if they were taking new patients. If not there's also an office in Oakland.

Lila's family baby shower was this afternoon. Sally did a really cute theme of a candy shop, it was fun. It was cool to see the whole family there, and it looks like she got lots of good things that she'll need. I'll have to see about getting her a little something else for christmas as well, since what I got for the shower was a bit small, I think. Even if I get her a bunch of diapers and wrap them, hehe.

Gender News

Ultrasound yesterday. The umbilical cord was in the way, but we're about 90% sure that it's a girl. So, until proven otherwise, it's baby Violet. I wasn't really happy with how the appointment went. Doc said the cord was in between the legs, so I keep wondering how he could even be "pretty sure" that it's a girl if the umbi-cord was blocking the bits anyway. I mean, in ultrasounds, it's basically, "girl until proven otherwise." But there was something in the way of seeing any evidence, so, I don't know. I'm going with girl for now, since that's all I've got. And most likely it will turn out to be true. But I still wonder if it won't turn out to be a boy. I was bummed that we couldn't be more, like, 100% sure about the gender. I'll have to ask for a second u/s, just to be sure.

I dunno, I've never really loved this doctor, and this appointment sort of sealed it. I'd heard from other gals that their docs have done all these tricks to make the baby move if it's in the wrong position, or told them to drink fruit juice to make the baby active, or whatever. My doc did none of that. He just said, oh, the cord is in the way. Like, what? It turns out I have to switch my insurance in December, so I'll have to find a new doc anyway.

Now, it's Thanksgiving, and I've stuffed myself on enough food to feel uncomfortably full, but I totally don't. I've already had a leftovers sandwich and some more pie. Hehe. I love being preggo on the holidays. So much good eatin'!

Violet's baby registry is on MyRegistry.com, and it's under my name, Katie Throckmorton. You may be able to find it under Shawn's name as well, since he's on there. Not sure if they make it searchable by both.