"Seriously, I was not planning on bein' here all day, y'all."

I had an OB doc appointment today at around 9:30 this morning. I didn't leave the hospital (where my doc's offices are) until around 3 p.m.

Why was I there that long?

High blood pressure. Ugh.

At first my bottom number (diastolic) was high...then my top number (systolic) started creeping upwards, too. Next thing I know, I'm getting the preeclampsia speech, sent waddling down to the lab, and then making my way to the labor/delivery triage area for the baby and I to be monitored. Thankfully the jerk that I encountered at my last visit -the one who went on a Tylenol tirade last time I was there- was no where to be seen. I was surrounded with competent and caring professionals for the duration of my stay. This was great for keeping the blood pressure down...'cause going postal on that guy, if he'd have been there, would not have been ideal. I'm just sayin'.

The bp did eventually go down and the baby's heart rate was fine. I was contracting a bit, but they weren't coming at regular intervals. I was sent home with lots of advice and cautionary tales....and an obnoxious looking container to put my 24-hour urine collect in. Too much info? So sorry! Bein' prego ain't an elegant thang, y'all.

The Hubby and I don't think we're going to make the April 11th due date. Heck, my doc doesn't even think I'll be much longer, either. She says this wouldn't be a bad thing since the baby looks like he's fully developed from all the info she was looking at. We'll just have to wait and see....

The curious case of the changing due date~

Yeah, so I go to my OB specialist appointment today whereupon I was promptly informed that my April 1st due date was wrong. It is, instead, supposed to be April 11th...and where did I get the idea that it was the 1st?

I had gotten the idea from my regular doc who, I think, was having a ditzy day. I reapeatedly asked if she was sure about the date change at that stage in the pregnancy since ultrasound pics can be misleading (which was what she was going by). Oh, no! She assured me that she was right and, in a ditzily condescending way, let me know that I was mistaken. Yeah, okay lady!

Sooo...now I'm back to an April 11th due date. Even though it feels like things are further along than that. During the anatomy scan today - to check on the thickness of the placenta which was in normal range - the baby was relatively quiet in his breech position. He looked much more filled out than he did a month ago. He's a little over three pounds and I already wanna squeeze him and get all of his sugar!

Well, I'm off to change my baby ticker over there on the left sidebar...again.

Baby's first picture and due date news~

Yep, that's the first picture ever of our little Sweet Pea! Blurry though it may be, I've been showin' it off like it's a fancy portrait from a studio. On the left is a side view of the head and toward the right is its lil' tushy. The dotted line is where the doc had to do a crown to rump measurement to confirm my due date. The doc and her assisting med student got a kick out of trying to get this picture. Our Sweet Pea rolled, tumbled, hiccupped and practiced taekwondo on my bladder before finally settling down on its side and sucking its thumb. I could have layed there in all my inelegant dishabille and watched that child for another hour or two! I'm just sayin' is all.....

Anyway, the crown to rump measurement along with a physical exam revealed that I'm 4 weeks further along than we thought! My due date's been bumped up to early April instead of May. ~Note to self: Correct my baby ticker that's on my left sidebar.~ I think that puts me around 3 1/2 months along. I had been feeling the tiniest flutters, but I thought that was just wishful thinking.....or gas. From the way that child was movin' and groovin' yesterday, it's no wonder I had been feeling a tiny flutter every now and then!

To answer the question that I think most of you are yelling at your monitor....no, I didn't find out if it's a boy or a girl. However, I didn't notice any dangly boy bits. We'll just all have to wait and see what my next sonogram shows. The Hubs is downright certain that it's a girl because my pregnancy is so different from the Bubs's but won't be disappointed if it turns out to be another little boy. He just wants it to be healthy and I feel the same way.

Speaking of the Hubs, I was glad that he got to hear about the baby's antics and see the picture before he had to leave for another exercise. When I showed the picture to the Bubs, he didn't know how to react. I got a very quiet "uh-huh" and a sideways smile. *chuckles* In a way, he was almost embarrassed. He doesn't know what to think about the fact that the baby is in my tummy. That's okay, though. Maybe it will make more sense to him when my belly starts to get bigger. And won't that be fun? I can hear him right now, giggling over how big my tummy is! Oy.