Daily Note: April 28, 2009

Hi there. It's been a while since I last posted. Work is really busy prepping for my Spring conference in Washington DC and I tend to get home pooped. The conference is the week after next, but I leave next weekend to head over early and get prepped.

I always hate flying to DC for work, but this time around I'm dreading it even more. By the time my flight was booked, all they had left were window seats, so that should be awesome. I'm also a nervous flyer and will miss my little muscle relaxer that I always took before boarding the 5 hour flight. Lastly, I'm super not looking forward to coping with the time difference and crazy long days with nothing more than a Tylenol. Oh Lorazapam, how I will miss you.

Today I welcome in week 22 with a renewed gratitude for feeling the baby's movements. I had a teeny tiny scare yesterday morning when I started getting weird, sporadic shooting pains down my right side, from my ribs down to my hip. When I called the doctor's office they had me zip over to double check everything. Well, the baby's heartbeat sounded strong (although the 10 seconds it took her to find it was not my favorite part of the appointment) and when they poked me all over, everything with me seemed fine too. Then of course the pains stopped and I felt crazy. Until the nurse came back in and said they'd found minute traces of blood in my urine. Overshare? Probably. But too late! Well, this is apparently a common indicator of a bladder infection (which are common during pregnancy because of the increased pressure the baby puts on the bladder), so now I'm waiting for the more complete results of the "urine culture" (gross).

As of this morning, the results were negative for a bladder infection, but they said sometimes it takes another day or two to be sure. I imagine them checking back on my little cup of pee every few hours, waiting for it to talk to them and say "Actually, I was wrong yesterday - turns out it IS a bladder infection!" In the meantime, they've called in a prescription for me anyways and I'm now totally paranoid that my frequent bathroom trips mean something more than they probably do. ANYWAYS, my point is that at least I have the regular movements of the baby to remind me that she's still doing fine.

After only one more weird, shooting pain yesterday afternoon (they literally last like 1 second), I didn't have any more after my appointment yesterday morning. Until this morning! When they came back and scared me all over again. On a whim, I went home for lunch to lay down on my left side for an hour and I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but the pains stopped right away and I haven't had one since. Maybe these are a new kind of ligament pain? Gah! So frustrating to not know.

So as not to be a total Debbie Downer, I am including a few photos from week 21 in my post. First up is a photo illustration of my haircut on Saturday. My hair was getting ridiculously long and thick lately, which sounds like a conceited thing to say, but if you'd seen it, you'd know that it wasn't actually pretty like a shampoo commercial. It was more like a horse's tail. I asked Jeff to document the new cut so that when I hated it the next morning, I could have this to remind me of how it could be, if only I had blow drying skills:

We didn't really do a traditional "belly shot" this weekend, but we did take this photo on Sunday afternoon after my Mom took me clothes shopping for some spring appropriate maternity gear. Thanks Mom! Here I am modeling my new spring uniform: the most comfortable cotton jersey skirt with a giant maternity panel (Jeff wanted to take a picture with my shirt tucked into this panel, but I refused) and this shirt which we bought in two colors. Now if it would just stay warm enough for this to be appropriate attire every day, because these clothes are so much more comfortable than my jeans:

Other pregnancy related updates:

I'm still feeling the baby move pretty much on and off all day, every day. One of her kicks even woke me up last night. In the last few days, I've noticed that many of the movements are being felt up around my belly button, so things seem to be shifting slightly upwards as the baby grows. The girls have now each felt her kick at least once from the outside and last night they validated my theory that some kicks can actually be seen by the naked eye. The doctor said I have an active baby, but it mostly has to do with my frame (I'm assuming they are politely referring to the fact that I'm 5'2").

We've also chosen a name! This is very exciting and I would like to share, but the appropriate people must be told in the appropriate order. Sorry dudes.

And lastly, here are the random pictures of Maurice for the week. After Betsey said something last week in the comments about putting a bib on her dog, I felt inspired. Here's Maurice sporting a hand-me-down bib that my coworker gave me last week.

And this is how I find Maurice each morning after getting out of the shower. That's Jeff's body on the left, under the blankets. He likes to spoon this grey blanket that Jeff's Mom wove like his own personal body pillow while also maintaining maximum closeness to Jeff.