Catching Up...

18w1d

Where have I been???? 

I know....sorry.

It's spring break, so I was up in Buffalo with the family.  We got back Wednesday and are enjoying the best weather ever!! 

Maybe you thought I was too busy setting up the nursery or something?  NOT.  My fabulous bloggy friend Cilla has theirs completely done and let me tell you it is a masterpiece (check it out here ).  Girlfriend is only 3 weeks ahead of me, but is light-years ahead in the whole nursery thing.  I feel inspired!  And am still waiting 2 more weeks until our anatomy scan to see what we got cooking before real nursery decisions are made...

Went to the liver specialist yesterday who kindly told me that "I don't need him" because there's nothing seriously wrong and, more importantly, nothing that will impact the pregnancy.  He said I could have always had high liver enzymes and that it could be explained by the small amount of fat (read FRENCH FRIES) around my liver.  He ordered more tests just to be safe but said I don't need him again until after delivery. 

At the lab, they took 16 vials of blood from me!!!  And my flow was just fine, thank you very much.

It was fun to go baby shopping with my mom when I was home, but man!  It is stressful.  (Russ HATES when I use the word stress in relation to baby shopping...he feels with all we've been through, nothing that takes place in a store could cause stress...I get his point and want to clarify that it is "relatively" stressful - relative to NOT having to make 100 decisions regarding safety, colors, size, and design.)  There is just so much to think about.  And I have my baby book with all the safety ratings and info about what's good and what's terrible (Baby Bargains 2010 - thanks for the tip Bridg!), but then I find things I like that are poorly rated and I want to throw something across the store.  We'll get there...

In baby bump news, I'm growing.  I apologize for not being able (by "able", I mean that I'm refusing) to post pics...it's really nothing to look at.  Still looks like my pre-PG belly but bigger and basically I look like I'm fat, but not PG at all, though it's coming, I believe.  Frankly I think you'd be fascinated by the whole thing.  I remember being little and the doctor examining my abdomen and commenting on it's unusual shape.  My lower belly (below my belly button) has grown but has always been fat even when I was super skinny...then there's the upper belly (above my belly button) that has started to grow more...It has looked like a typical "spare tire" over the past few years but is now just big and fat.  The deformity comes in when you visualize a beach ball wearing a belt.  Where my belly button is goes way in - and not just the button but the whole waistline area.  It literally looks like it's cinched.  It's moving out little by little but everything else is moving out too so it still doesn't look normal.  So no pics.  Sorry.

I am pretty sure I'm feeling him/her but I request that the baby become more vigorous so that I can be sure.

TMI alert:  Read on only if you are curious about my personal bodily functions.

OK, so there's some "wetness" that is concerning me. I've read that there should be an increase in discharge, but you know me - I can't think anything is normal, right?  The thing is, I don't consider what's happening as discharge.  It's more just wet all the time.  And what does Tracey think it is?  You got it!  Amniotic fluid!  I realize that by now, if it was amniotic fluid, things would have gone really badly but I can't help but wonder.  I know - call my doctor.  I have regular appt Monday so I'm just waiting.  It's not that bad, but I am insisting on an internal to make sure everything is high and tight up there.