20-week Doctor Appointment

20 weeks marks the halfway point in the 40-week gestation period, so baby Altman is now officially "half-baked" -- it is hard to believe!

Despite eating like a pig lately, I only gained 1 pound in the past month, for a total of 4 pounds since becoming pregnant. It seemed low to me, but the doc says I am right on schedule for the recommended weight-gain. My waist is definitely thicker, but still not much of a baby "bump" to speak of.

My mom accompanied me to the appointment, so that she could hear the baby's heartbeat. It was strong and steady in the low 150s. My doctor told me, just like the ultrasound tech did, that I have a very active, squirmy child. All I could think is that perhaps steve and I have produced a hyperactive little goon and we should save our money for Ritalin. Or maybe the little guy is just training to be an olympic swimmer. He has already logged a lot of pool hours, since swimming and water aerobics have been my exercise of choice during pregnancy.

As for the scary previa diagnosis .... Thankfully, my doc is not yet that worried because (as she showed me on the ultrasound films) the placenta is attached slightly above the cervix, rather than on the cervix itself. She hopes that as the uterus expands, it will pull most of the placenta up and away from the cervical opening. She will monitor its movement with a series of ultrasounds every 3 to 4 weeks. Hopefully, this additional monitoring will allow us to learn if the swimmer inside my belly will be the next olympic champion in the MALE or FEMALE category. In the meantime, she told me not to worry too much and to continue exercising and working and whatever else I have the energy to do. She did say that although bedrest, a preterm baby, and a c-section are still all possibilities, they are not things I have to be concerned about yet.

So, all in all, I left the doctor's office feeling that this pregnancy may indeed continue along as easy and uneventful.

Sundance 2008

My mom, Kristin, and her mom Connie came out for the 2008 Sundance film festival, making it a mother-daughter event this year. We did not see any movie stars, but saw plenty of movies and lots of Utah scenery. One of the movies we saw was a documentary about the marching band at our high school called "From the 50 Yard Line." It was cool to see a movie about your home town, but perhaps the highlight of the visit was a sleigh ride dinner at Park City Mountain Resort. For me, just spending time with Kristin, who I do not get to see that much, was a treat.

The girls at the Centerville movie - Becky & Kristin at the Sundance Resort - The sleigh ride dinner at Park City

The baby made me do it!

The other day, I came home from the grocery store with a loaf of squishy sliced bread, a new jar of crunchy peanut butter, and raspberry jelly. Since then, I have been addicted to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They are the best when I make them ahead of time and leave them in the refrigerator for a while, so the jelly can ooze through the bread. Steve looked somewhat strangely at my pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the refrigerator and all I could say is, "The baby made me do it."

Then, for about a week every night after dinner, I wanted a Reeses' Peanut Butter egg. You know the big peanut butter cups you get at easter time? Thankfully, Reeses makes a valentines heart, which Steve brought home for me the other night. It tasted so good that I cut it in half and savored it for two days. I do not really want the regular peanut butter cups, only the bigger size eggs/hearts.

I wonder if there is any connection to the foods that I eat during pregnancy and the kid's preferences or allergies. If so, I hope I am not creating one of those kids who has a peanut allergy and has to sit at a special table in the lunch room at school.

Sneaking a Peak of the Baby

Another ultrasound ... the baby is a little over 18 weeks in this picture. We searched for the gender (after finally deciding that we did want to find out), but our little guy was so active that he kept getting the umbilical cord wrapped between his legs not letting us see anything with any certainty. S/he is currently breach, standing straight up and down in my belly, with her legs fully outstretched pointing down to the ground and her head up toward my chest. Perhaps if she flips around and curls up like a normal fetus, my belly will start looking more pregnant. In the meantime, I am still in the awkward clothes phase where nothing really fits.

Steve went with me to the ultrasound appointment. He came away thinking that the baby looked good with two arms, two legs, a little spine and skull, and a heartbeat of 144 bpm, but I came away with a bad feeling ... after the perinatologist read the ultrasound tapes, the tech came back in and took several more pictures and requested that I come back in and have another ultrasound within a month. At first, I was happy because that meant we get to see the little guy again and maybe s/he will have untangled the cord from her legs by then. But then I started worrying that they saw something bad and the tech could not tell me. I felt certain that my disease-riddled cervix was not cooperating and is showing signs of incompetence.

Two days later, I called my doc to follow-up because I could not stop thinking that my cervix was going to bust open and the baby was going to fall out (Unrealistic perhaps, but we'll blame the extra pregnancy hormones). According to the nurse I spoke with, my cervix is fully closed and does not appear to have any thinning or coning yet. Phew, it does not look like the repeated procedures and surgeries over the past 6 years have compromised its ability to carry the weight of an expanding uterus. Instead, the nurse said that the ultrasound report mentioned that we need to monitor two things: 1) the tech was unable to get a good picture of the baby's heart chambers, but given how much he was squirming around, I am not too worried about that finding -- and 2) that I have a very low lying placenta, technically called placenta previa. This is where the placenta is on top of the cervix, rather than attached somewhere higher on the uterus. In many cases, the placenta is raised off of the cervix as the uterus expands with the growing baby. However, if it does not fix itself, then they usually have to take the baby via cesarian delivery and there can be other complications, like the placenta not automatically detaching itself after birth, which would lead to a hysterectomy at the time of c-section. The mother may lose so much blood in the process of delivery that transfusions are necesary. I am OK with all that. I am even OK with a preterm baby, which is almost inevitable in the case of placenta previa. What I am not OK with is if they put me on an extended bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. That would totally suck. I do not think I could do it.

I am sure I am overthinking all of this and imagining the absolute worst case scenario ... My next ultrasound will be in 3-4 weeks. I will find out some answers then. In the meantime, maybe I can forget about what might or might NOT be wrong. Unlikely, but hopefully.

Pregnant or Too Many Christmas Cookies?

My waist has certainly expanded lately, but I still do not look pregnant. My regular pants are getting pretty uncomfortable, so I broke down and bought myself some maternity pants over the weekend. However, they barely stay up. The doc said I only gained 3 pounds total (as of my 16 week appt on Jan 2) , but it sure feels like a lot more. I will be happy when I look pregnant, rather than just the girl who ate too many cookies over the holidays.

The Name Game

Now that it feels like this pregnancy is real, we have started to think through some possible names. The rule is that if one of us HATES the name, it is off the list. For a girl, we both like the name Carolyn, after Steve's mom Carol and my mom Lynn. However, for a boy, we have been struggling a bit more. Steve's choices were Magnus or Lovey, which I quickly nixed. I liked Charlie, but he laughed so hard that we never even could consider it. Parker seems to be the one boy name (at least right now) that we can both agree upon and that has family meaning. Parker is Steve's dad's middle name, which came from his mother's maiden name. My dad's middle name is Kent, which we liked until we realized that "Parker Kent" may be a bit of a joke since both names are associated with superheroes: Peter Parker (Spiderman) and Clark Kent (Superman). Steve then decided that he liked Parker Gordon (Gordon was his grandfather's name) because he thinks our child is destined to be the next Tiger Woods with the initials of PGA.

I have my second trimester ultrasound on January 17th. I guess we need to decide before then if we are going to find out the baby's sex. At first, I was totally against finding out. Now, I am leaning toward trying to find out.

Girl
Carolyn Rebecca Altman
Carolyn Grace Altman
Carolyn Michelle Altman

Boy
Parker Steven Altman
Parker Michael Altman
Parker Gordon Altman
Parker Kent Altman

The Side Effects of Pregnancy

My pregnancy has been a breeze, so much so that I barely realize I am pregnant most of the time. I have had no morning sickness whatsoever. I have not been all that tired, have continued all of my normal activities, and have enjoyed the experience. I am sure all that will change as I reach the later stages of pregnancy, but I feel lucky to have had it so easy so far ..... if only raising a child would be so easy.

The only pregnancy-related symptom I have had is a rare one. At exactly 12 weeks, I broke out in hives, from head to toe. They went away after a few days, only to reappear a few days later. They came back a third time over the holidays and lasted for about 8 days that time. Right now, they are gone. I was referred to a dermatolgist, who told me that it was most likely a pregnancy-related skin disorder. She told me, "I hope they don't bother you too much because they are likely to be around until delivery - and there is very little I can do for you." Then, she sent me to the drug store to buy all sorts of expensive soaps, creams, and moisturizers. My skin feels great now.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year - and what a year it will be! I can hardly believe that next year at this time, we will have a 6-month old.

To ring in the new year, we had a progressive party -- appetizers and cocktails hosted by Kim, Nick, Todd, and Michelle at the Von-Korinek house. Hot stone feast at the Utz-Altman house. Chocolate and port tasting at Nikki's house. The night was filled with games. The Kline's were the overall game winners. Kim and Nick were voted the best dressed couple.