Four Month Appointment (and everything but the kitchen sink)

I am fifteen weeks along, which makes this the sixteenth week and time for my month four appointment.

The appointment: Everything is going well, and I am still measuring 2-3 weeks advanced. The Doppler they did at the last appt. was inconclusive, leading to the ultrasound. During the u/s, we were able to see the heartbeat but not hear it. It was very difficult to even do that because of how much the baby moved. The midwife that we saw this week thought it was really important for us to hear the heartbeat, so she wanted to go to whatever lengths necessary. She had the same problem in that the baby wouldn't be still. So her solution was to try to push hard enough to pin the baby to hear the heartbeat. This resulted in her chasing the heartbeat by stabbing my stomach with the Doppler for nearly ten minutes. I wish that I had the ability to swim away while she was busy gouging. We're convinced the baby will have concave features after this. She was so disappointed that we couldn't hear it for more than a second, and David and I were both like, "That's okay, we believe that there's a baby in there. We don't need to hear it." This translates to "Stop now or I will punch you, because it feels as if you are scooping out my insides with a melon baller!" Finally she pinned the baby enough to hear a solid beat (over 140) and stopped. I'm sure we didn't give her the new parent response she wanted to see after hearing it for the first time, because I was so glad it was over, as was David who could tell how much it hurt. The next day my stomach still hurts and has some marks on it.

Other news: We made our first big baby purchase this weekend. The stroller that we wanted to get, the Mountain Buggy Urban, just released their 2008 models, which now come equipped with a cup holder and new decorative stitching which account for a three pound weight increase and about $150(!) price increase. Well, we found a great close-out deal on a 2007 model and couldn't pass up buying it. Now we have the next five months to perfect figuring out how to open and close it as well as find a decent place to store it in the house.

Me: The sickness has pretty much gone away except for some evenings and when exposed to certain smells. This is a very good thing. This week was the first time I had a very strong "I need it now" craving. David and I were downtown and we ran into a sausage vendor. I've not been able to eat any meat during the pregnancy, before getting pregnant I wasn't crazy about pork, and I have never liked sausage. However, I needed this sausage. It was a one-time deal though, because I thought I could try to eat a bite of meat the next day but it led to another sick day.

There aren't many new symptoms other than my blood volume has drastically increased. All of my veins are visible and I feel like I am turning into the Incredible Hulk. I also have what's known as "rhinitis of pregnancy," which is just being very stuffed up due to increased blood flow to the sinuses.

The biggest issue right now is sleep. I am able to fall asleep but only if I can get comfortable, which is no small task. With my ever-expanding mid-section, it makes sleeping on my stomach very difficult, and this is something I really don't want to give up. At least now parents are encouraged to have their infants always sleep on their backs, supposedly to reduce the risk of SIDS, more likely it it so female babies don't get accustomed to the wonder of stomach sleeping and then later in life have to give it up. I have been trying to sleep half hip/half stomach, looking akin to the position you would take when crawling under barbed-wire (with half a basketball under your shirt). To properly achieve this position, I need to be at a complete diagonal across the bed, much to David's dismay, leading to his new symptom of not being able to sleep. Other than huddling in a ball in a very small corner of the bed, David's new nighttime routine includes shutting all closet doors and removing anything that could resemble the shadow of a human form. In the last month or so I have been startled awake suddenly and then I swear I see the shadow of an intruder. David then must search the whole house because of things like: I saw an apparition of a makeup-less Gene Simmons on the ceiling, or I saw Captain Hook sitting on a stool in our closet. Needless to say, David just loves this part of the deal.

The baby: The baby is about the size of a large tomato now, its body begins to catch up in size to its giant head, it is now "breathing" amniotic fluid to build up the ability of its lungs, and it is sensitive to light and pressure from outside of the womb. This makes me think that when I try to sleep on my stomach the baby must look like the punchline from a "Mr. Bus Driver" joke, except instead of having its face smushed between bi-fold doors it's more like my kidneys or abdominal wall.