Week 17 update

Had my regularly scheduled appointment today at 17 weeks, 3 days. I would have had to make an appointment even if I had not had one scheduled because I have been having some contractions and cramping the last week or so. I had been holding off calling the Dr. because I knew I would be there this week anyways.

I have finally gain 3 pounds so he was happy about that(I'm pretty sure my date with the tub of Hershey Smore's Icing a few days ago had somethign to do with that). I feel like all I have done all week is eat. I wake up hungry, I go to bed hungry, I eat all day long. Hey, he told me I needed to gain a little more weight so what's the harm. It's mostly fruit and healthy snacks anyways, except the icing incident!

Baby was once again so wiggly that it took forever to find a heartbeat and even when she did find one the baby quickly shifted and she had to search again so we have no exact count but it sounded good and healthy. :)

When I explained that I had been having some contractions but that I wasn't overly concerned because when I sat down they would go away after a while. She agreed that she wasn't overly concerned but that with my history it would be smart to take it as easy as possible she increased the restrictions a little bit. Gave my a weight restriction, told me not to carry laundry baskets or children up the stairs, limit the trips up the stairs to only necessary trips, and increase the ungodly amount of water I am already drinking by 20 ounces. There was a little indication that I may have a UTI and she was sending a sample for that hoping that the contractions are just being caused by bladder irritability. She gave me the spcheel about preterm labor and told me to use my best judgement because they wont hesitate to put me on hospital bedrest which is something we definitly DO NOT want. It would be very hard for the kids to cope with a long hospital stay and Kevin is currently working 2 jobs not including church work so that would make things pretty difficult on him.

So, as a warning... If you plan on beign at my house between now and the month of may expect it to be messy. It will drive me insane but a healthy baby is important and we have to keep this little one cooking as long as possible.

We scheduled the ultrasound for next Wednesday, which is a little earlier than I expected. We plan on having them put the gender in an envelope and have mom and dad make up a special box for us to open as a family on Christmas Eve. So it will be almost 2 weeks after the ultrasound before we actually know if it is a boy or a girl. I thought waiting a few days would be hard :/ I can't wait to know the gender so we can nail down names and get a few of the things we need(since we thought we were done after Abigail we got rid of everything).

Prayerfully things will remain quiet and we wont have any issues to report at or before my next appointment on New year's eve. Thanks as always for your prayers!

Kelli