Check-Up

Since this was never intended to be a fashion blog, I’m stepping away from my maternity clothes anger.  Breathe in, breathe out.  Rinse, and repeat.

This morning brought our 22 week ultrasound and check-up.  Finally.  For pete’s sake, January, you took long enough.  I went to the counter to check in, and made sure to unzip my coat to flaunt my glorious finally-looking-pregnant belly, which was immediately noticed and smiled at by the lady who always remembers my name.  We had a different sonogram lady than back in December, and this woman meant business.  She may have a sense of humor somewhere, but she would need to use her own machine to find it.

She did a cervix check (vagwand!) and then she went to business wanding my belly.  Brains, check.  Heart, check.  Bladder, check.  Arms, legs, wiggling toes, fingers, check.  When she first started, Vegas was curled up in the breech position, facing stage left with his arms and hands up by his face.  Little did we know that this is the least productive position ever, as we took a few breaks in between the wanding where she’d leave the room and I’d do a variety of movements trying to get him to situate himself differently.  My wife poked him, I jostled him, I leaned over, twisted around, trying laying on my left side, then my right side, got dressed, and so forth.  The only thing he offered us was a more straightened spine and some hiccups.  Everything is developing as planned, as well as a stubborn attitude.  Bonus!

Mistress Sonogram indicated that she could tell the sex, but didn’t tell us and didn’t write it down.  And honestly, as hard as I looked at the screen, she could be telling me “and that’s the elephant trunk” and I would have believed her, since the parts other than the beating heart and the limbs all looked like varying shades of grey.  No sassy profile shots this time due to Vegas’ persnickety positioning, but we did get one face shot straight-on, where you can see his arms and hands up by his face, and clearly make out his nose and (moving!) mouth.  Already, he’s insisting on his privacy.  Or feeling dejected.  Or playing peek-a-boo.

My wife wrote down all of the stats (blah blah number number number blah blah), but all I know is that the doctor (Dr. Fast-Talking and Efficient) told us that everything looked right on target, and that Vegas looks good.  Phew.  Our only question was regarding this strange area on the outer part of my right leg, just under my knee, where I have three mysterious dots (bites?) where the area around it is a little red, and always feels sunburnt.  It’s been this way for two weeks.  He evaluated both legs and ruled out swelling or clots, so we’re treating it as a topical issue.  Or, you know, signs of alien abduction.  Whichever.

My weight gain is still going well.  I was up two and 1/2 pounds from last month, which means I’ve had a total weight gain of six pounds.  Considering I lost eight pounds during the first three months, I’m still down two pounds from when we started all this way back when.  It could be that I’ve always had the body type of a pregnant woman, I just now have a baby to put inside all that belly.

We go back on March 18th, which seems just around the corner, with all of the expectant visitors we’ll be having over the next few weeks, and our mini-vacation the first weekend in March.  Thanks for hanging in there with us thus far – 22 down, 18 to go.