It's a boy!

We had our 22 week ultrasound this morning and the first image we saw on the screen didn't leave any mistake: we're expecting another boy! (I considered posting the pic, but I know some people might be offended, so I decided not to - below are two 'safer' ones).

I already had a feeling it would be a boy, but it's nice to have the confirmation now. The little man was moving around a lot, even stuck his tongue out! All organs and bones looked and measured great, and he's a bit above the curve with everything, but I think we had the same with our first one and when he was born he wasn't any bigger than an average (French) baby. She also measured the cervix, which was long and closed at about 5 cm. Placenta is fare enough away from the cervix, so that's good to know too.

After the ultrasound I had my 5-month check-up with my OBGYN. Of course I already knew everything was fine, but it's always nice to see my doctor pleased and enthusiastic. I still didn't get my blood pressure reading (I think this time she said 110 over 60), but she said it was good. Fundal height at 22 cm so right on target, very supple/soft uterus, tonic cervix. Baby's heartrate was fine too (didn't get the exact measurements either).

I'll have to make an appointment with the lab for later this week for the routine checks and then next month it will be fun with the glucose tolerance test and some additional blood tests. My next OB check-up  is only three instead of four weeks away due to scheduling of appointments with the hospital for the last three months (still with the same OBGYN, but next month will be the last checkup at her private practice, and for month 7-9 it will be at the hospital. Since my due date is at the end of January, appointments at the hospital have to be made for the beginning of the month, and until now my appointments were more towards the middle/end of the month).

A weekend away

Just a quick update from the airport, where I'm about to board a flight to London, sans hubby and toddler. Going to attend a conference tomorrow with a colleague/friend and then be back home on Sunday afternoon.

Left our toddler with the sitter this morning with a 38.7 degree fever (celsius obviously, which equals about 101.7 Fahrenheit), other than that he was a happy camper, so no idea what the problem is. Hopefully he won't get really sick and will still be able to go with hubby to the toddler swimming session tomorrow morning.

Went to prenatal swimming session this morning myself, which was really nice. But somehow looking at the other pregnant women I didn't feel pregnant myself! Weird...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I take that back...

...regarding the leg cramps.

Woke up this morning with a horrible cramp in my left leg - but not the back, but on the side - horrible place, because the usual trick of pulling your toes in the direction of your nose doesn't work...

Past the halfway mark

That's right - I'm 20w4d today, so even according to my French city's standards - which counts 40w3d for due dates - I'm into the second part of my pregnancy. Only if this one decides to stay inside as long as his or her older brother, then I'm not quite there yet...

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. Everything is going the way it should. Belly is growing, I feel the baby moving more and more, and I'm feeling pretty good. Leg cramps are nothing compared to my first pregnancy, but maybe that's still to come or the homeopathic treatment I gave myself (cuprum metallicum and nux vomica) did the trick, who knows...

I bought a doppler after I saw that it was much cheaper than I thought those things would be, but to be honest, I hardly use it. I prefer feeling the baby's kicks and moves - somehow I feel that those are signs he/she wants to give me him-/herself that everything is going okay in there, and with the doppler I'm somehow intruding on his/her space, or is that weird?

We should know the baby's sex at the next ultrasound in two weeks time. Somehow I'm thinking it's a boy, but no real reason for it other than that I don't know any better as my previous pregnancy was a boy. Friends around my son's babysitter say it must be a girl because a few of their pregnant friends who are due in January are all expecting girls. But then I think that ours was conceived a few months earlier, so their 'wisdom' might fall short...

I had my first prenatal yoga class this evening and it was good. A different class and teacher than I had with my first pregnancy, I think I like this one better (she's also a midwife), a little more down-to-earth. Classes are every other week, so I will try to get some discipline to also do some exercises at home, although knowing myself that will probably not happen...

I've also signed up for prenatal swimming/water exercises for which classes begin next Friday (you see, it's "la rentrée" - referring to start the new school year at the beginning of September, but also meaning all other activities, even if they're not meant for school children at all, have a summer hiatus and start up again in September - and oh my if you're trying to get into a class in mid-season!). Looking forward to that. It's in an aquatic center a bit out of town, but looks very nice, much better than the municipal swimming pools close by. We've also signed up for Saturday morning 'swimming' activities with our toddler at the same center since he showed so much love for being in the water this summer, so that should be fun too.

Other than that I'm still extremely busy with work. Had a huge deadline today, which I still haven't met, but I'm now waiting for input from two other people before I can send the docs off, so it's pretty much out of my hands (and I figured everyone has gone home anyway, so not much difference if they get it now or tomorrow or Sunday - besides, did I mention I don't get paid for this job...?! - but it's worth it, I hope). Luckily I didn't get any angry emails or phone calls, so I'm pretty zen.