The Baby isn't Just "The Baby" Anymore!

First, I have to tell you about my last doctor's visit. I had been having this pain in my upper abdomen, just under my right breast. It felt like a bruise, but it didn't go away for over a week, and there was no discoloration. So I decided to make an appointment on March 14th with my primary care doctor, and see what was going on. I mentioned it to the last doctor I saw, in Women's Health, but she dismissed it as likely being bowel pain. That didn't sit right with me. So I went in, and my doctor palpated the area and said that she thought I might have a small hernia. She said that it could be caused by my uterus pushing my intestines up against my ribs, and that as my uterus continues to get bigger, it could shift and go away. But if it doesn't, I'm to let the clinic know. I also asked her about my iron pills. The box says to take one, but the doctor in WH told me to take three. I asked my primary care doctor if that was entirely necessary. She asked me how anemic I was, and when I didn't know, she checked out my numbers in the computer. They were 10 and 29. I don't know exactly what they mean, but the first number is supposed to be 12 or over, and the second 37 or above. So she said I should indeed be taking three. I told her about the scheduling conflicts with them. I can't lie down within 30 minutes of taking one, and I have to take it one hour before or two hours after eating. I'm hungry every two hours, not three. But she told me to ignore those directives and just to take it when I can. If they bother my stomach too much, then we could try something different. She also told me that if my heartburn got intolerable, to come back in, and she would put me on Zantac to help. So far, Tums have been wonderful. So that was fun. But I really like my primary care doctor. I hope our baby can be seen by someone in that clinic, because everyone there is so nice.

Speaking of our baby, we had our ultrasound this morning. The nurse at my 24-week class scheduled it because of my asthma (lovely excuse :) ). But the day started out horribly. I'm working a different schedule now because Julie's dad got fired from his department, and is now on call to take over gaps in other shifts. But he's had this class he's had to go to the last two days, and I have to be at work at 7:00am. So I woke up at 6:00 this morning to take a shower, and I was in immediate, constant pain. I felt horribly constipated. I'd been having an average of one to two bowel movements per day, so I didn't think that was the case, but that's surely what it felt like. It lasted all through my shower, and got to the point I could barely stand up straight. I made it to work, managed to get Julie up and dressed, but that was it. The pain got so bad I was in tears. Thank God I had made plans with Sam for her to pick Bryan up when she got off work. I couldn't have gotten Julie into the car without doubling over in pain. I took some Tylenol as soon as I got home, but it didn't kick in until we were over halfway to the hospital. I told Bryan that if it continued through the ultrasound, I was going to Women's Health afterward. I managed to get through the ultrasound pain-free (Thank You God). We got to see so much of the environment our little one is living in. The head was way down into my pelvis, and the legs and knees were up around my belly button. The tech took measurements of nearly everything. She measured the circumference of the head, the length of the arms and legs, and marked various different parts of the brain. We had told her at the beginning that, if possible, we would love to know the gender of the baby. According to the instructions we were given, she wasn't able to tell us much of anything, and we weren't going to be given any pictures. But she talked us through nearly everything, including measuring the amount of amniotic fluid in the placenta. She also got a very good picture of the baby's behind and genitals....

IT'S A BOY!!!

We were ecstatic! I couldn't show it much, because I was starting to feel in pain again. But Bryan was grinning from ear to ear. I went to the bathroom, and then we went back into the exam room to wait for the radiologist. While we were waiting, Bryan told me that he thought he would like to change the boy's name we had picked out. We had settled on Thomas Jennings, or T.J., very early on, but Bryan was wanting some way to factor in his stepdad's name. Randy has been nearly, if not as good of a father to Bryan as his dad, Jennings, and Bryan wanted to honor that. So he suggested the name Jennings Randall, J.R. for short, instead. I had put that suggestion out there, but he didn't like it at first. I guess it grew on him. He talked like he was going to want to talk about changing the girl's name, too, but that's not a factor anymore. I told him that name was fine by me. We started making phone calls as soon as we got out of the hospital. Now my mom can go shopping for the baby. She'd been bugging me about it for a week or so, complaining that she could only buy white stuff until we found out. But, the tech gave us pictures of the baby's face and genitalia. Here they are!!! (Along with pictures of me and my big ol' belly.

(Doesn't he look scary?)

(Sorry I look so upset.

I really didn't feel good.)