16w4d

I’m going into this week hoping for it to be quiet and extremely uneventful.

I am starting to feel baby boy move around on a sporadic basis.  It happened about 4 or 5 days ago.  I can feel the “bubbles” on occasion and know that it is baby boy.  I had felt the movement starting early last week but passed it off because I didn’t think baby boy was sitting up so high on my belly.  But my uterus has actually already reached my belly button and when a nurse used the fetal doppler last week I suddenly realized all the “bubbles’ were baby boy.  I don’t feel them on a regular basis but there are some times he can really get kicking up a storm.  Just imagine dumping a bag of Pop Rocks candy in your tummy.  Our baby boy gets especially active after I drink my chocolate milk in the AM.

My insurance company approved the P17 injections.  This brings be so much relief despite the hefty price tag that come with the injections.  I had my initial P17 injection at 16w1d.  A nurse actually comes out to my workplace 1x a week between weeks 16 – 36.  All the medicine was shipped direct to me.  The nurse will touch base with me each week and make sure I’m not showing any signs of preterm labor.  If the nurse would have any concerns, then she would forward them onto my OB.  The nurse also takes my BP and we get to listen to baby boy’s heartbeat on the doppler each week.  (I LOVE that part.)  The injection itself was not too horrible.  It’s a big a&& needle because the progesterone is compounded in castor oil so it is extremely thick in nature.  But the nurse, who spends all day giving these injections, did a great job.  I had very minimal soreness.  I am experiencing some tummy troubles though that might be related to the surge of progesterone in my body.  I am optimistic that these shots will help to keep baby boy in because …

We already had our inaugural trip to L&D last week.  Sigh.  I have continued to have some intense cramping accompanied by spotting of old blood.  I woke-up last week and when I went to the restroom passed only won’t I can equate to my mucus plug.  I FREAKED OUT.  I called the OB and much to my surprise and a bit of my disappointment the OB told me to go to L&D.  My disappointment only surrounds the fact that we have a high deductible insurance plan and I was not expecting to meet that deductible until later this year.  So off Kara and I went to L&D.  I felt a bit silly.  Kara loudly declared she was going to pack a bag so that way we could be guaranteed that we would be sent home.  Smart Little Mommy.  My BP was high when we arrived at L&D but that was because I was very nervous.  It went down.  We listened to baby boy’s heartbeat and all was good at 150 bpm.  They did a quick check and there was no sign of my cervix dilating.  Also good.  They then did a couple of u/s to measure the length of my cervix (OK) and to check the position of my placenta.  My placenta is laying low in my uterus which they believe is causing me to continue to have old blood spotting.  The placenta is irritating my uterus.  I have been told that the placenta “should” move up and out of the way in the next several weeks.  They will check the position again at my anatomy scan in a couple of weeks.  But in the meantime I am keeping all physical activity at a minimum so that I don’t go bothering anything in the old uterus.  You just have to be careful with the position of the placenta because it can be a risk to both baby and mom if there would be any bleeding.  The good news was that it appears the hematoma has completely resolved itself.  It was not visible on the u/s.

So that is my most recent update.

Mary