Baby R - 17 weeks

I promise a post with Christmas and belly pics soon. I have yet to hook all my gadgets back up from our trip to Kansas.

Pregnancy has made my blogs almost non-existent. Sorry for the few and far between posts. I will make an effort to do better.

Yesterday I had my first "official" appointment with the midwives at the birthing center. They did a medical review and took blood (as if they hadn't taken enough already!), and reviewed the mother and newborn testing that we could consent or refuse. I thought I knew a lot about that stuff, but apparently we will be doing a bit more research on a couple of the tests. Being a mommy and daddy is a tough job. You just want the best for your baby, you know?

Some highlights from the visit:
* Good strong heartbeat! She put the Doppler on my belly and Baby R was right there ready to perform! Then she called Baby R a "he" and suddenly it was gone....hehehe! Guess Baby R didn't like being called the "wrong gender". We still have a hunch it is a girl, but still aren't going to find out. But, we are compiling a list of names. We are set with a girl name (sorry not sharing). And we have a couple of boy first names, but the middle name is a source of dispute around here.

*I got a little slap on the wrist for only gaining 4-5 lbs. I can't believe it, considering we just came off the holidays and I didn't have to cook and there were food and sweets everywhere all the time. I have to eat 80-100 grams of protein a day and up the water. They sent me home with a food diary to journal for keeping track of breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, and water intake. Um, that is a lot of times to eat.

*Still on for a mid-June due date. Depending on the source you use for detecting the due date, there is a three day difference. But, I am not going to get hung up on it. I already know that due dates are just "guess dates", although I know the exact day I ovulated thanks to charting and the awareness I have of what is going on with my body. No surprises around here! Plus, the later the date they give, the better off we are to avoid anything invasive (not that the midwives do anything invasive). I think they will let me go 2 and a half weeks past my due date.

That seems to be all for now. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Again, pics coming soon....I promise.