13 & 14 weeks...Second Trimester!!!

Well, some people (and websites) say your second trimester starts at 13 weeks, some say 14...whichever it is I am definitely in it now! :) I am now 14 weeks!!! But this post is about week 13 and 14.

One thing that I feel is changing is my belly. Getting bigger? no....I woke up yesterday and I felt like it disappeared! Maybe I have just been super bloated for the past two weeks? I don't know! It's so weird! I don't think it's uncommon to not really be showing at this state, but it's weird that I did last week, and don't this week! Ya know!? Anyway, I am still showing (to me), but you can't really tell unless I'm wearing a really tight shirt and holding my belly (i.e. 13 week pictures :)

I finally got my referral from my PCM to a OB/GYN on Thursday the 7th and made the appointment for the following Monday at Palmetto Women's Health Specialist in Manning (about 30 minutes from here). The only problem was getting all of my records faxed from Women's in Stockbridge to Manning. I completely forgot to call Women's on Friday, and they're closed all weekend, so when I went in for my appointment Monday, they had to do it then, which meant that my doctor wouldn't have my records for the apt. This made for kind of a frustrating time. THREE nurses came in to the room where I was waiting to ask about my records and then I think they finally just kind of decided "screw it" and sent the doctor in. It was actually a C.N.M. (midwife) and he introduced himself as Tom (I thought was kind of odd). Anyway, I really like him and think going down to Manning for appointments will be well worth it.

So, the appointment....

Apparently Tricare (our insurance) only covers two ultrasounds, unless medically necessary; one in the beginning stages (mine was at 8 weeks) and one in the middle at about 20 weeks, to get all the measurements and find out the gender. Well, I didn't know this. I think it really depends on the doctor, like some will just do an u/s anyway for fun, but Tom was not planning on it. So, he got out the doppler device to find the baby's heartbeat without ordering an u/s. The first device didn't work, or so he thought. He could find my heartbeat, but not the baby's. I got a little worried. He went and got another one. After about, idk, 5-10 minutes (seemed like eternity) he still couldn't find it. He left the room to get yet ANOTHER device, and at this point I'm thinking this is bad....when he came back, he just said "okay, I'm going to see if an ultrasound room is available" and his face is what scared me the most. He looked so disconcerted (if that's the word I'm thinking of?). When he left to check, my eyes welled up and I started to panic a little. He just wasn't reassuring at all. There was no, "oh this happens from time to time" or "don't worry, sometimes it's hard to get the heartbeat with this device" or anything! Sean wasn't able to be at this appointment because he has started working on night shift and wouldn't have been back in time, so I grabbed my phone to text him real quick...NO service! ugh! Tom came back in and we went to the u/s room. I saw the baby right away, but he still had a hard time find his/her heartbeat because he/she was moving around SO much! He would hold the thing still and you would just see the baby move all over the place. I automatically felt better. Then, he found the heartbeat and said it was strong, and I felt such relief!

He got the u/s tech to come in and take a picture (I'm thinking he should have just had her do it all along! She found the baby and the heartbeat in no time).

 The last ultrasound that we had, it was just so small, and didn't even really look like a baby (well it was still an "embryo"), but this one was really neat to me! At one point, Tom had the perfect still  shot of the baby...it was from the side and you could see the outline of his/her face, the whole belly, and one leg was bent and you could see the knee, and one arm was up and you could see all the fingers!! So cool! But either he didn't know how to actually make it into a picture, or forgot...lol But, either way, I really enjoyed seeing it. This picture kind of looks like an alien because it's from the front of the face. All-in-all it was a good appointment. And it ended up being a good thing that he didn't find the heartbeat at first because I got to have an ultrasound after all! It really did make my day!

I have another appointment in a week because they didn't have my records and want to do a follow up appointment with them. I'll be right on schedule for some blood work anyway, so I think that's what will happen then (I do NOT like needles or blood work, JUST so yall know!)
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Biggest change in the last two weeks? The amount of time I spend in the bathroom! UGH! (sorry if that is tmi) I thought it was bad before, but this is really bad! I don't know how I would be able to travel right now! I'm not drinking any more water or liquids than normal, but man....I actually thought there was something wrong with me for the first couple of days! lol Then I realized it was just part of pregnancy...oh well, it could be worse. While I'm on the kind of gross topic, this week my baby can also urinate! haha

"Fun Fact: Your baby can now urinate! At 14 weeks pregnant, your little bundle of joy's bladder empties every 30 minutes. He or she is always swallowing amniotic fluid, which gets filtered through the kidneys and passed out of the body as urine. Then, the cycle begins all over again."

I decided that I really like this site for my weekly updates and info better than the others. Babycenter gives me a brief update, but this one goes much more in depth. Womenshealthcaretopics.com

As I said in my last post, I have been craving smoothies lately...So, I decided to get Kristin and AJ a Blender! :) I heard her mention that she wanted one anyway, so I thought this was the perfect time to get her one! Plus, they just bought their first house, and are letting us stay with them for a month...they deserve more than this, but it's a start! :) We made some smoothies right away and they were...eh, okay. The problem was I didn't follow any recipe and what I'm really wanting is a tropical smoothie! But the BX didn't have any frozen mangoes, and my dumb self bought fresh nectarines thinking they were fresh mangoes! lol I know, they don't even look SIMILAR! It was one of those pregnancy moments. Anyway, I'm sure they will get a lot of use out of it....at least I will before we leave! ;)

The week ended with a girls night. Megan and Mercedes came over and Kristin cooked us all dinner. It was a really fun night to just hang out with the girls! And much needed too :)