24 week update

We are viable!

I met with my midwife last week and everything went well. I gained 6 lbs since my last visit, bringing me up to 8 lbs total so far. We got to hear the baby on fetoscope and stethoscope with heartrate at about 140. I decided to opt out of a pap for this pregnancy because I had one last year and everything has been normal for the past few years, so I can afford to put it off until 3 years from now on. YAY! I scheduled my placental location ultrasound, which will be next Wednesday, July 21st and I won't have to drive to the big city for that, which is always nice. At that point, I will be able to plan on where to give birth. If it is close to or beneath my c-section incision, I will go in for another one at the end to check the location before I go into labor. As long as we're in the clear, I'll be able to deliver in the birth center or at home if I don't feel like driving an hour to the birth center. I have no clue how long this labor is going to be since my last was induced at 38 weeks because of Pre-eclampsia, so I'm going to have to just listen to my body.

Besides that, I talked to her about my increasingly horrible back pain, which is directly related to my diastasis recti. She checked its severity while I was there and it was 3+ fingers. That means that it is advanced, hard to repair, and causes some seriously painful/uncomfortable problems. She referred me to a chiropractor who is experienced in treating pregnant women and I was able to make an appointment for July 30! Unfortunately, I'll be going to the city at least twice that same week, so that is definitely going to be tiring but at least I'll get paid for those two days since it's a training.

At my next appointment, I will have my blood drawn for the glucose test but my midwife is really nice and isn't making me drink the flat orange soda; I just have to eat two hours before my appointment, a meal that includes complex carbs and protein. I have to limit any juice that I drink that morning to 4 ounces or less. If I do not pass that test, I will have to drink the orange for the follow-up 3-hour test. I've never failed the test so I'm not worried about it.

The baby is obviously getting much bigger; I can see and feel rolling and almost every movement. The night before last, Chloe had a middle-of-the-night-pillow-freak-out tantrum that woke up the baby and made him/her really upset. There was furious kicking and squirming and I swear, if I could see into my uterus, I would have seen my poor scared baby crying silently in there. ='( At least I know that hearing isn't going to be an issue!

That's the gist at this time. I'll probably wait to post again until after my ultrasound. Maybe I'll take a giant-belly picture for that one.