Today was my next doctor's appointment for the baby. I'm not sure what was going on at the doctor's office, but they were REALLY behind schedule. My appointment was at 10:00am, but we were not called back to the room until 10:40am. This made for a very long wait in the waiting room seeing as I made sure that I would be ready to provide my urine sample by the time we arrived so I was forced to just sit there and hold it while we waited. Torture! Thankfully, as soon as they called me back they took my weight and let me immediately give my sample so I felt much better.
I lost a pound in the past month. I was nervous that they would get on to me about it, but they didn't say a word. Total in the first trimester I gained 1 lb, which is less I think, than I gained in the first trimester with Riley.
Once in the exam room the nurse took my blood pressure and said it was good. Not sure what the actual reading was, but I'm happy it was good. Since I had high blood pressure and preeclampsia with Riley I am really nervous every time they take my BP that it will be high. I am happy so far that it seems to be doing okay.
When the doctor came in he did an exam and then he grabbed the Doppler, which is what he uses to hear the heartbeat. He told me that he might have to hunt around for it a bit and to not worry, that sometimes this early along it can take a minute to find it. Well, he placed the Doppler on my stomach and paused for a second without moving it and said, "Well, there it is!" He didn't have to move it around at all! He found the heartbeat first thing! So we all listened and then he told me that the heart was beating at 162 beats per minute (bpm). Riley's heartbeat was 140 bpm, so I turned to Chad and said "That's a lot faster than Riley's was!", to which Chad responded "That means you think it's a girl!" because the wives tale is that if the bpm is above 150 bpm that it is a girl and if it is below 150 bpm it is a boy. I laughed and told him I was not making a guess with this baby. That I was so convinced that Riley was a girl and was so surprised when he was a boy that I was not making any guesses this time around!
After the exam the doctor made sure that I was taking my prenatal vitamin everyday (which I am) and told me that he would like for me to also take a Baby Aspirin everyday in addition to my vitamin. I must have given him a strange wondering look because he then explained that it might help me to not have hypertension (high blood pressure) later on in my pregnancy. I gave him a double thumbs up at that news because one of my biggest fears is having to be on bed rest again, like I was with Riley. So tonight I will be making a trip to the pharmacy to buy some baby aspirin.
Then I had a couple of questions for the doctor that I had been thinking about. The first question was how long I could continue to pick up Riley, who now weighs 30 lbs. The doctor said as long as I was comfortable with it and I wasn't having any complications I could continue to pick him up as much as I wanted. My second question was to see how long I could continue going to my yoga and spin classes. He said again, as long as I was comfortable, I could continue the classes. He wanted to know how often I was going to spin and I told him, at most twice a week. He said I just may not want to push it as hard as everyone else in the class. I assured him that I had already scaled it back a bit. He also talked about studies that had been done about pregnant women keeping their heart rates below 140 bpm, but said he hadn't seen hard evidence that said that was necessary. I told him I tried to not get out of breath when I was working out and that I figured that kept my heart rate at a lower level. He said I would maybe not want to do spin class as much, later on in my pregnancy, but that it was ultimately up to me how long I continued as long as my pregnancy continued to be a healthy one.
Great news all around! I go back for my next appointment in 4 weeks!
I lost a pound in the past month. I was nervous that they would get on to me about it, but they didn't say a word. Total in the first trimester I gained 1 lb, which is less I think, than I gained in the first trimester with Riley.
Once in the exam room the nurse took my blood pressure and said it was good. Not sure what the actual reading was, but I'm happy it was good. Since I had high blood pressure and preeclampsia with Riley I am really nervous every time they take my BP that it will be high. I am happy so far that it seems to be doing okay.
When the doctor came in he did an exam and then he grabbed the Doppler, which is what he uses to hear the heartbeat. He told me that he might have to hunt around for it a bit and to not worry, that sometimes this early along it can take a minute to find it. Well, he placed the Doppler on my stomach and paused for a second without moving it and said, "Well, there it is!" He didn't have to move it around at all! He found the heartbeat first thing! So we all listened and then he told me that the heart was beating at 162 beats per minute (bpm). Riley's heartbeat was 140 bpm, so I turned to Chad and said "That's a lot faster than Riley's was!", to which Chad responded "That means you think it's a girl!" because the wives tale is that if the bpm is above 150 bpm that it is a girl and if it is below 150 bpm it is a boy. I laughed and told him I was not making a guess with this baby. That I was so convinced that Riley was a girl and was so surprised when he was a boy that I was not making any guesses this time around!
After the exam the doctor made sure that I was taking my prenatal vitamin everyday (which I am) and told me that he would like for me to also take a Baby Aspirin everyday in addition to my vitamin. I must have given him a strange wondering look because he then explained that it might help me to not have hypertension (high blood pressure) later on in my pregnancy. I gave him a double thumbs up at that news because one of my biggest fears is having to be on bed rest again, like I was with Riley. So tonight I will be making a trip to the pharmacy to buy some baby aspirin.
Then I had a couple of questions for the doctor that I had been thinking about. The first question was how long I could continue to pick up Riley, who now weighs 30 lbs. The doctor said as long as I was comfortable with it and I wasn't having any complications I could continue to pick him up as much as I wanted. My second question was to see how long I could continue going to my yoga and spin classes. He said again, as long as I was comfortable, I could continue the classes. He wanted to know how often I was going to spin and I told him, at most twice a week. He said I just may not want to push it as hard as everyone else in the class. I assured him that I had already scaled it back a bit. He also talked about studies that had been done about pregnant women keeping their heart rates below 140 bpm, but said he hadn't seen hard evidence that said that was necessary. I told him I tried to not get out of breath when I was working out and that I figured that kept my heart rate at a lower level. He said I would maybe not want to do spin class as much, later on in my pregnancy, but that it was ultimately up to me how long I continued as long as my pregnancy continued to be a healthy one.
Great news all around! I go back for my next appointment in 4 weeks!
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