Baby Beat

This week marks the beginning of the third trimester! I am starting my 27th week and had another doctor's appointment this afternoon. Pretty routine stuff, although this was the first time since our initial visit in November that we did not get to have an ultrasound. Apparently another doctor was monopolizing Mari's ultrasound room, to the obvious disdain of Mari and the other nurses.

Although we were a little disappointed about that, we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the very first time! All this time we had been able to see the heart beating, but our friends all insisted that hearing it was pretty cool too. And they were right! Mari was able to find it right away, but apparently Alex was moving around so quickly that she had a hard time keeping up with him. She was able to determine, however, that his heart rate was increasing as he moved - a good sign that he's not under any stress.

His mother, however, is a different story. While my blood pressure is fine, the scale indicated that I have gained 6 pounds since my last visit, which comes to a grand total of 23 pounds!! I left the clinic feeling fat and depressed.

So we went to Olive Garden to make me feel better. Lest ye judge, let me defend myself and explain that I picked one of their "low fat" options, ate only half, and limited myself to a single breadstick. I left Olive Garden still feeling fat but determined to focus on exercising more and eating better so as not to become any more so.

The third trimester means doctor visits every two weeks instead of four. I have another appointment in on April 11, where I'll take the test to determine whether I have gestational diabetes. I'll finally have to slurp down that infamous orange syrupy stuff that all the girls warn about, so I'm not totally looking forward to that. But we should get another ultrasound, which I totally am looking forward to, so I guess it's a wash.