Heartbeat. . .And Then No Heartbeat

Today I went for my check-up and the little stinker never gave us a heartbeat number! We heard it right away, enough to know he/she is alive, but then it moved before it could be counted and Dr. S and her assistant tried for almost 10 min and never could locate it again! I had told Joe that if it was 150 or less then I was going to predict boy but if it was 151 or higher then I was going to predict girl. Dr. S said it's onrey, LOL, so now I'm just hoping we find out the gender at the ultrasound because I've heard plenty of stories of people who don't get an answer there, either!

I suddenly think it's a boy again because this happened at the same appt. with Logan. I remember Dr. T couldn't find the heartbeat forever and then just as she was about to give up, she located it. I think at this stage there is a lot of room to bounce around the uterus :p Dr. S also said that my placenta might have been covering it. So, at least we all heard it briefly to know that he/she is still there or I probably would have left the appt. worried, but instead just laughed. (So it was fine that Joe didn't go with me today because it was during his lunch hour when they were serving free food at his office :p)

Plus, I'm still having plenty of nausea to signal that everything is on track. As I said in my last post, I threw up on Tuesday. . .well I threw up on Wednesday as well (making #7 for this pregnancy)! That's the first time I've thrown up two days in a row!!! :( Yesterday was HORRIBLE -- as bad as week 12 (my worst week of this pregnancy) and today I haven't been able to shake the nausea, either. But if it's like last time then it should last only last two more weeks (or maybe even stop earlier??????). Dr. S said weeks 14-16 are the most common for it to end, and that is what pregnancy books & websites say as well:

Pregnancy nausea happens in 80% of newly pregnant women. Most women would be happy if the pregnancy nausea only occurred in the morning, but many pregnant women experience pregnancy nausea all through the day. Most women start experiencing morning sickness between 4 and 8 weeks. The nausea usually ends around the 14th to the 16th week of pregnancy when the hCG levels start decreasing. While it would be wonderful to say that all women will be done in that time frame, some women will have to endure pregnancy nausea all through out their pregnancy.

There is no definitive answer as to what causes pregnancy nausea, but the theories seem to indicate that it is a combination of rapid hormonal changes occurring in a pregnant woman's body.

The very quick rise in hCG (the pregnancy hormone) and estrogen play a part in the appearance of pregnancy nausea. As the hormones start decreasing in your system, around the 14th week, the pregnancy nausea also starts to decrease.

Well I'm in my 14th week now so I don't know why this week is worse than last. On the bright side, she answered all of my questions and said everything I'm experiencing is completely normal, like the heart palpitations (as long as they aren't accompanied by shortness of breath, dizziness, or chest pains) -- they are caused by the hormone estrogen so women in general have them more than men, and therefore especially in pregnancy. This makes sense with the time-frame for when they began for me. As I mentioned in a previous post they began shortly after I stopped breastfeeding -- i.e. my progesterone dropped, meaning estrogen would have increased. Then, they stopped that summer -- i.e. when I began using progesterone cream. They began again this summer -- i.e. when I decreased my progesterone usage. Then, I got pregnant which increased my progesterone but also increased my estrogen.

My limbs falling asleep is due to increased blood flow (when you're asleep you can't help move the blood around) combined with those same dang hormones that caused my de quervain's last time (I wrote about my former wrist problem on my old blog here). She said it also might be swelling already even though I can't see it, so drinking lots of water and lowering my sodium intake could help. Dang it, I have a feeling I'm going to end up with de quervain's again.

Once again, I was soooo impressed with her office. The receptionists, nurses, and doctor were so incredibly nice. And the building is really fancy. Joe and I are going to tour the labor and delivery floor this weekend!

She also gave me my bag of free stuff because I didn't get that last time and said that my old doctor's office hadn't sent over my records yet, so I was kind of relieved not to talk about the childbirth stuff :p

The nurse called me a few hours after I got home and said that they got everything from Dr. T's office and apparently they never did my lab work (I thought that's what I had done when I went in the day after I found out I was pregnant but apparently that was just progesterone and hCG, etc) so I'm going back tomorrow to get that done.

I could have had the screenings done today but I opted not to with Logan and didn't feel it was necessary this time, either.

I'm excited that I get to bring a CD with me next time to record the ultrasound!!! That's something I wanted soooooo badly with Logan but my old place didn't have that capability. So my next appointment in on Thursday, March 3rd at 1 pm -- the ultrasound -- I can't wait!