21 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday morning I had another ultrasound!  At our anatomy scan at 19 weeks the ultrasound tech was not able to properly see Abby's heart, pelvis, umbilical cord, and stomach.  They didn't really tell me that, our doctor just said that they needed a few more pictures of her heart.  I've been worried but trying not to think about it too much for the last two weeks.  It turns out that at the last appointment, baby girl was just laying on her belly too much and that's why they weren't able to see everything.  I wish that the doctor would have just told me that!  Anyway, the appointment went great.  Dave wasn't able to go with me, but I wasn't even really nervous, I was just super excited to see Abby again :)  I had the same tech that we had for our last ultrasound, except this time she was so much more friendly!  She said "perfect" at least three times while getting shots and taking measurements, so I felt great about how the appointment was going.  I got to see all four chambers of the baby's heart, her main arteries, where the umbilical cord goes into her belly, her stomach, and of course got yet another confirmation that she is definitely still a girl!

At this point in my pregnancy, I start meeting other doctors within the practice, so yesterday I saw Dr. Fleming.  She was very nice and told me that Abby looks just perfect, which is what she is always happy to tell parents.  I was so relieved to hear that everything looks great!  She even said Abby's size is great too, which is wonderful because at the last appointment Dr. Horton mentioned that she was measuring a little small.  My blood pressure was perfect (for me!) too at 116/68.  The one thing Dr. Fleming did talk about is gaining the appropriate amount of weight throughout the remainder of my pregnancy.  On my scale at home, I am still down ten pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, but I wasn't weighed at the OB until I was already 8 weeks and had lost some weight, so according to them I am negative three pounds.  Dr. Fleming said a good goal is to be at or slightly above my pre-pregnancy weight by my next appointment in 4 weeks.  That seems very doable to me, without being too much to gain, so I'm ok with the 3 pounds.  It almost seemed as though Dr. Fleming thought that I was restricting my food intake, which is definitely not the case!!  I eat ALL the time, I just eat small portions and kind of graze throughout the day on snacks like an Odwalla smoothie, yogurt, string cheese, a few crackers, etc.  My theory is that my body will start gaining the weight it needs to when it's ready, and in the meantime I plan to continue eating just as I have been, which means eating when I'm hungry and stopping when I'm full.  I think that will work just fine!

Here are some pictures from yesterday's ultrasound:

I just love her cute little profile!  The last very exciting thing that happened yesterday is that Dave was finally able to feel the baby kicking!  The last couple of days her kicks have been much more noticeable to me, so early yesterday morning I was trying to see if they could be felt from the outside, and sure enough, I felt her little thumps against my hand.  I called Dave into the room really quick and had him put his hand on my belly.  It took a few minutes, but he finally got to feel one of her little kicks :)  It made me so happy!  She has been kicking super low lately, and especially likes to kick me when I'm sitting down.  Yesterday at work her movements were actually tickling me so bad that I laughed out loud!  I can't wait to see how her movements will feel different to me (and Dave!) in the weeks ahead as she starts to really gain some weight and grow.