Pausing for Pregnancy -Week 17

Danny and I were watching the show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" last night. I've always kind of wondered how that could be true...you know, how could a woman just not KNOW?!

I'm officially 17 weeks and 1 day pregnant today and besides some aches and pains and restless sleep, I don't feel any differently than I did before. And certainly aches and pains and restless sleep can easily be chalked up to any number of other afflictions so I do see how it could happen, how a woman might not know she was pregnant. A lot of the women on that show had irregular periods already, endometriosis or cysts that already caused aches and cramping or they might have already been heavy-set to begin with and didn't realize the weight gain was because they were pregnant.


At 16 weeks and 4 days pregnant

The show last night had a woman delivering her baby (breech!) in a truck stop bathroom! That story would have been crazy enough but she didn't even know she was having a baby!! They played the 911 call on the show and it was incredible to hear the woman screaming in the background that "it's a BABY!".



I'm going to assume that things will go similarly to when I was pregnant with The Boy. I know that every pregnancy and delivery is different but I'll just assume at this point that things will be similar.

About ready to pop with The Boy

With The Boy, I woke at 5:30am feeling like I might be having contractions. I'd been having Braxton Hicks (false labor) for about 4 weeks, so I wasn't too concerned. I took my stepson to school and went to work. I had a doctor's appointment that day so I told my coworkers that I thought I might be in labor and that I'd call if I wasn't coming back to the office! I went to the OB/GYN who confirmed that I was dilated. I had an appointment at the main hospital for a kick-count test right after that, but I was getting to the point where I didn't think I should be driving anymore. I went home, picked up my mom, she drove me to pick up my stepson from school and we drove together to the hospital. They examined me again there and said that I should go home and rest and come back when the contractions were closer together. That's what I did. I got to the hospital around 6pm, started pushing around 10:30pm and after 3+ hours of straight pushing, my little boy was born at 2:22am.


The Boy, one day old!

I am certainly hoping for a few changes:
#1 - Not to have to drive all over town dropping off that person, going to work, seeing this doctor, picking up this person, seeing that doctor, etc all while in labor.
#2 - Not to have to push for 3+ hours!

According to the multitude of online fetal sites, my baby is about 6" long, cartilage is turning into bone, and the baby is starting to hear, yawn and swallow. Awwww!!

From the outside, I don't really look particularly pregnant. I've gained a total of 6 lbs and look like...well, that I've gained 6 lbs! I really just look more chubby than usual. My doctor told me that I have a "large uterus" so while the pregnancy websites say my uterus should stop 1.5-2" below my belly button, my uterus is actually at or just above my belly button already. That could be part of the reason I don't look bigger from the outside, the baby has enough room internally to spread out inside and doesn't have to push out my belly quite yet!


Most of this "bump" is padding that was already there, if you know what I mean

In 12 days, we'll find out the gender. So far most everyone is voting for a girl but that's pretty much how the vote went last time and it ended with The Boy! We'll see what happens this time!