Halfway Done!!!

Woo hoo! I made it to the 20 week mark! So excited...that means it's all "downhill" from here! And can I just say that while I may not be the biggest fan of my Dr (no, I can't change and no I didn't pick her) I LOVE my Nurse Practitioner. She is, in a word, awesome! When I asked my Dr. about weight gain, she responded with "my patients only gain 20lbs on average." Ok, according to the National Institute of Medicine, women who are overweight should gain 15-25lbs, and obese should gain 11-20lbs. I am neither overweight or obese. In fact, pre-pregnancy, I was at the low end of the "normal" BMI weight range. So, according to the NIM, I should gain between 25-35lbs. My Dr. didn't even take into consideration my case...and the number she gave me is not applicable to my height/weight/BMI. So, when I asked my NP about this (did I mention I love her) she said that based on my height/weight pre-pregnancy, I should gain around 30lbs. And I'm right on track for that. Good.

At my last ultrasound they also saw a soft marker for Down's. This raised the risk from 1/2400 to 1/1200. At that point my Dr. immediately started trying to discuss amnios with me.  Ben and I already agreed that we will not do an amnio. When I talked to my NP, she said not to worry about it...that 1/1200 is less than a 1/10 of a percent chance, so essentially nothing to worry about. She also said that since they started looking for the soft marker they saw on my ultrasound, 75% of the patients she sees have it. And their babies are fine. Great.

Finally, in a little less than 2 months I get to go in twice a week for monitoring. Basically I go in, sit in a recliner with monitors strapped to my belly checking for contractions. Good thing I've got a Kindle...at least I won't be bored!