More Random Updates

Since my thoughts are all over the place, I have another update post.  It seems to be my trend lately.  One of these days I will have coherent enough thoughts to compose one post on one topic.  Until then, my miscellaneous posts with everything thrown in together:-)

1. 20 minutes a day- this is DH and I's new motto.  20 minutes a day of cleaning, organizing, or throwing away work.  After my post last week, and realizing we only have 16 weeks until Baby arrives, I started freaking out a bit with all the work that needs to be done around our house to make space for Baby.  DH and I have a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house that is filled with our stuff.  6 1/2 years of marriage and lots of stuff (books, clothes, items from living and traveling abroad, etc.) means we've filled up the space with our things.  This cannot be if a 3rd person will be occupying our house, so I came up with the 20 minutes a day rule where we both spend 20 minutes (or more) working to sort through things and downsize.  DH has been a good sport with this, and I like to know progress is taking place.  I still wonder how we will get everything done.....

2. Photo class- I signed up for another class at our community college, and it started last week.  It's a 5-week DSLR class, and I actually had signed up for the same one in the fall and then ended up cancelling as I was too overwhelmed with everything.  I talked a friend into joining me for this one, and I look forward to scheduled time taking photos.  The class focuses mainly on portraits, which is not something I have much experience with.  I enjoy nature photography...landscapes, flowers, travel, etc.  But I am excited about taking portraits because I can't wait to have a new little one to take portraits of!

3. Design a room- I also signed up for a 2nd course that started last week, but this one is only a 2-weeker.  It's designing a room and is so worth the $6 class fee (yeah, seriously, can it get any cheaper?).  6 of us meet as a group and then individually with an interior designer to discuss our room space.  My main motivation for the class was to get help picking paint colors for our nursery and other items we want to buy for that room. My DH is color blind, and so I'm left to do all the designing around our home, which typically happens in 5 year spurts. We do a big house decorating project and then nothing until 5 years have past.  We're due for a 5-year update!

4. Progesterone- I'm still on those lovely shots twice a week. I'm thinking I'll be on them until 37 weeks.  DH has been such a good sport giving me two shots twice a week. My progesterone was hanging out around Zone 1 (in the low 30s) for most of this 2nd trimester, but finally, 2 weeks ago it went up to Zone 2 (54 finally at 22 weeks)!  I was excited.  Maybe my body is finally figuring out this pregnancy thing?  Napro. Dr. wanted me to go from 200 mg twice a week down to 100 mg, but I was able to convince him to let me try 150 mg twice a week and see what happens with another blood draw.  Every time I've gone down from 200 to 100, my numbers have taken a nose dive.  I have another blood draw tomorrow, so we will see if my instinct was correct.  I love that my Napro Dr. works with me and what I'm comfortable with!

5. 24 weeks- We have made it to another major milestone in pregnancy...the 24 week/viability mark! I was hoping to make it this far, and here we are- praise the Lord!  I breathed a huge sigh of relief today realizing that if our baby came, chances are high that he/she would be able to survive outside the womb.  Don't get me wrong, I hope he/she stays put for another 16 weeks (see point #1), but I'm breathing a little easier tonight having made it this far.  And yet, I still realize there is no guarantee on bringing a baby home even though we are at this point.  My heart and prayers still think of one precious lady who made it even further with her miracle pregnancy, only to have her daughter not survive long outside the womb.

6. Glucose Challenge test- I had another OB appointment today (the last one was the big ultrasound 4 1/2 weeks ago) and it was the yummy glucose drink appointment.  I've actually had the glucose test before when we were checking my glucose and insulin levels prior to pregnancy with my Napro Dr, so I had a good idea of what to expect from the test.  This one wasn't so bad today because I got to eat breakfast in the morning and then only had to wait an hour to have my blood drawn (as opposed to a 3-hour fasting test when I wasn't pregnant).  Now we wait and see if I passed.  Thanks to PCOS, I'm not sure what the results will be.

I also had a bunch of other tests done (iron levels, urine sample, vag. culture, etc.), which was nice because this laid-back OB hasn't tested anything since my 8-week appointment, and it was starting to drive me crazy.  Is that the Napro/IF girl in me....more tests, please?  I'm hoping everything comes back normal, so that I can stop worrying about something being wrong (all that pregnancy discharge starts to mess with your head after awhile).  Baby's heartbeat was 140 again, just like last month.

7. Fundal height- this was the first OB appointment where they actually measured my belly.  I'm assuming they will finally start doing this at every appointment.  (They measure from the pubic bone to the top of where the belly curves.)  My belly only measured at 23 weeks, which she said I shouldn't worry about, but of course I googled for more info. once I got home.  The next appointment in 4 weeks will tell if baby is just a little small, turned sideways, or has something wrong with his/her growth.  I'm thinking everything is probably ok (I was only 6 pounds something when I was born), but still...I'd rather have measured 24 weeks today.  This is despite my weight being up 19-20 pounds.

8. Baby registry must haves??- DH and I are working on putting together our registries, and it's a little overwhelming.  We are realizing how much we don't know about babies! Are there any must haves that you think we should include on our list?  We're trying not to register for too many large items (see the space problem in #1), but we want to have the basics.  Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!