Twenty Weeks

Yea! Please say a prayer for us that this truly is only the half-way mark. Angie had a couple of nerve-wracking days where it seemed like her blood pressure wasn't responding to the meds and remained elevated, but thankfully it looks like it is now back down into the acceptable range. Home blood pressure monitors can cause more trouble than they are worth sometimes (particularly the budget-conscious one Angie has (can you believe some of the more advance models are nearly $100!?)). Thanks, Angie, for taking it easy this past week.

Going Public

Originally, I restricted access to this blog to only those I invited in order to be able to control when I disclosed this pregnancy to my work colleagues (did you think it was because of modesty or fear of broadcasting the most intimate details of my life to anyone who stumbles upon this site... ha!). Because I was laid off in November, that obviously is no longer a concern. So, I have decided to make this blog public. I have not been good at posting, and Angie has been even worse, so this way, anyone who still reads this can use a subscription service like the one I use, that will alert you when any blog you may follow has been updated.

Second OB Appointment

Started off with the anatomy scan and guess what... it's a girl! Okay, so that is not as exciting as it could have been, you know, if we hadn't already found out gender from the chromosome screening and all. Everything looked fine with the baby and she is measuring right on target, which is good, considering that already, at one day shy of 19 weeks, Angie's blood pressure is elevated.

As most of you know, the beginning of the end of my pregnancy with Fletcher started with elevated blood pressure, so not surprisingly, this news makes me a little nervous. Angie's OB explained to me that Angie has a history of borderline-high bp anyway, so this is most likely more indicative of chronic hypertension (which is no surprise given our family history) and is not a sign of preeclampsia. Chronic hypertension is not without its risks to a pregnancy, but it is much more manageable than preeclampsia. Even so, he has prescribed her a very low dose of pregnancy-compatible blood pressure medication and also advised her to take a daily calcium supplement. He also asked her to check her blood pressure at home a couple of times a day and to make her next appointment for two weeks from today, instead of the usual four.

Angie insists that her high bp is due to the fact that she has gained more than a little weight since we started the fertility treatments (lupron is known to increase appetite, and she was on it for four or five months off and on before the cycle) and that the doctor is just being overly cautious with everything because I am making him paranoid with all of my questions and comments. But you know what, better safe than sorry. Even though I would have to pay her paycheck if she gets put on bedrest and can't work, I would gladly do that to insure she makes it well into the third trimester of this pregnancy. I just pray it doesn't come to that.

First OB Appointment

Don't have much time to type because Trevor is out of town and Fletcher and I are having a slumber party with my nieces Alexa and Maren, but I wanted do a quick post to report that all went well at Angie's first OB appointment. Everything looked fine with the ultrasound, but she will also have another at her 20 week appointment because some of the baby's organs will be a little more visible by then. Her doctor was surprised to hear of the surrogacy because he figured he would have heard about it sooner through the hospital grapevine. Some of Angie's fellow nurses suggested she play a practical joke on her doctor by stopping him in the hall of the hospital some night and whispering to him that she is pregnant and needed to make an appointment, but Greg isn't the father. But believe it or not, Angie couldn't bring herself to do it because she knew that her doctor would get way too embarrassed. I couldn't believe it. Angie giving priority to someones feelings over a good joke? That is almost as crazy as looking at an ultrasound of your daughter swimming around in your sister's abdomen. Almost.

See Ya First Tri

So, according to my nifty little pregnancy widget I have embedded in the sidebar, we are quickly nearing the end of the first trimester (or, in my case with Fletcher, a little over halfway done, which I pray is not the case this time around).

Angie originally made her first OB appointment for last Thursday, but forgot that she was working the Wednesday night prior (for those who don't know her personally, she works nights as an RN in the post-partum unit in the hospital where she will be delivering the baby) so a Thursday appointment would not work. So she rescheduled for next Thursday, December 18th. I don't plan on going to every OB appointment, but I think they will be doing an ultrasound at this one, so I will be there. I also have a list of questions to ask her OB, which Angie is not all that happy about, but as I have said before, it is in my nature to ask a million questions.

Angie reports that she is feeling better. The nausea has moved from constant to intermittent and her energy level is increasing, although I was over at her house today for our second annual family cookie bake and exchange and I could tell she is still understandably dragging a bit. Remember she already has very active 5 and 3-year-old boys at home, not to mention the pregnancy.

Next week should be a fun one for me. Fletcher has his 2-year-old well baby pediatrician appointment on Tuesday, an ENT follow-up appointment to check on his new tubes on Wednesday (yes, I was supposed to follow up 2 weeks after his mid-October surgery, oops) and then Angie's appointment on Thursday. In the not-so-distant past, three doctors appointments in one week wouldn't have been that peculiar for us. Thankfully that is no longer the case. So, if anyone out there is still reading this blog, check back at the end of next week for the OB update.

SFB

Angie called me around 9 pm last night to tell me I owe her a prime rib dinner. Turns out she and Greg went out to celebrate their anniversary and after dinner Angie was feeling nauseous and got sick in the parking lot, well, actually in the passenger seat of Greg's truck, but she had time to roll down the window first, thankfully. Happy Anniversary, Angie.

In this conversation she also let it slip what she has been calling the baby (fetus, technically, but I will call her a baby for purposes of this blog): SFB, which, she hesitantly informed me, stands for Science Fiction Baby. My first impulse was to be slightly offended. Who wants their kid to have such a nickname. But, the more I thought about it, the more it kind of suits the baby, in a literal kind of way. The science part is appropriate, given her method of conception. And the fiction part-- in a weird way, her being has to be somewhat of a fiction to both Angie and I. Neither of us can really feel like her "real" mother at this point.

To me, I have no physical signs of being pregnant. My body isn't telling of my impending motherhood. And Angie is not showing yet, so while I have seen the ultrasound, and I know Angie is feeling symptoms, I have no personal physical proof of her existence. Also, and I am trying to get over this, I can't really let myself believe I will be a mother again in June, given my history. People have asked me when I will finally accept this, and truth is, until she is born, I don't think I can ever truly let my guard down completely.

And although I can't speak for Angie, because I am fairly certain that we have opposite views on pretty much everything, and particularly feelings, I would imagine that for her it is easier to consider this baby somewhat of a fiction as well. She did tell me that it was no fun being pregnant this time around because she can't look at all the pregnancy and baby magazines and pick out nursery furniture or cute outfits for this little one (although I told her that she was more than welcome to do so). And I used to encourage her to post on this blog about her pregnancy, how she was feeling, etc, but I have thought better of it, as maybe she doesn't want to analyze this pregnancy in that detail, maybe it would be easier for her not to go there.

So, Science Fiction Baby may fit. And I am not offended because, you see, as long as the last word proves to be true come June (and hopefully not before), I am not really all that concerned about what she is called.

Check back late next week. Angie finally made her OB appointment and I think we are going to get to take another peek at the baby.

The Chinese Conception Calendar Was Right