16 week appointment

Seeing as today I am 18 weeks and 4 days, I have to apologize for getting this up so late. It's been a little crazy around here and I'll explain why in this post.

The day before my appointment I started having some cramp like pain on my left side. I was really nervous because that's not a great sign during pregnancy. I knew I had an appointment the next day and I didn't want to be THAT person who went to the hospital when anything felt a little off. So I sucked it up and figured if it didn't go away I would just ask my doctor about it the next day when I went it, but of course I was anxious about it all night.

When I first got to the doctor I checked in and then waited to meet with the OB nurse. She gave me a huge new mom packet with pages and pages of new mom information about the hospital I would be delivering, classes they recommend taking, and a few parenting magazines. Before I got done talking with her she went over my last blood tests, took my blood pressure and I was off to wait for my doctor. Everything checked out fine with the nurse but I was still nervous about the baby because I had the cramping the night before.

Once I got put into a room a woman came in with the heart Doppler and found the heart beat immediately. I was so relieved that I started crying. The nurse even made a comment that is was a strong and steady heartbeat. I was at peace knowing that our baby was okay.

After about 30 more minutes of waiting my doctor came in and was like we need to talk. All of a sudden I felt my heart start racing. My OB nurse had written down that my heart rate was in the 130s. My doctor expressed her concern because once it gets into the 140s it can start affecting the baby. I was trying so hard not to cry but I was so worried and my mind kept imagining the worst things happening. She took it again and it had gone down some. I told her maybe it was just nerves because I was really anxious about the pain I was having. She checked things out and turns out it's just my uterus stretching to accommodate that sweet baby of ours.

One thing I really love about my doctor is she is really about preventative care. She ordered for me to get more blood work done on top of the normal tests to see if we could figure out what was causing the tachycardia. So we got that done and then she sent us off to the hospital to get an ekg. As soon as I got in the car I lost it. I started bawling. Being pregnant is already emotional enough but add in the fact that your body could be potentially hurting your baby and I was a blubbering mess. I'm so grateful Brad's been able to come to every appointment, but especially that one because I needed him.

We finally got the results back a week later and everything came back within normal ranges and we are chalking that whole thing up as first time mom jitters. We are so relieved and thankful that it isn't anything serious. I have to really monitor my heart rate and take it easy if I feel it going up but that's not hard to do.

Our next appointment is our big 20 week anatomy scan and we seriously can't wait to find out what we are having! We even have a little countdown on our calendar on the fridge! If you have a guess leave it below! :)

bittersweet

I know I need to still blog about my 16 week appointment but before I do that, I wanted to jot down some of my thoughts. I've said it before but this little blog is my journal space and I want to make sure I remember all the little things and feelings throughout this journey. I have been writing little letters to baby Schmidt about once a week and maybe one day I'll share those; it just hasn't seemed like the right time yet and they really mean a lot to me even though most of the time they are short and just a few little lines here and there.

Pregnancy has been such an emotional journey ( so typical I know, those darn hormones). There are days I love being pregnant and there are those days where I'm so over feeling nauseous and having my back hurt. But I wouldn't trade one hard day for the opportunity I'm getting. I was telling Brad the other day that it was so bittersweet to me that soon I will be halfway done with this pregnancy. He looked at me all confused because he just wants our baby to be here already so he can love and snuggle it. So let me explain. I longed for the day I would get to be pregnant and I was beginning to think I might not ever get that chance. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I cried over the fact of seeing another one of my friends announce they were pregnant. Here I am pregnant and sad about the fact that it's almost halfway over. I do not think I am the typical pregnant woman but I have loved seeing my belly expand as our baby grows bigger each week. It's amazing what our bodies are capable of. I've so enjoyed feeling those little nudges and it makes me sad that in a little over 20 weeks I won't be feeling those anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited to have this baby in my arms but there is something so special about it just being baby and I. Today I was scrolling Instagram and I was in tears seeing all these pictures of babies and just thinking how lucky I am that I'm a little over 20 weeks that will be me posting about the arrival of  this little one we have hoped and prayed so hard for. I am overwhelmed with that feeling.

This baby  has already brought so much more love (and worry) into our home. It makes my day when Brad randomly makes comments like "hey I see our baby" as my stomach is poking out a little more each week. Or gives me an extra kiss "for the baby". Brad has recently started studying in the baby's room and it just warms my heart. We don't even have any baby furniture set up in there just a stroller in one of the corners and it just puts the biggest smile on my face when I pass by and I see him eyeing it or pushing it around the room just "to make sure the tires are staying full of air". I can't wait to see Brad take on the role of daddy just because I know he is going to be so incredible at it. On the worry side I thought I had until the baby's arrival before that came but my goodness after this past Thursday and Friday I feel like I got a little glimpse of all the worry that parents experience for their children. It's exhausting both emotionally and physically.

Anyways, this post is getting long enough but be looking for our 16 week appointment recap this week! It was an interesting one to say the least!