17 weeks

Ok, so it’s more like 17.5 weeks, but since I haven’t blogged for a while, we’ll go back a little.

We had our first appointment with our new doctor yesterday. It went well, he actually reminds me of our previous doctor back in Anacortes, WA, and we liked him as well. I’ll be honest, I don’t think any doctor can match the appreciation we have for Dr. Johansen, but we feel comfortable with our new doctor and that’s important. Of course, circumstances are different in that we know I’m having a scheduled C-section, so we’re a little more relaxed and expect no surprise drama.

Anyways, our appointment was good, I’m 140 lbs (gained 9 lbs total so far), and Belly Bear’s heartbeat is strong and fluttering away. It seems that most women start feeling baby move around this time, but still don’t feel it very often, so doctors tell you not to worry if you don’t feel movement for a couple of days at this point, and you’ll feel it a lot more often soon enough. I guess I’m the exception, because with both Bug and Bear, since the day I felt them move first, I feel them all the time, several times a day. Hey, no complains here, I love feeling movement!

The first time I felt Belly Bear move was on the flight over to the East Coast. We were somewhere between San Diego and Dallas and Evan was taking his nap of the flight, so I was relaxed and resting. I assume Bear wasn’t too comfortable having his/her brother’s weight on top of my belly, so s/he started kicking right in the center of it. Of course, Evan didn’t feel it and couldn’t care less, but I felt it, as certain as day follows night, and I’ve been feeling Bear move since.

I thought I felt *something* before, that maybe could’ve been Bear moving, but it still felt very far away, so I can’t be sure. But that day, December 14^th, 2010, was the day I definitely felt movement.

I’m also having Braxton-Hicks contractions already. Nothing dramatic, obviously, just a few times every now and then.

So all is well and we have our next appointment on Jan. 11^th, when we’ll have an ultrasound. One thing about this ultrasound I’m not excited about though: full bladder. It must be an older machine, since this is the first time I’ve been asked to go with a full bladder. That’s just torture for pregnant women.