~~ I Gained Weight!!! ~~

Yeah baby, the weight gain conundrum seems to be ~over~ !!!

Stats
Height: 5'8"
My lowest after 2 babies weight where I looked like a skeleton: 120
My still too skinny, but I secretly loved it weight: 125
My weight where I look my best to me and everyone else: 130-135
My usual non-trying weight: 140
My pre-IVF, post 18 mos of treatments weight: 145 (Feb, 08)
My post-IVF, post-FET, BFP weight: 157 (April)
My 25week pregnant weight: 160 (October 10th)
My 28week pregnant weight: 163 (October 31st)
Total weight gain since BFP: 6 lbs
Total weight gain including IVF: 18 lbs

Yay! I gained 3 lbs in the last 3 weeks!!

And I'll admit it right here and now, I kind of liked not gaining weight. Which is all kinds of wrong. I ~know~ I need to! I ~know~ I have to! But when I was eating and the weight just wasn't coming on, it was nice to think I may not get out of control huge like I have with my other two kids. Yes, I'm the one who has blogged multiple times about the good of pregnancy weight gain. I'm the one who had blogged multiple times about hating it when girls would be all "woohoo! I didn't gain any weight!" But in my defense, I never said woohoo. In fact, I blogged about how I was worried about it. But being who I am, I will admit I secretly liked it, but only in my head.

I predict I will gain 1 lb every week for the next 12 weeks. This will mean my pregnancy-only weight gain will be 18 lbs, but my total gain including IVF will be 40 lbs. Good lord. Well, it's not the 50 lbs like the last two times, right? And realistically, I know I need to gain whatever Karl needs me to. So I just have to allow whatever to happen to happen.


Other Appointment Stats/Facts

~ My uterus only measured 23cms when it should have measured 28. He saw the difference and remeasured me. This time he dug for the top of my uterus and he got 25cms. He's chalking it up to the baby now being breech and it'll be important to make sure it'll grow consistently in the new position.

~ Regarding being breech, doc gives me 8 weeks before he'll start to worry about him not turning. Whew! We've got lots of time to coax him back into position.

~ I got yelled at for not doing my GDD test before 28 weeks. I meant to go yesterday, but Ella was sick and I wasn't going to take her to the hospital lab for a 3 hour test. I must go next week. No excuses.

~ We talked about my depression. I have felt tons better in the last week so we're hoping I just stay this way, but if it comes back, to talk to him. He said he's seen this in high risk pregnancies, where the stress of it all can kind of just catch up to me, even if I'm not thinking about it consciously. With how hard we tried for the baby and then all the scares at the beginning and then all the problems we have now, well, it's just a lot. Add that onto normal pregnancy hormones, parenting two little girls, a stressful job and the fact I'm having a boy this time, he didn't think it was strange at all I was down. He did say he was happy I recognized it and to keep in mind that I will be of higher risk for post partum depression. Fun times.

~ I asked about the BPPs and why it seems the tech is looking at the opposite of what we should be looking at. See, they are looking for the "normal" BPP, which is a reactive pattern. They want to see the baby's heart rate to increase 3 from movement a certain number of times in a certain amount of time. I thought we were watching for signs of his heart rate dropping from compressing the cord.

He explained a lot more than I knew at first. He said with a velamentous cord insertion, the risks are growth restriction, placental deterioration and other problems, decreased fluid and of course the cord compression. I didn't know about the placental issues. He continued to explain my age and IVF also increases my risk for placental issues. And even more, a past pregnancy with placenta accreta (Allison's placenta grew in and through my uterus), I'm at even a higher risk. So, making sure he's growing and the fluid levels are normal and his heart rate is reactive now is very important in determining issues further into the pregnancy. He said he wouldn't expect to see any issues this early, but 32-34 weeks is where it usually would get problematic if there are to be issues later on. He explained if we didn't have the velamentous cord, he'd be ordering BPPs and NSTs anyway, we just wanted to start 2 months early to not only have a baseline, but to be extra careful.

So that all scares the living bejeezus out of me. I thought the fact Karl is thriving was a good sign for all my issues, but it simply means he's doing good now, a period where they wouldn't even expect problems. I still have a giant hurdle to get over and it's only going to get scarier by the minute.

All I can focus on right now is the fact we all know I have a very high risk for placental issues. And I am being monitored to the best of the doctor's ability for the moment. If I need to start getting more tests or even admitted to the hospital for constant monitoring, I'll do it. Of course I'll do it.

~ I will have my husband take my 28w picture for the sidebar when he gets back from trick-or-treating with the kids.