29 weeks

Today I had an appointment with the second midwife in my practice, Jane. She is new to the practice but very experienced as a L&D nurse and as a midwife. It was good to meet her since there is a 50% chance that she will be the one who is on call when I go into labor.

Things are looking good for Squeak and for Mama. I had to get blood drawn for an antibodies test due to my blood type. Apparently the lab forgot to do it last time. I will have to get a rhogam shot next appointment. My blood pressure was fine. Heart rate of the baby was great. My belly size measured right on target and I have gained 13 pounds so far. That is still following my gain from last time. During pregnancy is the only time in my life that people describe me as small. Normally I am one of the bigger ones among my peers. One friend told me tonight that this was the first time she had seen me that I was really looking pregnant and showing. My midwife told me that I was a small person. And she was not just talking about as a pregnant person. She said when she worked in Green Bay (cheese and beer capital) most women in her practice weighed 180-250 before they were pregnant and some topped out over 350 by the end of their pregnancy. It was such a problem in their hospital that they had to reinforce the toilets after one fell off a wall because the laboring mom was so heavy.

Overall I am feeling pretty good. The baby is now head down where she will hopefully stay. This means my back is feeling better. My heartburn is also a little better though it is still by far my worst complaint. Many nights I have to sleep sitting up. I am trying to avoid typical heartburn remedies such as TUMS because they can mess up the absorption of vitamins and nutrients from both food and vitamins. Since Katherine was so small and I did not gain much weight at the end with her I am wanting to make sure I get as many of those nutrients as possible. So, I am taking a digestive supplement and I am supposed to drink 2 Tb of apple cider vinegar each day. It is so strong that I have to mix it with apple juice and water. If anyone has other suggestions for heartburn, feel free to pass them along.

Squeak is quite active with kicking and rolling around. Katherine is not patient enough to wait for her to kick but the other day she was able to see her moving because my whole belly was moving. Sometimes I will ask her what baby sister is doing and she will say "sleeping" or "kicking a ball". It sure feels like she is kicking a ball sometimes! She rubs mommy's tummy, kisses mommy's tummy and will read to baby sister. She also will tell me that she wants baby sister to come out so she can hold her. It is pretty cute.