Random Bits - Pregnancy Edition

I am currently 17 weeks pregnant. Feeling good again food-wise... I had indigestion and aversions to some foods (like breakfast ;) during the first 10-12 weeks, beginning in about the fourth week. Not too bad of a stretch to feel a little crummy. I wasn't nauseated, just not wanting to eat much. The scale showed it, because I didn't gain any weight, maybe even lost a pound. Now, I think I have picked up a few pounds here in the last few weeks. Otherwise, I have been having the back/sciatic pain I typically have during pregnancy - it began early. If I stand up and take a step too quickly, one leg feels like it can't support my weight well. I know it's all good - just the body loosening up like it is supposed to, so the joints will give correctly as the baby grows and during labor! The tiredness has mostly passed too, and I have more energy again.

Our next visit is on April 14th. We hope to be able to find out the gender then!

At the last visit, the heartbeat was 150something beats per minute.

I don't know if I have mentioned before on my blog that I love being pregnant. With Caroline, I felt better and healthier than ever - not even one headache my whole pregnancy, no colds, nothing! I did have some back pain and the normal pregnancy feelings like that, aversions to a few foods, indigestion, but nothing worth complaining about... each pregnancy has gotten a little harder, with the back pain beginning earlier and earlier. Despite that, I have not had any real morning sickness or anything like bedrest. I just deal with the back pain as best I can - it is the sciatic nerve, I am pretty sure. But to feel that little life swishing and thumping inside me is the greatest thing, and probably what I love most about pregnancy. I have always liked to wear maternity clothes... weird, huh? But I like it when that "baby bump" is visible and somewhat obvious. So far nobody has come up to me and said, "Oh, are you pregnant?" but I would hope that is because, while it is obvious to me because of how I have always carried my babies that it's not just a fat gut, somebody who doesn't know me as well might not want to assume - something we all appreciate, when others don't make assumptions about being pregnant, because it is insulting when they are incorrect (I have been the target of the, "Oh, are you expecting?" question twice when I was not pregnant! My answer, in my mind, "No, I am just still fat from being pregnant a year ago!"). But the maternity shirts seem to accentuate the baby belly more so that it is more obvious than it would be if I just wore a baggy shirt. I have been lucky to find a few maternity shirts for the summer for $1-2 dollars each at consignment sales, and my sister-in-law was very sweet to give me a big bag of her old maternity clothes, too... between that and my mom buying me some things, I think I am set for the warmer weather! And speaking of sisters-in-law, please say a prayer for my other sister-in-law, who is expecting their second baby and has had horrible "all day" sickness, to the point of being dehydrated and having to go to the hospital. She recently got a device that sends a constant flow of Zofran directly into her bloodstream, and it seems to be working more than anything else has, thankfully!

Caroline had a dream last night that the baby was a boy. She said that she wants it to be a girl but will be happy with it either way. I have not had any baby dreams at all so far.