Week 22/23 update

Today I am 22 weeks and 5 days. What an eventful couple of weeks it has been since we found out we're having a boy!

About 5 days after the 20 week visit, I ended up back at the doctor's office with a lot of pain on my right side. I cried trying to put socks on that morning! I was worried something bad was wrong, but after an exam with the same doc I saw the few days before, she suggested it was just round ligament pain. Those are the ligaments on the sides of the abs and down around that have to stretch as the uterus grows. She said most likely I was feeling more severe pain than some women do because the stronger muscles and ligaments you have the more stretch that's needed and the more it's going to hurt. The doc suggested rest for a week or two and said the pain would subside on it's own. They took blood, just to run some labs and be sure there was nothing to indicate infection in the appendix or something.

So I worked from home for 2 days and did not teach my group fitness stuff for a week. Sure enough the pain slowly eased off. I started back teaching last week and felt fine. The nurse practitioner called last week to say the white count in the blood looked normal (no infection), but they did find out that I was "extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely anemic." So now I'm on a super-duper iron supplement in addition to the prenatal vitamin. Even though I never felt tired really, I'm already feeling like I have more energy only having taken it for a week. I went back in today and saw the same doc again just so they could check up on the pain. As of today I have gained 10 lbs since the 20 wk visit. Whoa.....seems like a lot to me in just 2 and half weeks. The nurse said it was normal, kind of like I'm playing catch-up. So that brings the weight gain total to around 14 lbs now. My BP was 104/60, a little higher than usual but still great. The baby's heart rate was 135 bpm. Everything looks normal. We talked about my exercising. I told Dr Shaw I had quit working the abs altogether, why fight the stretching, right? She was pleased, and again told me the farther along I get, the more I need to watch the heart rate and reduce my weight in Pump.

The weekend after the 20 week visit, Josh and I finished out the baby registries now that we knew it was a boy! I also bought my nursery furniture and we picked that up last week. We're going with white furniture, since the room is yellow with white chair rail and crown. Glad to get that off my plate. For now though, we're leaving the furniture in boxes in the garage. We've decided to put in hardwood floors upstairs before we set-up the nursery. We've discussed the idea for a while - carpet upstairs is original in our 10 year old house and is need of attention. So, we've found some flooring that seems to match what is downstairs pretty well, and if we can get everything we need soon, Josh will do the flooring while we're off for the holidays.

We also have a name for sure! We're going to name him Braylon. Middle name is still undecided. Dad thinks it sounds like Neyland (as in General Neyland stadium) for some reason, and he is already calling him 'the General'.

My 24 week visit is still set for next week where I'll do the sugar test. Sounds like fun! Check out the 22 week pic below - I'm not really surprised by the weight gain because I certainly think I've gotten bigger in the last couple weeks. I've also added a picture of Josh and I after my office Christmas party. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!