Dear Son

To my sweet baby boy,

Please try your best to refrain from scaring the heck out of your mommy while in utero. I realize the rest of my life will be filled with worry for you, your safety and your happiness...the least you could offer your poor mom is a worry free pregnancy. I promise to love you forever and ever (which I will no matter what)! Pretty please?

Sincerely,

Mom

In all seriousness, this child nearly gave me a heart attack today. At my appointment last week, my doctor asked if I had been feeling a lot of movement. I confirmed yes, all the time! I happened to question her about what I should do if I notice a decrease in fetal movement. Usually the doctors do not have you start counting kicks until around 28 weeks, but she said if it was noticeable there were a few things I could do; in particular, drink a regular coke or some juice and lay on my left side in a quiet room for an hour and count at least 10 movements in that hour.

Well, this morning I did not get woken up by the usual kicks and nudges at 5 a.m., I also felt nothing after a small cup of coffee and my cereal this morning. This was really unusual because I always feel movement after every meal. It didn't really occur to me until my 9 a.m. snack time that I hadn't felt anything at all today. So, I scarfed down a banana, half a peanut butter sandwich, and a rice krispie treat and....nothing. I got up to take a walk to the restroom, trying to keep myself from panicking. Then, I remembered the coke trick. I headed straight for the coke machine, got a regular coke, and sat back at my desk. Half the can later and FINALLY, he was going nuts. I counted 10 movements in less than 5 minutes and here I am 30 minutes later and he's still letting me know he's okay in there. Whew. That's a relief, but I'm sure I'll still be paranoid and paying more attention to movements for the next few days. I was really not looking forward to being the crazy person that was calling their doctor for the THIRD time in one week.

Since my checkup last Monday, I had to call Wednesday due to my terrible night's sleep with horrible back pains - which resulted in that quick unscheduled trip in to make sure all was good. Then, I had to call again yesterday. On Friday I noticed a rash forming on the under side of my belly but didn't think too much of it since it wasn't bothering me...but it didn't look good since it was a red circle and the inside was a fleshy, grey color. At our class on Saturday I asked the instructor about it as we were leaving (she was a nurse) and although she said she wasn't sure since her specialty was as a lactation consultant, she thought it looked to be ringworm! After I talked to my OB's nurse practitioner yesterday, she said based off description she thought it was the same thing. She asked if I had animals or children. No and no....where could I have possibly gotten ringworm?? Oh wait - probably this germ infested, overpopulated excuse of an office I work in everyday! At least I didn't have to go in to see the doctor, they just sent me for some lotrimon (Umm, jock itch cream?!) and told me to apply that twice a day and keep an eye on it. And man, does it ever itch now. So much for it not bothering me. As my mom stated yesterday, I seem to have the strangest things happen to me!

All of this is a small price to pay for a healthy baby, but I guess this is the beginning of the never ending worry of being a parent. It's funny how the first many weeks of pregnancy are spent worrying because you just don't know if all is well in the womb until your appointments since you cannot feel movement, then the latter half is filled with worry if you don't feel enough movement (which how did they determine the magic number of 10 in an hour?). Not to mention the worry of every ache and pain because of the thought of pre-term labor. I think it's time I treat myself to a pre-natal massage to destress!