I got a phone call from my doctor yesterday, and I passed the one hour glucose test, yay! However, my blood work indicated that I'm slightly anemic, so I had to run by the store to get some iron supplements last night. Apparently, this is very common in the late 2nd trimester and all of the 3rd trimester. Iron requirements go up significantly when you're pregnant. Iron is essential for making hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to other cells. During pregnancy, the amount of blood in your body increases until you have almost 50% more than usual (this explains my veiny, blue, old looking hands!!). So, essentially you need more iron to make more hemoglobin for all that additional blood. You also need extra iron for growing baby and the placenta. There's a little lesson in the human body for you while you read my blog! Not that you needed it, of course. I know how smart all my readers are! :)
This week, all the pregnancy sites say the baby weighs about 2 1/4 pounds...but as we learned on Wednesday, not this little boy! Our doctor did mention, of course, that the weight may not be accurate and I'm sort of hoping he's a bit smaller, considering from now until birth he will more than double, and possibly triple his weight. I do not need the stress of knowing I have to give birth to a 9 pound baby! Haha. However, I was about 8 1/2 pounds, and I'm pretty sure Rob was over 8...so this may be a fact I just need to accept! Baby D can now blink his eyes, and those little eyes now have lashes. He's continuing to put on fat, this time white fat which is different from the brown fat that he's previously accumulated. Brown fat is necessary for body temperature regulation while white fat actually serves as an energy source. This explains why he is so much stronger and those kicks are full of such force! I've begun experiencing the ever uncomfortable rib cage jabs! But it's so amazing that the slight uncomfortable feeling from time to time is worth every bit of it.
If I'm like most women, I can expect to gain about 11 pounds this trimester, according to babycenter.com. This would put me at a grand total of 28 pounds which would just be fantastic since my doctors goal for me was 25-35 pounds. Let's just hope I stay comfortable enough to keep up with the workouts. I still notice that I feel much better on the days I get moving than on the days I don't....just need to remind myself of that for motivation.
Tomorrow afternoon we're getting an elective 3D ultrasound! I have been debating whether or not I wanted to do this the entire pregnancy. I swore up and down that I didn't want to spend the money on it. But, I'm feeling so anxious to get a glimpse of what he'll look like that I can't resist. We are returning to the same place where we got the elective gender scan and they give us a small discount for returning during the same pregnancy, so that helps. Plus, this is also a continuation of me feeling the need to really embrace the pregnancy as much as I can. I want to make sure I don't regret one moment of it, and this is one thing I might have regretted had we not done it. So tomorrow I'll be uploading those pictures as well! Cross your fingers for us that he cooperates!
No comments:
Post a Comment