19 Weeks

How far along? 19 weeks, 1 day

How big is baby? About the size of an mango

Total weight gain: Back up to 8 pounds

Maternity clothes? No change from last week. I’ve got the same 5 or so shirts in constant rotation. Almost all of my shirts are too short and most maternity shirts are too big. I’ve been wearing 2 maternity tops and 3-4 longer non-maternity tops.

I realized that our second “jeans month” at work is about to come to an end and I have exactly one pair of work maternity pants. Hmm…I’ve got to figure something out pretty soon!!

Stretch marks? Not so far! Even confirmed with my mom that one “maybe” is actually a vein :)

Exercise? No, not able to right now.

Sleep: Still so-so. I keep having really strange, vivid dreams. I’m convinced I’d sleep better if the weird dreams would stop. And if I’d stop rolling onto my back at 3 a.m.

Movement: I felt him kick last weekend, and I felt two really pronounced movements last night. Not kicks – I think he was rolling around – but I could feel it through my belly. Very cool!

Food cravings: No changes. Still don’t have an “Oh my gosh I must have that!” food.

Food aversions: Barbecue/chicken wings/ribs are still biggest offenders. I am really picky right now – so, technically, most things! Other than barbecue, nothing makes me physically ill – most things just sound extremely unappealing.

Gender: It’s a BOY!!

Labor Signs: Nope.

Symptoms: The lightheadedness has continued and gotten worse. I had a couple really bad days this week. Aside from that, just feeling some round ligament pains occasionally.

What people are saying: “Sit down!” Also, I had a few meetings this week and saw some people at work I haven’t seen in awhile. Apparently a lot of people still didn’t know I was pregnant! I’m definitely “obviously pregnant” by now, so it was fun hearing the “I had no idea!” and “Congratulations!” comments.

Favorite comment of the week: My coworker just returned from maternity leave. She stopped by to say hi and said, “You don’t look big pregnant yet. You still look like you just ate a little too much!” It was pretty funny!

Sweet Moments: Spending some time with my mom this week and talking about baby preparations. It’s so much fun to share this special time with her!

Also, we shared the ‘It’s a boy!’ news with Mike’s mom today. She was absolutely thrilled and I got a kick out of her reaction.

Make room for baby: We’re making room! My mom was able to get some phenomenal deals at the church consignment sale, including an adorable brand-new jungle print Boppy for $10. Not sure what will come to our house and what will stay at Nana’s…but man did she find some good deals!

Also last weekend I stopped at a garage sale and got some cute little books for him. I found 10 really nice hardback children’s books for $0.50 each. Found a few little outfits too.

And…we bought a crib! It’s a little early for that, but we had a coupon for Babies R Us good through this weekend. We figure we can always return it if we find something we like better.

Miss Anything? Moving around and doing things. This lightheadedness has me pretty much completely sidelined.

Looking forward to: Feeling the baby kick regularly. It will still be sporadic for awhile. Also, I can’t wait for Mike to be able to feel him kick.

Worst moment this week: Wednesday. (Yes, again.) I was so sick I could hardly move. We had a big client meeting that day (thankfully I was only support), so the timing was horrible. Fortunately, though, I had already clued a few key people in to what was going on so they were very understanding.

Best moment this week: Reading the book Llama Llama Red Pajama to the baby. I read to the baby and Mike was there too. The next day he came home and said he’d been reciting Llama Llama Red Pajama to himself all. day. long. We had quite a few good laughs about that (and I may or may not have tortured him further by randomly reciting segments of the book).

So what’s going on with the lightheadness issue?

Short answer: We have no idea.

Long answer: If I’m sitting quietly or laying down, I’m usually fairly ok. However, I still get some lightheadedness even while sitting. It just kind of washes over you in waves. When I stand up or move around, I’m toast. I can’t stand for more than a few minutes before I feel like I need to sit down. My legs start to feel a little tingly and unsteady and then it slowly works it way up my body. I haven’t actually felt like I was in immediate danger of passing out while standing, but I do get very lightheaded, flushed and know I’m going to get to that point if I don’t sit down right away. Believe me when I say it is the worst feeling. You can literally do nothing except wait for it to pass and pray you don’t actually pass out.

So I went back to the doctor on Wednesday because I was still feeling so bad. The doctor said that the baby is doing fine – his heartbeat is very strong – but they have no idea what’s wrong with me. She said that my symptoms in and of themselves aren’t all that unusual, but the timing and duration of them makes them very unusual. For example, occasional brief bouts of dizziness are common – an ongoing, recurring feeling of lightheadedness is not. Exhaustion is not uncommon, except in the second trimester.

She said at this point there is nothing more they can do, but that we need to try to figure out what’s going on because it is absolutely not normal. My first step is a visit to the cardiologist next week. He will take a closer look at my blood pressure and make sure I don’t have a heart condition. Depending on those results, my next step might be a neurologist. Her overall tone was more “we need to start ruling things out” rather than “I think it’s something serious.” As a result, I’m concerned, but not scared or worried at this point.

The most important thing is protecting my health and the baby’s health. I know we’ll figure out what’s going on, and I’m thankful that they do not think the baby is in danger. It’s definitely been an adjustment these past two weeks – I literally have not had the energy to do much, nor have I been able to physically. (Even 30 minutes in Babies R Us today buying the crib resulted in me having to find the rocker section 10 minutes in to sit down.)

I’m actually hoping they will find something minor that is easily fixed, because the doctor did say it is entirely possible that nothing is wrong – this just happens to be a pregnancy symptom I will have to endure. I really hope that’s not the case. I’m getting pretty tired of keeping the couch company and these symptoms have made working difficult. But like I said…whatever it takes to get to December with my health and the baby’s health intact.