A lot has happened since my last post. I've been to two ob/gyn appointments, with two DIFFERENT doctors. Those doctor’s appointments have been the only ones in my life I've been anxious and excited to go to. It's exciting learning about your baby and hearing the doctor say you and the baby are perfectly healthy.
There was some stress and complications with finding a doctor that accepted our insurance program. I started at one doctor who said they took my insurance, but once we were in the appointment we found out they didn't accept are particular program within that insurance company. Ah! I thought it was all settled. So then we spent much time and effort trying to find a doctor in New Braunfels who took my insurance. We used the online search engine from the insurance company and it would just say "No results". We then called the insurance company to try to get an exception made to pay for a doctor out of network. Actually we had to make that request twice because we learned when we called to check on the status that Michael can't make that request. I had to. And yet, the lady who took his request failed to mention that. Plus these people were SO rude. I hate dealing with that kind of stuff. And many of you may know how much worse it is when you’re pregnant. I'm normally not very emotional and I'm pretty rational, but.... all bets are off now. Haha. Sometimes I don't even know who I am. Then I called the doctor’s office to the doctor that we were trying to get the exception made for, and come to find out, they aren't willing to take patients who are out of network because it's a pain in the butt for them to get paid. Ah! I don't blame them, but I was getting pretty frustrated and stressed trying to figure this all out. I just really wanted to have a doctor that delivered at the hospital here in New Braunfels in case there might be an emergency at delivery and I need to get to the hospital quickly. Thank the Lord, I finally found a doctor. I just started calling doctors around town, even though my insurance information online said they weren't covered. I found that one of the doctors that came highly recommended to me was covered by my insurance. Woo hoo! I was so relieved. I immediately ran over to their offices to fill out all that paperwork ahead of time, just to make sure I was good to go and in the clear. I DID NOT want to find out otherwise a few weeks later when I’m sitting in my appointment.
My first appointment with the first doctor went well. I was happy with the doctor and the answers she gave to my huge long list of questions, but I didn’t come out of there thinking “Wow. I love this doctor. She’s amazing.” I had my first sonogram. That was the best part. Here is Baby Coburn.
A month later I had my first appointment with my new doctor. I LOVE him. He has a great bedside manner, and is very comforting and friendly. He and I both thought it strange that my first doctor failed to mention to me that she came up with a new estimated due date. Her estimate was June 6, three weeks after the first estimate (which was estimated according to my last period). So I went into this second appointment thinking I was 17 weeks pregnant, and come to find out it was more like 13 ½. Goodness, I had backtracked several weeks – so it felt. Strangely I felt good about the news though, because I kept having a feeling I wasn’t as far along as the calculations said I was. I guess it’s nice to know some “feeling” I was having was actually correct. My new doctor did a sonogram and came up with his own estimated due date, which is now June 3. Here is Baby Coburn at this appointment.
In the past week or so I THINK I've been feeling the baby move. I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, so it's a guess. But I've definitely been feeling things in the area of the baby that are otherwise unexplainable. haha. I've heard the feeling described in so many different ways, but the feelings I've had I would describe as a quick rumble.
Some have been curious and asking about my symptoms and how I’ve been feeling. Being pregnant is a strange thing. Haha. Seems like I never know what to expect from day to day. Overall I would say I’m doing quite well. I’m feeling pretty good and I’m very happy and excited. (Michael is happy and excited too. :) ) First trimester I was slightly queasy most of the time and threw up a couple times, but nothing I would consider really miserable or anything. I definitely was super tired, but have mostly gotten over that now. I thought I would be completely over it by now, but no, that’s not the case. Haha. Like I said before it’s different from day to day. Like a roller coaster ride, I feel like my hormones go up and down from day to day. Some days I feel very energetic and “normal”, while other days I’m just dragging my feet and can’t survive without a nap. The strange thing that has happened lately though, is that that constant queasiness has gone, but there have been many times that out of nowhere I’m struck with the immediate need to RUN to the bathroom to throw up. That’s about twice a week now. I’m nervous to be too far from a bathroom, because it comes on without ANY warning. I’m okay with it because I don’t ever feel bad, and as quickly as it comes on it dissipates. But what’s a little annoying is that I don’t usually like eating. It’s just not fun anymore. Haha. This isn’t the case 100% of the time, but maybe 90% of the time. It’s mostly a chore now. Usually NOTHING sounds good. I would rather NOT eat, but I know if I don’t eat a little every few hours I will start feeling sick. Sometimes to test how extreme these feelings are, I will sit and imagine that I could have anything in the world to eat. Usually, STILL nothing sounds good. I go thru the list of usual favorites and I’m thinking “Blah. No Thank you.”
Question for you all – Why is it that as soon as you’re not supposed to have something, all of a sudden you really want it? First trimester it was hot dogs. I normally don’t care for hot dogs. I can take them or leave them. But about as soon as I found out I was pregnant I was dying for a hot dog. Hot dogs are one of those items on the restricted or limited list. Funny thing is I found out that my sister in law Cari went thru the same thing over the hot dog. Haha. Luckily I’m over it now. But let’s just move on to caffeine. So I’m supposed to limit my caffeine intake to no more than the equivalent of two cups of coffee a day. Normally I do not consume very much caffeine and am perfectly happy with that. I would have about 1-2 cups of coffee per month, then a glass a tea maybe 3-4 times a week, and not all of the tea would have caffeine in it. I almost never have soda. Well goodness, I’m surprised at how difficult it has been for me to stay away from caffeine. I’m guessing it’s because of me being tired. When I found out I was pregnant I decided to play it safe and eliminate coffee all together (easy right?) and then limit my tea to no more than 1 glass a day. Sounded so easy. This “issue” has been getting a little better lately (haha), but I’ve been surprised that this has been a struggle for me. I try to not have a caffeinated drink unless I’m REALLY craving one, just because I know I will crave it at some point. Although, first and foremost, I don’t stress over the issue. I’m convinced that’s worse.
I have definitely noticed a difference in how my body reacts to stress. I would say that normally I react to stress quite well. It doesn’t get to me that easily, and mostly there isn’t a lot that stresses me out. I always try to live by the little motto “don’t stress the small stuff”. But since I’ve been pregnant, no matter how hard I try I can’t ignore the fact that something might be stressing me. If I do, I get sick. If I get stressed, forget about me being able to hold down ANY food. I just have to go to bed. Michael is SO SO good to help in this area. He helps in MANY areas, but especially this one. I’m relieved to know that if a stressful task needs to be taken care of (like a dispute on a bill for example), he is happy and willing to take care of it, and gives me permission to not even have to think about it. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t mind taking care of it myself, but I thank God every day that I have such an amazing husband who is so extremely attentive and understanding to the weird things that are going on with his wife. Haha. I promise I have the best husband ever. Haha. Everyone should know how amazing he is. I can be kind of nutty sometimes and Michael will just put up with it and appease my strange requests. If ever I’m in any discomfort he tries to do anything he can to make it better. He insists on trying different ideas if the first thing doesn’t work. He regularly makes me hot tea (decaf – haha), and gets me a cool towel for my head when I have a headache, and will get me water, or pillows or anything else to try to make me comfortable. He treats me like a princess (as you can probably figure out by now), and I DO SO appreciate it. I am SO SO blessed. I can’t stress that or express that enough.
I often think about what it will be like to be pregnant with a second or even third child. I know I have it so good right now, with having the luxury to not work, or have many other responsibilities. I have the luxury of just staying home and doing nothing if I don’t feel well. Or take a nap whenever I need to. Or have a good amount of time to get ready for this baby. I can begin to imagine how different it will be with a second or third pregnancy. Haha. So I’m just going to say – I don’t expect every pregnancy to be like this (with these luxuries and all), but I’m just going to enjoy it while it lasts! Haha
