28-weeks and growing along

I had my 28-week check up for baby Payne today. He's growing (in more places than my belly :)) and always on the move! The nurse checked my weight, blood pressure, etc... and all looked good. Dr. C came in and as always, made me laugh and smile :) I passed my Glucose screening, thank goodness, with flying colors (according to the doc) so that was good to hear. All the orange "Slice" juice paid off!

Payne's heartrate was 146 bpm, the slowest it's ever been. He must have been sleeping b/c he usually moves when anything touches my belly but not today (can you blame him, it's a Monday morning at 9 a.m.!). And of course, right when I leave the office, he's doing what feels like hurkeys in my stomach! Dr. C said I am measuring ahead 5-7 days but we'll know for sure in 4 weeks when I get another ultrasound. He doesn't like to change due dates unless you are measuring 7-10 days ahead of the first given date so maybe he'll be early, maybe not. At that ultrasound, 32 weeks, he'll double check that his organs are healthy and developing, check his position and give us an approximate weight that he'll be at birth. He told us that Payton would weigh between 7.5 lbs-8 lbs and she weighed 7 lbs 10 oz so he was right on with her. Then, my next OB appointment, April 27th, will be my last 4-week appointment. Then I'll start seeing him every 2-weeks! Crazy how fast it has gone by!

We started talking about baby weight, questions, etc.... and he told me that he was so thankful I was an easy patient. I laughed and told him that I think pregnancy is a wonderful thing that women are blessed with so I look at it as a gift, which it is, and try to love every minute of it. He showed me my charts where everything is right on track and then there was a blank page in the back with just my name at the top. This is the "call page" where they track the calls/pages made to his office during pregnancy. He told me that he has some patients (and often patients that are NOT 1st time mom's) that have 10-15 PAGES of calls/reports!! WHAT? I was floored! He said that many women that are pregnant seem to love the attention and drama so they draw it upon themselves during the 9 month stint of being pregnant. I was shocked by this and I told him that if every patient was easy, like he called me (no, I'm not calling myself easy to deal with, ha!) he'd be at the beach and would never be here to deliver babies, ha! He wasn't saying that women shouldn't call with concerns but some women call over petty things that don't require a doctor's attention, just the attention of someone else, like their husbands or family members :)

I started thinking once I got in my car about how much A. time it would take out of someone's life to call w/ THAT many issues not to mention the time you take out of your doctors life and B. what in the world are they calling about? I can't think of any non-emergency situation that I would call him for, which is what most of the reports are for. Luckily, I am spoiled in the fact that I do have a mother-in-law that is a nurse practioner so any simple questions I may have, I call her, but I can't even think of 5 calls I've made to her with this pregnancy or Payton's! And, if my mother-in-law wasn't in the medical field and such a medical genius, I can't imagine calling my doctor for simple things. Have people never heard of Google, WebMD, BabyCenter, etc....?

My sister always told me that everything with pregnancy and motherhood is mind over matter. Being pregnant is not an illness, it's not a sympathy card. Being pregnant is a miracle given by God that blesses a woman's life. There are so many women who have been trying and are still trying to carry a baby on their own and can't and it breaks my heart hearing stories of women struggling to get pregnant. Then when I hear stories of women complaining while they are pregnant about every little thing (as if they were put in this position without making the decision themselves to be there in the first place!) and it's upsetting b/c there are many women who would pay fortunes just to carry a baby on their own, even if it's not all sunshine and smiles the whole 9 months.

SO... now that I've done my daily preaching :), here's my outlook on this pregnancy and pregnancy in general-- Embrace every moment, love every growing body part and enjoy the 9 month adventure of being pregnant. God has blessed me and our family with this growing, healthy baby and for that, I'm forever grateful.