21 weeks and thing are going pretty well. This week is kind of fun because Lucy is roughly the length of a beer bottle! Hehe, I think it's perfect. If you prefer the fruit analogy then she is roughly the length of a large banana. She swallows several ounces of amniotic fluid every day to practice digesting and her swallow reflexes and thanks to taste buds she can "taste" what I eat. It does seem that she enjoys the sweet things I eat the most! She sleeps about 12 to 14 hours a day, and seems to like the morning and bedtime the best for performing some pretty amazing acrobatics. Her fingers and toes are completely formed now, as well as her eyelids and eyebrows. Growth is still continuing at breakneck speeds as she gains more and more weight each day.
I finally feel a little bit more normal, although some symptoms have just been exchanged for different ones. My ankles are starting to swell after being up all day, and I've found several new stretch marks...oh joy. My body is starting to reflect the abuse I'm putting it through and I'm hearing about it. Everything aches and I'm still exhausted but it's all for something pretty awesome. Trying to find clothes that fit me and don't make me feel like a cow is a challenge. There is this weird limbo period where stuff either hangs off me or makes me look like a spring breaker with questionable morals. I was lucky enough to score some awesome summery dresses from Ross yesterday which drastically increased my mood. Nothing like having clothes that fit to put a smile on your face. Now I just have to hope they will still fit in July!
I had a minor setback, well potentially, today. Our third semester teacher came in to talk to us about any thing that may be on our records because if you aren't squeaky clean then you can't do clinical in Vegas and she needs to schedule people who are or are not going to Vegas. Well I have no issues there, my record is the squeakiest of squeaky clean. I did however talk to her about trying to keep me closer to home to minimize the hassle of traveling to Vegas and dealing with having a one month old to care for. If I'm lucky I will only have to travel to Vegas maybe 3-4 times and the rest of the time I will be in Havasu or Kingman. Even if I do get lucky...it's going to be tough. VERY tough. Especially trying to breastfeed, which is going to be a logistical nightmare and a huge challenge with 12 hour clinical days, up to two a week, and lecture days to boot. I've known all of this. The teacher really, strongly, recommended I think about deferring the semester until next January because of how hard it may be. Then she brought up a point I never even thought of. I will be going back on August 27th and there is clinical, that involves repositioning patients/lifting/standing for 12 hours etc. within the first week. If everything goes absolutely perfectly then I will be about 5 weeks postpartum at that point. The doctor gives instructions to rest and not lift anything heavier than baby until your 6wk postpartum check up. According to the teacher they will not allow me to do clinical unless I have a doctor approval for clinical activity. That means I have to convince my OB to give me said clearance...and that may or may not happen. It's a lot to think about and we have a lot of things to consider. I'm going to speak with the OB about this at our appointment next week and hopefully that will help make this easier to consider.
Anyways, on the brighter side of things...we get to see Lucy again on the 29th! Our anatomy scan is next Friday and truth be told I am a smidge worried she is going to say Lucy has magically turned from a she to a he, but looking at those ultrasounds I am 99.9% sure she is indeed a girl. I can't wait to see how big she is and how much she has grown from our 14 week scan. It's also my 23rd birthday next Wednesday. Honestly I don't really care about my birthdays anymore, getting older seems to do that to you. I have so much else going on that I have legitimately forgotten about it at times. I'm planning on spending my day in class and trying not to fall asleep listening to lecture. Doesn't that sound fun?
Until next time....
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