Week 23

Last week was a great week! On top of getting engaged, I had a doctor appointment and I got to hear our daughters heartbeat once again, and it was around 140bpm. We also started a program on Thursday, called Pride Foster Training. I have wanted to become a certified medical foster parent for years but the timing was never right and neither were my living conditions. My mom was signing up for the program and in order for me to babysit for her, I needed to be certified as well. I thought this was perfect timing. 


I talked to Darrell and he was 100% on board and wanted to go through the training with me. The foster program is every Thursday night from now until the middle of April. After the classes, we have a home inspection and then hopefully we get certified. But I want to take it one step further and become a medical foster parent, so there will be additional training following the traditional foster training program. The good thing about the foster program is that once you are certified, you stay certified for up to 5 years. This means that if we do not feel ready as soon as we get certified, we don't have to take any children in yet. We can wait as long as we want before actually fostering a child, if we decide to. With a baby of our own on the way, we probably wont be taking that plunge for a little while, as we will have our hands full! Since I will be staying at home with our baby for a while, I will babysit for my mom if she has any foster children, since she works full time and this could be a small source of income for the time being. 


Darrell and I are moving in March! My dad has offered to rent us a beautiful house that he and my step mom renovated. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house with a pool! I am VERY excited to get out of the apartment and into a house. We are so happy to have the opportunity to raise our daughter in a house instead of an apartment.   This will also give us plenty of room if and when we decide to help other children that need a temporary home. 


So, everything seems to be coming together. Slowly but surely. Darrell is on the search for a new job near our new house and hopefully he will find something he loves! 


Here are some new belly pictures from 2-21-12. When I am feeling well enough, my favorite thing to do is go watch Darrell surf! I can't wait until I can join him out there again!

Valentines Day 2012

VALENTINES DAY 2012

Darrell and I went to the beach. I was expecting to have lunch on the beach and collect some shells, like usual....

He had other plans in mind!

Valentines Night, we traveled to Orlando with my mom and my step dad, Brad. 

We went out to dinner, then went to Downtown Disney to a dueling piano bar called Jellyrolls. My mom thinks she is sneaky and told one of pianists that we got engaged. And so of course, they had Darrell and I go up on stage and dance in front of everyone! They played Broken Road, by Rascal Flatts. It was embarrassing but fun!

21 Week Ultrasound

This morning was our 21 week high risk ultrasound and everything went amazing! We have a very healthy growing baby girl! She now weighs 11 ounces and Doctor Morales says that everything looks perfect. He sees no birth defects, and our quad scan (detecting Down Syndrome and other abnormalities) came back negative. She is growing right on track and is moving around like crazy. She waved to us on the ultrasound and gave us a thumbs up! Her heart was beating around 143 bpm and it was loud and clear. The ultrasound tech gave us 6 printed pictures! This baby is going to have a huge photo album before she is even born. 

View from above. You can see her belly button!

Her little feet!

My favorite: It's a GIRL!

Profile picture with umbilical cord

Tachycardia in POTs

My dad gave me a heart rate monitor, which I have been wanting for a while now. I can always tell when my heart rate increases dramatically, because I feel the physical effects of it immediately. I usually feel my heart beating fast, I feel short of breath, and I feel the blood pooling to my lower extremities. I have two blood pressure monitors that also record my pulse, but they do not work when I am moving around. I knew what to expect when I put the heart rate monitor on, but I guess it still surprises me every time I see the numbers.

I always had a very low resting heart rate until I developed POTs. When I was a personal trainer, my resting heart rate stayed around 65-75bpm. Now that I am pregnant, and I have POTs, my resting heart rate has averaged around 80bpm.  This is considered below average for a healthy 25 year old woman.

A 'normal heart' rate is considered anywhere between 60 and 100.

When a person exercises, they gain the most benefits and lessen the risks when they exercise in their target heart rate zone. Usually this is when their exercise heart rate (pulse) is 60 to 80 percent of their maximum heart rate. The maximum heart rate is the highest heart rate achieved during maximal exercise. One simple method to calculate your predicted maximum heart rate, uses this formula:

220-your age = predicted maximum heart rate

For example: 220-25 (my age) = 195bpm

As as person progresses in their exercise, the percentage of their maximum heart rate can be gradually increased.

If i wanted to exercise and see a benefit, I would want my heart rate to be 60-80% of 195 while exercising:

195 x .60 = 117bpm
195 x .80 = 156bpm

HOWEVER....

I have POTs and that changes everything. As you will see in my video, my heart rate jumps almost above 80% just from standing up! A normal persons heart rate should only increase 5-10bpm upon standing. My heart rate jumps up 30+ beats, while my blood pressure drops drastically. So the question is, am I getting a workout every time I stand up? It sure feels like it!

Watch my heart rate (Sorry it is sideways!):

Week 20

Baby Baker is the length of a banana or the size of a cantaloupe!

HALFWAY THROUGH OUR PREGNANCY JOURNEY!

The baby has become pretty active, but not consistently yet. I had two days that I didn't feel her at all and I got a little nervous, but it is still so early that I will not always feel her. Last night she let me know that she is in there for sure! Around 11pm, I was laying in bed and she was dancing around none stop for an hour! It was the greatest feeling! Both my mom and Darrell have felt her move now!

Week: 20

Total weight gain: 14 lbs!! Kind of a lot when you think that the baby is only like 10-12 ounces right now! But they said I was "underweight" before I got pregnant and that I need to gain a little extra...

From thebabycorner.com:

Where Do I Stand With My 14 lb Weight Gain?

Based on your pre-pregnancy weight of 108 lbs., we calculated your BMI to be 18, which is considered underweight according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. This week you should weigh between:

117 and 122 lbs

Congratulations! You are right on target for a healthy weight gain during your pregnancy! During your first trimester, you should gain between 3 and 5 lbs.. Thereafter, you should be gaining between 0.92 and 1.3 lbs. per week until the end of your pregnancy.

At full term (40 weeks pregnant) you should weigh between:

136 and 148 lbs
Total Target Weight Gain: 28 to 40 lbs.

Pregnancy symptoms this week: PIMPLES! Yuck!!!! 

POTs symptoms this week: Headaches and dizzy episodes almost everyday... beginning to wonder if this steroid is working at all? Shortness of breath, or the feeling that I am not getting enough Oxygen. This could be from the pregnancy itself, or from POTs. 

Best moment this week: Today! Knowing that I am halfway through this journey toward meeting our daughter!!

Mood: Happy all day, but anxious at night. 

Sleep: Dreams, dreams, dreams!!