Pregnancy Woes and WHOAS!

Our laptop hasn't worked properly since we returned from DC and since our DC pictures are loaded on it, I haven't been able to do a DC post. Instead I'll give you a pregnancy post about the unpleasantries AND surprises so far.

First the Woes:

• Thankfully I've had a pretty easy pregnancy so far, but recently I've started having some rough nights. I toss and turn trying to get comfortable, my lower back aches, and I get leg cramps. I'm sure these nighttime symptoms will persist and worsen throughout the rest of the pregnancy, so Eric bought me a pregnancy body pillow. It's obviously not going to alleviate leg cramps, but hopefully it'll allow me to sleep a little easier.
  
• My feet are swollen! It's not so bad that I can't wear my shoes, but puffy feet aren't pretty feet. My left foot is swollen more than my right one, so I mentioned that at my appointment yesterday. Here's what my doctor told me, consider it your science lesson of the day--Every woman's uterus tilts to either the left or the right to make room for the colon. Mine is apparently tilted to the left and is hindering the return flow of fluid from my left leg, hence the puffier foot.
  
• At our appointment yesterday the doctor told us that the ultrasound from a couple of weeks ago looked good, but he did notice that the baby had a choroid plexus cyst. This particular cyst is a soft marker for Edwards Syndrome. I don't know exactly what Edwards Syndrome is and I'd rather not know, so please don't comment about what you know or googled about it. Dr. F said it is not uncommon to see this cyst in ultrasounds and since our baby has no other markers for Edwards Syndrome, he is not concerned and we shouldn't be either. The cyst itself is not harmful in anyway and typically goes away within a few weeks. I did find a chart that shows that 1 out of 426 babies with a choroid plexus cyst will be born with Edwards Syndrome. That means there's only a 0.23% chance that our baby will be affected. That statistic along with Dr. F's reassurances that everything else appears to be normal, is pretty comforting to me.

Now the WHOAS:

• Eric finally felt our baby girl move this past Sunday. I think the experience for him was a little anticlimactic. He was like, "That's it?" I reminded him that the baby is less than a foot long and weighs less than a pound. She's not going to be able to pack that much of a punch just yet.
  
• When I stepped on the scale yesterday, it showed that I've gained 11 pounds. Oh my goodness! I've never seen this particular number and although I am on target with my weight gain, it's still a little unnerving.
  
• At the appointment yesterday we got to hear our little girl's heart beating away at 158 bpm. We could also hear some other noises that Dr. F said was the sound of her moving around. At one point there was a particularly loud WHACK and our doctor said that even he had felt that kick.
  
• My belly is getting bigger and bigger everyday and it's the strangest thing to see. Because of the fact that I'm petite, my doctor warned me that in the next month some people might start making comments like, "You're only 6 months pregnant? You look ready to deliver!" Here's a picture from a week ago in DC. I think my belly's even bigger now.

Next up, a DC post.