Doctor Visits, Birthdays, and a Growing Baby

This week has been busy! My appointment with Dr. Andersen, the Osteopathic Physician who does Cranial Manipulation, was on Monday. Things went very well at that appointment. It was quite different from a traditional doctor's visit. Mom went in with me, and we spent about an hour and 20 minutes with the doctor. Basically, his philosophy is that any time someone encounters any type of trauma (physical, emotional, etc.), it affects the energy in your body. If that energy is not released, it can build up and cause physical symptoms, disease, etc. Like I said in the last post, I've had several head injuries - ranging from my forceps birth to falling out of a high-chair at 4 months old to getting hit in the head with a variety of objects resulting in concussions & broken bones. Dr. Andersen said that he can definitely help me... after listening to my background, he had me lie down on a table and he started doing some work. It was in no way painful, actually very relaxing. Someone asked if it was like getting a massage... no, he wasn't "rubbing" or "massaging" me - but when he finished, I was very relaxed. I'm learning to refocus my energies on the present (concentrating on breathing, rather than on worrying about something in the past or future). He also instructed me to LET GO of all of the medical labels that doctors have given me over the years. This makes sense. If I'm going to be cured of POTS (and several other medical issues, for that matter), I've got to accept that it's possible before it can happen. I'm working on that. :)

My appointment with Dr. Goldman, my OB, was on Wednesday. It was fairly uneventful. I did have my glucose test to determine if I've got Gestational Diabetes. The drink wasn't that bad - it was just hard to keep drinking until I finished the 10 ounces (in less than 5 minutes). No results back yet, so keep your fingers crossed that it turned out okay & I won't have to go through the three-hour test! With Mom & Nana both having diabetes, my risk is slightly elevated, but I don't have any other areas that are high-risk. After the bloodwork, I saw my doctor. We listened to the baby's heartbeat, which was good and strong. I talked to him about the pains I had been having, and he said they were probably contractions... but since it's just a couple a day, it's nothing to worry about. Perhaps just a little reminder of what's yet to come!

Tuesday was my birthday (and my mom's!). She and Nana brought me back home on Tuesday, so it was great to be able to see them during the day. Tuesday night, Michael brought me out for a nice birthday dinner at Firebirds (yum!) and gave me a beautiful ring. My fingers are swollen, so I can't wear my engagement and wedding bands right now. This ring is *temporarily* taking the place of those rings. (When we went to look at rings, Michael couldn't decide which one he really liked because, in his words, "I like your original rings!" So sweet! I love my "original" rings, too... but at least now I have something on my left hand - and I love that it was my birthday gift!) It's been so nice to be home for a few days in a row! I've got several appointments coming up with Dr. Andersen, which means I'll be out of town for at least 3 days each week, starting in May (travel time to Spartanburg, then to Fletcher (in the mountains) for the appointment, and then back to Charlotte - I don't feel like traveling more than one place a day!). I hate being away from home so much, but if I can feel better as a result of these appointments, in the long-run, it's definitely worth it.

Baby Girl (we're still working on names...) is doing well. She's jumping around a lot - she's either going to be a dancer (think Lord of the Dance) or a soccer player! There are even times when I can see my belly move. Very weird, but super-cool at the same time. Right now, I'm 26 weeks along, which means she is about 14 inches and over 1.5 pounds. It's amazing to me that she's longer than a ruler! That's a whole lot of baby!!!