23 weeks/5 days

Well, well, well. Yes I semi neglected my blog. But I should be excused because I'm pregnant. A lot has been happening. I officially relocated, had a pre-term labor scare and now know the gender of my child. And have been a writing fool on deadline as well. Whew!

So....three weeks ago, after trying to will away 4 days of intense pain, I was instructed by my doctor's office to go to the hospital. I say doctor's office because I don't have a specific doctor at this practice. They insist on making you see at least six or seven different doctors so the chance of one of these folks being available on the day of your delivery increases. Well they can have that plan, because when something goes wrong and you need to talk to someone, there is no accountability because you are "everyone's" patient. I was already raised as everyone's child, but no one's child, now I'm supposed to be experience the same in childbirth. No thanks. After calling several times, trying to get "my" doctor or the last doctor I had seen to talk to me, I was in too much pain and too frustrated to call again. So I just limped around in pain for a few days, before my boyfriend demanded my doctor's information. Well, he called asked for the office manager, told them all off, and I got stellar attention after.

So...my man left work early and off to emergency due to my severe cramps and tenderness to the touch. It was hella scarey. Turns out, I had done too much moving and lifting and yadda yadda, upset my fibroids and strained something, but thank GOD no pre-term labor as the chances of survival of such an early birth were about 10 percent. Yikes! So they gave me a prescription to some anti-inflammatory pain killers. I stepped out of the hospital and promptly tossed that little piece of paper away. I'm sick of these pill pushers. After two days of rest..no more pain. And I took none of that crap they tried to give me. They tried to tell me it would help calm the fibroids..well, rest did that and I have to tell all you people who take all these pills for strains....relax, think relaxing thoughts and wait it out. Get off those pills. I wasn't doing that to me or my child.

I will say this, emergency for pregnant women is on a whole different floor and it's very well run. I was in a hospital room and connected to a contract machine in less than five minutes. We tried to find out if we were having a boy or a girl and the child literally shows us buttcheeks and a foot. It looked as if they were sitting on a copy machine..mooning us. Scandal. So we didn't find out on that visit.

BUT.....one week later I went for a "structural" and ....drums please....it's a GIRL!!!!. I'll admit, we were hoping for a boy as I have no idea how to do hair and what am I to do with a girl. But a healthy, happy baby is the ideal scenario and so far so good.
Plus, I've embraced having a girl. Excited even. I hear they are easier to potty train and hey, a mini-me won't be so bad. I just hope she's not obsessed with the color pink because Momma don't go for pink. :-) But she will for her daughter..sigh. :-) I also feel it's a blessing to be able to give her my Great-Grandma's middle name as her middle name...Pearl. My Great-Grandmother was the best influence and blessing a child could ask for and I miss her deeply, so I'm thrilled to be able to share her name with my child. My Great-Grandma, straight from Virginia is Minnie Pearl..whew! Can you believe it. And I love my Grandma so dearly, that it really is a struggle to not actually name my child, full on..Minnie Pearl. :-) But I won't do that to the baby. I know it is a southern name and my Grandma was born in 1913. :-)

I'm showing, she's kicking and it's amazing. Even though she sometimes rests on my bladder and it feels quite miserable, I welcome all movement and kicks. Keep on kicking baby, Mommy likes to know you're there. I also get a strange thrill out of watching my belly move like I'm on the space shuttle in the movie "Alien". Unreal.

So that's the update.