Today we had an ultrasound to check Elsie's growth. I was thrilled to see she didn't have her feet over her head. She was also positioned head down, which may change a few times before she's born, but she's headed in the right direction. She surprised us when the ultrasound tech focused on her head. She turned to face us, and the ultrasound tech saw her face move and thought she smiled. Already mugging for the camera. The photos we have of her aren't that great. They're skeletal and ghostly. But it was nice of her to pose for us. She weighs exactly 2.5 pounds and is in the 50th percentile. At her last ultrasound she was in the 52nd percentile. As long as she stays on her growth curve, she'll be about 7 pounds when she's born. Hurray! Our next appointment is in two weeks, and our next ultrasound is in four weeks.
I am also doing well. Amniotic fluid levels are good and so is my blood pressure. I haven't gained any weight over the last three weeks. I've gained less than 10 pounds from my lowest first trimester weight, and 2.5 of that is all Elsie (not to mention placenta and extra fluids). I'm not exactly dieting. I just had a mini turtle pecan cluster blizzard from Dairy Queen to celebrate our good reports at the doctor. (I got a mini because I'm lactose intolerant and don't want to get sick and freak Elsie out again.) I'm intentionally eating more fruits and vegetables and getting more exercise, but it's because I enjoy fresh summer produce and swimming rather than because I'm trying to watch my weight. That's just a nice side effect. :) I've been eating a lot of caprese salad and snacking on snap peas and watermelon. The basil and snap peas are from my garden. The swimming pool is finally open at times I can get there. With my swimmer's snorkel, I don't have to worry about getting out of breath because I can breathe whenever I want. My breast stroke is getting quite graceful, which is pretty impressive considering my growing girth. Between the low-calorie fruits and veggies taking up room in my quickly shrinking stomach and getting to the pool up to four times a week in July, I'm not gaining weight. As long as Elsie is gaining weight, I'm going to keep on enjoying my veggies and swimming. I can always add an Icee, milkshake, or blizzard every once in a while if I need to. Anything for Elsie. :)
Elsie is pretty active, but I am rarely able to figure out why she is kicking. She kicks for the fun of it most of the time. I have noticed that she likes music. She kicks significantly more during singing at church, the musical we recently attended, and movies with rousing scores. She also kicks at things that touch my belly: my computer desk, the kitchen counter and sink (my arms are too short to wash dishes without resting my belly against the sink), and even my own arm. She believes it's HER belly, and I've been unable to convince her to share. She still gets excited when Matt talks to her and even kicked in his direction when he talked at my belly one time. However, she rarely kicks when Matt's hand is on my belly. One night when she wouldn't settle down, I had Matt put his hand on my belly, and I got a good 15 minutes of peace before she started kicking again. And she wasn't kicking as hard then. She also kicks when she's startled. The new Superman was incredibly scary for her because of all the explosions. I'm surprised my uterus wasn't bruised after that movie. And yesterday she got her first case of hiccups during the sermon at church. The kicks were too regular and jerky to be anything but hiccups.
We're all doing fine. I garden and swim and try out new veggie recipes. Elsie kicks. And Matt drives us to the doctor an awful lot. We expect the rest of the summer to keep going the same way.
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