Week 14 :)

OK now I can say I am officially over the nausea, without knocking on wood or anything else. Still dealing with the long list of allergies I mentioned last week - even had one of my awful big break-outs which appears to have been from some butternut squash. I'm hoping to get some of the allergies cleared up with my angel (aka my accupuncturist) tomorrow. I am REALLY missing fruit, and being able to eat things with eggs in them would be nice (even though the idea of eating an actual egg still makes my stomach turn).

The first maternity thing I bought was a dress - this Friday marks the start of a string of summer wedding I will be attending, and I knew that nothing in my closet was going to fit me for all of these events. So the dress will be on her maiden voyage as Troy & Candace tie the knot. I'm grateful to have an appetite to take with me to all of these events as well!

A friend of mine had her baby last week - at 29 weeks. Poor little guy was 3lb 1oz, and is in the NICU where he will probably stay for the next 10-12 weeks. Another friend just had a client deliver at 22 weeks, the baby lived for about 40 minutes. It has me alert to all of the things that could go wrong. It's hard to not think of those things when someone else is going through the trauma (in the case of the 29 week pregnancy it was extreme preclamsia). Fetuses are so delicate in so many ways. They need every week of those 40 weeks to be able to fully thrive at birth. Of course 38 weeks is considered full term, but those extra 2 weeks make such a difference in weight gain, immune development, and lung development.

Having the allergic reaction was scary for me - I had to call my midwife to see about taking Benadryl, which is my go-to solution for the hives, itchiness and occasional shortness of breath. I don't take ANYTHING when I'm pregnant - not so much as an aspirin for a headache - so it was a big deal to know there was something that I needed. She assured me that it was safe, so long as I'm not taking it all the time. And of course breathing & living is pretty important - my alternate would have been to get to the ER to have them give me something safe for the baby. Having gone through that experience makes me even more anxious to hear this baby's heartbeat - I need to know that everything is OK and normal. I'm definitely growing, and feel the occasional bounce on my full bladder, so I know s/he is in there, doing what s/he should be doing. But some external reassurance would be nice right now. In fact, I need to call Cathy now & get that appointment set up!