Well that's......strange

I had my midwife appointment today and, among other things, we talked about my kidney-or-something-or-other experience from Sunday. Remember how I gave a urine sample to be tested to see what type of UTI I had?

It came back negative.

I know!! You're thinking, "Huh? What was all that fuss for, then?!" right? No? Well, that's what I'M thinking, anyway.

Apparently the probiotics I was on were doing their job, and the UTI from 3 weeks ago is gone. Go probiotics! It still really leaves us wondering why I had to go pee all the time, it was just trickling out, and I had this inexplicably pained kidney-area.

Right now, we're thinking it could have been a kidney stone, though not likely given how the pain came and went. We're also thinking that I might have hydronephrosis myself (you know, the thing we were checking the baby for?) and if so, and the baby was pushing on my kidneys, then it would have caused a lot of pain. Kidney pain can also come in spasms, which, now that I think about it, is very much like what it was, and would explain why it disappeared all of a sudden. Also, Baby Girl is transverse right now (meaning, sideways) and that's a really good position for causing that sort of kidney pain. And then, if she was causing the pain, and she all of a sudden shifted, it'd explain why all of a sudden I could go pee and wasn't in pain.

Bottom line? We just don't know. The pain was very real (although impossible to recall now) and if it happens again then I'm going to be sent for an ultrasound of my own kidneys, to see if they're dilated at all. Otherwise, I'm just to keep at the probiotics (and antibiotics until they're done) and drink lots. And pray and pray that this baby turns head-down soon. All of a sudden, Elijah kicking me for 17 weeks in my ribs seems like no big deal!

Hmm...which also makes me wonder about the "showing" thing. I know Elijah turned head-down rather early. They could feel by 28 weeks that he was head-down, but he'd been kicking my ribs since 24-25 weeks. My stomach also "popped" between 20 and 24 weeks. I wonder if that's why? Because he went head-down so early? He never kicked me low down, or at least, not once he could kick higher, whereas this baby is always kicking me low down, where I can't see it. Also, Baby Girl is sideways right now, and my stomach didn't "grow" much in the last few weeks. I've been consistently measuring 1-2 weeks ahead, and this week I'm bang on at 26 weeks. It makes sense, though, given her position. I wonder if my belly will look bigger once she's head-down? Oh well, this is all pointless conjecture anyway, it's just fun to think about.

Oh, I got the results from my ultrasound from last week. There was less than 4mm of fluid, which apparently is "clinically insignificant," Baby Girl's heart rate was 143 bpm, and she was measuring 25w4d (when I was actually 24w6d.) Apparently, though, at this point dating the fetus is pointless because there is so much variation. For instance, a tall baby will have their limbs measure further ahead, and Elijah was tall, and he and Baby Girl come from (at least half!) of a family with tall people. So yeah.

Other than that, we didn't talk about much. I'm going in next week to do the gestational diabetes screen. I re-read what I wrote about when I did it with Elijah, and I had said then that I wouldn't ever do it again, it was just that gross, but I've since heard about babies having trouble monitoring their blood-sugar levels, and what it can mean for their little bodies (eg - permanent brain damage? No thanks.) and I think it makes sense to do it. I'll also have my iron checked then, and I'm sure it's low again, as I've been very out of breath lately.

My next appointment isn't for another 4 weeks. My midwife was more than willing to have me come back in 2 weeks, and start my every-other-week thing, and I must admit, it's exciting to be at that point of pregnancy, but I feel like time is going so much faster with the whole every-4-weeks thing, and if I'm in every other week with nothing to talk about, it's going to start dragging. Also, it's one less appointment that I have to worry about Elijah with. So far I've made it 26 weeks without bringing him to one appointment. I might have to at my 30-week appointment (SO weird that that one is coming up next. It's wild, in fact.) but even still, I think I've done well to put it off that long. It helps that Matt takes a morning and an afternoon off almost every week, so I can schedule them for then.

Anyway, I should wrap this up. Matt's 30th birthday is on Thursday (only 2 days away! EEP!) and we're having some people over, but there are a few people I haven't heard from yet, and I want to call them this afternoon. AND.....I've got to go pee. The end!