Weeks 12 - 13

At the begining of week 12 we had our next doctor's appointment. We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. The baby's heart beat was 160 BPM which is good. We don't go back to see the doctor until April 27, 2009.

I was having cramps. It turned out to be spasms of tendons that attach in the front and rear of the pelvis. Prior to the pregnancy I had problems with my back and hips. I have tendon elasticity, which causes my hips to come out of enlightenment easily. They rotate forward and backwards beyond normal ranges. During pregnancy, hormones can cause the pelvis tendons to become even more movable. So the pregnancy has made my existing issues worse.

It seems to be the worst when I am laying down. When I lay flat on my back I can not move my legs at all. It is a strange feeling. I have to roll over to my sides before moving my legs. So pretty much I only lay on my sides anymore. I have a king sized pillow (about the same size as a body pillow) that I have been propping behind my back. It seems to help quite a bit.

I am in physical therapy and that is helping. My therapist has told me to try and walk now as much as I can. I may not be able to do much further down the road. My therapist also ordered me a special belt that is supposed to help stabilize the hips. So we will see...

I am starting to be less nauseated, which is great. I have actually been really lucky here. I have heard some pretty awful stories from other women.

Here is a link to my personal web-site where I embedded the audio file of the heart beat. From my personal site there is another link to click. Once you click on that link, it should pop up a download dialog box.

http://www.school.elgans.com/Baby.html