Baby #2: 12 weeks

How far along: 12 weeks, 1 day (measuring 12 weeks, 4 days)

Size of baby: A plum. At the ultrasound yesterday, the tech said he or she was 2 inches long.

Weight Gain: -7 pounds by the doctor's scale, -15 by mine at home. But honestly, it doesn't look or feel to me like I've actually lost weight!

Symptoms: Same. But overall, more good days than bad.

Exercise: Still battling first trimester yucks and exhaustion, but I did manage to do the TurboFire toning DVD once.

Clothes: Regular stuff. Still can't find my bella band.

Cravings/Aversions: Last night, I told Justin that I really wanted pizza for dinner. He basically said that we just don't have an eating out budget this month (which is totally true, and yes, it's our mutual policy to hold each other accountable about budget stuff like that). And I snapped back that pizza was the only thing that I could possibly eat that night, and that if I couldn't have pizza, I wouldn't eat anything at all. Yes, it was quite melodramatic, and came out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying. Needless to say, Justin told me to up a $5 pizza from Little Caesars, and it was delicious. And it'll probably come out of my grocery budget, but it'll be worth it.

Movement: Yesterday morning I thought I might have felt some "popcorn" movement, and pretty much pretended all morning that it was the baby. However, I think it was probably gas bubbles or something else, because (a) it's looking like I'll probably have an anterior placenta again, and (b) the baby was moving around like crazy during the ultrasound and I didn't feel a thing.

Worries: Today, I'm feeling okay. Thank you God, for the peace that only You can provide!

Milestones: Most of baby's critical systems are fully formed already. He or she is opening and closing his fingers and curling toes, too. The brain continues to develop fast, and the baby is wiggling around there like a worm.

Best moment of the week: Seeing the little one via ultrasound yesterday! I had literally had nightmares about yesterday's appointment for 10 days in a row, so I was super nervous going into it, and super relieved that everything looked just fine.

Also, an amazing story about my OB and insurance that I want to remember: I debated about whether or not to include this, because I know a lot of people get really passionate and opinionated about government assistance/healthcare, and I feel like I'll probably get some side-eyes and nasty anonymous comments for talking about it. But, it is a true, honest blessing, and so...here goes. In addition to having a ridiculous $5,000 deductible for insurance, which we have almost met thanks to the skin cancer procedures from January, we also discovered that even after we reach that deductible, they only pay 70% for maternity, up until we've paid $15,000 out of pocket each calendar year. Nice, right? So, it turns out that in Oregon, during pregnancy, you can apply for Oregon's version of Medicaid (OHP) to act as supplemental insurance to your private insurance in some cases, such as when you have a very high deductible. We talked about it for awhile. It wasn't a decision we made lightly. Ultimately, we applied, and I was approved, and that was and is a huge blessing to our family. 

But, a lot of OBs don't accept OHP as supplemental insurance, including mine. I knew this going into it and was fine with that--it would still apply for the hospital and be a huge help to us there. However, when we met with the billing person at our OB's office yesterday, she was explaining that we'd have to pay $300 a month to cover the remaining $1000 or so we have left before we hit our deductible, plus the 30% after that. I almost cried. We told her that we were more than happy to pay in full, we just couldn't pay $300 a month. We're still paying down the skin cancer surgery/biopsies/doctors, which are broken into multiple different bills, and I feel like I'm having to spend an inordinate amount of time each month explaining to people in various billing departments that we budget down to the penny each month and will send them absolutely as much as we can, but that it may not be as much as they are asking. Still, we get letters that say things like, "Thank you for your payment. The minimum payment that we require is ____. Please send that amount next time." It's hard sometimes, trying to make everyone happy. Often, they're not, but we're doing the best we can.

As we explained this to the billing person, she said that she'd be right back. When she came back in, she told us that my OB had said that he'd make an exception in our circumstances and accept OHP as secondary insurance. Which means we'll probably pay around $100 out of pocket for this pregnancy. And I'm not really sure I can express in words how truly thankful I am for this because we have spent (and continue to spend) a LOT of money on medical expenses this year. It is a blessing. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I am so thankful. And if I get flamed for being on government healthcare in this circumstance, so be it. Obviously, it's not the place I'd like to be in an ideal world. But, I'm so thankful it's an option that was available to us and wish there wasn't such a stigma around talking about it.

 

  {Heartbeat was 178. I believe Lizzy was 168ish around this same time}