Week Seventeen.

This week was a bit rough for me, personally…but the bambino made things better on Friday morning when I felt the baby kick from the outside when my hand was on my tummy!  It was a bit weird (and awesome) feeling the kick at the same time on the inside and the outside of my body.  Very cool!  Unfortunately, all of my attempts  to feel the kicks from the outside since then have been in vain.  I’ll take what I can get, though!

So, I had a dentist appointment this week to fix two cavities.  Yes, despite brushing and flossing and using special mouthwash and drinking nothing but WATER all day long (a few years ago I used to drink Diet Coke all day long…no longer) I managed to get two cavities.  Spectacular!  They found them just before I found out I was pregnant, and both my dentist and my OB wanted me to wait until my 2nd tri to have them fixed.  So, this week was the week that I made the appointment and went in to have them taken care of.

First and foremost…I hate the dentist.  (I know… pretty much everyone hates the dentist.) I realized that I get so freaked out that I sit in the chair as still as a statue and clench my hands together so hard that my nail beds turn white from all of my clenching.  Yeah.  Oh, and I also recite the greek alphabet in my head in a last-ditch attempt to distract myself from the drilling, but it never really works.  So, yes…I hate the dentist.  Add in that my OB told me that my dentist can’t use any anesthetic with epinephrine in it (it speeds up your heart rate, which can harm the baby) and then that my dentist said that the anesthetic that she was using would (quote) “work…but probably for not as long” as a typical anesthetic, and I was a teensy bit stressed.  Sorry, bambino…I tried to keep my cool.

So they get me in the chair and numb my mouth with the topical anesthetic that tastes like garbage and the hygenist/assistant really goes to town wiping my gums with the topical stuff.  She must have swabbed my gums over 20 times, for serious.  So, she lets that “kick in” and walks out and it’s then that I realize that the topical anesthetic, mixing with my saliva (sorry, gross, I know) is running down the back of my throat and making it impossible for me to swallow.  Sweet.  And they wonder why people don’t like the dentist?  Ugh.  So, finally the “ZOMG I’M DROWNING” feeling goes away and they come in and numb my gums to start working.  Since the cavities are on the opposite sides of my mouth, and my teeth the furthest back in my jaw, they have to really yank my mouth open to numb my gums.  They start working and the left side of my mouth goes perfectly.  Easy peasy.  I start to think that the appointment has taken a turn for the better (since the whole drowning on my whole saliva incident).

Wrong.  They start working on the right side of my mouth on the 2nd cavity, and all of a sudden…I feel it.  A lightning bolt of pain straight up into my jaw…aka my worst nightmare:  I could feel them drilling.  I stopped my dentist, who said that the anesthetic must have worn off.  Awesome sauce.  So they numb my jaw again and we have to wait another 10 minutes for it to kick in.  Once it’s kicked in, they start working again and I can’t feel anything, thankfully.  At this point, I’ve been in the chair for an hour and I’m getting pretty uncomfortable and my jaw is starting to ache.  So when my dentist says “I think we’re almost done!”  and then says “oh…wait….no, we’re not” and then follows up with “for some reason, it looks like your filling has already chipped!  I’m going to have to drill it out and re-do it!”  I about started to cry. 

Tell me: how does a filling chip when I haven’t even bitten down on it yet?  Explain that to me.  Because I’m still kind of fuzzy on how that happens.  So, I sit there for another 30 minutes, my jaw aching and my back hurting…and she finally finishes.  Seriously.  An hour and a half for two cavities?   I know I have bad luck with things sometimes (everyone does!) but that seems slightly excessive.  Le sigh. 

I’ve already talked your ear off about my dentist appointment, so I’ll write a separate post about my experience later in the week with “sinus irrigation.”  I know, I know…you’re all waiting with bated breath.

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How far along?:  17 weeks 

Total weight gain/loss:  In the 7 pound range. 

The Bump: Definitely getting noticeable (to people other than me!).  Two people at work this week commented on my “baby bump” – so I guess I’m over the timeframe where people wonder if I’m pudgy or pregnant.  One person at work said the bump looked “so healthy!” which made me smile.

What I’m excited about/looking forward to:  Our ultrasound next week!  It’ll be the first time that hubs has seen the baby “live and in person” rather than just as a grainy cell phone picture.  So, so excited. 

Maternity Clothes: I’m clinging to my pre-pregnancy work pants by using a bella band, but I’ve given up on jeans and have succumbed to the sweet comfort of the pregnancy panel.

Symptoms:  Still fairly tired, and by 8:30 at night I’m ready for bed.  My appetite has been normalizing a little bit…or maybe I’m just getting used to it?

Belly Button in or out?:  In. 

Food Cravings/Aversions:  Saturday night hubs went out to the Brewers game (which I was supposed to attend with him but could not because of the aforementioned ‘sinus irrigation’) so I was flying solo for dinner.  I happened to be over on our side of town that has a Toppers pizza.  Now…if you don’t know what Toppers is, then I know two things about you immediately 1) You did not go to college at UW-Whitewater and 2) You haven’t really lived.  (I’m sorry, but it’s true.) 

Toppers is pizza place that, from a little internet research, I believe to have started in Whitewater, WI.  AKA, my college town.   Every kid who goes to UW-W knows what a “triple order” is.  A triple order, dear friends, is short for “a triple order of bread sticks.”  Now, not just any bread sticks…cheesy, greasy, DELICIOUS bread sticks that taste phenomenal after a night at the bars.  (Or, you know, when you’re pregnant.)  The reason the triple order of breadsticks is so popular is first and foremost because they’re delicious little slices of heaven, but also because it is the lowest-priced item on the Toppers menu that still crosses the dollar threshold for free delivery.  (Very important when you’re a poor college student.)  So, Saturday…when I found myself to be in the area of Toppers pizza, I knew what I had to do. I had to order a triple order with three ranch dipping cups.  It needed to be done.  Behold, the triple order glory:

Pay no mind to the missing bread stick.  I got hungry on the way home.

 

What I miss:  Nothing much, other than my dental appointments running smoothly. 

Milestones:  Feeling the baby kick from the outside!  I can’t wait until hubs can feel the baby kicks, too. 

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