I'm having a hiccupy basketball player

I had a prenatal appointment today. I like prenatal appointments with my new caregivers sooooo much more than my old doctor. To make a long story short on that point; after some serious handwringing and about a month of consideration, research, and word-of-mouth investigations I decided to switch practices. Not a big deal in actuality (i.e. records were easy to transfer and both practices were quite understanding in my desires), but a big decision anyway.

So now, at my new practice, the nurses keep teasing me that I'm a little big for a new patient. I got a "1st trimester" gift bag by mistake (I gave it back, minus the neat day planner it came with) which cracked me up. I have to learn all the new patterns of their practice, like the new pee test protocol (fun!). But it is all totally worth it. Matt and I are a lot happier with my new care.

Today I got weighed, measured, dopplered and poked. As usual, I am ahead of schedule on a few things- my uterus is 2 to 3 weeks too long, my baby is about 2 to 3 weeks too tall, and as a result of that I weigh about 5 lbs more than I might have otherwise. Everyone says I'm just having a basketball player and I shouldn't sweat it at all.

Lately, the coolest part is that the baby is getting really skilled at kicking on command. If you press hard into where it like to keep its little feet, it often whacks you one. This has been going on for only a few days but it keeps me highly entertained. When the nurse pressed the doppler wand into my upper belly- thunk, the baby kicked it. And again, and again. It was really funny to have her gently (and sweetly) reprimand my fetus, "Now, this time, you need to be a really good baby and NOT kick the wand away."

Thwack.

So she gave up and moved to the other side (down near my groin) to get the heart rate she was trying to catch. Down there, there were two conflicting sounds- one was the rhythmic swishing of the baby's heart (same as always- normal for age) and the other was the goofy spastic ticking noise of a little baby with the hiccups captured on the doppler wand. So THAT is what the feeling has been for the last week or two. I wasn't 100% sure, but now I know. Diagnosis; hiccupy. Prognosis; excellent.

Our little frog is tall, a champion kicker, hiccupy and healthy. Now if I can just kick my head cold!