I haven’t been saying much about my pregnancy other than making the announcement, but it’s so true what they say about each pregnancy being entirely different. This one has left me with a lot more worry and has felt like an entirely different experience than the first uneventful one. From morning sickness to anxiety flare-ups to weird heart behaviors to health scares, I’ve been trying to navigate waters that feel completely foreign to me.

First, we had a false positive reading for Down’s Syndrome which sent our world into a bit of a spin of waiting, testing, waiting some more. Everything came out “normal,” but the experience was kind of excruciating and full of questions. We just wanted to know what we had to prepare for and wrap our minds around it, but admittedly there were lots of tears and doubt.

In the last month, I’ve developed some pretty frequent heart palpitations. I had them during my last pregnancy, but they were very different. With Peanut, they only showed up around month 8 during exercise and exertion. They were pretty infrequent. This time, they happen all day, every day, whether I’m sitting in my chair or out hiking. I, of course, reported them to my baby doctor right away.

My OB was not too worried about them. She said they were pretty common in pregnancy considering the extra blood volume a pregnant woman has in her body. She said I could either monitor it for any changes, see my general practitioner about it, or she could refer me to a cardiologist. I chose the cardiologist because I just don’t want to mess around with my heart. And with my anxiety, I have a hard time with worst-case scenario thinking. I just want to be extra cautious and know for sure that everything is fine.

This past Friday, I saw the cardiologist. He told me not to worry about it, but that we were going to be extra cautious and a little more aggressive with testing since I’m pregnant. I appreciate the gesture! My blood pressure was reading pretty high that day, so I was suffering from nervous energy wondering if it was a sign of pre-eclampsia. However, my BP was back in the normal range at Monday’s appointment, so I’m hoping it was just a fluke because I was nervous.

So Monday, I got fitted for my electrodes. Cool, huh? How bionic-womanlike of me. I’m wearing a Holter monitor for 48 hours to detect any abnormalities. Then on Thursday I’m scheduled for an echo-cardiogram, an ultrasound of the heart. As frightening as heart conditions sound and these tests seem (I’ve never had to see so many doctors in my life!), I’m trying to stay positive and take everything in stride. After all, both my OB and cardiologist said everything is likely to be benign.

Despite these “setbacks,” everything is going relatively fine. I feel much better, but I still have no interest in cooking or any type of food prep and my energy wanes big time during the day. Peanut wants me to play the instant I get home from work, and it’s hard to deny him that. My pleading eyes just can’t convey to him the complete exhaustion I feel at the end of the day. I try to give him what I can, but many days are “lets watch a movie together” days. When I’m feeling truly energetic, I can muster a 6 mile bike ride with the family, but that’s only happened once, so…

Well, there are only about 3 months left until we meet our baby girl and I’m hoping things become a whole lot more uneventful really soon. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, would ya? I appreciate every one I can get.