We Interrupt Again

I'm going to have to interrupt my nice cheerful posts once again.  That's depressing, because I was having fun making happy, happy, joyful, joyful, cheerful posts.  But alas, here I am.

I had my follow-up ultrasound today.

The good news:  The baby is still a boy.  Definitely.  No doubt about it.  (I could post the very graphic picture, but then Net Nanny would probably ban me from my own blog.)  And he appears to be healthy and functioning the way he should.  And my amniotic fluid levels are up and improving.

The bad news:  The baby's growth is slowing and they're not sure why.  He's a pretty small baby.  At least for one of ours.  And the growth of my uterus is slowing.  That means I'm not as big as a small house or  motorhome like I usually am at this point.  Probably by now, all of my other babies have weighed 3+ pounds, and nobody's stood around wondering if I'm really pregnant or just getting marshmallow-mannish..  This little guy probably doesn't even weigh 2 pounds yet.

I have been told this isn't necessarily cause for alarm.  What is warranted is more careful attention and observation.  Translation: 2 week appointments instead of 4, and a follow-up follow-up ultrasound in a month.

The suggested solution so far:  I'm not getting enough calories, and specifically protein calories.  I'm supposed to start drinking protein shakes every day.

I see a number of problems with this, the first being that I can't even drink protein drinks when I'm not pregnant.  My doc said lots of women add a scoop of ice cream to them and that helps, but ice cream sadly makes me sick these days.  I haven't had a second serving, or sometimes even not the first serving, of ice cream in months.  And two, not enough calories?  Hello, I've spent my entire adult life, and a bunch of my adolescence, trying to eat fewer calories.  I don't even know how to eat more and healthier calories, especially when I (bizarrely) crave nice calorie-deprived foods like lettuce and cucumbers and carrots.  Okay, there are the occasional cravings for Cheetos or Lay's potato chips (which, btw, I don't even like when I'm not pregnant), but I'm thinking the sodium counts in those are probably not too healthy when you have questionable amniotic fluid.

So, what's the conclusion of all this whining?  Umm...pray for me to be able to eat more calories?

Sorry, I was choking up there.  :)

Please keep us and the baby in mind, and pray that we and our family can be healthy and well.  We'll take all the help on that count we can get.  Hugs to all!