16 weeks

Ok, so not the greatest pregnant shot. I really thought it would turn out better because I was wearing a loose fitting dress that I could hold up against my belly to show it off, but I think the black threw it off. (That and the fact that our camera SUCKS.) As I've admitted before, I never had the flattest belly to begin this pregnancy with and honestly, by this point in my pregnancy, I thought people would think I was further along than I actually was. However, I haven't gained ANY weight. I've actually lost about 2 pounds, according to my weigh in during my last mid-wife visit. I really should be gaining about 1-1 1/2 pounds per week from now until baby makes their grand entrance, according to most maternity sites. But I know my body and my body loves to pack on the pounds easily so I am really not worried about weight gain in the coming weeks.

In mid-November, I went to the neurologist per my mid-wife's recommendation to clarify whether or not it would be in my best interest to give birth naturally or have a C-section. You see, 6 years ago, I had a brain hemorrhage on my left cerebellum (ultimately diagnosed as a sporadic cavernoma.) Basically, I was born with capillaries in my cerebellum that, throughout my juvenile brain development, never quite formed the way they should that would encourage normal blood flow and neurological function. (They discovered that my sporadic cavernoma was not congenital, meaning my family would not all have to go in for an MRI to see if they were at risk too.) So, capillaries on my left cerebellum never quite formed properly, impairing my coordination throughout my life. When the neurologist told me this, it finally dawned on my why I've never particularly been drawn to playing sports (in fact, if you want to torture me, make me play basketball) and I've always been somewhat clumsy throughout my life: the blood clot slowly forming was impeding on the cerebellum's job of coordinating the body's movements. I was asymptomatic throughout my life until age 22 when my cerebellum decided enough was enough and my neural functions in my brain could not work around the blood clot anymore. In December 2004, at age 22, I began having severe stroke-like symptoms: my left arm was tucked into my side, slurred speech, extremely poor mobility, etc. Every year of my life, the blood clot was a threat and it took almost 23 years for me to present stroke-like symptoms (about a 1-2% chance per year), when I was effectively done with juvenile neural development. After a 2 week stint in ICU, neurosurgery removing the clot, and 4 months of occupational and physical therapy, I was technically "done" rehabing and, timidly "started my life over again" mentally, physically, and financially.

Throughout my illness and rehab, I never gave whether or not I'd be able to bear children naturally a second thought. I always thought I would be able to have natural births. That is, until my mid-wife suggested that my pregnancy might not be low-risk enough to continue my pre-natal care with her; I might need to switch to an OB-GYN. She basically was concerned about adverse effects of me pushing during labor- are my cranial arteries, capillaries, etc. capable of handling that much pressure? Was I at risk for another sporadic caveroma or other neurological disfunction? She wanted a neurologist to verify this. Thank the Lord, the neurologist said no. I'll be following up with the neurologist in about 10 days and I've got some questions on my mind to ask her. Right now, all I know is I am grateful that I will be able to deliver our baby naturally. It really is an answer to prayer.