Lots of Updates

I have been so bad about updating my blog. I think about things I want to post about but then I am too tired/sick/lazy that I just never get around too it. So, for now, this post will serve as an update over the past few weeks.

December 21st was my last day at work for the year and didn't have to go back until January 2nd. It was such a nice break...especially since it's paid...and it never feels long enough!

My dad and step-mom (well, technically his long time girlfriend of over 10 years, but she's like a mom to me) came up in the evening on the 21st. We went out to eat that night...then my brother and his fiance came up the next morning.

There's a long story about how his fiance pretty much hates DH & I even though we did nothing wrong. I will try and summarize. Fiance, who I will call C, was friends with us on Facebook. She was always posting dramatic things but they were very vague. People would ask what was going on but she wouldn't answer. So my mom found out from my brother that she had a cyst under her arm that grew from the size of a pea to a golfball in a week and the doctor thought it might be MRSA but needed to do further testing. My brother didn't go to the follow-up appt. so we have no way of really knowing what the doctor diagnosed. She told him that it wasn't MRSA, just a cyst. However, with me being newly pregnant, even the mention of MRSA made us nervous and we didn't want to be around her just in case. In the meantime, she posts this nasty post on Facebook about how people should ask her questions directly about things...which we tried to do and she wouldn't answer...so went to my brother. At this time, DH and my brother texted back and forth a bit and DH told him his honest opinion about things...nice, but firm. She somehow read these and got pissed. She removed us as friends from her Facebook, but kept my mom as her friend. Shortly after she removed us, she posted something on facebook basically slamming us and it was pretty obvious she had talked shit about us to her parents as they were commenting as well. A few days later, she calls my DH. We're thinking she's going to apologize, but no...she calls to tell DH her stance on things; and then also admits that when she found out I was pregnant that she was upset because it meant I wasn't going to be able to be in the wedding. Even though I told her back in August, when she asked me to be a bridesmaid that we weren't going to stop trying and there was a good chance that by starting fertility meds that I might be pregnant around that time.

Anyway, that wasn't much of a summary. Sorry. But I feel that she is all wrong on all of this and it makes me upset. The worst part is that she actually said "my health is my business" but yet she posts it all over Facebook. And if she did/does have MRSA, it should be OK for us to know. I've known two people, one young and one much older, both that have had it and it nearly killed both of them. So...moving on.

Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 22nd with Dad, step-mom, bro and C went as well as can be expected. We went out shopping for a bit...played some cards...had a homemade dinner (ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and rolls). And opened presents. I got some awesome stuff...blu-ray player, universal remote (Logitech Harmony 300...my favorite and my second one!), Vera Bradley bag and keychain, Otterbox case for my iphone, a couple other things I can't recall right now and some cash! Everyone left fairly early Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon we met up with DH's dad and went to visit his uncle at his house for a while. He recently had surgery and is doing well...but is going to have to have another couple surgeries over the next couple months.

Monday (Christmas Eve), we really didn't do a lot that I can recall. Sciatica started Sunday evening and continued into Monday, so I spent much of the day in bed. The evening was spent in bed with DH and the dogs watching Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Grinch, and A Christmas Story.

Christmas morning, I woke up with DH surprising me with one last small gift. A July birthstone bead for my Chamilia bracelet since Barnacle is due in July :)

http://www.chamilia.com/Wheel-July-Birthstone-Swarovski-p1140273.html

DH's dad arrived a couple hours later and we began opening presents. Sam (our blond cocker spaniel) began opening HIS presents before we did. He somehow knew which ones were his and he didn't want to wait (the disadvantage to teaching him the "rip and tear" method on Christmas morning). We had to go to the garage to give my FIL his present (a charcoal/gas grill combo) and while we were out there, Sam was in the living room opening his presents!! Smart dog! :) I got a lot of awesome gifts...remote start for my car (yay!), new bedding set, Fiestaware utensils, a couple movies (Titanic, Jack Frost), Mickey Mouse salt and pepper shaker, and chip/dip bowl, and a couple other things I can't recall. Yep...we are spoiled! FIL also said next year we'd get mostly baby stuff :)

Later in the afternoon, we stopped by DH's mom's house to get gifts and eat (well, I ate). I got a Nikon Coolpix digital camera and DH got a Kindle Fire HD. I ate a couple platefuls, then we went back to FIL's for dinner. And yes, I ate again. Yum!

12-week appointment was Dec. 26th at 10am. DH went with me. As soon as I went back, the nurse asked me to pee in a cup. I went into the bathroom, sat down, peed, and realized when I only had a couple drops left that I forgot to pee in a cup. Oops! I was so embarrassed, but she said it happens a lot so I felt better. OB came in and went right to the doppler. He found the baby for a couple seconds but then lost it, so he said "I know there's a baby alive in there, I heard it." A couple seconds later, he found it again. Loud and clear and 161 bpm! What a beautiful sound. He measured my belly and said to make my next appt. for 4 wks. later. I asked about getting an u/s because last time he said I could get one, but the tech was in that day and the room was full :( He promised next time!

That evening, DH and I had to go to the funeral showing. But it started snowing very heavily that afternoon, so by the time we left at 6:40pm, the roads were fully covered...even the interstates. It took us an hour to go what would normally take us 20-25 minutes. We started on the interstate, but I made DH exit when trucks were flying by us (we were going 25-30 and they were going 55+). Still took forever, but we made it. Very sad as the death was somewhat unexpected (FIL's cousin).

Thursday, I spent the day at home, napping, while DH went to work. Friday, DH went to work again, so mom and I went out maternity clothes shopping and I got some things from Motherhood Maternity (jeans and sweaters). Saturday-Tuesday was pretty uneventful. Most of it was spent hanging out at home and getting in afternoon naps. My sciatica came back Sat and Sun...to the point where it was difficult to walk :( New Year's was uneventful and we were both asleep well before midnight.

One other thing...I found a place that does elective gender ultrasounds. I talked DH into letting me do it.

It's at a place called Baby Envision and we got the 2 visit Early Gender:
http://www.babyenvision.com/Packages.html

15 weeks to 20 weeks  

FIRST VISIT:  As Early as 15 Weeks

7-10 minutes of 2D 

"Gender Sneak Peek" 

Confirmation of Gender given at 2nd Visit

Heartbeat on Request

SECOND VISIT: 16-20 Weeks

 " GENDER 4D" Package

15-20 minutes of 2D w/ 3D 4D intro

1  - 4x6 Color Print

6 - Black & White Prints

 CD w/ 10+ images  

DVD of Recorded Session for $10  

Gender Confirmation

My first appointment I will be 16 weeks on January 20th. Second one I'm hoping to do about 3 weeks later. They also have room in the ultrasound room for up to 10 people...so my mom, FIL and MIL will all be going! :) It was $139 including both visits and the photos.

With that, I'll leave you with my latest photo:

12w3d

No u/s today as promised. The tech was there and no room to fit me in :( He promised one at the next appt., which is Jan 22 at 4pm!

BUT...did get to hear the heartbeat for the first time. 161 beats per minute!

Just about to head out the door, so my coat is on...but here's my latest pic :)

Excited for Second Trimester!

The last few days or so, I have become obsessed with when I will start showing. It's hard enough for me to believe that I am pregnant most days...and that fact that I'm almost 12 weeks. Time has just been flying by! I'm so excited for the second trimester. To feel better. To start showing. To find out the gender. So many great things coming and I just can't wait! I've got all next week off paid, as well as the Monday and Tuesday afterwards. I can't wait to be able to sleep in and just relax!

Well, this is going to be a short post. I'm at work and need to try and get a few more things done today and try to wrap things up over the next couple days. My dad and step-mom are driving in this Friday and we'll be having our Christmas on Saturday. Sunday we will likely go to DH's mom's for Christmas. Christmas Day, his dad will be coming over to our house (we bought him a grill and can't move it lol)...then we'll likely go back to his house for the day and veg out and eat...all day long. Then our next appt. is Dec. 26th at 10am. So excited! Will update with a pic soon :)

10w5d

Today is kind of a special day. Not because it's an anniversary per say. It was the point in my first pregnancy when I found out that I wouldn't be taking a baby home. 10w5d.

It was that morning, August 5th, 2011, that I woke up so excited to be going to my first prenatal appointment. I was the first appointment of the morning and DH went with me. I was ecstatic that I had to pee as soon as I arrived. And excited that no one else was waiting. I would get to be called back first.

A few minutes passed and the nurse called us back. She started going on medical histories and then discussing different tests that we may or may not want. At the end, she handed me a bag filled with pamplets, and somehow it came up that I had been spotting brown for a few weeks. Her face changed and she went to speak with the doctor. She came back and ushered us to the u/s room because the doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to see what was going on.

It was at this point that DH started getting nervous that something was wrong. I was trying to stay positive and just kept looking up at the screen on the wall with my name on it. I kept saying "we're going to get to see George up there pretty soon."

Finally the doctor came in and the room was filled with silence.

I kept staring up at the screen waiting for something to appear. Finally, I saw a black area. But there was nothing inside of it. I didn't know what this meant, but finally the doctor said "there is a sac but it is empty. Maybe you aren't as far along as you think." Which I knew not to be true. It had been nearly 6 weeks since I  got a BFP. There should've been something on the screen. Instead of him listening to me, he just said I was to go get blood drawn that day, then again on Monday, and we'd decide what to do from there.

We left the office in tears. Both of us. I went to get blood drawn even though I knew what the result was going to be.

I will never forget that day and all the days that followed. The extremely painful miscarriage that began 3 days later. The ER staff ignoring me and allowing me to practically bleed out in the bathroom. The cold ER doctor who pulled a trash can over to rid of the content that still clung to my cervix. And my OB that never even showed up, just told the ER staff that I wouldn't be needing a D&C. Then the eventual D&C a couple weeks later.

Most of all, I will never forget what it felt like to be a mom for those few short weeks. What it felt like to love someone that I had never met unconditionally. And what it felt like to lose the most precious gift I had ever been given.

Holy Bloat!

I've offically outgrown my work pants. I can't tell you how weird it is to walk about with your pants unbuttoned! :)

I know it's not baby yet and I was a tiny bit pudgy before getting pregnant (if 125 lbs counts lol), but I swear to you these pants did actually fit me at one time :)

9 Week Pic

I haven't been doing a very good job taking weekly pics either...mostly because I feel like I don't look much different right now.

9 weeks

First off, I should note that I'm sorry I haven't posted much else other than weekly updates. I'm sick and exhausted 99.9% of the time and generally the only time I manage to post is while I'm at work trying to make it through the day.

I am still reading others' blogs, but not always commenting. Sorry, I've been a bad blogger.

Also, I have trouble deciding how many weeks/days I am. Sometimes I go by LMP date (but not usually...even though my doctor still seems to), other times by ovulation date, other times by ultrasound dating. O date and U/S date are only 2 days apart...so if my posts aren't always the same based on the previous week, my apologies.


How Far Along: About 9 weeks

Last week's abdominal ultrasound....sorry for the crappy pic:

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a green olive this week!

Interesting Developmental Stuff: Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Total Weight Gain: Around 4 lbs. at my appt. last week

Sleep: Still about 11-12 hours a night. And usually a nap on weekend days. And total lack of energy.

Symptoms: All-day nausea. Not vomiting, but VERY close. Super tired. Less uterus stretching/cramping this week, which scares me sometimes. UTI is gone...yay!

Cravings: Stouffer's macaroni and cheese. Corn pops. Taco bell nachos. Nacho cheese Doritos.

Gender: No clue.

Movement: Not even close unless gas counts ;)

Maternity Clothes: Still regular clothes for work. But maternity jeans on weekends.

Milestones: Seeing the heartbeat again, this time with my mom at last week's appt! Not having to come back until I'm 12 weeks!

What I'm looking forward to: 12 week appointment on December 26!

The belly: Bloated and round.