Baby's first pictures!

Last night's marathon appointment went great. I saw a sonographer, a CNS and a midwife. So far so good for both me and the little one. Everything seems to be well. I have to admit, I wasn't prepared for how amazing it would be to see the little one moving around in there for the first time. You don't realize how much they move at this stage because they're so small and you can't feel it.


So - without further ado - Baby G's first pictures! (He/she is 3.17 cm in length from crown to rump and the heart is beating at a strong 167 BPM.)

10W5D

I can't believe I forgot this...

I forgot to share the daddy-to-be gift I gave Shaun a few weeks back! I was at the Hallmark store with it in mind to pick up a particular Willow Tree figurine I'd had my eye on for some time, but then I saw this one and chose it instead. It's called "our gift."

It looks great next to the one that my mother in law bought us as an engagement gift. I'm glad I picked that out, as it served as a combination anniversary gift as well. Since we're now saving for baby's arrival, we decided to keep things simple for that occasion on Friday. We enjoyed a good lunch at Fiorentino's followed by catching a matinee showing of Twilight. We made a special dinner at home and relaxed on the couch watching Harry Potter movies and recovering from our bouts with the cold. Not ideal by any means, but a great day none the less.

10 Weeks...

And we've reached the size of a prune! (For anyone who knows a bit about pregnancy symptoms, yes this is indeed a bit ironic.) But I chuckle and try to go on with the daily grind knowing that most of that should be subsiding in just a few more weeks.

This morning was particularly tough for me. Emotionally I'm just starting to come to grips with some of the changes I'm seeing in myself. Looking at my expanding waistline and extremely broken out skin in the mirror was really unpleasant. I guess it would be one thing if I actually looked pregnant, but right now I just look fat and acne prone. Anyone who would give me the once over right now would probably just think I've put on a few holiday pounds and stopped washing my face. I've found myself wondering if one of those "Does this baby make me look fat?" t-shirts would help me at all. Then at least the excuse would be apparent.

Anyhow, the baby seems to be doing great so far, even though I can't shake that anxious feeling. I'm sure he/she is doing flips in there and hopping around even though I can't feel it yet. We'll see for sure on Wednesday. First we have to endure the long, boring education session tonight. *yawn* Here's hoping I can stay awake. I knew I should have scheduled it earlier in the day so that I would be fresher and more apt to keep my eyes open. I wanted to be sure that Shaun was going to be able to come with me though, so I made it for after work. We're going to have to go home, inhale some dinner and hit the road to get there by 5:30 in the afternoon rush hour traffic.

One more quick note before I go... congratulations to our friends Laura and Jess who welcomed their son Tyler Rhys to the world yesterday morning (12/14/08 at 8:11 am)! Tyler was born approximately 7 weeks early via C-Section and weighed in at a bruising 4 pounds, 4 ounces! He is 18 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing great. Sending good thoughts to the new family that everyone can go home healthy very soon!

I'll be back later this week to post ultrasound pictures!

10W2D

Olives (or Grapes) and Graduations

Well, the little bean is now olive (or grape - depending on your source) sized and chugging along. Nearly an inch in length and growing like a weed! I'm starting to feel that in my waistbands too. Thankfully, I was able to snag two brand new Bella Bands for an unbelievable $28 from eBay. I am hoping they will help me stay in my pre-pregnancy clothes as long as possible! It kills me to look at my closet and think about how badly I could use a few pairs of work pants... but I just DON'T want to spend money on any clothing right now!

In any case, Baby G also graduated this week; we have survived the Embryo stage and the little one is now cosidered a Fetus. Yay for little steps forward! Only 9 more days now until I get to see them via ultrasound. I really CAN NOT WAIT!

You know, it's amazing the things you take for granted in life. Like the ability to take NyQuil when you feel like crap. Oh I miss it! I've been fighting with a cold since Friday (when I woke up with a sore throat) and I haven't been sleeping well on account of it. Last night I decided to take a chance and take one Tylenol PM before I went to bed; I REALLY needed the sleep! That put me right out, but I woke up at 2 am and spent the next hour tossing and turning. I was going to get up and go downstairs, but Shaun insisted I stay put. I did manage to get back to sleep, although the persistent tickle in my left nostril (as ridiculous as that sounds) kept waking me up. By most accounts I am OK to take Benadryl right now so I may go buy some of that to help me sleep tonight. I'll never get better if I can't rest! The green tea with honey will only do so much...

9W2D

Update on the Raspberry

Since the food theme seemed to catch on well with my family at Thanksgiving, I am going to do my best to keep up with the little one's food counterparts as it grows. I have to pull out my copy of "What to Expect..." to get the next couple of weeks' sizes.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, what a great day it was! It was so wonderful to spend time with my family; to hear about Catherine's wedding plans, to celebrate Mark's engagement and to share our news with everyone. Thankfully the little bean was also in a festive mood and I was able to eat our share (and then some...) and not feel terrible. Yippee! I had to lay down on the couch at Shaun's parents' house following our second meal, but that's to be expected at this point I suppose.

For a few days I felt pretty darn great and was really hopeful that the sickness was beginning to wane a bit and the fatigue was going to take over. Yesterday I got a hearty dose of both. I guess it's not so bad that my body waited until 8 weeks to give me a real stomach upheaval. I napped on the couch quite a bit yesterday; and as a consequence, I didn't sleep very well last night. I feel bad for Shaun. I am totally no fun right now. With our anniversary a mere 11 days away, I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to keep myself upright long enough for us to do something fun that day.

In other news, we looked at the numbers last night, and after a bit of discussion we came to the conclusion that now is probably not the best time for us to consider moving. It seems like once the baby is born that it's going to become infinitely harder, but right now the financial side of it just doesn't add up the way we thought it did at first. It sort of stinks, but we're OK with it for now. As long as we're able to find, purchase and move into our forever home before Baby G is ready to start school, it will work out just fine. If nothing else, our house got a hearty dose of sprucing up over the long weekend, and it feels great to have accomplished so much. I guess that means we're back on the designing the nursery train. I still haven't seen the bedding I think we're going to go with in person, which makes me nervous. I want to see that so we can make sure the paint doesn't totally conflict. But I have plenty of time to fuss over that... yeesh, 8 weeks along and the nesting urge is already taking over.

So all in all things are going well. Just over 2 weeks from now we'll get to see our little one for the first time and hopefully hear the heart beat as well. I'm so excited for that appointment; it will make this seem that much more real. It seemed so far away when we made the appointment, I can't believe it's almost here now!

8W2D

All about food...

It cracks me up that the pregnancy tracker I downloaded for my iPod tracks the baby's growth in terms of food. Baby G is now the size of a blueberry. Next week, we're looking at a raspberry. I suppose for some people it makes the life inside them seem more tangible. It just makes me hungry.

It's a cruel and unusual joke for sure that the best way to keep the morning sickness away is to keep food in my stomach, but that absolutely nothing appeals to me right now. I am sick of snacking on pretzels. I can't even tolerate the smell of them any more. I munch on Triscuit Thin Crisps from time to time, but they're starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth. What am I to do when I have more aversions than cravings? EEK.

Speaking of cravings, they have been relatively few and tolerable so far. Last week I had one day where I would have sold my soul for a McDonald's sausage biscuit. But it was 1:00 in the afternoon. I forced myself to sit on my hands for a while before darting out to Sheetz for two of their sausage biscuits with cheese. Yum. Friday I decided to forgo my Healthy Choice lunch in favor of two slices from Nino's that Baby had to have. Totally worth it. Yesterday I took a short nap on the couch, and woke up with a need for sweet. Although Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream was the first thing that came to mind, we had none and had just been to the store. Damn. I managed to satisfy that one with some red grapes and apple slices instead.

So far so good for keeping things down, but I have a feeling this is not meant to last. It's getting harder and harder to keep the "oh no, here it comes" feeling away. Thankfully with a short work week this week, a full week next week, a short week the week of our anniversary, a full week after that and then a full 2 weeks off, I should be feeling better by the time we get back from our Christmas vacation. I keep telling myself that it's only a few more weeks, then I should be feeling better... only a few more weeks...

7W2D

Not much new to report...

I figured the internet world at large (not to mention my friends and family) has no interest in my often unpleasant, sometimes disgusting and occasionally embarrasing symptoms that are now making themselves known in my world, so I really haven't had much to write about.

One thing I did want to mention is the sincere gratitude I feel to have many wonderful friends in my life; many of them like family to me. Most of my closest friends already have children, so I am leaning on their wisdom and experience as I prepare for this myself. Mandy has been a huge help to me, pointing me in the right direction for morning sickness relief or the places to find the cutest maternity clothes. Jean sends me text messages all the time to make sure I'm eating and sleeping enough. Our friend Kristen brought me to tears with her kindness the other night. After announcing to she and Adam that we are expecting, she asked me to stop by their house the next day. When I arrived, I found she had two huge gift bags for me, stuffed with all the necessities that a "Pregnancy Survival Kit" would require. I can't begin to describe how much this meant to me! Not only had she worked at the hospital all night, she spent her day gathering all the gifts, putting them together, and writing a letter to me explaining each item and how I might find it useful. All while she SHOULD have been sleeping. It's hard to express how lucky I feel to have wonderful ladies like these three in my life!

Shaun and I started adding a few things to our baby registry over the last day or two; that's exciting. We're anxious for the cable guy to come visit on Saturday so we can start to think about emptying the office and making plans for its new life as a nursery. I look around at the now white walls and try to imagine them in shades of brown and blue, with a white crib against one wall, and a rocking chair in the corner. Although I gave it half a thought when Jaime mentioned the possibility of a chair rail the other day, looking at some of these corners and angles in this room has my head spinning. I think painter's tape will do the trick just fine. Perhaps if it seems as though we're going to stay here for a while, further improvements to the room will come as baby grows.

We are looking forward to our trip to Reading on Saturday evening for BRU shopping and our celebratory dinner out. I am doing my best to make sure I treasure every quiet moment we have now since they will be few and far between in the not so distant future. Now to find the perfect little gift for the daddy to be so he knows how excited I am for the two of us to continue to grow and walk with each other, and as a growing family...

6W2D

Getting Braver...

Now that our immediate families and a few close friends know about our impending arrival, I've found myself feeling a bit less anxious about everything. The more apparent symptoms starting to kick in are also making things feel a bit more real.

So yesterday I took the next big step and made the first baby related purchases. To start off with, a shirt to wear to Thanksgiving dinner (my cutesy way of announcing it to the rest of the fam without saying a word):

Then while at the mall with Mandy, I got suckered in to an oh-so-cute onsie at Baby Gap (despite constantly saying that I will NEVER shop for my children at Baby Gap. It was to be all WalMart and garage sales until they were old enough to know better!):

Finally, at Motherhood, I purchased a container of "Preggie Pops" hard candies. These are supposed to help with morning sickness (although they induce morning sickness in me as I absolutely HATE the terms preggo and preggie) and I am hoping they'll help me continue to fight the few lingering smoking cravings as well.

It was such a huge step forward for me to walk into these stores with joy and anticipation rather than simply walking by and avoiding looking up to try to ease the pain that I felt every time I saw anything baby related. What an amazing feeling to have joy instead of sorrow on a regular basis.

We are so blessed!

5W5D

First OB Appointment

Well, as anticpated, I was asked to PIAC so they could confirm my positive test results. The doctor went over the high points of the prenatal care schedule and ordered some bloodwork. It seems that all is well as of now. The doctor agreed with my analysis that I am approximately 5 weeks pregnant right now. This puts my EDD at July 11, 2009.

We have also gotten the date for our first ultrasound - December 17th! I don't know if I can hang in that long without going bonkers, but I guess I don't have much choice! Now we just have to wait and keep counting down the days and the milestones until we can start making some major decisions.

5W3D

Quickie Update...

I am in for my confirmation appointment at May-Grant at 2:15 PM tomorrow. I was hoping they could squeeze me in today, but at least this way I won't sit around bored either day. I'm already jumping out of my skin to start shopping and whatnot! ;-)

Just when we were about to give up...

For the benefit of those who are not aware of what has happened to this point, here are the highlights... I stopped my birth control in May of 2006 in hopes of my cycle regulating itself by the time that Shaun and I were ready to try to conceive. I wasn't very lucky in this aspect; getting pregnant proved to be more difficult than either of us had ever imagined. After over a year of trying, I switched doctors in hopes of getting some answers. I was told to come back in October.

Because of how things fell with other large purchases we made, as well as where we were sitting with our health insurance, we decided to hold off on any further testing until the beginning of 2009. It was a hard decision, but just seemed to make much more sense. As it would turn out, we wouldn't have to wait that long.

This morning, that elusive "positive" result finally came!

That's right, I'm pregnant!

I was in complete shock when the second line came right up on the first test this morning. Still in shock when the digital taken a few hours later read "pregnant."

After nearly 2 years of trying, we finally got pregnant on cycle 15. I can hardly believe it.

Shaun and I are both thrilled about the news, and look forward to all the milestones to come for us and our little one. For now though, I remain cautious until I know that everything is OK and our baby is going to stick.

Since I didn't track this cycle for when I ovulated and because of my irregular cycles, I am not quite sure how far along I am. I wish this hadn't hapened on a Sunday so I could call the doctor right away! I estimate that I am somewhere between 4 and 5 weeks though.