9 weeks and 5 days!

4/24/12

I had my first appointment with my new OB today! She's super nice, and has just the right blend of no-nonsense and compassion that I like/need. The appointment went very well, and I was sooo happy to see that she does her own ultrasounds instead of sending me off to an ultrasound technician. I had such a bad experience with that with my miscarriage in the fall! And she totally seems like the type of doctor who will give me an ultrasound if I ask for it, even if she doesn't think it's necessary. Not that I want to be all demanding, but I think she gets how important it can be to just have that peace of mind knowing that the baby is alive and well. She seemed to insinuate that I'll have either an ultrasound or a doppler at every appointment. She answered a lot of my questions and really made me feel at ease. Overall, I'm very happy with my choice of doctors so far!

The ultrasound today looked great. The baby is measuring exactly on schedule, and the heart beat is good and strong at 170 which is right in the normal range. It was even starting to wiggle around a bit and kind of looked like it was waving its little arm at me!

The only bad thing was that I've had such bad morning sickness that I've lost 14 lbs in the last month, and my urine sample came back saying I'm basically starving. Not surprising to me, because I can't keep much down, and my appetite is all but non-existent. So the doc prescribed me Zofran, which is an anti-nausea medication. Hopefully it will help me get some food in these next few weeks!

I have another appointment next Tuesday to check up on my eating/weight gain, and then I'll have another one once I hit the second trimester. I'm so excited! It looks like this baby is going to make it!

Hobbit-Themed Nursery!

4/19/12

Although I don't quite have the energy and stamina between my bouts of morning sickness to get anything real accomplished, that doesn't mean I haven't stopped planning! My husband and I are pretty big Tolkien fans (this is an understatement for my husband!) and we decided the "theme" of our baby's nursery would be the Hobbit. Since we don't know the gender yet (and whether we'll find out or not is still an on-going debate!) yellow and green are very hobbit-y colors anyway, so it works out well!

My sister is an artist and has told us she would make one or two "re-creations" of some of Tolkien's artwork from the Hobbit for the walls. But that's just the beginning. I have so many little crafty ideas for the nursery. The one I started working on today (sort of) is a mobile for the crib. And by working on it I mean the pieces I ordered came in the mail and I started playing with them! Ha!

My idea for the mobile kind of freaked out a friend of mine when I told her, because she thought it was too scary. What do you think? My thought is too have three trolls around a fire. Yes, yes I know this does sound scary, but I got three Ugly Doll key chains in the mail, and I think they make perfectly cute little trolls.

I got three in yellow, aqua and green, and they are each slightly different. I plan on going to a thrift store and buying a used mobile and re-doing it. I want to find one that has a little night light in the middle, which I will cover and make look like a little fire. And the other piece that came in the mail today was a do-it-yourself music box, which I attempted to make play The Road Goes Ever On. This aspect is not proving to be what I expected. Although I have complete confidence in programming it to play the right notes, it's manual (meaning you have to be cranking it the whole time it plays) and I'm not sure I'll be able to incorporate the mechanical looking thing into a cute crib mobile. We'll see. 

I'm trying really hard not to dive in too much into decorating the nursery just yet. For now, we're still using it as a spare room and we'll have a ton of cleaning and purging to do before we can really start. (Yard Sale time!) But I really can't wait! I just want this baby to come so badly!

First Ultrasound!

4/11/12

We just got back from our appointment, and here's the ultrasound! Everything looked strong, normal and healthy- a very welcome change from the miscarriage in the fall, when there were so many things wrong.

The picture even looks like a little baby, although the doctor said that was deceiving because the part that looks like a head is actually the yolk sac and the head is actually on the opposite end. But we could totally see a little arm or leg, and definitely saw a very visible and strong heartbeat! There is something about seeing this as proof that makes it so much more real. And since I will be starting my ninth week tomorrow, it's getting easier and easier to hope that I'll actually make it through this first trimester to deliver a healthy baby!

I am very sad that this was my last appointment with my reproductive endocrinologist (fertility doctor). She has been so amazing and has really been so wonderful and supportive through all of my treatments and mishaps and I can only hope that I find an OB that is half as fantastic as she is. But I love to research, and I've found three different doctors that I hope will fit my needs. I'm sure at least one of them will make a good fit!

The first trimester

4/6/12

*WARNING*
This post is all about being sick, and how pregnancy is not the wonderful "look how she's glowing" wonder-fest that I thought it would be. So skip this one if you only want happy news!

Being pregnant is amazing. Truly, the idea of having a life growing inside of you is mind-blowing, and so very exciting. However, having this other life grow inside of you and throw your entire body out of whack is also AWFUL.

Everyone hears about morning sickness, and to me I guess I always just assumed it would be a slight feeling of nausea that might make you puke once and then the rest of your day would be fine. Yeah, NO. First of all, it's definitely not just the morning. It's ALL DAY. Mornings seem to be the worst for me, as so far I've thrown up every morning this week, but that feeling does NOT subside. It lasts all day long. And I seem to be managing to keep my food down by will power alone until about 6 or 7pm when it might come back again. Yay.

Then there's the things people don't really tell you about. Exhaustion. Constipation. Dizziness. Heartburn. Extreme smells. Pregnancy brain. Pain in your abdomen and back from everything adjusting in there, from the stretching out of your hips to the expansion of your uterus making you have to pee every five minutes. Not to mention the psychotic freak-outs and emotional swings that come from an extremely imbalanced hormonal system. Seriously, pregnancy sucks.

I am thanking God everyday that I am in my off-season right now. How do working women do it? How do women with kids already get through their first trimester? All I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep all day, rolling over just to puke in a trash can and eat a cracker or drink some water. I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to go anywhere, I don't want to stand for fear of getting dizzy and falling over or projectile vomiting across the room. I seriously feel sorry for any woman who has to plow through a work day or carry a two year old around while they go through this. I suppose if you can make it through the first trimester, you can do anything!!

They say that this ends for most women sometime into the second trimester, usually between 12 and 16 weeks. I am counting down the days. 34 days from now until that blessed second trimester begins.  And until then I just have to keep my mantra of "This is worth it. This is worth it." going through my head because the end result will hopefully be a beautiful little child and yes, that is definitely worth it. :)