The Belly Comparison...

I've been somewhat diligent about taking belly shots at least every 2 weeks but I've been too lazy/tired to get them off my camera, on to Picasa, and then on to my blog. I finally found the energy/time to do all of that. So here's a belly pic comparison from weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16 clothed and unclothed. Please excuse the dirty mirror in one or two of the pics.

I figure that since I've "popped" and you can now easily tell I'm pregnant that I might should at least do pictures every week. Not sure if that will actually happen but I will try to aim for every 2 weeks at the very least.

NT Scan

OMG...The day we I have been waiting for resulted in a quickie appointment and a run to Taco Bell.

So let's just start this off by saying that 2:30 in afternoon does not make an ideal time for any prenatal appointments for Torin and myself, since A.) we both work at least 30 minutes from the doctors office and B.) I'm pretty much worthless at work because I'm thinking about my appointment.

After 5 hours of waiting patiently (yea right...who am I kidding) for the clock to get to 1:30 to leave, I drive to pick Torin up from the BART station and proceed on to the appointment. Of course today would be the day we have horrible weather and in turn horrible traffic in the middle of the damn day.

Why is it still raining in May in California??? Rain in California means that no one (except a very select few people) knows how to drive. Therefore you have 2 groups of idiots on the road. The idiots in Group A that are speeding, changing lanes, and tailgating like it's not raining and the idiots in Group B that are at the other extreme and driving like their driving Miss Daisy and will not stay in the slow lane to accommodate the idiots in Group A and the rest of the sane people just trying to get where they are going.

I'm way off subject...so we get to the appointment, check in, and are brought to the procedure room. The nurse doesn't leave us so I assume they aren't using the dildocam and ask her what I need to do. She asks me to please not take off my pants but to just roll them down some. Apparently, they get quite a few people trying to get nekkid at this appointment. After prepping and putting the towels in place not to mess up my pants she leaves.

I have to say, they had a very nice set up so that everyone could see the ultrasound. The visitor was positioned so that they could see on the larger monitor on the actual ultrasound machine and the patient could see on a monitor on the wall which was at the perfect angle.

The doctor comes in shortly after. He was nice but very quiet. I mean not a peep out of him during most of the ultrasound which consisted of him rubbing the transducer all around my stomach and clicking on keys on the ultrasound machine. At one point, he was actually prodding my stomach, not sure if he was trying to get the baby to move or to get a better angle but I ended up laughing which causes everything to get distorted. We got to see the babe as the doctor was doing what he needed to do. The babe had its back toward us. I guess that would be the perfect position for the test. You could see it's little legs kicking. At one point it looked like s/he was rolling over...as in "leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep in here." The doctor then finished up and stated "I'm now going to go calculate the risk of your baby having downs syndrome." Talk about mood killer. He rolled off to a computer and started typing away. He then turned around and stated that we have a negative screen for downs syndrome, congratulations. After a sigh of relief, we said thanked him, and discussed a few other things. We found out the baby is measuring at 13 weeks 2 days (yay!!) instead of 12 weeks 4 days and we would get a copy of the report next week at our next prenatal appointment. Despite eating at 1:00pm, I was starving when we left the appointment at 3:07pm and begged Torin to have some food with me before I had to drop him off at the BART station to go back to work. And that is how we ended up at Taco Bell.

12 Weeks...

How far along are you? 12 weeks

How big is baby? According to the bump..a plum.

Maternity clothes? Still in regular clothes.

Weight – Loss or Gain? Fluctuates but down 2lbs right now.

Stretch marks? Same ones from HS/college.

Sleep: Up at least 3 times a night to pee but otherwise pretty good.

Best moment this week: Just making it another week and depending on how you look at it making it into the second trimester.

Any Movement?: None yet.

Food Cravings?: Little Caesar's breadsticks...pretty random.

Food Aversions?: They come and go...Nothing at the moment.

Gender: Officially Team Green. DH still thinking boy. I'm still undecided.

Belly Button in or out? In

What do you miss: Still...being able to poop regularly...

What are you looking forward to: Telling the rest of friends and family after mother's day and our NT scan

What was the BEST part of this week? Telling my bosses I'm pregnant.

What was the WORST part of this week? I was very nervous to tell them so it was also the worst part of my week.

Weekly Wisdom: It's never as bad as you really think it is...

Milestones: 13 weeks next week!! The official start of second trimester.

11 Weeks

Missed a week but back on track...

How far along are you? 11w

How big is baby? According to the bump..a lime.

Maternity clothes? Bought some pants but haven't worn them. Still in regular clothes.

Weight – Loss or Gain? Fluctuates but down 2lbs right now.

Stretch marks? Same ones from HS/college.

Sleep: Up at least 3 times a night but otherwise pretty good.

Best moment this week:??

Any Movement?: does gas = movement?

Food Cravings?: They come and go...Nothing at the moment.

Food Aversions?: They come and go...Nothing at the moment.

Gender: Contemplating not finding out the sex...

Belly Button in or out? In

What do you miss: Being able to poop regularly...

What are you looking forward to: Telling the rest of friends and family after mother's day and our NT scan

What was the BEST part of this week? Sleeping...all weekend. I've been exhausted.

What was the WORST part of this week? Being so exhausted.

Weekly Wisdom: Rest when you can and water is your friend.

Milestones: 12 weeks next week!!

9 weeks & on the road again...

I'm driving my mom back to her house this evening and staying the weekend since it's a 4 hour trip there. It feels like I've been down there almost every weekend. I'm a little tired of the trip because I've made it so often. Luckily Torin is coming with me. Anyhow, here is the 9 week survey.

How far along? 9 weeks
How big is baby? The size of a green olive. Roughly .9 inches or ~23 mm. Weighing in at a whopping .07 oz.
Total weight gain/loss: Fluctuates daily but normally down to 2lbs
Maternity clothes? Nope. Bloat is disappearing so just my regular clothes plus I've misplaced (aka lost) the bella band.
Stretch marks? No new ones just the old college stretch marks.
Sleep: Still getting up at least 2 times a night to pee but no longer staying up in the middle of the night. Still don't like be touched in my sleep.
Best moment this week: Seeing the babe at our last appointment and eating my mom's delicious cooking.
Movement: Gas still present.
Food cravings: Not really.
Food aversions: Still raw meat...in particular beef. I can somewhat handle chicken.
Gender: Torin still thinks it will be a boy. Mom is thinking boy since all my other cousins have little girls. Dad thinks girl...no reason why. I on the other hand have no clue and will not make a guess until we are further along.
Belly Button in or out? In
What I miss: Not being super tired all of the time.
What I am looking forward to: Our next appointment.
Weekly Wisdom: I'm out of advice for this week.
Milestones: Making it another week...only a few more until second trimester.

Back on Track - 2nd US

Just had out second visit with the doctor, actually nurse practitioner this time, and second ultrasound. Let's just say it was a little more eventful than the last with my mom and Torin both being there, me still having to strip waist down for the dildocam, and everyone trying to see the ultrasound monitor. It was great to see the babe again. We're measuring on track with my O date at 8 weeks 4 days. We'll have another appointment in the next couple of weeks.

Picture to follow.

8 weeks...

How far along? 8 weeks

How big is baby? The size of a raspberry. Roughly .63 inches or 16 mm. Weighing in at a whopping .04 oz.


Total weight gain/loss: Down to 2lbs

Maternity clothes? Sometimes wear the bella band to deal with the bloat. Bloat comes and goes (weird).

Stretch marks? No new ones just the old college stretch marks.

Sleep: Still getting up at least 2 times a night to pee but no longer staying up in the middle of the night. Still don't like be touched in my sleep.

Best moment this week: Telling the parents and in-laws about the baby

Movement: Gas still present, cramps are few and far between.

Food cravings: Not really.

Food aversions: Raw meat...not that I would be eating this during my present condition anyways but it has made cooking pretty difficult. I almost yakked when my mom asked me to cut up the brisket she made.

Gender: Torin still thinks it will be a boy. Mom is thinking boy since all my other cousins have little girls. Dad thinks girl...no reason why. I on the other hand have no clue and will not make a guess until we are further along.

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: Not being bloated everyday.

What I am looking forward to: Our next appointment. We’ll be doing another ultrasound to see the baby.

Weekly Wisdom: Benadryl and pregnancy do not mix. You're slowed down digestive tract will keep the medicine in your system much, much longer than you would expect.

Milestones: Entering month 2 of pregnancy only 32 more weeks to go!

Happy Easter and 1st Ultrasound!

So this is like 2 posts in 1.

We had our first appointment on 4/2/10. It was pretty uneventful. The major highlights are:

Torin going with me to appointment (YAY!),
Watching Torin's confused face as I stripped from the waist down,
Torin giving the dildocam the side eye and wondering where the hell that was supposed to go,
Doc coming in explaining the procedure and rolling the condom on the dildocam,
Watching Torin's face as doc rolled condom on,
Trying to figure out if we could truly see the heartbeat,
Me laughing (with the dildocam in) while doc tries to explain things over us talking,
Seeing the babe for the first time.

Not very much to see there but it was still very exciting to see the babe. We are currently measuring about 2 days behind (sigh...trying very hard not to freak out about this) at 6 weeks 6 days instead of 7 weeks 1 day. We have a follow up appointment for 4/12/10. They will check the progress to make sure everything is developing on track.

When Torin and I were discussing telling our parents, I told him I was very nervous about telling them. I didn't know what their reaction would be...upset, ecstatic, uneasy, sad....but I knew that the realization that we were married and having sex would sink in for my dad very quickly. Knowing him he would probably say something to that effect...Torin says I'm crazy and he (and my mom) will be thrilled to know about the baby. So our plan was to tell our parents over Easter since Torin would be coming home with me. Sigh, best laid plans....Torin ended up having to work so I made the 4 hour trek home to visit the parents and in laws by myself. I decided to make a Easter basket for my parents to help break the news since I'm not so good with stating the obvious a la "Mom, Dad, I'm pregnant!". So I created a basket with baby related goods...I love Grandma/Grandpa bibs and unisex (at least in my opinion) onesies...on the bottom and candy and a "Happy Easter Grandma and Grandpa" card on top.

Here is my mom modeling her first Easter basket from her baby (aka Me) in all my life. Usually it's her giving the Easter baskets, so this was a nice treat for her.


So after taking a picture with her and the now "special" Easter basket, I begged her to open the card even though it was Saturday and not technically Easter yet. (Since no one was there to witness the actual event besides me, my mom and my dad, I'll explain that in the card was a small magnet frame with our first ultrasound on top of the card.) So as I was saying, I begged her to open the card and she graciously obliged. She was promptly greeted with an ultrasound photo, where she then began to freak out. Luckily, I have video to document the occasion....but I'll spare you since it is a lot of screaming. As a OB nurse, she knows what the hell a ultrasound photo looks like even in this very early stage but she was quite confused. She proceeded to question me (while flipping over the photo several times) about why there was a US photo in her card, who's it was, and call my name at least 20 times in the span of 2 minutes. Meanwhile, my dad continues to make his fruit salad and cheerios, oblivious to the madness of my mom or my taping said madness. After completely freaking out about the photo, she proceeds to look at the card "Happy Easter Grandma and Grandpa, Love Baby Simpson (coming November 2010) and dies. Ha! No....not really...she says "Oh Lord, What have you done?". This is the point where I turn the video recording off and state that this was not exactly the reaction I was expecting. I know I was nervous about telling them and actually thought they may be a little upset (don't ask) but this wasn't really the reaction I was expecting.

After a minute of silence, my mom tells my dad, who is now starting to figure out something is going on, that our daughter is pregnant (or My baby is having a baby). So after the freaking out...cue the happy reaction from my mom and dad. It was quite an experience that I'm sure I (or they) will never forget. Not too long after the happy congratulations and we're so excited moment, my dad said to my mom...

Dad: Shelia, you know what this means right?
Mom: What?
Dad: It means that they've been having sex.
Me: ::mouth drops open:: ....... ::dies::
Mom: No, No, No....they could have used a turkey baster.
Me: ::drops head (hard) on the table:: ::dies again::
Dad: mmhmm whatever Shelia, I know how these things happen.

At this point he leaves with his cheerios and fruit salad to watch some sports game and I try to revive myself enough to text Torin and tell him "I told you so!". Where he texted me back with "Your family is crazy"and I replied "That's putting it lightly".

Telling his family was not filled with quite the drama or excitement. I told his mom's fiance first since I needed some kind of person to lean on and I knew that he would take it well. Then Torin called and told his mom over the phone, where she proceeded to cry immediately. Since it was dinner with the family, his brother and his fiance and her little girl also found out. I presented them with another copy of the ultrasound photo in a magnet frame, without an Easter basket....sigh I know, I feel kind of bad for this one. I'm just not sure how they would take receiving an Easter basket

Anyhow, everyone was shocked first....but excited and happy later. Actually, my mom is a little upset after all. As my mother (and one of my best friends) she expected that I would tell her immediately, not during the deed...sick people, but once I saw the pee stick turn positive. I've managed to bribe her into forgiving me with the promise that she can come back with me (which was planned) and stay until the appointment on 4/12 (which was not planned).

Lost in Pregnancy?? 5/1/10

Ugh. So I realize I'm a horrible blogger. What else is new? I mean I want to document every single moment of this pregnancy but yea it's really not working out like I planned. I'm not sure if it's lack of interest, discipline, time.....or what. I mean...has it really has been almost a month since my last post? I have been busy...but a month...ridiculous.

But like I said I've been really busy.

Busy being pregnant,
Busy with work and my crazy supervisors,
Busy entertaining my mom (and her new malty mix puppy) (Hi Mom!)
Busy with my extended family
Busy with my social life,
and
Busy being tired.

I have about 8 or 9 half written posts from the first ultrasound and telling our parents to today at 11 weeks but I'm just too tired to finish them, spell check (since pregnancy brain has made my spelling absolutely horrendous as of late) and post them.

When I say tired, what I really mean to say is f'ing exhausted as in I'm not sure sure how I make it the through the day let alone the work week. The best way to describe it is the feeling after you take sleeping medication too late in the night and have to wake up early the next day. It's like I'm on some everlasting sleep medication - the fatigue, the grogginess, and the feeling of having my head in the clouds is surreal.

Work days are a chore. I go to sleep tired. I wake up tired. I'm like the walking dead all day at work. By 3:30/4:00pm I can barely keep my head off my desk. The smooth, paper free portion of my desk looks so nice I could just put my head down and nap for 10 minute but unfortunately my desk is right up from by the door and everyone can see everything I'm doing when they walk by (sigh, so much for that dream). By the time 6pm rolls around and I can actually go home and sleep, I'm so ridiculously tired that I'm actually afraid to drive the 30 minutes home. Let's not even talk about all the things I need to do once I'm home (Hello 3 plus weeks worth of laundry!), but of course are not getting done since I immediately crawl out of my work clothes, into my pajamas, and into my bed (not passing go or collecting $200) and go to sleep for a few hours, wake up to eat and (when he's home) talk to Torin for a bit and then crawl back in bed to start the whole process over the next day. My saving grace is the weekends. On the weekend all I want to do and all I actually do is sleep.

I'm hoping that this symptom resolves its self in the second trimester (which unofficially starts next week - Squee!!!)

Month 2...a Recap!

I decided go along with the masses and complete the weekly pregnancy survey. Obviously I'm already behind so I will do a 4 week catch up for weeks 4 through 7 (aka month 2). In the future, I will try (honest) to complete them Thursday evening or Friday morning. But be warned, I have the option of changing the day if my dute date ends up changing.


How far along?

We'll skip this since I already said I was completing this for weeks 4-7.

How big is baby?

Week 4 - The size of a poppyseed.

Week 5 - The size of an appleseed. Roughly .13 inches or 3.3 mm.

Week 6 - The size of a sweet pea. Roughly .25 inches or 6.35 mm.


Week 7** - The size of a blueberry. Roughly .51 inches or 12.95 mm.


**At US at 7w1d baby was measuring at 6w6d at 9.2mm or .36 inches.


Total weight gain/loss:

Week 4 - starting weight 173,

Week 5 - down 4.5lbs (say what?),

Week 6 - down 3lbs

Week 7 - down 2.5lbs

Maternity clothes?

I purchased a bella band to deal with the bloat. I wear it every once in awhile when the bloat is out of hand which is starting to be about every day since I hit 7 weeks.

Stretch marks?

No new ones just the old college stretch marks.

Sleep:

Week 4 and 5 - I get up at least 2 times a night to pee and have this whole insomnia thing working for me after my second bathroom trip.

Week 6 and 7 - Still getting up atleast 2 times a night to pee but no longer staying up in the middle of the night. Finding it hard to get comfortable and I no longer like be touched in my sleep.

Best moment this week:

Week 4 - BFP and doubling betas.

Week 5 - Seeing Torin's eyes light up when talking about the baby (and the future basketball games they would attend).

Week 6 - Realizing I will have a baby in my arms before the winter holidays.

Week 7 – Seeing the baby.

Movement:

Weeks 4 - 7 - Unless you call gas and the occasional cramps movement - No.

Food cravings:

Week 4 - Sherbert. I settled for a pint of Tropical sorbet and a pint of Ginger ice cream (yumm!)

Week 5 - No real cravings but incredibly thirsty could not get enough water.

Week 6 and 7 – Nothing.

Food aversions:

Nothing really so far. There are some things that don’t sound appetizing but no real aversions.

Gender:

Weeks 4 - 7 - Torin swears that it is a boy and will forever refer to it as a boy (until he is proved wrong of course). I on the other hand have no clue and will not make a guess until we are further along.


Belly Button in or out?

Weeks 4 - 7 - In

What I miss:

Week 4 - Nothing.

Week 5 - Margaritas with mexican food.

Week 6 - Sushi, in particular spicy tuna rolls.

Week 7 – Not being bloated everyday.

What I am looking forward to:

Week 4 - Doubling betas

Week 5 - Our appointment next week.

Week 6 - Our appointment this week and telling our parents over Easter.

Week 7 – Our next appointment. We’ll be doing another ultrasound to see the baby.

Weekly Wisdom:

Week 4 - Drink lots of water but try to drink it before 6pm.

Week 5 - Take care of yourself. I'm trying to remember that despite the fact that I have few symptoms and can't see or feel anything, I am still carrying another person inside me. The best thing I can do for myself is take care of myself.

Week 6 - Symptoms come and go. Take it one day at a time.

Week 7 – Fiber is your friend.

Milestones:

Week 4 - BFP!! =)

Week 5 and 6 – Making it another week.

Week 7 – Seeing the babe and the tiny flickering heart on the ultrasound.

5w...Fatigue with a side of Insomnia

I'm incredibly exhausted when I come home at night. I mean, I can't wait to get in my pjs and call it a night at like 7:30.

Dinner...No thanks.

Nice comfy bed...Yes please!

As tired as I am, I make myself stay up until at least 9:30-10:00 since I know if I go to sleep any earlier, I'll end up waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning and not be able to go back to sleep. Well apparently that logic is flawed and no longer applies to my sleeping habits since I've become pregnant.

The day after I found out I was pregnant, I started this ridiculous pattern of waking up in the middle of the night and staying awake for a good hour to hour and a half. I thought the first time it happened that it was because it was the weekend and I was amped up and nervous about my beta results and tests, about being pregnant, and so forth. Irritatingly enough, that is not the case.

So for the last week no matter how exhausted I am when I go to bed, how early or late I go to sleep, or how fast I fall asleep I'm up at 3:30-4:00am every night for at least 45 minutes. Lucky for me this coincides with the second bathroom break.

My night looks a little bit like this...

10:00pm - (Varies) Pass out

1:00am - Wake for first bathroom visit

3:30am - Wake up - eyes open, mind active, like I never was asleep, 2nd bathroom visit.

4:30am - (varies) Slowly start to go back to sleep

7:30am - Alarm goes off.

Needless to say, the second round of sleep is nowhere near as satisfying and refreshing as the first round of sleep. I'm constantly tossing and turning since I feel like I can never get comfortable.

Call me crazy, but I'm starting to think that my mind and body are trying to break me of my sleeping habits to prepare me for life with a newborn.