Week 16

Yesterday was a great day.

• We got a "negative" result for our Quad Screen.

• We met and liked our new OB.

• We got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time.

• We announced our pregnancy to everyone.

On March 9th we're having our second trimester ultrasound and we'll be able to find out the gender. I'm so excited!

In other news, we toured our first day care center on Monday. They will have a space available when we need it, so we're planning to go ahead and reserve it. There are some things that I don't like about it, but it seems good enough for a backup plan in case we don't get into one of the places we prefer right away. Given how hard it is to find infant day care in this city, it will be a relief to know that we'll at least have somewhere to take our child this fall and I don't have to leave him or her with random panhandlers or Starbucks baristas.

Tears + Laughter Is the New Normal

My hormones have been making me so crazy lately. One day, I'll feel completely overwhelmed, like there's no way I'm going to be able to do everything I have to do. Note: Some of the things I'm thinking about don't even have to be done for months and, when I'm thinking like I rational person, I realize I have plenty of time to do them. The next day, I'll feel on top of the world, super productive, Ms. Has Everything Under Control. It's even more fun when I feel one way for about 20 minutes, then suddenly switch to feeling the opposite way. Good times.

Also, the sappy happy tears have started. It happens when I'm watching TV and witness a tender moment between a mother and her child. Yesterday it happened in a coffee shop. A mother was holding her tiny newborn at the table next to mine. First, I had an incredible urge to reach over, rub his soft head, and smell him. No, I didn't do it. Then the tears started. Then the laughter. Just thinking about it is making me laugh again. I also got a little teary when I saw a young girl put her arm around her mom. I need help.

In other news, yesterday I started reading Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. Having seen their documentary The Business of Being Born, I'm familiar with some of the material, but it's a good refresher and I think it will be helpful in generating questions that we should ask the OB we're meeting with next Thursday. I think it's also going to be a good resource to have when we write up our birth plan.

Next up: Blood draw on Monday for quad screen, results back in a couple of days or so, meeting with our new OB next Thursday. And probably more laughing and crying.

Week 12

Okay, I can see it better this time. I actually was able to see the heartbeat at my appointment on Tuesday! I realized that I wasn't looking for the right thing. I thought it would be a flickering white light, but no, it's blackish grayish bluish. They really should tell you these things.

Also, we saw the baby move! It did a little flip during the ultrasound. That was pretty awesome. It will be at least another month before I will be able to feel any movement. I'm really looking forward to that. At my appointment I found out that I have a posterior placenta. My doctor told me that because of this I'll be able to feel my baby move earlier and my husband will have an easier time feeling him or her kicking and punching as the pregnancy progresses.

Next on the agenda is the quad screen. I was confused about the type of screening test I was actually having, but this is the one. I'm having blood drawn for the test on February 22nd. My doctor said that he usually gets the results back within a couple of days.

We also had to discuss finding a new provider, since the GYN who has been following my pregnancy up until this point no longer practices obstetrics. He gave us a few recommendations. It felt kind of overwhelming to choose between going back to the midwifery clinic and going to an OB with a "midwifery style." After some thought and reading online reviews of the OB he recommended as first choice for us, I think we may have found our OB. We'll be meeting with him on February 25th. I've heard and read that he is very invested in your pregnancy and you as a person, delivers between 90%-97% of his patients' babies, is very open to and encouraging of natural childbirth, that his wife sews muumuus for you to wear at office visits rather than paper or other types of gowns, and a few mothers wrote that after he delivered their baby he brought in a guitar and played a folk song for their new family. LOL! I have to meet this guy.

So, things are going well and I'm starting to feel more positive about this pregnancy. It was great to have another good ultrasound experience and know that everything is progressing as it should be at this point. More later. :)

Week 9

I know. I can barely see it either.

Yay, a positive ultrasound! My husband and I were so nervous yesterday. The last time we had an ultrasound we found out that we had lost our baby. But yesterday's experience was great. Everything looks good so far - the heartbeat, size, placenta, and other measurements were all fantastic. It definitely gave us a little more confidence that things are going well, even though we're still not past the critical first trimester yet.

We're going back for another ultrasound at 11 weeks, 5 days, just to make sure everything is still going well. We'll have another one done a couple of weeks later as part of the First Trimester Screen. Once we have the results from that, we will decide if we're going to have an amniocentesis or not. I really hope that our screening result ratios are so great that we'll decide we won't need an amnio. I'm worried about the risk of miscarriage from the procedure, even though our doctor has an excellent track record. As far as I'm concerned, the celebration will begin after all that stuff is done and the results are in...somewhere between Week 14 and 17.

Still a while to go, still cautiously optimistic. It's hard to let yourself get completely attached or engaged when you've had a miscarriage. I think I'll feel tons better after the next ultrasound though. That's the same time that we found out we lost our first baby, so it will feel good to get past that mark.

Send good vibes our way!

(Almost) Week 8

In a couple of days, I'll hit the 8 week mark.

This past week, I've been feeling a little nauseated. No vomiting, but I've definitely felt queasy a few times. The fatigue is hanging on as well. By late afternoon, I'm usually ready for a nap.

I'm also having more weird food things. In addition to oatmeal, as of Christmas Eve, I can no longer eat eggs. I also haven't had chips and salsa for about a week, and have strong desires to eat oranges, apples, and salad. Seriously...NOT...MY...BABY. :)

A week from today, we will have our first ultrasound. I'll be 8 weeks and 5 days at that point. I'm pretty nervous about it since that's when we found out last time that something was wrong with our baby and he or she didn't make it. I really hope that everything is going to be okay with this pregnancy.

Week 6

Yesterday marked the beginning of my 6th week. I remain uninterested in oatmeal and chocolate. Except for hot cocoa, which sounded good last night, but I haven't actually had any yet. This morning's breakfast consisted of a slice of leftover pizza with sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, pesto, and about 1 ton of roasted garlic. Yummy.

Last night I had my first "food" craving. Grape soda. What the hell? I can't even remember the last time I had grape soda. Maybe when I was 10. Drew and I rushed to out to our grocery store at 9:30 last night (after I'd been napping for at least half an hour) to track down grape soda. I should have known better than to go to our usual market. I ended up with some sort of organic grape "soda" that actually tasted like real grapes. I didn't want real grapes! I didn't want organic! I wanted old school Welch's grape soda! I wanted Fanta! We ended up stopping at 7-11 where I found Sunkist grape soda. Ahhh...purple foam. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Food Weirdness

Apparently, oatmeal isn't good enough for this baby.

I've been eating oatmeal for breakfast almost every weekday for months. I mix it up each day by adding different types of fresh fruit and cinnamon, and by using different flavors of oatmeal. I look forward to it every morning.

Looks like this growing being prefers savory breakfast sandwiches. Who knew? I had to stop and grab something on my way to work on Friday and today because oatmeal just sounded sickeningly sweet.

Another weird thing...I've refused chocolate about 5 times in the past two weeks. Just didn't want any. This has NEVER happened before. I don't refuse chocolate even if I just ate a bar of chocolate.

I'm starting to wonder if this baby is really mine.

:)