9 Week Update (A little late)

So sorry about the late update.  Work has been crazy and our weekends have been packed, so I have had far less "fun time" online lately.  I am going to fill out my weekly check in as if I had done it on the correct day.  I will try to fit in another update this Thursday as well.

Weekly Check In:

• How far along?: 9 weeks

• Total weight gain: Won't know for another couple of weeks.  Sometimes I feel like I have gained and somedays I feel like I have lost.  I guess we will see.

• How big is baby?: Little one is the size of a green olive this week.

• Maternity clothes?: Fully in maternity clothes at this point.  They are so comfortable.

• Movement: Still way too early.

• Stretch marks?: Just the ones I already had.

• Sleep?: Still exhausted and still waking up in the middle of the night at least once for a bathroom trip.  I have also been having some crazy dreams, which are making it hard to sleep consistently..

• Symptoms?: Exhausted, heartburn, heightened sense of smell, frequent urination, gassy, constipated, increased nausea, and really vivid dreams.  I am still loving each and every symptom.

• Food cravings:  Same as last week, but I have also been wanting chocolate, tomatoes and orange juice.  I have been wanting cheese too, but I think it is more of a calcium thing.  I have been drinking almond milk with chocolate syrup, which has more calcium than milk.

• Belly button in or out?: Still an innie.

• What I miss: I'm still missing coffee, but also sandwich meat, sushi and the other foods I can't eat right now.  It's already difficult with my food allergies, but to add more restrictions makes it really hard.

• What I'm looking forward to: My NT scan and next OB appointment on July 8.  Mom gets to come with me and I am so excited!.

• Best Moment this week: There haven't been any huge stand-outs, but I have been loving feeling pregnant, which is making me feel more confident about this pregnancy..  

• Milestone: Baby is now officially a fetus!  

- J

2nd Camping Trip and Ultrasound Picture

First, I apologize in being remiss with my posting.  I meant to post Baby's latest ultrasound picture, but haven't had time.  This was the first chance that I have had, and it is almost a week later.  So without further ado, here is our little one:

Now, on to our camping trip.  Talk about a comedy of errors!  We got started far later than anticipated, each stop took much longer than it should and as a result the person we were following got a little heavy footed.  We were just coming down out of Steven's Pass and we both got pulled over for speeding.  The person we were following is going to pay our ticket, which is fantastic, but I am worried about the hit on our insurance.  After that little debacle, we got a call from someone who had already made it to the site.  Apparently there was a mud slide and the road to the site was closed due to fallen trees.  Our hostess was devastated.  This was her special place.  But I think that the site will be fine as soon as they clear the down trees.

We ended up finding another site that was large enough for all of us and was also very beautiful.  It was right off of the river, which was gorgeous and so relaxing.  The only problem is that there were mosquitoes everywhere and I was basically eaten alive all weekend.  I am covered head to toe with bites.  Everyone else was pretty much okay, but I couldn't use the bug spray because of little one.  I am so incredibly itchy!

Other than that, we had a very nice weekend.  The weather was beautiful and the company (for the most part) was excellent.  Our next camping trip is in just under three weeks.  I am hoping that everything continues to go well so that I can go along.  Next weekend we have a wedding to go to and we are going to visit my parents for Father's Day.  The following weekend we will be down in Portland for Solstice.  It is going to be a very busy few weeks.

- J

8 Weeks

I missed last week's update and I don't have a lot of time today, so I will try to make this as detailed as I can.

Last week's ultrasound went perfectly.  Little one was measuring 6 weeks 2 days and I was 6 weeks 5 days along, so pretty close.  Most importantly, baby had a clear heartbeat of 105 bpm.  Dr S told us that the risk of miscarriage at this point is less than 10% and she released me to my OB's office.

This week I had my first OB appointment.  I was supposed to see the nurse practitioner, but there was a cancellation, so Dr J was able to see me.  She was so thrilled I was there.  We went over the plans for this pregnancy and everything sounds pretty normal except that I will be getting an early Glucose Tolerance test in addition to the normal one at 28 weeks.  She will also keep my on the Lovenox until 34 weeks when she will switch me to Heparin instead.

I was able to get another ultrasound and little one was measuring at 7 weeks 5 days, which is exactly how far along I was.  She didn't measure the heart rate this time, but estimated it at between 140 - 160 bpm.  She said that everything look perfect at this point.  I am so thrilled.

I scheduled my NT scan and next OB appointment for July 8th, and Mom is going to come with me.  I can't wait.  I am sure I will get far more nervous the closer we get, but I am feeling really positive and hopeful right now.

I will post the latest ultrasound pictures later.


Weekly Check In:

• How far along?: 8 weeks

• Total weight gain: I got a baseline weight at my first OB appointment, so I will have a way to compare in a month when I go back for my next.

• How big is baby?: Little one is the size of a large raspberry today.  At my ultrasound on Tuesday, the measurement was 1.42 cm.

• Maternity clothes?: Fully in maternity clothes at this point.  They are so comfortable.

• Movement: Still way too early.

• Stretch marks?: Just the ones I already had.

• Sleep?: I am still exhausted all of the time and I have started waking up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom.

• Symptoms?: Exhausted, heartburn, heightened sense of smell, frequent urination, gassy, constipated, very mild nausea, and really vivid dreams.  I am still loving each and every symptom.

• Food cravings:  Fruit, carbs and gyros.  Gyro meat seems to be the only animal protein I actually want to eat.

• Belly button in or out?: Still an innie.

• What I miss: I miss coffee, but I have found a coffee free frappucino that I really like.

• What I'm looking forward to: My NT scan and next OB appointment on July 8.  Mom gets to come with me and I am so excited!.

• Best Moment this week: This will be the two week version, since I missed last week.  Last week's highlight was seeing our little one's heart beating away for the first time and finding out that the risk of miscarriage is less than 10% at this point.  This week's highlight was having my first OB appointment.  

• Milestone: Baby is starting to make spontaneous movements, although I can't feel them.  Also, little one's heart is continuing to form as are the eyelids, ears and facial features.

Second ultrasound

We went for our second ultrasound today.  Our little one is measuring 6 weeks 2 days, which is just 3 days behind where I am at.  That is perfectly normal since there is a +/- 4 day variance on early ultrasound measurements.  Also, the tech only did one measurement of little one, so there is a larger margin of error.  More importantly, we were able to see our little one's heart beating away.  Heart rate was a nice strong 105 bpm.  She said this was right on track for where I am at in this pregnancy. 

We also met with the RE (it was R's first time meeting her).  She seemed very optimistic and said that the risk of miscarriage went from 30% to less than 10%.  She said it could be even lower due to my age, but she likes to be more cautious.  She gave me some advice for my constipation and nausea and said that I can go back to Dr J (my OB).  She also said that going on the camping trip in a couple of weeks would be fine, but that I need to be able to get to a hospital if I were to start bleeding.  I still need to research and see how far the campsite is from a hospital.  I stopped by Dr J's office on my way out and scheduled my first OB appointment for a week from today.

Without further ado, here is the latest pic of little one:

- J

Baby's first camping trip

We got back from our Memorial Day camping trip yesterday.  It wasn't our normal Macthoy trip.  We weren't up to going that far and I didn't want to be that far from a hospital in case there was an issue, so instead we went camping with the band. 

We went to a campground in the mountains by North Bend.  The campsite itself was beautiful, but the drive there was awful.  There is a logging road that you have to go down to get to the campsite and it is not maintained at all.  3-4 miles of the road was just potholes.  The group site that we reserved was not as big as we thought it would be, so cramming all of the tents in there was a challenge, but we made it work.  Also, there was another site directly next to ours, which was a bit of a problem.  There wasn't a lot of privacy.  But the views of the mountains and the sounds from the river were stellar. 

Unfortunately, the weather was not great.  The first night it poured and was really cold, which flavored the rest of the trip.  The firewood got all wet so starting a fire was nearly impossible which meant that there was no shot at all of drying out.  The next day there was some sun and overall it was more enjoyable, but it was still pretty cold.  By the time Sunday rolled around, everyone decided to cut the trip short a day and go home.

There is another camping trip coming up in a couple of weeks, but I am not sure if I am going to go.  I am leaning towards not at this point.  It is further away, and I am just not sure how I feel about being away from a hospital.  Also, I felt like people were annoyed by having to avoid smoking near me.  I kind of felt like I was an inconvenience and people would have been happier if I had not been there.  Plus, Pickles was really not enjoying herself.  On the other hand, the site is supposed to be gorgeous, and the weather should be much better.  I am going to talk to my doctor tomorrow and see what she thinks.

Which brings me to the most exciting yet nerve-wracking part of this.  Tomorrow I go in for another ultrasound.  I am praying that little one is okay and we get to see a nice strong, healthy heartbeat tomorrow.  R wasn't at the first appointment where I saw the heartbeats for the twins, so I am excited for him to be there with me tomorrow.  I am praying that it goes well, so that he can have that experience with me. 

Wish us luck!  I will post more tomorrow.

- J

6 Weeks!

6 weeks today!  I am thrilled to be at this point.  I am feeling much better today and I think a lot of that has to do with taking another test this morning and getting a really dark line.  I know it's a little ridiculous, but I couldn't help it.  Anyway, here I am at 6 weeks.  Woohoo!

We are going camping this weekend, which should hopefully be a lot of fun.  I am a little nervous about the weather and the bears.  They have been spotted in the area and it is cub season, so I hope we don't run into any angry mama bears.  I am also a little nervous about avoiding people's cigarette smoke and not giving away our secret.  We'll see what happens I guess. 

Weekly Check In:

• How far along?: 6 weeks

• Total weight gain: They didn't weigh me last week, so I have no idea.

• How big is baby?: Little one is the size of a sweet pea today!  R asked me the size this morning and when I told him he said "of course little one is a sweet pea, but what size is it?"  I thought that was really cute.

• Maternity clothes?: I have pretty much made the conversion to maternity clothes or sweats full time at this point.  They are comfortable, and I am only slightly ashamed.

• Movement: Still way too early.

• Stretch marks?: Just the ones I already had.

• Sleep?: I think I am starting to get used to being exhausted.  I am still worn out all of the time, but I seem to be better able to cope with it.  I think I have been sleeping a little better too.  If not, I am used to tossing and turning all night as well.

• Symptoms?: Exhausted, heartburn, heightened sense of smell, frequent urination, gassy, constipated, very mild nausea, and really vivid dreams.  I am still loving each and every symptom.

• Food cravings:  Fruit and veggies are still good, but I have also been craving hot dogs lately.

• Belly button in or out?: Still an innie.

• What I miss: Still missing the ability to have a normal bed time.  I am also missing coffee at this point.

• What I'm looking forward to: Our next ultrasound on the 31st!  Here's hoping we see a perfect, healthy heartbeat.

• Best Moment this week: Telling our parents.  Everyone was thrilled and so excited.  It was great to be able to surprise them that way.

• Milestone: This week, little one's brain is continuing to form, as are it's arms and legs.  Blood is pumping through it's little body, and eyes and nostrils are starting to form. At this point, little one has a pancreas and an appendix.

- J

Effects of Lovenox, dreams, and other musings...

I feel like there are a lot of emotions building up in me right now that I need to get out, so this will likely be a bit of a rant.  First off, I have to show off my Lovenox bruises.  They are pretty impressive if I do say so myself. 

 Now, on to the rant.


I am starting to overanalyze things again.  I am guessing that this is going to be the way it is throughout this pregnancy, but it is starting to drive me crazy.  Yesterday morning, I felt confident and secure in the fact that I am pregnant.  But as the day progressed, the fear and doubt started to creep in.  I am terrified that my LO has died and I won't know until my next ultrasound on the 31st.  That is such a long time to wait.  Again, I have no reason to believe that this is the case.  I am still having symptoms, and if anything my fatigue has gotten worse.  I am starting to feel like some of the symptoms are getting a little bit better, but I actually think that maybe I am just getting used to them.  I had a dream last night that we went for our ultrasound and our little one's heart was beating away at 129 bpm, and baby was moving around.  I felt better when I woke up, but then quickly realized that it would be way too early for little one to look like a baby and be moving around.  That got me started worrying again.

I think R is starting to believe that this is actually happening.  He commented yesterday that there were two of us next to him in the car.  At that point, it dawned on me that I keep flip flopping between feeling hopeful and positive about this pregnancy and totally detached, like it isn't real.  I know from talking to other ladies in my position that these are common feeling, but I really don't like them.  I know I will feel better when we have our next ultrasound.  Unfortunately that is 6 days away, and 4 of those days I am on vacation with no work to distract me.  In fact, I will be sitting in the middle of the woods with little to do except think.

Wish me luck!

- J