Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A mover and a shaker!

I was already getting so bored in the second trimester. I know crazy. Why am I complaining right? I still feel pukey in the morning but other then that the morning sickness is gone and the fatigue is mostly gone. I have been just sitting around ... waiting for something ... anything interesting to happen.

I have been good and avoided coffee for the most part but I decided yesterday on my way to work that it was COLD ... not just cold but FRIGID COLD. So I swung by a gas station near work and picked up a hot chocolate. Their coffee totally sucks but I figured it was pretty hard to screw up hot chocolate. I got a small cup and happily wrapped my freezing hands around it.

Well I guess even a small amount of hot chocolate is a large amount of sugar to the baby. I sat down after finishing my cup and felt something. It was right below my belly button. BUBBLE BUBBLE ... WIGGLE WIGGLE ... holy crap I think the baby is moving ... WEEEEEEEEEEEEE ... yep that's the baby!

I have felt the baby move before. But it was very rare and I had to be absolutely still and laying on my right side. Don't ask me why the right side. That was just how it worked. But yesterday the baby was a moving and a shaking and a wiggling all over the place. Yep ... definitely your father's child aren't you?!?!?! He is just as wiggly outside me as you are inside me. Anyway I sat there and enjoyed the movement knowing that those moments are few and far between this early. But I must say I was impressed that it was happening with out me laying on my right side still as a statue. It was so great to feel him/her in there!

I was not expecting to be feeling anything again any time soon. But sure enough when I got home last night the baby started up again. And then this morning there were the bubblies again! As I was getting my shoes on I guess I bent over to far and squished the baby a bit because he/she fought back. I think I got kicked for the first time by this baby! THUMP! I shot straight back up and started laughing. Ooooops! Sorry babe! I didn't mean to play squish the baby. My bad.

I am so excited that I am starting to feel things. I am also so glad that you feel things moving and shaking in their earlier if you have already had kids. My uterus is stretched out more and I know what a baby moving feels like. So I am far more aware. It is great to feel the baby moving. I can't wait for it to happen again. I especially can't wait for the baby to kick Coco off my belly. She is hell bent on laying on the baby for some reason. Not on my lap but on my belly. Right over the baby. One of these days this kid is going to say "bad puppy" give once fierce kick and send the Chihuahua flying. And I have to admit I am going to be laughing my butt off!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Potato Salad!!!

I think I have officially had my first pregnancy craving. I have had a few minor cravings here and there over the last few months. But nothing that made me feel like I NEED THAT NOW! Friday night I was hungry. I went to the fridge and decided potato salad sounded good. Buuuut it was Ethan's and I didn't want to munch on his food. So I left it there. I sat on the couch with my mind and belly just spinning! I wanted that potato salad and the more I ignored the urge the worse it got. So I hopped up and got the container. I ate the entire container of potato salad. It was so NUMMY. But I was not full. So I ended up licking the container of potato salad clean. LOL Yep I licked it clean and I STILL was not satisfied. I decided because of the bad weather it would not be a good idea to head to the grocery store in the middle of the night for more. But I did decide that I was going to buy more on Saturday. I didn't have time to grab some on my way to work. But my wonderful sweet and loving hubby stopped by the store and picked up a BIG container for me! I could not be more in love with him right now. HA HA HA It is funny how easy it is to please a pregnant woman. With Bryan I craved apples all the time. In any form. I just wanted apples. This baby I seem to so far be craving potatoes. Mashed potatoes taste like white fluffy heaven to me. LOL I realize that potatoes are not as healthy as apples to crave. But I figure I am making up for it by drinking water all the time. I do allow myself the occasional pop. But for the most part I drink bottled water. I have almost had cravings for it. A nice cold bottle of water from the fridge makes me pretty happy. Which is definitely a step up from the gallons of Mountain Dew I drank while pregnant with Bryan. Hey I was young and dumb then! I am older and better read on the pregnancy journey this time around. LOL Anyway I am going to go back to my potato salad now. Hmmmmmm .... potato salad ....

Friday, December 25, 2009

14 weeks

I am 14 weeks pregnant! The baby is now the size of a lemon ... or my fist. Depending on what book I am reading these days. I am doing well. Things are rather ... uneventful right now. I am ecstatic to be in the second trimester. I knew that things would be less dramatic at this point. But I guess you never fully expect it to just drop off so quickly. I am still tired but not as much or as early in the evening. The morning sickness is pretty much gone. I gag every now and then in the morning. But other then that I am feeling well. My joint pain is easing and almost gone now. My left knee still hurts and even pops when I keep it bent for to long. But at least I don't feel like crying every time I move my legs now. We have been celebrating Christmas. Baby's first Christmas ... sort of anyway. I had a ridiculous craving for potato salad. It was to the point that it was humorous. I ate all of daddy's potato salad and was tempted to put some pants on and head to the store for more! I have resisted the urge to go myself or to send daddy running to the store. LOL Things are well. Nothing much is going on which is weird. But I suppose no news is always good news. We will just keep trucking alone. Hopefully some day soon I will be able to feel more then just the bubblies in my belly and the kicks will start.

Friday, December 18, 2009

13 weeks

I am 13 weeks pregnant. Saying good bye to the first trimester and hello to the second trimester! Thank God! I am doing my best to enjoy every moment of this pregnancy. Even the morning sickness. It has been such a long time and so many prayers coming. But I have to admit I am happy to see a milestone that I have not hit in YEARS. It is very exciting and relieving to see the second trimester.

The baby is now the size of a peach. Everything is going pretty well. The morning sickness has eased greatly. I still have the occasional bought of nausea every now and then. But for the most part smells don't make me gag over and over and over again. Strong smells still do. But not the little things anymore. I even had my first cup of coffee in months! Decaff of course. But God did I forget how wonderful coffee tastes! Even though it was decaff and I didn't get an energy jolt from it I remembered how much I enjoyed the relaxation of drinking the nice warm nummy fluid. Ahhhhh!

The fatigue is getting better too. I am still tired of course. Making a tiny little person is hard work. But I don't feel half dead to the world anymore. I am feeling better and looking forward to the day again. I see why woman enjoy the second trimester so much again.

My nose is still constantly running. And now I am sneezing all the time. It is a really tough symptom to have during cold and flu season when you are not yet really looking pregnant. Every one looks cross eyed at me. Sorry folks! I can't help it. And I am just not going to explain to every person that it is just because I am knocked up. LOL

My newest and so far most annoying symptom is knee joint pain. Yes it is worse then the morning sickness. LOL My knees are stiff and sore and just plain killing me most of the time. It makes getting in and out of bed and chairs and the couch hard. I am slow and sore and glad I don't have to walk to far to often. But then oddly enough wandering around the clinic made my knees feel better. So who knows. Maybe I should be walking more to work out the stiffness. I of course Googled the symptom. I read that most woman who have first trimester joint soreness will start to feel better in the second trimester. Then by the third trimester it is gone just about the time that other woman are just starting it. So fingers crossed that it will go away in a few weeks.

We have officially announced to the world that I am pregnant. We made this announcement on Facebook on Tuesday, December 15, 2010:

We are extremely happy to finally announce that I am pregnant! Our first child together is due June 25, 2010! The baby and I are both very healthy and doing well. Bryan can't wait to be a big brother again! I am happy to see the end of the first trimester and look forward to being morning sickness free hopefully some day soon. LOL



So now most of our friends and family know that our little baby blackberry is on his/her way! I am so very happy to finally have been able to share the news. It was such a relief to spill the beans. We have gotten lots of congratulations and well wishes. We thank every one for their kindness and their prayers. It truly does mean the world to us and has helped get us through the hard times and the rough and long road to a healthy baby. Thank you!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

First Trimester Screening

I had the First Trimester Screening test done yesterday. All went well ... a little longer then need be but still well. First I talked to the genetic counselor. She was super nice and explained everything to me. I even got to see pictures of the fluid in a normal baby's neck and the fluid pocket of a baby with Downs Syndrome. That was really nice. I felt more informed and prepared going into the ultrasound. I knew what the technician was looking for and what we did NOT want to see.

I am by no means a professional but I thought every thing looked good. My bladder was not full enough at first for the ultrasound. The baby was laying asleep in such a way that she could not get a good profile view in order to view the baby's neck. So she handed me my bottle of water and told me to drink up. I was instructed to lay on my side for a while and move around in an attempt to wake the kid up and get him/her moved into a better position. HA HA HA She had no idea what a bad idea that was! Maybe I should have warned her! She said she would be back in 10 minutes but didn't come back for 20 minutes. UGH! I really had to pee by then and was mildly scared of her pushing on my belly with that ultrasound wand. Thankfully I did not pee on the table. The second time the baby was WIDE awake and moving all around. As soon as she would settle in on a good place to take the measurement the baby would start wiggling and spinning around to put it's back to the tech. So she would go around to the other side of my belly and the baby would wiggle and spin some more. LOL She commented on what a mover this baby is. Like I said I probably should have warned her that waking the baby up was only going to make it harder to get a good picture! She did manage to sneak in some pictures to take the measurements with and do the general check over of the baby. Heart rate was 142 and the baby is still measuring right on time. And obviously the baby is moving about well on his/her own. LOL I got a few pictures. Still not great pics but what can we expect with a mover like this one! LOL

I went down stairs for the blood test portion. I HATE getting my blood drawn. I have miserable veins and it takes many pokes and several minutes to get blood out of me. Yesterday was no different. They stuck me 3 times in the arm with no luck. The lady asked if she could try the vein in my wrist because it was the only ones they could see and really feel. It worked. It hurt a lot but it worked. The guy that usually takes my blood starting cheering. She does have blood! She does have blood! HA HA HA The lady told me next time I should make sure to drink lots and lots of water before hand. I held up my empty bottle of water and said "Sorry ... I just came from an ultrasound ... I have been drinking water all afternoon." She looked like she wanted to pass out onto the floor. LOL I walked out of there looking like a suicide victim with my wrist all bandaged up. But at least my blood draw was done.

I got the call with the results this morning. I could barely function I was so nervous. I had dreamt last night that they had called me back but refused to give me the results over the phone. I was stuck at work and couldn't get away to go to the clinic to get the answer from the genetic counselor. It was a horrible dream and really shook me up. So when I finally got the phone call with the results I held my breath until she told me. The test was negative! I am NO increased risk of carrying a baby with T18 or Downs Syndrome. My age puts me at a 1/850 chance of a baby with Downs. But after this test my chance is 1/3,000! She said everything looked great and the baby is healthy! I let out a huge gasp of air that I had been holding in. I almost started crying I was so happy!

I have jumped through all of Ethan's hoops. So now I get to tell the world! I am waiting for him to respond to my message on his phone first. I want him to know first that the baby is ok . Then I will put it on Facebook. So soon everybody will know. I can't wait to share the good news!

Here are some pics from the third ultrasound.
The first is a side view of the baby. You can see the head to the left and body to the right. The baby has it's hand up by his/her face. Almost sucking his/her thumb.
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The second is a back view of the baby. Again head on the left and body on the right. You can see the baby's spine.
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Thursday, December 10, 2009

12 weeks

I am 12 weeks pregnant! The baby is now the size of a plum. This is my last week of the first trimester. I can't wait to put it behind me. It has been a very long time since I have made it into a second trimester. I am looking forward to it very much.

I thought I was in the clear when it came to morning sickness. I was so very wrong. I had 3 or 4 really good days. Things were looking up. I was feeling great! Then BAM morning sickness came back and knocked me clean on my butt. CRAZY! I am hoping that in no time it will be gone for good.

I am feeling the bubbly butterfly rumbling in my lower belly. I know they say that when you have more children it is easier and earlier that you feel the baby start to move. I am impressed by how early I am feeling something. It is not all the time. Just once in a while. Like Wednesday morning at 6 am. I was trying to fall back to sleep but I was totally fascinated by the rolling feeling in my lower belly. It would seem to be to much movement to fast. Except I saw this moving like crazy at my last ultrasound. So I know he/she moves that much and that fast. It goes away as quickly as it comes. I look forward to being able to feel the baby moving more often and with more force. The butterflies almost tickle right now! LOL

I have my first trimester screening on Monday. Hopefully everything will go wonderfully and the baby will be healthy. Then we can finally announce to the world that this baby is on the way. Fingers crossed!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

11 weeks

I am 11 weeks! The end of the first trimester is closing in. The baby is the size of a lime now. I am sure she/he is dancing up a storm down there. I look forward to being able to feel all the movement. I am slowly starting to feel better. The morning sickness and fatigue is starting to lift. I am still queasy. But I am no longer sick as a dog day in and day out. Plus with the help of unisom I am not getting sick over night either. That has been wonderful. I have been getting up earlier and earlier the last few days. I was up at 8 am today and started cleaning the house. Bryan asked why we were cleaning the house if no one was coming to visit. I told him I was feeling better so we had cleaning to catch up on. He was not happy. Especially when I told him in a few more months I will to large and tired to clean much. So it will be his and Ethan's responsibility to clean the house. Again not a happy camper. LOL Things are going well still. It is daddy's 30 birthday today! Happy birthday daddy!!! Next year this baby will be here to help celebrate with us.