Confession of the Day

I had Nutter Butters for lunch and they were delicious. :-)

Where'd the peanuts go???

I've eaten more than half of this bag of Cracker Jacks and haven't yet come across a single peanut. Where the hell are the peanuts??? I even double-checked to make sure it's not the "peanut-free" version and it's not! Dammit.

Finally!

I had a great night's sleep last night! No restless legs, no trips to the bathroom, no weird dreams...just a nice night of sleep. I felt so awake this morning! I even got up at 6:00 when Chris did and layed (laid?) around and watched tv for an hour. I guess my exhaustion finally caught up with me. Man, that felt good!

Ultrasound Appointment

We had our first ultrasound this morning and saw our little nugget's heartbeat beating strong! It was amazing. The baby's measuring at 6 weeks, not the 8 weeks that we think we are, so we're going back in a few weeks for another ultrasound to make sure it's growing properly and everything's fine. We kept track of when we had intercourse and where in my cycle we were and it's impossible that it's only 6 weeks. It could possibly be 7 weeks, but that's as low as it can get. The numbers just don't add up right. So, once we have the second ultrasound we'll know better what's going on. For right now, I'll continue on as if we're at 8 weeks and then backtrack if I have to in a few weeks when we have more information.

I won't be doing the weekly update and pic until we know what week we're on because I don't want to get too ahead of myself. This week he'd be the size of a raspberry, and he's definitely not, according to our sonogram. He was only measuring 4.5 mm, not the 11 we expected him to be.

This due date change could also be why I've been feeling so normal (i.e., no morning sickness, etc). The dr said that symptoms like that don't usually set in until 7 to 9 weeks.

One more day before ultrasound...

and I'm really nervous. I just keep reading about all these ladies with blighted ovums and embryos with no heartbeat and I'm so scared that it'll happen to me. My symptoms have all but disappeared, which worries me also. I guess there's no point in freaking out now since there's nothing I can do about it but tomorrow morning can't come soon enough!

In other news, my sleeping problems are back. I feel like I've got restless leg syndrome. I get tired and close my eyes and get comfortable, and then my legs start to feel tight and I have to thrash them all around. It's horrible. I was up all night last night with that. One more thing to talk to the dr about tomorrow.

I just found out that one of my broker friends is pregnant also and she's due a month before me, and she also has a Fruity Pebbles obsession! Thought that was such a funny coincidence.

Cravings

I think my cravings may have begun. Last night Chris and I were watching tv and someone had a box of Fruity Pebbles in front of them. For the next hour, those Fruity Pebbles were all I could think about. Until last night, the thought of any cereal with milk made me want to gag. We made a special trip to Giant just so I could get my Pebbles and milk, and it was sooo good!

Thankfully, I'm still feeling really good. I get a little icky feeling at times, but that's usually if I haven't eaten in a few hours. Once I eat, I feel much better. We go to the doctor on Wednesday and I'm a little nervous because I'm not really having very many symptoms. I rarely feel pregnant. I'm worried that there's no baby in there. Two more days...

News Flash!

Here's a news flash to those of you with an aversion to my post about my sex dreams...I'm not a virgin. I had sex with my husband in order to get pregnant...that's how it happens most of the time. And I'm not a pervert because I have some sexy dreams. I even put a warning before the post so those of you who are too sensitive to handle my post had fair warning. If you're going to have an issue with what I'm writing, stop reading.

I can guarantee it'll get worse from here. I'll be discussing doctor's visits, hemorrhoids, and other not-so-pretty things. This is your warning. Either stop reading or get over it. Your choice.

Edited to add: This is not meant for just one person. I've had feedback from several people about it, so don't feel that I'm singling anybody out.

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was really nice. It was my first in a very long time when I actually ate the turkey! It was best today in a sandwich with cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. Yum!!

Our Delaware visit was really good. We spread the news and everyone was really happy and excited. We got a lot of good advice and words of warning from all the parents in the family. :-) Dinner was delicious, as usual, and it was great to spend time with Chris's family. They're a really great bunch of people.

Nothing new to report on the pregnancy front. I'm feeling just fine. Having some very vivid, terrible dreams lately. Makes me want the sexy ones back. But other than that, I'm doing well. Every once in a while, I get a little crampy, and I get really icky-feeling when I'm hungry, but that's it. Let's hope it stays that way!

Peanut at 7 Weeks

Our little Peanut is about the size of a blueberry this week (9 mm crown to rump). Her facial features are becoming more prominent; if we were to look at her up close, we'd be able to see a mouth, the beginnings of a tongue, and teeth. Her eyes are continuing to form and have a retina and a lens attached. She is now beginning to produce her own blood type. Even though I can't feel her yet, she is squirming around, moving her little webbed hands and feet around, getting to know her surroundings. By now, her intestines and appendix are formed and her liver is working to produce red blood cells.

As for me, I'm feeling just fine. Most days, I don't even feel pregnant! My pants are definitely fitting tighter though.

We're headed to Delaware tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving with Chris's family. I can't wait to share the news with them!

Stop it!!

I have a right to get angry if you say something stupid to me. I have a right to get angry if you neglect to tell me information I needed to know. I have a right to get angry if you speak to me in a nasty tone. And I also have a right to get angry if you make me look inept to make yourself look good.

DO NOT blame my anger about these things on hormones. It makes me even more irate when you blame my pregnancy for my annoyance. It just serves to piss me off even more. So....STOP IT!

Dreams

Warning -- may be TMI (too much information) for mom or grandparents!

I've heard that you can have some pretty weird dreams when you're pregnant, but wasn't quite expecting what I'm experiencing. The majority of the dreams I have that I remember are sexual in nature. And they very rarely involve Chris! I've asked around and found that a lot of other pregnant women are experiencing this and another friend of mine told me that I must be having a boy, because when she was pregnant with her son, she thought about sex all the time. In my waking hours, I'm not a cat in heat, but I sure seem to be when I'm sleeping! I feel bad about it while it's happening in the dream, because even in my dream life I'm married and pregnant, but that doesn't seem to stop me. It's terrible. But...it does make me look forward to going to sleep every night! :-)

Beta levels are up!

My bloodwork from Friday confirmed my beta HCg levels are up to 9,559. Normal levels are between 1,080 and 56,500 (pretty wide range). A few weeks ago they were 225, so this is great news!

Freak of Nature

So, besides the adolescent acne creeping up on my forehead and chest, Chris and I have noticed that my right breast is considerably larger than my left one. I've noticed for the past few weeks that the right one hurts more, but it really wasn't visible until yesterday. It's terrible. I think they're a cup size different! Pretty soon I'll be needing a special bra with two different size cups...I'm a freak.

In other news, the one bad thing about stealing your neighbor's DSL is that you're at their mercy if it's turned on or not. Our "host" tends to go out of town on the weekends and turns her DSL off, so we don't usually have internet on the weekends. It stinks when I'm laying around bored in the middle of the night, or want to download another update to my fish game that I'm obsessed with (Big Kahuna Reef rules!).

Enjoy your Monday and send me some sympathy because I'm spotted and lopsided.

Prenatal Bloodwork

Just got back from the OB's office where they drew a ton of blood for my prenatal bloodwork. She stuck the needle toward the front of my arm, rather than in the crook, and it stung really bad! But I got a nice gift bag with some formula and lots of prenatals and a magazine. Plus, I weighed myself and, if anything, I've only gained a pound. I thought for sure I'd gained a few since I was eating like crazy for a week there. But I guess it helped that my food of choice was animal crackers, not muffins. :-)

Bad Temper

One thing I've really noticed lately is my tendency to get really angry very quickly these days. I'm usually very relaxed and let things go, but I just have no patience anymore. I get angry and my heart starts racing when another driver on the road is being an idiot, or turning too slowly, or whatever. I get angry at work CONSTANTLY. It seems nobody has any idea what they're doing and that I'm the only person who knows how to do my job. I got very frustrated yesterday when I got off the phone with a lender and Brent overheard and told me the exact same thing I had just told the lender. So, he was agreeing with me, but it rubbed me the wrong way that he needed to comment about it and not just trust me to handle it. I feel terrible that I'm getting so worked up but I really can't help it. Let's just blame the hormones, shall we?

Peanut at 6 Weeks...

is about the size of a lentil. This week our little Peanut's heart started beating! We won't be able to hear it for several more weeks but, if we were to have a sonogram today, we'd be able to see a tiny, pulsing dot on the screen. Peanut will double in size this week to almost a quarter of an inch long.

She's got a huge head (let's hope it doesn't stay that way!) with dark spots where her nostrils and eyes will be and her arms and legs have become little buds. Her heart is beating about 100 to 130 beats per minute...almost twice as fast as mine...and blood is beginning to circulate through her body. Halfway through this week, she may start moving her tiny little limbs, although I'll have to wait a few more months until I can feel her doing gymnastics.

I'm feeling pretty good so far. The intense hunger I was feeling last week has abated slightly, so I'm not constantly munching on animal crackers. I still get crampy every once in a while, but that has also slowed down. This should be the week when sickness kicks in, but so far I don't really feel it. Let's hope it stays that way!!

I don't have the creativity to think of a title for this entry

Today we went to see Flushed Away and it was a really cute movie. Sydney was so well-behaved and really seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards, we went to the mall and Old Navy, where I got some $5 maternity tops. I can't pass up a good bargain! We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, walked around Target, and now we're back home. It was a nice, relaxing day. We all laid around in our pj's until noon. I love days like that!

Nothing else new to report. I feel pretty good today. Still having some cramping but I understand that's normal so I won't worry about it. And I didn't have any bad food aversions today, which was great.

No massage for you!

Yesterday, Holly and I had appointments at the Red Door spa for massages, facials, manicures and pedicures. I found out a few days before that I can't get a massage because I'm in my first trimester so we changed it to a seaweed wrap, which they said was fine to do. When we got there, they came in and said that the technician I was assigned to wasn't comfortable doing the wrap on me because it releases toxins just like a massage would and didn't want to be responsible if something bad happened as a result. I understood that and they offered us a free lunch to make up for the inconvenience.

So I waited while Holly got her massage and then they called me for my facial. It was really nice. I definitely like the hot towel the best. Then they took us both back for our manis and pedis and we ate our lunch while getting our toes done. It was nice because they had us right next to each other so we chatted the whole time.

So, I was a little disapointed that I couldn't get the wrap but wound up saving some money so it was fine.

I slept really well last night. I woke up at 4:00am with really bad cramping, which scared me. I went to the bathroom and I think it was just a mixture of having to pee and gas. The strange thing is that when I have to go to the bathroom, it doesn't feel like my bladder is full; it just feels like cramping. Very annoying.

Our trip's been really nice so far. Sydney is just too cute.

Arizona

We are in Arizona this morning visiting Rick, Holly and Sydney. We spent Wednesday night at my parents' house in Baltimore, so we could fly out of BWI on Thursday morning. We told them the good news and they were very excited for us.

We got to Arizona around 1:30 and went straight to the house to drop off our stuff and relax for a minute before we went to pick up Sydney from preschool. I got the greatest welcome from her! She ran right past Chris and Rick to me and jumped in my arms. It was awesome!

We hung around the house for a while and went to the grocery store to pick up some foodstuffs for this week and Sydney insisted that I be the one to push her in the cart. It feels so good that she was so excited to see me. After that, we came home, unpacked groceries, and started dinner. I was really hungry at this point, even though I'd been eating all day (by the way, the vegetable soup at Subway is pretty good!). We ate dinner (including a small piece of chicken for me!) and then just sat around playing with Sydney's new toy that makes fart noises. She loved it. I started getting really tired around 7:00 (since we'd been up since 2:45am their time) but wanted to wait up for Holly to get home. Finally, at 8:00 I told Rick to have her wake me up when she got home but as I was getting ready for bed, I heard her walk in the door. We sat around chatting about pregnancy and stuff and then I fell asleep the second I closed my eyes.

I slept pretty well last night. I woke up around 2:40, which would sync up perfectly with my home schedule, and stayed up for just a little bit and fell back asleep. Yay! I was up every hour or half hour after that until now (6:00 am), which is great. I feel much better having gotten a full night's sleep.

Today, Holly and I are going to Red Door to get spa treatments to celebrate our birthdays. I'm getting a manicure, pedicure, facial and seaweed wrap. I wanted a massage but it's illegal to do one on someone in their first trimester. Damn. So I settled for the seaweed wrap. I have a feeling I'm going to fall asleep during it. :-)

Boring

There's nothing worse than being up at 3:30 a.m. and the internet doesn't work. I was so bored last night/this morning that I had to watch The Pacifier!

Oh, and did anyone see Oprah yesterday where she reunited the girl with her mother from Sierra Leone? I couldn't get myself together after that...I was sobbing! I think I should probably take a break from Oprah and baby shows for a while, at least until this weepiness goes away.

Tired...

I am so exhausted today. I actually slept through most of the night last night (up off and on from 4:30am to 6:00am but went to sleep before 9:00) but I'm just so tired today. I had a large lunch which is probably not helping things but I just want to lay my head on my desk and fall asleep.

So far, I was able to eat pretty well today. I had a smoothie for breakfast and then a potato with broccoli and cheese and a granola bar for lunch. I was so worried about being starving all day like yesterday that I overloaded with food to keep at the office. I probably shouldn't have had that granola bar...it kinda put me over the edge.

I also keep having to go to the bathroom and when I get there, only a little trickle comes out. So annoying! Speaking of bathrooms, I need to vent about our bathroom at work for a minute. First of all, I don't know how I'm going to make it when my smell sensitivity really appears because the bathroom ALWAYS stinks. There's a girl in the office next door who is really gross. Not only is she physically gross (think Mimi from Drew Carey and then picture how Mimi must smell like too much cheap perfume) but she's really gross in the bathroom. I don't know what she eats, but it's rough! And not only that, she's always on her cell phone talking to her boyfriend in Spanish while I'm trying to take care of my business and she's taking care of her own. How gross is that?! Who talks on their cell every time they poop??? So I try to flush constantly so she can't hear and then I run the water really forcefully so it's loud. I'm so passive-aggressive. I need to just say something but I'm a chicken. The alternative is to go upstairs, which is usually fine but not so easy to drag myself up there when I'm feeling this exhausted.

So that's my complaint of the day. One more day before we tell my parents!!

Confirmed!

I just heard back from the doctor's office and the blood test confirmed my pregnancy. I feel a lot better knowing that I'm not imagining things, although those tests were pretty clear. My HCg levels were at 133, which is perfect. Hearing the lady at the doctor's office say, "Well, Amy, you ARE pregnant" was so surreal...

Our little Peanut at almost 5 weeks...

Our Peanut is about the size of a sesame seed and still looks like a little tadpole. He's made up of three layers - the endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm - which will later become his organs and tissues. Cells are forming for all major organs and his neural tube is beginning to develop. The neural tube (which begins the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone) develops in the ectoderm. The ectoderm also creates the skin, hair, nails and tooth enamel. His heart is beginning to formin the mesoderm and is already beginning to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood! The mesoderm will also form his muscles, cartilage, bone and other tissue. The endoderm will house his lungs, intestines, thyroid, liver and pancreas eventually, but right now is creating a placenta and umbilical cord.

So far I'm feeling pretty good. I'm having trouble with brushing my teeth (it gives me the dry heaves) but I think I've figured out a system to make it work. I'm not really having any strong cravings but I'm definitely having trouble finding food that appeals to me, especially for my first meal of the day. I'm also finding that I'm very emotional, and prone to crying over very stupid things, like not being able to find the animal crackers in Safeway yesterday. Thankfully, a mother of two little ones helped me out and the crisis was averted. My breasts are just beginning to get a little sore, but I probably wouldn't notice unless I was looking for it. I'm definitely peeing a lot more, but that seems to be due to my unusual thirst. I'm not much of a drinker (maybe a bottle of water a day) but I went through our Brita pitcher like it was going out of style yesterday.

I'm still having some trouble sleeping. It's 4:30 a.m. right now and I've been up for about 45 minutes. Maybe once we tell everyone my mind can rest and I can get a full night's sleep.

Insomnia

I figured the first night we found out I was pregnant I couldn't sleep because I was too excited and nervous and just had a million things going through my head. But, here we are, two days later, 3:51 a.m. and I've been up for an hour. I'm cold, tired, and a little nauseated. And hungry...oh so hungry! My stomach is making noises I've never heard before.

This weekend should prove to be pretty exciting. We're getting a big, new tv tomorrow and then on Sunday we're telling Chris's parents about the baby. Our plan is to pick up a fleece blanket because we all have our own blankets there to sit with while we're watching a movie or hanging out (they keep their house a little chilly) so we're going to tell them that since we all have our own blankets, we needed one more so we picked it up for them. It should be fun. It won't be their first grandchild, but I'm sure they'll be very excited for us. Every time we see them, they make some sort of pregnancy comment, so I think they're really looking forward to us having a baby.

Well, I'm going to climb back in bed and hope for the best...

11/3/06 Dr. Appt

I went to the dr this morning and she talked to me a little bit about my medical history and stuff and then asked about diseases and/or retardations that run in the family (which was really a scary thought). They took my blood to confirm the pregnancy and will have my results on Monday. I just want to make sure my hcG is high and then I'll probably stop worrying.

I have another appointment in two weeks to do the whole prenatal blood workup and then we have an appointment in four weeks for our first sonogram when, hopefully, we'll see the heartbeat.

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

We found out on November 1, 2006 that we're expecting a baby on July 11, 2007. I'm so excited! Here's a pic of our pregnancy test:

I have my first doctor's appointment today to do blood work and make sure my levels are where they're supposed to be (the pregnancy hormone, hcG, should be doubling every day - this is the hormone that tells the test whether you're pregnant or not). When I made the appointment, the receptionist said, "We need you to come in for a blood test to make sure you're pregnant" to which I responded, "Um, I'm fairly sure...I took four tests!"

So, here's the story. On Halloween night, I was up 4 times to go to the bathroom so the next morning I thought I'd take a test, just to see what it said. Of course I was expecting a negative. The test I took was a cheap little thing and I wasn't sure how reliable it was, but I took it anyway. It was negative after a minute or so, so I hopped in the shower and threw it in the trash. After I got out of the shower, for some reason I fished it out of the trash to see what it looked like, and it had a faint line on it. I wasn't sure if it was a true positive, or whether it was an evaporation line, which happens frequently after the allotted time frame.

Once I was at work, I kept thinking about that test so I went to Dollar Tree, which surprisingly has one of the most sensitive and reliable tests out there and bought 3 tests, just in case I needed a few for next month or the next few days also. I got back to work and took the Dollar Tree test and after about five minutes, it turned positive. I still wasn't convinced because it didn't happen until five minutes later so I decided that I'd go to CVS on my lunch break and get a digital test (one that says "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant").I trekked over to CVS and the only one they had left was expired so I went to Safeway and they didn't have any so I went BACK to CVS and bought the next best thing, a Fact Plus, which shows up with a Plus or Minus sign. I had to wait another hour or so until I had to pee again, but I took the test and here's the pic (along with the Dollar Tree test):

At that point, I knew I was pregnant and was freaking out. I needed to tell someone! So I went on BabyCenter and told all my ladies and they were soooo excited for me. I feel like I'm part of an exclusive club now. It's awesome.

When I left work, I went to Target and bought a digital test (to prove it to Chris in case he didn't believe the other tests), a bib that says "I Love Daddy", a card, and a pregnancy journal (for me). I arranged the test (after I took it, of course), bib, and card in Chris's shorts drawer, which I knew would be the first place he went when he got home.He opened the drawer, paused when he saw what was in there, and asked, "We got a positive?!" I said yes and we kissed and hugged and got a little teary. It was perfect. Then I took a pic of him with our baby's first bib: