15 Week Update

As of writing this post (on Friday, May 30), I am 15w3d along.

A recap of what has been going on since the last update...

On Saturday, May 24, I spent a great part of the day going through boxes of old stuff that we had gotten from Mom and Dad's -- throwing out some of it, setting aside some to sell and/or donate to a thrift shop, and setting aside the rest to keep (hopefully in a more organized, useful way). John spent that time deep-cleaning the kitchen and reorganizing the cabinets. When dinner time rolled around, I didn't feel up to cooking and I think he didn't really want to dirty the kitchen :), so we went over to La Hacienda in Wamego. We got shakes at Sonic afterwards (half-price after 8 pm for their summer special ;-)) and then watched the documentary Step Up to the Plate (about a Michelin-3-star restaurant in France) when we got home. It was a really nice evening after a busy day!

On Sunday evening, we went over to James and Katie's for a cookout and games with Fr. Campbell (before he gets transferred to Australia this August) and some mutual friends. It was fun and really good to spend time with everyone!

Johnny was imitating Father giving his blessing. :) <3

Monday, May 26, was Memorial Day -- John mowed the lawn, and later we went over to Mom and Dad's and picked up Mom's Weber grill which she is lending us for the summer. :) I was so excited to have grilled food at home - I've been craving grilled food at home, instead of "having" to go to someone else's house to have it. :) I made a cucumber-tomato-olive-feta salad as a side and strawberry shortcake for dessert. 

my 15-week picture a day early :)

Unfortunately, right before bedtime, I threw up all of that lovely dinner. :'( It seemed like such a waste of delicious food! I was bummed to have to re-fill my stomach with a hot pocket, even though it did the job. 

Tuesday, my 15-week mark, I spent a few hours working on the graduation dress I'm sewing for someone...

Wednesday, May 28, I had my second pre-natal appointment. It took awhile for the midwife (Eileen this time) to come in, because they had someone in labor while I was there; but about an hour after my appointment time, she came in. She did a full physical and everything seemed to check out fine! 

We reviewed my lab work from my first visit. She said my iron levels were great (12.5); my TSH had been a little high, so she had that re-drawn to see if it has come down since I've gotten into the second trimester. TSH being high in the first trimester is not uncommon, but it sounds like if it stays elevated, we may have to treat for it. 

My blood pressure at this visit was 130/68 and (official :)) weigh-in was 169.0. She found a little bit of a split in my abdominal muscles during the physical (about a finger's breadth), but wasn't worried about it at all. I've been having trouble sleeping and asked about using melatonin or valerian root; she wasn't familiar with using either during pregnancy (and said she could look them up), but said I could use benadryl in the meantime or other relaxation techniques (a warm bath, herbal tea, or a glass of warm milk). 

Baby's heart beat was in the 140's this time :) and she said my uterus was about 3 fingers below my belly button "right where I'd expect it." So that was all good. :) 

14 Weeks - and Breaking Out the Maternity Clothes!

I hit the 14-week mark on Tuesday, May 20... woohoo!! Firmly in the second trimester now! 

I'm feeling better and better... I still threw up on Monday (13w6d), Wednesday (14w1d) and today/Friday (14w3d). Each time before breakfast and just gagging on smells. Other than that, I'm doing much better than a few weeks ago! 

My energy levels are now registering Tired, rather than Exhausted and my food aversions seem to be lessening. I also have started getting a "hunger urgency" in the last week or so. I will go from feeling full (after eating a fairly small amount) to stomach-growling-ravenously-hungry within a half hour. There is no more gradual onset of getting hungry; it's very sudden! :) 

The scales are starting to register that the food aversion is going away, haha! In the interest of full disclosure, I was 167.6 when I got pregnant, dropped to 163.0 at one point when I was 7-9 weeks along (I think), and have started inching back up in the last week or two. At my first prenatal appointment (11w0d), I "officially" weighed 165.5. This time last week, I was 165.4 on our scale at home. After our weekend getaway in Kansas City (where we had a five-course meal as part of a cooking class and ate a huge, delicious meal at Fogo de Chao the next day), I weighed in at 168.0 on Monday morning. Some of that must surely have been just the sheer quantity of food in the short space of time, because this morning (four days later), I weighed 167.2. ;-)

So overall, holding pretty steady since the very beginning... Considering the baby weighs approximately one ounce right now, the slow start is fine with me! I know the growth and weight-gain is right around the corner!

Mom and I went shopping ('til we dropped) yesterday for maternity basics. I spent a small fortune, but got a lot of things I needed: 4 maternity bras (2 standard, 1 sports, and 1 for sleeping), 2 maternity camisoles (1 black, 1 white), 3 shrugs to wear over sleeveless things (1 black, 1 white, 1 royal blue), an all-purpose black skirt, a white sun-dress, several tops, a white slip, and more! 

This morning, I spent an additional $51 at a garage sale on 7 tops, 4 skirts (including a denim one, yayyy!!!), 2 belly bands, another undershirt, a maternity leggings thing for smoothing bumps, and 4 little gender-neutral newborn sleepers. And another $20 on a Belly Bandit for after the baby is born. 

Except for some maternity undies, I am all set!! 

With all this fun, new stuff in the house, I finally broke out the maternity clothes this morning! :) I probably could've kept wearing the same 2 skirts and my t-shirts for the next week or so, and done okay; but I was ready for a little more variety. :) While I wash all the garage sale finds from this morning and all the brand new clothes from yesterday, I decided to wear a sun-dress that I got a couple weeks ago at Mommy and Me. It will probably only fit me in the second trimester, so I'd better get some good use out of it while I can. :) I put my brand-new white cami under it and my brand-new royal blue shrug over it... worked out great! I think the dress emphasizes my bump, so I look more than 14 weeks along; but oh well! I'd much rather start looking pregnant than continue looking bloated and fat. :) 

(Please excuse the mirror selfies. ;-)) 

14w3d

13 weeks

Yesterday was a very "off" day in addition to being shopping day. I didn't sleep well night before last (probably because of napping on Mother's Day :-/), so I started the day tired and dragging, as well as nauseous, gaggy, and headachy. I muscled through and went to Topeka, got some maternity clothes at a consignment store (Mommy and Me), got some big pots and some potting soil for a container garden this summer, and got groceries at Aldi's and Dillon's. By the time I got home, I was feeling so bad, I just got the cold stuff put away and then flopped on the couch until John got home a couple hours later. I managed to pull together chicken chow mein (pre-fab, of course) for dinner and then hit the couch again until bedtime. I was hungry again, so before getting dressed for bed, I had a bowl of mini-wheats cereal. After getting dressed for bed, I coughed and gagged... and then evvvverything came back up. :( It was pretty violent. :-/ Poor, dear, sweet John came running into the bathroom and held my hair back for me, then got me damp paper towels to wipe my face, got me a glass of water, and then told me not to worry about cleaning it up (TMI, but the first round of puking was so forceful it splashed all over the counter wall and the floor by the toilet)... so he cleaned it up for me. I was so grateful, but so sorry for him!! It was a "bonding experience". :) I was a bit frustrated to have to eat again (lol), but I knew I wouldn't sleep on a completely empty stomach; so I had a bowl of oatmeal and ate it very carefully. :)

Most thankfully, I slept very well last night and feel so much better today!! I already have the third load of laundry in and finally got the graduation dress I'm working on cut out this afternoon. I am trying not to overdo it, because it is still really easy to do that, but SO glad to feel 75% human again. :D

I am hoping that yesterday was "last hurrah" of feeling yucky, a forceful farewell to the first trimester... God willing! According to the sonogram dates, I am 13 weeks today. 

On a side note, I posted this announcement on Facebook this afternoon. :) (Thanks to Mary for the design work!)

A Little Background

I've been wanting to start this blog for a couple of months now... ever since I got that positive pregnancy test on March 12. Time blurs memories so much, and there are things I'll wish I could remember. So my intention is to "remember" them here.

As a quick background, I got a positive pregnancy test on March 12 with an EDD of November 21, 2014. We couldn't have been happier!!! Six months isn't a long time, but we weren't sure how many more months it would be, if we could get pregnant at all. I announced the happy news to my dear hubby with a "Welcome Home, Daddy" banner to greet him after his work day.

March 12 was Wednesday in the first week of Lent and despite extreme fatigue and a little morning sickness, we were able to keep it a secret from our families until Easter!! 

Symptoms

As I recall now (the memories are already not so crisp), the fatigue started immediately (even before the positive test) and my chest was extremely sore/bruised feeling (starting several days before the positive test). 

About six weeks along, the fatigue increased and I started feeling "icky" every day. It wasn't distinct nausea, but just an unsettled stomach and cruddy feeling. I had kept at our Paleo menu as we had been doing for the previous five months or so, but my food aversions ramped up and after about six weeks along, I couldn't handle the food prep anymore. Being on my feet for long periods of time in the kitchen was already hard, and the sight of raw meat made it worse. 

So we abandoned the healthy meal plan in favor of foods that were at least semi-appealing to me and our diet became much heavier in processed foods. I'm not thrilled about that, but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. 

During Passion Week and Holy Week and continuing into Easter Week (when I was 7-10 weeks along), my fatigue peaked. I would sleep ten hours at night, wake up at 8:30 in the morning, and literally be able to take a 3-hour nap by 11:30 am! My eyes would burn and my head couldn't focus on anything other than the need to lay down. 

Toward the end of Easter week, my fatigue seemed to ease up but I was a lot more "gaggy" from Good Friday/Holy Saturday (9 weeks) onward.

I've thrown up a few times (first time was Palm Sunday/8 weeks along; second time was Holy Saturday/nine weeks along; the third time was April 30/10-1/2 weeks along; the fourth time was just a few days ago - the second Sunday after Easter/11 weeks along) - each time has been more due to an overactive gag reflex than because of nausea. Twice was on an empty stomach; twice I had food on my stomach.

As of now - Wednesday, May 7 and 12 weeks along - I still feel nauseous/gaggy/icky from time to time, but it isn't constant; and although I wear out easily if I start doing an activity (walking, shopping, even just sitting and talking), I have a little more stamina than I did a few weeks ago. I am hoping that another week or two will see me feeling much more energetic again - especially since I have a storage room to convert into a baby's room and freezer meals to make for the end of the third trimester and postpartum! 

Telling the Family

After what felt like forever, but was actually 5-1/2 weeks, we finally shared the good news with our family on Easter!! We told them by means of a little card inside of an Easter Basket: 

I captured (very briefly before I was attacked with hugs!) their reaction on video! 

Is it Twins??

My first prenatal appointment was on Tuesday, April 29. DH was able to get off work a little early to come with me. I had lab drawn and was told what the routine for visits would be, got a packet of information from the nurse, and then waited to see the midwife. 

The midwife had a list of questions regarding family history and our personal habits and then we finally got to the highly-anticipated part of the visit where she would use the Doppler to listen to the baby's heart-tones. :) Before she got out the Doppler though, she felt my uterus to gauge its size. According to my dates, I was 10w3d along at that point, but she was pretty sure my uterus was measuring 11-12 weeks! We had been joking about twins all along, but when she recommended getting an ultrasound to confirm dates and "rule" out twins, I couldn't believe it!!

We proceeded to listen to fetal heart tones, which she was able to find pretty quickly near the top of my uterus. 170 bpm and we could hear them crisp and loud and clear! 

The next day, she scheduled an ultrasound appointment for us here in SM. 3:45 pm on May 1. DH was once again able to get off work a little early to be there with me. After mounting suspense, the ultrasound showed just one little baby in there. He/she was measuring 11w2d, so they moved my official due date up to November 18. I had actually been hoping that we'd find out it was twins, so I was surprised and a little disappointed to find out it wasn't; but nonetheless, very happy to have a healthy baby in there, growing right along!!! It was a bonus that we got "baby's first pictures" so early too. We had not expected to get a sonogram until 20 weeks along. 

Here is our little one (at the time, slightly smaller than the size of a kumquat, according to BabyCenter.com - about an inch-and-a-half long from crown to rump). So cute!!

My next prenatal appointment is scheduled for Wednesday, May 28. I'll be about 15 weeks along. 

This picture, taken last night, shows my "wannabe" bump at 12 weeks along, haha!