Bye Bye 1st Trimester

How Far Along? 13 weeks!  last week of the first trimester

Weight Gain?  up four pounds total

Maternity Clothes?  nothing new but soon I'm sure I'll expand my collection.  I'm barely fitting into my regular clothes anymore.

Symptoms?  None...thank God!

Sleep?  I'm not needing as much these days.

Food Cravings?  Not a lot of cravings but I'm definitely staying away from veggies.

Best Moment of The Week?  Going official on Facebook.  Even though our close family and friends already knew, it was kinda freeing to release the news to everyone else.  It's nice to feel safe enough to go out in the open with this kind of news.

Gender?  Family is calling "girl"  Friends are calling "boy" since I haven't been sick.

What I miss?  Nothing.  This is great!

Weekly Wisdom?  Think twice before asking the hubs to take your bump picture.  :)  He's more of a perfectionist than I thought!  He made me change into a different pair of pants to "show off my bump better"

Milestones?  Last week of the first trimester!

Emotions?  Per Tim "kinda clingy"

Appointments?  Since I'm out of my first trimester I can finally get back in to see my hair dresser!  I'm uber excited!  My roots haven't been touched for about four months!

Baby Size?  Around 3 inches and about an ounce.  My weekly email says that the baby has his/her fingerprints now.  How cute is that!!!

Nursery Ideas

We got another sneak peek at our little one!  We opted to do the First Look screen to give us a heads up on the chance of Downs syndrome and a couple other chromosomal abnormalities.  With our histories we don't feel our chances are higher than normal, but with IVF that rate does go up.  So we'll see.  The up-side is that we had another ultrasound done.

 The picture makes it look so real now!  We're not having to point out blobs on the screen and explain "that's a foot, that's the head."  So these definitely made our ultrasound photo frame! (thanks grandma!)  At first I was nervous during the ultrasound because the little one wasn't throwing a tantrum and moving like crazy, but I think he/she was just squashed under my full bladder.  Eventually in between screen shots I saw movement. The tech measured the heartbeat and I got to see it but not hear it.  162 beats per minute.  This ultrasound portion of the test put us in normal range, which was nice to hear.  We should get the blood work back before the end of the week.

Other things keeping me busy......planning the nursery!  I know we don't even know if it's a boy or girl yet, but I got to keep myself busy with something :)  If it's a boy, Tim's already claimed doing a Cubs themed room, and since I couldn't think of a better boy theme...Cubs it is.  A long time ago I spotted the perfect mobile, I don't know if people still use mobiles but I got one.

I couldn't find a Cubs bedding set without it being over the top though.  But I did find this!!  It's the Cooperstown collection!   It's got some baseball but nothing crazy.  It's got blue it in for the Cubs.  I like it!

And now for the girls....  I'm nervous to say what I would want the theme to be because I want it to cover every single wall.....but here we go...butterflies!

I was in love with a similar mobile through PotteryBarn kids where the butterflies were white.  But I went to their site last weekend and it was gone!!!  Luckily babies-r-us has this similar one in pink.  It's super cute!!!  And of course I couldn't just find one bedding set that I liked, so I'm still trying to narrow it down.  Here are a few of my faves.

I'm still looking for girlie bedding that takes my breath away.  These are cute but still undecided.  Good thing there's still a lot of time!

FOOD!

I just can't stop eating!!!  This is crazy!  I don't think I ate this much throughout my growth spurts in high school!  I need to figure out how to do this more effectively.  I am currently hauling in enough food to work each day to stock a grocery store!  Yesterday I had two breakfasts, 2 snacks before lunch, soup for lunch, 2 more snacks which are usually fruit or yogurt, then the big mac meal at mcdonalds!  And I still probably could have ate more!

Our Little Mover & Shaker

11 Weeks

How Far Along?  11 weeks, almost 12!

Weight Gain?  2 pounds.....and so it begins

Maternity Clothes?  Just one top from my shopping spree last weekend was actually maternity.  I did go into one maternity store and quickly walked right on out.  I'm not ready for all my tops to tie in the back and be super long!  It may be harder to shop at this phase than I expected.  Anyone know where to go for cute maternity clothes?  Especially work ones?

Symptoms?  None other than the exhaustion.  I seriously need to get in about 11 hours of sleep a night.  And if I don't get all that during the week, I'm taking 2-3 hour naps on the weekends.  That exhaustion and super busy work hours are the combo platter that have caused me to abandon posting this past week.  Some days I go into work at 7am and stay till 6:30pm, other days I go in at 9am and stay till 8pm!!!  There's just so much to do.  I can't wait for my boss to return from maternity leave!  Add in the 35 minute drive home and it's almost time for bed.

Sleep?  Lots of sleep.  I have noticed that my arms fall asleep during the night.  It's random when it happens.  Some times its understandably the arm that I'm laying on, but some times its the other one.

Food Cravings?  Anything I don't have to cook!  Maybe that's why I got an extra two pounds this week!

Best Moment This Week?  Actually I just got my best moment.  We just got done with our Doctors appointment and they did another ultrasound.  Saw and heard the heartbeat that was still beautiful to hear.  I wish they could record it and that is what I would choose to fall asleep to every night.  For awhile though, we just watched the baby move.  He/she was moving all over the place!!!  I mean, Tasmanian Devil moves.  Arms flailing, legs stretching.  Absolutely breathtaking!!!

Movement?  None I can feel but thanks to the ultrasound, we've got a mover and shaker.  Kinda makes me nervous that he/she will be taking after Tim :)

Gender?  No idea, no dreams about it, nada.

What I Miss?  My energy!  We'll be soon getting out of this trimester and then I supposedly get more energy.  That'll be a great day!  Working 10-11 hrs/day + Sleeping 10-11 hrs/night = not much time to do anything else.

Weekly Wisdom?  Even when you put on your pre-pregnancy pants and still think they fit....try sitting down before heading out the door to work.

Milestones?  One more week of the first trimester.  Some days I still don't believe that we've made it this far.

Emotions?  I'm guessing needy.  Tim had to fly out to DC this week and was gone a total of 24 hours....and it was awful.  Cried three times because I missed him so bad!  How needy is that!?!?!?!

Appointments?  Today was our last double check appointment before we go into regular-pregnancy-land.  Our next appointment isn't for a whole month.  I can't remember the last time I went a month without seeing a Doctor.

Baby size?  Over 1 1/2 inches....the size of a fig.

Ten Weeks!

How Far Along? 10 Weeks - Double Digits!

Weight Gain? None yet.  I'm not sure how that works when the scale stays the same but the waistband on my pants are getting awfully tight...

Maternity Clothes?  Because of the waistband incidents, I'm going shopping this weekend.  I will probably go with a size or two bigger in regular clothes instead of maternity though.

Symptoms?  Lots and lots of sleep!  And lots of trips to the bathroom.

Sleep?  Yes please!

Food Cravings?  I would say cravings are so strong that you have to have that food that day.  I haven't had any of those.  But what I have had is a preference towards Chinese food and carbs and an aversion to vegetables.

Best Moment This Week?  Yesterday was our last Progesterone shot!!!  No more daily needles!

Movement?  None that I can feel.  During our ultrasound on Friday, Dr.C. held the picture still long enough that you could see the lil one move!!!  That was crazy to see something so small move around!

Gender?  No clue

What I miss?  To be where we are, I will never say I miss anything.  To wait this long, nothing is worth as much as this.  But to say that each week may get old.  So if I had to say I'm missing anything...it would be...Jimmy John sandwiches.  Not having cold deli meat only gets to me when I drive by a Jimmy John's.

Weekly Wisdom?  I hate 115 degree heat indexes.  :)

Milestones?  Had our first OB appt!  I forgot to put in my previous post about Dr.C.  I was on the verge of giggles the majority of the time we were in his office!  He resembles the Dr off Knocked Up, and the naked guy in The Hangover.  Even some of his mannerisms.  It was too funny!  One of these times I'm not going to be able to hold it in and am going to have a laughing fit in his office.

Emotions?  Still even keeled.

Appointments?  Dr.C. likes to do a 2 week follow up appointment for the first time instead of a month.  So next appointment is August 20th.

Baby Size?  A little over an inch!

1st OB Appointment

Yesterday was the day.  The day I had been dreaming about for years, actually years.  Your first OB prenatal visit.  I didn't expect the path to get to this visit to be the one we walked, but finally getting there felt pretty good.

I was pretty nervous about meeting Dr.C.  I really wanted to like him, I'm tired of going from doctor to doctor, and he came highly recommended.  We started off kinda rocky but he had me smiling by the end.  We had a 1pm appointment and I'm usually early to everything, plus there's always a lot of first time paperwork to complete.  I find his office at 12:45pm and there is a handwritten (yes, handwritten!  I didn't know people did that anymore :)  ) on the locked door of the office.  Out to Lunch.  Be back at 1pm.  Their whole office shuts down!  They locked the door to get into the waiting room, not the door from the waiting room to the offices!  So here I am, standing in a long hallway and have to walk all the way back to the elevators to find a chair.  This was our rocky start.

So I waited by the elevators for Tim and for the clock to strike one before heading back down the hall.  It turns out that they have a small office, which I'm fine with, and not a lot of staff on Friday afternoons.  Fill out all the paperwork, which one was to be able to see my lab results online.....sweet!  The nurse did the usual weight (what I expected) and height (OMG I've shrunk another 1/2 inch!).  I don't know why my height irks me like it does.  I've just always thought of myself as tall and thought at one point I was around 5'7" or 8".  Then last year when I got measured at 5'6" I felt like "short" was tattooed across my forehead.  I'm usually in heels, maybe that's why I don't feel 5'6".  When the nurse said 5'5.5", Tim lost it!  Full on laugh out loud in the hallway!  Grrr.  Now he's been walking around calling me 5cubed. 

Went through my medical history with Dr.C.  It was nice to see that we were in a good spot, healthy, no bad vices, knew alot of the do's and don't's.  Then we had our ultrasound.  I had heard from multiple people that your first ultrasound is internal, so I was surprised when he suggested an external due to my frame.  Only my second external ultrasound to date!  Sure enough, we could see our little peanut.

At least to us, he/she has definitely grown and seems bigger.  It's a little hard to see but the head is on the right side and the lil feet are on the left side.  You could still see the flutter of the heartbeat.....which is still the coolest thing ever!  He left the ultrasound on the heartbeat for awhile which was nice to hear it.  A strong 150bpm.  At one point, Dr.C held the ultrasound in just one spot and you could actually see the baby move!!!  That was really cool!

So far so good!  We're headed back in a couple weeks to do another follow up.

First OB Appt Questions???

Calling all those who have already been through this!  Help!

For everyone who knows me, I'm a planner.  Always have been and probably always will be.  I want to make sure I ask all the questions I need to at our first visit and not have to make follow up calls or wait weeks for the next appointment.  So I've got a running list of questions but its short and I feel like I'm missing important things that I just don't realize are important yet.

I've got....
-How many Doctors are in the practice?
-If you're not available to deliver who would I be seeing?
-Any travel restrictions?  Since most my family is out of state and I'll be in my 3rd trimester over the holidays.
-What does he know about MTHFR in case mine flares up?
-I've never done flu shots in the past and haven't gotten sick.  Do I really need to do it now?  If so, when so that it's in full effect at the right time?

What else should I add to the list???

One Week Left!

Tim has been out of town for a couple days to a conference and so I am back to giving my Progesterone shots all on my own.  If you would have told me a year or two ago, that I would be ok and not bothered by stabbing a long metal needle into my leg, injecting thick oily fluid, waiting 5 secs to make sure its all in, and then pulling it out -- I would have told you THAT'S CRAZY!  I mean this is the girl that needs to focus on her breathing, be mentally prepared, and then still can't look as her blood is drawn.  But I've found that you do what you have to do.  Even if that means months and months of injections. 

Next week I'll be all done with the progesterone shots.  I think it will be a little sad.  It's been part of my morning routine for months now.  I wonder if I'll wander around trying to figure out what I'm forgetting to do.  I wonder if the Doc on Friday will find something else to make me inject and we'll just be swapping out meds instead.  That would be funny, but fine with me.  Whatever it takes.