Friday, November 30, 2007

Giving Thanks

A week ago Thursday was thanksgiving. We spent the day with our church home group. We do not know them very well, but we figured this would be a good time to get to know them. We got there by noon and left around 9pm. I was so tired! We ate, watched football and played games. It was nice. I was only able to eat mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and a few rolls. My stomach was just not feeling that well. We really miss our families on holidays. It is hard to live so far away.
I still have quite a bit of nausea these days. Mashed potatoes, whole wheat bagels with apple butter and root beer are my favorite things to eat. Ryan has been doing all of the cooking these days. I either don't want to eat, or get bothered by the smells of cooking. My sense of smell has been incredible these days, and not in a fun way. Poor Ryan. He is the one who gets to prepare everything now! Food is still not my friend.
I have started to notice that my lower belly is starting to get harder and stick out a bit. I am still able to wear all my old clothes, but it is starting to look like a "Fat" roll. I guess this is the awkward stage were i don't look pregnant, but i am starting to put on some weight.
Tomorrow is the first day of December. We are so excited to head home. I still have lots of Christmas shopping to do though! My prayer is that i will be feeling back to normal by than. I will be 12 weeks along, and almost out of the first trimester, so i am ready to stop feeling sick all the time!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

The little peanut

We went to our first OB appointment on Tuesday. We are going to a doctor's office that has two drs, two midwives and a few nurse practitioners. The midwives will be delivering the baby unless there are any slight complications, and than one of the drs will be on hand. It is really a great set up. I will have the benefits of a midwife with the safety of a doctor.
When we arrived at the Dr's office, we were the only couple in the waiting room. I felt kinda bad for the other ladies that did not have anyone with them. The nurse who took my blood pressure/vitals told Ryan that we would have a beautiful baby. She said she could tell from just looking at the two of us. I hope that is true!
We sat down with one of the nurse practitioner and went over all the questions we had. She told me that i was only 6 weeks and 4 days along, not 7 weeks and 4 days that the website had told me. Man, i did not want to still be in my sixth week! my due date is still the same, but i thought i was a week closer to getting out of this first trimester sickness stuff!
The nurse said that she might be able to squeeze us into the ultrasound room to see if we could see the baby's heart beat. She warned us that i am very early along and that they may not be able to see the baby at all. Since i am so early in my pregnancy, i was going to have to have a vaginal ultrasound.
We were able to get in to the ultrasound room. Ryan was able to watch the monitor while she tried to locate the little baby. She did notice that my bladder was about to burst. Ryan said that it looked the same when she said she saw my bladder and when she just started out. He thought for sure we would never be able to see the baby. She was able to find the baby and the yoke sac! We were able to see the baby's heartbeat. It literally shook the whole tiny little body! The baby looks more like worm on the ultrasound, but we were able to see it and we were able to see the heart beating. It was so amazing! Ryan got so excited! He was happy before, but once he saw his "little peanut" he was ecstatic! He kept staring at our ultrasound picture and talking to the baby!
The drs were very happy to find out that we saw the heartbeat. It is a great sign. We have a 90% chance of keeping the baby full term when you see a heartbeat. It is so crazy to see the little heart beating and know that it is inside of you growing and becoming more and more like a baby everyday.
Today the baby is developing brain cells at about a 100 cells a minute. Ryan is praying that the baby develops extra and is extra smart! The baby's little tiny limbs will start to sprout soon.
It is amazing how life develops so fast. We are very excited to meet our little peanut!

Monday, November 12, 2007

6 weeks= sick week

I am now in my 7th week of pregnancy. Tomorrow is my first OB appointment. I am hoping that we will be able to hear the baby's heartbeat! This last week has been quite interesting. I wake up feeling great but by noon the nausea hits and it lasts till i go to sleep. Food is no longer fun. It is more of an necessity. I don't really like food. I am eating though, i just don't like to and i don't want too. I don't have any aversions at this point, i just don't really like food. Too bad this wont continue when i am trying to shed the baby weight! I am very grateful that i have not had any vomiting though. I feel lucky to just be tired and nauseous and not puking sick.
At this point, my favorite foods are anything to do with mint, Sprite, peanut butter and granola bites,and whole wheat bagels. My non favorite foods are anything not on that list.
I hear that most of these symptoms will go away in a few more weeks. I am excited about that.
I am excited to see how the baby is doing tomorrow at the doctor's appointment!
Until then...

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Great EXPECTtations!

October 26, 2007. My world will never be the same. I couldn't sleep all night. I awoke at 4am to use the bathroom. I could not get back to sleep. It was just me and Oscar the cat hanging out. Ryan was still away in Baltimore. We both stayed awake until 7:20 till i had to use the bathroom again. And than, one single word off a digital test shook me. Pregnant. The test stick read "pregnant". I was in shock. I started to cry. Oscar became alarmed and started to cry as well. I am having a baby! I confirmed it with an already scheduled yearly physical dr.'s appointment. I am going to have a baby the first of July. July 4th is the actual date.
The complete and udder exhaustion i had been experiencing all week now made a bit more sense. Ryan flew in that evening. I wrapped my "pregnant" test sick up in tissue paper and put it in a little gift bag. I than promptly went to sleep for the next 2 hours, waiting for him to come home. He came home and found me sleeping at 8pm. He crawled into bed and i told him i got him a present while he was gone. He smiled,not too surprised because i tend to shop when he is away, and began to open it. When he read the stick, he smiled the most amazing smile. He asked if it was true between laughing and wonderment. I still cant believe that we are going to be parents!
Our family is ecstatic. This will be the first grandchild on my family side. It is also the first great grand baby. My grandmother told me that she had begun to give up hope! My dad knows that it will be a boy. He has pretty good odds of it being a boy, 50/50 isn't too bad!
It is still sinking in for me, a week or so later. I am still very tired, i use the bathroom ALL the time and i just don't want to eat certain foods. Ben and Jerry's Mint Cookie ice cream is the greatest thing that man has made, though i am still working on a pint i got a week ago. And so, the joys of pregnancy has begun. It will be quiet an adventure.