2nd OB appt . . . July 26, 2012

So today’s appointment was quick!  The doctor was actually not there.  He was out delivering a baby, so I just saw the nurse.

She tested my urine and it was all good.  Blood pressure was 112/74 – good.  Then listened to the baby’s heartbeat.  160bpm.  Answered a couple of questions I had and then I was on my way.

Because I didn’t see the doctor this time my next appointment will be in 3 weeks instead of 4.  So that means we get to see the baby in 3 weeks!!!!  They do the ultrasound right there in the office too!  So 3 weeks from today we will find out if we are having a boy or a girl!  I CANNOT WAIT!!!!

We will do the ultrasound first and then a half hour after that is our scheduled appointment with the doctor.  We will see the other doctor in the practice and get to know him.  There are only 2 doctors so we will not know who we will get when it comes time for delivery.

Oh I am just so excited we get to go a week earlier than I thought!  🙂

Thanks for reading!

16 weeks . . . July 25, 2012

4 months!  Each week that passes seems like a big milestone.

So I really thought the morning sickness was over.  The last time I had any nausea or vomiting was Sunday, July 15.  So I was a little surprised when I felt nauseous yesterday.  Then I was even more surprised this morning.  I got up and felt full.  I had been going to the bathroom, just not as easily the last couple of days.  So I think that is what caused me to feel the way I did this morning.

So I decided to join hubby and watch a little morning news.  I was starting to feel nauseous and had a bowl of cereal.  About 10-15 minutes later the nausea came back . . . BIG TIME!  I dry heaved a couple of times and then hurried to the bathroom.  Yep, all of the cereal came back up!  And then I had the runs!  What a morning!  But I did feel better after that.  No more vomiting the rest of the day, just nausea here and there.  I sure hope I get at least another week and a half with no morning sickness or even more time without.

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Well, I think I have finally felt some movement.  I wanted to make sure it was actual movement and not just my imagination.  I have been reading a lot of posts on Baby Center and it seems like a lot of women are feeling the baby at 13 weeks or even soon!  Someone posted that she felt the baby at 10 weeks!!!  And these are first time moms!  From what I have read, if you are a first time mom you won’t feel the baby until 16-22 weeks.  If this is your second baby you may feel the baby as early as 13 weeks.  I understand all women are different and it also has to do with body type, but when I read someone felt the baby at 10 weeks, I was shocked to say the least.

Anyway, so for the last couple of days I have felt little movements here and there.  Most notably was yesterday.  Hubby and I left the house to run an errand and we backed out the driveway and there is a bump (small curb) at the end.  As we went over the bump I had that feeling of a “flip.”  Like when you are on a swing and you swing back to the top and the swing falls a bit before the chains catch you and your stomach does a little flip.  I just knew that was the baby doing a flip.  And then today I was laying on the bed taking a break and I felt tiny little thumps.  It was so incredible and I started to cry.  The feelings are few and far between but I know in time they won’t be.

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Every day I am still checking the heartbeat.  Baby likes to play hide and seek with me.  Just when I find the heartbeat I only get about 2 seconds before it moves!  Sometimes I am able to listen for about 30 seconds.  Still going strong!

Tomorrow is another OB appointment.  And then 4 weeks from now we will get to find out what we are having.  I think that will make everything more real.  I will finally be able to start getting things together on the registry and deciding on the decor for the baby’s room.  I am not going to go pink or blue, etc.  I will probably go neutral but some of the neutral things seem more geared toward a boy or a girl.  I can’t wait!

Thanks for reading!

picture day . . . July 21, 2012

So today I had some energy.  Hubby had a wedding up in Green Bay so he left at 10:30am and won’t be back until about 2:30am so I figured, if I felt like it I would make a list and get some things accomplished.  Ran to the supermarket and been working on laundry on and off and here is some of the other stuff I have done.

I tied up my tomato plants, cleaned out some weeds and watered the garden.

Still waiting for flowers to form on the green beans, but I have a lot of green cherry and grape tomatoes and the corn is coming along nicely.

Then I decided to bake some pies.  Some mini apple pies to be exact.  I haven’t baked a pie in quite a while so I was excited to try the mini pie.  My mom had gotten me some small pie pans and I have never used them, so today was the day.  They look good and I am going to try one tonight!

Here is a random picture (since it is picture day 🙂 ).  I remember way back when I was doing my 30-day challenge and when it came to the question of if we had made any baby purchases I had answered no.  Well, I recently came across something and I realized that I had made a purchase about 10 years ago or so even before I met hubby; the Little Golden Books.  I actually had some when I was little and so when I saw these I had to get them.  So now I will have them to read to our little one.  I always liked the Scuffy one the best.

And then I decided to make myself dinner.  Hubby doesn’t like a strong lemon flavor in his food and I sometimes do, so I made Lemon-Dill Chicken since it was just me tonight (I like to cut the chicken into small pieces before I cook it so it cooks faster and you have a good coating of the sauce.).  mmmm . . .  it was good!  Add the sides of green beans and sweet potatoes.

So that was my day.  I cleaned the dishes (that don’t go in the dishwasher), I need to start the dishwasher, I still have one load of laundry to start and then I will take my shower and veg the rest of the evening and wait for hubby to get home.

Hope everyone else had a great Saturday.

Thanks for reading!

15 weeks . . . July 18, 2012

15 weeks today!

I had some nausea and vomiting on Sunday, but the good days are definitely more frequent than the bad ones.  So I now feel like I have turned the corner and things are getting better.

Sleeping is ok.  I still seem to get up several times to pee.  The hip pain comes and goes.  Some nights it isn’t that bad but then this morning it woke me up a few times.

As I have updated the bump photos on the other page, but I thought it would be neat to see a side by side comparison.  Here are the 5 weeks and the 15 weeks photos.  Definitely a baby bump. 🙂

Not too much else going on.  I wanted to take a photo of my garden and how it is growing also, but haven’t done it yet.  Maybe in the next couple of days.  I did pick the first cherry tomato today.  woo hoo!

Thanks for reading!

the verdict . . . July 14, 2012

The pillow is on its way back.  I tried it for 2 nights and I actually think I slept worse.

I like the fact that it wraps around, but it is a little too full of the stuffing.  I felt almost buried by it.  I liked that I was able to have support in the front and back.  I could lean more backwards without being completely on my back, but it just felt almost too claustrophobic.   Also still had hip pain and did not have as much support in my neck.  So I actually had neck pain yesterday and today.

So back to Amazon it went.  I am going to try to just deal with what I have for the time being.  I may try another brand when my belly increases in size and I get a little further along in the pregnancy.  We will see.

I did want to note that the pillow had a lot of favorable reviews.  It just wasn’t for me.  So if you are still interested, I would say give it a try, but keep the box and packaging materials just in case.

Thanks for reading.

enter the hormones . . . July 12, 2012

Today was definitely a hormonal day.  Pretty much cried on and off most of the day.  Often times for no reason at all!  All a part of this pregnancy roller coaster.

Yesterday I had a lot of nausea, but today has been better.  Hoping it continues.

I got the pillow today.  I put it on the bed and tried it out.  I think I am going to like it.  Tonight will be a good test.  I took a picture so you can see how big it is.  We have a king size bed and it takes up just a few inches shy of half the bed.  So it will be interesting tonight to see if hubby is crowded.  Oh and Buddy wanted to be in the picture. 🙂

I will let you know my thoughts after a couple of nights sleep with it.

Thanks for reading.

14 weeks . . . July 11, 2012

So all of my daily emails I get from various baby sites tell me I am officially in the 2nd trimester!  Woo Hoo!!!  Thrilled everyday that I have made it another day!  Not trying to be morbid or anything, but when you are on such a long journey and have had a miscarriage each day is a blessing.  At least that is how I feel about it.

The morning sickness is still around, but I haven’t thrown up since last Thursday.  I still get nausea here and there, but most of it has to do with me not eating when I should.  Sometimes I get busy and then I start to get those drive heaves and I realize, ok, I need to eat a little something or a chew a piece of gum and that seems to help.  Hoping that in the next week I won’t have any more of that.

Still having trouble getting a good night’s sleep.  I still get up a few times to pee, but more of it has to do with the pain in my hips.  I have always been a side sleeper.  I usually sleep with a pillow in front of me to help me avoid rolling onto my belly because I would always have lower back pain.  So now with all that is going on in my body, my hips have actually gotten very painful and wake me up!  And when I wake up I think my mind is saying, well, you might as well go pee.

Yesterday I decided to order one of those pregnancy pillows to try.  I really want to alleviate some of the hip pain and I think if I can roll slightly on my back without laying flat, it will help my hips and also not cause any issues for the baby.  Some things I have read say that you should not be on your back for long periods of time because it can put pressure on major blood vessels and cut off supplies to you and the baby.  I think this is mostly in the later months, but I have also read not to do it after 12 weeks or so.  Why do something now and have to break that habit later?

So I am hoping this pillow helps.  Here it is in case anyone is interested:

It should arrive tomorrow.  I will let you know how it works after I get a few sleeps on it.  There is another one I thought of trying, but most of the reviews mentioned the seam at the top where your shoulder would go, so I opted for this one that was just a tad more.

Other than that things are moving along.  I started looking at cribs online.  I have a subscription to consumer reports and read about everything to look for in a good crib.  Then I did some looking online at Babies R Us, Amazon and Wal-Mart.  I might have found one that I like, that also has a changing table that matches it.  Hubby has a few days off next week, so we might go and look.  Probably not going to buy one just yet, but I am a planner and like to start getting things situated.  I also printed out the “must-have registry checklist” from Babies R Us to get an idea of things we will need.  I was able to narrow the list quite a bit as I don’t want to get a bunch of unnecessary things that look great, but will never use.  We have a dresser, a night stand and a futon in the spare bedroom/baby’s room so as far as furniture I think all we will need is the crib and changing table.  So it will be nice to look at stuff.  Usually Amazon is my go-to online place for bargains, but Wal-Mart actually had a lower price on the same crib and Babies R Us was even more.  You really have to shop around.

Thanks for reading.

today has been a good day . . . July 9, 2012

So I wanted to post this because I know I have been complaining a lot about not feeling well with the morning sickness.  Now I don’t know if it just up and left or if it is teasing me, but today has been a really good day (so far).

I had just a tiny dry heave this morning, but nothing since and I actually got some stuff done!  I decided to take advantage of me feeling good and having some energy.  Not sure how I will feel tomorrow so I am taking one day at a time.

I have a flower bed in the front and after planting the flowers some bunnies got in there and ate most of them down to little stubs.  I have grown marigolds for years and NEVER had this problem.  So they have slowly been coming back.  The weeds have actually taken over quite a bit so it was hard to tell how the flowers were doing.  So this morning I dug up all the weeds and watered.  Some of the plants are iffy at the moment but others actually have small buds, so maybe in another week they will be even better.  I also have a couple of petunias in there that are still hanging on.

Then I tackled the next project . . . the garage floor.  I think most garage floors are just concrete.  Well, hubby had his garage finished before I met him and he had the floor covered with a special coating, which makes it easy to clean.  Now of course hubby does not know I was planning on doing this.  He had to leave this morning at 10am for a gig and his car is in the shop so he borrowed mine.  I figured it was the perfect time to clean with both cars gone.  There was still some salt residue left over from winter so I went to work.  Looks great if I do say so myself.

All told between the flower bed and the garage I spent maybe 2 hours working!  I was so shocked and happy.  I felt great the entire time.  Tired after, but no morning sickness issues.  I then took a break and watched “Drop Dead Diva” from Sunday night. 🙂

While I was out I had gotten a call back from the OB’s office and was given the green light to take Zantac for the heartburn.  Tums were not cutting it!  So after my rest I took a walk over to CVS.  We can see if from the house and I estimate it is about a quarter of a mile over there.  It was a nice walk as the sun stayed behind the clouds the entire time I walked over and back.  Thank you!  The temp is in the 80s but it is such a relief from being at 100 last week!

After I returned I ate some lunch and showered.  And I still feel good!  Like I said I am taking it one day at a time.  I hope each subsequent day is as good if not better than this one, but only time will tell.

I will update again on Wednesday when I hit that 14 week mark!

Thanks for reading!

13 weeks . . . July 4, 2012

Sorry I haven’t been around but my parents came for a visit and I have been busy with them and also just not feeling that great.

Hubby had a very busy weekend.  He had to fly to Atlantic City for a concert on Saturday then back here on Sunday and we drove out to Dubuque for a concert on Sunday night.  I did not go with him Saturday but tagged along on Sunday.

So my Mom and I did some shopping on Saturday.  She was nice enough to buy me some maternity shirts.  I told her she didn’t need to do that but she insisted. Ok, I didn’t fight that hard.  I have 2 older brothers so she said she enjoyed being able to do this with me.  Sunday was a blur.  I picked up hubby at the airport and we got home and within an hour we were headed to Dubuque (parents stayed home with the dog).  It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive.  The concert went well, but it was HOT AND HUMID!!!  Thankfully where I sat (with the video camera) I had shade.  But poor hubby was in the sun most of the time and soaking wet after.  But it went well and the people loved it.  We got home about 1am.  Monday was a relaxing day.  We all went out to eat and then just vegged on the sofa that evening.  The parents left yesterday.

So it was a good visit.  I did have some time when I just did not feel well though.

Yes I am 13 weeks and still dealing with morning sickness.  I swear it has gotten worse.  From about week 6 to week 10 I had nausea, but never really threw up; maybe once.  But since I hit about week 11, it has gotten worse.  In the past 6 days I probably have thrown up 8-10 times.  I thought I was going to start feeling better and it has only gotten worse.

I really don’t want to be one of those women who deal with this the entire pregnancy.  The doctor did mention that a lot of women feel better when they hit weeks 14-15.  I am still holding out hope!  There are days I feel so crappy all I want to do is cry.  I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to do anything.  But I need to eat and I need to get off my butt and exercise.  I know I wanted to have this baby but I certainly didn’t think I would have all this morning sickness to go along with it.

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So about a week or so ago I finally got around to planting my garden.  Last year I planted 3 tomato plants (2 cherry and 1 grape), green beans, corn, lettuce and carrots.  This year I decided to keep it more simple.  The area is not very big, so I kept the corn and green beans.  I also have 2 tomato plants.  I did not plant these.  We got so many tomatoes last year that a lot of them fell to the ground.  Well, I had “volunteers” growing at the beginning of the season and 2 of the plants really took off so I let them grow and so far there are a lot of flowers on them and even some small tomatoes.  I do have to tell you I don’t eat tomatoes.  I like ketchup and tomato soup, just not tomatoes.  So I planted those just for hubby.  We had a lot of heavy rain over the weekend and everything is growing like crazy!  🙂

The corn is along the fence at the top of the photo and the other rows are the green beans.  I LOVE fresh green beans.  Last year everything was so crowded, so I like the layout this year.  And I like planting the corn because in the fall I use the corn stalks as decorations in the front of the house.

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And to those of you who celebrate it, hope you have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!