From embryo to fetus...

Ok...here is my belly at week 8. I will admit...most of that is fat, but there is a little bit of harder roundness there at the bottom. And fat or not, I figure I needed a "starting point" photo...so here we go. I guess pregnancy really does change your mindset about your body....I NEVER would have posted a picture like this on a public website before!! But I guess being able to say "my uterus has grown to the size of a grapefruit and that's why my belly sticks out" makes it easier to accept that my fat jeans are getting tight! I actually was happy to see the scale go up a pound today...who would have thunk??

I went to the doctor again last week. This time I met with the head OB nurse and went over my family medical history. Luckily most of what they asked didn't apply so they feel good that between that and my bloodwork coming back clean that I am not high risk. Of course there is that thing about being 35 when the baby is born. It seems this is the magic age where everything goes down hill. I have to go see a specialist at 13 weeks to make sure everything is going ok. They'll do a sonogram and can determine with 80+% accuracy if the baby is at risk for Down's Syndrome. Luckily they can do this with just the sonogram and not have to do an amnio...I am not sure how I feel about that right now.

After meeting with that nurse I was sent the mean nurse I saw last time. I assured her that I was ready to pee this time...she didn't seem to care. Whatever. Then it came time to weigh me. I told her my scale at home had gone down 2 lbs. She looked at her scale and said "well you're still 170." BITCH! Ok...sorry...my scale said 164. I obviously like mine better (I guess that negates everything I said in the first paragraph about not caring, huh?). Anywho, I finished with her and she sent me off with a "Bye Sweetie!" I'll show her sweetie!!

Ok...enough about her! The doctor then came and they did another vaginal ultrasound. I didn't get a printout this time, but the baby blob was about 3x the size it was before and the little heart was fluttering away so that was good. Then the doctor and I talked about how I was feeling and I said my main symptom was fatigue (boy do I miss my Red Bulls!!). He said that was normal and it was God's way of signaling it was time to rest. I told him that shopping with my mom for an afternoon wouldn't normally make me tired, but it exhausts me now. His reply was that God was a man and men don't like shopping so that's why it effects me so much! Such a comedian he is!!

Well now I am in my 9th week which means we have graduated to the fetus stage. According to most websites I am now having a grape! They sure keep me feeling hungry with all the food references!

I am off to have lunch now with my mom and her neighbor Tina. Tina just had a baby in August so I am going to go practice! :)

Bye bye to the kitties!

I received a call from one of the nurses at my doctor's office over the weekend and she said all of my blood work came back good. BUT she said they tested to see if I am immune to a disease you can get from cats while pregnant and it turns out I am not. Even after growing up with cats, I never was exposed, so....that means I am at risk. I forget the exact name of the virus, but it can cause retardation and blindness...so we didn't want to take any chances. The nurse said I shouldn't clean the litter box, even with gloves, and shouldn't even be in the same room as the litter. She also said to not have the cats sleep with us at night...which they do every night! In fact the cats spoon me while Kevin gets the rest of the bed to himself! So we had to call the "grandparents" and see if they would take the cats because Kevin was going to Florida for work and wouldn't be back for at least 2 months. They reluctantly agreed. This now gave my parents 2 indoor cats and 5 outdoor cats!! They are now the "old cat people!" We miss our kitties, but it's for the best. Since this is our first, and probably only child we want to be sure we do all we can to ensure it's healthy!

Gender Predictors

Ok...so I went shopping with a very excited grandma to be yesterday...my mother! :) I think she told every person we interacted with that she was going to be a first time grandma. It was very cute!

One thing we noticed during our shopping spree was that until you know what you are having it is hard to find anything to buy. Baby clothes are very gender specific. Girls are pink princesses and boys like tractors and dinosaurs. Kind of sexist, but we'll go with it. :) Of course it is WAY too early to know what we are having (let alone be shopping for it...but tell that to the grandmas!) so what is an expectant mother to do? Turn to an ancient Chinese gender predictor!! I had seen one on one of my "I'm Pregnant" websites early on and I had a number of my friends and co-workers try it out and all but one said it was accurate. So...according to this "scientific" source I am having a girl. This is calculated by looking at what age I was when the baby was conceived and the month of conception. Ok...girl it is.

But wait! Today I get an email from my Aunt Tina with a Chinese Gender Predictor attached and it is done by using the age I will be when the baby is born and the month of conception. This time I am having a BOY! Hmmm....now what? So I go back to the all knowing internet to look for a tie breaker. I find a calculator that finds your Chinese lunar age (you know the Chinese all want boys, so they have tons of calculators out there!) and uses that to determine sex.

So the tie breaker winner? Boy!

Ok, am I going to run out and sign my little tadpole (or is it a whale? What is that spinning thing over to the left of the blog?? Alien?) up for hockey and buy all blue? No....I think I will wait for the medical community to tell me something a little more concrete. In the mean time, I am on the D's for girl's names in a book of over 100,000 baby names. I may get through the book by the time the baby is born. Maybe.

First doctor appointment....it's alive!!

I had my first pre-nantal doctor's appointment yesterday. Kevin went with me. It started off bad when I couldn't pee on demand. I hate that...I had drank water all morning and KNEW they were going to ask me to do it. I was getting my pregnancy confirmed after all! It took me awhile, meanwhile the nurse was visable upset I was taking so long. Luckily she was only the check in nurse so I had no other interactions with her. She was a little too bitchy for my taste. I guess during one of my tries she told Kevin how busy they were today and sighed and slapped her hand on the desk. Nice lady.

Anyway, I finally produced what they needed so we went into a room to wait for the Doc. He came in and congratulated us. :) I already knew, but it's always good to hear it from a professional. He said the Estimated Due Date (EDD) is Sept. 4th. I already have had requests to hold out for a 9-9-09 baby, but we'll have to see about that. He proceeded to ask about my symptoms, which at this point mainly consist of me carrying 2 giant boulders around attached to my chest! I did mention some cramping so he suggested we go ahead and do an ultrasound to make sure the embryo was where it was supposed to be...in my uterus, not my tubes. So we were herded to a new room...Kevin commented that they needed moving sidewalks or shuttle to get people from place to place!

I can't believe how big ultrasound machines are! You would think that in 2009 they would have some nice small thing to do these, but nope. The nurse said she thinks they get bigger every year! Kevin thought the vaginal ultrasound thing was interesting...the "probe" I guess you would call it was all ready with a condom looking thing over it and some lube. He was like "they are going to stick that inside you?" Yep, that's how it works! He decides he doesn't want a front row seat at that point. :) The dr. comes back in and I "assume the position" (ladies, you know what I am talking about...stirrups anyone?). He tells "daddy" to come stand by my shoulder so he can turn the screen so "mommy" can see. Wow....that was weird to hear. I felt like I was in a movie or something. Very out of body... Anyway, he shows us on the screen where my uterus and bladder are, then you could clearly see a little sac...this is where our little yolk was!! Then he pointed out a fluttering on the screen and says that this is the hearbeat! Kevin - "Shutup!" Doctor - "It is!" Kevin - "No...shutup!" It was great.

I am so glad Kevin came with me because I think at that moment it really sunk in with him and he seems really excited now. More on that later though...

After we were done there (by the way I have peed 2 more times now that no one needs a sample any longer!) we go into yet ANOTHER room. The doctor tells us some of what I can and can't do and eat or drink. The best part was when he said I can't clean the litter box. I had told Kevin that was the case and he didn't believe it. Now he heard it from the expert...he said "thanks Doc!"

Lastly, I had to give a bunch of blood samples. Kevin chose to sit this part out. I warned the nurse, because last time I had been intheir office, they must have poked me 10 times trying to find a vein. She actually got it on the first try!! She said she was from Dracula's country, so she had no problem drawing blood. I thought that was funny! :)

My next appointement is in 2 weeks so I will have more to report then and maybe a new picture of the yolk. :)

Now, back to Kevin. I came home last night and when I opened the door, he had candles lit all over the house! It was beautiful!! He had a bottle of champagne chilling, along with a can of Ginger Ale of me since I can't drink! He poured us our drinks in champagne flutes and we toasted to our new life. It was wonderful and it made me so happy! I know we are both a little scared about how this is going to change our lives, but I think we're ready for the challenge!

First prenancy post

Ok....it's a new year, I have a new life growing in me, so I thought I would try out this blogging thing to keep people up to date on how the whole pregnancy thing is going. I can't promise anything...I was never good at keeping a diary, so I don't know how this will go, but I will try. This will allow be to share pictures and stories along the way which will be great since I have friends and family spread all over this country!!

So, where to start? I guess let's start at the beginning. Kevin and I decided that I would go off the pill in September (well, I decided, he went along with it). At that point, I went online and signed up for 2 different fertility calendars so I would know when our "prime opportunities" were. The first few months were pretty quiet. Then December came and we joked that we weren't going to getting pregnant any time soon because he was scheduled to be in Florida for work for the entire time my calendar said we should be trying to conceive. Nice. Well...as fate would have it we beat the odds of the web and conceived anyway!!

I was due to have Aunt Flo visit on Christmas Day...nothing like having her in for the holidays (my last cycle started on Thanksgiving so it was apropos). I had what I thought were PMS symptoms all week leading up so I had no reason to think she wouldn't show. Well that day came and went as well as the next and the next. By Sunday I wasn't feeling well (that may have been due to the festivities the night before too...shhh!) so I bought a pregnancy test on the way home. Kevin ended up falling asleep on the couch shortly after I got home so I went upstairs to see what the test would say. I have taken a few pregnancy tests in my day and usually the wait seems SO slow while the results come up. Not this time. I think the double lines appeared immediately and shouted out to me from the stick. I stood there in shock for a minute, then just smiled. I was happy....but how to tell Kevin. He has been less than eager for kids, to be honest, but after some long talks he was willing to try. Now that this was a reality I wasn't sure how he would take it. I decided to wait to tell him until I went to the doctor for confirmation. In the mean time I went on eBay and ordered a Korn onesie I had seen (his favorite group) so I could soften the blow when I told him. :)

The next day all I could think about was that I was going to have a BABY!! Work...well not much got accomplished that day. I knew I had to go home and tell Kevin that night. I couldn't get into the doctor until Jan 7th, over a week and a half away, and I knew I couldn't hold it in for that long. So I went home and waited for him to get home. When he got there I asked him to sit down with me on the couch. He was immediately on guard. I put my arm around him and showed him the positive test. He said "what does this mean?" I realized the words were upside down so I turned it over and showed him that the 2 lines meant pregnant. He sat there in shock for a few minutes...then said he needed a shot. If you know Kevin at all, this is not a surprise for him! I then showed him a pic of the onesie I had ordered, which he liked. We talked for a bit then he picked up the phone and started calling people. He started with my mom...this is the first grandchild for my parents. She started crying she was so happy. Next was his mom, who started screaming. Good reactions from both. :) He also called his step mom and his Dad and they were both very excited too. I think it helped Kevin to hear how excited everyone is.

Once the news was spilled to the parents it didn't take long for it to spread. My mom emailed everyone she knew that night to share and before long it was all over Facebook. That meant telling my co-workers since most of them are on there. So the news is out...a little earlier than I would have liked, but oh well. We are excited and I can't imagine keeping this in for another 2 months until I was further along!

So....depending on which site I go to, I am between 5 and 6 weeks along. I'll add one of the countdown clocks to the blog once I go to the doctor and get his opinion. Estimated due date at this point is September 3rd.

So, post 1 down....many more to hopefully follow along with photos, etc. I want to share this with everyone, so enjoy the ride!