Yay! I received this blog award from Nicolemarie at Live.:.Laugh.:.Love. Thank you so much!
So... A list of 10 things about myself:1) I got a dog for my birthday when I was 10 and she was the love of my life. When she died almost 3 years ago I didn't get out of bed for days and I quit my job.
2) I use to work in organ donation procuring corneas and whole eyes from deceased organ donors. It was the most amazing experience.3) I am a big terrified baby. I don't like to do anything where I might get hurt.4) I absolutely hate driving and I don't like being on freeways.5) I love to crochet and knit on my knifty knitter. I'm making a baby blanket right now.6) I love to read.7) I love animals and wish that I could rescue all of them.8) I'm a firm believer in good customer service and I don't tip waiters/waitresses that suck.9) I love my preggo boobs and I wish that I could keep them forever and ever! LOL!10) I don't have much motivation for school this semester and I really need to get it together.The five people that I'm passing this on to are:1) Sew Infertile2) We're Expecting3) Baby Dreams & Life Things4) Mr. & Mrs. G5) Mommy Wanna-be turned Mommy to-be!
I am officially 12 weeks pregnant and according to my doctor now into my 2nd trimester. That was confusing for me to figure out because there's so much info out there on the splitting up of the trimesters. I am happy to report that my morning sickness and ta-ta soreness is beginning to subside. I'm still very tired though. As for my little lovey s/he is now the size of a plum, can suck and swallow, can feel pain, and if I tap on my tummy s/he will startle. Cool! He has a bunch of other milestones as well, but those are what I found the most amazing.
The biggest change for me so far is breakfast. Pre-pregnancy I was not a breakfast person and if I ate early then I would get really sick to my stomach. I would usually just eat something really light around 10 or 11. Now I'm hungry as soon as I wake up and I want a full breakfast. Also for the past few days I've been eating non-stop. Yesterday I ate from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. No joke! I've also been craving a lot of fruit and orange juice. Yummy!This week I'm getting the ultrasound where they check the baby's neck for thickening that is indicative of Down's Syndrome and then at week 15 I'm getting the anatomy scan. I know it's a little bit early, but I'm really hoping that they will be able to tell the gender then. I'm so anxious to know! I'll also be getting growth scans once a month. I'm just happy to have any opportunity to see my sweet baby.So, I've been taking pictures of my belly since week 6 (silly I know, but dh wanted to). My question is how are you suppose to know when you're showing and when it's just baby bloat? My stomach now sticks out and it's all day and doesn't go away, but is it a baby bump or is it baby bloat? Is it both? I'll let you guys be the judge. Here's my week 6 photo and my week 12 photo. I think I'm just really anxious to start looking pregnant. I'm thinking that maybe a baby bump is suppose to be lower? Okay, okay I'll stop rambling and just show ya the dang pictures already. WEEK 6
WEEK 12
My dh is attached to a search and rescue squadron in the US Navy. We found out yesterday that he is deploying on the USNS Comfort to help with the victims in Haiti. He left at 4pm today. I am happy that he's going to get to help those who are suffering and I'm so proud of him, but I'm also very sad. He can be gone for up to 5 months! I'm sad because I'm going to miss him so much (we do everything together) and because I don't want him to miss anything with this pregnancy. We waited so long for this and I don't want him to miss a single thing. He's going to miss me starting to show, the baby kicking for the first time, when I find out the sex, putting together the nursery, etc. He should be home by the time I'm 7 months pregnant, but then he leaves again for a 6 month deployment a month after the baby is due. Plus, he's such a great support system and does so much for me. He cooks me breakfast every morning, gets me everything I need, researches everything when I'm too tired to do it, comes to all of my appointments and remembers all of the important questions to ask. Please keep me in your prayers. I want to remain strong while he's gone and for this deployment to pass by really quickly. I also found out yesterday that I'm a carrier for cystic fibrosis. Luckily dh was able to get his labs drawn yesterday to see if he is as well. I really doubt that he is, but it will still be good to find out for sure.
Today was by far the most amazing day of my life! Nothing can even come close to topping it. Today was my last appointment with my RE and I got another ultrasound. It was so WOW! The baby no longer looks like a blob. I got to see the head, body, heart beating, arms, and legs. The best part was I got to actually hear the heart beating! I had no idea how much that would effect me. I immediately started crying. I can't even describe how I feel right now. I'm a Mom! I have a precious little life growing inside of me that's half me and half my husband. Thank you God! Thank you so much for this priceless gift. I hope that I can prove myself deserving. My RE kept saying how cute my baby is. Awww I definitely agree. Here's my little mush mush! I'm in love!
First things first, I have a recommendation. Pregnant or not pregnant, ttc or not ttc, everyone needs to watch this documentary called "The Business of Being Born". My sister-in-law recommended it for dh and I to watch. It's amazing and so informative! You can rent it through Netflix or Blockbuster's home delivery program and you can download it on Amazon. I'm upset right now because I'm not going to get the labor experience that I want to have. Unfortunately with my health issues and being a high-risk pregnancy I can't have a mid-wife like I would like, but if I could it wouldn't be an option. I just found out that with my insurance, Tricare, my ONLY option is to give birth at the Naval Hospital. I'm upset because it's going to be a stressful experience. They make you get in IV, don't allow you to eat or drink, and you're only allowed 1 support person in the room. Everyone else must be in the waiting room and I really wanted my MIL and Mother there as well. They also have a high c-section rate and push for pitocin and an epidural. I want a peaceful, natural, beautiful, stress free birth experience. I know that they can't force me to do anything I don't want to do, but they can affect the stress factor. I also really wanted to try doing a water birth, which they don't offer. So, I'm sad. Today I met with High Risk OB for the first time. I liked them. I got my first abdominal u/s and got to see my little peanut again. So cute! I did find out that I'm positive for Group B strep, so they'll treat that with antibiotics when I'm in labor (through their stupid IV, grrrr). I meet with my RE again on Friday and get another u/s. I'm getting so spoiled with getting u/s every week that I'm going to be sad when I don't get them anymore. Once I graduate from my RE I will only get one more u/s at 20 weeks (pending no complications, which I obviously DON'T want). OH! He also told me that I can't fly anymore :(. I was planning on having a baby shower in Reno with all of my family, but now that's out. Pooper! He said it's because of my increased risk of blood clots with Lupus. Oh well, I'm definitely all about taking every possible precaution. My Mom said that maybe we will just do a virtual baby shower. Definitely not as much fun for me, but whatever works.I hope that you are having a wonderful week and enjoying the New Year!
Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a wonderful time celebrating and reflecting on 2009 and what you want for 2010. DH and I partied like rockstars... or not, lol. We just stayed home, watched TV, and toasted. DH had a nice glass of champagne and I had a wonderful glass of sparkling cider. Exciting! Honestly though, it was so nice and I wouldn't have wanted to celebrate in any other way. Plus yesterday was the sickest I've felt to date and I don't think I could have done anything outside the house if I tried. I am joyously and blissfully sick and tired. I'm really looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us. The highlight will be the birth of our long awaited bundle of joy and I'm anxious to see what else will happen this year. The only thing that I'm really stressing about (I'm trying to keep it in check) is that dh is scheduled to deploy to Italy for 6 months about a month after the baby is due. I'm nervous at the prospect of caring for a newborn by myself, but I've also heard that Lupus flares after giving birth are very difficult and I'm scared to face that alone. My closest support system is my brother and his family and they are 3 hours away and have 4 kids of their own. Plus my brother (he's a Marine) is due for orders soon, so I don't even know if he'll be around. I'm trying to not focus on it too much because dh's squadron is pretty family oriented and I think that if I'm not doing well they won't make him go. We'll see. I also think it's important for him to pull his load and fulfill his obigations. After all, if he doesn't go that means someone else's husband has to. The nursery is officially painted and we started putting up the border today. However, silly us didn't measure beforehand and we don't have enough border to finish. So we need to order some more. Oh well! We have 7 months to go. It looks really cute so far. I'll be sure to put up a picture once we're done with everything. Everything else is wonderful. I go for another ultrasound on Friday. I don't think that the machine that the Naval Hospital has is very great. I saw Kourtney Kardashian getting her first ultrasound on a re-run today and she definitely got a much better image. Go figure! Does anyone know the average cost if I wanted to go get a private ultrasound? The hospital has a very strict schedule on when they give u/s. For the normal folks you only get one at 10 weeks and one at 20 weeks. Right now, with my issues, I'm getting them every week from my RE, but I don't know how it will be once I graduate. In other news, school starts again on the 11th. I'm so nervous! This fatigue is kicking my butt! Luckily all of my classes are on-line except for one and I don't think the course load will be too heavy. We'll see! Please wish me luck and send me tons of prayers. So far I have a 4.0 and I really don't want to ruin it.
