Next phase?

So today is my second day in a row of feeling relatively normal.  Food doesn't make me gag at just the idea (albeit certain smells still set me off, and I suspect will continue to throughout).  I woke up feeling not exactly well rested, but at least like I had gotten some decent sleep.  Fingers crossed, I am phasing out of the first trimester fun!

I have been keeping a list of questions for my doctor that I will be bringing to my next appointment.  Things about when certain tests are done, what I can expect from the remainder of my appointments, if there is a point where I shouldn't do things like going bowling, etc.  The list seems to be growing quite long, but I figure they are all reasonable questions.  I suspect I might get a giggle or two out of my practitioner with some of my questions but hey, a little extra humor in life is always a good thing!

Other than that there is really nothing new to report.  I'm 14 weeks along and just waiting until the big ultrasound when we can find out the gender.  Then I can really start picking out our big items, designing the nursery and registering for all of the baby stuff we'll be acquiring over the next several months.  I by no means want to go crazy but all those little (and big!) things do add up so we will have to start figuring it all out.  I'm ready for this next phase though.  Ready to start creating an initial identity for the baby, preparing our home for him or her and really ready to start feeling the baby moving inside me.  All in good time though.

Clear scan!

I don't have any good full baby or face shots to share from today's ultrasound, but when I get home tonight I'll scan in the super cute picture they took of the baby's hand.  Boy our kid was not being cooperative today.  Tossing and turning and moving up a storm.  Good to know though because that means baby is healthy and active (and reassuring to its mommy who can't feel the baby yet).  Finally after about 40 minutes of the two ultrasound techs and the doctor working on getting a good picture of the NT, they decided that they had good enough pictures to get our results.  Based on the ultrasound the baby has a 1/100,000 chance of having Down Syndrome and 1/250,000 of having Trisomy 18.  Basically as low a percentage as you can get.

So the really good news is that means that I do not have to consider any more invasive procedures such as an amniocentesis.  If we had received results indicating a higher risk of one of the abnormalities, I would have wanted confirmation, since a false positive isn't uncommon with these scans.

The sort of sad news is that since the baby wasn't being terribly cooperative there was no time to look just for fun, and that means there wasn't even a guess at the gender.  And so, we wait. =)  I really want to know so that baby can have a name and begin to have an identity.  But it can wait until February.  Let's just hope the little bugger will be a little more cooperative that day! =)

So I invite the guessing to continue.  Boy?  Girl?  What's it going to be???

NT Ultrasound Today

Later today I will be getting the Nuchal Translucency (NT) ultrasound done.  This ultrasound is to determine the risk of such chromosomal abnormalities such as Down Syndrome.  What they do is look at a fold of skin on the back of the fetus' neck and that data combined with bloodwork from the mother, a risk percentage is calculated.  If it is determined that there is a high chance that the baby has one of these abnormalities you can then undergo another (more invasive) procedure to determine if in fact the baby actually has one of these issues.

I go into this ultrasound expecting that everything is just fine.  I am young so not at a higher risk for any issues, and there is no family history of anyone with these issues.  But, it is true that you simply never know.

Mostly I am excited that I get to see baby today, and there is a very small chance that we could get a gender guess today.

Unless there is a definitive gender guess I will not be sharing what the tech says today.  We have our big ultrasound in only a month (February 22!) so we don't have long to wait.

In the meantime, anyone want to venture a guess at the sex?  I'm not showing yet, so you can base it on how I'm carrying.  I've experienced mild to moderate morning sickness- just nausea for the most part.  Not sure what other old wives tales I can help you along with, so if you think of anything you want to know, go ahead and ask.

You can leave your guess in the comments section. =)

One day at a time...

Despite my best efforts the first trimester suffering continues.  On Tuesday I had some back pain that concerned me since I couldn't alleviate it at all (heat, tylenol, rest, etc- nothing helped).  So I stayed home until I absolutely had to get to work for our orientation.  Then I got a good night's rest and woke up feeling amazing on Wednesday.  I truly felt human and mostly normal!  Well then Wednesday at about 4pm I hit the wall harder than I've hit it yet.  I ended up with a migraine and getting sick.  So here I am on Thursday home from work trying to rest and hopefully feel better.  Certainly better than yesterday but happy to be home on the couch with nothing to think about except what I need to eat (albeit a challenging proposition on the best of days) and what movie I want to watch on demand. =)

I have high hopes that tomorrow and this weekend I will feel good.  I'm understanding that I need to drink more water and am working towards getting more protein in my diet.  I think that is likely an issue as well.  I trust that things will continue to move.

The good news is that we have another ultrasound on Monday and I'm very excited to see baby again.  Although it is unlikely, we might even get a guess at the baby's gender too.  That always makes me feel better knowing how little bean is doing in there.  We're the size of a lemon now (about 3 inches)!

Hopeful!

Today I woke up feeling like I'd actually enjoyed a relatively normal night’s sleep! Still not jumping out of bed full of energy, but lets face it, I'm not normally that way! =) On top of that I didn't feel particularly queasy this morning either. I needed to eat pretty quickly as I felt the nausea creeping in, but nothing terrible or unmanageable. So today I feel hopeful that maybe, just maybe, when I reach the end of this trimester (13 weeks and 3 days which is exactly one week from tomorrow) I will feel mostly like myself again!

On another note, I shared a slightly irrational fear with Nick last night. I was reading in my week by week pregnancy book about weeks 12 and 13 last night. One of the things they said is that the baby is developing distinct genitalia currently. I have my NT ultrasound scheduled for January 25th, which will be the end of week 14, entering week 15. Officially it is too early for them to be able to tell the sex, but there is a very high possibility that we would be able to tell. Well Nick is currently scheduled for jury duty that day, so there is a strong possibility that he won't be able to join me for this ultrasound.

I know it is silly, but I am worried that I will find out the sex and Nick won't be there! He told me last night that he will be okay if that happens. All the same, it is something I would like to share with him. So fingers crossed that Nick will be excused from Jury Duty, and that if he isn't, all we see that day is a healthy active baby! I can wait till February to find out the sex if I'm by myself. =)

Next up for us- figuring out this whole registry business and thinking about the nursery! Nick has kindly said he'll research cribs, strollers and car seats for us, and I will take care of the rest. Feels like a good distribution of responsibilities! I'm actually sort of excited to go out and actually look at some of these products.

We will know soon!

So we will know very soon if we are a part of Team Pink or Team Blue!  Our big ultrasound is scheduled for February 22nd!  I'm very excited to find out.  Maybe by then I'll be ready to get registered and design our nursery.  I guess that means we better get busy cleaning the nursery out!  Storage room no more!

Babies babies everywhere!

I swear every week or so I find out about another person having a baby this year between May and August.  This summer seems like a good time for babies to be born!  Within one degree of separation I know of no less than 7 babies being born in that time frame.

My mother's "ooey ooey" side would be proud of me for wondering if there isn't a universal reason.  I like to think of it as a hopeful sign.  Babies coming into the world is a good thing.

3 months and counting!

Tomorrow I am officially 12 weeks along, which in my book means I can say I'm three months. =) Still, since the medical world has lied to us for all of these years, and in fact pregnancy is 40 weeks (or 10 months) and not in fact 9 months as we all have believed, my first trimester has a couple more weeks to go.

All the same I am looking forward to being in a new phase of this process very soon. I look forward to feeling the baby (probably not for awhile, but all the same!) and hopefully losing this exhausted, nauseous feeling.

The last couple of days I've discovered that I truly need to eat every 1-2 hours or I will start to feel ill. I don't need much, but it is pretty demanding. The challenge is when you are starting to feel the nausea come on, nothing sounds edible. So then you have to figure out what you can cram down your throat, despite the fact that the mere thought makes you want to gag. Today my challenge is to avoid getting to that point. A few more hours at work and I think I can call it a successful day.

On another note, Nick and I put in several hours this weekend- Nick cleaning and I shopped and cooked- so now our house actually feels semi normal again. I know that when I get home tonight I don't have to think too hard about what to eat for dinner, and can enjoy some homemade food instead of take out.

Let me tell you, after a couple of weeks of eating nothing but take out- I was THRILLED to eat a home cooked meal last night. Even better, I actually cooked it without wanting to vomit as a result of the smells.

Our N/T ultra sound is scheduled for the 25th. After that the only interesting doctor’s appointment left will be the "big" ultrasound in the end of February when we find out the gender. I admit, I'm having boy thoughts, but we shall see. Any ideas out there for boy names? We're struggling a little with that one!

On a totally different note a coworker of mine gave birth to her baby girl on Friday a full MONTH early! Poor thing didn't even get to have her baby shower (it was scheduled for Saturday!). Fortunately baby and mommy are fine, but it certainly made me realize that anything is possible and I better start getting my business in order! I somehow don't think that will be me (I am fairly certain I will be delivering in early August myself), but I guess you just never know!

Finally Public!

Today, I shared the news on Facebook! The cat is out of the bag folks!

I had my second doctors appointment today, which was really a continuation of the first appointment. This time I met with my nurse practitioner (my normal ob/gyn) who asked a few questions and did another ultrasound to check growth and all that good stuff. The baby is definitely growing (see below) and was pretty active! I don't know why but this ultrasound really hit me as the real deal. I feel confident that things are going well and decided that I was ready to share the news.

I'm not sure why the first ultrasound didn't do it, but I guess I just felt so totally overwhelmed that it was all surreal. Today I walked out of my appointment with a weight lifted off and a smile on my face. I think it helped that all of my tests have been normal thus far, my weight is a couple pounds down (nothing to worry about- totally normal and probably good for me), and my blood pressure is even down to a really great level!

So work knows, the family knows, and now the whole facebook world knows! It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. On to fun things like emptying the storage room so that we can turn it into a nursery, and start thinking about registering!!! (Have I mentioned what a daunting task that is!?!?)

As I said, I am ready to take it on with a smile on my face. At least until my hormones make me cry again. ;)

Ultrasound Video

Our baby bean in its second film of the year. =)

Spoke too soon!

First day back at work after the holidays and the nausea has returned with a vengeance. It actually started yesterday when I apparently went too long without eating. Nick and I went to the city for some post-Christmas shopping (he wanted some Trail Running sneakers and I needed to exchange my FABULOUS sunglasses that he bought me for Christmas). We both needed food and headed up to test out the new Burger Bar (of Thomas Keller notoriety). I was very excited to make my own burger and the second it was put in front of me, I thought I was going to be sick.

So this morning I woke up before my alarm clock (after sleeping till 10 or 11am nearly every day for the last week and a half), and nearly passed out with nausea while making my breakfast.

Ah the joys of pregnancy continue. =)

Hopefully I have 3 weeks (or less) of this loveliness left. I have very high hopes for my second trimester! I'm counting on getting my energy back and losing the nausea.

Pre-natal appointment number 2 is on Thursday so I will make sure to share whatever updates I may have then.