Less than 10 weeks left!

Here's the pregnancy update you've all been waiting for.  :)  I still have a few more posts that I'd love to make this week, if time allows.  Sometimes it's difficult to take a few minutes and just think through what I'd like to blog about.  I know all of the topics I'd like to talk for hours about... but getting them down is the difficult part.

I figured I should start with how my pregnancy is going.  :)

The last time I updated was just before I was 28 weeks.  I am now just short of 31 weeks.  Less than 10 weeks to go!  I hear that these last 10 weeks fly by.  I can tell why they will for me, for sure.  I have a bunch of fun things planned from now until my "guess date" of July 11.  Baby showers and short getaways are going to fill my weekends from now until I'm 36ish weeks.

Because of my ovarian cyst on my right ovary, I have had monthly appointments with my OB to make sure it's not growing larger.  At my 28 week appointment, Arthur and I went in looking forward to seeing Baby Finn again.  It was also going to be the appointment where I had my initial glucose test.

We showed up at 8:50 AM (my appointment was at 9:50 AM) just before they opened so I could get my glucose drink.  I went in and they gave it to me.  They told me I needed to come back in exactly an hour so they could draw my blood to test to see if I am at risk for gestational diabetes.  They also told me I had to get it down within 5 minutes.

Most people complain that it makes them feel gross, or sick, or dizzy.  I was anticipating all of these things, so Arthur and I just drove around in my car checking out the city of American Fork and Pleasant Grove.  I chugged it and sat back waiting for the worst.  It was really sweet, and it tasted like cherry Kool-Aid.  To me, it was simply delicious.  I waited and waited and I never felt gross, or sick.  At the very least, I felt like I had a slight headache.

After the hour was up, Arthur and I went back into the doctor's office and they took my blood.  They told me that they would have the results by Monday.  They called me on Monday to let me know that everything was normal, and I'm not diabetic.  :)

We waited in the waiting room for nearly an hour until they were able to get us into the ultrasound room to check out my cyst.  The tech measured it and we were happy to see that it had shrunk a little.  That was a bit of a relief, although it's not gone all together.  After the ultrasound, we went back to the waiting room.  We waited for another hour or so to get back to see our OB.

We went in and I talked through some of the questions I have had on my mind about a few different things.  He was good about answering them and making me feel better.  One of the things I was concerned about was Finn's movement sometimes being jerky or repetitive... kind of like a seizure.  He said that it was just the uterus contracting rapidly, and it was nothing to worry about.  That made me feel better too.  :)

At the end of the appointment, I pulled out my birth plan.  Now, I have a fairly specific birth plan, and I knew that I couldn't go over all of the details - or else I'd overwhelm the OB.  So, I picked out my top 5 most important things that I wouldn't be willing to compromise.  I will probably go over these in my Birth Plan blog entry... that will be later this week.  :)

The short of it is that we ended up realizing that my OB wasn't going to be able to (at the least) honor the 5 most important things of my upcoming birth.  I was a little sad that something as simple as a top 5 list request from his patient was too much for him to agree to.  I'll talk more about this later...

Since that appointment, I've been feeling really good, generally speaking.  Finn is moving all of the time now, and I am really enjoying his kicks.  It's nice that they're not so deliberately planted in my bladder, and that they're more like rolling movements rather than kicking.  I'm pretty sure the rib kicks will come soon, so I just need to enjoy these times.

I have had some backaches start and some mild headaches come back.  I think this is probably normal as I get closer to the end.  I haven't felt any contractions (practice surges) yet, and I am looking forward to those for sure.

That's pretty much it, pregnancy update-wise.  My next few entries will be about my birth plan and my Trying to Conceive story.  I'm excited to write them!  :)

How far along:  30 Weeks, 4 Days
How much time left:  9 Weeks, 3 Days

Top two symptoms:  Backache and headache, most of the day.  My back generally hurts on the way to work and at work in my chair.  My head starts to hurt about halfway through the day.  Annoying, but bearable.  :)

Favorite thing I ate today:  I had a salad for lunch.  It was great!

Mood:  Anxious!  I hate how I feel like I want everything to be planned right now.  My nursery, my baby showers, everything.  I want to chill and let things happen like I normally do... but I think that I'm starting to get some form of weird nesting feelings like I need to get things planned, set up, etc.  I apologize in advance to my family and Arthur for how weird I may be over the next couple of months.  :)

Worried about:  I worry a bit about having time off before the birth so I can be in a safe place for my labor.  I can't even imagine going into practice labor or even real labor while I'm at work.  I also know I can't put my life on hold while I'm waiting for Finn to decide that it's time to get here.  Patience!

Excited for:  Now that the nursery is almost done, I'm super super SUPER excited to finish the details.  The painting is all done, and tomorrow is the carpet cleaning appointment.  My older brother Leo is coming over on Wednesday night to have dinner with us and help Arthur move the dresser upstairs.  I just want to get Finn's room ready to go!!!!!  I'm definitely nesting, or something.  :)

Weekend!!

Hurray, it's the weekend!  I was really looking forward to sleeping in, but it's 7:00ish on a Saturday morning.  I am up because I heard this terrible crash that woke me up.  It sounded almost like someone had broken through our front room window and landed with a thud in our living room. 

I asked Arthur if he heard it, and of course he didn't.  He will probably sleep through the end of the world.  I was really scared and didn't want to come out of our room.  I listened for any follow-up noises like walking around, or glass crunching.   There was nothing but little cat bells.

I cautiously came out of our room and peered around the corner into the living room.  The cats had knocked over the big palm tree plant.  Arthur spent all day yesterday taking down the Christmas decorations, which included putting our big palm tree in front of the window again. 

I'm sure the cats weren't used to it, so they were probably trying to climb it.  It sits on a wiggly 3-legged stand. 

I tried to come back to bed to go back to sleep, but I kept worrying about water going all over the floor (if he'd recently watered it or something).  I came out and stood the plant up and now there's no way I can sleep.  :(

So, I'm up blogging.  I may get some hot chocolate and try to go rest a little in a bit, and maybe read.  I do love the morning when it's quiet and I can just do what I want.  I wonder if it will stay like that when I have kids. 

How far along:  13 Weeks, 2 Days
How much time left:  26 Weeks, 5 days
 
Top two symptoms:  Yesterday I didn't deal too much with difficult symptoms.  It was the typical headache throughout the day, and then nausea at night.  I think the nausea seems to get bad just as I'm starting to get ready for bed.   Not sure why.  I had to eat a banana, a half of a pack of saltines and eat a Preggie Pop Drop.  If you haven't heard of them, they're all natural and they're supposed to help with nausea.  They are sour, so I think something with the extra saliva production makes you not be as nauseated.  I'm not sure, but they work pretty good.  https://www.threelollies.com/

Favorite thing I ate today:  Yesterday, I had Subway.  It was so delicious.  I haven't eaten much today, so maybe I'll blog with that info later.  :)

Mood:  My mood yesterday was ok.  At work I was a bit frazzled because I had to get a bunch of stuff done for next week.  I did have a happy moment, my boss found out she's having a boy.  I was excited for her because she wants a boy.   The other highlight of my day was coming home and seeing Arthur.  He always cheers me up after I've had to work all day.  He even traded me nights and made me dinner.  Best husband ever.

Worried about:  Even though I'm extremely excited for my 14 week doctor's appointment next week, I'm nervous too.  What if something isn't normal?  Have I done everything I can to make sure I have a healthy baby?  I know that most of this stuff is out of my control, but I still worry about it. 

Excited for:  On the other side, I'm also very excited.  It would be cool if the doctor could tell me the sex of the baby.  I know 14 weeks is probably too early, but I can still hope, right?  I really, REALLY want to go get Fetal Fotos to do an ultrasound at 15 weeks because they can see the sex of the baby then.  They even guarantee that they will be able to tell you what it is from then.  Even if the baby is being "shy" I hear they give you a gift certificate to come back and try again.  I just want to know!!!  :)

Pregnancy Update!

Now that I have my vacation blog entry out of the way, I can now post about how things are going with my pregnancy!

Over the past week at work, it was really, really busy.  Probably the most busy I've been since I went to the Philippines.  We are training a new group of Coaches on Quality, so there is a ton of prep work that I had to do before it started.  Since I had the week before off, I didn't get time to prep like the rest of my team did.

The week was successful, and I was able to get through it without too much stress.  Mostly, I was looking forward to Friday, which was my first official doctor's appointment.

One strange thing was that I hadn't gotten a confirmation phone call from the doctor's office like I normally do.  I called around 11 AM and asked to confirm the time.  They told me they didn't have me on the schedule at 4, but at 3.  So I had to call Arthur and tell him to get ready.  I left work a little early because I was so excited to get there.

I picked up Arthur at home (he had the day off) around 2:30.  We drove to the office and had to wait for almost an hour.  It was so busy!  When we finally went in, the doctor completely calmed my fears by saying "You ready to hear a heartbeat today?!"  All of my fears were washed away.  He told me to get on the table and he had a medical student help him.  I told Arthur to record it with my phone.

At first, the doctor could only get my heartbeat.  Then, he found my baby's heartbeat.  It was so fast, and strong!  Arthur got up and came over by me and we held my phone by the speaker.  I closed my eyes and just listened.  It was really amazing.  I made a little video so you can hear it:

The doctor said that the heartbeat was completely normal at 182 beats per minute.  I was happy to hear that it was beating so strong.  It really does feel real now.  :)

How far along:  10 Weeks, 2 days
How much time left:  29 Weeks, 5 days
Top two symptoms:  I had low energy today.  Over the past two days my appetite has come back.  Everything tastes good!

Favorite thing I ate today:  Mango Peach Salsa from Costco.  Steak.  Hashbrowns.  Oh my goodness, with my taste buds working again, everything tastes good. 

Mood:  My mood today was happy.  I had a really relaxing day.

Worried about:  Getting through this week before Christmas!

Excited for:  My next doctor's appointment!  4 weeks away!  January 11th!

UnFunMonday

Happy Monday!  Today was really long.  I had a fairly relaxing weekend, and to have to get up and go back to work... it was tough.  I got to work around 8:00 and had a few meetings in the morning.  Around 9:30 or so, my head pressure issue was getting worse already for the day.  I chatted with my friend who suggested I just call my OB/GYN to see if I should be worried. 

When I called, the nurse said that it wasn't normal, and that I should be checked for high blood pressure.  She asked if I could come in today.  I told her I could take a long lunch, and that I could be there by 11.  She was able to get me in, no problem. 

I left work around 10:15 to get there by 11.  When I checked in, they told me to pee in a cup.  I guess they wanted to see if I really was pregnant.  After I did that, the nurse came in and said that I was pregnant.  It made me laugh, because obviously I know.  :)

She took my weight, I've gained about 10 pounds since I found out I was pregnant.  I think the weight gain is normal.  She said I shouldn't worry too much about it in the first trimester.

She also took my blood pressure and told me I was on the lower range of normal.  It felt good to hear that, knowing that my efforts to eat better had paid off since the last time I went in. 

She took me to another room and I waited for the Dr.  He came in and told me congratulations as well.  He asked me how my symptoms were and thanks to this blog, I was able to tell him exactly when I started to have the head pressure and nausea.  He said that since it wasn't my blood pressure, then it was probably the hormones.  He prescribed me with Fioricet, which is a mixture of caffeine, Tylenol and Butalbital, which is a barbiturate.  I have not been eating any chocolate, or having any caffeine of any kind, so it kind of scared me that he wanted me to take it.  I asked him if it's safe and he said yes.  He said that many pregnant women get headaches, and they take this medication and are just fine.  I am still weary and will only take it if it gets absolutely unbearable.  

After my appointment, I kept working through my daily stuff, and my boss came back from a Dr. Appointment as well.  She sat us all down and told us that she is also pregnant, 12 weeks along.  I'll be 7 weeks on Thursday.  It was interesting to see that she had kept it a secret all along, even when I told her that I was pregnant.  She feels it's bad luck to tell people that you're pregnant until you have a heartbeat.  I felt sort of dumb, mostly because I had been so quick to tell her.  But, I had to realize that everyone is different, and I needed to respect that.  Ultimately, I'm glad to have someone else to go through this with.

Because my Dr. told me at my appointment that it was ok to eat chocolate in limited amounts, I had a few Hershey's peppermint bark kisses.  It really helped!  I also had a bit of chocolate on my pumpkin pie tonight and I don't have any head pressure or pain tonight.  It's a miracle!!  Who would have thunk a little caffeine would help!??

How far along:  6 Weeks, 4 days
How much time left:  33 weeks, 3 days
Top two symptoms:  Exhaustion and Nausea.  Thank goodness the head stuff went away.   :)

Favorite thing I ate today:  Pumpkin Pie!  My little brother and his girlfriend made some for their Friendsgiving yesterday, and so I got to eat the leftovers.  So good!

Mood:  Until I got off of work, my mood was cranky.  Even with the good news of the low blood pressure.  Once I got off of work, I felt like I could disconnect and enjoy time at home. 

Worried about:  How I will handle my new ability to have chocolate.  I will have to be really careful and stay away from it if possible.  I will eat some to keep my headaches at bay, however.  ;)

Excited for:  I am excited for our ultrasound on December 14.  I'm looking forward to hearing our baby's heartbeat and knowing that everything is going well.  For now, I have to rely on my symptoms and the fact that my period still hasn't started.  Phew!!