30 days left!

Arthur and I have a  little countdown clock that tells us how many days are remaining in our countdown to our "guess date" of July 11.  Today, it says 30 days left!

 

Mostly I'm feeling really good, and trying to stay as positive as I can.  There are some moments where I feel overwhelmed, or sad, or tired... but for the most part, I try to remember how badly I wanted this and how ready I am to be a mom. 

I'm really excited for my baby shower this coming Friday, it's the last one before Baby Finn arrives.  Arthur and I are hosting it at our house, mainly because we want people to see our nursery since we've worked so hard to get it ready. 

Arthur was working on a baby shower game yesterday called The Price is Right.  He wants people to guess the prices for some of the items on our baby registry.  I thought it was cute that he was getting a game ready to go for the shower.  :)

I requested sugar cookies for one of the treat options at the shower because Arthur's mom makes the most delicious sugar cookies and frosting.  I can't wait to eat one!  Yum!

Arthur and I have continued to make sure we're practicing our Hypnobirthing techniques every night before bed.  Sometimes it's really difficult to get myself into a state of relaxation, but Arthur is really good at reminding me what to focus on and what to relax with.  I am really going to rely on him to keep me focused when I feel like I'm not able to stay relaxed.  I am so lucky to have someone who is as dedicated to the type of birth I want to have for my first baby. 

My next Midwife appointment is on Friday, I will be having them weekly now.  I will be tested for GBS (Group B Strep), and that will determine whether or not I need an IV antibiotic before I push my baby out.  I have been drinking a ton of water, and eating yogurt every day.  I'm not sure if that will help, but I know that I've been feeling good, with no problems so far... so I hope that I get a negative result. 

How far along:  35 Weeks, 5 Days
How much time left:  4 Weeks, 2 Days

Top two symptoms:  When I'm at work, it's a backache from sitting in my work chair.  When I'm at home, it's usually exhaustion or backache.  Today I've been pretty tired, but that might just be because I haven't had my nap today.  :)

Favorite thing I ate today:  An ice cream bar from Skinny Cow.  It's chocolate with salted caramel and pretzel chunks with vanilla ice cream.  So good!

Mood:  I felt a bit down last night, and tonight I'm feeling much more balanced.  Every day is different.  As I get past the last few milestones at work before I move to my new role/prepare for maternity leave, it takes stress away. 

Worried about:  I'm starting to worry about whether or not I will be ready when he gets here.  There are still a few things I want to do before he arrives, such as making some playlists for my Hypnobirthing, and packing my bag for the hospital.  I know I can't do a lot of packing this far in advance, because I need most of the stuff I'll be packing... I just need to be patient and attack the things that are most important right now. 

Excited for:  Friday's baby shower.  I'm excited for everyone to see Finn's nursery and I'm looking forward to seeing all of Arthur's family.  We made some cute invitations and paper mailed them to a few people who didn't respond on Facebook.  I really hope everyone who we invited can come.  :)  If you weren't invited, and you'd like to come, let me know by sending me a Facebook message and I'll add you to the baby shower group.  :)

70th Post and Pregnancy Update

Can you believe there are only 38 days left until my "guess date" of July 11?!  I am so surprised that the time has really flown by since my 20 week ultrasound.  I think the first half of pregnancy is definitely the most  challenging. 

Last time I updated about my pregnancy, I was just over 30 weeks along.  I am now 34 weeks, and will be 35 this upcoming Thursday.  The physical changes have definitely been more drastic over the past few weeks, and I've really started noticing how different my body is getting as I get further along.

The biggest changes are how I'm moving around, and how I balance my body.  I am carrying Finn really far back, and so I often get comments about how much I'm not showing, or that people are really amazed that I have just over a month left.  I know that when you have your first baby, you may not show as much as a second time mom does who has already been stretched and her body is able to accommodate a growing baby.

I had a tummy tuck back in 2005 and so my lower stomach is very tight where the plastic surgeon tightened my stomach muscles and removed skin from the weight I lost from gastric bypass.  Finn has been hanging out mostly sideways, and I can usually feel his feet and legs towards the top-right side of my body.  I think he is positioned upside down with his head at my pelvis.  This is a good thing, and I think my positioning techniques are working. 

In our Hypnobirth class, Arthur and I learned about positioning techniques that will help Finn be in the best position for birthing quickly and easily.  This position is him facing backwards (towards my bottom), with his head down and his feet straight up in the air.  If he faces forward, looking the same direction I look, it can be a really painful back labor.  I am trying really hard to keep my body in positions that encourage Finn to be turned the right direction.  One of these techniques are to "make a hammock", which means lean forward as often as possible and make my stomach like a hammock that encourages him to relax into my stomach with his back facing the front.  I think I've done a pretty good job so far, but I know he can turn as time comes closer to when he arrives.

My only complaints these days are a sore back and the occasional headache.  I really do feel good most days, and I surprise myself when I remind myself that I am almost done.  I think I assumed that pregnancy would be so much more miserable at this time.  Part of it might be the stories I've heard and part of it could be from what I've seen on TV/movies.  I think my attitude has a lot to do with it, and the fact that Arthur doesn't have much tolerance for negativity...  He is really great at reminding me of the positive things like "At least you're pregnant!"  Anytime that Baby Finn is rolling around on my bladder, or hiccupping for the millionth time in a day, I verbally say how grateful I am that he is moving.  I really appreciate how active he is.  :)

I haven't felt any "practice surges" or Braxton Hicks contractions.  I sometimes feel my stomach get hard, but then I wonder if it's just my imagination.  I occasionally get minor cramping in my lower abdomen and so that could be it.  I really am looking forward to the real feeling of a legit contraction, because to me it will mean progress.  I hope I maintain this positive outlook and excited mentality.  I do see many people in my life who get to the end (39, 40, 41 weeks) and start to say that they want the baby out now.  I think since I still have 5 weeks left until this point, I am not yet feeling that stir crazy emotion.  I am not sure it will happen for me, but I know that I am prepared for when I start to stress out about his arrival.

I have our next doctor's appointment this coming Friday with our new Certified Nurse Midwife.  She met with us 2 weeks ago, and I loved everything about her.  She works with a group of Nurse Midwives who back each other up and deliver babies at American Fork Hospital.  I was so grateful to have her say some of the things I have been hoping for in the person who would deliver my baby.  I made the right choice to "fire" my OBGYN.  I will tell more about this in a future post.

I didn't want to publicize it, but I have decided to post every day this month in anticipation of Finn's arrival.  This will give me something to focus on every day, and it will help me to document the progress I make as I get closer.  If I miss a day, I won't beat myself up, but I am definitely going to make a very conscious effort to try.  :)

How far along:  34 Weeks, 4 Days
How much time left:  5 Weeks, 3 Days

Top two symptoms:  Backache and headache.  I've got Tylenol and a blanket I use at work to keep my back supported.  I am now sleeping with 5 (yes 5) pillows at night to help myself feel supported.  I sleep really well most nights, which I appreciate.

Favorite thing I ate today:  Fresh green beans from Costco.  SO GOOD!

Mood:  Excited now that time is getting closer to his arrival.  I am more excited for the birth process than anything.... is that weird?!

Worried about:  I'm not worried about too many things at this point.  I think my main concerns is that he will decide to come early and he will mess up my last few weeks of plans before he gets here... but if he gets here early, then it must mean he's ready.  I know he's pretty much done cooking, he just needs to fill out a little before he comes out.  I want a healthy fat baby boy!  :)

Excited for:  Time off of work!  I will be taking 4 months off starting when Finn arrives.  I get 6 weeks maternity leave, 6 weeks bonding time and 4 weeks paid with my eBay 5 year sabbatical.  That equals out to be 16 whole weeks!  I won't have to go back to work until November.  How nice is that!?  I am excited to have a brief taste of being a stay-at-home mom.  Arthur likes to bet that I will go stir crazy, but I think I will do just great.  I am looking forward to a break and to focusing on something that isn't an email or a PowerPoint.  ;)

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.  :)

Need to Get Moving!

Today is Sunday.  I have done practically nothing.  I've just finished up an hour long nap, and I'm about ready to get started on cleaning up.  I'm doing the kitchen today, and Arthur is doing the bathrooms.  He already cleaned the majority of the house this week when he put the Christmas away.

Yesterday and today I didn't do much of anything.  I relaxed and had naps, which was so nice after feeling so gross last week.  I am looking forward to a normal week next week.

I spent some time today looking up YouTube movies of people who were able to find out the sex of their baby at their 14 week ultrasound appointment.  I don't expect that I will be able to, but it's nice to hope, right?

I still want to go to the external ultrasound place so I can find out for sure at 15 weeks.  I just want to know if I'm having a boy or a girl!

Let's see... another thing I wanted to blog about was a friend of mine who is also trying for a baby.  She's gone through a lot in her quest to get pregnant.  We've been going through this journey together in a way.  Earlier in the year, she seemed to be more on track to get pregnant than me.  There were a few times that we both were sure she was pregnant, and so I was hopeful for her.  About 2 months before I got pregnant (I think) she wasn't ovulating and so she was worried about being able to get pregnant.  For those of you who don't know what that means, if you're not ovulating, then it means you're not having a period.

She was really worried, and so was I.  She went to the doctor and I think they pointed at a few things, possibly being on birth control for awhile and possibly PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome).  PCOS is when you have cysts in your ovaries and so it prevents you from ovulating.  The doctor was able to confirm that she did have cysts.  She went on a medication (I think it's Metformin) and it took away all of the cysts.  It is normally for people who are diabetic, or people who have insulin resistance... but it regulated her blood sugar and helped her get ready to start ovulating again.

Once she got the green light that her cysts had shrunk, she took Provera.  Provera brings on a false (or forced) period since she hadn't had one in so long.  After the jumpstart, she had one cycle that was weird,  after not having a period for so long.  Her second cycle, she ovulated!  The Metformin and Provera worked!  She is now 11 days past ovulation.  If you're pregnant, you can get a positive test starting around this time if you're body starts producing a lot of HCG.

For me, I had a positive test at 13 days past ovulation, but that was a personal choice because I was so nervous about getting a negative test.  I may have gotten one earlier if I had wanted to test sooner.

Anyways, we aren't sure if she's pregnant yet.  She knows her period hasn't come yet, which tells me that she may be pregnant.  She's had a few of the symptoms of pregnancy, like light cramping and exhaustion.  I want it so bad for her, so she can experience this.  It has completely changed my life.  It's like I was going down one road, and when I found out I was pregnant, I turned right and walked in a completely different direction.  Everything is different, and better.  Yes, I am sick a lot and may complain a lot on here, but the hope I feel is incredible.

The reason I talked about her is because I am really impressed by her story.  Even if she doesn't get pregnant this round, she is on her way to getting what she's always wanted and talked about for as long as I've known her.  I do wish I had someone else to come along on this journey with me that I was close with.  Even though I have friends and family members who have been pregnant before, it's different when it's someone who has wanted it as badly as I wanted it.

How far along:  13 Weeks, 3 Days
How much time left:  26 Weeks, 4 Days
 
Top two symptoms:  Today I have been really tired and been moving really slow.  Arthur says it's because I've been in bed most of the day.  Truth or not, I haven't had much energy today.  I'm up and moving now, so I anticipate the nausea will follow. 

Favorite thing I ate today:  Last night it was my night to cook.  Mike and I combined forces and we made Lemon Pepper Panko Crusted Chicken, tortellinis with Alfredo sauce and beans with almonds.  It was so good!  I had some leftover chicken today and it was just as delicious as it was last night.  :)

Mood:  Because I've been really lazy today, my mood has been normal.  I haven't felt too sad or too happy, and so I've appreciated the lack of ups and downs.  Now that I'm up and moving, I think I had better eat something so I don't get crabby.  ;)

Worried about:  I'm a little worried about work this week.  I've had a lot time off to relax and get re-charged... so I'm worried that I won't be used to the pace that this week is going to bring.  I'm just going to stay really positive and focus on getting through each day.  I just need to make sure I'm eating and getting enough sleep.

Excited for:  I do have some exciting news about job-related stuff.  I got an interview for a position I've really wanted for a long time.  It's on Tuesday, so I'll be sure to blog about how it goes.  I'm very excited to have a chance to show what I can do, and to talk about my passion behind this particular type of work.  Oh, I hope, I hope!!

First Night, Second Test

It's the first night to sleep since I've found out that I'm pregnant.  I'm really tired tonight and my abdomen is cramping like I'm in the middle of my period.  I'm also very tired.  I will be going to bed after I finish this entry.

I ended up taking two tests today.  The first test picture was in my post earlier today.  The second test that I took was a Clear Blue + Digital.  I needed to see it in black in white, and in words that it was true, and that I was actually pregnant.

When Arthur came home, I asked him if he wanted to wait while I took the digital test.  I went in and peed on the stick and when I came out, it was in the "wait for results" mode.  We both watched it together.  After about 3 minutes, it flashed "Pregnant" on the screen and it stayed there.  I showed it to him and he was happy.

Here's a picture of the digital test with the word "Pregnant" on it:

I haven't told many people yet, mainly just Arthur and Mike, since he was here.  I have a few friends who are also trying (or getting ready to try) and I don't want them to be sad that I got pregnant first.  But, it would be nice to have some additional support from the friend perspective when my husband is tired of my crazy pregnancy ways.

I'm thinking about going to bed, because I'm really tired.  I had a really bad headache today and so I took Tylenol.  I think I'll take some Tylenol again and go to bed.

I'll try to blog every day so I have a record of how this thing goes.  I am excited to be a mom.  I am excited to have something in my life that is mine and Arthur's.  I'm excited to always have someone who is there with me who I can love and who will need me as much as I need them.

Arthur and I talked about names today, and we both like "Finn" for a boy, and it reminds me of my Grandpa's middle name, which is Fennemore.  I would probably change his name to Finnemore.  For a girl, we like Cora/Coral or Oceana.  I really like the idea of a family name for a middle name.  Well, this is all for now.  I'll blog tomorrow if I'm feeling up to it.  :)  Today was a great day!

New Beginnings

Hi everyone!  This is our first post on our new blog.  I am excited to start this blog, as there is a reason for it.  :)  Arthur and I have been trying to conceive for the past 8 months.  I took a preliminary pregnancy test (before the day my period is due) to see if I might be pregnant.

I haven't had too many crazy symptoms, but this was the first cycle that a few things were different.  I spent way too much time on www.countdowntopregnancy.com to figure out whether or not my symptoms were normal.

I'm not 100% positive on whether or not this is it, but the first test I took had a positive result.  I have always been afraid to take a pregnancy test because I was always to worried about the disappointment that would come if it was negative.  Based on the little insert that came with the test, it looks promising:

I have 3 tests left of the 4 I purchased.  I am looking forward to taking the digital test later when Arthur is here so we can share the digital results together.  We will see!

More to come on our journey to becoming the Miner 3!