Week 11

I don't have a fancy title for this week since Christmas just passed. It was weird to think this was our last Christmas as just a family of two (or three if you count our dog). Christmas will be less focused on us next year and more focused on the peanut growing inside of me. Not that Christmas is every "just focused on us" but with a new baby, we're likely to be easily forgotten. Or so says my father-in-law.

My pants are tighter as my belly is expanding a little each day. I'm starting to have cravings, and my husband made his first craving run the other night at 8pm. For cinnamon buns. We both enjoyed that tasty snack I might add. I go back to the doctor's next Wednesday for a first trimester screening and I'm excited to see how developed our peanut is. 5 weeks ago he or she was just a ink blot on the screen. We should be able to see arms and legs and a defined head now. My energy levels are picking back up slowly but surely. I stayed awake until 11:00 last night. It's probably been 11 weeks since that's happened.

All in all we're doing well. Hello Week 11!

Houston, We Have A Heartbeat

This was certainly an interesting weekend. I spent all of Sunday morning and part of the afternoon in the labor and delivery unit at the local hospital. I had a burning cramping sensation Saturday night and woke up with it Sunday morning. After hemming and hawing, I decided it would be best to have it checked out. The doctor at Urgent Care enthusiastically told me I had won a trip to the ER. Awesome. Not. My husband met me in the ER and I was taken upstairs to labor and delivery to have my insides examined. After some pulling and some pushing, it was determined nothing was wrong other than constipation. Awesome. Not. Well, sort of. Awesome the baby is still safe in place, not because, well, constipation is just not awesome. We WERE able to hear the peanut's heartbeat. Very Awesome. I think I actually giggled when I heard it.

I shared the news with our friends at large last night and my coworkers this morning. The news is officially out. We welcome Week 10 with another leap forward.

Chugging Along

Week 9 is approaching and my body is starting to exhibit signs of being knocked up. For the first time in 25 years, I've getting boobs. But along with my growing cup size is growing pains. Let me tell you, they ain't fun. My stomach has lost the flatness that I arrogantly boasted about for so long and my appetite has increased two maybe three fold. My hormones are crazy all of the time and my morning sickness comes at the most inopportune times. But, we're chugging along.

This past weekend my husband and I headed to a good friend's wedding in Pennsylvania. As a groomsmen he sat at the head table so I spent the majority of Saturday night trying to coax my friends into believing I was drinking. My best friend (whose boyfriend also happened to be in the wedding) chugged a beer for me and then filled it up with water at the fountain. When she returned to the table with my full beer, another friend asked if he could try the IPA. He proceeded to try and take the beer to try a sip. I panicked and yelled at him to get his own beer, the line for drinks was a mile long after all. Taken back, he released my "beer". I knew he would blurt out how watery the beer tasted and then another friend would want to try it and alas my cover would be blown. I can't wait to tell this story to our friends, I definitely didn't do it justice in relaying the story just now but it was hilarious. My face turned bright red and our friend probably thought I was crazy.

A great weekend, but Monday brought with it a very tired pregnant woman. Ahh, another week down, another leap forward.

Hormone Extravaganza

Friday I had my first hormonal rage. I'd like to formally apologize to my husband, who I hung up on, and my mother, who I told to stop calling me. Lovely wife and daughter, I know.

A relaxing day off from work turned into the afternoon of hell. My work Christmas party was last Friday night, which consequently fell on the day before my husband and I were leaving at the crack of dawn for New York City. My Christmas party was also a half hour toward our intended destination Friday (we were catching a bus to NY); however, we have a dog. We were pretty sure the restaurant would frown upon the dog participating in the Christmas festivities so my mom and I had arranged for her to pick the dog up Friday afternoon at the airport where her plane was arriving, conveniently located a half hour from my house. Some miscommunication occurred, I assumed we were meeting at a gas station AT the airport, she chose one outside of the airport and long story short I got lost. The dog and I proceeded back down 695 to return home.

And the hormones began. Tears began to swell behind my eyes and a pressure headache came out of nowhere. Sobbing ensued. My mom called to make sure I was headed back in the right direction and I snapped at her. I called my husband to vent and he was completely nonplussed by my story, in turn this led me to hang up on him. A situation that on a normal day may lead me to be somewhat irritated but not borderline mental, which is what I was. A sobbing, hot mess, mental case. Thankfully, it passed. On to Week 8!

First Doctor Appointment

Yesterday was my first prenatal appointment. The first time a heartbeat was confirmed and a little pod showed up on a enhanced computer screen. What a day! I started off running late to my first doctor's appointment, I was extremely agitated until I drove closer to the problem. A TERRIBLE accident. A wave of guilt washed over me. I'm still hoping everyone is okay.

I rushed in to the office and took a seat only to meet with a nurse a couple minutes later. She asked a million questions, wrote a billion notes, and gave me a script to have 7 vials of blood drawn. Seriously, I've now been tested for everything under the sun. (Fingers crossed everything comes back okay).

My second appointment was with an ultrasound tech. I was required to drink 16 ounces of water an hour prior to my visit. Do you know how much water that is to a pregnant woman who can't pee for two hours? I would rather try and climb the Eiffel Tower (and I'm scared of heights). After what seemed to be an eternity, my name was called and I was able to see our peanut for the first time. An awesome feeling. I even forgot I had to pee for a moment. The heartbeat registered at 129. I, of course, immediately googled normal heart beat for a fetus at 7 weeks and I'm right in the middle. The norm is 100-160. The tech asked me to hold my breath to get the heartbeat and I started to panic for a moment. But according to some additional googling, that too is apparently normal. As much of a surprise as this baby is, I would be devastated if something were to happen.

The husband didn't get to partake in the festivities as he had a meeting he couldn't miss but we oogled over the little sac on the picture when I got home. Our parents shared the news with the rest of the family last night and even though I'm a little worried it's still too early to share the news, I'm excited it's no longer a "secret". Here's hoping for a happy, healthy July baby.

A Very Thankful Thanksgiving

The pandemonium of our news has worn off and we're settling back into our routine, sort of. I'm too tired most nights to do much more then keep the couch from shifting. I keep telling myself I'm going to get back into the gym routine but I've yet to muster up enough energy to go. Next week.

Other than the sleepiness I'm still not noticing too many changes. I've had some cramping which is apparently normal and my appetite has increased a little but nothing major. My first doctor's appointment is Monday and I'm anxious to hear what they have to say about the peanut.

The husband and I are traveling to our home town after work today to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family.We have a little extra to be thankful for this year despite the surprise of the situation. I'm very much looking forward to meeting this little person who has decided to take cover in my soon to be expanding belly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Adjusting

Last week was a whirlwind of emotions. Excitement, terror, shock, fear. You name it, we experienced it. For the first couple of days, we walked around in a daze pretending that our impending arrival was still non-existent. But we decided to put our big kid pants on and at least come up with some sort of a game plan. Even if it gets changed a time or two.

So here we are at Week 2 (week 6 of pregnancy) and we're adjusting pretty well. We call our unborn child peanut and make funny jokes about how our dog is not going to be as welcoming to a new baby. He has been our "child" for the past three years, afterall. I don't really have any morning sickness and other than an appetite for spicy foods, I'm not experiencing too many other symptoms. The fatigue is still hanging around but I'm managing it much better.

We've yet to share our big news with anyone besides immediate family and a few close friends, just in case something happens. But here we are. Still alive and kicking. Taking one leap at a time.

Big Changes

I signed up for a new gmail account when I got married a couple months back and thought, this is perfect, I'll revamp my blogging. Quite the opposite happened. I fell off the sphere. However, recent changes in my life have actually brought me back to blogging.

I'll digress a bit first. My husband and I decided to tackle the task of home improvement. Our town home, which we love, could use a push toward the modern century.  Last weekend we made a list of the "stuff" we'd like to change. He thought it would be a great idea for me to blog through the trials and tribulations of the renovation process (we watch too much of the DIY channel). I agreed. That was last weekend. Prior to our "big" news.

After a week of fatigue, fatigue so intense I was in bed asleep by 9:30 twice last week I knew something wasn't quite right. And I give myself kudos for being so in tune with my body because I was right. I found out on Thursday we're expecting. This was a HUGE shock. An event that was unplanned but none the less embraced. While we're still trying to wrap our heads around the fact that we will be welcoming a new person into this world, I thought what better time to start blogging. So my new blog begins. With a huge leap forward.