A month worth of updates

As usual, I've been very, very bad about updating. *sigh* Maybe someday I'll actually get some blogging motivation. Until then, once a month seems to be about all I get to. So, here's a month worth of updates for you.

Chicago trip

Our trip to Chicago in February went well. We had lots of fun visiting friends and family there. Ellie also got to play in the snow for the first time ever. I was going to pick out some of the best pics and post them here, but I think I'll just use this little widget thing instead because I'm lazy today. :) If you'd rather browse through them on Flickr, the set can be found here.




The baby:

Only 8 weeks to go! AAAAAH!

All went well with the glucose test a few weeks ago. Hooray! I had another ultrasound a couple weeks ago, and all is looking good with that as well. They're still a little concerned about his growth, so I have to go back for another ultrasound in 2 weeks. I think it's good that he went up in percentiles from my 20 week ultrasound, but they're still concerned that he seems to be weighing in around the 18th percentile. Then again this is the same doctor that told me Ellie was going to weigh over 10 pounds at birth, and she came out a whopping 7 pounds 6 ounces. I'm half expecting this baby to be over 10 pounds now that they're making a big deal about how small he is. ;)

Here are some pictures from the last ultrasound (also seen here on Flickr). Isn't he cute?



Ellie's birthday:

It's official... I'm now the mother of a two-year-old! Ellie had a big birthday party while we were visiting in Illinois, and a very small get together with grandparents back here in Arizona on her actual birthday. She seemed to have a great time, and is definitely enjoying her new dollhouse, courtesy of me and Kevin. :)

28 weeks already! How did that happen?

Well, clearly I've missed over a month of updates. Yikes! You'd think since I sit in front of a computer for at least 40 hours a week I'd be posting up a little something here or there. I don't know why, but I just can't get blogging motivation. Perhaps if my life was more interesting, I'd be more likely to post about it... perhaps...

Anyway, almost 28 weeks already! WOW! Where did the time go?

I had a checkup this morning, and all is well. I also had the yucky glucose test, which I haven't heard back about, but hopefully that will come back within the normal range. Everything is measuring nicely, and the baby had a heart rate of 140. I think he must have been taking a little snooze after all the grooving he did to the music in the car on the way there.

I'm already at the point where instead of monthly appointments I get to go every two weeks now. FUN! Luckily I get to have another peek at the baby via ultrasound at the next appointment. I'm excited to see if he's still growing well (certainly feels like he is!), if he's still looking like a boy, etc... :)

In other fun news, we're leaving for Chicago in the morning. Yippie! Wish me luck on the 3.5ish hour flight with an almost 2 year old. That's always an adventure. Hopefully when we return a week later I'll have lots of exciting stories and pictures to post. :)

22 weeks

As usual, I've been slacking off with the update posts. This time I blame the holidays.

I can't believe I'm more than halfway there already. Where does the time go?

I went in as planned on Dec. 26th for the level II ultrasound. After waiting over an hour past my appointment time (GRRR!), I was finally taken back. Luckily both the ultrasound technician (not sure of what her exact title would be) and the perinatologist both agreed that everything looks fine and dandy on all accounts. Woo hoo! Both also agreed that he still looks like a boy.

Luckily all traces of morning sickness seem to have gone now. I've been feeling pretty good (minus a nasty cold) for a couple weeks now. Hooray!

Things are getting even busier on the movement front these past few weeks. I'm convinced he's throwing little dance parties in there in the middle of the night. Also, today he's been using my bladder as a trampoline. That's nice and comfy. If he's this active now, I can't even imagine what things will be like in another 15 weeks or so. Yikes!

And now for the obligatory ultrasound pictures from the level II scan.

He's still a boy	These are the legs that are constantly kicking me in uncomfortable places
He looks a little like Ellie here... sort of. :)	Isn't he cute?

20 weeks

So, the verdict is in.

It's a BOY!

We went in for the 20 week ultrasound a couple of days ago. All major organs and such are all looking great, or so I'm told. There is one small issue of his abdominal circumference measuring a little on the low side. I have to go back in on the 26th for a level II scan. *Fingers crossed* that it turns out to be nothing.

Also this week I randomly threw up again on Thursday morning for the first time in weeks. I think the ultrasound reminded my body that it's pregnant and I'm supposed to be sick. Even so, that only makes about 5 times total throwing up this time around. That is infinitely better than what I had with Ellie, so I'll gladly take it.

There's a lot going on in the fetal movement front lately. I can feel him wiggling around quite a bit throughout the day these days. Apparently his favorite time to be active seems to be somewhere between 2am and 4am, unfortunately. Here's hoping that changes before he's born.

And now for the obligatory ultrasound pictures.

Cute nose and lips	Little boy parts
Alien face. Ellie thinks this looks like our greyhound Freya or a dinosaur.	His profile. Ellie thinks this looks like a hat.
Two little baby feet

17 weeks 4 days

Oops! It appears that I've missed a couple weeks here. I blame missing 16 weeks on the holiday. I really have no excuse for missing the 17 week post, so I'm going to blame it on pregnancy brain.

Anywho, I had a doctor's appointment back at 15wd5. Everything looked great! I've only gained a pound so far (well, as of then), but no one mentioned anything about it so I'm not going to worry. I'm certainly eating enough, so I guess my body just doesn't need that extra weight just yet.

The heartbeat measured 150 bpm, a little bit slower than the previous readings of 158 bpm.

The next appointment is scheduled for December 19th. Part of that appointment will be the "Big" Ultrasound. We should find out if we're going to be recycling all the pink in our house or heading out to buy some blue.

Speaking of pink vs. blue, I had my first real pregnancy dream the other night. It was such a bizarre dream, so I'm not sure if I want to count it as intuitive or not. I was for whatever reason at an internet acquaintance's house with my two-day-old baby BOY. Oddly enough, my two-day-old infant seemed to have already grasped limited speech. He was already asking for milk, hugs, etc... The "best" part was when I accidentally flashed said internet acquaintance's husband while trying to discreetly nurse in the wrap I'm planning to get before the new baby arrives. Oops!

Little Sprout seems to have grown enough by this point where I can feel daily wiggles, kicks, rolls, etc... I love it. :)

There's one more monumental announcement to make since my last post. We've finally told the family about the baby. It's about time,right?

15 weeks

Time for another update!

15 weeks already. Wow! I have my 16 week Dr. appointment next Wednesday. I can't wait to hear the heartbeat again. The longer it's been since the last confirmation that everything is going well, the more those little doubts creep into my mind. Sometimes I actually begin to doubt that I'm really pregnant at all. Then I'll feel insanely sick or feel something like a little wriggle or punch and convince myself that all is well once more. Even so, it'll be nice to get that solid confirmation of a strong heartbeat just the same.

This week has been fairly uneventful. I added another round of vomiting to my short list this time around. That makes 4 times total so far. Not too bad. On Tuesday while driving to work I was trying my very best to keep it together, but ended up having to throw up while stopped at a stop light (thank goodness). The unfortunate thing is that the only available places to safely spew were out the car window (no thanks) or into my newly-opened bag of chips. Poor potato chips. They didn't know what hit them. I've since started keeping a few baggies in my car, just in case.

I've felt what I think is more movement over the past week, but it's not really a constant thing. Last night when Ellie was up at 2am (yuck) and laying on me to nurse, I swear I felt a little kick where she was "squishing" little Sprout. My mind immediately thought something to the effect of "Look at that, HE's is already starting fights with HIS sister." I wonder if that means anything... I suppose I'll find out soon enough. ;)

14 weeks

I decided that it might be a good idea to start doing a weekly pregnancy journal sort of thing. My memories of pregnancy with Ellie are so vague... I'd like to have more to look back on this time about how I was feeling at any given time and what not.

So yeah, I'm officially 14 weeks today! Look at that gorgeous baby-looking thing in my little sidebar widget. It's so cool that everything is actually baby shaped at this point. :)

The morning sickness seems to be getting a little better, but it's definitely still there. Food aversions are still alive and strong, as are cravings for any and all junk food. I've still only thrown up 3 times so far (with an additional bought of dry heaving that wasn't much fun either). This past Monday Ellie got to witness my sickiness for the first time. She looked absolutely horrified while it was happening, but seemed to forget about it almost instantly afterwards.

FYI, waffles and OJ don't taste nearly as good coming back up as they do going down. Also, waffle chunks clog sinks (Ellie was blocking the toilet, I had no choice).

Moving on.

I'm at that yucky, just look fat(ter) stage right now. Certainly not showing with cute little roundness... just chubbier. Maybe once the babyness is distinguishable from stomach flab I'll start taking pictures. I didn't take any pictures with Ellie, and I really regret it.

I swear I've been feeling tiny little movements for the past couple weeks or so. It's not really like soft butterfly movements... more like tiny little jabs, no stronger than a light finger flick, but on the inside. I really don't think it's gas, although it is still very early for feeling actual movement. I hadn't felt anything for a day or two, until I started typing this... so who knows, it may all be in my head after all.

I can't wait until I'm feeling for real, no doubt about it, kicks, punches, rolls, and more. That's definitely my favorite part of pregnancy (and all this time you probably thought it was the vomiting). That constant movement is such a nice reminder that the little bean is there and doing well.

More excellent news

I had my aforementioned OB appointment this morning. I was a little worried going in that they wouldn't be able to find the heartbeat with the doppler, even though I'm almost 12 weeks.

Lucky for me, they found it right away. Little Sprout's heart was beating away at a nice and healthy 158 beats per minute.

I've decided to call this one Sprout (only until birth, that is) because Ellie simply has the cutest way of pronouncing it. It sounds a little like "pout", but way cuter.

In more good news, I've only gained half a pound! I was full expecting to have gained at least 10 pounds based on all the ginger ale, caffeine free Coke, potato chips, and other random junk I've been consuming lately while in the throws of morning sickness.

Oh yeah, and I finally put up a ticker in my sidebar. :)

Maybe this is safe to put up now?

I've been avoiding putting any sort of ticker up here what with my history and what not... but I really like this little widget and like to see how it changes week to week. Perhaps once I reach the second trimester I'll feel confident enough to move it to the sidebar.

Infinite sadness...

The tickers are gone, the baby has died.

I am so very sad.

First ultrasound

So, I had my first ultrasound this morning.

Even though my LMP (last menstrual period) was 4/10, I know I ovulated late. My best guess is that my EDD (due date) is somewhere around 1/25/2008. That would put me at about 6 weeks, 5 days according to my tickers (see right).

I went in for a dating ultrasound this morning just to make sure everything was all fine and dandy and to confirm the fact that I'm right about the late ovulation and all. According to the tech, I'm only measuring 5 weeks 5 days. Unless I'm doing my math wrong, that would mean that the faint positive test I got on Mother's Day was only a few days (if that) after ovulation, which is impossible. That would also mean that I got the very dark and convincing positive tests at around 10 DPO (days past ovulation). Seems unlikely to me...

The weird thing is that even though I'm supposedly only 5 weeks 5 days, they did see a "flicker of a heartbeat". I saw it too.

The tech was in a hurry as they seemed to be running about 35 minutes behind schedule. Perhaps she mismeasured in her haste?

Despite my protesting that the dates don't make any sense, they said don't worry, everything looks fine, and seeing a heartbeat is always a good sign.

Also, they said I have a very, very small subchorionic hemorrhage. I guess it's not uncommon and is nothing to fret about. She made a point of saying over and over again how tiny it is, so I guess I'll try not to think too much about it.

In a way, I'm lucky to have it because I get another ultrasound on July 5th to make sure it's healing itself.

Even so, it's going to be a loooooong four-week wait.

First "real" post!

Woo hoo, I have time to post!

So much to catch up on...

Firstly, I had my first OB appointment this week. Yes, I know it's WAY early, but after what happened in January, I'm more than a little freaked out this time around. The nurse practitioner was so very nice. They did a test just to confirm, and surprise, it was positive! Wooo! (FYI, my doctor's office uses tests identical to those $1 tests they sell at Dollar Tree stores. So if you ever find yourself thinking "OMFG, a pregnancy test costs how much?!" rest assured that the cheapy Dollar Tree brand are just as good.) They also took some blood to run some fun tests on. I have no idea what they're testing for, but I haven't gotten any ominous calls yet, so I won't worry about it too much.

On the work front things are going well. I'm nearing completion of a rather largish project, so that's always lovely. For the few of you tech people who may or may not be reading this, it's a monthly report writing system that employs awesome AJAX technology... it's all slick and autosaving and cool.

At home, things are also nice and happy. Ellie is awesome, and becomes more fun to be around every day. Her latest word... booger. Ha! And yes, she knows what it means and will demonstrate this by sticking her finger up her nose as she says it. No, I do not know where she learned this, but I can't help but crack up. 14-month-olds are a riot!

In other Ellie news, according to my mother-in-law, Ellie thinks I resemble a 40-year-old Judy Garland. Apparently yesterday Ellie was carrying around the cover to one of the Judy Garland Show DVD sets I have (which can be seen here), and kept pointing while saying "Mama! Mama!". I'm rather miffed by this as I think I look NOTHING like this said picture of Miss Garland. Perhaps she was just trying to get the point across that the DVD set in question was 100% Mommy's since Daddy would not be caught dead owning such a thing. Although, when she looks at Kevin's Justice League sets, she does not say Daddy, but usually points to Batman and utters "Bah-mah". Toddlers are weird.