quick note- realization

OH MY GOODNESS.....
Today is the last day of August!!!!!!!!! How is time going so fast??
I remember feeling this way when June ended. That feels like a week or so ago.
Not good, I need to get working.

Late post, more bloat, no new updates!

Life has been relatively uneventful since my post a week ago. I've been tired and felt too lazy to update- sorry! Here's my delayed 8 weeks picture/survey:
(Picture taken by me with the auto-function on my camera. Mr. Beaver was asleep and I felt bad waking him just for a picture...)
How far along? 8 weeks... 20% done I guess? 8/40 weeks, right?
Total weight gain/loss: I'm thinking I put on a couple of pounds, but I fluctuate so much during the day, I'm not sure.
Maternity clothes? Nope but I'm seriously considering getting a be band thing I keep hearing about. I got a few baggy shirts because all of my stuff is fitted, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm the only one noticing my bloated belly!!
Sleep: Some days I feel fine, but most days I am still sooo tired. I have been sleeping the same at night, but wake up feeling like I did an abs class the day before!
Best moment this week: hmm... I guess finishing two of several projects I've got going on. Unrelated to baby making, but I am waiting to finish all of my projects before telling work the big news, so kinda relevant.
Movement: just the flickering heartbeat on the ultrasound
Food cravings: not much... I did want hard or sour candy the other day, which is very weird for me. I didn't have any, so I had some seltzer with cranberry juice and some lemon squeezed in, which was yummy.
Gender: ?? Not sure yet if we even want to find out.
Labor signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? I have an outie, so it's always out. I guess I'll report if it seems to be more out later?
What I miss: not feeling tired and crappy,
What I am looking forward to: still the same...My 1st appt on Sept. 9. I am hoping they will try to hear the heartbeat on the doppler! We may start telling family after that.
Weekly wisdom: As tired as I feel, it usually helps to get up and do stuff!
Milestones: I guess hitting the 1/5th of the way through mark

Spanx+mocktails

I felt so blah today, I wore my spanx to try to hold in the bloat. It worked pretty well!! I don't think I felt like I looked bloated at all, the whole day! Win!

I had to lie to friends about drinking again- second time in a week. I wish I had stuck to my plan to not drink all the time while we were trying, so that when it happened it wouldn't be a sudden change. I either lie when I tell them what I am drinking (because they ask), or I tell the truth, or turn down an offered alcoholic drink, and have to lie about why I am not drinking. When I say I am driving (not a lie!) I am offered rides, a place to stay, and weird looks since I've always allowed myself a drink if I will be somewhere for at least two hours. I hope people aren't mad at me for lying, and don't think I'm crazy for what I feel is going a little overboard trying to hide my pregnancy!! I just am not ready for work to know, which is what will happen once it is on facebook...

7 Week Belly Pic = Bloat :(

OMG.... I don't know what happened in the past week- I swear I've been eating the same, exercising almost as much- just cut down on the intensity. I am CRAZY bloated! This is actually what I've looked like before bed each night, after the whole day of eating/drinking, but this picture (like all of the past pictures) was taken in the morning. This is what I thought I'd look like in a month or two... wow.

How far along? 7 Weeks already!
Total weight gain/loss: nada, despite my growing belly!
Maternity clothes? Nope
Sleep: Still sleepy during the day and taking a nap some/most days. I'm not having trouble getting up in the morning, though, and feel pretty rested.
Best moment this week: SEEING THE HEARTBEAT!!!!!!
Movement: just the flickering heartbeat on the ultrasound
Food cravings: Just food in general- fast and furious, but then I can't even eat a whole serving.
Gender: ?? Not sure yet if we even want to find out.
Labor signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? I have an outie, so it's always out. I guess I'll report if it seems to be more out later?
What I miss: A friend made hurricanes a couple of nights ago and I had to turn them down... I LOVE them (was our signature wedding drink!) and everyone was talking about how good they were :( definitely worth it though!!!
What I am looking forward to: My 1st appt on Sept. 9. I am hoping they will try to hear the heartbeat on the doppler! We may start telling family after that.
Weekly wisdom: umm... bloat sucks?
Milestones: Seeing the heartbeat!!!!!!!!

I'm Pregnant!!!!!!!

I feel like I can finally get excited :)
The heartbeat was flickering at about 115 bpm. Awesome.
EDD adjusted to April 10 (which is exactly what I thought it was from the beginning).
More tomorrow... right now just celebrating and enjoying how happy we are!

Week 6- check!

Oops- forget belly pics!!! Mr. Beaver thinks that I am just sticking my stomach out more each week, but I think I am just getting more and more bloated :)
(PS- I am purposely wearing the same sweatpants for each picture- I feel like I look so different in different pants, I thought it would be easiest to compare/contrast in the same ones. I don't always wear the same thing, or have "Saturday morning sweats" ha! I just slip them on for the picture, as you can tell by the mis-matched tops :))



According to my EDD (that I calculated, not the doctor's), I am 6 full weeks into my pregnancy! I didn't do a week 5 survey because nothing really changed... there still isn't much that has changed, but here it is anyway!

How far along? 6 Weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: I fluctuate so much within a day, it's hard to say... but maybe a lb?
Maternity clothes? Nope
Sleep: Still sleepy during the day and taking a nap some/most days. I'm not having trouble getting up in the morning, though, and feel pretty rested.
Best moment this week: Mr. Beaver and I talked about names- nothing serious, but it was fun to think about! He actually loved one of my girl names!
Movement: nope
Food cravings: Nothing specific, but bouts of starvation hit me very fast, and I can't go to bed on an empty stomach or I end up getting up an hour later to eat.
Gender: ?? Not sure yet if we even want to find out.
Labor signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? I have an outie, so it's always out. I guess I'll report if it seems to be more out later?
What I miss: Right now nothing. We went to dinner at a microbrewery and for a second I wished I could try a beer, but I don't really miss it.
What I am looking forward to: The follow-up ultrasound on Wednesday!!!!!
Weekly wisdom: hmm....graham crackers and milk are a good way to satiate hunger at night!
Milestones: I don't feel like we have hit any milestones this week :( It has just been full of worry and anxiety for Wednesday!! I guess the baby hit the milestone that (s)he SHOULD have a steady heartbeat now- we'll find out on wednesday!!!

One more week...

Just a quick update:
We heard back from the doctor's office and we are going to go in for another ultrasound. They said that they wanted to do it at least 10 days after the first, but next Wednesday was the first morning appointment they had, which I took so that Mr. Beaver can come with me.

I can't wait to see that everything is okay with our baby!!

My Mom Knows!! :)

I have been going back and forth on whether to tell my mom or wait. I would've told her the second I saw her, but since she's been in Utah and I am in Pennsylvania, that did not happen. I thought about waiting for her to go back to Florida and going down there to tell, but it is such an unnecessary cost- probably about the same as a crib, or at least a car seat or travel system!
Anyway- I accepted the fact that I would not be able to tell her in person, and decided to do it over the phone. The next decision was when. I would love to have her support if anything happened, but she has so much going on that she is dealing with that I would not want to add more to her plate, so I thought about waiting until we know everything is OK. Then when I was talking to her and hearing her sound sad and stressed about everything, I realized it would cheer her up to know, and decided to do it asap. Here's how:

I told her to call when she was on her computer because I found something on the internet that would really cheer her up. She called when she was on her computer, and I told her I was looking for the link, but was sending a picture of DH and I from a wedding I was in last weekend. I hear her open the e-mail and comment, "That's weird, usually pictures just open in the e-mail." She opens the attachment and she sees the picture and says, "Oh wow, what a beautiful picture! You guys look so nice!!" and then silence.

I had used the whole Mastercard theme to tell her. You know the one (imagine something like this, on the side of the picture)...

Dress for Sara's wedding...................$200
Wine rack for gift............................... $150
Hotel in DC .......................................... $99
First picture of the three of us...Priceless!
(I'll post the actual "announcement" once we come out to the rest of the family)

Anyway- after a few seconds of silence, I asked if she had read it. She seemed stunned and then started yelling my name, and asking if it was for real. I could tell she was absolutely terrified it was a joke. I told her it was for real and she sounded happier than she has in a long time. It was great :)
We spent a while talking about her pregnancies and she reassured me about a lot of things. I'm excited now to be able to call and talk to her about being pregnant and go to her with any questions I have. I am so happy that I decided to tell early!!! It was so much fun to tell someone too- now it's going to be even harder to keep the secret...
I'm hoping we get a web cam in time to tell my MIL, because I think her reaction will be youtube worthy. If it is anything like her reaction to our engagement it will definitely be amusing.

Bloodwork is back and...

I'm going to have an ultrasound today! My HCG was at 3217. I guess if it is over 2000 they don't take a second beta, instead they do an ultrasound. I'm not sure what, if anything, we will see, but hopefully it goes well!! Mr. Beaver is going to try to get there in time, but he said it would be hard. He said early next week would be worse, so today it is. I'm very excited but also nervous. I don't know if they will be able to tell if anything is wrong yet, but hopefully there will be some indication that all is well in my uterus :)


So an update from my ultrasound....
Based on my LMP I am 5 weeks, 5 days pregnant. My doctor put me at 5 weeks, 4 days. I think they are both wrong... I think that today I am 4 weeks 6 days. At least that is what I am hoping, or even that I am less pregnant than that. Conception day could be a day or so later than ovulation, right?
We went for the ultrasound and all we saw was an empty sack. If I am very early, then that is normal, and my pregnancy is real and progressing normally. If I am as far along as my doctor thinks, I feel like we should have seen more. What really worries me is that they expected to be able to see enough to know the pregnancy is viable based on my high hCG number, but this is not what happened. I have gone over many different scenarios in my head and decided I'm going to try not to think about it until Monday when the doctor (hopefully) calls. I wonder if I will worry any less after these first few weeks, or if I should get used to feeling like this for the rest of my pregnancy- or life?!

First Appointment!

Today is my first appointment with my OB. It is only a "confirmation" appointment, so I don't think they will do much. It sounds like many of the girls I "talk" to on a pregnancy messageboard get ultrasounds at their first appointment, but I think it will be too early for me today.
Will come back with an update in a few hours!!

UPDATE!!
The appointment went well :)
It was mostly what I expected- weight, blood pressure, info on what to eat, etc. I didn't expect an internal exam, because I had just gotten my annual pap done a few weeks ago. The dr. did do one though, to check my uterus. She said it felt "very pregnant!" That made me very happy!

I went to the lab right after my appointment to get my bloodwork done. I'm not sure exactly what they were testing, but they took about 6 vials of blood!! I get more taken Saturday, and then they will look at my HCG numbers to make sure that they at least double. I go back to the OB in early September, when they think we will be able to see the heartbeat!!! So exciting! I can't wait...

First Belly Pic

So...I have no idea if it makes sense to post belly pics this early. I don't know when I will actually start to show? Or if there is any point to putting pictures up, knowing they are just pictures of bloat and not baby? I think I'll put up the first picture as a sort of "Before", and then see how I look each week and decide as I go.
Before:


I've seen other girls fill out a weekly questionnaire to keep track of their pregnancy progression and symptoms. I think it's a fun idea

How far along? In the pic above, 3w 6d. I'll fill this out for 4 weeks and then do it each week.
Total weight gain/loss: 0 lbs
Maternity clothes? Nope
Sleep: I am sleeping sooo much. I do wake up once a night, but I've always done that.
Best moment this week: Finding out!! (getting the BFP, especially on the digital)
Movement: of course not
Food cravings: Nothing really. I do feel hungry more often, but can't eat as much at once.
Gender: ?? Not sure yet if we even want to find out.
Labor signs: nope
Belly Button in or out? I have an outie, so it's always out. I guess I'll report if it seems to be more out later?
What I miss: Right now nothing. I guess it was weird not having champagne with my friend this weekend before her wedding, but didn't really miss it.
What I am looking forward to: My first doctor appt and getting betas drawn. I am so nervous, and can't wait for some reassurance that everything is progressing OK.
Weekly wisdom: people don't notice you not drinking as much as you may expect!
Milestones: the BFP and telling the first people (friends at the wedding)

Time to start a blog...

I've been thinking about doing it for a while, but after our exciting news this week I decided it was finally time to start a blog.

We're having a baby!!!

I don't know that anyone will actually read this blog for a while, as we aren't sure when we will tell the families, but it seems like a blog is a great place way to think, reflect, vent, and all of the other stuff that I'm sure I will need to do over the next nine months. Besides, my friends already get annoyed with how much I go on about our furbaby, I can imagine none of them will stick around if they are my only outlet for all of my obsessive baby ramblings!

It is still very early, and we are still very cautious. Online due date calculators estimate my due date to be between April 10-14, 2010, which puts me right around 4 weeks now. I'm anxiously awaiting my "confirmation appointment" this Thursday, even though I have no idea what will happen! Hopefully I will at least get some information that everything is going OK so far and we have a healthy baby on the way. For now I'm just waiting for the books I've ordered to get here so I can start reading up on what's going to happen to me and everything I should and shouldn't be doing! Expect reviews on What to Expect When You're Expecting, The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy, Your Pregnancy Week by Week, in the next few weeks ;) Maybe I can even get my husband to report on The Expectant Father. Can you tell I'm a little anxious?! We are just so excited and I need to feel some sense of control, which I know I really don't right now.

Here's to a happy and healthy nine months!!
Jamie