Happy Holidays!!!

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and little baby boy still does not have a name.  ARGH!  I told James I wanted a name by Christmas, but oh well.  Maybe we'll shoot for New Years, but that probably won't happen either.  We already have his nursery furniture (crib, changing table, & dresser) already here at the house, although the nursery is FAR from finished.  We have the basic colors painted, but the chair rail still needs to be put up and the decorative painting needs to be done.  My goal was to have that done before we left for Indiana for the holidays....but that's not going to happen either.  MAN!  I'm really falling behind here!  Actually, I've been sick...remember?!?!  Plus with all the holiday parties and stuff, we just haven't had any time.  I actually woke up this morning and my bottom lip had exploded with 9 (NINE!!!!) fever blisters!!!  It's huge!  I'm not even kidding!  So I headed over to Urgent Care to get some medicine for my lip.  If it was just one blister, I would have suffered through it, but this is RIDICULOUS!!!  Anyway, I'm very glad I went because evidently the sinus infection I had a few weeks back decided it didn't want to go away.  It sent fluid to both ears that has now become pussy.  EWWWWW!  So I am BACK on antibiotics...plus cream for the blisters.  HOPEFULLY the swelling will go down before we reach Indiana Monday.  

What else is new?  Well, I'm TOTALLY uncomfortable already and I know it's only going to get worse.  I can't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep.  I've been wanting to buy one of those pregnancy pillows, but since I'm cheap and don't want to spend the $60, I haven't gotten one.  LUCKILY Alison never used hers and has let me borrow it.  It's not the life saver I thought it would be, but it definitely helps!!!  Now if I could just get the doggies to understand that I don't want them sleeping on top of me anymore, I'd be doing ok!  I know I should just make them sleep on the floor, but I can't!  That would just break my heart!!!  (I know, I shouldn't complain then, right?!?)  Anyway, we're supposed to take my 24 week belly pic tomorrow; hopefully we can remember to do that since we completely forgot about week 23!  In case we forget though, here is a picture Leanna took of me and Pacey watching James take Rigsby for a ride on the tractor Christmas Day (23wks 6dys).Someone should have told me to STAND UP STRAIGHT!!!  Anyway, and for those of you who didn't get our Christmas cards because you failed to send me your address (or I forgot and please forgive me if I did!!!) here are the pictures that were on it!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a MERRY CHRISTMAS and best wishes for the New Year!!!!!!

Total Fatty!

So I had my 22 week appointment Friday and everything with baby boy looks/sounds great.  This is the good news!

The bad news is that I have gained 10 POUNDS since my last appointment, which was only 4 weeks ago!!!  The doctor said it was probably due to Thanksgiving, but I don't think so...I didn't eat THAT much.  I really haven't been eating more than I normally do either.  But anyway, so this brings to grand total to 19 pounds gained by 22 weeks!  YIKES!  Yep...total fatty here!  Then she measured my belly and it was 23 cm and I could just tell by the look on her face that that wasn't something to be proud of.  So of course I asked..."Is that normal?"  And she said with a BIG smile..."It's on the bigger side of the normal range."  Even the doctor thinks I'm a total fatty!  But then she looked at both James and I (because James is determined to go to all the appointments...YAY!!!!!!) and said "Well, you're both tall so maybe it's just a tall baby."  Yeah, that made me feel better about being huge...thanks!  But I'm very thankful that baby boy seems to be doing well and I will never take that for granted...no matter how much of a fatty he makes me!

Anyway, I did a little research after the appointment and found that your belly is supposed to measure in cm the amount of weeks you are.  And since I was measuring 23 cm at 22 weeks...I don't think that is THAT bad!!!  But I'll let y'all decide for yourselves.  Here are some more belly pics. I'm not gonna lie...I was sucking in on the 22 week pic.  I had just been told I was a fatty...I was trying to prove the doctor wrong.  LOL

I'm Sick!

I woke up yesterday morning to the worst sore throat EVER!  Of course I haven't had a sore throat since having my septum surgery last April, so it took me by major surprise!!!  James has been sickly since Thursday, so I can only assume he is the one who gave this horrible sore throat to me.  I was going to try to tough it out, but then I started thinking "What if it's an infection...and What if the infection spreads to the baby?!?!?!"  AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!  So I went to the doctor and sure enough...SINUS INFECTION!!!  Boogers!  Are you kidding me?!?!?!   AND on top of that....the vomiting is back.  The doctor warned me that could happen because of all the drainage going into my tummy, but I never actually thought it would happen.  WRONG!  I'm miserable!  My throat is seriously on fire and my head feels like it weighs 100 pounds.  He put me on amoxicillin, which is supposed to be safe for "pregnant girls"....but that doesn't stop me from worrying sick about little baby Brinkley.  What if he decided he wanted to be allergic to amoxicillin????  It could happen you know!  Khaim is allergic to every antibiotic under the sun!  Oh the joys of motherhood!  I know this is just the beginning of my long life of worry ahead of me.......

OMG! I'm Exhausted!

I registered today!  Ugh!  So much stuff that I need....I'm overwhelmed!  I took two new mommies with me and they showed me EVERYTHING they needed the first few months of their little ones' lives.  I really had NO IDEA of everything that I would need.  THANK THE LORD they were willing to help me!  As of right now, my Babies R Us registry is 9 pages long....and NOT FINISHED!!!  LOL  I haven't picked out any baby monitors yet because I didn't see any there that I particulary liked.  Plus I know I really need to register for some items from Wal-Mart since we have one of those in town.  All of my bedding and nursery decor is registered at Baby Depot.  So here are my two registry numbers for y'all to go check out!  Let me know if you notice anything else missing!!!

Babies R Us Registry #78633982 

(http://www.toysrus.com/registry/index.jsp)

Baby Depot Registry #13158952 (http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/Registry/Home.process)

PRESENTS!!!

Well, after receiving the amazing news of a HEALTHY BOY Friday, I wanted to go buy Baby Brinkley's first presents from his parents and pick out his crib.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen for reasons that will remain unsaid.  ANYWAY, I did head out Sunday and bought baby boy's bedding and a few outfits for him!  I just wanted to share the pics!

I LOVE the bottom of the feet on this last one!!!  I didn't even notice the football feet until I got it home and was showing it to James!!!!  Aren't they cute!?!?!?!

It's a BOY!!!

Yep, that's right!  We saw a little weenie today!  LOL!  Baby Brinkley was just PERFECT!  He had both hemispheres in his brain, all four chambers of his heart were visibly working, and both kidneys looked good as well.  He was measuring four days ahead of schedule, and they COULD move my due date up to April 13th....but  Dr. Thompson said they won't.  I'm just SO THRILLED that everything looks great!  He was moving all over the place.  James couldn't believe how much he was moving....and he was even more surprised that I couldn't feel any of it.  That did make me sad.  The tech even commented on how "active" he was.  She said I should be feeling movement ANY DAY NOW!  I can't wait.  It was so cute....about half way through the scan he got hiccups.  Every time he'd hiccup, he'd punch his little fists.  ADORABLE!   Hopefully James and I can agree on his name soon.....but until we do; take a peek at Baby BOY Brinkley!!!! (OH...and I lost a pound since last week :)

Finding Out the Gender!

I AM SO EXCITED!!! I went to the doctor Tuesday for my 16wk check (and the doc said I was almost 17 weeks...who am I to argue??). Anyway, we heard the heartbeat, still nice and strong! I tried to get an ultrasound that day; begged even, but she wasn't having it. Dr. Thompson wasn't very personable. I much prefer Dr. Jarvis or Dr. Brass! ANYWAY, she did say we could get our anatomy scan in the next week or two...SO we scheduled it for next Friday (November 14th) at 9:15am!!! I feel like next Friday will NEVER get here! Yesterday seemed liked it dragged on forever! I'm not going to complain though, because I thought I was going to have to wait until the first week of December! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETE TORTURE!!! I can't believe James and I can start picking out a name and buying stuff for the nursery in 8 days!!!! SO EXCITING!!! Remember to vote in the gender poll on the left hand side of the blog before next Friday!

BELLY PICS!!!

Ok, against my better judgement...I'm going to post all the belly pics that I have been withholding!  I don't feel like I look pregnant...I just look fat (in my opinion).  You don't have to say anything to make me feel better; I know I look fat.  Alright, without further ado.......

PRESENTS!

Baby Brinkley recieved his/her first presents recently!  I'm so excited!  They are both small and very non-gender specific, but they are the first presents from other people and will always be special!  The first came from our nephew Spencer.  James' family just got back from a road trip to Maine and Spencer wanted to get the baby a present.  So he got the baby a little stuffed moose!  Now this is very exciting to me because when I was a baby my dad gave me the  nickname of Moose and called me that forever!!!  He still likes to joke around about it.  James just took a "business trip" to Chicago (I use the term business trip lightly because he attended a conference for one day and spent the rest of his time there touring the city!  Must be nice to get paid to tour Chicago!!!).  Anyway, he brought back a little teddy bear from the Chicago Harley-Davidson shop.   He named the bear Knuckle-Head.  I LOVE IT!   I, of course, bought the VERY FIRST present MONTHS and MONTHS ago.  Because I LOVE my blankey so much, I figured my baby would want one too!  So can you guess what I bought.......???????

Anyway, yes I am STILL very behind on my belly pic posting.  I feel like I'm just starting to look fat so please no fat comments!  I'm exactly 16 weeks today so as soon as James gets up, we'll take todays picture and then I'll post all the ones that I have (10, 12, 13, 14, & 16 weeks......11 & 15 weeks never got taken).  

Lots to Catch Up On!!!! (I know there is a dangling partaciple there...get over it!)

Wow! I really stink at keeping this blog up-to-date! Please forgive!

Baby Brinkley had his/her second picture taken on October 7th!! It was REALLY neat to actually see a baby this time with a cute little head, and cute little ear, and cute little spine, and wonderfully cute little feet! Needless to say that Baby Brink is going to be SUPER CUTE!!!

I hope everyone can see our cute little baby. The scan didn't come out very well, but I tried to point out the major features.

We actually did get to hear the heartbeat and it was VERY STRONG! Dr. Brass was able to find it with the doppler, but I begged for an ultrasound! I wanted to see arms and legs; not just a peanut! It was amazing to see how much stronger the heart was compared to last time! It was beating about 160 bpm....which I thought was on the slower side so said it MUST be a boy. Dr. Brass found something on the screen to which he said just might prove my statement about it being a boy true. But then he said it could also just be the other foot or the cord.....so I guess we'll have to wait and see! However, I have since been told that anything over 150 is on the higher side. AH we're still in limbo! Hopefully we'll find out the first week of December!

Our next appointment is November 4th (election day). We will listen to the heartbeat again, but that will probably be it. However, we will then schedule the gender scan!!!!!

I know I'm REALLY behind on the belly pics. We've been taking them, I've just been too tired to post. So I will try to get them posted later!

OH Where to Begin???

WOWZA!  I can't believe it's been a million years since my last post!  AND I not only didn't post my 10 week belly pic, but I completely missed my 11 week belly pic!  We weren't even able to take one!  Things have been....um....crazy to say the least.  

I have been feeling something terrible!  Nothing has wanted to stay in my tummy!  And just the thought of the smell of my kitchen is enough to make me dry heave!  For an entire week, every time I walked into my kitchen, I tossed my cookies!  It got so bad that last Tuesday (9/23/08) James had to take me to the ER!  I was moderately dehydrated, which just made my nausea worse!

The ER doc diagnosed me with Hyperemesis Gravidarum, which only happens in 1 out of every 200 healthy pregnancies (LUCKY ME!).  It's basically just a severe form of nausea and/or vomiting.  It causes weight loss, dehydration, and malnutrition and occurs during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!).  

So the doc called my OB and the OB called in a n order for a special IV with some kind of sugar drip (or something like that...wasn't really paying attention).  It seemed to help more than just the normal saline IV.  They also shot me up with a chemo-sized dose of Zofran in my IV.  That probably helped some too :)  

The nausea comes and goes in waves now, but the dizziness is almost constant.  And I'm never really sure when the gagging is going to hit.  The kitchen still bothers me, so I try to avoid it at all times.  And when I can't, I plan out my trip in there before going so I can get everything I need as quickly as possible.  Most times I can hold my breath....for the times I can't, I just keep my shirt over my mouth and nose and pray!

I Hate Keeping Big Secrets!

So it's been really hard for me not to write about how my best friend in the whole world is pregnant also and is only three weeks ahead of me!  She didn't want anyone to know because she too had suffered a loss back in January so they wanted to make sure everything was ok first.  I do understand that....OH BUT IT'S BEEN SO HARD!!!  

Well yesterday they heard the heartbeat so I can officially open my mouth......MY SISTER'S PREGNANT TOO!!!!  Oh this is so exciting!  I was so worried that all of his/her cousins would be so much older that Baby Brinkley would have no one to play with when we went to visit my family in Indiana...but this is not the case!!!  

Ok, the bad news:  I've always wanted my sister in the delivery room with me, but I'm afraid she won't even be able to be at the hospital!!!  She will have just given birth less than a month earlier and might not even be able to make the trip down to Georgia!  

The other bad news:  I'll be so far along I probably won't be able to travel to Indiana when her little one is born.  

BOO FOR BAD NEWS!  The good news is I get to share this exciting experience with my sister!  YAY!!!!

9 Weeks!

Belly pic time!  So it's a day late, but I'm still so sick!  I've been taking the Zofran, but it only does so much.  BUT I'm holding out hope that I'll be feeling better in the next couple of weeks! For now, I'm excited to be in the beginning of the third month (you'll notice in my ticker at the top that I've now moved to the third box!!!)  PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!!!

Anyway, here are the pics.  I think I might see the tiniest bit of growth!  Let me know what you think!!!

We Have a Heartbeat!!!

James and I went to the doctor yesterday for my first prenatal appointment with Dr. Jarvis.  It was quite eventful.  I thought I was doing ok when they decided to take 1,000 gallons of blood from my arm, but my body thought differently.  I got a bit on the dizzy side and one of the nurses walking by stopped and said "That girl's going to faint!"  She came over and started fanning me, another nurse came over and put a cold cloth on my neck.  It was crazy!  I was so embarrassed!  Then instead of going into Dr. Jarvis' office, they took me straight to the exam room so I could lay down.  Which, I'm not gonna lie, was nice.  It felt good to lay down!   They finally got James and he came into the room and helped "keep me on the table" (directions from the nurse!  LOL) while we waited for Dr. Jarvis.   After we talked with him for a while and we finally agreed on an estimated due date (April 16th!!!!!!!!!!!), he went to get the ultrasound machine so we could see our little miracle!  

I love Dr. Jarvis!  I really do, but he should leave the ultrasounds to the experts (LOL!).  He made me SO nervous and scared trying to find my UTERUS.....not the baby, the uterus!  I don't think I took a breath for a good minute and a half while he tried to figure out where it was!  Of course in his defense, my uterus is laying WAY back in an akward position.  ANYWAY, he found it and there was Baby Brinkley!  And the little heart was just flickering away.  It was so beautiful to see!  I cried!  

So I have attached the pictures from the ultrasound!  Our next appointment is October 7th and we will be able to hear the heartbeat then!!!!  I can hardly wait!

Belly Pics!

Ok, so because I've been SOOOOO sick I have neglected posting my belly pics for two weeks.  Here are my 6, 7, and 8 weeks pics!

Ugh!

I can't believe it's been over a week since I've been able to post!!!  I completely missed the 7 week belly pic....it was taken, just never had the energy to post it.  I'll post it tomorrow or Monday when the 8 week pic is taken. 

So why have I been absent from my blog?  MORNING SICKNESS!!!   Which is completely misleading!  It's last all day, everyday for the past week!  I'm so nauseous and dizzy I can't do anything but lay down and stay still.  I've found that if I eat something and not allow myself to get hungry it helps a little.  The only problem is that NOTHING sounds good.  It's a chore to even get water down the hatch!  I just wish I could throw up!  I think I might feel better if it would just come up.....but it won't.  With the exception of a few episodes of dry heaves, I've got NOTHING!

I did find something that is good to my tummy though...POPSICLES!!!!!!!  I bought three boxes at Wal-Mart today!!!  Now if I could only get some that gave me all the nutrition I need, I would be in good shape!!!

Anyway, football game is back on so gotta go!  Look for the belly pics soon!!!

Giving the Goodyear Blimp a Run for It's Money!

Wow, It's been a few days.   I haven't written because all I've done is go to work and then sleep!  SERIOUSLY!  Yesterday I was freaking out because I SWORE all my symptoms were gone (except for being tired of course) but they're all back today.  I keep crossing my arms and squeezing my chest to make sure it's still sore.  Yep, it is!  I love it!  Not much else is going on.  I noticed I got really queasy if I didn't eat today, but nothing sounded good.  I feel like I ate NON-STOP today.  If I went 15-20 minutes without eating, I got that queasy feeling.  I didn't so much enjoy that, so I just kept shoving food in my mouth.  This is not good.  I'm going to look like the Goodyear blimp by the time the baby gets here!  

Good news though...Rigsby is home!!!  James went and got him yesterday!  I'm so excited to have him back I can't stand it!!!  Poor little thing!  They shaved his front leg and you can see where the IV's were.  I just pray he's all better and will never have to be that sick again!!!  I'm very thankful he made it home in time for the first Georgia football game of the season!!!  He'll be sporting his Dawg's jersey along with the rest of us!!!  GO DAWGS!

Who Slipped Me a Roofie?!?!

Could I BE anymore tired???

I feel like all I want to do is SLEEP!  And I can't get enough of it!  I'm going to bed around 9:30 every night (of course I'm getting up at least once if not twice to go to the bathroom!).  Then I have to DRAG myself out of bed at 7:00am (even though my alarm starts going off at 6:30).  I'm tired for most of the morning, but it's really not too bad.  I can manage.  But after I get done eating lunch, I'm done.  I'm worthless.  I just sit there trying to keep my eyes open until I can go home!  Once I get home, I nap for at least an hour, if not longer.  James will wake me up to eat dinner, so I eat, take my progesterone, watch about an hour of tv and then back to bed!  SERIOUSLY?!?!?!  ALL I DO IS SLEEP!  I can only imagine this is how people feel after their drink has been drugged.  KIDDING!  I shouldn't compare this to those poor victims.  Please don't leave me bad/mean comments.

Anyway, on another note my poor, poor Rigsby is in the doggy hospital with pancreatitis.  Poor baby was so dehydrated when I got him there he needed an IV for fluids and one for antibiotics. I took him in Monday afternoon and they won't let me pick him up until at least Thursday afternoon.  I feel so bad for him!!!  I just want to give him a BIG hug and let him know everything is going to be ok!

6 Weeks!! Picture Time!

Well, it's a little late but since I couldn't resist Sandy's wonderful chanting in her comment, here it is; my 6 week (and 2 days) belly pic!!  Of course I posted the 5 week pic (left) for comparison. I'm pretty sure I'm getting smaller :)  Actually I think my body is just getting used to the extra progesterone and the bloating is finally going down!  

I finally broke down and scheduled my first OB appointment!  Because everything with my cycle has been crazy since losing the last baby, they wanted to see me early, so I am going in at 8 weeks instead of the usual 10 weeks!  That's SO exciting!  Hopefully (and God willing!) I will be able to post the first picture of Baby Brinkley on September 9!!!  Only two weeks away!  Anyone want to take guesses on what the heart rate will be!?!?!?

One day down!

Ok, we actually have 44 days down, but we lost our last baby on cycle day 43 last time so I have been pregnant for one more day than last time.  I was very relieved to get through the day yesterday.  I was petrified all day.  I didn't want to go the bathroom for fear of seeing what I didn't want to see.  But we made it through the day with no surprises.  It was nice having an uneventful day!  Until we got home from dinner to come home to two sick puppies.  Bless their hearts!  I'll spare everyone the details, but it made me gag!  I'm not sure that was due to pregnancy though...it was just that bad!!!!

Well, tomorrow (I guess technically it's today since it's midnight) I'll be 6 weeks according to my ticker, not according to my LMP.  That's exciting!   I plan on calling the doctor's office Monday to set up my first appointment.  Unfortunately the appointment probably won't be until around September 19...but I'll at least have an appointment.  I hate they won't see me until 10 weeks.  I feel like after losing one baby, they should see me sooner.  Ah well, this world would be a better place if people would just listen to my opinions/advice!  LOL!!!  6 week belly pic tomorrow!  I'm not looking forward to this one!  I've eaten WAY too much this week!   I've been STARVING all the time!!!

NO pink OR blue!!!

Oops! I missed a day! Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I really didn't have any symptoms which made me worry most of the day. I wasn't able to get my nap in after work because Rigsby had Doggie Boot Camp last night, so I think I went to bed around 9:30! I'm pretty sure I didn't fall asleep until 10:00, but that's pretty much a record for me. I usually don't get in the bed until almost midnight! So being EXHAUSTED and going to bed at an unusually early time was my only symptom. Boo! I'm praying for the morning sickness to come so I can FEEL pregnant!!!

Today has been a little better symptom wise. I'm still exhausted even though I got a LOT of sleep last night and I've been having little dizzy spells here and there. Nothing huge, but enough to notice. Which makes me happy. Funny how feeling like poo makes me happy these days! I was trying to run some of my favorite boy names by James last night and he wasn't having any of it. First he said it was too early to look at names. Then he hated EVERY name I liked. This is going to take FOREVER!!! So then he asked what color I was going to paint the nursery?!?!?!? Um...it will be different for either gender so I'm not sure! Maybe we should have a name first?!?!? I guess men and women think differently! Funny thing is, the nursery will probably have a lot of green in it either way. There will be NO pink and NO blue walls for my baby!

I swear I'm done after this one.....

Done with tests that is...not babies! At this point I still want my litter! LOL

Anyway, just because I can and had one readily available, I tested again this morning. I wanted to make sure the lines were getting consistently darker like they should be. I can't even begin to tell you how nervous I was. I was so afraid there wasn't going to be a line at all. BOY WAS I WRONG!! The line was so dark immediately that there was hardly enough dye for the control line! See the total progression below...to me it definitely looks like the lines are getting darker just the way they are supposed to!

Not much going on with my body today...just the same ole stuff. I did share the good news with my boss today. I was going to wait until next Monday for the 6 week mark to tell, but since the fainting spell on Friday I got worried that might happen at work. I thought it would be better if someone knew what was going on if that happened. I'm actually starting to get scared about the pregnancy. After being so confident last week, this week I'm completely opposite. There have been no symptoms to make me feel this way, I just think it's the week. Hopefully my nerves will calm down tomorrow and I can start enjoying the pregnancy again!!!

5 WEEKS!!!

So I'm 5 weeks today!  Time for another belly pic!!  Ugh!  I look so bloated...must be the medicine!  I've included the 4 week pic for comparison.

Well, everyone in our immediate family now knows!  It's going to be sooo hard to keep it a secret!  I want to shout it at everyone I see, but the goal is to wait until after the first ultrasound.  If we can make it August 25th, I think we'll be doing good!  Nothing really to report for yesterday and today.  Pretty boring symptom wise; just the same dull cramping.  The dizziness has either subsided or I'm just used to it because I haven't noticed it since Friday.  James and I went to pick up our new dresser yesterday.  I'm so excited!  AND we finally bought our anniversary present to each other; A NEW TV for the bedroom!!!  I know it's not baby related, but it was still exciting!!!

And down she goes!

Whew!  Where to start today!  Because I'm crazy (and lets face it still a little scared all of this will be taken away from me at any moment!) I tested again this morning.  But was it when my alarm went off? Nooooooooo!  Around 5:00am I couldn't hold it ANY longer!  I miss sleeping through the night, but I guess I need to get used to that too!  Anyway the line on this mornings test was WAY darker so I'm feeling a bit more confident.  But then I get back in bed and the pain kicks in.  HEARTBURN!  What the crap???  At 5:00 in the morning?  I was paralyzed with it.  Every time I would move it felt like I was being stabbed and the pain would travel down my abdomen until if felt like someone was ripping my stomach out.  Ugh....Anyway, the pain finally subsided about 30 minutes later and I was able to fall back asleep.  

When I came home from work today I was EXHAUSTED!  I told James that I just wanted to take a little nap and then I would clean out my car.  I fell asleep on the couch for about 30-45 minutes.  I heard James asking me a question, but it sounded like he was so far away.  When I opened my eyes, everything was REALLY blurry and looked like it was spinning around me.  I sat up and immediately got up and tried to run to the bathroom, but as soon as I stood up things went black and down I went.  I hit the floor and yelled for James to get me a bucket!  It only lasted a few minutes, but it was definitely a preggo symptom!  Once I ate something I felt much better.  But the whole thing was CRAZY and it certainly helped me realize this is really real!  This pregnancy is so much different than the last and I just feel a lot better every time I have a symptom like this!   YAY!

Who shrank my pants???

Ok, so I started to notice last week that all my pants, even the ones I just bought a month ago, are too tight. I'm pretty sure that they shrunk in the move. But then I was reading my friend Stacey's blog and found this:

"It almost seems that your jeans start to feel snug as soon as the pregnancy test comes back positive and you can thank the hormone progesterone for that puffy phenomenon. While progesterone is essential for maintaining a healthy pregnancy (it is, after all, the pro-gestation hormone), it also triggers that oh-so-delightful trio: bloating, burping, and farting. Why? Progesterone causes the smooth muscle tissue in your body (including the gastrointestinal tract) to relax. This slows down digestion, giving the nutrients from food you eat more time to enter your bloodstream and reach your baby. That's the good news. The bad news is this slower metabolism can cause bloating. "


So I guess I'm not crazy and my pants didn't shrink. That's the good news! The bad news is that since I'm taking a progesterone supplement, I'm pretty sure I can go ahead and plan to start buying maternity pants by the end of next week. LOL. Check out my ticker at the bottom! It has now moved to the next box! That's SO exciting!


I've also noticed a small increase in symptoms today. I got very worried early this morning before getting out of bed because I didn't have any of the minor cramping that I've become used to. Luckily once I got up and started getting ready for work...they started back up again! Funny how I can worry that I have them and worry when I don't! I usually don't eat breakfast until I get to work, but this morning my stomach felt like it was eating itself right after I got up. WEIRD! Then I stopped at the BP on my way into work because I was DYING for some chocolate milk (Yum!) but after I started drinking it....I didn't want it anymore. Boo. I also have had a horrible aversion to smells today. The lotion that I have been using for MONTHS now has to be thrown in the back of a drawer somewhere because the thought of the smell....blah! I tried to borrow some lotion from a coworker...but the smell of that made me ill too! YAY!!! Oh....and I'm still constantly dizzy. I only REALLY notice it though when I move my head or stand up too quickly. I'm sure there will come a point in time when all of these will be more of an annoyance than an exciting thing; but for right now they make me so happy because they are constant reminders that I'm actually pregnant!!!

The First One!

I did it!  I decided to also document the growth of my expanding belly.  I'm not really comfortable with how "big" I am...and I had actually decided to start a strict diet but got the good news before I lost any weight.  LOL!  BUT I figured it's something that would be fascinating to have in pictures because the growth would be so gradual that we wouldn't be able to notice it until BAM!  I'm 8 months!  Ok, without further ado......Here is my belly at 4 weeks 3 days.

Progress

It's WEDNESDAY and time for another PEE STICK!!!  I have put all my lines in order (with labels :) to document the progression of the lines!  It's definitely darker!!!!

Is the room spinning???

I love where I work!  I really do!  I love the building, I love my office, I love the people there.  What I don't love is the bathrooms.  YUCK!!!  I had my first symptom Tuesday afternoon.  Other than having to go to the potty every half-hour and the constant pulling and cramping in my "baby area", I had nothing.  No symptoms at all, until after lunch Tuesday.  I had to make ANOTHER potty run and nearly fainted when I stood up from the john.  I had to brace myself with my hands and lean my head against the walls of the stall.  Ewwwwwwww!  That was disgusting!!!  Does anyone ever clean those???  However, I was THRILLED!  My first major symptom!  I was loving it and hating it all at the same time!  I was very dizzy all the way back to my office and then it came in waves for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  I never felt any nausea, but the dizziness was enough to make it feel real to me!  I'm sure the dizziness so early on is due to the progesterone I'm taking...BUT why am I taking the progesterone?  BECAUSE I'M PREGNANT!!!!  And in my book that makes it a bone-fide symptom!!!

I told myself that I wasn't going to test again until Wednesday so I wouldn't freak out about the darkness of lines....but I have no willpower (remember?).  I bought a Clear Blue digital test and took it Tuesday evening.  GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?  Yep, it said "PREGNANT"!!!!!  

                                          

We've got two lines!!

Welcome to my baby blog! I've decided I wanted to document every step of this wonderful journey!!! Here it goes......I'm having a BABY!!! OMG! I've wanted to say that MY WHOLE LIFE! I've never wanted anything more than to be a mommy! And not just to my wonderful puppies...but a REAL mommy! I still can't believe there is a little being growing inside me. That's CRAZY!!!

James and I found out last June that we were expecting, but unfortunately that little baby wanted to go to heaven instead of coming to meet us. It was hard. It was really hard. I'm not sure I'll ever fully "get over it", but I'm thrilled to be "making" another one!

I suspected I might be pregnant the first week of August, so on the morning of August 7, 2008 I took a test. It was COMPLETELY NEGATIVE! No line in sight! Not even a HINT of a line! So I pretty much gave up. I figured Aunt Flow (or AF from here on out) would arrive by the weekend, or at the latest by Monday.
Sunday night came and still no AF. I was so upset because I thought I was going to have a normal cycle (the first "normal" cycle since losing the first baby). I was fully prepared to wake up to come face to face with AF. However, when I got up Monday (August 11, 2008) that darn First Responce test was staring at me. I figured I would use it since I didn't want it to expire before I had a chance to even use it. I mean...wouldn't want to waste a good pregnancy test, right?
So I did what any good POAS-a-holic would do and took it. Imagine my surprise when somthing started to appear. It was so faint, I thought I was imagining it. And at 6:30 in the morning, that's not hard to do. My eyes were still so sleepy! After I rubbed my eyes and shook my head a few times it was still there. That's when I started screaming for James. I screamed, "Jaaaaaaaaames! Get in here and tell me if this is a line!!!" Of course he didn't come right away...why would he, it's 6:30 in the morning!!! I went running into the bedroom, grabbed his hand and literally pulled him out of bed (screaming the whole time!). He looked at it and the first thing out of his mouth was..."There is no line." He never gets emotional over anything! He's a booger! But then he held it a little closer to his face, wiped his eyes again and said "Wait, no, it's there. I see it!"
I grabbed it from him and stared. I was shaking so hard I couldn't see it! I then took a picture of the test and sent it to my sister (Aunt Kirsten) to see if she could see the line in a picture....SHE DID!!! OMG! It's real!

James and I decided after losing the last baby we were going to wait for a while before we told anyone. OMG! It was so hard not to tell anyone on Monday. I was SO excited, that I had to leave work early because my tummy was upset!

Because my hormones are very much out of whack, I called the doctor right away to get started on a progesterone supplement to help my body build the placenta. From what I understand, progesterone is the hormone that is most crucial to pregnancy before the placenta takes over. Who knew? Anyway, I was able to get that prescription right away and I took my first pill Monday night. Ugh! Those side effects came on fast!!!

I have NO willpower! I decided to test again Monday night JUST TO MAKE SURE, plus I wanted to see the line get darker! I picked up a few Answer brand tests when I got my prescription filled and took one at 8:00pm. The line was there...no doubt about that, but it wasn't as dark as I had hoped at first. I FREAKED out! I was in MAJOR panic mode for a good 30 minutes! Then it dried. LOL! It was a LOT darker than Monday morning's test. Whew! What a relief! I vowed not to test again until Wednesday morning, as a woman's hCG level should double every 48 hours. Till then......JAMES AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!