16 Week Photo

I have a noticeable bump now! Of course, this isn't a maternity shirt and if I wear a swear shirt or a coat it's not as noticeable, but it's still fun.

16 Week Update

I know it's been awhile, but there hasn't been anything new to report other than I still feel good and am getting bigger :) Thursday was my 16 week appointment and it went really well. Doctor said the heartbeat sounds perfect! She said to be talking to the baby between now and the next appointment about cooperating for the ultrasound! Still can't believe we'll know what we're having in just 26 days! We're very excited! We've just made the decision to keep the name a secret until the baby actually comes. It will 1) prevent people from giving us their 'opinions' on what we're naming the baby and 2) be a fun surprise the day of the baby's arrival.

I got blood work done on Thursday to check for any possible problems with the baby and also got my flu shot. Literally at the same time. One nurse was on one arm taking blood and the other nurse was on the other arm poking me. I'll take the blood work over shots any day, which is weird since just 6 months ago I had never had blood drawn that I remembered and was scared to death of it. I inherited my dad's small veins (the nurses aren't very happy about that lol), but because of this, they are very very careful and nice and use the baby needle. I've never bruised and have had my blood drawn 6 times in 6 months now.

And that's about it for the update. Below is a picture of the Scentsy warmer we bought for the nursery. It's just so cute!

Goodbye 1st Trimester

I can't believe that in just 2 days, I will be starting my 2nd trimester. The first one went so fast! (So fast I kind of want things to slow down just a tiny bit). It also went really well too. I'm very thankful I had an easy first trimester without the sickness that 75% of people have with it. Sure, I had my discomforts, but nothing compared to some of my poor friends. Everyday I keep looking down and thinking "for something that tiny, you sure are making me get big fast". It's not a bad thing, it's just that weird stage where I'm definitely looking like I've gained weight, but don't actually look pregnant to most people. I'm going clothes shopping with my mom soon and am very excited about that! I wear sweat pants most of the time now haha. The only pair of jeans that still fit have a huge tear in a not so good place. I have a lot of friends who are getting ready to have babies soon, one will be having hers in 2 days, another one in 3 weeks, and another one in about 8 weeks and I can't wait to see them (even if just in pictures)! And it makes me even more excited for the next 6 months to come.

I'm slowly getting things here and there for the nursery. Nothing major yet, that'll come after January 13 when we find out if we're having a little Heather or a little Derek, but little, fun things. I recently won an adorable musical giraffe from a really popular blog. There were about 650 entries, so I was thrilled to win. It has different jungle sounds to put the baby to sleep. It just straps to the crib. I've attached a picture below.

Hard to believe my 16 week appointment is just in 2.5 weeks!

12 Week Update

Well today was my 12 week update! 1.5 hours to Evanston, 13 minutes in the doctor's, and 1.5 hours back, but it was so worth it to hear the little heartbeat of our Spring Angel Baby (as my doctor calls it). I'm feeling really good. Had a dizzy spell yesterday, but am feeling good today. I just really need to make myself drink about twice as much water (I hate water). I think I'm going to have to break down and go shopping soon. My pants aren't quite fitting very well anymore, so it's lots of pj's for me :) Below is a picture of me at 12 weeks. I think I've only gained 1 pound, but I can't suck in my belly like I could a month ago.

I think I made a mistake when I bought a small t-shirt at Myrtle Beach, it doesn't fit so well.

Update

So it has been quite a while since I updated this. We are currently on vacation and having a wonderful time, but have also been quite busy. My first appointment was October 21. It went very well and it was so exciting to see our little baby and also see the tiny heart beating. My due date is currently May 31! We are already excited to see this little baby, even if we do have to wait 6.5 more months. I am feeling fairly good, however, I think the 10 week mark is my magical number for starting to not feel so good. I'm starting to get a bit car sick now and not feeling 100%, but am happy that I now am starting to 'feel' pregnant. My next appointment is two weeks from today. We should be able to hear the heartbeat then!

Eating for Two?

Everyone always says "Well, now you're eating for two so... (you fill in the blanks)". The funny thing is, the baby you're supposedly eating for two for is the size of a blueberry right now. It doesn't eat very much. In fact, you don't even need to increase your intake of food until later in the pregnancy. Sometimes, not even until the second trimester. Once you do start eating more, it's only supposed to be by an additional 300 calories. That's like a snack. Once you get into the third trimester you increase it to 450-600 additional calories. So, you're really not eating for two :) The book I'm reading, What to Expect When You're Expecting, has a diet plan to follow. It lists how many servings per day you're supposed to eat of folic acid, calcium, iron, etc, and let me tell you, there's a LOT of it! I don't eat that much now. But I'm going to print it off and stick it on the fridge so I can stick as close to it as possible. Anyway, I thought it was funny.

230 Days and Counting

They say the average pregnancy lasts 280 days if you count from the first day of the last cycle you had. Well today, that means I have approximately 230 days to go (give or take like 14 days). Today, I'm at day 50. It's a very special day because that means I've now gone a full day past my previous pregnancy, so for me, that's a very exciting thing! I'm still feeling good, though I have a feeling once I actually go to the doctor 3 weeks from today, I'll be changing the 'baby ticker/widget' that's on the blog. I highly doubt I'm really considered 7 weeks yet. Maybe more like 4 or 5. I still have cramping here and there throughout the days, but I've been told that's normal and have a friend who's pregnancy was exactly like mine is now, and we both went through the same thing. It's exciting getting closer to the first appointment! And then we get to go on a 3 week vacation which will be awesome too.

Here is my glider. I got it at a friend's garage sale for a great price, so I'm excited to have my first piece of nursery furniture.

Today

Well, according to the 'baby ticker' and things I've been told, I'm 6 weeks today. I just need to make it one more week and I will have passed my last pregnancy! I received flowers from 'Auntie Megan and Uncle Nathan' today!! I was so excited! Usually, when flowers are delivered to the house, it's because they got the wrong street. I have to tell them, 'Sorry, this is 732 RIDGE, not RUGBY.' and it always makes me sad. But today, the flowers were for me!!

Aren't they just gorgeous?!

And then my mom bought me some really pretty yellow flowers and Derek bought me really pretty purple flowers on Monday :) They are below.

I thought it was so neat how they bought the exact same flowers, but they were different colors. They go so nicely together.

The Fun Begins

Today my mom bought me a stuffed Thumper rabbit. It is just too cute. I feel fine so far, but I know that's because I haven't gotten very far into the pregnancy yet. I made my first appointment today too, so that was the first step. It is set for October 21 at 9 a.m. This is the day before Derek and I leave for vacation. I'm so excited!

I will post pictures of the toy my mom bought, my glider, and a few other things as soon as I figure out how to post pictures :)

Bad turns to Good

It's hard to believe that next week would have been my 20 week appointment and ultrasound. It's been getting harder the closer this time has come. I was dreading not being pregnant again and being at the 'we should be finding out what we're having right now' stage.

Well, now it is time to put all the sad thoughts behind me. Yesterday, I got the positive reading I'd been praying for on the pregnancy test! I started crying uncontrolably after I stared at the two pink lines for about 5 minutes not believing what I was seeing. I am so happy! Of course, nobody will be reading this post for a few more months and most people won't even know about it for that long either, but I had to share anyway. I think I'm only 2 weeks along, but we'll know more when I have my first appointment in a month. I'm so happy that it happened so soon.

What Would Have Been

Well today, I would have been 12 weeks along. I would have been at the 'first trimester is over and now I start feeling good' stage. I am doing better for the most part. Once in a while little things bother me, but I'll be okay. We will have a healthy baby, maybe we'll have two, but we'll have them. Everyone I know seems to be having babies. I don't feel jealous, I just wish I could be looking forward to the same joy. It is hard on me when people complain about their pregnancies and labors and deliveries though. I would never wish a miscarriage on anyone, it is a horrible experience to go through. However, sometimes I do wish others could be a little more thankful about what they have. People have no idea what I would do to have morning sickness or hours of painful labor to look forward to. Anyway, I just needed to share and vent.

Some Days are Harder

Have you ever had a 'why me, this isn't fair' kind of day? More than likely everyone has at one point or another in their lives. I had about a week of it a little over a month ago at the beginning of June. What was originally the happiest time for myself and my husband, Derek, ended up being one of the hardest things to face. We've been married for almost 5 years now. We don't have any kids, by choice, and have had a wonderful life together. We're very happy. We decided many months ago that we wanted to add to that happiness and at the end of May were thrilled when the pregnancy test was positive. We invited our families over along with a really good friend and her husband to share the good news over a great meal. Everyone was so thrilled. The next day the grandparents, siblings, and best friends were called.

Then it happened...on Thursday, June 3, I started bleeding just a tiny bit. I tried not to be worried about it, but was. Then I started cramping, feeling nauseated, and had a raging headache. I lay down for a few hours and felt better only to discover the bleeding was heavier. I decided to see how it went that night and call my doctor in the morning. I had cramps for 12 hours straight that finally started going away at 5 the next morning. I got up at 8 and went to the bathroom to see if my luck had changed only to have so much thick clotted blood that I knew in that instant I was having a miscarriage. I just sat there saying "oh no! No, no, no!" over and over again. I called my doctor, who happens to be 90 miles away, and they told me to come in as soon as I could. She did an ultrasound on me, which revealed nothing inside me. She said that concerned her, but it could also be signs of just an early pregnancy. She had me go to the hospital and get my blood drawn. She explained that my blood levels would be high, and if pregnant, would double in numbers within 48 hours, so we needed to come back on Sunday as well.

I had never had my blood drawn in my life, didn't know my blood type, and well now, I'm an expert haha. Luckily, I had some very good nurses take my blood. It didn't hurt much at all and I didn't bruise once (and in the span of two weeks I had it drawn four times). Later on that weekend my doctor let me know that my first test came back with my blood/HcG levels being at 820. On Sunday the call came that they were only at 250. I was indeed having a miscarriage. I am very thankful to have the doctor I do though. She actually cared. The doctors in my town are too busy to really care, they have too many patients to see. She took the time to make sure I was okay and to tell me that just because this happened (and happened 50% of the time to early pregnancies) it didn't mean I had done anything wrong or that I couldn't have healthy babies in the future.

It was a very rough few days and I think I cried more that weekend than in my whole life. I kept asking 'Why me?' There are so many people out there that either don't deserve kids or don't want them and seem to be pregnant with healthy babies every time you turn around. However, we know that God is in control and will give us a healthy pregnancy in the future, hopefully sooner than later.

After getting two follow-up blood tests, my hormone levels have gone back to zero where they should be. I didn't have to have a D&C or anything, which I'm so thankful for.

We had so many friends and family members there to support and love us through this time. I can't even express how much that helped us cope with the loss. So hopefully, this blog will be 'seen by the public' soon with happier news.