10 Weeks

I am ten weeks pregnant today and I am counting down the days until the end of the first trimester, aka: end of morning sickness.  Some days are worse than others and I have been feeling especially crappy since I woke up this afternoon.  I've been working night shift and it seems like I feel worse when I'm on a night shift schedule.  Oh well, the end is in sight I hope!

Otherwise, the symptom that I forgot to mention in previous posts is the gassiness (is that a word??).  I've been burping up a storm since about six weeks, and my bowels have been a little out of whack.  We'll just leave it at that, ha ha.  No further details necessary. 

Mike and I went up to my family's cabin in PA this past weekend for Father's Day and it was a great little getaway as always.  We rode four-wheelers, shot guns, played bad mitten, hiked, and just hung out.  Oh yeah, and.... we told the fam our big news!  It was funny because I gave Mike's dad and my dad Grandpa Father's Day cards and their reactions were hilarious.  Mike's dad just stared at it open mouthed (didn't even open it to read the inside!), and my dad kept insisting that I gave him the wrong card.  My sis got some priceless pics of the whole thing, and I'm so glad that we told them that way.  It  was pretty funny.  My grandma was the first one to get it and she jumped up out of her chair to hug everyone.  Then Mike's mom and dad, my dad, and my grandpa followed suit.  Great day!  Then I already got the whole "You're pregnant, what do you need?  Food, drink?  Are you alright?  You look tired.  Be careful on that four wheeler ride."  Etc, etc, etc.  It's pretty funny the instant attention you get when you're pregnant.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

So, all in all the past week was a pretty good one.  At the cabin I started writing in my pregnancy journal, which I desperately needed to start, considering that I'm already at week 10!  Then on the way home I read Jenny McCarthy's pregnancy book Belly Laughs.  It was pretty amusing and I enjoyed it.  I got that one at the library, which I finally decided to join.  I forgot how much I love libraries!  You get the same feeling leaving there that you do leaving a bookstore, but without the cost!

I am supposed to work again tonight, but I'm on call for now.  Both good and bad.  Good because I still really don't feel well, and me and 2 friends from work are heading to the beach in the AM, which would be miserable after working all night.  Bad because I am rapidly running out of paid time off.  Oh well, seize the day and enjoy it, right?  I'll just keep telling myself that.

First Ultrasound!!!

I am exactly 9 weeks along today and I had my first ultrasound, which was awesome!!  Mike came with me and he was so glad that he did.  It was such a cool thing to watch, and he says now that he saw it, it's easier for him to believe.  Haha.  I haven't had any real outward changes yet, so he has had a hard time grasping that I really am pregnant.  But I had no idea that we'd be able to see that much already!  It was a transvaginal ultrasound and I could definitely make out the head and mermaid-like body.  You could see the beginnings of some limb buds, and could see the heart beating!!!!  That was the coolest part.  The baby's heart rate was 171, which is normal, and the head was down, and you could see him/her moving around a little bit.  The doctor said, "Looks like the baby is awake right now", which was awesome and really reassuring to see.  Seeing the movement and the heartbeat was such a relief!  I now feel better about telling people, like it is more real or something.  So that's that.  Based on the crown to rump length they estimated that I am exactly 9 weeks today, which is precisely on par with what we thought, so official due date remains January 19th!

Afterwards we went to Walgreens to fill my prenatal vitamin prescription since I am out of samples.  It's $55 a month!  Wow, talk about expensive!  I had no idea, so the pharmacist gave me some names of generics to talk to my doc about next time that might be cheaper.  We'll see.

I got 4 ultrasound pics (that I wish I knew how to scan and put on here) and I'm going to bring them to the cabin this weekend, where we will be telling my dad and grandparents, as well as Mike's parents.  It'll be so cool to have those pics to show!

My visit with my mom this past weekend was so nice.  She was really pumped about the pregnancy and I told my aunt and uncle as well.  We decided to meet up with them at the Childress winery for wine tasting, so it was fairly evident that something was up when I decided not to partake in the festivities!  They were very excited for me too. 

 The winery

Mike and I overlooking the vineyards

Mom and I went to the beach on Friday, and it was such a great, relaxing day.  I forgot how much I love the beach at Wrightsville.  Wide beaches and crystal clear water, ahhhh.

 

Anyway, here are some "2 month" pics.  Not really any different than the "1 month" pics. 

Is that a little tiny bump, or am I just getting fatter from the ridiculous amounts of food???  Hard to tell....

So, Mike thought it would be hilarious to take a pic of me in the hideous white paper gown at the office.  Much as I love pictures, I am less than thrilled about this one.  But, see the stick-like thing next to me?  That is the device they use for the transvaginal ultrasound.  Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but all worth it!  The doctor mentioned that I have a cyst on my left ovary, which I briefly (silently) freaked out about until he told me that it is providing progesterone to sustain the pregnancy and it is nothing at all to worry about.  Whatever you say doc. 

 This is a pic that I just took of my ultrasound pictures!  Not bad quality, and there's our little bean! 

Ta-ta for now!

The Anticipation!

Yay!  Mom is coming down to NC to visit today and Mike and I are gonna tell her the big news!  I am sooo excited, because so far I have only told 2 people and I'm dying for my family to know!  I've known I was pregnant for almost a whole month already!  I got my Mom a bib that says Grandma Loves Me (or something like that) and I'm gonna put it in a little box along with a "We're Expecting" card that I found at Hallmark.  I'm gonna pretend it's another Mother's Day present that I couldn't send in the mail.  I really really really can't wait to see her face when she figures it out!

Anyway, I am 8 weeks and 1 day pregnant today.  Worked the past two days and it wasn't too bad.  I was in charge and the unit is pretty slow.  I actually got called off on Monday, so I only worked 2 days this week.  I was nervous because I hadn't worked at all since the nausea set in, but it turned out ok.  I just brought a lot of snacks, and luckily the nausea didn't get too bad when I was at work.  I think I'm probably pretty lucky, because I'm sure a lot of people have it a lot worse than I do.  My nausea is just annoying.  It's pretty much always there, just sometimes worse than others.  And it's never been really awful, and I've never thrown up.  Plus, for me, eating always helps to relieve it.  So, like I said, I guess I'm lucky.

Symptom wise, not much has changed this week.  My boobs might be a tiny bit bigger, and I'm still thinking I'm seeing a little change in my belly, but my weight and waist measurements prove otherwise.  So, not a whole lot of changes.  Still have breast tenderness, and who knows, maybe that stays the whole time.  I have no clue.  Not too tired other than the fact that I can barely stay awake past 9:30 at night.  I'm usually a 10:30-11:00 kind of girl.  I haven't been feeling overly tired during the day though.  I've been up early and to bed early, which I kind of like.  Wow, how old does that make me sound!

Mom is flying in this morning at 9AM and then we'll head to body pump and then hang out at the house for the afternoon.  I have a big crack in my windshield and someone is coming to the house to replace it between noon and 5.  We might hit up the Zest Cafe for lunch first if we have time.  Then in the evening we're gonna head over to the mall to pick up our packets for the Breast Cancer 5K on Saturday morning.  Tomorrow mom and I are gonna head to the beach (weather permitting) while poor Mike is at work.  Saturday morning is the race, and then we'll head to Charlotte to visit my mom's brother and his family.  No plans for Sunday, and mom flies back on Monday.  I'm excited for the next few days, and I think we'll have a lot of fun!

Vacation and 6th Week Recap

So Mike and I got back from a nice, relaxing, week long beach vacation with his family yesterday, and it sucks getting back to the grind.  We chilled at the pool and then grilled out with some friends today to wind down the vacation and I'm now officially dreading going back to work tomorrow.  It's always so hard going back after being off for awhile.  Maybe it's the fear of the unknown, who knows.

Anyway, I am now well into my 7th week, but I haven't been able to write about week 6 yet, so here it goes.  The first major thing that came into play was the nausea.  It hasn't been awful (no vomiting), but that whole "morning/ all day" sickness reared its ugly head this week.  I have found that as long as I eat something every three hours I'm able to stave it off pretty well.  But it can't be something mini like a fruit cup.  That doesn't cut it.  It has to be a fruit cup + yogurt + granola bar + cheese + whatever else I can scrounge up.  I'm serious!  If it was a little something every three hours, then I wouldn't be worried.  But at this rate I'm gonna be a blimp!!!  I find myself eating a full blown meal's worth of calories every three hours and that is scary!  But it's the only thing that keeps the nausea away.  Let's just hope that all of this ends after the first trimester.

So that has been my major symptom this week, but I have also been really tired.  I can't tell if that is a pregnancy thing, or if it's from being out in the sun all day.  It's funny though, because Mike's parents adopted all of my habits this past week.  His mom commented to me on the beach one day "I feel like I've been eating every three hours!  What's with me??"  "Haha, just following my lead", I mentally reply.  Then I've been exhausted by 9PM every night, so I've gone to bed between 9 and 10...and so have his parents!  Another Mike's mom comment: "I've been going to bed earlier than usual this week...must be the sun."  Haha! 

The big question was whether or not we'd be able to keep the pregnancy a secret from them for a whole week..... and we succeeded!  But it wasn't easy.  Number one: trying to pretend you're fine when you're nauseous...not easy.  I was probably little bit moodier than usual this past week.  Usually I am Little Miss Sunshine (especially around the In-Laws), and I was not able to keep that up at times.  I don't think they noticed though.  Mike's mom wants grand kids in a bad way though, and she brought it up about 10 times a day, every day of vacation.  Not in an obnoxious way...subtly, like mentioning how cute EVERY little baby on the beach is.  Then looking at sand toys and saying things like "Pretty soon we'll be bringing that stuff to the beach...maybe".  Haha, little does she know, we will be dealing with all of that next summer!  In her defense, there were little kids EVERYWHERE on that vacation.  I think maybe it's because older kids are still in school, but that beach was overrun with infant to 4 year old kids while we were there.  It was crazy!

I also kept thinking that I was noticing my belly getting a little larger, but that might just be in my head.  I came home and I only weighed one more pound than last week and my waist was 1/4 inch larger, so no real difference yet.  That change could very easily just be from being on vacation for a week and eating out every night.  Oh yeah, another hard thing was limiting my seafood intake.  I love seafood, but now I have to be careful with which seafood I eat, and even then, I can only have 2 servings a week.  Not easy when you are on a beach vacation.  I found myself getting a lot of salads, which is so unlike me, but I don't think his parents noticed.  I don't think they noticed that I wasn't drinking either.  They don't really drink, so since it was just Mike and I and them, we really didn't either.  A few times I had Mike make me virgin Bloody Mary's when they were all drinking one, and I don't think they are any the wiser.  They assumed there was alcohol in mine too. 

One of the benefits of going to bed at 9 is getting up with the sun.  I got up between 5:30 and 7:30 every morning, and that is definitely a first for me.  It was nice though.  I saw not one, but 2 sunrises!  And I was able to run/walk on the beach early before it was too hot.  Then I would go back and have breakfast number 2.  Here was my eating schedule for the week:
6:30 - Breakfast number 1 (usually Cheerios with fresh blueberries on top!  Yum!)
9:00 - Breakfast number 2 (this one varied, but it was always a full blown second breakfast)
12:00 - Lunch
3:00 - Large snack (as mentioned above)
6:00 - Dinner
9:00 - Bedtime snack

See what I mean?  Crazy amounts of food.  Oh well. 

So I ran/walked on the beach almost every day (also unheard of for me on vacation), and I really liked it.  I wore my Garmin heart rate monitor and kept my heart rate 110's- 140's with walking/running.  Once I noticed my heart rate climbing to the 150's I would walk for awhile.  Still felt like I got a decent workout though, albeit not as intense as I'm used to.  I tried hard not to let myself overheat this week while out in the sun because I know that's not good for you when you're pregnant (or ever, I guess). I got in the water (or at least went down and walked around in it) more frequently than usual, and I took hour+ lunch breaks at the condo.  All in all, I think I did pretty well this week. 

Here are some of my pics:

Sunday morning, on my way to catching the sunrise

View back towards the condo with the moon still out

I literally took about 20 sunrise pics, but I spared you the agony of putting ALL of them on here.

Mike and I on a nighttime beach stroll on our 2 year anniversary!  We went to a nice restaurant about 7 stories up that looked out over the ocean for dinner with his parents.  The restaurant gave us a little ocean scene paperweight with a helium-filled balloon attached to it for our anniversary, which was really sweet.  A memento of our 2nd anniversary!

Mike, loving life while fishing!  Sadly, that little pin fish and one other pin fish were the only two things he caught that day. 

7 weeks exactly in this photo!

So, that's my week recap.  A great, relaxing beach vacation.  Daisy was on vacation too, but she didn't do her relaxing until we picked her up....

She passed out on Mike's mom's lap the second she got in the car!  Poor thing, she loves Dogtopia (the doggy day care that we take her to when we go away), but she is non-stop when there are other dogs around.  It's not until the dogs are gone and it's only people that she can relax.  How cute is she?!!