Heartbeat Heaven!

This morning I had my 15 week appointment at the ob/gyn and I got to hear my baby's heartbeat for the first time!  Although it was reassuring and cool to hear, I must admit that it was a little bit anti-climatic.  Maybe it's because I already saw a picture of the baby last time, and I am more of a visual person...I don't know.  I was just kind of laying there like thinking "Yeah this is pretty cool."  But I wasn't freaking out or crying or anything like a lot of people say you do the first time you hear it.

But all in all it was a good appointment.  Weight went up about 2 pounds since the last appointment which is good I guess.  BP was 96/62, Hgb was 14.7, baby's heartbeat was in the 150's.  All good numbers. 

The doc asked if I was getting the down syndrome screen and I honestly couldn't remember, so I asked "Does that cost extra?".  What a cheapskate I must've looked like.  But I knew I wasn't getting anything above and beyond what was covered, so that was my way to remember if I decided to get that test or not.  He said that this test doesn't cost any extra, so I said that yes, I was getting it.  But of course it is a tad (like 2 days) to early to do it today, so I have to go back next week.  My mom asked what I was going to do if any of the results from this genetic test were positive, and I have nooooo idea.  Too scary to think about right now.  I think I'm just hoping (as I'm sure everyone is) that it'll be fine and produce yet another reassurance for me that everything is OK.  In the end that's what every pregnant woman is hoping for, right?

So, I have to go and look at the mound of paperwork that I got at the first appointment and see if in fact I did decide to go ahead with this test.  If so, it'll be back to the lab next week for a blood draw.

I also asked the doc if there was any cheaper prenatal vitamin that I could get.  (See, I told you, I looked like a complete cheapo at this appointment!)  But my prescription prenatal vitamin is $55 a month!  That seems like a lot to me.  So he understood my concern and said, "yeah I wouldn't pay that either".  Haha.  So he gave me a months worth of samples (and I still have almost a month left in the bottle that I have).  He said that after I go through all of those I can just go back to One a Day Women's Prenatal Vitamin and it would be just as good.  I was nervous that maybe I should stick with the prescription one because it must be better in some way if it's so much more expensive.  But he assured me that over the counter was fine.  So that's my plan.  Finish this bottle, take the samples, then back to OTC prenatal vitamins.  I feel weird; like that makes me a bad pregnant woman, taking the cheap way out.  But if the doc says its fine, then I'm going with his word.

I also mentioned that I'm going to try to get back into running to see his thoughts on that.  Again, he said that it would be totally fine (just to stay out of the crazy heat).  He actually said that it was more than fine; it was a good idea.  Keeping physically fit while pregnant has so many advantages and now that I'm feeling better I need to jump back on the bandwagon.  Hold me accountable, OK?  Haha.

That's about it for today.  Mike and I are gonna go to kickboxing this evening and then out to dinner with a friend.  My next doctor's appointment will be the big ultrasound where (hopefully) we can find out the baby's gender!!!  Yay!

14 Week Feelings

Well, this past week I would say that I've definitely noticed a drop off in the nausea (yay!), but on the flip side, I've been exhausted!  People always say that fatigue is one of the huge symptoms of the first trimester, yet I felt pretty normal in that department until this past week.  And now I'm in the second trimester, but dead tired...weird.  I feel like I could take 3 naps a day and still go to bed at 8PM.  But I don't.  Sometimes I do take one nap, and often I am ready to hit the hay by 9.  Oh well.  Hopefully the second trimester energy surge that everyone talks about is rounding the corner!

I went to visit an old friend that I used to work with today who has two small children, and she gave me ALL of her maternity clothes to borrow!  It was like Christmas!  3 bags full of clothes, a boppy pillow to sleep with, and 3 winter jackets!  That is going to be soooo helpful.  And she was right when she said "We have to pay it forward to our girlfriends".  She's done having kids, and she said to keep them as long as I need them.  Soooo nice of her.  Her 2 year old was at daycare, but I got to visit with her 9 week old and it's crazy to think that soon enough I'll have an infant.  It still hasn't really sunk in yet.

Mike asked me the other day how I know that everything is OK with our baby.  "I mean you haven't had an ultrasound or appointment since week 9; how do you know everything is OK?"  Answer: I don't.  And that freaks me out a little bit.  He thinks that I should be showing more by now (What is he?  The Pregnancy Expert?), which I assured him isn't true.  But I see what he means.  I don't really feel all that sick anymore, I'm not really showing to the general public, I can't feel any movement or anything.  I'm just in this limbo stage where I don't really feel or look pregnant.  I know he didn't mean to scare me, and to be honest, it's not like I wasn't thinking it myself.  But I just have to trust that if everything wasn't OK, then I'd know.  The fact that everything feels fine is probably a good sign.  Right?????  My next appointment is Monday, so hopefully I'll feel reassured after that.

Anyway, I had lunch with another old friend earlier in the week (again, one with 2 small children) and she offered to help me with my baby registry when the time comes.  She said they try to tell the first time moms that they need everything, but she'll give me the low-down on what I really need (and don't need).  It's been a great week; 3 days off of work in a row, and I had lunch plans with friends all 3 of those days!  Unheard of!

Still in full bridal shower planning mode, and it's all coming together.  Only one more week until my little sis's bridal shower.  Now that most of the stuff is planned out and done, I'm starting to get really excited!  I can't wait to go up to PA and spend 5 days with my sister, see our family and her friends, and just be a part of her bridal shower!  Yay!

One Trimester Down, Two to Go!

I have hit week 13, the official end of the first trimester and I can't believe it!  This pregnancy is going so fast in so many ways, but dragging on forever in others.  Like waiting to tell everyone for weeks and weeks seemed like forever, but I still can't believe the first trimester is over.

 I took my 3 month pictures (well, Mike took them of me) yesterday, and I must say, I'm looking a little different already.  Not feeling quite so comfortable in my form fitting clothes anymore.  Like yesterday I wore a scrub top to work.  You must be thinking "You're a nurse, of course you wore a scrub top".  Nope, I never, I mean, never wear scrub tops to work.  I wear a regular shirt and scrub pants.  Well, yesterday morning I finally realized that those "regular" shirts I had been wearing weren't gonna cut it anymore.  So I rolled in to work in a scrub top and must've had 4 people comment on that fact.  I told you, I never wore them!  Pretty funny though that so many people noticed my change in attire.  Time to bring back the old frumpy scrub tops.

Here are my 3 month pics:

So this last one might be most telling of all.  It was funny because I had the 2 month photo right there and I kept trying to position myself for it to look the same, but it never did.  Mike was laughing at me and saying "Stop sucking your stomach in.  Just stand there."  And I would respond "But the picture looks different than the last one", to which he would respond "Of course it does; you are a month more pregnant now.  Get over it!"  Haha.  Oh well, I guess he's right.  I better get used to the body, er, I mean belly getting bigger.

So in more fun news from this past week, we got a package in the mail yesterday!  And we all know how much I looove packages!

One of my best friends from college, Jess and her husband sent us this adorable outfit and really cute parenting book!  I loved it, so of course, I had to get a pic!

And for more exciting news, Mike's sister announced this past week that she is pregnant too!  So now his parents will go from having no grandchildren to having two at once!  It's an exciting time for everyone, and it'll be so fun for our child to grow up with one of their cousins.  She is due in March and I am due in January, so the babies will be less than 2 months apart in age.

I think that's about it on the pregnancy front for now.  I went to PSU this past weekend for the yearly Arts Festival and had a great time as always (despite the heat and the un-airconditioned dorms).  My Dad and Step mom came up too, so it was fun to hang with them for a few days.  I bought a few small things, but I couldn't even dream of affording most of the stuff there.  I got a little vase and 2 small prints.  One with a fall theme and one with a winter theme.  But, yes, we did stay in the dorms for 3 nights in the middle of July with no airconditioning!  But that's half the fun of it.  As soon as you enter the dorm hallway, you are hit with their distinct smell and you can't help but be flooded with college memories.  Ahhh, college.  Those were the days.

Other than that, my sister's bridesmaids and I have been in full shower planning mode this week.  I think we finally have it pretty much under control, it's just a matter of going out and getting the stuff.  It's gonna be so fun, and I can't believe my little sister is getting married in less than 3 months!  Whew, how life just flies by!

Nearing the End of the First Trimester!

I am 12 weeks pregnant today and I am definitely showing slightly.  My belly girth is slightly bigger than last week (first sign of growth by measurement!), and I am feeling constantly bloated.  Not feeling quite as sick as I once did.  And word spreads fast at work.  I work with about 75 nurses, and I think the whole unit knows already!  It was the talk of the unit this week.  Another girl that I work with is pregnant too, but she is only at about 7 weeks, so she hasn't broken the news to the world yet.  She already has a 2 year old, so it'll be fun to go through it with someone who already knows what it's like.

Not too much new this past week.  I worked on the Fourth of July, so Mike and I just layed low and watched some fireworks that the neighbors set off.  Then to bed for me.  (Don't forget, I have a hard time staying up past 10PM these days!). 

We met with a financial advisor this morning and I'm so glad we did!  Mom got us this gift card for a one hour consultation with a financial group for a wedding gift and we just now used it!  But we did, and we're gonna get back on track.  The woman was really nice and helpful, and she told us that we are doing well for our age and that we just need to put away a little bit more money to have 6 months of expenses covered, and then we both should contribute 10% to retirement.  So we both need to up that number a little bit.  I think we're gonna use her as our financial advisor (something we've never had) in order to get the most for our money.  We're young, and we need to be less conservative with our investing, and she can help us with that.  So we're both excited to get started.

In the morning I am heading to PA for the Arts Festival, something at Penn State that I try to attend yearly.  My Dad and step mom are heading up too, so I'll spend the weekend hanging out with them.  I'm excited, but it's literally 100 degrees up there right now and we are staying in dorm rooms with no AC!  Yikes!  I'm gonna rent a fan for sure, but it'll be a toasty weekend.  I'm hoping to get some Christmas shopping done since that's always a relief to have a head start on in July.

No pictures to share from this past week, but next week I'll have my 3 month pregnancy pics to display!  And there's a slight belly to be seen!

10th Week Recap

I think I'm starting to show!  Ok, not a lot, and not to the average person, but I can tell a difference!  It could just be the insane frequency with which I am eating these days and the minimal amount of exercise that I've been getting....yeah, I guess I could just be getting fatter.  But Mike agrees with me that there is a slight change in my stomach.  Pretty soon that belly button ring is gonna have to go.

My nausea is getting better in general and isn't always present, which is nice.  It's by no means gone though, and it just reared its ugly head yesterday morning.  I didn't sleep well because I was nauseous and then I got up at about 6:45 and decided to eat some Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Well,... that didn't go well at all.  I felt terrible and was so mad because I had big plans to go to Body Pump at 8:30.  Instead I went back to sleep until about 10.  But on the bright side, I did feel better when I woke up.

This past weekend I went to Emerald Isle with some friends from work and it was such a nice relaxing trip.  We got up and exercised, beached it all day, went to dinner, and then watched an old movie before hitting the sack.  That was our routine for three days and it was marvelous!  My kind of vacation.  We watched Lil Abner, Operation Petticoat, and Cool Hand Luke.

I told the girls that I was pregnant on Day 1 of this trip so they made me get this pic:

Yes, that is a jar of Prego that I'm holding.  One of my friends couldn't stop calling me that all weekend..

Not too much else is new from week 10.  I'm full fledged into week 11 now, and all is well.  I really want to get back into some cardio, since I have completely fallen off the wagon.  I think I was so nervous about my high heart rate at first, and so worried about a miscarriage, that I just stopped all together.  Now, that is even worse for me and baby, I know.  I've been pretty good about going to Body Pump at least once, if not twice a week, but I haven't done much cardio.  I ran with the girls once last weekend for 3 miles at an 8:30 pace (which is ridiculously fast for me, so I'm glad I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor.  I shudder to think of how high my heart rate probably got!).  Otherwise, this will be my third day in a row taking Daisy for a 45 min- 1 hour hike, so I guess that's progress.

So the plan for the day is Body Pump (check, done!), hiking with Daisy and Sequoia, wash the dogs, wash the car, pull ivy from trees, dinner with Jess and Phil.  I will break the news to them tonight!  WooHoo!

Oh yeah, and the word is officially out at work.  It's no longer a secret.  Hello World, I'm Pregnant!!!!