1st Anniversary

On December 27, 2009 Seamus and I celebrated our first anniversary in Morro Bay!  Sunday also marked 18 Weeks of pregnancy!  :)  Here are some pictures of our trip to the central coast. 

The first two are my 18 week belly pictures. 

I had to show off Seamus!  After one whole year I still think he's cute.  ;) 

The others are pictures of us together.  My dad - my baby's pappy - gave us a tripod for our camera over Christmas.  It was great to finally get some pictures of us together - as a family!  Some of the pictures show case my baby bump really well.

17 weeks 2 days

 

The Baby is waving!

The baby's head looking at us.  You can see his/her eyes and mouth!

Our baby!  When the tech rolled the probe you could see the ribs too!  We're in love!

We went in for our anatomy ultrasound.  This is when we could have found out the sex of our little one but decided to stay strong and wait until our little one makes his or her entrance into this world.  :)  The heartbeat was strong and the baby was measuring perfectly for his/her age.  YAY!  Our due date is still May 30, 2010. 

This afternoon Seamus and I went to Babyland and found our crib.  We originally went to just look but decided on the crib that we wanted so we purchased it!  The best part is that they actually had it in stock!  We could have taken it home today but it wont fit in our car.  So Saturday morning we will borrow Rob's truck to pick it up!  YAY!  We were shocked when they had it in stock because we heard that most places have to order the crib and that could take up to 12 weeks.  Needless to say, I'm stoked!  :)

After we purchased our crib we visited Rob and Susan.  They showed us their nursery.  They have a wonderful glider.  I would love to have one but 1) they're expensive and 2) we don't have much space.  :(  That's okay though.  I'll get over it.  After touring their nursery we went out for Thai food!  YUMMY!  I haven't had my thai fix in a very long time.  mmmm... it was gooooood!  :)

17 Weeks

Today I am 17 weeks pregnant! 

We are in Ventura celebrating Christmas with our baby's Pappy and Grammy(?), Grandma (?), GeeGee(?), Noni(?), Uncle Kyle, Great Uncle Greg, and Great Grandma Doti.  They went overboard when it came to presents for us.  We love all of the gifts, they are wonderful!  Thank you all!  We love you!  Dinner was amazing too.  We had prime rib, twice baked potatoes, corn, little lobster things, and salad.  Yummy!  For dessert we had home-made cheesecake with cherries on top.  What a great night!  :) 

Month 4 check-in

How far along?: 16 weeks

Total weight gain?: I'm not really sure... I'll find out on Wednesday at my next appointment.

Maternity clothes?: Yes.  They are super comfortable.  My belly isn't huge so I still have to wear my Belly Band to help keep them up.  But They are definitely more comfortable then my pre-pregnancy pants.  I'm waiting for some more maternity clothes to arrive this week.  :)

Stretch marks?: No.  But I have started feeling some itches in different places on my belly.  I haven't scratched them because rumor has it that if you scratch you will definitely get stretch marks in that place.  So I've been rubbing the itch away when it comes.

Sleep?: Yes and no.  I still like my sleep but I'm now waking up several times a night to get comfortable.  If I lay on my side too long, my hips and shoulders start to hurt.  I can't really sleep on my back without the risk of having the weight of the baby pushing on an artery... so I have to put a pillow under my back so I can sleep at an angle.  That's great for a little while but then I'll need to turn because my back starts hurting.  Grrr... I guess that means that sleeping through the night is out the window until the baby sleeps through the night outside the womb.

Best moment this week?: I had a rave review from one of the assistant principals at my school.  :)  She did a formal observation during one of my class periods and said that I am a "natural born teacher".  YAY!

Movement?: I may have started feeling movement but I'm not totally convinced yet.  I have felt some vibrations in there a few times but I'm still not sure if it's the baby or something not so cute.

Food cravings?: Lately I have had cravings for gold fish crackers.  I think it's weird because I have always been a cheese-it girl... but now... goldfish crackers sound divine.  :)

Labor signs?: Nope... too early for that to be a good sign.

Belly button in or out?: Still an in-ne.

What I miss?: I really don't miss anything.  I completely cut out soda, coffee and wine / beer but to my surprise... I don't want them.  All I want to drink is water these days.

What I'm looking forward to?: Christmas!  Seamus and I get to celebrate Christmas twice this year!  Next weekend we'll celebrate with my family in Ventura; the following weekend we'll celebrate with his family.  :)  I am also looking forward to celebrating my 1 year anniversary of being married to the love of my life.  This year has passed quickly!  I can't believe last year I was planning my wedding and this year we're planning for the arrival of our baby.  My life is great!  :)

15 Weeks

Today marks the 15 week mark.  It's crazy how fast time flies.  I now am wearing maternity pants.  My normal pants are just too tight now.  I can get them on but now I can't zip them up all the way and there is no way I could get them buttoned.  My maternity pants are awesome!  I'm still a little small for them so I have to pull them up periodically through the day but they're comfortable.  I bought 3 pairs of the full panel maternity jeans.  I should be set as far as pants go.  Now all I need to do is find some cute maternity tops.  I have 3 tops but people tend to notice your tops before your pants and most of my other shirts are too short to wear with maternity jeans. 

I'm not sure but I may have felt the baby move on Wednesday.  It could have been gas or something else not cute but I'm not sure.  It felt like little vibrations just below my belly button (and I didn't fart so I don't think it was gas... lol.)  I may have felt it again this evening but again, still not sure.  It's a different feeling and I know I'm a little on the early side to actually feel much movement.  I'll monitor it and keep you posted.  :)  It's crazy, I'm almost 4 months pregnant!  Wow! 

Belly Bump

So I know in my last post I said I wasn't showing. Well, I'm wrong. I know there is fat in there but I also know that there is a baby in there. My gut has never been this big before! :) (lol... normally I wouldn't put a smiley face after a sentence saying my gut has outgrown itself.)

Here I am 14 weeks 2 days pregnant. My Bump!

Top:  14 weeks 2 days
Bottom:  11 weeks 5 days

14 Weeks Pregnant!

Today I am 14 weeks pregnant. I caved and bought a pregnancy body pillow. Seamus pulled it out of the bag and said, "I think I will really like this!" I had to remind him that it for the pregnant lady. haha. Maybe after the baby arrives I'll pass it over to him. I don't think we can fit 2 people and 2 Boppy total body pillows in a queen size bed. I'll keep you posted about my comfort with the new pillow. (I know you wanna know). :)

I'm still not showing any baby so you still have to take my word for it. As far as how I feel... I'm much better. Every day I feel less and less nauseous. Now I'm only nauseous if I don't eat every 2 hours. I like to eat, so that's okay with me. :)

Thanksgiving weekend

Tomorrow I will be 14 weeks pregnant. :)

Thursday was Thanksgiving and I received my first maternity sweater from my grandmother. She actually has good taste. It's very cute! I don't need to wear maternity yet but it's nice to have. The baby was also given his or her first onsies. They are super cute! One of them says, "1-800-Grandma" and the other says "Nothing's wrong. Just testing you!" I can't wait until I can dress the little one. :)

12 Weeks 3 Days

Today we went for our NT scan. It's a long abdominal ultrasound to measure the fluid surrounding the baby's neck area. We got to see the baby for about 40 minutes!! He or she has some great moves. We saw some big kicks - the baby is only 2 inches so I can't feel the kicks yet. The baby also did what looked like a rocket launch. The tech was zoomed in on his/her head to take measurements; one second the baby's head was there; the next we saw the body zoom by! hehe He or she kept rolling over too. :) It was great to see our little baby! I think my favorite was being able to see it move around.



Here is a great profile of the baby looking up.



I like this one because you can see his or her spine! :) The baby is looking away from us in this one.



This is a close up picture the tech printed for us because it looks like the baby is waving. His or her head is looking up with his or her hand in front. Notice there are 5 fingers! YAY!

Nap

Today I took a nap during my lunch period. I made sure the door was locked, put my jacket over me like a blanket and I took a snooze in my comfy desk chair. It was lovely until the attendance office lady got on the intercom. hehe... maybe next time I'll nap in my car!

Monthly check-in

How far along?: 12 Weeks (3 months into my pregnancy and 6 more to go!)

Total weight gain?: 1.5 lbs

Maternity clothes?: Not yet... but I'm using a Be Band. This is a cloth band that allows me to keep my pants unbuttoned and hidden. :)

Stretch marks?: Nope.

Sleep?: Yes. Still, that's all I want to do!

Best moment this week?: Seamus and I went for a coastal drive yesterday! The sky was clear and the sun was shining. It was beautiful. :)

Movement?: There's movement in there but I can't feel it yet.

Food cravings?: It usually varies depending on what I'm thinking about... but I don't think I'll ever get tired of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Labor signs?: Nope... too early for that to be a good sign.

Belly button in or out?: In - give it a few months and we'll see.

What I miss?: Warm weather. That's not pregnancy related but I don't know how I'm going to last through winter. haha

What I'm looking forward to?: My next ultrasound on Wednesday! :)

11 weeks 5 days

The one time in my life I get to show case my belly! :)

11 Weeks 2 Days

My food aversions are slowly going away! Hooray!

With food aversions going away I'm finding that I have more cravings. Nothing specific other than the usual grilled cheese sandwich but I'm finding that when I see or hear about a food item I suddenly want it. Seamus brought up Chipotle the other day in a conversation and I instantly wanted it... so guess what I had for lunch today... half a burrito from Chipotle! YAY!

I also read about a friend eating Lucky Charms. Now I want some. I can't think of anything that sounds better then Lucky Charms right now. I haven't had Lucky Charms in several years! Crazy!

I still have to feed the little monster every 2 hours or I'll get nauseous and Seamus still seems to think that I'm not eating enough. A girl can only eat so much! Gosh! You should see the size of lunch Seamus has been packing me! I can't eat it all! haha.

I scheduled my Nuchal Translucency Scan (NT scan) to check for any abnormalities. It's just an ultrasound screening, no needles or anything. The tech will take several measurements of the baby to make sure everything is developing perfectly. This scan will be Wednesday, November 18th. I have to have a full bladder for that ultrasound so we'll see how I handle the tech putting pressure on my gut! lol.

10 Weeks 1 Day

We had another ultrasound yesterday and got another sneak peek of our baby! :) Ultrasounds get more and more interesting as the pregnancy progresses! It's wonderful! This time we saw our baby as the shape of a baby with a giant head! The baby was dancing with his/her arms while we were watching. He/she was moving them up and down. awwww.... Seamus' moves no doubt! :)

I'm in love!

The picture is dark but if you look to the right side of the gestational sac you can see my baby. The head is on the top, you can follow his/her back down the right side and see the little legs folded down at the bottom. The line is measuring the baby.

My Husband

I couldn't ask for a more supportive husband. Seamus has really stepped up to the plate the last couple of months. I haven't been feeling well with morning sickness so Seamus has been packing our lunches during the week. He hates packing lunch so that has always been something I've done. But I can't do it anymore because of the excessive gagging that comes with it.

Seamus has also offered to make me breakfast almost daily and he has become extremely flexible when it comes to dinner. I have so many food aversions right now it makes eating a chore. Right now the only thing that sounds some what appetizing is chicken broth with Japanese rice noodles. Seamus has become very observant and when he sees me able to eat something without much effort he capitalizes on it and goes to the grocery store to buy a supply. I can eat avocado, sourdough toast, chicken broth, and yams. I think we have a large enough supply of all of these foods to feed me for a week.

Sunday I woke up with a sore throat due to post nasal drip. I wasn't sure if my hormones were playing a mean trick on me or if I was coming down with a cold. Monday my sinuses continued to act up and Tuesday I was horrible! I filled a trash can at work up with tissues. I have a cold. Yuck! I can't seem to get a break! After work on Tuesday I called a Kaiser nurse to see what I can do about this cold. She told me that I can have Sudafed and Benedyl but that's about it for medicine. She proceeded to tell me that pregnant women tend to stay sick longer than others because our bodies are working so hard to provide a healthy environment for our babies. She told me to take a couple of days to rest and drink lots of fluids. So, with that said, Seamus told me I can't go to work today. He's right. My head feels like it's going to explode. So I called a sub and now I'm sitting on the couch with the humidifier next to me and a kettle full of water heating on the stove. I will beat this!

On the bright side, I woke up without nausea! We'll see if my morning sickness is gone or if I'm just too distracted by my head to notice.

I love Seamus and I know he loves me. Our baby is joining a family that is filled with love! YAY!

Sour Patch Kids

Sour patch kids are my life savor! I have been on the verge of vomiting and pop in a couple sour patch kids and boom... the urge goes away! Of course it doesn't last more than 20 minutes but that gives me 20 minutes to put something more nutritious in my body like... CHEESE! :) It's a bummer my classroom is next door to the foods room because I smell everything they make! Some days it smells tasty; other days, like today, it stinks! YUCK! My students are a little jealous of me eating sour patch kids but they'll just have to get over it!

I suck at hiding my pregnancy. Both of my classroom aides have figured it out! One of them figured it out before I even had morning sickness. The other one asked me this morning because she has noticed me rushing out of the classroom to go to the bathroom. All well. I had planned on sharing the news with work after I'm out of the first trimester. It looks like I'll have to share sooner than planned.

Monthly Monday Check in!

How far along?: 8 Weeks (2 months into my pregnancy and 7 more to go!)

Total weight gain?: About one pound! Woo hoo!

Maternity clothes?: Not yet.

Stretch marks?: Nope.

Sleep?: YES. That's all I want to do! I struggle staying up past 7PM!!! I love my sleep and I think my body knows that it's our last chance for it!

Best moment this week?: Seamus made my lunch today! :)

Movement?: Does gas count?

Food cravings?: Cheese... I love cheese and anything that is made with cheese! We ordered pizza Friday night, I had a grilled cheese sandwich Saturday afternoon, and yummy cheese dip with my Baja Fresh taquitos on Sunday! I love my cheese!

Labor signs?: Nope... too early for that to be a good sign.

Belly button in or out?: In - give it a few months and we'll see.

What I miss?: feeling good. I don't like morning sickness other than the fact that it's telling me that my body is working hard. But I still don't need my body to tell me that through morning sickness!

What I'm looking forward to?: My next ultrasound in two weeks! :)

10/18/09

10/18/09

This all day motion sickness has got to stop already! I get car sick even when I’m driving and then it continues even when I get out of the car! Seamus is lucky that I brought food home from the grocery store yesterday. Ha-ha… I had to just throw food in the cart without thinking about it because as soon as I thought about finding something I gagged. I’m hungry but nothing sounds appetizing. My body is still getting used to this little baby and all the hormones that go with providing a healthy environment for my baby to grow. I’ll give the morning sickness a few more weeks…then I’m cutting it off! That’s it!

10/15/09

10/15/09
I am finally 7 weeks! I know we’re still early in the pregnancy but I thought I was 7 weeks at my first appointment 2 weeks ago! At 6w1d morning sickness settled. It’s not horrible. I’m not vomiting. But I feel awful! It’s difficult to eat in the morning and all I want to do is sit or lay down. Of course, I haven’t missed work due to the morning sickness. I feel I need to save up on my sick leave for when I’m closer to my due date. I can do this!

My poor students. I’m not as tolerant as I usually am and I’ll react a little faster than normal to annoying behaviors. I haven’t screamed at anyone but I’m finding it difficult to ignore certain behaviors. For instance, twice a week the cafeteria staff ‘pays’ my students for working in the cafeteria with a cookie or breakfast bar. That’s great! We take the treat back to class and once they finish their warm up they can eat their treat. Well today, all I could hear was chewing. Chewing with mouths open!!! I had 4 students chewing loudly and it was driving me nuts! Finally I stopped the class and attempted to teach them how to chew with their mouths closed! I told them, “I don’t want to hear you chewing! It’s gross!” I of course modeled the behavior I wanted and some of them made a conscience effort but others kept on their lip smacking marry way. *shudder* Don’t mess with the pregnant teacher! haha. My students are still great, just annoying at times.

I bought a belly band last weekend so I no longer have to button my pants. Yippee! I know I’m too early for the baby to show but it’s just uncomfortable to sit down with my pants buttoned. My intestines are pushed up into my gut and the hormones are doing a number to my digestive system! YUCK!

Parents Now Know!

10/10/09

We had our 2nd ultrasound yesterday afternoon and we saw our little jelly bean! The best part was that we were able to see his or her little heart flickering!!! S/he’s alive! YAY! Very exciting news! I signed up for a prenatal class for Oct. 21st and set up another appointment and ultrasound for Nov 3rd. I’ll be 10 weeks by the time of our next appointment!

After our appointment, Seamus and I went to Seamus’ parent’s house to share the news! Seamus told them that I was getting a flu shot (which I did) and whipped out our ultrasound pictures! Mom Q instantly started giggling and stood up to give us a hug! They were very pleased with our news! It was wonderful to share the news! We have been keeping quiet for about 3 weeks and it’s nice to let the secret out.

Today my parents called because the received our package today! I wrote on the outside of the package directions for them to call me before they opened the package. I’m happy that they followed directions. Of course, I was shopping with Seamus at best buy at the time of their call! I walked outside and told them they could open the package. My dad pulled out his book first, Just Me and Grandpa, my mom said, “are you making an announcement?!?!” I smiled and told her to keep opening the package and they pulled out a photograph of our HPT! My mom started crying, which in turn, made me cry! They are very excited to be grandparents just as I suspected. My mom then saw her book, A Week at Grandma’s and loved the idea of sharing a week with her soon to be grand baby!

I didn’t expect to cry, but hearing and sharing their excitement brought on the tears. My dad is starting to save all of his pennies again! He is making his money tree for his new grand baby! I think this is a very special tradition that he is keeping alive! Just the thought of it makes me smile! When he was a kid, he remembers going to his grandpa’s home to hear his grandpa say, “Oh, I wish I knew you kids were coming; I just picked the money off of my money tree!” then pull out a handful of coins for my dad and uncle! He had a pot of dirt with dry sticks sticking out (that was the pruned money tree). My dad never did get to see money actually grow on that tree but was able to reap the benefits! I love this tradition and I’m excited to see how it pans out between my dad and my children.

Doctor's Call

10/6/09

The doctor called yesterday with my blood test results and my hormones are rising as they should! YAY! What a relief! Seamus was right and there was nothing to freak out about. I couldn’t help it though. I’m thrilled to have pregnancy hormones pumping through my body and protecting my baby! 

I called the doctor back in the afternoon and set up another ultrasound appointment. We’re scheduled for Friday 10/9/09 at 3:20PM. I’ll have to leave work about 10 minutes early but I think they can manage! I should be 6 weeks 4 days pregnant. My fingers are crossed that we get to see a little jelly bean with a flickering heart. I have read that we cannot hear the heartbeat until about 11 to 12 weeks but you can see it with an internal ultrasound. Oh I should mention, an internal ultrasound is an ultrasound thing looking through my cervix so yes, it’s like a pap smear but better because you get to look at a screen and see a little baby growing!  If Seamus fixes our scanner I’ll scan our 5w3d ultrasound picture along with our new one coming this Friday and add it to this Belly Book.  Lots of happy faces today!

On another note, I think morning sickness reared its head this morning. No vomiting but there was some gagging and nausea. I came close to vomiting but I’m glad, for the sake of my students, I kept everything down! It only lasted about 30 minutes. Hopefully, if that’s my morning sickness, it’ll stay that way. I can handle 30 minutes of feeling like crap. At least it’s not all day! (yet) ***fingers crossed***

Our First OB Appointment

10/3/09
Seamus and I went to our first OB appointment on Thursday (10/1/09). We had our first ultrasound that only found a sac but no baby. According to my LMP (last menstrual period) I should have been 7 weeks pregnant. However, according to the ultrasound I was only 5 weeks 3 days pregnant. That seems consistent to when Seamus and I believe we conceived the baby so our fingers are crossed that there is still indeed a live baby growing in there. The doctor sent me to get blood drawn on Thursday to test my hormone levels, particularly my HCG levels. I am going back today to get more blood drawn to see if my HCG levels have increased in the last 2 days. If they have, then that means that I am indeed 5 weeks pregnant (Monday will be 6 weeks). If my numbers are low, then that may mean that we had a chemical pregnancy that has begun to miscarry. Seamus is pretty convinced that we are only 5 weeks pregnant. In the depths of my heart I believe that too. BUT there is still the fear that we are miscarrying the baby. I know this baby wasn’t planned, but as soon as I found out about this pregnancy my whole life changed and I knew that I wanted this baby more than anything! The doctor also said that we may have an ectopic pregnancy so I am on pelvic rest. I am to watch for symptoms of dizziness and cramping on one side or the other that lasts more than 5 minutes. AHHHH! We saw a sac but she’s not sure that it’s even a pregnancy sac yet. I’m just wait and waiting for my HCG results on Monday! Please please please be okay little baby! My doctor also told me that I have a cyst on one of my ovaries. She said that it looks like a pregnancy cyst that occurs on the ovary that released the egg. This is normal and it will go away once the placenta is formed and takes over the duties of protecting the baby. Back to not being in control… this sucks! Stick baby stick!

I Want You Baby!

9/25/09

So according to the nurse on the phone when I made my appointment... I am 6 weeks and 1 day pregnant. I am deathly terrified of miscarrying this baby even though there doesn't seem to be a family history of miscarrying. I am constantly doing a simple body check to make sure I still have those symptoms of breast tenderness, bloating, and dizziness. I don't have morning sickness - yippee! But sometimes I wish I did so I would know if I was instantly feeling better there was something wrong. It sucks not being in control of the safety of your baby! I know there are some things I can do like take my vitamins, exercise, eat healthy, and say away from bad things... but there are many things out of my control and I hate it! I never thought of myself as a control freak until now. I want everything to be perfect for this little ball of cells that is growing into a baby... my baby! I want to put my life on hold so I can make sure this baby is as healthy as can be. I want this baby!!!

Today We Learned...

9/21/09
I came home from work last Thursday (9/17/09) and really had to pee. I told Seamus earlier that week that if I didn't start my period by Sunday that I would take a HPT (Home Pregnancy Test). Well... for some reason I decided to take it as soon as I got home from work. I was home alone and not expecting a positive result. I saw a very faint line appearing in the box and did a double take. I didn't lift the test off the counter because 3 minutes hadn't passed so I brought my face closer to the HPT and said aloud, "is that what I think it is?" I took a step back then leaned forward again and looked.... "No way. But it's so light! Could I be imagining it?" I again took a step back and left the bathroom. I turned the computer on and impatiently waited for it to fully load. While waiting, I returned to the bathroom and took another look at the test... "Wow... but it's so light! That can't be right! Damn I don't have to pee anymore!! I'm going to call Seamus!"
I returned to the computer but it was still starting up. So I reached for my cell phone and called Seamus. "Damn; voice mail!" I didn't want to leave him a message and risk having anyone else over hear so I sent him a text - "Hey... I need your opinion on a pregnancy test...uhhh!" About 5 minutes later he walked in the door. At this time I was finally able to search the internet about reading pregnancy tests. The internet said that any line, dark or faint, is a positive test. I'm pregnant!!!

Seamus didn't fully believe it yet... so we took a walk to Lucky’s down the street and picked up an EPT test that reads "pregnant" or "not pregnant". I took it home and waited until I needed to pee again. Took the test and waited for the 3 minutes to pass again... this time with Seamus. Seamus looked down and read, "Pregnant". We looked at each other and said, "wow, alright!" and then hugged. We're pregnant! We're having a baby!