Our very first Ultrasound!

Present day.

You might have noticed that I have written 7 posts prior to this one in one day. You didn't notice? You should go check them out starting here. Just press "Newer post" at the end of the page once you've finished reading a post.

Don't worry, this post will be here waiting for you when you get back.

When you return, click "read more" below to open up the rest of the post.

What will it be?

I decided today to do a couple gender predictions. I'm certain we will have a boy. But according to the tests:

Chinese Gender Chart: Girl!

Madame Zaritska: an online "clairvoyant" where you answer questions and you'll get a prediction. Mine is the following:
The day you deliver, outside will be hazy. Your baby will arrive in the evening. After a labor lasting approximately 48 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and will be 22-1/2 inches long. This child will have dark amber eyes and barely there black hair.

For the other gender prediction tests, I'm not far enough along to answer completely honestly. So, I'll continue this later. :D

Time is flying...

Monday, May 24th

8 weeks.

4 weeks ago, I was begging for this week to come. Time. Went. By. So. Slowly. I thought this week would never come.

I read somewhere, that my uterus is the size of a grapefruit. I can feel it if I press on my abdomen only after emptying my bladder of course.

I still can't complain. I get nausea here and there, but it goes away with food. Ritz crackers have been great. Ice water also makes me feel good.

Reading over some of the previous posts that I've written, I talked alot about how food didn't sound good...but that has changed. A lot.


Food is so good.


It's bad. I'm going to gain all my weight in the first trimester. But, the good news is, I only have 4 more weeks in this trimester. :D And while it seems like forever from now, I realize these next 4 weeks are going to fly on by.


 Because I can't post this quite yet on my blog, I made one for just me to enjoy, until next week...

Updates

Wednesday, May 19th

Week 7, day 2. I really can't complain. I have nausea here and there, but it passes easily. Usually a couple Ritz crackers do the trick. I feel dizzy at times, but again, only fleetingly. The biggest upset is I use the bathroom about 3 times as much as normal. I wake up just to pee about 3-5 times a night now. It is getting ridiculous.

Mostly it is due to the fact that my body has increased its blood volume in preparation of this new life that will need my blood to survive. But it also helps that I'm drinking several 32oz mugs of water every day.

I'm also very very tired. I struggle getting out of bed. And often want to get right back into bed only shortly after getting up. After this pregnancy, I realize I'll never be able to sleep again like I have been. So I am taking advantage of sleep.

I signed up to receive emails from Babycenter.com with updates on what is going on in my uterus every week. I also joined the January 2011 Birth Club forum, and receive an update of new posts to the forum. It is amazing some of the things these women share/talk about. Most of the ladies have lost a baby or pregnancy before and so of course I don't quite understand how they are feeling. But they obsess over things that really aren't that important. I still read some of the posts though because sometimes people have similar questions/concerns that I have.

Goodness I can't wait to hear that little heart beating!

Pregnancy Brain

Sunday, May 2nd

So, it begins. I'm continuing to do crazy things.

For example, yesterday, I decided I wanted Thai food for dinner. It was later than I meant to be getting home, and so dinner would take a while to make. Jamaal doesn't like Thai food, so I offered to pick him up Jack in the Box instead. He wanted a Jumbo Jack.

I looked at the menu, and told the drive-thru lady that I wanted a #4. I got home, enjoyed my phad Thai, and when Jamaal opened his sandwich, he said "Aubri, what is this?"

I sat for a second, thought really hard, and realized that a #4 was a Sourdough Jack. I hesitated for a second, and told him it was a "Sourdough Jack." I felt really bad. But at the time I thought I was doing the right thing...

Today I got lost going to West Seattle for a brunch held by a lady at work. I ended up in downtown Seattle instead.

I've been getting slightly dizzy and have had some more nausea. It is beginning to make me feel like running to the bathroom now. I'm also not really eating a ton. I feel really hungry, but it doesn't take long for me to feel full, or bored of what I'm eating.

Water is like the one thing that makes me feel really good. It makes my nausea pass a little faster...

Tomorrow is the first day of week 5. I think I'm going to take a picture most every week of this pregnancy, then make a slide show at the end. :D There are a couple really creative ones on YouTube that make me smile. One has a lady standing in the babies nursery, and they took a picture every day so you can see the nursery changing around her. It's really neat.

The first appointment.

Thursday, April 28th

Today we met with an LPN at St. Joe's Women's clinic to gather my health history and pick a midwife. They collected urine from me at the beginning, and after the appointment they stole 7 or 8 tubes of blood from me. I wasn't expecting a blood draw, so this was a surprise.

The LPN asked when my LMP (last menstrual period) was, and I told her. But I was hesitant to tell her. Since my cycles are so long, it is unrealistic to use the normal due date calculator. I'm not normal. I pleaded for her to not use her number. But she did not budge.

According to her calculations, I'm 7 weeks. According to mine, I'm 4. That, is a huge difference at this point. She did bargain with me and scheduled my first ultrasound in 4 weeks (so what I believe is 8 weeks and 4 days). That way, if I'm right (and I know I'm close) I should still see a heart beat. Hopefully my midwife will agree with me and change my due date to the one I predict. A difference between December 12th, and January 3rd.

Is it weird that I'm secretly hoping for twins?? I know they are a lot more work, but goodness imagine the cuteness! :D I saw this double stroller with one seat in front of the other, and the car carriers fit on there too, and it was absolutely adorable. I'm crazy, I know. Only part of me wants twins...and it is highly unlikely. But I just have this feeling...

I've told pretty much all of my close friends, and family members. I finally decided that it doesn't matter at this point. If I receive bad news at my ultrasound, I'd tell them anyway. So I might as well tell them the news, while it is still good. (Hopefully it will continue to be good). :D

How I'm feeling:

I just switched over to night shift, which always messes with my head a bit. But this time seems a little bit worse. Smells are making me crazy. Yogurt doesn't taste the same. Food doesn't sound that appealing.

And unfortunately, I've had a small amount of diarrhea. I'll spare you the details.

But I am beginning to have nausea that comes and goes. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to puke, and I start to think about getting to the toilet, but then it passes. I'm also pretty tired, but again, night shift also makes me tired. And, I haven't been sleeping all that much as of late. (Just related to MD appointments, and visits with friends).

Actually, a nap sounds super amazing right now....hopefully I don't sleep through the night. (It's currently 1935). After I wake up, I need to do dishes...

Appointments and Butterflies

Monday, April 26th

Today I scheduled an appointment at the St. Joseph's Women's Clinic to:

1. Verify my pregnancy.
2. Find out a little more about the Midwives working there
3. Hopefully choose one to work with during this pregnancy!
4. And if it can be arranged, go on a tour of the Family Birth Center.

I'm a little disappointed that the midwives don't deliver at St. Francis in Federal Way. I like the facility there, my sis-in-law had all 3 of her sons there so I've seen it up close already.

But, I really want a midwife.

Jamaal's grandma lives in Tacoma, so if for some reason I need to be really close to the hospital, I could stay there to be close by.

How I'm feeling:
I'm not nauseated, but I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach all the time. Food doesn't sound that good to me, I'll eat, but it just isn't satisfying. I'm so very nervous that I'll lose this pregnancy. We've told a few people, mostly because I just can't keep this secret. I feel like I want to scream it from a mountain top. ;)

But I'm so early, I don't feel comfortable sharing.

After thinking for several years now, that I'd have a difficult time getting pregnant, I'm in utter shock that it happened this quickly. So I just have this general feeling that something, like a miscarriage, will happen.

Since I wasn't planning getting pregnant this cycle, I'm certain it will be a boy. As long as he's healthy, that's fine with me. :D

A few weeks ago...

Tuesday, April 20th

I went to work, and a fellow nurse, while walking behind me, asked "Aubri, have you gained weight?"

I looked at her with disgust, laughed and said "No." Its true. I've weighed the same for quite some time now.

I wasn't really that offended. She's done this before to others. I like her, and I really just feel she was being honest. But all of my clothes fit the same.

She said to me later that others had noticed too. I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me. Because I do wish to lose a bit of weight. But since Jamaal and I will be trying to have a baby soon, I don't want to go too crazy.

Saturday, Apri 24th

Day 50.

I woke up in the morning for work. I thought to myself "Geeze, It's been a while since I've had my period." Last cycle was 54 or 55 days long, so it wasn't too shocking to me that it was the 50th day.

But then I remembered, last cycle I ovulated on day 40 or 41. This cycle I ovulated on the 36. So...you might assume that this cycle might be a little shorter. Like I should be starting soon.

And then, I remembered that I had spotted a bit earlier in the week. I was sure that my period was coming then, but the next day nothing.

So on a whim, I peed in a cup and dipped one of my cheap-o pregnancy tests in and started getting ready for work.

I really wasn't expecting what I found 5 minutes later. One dark pink line and next to it, very faintly, another pink line. I stared. I've taken these tests before, and a negative shows up as a dark pink line and nothing else.

I found the instructions that came with these tests, and read to see what a faint line meant. "Retake the test in 48 hours" it said.

After working 8 hours, it was tormenting me. I decided to take another test. This time one that was electronic.

It took a lot longer to process (I've taken these before, but the negative result showed up quickly.) but it clearly read "Pregnant."

That night, Bret was in town, and we met up with him to go to a bar. His sister (our waitress) asked what I wanted to drink: "Diet Coke." Bret was confused. Why not just have a drink? But he dropped it.

We planned on playing beer pong later. He asked if I was playing. I told him I had to work in the morning, so didn't want to drink.

He continued in this way...until finally Jamaal said "Her eggo is preggo." Then we explained to him to keep it a secret. I just barely found out, and want to be sure everything is normal first.

I ended up leaving early from the beer pong party. And did a little research. Since my cycles are about double the normal, I found a site that calculates due dates based on conception. If my calculations are correct, I think conception happened on April 12th. (plus or minus 4 days)

That puts my due date at about January 3rd.

Raining cats...

And dogs can't go outside.

When the weather is wet, the girls become prissy pups. They love going outside. They would go out every hour if offered. They usually only spend about 10-20 minutes at a time outside, sometimes only 5.

But the moment it begins to rain, they will have none of it. Bacardi will actually go out the door, then stand under the cover and stare out. Bella hears the rain from inside, looks at me, and walks away. "You've got to be kidding me mom," she says.

They certainly are spoiled.

Blood and gore ahead

No kidding. Blood and gore. If you get queasy you should read cautiously. ;)

Last night I dreamt that a friend of mine (Update: since the word is now out, I've linked to her blog) was pregnant. She was near term and was getting nervous about labor. She was worried she wouldn't be able to handle the pain. (Which is funny since she's done it before.)

So, she had the obvious idea: inflict ridiculous amounts of pain on herself in order to be prepared for the impending labor.

She was going to rip her own finger off. She told me her plan, and I was frantically trying to hold her hand to prevent her from accomplishing her goal. I must have looked away for a second, because next thing I know, she had a pair of clamps in her hand ( the "clamps" were a miniature version of some tool I've seen in our garage/driveway in use before).

You might see where this is going. The clamps were what she needed to rip that finger off. Blood spurted everywhere all over my face.

Thankfully, I woke up...

When I fell back to sleep, I dreamt I was telling everyone about my previous dream. I guess I couldn't tear myself away...

FMTYEWTK

I realized (again) today that I still haven't answered a certain someone about why I use DH to talk about my husband.

In many Internet communities, a lot of people use abbreviations to name their loved ones. Most people do so to protect their loved ones privacy. I have found this to be true in both the blogging community as well as in the Internet forums where people go to share inspiration, or ask questions etc.

Now, I do use my husband's name on this blog. Mostly because I don't really feel his name is all that private. I will not share his social or specific details of course, but if someone really wanted to know his name, they would easily be able to find that out.

But sometimes when I am thinking about what I want to say, DH just sounds right to me.

Here are a few abbreviations found in the blogging world:

DH= Dear Husband or Darling Husband
DD= Dear Daughter or Darling Daughter
DS= Dear Son or Darling Son
IMHO= In My Honest (or Humble) Opinion
MIL= Mother-in-law
FIL= Father-in-law
SIL= Sister-in-law
BIL= Brother-in-law
EDD= Estimated Due Date
DPO= Days Post Ovulation
LMP= Last Menstrual Period

I could go on and on for days.

I've also seen people joke that DH could stand for Dumb Husband. ;)

Know of any other acronyms that confuse you, that you see often or would like to share?

Curious about the title? Have any guesses?? The answer is after the break:
Continued after the break:

A laughing dreamer

I laughed out loud again in my sleep last night. This time I dreamt about a junk yard that stacked the cars up really really high. It was called Mile High Junkers. The junk yard was next to this huge cliff. To get people to come to the place, they had stunt drivers driving cars up a wall, and had huge explosions. Once one of the drivers got about halfway up the cliff, he would push a button that would set off an explosion. Don't ask me how the cars got down, because I remember them I guess, driving on air....In my dream I asked Jamaal how they were driving up the cliff, and he didn't really have an answer for me. It was just sooo ridiculous...and this was just a highlight of the dream.