Sonogram 9 Weeks

We had our second sonogram and the baby actually looks like a baby now! If you look closely, you can see a tiny foot at the top of the two leg buds. We got to hear the heartbeat too, which was much stronger than last time. You guessed it - we're absolutely thrilled!

My Baby Journey - Vomiting & Vitamin Deficiency

Nearly 10 weeks along, I'm happy, excited, a little anxious, and eagerly awaiting the completion of my first trimester. Since my last post about morning sickness, I have to say that I've continued to feel very nauseated and vomiting more frequently. I'm extremely tired... to the point I literally want to take naps every day (not that I'm actually able to of course!). When my 11 hour workday ends each evening, I eat dinner, take vitamins and, leaving room for little else, find myself retiring to bed for the night... In case you're asking yourself "what's the perfect amount of sleep?", I'll share that averaging about 10 hours of sleep helps me feel the best when I awake each morning.
On another note, I received a call last week from my OB/GYN to discuss my most recent blood test. The results? I have vitamin deficiencies in both iron & b12. I've been borderline anemic during my adult life which has been primarily caused by heavy flow periods. I thought that since I'd been taking a daily prenatal vitamin for the past year (in preparation for conception) that I would avoid any deficiencies once I got pregnant. I was surprised at the blood test results of course, but I'm glad to know now so early in my pregnancy.
My doctor has instructed me to continue the daily prenatal along with a prescription grade supplemental vitamin (thank goodness she gave me samples enough for about a month!). At first, the double dose of vitamins upset my stomach more than usual, but now, I just make sure I eat a carb-dense dinner and go straight to bed. Actually, this has helped me to keep weight on since I had been losing weight due to frequent vomiting.
Later this week, I have another prenatal appointment and I'm absolutely THRILLED to share more sonogram pictures. :)

My Baby Journey - Morning Sickness & Such

I knew long before I got pregnant that "morning sickness" is different for every mommy. I also knew that it sometimes lasts only the first trimester, and sometimes lasts the entire pregnancy....
My "morning sickness" started out as midnight sickness. I would get up during the middle of the night (sometimes multiple times per night) and be sick. Sometimes it was pretty severe with dry heaving, and other times it would be as simple as walking to the bathroom, vomiting, and going back to bed. I try to remember to keep a hair tie on my night stand so I can pull my hair back on the way to the restroom - not glamorous but it works!
I still have to get up during the night, but now, it's happening when I wake up in the morning and sometimes after breakfast! Occasionally throughout the day but not usually.
One thing I've done to cope with the frequent vomiting is to just eat through the nausea. It feels weird to make myself eat when I have an upset stomach but after I do it, I feel a lot better. I'm extremely busy during the day, so I'm wondering if I'm digesting my daytime meals more quickly because of the activity... if so, this is probably helping curb the nausea. It seems that when I wake up during the night, I'm throwing up undigested dinner from 5 or 6 hours before - gross! Needless to say, I have started eating lighter dinners!

My Baby Journey (sonogram & heartbeat)

As soon as we discovered the amazing news, we hopped online to find a new ob/gyn. I have a gynecologist which I've gone to for about ten years, however, the drive to his office is a little far. Since I'm now running a business from my home, I'm opting for a closer ob/gyn, especially for the much more frequent pregnancy appointments.
We found an amazing doctor right in our area and had the first appointment on Wednesday at 4:00. I was nervous all day. (Neither of us slept the night before!) I tried to keep my mind occupied throughout the day, however, my thoughts kept drifting back to the appointment... what would it be like?... will I get to see anything?... is everything okay so far???
We arrived right on time and as soon as we were taken back to our room, the nurse came in and put us at ease. She confirmed our pregnancy! Then, she invited us to the sonogram room where I was instructed to change. One surprise I had was that it was a VAGINAL SONOGRAM. Okay, I should have expected this but for some reason I was thinking it would be the kind of sonogram where they'd rub jelly on my tummy and then we'd see a picture on the screen. No. The vaginal sonogram wasn't as scary as the initial surprise let on. The sonogram wand was about 12 inches long (only about 3 inches were actually inserted) and about 1 inch wide. The doctor had turned off the lights in the room. On the monitor, we were able to see a little pac-man looking circle that kept flashing. She told us that was our baby at 6 weeks - the 'flashing' was actually the beating of the baby's heart. I was so amazed and excited. Tears filled my eyes to the brim. She said that normally, you can't hear the heartbeat this early, so we shouldn't get our hopes up that high. But, after turning the volume up all the way on her machine - there it was! A little thump thump, thump thump. Brett & I just looked at each other in disbelief! We are going to be parents.

My Baby Journey (week 6)

Yesterday, on New Year's Day, 2012, my husband & I found out (after two years of trying to conceive) that we're PREGNANT! I will never forget the look on Brett's face when I brought the at-home pregnancy test into the living room with a stunned grin and handed it to him. I thought he'd tip over the coffee table as he lunged toward me, hugging me, both of us beaming with joy. I had felt that I may be pregnant for a few weeks prior, but, even as a birth educator, I explained away the symptoms. One reason I did this is that I wasn't having morning sickness. Rather, it was midnight sickness. It was always after something slightly different for dinner, so I thought, well, it was just something I ate. Looking back over the past month or so, I admit that I'd been a little more emotional and a little more tired than normal (more very typical signs of pregnancy). But, I'd been feeling great otherwise! So, here we are on January 2nd - about to schedule our first prenatal appointment and - WOW - I couldn't have a wider range of emotions!