Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Updated Due Date

We had our first ultrasound today with Dr. H, and, while we were thrilled to see the peanut, we learned that he/she is only measuring at 6 weeks and 3 days. This puts my due date at June 19, 2010 (which also drags my first trimester out 2 more weeks).

Once I have time to scan the ultrasound picture, I'll post it. The peanut is measuring 0.65 cm long and has a strong heartbeat of 145 bpm. Dr. H is amazed at the large amounts of hormones the peanut seems to be producing, which bodes well for this pregnancy being carried out to full-term.

We also updated our pregnancy ticker on the blog to more accurately reflect where the peanut actually is in his/her development (aka less human, more alien)!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Silver Lining

It's Saturday, and the peanut has chosen to take the weekend off from making me vomit-ous-ly ill. Which is beneficial, because I'm on Day 2 of my weekend at work, and being able to think past the next vomit session comes in handy in my job.

Jim and I have officially scheduled our last "baby-less" vacation... to Hawaii! We had bought a condo package last June in hopes of using it this June for another trip. Once I found out I was pregnant (and tentatively due in June), we had to scramble to figure out if/when we could move the trip. Also, this trip is Teea's graduation gift, so we had to figure out how to schedule it so she could fit it into her busy senior year. We settled on her spring break, which is the last week of March. I will be 30-ish weeks at that point (and hoping to still be able to wear a swimsuit!).

Also, I bagged the previous pregnancy ticker I had (because the whole "you're only 7 weeks" thing was really bugging me) and downloaded a new widget that shows the baby at it's exact developmental stage. As my pregnancy progresses, the baby will "develop" just like the real peanut into a more human-looking creature, but for now, enjoy looking at the alien-like tadpole swimming around in it's virtual womb!

Friday, October 23, 2009

First Trimester = Pregnancy Sucks

Here's a quick recap of the past few weeks:

-Wake up crippled by nausea but possessed by the overwhelming urge to pee.
-Attempt to force down yet ANOTHER disgusting saltine cracker.
-Vomit 3 times in the shower.
-Clean the shower.
-Vomit once more from the smell of the shower cleaner.
-Attempt to blow-dry hair while lying on the ground.
-Try to get off the floor only to realize every joint in my body has frozen in place.
-Get off the floor just in time to pee... yet again.
-Gag from the smell of the toilet water (yes, it does have a smell!).
-Gag again from the smell of the trash can I am holding in front of my face while I pee.
-Place the anti-nausea "sea band" on my wrist.
-Attempt to force down yet ANOTHER disgusting saltine cracker.
-Drive the 25-minute commute to work while eating the same disgusting saltine cracker.
-Readjust the anti-nausea "sea band" on my wrist so it no longer is cutting off the circulation to my hand.
-Listen to my co-workers say "You look AWFUL... are you sure you don't want another saltine? And what's with your hair?".
-Attempt to eat the first of six meals that day... and make it through three bites before the next wave of nausea hits.
-Gag over the nasty prenatal vitamins, DHA, folic acid, and vitamin B6 that my doctor "swears" will cure my morning sickness.
-Pee yet again.
-Gag over the smells in my patient's room.
-Duck into the patient's bathroom to attempt to gag without them noticing (this has yet to work).
-Convince my patient that I do not have the swine flu.
-Pee again.
-Attempt to force down yet ANOTHER disgusting saltine cracker.
-Repeat for another 8-10 hours.
-FINALLY feel hunger and attempt to eat.
-Unable to eat more than a few bites thanks to the incredible shrinking stomach (and aversion to all foods), but force down the entire meal anyway.
-Become the battleground on which nausea and indigestion duke it out for top-billing.
-Either a) vomit again or b) go to bed.
-Lie awake half the night with either a) nausea or b) indigestion.
-FINALLY fall asleep just in time to wake up and pee again.

The gestation wheel at work says I'm currently 8 weeks, the stupid pregnancy counter on my blog says I'm just past 7 weeks. I'm choosing to go by the gestation wheel at work, because 6 more weeks of this is depressing enough.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Shauna, your prayers have been answered.

I should have figured something big was going to happen. Life had become too smooth, routine.

I should have guessed when certain doors closed rather sharply that God was up to something BIG.

And, if that wasn't enough, there were certainly physical and emotional cues. I won't go into details, but it was enough to make my husband wonder what was wrong with me.

Jim and I like to say that the moral of our story is when life become predictable, God turns it upside down... and He certainly did!

We are thrilled/terrified to announce we are pregnant with our first child.

Actually, those are two of the 47 different emotions currently circulating through our minds. We had not planned on being pregnant at this point in our marriage. In fact, we had a few things left on our "Before Kids" checklist to accomplish.

Yet, despite our selfish natures and our meticulous planning, God saw fit to have the last laugh and bless us with a child. Like everything else so far in our marriage, we aren't quite sure what He is thinking and why He has chosen this timing, but we are (slowly learning to be) content to roll with His plans. After all, He's proven over and over that His ways are best!

This does put a few things on hold for us. First and foremost, I had previously been contemplating going back to school for my Master's degree. This door was firmly shut prior to learning about the pregnancy. I didn't not qualify for any of the programs I wanted to apply for due to lack of experience, training, or certifications. Go figure.

Secondly, vacation plans are changing. While in Hawaii this past June, we bought another week to be used this coming summer. Obviously that won't be a viable option with a newborn, so we are tweaking those plans to utilize that trip prior to the point where I will be too pregnant to go.

Our current plan at this point is to continue living in the basement, finish paying off the last bit of debt we owe on our cars, reconfigure our budget to include diapers and figure out how to fit a crib into our bedroom. I will most likely cut back on my hours at work after the baby is born, so it will take us a little longer than expected to get into a house of our own. Not to mention the many (gulp) medical bills heading our way.

This is absolutely surreal for us. Jim took the news and immediately started working on our budget. I, on the other hand, have been too shocked to do anything except be clumsy. Which in turn made Jim research the safety ratings on my car.

My estimated due date (by my own estimations, mind you) is June 7, 2010. Other than the overwhelming clumsiness, general soreness, inability to sleep, mood swings and the incessant nausea and vomiting, I have yet to experience the majority of the symptoms of pregnancy, including weight gain. This makes me very happy, as I just bought three new pairs of smaller-sized jeans since I haven't been able to gain the weight back that I lost in Haiti and I was hoping to get some use out of them. Go figure!

I plan on using this blog to chronicle my pregnancy (since I've been assured soon enough I will no longer have the brain cells left to remember all these details) so stay tuned for periodic updates and the occasional "baby bump" picture!