Thread: From wife to mother...continued

13 weeks 4 days August 14th 2008

Ohhh I am renting a fetal heart rate monitor for the next 3 months. ) I just ordered it this morning and it should be here tomorrow. It gives you the bpm digitally also so you don't have to count them yourself. Dion and I can now lay in bed whenever we want and listen to our lil peanuts heart beating away. I wish they made an at home ultrasound machine....that would stinking ROCK!

Anyways I am renting it for 3 months, by then I will be 24 weeks and able to feel baby's movements. Here is the one I ordered....
http://storkradio.com/dopplers-digital.php#srdd
I swear I'm bringing it with me everywhere I go so anyone can listen to our baby.

Ended up throwing up 3 times yesterday, and felt really crappy most of the day. Today is better already. obviously on my every other day cycle...tomorrow may suck again but for now I'm basking in the glory that is....feeling "almost" good. Still a bit nauseas but nothing I can't ignore. LOL

Oh D and I decided to do our intelligender on Sunday morning when we get up. I don't really trust its results at all but it will be fun to maybe think about a specific gender for once. Can't wait still for Oct 1st.

One more quick thing too..I read in a book about your tongue feeling "hairy" sometimes as a symptom....

its CRAZY....it doesn't feel hairy necessarily but it almost constantly feels like a have a piece of hair on the very back of my tongue...so if I randomly am sticking my tongue out or clearing my throat its because I'm trying to get rid of this totally random and annoying situation! LOL

Pregnancy creeps me out! ha ha

14 weeks 2 days, August 9th!

here I am, officially in the 2nd trimester! Wooo hoo! This should be the fun part coming up here pretty quick! baby bumps and gender ultrasounds, maternity clothes, cravings and energy! )

We finally got to tell my dad, Janine and Joshie the good news...my dad immediately started crying and told dion and I both thank you for making him a grandpa, kinda cute. Josh was excited and wanted to see it right away to which I told him, he'd have to wait. but he stayed the night with us in the hotel and we let him listen to his own heartbeat and the baby's and he was totally amazed by it. I wish we would have videotaped it....he just kept saying "I'm so excited"! awwww.....

Anyways so from Thursday all the way to Sunday...I didn't throw up once...I totally thought I was done. I felt really pretty good those days also with jsut a few waves of nausea throughout each day. then yesterday on the way home *barf* DANG! I kind of knew it was coming, I had a sort of crappy afternoon of not feeling well but I was trying to fight it off.

Anyways I've been eating like a cow still to try to not feel nauseas so I'm sure my weight gain isn't going to be haulting anytime soon. boo...but I have been eating "better" foods more fruits and veggies along with my normal carbs but at least I can now mix it up without getting sick.

Dion and I did our intelligender test this weekend, I'm not posting what its results were until next week though because we have a gender guessing game going right now and I don't want to sway anyone's opinion. Again, D and I aren't really putting much into the intelligender results anyways...the field studies haven't been all that accurate and we don't want to get our hopes up one way or the other and then be crushed. Soo..maybe next week after a few more peeps have voted I'll post results of the test.

I think that's about it, everything else seems to be the same, i did buy a few pair of maternity pants that I found that fit alright, mainly because I'm tired of having a muffin top and being so uncomfortable at the end of each day that I can't breathe....I have to admit, although ugly, the pants are COMFY! I also bought a tummy sleeve (basically its like a bella band) it goes over your pants so you can leave them undone and still hold them up and also helps smooth the transfer between pants/shirt, I think it makes me look more pregnant for some reason, maybe just more round. who knows.

15 weeks, 1 day August 25

Still not feeling very 2nd trimester-ish, no energy, still throwing up ( and back to my typical every other day routine) and even when I'm not throwing up I'm still getting fairly nauseas randomly throughout the day. I REALLY need this to go away, does anyone have any idea how it feels to throw up consistantly every day for almost 6 weeks and every other day consistantly for the next 3 weeks, not only am I really sick of throwing up I'm generally just sick of feeling sick. I can't drink plain water because it makes me gag, the only 'water' type substance I can do is eat ice throughout the day and I've been drinking lots of decaf iced tea, I constantly have to have a bag of pretzels or crackers with me STILL, my stomach is so full all the time but yet I have to snack. I am really not enjoying this at all. The most relief I have gotten since I was 6 weeks, 2 days along was the 4 days I was in glenwood in which I didn't throw up but I still had my moments. Everyone keeps telling me, it should be gone/going away but it just doesn't feel like it. I'm still taking zofran to try to help. I guess I just thought being pregnant would be this joyous, exciting occasion but I feel like I can't even enjoy it because I feel like I've had the flu for 9 weeks.

Enough complaining...Alot of my friends recently have or will be having their kids and that IS exciting, I've gotten to hold baby Marcus and baby Jenna and baby Logan will be on his way in the next few weeks. Its making me want to be so much further along than I am, feels like its forever away until I'll get to hold our little one.

Ive noticed the congested and dry feeling a lot of pregnancy books talk about so I got a humidifier for our bedroom, hopefully that helps me to not feel so "hungover" when I wake up in the morning.

I have also given into the "bloat" and bought a pair of maternity pants for work, the "rubber band" trick was just no longer cutting it and mid afternoon I felt like I coudl barely breath in my jeans. I still have several regular pants that fit fine but I had to break down and buy 1 pair. They are so ridiculous looking. The maternity shirts at least these days are cute and have been mostly just wearing empire waist and babydoll type shirts which will do for now.

Starting this week through week 20 the baby will almost double in size and quadruple in weight, that is also exciting news, other than I've already gained a ton of weight, to which I feel I honestly have no choice in. our baby this week is about 4.5-5 inches and is about the size of a peach (mmm peaches) from crown to rump. I can not stinking wait to start feeling the fluttering movements, usually these are felt between 16-20 weeks.


here's some pics from this morning:
Shirt on and shirt off

15 weeks 3 days, Aug 27

Oh my friend Jess gave me a ton of maternity clothes yesterday. Haven't tried any of them on yet but I'm sure I can make most of them work. I'm really thankful for the overalls....who doesn't LOVE a good pair of comfy overalls, seriously! )
Oh and she got me some lil onesies, hats and booties and washclothes....SO adorable!

I can't wait to start shopping, HURRY up october 1...I NEED to know what my bebe is!

Well I haven't thrown up in a few days again, pretty exciting news. I still don't feel "normal" or even "good" feel like I need to constantly snack and am getting nauseas several ( like 5-10) times a day but I'm just hoping it really dwindles now.

Ok well its also been long enough that I guess I'll post the results of our intelligender...results predicted a BOY. Although we are still not putting any stake on these test results, it was fun to see it change to a dark color.


I will say also that upon doing some research the majority of the predictions of intelligender are boy, its when it predicts a GIRL that the odds that it is in fact a girl are VERY likely.

Apparently boy results really mean, it could be either but a girl result means its probably a girl sooo we still really have no idea but it was a fun experiment.

I keep telling myself over and over that I don't care what it is...and I really don't....but I will say I keep having the overall impression that its a girl...maybe that's just because of the dream I had or the fact that most of my girlfriends THINK it is a girl, I'm just not sure. The other funny thing is, whenever I talk about "it" or think about future stuff its a Boy.....seriously I think I have the worst mommy intuition ever. LOL Either way I just wish time would zoom right by and we'd know already. I'm so anxious!

I am currently finding it hard to believe that on Sunday I will be 4 months pregnant. 4 months sounds so much further along than 3 months in my head. weird huh? 16 weeks sounds like I have forever to go still but saying it 4 months makes me feel like I'm almost halfway there. lol

16 weeks 3 days, Sept 3rd

Had our 16 week appt yesterday. Very routine....pee in a cup, weigh in (my god at an awful 148 lbs already) which mean I've gained 12 lbs since the beginning of this ALREADY.....I'll get back to the weight thing in a bit, Doc asked me if I'm feeling any movements yet, which I'm not but hopefully soon. We heard our lil peanuts heartbeat again and it was 156bpm, still fast and strong, then because I'm having alot of discharge I got a pap and vaginal exam where they took a culture to make sure it wasn't an urinary tract infection or something worse. Those tests came back normal so no infection. Then it was off to the blood lab to get our first screenings done, took 1 vial of blood for our quad test which checks for signs of spina bifida, down syndrome and any other chromosome or genetic abnormalities. They will call in a few days if anything turns up in them.

Its a very unsettling feeling waiting to see if the child inside of you is healthy but I'm trying not to worry about it too much because at this point I can't do anything about it anyways.

I started getting headaches last week and also some ab's cramping. Doc said both are perfectly normal, the headaches are caused probably by the body producing more hormones and to combat them with low dose tylenol and the cramping is my uterus expanding or could be round ligament pains, which is a pulling or sharp pain in your side, which I've also been experiencing. Also about my uterus, I can totally feel it now, its much harder than my normal stomach, its more sensitive to touch and sort of "poofs" out, you can totally see it, which is amazing. It only comes up to about 2-3 inches below my belly button.

I'm getting realllllly excited to start feeling movement from our little one. usually first time mom's don't feel it until 18-22 weeks and that's if the placenta hasn't placed itself on the front of your stomach but I'm hoping I start feeling something soon. Sometimes I think I feel things like flutters but I think I'm reading too much into them and its probably just gas and digestive system stuff, hopefully I'll know when its the real thing.

Weight: Well we talked about my weight with the doc and she seemed like it was pretty normal. I told her all about me STILL being nauseas on a daily basis and throwing up in the mornings several times a week. She reccommended I try unisom (a pregnancy safe sleep aid) since I'm not sleeping well anyways and one of the side effects is actually to combat nausea, so I'll give that a try. I do seem to be mostly throwing up in the wee hours of the morning (between 3-6am) and then again usually an hour or two after that, so its not a lot of food that I'm getting rid of in my belly. its mostly stomach acids and grossness, not helping with the weight gain, LOL. Anyways, I'm not going to beat myself up on the weight issue, I'll still keep track of it but clearly I'm going to be slightly over the reccommended weight gain. my hope is to not gain more than 35lbs total which is totally do-able especially if I start walking.

I'd really like to start swimming once a week for about 30-45 minutes, I hear its the best prego workout because it keeps you cool, it low impact and burns lots of calories all over. I just need to get my energy back enough to actually come home and get out of bed again, which is my main issue along with I still feel nauseas so working out is the last thing I want to do.

I can't believe the next time we go to the doctor, we'll be finding out FINALLY what our lil bean is. I CAN NOT STINKING WAIT!! I think its going to feel so real at that time and I can really dive into clothes, registry, nursery and getting everything ready for our little one. Woo hoo only 28 days to go! Here's my latest belly pic for 16 weeks....

17 weeks, 1 day Sept 8th

Wow....so from Friday all the way through Sunday night are the FIRST 3 days that I have actually felt NORMAL since I was 6 weeks and 2 days along. I've had a few good days before then of course but during those times I was still getting waves of nauseas or was exhausted etc.These last couple of days, were amazing. I got up and ate normal amounts of food at normal times of the day with little to no need to snack, I was able to get up and walk around and chit chat with people again. I can only hope that this is just the beginning of what everyone keeps telling me about.

I will say that when I woke up this morning, I threw up. BUT I'm not going to dwell on it, I'm sure its because I didn't get up until about 6:30am and the last thing I ate was at 7:00 the night before....so let's just assume it was because my tummy was empty and I should have known better. I took a 1/2 a zofran with breakfast and am feeling much better already!

I think I've decided to start taking weekly belly pics because during this 2nd tri is when I will gain the majority of my weight and the baby will grow and change the most and I think week by week to see a diff might be cool.

Well only 3 weeks and 2 days until our big ultrasound, I'm still anxiously waiting to find out what our lil baby is. Also still waiting on any movement from him/her. I hope its SOON!

Our baby is growing so fast already, right now at 17 weeks he/she weighs about 7 oz and is ALMOST a half a foot long. OMG! Also this week its ears are becoming functional which means, I can finally start talking and reading and playing music for our little one without it being just for me. They will actually begin to recongnize voices and will be able to react to them! Eek....how flipping exciting is that? Seriously!

here's a 17 week belly shot:

Sept 12th- 17 weeks 5 days

OK....so here we go! This is going to be long, so get ready to settle in for a few minutes.

At our 16 week appt, we had our quad screen bloodwork done, very routine, previously mentioned it tests for common genetic and chromosonal disorders.

On Monday Sept 8th our doc called and told us that the results came back abnormal and we had an increased risk for downs syndrome. Stats: a woman who has normal results from this test have a 1 in 900 chance of having a baby with downs. My abnormal results increased our chances to 1 in 100. My OB gave us two options:

#1- make an appt to do an amniocentesis, which is pretty invasive. They will stick a needle into my belly to take a sample of amniotic fluid from around the baby. The risk for miscarriage is greater if you have an amnio done (about 1 in 400 women). With the amnio, results will come back either 100% baby does or does not have downs or any other chromosone disorder.

#2- She can refer me to see a specialist for a detailed ultrasound and someone who is trained to look for developement of hands, feet, facial features, growth, movement, etc. using just a detailed ultrasound. Seeing the specialist they will be able to either reduce or increase your odds of having a downs baby. (example, right now my odds are 1 in 100, but if the doc notices good growth, movement, facial feature etc, she might be able to tell me my chances are more like 1 in 500)

So Dion and I decided to go with Option # 2 for now and see what the ultrasound revealed. First appt that was available was yesterday Sept 11 at 2:00. We went to the Platte River Perinatal Center to see our specialist, a perintologist.

So all week Dion and I have been freaking out, very nervous and anxious not really wanting to discuss any details with anyone...we wanted to get some info first I guess so we've just been in this sort of devastating state of mind, not really sure what to think.

So yesterday, They looked for several things in the ultrasound, the nuchal fold at the back of baby's neck, arm and leg bone lengths, hand and feet measurements, heart and spine, nasal cavity, head and brain measurements, I think a few other things Im just spacing out. The ultrasound lasted about half an hour and we got to see our little one A LOT, moving around (even though I still can't feel it), changing positions, saw its lil foot, lil hand, profile shot, 3D and 4D images all sorts of stuff, it was neat.

Baby wasn't really cooperating with positions so it was hard for the nurse to get a few of the measurements. She stepped outside and talked with the doc. Doc came in and went over everything with us. Basically the nuchal fold (a big downs indicator) and "most" other measurements seemed about average for a healthy 17 week old baby but a few things they did note, hands and feet pictures weren't conclusive but there was still an elevated risk for downs as well as other defects.

Also apparantly one of my two uterin arteries is abnormal (those are the arteries that supply blood and stuff to the baby and placenta) and could very well be the reason why my tests came back abnormal in the first place. Also unfortunately an abnormal uterin artery is also some concern for having preeclampsia during pregnancy. Which is a very high risk situation for both mother and fetus and has to be monitored, the only cure is delivery of baby. Ugh...not even going to get into that right now, I'll talk to my OB about it at the 20 week appt.

So we talked to the specialist awhile, remember when we went in our chances of having a child with downs was 1 in 100. He was only able to decrease our chances to 1 in 200 with his findings.Those results DID NOT calm my nerves as much as one might think. He suggested our next options:

#1-do an amniocentesis and be 100% positive, either way what exactly if anything the baby has.

#2- go home, talk it over and if we decide we want to know later, do the amnio within a few weeks.

#3-do nothing, take your 1 in 200 odds and you'll probably have a healthy baby.

Dion and I took about 1/2 hour talking it over and decided we wanted to know without a doubt what we were going to be faced with, so we did the amniocentesis yesterday at the specialists office...

A very scary procedure obviously in where they stick a 6 inch needle into your stomach, uterus and amniotic sac and draw out amniotic fluid from around the baby. The process was uncomfortable especially the needle coming in and out of my skin and a lil "weird" feeling but not nearly as bad as I would have thought, it took about 2 minutes total time and thats because the baby's arm was fairly close to the needle so doc had to be very careful. Doc took 2 vials of amniotic fluid and said we would have basic results back on Monday, then more detailed results about a week to 10 days later. I immediately broke down in tears the second the needle was out of my body and couldn't quit crying for several minutes. It felt like a culmination of the entire weeks events and the realization of what was happening. Also I should mention that the reason the amniocentesis is risky is because there is an increased risk for miscarriage, infection in the amniotic sac or impropoer closure of the punture site on the amniotic sac. Right now, no bending over, lifting anything over 10 lbs, no stress, no trauma to belly region, basically just supposed to be taking it easy and looking for any signs.

So anyways.... still I guess we know nothing for certain but on Monday we will have most questions answered. On Monday we will know 100% gender of our child (FYI, we pretty much already know but I'm not giving away any hints, since specialist and doc, said it was still early to tell for sure but they test chromosones with the amniotic fluid and would be able to tell us for sure), whether or not the baby has any of the 4 major chromosone disorders (downs, trisomy 13, trisomy 18 or spina bifida). Then about a week later we will get the detailed results for any rare genetic or chromosone disorders (which is HIGHLY unlikely) and all their other findings.

I'm feeling pretty positive at this point and just am trying to take it easy for the next few days to keep our baby safe inside me, pray and hope for the best. The next 3 days are when the risk is the highest for miscarriage, then it decreases over the following week I probably won't feel totally secure until we go to our 20 week appt and get to see our lil one again.

So that's what's been happening.

For anyone who has EVER said" I don't care what we have (gender), I just want a healthy baby" I hope you can understand the stress and constant worry we are being faced with right now because all we do want is a healthy baby, nothing else on the face of the earth seems to matter right now besides finding out that our baby, our miracle is healthy.

On a totally unrelated side note, I've been feeling much more normal this week (other than the obvious stresses), less nauseas throughout the day, less need to eat every 30 minutes, still no boost in energy but I don't care about that right now.

here are some crappy photos since our scanner is broken we had to take pics of the pics...lol.
This is one of the 3D images we got, baby's hands were moving all around, but you can see lips and its hands in front of its face, during the ultrasound it looked like it was playing peek-a-boo, so cute!


here's a typical ultrasound profile shot of our little one at 17 weeks, 4 days...its hand looks like its waving hi also but you can't really see it in this pic.

September 15th, 18 weeks 1 day


So at 3:00 on the dot when the doc hadn't called yet....I called them and just asked if they had gotten my results from my amnio in yet. She went to go look then apologized profusely because they had just recorded them at 2:37. So I had perfect timing!

She looked over the charts and said..............
"alright well I won't beat around the bush with this, there are absolutely no signs of Trisomy 13, 18 or 21 and trisomy 21 is the main cause for downs syndrome in a baby".

Soooooo....we're fine and everything so far with our precious angel is fine!
I can not tell you the feeling of relief I have right now. I started crying on the phone with her and felt like an idiot but I couldn't hold back the tears, it has just been the most stressful like week and a half of my life and I am just overwhelmed with relief right now. I know in about 10 days the detailed tests will come back but I'm not worried about those right now and will not stress about them. I know that right now our baby is healthy inside of me right now.

She also asked me if I would like to know the sex of our child, to which I replied through my tears "Yes"....so without further ado...our precious miracle, our healthy, happy, loving, adorable fetus.......
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.
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is...
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a...
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GIRL!!!!!!!!!


I feel like I have so much more to say, but I'm about to leave work. I want to put all my thoughts together and I'll post up tomorrow.


Also a quick note....yesterday I felt our baby girl move for the first time ever....I'll give details again tomorrow....but also today for about 10 minutes....I felt little "rolling" feelings in my belly (gotta find a better way to describe that) and it is the most amazing feeling in the world....it scares the crap outta me because its so unexpected but its still awesome!

Ok I gotta go shout to the world.......

Thanks for everyones thoughts and prayers.

Sept 16th, 18 weeks 2 days

UGH....I totally just wrote up this whole long report on everything and then apparently took too long to post so it signed me out and LOST it ...so heres a recap version...probably not quite as sentimental but will get all my info down that I need to remember for the future!

Yesterday was a huge stress relief, a huge weight was lifted from my heart and my chest and I feel so blessed and thankful for everything I have just been given. A healthy happy little girl.

Dion wanted and still does eventually want a boy but after these last few weeks, he is just overjoyed and ecstatic that his daughter is healthy. I can not wait to see him holding her in his arms, see the special bond that only a father and daughter can have, its going to be utterly amazing!!

Our little girl is now almost 1/2 a pound and 6 inches crown to rump, thats like the size of my hand and fingers, so neat! She can start to hear this week even thogh she wont repond to sounds for several more weeks. Dion and I have been talking to her non stop!

I also finally (as quickly previously mentioned) felt her move. on exactly my 18 week mark, I felt a rolling sensation twice in the same area and knew it was her. Then yesterday while sitting at my desk sort of hunched over, she "nudged" me several times. it was AWESOME like she was telling me I was squishing her or something. I don't quite feel flutters they are stronger than that already so maybe I wasn't paying close enough attn to her movements before but this definitely feels like something "rolling" on the inside of my skin. Its a weird sensation and very hard to explain but the most amazing thing in the world. I can't wait till its more consistant and other people can feel it from the outside.

I also HAD To stop on my way home from work yesterday and buy a few things....knowing that our little girl is safe and is in fact a little girl makes it really real (I know everyone says that) but it REALLY does. You can plan futures, think about boyfriends, prom, hair color, first steps, weddings..just so many things and it feels.....just.....REAL. Anyways I bought some onesies, some SUPER cute booties, an I LOVE DADDY bib and a sleeper.


Oh her name....I almost forgot to tell you our little angels name....
KYLIE ANGELA (Angela was my mom's middle name so it obviously has major sentimental value).

So also a quick note...my OB called this morning to make sure I got the results from the amnio. She also said that because of my 1 abnormal uterin artery that she needs me to start taking 81 mg of baby aspirin a day. baby aspirin thins your blood just slightly. I also need to make a follow up detailed ultrasound with the perinatalogist for 4 weeks so they can make sure the baby aspirin is doing the trick and helping the placenta get all it needs, if by chance it isn't, we'll go from there but I have no reason to suspect otherwise at this point. ALSO she noted that Kylie had a few cysts on her brain and was quick to say that it is very common and will more than likely shrink and disappear as she grows but would like the perinatal center to check them again while we are there with the ultrasound. That appt is scheduled for October 16th. So sticking with my positive frame of mind at least we will get to see our lil girl a lot more than other people would, at my 20 week appt on Oct 1 with my OB and then again on the 16th with the detailed u/s!

And to end here is my 18 week belly pics...