March 2 Ultrasound

Baby R was just chillin out today! Upside down, ankles crossed and hands behind the head...I've been spoiled by Shady Grove's ultrasound machine. These are so blurry! But, the baby is upside down, so, that's what you're seeing!

11 Weeks and an Appointment this Week

Dan is disappointed that Baby R is only the size of a lime this week. I can hardly believe that he/she (who are we kidding, its a she....) is already growing finger nails and hair! Either way, baby has grown to about 2 inches and has formed all of its necessary parts and will mostly just be growing and practicing using them for the next 29 weeks.

We have our next ultrasound appointment on Friday at 10am. This will be our first official appointment with our regular OB/GYN practice. The practice includes OBs and midwives. So far, I like every one I have met. I hope that we get a few good photos of Baby R. Dan is hoping he can beg them to tell him its a boy. Ha!

Last Sunday we randomly stopped into Ashley Furniture because they were having a huge President's Day Sale. Somehow we ended up purchasing furniture for the basement (which isn't finished...) In the last week, Dan and his dad have put up all of the walls and today Dan is getting the lighting in place. My dad will be coming up next weekend to run the electrical. Fingers crossed everything gets finished before the furniture arrives!

Once the basement is finished, we will get moving with the nursery. As soon as we know the sex we can do the fun stuff---theme planning, painting, etc. Hopefully at our appointment Friday they will tell us when we can expect that appointment to be. It probably won't be until the last week of April...seems SO long.

The first few days of my new job went well! It's a very relaxed atmosphere and I really like the 2 women I am working with. I am dying for a nap by the end of the day but hopefully that feeling will go away soon.

I experienced my first Tot Swap yesterday. I am aware that they are not all created equal. This one must have been real bad. First of all, it was in an abondoned GIANT store. NO bathroom. NO heat. Hello?! This is a sale for mom's and pregnant people!!! It can't be freezing and there not be a toilet! Thankfully we made it out and to a potty before I burst.

Can't wait til Friday!

10 Weeks Today

We are one quarter of the way through this pregnancy and are officially 10 weeks today. It will be another 2 weeks before we get to see our little bean again. (Next appointment is Friday March 2, 2012). The baby is approximately 2 inches long, and is growing hair, finger nails, and toe nails this week. Isn't that crazy?

We've continued to do some research on the safest baby items, etc. Our goal for the next few months is to get the basement project finished so that we can begin on the nursery. We have plenty of time, though.

Hopefully at my next appointment I will be able to stop all of my supplements, etc. My biggest discomforts this week have been irritability and exhaustion. For the most part, I've had no nausea or heartburn (knock on wood!)

I could really go for a big draft beer and a dozen crabs, though!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Dan and I will be heading out for our annual South Mountain Inn dinner. Silly me made the reservation for 7pm. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I will eat my ARM before then. (Or a snack). I sure do hope they have their lobster bisque!!

We received good news and bad news today.
Good news first:
I got a job! I sent my resume and cover letter in response to a job posting yesterday morning. The ad was for an office manager/admin with good computer skills and organizational skills. DING DING DING. I went to meet the woman today and will begin on Wednesday of next week. The pay is not great, but the position is flexible, I can take off as needed, and can work as many hours as I like as long as the job gets done. The bonus is, I really, really like the woman I will be working with. So, that's great news! I will be making a tolerable hourly rate along with quarterly bonuses. I have not told her that I am pregnant, but I will...eventually.

Bad news:
I did not get approved for unemployment. But who cares--I got a job!

What I'm Eating...

We're thankfully in the last segment of my first trimester--yay! I would in NO WAY claim that I am having "Cravings" by any means. And I am certainly not playing that "eating for two" game. But the things I've been preferring to eat are super strange to me. After 2+ years of eating so healthy, its strange the foods that pop back into my mind.

Foods I have been eating: grapefruit, Oatmeal Cream Pies, grapes, honeycrisp apples, Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable Soup, Water with TONS of Ice, cereal, mini-bagels, thin tortilla chips with fresh salsa

Foods I have been DREAMING of and will be having soon: Hot Italian Sausages w. Peppers and Onions, brownies, red peppers in HV ranch dip, a soft serve twist cone, lunch at a Chinese buffet

Foods I have been DREAMING of but haven't let myself eat: McDonald's Double Cheeseburgers, Chick Fil A Nuggets, milkshakes, Cracker Barrel hashbrown casserole, a cheesesteak, Stouffer's veggie lasagna

****EDIT: 02/18 waited 14 mins in the drive thru for Chick Fil A nuggets. They were worth every second.

Thankfully I haven't gained any weight yet. They say 1-5lbs is average during the first trimester. If I can make it the next 3 weeks with no weight gain, I'll be proud. =) Once This 1st trimester is done I hope I can convince myself to start working out. Irrational fears...

8 Week 3 Day Ultrasound

Our 8 week 3 day ultrasound was today. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell us the sex. Ha ha! A girl can dream, right?

Baby Roberts is growing right on track with a little heart fluttering away at 155 beats per minutes. We were officially released from Shady Grove Fertility today, which is actually kind of sad. They were so good to us! I will be phasing out all of my supplements, etc. over the next 4 weeks. Our first official ultrasound with my regular OBGYN will be Friday March 2nd, when Baby R will be 12 weeks and the first trimester will be OVER.

Without further ado, here's our little love!

8 Weeks...it's an olive!

Today our baby is eight weeks. We're 20% of the way through this pregnancy =) The baby is between the size of a raspberry and an olive. The baby is now moving independently (no, I can't feel it yet!). We have another ultrasound this coming Wednesday.

One of the hardest things about this entire pregnancy is keeping a secret. I am a VERY bad secret keeper! We are more than likely going to stop keeping it a secret after this next ultrasound. Most people already have heard or figured it out anyway.

This past week I went maternity clothes shopping. Motherhood Maternity was having buy one get one free all clearance items and I am a sucker for sale. I was able to snag a good number of summer shirts. While we were there, I tried on their big fake stomach thing. THAT was a little too much. SO weird!

Symptomwise this week has been weird. The nausea has been incredibly random. Strangely, I feel the worst after I shower, when I'm hungry and when I'm tired. Maybe I'm just supposed to stay in bed eating for the next few weeks? I also have gotten dizzy a few times when I stood up too quickly. Last night I almost fainted after laying down for too long and jumping straight up.

I can't believe its going to be another 10-12 weeks before we know the sex if the this baby! It seems too long. Dan and I have decided that we are going to Hawaii the first week of May so hopefully we will know before we go and not have to wait until we get back.

Seven Weeks...and Nausea

Today ends week 6 and tomorrow begins week 7. 33 more to go! Sounds like forever, right? The baby is the size of a raspberry and most likely has webbed hands and feet.

I thought for sure I'd escaped the nausea...I was wrong. Thankfully it's just been mild so far but definitely unwelcome. The good news is that it means baby is happy and snuggling in. Aunt Chelle thinks it means that the baby is a girl. Don't tell Daniel, but I just have a feeling its a girl, too. I guess we will see in April!

This week we've talked a lot about the necessities, how we'd like to parent, etc. We're tossing around the idea of cloth diapering, and we're searching for a good book to guide us through parenting decisions. I don't know how I got so lucky but my husband is so nurturing, thoughtful, and open minded.

We've decided to redo Daniel's childhood dresser for the nursery. We found a crib we like at Baby Depot, but haven't made any real decisions. We are TRYING to not buy anything until the 2nd trimester but it is SO hard!! Check out my Pinterest for a sneak peek of our "ideas".

This week I have my nurses appointment with my regular OB. If all goes well at my February 8th ultrasound at Shady Grove, I will be released to my regular OB. So, we should have an 8 week ultrasound, then another sometime between weeks 10 and 12. We won't have another until around week 20 when we will find out of the bean is a girl or a boy.

My goal for this week is to not barf, and to make a list of consignment sales to go to this spring/summer!

First Ultrasound!!

Our first ultrasound was today. Our little bean is snug as a bug in there with a flickering heartbeat we could see on the screen! It's heart rate was 133bpm and we will go back in two weeks for another ultrasound.

According to measurements, I am 6w3d along and our estimated due date is September 16, 2012. According to my nurse, everything is going "textbook perfect" for labs, measurements, etc. Let's just hope it stays that way!

Six Weeks...and everyone I know is pregnant!

Our first ultrasound will be on Wednesday morning. We will have an "official" due date following this appointment. We are SO excited!

I've been keeping busy researching nursery ideas, reviewing travel systems, etc. I think we've settled on nursery themes for a boy and a girl. If I could pay someone to tell me the sex of the baby today I would. SO impatient!!

I'm still feeling great. No serious nausea or barfing. My main complaints are extreme exhaustion in the mid afternoon, evening bloating, and a growing number of smells that I'd prefer to avoid. New this week: turkey sausage. I cannot STAND the smell of it.

Three out of five of my bridesmaids are pregnant with due dates within 2 months of each other. How incredible is that? I'm sure our husbands would appreciate a support group. It's really awesome to have such close friends going through the same things I am. Especially the "say anything" kind of friends.

I wouldn't say I'm having any "cravings" at this point, but I eat chips and salsa every single day. And we had tacos this week. And nachos. That's a lot of Mexican, and its delicious!

I hope the second half of the first trimester FLIES by the way the first did.

FIVE Weeks Today

Our baby is five weeks old today, and somewhere between the size of a sesame seed and an apple seed. The baby is officially an "embryo", most likely has a heartbeat, spine and a tail =)

I made my first baby purchase yesterday. A box of 240 wipes, 48 newborn diapers, and 100 size 1 diapers with a coupon at Costco for just $18.99. Until we know the sex of the baby, I will only be purchasing disposable and/or staple items.

I have contacted friends and family who were recently pregnant and will be borrowing maternity clothes from many. I am so grateful for their kindness!

Tomorrow morning I will have my 3rd beta test to ensure that everything is going as it should. We should have our first ultrasound on Monday the 23rd. Dan has taken the whole day off and we're bouncing around the idea of browsing Babies R Us afterwards =)

Overall I have been rather symptom free-knock on wood! Random heartburn, gas, and sensitivity to smell but nothing resembling morning sickness, no crazy headaches, nothing serious!

Only 35 more weeks.

We are expecting!

Our journey to parenthood began in March 2011. In June 2011 we were referred to a reproductive endocrinologist/fertility specialist. After lots and lots of testing, we found out that I have irregular ovulation. We did our first monitored round of Clomid with an Ovidrel trigger in November 2011. Our second monitored round of Clomid with the trigger began in December 2011.

I had my first scan on Thursday December 22. We were asked to return in two days, on Christmas Eve, because my follicles were not yet ready to be triggered. On Christmas Eve morning, we were told to trigger on Christmas Day! The waiting is the worst part. This cycle, I decided not to 'test out the trigger'. But, I couldn't help myself! On my 30th birthday, Jan. 2, I started testing out the trigger. By Wednesday the 4th, there was no longer a line on the tests.

Surprisingly, on Friday January 6 there was a second line! Dan was home so I woke him up and showed him. Friday night I took another test-it was also positive. We went to the grocery store and bought MORE tests.



I took a digital test and it popped up "PREGNANT"! We planned to wait to tell everyone, but we were just too excited. I kept testing every morning and every night and the lines just got darker, and darker, and darker. On Wednesday the 11th I went in for my first blood draw--it was true! Definitley pregnant. =)