Congratulations ladies, we're pregnant!!! I wish you all a trouble-free pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Here is my story. Although I've been preg twice before this will be my first child. The first time I was well . . . not in a good place and the second time I had a m/c. My m/c was three January's ago and it was terrible. I was told I had a blighted ovum by my doctor but yet a friend of mine told me that her son was also initially diagnosed as a blighted ovum. Yap her son! She was misdiagnosed. So I refused to have a D and C and just kept going in for one u/s after another. It was terrible feeling preg yet being told you'd m/c. At 13 weeks my sac began to colapse and I was no longer left with any hope. I finally agreed to the D and C. To top of the whole experience the doctor did a poor job and I ended up going through a m/c two weeks after the D and C anyway. It was horrible and unbelievably painful.

Between the guilt of my decision with my first preg and the nightmare of my second, I am driving myself nuts with this pregnancy. I really want this baby. I'm finally with a terrific man and my life is wonderful. I'm 36 and truly ready now.

My husband had a vacectomy reversal about 3.5 years ago. We had the reversal about 2 years before we even got married. We knew we'd be together and although he had thought he was done having kids he knew I wanted a child one day. Anyway his reversal was obviously successful. We've been preg twice now.

June 12

WE HAVE A HEARTBEAT!!!!!!!! I am so excited. And the new due date is our wedding anniversary! To celebrate Hubby and I are going to see "Knocked Up."

June 13

I've gained 8 lbs! Crazy!!! I'm just eating right and most importantly eating. Before I was preg I didn't really eat that much at all. Now I have to eat to keep from feeling sick and it's really starting to show. I'm trying not to freak out about the weight gain because I know it's not good for the baby to starve myself but just damn! That's more than a pound for every week I've been preg.

June 18

Tomorrow I go to meet my new doctor. She's an OB where as my current doctor is not. The new doctor comes highly recommended from several sources. I wonder if she'll give me an u/s. I've become an u/s junkie.

June 26

I have been so sick. I'm not really throwing up (well once I did but that's because my dog threw up first) but I feel like hell all of the time. I promised myself that when I got preg I would enjoy it but there really is no enjoying this. Outside of that, I believe everything is moving along nicely. I've stopped gaining weight and actually lost a few pounds. I like my new doctor very much. Something about her made me feel confident that she would take good care of us.

July 3

Whewwww. . . the m/s is finally starting to go away. I'm down to just about an hour or two in the morning. TG!!! - - - - - Historically the 4th of July is a big drink-fest for us. Not for me this year. I miss my red wine on occassion but I know it's not forever and it's worth finally being a mommy. HAPPY 4TH TO EVERYONE.

7/27/07

We went and had the NT testing yesterday. I only have a 1/3800 chance of having a DS baby. That was great news but I have to say that I haven't been really worried about anything. I told myself that I wasn't going to worry until I had a reason to. I decided I was just going to enjoy this journey that I have waited so long to embark on and I have.

It was incredible to see my little one. Huge changes compared to the 6 week u/s. It actually looks like a little baby! I was in aw. I was able to see it move it's little arm and I was instantly in love with it. I'm very excited now.

I am showing a lot now. I've already purchased some maternity clothes but I'm really able to just buy larger clothes and I've been doing that too. It's fun but expensive. Hope everyone else is enjoying their pregnancy too.

8/6/07

I finally decided to unpack the last box from our move almost two years ago. It's the box of all our family pictures. I've been procrastinating because I wanted to reframe them in black frames before hanging them. Well with all my sitting on the couch and watching HGTV I had the bright idea that I could just repaint them. Sounds good huh? Problem is I can't paint anything in my condition so that means Hubby has to. So now that I've finally decided to tackle this huge project and have all the pictures all over our frontroom, nothing is being done. Actually he painted two frames to test a couple of different black paints but that's were it stopped. I'm not sure about the rest of you but I wasn't patient to begin with and now I'm even less.

8/13/07

Bought actual maternity pants today. I've been able to get away with just buying larger dresses but I'm so tired of not being able to mix and match my clothes. A dress is a dress is a dress. We drove 45 minutes to Ann Taylor Loft Maternity. I love Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft. Most of my regular clothes are Ann Taylor so it figures that I would finally find some pants there that I liked. I've made many attempts at Motherhood and I'm just not impressed with their work clothes. The pants I bought tonight I tried to buy a little big but it's hard to change you thinking from buying stuff that fits to buying stuff that will fit you when you gain more weight!!! I'm in sales so appearance is important and I have pretty much been buying clothes every week since about week 8. Between "play clothes" and work clothes it seems like I'm always adding a piece here and there to my wardrope. I'm trying to be really frugile but tonight was a little bit of a splug. I've found Target is great for play clothes.

8/15/07

I went for my 16 week check-up today. I really thought they were going to just listen for the heartbeat and that would be it but they drew blood for yet another test. It was for spinal"bifida" or however you spell it. It was a little upsetting to me. I had thought I was done worry about tests. Now I have another set of results to hold my breath for. I know I said I wasn't too worried in the beginning but to tell you the truth, of course I was. I had faith that everything would be okay but absolutely I felt relief when I learned the result were positive on everything. So I'm back to having faith for these results too.

I set the appointment for the big u/s on 8/29 to find out the sex. I am anxious about it. I'm anxiou because I'm really hoping for a girl and because as soon as we find out the sex I feel like all the preparing kicks in to high gear. We have to buy, buy, buy. The Phoenix housing market is in a huge slump and I'm a residential mortgage banker. Which means my business is also in a slump. I hate that money is a concern right now. I've waited so long for this pregnancy. I've always made a comfortible living and NOW it slows down! I'm sure it will all work out but to be honest, it's stressfull.

8/20/07

OMG these headache! I'm getting them everyday now. I've heard that they decrease in the 3rd trimester. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

8/27/07 - 18 weeks

The waiting is killing me! I am no longer dreading finding out the sex but rather anxiously awaiting my 1:15 appointment on Wednesday August 29th!! I'm dying to find out if I'm right and if it's a boy. Of course I'm secretly still hoping it's a girl. Although lately I've been thinking more and more about if it's a girl and just praying that if it is it's nothing like I was. You name it and I did it, twice! I've convinced myself that if it is a boy that at least I've had experience with boys and I know I can handle them. Hell I don't know but I'm driving everyone around me nuts between one minute I don't want to know, then I do, then I don't again, then I'm sure it's a boy and the latest is I'm afraid if it is a girl. My family and friends are ready to have me committed.

9/2/07

Whelp . . . looks like I'm going to have a new little man in my life. It's definitely a boy and yes I asked the u/s tech if she was sure and she replied "absolutely." I was very disappointed for about an hour and then I started to get excited and grateful. I always knew I was having a boy but it didn't stop me from hoping it was a girl. The u/s went well. All organs are a "check" and look good. He's growing nicely and he's very active regardless of whether or not I can feel him. Upon finding out the news I went into high gear with preparing for him. I've found the crib and bedroom set along with his bedding. I'm fortunate that my step-dad retired from JCPenny's because I'm going to use his 20% off and buy all of it at a discount. In addition I have the room colors all picked out and I'm ready to start spending money that we really don't have. Oh well you only have your first child once, right?

10/12/07 24 weeks

Been really busy with work. Thank goodness I have business to be busy with. September was one of my worst months in the business and October is going to be one of my better months. This housing market is insane!

I finally got my shower invitations out. My mom and sister are actually throwing me the shower but I took over the invitations. My shower is Nov 17th and I'm very excited. I also can't wait for his furniture to get here. I think it will be about another month or so. I'm really hoping it comes before the shower so that I have some place to put everything. In addition we have decided to put in a closet organizer in his closet. Man those things are wonderful. I'm one of those women that feels more relaxed when everything has a place and everything is in it's place.

I'm pleased that my belly has finally caught up with my butt! I no longer look like I'm gaining weight but rather that I'm very pregnant. I'm enjoying it but it's definitely becoming uncomfortable. I'm sure it's only going to get worse. To date I've gained about 25 lbs and I hate it but I'm trying not to drive myself nuts. Mostly I'm avoiding Oreos and walking anywhere from 1.5 to 3 miles a day. Those little cookies seem to be my downfall.

10/18/17

Well I did exactly what they tell you not to do when you are pregnant.
They say don't do anything drastic with your hair and I did. I didn't mean to but I let my hairdressor cut it the way she wanted and MAN WAS THAT A MISTAKE! I am officially looking for a new hairdressor and fighting with my hair daily. The 90's layered look is coming back right? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

10/24/07

The closet organizer is in, the room is painted and the furniture is coming this weekend! It's all coming together. I've added a photo of the closet.

11/11/17 - 29 weeks

My b-day was Saturday. We went to dinner with 12 of our friends it was really great to see everyone. Many of them hadn't seen me since early in my pregnancy. Every woman there that had been a mother kept warning me that the worst is yet to come. I really hope remember not to do that to the next pregnant woman I know. I guess it's like sharing war stories to them but to me, being the one that is pregnant for the first time, it just wasn't very uplifting.

I'm definitely dragging ass lately. My energy level is way down. I have a ton of aches and pains and I really can't imagine getting any bigger, but I know I will. They say that you'll get to a point where you just can't wait not to be pregnant anymore. I think I'm growing close to that point. I'm ready to move into the next phase of motherhood.

My sister is flying in on Thursday for my baby shower this coming weekend. I'm excited to see her and I'm very excited about the shower. I know this may sound bad but I really hope we get a ton of stuff from our registry. We have about 40 people coming! In addition to hoping we hit the "mother ship" I'm actually quite amazed at the number of great friends we have that plan on attending. It will be amazing to have so many of them in one room again. The last time we had this many of our friends together was at our wedding.

1/5/07

Finally added more pics. Check them out.

I am so huge and the holidays were exhausting. I have to admit I'm glad they are over. One thing positve is I decided to stop being miserable even if I felt miserable. Being pregnant has been much harder than I expected and I found myself being a little down. Well on Christmas Eve I decided to stop complaining and just deal with it. It would all be over soon enough and I'm tougher then that! So . . . I sucked it up and changed my attitude and now I'm feeling much better. Don't get me wrong everything still hurts like hell and I'm still not sleeping. The difference is I'm not dwelling on it. I'm excited about him coming and I'm okay with him taking his time to get here. I really don't want to be induced so whenever her decides he's ready that's fine by me.

1/20/08 - 39 weeks

As of my appointment last Friday I am still 1 cm dilated but now 80% effaced at a -2 station. At my next appointment which is on the 23rd the doc said she's sweep my membranes and schedule me for induction just to get me on the waiting list. I guess there are only a few slots for induction at the hospital and usually it takes a week or so to get in. I'll be 41 weeks by that time. Jeez I never thought I'd get this big, have to wait this long or be this miserable at times. I really had no idea what being pregnant was like and I definitely have a new respect for moms everywhere.

In a weird kind of way it still doesn't quite seem real to me. I mean I know I'm pregnant and that of course leads to being a a mom but I'm having a hard time imagining how much life is going to change and what it will be like to be someone's mom. I'm excited but as I said I had no idea what pregnancy was like and I'm completely convinced that I don't have a clue what being a mom is going to be like either. I know life is about to change dramatically and that it could happen at any moment. The hard part is when will it happen. I'm one of those types of people that believe in "just do it." But in this case I can't. It's not on my timeline and there isn't a thing I can do about it.

I'm trying to enjoy these last few days (or weeks, G-d forbid) but I'm really ready to move to the next stage. Sooooooo ready!

1/23/08 39 weeks

My doctor schedule me for an induction on the 29th. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I had thought we were just going to talk about it at this visit, not actually schedule it. I told her I needed to think on it and I'd let her know tomorrow if I wanted to wait or not. I think I'm nervous and that's whey I'm reluctant. Plus I'm worried about being thrown into active labor and causing stress on the baby - which in turn could cause a c-section. Not sure if my concerns are totally warranted but I "hear" that it has happened.

Meanwhile the idea of knowing that when I go to the hospital that I'm going to have my baby and not be sent home becaues I'm not ready, not having to walk the halls for hours because I'm not ready and being able to finish up work and be mentally prepared all seem like pretty good reasons to proceed with the induction. Oh and of course knowing that my doc will be the one delivering and not some other doctor that is on call. I had just imagined going into labor on my own.

I'm going to call my acupunturist tomorrow and see if she can get me in for a treatment to help induce me naturally. Hopefully that will help things along.