5/9/08

It's a Boy!

I finally added pics of our 20 week ultrasound and it's a boy! I cried when the ultrasound tech told us because I just knew it was a girl. Rick is so happy. We've decided on Clayton James for the name. To make myself feel better about having another boy, I went out the next day and bought some cute little boy clothes. I've come to peace with it now because boys are really a lot of fun. There really isn't a lot to report right now. I'm getting pretty big and people are starting to frown at me when I tell them I am not due until September 10th. The doctor did say I was measuring about a week bigger so maybe that means he will be here a week early! I can live with that. I am beginning to get pretty uncomfortable and having trouble sleeping but that just goes with the territory. Oh ya, baby was head down at 20 week scan and when I went in for a quick doc visit at 22 weeks, he was still head down. I think he is too big to turn now so that's good. Jeremy is starting to really recognize that there's going to be a baby coming. I hope everything goes as smoothly as possible with that! Happy Mother's Day to all!

4/15/08

19 weeks. I am trying to wait as patiently as possible for my next doctor's appointment next Monday. I will be 20 weeks and will get the order to have my 20 week ultrasound done! Then we will know what the sex is. Rick finally got to feel the baby move for the first time Sunday morning. He got up early and once he got up, I couldn't fall back to sleep because the baby was moving around so much. So I got up too and went and sat on the couch with him. The baby was still moving around so I put his hand on my belly. He didnt feel the first couple of kicks because he was watching tv! I told him he wasnt concentrating and then he felt the thump. I was so happy that he finally got to feel the baby move because we have been trying for the last couple of weeks. Jeremy has been asking my and I to tell him about the baby in his mommy's belly - How sweet is that? I will update again when we have our ultrasound!

4/1/08

I haven't updated in awhile! Oops, I've been busy. We went to a doctor's appointment last Monday and got to hear the heartbeat again. Still at 170bpm. Thats very fast! Faster than my son's when I was pregnant with him. Everything is going pretty good. I am starting to get more and more uncomfortable the bigger I get. I will have to post another belly pic. Another thing I spoke with the doctor about was pressure down low in my belly. Its not constant and it's not like contractions but pretty uncomfortable at times. The doc said that I would be more uncomfortable with this pregnancy because my hips and guts were already loose from being pregnant with my boy. Woo-hoo more uncomfortable, I can't wait! We discussed the last u/s that we had because I was worried about the baby's size and my due date. She explained that the tech gave us the average of the measurements she took. And because the average did not differ from my original due date by more than a week, she is going to keep the same due date - 9/10ish! I'm still going to start pushing around the 15th of August and I bet this baby is born by the end of August. I also told her about my concern for incompetent cervix because of the rough labor and delivery I had with my son. She said she wasn't worried about it because I didn't have any problems with that with my son and I have never had a surgery on my cervix. So I guess I will put it in the back of my mind for now. The baby is moving around quite a lot now. Nobody can feel it but me still. It won't be long and I will be able to see the baby move under my shirt. I remember that when I was before and it was the neatest thing. We go back to the doctor 4/21 and that will be the 20 week appointment. She will then give us the order for the u/s to determine the sex! So I am looking at about another month before we find out the sex. I don't know how I am going to stand the wait. How did women back in the day stand not knowing until the birth? Can you imagine?

3/14/08

With my son I had major problems with my sciatic nerve in my hips and my back. With this pregnancy I am having the same pains but not as intense. It is more or less just a numbing/pain in my butt, and it alternates butt-cheeks for a little relief. But, this time around, I am also experiencing pains in the tops of my thighs! It feels like when you hit your funny bone, but only in the top of my thigh. Its the weirdest thing! Oh the joys of pregnancy... By the way, a girl at work, the only other girl that I work with, said to me this morning, "you look REALLY pregnant today." I politely thanked her and then kicked myself for eating all the Taco Bell and Hardess this week. I do not want to gain another 90lbs with this baby! My body cannot handle the extra weight. The weight was the major reason why I totally disliked being pregnant with my son because I was so miserable. There were tons of things I could have done with my diet to change that outcome but I didn't because I wanted to eat what I wanted, no matter what! This pregnancy is different, other than my fast food kick that I went on this week, I have been really trying to eat healthy and eat smaller portions. There's not as much room in there for a full meal. Its better to eat 5-6 small meals/snacks a day. I had done really good with that until this week. I will have to jump back on the healthy pregnancy diet for next week.

3/12/08

Another belly-bump pic, (do not mind the dirty laundry in the background, my maid is on vacation this week.) I look like a small cow so I decided to share it with everyone. I think I was bloated. Although I have only gained 5 pounds back of the 8 I lost in the first trimester. I'm either 14 weeks 2 days, 14 weeks 6 days or 15 weeks 3 days. Only God knows! Morning sickness is gone but I have a confession to make... I am addicted to Taco Bell and McDonald's sweet tea. For lunch I go to McDonald's and get a large sweet tea then go next door to Taco Bell and get a mexican pizza with no tomato and extra cheese. Today I tried the cheesy beefy melt and it was excellent. I wonder if there is an AA for Taco Bell eaters? I am going on a trip to the Argosy Casino next week! I hope we win big because I want a new couch. I hate my couch. We call it the Flintstones couch because it is so hard to sit or lay on. Wish us luck!

3/4/08

I am either 13 weeks 1 day, 13 weeks 5 days, or 14 weeks 2 days. That makes the baby due sometime towards the end of August or the first of September... I hate not knowing. The doctor says that she is not worried about the size of the baby right now and will address the size issues at my next appointment. My next appointment is 3/24/08 - then I will be 16 weeks, 16 weeks 4 days, or 17 weeks, 1 day. If I am still measuring large for my dates she will probably schedule another ultrasound and we will probably be able to tell the sex! Baby boys are so much fun but I would like to joy of raising a daughter as well. Rick still won't admit that a healthy girl will do but a healthy boy would be best. We have come up with a girl name and a "revised" boy name. Anabel Claire or Clayton James. I haven't decided on the spelling for "Anabel." I would like to make it a short spelling because Rick's last name is so long that I don't want the kid to have to take up 3 pages in preschool trying to write her name. "Annabelle" was Rick's grandmother's name and I just like the name Claire. Clay is Rick's middle name and James is the name of his best friend who passed when he was growing up. Rick would like to call him Jimmy after his friend. I am perfectly fine with all of that! I am actually proud of the names we have chosen. They are each a little bit of both of us. Maybe by my next post I can actually tell everyone how far along I am!

2/28/08

13 WEEKS, I guess today. After getting more measurements from the other ladies, I think I may be a little further along than originally expected. I am still waiting to hear from the doc. I know she is normally out on Wednesdays and thats maybe why I didn't hear from her yesterday. I will keep you posted! Here is a belly-bump pic too.

2/27/08

I am still freaked out about the possibility of "2 babies." I have been googling "misdiagnosed & undiagnosed twins." I guess there is actually still a chance there are two, IF you believe everything that is on the internet. I have sent out a poll on this website to check other measurements of babies this far along. I am so excited that we got pics of the baby this soon but Im still a little bit confused on my due date and why my baby is so big. I am sure of all of my dates. Theres no other way to figure it and account for the baby being so big. Do babies get that big so quickly? I did read a chart that had "average" sizes and weights for unborn babies at different stages. And it did say that these figures were just averages and some babies may differ quite a bit. I guess if I don't hear from my doctor within a week or so I will call to see what she thinks. The u/s tech was going to get the results over to the doc that day and if something wasn't right, she would call. Until then, me and my huge baby will just sit and wait. I am in no way complaining because I have a healthy baby and that's all anybody could ask for. Does anybody remember that movie with Robin Williams, where he grew and aged like 10 times quicker than other kids? And his mom was only pregnant with him for like 5 months because he grew so quick? Thats what I am afraid of! Its bad enough that pregnant women have horribly crazy dreams but now I feel my imagination is going to get the best of me. I will update more when I know more I guess.

2/26/08

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment. We were pretty excited about this appointment because we were going to be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time! I got there before Rick and I signed in and sat down to wait because my doc's office is always so slow. The receptionist called my name and I figured she wanted the insurance info so I got out my card. When I got to the window, she said I'm sorry but we don't have you down for an appointment today. I was nice and said, "well, I have the appointment card the lady gave me when this appointment was made." Thank God I saved that darn card because they would have made us come back a different day! They sqeezed us in. Dr. Lynch is always so pleasant and during the exam I commented "oh, there's probably 2! My grandma and my aunt have been cackling at me for the past 4 or 5 weeks about it!" She suddenly stopped and said "you are measuring big, we need to get you an ultrasound this week. When can you go?" We both answered anytime. "Today?" she asked. I said yes. She left the room and came back. "She can't you in this afternoon. So it's tomorrow morning at 9:30. Now, lets see if we can hear 2 heartbeats." She left the room again to retrieve the doppler. Rick and I are both sitting there with our mouths open. He looked the most shocked I think I have ever seen him. I finally said to him "are you freaked out?" he said no. We heard one good strong heartbeat at 160-170 bpm. Mine was at 100 because I WAS freaking out. We didn't sleep very well last night. I was up and down, having to pee every 2 hours. My head was hurting because I was stressed out. All of our friends and family seemed to be very happy with the fact there may be 2. I was still unsure. I am thinking of complications that go along with multiples and thats what I was worried about.

After the longest 17 hours so far in our lives, we make it to the ultrasound. They knew we were coming because Dr. Lynch personally spoke with them yesterday afternoon. Everyone was so nice and knew our situation. They understood our nervousness. We get in to the ultrasound room and the lady tells us to take a deep breath and puts the goop and ultrasound wand on my belly. I grabbed Rick's hand. She pressed the wand down and 1 baby appeared. "Just 1 baby," she said. We both breathed a sigh of relief. She took all the medically necessary images to measure and chart the growth of our little one. We got to see a lot of "her" moving around. "She" seems a little wild already. "Her" heartrate was 176 bpm and "she" weighs 2 oz. The tech said everything looked great and they have moved my due date to 9/4/08 - Labor Day Week...

2/11/08

I had a pretty good weekend. Pretty relaxed. Rick's sister and brother in-law and their 3 boys came in for the day from Illinois. The boys played and we chatted and had dinner. It was a nice time. My mom went out and bought me some maternity pants! My bump is getting bigger. I was hoping to hold off on the wardrobe change for just a little bit longer. But the bump came out of nowhere! I am officially wearing maternity clothes to work! Everyone knows here anyway. It's all down hill from here...but I feel better! I'm not as tired, cranky or sick to my stomach. I was beginning to think that it was never going to go away. I am not having any issues with the baby which is a good thing. I got all of my blood work done last week and the nurse called to let me know everything look good. Hcg levels were great. That made me feel better since we still haven't even heard the heartbeat! There are only 2 weeks left of this first trimester. I think back when I had just learned I was pregnant-I couldn't even imagine the baby bump and now its here. I am getting more excited and so is Rick.

2/6/08

Thanks to everyone who responded to my crisis about Phenegran! I was worried about taking it while pregnant. I have taken it before and it does knock you on your butt. Anything that will help me sleep and get rid of this headache! They doc also prescribed vicodin to help with pain. I can take the vicodin during the day because they don't put me to sleep. I feel a lot better today. It seems I can almost see the light at the end of this first trimester tunnel. I keep telling Rick that it's only going to be a few more weeks and then I will feel better and be able to do laundry and actually cook a meal. I haven't been able to cook because the smell of things cooking makes me nauseous, especially meat. If I do want to eat, I just want something quick and easy, like fast food! That's one way to gain the weight I have lost back!

2/5/08

9 weeks! I haven't gained any weight so far. I am still queasy most of the time. Just when I think it's going to get better it doesn't. I have had a migraine headache now since Sunday afternoon! I even missed work yesterday. I am trying to save my vacation and personal days until I have the baby but it doesn't look like its going to happen like that. I left a message with my docs office to see if she could call in something for me or if there was something I could take instead of just plain tylenol. I have taken a ridiculous amount of tylenol since becoming pregnant. Everytime something hurts, I just pop a couple of tylenol. It can't be good for me or the baby to eat tylenol all day. I have completely cut out all pop. I will have a Sprite every once in a while for the fizziness. It's almost officially time for maternity clothes. My last pregnancy my butt got too big for my pants. This pregnancy my tummy is gettting too big for my pants. All signs are pointing towards girl! We don't go back to doc until 2/25 but I have gotten all my blood work done for that appointment. We won't have an ultrasound until mid-April unless we start having any problems. So far, so good!