17 weeks

18 more days until the big ultrasound!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?!?

I don't have a lot to say.....trying to stave off a bladder infection (again), and having food aversions now. Nothing sounds good, nothing tastes good.... ::sigh:: Wait, the only thing that sounds good ever are waffle fries/french fries. I'm not a huge french fry eater, but geez, I could seriously eat them all day now.

I went shopping over the weekend and stocked up on some clothes. The only problem is that I am having a hard time with shirts. I don't like the "traditional" maternity shirts, with the tie or the empire waist. I'm too short to look good in them, I think they make me look fat and like I'm trying too hard (to look pregnant). I also don't like the side ruching shirts. I like plain maternity shirts that look like normal shirts. I'm trying to maximize the trend of loose, flowy, drapey shirts and keep wearing regular shirts for awhile. I'm sure there might be a time when I don't have that option, but I hope that comes much, much later. Anyway, I got some things at Gap that I'm really excited to wear, I love the fact that they seem to be the only place I can find button down shirts for work that are normal looking!

I'm feeling quite large already. I'm sure I don't look *that* big, but so far, I'm feeling big. It's also getting uncomfortable...I think my organs are all being shoved around. Somedays I feel like my stomach is going to rip open Alien style.

(The shark tat wanted to make an appearance....it has been neglected lately.)

Whooohooooo!

I'm just going to throw this out there. I am a genius and I know my husband all too well. ::grins::

Let me rewind. Last week, I asked Justin when he wanted to start working on the nursery and getting some ideas, maybe pricing some furniture. He said, "In a few months." I was a little miffed, so I brought up the fact that furniture could take a few months to come in--depending on what we pick out and from where. He grumbled and agreed to go look at some things on Sunday.

We went to Babies R Us (aka BRU) and Buy Buy Baby to look at some furniture and play with some of the carseats/travel systems to start to figure out what we like. He got a little more enthusiastic which was cute, but as I predicted, sticker shock sort of killed him. I was banking on using the desensitization method with him on the price of some of these items. I knew he was completely clueless as to how much some of this costs, so I thought it really would be better to get the shock over with now, versus 3 months from now when we (or really, HE) was ready to order or purchase some of this stuff. ::rubs hands together:: It was a genius idea I tell you. Pure genius. Because.........

This past Friday, on his own accord, he started browsing Craigslist for some baby things, being the cheapskate frugal person that he is. He found a PBK crib for uber-cheap (too cheap IMO) and made arrangements to go look at it that night. I was on my way home since I had got off work early and he asked if I wanted to meet up with him to look at baby stuff. Sure!!! He wanted to go see if the PBK store had this particular crib. They didn't, BUT, they did have my dream crib - the Larkin model that I've been drooling over for um, I think years now. Justin loved it. Unfortunately, he didn't love the $1,200 price tag...which I'm not a fan of either. I suggested we go to another baby store to look at some more furniture. That place was nice, a little expensive as well, and the stuff that was on sale didn't get great reviews in Baby Bargains. So we went over to BRU and then over to Buy Buy Baby.....where we purchased a nursery set.

I didn't even poke and prod. He got super excited about this one set and I thought it was nice as well. I liked another line a little bit more, but this one was probably a close second anyway, and if he is excited about it and loves it, I won't put up a fight. I know when to pick and choose my battles. I wasn't aware that he was quite ready to buy, but he sat down and signed on the dotted line and we walked out of there as new owners of a set of nursery furniture! We went with the Bonavita Peyton line. Bonavita gets an "A-" in Baby Bargains and they seem to be stingy with their A's. I love the color (Espresso) and the style is nice and simple. We bought the crib, the combo (low dresser to be used as changing table), hutch for the combo, the 5-drawer dresser, and the nightstand. Whew! Oh and we got a crib mattress. :-)

Here's a picture of basically most of what we got:

We just need to find a glider/recliner now and we'll have all the furniture already. I have a feeling the nursery might end up being my favorite room in the house. Justin's so excited about putting the crib together and he's gotten all gung ho all of a sudden about getting ready for the baby. We still have almost six months! But I'm not going to complain because I'd rather have him this way than procrastinating.

Cute thing he said today: "If the baby is a girl, we should put up one of those princess chandeliers in there." Now I don't know what he's picturing, it might be a little gawdy for me as I wasn't planning on it, but I thought that was sweet that he's thinking about decor...and the fact that if its a girl, he's planning on treating her like a princess. I just said, "We'll have to see if it fits in with whatever we end up doing."

On the actual baby front, I had an appointment this past Thursday. The heartbeat had slowed down to 160 bpm, so not much but slightly. I got my flu shot. Best news is that we scheduled the "big" anatomy ultrasound for......November 9th at 3 pm! Very exciting but time is crawling. I hadn't gained any weight since my last appointment, which seemed odd considering my food selection lately. The doc said, "You know, you can indulge a bit if you want." I said, "I have been!!!" She laughed. I'm not living on salads and crackers or anything like that.

Here's a pic from today, 15 weeks!

NT Scan

Our NT Scan/1st Trimester Scan was last Thursday and it went great!

However, I think we already have a stubborn uncooperative child. I say that which much love though. :-) It will be entertaining!

Ultrasound went well, but the baby wouldn't get in the right position to get the measurement they needed for a good 40 minutes. They needed to measure a particular area on the back of the neck to measure the fluid there. It gave us more time to watch it wiggle around in there so that was fine. We got a wave as you'll see in the pictures. I think it was saying, "Hey guys looook at meeeee!"

Finally the tech had to bring the doctor in and he was able to get a measurement and it looked very good, just what they want to see. Best news is that the baby appears to be healthy and normal and growing. Yay!!!

The tech thinks its a girl, only because in her experience, the uncooperative ones usually turn out to be. I think its a girl because it seemed to be practicing ballet in there, it would jump up and do a little turn. Don't know where the dancing came from, mama has two left feet in that arena.

Anyway, I got the results yesterday and it came back negative, meaning we don't have an increased risk for Down's Syndrome or Trisomy 18 (I think that was what they tested). Sometimes they give you a number, but I didn't ask for any the specifics. No need to stress or overanalyze these results.

Anyway, my next appointment is on October 1, but its just a "normal" appointment. With these bladder infections, I've been bugging them so I've made it a goal to not have to call or go in until then. I guess we'll talk about getting the "big" ultrasound scheduled and I am VERY excited for that. We'll see how good my gut instinct really is....and if we'll have to scramble for a boy's name.

Either way, I'm just thrilled to be pregnant. There was a time there that I really doubted that I'd get to experience any of this....even if after I had the surgery that was going to supposedly fix everything. I also think this last time made it become a lot more real for Justin. He's been over the moon and so sweet and so excited about the baby ever since the scan. I think that because it "finally" looked like a real baby that cemented it for him.

Here are some pics of our little guy or girl!

12 Weeks, 2 Days

Nothing new to report, other than I think today, I am finally feeling better.

I went back to the doctor yesterday because I still had a fever and had a lot of back pain, plus my bladder STILL felt the size of an acorn. They didn't do anything other than insist the meds should work and told me to take the rest of the day off yesterday and take today off to lie around and drown myself drinking water. Oh and to call my urologist to "log" this one in my records with him (that I had 2 bladder infections in 3 weeks in the first trimester) and make sure he agrees with the treatment plan.

So, I have done as instructed. :-) It's been nice.

And, I am feeling better. Haven't had any "out of the ordinary" back pain and I've drank a lot of water.

Here's a belly pic from today:

NT Scan is Thursday morning and I have an appointment with my urologist Friday morning. Should be uneventful since I'm feeling better, but I'm following directions.

I hate my bladder

So this past Thursday morning, I woke up at about 2 am in excrutiating pain. All too familiar pain too, just like a UTI or bladder infection. I didn't get much sleep the rest of the morning, plus there was bright red blood when I wiped. I was freaking out.

Called the dr as soon as they opened, they had me come in first thing. Turns out, I have ANOTHER bladder infection. They pulled out the doppler and found the baby's hb right away, at 170 bpm just like the previous week. NP took a look up in there and there was no blood in my vag, nor any around my cervix and she poked and prodded it and nothing happened that wasn't supposed to. She thinks the blood was coming from my bladder.

Anyway, I took the rest of the day off to recoup some sleep time and to settle down since I was almost in tears in the morning. I have meds to clear up this second infection (in three weeks mind you) and am now placed on preventative (hopefully they work, fingers crossed!) meds for the duration of my pregnancy to try and not get any more.

It's weird, that I was fine for a few weeks and then BAM. They suspect its because of the way the ute is growing, that my bladder must be in a different spot and its hard to empty it in that position. I hope that it all gets rearranged to where it needs to be and that the meds work and I don't have to put up with this anymore. Can you believe it, I am pregnant, but I can still blame my ute for causing some problems. I'd say this is a good problem.....but....its a little tough to put this in the good category since its not very pleasant.

Anyway, in other "news", as of Thursday's doctor appointment I'm up 4 pounds. I'm dealing with headaches every.single.day. Our NT Scan is the 17th and I'm excited as to have another peek at the baby. I hope everything comes out fine, I'm not really worried, but I'm sure there's always a possibility. Current craving for the week is french fries. I don't really like french fries but they sound amazing. Any kind of french fries. I'm getting so close to being out of the first trimester, I'm really excited. I'm hoping the second trimester is as good as everyone says it is, considering that there is another human growing inside. This going to bed at 8-9 pm is really getting old. Poor Justin has been so bored.

I leave you with a belly pic from earlier this past week at 11 weeks, 2 days. I'm convinced already I'm going to be huge.

Maternity Pants!!

Well, normal pants got very uncomfortable for me last week. Sunday, we went shopping and got me some maternity pants and I think I might have found not only maternity pants, but pants I might just wear permanently. Hello no button and no zipper, I love you so!

These work pants I got feel like I'm wearing pajama pants that just happen to look like dress/work pants. I'm so in love.

Unfortunately, I dropped $550 and felt like I didn't get very much. I think its Old Navy.com from here on out. We only have 2 stores in the Austin area that carry the maternity line and the one I went to on Sunday was just garbage. Two racks basically. Not a big selection. I got 2 pairs of work pants (that I think are very nice and I really like them), a skirt for work, a really cute brown sweater dress (if fall ever comes here), a pair of Buffalo jeans, and 3 shirts. I think that's it. I've got some loose baggy fit shirts that should work for a while, but the way my midsection is expanding, I don't know how long I've got!

I did try on a huge "realistic" (as the sales lady said) bump that is what I might look like at 8-9 months and both Justin and I cringed. It was scary. I'm so short, it looked really awful. I hope it doesn't turn out like that.

I do miss my flat belly already. I feel like because this was sort of unexpected (yes, even though we were "ttc", I didn't think it would happen on its own), I didn't get to say goodbye. I was bloated when I got the BFP. Here's a pic from today, 10 weeks, 2 days.

I'm getting more comfortable with being pregnant and trying to worry less. I'm feeling a lot better than I was last week, thankfully. I'm just so ready to have this baby already. We went to visit our friend's newborn baby on Sunday and I didn't want to put him down. I'm more than ready for our very own little one. I think it made me more excited and if I already wanted to fast forward to March, its so much stronger now. I'm attempting to try to keep myself busy with worrying about other baby-related things--but good worrying--like thinking of names, looking at nursery pictures online, thinking about parenting scenarios, thinking of how to prepare the pups. I'm trying to enjoy this in-between time.

I have an appointment on Thursday, I'm not sure why, I guess its useful now as they need to see if my bladder infection has cleared up. I don't know if they're going to try to hear the heartbeat, my uterus is tilted backwards so everyone's been telling me to NOT expect to hear it early. I'm preparing myself to not be able to hear it yet, no need to stress more. It would be a pleasant surprise if we can though!

Pandas

I thought I'd take this opportunity of getting off work a little early to explain the panda in my sig on the Nest/Bump.

This little guy is Xi Lan. He lives at the Atlanta Zoo. We went to visit him in June.

He was about 10 months old at the time and look at him!!! So freakin' adorable. I was standing in the little viewing area snapping photos while one of the zoo volunteers was spouting information off about Giant Pandas. The thing that jumped out at me (and hit home) was that pandas can only get pregnant once a year and they have about a two day window to do so. ONCE A YEAR. Are you kidding me? That's worse than human chances...no wonder these cuties are majorly endangered. The good news is that it does happen for them. Little Xi Lan up there is proof, as is his older sister. (There also was a new panda born recently at the San Diego Zoo.)

I put him in my siggy, 1) because he is adorable and 2) that if pandas somehow manage to get knocked up with seemingly worse chances, dammit, so can us infertiles. He went up the week we got back from Atlanta, which was the week that the miracle cycle started. Call it coincidence, but I think he's my lucky charm.

I have a newfound respect and love for pandas! Giraffes and sharks used to have my heart, but pandas are right up there now. You might even see me with a new panda tattoo in a couple years. ;-)