12 weeks

How far along: 12 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +1.5 lbs
Maternity clothes: Normal clothes although sometimes by the end of the day, they're getting tight.
Sleep: The past few nights have been an adventure. With everyone in the house, Kevin and I are sleeping on an air mattress in the office.
Food cravings/aversions: Pretty normal week actually. Which is good because I would have hated having to give up Thankgiving dishes!
Gender: Still thinking girl.
Best moment this week: Having my parents around and being able to talk about future plans for us & the baby. Not that I don't love talking about this stuff to Kevin, but it was nice to have someone else share in our excitement.
What I miss: Normal pee breaks. I will feel like I really need to go and then when I do go, hardly anything comes out.
I am looking forward to: December! My birthday and Christmas!
Weekly wisdom: Even if someone doesn't want to share in your excitement about your pregnancy doesn't mean that you can't still be excited.
Milestones: 30% there! Woohoo!

11 weeks

How far along: 11 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +1 lb
Maternity clothes: Normal clothes.
Sleep: Almost back to normal.
Food cravings/aversions: No cravings, just aversions. If Kevin mentions that something tastes off or is slightly weird, then I can't eat it. I can't convince myself to put it in my mouth, no matter what it is.
Gender: Don't know, but I think I'm deffo gonna find out. Kevin still reserves the right to make his mind up at the 20w u/s.
Best moment this week: Kevin telling me about his spreadsheet that tracks countsdown, counts up and tells us the percentage done we are. Even when he gets excited, he does it in his systematic logical way.
What I miss: Being able to eat breakfast like a normal person. It just takes me so loooooong to eat a bowl of cereal.
I am looking forward to: Two day work week this week!
Weekly wisdom: Even if I don't think I need to visit the lady's restroom before I start my commute home, do it! You never know when you're gonna hit traffic and the 35 minute drive turns into over an hour!
Milestones: We finally got a pregnancy book. We went for this one:

BANG!

Les is anything but restful during the night. Usually she starts her night on the bed in the guest bedroom. Then sometime before midnight she moves to her actual bed in our bedroom before moving to under the our bed. Then around 3 or 4 am she comes out from under the bed, shakes herself a couple of times, stretches and then jumps on our bed to either sleep between my legs or in the crook of Kevin's bent legs. There she'll stay until morning when Kevin gets up to shower.

Last night however things were different. After we had already settled in we heard a loud BANG from downstairs. After confirming that we both had heard the noise Kevin was elected to go check what it was. He got up and as he was on his way out the bedroom door, Les came running in and immediately went under the bed. Ha! Some watch dog you are! You're suppose to run towards the noise, not hide behind us!

Our laundry soap that normal sits on a shelf above the washing machine fell and hit the washing machine. It was completely random. After we got back in bed, we had a few chuckles at Les' expense.

10 weeks

So I'm moving these types of post to Sunday instead of Tuesday now that the EDD has been moved up.

How far along: 10 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: -2 lbs according to the scale at my OB's office.
Maternity clothes: Normal clothes still.
Sleep: Kevin made me go back onto my side of the bed. However Les has started jumping on the bed right after my middle of the night pee break so if I move my legs around she goes and sleeps on Kevin's side.
Food cravings/aversions: No cravings but I've had some aversions. The other day we made turkey burgers and then when I sat down to eat them I didn't want it.
Gender: I've convinced myself that I'm having a girl. I've read random sites that tell you how to predict the gender of the baby based on HCG numbers and heartbeat. So I'm thinking GV is a girl. 10 more weeks till we might possibly find out...
Best moment this week: Deffo hearing the heartbeat!
What I miss: Normal dreams! Last night I had 3 separate bad dreams about hiding out from some bad guy.
I am looking forward to: Mum & Dad visiting this week! They arrived in Miami last night. After a few days in the Sunshine State they head here to RIC on Friday.
Weekly wisdom: I realized that I need to schedule my appts for early in the week. Waiting for the week to show up is bad enough, but having to wait till the end of the week is even harder!
Milestones: I'm 25% there! Woohoo!

The 13th

Our appt was first thing in the morning yesterday so Kevin and I drove separately to the office. Dr. P has moved since I last saw her in Aug 2008 so I wasn't quite sure how to get there so we took off a little early. Ended up showing up for an 8:30 appt at 8:04! Eager beavers, I guess. The new office is very nice and spacious. When we got there the first thing I had to do was check in and reconfirm all my information. We had to fill out a questionnaire that included asking what race we were. As I was going down the list for each race there were additional follow up questions about some medical tendency of that race. When I got down to Hispanic there was nothing! Kevin's had a question about Cystic Fibrosis.

We got sent to the u/s suite first. When they showed us to the room the tech told us that we were going to do a vaginal u/s and asked if I had ever had one before. I just smiled and said yes. So then she tells us that she's going to check first and then she'll let us see. And she was forever! I started to get scared. Kevin was sitting right next to me and he kept craning his neck over to see what she was looking at. Finally he turned to me and whispered that he could see the heartbeat. I was so relieved. A little while later she finally turned the screen and showed us GV. She measured from crown to rump (2.68 cm) and then showed us the heartbeat. We then got to hear it! It was the best sound ever! It measured at 171 bpm. She found another good angle of GV and printed us a picture. GV is measuring 9w4d which is 2 days ahead.

After that we went back to the main waiting room. A little while later, we got called into exam room. The nurse came in and asked us a bunch of questions, measured my height, weight and blood pressure. Then she gave us a bag with some books and prenatal vitamin samplers in it.

Next they ushered us into the NP's office. Who happens to be a midwife too. When she came in, she asked us more questions. She then told us about the different testing they can do to screen for Down's, cystic fibrosis and other stuff. We decided to decline the tests. Even if something was wrong, there's nothing that can be done about it so what's the point of stressing ourselves out about it? Kevin is in the camp that less is more and I didn't really care one way or another so it seemed the best choice for us. She reconfirmed that I was sure of my last cycle start date. She asked if I had normal cycles so then I explained all about how I don't ovulate on my own and that we were seeing an RE. She asked if it was Dr. T and I said no way. I told her that I stopped using met before this cycle and did she think that I should go back on because of my risk of GD. She said nope. I told her that I took baby aspirin. I then had to confess that I took it w/o telling Dr. Grrr. Kevin's always been quite hesitant about me taking it so he asked if it was safe for GV. She said I could take it till week 12 but then I should stop.

After all that we went back into the exam room and I had a normal exam. She then told me that they had a stock of H1N.1 flu shots and highly recommended that I get one. I agreed so we waited a little longer for it to show up. After that I got four vials of blood drawn, set my next appt (Dec 8!) and I was done. Took about a hour and a half.

Our next appt is at 13 weeks. They won't do another u/s until 20 weeks, which is next year! Oh, they moved up GV's EDD. Since she measured 2 days ahead and it coincides with my last cycle start date they are saying the 13th. 7 months from today! Wow!

9 weeks

So I'm 9 weeks. Wow! First, I never thought I'd be able to write those words. Sure I went through all the motions, but I didn't really believe that I was ever going to get pregnant. And now here it is. First though it hasn't flown by. Not in the usual sense. I mean I'm almost a quarter of the way there but time has just been passing. For someone who lived her life in 2 week intervals for the past 15 months not having that anymore somehow makes time go slower. I wonder if I'll feel this way at week 19.

Kevin tells me several times a day "You're having my baby." To which I almost always reply "Maybe." It's not that I want to put a damper on things, I just don't feel pregnant still. I talked to myMom and she said that with Wiki she didn't start showing till she was around 6 months along (this was when she was thin (around 120 lbs). With me, she didn't show until half way through her 8th month. Wiki says she doesn't remember myMom looking that pregnant either (KIM she was 4 years old).

How far along: 9 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: +1.5 lbs. My weight has been holding steady-ish. Kevin wants me to be more pro-active about exercise, i.e. go for walks and do the elliptical machine.

Maternity clothes: All my normal clothes still fit me. Last week I had one pair of pants that were snug, but nothing uncomfortable.

Sleep: The past few nights I've swapped locations with Kevin because Les was making me miserable. I was waking up with hot legs but cold arms and shoulders because she was sleeping between my calves and pulling the blankets down. I'm still sleeping on my stomach but I'm working on moving to my side. I always start that way but then wake up on my stomach. On good nights I wake up around 3am needing to pee. On bad nights, it's like 5:50am (I wake up at 6am) if at all.

Best moment this week: Telling the family about GV! Also finding out someone from my CISG is adopting a boy!

Food cravings/aversions: Constant hunger is still my frenemie. Kevin made me a big pot of chili for my lunches and it's been a savior. I've found I can't eat craisins or raisins anymore. Also, I still struggle with water. Ooh, the other day I was hungry on the way home from practice. All I had was dried prunes and apricots. I popped a prune in my mouth and instantly thought I was going to hurl all over Kevin's car. I managed to get it down but it was a struggle.

What I miss: Sleeping soundly through the night. I don't even mind the waking up cause I need to pee. I'm very good at falling back asleep. However I've become a light sleeper now! Kevin woke me up twice the other night because he was "making noise" and then later he was snoring! I didn't know Kevin snored!

I am looking forward to: Ultrasound on Thursday! I really hope we can hear a heartbeat at this one.

Other stuff: I've been having cramps for the past week that are kinda sharpish. Not sure what they are. Also I think I can feel my uterus through my lower abdomen when I'm standing. This grosses out Kevin, but there's deffo a firmness down there that wasn't there before.

Kevin says I'm much faster to get annoyed and lash out now. Kevin is quite pedantic and usually I find this amusing and funny, however lately not so much.

The whole family knows...

Mum & Dad

Thursday around 11:30am or so Kevin calls me and tells me that Mum is going to call me and that I'm suppose to conference him in. Two seconds later Mum calls and I place her on hold and call Kevin at the office. After the 3rd or 4th ring, I realize that he probably wants me to call him on his cell phone so that he's not sitting in his cubicle and telling his parents that they're going to be grandparents. So I hang up on him and then call him back on his cell. Once we're all on the phone, Mum tells Dad to open the envelope (backstory: We made copies of the scan (a nice 5x7 photo) at Targ.et and then mailed it to our parents. Kevin wrote "Call us before you open this" on the photo mailer in four separate places and then dropped it in a another envelope). So anyways, Dad opens the envelope and for a second thought it was a weather map (WTH??), but when Mum saw it she dropped the phone in her haste to get to the picture. So we spoke to Dad about it first. Mum finally got back on the phone and wanted all the details. So we told her about the drugs and when we decided to test and then the long wait for the scan. She got "upset" with Kevin that she had spoken to him several times since October 9th and he hadn't let anything slip.

She got the envelope around 8am so she had to wait around all day for Dad to get home. She said she figured it was an u/s picture or a picture of the baby we were planning on adopting. After I got off the phone with them she called Kevin again and was asking all sorts of questions. They're not going to try to time their trip with GV's due date. Last minute international tickets are expensive, Mum will still have a month of preschool left and with Kevin and I trying to make it down to Florida two weeks later for Chicken's wedding, it might be too much. So they're going to come in July. For a month! Wow! I'm excited because then it will mean that I'll have lots of help.

Wiki

Friday I called Wiki on my way home from work and left a message. Finally around 8:30 when she hadn't called I called her again. She was at her BF's house but he was on the phone with his mom so she could chat. We talked about a few things and right when I was getting ready to tell her, her BF got off the phone so she tried to hang up with me! So I told her that I had something to tell her real quick but first she had to promise me that what I was about to tell her would not cause her to spend any money (Wiki loves spending money by buying people unexpected little gifts but seeing as she's been unemployed for the past 9 months I was worried that the temptation would just be too much). Of course this caused her to immediately know what I was talking about and she asked me if I was pregnant. A proper amount of excitement and details followed. She "told" me that she was going to tell the BF and then asked if she could tell his parents too. I said no. Then she said something about how it might slip out at Thanksgiving and I again told her no. I told her that his family is not our family and that there were other people who were much closer to our family that I hadn't told yet and that I wanted them to know before non-family members knew. Of course this led to her wanting to tell her BFF (who I've known since I was 6) and again I had to tell her no. Not that her BFF isn't on the list of early notifications, but not this soon. Hopefully she can keep our secret.

SIL

Saturday morning I had a soccer game at 10:30am, which meant that I needed to be out of the house around 9:25am. So I tried to get Kevin to call his sister around 8:30am. Not that I was going to be on the phone with him when he told her but I wanted to be able to eavesdrop and then talk about it with him afterwards. So 8:30 rolls around and Kevin is nursing his bowl of rai.sin b.ran and reading the paper. I ask him to make the call and he gets all upset and says he will AFTER he finishes his breakfast. Seriously? So I sat patiently in the chair staring and sighing at him and finally around 9:00 he makes the phone call. SIL had just gotten back from the gym. They engage in small talk for about 10 minutes and then finally he tells her that come June she's going to be either an aunt or uncle (some weird family joke about the gender of the child). I think I heard her shout something over the phone that might have been congratulations. They talked a bit more and then right around the 20 minute mark they hung up. He claimed the call was long enough. Huh?! I will never get them and their relationship. I then had to scramble to get everything together in five minutes and get out the door.

So I think we're good for now. At least until the next u/s and appt. Which is this Thursday!

First in Jumpers!

On October 24th Kevin got up at 4:30 in the morning, packed the car with way too much stuff, grabbed Dave and Les (well they get themselves in the car really) and headed to Misty Mountain Campgrounds (1.5 hours west of us) to compete in their first agility competition. Me? I slept in till 7:00 then got up and ready for my soccer game (which we lost :( ), coached and then got in my car and headed out to meet them. By the time I finally got there, Dave & Les had run their first event, the Jumpers course. Les knocked a bar down at obstacle #14 so she didn't qualify, but Dave ran a perfect run (minus the sniffing stops) and not only qualified, but came in first place! Go Dave!
I got there around lunch time. The rest of the day was wet and drizzling but it cleared up right before their Standard course. Les was up first and had another awesome run, however when she got to the table she forgot to stop so Kevin had to get her back on the table. This is an automatic NQ. Dave was next and she ran well. Well not really. She stopped to sniff several times, she tried to go through the tire jump the wrong way and wouldn't lay down when she got to the table. This all culminated in a time that was 42.06 seconds over the qualifying time. Oops. However between Les' faults and Dave's super slow time, they managed to get 1st (Les) and 2nd (Dave)! Okay, there were only 3 dogs competing in their class and the third dog didn't even finish the course, but that's besides the point. My dogs locked up 1st and 2nd!
Now Kevin is totally hooked. The next trial is Thanksgiving weekend. At first when he was told about it he didn't want to do it. His parents would be here and they wouldn't want to trek out to somewhere to watch us and a bunch of other people running around with their dogs. This was his assumption, not that he actually asked them. Well after the trial, he started thinking that maybe we could go and do a half day - a standard course and another nonstandard course. Well he finally talked to Mum and she's all for spending a day watching so now he wants to do the whole shebang, a standard course plus jumpers, relay and snooker. Yeah, he's hooked.

myParents know

We told them on Friday. myMom was super excited, asked me if I'd told Wiki, Chicken, anyone yet. I told her no. Asked if she could tell her work friends, I told her no. That she had to wait till after my b-day. She pretended like I was killing her in making her wait to tell everyone. So we told them to at least wait till we told Wiki, SIL, but most importantly Mum & Dad. She "agreed." I'm going to assume that she's not going to tell anyone, but myMom is worse at keeping secrets than I am.
myParents have always maintained that I was the easy baby/toddler and Wiki the difficult one and then we switched and I became the difficult child and she the easy child. Apparently this started with pregnancy. When myMom was pregnant with Wiki, she was constantly sick (as in she had to take a bag with her every time she got in the car), felt run down and fatigued and gained a lot of weight (of which she didn't lose all of it). With me, she never had morning sickness, only gained about 10 lbs (she wasn't overweight at that time) and lost it pretty quickly afterwards. I don't know if some of that had to do with having a 3-4 year old (Wiki is 4 years 4 months older) around. But it did make me feel better about the lack of symptoms so far.

So the things I'm struggling most with are drinking water and the constant hunger. First the water. I really really really don't like the taste - or lack of taste - of water. I'd rather drink nearly anything else, even beer. I don't drink a lot of water to begin with, usually opting for iced tea or lemonade. Well since being pregnant, lemonade tastes "off" to me and iced tea is out because of the caffeine and sweet-n-low. I bring a water bottle to work and usually I force myself to drink at least one bottle full, but at the end of the work day my stomach feels awful, full of water and all "sloshy" if that makes any sense. Once I get home, I just never get the urge to drink. Not that I don't get thirsty, I just don't want to drink anything.
Now the constant hunger. Every three hours like clockwork. Sometimes every two hours. Yesterday around noon, I ate a two slices of pizza (leftover from dinner Friday night) for lunch and I was still hungry afterwards. It took like half an hour for my stomach to settle down. And then at 3 pm I was starving! I made Kev buy me a muffin so that I could eat it on the way home from grocery shopping. Of course this started a whole argument with Kevin about how I'm suppose to gain ten lbs during the entire pregnancy not the first month and if I kept eating the way I was I was going to gain too much weight. I wanted to hit him. Really hard. It took everything in me to turn around and not say anything back. I appreciate his concern, but Kevin has a tendency to come across as an a$$ and yesterday was not a good day for him. I'm just tired of being hungry all the time. It's like a constant ache in my stomach that won't go away no matter how much I eat or drink. Like today, I've brought cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, carrot sticks, celery sticks, cheerios, oatmeal, half a muffin, yogurt, cottage cheese and a banana to work to eat. Those in bold are things I've already eaten and I'm pretty sure it's not going to be enough. I don't know what else to do, I'm at wit's end.