17 Weeks and Counting

I had another OB appointment last week. We listened to Baby's heartbeat (142 beats per minute). My OB said that's a normal speed, and my uterus is a normal size for being this far along.

I've gained 10 pounds so far. My husband has relaxed a bit about feeding me to bursting. It's pretty clear I'm gaining weight like I should.

My jeans are officially too tight. I'm using a hair tie to fasten them and wearing long tops to cover it up. I just wore a maternity top for the first time today. A friend of mine gave me about a dozen tops and three dresses, which was just amazingly generous.

The morning sickness is almost completely gone! Very exciting! I still have the bad taste sometimes, but I think it might be acid reflux.

Everyone I talk to at work knows I'm pregnant now. It makes for some interesting conversations. Some people are a bit too free with advice, but then I knew that would happen. One guy, who has a bad habit of telling me I should do things I don't want to anyway, keeps saying I'm going to have to cut my hair. Uh, no. I think I'll manage.

I'll try to update more regularly. I know I'll want a good account of all this somewhere down the line.

The Announcement Has Been Made

Well, by this time, most everyone and their dog knows that I'm pregnant. I told my parents and stepdaughter when they came over for dinner at Thanksgiving, and then I made a general announcement on Facebook and at my other blog. I know my mom's been spreading the news, but I can't be sure that my dad has. It's in his family's nature not to share news.

Tomorrow, I have to make sure to tell my superiors at work and possibly talk to the HR person. I need to make it clear that I intend to return to work after all this is over.

Anyway, my morning sickness hasn't eased up any. It's kind of frustrating that I have to eat all the time just so I don't feel like throwing up. Peppermints help somewhat. It's a good thing Christmas is coming up so I can find it readily and in abundant quantities. And I've been experiencing a metallic taste in my mouth, too. I looked it up, and apparently a lot of pregnant women get that. It's supposed to go away when the morning sickness goes away. Which is supposed to be any day now. I hope.

At least the sensitivity in my breasts has died down a bit.

My stomach is definitely growing. My lower back has begun itching, I think because the skin is beginning to stretch. I've also been having some bad headaches. My lower back is starting to hurt, too. Thankfully, Tylenol takes care of those.

Right now, the baby is about the size of a peach. It seems kind of big, but it also seems pretty small. I've successfully passed the 1st trimester, so I'm 1/3 of the way there!

It's Official! Kind of.

Well, it's as official as it can be, so I'm going to take that as a good thing. I had my first OB appointment this morning. The doctor said my ultrasound looked great. She felt my uterus and said it feels like it's the right size.

Between now and my next appointment, I have to go get blood taken to make sure everything looks ok. I'll try to do that sooner rather than later.

That's partly because I'd really like to be able to announce my pregnancy to the potential sister and grandparents on Thanksgiving. I'd like to know if there's anything wrong before then, for obvious reasons. I'll announce it then whether I get my labs back by then or not. Should be fun!

Good News at Last!

I had an ultrasound on Thursday, and the baby looks great! This is the first time I've ever gotten this far with a pregnancy!

We were able to see the baby's heartbeat and record it; it's beating at about 182 beats per minute, which is a healthy rate at this stage. The nurse measured the baby, and she estimated it was 9 weeks, 6 days old. That matches up pretty closely to the actual 10 weeks, 2 days, especially when you take into consideration the fact that I ovulate around day 21 when most women ovulate around day 14.

The baby even moved while we watched. It moved quite a lot, actually, and the nurse said that as well. It even turned over. It's so nice to be able to see that when I've been so unsure.

I was supposed to have my first OB exam that day as well, but my doctor was called away for an emergency C-section. We re-scheduled for tomorrow, so we'll soon see how that goes.

Long Time, No Update

I've been meaning to update this blog for a long time. Much has happened, so I'm just going to give you a rough outline/timeline.

• In February or thereabouts, I completed all my Ob/Gyn's tests and was told that they couldn't find anything wrong with either my husband or myself. It was a little frustrating because I wanted there to be a problem that could be fixed. Knowing that I miscarried twice for no particular reason was not encouraging. But my husband and I were looking forward to being able to try again.
• Around the middle of March, I learned that I was about to lose my job. My boss gathered us all together and said that the office was being closed and the two of us who had "support" roles would be let go as of July 1. My health insurance comes from my job, so I knew we couldn't afford to try for a baby at that point.
• I managed to find a different job by early May, which was a blessing. I signed up for health insurance right away, but it would not go into effect until after I had been employed for 90 days. When the insurance was about to go into effect, I found out that my new employer would only have to hold my job for me during maternity leave if I were there for a full year before going on leave. Just to be safe, I waited another month.
• After trying for only one month, I'm pregnant again! My last cycle began on August 26th, which means I'm about 6 weeks along. My due date is sometime around the end of May or beginning of June.
  

So, now we're caught up. I'll have my first ultrasound and appointment on November 5th. I'll be about 10 weeks along at that point. Currently, my breasts are huge and painful and I'm constantly queasy. I'm eating tons, thanks to a husband who's determined that I should gain as much weight as humanly possible. I'll probably gain too much weight, but I suppose an overweight newborn is better off than an underweight newborn. I'm not thinking much about the baby because I don't want to get attached at this point. I'll have a much better idea of what may happen after my first appointment.

Test Time

I've taken a rather long break from trying to conceive since my second miscarriage. My doctor was concerned that further attempts would end in further miscarriages, and I certainly don't want to subject myself to that.

I visited an OB/GYN on Dec. 22. She's friendly and knowledgeable, a good combination. Right now, she has both my husband and myself going through a series of tests. We both have to have our blood tested. The doctor says it's possible that my chromosomes are fine and my husband's chromosomes are fine, but some fatal flaw happens when we combine them. My husband's semen is being tested for sperm count, shape, and mobility (basically, are there lots of sperm, are they shaped right, and do they swim forward). Then in a little over a week, I need to get a Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) Basically, they inject dye into the uterus and fallopian tubes and then do an X-ray to see if there are any blockages or growths. The doctor says it can be painful and feel like bad cramps, so I should take the maximum dose of my pain reliever of choice before I go in. So that's where we stand now. Currently, we've completed two of the four initial tests. Once we get the results from this initial set of tests, either we'll have our answer or the doctor will have me take more tests.

In the mean time, the doctor wants me to try not to conceive.