40 weeks!

Tomorrow is the day, we are less than 24 hours from having a baby!!!  Here is 40 weeks of belly changes (click on image for bigger view). I've gained 10.8lbs as of this morning from pre-pregnancy weight.

I'm excited and nervous about tomorrow. Which one I am more changes moment my moment.  I'm nervous about the c-section and nervous about being a new mom but super excited to finally get to meet our little girl.    I'm off work today and have just been trying to get some last minute stuff done around the house so that when we come home I'll be comfy. With the c-section I won't be up doing much for awhile so I wanted to have as much done as possible.

That's all for now, see you on the other side of the bump!

Catch up, 36 weeks

Okay, I've been horrible about posting!   To make up for the lack of pics how about a progression from the beginning until now?

wow, that's a lot of pictures!  :D

Okay, so is going on.  Let's see, I'm 36 weeks, I have a growth scan tomorrow to see how big she's gotten.  When I was at the doctor last week my cervix was closed but "a little" thinned and baby was breech, she turns really often still though so I'm not really worried about that.  I spotted and cramped after the check for 2 days, had to call about that since I've been cautioned to call about anything out of the ordinary but they said that's normal.  I had my group b strep test and that came back clear which is very good.

Oh, yeah, I broke my foot.

Fell down a single stair and my ankle gave way, broke my heel and sprained my ankle. I lasted a week in the boot before I had to ditch it as it made my hips and back feel like they were coming apart. 

Much progress has been made on the nursery, its pretty much done except organization, here is a bad pano of it.

We had a wonderful baby shower and my brother came down. We got so many wonderful things at the shower and before and after including sooo many beautiful handmade things that just overwhelm me with joy. 

We had some maternity pictures taken, here is one I love by Carlagraphs 

My right foot was already swelling more than my left but since I broke it it swells A LOT more! It jiggles when I walk by the end of the day. 

I've got the hospital bag almost packed, we need to put in the car seats. I have puppy pads everywhere I sit often in case my water breaks.  We have 2 more classes left on our labor, breastfeeding and newborn series.  

Here is a pic of my belly all distorted when she flips around. 

Yesterday she was in a weird position putting strange pressure on my bladder where I felt like I couldn't pee right all day then last night right before bed I was folding laundry when all of a sudden, I pee my pants. Oops, then had to play the "pee or amniotic fluid" game. I went pee and it didn't happen anymore so I decided pee and went to bed. She's moving around like normal today so everything seems fine. 

That's about all I can think of right now, weight is holding pretty steady, I'm at + 4 pounds for the pregnancy so far.  Will try to remember to post again after scan tomorrow.  

Good appointment

Had an OB checkup today, my doctor was on vacation but I really liked the doctor that I saw.  Gracie's heartrate was at 150 and you could hear her moving around a lot.   Everything else looked good.

I think what I've been feeling the past few days is her moving around, I'm ready to know for sure!

15 weeks

Here is my 15 week pictures, still not much difference. I weighed in at 231.2 this morning, so just about the same as last week.   Below is a graph of my weight loss since being pregnant, it has leveled off quite a bit since I started taking the Unisom.

This week has brought a return of my morning sickness, I had to go back to taking a half a Unisom at night, I'd cut down to almost none.  I also have started getting round ligament pain, mostly on my right side, the first one scared me.  In addition I've started back with the dizzy spells, those are quite annoying. 

Other than all of that I feel pretty good. If I feel around my lower abdomen I can feel the hardness that is my uterus. 

I'm on pins and needles waiting for the results of the Panorama test, I hope we get them back this week. 

Appointments, appointments and more appointments

Wednesday I went and had the blood draw for the Panorama blood test which will tell us the baby's risk for the trisomies and also the gender, that takes 7-10 days to come back.

Then I went for another ultrasound at the Maternal Fetal Medicine center. I really liked the sonographer, she was super nice. Even though an NT scan had not been ordered she was able to get the  measurement and did it anyway (measurement was 1.8 and anything under 2.5 is good) and made a gender guess of girl! Baby is growing on schedule with the revised due date and looks good so far.  Heart Rate was 167.

After that I went up to see the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist who is consulting due to my age and the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. He asked me a bunch of questions and seemed happy with how I was progressing. He ordered an echocardiogram to rule out any problems with my heart and I have to go back for ultrasounds once a month to check my cervical length (yay, more pictures).

So I have 4 appointments coming up in the next month, its a good thing my boss is understanding!

We did our facebook announcement while we were on vacation. 

 As of this week I've lost 14 pounds so far. My nausea is starting to get better, I've cut back on the unisom, that has increased my fatigue though which is weird because I didn't know it was helping with that. 

Oh, and I cry over anything now, hormones are crazy! I'm not a cryer but I cry at least once a day, so weird for me!

Rest and relaxation at last

A week of laying on the beach doing nothing sure does do a lot for your mental state.  Just got back from Mexico where I did virtually nothing for a week, it was really nice.

Here is me, haven't weight at home in a week but according to the scale at the hotel I'm down a few more pounds. I enjoyed a lot of fresh fruit, fresh juices and french fries :)

Left to right is 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 11 weeks and almost 13 weeks.

Here is me in my swimsuit, I felt pretty good in it, the boobs look pretty awesome :D  Anyway, that's it for now. 

Worry...why do I let myself worry

Any Patsy Cline fans out there?  Her song Crazy is running through my head because that's how I feel.  So many things to worry about.
My uterus feels sore and crampy, is that normal?
*frantic Googling*
Okay, that is normal.
Next day, its not sore and crampy TODAY is  THAT normal?
*frantic Googling*.
Rinse and repeat for boob soreness, fatigue, nausea, heartburn, discharge, the list goes on and on

My 3rd beta is tomorrow and I'm hoping after that they will agree to an early ultrasound (after 6 weeks so I have a chance of seeing the heartbeat but before 8 weeks because I'll go nuts).

I took my last First Response (FRER) test today, the test line was darker than the control line but not blaring, figuring that is because I had to get up at 1:30 to pee and then woke up at 5:30 having to pee again so it was really only a 4 hour hold and not really FMU (first morning urine).

I'm still doing my BBT (basal body temperature), no lectures, it makes me feel better! Temp is maintaining which makes me feel better about my progesterone. Still debating on whether or not I want to ask to have my progesterone checked again when I get my blood drawn tomorrow.

Speaking of temperature, my body is not used to a temp this high (I run low normally) and I get overheated very easily these days, I was freezing all day yesterday though.

So, actual symptoms (trying to be objective)

Nausea/appetite- Some waves of nausea, a couple pretty strong. For the most part I have not been at all hungry but sometimes I get ravenous then I'll eat and after a few bites I'm done.  Weight has maintained, I think some of it is bloat though as my pants feel tighter.  My nausea  gets worse as the day progresses and is worse in the evenings, nothing out of hand yet. I did have some serious heartburn, I had to get up at 1:30 and take Tums.

Fatigue- I've done pretty well throughout the days, a little tireder than normal but not horrible like the first few days, but by 8pm I am done and need to go to bed.  I was out at a club meeting until 9:30 last night and driving home I thought I was going to fall asleep behind the wheel.  I have to do the same tonight and am seriously considering taking a nap in my office during lunch.

Boob soreness- Sunday it was bad, almost cried when I took my bra off before bed, that could have been because I went to the zoo that morning and had my heavy camera bag slung across my body for several hours.  The soreness fluctuates from day to day gets worse towards evening.

Discharge- guess this falls into the TMI category but had a LOT of cervical mucus for several days, still some but not as much, its fluctuating throughout the day and day by day.

Guess that's about it for now, will update tomorrow after I hear from my beta.

progression is good

For someone who has gone through a loss, getting a BFP only to see it start fading the next day, this progression is beautiful and reassuring.  I've stopped testing every day, only doing every other day now. I have my 3rd beta hcg on Thursday (4 days from now).

So symptoms: Freaked out yesterday because I thought my boobs were slightly less sore and I was not as fatigued, was afraid my progesterone was dropping. Well by the time I went to bed those fears had been put to bed as well. Boobs were SO sore and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I think it was just that I had been able to get some rest.  Woke up with super sore boobs, tired and a little bit of nausea.  I headed out to the zoo for a bit and accidentally walked though the ape house and about threw up, had to get out of there.  Finished there and went to the grocery store, home now, waiting on the fish sticks I wanted for lunch to cook, I'm STARVING! We'll see how much of it I actually eat.

That's about it, a few random pains in my lower abdomen, not really cramps, just kind of sore like pains. Hard to describe.