PRUNE

10W3D - been feeling a little pruny lately, but that's about all. I got all shriveled up in a swimming pool this weekend and that was nice. I'm just having a hard time picturing my baby like a prune... They could have picked a prettier fruit - right? (what about a small plum - without the wrinkles?) Anyway, I think week ten has hit me with a bit more queasiness than I have expected, and more food aversions, headaches, cramps and bb pain too. I thought it was all supposed to be getting better by now?!? I guess baby T. has kicked the hormone production into overdrive - that's okay as long as he/she is happy!

So the books I've been reading and the internet sites all seem to have different time frames for different stages. For instance I had read that my baby had graduated to a fetus as of last week... now I'm reading it has just hit that stage. Other growing developments are also in discrepancy, so as I post this just know that they all grow at different rates and develop at different time frames. That being said...

Baby T. is making major developments! The vital organs have started to work, the fingers and toes have separated and the tail is completely gone! The bones are starting to harden and the joints are working now. Baby has a toungue and taste and tooth buds and the brain is continuing to grow at a rapid rate! The heart is complete and the genitals are still forming and will be identifiable by next week. However, if Baby T. is a little boy - he's already pumping out testosterone!!!

Is feeling normal - normal?

So all the pregnancy signs and symptoms I have had in the last few weeks have completely gone away. No more gagging while brushing teeth, the thought of hamburger helper doesn't make me want to hurl any more, no more cramping, spotting, headaches, none of it! I have my energy back and I feel completely 'normal'. I'm a little easier to irritate, and a bit on the sensitive side but that's not that un-normal for me either. By now I expected to have at least tossed my cookies once, craved something in the middle of the night to send DH out for and I expected my bbs to become gigantic! Even though DH says they are definitely larger, I can't really tell it, I'm still in the same bra size anyway. Even with the loss/lack of symptoms a couple of new ones however have emerged. First - it's now a rarity to sleep more than four hours without having to pee. Usually it's only three. And secondly - well I'm huge. I just don't understand how I can loose 8 pounds and gain what looks like 8 inches! I tried on a pair of pants I was wearing comfortably just weeks ago and I bet the button was five inches from closing! Well off to the wishful wearing pile they went! And they weren't the first ones to go. My closet will be empty by next month at this rate!


p.s. I got three more bella bands off ebay - thank goodness! At least I can pretend when I wear my work clothes! :) they're great as long as you have a shirt/blouse long enough to cover it!

Martini Olives???

I don't know if I really consider it a fruit or not, but green olive is what it is! Nine weeks and 2 days pregnant. It still feels a little weird to say it. My little teddy graham, or olive, or baby bean - whatever you like for the calling, has had a status change now. No longer considered an embryo, but a fetus. All of his/her physical features are now in place and instead of a tadpole, my baby should look like, well, a baby! LOL! Imagine that. More importantly for those of you who keep asking, baby T's 'baby making parts' are forming now. That's right, the who-ha or the wee-wee is starting to take shape, but for those of you waiting to find out, you'll have to wait till baby T. enters this lovely world, because if can hold out without the Dr slipping - we're not going to find out either!

Symptoms? What symptoms? For the most part I feel good. I still get tired and grouchy, but the morning sickness, even the queasiness, never made a lasting impression. I'm so grateful for that!!!!

My Teddy Graham

Well my 8am appt ended up being changed to 11:40 and I was finally seen at 12:30 - but anyhow, I'm home now and the baby is fine! Great even. We got to hear and see the heartbeat today! Up to 156 bpm! That was so cool. The heartbeat sounds like a 'swoosh' noise! My ultrasound lasted a long time too because the Dr. wanted a side view of the baby for dating the pregnancy and all he could get was the back or front! I think the Dr. finally said baby T. measured 8+3, which is right on schedule with the last scan, but still two days behind my EDD. I should be 8+5 today, and they aren't planning to change that, so baby is just measuring a little behind, but they say that I'm well within normal limits. I'm just so excited! I bet we looked at the baby for 15 minutes or more! I could see the little arms moving a bit and once it looked like he kicked the yolk sac, and that was a little unreal. From the front, baby T. looks just like a teddy graham! lol! (okay maybe without the ears). Dr. said he couldn't tell much about the spotting I've been having, but the SCH is still there and he said it looked 'stable'. He didn't get an actual measurement of it so I don't know if it's smaller or larger or just the same. He didn't seem very concerned at all about it this time! I even had to bring it up!!! I think I'm going to follow up one more time with him and in the meantime figure out where I'm going to switch over to. I have heard really good things about Dr. Federici in Suffolk, so I'll venture into that later this week! Next appt. - two weeks.

Dreams

So since I found out I was pregnant I've been having crazy dreams. I had read that was a common side effect from all the hormones racing through my body, but I never realized how vivid they would be! I've had all sorts of weird dreams from getting married in converses to having a miscarraige, but every time I have dreamed about my baby it's been a girl. Last night, she was our little 'tinkerbell' and everything around her had to do with fairies. While I am definitely not a fairy fan, I did find it amusing and actually woke with a smile on my face. Do you think this could mean it's a girl - or am I just dreaming!

20% already?

Today I'm 8w2d and just read somewhere that I'm 20% through this pregnancy. I'm 20% already?!? How come I don't feel like it then? The last few days have been doozies in where my heart is racing, my blood pressure is elevated, my sugar has crashed, I've been spotting and cramping my back is giving me a fit, I'm not sleeping much and my mood is just gone all to pieces. I'm so worked up and scared of what is to come at Thursday's appointment I almost don't want to go. and then I do... and then I don't... (yeah, this goes on and on). For some reason I have almost convinced myself that Baby T. is no longer with us! WHAT!?! yeah, stupid hormones.



Regardless of how I feel, baby T. should be up to a raspberry by now! With arms and legs!!! Supposedly he/she is in there moving around. Now that in itself warrants wanting to have an u/s to see my baby moving around and making himself at home. Maybe then I will have some comfort.

I LOVE BLUEBERRIES!

Not just the fruit that's full of antioxidants and great in cobbler - but the blueberry sitting inside me right now! Baby T. was a 1/4 " last week and should be up to at least a 1/2" now. This week the focus is on the brain. Baby's brain - both hemispheres - are growing fast, generating about 100 new cells every minute. Also the arms and legs are emerging as the joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) are now in place.

What's going on with me? Well the queasiness comes and goes, comes and goes, and scares me to death every time it goes. My bbs are now fine, with only minimal pain every now and then. Some days I'm tired, and hungry other days I'm not. I feel like a yo-yo here recently. I'm 7w3days and as far as symptoms go, I feel like I'm lacking. Maybe I should be grateful?!? Nah, I'd rather be reassured everyday that my blueberry is still in there growing to it's next fruit stage!LOL!

How is the SCH? I don't know. I wish I did. I've started spotting again off and on and that's scary too. I expected it, but of course hoped I wouldn't get it. So far today, all is clear, but for the past three days I've experienced it at least once each day.

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Who knows now? I think everybody and his brother probably know by now that we're expecting! We've got one more to tell tonight and I think that will just about cover it! You should have seen the faces when the preacher announced it at Sunday lunch! Totally Priceless! Everyone seems sincerely happy for us. I just have to have faith it will all work out in the end!

The Bella Band

6w5d - Okay - Target's version anyway. So my clothes no longer fit right and I'm getting rounder by the minute, but I'm not gaining any weight!!! I don't know if it's the gastrointestinal issues that come with pregnancy, or just my body starting to gear up for this baby, but today I'm sitting at work with a pair of pants on that comes no closer than an inch or two from buttoning! That's were the Bella Band comes in! One of the greatest things I've heard of so far. I can wear it right around the top of my pants to keep them up, it looks just like the bottom of a tank top, and NO ONE has to know I'm sitting around like an old man with my pants undone! LOL!


THANK YOU BELLA BAND!

128 bpm!

6w5d - So today was a pretty awesome day in all aspects of it. I got to see my baby's heart beating. My little sweetpea looked like a blob to me - but measured 6w4d. Pretty much right on schedule! As great as that is, the day didn't start off without a hitch though! I had worried and stressed myself to the point of bursting - literally almost! My blood pressure was 150 over 80. Now I don't know how that ranks on a normal scale, but for me that's terribly high. I was able to calm myself down by the end of my visit and got it down to 122 over 80 - still high, but much better. During the ultrasound I was also diagnosed with a small subchorionic hematoma, so we'll have to also keep a watchful eye on that! All in all - great news! NEXT APPT - 2 weeks! The next question - when do we start telling???

A little Sweet Pea!

6w2d - Yeap - you guessed it. This week baby T. has grown to be the size of a sweet pea! (according to thebump.com!) I can't wait till I get to see him/her on Thursday and see for myself! We are hoping we get to see a heartbeat by then too! If all goes well and we get good news - we may start to tell family this weekend! I also found out that our baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin (written like a true gardener! Grow Baby Grow!) Those little hands and feet- still webbed like paddles- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as mine!), and blood is starting to circulate.

As far as symptoms - just the same old stuff now. Sore bbs, gagging when I brush my teeth, being tired all the time, really nothing new to report. Except for the fact my mom told me yesterday I looked like a blow toad! I really didn't feel good at all yesterday, but I must really be swollen up pretty bad for her to say that. I do feel 'puffy' but haven't put on any pounds. I guess that's probably from all the excess gas I'm now carrying around!!!

However, I did have quite a scare on Friday night! I had a gush of blood - passed a clot - and then it was all over with. I guess it could have been a million things - but I'm going to hold my breath that everything is still okay and it was just a fluke. Some research suggests that when the placenta grows into a blood vessel, this can occur. Everything since then has been normal.