Finally, it posted!

21 weeks

The belly continues to get bigger everyday. It's finally starting to get that round pregnant look.
I had to go back to the place I trained in back in for work and everyone there noticed. I was all smiles all day. They were all so happy for me and wouldn't let me lift a finger all day, lol. It was funny to see them noticing but afraid to ask. One brave soul finally asked, she said "Are you...umm (rubs her belly) or did you just have too many donuts this morning?" Others just stared at my belly every time they talked to me and were to afraid to ask.
The simple things in life are starting to get more difficult by the day. Such as, putting on your socks, rolling over in bed (which is now a 12 step thought out process and not just a natural reaction) getting off the couch, and going up stairs. I've only just begun to finally show and I'm really going to be in for it in the months to come.
Lately I've been in pain. Just achy all over. My hips and my back are killing me, I have to sit down from time to time at work and regain my strength. I wish I had something to constantly rub my hips and lower back because that is the only way I can function. I walk around all day rubbing my back, my hips, or my belly. It's the only thing that helps.
I am CONSTANTLY hungry! It won't stop. I eat at least every 2 hours and if I don't I feel like I am going to die! I feel sick and ache and just want to stuff my face with the forst thing I see. This makes being at work very difficult. I feel like my entire day is spent eating or peeing.
It looks as though I will be sticking it out until the end at work :( I am taking an extra day off each week for the next 3 weeks and then I am taking a week off in April. So I'll have to make it about 7 weeks and then I put in to take the 3rd week in May off, so that will be 4 or 5 weeks in between and then I should be out for maternity leave anyway. We'll see how it goes. It gets harder and harder to stay everyday. Work sucks!
Ian leaves for Vegas this weekend, hopefully he'll win a bunch of money and I can quit next week, lol. Does anyone win in Vegas? Wish him luck!

Here's the belly shot from week 21:
Well blogger isn't cooperating so the pic will have to wait.

Beautiful day!

Unbelievable! I just wrote a huge post outlining every minute detail about today and the internet went down and now it's all gone!!!! I hate that! So now you'll all get the much shorter version of what I just spent 34 minutes writing in extreme detail, sorry.

Ian and I had a wonderful morning together.
Doctor's-Breakfast-Shopping-Doctor's-Lot's of phone calls-Lot's of smiles-Work-and home together-Bottle of champain for Ian, pickles for me, lol.

Amazing views of our baby!
Loved every minute of it.
Due date changed from the 4th to the 2nd.
Baby weighs 14 oz.
Everything looks perfect.
Baby is very skwirmy and loves to kick and move.
The tech made us wait until Ian couldn't take it any more.
We all took a look.
We all thought the same thing.
Finished with measurements.
Went back for another look.
The tech's exact words......
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"I see no evidence of a penis"
Ian and I chuckle.
At the end we go back for one final look and again all agree.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We only got 2 pics to take with us. One is of the face, rather alien looking, we took this one because as we were all looking at the baby she openend her mouth and it was like she was smiling, maybe she was yawning, either way it was cute; and the other is the belly and her long legs that I feel skwirming all the time. The tech thought it was adorable how she was layign with her legs crossed like this. LOL. Too cute!

It's Growing

That's the info I have for you. A whole lot of NOTHING!

No ultrasound today :( I was crushed! I was looking forward to this for 4 weeks...well actually 19.....well more like 2 years, but who's counting. We had to schedule another appointment with the imaging center to get the ultrasound done. So it should be about a week and we'll find out. Let's just hope the baby cooperates.

So today we just did all the routine stuff peeing, weighing, measuring and listening. Everything is good. I've gained 5lbs. which made the doctor happy but she likes to emphasize the eating in every appointment.

I asked the doctor if I could switch offices and go to her other office but she said it's not really an option. I can switch doctors, but 1) I love my doctor and 2) no one else around here will take new pregnancies! Don't ask me what's up with that because it makes no sense to me but when I call the offices that's what they tell me. I'm just going to have to suck it up and put blinders on when I go in the office. All of the staff at the office are great, it's just the other patients that I don't like. In CT the OB office was always so cheery and happy and full of excitement and expectation, this office in NY is more full of misery. It's an awful feeling. You can tell that 75% of the people there don't want to be pregnant and the next 20% probably shouldn't be prego. Then there's the 5% that I fall into, although I could be off on that one since I've only seen one other person who actually looked pleased and possibly excited to be seeing the doctor.

I definitely don't want to give up my doc, I just wish I could change the environment of the whole experience

So back to the weight thing. I'm definitely gaining now. My jeans finally don't fit anymore...well at least not comfortably. I've tried to buy maternity jeans but none of them fit me right either :(

I'll try to take a belly shot tonight and post it.

The baby is still moving like crazy. Ian finally got to feel it for the first time last night. His face light up with amazement, it was great! It's hard to sit still and not let it be known when I feel the baby move. I just love it so much that I am overwhelmed with smiles and joy. Sometimes it surprises me and I jump or make a funny face.

I can't wait to get the crib set up and go register. Ian bought a custom closet kit for the baby's room, I love it.

Just so excited....now I have to wait all over again to find out if the little one is a boy or a girl.

Locks of Love

Well today starts my 19th week, and my first real day off post holiday. I drove out to meet Mary and Ryleigh for lunch at the Olive Garden (Thanks Mary!) Yum Yum! Then it was off to the hair salon.
I can't remember if I had started the blog yet when I did this last time, but 2 years ago I cut off 12 inches and donated it to Locks for Love. I felt it was time again so I made the cut and there was no turning back. My hair is SO short now! I've never had my hair this short before...well, at least not since I was like 8 and even then it was only short for one year. This is shockingly new for me.

After the cut I went to my mom's work to surprise her and I guess she was surprised since she didn't even know who I was! It took her a minute and a triple take to realize it was me! LOL

Ian's exact words upon arriving home were, "What have you done?!" He said he didn't recognize me either when he walked in. Total Shock!
Hehehehe. I like it so far, I'm just not used to the shortness and no ponytail. So what do you think? Here are the before and afters:

The belly again

Here's another pic of the belly, still not looking too much bigger. Our scale broke last week so I don't know where I stand as far as the weight is going. I go to the doctor on Thursday the 11th so I guess we'll know then. I'm hoping that we'll get the ultrasound to find out the gender. I'm sure my phone will be ringing non stop that day. I promise to post after the appointment.
I'm feeling the baby move everyday. Today I actually felt it while I was standing up, a first! I usually can only feel it when I'm sitting down. This is SO amazing! I'm loving every minute of it! We've listened to the heart beat again a couple of times but the baby doesn't like to stay still for the doppler. Still strong and in the mid 150's.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fun, safe night. I was in bed by 9pm and didn't get up until 8:30 the next morning! A great way to start off the new year! The dogs woke me up at 12:03am with there barking, lol it was like they were celebrating. But then it was right back to sleep.

I had my first leg cramp last night. OMG! Let's hope it's my only one. My leg has been sore all day! I scared the crap out of Ian when I shot up in bed and was almost screaming in pain. He asked me what was wrong and I said " My leg, Ahhhhh! My leg...I...have...agggghhhhh...cramp in my leg!" To which he said "Your leg? Jeez you scared the crap out of me I thought something was wrong!" and he rolled over and went back to sleep!!! Um, yeah something is wrong my leg is in extreme pain!!

Ouch.

Oh yeah, here's the belly shot of the day:

There's a bump!

My first maternity outfit! How exciting. You're finally starting to see a bump too. This morning I definatly felt the baby move. It was awesome! I've felt it a few times here and there for a couple weeks but wasn't sure if it was really the baby or just gas or some kind of flutter. Last night we used the doppler to hear the babies heartbeat and as soon as I put the doppler to my belly where the baby was I felt it move! It was incredible. I've noticed that if I am sitting down after I eat I can usually feel it. Yesterday I ate breakfast and then left the house to go to the mall and I felt it in the car. Same thing today. I left for work and was starving so I stopped to get a bagel and some chocolate milk and once I drank some of the milk I felt the baby move.
Christmas was incredible this year. We had the whole family here and I loved every stressful minute of it. Julie and Keith even drove up from NC and surprised us on Christmas day...well almost, my FIL ruined the surprise about an hour before they showed up, lol. It was still an amazing surprize and it was so awesome to have my whole family and Ian's whole family here together.
I hope everyone enjoyed there holiday and has a wonderful New Year! I'll be working of course, lol. New year's eve and New year's Day...lucky me I get to work every holiday until this baby is born! Have I mentioned how much I hate work lately? Well, it hasn't changed. Still hate it more and more everyday. Most days I wish that I hated the people I worked with because it would make it so easy to quit, but I like them and they work hard and put up with the same bullshit day after day so I feel obligated to suck it up and deal with it for them. Only a few short months left...

Stupid blogger! I wrote out this whole post with pic and everything and it's gone!! UGH!
I give up. Here's the pics.
16week belly shot.
Scott's basketball game
I still don't know how to use my camera!
Hope this posts... 

Doctor's Appointment

Today was our second Doctor's appointment. We had the first appointment of the day so I thought we'd be in and out quick, lol. Nothing in that office is quick. We waited in the waiting room for awhile but not nearly as long as we had to wait last time. It's not so bad though because our neighbor is the receptionist at the office so it gives us a chance to catch up with her a bit.
So we get called back, weigh in, pee in the cup and do the blood pressure.
The best part about this office is definatly the doctor. You never have to wait once you get back to your room, she comes right away and when she leaves the office and says "I'll be right back." She comes right back! In like less than a minute! Remarkable! I love our doctor, she's young, very nice, listens to our thoughts, answers our questions and is just fun.
Anyway, the doctor comes in and then I get in trouble. She takes my blood pressure again (the nurse took it twice!) and it's ok, but low. It's always low, always has been, for as long as I can remember. Then we go over my weight. Apparently I have only gained one pound in the last 4 weeks. I am coming into 5 months and have only gained a pound since the start. Not good. I eat like crazy, I swear I do. I always have, I just don't gain weight. I've never gained weight. My brothers could never gain weight, still can't. It's just my genes, I can't help it. So now she said I need to check my weight and in two weeks I should have gained at least 2 more pounds. I should gain a pound a week at least before I go back. I think the fact that I am constantly going and on my feet at work all day has played a part too. It's hard to snack at work because we're just so busy right now. But I have been eating! Now Ian is trying to force me to eat double of everything and I feel like I'm going to explode! I'm so incredibly full. Eat, Eat, Eat! Hopefully I can put on the weight. The doctor said that usually they start measuring the belly at this point but I really still don't have anything to measure so we'll wait until next time. :(
We listened to the heart beat, still in the 150's. She found it right away this time which was funny because right before she started she said "Now remember last time it took us a little bit to find it so don't hit me if we don't get it right away" LOL. As soon as she placed the doppler on my belly you could hear it, her face lit up with surprise, it was so funny.
I asked her if she was able to get the pictures from the hospital and she said that she was not, I told her again that they didn't give them to us either and she said "Really?...Hold on one second." and she left the room. She came back in with the ultrasound machine and took some pictures for us and even gave us doubles so Ian could bring them back to work with him. We only took the two pictures but the 3 of us watched the baby for a bit. It wasn't moving around alot like it was when we had the ER ultrasound done, but then you could see the baby swallowing! It was amazing! You could actually see the cheeks move and the baby swallow! It was so funny because Ian and Scott both make this noise when they sleep like they are smacking their lips together and swallowing and that's exactly what it looked like the baby was doing.

Ok I think I've rambled on long enough. We go back again on Jan. 14th. I think she will probably send us over to the ultrasound unit that day to get another one and we should be able to find out the gender! Exciting! I'm still feeling like it's a boy, but everyone else is saying girl. Only time will tell!

Here's the pics... You can see the arm and hand pretty good in the first one, the second one the hand is up by the nose/mouth area, you could see it really good on the sceen but the pics didn't come out as good. You can see the legs too, a little. I can't stop staring at these!


 

Rambling

Feeling kind of achey today :(
Trying to take it easy and just take my time with everything. I wish I had more time at home to catch up on things, but when I am home all I want to do is rest...so that's what I do. Thank God for Ian or I'm sure our house would be really trashed. I look forward to the days of being home with the new baby, I'm SO excited!

Work has been crazy, Ian and I really don't ever see each other, except in passing. We haven't even started xmas shopping. I don't know when we'll find the time since we don't have any days off together. We can't even decide what to get for people. I think it's going to be gift cards this year, lol. I wanted to get a family pic done again for xmas cards but getting Ian, Scott and I all together on the same day is impossible. Not to mention that the boys whine and complain the whole time when we do go.

We will officially not be having anymore puppies :(
Bruno and Patches went under the knife last week and are recovering excellently. They go back on the 14th to get their stitches out. Bruno was his regular self the morning after the surgery, no difference in him! Patches was a little slow at first but has bounced right back only 2 days after surgery.

My next Dr. appt. is on the 14th as well! That's next Thursday. I'm excited to see if the doc got the ultrasound pics from the hospital. If not I'm going to try and convince her to do one in the office while I'm there.

I had a little bit of spotting the other day and couldn't wait to get home and use the doppler. Everything's good. Baby is doing well, no cramping or anything like that to worry about and the spotting was very minimal and went away fast. I guess I'm just growing inside and this might be something I deal with all the way through. Thank god I have the doppler though, it's so comforting!

I think that I felt the baby move the other day but it's still hard to be sure. I guess I won't really know until I can feel the baby move and know that it is truly the baby. I'm excited to start feeling movement regularly. I'm hoping it will happen by Christmas.

Everyone who knows me seems to think it's a girl, but I still feel like it's a boy. Ian thinks it's a girl. I asked him last night if he wanted to wait and not find out and he looked at me like I was crazy, lol. He said NO WAY! I have to know! He told me last week that we need to start setting up the babies room. I told him we had plenty of time before we had to worry about that, to which he replied, "What if it comes early!" LOL This would be too early I told him. I think he's pretty excited.

I think that's about it. No weird cravings or anything. I wish I was eating a little healthier, it's hard at work all week to grab something nutritious for lunch. But I make sure I eat at least 3 meals a day. No weight gain yet, but the belly does look bigger from time to time. I'll try to post another pic soon.

Hello...

Someone here wants to say hi!





HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!

Status report

Still nothing new to report. No changes, the belly doesn't look any bigger, i haven't gained any weight yet. Thanksgiving was great, the food was excellant and we even had left overs from Mom and Dad's that they dropped off to us.
It was a depressing weekend for us because we don't get to spend it as a family. Ian and I had to work and as a result we miss out on our time with Scott. I think we all just miss each other so much right now. Ian and I don't see each other for more than an hour each day. I couldn't tell you when the last time we had a conversation that lasted more than 5 minutes was. It's like we work opposite schedules, If I work late he's asleep when I get home and when he works late I'm a sleep when he gets home. It's like we haven't seen each other in days. We only get one day off a week and it's never the same day for the 2 of us. So that's 3 months with out a day off together. SUCKS!!

No doppler yet. I'm hoping it will come today.

Here's another meme from Stacie's site.

You can only type one word.No explanations.
Yourself: Tired
Your partner: Sick
Your hair: tangled
Your Mother: excited
Your Father: loving
Your Favorite Item: camera
Your dream last night: poop
Your Favorite Drink:milk
Your Dream Car: safe
Your Dream Home: cozy
The Room You Are In: family
Your Ex: gone
Your fear: birth
Where you Want to be in Ten Years? retired
Who you hung out with last night: Scott
What You're Not: relaxed
Muffins: blueberry
One of Your Wish List Items: doppler
Time: ten
The Last Thing You Did:eat
What You Are Wearing: pj's
Your favorite weather: warm
Your Favorite Book: baby
Last thing you ate: banana
Your Life: hectic
Your mood: stress
Your Best Friends: love
What are you thinking about right now: work
Your car: perfect
What are you doing at the moment: typing
Your summer: wonderful
Relationship status: married
What is on your tv: TLC
What is the weather like: freezing
When is the last time you laughed: Thursday

Second Trimester

Well, not much has changed. I'm patiently awaiting our December 14th appointment, it feels like it will take forever to get here.
Nothing much to report, I've been feeling pretty normal. The craving for pizza has subsided a little, although I still love it. Lately I never know what I'm in the mood for. I was craving Captin Crunch cereal for awhile, when I went to the store to buy it I walked out with 3 boxes! Not all Captin Crunch but I just LOVE cereal.
This week I'm craving TURKEY! I wonder why ;) Too bad I won't be getting any :( I have to work on Thanksgiving and then we're going to my in-laws for dinner. My MIL is making cornish hens....I'm sure it will be delicious, but I'd sure love a full belly of turkey with all the fix-in's. I'm going to make a dish of my mother's stuffing recipe, since I don't think Ian or I will survive the day with out it. Now my only hope is that he doesn't eat it all before I get home from work.

My prenatal vitamins make me sick to my stomach so I take them at night before I go to bed. The only problem lately is that I wake up in the middle of the night to go pee and I feel sick. Oh well, I'm loving being prego, although it seems nothing has changed from not being.

We bought a doppler on Ebay. I'm hoping to have it on Friday. If not then we should have it Monday. I can't wait!

Well, that's about it. Like I said nothing really new going on. Here's a belly shot from today.

 

Meet the Doctor

Yesterday was our first appointment to meet our OB. It started out exciting then we waited in the waiting room for an hour! I had to pee so bad but was holding it because I knew that they were going to make me go when they called us back, but after an hour wait I just couldn't hold it anymore. While I'm in the bathroom, I literally flush the toilet and then I can hear the nurse calling my name in the waiting room. Are you kidding me! I knew this was going to happen. I wash my hands and come out and then she says "Oh no you went to the bathroom? We need to get a sample, you should have waited." To which I replied, "Yeah well listen lady, I've been here for an hour waiting to be called back, our appointment was at 10am it's now 11am! Your sample was about to be all over the waiting room floor! I'm sure we probably have another hour ahead of us so I'll be able to go again before we leave." Sure enough I was able to go again before we left, although the doctor did not keep us waiting once we got back to our room.
Our doctor was great. She took her time, answered all our questions and never kept us waiting. We got to hear the heartbeat, which was amazing! She had some trouble finding it at first and I was a little freaked out, she found my pulse and I was even more worried because I knew it was way to slow to be good, if it was the babies. Finally we found my little choo-choo train running strong in there. It was so cute and it really did sound just like a choo-choo train, chugachugachugachugachuga so fast. Once we found the heartbeat and Ian heard it he immediately asked if we could buy a doppler on eBay, lol. I think he was excited. I think that if we had a doppler we would be addicted to listening to the baby everyday. We tried to hear it again last night with a stethoscope, lol. Not going to work.

We won't be getting another ultrasound until around 18 weeks :( But she said that she will try and get us copies of the pictures from the ER so I can't wait for those. If she can't get the copies then she told us that if we're really anxious she could do a bedside ultrasound for us so we might have that done if I can't wait.

I go back on Dec. 14th, I'll be almost 16 weeks by then!! Amazing, I can't wait!

YAY!

I still can't believe it myself. Thank you so much for all your comments. It's so great to know that everyone is so excited for us. Everyday is just a miracle. The first time I had spotting all the way through, never a day with out a little something, so this time it's like everyday I'm in pure joy that nothing's gone wrong.
I'm having some issues with food still. I'm always hungry, but I can't eat a normal amount at one time. I eat a little bit and then I get sick of it so quick, it's weird. I've always loved to eat so this is a bit of a change for me. I'll think I know what I want and then as soon as I have it I take 4 bites and my stomach says "Ok that's enough." What? No it's not. The stomach and I are in a bit of a power struggle.

So I don't know if I wrote this in the last post but we go back to the doctor's on Thursday. This time we actually get to meet the doctor. I'm so excited. We got a list of dates for child birth classes too (they start in March for us) They are at a perfect time so Ian and will both be able to make it after work and meet there. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I'm so afraid of Jinx'ing the whole thing. I've been trying to act like everything is normal, nothing different going on, and every time I think or act pregnant I get paranoid that something will happen.

For now we just keep praying and loving and doing everything we can to keep this baby safe.

11 weeks

 

June 4th

Today was our first appointment. I was so disappointed, we didn't even get to meet the Dr. just talk to the nurse. I thought we would at least get an ultrasound since I'm already 11 weeks. I was excited to have Scott with us so that he could see the ultrasound. He's so excited! I was so nervous about telling him since he's so much older and has been an only child for so long. I wasn't sure how he would react, but he was very excited and happy.

We had a party today for Scott's birthday and told the family. They were all in shock. We decided to have a group photo and Scott said, "Ok, 1,2,3, KARI'S PREGNANT!" Everyone just sort of froze. They weren't sure if he was joking or what.

Cole and Ryleigh are very excited and kept running up to me to tell me that there was a baby in my belly, lol.

Well I'm not sure if we'll be able to get an ultrasound pic again and the ER kept all of the last ones :(

We have an appointment to meet the Dr. next Thursday so I'll keep you posted on what happens next.

4 hours

That we'll never get back.
This morning we went to the ER. The spotting I mentioned in the previous post stopped that same day. However, yesterday morning I awoke to more, redder spotting followed by hysterical crying. Ian and I got ready and tried to call the Dr. but it was too early. So off to the ER we were.
I wasn't in any pain, just terrified and we needed answers.
We got to the ER at 8:45 am. We didn't see a doctor until after 10am and then they did an exam and found no blood! I swear I wasn't crazy, Ian saw it too, it was there. One huge weight lifted, everything seemed to "look" ok. Next it was off to ultrasound. After bloodwork and peeing in the cup. We waited over another hour to get sent to ultrasound.
Finally we get there and there is no Dr. just an ultrasound tech, who was very nice and tried to be as helpful as possible, but he wasn't allowed to tell us anything, because the Dr. had to make the determinations. He could only take the pictures.

Well, we got to see the baby, hear the heart beat, and see the baby moving. It was amazing! I wish I could have seen better, as the screen was on the side of me so the angle was hard to see. I know at one point I saw and arm and hand with fingers, like the baby was waving to say "I'm ok Mom and Dad, don't worry!" At that moment I felt a huge sigh of relief, but I couldn't shake the fact that we still had to wait to hear what the Dr. had to say.
After the ultrasound it was back down to the ER where we waited for well over ANOTHER HOUR! I literally passed out on the exam table and Ian fell asleep in the corner sitting on the floor. It was awful and we were both tired and STARVING!
We finally get the Dr. back in and he said that everything looked great and my HGC levels were very good.

We finally left the ER sometime after 1:30 pm.

I go to the OB next Friday, hopefully we'll get some ultrasound pics that we can keep and share. The hospital kept all the ones from the ER. :(
I hope I can get some more answers and more relief.

Spotting has started

And my breathing has stopped!

I woke up at 1:30am and went to the bathroom and discovered some pink spotting, very little. Thinking I must be dreaming or at least just seeing things I tried to go back to bed and not worry (lol, not worry, yeah right!)
When I got up for the day there was more. Holding back the tears I decided to remain positive and go on with getting ready for the day. There is no cramping so it can't be happening, right?

I read in one of my books that you can experience pink or brownish spotting due to the uterus stretching and not to worry unless it is accompanied by cramping or you see bright red.

As the day went on there was less and less and it turned to more of an orange'ish. Not sure what that means.

Needless to say I am on edge and scarred to death. Please God don't let this happen again! I've been praying all day!