Adventures in Pregnancy

Helllloooooo 2nd trimester! How very exciting to be here! I feel like we have checked a huge milestone off the list. I wish I could say I was feeling better, but let me share with you how I kicked off the 2nd tri...

Sean & I went out for a quick dinner at Ch.ipotle last night. I have only had it twice since I got pg and it has definitely left me gaggy in the past, but I thought that had more to do with my chicken aversion than anything else. I am only feeling luke warm about red meat and chicken is an absolute no, so I played it safe and ordered a veggie burrito bowl. It was a beautiful night so we decided to dine on the patio. We are eating and chatting when all the sudden my stomach started flipping and churning. I held my hand up for Sean to be quiet and he must have known because he said, "There is a trash can right behind you!" I bolted from my seat and promptly horfed into the public trash can. So much fun, I cannot even tell you. Needless to say, I threw away the rest of my dinner and Chi.potle is off the list for me. Sean said I turned 3 shades of green before all the color drained from my face completely. We had a good laugh about it later! I have no idea what my body rejected about it, but the baby is clearly not a fan! Thank goodness Chipot.le was not a Father's Day dining hot spot and there were not too many people around. It was still embarrassing though.

The night before we dined at our favorite Greek place and I almost lost it there too, but that was directly related to tempting fate and eating a bite of chicken. I have always been a morning barfer so this past week of evening sickness is messing with my head. My food aversions definitely seem worse and barfing in public is definitely a new low for me! So much for the 2nd tri! :)

Sean had a nice Daddy-to-be Day. I bought him a digital picture frame for his office and we went out to lunch and to buy new cell phones. He got an iphone and he is enamored with it! I don't think he put it down all day. He even downloaded the pregnancy app - too cute! I finally got a phone with a full keyboard and even though I am lusting after his phone, I am pretty happy with mine too. We also decided to poke around Babies R Us a bit after lunch. We had fun looking at all the gear and deciding what we might like. You should have seen us trying to get the infant seats out of the strollers - we are hopeless! Sean found a teeny-tiny jean skirt that had him all
a-twitter. He thought it was the cutest thing he had ever seen. I have waited so long to wish my husband a Happy Father's Day - it was like a dream come true. I cannot even imagine what next year will be like when our son or daughter is here to celebrate with Daddy!

In other news, I finally changed the title of my blog and updated some info in the side bar! Big accomplishments for a self-proclaimed blog slacker!

I am also very excited to tell you that my best friend, Amanda, is also pregnant! Not only are we pregnant at the same time, we are due just 10 days apart! It is a girl's dream to share a huge milestone in her life with her best friend. I do pity our husbands though. We are going to be a site to behold!

In other pregnancy news, there are BFPs to celebrate so pop on over and visit Sprogblogger and Bella and share in their happy news!

We have a wedding to go to this weekend and I have NO idea what I am going to wear. I am also nervous about my new "barfing-in-public-while-dining" trick. Can you imagine??? Oh the horror! I would DIE!

Less than 3 weeks to go before I go off of Estrace and Endometrin. I have no idea why, but my RE wanted me to stay on them until 16 weeks. It feels like overkill to me, but I'll do what I gotta do!

Ok, I have not done one of these in a few weeks, so, in honor of the 2nd tri, here is my summary...

How am I feeling? I think we have covered that in detail ;) I have been sleeping A LOT - 12 hours on some nights minus the 10 trips to the bathroom.

Milestones: Second trimester - woo-hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is Ralphie up to? He or she is about the size of a peach and weighs around 1oz. The baby may be sucking its thumb and is practicing breathing in & out.

What am I craving? Pizza, pizza, & more pizza! Honey nut Cheerios.

Aversions: Chicken and Chipotle

What do I miss? My sex drive is still MIA. Hoping it will kick into high gear as I get into 2nd tri! I think coming off the Estrace will help too! Hoping, hoping, hoping ;)

What am I looking forward to? Oh! So much! I am so excited about this trimester. I can't wait to feel the first flutters & movement! Registering, the big u/s (even though we are not finding out the gender), getting a distinct baby bump, & feeling better (hopefully) just to name a few things!

That about wraps it up! Despite the m/s, I am overjoyed to be pregnant and trying to enjoy every moment. It feels more real every single day and I am looking forward to all the milestones that await. Thank you all for sharing this journey with me...

Blogger-Block

I seem to have a case of pregnancy related "blogger-block." I want to write more often, I swear I do. I don't even know where the time goes!

I am officially on summer vacation - well, sort of. My school year tutoring is finished and I start my summer families on Friday. My summer schedule is much less demanding than my school year tutoring and this summer I am really limiting it. 3 days of tutoring max - compared to 5-6 during the school year. I am looking forward to the downtime and plan to be a little stingy about time commitments. Summer goes too fast!

Sean & I spent the first 5 days of summer vacation at the beach. We had a nice time, though the weather was not overly cooperative. We had a good bit of rain, cloudy days and cooler temps. We were able to relax a lot, sleep in, eat good food, shop the outlets etc... We did hit the beach for a few hours on Sunday and it was lovely. I did manage to get a bit of a sunburn on my arms and shins. I forgot that pregnant women are more susceptible to sunburn - I almost never burn & I usually tan easily. I wore sunscreen, but I was not diligent about it. It's wasn't a bad burn and it already turning brown, but it was a good reminder to be extra careful during the hot, sunny days ahead.

Fortunately, I felt great the entire time and did not throw up 1 time the whole trip! I even felt like I had a little more energy and didn't feel the general sense of ick. I was able to eat a greater variety of foods including lots of veggies and even some seafood (I have been seafood averse)!


I really thought I was turning a corner with the morning sickness since I had gone 5 days without getting sick; however, I was wrong. We got home yesterday and last night around 8pm, totally out of the blue, I was violently ill. The exact same thing happened when we traveled to Buffalo over Memorial Day weekend. I guess I can't complain about feeling great when traveling!

It was Libby's first trip to the beach! She loved the sand, but the ocean really freaked her out. Mini schnauzers are not really beach dogs - their coats are not made for sand and water. She was a messy dog! She is so spoiled - she prefers her comfy couch and a/c to sun & sand anyday. She is not exactly outdoorsy! It was so great to have her there with us though.

I am in the final days of my first trimester which is hard to believe! Time really seems to be flying! I will be so thankful to have the first tri behind me and let out a little sigh of relief. I think I am starting to look pregnant instead of just fluffy and bloated, but that could just be wishful thinking :) I am almost exclusively in maternity pants and so love the comfort factor! I am wearing some regular tops as long as they are roomy and don't cling to the belly or ride up. The few maternity tops I have don't look "maternity" or else I would look ridiculous!

Before we left for the beach, I had my NT scan. It went very well! The doctor said the fluid at the back of the neck and measurements were all within normal measurements. I will get the full report with statistics at my appt next week. The u/s itself was good. I just love seeing "Ralphie" on the big screen. He/she was super active at first and we loved seeing the baby doing gymnastics in there. When the doc came into to do her part of the scan, my bladder was too full and after she left me empty a little, Ralphie was no longer in the mood to cooperate. The doc slightly annoyed us because she tried to get some images for all of 30 seconds before she said, "Oh well! The baby is not in the right position. I have seen enough, you are all set." We were a little bummed. Honestly, my last u/s was much more detailed and I was slightly disappointed by this one. We got 2 pics, but Sean stole them for his office. Now we have a long haul before the next u/s!

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but we will not be finding out the sex. We are Team Green all the way! We have always wanted it to be a surprise, but going through IVF reaffirmed that for us as IVF takes so much of the surprise factor out of everything. We are looking forward to that big moment in the delivery room!

I promise to try to write a first tri wrap up/second tri kickoff later this week!

Birthday, Baby Clothes and Bleeding. Oh my!

Wow! Just when I say I am going to make an effort to be a better blogger, I disappear for almost 2 weeks. Sorry!

We had a wonderful time in Buffalo visiting with family & friends. In fact, Sean & my parents threw me a surprise party for my 30th birthday. I was truly surprised and had a great time catching up and celebrating with everyone. The party was in my parent's yard - we had tons of yummy picnic food, cake, desserts, games and fun. I told them it is a good thing I am pregnant and totally distracted or I would have totally been on to them! I thought my in-laws were coming over for dinner and spent the first few minutes that guests arrived being very confused and thinking people were being rude for showing up unannounced! HA! They decided against the traditional "surprise" where we walk in and everyone is already there because they didn't think they could pull it off and did not want to give me a heart attack. Instead, they had people all arrive at a certain time - I was certainly surprised! It was wonderful!

I received some really thoughtful gifts including lots of gift cards for a maternity clothes, barnes and noble gift cards, a beautiful sterling silver bracelet engraved with the word "Believe", tickets to the symphony and a gorgeous Blue Topaz pendant - the baby's birthstone - which totally takes my breath away every time I see it.

I never thought 30 would feel so good. It was the best birthday in many, many years. I feel like all of our dreams are coming true...

While we were home, my sister-in-law had me go through all of her maternity clothes. She has had 3 pregnancies & had a ton of clothes in every size and every season. She is a tiny person, so there wasn't a ton that was going to fit, but I took all her XLs and have a decent amount of stuff to go through & try on. She is done having children and had 6 bins of baby clothes set aside for me!!! She has 3 girls and the clothes are amazing! All Gymboree and she has the entire line for each collection - hats, shoes, tights, hair bows etc.... There are HUNDREDS of outfits from 0-18mo. If "Ralphie" is a girl, she is going to be set with clothes for a very long time! There is a decent number of gender neutral sleepers and a few outfits that could work either way. Even if Ralphie is a boy, I am keeping the bins in storage in case girls are in our future because the stuff is just too cute and in too good of shape to get rid of. It is crazy to have bins of baby clothes in my own house in my baby's nursery! She also gave me a few toys and a pack & play to keep at my mom's house. We made out like bandits and are so thankful to Alison for all the goodies!

I was lucky enough to feel fantastic during our entire trip home - Ralphie was really cooperating for me! It was the best I had felt in a few weeks, in fact I thought maybe the ICK and m/s was behind me, I was wrong, but it was nice to feel good for 4 days.

This past week has not been as smooth. I started having some spotting on Friday morning and it lasted on & off all weekend. It seemed to come on first thing in the morning either right after vomiting or right after putting in my suppository. I would get right on the couch, drink my water and it would subside. I was not too concerned because it wasn't heavy and there was no cramping, but it was a little unsettling. My mom made me promise that if I had any more spotting that I would call the OB right away. Monday morning there was another episode so I called and they wanted to see me right away.

The OB did an internal and there was no sign of active bleeding and there was no blood in my urine. My cervix was closed and looked "great." She told me right off that bat that she was sending me to have a u/s "just in case" and that she was going to try to find the hb with the doppler. She warned me that with my retroverted uterus and being a little fluffy in the middle that she may not be able to find it. She told me not to freak out, but that was easier said than done. After an agonizing few minutes, we all breathed a sigh of relief as she located the baby's heartbeat at a strong 161bpm. She said that was a great sign, but that she still wanted to me to go for the u/s. Her two theories are that the supps are irritating my cervix and/or I am rupturing blood vessels when I vomit. JOY!

I was not able to get in for a u/s until yesterday, but it was AMAZING! By far, the coolest one yet. Ralphie was super active and moving around and swimming like a fishy. I could not believe how much the baby was moving! I heard the h/b which is always music to my ears. I could not believe how much Ralphie has grown in just a little more than 2 weeks. Our u/s tech was so thorough and my u/s was so long. I could have stared at that screen all day long! She printed out 5 super cute pics for me to show off to family. The bleeding was scary, but it was almost worth it to get another peek at the baby. Next up, my NT scan in just about a week!

Here are some pics: the first one is a front view of the face. Honestly, it is a little alien like and maybe even a little creepy, but a face mother could love :) I do love the way he seems to be waving or saluting us. The second one is the side profile and just cute as can be! It says "BOY" to me all the way for some reason.

I missed my 9 week summary & since I am 10w6d today, I will do a combined summary.

How am I feeling: It really depends on the day. I am still getting m/s first thing in the am and feeling pretty tired. The nighttime waking to go pee is super annoying!

Milestones: Seeing the baby move like crazy! Oh & turning 30!

What is Ralphie up to? He or she is the size of a small plum this week and measured over 4cm on u/s. Bones are hardening, nails & hair are growing. He or she will respond to poking and prodding.

What am I craving? Oranges, cucumbers, chocolate milk.

Aversions: Nothing recently

What do I miss: Still missing my sex drive. Last seen sometime in early April. Hoping to have sex sometime in the next few weeks...

Quotes of the week: 1. said at my party by a family friend, "I think now that you have gotten pregnant, you aren't going to need IVF anymore. It happens all the time, you know. When the baby comes you won't have time to focus on getting pregnant and it will just happen. You never know!" I tried to explain that me being pregnant has no impact on Sean's sperm count, but about half way through I just decided to save my breath... #2 said by none other than MY HUSBAND! "I think you are talking yourself into throwing up, it's mind over matter!" Seriously??? Because I enjoy gagging and dry heaving and throwing up bile for 5 minutes straight! He is in the dog house!

A week from today is my last day of tutoring for the school year. It is a busy time - exams start tomorrow! Next Thursday, Sean & I leave for Dewey Beach for 5 days and when we come back I start my summer tutoring. I am excited for the beach and looking forward to some r&r, sunshine and shopping!

I cannot believe the school year is over and June is here. Time is flying! C'mon 2nd tri!