Weeks 1-13

Well HELLO everyone! Long time, no talk eh?

The last 12 months have been a whirlwind. Several gigantic trials, tribulations, and blessings have arised along the way. One day, when I feel the urge to spill out my heart.. I hope to share my story. Until then, I will start with the most recent of these occurrences because it's the one with the biggest blessing involved.

Three months ago, I was completely stressed out to the max. After several days of worrying and wondering, I opted to upgrade from the cheaper versions and buy one of these..

Are you shocked?

Yes, we were. I think we still are actually.

 I'm 14 weeks as of Monday.

Time is flying right on by.

I want to give an update from weeks 1-13 combined in a single post to keep track & record all of the tiny details of this new adventure in our lives.

*Beware: some of the information is not what I would call "pleasant". But, it's still the truth.. and I want to look back one day and laugh about it all.

Shall we begin?

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First day of last menstrual cycle: February 27th, 2012

Approximate conception date: March 12, 2012

First positive pregnancy test: Friday March 30, 2012

How many pregnancy tests taken: 4 (week of missed period, all negative) - 4 positive from Friday-Sunday.

How far along: roughly 4 weeks

Told Cliff: March 30, 2012

Told parents: March 31, 2012

Scheduled 1st prenatal appointment: April 11, 2012 at 2:30 pm

symptoms: no appetite, sore breasts, nausea before meals

1st Appointment Recap:

Weight: ~128-130  - I can't remember exactly.

When we arrived at the appointment, we were immediately called back in no time.

The ultrasound technician met us halfway and said that we would be doing the ultrasound prior to the visit with the Doc.

-My heart sank-

I was SO nervous.

This was us waiting to be called back.

Going in to the exam, we had no idea how far along we were. When I called to schedule the appointment, the nurse asked when the first day of my last menstrual cycle was. Because I always keep track of it in my phone, I was able to recall the exact date right away. She scheduled our appointment for what we thought would be approximately 6 weeks along. She said we should be able to see the gestational sac, the yolk sac, and a baby by this time.

Meanwhile, I get undressed and plop up on the exam table wrapped in a sheet from the bottom down while Cliff sat to my left in a chair. Poor thing, he didn't have a clue what to expect. I should've filled him in a little more on what to look for on the screen above.

The nurse does her thing and  within seconds, I saw the little sac I was so immensly hoping to see pop up on the screen. I breathed a sigh of relief. However, I didn't see anything inside of it.

-My heart sank again-

I knew exactly what I was looking for. Not only did I research what an ultrasound would look like at 6 weeks, but I do have a little bit of nursing background and could tell that something wasn't right.

The nurse looked at me and asked "are you sure your last cycle date was February 27th?"

'Yes ma'am', I said.

'Well, here you're only measuring at 4 weeks 5 days. Your date must be off a little. I can see the gestational sac and the yolk sac, which is good.. but it's still too small for it to be around 6 weeks like we thought.'

'I'm pretty confident on the date. Around 99% positive actually. '

"Ok, we will check back at the next appointment to see it's progess", she said.

After visiting with the Doc, he made it clear that all looked well. He didn't seemed too concerned with the fact that the baby was measuring a week and a half behind the calculated date. He said it could be one of two things: 1) ovulated & implated later or 2) date of last menstrual cycle was wrong.

I knew the date wasn't wrong, so I hoped and prayed that I must've ovulated later than expected since my cycles hadn't been regular for about 8 months anyhow.

My fear was that the baby was not progressing like it should be.

I worried.

I probably worried myself sick for the next few weeks actually... 

Cliff was SO funny about it all. Like I said above, I really should've filled him in a little more-so than what I did.

Our nurse wasn't the best she could be. She actually didn't mutter much more than asking about the menstrual date and telling us it was measuring later than expected. She didn't describe anything nor did she tell us what we were looking at really.. More or less, she sucked. Seriously.

After the ultrasound, Cliff looked at me and said

"okkk.. so what does that mean? Are you pregnant or not?

Almost rolling off of the exam table laughing so hard, I said "yes, silly! You didn't see that black circle thing on the screen?! That's the baby's sac. You know, where it starts growing!"

His response, "yea, I guess. But, there's no baby. Soo.. you're not really pregnant yet."

Yall, it was the funniest thing. He just couldn't grasp the idea of it yet.

I think he really wanted to, but it just wasn't sinking in at the time.

I laughed uncontrollably.

Due Date: Doc didn't give us one yet, but it should be around December 14th according to these measurements.

Belly Pic:

5 weeks:

Experiencing any symptoms?: fatigue, nausea (very little), tender breasts - looks like I've gotten a serious boob job, for real. I can feel them becoming heavier & fuller. Facial acne has actually began to clear up slightly and looks better now than it has in two years.

Any scary episodes?: brown discharge (April 2)

How do you feel?: anxious, nervous, scared, fear of miscarriage

I purchased my first baby item. Well, I guess you could call it that anyhow.. it is "baby" related.

This book is awesome! I highly recommend it to any of your pregnany ladies who want to document and keep track of everything going on.

It has questions to answer, pages to put a copy of your ultrasound images, journal space to write, etc.

I bought my copy off of amazon.com for less than $10.

6 weeks:

Symptoms are pretty much the same as last week. Lots of bloating, belching, and more.

I got a sweet gift from a friend!

From Jess over at Stilettos & A Fishing Pole to be exact!

How cute is the tag & bag? She's awesome.

TOO funny.

The book is paperback, and unknowingly, after she writes the message on the inside front cover does she realize it totally bled through. Hilarious!

Again, another recommendation. This book is full of belly laughs, just as it says! Jenny McCarthy is a nut to begin with & this book tells all.

7 weeks:

Experiencing any symptoms?: hunger, hunger, hunger. I can't seem to get enough food. My stomach literally growls minutes after I feed it. I've always loved food, but I'm realizing that my hunger is becoming unaffordable! I want to eat constantly. Any and everything in sight.

..And gas. Serious gas. Bloating, belching, and more. You can use your imagination.

I don't know if it's certain foods I am eating or if it's literally having to do with the fact some of these hormones are slowing down my digestive tract causing decreased motility in the bowel & more toxins to be released into my body causing.. you guessed it.. more GAS. It's horrid.

Any scary episodes?: More spotting -

Started on April 17th: light pink in color, very scarce amount, only when wiping.

Continued to the 18th and turned dark brown in color. Little heavier than the previous day. But still not enough to notice on my panties. Around 7 p.m. that night, I had just finished eating supper and drew my legs up to my chest while sitting on a stool. I immediately felt a gush down below and knew something wasn't quite right. I ran to the bathroom and wiped.. pinky-red tinged blood. Scared me half to death. I slept uneasy that night tossing and turning, worrying myself slap crazy.

The next morning I called the doctor and spoke with the nurse first thing. She said there was nothing I could do about it, just to take it easy and continue to monitor it. Unknowingly, 1 in 4 women actually experience some type of bleeding/spotting during their pregnancy. She said I could lay flat on my back for the next week and still not prevent a miscarriage from happening. If it was going to happen, it was just going to happen. She requested that if the cramping and bleeding continued and seemed to get brighter red and the pain more intense to where I was hunched over it hurt so bad, then I needed to rush to the ER. Other than that, relax and take a deep breath. So that's what I did.

The spotting seemed to disappear on the 19th after I spoke with her. I wiped one time that afternoon and noticed a light brown color, but it wasn't nothing compared to what I had experience the evening before. From that day on, it never happened again. (Thank you, Lord!)

How do you feel?: exhausted. I rush home every afternoon in hopes of crashing on the couch and taking a quick nap.

8 weeks:

Nothing new this week as far as symptoms and such.

How do you feel?: Sense of relief. When you reach 8 weeks, have a good ultrasound and hear the baby's healthy heartbeat - your risk of miscarriage decreases significantly. I can breathe a little easier now. Plus, seeing that little flutter on the screen and hearing that fast paced heartbeat was the most amazing feeling!

2nd Prenatal Appointment Recap:

May 7th

B/P: 112/60

Weight: 134

Questions I asked:

1) Is there a cheaper, generic version of the prenatal vitamins you prescribed at the 1st visit?

They were $30/bottle for a months supply.. I need to save as much as possible and that wasn't cutting it.

Answer: YES!

2) I have a friend getting married soon and this upcoming weekend is her bachelorette party in downtown ATL.. what do you think about secondhand smoke, etc. in a bar setting?

Answer: It'll be fine. Just a night or two isn't going to hurt.

3) Can I sleep on my stomach?

Answer: Sure. As long as you are comfortable. Before long, you won't be able.

We saw a BABY!!!!!!

Talk about a GREAT feeling? Words cannot begin to describe!

As soon as she got it up on the screen, I felt weights off my shoulders being released.

*Holy sigh*

I smiled & looked to Cliff and said "Do you see that?!!?! It's a BABY!! Now, do you think we're pregnant?"

He laughed and said, "Yea! I see it!!"

Again, we had the same ultrasound nurse who didn't give a rats behind about explaining anything at all to us. She sucks. She really does.

I'm just so giddy at the time, I can't get up the nerve to say something to her or slow her down.

I was able to catch a quick glimpse of the baby's heart fluttering and tried to explain to Cliff what it was and make sure he got to see it! Amazing!

She turned up the volume and we were able to hear the heart beating for the first time as well!

Well.. for all of about 5 seconds before her fingers went to typing away and changing the screen again.

This time around, we measured a week and a few days SOONER than we expected. Due to the last visit measuring 4 weeks 5 days, this visit should measure around 8 weeks.

We actually measured 10 weeks!

Super confusing, I know.

Somehow baby reved up his/her engine and sprouted!

It could've been the fact that I was fertilizing him/her reallllyy well with lots of food..constantly!

New Due Date: December 3, 2012

9 weeks:

What's up with my bod? I've gained 4-5 pounds (per my at home scale) since the 1st ultrasound. My pants are getting snug around the waistline. Boobs are steadily growing and are becoming increasingly tender. I feel like I need a loooong nap around 3 o'clock every afternoon. Still no nausea or sickness, thankfully.

What's up with my diet? I'ts never fulfilling enough. I'm starving all the time. Constant hunger. I literally get hungry every 2-3 hours and want to eat any and everything I can get my hands on. I haven't started "craving" anything in particular, I just want to EAT.

10 weeks:

Not much has changed. This weekend was Mother's Day!

I got several texts from a few close relatives and friends saying Happy 1st Mother's Day!

AND, I even got a gift from my Aunt.. included was:

and a pink rubber ducky! She swears it's a GIRL!

11 weeks:

Experiencing any symptoms?: Facial acne has returned and is horrible. I'm almost too embarassed to walk out of the house. My face and back are the only places of concern for now. It's crazy. I've never been one to experience acne and can not figure out for the life of me what is causing it to occur. And now with a pregnancy involved, it's becoming worse.

How do you feel?: I've taken fewer naps this week than normally, but I

Bachelorette Weekend:

12 weeks:

What's up with my head? It looks awful. Seriously. Hair. Face. All of it. My poor hair hasn't seen a straightener in weeks it seems. I just don't have the energy or patience to sit and fix it every morning. The facial acne is something terrible still. But, I think I've found the entire problem.

Silly me.. I figure since Cliff uses a bar of soap on his entire body... including face.. that I could too. Soo.. for months on end now, I have been scrubbing my face with a rag and bar of soap while showering every night. Stupid, right? Yea.. so I've heard. I'm changing it up and totally putting the bar of soap method to a hault for.. forever! Let's see!

What's up with my bod? I'm feeling good this week. Still no terrible morning sickness. Just a few nausea episodes when it gets time to eat and I don't eat right away. My tummy is starting to develop the baby bump. Definitely becoming noticeable in tight tees!

What's up with my wardrobe? I need a new one! None.. ok, two.. two pairs of shorts fit and almost all of my jeans have become too tight for comfort. Here's to exercise attire!

13 weeks:

3rd Prenatal Appointment Recap:

No transvag ultrasound this go 'round. Instead, we did a quick doppler to check the heartbeat from the outside of the belly & had a short visit with the Doc to check the status of everything.

B/P: 112/60

Weight: 138

I've got an audio clip we recorded of the heartbeat. As soon as I can figure out how to convert it to a video file format, I will update it for all to hear!

Doc asked about symptoms, problems, etc. None of which I had anything to complain about.

He said all looked well, and we are now transitioning into the

2nd trimester!

yippee!

We go back in another 3 weeks for a doppler and check-up - June 20th

Then, the next visit after that will be the gender reveal! - July 18th

*We have BIG party being planned for that!*

Follow along with Mrs. Drew over at Stilettos and A Fishing Pole - She's our party planner & will be posting updates about it soon!