10 weeks!

Today I am 10 weeks exactly and Adam and I got to see our little one again. :) Our little Drake has a strong heart pumping away and has grown quite a bit since the last time we got to take a peek! Last time, it looked like a kidney bean and was about the size of blueberry. This time it looked like an actual baby (yes!) and is about the size of a prune.

My favorite part? The little one was drumming like mad in there! During the Ultrasound it looked like he/she was just jamming away, using its belly as a drum and then would occasionally kick out its legs to continue its groove. Definitely Adam's child...ha!

We have another ultrasound in 2 weeks when we will also perform all of the blood tests for the genetic screening.

I cannot tell you how utterly elated I was to see that heartbeat and our baby doing well. We also got the ok from the doctor to tell everyone, so the secret is out!

My official due date is November 27th, 2012!

My 10 week UltraSound...

8 weeks, 3 days...

How far along? 8 weeks, 3 days
Total weight gain/loss: I am yo-yoing quite a bit day-to-day (both up and down) but I always end up back to my starting weight...so far.
Maternity clothes? Nope, but I am seriously considering changing bras.
Stretch marks? Not yet but they are in my gene pool so Adam bought me some foreign stretch mark cream. Might as well try!
Sleep: I am always tired and am down for a nap at ALL times. However, I haven't slept through the night in a quite a while because I keep waking up to go to the bathroom. Good news though is once I am back in bed, I go back to sleep right away.
Best moment this week: Driving down to get an AWESOME deal on a car seat with my dad to Oak Harbor. It was nice to get to just chat with him about everything.
Miss Anything? Sleeping through the night.
Movement: Taquito is far too tiny still.
Food cravings: Not really as long as I don't let myself get too hungry.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Waking up in the morning, haha.
Have you started to show yet: Nope
Gender prediction: Honestly, Adam and I don't care as long as it is a healthy human! Either a boy or a girl would make us extremely happy but we are defaulting to calling Taquito a "him". I think that is just because our friends are having a boy though, so it is rubbing off on us.
Labor Signs: I would hope not at 8 weeks...
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Generally happy! I get frustrated really easily about the stupidest things but that goes away as quickly as it came.
Looking forward to: Finishing the painting of the nursery and of course the doctor appointment on April 30th. :)

They're here!

Last Thursday, I mentioned how my pregnancy symptoms died down and I was feeling pretty darn good. Over the weekend, the universe slapped me for that comment and the symptoms came roaring to attention for me. I apologize in advance for any over sharing in this post, but I promised myself I would be honest about this pregnancy and not try to make the world think my pregnancy is filled with butterflies and lilacs swaying in the breeze as nature hums a delightful tune...

Morning Sickness: Oh the joys of this little adventure...each and every morning I wake up and hug my toilet before I can start my day. Luckily it is not morning, noon and night sickness like some pregnant ladies experience, so I am thanking my lucky stars that I only have to wake up 10-15 minutes earlier than normal to deal with the unpleasantness and then go about my day. Other than my morning "hug" as long as I don't eat anything stronger than toast before 11, I do pretty well.

Exhaustion: For being the size of a raspberry, our little Taquito sure is taking it out of me. To give you an example, Adam and I were cleaning out the guest room so we could paint the nursery. He stopped to give me a hug for a second and BAM...I literally fell asleep standing up in his arms. Adam just laughed at me and sent me away for a nap. Sometimes I think early pregnancy symptoms are natures's way of preparing the husband's for fatherhood too by making them take care of their utterly useless pregnant wives.

Hunger: This has to be the weirdest symptom for me. After getting sick in high school and basically shutting down my metabolism, I have had to live with a VERY slow metabolism for quite a while. Any sort of food would just hang out with me rather than making its way through the system. Not only did this make it difficult to lose weight over the years, but I also learned to be able to go HOURS on a piece of toast. Well, a pregnant Amanda is NOT down with this and has seemed to have had a serious discussion with my metabolism bringing it back from its extended leave. Now, I am hungry almost every 2 hours. This whole constantly stuffing my face business is strange and foreign to me. I feel like I am going to gain astronomical amounts of weight because of it too. Luckily, this hasn't happened yet and I am trying to be good about making sure I stay around a healthy number of calories a day. We will see as time goes by though.

And last but not least...PEEING: Goodness, I swear I have to go to the bathroom every hour. This has to be one of the most infuriating things I have ever had to deal with. I happen to know my bladder could hold a respectable amount of liquds prior to this pregnancy (I am not sure what is respectable...but you know what I mean) however now, it seems to be pretending that a giant baby is sitting on it and the pressure is simply too much to take. COME ON, BLADDER, the baby is the size of a raspberry...quit making excuses and DO YOUR DAMN JOB by holding a bit of liquid before sounding the alarms!  Utterly ridiculous...Not sure what it is going to do when the baby is actually baby size...I am screwed.

So four big symptoms make up this 2 month mark of pregnancy for me. Overall, I am pretty optimistic about everything and I am having fun planning and getting all of the items we need. We are making great progress on that front. Just under 2 weeks until we get to see the baby again! Crossing my fingers for an even stronger heartbeat and a clean bill of health.

Oh and even though I am just over 8 weeks today, here is my ultrasound from 6 weeks, 3 days. Just realized I never posted this. So, without further ado...here is our little taquito at the size of an apple seed. :)

A BIG thank you to Peter...

Today, Peter told Adam and I that he is getting our little taquito pretty much the best stroller on the market and all we can say is THANK YOU. The Bob Stroller is perfect for taking on the trails around our house (a big thing for us) and will stick around from infancy through toddler.

I cannot tell you how thankful Adam and I are to him for ordering that for us. That takes a big ol' item off our "to-buy" list. THANK YOU, PETER!

In other news, I am back to anxiously awaiting my baby doctor appointment on the 30th. My pregnancy symptoms have died down quite a bit over the last couple of days so having a little reassurance, like hearing the heatbeat again, would make me a happy camper. I am pretty sure the constant worry is here to just prepare me for when the baby is actually born and the worry really kicks in...

However, I have the nursery to distract me right now. Adam and I are painting this weekend and we already have all sorts checked off the list, so if I keep busy I shouldn't go too batsh** crazy. Also, almost every pregnant woman I have talked to has said this constant worry is normal and I am clinging to that thought (please don't disillusion me...).

Sidenote: A big ol' glass of caffeine sounds heavenly right now...Mmmmmmmm

Moving right along...

Since hearing the heartbeat last Thursday, things have been moving right long! We told my grandparents the big news on Sunday, which was fun and thrilled my mom so she has more people to share her new "grandmother" status with and we enjoyed hearing the excitement from everyone. We still have a lot of people on Adam's side of the family to tell but I think he is wanting to wait until we get confirmation from the doctor on April 30th. Although the heartbeat was a great sign there is a lot left for our little one to do so when Adam wants to tell the majority of his family is 100% up to him.

We DID however, make a few trips to some consignment shops around town and we went to the Babies R Us in Lynwood to look around. We lucked out on both counts too! At a local consigment shop we found a changing table for about a quarter of the price it would have been new. All we need to do is paint it to match the dresser we already have and voila! At Baby Mecca (as I like to call it) we found an "As-Is" Glider marked off because of a small white spot on the wood BEHIND the cushion. No one will see it, so we decided it didn't matter. :) It is super comfortable too. So, our nursery already has a dresser (one I have had since I was a little girl), a changing table, a glider, a wooden rocking horse (also something I used to have as a little girl), and my mom gave us the little rocking chair her Grandpa gave her. We are going to paint the room this weekend, but we are not buying any bedding or gender specific decorations until we find out the sex of the baby. We have a long way to go until we can find that out, but we still have lots of time after that to get the stuff before the baby arrives.

I am a planner...always have been and always will be so I can't help but plan try to get all my ducks in a row for the baby, even if it seems a little early to some.

Someone asked me to take a picture of my "before" tummy before I started showing for camparison purposes  so here it is (I also learned it is time to clean my bathroom mirror but don't judge me too harshly for it)... :)

A tiny little heartbeat!

Today, Adam and I got to see our little one and the little fluttering of his/her heart. It was such a weird sensation, seeing our baby growing inside of me and the relief of seeing the heart beating.

Our little taquito (as Adam likes to call it) has a heart beat of 124bpm, which is normal!!! I am pretty much exactly on track size-wise so we are sticking with me being at 6 weeks 3 days today. This means the guess of my due date is November 26th still.

When I have my 10 week appointment on April 30th things may change but until then I am breathing a sigh of relief right now that everything is progressing normally.

Today is a good day...

I need to calm down...

Today I learned if you call the baby doctor staff twice they decide to get you in for an ultrasound early to calm you down. For my first pregnancy and with my mom's history swimming in my head, I am worried that our little one will not hang on so I am taking it seriously if anything is out of the normal.

First, I had SUPER intense cramps that made me almost pass out at work. I thought that seemed a little abnormal so I called the nursing staff to make sure there was nothing to worry about. They sent me in for blood work and said as long as there is no spotting, we are good to go. Great!

Second, I had my routine blood work come in for my primary doctor today and it was much lower than what it should have been based on my previous test results. So, thinking it being low was bad and with my primary doctor on vacation, I called them to make sure it was normal since I couldn't ask the primary! Apparently, this makes me paranoid and crazy and deserving of an early ultrasound.

I have to say that I am not really upset by this result because I am dying to see the baby and hear its heartbeat but now I am marked as a crazy patient, I am sure...goody. But at least when they meet me, they will know I am a NICE crazy lady... :)

Hopefully, my ultrasound on Thursday will go well and we will hear a strong little heartbeat beating away. I am not sure what I will do if bad news comes but at least Adam will be there so we can either rejoice or mourn together.