31w4d.... Pictures(and Sounds) Finally!!!

Sorry for the long delay, but the basement is still torn up, and we are still down a scanner. Luckily I have a wonderful friend who was able to scan the ultrasound pic for me, THANKS DB!

Also today I had another OB appointment, where the doc checked the heartbeat, my weight and my blood pressure. Blood pressure is still great as always, I still haven't gained a pound since getting pregnant, and the heartbeat was as beautiful as ever. Just click the picture below for our ultrasound pic, as well as a recording of Sean's heartbeat from today's appointment.

As for me, well I woke up out of a percocet/ambien sleep in pain last night, but decided to try to go back to sleep since I knew I already had a scheduled doctors appointment today. I am definitely getting more and more sore and tired. I actually told the OB today that I am ready for this pregnancy to be done, she said she would prefer if he cooked for at least another month, then we could talk. She understands/sympathizes with my pain, so I know that she will do whats best for both me and Sean. Let's just say that I haven't had the easiest pregnancy, and although I am eternally grateful to be pregnant, it is getting old, and I am getting sore and tired.

Anyways, in other news we have gotten a start on the nursery, after my family painted, we put up our changing table, and we put a closet unit together so that we could actually start putting things away. We got the call yesterday that our glider had arrived at Babies'R'Us, and we are making a plan to go and pick it up. The crib should be in by the end of the month, and then all that will be left is to bring Sean home! Of course that means we have to finish a whole bunch of other little projects before we are really ready for him to be home.

Ok, more later, but for now enjoy a little picture and sound courtesy of Sean!

29w3d... It's my birthday!!!

Its my 26th birthday!!! I got a wonderful present of seeing my little boy today in an ultrasound. He is nearly 3lbs already, and has adorable chubby cheeks. I'll get everyone a picture as soon as I can but our scanner is out of commission for about a week. I promise he is a cutie though. They did take a quick look at my kidney, and the stone is still there big as ever.

Brian took me over to a tiny little bakery in Annapolis that we found a few months back for me to pick out my birthday dessert. He also took me for a sushi dinner(with doctors permission). It was heaven. I have been so good this whole pregnancy that just 2 pieces of raw tuna and 2 pieces of raw salmon were some of the best sushi I had ever had.

We were going to come home and have a quiet evening and have some birthday dessert, however, as always, plans change and we adapt. We got a call at the end of dinner that was asking to schedule a major basement repair that we need done to start tomorrow morning. Considering we REALLY need this repair completed, we were very hesitant to push it off to another time, so we came right home and we (well, Brian) worked on moving the final items in the basement for a couple hours. We will continue my birthday celebration tomorrow, and have our yummy desserts then.

So what huge basement repairs could cause such commotion, you might ask? Well due to basement flooding... through the floor, we have to get the entire french drain system replaced around all 4 walls in our basement. Its a huge and expensive repair, but it must be done. It will take three days to do the repair, and another three days for the cement to completely dry. So by the end of next week we can have the carpet replaced, and the basement will be all fixed. It will be nice to have our house back.

Another big item that has been worked on lately, is that my family has just finished painting Sean's nursery. As soon as we get a chance I'll start posting pics of the nursery progress since it will come together pretty quickly at this point.

Love to all and I promise to get a picture update ASAP.

20w3d... IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

IT'S A BOY!!! We are so incredibly excited. It was very cool to see him in both 2-D and 3-D.


This is a picture of our little one's face. Look at that cute little nose!


Here is what we call the paparazzi picture. He has his hands right up in front of his face as if to say, "Don't take my picture!".


Here is another picture where you can see the body profile. You can see the head, the arm, the ribs, and the legs.

We are absolutely in love with our little, beautiful baby boy!!!

20w1d... Over halfway there...

I had my doubts along the way that we would make it as far as we have, but we are here. On Wednesday we will get to see our little one again, and hopefully find out if it is a boy or a girl. Not that it matters what we are having, but we are incredibly excited just to see the baby again.

Well Bri and I have had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend. On Friday we went to the mall, and I got a pedicure, which was heavenly. I have needed that all winter, and now that it is flip-flop season I really needed it. Then Brian and I went to see "Baby Mama", it was hysterical! We loved it. After the movie Brian and I went and registered at Babies'R'Us! We loved walking around the store picking items that would be perfect for our baby. It was really wonderful. We has also started another registry at another very popular specialty store local to us called "Great Beginnings"(www.greatbeginningsonline.com). Between these two registries we feel that we have covered all of the basics that our little one needs, although considering we are new if any of you know of something that we are missing, let us know.

On Saturday, Brian and I went to a local sci-fi convention. It was a first for us, but we really had a great time with some of our friends from work. On Sunday, we set up our brand new grill, and Brian made us some wonderful burgers and corn. Today we went and bought ourself some outdoor furniture. We actually feel like we are enjoying our backyard for the first time again.

I hope all of you have enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend!

10w3d... First OB appointment.

Today was my first appointment with my OB office. It was.... ok. The first appointment at the practice I chose is always with the nurse practitioner. I DON'T like the nurse practitioner. I have a ton of things that I could go into with her... but I won't. I'll focus on the good parts of the visit. I have lost a somewhere between 3-8 pounds. I am going to get to change my prenatal vitamins, everything looks great with me.

Oh and we HEARD the heartbeat!!! It sounded just like a little train chugging along. It was wonderful and beautiful and amazing!!!!!!

As for the not great stuff, I had glucose in my urine sample, so between that and my current weight I have to do the one hour glucose test at my next appointment in one month. It is what it is...

9w3d.... Baby's first business trip!

Well I am back from a business trip to Arizona. Lets just say it ended better than it started.

I have had a business trip scheduled for about a month for work. I didn't want to change any of my plans because I didn't want anyone at work to know. So I went...

Brian and I had tickets for Celtic Woman last Saturday night. Since the concert was so late, and I had an early morning flight on Sunday(not considering the time change), I took two naps during the day on Saturday. We thought that this would help me get through the concert, and make it through the early morning. Well we had a blast at the concert, and I came home and went straight to bed. The next morning we got up, and I was not feeling well at all, bad bad morning sickness. Well I made it through the drive to the airport, and still felt pretty sick. And after I got through security, I went to my gate, and then I had to go straight to the bathroom to throw up.... twice... ugh it was terrible. Well then I made it through my two flights on ginger ale and attempted sleep. I was still feeling ill by the time I got to Tucson. Well I tried to eat again... and promptly lost everything... for the entire day. I was in bad shape.... and all by myself. Well I decided to try to go to bed early to sleep off the sick and hopefully feel better in the morning. I slept 11.5 hours... and felt a little better...

Well I didn't throw up again the whole trip... but did feel queasy a few of the days. I came home today, and survived the flights. Its so good to be home...

I think I have lost several pounds between throwing up and having no desire to eat. I forgot to bring my prenatals with me on the trip, so I have missed three nights of them, but I'll start on them again tonight.

8w4d... GRADUATION!!!!

We went to our very last fertility specialist appointment today, kind of bitter sweet since we have come to love everyone in that office. However, we wouldn't have been released if everything wasn't perfect with our little one.

We had our second ultrasound today, and that baby is so incredibly beautiful. Its amazing how much changes in just two weeks. We actually saw the little one wave its arms at us and move its head! The heartbeat was a very strong 178 beats per minute, which is absolutely wonderful. The little one measured exactly 8w4d, exactly where we expected it to be. Here are some pictures, you can easily see the head, body and arms and legs. The round circle is what is left of the yolk sac, it should be gone within the next week, and the placenta should take over completely.

When we left we got to finally make our first appointment with our OB's office. We will be seeing the nurse practitioner on March 19th, and then seeing one of eight other OB's on a rotating basis for each subsequent visit.

We were also given a referral for an NT scan for between 11-14 weeks. An NT scan is a very detailed ultrasound where they measure many things on the baby, to determine the risk for many possible genetic abnormalities. We scheduled that for April 2, we will be over 12 weeks at that point, and the baby will be much bigger at that time.

All in all it was a great appointment, and nothing but great news! As a thank you for the office, we brought in a box of muffins and cookies and a thank you note. They loved it! We have really become so close with them over the last 8-9 months, it was a little surreal knowing that we wouldn't see them again till we were showing off our little one in October.

Now we have to tell the families.... :-)
We are telling my parents at dinner on March 15th when they come over to our house to celebrate St. Patrick's day, and we are telling Brian's family while we are down in Charlotte for Easter. If anyone has a great idea for how we should tell them, leave me a comment or send me an email, we want to make this good.

Love to all!

7w4d... Update

Hi everyone... I guess its been a while since I updated everyone. In the last 7 days, I have been dealing with my many symptoms, but I have also been falling more and more in love with this little one.

Let me start with symptoms...
1) Morning Sickness - I became really bad starting last week, it would last till around noon, and it would be bad. I won't go into too many details other than I was miserable... However good news I think I figured the proper combination of food and med timing to get the morning sickness to go away. Brian figured out that me taking my prenatal first thing in the morning was making me really ill, and I figured out that a high protein breakfast was the only breakfast that I should have whenever I need to take my meds.

2) Boobs... oye they are sore... Oh yeah and they have gotten BIG already. Ok, for those of you who know me, you know I am not a tiny girl. I am a size 18. Well I have already had to upgrade my bras already. In one month, I went from my normal size of 40D to 42DD... ugh. Oh well, I suppose they will only get bigger before this little one comes.

3) Tired... I could easily sleep 10 hours per night. I also get really tired after doing simple things.


Now for the falling in love part... Bri and I finally relaxed a lot after seeing the heartbeat a week ago. Now we can be seen talking to our little one, and making nursery plans... We are so in love with something we have never even seen. Our little raspberry(thats how big the baby is now) is going to be so incredibly loved. I can't wait to have him/or her here.

Love to all...

6w 4d... We have a heart beat!!!!

Brian and I had the most beautiful day. Today we found out that we have one baby with a beautiful heartbeat. The baby measured 6w3d, which is perfect since we are supposed to be 6w4d. The heartbeat was 121 beats per minute. Here it is!!!



I was so nervous last night, I had a hard time sleeping. I can't even describe how beautiful that little flicker is when you see it for the first time. I held my breath when the u/s started, but as soon as I saw that there was something in the sac, I took a deep breath. Then when I saw that beautiful heartbeat... there were no words, only tears. I started bawling... with a big smile on my face. Brian even got misty eyed when he saw that heartbeat. The u/s tech that did our u/s, was a tech that had done a ton of our u/s during our months of treatment. Well, when I started crying, she started crying, and said she was so incredibly glad that she got to be the one to do our ultrasound. It was a good day!

So we go back on 3/06/08 (2 weeks from today) for another ultrasound, and we will probably "graduate" from our RE's office at that appointment. At that point we will call our OB and make an appointment for our normal OB visits.

6w 3d...

Well, less than 24 hours to go before our ultrasound. I had the funniest dream last night. I dreamt that we went to our appointment, and they were just getting started on the ultrasound, and I remember being extra nervous. I remember they saw a sac, and were getting ready to zoom in on something in the sac, and then I woke up.... I never found out if everything was ok. I woke up a little paniced, because I was so ready to see what was in that sac. Well after using the bathroom (darn pg hormones) I fell back to sleep pretty quick, and the first thing I dreamt about was that beautiful heartbeat. All of that has to be a good sign, right?

I have a really good feeling about tomorrow, last time I was a little excited, and very scared, this time I am very excited and a little nervous. Assuming all goes well tomorrow, I'll post ultrasound pics tomorrow afternoon. If all doesn't go so well.... well I'll deal with that if I need to.

Who knew I could be so in love with a cartoon of what my baby could look like right now? I keep looking at my widget(see sidebar), and that little alien is the most beautiful thing I think I have ever seen. I can't wait to goo and gaa over a beautiful ultrasound picture.

Well if you can, send some prayers our way around 9:15 EST tomrorrow, and maybe some tonight to help us sleep. Although that hasn't been a problem lately, I have been crashing about 8pm, and getting up at 6am, 10 hours. We are very excited, and ready to see this little one.

5w 6d...

Well.... as of tomorrow I have known about my pregnancy for two full weeks. I am so incredibly happy to have made it thorough this past week. Our last pregnancy never measured out of the 5w4d-5w6d range. I have a good feeling about this one though. Maybe after I see the heartbeat I'll start doing some belly pics... as scary as that is.

I haven't quite figured how whether I am finishing the 6th week today or starting the 6th week tomorrow... every site I look it up on has a different opinion. Well here is some info about what happens during the 6th week with our little one.

Your pregnancy: 6 weeks

How your baby's growing: This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

5w 2d.... Whole new two week wait.

Well, today I am 5 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Boy do I feel pregnant! Over the past few days my symptoms have gotten worse and worse. The two big symptoms are my morning sickness and my painful boobies. The morning sickness seems to be getting better so long as I have something to eat every couple hours. The boobs... well they are a different story. THEY HURT!!! No matter what I do or how I lay or what I wear, they are painful. I think they hurt less today because I have an extra cami that is tight over my chest, so the pressure is helping.

I can say I only had a tiny bit of m/s last time around, and my chest was never painful like this... I am thinking I may be in this pregnancy game for the long haul. I am beginning to believe that this is really going to happen.

As for the title of my post, well we had two weeks to wait from our last blood draw till our ultrasound. That two weeks is excruciating, because I just want to know everything is ok with our little one. I want to know that there is actually a baby in there, and that everything looks normal. The last time around our ultrasounds never measured above 5w6d, and there was never a yolk sac that could be measured. Last time around I think I knew that something wasn't right. I was far more nervous that I am now. Somehow I think this little one is going to stick!

Now... if only my patience and good feeling can hold out till our ultrasound next Thursday(2/21) when I will be 6w4d.

4w 5d... final blood test!

Well we had our third and final blood test today. My HCG levels went up to 1016. Thats a doubling time of 49.1 hours.... which is totally normal.

We have our first ultrasound scheduled for 02/21, 14 days from today... ah, another two week wait. I might go crazy! We should be 6w4d at that point, so we should see the heartbeat then.

I am excited and nervous all at the same time!

4w 3d... Another Blood test

We had another blood test today to check my HCG levels. HCG should double every 48-72 hours early in a healthy pregnancy. Well my levels were 206 on Monday, and 519 today!!! Thats a doubling time of 36.01 hours! I am more than happy with that number. They asked that I come back in on Friday for a third and final draw, I should be over 1000 by that point.

Ah, symptoms... boy they are hitting me, even more than my last pregnancy. I have had morning sickness everyday so far. It isn't bad enough that I have gotten sick yet, but I have felt light headed, felt like gagging and felt generally nauseous. Generally it hits me from about when I wake up in the morning till just after lunch. I have found that eating on a regular schedule, and having a snack mid-morning really helps. Its just funny, because I seem to always feel nausea at work... which is tough to do when you are in meetings and trying to actually accomplish real work.

I do have to admit though I wouldn't trade any of my symptoms for anything... I'll gladly take them all knowing that I will finally have my little one this year.