Baby R - Week 7

Looks like Baby R is happy as a clam in there. I am feeling very much pregnant these days. I must admit that keeping up with everyday life is not so easy. I am just not the type of person who likes to be down and out. I am an on the go type of gal. Guess that pregnancy starts preparing you for motherhood from the get go.

Some highlights from week 7:

• Nausea set in big time this week. It comes waves throughout the day. I have seemed to avoid puking...thank goodness. The last thing I feel like doing is eating when my stomach is turning, but I helps every time. This week I like oatmeal and Ezekiel cinnamon raisin toast. I have been craving beef and I don't even eat beef. Guess this momma needs iron!
• Daddy makes sure that I talk to the baby every day. Each night in bed he asks "have you talked to the baby today?" Sometimes yes, and sometimes I haven't yet. Most of this week I have been apologizing to Baby R for my crazy schedule and telling "it" to hang on tight. Since I have been pregnant, I have been at 4 births. I know it isn't easy on Baby R because it sure isn't easy on me sometimes. Scott likes to tell Baby R to make mommy feel better.
  
• Hormones are going nuts. Yesterday I was nagging at Scott all day for the dumbest things. Today I cried during the football game (well, someone got hurt!). Last night I cried for about 15 seconds feeling sorry for myself for not feeling well. I realized how ridiculous I sounded and dried it up real fast!
• This week I discovered that wearing a sports bra to bed is AMAZING! Apparently I should be anticipating my breasts to grow 2 sizes while pregnant. I don't even know what size comes after DD! I may be one of the only women in the world that is looking forward to getting smaller after breastfeeding. My back will be thankful that is for sure.
• I am not sure if it is the pregnancy or what, but I have been having very vivid dreams these days. These dreams keep me on the edge of sleep and many times I have woken up Scott while talking in my sleep. I have never done that before. I can usually fall asleep in about 1.2 seconds from my head hitting the pillow at night though. Sleep is a luxurious!
  
• Yesterday I got some more blood work done. I have been bleeding since week 6. They want to ensure that the HCG and Progesterone levels are staying in a good place and increasing. I have a miscarriage tea that I am supposed to be drinking. Tastes like bark, but I choke it down when I can. While we were at the birth center getting blood work, we talked to the midwives about setting up our first prenatal appointment. We are thinking about waiting until after the holidays. I just have to make sure I check in with them if there are things that aren't going like they should.
  
• I have realized that being a pregnant doula has its downfalls. I know way too much about birth. I was asking all kinds of "worst case scenario" questions to the midwives yesterday. I was kind of freaking Scott out. In the past I haven't been thinking "worst case scenario" and I lost a baby and a tube. I would like to be fully prepared and in the know from now on. I have full confidence in my midwives though. I have seen them in action at two home births and even resuscitate a baby at one of them. I do feel better and more at ease knowing what they would do in all cases.

Check out this website. We are thinking about having this amazing photographer at our birth. What do you think?

Week 8 starts Monday!

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

celebrate with me

Check out the contest I put up on Bellies in Bloom as a celebration of my pregnancy. Today I woke up and was determined to feel GREAT!!! And, guess what....I pretty much do! I had to be at work today...things to do, people to see. I will not let this get me down. I keep thinking about the little angel I will get to hold in my arms in just a few months! That makes me feel better! :)

welcome to parenthood

My poor husband has been a trooper with the new pregnancy symptoms I have been feeling. This morning he said "I am just not used to my plans changing", as I couldn't decide whether or not I was going to leave the house and go to his mom's for lunch. We had already skipped church. My response was, "welcome to parenthood". Leading up to becoming pregnant, I was reminding him that there may be a time where I could possibly not be feeling well in the beginning. I guess you can't really prepare a man enough for having to cook, clean, and get groceries while his wife lays nauseous on the couch or sleeps for four hours at a time during the day.

I just made a list for him to go to the grocery store and sent him on his way. We shall see what he comes up with at Kroger. He was lucky I didn't send him to our usual Central Market way across town. That place can be a mad house on Sundays. I told him to just make sure the produce is organic as he slipped out the door. Praying he doesn't forget on his three block journey.

Thankfully I have not been full blown vomiting, just nauseous about 75% of the waking hours and 25% of the hours I should be fast asleep. I am so torn about keeping up with my massage schedule or just allowing myself to take a break for a few weeks. Last week I worked on the husband of one of my clients. He smelled like he had just dumped the entire bottle of cologne on before he came. I had to hold back gags for an hour.

When you have wanted a baby for quite some time like we have, you want to take whatever comes with it....sickness and all. That is definitely easier said than done.

announcement

Sitting on the BEST news ever has not been easy for us. We are so ecstatic to announce that Baby R. in on the way! Yes, that is right...I'm Pregnant!!!

Wanna know how it all went down? Well, the finding out part anyway. I am sure I don't need to explain more than that. We found out on October 4th. We had friends in for the weekend with their new baby and Scott and I got some serious snuggle time with one cute little guy. I had a hunch that I might be pregnant, but I had thought that before so I wasn't getting my hopes too high. I was expecting my period that day or the next. When our company left, I peed on the stick, sat in on the shelf, and jumped in the shower. It was probably the 10th or 15th stick I have peed on in the past year, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. In the shower I was trying to remain calm and told myself not to get upset if the stick said no....again. I wrapped a towel around me and still dripping wet, I peered over to see the stick. It actually had two lines. I lost my breath. I started to cry. I ran out of the bathroom and upstairs where Scott was working on the ceiling. I was yelling his name and he dropped everything and ran over to me. He thought I was hurt. I was trembling, but told him I was okay. I pulled the stick out and showed him the positive result. We both cried and then set on the sofa trying to let it all soak in. I took two more test in the next few days so that I could settle any doubts I had in my mind. Of course, all were positive.

The first two weeks I felt amazing. I was working out, cleaning house, keeping up with clients, and doing all my normal everyday life things. But this past week it hit me. The slightest smell of anything can make me feel nauseous. But, there are not complaints here. I will take feeling sick any day if it means I can have my precious baby. So far I haven't actually gotten sick, just feeling all the usual pregnancy symptoms like breast tenderness and nausea.

With feeling so good in the previous weeks, I think I overdid it a bit and started bleeding last week more than I was comfortable with. We had already decided long before pregnancy that we were going to plan to use midwives that I have worked with at a couple of births with clients. When I began bleeding for the second time in two weeks, I called them and they got me in for some blood work for HCG and Progesterone and a sonogram. My blood work came back great. Two of the midwives accompanied me to the lab for a sonogram. I had not intended to have a sonogram, but with my history, bleeding is not a sight we like to see. The last pregnancy ended in losing the baby and parts crucial to reproduction. I could not risk losing another tube and becoming infertile.

The day I got the sonogram, I was six weeks pregnant. If the technician and I held just still enough we were able to hear a tiny heartbeat. It is truly incredible that something the size of a grain of rice can have a heartbeat. And, a heartbeat is just what I needed to hear to confirm that everything will be just fine. Little Baby R. is ready to come into this world and be in our arms.

As of today:
Baby R: about the size of a blueberry
Due Date: June 14, 2010
Caregivers: Cleburne Birthing Center - planning a home birth
Boy or Girl: We think girl (just a feeling), but I guess we will know for sure in June
Names: We want to see our baby's precious little face before we settle on a name
Cravings: sweet potatoes, banana nut muffins, and salad
My Current Mood: vicious, moody, giddy, happy, peaceful
Scott's Current Mood: happy, giddy, patient

baby waiting

A bomb went off in my kitchen, I have about 4 loads of laundry to do, and we really need groceries...BAD.

But, I am waiting to see if this mom (of almost four any day now) is going to call me back to tell me she is in labor for real. I think I will go back to bed and sleep so I can be all rested to be her doula if she indeed needs me today.

Thanks to my dear husband who said he will do all the housework as soon as he gets home from his lunch meeting! :)

bugs and supplements

What is really funny is that I was watching one of the morning shows before heading off to work this morning and they were showing how to avoid the flu. The masks we are wearing in the picture below were used as examples. The man even put mine on as a demo! Then I left work early because I wasn't feeling well. How ironic.

It isn't the flu, just a little bug. I am sure that I will feel better in no time. In the meantime, Scott is taking great care of me and I have been loading up on vitamins and special immunity teas. I was one of the only people at work to forfeit the free flu shots for me and my family. No thank you.

In other exciting news, Scott (my supplement MAN) has found a new supplement that he has become a huge fan of and has even gone to training to become a rep for the product. Even after working for a vitamin store and trying tons of products in his life, he thinks this is the best one he has ever tried. And believe me, he has tried many! It is a glutathione accelerator. Glutathione is the most prevalent anti-oxidant in body. After the age of 20 years old, your body stops producing as much of it because of increased stress, environmental pollution, poor diet, etc. The result from taking the supplement can vary from person to person, but I can already tell a huge difference in the hubby! He isn't taking naps in the afternoon between shifts at the gym and he isn't drinking as much coffee to get going like he had been. And, this has just been in the past three weeks. Plus, I have noticed a big change in him motivation to work and help me out at home more too! Yay! I am a believer now, that is for sure!

no, we do not have swine flu

Home repair projects are getting dusty.... must wear masks.

We got the ceiling down and the radiant barrier put in place on one side. Yesterday afternoon I helped Scott put back the insulation. That is as far as I go though. He will have to recruit some help to put the sheet rock pieces back up.

I also got him to clean out the oven this weekend. But, we aren't sure what the deal is with the racks. They don't fit in the space. We may have to order special parts. Seven months later, I am still cooking in a toaster oven.

Friday night we went to a beautiful wedding of a co-worker of mine at Gladney. It was so nice and Gari-Anne looked gorgeous!