15 Weeks

The 15 week mark is already here and gone (yesterday) and I can't believe the time is going so fast! It seems like just yesterday I was standing in my kitchen with Allison telling her that I was 13 weeks along and now it's already 2 weeks later. Wednesday is my next prenatal appointment and I'm excited/nervous to hear the heartbeat again. I was going to say that I don't think my nervousness will ever go away, but I think it will lessen to a great extent when I can feel the baby moving. Then I won't have to hear the heartbeat to know that my baby is still kicking, haha, pun intended. I'm a dork. My pregnancy week by week book says that within the next couple of weeks I should be able to feel the baby move, so I'm very attuned to what my stomach is up to. I'll definitely post if I feel anything that slightly resembles a baby moving.

So the most exciting news, that I forgot to post in the last blog entry, is something that happened last weekend. The back story is that I've been getting a lot of input on our name choice for a girl. Basically either people flat out say they don't like that name, say that our girl will be called embryo for her whole life and hate us (and side note, did I ever think that I hated my parents when I got called peeatrice or poopatrice or leatard the reatard? The answer is no, I was happy to have such a unique and beautiful name), or don't say anything which means they don't like it. So last weekend as I was trying on a bagillion maternity clothes my friend Sarah was reading through a "cool baby name book" (that's literally what it was called) and guess what name happened to be in there...Embry! That's right, the name I had picked out since I was about 17 is in an actual baby name book and it's spelled without an 'e' inbetween the 'r' and 'y'. Take that! To avoid the whole embryo problem I was going to change the spelling that I liked the best (Embry) and switch it to Embrey (kinda like aubrey), but since it's in a baby name book without the extra 'e' I kinda feel like I don't have to put in the extra 'e' either. This also leaves me with another issue. All of the girl names we picked we picked #1 because we love them and #2 because they don't show up in the top 1000 girl names for the past 100 years, so they're unique. Well now that Embry is in a baby name book I'm worried that there will be an onslaught of baby Embrys running around, but this is unlikely since apparently nobody likes that name in the first place haha.

I was talking with Tony yesterday about something that a friend from high school was saying about the baby name her and her hubby picked out. Basically it's the theory that if you don't tell people what name you picked till you actually attach it to a baby (after it's born) then they're a lot less likely to criticize it. Well this is a very good theory and I do happen to agree, but knowing myself and knowing that we already have the first 3 girl and first 3 boy names picked out, I will not be able to keep my mouth shut for that long! So I guess I'll just have to take the good with the bad and oh well, we picked the names because we love them and we're the parents so that's a special thing that we get to do. The way I picked girl names was thinking if I would have enjoyed having that name growing up, if I would have received compliments on it, and if I'd like it for an adult name...with Embry, the answer to all 3 is yes, so I'm happy with it. Oh and bonus, there's this adorable onesie that we HAVE to get for our baby if it's a girl!

Ok here's the 15 week belly shot!

14 Weeks

I'm late posting this one too, woops!

I'm waking up less often in the middle of the night to use the restroom now, so I'm getting more sleep. I bought some curtains for our bedroom last week and since they're blocking out the sun more, I am able to sleep in longer, which is also great.

The baby and I went to Phoenix this weekend with Sarah to visit Jamie. I saw a very pregnant girl laying out by the pool in a bikini yesterday, I want that to be me, but I'm fairly certain I'll have lots of stretch marks to hide. I could just photoshop those out :) I also found out this weekend that the baby really likes Culvers. I could tell it especially liked the cheese curds, baby after my own heart!

I just finished the invites for the double baby shower that my sister Jen and I are having in WI on June 28, I can't wait, it's going to be so fun to see everyone! I am especially excited to meet my nephew Colter, he's a cutie! Now I'm moving on to the scrapbook I'm making Jen to give her at the shower. I've never made a scrapbook for a baby boy before, this is exciting.

Here is my 14 week picture for your enjoyment!
My friend Sarah that was visiting from Cali gave me a cute Sweet Pea baby onesie, yoga pants, and knot hat for the little one and a beautiful necklace that has 3 little pink peas in a pod and another pod that says "sweet pea" on it. So cute!

13 Weeks

I know, I know, I'm a little late in posting this. This weekend was Tony's graduation from the U of A and we had Tony's grandma, aunt, and uncle down as well as his mom, sister, and brother. It was a really good time and I got lots of great pictures (which of course is the most important thing).I must say that I am definitely looking pregnant, no question about it. :) Yay! I am feeling pretty good and, dare I say, actually better than before I was pregnant. The prednisone is certainly helping my shoulder and hip, although I am awake between 1 and 5 am every morning. I'm eating a lot more now that the morning sickness is gone and I thought that would at least help me maintain my weight if not gain some, but low and behold, I've lost another pound. That's up to a 13lb weight loss thus far, but I'm not worried, I'm obviously still pregnant :)

Yesterday I got to see 2 of my pregnant friends at Tony's graduation party. Kim was there and she's looking just wonderful, only 6 more weeks to go for her! Then we got a surprise visit from a couple that was in our old young marrieds group at the Assembly. Daniel, Anca, and their little boy, Joshua, came down from Phoenix to wish Tony a happy graduation. Anca is about 1.5 months ahead of me in her 2nd pregnancy, so we compared bellies!

So everyone got their baby announcements around Sat, May 10th. Tony's mom had gotten a call from a friend who got her announcement before Tony's mom, so she told Tony's mom while she was at work. I asked what Tony's mom's reaction was and she said that she screamed, then cried, then got yelled at for making such a ruckus at work. That's pretty funny. Then she called me and was pretty much screaming into the phone, she was excited. A lot of other people called or messaged me to congratulate us. The other funny one was when my mom and I called my sister Jenifer on Mother's Day to wish her a happy 1st Mother's day and to figure out why she hadn't called to congratulate me yet. Well, we asked her if she got anything in the mail and she said yes, but that she hadn't opened them yet. So we told her to open it while she was on the phone and she was like "oh? Oh? What's this? What? Are you kidding me?! What?!" I assured her it was not a joke and she was very happy for us and I think especially because our kids will be so close in age, how fun! Later on she revealed that when she first opened the card she was very confused because she thought I had sent her back a picture from her ultrasound, but then she read the bottom and realized what it was.

Oh and here's one last picture from the water balloon toss where you can easily see that I'm with child. :) Enjoy!

12 Weeks

Honestly, if you can't see my lower abdomen bulging out by now, you are no longer my friend!

Anyhow, had my 12 week appt today with the ob. I thought last time I went in they might be just having a busy day or something because it took 1.5 hours past my appt time to get me into the room. Well apparently that's how they always are because it was exactly the same today. One of the ladies in the waiting room even had to reschedule because she had somewhere else to be. I have to say it's a good thing I don't work because I can't imagine sitting there that long when you're supposed to be somewhere else!

So both the nurse and the nurse practitioner commented on my weight loss (12 lbs down total) and asked if I had been throwing up to which I said no, but I have been eating a lot less than normal. Over the past week I've been feeling a lot better in that regard and even got to have panda express which was fantastic! I'm sure the pounds will get packed on in no time!

I asked her about 20 questions and I will go over the important/exciting ones now. First, best of all, we're getting an ultrasound scheduled for right around June 24, so we will know the sex before I go back to WI this summer!!!!!! She said as long as the baby cooperates (and why would my baby not cooperate for a picture?!) then at 18.5 weeks the ultrasound will be extremely reliable in determining the gender. Secondly, and I'm not sure but it might be more exciting, I can go to Noah's Ark this summer in the Dells!!!!! I asked her about water slides at around 19 weeks and she's actually been to the Dells before and said as long as I use my judgment on which would be really rambunctious and stay off those ones that water slides would be perfectly fine. Oh that's such great news, Tony's going to love Noah's Ark! Also found out that I can take prilosec for the acid reflux, which is going to help me a lot. I can have the occasional lunch meat (in a sub or whatever) and the occasional hot dog, no biggie. I can take a hot bath if I like and bonus, I can put my heating pad on my back! These are all great things and I was so happy to hear all this good news!

I got to hear the heartbeat again. It was 152 bpm during the ultrasound and I forgot to ask what it was today. I was surprised to hear how different the heartbeat sounded using the small Doppler as opposed to the ultrasound machine. It was very loud and strong during the ultrasound but a lot more muffled today. The heart's beating and that's all I needed to know! Also found out that last time my HCG level was like 150,000 or some crazy big number like that, so I definitely have a sticky little turkey in the oven!

Then after I left I went to the post office and mailed all the announcements...oh gosh, I'm so excited for people to find out, it's going to be great!

My next appt is June 4th at 16 weeks. The dr is ordering some blood tests for down's syndrome and something else I can't remember right now, so I might go in before 16 weeks to give blood. I am so happy I'm over the first trimester, now I can be calm and cool and relaxed and just work on making a healthy little baby. :) Life is so good!

11 Weeks

So here is my 11 week belly shot!




















I definitely can see something starting to bulge out near the bottom there, but I'm sure nobody else can tell. :) Also, I had to go into photoshop to erase the very apparent armpit hair that I have been growing, woops. We have friends coming over for dinner tonight, so I should probably do something about that!

I am just dying to send out the announcements and tell everyone the good news. I talked to tony's mom on the phone last night about his graduation party (and she's helping out with food and stuff, which is such a blessing right now) and I was just busting at the seams to hear her reaction when she finds out she's gonna be a grandma. Ahhh, it's going to be soooo great! I told our real estate lady on Wed when we signed the papers on the house because I figured it'd be a while before I'd see her again. She was very excited, but I felt like I was almost jinxing myself by telling her at 11 weeks instead of 12. I also had a dream last night that I was bleeding profusely and everyone was just like "well you must have gotten your period" but I would exclaim "I'm not supposed to get my period, I'm pregnant!" I'm sure it means nothing, but it freaked me out none the less. Speaking of dreams, Tony had one the other night where I had twin girls. Hello Heaven! However then his dream turned into some video game scenario where he got to blow things up.

I wasn't sure if I should post this here, but I think it has to do with baby, so here goes. Since I'm pregnant and have lupus it would be a good idea to get in to see a rheumatologist fairly soon. Well, I could go to the one I've gone to for the past 3 years, but I've decided that I really don't like her after a number of things that have gone on, so I refuse to go to her again. This leaves me trying to get in to see a new rheumatologist somewhat on this side of town that takes Health Net insurance. Well to make a long story short, this new lady said that she wouldn't schedule an appt for me until I went to see my primary care physician again (I hadn't seen him in a year cuz I didn't have insurance) and also that she was booked until July even though I told them I was pregnant. So I had an appt with him (my pcp) yesterday and I told him about my shoulder and hip pain that have been getting worse over the past 6 months or so and I knew it was a rheumatological problem which is what he said and that I should see the rheumatologist for it. I explained to him the whole situation and that I was seeing him so I could see the rheumy etc and he really wanted me to get in to see her before July because hello, I'm pregnant. Anyhow, he basically gave me a temporary bandaid solution which is to do a taper of prednisone (which I hate) for 3 weeks and hopefully it will tide me over till I can see the rheumy. I wonder if this rheumatologist is going to be worth all the work I'm going through just to get an appt and it bothers me that people are so ho-hum about this 'high risk' pregnancy kinda being a big deal for me.

Although I did feel a bit validated when he acknowledged that I actually was in pretty bad pain (which is the exact opposite of how my old rheumy acted, part of the reason I'm not going to her again) and then I also started crying (due to hormones I'm on the edge at all times now) when I realized that my doctor really wanted to help me, but that there is literally nothing they can do. Oh well, such is life.

One more week and the cat will be out of the bag!!!!!