4th Ultrasound @ 18w4d (Nov 28, 2011)

This was the scan we'd been waiting for for what seemed like forever! We finally got to find out we are having a little BOY!

The anatomy scan went great. The tech was in a good mood and even though Bun-Bun started out in breech position, she got him to move around and cooperate so she could check everything out. Was neat to see her navigate along and label things like "kidneys"..."diaphragm"..."4-ch heart" etc. I was just glad SHE could tell what she was looking at cos it was all greek to me ;)

Then near the VERY end of the scan she got to the goods and she told us she wouldn't tell us if she wasn't 100% sure and there it was...

Was cool near the end of the scan as he decided he would yawn a bit. So precious. Looking much more like a baby now!

We told my family and close friends right away, but Ryan wants to do the cake reveal over the weekend when we have his family over for dinner on Sunday. They will probably be SLIGHTLY disappointed only because his family is pretty much filled with boys haha.

Heart rate was 150 bpm and I have gained a total of 6 pounds, which they said is great and to keep doing what I'm doing. Yay!

We are just so happy that everything looked healthy and normal. We don't get another ultrasound I guess so really glad we got some great pics to last us til we meet him! The next appt is on Dec 27 for weigh-in, bp and urine. I feel like time may really start flying now haha.

15 Week Checkup

So I went to the OB today (15wk4d) for a regular checkup. It was pretty quick. All they did was:

-have me pee in a cup
-take my blood pressure
-weigh me (up 2.6 lbs total)
-measure my belly (measuring "right on target")
-go over my first trimester screening results (lowest percentile for downs or the trisomys)

Everything is going well so far...let's hope it stays that way.

The definite highlight was hearing Bun-bun's heartbeat again. This time a steady 158bpm!

To recap heartrates so far:

170 @ 11 wks
179 @ 9 wks
162 @ 7 wks

Now if that anatomy scan would just hurry up and get here. November 28 still feels way too far away!

Telling the office

Since I hit 12 weeks yesterday and was dying to wear some of my new, cute maternity tops so I figure what the hell...let's break the news.

So I talked to our HR lady and she let us add a row to our list of projects that we go over at our Friday morning meeting. At the bottom of the list, was a blank row with just a data due date of 4/26. So someone asked what's that about and I said..."oh yeah I'm due then" and then the congrats and yays commenced :)

It was fun. I love having the cat out of the bag!

3rd Ultrasound @ 11w5d (Oct 11, 2011)

Finally had the NT scan done as part of the 1st Trimester Screening yesterday. They took blood, but said the results could take a week or more and that they ONLY call if something looks wrong so...no phone call please!

Ryan came with me as he hadn't seen Bun-Bun since the first ultrasound. The ultrasound tech calls us back and has me hop on the table. This time will be an external ultrasound on my belly so I pull my fancy new maternity jeans down to the hipbones and she slathers on the goop (icky!) and we're ready to go.

First off, the tech isn't in a very playful mood. The moment we see BB pop up on the screen, Ryan and I both get the giggles. Not sure why, it was just so cute and BB would move around kinda like a sea monkey and we were just in awe and well, I know the tech was trying to get measurements so I had to calm down. But yeah...just amazing to see a really baby-looking entity in there! Just amazing!

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Then on the way to the next exam room to meet with the Dr., they have me weigh-in. I am down 3 lbs since this whole thing started. She said it's nothing to be worried about since I am starting out overweight and that I will gradually start gaining into the 2nd trimester.

The Dr. comes in and says that from the ultrasound side of things everything looks great! Heartrate of 170 bpm is healthy, too.

The next appt is Nov. 7 and I don't think I get an u/s then, I think just the usual pee in a cup, weigh-in and then maybe meet with the Dr. so she can see how I'm doing. The next ultrasound is around 18 weeks (Thanksgiving!) and if Bun-Bun cooperates we should be able to find out the gender, which I will share with everyone if it looks pretty definitive haha.

Mom took me shopping on Friday and we found a few things...my first pair of maternity jeans from Motherhood. VERY comfortable! Got a few tops and cute cardigan deals so I can do a lot of layering. But yeah it's getting harder to hide what's going on down there ;) I actually am planning to tell my office at our morning meeting on Friday! It's getting very real now!

One thing that is bizarre to me...in the morning when I wake up, I barely look pregnant at all. But by 8pm I swear I look 6 mos pregnant! It's kinda disturbing. Then in the morning...back to smaller me again. Apparently when you're pregnant you can just get super-bloated as the day goes on and it is just insane! So there's that.

2nd Ultrasound @ 9w0d (Sep 22, 2011)

So 10 days after my first appt, I got to meet my Dr. And yay I love her!

She comes in and we chat...nothing too fancy. She tells me we'll be doing a pap smear (ugh) and breast exam (but they hurt right now!) and then she'll do an ultrasound to check on the heartbeat (yay!).

Before all that she advises me to get a flu shot so they go ahead and knock that out.

She leaves the room and I put on the oh-so-flattering gown open to the front...I mean why even wear the thing...I know I know, it's just how it is ;)

When she gets to the manual pelvic exam I'm thinking "don't squish Bun-bun!" haha. Now comes the ultrasound...yay! But she warns me that this is an older machine and won't have the high imaging of the one I got at my first appt. Oh well..I'll take what I can get!

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And it was...amazing! BB was just a wiggling! I loved that it even made the Dr smile (which made me feel good). Heartrate was 179bpm, which she said was normal. She told me based on measurements that my new due date is 4/26 (vs 4/28).

Next appt is Oct 11 for the NT scan...ack! Seems so far away!

1st Ultrasound @ 7w2d (Sep 12, 2011)

So we FINALLY had our first OB appt and ultrasound. I was so anxious that it took the nurse quite a while to find an acceptable blood pressure reading ;)

In case no one has been through an appt like this, I will give the rundown cos it was all new to me...

Get to office, sit in waiting room forever

They call me back to have the "nurse talk" which is taking your weight, height, bp, pulse, family history and then going over lots of literature about the fetal screening/testing they do and when they do it, what to eat and not to eat, what meds are ok to take, the number to call if I have any problems or need to talk to someone, etc. This lasted a good 30 min.

Then she took me to the bathroom and I had to pee in a cup.

Back to the lobby with Ryan to wait for the ultrasound tech to get us. Takes forever haha.

She gets us and takes us to a nice room with a big screen on the wall opposite the examination table. Oh how nice...stirrups again ;) I only have to take off my clothes from the waist down (score!). She dims the lights in the room and then she shows me the transvaginal ultrasound probe (ahhhhhhhh!), but tells me only an inch or so goes in (whew haha). So she starts looking around and omg there it is! Bun-bun!


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I have NO idea the orientation like...is Bun-bun hanging upside down inside me or is it standing right-side up or what? And the blob to the right of BB is the yolk sac, which they told me was the real cause of all my nausea. I had no idea. This is all so new to me!

At this point Ryan just goes "wooooooooooow" and I can tell he's kinda awestruck as am I. I mean the nausea and sore boobs were one thing, but to SEE it and know that it's REALLY there is something else. Kind of a "holy sh*t this is really happening" moment :)

We can SEE the heart just racing away and then she lets us hear it...amazing. 162 bpm, which seems crazy-fast to me, but she assures me it's ok. She didn't say if we were measuring normal or whatever, but she said we were right on track so I take that as a good sign. Then she proceeds to look at both ovaries, which look huge by comparison, but again I am not really sure what I'm looking at and am still just whoa.

She prints a ton of pics from the u/s machine and gives us the two above to take with us. I guess the rest go in my file for the Dr. when I see her next Thursday, Sep 22. And apparently she will do an u/s then so already looking forward to that.

Then I had to go back to the waiting room to wait for the lab to get me for the blood-letting haha. Wasn't so bad. And then I was FREE!!!!!!!!!!

I was a bit surprised I didn't have to do a co-pay at this appt? But I am guessing I'll get a bill? Not sure how that works. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

I just want everything to continue healthily and happily! I want this for everyone!!! I can't thank you all enough for being with me on this journey to motherhood.

6w3d

FINALLY less than one week until my first OB appt and ultrasound. I. Can. Not. Wait!

For a while I was feeling very much NOT pregnant. The bloating had subsided some and my dreams had calmed down. There was no nausea.

Well all of that changed last week (around 5w3d) when I got completely nauseous and it hasn't gone away...at all...but I haven't thrown up at all...yet.

I would say the best way to describe it is like...the worst hangover you ever had minus the headache. You really feel like one big greasy breakfast could make everything better, but it doesn't. In fact, the only things that seem to make it better at the moment are:

-Eating every 2 hrs (force feeding!)
-Eating when I first wake up (even though it's the LAST thing I want to do)
-Nibbling on teeny slivers of raw ginger twice a day (not the best)

That's pretty much the only symptom....aside from (TMI!) diarrhea in the mornings also...so sexy :P

Oh but BOOBS! So so sore at night. I can get comfy going to bed just fine, but when I inevitably change positions in the night or get up to pee, they are SOOOO sore. I have slept in my bra a few times and that does seem to help, but good grief! It's almost like someone used them as punching bags haha.

Poor Ryan has been wanting to do the deed ALL the time lately and yeah...that's not happening when I'm focusing on not throwing up haha. I feel bad for him cos I'm not that much fun to be around lately...feeling rather lazy due to not feeling good. But he's being very doting and not giving me any grief so I cannot complain.

I do find I cannot eat much when I do eat...I just get full so quickly. I hope little Bun-bun is happy...cos it sure is making things uncomfy for me ;)

Again while the nausea is making this feel more and more real...I'm counting down the hours until the OB appt. THEN I feel I can rest a little easier, right? I will be 7w2d by then and if I can just hear a heartbeat I'll be so so thrilled.

QUESTION:

Should Ryan come with me to the appt? Don't they have to do the transvaginal ultrasound at this point?

HPT Time

Second time around

I'll admit that when we first started TTC last cycle (early July), I wasn't doing anything to really pinpoint exactly when I would O. I was just half-assing and we only BD twice during what we thought was our window, which turned out to be a bit too early according to hindsight calculations.

This time I was prepared. I did BBT charting and was diligent with my OPK tests, BUT I got too gung-ho, too soon and kinda ruined the romantic aspect of our BDing.

Stats (which I will continue to update):
7/31 - CD11 - BD
8/01 - CD12 - nothing to report
8/02 - CD13 - OPK-, EWCM, BD
8/03 - CD14 - OPK+, BD
8/04 - CD15 - OPK+
8/05 - CD16 - OPK-, BD
8/06 - CD17 - OPK-, BBT dip 96.5 (pretty sure O was here)
8/07 - CD18 - 1DPO, BBT spike 98.2, BD
8/08 - CD19 - 2DPO (gassy/bloated)
8/09 - CD20 - 3DPO (mildly crampy)
8/10 - CD21 - 4DPO BBT 98.4 (dull crampy, heavy/sore boobs)
8/11 - CD22 - 5DPO BBT 98.4 (vivid dreams)
8/12 - CD23 - 6DPO BBT 98.2 (heavy/sore boobs, vivid dreams)
8/13 - CD24 - 7DPO BBT 98.6 (heavy/sore boobs (sorer today), mild/dull cramps, vivid dreams, nausea/diarrhea this morning, bit of a hot flash and pretty moody)
8/14 - CD25 - 8DPO HPT something is there, but barely! BBT 98.5, (heavy/sore boobs)
8/15 - CD26 - 9DPO HPT very faint positive omg! BBT 98.1 (bigger, sore boobs, fluttery feelings in lower abdomen)
8/16 - CD27 - 10DPO HPT slightly less faint positive! BBT 98.6 (same symptoms + backache)
8/17 - CD28 - 11DPO HPT positive! BBT 98.7 (no symptoms really...odd)
8/18 - CD29 - 12DPO HPT positive! BBT 98.4 (sore boobs, very bloated/uncomfy, mild cramps)
8/19 - CD30 - 13DPO HPT positive! BBT 98.1 (same)

Basically by the time we really needed to BD, I had kinda worn him out haha. But what do you think...do you think our chances are remotely good? I'm definitely not getting my hopes up.

So I'm sitting here at 3 DPO (I think haha) with AF due on Aug 20. This two week wait thing blows haha.

Good luck to us all!

Picture Pages!

Thought it as good a time as any to see what Ryan and I look like, right? Here's a good sampling for you. But first...how cute was I?



PS, you can click on any of these to view larger...not that you'd wanna ;)


Probably had been dating for one year at this point. Taken at my parents' at the beach where I grew up.



This was at an Irish pub in downtown Raleigh. Good times. We can still be caught a few times a month boozing it up with the "in" crowd on occasion ;)


Here we are in Ireland. We went on a big 9-day tour with his family. He got to see where his great grandmother lived. Was pretty cool I must say.


ENGAGED!


MARRIED!


Honeymoon in Aruba...ahhhhhhhh to be back there would be heaven. Please ignore my deer-in-headlights face...hadn't yet had my coffee ;)

So there ya have it! Now if we could just get a baby in some of these ;)

It all starts now

So yeah...here I am. Finally ready to take the plunge and start trying to conceive. WEIRD!!!

DH and I have been married for almost 4 years (in November) and while he was never big on the idea of children, he knew that was a dealbreaker for me. I had been on birth control since I was 20 and just stopped it last August. We had been using condoms ever since, up until a couple weeks ago. So I suppose we were officially "trying" over the holiday weekend.

As of now, I'm either 1 or 2 DPO and in the dreaded two week wait. It is such a LONG time isn't it?

Since I've made my own baby-specific twitter account, I never realized just how many women there are out there who have tried and failed numerous times between miscarriages and IVF and FET. I cannot imagine. Part of me wishes we hadn't waited so long to START trying since we have no way of knowing what obstacles we might have in our way.

This blog will serve as a document of the journey...of any ponderings and I can tell you right now, that with as much talk as there is about things like "cervical mucous" everywhere you go online...I guess there will be a lot of TMI posts as well.

If you're reading this...I'm super-grateful and appreciative. This is all so overwhelming to me. Good luck to everyone else who is still trying. Here's to us!