Day of Rest

A couple of days ago I was a salad shooter (out my nose). Thank God yesterday and today have been good days. I feel like they are my "rest days". It is very draining to be sick aaallll day! I need these good days to re-coop. So far work hasn't been too bad. I have been feeling good on those days, which I don't mind using my good days on work days. I am glad that my first trimester is in the winter time (although lately it hasn't felt like it) because I don't feel so bad wasting the whole day on the couch and not outside.

This could be TMI so I warn you now: It is sooo true what the books say. Apparently the hormones mess up your digestive track causing it to slow down and or reflux. This is why a lot of women are either constipated or have heart burn. I don't have heart burn...yet. I have been drinking some warm caffeinated fluid (not too much) for some assistance without much luck. The next belly picture will probably be a belly picture of poop. Sorry, but I just gonna be honest.

Glorious Day!!!

Not only do I feel 100 times better, but I saw the heart beat!!!! I didn't measure the heart rate because it is kind of difficult one handed it you know what I mean ;-)
Our little sesame seed measure 4 whole millimeters. I couldn't resist the urge to scan myself, but I'm glad I did because it makes feeling like crap these last few days not so bad. I believe with this ultrasound and the one previous, I am pushing back my due date to the 17th of October. We'll see what the doctor says though.

I figured out the reason I was so sick... prenatal vitamins! I haven't had to take a Zofran today, but skipped my prenatal vitamins last night and feel a lot better. I will need to find an alternative.

How Does Something So Little Create Such Havoc on My Body?

Please don't tell me, " awwhh this is all part of pregnancy, we've all done it", because I might just punch you in the face! That is almost what the MALE doctor told me today when I came into the clinic looking for some relief. I didn't just pay $50 to be told to "suck it up". I've got to function tomarrow at work. I can't afford to miss work for the next 6 weeks. Before he sent me away I told him that he could give me Zofran and that lots of women take it for nausea and vomiting. After explaining to me that this drug falls into this category and they don't know the effects, but it hasn't shown any effects thus far yadda yadda ya. He says "let me call the OB dr. on call". I thought to myself, yeah you go do that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to just numb myself, but I can't work feeling like this. I plan on only taking it on the three days I have to work. The other days I can curl up in the fetal position on the couch all day. Needless to say, he returns with a script for Zofran and says "the dr. said they prescribe this all the time". I knew that. So I'm testing it out today before I work because one the side effects is drowziness. I pray to God this works, otherwise I have a loooonnnngggg 9 months ahead of me.

What for it... Focus...

You know that feeling in your jaw and the build up of saliva right before you vomit? Well that is how I felt until about noon yesterday. All I wanted to do was stay home, but I had to go to work. I just kept force feeding myself, after lunch I felt much better. I called my sister (who is about 6 weeks ahead of me and with much worse morning sickness) and asked her why would you do this three times?!?! I guess the joy of having a baby is so worth it, you forget about all this crap in the beginning. She did recommend taking vitamin B6, so before I went to bed that is what I did. I felt queasy at night, but once I fell asleep I was fine. This morning is a complete 180. I feel much better! hallelujah !
Oh and thank God my number wasn't called for jury duty. I was really dreading that. I didn't want to puke in the court house.

I saw a Sac!

And maybe the yolk sac! This is becoming really real for me now. The sac measured 5 weeks exactly. When I saw it, it just put the biggest smile on my face. It made working through a 12 hour day that much better. If just a sac can do that, image what an actual baby would do. I still feel pretty good. I'm starting to feel more tired and still really hungry all the time. I also scanned my sister today. Her baby measured 12w 5d ( I think its a little ahead, but not out of normal range). I've posted of picture of the sac, it is the small dark circle in the center of the picture.

WHAT IS BABY J UP TO?
At 5 weeks the baby is the size of a sesame seed its brain is the major organ developing.

First Test Results are in

Since 5 positive pregnancy test weren't enough to convince me I was pregnant, I decided to get my blood drawn. Beta hCG is the hormone the pee sticks detect for to tell whether or not you are pregnant. The blood test that detects these levels are much more accurate and quantitative, sometime it helps to determine how far along you are in your pregnancy (although the number scale is very vague for date determination). Your number is suppose to double every other day, if it does, doctors can rule out an ectopic pregnancy (pregnancy outside the uterus). Well my numbers are in and they look good!!!!!

Beta #1= 633
Beta #2= 1702
As you can see it more than doubles!! YAY
I also told my sister Mandie today! She is very excited. Her and her husband think it is a girl! Way too early to tell. She has a lot of baby stuff left over that she said she would give us, and boy will we take it!
Praise the Lord for this blessing. I will try to calm down a little bit now. We still understand it is really early and pray for a happy and healthy nine months.

Telling Mike's family...almost messed it up!

We decided to tell Mikes side of the family because lets face it, we are just too excited to hold it in. On Sunday, at Adam's surprise birthday dinner, we decided that the only way to get his entire family together without them suspecting something was to play off of Adam's birthday. As much as we didn't want to steal his thunder, we figured we would convince the family to go out to dinner again to celebrate his "real" birthday.

I knew Barb would bring a cake and we would go back to Adam's place afterwards and we thought that this would be the perfect time. But first Sarah had to find out. She told me first about her pregnancy and now she had to know about mine. I think she got a little teary on the phone, which made me feel good and excited to do this together... Moving on, while at dinner I kept telling Mike to take pictures so that when we record Barb's reaction it wouldn't be too obvious that the camera was out. Mike came up with the idea of talking about our summer vacations and saying something like this, "what are you guys doing in October? I think we should go to this place called Good Samaritan Medical Center and welcome a new family member". We almost didn't have that chance!

At the restaurant Mike is taking pictures (as instructed) and Scott wanted to see some of the pictures. I gave him the camera and he starts flipping through the pictures. I am watching because I don't know what weird stuff Mike takes pictures of when I am not looking (Mike you know what I am talking about). Just then he flips to the pictures of the positive pregnancy tests with Barb looking over his shoulders! I quickly snatched the camera out of his hands and all Scott is saying is "its negative, its negative right?" I don't remember how Mike pulled him aside and quickly changed the subject. I thought the secret was out and not the way we (mostly Mike, see previous post) planned.

So back at Adam's house, we were all getting ready to eat cake (except for me), Mike kept pacing back and forth, fidgeting with everything. I finally looked at Mike and without saying a word, told him to get it out already! He started with his speech and stumbled around with his words (the fact that Adam and Cari started their own conversation about being afraid of heights didn't help the situation). He finally got it out and Barb kept saying "Are you serious, are you serious, is she really, are you really!" "yes!!" we kept telling her and she started to get a little teary. After hugs and congratulations, Scott said "I really thought they were negatives because I was looking for a ''+" sign not two lines. Barb grabbed her cell phone and went into Adam's room to tell her sister (she was always a little jealous that she had grand kids). All and all everything went well. I will tell my family next week when they get back from Texas!

Oh yeah, I still wasn't convinced I was pregnant after five positive tests, so I request blood work. My Beta hCg is still pending. Dang it!

The downside to knowing how to do ultrasounds

Naturally the first day back to work (alone) after(now 5)positive pregnancy tests, I'm gonna scan myself. I didn't see any evidence of a pregnancy. Yeah I know, it is probably too early. My uterus is a lot larger and so is my left ovary, but no gestational sac seen.
I woke up in the middle of the night last night with very bad cramping. I thought to myself, this is it, I'm going to lose it (it has since stopped). Because I was up, I noticed Mike was stirring in bed and asked him if he was up? "Yeah, I'm up". "What's wrong? Why can't you sleep?" I asked. "You know why!" He said. Yeah I knew why. Previously that night we were at a birthday party for a friend of his. He said he wanted to tell his other friend bad and was trying to hold it in. I encouraged him to tell because I had told three of my friends already and wanted some of the guilt lifted off. So he did, and about 5 maybe 6 friends found out. Now he was regarding this because we don't have any confirmation this is a viable pregnancy. Plus, he was really afraid it would leak to his family before we could tell them. So the whole way home he tried to brainstorm creative ways to break the news to this family and even before he went to bed. He concluded that nothing he found on the internet was good enough. So there he lie tossing and turning all night, while I fight of the pain of cramping and try to eat my crackers as quietly as possible.
P.S Made my first OB appointment for March 3rd. Keeping fingers crossed.

How did this happen?

Everybody kept telling me "just relax and have fun with trying to conceive, that is when it will happen." We haven't been trying that long, maybe since October, but I was convinced I was "broken and beautiful". My cycles were 40+ days when they came, and never mind the fact that I didn't have one the entire summer, 100+ days!

When I found out my sister was pregnant on Christmas, my rigid schedule of scanning myself to check for follicles, timing our "sessions", and all the other things you're supposed to do to get knocked up, stopped. I prayed a lot and asked for patience and trust in what He had planned. I decided I was going to live vicariously through my sister and enjoy scanning her.

So New Years came and so did my period which I figured. I scanned my sister when she was 7 weeks along and I took her baby's first picture. She asked to see what I check when I scan myself for follicles. I saw two "dinky" 16mm follies. One on each ovary. What! My left ovary has one, that thing hasn't worked since I have been scanning myself for at least 6 months. Four days later they were gone, they never made it to the 25mm they are supposed to when I ovulate. I thought this cycle is over!

Now, since I don't know when or if I ovulated I have no idea when or if I will have a period. Flashbacks of the summer are running through my head, so I decided to contact my doctor and ask for birth control pills. I wanted to regulate myself for a couple of months and try again in the summer.

I continued to scan myself and check my endometrium's thickness to help me figure out how close I was to starting my period. One day I scanned and noticed my left ovary was huge compared to its gimpy usual self and I had a "mass" on it. It looked like a corpus luteal cyst (what you get when you are pregnant), but I didn't have the typical "ring of fire" (vascularity). When I got home I told Mike "I need to go to the doctor because I am worried about a mass on my ovary." He said "yeah, OK." He is pretty used to my self diagnosis drama. I decided that before I call the doctor with this serious diagnosis, I would pee on a $tree pregnancy test to make sure it really wasn't a normal cyst. I didn't want to make a fool at out myself.

"Mike can you come up here and take at look at this?" I yelled from the balcony. My eyes were tired and I think they are playing games with me. I thought I saw two lines but I wasn't sure.

YEP!!!!! There was two LINES!!!!

I convinced Mike to pee on one in case it was an evaporation line. He had no line, naturally.

OMG I AM REALLY PREGNANT! I took three more just to make sure.

Here we go ... baby Johnson is due mid October ... God willing.