36 weeks (This one's for you Jen)

As Jen so nicely pointed out to me today, I suck at updating this. Life gets busy, and then I just forget about this.
Well, I am 36 weeks today. No idea where the heck the time has gone. Within the next 6 weeks, although hopefully a lot sooner, we will be meeting our little girl. She has been moving around like crazy in there lately, although thankfully not keeping me up at night. Well, except for the fact that I can't get comfortable to sleep.
I had my shower last month, and was blown away by the generosity of friends and family. We got so much great stuff, and so many cute outfits. Our nursery is now 99% put together. We ordered the second dresser, which should be delivered tomorrow, then I can finally finish putting everything away.
With these registry completion coupons and other great coupon codes I have been finding, I have been an online ordering machine lately. I keep getting things in the mail, and it is like my birthday everyday!!
Tomorrow, I start going to the doctor every week. This is really going to make it set in that we are getting close. She is doing the Group B strep test, which from what I have heard about it, can be quite "interesting". Not sure if she is going to start checking for dilation yet. Braxton Hicks seem to be a bit crazy every once in a while, so I am kind of curious if anything is going on down there yet.
We have all of our classes out of the way. Finished the childbirth class a couple weeks ago. Also did a baby care basics class, as Nick and I have both never really been around a newborn 24/7. Did the breastfeeding class. Hoping that will work out for me. Got lots of tips, which will hopefully help. We took a CPR class, which after we signed up for it, realized it was on the same night as the Bears/Packers game. That's ok, though, because we convinced the instructor to fly through the class and we were home in time for the second half of the game.
Next weekend, Nick is taking a Daddy Bootcamp class. It is a class for guys only (even the instructors), and the instructors bring in their babies, so new fathers-to-be can practice holding a real baby, and changing a diaper on a real baby. And since it is all men, hopefully, they wouldn't feel intimidated to ask questions. It sounds like a really great class, and hopefully he likes it. (He decided to take it all on his own.)

Well, that is all I have for now. Hopefully it's not another 3+ months before I am updating again.

22 weeks

I am such a slacker. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with this. Well, here I am at 22 weeks. Still feeling great, and still keeping my weight under control. We had our ultrasound 2 weeks ago, and found out this little baby is a girl. Nick was really hoping for a boy, but he seems to be excited about a girl. He just says I better have a boy next time. (I told him, he is the one with the Y chromosome)
The ultrasound was really neat. We were there for over an hour. And due to the fact that this little girl would not move through the whole thing, we have to go back tomorrow for another one. (Oh darn, you are making me see her again. lol.) They couldn't get a clear view of her heart, so they will be focusing on that tomorrow. And I want to ask for re-confirmation that she is still a "she".
I started feeling her kick/punch/etc. around 18 weeks. There were just little things here and there, but I knew that it was her. In the past few weeks, though, I have started to feel her every day moving around in there. Sometimes I think she has a trampoline in there. Or that she is training to be a swimmer, and is using the walls of my uterus to turn for her laps.
So, here I am, past the halfway point, and I have no idea where the time went. It is all just flying by, and I am having little freakout moments that I am not going to have something I need when I need it. And the fact that we are going to have this little person to take care of for the next 18+ years.
But it is still an exciting time.

15 weeks

I knew I would be bad about updating this, but I will try to keep up. Nothing has really been happening the past few weeks. I am starting to show more, although I am sure to most people it just looks like I am getting fatter.
I have my next appointment with the OB tomorrow. Can't wait for that one, since hopefully I will be setting up my u/s appt. YEA!!!! In 5 weeks, hopefully I will know it is a boy or a girl.

11 weeks

Friday I had my first appt with my new OB. I like her. We got to hear the heartbeat on the doppler. It's little heart was beating away at 166bpm. She wasn't finding it at first, but finally did. Since I was coming from the specialist, she knows that some of us patients can get a little anxious when going from weekly appts. to monthly appts. with a regular OB. So, she told me, if I ever need the reassurance that everything is ok, I can come in and they can do a doppler, just so I know everything is fine. I was very happy to hear that. I think I will be ok, but it's nice to know that I have that option.
She told me my uterus was a little tipped to the right, but it should straighten itself out as I get further along, and it's nothing to worry about. My cervix was good, which I was worried about, since I had a LEEP done a couple years ago, and I know that it can cause incompetent cervix. But all that looks ok at the moment, so nothing to worry about.
I go back in 4 weeks, when I will be just over 15 weeks. And I am hoping at the end of that appt. I will be making another appt for 4 weeks out for my BIG ultrasound. Can't wait!!!!
So, I have about a 7 1/2 week countdown to finding out if it's a boy or a girl!
I hope I am right in my 7 1/2 week estimation, otherwise it will be a total letdown at my next appt. if I have to wait longer. But, I will be 19 weeks at that point, and I know that ultrasound is usually done between 18-22 weeks, so a perfect time for it.

9w6d

Well, today I had what could be my last ultrasound for a while. I had my last appt with the RE. And I got one last ultrasound. My little baby is measuring 2 days ahead of where I am, and the heartbeat was a nice 160. It looked like a little teddy bear. Then I met with the RE (for the first time, since my first appt. in that office). He gave me a plan to start tapering the progesterone medication I am on, since by the end of the first trimester, the placenta takes care of all that. I got copies of my records to give to my OB, and a second set to keep for myself. He is recommending that I do the Nuchal Translucency test. I am still a little up in the air about it. I hear so many stories of false positives with that test, that I don't know if I want to put myself through it. I guess the first step is to see what it will cost with my insurance, and go from there.
The positive with doing that test is that I would get another ultrasound in a few weeks. Otherwise, I probably won't have another one, unless there is an issue, until 18-20 weeks.
Decisions, decisions.
After, I had my appt., I went to the lab so that I could get my blood work done that had been ordered for my OB's office at my appt. last Friday. They took 7 vials of blood out of me. Those vampires. I hope those all come back normal.
So, now I wait for another week and a half for another appt., then I get to be on an appt. schedule that a normal pregnant woman has.

9 weeks (plus 1 day)

Yesterday I was 9 weeks. On Monday I had my last early morning monitoring with the RE. We saw our little baby again, and it had a heartbeat of 171bpm, and had little arms and legs.
Today, I had my first appt at the OB's office. The appointment was with a nurse, and mostly just medical history type information. They gave me like 5 million pieces of paper on lots of random pregnancy things. Maybe I'll have some time over the weekend to actually read through them. I get to meet with my OB in 2 weeks for my first appt with her. I hope I like her, as she is someone I haven't yet met in this office, but have heard great things about.
5 more days until I get to meet with the RE for the last time, and get one last u/s. Found out today that the OB won't do an u/s until 20 weeks, unless there is an issue.

7w4d pic

It's looking more like a baby, and the heartbeat was up to 157bpm.
I am doing so great so far. Knock on wood, there has been no morning sickness. I am just super tired.

6w 4d pic

We got to hear the heartbeat at this visit, which was going strong at 116bpm. And yes, there is still only 1 in there.

5w4d pic

More background...... with a happy ending

So, I started taking clomid in July 2009. It worked for a couple months, then stopped, so my dosage was upped, kind of worked again, but not really.
I decided to step it up a notch, and enlist the help of a Reproductive Endocrinologist. I first saw him in the middle of a cycle. I had 2 large follicles, but no hormones to cause them to be released yet, so he prescribed me a shot that I had to give myself. Yes, that was quite an interesting experience. Nick wasn't home the day I had to do it, so I got everything together (alcohol swabs, gauze, sharps container, etc......), I pulled a chair into the kitchen and sat down. I figured if I passed out from the needle, at least I would be sitting and not fall to far. I took out the syringe, and the needle was actually very tiny. So after cleaning the area, getting a nice good pinch, I stuck it in, surprisingly didn't hurt at all. Thank god for tiny needles.
So now the wait was to begin.
I was so excited this month, since something new was happening, so hopefully it would finally do the trick. But two weeks passed, and I took a test, and till negative. I had seen so many of those in the past year, I was hoping for something different.
Late December, I started a new cycle, went in to the doctor for an ultrasound, and they found a cyst. Very common for someone on fertility meds, but due to that cyst, I had to go on birth control pills for a month. 13 months of trying, and now I have to wait even longer.
Finally, end of January I am done with the birth control. I go back to the doctor for another ultrasound, and no cyst. YEA!!!! I can start a new cycle. This cycle is stepped up from any other cycle I have had, but that's what you go to the specialist for, right?
Well, the cycle started with 5 days of pills, days 3-7 of my cycle. Then the fun part started. I had to do daily injections, in my own home. I NEVER would have thought doctors just prescribed shots to people, and trusted them to do them properly. So, I get these 2 pens filled with the medication I need to take, which come with a few replacement needles. Day 8, I do the first injection, and completely freak out after I did it, because I was convinced that I had done it wrong. I go to YouTube and start looking up videos on this medication, and find a really helpful one that explains to me the clicks the pen makes with the injections, so now I will pay closer attention next time.
Day 9, I do another shot again, I pay closer attention, and know I did it right this time.
Day 10, I head back to the doctor.(This is a recurring theme when you see an RE.) They do an ultrasound, see some good follicles on my ovaries, and do some blood work. I get a call back in the afternoon that I am to continue the shots over the weekend, and come back Monday morning.
Day 13, I go back to the doctor, another ultrasound and more blood taken. Follicles are almost ready. I am told in my afternoon call back to do one more shot from this pen, then the next day to do the other shot (that I had done a few months prior) to make me ovulate.
For once, this cycle, I am not stressing and doing all these crazy things you read about on pregnancy boards. (There are a lot of crazy things people try when they want a baby, and I have tried a lot of them.- Nothing unhealthy though)
So, I followed the doctors orders, finished all my shots, and went back to the doctor at the end of the week to check my ovaries. It showed that I had released 3 eggs, which got me excited, but then also freaked me out about the possibility of triplets. Had more blood work done, and was told to start taking some pills daily, that if I were to get pregnant will help reduce the risk of miscarriage.
So, I start taking these pills, which make me totally sleepy, but so worth it, if it means that it will help the chance of having a baby.
Doctors orders, I am supposed to wait until Feb 24th to take a test. I am determined to wait this long, especially since the last shot I take is one that can cause a positive pregnancy test, even if you aren't pregnant. The 22nd comes around, and I cannot wait any longer. I have a test that is going to expire in February, so I decide to use it, and won't get upset if it's negative, since I know I am testing early.
So, I use the test, and am trying not to pay attention to it, as it is processing. It is a digital test, so it just flashes for a while before the results pop up. All of a sudden, I glance down at the test on the floor, and I see that it says "YES+". I start freaking out, because is it really positive, or is it from the last shot I took still. So, I go to the online pregnancy message boards, and start asking questions for women that have taken this shot before. Most of them say that the shot is always out of their system within 8 days, and I am about 12 days after the shot at this point. So, I am getting excited, but trying not to get too excited, since the doctor told me to wait 2 more days to test.
So, of course, I test again the next morning. That test is also positive. I then call the doctor on my way to work to let them know, and they tell me to come in the next morning for blood work (yes, the veins in my arms hate me at this point).
Tuesday night I decide to surprise Nick with a few early "birthday" presents. He is so happy and surprised.
I test again Wednesday morning and get a "Pregnant" on a Clearblue Easy Digital test. I go in for my blood work, and get the results that afternoon that I am definitely pregnant. And I am told to come back on Friday to check that the levels are rising. (In early pregnancy, your levels should double every 48-72 hours)
Get more blood work done on Friday, and my levels doubled in 36 hours, so things are definitely going great. But my numbers are on the high side, which gets me thinking about the fact that I had 3 eggs released. What if there's 2 or 3 in there? How could we handle that?
So I keep going back to the doctor for a few more times to have the "vampires" take more blood.
Finally, the day comes where I get to come in to get an ultrasound.... how many will there be? I am lying on the table, and see starts the ultrasound, and she is looking everywhere to see what she can find, and we only see 1 sac. It's still early, so that is all we are expecting to see. But, we are both surprised there is only 1. She says I am not out of the woods yet, until the second ultrasound, since sometimes the second one could be a little behind the first one, so we will have to wait until next week to make sure there really is only one.