Words Cannot Describe

Well, we got one holiday down and only a few more to go.  Thanksgiving was great.  Once again, it was running around on our part, but it's always so great to see family and friends.  We went to my BIL and SIL's house for Thanksgiving lunch and then went to Aunt Gail's house for dinner.  All the yummy food, Mmm MMmmM MMmm!  That's all I can say.  Jonathan was with us, which always makes the holiday better.  We told him about the baby and tried to explain everything to him and he seemed very excited. 

We had a Dr.'s appointment this morning and everything went terrific!  We saw baby and s/he is growing good.  The Dr. tried to get another measurement, but baby was being stubborn and wasn't in the best position, again.  Go figure!  Looks like we have a baby that takes after Matt and I in the stubborn department.  She wasn't too concerned since the baby was progressing and right around 9 weeks.  S/he looks like the cutest little gummy bear you have ever seen!  Baby even moved it's little leg and arm for us.  I'm already in love and words cannot describe my feelings.

My Dr. asked when I wanted to come back.  She said I could do 4 weeks, or 2 if it would make me feel better.  2 weeks, it is!  I'm sure I could wait until 4, but I'd rather see my baby as much as I can. 

Here's our cute little stinker at 9ish weeks:

7 Weeks

How Far Along?  7 weeks

Maternity Clothes? None yet.  Some of my pants are feeling a bit tighter, but they aren't to the uncomfortable point yet.

Weight Gain? Maybe a little less than a pound.

Stretch Marks?  No new ones yet.  I just have the ones that I have always had since my growth spurt in middle school.

Sleep?  It's not too bad yet.  Yes, I am tired throughout the day, but I sleep pretty well.  Aside from getting up around 4-4:30 every morning to pee.

Best Moment of the Week?  Seeing our little one growing at our 2 emergency appointments and getting a clean, positive bill of health.

Movement?  Not yet.

Gender? I say a girl, but that's just because of everything that's gone on so far.  No son would ever put their mother through all of this.

What I miss?  Nothing.  I am loving every minute of being pregnant.  Good, bad, ugly - bring it on!

Symptoms: Tired, hungry, nauseas throughout the day - on and off, breaking out, emotional and my boobs are getting sore.

What I’m looking forward to?  November 28th, when we get to see our sweet pea again and Thanksgiving with family.

Weekly Wisdom: Drink water steadily and not all at once - makes me sick and eat before taking my vitamins in the morning.

Milestones: Another week down!

 

Emotions:  Surreal, happy, blessed and excited.

 

At 7 weeks the Baby is the size of a Blueberry:

 

 

Our New "Normal"

Well, it looks like our little stinker is going to give us a hard time this 1st trimester.  I should have known this wasn't going to be smooth sailing.  Yesterday, I had another bleeding episode.  I was at work, got up to get something off the printer and there it went.  I called the Dr.'s office, as she instructed me to do if the bleeding happened again, and they scheduled me an appointment for today at 10:45. 

Matt and I got up and went to the appointment and got our (seems daily) ultrasound.  Everything went great. The tech found the heartbeat right away and she said that baby has a fast, strong heartbeat and it still growing so the bleed isn't affecting our little one. Hearing this fantastic update, was music to our ears.  She found where the bleed was coming from, but it's something we may have to get used to this 1st trimester.  She says as long as it isn't really heavy for a long period of time, then we are okay.  Basically, it's nothing to worry about. It may happen again, but not to panic and just give them a call so we can go in and take a look. I am hoping that it stays away from here on out.

Now, hopefully we can stay away from the Dr. until our actual scheduled appointment on the 28th. As much as the bleeding is scary, annoying and sucks, at least we get to check up on our sweet pea.

Our Dr. put me back on a progesterone supplement since my levels had dropped a bit.  She said that it's nothing to be worried about.  The ovaries stop supplying everything to the baby around 9 weeks, when the placenta then takes over.  She said mine just slowed down a little earlier, so she wanted me on medicine to help.  I only take it through the 12th week, so hopefully it flies by. 

7 weeks:

Giving Us a Scare

I thought I was reliving a nightmare!  It was awful.  We were at our friend, John and Lyndi's house on Friday.  They just had a sweet baby boy, Colton Ray.  We brought them some yummy dinner and visited with them for a few hours.  We were all sitting around talking and laughing and I was getting my baby fix in for a few days.  Around 9, I was holding the baby, and started to cramp a little (this was normal, as it had been happening the last few days) then I felt a gush. I got up to go to the bathroom and blood poured out of me - bright red blood. I signaled quietly to Matt and we rounded things up and headed home.  Luckily, it wasn't obvious as Lyndi and Colton were heading to bed for the night. When I got home the blood was only a few drops. Luckily, it tapered off and was just brown spotting when I wipe.  It had been like this the entire weekend.  I layed horizontal the entire time and did nothing, which was nice, but under these circumstances I was driving myself crazy and so nervous thinking about all of the "what if's."  I hadn't had cramps since the initial blood flow and there hasn't been any sort of tissue.  This helped with my sanity a bit.  My pad didn't have any blood in it, but I was still freaking out. My Dr. said not to worry until I am going through a pad (or more) an hour. Needless to say, I did nothing the rest of the weekend and scheduled an appointment first thing on Monday.

Here we are at Monday...  It was a stressful morning as I wasn't sure what to think.  I kept thinking the worst, of course.  I called the doctor as soon as they opened at 9 a.m. and they had the nurse call me back.  She called me in about an hour and scheduled me to come in and see my doctor at 12:30 p.m.  Matt and I went and we got another GREAT update - thankfully!!  She did the ultrasound and baby was in there, healthy and growing!  She said that the baby looked great and is measuring 6w5d (one day ahead!!).  The heart rate is still strong and based on everything, so far, my chance of miscarriage is looking low.

The bleeding is caused by a subchronic hematoma, which is basically a blood filled pocket that developed behind the placenta during implantation. She said I may experience more bleeding, but more than likely it will be absorbed and should not give me any trouble. If I do start to bleed, give her a call and we'll take another look.  I am so happy and proud that this little one is doing so well!

Side note: This is the most pregnant I have ever been - a personal milestone!

Here's our little sweet pea at 6w5d:

Our next appointment is set for November 28th.  Hopefully, we won't get any more "grief" until then.

"Today I am pregnant and I love my baby."

Confession

Here goes nothing and I am so over the moon to be writing about this.  It makes me jump for joy on the inside.  Matt and I are EXPECTING!!!  After everything that we have been through, it's finally happening!  We are so overjoyed and cannot wait for our future with our addition.

I have been very hesitant on posting anything, but I made sure to make this a private online journal, until we want to announce this fantastic news to the world.

Since out miscarriage in June, my body hadn't been regular and my doctor had to prescribe me Provera, which is a medicine to jump start me period.

It started on October 25th, when we got our positive home pregnancy test.  It was dark and the double lines were so there.  No squinting or anything.  I was getting ready for work, as I do every morning, and decided that I would take a test.  I "thought" my period was due that previous Thursday (if I were back on track) and here we were on Tuesday and it was still a no show.  I didn't know if I was technically late, but thought I'd test anyway.  I took it and then set it on the back of the toilet and proceeded to finish getting ready.  About 10 minutes had passed and I thought I'd give it a look.  There it was, before my eyes, 2 lines!!  I was overjoyed with excitement and I'm pretty sure my stomach jumped into my throat.  I had to sit on the edge of the tub to take it all in.  When I finally calmed down, I went into the bedroom where Matt was still sleeping and stuck the test in front of his face.  I said, "Can you see what this says?"  It took him a minute and he said, "Yeah, I did!!"  As he proceeded to give me a high five, followed by a kiss.  It was great and we were so happy.

I had a doctor's appointment the Wednesday before we left for Aruba.  This was to confirm the pregnancy and check my progesterone levels since they were pretty low last time.  Thursday, I got the call that they were at 25.7 and the nurse said that I had "beautiful numbers."  That was so exciteing to hear - like music to my ears.

It was very hard to keep this secret.  Being pregnant and not announcing it takes so much energy out of you.  We got our positive test on Tuesday and we left for Aruba that following Saturday.  Matt and I had a very hard time covering up that I wasn't drinking.  We used every excuse under the sun and made up as many fake drinks as we could.  The hardest part, for me, was the staying up part.  Everyone wanted to party so late and I couldn't hang.  I was exhausted and could only make it until 1, at the latest.  It was so nice to return home and get in bed at a normal time and not have to worry about all this fake partying.  Whooo, that'll drain you!

We got back in town on Saturday, November 5th and our 1st ultasound was scheduled for Friday, November 11th.  I was very nervous, given previous situations, but I kept telling myself "this pregnancy is different and not the same as the last.  There are no reasons that I shouldn't be positive.  This baby should get every chance is the world, just as the last one did."  We went and saw the ultrasound tech and baby was in there!!  It was a beautiful sight to see and it looked so perfect!  It's little heart was flickering and we got a great report.  Last time the heartbeat was slower than what they like to see, but this baby had a perfect heartrate of 120!!!  She said she had no bad news and sent us on our way with 4 pictures of our sweet pea.  Although, I thought I was 7 weeks, the baby was measuring 6w1d.  She said it was completely fine, as they like no more than a 7 day window.  We felt great about the appointment and couldn't wait until November 28th - our next ultrasound.

Here's our little one at 6w1d:

I know it doesn't look like much, but this little one has already filled our hearts with so much joy and love.

Back from Paradise

We made it back from Aruba.  Wow!!  That country is amazing.  It's picture perfect.  We had such a great time and did so much.  It was a fantastic getaway and much needed.

Our trip was from Saturday to Saturday.  We went with 2 other close couple friends of ours.  We all stayed in a 3 bedroom, 3 bath townhome in a little community called Tiera del Sol.  It was so pretty.  Apparently it's one of the most expensive places on the island.  The townhomes and houses were huge!  Boy, would I love to retire there. 

In Aruba, we did tons of different exploring and excursions.  We packed as much beach time as we could in those 7 days we were in paradise.  We went on a booze cruise/snorkeling trip, 4 wheeling down the coast from one end of the island to the other and we even took a party bus out one night that took us to a few dive bars that we would have never known about or ventured too.  There was so much to see out there.  We took tons of pictures and videos.  The beaches are gorgeous.  It was awesome, because even on our relaxing beach days, we were able to walk out to the water with all the snorkeling gear that we brought and go searching for all the amazing marine live.  The boys found starfish that were the size of our head, bright colored fish and a 6 foot eel.  It was pretty scary to see up close, but simply breathtaking at the same time.

Our friends, Jacob and Nikki got engaged while we were out there which was super excited and happy!  Congratulations to them!  Jacob popped the question on our 4 wheeling excursion.  She was so surprised and not expecting it, at all.  They've been together for about 3 years and recently got a house together - so it was about time!  We couldn't be happier for them and look forward to wedding time.

Our time in Aruba was so relaxing.  It was nice that we re able to cover the entire island during our stay.  It's crazy how small it is.  It's only about 21 miles long and 7 miles wide.  The sunsets were beautiful as well.  It's crazy to see the sun hit the water and disappear.  In Aruba, you're only 15 degrees from the equator, so watching the sunset, it doesn't take long for the sun to go down.  It hits the horizon of the ocean and within 2 minutes it has vanished.  Pretty amazing!

It's hard to be back at work this week after a long trip.  7 days in paradise and back to the real world.  Ugh!  I'm ready for Friday.  Luckily, it's tomorrow.  I know it's going to be a great day.  I have a good feeling and then WEEKEND TIME! 

Over the weekend, I will be sure to post some Aruba pictures so you can see all the beauty that we experienced.