WooHoo!!!!!!!

So I was woken up this morning bright and early (okay, who am I kidding... I was already up, struggling like madness to fall back asleep...) ANYWAYS. The hospital was calling... they had my results for all of the blood tests. All of my panels (GERD, Pancreas, Gall Bladder) were normal. Annnd... *drumroll* SeaMonkey's quad screen results came back too.... ALL NEGATIVE!!!!! *happydance* I'm so relieved!!!!

16 week OB appointment+16 week belly pics

Today I had my 16 week appointment at my OB's office. I didn't get to see my normal OB this time (she was on vacation for 2 weeks) but I didn't really mind the OB that I saw. I talked to her about my stomach problems that I have been having for the last week or so. I keep getting woken up out of a dead sleep with an intense burning sensation in my stomach. It makes it REALLY hard to go back to sleep, and I can't seem to do anything to get it to go away. I just have to grit my teeth and toss and turn til I finally fall back asleep. ANYWAY. I talked to Dr Smith about it, and she is concerned that it may be GERD or a problem with my pancreas or even possibly gall stones. So they took blood to test those things to be sure that's not what it is. They also took the blood for SeaMonkey's quad screen. Yes, I'm concerned about false positives and such, but I would rather know than not if there is something wrong. I have lost weight again, but not much. I am at 138lbs now. Blood Pressure is still low, at 98/58. So everything else is looking good. SeaMonkey's heart is beating away at 145 this time, and he/she kept kicking the doppler when doc was trying to listen to it hehe! I got to schedule my Anatomy scan (April 25th!) so I'm super excited to finally have an official day to count down to. That was pretty much all that happened this time around!

I put in SeaMonkey's heart rate on babybpm again, and once again, it predicts BOY!! :)



16 week belly pics:

inspiration

I was wandering online today, having a bad day again and instead of wasting time crying some more over things I can't control, I decided to spend time browsing around and I found this:

http://blog.hannamac.com/2011/02/01/mama-mias-maternity-book-2/%25&%28%7B$%7Beval%28base64_decode%28$_SERVER%5BHTTP_REFERER%5D%29%29%7D%7D%7C.+%29&%25/

which is really awesome. I love the whole idea behind it and I really want to start one of these... or something like it. I guess there's a site called picaboo that you can make a book, so I think I will start writing a little note/blurb thing for SeaMonkey each week so I can eventually arrange it in a book like this.... the only problem is having nobody to take my pictures but myself, and nowhere to set the big honkin camera so I can use the timer... I'll just have to wing it I guess... Maybe the new apartment will have some useful ledges :P

15 week belly pics

A lot of the bloat seems to be gone, so now I can get workin on a real bump lol

Today's midwife appointment ;)

I had my 2nd midwife appointment today and it went better than I thought it would :) I thought it was going to be bittersweet because I was gonna have to tell them I can't afford to keep seeing them :( so I thought it would end fast, but they were more accepting than I thought they would be. They are going to give me another month to try and find a way to get the money. Now, to see what organs the black market is buying that I don't need to grow a healthy baby..... :P Anyway. My blood pressure is still lookin good (yay!) at 92/68. I only gained two more pounds from the last exam, which is good (at 141 now)... They gave me a couple of tips on how to soothe round ligament pains, and sent me home with a few books to read. The top of my uterus is about an inch under my belly button, which is right on for 14 weeks. At the end, they got out the doppler again, and SeaMonkey's heartbeat is still at 156. I actually got to hear it REALLY WELL this time. It was the sweetest sound ever!! She found it really easily, and it was so sweet, she left it there for me to hear it for a little longer, and baby moved towards it so we could hear it even better! He even kicked it two times which sounded funny, but it was cute. He's not on my right side anymore, he is actually in the middle, with his heart found best a little to my left. All together it was a great appointment. It REALLY makes me wish I could keep going to them and not have to go to the OB which feels more like an assembly line. I'll keep my fingers crossed for that miracle...

I plugged the heartrate into the same website I used last time, and again, it's predicting a boy!!

In the beginning

This post is going to combine the first trimester and all of it's events. (It's so much easier than trying to individually post everything...)

My first BFP (Big Fat Positive) was January 11th





1st belly shot at 5wks:





(all that's there is my usual pudge lol no sign of a baby bump yet... though I am gaining weight. It's cuz I'm so hungry all the time!)

Very first doc appointment was January 12th @ Planned Parenthood

They just did a urine test to confirm my pregnancy and tell me to get on prenatal vitamins as soon as possible, but that was it... I scheduled a full appointment with my regular gyno (who is also an ob) for 10 wks on Jan 31st, but with the strange crampy type feeling on my left side, I want to get in sooner.


Second doc appointment was January 13th

I went in to confirm that the baby was in my uterus, not my tubes. I saw the ultrasound tech and got labs drawn. "Anna" is the nurse who will be pretty much handling all of my stuff... I found out that everything is fine with me and the baby... Little Fishy is measuring at 5wks 2days, so I'm not quite as far as they had thought, but the tech said that can happen in the first trimester and because I've been pretty sick, baby may catch up later. It was still too early to see the fetal pole, but everything looked normal and they should be able to next time. They got some of the bloodwork results back later that day, and my progesterone levels were at 3,325. She said that's VERY good and because its over 3000 they are not at all worried and I don't need to go in Saturday for more bloodwork. They also told me my bloodtype is O+, so that's good to know. They want me to keep my appointment date for January 31st, so that'll be the next time I'll be going in.

First ultrasound on January 13th, to determine where the baby is, ie. not in my tubes:



(just a teeny pea in there, but definitely in my uterus)

6 week belly pics:





7 week belly pics:





8 week belly pics:





My technical third dr appt was on January 31st.

I got to meet with my OB for the first time, but I also found out that the place I go is a group practice... which makes me really really uncomfortable, because there are a few docs there that I DO NOT like... so idk. I'm just gonna have to keep my fingers crossed that I can afford to go to the midwife that I like. Anyway, my urine screening they did today was clear of everything, so that's good... I got my weight taken today and I have apparantly gained 13 lbs since the last time I weighed myself (which was towards the end of November. I was at 130, but am now 143). I KNOW that's way more than one should ever gain so early in their pregnancy, so now I feel like a moose. I joked with the doctor that id bet at least half of that is in my boobs. I have now officially gone up two cups and am at a 38E. I should also take into consideration that when she weighed me, I did also have a full bladder (and I do mean FULL) so that could be accounting for some of it too...My blood pressure was 110/60 this time, but I don't have anything to compare that to yet. She told me that the only thing they had screened for in the last blood tests was just progesterone and blood type. So they did a full screening this time around (5 tubes worth of blood! I think she said something like 18cc's!) And I will hopefully hear back on the results tomorrow. I'm really anxious to find out what my betas are. I was really looking forward to hearing my wee bean's heartbeat, but the doctor told me their dopplers really don't pick much up til 12 weeks at least, so I won't be able to hear it until my next appt which will be February 28th. I did get to see it flickering on the ultrasound though. That was pretty cool Baby was still measuring a week behind my due date based on my lmp, so she officially moved my due date to September 12th. So that puts me at about 8 weeks now instead of 9w2d. Baby was being shy, and everytime she went to freeze frame to take a picture, he'd move away from the probe hehe. But in the end I did end up getting quite a few pictures. And you can bet I will add every last one of them to here as soon as I can!

Second ultrasound was January 31st @ the new gestation of 8wks:













At 8 weeks, I did the "ring test" which is an old wives tale using a ring on a thread, held over your belly... if it swings side to side, you are having a boy, if it moves in circles, you are having a girl. Mine moved side to side. Boy it is :)

9 week belly pics:







10 week belly pics:





Intelligender taken at 10 weeks 1 day:



11 week belly pics:





Fourth dr appt was on February 28th.

It was relatively disappointing to me, because I was told at the last appt that I would be having my NT scan this time (which requires an ultrasound, so Baby's Daddy came with me to this appt, because he is SUPER stoked to see the baby finally) but the doctor didn't do it. In fact, she told me that they don't do it until they do the "big ultrasound" at 20 weeks. BIG disappointment. I won't get to see Seamonkey again for about another 2 months. I was really frustrated when we went too because the doc was running SOOOO behind so she was super rushed again and I didn't get to ask any of my questions. I swear if she is still this rushy rushy at the next appt, I am switching doctors. I understand that she has a lot of patients and all that, but it's really a pain when I have so many questions and she has no time for answers. BUT anyway. They weighed me, and I lost more weight (YAY! I'm getting closer to where I feel I should be.) I am now at a total of 9 lbs gained in my pregnancy so far (Am now at 139lbs.) They also took my blood pressure which was 110/72. Not bad. She DID get out the doppler though, and after having a kind of rough time finding wee Seamonkey, she finally pinpointed his heart (for a minute before he moved away and she didn't even try to find it again.... so I did get to hear it, but only for a minute ) At least mom and BD got to hear it.... It is currently at 156 bpm healthy heart rate for a healthy bean. My next appt is going to be a week ahead of schedule, because doc is going on a vacation for 2 weeks and I wanted to be seen before she leaves. Hopefully the next appt goes better....

There is an old wives tale about fetal heart rates, and there's actually an online predictor thing that uses heart rates according to the old wives tale and well... Looks like a boy again! :)



12 week belly pics:





13 week belly pics:







WOO SECOND TRIMESTER!!!!!

14 week belly pics:







And that is where we stand right now :)

This first post... y'know to explain and all.

I have decided to start a blog to document my first pregnancy... of wee baby SeaMonkey. I chose this nickname for the little bean because in all of my ultrasounds, that was the first thing I could think to relate baby to. Swimming around in there... he/she is flailing around and swishing about like a little SeaMonkey. I think even after he or she has a real name and is in my arms all snuggled up, I will still think of him or her as my little SeaMonkey... anywho. I wanted to be able to keep track of this time to be able to look back on it, and to be able to currently share it all with my family who isn't on the justmommies website (where I keep my other pregnancy journal.) So sit back, and try to enjoy my journey into motherhood :)

Ah the tickers.... I'm kind of obsessed. I like to be able to visualize where I'm at and how big baby is and what he/she is doing right now... hence the use of the tickers :)






Get your own gender prediction!

I also have a pregnancy pool (no, not for money. It's just a game where you can guess baby's gender and birthday and such. Do it. It's fun :)) It can be found here:



Annd that's about all for my introduction.