13 Week Baby Appointment

Today Working Man and I had our first regular prenatal appointment. It was filled with the usual stuff. Blood pressure, weight, palpation. Our doctor went over blood results, urine results (and I got to pee in a cup again, that was lovely), and she listened for the heartbeat. Took her a minute to find our little girl and then we heard it. But it wasn't two seconds before it was gone again and she had to search around again. As our doctor said, "She's cruisin'."

Before she gets here, we got her some cruisin' socks.




Dad, Mom, baby girl's favorite cruising wear :)

I have an appointment tomorrow with some nurses, another appointment in four weeks (which I couldn't get with my regular doctor because she's so popular she was already full) and another appointment in another four weeks which I did get with my regular doctor. I figure if we schedule an extra two appointments ahead, we can get with our regular doctor.

I am sorry to say that I have horrible heartburn. Of this I am not glad. Although an old wive's tale says that if you have bad heartburn your baby has hair. Some limited research has shown this to be fairly true. Here's to baby hair.

FFR

Weekly Baby Update: Week 13

Today starts week 13. This week, finally, we are reaching the end of our first trimester. And all rejoiced. This is supposed to be the last week of exhaustion, morning sickness, moodiness, and all-around being uncomfortable. Ok, so I never really had morning sickness but I'll be happy to kiss off exhaustion and moodiness. The second trimester is supposed to be the easiest and I am looking forward to that. All rejoice.

At any rate, this week, our precious baby girl is reaching the end of her danger stage for miscarriage. The majority of miscarriages happen in the first trimester. If we were traditional folks, this is about the time we would be starting to tell people. But...we're just too excited. Baby is the size of a peach, about three inches long, and her intestines, currently outside her body in the umbilical cord (how weird is that?) are receding back to her abdomen where they properly belong.

Additionally, her vocal cords are forming. I feel the headaches already. Believe it or not, her ovaries already contain more than 2 million eggs. 2 million! That's...crazy! And she better not fertilize any of those for a good long time! That's a warning. Never too early to start.

All in all, my energy has received a small boost although I am still finding myself dragging about four or five o'clock which makes it difficult to finish working but I'm powering through best I can. My weight gain is non-existent which is typical for the first trimester. I was supposed to have an ultrasound yesterday at my prenatal appointment but they had to cancel it. So instead, I'll go in tomorrow morning and I should get to enjoy the pleasure of seeing our little girl again.

Until next week, or at least until I post those pictures of Working Man putting the stroller together.

FFR

8 weeks



13 Weeks...told you I've lost weight!

And the baby is...

First a long post about what we did today...
Here's a handy tip for all of you someday mothers out there. When you get pregnant and they decide to do lab work on you, you will have instructions...and you should read those very carefully. For some, you will need to do urine samples, for others, you will not. For some, your bladder should be empty, for others, it should be full. For some, you will need forms, for others, you will not. Getting a trend here? Urine and forms, urine and forms.

At any rate, read the instructions. Today, we had our nuchal translucency ultrasound (don't I sound smart?). Basically, the plan was for a sonogram to catch a good look at the c-spine and count the number of vertebrae. No big deal right? Well, not exactly. See, for baby to be in the right position, we had specific instructions. First, empty bladder an hour before appointment. No big deal except I was on the road at that time so I emptied about an hour and a half before. Second, drink 16oz of water or some other liquid 45 minutes before. Check. Chug water. Don't eat spicy food. Ok, not really, but the water stuff, really.

We, Working Man and I, end up early because we're both crazy like that and hate to be late. It's a good thing because we got in early and that means we got more time to look at Baby. Now, she tells us she can't comment on the pictures because she's not a doctor. Working Man asks if we can tell the sex at this age. She says it depends. So begins the picture taking. For a long time I'm sitting there as she's pressing all over my belly with the wand...silence. Working Man can see but I can't see anything but a reflection in her glasses.

When she's done, she tells me to empty my bladder so maybe we can figure out what baby is. So I empty my bladder which I didn't realize was full (even though she'd been pushing on it rather hard) and go back. Back to the pushing on the now empty, rapidly filling, bladder. Baby is facing my back. Jiggle the tummy trying to move baby. Finally, baby turns a little.

Alien face!

Then my bladder was full again. Back to empty and come back to try again. Alas, baby has moved!

In this pose, we could see baby hiccuping. And I mean a lot! It's funny that I've been reading about how baby will hiccup now with the development of the diaphragm but it's out of this world to see it!


In this view we could see a straight profile down past the legs.

From this view, the lady put her money on...


GIRL!

 It's not 100% certain because she is so small still and she was moving around quite a bit but she was pretty comfortable with that. She cautioned us not to buy clothes or anything just yet. So I caution you all who want to buy things, don't do it yet! Wait until we know for certain or buy neutral colors. She already has green socks :)

John Deere...Raise 'em right!

About this time, she got quite tired of us poking in at her. So we watched her hiccup some more...then we watched her turn over. She actually turned over and faced my spine again.

Remember how I said she was starting to respond to outside stimuli? She has begun to do just that. Do you have any idea what it's like to watch this little thing turn over in front of you?

After the sonogram, we met up with the doctor who could comment on the pictures. Everything looks great, arms, legs, organs, fingers, toes...all there. Ears, eyes, mouth, nose, there. Then she said our chances of having a down's baby is 1 in 4,700 and our chances of her being trisomy 18 is 1 in 12,000. Overall, extremely low and these are about 90% accurate. After the second round of lab work next month, it'll be 95% accurate. They start to worry about down's if you come up with 1 in 100 or less and trisomy 18 if you come up with 1 in 50 or less.

So many emotions today! Our little girl is growing fast and she's become more real today than before!

Personally, I was just glad to see she is still there. She's quiet for now but I guess I should be enjoying this period.

FFR

Crib Shopping...

Last weekend Working Man and I happened to be out and about. What I really wanted were some new pants for work and a new bathing suit and I knew Target had a maternity section. I'm not technically maternity yet but those clothes are so cute and as long as they fit... Anyway, Target is really the only store around here with maternity, everything else is plus size. Big difference. Sack of cloth versus built for my body.

Anytime we go anywhere lately, we've been looking at the baby items they have on hand. We've been trying to find the best pricing for good cribs, strollers, etc. So, no surprise, we went over to Target's rather extensive baby section. We found some really cute bundled sets (crib, dresser, changing table) but they had no prices. Then Working Man spotted one on clearance so we got the information to try to find out how much it might be. Here's how it went down...

"Honey, you are so strong and wonderful and I think we should look to see if this is all three items or just one. I think it could be good for the baby."
In reality: It's the LAST ONE! LOOOOOOK!

Working Man follows me to the register and I realize I can't get it read at customer service because the line is so long.
"Honey, maybe the nice man here can scan this wonderful card and tell us how much it is."
In reality: It's the LAST ONE! This guy can't help, he's in training. He's useless! It's the last one! I need to go wait with it!!!

Working Man and I discover that, indeed, the guy at the register couldn't help us so we went to Customer Service where she told us how much it was.
"Oh honey, it'll be perfect. We get all three for a great price and I think we should go for it."
In reality: It's the LAST ONE! GO GET IT NOW!!!

Working Man rescues our future child's bedroom set and hauls it out to the car with Target personel.
"We'll get it in there, it'll fit. We won't need to do a thing but take it straight home. The car is wonderful."
In reality: It's the LAST ONE! I don't care if we have to have our knees up our nose with our boogers! We're taking it with us now! Move the seat!"

We did have our legs rather squishes, but Hamster Box handled the rather long box all the way home. I didn't stall the car but I thought I might considering I couldn't extend or bend my knees at all.
"Isn't it great? We've got that out of the way, we won't have to worry about it anymore. Don't you feel great?"
In reality: It was the LAST ONE! And we got it! The LAST ONE!

Yeah, we saved almost $250 on the set but I think Working Man needs hearing aids. I was rather...adamant. It was the last one you know. Who knows when someone might have taken it?

Oh...and I did find pants and a cute bathing suit but that conversation will take longer than I have here.

FFR

Weekly Baby Update: Week 12

So although we always think of four weeks to a month, this is not the last week of my first trimester. Technically, this comes at week 13. Still hard to believe how quickly everything is going. This week baby is developing reflexes. One thing that really got to me about this? If I press inwards towards baby, baby will move accordingly. Baby...moves...in response to things. Crazy!

Baby has all the organs necessary for life but they need to finish maturing. It's amazing to think baby, who is only the size of a lime, has all these organs. The intestines are starting to recede into the abdomen after protruding out to the umbilical cord. The digestive system is contracting, baby's kidneys are passing urine to the bladder, and baby's bone marrow is producing white blood cells. Not to mention the pituitary gland which is producing hormones.

I know Working Man was looking forward to this being the last week of the first trimester but he'll have to hold out for another week. They say that everything gets easier in the second trimester and I know Working Man is waiting for my mood swings to stop. Matter of fact, so am I.

The weather is heating up dramatically around here. It makes me extremely glad that I'm early in my pregnancy. I do not want to be heavily pregnant in three-digit heat.

Me and my lime will sign off for now. Maybe I'll poke at baby some and get baby some exercise. ;)

FFR

Weekly Baby Update: Week 11

Yesterday started week 11. Baby is the size of a fig and little has changed this week from last week. Baby's arms and legs are moving consistently but I won't feel them for another month or so. This will probably be a really odd feeling at first since, at this moment, it's hard to even grasp that there is a baby growing in there. Baby may also be hiccuping now that baby's diaphragm is forming. Some of baby's bones are beginning to harden. If baby is a girl, this week she is forming ovaries.

That's about it from this end for this week. Next week will be the end of the first trimester, how exciting! The baby's room is coming along but I'm not revealing theme or pictures until it's finished! You'll just have to keep waiting.

FFR

Weekly Baby Update: Week 10

I figure I need to do this week's baby update before Wednesday when I hit another new week. This last Wednesday Working Man and I had a prenatal class. They discussed genetic testing and showed us what our babies would look like at various points of gestation. At ten weeks, baby is itty bitty with itty bitty fingers and toes. Baby is the size of a kumquat this week, about 1 1/2 inches from crown to rump.

Can you believe that at this stage, baby's organs are in place already? The most vital part of gestation, the forming of organs, has come and gone. Now they are just developing. The liver is producing red blood cells and baby is swallowing amniotic fluid, a good practice for breathing baby will need to do. The kidneys are producing urine and if baby is a boy, baby is already producing testosterone with his testes.

Baby no longer has webbed fingers and toes. Finger nails are forming and tooth buds are forming under the gums. Elbows and knees are already working to make baby kick and punch. Baby's legs are folded up and baby's hands meet over baby's tiny little heart.

At this stage, my uterus has become the size of a grapefruit when it started as a small pear. Baby already needs a room bigger than baby is! Needy needy!

At this stage, I'm still tired but not as tired as I was. Walking around for long periods leaves me exhausted and I'm more glad than ever that I do not have stairs in my house, I would never survive. If my room were upstairs, I'd sleep on the couch.

I'm hungry every two to three hours during the day now. This makes it difficult to eat. At work, I'm up front with clients all the time. I often forget to take a break and eat something. Even worse, I often forget to bring anything to eat. Speaking of work, it's time to get ready for another week.

I'll see you Wednesday...hopefully.

FFR

Chelsea's Dog...and Tongue

I recently met Chelsea's dog, Bahooka, and Bahooka's tongue at the ground breaking ceremony for the new hospital. Bahooka knows some cool tricks but the best trick of all, is Bahooka's tongue.

This is my tongue.


I dink dere'd domfing up my node.


I can almotht get it.


Maybe a little further.


Do clode...


Thid calld for more tongue!


And flip!


Nom nom...peanut butter!


Ok, that'th enough for now.


I'm not making a fool out of mythelf anymore.


Ok...maybe one more time.

I love my job. Where else do you get to meet cool dogs and their tongues on a daily basis?
FFR

Weekly Baby Update: Week 9

Today starts week 9. Today starts month 3. Today starts our baby being a fetus, not just an embryo. All of these things are incredibly exciting.

In this last week, baby doubled in size from 1/2 an inch to 1 inch or about the size of a green olive or grape. How awesome is that?

This week, muscles are forming which means, soon, baby will be able to kick and punch my belly. Although, I still won't be able to feel it for some time. Baby's essential organs are already in existence (wow that's fast!) but they need some fine-tuning before they're ready for the world. This week, baby's heart is finishing dividing into four chambers and valves are developing. Baby's teeth are developing and baby's tail is finally gone.

Nerves are starting to work, the placenta is doing most of the work of producing hormones and while we can't distinguish it yet, baby's external sex organs are developing. It will be some time before we get to tell what baby is. Baby's eyelids are fully formed now but they are still fused shut and will be until more than halfway through gestation. Also, baby has earlobes and more distinguished nostrils, nose, and mouth.

As for symptoms, some morning sickness...not necessarily occurring in the morning. Most commonly appearing in the afternoon or when I'm hungry. I still have exhaustion...but I'm attributing a lot of that to my illness. I've still got the flu and it's holding on for dear life.

217 days to go, 31ish weeks!

FFR