...I can NOT get enough this week. Granted, work has been crazy but so far this is seriously how my week has gone:
Sunday: Wake up at 10am, eat breakfast, watch 45 mins of TV, go back to bed and nap until 2pm. FINALLY go shopping and buy new bras that actually fit(!), come home, eat dinner, play with the dog, watch 1 hr of TV then doze on the couch the rest of the evening until it's a respectable time to go to bed (9:30ish).
Monday: Leave for the office at 7:30am, work all day, get home at 7:30pm. Scarf down 2 pieces of pizza, fall asleep on the couch immediately and sleep HARD until Hubby makes me go upstairs and go to bed at 10pm. Sleep straight through until 9am the next day (minus pee breaks of course).
Tuesday: Wake up at 9am, work from home all day, eat a delicious dinner that Hubs cooked(!), watch the news, fall asleep on the couch and then alternately do some work or doze for the rest of the evening until respectable time for bed. (That "respectable" time keeps getting earlier and earlier.)
Today: Leave for the office at 8am, work only until 4pm because I feel physically unable to be there any longer without my body shutting down. Come home, have early dinner, try to do some more work but fall asleep on the couch. Wake up, write this blog post. Next, my big plan is to go to bed early. (Likely even earlier than last night.)
How do people grow a human when they also have small children at home to take care of?! (I'm lookin at you Gonz!) I can't even take care of myself right now and have only just enough energy to work, eat, and sleep.
Isn't my life exciting? Can't wait to see what the rest of this week will bring!
11 weeks today! That's really exciting to me for some reason. I honestly wasn't convinced I'd ever make it this far so it feels so good to be chugging along from week to week while the baby continues to grow :-) Our little nugget is currently the size of a LIME(!) which seems really big to me. I am definitely forming a bump and promised I'd start posting pictures so here we go with faceless bump pic #1!
My stomach is already looking pretty darn large and I know that a lot most of this is still bloat but my weight is holding steady at 1 lb below pre-pregnancy weight so it's interesting that I'm already so round.
As for symptoms, I unfortunately broke my no-puke streak the other day and am still getting sick at least once a day - usually between 3-5 AM which means I'm awake most nights between 3 and 6 AM and I end up a pukey zombie during the days. Some days are better than others though so I really appreciate the good ones and try to get more done; like taking a shower and possibly loading the dishwasher - that's about the extent of my capabilities right now. Hubs is picking up a LOT of slack with zero complaints and I love him dearly for it.
Some good news: I'm finally down to single numbers of my Crinone applicators so I'm thrilled that I'll be finished with that disgustingness soon! Hoorah!
Also, my next ultrasound (for the NT screening) has been scheduled for Tues, Feb 4th! Only a week and half until we get to see our little nugget again! I seriously can't wait to see it looking like an actual baby.
Finally, a lot of the girls on my BMB have talked about what a hard time they've been having dealing with the pregnancy hormones. I've barely been having any issues with that and have actually been pretty even-keeled this whole time which I credit entirely to going through IF. The last year and a half spent pumping myself full of crazy-making fertility meds and hormones has equipped my body well to deal with pregnancy hormones. After making it through all the horrible med-induced rages, depression, feelings of hopelessness, and never-ending IF rollercoaster, these hormones feel like a friggin' walk in the park right now.
This afternoon's appointment was awesome. I ended up meeting with a midwife and so far I could not be happier. She is very sweet, sort of grandmother-y, and took all the time in the world answering my questions and actually offering information (a novel idea for a doctor!). It was a crapshoot whether I'd have a midwife or physician since I never specified a preference with the practice, but she was the one who was available for today's appointment and so far I love her. If for some reason I want to see someone else, there are 5 OBs and 8 other midwives in the practice so I can switch if I want to but she's actually the head of the department so I think I'm in good hands. If I end up having any complications with the pregnancy though or become high-risk she will automatically switch me to one of the OBs.
I don't know what it was but I am just feeling so good after today. Things are finally feeling real and I'm finally feeling secure. I got to hear the heartbeat again: 153bpm (up from 149!) and she also gave me a physical pelvic exam and said: "Oooo, you have a beautiful chubby uterus!!" Hahaha! What?! I love it. She said I have an impressive little bump forming and thinks I will likely end up showing sooner than some women because of the current position and size of my uterus. Fine with me; I got me some comfy maternity pants now!
In about a week and a half I'll go back for an ultrasound and our little chickin nugget should be looking like a bona fide baby as opposed to a blob! I'll also be starting my genetic screening (NT scan to check for Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and neural tube defects) plus blood work to see if I'm a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. And then 2 weeks after that I'll go back again for my next appointment with the midwife.
I'm officially in the midst of my prenatal care now! This is no longer just a waiting-on-pins-and-needles-hoping-things-will-be-viable situation...this is it! I'm IN it now! Yay!
And in other good news: I have not puked for 3 whole days!!!
I am feeling so happy and thankful right now.
I went bra shopping today for the first time since getting pregnant. It was a horror show. I do NOT recognize my chest anymore and couldn't find anything that fit and was even slightly comfortable. Either the cups fit and the band was too small or the band fit and the cups were too big. Oh and fun fact: apparently boobs don't always grow at the same speed! One of mine is a D right now and the other is a C, soooo that's fun. I have been living in sports bras for the past few weeks but I need at least ONE normal bra to wear under my work clothes so it looks like I'll be doing some more bra shopping in the near future. I am dreading it.
I was successful though in getting some maternity pants! Black work pants, grey ones and a pair of jeans! Can't wait to finally be comfy!
On a similar note, I think I'm now starting to look pregnant. I've always had a little belly roll that could be sucked in or hidden by standing up straight but now I have a...pooch above my pubic bone too that I cannot hide. It's strange. I know it's still just bloat at this stage but it's different from regular bloat. It's not like I'm just getting fat either since I've actually lost 8 pounds (technically a lot of that was IVF/OHSS weight though so I'm only about a pound below my real starting weight). I may start taking bump pictures once a week so I can look back on how my belly has grown :-) I can't wait for it to turn into a legitimate bump so I can stop feeling like such a poser! (I actually felt sort of sheepish going into Motherhood Maternity today!) It's a very weird feeling not really recognizing or knowing how to dress your own body. And I'm only 10 (and a half) weeks in! The next 30 weeks should be interesting.
Hey hey - I'm already a quarter of the way through this pregnancy!!
I went into the office yesterday for the first time since before Christmas! (Holy crap!) I won't lie - it was tough. I ended up leaving the house an hour late because I had morning sickness, and then I had to pull off an exit on the way there and pace around the car for a few minutes waiting to projectile vomit on the side of the road. (At least I have experience with having an audience now, haha!) Luckily my stomach settled a bit and I got back in the car and made it the rest of the way to work without incident. I did puke once while at work but was lucky enough to make it to one of the private single bathrooms on the other end of the building so that was a silver lining I guess. I was also EXHAUSTED by 3pm so I rescheduled my afternoon meeting for today and left early. In all, I was at work for just 4 hours...pitiful. It's a start though I suppose.
MORNING SICKNESS:
In case you are interested, I really don't have any tricks for the nausea and vomiting right now. I ordered Sea-Bands online which are just little stretchy wristbands with a small plastic ball in them. Placed correctly, the ball hits the acupressure points in the wrist and this apparently relieves nausea. I *think* they work some of the time... They're really tight and sort of cut off the circulation to my hands though so I only put them on now when the nausea is starting. I've also noticed that when removing them after wearing them for more than a couple hours, the veins in my wrist look like they're about to pop so I'm not sure that's a good thing. A mere papercut would probably be the end of me.
Besides those, I also have Preggy Pop Drops which are mostly just sour candies with some other stuff in them and they seem to work okay. I sort of wonder if just sucking on a Jolly Rancher might do the same thing though. But they taste good (mine are sour lemon and sour raspberry) so I like them and like to pretend that they work!
Besides those, I've been eating a lot of oyster crackers/ saltines/ dry cereal/ toast when I'm nauseous because there's no chance I'd be able to keep down anything beyond that.
CRAVINGS:
During the times I am mercifully NOT nauseous, I crave red meat. All I want is steak, hamburgers, pot roast, and more steak. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian! Me thinks I may have an iron deficiency? I also often crave cooked carrots (random!) so I've been eating a lot of those. A few weeks ago I was obsessed with soup (especially thick stews and chowders) but now that sort of grosses me out and I want cold things. Small cold fruit cups are delicious right now, as are fruit smoothies. I also HAVE to eat something every 2.5 - 3 hours or my stomach gets empty and I get sick.
Moving on...
I got my Snoogle the other day and I think I'm gonna like it! I can't really use it quite yet because it's huge and makes it very difficult to get out of the bed quickly to run to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but once the sickness is gone and my belly is bigger I think I'm gonna love it. It supports me in all the right places. When I tuck it between my legs it sort of has tail which I wedged under my tailbone. SWEET RELIEF! I had no idea how good it would feel to have my tailbone supported! Go figure. Ah Snoogle, I love you already.
I also tried my Belly Band. Dislike. Technically it's Target's version called the BeBand. The idea is to put this stretchy band of fabric over the top of your pants so you can still wear your regular pants even if they no longer button and it's supposed to hide that and keep them up at the same time. Uhh, no. Instead, the BeBand just rolls down making me constantly pull and fuss with it and my pants fall down under it anyway so I end up with the band bunched around my stomach and my pants falling below it. Obnoxious. I may end up in maternity pants sooner than I would like.
Finally (since this post is getting long):
Yesterday at work the office gossip asked me if I was pregnant. Actually, specifically she said: "Don't be insulted okay?? Buuut...are you pregnant?", while pointing at my bloated belly. Awesome. I didn't want anyone else at work to know until I am securely into 2nd Tri so I was NOT thrilled that she asked but I am a horrid liar and she caught me off guard so I said yes. I told her it's still early and no one knows yet so please keep her big mouth shut but I know she won't and most likely everyone will know by the time I come back into the office next week. UGH. I am not prepared to deal with this yet. However, my big bloated belly seems to have other plans! There's nothing I can do to hide this sucker right now and apparently it's even more obvious than I thought. It just wants to say hello and make itself known! I guess I will just have to embrace it and hope it turns from bloat to a legit belly bump soon.
(Who asks that though? What if I WASN'T pregnant and just really fat? Um, yeah, I would have been insulted. Hint: If you have to preface a question with "Don't be insulted, but..." then you probably shouldn't ask that question.)
