Wow!

It was so much fun to read the blog! It is exciting to "watch the baby grow". It is so cool that there is so much information out there to keep us up to date!

 

I love hearing all about your experience and your feelings. I love the way you are so out there with what you are experiencing! When you read back on all of this you will be amazed at how much you are actually feeling!

 

It is a miracle, just like you! It is a lot to take it and process. This is just the beginning of an amazing journey!

 

Thank you so much for sharing all this with us!

 

I love it when you wrote......"I'm having a baby....I'm having a baby!"

 

Amazing! I'm going to be a Grandma! WooHoo!

 

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Telling People

Telling people has been so much fun! So far, we've told my mom (Patty) and Bobby, Grant's mom (Donna), Danny, Angie, and Nanci and John.

We told Mom and Bobby first because we couldn't tell them in person. Needless to say, they were excited! We had shipped them a journal called "Memories for my Grandchild," with strict orders not to open the box until we said they could. (We implied that the package had something to do with the cruise.) When they opened it, they were like, "What's this, wait, what? Are you? No, you're... are you?" followed by some screaming and general excitement about the whole situation.

Next we told Danny (because we suspected that he overheard Mom's screaming through the telephone wires...)

We told Donna the same way we told Mom and Bobby - by giving her the journal. It was fun watching her face when she realized what the journal was telling her! Later on, we went through the journal and looked at some of the questions - she had a similar journal that she had given her mom to fill out, but Grant's Grandma didn't fill it out very thoughrally... She also gave me some neat books...

We went to visit Grant's grandma, Adair (his dad's mom) who is on hospice right now. Nanci and John were there, and since we don't see them in person very often, I went ahead and told them since I thought it would be more fun in person. (Which it was!)

Finally, Angie and the kids came over. I said, "Hey Cori, guess what? I have a baby in my tummy!" Angie started laughing and then it dawned on her what I said - her scream was almost as loud as my Mom's! "I'm going to be an Aunt!" And then Andrew says, "Does that mean we're getting anothe cousin! Wahoo!" And then Cori came over and laid her head on my belly while patting it with her and, sort of hugging it, saying, "Hello cousin! Hello baby!" That was SO precious!"

Left to tell in person before I send out the mass email:
Dad (Bob) and Delaine, Grant's Dad (Gary), Tammy, Cathy and Katherine, and I have to call Andy, and Grant needs to call Blake...

General thoughts

I am excited about my first appointment.

I still think it is funny that a container of Pringles could taste so good that it made me cry.

I've had food dreams for the past two days. Weird, but good because it makes it much easier to eat first thing in the morning, which I didn't like to do before. (The first night, I dreamt about what I wanted to get at the grocery store - which Grant and I later went out and bought - this list included celery and peanut butter, cheese, salami, yogurt, apples and cinnamon cream of wheat (which they didn't have), a box of cereal and some milk, cottage cheese, and of course pringles. Last night I dreamt about a dessert buffet - just baked chocolate chip cookies, pecan brownies, pumpkin pie... don't worry, I am not going out to buy all that!)

I was pretty tired all day yesterday - I went to bed at 10 and woke up at 6. So it has been frustrating that although I am tired, I can't sleep in. I may try taking a nap today - I've never been very good at it and usually feel like crap after wards, so we'll see. I'd love is I could move my schedule up just a bit - like say 11 - 7 or 11:30 - 7:30 ish.

My body feels weird. It feels crowded in my lower belly - like everything is struggling to find a place to fit. (Full disclosure now - don't get all wiggy on me...) When I have to go to the bathroom, it's like I need to go now, because there just isn't room for it to sit around and wait for a convenient time. And same with gas - this kid is definitely Grant's because it makes me fart all of the time! Hee hee!

7 weeks

Your pregnancy: 7 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

See what's going on in your uterus this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

How your life's changing:

Your uterus has doubled in size in the past five weeks, and eating may feel like a chore — or worse — thanks to morning sickness, which by now may be in full swing. (If you're feeling fine, don't worry — you're lucky!)

You may need to pee more than usual, too, thanks to your increasing blood volume and the extra fluid being processed through your kidneys. (By now, you already have about 10 percent more blood than you did before you were pregnant. And by the end of your pregnancy, you'll have 40 to 45 percent more blood running through your veins to meet the demands of your full-term baby.) As your uterus grows, pressure on your bladder will send you to the bathroom as well.

About half of the women who feel nauseated during the first trimester will find complete relief by about 14 weeks. For most of the rest, it'll take another month or so for the queasiness to ease up. It's unlikely, though, that the need to pee more than usual will ease up. In fact, research shows that both the frequency and volume of urine tends to increase over the course of pregnancy.

moody

Yesterday was hard for me. No morning sickness, exactly. (Is that strange? I haven't had any since Saturday and Sunday? Yeah for me!) But yeaterday I just felt yucky all day. Tired and moody. I wasn't hungry, but on the train the trolley guy walked buy and he had pringles and twix and I bought them and the pringles were so good that I cried. How weird is that?

Monday

No morning sickness today! Hurrah!

Apparently, this is an off and on thing?

morning sickness

I was feeling yucky again this morning - It didn't last long and it wasn't too severe, but for a while I was feeling pretty crummy. It was hard to hide from Gary! In fact, I couldn't - I just told him I wasn't feeling gret but that I'd feel better after breakfast - which was semi true but easier to hide when we were up and walking.

Riding the bike this morning was nice - it got my mind off of how I was feeling until the sickness passed. Again, no throwing up!

6 weeks

This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

Morning Sickness

I think I had my first official day of morning sickness. (I survived the flight to Amsterdam with no problems!)

My morning sickness hit as we walked through the stalls of the street market - it was the roasting chicken that really set me off - although the fish, and even the cheese stalls were making me feel queasy.

No actual throwing up, just queasiness, and not awful, considering how much I was tempting fate walking through the market in the first place! It was only bad for about an hour, and I was feeling completely normal by about 5 hours after I had woken up. Not bad at all (I didn't start feeling sick until after i;d been up about 2 hours -again, once I got to the market. It might have been smell aversions, and not morning sickness...)

Not feeling too overly tired, so that is good! ::fingers crossed:::

No News

Not much to tell. No symptoms. I am so contradictory! In one sense - I am thrilled to have no symptoms yet - maybe I'll be one of those lucky ones who has a wonderful pregnancy! And that would be awesome! As long as my baby is healthy and everything is growing all right. I just wish I knew for sure I was pregnant! I just get worried about miscarriage - you know? On the other hand, I am starting to stress a little about the Amsterdam trip. I DO NOT want to have morning sickness or be I-can't-function tired until, at the very least, I meet up with Grant. Ideally, the symptoms wouldn't hit at all - but wasn't I just complaining of that?

Maybe I am earlier in my pregnancy then I realize? I don't know.

Of course, I could just take a pregnancy test every other day!

I do think I am going to take one with me to Amsterdam and take another one there with Grant. Why not? They'll expire if I don't use them!

Well, it supposedly is the size of a plum or something....

I had the weirdest sensation last night - I don't know if it was a dream or a sensation, but t was almost like I could feel this small, baseball sized lump in my belly - like, you know, as if I could actually feel my uterus swelling up and pushing things around. So funny!

5 weeks, 1 day - Starting my 6th week...

What is happening with your baby?

The formations of the lungs, jaw, nose, and palate have begun. The hand and feet buds have webbed-like structures that will become the fingers and toes. The brain is continuing to form into its complex parts. A vaginal ultrasound could detect an audible heartbeat at this time.*

 

How big is your baby?

Your baby is about a ½ inch in length.*

 

2027????

Could It Be?

If you are pregnant, your due date is Saturday, February 14, 2009
And you most likely conceived on 5/24/2008
You are in Week 5 of your pregnancy (34 days)

Fun Birthday Facts

* Your baby's birthstone will be Amethyst (Sincerity)
* Your baby's Astrological Sign will be Aquarius
* Your baby's Flower is Violet or Primrose (Violet, Sky Blue or Yellow)
* Your baby will be born in the Chinese Year of The Ox
* This time next year your baby will be 17 Weeks Old!
* Your baby will start kindergarten in 2014, be old enough to drive a car in 2025, finish high school in 2027, and will graduate from college with the class of 2031, give or take a year. Can you imagine?

Fatigue

Extreme fatigue: If you are pregnant, a very common symptom in the first eight to ten weeks is exhaustion. When you are pregnant, your body is going through significant metabolic changes. Your entire body needs to adjust to the new process of growing a baby. For most women, the fatigue starts to go away by the 12th week of pregnancy.

If my calculations are correct, I will hit week 8 around July 5th, and hit the eleventh week around July 26 - which will be nice - between my two vacations, and ending around the time my cousin comes out from Ohio!

(This would mean that I start my 2nd trimester around Aug, 9)

Cool - Cramping is common...

Cramping can also be common in early pregnancy. Until the uterus assumes its mid-position and becomes better supported by the bony pelvis in the second trimester, it is prone to menstrual-like cramping.

Karen knows

So Karen, the student I mentioned earlier, knows. She brought her two month old cousin in to visit during the family pizza lunch and said, "Here, practice..." (He was so cute...) So, I figured I better tell her how important it was that she keep her mouth shut - that NO ONE but Grant knows, and how we are waiting to tell our families together, etc.

I was sort of upset about the whole doctor reschedule, so that's when I told her. I think she feels honored to be let in on my secret, so she feels a sense of pride that I told her and is more inclined to keep it a secret.

Plus, I promised her that when I told everyone, I'd send out an email giving her bragging rights by telling everyone that she guessed.

Ah, Dios Mio, my Karen! You are so perceptive!!! Gracias, mi amiga.

Reschedule....arg

They had to reschedule my appointment - the nurse practitioner I am supposed to see won't be in the office on Monday. The only way they could see me before I leave for Amsterdam was if I went in Wednesday morning - and there was no way I was going to miss my last day of school.

When I explained that I really felt that I was only around 4 weeks pregnant and why, with my ovulation symptoms and the negative pregnancy test two weeks earlier, they decided it would be okay to see me after the trip - so they scheduled my on July 1, at 3:00 PM.

I've taken, like, three pregnancy tests and I am for shizz up the spout...

So... I am still feeling fantastic... Tired - but I didn't get home until 11, so that would be expected under normal circumstances.

I took another pregnancy test yesterday afternoon, and it was, again, positive, so i feel very confident, now anyway, that am, indeed, knocked up, although it still doesn't feel real yet. But, hey, as long as everything is healthy, I am actually pretty stoked that I haven't had any first trimester troubles!

I wonder, if I do have any symptoms - extreme tiredness, vomiting, nausea, etc, if they will come on gradually or suddenly - (As in, will I be puking my brains out and miserable on my flight to Amsterdam with no forewarning?) I hope not!!!

I'm having a baby, I'm having a baby...

I can't wait for my doctor's appointment on Monday!!!  I know it will be very basic with not much information yet other then how I need to take care of myself, but still... I am SO excited!!! Maybe we can come up wth a pretty accurate due date!

Feeling Fine

Feeling pretty normal today. Again, I woke up at 5 and couldn't go back to sleep. It scares me, because I am anticipating this enormous wave of exhaustion - everyone says they are SO tired the first trimester... but I haven't felt that yet. On the contrary, I keep waking up early, unable to go back to sleep! Again, I think I am pretty early on (like, week 4 or 5), so there is plenty of time left in this trimester.

Also, of course, there is that fear that I am not, in fact, pregnant. I'm not complaining - I mean, it would be fantastic to have a mild first trimester, but I guess I just will feel better when I know for certain that my little apple seed is really there and doing well.

Perceptive

One of my students totally knows. Perceptive little girl! I keep saying little, random things like, "The code work of the day is 'apple seed,' - I mean, hello, random! Only around my class though - but still, she's put a bunch of  "clues" together and totally knows. I'm giving her a hard time - saying that she doesn't know what she thinks she knows, but she does.

I can't wait to tell her in July.

Today

I am feeling fantastic so far today. No cramps. I think my little apple seed likes Jamba Juice.

Have I mentioned that I am referring to my little blastocyst as my apple seed? I don't think it is quite that big yet, but for some reason I have that visual stuck in my head.

 When I feel good though, like i do today, I get worried because I think maybe I'm not really pregnant, maybe the tests made a mistake... is that strange? When I have cramps, I have one worry, and when I feel nothing, then i think maybe the whole thing is imagined.

Mind you, though, I don't have really any intense feelings. Like I am not stressing, or worrying, or feelng any major intense feeling.

In fact, what I am mostly feeling right now is this sense of calm, of peace. I feel different, like something amazing is going to happen, and I am on the brink of it, and what it is going to be is going to be incredibly beautiful. I feel patient, which is very unlike me. (I don't expect THAT feeling to last.)

I think, as Grant and I begin telling people, that will generate some enthusiasm. Sometimes, it is hard not saying anything. Other times, though, it sort of accompanies my peaceful feeling. Like I am carrying around this precious little secret, this special little apple seed that only Grant and I know about.

4 weeks

Not sure, but this is where I think I am:

Pregnancy Weeks 1 to 4

The Baby:
The fertilized egg is undergoing rapid cell division. It will implant in your uterine lining this week. Once implantation occurs, it's called a blastocyst and is very tiny. It only measures 0.1-0.2 mm in diameter.

A yolk sak has developed and will be the nourishment for baby until the placenta is formed and takes over. Did you know that the sex and other characteristics of your baby have already been decided? It's all in the DNA code that was formed when the sperm and egg first met.

Another version:
WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH YOUR BABY

The fertilized egg has made its seven- to ten-day trip to the uterus, where it implants cozily into the endometrial surface. It is now called a blastocyst and it has divided into two parts. While you are reading this, the first part is forming the placenta and the second part will become the embryo. The two layers that make up the amniotic bag of waters are newly formed, and the very beginning of the connecting stalk -- which will become the umbilical cord -- has appeared. Until your placenta is fully functioning, the yolk sac, now present, will feed your baby. Basically, the "home" for your little one is under rapid construction!

Update

I made my Doctor's appointment today... I'm going in next Monday. Over the phone, they are treating me as though I am farther along then I really am (they based it off my last period, which was April 19, but I think that is about 3 weeks off. I think I ovulated around May 24, not May 2. But we'll see next week, I hope...)

I don't know if my "symptoms" are real now that I know I am pregnant, or if I am sort of making them up.

Still a little crampy, off and on (real foh sho as I've been crampy since last Tuesday!). Not exactly nausious, but a little odd feeling. Oh, and I am really tired right now, but I woke up at 5:00 AM and couldn't go back to sleep, so I am not too surprised.

test

I'm setting this up so I can blog from school.

Last night

I dreamed that the baby is a boy.

Father's Day

I always thought it would be neat to tell my husband that he was going to be a father on Father's Day. Well, I know Father's Day is next Sunday, but I couldn't possibly wait a whole week...! So I went out yesterday and bought Grant a Father's Day card. As I checked out, I grabbed a "New Baby" gift card and put $20 on it, since it seemed to fit the theme, and then I included a picture of the positive pregnancy test.

It took a second before it dawned on him. He was kind of confused until he saw the picture. Then he got this huge smile on his face and he says, "Really? You're not kidding me?"

I shook my head and said, "That's what the test says..."

Grant came over and gave me a huge hug and kiss and said, "I can't believe it! This is wonderful!"

I showed him the real pregnancy test, and we took another one just to be sure - so now we have two positive pregnancy tests. I'll post "Our First Baby picture" later.

Being able to talk about it with Grant does seem to make the whole thing more real...

Positive Pregnancy Test

If there is one thing I know about pregnancy, is that there are some things you just don't know until they happen to you.

Take a pregnancy test for example. Every time I have taken a pregnancy test, it has turned up negative. No matter how I try to say it is ok, or brush it off, I always feel at least a little bummed out - if not a lot.

So, I imagined that when the pregnancy test was positive, I would have some huge emotional reaction - crying, relief, happiness, worry, something.

But here I am an hour after my positive pregnancy test, and I am feeling - oddly unemotional.

Of course, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it...

Is it real?

Will it last? (I know that sounds depressing...) I am feeling crampy. Not bad crampy, but mild crampy, as though my period is going to come. In fact, the only reason I took the test is because Grant is leaving tomorrow, and if it is positive, I want to tell him in person. (Which, it, apparently, is positive.)

But I can't find too many websites that list "mild cramping" as a possible early sign of pregnancy. I found one that said "dull ache in lower pelvic region..." However, cramping is associated with miscarriage. I did find one website that had a bunch of quotes from women who described their earliest pregnancy symptoms, and three of them mentioned cramping as an early symptom.

Other symptoms? Not many. My nipples are a little sore, sort of like when I ovulate, - but I don't have overall breast tenderness. I have not been excessively tired. No food or smell aversions - thank goodness! No nausea.

So, tomorrow, I will call the doctor. Hopefully I can get in before I leave for Amsterdam!

Vital Stats: Last period was April 19.
However, I think I ovulated around May 23 - May 24. I took a pregnancy test on May 24 and it was negative.

If I am right about when I ovulated, the baby's due date will be Feb. 13 - Feb. 14.