15 Weeks

Best moment this week:  Preparing to go home for the holidays.  

Sleep:  Hit and miss....I'm thinking about investing in a pregnancy pillow.  

Movement:  Not yet, but it shouldn't be too much longer.  

Food cravings:  Nothing new.

Gender:  Unknown

What I miss:  Having more energy...I feel like such a bump on a log sometimes.  

What I am looking forward to:  Spending the holidays with my parents. 

Milestones:  The tiny bones in baby's body are beginning to harden, which is known as ossification.

Baby Size:  apple

Weekly Wisdom:  Nothing worth having is ever gotten easily.  (This one I got from Russ)

14 Weeks

Disclaimer: I got behind with the blog so the next couple weeks don't line up with the days posted, just wanted to put that out there to avoid any confusion if there was any :)

Best moment this week:  Getting a lot done around the house.  I mostly feel exhausted rather than energetic so the bursts of energy are refreshing and definitely welcome.  

Sleep:  Been sleeping a little better.  I think the trips to the chiropractor are helping.  I find myself sleeping on my back at times during the night...but I'm trying to nip that in the bud before I hit the 20 week mark when it's not recommended to sleep on your back anymore.     

Movement:  Not that I can discern yet.  

Food cravings:  Nothing new this week.

Gender:  Unknown

What I miss:  Sleeping through the night.  

What I am looking forward to:  Feeling the baby move.    

Milestones:  Starting the second trimester.

Baby Size:  lemon 

Weekly Wisdom:  You're not a pioneer (my dad used to tell me this all the time growing up to remind me that many on this earth have gone before me and have experienced that which I was anything less than enthusiastic about and had successfully done so). 

13 Weeks

Best moment this week:  Getting to hear baby's heartbeat again.  This time it was 156 bpm.

Sleep:  Still having issues with sleep; may be due to my pillow or my lower back and hip that have been bothering me...headed to the chiropractor soon to hopefully remedy the back and hip discomfort though.    

Movement:  Not that I can feel yet.  

Food cravings:  Nothing in particular lately, just random things I'll think about or see and must have.  Also, when I'm drinking water, it has to have ice in it...for some reason it seems more yummy with ice.    

Gender:  Unknown

What I miss:  Being able to eat steak that isn't well-done and raw sushi.  

What I am looking forward to:  Starting to show.    

Milestones:  Baby can make a fist and even suck his/her thumb.

Baby Size:  medium shrimp

Weekly Wisdom:  If you get a flu shot during your pregnancy, there is a preservative free option available.  You might have to seek it out but it's out there.  

12 Weeks

Best moment this week:  Seeing baby on the ultrasound.  The last ultrasound we only saw the gestational sac but this time I was able to see more (see below).  I was also able to hear baby's heartbeat; it was 158 bpm.  (Thanks Ana for tagging along with me to this special appointment.)

Sleep:  I'm having difficulty falling asleep lately, but when I do I sleep really well and have lots of dreams.  

Movement:  Baby was moving around when we were listening for a heartbeat but I couldn't feel it.  

Food cravings:  Beef and BBQ; but sometimes I don't have much of an appetite at all so it's hit or miss.

Gender:  Unknown

What I miss:  Russ; since he's out on the ship he wasn't able to see and hear baby's heartbeat with me today....but I can't wait to tell him all about it.  

What I am looking forward to:  Telling Russ about the ultrasound.  

Milestones:  Getting this far into the pregnancy with no morning sickness.

Baby Size:  lime

Weekly Wisdom:  Trust your body, you know it better than anyone else.  

If you're new at looking at sonograms, the arrow in the middle is pointing to baby's head.

Me in my first trimester, Val in her second, and Kara in her third.

Google: Friend, Enemy, or Frenemy?

As most of you probably know, I'm a googler.  And with the pregnancy, I have been googling a lot.  Sometimes I find really good information and other times I read things that make me start to worry.

I didn't experience morning sickness with this pregnancy and instead of being thankful and not worrying about it, I was concerned in the back of my mind that something might be wrong.  It's not everyday that someone is worried because they're NOT throwing up.  Sounds silly, right?  Well as I did some research online I started to read about some reasons why some women didn't have symptoms and of course I was turning up some really awful reasons.  I had to just stop looking and wondering and just get over it and be thankful that I didn't have to deal with morning sickness this go-round.

Google can be a great resource like it was for our finding and buying a great stroller, but it can also be the source of unnecessary worry when you dig too much.  The big takeaway I learned from all of my googling during this pregnancy is to not worry and just give it to God.  Let go and let God.  In the end, Google is my friend and I won't let it be my enemy or frenemy.

Early Glucose Screening

Diabetes runs in my family so Holly (one of my midwives), wanted to do an early glucose screening to find out if I had gestational diabetes.  The screening is normally done about halfway through pregnancy and I was only about 8 weeks or so.  I was pretty nervous of what the outcome would be, especially since I wasn't going to find out right away.  I drank the sugary orange drink and sat for hours until I was called to give a blood sample.....but I'm happy to report, I don't have gestational diabetes!  Yay!!  I'll do my best to make sure it stays that way and leave the rest up to the good Lord.

Our First Purchase for Baby

Russ was out of town taking care of work stuff and the night before he came home I decided to start researching baby products.  I came across BabyGizmo.com, a site dedicated exclusively to ratings on baby products.  They have written reviews as well as video reviews, which I always find very helpful since you can see the product in action.  Baby products can be daunting to a first timer with no experience like myself.  My goal in shopping for baby is to try to spend my money wisely by making a good decision out of the bazillion choices out there.

For some reason I honed in on strollers.  I read some reviews, watched some videos, and finally saw one that really caught my eye:  the Britax B-Ready stroller.  One huge selling point for me was that it can be configured to carry two children, which would come in handy for any future children.  The reviews were great and Britax happened to be having a 'buy the B-Ready, and get an accessory free' deal.  The last day of the deal was the very next day (the day I was picking Russ up from the airport), and the choice of accessories were between a car seat, a bassinet, or a second seat.

I picked Russ from the airport and convinced him to go to the BuyBuyBaby store in Atlanta where we scoped out the stroller and car seat.  The price was pretty steep in store, so I did some research and found that I could buy it on Amazon and still get the free accessory for about $100 less.  We went home and purchased the stroller online and opted for the free car seat (which is compatible for use in the stroller).

So without further adieu, here it is......our first purchase for baby, a Britax B-Ready stroller (and Britax Chaperone car seat):

Midwifery: Why I chose it

I chose my first OB based on online research, but after two appointments I found myself unhappy with the care I was (and wasn't) receiving.  The staff was very friendly which was great, but the following things are what me decide to make the switch to midwifery care:

• I never met with or even saw the actual OB in my two appointments.  And by that, I mean I didn't even lay eyes on him either time I had an appointment.  I was only seen by his nurse practitioner (more on that next).
• The nurse practitioner was always in such a hurry when she saw me.  She probably spent no more than 5 minutes with me each visit.  She'd ask if I had questions but I felt so rushed I couldn't think of any off the top of my head.  (I now write my questions down that I want to ask.)
• When I asked for any pamphlets or reading materials from the office regarding things I couldn't eat or medications that were safe, I was told to reference "What to Expect When You're Expecting".  Great book, yes, I actually read it often....but I was shocked the office had nothing in the way of advice other than getting that book.  If they reference that book to their patients they should at least give us a copy or something.  What if a patient couldn't afford to buy it?
• The big kicker:  I found out from a doula in the area that the OB was not onboard with natural childbirth.

Since I have switched to midwifery care, I've been really happy and haven't looked back.  Both of the midwives (Holly and April) are very approachable and have been more than willing to answer any and all of my questions without making me feel rushed.  

And as a disclaimer, I'm not trying to convince anyone that midwifery care is better than OB care.  I think it's a personal decision and we are all different with different needs and desires.  Ultimately, the beauty of choosing a doctor is that it's your choice.  

Finding a Doula

Once we found out we were expecting I started seriously looking into and educating myself on pregnancy and childbirth.  I had always imagined I'd be getting an epidural no question.  Let's get real, who likes pain?  But after seeing a couple documentaries and reading some interesting books about natural childbirth (aka: birth with no pain meds), I really was inspired to go that route.

Back in graduate school, my good friend and roommate Tannia had shared with me her desire to become a doula and at the time I was oblivious to what that really meant.  After all of my research though, I'm no longer oblivious.  For those that aren't familiar with doulas, they provide non-medical support to women during labor, childbirth, and postpartum.  Doulas are used by women who desire a natural childbirth.  They provide emotional support, help with physical comfort measures, and can provide an objective viewpoint to help women make informed decisions.  (Check out DONA.org for more information)

I was happy to find a place in our area that offered doula services named Gentle Beginnings.  I called them up and before Russ left out to sea, we met up with a doula named Erica.  I asked Erica if she had ever dealt with the OB I was seeing at the time and she made a 'hmm....how should I break the news' face, which made me really curious what she was going to say.  I told her how I had two appointments with that OB and had yet to meet him to even discuss his stance on natural childbirth.  Erica told me that if I were to tell my OB that I was interested in natural childbirth, he would tell me he's not the doctor for me.  So that settled it for us, we decided to switch to midwifery care (more on that in a later blog).  Erica was great in answering all of the questions we had and it didn't take too long for us to decide to have her as our doula.  We're excited to have Erica along with us for our journey and I know we'll be especially thankful to have her around when those contractions are coming strong.

A Baby On The Way!

We found out that we were expecting on September 29, a day after my birthday.  I had been sick with a stomach bug for several days and I finally had Russ take me to the doctor to see why the stomach bug hadn't passed yet.  We were visiting with Russ's extended family on Staten Island at the time so our only option for a doctor was at an Urgent Care clinic.

We waited for an hour before being first seen by a nurse who took my vitals.  I told her we were trying to get pregnant so she asked for a urine sample to test whether we were or not.  She disappeared for a couple minutes and came back to report that I had a UTI and blood in my urine.  Oh, and I wasn't pregnant.  She told us to go back into the waiting room where we waited another hour before being called in to see the doctor.

Just as the doctor was finishing up with me and explaining how he was going to put me on a strong antibiotic that would knock the UTI out in 3 days, the nurse popped back in and said that my pregnancy test was strange; it was now showing a faint positive.  I looked at Russ with hopeful eyes and hurried off to provide another urine sample for them to test.  As I handed the cup to the nurse, I was trying not to get my hopes up but it wasn't too long after that she came back to report that the faint positive showed up again.  We were pregnant!

We were so happy to hear the news and it was a nice surprise since we had been trying for awhile.....I came to the doctor for one thing and left with life changing news.  Russ's parents were on Staten Island with us so we were able to tell them in person.  To tell my parents, I wrote them a poem and sent it by email since they were on the road traveling with my Auntie Endo from Japan.  This will be the first grandbaby on both sides.