Weekly Update - 7 Weeks

from babycenter.com
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.

How am I feeling? Ill and tired.

Viability Test # 2

We had our second viability test today. The appointment was at 9:40am with Shelley again. We got there early and so got a tea at Starbucks and waited till time. Then we went up for the ultrasound. HUGE difference from the prior week. We saw a much larger Gestational Sack (the black area in the ultrasound. We also so a fetus and the yolk sac. But most important of all, we saw a little flickering heart beat! The baby is only .73cm and yet inside it there is a tiny heart just beating away.

Shelley said everything looked great, normal growth for a little over a week, everything in the right spot, that I was about 6 weeks and 5 days along. That also put my due date at this point to be around January 17th.

I mentioned to her the brownish, pinkish discharge I had over the weekend and she said that sounded normal but to be sure to call them if it came back or anything else that worried me came up just to be sure. Otherwise we were to make our first 'official' appointment for sometimes between my 8th and 10th week of pregnancy.

We went out, bumped into Dr. Johhansen and told her we got a heartbeat and joked about seeing her on tv (she was in a commercial for Swedish Hospital). She was happy for our progress and we told her we'd see her in a few weeks.

Our next appointment is June 12th at 2pm!

Telling Gaga

So we decided that since all seems to be going well we'd go ahead and tell immediate family. The difficulty is with telling my mom is that it is hard to find a moment without Belle around and since we don't want her to know just yet I had to get clever.

So Belle was playing in the living room and distracted, I took the latest ultrasound picture and sat by my mom at the table. I asked her what the date was. She answered. I said "Good to know... you know... its a very important day and all." Then I put the ultrasound picture in front of her.

Then she looked at it... and looked at it... and looked at it. I think about 5 minutes went by. I was starting to worry or wonder why she'd not said anything. Finally she looks up and said something like "What is this?" I just smiled and then I think it finally dawned on her. She later told me that for some reason it just didn't click at first. That she thought it was an old ultrasound picture of Belle but couldn't figure out why it had today's date on it.

Once she got it she teared up and was very happy of course. :)

Weekly Update - 6 Weeks

How your baby's growing: 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.

How am I feeling? SICK! I have a cold and feel terrible.

Viability Test #1

Today we went in for our viability test. The appointment was at 9am and we saw Shelley who is the nurse practitioner. She is who I normally see for my annuals so I'm comfortable with her. Dr. Johansen said she does lots of viability tests so is very good at it too.

We had the ultrasound and all she could really see was the beginnings of a yolk sac. Same thing we saw first ultrasound with Belle. She decided to do some blood work to see if my hcg hormon levels matched what the ultrasound looked like. And it did. She called me back later that day and my levels are at 4732 which she said confirms her thoughts that I'm around 5 weeks pregnant and all they would really see right now would be... well what we saw. :)

I looked up online and found this hcg chart:
3 weeks LMP: 5 - 50 mIU/ml
4 weeks LMP: 5 - 426 mIU/ml
5 weeks LMP: 18 - 7,340 mIU/ml
6 weeks LMP: 1,080 - 56,500 mIU/ml
7 - 8 weeks LMP: 7, 650 - 229,000 mIU/ml
9 - 12 weeks LMP: 25,700 - 288,000 mIU/ml
13 - 16 weeks LMP: 13,300 - 254,000 mIU/ml
17 - 24 weeks LMP: 4,060 - 165,400 mIU/ml
25 - 40 weeks LMP: 3,640 - 117,000 mIU/ml


But the really good news is that the sac is in the uterus and that my tubes and ovaries are clear. So if nothing else then at least it is not ectopic. She said for me to come back in next week for another ultrasound and we should see a flicker of a fetus by then.

She took a couple pictures of the sac while she was doing the ultrasound for my file. I noticed her put a couple spares in the trash before she left so being the sentimental freak I am I grabbed them. :) There is nothing really to see, but someday I hope to look back and say "hey... that's where **** started to grow."

I asked her a few questions about medication I'm taking and vitamins. I also asked about exercise. Moderate is fine, mind the hot weather was her main advice. So maybe Brad will not hover so much... yeah right. :) Not that I really mind.

So we made our next appointment for a week from Thursday (May 29th at 9:40am). She had openings earlier in the week but I figured a few more days might increase our chances of seeing something.

I'm feeling really positive and calm this time around. I think if I had not had the same experience last time with having only seen a sac I'm be worried but since we did have the same thing with Belle, I'm not. Brad seemed really happy too, kept saying "wow. this is really happening." I feel the same way... its like having that first appointment makes it more real.

We've started talking about when to tell people. For now we're going to wait until after the next appointment for sure. With Belle we told everyone at the 8 weeks point, which would be for this pregnancy, June 6th or there abouts. I'm anxious to tell, but also part of me enjoys the secret for a moment. Its like having a big surprise to spring on everyone... you want to tell, but you also love the suspense!

Sick

There should be law... you cannot get sick while pregnant.

We all got hit with a bad cold this weekend... yes Memorial Day weekend, three days off and we spend it sick.

I was okay Saturday morning but by saturday afternoon I was flat out from it. On top of that I saturday and sunday I started having a brownish, with a tiny bit of pink discharge that got me worried. I caleld saturday and the doctor on call said it sounded normal and that unless I saw blood or it got a lot worse that I should be fine to make it to my appointment on thrusday.

But in the meantime I can't breath, am making enough snot to drown a horse, and feel dreadful.

Weekly Update - 5 Weeks

from babycenter.com

How your baby's growing:Deep in your uterus your embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point, he's about the size of a sesame seed, and he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.The neural tube — from which your baby's brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — is starting to develop in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.His heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your baby's muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.The third layer, or endoderm, will house his lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to your baby, are already on the job.

How am I feeling?

I feel fine really. Slightly tender breasts as they have been. Now and then a little dizzy and qweezy but nothing bad. Its been hot and I notice it is affecting me more then usual. Oh and I tire a little quicker. But honestly nothing really noticable yet.

Weekly Update - 4 Weeks

from babycenter.com

This week marks the beginning of the embryonic period. From now until ten weeks, all of your baby's organs will begin to develop and some will even begin to function. As a result, this is the time when she'll be most vulnerable to anything that might interfere with her development.Right now your baby is an embryo the size of a poppy seed, consisting of two layers: the epiblast and the hypoblast, from which all of her organs and body parts will develop.The primitive placenta is also made up of two layers at this point. Its cells are tunneling into the lining of your uterus, creating spaces for your blood to flow so that the developed placenta will be able to provide nutrients and oxygen to your growing baby when it starts to function at the end of this week.Also present now are the amniotic sac, which will house your baby; the amniotic fluid, which will cushion her as she grows; and the yolk sac, which produces your baby's red blood cells and helps deliver nutrients to her until the placenta has developed and is ready to take over this duty.

Telling Brad

My original plan had been to wait until I had the viability test and then put the ultrasound picture in a frame with a picture of Belle in another frame and give that too him as a present to surprise him. He is starting a new job Monday so I could give it as a "Congrats for your new job" gift. Well I talked to the doctor and the earliest they could do the test would be the 20th. There is no way I could wait that long. Brad would start wondering and I would be unable to keep it quiet.

So instead I did this; I bought a frame that opens up like a book with a spot for a 4x6 on either side. On one side I put a photo of Belle and I from her birthday, on the other side I put a photo of Belle dressed as Princess Leia. On the photo with Leia I made a word bubble and wrote "I'm going to be a big sister!" in it and stuck it on the glass on the photo next to Belle so it looked like she was saying it. I wrapped it up and put it with a card congratulating him on his job.

I had to wait of course until we had a moment alone. Belle was asleep and he was finished playing a game. He went into the bedroom for something and brought in the gift. He said "yeah I'll open in the living room." I said "nah open it here while I put some socks on." ... I did need socks but it was an excuse. :)

He opened the card, then the picture. It was wonderful watching him. He saw the pictures and liked them, I saw him notice the word bubble, he paused and read it. The look on his face changed to a little confused, then he reread it. He looked up and said with a look of utter surprise "Are you serious?!" I by this time was tearing up and I pulled out the pregnancy test I'd taken that morning from my pocket and said "Yes." He then totally teared up and said "Oooh, my god! Wow!" He was so genuinely shocked, it was great!

Brad is very hard to surprise. But fate worked in my favor this time around. With everything else that had been going on this month we were still trying this, but not really aggressively. He admitted that with everything happening it had kinda not been in the forefront of his mind. So he hadn't been looking at the calendar and counting days.

I'm so glad I decided to tell him when I did. If I had waited then chances are he would have started looking at the calender and starting to question. This way he knows from the beginning and I got to surprise him.

After we hugged and kissed over the news I told him about the dreams I'd had that morning and talking to the doctor and when our first appointment was. We then talked about how we need to try and stay calm about it, that it is soooo early and thus to early to get really excited. We also talked about not telling anyone else just yet. It isn't that we don't want too... but we have been down this road before. It is too difficult on us to get everyone excited and then have to tell them it didn't take. We also talked about Belle and how we want her to know but how hard it would be on her to know and then have to be told that it wasn't going to happen.

So now we have a wonderful little secret. :)

Two Pink Lines

I had been tracking my basal temp for 2 months now. I'd noticed that the day I start my period my temp would drop drastically from where it had been. I also had read that if it doesn't drop then that probably means you're pregnant. Well today was the 32nd day of my cycle and thus when I would most likely start my period. This morning I kept having back to back dreams that were the same. I would wake up (in my dream) take my temp... see it was 98.1 decide to take a pregnancy test, and it was positive. These dreams were SO vivid that each time I felt it was real and then would sorta wake up for real and be disapointed. When I woke at 6am I decided to take my temp and it was 98.0. But this was still over an hour earlier then I normaly take it so I went back to sleep. Had ANOTHER dream like the others.. followed by an out of no where one about taking Koo Si to the movies (I don't know what brought that on). :) So at 7:20 I woke up and took my temp for real this time. It was 98.2!! So I decided I'd test.

...

Two pink lines showed up. I am pregnant! I hid the test in my bedside table... I want to keep it a secret until I can surprise Brad. Later I called my doctor and talked with Dr. Johansen. She said the earliest they'd be able to really see anything would be the week of the 19th. Then the following week they'd be able to see if there was a fetus. So I have an appointment on May 20th at 9am. They will do an ultrasound to see if the baby is in my uterus or the tubes... hopefully not the tubes.

I have a good feeling about this so I'm sure all will be fine.

So now I need to tell Brad. I originally had wanted to wait until I got an unltrasound photo and was going to frame it for him. I bought today a frame with two slots. In one I was going to put a picture of Belle and the othe the ultrasound. But I don't think I can wait till the 20th! For one thing, I'm not that patient, another I don't want Brad in the dark for another 2 weeks. And lastly... Brad isn't stupid... we've been trying and he will start asking soon. Plus, the big friggin grin on my face will be a dead give away before long.

So I'm thinking I'll put two photos of Belle in the frame and in one tape a word bubble next to her saying "I'm gonna be a big sister!" Now I just need to pick/find a time to tell him. I can't wait!

We're going to wait on telling Belle until the pregnancy is more established. Same with my mom and the rest of the family...well we'll probably tell them sooner then we will Belle but still... big secret for a while. It is weird right now being the only one who knows (aside from my doctor). I find myself giggling.

Oh I hope Belle will be happy. She's my angel and always will be. I don't want her to feel pushed aside by this at all. She'll be our partner in it all this time around. I love her so much. And oh man.... now we'll have two little angels!

How am I feeling? Well physically I feel fine. My breasts are a little tender and have been for a few days now. Not a lot, in fact if I wasn't really paying attention I might not even notice it, but it is there. Otherwise no real change yet. Emotionally I feel a mixture of excitement and disbelief. I mean I kinda had a feeling I was but after all those dreams this morning I can't help but feel I'm still dreaming! I also have that worry starting a little in my head. When I dropped off Belle at home from school today I went back and checked the test to make sure, again, I read it right. I mean this early you don't really 'feel' pregnant so you need that solid assurance. :) I also of course am a little worried about this one taking. I've been pregnant before and lost it so I'm trying to be caution about how excited I get.