-30 weeks

Today I am 10 weeks pregnant! I am praying that the next 30 weeks will go by as uneventfully as these. The baby updates I get weekly tell me he/she is the size of a kumquat, but I've never seen one, so I had to check another site that told me he/she is the size of a prune.

Things have been pretty quiet on the symptom front. I am not as tired as I was, and I think that's due to not working--I can sleep and rest when I want to, before I get ridiculously tired. My arms go to sleep at night if they are above my heart, like tucked under the pillow when I lay on my side. Weird, I know. I posted on BabyCenter.com and asked if anyone else had it. Several other women are going through it, and the experienced moms said it usually developed into pregnancy induced carpal tunnel. If that's the trade-off I have to make for not throwing up, I'll take it! I usually only get nauseous when I get hungry, but a few times over the past few days I've gotten nauseous for no reason. I picked up some "Preggie Pop Drops," hard candies that have a 'proprietary blend of essential oils' that help nausea. Many of the women on BabyCenter.com swear by them, so I thought I'd try them. Tuesday night I had an explained bout: the baby does not like movie theater popcorn. It tasted so good, and then a few hours later I felt so sick! I'm not sure if this is my child...

Jimmy and I spent last weekend at Jackie's, my wonderful mother-in-law, due to the smoke in the area. It was a welcome respite! Then Tuesday night, we received a phone call that his second cousin's husband had died in an accident. It is really important to Jimmy for us to go up there and be with the widow and Jackie, who went up yesterday. So Friday night and Saturday night we'll be in the mountains, where the highest temperature for the weekend is 85 degrees!

-32 weeks...speechless

On Tuesday Jimmy and I had our first ultrasound and doctor's appointment. After a 3 hour drive where Jimmy slept most of the way (remember, 7 AM is the middle of the night for him), we got to the clinic ON TIME for our appointments at 11 and 11:30. This is important to remember later.

I got checked in, which took forever, and we waited to be called back. I don't know when I've ever been so excited and nervous at the same time. They were doing both kind of ultrasounds, external and internal, so I had to get undressed. The lady finally came back and went to work. Oh my. I don't think anything could have prepared me for the shock and wonder to see OUR BABY on the screen. I remember reaching for Jimmy's hand, but I really can't remember what I was thinking. I asked her if we could hear the heartbeat, but she said they didn't like to try to do that this early, that it required a lot more energy from the sonogram than they wanted to exert. She was able to show us the heart beating (!) and measure it. It was so amazing. Jimmy immediately texts Deven to let him know he has created the first dragon baby. Even though it isn't in this picture, in some the yolk sac looks like a giant appendage on the baby.

We got out of ultrasound a little after 12. Obviously they were late calling us back. Around 12:20 we were called back to a room. We were in there for almost 2 hours. We finally asked the nurse if we could leave and get lunch. She checked and said we were the next to be seen, and she would bring us some menus for the restaurants downstairs. *Side note: the clinic is above a restaurant center--there are about 7 restaurants on the ground level. No shopping stores though. Very interesting.* I told her I realized her ultrasound appointment had gone over, and she assured me it was just the doctor, who likes to talk. Which I'm sure will be great on the days I have a million questions and we have things we need to plan, but that day was just irritating. Just as we were about to order food, the fellow (a full-fledged doctor working on his specialization) came in to talk. We went over the basic stuff, got a pap smear, and spoke with Dr. J. She said we would follow the normal course of visits, but would also do monthly growth scans. Monthly growth scans=monthly ultrasounds! It is still very early and so we didn't go a lot into further planning.

My next appointment is July 15th and we'll be doing the first trimester screening, which consists of blood drawing and ultrasounds. Even though we don't really have any risk factors for chromosomal defects, it will be good to know if the baby needs more testing later on in pregnancy than just doing an amnio or some of the other invasive tests.

-34 weeks

If you haven't read it on Facebook or knew it already, I am 6 weeks pregnant! And now, I feel like I have so much to say, but I really want to get it right. Let's start from the very beginning...

How We Found Out: On May 11, I felt different. I usually don't have any cramping until the day or two before I start, but this was day 22 of my cycle and I was experiencing them. I also felt a few sharp pains just below and to the left of my belly button. The 14th was the earliest I could test--that 5 days before your missed period. That morning, Jimmy and I were getting up early to go to a concealed weapons class (I know, I know! How Republican of me!), so I took a test first thing. I saw the first pink line start to come up on the test, but I forced myself to go back in the bedroom and wait. Jimmy started making noise and I fussed at him for making so much noise, telling him the baby didn't like it. "What baby?" "Our baby!" And I ran into the bathroom to get it and show him. Sure enough, there were 2 pink lines! Jimmy had only had a few hours of sleep, so he didn't see the other line at first. I told him to look again. He rubbed his eyes and saw it. We laughed and held each other and of course I cried.

How We Told Our Parents: We wanted to tell our parents in person. I was going to a coupon class May 21st with Jackie, Jennifer, and MaryEllen (Jimmy's mom, sister, and aunt), and we toyed with the idea of telling them all then. However, the opportunity presented itself for Jimmy and I to tell our moms together. We orchestrated so that Memorial Day weekend Jackie would come with us to visit my mom and family. I just knew, because someone always says it when Jimmy's family gets together, that someone would say, "It's so great we're all here together!" But, after about an hour and a half, no one had. So after being prodded by Jimmy and Jennifer (via text messages), I said, "It's so great we're all here together!" And Mom and Jackie are all, "Yes, it is fun!" Then I add, "Plus one...." Silence. "What?" "We're all here together...plus one more...about 5 weeks plus one more." It took a few minutes to sink in, but once it did, they were so excited!
We told my dad when we visited him that Monday. We were talking EOGs, and I told him I got some medical exemptions for the EOG. When he asked me what they were, I told him how I'd gotten to eat crackers, drink water, and sit down. "How'd you do that?" "Well, they let you do that when you pass a pregnancy test." I think he was equal parts concerned and happy, but I know it's because he's worried about me. I'm the first person to ever be pregnant on Nplate, as far as Dr. Metjian knows, so I don't blame him a bit. However, a good friend told me via Facebook he was on "cloud nine," so that makes me happy!

The Medical Stuff: We had an orientation appointment Tuesday, May 31st. It was a good visit to get acquainted with the Duke Perinatal clinic. A nurse went over my 8 page questionnaire, basically confirming we don't have any known genetic risks and that Jimmy doesn't beat me. On June 14th we have our first ultrasound and obstetrician appointment. We are so excited! As far as symptoms go, I am exhausted after work every day. I am hungry a lot, but really prefer small amounts more frequently. Overly sweet smelling stuff doesn't smell good at all to me. I have craved water, and had two smaller ones for watermelon and pizza. My hips have hurt a bit, and a sweet friend has suggested the Snoogle pillow.

I am a little worried about miscarriage, mostly since we found out so early (at 3 1/2 weeks!), but I've heard that those risks dramatically decrease once the heart starts beating. I am a little cautious there might be two, because I've had two dreams that they are twins! I really am so excited about the next 34 weeks!