6 Weeks!

I am actually in the middle of my 6th week, but most of the information on here will be from the beginning of the week to try to keep it the same as the rest. This week I am maybe starting to feel a little bit pregnant and it's oh so exciting!! We also have an ultrasound on the 2nd which has me both super excited and completely terrified, so if you could keep us in your thoughts we would really appreciate it!

Week 6

Weight: 131 (-5 lbs)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Symptoms: Sore breasts and lots of gas like before. Also, fatigue seems to have hit this week and I even took a nap the other day which is completely unlike me. It's like all of a sudden at 4 or 5 pm I hit a brick wall and just can't keep my eyes open. I am also getting little waves of nausea/queasiness. I definitely wouldn't call it morning sickness yet, but for 10-15 minutes at a time my tummy definitely feels unsettled. My skin seems to be rebelling against pregnancy and I have definitely having some rough break outs. Still trying to find a skin routine that's safe for pregnancy (so if you know of any miracle working, pregnancy safe skin products let me know!!).
Emotions: Making it to the 6 week point felt like a huge milestone for me. I am officially the most pregnant that I've ever been and every day it starts to feel more real. I am both excited and terrified for our ultrasound on the 2nd and if it turns out good I know that it will be a giant weight off of my shoulders (even though bad things can still happen, the likelihood will decrease some). There has been some family drama that has me feeling a little stressed out, but I am doing my best to push it to the side and stay as calm and positive as I can for Baby K. 
Notable News or Events: Our ultrasound at 6 weeks 6 days on January 2nd!! (will probably get an "official" due date then too)
What Other People Are Saying About Baby/Pregnancy: This has been a pretty quiet week, but my hubby seems to be getting more attached to our little bundle. It is exciting to see him start to really feel like this is real!

As you can see, I might be getting a little bit thicker overall...but not much to report on the bump watch. I will try not to look so ragged next time, but I make no promises!!

When did morning sickness set in during your pregnancy? Were any of you lucky enough not to suffer from any morning sickness at all??

Lots of Updates!

The holiday season took over and I haven't had a chance to get back on here and update until today! It has been a very crazy couple of weeks and so far things are going great!

To start with, I got my second lab results on Friday the 21st. My hCG went up from 2414 to 7500 in 48 hours. They normally look for numbers to double in 48 hours and mine tripled. At first I was ecstatic, and then the worries took over. Were my numbers going up too fast, could it mean that something was wrong? Rather than freak out over it for the next few weeks, I decided to let it go. My hormone levels were rising and that's a good thing!

I had my "intake" appointment at my new OBs office that day as well. I met with the nurse practitioner, she calculated my due date based on my last menstrual period, she gave me a packet of information, and sent me on my way. Honestly it felt a little bit like a waste of time since I had already seen the doctor due to cramps, but you have to follow protocol I guess! We had some bad luck on Friday though as well. I was driving back home from my appointment (it's about a half hour drive since we now live outside of the city) and my car just stopped working. I'm just driving along on the freeway and then NOTHING, it was like I ran out of gas, but I had plenty of gas in the tank. I had to call my hubby to come save me and we had the car towed back home. It looks like it is a "timing chain" (or something like that) which could be a pricey repair on a car that's probably not worth putting any more money into. So, right now we only have my husband's truck up and running which makes for an expensive drive back and forth to his work. It's still up in the air as to whether we will repair the car or give up and buy a new one. (well it will be used, but new to us!)

We ended up borrowing my husband's grandparents' car to make the 8 hour trip up North to see my family. It was so nice to see them! We were there from Saturday the 22 until Friday the 28th. I had a blast with my niece who is 5 1/2 years old already. I was there when she was born and it's been amazing to watch her grow over the years. She was sick with a virus most of the time, but that seems to be pretty standard for Christmas with the poor little peanut.

Now, you might think that with all of this going on that I would have forgotten to  take my weekly pictures. Each picture was a day or two late, but they got taken and are finally ready to be shared.


Week 5
Weight: 134 (-2 lbs)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Symptoms: Acne and breast tenderness.
Emotions: Happy and looking forward to Christmas. Being a little bit of a worrier since this was the week things went bad, but spending time with family is a great distraction.
Notable News or Events: Good hCG numbers, first doctor's office visit!
What Other People Are Saying About Baby/Pregnancy: My sister kissed the belly for the first time and is so excited to be an auntie! I started using the name "Baby K" (our last name starts with K) to refer to our little one (still hoping for something better to inspire me). 

I am pretty sure that the "baby bloat" is actually smaller in these 5 week pictures than in the 4 week ones, but since it's bloat and not actually the baby yet, I suppose that's to be expected.

I will be posting about week 6 tomorrow since this is already getting to be quite lengthy! What was your early pregnancy like? Did you have lots of symptoms or only a few?

Lab Results @ 4 Weeks 5 Days

I got my lab results back from yesterday's blood draw and they are pretty good. I was 4 weeks 5 days when they were taken and my hCG was at 2414 and my progesterone was 26.5!

In case you're wondering what that actually means, here is a link about hCG levels and here is a link about progesterone in pregnancy.

In other news, I also got to schedule my first ultrasound for January 2nd. I'll be 6 weeks and 6 days pregnant then so I'm hoping to start my new year off with a little beating heart!

1st Dr. Appt- Early Due To Cramping

My stomach has been killing me for the last few days, not in the standard pregnancy "I'm gonna throw up" sort of way...but hurting. Honestly, I can't tell what the problem is. Maybe it's gas pain, maybe it's cramping, or maybe it's something else. I'm leaning towards gas pains, but they have been pretty severe and constant enough that I began to think that it might be something more. I called my new OB office to get in a few days earlier than my first scheduled prenatal appt (which was Friday). Since my stomach pain was low enough to be where cramps would be and more severe than menstrual cramps, they did an internal exam and ran some bloodwork.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with what hormones a woman's body produces during pregnancy, this next part is not going to make a lot of  sense. I'll try to explain as I go, but I make no promises about the clarity (or accuracy!) of my explanation. After a woman ovulates and the egg is fertilized the ovary from which she ovulates produces progesterone. My doctor said that this hormone  relaxes the uterus so that when the egg implants it doesn't cramp out to get rid of the foreign body (aka, the baby). If your ovary doesn't produce enough progesterone, your uterus can cramp causing pain and potentially a miscarriage. So they are checking my progesterone levels. If they are low (should find out tomorrow) I will be put on progesterone suppositories to increase levels and, hopefully, keep my body from rejecting the little bean. They are also testing for HCG, which is the human pregnancy hormone. The amount of HCG in your blood increases as your pregnancy progresses at a predictable rate (it normally doubles in about 48 hours). They tested my HCG levels today (which I'll find out tomorrow) and they will test them again on Thursday to see if the HCG in  my blood is doubling the way it is supposed to. Last time, I found out that I was probably miscarrying when I had really low HCG levels and then that I was for sure miscarrying when they started decreasing.

Assuming that my levels are rising, once they reach between 1500-2000 a pregnancy should be visible on an ultrasound. So, as soon as my levels hit that magic range, I will have an ultrasound to make sure that the egg implanted in my uterus and not somewhere else (which would be an ectopic pregnancy, which is very dangerous for the woman and always fatal for the fetus).

So, that's where things stand right now. I am waiting to find out if my hormone levels are alright and hopefully make sure that this baby is growing. They also prescribed me some pain medication if I needed to take it, but I'm hoping to hold off on that. If you guys could keep me in your thoughts while I wait to find out how my little rainbow is doing I would really appreciate it!

Four Weeks!

I technically hit four weeks yesterday, but I think blogging my weekly posts on Friday will be easier to remember. Plus I didn't get around to taking a picture yesterday, so Fridays it is!! I can't explain how excited I am to be sharing this pregnancy with the world and record all the events big and small. Over the last few years I have read so many pregnancy and mommy blogs and couldn't wait until it was my turn.

As you already know, we found out that we were pregnant at 3 weeks and 6 days. That was just two days ago, but it already seems a world away! Here are the stats for this week, I'm just making the categories up as I go here so it might change a little from week to week.

Weight: 136 (Yes, I just told the entire world what my pre-pregnancy weight is....)
Due Date: August 22, 2013
Symptoms: Sore breasts, lack of appetite (I'm not really queasy or nauseous yet, just decidedly not hungry), morning insomnia (I can fall asleep no problem at night, but apparently I can't sleep in!), and that's about it for now!
Emotions: I am super excited to be pregnant and over all I am feeling pretty positive. Yeah, this is a really scary time, but for some reason I just FEEL like this pregnancy is going to go ok. That doesn't mean that the fear doesn't get to me every once in awhile, because it definitely does! However, I am trying to keep it under control and stay confident and upbeat that I will be a mommy in August!
Notable News or Events: Even though it was technically last week, finding out that we're pregnant!!
What Other People Are Saying About Baby/Pregnancy: My hubby called me his "babby momma" last night which made me laugh. Also my mom and sister have already started joking about all the symptoms yet to come. Everyone around me has been pretty positive too in spite of our history which is nice.

I am sure that I will add more categories like cravings, gender, etc. when they become more relevant, but for now we will keep it short and simple since it's so early in the pregnancy.

And now what you've all been waiting for...the photo! Since I'm only 4 weeks along, it's almost a pre-pregnancy photo, but there's a little bit of baby bloat there and I want this recorded so that I can compare all the pictures later.

So that's me, 4 weeks pregnant! Marriage added an unwelcome 15 pounds to my figure, but it is what it is and now is not the time to get self-conscious about weight. After all, I have a baby to grow. 

I couldn't help myself and tested again this morning. Since it was 2 days after the first test I was hoping for a darker line and it was!! As you can see from the photo (sorry the tests are upside down, whoops), I am more pregnant today than I was two days ago!

12/12/12 - BFP!!

I am so excited to say that today we got our BFP (or positive result on a pregnancy test, for those of you who aren't up to date on pregnancy acronyms)!!!

It's only a light second line, but that's clearly a positive people!!

We are so happy, like really over the moon happy. I had a feeling that this might be the month for about the last 5 days. I've had really sore breasts, which was my only symptom with the last pregnancy. I have also felt off and on queasy, not exactly nauseous...but my stomach isn't quite right. I know it's crazy and I will probably regret saying this later on, but I am really hoping for some morning sickness. I just want to KNOW that I am pregnant and symptoms would be great for my peace of mind.

Of course I am absolutely terrified about how this will  turn out, but I am feeling surprisingly hopeful at the same time. Yeah, we had a miscarriage...and yes, I know that another one is possible, but our odds of having a second miscarriage aren't any higher than they were of having the first one. This is a fresh start and I am going to try my hardest to think positive thoughts. My first appointment is with a nurse practitioner on the 21st, so it's going to be a long week and a half wait until then. I'm going to push for having a couple quantitative HCG blood tests done for peace of mind (tests that determine the exact amount of pregnancy hormone in your system). I know that if I'm going to lose the pregnancy, I'm going to lose it...there isn't really anything that can be done about it. I am just going to take this one day at a time. I miscarried so early on last time that this next week and a half will be absolutely terrifying, but this is a different pregnancy and I am hoping for a different outcome.

Since I now have something to write about, I really do intend on updating this blog more often. I know that it isn't anything special and currently no one reads it, but I would love to document this momentous time in our lives. I am also hoping to meet some mommy friends and keep my family updated about how things are going  once I break the news to them. I am already thinking about how to tell them, I will write a post about my ideas on here soon.

Here's to hoping that 12/12/12 was a lucky day for everyone else out there, I know it was for us!!! How did you survive the stress of the first trimester? Any tips for getting your worries under control!

2012 Christmas Photos

After my last depressing post, I thought that I should share some of the happier parts of my life as well. It's not all awful! In fact, most of the time I am very content. I love my little family so much, so I thought I'd share some of our Christmas photos with you. I took these and they haven't been edited, so it's nothing spectacular...but it's us and I love them!

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and my adoring Thor dog! I would say that I was lucky to have the cats, but we're currently dealing with some anger issues that apparently mean it's ok to go potty outside of the litter box....

Cycle 2 After Miscarriage

Well, last month was not our month. It is so hard knowing that I would be well into my second trimester right now and instead, here I am still not pregnant. Hopefully this month brings us good news. I can't even imagine how a new pregnancy would change Christmas for me and my husband. At the same time, I know that not being pregnant come Christmas will be it's own new load of pain. Most of the time I am okay. I'm never great, but most of the time I managed alright. However, there are so many times when I experience that stab of pain. In those moments it is like it is happening all over again, like I am losing my dream/future/child all over again.  I don't know if there is any way to explain how truly all encompassing the feeling of loss is. No one that knows about what happened asks how I'm doing anymore, most people never even knew I was pregnant, it is like it never happened. Maybe I should be over it...maybe it shouldn't hurt anymore...I don't know really, but I do know that I will never forget this loss. Women all over the world (estimates are as high as 1 in 4 pregnancies) experience this pain in silence and it's a truly awful thing to have to go through alone. Thank God for internet communities. I know this is a rambling post, but if anyone (now or in the future) reading this needs a shoulder to cry on please just ask and I will be there in whatever way I can. Hopefully in another week I will be able to post a happy post about BFPs and bright, happy futures, but for now this is my life and IT'S HARD.