Shedding the sea bands.

For the past 10 weeks I've been wearing 2 very unattractive grey elastic bands around my wrists. They kind of looked like exercise sweat bands, but a bit thinner.

I've been afraid to take them off, but last night I forgot to put them back on after giving Sophia a bath and I didn't remember to put them on this morning either and I made it through the whole day without feeling ill at all. Hip hip hooray! Let's hope this is a new trend! Literally up through the weekend I was feeling sick.

Doctor's Appointment

I had my 16 week appointment this morning. I got to hear the heart beat again. This time it was 154. The doc said everything sounded good. I gave a vial of blood to be tested for the quad-screen and will find out the results at the next appointment. Speaking of the next appointment - it will be the 1/2 way point. The 20 week ultrasound where we can find out the baby's sex! Can't wait. January 11.

I felt some movement

For the past few days when I'm sitting down in the evenings I swear I've felt some movement from the underbelly. It's taken me about 3 days to convince myself that I AM feeling something. Tonight's little wormy movement sealed the deal. I'm 15 weeks along now. With Sophia I was 18 weeks pregnant before I felt anything.

I go to visit the doctor on Tuesday morning. This will be another boring visit when I only get to hear the heartbeat. Next month's appointment will be the exciting one. We'll have an ultrasound and find out if it's a boy or a girl. Will is definite on finding out and I'm on the fence (just like last time). However, I haven't been able to even think about names yet! I keep telling myself that after I know the sex I'll be more psyched about spending hours searching through name books and online for that single elusive name that jumps out from the rest.

NT Scan

We got the results back from our ultrasound and NT scan and all of my numbers came back in the "normal" range. That's great news, but it's not like we expected to hear anything different. It's still very comforting to hear that your baby is very unlikely to have chromosomal abnormalities. 1 in 250 is considered risky. Our numbers were 1 in 2700 for down syndrome and 1 in 8300 for Edwards disease.

The "honeymoon" trimester

I made it! The second trimester is officially beginning and I'm 4 months pregnant. Some call this the honeymoon trimester because the hormones have supposedly settled down and the woman's body has adjusted to the pregnancy and is able to just enjoy for the next few months until shortness of breath and being uncomfortable settle in for the final few months. Um....for me it's not the case yet. I still feel nauseus when I take off my sea bands for longer than a 1/2 hour. If I don't sleep with them on then I wake up feeling sick.

Other than that - I'm showing. 2 people have commented so far that they can see a baby bump! That's cool.

Cravings: Watermelon! Watermelon! Watermelon! An expensive craving for this time of year.

Itty Bitty Baby

I had an ultrasound on Wednesday evening and the little baby was really active. It was so comforting to see the baby's legs moving around and to watch the hands move up towards to the face, almost as if the baby wanted to suck it's thumb. All of this and it's only about 2.5 inches long at this point.

Sophia saw the baby in the tv monitor right away and kept repeating "Baby" over and over to the technician and the nurse in the room. All of us were shocked that she could identify the baby on the ultrasound. Will claims that this baby looks exactly like him too! (But I think Sophia is looking more like me these days)....

We asked if they could tell us the sex of the baby, but they said it was too early to tell. We'll have to wait until the next routine ultrasound - given around 20 weeks.

I also had a doctor's appointment this week and got to hear the baby's heartrate again. It was 165 bpm this time. Last time it was 150 bpm. I have gained 1 pound so far.

The picture below is a 3D image and the baby is facing and saluting the camera. Can you see it? :-)

What's up, baby?

I've been feeling sick again. This week the morning sickness feeling seems to come out of nowhere and strike when I least expect it. Lucky for me the sea bands are still working their magic.

I go see the doctor in the morning and will get to hear the baby's heart beat (fingers crossed) on the super Doppler sonar thingamabob! Then tomorrow night at 5:20 we will get to see the little babe on our second ultrasound. Will and I are both looking forward to it. I'm sure Sophia will be unimpressed and impatient with us, but hopefully can keep her cool.

200 days to go

OK - 200 days seems like alot of days, but considering that Sophia turns 18 months old next week - that means my due date is only 6 months away.

My next doctor's appointment is scheduled for Wednesday morning and I also have an ultrasound scheduled for Wednesday evening. I can't wait to get a few more pictures of the little "bundle of joy" growing inside of me.

Cravings this week - lots of fresh fruit and Mexican food

Belly bump

I have a belly bump @ 11 weeks. Of course you wouldn't be able to look at me and determine that I'm pregnant, but you might think, "Hmmmm, she's putting on some weight". Actually I haven't gained any weight yet, but I definitely look bigger in the mid-section. Those of you that have had more than one child, you know what I'm talking about. You show earlier the 2nd time around...I can't imagine the 3rd or 4th time around....but then again, Will thinks we should stop at 2. We'll see what's in the cards for us later.

Hopefully I can stay out of maternity clothes for as long as possible. I'm NOT a fan!

It's amazing!

MORNING SICKNESS IS OVER!!!!

I have felt completely ill for weeks now and all of a sudden I woke up at the beginning of the week and I felt GOOD. I almost feel GREAT! I took Sadie for a walk twice this week already and we'll be able to go again today!

My cravings were out of control when I was feeling sick.

Here's the list to name a few...and all of these were my body's remedies to soothe my stomach.

• Pickle juice - straight of out the jar (this makes me think of my friend, Shannan) Now I can get by on just having a crispy dill pickle. Sophia has discovered that she loves pickles too!


• Fruit - went through a huge fruit phase, mostly had to have watermelon and pineapple.


• Peppermint - tea and peppermint patties mostly, but I also went to Yankee Candle and bought a Jack Frost (their peppermint scent) air freshener for my car and their largest candle. I'm going to have to return the candle because the scent now makes me feel ill. I can only stomach the tea now.


• Sour stuff - OK - I really should say Lemonade. Pink lemonade to be exact. And, let me tell you, I couldn't stand the diet version so I was guzzling 150 calories per can for the last couple of weeks...but since I wasn't eating much of anything I guess it all has evened out.


• Milk - this is my new craving - a glass in the morning and another in the afternoon. YUM.

10 weeks along now!

Our first ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound yesterday! We got to see the baby and the heartbeat. It was 150 beats per minute. The doctor said everything looks fine so far. Our next appointment is in 4 weeks.

The doctor confirmed my due date - May 28, 2008 from the size of the baby. So that means I'm 7 and 1/2 weeks pregnant.

Kiss the baby....

Sophia actually gives my belly kisses. It's adorable! And when I ask her if she's going to be a big sister she nods her head and smiles. I'm sure she really doesn't understand what's going to happen, but it's fun to watch her think she knows.

She's going to be an excellent big sister. She takes wonderful care of her baby dolls and makes sure they have blankets, bottles and sometimes even a paci.

Nauseous all the time

Tomorrow I will be 7 weeks pregnant and for the last week I've been getting nauseous. It started out just in the evenings around 5:00 and if I ate a snack or dinner it went away. However, for the last few days this nauseous feeling has been lasting ALL DAY! I haven't actually gotten sick at all, I just completely feel awful.

I didn't have this problem at all with Sophia. In fact, I had the perfect pregnancy with her.

Hmmm....does that mean I'm having a boy this time?

Ginger ale doesn't seem to work. I just got some Preggie Pop Drops which are a sour hard sugar candies. These seem to work quickly to relieve the nausea, but the remedy doesn't last very long.

I just read online to try eating dill pickles and drinking lemonade. Hopefully this will help.

Went to a new doctor today. I really loved the practice.

Found out my due date is May 28, 2008.

You are about the size of a sesame seed now.

4 weeks old

Hello little baby. You are 4 weeks old today. You are about the size of a poppy seed.

I've got my first pre-natal visit on Monday morning. I'm trying a new doctor for this pregnancy.

I think I'm pregnant

I took a pregnancy test this morning and the faintest of lines showed up to indicate that I am pregnant. YEA!!! Of course, Will and I both had to turn the test in the light just right in order to see the line, but we both saw it.

I'm going to take another one tomorrow morning and see what that test says! How exciting!!!

According to all my online sourcse, my due date will be May 27, 2008. Only 2 weeks after Sophia's birthday. So far I've checked a few different sites and the chinese calendars have the gender as a girl 3 out of 5 times. I guess it depends on whose chinese calendar you use!