Tiny footwear

I made my first actual "for the baby" purchase today and it is totally freaking me out!

So far I've bought stretch mark cream, some maternity clothes (mostly dresses and tunics that I knew that I could wear still after the pregnancy or if something was to go wrong) but I hadn't bought anything that would be for the baby instead of just for a pregnant me.

The reason I even bit the bullet this early (10 and a half weeks) instead of waiting until we find out the baby's gender (which is the milestone I'd pretty much pegged as when I'd feel okay buying baby things) is because in the past week I've been dying to take a pregnancy announcement picture for once we hit the 2nd tri…which is coming up quickly! I would really like my mother in law to take the picture. My husband and my iphone have been working fine for our weekly "bump" pictures but for this one something a little nicer looking is necessary in my opinion. My mother in law has a fancy camera and is able to very skillfully take fancy pictures.

The picture I've had in mind is one that I've seen in different variations on Pinterest multiple times. Mommy feet standing next to Daddy feet next to tiny baby shoes. Since we'll be going public around Easter I wanted to use baby bunny slippers/shoes. Since we're going over to my mother in law's house tomorrow for dinner and we'd have the perfect opportunity to take the picture the shoes needed to be bought.

Soooooo….I ordered these. Are they not the cutest thing ever? After we take the picture I'll probably put them on a shelf in the nursery (once we have a nursery, of course) since the baby probably won't be able to wear them for quite awhile.

I have these little thoughts wondering if this will be what "jinxes" it but what's done is done!

All Clear!

Today's ultrasound went wonderfully! I always start feeling better as soon as we're sitting in the doctor's office. I have no idea why I get so scared before that. Will I ever be just excited before an ultrasound instead of mostly scared?

Baby measured at 10 weeks 2 days. At my last ultrasound exactly 2 weeks ago he/she measured at 7 weeks 4 days so the baby was even more ahead today. Since I have long cycles (even though I know exactly what day I ovulated) the doctor is referring us to a perinatologist to date the pregnancy but he said that he would guess October 8th for our due date.

Josh was able to see the baby and record the ultrasound, baby was wiggling and moving the whole time...which was really cool to see! It's so weird to believe that baby moving around is actually inside of me. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to wrap my head around that.

Thanks for the well wishes while I was having my little attack of nerves today :)

Picture of our no longer caterpillar baby on the stats page!

Ahhhhhh

I'm leaving for my ultrasound in 10 minutes and I'm terrified. Everything was so perfect last time but for some reason I'm scared out of my mind for today. Luckily Josh will be with me.

Deep breaths.

I'll update as soon as I can, hopefully with a cute little picture that includes arms and legs instead of a caterpillar-like blob ;)

9 Weeks...and some change

How far along? 9 weeks, 3 days
Total weight gain: 4 pounds. Hoping the number at the doctor's office tomorrow isn't scary! I don't like being weighed fully clothed...that is NOT how I weigh myself at home and the difference is a *little* alarming.
Maternity clothes? I wore my maternity jeans last Friday and they were lovely. Other than that it's mostly leggings and dresses.
Stretch marks? None yet. Still applying my cream religiously.
Sleep: As much as possible! The only problem is that I can't seem to sleep in on the weekends and that leaves me a little sleepy and falling asleep early.
Best moment this week: Sunday family lunch at my mom's house. My best friend was there with her 2 kids (2 and 4 months), my older cousin was there with her 2 kids (2 and 2 months) and my same age cousin was there with her 4 month old. We spent almost all afternoon playing musical babies...rocking them to sleep, feeding them, bouncing them around. It was fabulous.
Miss Anything? Still running but just a little now. Josh and I have been walking every day and it's really helping me feel more active.
Movement: Too early for that!
Food cravings: Chocolate chip cookies. I made some mint chocolate chip cookies to take to my mom's on Sunday and I sampled quite a bit of the freshly baked cookies. Oops!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still applesauce and most of the time chicken.
Gender: Still leaning toward boy.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Symptoms: Still evening nausea and morning nausea (that usually results in me throwing up...I never throw up at night. Interesting.), huge and tender boobs, exhaustion, extreme cravings (if I crave it I need it RIGHT AWAY) and I'm incredibly emotional
Belly Button in or out? Deep deep in.
Wedding rings on or off? On!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Still happy most of the time. Fingers crossed!
Looking forward to: Ultrasound with Josh tomorrow afternoon!!!! I'm also really looking forward to Thursday night. We bought midnight showing tickets to see The Hunger Games. It'll be Josh and I plus almost all of our siblings (one of my sisters and my brother, 3 of Josh's brothers and one of their girlfriends). I also took Friday off so I can get my precious sleep after the show.

 

The plate says:

9 weeks down...217 days to go!

Baby is the size of a prune. Has elbows that will help him/her play baseball with Daddy someday. Has fully formed eyes (with Daddy's snowflakes or Mommy's rays). Wants chocolate chip cookies all the time!

Josh and I both have blue eyes but mine have rays shooting out from the center and his has what look like snowflakes. We always argue about which one is better :)

Grandpa

Last night I got to my father in law's house, went into the kitchen and saw this on the fridge.

He added the little word bubble himself. How precious. This is the first grandchild for him and he is absolutely thrilled beyond belief. He talks about "the little caterpillar" all the time and last week he even put his head to my stomach and told Josh that his grandson approved of Josh giving him (my FIL) a footrub. Absolutely adorable.

Stretch Mark Cream

When I found out that I was pregnant I knew that I wouldn't be making big baby related purchases right away. I am really paranoid and when it came to making possible purchases that was no exception.

I did buy one thing right away though (even though I literally had to force my finger to hit the purchase button on Amazon) and that one necessity for me was stretch mark cream. I bought it right away for 2 reasons really. First of all, I can be kind of vain and even though I know that as long as I have a healthy baby I probably won't really care about stretch marks I also know that I'd like to avoid them if I can. Second of all, I'm a sucker for those kinds of things…things that in reality may not make a difference at all but that you buy just so that you have the peace of mind that you're doing SOMETHING (even if you, in reality, are not).

I did a lot of research and ending up purchasing Mustela Double Action Stretch Mark Cream.

It was a little pricey for a cream but for my peace of mind it was worth it (to me). I've been using it every day as soon as I get out of the shower and I love it so far. It makes my skin feel soft and I really like the way that it smells. It doesn't have an overwhelming fragrance but it is very "fresh" smelling. Fortunately, it's one of the smells that doesn't send me into a gagging fit. Win!

Obviously I have no idea if it's helping and I probably won't for quite some time. I'll definitely revisit this then and let you all know my opinion on whether it made any difference. Fingers crossed!

In light of my new embracing the pregnancy attitude I decided to post my first weekly update. I have to admit, I am TERRIFIED to post this and have put it off for a few days but I'm biting the bullet!

How far along? 8 weeks, 3 days
Total weight gain: +3 pounds. It's been fluctuating but staying pretty steady for the past few days.
Maternity clothes? I'm pretty ashamed of this but…..I bought my first pair of maternity jeans over the weekend. My jeans just weren't cutting it and if I had to wear leggings for another casual Friday I was pretty sure people would start getting suspicious. I didn't buy full panel ones, they just have a little stretch on the back of the waistband and they are SO comfortable.
Stretch marks? None yet. I did buy stretch mark cream though, review to come :)
Sleep: Whenever possible! Last Friday I fell asleep on the couch at 7pm, slept through until midnight when Josh woke me up to go to bed and then slept in until 8 on Saturday morning. I started getting sleepy around 7pm again Saturday evening and ended up passing out at 8:45. Andddd repeat every day. I don't think daylight savings time helped!
Best moment this week: Hearing the little one's heartbeat last Wednesday.
Miss Anything? Just running. I glare at every runner I pass when I'm driving. I'm totally okay making that sacrifice though.
Movement: Too early for that!
Food cravings: Popcorn! I don't have specific cravings every day but I do have extreme food aversions. When trying to decide what to have for dinner I basically choose the option that sounds least disgusting to me. Yesterday I changed my mind 4 times before it was actually time for dinner.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Applesauce is the worst offender. A close second is the smell of Kool-Aid.
Gender: Still awhile before we'll know but I've felt a boy vibe from the very beginning. That's what Josh is hoping for so he's only too willing to encourage that. I also had a dream about our baby this week and the baby was a boy in the dream…an adorable, chubby-faced boy who had 2 teeth at 2 weeks old??? Weird.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Symptoms: Nausea in the evenings and mornings before I eat something, exhaustion, HUGE boobs, CM like crazy and bloat. Major bloat.
Belly Button in or out? Deep deep in.
Wedding rings on or off? On…hopefully for a long time! I'm dreading not being able to wear my rings.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!!! I did have a breakdown about feeling like I was getting fluffy last week that was definitely hormone related (Josh was ready to run for the hills) but other than that things have been strangely optimistic around here.
Looking forward to: Our next ultrasound, next Wednesday. I can't wait for Josh to hear the baby's heartbeat!

Also, because I'm crazy and really want a great progression of pictures we took a bump (BLOAT) picture this week. I'm going to be taking them every week and writing updates on this ceramic plate that we received as a wedding gift.

P.S. Does anyone know WHY my pictures are coming out blurry?? They don't look that way on my computer. Help! Also, see what I mean about the boobs?? They are taking over.

Page Update

Just popping in to let you all know that I posted the little one's picture on the Current Stats page. Thank you for all of your positivity yesterday, I'm still on a happiness high :)

Houston, we have a heartbeat.

I cannot even begin to describe how much relief I felt when that little whoosh sound started. Our baby has a heartbeat of about 170 beats per minute, really strong. Our little one is measuring two days ahead at 7 weeks and 6 days and it is absolutely beautiful.

My sister was able to come and see/hear the baby and it was so nice to share that experience with her. I met Josh for lunch afterwards and we smiled over pictures. Our next ultrasound is in 2 weeks just because my doctor wants to keep a close watch on everything due to my past miscarriages. We were able to make the appointment for afternoon so Josh will be able to come with me and I can't wait to see his face when he gets to hear the most amazing sound in the world. 

The doctor also went over the results from the bloodwork that I had done for him 2 weeks ago. All of the blood clotting disorders that he tested for came back negative which means that my problem in the past has definitely been thyroid/progesterone centered. He also gave me the HCG result from that day's bloodtest. I was 5 weeks and 3 days at that point and my HCG was 37,000. That and hearing the heartbeat today definitely have me feeling reassured. We're not even close to being out of the woods but it's definitely time to start living as if this will have a happy ending!

Ultrasound tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow I will be 7 weeks and 4 days pregnant and am going in for a heartbeat finding ultrasound. I don't think I could be more nervous. I almost don't want to go because if something is wrong I'd rather just live in happy little denial. At the same time at least if everything is okay I can take a breath or two. I'm obviously conflicted with how I feel about it.

Josh won't be able to come because of work but I'm meeting him for lunch afterwards and hopefully I'll have a cute little picture or video to share with him.

The pregnancy symptoms are still coming on strong and I could not be more glad about that part. I feel like a zombie if I'm not in bed by 9pm, I had to interrupt my morning shower while I was washing my hair to hop out and lose my breakfast and my boobs are out of control. I went shopping with my sister last weekend and she was shocked when I was changing and she saw how much they've grown. They seem to have a life of their own.

Of course my 5 day spotting free streak ended last Saturday but I'm pretty sure that little episode was due to the workout I did that morning. It was very low key compared to anything I did on a regular basis before getting pregnant but the spotting served as a good reminder that I need to slow even more down. I've restricted myself to walking, swimming and arm work. My motto is that any activity is a plus right now.

The spotting didn't scare me as much as it could have because I got the results of my Friday progesterone test…..52!!! I've never seen a number that high on any test of mine and I cried when I got the text from my doctor. Those bi-weely PIO injections and daily suppositories are finally kicking this body of mine into gear.

I promise that my posting will be more interesting and have more of an actual point after tomorrow morning's appointment. I've been focusing on just making it to tomorrow and after the U/S I'll be firmly in one camp or another and not feel as if I'm in as much of a limbo spot. Thank you all for your support, I appreciate it so much.

Just some fun thrown in :)

A big thank you to MGG over at Baby-Making Merry-go-Round for tagging me in this! A nice fluffy post is just what I needed!

I know that I've sounded totally Debbie Downer lately but I really don't feel like that. Most of the day I am over the moon excited about being able to be pregnant TODAY but then I have little panics (which mostly have been triggered by my too many spotting incidents) and posting about them and hearing all of your reassuring words helps :) I haven't posted during the excited times because, even though I know it's ridiculous, I'm still scared of somehow jinxing things. I'm going to try to work on that though!

Anyways….

1. Who are your favorite bloggers?

The blogs that I check first thing every single day first thing are not really fertility or loss related (even though almost all of them have cute little babies). I always check Fitnessista, Skinny Runner, Daily Garnish, A Healthy Slice of Life and Running off the Reese's. I follow many many more IF related blogs and I appreciate them all for different reasons, I couldn't pick my favorites of those if I tried.....which is why I went in a different direction for this question :)

2. What tips would you give a new blogger?

Don't be afraid to comment on other people's blogs that you find. A lot of times it helps push you out of your comfort zone and it also gives them a chance to want to learn more about you!

3. What is your occupation and what is your favorite part of that occupation?

I am an administrative assistant and I have been for 2 years. I don't really have a favorite part, it's a job for me. I work so that Josh and I can save money and eventually I won't have to work. I plan on staying home *when* we have children, at least until they are in school. If that doesn't happen I plan on going back to school.

4. What do you like to do in your spare time?

I used to love to run but under the advice of my doctor (based on my personal past medical history) and my little sister who is also my personal trainer I have stopped since getting my BFP. It makes me really sad when I'm driving and I see someone running down the street and I really miss running. But if it means that this little one will be our take home baby I'll give it up a million times over. I've replaced running with swimming (something that I used to love to do and even competed though in high school) and I'm growing to love that again as well.

Josh and I LOVE watching movies. We watch a lot of them. We also watch a lot of TV and are constantly catching up on our DVR.

We're also very very lucky to live in the central valley in California so we've spent many weekends exploring Yosemite National Park (1 hour away) or different beach towns along the coast.

5. What are the top 5 sites you visit on the Internet?

WeddingBee (no shame), HelloBee, Blogger, Gmail and Google.

6. What is your favorite vacation place and why?

I love our mini vacations to the California coast. My favorite little getaway is Cambria. We love spending time there exploring and relaxing.

7. What is your favorite subject to blog about? And how do you come up with ideas to blog about?

Well my blog has been about our journey of adding to our family and I haven't really written consistently about anything else. Most of my posts are general updates but I've really been brainstorming lately about ideas that are actually informative and not just my online journal.

8. Tell us one unique fact about yourself:

Before I found out I was pregnant I had a running streak going that I was really proud of. The day of my BFP was day 51 of the streak. During that time I ran at least 1 mile every day, usually it was closer to 3-4 miles.

9. What is your favorite book(s) of all time and why?

My current favorite are the Game of Thrones series but I like almost every book that I read and I go through books really fast. Reading could probably be listed as one of my main hobbies.

10. What is your favorite food?

Mexican! I could eat it every day and not get sick of it.

11. What are your favorite movie(s) of all time and why?

Little Women- One of my favorites since grade school….I love the relationships, the story and it just makes my heart happy.

Legally Blonde- It makes me laugh.

The Emperor's Club- It makes me think.

 Beauty and the Beast- Who doesn't love a bookworm who sings?

 Up- I can cry and laugh along.

12. What will you do if you can't have a baby?

We would definitely adopt but we'd need to step back before doing so and we'd probably focus on things like being in our forever home and building up a really strong savings first. It would be really hard.

P.S. I'm not going to tag anyone specifically because it seems like most of you have already been tagged in this since it's been going around. However, if any of you haven't or are in the mood to answer these questions because you also need a fluffy post....Tag! You're it :)