The Good News About the Bad News

I just came into week 24, the baby is measuring a good size which is a relief BECAUSE at the last ultrasound, they said the cord has 2 chambers instead of 3. The scary part was that this can be a "marker" for other birth defects and the most common risk is low birth-weight.

I had an appointment with a specialist. I had made the decision not to research that the 2-chamber cord meant as a way of keeping my sanity and not giving me something to dwell on. I am VERY GLAD I did so, at the specialist's we had a Skype call with a geneticist before going for the ultrasound and she went over the possibilities of what this could mean if there were other markers. It was scary enough that I was sick when we went in to see the doctor. 

Thankfully, everything looked great. The baby is measuring about a week further than he is and his heart looked healthy, as well as other things they looked at. We decided to not pursue and amniocentesis since there were no other issues found.

The sad news: I might have to have a c-section because of where the placenta is located. He said it is lower than they like and it puts me at a risk for bleeding if it doesn't move out of the way--a TINY 2cm. I really had my heart set on natural birth but I trust there is a reason for it all, even if the only reason is that it would make me face the fear I have of the surgery. The thought of it freaks me out. BIG TIME.

Meanwhile, Peanut is break-dancing and having a great time knocking against my bladder and stomach! I tell Hubby that whenever I get kicked, he should get kicked too!

Weeks 12 & 13: It All Falls Down...

WEEK 12: I was able to feel Baby move! It felt like little bubbly nudges below my belly button! I have probably felt the baby before and told myself it was digestion. The fatigue started to lift a little more, which was refreshing!

Hubby went out of town this weekend for a job interview. I stayed behind to get the apartment packed and ready for our move. While I was busy stalking and stockpiling an insane amount of boxes I totally forgot a visit to my brother's place! He lives 3 hours away and I still haven't met my 7 month old niece! My mom asked me about the visit several days later and I felt like a HEEL!


WEEK 13: Lots of worry this week. We're in the middle of moving. The jobs fell through so we had to figure out what we were doing FAST and without a backup plan. The move was VERY hard. I wasn't able to prepare as much as I wanted and I think Barry was over confident about how much stuff we packed. We stayed up all night packing and cleaning and if not for the help of a good friend, we would not have finished. As it was, we finished at about 8 a.m. the day after we were supposed to move out. I had to lay down and sleep a couple of hours in the night/early morning (not something I would do if not pregnant). It took about a week to recover.

Our stuff is piled up high in one room of his parents house and even more stuff is in their garage. I want to go through it and purge and move it into a storage unit until we figure out what we're doing. We'll see if that ever gets done but it would make life--and our next move--much easier if we could get rid of enough to make room for all the stuff the baby will be needing.

Week 11 Retrospective: How can a week be scary AND boring?

I'm very glad it's sandal season, I don't think I could stuff my feet in anything else! There was a day that when I looked down I saw my feet as hams with vienna sausages sticking out! hehehe

Heartburn continues to visit. I notice if I'm careful about not eating a couple hours before bed, I'm USUALLY fine or at least tolerable! It makes me wonder if gummy-bear will be born with a head of hair if it's a wives tale.

There was a bit of a scare early this week. I took it easy for a couple days doing NOTHING! Hubby was out of town so I spent my time with a Korean comedy series and The Cosby Show. I'm not sure what I would have done without Netflix! I can't wait to start doing things again because I haven't exercised and it is wreaking havoc on my back. I spent about 3 hours in bleachers and could hardly walk afterward. That was yesterday and I'm still sore today.

This was a very long week. All at once, between today and yesterday, my belly popped out! I feel like the muscles are stretching like bungee cords and gets VERY firm after meals. It's really exciting how fast these things are happening and also quite bewildering.  I'm amazed at how the body does what it does to get ready for a baby. 

Oh, and GOODBYE FIRST TRIMESTER!

Week 10 Retrospective: Starting to Learn!

This week's adventure included lab work. You wouldn't think that anything as mundane as blood-work would be much of a story, but I guess that's part of learning who pregnant Kora is. They took 4 vials. I had a headache, exhaustion and occasional nausea for two days! I was so woozy after leaving the office that we sat in the car awhile and I had apple juice. I didn't know that 4 little vials would knock me out!

I also had a weird experience where my fingernails and occasionally my toes were tingling. It eventually went away but was very strange and annoying when the sensation was strong. You can't really itch underneath a fingernail!

I CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT ANYMORE! Much of my outdoor activities are stopped for now, no yardsales or walking until this heatwave of 110+ temps are done! I feel like a vampire! We did make a short visit to Dealey Plaza where Kennedy was assassinated, thankfully it was evening and we had a good time!

I'm feeling better overall though. My emotions are leveling out and I feel SO MUCH BETTER! The migraines are even letting up and some of my energy is coming back but  s l o w l y....  I felt amazing after an easy yoga workout. Here's looking forward to the LAST WEEK OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER!

Here's some honesty I found on a friend's blog:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/babyproject/2011/07/22/138555402/pregnancy-uncensored-youll-laugh-youll-cry-youll-wet-your-pants#more

And here's my friend's blog, she's due in November!
https://sweetpealundell.wordpress.com/

Week 9 Retrospect: Blessings of Paperware

We had the "full ultrasound" on Tuesday! Everything is fine. When I was finally able to see the baby (the nurse had to check a bunch of stuff before we could have fun) we were able to see it wiggle!!! Definitely Barry's baby if he/she is coordinated enough to dance already!

I am so thankful for the invention of PAPER PLATES AND CUPS! After having a kitchen full FULL of dishes, I took 3 days to wash everything (sheesh) and started using the paperware. I CAN'T RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH! There isn't much worse than being queasy and exhausted and having to wash dishes with food on them... ugh... Things are much better now that it's mostly silverware and pans.

There was a rough night where everything came down on me pretty hard. I was convinced I couldn't do this and that I was turning into a sausage. Realizing that I have to learn to be a completely different person proved to be a bigger challenge than I imagined. The hormones are incredibly overwhelming, as I was laying there crying I told Barry that I knew most of this was irrational but couldn't help it. He was very consoling and understanding about it.

On Sunday afternoon we went to a park with Barry's nephew. I found out that I now get motion sick from swinging so no more marathon-high-up-leg-pumping swinging for me! I'll just save the experience for when we have little nugget to take to the park.

PERSONAL STUFF (Gentlemen may not want to read):
I went up a bra size this week. The one I was wearing was getting VERY uncomfortable. I only purchased one to see if or how long I will stay this size. I still recommend SUPPORT and comfort. If I can find one that is supportive enough without the underwire, that's what I'll get next time since this one, although more comfortable, is still a bit too much at the end of the day.

Week 8 Retrospect: Getting Better!

I finally made it to a doctor last Thursday and we got to see a "quick ultrasound" of the baby's heartbeat! It was a little flicker of light in the middle of a gummy bear! And I think baby was about the size of a gummy bear...

My memory is still shot. The queasiness has mostly passed. The pre-natal vitamin is MUCH easier on my stomach. The new symptom I'm having going into week 9 is migraines and my face has become its own mountain range.

There's really no way to help with the memory. I write things down when I can and if I can set an alarm on my cell phone to remind me of events, I most definitely do. I've also been relying on Barry (husband) to help me along. When I was trying to figure out insurance plans, I put them on speaker phone and had him talk to them with me. I like to make lists but the down side is losing the list!

The queasiness has passed for the most part. On the suggestion of a friend at church I started paying closer attention to the frequency of the meals. I stay in pretty good shape if I alternate between snacking and small meals every 2 hours, 3 hours at most. The problem I was having before is feeling bad made me not want to eat but I felt worse because I wasn't eating. It was a vicious cycle. Now I get up in the morning and use the restroom and head straight for the kitchen before doing anything else. It seems to be working pretty well! The other thing is staying away from even mildly gross stuff including normal things that now gross me out... But all in all, that's not so bad!

As for the migraine, there's really not much one can do for that anyway. I think it's a reaction to the insane amount of hormones. The only thing I've found that takes the edge off is a little bit of caffeine in the form of Coca-Cola! I gave up caffeine completely earlier this year and I don't drink coffee or tea anymore so whatever I drink to help with the migraine is WELL within the allowed daily amount for pregnancy.

Cravings this week: Meaty spaghetti, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. (Not together though!) One more fun thing I noticed--I can't suck in the lower part of my stomach anymore!

This feels weird!

For the first week after finding out about the pregnancy, I was so hungry. Before starting a vitamin I wanted fresh veggies, especially broccoli and carrots. There have been times when I can't tell if it's hunger or nausea! Estimated week 5 brought on an occasional tingly-icy-hot feeling. It's weird to feel like there's a spear of icy-hot through your pelvis! And every restroom in a 50 mile radius has been explored.


Some of the earliest symptoms I noticed--with hindsight--include a weird twitching feeling in my nose which still comes and goes, THIRST and it's partner of more restroom breaks, discomfort in tighter jeans, and I didn't want ANYTHING to do with candy except an occasional Payday. Also there has been a panicky feeling if I don't eat regularly and it can be VERY intense. Some of the symptoms I mistook for PMS include EXHAUSTION (like taking cold medicine), sensitive emotions (about a week in, our dog died and I took it so hard and for weeks), and the achiness mistaken for cramps.


Right now I'm estimated to be in week 7 and nausea has been awful this week and last week. My stomach has always been pretty strong so it's only nausea so far (honestly, if vomiting would make the nausea go away I'd take it instead of fighting it off). There have also been some food aversions that were totally unexpected like former favorites of string cheese, ham, and grilled McDonald's chicken wraps. Not surprisingly some bitter enemies have caused issue such as... deviled eggs.... ech... and still NO candy. There has also been a tightness across my stomach like the day after a good ab workout. I also just noticed in couple of days that my hands and feet are a little swollen! :)

I never thought I'd be happy to have swollen hands and feet! Or nausea, and my new buddy this week, heartburn... But it reminds me that there is a LOT going on that I can't see right now. I can't wait till we have the first ultrasound!

It's not what I expected...

I started this blog at the request of a very old and dear friend, HH! :) 

I've heard stories about women who never knew they were pregnant until they have the baby. (I think the series is called "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" ...yeah) And I've heard stories about women that knew just when they were pregnant. My experience wasn't what I expected.

A little about me you might not want to know, I cramp badly and my body has never quite regulated my cycle but it has been short in between. I thought when you get pregnant, you just go on like normal. I thought it would be no cramps, no bleeding, no PMS symptoms. What is funny about this is that the opposite is true. (I later learned the ache can be worsened by dehydration.) I had taken some Aleve (2 pills a day about 8 hours apart) because of what I thought was cramping, I don't like taking too many pain pills and that schedule kept me down to a dull ache or no pain.

On the third or fourth morning of hurting, I stood in my kitchen and suddenly it occurred to me that maybe I should check a calendar. When I realized it had been 3 weeks and nothing, I decided not to take a pain pill that day. The next morning we drove to Wal-Mart for an early test and took an early test. I promised my husband I wouldn't look until we were together when the two minutes passed for the test to be done. There were two lines. TWO...

I didn't realize the line I caught an accidental glimpse of was the "pregnancy" line and not the "control" line.

TWO LINES! I said "oh my gosh" and Barry let out a huge laugh. We cried and laughed. I shivered. I don't think there is anything that can prepare you for the shock of two lines.

I called my mom who lives far away. I think she almost wrecked her car! She said she never thought this day would come. I called my dad but didn't get to tell him till later. He said, "You're kidding me," and was thrilled at being a grandpa again. We got a little creative for telling Barry's parents. Back at Wal-Mart we bought a "Mom" ring and "World's Coolest Dad" tee-shirt left from father's day and explained to the same cashier why were back through his line!

This particular day, the future grandparents were purchasing a new truck! We decided to wait until after to tell them so we talked them into going for a soda. We all sat down in a booth and I asked them to look at the new ring Barry gave me, and he opened his button-down shirt to show the "Dad" shirt underneath! They were ecstatic! Later we went to Jo-Ann's and I bought a maternity pattern I've been eyeballing since January!