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!