Hibernation

So, I feel like a bear, except rather than hibernating through the winter, I'm hibernating through the first trimester.  I pretty much sleep, work, eat, and sleep.  I haven't been doing a great job of keeping in touch with anyone in real life or otherwise, as you can plainly see by the lack of recent posts here.  I guess there just hasn't been a ton too exciting to say..."sleep, work, eat, sleep" doesn't leave much room for exciting news.  On top of that, I'm transitioning to a new job at work, so it just exacerbates the sleep part of my routine!

However, there are some new developments this week, so I thought it warranted a post.  This past weekend, we shared the baby news with our extended family at a much belated Christmas celebration.  We normally draw names and just each do one gift for that person.  We did that, but then also had a special gift for everyone...bottles with sonogram pictures inside!  We had everyone open their gift bags at the end of the gift exchange.  It was a huge hit and a giant surprise!  I had a hunch that a couple of them already had a clue something was up.  Turned out no one had any inkling!  It was so much fun!  My cousins, who are more like sisters, are very excited to be aunts soon!

The other news is that I'm fairly confident that we heard the Beaker's heartbeat on the doppler last night.  K let us borrow her doppler, but held off giving it to us until 10 weeks because she new (rightfully so) that I'd obsess if we didn't hear anything.  I had originally intended to wait until closer to next Friday's appointment just in case I freaked out.  But, I just couldn't hold out any longer...especially after I read that 95% of women hear a heartbeat in the 10th week.  Yesterday was 10 weeks, 2 days.  Surely we wouldn't fall in the 5%, right?

Hubby is convinced that we heard the heartbeat, and I am 99% certain, as well.  Two weeks ago at the RE, baby's heartbeat was 164.  Last night, we were able to find a 160bpm heartbeat 4 or 5 times in the same general vicinity right above my pelvic bone on the right side.  The confusing part, though, was that it's SO easy to find your own heartbeat that it makes you second guess things.  It was especially difficult to find Beaker because I think he/she settled in near an artery.  So, we could find a steady 160 for a few seconds, but when baby moved, it would turn back into my heartbeat instead.  Makes it kind of easy to second guess.  However, the fact that we were able to consistently find 160 in the same area...I believe it was definitely Beaker! 

It was fun trying out the doppler last night.  Hubby was very sweet...he's actually the one that brought the box in and said "let's see what Beaker has to say."  Albeit, I had suggested that I'd like to try earlier in the day, but it certainly didn't require any reminders.  And, he was intent on being the one to use the wand to try to find him.  Very sweet!

So, we have no reason to assume that everything isn't going wonderfully down there!  One week from today is our first official prenatal with the OB.  It's only been two-and-a-half weeks since the last RE appointment, but it feels like an eternity.  I'm definitely ready for the next appointment!  In the meantime, I'm going to head back into my cave for another week of hibernation!

Beautiful Sound!

It's amazing how much Beaker had grown in two short weeks...looked more like a baby and less like a bean! :-) There was a very prominent head and definite arm buds. The angle made it a bit hard to see leg buds, but they were there, as well.

The most amazing part, though, was hearing the heartbeat. I don't think I was at all prepared for what that would feel like. At our last appointment, the RE turned the audio on and we could hear rumbling and a mix of noises, but our untrained ears weren't precise enough to detect the baby's heartbeat from noise. The RE could hear it, and the machine could count it...and that was enough for me that week.  This time, though, it was clear as day. 

I about lost it at that moment!  Even more than first seeing a baby blob on the screen last time, I was struck by the wonder and awe of the fact that it wasn't my heartbeat that I was hearing. For the first time in my life, there was a heart beating inside me that wasn't my own. It was truly amazing. And, though it felt oh so real before...and my symptoms don't let me forget it...it feels all the more real after hearing that strong, healthy 164bpm heartbeat!  The baby is measuring 8w2d and we've officially graduated from the RE. Our first OB appointment is on 2/5! 

I'm nervous before every ultrasound, and I imagine that's normal.  I was slightly less nervous before this one than the last time, probably normal, as well.  I know that we're by no means out of the woods yet...and I'm reminded of that regularly on blogs and iV when I read about women who had a healthy 6/7/8 week heartbeat and then nothing at the next appointment.  I will feel more comfortable when we can hear the baby on the doppler at home.  And yet, I feel strangely confident that all is well and that all will be well with our baby and this pregnancy.  I'm grateful for that confidence today and hope that it remains as strong as Beaker's heartbeat until our next appointment in early-February!

Still Alive!

Wow!  It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted!  I wish I had some fabulous excuse, but I don't.  Well, unless sleeping is a decent excuse! I'll do my best to get you all caught up...

I definitely have morning sickness that's more of "all day sickness," but it never actually results in throwing up.  For that I'm grateful.  And, yet, it also makes me feel like a gigantic wimp because I know that I could feel much worse than I actually do at this point!  I guess I'd call my current feeling a mix of a cold, flu and constant seasickness.  It's just really draining, though I'm grateful for it.  The best answer would be lots of sleep, but I've been having some pretty significant low back pain (which I assume is related, though I also would've thought that it was too early for back pain?) that has made sleeping soundly a bit difficult.  The result of this combination is that I generally walk around in a spacey fog! 

My laptop AC adapter died early last week. When I plug it in now, it just emits a high pitched buzzing noise. I figure that's a pretty bad sign. And, since I have no intention of burning the house down, I haven't tried it further. We have a desktop at home, as well, but I have little interest in sitting at the desk in the office at the end of the day. Luckily, a new one should be on order today. Once my laptop is back to its fully functional status, my posting (and commenting) should be back to normal, too.

Food cravings and aversions...this one has been kind of bizarre.  I haven't gotten sick, so it's weird to me that some things sound so revolting that I fear that would make me sick.  And, some of those now revolting things are perfectly usual things I used to eat in abundance.  My diet for the last week has pretty much consisted of bland white things.  In fact, I've had at least one baked potato a day for probably the last seven days!  Fruit sounds extremely good; anything overly sweet sounds awful.  I haven't had any meat in a week, either.  No appetite for it at all.  Oh, and the most bizarre....I want absolutely nothing to do with chocolate!  That's insanity!

On Friday night, I ordered linguini with marinara from O.live G.arden and DH picked it up on his way home.  When he got home, though, it turned out that they had given him someone else's order...chicken parmesan.  It sounded and looked absolutely revolting!  I called to ask if they could make my original order and we'd be in shortly to pick it up.  They threw in a free dessert for our trouble.  I said anything but chocolate and the server suggested lemon creme cake.  I had a bite Friday night and it was delicious.  However, it's still sitting in the fridge.  Absolutely bizarre!

Our next (and hopefully last) appointment at the RE is on Wednesday.  I also finally got my first regular OB appointment scheduled last week.  It'll be on February 5. 

I think that the all-over-the-place nature of this post is a brilliant example of the current "spaciness!"  Please bear with me...coherent posts will hopefully resume soon!