And She's Alive!!

When I first started blogging, I told myself that I wouldn't be one of those bloggers that only posted sporadically, and every one of those posts started out with Sorry I haven't posted in a while, blahblahblah...... LAME!

But I have a good excuse, I really do. I have a note. (not really)

2.5 days of Warmed-Over Death.

It all started Thursday morning, as I was almost finished getting ready before I jetted off to work. I started seeing spots and then realized I couldn't read words. These are the first signs of my incredibly debilitating aura migraine headaches. I hadn't had one in a few years and also hadn't been on my anti-seizure migraine meds in a long time also. I attribute the lack thereof to a low-carb diet. Well, I kind of hung-up the low-carb lifestyle to deal with morning sickness for the time being. Sometimes a cheeseburger happy meal is the only thing that sounds remotely appealing. When I saw the spots I went into immediate denial, and thought: Surely this could not be happening. And finished getting ready and went to work. The drive to downtown proved to me that I was not just seeing things, and I made it to my parking lot and sent off a few emails to say that I wasn't coming in. Shit was about to get real. Real quick.

The drive back home was a test of willpower. Morning sickness + migraine headache nausea + interstate driving = I want to die now, thanks. I so just wanted to be at home, getting sick in the comfort of my own bathroom and not on the side of the road. For 25 minutes I clenched my teeth, breathed deep breathes, thought positive thoughts, let a few burps escape and positively flew home. I can only imagine explaining this to an officer, had I been pulled over. I'm so sorry offi- bleeeechhhhhh. I made it into my garage, put the car in park, pressed the garage door opener button, and promptly threw up in my lap, all over my pretty grey dress. That was as far as I got. I consider that an achievement. The next 2 days did not improve.

Life slowly, kinda, came back to me Saturday evening. Dear Sweet Hubs brought me some Mickey D's as he brought the boys out for dinner, and I managed to gnaw on half a plain cheeseburger and a few fries. Sunday was better. Monday (Memorial Day I had off, Hubs did not) was almost spectacular, considering how I felt.

Today I am back at work, and General Malaise and Low-Grade Nausea has returned. I nurse the symptoms, but they remain. Tomorrow I will be 10 weeks along. Considering a full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks, I guess that means I will be 1/4 done? Supposedly morning sickness eases up around the beginning of the second trimester, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 or 14 weeks, depending on whom you ask. 3 or 4 more weeks? I am counting down the days.

What's going on in There

From Babycenter.com:

How your baby's growing:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

How your life's changing:

You still may not look pregnant even if your waist is thickening a bit. You probably feel pregnant, though. Not only are morning sickness and other physical symptoms out in full force for most women, but you may feel like an emotional pinball as well.

Mood swings are common now — it's perfectly normal to feel alternately elated and terrified about becoming a parent. Try to cut yourself some slack. Most women find that moodiness flares up at around six to ten weeks, eases up in the second trimester, and then reappears as pregnancy winds to a close.

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Me: Just like Dr. Smiley said, some days will be better than others, which is very true. Monday I threw up twice while getting ready to go to work, the first time in the shower. Yesterday was a fun day where we got to go to a free class at the Grand Bay NERR, and I pretty much felt fantastic most of the day. This morning was back to tossing my cookies in the shower. I'm trying to figure out the rhyme or reason behind it, being whether I had more or less protein the day before, the timing of taking my prenatal vitamins, etc. But I'm pretty sure it's just random.

And speaking of the class (which was informative, if not a tad over my head), they had a free catered lunch from Lenny's Subs and it ended up being fantastic. Being that it was free, one would expect nothing more than a cold sandwich tray and some chips. Not so here; it was a hot lunch with trays of either shredded chicken & cheese or chopped beef & cheese, freshly made bread (warm & soft), condiments (lettuce, tomato, their special hot sauce), chips, fresh cookies bigger than the size of a cd, and drinks including sweet/unsweet tea and lemonade. It wasn't a big fancy affair, it was just good. I may or may not have had thirds (they had SO MUCH food leftover) and was painfully full the rest of the afternoon. This may just be the preggo hormones talking. I may also be counting down the minutes till I can go get a meatball sub from Subway.

Our quick trip up to Birmingham last weekend was pretty nice (despite the diesel tanker flipping and causing the interstate to be closed for several hours, forcing travelers to devise their own detours in the Middle of Nowhere, Alabama. Thank yew, Google Maps). We hit up three different shopping areas and even went to see the movie Bridesmaids. I even got to fuss at a girl sitting in front of me, for checking her facebook for approximately the 6th time during the movie. This is why we rarely go to movies anymore. And the exorbitant cost as well.

Also made my first pilgrimage into Motherhood Maternity and bought a belly band, preggie pops and chewable prenatal vitamins. Was not really impressed with their clothing selection. I'll probably start wearing the band when I can figure out how to wear it without it looking obvious that I'm wearing a belly band. Isn't inconspicuous the key here?

My Husband Rocks Friday

Dear Sweet Hubs,

You've been so good at taking care of me. Including not batting an eye when I insist upon Cheerios for dinner or my own batch of an egg scramblette.

And for taking me to Birmingham to go shopping. ROAD TRIP!!!

Love,

Your Wife, XOXO

Wordless Wednesday- It's so nice, my heart is literally filled with Joy.

Wax and Wane

My life lately has been dictated by the status of my digestive areas. It's not so bad, but at the same time, all systems are running amuk. Nothing really compares to that one horribly bad day of nausea, but everyday since has been varying degrees of nausea. And if the nausea completely lets up, the other symptoms that are on rotation: lots of bloating, intermittent sore throat, and a headache gripping the back of my head/neck. General malaise has taken over. I may or may not have spent most of the weekend on the couch, watching one bad Matthew Mcconaughey movie after another and generally feeling sorry for myself. Perhaps not the best thing for my physical and mental health.

Due to all the bloating, most of my pants now have started to get a little snug about mid-day, which is not at all helpful with the queasiness. The 'ladies' completely fill up my bras again, as after I lost some weight for the wedding, they didn't quite fill them up all the way. And because of their size, I've depended on underwire for some time now, but they are starting to cut into my ribs more than ever. Hubs and some lady friends in the past have commented on their weight and/or size and whether I should be able to lay on my stomach or not. They haven't really have had an effect on my life (expect for messing with my ability to wear button-down shirts properly), until now. Now when I take off the regular bra that is digging into my rib cage, they suddenly feel heavy and tender. So most of my home life is in a sports bra.

The highlight of the weekend was watching the final few episodes and Season Finale of Survivor- Nicaragua with Dear Sweet Hubs. Of course Robfather won. I think he deserved to win, but didn't necessarily want him to win, especially after brainwashing all the lady chickens. How many Survivor winners does one family need? Would have much rather seen Grant, Mike or Steve win. Even Andrea, but she's just as guilty.

The high is 73 degrees today and sunny, and I vote that it stays like this the rest of the year.

Hit by the Nausea Truck

The I'm So Nauseous I Can't Hardly See Straight has finally eased up.. a tad (knock on wood!!), so I am back. It's kinda difficult to come up with something witty and memorable to say, when all you can manage is to stare off into space and will one's self to not get sick.

There I was, sailing along fine with the Not Nausea but Just Feeling Bad jive, and was awoken at 1:30 the morning after Mother's Day. How apropos! Dear Sweet Hubs had bought me some lovely roses and picked out yet another perfect card to commemorate my 'To Be' status. We had gumbo and potato salad over at his mother's house and his mom even gave me a candle for being a 'stepmomma'. How thoughtful. Then I was rudely waken up early the next morning with full blown nausea, headache and even a sore throat to boot. This is way beyond general 'Badness'. So I stayed home all the next day, couldn't keep anything down and generally felt miserable. I finally felt well enough to fall asleep around our normal bedtime. The next day I felt somewhat better, enough to go to work (because come on, it's really not all that taxing, it's not like I'm waiting tables or teaching class or something). I spent most of the day staring off into space and willing myself not to get sick.

That afternoon at 4 pm, Dear Sweet Hubs met me at the OB's office for our first ultrasound. I wish I could say that I was more excited about it, but I'd been so sick that I just wanted to get it over with. "Deep Breaths", Hubs keeps reminding me. We got to see the heartbeat (150 bpm!) and otherwise it was hard to pick out much else; kinda just looked like a blob inside of a bean-shaped sack. Even my ovaries were noted and marked, and later Hubs remarked at how impressive that the advancement of the technology is today. We got some photos to take home and a cd. We talked with Dr. Smiley again and everything looks good (U/S, blood work, etc). However he did note that due to my blood type (O neg) that I will most likely have to have the RhIg shot at 28 weeks, unless Dear Sweet Hubs blood type is also a negative. He'll have to find out because he doesn't know yet. None of this was a surprise to me, seeing that I've read way too much about this stuff beforehand. I also noted my sudden nausea, and Dr. Smiley went ahead and wrote me a prescription for Zofram, just in case. I >3 Dr. Smiley.

We were planning on using one of our groupons to head to Zea's afterward as a celebratory dinner, but I really wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, Hubs made me some hashbrowns for dinner as requested, and I could only manage to choke about half of it down. I wanted it, but my stomach said No! Started taking some Nauzene (Dr. Smiley-approved) before bed and that really seemed to help.

Today's a new day and I'm feeling about 75% better. Also today I finally told my boss The News, as she kept asking how I was feeling, so I finally let her in on that I wasn't really 'sick' per se, just um.... 7 weeks 1 day along!

I think he/she kinda looks like a dolphin myself.

PS: Confession: Maybe I kinda was hoping for twins, so I woulnd't have to go through this twice!

My Husband Rocks Friday

Since I'm pretty new to this whole blogging thing, I'm going to borrow a few content ideas from the lovely Heather @ Laptops to Lullabies. On most fridays she does 'My Husband Rocks', which I think is a good and sweet idea. And useful, for someone like me/us, chugging our way through our first year of marriage. Here goes.


Dear Sweet Hubs,

Last night at dinner I said, "I'm married, I'm pregnant, and I have steak nachos. What more could I ever want?" I have you, you, and you to thank for that.

You have a lot to tackle these days. A new marriage to a young wife that challenges you probably on daily basis, a new pregnancy, a new house, keeping track of two teenage boys and a job that, while you have been very successful at, you still have to deal with 'the Man' and things can get stressful. I'm proud of you.

You without fail, still kiss my goodbye every morning as I'm clinging to some last moments of sleep.

Love,

Your Wife xoxoxox

Magic Nachos

Those must have been some super-magic nachos from Moe's last night. We did manage to make it out for Cinco de Mayo last night, despite Dear Sweet Hubs' dislike of lines and hordes of people. But by golly, I wanted steak nachos and we must have steak nachos. It didn't hurt that they were running a deal where all entrees + a drink was five smackaroos. Can't beat that, especially when the entree alone normally is at least upwards of $7. Holla.

After dinner we returned home and watched Jacob (thank Gawd) get voted off of American Idol. Lauren was also in the bottom two, and poor sweet sniffly thing on stage, I just wanted to scoop her up and tell her It'll All Be Okay. I think Hubs and I are both going to be disgusted if Hailey doesn't win, especially after her House of the Rising Sun rendition. She could have sung the entire song a cappella and won the whole shebang right there.

Anyway, back to the magic nachos. After dinner, there was no 'Not Nausea but General Badness' to be found. Sure, I felt super-full but otherwise fine. No crackers as a bedtime snack. When I woke up this morning, I snacked on a few as a precautionary measure, but otherwise feel fine. As the day has progressed, I still feel generally normal. Thank yew Magic Nachos!

Dr. Smiley

My first pre-natal appointment with Dr. KP (might as well call him Dr. Smiley... and I think I will) went pretty well. First thing, had to hop on the scale. Then offered up a urine sample for them to verify the pregnancy (check! (+)) . They estimated me at 5 weeks and 5 days, which I already knew, and my due date is December 28th. Thank yew babycenter.com. Lots of nurses congratulating me. Had a minor physical exam and something similar to a Pap, but not a Pap. Dr. Smiley gave me the opportunity to ask a few questions, and then said that I could have my first ultrasound next week, and he thought we should be able to see a heart beat by then (!!!!). I scheduled it so Dear Sweet Hubs could be there. Then I was whisked off to the Lab, where they pulled five vials of blood for blood work. I was handed a goody bag and off I went. Doctor-approved pregnant and everything.

The not-nausea-but-general-feel-badness is slowly getting worse every day. Like smoke under a door, creepy and insidious. I've read just about every remedy in the book for morning sickness, so I feel somewhat prepared. But you never know how your body is going to react and what it's going to want. I feel the worst, first thing in the morning and would prefer to lay there in bed with my saltines, but my bladder dictates otherwise and I have to get up, at least temporarily. Then back in bed to nurse the saltines. May have to start regularly vacuuming up our bed now. Otherwise I feel just kind of blah through most of the day. And generally sleepy and not interested in doing much. I know it could be a lot worse, and I'm grateful that it's been kinda okay so far. Though I will have to admit, laying the bed this morning thinking Gawd this suuuucks and how much longer to go??

I went ahead and ordered a pregnancy book that I had been holding out on until things weren't hypothetical anymore ('From the Hips'), as well as a pregnancy yoga dvd. I love me some Zumba, but I just don't know if I can handle it anymore. And I am actually looking forward to shopping for maternity clothes (surprise, surprise; being the clothes horse that I am), but I have no idea when to start.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, btw. Hopefully I'll be up for some Moe's nachos later.

Wordless Wednesday- So Maybe I'm not Crazy

And We're Back.

Sleepy. Oh the Sleepiness. I went to bed last night at around 8:30 (not entirely out of the realm of possibility for me, but I did sleep most of the afternoon away and still went to bed early).

No glaring prego symptoms yet, but I did manage to develop stabby stabstab stabby heartburn in the middle of one of the dinners on the cruise. Heartburn is a rarity for me. However Indigestion and I are practically BFFs. This morning and yesterday afternoon, I haven't really felt nauseous per se, just Bad. A very unfamiliar Bad. Saltines and cheese seems to help.

We have returned from the cruise, and while we very much enjoyed the beach resort and snorkeling in Cozumel, we have determined we are so not cruise people. Lines and lines of people. Snarky ladies 'saving' all the good chairs and hogging them all day long. Corny shows. Mediocre food. Drunk, loud people. Or just Loud people in general. Lots of ahem, lumpy people. Oh well, Live and Learn! Hopefully the underwater photos came out spectacularly, and will post some as soon as I get that disposable developed.

My official first OBGYN appt is this afternoon. I may or may not have a teeny tiny fear in the back of my head that the Doctor might say, 'Crazy Girl! You're not pregnant! It was just a fluke. Go about your business and come back when you're really pregnant'. Or something like that. I really don't know what to expect. What I do know is, once it is officially confirmed, then it will most likely feel real to me.