Stupid people irritate me

I ordered a new bottle of ultrasound gel to use with my doppler. I found a bottle for $5 on eBay and it had 2-day shipping. Yeah!

Well, it arrived in my mailbox yesterday. It was packaged in a yellow padded envelope, and as soon as I saw that I thought it couldn't be good. I brought my package inside, opened it, and instantly got fired up. Half of the bottle had been squeezed out into the packaging and the bottle itself was covered in gel.

Why would any intelligent person package a SQUEEZE bottle full of goo in an envelope?? Wouldn't a box of sorts be a better idea???

Needless to say, this eBay seller is getting an email from me. I don't really care about getting a new bottle (it was only $5 afterall) but I would like to suggest they change their packaging for future customers. And I can't imagine I'll be the first to complain about this!

Ok. Rant over :)

Is this really too much to ask?

I want to be able to eat a normal meal. I want to eat meat, fruits and veggies. I don't want to gag at the site/smell of of any particular food and I want to eat until I'm full. I want to be able to eat whatever is in my fridge or pantry and not search for the one thing that I will be able to keep down.

I want a great teethbrushing experience. I want to feel that I've cleaned every surface inside my mouth, without having to do it again because I threw-up midway through. I don't want to cover my bad breath with gum/mints.

I want to sleep through the night. I don't want to wake up at 2 am with a bladder that is ready to bust if I don't PEE RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE. And then I want to be able to go back to sleep and not have to get up at 3 am to have a bowl of cereal because I'm beyond famished because I could barely eat any dinner the night before.

This may very well be my one and only pregnancy and I want to be able to enjoy it to the fullest extent. I know I should be very grateful for being PG - and I AM - it's just that it's so exhausting not to be able to eat nutritious meals (and keep them down) or sleep well at night.

God, can we strike a deal? How about you take away my nausea/puking in exchange for something else. Stretch marks? Swollen feet? Acne? You name it. I'm getting worried that our Nugget isn't getting the nutrition s/he needs, so how about you help a girl out and let me eat a yummy steak dinner??? LOL.

15 weeks

I don't have much of an update on my end...still getting sick almost every day. I don't really feel as terrible as I did the past month, but I can't keep all of my meals down. I'm starting to see a real difference in my belly and I think I'll soon pass the looking "chubby" phase and move to the actually looking PG phase. LOL.

As for Nugget,

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

My gift from Katie

As promised to Kristin, here is a picture of the Mother's Blessing Bracelet that Katie sent to me. It's even more beautiful in person! Thank you Katie, from the bottom of my heart!!!

You can find it at www.handmaid-jewelry.com.

Mother's Blessing Bracelet
This is the perfect bracelet for the new, expecting mothers, or even those involved in the ProLife movement!

We've combined the palest sapphire and alexandrite (color changes from lavender to pink to blue) crystals with large, unique lamp work beads. These are 12mm clear glass rounds with pink and green glass drizzled on top. They are hugged in pewter caps with tiny hearts.

The clasp is a pewter heart toggle. We have finished the bracelet with baby feet and a St. Gerard Majella medal, the patron saint of safe pregnancies and those women wishing to conceive.

Nugget's Heartbeat

This is my favorite sound on earth right now...

Dear Katie,

14 weeks

Today is Sunday and that means I've made it to another week.

In baby development news:

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

In Mommy-to-be news:
Just as I think I'm going to have a day without m/s, a nasty wave hits me and I'm bent over the toilet. I barely get any warning any more. I'm not nearly as tired as I was last month, but I'm not sleeping as well. I'm getting up at least once a night to pee and I just can't seem to get comfy in bed.

But the thing that gets me through is hearing our Nugget's heartbeat on the doppler...158 bpm last night :)

I have arrived.

To the second trimester that is :) It technically starts at 13w 3d and here I am! I can't believe it. It totally crept up on me. I'm officially one-third done this pregnancy. Phew. It's been a long 13 weeks.

I'm still dealing with morning sickness all day. I seem to peak in crumminess around 2 pm and then again around 6 pm. Once I get to 8 pm I'm fine. Usually. I just jinxed myself, didn't I? LOL.

In baby development news...

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

When I read that part of my baby's eggs, it made me shutter. Thinking about my child's reproductive systems makes me pause and pray that my child will NEVER have to go through the horrible things I went through to have a child. It's so scary to think about. I still don't feel comfortable with the fact that everything is a-ok, but I'm trying to enjoy it all (aside from the m/s). It's an everyday occurrence that I take a minute and talk to my belly and tell my little Nugget that s/he better still be in there growing strong!

WARNING: TMI Ahead

The past two weeks have been crazy in my mid-section. You all know of my senstive gag-reflex and that I've been throwing up a lot, so my dr put me on Zofran. One of the side effects is constipation. I thought it couldn't be all that bad and surely it wouldn't be as bad as the puking. Well, it kind of just took the edge off my nausea, but only sometimes. I still threw up every other day or so. But I hadn't gone #2 in 12 days. I spoke to my nurse and she gave me a list of things to take all in one day:
Liquid enema
Glysterine suppositories
Milk of Magnesia (this was hard to swallow)
Senokot stool softeners

My belly was getting so hard and uncomfortable, coupled with my nausea it just made me miserable. I stopped the Zofran in hopes my constipation would go away so I'm now dealing with a ton of grossness in my stomach.

I took the round of drugs for the first time on Thursday with a very pitiful outcome. Same thing on Friday. I didn't do it Saturday b/c we had to go out that night and I didn't want to be away from home and have to use the bathroom. I did it again yesterday with another lackluster response. So I upped my dosage last night to the max for each medicine.

Oh my.

What a mistake.

I went to the bathroom 6 times in about 30 minutes. Needless to say I am totally cleared out at this point.

I know that was all very unpleasant but I wanted to post it so that others who go through this know you're not alone. There are quite a few girls on the Nest going through this and I wanted to post my experience so you can weigh the pros and cons when deciding if you want to start Zofran. Sorry to gross anyone out :D

NT Scan results...

Thank you so much for your well-wishes. We had a great NT scan. The measurement was 1.09mm...well below the threshold of 2.5mm. PHEW! Now I know that we still have to wait five days for the blood test results, but I'm glad that our NT scan didn't produce any alarming results.

**Update 7/14** The genetic counselor called me last night to say my risk for Downs is 1:750 and Trisomy 18 is 1:10,000

It took her a while to get the measurement since Nugget was so active (as usual). She actually pushed on my belly quite a bit to try to get the baby to move into the right positioning. I didn't mind...the more time to look at my baby the better. And the heartbeat was great at 154 bpm.

She spent a lot of time showing us each arm and leg, the head from all angles and the bum...couldn't tell the gender yet though. Still too early for that.

So this is very reassuring and will put my mind at ease for a bit longer.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

NT Scan tomorrow

For those of you who do not know, the NT scan is a 1st trimester screening u/s to check for the liklihood of Downs Syndrome, Trisomy and other chromosomal abnormalities. I think it's routine in high risk pregnancies.

The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average.

So if the measurment is above a certain amount of milimeteres, the risk is higher. Then, an amnio or CVS test can be performed to either confirm or disprove any abnormalities.

Needless to say this is one more thing I'm stressing over. I'm praying our Nugget has a normal scan. Please keep us in your thoughts tomorrow morning and I'll post the results in the afternoon sometime.

12w 2d peri appt

I met with one of my peri's today. Apparently I'll see a different one each time I go as they rotate who is in the office every week. This guy was really nice and I hope I get to see him more often. He took his time and answered all of my questions. He asked when I wanted to go back again and that I could go in as often as I liked. I told him I'm ok with two weeks and he said just to call if I need to come in sooner. FINALLY a dr who understands my anxiety of another m/c. So as of now I go back on 7/22. I think I can hold out till then since I have my trusty doppler :)

Everything was great with our Nugget. S/he was moving a bunch as usual. We have quite a little swimmer in there! Ed was finally able to go with me and he was so cute looking at the screen. At first he had no idea what he was looking at but then my dr. told him what was what and his face just lit up. I guess that is the only way it seems real to him. Well, aside from having to listen to me puke every day. LOL. Once I really start to grow a belly and he can feel the baby molve, it will help him feel more a part of it. But for now, he'll have to settle for pictures on the u/s screen.

Oh, and my blood pressure was down to 110/82. PHEW! It seems that me trying to cut out as much salt as possible may be working. Thank goodness b/c I REALLY miss french fries covered in bacon and cheese. MMMMMMM.

We spread the good news

We got to tell most of our extended family our great news this weekend. We didn't make a huge announcement (like the first time), instead we just told people one by one as we were chatting with them. It was nice to do it that way this time around. Of course everyone was thrilled and some aunts and cousins started to cry. It was great to deliver good news.

But of course there is always one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Ed's cousin and his wife have just decided to start TTC. They know most of the details of our journey. He thought it would be a breeze and always called her "Fertile Mertyl" because her sister has five kids and never had any problems. Well, it's been a few months for them and he's starting to freak out. I have a feeling he's thinking "OMG we're going to have to go through what Ed and Maria did" and is losing his mind over it. His wife was one of the ones that cried, she was VERY happy for us, but he didn't even say congratulations to us, he just started talking about his own issues. Whatever. Dickhead.

The rest of our weekend was good, although I had to miss out on going to fireworks Saturday night so I could stay home and puke. And we left my parents house a bit early yesterday to do the same.

It's all for a good cause...It's all for a good cause...It's all for a good cause. LOL.

Something to keep my mind of puking...

1. Who was your first prom date? My high school boyfriend.
2. Do you still talk to your first love? No.
3. What was your first alcoholic drink? Vodka and Lemonade. My brother's HOT friend made it for me at a party in high school. Both the drink and the guy were delicious!
4. What was your first job? I was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant.
5. What was your first car? A 2000 Jetta. Silver. Totally popular that year.
6. Who was the first person to text you today? My Mom.
7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning? My Nugget :)
8. Who was your first grade teacher? OMG I don't remember. My 2nd grade teacher was Mrs. Indrisano. She was from Boston and said my name funny.
9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? Disney World when I was 6!!
10. Who was your first best friend, and are you still friends with him/her? Beth Engler. I haven't heard from her since we graduated the 8th grade.
11. What was your first sport played? T-ball.
12. Where was your first sleepover? My friend Michelle's house in kindergarten.
13. Who was the first person you talked to today? Ed.
14. Whose wedding were you in the first time? I was a BM in my cousin Lisa's wedding when I was 17. I got SMASHED drunk and tried to hide it from my parents. They knew, and just laughed at me.
15. What was the first thing you did this morning? Woke up to pee.
16. What was the first concert you ever went to? Tiffany. NKOTB opened for her.
17. What was your first tattoo or piercing? Ears pierced when I was 8. Got my only tattoo in March 2006 right before we started our TTC journey.
18. What was the first foreign country you went to? Costa Rica for our HM.
19. What was your first run-in with the law? In HS my boyfriend and I got caught by the cops in a local park.
20. When was your first detention? Freshmen year of HS, my Spanish teacher kept the whole class b/c we thought it would be funny to say everything with an "o" and the end instead of the real Spanish word...el book-o...el car-o...el phone-o...el pencil-o.
21. What was the first state you lived in? PA
22. Who was the first person to break your heart? Kirk Cameron.
23. Who was your first roommate? Freshmen year of college - Nicole. She was super boring.
24. Where did you go on your first limo ride? When I was six...to the airport on our way to Disney World!

Now You're It. Go.

Heave-ho

I've been pretty sick the past few days and was getting concerned that I'm not getting enough nutrition. I called my peri's office and they had me come right in to get a prescription for Zofran to help with the nausea. While I was there they did an u/s and I got to see my little Nugget swimming like a nut. S/he didn't stop moving the whole time. I could watch that u/s screen for hours. Sigh.

The Zofran is ok. I haven't actually gotten sick since I took it but I'm still queasy. It just kind of takes the edge off. It's better than nothing I guess. My dr said that hopefully when I stop my P4 next week some of this nausea should alleviate (please please pleasee!!).

It's a rainy 4th of July here in Philadelphia so I guess our family BBQ will be inside. Fine by me, I can't handle the heat so at least now I won't be alone in the AC. LOL.

Hope the weather is nice where you all are!

My head is spinning

I got a call from my OB's office yesterday saying that I have a UTI. And I have to be on antibiotics 2x a day for seven days. Great. Add that to my pharmacy of drugs I'm already taking! I'm surprised I have the UTI as I have had NO symptoms.

On a good note, yesterday was my last day of progesterone suppositories!!! I've switched to oral pills for the next nine days. Hooray for no longer wearing a panty liner every day and dealing with that "ickiness". LOL.

My all-day sickness is still here. Some days are better than others but I still puke an average of 4-5 times a week...this morning included. I took Jimmy to the vet and had the constant "please don't puke in here" running through my head the whole time. As soon as I got home I made his breakfast and as I was at the sink, well, there was my breakfast again. Blueberry muffins are not as yummy the second time around :-/

And my stomach is bruising again from the Lovenox. That seems to go in phases. I'll have a few good weeks and then all of a sudden my stomach looks like it's been used as a punching bag. At least it doesn't hurt, but it sure is ugly!

We heard the heartbeat again last night. That really does put my mind at ease and it certainly helps Ed feel like he's part of the whole experience. I'm so glad I rented the doppler! (Not that my puking doesn't put my mind at ease that I'm still PG. LOL)

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend! We'll be telling our families at BBQ's this weekend so that should be a lot of fun!