31 January 2008

High kicks!

Wow, I just got my first real big kick!! That was so cool! I have been feeling some movement infrequently for the last 2 weeks or so, but this was for sure a real live kick! It was on the left down about 3 inches or so below the belly button. That felt so weird, but so awesome! There is a real baby in there and she is kicking her mama around! The movement up until now felt more like water in the pipes or little bubbles. One time it felt like I was going down a big hill on a rollercoaster, ya know where your stomach flips over? Very cool. Only 4 more days and we will know for sure if it is a 'she' or a 'he'. I can't wait!! Keep kicking me little baby!

30 January 2008

Our Babymoon is booked!


This is our last chance to get away for a while and to take Jackson (my stepson) somewhere fun on Spring Break! We are going to Puerto Rico for 8 days the first week of April. I can't wait to just relax in the sunshine and read a book. This is the pool at the hotel we are staying at. I don't think we will be going on vacation anytime soon with a new baby, so had to push for a week away this spring. This is another thing to look forward to to get through this very dismal, cold and snowy winter! It is just ridiculous, the weather has really sucked in Chicagoland. It has snowed almost every week it seems like since before Christmas! Last night it was a horrible blizzard, got down to 20 below (windchill) and the snow was blowing sideways. Bika the dog would NOT go outside to do her business, she put her brakes on as soon as we opened the door. Jackson and I pushed her out the door and she squatted right on the stoop and peed. Silly doggie! I really can't blame her though, if I had to do that outside, it would probably never happen! So, in two months my belly will be bigger and maybe a little browner! Can pregnant ladies get a tan? More questions for the doc...

25 January 2008

Christmas bellys - Katrina and Shannon


I know what you are thinking. Why is your belly bigger in this pic at Christmas than it is now? I was pushing it out to look like I had more of a belly, ok? I wanted to look more pregnant in this photo with Shannon. It wasn't hard to do considering we just ate Christmas dinner! This is my sister in law who is due on April 7th. There is just more bloating going on in my belly here than usual, but the pic is cute because I look more prego! I just wanted a picture of our prego bellys together. Aren't we just so cute?

22 January 2008

17 weeks belly shot


I will be 17 weeks tomorrow and here's how I look! Not much of a belly to speak of. I just look a little chubby and thick in the waist. I have only gained about 6 or 7 pounds so far, so there must be some baby in there, not just flab! I had a pic from 10 weeks and it doesn't really look much different than this, weird. I guess I am just slow to show. I thought for sure I would have a big belly by now, but gals, you just don't show as quickly as you think when you are pregnant for the first time! I am wearing maternity clothes now because my regular clothes are just too tight and uncomfortable. I did some shopping recently and bought a bunch of stuff - almost all of it on sale! Now is a good time to shop, I got some great deals and some really cute clothes!

If you look really close at my left eye (the eye on the right in the pic), it looks pink. I have unfortunately managed to contract a new autoimmune disorder in my eye called iritis. Lucky me! It was soooooooooooo severely painful, I have not felt pain this bad before. I was basically blinded the last couple days - I couldn't open my eyes if there were any lights on or if it was daytime without getting a sharp pain in my eye sort of like being hit in the face with a baseball bat. Ouch, I am not kidding, it was pretty bad. And worse during the night, I would wake up with this throbbing, pounding horrible pain behind my eye. All I could do was put ice on it to make the pain subside. Well, thank goodness the opthalmologist figured out what it was and gave me the right steroid eye drops, it feels so much better today, but is still red as you can see. It can take up to 8 weeks to completely go away. I hope it doesn't last that long, but as long as I can see and go to work, I will get by. My vision is blurry in that eye which is really annoying. Being blind really is tough. I was so bored, there is literally nothing to do other than listen to the tv or talk to other people and I just layed in bed and did nothing! It is hard to get around the house when you are not used to not seeing. I just stayed in bed and thank goodness Rudy stayed home yesterday to take care of me. Well, pray for my eye to heal quickly so I can stop taking these eye drops, they are not technically approved for during pregnancy. But, I had no choice. Go blind in my left eye, or get better and have a very remote chance of something happening to the baby. This is a totally different topic, and I have already made my choice, but it was not easy. I just pray I don't have to take these drops for much longer.

Well, 2 more weeks and we get to find out the sex of the baby!! We are going to start buying the baby furniture soon. I can't wait to share all the baby room decorating with you!

15 January 2008

1st trimester screening results

Just thought I'd update you with the exact numbers from the first trimester screening.

Downs syndrome: 1/1699 chance of baby having downs
Trisomy 18/13: 1/9281

That is much better than the usual statistics for my age range - (1/300) for downs, so the doc says this is a normal result and very good! The trisomy 18/13 is another chromosome problem they test for, but don't know anything about it other than that.

Like I said, we aren't doing any more tests like this - no amnio, no nothing, because nothing would prevent us from having the baby anyway. So, yay, this is a little load off our minds.

09 January 2008

I am a bad blogger :-( 15 week update

Sorry to have skipped out on you. I was very busy (lazy) during the holidays and haven't gotten around to updating you on my progress. Well, I am 15 weeks today! Whoopee!! I still don't look pregnant and don't feel any movement yet, but it is still early for that I suppose. I just want to have a big ole belly, but instead I just look thicker around the waist. I do have a picture I took a while back, but never posted because I just look fat and what is the point of that? I promise to start posting belly pics when I actually have a real looking prego belly. I am not fitting into my clothes anymore, I wear them with the button unbuttoned. I do have some maternity pants I can wear now though, but they kind of fall down a little. This in between stage is tough, who knew it would last for half my pregnancy? Sheesh!

I saw the doc on Jan 2 and everything is fine. The baby's heartbeat was 148 and the first trimester screening results came back normal. They give you the results in terms of "1/300 chance that the baby will have down's syndrome or other chromosomal abnormality". That is the actual number for my age range, but my results came back better than that, I just don't know what the exact number is yet. That reminds me I have to call the doc's office to get the exact number. We aren't planning to do any more testing on this baby, we are having him/her regardless of any problems. I am having a level 2 ultrasound on Feb 4 with the perinatologist though. My OB wants them to follow me because of the antibody thing. Oh yea, I suppose I should mention that. We got a bunch of non-answers from the perinatologist about that. They don't know what the antibody is and don't think there will be any problems. It is possible that the baby could become anemic, which is why we are doing the level 2 u/s at 18 weeks or so. But, he didn't really think that would happen. They are going to test my blood every month to monitor me though. So, I guess I don't have much to worry about. Yea right!

The good news is that on Feb 4th we should find out the sex of the baby! YES!! I can't wait!