18 weeks and all's well

So it's been awhile since my last update.  I started a new job at the end of April and have been pretty wrapped up in that for awhile.  Here's the summary:

13 weeks:

Here is Peanut floating around and being 13 weeks gestated.  This visit went well - with a heartbeat in the 150's.  We couldn't see much because this ultrasound was about as bad as the last one, but Peanut is looking more like a grasshopper and less like a "peanut".  This week was a small victory because it meant we were officially out of the first trimester and a third of the way done!  We finally announced to the world that Peanut existed this week.

Things continued to progress well and Mom is still feeling fine.  Cravings are now caesar salad and hot soup.  It is acceptable to eat these items at every meal.  The belly continues to grow and regular pants are definitely no longer an option.  Strangers are starting to notice Peanut.

16.5 weeks:

We went to a 3D/4D ultrasound place to get some interesting shots of Peanut and to determine what flavor human we're making.  Within 30 seconds, Peanut showed the world that he is ALL BOY! 

 We are totally thrilled by this and spent the rest of the day talking about names, little league, and Spiderman-themed birthday parties.  

17 weeks:

Mom had a checkup with the doctor to have blood work done and to hear Peanut's little heartbeat on the doppler.  Peanut's heart is beating away at 135 beats per minute and it is stronger and louder than ever.  We get another peak at him next week to have the doctor confirm his manhood and to measure all his parts to make sure he is growing well.  At the last visit he was measuring 4 days ahead so he's starting to take after Dad - bigger than average.  This is an unfortunate development for Mom, who is smaller than average.  This makes for a big belly.

Check out the amazing belly growth already:

13 weeks: 

17 weeks:

YIKES!!

Approaching the 2nd Trimester

It's almost week 11 and I'm still feeling pretty good. Every now and then I get a wave of nausea but it's fleeting and almost always happens as a result of a terrible smell. I could work with the Beagle Brigade at the airport for the new sensitivity to smells I've acquired - I even have a talent of smelling things that simply aren't there. This new talent has us eating dinner at home every night - I cannot handle all the smells at a restuarant anymore. The last incident was at our friendly neighborhood Italian restaurant. I was minding my own business when the couple in the booth next to ours ordered fried calamari. It was all I could do to hold it together, eat my food, and get out without incident.

I've been reading a lot about baby development and learned that Peanut is no longer an embryo but is now a fetus. Happy Milestone, Peanut! At 10 weeks, fingers and toes seperate, and all of the essential internal organs are there. There are even fingernails. I'm excited about the idea that those little tiny fingers have fingernails already. I look forward to seeing fingers at the next ultrasound, and I think we will - I'll be 13 weeks by then.

My pants are definitely too tight to wear at this point, so I'm really thanking the textile gods for elastic waistbands this week. I've been sporting exercise clothes all week and getting away with it, but am about to start a new job and will have to go back to dress pants soon. I still look like I had three helpings of Thanksgiving Dinner for lunch, so I'll be glad when a real baby belly starts developing. The look I'm going for is pregnant, not fat. With the weight struggle I've had for the past 5 years, the getting bigger thing is definitely going to be hard for me. I've trained myself to believe that anything but a flat or relatively flat tummy is unacceptable. The good news is, since the double lines, I've been eating a lot healthier and controlled my portions to a little bit, all day long. I'm hoping this new routine will serve me well now and in the long run. We'll see about routines when Peanut gets here, which coincidentally, will be around Thanksgiving.

Recap - the last 10 weeks

Charting the science of babymaking - que romantica!



So this is the chart that started it all. Don't worry about the details - the message is that I am quite pregnant from the red crosshairs forward. We didn't find out until 15 days later, though I sorta figured the cycle would end in two pink lines when I noticed my temps never dropped. The 4th and final 2 week wait turned into the beginning of a 40 week wait to parenthood.


March 7th: The first of the last set of POSITIVES!


So this greeted me on Friday morning instead of what we've lovingly started to call Aunt Flo. It's faint, but after inspection under every lamp, window and angle possible, we determined this is definitely a positive test. I should know - I have about 35 negatives in my bathroom cabinet to compare. Oh, and the peeing on a stick madness did not stop with this one - I have about three packs worth of positives in another cabinet, all increasingly darker. If you've ever peed on a stick, you understand the addiction. The Turners officially made a human.

The next few weeks were full of mixed feelings. The select few of you who have been following this saga since December know we recently suffered an early miscarriage that was nothing short of devastating. I lost my first bean at 6 weeks, so I knew I wouldn't be comfortable until I passed that mile-marker. We didn't mention the news to anyone and engaged in a new (but different) 2 week wait to the finish line. Fortunately we sailed through that week, although not without incident. Nausea. The whole thing about morning sickness is a total joke - I felt like I was on a tiny boat from Week 4 to about Week 7. It was OK though - it meant this bean was making itself at home and I was OK with that.

March 24th: Introducing Peanut Turner

My new doctor is really cool. I called her after Week 6 came and she agreed to have me come in and have an ultrasound done, just to confirm that everything was progressing well. Typically, the first ultrasound is done around week 9 or 10, so this was very nice of her, and it saved us from a lot of unecessary anxiety. I didn't sleep the night before, and I arrived at the doctor's office expecting the worst, but hoping for the best. The last ultrasound I had did not go well, so in my mind, I had to prepare myself for seeing a screen full of fuzzy grey noise. Instead I got this.

That little white seahorse is our baby. I saw it immediately and breathed for the first time in 6 weeks. The tech showed me the tiny baby, the yolk sac, and even let me see and hear the heartbeat. Keep in mind, that little tiny baby is virtually microscopic, but it had the strongest heartbeat ever at around 100 beats per minute. I can't say I didn't get a little emotional, but I'm a walking hormonal tragedy anyway so this is not new behavior. Anyway, that's my baby's first picture. Fabulous.

This picture gave us the confidence to start breaking the news to the family. The next few weeks were more of the same - being on a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean, craving pickles and other salty items, and going back and forth between monster bitch and the sweetest wife ever. The stereotypes are all true.

April 8th: Peanut gets comfy

So here is Peanut looking less like a seahorse, more like a Peanut, and still not really human. Granted, this is the worst ultrasound picture ever, but after hours of staring at it (no, I'm not exaggerating) I think I've made out a head, some legs, and maybe an arm. I've been told I'm way off, but we can still dream, right? By the way, Peanut is the little white item inside the black item. Measuring in at an inch and a half, Peanut is right on schedule. This shot was done at 8 weeks, 5 days with Peanut literally measuring 8 weeks, 1 day. My baby takes after me, just a little smaller than average. The heart was racing away at about 150 beats per minute, which is right on target for a baby measuring an inch and a half in length. We didn't get to hear it this time, ironically, my doctor is on maternity leave, so we had her replacement rush in, show us our human, and leave, all within 7 minutes. My doctor should be back in June, so we won't have Speedy Gonzalez for too much longer.

From 8 weeks to 10, things have been a lot easier, so I hope that lasts. The "morning" sickness is gone, and the belly bump is just starting to set in. It's unfortunate that my pants don't button anymore but I've learned some neat tricks involving rubber bands, safety pins, and tube tops for your belly that have all worked pretty well. When I found out I was pregnant in December, I stopped running religiously and from January to conception of Peanut, I pretty much did nothing and ate ice cream, so I can't blame it all on the baby. I'm starting to get more comfortable with the idea that I can maintain this pregnancy because Peanut has shown me nothing but a strong heartbeat and continued growth, but we still won't make our official announcement for a few more weeks.

So there it is - from a chart to a human in 10 weeks. Impressive.