8 weeks: Baby is the size of a raspberry

Well, I think I see a little post-Thanksgiving bloat belly and that's about it. My boobs are definitely starting to grow now.

It's been an exciting week around here. We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Salem with Evan's family and enjoyed lots of good food and good company. I felt nauseous a lot of the time but it didn't get in the way of eating, I just had to lay down a while a few times. The car ride on the way to Salem got me nauseated so I laid down for a while as soon as we arrived. Evan said his sister asked if I was "pregnant nauseous" and he said no. It doesn't feel good to lie. That was the only time anyone said anything to either one of us.

The night we got home I started to have some cramping. I didn't think much of it and went to bed. The next morning I woke up with more cramping and some significant bleeding and I started to worry about miscarrying. I called the Advice Nurse and she told me to go to Urgent Care. Evan and I headed to Urgent Care around 8:00 AM and started with a blood draw for lab work and pee in a cup for confirming the pregnancy. While we waited for the labs we met with a nurse in triage and got some vitals, I was next up for a room. We went back to the waiting room and the lab results came in, I could check them online. Positive pregnancy test, blood type O, Rh positive, white and red blood cell counts within normal ranges. Once I was roomed Dr. Wong came in and performed a pelvic exam. I had some stabbing pains on the left side of my abdomen and she suspected I may have an ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo is not in the uterus. She ordered more blood work (another stick!) and an ultrasound to see if there was a baby in my uterus or not. After Evan left the room for my second blood draw, they escorted us to the ultrasound room. We spent probably 1/2 hour in the ultrasound room where the technician looked at each of my ovaries and uterus taking measurements along the way. There was a big TV on the wall so we could see what she was looking at. When she got to the uterus she said, "See? There's your baby!" and we saw a little heart beating rapidly and rhythmically. I said, "Just one baby? No other baby anywhere else?" And she said, "Just one baby." It was amazing to see that little nugget alive and wiggling around and heart pumping. It made me feel better to see the baby alive, but I still felt uneasy not knowing if anything was wrong. We were escorted back to our room and the doctor came back in to share results of the labs and ultrasound. She said that everything looked normal and the baby's development was consistent with 8 weeks gestation! She said the cramping and bleeding are just normal symptoms of my uterus growing. What a scare that ended with a big positive. And we got our first baby pictures!

7 weeks 5 days

7 weeks: Baby is the size of a kidney bean

Obviously we started these photos too early. Still no baby bump. I feel committed to continue anyway. Apparently I won't start popping until my uterus can't fit in my pelvis anymore. That could be a while.

Baby is developing all kinds of new things every week. S/he's generating 100 new brain cells every minute, s/he's developing permanent kidneys, and his/her arm and leg joints are starting to form.  S/he has two more weeks as an embryo before s/he is considered a fetus.

New for me this week: zits! It's so weird! My hormones are going nuts! My ta-tas are starting to get a little sore, too. I've been reading about all the strange things that are going to happen to my body and I'm not looking forward to some things. Like bigger and darker areolas. Ew! Nausea is still mild and fleeting at this point. I would be so grateful if I got through the whole pregnancy without puking. I passed the halfway point of the first trimester last week - woo-hoo!

Evan and I have been looking into taking a last hurrah trip during the second trimester. Hopefully I'll be feeling good and full of energy like the book says. We're thinking Thailand, a country that's been at the top of Evan's travel wish list for a while. We went to Powells this weekend and picked up a guide book. It's so fun to research all the cool and interesting places we might want to visit.

Thanksgiving is in two days. We're headed to Salem to spend the holiday with Evan's family. I'm really worried about feeling nauseous while I'm there, especially with all the strong smells of food cooking. Evan's parents know we're expecting so I won't have to turn down the usual flowing wine. I also opted out of the annual day-after-Thanksgiving wine tasting tour. I'm sure these actions could raise suspicion in Evan's sister and brother-in-law but we don't plan on announcing to anyone else until after our first prenatal appointment. I think it's going to be hard!

6 weeks: Baby is the size of a pea

Still no baby bump. But, I have gained 3 lbs that I didn't need to. Yup. No more pretzel sticks dipped in mayonnaise for me.

We went a baby store yesterday just for fun. When we pulled into the parking lot Evan parked in a Stork Parking spot for pregnant ladies. Oh my gosh, horrifying. I made a bee-line for the door as fast as possible. While there we picked up a book called the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. I read up through the second month. This morning Evan suggested we start reading it together so he will catch up in the reading and we'll do it together each night from there. 

As of yesterday both of our parents now know the news. It was fun to tell them and hear the excitement in their voices. That just makes it even more exciting for us, and it feels even more real now, too. We don't plan to tell anyone else until after we hear the baby's heartbeat at our first appointment on December 7. Well, we did tell the clerk at the baby store yesterday. As she scanned the book at check-out she asked, "Is it you?" and I paused and said, "Ya." Oops. So it's the parents and the stranger at the store. 

Luckily I'm still not feeling a ton of nausea. Just when I don't eat quickly enough. Yesterday we went out for lunch on the way to the baby store and I felt pukey in the car but I didn't actually puke. My symptoms are pretty manageable at this point. Just tired a lot and peeing a lot and the short time span between mild hunger and nausea.

According to the book, baby is now sprouting a nose, eyes, chin, ears, and cheeks. And, s/he has paddle-like hands and feet. Here's the picture from the book:

5 weeks: Baby's the size of an apple seed

nine months of style

Today marks five weeks and I thought I'd start in with the belly photos. Not showing yet, even though I feel bloated a lot of the time. I picked up this shirt yesterday from Target for $9.99 to use as my belly bump photo shirt. It said "Nine Months of Style" on the tag which made me giggle. 

While I have no baby bump to speak of, I definitely feel some pregnancy symptoms. Namely mild abdominal twinges and pangs, which apparently is my uterus getting used to not being empty. I also feel tired a lot and have been going to bed very early. Oh, and my appetite has changed. I find that I go from having the fleeting thought of "I should eat pretty soon" to "I'M STARVING GET OUT OF MY WAY" in the span of about five minutes. And if I don't eat immediately, I learned, I quickly feel lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseous. This happened the day of Evan's friend's wedding last weekend and I ended up feeling too lousy to go, I felt horrible. I ate small portions frequently before but now I know there's no room for error.

We made our first appointment with the obstetrician for December 7. I'll be 9 1/2 weeks by then and we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat. After that point, I've read, there's about a 3 percent chance of miscarriage. We are both so excited about this pregnancy. I'm reading up on all the things I can and can't eat/use/etc and connecting with other women due in July on online message boards. It's fun to read about other women having similar experiences to mine. Evan rubs my belly and talks to the baby already, it's really sweet.

Big Fat Positive: 4 weeks and 3 days

I took a home pregnancy test yesterday and got a big fat positive result! There's the evidence. We got an email from Evan's dad the day before asking who was planning to go on the annual day-after-Thanksgiving wine tasting tour so he could rent a van. I wanted to take the pregnancy test to know for sure I wasn't pregnant so we could be confident in our "Count us in!" reply. I swore there was no way I was pregnant because I felt just like I do right before I get my period: some mild cramps, bloated, a little spotting a couple days earlier. I had just started taking my basal body temperature each morning four days earlier in hopes it would help us predict ovulation the following month. I was just so sure there was no way I was pregnant that I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the two lines forming almost immediately. I quickly brought it out to Evan and he confirmed what I saw: Pregnant!

We are so excited to be blessed with a positive pregnancy result just three months into trying to conceive. I am still cautious in my excitement because I know risk of miscarriage is about 1 in 4 pregnancies in my age group. Evan is better able to live in the moment and not worry about miscarriage. I am trying to follow his lead and enjoy this amazing experience from the very beginning.

Expected due date: July 9, 2013!