Rounding out week 7

Week 6 has been very interesting for me. For starters, morning sickness is in full effect. I am sick just about morning, noon and night. I just ate a yummy breakfast of eggs and 1/2 an english muffin courtesy of MP, and yet I have morning sickness. If this is the same as the past week - I will feel this way until I eat lunch. I will eat lunch and be good for a few hours, then around 5pm until I eat dinner it will be the same thing. Then it may or may not occur again, today.

I went to Publix with MP on Tuesday night. It was all I could do to not hurl in Publix. If I would've done this, I would've been so sad. Publix is always so clean. I survived, so did Publix and when I got home, the cats had treats. Win win for everyone! Wednesday night I sat in a group discussion on cultural competence in my foundations class. I couldn't participate b/c I was so I thought it would come in mid-sentence. I'm pretty sure my group thought I just didn't want to talk with them and they probably think I'm a witch. Oh well.

I'm afraid that my Poppyseed will turn into a veggie sub. The only thing I can stomach for lunch since Tuesday is a veggie sub, from Publix. A sub from anywhere else will do. Their multi-grain bread is so settling. I get lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, jalapeno's, a dash of mayo and a dash of vinegar. It settles my stomach right up! Seriously though, the SAME lady from Publix keeps ringing me out. I might have to share my news with her today before she thinks I'm her personal stalker.

Dinners have been very light, too. I don't think I have any real food aversion, but when I have morning sickness of queasiness, nothing sounds good but bread. Great, if Poppy is a girl she is going to have a carb ass like me! :) Poor thing!

I found out very exciting news last night. :) Someone that I know is pregnant and a due date one day after me. It is very exciting and I am so excited to share this experience with her. I will not divulge the name of that person just yet, so do not ask!!!! I will tell when I can. But I do ask one thing- if you read this blog and you are praying for me and a safe Poppyseed - please pray for her, too!

This weekend Poppy and I are going to sit in the USF library researching and writing a paper that was due a few days ago. Nothing like waiting until the after the last minute. I am getting close to finishing this semester. I am looking forward to a month off where Poppy and I can relax, sleep a lot and enjoy small portions of holiday food! I just hope I can stomach all the Thanksgiving food I am making next week!

Sore Chest, NA Beer and other JOYS of Pregnancy

We find ourselves at 7 weeks! Yes, count them, 7 whole fun weeks! I swear I am already fatter, my arms, belly and thighs are already my nemesis. My chest is BEYOND sore and already getting bigger. But, it will all be worth it.

I felt comfortable telling two clients today. I only told them b/c lately my morning sickness has been brutal. I've had to reschedule calls b/c I've been afraid I would call dinosaurs on the actual phone. I have a lot of projects coming up with them - plenty of design and discovery calls on the horizon and I needed them to understand if I need to move things around here and there. They were very excited for me and that was very comforting. It's nice when you realize that you've built a nice personal relationship along with your professional one.

We went out for drinks on Saturday. Well, MP went out for drinks. I went out to drink NA beer, be a DD and pretend I was drinking to keep our sacred secret. However, the bartender screwed that up for us!

We had just arrived at Prime Bar at Wiregrass to meet the Duffy's for Josh's birthday. We discretely ordered a NA beer and asked him to bring it in a glass, sans bottle. So as we wait, Tiffany asks me if we are trying to make a baby. As I try to lie, the bartender arrives with a glass...AND a bottle of St. Paulie's NA. No sooner did the failed attempt to lie come out as he pounded the bottle on the table. Tiff's eyes zoomed right in on that bad boy and her eyes lit up. 'ARE YOU PREGNANT?!?' she asked. MP and I couldn't do anything but laugh. BUSTED. Her reaction too was very sweet and heartwarming. I am so lucky to have so many friends who are so happy for us. The night went on...and so did the NA beer. First St. Paulie Girl, I give it a 2.5/5 for fake beer. We moved to the Brass Tap were I had a Becklers, or a Bucklers. Who knows. It was better. maybe a 3.2/5. :) I feel I may need to become an NA enthusiast and rate them all. I've attached a picture of us out celebrating Josh's birthday. To the Duffy's - I can't wait for Quinn to have a new playmate! LOVE YOU!

Kudos to MP - A Great Husband

I have to say that I am a very lucky women. My husband is perfect for me. MP is a wonderful, giving man and I am very fortunate to be having a child with him. As soon as we learned we are pregnant (2 weeks ago!) he was excited - and probably a bit nervous, too! He pampers me, he takes care of me and he takes an active interest in my pregnancy. I have no doubt that he will be a great father.

He has been reading on his own about the baby's development, about the changes I will go through and the best ways for him to behave in certain situations. I am so grateful that he is this interested. He won't let me carry heavy things, he wants to be sure I'm getting the right nutrients and he gets me a sweet treat if I'm craving one.

Last night we went on a 'date' night for pizza. After dinner we were heading to Barnes & Nobles so that we could find a book for dad's to be, my treat to him. On our way, we passed by Build-A-Bear. :) I wanted to go in to see if they had a polar bear b/c MP LOVES polar bears. Instead, he insisted that I build my first bear - Clarise the reindeer from claymation Rudolph. It was fun to build my own bear and even more fun to see all the kiddos around. I love and appreciate that MP indulges my inner child! I couldn't help but get excited for the time we get to take our kids to Build-A-Bear and do it all over again.

If you read this, MP, Thank You & I Love You!
:)

Almost 6 weeks (5 weeks & 4 days)

I have downloaded three (3) pregnancy apps for my droid smartphone. In conjunction with two websites I'm signed up with and one book so far, I am in baby reading heaven. I am constantly getting weekly/daily updates, message board questions, articles on morning sickness, sleeping and shaving. (Yes, shaving while pregnant). I love it. I am so thankful too, b/c MP reads with me and on his own. I can come home and say "Did you know that Poppy's brain is developing this week?" and he says "YUP...." and it's great!

The one thing most of these items don't offer me is really good pictures of a developing Poppy. I know that for some of you Mom's - you know this stuff and will probably chuckle at me - but OMG! I love the pictures! I just downloaded a new app for my phone last night and it has the BEST pictures. I almost started crying last night when I realized the size of my little Poppyseed. It's so real! Yes, yes, I took many a class on biology and women's health in my life and learned this stuff - but this is different. This is OUR baby, our teeny tiny little developing human in my body. That is just BONKERS and I am so thankful!

So, I think I'll have to try to post some development pictures each week.

Poppy is less than .01 oz this week and about .16 inches. PEANUT!!!! Poppy's intestines and blood vessels are in place and so is the nucleus of the brain. AMAZING! What a gift we have been blessed with.

I can haz Cheezburger

Here I am rounding out week 6 of pregnancy. This has been an interesting week for me.

For one, I am really not sleeping well. I've been trying to roll with the punches, but last night (Thursday) I lost it. I tutored and did school work all night and I came home around 11pm exhausted and ready to sleep. I laid down on the couch and RLS set in my left arm and left leg and I just started crying to MP. I am so tired, yet I don't sleep. This just can't be good.

I woke up this morning tired and cranky and having a bout of morning sickness. It was all I could do to eat a bagel thin toasted, but I did. Poppyseed needs food and I did start feeling a bit better.

I've been trying to eat as good as possible without killing myself. Did I eat some Mexican on Tuesday, sure. The rest of my meals this week were good. Fish, baked potatoes, eggs, veggies, salad, etc etc. I'm very worried about weight and so I'm trying not to be too indulgent. I REALLY wanted a cheeseburger Wednesday before class. Instead I got a grilled chicken sandwich on wheat bun with a side of fruit. Last night tutoring I quelled the burger desire with a white fish and a baked potato. But really, I wanted that darn cheeseburger.

Thankfully I have some really good girls that remind me that I can have a cheeseburger if I want one. To 'enjoy' these things about my pregnancy b/c afterwards, I will be working hard to take the weight off and get back to good. So, for these ladies (and you know who you are!) THANK YOU! I just had the most best, tasty cheeseburger and skinny fries with cheese from Steak-n-Shake. My one 'treat' for a few more days. Thanks for being the good devils on my shoulder!

MMMM! Now for a nap! :)

Waiting....

Right now I feel like we are just in waiting mode. If you know me, you know I don't wait well! :)

For starters, I am so happy being pregnant, I want to tell everyone that I know and celebrate our good news. But...we have decided to wait, which I do think is best.

One of my good friends asked me yesterday, "BTW, did you ever go off the pill." Responding to this and NOT sharing that you are knocked up is hard, but I didn't squeal. LOL Then a friend from my past wrote me a Facebook message last night saying that she's been dreaming of me all week. The dream is that we are in a doctors office laughing, and when the doctor comes in to tell me I am pregnant, we laugh harder. Um, weird! I haven't seen these women, so even if I have that so-called 'glow' about me - they can't see it!! :) How do they know?

I look around to all the people I know or know of who have lost a baby and my heart truly goes out to them. I try not worry, stay positive, eat well, exercise and get enough rest to keep my little Poppyseed growing and healthy. I already talk to Poppy a bit and remind him/her that its a strong little thing and must keep at it! :) I never could understand how you get attached immediately until I was here. So now, waiting until July to meet him or her is hard. But I will gladly wait if it means a beautiful, healthy baby.

I finally got some rest yesterday - which was very nice. My professor shut down class early. Instead of coming home and opening that work laptop, or doing school stuff, I sat in the living room with MP and relaxed. We watched mindless TV, chatted about Poppy and other things and just stopped. It was perfect. I was asleep by midnight (which is huge!) and I woke up at 7:30 refreshed and ready to go! Sure does make a difference!

It's 2 am....yawn!

I don't know if this is training or what - but I am not sleeping well. I thought I was supposed to be feeling run down tired. Instead, I am tired, but wired with restless leg and restless arm and it's not making me feel good.

I've been battling RLS for some time now, probably all my life in retrospect, but I can really pinpoint to about 25. The past year has been the most awful. Right before the wedding I had all kinds of testing done - brain and spine scan, blood work and even some kind of electrical testing. The end result was: RLS. I was taking some medication for it before, but I'm not allowed to take it while Poppyseed is renting out my belly.

I don't know what to do. I am starting to get worried that I'm not getting enough rest for my little Poppyseed and I'm worried about school and my job as a result of no sleep. Maybe all this worrying is causing my RLS?

About 4:30 today, I did get one of my first waves of "Oh My, I am SOO tired." I laid down for about 40 minutes and got up, exhausted and immediately went for my walk. That gave me a burst of energy...that at 2am I have not apparently come down from!

I also got my first bout of nausea. After a scrumptious lunch at Tijuana Flats, I felt so sick that my dinner at 8 pm consisted of an everything bagel with butter. Not so nourishing.

I turned in two big projects today. One, a group project, I think is going to be an epic fail. Now I have two more major projects to get done by December 3rd. I am preparing for a few big projects at work and of course my day to day tasks. I don't feel very overloaded, but I must be if I am getting RLS EVERY night. On average, I am sleeping from 12 -1 or 2am to 7-8am. I am just not getting enough rest for a pregnant woman. I am just praying this doesn't hurt Poppyseed.

I'm THIS close to seeing if I can do acupuncture in pregnancy. I'm desperate to try anything at this point!

I'm too foggy to work right now - and I don't want to send emails to my clients at 2am. It sends them the impression I can be reached at any hour of the day and I worked hard to get them to stop after 6 pm. I don't want to read school work b/c I want to clear my mind. TV is boring. It's 2:15 am - I hope I can fall asleep soon - the 30 minute hot shower I just tried at 1:30 didn't work!

Pray for my sleeping habits to improve FAST! :)

Working Out

One thing that I have always said was that I would work out when I got pregnant. I've always read about the benefits of working out during pregnancy and how it helps women lose weight faster post- delivery. So, now it's time for me to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

It's no secret that I've put on weight in the 4 years that I've lived in FL. It was very slow and gradual at first, but the last year the weight has come back hard. 2009 and 2010 have been wonderful, stressful years and unfortunately between work, school and life - I let my exercising and eating habits slack. About 4 weeks before I got pregnant, I began a new schedule where I go to the gym at lunch. I am no longer a spring chicken who can get up at 5am to workout, I'm up too late at night doing school work. So something had to change and I appreciate my boss's Amy & Lisa for being so flexible with me. So the month leading up to Poppyseed, I lost about 6-7 lbs I had put on, was working out 3-5 times a week, hard, and eating well (but still getting my treats!) I was on a roll!

I was out of commission all last week - no chance of working out with the sickness. So today, Monday the 8th, was my first time working out knowing I'm housing a Poppyseed. I must admit that I was a bit nervous. I haven't talked to my OB yet and my favorite trainer has left the gym. So I am going off what I've read in my WTEWYE book and other articles I Google on my phone at 1am when I can't sleep due to restless leg.

I didn't have as much time at the gym as I would've liked to today, but I did about 30 minutes on the treadmill and I did some chest and arms today. Tomorrow I plan to walk for at least 45 minutes outside and Wednesday I'll focus on legs at the gym - squats, squats, squats! I plan to continue to workout 4-5 times a week and walk 7 days a week. So, wish me luck!! Luckily the 1st trimester pregnancy exhaustion is only starting to creep in on me. I was a bit tired on my way to gym, but once I got there and got on the treadmill, I felt good and I had energy to get me through the afternoon at work. Success!

It's hard to be at the gym and have to constantly watch your heart rate, it can't go up too high. I was doing interval training on the Arch Strider where my heart rate gets WAY up and WAY down and I'm literally dripping sweat when I'm done. Now, instead, I stay a slower steady rate. It's a whole new approach that is going to take getting used too.

Hello Poppyseed!

So we've been referring to our developing baby as Poppyseed. Why? Well, because when we first found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks, that's only as big as the baby was at the time. Now, in our 5th week, it's the size of an orange seed! They grow so fast! :)

I have to say that I am loving being pregnant with Poppyseed. I never truly thought I would say that. I was not that girl that couldn't wait to be a mom, or couldn't wait to feel a baby inside me. However, now that I am 'ready' for Poppsyeed, I am beyond thrilled. I am elated. I am protective. I'm nervous. I'm petrified. Most of all, I am grateful. I look around that the amount of people who are not as fortunate as myself, people who try to conceive and can't. My heart breaks for them on levels I never understood until I was given this wonderful gift.

I also never thought I would take to blogging. However, I find myself eager to do so. First off, I wanted a place where I can journal for myself. Secondly, I want to be able to share my news with my close network. I don't feel that my entire list Facebook friends need to see my 'belly' at 7 months. I'm not sure my closest friends and family will want to, but you can bet they are the only ones I choose will show it too! So, if you read this then I thank you for being interested and celebrating with us.

We're Pregnant!!!

Ok, I guess I am pregnant, but I really do feel like we are in this together, so I like to say WE! :)

Maybe I should back up first....

On October 30th, Michael and I found out that we are expecting! It was kind of a shock at first. A few days earlier my good friend Erin game over for lunch, pregnancy test in tow. (Thanks, Erin!) I took one and it was negative. Which was fine. I was OK with either outcome. A few days later, still no period, I thought that I'd try again.

MP had just run out to meet a guy for work and I took a break from writing a school paper to pee on the stick. I got back to work and quickly forgot about my test for about 10 minutes. When I walked into the bathroom, I was a bit surprised to see "PREGNANT" in electronic letters across the stick. As I waited for MP to arrive home from his errand, I sat at the table thinking 'OMG, OMG, OMG!' YAY! MP came home and I told him and he was SHOCKED. But good shocked! :)

So after a few more pregnancy tests to confirm, we grew excited, fast.

Halloween night I started to feel sick. By midnight I was felt horrible so I took off Monday. We went to our family doctor to see why I was sick and to get a pregnancy test. Right at 4 weeks, Dr. Sotrop was certain I was pregnant and instead ordered a quantitative test, so we wouldn't have 'official' confirmation until the end of the week. As the week progressed, I was very sick with a sinus infection that moved into my chest. A week later, I am finally feeling better! Being sick is no fun when you can't take any drugs! :)