Week 15 recap

It’s been another interesting week.  I had my doctor’s appointment on Jan 18, and unfortunately I lost another 1-1/2 pounds.  Bringing my total weight loss to 17-1/2 pounds.  I felt like a baby when I stepped on the scale at my doctors only to find out that I lost more weight and starting balling my eyes out, pregnancy hormones! Thankfully my OB/GYN is giving me another week to try and gain some weight; I have my appointment tomorrow, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. If I cannot gain weight I’ll be hooked up to home IV’s by the end of the week, which sounds awful!

Other pregnancy symptoms for the week.  The heartburn has been out of control; anything I eat seems to give me heartburn. This week I also started with a stuffy nose, my body is producing crazy amounts of mucus, and getting a bloody nose from blowing so much.  I have also been ridiculously and unreasonably emotional, I cry at the drop of a hat, my poor, poor husband. The round ligament pains are starting to get a little annoying, ever time I cough or sneeze it really hurts.  Is it normal to sneeze 50 times a day while pregnant? I sneeze ALL OF THE TIME, for no apparent reason. I very rarely sneezed before I got pregnant, and it was only when I walked out into the sun or was in a dusty room.  Due to the increase in blood I’ve been getting a lot of headaches, I missed two days of work last week, the combination of nausea and headache made me not get out of bed.  On a good note, the awful metallic taste is getting better; I only woke up with it 2 or 3 times last week.

My belly is getting a little bigger each week; people are starting to notice it. :) I’m am wearing my “fat jeans” a size 6 which are to big so I have to wear a soft belt.  My regular jeans fit but are just a bit to tight around my belly now, so I have put them away until after baby Richards gets here.  I hope that I be able to fit into them again. All the weight that I have lost has been in my legs, butt, shoulders, and arms, however my chest and belly just keep growing.  I really need to get to a store to get a new bra but the thought of having to go shopping is an awful one.  Thanks to the Hyperemisis and bed rest my muscles are so weak that I can’t stand or walk for more than a few minutes.  Each week I’m losing more and more of my strength, this week flushing the toilet has become hard.  On Friday I stayed home from work and Keith left me with a few bottles of vitamin water to drink during the day, the only problem was he didn’t open them for me and I couldn’t do it be myself.  It’s pretty frustrating.

Baby update:  Well I keep waiting to feel those first little movements, but nothing yet. The baby is around 4to 4-1/2 inches long and weighs around 3 ounces right now. According to all of my books that baby can now sense light and dark, they suggest putting a flashlight against your belly.  I plan on trying that this week, maybe I’ll get some movement. :)    

Week 14...Doctors visit.

14 weeks!  It’s hard to believe that I’ve been sick for over two months now; I’ve lost a total of 16 pounds so far.  As I looked in the mirror yesterday and saw how skinny I’m getting.  I can’t believe that for most of my life I weighed less than 100 pounds, my poor parents… I thought I looked good but I must have been nothing but a sack of bones. I weigh 15 more pounds then when Keith and I started dating 5 years right now, and I can see almost ever rib and have chicken legs. I wonder what he found to be so attractive about me. Haha.

Well this has been another week that I have spent the majority of my time in bed.  I had an OBG/YN appointment on Tuesday, Jan 11^th, where I had to step on the dreaded scale. I hate scales, especially when they read that I have lost another 5-1/2 pounds since my last appointment less then 3 weeks earlier. I took my Mom with me for moral support and so that she could hear the baby’s heartbeat, which was the best idea I had all day.  It was nice to have someone with me and her face was priceless when she heard the baby.  My doctor is growing more and more concerned with my condition and weight loss, she has given me 1 week, until Jan 18^th, to gain at least 1 pound.  Mommy took me to get a chocolate milkshake after my appointment, and I kept it down!  The doctor also doubled the prescription for my anti-nausea meds as well as giving me an additional medication, I’ve been taking them for the last few days and I’m not sure if they are helping…. all I can feel are the side effects, dizziness and fatigue.  Yesterday I was home from work by 11:30 and slept until 6:15 this morning. To be awake and sick or to be asleep and oblivious….

Baby Update: Baby Richards is now the size of a “lemon”! He or she is measuring between 3-1/2 and 4 inches and weights around 2 ounces. A few of this week’s big developments are that the baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb!  The baby is also starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over their little body.  They doctor said that I may begin to feel the baby in the next 3-4 weeks! So exciting! I included a picture of what the baby looks like right now, as soon as I start to feel a little better I’ll start to take weekly baby belly shots.

Week 13!!! Ultrasound :)

We are at the end on the first trimester!!! Just half of a week to go, it’s hard to believe that we are already a third of the way through the pregnancy.

This week has been pretty exciting.  Monday we went into Mercy Hospital to have your very first ultrasound done of the baby.  I was so nervous beforehand; I couldn’t sleep Sunday night and was extremely sick all day Monday.  I threw up a few minutes before we had to leave for our appointment and laid down the whole way to the hospital.  Praise God, that in spite of all of my worries, the baby looks very healthy! It was so amazing to see our little baby moving around, he or she looks quite comfy.   Keith was completely mesmerized by the tiny little person dancing around on the screen; he had the most incredible smile on his face. Seeing my baby and my husband so happy almost mad me forget how deathly ill I’ve been.

Mommy Update: This week the nausea seems to be getting worse, I don’t think that the medication is working anymore.  I haven’t been able to keep down dinner all week and nights that I don’t feel up to eating I still end up throwing up any of the liquids I’ve been able to get down. After I had a few brutal vomiting episodes at work during the beginning of the week, my father has cut my hours at work in half. Although I know in my heart that this is a blessing, it’s hard for me to give up working.  Physically I’m not able to work 40 hours anymore, I just am getting sicker and sicker.  Hopefully, if I catch up on my rest I’ll start to feel better soon, and maybe I’ll even be able to gain a pound or two instead of the most recent tread of the pounds that are falling off my body.  I so had wished that I would be the cute pregnant lady with the adorable belly and beautiful glow…. but no I’m the one that looks ghostly pale with green undertones, cracked lips from being dehydrated, and sunk eyes with purple rings around them. I don’t think I’ll be on the cover of “Pregnancy Magazine” anytime soon.  The heartburn is still plaguing me and I have discovered that I really dislike chalky Tubs.  One of the recent weird pregnancy side effects is a metallic taste in my mouth, ALL OF THE TIME!!! No matter what I do I can’t get it to go away, I have tried brushing my teeth, chewing gum, sucking on mints…nothing is working.  It’s very annoying.    

Baby update: The baby is continuing to grow and the books are now comparing him or her to the size of a med/large shrimp. Why do they always compare the baby’s size to food? I find it very strange. Along with the organs growing stronger, the baby now has their own distinct fingerprints!

Week 12

Okay, so I’ve been really bad lately about updating my blog, I’m sorry. On Tuesday, December 21^st, we went to my OB/GYN appointment to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  I was so nervous before the appointment, for some reason I was convinced that they would not be able to find the heartbeat and that I would leave the doctors devastated, not knowing if the baby was okay.  I jinxed myself at the beginning of the appointment by asking the doctor if they can generally hear the heartbeat at 11 weeks.  She quickly responded that they always get the heartbeat right-way at 11 weeks and that I had nothing to worry about.  Well…she looked….and looked….and looked…it took between 7-10 minutes before we finally heard this very faint, rapid heartbeat.  Before the appointment I thought that I was going to have a hormonal meltdown when I heard the heartbeat, but by the time we heard it I was just so relieved that she finally found it that all I could do was smile.  It was so amazing to hear the heartbeat, to be reassured that there really is a little one growing inside of me. 

Christmas was wonderful; I love spending so much time with our families.  I took extra anti-nausea medication Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so that I could get through each day without throwing up.  The medication doesn’t take the sickness completely away, it just helps control the vomiting, so I still felt lousy most of the day. One of the side effects of the med. is drowsiness, that mixed with not getting much sleep over the holidays, caused me to take naps at everyone’s houses on Christmas Day. I probably wasn’t much fun, but I had a nice day.   

In 4 days, Jan. 3^rd, we are going up to Mercy Hospital to get our 1^st ultrasound of the baby and I am so excited to see what our baby looks like!  I am even more nervous about seeing the baby than I was about hearing the heartbeat.  I so desperately want to know that our baby is growing okay and that they are healthy.  I’ve lost so much weight over the last 2 months and I haven’t been able to keep much of anything down including healthy food or my prenatal vitamins.

Mommy Update: Since Christmas I have been pretty sick, I think that I over did it a little.  I didn’t get to bed until midnight three nights in a row, which really negatively effects me. To have a good day I generally need to have gotten at least 10-12 hours of sleep the night before. I spent all of Sunday afternoon and all day Monday in bed, and haven been blessed to be able to leave work early every other day this week to allow me to be in bed by 3pm.  Sleeping is my favorite activity right now because it’s the only time that I get a break from the nausea. However, lying down is becoming more and more difficult because of the heartburn and acid-reflux, my giant bottle of Tums sit next to the bed.

Baby Update: The baby is now between 2-1/2”-3” long right now, all of the books compare the baby to the size of a lime, and weights about 1oz. The biggest development this week is the baby’s reflexes. The baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, their toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and their mouth will make sucking movements.   

December 15, 2010

Well, I guess I have fallen off the planet again.  The morning-afternoon-night sickness got better for a few days after I got out of the hospital, but unfortunately it has returned with a vengeance.  The only reason that I am semi functioning right now is due to the anti-nausea medication, I am only taking it in the mornings so that I can get through my 9-hour workdays.  However, by 3:00 p.m. I am pretty sick again and all I want is to be in bed curled in the fetal position. Most days that I get home from work walk in the door and have to run to the bathroom to once again toss whatever little is in my stomach.  We are really hoping that we get though most of the ‘sick stage’ soon.  We are 10 weeks along right now so according to my doctor I should be out of the woods around 12 weeks, just in time for new years. I have to admit that pregnancy is nothing like I thought it was going to be, being sick 24/7 got old a month ago.  When you are sick all of the time it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I am really struggling with trying to stay positive.

On a lighter side…..Keith has been the most amazing husband a woman could ever ask for, he has taken full control of every aspect of our life.  Because I am in bed as soon as we get home every night, he now does all of the cleaning, dishes, laundry, puppy duties, and snow removal.  He has been so wonderful and sweet, never making me feel guilty because I can’t do my share of keeping up the house. I know that it is wearing him thin; he’s functioning on a few hours of sleep every night because he stay up late trying to get everything done before he comes to bed.  It’s been weeks since we were able to go to bed at the same time, most nights I have been asleep for hours before he comes to bed.  

We are getting very excited about our appointment next week (Dec 21^st) to hear the baby’s heartbeat!  I get emotional every time I think about how amazing it’s going to be to hear our baby; I think everything will become real for me.  Up to this point, most days it still feels like a dream that we are pregnant. I have not gained any weight yet; I am actually still trying to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. To most of the world I don’t look pregnant just very, very exhausted and haggard, but I am just starting to get a tiny little bump. :)

Baby update: Our baby is just over an inch long, they are swallowing fluid, and the baby's limbs can bend now and is kicking up a storm.  Also, tiny nails are forming on their fingers and toes and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

I'm back!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and was able to spend it with family and friends.  I have been a little absent from blogging for the last week or so due to being pretty ill. Here's a recap of our life over the last week.....  The morning sickness had been getting more and more violent over the last 10 days, I was unable to keep food or liquids down since about Saturday afternoon . We had our 1st OB/GYN appointment on Monday Nov, 22 and my doctor assured me that my degree of illness was very typical of first time mothers.  I tried to go to work the following day, Tuesday, but my wonderful father took me home around noon because I  had been lying on the floor in my office from the intense nausea. By Wednesday, I still couldn't keep anything down, I was nauseous 24/7, weak from lack of nourishment, and my hands and feet started to turn purple.  My mom came and picked me up to take me over to their house, just so I could be around someone, but after seeing my condition forced me to go to the doctors. Got to love your mommies!  After a long doctors visit, I was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum  (aka: severe morning sickness)and dehydration, and was sent off to the hospital to get re-hydrated. They pumped me full of vitamins, anti-nausea medication and lots of fluids.  I am now feeling much better, thanks to lots of rest over Thanksgiving and a prescription for anti-nausea medication.  Thank you to all of you that knew what was going on and kept me in your prayers they were very much felt!  We hope that we have a handle on my morning sickness and that the rest of our pregnancy is a breeze....    

Afternoon Blues

Well it’s lunchtime here at the office, and here I sit smelling everyone’s lunches while the “afternoon-sickness” is hitting me hard.  I get nauseous everyday around this time, but I’m not use to it at all!  It might be easier if pregnancy hadn’t heightened my sense of smell, I feel like I have a super-power, I can tell you every ingredient in my fellow co-workers lunches everyday.  The smells have one of two effects…1: their lunch makes me want to hurl anything that is in my stomach or… 2: their lunch makes me starving but I know if I eat I’ll just throw it up in a minute of two. Both effects of my super-nose make my afternoons awful, especially when it’s coupled with that unpleasant wave of exhaustion. Here’s to hoping I can eat lunch again in a few weeks. I am staying positive through the fuzzy-haze of my 1^st trimester with the thought of that special little baby that will be here in a few months, I know it will all be worth it!       

- One very green mommy-to-be