Wednesday, June 29, 2011

10 Weeks

06/29/11

We’re officially ¼ of the way to our due date! Even though we didn’t know for the first four weeks, so those don’t really count. But it’s already going by fast.

We had an appointment with our midwife today and we heard the heartbeat! It was 164 bpm, which is great for this stage. I was nervous, because sometimes you can’t hear it at 10 weeks, then I probably would have worried. But it was very reassuring to hear our little kumquat’s heart beating. Our midwives (Carol and Janine) are very nice Christian ladies. I like them a lot, and they really know what they are doing. I also felt the top of my uterus this week! It’s sticking out above my pelvic bone. I’m not really showing yet (still bloated though), but I probably won’t be able to hide it in the next few weeks.

We’re going to start telling more people this week, starting with my extended family at our annual Juanita Lake camping trip. I’m pretty excited about that! My cousin’s wife Holly is also pregnant, so that will be fun, even though she’s way ahead of me. I’ll probably tell people at work this week or next week. It’s getting harder to keep sucking in my stomach so they don’t ask questions.

Changes this week: I’ve been super tired, kind of feeling sick still, moody, hungry… you name it. I’ll be happy when this first trimester is over. Three more weeks! I also couldn’t sleep last night, I was awake from 2:15 to 4:15, which was no fun. We’re going camping this weekend with my family, and I’m really not looking forward to having to pee 2-3 times in the middle of the night. And I felt my uterus so I know the baby is growing! Now it will just get bigger and bigger until I pop.

Cravings: Nothing specific, mostly milk and pickles (Not together though. Gross!). Sweet things still turn me off, which is probably a good thing!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

9 weeks

(Now take into consideration that this picture was taken right after eating a big dinner :)


06/22/11

This week Big Baby is the size of a grape! It’s been a good week (aside from being sick and super tired). We told our families, which was pretty fun. I sent my Dad a Father’s Day card and on the inside it said, “I hope you like having a January birthday, because that’s when your littlest grandbaby is due!” On the outside I wrote “Open on Father’s Day over iChat with us!” But the Post Office put a stamp right over that. So he opened it up on Friday night and called at 10:30 saying, “I got your card!” It was pretty funny. So we iChatted that night instead. For Andy’s family we went up there on Father’s Day and were playing Hand and Foot. Andy wrote “Andy and Jill are having a baby!” on one of the cards and put it in his Mom’s foot. So when she was going through her cards she saw it and it was great. I Face-timed Randy and told him to tell Andy Happy Father’s Day, and over the phone I had Quin tell Cindy that he was going to have a cousin. Everyone’s super excited! This baby is already very loved.

I got a call from my Doctor yesterday, and she said that I do have a very small cyst (about 1.5 cm) on my left ovary, but it shouldn’t be a problem. It will probably just go away on its own. So that’s good news! She’s going to send us the ultrasound results to take to our midwife. We have an appointment with Carol next Wednesday, and hopefully we’ll be able to hear the heartbeat on the Doppler. It’s not always possible at 10 weeks though, so I’m trying not to get my hopes up and I’m trying to tell myself to not worry if we don’t hear it.

Changes this week: Exhaustion has set in big time! In the afternoons I can barely keep my eyes open, and I just want to crash when I get home from work. I think I’ve been not quite as sick feeling, which is great, although I’m still hungry all the time. I can’t eat a lot at one time though, so I try to snack on healthy things all day. My sense of smell is through the roof! On Saturday we were walking around downtown Portland, and I swear I could smell every place where there was pee and every person that hadn’t showered that day. Yuck.

Cravings: It’s so cliché, but I’ve been wanting pickles all week in the mornings. Hah. And I’ve still been wanting fruit and Asian food :) Cheese is not as appealing as it was a few weeks ago.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

8 weeks

JUST KIDDING!!

06/15/11

We’ve decided to get an ultrasound to make sure that pain in my left side is fine. Best case scenario… nothing’s wrong and we can see a strong heartbeat. Middle case scenario… baby’s fine but I have a cycst on my left ovary. Worst case scenario… ectopic pregnancy. I’m a little worried, but not too worried. I haven’t had any spotting and the pain hasn’t really been getting worse, it’s just there sometimes. My ultrasound is scheduled for tomorrow at 11am. Andy’s coming with me, and we’re pretty excited to see little Raspberry.

The downside of scheduling an ultrasound is that now a lot of people from church know I’m pregnant! Our friend (and doctor) Guesly knows because I called his PAC to order the ultrasound for me. Her nurse Sheri is the one that called me and she goes to church. When we check in tomorrow I’m sure we’ll run into people we know too (a good friend works at the front desk and lots of nurses we know). Oh well. They can’t say anything to anyone because of HIPPA, but still. Sorry our my families who didn’t find out before all of those people!

I did tell my friend Kristen about the baby on Saturday. She’s very very excited for us. As am I. This is the week that we’ll tell our families! Father’s Day is the day. Can’t wait!

Last night we had some adventures. This doesn’t really have to do with the pregnancy, but kind of. Guesly called us at 2:30am and asked if one of us could come be with Josiah because Sara was going into labor and they needed to head to Silverton. I went over there and stayed until about 4:30 when Sara’s mom got there from Eugene. I didn’t sleep at all, so I crashed when I got home. Then I woke up at 5:30 when Andy’s alarm went off (he went fishing all day) and felt sick. So I stayed in bed for the morning and slept. When I did wake up at 11:30 I felt very yucky and morning sicknessy. But I got up and ate something and went to work anyway at 1:00.

Changes this week: Morning sickness! I’m not throwing up at all, but sometimes I feel like it. I’m pretty tired, but hanging in there. I’ve been trying to feel for my uterus expanding, but it’s not really feel-able yet. I guess it usually isn’t until 12 weeks or so, but it would be cool anyway. I’m not showing at all yet besides a little bloat, and my belt is feeling too tight so some days I don’t wear it. That’s it!

Cravings this week: Nothing! Everything sounds gross. Maybe pickles...

Update: We had the ultrasound today. The tech couldn’t say anything, but as far as I could tell everything looked great! We saw our little one’s heart beating away at 156 bpm. It was pretty cool. He/she is measuring at 8 weeks and 2 days (one day ahead of what I thought), but I’ll talk to Carol to see if she wants to change my due date. I’m fine with leaving it at January 25th. I like that day. Seeing the baby was pretty reassuring for both of us, even if it is only a little blob right now. The picture they gave us looks like a big grainy bean. Pretty funny. But I already love him/her! I guess we have to talk to a midwife/ob to get the ultrasound results. I couldn’t tell if there were any cysts, but the baby was definitely in my uterus. Yay!

And here is Big Baby! The head is on the left. We love you, Big Baby!


7 weeks


06/08/11

Today our baby is the size of a blueberry So Andy and I had oatmeal with blueberries in it for breakfast to mark this momentous occasion. Each week I’ve been calling the baby whatever fruit/vegetable it’s the same size as. (Last week it was Lentil). Last week I was having slight pain in my left side, but that went away, so I ended up not scheduling an appointment with the midwife at Santiam Hospital. No more pain so far, except a little cramping here and there, which is perfectly normal. We chose Carol Severson to be our homebirth midwife, and we have our first appointment today! It will probably only consist of lots of talking, filling out paperwork, and doing a blood profile. It’s too early to hear the heartbeat on a Doppler, but hopefully we’ll be able to do that in a few weeks. I’m even considering renting my own Doppler for a month or so to check for the heartbeat.

Changes this week: Morning sickness has set in! I’ve been feeling queasy from when I get up until after lunch, then it finally goes away. Nothing sounds good in the mornings, but I’ve been forcing myself to eat because I know it will make me feel a little bit better. On top of that, I’ve been exhausted. The U2 concert we went to on Saturday didn’t help that any. We went to bed at 8:30 last night, which was heavenly! I’ve been less bloated this week, which has been nice. However, I think I’ve already gained about 2 pounds. I’m not too concerned about weight gain, though, because I need to gain weight for the health of Blueberry.

Cravings this week: fruit and cheese!

Update: We just got back from our appointment with Carol. I really like her. She seems really down to earth and is a Christian, which is important to us. Our next appointment is for 10 weeks, when we will hopefully hear the heartbeat of our baby! I’m getting really excited about telling our families our big news. I think they’ll be pretty excited too.

6 weeks



06/01/11

Six weeks today. Our little bean is the size of a lentil now and growing fast. We talked to two midwives this week and really liked one of them named Carol, so I think she will be our midwife. I’ve been having a little pain in my left side, so I’m also going to make an appointment with Mabel, a CNM at Santiam Hospital just to make sure it’s not an ectopic pregnancy or my cyst is still there or something. I’m just one of those worrying types. Hopefully if she does an ultrasound we’ll also get to see the heartbeat. That would be exciting. It will probably be our only ultrasound for the whole pregnancy if everything’s going well. Only 34 weeks to go!

Changes this week: No morning sickness at all yet. I’m hoping I’m in the 20% of women who don’t get it at all. I have been very tired in the evenings. I’m also pretty bloated some of the time. As for changes, nothing drastic other than the slight pain on my left side. I don’t even really feel that pregnant, which is fine by me!

5 weeks


5/25/11

I made it to 5 weeks! This week has been full of lots of excitement and worry. I keep thinking about the possibilities of a miscarriage and I’m not excited about that. Hopefully our little bean is strong and growing, so we won’t have to worry about that. I made a few calls to midwives in the area and we have some interviews with them next week. We’re planning on having a home birth. I’ve done a lot of research, and this seems to be the best option for us. We also talked to our doctor/friend and he says that in a low risk situation, it is perfectly safe. I’m pretty excited about it myself. Hopefully our interviews with the midwives will go well and we’ll really click with one of them. They both seem like pretty nice older ladies who have attended a lot of births.

Changes this week: Not much different than last week. I’m having lots of energy, and I attribute that to the fish oil pills I’ve been taking. Not much nausea yet, lots of peeing and lots of eating. I’ve jogged twice this week and plan on 3x a week from now on. It makes me feel really good, and hopefully I’ll be adding in some prenatal yoga tonight as well.

4 weeks


5/18/11

We found out that we’re pregnant on Monday!! So I’m starting this blog for my family members who are not nearby so they can see my updates. (I love you all!) I’ll post a weekly belly picture and an update every Wednesday (hopefully).

My estimated due date is January 25, 2012, which sounds like a nice day to have a baby. I could go early or as late as February though, so no expectations here. That sounds like such a long time until then! I’m sure it will go by fast though, and then I’ll be able to hold my little bean in my arms. We’ve already decided that we aren’t finding out the gender or sharing our baby names, so don’t bother asking. We’re so very excited to be parents!

Changes this week: Well, I just found out about everything this week, so everything’s changed! I’ve been very hungry and I’ve had to pee a lot already. No morning sickness at all yet, and I’m hoping that I don’t get it very bad anyway. We’ll see in a week or two if it shows up.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog about our growing family! I'll be posting a picture/update every week throughout my pregnancy and beyond for those of our loved ones who don't live close by. Enjoy!!

Family photos

For the week of August 18-24 Boy, with buying a house and moving and starting the kids' online school and starting my doula mentorship a...