Last Day of Work!

Today was my last day of work!! YAY!!!! I was initially going to work until next Friday, 11/11/11, but honestly I was just beyond spent and need some time to relax and finish up some last minute items before the baby comes.

It will be weird not having to come in to work on Monday! It's also kind of scary going on maternity leave. Even though legally you know your company can't let you go, you lose that sense of security and constantly wonder if they know they can get by without you then why would they keep you? It's a difficult feeling to convey.

As far as the pregnancy is concerned, I did end up calling my doctor today as I thought that my water broke - I had a large gush of water, and then tremendous pressure, but the water stopped so he thinks it may not have been my water. But if it happens again, I need to go in - so I'm just going to monitor it for now.

Sleeping is still very painful - my back has hurt me more this pregnancy than with Sabrina. I'm surrounded by millions of pillows - literally. There's barely any room for Gerald on the bed. I really can't wait to not be pregnant anymore!!!

August 15, 2011 - 26 weeks!

Wow - how time flies! I can't believe we're just two weeks away from the third trimester. Last week (Tuesday, 8/9/11) at 25w1d I had another checkup and ultrasound, along with the the wonderful Gestational Diabetes test. I found out today that everything looks good and my glucose was 109 and my iron looked good, so nothing to worry about! The baby was measuring right on target. Granted, the last two appointments I've gained 8 lbs and 6 pounds, but I guess since I lost weight in the first trimester that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Saturday, August 6th (24w5d), was a rough day for us. We went to Gerald's cousin's funeral beginning at 12:30 PM. Kristen was my age when she passed away suddenly. It was a beautiful, but very emotional service. Gerald's cousin Judy gave a beautiful eulogy as did her son, Scott, who - along with being cousins with Kristen - was also best friends with her. I had to sing two songs and barely made it through the first as I was fighting back tears after listening to Scott's eulogy.

Around 2:30, I called my OB/GYN as I was concerned my water may have broken. He told me to monitor it and gave me some instructions, and said he would call me back in two hours to follow up.

After the service was the burial, and around 4 PM was the dinner reception for family and friends. Sure enough, at 4:30 my OB/GYN called me to see how I was doing - after updating him, he told me I needed to go to Labor & Delivery immediately. So unfortunately, Gerald and I had to leave the dinner reception early and head straight to the hospital.

They ran all kinds of tests on me (FFN, GBS, CBC) and luckily everything looked fine. My water hadn't broken, however, they had me on a fetal monitor and I was having one contraction after the other. It turns out I was having what they call "uterine irritability" as a result of being dehydrated and stressed. My OB said he would go ahead and release me as long as I promised to take it easy. I did... however I did fail to mention I had a gig that night that I was late for.

After 3 hours in the hospital, we were discharged and I booked it over to my gig which was luckily only 10 minutes away. I was supposed to be there at 6 PM for sound check and we were supposed to take the stage at 8 PM. I walked in at 8:01 PM, with hospital bed hair, in the clothes I wore to the funeral, and walked on stage and we began. I made it by the skin of my teeth! After the gig was over though, I've been trying not to push myself quite as hard as I have been. I'm still having contractions, but I think they're less frequent so hopefully everything's okay. :)

6/21/11 - 18weeks, 1 day

I just got back from our 18 week check up. The baby looks great and weighs about 8 ounces (or a half pound). Gerald wasn't able to make it as he had some work appointments, but I was able to see the baby all curled up in my tummy - and saw the spine and femur bones, too. We also got our results from the 2nd trimester screening, and the doctor said all the results were very low: 1 in 52,000 for Down's Syndrome, 1 in 100,000 for Trisomy 18 and our Spina Bifida came back negative. There was one other test that came back negative but I don't recall what the name of it was. Anyway, everything looks great. I go back in three weeks for another checkup but we won't have an ultrasound that time. At the following appointment, I will have my dreaded Glucose test and that will have an ultrasound that follows.

5/31/11 - 15weeks, 1 day

We had our fourth appointment and ultrasound today. We decided to bring Sabrina with us since she is soooo excited about her new baby brother or sister (actually, she's pretty adamant that it's a sister, not a brother). We received the results of our blood draw from the 1st trimester screening - the doctor said everything came back great and my hemoglobin was 13.8 (anything above 12 is considered good).

As soon as the ultrasound started, Sabrina kept cooing about the baby - "oh she's such a good girl! She's so cute! Aww, look at the baby, Mommy!" It was adorable. Then she kept kissing my arm and my belly and telling me she loved me and she loved the baby.

We got to see the baby move and wiggle which Sabrina thought was so cute. We heard the heartbeat which was 151 bpm. The doctor showed us the baby's head, legs and arms. She/he is measuring right on at 15w1d, so we went ahead with our second trimester screening blood draw. Sabrina warned me: "Now don't cry Mommy when you get the shot!" Afterwards, she told me "Oh you were such a good girl Mommy!" and gave me a hug and a kiss. :) I love that little girl. She is such a love bug. She's going to be a great big sister!

I Heart Craigslist

I love it when you find really nice, decent people on places like Craigslist that aren't out to scam you. Craigslist can be such a great tool, but there are so many shady people on it - please who will tell you that they are out of state, but want to buy whatever you're selling and pay you through Western Union (only to retract the money later). Then there are the really nice people who just genuinely want to do business. I love it when that happens. We bought two gorgeous bathroom vanities for a steal on Craigslist, then turned around and sold one of them to cover most of the costs of the first one. I had so many scammers emailing me over the course of a couple of weeks - then we found this really sweet couple who had a child the same age as Sabrina. They came and paid for the vanity and took it home. I wasn't there, but Gerald said they were very nice, and to me it kind of seemed like they might be people that we would have been friends with.

Today, I was scouring Craigslist for some good finds, and found these beauties:





Although when I called, the woman I spoke to said someone was coming at 1 PM today to pick them up. :( Boo hoo. Oh well... I figured I'd have to find something else. Then at 4 PM she calls me back and says the person who was supposed to show up keeps claiming her car won't start. She said she's given her two or three tries to get there, but she was fed up and would rather sell them to someone else. So yay!!! We get the dresser and night stand - for a total of $150! It's not the best deal on the planet, but it's still better than what you'd get in the store.

So we're going to pick them up on Saturday. Yippee!!!! We'll probably use them in the new baby's room. I'm so excited!

I love when you get great finds for a good price! My best so far though is our solid wood T shaped desk with hand carved detail that I got for a whopping $12. That's right - $12. That desk is gorgeous, and though it needed a little TLC, there is no beating that price. The woman who owned it was being foreclosed on and had to sell it quickly. She put it on Ebay and nobody bid on it. Gotta love those amazing finds!!!

6w3d - Baby's First Ultrasound!

Yay! We had our first appointment today, and confirmed the pregnancy. We even got to see the little bean! The sac was measuring right on time, but the baby was measuring around 5 weeks and change. The doctor said this isn't anything to worry about as anything between 7-10 fluctuation is normal. We also got to see the baby's heartbeat!

We go back in two weeks (April 13th) for a follow up ultrasound. I think they want to see how the baby is measuring then and whether or not we need to adjust the due date... but that's just a guess. Either way, it will be exciting to see the baby again. :)

Friday, March 25th - 5 weeks, 4 days

It's been a little over a week and a half since we found out we were pregnant. :) I've had pretty mild symptoms - at first it was mild nausea all day, but that has since gone away. I have had stronger cravings than I did with Sabrina - mostly salty foods like pickles, olives, and tom yum soup (but those are things I craved with Sabrina too - just not as often as I do now).

I fell asleep at 9:30 last night which is unheard of for me. Unfortunately, last night also marked the first night of waking up at 1 in the morning for a bathroom break (or maybe it was 3 - I was soo tired!).

Next Thursday is our first ultrasound appointment, and I can't wait! I will feel so much better once I'm able to see the baby and know that everything's okay. Until then, I've been a really worry-wort! But that hasn't stopped me from browsing Etsy and Pottery Barn Kids to look at things for the baby's room. :)

If only Thursday would get here sooner....