Pregnancy Brain! - 5 Weeks

Apparently pregnancy brain has set in as when Gerald got home today, the dog was loose and not in her laundry room like I always leave her. Just hope she didn’t decide to leave a little treat on our dining room carpet!

Telling More Family - 4 Weeks, 6 Days

I figured with going to bed early, I’d get an extra hour of sleep before waking at 5 – but instead I woke up at 4. I started getting ready at 6 since I had to take mom to the airport before going to work.

I was feeling nauseous while putting my makeup on.

On the drive to the airport, we called Uncle Bob to give him the good news – he was so excited, and kept saying congratulations – what wonderful news! His birthday is June 30th, so my mom said that you never can tell – maybe the baby will share his birthday!

After dropping mom off at the airport, I called Dr. Wang’s office to tell them about the hives. The nurse called me back to say Dr. Wang advised me to stop taking the iron supplements and see if that did the trick.

Work was busier than the past few days, so I really didn’t notice if I got nauseous or not. I did notice I was still going to the bathroom every two hours, and getting hungry every two hours.

I don’t think I broke out in hives again, but I’ve noticed my skin is drier than it used to be.

Gerald was out of town in San Diego – where all the fires are right now – running a tournament, so I ate leftovers from dinner yesterday. It’s 9:30 PM right now and I’m about to fall asleep….

Driving from Vegas - 4 Weeks, 5 Days

I woke up at 5 again…. By 7:30, I was starving, so I had some oatmeal. Then at 9, I was starving again, so I ate some leftovers from lunch the day before.

Mom and I had planned to hit the road back to LA by 11. (I had to drive the my former company's Hummer back to LA for my old boss). We stopped by Dad’s to say goodbye, then dropped off mom’s car at the airport.

I got a bagel to munch on in the car in case I got carsick. We stopped in Baker and ate at Coco’s where I had a tortilla soup.

Unfortunately, the winds were extremely strong (Cajon Pass was at a complete standstill for over an hour, and there were tipped semi’s once we made it through Cajon Pass) so it was a very scary drive. It took us a total of 6 hours to drive back. By the 4 ½ hour, I was getting very nauseous again. I broke out in hives again on the drive back – just another small patch on my arm.

We got home, and Gerald and mom went out to go pick up some Thai food for dinner – I realized too late to remind Gerald to make sure there was no MSG in it, so he had to drive back to replace my order…. Sweet guy!

I was so tired, I went to bed by 9:30... which is unheard of for me!

Telling My Parents - 4 Weeks, 4 Days

Everywhere you read, you will find that the best time to travel during pregnancy is during the second trimester. At my first prenatal appointment, I asked my doctor if it would be okay for me to travel to Vegas to visit my family - it turns out, she did not want me to take any plane trips for fear of exposure to radiation. After doing some research, it looked like the short plane trip should be okay. Well, although only a 45 minute flight – I almost lost everything on the flight. It was extremely windy outside, and I was COMPLETELY nauseous. I thought for sure I was going to throw up. To add to it, the plane was completely booked. The poor lady next to me must have felt she got the short end of the stick having to sit next to this nauseous young girl.

I met my mom at the gate, and after getting my suitcase, we went back to the house to drop everything off. She kept asking me if we wanted to go to Bingo at the casino – or to eat at this restaurant (in a casino), or to eat certain food that, unbeknownst to her, I couldn’t eat (while pregnant). I had wanted to tell both of my parents together that Gerald and I were pregnant, but we were unable to get a hold of my dad, so I figured I’d better tell my mom now so she doesn’t think I was just being anti-social.

I handed her the gift bag – she opened it up, and saw the baby’s clothes that said “What happens at Grandma’s house, stays at Grandma’s house” and looked at me and said “Oh my gosh Lauren… are you pregnant?!?” She was very happy.

We went to lunch and after lunch went to Pottery Barn kids to look at cribs… then we went to go see my dad and give him the good news.

I gave him his gift bag with baby’s clothes that had directional signs, one of which pointed in a direction and said “Grandpa’s House”. I told him, “You’re going to be a Grandpa” and he said “Are you serious? You have no idea how happy this makes me.”

We then took Dad with us on a trip to the bookstore so I could buy some pregnancy books. While in the parking lot about to go home, Auntie Sachi called mom so I told her that my mom was going to be a Grandma!!

Afterwards, we took him back to the home and I went home to take a nap. We picked him back up around 6 for dinner at Mimi’s Café. I broke out in hives at dinner – just a small patch on my inner arm…

Doctor's Appointment & Telling G's Parents!! - 4 Weeks, 3 Days

Today, Gerald had to mark a golf course so he left the house at 5:45, and unfortunately, I could not fall back asleep. I did get 7 hours of sleep though! :)

I had to wake up at 3:30 AM though for a little bathroom run – gotta love pregnancy!

I went to Dr. Wang’s today. First they weighed me in and then they had me do a urine test to confirm the pregnancy. Five minutes later, the results were back – POSITIVE!! I was in an exam room, waiting for a scan. When the doctor came in, she said she didn’t think a scan was necessary since she didn’t think she would see anything… however, she found our little dot :) - she said it looks really healthy since the placenta is very thick.

They than had me get blood drawn to check my HcG levels – I should have those back by noon.

The doctor prescribed me prenatal vitamins, folic acid, and iron pills – need to pick those up today.

She wasn’t too thrilled that I was taking a plane trip tomorrow as she didn’t want me exposed to the radiation, but since it was only a 45 minute flight, she thinks I’ll be okay. She would prefer if I drove, but I can’t drive both ways… I will be driving back though.

We’ll be going back in for our first ultrasound on November 2nd at 7 AM! :)

The nurse predicted our due date as June 24, 2008.

4:00 PM – they are still running some hormone tests, but everything looks really good. HCG level is at 672.

The doctor called on my drive home from work and said the other hormone tests turned out really well – and she doesn’t need to prescribe me any more supplements.

We had dinner with Gerald’s parent’s so we could tell them the good news. Gerald’s mom had recently had surgery on her lip to remove skin cancer, and Gerald’s dad is due to go in for surgery in a week and a half (on Halloween) to remove a blocked artery in his neck. We gave them a gift telling them it was a “feel better” gift. Gerald’s dad started opening it – he looked at it and smiled, not really realizing what it was. Once he saw that it was a baby’s onesie, he and Gerald’s mom both screamed really louudly together – “Oh my gosh!!” and hugged us. Gerald’s mom said, “We didn’t want to ask you when you were going to start a family because we knew you would tell us when the time was right.” It was such a great moment – I wish we had taped it.

Pregnancy Symptoms - Thursday, October 18, 2007

Last night I woke up at 3:30 AM to go to the bathroom - I NEVER wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. For some reason, I've been a really light sleeper ever since getting the positive pregnancy test.

I was having some strange dreams about barbeque - when I woke up, I really wanted some barbeque ribs... that craving is gone, but it was really weird to wake up feeling that way. I also kept dreaming that the doctor was going to tell me the pregnancy was all in my head or that I had a chemical pregnancy or something. But I’ve had such strong symptoms lately, I’m trying to remain optimistic. Here are all the symptoms I’ve experienced thus far:

- Slight headaches
- Nausea / Queasiness
- Dizziness
- Cravings
- Sore ab muscles
- Soreness in my left quad
- Cramping toes
- Shortness of breath
- Food tasting different
- Always hungry
- Fatigue

I got about 8 hours of sleep (not solid sleep, but sleep nonetheless) but unfortunately I have NO desire to be here at work, which is really unlike me. I'm dragging. I'm exhausted. I just want to go home. I also can’t seem to catch my breath. I read last night that shortness of breath is a symptom of pregnancy. As Gerald aptly pointed out “I think everything can be linked as a symptom of pregnancy!”

I had a little bit of nausea in the car on the drive in this morning... but overall my nausea hasn't been as bad as it was the past two days. I've been trying to eat smaller meals more consistently throughout the day to try to calm my stomach.

Okay – I take that back. It’s 10:15 AM and I’m really queasy!

Part of me just wants to take tomorrow off so I can relax!!! :)

We're Pregnant!! - Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Our pregnancy tests - the top one is from 10/16 after getting home from dinner. The bottom one was taken this morning.

I couldn’t sleep last night. For some reason, I was wide awake. I’m not sure if it was because I was so excited to find out we were pregnant – but I was not at all sleepy. I did finally manage to fall asleep sometime after midnight, however, I woke up promptly at 5 AM for no reason.

I took another pregnancy test as a backup clarification of the one last night – and sure enough it was positive. The line was not as dark as the one before, though.

Gerald made me breakfast before I went off to work – egg omelet with grape tomatoes – yum!

On my drive in to work, I called Dr. Wang’s office about setting up a blood test. They can’t take me until Friday at 7:15 AM, but they should have the test results back the same day which is good so I can tell my family this weekend.