Heard the Heartbeat!! 8 weeks, 3 days

We had our follow up appointment today since next week is Thanksgiving. Dr. Wang said the baby looks good, but that the placenta needed to develop a little "stronger" and therefore ordered me to go on a non-strict bedrest. People get really concerned when I tell them that, but really she was afraid that I was overdoing it and not resting enough, so this was her way to make sure that I rest more.

We also got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! I actually got teary-eyed... it was such an amazing feeling to get to hear your child's heartbeat for the first time (it's kind of weird referring to the baby as "my child"... have to get used to that!) Once you hear the heartbeat, supposedly your pregnancy risks lower by 50%... so we were definitely glad to get to hear the heartbeat today!

Quit My Job!!!

Well, since I told my boss, Jeff, that I was pregnant, his whole attitude towards me changed. He started getting extremely rude and harassing, almost as if he was setting me up to fire me with cause.

I called my old boss, Waleed, and told him the whole story. He agreed that Jeff (who is a friend of his... Waleed helped me to get this job when he laid me off from the mortgage job) was acting extremely out of the ordinary, and the only reason he could make of it was that he must be trying to get rid of me, which Waleed realized was totally unfair. He also said he knows my works ethic and there is no reason for Jeff to be acting the way he is. (Just one example - Jeff sent me to Sacramento for a convention... I had him authorize my flights and times before I booked them, so he signed off on everything. The day of my flight, I show up to the airport to find out my 9:15 flight has been cancelled, and I've been bumped to the next flight at 10:45. When I told Jeff, he said I need to make it to Sacramento no later than 2 PM PERIOD... even if it means taking another flight - but no other airlines fly direct from Burbank.... anyway, my 10:45 flight gets delayed, and Jeff gets extremely upset with me telling me I need to figure it out and that I shouldn't have booked this 9:15 flight to begin with... anyway, that's just a portion of the story.) So Waleed tells me if I want to come back and work for him, that I can. Obviously, the pay scale will be a little different than before, but I can work from home (a BIG plus!!) and therefore take it easy.

So before I left the office last night, I sent my letter of resignation to Jeff with my last day of work being November 20th (since he didn't want to give me the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off so I could visit my parents in Vegas). I never heard back from him. When I got in this morning, there was still no answer... and after what Dr. Wang had told me yesterday about stress and anger and how it affects the baby, I realized it wasn't worth putting myself through the stress and what I'm sure would have been even more hostility once Jeff did actually start speaking to me... so I sent another letter advising him that I was leaving effective immediately... and I packed up my things and left.

I have to tell you - I was so relieved to get out of there!!! It's too bad it didn't work out... Jeff was a nice person (before I told him I was pregnant), but he's not married and doesn't have children, so it's hard for him to relate. He's also a very poor manager, and does not handle situations well (obviously) so I think everyone is better off in this situation.

I go back to work for Waleed on Tuesday since Monday is a holiday... I'm so glad to be back! He and I get along so much better, plus he and his wife just had a baby in May of this year... so he can understand everything that Gerald and I are and will be going through this pregnancy.

Saw the Heartbeat!! 7 weeks, 3 days

This morning before work, Gerald and I went to Dr. Wang's for our usual 2 week follow-up to check on the progress of the pregnancy. We actually were able to see the little heartbeat flickering on the screen! It was too early to hear anything... but knowing that the heartbeat is there definitely takes some of the worries away!

Dr. Wang did say that the baby's yolk sack was smaller than she would like for it to be. She asked me if I had been upset and stressed lately.... which I have, no thanks to my very unsympathetic boss (I'll post more on this later). She told me I need to be very careful about getting upset and stressed as it increases my heartrate, which decreases the amount of blood that gets to the baby. This really made me worry, and made me re-evaluate my situation with my job....

But, other than the yolk sack issue, I was glad to hear the baby was doing well. :)

Telling the Boss - 6 Weeks, 1 Day

Yesterday I sat down with Jeff, my boss, and told him I felt badly that he’s had to take on some of my responsibilities since I had to assume some of Patti’s responsibilities (the girl who quit October 1). But I also asked him if I should be concerned about my job since I noticed Bernadette (the VP and his girlfriend) had started calling some HR candidates, which is usually my job. He said absolutely not – that he would tell me if I was doing poorly, but that he’s been very happy thus far and basically because Patti left, that meant I had to take on more responsibilities which meant that he and Bernadette had to accommodate by taking on some more responsibilities. He did mention he wanted to give me a raise come January to $60k to “get me closer to where I was before” I joined Seville.

So today, I bit the bullet and decided to tell Jeff that I was pregnant. I was going to wait until after the first trimester, when I was also due to receive a promotion (when our office moved) but it turns out now that our office isn’t moving until February, and I’ll be 4 ½ months pregnant by then – and probably showing. Plus I figured it was better to be upfront and let him know what was going on so he doesn’t think I’m always tired or sick at work.

So I walked in and told him that I had been debating when to tell him – and he came right out and said “You’re Pregnant”. It kind of took me by surprise… I said, “Yeah… okay.” Ultimately, he was very nice about it and said that it was exciting news, and congratulated Gerald and me, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I may not get the raise or promotion I was in line to get. He had mentioned many times previously that once we move he was going to change my job and increase my responsibilities – I really hope that still happens. He mentioned that when he had drinks with Waleed (my old boss) the other week, Jeff said to Waleed “well that’s okay as long as she doesn’t get pregnant” and Waleed said that I had alluded that that was not something I anticipated to happen anytime soon. I asked Jeff what it was that would be okay as long as I didn’t get pregnant… and he just said “oh you know” and changed the subject. I’m guessing it was a promotion.

So I’m a little down – legally he can’t discriminate and deny me a promotion I would have received if I weren’t pregnant. So I guess we’ll see. I know I did the right thing by telling him, so hopefully it all works out in the end.

2nd Ultrasound - 5 weeks, 6 days

Today I left the office early to go to Dr. Wang’s office… I had a concern and the nurse told me I needed to come in ASAP (she actually misunderstood my concern – but oh well, it worked out well because Gerald was working from home that day). So Gerald and I went in together…

The doctor did the U/S… the baby has grown a lot in a little over a week! The doctor told Gerald the baby looks really healthy. We even saw the faintest of heartbeats (the doctor didn’t think we’d be able to see it since the baby is still so young but nevertheless it was there).

After the doctor’s appointment, my dad said it made him feel much better knowing “she” (he has a feeling it’s a girl) is alive and well in there.

Trish actually thinks it’s a girl, too…. I guess we’ll soon see!

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….