Happy New Year 2010!

As the year closes, it is hard not to ponder what 2009 brought for us.  I could speak of it in both good and bad terms (it was definitely a challenging year to say the least), but we really had some GREAT times and it ultimately ended in the best possible way!

It is moreover difficult to peer into 2010, as I am certain of only one thing...it will be a year unlike ANY we have had before!  Adapting to the addition of a baby to our family will be challenging and unpredictable, but we are so blessed to be given the opportunity to be parents.  (Raising Pico is hardly comparable...but also was challenging!)

So Happy New Year 2010 to all of you! 

I hope for only the best things for our family and friends.  Make this year into everything you have dreamed and do things you have always wanted to do!

Wanna Hear?

Hey,

So James had the brilliant idea of recording the baby's heartbeat and posting it here for you to hear!
Tomorrow I will go in for my ten week appointment and I have a list of questions that I've came up with........hehe (me with a list......what?)

Anyway, heartrate measures at 170 on the doppler and here it is!
http://98.131.38.219/BabyHeartBeat12212009.mp3

Heartbeat at Home

9w2d...

So James and I purchased a fetal doppler so we could hear baby's heartbeat at home.  I tried it last night, thinking it was too early to hear....and we heard it!  It took me awhile to find it and we had to turn the volume way up, but it definitely was the baby's heartbeat.  Fast like "galloping horses" like they said it should sound like.

So just thought I'd share that with you.  Off to work for me after hardly sleeping at all last night. (yeah, still dealing with insomnia)

Happy Thursday.

9 Weeks

Hey everyone,

Not much of an update today.  Today is my first day back to work after a four day weekend.  We accomplished a lot of Christmas shopping and I worked on our Christmas cards.  I now work straight through the next three weeks (even weekends), so I might be kinda crabby by the end of it all.  Sorry, I will apologize now ;) 

I've been feeling great...so yay for that!  However, I felt like I have a little more of a belly today.  I don't know if I'm just bloated or if I'm actually starting to show.  Seems too early to be showing, so I'm going with the bloated theory. 

Just 10 days until Christmas, so I have to get some final gifts purchased and wrapped yet.

See you all soon!

Scary Evening!

Time for an update again... 8w2d...

So I've continued my worry streak for the last week, as my lack of symptoms has been driving me nuts.  Out of the blue, last night I started spotting again, dark brown blood.  I called the after hours nurse, who advised that as long as I wasn't feeling weak and since the blood wasn't bright red, not to be worried and to just call my physician in the morning.

This morning, I called Dr. Nash and she suggested I come in for another ultrasound. 

The ultrasound turned out well!  1.5 cm baby has a heart rate of 170 bpm!!  Still doesn't look like much of a baby to me, but relieved it's still growing! 

I then met with my physician, who said everything looks well in the ultrasound, but they had found a "clot" that was likely the culprit of the bleeding.  She said this sometimes forms from the act of implantation and is not too concerning.  She said this should just go away on it's own, but to take it easy for now.  She said if it turns to bright red blood, then I should call her back.  She also took a culture, six tubes of blood, and a urine sample...and I have no idea what they will all test for, but she said she wanted to save me time at later appointments and get them done now.  Alright.

Well, after a night of horrible worry, I can rest easy again tonight.

So now I'm waiting for James to come home from work.  The server crashed at work today, so he had to fix that before coming home.  Our driveway hasn't been blown out yet either, so that might not get done until tomorrow.  Welcome winter!

We Have a Heartbeat!

So we just got home from our first ultrasound!  We found we have a little blob of a baby forming....and it has a heartbeat of 118 bpm!!

The baby is sitting at the bottom of the dark circle.  We could see the little flicker of the heart beating, it was amazing!  The baby measures 7mm right now. 

They scheduled all of my appointments through 28 weeks.  I also received a binder full of useful information to make this a safe pregnancy for me and the baby.

There is only one baby in there...and we are SO THANKFUL for it!

We are truly blessed!

Ultrasound will be on Friday!

So I've been driving myself crazy thinking about how I don't have many pregnancy symptoms, so I called up my nurse today.  I told her about the very faint spotting I had on Thursday and Friday (which has since gone away).  She doesn't seem concerned and stated a couple of possible reasons for it.  I asked if I could have an ultrasound any sooner than Monday and she explaned that they want to make it closer to the seven week mark to make sure they don't miss anything.  They had a 1:00 appointment available on Friday 11/27, so that will hopefully put my mind at ease at least a couple of days sooner!

6 Weeks and Chicago!

So today marks the 6th week of pregnancy for me!

Some people say this is when the symptoms can really start appearing, especially the morning sickness.  Not looking forward to that, but at least it will be a sign to help make this all feel real.  I still feel great!  In fact, my cramping has even gone away, so I actually have less symptoms now than I did when we first found out I was pregnant.

We just enjoyed a wonderful weekend in downtown Chicago, where I was Matron of Honor in my friend Jackie's wedding.  We arrived in Chicago on Thursday and found that our room had the most amazing view I have ever seen!

 

 

That evening we ate dinner at Weber Grill with Jackie's family.

Friday we enjoyed walking though Millenium Park and watching the figure skaters mark the opening of their ice skating rink in Millenium Park.  It was a beautiful sunny day in the 50's!  A good friend (and the bride's cousin), Rachel Dockendorf joined us!

 

 

 

The evening continued with the rehearsal at St. Alphonsus Church and then the rehearsal dinner was at Fiorentino's restaurant......yummy!

 
Saturday was the day of the wedding, which turned out PERFECT and was so much fun!  We had beautiful weather for the wedding. The reception was located at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza and the ballroom had a beautiful view of downtown Chicago and the Chicago River. The evening started with hor d'oeuvres, then continued with a meal of filet mignon and chicken, which was AMAZING!  They also had a chocolate fountain fondue and coffee bar and then a late night snack of cheeseburgers, fries and chocolate malts.  Needless to say that nobody left hungry!  Congrats Jackie and Mike Barrett!

This week is Thanksgiving week, for which we have so much to be thankful for this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beta #2 result is back!

...and it came back at 4277!!!

They wanted this number to be at least 1800....yay!!

My sleeping schedule is COMPLETELY messed up now.  Taking midday naps, going to bed around 8 or 9:00 pm and then waking up at 3 or 4:00 in the morning with a million things on my mind.  The nurse said I can take some Tylenol PM to help me sleep through the night if I need.

I still feel great...and I hope it stays that way!

Next follow up will be on Mon, Nov 30th for our first ultrasound!

It Really is a MIRACLE!!

We're PREGNANT!!

I'm still in shock! After two years of trying!

Even crazier, three weeks ago we were told that our only chance of conceiving would be through In Vitro Fertilization. Hearing this, we were devastated, confused, and frustrated. We knew we wouldn't be able to afford IVF at this time, so we decided to continue with at least one more round of insurance-covered IUI (intra-uterine insemination). We had already tried three rounds of IUI that failed.

So I was waiting for my period to begin birth control pills to get my hormones in order for the upcoming IUIs...when my period was late.  So the morning of Thursday November 12th... I decided to test...

Big Fat Positive!!!!

 
In disbelief, I frantically woke up James and made him look at the test to tell me it was real and I wasn't dreaming. Later that day I called up the one of the nurses I had been working with, who then ordered a blood pregnancy test, which came back at 825!!!

She informed me that I was 4 weeks, 3 days pregnant and our due date is July 19th, 2010.  Everything is right on track as far as we can tell right now.

I will go in on Monday (11/16) for another blood test. We want to see the hcg number increase.

I can hardly wait...I'm such a worrier to begin with, all I can think about is the cramping I have been having. Apparently this is normal unless it is accompanied with bleeding, which it's not.

There's our success story...so far so good.

We'll keep you informed of ALL updates....