One Quarter Done

today marks 10 weeks, 6 days pregnant so we are over one quarter of the way to getting our sweet pea!


my belly goes up and down depending on how bloated i am, but it is getting harder to stretch my stomach. i feel like my insides are all in my ribs when i stretch. oh and my skin feels really tight after i eat a normal size meal (i've been sticking to smaller meals since i'm hungry all the time, and full size meals usually make me feel to full and sick).


i still am getting just little waves of nausea here and there, water usually helps. brushing my teeth in the morning is getting harder. no matter whether i do it before i eat or afterwards, my stomach does NOT like it.


we had our first OB appointment last week and everything went great! our doctor is so good about explaining things in detail that we had NO questions at the end of our visit. everyone in the practice is so nice and the exam room was clean. their ultrasound machine isn't nearly as advance as the ones at our RE, but we still got to see the hulk again. here is the blurry picture:



our OB sends all of their patients for the 1st trimester screening, which includes a finger prick blood test and an ultrasound known as Nuchal Translucency Scan or Nuchal Fold Lucency. during this test they are checking for characteristics that are common in fetus' with Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18 & Trisomy 21 (all chromosomal defects that cannot be cured).

i am really happy to be having this test, because it will be another sigh of relief to know our baby is ok (knock on wood). plus we get to see our baby in a new light, since he/she will look so much more like a baby by then and there will be more detail of the scan. then i will feel much more comfortable about telling the rest of our friends and family.

i know the test has a high false positive rate, but i am also prepared for this since i know in advance. i can't say for sure it won't upset me if we get a positive result, but at least i know that i can tell myself that we just need to do further testing to rule out the possibilities and try to remain calm.

truthfully, even if our baby had one of these defects we would NOT terminate our pregnancy. we would just like to know in advance if there were some characteristic of our child that would require us to change our plans in order to provide the care he/she would need.

We're Having a Puppy!

that's what my husband said when we saw our latest ultrasound this week. he said our baby looks like a newborn puppy the way it is all curled up with it's little arms, legs, and tail (my sister is weirded out by the tail and refuses to discuss it!)

baby-t is doing great, with a heart rate of 174.67 bpm and is measuring 8 weeks 4 days. the progesterone supplement is doing it's job because the baby is thriving wonderfully.

all of this means that WE GOT TO GRADUATE!!! we no longer are under the care of our wonderful reproductive endocrinologist's office. next week it's onto our obstetrician for normal prenatal care! we are so excited and grateful that our baby is doing well. hopefully my husband will agree to let some of our friends in our secret now!

until here are some more top secret photos of baby-t:

Updates Galore!

i know that i have been MIA for a REALLY long time. it's been with great cause, as you will find out the further you read:

Monday, February 11th:

this morning was my first beta (blood pregnancy test). i went in, got pricked in the arm, and made my home and then to work. i left my cell phone in my desk, realizing later on that i get absolutely no reception that way. so i took it out and left it on my desk. immediately, it started dancing (it was on vibrate) to let me know that i had a voicemail. it was really early for the doctor's office to call so i thought nothing of calling in to get my message. sure enough, it was my nurse. she was calling to give us the good news that WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!! she went on to say that my hcg level was at 407, then saying that they usually look for between 50 & 100. so that means that we could possibly be having twins! i go back in on wednesday morning (2/13/08) to have another beta test to see if my level has increased by at least 60%. if all goes well we will be getting ultrasounds weekly, that means we get to see our bean(s) on a weekly basis for right now! to say that we are ecstatic would be the understatement of the year!!!

so my reason for not posting in so long has alot to do with the fact that we want to be cautious, and also so that we can tell our family and friends before letting the world know. we will be telling our families in a few weeks and then make it to our friends. you are probably finding out around the 12-14 week mark. i am going to be updating this one entry the entire time so that you don't miss anything important. so read on to find out what we have been up to since i last wrote ;)

Wednesday, February 13th:

today we had our second beta. they were looking for our hcg level to raise at least 60%, which would mean around 650 or so. well it was actually 830! i believe there is definitely more than one growing in there! we will just have to wait and see on next wednesday (2/20/2008) to see them at our first ultrasound. they also tested for progesterone again and that number was at 19, also a very good number according to my nurse.

i'm feeling pretty good so far. i'm VERY bloated and already look 3 or 4 months pregnant, but i know that will go down soon. i'm getting slight waves of nausea here and there but it seems that eating little snacks constantly and drinking lots of water are all helping. i'm peeing every hour. oh yeah and my nose starting working yesterday and was in full force this morning! i almost died when the smell of skunk came through my car's air vents!

we have scheduled our first OB appointment for March 19th so we will get to meet and discuss our plan with the doctor who will be delivering our baby or babies! this is all so exciting!

i also want to say a few words to those people who have been an endless source of support during the last few months. the ladies of the nest: if it wasn't for you i would have waited much longer to decided to see and endocrinologist and most likely would not be pregnant right now. my best friend, Melissa: you are the only person who is was able to speak about EVERYTHING with, thank you for objectivity and caring, kind words. and finally my husband, Mike: without him i would never have had the strength to go through all of this, he truly is my soulmate.

Wednesday, February 20th:

today we got our first look at our little sweet pea. we saw the gestational sac and yolk sac. the dr. said that the sac measured at 10.97 mm. depending on what website you look at that's either twice as big as it should be or right on track for one baby. the dr. said we are right on track for one baby, but she did say that sometimes you see a second baby in the following ultrasound. we are very happy to see that at least one baby is doing well. can't wait until next week, when we get to see the heartbeat!


i'm feeling pretty good. besides the constant exhaustion and slight waves of nausea that are in creasing in strength, this experience is wonderful. i'm still VERY bloated and have gained a little weight (probably mostly water weight). but i'm happy to be feeling nauseous, considering that my friend told me an old wivestale: the sicker the mommy, the healthier the baby. it's a little early for nausea, but i hope that means my baby(babies) are doing great!


Wednesday, February 27th:

today we saw our bean's heartbeat! it was amazing, to say the least. we still only see one baby so we are planning on that unless anyone pops out from the shadows somehow. the baby is measuring 4.03 mm = 6 weeks, 1 day so that puts our edd (expected due date) at October 21st, 2008. the heart rate was at 117.65 bpm (beats per minute). if you ask mike he says is goes, "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!" he also thinks that my high hormone levels are due to the fact that we are having "the hulk" instead of a normal baby (his dream by the way). Here's the bean!

Wednesday, March 5th:

our pumpkin is measuring right on target at 10.34 mm = 7 weeks, 1 day, with a heart rate of 152.97 bpm - nice and strong. just a few more weeks until we graduate to our OB! we also found out this week that my progesterone level was on the low side so i have had to supplement with suppositories. those are not fun, but worth every annoyance to ensure our baby's health and viability. wish us luck!

we have also now told our families: my mom, my uncle, my sisters, mike's mom, and mike's grandma. we also decided to tell our best friends just so they know what is going on with us because they have been asking. everyone is thrilled for us and one of our best friends is expecting their first baby a few weeks before us, so we get to share the experience together!