Weeks 6-9, October 7-21

Week 6:

So this is the week that nausea starts hitting me. Not just nausea, but nausea and vomiting. :(

I really thought for some reason that I was going to breeze through pregnancy without any "bad" symptoms. Call me naive, I know. I like to call it wishful thinking. Unfortunately those are not the cards I was dealt. So each and every day from sun-up to sun-down, I am nauseated and vomiting. Not quite the breeze I was hoping for, but hey, I'm pregnant! =)

This actually proved to be a good thing for me though.  Nausea was a somewhat welcome visitor to let me know that the baby is doing great and growing away happily. Being a NICU Nurse, you tend to be a tad paranoid. Not that I wouldnt be paranoid if I worked somewhere else. But, you know what I mean.

Week 7:

So the nausea continues.  I didn't believe that it would just last a week, but I sure was hoping. I am feeling pretty tired, and downright crummy all day. I just got over a  cold, and am trying multiple remedies for this morning sickness that lasts all day. Oh yeah, and there's that work thing. Needless to say, I am exhausted.

I had a Midwife Appointment, the same day that Jess did actually. Which is pretty awesome! Dan and I got to see the baby's heartbeat! It was amazing, the baby was so little but it had a HEARTBEAT! It still isn't completely real to me yet. I mean, I feel miserable. I know that it is caused from all the pregnancy hormones. I know I am pregnant. I feel pregnant. It just still isn't completely real. I really think it won't be real until I am showing. We will just have to wait and see.

Here is our 7 week Ultrasound picture! That's our little turkey!! 

The Nurse Midwife said the baby is currently 0.8-0.9cms long, as illustrated on the ruler. SO TINY! Size doesn't matter here though, baby is quickly growing and will be double the size by the next appt. Baby's heartrate was in the 130's. Nice and healthy. I tried to get a real life demonstration, to show just how small the baby is. The best I could find was a small pine nut.

At the Midwife appt, we went through all the normal things. I asked my questions and talked about my concerns. One of the things I mentioned to the midwife is that I have a very fast heartbeat. Even when resting. She took my pulse a couple of times, and agreed that it was too fast. She recommended that I see a Cardiologist and get an EKG and an Echocardiogram done to make sure that my heart is healthy enough for pregnancy.

This was not concerning to me at all, my heartrate has always been high, and bounding. Ever since I can remember, my pulse has been the same. I was excited to get my heart looked at though because I do sometimes have palpitations, and it would be good just to know. Unfortunately, my work schedule was very busy, leaving me little time off.  Dan and I already had a family trip planned to Florida the next week, so I figured I would have to wait til I got back to get checked out.

Week 8: 

I worked Sunday, Monday, Tuesday night, and slept and packed on Wednesday. On Thursday, in the wee hours of the morning, Dan and I flew to Florida to meet up with Dad and Barb. With my brother Mark soon to follow.

We had a fantastic trip! We were right on the ocean, our room was beautiful, and our company was great! We enjoyed a wonderful time of eating and sight-seeing. Of course, my now good friend that I know so well,  nausea and vomiting, enjoyed the company of my presence throughout the whole trip. But, all in all, I can't complain. I was able to branch out and eat more foods that just simple carbohydrates, which I was growing tired of anyhow.

Throughout the trip I checked my heartrate multiple times throughout the day and like clockwork, tachycardia. My heartrate is usually around 100-120bpm. Even when resting. I have read that your heartrate normally rises during pregnancy, but I knew that it shouldn't be that high. I felt more of an urgency to get in and get checked out.

The week of course ended way too soon, and Dan and I made our way back to Houston, and back to the daily grind of work and our daily lives. We arrived home on Tuesday night, and I worked Wednesday and Thursday. I made an appt with my new Primary Care Physican, courtesy of Marcie for Friday afternoon.

The Day Our Lives Changed--SEPTEMBER 24

So! Dan and I have been trying to get pregnant since November of last year. I was very excited about this new time in our life, Dan was too, but he was also very scared. Throughout the past 10 months, we have had many suspected pregnancies, but unfortunately the month always ended the same way. :(

This past month we found out that Jessica was pregnant! While this was very exciting, I felt that it also brought attention to the fact that I wasnt pregnant. It did for me at least. I was very teary and sad this month. Dan did his best to comfort and encourage me. He told me things like, "It's gonna happen soon, I think you and Jess are going to pregant at the same time." Marcie had also been very vocal about her desire for 2 June bugs. She kept telling me that this was going to be the month that it was going to happen. Hearing all of this was of course encouraging, but also exhausting. The stress and pressure I put on myself to get pregnant was already pretty heavy. I just casted it all to the side and continued on day by day, KNOWING that this WAS NOT the month.

So a couple days after we found out that Jess was pregnant, Dan hit me with a shocker. He said that he had a dream that I was pregnant. I was tickled by this thought, because he has never said that or felt that before. He also told me that he was finally ready and ok with it. He had just told God, in the month prior, that he would be ok with me getting pregnant. These were all exciting things to here, and the first things that got me thinking and hoping.

Later on that week, I started having a stuffy nose for no reason, with sneezing. ACTUALLY a pregnancy symptom, weird I know. Coming into the following week, I started havung menstrual cramping, and knew that my period was about to start within the next 2-3 days. In fact, I told Marcie and Dan that. 3 days went by, no period. I was having the cramping still, and was extra hungry. I looked at my previous months charting and realized that my period wasnt "due" for another week!! I couldnt believe that I was already having symptoms of it, when it was that far away!!! I was REALLY EXCITED at the possibility that this could be "the month".

The last week waiting for my period to start was really a struggle. I wanted to test so bad, but I knew that the tests are not always accurate before your period is due. AND they are expensive! So I decided to wait it out. THURSDAY, SEPT 24 finally came. There was no visit from Aunt Flo and no signs that she was coming. I had been having horrible insomnia and heartburn, so I decided I could wait no more. Dan and I bought tests that day and tested that evening.

THEY WERE POSITIVE!!!!!! Can you believe it?

I took one, and it immediately turned positive. Dan was in shock and told me I HAD to take another one. I drank as much water as I possibly could, so I could maybe have enough to test once more before meeting Marcie and Larry for dinner. That one was POSITIVE too!!!! It took me about 5 minutes, and then I started bawling. I cant believe it finally happened! I know God's timing is perfect, but the wait has been terrible!!

So we made the rounds and called some family to tell them the news! We dont want to share too soon, we want to be cautious. So we are going to try to wait until the second trimester to share with the world. I could just wait no longer to start this, so here it is!

WE ARE EXPECTING!! How amazing is that? How amazing is God? I stand in awe of Him.

Please be praying for our little family, as of today, I am 2 days shy of 6 weeks. :D