Maternity clothes

Looking for some advice/reassurance from other pregnant or previously pregnant women!

What is going on with my pre-pregnancy clothes? Now my pre-pregnancy pants are doing alright. Some have gotten a little tight in the thigh area and obviously in the belly. I can fix the belly situation, having purchased one of the fabulous Be Band, Belly Band. I am quite surprised that I would have a little belly forming already, but I do! I am excited about it though, just surprised. Especially because I have not gained too much weight. According to Dr. H's scale, only 1 pound. Our scale shows about a 3 pound gain.

SHIRTS! Forget about it. My pre-pregnancy shirts are pretty much a loss cause for now. The boob area is like a sausage and then the bottoms do not come down far enough to cover the belly. Sexy, I know. If it were still summer, I would be able to get on some of tank tops and sleeve-less shirts, but entering October, that just isn't an option.

I am curious to know, when did other people have to start wearing maternity clothes?

Also, what are some staple items people suggest for a fall/winter maternity wardrobe? What are some of your favorite spots for maternity clothes?

Thankfully, I actually owned a couple maternity pieces before getting pregnant. (Hey, I was getting a little large--they were comfy!) Plus, I have one of the most wonderful Mumsy's in the world, who surprised me with some new pieces during our trip to Kansas. Today I have on a Target ensemble. Black dress pants and a long sleeve olive color form-fitting shirt. Both of which are VERY comfortable. The clothes Mumsy got me were from Kohls and I LOVE them. They are comfy and I have gotten lots of compliments on them!

Gestational diabetes

I was surprised during my first prenatal appointment that they were planning to test me for gestational diabetes in the next two weeks. I had already read about the test, which is usually given around the 28th week of pregnancy. I was scheduled for my first at week 10. Having previously been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, this puts me at risk for various health problems. One of them being an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes.

This form of diabetes affects approximately 10% of pregnant women. Essentially, because of the fabulous pregnancy hormones in your body, they begin to affect your bodies ability to make and use insulin. Insulin is what your body uses to convert the sugar from your food into energy.

For the test, you are given a sugar drink. You need to drink it within 5 minutes, then wait 1 hour before they can do the lab work. I had heard some horror stories from friends and family who had previously had to take this yummy drink, so I had built up a little anxiety about it. Low and behold, it was not bad. Now it was sugary!! It was like Hawaiian Punch. I managed to get it down and keep it down.

No news is usually good news. I have not heard anything from Dr H's office this week, so I have decided to assume that all tests were good :-)

Our Sunday

Hubs and I are spending our Sunday doing some much needed household cleaning. We've also begun to discuss the arrangement of the baby's room. I will have to draw a diagram and get it posted for people's input.

A little off from arrangements, but is a jungle theme not a good theme if the baby is a girl? We definitely want jungle for a boy, that is for sure. I am not really all about having a pink room should the baby turn out to be a girl. Decisions, decisions...

I still owe you all a post about the glucose screening test, which I will try and do this evening. Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!

I thought I had been scared in the past

Last night was one of the scariest nights of the pregnancy. Early yesterday evening I started to have vaginal bleeding. No details needed. Somehow details of blood are even too much information for me to share. Let me quickly let everyone know that both I and baby are confirmed to be fine. Now I will continue with my story.

I immediately began to cry and hyperventilate. Hubs attempted to relax me, but it really was not working. At one point I actually said, "I have a motherly instinct and I KNOW something is wrong." Well, we figured it would probably be best to call Dr.H's office. I left a message and Dr.H himself called me back. Seriously, when I answered the phone, he might as well have been God on the other end. He listened to me explain what was happening, and said that he did not believe I was having a miscarriage, but that I should be seen in the morning for an exam. I actually was already scheduled to go into the office at 9:00AM, so that worked out pretty well. I was given instructions that if bleeding became heavier than a menstrual cycle and/or developed cramping, I should go to the emergency room.

I slept horrible! Sleep, if that is what we should even call it last night, was limited. Occasionally I would "accidentally" nudge Hubs and he would say, "How are you doing?" to which I would respond, crying, "I am scared!". He never lost faith. He says he knew in his heart that everything would be ok, but definitely wanted the relief that would come with a visit to the doctor.

Thankfully, this mornings appointment validated Hubs feelings. Everything is fine with our little one. Cervix is thick and intact. They even did an ultrasound so I/they could see the heartbeat. Heartbeat was strong and little baby even had the hiccups. Mumsy says I had the hiccups all the time in the womb, so I wonder if our baby will be the same! Bleeding is not coming from the baby and is nothing to be worried about. It has already started to get lighter.

So here is baby at 10 weeks:

I think that our little baby resembles a teddy bear in this picture. It is much easier for me to point our the features that they showed me in the office in person, rather than explain them. You can see the head/face. One of the teddy bear features are the little ears that at this time are more at the top of the head, but move to the correct spots as the baby develops. You can see the hands. They said you could see legs, but I never could really make those out. It is amazing just how much baby has changed since the Week 6 ultrasound. It was very reassuring to be able to see the heartbeat and to even know baby had the hiccups. Probably had the hiccups from the glucose test drink I had just drank when I first got to the office.

Check back tomorrow to hear about the glucose screening test. We are so thankful everything is going well and SO thankful for Dr.H and his staff members!

What will today bring

Heading to Kansas

Since I last wrote, I had my first pre-natal appointment. Boy was that a long one! Just about an hour long. We went over lots of material, physical exam, blood work, etc... I was pretty excited though. Honestly, it is still hard to believe that we are finally pregnant! Well, I guess maybe it is not too hard to believe, given the symptoms/ailments I have been going through over the past few days!

WAY too much TMI for me to share...haha

So, I leave tomorrow morning for Kansas with Mumsy. SOOO excited to see Uncle Glenn and our Kansas family! Flying out of Norfolk in the morning, meeting up with Mumsy in Chicago, then onto Tulsa. From Tulsa, we'll drive to Parsons, KS. My constant need to use the bathroom shall be interesting...

I have the ok from the doctor to fly, but I am still nervous about it. Honestly, my biggest concern is the plane crashing!! Do you know how many plane crashes have been in the news in the last year alone?!? The last time that I flew was 2004. I guess I have a little bit of anxiety now since it has been awhile. My second biggest concern is developing another UTI and not being near Dr.H. But, something like that can be treated anywhere and maybe the office would even call something in??

So I started packing this morning. Some of the most important things will have to wait until morning...you know, Turk, eye covers, and ear plugs :-)

Have a good weekend everyone!

You have all waited patiently...

This was such an amazing moment for Hubs and I. We were able to see our baby's heartbeat on the ultrasound last week! It makes it that much more real for us. I also read a statistic today, (I know Cousin J, no internet research, right?) that once you can see the heartbeat on the ultrasound your risk of miscarriage is reduced to 2%. Pretty exciting and reassuring. It is hard not to worry about that sometimes. Especially when I was sick last week. I was so worried that I was not taking in and retaining enough nutrients for our little one.

Crazy Auntie and I were having a conversation today about just how many people infertility issues have affected just in the circle of people in our own community. I told a wonderful person who we work with occasionally today a little bit about Hubs and my story. She was so grateful to hear what we had gone through because she and her husband are also going through fertility issues right now. She said her hope has been renewed, which is so important at times. You get so caught up in the monthly processes and the dreaded two weeks waiting after ovulation, it is no wonder people don't get pregnant. We're so stressed! Crazy Auntie and I also discussed gluten or other food impacts upon the infertility issues of many people. It seems obvious that something is affecting the body's reproductive system.

P.S. Crazy Auntie essentially chose her own name :-) A few weeks ago, she was giving me some advice, and dubbed herself "Crazy Auntie". I am LOVING all the advice everyone (crazy or not), so keep it coming!

Hiatus

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days. As most may know, I have been a little under weather. Between recovering from the UTI, then an almost 3 day long migraine, followed by the beginning of morning sickness. Today was a productive and wonderful day. I only slept 5 hours, woke up at 5:00AM and proceeded right into morning sickness. Hubs was scared, not realizing what was going on. After that, I felt MUCH better! Ate great all day and really didn't even feel tired much. I am quite tired now though and will be getting to bed early this evening. Hopefully I will post the latest ultrasound pic for you tomorrow.

PS. We bought a couch today! We had an odd agreement, that once we got pregnant we would get a fouton/couch. Well, the fouton was quite uncomfortable, but we found an awesome couch $400.00 off for Labor Day sale!!

Week 6

Week 6 brought with it some illness, thankfully just for me and not the baby. Over this past weekend, I started to lose my appetite, which even pre-pregnancy was rare! Sunday I started to have this pressure on my bladder, and when I say pressure, I mean it felt like Santa Claus was sitting on my stomach. I have a tilted uterus that was discovered during Week 5's ultrasound, which can make you vulnerable to urinary tract infections and for anyone who does not know me, for 2 years my name was synonymous with urinary tract injection/kidney infections.

Monday morning I felt a lot better. I went to work and did my usual Monday morning routine and also did a first day orientation with one of our Fall semester interns. Literally all of a sudden I started to shake and was hot and cold. When I stood up and had to hold onto the wall not to fall over, I figured perhaps I should go home. I was running a low temperature, but held off on going to the doctor.

That night was rough. My lower back started to hurt, which I unfortunately know means the infection is spreading to the kidney. I called Dr.H's office in the morning and was seen later that afternoon. My suspicions were right, positive urinary tract infection, which based on the increased pain and sensitivity in my back, was beginning to spread to the kidney. I was given a shot which will boost my immune system and was given an antibiotic (which is safe to take during pregnancy). Let's just hope the oral antibiotics will clear it up without requiring a hospital visit for IV antibiotics. They explained that it takes more for the body to fight it off because it is essentially fighting off "for two". I need to continue to push fluids, which I have been doing and try and get my eating back on track.

Moral of the story for me is not to let things go, especially if your gut is telling you something is wrong. Dr H. let me know that it is definitely better to fight infections early on and he is confident that this infection will clear up. I didn't want to be "that pregnant woman". You know, the one who always thinks something is wrong and calls her OB-GYN office weekly or even daily.

Also, Dr. H did a physical exam as well and baby is doing great! No bleeding and the cramping I was experiencing of the last couple days is the uterus pushing on the bladder. When I use the bathroom, the uterus "sees" all this room to fill now that the bladder was using and tries to fill it. Essentially, I guess they are fighting for space. Sounds kind of funny to me. We have our ultrasound tonight too. I CANNOT WAIT!

Little side note on the tilted uterus for those who are curious. Apparently, it typically corrects itself during the first trimester. I will tell you this though, from now on it's cranberry juice everyday for me!

Boiling?

So, the Duggars are having a 19th child! My good friend Pooh sent me an email earlier today asking me if this makes me boil. Why yes, it does. I do not understand why a woman at 42 years of age, who has already been blessed 18 times and has a grandchild on the way, would continue to have children.

A few other pet peeves about the Duggars: the mother's voice makes my skin crawl and they preach how the live debt free. I would too if I pimped my kids out on national televison.