Seventeen Weeks 2.0

Holy.Cow. I feel PREGNANT this week. I think I've been living mostly in denial and misery nausea land bc until now I keep forgetting I'm pregnant. NOT ANYMORE!

I think we are finally on the mend from the plague that hit us for most of the month of February. I truly was starting to lose my mind from being so ill and cooped up so thank the Lord for that.

The weather has been sunny (but windy! )and we have been spending every waking moment outside. Sam loves it and throws the biggest fit every day when I make him come inside.

I had my 16 week appointment on Tuesday and it was mostly uneventful. Dr. Bunjer (the np) found baby's heartbeat with the doppler and, as always, that was a sweet and wonderful sound. Baby's heart rate was 155 bpm which is right where Sam's always was so my boy vibes got a little boost. My blood pressure was a great 109/70 but my heart rate was fast again...117 this time which I am pretty sure is just odd for me. When I mentioned it, Dr. said it wasn't anything to worry about necessarily unless I was feeling faint or heart pounding all the time. I have felt both of those things at least weekly so I am supposed to keep a log of my resting heart rate three times a day until my next appointment.

Other than that, everything looked fine. I went ahead and got the quad screen done to test for genetic and neural tube abnormalities. The outcome wouldn't change anything for me except I'd feel more prepared to deal with the possibility of having a special needs child. I am a planner. I should have results by now but the Dr said no news is good news so I'm hoping we are in the clear there. I do truly love Kaiser for one reason only: they have specially trained phlebotomists in a lab just to draw your blood. I got poked and bruised and abused so many times last pregnancy and so far this time, both sticks I've had were successful (and gentle) on the first try and they don't complain about my veins. AMAZING!

I am supposed to drink a protein shake every day to try to get my weight up. I'm so thin that the Dr could tell me exactly what was the baby's head and butt through my belly. so cool! She also said she could feel baby moving around even though I couldn't at that point. ..but just a few days later and WHOAAA baby movement!

Symptoms: the motherload this week! Heartburn, horrible hip and leg pain, fullness after just a few bites of food, my insides feel pushed around already!, crazy sense of smell, ITCHY BOOBS (no real milk there anymore though I can get a drop if I squeeze)  and some lower abdominal aches and pains I need a heating pad! Most fun of all is the blacking out in public places. it's happened four times now where I either had to quickly bail into fresh air or literally sit on the floor of whatever store lm in until it passes. :(
Weight: 133 this week so thankfully already up a little from hell week.
Sleep: ugh. insomnia has struck big time. Sam is also being ridiculous this week. zzzz
Food Cravings: really nothing but I do have a little appetite back. I'm still loving blue Gatorade and salty French fries.
Best Moment this week: hearing my sweet baby's heartbeat galloping away and...
Movement: yes! I went from random flutters to full on stomach dropping flips. it feels like I'm on a roller coaster sometimes. so strange! I can feel baby from the outside too when I'm laying down.
Labor signs: nope
Gender: three more weeks til we find out!
Belly button: getting flatter
What do I miss: being able to button ny pants! it's finally time to suck it up and go buy some maternity pants
What am I looking forward to: our anatomy scan. scheduled for st. Patrick's day! that's significant bc Sam is my little lucky charm baby. It seems so special to me.
Milestones: Feeling my first baby flips from the inside and out!

Sixteen Weeks 2.0

After recovering from our awful flu bug, we all were lucky enough to then be immediately stricken with a devil stomach virus from hell! What kind of luck is that?! I've been feeling very sorry for myself this week.

It all started on last Friday when Sam suddenly started screaming and acting inconsolable. He then vomited all over me and seemed back to his happy self. Pregnant me had to try hard not to vomit myself. At the time, I thought it was mucus related. But on Monday, I started having diarrhea. ..and that didn't stop until Friday! I was miserable and so over not being able to go anywhere for fear of when my bowels would betray me. Right when  I was starting to feel better, we had another terrifying and horrific vomit incident with Sam on Friday night.

Josh and I spent our Valentine's Day being soaked in and mopping up what seemed like gallons of puke. it was so very romantic. Sam slept through the night and woke up perfectly fine so God help us, I THINK it is FINALLY over. PLEASE, please be over.

I actually forgot I was pregnant the last week bc I was so distracted by all the suckage going on around me.  I am so ready for spring a n d to just throw the windows open and air out this sick house. I'm cooped up, grumpy and SO OVER the constant illness. I guess that's life with a kid?

Symptoms: Besides the awful stomach bug symptoms I really haven't noticed anything new this week.
Weight: I'm all the way down to 131. :( I couldn't hold any nutrients IN for a week and still my aversions are going strong. I know this will be an issue at my appointment on Tuesday.
Sleep: We have slept the week away. I've actually slept better this week than in a long time bc Sam had been sleeping well due to being sick. go figure.
Food Cravings: blah. the only thing I could tolerate this week was rotisserie chicken breast and baked potatoes. both with lots of salt (my electrolytes are obviously off) oh and Blue Gatorade
Best Moment this week: I got nothing.
Movement: Embarrassing enough, I only really feel baby after sexy time. Sorry for disturbing you in there, baby!
Labor signs: nope
Gender: Four more weeks til we find out!
Belly button: Back in now that I've lost do much weight
What do I miss: feeling healthy. not worrying whether any of us are going.to relapse
What am I looking forward to: My appointment on Tuesday
Milestones: uh...first stomach virus with Sam. I could've skipped that one. I swear I still smell puke.
Weekly Wisdom: Don't breathe deeply when holding your vomiting child. Stay calm. Don't give in to the gag reflex. blahhh.  next week will be better, right? !

Fifteen Weeks 2.0

Well, this has been the week from hell. Josh was kind enough to share his illness with Sam and I. We have basically been worthless, sad bums all week. Now that we are finally starting to emerge from the depths of misery, I'm almost positive that it was the flu. It lasts a good week and a half: fever, sore throat, exhaustion, cough, horrendous headache, tons of drainage and it ends with a few days of sneezing nonstop and nose running like a faucet.

The worst part for me has been not being able to take anything that really helps. I haven't event able to shake the horrible sinus headache for days and Tylenol just doesn't touch it.

We reached a super awesome milestone last night.  Sam threw up on me for the first time. Let me just say, I'm not great with puke in general but when it's your own baby, you just want to make sure they're okay. I didn't even care until the smell hit me. Then the pregnancy gag reflex tried to betray me. Poor baby. I think all his drainage upset his tummy and made him choke bc he just threw up all snot and thankfully not the dinner he'd eaten earlier. :p

Its funny how this time, I have no time or energy to stress about every little pregnancy thing. I don't even know what "fruit" baby is this week! gasp!

Our weaning journey came to an abrupt end with this illness. Meh. We will figure it out eventually.

Symptoms: Besides the flu symptoms this week, I've really only noticed some heartburn and an increasing urge to pee every five seconds.
Weight: Hanging in at 135. Sigh.
Sleep: Well this week, pure exhaustion has won out for all of us. Sam and I have slept many days away.
Food Cravings: Buttered toast and orange juice. That's all I want.
Best Moment this week: uhh...
Movement: I got some definite flutters and wiggles the other night but nothing regular yet.
Labor signs: no
Gender: ?
Belly button: starting to poke out at the top a little
What do I miss: cold medicine!
What am I looking forward to: next weeks appointment. feeling better!
Milestones: um, being puked on? oh wait. that doesn't count. Nothing really new this week
Weekly Wisdom: don't just swig benadryl from the bottle unless you want to be dead to the world. lol. Josh wasn't very pleased with me

Fourteen Weeks 2.0

I have FINALLY been feeling much better. There are daily bouts of nausea and not much appetite still but I feel like a new woman.

I actually stopped taking my Zofran daily in hopes of moving things along digestively speaking and though the nausea hits, it has been bearable with some deep breathing and sips of cold water.

Unfortunately, Josh brought home a cold this week so we've all been grumpy with sore throats and headaches. The worst part for me is the drainage and scratchy throat.  Blah. Hopefully it vacates the premises soon.

We have made big progress on the weaning front. Sam was down to just before naps and at bedtime which I was willing to sustain for awhile. Then suddenly, he decided he had to be attached to my boob all night. Pregnancy irritability plus the grating feeling of constant sucking on an already sore nipple pushed me off the deep end. Quite abruptly the other night, I got fed up and cut him off. Four hours of screaming later, he was sleeping.  I determined to wean him quickly for my sanity and he's responded better than I imagined.  He drank lots of milk from a sippy yesterday and ended up sleeping through the night last night! I almost died of shock.

I cried for HOURS yesterday over the thought of weaning Sam.  Its all a healthy part of growing up. Its been 21 beautiful months of bonding with my baby and giving him the best possible nutrition. I needed to take a step back and realize I was just being a martyr for the cause and no longer enjoying it and it was just no longer WORKING for us at night. It's time for both of us to let go of nursing as a crutch. So I will continue not offering during the day, refusing to nurse him during the night and working with him in getting to sleep without nursing and hopefully we will be done easily and happily soon.

Symptoms: nausea, back pain, random RLP and heartburn!
Weight: 135. I wonder if I'll ever gain any weight!
Sleep: Hopefully much better soon as we wean Sam
Food Cravings: not really feeling much of anything this week except buttered toast. I thought muddy buddies sounded good one day so I made them and was immediately disgusted by them. Sam and Josh were happy to take over for me.
Best Moment this week: Sam sleeping through the night for the first time since he was like two months old! Too bad I kept waking up to check on him!
Movement: I really haven't felt much from this baby for a few weeks. every now and then I'll think I feel something but not often. I hate this stage of pregnancy where you don't know if baby is okay in there without the big kicks and thumps!
Labor signs: nope
Gender: no idea yet
Belly button: the top of my belly button sticks out a little now
What do I miss: being able to have a glass of wine or margarita.
What am I looking forward to: Our next appointment in two weeks. I want to make sure everything looks good still!
Milestones: Getting closer to weaning, first maternity pants bought!
Weekly Wisdom: if it sounds good, eat it. who knows when you'll want to eat something again.