Week 10 Survey, Week 11 Belly Picture

How far along? 10 Weeks

Baby is the size of? A prune

Maternity clothes? I bought some that I’m excited to wear but I've just tried them on. No need for them yet.  

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep: I still sleep a lot but naps alleviate the need to sleep 10 hours a night.     

Best moment this week: Showing the first ultrasound picture to one of my best friends and my parents.   

Miss Anything? Dad had a margarita at dinner the other night and for once, I didn't feel like I wanted to throw up at the thought of alcohol.  I wanted a sip but didn't have too big of a craving for it.     

Movement: None    

Food cravings: Chocolate pudding.    

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still nuts.  But this week, nothing has been too bad (other than the smell of the left over’s in the fridge).

Gender: Unknown

Labor Signs: None. 

Symptoms: Hungry about every hour.  Emotional.  

Belly Button in or out? It’s in.

Wedding rings on or off? Still on.  

Happy or Moody most of the time: Again: Emotional

Looking forward to: The next doctor’s appointment.   

Week 8 Survey: I hate nuts!

How far along? 8 Weeks

Baby is the size of? A raspberry

Maternity clothes? Not yet, but I don’t feel like getting out of my lounge-y clothes

Stretch marks? None

Sleep: I’m sleeping about 10 hours a night 6 days a week and then having a night of restless sleep.     

Best moment this week: Realizing our first appointment is coming up soon.  

Miss Anything? My appetite and feeling at 100%   

Movement: None    

Food cravings: No overwhelming cravings this week.    

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nuts, some cheeses, chicken

Gender: Unknown

Labor Signs: None. 

Symptoms: I’m peeing all the time, nausea, I’m also hungry about every hour.  

Belly Button in or out? Innie!

Wedding rings on or off? Still on.  

Happy or Moody most of the time: Content

Looking forward to: Telling my closest friends.   

11-11

My first doctor appointment was at 8 weeks, just a few weeks after we told our parents and siblings. It was nerve wracking because this was all so new.  We went straight into the room where they do the ultrasounds.  Ben paced around and stood by the door, about 5 feet away from the chairs meant for him.  Maybe he thought my lady parts would be on display.  The ultrasound was so amazing.  You could see the heart beating, and the outline of the baby.  For a few weeks, I called baby a Sour Patch Kid because the shape was exactly like my favorite candy!

The best part of the appointment was when the ultrasound tech said, "And your due date is..... 11-11".  And we turned to each other and smiled.  

11 11 is sort of a special thing for Ben and I.  When we were dating and living in two different towns, we would talk almost every night on the phone.  One of us would ask what time it is, and it was almost always 11:11pm.  Because of this, we got married at 11:11am the day of our wedding.  We try and go on a date every year on November 11th.  So you could see why we were excited.  Though it is unlikely that our baby will actually be welcomed into the world on that date, it's so fun and makes me smile when I get to tell people my due date.  

Back Story

Many of you do not know I am considered to be a slightly high risk pregnancy.  Here is the back story (warning: be prepared for a dramatic telling, thanks to my 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Miller!):


Junior High was a time of changes.  Among those were a changing body and school sports.  At this time I started noticing bum ankles, knees, elbows, etc, but we blamed it on body changes and sports injuries. Going into High School, things never got better.  For basketball, I wore an ankle brace.  For volleyball, I wore a knee brace.  After my freshman year, I had a cyst removed in my ankle and under the cyst was a torn tendon.  Disappointment set in when I realized I would be in a cast and boot for the rest of the summer, and as a result of the boredom, I dyed my hair fuschia (I looked for a picture and couldn't find one, I'll try and scan one tonight).

Here's the hair! Ignore how puffy I look, I didn't get to 

work out much that summer!

Fast forward a few years.  It was 2008, I was married and living in Boise, ID.  At my yearly check-up, I happened to mention the joint pain and the lumps in my neck/ear area, where my salivary glands are.  The doctor had a hunch and had my blood taken to check for a disease.  Results came back positive: I have Sjogren's Syndrome.


So here's a little info on my disease:


It is an autoimmune disease (most of which are passed down; my dad has vitiligo: a disease that destroys the color cells of the skin).  There is no cure, only medication to slow the progression.  Most commonly, it is found in women in their 50's and older.  Primarily, it affects my moisture producing glands.  From the dryness in my salivary glands, the ducts would get blocked and causes the lumps.  I've never been comfortable wearing contacts because my eyes are so dry.  And lastly, the spaces in my joints have difficulty with lubrication which causes pain.


I am very grateful to have found out that I have this disease.  Thankfully, I can slow the progression and I know the consequences of having a baby.  Keep in mind that the following risk factors are very minimal and that my doctor, who specializes in high risk pregnancies, gave me the go-ahead to start a family. Baby has a slight risk in being born with congenital heart defects.  As I get further in the pregnancy, if baby does have problems we will know before delivery and I will be delivering in Denver (will keep you posted).  The other small risk factor is that baby may have infant lupus.  If this happens, we will be watching baby but once his/her immune system kicks in, it will get rid of the lupus.


At the recommendation of my rheumatologist (yes, I'm 24 and have a joint doctor), I scheduled pre-conception counselling back in January.  "How long do you think it will take for me to get pregnant?" I asked.  The doctor, his nurse, and a resident all gave me anywhere from a month to a year for my current medication to wear off.  And in less than a week, I was pregnant!


That's my story! For more info on Sjogren's Syndrome, please go to: http://www.sjogrens.org/

Week 7 Survey

How far along? 7 Weeks

Baby is the size of? A blueberry

Maternity clothes? Nope

Stretch marks? No but my skin is getting a little itchy.

Sleep: Still sleeping 9-10 hours a night. I get very sleepy at about 9pm.   

Best moment this week: A friend said to us “Just think, you could have one of these” referring to their baby.  Ben and I just smiled at each other, because we still haven’t told many people yet.   

Miss Anything? Eating food.   

Movement: Nothing, still cramping a little.    

Food cravings: Fruit, bread, sprite, ginger ale.  

Anything making you queasy or sick: Almost everything.  Chicken, beef, fish, turkey, nuts, most cheese.

Gender: Unknown

Labor Signs: None. 

Symptoms: Nausea, cramping, fatigue, frequent urination.  

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Still on.  

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy but stressed that I have lost weight and am hungry but nauseous all of the time.    

Looking forward to: Telling close friends, eating food. 

Baby was the size of a blueberry at 7 weeks

6 Week Survey

This is a survey I saw on another mom-to-be blog.  Some of the questions may change or there may be ones added as the pregnancy goes on.  

How far along? 6 Weeks

Baby is the size of? A lentil

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? I hope not!

Sleep: Sleeping about 10 hours a night, though I’m a little crampy at bedtime. 

Best moment this week: Realizing 2 of my brothers would be uncles for the first time! 

Miss Anything? My appetite.

Movement: None yet, just cramping from my stomach expanding.  

Food cravings: French fries, teddy grahams, cereal

Anything making you queasy or sick: Almonds

Gender: Unknown

Labor Signs: None. 

Symptoms: Nausea, cramping, fatigue.  

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Still on.  

Happy or Moody most of the time: Excited but can get stressed easily.  

Looking forward to: Being able to tell my closest friends (On the day of my first appointment, April 3!)

Welcome!

As a frequent Facebook user, I know how overwhelming it can be to keep up on all the details of a friend's life.  Sometimes there is so much information coming at you at one time. You may love it, or you may hate it.  For those who hate it, I decided to create a blog where I can feel free to post as much information about my life (and pregnancy!) as I want without spamming others' Facebook wall.

So may I officially welcome you! I will probably post recipes, pictures, and a little survey I've been filling out once a week since I was 6 weeks pregnant. Other random things may appear, because some days my mind wanders.  

As a fair warning, I love to use parentheses, aka "round brackets" (who doesn't like a good parentheses?) And as another note, I am using this as a way to communicate about my life, but I am a semi-private person so you won't find out every detail about my life.  

Have fun and bug me if you need an update!  I will leave you with our very first ultrasound picture! 

We call this our sour patch kid photo.  When you flip the picture over, baby looks like a sour patch kid!