Baby's room

I have to give credit where credit is due. The nursery is courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Woods (my parent's). Aunt Sandra purchased the chandelier over the crib and Derrin and Doug tirelessly installed the light. Over Christmas Doug and Lani worked for three days straight, painting walls, trim, installing the chair rail, new light fixtures, and hanging all the shelves. We have gone with a simple yellow and green Pooh Bear theme. This will tie in great with the fact that we are not finding out the sex. No Pink or Blue here :0)

Doug and Lani came out again at the end of February and Lani and I purchased the valances and the pooh bear painting for the room.

Now it's on to registering...

Month 5 here we come...

So I'm rounding the corner on month 5. And I finally get to say I have a belly. It's just enough for me to start sharing. I go today to hear the heart beat again. At our last check up the HB was 154. So for all of you out there who think you can tell boy or girl, this little one is right in the middle. We are still holding strong on not finding out the sex. Sorry Amy :0)

Here' s my belly so far.

Todays check up has the hb @ 147, and in the same spot that has been jabbing me all morning.

2nd Trimester - Wooo Hooo

Yeah I'm finally there, 14 weeks and I feel amazing. Now don't get me wrong I still get a bit tired, but then again, I am working 10 hour days. I was reading the other night about what is happening now and how the baby is developing. It's all pretty amazing, what true a miracle this is. The best part about all of this is my drive. If I want to do something I do it. I don't have to muster up the energy to do something. As a matter of fact I have cleaned my house, done the laundry, washed the dogs, made dinner (almost every night of the week), hosted a Super Bowl party and took care of Derrin. And that was just one weekend. And then there is the belly. Some day soon I will post a picture of my belly. I am still getting used to it so that will have to wait. So these next 13 weeks I get to look forward to my belly growing, great energy, feeling the baby move and sharing that with Derrin and preparing for the 3rd trimester which lands me right into summer.

Preparation for Baby... Or is it

My wonderful, loving husband had knee surgery on the 23rd, and for the most part it's been rather uneventful. However, I have been given the chance to do it all. Work, cook, clean, take care of the dogs, and take care of him. He is actually a good patient, a bit needy though. But as I clime into bed I lay there wondering if this is what it's going to be like with a little one around. I'm sure it will be different (a bit) but I'm not sure how much. I am blessed that Derrin normally takes care of the dogs. But with Derrin non weight bearing for 6 weeks, my mornings and nights have really changed. Instead of my nice 30 mins in the am to get up, get ready, eat and get in the care. It now takes me and hour and a half. Are you kidding me!!! Getting me, the house and him ready in the morning takes for ever. I'm glad I have simplified my routine. Then I get home, get him more ice, clean up, make dinner, clean up again, change the laundry, put laundry away. And maybe get to sit for about an hour (not all at once though). However, last night, I was in no mood to cook or clean, so we went to dinner (that's a whole other story :0)
By the time we got home it was 615, 28 degrees (that's cold for TX) and sleeting. I couldn't help my self I got on the couch, with both the dogs, and fell asleep. It was a great nap. I needed it. But I'm guessing with a little one around, naps like that aren't easy to come by.
Oh how our lives are going to change. What a strange new world we are getting ready to enter into.

Flutter or Fantasy

After a very long night of cooking, cleaning, walking the dogs and listening to Derrin fight with the computer I finally decided it was time to get in bed. It was about 10 pm, my normal time, but tonight I was really tired. This was a new tired to me, tired from actually doing instead of just being tired. As I get into bed and find that right position, I relax. As I am laying there I feel something "flutter" inside. Well having never been through this before I am not sure that what I felt was the baby or well something else :0)
I laid there for another minute or so wanting for it to come back, but nothing. I told Derrin about it and he of course thinks it was just my tummy talking to me; we had Lasagna last night, yummmmm.
So I put my eye mask on and went to sleep. As any current mother will understand, sleeping and being pregnant don't really go hand in hand. Apparently this is preparing you for the rest of your life of sleepless nights. So at 315 am I get up, go to the Lou, and get back into bed. As I lay back down again and relax, there was that flutter again.
My feeling is that even though I may be a bit early to feel this, I do believe I did. My mom has always said I was very in tune to my body. I think this is one of those times were it will pay off.

12 weeks and counting. But missing my sypmtoms. Is that weird?

I am finally at point were I feel good, so why do I miss my symptoms? I had a great weekend this weekend. I cleaned, I shopped, I went over to friends to play poker, and I didn't die. It was great. My appetite is back and I have energy, but I feel lost with out my pregnancy symptoms.
What is great is my energy. I get to walk the dogs at night for 40 min and still have energy when I get home. It's like me again, but with weight gain instead of loss.
I do however get nervous that something must be wrong. I would really like to relax. I have my next sono on the 5th of Feb were I get to see the little one then. Maybe once I get that sono I will relax for a day or two, then on to worrying for another 3 weeks until my next sono.
You know the best part about being this far along, is the stupidity. I'm told it doesn’t' go away and only gets worse. That can't be. I forget simple words and phrases. I try to talk and it comes out gibberish, making no sense at all. It's awesome.

Our journey to conceive and making it through the 1st trimester

Our journey started about 3 years ago, trying to figure out why my cycles were off. After many months and a few to many drugs later, my OB felt that there was nothing more she could do and suggested we go see Texas Fertility Clinic. We met with Dr. Vaughn in Sept 07.
This was a tough year to start. My parents moved out of my childhood home, my grandmother was very ill and eventually passed away, and I was faced with a chance to try and conceive a baby. After a few more months of tests and new drugs, and an IUI we became pregnant on Nov 16. We were both so excited, this was what we were waiting for.
But after 7 weeks our little one left us. I was devastated to say the least. We waited a few months to get life back in order before trying again. We had 2 more IUI's that didn't work. At this point it was April 08 and I was sure I needed a break. To much pain to deal with. I took the next 6 months to exercise, loose weight, eat right and get my heart back in the right place.
September rolled around and I felt we could give it a chance; another IUI and another negative, ugh. October, I did 5 days of Clomid and Dr. Vaughn told me there we nothing; no eggs, no lining, nothing, and that we should try injectables. 11 days on injectables and we were anticipating doing IVF, but the ultrasound showed one large, strong egg. We did IUI on Nov 9th and by Nov 22 I hadn't started my cycle. I went and got my blood drawn and we were pregnant again. But the happiness shortly turned into fear. "What if this baby didn't make it like the last"? "Will I be able to be strong"? I got my blood drawn week after week and by the 5th week they were happy. We scheduled my first US to see the Heartbeat. It was a Thursday, @ 330. Why I made it for such a late appointment I will never know. As I lay there on the bed anxiously waiting I feared the worst. My heart was pounding as Dr. Vaughn walked into the room. We went to look for the little one, and there is was, heart beat and all. I cried... Just laid there and cried. Happy tears. I got to take home pictures of our little one and put them on the fridge. It was amazing. We scheduled on more visit for 9 weeks, after that I would go to my OB for future check ups. At 9 weeks the baby was doing great, strong and moving a ton. I was sad to leave Dr. Vaughn but it's a good feeling to be graduating to an OB. I saw Dr. Mingea on Jan 8 for my 10-11 week us. This was a big physical too. I will spare you all the details :0) I saw our little one again, this time there was legs, arms, a HUGE head and tiny little body. So here I am 11w5d, ready to get to the 2nd trimester.