Public Knowledge

Last week we officially started telling people about the pregnancy. It was a lot of fun to share our news with people we see every day and people we haven't talked to in ages. It was especially great to hear from so many old friends. I think my favorite response was from our friend Mimi who said, "You can now join the club of sleepless nights...You've had entirely too much sleep over the past 10 years!" Too funny. True, but funny none the less. :-)

I told everyone at work last Wednesday and my email inbox was flooded with emails within a couple minutes of sending out my firm-wide announcement. But, it is now pretty much back to normal...although I did answer the question "Have you had any morning sickness?" about 6 times yesterday!

One thing I didn't expect was a growing uncertainty that everything was progressing normally. It's particularly hard right now because except for being a little tired, I pretty much feel back to normal. And now that everything is public knowledge, a little paranoia set in. So much so, that I even looked up more information about miscarriage on babycenter. Fortunately, the information I found was more reassuring than scary. They basically said that if you are asymptomatic, which is the case with me, and you were able to see the heartbeat on a sonogram at 9 weeks, the chance of anything happening at this point is very, very slim. Yay! So, now I just need to be patient and know that this baby is growing as fast as it can and soon I will KNOW Lloyd's in there. (In fact, I probably should enjoy it now, while I can still sleep on my stomach if I want to!)

Speaking of 9th week sonograms, here's Lloyd's:

Symptoms So Far

I thought I'd try to go back a little and record some of my pregnancy-related "experiences" so far. Like I told the doctor, I really can't complain. I haven't been entirely comfortable the last 8 weeks, but compared to what some others go through, I'm not going to complain one bit.

The only real nausea I experienced was from the end of the 5th week through the 6th week. I was pretty much nauseous all day long, but I found as long as I kept a little something in my stomach, I could keep it at bay. I never did have true morning sickness and have been fortunate to be able to keep all my meal down, although some have been easier than others.

So far, I haven't had too many food aversions, but there have been a couple instances of random "I don't want it". Its not the smells (or at least I haven't noticed it being that) but just a random certainties that I will die if I have to put food X in my mouth. One day it was even the fish tacos I've been craving all morning. I finally sit down and nope not only did I not want them any more, they grossed me out. But I had just ordered my lunch and the last thing I was going to do was throw it out, so I ate them (well most of them)...and haven't wanted a fish taco since. I think the saddest thing that fits into this category is quinoa. Quinoa is something I'd been meaning to try forever. Its super healthy and one of the recommended pregnancy foods, so we finally got some at the very early stages of my pregnancy. I really enjoyed it with my dinner and as leftovers the next day, but now, no way.

I think along similar food lines has been my inability to plan meals, because what I don't want can drastically change from one day to the next, it has been very hard for us to do our normal grocery shopping. We eat most dinners at home and generally did our week's shopping on Sundays. Now I have no idea what I'm going to feel like and I don't want to spend money on foods that might go to waste. So, we've been having to make a few more mid-week store runs than normal and it is helping.

The meals are also challenging when I have had to limit the size of my dinner. Around week 8 to the beginning of week 10, I was getting really full at night. I was so uncomfortable, I was having trouble sleeping. It felt like I ate a huge Thanksgiving meal and the went to bed...every night...even with the fairly small portions we usually eat at dinner. Eating smaller meals did help and the full sensation has decreased dramatically over the last week or so, which means, I can actually get back to sleep after my required trip(s) to the bathroom.

Hmm, what else...I think the only other thing I haven't mentioned (except for my craving for Honey Nut Cheerios) is my energy level. I haven't had consistent problems with exhaustion, but random days. Fourth of July weekend was one of them. I had grand plans to do a lot of cleaning out and organization and ended up just sleeping. I also got really tired during some errands we ran on Friday. I knew I was getting tired, but had no idea how tired I was until I started crying after biting my lip. It was straight to bed with me and after a good nap, I started to feel human again!

Inaugural Post

After more than 10 years of marriage, we finally decided to take the plunge and start our family. We are super excited and are really looking forward to everything that is to come...except maybe the diaper changing part.

I'm currently starting my 11 week and have more or less just finished telling everyone about the pregnancy. Things are going well and most of the uncomfortable early-pregnancy symptoms have mellowed out now. We are scheduled for another OB visit in a couple weeks where hopefully we will be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time.

Oh, and I suppose I should explain the baby name in the countdown widget to the right. If we have a boy, Lloyd will most likely be the baby's middle name. Its Brad's grandpa's name and his middle name, too, so we'd like to keep it in the family. My friend Shannon subsequently dubbed this little baby I'm carrying "Lloyd", and honestly I'd much rather use a name to associate with this little guy rather than just calling it "it" or "the baby" all the time...or at least until we can pick "its" real name.

I suppose that's all for now. I had to start someplace and this is as good a place as any.