Thursday, August 29, 2013

Baby Blogging - First Trimester Re-Cap

During the first trimester, while we were still keeping our pregnancy a secret, it felt strange to blog about everything else going on, as if this amazing little miracle wasn't even happening inside me... so, I kept an old fashioned diary instead!  Well, as old fashioned as a Word Doc on my desktop can get (which I Googled out of curiosity and Microsoft Word goes all the way back to 1983... pre-Amanda!).  I wrote this for our unborn bundle of joy, not with our normal Blog following audience in mind, so please excuse the "Mommy" talk.  ;)


Week 4 – Wow!  What a surprise!  We found out we were expecting you the day after Mother’s Day (5/13), and I couldn’t have been more giddy with excitement.  Your brother took a long time to come, and we were hoping to be blessed with you sooner than later, but neither of us thought you’d come so quickly, and boy are we glad you did!


Week 5 – The secret had to be spilled a little sooner than we would have liked… we are going to the Outer Banks with the Elston family next week, and they will know something is up if I’m not sharing in the adult festivities and avoiding the hot tub.  So, we told Aunt Amanda, Gram and Pop in anticipation of the vacation.

Week 6 – OBX – We spent this week (5/25-6/1) in North Carolina and it was a very nice break from work and our usual routine.  It also gave me a little bit of a chance to relax with the extra help from Gram, Pop and Aunt Amanda with Andrew.  I was very tired and had a few bouts of not feeling so hot, but otherwise it was a great week.
Can you tell I'm pregnant yet?
How about here?  What's Pop's excuse?  :)
Week 7 – I’ve been feeling very, very tired.  Part of that is due to recovering from our long travel back from NC, but I definitely don’t remember being this tired with Andrew.  Daddy keeps reminding me that the first time around I could sleep when I wanted to, and Andrew doesn’t exactly let me take naps!  J

Week 8:
June 11th - First doctor’s visit and first time seeing you!  Daddy and I met with our new doctor in California today, and we both really liked her and the office.  Dr. Salata is super nice and fairly young, but seems very knowledgeable.   (Your father liked her because she laughed at his jokes and was impressed by his degree.)  We did an ultrasound and saw your tiny little body and flashing heart beat – you looked like a gummy bear!  It was the doctor’s first time using their brand new ultrasound machine – so you were her first baby on that machine!  They gave us a little care package and sent us on our way with my blood work papers and a referral to see you again at 13 weeks. We can’t wait! 
The two plus signs are measuring head to "tail" of the baby.

June 13th – Dr. Salata called with news that my thyroid is hypoactive – meaning I am not producing enough of a certain hormone.  Although this is an easy fix of a daily pill, it was scary getting the call that she had to talk to me about my blood work.  She referred me to an Endocrinologist, and I will need to get blood work done every month to make sure my levels are okay, but its all worth it if it means you are healthy!   (This also explains why I was soooo tired!)

Week 9 – If you can believe it, I already pulled out my maternity clothes to find pants that fit better!  They say that with second babies, your belly pops sooner… I just didn’t expect it this soon!
 
 

June 20th – I met my new Endocrinologist today – Dr. Kaur.  She was very nice, but did scare me a little because she gave me the actual numbers of my thyroid levels… and I didn’t really ask what they meant or just how bad the numbers are.  Apparently, the hormone should be within 2-2.5 range, and mine was at 4.7.  She ordered more blood tests to see if I was getting another Free Form hormone that would help counteract the levels of this one and said she’d see me every month to test my levels and make sure no adjustments to my medication are needed.  So, after my blood test, I of course, went home and Googled… bad idea.  I called Dr. Salata the next day and left her a message saying I was concerned and hoped to chat with her, and she called me back within an hour.  She was very reassuring and told me that she has had women with levels at 25, so 4.7 is not a big deal.  She also told me that she sees this quite frequently and all of the bad things I was reading were for women with uncontrolled thyroid issues.  Later that same day, Dr. Kaur called and said my blood work showed I was getting the other hormone, and my levels are already back to 2.8 since being on the medication.  What a relief!  I already feel less tired and weak too, so this is good news!
The Endocrinologist had an ultrasound machine in her office...
I was so hoping it meant another chance to see you, but no such luck. 
Week 10 – So much for feeling less tired and weak - I had a 24 hour stomach bug this week!  I was so healthy with Andrew, that I’m really thrown off by these issues and just can’t wait to hear your heart beating and see you on the ultrasound again.

Week 11 (July 2nd - 8th) – You are the size of an apricot this week!  Although my belly is getting so big, I’m sure I could convince someone that you are at least an avocado, if not a grapefruit!  I’ve actually had cravings for food with you, which I really don’t remember having with your brother… but let’s just say your Dad is lucky that we live so far from the grocery store, I think he’d be making frequent stops!  The first 9 weeks I lived on Goldfish, cheese curls and lots of junk food!  Now, I am finding that I crave junk less, but do get very specific ideas of what sounds really good at that exact moment… last night was pizza (specifically Italian Delights Pepperoni Pizza from Doylestown), other times its watermelon, popsicles, or cupcakes.  Ok, maybe it’s not any less junk food... no wonder I'm popping already!

Week 12 - July 9th  You are the size of a lime this week!  I saw Dr. Salata this week for my 12 Week Check-up, and got to hear your heartbeat!  We could hear both of our heartbeats at the same time – mine slow and steady, yours fast and strong.  We then found a place to hear yours where mine wasn’t interfering, and she said you were well within the normal range (which is quite a range, and no, she didn’t give me a specific number) and sounded great…. I couldn’t agree more!


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