13 weeks today!

I can't believe I've arrived at the 13th week!  The Lord has been so merciful to the three of us.

There seems to be conflicting points of view as to when the second trimester officially begins, but I'm going by my lovely midwife's wisdom: Today I've arrived at the wonderful and beautiful second trimester of pregnancy! 
Praise God.

Most marked difference?  Well, the nausea went from bad, to worse, to... where is it?  Yesterday and today I woke up without that horrible nauseated feeling.  I braced myself and waited for it to come, but it never did.  Of course it's nice to say [a temporary?] goodbye my old friend "nausea", but it's a little nerve-racking to lose symptoms.. They say losing symptoms is the first sign of miscarriage.  But I need to rest in the fact that I'm far enough along to where symptoms often fade.  I also had my familiar pregnancy headache last night that wouldn't go away without a long night's sleep. 

I'm nervous that I've been having a little too much caffeine lately though, but I think it's ok..  I've been incorporating a little more meat and veggies into my diet as well.  Hallelujah.  There's nothing worse than eating poorly and feeling down-right guilty the entire time. 
Pregnancy is NOT easy! 

I showed the ultrasound pictures to some friends and family and they all enjoyed a sneak-peak.  At this stage in the game, babies are kinda funny-looking on screen:  A friend of mine swears I'm giving birth to Spider Man.  I guess that's not the worst that can happen..

The size of our beautiful baby at 13 weeks?

A peach!! 

 I'm thrilled because peaches have been a staple of my diet for at least 3 weeks now. 

How fitting.

12 weeks!

So today we're celebrating 12 weeks of pregnancy.  Wow.

And yesterday I got my first ultrasound done!  A friend of mine from our church works at a pregnancy center and she invited me in for an ultrasound.  I had no idea they could do abdominal ultrasounds this early in the game.. but what do I know?  All I know was the experience was grand, and I got to SEE our little baby in my stomach!  Scott couldn't make it because he's in the police academy until October, but Sarah and Tabitha were good company.  Tabitha was the nurse who did my ultrasound and she told me to come back "whenever I wanted" to get another one done.  I sure will!

They sent me home with a bunch of pictures and a 25-minute DVD of our baby.  For the most part, our baby was pretty still, but he/she moved around a good bit and we got some great shots.  The heartbeat is still strong at 160-something BPM and we could see two hands, two legs, two arms.. etc.  I couldn't believe it!  It was a great boost of confidence before I head up to New York for a week to spend time with my parents.  Along with me will be coming the DVD and still shots!

I am praising God that we're still pregnant and the baby is fully functioning inside my belly, even as I write.  We're so blessed to be anticipating a little one, and are getting more excited with each week.  We pray for a healthy baby who'll meet this world and love the Lord.

Our little one laying on its side.  

11 weeks part II.

So it's official: everyone knows!  

Yesterday in church the announcement was made that Scott and I are expecting our first child.  The congregation spent time at length in prayer for us and our developing baby.  The church is now praying faithfully for "three generations" of my family, as Deacon Andrews put it. 
How beautiful.

Also, we made it public on Facebook yesterday, so that everyone had a fair share at knowing all at once.  We didn't want to leave anyone out! 

Nausea is back with a vengeance, but I'm suspecting my synthetic pre-natal vitamin.  Scott and I looked into food-based ones, but they're either not coated or I'd have to take four.  FOUR!  I can barely swallow one without tossing my cookies. 
So much for that. 

I'm going home to New York in a week to spend some time with my mom and dad. 
I'm looking forward to that very much.  My dad is thrilled beyond belief!

And I' m not sure if I'm showing yet, or if it's all the carbs I'm inhaling..
  Here's me at 11 weeks:

Week 11

One week away from the second trimester mark.  Woah. 
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Today was an exceptionally good day.  Scott had the day off from the police academy, so he was able to come with me to my second appointment with Christine, my midwife.  We had been praying to hear a heartbeat together, and it happened!  We were so thrilled, I cried instantly.  She said the heartbeat was strong and fast.. about 173 beats.  Great sign at 11 weeks.  What a great day!

The nausea has picked up with a vengeance last night and today.. but I didn't mind.  I was so elated to have an empirical sign that things are still going well.  Today was the first time that I could actually feel pregnant.  I can't believe I have a little human inside of me with its own heartbeat.  Unreal.  

I'm not showing yet, but I hope to soon.  I'm nervous that I'll just look unfit and undo all my hard work.  I haven't been to Zumba in 7 weeks, and I'm not so happy about it.  As soon as my energy picks up and the nausea subsides, I'm back in action.  Before pregnancy, I was down 47 pounds from college graduation.  I have no intentions of gaining unnecessary weight!  

Pictures from a great day at the birthing center:

Size of our baby at 11 weeks?
A lime! =)

Week 10

 Am I really still pregnant?  

Wow, for a first pregnancy with a Robertsonian Translocation, I was shocked.  Am I really this blessed?  Still too early for me to have confidence, but those around me that knew really encouraged me to be positive.  Scott's been positive from the beginning, and both sets of our parents are assuming it will go well.  We still didn't want to make it public until I was through with the first trimester..
but we were slowly telling people that were close to us.  

This week I visited the birthing center again and got set up with a midwife.  Her name is Christine, and she's been a midwife for a couple of years.  She has a nursing degree, and actually spent 10 years working in labor and delivery.. but she decided to part ways with the clinical side of labor and go natural.  Now that's an awesome testimony!  She tried again for a heartbeat, but nothing.  This time my doula friend accompanied me since Scott had to work.  She bought me my first maternity shirt.  Totally cute!  But I feel like I'm forever away from needing it.. if I'm lucky enough to get that far. 
[Yes, I still think that way]

Still more nausea, but my appetite was picking up.  I started having more regular foods like cheese and some meats.. vegetables no longer made me run screaming.  I wasn't nearly as exhausted as I had been for the first couple of weeks.  Scott and I moved into a new apartment though, and that made things a little tricky for sleeping.  Decided not to get blood-work drawn this week, and wait until the following to hear for a heartbeat..
It was a long wait.

Totally adorable internet photo that got me through a long week:

Week 8

We're getting there.. 

But it's been weeks since I've eaten right.  I lived off of gluten-free cereal for weeks.  I tried so hard to have an appetite, but the nausea was overwhelming.  Luckily, I had only puked one day in eight weeks.  I was brushing my teeth and the gag reflex sent me reeling.  Ugh. 

I had also visited the natural birthing center down in Fort Mill, SC to check it all out.  My doula friend is a total advocate of the place, and some acquaintances from church absolutely swear by the place.  I went alone because Scott was at work.  The place was awesome!  Two birthing rooms which were set up like hotel rooms.  Each room has a birthing tub and a large shower.  The rooms are meant to give the feeling of home, and nothing reminiscent of a hospital.  

A midwife tried to listen for a heartbeat, but it was too early.  She used a doppler machine, since we're avoiding anything internal at his point.. but no luck.  She drew some more blood and the results came back great.  That was good. 

More nausea, more prayers, and more concern.  Oh, and more waiting.  

But pictures of the birthing center!

Week 7

Still pregnant.  Phew.  

One night, before I got pregnant, Scott and I were browsing the Netflix InstantQueue options on our TV.  We stumbled across a documentary called "The Business of Being Born".  We gave it a go, and it completely changed our lives.  Two hours later, we had a completely different view of pregnancy, birth, and America's healthcare system.  I won't go too into detail this early in the game, but we decided to question traditional labor in a hospital.  I had always been a huge advocate of drugs, and thought women who gave birth naturally were completely nuts.. but were they? 

In the weeks following, I had lunch with a friend from church who's a doula and a licensed lactation consultant; all totally new things to me at that point.  Somehow we got on the topic of natural childbirth and the documentary I had seen.  Keep in mind, I was pregnant at this point, but had no idea.  Upon leaving lunch that day, I was even more interested in the topic of natural childbirth, without medical intervention..  I was sensing a theme.  That Sunday in church, she brought me a couple books that discussed the topics further.  One of these books was called "Your Best Birth", and it was written by the same woman who put together the documentary Scott and I had seen a month back.  I tore through the book and became a total advocate of natural childbirth.  She made such compelling arguments of how women all across history have given birth without medical intervention for thousands of years.  Sadly, the United States has a much higher infant mortality rate than many other countries.  Interesting fact, considering how we seem to have "mastered" the whole process..  Perhaps we're fixing what isn't broken.

But anyway, got blood-work drawn and the results were conclusive:  I was definitely pregnant.  My numbers looked really good.  Still waiting... for something.

Week 5 - Surprise!

It was a Sunday morning.  

Scott and I were getting ready for church and I had been suspecting that I was possibly pregnant. We had just started trying a couple of weeks before.. I pulled a pregnancy test out from beneath the sink and did my business.  Within a minute, the ClearBlue pregnancy test read nice and loudly,  PREGNANT.  I smiled at myself in the mirror, said a prayer to our good God, and walked out to Scott at the computer.  I laid the pregnancy test down on the desk and his eyes lit up.  Scott was immediately thrilled. 
But it was a bittersweet moment for me.. 

See, I have a genetic issue that can complicate pregnancy; it's called a Robertsonian Translocation of my 13th and 14th chromosomes.  In short, it can be very tough to "hang onto" a pregnancy throughout the first trimester.  Many women with my genetic issue suffer from frequent miscarriages..  But once they're through the first trimester, the likelihood of the baby's viability goes up exponentially. 

Let's just say I found out at 5 weeks that I was pregnant, and it's been a very long couple of months.
Lots of prayer, tears, and nausea. 
But nausea's a good sign!  All we could do was wait.