11 weeks

Energy level has gone up a little and I'm not peeing as often. I had a check up on Monday and we were able to hear the heartbeat-roughly 160 bpm. Yesterday I had a glucose test and passed with a score of 92. Nothing much has changed. I wish I was thinner so I could tell if I was actually showing. My pants have their days. Some days I can get them buttoned, some days I need the Bella Band. I went through my bra drawer - an entire bag full of bras that no longer fit. I have already gone up a full cup size! I'm now down to two bras that fit, and one I just snapped the underwire yesterday. Still wearable but not the most comfortable.

Jon has still been as wonderful as ever. He is reading his book The Expectant Father. One day he came up to me and asked how I was feeling, how my day went. He then proceeded to kiss me, over and over. I asked why all the sudden affection and he said because the book told him that is what he was supposed to be doing. So cute :)

Here's what BabyCenter has to say for this week:
Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

**BabyCenter switches from he/she every week. I still have a feeling it is a boy.

Cravings: Peanut Butter tastes good on many things: waffels, toast, pancakes, brownies...

Change of Plans

I called Maple Grove Hospital and found out a few different clinics and physicians that were participating. I looked them up on the internet first. Some had some good reviews, others not so much. One place had a new location - right inside the hospital, or close to it. It's North Clinic. On the same street as the hospital so I thought it is either in the same building or attached possibly. I asked North Clinic if they partnered with Maple Grove Hospital; check. I asked if they took Cigna; check. We were good to go! The other clinic wanted me to come back at 17 weeks. These guys prefer you to come once a month or every 4 weeks. So they scheduled me to come back on 2/24. Not sure if it will just be a normal check up or a full blown exam since they have never seen me before. The one change about North Clinic is that they do not have midwives. Only Docs and Nurses. This could actually be a good thing since we are concerned about W.P.W. Syndrome. Having a doctor there is a little more reassuring. North Clinic also has the ultrasound equipment on site; so, unlike the other place, we won't have to go off site to get that done.

Since the posting of the bpm there have been many speculations that it is a girl - I'm still thinking boy. Either will be just fine of course.

Tomorrow I will go back to the other clinic and have a glucose test and I have to ask for my records so I can bring them with to the next clinic.

It's Real

We had our 11 week check up today. My blood pressure was a bit high (but it always is at the doc's office). I had also gained 4 pounds. This nurse didn't have me take off my shoes though and I had to pee, drop 2 pounds for both those. Our midwife went over the tests that can be done to check for downs syndrome again. I chose not to have them done. If there was a risk to the baby or if it did have DS, we weren't going to get rid of it anyway so why risk it.

We found out that we need to see a genetic counselor because Jon has Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. The midwife let us listen to the heartbeat - roughly 160 bpm and steady. There really is something in there!

Bad news about our appointment. The hospital we want to go to, Maple Grove Hospital, is not one of the participating hospitals that OB/Gyns from Healthpartners are with. So now we have to find out where to go so that we have someone that can deliver at Maple Grove Hospital.

10 weeks

A pretty uneventful week as far as pregnancy goes. I've had more things pop up at work than I have with this pregnancy. This week I have been thinking more and more about the 12 weeks off that I will have. I have 3 weeks of vacation, that means I have to come up with some kind of income for the other 9 weeks I am off. Another girl at work is also pregnant and she said they have an extra paycheck every month that isn't used for anything so they were going to put it in savings. I thought what a great idea and suggested to her to save that for when she is on maternity leave. She then said, she didn't think she was going to take any time off...WHAT! She said staying at home with the baby makes them more dependent on a parent and they won't get used to being with a caretaker. So after a few weeks she already has it set up with her normal babysitter to have the new baby dropped off. Whatever. Not my plan. I am going to sit down with Jon this weekend and see if we can't cut a few things from our expenses and try to save one of my paychecks each month until the baby is born. This should help with the 9 weeks of no paychecks.

Monday Jon and I go for our first (together) doctor's appointment. I am sooo excited. I will be 11 weeks and we should be able to hear the heartbeat.

Babycenter has this to say about Chishi:
Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

9 weeks

So I'm actually at the end of the 9th week. I decided to wait with this post to see how the week went. It was my first week back full time at work. Before this week I was either off completely or only worked 5 hours a day. I was used to taking a nap when I was tired (which is all the time). Being at work, Monday wasn't so bad because I was pretty busy and didn't notice, but then it hit me on the way home and I was sooo tired. All week I would make it through the day and then get home, make dinner, watch 2 hours of tv and crash. I have been sleeping from 8:30/9pm until 6am. Waking up a few times in the night to pee.

Other than the peeing, I still haven't had any major pregnancy ailments. The usual, constipated a few days, then my version of morning sickness for an hour or so. However, my heartburn was way worse when not pregnant than it has been pregnant. weird.

Jon and I visited the birth center at the new Maple Grove Hospital. It was very easy to get to-clear shot on the freeway and we can take back roads if needed through the shopping center. It is a beautiful facility. They had two Triage rooms where they first check you over to see how far along you are, that determines if you get a room yet. Then they have the birthing rooms. It had some of your typical stuff-big couch that folds down to a bed for dad, TV. It also had a huge tub, birthing balls, a TV framed that you can plug a stick into and put your own pictures up-so it's like having your own artwork in the room. 2 hours after you give birth they move you to the postpartum rooms. Pretty much the same except they have a shower instead of a tub, and they have a fridge. The baby can stay "in room" or you can get some shut eye and have them stay in the nursery. We really liked this one and it was in a nice part of town. They said if they have issues beyond what the Neo level 2 can handle they would go to North Memorial, Robbinsdale.

Craving: Peanut Butter. thank you Marcellus Gilmore Edson for your invention.

BabyCenter has this to say this week:
Your new resident is nearly an inch long and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

8 weeks

This post is a little graphic - unless you are or have been pregnant you may not want to read it.

So I'm a little late in posting this. I'm at the end of the 8 weeks. I just didn't know what to write about again. It's pretty much the same old thing...heartburn, queasy (but nothing happening), thinking I'm constipated because I haven't gone in 2-3 days, so I overdose on fiber and end up with diarrhea (ya I know-TMI). I'm looking forward to my first prenatal appointment on the 25th because Jon is coming with and we may get our first glimpse of chishi and hopefully get to hear the heartbeat. All the books keep saying we should get to do this at the 11-12 wk check up. So far I have been reading my Babycenter week by week book and the huge spiral book the clinic gave me. Jon has been reading The Expectant Father. Pretty good read, I have learned a bit reading both my version and his.

Jon has been fantastic since finding out about the pregnancy. I couldn't ask for better. He helps out around the house, carries things up and down the stairs for me, has shoveled the driveway numerous times, and has put up with my moodiness (which I know I have been).

Many of my friends when pregnant have called their baby something - bug, peanut, bittywee, squishy. Jon and I have decided on chishi. It means baby in Japanese.

This is what Babycenter has to say about chishi:
Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

Cravings: still steak, and any other food that comes to mind.