12 Weeks

Week 12 has been an adventure. At the beginning of the week we went to Fiesta Texas and Sea World. We had a wonderful time! No, I did not ride any roller coasters. My friend Lori came with me to Fiesta Texas and we did a few things together while everyone else was riding the rides. We spent most of the day in the water park because it was so hot. I pretty much stayed in the lazy river the whole time. I did get a very nice tan.

The next day we went Sea World and I was able to do a lot more. The girls fed the dolphins and I petted one. We watched all the shows, which were awesome. The one thing I love about Sea World is they have an all day dining pass, and it is completely worth it. We ate our fair share of food. Most of the stores had cups of fresh fruit, and I would grab a cup at every chance I had. We did not stay in the water as long at Sea World. For the most part the day was really nice, so we only swam during the hottest part of the day. The one thing I enjoyed was the penguin exhibit. While Mark and the girls rode the roller coasters, I sat in the air conditioned penguin exhibit and watched the penguins swim. We were all tired after our two full days.

Now to yesterday, June 23, 2011, we had a rough day. I thought we were going to lose the baby. I was heading out to lunch and stop by the bathroom. I noticed I was having bright red spotting. I immediately freaked out! I ran back to my office (our poor admin, I scared her half to death) and called Dr. Rister. It was close to lunch time and I knew the office closes at 12:00. I asked for the nurse; however, she was on vacation. I told the person on the phone what was going on and I start crying. She put me on hold and was able to get Dr. Rister on the phone. Dr. Rister told me since I was not having cramping that it sounds like everything is okay, but he wanted me to come in immediately for an ultrasound. I was so worried that I pushed myself too hard over the last few days (going to Fiesta Texas and Sea World).

Mom was in town and I called her to meet me at the doctor’s office, along with Mark. We had the ultrasound and the baby was alive and well. We saw the baby waving at us and moving around. We heard the heartbeat again and everything was perfect. Mom, Mark and I were all crying. Dr. Rister thinks I had some blood vessel that broke from the baby growing. We were all relieved the baby was okay and nothing was wrong, Thank God!! My boss told me to take the rest of the day off, and I was glad. After I calm down, I felt like all my energy was zapped from me. Dr. Rister thought it was a good idea for me to go home and rest. Again, Thank God that everything is okay.

11 weeks - Appointment

Today’s appointment was completely amazing! We were so excited to see the baby again. The baby was very active and looked like baby was waving at us. It was wonderful to see the baby move so much. I was worried for a while, because I could not see the heartbeat. Then I saw the heartbeat and the doctor apologized for not showing me right away. Then the most amazing thing happened, the doctor flipped a switch and we heard the heartbeat. I was so surprised because I did not expect to hear the heartbeat this soon. It was completely amazing. Everything is going so well that Dr. Rister said, well I guess I am going to start treating you like a regular patient. I do not go back again for a month. We are just excited everything is going well.

10 Weeks

10 weeks has been the roughs week so far. Last week I felt awful, and I do not think I have ever felt this way before. I cannot describe the tiredness I felt. I also had a lot of morning sickness and did not feel like eating. I do not post last week because I felt too bed. On Thursday, my eyes were stinging so bad I had to lie down in my office during lunch. I am surprise I made it through work each day. You know it is bad when your co-workers tell you that you do not look good.

For some reason people do not understand when I say I feel bad I really mean I feel bad. It bothered me that people kept pressuring me to do things or making me feel guilt for not participating in events. Like my mom said, my baby is number one I need to do what is best for baby. Mom even came over and cook for my Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Thank goodness for mom. I am just glad this week is starting out better.

I have my next doctor’s appointment tomorrow. After this appointment I will have month to month appointments, until I get closer to the end of my pregnancy. My doctor said tomorrow will count as my actual first appointment and it is going to be long. I am not sure what all they are going to do, but I guess I will find out. I am just excited I get to see the baby again tomorrow.

9 Weeks

In the picture of above, the baby is looking down and is curled up (feet are tucked in), I think the baby kinda looks like a bean. My mom has nicknames the baby sweet pea. This weekend while we were in Austin, we found an outfit and a blanket that say Sweet Pea.

Two weeks ago we went in for our first appointment and the baby was measuring small. My doctor wanted to see us back in two weeks to make sure the baby was still developing. Yesterday we went back and the baby is now measuring right on time! We feel so much better knowing everything is okay. I go back in another two weeks for my official #1 OB appointment. I feel like all the weight has been lifted off of me.

I am still having morning sickness, all day long, and I am very tired. To me these small inconveniences are completely worth what is waiting for me at the end. I think today is a better day, I feel better than yesterday.

My doctor is really funny. Yesterday he walked in the room and said Oh! I forgot the ultrasound machine, that is the only reason you came to see me. I said it was not the only reason. He told me to quite lying, it is the only reason people come to see him, but said he did not care. He makes me laugh. I am glad I have such a wonderful doctor who is upbeat and cares about his patients.

We told everyone at work yesterday and we had so many congratulations it was over whelming. It made me feel good that everyone was excited. We also announce it on our Facebook pages, so the world officially knows we are now pregnant!

8 Weeks

We have made it to week 8 of my pregnancy. I am still having morning sickness and tired symptoms; however, overall I am doing very well. I am going to try to post at least one posting a week. We have our next appointment in one week. Dr. Rister is keeping a close eye on me for right now. The good thing is I will get to see the baby again and receive another picture.

This weekend I had a dream we had a baby girl. The dream felt so real and I feel like we are going to have a girl. My mom and my friend April think I am going to have a girl. We will see in about 8 to 10 weeks if we are going to have a girl or not.

Around week 22, I am going to have a 3D/4D ultrasound at Because of You in Waco. My doctor’s office does not provide the ultrasounds. Because of You allows several friends and family member to come see the ultrasound live. I will have another 3D/4D  ultrasound around week 34. Some people told me they want to be surprise when they see the baby. My main reason is not to see the baby, but to have a memento for my baby. By  having the 3D /4D ultrasound I can show my baby this is what you looked like before you were born. For myself, I find this very interesting and I wish they had the 3D/4D ultrasounds when my mom had me. I am hoping my baby will find these pictures fascinating, as they grow older.

I have not made an announcement about the baby on Facebook or at work yet. I am waiting for my results from next week’s appointment, before I make a big announcement. At that time I will be over 9 weeks along and figure it will be safe to make an announcement.

1st Ultrasound Appointment - 7 weeks

We had our first ultrasound appointment today. We saw the baby and the heart beat. I started to cry when I saw our little baby. This is a picture of our sweet little baby.



Dr. Rister said everything looking very good. Since I had previous surgeries to my uterus, Dr. Rister recommends I have a C-Section. I am due January 4; however, he said we will take the baby at least two week early. It looks like we are going to have another Christmas Baby.

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day with my family. Yesterday, Mark and I cooked lunch for everyone at my parent’s house. My mom loves not having to cook on Mother’s Day. Plus, we have lunch ready before everyone comes over from church. My family is Baptist; however, Mark and I are Catholic. We usually go to church on Saturday evenings and it makes it easier for us to get everything ready while the family is at church.

My cousin Zach came into  town, which was fun. Zachary is like my brother and I have not seen him in several months. We had a chance to spend lots of time together this weekend. Also, my whole family knows that I am pregnant. Everyone was pampering me after lunch.

I have been feeling okay lately. I am still very tired and I keep getting nauseas. Another thing I notice is how hungry I am all the time. I am trying to watch what I eat because I do not want to gain a bunch of weight, but I am starving. I am working out at Curves, so I am hoping this will help keep the unrelated pregnancy weight off.

Symptoms

I am having a few pregnancy symptoms already, and most of these I have had for the past two weeks. I am still very tired and I feel like I cannot do very much right now. I have a very busy life and I know I am going to have to slow down. I am still feeling nauseas, but preggie pops are doing their job and making me feel better. At night I am still having acid reflux, even though I sleep propped up. I think tonight I am going to get one of my bigger pillow to see if that helps the acid reflux. I sleep with Tums by my bed and it helps make it go away. Besides dealing with the symptoms, I am still dealing with the shock of being pregnant. I still cannot believe this is real, but I am excited.

Results from the Doctor

I love Dr. Rister, he is such a great doctor. Dr. Rister has always told me I could call anytime and he has always been very positive on our trying to conceive journey. I could not wait to speak with him on Monday (May 2). Dr. Rister was so excited when I told him I tested positive over the week. He told me I know you are very anxious about getting things started and I said yes. Dr. Rister ordered me a blood work to test my HCG levels so we could determine how far along I was in the pregnant. I was told the test result would come in the next day.

On my lunch break I had my blood drawn for the test. Dr. Rister, to my surprised, called within 2 hours to tell me the results. My HCG levels were 153 and shows I am about 3 to 4 weeks along. I told Dr. Rister I could not believe this and it is a miracle. Then he said, well they are all miracle, but especially this one. He said the earliest I could come in is two week, because they cannot see anything before that time frame. My next appointment is on May 16 and I cannot wait to see my baby.

On Sunday, May 1, we told our priest, who has been praying for us, that we were pregnant. Father Ed said, I thought you were but I was not going to ask. Father Ed is great!

The Big Day – April 30

I woke up April 30 with my friend April’s baby shower on my mind. I was responsible for getting everything together and to the shower that day. As the morning went by I still had this nagging thought about why my cycle had not started. I went to my fertility chart and realized I was four days late. The last time I was late I had a cyst on my ovary and I had to take medication for it to go away. I thought to myself, Well I better just get this over so I will know and quite thinking about it.

I took a pregnancy test with a cheapie (bought on the internet). I first glanced at it and I saw nothing. After looking at it I thought, see I was right, nothing. As I started to get ready, I glanced at it again and I thought I was seeing things. I saw a very faint second line on the test. The first thing I told myself was any line means positive and I was trying to digest all of this, which was overwhelming. Mark was outside weed eating and the girls were outside playing. I yelled at Mark to come into the house because I need to talk with him. I hid the test behind my back and when he walked in I asked if he could see the line. Mark said he could see it and looked at me with the blank stare. I said that means it is positive. He picked me up and hugged me. I told him I was going to take a digital test later to confirm it.

Next I took a picture and sent it to my friends Dee Dee and April to see if they could see the line. April and her friend Sharla said yes they see the line and that I should take a digital test. I told them I was going to take the digital test. Since I now have confirmation from four people, including myself, that there were in fact two lines, I called my mom. My mom was so shocked and excited.

After lunch I took the digital test, as I finished getting ready for the shower. Again to my amazement, the digital test said Pregnant. I brought Mark into the room and we both started crying. We could not believe this was real. I next called my mom, who was yelling and crying with us. I could not stop crying. Next, I called my dad and I could barely get out the words that I am Pregnant. My dad said “You are?” I said Yes. Then he asked me why are you crying, you are supposed to be happy. I said I am happy, these are happy tears.

We told ourselves we were only going to tell a few people and not tell the girls. We are still nervous about a miscarriage or something going wrong. I finally told myself that I am going to have the faith of a mustard seed and that God would have not blessed us if this was not going to be successful. We sat the girls down and I showed them the pregnancy test, they were so shocked and happy. They were jumping up and down screaming and they gave me a big hug.

We still have not made a big announcement, but I think we are telling almost everyone we see. I am waiting to post this on Facebook and announcing this at work until we are further along. Currently, counting me, we have four pregnant women in our office. Maybe there is something in our water, which I am very glad.

Final Thoughts:

This conception was a complete miracle. I think we did everything possible wrong this time around. When dealing with IF, you learn a lot about your body, and what it takes to get pregnant. This time around we did not do any of things we were taught to maximum conception. I know God did this to show us he is in control and he granted this miracle. God wanted us to know that it was not the doctors, medication, or us that conceived this child, but it was his ultimate blessing that created this child.