Fast Track to Hell

Interested? I can give you explicit diretions.

It's easy. Just leave your shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot. Ignore the cart corral 8' away and just leave it right there in the middle of the parking lot for someone to hit, bump, or generally make the parking spot unusuable.

I have absolutely no tolerence for this. If you have the ability to push a shopping cart through the store, by God, you can put the cart away. I am not ashamed to say I have spoken up to strangers in the Meijer parking lot asking (ok, telling) them to put their cart away. Which was met with no response verbally, although they did put the cart away.

I'm just saying. If I catch any of you ever not putting your cart away, I will put the beatdown on you post haste. And send you on the aforementioned road to ruin.

OTHERWISE!! I'm doing just splendidly. The pregnancy so far has progressed exactly as expected (well, more like exactly as planned, because I'm not really sure what I expected) and I am feeling great. I have much more energy these days, and the issues of throwing up and feeling ill have all but subsided. I will be 17 weeks this Thursday. Brady & I will be having "the big ultrasound" on 11/23 where we have agreed to find out the sex. (Well, sort of. We want to know, but we want to make it special, so we're having the sonographer print out the picture if the baby has cooperated, and write on it girl or boy. Then we're having her seal it in an envelope and taking it with us to a nice dinner that evening, and finding out together there. We figure it's a surprise on 11/23, or it's a surprise when it comes out, either way. We'd just really like to know, if we can. And we both mean it when we say we DON'T CARE EITHER WAY if it's a girl or a boy, we're just eagerly anticipating a healthy baby.)

Other than the shopping carts, the only negative I can think of at this time is our sex life. I'm entering that "sex doesn't really sound all that terrible" stage of pregnancy, but all of our pre-pregnancy issues are still hanging over our heads. Hoping we can break past that wall here very shortly, because it won't be too much longer and we'll WISH we had unlimited time and energy for sex!

Hope everyone out there in the blogworld is happy and healthy and flu-free!!!!

Me & My Baby

So far, so good.

The day before I was supposed to take a pregnancy test, I started having a sneaking suspicion that I might be pregnant. I even slyly smiled to myself throughout the day, being smug even, at the prospect. I stopped on the way home from work that day to buy some tests, telling myself I'd wait until the morning. (I was supposed to wait until Friday, August 1st. This was Wednesday, July 30th.) Of course, I got home and couldn't wait. I ran to the bathroom, disobeying the whole "use your first morning urine!" rule.

I had to do it the yucky way, peeing in a cup and putting the test in there for 20 seconds. I replaced the cap and before I could flush the toilet, there were 2 big ol' dark lines on my test. Joey was watching me the whole time, tail wagging. I like to think he was anticipating with me.

So again, just like last time, I ran downsairs and unceremoniously thrust the pregnancy test in my husband's face as he worked on installing our new door in the basement. He, again, asked me what it meant, and then we commenced to huggin' and kissin'. I called my mom, whom I promised I would call as soon as I knew anything, who immediately burst into uncontrolled sobs. It was so exciting getting to tell her this, especially since I never got to tell her the last time. It was over before it started.

So the next day I called the doctor's office to get my order for bloodwork. I went to have my blood drawn on CD14 (cycle day 14 for all of you uninitiated) and my level came back as 408. Awesome!! Actually, freakishly high for as early as I was. My progesterone level, which was what was so dangerously low last time, was improved. It still wasn't what we would call "good", but it was "acceptable". I was happy.

I waited until the following Tuesday to have it checked again. One number doesn't mean much on it's own, it's how it rises that tells the tale more accurately. So when I went back on CD19, I was expecting, hoping, for a number around 2400. It was almost 7000!! Then I started to get nervous there might be more than one in there. I was over the moon that things seemed to be happening for real this time.

Then the following Monday was my birthday, and wouldn't you know, I woke up to find I was spotting. Ugh. I tried to be cool, and I called the doctor's office as I was told to to let them know. They said that since I was so early, it was probably just implantation spotting. I tried to put it out of my head, but I was really nervous. I laid in my bed (I was off of work) and cried and cried, while my poor dog looked at me, his little head going back and forth in confusion and worry, and tried to lick my tears. He snuggled up to me and we fell asleep.

The spotting continued off and on for the next week, and I tried to put it out of my mind. Meanwhile, other pregnancy symptoms began to appear. My breasts became extraordinarily tender. Brushing my teeth became a struggle as it started making me nearly puke. I was exhausted. I was pregnant!!

Eventually, the spotting stopped and everything else increased. The first time I threw up, Brady told me "Congratulations!" : ) Actually, every time I mention a pregnancy issue, he tells me that. I don't mind. : )

The spotting came back a couple of weeks later, but only for a day. 2 days later, I had my first ultrasound at 8 weeks and 6 days, and we saw our precious little bean, snuggled safely in my belly. The heartrate was in the upper 170's and sounded like music to our ears. I can't wait to hear it again!!

So so far, so good. The Boobie Fairie has been to visit, they are huge but totally off limits as they hurt because they exist. The morning (evening, all day) sickness has all but subsided except for the toothbrushing part. Still exhausted and anxiously awaiting for the 2nd trimester energy boost. Still grateful and honored every day to realize I have a new life growing strong within me. Still terrified and anxious that something could go wrong, but trying to enjoy it the best I can. And finally, I don't mind those shots one bit. : )