31 Weeks

I'm going to see Dr. Siefring every two weeks now. I asked him about possibly seeing other doctors in the practice for belly checks since I was waiting two hours at every appointment, and he suggested trying to schedule first thing in the morning. So I've been going at 8 a.m. and getting right in and out! It's a bit of a struggle to get us all up and dressed and fed and out the door by 7:30 but worth it to not have to wait around at the office. On the downside, I can't ever ask anyone to keep the girls for me because no one is available at 7:30, so they have to go along every time. Thankfully they are always very good, and Dr. S gets a big kick out of them.

BP was something like 122/68, Bacon's heartbeat was good though I forgot to ask what it was. My weight at the office was 165, up from 159 there the last time. Blargh!!!!! But after the last appointment I came home and weighed myself here and I was 156. This time I weighed myself at home and was 157/158. If I go by our home scale I have gained 21 or 22 lbs which seems about right. When I delivered Phoebe I weighed 172 and I was HUGE. I mean, my belly was enormous. There's no way I'm only 7 lbs away from that right now. I was about 158 when I delivered Dena and I think that's about right where I am now.

No real belly pic this week, but I was taking profile pics of the girls yesterday for a Christmas project, and when I was finished with them Phoebe wanted to take one of me. I'll only post it here, where no one else can see it!

30-ish Weeks

First, a couple of pictures.

I think this one is from around 24 weeks.

And this one from about 28 weeks.

And this is from yesterday, 30.5 weeks.

Eric and I were looking back over pictures from when I was pregnant with Phoebe, and I thought I look about the same this time, although I feel like I'm bigger. But now, I don't know ... I think I am actually bigger! I seem to compare to pics of when I was around 33 weeks with her. Good grief ... my stomach got ENORMOUS at the end of that pregnancy. I am amazed every time I look at the last belly pic. I sure hope I don't go so far past my due date this time around.

I still feel really well. I'm more uncomfortable, and sometimes have a hard time sleeping. My low back is starting to bother me a little more, though not enough (yet) to warrant a trip to Dr. Longo. I think my hips are starting to loosen because they bother me the most, after I've been sitting or laying down.

Eric has nicknamed the baby Bacon. At first it seemed so weird but now I'm used to it. Ha! Of course, I already feel the need to apologize if baby turns out to be a girl; somehow it seems okay to nickname a boy Bacon.

Bacon is very, very wiggly! I've felt movement pretty consistently from around 13 weeks, just flutters at first, but still consistent. Then they were kicks, etc., and now I think it's crowded enough in there that all Bacon can manage are some stretches and hiccups!

As for names, we are still set on Anderson Clark for a boy, and pretty set on Adele Joan for a girl. Since we've named the other two after grandmothers, I feel really compelled to continue that if we have another girl, and it makes more sense to use Joan before Virginia, since Mommom Joan is an active part of our lives and Grandma Sita isn't really. However, I don't care so much for how it sounds with Adele, but I can't come up with anything else. Adele is the first name we both have consistently liked the best -- every now and then we say, "What about ____?" and consider that for a while, but then end up crossing it off the list for one reason or another. There are other names I like better, but Eric doesn't, and we have to agree! So for now, Adele Joan it is, though I asked him to be open-minded if I deliver a girl and say, "She isn't an Adele."

And, just for the record, I think Bacon is a boy. I don't want to tell anyone what I think, because they will take it as me hoping for a boy, and I'm really not. I really truly don't care, so I try to be really careful not to say anything either way. Of course I've told Eric, and maybe Mandy, but that's it.

We've decided that it would be really fun to have the girls find out the baby's gender first, so once I deliver we'll make an announcement with stats, but no gender or name to anyone, not even local family. Then once the girls meet their new sibling, we'll let them tell! I think it will make it even more special for the girls.

Names

We are really struggling with a girl name this time. Boy name is chosen: Anderson Clark.

Girl names we both like:
Adele
Eliza
Hazel

Some others I like:
Helen
Vivian
Juliet
Marian
Willa
Miriam
Naomi

14 Weeks

Well, so much for keeping a detailed journal of this pregnancy!

I was released from care at the Institute for Reproductive Technology right before ten weeks. While under care I had bloodwork done every week; an ultrasound at five, seven, and nine weeks; and visits with the pregnancy nurse after each ultrasound. At my last appointment she told me that I had been one of her favorite patients because I was so easy! I imagine that most of the patients are women dealing with true infertility, so it must be stressful, because although by the time they are seeing her they are pregnant, she's supposed to do her best to make sure they stay that way. She put me on 400 mg progesterone suppositories 2x/day, and 200 mg oral progesterone 1x/day, and at my last appt. gave me a weaning schedule which I haven't followed exactly -- I was supposed to do a week of cutting the morning suppository in half, but the first time I tried to it was a dismal failure, so I just continued with 2x/day for that week then went to 1x/day. I'm almost done with the suppositories (HALLELUJAH) and then will have another week of the oral (I think.)

At eleven weeks I had my first appointment with Dr. Siefring. Eric got off work early and met me there. My appt. time was 12:45. We arrived at 12:30. At 2:00 they finally called us back to a room. I walked out of the office after 3:00. *sigh* apparently nothing has changed. At least for the hour that we were in a room someone was with us most of the time, whether the assistant or the doctor himself. When Dr. S walked in and recognized me he asked, "Are you with child?" Eric started laughing and Dr. S said, "That's the only time I see her!" Which is mostly true. He spent a lot of time trying to figure out my actual due date -- since the other office HAD to go by my LMP giving me a due date of Feb. 1, but I know I ovulated on May 15 giving me a due date of Feb. 5, there is a four day difference. So, because four days is just too much of a difference, he finally said that we'll schedule a dating ultrasound. Not to complain about an ultrasound, but seriously, four days? Yeesh.

Evelyn is still at the office which is great, I really like her. (In fact, Evelyn is on my list of girl names but I don't think Eric likes it.)

I had to have a pap smear which was my third in ten months! I think I'm good for the next three years at least.

He let Eric use the doppler to find the heartbeat. It took a few tries but we finally did hear it. It's always relieving to hear it at those early appointments. 

I've felt really well overall this whole time. Morning sickness was very minimal, and I haven't noticed any nausea at all over the last couple of weeks so I think I'm past that. It took a while for my breasts to become tender which was a little worrisome at first, but they finally started filling out and getting sore. I still have days of being really tired -- we had a week of company followed immediately by a week of vacation Bible school which wiped me out. Yesterday I laid down for what was supposed to be a thirty-minute rest, and ended up passing out for an hour and a half!

I had the bloated/thick look for weeks. That kinda sucked since I felt like I just looked fat. However, since it was high I've been able to wear regular clothes. I'm definitely popping out more now, though, and I feel like I finally look actually pregnant. Just in the past couple of weeks have I noticed that skirts are getting snug in the waist. I have several casual summery dresses which have worked out pretty well. There are a couple that look silly now because of where the waistband hits, but the rest I should be able to wear for the rest of the summer. However, I'm starting to grow out of Sunday-church-appropriate attire. I searched through Target clearance last weekend and found a couple of maternity dresses, the first maternity I've worn so far. One cost more than I really cared to pay, but Eric talked me into it and I'm glad he did. It's super-comfy and I got a lot of compliments!

Lastly, I'm starting to feel some movement. It's hard to distinguish, but I'll occasionally feel 3 or 4 thumps or bumps in the same place. This is definitely the earliest I've felt movement! I love it, it's my favorite part of being pregnant!

7 Weeks

Forgot to post last week. HCG increased to 19,000+. Estrogen was ... I can't remember. Progesterone increased from 24.something to 26.something which apparently wasn't enough (though I'd only been taking it for 4 days) so the pregnancy nurse had me increase to 3x/day. So yay, I get to do you-know-what with a greasy suppository three times a day. I have to lay down after inserting it too, or else either the whole thing slips out, or slowly leaks out. Even with laying down for 30 minutes I still have significant leakage. I have to wear liners all the time which still don't manage to protect everything, so my panties are getting grease stains. But I can't complain about being proactive, and getting to lay down for a half hour twice a day is no hardship.

I feel really well for the most part. I occasionally feel a little queasy, sort of a motion-sick feeling. If I'm hungry eating something usually takes care of it. Sometimes though it happens after I eat. If it's really noticeable I'll take 50 mg(?) of B6 and that helps. But overall it's very, very minor "morning" sickness. I really think it's the best I've felt early on in any pregnancy.

I get tired, especially in the afternoon. Sometimes after lunch I just have to lay down and close my eyes for thirty minutes. Other days I inexplicably have more energy. The heat definitely plays a part, though. I get wiped out more quickly when it's hot. The weather has been pretty nice lately, and when it gets really warm/muggy I turn on the a/c in the living room.

My breasts aren't terribly sore. I don't remember how sore they got when I was pg with Phoebe, but I do remember they hurt terribly early on with Dena. I guess 4 total years of breastfeeding probably helps in that department. Eric asks from time to time when they are going to get bigger. They increased a bit but not much. I hope they do, that is one major perk of being pregnant. Ha!

I have horrible, awful acne that keeps getting worse. I'm sure the extra progesterone is not helping. According to the journal I kept while pg with Phoebe I had the same issue then, and got the okay from Dr. Siefring to use Proactiv. This time I've been trying to treat it myself more naturally with witch hazel and tea tree oil but it's just not cutting it, so I broke down last night and bought the Target generic version of Proactiv. I hope it works because this is ridiculous and it's actually painful. Once it clears up I should be able to go back to the witch hazel and TTO and only use the acne stuff as necessary. I think by the second trimester it gets better on its own anyway. I know when I'm EBF I have beautifully clear skin! So there's that to look forward to!

So, overall, I feel so well and have so few pregnancy symptoms that it sometimes worries me a little. But in the past couple of weeks this has been happening:

so I probably don't need to be worried! At least not worried about whether things are coming along as they should. I'm definitely worried about being enormous early on. :/ I got pretty big at the end with Phoebe. I don't want to be huge the whole time!

We told our parents last weekend. Mom's birthday was Saturday and then Sunday was Father's Day, so we sent an email to the Washington parents Friday night with this picture:

They were super-excited so that was neat. Then we had Chuck and Joyce over for lunch on Sunday and after we ate Eric texted them the picture while we were all sitting around the table. That was funny.

We haven't told anyone else yet, with a few exceptions. I'm part of a private TTC group on Facebook and told them right away -- they knew we were trying, and that I had ovulated. In fact I got a very faint positive at 9DPO and wasn't going to say anything but one of the ladies on there asked me, so I blabbed. Then because they knew, I told Eric I didn't mind if he told one coworker, who told Eric in return that his wife was also barely pregnant! I think she's a week ahead of me. Then oddly he told another coworker yesterday -- I'm not sure why he did that. I keep wondering if we had talked about it and I agreed that he could tell her ... he seemed a little defensive when I said I didn't understand why he told her, so I left it alone for the moment but will bring it up tonight because I'm kind of confused about the whole thing.

Anyway! I have an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and we should be able to see/hear a heartbeat -- once that happens we will tell everyone else. We're going to have to, I'm not going to be able to hide this belly much longer. I'm so excited to tell the girls!

5 Weeks

Bloodwork done 5/30 (4w1d): hcg 388, progesterone 26.1, estrogen 190

Bloodwork done 6/5 (5w): hcg 6099, progesterone 24.4, estrogen 357
Prolactin went up from March. Can't remember what it was then, now it's 49.

At 5 weeks I'm still not having any real symptoms aside from getting very tired in the afternoon/evening. No sore boobs, no nausea. This week I've felt "thick" in the middle, like I just can't hold my stomach in. I couldn't possibly be showing this early, yet I feel as if I am. It's probably some water retention. My weight is 136 -- I'm not terribly happy with it, but I'm trying to eat well and exercise to keep from putting any weight on for as long as possible.